[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. During this time, Pastor Gardner answers various questions. Let me answer one, maybe two questions, and then we'll have our five-minute preacher.
[0:18] How about that? Let's see what we got tonight. It's kind of like family night when you get to ask questions. Why is it the Holy Spirit taught about more in Baptist churches?
[0:29] I cannot answer for Baptist churches. How's that answer? But I can answer for Vision Baptist Church. So let me answer for Vision Baptist Church, whoever asked that question. We're going to teach about him just as much as he has mentioned in the passages that we come to.
[0:45] You'll find that over the next two or three weeks that you're going to hear a lot about the Holy Spirit because the Bible's talking about him, and we have talked about him. I think maybe there's an underlying thing there.
[0:58] You do know that a lot of what you hear about the Holy Spirit's not in the Bible, don't you? You do know that a lot of stuff that's taught in churches isn't the truth. You know, they want to—the Holy Spirit, if we taught what you might be getting from television, then I would definitely be on a different plane than you.
[1:16] I would be like this super special spiritual guy. I would need you all to be bodyguards around me. Couldn't touch me because we wouldn't want the Holy Spirit to oozy-goozy out on you. You know, there was a guy named Todd that was down in—I think it was the Pensacola area.
[1:31] He was all Holy Ghost-filled, and he was punching people in the power of the Holy Spirit, knocking their cancer out. He kicked somebody with his big old biker boots, and I mean, it was the rage that went everywhere.
[1:44] But whatever the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit and his ministry, we're going to teach, and I'm going to spend probably at least three weeks on the Holy Spirit. And I would say, why is it the Holy Spirit taught about more in Baptist churches?
[1:59] It might very well be that many Baptist churches would be afraid of the excess that's been gone to by the other churches. But our church is doing verse by verse. And so if it's in the Bible, we'll get to it.
[2:12] And we have gone through several books, and I will continue, and I promise you, you will hear about the Holy Spirit. But you'll only hear what the Bible says about him.
[2:22] And we'll not have anything that makes me some big hero because I got the anointing, which is what you're going to hear. Nor will I be speaking in tongues, though I do speak in tongues.
[2:34] I want you to know I do. I speak in Spanish quite often, and I will be going. In fact, it is a week from tomorrow. I believe it is. I'll fly to Bolivia and preach for like 10 days, and all of that will be in Spanish.
[2:46] And people will come from two or three countries to be at that meeting. And so I do speak in tongues, but the tongues they speak in is not a biblical tongue. So you're going to hear all about that. By the way, if you've been around and you were through the book of Acts, we talked a lot about the Holy Spirit because he's all through there doing the work.
[3:02] And so hang around. We'll get a little bit more. One more question, and we'll have a five-minute preacher. My friend goes to another church. They are saved, but their church does not teach the Bible. Should I encourage them to leave?
[3:17] Yeah. How about that one? Yeah. You know, if they don't teach the Bible, they don't teach the Bible, then they're not. How can it really be a church if it's not about the Bible?
[3:29] And, you know, church is God's word being preached, being taught. And so if somebody is attending a church that doesn't preach the Bible, in all truth, they don't have a church.
[3:42] They may have a meeting. They may have a. Now, let me just say this. I would be very careful, so I want you to kind of get this in balance. I'd be very careful. That doesn't mean they have to preach verse by verse straight through a book of the Bible.
[3:56] You can preach expositorily and jump from one spot to another as long as what you say is actually in the Bible and you pulled it out of there. My preference and what I want to do is to preach through the Bible.
[4:07] That way I hit everything the Bible says as I come to it and I don't overemphasize it nor underemphasize it. So when you're talking about a church teaching the Bible, that doesn't mean they have to start at the beginning of the book of John and stay in the book of John.
[4:22] We're somewhere around 60 or 62 messages into John now, maybe more than that, right? Pushing 70 messages. And we still got we still got what seven, eight chapters left to go.
[4:34] And so that's not what that means. But they ought to teach the Bible. They don't teach the Bible. I good church. And could I just say I grew up in church, Baptist churches that weren't teaching a Bible, Baptist churches that people just pick their topic.
[4:46] And they just talked about whatever was their own. I have been guilty of doing that much in my own life and preaching and teaching just whatever I felt like or whatever I wanted to on that. And so I would challenge you.
[4:57] Yes, it ought to be a Bible teaching church, a Bible preaching church. I might say to you that there would be a lot of people that were criticized the way we preach because real preaching and their opinion is when you rip somebody's face off, pour salt in it and then stick their face back up on it and give them one or two punches.
[5:16] And then when they leave, they say, man, he really beat me up today. But as I read through the Bible, there's not a whole lot of that beating up stuff going on, especially if you go verse by verse. I have not really chosen in the book of John to preach all the things I have.
[5:29] It's just what the Lord's put there next. And so be careful that you don't be critical. Be careful that you make for sure that they're not teaching the Bible. But any church is doing, you know, a church is teaching man's opinion and philosophies.
[5:43] It's only one step above Dr. Phil because they at least have a verse as a launching pad. Yeah, they ought to get out of that church and go to a Bible preaching church. And there's no doubt that they ought to get out of that church.
[5:54] I would not be able to go to that church nor would I want to go to that church if it didn't teach and preach the Bible. Let's see. What kind of question? How can I get involved in the music ministry?
[6:04] Well, you know, what we do is we work through channels. And so Brother Ed's in charge of that. We need our choir. We need people that would be dedicated and would work in the choir.
[6:15] We need people that would play instruments. Sometimes if we don't have an instrument, you could even help us get an instrument and you can be involved in that. But it's going to require that you would be faithful.
[6:27] It's going to require that you would be here for practice. They put in quite a bit of time getting ready. So I hope that you will get involved. But the way we do that is you talk to Ed de los Reyes.
[6:40] Edward, as he is better known. So you be sure and talk to him. And I'm sure you can get involved. We'd love to have you involved in the music ministry. Nobody I invite ever seems to come to church.
[6:53] What should I do? Well, I think there could be two or three answers to that. The first thing I would say is pray. Beg God to help you ask in the right way and for him to deal with their heart and for him to bring them to church.
[7:09] But all of us are experiencing that. If you think you're the only one, I would say everybody around here is trying to invite people and they don't come. But that's no excuse to stop. It's just keep inviting.
[7:20] You do also need to check and see how are you inviting. So anytime there's a special event, you know, invite them to something like that. Don't be a nag. Don't continually nag them.
[7:32] Don't continually just nag to the point that when they see you, they want to hide when you're coming. And don't be don't be guilting them into coming.
[7:44] That's a big mistake that a lot of us make when we're when we're inviting people is we kind of guilt them into coming. And so don't do that. And then the last thing I would say is if you really want somebody to come to church, you know, the best thing you can do is be excited about it.
[8:00] And just say what God's doing in your life at church and what a blessing it is. And so instead of turning it into something negative, talk to them about the positive. When I am discipling somebody and I'm trying to teach somebody that they ought to read their Bible every day.
[8:14] What I do is I don't say you have to read your Bible every day. And I don't say you're a sinner if you don't read your Bible every day. And I don't I don't say I don't try to guilt them into reading their Bible every day.
[8:26] But here's what I do. I say, man, let me tell you what God's doing in my life through the scripture. Let me share with you a passage of scripture and how God worked in my life. I have found that people are far more ready to respond when you're positive and motivated and excited than they are when you guilt them.
[8:45] And so just be loving them. Keep loving them. Keep being their friend. Don't make don't make the mistake of trying to manipulate them or push them into coming to church. Don't try to nag them.
[8:56] Don't try to manipulate them. Just keep being their friend. Keep being a Christian, living out your spirit, your Christian life and allow God to do the work. George Mueller.
[9:08] The story is told and I could probably pull this up in one of his biographies. And he wrote down the names of a bunch of people he wanted to see get saved. And he prayed and asked God for every one of their salvation.
[9:20] And when you're talking, these are old timers, buddy. When they got saved, that meant they would have been at church. They would have got baptized and they would have been serving God. And when Mueller died, they found the list. And there were two names that had not been saved yet.
[9:33] And they said that within two or three years after he died, those two were saved. Everybody he asked for got saved. Some of those he prayed for for 50 years.
[9:44] So it's going to be patience and love and prayer and kindness and friendship and waiting on God to do a work. And here's the powerful thing you've got to learn.
[9:55] Holy Spirit, something right here. You know, nobody gets saved unless the Holy Spirit of God convicts them and shows them their need. And you're never, ever going to be able to do that. You do not have the power to convict somebody.
[10:08] That means to make them feel bad. You can make them feel bad guilt-wise, but you can't get into their heart and make them see their sin. Only he can. Only he can make them see their sin and their need of the Lord Jesus.
[10:21] And so don't try to play the Holy Spirit. Don't try to play the Holy Spirit. Invite, be kind, and pray and wait on the Holy Spirit. Yes, sir. Next question. What authors would be good to read after for further Bible study?
[10:37] I don't think I could answer that. And I don't think I would want to really generalize that and tell you. I can name some good books for you that all of you should read. How about if I name about five really good books you ought to read?
[10:49] And you can start with those. And if you want to know authors, you come talk to me. Everybody ought to read The Challenge of Missions. Everybody ought to read The Challenge of Missions. I think that one is by Oswald Saunders.
[11:03] Somebody correct me. One of you guys that knows. Is that correct? Trent? Help? We're not sure, but Challenge of Missions, you can get it. Look up Challenge of Missions Oswald.
[11:13] And Amazon will tell you. That would be a great book for you to read. You ought to read. I know Saunders wrote Spiritual Leadership and Spiritual Discipleship.
[11:25] Those are two fantastic books that will help you learn about being mature in Christ and growing in Christ. If you're dealing with bitterness, there's a book by Gene Edwards, who he wrote some books I don't recommend.
[11:40] You have to always be careful. But he wrote a book called A Tale of Three Kings. And if you are dealing with bitterness, you do need to read that book. But then he wrote some other books that I think where he got a little bit foolish.
[11:59] Good book. I have a whole list of like 100 or 200 that we give the students here, but caught me off guard. Books. I don't know.
[12:13] Trent, give me a book. That's right. Master. Thank you. See, old men don't remember things. The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman.
[12:25] Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman. I strongly recommend that book. Something else. Come on. Help me out there, Dr. Cornwell. Mentoring for Mission. If you can get that.
[12:36] If you can get a hold of it. In fact, if you talk to the guys, they can get you a free copy of it by getting Gunter Kralman. But that one will take you. That one's for adult readers. Not because of adult content.
[12:47] Just big words. He's from Australia. And he doesn't talk in fifth grade language. He talks in like sixth grade. And so a lot of us might not can handle that. But it's a great book. And it's about discipleship that you would enjoy.
[13:01] I think that's all I'll name right now. Let me just say this about books. Anytime you're reading a book, you need to use a lot of discretion. By the way, you need to use a lot of discretion when you listen to me.
[13:13] So I hope you really listen to this. I'm not right. Unless it's what the Bible says. This will be a shocker. This morning, I got I had a point in my message.
[13:26] And I was tired from camp. And I worked yesterday. But I my brain wasn't functioning. And I had said, don't be like Judas who didn't believe.
[13:36] And then as I read the text, I said, it said Judas, not Iscariot. And I saw Judas. I just immediately figured that Judas. And I put a whole point. And I walked down to Betty.
[13:47] And I walked and showed Jason. And I put I took my on my iPad. I could I could write on it there. And I circled the knot every place. And then I took and I started I just marked out and said trash.
[13:58] That was I mean, I made a big mistake. I was about to preach something. It was completely wrong. Tonight, I will resend that outline out to people who get my outlines. Several people subscribe to my outline.
[14:11] They'll pay for it. But I mean, I just give them outlines and I'm going to send them revised copy. Please, if you're going to use my notes, throw that other one away. A whole section wrong. So when you read a book, when you read a book, when you when any book you read, you need to realize it's a man talking.
[14:27] It's a man talking. And he can have a lot of really good things in his book. And he can have some really dumb stuff in his book. You know what a commentary is? A commentary is a book about the Bible where you got to understand the Bible.
[14:39] A commentary means a man made some comments and wrote them down. So you need to understand there are a man's comments. For example, I like Gene Edwards book, the the.
[14:52] Tale of three kings, but I told you other books that he's written. I don't like. So whenever you read a book, any book but the Bible, put your arms up. Get ready for defense.
[15:02] How many of you believe everything you read in the Atlanta Journal? Say, man. How many of you believe everything you read in the Atlanta Journal? Say, man. Oh, how many of you believe everything you read in on the Internet?
[15:15] Say, man. That should be your same attitude with every book you read. It also should be your attitude when you listen to me preach. You should say, hold on.
[15:27] Let me see. That says Judas, not Iscariot. And you just said it was Judas Iscariot. You missed the knot. That ruins your point. You should be able to do that to me.
[15:38] Don't feel funny about it. There's one authority in our church. And it is the word of God. The preacher's not above that. The preacher ought to be held accountable to that.
[15:50] And so anytime you read any book, when you listen to me preach, you should open your Bible. If I say something that we can't see in the Bible, you should feel very free to come to me and say, Pastor, please show me where you got that.
[16:01] I need some verses. And if I don't have any verses, you need to say, nice thought, but that's all it was. It's not from God. And I don't have to take it. Because there's only one authority in our church.
[16:13] It is the word of God. And it has to be carefully divided. It has to be carefully studied. And let me just say it this way.
[16:23] Do you think that I think that I make mistakes when I preach? Yep, about every week. Sometimes I get up. We're in the car on our way home. And Betty said, I don't think you meant to say that.
[16:36] And I say, what did I say? And she says, I said, I didn't say that. She said, yeah, you did. I said, no, I didn't. She said, you want to get the tape? I said, that's all right. I probably said, excuse me. I mean, my tongue gets tied.
[16:47] I speak extemporaneously, which means I got notes here and verses to read. But it's not printed out. And even if it was, I could do like I did today. So all books, whoever you read after, whoever you read after, always say, is that what the Bible says?
[17:03] And stop everywhere you go through that book and get the Bible and say, you know, he's wrong there. Because you could be reading Ellen White. Sounds like a really good name, Miss White. And yet she's a heretic.
[17:15] And so if you read a book by her and you would want to go find out what the Bible says about that. And there's been a ton of things. One of the, a man, one man in our church is following J. Herbert Armstrong.
[17:28] And he was reading all of his stuff. And he said, man, have you seen what J. Herbert Armstrong says? And I said, you know, he's the leader of a cult. He's a leader of a cult. Nobody, everybody knows he's not Christian.
[17:40] Fact is, he thinks we're the lost tribes of Israel. And there aren't any lost tribes of Israel. God knows exactly where they all are. Say, man. Now they're all lost because they're not saved.
[17:50] They're not lost. And by the way, Haggy on television, if you watch him, you've got to watch all these preachers and say, do they try to move Israel into the church?
[18:01] That'd be a big thing. Do they try to put works into salvation? That'd be a big thing. Do they try to change baptism? Always read everything and know what they say. So anybody I would suggest to you, you be very careful with them.
[18:13] Everybody you read, you filter it and filter it well. Ask questions. Come say, he says this. Maybe the last thing on that particular question. I just want to challenge you to always be Berean style Christians.
[18:28] Check and see if the Bible says it. Check and see if the Bible says it. Oh, I guess it might have been Easter Sunday. One of the men in my Sunday school class came in and said, I just heard that Paul didn't believe in a literal physical resurrection.
[18:45] It was on the radio. Just now some big name preacher said it. And I said, how about I give you some verses and you read them? And then you tell me what Paul believes. And so I said, we took him to first Corinthians chapter 15.
[18:57] Had him read a few minutes. He said, ha, that guy's wrong. It says it right here. So just check out your Bible always. Next verse. The next question. Yeah, I got a whole bunch of it, but we'd have to be here a while.
[19:09] I have preached many messages. Do you have any advice and good scripture that a person could use when going through a great trial in their life? Can I give you some that you might write down? Whoever asked that question, just let me name some good going through trials scriptures that you should read.
[19:25] First Peter, the whole book. First Peter, the whole book. Talks about trials. The fact is, if you got your Bible, let me just let's just flip over there right quick and see if I'm going to try to name two or three if I can real quick.
[19:38] Two or three really good passages. First Peter, right after the book of James, if I can get there. First Peter 1, 7. That the trial of your faith be more precious than of gold.
[19:50] That perish it, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. That book has a lot about trials. First Peter would be a great book for you to read.
[20:01] Romans 8, 28 and 29 would be a great passage for you to read. And it says that all things work together for God. All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purposes.
[20:13] And he did predestine us to be conformed to the image of his son. And when tons of bad things were happening to me, I would go to those scriptures and say, Lord, that's all I can do is hang on to that.
[20:23] And I would grab those verses and hang on to them. I would challenge you to use Ephesians chapter 5 verse 10. And I guess it would be down to maybe verse 22. And it talks about put on the whole armor that you can be able to stand.
[20:36] And you need to realize that you're under attack. Whenever things are going wrong in your life, bad thoughts will come into your head. Bad ideas will come into your head.
[20:47] And you want to run to the scriptures. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8 would be an extremely important passage. Because you want to memorize that and change the way you think.
[20:58] Change the way you think. Because what happens is it tells you what things to think on so what things not to think on. And you don't think on your trials. Of course, the book of Job would be good for any of you to read.
[21:11] If you could go to the book of Genesis and read all the stories about Joseph and how he dealt with 13 years of trial, that would be good. I think it may be, I think it's Daniel chapter 4.
[21:23] But if you'll see somebody right afterwards, we'll get it for you. The three Hebrew children were going to the fiery furnace. And they said, we know our God is able to deliver us. Somebody get that verse from me so we can tell them.
[21:34] We know that our God is able to deliver us. But if he doesn't deliver us, we still won't bow down. So you trust God in spite of all the problems. Who's got that passage in Daniel? What chapter was that? Come on, Trent.
[21:46] Get with it back there. Find that for me. Trent will find that for us here in just a second. And he'll holler that out to you. So what you want to do, what you want to do is get in all the scripture. The Psalms are fantastic.
[21:58] The Psalms, many of the Psalms, David is going through great battles. Psalms, David is going through great battles. And he uses the word of God. And he prays throughout the Psalms.
[22:11] Daniel 3. Okay, it's in Daniel chapter 3. Thank you, brother. 3.17. Wow. My wife's over here. She wants to preach. Daniel 3, verse 17.
[22:23] So look that passage up. So know that the Psalms were prayers David prayed when he was going through a lot of problems and a lot of agonies.
[22:34] And if you brought it on yourself, even by sin, Psalm 51. Great chapter. So get in the Bible. I think that's great. Next question, please. If while going through a trial, you have good days where you trust God completely and then other days where you struggle, does that mean you're a weak Christian or just normal?
[22:55] Yeah, probably both. You know, most of us are weak Christians at best. Let's be honest. Pretty cocky to think we're much more than that. That's probably pretty normal. And I think that if you're having good days when you're going through trials, that's fantastic.
[23:11] I think that you struggle. I think you're being honest. I commend you for admitting that you struggle. Who doesn't struggle? Who doesn't struggle? Who doesn't get to the point that they're like, God, what in the world is going on and why is this happening?
[23:24] And that's why we pray. We ask God to increase our faith. That's why we trust God. And so let me just say to you, don't judge yourself. Do you know what God thinks when you're being weak?
[23:36] He's thinking, well, you were weak when I found you. And the only strength you have is me. And so don't worry about it. And so, yeah, it's normal that you would be crushed by some of the things you go through.
[23:48] But it is common to man and God will get you through it and you will end up praising God. But just let me tell you, it's a normal thing to be weak. And so it's a normal thing. None of us are, I mean, if you can live like you have no problems, I would say, well, what in the world is going on?
[24:05] You know, how can you, what, are you oblivious? You don't know you got some problems? You ought to have victory over them. But many times it might take you to stand a long time in prayer, a long time in prayer. Don't beat yourself up over it.
[24:15] God loves you. You know what you do when you have a whiny crybaby granddaughter? Because I got one. I mean, she's a drama queen.
[24:27] I mean, her life is so ideal. I mean, she eats and drinks and she has no worries except that the things that are in her bucket are hers.
[24:39] She carries around this bucket. Her grandmama got her a bucket and she has a ton of things in her bucket. We think she's going to be on the program Hoarders when she gets bigger. She carries a purse on one arm and a bucket on the other arm.
[24:51] And buddy, don't touch her bucket and don't try to take her stuff. And the other night we had a missionary at our house and his daughter reached in a bucket and took something out of the bucket.
[25:02] You would have thought. There must have been 25 things in the bucket. You would have thought the end of the world came. You know what I do when she does that? We open the door and drop kick her out to the street and say, no, you're weak and we don't love you.
[25:14] You know what we do, don't you? We say, no, you ought not be like it. Come on. The other day, her cousin was there and he's what, four? And he looked at her and he said, Chloe, you just are going to have to learn to share.
[25:29] That's the way it is. I'm sitting over thinking, here's a four-year-old giving advice to a two-year-old. Probably as good of advice as I could have given. So just know that you are going to go through it and you're going to have days that you struggle.
[25:42] Hey, just get up the next day and go forward. Don't beat yourself up. You know who likes to beat you up, don't you? The devil. You know who likes to beat you up? The devil. And you know what? Just put your eyes on Jesus.
[25:53] I'll throw you one little thing here. Boy, the Lord dealt with my heart about this this week. I like this night because it's a night when I could just, since I preach to the Bible, I don't really get a chance to talk to you about. Like a regular preacher, he just picks anything he wants to.
[26:05] So here's a good one for you. Solomon was supposed to, I think it was Solomon, was supposed to have somebody get up every morning. He had a team whose job it was for the nation of Israel to thank and praise God in the mornings and to do that again in the evenings.
[26:24] And when I read that, I thought to myself, I often get up kind of grumpy. Do any of you ever get up? Does anybody in this room ever get up on the wrong side of the bed? No, we don't. You don't really, you know.
[26:35] You don't really get up on the wrong side of the bed. But you get up in kind of a mood. Some of you, you know, there's just a rule. Like at my house, I don't speak to Betty until I'm spoken to. Because Betty is not a morning person.
[26:49] And when Betty comes down that hallway, you know, I've been sitting out there sometimes a little while. And she comes down that thing, and as she walks around there, I just sit there going. And I'm exaggerating.
[27:05] It's okay. It's fun. But anyway, finally she'll say, good morning. I say, good morning. When we first got married, my daddy was always real loud.
[27:17] And so like we went after we got married, we went back home to the farm. And we were sleeping late because, man, we were married. I didn't have to obey his rules. I was just visiting. So he drove the tractor outside my bedroom window.
[27:28] No air conditioning. The window was up. And he parked the tractor. I told Betty, I think he wants me to get up. If you do that to Betty, she'll really get upset.
[27:39] You got to keep it quiet during the night and all. Well, you know what? That's a normal thing. Just get up, though, and praise. What about if you got up and pray?
[27:49] It really helped me since I read that. And I woke up this morning. I said, Lord, you are so good to me. And I started thinking about several things he's done for me. You know what? He'll start picking you up and help you feel better. And then right before you go to bed, I want you to send him thank you about something.
[28:03] Find out some stuff. Think about the young people that we know in our church who are losing their dad. And God has blessed you with a dad for so long.
[28:14] And your dad's not dying. Think about the people and all the things they're going through. And God has just been good to you. Just think of all those things. And as you praise him, it'll help you be stronger. Next question.
[28:25] Matthew 19, 27, 28. Make it seem that Judas Iscariot was sitting on a throne over Israel. We know that he is the son of perdition.
[28:37] What is Christ telling his disciples here? Well, he's speaking to the group. Watch this. And that guy, that Judas, will be replaced in Acts. And so there will be 12 apostles.
[28:48] There will be 12 apostles. And the 12 apostles will be seated on a throne. And the 12 apostles will be given, sit on a throne over Israel.
[28:59] And the millennial kingdom that's coming. So let me just, are you ready for this? I am a pre-tribulationist. And I am a pre-millennialist.
[29:10] You might write those words down. We can talk about them sometime. I believe that Jesus is coming back soon. And I believe that whenever he comes back, and I don't know when, there's no announcement, then there will be like seven years of tribulation.
[29:23] And then he'll come back and set up an earthly kingdom. And when he does, by the way, during the tribulation period, he's going to bring the whole nation of Israel back together. There's going to be 144,000 Jews that are going to be born again.
[29:36] And they're going to carry the gospel to the entire world. And so there will be 12 apostles sitting there. Here's where the big discussion comes in. Bible college discussion and preachers like to talk about.
[29:47] Will it be, will it be Matthias who was chosen by the drawing of lots? Or will it be the apostle Paul that'll be the number 12? And I have the answer.
[29:58] We will know soon enough. That's the answer. When we get there, we're all going to find out. Yep, it was Paul. That's who I think it was. Or it might be Matthias. Who knows? But there will be 12 and it certainly won't be Judas.
[30:10] Next question. That's it. You should have told me that earlier, man. I could have preached. I got seven minutes. I never get through this early. How about maybe, uh, let me take a couple of minutes and update you.
[30:22] We'll have our announcements and we'll just go home early tonight. Cause Robert's sick and he would love to go home early. He, he is so tough. Came tonight with 102 fever, I think. Well, listen, listen.
[30:33] Uh, Micah Rustelli is preaching at, uh, at a church in Gainesville. He's going to be out preaching several places, Lord willing in, uh, Lord willing in, uh, September.
[30:45] We're going to try to start the church. There are like three families I hear that are very interested in this church about going in and, uh, helping, uh, start the new church. And here's the thing I'd like to ask you to pray about.
[30:56] I will meet Lord willing with the pastor of a church with the idea that he will turn that church over to us. That's what we've been actually waiting on.
[31:07] We're waiting to see it. He may turn that church over to us. I've actually preached there three times now and, uh, he may turn that building over to us, which would mean that they will have a much nicer church building than we will have while I'm alive.
[31:20] Probably. But, uh, uh, uh, it's, it's inside of two 85. I hope you'll pray about that. Micah, uh, and, and, uh, I, and three other people and some other folks here at the church.
[31:33] We'll all go visiting and help and we'll, uh, print up a gospel literature with all the money that we have, whatever. So either we'll find that out in the next, uh, uh, week or two, or we're going to go the other route.
[31:46] I told the man I would wait. And so I've waited. And so this week I'm going to go ask. So you just pray that God would open the door about, uh, about us, uh, uh, starting down in Atlanta and getting another church going.
[32:00] Pray that God will work that out. One other thing, the Littlefield family is not here tonight because they are at a greater Heights Baptist church. And, uh, they sing in a group called the pilgrims and they're up there singing tonight.
[32:11] And so they're at greater Heights Baptist church. And, uh, you pray for them as they do that. Anybody else have another question or comment? All right. Let's have a word of prayer and I'll have brother Trent come father.
[32:23] I thank you for the opportunity I have to just share from my heart and answer questions that the people are asking and try to be a blessing to them. And I pray God that you would work tonight in our lives and help us be drawn closer to you.
[32:38] Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for bringing your people here. Thank you for your faithfulness in our church. And I pray God that you would just glorify yourself and we'll give you praise for it all in Jesus name.
[32:48] Amen. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of vision Baptist church for contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings.
[33:01] Log on to www.visionbaptist.com.