[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. During this time, Pastor Gardner answers various questions.
[0:15] I understand we have some questions and this is Q&A night, so how about one? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit directs us to do specific things that are not detailed in the Bible?
[0:26] Examples, go to a certain country, give a certain amount of money. That's a good question. Somebody would really like to trip me up, wouldn't they? I like the word direct.
[0:37] So look at this question. It says, do you believe that the Holy Spirit directs us to do specific things? You know, you cannot concrete anything you say if you don't have a Bible verse.
[0:49] So for a guy to say, I believe that God wants me in Peru, you can't concrete it unless the Word of God says it. So the next thing you do is you take those steps. And if God's in it, he opens and closes the doors and allows you to get there.
[1:03] And so I do believe that God will direct us always in agreement with the scriptures. I believe that most any thought that comes to my mind that's not selfish, I assume it came from God.
[1:15] If I happen to be in a position where there's an idea that crosses my mind, I ought to give this guy some money. And it's not so I could get a favor out of him. And it's not so I can impress somebody.
[1:26] And I do it in a way that I really believe the Holy Spirit is dealing with my heart to do that. And so I do believe that God did send me to Peru and to Arequipa.
[1:37] And I do believe that God did send me back to vision to start the church. But let me just say two or three things. One, God never sends us to do something that's not in agreement with his Bible.
[1:48] You could throw a dart at the wall, a world map, and as long as it hit land, you could go there and preach and it'd be in the Lord's will. God would be all in favor of that.
[2:02] But God is never in favor of you doing something foolish that you try to blame him with. I hear people all the time, God wants me to leave this church. We had a young man that was attending here, and God led him to leave our church.
[2:15] I didn't say a word to him because he said that to me. So I just, I mean, that's like the trump card. You pull that one. No one can say anything to you. But God didn't lead him because he now no longer goes to church. I mean, he just doesn't go to church.
[2:27] He told me, he said, I can't find a church. I didn't say a word, but I wanted to say, well, if God was leading you out of here, he was probably leading you into somewhere. And so if God didn't lead you into somewhere, he probably didn't lead you out of here. So we got to be careful about that.
[2:40] We have to be careful about, you know, a guy says, God's leading me to Mary. Hey, Susie, but God hadn't led Susie to it. Then God probably didn't really lead you. You just wanted to. And you'd be surprised how many young people tell me, I know God wants me to marry her.
[2:54] And, uh, and I'm like, well, I don't think she likes you. And, uh, and, uh, he says, well, I know, but it's God's will. It probably, that's not how it's just not God's will that way. That's a good question.
[3:05] Here's the reason it's a good question. This is the only concrete thing we have. It's the only concrete thing we have. So if somebody came to me and they said, God's leading me, God's leading me to go do a certain thing, I would say, well, if God's leading you, then there should be things that are obvious and clear to everyone else.
[3:24] And don't use the God's leading me or directing me as a trump card to get out of trouble anytime you want it. You know, God definitely didn't lead you to kill somebody. He definitely didn't lead you to divorce your spouse.
[3:36] He definitely didn't lead you to do a lot of things. And I would just be honest and say, we abuse the fire out of God directing us. We abuse.
[3:47] That is one of the most overused, abused, misused, misunderstood things in the Bible. Um, when I went into the mission board that I was with, I told them that I really believed with all my heart.
[4:00] God wanted me to go to a place called Adi Keeper Proof. And that God wanted me to go to Mexico to language. I'd studied it. I'd laid it all out. And I told them that I believed that God would let me raise my support in one year.
[4:11] And that in January of 87, I'd be in Mexico. And in January of 88, I would be in, in, uh, uh, Adi Keeper Proof. And, uh, the men at the table said, uh, what are you going to do if this ain't true?
[4:24] I said, then I'm going to tell you, wasn't God told me I've dreamt it up myself, but it did come out. It did work that way. So I do believe God led me. So I will tell you that I believe God directs, but it's always in agreement with scripture.
[4:35] It's always in agreement with scripture. God only has one mind that it's in your Bible. You got it. And he only has one word and it's in your Bible and there's no new words.
[4:46] I won't be coming up here tomorrow and saying, we have now decided to begin ordaining women as pastors. I won't because he didn't put that in the book and he can't, he's not going to give me any extra revelation.
[4:58] I won't be coming up here tomorrow and giving you a whole new, uh, a whole new thing. God came up with. I believe the revelation is closed. You have the word of God.
[5:09] Study it. The second question. No. Is Mormonism a Christian religion?
[5:22] I fully understand why you asked that question. And, uh, uh, and, and I know that, uh, there's a lot going on in our political world. And also know there's a lot of commercials, but let me explain to you what a Christian religion is.
[5:34] There's an effect is, uh, let me back up. Let me just, I'll answer that a little bit differently. Yes, it is a Christian religion. No, it's not a Christian religion. Let me answer it that way. You see, religion is a whole big thing of, it's like a list of rules and mores and norms and social things that people make up.
[5:52] Uh, and, uh, so it does use the word Christian and they would claim to be Christian. Are they biblical? Are they Christ-like? Is there salvation there? I'll answer it that way.
[6:04] Then that's no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Do they call themselves Christian? Yes. Is there salvation there? No, there's salvation only a one person. And that is Jesus. And he died and he was buried and he rose again.
[6:17] And he saves those who come knowing that he and he alone can save. They have been, they have been extremely racist for a long time. No one, but white people could become one.
[6:29] They're a new group. They're, they're only what? A hundred and thirty or forty years old. Their founder, uh, had a, uh, an angel, uh, a demon speak to them and show them where there was some plates and some magical glasses that they could put on and be able to read the magical plates to be able to figure out what was going on.
[6:47] Uh, foolish, foolish, foolish, foolish. None of us are going to get our world. None of us are going to get our planet that we get to populate. None of us are going to, there's so much foolishness involved in that.
[7:01] It is religion and it is religion, religion that would damn people to hell, not a true religion. And so Mormonism is not Christianity. Uh, I think Mormon people are good people.
[7:14] Uh, I'm not saying that, but they're good. Like everybody else, dirty, rotten, stinking, filthy centers that deserve to go to hell because there are no good people. Somebody asked me one time, what is your basic feeling towards human nature?
[7:25] Depraved human nature. The Bible says that all of sin, it comes short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not one. So I would not say that anyone who believed that you could be saved through anything that Mormonism teaches is truly saved.
[7:39] How does that, that's a pretty strong answer. But I would say we're so low level, the news won't be calling me and, uh, the paper won't write it up, but I'll just tell you that that is not, uh, there's no Christianity in Mormonism.
[7:53] Next question. How are you doing? I'm great. How about you? Uh, that's very kind of, uh, whoever asked that I'll say to you that, uh, I am doing extremely well.
[8:06] I have no symptoms. That's the problem. The, the thing that's shocking to everybody is I haven't had a fever one time, haven't had a headache, haven't had a pain, haven't had anything except I urinated blood.
[8:19] And that was a shocking thing. And so when I saw that, I knew that it was not just a tinge. It was almost pure blood. And I knew I had a big problem. I went to the doctor and the doctor said, you got cancer.
[8:31] And two days later I quit urinating blood and I'm back to being completely healthy now, maybe three days, two and a half days. And the doctor told me when I saw him, was it Friday? I think maybe we saw the doctor. He said, you had an episode and they were more will come.
[8:44] So I am perfectly. If honestly, if I was Pentecostal, I've been healed. And, uh, uh, but I'm planning on getting the rest of the way healed on Thursday and, uh, let them go ahead and get the whole cancer out of me.
[8:57] Uh, um, Tuesday was a whirlwind, so it didn't bother me much. Uh, Wednesday was a pretty rough day because I'm, uh, weak and carnal and, um, doubt and got scared.
[9:14] And, um, because, you know, it could, it could be in your limp nodes. Uh, it could be in your blood. And if it is, then it goes everywhere. So I told Betty to sell the house, pay off the debt.
[9:25] And I tried to settle up things so that she'd know what to do and, uh, try to make arrangements like that. And I wasn't in a very good mood. I don't think I was very sociable Thursday night when I came here.
[9:37] Uh, I felt, uh, it's amazing. The second somebody says the cancer word, everybody's scared of you. Nobody wanted to talk to me. Uh, I mean, all the guys that call me all the time to the point, sometimes I pick up my phone.
[9:50] I say, oh, stink. There he is again. Uh, nobody was calling me, but three or four people actually called me. And, uh, then everybody was writing me letters and everybody was writing me letters and saying, we know everybody's calling you.
[10:00] So we won't call. Well, nobody was calling. Everybody was writing letters. And, uh, then you go on Facebook and it looks like you died. All the nice things they said, uh, people that don't even like me or liking me.
[10:11] I think that's shocking. It's like, he likes me. He has never liked me. And so, uh, anyway, I am really doing fine. I'll tell you what I want. I'll tell you what I literally got, God, God's honest truth from my heart.
[10:25] I hope I am. Am I scared about getting put to sleep? I'm a control freak. I am not used to anybody telling me what to do, but Betty. And, uh, so I'm a little, I'm a little nervous about the fact that they're going to shoot me up and put me to sleep and humiliate me.
[10:46] Yeah, I'm a, I'm a little nervous about that, but in all honesty, I'm in very good shape. I'm trusting the Lord. And I believe he was going to work things out. Bad things happen. I'm going to come out of it. Praising him.
[10:56] If they go in and find out that things have spread, which they don't think that's going to happen. I'm going to praise him the best I can. I hope you pray that I can do that. And I, but I, in all honesty, from what the doctor says, if things look like he thinks they look in three weeks, nobody's ever going to know anything ever happened.
[11:11] Uh, I may, he told me that, uh, he told me that the first week I may feel like it's nine o'clock at night when it's noon. He said, your body will just be worn out. It's like Thanksgiving day when you're tired.
[11:23] He says, not because you're really in bad shape. It's just because you ate so much. Your whole body's working on digesting all that food you put in you and you feel sleepy. He said, that's how you're going to feel. So that's his prognosis.
[11:33] So I'm doing good. And I am. And preaching today was like medicine for me. You know, people worry about me preaching. And the truth is when I, I can be as sick as a dog. Whenever I start preaching within about a minute of the time I start, it's like, uh, I get this little, uh, I get this high, you know, I get this.
[11:50] I just, I love it. And so I had a blast today's been a very good day. I loved it. Thank you. Next question. Or is that the last one? That's the last question. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of vision Baptist church for contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings.
[12:11] Log on to www.visionbaptist.com.