[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:15] Amen. It's good to be here with you. We were here in the beginning. It was a blessing to be able to be a part of, a little bit of part of what's going on here. We probably had .0001% a part of what would actually take place and what's here today.
[0:30] But it's amazing to see what God has done. And if I could bring one thing to you today, it's just to be thankful for what God's done here at Vision Baptist Church. We're thankful as a family because Vision Baptist Church has such an influence and has done so much for us, even in South Africa.
[0:47] You guys have sent people over to South Africa. Actually, some of the buildings that we have there were paid for by the giving of Vision Baptist Church. Some of the baptistries that were built.
[0:59] And people were baptized in, were paid for and built by the funds that were provided by Vision Baptist Church. And the training that people receive there is really founded here at Vision Baptist Church because I was trained as far as my skills in church planning and disciple making.
[1:20] Those came from Vision Baptist Church. And we actually just celebrated three different anniversaries there. A two-year, a one-year, and I think a six-year anniversary just recently in South Africa.
[1:32] And all that is a result and fruit on the account of the people of Vision Baptist Church that give and pray for the ministry there.
[1:42] And if I could share just a few verses with you as I think about this thankfulness and church planning and fruitfulness and laying up eternal rewards, I think about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter number 1.
[1:56] He said, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, verse number 1, through the will of God and Sosinus our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
[2:17] Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge.
[2:36] Paul was thankful for the grace of God that was given to the Corinthians. Now if you read through this whole book, you're going to find a people that did all kinds of wicked things. There was all kinds of sinful and wicked things going on inside this church.
[2:49] But when Paul thought of the Corinthian church, he was thankful. He could find one thing that he was definitely thankful for and that was the grace of God. Now I know that these type sins are not going on at Vision Baptist Church.
[3:01] But I can say that we all came from Ephesians chapter 2. And the things that Paul called those people, aliens and strangers to the promises of God, being led by the God of this world, all those things, slaves to sin, those were all testimonies of our, those were our testimonies.
[3:21] And man, we can be thankful for the grace of God. We are enriched, Paul said, with all knowledge and utterance. What does that mean? That we have the Word of God, it's preached faithfully to us, and we can understand it.
[3:35] Think about those thousands of messages that you guys have heard here, that you're a steward of, that truth that's been given to you, that your children are hearing in these Sunday school classes, in these youth meetings.
[3:47] Man, we've been given so much, we have been enriched. Peace and the grace of God. I heard one man say that the peace of God is the thing, you have the real peace, when you have peace, at a time that you should not have it.
[4:01] At those trials and problems and situations that are beyond you, and you still have peace, that's the peace of God. Man, we have peace, we have grace, we have preaching, we have the ability to understand it.
[4:16] Man, we have so much to be thankful for. Are you thankful for the grace of God today? Man, it's so easy. We get aggravated with our kids, man, when they're not thankful for the food that we put before them, when they're not thankful for the clothes that we put on their bodies.
[4:30] We get so aggravated with them. They're spoiled brats. That's what we say. We tell them about the kids living around the world that don't have those things. But yet, you and I sit in these pews or these chairs, and many times we're not thankful.
[4:45] We don't realize how much God has enriched us. I'll tell you one story, and I'm done. There's a lady in South Africa, probably the story that comes to my mind when I think of being thankful for the grace of God.
[4:59] Her name is Mama Johnson. She got saved in a revival meeting. About two weeks later, we held prayer services or wake in her home for a death of her grandson, and her husband got saved.
[5:12] A few weeks later, or as time has gone on, the church has been planted. Her entire family has come to know the Lord as their personal Savior because of this dear lady. She cleans the church twice a week, from top to bottom, polishes the floors.
[5:27] I'm not going to say she's old. I keep getting in trouble for that. She's not old. She's young. She's 50-something years young. She walks to the church with a decent distance, polishes the floor, cleans everything twice a week.
[5:42] Before we came home, she gave both of our kids 20 rand apiece. They have nothing. They live in a shack. This is a lady that at one point before she got saved, there was a pole with cow horns on it in her yard.
[5:57] Worship to ancestors. But now, before we came home, she said, I just want to thank you and all those behind you for coming over here and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with us.
[6:10] We needed electricity at our building. It was going to cost 500 rand. And man, I was paying a lot of this stuff out of my own work fund, and it was getting draining because everything we put into it was getting stolen, so I couldn't keep up with the stealing and replacing.
[6:23] And I have no idea. They make about $10 a day. And her family gave $500 to pay for the electricity.
[6:34] They have no car. They barely have food to put on the table. She's responsible for feeding grandkids and neighbors' kids. I mean, it's incredible. I have no idea how long they've been saving that money.
[6:47] But you know why she gave it? Not because the preacher was standing up and saying, you need to give. Not because anybody was whispering in her ear or pressuring her. Do you know why she gave?
[6:59] She realized how good God has been to her. And their offering that money, it was just saying, thank you for the grace of God.
[7:09] Are you thankful for the grace of God, Vision Baptist Church? You are enriched. Thank you. All right. Well, we are honored that we were able to be here this year for Celebration Sunday.
[7:21] And it's been a joy to be part of Vision Baptist Church. And it's been exciting to watch it continue to grow and for God to continue to use Vision since we've been on the field for the past two years.
[7:33] And I just kind of thought about this thought, how has Vision, you know, played a role in my life? Vision in my life, how has God used Vision Baptist Church in my life? And I just wrote some things down here.
[7:45] And one of the first things there is that, you know, Vision trained me for the ministry. I was trained here at Vision Baptist Church. I learned to be a man of God here. I've learned the Word of God here.
[7:58] I came here and studied in the church and listened to the preaching of the Word of God. And through Pastor Gardner and other people here in the church and the people who teach in the training center, God used that to train me and teach me His Word and make me into who I am today.
[8:14] I was able to start my first Sunday school class here. I was able to baptize my first person here at Vision Baptist Church. And so God has really used Vision Baptist Church in my life in a great way.
[8:27] I met my wife here at Vision Baptist Church. We had our first child here. We lost our second child here. But God continued and used our lives and we've gone through many things.
[8:40] And those of you that have been around, you know those stories and you were here and you experienced those with us. I was ordained in the gospel ministry here. I was licensed to the gospel ministry. I was commissioned by this church to be sent to China to preach the gospel, to start churches and to train men.
[8:58] And that's exactly what we're going back to do. We leave, I guess probably a week from Wednesday, we'll be flying back to China. And I guess two weeks from today, Lord willing, will be our first service of Dalian Gospel Baptist Church in Dalian, China.
[9:15] So definitely pray for us. We get back. We plan on starting a church. It's going to probably be a high attendance on that day of five. So it's going to be me and my family. There's four of us and one other guy that's planning on coming.
[9:27] So pray for us. Pray that we get there and see what God is going to do. See God do great things. And that's all because of what God has used Vision Baptist Church to do in our lives and help build us and send us out.
[9:40] And that's what the church is here for, is to reproduce and to spread the gospel around the world. And that's exactly what you're doing. And I just want to praise the Lord for that and for how God has used you in my life personally, but also in the lives of the Chinese people who are going to be able to have a chance to hear the gospel, and many of them for the very first time.
[9:59] And so we just want to praise the Lord with you this morning. And just ask, do you really understand what you're involved in? Do you really understand? You see that you come to church and you maybe just are participating in the services and you just attend, but there's a lot more that goes into this church than just attending.
[10:19] There's a whole lot more that you can get involved in. There's a worldwide work. There's a worldwide celebration that's taking place. And I think God wants you to get involved in that worldwide celebration.
[10:30] We're here celebrating today that this church has been here for seven years. But God has told us that he wants us to celebrate because of his name and the work that he's done. And he wants everybody to celebrate all around the world.
[10:43] If you look in Psalms chapter 103, Psalms chapter 103, I preached there from the past time I was here, I preached there, but I didn't get to finish the chapter. But at the end of the chapter, he starts in verse 19, Psalms 103 and verse 19.
[10:58] He says there, it says, The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. And so in the chapters, what's happening is, he's calling us to remember the benefits of the Lord and who God is.
[11:11] And he's saying, I want you to remember all that God has done for you, and I want you to bless his name. I want you to be thankful for it. I want you to praise his name. I want you to remember all the good things that God has done in your life.
[11:22] And after he gets done doing all that, he pulls it down to the final verses here. And he's saying, Look, the people that I want to celebrate is everybody that God has done a work in.
[11:35] And he's going to tell us if it's going to be the angels, if it's going to be the people that are serving him, if it's going to be all creation. He says, I want everybody to be praising the Lord because of who he is. And right here in verse 19, it says, The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all.
[11:52] He's saying, You serve a universal God. You serve a God that is above all else. He is the one. He is the highest. He is the best. He says, This is the God that you serve.
[12:02] And this is the God that you and I serve. And this is the reason that this church exists, because of God and what he has done. And look what he says in verse 20. It says, Bless the Lord. Ye is angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, harking unto the voice of his word.
[12:18] If you notice there, each of these verses, it's just continually talking about the Lord. It says, Bless the Lord. It says, His angels, and his commandments, and his word.
[12:28] He's saying, Hey, the angels that are going out, they need to be blessing the Lord. They need to be praising the Lord for the work that he has done. And verse 21, it says, Bless ye the Lord, and ye his host, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
[12:43] This afternoon, if you are his host, or you're his ministers, and you've done the work in his name, and you're doing his pleasure, he says, Bless the Lord. Praise the Lord. And as you hear the missionaries get up, and you see the work that God has done in South Africa, and in China, and in different places around the world, you need to praise the Lord.
[13:02] And they there, they need to be praised in the Lord, because it's the one God who's doing the same work all around the world, that is changing lives. And he's saying, this is the God that needs to be praised. This is the God that we're giving thanks to.
[13:13] This is where we show our gratitude to. Verse 22. It says, Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
[13:24] He says, I want all of creation to be praising God. I want the ocean to be praising God. I want the mountains to be praising God. I want all of his works, everything that he has done, to be praising God, because he is the creator.
[13:37] He is the one who has created all. And he goes down, and he brings it to the very last little phrase there, and he just says, Bless the Lord, O my soul.
[13:49] He says, It's a worldwide celebration going on. We can remember all the great works that God has done, and everybody everywhere should be praising and blessing God. But he ends it with, right there, Bless the Lord, O my soul.
[14:05] And you see people getting up, and you see people praising God, and praising the Lord for what he has done all around the world, and through this church. But make sure you don't miss that you yourself praise God for what he has done in your life.
[14:18] How has God used Vision Baptist Church in your life? How has God in the past week, in the past month, or the past year, how has he done a work in your life, that you're praising him for, that you're blessing him for?
[14:31] And as we see the worldwide celebration taking place, as we see people getting sent to different parts of the world, and we see people reached right here with the gospel, and you see people getting baptized and discipled, are you involved in that?
[14:43] Are you involved in the work? Are you one of his ministers that's doing his pleasure, so that you can be part of the group that is blessing the Lord, and also of yourself saying, O my soul, bless the Lord, for the great works that he has done.
[14:57] I just tell everybody, I was planning on staying with him until he died, I just didn't think he was going to live this long. So, you know, he surprised us all, but we praise the Lord for that.
[15:08] Man, it is a joy to be here. We praise the Lord for how he's blessed Vision Baptist Church. Amen. You know, I was just thinking back in the, man, as Brother Austin was mentioning, the people standing up, and the things that we've been through over the last several years, I did have an opportunity to serve as administrative pastor for the first five years of this church, and it's kind of odd.
[15:28] I come in sometimes, and there's new faces, and they're saying hello to me, and welcoming me, thinking that I'm a first-time visitor. So that's a little strange. And I'm like, hey, you punk, I've been here ever since the beginning of this church.
[15:39] No, I'm just kidding. No, but it is a little strange, but it's exciting to see new people come in. It's exciting to see how God has blessed our family and blessed our church. You know, it does, my favorite singers will always be Catherine and Kristen, and as Philip dubbed them, are everyone's favorite singers.
[15:58] One service, he just let everybody know that they're our favorite singers, and they have been my favorite singers ever since the start of this church. As I think about the guys that have come up, and I've, you know, the hours that we've spent with Mark and Philip, and I can remember them putting in hours and hours and hours every week, and not getting paid at all for those jobs.
[16:20] And just, you know, I was kind of on the other side saying, man, I just wish there was some way to pay them, and I would come up to them and say, hey man, guys, we'll make it up to you someday, you know, when you're a missionary, hopefully, and just seeing all the time that those guys put into the ministry to make this place what it is today.
[16:37] Thinking about how we had opportunities to work with Trent and Stephanie, and before it was Trent and Stephanie, they were just Trent, and then there was Stephanie, and then they came together. But seeing how God blessed them, I can remember the times where we met, first met in John and Sandy's house.
[16:52] Our first service was, and I think it was in their little side room, not the basement, but the little side room, where we would get in an argument with Brother Austin over some book that Brother John was promoting.
[17:03] I can't remember what it was. No, I think it was Trent was promoting it. But just those first services, and how God has blessed, and seeing the people that have been saved, thinking about Brother Austin and Miss Betty, moving their ministries from Peru to here, and giving up everything.
[17:20] Thinking about Hugh and Elizabeth being some of the first people in our church, and how they came in, and we were like, man, please, Lord, let at least one family stay, as we were trying to get people in.
[17:31] And we started in this one small, this is our third location, for those that some of us don't know, but we started in a little small room, and man, we were just, when people started coming in and filling up that room, I remember Ryan Murphy was one of those first people, and Hugh and Elizabeth came in, and this is just that small room.
[17:45] And I can remember one of the first services, Brother Ryan Murphy came in to, Brother Tony offended him in front of everybody, and we were just like, man, we're going to lose that guy. But he stayed, he ended up staying, and I remember all the missionaries that came, and believed in this place so much, that they gave of their lives, gave of their time, and gave of their money, and were really worked as staff members the first year, as we think of Jake Talby, and Tyler Masters, and Aaron Baschords, and their family, and Mike Shane, and how he came in.
[18:11] I believe Mike was single when he first came here, weren't you, Mike helping, starting out, and then we were just amazed that he was able to find a wife, so we were really happy when Cindy started coming around. And man, it was just, just what God has done, as far as to Plant Vision Baptist Church.
[18:28] Thinking about all the blessings, and man, of all the lives that have an opportunity to be changed. And as I was thinking, and preparing for this message, you know, I was doing my devotions through the book of Philippians.
[18:40] And in Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, Paul was talking here, and he's talking to the church of Corinth, I mean, the church of Philippi. And he says in verse 27, Only let your conversation be, as it becometh the grace, or becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together, for the faith of the gospel.
[19:03] I was thinking about this situation here. Paul was not in this church at the time. This was one of the prison epistles. This was one of the letters that he wrote while he was in prison. And as he was thinking, you know, the pastor of this church came to bring an offering to Paul, and Paul sent this letter back with him.
[19:20] And as he was thinking of the church of Philippi, most people believe that, that really, Paul, when he thought of the church of Philippi, he was thinking of his favorite church. The favorite church that he's ever been involved in. And, you know, especially, I'm allowed to say this, being a member of Vision Baptist Church, but man, Philip, Vision Baptist Church has been my most favorite church I've ever been involved in.
[19:40] As far as seeing, being here from the beginning, and seeing, you know, how things have grown, and how God is blessed. And I really do appreciate this church. And then I'm thinking about some things. You know, I can remember telling Mark and telling Philip, man, I can't wait till you guys are missionaries.
[19:55] I can't wait till you guys get to the field. But, you know, I never really thought I was going to be one of those guys again. I really thought that I was going to be here at Vision until, you know, Brother Austin died.
[20:07] And I probably, I felt like, you know, when Trent became pastor, I probably would have to leave because we don't get along well enough. So, I thought, man, you know, at least here, but man, I never thought I was going to be leaving.
[20:19] And now, Amy and I, I just have 96, 97 days left before we head off to South Africa, which I'm very excited about. Man, I'm thinking about vision. And, you know, as Paul was saying, saying these words, I come and see you or else be absent.
[20:33] I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. You know, guys, the things I hope for Vision Baptist Church is that even though we're in South Africa and we're ministering there and we're seeing people saved there and seeing churches started there, I pray that I can hear the affairs of Vision Baptist Church.
[20:53] I pray that I can hear things that you stand fast in one spirit, that you're with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. You know, folks, we need to be about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[21:05] We need to be about making much of Jesus Christ. As I think about the ministries that we were involved in before we came to Vision, you know, Brother Gardner was a missionary in Peru for 18 years.
[21:18] And because I came there, he had at least 12 productive years there at the end. And just praying how the Lord has blessed his ministry. But you know, my wife and I, we were there in Peru for five years.
[21:32] And I can tell you, we loved Peru. And my wife especially loved Peru. I mean, I think sometimes she's still mad because I took her out of Peru. But man, we loved Peru.
[21:43] We have strong relationships that are still in Peru, not counting the missionaries, just the national pastors and how God had blessed the television ministry, the radio ministry, how God had blessed the Christian school and the many churches.
[21:56] I believe over 70 churches have been started out of that ministry. But I got to think about, you know, God is, you know, He pulled families off of that field to come here to Alpharetta, Georgia and start a church.
[22:10] And I wonder, you know, why did God move us from Peru to Alpharetta? Why did He move us from a ministry that was so successful and so productive and great things were going on there?
[22:22] Folks, I believe He moved us from there because He had a plan for something great to go on here. And I'm thinking about, as I, you know, I heard Miguel preach, which, you know, the first, one of the, the first guy that was saved out of the ministry of Vision Baptist Church.
[22:37] And man, he was preaching today. Man, that was just exciting for me to see. And I'm thinking, man, I wonder if God moves all of us here just for Miguel Sanabria. And I was wondering, you know, who else did God move us here for?
[22:51] To think about how great our God is, that our God taught enough of you to move families around the world to allow you to be a part of a great church like this and be a part of a great ministry.
[23:04] And sometimes we think, well, man, we want to be great in God's eyes. Man, I want to be great. God moved me from Peru to make me greater. God moved the pastor from Peru to make him greater. No, you know, maybe God was just using us as puns as far as to do something great in your life.
[23:20] And where He wanted to do something even greater in your lives, and He gave us an opportunity to be a part of that. Because I think of Paul here, man, he was talking about these people and he says, man, when I hear about you guys, I want to hear how God has been working in your lives.
[23:33] In chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ. I mean, has Christ consoled you at all? If any comfort of it, of love, if any fellowship of spirit, if any bowels of mercy, really, what I'm saying, hey, if Christ has done anything in your lives, then verse 2, fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind.
[24:00] What Paul was saying, hey, if Christ has done anything in your life, man, what would give me most joy, is to hear how He's worked in your life, and He's made you like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind.
[24:14] Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, and let each esteem other better than themselves. Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of other.
[24:25] Man, it's amazing how God wants to work in our lives. And when I hear about Vision Baptist Church in South Africa, man, I want to hear great things. I want to hear how you guys are united. I want to hear how you guys are excited about getting the gospel message to the world.
[24:38] I want to hear even greater things. Because guys, God moved people around the world for you. God moved people in this place, because He had something great for you.
[24:51] And man, I would hate to think that you took what God has, the grace that God has worked in your life, I'd hate to think you took that in vain. To think that God put all these people in place, because He wanted to work in your life, and you missed it.
[25:05] Man, I don't want you to miss it. I know, man, how He's blessed my life. I know how He's blessed a lot of people in this church, and how He's used your lives. And man, I know He wants to use your life. Man, I don't want to think that, man, God did all these things, and brought people into this place, for you to miss out on what He had planned for you.
[25:24] Man, we think of the people that we've met, we think of people we started with, and then we kid about, I know Trent and I have kidded about, you know, who's going to be the next pastor. Is it going to be Robert? Is it going to be Trent? You know, at the time we were thinking, maybe Brother Tony.
[25:36] But really, we came to the conclusion, you know, it's probably not going to be any of those guys. It's probably going to be that little brat that you're working with, in the first grade Sunday school class, that we can't stand.
[25:47] But the thing about, man, how God has given us the opportunity, guys, don't waste what God has done here. God has just, used us as His servants, and man, I hate to think that we're going to be leaving, but man, when I hear at Vision Baptist Church, I want to hear about great things, that are being done, for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[26:09] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.