Well, if you have your Bibles, look with me to Acts chapter 2, and we're going to look at verses 41 through 47,
continuing the message we began last week, finishing it up today.
And for those of you who couldn't be here last week, let me just go back and play a little bit of catch-up
for just three or four minutes to bring us all up to speed.
Here's what we saw last week.
Jesus has come, lived, died on the cross.
Three days later, He's risen from the dead.
He, 40 days after that, ascends into the heavens.
Before He does, He commissions His church to take the gospel into the world.
He gives them instruction.
He's seen them in Judea.
He's seen them down in Galilee.
He tells them to go back to Jerusalem.
He goes back with them.
And there He tells them to remain in Jerusalem because in a few more days, the Holy Spirit of God is going to come.
And so they meet together in the upper room where they had observed the Last Supper, and they begin to pray.
There's not just the 12.
There are 120 in number.
They replace Judas as the 12th apostle, and then they begin to pray.
And they pray for 10 days until Pentecost comes, 10 days following His ascension into the heavens.
At Pentecost, it's a wild, wild time.
They are praying, and suddenly there's the sound of a rushing mighty wind.
We likened it last week to that of the sound of a tornado, if you've ever been through one of those.
There's no wind.
There's just noise.
It brings out the people of the city, and even those who are in this room and they're praying,
they suddenly experience the coming of the Spirit who descends in the likeness of a giant tongue of fire.
The tongue of fire divides into many cloven tongues of fire and rests upon the heads of believers,
and the 120 believers are instantaneously baptized and dwelt of the Spirit of God.
They go out into the streets of Jerusalem.
A crowd is gathering, people from all over the world, not just the residents of Jerusalem,
but those who have come for the Passover and those who have stayed for Pentecost,
and they begin to listen as these believers begin to prophesy and say things in languages they've never studied.
Some skeptics in the crowd begin to say, hey, these men are drunk with wine.
Peter defends them, says, no, it's early in the morning.
That's not the case.
What is happening here is what was predicted by the prophet Joel when he said young men would dream dreams
and old men and old women would prophesy this is of God.
And then he goes to the Psalms and he begins showing them that Jesus was the Christ.
Preaches a powerful message and basically in the end says this,
All of you here today are witnesses of what I'm telling you that we have rejected God's Son,
and many of you here in this crowd have personally had a hand in putting him to death.
You're responsible for killing the Messiah.
But we all know, we cannot deny, that God raised him three days later from the dead.
But the Spirit of God fell on those who were listening and many were pricked in their heart, the Scripture says, to their very soul.
They came rushing to Peter and said, Peter, what can we do to be made right with God?
And Peter looked at them boldly and said, you need to repent of your sin, repent of what you've done.
You need to repent of all your sin.
You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if you really mean business with God, come and receive the mark of a believer, which is baptism.
Three thousand that day.
Are you ready for that?
Three thousand that day came and became a part of this assembly.
It says they were added to the church.
It doesn't mean they were added to some role.
We talked about that last week.
It means they were adopted into the family of God there in Jerusalem.
Now, here's the million-dollar question, the one that we're attempting to answer in this two-part sermon.
And that is, where do we go from here?
You're one of those 120 and 3,000 come forward.
What do we do now?
In the past, we've had Jesus at our side.
Now, His Spirit is in us through the Holy Spirit, but it's near them.
And they're seeking to learn how to follow Him.
Where do we go from here?
Nine things they did.
Four of them we pointed out last week.
I want to point out an additional five today.
For those of you who weren't here, let me just hurriedly run through what those first four were.
Right out of the gate, they baptized all those who followed Christ.
And I want to tell you, they baptized them by immersion, I believe.
The word means to die, to dip into something.
I think they took them to a local river, and there they baptized them just as Jesus had earlier been baptized.
I want to tell you, I think Baptists ought to be unapologetic about how we choose to baptize.
I hope we will never give in to the thinking, well, it's just a symbol.
The means of baptism, the method of baptism doesn't matter.
Because in my estimation, it does.
Is it a difference of having heaven and hell?
Of course not.
But it is significant because the way we baptize by immersion clearly sends a message to those who observe.
That's the reason I believe, likewise, in public baptism the way they practiced it then.
Here's what happens.
It says, when a person is baptized, they're demonstrating outwardly, we believe in the death, burial, and subsequent resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
As we carry a person on the water and bring them up out of the water.
It also says, this person being baptized has died to their sin.
They no longer exist.
They are a new creature in Christ.
It also says, just as Jesus was baptized of John, I choose to be his disciple.
I want to follow in his example.
So, they immediately baptized those 3,000 who came and became a part of the church.
Second thing they did was this.
They began to disciple those who were new to the faith.
You got 120 people who have walked with Jesus during his earthly ministry.
3,000 who just become believers.
They couldn't just turn these folk loose on their own, send them back to their native lands without knowing more about Jesus.
And so, they began to meet on a daily basis.
And they talked to them about all that Jesus did.
All that Jesus said.
All the correcting that Jesus ever did with his disciples.
They immersed them in the teaching of Jesus.
They discipled them.
Thirdly, they worked hard to build a strong partnership.
That word fellowship that we use so often,
I'm afraid that we have equated that with cookies and ice cream and Cokes
in a time of what we call fellowship.
The Greek word was the word koinonia.
It means they literally became partners.
That's why I know when it says they added them,
they didn't think of themselves as having just joined a religious club.
We're a part of this religious institution that is meeting here in the heart of Jerusalem.
That's not how they thought.
They thought we're embracing a new way of thinking.
We're embracing the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that is the common denominator among all of us,
is we share faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They literally became partners.
A fourth thing they did was this.
They partnered together in prayer.
And listen, as they prayed,
I mean God did bona fide miracles.
Now, you listen to a lot of folk, including preachers, I'm sad to say,
talk about miracles today.
And they used that word so loosely,
it's just about lost all meaning.
We will call reaching a high attendance goal a miracle.
What was a miracle?
We had 500 in Sunday school today.
That's not a miracle.
Clemson has 85,000 every Saturday in the fall.
You understand that?
You can draw a crowd by just doing some pretty good publicity,
by getting on the phones and calling your friend.
Nothing wrong with that.
But just understand, that's not, is it a good thing?
Yes.
Did God have his hand in it?
I believe he did.
Is it a miracle?
Well, of course not.
This building that we're constructing out here,
the front of your church,
it's going to be gorgeous.
And God has provided the means.
Is it a miracle?
No.
Construction company's doing that.
You understand?
We're paying for it.
It's not a miracle.
It's a good thing.
It's a godly thing.
Is it a miracle?
It's not a miracle.
I want to tell you,
a miracle is when God does something
that no human being can possibly,
in their right mind, take credit for.
It's something so supernatural
that any who look at that say,
boy, I don't know how to explain that.
Even if they don't believe in God,
that's unexplainable.
But, man, something happened here
that's beyond the normal.
It's beyond the realm of explanation.
And I'm telling you,
God did bona fide miracles.
Men who were lame got up and walked.
People speaking in languages
they've never understood or studied,
that's a miracle.
It's a miracle how the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ spread
in that first century.
And here's what verse 43 and 42 and 43 tell us.
It uses the imperfect tense in that verb
that fear kept coming upon them.
And what it means is this.
The more they prayed,
the more God did.
And the more God did,
the more they stood in awe of God.
And the more they stood in awe of God,
the more they prayed.
And the more they prayed,
the more God did.
And it became a wonderful cycle.
And I'm telling you,
more than anything else,
that's what's holding our churches back
from being more successful
in evangelism today than anything else.
We don't witness the power of God
the way we once did.
And I believe that's attributable to the fact
we don't pray as we once did.
Well, let's move on.
You've caught up with me now
where we are in our message.
The fifth thing I want you to see is this.
They were incredibly generous
in sharing what they had
to meet the needs of congregants
in their assembly.
You look at verse 44 and 45.
Now, all the believers were together
and had everything in common.
Let that sink in for a minute.
Now, all the believers were together
and had everything in common.
And when we read that,
sometimes we're tempted to think
that means they were in one spirit
and one accord like we read about
in Acts chapter 1.
Well, it indicates that a little bit,
but that's not nearly the essence
of what it's saying.
Look at verse, the same verse
or the next verse.
So they sold their possessions and property
and distributed the proceeds to all
as anyone had need.
Can you get your head around that?
Have you ever been a part of a church
where that kind of thing was taking place?
I know you're a part of a generous church,
but can you imagine this level of generosity?
And let me tell you what drove them to do that.
These people who had come to know Christ,
many of them were from other parts of the world.
That's the reason there was a need
for this miracle of tongues.
And so as they had come together for Passover
and now Pentecost,
and now they received Christ as Savior,
these who had been with Jesus recognized
we can't send them back to their homes
unless they know more about the gospel.
And so they immersed them
in the teachings of Jesus.
And these folk didn't immediately return home.
And after a period of time,
their resources ran out.
And so what they did was they said,
hey, we need to help these people out,
these fellow believers out.
These people have become a part of our family.
We are inseparably linked to them
and tied to them.
They're partners with us in Christ.
And so some had some real estate.
They went and sold it.
Some had some homes or some possessions.
They sold them.
And they brought the money
and they laid it at the apostles' feet,
the next few chapters tell us.
And they then distributed it
to people in the congregation
however they needed it.
Now, some folks have mistakenly said
this is a picture of what communism looks like.
And that's why we ought to be communist.
That's absolutely false.
This is not a picture of communism at all.
It is a picture of Christianity at its best.
Understand the differences in this in communism.
Communism says,
I'm going to give you five
and you'll have five
and you'll have five.
At least in theory, that's what they say.
It never really works out that way.
But we're all going to take what we have
and spread it out
and everybody will have five
and we'll all be equal
and we'll all have equal concern
for everyone in the world.
But if you want to see a true picture of communism,
look at the Ukraine right now.
That's a picture of what communism looks like
where Putin says,
you know what?
We have might and might makes us right.
And because we can take what is yours,
we will.
And we'll take as much of it
with no regard for you or your people
or the sanctity of life.
We'll just take whatever we desire.
That's communism.
You understand that?
And what you see here is exactly the opposite.
It is a spirit of generosity
born by people's gratitude
for what Christ has done for them on the cross.
where God changes our heart.
And material things are no longer the benchmark
by which we measure the success of our lives
because we know there's life after this life.
So do we use material things?
We do.
Is it okay to have material things?
It is.
But do we just invest our whole life in that?
Of course not.
We recognize this is a tool that God has given for us
to help others and to spread the gospel.
I'm going to tell you,
if you want to be a New Testament church,
a solid, good New Testament church,
be known by your generosity.
Man, I was fortunate.
I pastored only two churches in 40 years,
and both of them were generous, generous churches.
They were generous when they had a little,
and they were generous when God had blessed them,
and they had more.
I hope you'll always endeavor to be a generous church.
Now, let me just say a personal word here,
and I'm not going to dwell on this,
but I just want to tell you something.
I've been looking at your budget,
and I want to first of all commend you
for exceeding your Lottie Moon offering
and for doing well in the campaign
to build this new addition to your building.
But two weeks ago,
I was looking at how far we've fallen behind
in our budget receipts to date,
and we were about 60,000 two weeks ago,
and I saw where today you've closed that gap
and you're only 50,000 behind,
and man, that's great.
Can I tell you something?
It won't be long.
You'll have a full-time pastor.
Don't put the burden on him
of having to find a way
to close that gap.
Can I just be honest with you?
If I were coming as your pastor
in the days to come,
I would want to do this in my first year.
I don't know what he'll do,
but I suspect whoever you get,
this will be their agenda,
to come in in that first year
and simply preach the Scripture
and get to know you and love you
and not have to make hard, critical decisions,
especially about my...
In fact, if I came as your pastor,
I wouldn't want to talk about money
for a whole year
if I could get out of it
because I'd want to build credibility
with you where you trusted me
and you knew that, okay,
it's okay for him to do that.
He's proven himself.
Don't make him come in
and ride out of that,
have to deal with financial issues.
Right now, you're not paying
a full-time pastor
and you're not paying
a full-time youth minister,
and I'm telling you,
if a full-time pastor was here
and a full-time youth person were here,
that pastor would have
some difficult decisions
to make financially going forward.
So don't put him in that position.
Just take that off the table.
Say, you know what?
Between now and Easter,
let's really try to close this gap
so that it's not as significant
as it is now.
There's a sixth thing,
don't you see they did?
They were faithful
in getting together for worship.
Look at verse 46 for a moment.
And allow every word to sink in.
And every day.
Everybody say that with me.
And every day.
They devoted themselves
to meeting together
in the temple complex.
Every day.
You know what that means?
That means Sunday they gathered
and they had worship
and they prayed
and they probably ended up
with a fellowship meal.
They got to get,
they did some discipleship.
And then of course on Monday,
well they got together
and they worship
and they prayed
and they fellowship.
But then on Tuesday
they got together
and they worship
and they prayed
and they fellowship
and on Wednesday
they got together
and they prayed
and they fellowship.
But now come Thursday
they got together
and they prayed
and they fellowship.
And then Friday
they got together
and they prayed
and they fellowship.
But Saturday
they got together
and they prayed
and they fellowship.
and then they did that again
every day
now
we're not going to do that here
and we can't do that here
I don't want anybody to feel guilty about that
because I want you to know
the world that they were a part of
is not like the world that you and I
are a part of and that's not our fault
we shouldn't feel guilty
our world has changed
I want to show you something
Jesus came into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago
on a donkey
but at the turn
the beginning of the 20th century
man was still
pretty much riding on beast
of burden
they were pretty much getting around on donkeys
and on horses
but in the last 120 years things have
radically changed
our world has shrunk
in many ways but it has also expanded
for us personally
because now we have the ability to be here today
and in New York this afternoon
or to be in Europe tomorrow morning
right
and some of you
you don't work the way they did then
where they worked pretty much
within a few hundred yards of their houses
many of you work 5 or 10 miles from home
and many of you work 50 or 100 or 1,000 miles from home
some of you get in the car on Monday morning
or on a plane Sunday afternoon
and you're somewhere all week
and you're back here on Friday
and with your families on the weekend
man our world has changed
right
and so
we can no longer
because of school
and so anything
we can't meet
seven days a week
but I want to tell you something
we can be regular
in our worship
we can come together
on a weekly basis
and we can worship the Lord
and praise the Lord
and do discipleship
even more than one day a week
we can meet to pray
and we can meet to fellowship
and to do the work of the church
but the big thing is
there needs to be regularity
in our worship
in Hebrews chapter 10
one translation
puts that old verse
that we all know by memory
forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together
as the manner of some is
here's how it puts it
not staying away
from our worship meetings
as some habitually do
in other words
not just once in a while
but often
but encouraging each other
and all the more
as you see the day
the day of Christ returns
what it's talking about
drawing near
the writer of Hebrews
is saying this
listen
I know you're busy
and I know
there are things going on
in your world
but don't get to the place
that you forsake
the assembling
of yourselves together
some have
taken up that habit
and they are habitually
out of fellowship
with the church
do you hear what he's saying
you need to assemble
with other believers
and that's true
not just during times
of heartache
but in your everyday routine
you need the fellowship
of the church
and I'm going to tell you something
the fellowship of the church
needs you
we need you in the choir
we need you in midweek prayer service
we need you in the nursery
they just desperately need folk
down in the nursery
all the time
they need people
in the children's department
and in the youth ministry
we need believers
here at the church
and believers need to be a part
of the fellowship of God
can I tell you
the last few years
of my ministry
at Brushy Creek
boy it broke my heart
some things I saw happening
and it wasn't just
at Brushy Creek
it was across the board
I talked to so many pastors
about this
from about the year 2000
attendance in church
radically changed
I'm talking about
people's attendance habits
changed
from the way it was
when I started
in the 70's
when I went to
Western Avenue
in the 70's
you could count on this
there were about 80%
of whoever was in
the congregation
that attended
almost every Sunday
about 50%
of that 80%
about 40%
of the whole church
attended
Sunday night
Wednesday night
anytime the doors
were open
but about 80%
attended
on Sunday morning
you count on them
being there
next Sunday
and next Sunday
and they would miss
two to three
or four weeks a year
and we call those
active participants
right
we all knew
what it was
he's active
in his church
it meant
he's there
just about every time
the doors are open
he's there
at least four
or five Sundays
out of the month
occasionally
he'll be off
on vacation
occasionally
after work
occasionally
he'll be sick
but most all the time
he's there
then there was about
20% of the congregation
that are hit and miss
they'd come one Sunday
they'd miss the next
or they'd come two Sundays
and then they'd miss
the next two
or they'd come for a month
and then you wouldn't
see them for a month
you know what I'm talking about
right
and then you had
the third category person
and that's the ones
who showed up
on Christmas and Easter
they'd always come out
the door and say
pastor
is that the only
two messages
you got
well
come more often
maybe you'll hear
something different
you know
but around the year
2000
we not only
recognized
that Americans
have more
disposable income
they have more
what they view
as disposable
time
and what happened
was this
it got to be
okay
for folk
to miss
a couple
three Sundays
a month
and they could
go the
on vacation
and then next week
they might go to the lakes
they got a friend
that's got a lake house
they'll just go the way
or maybe
Wade just
worked hard this week
and we just need to sleep in
or I've got some yard work
I need to do
and it got to where
instead of
one or two groups
in the church
that 80% group
just disappeared
and
we redefined
what it was
to be active
people in their mind
think now
that active is
I show up a couple times
a month at church
I'm active
I've actually seen people
in times past
when I'm still a pastor
and I'd say
hey we missed you
the last couple of Sundays
and they'd look at you like
how dare you insult me
I'm active
I was here three weeks ago
you understand what I'm saying
the scripture
warns us
admonishes us
don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together
as the matter of some is
you know
it's important
that we be faithful
to our church
that that become
a priority in your life
and I want to tell you
especially why
those of you
in this room
who maybe have fallen
in that category
where you say
well we go about
every other week
or we go two out of three weeks
can I tell you something
your parents went more often
than that
for the most part
now some of you
may have come from
non-Christian homes
but
attendance has been declining
in terms of people's
habits of regularity
for the last 20-30 years
and I want to tell you something
you're going to live to regret
the time's going to come
when you see your children
leave home
you're going to find out
rather than come
once or twice a month
they're not going to come at all
because you're signaling them
it's okay
not to be faithful
in my attendance
it's just not that important
I can still love God
and I can still
you see what I'm saying
you don't want to do that
these people
they were faithful
in their
attendance
to church
seventh thing
I want you to see
is this
they got along well
and worked to protect
the harmony
of their fellowship
verse 46
the latter part of the verse
and broke bread
from house to house
they ate their food
with gladness
and simplicity
of heart
you know what that says
they got along
they liked
each other
you wouldn't meet
so often
and go to each other's
homes
and fellowship
and have your meals
and be involved
in that level
of discipleship
unless
you developed
a strong bond
with each other
these people
were friends
in and out
of church
they were their
closest associates
they were the ones
they were doing
life together with
and so as a result
man they protected
the fellowship
of their church
now you see that
in the epistles
of Paul
one of the churches
Paul liked
I believe the best
we had him here
right now in this state
he'd say Paul
of all the churches
you ever served at
which one you liked
the best
I don't know
which one he'd say
but he would tell you
one of the places
he liked the best
was the Philippians
they were good to it
and he wrote them
the book of Philippians
is about that relationship
but even in the midst
of this book
you know what he says
he said there are
two old girls
in that church
who man
they're fellow workers
with me in the ministry
and I love them both
but you know what I hear
I hear they're at odds
with each other
some of you go
and straighten that mess out
man don't
don't let them continue
to be at each other
work through that
to the Corinthians
a church
I think he probably
had a lot of problems with
he says hey
I hear
and I partially believe
it's true
because I'm hearing
so often
that there is actually
division among you
and he cites
some of the problems
and he says
you need to address
these problems
and you need to
discipline those folks
even if it means
putting them out
of the church
for the good
of the whole body
you need to do that
so this was
a tight-knit group
they loved each other
but I want to tell you
something
they weren't above
going to somebody
and saying hey
you know what
your life is drifted
away from the truth
and we need to call
you back
and you need to
repent
and if not
we're going to
practice church
discipline
in your life
and in our church
we have this notion
today
that to be loving
is always to be
gentle
but I'm telling you
to be loving
at times
is to be gentle
but at times
it's to say
we can't put up
with any foolishness
I raise my kids
on that principle
and I'm going to
love you
and as long as
I can be gentle
I'm going to be gentle
but I'm going to
tell you something
if I have to have
a firm hand with you
I'm going to
exercise a firm hand
because I'm going
to discipline you
because there's a way
I want you to turn out
and I don't want you
to be lawless
I don't want you
to be unruly
I don't want you
to be making trouble
all your life
for yourself
or for other folks
and so is their daddy
I discipline my children
and they love me
and respect me
for that
I want to tell you
I've been disappointed
at times
in the church
when I see
church people
sit back
and see somebody
in the church
who is unruly
who divides
who is
a sharp tongue
and leadership
in the church
and membership
in the church
just sits there
and never says a word
they think
they tell themselves
try to convince themselves
we're just being loving
we're just being patient
we're just being gracious
and sometimes
it's a matter
of being cowardly
before I left
Western Avenue
I'd been there
about 15 years
and one of the last
couple three years
I was there
we were having
a business meeting
and there was this lady
who from the very start
of my ministry there
she didn't do it often
but about once
every year
18 months
she was going to say
something in a business
meeting that was crass
she was going to pick
somebody apart
sometimes it was staff
sometimes it was me
sometimes it was a deacon
in the church
but she would just say
something that just
had a barb to it
and when she would do it
well people would just
wince
you could sit on
people didn't like it
in the congregation
they were a harmonious church
and they didn't like that
but she would say
and one Sunday night
in a business meeting
she had some pretty
sharp words for me
and she said
what she said
and I didn't say anything
and we went on
the business meeting
and when it was over
I looked over at my wife
and four or five women
had come and gathered
around my wife
because tears
were streaming
down her face
she didn't like to see me
get beat up like that
and so
they were huddling
around her
and I went over to her
and said
you ready to go
and I heard one of these
women say to my wife
she said
I want you to know
call this lady by name
says we all take her
with a grain of salt
don't pay that
any attention
we know how she is
she's always been
she was that way
with the last
she just got to say
what she says
she prides herself
in her frankness
and her candor
and we don't take her
seriously
she just says
what she says
and then she said
we want you to know
we're always behind you
we've always got your back
my wife
it was out of character
for her
because I'm the one
who's more opinionated
but she looked that lady
in the face
and she said
that's the problem
there are times
I wish you were
in front of us
instead of behind us
you hear what I'm saying
you've been in those
meetings haven't you
where somebody said
something
you just knew
that's not
Christian behavior
that's not how
we should act
and I'm telling you
it would be a good thing
if in those moments
you went to that person
either publicly
or privately
depending on the situation
how bad it is
and say
you know what
we love you
we're not going to
tolerate it here
at First Baptist Pickens
that's not how we behave
that's not how the Bible
instructs kingdom people
to behave
and say
you can't do that here
if you're going to do that
you're going to have to
go somewhere else
because
we just can't tolerate that
they guarded
the fellowship
of the church
and I'm going to tell you
something
a church that doesn't
guard the fellowship
of the church
is a church
that one day
will be in trouble
if you think
harmony just happens
and unity just happens
you're mistaken
you've got to guard it
you've got to prize it
I hit my odometer
this morning
five miles
from the church
going that direction
on highway 8
because I'd noticed
this before
and I had my wife
who was in the dark
this morning
because of the time
moving back
I think I got them all
I'm not sure
but you know how many
churches there are
from just five miles
down this road
to this spot right here
there are either
16 or 17 churches
down that road
in a five mile distance
you think that's all
about missions
you think that's all
about spreading
the gospel
of the Lord Jesus
are you like me
are you a little bit
suspicious that
we just can't get
along one another
isn't that the case
you hear about that
old guy
he was rescued
from this island
and he'd been
missing five years
and when they got there
they said
hey we spotted you
by a plane
and we came back
to rescue you
and so they're
putting him
in the helicopter
to get him out of there
and this guy
who was flying
the helicopter
said
hey you got
three outbuildings
out here
what are these buildings
he said
well that's my house
okay well
what's that other building
he said
well that's where
I go to church
he said
well what's that
other building
he said
well that's where
I used to go to church
that's why you got
17 buildings
down this road
you understand
because
we don't take seriously
working out
our differences
and guarding
our harmony
and guarding
our unity
it's just easier
to pick up
and go somewhere else
I want you to see
an 8 thing
they were looked on
with favor
by the outside world
verse 47
8
praising God
and having favor
with all the people
that means just those
in the church
that's what we just
got through talking about
here he's talking about
having favor with people
outside the church
I just got to tell you
if you're the church
that God has called you
to be
and you're going to
stand on biblical
principles
the people in the world
are not always going to
like everything
you got to say
there are going to be
times that the world
is not going to like
your pastor
or your staff
or you
because of your
standing on abortion
or about
homosexuality
or about
transgender
situations
about alcohol
and drugs
and I could just
go on and on
and on and on
many people
when they hear
the word of God
preach
are going to be
offended by it
and they're going to
be angry with you
it's one thing
for them to be
offended
it's one thing
for them to be
angry
and it's another
thing for you
to give them
just cause
and some
believers
some ministers
they live such
unscrupulous lives
that when people
see them
on the outside
they discredit
their testimony
because they say
man that guy
comes in the
restaurant
and he's just
rude
he's just
rude
may that never
be said about
anybody here
at First Baptist
Church of Pickens
when I was
serving in
Statesville
there was
a time where
I was asked
to serve as
chairman of
this group
that was
going to
fight a
liquor issue
in our town
and I had
to go down
to the
chamber of
commerce
because the
guy who
was leading
the fight
for this
liquor thing
was the
president of
the chamber
in Statesville
North Carolina
and so when I
walked into his
office for a
preliminary meeting
he said now
you're the guy
at Western Amity
right
and I said
yes sir I am
and he said
the guy who
was your
predecessor
was Jake
Honeycutt
wasn't it
I mentioned Jake
a few weeks
ago to y'all
and he said
I said yes
and he said
you know
I don't know
if you know
this or not
but Jake
and I
locked it up
like you
and I
didn't
ready to
lock it
up
about 10
years ago
over the
issue of
liquor
and I said
yeah that's
what I hear
and he said
I'll tell you
something
even though
he and I
went toe
to toe
and nose
to nose
and it
got hot
sometimes
he said
I hope
you're as
nice a guy
as he was
because he
said I'm
going to
tell you
something
I don't
have anything
but good
things to
say about
that guy
he said
man he
was a man
of character
and a man
who is gracious
and a man
who is loving
and I want to
tell you something
that's how it
ought to be
with every one
of us in
this room
we might have
to disagree
with somebody
we don't
ever have
to be
disagreeable
do we
we ought
to be
people
whose
lives
are found
in favor
with the
world
and then
there's
one last
thing
and I
close
they
partnered
together
in getting
out the
gospel
look at
verse 47
I love
this
and every
day
the Lord
added to
those
added to
them
rather
those
who
were
being
saved
can you
imagine
that
every
day
somebody
was being
saved
you know
there are
churches
right here
in Pickens
I'm not
making this
up
who in the
course of a
year
they never
baptized
anybody
all across
the state
of South
Carolina
there are
lots of
churches
that don't
baptize
a single
person
in the
course
of a
year
I know
without even
seeing the
records that
during these
two years
of COVID
fewer people
have been
baptized in
our Baptist
churches
than probably
in the last
hundred years
there's no
question that
COVID has
kept us from
being as
aggressive in
evangelism as
we were at
one time
but I'm
going to tell you
something
if this
becomes a
way of
life for
us
and we
just settle
in and say
you know
what
it's okay
that we
just minister
to our
own
and that we
not take
the gospel
out to the
nations
only take
them
we will
have
forfeited
our right
to be
called
church
we'll be
nothing more
than a
sacred
society
of secret
snobs
do you
understand
that
the church's
mission
is clear
cut
and that
mission is
to take
the gospel
to the
nations
as soon as
you're a new
pastor on
board I
hope you
quickly will
develop a
strategy where
you'll say
let's have a
strategy for
reaching
Pickens for
Christ
and then you'll
have a strategy
about how do
we influence
Pickens County
and Greenville
County for
Christ
and how do
we get the
gospel across
the state
and into the
nation
all 50
states
and how can
we be a
part of
bringing the
world to
Christ
how can we
give the
gospel to
the Ukraine
and to
Uganda
and to
places we've
never been
and may
never go
that's the
mission he's
given us
and if we
settle for
anything less
than that
we can be
good people
and having a
good time
and doing
some good
stuff
but I want
to tell you
something
you're not
a church
you're just
not a church
and I hope
you'll never
ever satisfy
to just be
a bunch of
good folk
who maybe
even love
the Lord
who are
looking
to him
to save
them
but have
no regard
for people
in the world
who don't
know Christ
let's bow
together in
prayer
Father
I pray this
morning that
you would
convince us
leadership
staff
members
alike
that this
is the
pattern
that we're
to follow
we don't
have to
reinvent the
wheel
Lord
we just
have to
get on
board
with what
you've
already
told us
in scripture
we ought
to be
about
and I
pray God
that we'd
always hold
this standard
up before
ourselves
we'd go
back and
check from
time to
time and
say are we
doing those
things that
really the
church is
called to do
are we getting
out the gospel
are we discipling
the lost
are we
praying
are we
ministering
are we
sharing
our goods
with others
please oh
God
I pray you'd
make First
Baptist Church
Pickens the
strongest in
the days to
come it's
ever been in
this wonderful
history bless
them give them
souls for their
labor it's our
prayer in your
name amen