Greetings, friends, and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin, Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. In 2 Timothy chapter 3
and verse 1, Paul says this, This know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come. Now Paul was telling Timothy,
he said, now just be aware of this. Be alert, be cautious,
be vigilant that in the last days perilous times shall come. In other words, evil times are
going to come. It's going to get very perilous.
It's going to be hardship for many. It's going to be devastating. It's going to be grievous for
many. He says in the second verse, he says, for men shall be lovers
of their own selves. Now, it's not that men wasn't
lovers of their selves at this time that he was writing this,
but more so in the latter days as things get worse as they are
now. Men shall be all the more lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, and unholy." If we've ever lived
in a time and an era in the United States of America where these
things are evident, it is certainly now, more than ever before. More than ever before are men lovers of their own selves than
they ever have been before. They don't care none about their
neighbor. We were talking about this just last evening here. We had a conversation. I was
over Sister Doris's visiting with her brother and his wife,
and we were talking about how selfish-minded society has become
from the blessings of prosperity. We have become such a a wicked selfish people. We don't care nothing about the
person next door or helping a person in need like they did years ago. You folks that have been raised
up in this geographical area, Still do, and in times past,
remember helping each other. Harvest your crops and plant. Cultivate. And to help go gather
cattle, Brother Gus, and help another cattle rancher to help
him get his livestock brought into a stockyard to do whatever
they need to be done to them and so forth. It would help one
another. But in today's society, as the
prosperous and materialistic things that have come about in
this nation that we have been blessed with, it has become a
curse instead of a blessing over time. It has caused men to be
lovers of their own selves, to be covetous. To be covetous is
to continue to desire things, to covet after things. Want more
and more and more. Isn't that just society? They're
never satisfied, we want more, we want newer this, newer that. And the Bible says they're boasters,
they're proud, blasphemers, disobedient to their parents. Have we ever
lived in a time when young people have been disobedient to their
parents as we see now? You go into a Wal-Mart store
and walk down the aisles and see how some of the camaraderie
is between children and the parents, usually the mother. Usually little
Johnny's about two aisles over messing with toys and playing
around on the floor and his mother can't find him and she's yelling
at him. Well you take three or four mothers
doing that and you've got chaos going and most stores you go
into, Johnny! I'm over here, Father! And in
the meantime, he's in the things he shouldn't be into. And I've
seen kids throw tantrums, jump up and down, scream and holler.
And their mothers just look at them and go, come on now, son.
Be good. I've taken light their backside
up to where it's glow in the dark. That's one thing about
my children. I have three children that God
gave me to raise. And my children, I am still within
them early because my dad was a strong disciplinarian and I
guess it's bred in me and my genetic makeup as well. But when
I said something one time, that was all that needed to be said.
because the second time the belt comes snapping out of the loops
and they started, that pucker syndrome brother Scott, they
started tightening up because they knew what dad was bringing
on to them next. We don't have that today. You
know why? Because the family structure
has been destroyed. We ain't got mom and daddies
at home. You know, it used to be a funny thing in St. Petersburg
when I was going to junior high school. And not far from where
I went to junior high school at, it was black town. And it
was kind of a joke during Father's Day. We'd laugh and say, hey,
man, who's your daddy? You know? I don't know who my
daddy is. Well, that ain't a funny thing
anymore. It's like that amongst the white
folks. Who's your dad? My daddy. My daddy don't live here no more. And people are living together,
shacking up together, having kids. When they get ready to
move out, they get tired of that issue. I'm out of here. I don't
want no more of this. There's a woman left with a child,
or two, or three. Who ends up paying for them?
Society does. We do. The state government,
federal government, cash payers. The Bible says that there are
those who are disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy. There's never been more of an
unthankful generation of people, I don't believe, than we have
today. They're not thankful for nothing. You go open the door
for somebody, I'm not going to pick on the ladies. But because
of the feminist movement, it has somewhat eroded a woman's
appreciation for a man to open a door for her and for her to
stop and say, thank you, sir. Just walk right on in, you know,
as if I'm supposed to do that. But nevertheless, the people
are unthankful. You help somebody, you pick,
they drop something, you pick it up and hand it to them. They
just kind of look at you, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Without natural affection. Are we in a time when there is
no natural affection like ever before? That we have right now? How can a mother begot a little
fetus baby and go put it in a dumpster? Like we find around the country
in Orlando and Tampa and different places they find babies left
at fire stations that's just got the umbilical cord cut off
of them hours before. That's without natural infection. We never heard of that 30, 40
years ago, 50 years ago, a generation or two ago. We never heard of
that. But there's babies left all the time somewhere for somebody
else to take care of because they didn't want them. And they
were conceived because of sin. Oh, listen to me folks. Sin is
the root of the problem. Sin was the cause of the relationship
and the beginning in most cases. In all cases I think where a
baby is given up and put in a dumpster to die, they find him in garbage
bags, dead. Without natural affection, how
could a mother that had carried a baby for a number of months,
whether it be seven months or even the full term, and then
just put it in a bag and put it in a dumpster and walk away
from it and write it off as, huh, I ain't going to deal with
that no more for the rest of my life. Because they've looked
around and seen their girlfriends with a couple kids and seen them
strapped down trying to make ends meet from week after week.
And sin got them into that trouble and they didn't want to deal
with it. They don't have natural affection. Paul was saying that
in these last days, there is all the more going to be those
without natural affection. And the Bible says also, there
are going to be false accusers. In other words, there are going
to be liars. Now I'm telling you what the Bible says. I'm
not making up some current event story here that I heard on Fox
News. I'm reading from the Word of
God to you about the prophetical days that we're living in. And
the Bible says there are not only false accusers, but incontent
and fierce despisers of those that are good. Have we ever lived
in a time where good folks are hated and looked upon as just
stiff-necked and two goody goodies as we're living today? Or if
you don't smoke dope, man, and you ain't got your hat turned
sideways, you ain't cool. Well, let me tell you something,
they ain't cool. I tell you, those that are in
the house of worship that are singing the praises of God and
under the sound of the preaching of the gospel, they're cool because
God's favor is upon them and has brought them together to
worship Him in spirit and in truth. The Bible goes on to say
that, in verse 4, that they are traitors. In other words, they
can't be trusted. You can't take their word for
anything. It used to be you could shake
a man's hand. Brother Clyde, it meant something,
buddy, on a deal, didn't it? If you said, hey, you go ahead
and use that 20 acres over there and take care of it, just, you
know, help me out towards the end of the season when harvest
time comes and everything will be all right. All right, all
right. And he'd do it. They're not doing any more. A
handshake don't mean nothing other than the fact that, hey,
I'm getting what I need now. Heck with it later, you know.
Men become traitors, they're heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God. Oh, is there ever a time
when men are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? It used
to be a hundred years ago that the meeting houses of most denominational
churches were full every Sunday. They were full every Sunday,
and people desired to go there, to fellowship, to sing, to worship,
and to be in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because
there is where their heart wanted to be. But not today. No, their
lovers of pleasure. They'd rather be out on a jet
ski or boating, or have somebody say, well, matter of fact, a
relative of mine that just went to Louisiana. And I emailed him
and I said, look, the best thing you can do is since you've never
been out of the state of Florida in your life, 41 years old, he
went to Louisiana to be a superintendent for a guy in construction because
they've got so much work going on out there in some areas that
the guy needed assistance in supervising his work. And so
this guy went out there. I said, now you be careful, because
man, you're going into some strange territory. I said, the best thing
you can do is get settled in a place and go find yourself
a Baptist church in that locality and go attend there on Sunday
and meet some good folks. that will be of help to you and
be friends with you and fellowship with you. When there's a time
of need, you'll have somebody to go to and a place to fellowship
and to worship. You'll be amongst folks that
are of integrity. Don't go out there in some bar
room looking for somebody that's going to be your friend in need. Lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God. Listen to this. Having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn
away. There are many today that have
a form of godliness. Oh, I go to church. I go over
here to St. Matthew's Methodist Church, and
I go there every Sunday, and I'm part of this little society,
part of this club, and we do this, and we do that, and we
just love the folks over there. But yet, they have a form of
godliness, but they deny the power there. They deny the power
of God being almighty. They deny the power of the God
of the Bible. who is in the heavens, and he
sits up there in his lofty throne, and he does whatsoever he pleases,
and he does all his purposes. And the Bible says that this
same God Almighty has declared the end and the beginning of
all things, that who is it that can stay his hand, or has the
right to say unto him, why doest thou thus? That's what the Bible
says. But no, those that have a form
of gobliness, a form of religiosity. Oh, we've got religious folks
everywhere today. Like I said, I go to church here
and I go there every Sunday and I hope I can make it to heaven
someday. But they're just going there and it's a social gathering
of people and they have just the hope that they're going to
make it to heaven. They need to go somewhere where the gospel
is being preached to where they can have a little assurance given
to them that Jesus has paid it all. All to him I owe. Though
my sin be like starlet, it shall be washed white as snow. That's
the truth of the matter. When one's called to believe
that, there's some assurance that comes along with it. That
Jesus is mine and what a foretaste of glory divine. The Bible says,
having a form of godliness from such turn away. Verse 6, for
of this sort are they which crept into houses and led captive silly
women laden with sins and led away with diverse lust. Ever
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
I've talked to people, I've read the Bible five times through
in my lifetime. And yet they have no idea whatsoever
in what God demands for a person to enter into the gates of eternal
glory. And they say, I've read the Bible
five times. I was brought up in the church.
Oh, I went to church every since I can ever remember. And yet
they don't know the first thing when it comes to about eternal
life and the vicarious, sacrificial work of Christ and what was accomplished
on the cross of Calvary and to have a God to let people throughout
the ages of time. Yes. Ever learning, never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, it's all a matter
of priorities. And I'm going to focus on that
in the conclusion, is priorities. What is your priorities? What
is your priority when it comes to the things of God in the Bible? In Matthew, I believe it's chapter
10, Jesus talking to the Jews, and the religious of the day, he was telling them about priorities
and about some of the conflicts and regarding the truth that
they're going to run into. Now what I'm going to read to
you is not something I just thought up in my mind, I'm reading it
to you from the word of God that Jesus spoke Let's see, let me start, let me start at verse 32 of chapter
10 of Matthew. Matthew chapter 10 verse 32. Jesus said, whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before
my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I have come to send peace on earth. Jesus did
not come in his public earthly ministry when he began to minister
and call his disciples unto himself and the apostles, and before
he ascended into heaven's glory, when he was in during his public
earthly ministry, he makes it very clear. Think not that I
come to send peace on earth. He didn't come to bring peace
on earth at that particular occasion. For he says, I came not to send
peace, but a sword. He came to bring a sword, and
the Apostle Paul says, as he wrote to the church in Ephesus,
he says, for the word of God is as a double-edged sharp sword,
cutting asunder the bone and marrow, penetrating the soul
of man. The Bible says, for I didn't
come to bring peace, but I came to bring the sword. And that
sword is the word of God and the very word spoken of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I want you to listen clearly
to what he further states and says here. Because you say, well
look, my family is my life. My family is everything to me. And my whole focus and my whole
priority in living here on earth is all because of my family,
because my child could be husband, whatever it could be. I want
you to listen to what Jesus said. He says in verse 35, For I am
come to set a man at variance against his father. Jesus said, I've come to set
an opposition, a difference between a man and
his dad, and a daughter against her mother. Jesus didn't come to bring peace,
he came to bring a sword. He came to bring opposition between
a mother and her daughter. and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law. Now listen to this, and Jesus
said, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Some of the greatest foes we
have as Christians trying to live the Christian life and making
Christ a priority in our life is those of our own household. Now if you stop and think about
it, you can agree with me and understand what I'm saying to
you. where it says, he that loveth,
and listen to this, he that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me. If you love your mother or your
father more than you love God or Jesus Christ, you're not worthy
of him. I didn't say it, Jesus said it. And the Bible says, and he that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
You've got your cross on your back today. them to God solely as a living
sacrifice for him. That's where your priorities
ought to be as those called to God out of this time world from
sin's dread curse of depravity which all men are born with by
nature and I love my mama, but my love for
Jesus surpasses my love for my mama. My mama, though she begot
me, she did not go to the cross of Galilee on my behalf. My mama
was not nailed upon the cross. on the phone every other night,
I call her. She always hangs up. Of course, she hangs up.
She says, I love you. And I tell her I love her, too.
But it's a different love. It ain't a love that can be compared
to that which I have for Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave
himself for me on the cross. And by his precious blood, all
my sins are never forgiven. as far as the east is from the
west. Bob, I don't know whether you've
ever thought about that before, but that's a scriptural quotation.
That I shall remove your transgressions as far as the east is from the
west. You ever thought about how far
that could be? You never get to the end of it. He's removed our sins from us.
We that believe in Christ's atonement work on the cross of Calvary
have removed our sins so far as it can never be able to be
brought forth before us again. He says, I shall take your transgressions
and cast them behind me, never to be looked upon again. This
is what the Bible says God has done for those who are blessed
to believe and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. He said, he that taketh not his
cross and don't follow after me, they're not worth it me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loses his
life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth
me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He
that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive
a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink
unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water in the name
of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall no wise lose his
reward. It's a sacrificial life that
God has called us into. It's a sacrificial life. As His
example, as the sacrifice of God. You see, that's why when
John the Baptist saw, up far off, Jesus, his own cousin, born
of Mary, Jesus born of Mary, John the Baptist born of Elizabeth,
they were cousins. He says, Behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world. You see, under the Old
Covenant and under the Old Testament the Jews were commanded annually
to have the high priest of the 12 tribes of Israel to take animal
sacrifices, lambs, bullocks, goats, doves and other sacrifices
and they were to kill those animals and to pour their blood over
the altar of wood, and to lay their carcasses upon that, and
then burn that as a sacrifice offered unto God for the sins
of the children of Israel. John the Baptist saw Jesus coming
towards them and he says, Behold the Lamb of God. It's no longer under the Old
Testament, Old Covenant that the Jews were under to offer
the sacrifices of animals on behalf of the sins of the people
annually as they were instructed to do in the Old Testament. Because
the New Testament and New Covenant that has been ushered in is by
a new and living way. And the Bible says Jesus Christ
is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man come to the
Father but by me. Jesus said, I am the resurrection
and the life. If you remember what I spoke
about last meeting time, it was about Lazarus, who was sick unto death. And
Martha and Mary, Lazarus' sisters, said unto Jesus, Master, if you'd
have been here, you would not have died. Jesus didn't get overly
excited about it because, as you recall, the Bible says, I
am Lazarus. He died that he would be raised
for the glory of God. And I also told you about John
9 about the blind man who was born from his mother's womb without
no sight. He could not see. And he heard
that Jesus was coming his way. And he called out. He said, Jesus,
have mercy upon me. were amazed. People had known
him all his life and lived around him and knew him and said, what
has happened? Who did this? He says, I don't know much. I
don't know any more than this. And this man had taken this spittle
of clay and put it upon my eyes and told me to go wash and I
did so and I'm able to see. Whereas I was blind, now I see.
Later on we find the man that was in the temple and he was
praising the Christ. Emmanuel, meaning
the word Emmanuel in the original language in the Hebrew is God
with us. That's what Emmanuel means. The
word Emmanuel is God with us. He found out that Jesus was the
Christ, was Emmanuel, that God had come to visit him and made
him able to see. Just as the same Jesus said to
Lazarus, come forth. And he came forth after he was
in the grave tomb for three days. Three days! Martha and Mary said,
Jesus, Lord, Master, if you'd have been there, he would not
have died. We can't roll back that tomb now and open up that
rock that seals that tomb. He'll be stinking. That's what
it says. in there three days and he's
stinking. And Jesus said, roll back that
stone. And they rolled back that stone
and there was Lazarus laying in there wrapped in grave clothes,
which was cloth wrapped around, twined around the body with a
napkin over his face, laying in there. And Jesus spoke and
he says, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus began
to move and began to sit up. And he says, unwrapping. And he was raised from the dead.
Brothers and sisters, he was not asleep. The Bible says he
was dead. Lazarus was dead. And Jesus said, miraculously from the dead and
made alive again. I heard an old preacher one time
up in Georgia. He said, you know, brother, it's a good thing that when Jesus
called Lazarus forth that he called him by name. Or if he
had just merely said, come forth, we'd have had graves busting
open all over And you know what? Jesus said
that just as he stood there in the first chapter of the book
of Acts, as he stood there and he was being taken up into heaven,
up into the clouds, that there was two angels that stood by
there. Christian, white raven, the Bible says. And they stood
there and they watched as Jesus ascended up into the clouds in
his glorified, resurrected body. And the angels of God said, why
do you men of Galilee stand here gazing upward for this same Jesus
that you see ascending up into the heavens shall in so manner
come again? He's coming back again. The angels
of God promised He would. And the Bible says, as Paul wrote
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 4, It says in there, the Lord Himself. He ain't sending somebody else
back to do this work. He's sending Himself. He's coming
back Himself. The Lord Himself shall descend
from the heavens with a shout. A same shout just like He shouted
when it says in the Gospel of Luke when He said in the And the Bible says that the Lord
himself shall descend from the heavens with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel and the troth of God. It's going to be
a devastating sound, as I told you last meeting time, that all
the world will hear. There's no secrecy about Christ's
return. It's going to be seen and heard
by the entire world and all of mankind. And the dead in Christ,
those that have been called to believe upon God's dawning Son
Jesus throughout the ages of time and the generations of mankind,
shall be raised from the grave and be taken on a glorified body,
likened unto his. And we which are alive and remain,
Paul said, we which are alive and remain at that time shall
be caught up with them in the cloud. Paul was looking for Jesus
to come back in his lifetime. Because he was talking about
it being the last days. But he didn't know how far the
last days were going to be. I don't know how far the last
days are going to go, too. We may only have a month left
as far as the end of time goes. I don't know. We may have 50
years. I don't know. But I do know this
much. According to the authority of
the Word of God, Jesus Christ is coming back again. And he's
coming back for a church bride. And the bride of Jesus Christ
are those that are made up of men, women, boys, and girls throughout
every tongue, kindred, and nation upon this earth that have been
chosen by God before the foundation of the world to become heirs
of grace and divine favor to believe upon Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior. And for every one of those that
God has chosen in Christ shall come forth from the grave in
a glorified resurrected body and be with God forever in eternity
in glory singing the praises of God Almighty. And the anthems
shall be never ending as far as praising the God of glory.
And the Bible says, as I've told you before, there's two types
of people in the analogy Jesus set forth. There are sheep and
there are goats. He says in John chapter 10, my
sheep hear and know my voice and they'll follow me. They'll
not follow another, for they'll only follow the voice of the
Good Shepherd. For another shepherd they will follow some hiring. Somebody hired to be a shepherd.
But the good shepherd has come to give his life for his sheep.
They shall hear his voice and follow him. But he says in that
day, when the resurrection occurs, there's going to be the sheep
on the right hand of God before his throne. They shall be gathered
there as the bride of Christ, adorned a beautiful bride before
God Almighty. And on the left hand, the Bible
says, are the goats. They are those that have passed
over interest in God and have not been chosen of God and have
been given divine favor to trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
They are those of the non-elect, if you please. The Bible talks
in the Scriptures about those that are the elect, chosen, the
appointed, the called, the ordained, heirs of divine grace. That may
sound strange to some of you here who has never heard of the
doctrine of God's divine election, an unconditional election, but
it's a biblical doctrine that was the foundation of the reformation
that Martin Luther had Jesus was God's righteousness
and to those who believed in him were made just as righteous
as Christ because it's been imputed unto us that are blessed to believe. Imputation is what it means is
that Christ's righteousness has been given over unto a people
chosen by God because they have been made heirs of God and that
imputation work, the Bible says that it is not by our righteousness
that we are acceptable to God, but it's by His righteousness.
The Bible says in the 10th chapter of Romans, the Bible says that
the Jews that they might be acceptable
unto God. But Paul writes and says, but I've come to tell you
that it's Christ's righteousness. For it's by the righteousness
of Christ that we are made acceptable to God. For our righteousness
is as filthy rags, the Bible says. Isaiah prophesied that.
He said, for man's righteousness are as filthy rags and defiled
before God. I want to conclude by referring
back to verse 36 and reiterating it again. A man's foes shall
be they of his own household. If you haven't found out already,
I think most of you have, because most of us are of age or are
adults that have had children, even grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And our own grandchildren, they
look at us as just old folks that are just religious. They just believe in that old
book called the Bible. And they talk about Jesus. When
they have a meal, they'll bow their head, and they'll pray
out loud, and they'll thank Christ for all that And it doesn't mean nothing to
them. They become foes. They become against us. They
don't want nothing to do with church. You know, I pastored
for 19 years in one church, where my three children were brought
up until they got to be 17, 18. Then they got too big, see, to
go to church. And they got too big to be under
dad's thumb any longer. And I said, look. Look, as long
as you lived in my house under my roof, as long as you were
under 18, I demanded that you go to an intended church every
time we went to church. But I said, when you become 17,
18 years old and you have a mind to where you don't want to go
to church, that ain't for you. I'm not going to force you any
longer. Because I am not doing you any good, and I'm not doing
myself any good by causing I don't want to go to church.
I don't want to go. I don't like the singing. I'm
tired of hearing you preach. I don't like the way Brother
Martin does this. You know, if God ain't dealing
with their hearts, don't have an altar called, like
a lot of the evangelicals do. That's the conclusion of the
meeting. Now I don't mean to be a comic or a critic, but when
a man stands and goes down and says, now look, God has just
made everything available. God has given all opportunities
here now. Now if God has grace upon you,
that means he's got unmerited favor upon you. And the Bible
says in the 65th Psalm, verse 4, it says, For blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. and the preachers get down there
and lead the people to come and decide for Jesus. Or to take
the opportunity and to believe about Him. Or to choose Him as
a way of life. I've heard preachers say, well
what have you got to lose? Why don't you just try Jesus?
To me that's a slap in the face of God. Then to be certain that God just
tried us? Well let me just, let me choose
a few But we got one that has been
obedient in all things, looking beyond the cross and the joy
that was set before him, the writer Hebrews says, Christ looked
beyond the cross that he had to endure and suffer for our
sakes. Is that your state? Have you
been caused to believe upon Jesus Christ and to trust Him that
soul is your Savior? Are you in love with your mother,
your father, your daughter, your son, your grandmother more than
you are Jesus Christ? Then you better take and you
better get your priorities lined up. Jesus said, a man's greatest
foe shall be those of his own household. And he says, you need
to take up your cross and follow me. as far as your own devotion to
Jesus Christ, that's what he told us to do. We're living in
a time right now that has probably been one of the hardest times
in the history of the United States of America, economically,
morally, and every other way. We are living in some perilous
times. Men are going to be lovers of
self, they're going to be pivotists, they're going to be without natural
affection. We see it before us. And folks, may God have mercy
on us to devote our lives to Him as our priority. translated from German, from
the original Greek and Hebrew to the English language and it
has been preserved. be given eyes to see what it
is to be living sacrificially for Jesus' sake and for his glory,
honor, and praise, that he may be adored and honored forever
and ever. Try to pray with me, would you?
Heavenly Father, we are blessed this morning by being brought
here safely. We've been blessed, Lord, to
meet again with the fellowship of Ibiza, to once again grab
a hand and embrace one another in genuine Christian love. And
Paul, we thank you for the songs, the simplicity of just singing
the songs that we pray in you have appointed it to. And
Father, we pray for those that we have mentioned that are sickly,
infirmed, and have ailments. Lord, that you would grant them
grace and peace and mercy during the time of trouble. And Lord,
you would raise them up as you would see fit. And Father, if
not, then take them on God bless us now as we continue
our time together in fellowship and as we dine together and we
partake of the meal. Cause us Lord to give thee thanks
before we do so. It's time for the members to
vote you in as permanent moderator. That hasn't been done yet. OK. You want to show of hands, or
you want to stand? You want to have a lot of applause.
All right. Good. Now, I don't need a moderator
from today. Me, too. Me first and second.
All right. Now, first of all, All members
that are here that are faithful members, and also for friends
of the church, explain what moderator is. You are our permanent preacher. OK, all right. So what you're
doing is taking the term moderator and use the term moderator as You make the motion on the request
of that. little business session here,
and we'll sing a song. At that time I will say... come and give a reason of why
they desire such. And it is up to the majority
of the membership to approve and agree to your acceptance
and you can become a member of this church. And if you have
not been baptized by mercy, then you need to follow the Lord and
believe and be baptized. So I think that
answers your question. Okay, so we have a motion, we
have a second of a motion, we have a unanimous show of hands,
and that business is complete. Do we have anything else that
needs to be brought up? And as we sing a song, y'all
just come out to your rows and line up. I'll just stand right
up here as the moderator and pastor of this church that has
been voted in to continue to be your pastor and shake my hand
in a format of fellowship and brokenly love towards one another. And because I do, I want to open
the doors of the church at that time for any that not have an
interest to want to be part of the fellowship of this church.
So let's take and sing a song we're familiar with because we're
going to be moving around and shaking hands. And let's sing
Amazing Grace, OK? I should have known that by heart,
but it's number five. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, saved the wretch like Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch Like me, I once was lost in a
meadow hanging from a tree. Then a man looked down by the
sea, and it was grace that taught heart to fear, and grace my fears
relieved. How precious did that grace appear. See how Now before we say the
next verse, let me say this. That the doors of this church,
the Fellowship of the Reverend Baptist Church, is open to any
and all that might have an interest, that want to be part of this
fellowship. And that they would call the
Lord in baptism if they had not been properly baptized according
to the scriptures. And let it be known by the individual,
the candidate, and let the church hear the rest of it. So as we
sang it, to make any move towards being part of this fellowship,
let it be known. Through many dangerous offenses,
I have already known that His grace has brought me safe thus
far. to lead me home. And the Lord has promised me. He will protect me. He will protect
me. He will protect me. Let's just stop there, and we'll
stop right there. Brother Guess, Brother Guess
Coulter has come this morning. I'm old, but I'm done. God bless you brother. May God be with you. I want you
to take When we open the door to the
church and a person comes and gives a request to want to be
part of this fellowship, it is our decorum that we ask the person
to give a testimony of why they have come desiring such, and
what the church means to them, and what God has meant to them, My name is Gus Holker, and I
was raised in Brandon, Florida. And we attended church around
Brandon and fell short of that. That's the first advent of Brandon.
I've attended churches all over the Southeastern United States.
Married a girl named Linda. I came to this area, and I'm
sitting in church here all my life, practically, as I can. I began to die, I began to bury
them out back here. Some just pulled me closer. That's okay, brother, that's
okay. Let your emotions be known. And I never saw anybody up there
much, you know, because we'd be at church or something when
this church was going on. It wasn't every week thing, but
I began to investigate and found that it was, you know, meeting
on the first Sunday. early, you can't quite go without
it. So hopefully we're going to open their eyes and heart
and their hearts through this sometime in the future. But that's
the reason I'm here, because of the Lord. And once I met both
Don and the rest, everybody in the sentence, everybody, I can't
believe I have any names because I don't know anybody's names,
but I appreciate everybody here. Have you been baptized by a merchant
in a Baptist church in this locality? Yes, in Brandon, when I was 10
years old, along with about 10 other kids, including a preacher. A preacher brought them all together. Now, this is a question that
only you can answer. Were you satisfied at the time
you were baptized by a merchant that that was a true and that
was a genuine baptism as unto the Lord? I did, Dan, and I do
to this day. In other words, when you were
baptized, you went into the waters because you were desiring to
be obedient of the cross. I did. And that you trusted in
Him at ten years old. I sure did. OK. All right. I want to ask the church, if
a man, a woman comes here that's been baptized by a person in
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they
did so in obedience to the Lord's command, and they believe that
that was a satisfactory baptism in their heart and their mind,
I am no preacher to question them. Okay? Now I'm talking to
the church now. Uh, are we going to accept Brother
Gus of this preparation of faith, desire to be part of this church
upon an emergent baptism, uh, that he is satisfied with? Alright,
I want a vote of hands. If that's a sincere baptism that
I am satisfied, I'm satisfied. Is that all members? Uh-huh.
Hope, were you a member? Not here. Okay, okay, okay. All right, so it's unanimous?
It's unanimous. All right, so Beanie, you're
making record of this. Okay. My brother, I extend the
right hand of fellowship to you as a member of the Fellowship
of the Catholic Church, and why I'm on the floor. And may God
bless you, and if I can help you in any way, you've got my
comfort, my brother. I love you. I'm glad that you've
come this way. All right, brother. Lord bless
you. You too. OK. Let me see. Pat. Now, you come. You have given evidence by coming
up today as the doors of the church were open that you have
an interest in becoming part of the fellowship Fellowship
from the Baptist Church. Would you like to share testimony
of why you have come and what this would mean to you to be
part of this fellowship? Well, I've been looking for a
home church for a while. And I think this is going to
be everything. Because at home, God is my family. But I grew up in the area and
always been involved in church. And as a teenager, I strayed. But I still had God on my heart. He still led me back to the right
path of doing right. And I met my husband. I had a family. We raised two. I think very good
children. They're not as all the bad stuff
that a lot of people are. But I still miss my home church. It's something that I can count
on. I know it's there. There's times
when you can pray and pray, and you can follow the Lord's Word,
but not being around a family, it gives you a bigger comfort. And that's what I guess, and
that's why I need my husband. And I cannot thank everybody
here enough for just the kindness and the heartfelt family feeling
that you get when you're here. So I do want to thank you for
that. That's why I want to belong here. And my final twisting moment
here. What does Christ personally mean
to you? He means everything to me. I
know that he has been there with me since I was a child through
a bad childhood. And I know that he has been there
and he has watched me get through everything in my life. And he's
always been there for me to count on. when I really need comfort
in my heart and soul. Has there been a time when you
had an experience where advice was especially, personally, believed
to bother you? as you grew in church life? I think because of my childhood
growing up, it's something that touched me that just came to
me and has stayed with me and grew with me as life grew. And
when growing up and becoming a teenager, I'm still back a
little bit, but I still felt like in my heart it was wrong
because I should still be in the church. I shouldn't be doing
what the other kids are doing. and he pulled me back and I could
see that, you know, my life is better than a lot of other things. Now, have you been baptized by
a merchant according to the believer baptism? Yes, sir. I was baptized
in the river in Ruskin and I was at First Baptist Church, I believe. And when you were baptized, you
went in by merchant and you went in in the name of the Father,
Son, and the Holy Ghost and you went in and are satisfied that
you did so to be obedient to Christ and for no other reason.
You didn't go to join a church, but you went in obedience to
Christ. Yes, sir. I felt like I was called to be
baptized. And I can honestly say the day
that I was baptized, I cried all day. And it hurt me to cry,
but I know that it was right. Being a grand person today, I
was defiant toward my father. I want to make it clear on baptism. There's not many printed Baptist
churches that take people in from what they call an alien
baptism from another Baptist church faction. I've known her over the years.
I believe and am persuaded that a person is baptized by mercy
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and
that they in their heart and mind are satisfied with that
baptism as in obedience to Christ. I again say, I am not a man to
question that. It's between them and their God. they have to also be in agreement
that they feel that this person's baptism was valid and they're
satisfied with it. Now, does Pat desire to be a
member of this church? Does this membership of this
church also agree that her baptism was satisfactory according to
her testimony? Okay, Dean, you all agree that
her baptism Okay, she is then received into
the fellowship of this church as a member. As of this date,
passed away. Okay? Lord bless you sister. May God be with you. May we be
of any help at any time. Do you desire to come and become
a member of this church as well? Is that your heart's desire?
Yeah, it is. Has there been a time, I want
you to tell me about a time when Christ has become somebody personal
and intimate in your life and shared with the church? Well,
I started going to my mother's church. I was baptized there. He was called up from the right.
Was he a pastor? Yes, he was. But when he was
out in there, he no longer was. At that time, I thought he was
a good pastor. And I still believe he is. Earl Stone asked us to come to
church over here. And I like it here. It's a small
church. Good people and all. But some days I can't make it
to church because of my health, but I'll be here whenever I can
to support all those boys. And when you were baptized, you
were baptized because you wanted to satisfy your conscience before
God and follow Him? Yes, sir. Are you satisfied with
that baptism? Well, church, I want to say to
the church, Brother Lewis Sweatt has come, as his wife has, desiring
to be part of the fellowship, the fellowship from Rebecca's
church as a member. And he has come to give the testimony
of the belief and of the baptism by mercy, and I ask the Church's
will to be made known by the accepting Brother Lewis and the
Church as you so desire. Let it be known. Okay, and none opposition to
it. It's unanimous. Lewis Sweatt
has the desire to come and be in fellowship and a member in
good standing of this Church, and has been accepted by unanimous
vote. It was our earnest desire and
intent to be faithful to the church that God has brought you
to. And what I mean by being faithful
is to strive here on every occasion that we come to meet together
to be here because we need you. When I come here and drive a
hundred miles to come down here to fellowship and minister, I
need you here. I need to see you. I need to
see Brother Jess here and know that he has a love for me. But you be faithful and be in
there when we open the doors in that meeting. Okay? May the Lord bless you,
brother. All right? Why don't you all
come up here and stand up. And the members, you just come
on up here. We'll sing... Verse 4, The Lord has promised
good to me, His word my hope secure, As long as life endures, again
it will. This place has hearts that fail,
that never know right or wrong. of fullness within the field
of life, of joy, and peace, that our world shall soon to the blue
and gold. The sun for me to shine, but
God to call me here and below. shall be forever mine. Let us pray together. Our gracious
God, that we are thankful, Lord, for these who have come this
morning. That, Lord, have come in through
the of believers that have been unified
together by the person of Jesus Christ. And so, Father, we thank
you for these who have come this morning to cast themselves among
us as part of this body. And so, God, we pray that you'll
bless them And Lord, be there when they
need you.