From Pew-Sitter to Power-Bearer: The Path to Spiritual Maturity

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
I'm so glad that you all are here.
[00:00:02] It's a delight to be here with you all and we certainly would hope we'll have some more come in but we're glad to see you all here.
[00:00:11] Praise God.
[00:00:12] We're two or more gathered together in my name.
[00:00:15] I'm there in the midst of them.
[00:00:17] Of course we have Brother Bob with us again, Pastor Bob White.
[00:00:21] And tonight is the first message in a series of three.
[00:00:24] And so he'll be preaching of course tonight and then tomorrow morning in our worship service.
[00:00:30] And then tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
[00:00:32] So we're certainly looking forward to that.
[00:00:35] And I want to remind you that the donation box on the back, anything given tonight would go to Brother Bob to bless him and Becky.
[00:00:46] And then also the donation tomorrow night will be going also to Brother Bob.
[00:00:52] All right.
[00:00:53] Well, I understand I was here a little bit at the beginning, a little bit at the end, but I wasn't here through the whole duration.
[00:00:59] But the Fall Festival was a blessing.
[00:01:01] A lot of people.
[00:01:02] Thank you for those of you who worked and served.
[00:01:05] We rejoice.
[00:01:06] And maybe we'll see some of them tomorrow morning.
[00:01:09] We'll pray to that.
[00:01:10] And then someone said that I should mention that there's a time change tonight.
[00:01:16] But, Pastor Bob and I decided that probably I shouldn't because if I don't tell you, then some of you who don't come to Sunday School will.
[00:01:27] And I hope you'll stay.
[00:01:32] So I understand the time changes tonight.
[00:01:34] Well, we're going to sing, but before we do, let's pray.
[00:01:41] Heavenly Father, we come before you and praise you this evening, and we thank you, Lord, that you're on the throne.
[00:01:46] Thank you, Lord, for bringing us through 31 nights in your scripture.
[00:01:51] And now we thank you especially for Pastor Bob White and his wife Becky as they've come down.
[00:01:57] We thank you, Lord, for Gary, Pastor Gary and Nancy, who've come over from Lincolnton with them.
[00:02:02] Lord, we pray that you would bless, bless our hearts and ears to hear.
[00:02:07] Prepare us, Lord, to receive your word this day.
[00:02:11] And Lord, now we ask you to open our mouths and fill our hearts with your praise.
[00:02:19] May you be glorified as we sing beautiful words, wonderful words of life unto you, our Triune God.
[00:02:26] In Christ's name we thank you.
[00:02:28] Amen.
[00:02:29] Yeah, let's stand and sing a wonderful Words of Life, number 29.
[00:02:34] We have a small crowd, so we need to hear your voices.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Sing them over again to me Wonderful words of life Let me hear of their beauty sing Wonderful words of life Words of life teaching Teach me their beauty Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words
[00:03:23] All these wonderful words, wonderful words of life Christ the blessed one gives to all wonderful words of life
[00:03:54] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
[00:04:24] Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Dear Lord God of heaven, now prepare our hearts once again, we pray.
[00:04:44] And Brother Bob, anoint him to bring this message that we know.
[00:04:48] Though there be few here, Lord God, others are watching and others will watch and listen and be blessed.
[00:04:54] So Lord, may you work through him mightily for salvation and for your glory, honor, and praise.
[00:05:00] In Jesus' name we thank you, Lord.
[00:05:02] Amen.
[00:05:03] You may be seated.
[00:05:05] Brother Bob, thank you.
[00:05:05] Come on up.
[00:05:07] Thank you so much for being here.
[00:05:08] It's good to be with you.
[00:05:09] Hallelujah.
[00:05:10] Look forward to the Word.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
All right.
[00:05:15] Well, how many here tonight were here all day today?
[00:05:19] All right, almost all of you.
[00:05:22] So on my behalf, I'm glad you're here.
[00:05:26] And I'm going to try to get through this.
[00:05:28] I know that you're tired.
[00:05:31] We've got to get
[00:05:32] It's not like we come back tomorrow night.
[00:05:35] We've got to get up in the morning to come back to church.
[00:05:38] So I want to let you know I appreciate you.
[00:05:41] I appreciate the good work that was done today.
[00:05:44] And for those that are at home, in your jammies, got your hot chocolate, comfortable, thank you for tuning in.
[00:05:59] I said that when COVID hit and I started rehearsing and putting it on the Facebook page for our church and I said pretty much the same thing.
[00:06:13] You that can't make it to church today, you're in your jammies and comfortable.
[00:06:18] And one of the little girls in our church was at home with her mother in her pajamas watching me and she turned to her mother and said,
[00:06:29] How can the preacher see through the TV?
[00:06:35] We have our ways.
[00:06:38] Romans chapter 10 verse 17, don't turn there, turn to Romans chapter 1.
[00:06:43] But Romans chapter 10 verse 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
[00:06:51] Isaiah 55 11 says, So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth.
[00:06:59] It shall not return unto me void.
[00:07:03] Let's stand together this evening and let's read together Romans chapter 1 verse 16 and 17.
[00:07:12] Read along with me.
[00:07:14] For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
[00:07:27] For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
[00:07:33] It is written, the just shall live by faith.
[00:07:37] Thank you, you may be seated.
[00:07:41] I had to get you out of your comfort zone, and that gives me a little time to get you back comfortable.
[00:07:49] The Bible is not just a book we read, it's the living Word of God.
[00:07:55] We open the Word of God, we are encountering the very voice of God.
[00:08:01] And when the Holy Spirit takes that Word and applies it, the unusual happens.
[00:08:07] The power of God is unleashed in the life of the believer.
[00:08:10] It is the Word that reveals truth, and it is the Spirit that gives that truth life within us.
[00:08:18] Together, the Word and the Spirit are God's means of transforming ordinary men
[00:08:25] and Women into Living Testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:08:32] As Brother Joseph has asked me to speak on the power of the Word of God, let's not forget that it's not just the Word of God, but it's also the Holy Spirit of God.
[00:08:44] You cannot have one without the other.
[00:08:48] And most of us understand that.
[00:08:50] But the world is always trying to figure out what does that Bible say?
[00:08:55] I read it and I can't understand it.
[00:08:58] Well, it wasn't written for you to understand.
[00:09:01] It was written so that you could depend upon the Holy Spirit of God to give you that truth.
[00:09:07] And once that truth was delivered, then you'll act upon that truth and you'll do according to the Word of God.
[00:09:14] in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13.
[00:09:17] For this cause also thank we God, without ceasing, because when you received the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
[00:09:40] Now when he's talking about that effectually working, it means that it's not
[00:09:44] Only heard, but it's activated in the life of the believer, producing growth, conviction, obedience, and endurance.
[00:09:53] In other words, you can't live the Christian life without the Word of God.
[00:09:57] You can't grow in the Christian life without the Word of God.
[00:10:01] And the Lord has always wanted us to come to that maturity of Christ.
[00:10:06] And as we come to that maturity, what is that called?
[00:10:09] It's called being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:10:14] So when the word is received in divine truth and believed by faith, it becomes a living, working power within the believer, shaping the heart and transforming the life.
[00:10:28] Now I'd like to take the opportunity to let Cornerstone know that I have seen growth in faith since I've been here two years ago.
[00:10:39] I feel a tremendous fellowship that's taking place here at the church.
[00:10:44] and I appreciate that.
[00:10:46] I rejoice in the spiritual growth that I have seen and this must come before there's growth.
[00:10:54] You've got to have maturity.
[00:10:57] You've got to come together as a church.
[00:11:00] The body of Christ has to come together.
[00:11:03] There has to be that unity in order for the Lord to send others into the church.
[00:11:11] As God's working in your lives now,
[00:11:14] Both individually and corporate as a church, God is bringing you to that maturity.
[00:11:21] And when you reach that maturity, when you're able to work in the patience of the Lord, you're able to work in the will of God, then the Lord will begin to send others that you'll be able to minister to them in their needs and in their progress.
[00:11:40] Unless we're mature, we can't help anybody else.
[00:11:44] If we remain in that immaturity and all we know is Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so, we're not going to help many people.
[00:11:53] But once we come to that maturity and we understand that God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, now we've maintained that maturity.
[00:12:04] Now we can go out and we can captivate those that are lost and be able to talk to them and explain to them the process of the gospel
[00:12:14] of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:12:15] And Paul says he's not ashamed of that.
[00:12:18] You ought not to be ashamed of it.
[00:12:20] And in fact, today as I was standing around watching the activities and so forth,
[00:12:25] You had many visitors, and I noticed that many of the members were talking to the visitors, welcoming them, maybe talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, talking about what the church stands on, inviting them to come to church.
[00:12:38] Whatever you have as a capacity of maturity, that's how the Lord will use you.
[00:12:45] Some of you may just say, boy, it's good to have you here today.
[00:12:48] Would you come back to church Sunday?
[00:12:50] Doesn't sound much, but listen, when it's a
[00:12:55] Weak faith, little maturity, Christian, and that's all they can say?
[00:13:00] They said the most.
[00:13:03] They said all that they can say.
[00:13:05] But if you get out there and you got Angelo talking to them, now that's a different story.
[00:13:12] I mention Angelo because I want to make sure he's awake.
[00:13:15] But Angelo will stand there and he'll talk to them.
[00:13:20] And he has the capacity to do that.
[00:13:22] Each and every one of you have a certain amount of capacity or potential to work for the Lord in the maturity that you're at.
[00:13:32] So you have a power.
[00:13:34] Is it little power or is it great power?
[00:13:37] But wherever that power is, the Lord wants you to use it.
[00:13:42] And as you use it, then you begin to experience that.
[00:13:46] As you experience it, and as the preacher brings the Word of God, that power is going to grow because you have a greater knowledge and understanding of the Word of God.
[00:13:55] And the next thing you know, the preacher's calling you up on Sunday morning and saying, listen, I want you to take my place in Sunday school.
[00:14:03] Now listen, most of you say, well, I can't do that.
[00:14:07] You know what the mature Christian would say?
[00:14:09] Well, preacher, if you feel the Lord has burdened you to call on me to do that, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.
[00:14:18] That's the maturity.
[00:14:19] I'm going to depend upon Christ.
[00:14:21] I'm not looking at myself.
[00:14:22] I'm looking at Christ.
[00:14:24] And as a result, the strength of Christ comes into us.
[00:14:27] And we teach the Sunday school class, and when we're done, we look at each other and say, Did he do that?
[00:14:34] It wasn't me.
[00:14:35] It was Christ.
[00:14:37] He did the work in me.
[00:14:39] He did the work through me.
[00:14:40] And that's what the Lord is aiming at.
[00:14:43] He's aiming at increasing the power in our lives that we can more glorify Him through our lives.
[00:14:52] So maintain that thought as we're going through this.
[00:14:56] Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
[00:15:06] So the more that you're with the Word of God, the more the Word of God becomes you, the more you're able to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:15:17] The Word of God in the Christian life.
[00:15:20] Why does it matter?
[00:15:22] Well, it matters because the Word reveals God's character.
[00:15:27] You can't go to any other book, you can't go to any other history book to find out what God was like.
[00:15:32] You have to go to the Bible.
[00:15:35] And as you go to the Word of God, you begin to realize that the Word of God is telling you all about the unseen Christ.
[00:15:44] Have any of you ever seen Him?
[00:15:46] Now you pray to Him, don't you?
[00:15:48] You talk to Him?
[00:15:48] Does He talk to you?
[00:15:49] Sure He does, but none of us have ever seen Him.
[00:15:52] Have you ever had anybody come up to you and say, you tell me there's God, you prove it?
[00:15:58] You ever had that?
[00:16:00] Yeah, yeah.
[00:16:02] How do you prove it?
[00:16:03] Well, listen, I don't know what to tell you, but I know what he did for me.
[00:16:08] I know where I was one day, and he came to me, and he pulled me out of the miry clay.
[00:16:14] He put me on a firm foundation, and that's where my life began with him.
[00:16:18] And wherever we are in our maturity, we're able to cast a testimony.
[00:16:24] We're able to give forth a testimony of the gospel to a lost and dying soul.
[00:16:31] And we have to grow into that.
[00:16:33] So let's look at a couple attributes that God has given to us in the Word of God, and let's just see how do those attributes of God work in our lives.
[00:16:44] The first one, of course, is the love of God.
[00:16:48] 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
[00:17:00] You don't need to be taught that.
[00:17:02] God teaches you that.
[00:17:04] In Romans 5, he said, God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were what?
[00:17:09] Sinners.
[00:17:11] We were without him.
[00:17:12] We had no desire for him, but yet he loved us.
[00:17:16] He commended his love for us.
[00:17:17] And how did he show that love?
[00:17:19] By Jesus dying on the cross.
[00:17:21] He sent his son to die for us.
[00:17:25] And as we have received Him, we have had the experience with the Holy Spirit of God how He loves me.
[00:17:33] Do you know tonight that God loves you?
[00:17:36] You know because you've received Him as your personal Savior and you had to go back to the cross.
[00:17:42] He loved me so much.
[00:17:45] John writes, Oh what manner of love the Lord has loved us.
[00:17:53] And our minds go back that when I was a sinner, He died for me.
[00:17:56] He didn't even know me.
[00:17:58] He died for me.
[00:18:01] And as He died for me, He showed me that He loved me and gave His Son for me.
[00:18:08] Now, as we take that love, and He's put that in us, now we begin to realize that we're to love one another.
[00:18:17] Do you love everybody in the church?
[00:18:20] Now listen.
[00:18:22] The Bible tells me I have to love you, but I don't have to like you.
[00:18:28] Now listen, we ought to love one another.
[00:18:33] And the only way we can love each other is that the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart.
[00:18:39] God has given us His love.
[00:18:42] Now, how do you demonstrate, or how do you define His love?
[00:18:46] He said, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
[00:18:50] Who did he love?
[00:18:51] The world.
[00:18:51] Who did he leave out?
[00:18:52] Nobody.
[00:18:54] So if he put that love in us, you look around tonight, is there anybody here that you don't love?
[00:19:01] Is there anybody in the church that you don't love?
[00:19:06] God has given us the power of love, to love one another.
[00:19:12] And as we love one another, we can pray one for another, we can carry one another's burdens, we can pray with each other,
[00:19:22] As a result, we find that we're able to do that under the power of God.
[00:19:28] But you can't do that unless you know Him.
[00:19:31] And you know what the Bible says about Him.
[00:19:34] So when we're looking at the power of the Word of God, the Word demonstrates that love to us that we're able to act in that love just as the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:19:45] What about the faithfulness of God?
[00:19:48] In Psalm 40 and verse number 10,
[00:19:51] He said, I have hid thy righteousness within my heart.
[00:19:54] I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.
[00:20:00] Listen to what Ephesians 3 says, verses 20 and 21.
[00:20:05] Paul's writing, he said, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by faith,
[00:20:19] Christ Jesus through all ages world without end.
[00:20:24] Amen.
[00:20:25] Now he's telling us that he is faithful.
[00:20:29] God is faithful to all his promises.
[00:20:32] God is faithful to all his attributes.
[00:20:35] I want to give you a personal testimony how I have experienced that faithfulness in the attribute of comfort.
[00:20:45] We know in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 3, God is the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation.
[00:20:54] Back in 2021, Becky and I, our second daughter, Emily, died because of COVID.
[00:21:04] Hardest thing that we went through.
[00:21:08] Now I've preached many, many a funeral.
[00:21:11] I've done over 350 funerals.
[00:21:15] and I have preached each and every message with the thought God will comfort you and now I have to sit outside the room they just pronounced that my daughter had passed and now I'm sitting out there and I'm crying and a nurse comes over to me and she tries to comfort me and I said ma'am I want you to know I'm a preacher I believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ
[00:21:46] My God has told me that he is the God of all comfort and that he will comfort me.
[00:21:52] And I said, I appreciate you sitting here.
[00:21:54] He may have sent you over to talk to me, to be of help to me, and I greatly appreciate it.
[00:22:02] She walked away.
[00:22:04] And I said, Lord, I just gave testimony that you're the God of all comfort.
[00:22:09] And I said, I need that comfort tonight.
[00:22:12] My wife needs that comfort.
[00:22:16] And for the next couple of weeks, if any of you have lost a loved one, you know how difficult it is to go through that.
[00:22:23] But in the next couple of weeks, we're weeping, we're remembering things, and it's very, very difficult.
[00:22:30] But each morning we get up and say, Lord, we need your comfort today.
[00:22:35] Two weeks after my daughter passed, the funeral home called me up and said, Pastor Bob, could you come and do a funeral service for our family?
[00:22:43] And I, without even thinking, I said, I'd be happy to.
[00:22:47] I said, Shelly, can you tell me what the situation is?
[00:22:51] She said, they've lost a daughter.
[00:22:55] I said, I wish I wouldn't have told you I would do that to myself.
[00:23:03] And I said, God, I've already made a commitment.
[00:23:06] And Lord, I don't know if I can do this.
[00:23:11] And I told Shelly, I'd be happy to do that.
[00:23:17] As I was conducting the funeral service, it was the most difficult thing I had to do.
[00:23:21] Because looking at that family sitting there, I knew what they went through.
[00:23:25] I knew exactly how they were hurting.
[00:23:29] And I'm still hurting.
[00:23:32] And as a result, I'm weeping.
[00:23:34] I'm crying.
[00:23:36] I said, folks, I know.
[00:23:37] I was in your shoes just two weeks ago.
[00:23:45] I know.
[00:23:50] But I said, I want you to know this, that God has comforted me, that I might be able to come and be a help to you.
[00:24:03] God demonstrated his faithfulness.
[00:24:06] I will comfort you that you might be able to comfort others who are in the same needs, in the same trial with the comfort I have comforted you.
[00:24:18] What an amazing feeling, knowing that God put me through that situation, that I'd be able to help a family going through the same thing.
[00:24:29] How many times do we see that in our own personal lives?
[00:24:34] How many people come to you?
[00:24:36] You tell me you had a heart attack.
[00:24:37] What was that like?
[00:24:40] I had a man that was going to have cataract surgery.
[00:24:44] He said, Pastor, I'm really nervous about this.
[00:24:47] Just recently, one of the older ladies in the church had cataract surgery.
[00:24:51] I said, I don't know anything about it, but I know one who did.
[00:24:55] And so I said, Bob, come with me and we'll go over and we'll talk to Mrs. Curry.
[00:24:59] And I took him over there and I said, Mrs. Curry, Brother Bob's having cataract surgery.
[00:25:03] He's really apprehensive about it.
[00:25:06] What can you tell him?
[00:25:07] And I just let the two of them talk because I didn't want to hear it.
[00:25:14] So the two of them talked, and in a little bit, Brother Bob came back over to me.
[00:25:19] He said, Pastor, I want to thank you for sending me over to her.
[00:25:23] He said, I'm not scared anymore.
[00:25:26] And Mrs. Curry was a strong Christian.
[00:25:29] But I don't know what she told him, but he came back to me.
[00:25:32] He said, I'm at peace about it.
[00:25:34] I mean, let the Lord do what he wants to do.
[00:25:38] And I thought, praise God.
[00:25:40] Mrs. Curry's going to preach next week.
[00:25:45] What about the mercy of God?
[00:25:47] Now here's a wonderful one.
[00:25:49] In 1 Timothy 1, verse 6, Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life.
[00:26:11] So here's Paul talking about the
[00:26:14] The mercy of God and how God worked in his life.
[00:26:18] Now remember, Paul was the enemy of the church.
[00:26:21] And on the road to Damascus, he got saved.
[00:26:24] And then he became the great apostle of the church.
[00:26:27] Well, how did that happen?
[00:26:29] It happened because of the mercy of God.
[00:26:32] Let me ask you tonight, where are you in your Christian life?
[00:26:35] How many of you were sinners?
[00:26:37] How many of you were sinners?
[00:26:39] Raise your hands.
[00:26:40] How many of you got saved?
[00:26:42] Raise your hand.
[00:26:43] How many of you have moved on and you've matured and you're farther down the road?
[00:26:48] Raise your hand.
[00:26:49] That's the mercy of God.
[00:26:51] God took you out of the miry clay, saved you, and now he's using you for his honor and his glory.
[00:26:56] Does that make sense?
[00:26:58] Well, listen to what Romans 8 says.
[00:27:00] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
[00:27:08] You have a purpose tonight.
[00:27:10] God has saved you for a purpose.
[00:27:13] You didn't know it when you were a sinner.
[00:27:15] You didn't realize it, but he saved you.
[00:27:17] And now that you've been saved and you're going down the road and you're growing in Christ, now you begin, maybe there's a reason I got saved.
[00:27:26] Maybe it's to talk to my family.
[00:27:28] Maybe it's to teach a Sunday school class.
[00:27:30] Whatever it may be, God has a purpose for me.
[00:27:33] And listen, that purpose continues to grow.
[00:27:36] Brother Crawford, when I was just 14 years old, I believe, Brother Crawford, the pastor of the church when I was growing up, he called me and he said, Bro Bob, I want you to come and I want you to stand to the front door and I want you to open it for everybody that comes through and all I want you to say is, Welcome to Grace Baptist Church this morning.
[00:27:57] I had purpose.
[00:27:59] I was the door greeter.
[00:28:01] And I thought if I'm going to be the door greeter, I'm going to be the best door greeter there ever been.
[00:28:06] So I did it.
[00:28:10] And look where I am tonight.
[00:28:13] I went from door greeter to pulpit beater.
[00:28:18] I'm a pastor.
[00:28:20] I can't believe it.
[00:28:22] I can't believe I'm standing behind the sacred desk tonight.
[00:28:26] I can't believe it.
[00:28:28] I can't believe you all appreciate my messages.
[00:28:31] I can't believe it.
[00:28:33] But listen to me.
[00:28:35] It's all of God.
[00:28:37] It's his mercy.
[00:28:38] It's his faithfulness.
[00:28:40] And as that mercy comes into our lives, it enables us to do what he would have us to do.
[00:28:45] Now that we're saved and all things work together for good, listen to what Romans 12.1 says.
[00:28:52] We're moving down the road.
[00:28:53] He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[00:29:03] Is there anybody here that hasn't done that yet?
[00:29:07] Maybe you haven't reached that maturity.
[00:29:09] Maybe you don't understand what it is to present your body, holy, acceptable, unto Him.
[00:29:16] But it's coming.
[00:29:19] You're living in a faithful church.
[00:29:21] You're living in a church that preaches the Word of God.
[00:29:24] And God doesn't want you to be a pew-sitter.
[00:29:26] He wants you to work in His kingdom.
[00:29:29] He wants you to use your life to His honor and His glory, and He wants you to do that which is good, acceptable, and perfect in His sight.
[00:29:38] He wants you to do that.
[00:29:40] But you know what keeps us from doing that?
[00:29:43] Our own power.
[00:29:44] Well, I can't do that.
[00:29:47] Or, hey, now, preacher, I'm not going to be that type of Christian.
[00:29:52] Well, just hold on.
[00:29:54] You will be if you stay in church.
[00:29:59] Now, what's the problem with the church today?
[00:30:01] Preacher gets up and he preaches the truth.
[00:30:04] Somebody back there misunderstands what he says, and as a result, they get upset.
[00:30:09] They say, I'm leaving the church.
[00:30:11] I'm not coming back.
[00:30:14] But listen, they don't go anywhere else.
[00:30:17] They sit at home because I've been offended.
[00:30:20] Well, you know what that's?
[00:30:22] That's a child.
[00:30:25] That's a child acting childish.
[00:30:29] If you're a mature Christian, you want to know, why am I so concerned about what the preacher says?
[00:30:36] You know what you ought to do?
[00:30:37] You ought to go talk to him.
[00:30:40] And I'm going to tell you what Joseph would do.
[00:30:42] Joseph will take this Bible and he'll say, well, let me show you what I'm talking about.
[00:30:46] And he'll take you to verse after verse after verse.
[00:30:49] And what's happening?
[00:30:50] Paul prays in Ephesians that the eyes of your heart and understanding and knowledge will be opened.
[00:30:59] I want you to be open to the truth.
[00:31:03] I don't want you to be open to Him.
[00:31:07] Because He's not going to give you an opinion.
[00:31:10] He's going to give you the truth.
[00:31:11] And when He gives you the truth of the Word of God, the Word of God is going to work in you.
[00:31:15] It's going to straighten you out.
[00:31:17] And when it straightens you out and you get on that right path, then you're going to go on for Him.
[00:31:22] And as you do,
[00:31:24] The Lord continues to use those trials, for the trying of your faith worketh patience.
[00:31:30] You know what that word patience means?
[00:31:33] You know, people say, listen, don't pray for patience.
[00:31:36] All that brings is trials.
[00:31:37] But they get that wrong.
[00:31:39] That isn't what that means.
[00:31:41] That word patience there is an unusual word.
[00:31:44] As I'm going through my trials, if I have patience, that means I'm able to wait upon the Lord.
[00:31:54] If all things work together for good, and that's a promise, and I have patience, I can wait on the Lord to do His work.
[00:32:02] But what am I doing while I'm waiting?
[00:32:07] I'm praying without ceasing.
[00:32:11] I'm rejoicing always, and again I say rejoice.
[00:32:15] I'm waiting on the Lord to renew my strength, that I can walk and not faint, that I can run and not be weary.
[00:32:25] It's not a patience to, well, this will soon be over.
[00:32:30] No, it's a patience that we can do the righteousness that God has called us to.
[00:32:35] And the only way you can do that is through the power of the Lord and the power of his word.
[00:32:46] We talked about love, faithfulness.
[00:32:49] Holiness is another one.
[00:32:50] Mercy, patience.
[00:32:52] You can take all the attributes of God
[00:32:55] And you will find in the Word of God that there is description as to how the Lord applies that to your life, that you might be able to experience it, and as you experience with faith, what it will do is it will create you to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:33:18] Now think about that.
[00:33:20] The Word of God conforms us to that image.
[00:33:26] And why is that important?
[00:33:29] Because as a Christian, and especially if you're in a Bible-believing church, you have a great fellowship, you have a wonderful church, you have a wonderful pastor who preached the truth.
[00:33:39] Listen, you don't want to go out there and do something that is contrary to the Word of God, and people say, well, I know they go to Cornerstone, and if a Christian's going to be like that, I'm not going to go to church at all.
[00:33:53] And how many people say that?
[00:33:55] How quickly can we lose our testimony?
[00:34:00] You get mad at that guy that cut you off, and the guy driving around the road sees that, and you're throwing your... And so he lets you get by, and on the back of the... Come to Cornerstone, through the Bible, in 31 days!
[00:34:17] Whoa-ho-ho-ho!
[00:34:18] If that's a Christian, I ain't gonna be there!
[00:34:21] I'm just... Yeah!
[00:34:26] I'm just as good a Christian as they are.
[00:34:29] But I don't want to be just a good Christian.
[00:34:33] I want to be one who is Christ-like.
[00:34:37] I want to be a Christian.
[00:34:39] I want to be able to manifest the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:34:42] And I know that I cannot do that within myself, but I know I can do it through the power of the Word of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:53] So we find that it reveals God's character.
[00:34:56] Secondly, it reveals God's will that we might live the life of Christ.
[00:35:02] If you want, turn over to Psalm 1.
[00:35:05] Most of you know it, and you can probably quote it.
[00:35:08] But let me show you something here that I think is just wonderful as far as the will of God being accomplished in our lives for Christ.
[00:35:19] Notice he says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor
[00:35:25] sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
[00:35:27] He has nothing to do with the world.
[00:35:29] Let's just make it short.
[00:35:30] He's cast the world out.
[00:35:32] The Bible says, Come out from amongst them and be ye separate.
[00:35:35] So he's not a part of the world situation.
[00:35:39] Verse 2, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night.
[00:35:45] How long does he meditate?
[00:35:48] Day and night.
[00:35:48] What does that mean?
[00:35:50] Are you up all night meditating on the word of God?
[00:35:52] What it means is without ceasing.
[00:35:56] You're thinking about it.
[00:35:57] You get up in the morning, you think about God.
[00:36:00] And listen, you ought to think about God first thing in the morning, because if you don't, you've left the door open for the devil.
[00:36:05] You're thinking about all your circumstances, you're thinking about how rotten the world has treated you, you're thinking about, well, I've got to work today, and as a result, you get negative.
[00:36:15] But if you wake up in the morning, the Lord's on your mind, you say, Lord, thank you for another day.
[00:36:20] You used me to your honor and your glory today.
[00:36:23] How can you wake up thinking about the Lord?
[00:36:25] You went to bed thinking about him.
[00:36:28] And you've meditated on him all day.
[00:36:30] You've thought about him.
[00:36:32] I mean, you all been through the 31 days in the Bible.
[00:36:35] There's enough to meditate on there.
[00:36:38] Think about day 13.
[00:36:39] What did the preacher speak on?
[00:36:41] Well, I don't know.
[00:36:43] Well, think about a book in the Bible.
[00:36:46] What did he preach on that book?
[00:36:49] Didn't you appreciate the way Joseph brought that out last night?
[00:36:53] Here's my God in Genesis, and he said, here he is in Exodus, here he is.
[00:36:57] And he went through all those books of the Bible telling us what our Lord is.
[00:37:02] Wasn't that wonderful?
[00:37:04] And all you have to do is just stop and think and meditate.
[00:37:08] Just on the words he said.
[00:37:10] Just meditate on that.
[00:37:13] The problem we have is we take the word of God and we read it through because that's the thing we're supposed to do, but we never meditate upon it.
[00:37:22] And my old preacher said this, meditation is squeezing the orange juice out of your own orange.
[00:37:30] Just take that word of God and squeeze it.
[00:37:32] You ask the preacher about studying.
[00:37:35] He and I were comparing notes the other night.
[00:37:37] Not preaching notes, just everyday notes.
[00:37:40] And I said, I'll get my message together and I'll be thinking about it and I'll be preparing.
[00:37:45] And boy, the Lord just keeps bringing in thoughts and so forth and cross references and just develops a rich and real message for the people.
[00:37:55] But the problem is, when you get up Sunday morning, you go back and you start to look at it again, He just pours it on you again.
[00:38:02] and then when you get up here to preach if he just doesn't do it again and he gives you things that you haven't even studied and what I have learned is there may be somebody sitting out here that the Lord wants to speak to so he'll give me a thought and I preach that and that person comes out and said preacher I don't know if that message was for anybody else but it sure was for me.
[00:38:27] You ever said that?
[00:38:29] Let me ask you this.
[00:38:30] You've gone through 31 days of the books of the Bible.
[00:38:36] Was there ever a night that you went out of here and you said, if there was any book that I need to hear about, it's that one.
[00:38:44] Or maybe those 50.
[00:38:47] Or maybe those 66.
[00:38:51] How'd you feel when you left here?
[00:38:54] Did God speak to you?
[00:38:57] We said when the book is open, the voice of God is heard.
[00:39:02] The Holy Spirit comes to us and speaks to us.
[00:39:05] What did he tell you?
[00:39:07] What did he tell you about Andy preaching on sprinkling?
[00:39:12] I know what he told me.
[00:39:13] And listen, there's no objection there.
[00:39:18] I don't want you to think that we're at odds with each other.
[00:39:21] Andy's wrong and I'm right.
[00:39:30] But what we find is that the Lord speaks to us and as a result the will of God is seen, it's manifested.
[00:39:36] How about the strength against temptation?
[00:39:39] Wherewithal shall a man cleanse his way?
[00:39:42] By taking heed to what?
[00:39:44] According to the word.
[00:39:46] According to thy word.
[00:39:48] Psalm 119 verse number nine.
[00:39:53] He equips us for service.
[00:39:55] Hold onto your seats now, listen to me.
[00:39:58] All scripture is given by the inspiration of God.
[00:40:01] Who's the inspiration of God?
[00:40:03] The Holy Spirit.
[00:40:04] The Holy Spirit came and moved upon the men and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God, not just the preacher, but the man of God, that's all of us who are saved, men and women, may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
[00:40:27] Now what does Ephesians say about the good works?
[00:40:30] He says we have been created.
[00:40:31] We are his workmanship onto good works.
[00:40:35] We didn't know those before we were saved.
[00:40:37] We didn't even know them when we were saved.
[00:40:40] But as the Lord matures us, as he moves us on, we get involved in the little things.
[00:40:45] He that is faithful in the little things, much will be required.
[00:40:49] And as a result, we move on.
[00:40:50] We come from being a doorkeeper to the preacher.
[00:40:54] Why am I the preacher tonight?
[00:40:57] Because God had a group of people that examined me and they determined that that man is worthy to be a bishop.
[00:41:05] I had to give testimony.
[00:41:07] I had to show them what I believed.
[00:41:09] But more important, I had to show them by my life what I believed.
[00:41:15] You talk about a preacher living what he preaches.
[00:41:20] Don't you ever get a preacher in here that doesn't live according to that word.
[00:41:25] And you got a good one.
[00:41:29] That's Southern for Northern.
[00:41:31] Good one.
[00:41:36] Well... Andy, he shouldn't speak up, should he?
[00:41:47] But you notice that he, through the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, we come to that point that he gives us, he teaches us, he equips us
[00:41:58] I can do all things because the Lord's going to equip me to do that.
[00:42:03] Like I said, I can't believe I'm a preacher.
[00:42:05] But as I do what God orders me to do by the Word of God, preach the Word of God.
[00:42:11] Let the Word of God go forth and do what it's intended to do.
[00:42:14] I begin to realize all I'm responsible for is making sure I'm preaching the truth.
[00:42:19] And as I preach that truth and it goes forth, that's as far as it goes as far as I'm concerned.
[00:42:24] Now it's up to you.
[00:42:27] And you've heard
[00:42:28] All the books of the Bible.
[00:42:30] How many of you have been here every night?
[00:42:33] Oh, I wouldn't raise my hand.
[00:42:35] You know why?
[00:42:35] Because you're responsible for what you heard.
[00:42:39] See?
[00:42:40] And now that that responsibility is in your heart, you can go back to Hezekiah, and you can think about and meditate on Hezekiah and what was brought out in Hezekiah, and because you heard it, you learned it, you're responsible for it.
[00:42:53] You see that?
[00:42:55] God knows how he's equipping you.
[00:42:58] He knows where to teach you what you need to know in order to go to the next step in life.
[00:43:03] I started out as a youth pastor, I became the associate pastor, now I'm the senior pastor.
[00:43:12] I didn't go to Bible school.
[00:43:14] I learned the hard way.
[00:43:16] The preacher said, you're gonna be my associate and I'm gonna teach you.
[00:43:21] I was under Pastor Story and Pastor Story was getting ready to retire.
[00:43:26] In fact, he had retired and our preacher said, Jack, would you come and be the pastor for nine months?
[00:43:32] He ended up there being nine years.
[00:43:35] But listen to me.
[00:43:36] It was a good thing that he was nine years there because he took me under his wing and he said, Brother Bob,
[00:43:43] All I want to do is preach the Word of God.
[00:43:46] I don't want to run a church.
[00:43:48] I don't want to deal with people.
[00:43:49] All I want to do is preach the Word of God.
[00:43:51] So you're going to do it.
[00:43:54] But I'm going to help you.
[00:43:56] And for nine years I sat under him.
[00:43:59] And he gave me responsibility after responsibility to be trained to be the preacher.
[00:44:07] And now I'm the preacher.
[00:44:10] Now I have opportunity to travel a little bit and come and to help others in the church.
[00:44:16] Boy, I really enjoyed the last time I was here and the two churches were coming together.
[00:44:21] I felt God had put me in a most unusual responsibility.
[00:44:26] But God prepared me.
[00:44:28] He gave me the messages that you all need to hear.
[00:44:31] And now that I've delivered those messages and I'm back two years later, I can see the effect of those messages and I can't believe that I'm the one that preached those messages that brought the church together, that the church is still unified and not falling apart.
[00:44:46] Because I wasn't the one responsible, God was.
[00:44:49] And God has worked in your church and God has blessed you.
[00:44:54] Am I waking you up?
[00:44:58] But as I said, it's not just the Word of God, it's also the Holy Spirit of God.
[00:45:04] I've got 15 minutes left and I want to be done in 10.
[00:45:09] The Holy Spirit, the Author, and the Teacher of the Word of God.
[00:45:18] He's the Author.
[00:45:19] 2 Peter 1.21, For the prophecy came not,
[00:45:25] came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
[00:45:37] You know who wrote my message for me today?
[00:45:40] The Holy Spirit of God.
[00:45:42] All I did is said, Lord, now the preacher wants me to preach a good message.
[00:45:47] He wants me to preach on the power of the word of God.
[00:45:50] He's put the pressure on me.
[00:45:52] But Lord, it's not pressure on me, it's pressure on you.
[00:45:55] I'm going to be your servant.
[00:45:57] I'm going to be the one who delivers it.
[00:45:59] But you have to give me the message.
[00:46:02] He's the author.
[00:46:03] I give all the glory to God if I'm preaching the Word of God.
[00:46:08] But I'm going to tell you one thing.
[00:46:10] I'm going to make sure that I'm preaching truth.
[00:46:12] If you come up and challenge me about something I said... What's your name again?
[00:46:23] That isn't your name.
[00:46:25] You're laughing to me.
[00:46:27] He came up to me and he said, Preacher, I got a paper for you.
[00:46:30] I felt like a student where the teacher said, Bob, I want to see you after class.
[00:46:40] I want to talk to you about your message.
[00:46:43] And he came to me and I said, Oh.
[00:46:46] He said, No.
[00:46:52] He said, the only thing that you did wrong is you claimed Genesis 3.5 instead of Genesis 3.15.
[00:46:58] He said, that's the only thing wrong with the message, according to his computer.
[00:47:06] But who puts the information in the computer?
[00:47:10] So I thought, praise God.
[00:47:13] So I let Becky read it.
[00:47:16] And she went home, she's reading.
[00:47:18] She said, who's this Bob they're talking about anyway?
[00:47:25] But she said, wow, can you believe this?
[00:47:29] And I said, listen, I give praise to God.
[00:47:32] It was God that gave me a clear mind.
[00:47:34] It was God who allowed me to speak.
[00:47:37] It was God who was able to deliver, and He delivered the truth because it's the Holy Spirit of God.
[00:47:43] And if I depend on the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works in His servant to deliver the message, the Holy Spirit's gonna speak to you.
[00:47:51] It's not what the preacher said.
[00:47:53] It's what the Word of God says.
[00:47:55] That the Holy Spirit delivered to you.
[00:47:58] So I tell you, if you want to argue about my message, there's the one you need to talk to.
[00:48:04] Not me.
[00:48:04] Talk to Him.
[00:48:05] Amen?
[00:48:07] And you're going to talk to me, and I'll just point you to the Word of God.
[00:48:10] He's the interpreter.
[00:48:12] How be it when the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth.
[00:48:16] See, that's where the problem people have.
[00:48:18] They don't want to know the truth.
[00:48:20] You're a sinner!
[00:48:22] You're lost!
[00:48:22] You're going to hell!
[00:48:25] They don't hear that in every church.
[00:48:27] Oh, you just be good people.
[00:48:29] We're all God's children.
[00:48:31] We all love God, and God loves us all.
[00:48:34] No, God loves all the little children.
[00:48:37] He loves us.
[00:48:38] Well, does he?
[00:48:45] You need a little theology there.
[00:48:49] Jesus said, I've come to seek those that are lost.
[00:48:55] Listen, little theology here.
[00:48:57] You can't find something that you never had that you think you lost.
[00:49:03] You gotta have it in order to lose it.
[00:49:09] Go back to Ephesians.
[00:49:10] He knew us before the foundation of the world.
[00:49:13] We were chosen before the foundation of the world.
[00:49:15] He knew us.
[00:49:17] And then he calls us.
[00:49:19] And then Jesus said, I come to seek and save those that my Father knew before the foundation.
[00:49:24] I come to love them, to win them to Christ.
[00:49:29] And as a result, you all being one to Christ, you were chosen before the foundation of the world.
[00:49:33] You think I'm crazy?
[00:49:35] Go read Ephesians chapter 1 and read it carefully.
[00:49:39] Tremendous book.
[00:49:41] I love Ephesians because it tells you right from the very beginning God had a plan.
[00:49:47] And it tells you how God supplied that plan, how he brought that plan into existence, how that plan included me, and now that it has included me, this is how I want you to live, and as you live that life, this is how I want you to battle in this world to maintain the faith that I have given you.
[00:50:07] Boy, a wonderful book, and we all need to read it and understand it.
[00:50:10] He's the teacher for the grace of God that bringeth salvation.
[00:50:13] Titus 2.11 and 12.
[00:50:15] For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
[00:50:26] He'll teach you.
[00:50:27] He may use the preacher, but the preacher's going back to the word, and the word's gonna come to you through the Holy Spirit.
[00:50:35] But he's going to teach you how he wants you to live.
[00:50:39] John says, I just have great joy knowing that my children walk according to truth.
[00:50:44] Are you walking according to truth?
[00:50:46] If not, if you're walking in sin, you need to be taught this is sin.
[00:50:50] This is what God considers to be sin.
[00:50:52] You need to be taught that this is sin, you need to get out of it, and you need to get right with God.
[00:50:58] You need to be taught that.
[00:51:00] Well, the Holy Spirit's the teacher to live soberly, righteously, that we might be able to magnify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ through our lives, through our testimony, that others might see us, and they'll want what we have.
[00:51:15] I have a good friend that's a lawyer, and one time we were getting ready to sell our property to the library, and this lawyer was the city
[00:51:29] Lawyer, and so he was dealing with me and dealing with the library board and so forth, and we had some jostling to do.
[00:51:40] And I'd go to meetings and I would talk with them and I said, listen, y'all are not getting this thing together.
[00:51:47] You can't tell the people how much money you're going to spend.
[00:51:50] I come to you and I tell you I need $2.5 million for our piece of property.
[00:51:55] And I went, here's why.
[00:51:56] One, two, three, four, five.
[00:51:58] And I said, you can't even do that with your own city government.
[00:52:02] I said, what's wrong with you people?
[00:52:04] I said, you got people that want to know how much is this thing going to cost?
[00:52:06] You can't tell them.
[00:52:08] And so I was just up there, and by me telling him what I need, he knew I'd done the research and so forth.
[00:52:14] He called me up, long story short, he called me up one morning, he said, what are you doing today?
[00:52:19] I said, well, I'm just in the office studying.
[00:52:21] He said, I want to take you to lunch.
[00:52:24] I said, I'd be happy to.
[00:52:25] So I'm thinking, okay, we're going to talk business, you know.
[00:52:29] We went down there and we started talking about fishing.
[00:52:33] He graduated with my brother, he wanted to know how Paul was doing.
[00:52:37] And so we're eating our meal and we're discussing things.
[00:52:39] Never came up with business.
[00:52:42] So I paid the check.
[00:52:43] Even though he invited me, I paid the check.
[00:52:47] And so we're sitting there and I said, well, John, you ready to go?
[00:52:51] He said, no.
[00:52:53] I said, okay, here it comes.
[00:52:56] He said, no.
[00:52:57] I said, well, what else do you want to talk about?
[00:53:00] And he looked me right in the eye and he says, I want
[00:53:09] I said, what do you mean you want what I have?
[00:53:12] He said, I've seen you in action.
[00:53:15] And he said, I've seen others blow up.
[00:53:19] But you've gone through the turmoil and you just stayed as steady as I've ever seen.
[00:53:27] I want that.
[00:53:30] I said, well, you can't have it.
[00:53:36] I said, I've got it and you can't have it.
[00:53:40] But I'll tell you what, I know one who will give it to you.
[00:53:45] And I got an opportunity to talk to him.
[00:53:48] Now listen, I talked to him on that day.
[00:53:53] A year later, we went golfing together.
[00:53:56] We got to the 16th tee.
[00:53:59] He said, do you mind if we just pull over here and rest a minute?
[00:54:02] I said, no, let's sit down.
[00:54:03] And we sat over there and he started asking me biblical questions.
[00:54:07] And I started giving him answers.
[00:54:09] I didn't have a Bible, and I said, Lord, help me.
[00:54:13] Help me give him the answers that he needs to hear today.
[00:54:15] And we talked, and I mean, probably six, seven other groups went by us, you know, who cares?
[00:54:21] And I'm talking to him.
[00:54:24] A couple years later, he calls me on the telephone.
[00:54:28] I'm at home.
[00:54:28] He says, what are you doing?
[00:54:29] I said, nothing, I'm at the house.
[00:54:31] He said, can I come over?
[00:54:33] I said, well, sure, John, come on.
[00:54:36] He come in and he was crying.
[00:54:41] He said, I've been thinking about what you told me.
[00:54:44] Two years later, he said, I've been thinking about what you told me.
[00:54:49] He said, I want to get saved.
[00:54:53] Listen, we sat here in the living room.
[00:54:56] I picked up my Bible.
[00:54:57] Now, I don't ever lead anybody to the Lord without the Bible.
[00:55:02] And I said, I want to show you something.
[00:55:04] We're all sinners.
[00:55:06] We all sin and come short of the glory of God.
[00:55:10] The wages of sin is death.
[00:55:14] But Jesus is our propitiation.
[00:55:16] I said, you being a lawyer, you know what propitiation means, don't you?
[00:55:21] So I went through the plan of the gospel.
[00:55:24] He said, what do I need to do?
[00:55:25] The Bible says, well, if you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart, you'll be saved.
[00:55:33] I said all you need to do is pray and ask the Lord to come into your heart.
[00:55:38] He's already crying.
[00:55:41] He bowed his head and I have never heard a sinner's prayer as John's.
[00:55:50] He meant it from the bottom of his heart.
[00:55:55] And so two weeks later I baptized him.
[00:56:00] What a change.
[00:56:02] People in town, he's giving testimony.
[00:56:05] Pastor White led me to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:56:09] So he gives testimony.
[00:56:10] I go into a store.
[00:56:11] The store owner comes to me and says, what did you do to John?
[00:56:16] I said, what do you mean?
[00:56:17] Oh, he's different.
[00:56:19] John used to come in here and he would cuss.
[00:56:22] He'd talk about his drinking.
[00:56:23] He'd talk about this and that, you know.
[00:56:25] But he's changed.
[00:56:26] What did you do to him?
[00:56:28] I said, I didn't do anything to him.
[00:56:30] Because I didn't.
[00:56:32] I didn't do anything.
[00:56:33] I said, what happened to John is the Lord got a hold of his heart.
[00:56:37] And I said, he's a saved man today.
[00:56:39] I said, by the way, you want to be changed?
[00:56:47] Let me finish by saying this.
[00:56:48] I hear a yawn.
[00:56:57] Read your Bible daily.
[00:56:59] It's a personal conversation with God.
[00:57:05] Let the Holy Spirit apply it to your heart.
[00:57:10] You begin to pray and say, Lord, you speak to me today.
[00:57:15] And if you mean it, he will.
[00:57:18] Then live it boldly.
[00:57:22] The world doesn't just need to hear the scriptures.
[00:57:25] The world needs to see it live through us.
[00:57:29] Preacher, do you really mean what you preach?
[00:57:34] I want what you have.
[00:57:36] I see what you have.
[00:57:38] I want what you have.
[00:57:43] And who am I?
[00:57:46] Who am I?
[00:57:50] But I've presented my body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is my reasonable service.
[00:57:59] Have I fallen short?
[00:58:00] Many times.
[00:58:02] But thank God He's one that we can confess to.
[00:58:05] He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that we can go on and be what God would have us to be.
[00:58:15] You see, each and every one of you have a purpose.
[00:58:19] But what's even more amazing, each and every one of you have a potential.
[00:58:24] What can you be for the Lord?
[00:58:29] What can you be for the Lord?
[00:58:33] Our flesh sells us short.
[00:58:38] If I can be a preacher tonight, God can do anything in your life.
[00:58:46] That's how amazing it is to be the preacher of a gospel that I'm not ashamed of.
[00:58:55] Even my wife says, I can't believe that you're standing up there preaching the word of God and the people like it.
[00:59:07] Let's stand.
[00:59:09] Let's stand.
[00:59:11] Our benediction tonight, Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16.
[00:59:16] Listen carefully.
[00:59:18] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
[00:59:22] Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns, in spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
[00:59:33] And that's what you have here at the church.
[00:59:35] You have a loving church.
[00:59:37] You speak to each other in love.
[00:59:39] You speak to each other in truth.
[00:59:41] You sing to each other with your testimony.
[00:59:45] You're a blessing.
[00:59:46] You're a beautiful people in the hands of the Lord.
[00:59:49] And in the eyes of God, you've already been glorified and you have the availability to yourselves to be used of that potential as he has glorified you that you might be able to manifest the glory of God.
[01:00:03] It's gonna take some time.
[01:00:05] It's gonna take time.
[01:00:07] But God is growing you.
[01:00:10] And when you get to that point, he's going to start adding you.
[01:00:15] And then you'll see the hand of God reaching out, saving sinners, and doing that which is exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
[01:00:24] Amen?
[01:00:25] Father, in Jesus' name, as we come before you tonight, we praise you, Lord, for the Word of God.
[01:00:32] We thank you, Lord, as the source by which we are saved.
[01:00:36] The source by which we grow in the grace, the knowledge, and the understanding of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[01:00:44] It's the Word of God that gives us the image of our Heavenly Father as well as your Son.
[01:00:51] It's the method by which we are conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:00:56] And Lord, in each and every one of us that are saved, you have placed the Holy Spirit of God
[01:01:02] Who's going to use the Word of God to be able to work in our lives to continue the process of conforming us to that image.
[01:01:11] And Lord, as we grow, as we magnify the Lord, as we come to a richer maturity, we're able to manifest Christ in a greater way than we ever thought possible.
[01:01:23] So our prayer tonight is, Lord, continue to work in our hearts through the Word of God.
[01:01:28] Continue to let the Holy Spirit admonish us, teach us, lead us into all truth, guide us into the truth, that the truth might be a part of our lives, that we might continue to grow to be conformed to Christ, and as a result we can manifest Him to a lost and dying world, that in each one of our lives somebody may come up to us and say, I want what you have.
[01:01:54] Lord, we're so thankful tonight.
[01:01:58] For all that you have done for us.
[01:02:01] But tonight I'm thankful for what you've done for Cornerstone Presbyterian Church.
[01:02:07] Lord, what I see tonight compared to what I saw two years ago, an infant church coming together, a maturity that has taken place, a love that has been expounded,
[01:02:20] but more importantly the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ in this assembly we pray Lord that you would bless them for that add to them that others might come and be a part of this community that others might be able to go out and win others to the Lord Jesus Christ bless the pastor as he comes use him to further your kingdom
[01:02:44] in his work through this church.
[01:02:46] Bless him and bless Brother Andy in a special way as he serves along with him.
[01:02:51] Use these two men as co-laborers of Christ to help these people to come to the maturity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[01:03:01] For it's in his precious name we pray.