Transcription
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Well, good evening. All right. So, we are going to be I'm going to be introducing to you a new memory passage. And the men have been handing out cards, but if you did not get a card, a new card, and you would like one, please raise your hand nice and high. Did they get all of you? Well, that's unprecedented. Oh, that's Oh, no. We got one person right here. All right. Anyone else? Did I see any more hands? Okay. All right. All right. Well, if you end up needing a card, they will be kept on that table in the foyer. And please help yourself. And thank you, men, for getting those out to everyone. That makes it a blessing. Makes it smoother.
All right. So, let's begin with our review passage. What we've been working on. Second Timothy 2. Right. All right. Oh, I've been out for a while. So, I don't know if you guys are working on something else or not. So, 2 Timothy 2, we'll quote that and then we'll get into this new passage. So, let's begin.
2 Timothy 2:11-13. "It is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself." Amen.
Let's look at our new card. And we're going to be working on Psalm 8. Now, this time I put the the title of the psalm in in verse one. All right. So, that way we we know to say that with verse one. So let's go ahead and quote this verse twice through. We'll say Psalm 8: "To the chief musician upon Gittith, a psalm of David." And we'll do that twice. So let's begin.
Psalm 8:1. "To the chief musician upon Gittith, a psalm of David. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth: who hath set thy glory above the heavens."
"To the chief musician upon Gittith, a psalm of David. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth: who hath set thy glory above the heavens."
And then review this week. James 1:1-1. James 1:1-1. Amen.
So I have one announcement. Someone has turned 30. Amen. Brother William. And after the service tonight, we're going to have a fellowship just uh celebrating his 30th birthday. And I think there's cake and there's other things out back there. Right after the service, I'll give whoever needs to be back there. If you need to have a few minutes, I'll give you some time. If I forget, please let me know. And then, uh, everyone's welcome to go back there and enjoy yourself. You'll fellowship. Make sure you greet brother William and tell him happy birthday. Praise the Lord that he's given you 30 years. And I praise the Lord that he put you in this church. Praise God.
All right. God is good. Let's continue to pray for Pastor Mitchell and Mrs. Mitchell in Fiji. I've been blessed by these pictures, seeing what he's doing there. What a great work. Gospel is being preached in Fiji. And then I've received some pictures today uh up in Shelburn as they had two men and and their wives join them from the church in Manitoba. They sent me some pictures of uh you know of the service. I don't know if it was before or after pictures of their meal that they had together and it seems like they've been blessed and encouraged. So, praise God. Let's continue to pray for the work in Shelurn, Ontario. I'm excited about it. Excited to see what the Lord will do. And then continue to pray for those in Sparks. Excited about that as well. This is quite something. I mean, your this church is being represented in three different areas. Not counting Brunswick. God is enlarging our coast, isn't he? Let's not take it light lightly. Let's rejoice in what he's doing, but let's also keep pressing, keep serving. Amen.
All right. We'll have the men come forward, receive this evening's offering. Praise the Lord. We get to give. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for what you are doing in and through us. And it's all for your glory. As your word says, "O Lord, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." I thank you, Lord, that you saved us and you're sanctifying us to fulfill your perfect pleasure, your will for for our lives. Lord, I pray that you would be with Pastor Mitchell and Mrs. Mitchell in Fiji. I thank you that they have this opportunity to be an encouragement to the hours. Lord, what a blessing it is to to see these people singing out to to hear of their their joy of Pastor Mitchell being there. And I I pray, oh Lord, for those that have not been saved, that you would work in their hearts. Be with be with brother Hower as he preaches the gospel, as he ministers to those people. Lord, I pray that you would be with the work up in Shelburn. You continue to bless in that and continue to open doors. Lord, I pray that you would get me and my family there in your perfect will, in your timing, Lord. And I thank you that you encourage them today with Brother Talbot and Brother Britain. And Lord, I pray that you would establish your church in Shelurn. Lord, I pray for those in Sparks, that you'd bless them and encourage them. And I thank you, Lord, how you've been saving souls in Sparks, Nevada. Lord, I pray that you would provide for them a permanent meeting place. I pray that you would bless Pastor Min as he preaches your word and use it for your glory, Lord, there in Sparks and build your church in Sparks. I pray, Lord, I pray that you would help us here to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help me as I preach your word. Lord, I pray that you would give me boldness and utterance. Help me, oh Lord, to speak and to preach in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Help us, oh Lord, to to receive your word, to be hearers and doers of it. And Lord, this is all for your glory. We love you and and praise your name, Lord. Your name is greatly to be praised. And in Jesus Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Stand with our red great hymns of the faith. Turn to 474. And brother, let's uh sing the first two and then I want to do my presentation and and all of you can sit down for that and then for the third we'll just have the piano after the presentation. Yes sir.
474. "I Have a Friend Who Loves Me."
"I have a friend who loves me,
I have a friend who loves me,
I have a friend who loves me,
He saved my soul.
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul.
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
He saved my soul."
"I have a friend who loves me,
I have a friend who loves me,
I have a friend who loves me,
He saved my soul.
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul.
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
He saved my soul."
"I have a friend who loves me,
I have a friend who loves me,
I have a friend who loves me,
He saved my soul.
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul,
He saved my soul.
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
He saved my soul."
Amen. Number 477 at Calvary. Number 477.
"At Calvary."
"At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
For me, for me, for me.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
There my burden of sin I brought,
And all the mighty God has wrought.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Pardon there was divine to me.
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
For me, for me, for me.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
There my burden of sin I brought,
And all the mighty God has wrought.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Pardon there was divine to me.
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
At Calvary, my Lord was crucified,
For me, for me, for me.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
There my burden of sin I brought,
And all the mighty God has wrought.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Pardon there was divine to me."
Before I show this presentation, and I'd like for maybe a couple people would like to give testimony of God's grace and what he's done for you, how he's saved you. Would anyone like to say, "Praise the Lord?" How about this? Who will start us on this side? Brother Jeremiah.
"I'm thankful to be saved and planted in this church. Thankful for how God is moving here that I get to be a part of it."
Amen. Praise God. Is there one more person over here? Peter, let's hear Peter. How has God blessed you, Peter?
"I'm thankful that I was saved because I if I didn't, I'd be on h I would be at hell going."
Yeah. Yeah. Well, praise the Lord, Peter. Anyone in the middle? Brother Emory.
"I'm thankful that I'm saved and that I have a heavenly home and not an earthly home."
Amen. Yeah, I'm I praise the Lord for that, too. That this world is not my home. I'm just passing through. Amen. Was there someone else in the middle? All right, Sister Brittany. I was about to call on brother Bill, but.
"I'm thankful for a peace that passes all understanding that there were the unsaved don't understand, but I'm grateful to have."
Amen. I was thinking of that today as well. Praise the Lord. All right. How about this side? Yes, Sister Lori.
"I'm thankful that Christ saved me and that he is with me no matter what trials I go through."
Praise God. Did I see other hands on this side? Was there a hand over here? Anyone else? One other person. Anyone else? Wow. All right. I guess no one else over there is thankful they're saved. Brother William.
"I'm thankful I'm saved. I just not good with words. I guess."
That's that sounded perfect for me, brother. Thankfully you're saved. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. Thank you. Thank you for having those microphones ready. And let's launch this, brother. As promised, I wanted to share this presentation. I don't know where to stand to not block it. Maybe down here. Yeah, it's probably going to block it worse. So, I've been showing this as I'm visiting other churches and then I real I realize that most of you have not seen some of the faces in Shelburn. So, I want you all to be blessed by it. So, of course, this is the title page, a missionary to Ontario, Canada, Shelburn. Uh, you all know about that that I'm going that we're being sent. Uh, oh. Oh, that's right. My wife's in the nursery. I can show her later. All right. Here we go.
So, in case you didn't know, this is my family. Yeah, most of you know my family, if not all of you, brother. Oh, so here's my, you know, family. We're, you know, the Lord has greatly blessed us and and at this point I tell folks about my testimony. You all know my testimony. So, for the sake of time, I won't just tell you it. Um, but, you know, the Lord has bountifully blessed me with a wonderful wife and five children. And it's uh, you know, I I praise the Lord that he saved my daughter, Kaen. And I praise the Lord that he's put us all in a good church. I mean, what better could you want? I mean, the Lord's put us here and has been blessing us. So, praise God. There we go.
Here's our sending church, Mid Coast Baptist Church, Pastor Bobby Mitchell. And, uh, you know, everywhere I've been so far, they they know of our church and they, you know, they've uh they they love our they love Pastor Mitchell. They love our church. They pray for our church and it's been a privilege to to be uh to represent our church in these other churches up in Manitoba at Broken Arrow, soon at Calvary in North Carolina, Lighthouse Baptist in North Carolina, um Community Baptist Church in Pennsylvania, and there's others. But praise the Lord that that he's allowed me to do this and and just represent us.
So, we are going to Shelburn and Shelburn. Wow, that does not work on the screen. Okay, so laser doesn't work on the screen. As you can see where the arrow is pointing, that's about where Shelburn is. It's roughly an hour northwest of Toronto. Uh, I mean, Ontario is a very big location. Uh, but I don't I know of one other church in all of Ontario that I that I know of that seems pretty sound and that's four hours east of there. It's if you if you go up and along towards the border of Quebec, right at the border of Quebec, there's another church in Kingston. It's a small church. Uh, they seem to be really preaching the gospel, the King James Bible. Um, but that's it. There's other churches all throughout Ontario, but there's all kinds of issues with them, whether it's Jack Hiles or or uh Paul Chapel or, you know, these these these false preachers, these these men who have preached a false gospel. And I wouldn't want anyone to go to these churches. I wouldn't go to these churches. But this is where we being where we are being sent in Shelburn.
And this is an over or an aerial view of Shelburn. Um, it's it's been growing significantly. As you could see, 2021 the population was 8,994. They estimate the population now at 11,199, a 24% increase in a short period of time. That's quite a growing town. And whenever I went and visited, I mean, all in the outskirts, I can't necessarily use the laser, but I can point to it. All of these areas here, all of those areas on these corners of the town, all new housing. They just been building like crazy. Uh, all kinds of homes. Um, they they need the gospel in Shelurn. It is considered the fastest growing town in the greater Toronto area. Uh, the greater Toronto area has a population of over over 7 million people. Just 20 minutes south of Shelburn is Orangeville and it's probably three times or if not larger than Shelurn. I I kind of think of it like uh Lewis and Auburn. The size of Orangeville. Lewis and Auburn put together. But it's even kind of laid out like Lewis and Auburn in a way. But you know but without other things that Lewis and Auburn has you know the this whole area has a significant Catholicism grip a lot of Catholics there and also there's a growing Hindu and Muslim uh group if you will a lot of people from India have been immigrating. A lot of people from the Middle East have been immigrating there and they need the gospel as well. They need to hear the gospel. And and I think of uh Praipa who was Hindu. The Lord has saved her out of that out of that false religion. And I'll show you someone else that has been hearing the gospel needs to be saved who it's also in the Hindu religion. But we'll look at this in a minute.
So what is the mission of going to Shelburn? You know, we want to want to establish a church in Shelurn with the current saints and with the Brownfield family. want to establish a church right there that that where we can serve the Lord. We need a a public meeting location. Soon as we get out there, we're going to start looking for a public meeting spot. And because of all the construction, all the building, there's a lot of open office spaces like a storefronts that are just bare bones. You know, no one's using them. Pastor Mitchell and I were looking at one uh very long strip mall, if you will, just completely empty. just I'm sorry there there was a firehouse subs that went in there you know at least they got that going for them but everything else was empty and you know the Lord might open up a place like that for us to have a public meeting spot and then you know we want to preach doortodoor I'm excited to go out with uh brother Paul, brother George, with uh the young men there um Justin and uh Kaden and preach the gospel to these people. Preached the gospel in Shelburn. And the men who visited there today, um, brother uh Stephen Talbot and then uh brother uh uh Luke uh Britain, they're from Manitoba like uh Wheat City Baptist Church in Brandon, Manitoba. They want to have, as I read this morning, they want to have a huge part in us establishing this church. and they want to come out and even help us knock doors. So, we could start canvasing, you know, handing out gospel tracks, preaching the gospel, and I believe the Lord will be glorified. And of course, it doesn't stop there. You know, we want to evangelize the lost, but we want to baptize those that believe and also exhort the saints, exhort those that do believe. We want the Lord's church to be built up, to be strengthened. And then my desire is to train men who can teach others also. I mean, that's what we've had here. And we've sent out Chris Teal. We sent out Dave Minet and Lord willing sending me out and then we can duplicate that. We can replicate it in Shelburn, Canada, because Canada needs churches, too.
So, here is the group of Shelburn Saints. The Lord's kept them together through a major trial. You know, their pastor left them back in 2020. Uh, just apostasized, left the faith, left his family, and the Lord used Bethel Baptist Church and and Jackson County Baptist Church, Pastor Sutton, to keep this group of people together. They met online. They they flew out there. Pastor Stagger, I believe, has been out there before. You know, they they've really had a huge impact on these people, but of course, you know, they're pastoring churches, so they couldn't be the ones to go out and but they've kept them together. And praise the Lord that he he put it on the heart of Pastor Mitchell for us to have a big impact on this, to have something to do with this. And I would have never imagined it being me, but here my Lord send me. And when I got to meet all of these folks, what a blessing. I mean, they they are vibrant. They're they can't wait to have a pastor there. If you go some time without a pastor with you, it's you grow to appreciate when you have one and when you can get one.
So, I'll kind of give you a little overview. I'll start from the very left. The the laser doesn't work on this, but I'll try my best. So we have the very left is Praipa. She's uh the one in the white shirt. Behind Praipa is Justin. And in front of Justin here is uh Eliza. And then kind of right next to Eliza is Daniel. Behind Daniel, you have Rachel. This Rachel's Rachel Bronzeville right here. The lady with the glasses. That's the former pastor's sister still there. Did not quit when he did. She's still serving the Lord. And then we have uh behind her. Hey, thank you. That works, too. Uh, right there is uh Edric. And uh, yeah, that's Edric. Edric. No, I'm sorry. That's uh Kaden. Uh, Edric is a taller one. So that's Kaden. You know, Brother Griffith's son. Um, Kaden and uh Justin right here. Uh, they both work for a Nissan factory or a Nissan dealership. They're mechanics, you know, hardworking young men. They love the Lord. They love to give testimony what the Lord is teaching them out of the Bible. Praise the Lord for them. And then right here, this is Dianiela who we're praying for uh through, you know, a trial that she's facing. And I haven't been able to chat with her right now, but you know, today, but I'll let you know how all of that went today with uh what she was dealing with later. Right here, his name, this young man's name, he's 10 years old. His name is Ach. It's spelled with an H, but the H is silent, and I've learned to say it almost like you're about to sneeze. Ach. And Ach is uh he's been visiting. His mother is Hindu. He's the one that I was telling you about. He's come out. He loves being there. It's a blessing seeing him. But he comes out, hears the preaching, then whenever he goes home, his mother makes him bow down to idols to try to negate the effect of the gospel in his life because she doesn't want him to believe. But she still lets him go. That's that's strange. But Lord willing, when I'm out there, I'd like to try to meet with her, give her the gospel. But, you know, a I told I I encouraged him to keep coming out, keep hearing the gospel. Don't don't give into the idol worship. And I asked him, you know, what do these idols mean to you? And he said, "Nothing." Well, praise God. They mean nothing to you. So, pray for him that the Lord will save him. And if he keeps coming out and hearing the gospel and he's humble, the Lord will save him. Behind Ach is uh Jasmine. Jasmine is the piano player there. She's uh she's a huge blessing. She's also the soap maker, so there might be some competition. But anyway, she's a, you know, she's a lovely young lady. Behind her, that is uh uh that's Edric, the the taller young man in the back. Uh, and then let's go slightly more to the right. The the lady right there in the middle, that's Barbara. She's the one that's from Ireland, and she's the one that has pretty severe dementia right now. And she's in April going to be moving to Kingston, that church I was telling you about that I know of. She's going to be moving there. Her sister is there, and they're going to take care of her. So, she is going to be leaving and she's pretty discouraged about that. She goes, "I've been waiting for so long to have a pastor. Now, we're getting one and I have to leave." And I've tried, you know, I've encouraged her, told her, "This is the Lord's will for you." And uh and I and if this is a good church, I mean, I believe it is just from the website. I want to go out and visit them. So, I'll be able to visit her and even though it's four hours away, I'd go four hours to fellowship with the church if the Lord wills. Behind her in the kind of hiding, that's uh Ellen. The Lord saved her back in June. and and you've heard her testimony to some extent, I believe, but before she was saved, you know, her father lives in Shelburn. She lives in Barry, which is an hour away. And an hour away in Ontario, wintertime is very significant. You don't drive when it's snowing, you know, especially at night, an hour away. But anyway, she uh before she was saved, her father was okay with her driving to Shelburn at any time. He didn't care until she got saved. and she got saved and wanted to go to church, you know, go to this group in Shelburn. And now he has a problem with it. He doesn't want her doing it, but she still does it. She respects her father, but she tells her father, you know, I'm I'm going to serve God. So, I mean, right out the gate, she faces opposition, and she doesn't quit. What fruit? I mean, praise the Lord. That's fruit meet for repentance. Up in front that is uh sister Karen. She's from the Philippines and her husband's right behind her, brother George. And I believe I've been trying to pronounce his name. It's Jack Dunan. Brother George is Indian, you know, from India, West Indie or East India I should say. So even though he's from there or his ancestry is from there, uh he was born and raised in Guyana, South America. There's a little bit of history behind that. And Guyana, I don't know how long ago, but many, many years ago, the English would go to India and take people as slaves and brought them to Guyana to be slaves. Sold them, if you will. And now you have a whole lot of uh people from India in Guyana. Well, now he's in Ontario. The Lord placed him there. And he's one of the the the key men there, the faithful men. Uh, he's he does some preaching uh that you know he does a every other week he'll do a psalm you know every other midweek service he'll do a psalm kind of give a a good uh what do you want to call it devotional and it's a blessing hearing him do that. Behind him is uh Micaiah where's the yeah there we go I don't know if anyone can even see that mouse pointer but that's Micaiah that's also brother George's uh son and then in the very back corner is uh that's Linda Linda Griffith. She was saved out of Catholicism. Lord saved her from being a Catholic and and she's just joyful and I learned that she loves quilting and uh she's excited about meeting Noel. They have a lot in common. They even have the same temperament and everything. So, it seems like the Lord made us for Shelburn. It's it's quite something. And then one on the very end is brother Paul Griffith. And Paul Griffith, this is his home that they meet in. That's the his his basement. And you know, they all meet there for services. They have a nice setup. Actually, I don't even have a picture on here, but they sent me a picture this afternoon of them uh you know, hearing preaching, if you will, all sitting down. It's it's a nice little area, but there's not a whole lot of room. And that's why we need a good public meeting location. And a lot of Canadians kind of frown upon going to someone's basement to have church.
There's also another person who started coming uh last Sunday. Yeah, I believe it was last Sunday. Her name is Bonnie. And Bonnie is Ellen's aunt. Ellen told her about, you know, this group uh has been meeting, told her about, you know, how God is sending them a pastor. And Bonnie's been searching for a church. She's not saved. She's pretty confused. But what she said, what Bonnie said that all these churches she's visited, they couldn't care less if she's there. It's kind of like, oh, glad you're here. All right. You know, moving on. They weren't very friendly to her. And she said she went here. That's all she's received was care and charity and love. And she says it's really different. And I told I told Brother Paul, I says, "Amen. Tell her that that's because that's what true Christian charity is. And that's why it's it's encouraging seeing all of you do that with visitors, greeting them, shaking their hand, talking with them, getting to know them. We ought to be doing that. We ought to win souls. We're not going to win souls if we're a bunch of humugs, if we're not being friendly. But praise the Lord. Pray for Bonnie. And she did show up today, too. And she says she still wants she wants to keep coming. She wants to meet me, but that might be a little bit. Uh, but pray for her that the Lord would save her.
So, just kind of more closeup, you know, on the left you have Rachel, Praipa, and Ellen. And then you have uh Ellen and Jasmine, Jasmine Griffith. You know, you can see that it's they're like a big family, kind of like how we are. And I just praise the Lord for the for these folks. When we had our Christmas breakfast, I told them that we weren't going to have Sunday school here because they on Sundays they tune in and they're like, "Well, what do we do?" I'm like, "Have breakfast." So, they never had breakfast together in the I don't even know that would be 10 years that they've been gathering. They never had breakfast together. They thoroughly enjoyed having breakfast together. So, they sent me this picture. You know, not everyone is in this picture. Ellen wasn't there. Um, at that time, I think it was it was snowing. It was bad weather, so she wasn't able to be there. And then Paul, you don't see him because he's taking the picture, but everyone else is there. You could see, you know, they they they can't wait to have a pastor. And and they are full of joy that they're going to have one. They're full of joy and what the Lord's doing. They've been praising the Lord. Um, I wish I could have you all meet them. Brother, you've met them. Isn't it exciting? Just praise the Lord.
So, I I've been asking people to pray that you know what you all have been praying for that I could get the this work visa. Um, and the Lord gave us that that one thing that we needed with uh the Church of Manitoba voting to sponsor me. So, now that they can do that, when Pastor Mitchell returns, I'll talk to him about it all and and how we want to go about this and Lord willing, they can put in that paperwork. There's no approval that's needed for a sponsorship. They just put it into the system online. Then they get a number and then I take that number and apply for the work permit. So pray that the Lord bless us. The Lord can move the hearts of kings. He surely can move Canadian immigration. You know, we want to move to Ontario as soon as possible. I mean, obviously in the Lord's timing, but we don't want to drag this out. We don't want to wait until next year. We want to go as soon as possible. Pray for housing and transportation. And I think the Lord's been, you know, working on these, you know, these lines as well. But pray that the Lord gives wisdom concerning it. We do need I'm going to have to sell our Pathfinder. It's going to cost about seven or eight grand just to import it into Canada. And it's not worth that to me to to pay that kind of money to have it imported. I can sell what I have and then go up to Canada and buy something there and pay nothing in import fees. So, so that's that's my plan, but I just need wisdom on exactly how to go about doing that. And then, of course, the public meeting location. Pastor Mitchell suggested that I write a gospel track like he did for here. And I think that's a great idea where I could hand it to someone and say, "Here, I want you to read something I wrote." So, pray that the Lord gives wisdom as I start doing that. Lord willing, I'm going to start doing that this week. Um, and I also want to start making a prayer card. I wasn't going to. And all these churches are saying, "We want prayer cards." I want to I want to give them prayer cards then. So pray that the Lord helps me do those things and gives me wisdom because we need a lot of wisdom. A lot of wisdom. This is not something to take lightly. You know, we want to move in God's timing. We want to move where God wants us to move to. You We want to buy the car that we'll need, not the car we necessarily want. you know, need wisdom on buying that. Need wisdom on, you know, we're going to potentially rename the church. It's not going to be Headwaters anymore. And I already had them shut down the website because they had a website with their former pastors preaching and everything on there, but we had them shut that down and pray that the Lord blesses and creating a new website. Um, I think that we might be looking into asking brother uh Johnson, Elton Sparks possibly do that because that's what he does for a living essentially. Um, but pray for all of this. Pray for wisdom that we do this according to, you know, the word. I think I told you all before that I made a commitment to God with me going to Ontario. I said, Lord, if you send me, I'm committed to do it your way. We will go according to your word. I will preach according to his word. I'll witness according to his word. I'll pastor according to his word. You know, lead these folks by the Bible. This is not according to Paul and what Paul Brownfield wants to do. I want to replicate what's here. I want I want a Mid Coast Baptist Church, if you will, be in Shelurn, Ontario. So pray that the Lord blesses and the Lord builds his church. So I hope that's a blessing and encouragement to you seeing that. And I do have some more photos and and potentially I can share that with you as well.
I'm going to have the lights on and then let's uh before the preaching let's sing uh you could remain seated. We we'll sing uh 249.
"Just As I Am."
"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou biddest me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, though toss'd and torn
By storms of life, I long for morn;
To thee, whose love can make me whole,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
To thee, whose grace can find,
And heal, and bless, and make me whole,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, I come to thee,
And would thy pardoning love embrace;
I know thy blood can cleanse me,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come."
Amen. Have you turn to the book of Acts? Looking for my notes. Here we go. Acts 17, excuse me. Acts 17, we'll read two verses. Verse 30 and 31.
Acts 17:30-31. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Amen.
So tonight I'm preaching on biblical repentance. Biblical repentance. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you that that we have your word. I thank you, Lord, that your word is sharper than any two-edged sword. Thank you, Lord, that it's like a hammer which breaketh the rock in pieces. It's a fire. It's the word of life. It's the water of life. I thank you, Lord, that we have it as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And Lord, we see here that you've commanded all men everywhere to repent. I praise you that you've worked on me and those here to repent. Help us, oh Lord, to be witnesses unto others that they must repent. Lord, help us to see what true biblical repentance is from your word. Help me to preach it, oh Lord, in Jesus Christ's name I pray. Amen.
So true biblical repentance is required to be saved. It's required. It's not an option. It's not a suggestion. It's needful. It is needful. Without it, without true biblical repentance, there is no salvation. God commands that all men repent. Like I said, it's not an option. It's a commandment. It's imperative. Repentance cannot be watered down. Repentance cannot be neglected. A gospel that's preached without repentance is not the real gospel. Repentance is not just verbally saying, "I'm sorry." But it is agreeing with God with what God says in his word. turning from our own way, turning from our sin, turning from this world and turning unto God and believing and having faith in him. Repentance is intellectual. Repentance is volitional. And we're going to talk about each of these briefly. Repentance is emotional. Repentance is personal. No one can do it for you. Even your desires change when you repent and you start desiring the things of the Lord. Repentance does a work in your heart, in your life. Someone can't say, "I've repented." And they had no change of life. When there is true repentance, there's fruit. And that fruit is obvious to others. Amen. A Christian's life is marked by biblical repentance as God sanctifies and purifies the believer. Repent. Just because you repent once and you're saved, it doesn't mean repentance stops. We continue a lifestyle of repentance.
So, we're going to consider what repentance is not. We're going to start with the negative. All right? And we're going to see what repentance is according to the scriptures. And then I'm going to show you that repentance must be preached. It must be preached.
So what repentance is not? Repentance is not changing your life by your own willpower. It's not pulling you up by yourself up by your own bootstraps. It's not just gritting it out. You having some grit. Although we should be people that have grit. We should stand firm in some things and many things. But repentance is not just changing your life by your own willpower like quitting some bad habit. That's not repentance. You drug addicts, drunkards, thieves, liars, profane people with profane language, gamblers, etc. can all change their life by their own willpower if they desire to. I mean, there's there's even programs and groups that are dedicated to doing that very thing. like AA. Someone who's saved does not need AA. No one needs AA. They need Christ. They need to repent. That's not biblical repentance. Quitting some habit.
Repentance is not feeling bad for doing wrong. Oh, I just feel bad because I sin. I did wrong. I feel bad. That's not repentance. There's people that just kind of live in that state thinking that they ought to just feel bad. A lot of them are are gnostics like stoicism, asceticism. They believe that they should physically afflict themselves because they're so terrible or so horrible. That's not repentance. That is the sorrow of this world. 2 Corinthians 7:9 and 10 says, "Now I rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance." See, being simply just being sorry is not repentance, but being sorrowful unto repentance is what's needed. "For ye are made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world worketh what?" Anyone know what does the sorrow of the world world work? Death. How do we know that? Well, consider Judas. Consider Judas who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. He repented himself. He had the sorrow of this world. He felt bad that he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. But he didn't truly biblically repent. Matthew 27:3-5 says, "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that? And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." His sorrow of this world led him to killing himself. It led to death. That's not true biblical repentance.
True biblical repentance is not just saying you are sorry. It's not just saying you're sorry. Any of you fathers or mothers, your parents had your children saying sorry and then they went and did the same exact same same exact sin again. Just because you said now I need you need to say you're sorry. Sorry. How much meaning is there behind it? Are they truly repenting? But just saying you're sorry is not biblical repentance. Adults tend to say it out of habit. Even so, even more so in Ontario. Sorry. But it's a it's a habit just saying it. Merely merely telling God that you're sorry is not true repentance. Sorry, Lord, I sinned. That's in a way what Catholics do when they go to uh confession. They're confessing their sins to a priest, but they're not. They're not repenting. I dare to even say they're being sorry about their sin. They purposely sin knowing that they can do that. It's not true biblical repentance.
Saying that you believe God and just repeating a prayer is not biblical repentance. That's exactly what these Jack Hiles types lead people to do. They'll just repeat after me. And they have no idea what true repentance is. Jack Isles says he didn't even preach biblical repentance. If he did, his whole ministry would have fallen apart. Well, we had, you know, 500 people saved last week. Two of them are in church. Praise God. Praise God. Where's the other 498 people who got saved? There's no true biblical repentance in it.
Merely just changing your mind is not biblical repentance. It's ridiculous to think that someone changed their mind about something and it did not result in a change direction, isn't it? You know, if Noel said, you know, what would you like for supper? Meatloaf or steak? Well, I I'll take meatloaf. Oh, no, never mind. I changed my mind. I'll take steak. And she makes me steak. I'm like, I thought you were making meatloaf. I wouldn't mind. I would understand if she got frustrated if I were like that. But I know that's a ridiculous example, but it's just as ridiculous when someone says they repented and then they continue on in their same lifestyle. Just merely changing your mind about some sin is not biblical repentance. A person cannot agree with God concerning sin, but continue to walk therein. If you have a lifestyle of walking in sin, it is evident that you never truly repented. 1 John 1:5-10 says, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." Those that truly repent of their sin, truly biblically repent, they don't say that they're sinless. They know that they struggle with sin, but they truly repent of their sin as the Lord Jesus Christ is sanctifying them, purifying them. But those that say that they have the Lord Jesus Christ saved that they're saved, well, I don't I don't sin, but they are having a lifestyle of sin. They continue to sin. they're not truly saved. It's like when you're going door knocking. I've I've ran into this. You knocking on someone's door and some man comes there, you know, a beer in his hand or a cigarette in his hand. Oh yeah, I got that saved thing before. You I heard about that. I, you know, I said a prayer years ago. I'm saved. No, they're not. There's no change of life.
Repentance is none of these things. Repentance is much more than these things. It does involve a change of mind. It does saying it does involve being sorry for your sin. Does involve these things. It does involve confessing to Jesus Christ. But it's not just these things.
What is repentance? True biblical repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of direction. You start walking a different path. You start going in a different direction. No longer your own direction, but God's direction. It means that you turn from your sin. You turn from your own way or from yourself. You turn from this world and you turn unto God. You can't turn away from something and not turn to something else. So if you truly repent, you're turning from all this this wickedness, from your sin, from your idols, from your way of life, and turning to whatever God wants you to turn to just to obey him. You know, if you say that you're, you know, you're walking in a direction, if I say, "I'm going to go in this direction. Oh, I repent. I'm going to turn around and go in this direction, but I just keep going in this direction." You all will be looking at me, I thought we're going that way. Where are we going? Be kind of confusing, wouldn't it? If I were I'm going to be taking Ethan, Lord willing, tomorrow morning ice fishing. And I say, Ethan, let's go over yonder. There's a good North Carolina word, right? And let's go let's go over there and we're going to drill a couple holes and we're going to go fishing over there. And I start working walking this way. He's dad, I thought we're going this way. If you truly repent and you say, I'm going to go with God. where you're going to go with God. You're not going to keep going your own way. You're not going to keep serving your idols. You aren't going to keep going after your own lusts. You're going to go the way God tells you to go. There will be a visible inactive pursuit after the things of
the Lord. In the name of Christendom, and I don't really like that word, but in the name of Christendom, people think that repentance is just saying sorry, but you just keep on going in your sin.
There are many false preachers out there that teach that repentance is the same thing as faith, and it's not. It's not the same thing. They do go hand in hand, but they're two separate things. And God works both in us. He works in us to repent and to believe. But people think that they can just keep on going in their sin and yet they think they're saved.
You know, if your child refused to eat their supper, my children never sinned in this. No, I'm kidding. They've sinned. Yeah. Every child has this has this struggle, right? I mean, every single one of my child my children have had this. Maybe not Alyssa so much yet. She's only six months. Give her time. But if your child refuses to eat their supper, and then you had to chastise your child. Biblical chastisement. And then your child said, "I'm sorry. I'll eat my supper." And then sat back down at the dinner table and did not eat their supper. We're going to do this again. But would you say they repented? Would you say they were truly sorry? No. You would say if they started eating their food, you'd say, "Well, praise the Lord. They actually repented. They were truly sorry. Now they're eating their food." It might be because of the fear of the rod, but that's a good thing, too. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
First Kings 8:46-52 says, "If they sin against thee, for there is no man that sinnth not." And this is Solomon speaking. He says, "If thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near. Yet if they shall be think themselves in the land, whether they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned and have done perversely. We have committed wickedness, and so return unto thee." They return unto God. Solomon's praying to the Lord. If they return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name, then hear thou their prayer, and their supplication in heaven, thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee. and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee. And give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them, for they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron, that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them, and all that they call for unto thee."
Solomon didn't pray, "If they say that they repent, please hear them." No, he said, "If they repent and then turn unto you, unto God with all their heart and with all their soul." Repentance involves a turning with all your heart and with all your soul. There's there's no strings attached. You just turn to God and you say, "Yes, Lord." Yes.
Ezekiel 14:6 says, "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus sayith the Lord God, repent." It isn't sought there, "and turn yourselves from idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations." Repentance involves turning away from idolatry and sin and turning to God. This is not something that's foreign in scripture. It's all throughout scripture. I have quite a few other verses. I'll read a couple more to you. There's way more than this in the Bible. You can look up repentance in the Bible and you you'd have a blessed time seeing what the Lord says about true repentance.
1 Thessalonians 1:6-10. "And ye became followers of us." People who repent become followers of the men of God. They truly repent and believe and they're born again, they follow a pastor. That's what repentant people do. That's biblical. But it it says, "And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God word is spread abroad. So that we need not to speak anything. We don't even have to tell people of you because your faith has spread abroad. People know about you. Praise God. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you. how he turned to God from idols to serve the true, the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." True repentance is turning away from idols, turning to the living and true God to serve him, and waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to return. That's true repentance.
If someone says they truly repent, this is going to be visible in their life. It'll be visible. Webster's 1828 defines repentance as this. It says, "Real repentance is sorrow or deep contrition for sin as an offense and dishonor to God, a violation of his holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a being of infinite benevolence." Wow. This is called evangelical repentance and is accompanied and followed by amendment of life. Amendment of life. Even Webster's 1828 dictionary recognizes that true repentance involves a changed life. You don't keep going on in your sin.
Repentance is a godly sorrow over sin and forsaking of sin. You forsake it. If you are a born again person and you're and you're struggling with a sin and and you repent of it, but you just keep going back to it. You keep going back to it. Are you really repenting? Truly repenting of it. True repentance, you're going to get in the word of God. You're going to see what he says about that sin you're struggling with. You'll do a word study on it. Whatever it is, maybe it's covetousness. So, you'll do a study in on the word of God on covetousness. See what God says and has some godly sorrow over it. You're going to go to some men in the church, your pastors, and if your pastors say, you know, talk to so-and-so, and you're going to seek accountability. You're going to seek help for this this covetousness. If you truly repent, you're not going to just keep going back to it. Even as a saved person, you'll get help. True repentance is a godly sorrow over sin and forsaking it.
True repentance and salvation is always followed by faith. Followed by faith. It's repentance and belief. You repent and then you believe. Now they are two separate things but they're inseparable. They're inseparable. They come together.
You know, Paul said in Acts 20:18-21, "And when they were come to him, he said unto them, You know from the first day that I came into Asia, that through what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mine, and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying and weight of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." You repent of your sins. You turn from your sins. You turn to the Lord. You turn to God. And you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did for you. And then he will save you. You repent and believe. You turn from your sins and turn to God, believing on him.
When you change your mind concerning sin, you agree with God and what his word says about that sin. You no longer fight against God about that sin. You no longer make excuses about that sin. You turn from it. You don't make light of it. You call it what it is. It's sin. It's disgusting. It's dark. It's abominable. God hates it. Christ had to die for that sin. It's wicked rebellion against a holy God. When you agree with God and call sin what it is, then you forsake that sin to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't make excuses about it.
Like I said, repentance is intellectual. You turn from sin to God. So, you must know what sin is. You must know it. You must know what sin is. You must know why you need to turn from your sin. You must know the bad news that sin brings forth death. There is a penalty of sin and that's death. And there's a second death and that's in the lake of fire. That's where your sin takes you. If you're not if you're lost, that's where you're headed. And you must know this so you can understand why you need to turn to Christ. You need to turn from your sins and turn to Christ who died for you, who shed his blood for you. He gave his life on that tree, on that cross so that you can be saved so you can live. And he was risen again. And he's he is risen again. Not was he is risen again. And he's at his father's right hand waiting to come back and take those that are his to be with him forever.
You need to know who Christ is when you turn to him. You know, some say, you know, are you one of those, you know, lordship salvation people? Well, I believe you must know that Jesus is Lord. Amen. Because he is Lord. The Bible doesn't say make Jesus Lord of your life. It says he is Lord. Amen. So, you need to submit to him as Lord. You must know who he is. You could see that in Romans. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. How can you believe in him if someone hasn't told you about the Lord Jesus Christ? You must know who he is. And unfortunately, the gospel of this world paints a different picture of Jesus Christ. It's a different Christ. And it leads to many false salvations.
Repentance is volitional, which simply means you do it voluntarily. No one can force you to repent. That's why the Catholic Inquisition was such a disaster because they thought they could force Christians, force them to recant of their faith. Well, if you truly believe the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not going to. But it's the same is true the opposite way. You can't force someone to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't. They have to want it. They have to want it. They must be willing to repent.
Repentance is personal. Like I said, you personally have to do it. No one can do it for you. Timmy, your dad cannot repent for you. You need to repent. You yourself. Isaac, your dad and your mom cannot repent for you. Just because mom and dad go to church doesn't mean you're saved. You personally have to repent. It's personal.
Repentance is emotional. You no longer desire to commit those sins. You don't want to keep going your own way. You hate that sin. There is a righteous indignation against that sin. If you're thinking the way God thinks about that sin, you want to forsake it. You don't want to offend a holy God anymore. And God will change the desires of your heart to desire the things of the Lord. You turn to him and desire his his way, his word. You desire to obey him, to worship him, to glorify him, to do what you were created to do.
Repentance is visible. When someone truly repents and believes, God does a work in that person. And that work is not a secret, is it? Praise the Lord for you, brother Victor. Amen. The Lord The Lord did a work in your heart and it's visible. That's right. It's not a secret. We don't We don't wonder did he really get saved? Praise the Lord. I was thinking of uh I was I was telling the testimony of Brother Is Brother Rhett in here? No. All right. Well, I was telling the testimony up and down in Broken Arrow about Brother Rhett, how the Lord saved him. He's no longer with long hair and filthy language and not going God's way. He's serving God. Amen.
Repentance is visible. Someone who says they've repented and it did not produce the fruit of repentance, they did not repent. When someone repents, God sanctifies them through his holy word. Their life changes. They have a new life. The old grave clothes come off. the clothes, the death clothes, their own lifestyle. The old man is put off and they become a new creature. The filthy language goes away. The drinking and drugs go away. Lying ceases and they start speaking the truth. There's a new song in their heart and coming out of their mouth. the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, all begins to become evident in their life because of the Holy Ghost that's in them. No one has to question whether or not you truly repented. If you truly repented, you don't have to go around convincing people, no, I really did truly repent. It's visible.
And if you are here tonight and you say, "Well, it's not visible in my life. I'm still in these sins, walking in these sins." Well, I exhort you to examine yourself whether or not you truly repented. And if you haven't, you can. You can be saved. And don't put that off. It's not worth it to go to hell for your pride. Be humble and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
My last point, this will be quick. Repentance must be preached. When we preach the gospel, it must it must contain repentance. We must tell others to repent. For one, God commands repentance. We started here in Acts 30. "In the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." How can people know what God is commanding if we don't tell them that God wants you to repent? God wants you to repent.
Second Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." It is God's will, not only as he commanded it, but is his it is his will that all come to repentance. And we must be preaching the will of the Lord. It is the will for your life to repent. It is the will for you.
Repentance is required for salvation. It must be preached. Luke 24:45-47 says, "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures: and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." That's the great commission. We should be preaching repentance and remission of sins in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ unto all nations.
John the Baptist did, he preached repentance, didn't he? Matthew 3, we see this says, "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And then further in that passage in verses 7 and 8, he says, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meat for repentance. Show me you repented before I baptize you." John put a large stock on repentance.
Jesus Christ preached repentance in Matthew 4:7. Matthew 4:17. "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And then in Luke 13:1-5, I'm just giving you just a very brief overview. Just the cream off the top. There's so much filled in scripture about repentance. But Jesus Christ said in Luke 13, "There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent." Except ye repent. Not except ye repeat this prayer, not except ye say you're sorry, it's except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. were those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
The apostles preached repentance. You can see this all through Acts. In Acts 2:38, it's very familiar. Peter said unto them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Grammar is very important in that passage. By the way, punctuation is very important. Repent and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Repent. We need to be preaching biblical repentance. We need to be practicing biblical repentance. We need to be telling others about biblical repentance. We need to not gloss over it. Make light of it. We need to tell others that they have to repent. Jesus Christ started when he started preaching. He started preaching repent.
Repent. Have you repented and believed? Have you truly repented and believed? Does your lifestyle show a lifestyle of a Christian who's being sanctified, purified? Yes, you struggle with sin. We struggle with sin. We still live in these corrupt bodies. I look forward to that day when this corrupt this corruption shall put on incorruption. this mortal shall have put on immortality. I look for that day. But we're here right now. We have a mission from the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do have these corrupt bodies and we can struggle with sin. But when we do, we repent. But if you have a lifestyle of just living in sin, you care not for anything of the Lord. Nothing. You don't you don't want to read his word. You don't want to pray. You don't want to be with the Lord's people. The sheep know the Lord Jesus Christ. They know him. They want to be with him. They hear his voice. If that's not you, then you're not a sheep. You've not truly repented. Perhaps you're a goat. But you can be a sheep. You can repent. You could truly repent if you if you have that lifestyle of sin. You can repent. It's not hopeless. But the Lord's mercy will run out if you keep rejecting him.
Christian, are you truly confessing sin in your life? Are you truly seeing what the Lord says about it? I've heard preached many times and I've even preached that a lot of times when we choose to sin as Christians, it's because we're not seeing how God sees that sin. We're not looking through the the light of the word concerning that sin. If you sow discord, for instance, remember someone told me recently that they it was one of the the Griffith boys. He says that really helped him with pastor Mitchell preaching that about taking seeds and sowing seed sowing seeds of discord. Says that really helped him to consider what's coming out of his mouth. Praise the Lord. But if you're struggling with that, you'll consider what the Bible says. But if you commit that, it's because you're not considering what the Bible says. So consider the word of God, Christian. Truly repent. Go to war against sin. Mortify the deeds of the flesh. Be killing sin or it will be killing you.
And are you telling others, are you preaching to others that they must repent? Look, I I've heard people say even at Bath Iron Works, "I'll just try Jesus." This is not like trying some new pizza joint or you know the slogan got milk. That's not what Christianity is about. It's being fully persuaded. Amen. And when you're fully persuaded on who Christ is and what he's done for you, he'll lead you to repentance, true biblical repentance, to confess sin, to turn from sin, turn from your way, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. So, let's be preaching repentance. Let's be truly repentant Christians. And then if you're not saved, you need to repent. And repentance is available for you. And if you need to talk with me after after tonight, please do. I'll I don't mind missing out on some cake to show you what true repentance is so you can be saved. Cake is temporal. Your soul's eternal.
So, praise the Lord. Well, do you receive that? It's been on my heart about repentance. I went door knocking down in Tulsa and I'll just tell a story. If some ladies need to go out and get the the fellowship ready, please do so. But when I was down in Tulsa, I was knocking on doors preaching the gospel. You know, there was a whole group of us and uh and some guy pulled in his driveway right before I got to his house. was like at the house before and he saw me and he just sat in his car kind of pretending wasn't there. I saw you but I went up to his car and knocked on his window. Wanted to give him a gospel track. Give him the gospel. I know Jesus man. You can just go away and leave me alone. And whenever he said that to me, I thought, man, that does not sound like someone who truly knows Jesus. Because if someone who came to my house, if they came to my house and said, "I want to give you the gospel." And it's from the King James Bible and they're preaching the true gospel, I'm going to rejoice. I'm be like, "Yeah, let's talk. I want to hear what you have to say. I want to hear the gospel. Let me tell you my testimony, how the Lord saved me." I'd want that. I'd praise the Lord if people were out of preaching the gospel. But that that got put on my heart. You know, I need to preach repentance. I want to preach repentance. Yeah. Amen.
Well, praise the Lord. Brother William is 30 years old. 30 years old. Yeah. So, we're going to have a few minutes. Is there something? Anyone? Do you need to share something, brother? Did I see your hand up? Yeah. Oh, okay. Sorry. I thought I saw your hand up. You know, here in a few moments, we get to celebrate with brother William and 30 years of life. And what when were you saved? Do you know? Do you remember? I remember where I was. Well, how old were you? Definitely a teenager. Okay. So, even though he was physically born 30 years ago, praise the Lord that when he was a teenager, he was spiritually born. Amen.
But we get to celebrate this time and uh um we'll uh we'll pray here in a minute that the Lord blesses the fellowship and and that the Lord blesses uh another year for brother William and and then we'll all be dismissed and let's stay out of the hallway, I'm sorry, out of the fellowship hall. We could be in the hallway. We're in here fellowshipping until they let us know that they're ready for us to go in. And uh eventually, Brother Gch, I'd like you to lead. And actually, let's just do it right now. Would you like to lead us in singing happy birthday? Let's sing happy birthday to brother William.
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear William. Happy birthday to you.
Praise God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you that you've saved Brother William. I thank you that you gave him physical life, that you gave him spiritual life. And now, Lord, we get to celebrate his uh 30th birthday together. And I pray that he would be encouraged and and uh and just blessed by this time. Lord, help us to enjoy it and bring glory to your name. And in Jesus Christ's name, I pray. Amen. You are dismissed.