[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. During this time, Pastor Gardner answers various questions.
[0:14] All right, I'll tell you what, let's do there. Are you the man, Patrick? Can I have a question? We'll do a question or two and then we'll go to our preacher. What percentage of our city do you think has never heard the gospel?
[0:26] You know, I don't know how, I honestly don't know how to answer that question correctly. So I'm going to, I'll give you two or three things. I think everybody's probably heard about Jesus around here. Except the foreigners that come in, maybe the Indian people, the Indonesian people, the Chinese people.
[0:44] There's a lot of people that come from different parts of the world and they may have never heard the gospel. And I suppose that that's probably a smaller percent, 10 or 15 percent. But let me just say this. It's most often what happens is a perverted gospel is given.
[0:59] How's that for you? Listen to this one. I'm going to tell you there's a perverted gospel given. And a perverted gospel is this. And this is what is, this is what's hard. What I'm about to say is hard. It's mean.
[1:10] Here comes meanness. You ready? They teach you that you do something and God does something and you get saved. They teach you that we're all saved by grace, but you must.
[1:23] And the whole book of Galatians and the Bible is written with this philosophy. You can't add to grace. God did the work.
[1:36] And it is all God. And it's none of us. So churches like to hang heavy, heavy over your head because you got saved by grace. But if you're not careful, you'll lose it or God will take it back.
[1:47] And so they teach a mixture of grace and works. And in a sense, that's the most perverted form. In a sense, that's the most perverted form of the gospel that could be out there.
[1:57] It would be better that they have no gospel than if they have that perverted form of the gospel. So I happen to be using a Spanish Bible here tonight. So you've got to look this verse up for me. I need Galatians chapter 1.
[2:09] Galatians chapter 1, if you would. And let's go to verse 6. And let me say, what part of the city hasn't heard the gospel? You could go to church.
[2:20] You could go to church and you could hear any number of things. Watch this. So this is why I think we have to share our faith. We have to get material out, get out gospel tracts, and everything else.
[2:33] One thing that you can hear, I'll read the verses with you in a second. One thing that you could easily hear is this. You could easily hear, I was born into a family that's in a covenant. And there's a covenant theology people.
[2:44] And they believe that because mom and dad are Christians, that that means they will automatically become Christians. Or the grace that mom and dad enjoy spreads over to them. And therefore, they have salvation based on the fact like the Israelites were in the covenant.
[2:59] And the Israelites, quote unquote, would have all been saved. Simply not true. Then there would be the people that would believe, I'm a Christian.
[3:09] I go to church and I do lots of good things. And if you brought it down to the crux of the matter, if you really got them down to the point of the matter, their real trust about their salvation is that they are good, moral, religious people.
[3:23] And there are people all over the country like that. Protestants, the major mainline Protestant denominations, your Lutherans and your Presbyterians and other groups often have a very mistaken view of salvation because of that.
[3:41] So to hear, who's heard the real gospel? What is the real gospel? And the real gospel is very ugly. I think everybody ought to know that. The real gospel is ugly. Here's what the real gospel says.
[3:52] It says you stink. And you deserve to go to hell. Period. That's it. Question's over. You're fried. That's the real gospel. That's the bad news of the gospel.
[4:03] The good news is this. But Jesus took all your stink and all your stuff and he put it on the cross and paid for it. But you'll only get saved if you receive it as a gift and don't try to add anything to it. And don't be trying to pay it back.
[4:14] That's the gospel. I'd say that I grew up in a lot of ways not believing that. I think I grew up in a lot of ways hearing opposites of that.
[4:27] That's why people have to get saved 22 times. You ever been around those churches where people get saved like all the time? You know why, don't you? Because they mess up. We claim once saved, always saved, but that once wasn't really once.
[4:38] And so you've got a whole bunch of oncees that finally get to the once saved, always saved, which that's why I don't ever use that term. And so what percentage of our city has truly heard the gospel?
[4:50] I don't know, probably less than half, in my opinion. My wife comes out of one of the sweetest, kindest families I've ever known in the world. My in-laws have been the greatest people in the world, were the greatest people in the world to me, far better than I ever deserved.
[5:05] And now that I'm an in-law, I know how hard it is to love in-laws. From the daddy-in-law and mother-in-law part, how hard it is sometimes to put up with kids and what they do with your family.
[5:20] And I know that that can be a little bit of a headache sometimes. And I would just say that, I will say to you, my wife did not hear the gospel until she was 18. It's a beautiful story. Betty, and I'm going to read the verse 2 and then I'll quit this one.
[5:33] And Betty was in her dorm room and this evangelist had come to the city of Rome where we were going to college. And he was preaching and, buddy, the city was hearing about it. And the college we went to was a Southern Baptist college and a lot of the students were going out to the meeting.
[5:47] I was going there, didn't know Betty yet at all. And a girl came back from the meeting. Her name was Diane. Her daddy was a Southern Baptist pastor. And she came back and she went into Betty's room and she started telling her how exciting the meeting was and how wonderful it was and that people were getting saved.
[6:04] And when she started saying that to Betty, Betty started crying. And, of course, you don't think that's unusual, do you? But back then it was a little bit more unusual.
[6:15] And Betty started crying. And Diane looked at her and said, hold it, I know exactly what your problem is. And Diane ran to her room, got a Bible, walked back in and said, let me show you the first thing.
[6:25] The Bible says in Romans chapter 3, verse 10, she went through the plan of salvation and Betty got saved that day. And Betty would tell you that's the first time she heard the plan of salvation. So many, many people, they think speaking in tongues is a part of salvation.
[6:38] They say they think doing good work. Much of church has become, much of church has become give to God and God will give to you. Much of church has become get something out of God.
[6:48] Much of church has become God as a genie in a bottle. And so, in all honesty, the gospel is really hidden to them. The gospel is hidden to them. And I'm going to read these verses, but you listen to this.
[7:00] Here is the gospel in a nutshell. We were sinners and sinners stink and sinners go to hell. And sinners can do absolutely nothing to be saved except receive the gift.
[7:14] Believe the promise. Trust the Lord. That's all they can do. And not one other thing. The gospel is that when we get to heaven, none of us will be bragging about anything.
[7:27] When we walk in the door, we walk in the door. Brother Frick has got one of the sweetest testimonies of salvation that you could ever hear. When he told me, I've never forgotten the story.
[7:38] But when Brother Frick walks into heaven, and he's pastored, and he's served, and he's worked, and he's raised a good family. And when he walks into heaven, and he walks into heaven with a guy who just got saved two weeks before, who was a fallen down drunk and never did anything.
[7:51] They will both walk in the door. And me too. All of us are going to walk in the door. And if somebody wants to do any bragging, here's the bragging we'll do. Thank God Jesus is good. That's all we'll say. There won't be any, I was a missionary 20 years.
[8:04] There will only be this. Man, God is good. That's the gospel. They haven't heard it. Look if you would at Galatians 1.6. Galatians 1.6. I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace of God unto another gospel.
[8:19] Let's just keep going down to verse 9, if you would. Which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
[8:36] Verse 9. And so, and we said before, so I'm silent and say now I again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.
[8:47] If you've got an ink pen, circle the word accursed found in verse 9 and verse 8. Draw a line to the margin. And it basically says, cursed, accursed, cursed, cursed, accursed.
[8:58] Here's what it means. Damned to hell. If they preach another gospel, that's it. Let them just go to hell. And here was the other gospel they were teaching to the Galatians.
[9:12] You do need the grace of God, but you've got to quit eating pork. There's people that say that too. You do need the grace, but you've got to be careful not to mess up on Saturday.
[9:25] You do need the grace, but you've got to speak in tongues. You do need the grace, but, and here's the way it works. You can't add this to this. There's grace and works don't mix.
[9:37] It's oil and water. They don't mix. They don't go together. There are works in our lives, but those works aren't to get grace. They're because we got grace. It's where be, do, serve, train that comes in, which maybe someday, who was it?
[9:52] Was it Justin Gasway? He said some rascal took that off the wall. Maybe that rascal will get it back on the wall sometime. Maybe back in the corner in my office area where I can at least sit.
[10:03] But it starts out like this. I am a Christian. I have believed. I am a new creature. And for that reason, I do things. It's never, I do things so I can be. I do things because I am.
[10:15] Let's have one more question there, brother. And then we'll move to something else. How much money do we need in the Nehemiah initiative before we start looking for a building?
[10:26] Well, we're looking. The better question might have been, how much money do we need in the Nehemiah initiative before we start trying to buy a building? A bunch. What's a bunch?
[10:37] I don't know. I think my financial advisor has said we're probably going to need $300,000 in the Nehemiah initiative. But God could work a miracle.
[10:48] The fact is a couple of you probably own enough land. You could just give us 10 acres. And if you did that, it would solve the problem. And the Nehemiah initiative would become buy some buildings.
[11:02] How much money do we need? You know, we're praying and asking the men of the church. I know that several of the men are looking and maybe looking at the possibility of a warehouse like this that we could build out and make look like we want it to look with real classrooms.
[11:18] My son-in-law is here from Peru. And so Sunday after Sunday school, he says to me, he says, what are all the little circles of people? What's all that about? And I said, well, those are classes.
[11:30] He said, oh. You could just see it. The Peruvian mind going, what in the world are y'all doing? And I said, well, if we had rooms, we'd all be in rooms, but we don't have rooms.
[11:41] So we're looking. And God might give us a warehouse with good parking that we could build out. God might give us land. God might give us another church building.
[11:53] But you say, what do you know about him giving us right now? Another breath. That's all I know about so far. I have no idea of any other. And I don't know when we might have a building.
[12:03] I wish I could tell you. I wish I could tell you. But could I remind you of this? We don't need one. Well, I don't mean that in the wrong way. I want a building. You do not know how much I want an office.
[12:17] There's no way. My Bible has disappeared. That's why I'm carrying the Spanish Bible. Off of my desk, my Bible disappeared. How can a pastor's Bible disappear off the pastor's desk in the church where the pastor works?
[12:31] I don't know. A while ago, you saw me walking around. I was looking under every chair to think maybe somebody stuck it under one of the chairs. At first, I thought it was a hoax. In Peru, I used to get ready to preach sometime. And I'd be going to preach at a massive youth congress.
[12:43] We'd have 1,500, 2,000 people in the room. And I'd have my Bible in there beside me. And I'd look down and it'd be gone. And it'd become my time to go to the pulpit. And I'd look around and all the preachers would be going. And so I thought maybe that's what was going on.
[12:57] But anyway, you try that with my iPad, I'll kill you. Because I need it for the notes. But anyway, you know we don't need a building. Let me just say that so you get this.
[13:09] Man, we're doing good, aren't we? I mean, it's been comfortable. Brother Steve said, you must be 100% back because it is cold in this room. And his wife brought her winter coat and she's got on snowshoes tonight.
[13:21] I don't set the temperatures in this building, by the way. Some other people do that. But I like it nice and cool. It's never that cool up here. And if you don't believe that, you should remember how Justin looked. Did anybody notice how much Justin sweat?
[13:33] That man was a sweat machine. So Betty asked him after church. She said, man, she said, you must have really been hot. And he said, no, it's really embarrassing. I just sweat a lot. And he said, I'm really embarrassed about it.
[13:44] I said, Betty, look at that. You're embarrassing. Poor guy comes to our church to preach. And you're embarrassing about his sweating problem. But anyway, we're doing good, aren't we? I mean, our classes are working well.
[13:54] Even though it's not the most ideal situation. But, you know, it's a great thing that we're serving God. And we're not letting a building determine who we are. A building doesn't determine how many people we have.
[14:05] A building doesn't determine how we do ministry. And we are using the building. And the building is not using us. And we're able to pay our bills. We used to rent a building that costs us a total of probably $18,000 a month.
[14:17] Here we pay about $7,000 or $8,000. I'm counting all the stuff that goes with it, rent and utilities. But I'd say $18,000 and we're down to $8,000. Am I too far off on that, John? That's about right. $10,000 savings.
[14:28] That $10,000 enables us to do a lot of things. And isn't it a beautiful thing? This building is so useful and so easy to use. Even the wedding was done.
[14:42] They were able to make this place look good and have a beautiful wedding. So all I'm saying is I'm going to thank God for this building. As he gets ready to give us another building, I'm just going to be grateful for where I am.
[14:54] But I'm praying. I will tell you that it is a constant, everyday prayer of mine that God would give us a place to call our own. All right, let's take another question there, Brother Patrick. I want to mention one other thing about the first question.
[15:06] How many people heard the gospel in the city of Alpharetta or in our area? And I was just sitting there thinking about it. I think there's a lot of people that go to church here.
[15:20] And you might think that means that they hear the gospel. If a preacher doesn't open the Bible and read the Bible and explain the Bible, no matter how much it looks like a church, it's not a church.
[15:39] And if I just read a tweet before I came up here and the tweet said, high energy music leader, 50% rock, 40% aggression and 10% singing.
[15:56] And that's become the norm. The norm has become foolishness. And the Bible wants it to be the foolishness of preaching. And preaching is opening the Bible and teaching the Bible.
[16:08] And so just let me say that, you know, I went to Sunday school. And this is the honest truth. I'm not making this up. For over one year, my Sunday school teacher took our little quarterly and in less than five minutes finished our Sunday school lesson.
[16:20] And we played baseball in Sunday school. And what we did, we would roll up a quarterly, wad up a sheet of paper, set the different, there were four benches around the room.
[16:32] We would throw the little piece of paper. The guy would swat it with the bat and then we would run to the benches. And that was my Sunday school class for a solid year. That's one of the benefits of having a closed room Sunday school.
[16:43] The teacher doesn't even have to teach you anything. And so please understand that people go to churches, lots of churches, that have the appearance, the outward faking of the power of God, but no real power.
[17:01] So I want you to know there's a difference in hearing the gospel and going to church somewhere. All right, next question, Brother Patrick. In 2 Samuel 23, when David left the concubines and died, did he do the right thing?
[17:20] You know, it's a long, long story, goes a long, long ways back. And I'll just say, no, he didn't do the right thing. Let me tell the story for those who might not be up to date on what that story is about right there.
[17:31] If you recall, David was God's man. And David is a writer of a great many, a majority of the Psalms. And David has a sweetheart.
[17:42] And David is just in love with Jesus. And so when I teach on a man of God, I often use David. He's like one of my favorite Bible characters. But somewhere along the way, David began to think that he had gotten to a position that he could abuse his authority.
[17:56] And there was a pretty lady taking a bath. And they bathed on the top of their house. And he could look from his roof down to her roof. And he saw her bathing. And he asked her to come up. And he found out who she was.
[18:07] And he committed sin with her. Turns out her husband was a member of his most faithful band of mighty men. The men that were his greatest and strongest allies, Uriah, was one of those men.
[18:18] And he ends up killing Uriah or getting Uriah killed after he has committed adultery with Bathsheba. And he lies and he covers it up.
[18:29] And all of that leads to a chain of events that will literally destroy David's family. Because when you sin, sin has consequences.
[18:39] You won't go to hell if you're a born-again Christian. And after it's all said and done, God says that David had a perfect heart towards him. And God only remembers the good things about David after it's all said and done.
[18:50] But sin always has consequences. You got to please hear this. Because you might hear at our church and you might say, man, one of the wonderful things about vision. Brother, that awesome.
[19:01] He really just preaches and tells us how God loves us and works in our lives. And that is so true. But you better know something. You can't play with sin and get away with it. Sin has consequences.
[19:11] You get hurt when you mess with sin. And so David, he committed sin. And then, you remember, he thought he got away with it. Somehow, you know, you had Uriah come home. And he tried to trick Uriah into going to bed with his wife.
[19:23] And it didn't work out. And so anyway, then he kills Uriah. And he marries her. Quote, unquote, he's trying to get the cover-up done. He could have easily been a religious or political leader in America who knew how to cover up his stuff.
[19:35] Cover up the sin. He could have easily been one of those guys. And he tried to get the cover-up done. It wasn't done. And all of a sudden, a man of God came in. Nathan comes in. And Nathan walks in.
[19:46] And he says, David. He said, there was this guy that had a whole bunch of sheep. And a visitor came and wanted to have a meal. And he looked across the road at this other guy that only had one sheep.
[19:56] And he said, go over and get that guy's sheep. And bring that sheep. And kill that sheep. And we'll eat that sheep. And David just got furious. And he said, what kind of animal would have the nerve to be like that?
[20:07] And Nathan said, you. Because you've got all the women you want. You've got anything you want. You stole your neighbor's wife. And then he said, and by the way, the sword will not depart from your hand.
[20:20] The baby's going to die. And stuff's going to happen. And so, man, bad stuff happened. David, from then on, it's like he's in shock. One of the sons falls in love with one of his half-sisters.
[20:35] And he wants to be with his half-sister. And he calls the half-sister. His brother says, hey, why don't you get her to come in that room and cook for you?
[20:46] Pretend you're sick. And ask her to come cook you some tacos right here in the room. And so, he pretended he was sick. Sent his brother out and she came in to cook him the meal. He jumped up and he raped her.
[20:58] And she was crying and begging him not to do it. And said, if you'll ask dad, we can get married. And he said, no. And he raped his sister. And she ripped her clothes and went running out.
[21:11] All brokenhearted. That such a horrible thing had happened. And another brother waited on his daddy to judge the brother who did that wicked thing. And his dad did nothing. And time went by.
[21:22] And so, that brother had a big family feast. He called a feast. And he kills the brother. And then, further down the story, you know the story. He ends up, Absalom takes over the kingdom.
[21:34] And when he takes over the kingdom, David leaves ten concubines. And the son goes in and abuses them in public, in the public's eye. And was David wrong?
[21:45] He was wrong from the way back. It starts with one little thing. Honestly, this is going to sound harsh, but it's so true. It's like you get on a path and you can't get off that path.
[21:58] And you're playing with little sin and you're playing with little stuff. And really, it all started when David should have been at war. And when David should have been with his men at the battlefield.
[22:09] David stayed home and watched cable TV. And drank Cokes and ate popcorn. When he should have been doing the ministry. And so, you need to realize that.
[22:21] How can I say it? That's a great question for us to realize this. We can't play with sin. Look, play with pornography. It's so innocent, isn't it? You're not hurting anybody and you're all alone in the room.
[22:34] And you're just watching pornography on the internet or on the television. Because it's so easy to get nowadays. And used to, you had to go and sneak into some filthy place. And get you a magazine or a video.
[22:45] And now you can do it from the comfort of your home. And it doesn't look like that big a thing. But boy, just look where it leads. Just look where it leads. One step after another step after another step.
[22:55] Texting girls and boys or men and women. People of the opposite sex. And developing friendships you shouldn't develop.
[23:07] That would cause you to turn your heart from your spouse to another person. And step by step you end up messing up. So when David left the concubines to die, I think he did wrong.
[23:19] I think he did wrong a long time before that. And I think there's a great lesson for us. You are God's people. And you love God. And He loves you. Boy, and it's wonderful to be loved.
[23:30] And it's wonderful to be forgiven. And it's wonderful. It's the same deal. Can I just say that some of you won't like this? It's the same deal with your little social drink. You won't like this one either.
[23:41] But you take your little social drink. And it's okay. I mean, you know, nobody's getting hurt. And it's just a social drink. And a little wine is good for the belly. And, I mean, you've got 5,000 good reasons for why you do it.
[23:52] And then somebody takes another drink and another drink. And somebody ends up being drunk. And it leads to something that destroys people. It destroys people. It destroys people.
[24:02] It destroys people. You fight with your wife or your husband. And when you fight with your wife and your husband, it shouldn't do that. But when you do it, you don't get it right tonight.
[24:13] And you kind of let it fester. And then there's another fight and another fight. And before long, children's hearts are ripped apart as their parents separate. When you should have fixed it.
[24:23] You should have fixed it. You should have just fixed it. So David did wrong when he left the concubines to die. And I'm glad whoever, I have no idea where these questions come from. That's a good question. But God tell you, let's don't get down to concubine dying.
[24:36] Let's don't wait that long. The old farmer way of saying it, let's nip it in the bud. Let's stop it before it gets to be too far down the road. You know, young people, you rebel against your parents.
[24:50] And I know what you think. It's natural that you would rebel against your parents. Of course it's natural. Sin's natural. It's not spiritual. It's natural. You rebel against your parents.
[25:01] You have a lousy attitude towards your husband or your wife. You play with sex or drugs or alcohol. And I don't know what else to think of that I could say to you.
[25:13] And we mess with those sins. And good people are hurting. There are things that are going on right now that, not here, not here.
[25:24] But in another part of this country where some very good people are hurting, hurting, horribly hurting, horribly hurting. And this was their first Sunday to horribly, agonizingly hurt over something that probably started fairly innocently and led to a pastor being fired.
[25:40] All I'll say to you is, let's don't wait until the concubines die. Let's do right now. Next question, Brother Patrick. Whoa, is that too heavy of preaching for you?
[25:52] All right, I'm going to do this question and we'll have our five-minute preacher. He's anxious and on deck. Amen. Is foot washing and anointing the sick with oil a practice a modern day church should practice?
[26:04] Why or why not? Well, now I'm into foot washing. I'm just going to be honest with you. I washed them this morning and I washed them right before service again. So I've had two foot washings today. I hope you've had at least one.
[26:15] Say amen. I don't believe that foot washing was given as an ordinance to the church. An ordinance means an order, a command, or something they were to carry out.
[26:27] Let me explain to you why. And I explained to you why we won't be practicing foot washing. Though I will not make fun of that. I just made a light joke.
[26:37] But I wouldn't make fun of it. When I traveled on deputation, I went to some churches that practiced foot washing. They asked me what I thought. And I gave them basically the answer I'm about to give you. It's mentioned in the Gospels. And Jesus did it as he showed his disciples that he was a servant.
[26:50] It's never re-mentioned in the epistles. It's never re-mentioned in the epistles. So it has one mention. Stands alone by itself. Paul never said, hey, you remember how Jesus washed feet?
[27:01] Let's wash feet. Peter never said, remember how Jesus washed feet? Let's wash feet. Jude never said it. James never said it. It was said one time in the book of John. And then it doesn't occur again.
[27:13] You might say, well, what about the Lord's Supper? It happens in the New Testament, in the Gospels. And then it's repeated in the epistles. And so it's made clear that we were supposed to take the Lord's Supper and to do the Lord's Supper.
[27:24] The idea of foot washing would be a wonderful thing. Of course, it would make for a very long church service if you did it. What I would say would have to be done correctly. Number one, no man would ever wash any woman's feet.
[27:37] Because no man would touch another woman besides his own wife or his daughter, obviously a family member. But we wouldn't wash another, I would never wash another adult lady's feet unless it was a medical term.
[27:51] See, some of the things I say, I know they get twisted. If you're a nurse and you're washing somebody's feet, that's totally different. We're talking about in church, okay? So don't anybody try to twist this one. But anyway, I would never want to be in the service here washing a lady's feet except for my wife.
[28:05] And I wouldn't want to wash one of your feet unless I washed all of your feet. Because you can't pick and choose. I like him, I don't mind washing his feet. Jesus washed all their feet.
[28:18] The guys he liked the best and the guys he liked the least. And so we're going to practice washing feet. It's the same thing I think about hugging, kissing, and shaking hands, you know. And Prue, it was a custom for the men to give the ladies a kiss on the cheek.
[28:30] And I told the guys, if you're going to kiss, you kiss the big ugly ones and the dirty ones and the Indian ones. You kiss them all or you don't kiss any of them. Because we're not the kind of church that's going to show partiality.
[28:44] And so we like them no matter what their color is. We like them no matter who they are. So foot washing would have to work the same way. But I will say this. We ought to practice foot washing here in this sense.
[28:54] And that is the idea was that you give up your rights and you lower yourself and you serve. And, you know, you ought to come in here and be willing to say, I may be the oldest person and the biggest giver in this building, but I can run a vacuum cleaner.
[29:08] I may be the highest educated person in this building, but I can clean a toilet. So we ought to practice foot washing. It ought not be. I have arrived at a level that I no longer have to serve other people.
[29:20] Our life is about serving. So that's foot washing. But I and I and I'm not a I have I've never practiced or never in part of participated in a foot washing service. I would not be against it.
[29:32] I would not make fun of it. But I don't think that God that God gave it to us as a biblical practice. It's only mentioned one time. The other one is anointing the sick with oil. Is that a practice for the modern day church?
[29:43] I have anointed several people with oil. You want to open your Bibles? And I have one that's in English. James chapter five, if you would. James chapter five. If you want anointing with oil.
[29:56] I have anointed people with oil. I am not sure that I am right about this. And I certainly wouldn't argue with anybody in the room or anywhere else about this. But in James chapter five and verse 14, the Bible says that any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
[30:18] And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if you have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. And so I pray for sick people quite often. And I have been called. We I've never done a I've never used oil in a church service because it seems to me that the Bible verse says call for.
[30:35] So if you were sick and you wanted somebody to come and pray for you and you call for me and some of us, the men of our church went and we prayed for you. That'd be a totally different thing. The oil is simply a symbol of the Holy Spirit, I believe. And they were to call for him.
[30:47] And by the way, there was not just come lay some oil on me and I'll get healed. It was called and let's confess sins. I got to be willing to confess sin. You, the sick person has got to be willing to confess sin. And I have anointed people with oil.
[31:00] And just let me say Rosa de Rosa de Cabero. Rosa Cabero de Lopez, who Ronald and Asunta knew very well, I think. Knew, yes.
[31:11] She was an African Peruvian lady, Afro Peruvian lady in our church. I want probably the most godly lady at the Hunter Church. Sweetest, oh, sweetest lady in the world.
[31:24] Several of her children are in the ministry today. And Betty used to pick her up every Sunday and she couldn't hardly walk. She had lupus. And so she got really sick and she wanted to know if I would anoint her with oil.
[31:36] And I said, now, Rosa, you know that I'll be more than willing to pray for you. I don't mind anointing you with oil. And I put a little drop of oil on her forehead and I prayed for her. And I said, and Rosa, I can't promise you anything. And she died a few weeks later.
[31:47] So she got really healed. She went to heaven. I prayed for others and God has helped them to get well. And I can't, so I don't have any answers. So if you were to ask, do I ever expect our church to be practicing the raising or the anointing with oil of people in a church service?
[32:02] Absolutely not. I don't think so. I think what we're going to do is preach and teach the Bible. But now I'll be glad to come to your house and pray with you. I'll be glad to come and I'll be glad to bring men of our church. And I hope the men of our church will be willing to rush to your house and to pray with you.
[32:16] I think the first thing we ought to do is pray, not after we talk to all the doctors, but even before we've talked to all the doctors, that we ought to pray. So I do not believe that the anointing with oil is a part of a New Testament church service.
[32:30] Give me that verse one more time, the question. And just let me say this. That's the only time that one's mentioned that I know of. And so great discussion and arguments made over one verse. And it's probably wise not to do that.
[32:42] So I'll answer the question this way. Is foot washing and anointing the sick with oil a practice a modern church should practice? I'm going to say no. It's only mentioned one time at each place. And I only mentioned one time, but the attitude is definitely there.
[32:55] The attitude of praying for a sick person. The attitude of us going to their house. The attitude. But there's nothing magical. One thing about working in a Roman Catholic country that was really hard was there was this automatic assumption that I had great powers because I was a man of God.
[33:12] I had preached to places where there were Hispanics here in America and they would bring their sick children to me and they would say, lay hands on my baby and heal my baby. And I would say, I will more than willingly pray for your baby, but I can't heal anybody.
[33:26] And can I just tell you all this real quickly? Neither can anybody else. None of the healers are real guys. Boy, that'll make you mad.
[33:37] You'll all quit the church. They're not real. They're fake. If Oral Roberts was a great healer, he wouldn't have needed to build a hospital. This doesn't make sense.
[33:48] Why you build a hospital? If you're a healer, you don't need hospital. You need to just go. If Benny Hinn could heal everybody. I mean, we can bring him here to Atlanta. He can do like Jesus used to pull into town.
[33:59] And when he left the next day, not one sick person was still a sick. Peter could walk down the hallway and his shadow could fall on a guy and the guy get well. Here's what we'll do.
[34:10] Let's get Benny and bring him here. We'll take him down to Choa Children's Hospital of Atlanta. Let's just let him walk down the street going ding, ding, ding, ding on every floor. We'll shut that place down. Put them out of business.
[34:21] All the nurses and doctors can go get a job. So don't fall into the trap. Don't fall in the trap of all the false stuff people do. Boy, TV channels are built around it.
[34:34] And some of you are. Control your mouth. Dumb enough. I just went ahead and said it anyway. To keep listening to that and believe it. Open your Bible.
[34:46] Don't you build one doctrine on one verse by itself. Don't you build any doctrine. The Bible speaks. And it speaks as a. That's why you need it from Genesis to Revelation.
[34:58] And so if they got one verse. If a preacher stands up and tells you I saw a 900 foot Jesus. He ate too many tamales. He had too much chili on his pepperoni.
[35:10] On his pizza. Whatever you call that thing. It's just ridiculous. So I hope you know that. So yeah. I will pray for you. I promise you. I do pray for you. I honestly try to pray for you every day by name.
[35:22] And if I don't have your name on my list. If I have. If I struggle knowing your name. It's usually because your name is not on my list. Because. When I see Haley and Valerie on my list every day.
[35:33] And I see the way they really spell their name. And the name I use. That's how I always think of him. Haley. And all that big long name. Haley. I can't say that.
[35:43] But. And you know. And I see that. And I can remember you. So if I have a struggle with your name. Which I have a struggle. Because I'm old and got Alzheimer's. But if. But if I have a struggle. Man. Make sure your name gets on my list.
[35:54] We ought to pray. Everybody ought to be praying one for another. All right. Let's see if there's another question there. Were we given free will after the fall? I think we had free will before the fall.
[36:06] How's that? We had free will before the fall. Of course. We weren't the ones that did the falling. But Adam and Eve did. And we had the same free will. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden.
[36:17] And given a choice. They were told they couldn't eat of one tree. All the rest of them were their seed. And they chose to disobey. So yes. We had free will before the fall. Next question.
[36:31] So we got free will after the fall. Going back to the question. Maybe I misread it. So you must know where that question came. Where are we given free will after the fall? Okay.
[36:42] Let's just say this. We had free will before the fall. We have free will today. You choose. You choose. It all depends on where you may see. I always have to wonder what's going on behind the question. I am not a free will Baptist.
[36:53] Which would mean. That I believe I can choose to be saved. Choose not to be saved. Choose to be saved again. And choose not to be saved again. Don't believe that. I believe that. I believe that I get saved.
[37:04] And I am saved by the grace of God. And I am eternally saved. But you choose. You choose. I personally do not believe that the Bible teaches anywhere when I read it.
[37:14] That God predestined every thought that you will have. And every act that you will have. If you choose to look at porn or commit fornication or do any sin.
[37:25] You chose to do that. You were commanded not to. And you chose to obey. So you have free will. And you choose to receive or reject. Whosoever believeth in him shall be saved.
[37:37] So he said if you choose to believe. If you believe in him you'll be saved. And if you don't you won't. So I don't know if that answers the question. But yes. You were given free will before the fall. And stays with you after the fall.
[37:48] How about that? Next question. As a single. How do I respond to advances made by members of the opposite sex. Innocent or otherwise. Another good question.
[37:58] Well if you're single. You might want to respond by saying yeah I'll marry you. So I never know where the question comes from you know. As a single.
[38:09] You're single. As a single. As a single. How do I respond to advances made by members of the opposite sex. Innocent or otherwise. You know I think that 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
[38:22] Is where you ought to go. And what you ought to study. And so let me kind of walk you through a little bit of what I would say to you. And I don't want to be Dr. Phil. Number one. You full well know that you can't get into any kind of fornication.
[38:35] Or any kind of sexual sin. So you have to be very careful. That that if they're if they want to talk to you. I think that's fine for you to talk. Just talk in public. There's too much touching goes on in our church.
[38:47] Just to be blunt honest with you. Some of our young teenagers. You got your hands on girls way too much. You're not listening to the message. You're fondling a girl. Well you should be listening to the message. I mean it's just really. You're crossing a line.
[38:58] You shouldn't you shouldn't be doing that. Some of the teenagers do it. And you can say. Well you say. Well you don't have a verse on that. It's good for a man not to touch a woman. 1 Corinthians 7. 1. I got a verse. Amen. And except it be for the cause of fornication.
[39:11] Or he gave us the opportunity to have our own husband. Our own wife. So 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Verse 1 through 8 or 5. 1 through 8. Another passage of scripture.
[39:22] You guys ought to study. And dads and moms ought to use this with your family. 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 through 8. It talks about how to possess your vessel.
[39:33] But it's pretty obvious. It's also talking about what you're doing with the members of the opposite sex. So let me just say this to you. Girls. The best friend you have on this planet. Contrary to what the world would say to you.
[39:47] Is a godly dad. The best friend you have on this planet. Is a godly dad. And so you know. Your dad loves you. You say. Well my dad is harsh. And my dad is hard.
[39:57] And my dad is. And my dad is. They all are. It just depends on when you're there. The best thing you could do. Is that your dad sees a guy coming after you. Young lady.
[40:08] And he says I don't like him. That's probably a pretty good sign. Men can see jerk men. We recognize them. And women can see jerk women.
[40:19] And so you ought to recognize your. You ought to recognize the authority. And have a respect level for your parents. They only care for you. I do realize parents can cross the line. I do realize that parents can go too far.
[40:30] I do know that I have gone too far. And been too harsh in the discipline of my children. When they were young. And I admit that. And I confess that before God. And I have to my children. But just let me say.
[40:41] As a. Your attitude ought to be. We're going to have a. We're going to have the right kind of relationship. A public relationship. We're not going to be doing things in private. We're not going to be doing things that could lead to sin.
[40:53] One of the most horrible things. And for the girls. I'll just say this. One of the most horrible things is. They'll dump you buddy. They'll let you carry most of the shame. So just be careful. And get in touch with your parents.
[41:05] Get in touch with other leaders. That might help you. And encourage you. And so that you will stay right. And you're looking for the person to marry. You're single. You're looking for the person to marry. Look for a person that loves Jesus.
[41:17] Look for a person. Is already everything you want. Don't ever try to change a guy. After you marry him. Because you'll only. You're going to find out. That the guy you marry. Is the best guy you'll ever see. Because after you get to know him in a while.
[41:27] He's not. He's. Hey. On the whole. He's going to go downhill. He brushed his teeth real good. Before he started dating you. And then after he dated you. He wakes up with bad breath.
[41:38] Amen. Next question. If the main theme of John. Was proving Jesus. As the son of God. What are the themes of the other gospels. I will briefly tell you that. But I have verses or anything.
[41:50] So I'm not ready for that. Matthew proves him a king. The king. The king. And for the Jews. And Mark shows him as a servant. And Luke shows him as a man. So Luke shows Jesus in his manhood.
[42:03] And how he suffered like a man. Starts all of his life as a man. Matthew starts with him as a king. And people bringing him gifts. And bowing down to him. And Mark shows him as a servant.
[42:13] Every one of them. With a different purpose. And a different point. Next question. What time is it? Betty. Did Joseph die before Christ. Out on the cross. If not.
[42:24] Why was he never mentioned again. And why did Mary need John? Well you know. Everybody asked that question. It says Joseph isn't mentioned. We think he did die before. And that's why he needed John.
[42:34] And so we think he died. There's not a Bible verse on that. So. Yes we believe Joseph died. That's it. Man I did good. I don't know what kind of grade I get.
[42:46] But we finished all the questions. All right. And I appreciate you so much. For those of you that are visiting. Once a month. We have questions and answers. You can ask anything you want. And. Within reason of course.
[42:58] And. We. We. Answer. Try to answer those questions. It gives us a chance for a little forum. And I hope that it's been enlightening. You know. There's two of the questions tonight. That I just. I think we're very very.
[43:10] Good for you. One man. Recognize how many people have never heard the gospel. Share the gospel. Just because a guy talks about being a Christian. Does not mean anything. Can I remind you.
[43:21] Had you. Listen to this please. So you'll get it. If you'd arrived on the planet. When Jesus was on earth. You would have been in the most religious group of people. Who knew the Bible far better than any of us.
[43:32] Who were more faithful to synagogue. Than you ever are to church. The most faithful of us aren't as faithful as they were. They were so particular about Saturday. The Sabbath day. I mean.
[43:43] They did everything right. They had every appearance of being. The greatest believers. And the greatest Christians that ever existed. And they were all lost. And going to hell. A very few of them.
[43:53] Ever got saved. Don't look around Georgia. And say. Everybody here is against abortion. They all must be saved. Everybody wanted to go to Chick-fil-A. They all must be saved.
[44:03] Because you wanted to go to Chick-fil-A. And say something about. Anti-homosexuals or whatever. It doesn't prove you're saved. Might prove your political view. But it doesn't prove you're saved. Salvation comes when you know you're a dirty lost sinner.
[44:16] Boy. We want to drive that home. In all of our hearts. So that we know. That that's what the gospel is. And then I'd like to say that about the ten concubines. Would you be careful? I have sat by too many people that are hurting because of their sin.
[44:31] And I've been there when they were hurting because of their sin. We're all hurting. Every one of us. I hurt for things I've done wrong. I hurt for harsh words I made with family members.
[44:42] I hurt. I hurt. And I was wrong. I got fleshly and prideful. And I overstepped my bounds as dad. Or overstepped my bounds as husband. And acted. Prepotente is the word in Spanish.
[44:55] Acted all powerful and big shoddy. And you ever done that? None of you men have ever done that. Have you? None of you men have ever acted like a jerk to your wife. Have you? You know. I had a guy tell me the other day. He said. Never raise his voice with his wife.
[45:06] You know. I praise God for you. Just don't shoot her. You know. Some guy never raises his voice. But his gun speaks louder than his voice. Amen. And all I'm saying is.
[45:19] We've crossed the line. We've done things. They hurt. And bigger sins are even worse. And we don't want that to happen. I love you. Boy. I love you. I pray for you. And I think about you.
[45:29] And I don't want you to hurt. Because you took little steps. And recently Trent was asked. Does Vision Baptist Church ever say anything about pornography?
[45:41] Do we ever mention it? Do we take a stand against pornography? Because another church in the area doesn't. I don't know if they do or they don't. Don't know anything about any of them. But I'll tell you this. We do. Don't we? Amen. And we want to do what's right.
[45:53] And we want to honor God in that. And every other way that we possibly can. You have been listening to Austin Gardner. Pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[46:05] For contact information. Location. Service times. Or more audio and video recordings. Log on to www.visionbaptist.com www.visionbaptist.com