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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.

[0:13] I bet that sounds strange to you. Matthew chapter 28. I thought I would take just a minute and show you why we are starting a church or why it's in my heart for us to start a church.

[0:26] So if you go with me to Matthew chapter 28 and let's talk just real briefly about why it is important to start another church to start a church in Roswell.

[0:37] You might be thinking, why in the world are they trying to raise $10,000 to $20,000 to start another church and we don't have our church finished and there's so much yet to be done.

[0:48] And so I would just like to take a few minutes and talk to you about that. If you would. And I don't know, let me just kind of go over a little bit of missions with you and I have my actual message.

[1:01] This is an offering devotional, John Pearson style that could take three minutes to an hour. Who knows? But I just want to, I want to explain something about missions to you. You do know that when we send a missionary overseas, that we send a missionary with the primary goal that he would start a church.

[1:17] Church because the power at Vision Baptist Church is not Austin Gardner and it's not the pulpit. It's you. It is that this week you will go out and you will mix with people all over this city, this area, and even other parts of the country.

[1:35] Some of you travel and so you'll be in other parts. You're a Christian. You're a light. You're a light set on a candle arbor. You're a light set on a hill. You're a light to let people know that Jesus is real.

[1:46] You are salt. You'll take that salt and you'll take it into the workplace and you'll take it into the, you'll take it into the school and you'll take it everywhere else. And that's our goal. Matthew chapter 28, Jesus gave us a command.

[1:58] And I want you to read that with me. And I know you know up by heart. I know you've heard it a lot, but I hope I can help you understand why we want to start a church and, and, and, or why Austin Gardner has it in his heart.

[2:08] And I pray that it's in your heart. And I hope that it'll get in your heart that we would start a church in Fulton County. First off, I can't pastor two churches. And it's not because I want to pastor two churches, which is not my goal at all.

[2:22] My goal is that I would not pastor two churches, but that somebody else would, but I would like to see us plant churches. So Matthew 28, look at verse 18. Let's start there. And you've been over this before, but I'm going to take you to church planting part of this verse with you.

[2:35] Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. And we could stay for a long time in that verse.

[2:46] And just the word power, all power. He has all the power so he can do it. He made the comment in Matthew 16, 18. And upon this rock, I will build my church.

[2:57] And so everything that's done in God's works really done by Jesus. The facts are that all the good preaching that's ever done here is when I'm out of the way and he's doing the speaking through his word and the Holy Spirit. In fact, as you would probably say, when you go home, I'm not sure what he was talking about, but brother, the Lord really dealt with me about this.

[3:12] And you'd say something really spoke to my heart. I might not even mentioned it, but I was preaching there. And the Holy Spirit, he found you. He talked to you. He took the word and he drove it into your home. It's the, into your heart.

[3:23] It's the Holy Spirit. It's his power. The power of Jesus. He starts churches. He led you to him. He saved you. It's all him. It's all Jesus. He said, and all power is given unto me.

[3:33] So Jesus has all the power he needs to do all the work all around the world. He really doesn't need us. That's probably a shock for a lot of us too. He doesn't really need us. In the Old Testament, the father made this comment.

[3:45] He said, if I were hungry, I would never ask you for food. He said, I own all the cows on a thousand hills. I really don't need you people. And so the truth of the matter is we don't, he doesn't need us.

[3:55] We need him. Can you say amen right there? And then also on top of that would be this, uh, he allows us nobodies to participate in what he's doing. That's world influencing and world shaking.

[4:08] So it's all power. The second thing about power real quickly is power is authority. When you have power, you have authority. A policeman stops you because he has the power to stop you.

[4:20] He has the power to write you a check. Yeah, that'd be nice. He has the power to write you a ticket. He has the power, uh, to take you in, uh, to, to the jail. If need be, I was speeding through the hills of Tennessee when I was about, uh, uh, 20, uh, I guess, uh, 19, 20, 21 Betty and I had been married just a little while.

[4:40] And four of us were traveling around, visit all the seminaries in our denomination. We were visiting all the major seminaries, our denomination. And I was in Tennessee and I had these Georgia boys and men, I was driving and I told him, you don't have to worry about speeding tickets here, buddy.

[4:53] And nobody will stop us. And about that time we got stopped and he didn't ask for it. He didn't ask to give me a ticket. He just said, you just follow me right on down to the courthouse, buddy, and you'll pay now or you won't leave.

[5:04] And now I'm outside begging all my buddies. He had a lot of power. Jesus has power. He has authority. He has the ability to tell us what he wants done. Go with me to the next verse. If you had verse 19, a verse that you know, super well, the Bible says, go, you therefore teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy ghost.

[5:23] Now I want you to understand that when we send the missionary, we send him to do what this great commission talks about. But do you realize how much of the teaching and preaching that I do here?

[5:33] Let me just show you real quickly. A couple of things I think might be interesting to you. If you teach, if you teach or help teach in a Sunday school class, alternate teacher, teach in a Sunday school class, would you stand up right quickly?

[5:47] If you teach or that includes children's church. If you, if you do any of the teaching in here, would you stand up? Would you look around? That's how many people do it? Not me. All these people are taking time and teaching.

[5:58] Thank you. Now you can have a seat. Now then, now then if you disciple somebody, if you are personally sitting down with somebody carrying them through some discipleship lessons, would you stand up? Everybody's involved in discipling.

[6:10] Somebody, would you stand up? And I wish more of us were, but look at that. That's a good number of our people's disciples. But thank you. You can have a seat. Now I say that. So you get ahold of this is that go therefore and teach all nations.

[6:20] So we send a missionary out. And when I landed in Adiquipa, Peru, we had one guy. There was one guy that could go door to door. There was one guy that could invite people to church. There was one guy that could lead singing.

[6:31] There was one guy that could, uh, take up the offering. It's a, it's a really a funny show when you realize you're the missionary and you land on the field. And we had two Sunday school classes.

[6:41] We had two Sunday school classes. Betty taught one and I've taught the other. We just walked in the church and I, well, there wasn't the church to walk into. We walked in the little room. We were paying $4 a month to rent. And, uh, we only had one room and didn't have a bathroom.

[6:54] That's never good for my wife. No bathroom. You all know she's always late to all the services because she always goes to the bathrooms. And, uh, and so here we are in this one room. And then we had, then we put up a mat out, a grass mat outside.

[7:07] We use the neighbor's house, but there were two Sunday school classes. Betty had everybody 11 years old and under. And I had everybody 12 years old and above. And, uh, that, that was it. That, because that's all the church sent down.

[7:18] And, you know, the church didn't send a large staff, but it says, go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them. They have the father, the son, the Holy ghost. Well, it wasn't long as we began teaching people and leading people to Christ.

[7:28] Some other people accepted Christ. And we were able to start dividing things up. We would actually send people. I would send people, young men that I was training. I would send them down to Betty and I would say, Betty, I want them to teach Sunday school for three minutes, for three minutes.

[7:42] At the end of three minutes, you send them back down to me and we get home. You don't correct them, but they're young men. And when you get home, you can tell me what they did wrong. You can tell me how much they studied. You can tell me how well prepared they are.

[7:53] And those young men are going there to teach three minutes. And Betty said, I'm telling you, there's a boringness three minutes ever set through in my life. That guy stunk. And I'd take him in the room and I'd say, well, let's talk about how you teach a Sunday school class.

[8:04] And he says, stand up here and teach me. And I said, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you right up front. My wife said, you stink. She said, you were terrible. So let's, let's talk about it. Cause next week you get three more minutes.

[8:15] And then one week she said, she said, yo, that's a pretty good three minutes. He did pretty good on that three minutes. And then a few weeks later, Betty said, well, he's really doing good. Not three minutes. So I told him, I said, you can take five now. And then he took five.

[8:25] And then all of a sudden I told her you can take 15. And then one day I said, we're going to split Betty's class. And so now we let, we, we took out, we took out the 11 year olds down to about eight year old. And then we left Betty with a six and below. And that guy had a class and then we divided again.

[8:37] And then we divided again. And if you ever go to Peru, you'd find out that mission work is finding is, is, is one man teaching another man until we get a whole bunch of people doing the work. And that's what a church is.

[8:48] If you look around here, how many things are being done at vision Baptist church by Austin Gardner, to be blunt, honest with you, not very many. You do almost all of them. We have beautiful music.

[9:00] Do you realize that before we have, before we have a service, what you don't realize is that they have put in hours of preparation, hours of preparation. They get here earlier than you do.

[9:11] Usually leave later and you, they definitely get here earlier than I do. And they leave later than I do. And they practice and they practice and they practice. And it's a beautiful addition to our services, but it's them hard work because it's a church.

[9:22] You go and you teach and you baptize. And so anyway, everybody's getting everybody else involved. So all these people are starting to multiply and we're baptizing people in the name of the father, the son, Holy ghost.

[9:33] You may question why I don't baptize so much here. Fact is I enjoy baptizing because it's kind of one of them ways you measure yourself as a pastor. I baptized this many. I buried this many.

[9:44] I married this many. You know, you bury, you baptize and you, and you, and you, you marry, bury and baptize. That's about the main numbers you get to count. But I decided a long time ago, it's my job to get as many people doing as much work for Jesus as I could.

[9:58] So there's a real strength already at vision Baptist church. It has almost been six years and Marshall will be six years and Marshall will be six years. And Marshall will be six years. And we have given over $600,000 to missions.

[10:09] My salary is just about that much. And so I couldn't have given that much. Say amen right there. You know, it's not. In other words, the whole truth is the whole truth is all that was done by a whole bunch of people getting involved.

[10:23] I want you to look at the Matthew 28, 19, then we're going to go to 20, which is the definite church playing thing. But just let me tell you this. How would one man go into all of anywhere? You send a missionary to Peru, go ye therefore and teach all nations, teach all ethnic groups, teach all nations.

[10:41] A man goes to Peru today, probably what? 35 million people, I suppose, are down there in that country. I don't know, somewhere between 30 and 40 million people in that country. How would one man ever reach that country?

[10:52] I'll be blunt honest with you. He won't. But if he puts into practice what Matthew 28, 19 and 20 says, he can. Because what he'll do is he'll start a church. And boy, churches are alive.

[11:03] You walk in this building, you know this is true. Very few of us, who gets here first? Probably Robert. How many people beat Robert here? Raise your hand. You know, the building's turned on, the lights are turned on, the heat's turned on, everything's, air conditioning's never turned on low enough.

[11:18] I know. I'm sorry, but we'll work on that when it comes summertime. But you know, all this is going on when we get here. By the way, we leave and somehow the doors get closed and the lights get turned off and everything gets put away.

[11:29] And then somehow this place all gets cleaned up. Somehow. And somehow all the bathrooms get refurnished and everything happens all week long and we're not doing it. One guy couldn't do it. It'd be impossible. We start churches.

[11:41] So when you're in Peru and you're a missionary or you're in another country, what's your goal? Your goal is to start a church. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. How can I teach all nations? It's hard to teach all peoples. How many of you have ever been in a church where they didn't have a nursery?

[11:54] Would you hold your hand up? How many of you wish they had a nursery? Say amen. If you've ever been in one of those churches, when we first started, one of the first five churches that we had going there in Arequipa was at a church where Octavio Paredes was the pastor.

[12:10] And we had a pulpit and a dirt floor and a grass mat roof. And this would have been about 1989 or 90, somewhere in that neighborhood. And there was this little kid about three years old during the service who ran around like a wild Comanche Indian.

[12:26] And what was really bad, nobody stopped him because you don't want to stop a child. What was really bad is he would come up and grab my leg, pull on my pants, stand between my legs. And I moved too much.

[12:36] And so whenever he got up, I just tried to stand still, real, real still, because just the other day right here in our church, some, somebody, Ian's little boy was up right over here and I'm coming down there and I'm not looking down. I'm not looking for little guys about this high.

[12:48] And I need him right in the face, send him to the ground. So I just knew that happened. You know, when that happened, I was, I was like, these people are going to lynch me right now. That would happen. That could have easily happened to improve it.

[12:58] I just tried to stand still. Thank God I waited a little bit less then. But, but watch this. How do you do the, how do you get the work done? You send a missionary, you know, he's got to reproduce. You send a missionary, you know, he's got to reproduce.

[13:10] One missionary cannot reach a town. One missionary can barely reach one or two families. One missionary is of extremely limited person, but one missionary who understands God's principle of starting a church can make a major difference.

[13:23] He gets the church going and all of a sudden it becomes so much fun because when you first start, can you imagine, can you imagine when Betty, Betty and Chris and Stephanie and joy and David would sit in the church service and no Peruvians would show up.

[13:38] And I would say, we're, we're going to sing anyway. We've got to have church just like they were here. And so we would sing and, uh, I would be singing.

[13:48] Sometimes they come in 30 minutes late and Betty and all my kids had to listen to me sing. That's a horrible punishment. And then we would take up the offering and then we would have our preaching service and then we would go home.

[14:00] And all of a sudden one day, man, you got song leaders and you got musicians and you got people taking up the offering and you got people shaking hands and a church is being reproduced. And then you start a second one. And when you start a second one, man, first off, one guy with one church is already tremendously powerful and used of God.

[14:17] Not because of him, but because of all the people he gets to work with. You know, I'm just kind of like the captain. I'm just kind of like the guys, Hey guys, man, if we could all work together here, if we were to count how many people, how many people got invited this week, it'd probably be an interesting number because you probably invited quite a few people this week.

[14:32] You probably talked to quite a few people about Christ this week. You probably, I said at lunch today, I said at lunch today and I heard one of the ladies of our church talk about how she's concerned. And just even through Twitter, she's sharing the gospel and how she's concerned and how she's praying and how she's looking for that open door.

[14:47] I'll never get into that place. They'd never even let me in the door. If I went to the door, they'd say, who in the world are you? But she can get in there and she has that privilege and she has an opportunity. I don't have that opportunity.

[14:57] That's what's powerful about a church. How many of you can see that? Say amen. All right. But see real, real missions is a church, but if you don't have a church, you just limit yourself. You limit yourself to my abilities.

[15:08] Do you have any, do you have any idea how well I play the piano? How many of you, how many of you have any idea how well I play the piano? Raise your hand if you have an idea. The rest of you really don't know. Would y'all like to see how well I play? Well, Kristen would get mad, so I won't do it.

[15:20] I don't know anything about it. I don't know anything about it, but you know, we can have great music because I don't play the piano. I don't lead the singing and I didn't, I wasn't in charge of the choir and I don't do those things because here's what happens.

[15:32] You go, you teach and you baptize. Now go to verse 20. Now go to verse 20. If you would teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I command you. I have commanded you and lo, I'm with you always, even in the world.

[15:45] All right. First thing, the last thing I want you to look at the last thing right now, what we're going to do is the last thing. Do you realize how long he's, how long he's had this thing in mind? Always. And here's the thing about being a church planner.

[15:56] Did you know that I, did you know I'm going to die someday? How many of you think that pastors can live forever? Say, man, I'll only live forever on the other side. It won't be long until I won't be able to be the pastor here.

[16:08] It won't be long until I'll have to step down, retire and step aside because my age will eventually catch up with me. I think maybe about a hundred, 115, I should be probably a little tired and I'm going to need somebody to take my place.

[16:21] Say amen right there. So I, what I'm saying by that is he said, and I'm with you to the end of the world. He didn't sound with you to the end of the apostle. He didn't sound with you to the end of the preacher.

[16:33] He didn't sound with you to the end of the past, to the pastor. He said, Hey, I'm with you, buddy. We're going to start a church. We're going to go preach, baptize, and keep on teaching them how to serve Jesus. And you guys just keep it up.

[16:45] I'll be back, but I'll be with you all the way through till the end. Now look at the rest of the verse. And this is why we have to start a church. I'll get to, I'll get to Roswell. You're thinking, I thought that you were going to talk to us about Roswell.

[16:56] Watch why teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I've commanded you, teaching them to observe. Now the word observe there is teaching them to put into practice, to observe, to look at, to know what they are and to live them out.

[17:10] Did you know, watch this. Did you know you listen to me maybe an hour and a half, an hour and a half to two hours a week. If you come to all three services, you listen to me an hour and a half to two hours a week.

[17:24] You listen to me on Sunday morning, 30, 40 minutes. You listen to me Sunday night, 30, 40 minutes. You listen to me Thursday night, 30 to 40 minutes. And a few other times we may throw some in an hour and a half to two hours.

[17:34] I can't teach you everything that needs to be taught. I definitely can't teach all the people that are in the choir. I definitely can't teach all the, all the men that are in the classes. And we could have one Sunday school class here. We could, we could bring everybody in here.

[17:46] We could bring everybody in here and just go for two hours and maybe the only teacher. But see, that'd sure make us weak, wouldn't it? In all honesty, I'd be the only teacher. And I'd be the only one growing from the learning and the teaching.

[17:57] And I would be the only one doing the other. And then they wouldn't have other role models. And you are role models. You're a discipler. You're a role model. You worked in the nursery. You're a role model. All the ministries you got, you're a role model.

[18:08] Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you even unto the end of the world. And so what's going to happen is our church, we're doing it right now. I don't guess there's any children's church going on right now, but there's a Spanish church that goes on and God's dealing with people's heart.

[18:24] Not right now, but it goes on Sunday morning and it goes on Wednesday. And God's dealing with people's hearts and you and I don't even know about what God's doing in there. Then there's a children's church or two that go on on Sunday morning. And they're in there and it goes on on Thursday night and they're in there and they're teaching them.

[18:38] And they're teaching those kids how to obey God. And they're teaching those kids how to read their Bible. And they're teaching those kids how to pray. And they're working with them. There are people in the nurseries and they're loving those kids. To hear Pastor Trent talk about his son on Sunday afternoon and teachers and workers week.

[18:53] He talks about how his son comes home and talks about what he learned in Sunday school and he made our in church. And he made the comment today. I hope y'all aren't teaching everything he tells me because I think somehow between church and home and a little boy, things got to get confused.

[19:07] And he says some things that aren't quite exactly what we hope the teachers taught. Amen. But you see, they're teaching and they're learning and the habits are being formed. God's doing great. By the way, you're teaching when the offering is taken in a little while and you put your money in the offer plate.

[19:22] Other people are observing that, seeing that put into practice. When they see men come to the front of the church and get on their knees and pray, they're learning from some of that. When they see you shake hands with people and invite people and witness to people and be kind to people, they're learning from that.

[19:35] Boy, we need a church. So what would I do if I were a missionary? If God had sent me as a missionary to Alpharetta, I'd try to do the best I could to get a bunch of people together like you, all kinds of people, all colors, all languages, all sizes, big, tall ones and little skinny ones.

[19:51] I'd like to get some big fat ones and some little bitty dried up shrimps like some of you guys. And I just like to get a little bit of every kind of people I could possibly get. And we just love everybody. And we preach the gospel to them and we'd sing to them and we would have Christmas on the north side.

[20:05] Well, you know what we do? We've been doing it almost six years now, haven't we? It's been pretty good stuff. How many of you have enjoyed it? Say amen. You know, you haven't enjoyed it because I'm good. I'm going a lot. And other guys are preaching here and we got all the wonderful music.

[20:18] You know, God's been doing something. Now then, if you were going to try to reach Arequipa, the city I lived and worked in for 18 years, if you were going to go there, what would you do once you got this beautiful place going?

[20:30] Once you had these people here enjoying it, well, you could tell everybody, y'all go ahead and drive two hours and come on over here. Y'all go ahead and drive long distances and come to our church because we're going to teach you and we're going to help you.

[20:43] Or you could say, now just about how far can, how far is the average person willing to drive? About how far is the average person willing to drive? And by the way, we don't care if they drive a hundred miles to come here every Sunday.

[20:54] That'll be great. Praise the Lord. Y'all come. But do you understand that if we move into another community of people that don't traditionally drive this far, won't traditionally come here, and all of a sudden we were to go to work to reproduce a vision, to get people just like you?

[21:12] The first guy who started a church out of my first church left and he went to another city here in Georgia. And we were talking one day. And boy, we were young preachers.

[21:23] We were, I was under the age of 30. He was a couple of years older than me. And we were talking and he told me, he said, I can't wait to get my first Mr. Shelton. And you wouldn't understand that.

[21:34] But when he said that, I knew exactly what he meant. When I started, when I started that first church, I looked out the door, out the window. Nobody was coming to the church at that first church. Nobody was coming.

[21:44] Nobody showed up. And we looked out and this big, white, very old car pulled up with these real old people in it. They were probably 65. But man, when you're 23, they were anxious.

[21:56] I was pretty sure they would die any day. Amen. But they came in that church and that guy, that guy came to me and said, hey, you want to knock on doors? I'll go knock on doors with you. There it was, Mutt and Jeff.

[22:06] I was very skinny and 23 years of age. He was 65 and a little overweight. We would actually go into homes to witness to people and we would sit down to witness to him and he would go to sleep almost every time. And when he got ready to leave, I'd wake him up and we'd go to the next house.

[22:19] I'm not teasing. I know you think I'm kidding. And then his wife fixed lunch every Saturday for everybody who went visiting. If you went visiting, you could show up at her house and she'd feed anywhere from five or six of us to 20 of us.

[22:30] We'd all go to her house and she'd fix the meal. And he told me, he said, man, he got his church when he called me one day, he said, Mr. Shelton came today. I said, no, he was at our church. He said, no, my Mr.

[22:41] Shelton came. And you realize that in Roswell or some other part of Fulton County, man, we'd be looking for a Warren Frick, a Joe Gibby, a Tim Kennel.

[22:53] And a young guy would say, man, I got those kinds of guys in my church now. I got me a, I got me a Robert Canfield. And all of a sudden a whole nother church would be open. And they would have, they would have Sunday school and they would have children's ministries and they would have all those things going.

[23:07] And then guess what would happen if that church reproduced into another church? The facts are it's ego feeding to a pastor to have a very large church. One of the most ego satisfying things you can do is be the pastor of hundreds.

[23:22] Thousands are even better. Tens of thousands would be even better. If I could pastor of the first church of a million, I would really be on Twitter. You can, can you imagine how many followers I'd have on Twitter?

[23:34] If I said yesterday we were 1,250,000 in Sunday school, man, I bet, I bet the whole world would be following me on Twitter. I Twitter now. And I say, we had 110 in the auditorium today.

[23:44] Everybody's like, yeah, nothing. But you know, they don't have any idea the power of the 110 that we're here today. They have no idea that this church has like 14 missionaries going out of this church.

[23:55] They have no idea that we've given $600,000. They have no idea that God's used this church in great ways. Now, what would happen if we could just reproduce another one just like us that in six years gave another 600,000, sent out another 14 families?

[24:10] And what would happen if we did that two more times? What would happen if we did that two more times? I want you to go back and read the verse to me and then I'll pray. Then we're going to take up the offering and I'll preach in a little bit. I want you to read the verse to me.

[24:22] Go back to verse 18. Look at verse 18. He said unto them, all power is given unto me. I can do it. I can do it. I am in the church building business.

[24:34] Make a note beside that. Matthew 16, 18. And upon this rock, I will build my church. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[24:45] He is God and he can. So I think for anything, man, if you've got a promise like that, I mean, you know, you're going to win. You know, you're going to win. How are you going to know you're going to win?

[24:56] Because you hooked up to the right guy. You hooked up to the guy that said, hey, I can do anything. You hooked up to the guy that said, don't worry about it. I'll build my church. I mean, so we automatically got a built in winning formula right there.

[25:07] We're hooked up to Jesus. Next verse of you at verse 19 of Matthew 28, 19. The Bible says, go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

[25:21] So we're going to go teach them the gospel. Well, that's not just Austin standing up in a pulpit. If it were, we could just go on the internet and never even have to go to the field. If it were, we could make tapes and CDs and videos and mail them out.

[25:35] But they need a preacher, a person who can shake their hand, pray with them and be there with them. They need somebody to go share the gospel with them. Go teach all nations and baptize them.

[25:46] Then the last verse, look at it. One last time, verse 20. The Bible says, teaching them to observe all things. Do you know that's a lifetime of work? Did you know that's a lifetime of work?

[25:57] More than one time today, in my Sunday school class and at lunch, a comment was made. I'm not sure that when I heard that, God was already working me. I'm not sure I always responded to it then.

[26:09] But you know what? You are, aren't you? You didn't respond to it the first time you heard it. And you didn't respond to it the second time you heard it. But you know what? God's been working in you and you've been seeing change. And most of us can look back and say, man, I can see where I was.

[26:23] And I can see what he did. And I can see where he brought me from. And I can see where he brought me to. And boy, he's a big God and he's working in my life. And if you look back and examine yourself, you'd say, boy, God has changed me.

[26:34] How many of you could say that about what God's done? If you would say amen. Aren't that beautiful? Hey, that wasn't a preacher that did that. That wasn't a preacher. That was God. So what would happen? If we take up the money and God allows us to, we'll go start another church.

[26:48] And you say, why would we do that? Because other people ought to enjoy what we enjoy. Other people ought to enjoy what we enjoy. Other people ought to be able to sit down in a church that would open the Bible and preach from the Bible.

[27:00] Other churches, other people ought to enjoy a church in their neighborhood. And it doesn't have to be a big church. We don't, you don't need hundreds. You don't need thousands. You just really need a handful of people that really want to do something for God.

[27:12] They'll witness to their neighbors and make a difference. And you know, the truth is in two or three years, there'll be a whole church on their own and we'll be a whole church on our own and we'll, we'll be friends. But the kingdom of Jesus will be exalted.

[27:24] I won't get to brag about anything on that. And you won't get to brag on anything about that. But Jesus will get to brag on that. And by the way, Jesus said, for by grace are you saved through faith.

[27:34] And that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works. I don't want y'all bragging. Lest any man should boast. He don't like braggers. Amen. And so our church won't have many bragging rights. We won't have many bragging rights.

[27:46] We're just a little church with black walls without a wall on this side that was able to carry the gospel and start another church. So I ask you to give. I ask you to give. Some of you, well, you're going to excuse my boldness, but this is it.

[27:58] Some of you could really drop a pretty good size check in there if you wanted to. Not for me. I have my church. I'm a pastor. I got it knocked.

[28:11] You're good to me. You're kind to me. You're sweet to me. You take care of our staff. You're doing a good job. But some other people need the gospel. Some other people need the gospel. Fact is, if we start another church, we may double our efforts in getting the gospel to the world because that other church, if it's trained to be like our church and you help me train them, there'll be a missions giving church and a missionary training church.

[28:31] You could give a church check. You know what? Two or three hundred dollars. Two or three hundred dollars. That's probably some of you are going to spend a couple hundred dollars on a gift. And I just decided this. I want to spend as much on Jesus as I do on Betty.

[28:45] I still got a little bit to go. I want to do for him. It's his birthday. So would you pray about it?

[28:56] Would you think about it? Would you imagine with me five years from now, almost six? No, I'll be 63 years old. And by then, maybe we'll have our own piece of property and we'll have us our small church building somewhere.

[29:12] But maybe there'll be a guy down in another part of Fulton County, somewhere in Fulton County, and he'll be about six years into it. And maybe they'll be able to say, well, God's let us send out these missionaries and God's let us give this much money and God's let us reach these people.

[29:27] And we will have seen the kingdom of God advanced for him. Won't be much bragging for us because all we did was pray and give birth. But I know this.

[29:40] Betty and I have 16 grandkids. And I excuse me for being so blowed here, Rhonda, but what number of grandchild were you? I forgot you told me. Was it 128? What number were you?

[29:51] Rhonda was grandbaby 63 of her mother, grandmother. 63. When she said that, I said, I'm deaf.

[30:03] Say that again. 63. Do you realize what happened? A mom and dad got together, had 10 kids, and them 10 kids must have been having 10 a piece too. I mean, they got 63 grandkids.

[30:15] Do you realize that Betty and I got together in 1973 and God gave us four kids and then God added four spouses, each of those got their own spouse, and then that made us 10. And then the 10 of us all together, God has given us 16 grandkids.

[30:28] And Austin's little family, our little tribe, now is 26. Guess what would happen if our church kept doing that? So I want you to pray about it. I want you to really pray about it.

[30:39] I don't want to guilt you into it, but maybe you didn't understand why I think it's important. Maybe you didn't understand why I think it's important. It ought not come out of your tithes. It ought not come out of your regular offerings. I mean, we've got a church to maintain here.

[30:50] But if we gave something extra, we might can make a difference. Men, would you come forward? And that's the longest offering devotional you have ever heard in your life or ever will hear, I hope.

[31:00] We would fire anybody doing the offering devotional around here. It took that long. So I'm firing this guy. This one right here. Took too long. Let's have a word of prayer. And we'll take up the offering for tonight.

[31:11] And then I'm going to preach for about an hour. And we'll have to start another church because all y'all leave. We won't even have to look for them. Y'all just leave. Or you'll send me packing. I don't know which one of that. I'm not going to preach an hour. Father, I love you.

[31:21] And I thank you so very much for all you're doing. Thank you for what you've done at Vision. Thank you, Lord, for how you've taught these wonderful people to pray and to give and to go. Thank you for how you've raised up great things for your honor and your glory.

[31:33] And I pray, dear Jesus, that you would just show great power in our lives. I pray. I pray, God, that you'd let us see a church started in Fulton County. I pray, dear God, that you'd let us make a difference there.

[31:46] And I'll give you praise for it all. In Jesus' name. Amen. Just a while ago that several of our people go to nursing homes and other places like that and do ministry. You don't even know about that going on. I often don't even know about it going on.

[31:57] That's what happens when you start a church. Start a church. Do a lot of things. It's about my favorite word after God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost is church.

[32:08] I like the church. And I hope you do, too. Now, I have a long message, but I will be through in 10 minutes. That's what my watch says. But I want to show you tonight.

[32:22] This will actually be continued. The next time we don't have a Christmas service, the next two services, I'm going to talk to you about Christmas things. So it will be the Tuesday, I guess, before the summit, whenever that is.

[32:32] But look if you would. Look if you would at this passage of Scripture. And I want you to know that he has come now, and he is fixing to say some harsh things. And we're going to read the passage of Scripture, but here's what he says.

[32:45] You will die in your sins. You will die in your sins. And that's probably the harshest thought you could possibly have.

[32:55] Almost everybody I've ever been around gets real spiritual when they're dying. The fact is, all their family members get spiritual when they're dying. When they figure out they're going to die, no one wants to die in their sins.

[33:09] So look if you would with me in your Bible. And let's read. We'll start at John 8, 21. I tell you, well, let's start John 8, 12. And we'll just read through here. And maybe all we'll get done is the reading of the Scripture tonight.

[33:21] Look if you would at John 8, 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

[33:33] You should underline in your Bible, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world. Verse 13. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself.

[33:44] Thy record is not true. What you say is not true. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered unto them, though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. For I know where I came from, and I know where I'm going.

[33:59] I know whence I came and whither I go. But you cannot tell whence I come and whither I go. He said, now you know, let me just tell you something. I know men have to have two witnesses.

[34:09] And by the way, when he ends up the story, he's going to have two witnesses. But he said, you guys can try to call me into a human court. And you guys can try to say, we judge you by our human standards. He said, but just let me go ahead and tell you right up front, I do know who I am.

[34:20] I know where I came from, and I know where I'm going. And I am God in human flesh. Verse 15. Verse 15. You judge after the flesh, but I judge no man.

[34:32] And yet if I judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law that the testament of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

[34:48] He said, now, just to be honest with you, I don't really need another witness. Because you guys are trying to use earthly judgment here. And I know where I came from, and I know where I'm going, and I have proven who I am. But since you do have that rule, I'll just go ahead and tell you I do have two witnesses.

[35:01] I'm one, and my Father is the other. And my Father knows. He sent me here, and he knows that. So in verse 19 they said, where is thy Father? There are three big questions to be asked in this passage.

[35:12] Where is thy Father? And Jesus answered, you neither know me nor my Father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. These words spake Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple.

[35:23] And no man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet come. I want you to notice what he says in verse 19. I hope you'll underline it. He said, you guys don't know me, so you don't know my Father. You don't know my Father, so you don't know me.

[35:35] Because to know the Father, you have to know Jesus. And if you really know God, you will know Jesus. Look at what he said in verse 19. Where is thy Father? They said, he said, you'd neither know me nor my Father.

[35:46] You don't know me or my Father. If you had known me, you'd have known my Father. If you really knew me, you'd know my Father. Verse 21. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.

[36:01] Whither I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, big question number two. Will he kill himself? Because he said, whether I go, you cannot come. And he said to them, you are from beneath. I am from above.

[36:13] You are of this world, and I am not of this world. Would you mark that in your Bible? Would you mark that in your Bible? He said, I know where I come from. I know where I'm going. My record is true. I'm the light of the world.

[36:24] My people know the light. They got the light. You guys ain't got the light. If you'd have known my Father, you'd know me. If you knew me, you'd know my Father. And he said, I'm leaving here, and you guys can't go. And they said, oh, what are you going to do, commit suicide?

[36:35] You going to kill yourself? And he said, no, I'll just be honest with you. We're two different crowds. You're from down here, and I'm from up there. Look at verse 23. You are from beneath, and I am from above.

[36:45] But that's not saying I'm God. I don't know what is. You're from beneath, and I'm from above. You are of this world, but I am not of this world. I came from another world. I am the God of the universe.

[36:56] I said, therefore, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. Now, if you have your Bible there, I wish you'd mark this three times in these verses.

[37:10] He says this phrase, die in your sins. Look at verse 21. Shall die in your sins. Look if you would. Look if you would in verse 24. For ye shall die in your sins.

[37:22] For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. If you don't believe that he's the light.

[37:33] If you don't believe that he's the one that knew where he came from and knew where he was going. If you don't believe that what he says is true, and he doesn't need to tell you anything, but the Father also says it's true.

[37:43] If you don't believe that he's the one God sent, you will die in your sins. If every Jewish man that heard that knew what that meant, you're going to hell to eternal punishment.

[37:57] Verse 25. They said, well, who are you? Big question number three. They said unto him, who art thou? And Jesus said unto them, even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. And I'm the same guy I've been telling you ever since I started talking to you hard heads.

[38:10] I have many things to say unto judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And I speak to the world those things which I've heard of him. They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. So I want you to realize this.

[38:23] I'm going to stop with that reading because I've got about three minutes. Watch this if you would. Watch it. Really catch this. If they don't know him, they will die in their sins. If they die in their sins, they will spend eternity in hell.

[38:37] The Father wants the world to know that Jesus did everything for everybody everywhere to be saved. He wants the world to be saved. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[38:48] Can you say amen right there? Is that true? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Is that true? He is the propitiation of our sins, but not ours only. But for the sins of the whole world.

[38:59] That's 1 John 2 or so. Two or three. If you agree with that, say amen. Did you know that he's paid the sin debt? Did you know he loves people? He wants everybody to go to heaven.

[39:09] And if they don't know. And so at this time, he stands up to all these Pharisees and religious leaders and said, You guys are not going to go to heaven when you die. If you guys don't know who I am, if you don't believe that I am the light of the world, if you won't accept the light you've been given, you're not going to go to heaven.

[39:22] If you won't accept the record that you've been given, if you won't believe that I am God in the flesh, you will not go to heaven. Now, I'd just like to real quick say this. That's one of the reasons we are a missionary church.

[39:33] Because all over the world, there are people that have absolutely no idea of the truths that are contained in those verses. They don't realize he's talking about the Father. They want to know, where are you from?

[39:44] Who are you? Who's your daddy? Are you going to kill yourself? They got the same dumb questions. And the main reason is they've never had anybody preach the truth to them. So we send missionaries.

[39:55] But let me just give you a hint. There's a million, two hundred thousand people in Fulton County and very few gospel preaching churches there. You're going to say to me, brother, they can listen to the TV. You're going to say to me, brother, they can hear it on the radio.

[40:08] Brother, if they want to know Jesus, they can. Of course they can. By the way, that's true most anywhere. If you can speak enough English, you can find the gospel on the internet. Even if you don't speak English, you can get it. You can pick it up on television.

[40:19] But that, you know, our command never was, if they want it, they can find it. I don't know if y'all ever heard that, but the command, he never said church. If they want it, they can find it. Y'all make it available.

[40:30] That's not what he said. He said in Matthew chapter 28, 19 and 20, go, go and teach them. While they're lost, teach them. Tell them who I am. Tell them what I did.

[40:41] Tell them what happened. Tell them about Jesus. Tell them about Jesus. Tell them about Jesus. And when they understand what Jesus did and they become a disciple, you baptize them. When they get baptized, you teach them to observe all things, whatever I've commanded you.

[40:52] I'm just going to say to you that what John, what Jesus is saying, what John records you is. Jesus is telling them, you guys are going to go to hell if you don't believe. If you will not accept that I really am God come in flesh, you're going to go to hell.

[41:04] And I'm telling you that they don't know that in Northern Africa. And they don't know that in Iraq. Soldiers pulled out, but there was no light when the soldiers were there.

[41:14] And there's no light at all now. No light in so many parts of the world. And I'll just tell you this. In most places, your neighbors don't even know that. Your friends don't know that. And they will die in their sins.

[41:25] I don't know how many funerals you've ever been to. I don't know how sad you've ever seen it. One of the saddest things you could ever go to is a funeral in South America. One of the saddest things you could ever go to is a funeral in South America if it's not among the believers.

[41:38] I have seen them screaming and crying. I've seen them try to pull the bodies out of the casket. I've seen them you would have thought somebody was killing them. Because they know they died in their sins.

[41:54] And buddy, when they stick that shovel in that dirt and throw it on that coffin, you can tell it. By the way, in America, they have fixed all that so you don't see it.

[42:06] You don't see the hole get dug. And when they go to throw the dirt on the casket, they usually say, why don't you come back in a couple hours? We'll have it all looking now so you don't have to realize they just died.

[42:17] And I want to say to you, they're going to die in their sins and go to hell without a preacher. And that's why God started a church like Vision Baptist.

[42:28] And that's why there ought to be others. And that's why there ought to be missionaries. Father in heaven, I love you and I praise you and I magnify you for the chance to be with your people tonight. I pray, God, for Fulton County.

[42:38] I pray, God, for us to start another church. I pray for Vision. I pray for missionaries all over the world. I pray for China. I pray, dear God, for India that is so desperately in need of missionaries.

[42:50] I pray for Indonesia. I pray for all the countries of Asia. I pray for the 1041. I pray for the Highlands. I pray for every part around the world that the gospel would get there. I thank you for a church that loves you enough that they will pray and go and send.

[43:04] I thank you for a church that is sacrificially giving to start a church here, to take care of Vision, to take care of other churches and to get the gospel. God, I love you and I thank you for the wonderful, prolific service you've got.

[43:16] Help us. Help us. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church. For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com.

[43:35] nàyxxx. What's wrong? I pray for all that I have said in the warm will of the world that may be этот月.

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