I am thankful to be with you this evening, and I wonder when I might get the call. And I'll tell you, if the Lord will be with us tonight, there's no place I'd rather be. And if he's not with me, I'll get out of the way. I don't know why this is, it's been a long time since I've stood in the stand and been this nervous, and I don't know why. I have a subject on my mind shared with Brother Sonny a little bit my intent. I hope the Lord is in the matter. There may be some deviation from it a little, but we'll just pray that the Lord will bless the effort and bless you to hear it. If you're like me and you can't help but notice what's going on in the world today and in society, and if you're like me, you'll be a little concerned about that. I want to reassure us right off the bat, Lord is still in control. You know that. But that still doesn't alleviate our concern about what we see taking place. I have no doubt that the Lord is in control. And so I began to wonder and ponder and think about why it is that society seems to be going the way it is. Came up with one conclusion, you can correct me later if you want to, but one of the things that I've figured out this week, last week, the written word of God has been misused, mistaught, I don't think that's a word, I'll phrase it like this, taught in a deceitful way for worldly gain, and I'm not just talking about money, whatever that worldly gain could be, God's written word has, in many societies, has been completely removed. And it has, to a certain degree, right here in this country, been removed. If not been removed, it's under assault. And, or, even in some of the places that this Holy Bible is accepted, It's being put forth as a mere fable or a book of good stories. A book that you could teach your children good morals. My friends, it's much more than that. It's a thorough furnisher to the child God. So I began to ponder, well, if that be the case, who's to blame? You know what happened? I looked in the mirror. You need to be honest with yourself. I don't know about y'all, but I'm telling you all I had to do is look in the mirror to figure out who to blame for that. You see, if I was truly in love with my Lord, I wouldn't be as much at fault for the condition that society is in because I'd be doing something about it. through the help of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, I said all that because one thing that is mistaught, sometimes, and I think deceitfully so, for whatever gain that is, it could be pride, monetarily, whatever that worldly gain might be, the two subjects I would like to talk to you about tonight, Lord, would help us is the, and I'll have to give Brother Don partial credit for this and me rephrasing it. The blessed, privileged purpose of the New Testament preacher and the privileged purpose of the New Testament church. Brethren and sisters, you and I have the greatest Blessed privilege on the face of this earth Tell me why this little meeting room is not full It's artists today we we've remodeled and got some really nice pews now and the church house looks wonderful This is about a quarter capacity of what that church house could hold Brother Sonny said to me, before services, he said, I'm concerned. We ought to be concerned. We ought to be concerned. All right, so let's look at, first off, y'all would agree with me that whatever was good for that first New Testament preacher is good for that preacher today, right? That gospel minister. want to turn to Luke real quick we're going to hit that one and then I want to go to maybe go to Acts 26. There are several places I want to touch on tonight. You continue to pray that the Lord bless. Now this is Zacharias's prophecy here in the first chapter of Luke about John the Baptist. We'll pick it up in the 76th verse but the three verses that I want here in Luke or 77, 78, 79. Now, I wanna make this statement before I get into that. Y'all know, before we get into talking about what the blessed, privileged purpose of the New Testament preacher is, let me just say real quick what it is not, and I know y'all know this. It's not to save souls, right? It's not in the making of children of God. Sometimes I think we get a little off track. I think some folks get off track and they're trying to make children of God instead of what that blessed privilege really is. And that's helping that child of God become a better disciple of Christ. Let's don't take it from me, let's take it from the word of God. Look here in Luke first chapter. We'll start with verse 76, he's referring to John the Baptist, Zacharias, this is his prophecy. He says, And thou, child, the child that she was about to bear, shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. That was his first. He, I just love this 77th verse because it's so crystal clear as to what John's Purpose privileged purpose was to be To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins He's not remitting their sins. He's giving them knowledge of that salvation And he doesn't leave it to it. I highlighted these three I highlighted 77 and 79 in the same color and I highlighted 78 in a different color Because you see, Zacharias didn't leave in his prophecy about John the Baptist. He didn't leave it to guess who it was that remitted those sins, did he? Look at verse 78. So we can't get to thinking that John's the one remitting the sins. He says, unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God. Whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us. Who's the day spring? Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the one that was to come and do what his father sent him to do. John didn't leave it to guess. And then we finish up with verse 70 line. After we get that sorted out, he says to give light to them that sit in darkness. There's the privileged purpose of the New Testament preacher, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet. Notice he said our feet. He didn't leave himself out, did he? To guide our feet into the way of peace. Who's the way of peace? Christ Almighty. I'm telling you, brethren, it's not much clearer. It doesn't get much clearer than that. Let's go to that second witness. We'll use two witnesses. So if you will turn to Acts chapter 26, almost, almost same language. Now, I will tell you this, that, um, this that I'm looking for here in Acts 26, it's recorded three times. Thank you, brother Sonny. It's recorded three times in the book of Acts. I want this one because the language is almost identical or makes the same inferences. And this is the Apostle Paul recounting his Damascus Road experience to King Agrippa. Here's a man that gave totally of himself. Do you ever stop and think about that? To preach the gospel. Everything that he had, and hopefully we'll touch on that a little bit, but look over there in Acts chapter 26 and y'all, I really need you to pray. We're going to start with verse 15. chapter 26 verse 15. This is the Apostle Paul recounting to King Agrippa what took place on that road to Damascus. Paul says, and I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And he tells Paul, but rise, stand upon thy feet. for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. What's his purpose? Doesn't get any plainer than that, does it, Brother Gary? Uses the same word, purpose. To make thee a minister and a witness of both these things which thou hast seen and of those things in which I will appear unto thee or teach thee. Now, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee." Being sent to the Gentiles now. What's he saying? Look at this phrasing and wording. It's almost identical. It gives me the same impression as it did the same prophecy of Zacharias about John the Baptist. To open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." That's a mouthful. But y'all, I'm telling you, I believe with all my heart, what was true for John the Baptist, What was true for the Apostle Paul, what was true for all those preached brethren in this New Testament age is still true today. Nothing has changed. God still saves His people in the same way. And by the way, I'm not just talking about eternal salvation either. He still saves us the same way He saved the Apostle Paul in a timely way. I used to be real careful and try to make that delineation. You know, I'm not even concerned about it now. Because it's the same Savior for both. Eternally and timely. Whatever grace and mercy I experience in this life, while I'm in this fleshly tabernacle, for whatever salvation... Did you know? Just as a little side note here. Did you know, because he is the Prince of Peace, that if you understand a little bit about who he is and how God saved his people, in your lowest of lows, in the deepest, darkest pit, you can have peace. You tell me, brothers and sisters, Those who don't understand what you and I have the blessed privilege of understanding feel that way. They can. They can have a piece of it and they can have a they can feel somewhat of it. But if just like I'm trying to point out What's being taught about the preacher saving souls, which we already know what the purpose of that preacher is, it's not to save souls, it's to shed that light. You got to go home sometimes. I'll ask you this question. And I don't think there's, I may have shared it with some of you. I know I've probably shared it with Brother Don. I'm hoping that I can convince him someday to come to this meeting. He lives up here in the Bryant area. Dear friend of mine, work for me. Of a different faith and order. Loves Christ as much as I do. Probably serves Him better than I do. Lost a baby to a crib death. I think I may have shared it with you, Brother Gary. Years ago. He does a lot of good works. fleshly good works for other people, for his family, for the church that he belongs to. But you know what? That brother is in a bondage that breaks my heart. He weeps over that child to this very day. And I'm not talking about the type of weeping just in the missing and the loss of a child. I'm talking about a weeping in that he's worried about that child's eternal destination. Who's at fault that he believes that? And before you say, it ain't I. Well, maybe it's not. I can tell you all I got to do is look in the mirror. We could go on improving other places in scripture. The purpose of that New Testament preacher. But I think we get the gist of it. I'm convinced. that if we would just take the Bible for what it says, sometimes it'd be much less complicated than we make it. Now, it's simply stated. That doesn't mean that's easy for the gospel minister to do, is it? His job, his purpose, his privileged purpose is not easy, maybe simple, simply stated, there's a difference between being simple and easily performed. I won't get into pastoral duties or anything like that, because now you're opening up a whole other can of worms, but I'm just talking about preaching the gospel to God's children, sharing We had a discussion at Sardis the other night in Bible study. And inevitably, when you get on the subject of sharing what the good Lord has done with you, it never fails. Whenever I've been in that discussion with a group of old Baptists, one of them always says, I don't know how to defend the truth. And I agree. So our response, Brother Don was with us, is we don't have to defend it, just share what the Lord has done for you. I got home that night and I began to think about that and pray about that. And the brother who said that's been an old Baptist, member of the old Baptist church for 50 years at least. And I began to think, hmm, why can't you defend it? It's right here. Either it hadn't been taught or maybe. I'm guilty sometimes to just sit, having sat, as it were, under the sound of the gospel and rejoice. You know what those Brevin brothers did, don't you? They sat under the sound of the gospel, then they went home. And they made sure that those things were so. And I'm not saying that there was any heresies being preached or anything or any fallacies. That's not my point. My point is what that did for them. It confirmed it in the written word of God. It confirmed it in here that what they had heard was true. And then those Berea brothers, I guarantee you they could defend the faith once and for all. Turn with me to Ephesians. I hope we've shown that, or that scripture has shown that the purpose of the New Testament preacher. I'm pretty sure that we all agree now that whatever was good for them should be good for us this very day. I want to touch on a little bit here in Ephesians 2, but what I really want is going to be over in Ephesians 5. Here in Ephesians 2, never a good place to start with the Apostle Paul. because what I want is way over at the end. I tell you what, here in the beginning of this chapter, he's teaching how you're saved. Look, this church at Ephesus, by the way, they were well taught, weren't they? They were well taught, but as even if a flock is well taught, they need to be brought back to remembrance, don't they? There's a pastoral duty. And I thank the Lord for the pastors that I know now. Because we have some real pastors now, by the way. Verse 8, we're going to read fairly quickly because I want what's later on. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. I don't know how you can get away from that. Pretty plainly stated. not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands." Talking about Jews and Gentiles here now. He's transitioning from teaching them in the grace and now he's fixing to teach something that I really think we, Old Baptists, need to get a handle on. He says, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. Wow! But now, In Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for He is our peace, who hath made both one, Jew and Gentile, hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, nothing separating, no respecter of persons, man, woman, Jew, Gentile, old, young, it does not matter, there is none, that can have an excuse now. That middle wall has been broken down. I can't imagine there ever having been a time in my life when this wasn't available to me. But that's the way it was for the Gentiles. And you'll remember how those apostles were forbidden to even go to them in the beginning Says having abolished in his flesh the enmity and if that doesn't break your heart right there that one word Look it up. It's not just plain simple enemy It denotes hate You were a hater of God when he when the Lord died for you Makes me tremble brother son Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Here we go. And came and preached peace to you which were afar off. Now you can take this Jew and Gentile, or you can take it as having come from A place of not having God in your life to where you are now. And if because you're where you are now, here come the next verses. And to them that were not for through him, we both have access by one spirit on to the father. And now, church at Ephesus, now therefore, church at Ephesus, church at Point Rameau, church at Harmony, church at Sardis, church at Hampton, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. My, I don't know about y'all. But that breaks my heart to know. We had good services today, I thought. Song service was wonderful. And I'm sure that the church that y'all went to, you considered having good services today. And the Lord can bless. If Sardis had had five people in it, the Lord can bless. But isn't it a pity? Aren't we ashamed that Sardis was only... And look, it's not about numbers. It's not about me wanting the church house full for the church house being full's sake. It's about that brother that I described to you that weeps on his pillow every night wondering if that child of his will be in heaven. That's what it's about. Don't you know, even if it's not that bad for him as it is for this man, even those that are not That's so far in the dark. You see, he's not walking in darkness as in sin, but he's walking in darkness as in knowledge. He's not had a John the Baptist, a Peter, a Paul, any of these brethren in this room that preach. Teach him. the truth of God's word. So we don't have any excuse. Now turn with me to Ephesians chapter five. And we'll talk a little bit about. The privileged purpose of. The blessed privileged purpose of the New Testament church. As a body of people, as individuals, I'll tell you what, before we turn there, I want to go hit something in Matthew 5. I'm sorry if you're already in Matthew, maybe you can get to, if you're already in Ephesians 5. I want to pick this up. Hopefully the Lord will help us make a point. You see I run into people all the time that ask me, what is the purpose of the New Testament Church? Anybody else? I do. It's pretty close to the same thing as a New Testament preacher. I didn't hear any amen. It is. Here's what Here's what the Lord says, Matthew chapter 5, verse 13. Very familiar scripture for you. He says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt had lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. The salt has lost its savour, And here's my question for you. Even though it's lost its savor, is it still salt? Thank you, Sister Marilyn. Yeah, it is. It's still salt. It just doesn't have a preserving force in it anymore. But it's still salt. It didn't change color. See, I think we spend way too much time trying to become something instead of just being who we are. Look at the next verse. He tells us, New Testament Church, by the way, what we are. You are the light of the world, period. Notice there's a period right there. That's a that's a statement. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. I'm going to add this in there. Did you know that city cannot be hid? I don't think I'm adding anything to scripture. I just want to add a little what I understand that's teaching me. Whether it's lights on or not. If it's way up on a hill and I'm down here and I'm looking up and there's this big old city on this hill. It's not hid. You can still see it. Okay, I'm fixing to get in trouble. Using a prop. And this is not for three actors, but it's to make a point. What is this? It's a light, isn't it? It's a flashlight. What is this? Even though the light's off, it's still a flashlight. It's still a light. You see, my concern, if the Lord has ever blessed me to preach ever and be a gift to one of his children, my concern is not to make them something they are not, but to help them be who they already are. God did the making, didn't he? I just want to help them. If I'm called to do that, I want to help them be what they already are. This light is still a light whether I turn the switch on or off. I'm a light if I be one of his. But when I am a light that is worth something, when I am salt that has not lost its savor, it's when I, the Lord, by my... I can't even make those actions without the Lord, but by my actions, the Lord shines through me and others see the Lord in me. See, He is the light. Doesn't He say in John 8, 12, I am the light of the world? He is the light. And we're in Him. And He in us. So, we need to be the light. And it needs to be turned on. We are light, we just need to be turned on. And that's why I'm so ashamed sometimes and why I personally, I can look in the mirror and I don't have to lay blame outside my door. I can lay it right here. Now go back to Ephesians. We'll try to start wrapping this up, y'all. So the Apostle Paul, here in Ephesians, He's taught the church at Ephesus. They understand some things. He has brought them to the knowledge of salvation. And he's also taught them where that salvation has come from, who it is in. Taught a little moral duties and he's taught some wonderful things of the Lord. And then he says here in chapter five, After all that, he can say this. Follow my line of thinking here. The Apostle Paul didn't leave you to guess. So he says, because of all that, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love. We'll leave out that next part. As Christ also hath loved us. Now it's simply stated, but that's going to be pretty hard to do. I want to believe that I can love you as Christ loved me. I want to believe that. And at giving himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. And then he goes and lists these awful, terrible things about who The church at Ephesus is, and I can imagine there was some of those Ephesus church people sitting there, he ain't talking about me. But he lets them know, doesn't he? Skip on down, I'm not going to read all those. In verse 7 he says, about all those terrible things, be not ye therefore partakers with them. Hold on. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. So what? Walk as children of light. A parenthetical phrase here says, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Then he says, So you could read verse 8 and verse 10, leaving out that parenthetical phrase. I learned that from my dear brother Gary, who I appreciate so much. Years ago. Sorry that he's too many miles away from me. We don't get to visit, but anyway. So I want to read it that way, leaving out that parenthetical phrase. It may make a little more sense. For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. For who? Proving for who? For me, first and foremost. But if I'm walking as a child of light, there's no telling. If I'm walking as a child of light, and someone sees Jesus Christ through me, wouldn't that be marvelous? Wouldn't that be glorious? I want to know how he came about that. And the opportunity is there right before you. But if the light's never on, you don't ever even get the opportunity. Doesn't change the fact that you're a light. But if it's not on, you don't even get the opportunity. Then he goes on to list. Have no fellowship with them for works of darkness, but rather reprove them. All right, we're going to wrap this up. what I feel like. Brother Sonny asked me, or we were standing outside talking and he said, I don't know what to do. I mean, worrying about God's people and, um, and I, most of the pastors I know, the good ones that are really concerned about their flock, they, uh, they are, they, they fret over this. It's worse. here in the Philippians, Apostle Paul still. He says, read a little bit here in the first chapter, I want later down in it. He says, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. That's how our conversation should be. That means our manner of living. That whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Yoked up with your pastor. Yoked up with one another. More importantly, yoked up with the Lord himself. and in nothing, terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God." And here's the verse I wanted, verse 29. For unto you, it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. Lord You see brother son, I think before we see much improvement We Preach brethren We're gonna have to get out of their comfort zone and the folks, the flock that he tends, those folks are going to have to get out of their comfort zone. You see, I become far too comfortable with Sardis, having good meetings, love the fellowship, love the fellowship, love to eat those sisters good cooking. But you know what? Sure, we had a few new folks come in that rejoiced in what we were able to share with them when Brother Jeff first got there. But here lately, it's dwindling. I don't know how it is at your place, but I know we have only scratched the surface of the many. I believe with all my heart there's much more children of God out there than there isn't that aren't children of God. Our sole purpose ought to be, I know it can't be, but our privileged blessed purpose according to New Testament scripture is that we share, evangelize, teach, give knowledge of Him. And maybe we would see our churches grow. And in that, the Lord would be glorified. I'll leave you with this thought. You can... The Lord does grow His church. Doesn't He brother? No. The Lord does grow His church. but he does it through men. Doesn't? See those of you who are new to this, for a long time I believed just like a lot of them did. The Lord wants them in there, he'll drive them in there. Not so. He uses men like these brethren right here. Guess what? He uses you too. May God help us. We need to pray when we get out of the bed in the morning, God help me today. Don't worry about tomorrow. That very day, God help me today to share your love with one of your children. It's all it has to be. I can't imagine if I would commit myself to do that every day and do that. See that door of opportunity open. Walk through it. I can't imagine how joyous it would be. And I forget about that person getting the blessing. I would be the one blessed. It would be joyous to me. More importantly, it would give glory to God. I thank you for your kind attention. May God bless you.