Baptist College of Ministry, and they have their CD recording that is available with full orchestration. All the bells and whistles, it's available out here at their table. And Brother Van Gelderen, how much are these? They're $15 or two for 30. So you go ahead and running a special over there. You go ahead and purchase some of these. I know that this will be a blessing. Well, it is my honor this morning and privilege to invite in a moment to our pulpit Pastor Paul Fosmark. He is the pastor of the Jones Lake Baptist Church in New Brunswick, Canada. But years ago, when I was a young man, shortly after I got saved, he was the senior youth pastor of the Fourth Baptist Church in Minneapolis, where Dr. Richard B. Clearwaters was the pastor. And as a young man, I remember looking up to this man as a godly Christian and an example. He is a tremendous music talent. He used to lead the church youth groups and sing spirations after each of the evening services. and was such a godly leader and such an inspiration to me personally as a young person. Shortly after I was saved, I thought, I hope one day that I can be something like that man. I was just a little, you know, children watch, children watch. I was in 8th grade about this time and children, they watch. And I watched him and was inspired by his example. Well, in my 9th grade year, it was December the 27th, 1981, my ninth grade year, I was listening to him preach. Now my family at that point, we didn't know that you have to come Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. We didn't understand all about that. So we were only coming to church Sunday mornings, but on Sunday night I would listen to the radio broadcast which was live from the auditorium of the Fourth Baptist Church in Minneapolis. When the radio show would come on, I'd go upstairs to listen to the singing. And then that night, Pastor Paul Fosmark was preaching from Psalm 37. And as he preached, I sat in my bedroom. I can picture this like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my bedroom listening to him preach. And the Holy Spirit of God came into that little bedroom and started working on my heart and saying, young man, I'm calling you to preach. And I had all kinds of arguments about being a preacher. I'm naturally kind of a shy person. I know you don't believe it, but naturally kind of a shy person. And I was concerned. I was so shy growing up, I wouldn't answer the telephone. I hated to answer the phone. But the Lord laid that on my heart, and as He preached, it became confirmed. And as they were giving the invitation, and I was listening to the invitation hymn over the radio, I got down on my knees in my bedroom and said, Lord, I surrender to the gospel ministry. Lord, I'll be a preacher. And I thank God for that moment when the Lord used this man to call me into gospel ministry and service for Him. So it is a joy and a delight to invite to our pulpit Pastor Paul Fosmark. All these new-fangled contraptions here. Occasion. And as I listen to the pastor, I'm humbled by the fact that, as he said, anything good is to the glory of God. Anything that's been good, done good for God, has been done through Him. And to Him we give the praise and thankfulness. I'm going to ask you to take your Bible this morning and turn with us to the book of Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. Let me just say this, what a privilege it is to be here at this time. An anniversary is a time of celebration, a time of remembrance also of an event that marked the beginning of an institution or a relationship. It's like these church began and also you have an anniversary if you're married. And don't you forget it. You remember when that anniversary is. And we're thankful that we can look back and celebrate how God has led us. And I trust that we'll be able to see when we see Jesus and say, Jesus led me all the way and that we can give him the glory for the past time. You know, it's been a real blessing to once again reaffirm the friendship and the relationship with your pastor. And we've learned to love him and to realize that he's a man with a tender heart. He loves the Lord. He loves the Word of God. And let me tell you, as I've talked with him, he loves you. He loves and respects each and every one of you. And he appreciates the fact that God has called him to the ministry here at Faith Baptist Church. And he celebrated 11 years of anniversary of being your pastor. And let me say that being a pastor with a body of believers is a marriage relationship. And it's worthy of an anniversary celebration. And so we celebrate not only your years, 51 years, but we also celebrate the fact that your pastor has been here for 11 years and God has blessed The ministry Albert Einstein, who was considered by many to be the smartest man of the past generation, I have to say, is my generation. And before me, Albert Einstein said that all material things are in a process of change. Now, as you would think that that might be a good argument for evolution, but he didn't mean it for evolution. He meant it for devolution. Everything material is basically growing older and disintegrating, and it's coming to an end. And he said the only thing that stays the same in the material world is a photograph. If you take a picture of when you were 10 years old, it doesn't make any difference. If you're 60 now, you can look back and when you look at the photo, you're still 10 years old. And that stays the same. But that's the only thing. Every single one of us change. Now, the pastor has an image of Paul Fosmark in his mind of when I was a young, mean, lean, fighting machine as a youth pastor. And, you know, boy, we were active. We were riding horses and taking canoe trips and playing football all day. And I could do that. But you know what? Things change. And, you know, I'm not the same picture that I used to be. And I used to have red hair and be, you know, thin and everything else. And if you could see me now, I've changed. And it's not been a pretty picture. It's just not. And but we're thankful for all these things. But, you know, there are and everything basically in this world. Churches change. There have been great churches that are no longer great churches. Many of them have even gone out of existence. Schools change. I tell you, we went through the fact that my alma mater, Pillsbury Baptist Bible College, went out of existence after 50 years. And even governments change, the nations change. And we've all seen the changes that's taken place, even in the United States of America. Economic things have changed. And my pastor, Dr. Clearwater, used to say this. I used to hear him say it all the time. He said, if you think things are bad now, wait till next year. Wait till next year and you'll wish it was as good as it is right now. And you say, that sounds very pessimistic. No, it's realistic. The things in this world are not going to get any better. They're going to get worse and perilous times are going to come in the end. And the things that we see today are disintegrating and even Christendom, as we know it, is changing. Christianity and across the board, even among so-called Bible believers, you have the evangelical crowd that they say we believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Bible. We believe in salvation by grace through faith. But they've changed. They've let down. And the Christendom is disintegrating. Christendom as we know it is going by the wayside. Now, as we think about that, there is only one thing that doesn't change. God himself doesn't change. Praise God, he's the same yesterday, today and forever. And his word doesn't change. It's settled in heaven. This is this is the word of God. And it's the same even yesterday, today and forever. Truth is still truth. Is that right? And God's plan of salvation hasn't changed. You know, today, even though it's almost 2000 years since Jesus walked on the earth, if you're saved, if you know that your sins are forgiven, if you know that you're on your way to heaven, even when Jesus comes or when you pass this life, you got saved exactly the same way that the Apostle Paul and everybody else got saved in the New Testament. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes unto the Father, but by me. If you get saved, you're going to have to come realizing that you're a lost sinner and that you need a personal Savior and accept Jesus Christ. There is no other way. It doesn't change. And you know, everybody's been trying to change the plan of salvation and they'll put it through the waters of baptism or church membership or good works or even through any other kind of ceremonial taking the communion wafer. But let me tell you something, there is only one. It's by faith and trust in what Jesus Christ accomplished once and forever for all time on the cross of Calvary. He died for you. He was buried and He rose again, and He lives. And the same salvation is staying for you. I'm thankful that God saved me when I was a young man. Just a young boy. I was raised in a Christian home. But even though my dad was a preacher, I had to come to the realization that I was a lost, hell-deserving sinner, and to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Now, let me just say this in light of your anniversary. And I knew I'd been thinking about this for a long time, of coming here for your anniversary time. We praise God for the excitement that we feel here. We praise God for the rejoicing, for the blessing that is evident. And let me say, anything material or any institution, physical institution in this world, that is going ahead and that is growing is doing so because of the blessing of God. God doesn't change, but I'll tell you something. You need God's blessing because it doesn't make any difference. Israel had every opportunity to serve God. They knew God. They walked with God, but they glorified him not as God. And God rejoiced even in destroying them as a nation at time after time. And the same thing can happen to this church. I'll tell you, we can't get complacent. We can't get complacent. We can't live in the past. We have to dedicate ourselves on this occasion to say, Lord, we're going to seek your will. Lord, we're going to glorify you. We're going to put Jesus Christ preeminent in everything in this local church. And if you don't, you're going to lose the blessing of God and you're going to change and go out of existence. You know, as I thought on these things and I'm thinking of the churches of the chapters two and three of the book of Revelation, I'd like to begin reading in chapter three, just some very short verses. Verse seven. And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, right? These things say of he that is holy, he that is true and he that has the key of David, he that opened it and no man shut it and shut it and no man opened it. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength and hath kept my word and hath not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation or trial, which is to come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast that he may that no man take thy crown, him that overcometh. Will I make a pillar in the temple of my God? And He shall go no more out, and I will write upon Him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon Him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." You know, we tend to think that the last words of Jesus to the church were, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We somehow feel that the Great Commission was his last words and then he was taken up into heaven. But if you have a red letter Bible, I think you'll find that Revelation 2 and 3 are written in red. I don't know if you have that, but you'll find it is red. Because why? The last message was not just go ye into all the world. That is still our commission. That is still our responsibility to go and spread the gospel to all kinds. But you will find that the last messages to the church, basically, are found in the book of Revelation. And it's found in these two chapters of Revelation 2 and 3. Now, can I say that perhaps the most ignored book of the New Testament among Christians today is the book of Revelation? And I really believe it's because Satan doesn't want the church to be aware of the message that is written there, the challenge that is given to local churches. And seven times you'll read, "...he that hath an ear, Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. These are messages you need to listen to, and we need to recognize it. Now, as you go through this book, you'll find that the book of Revelation is found in basically three parts. There's a past section, chapter one. There's a present section, chapters two and three, the letters to the seven churches. And then there's a future section, that which shall be hereafter, which begins in chapter four through the end of chapter 22. And you have what's our right now are the churches. This is what God is concerned about are the churches. This is what's our present. All right. And so we recognize that nothing could be more important than we listen to these messages. Now, as you go through these messages, you will find out that they were seven actual churches in the country of Asia, and God picked them out as sample churches. There were other churches around the world, but he picked these seven. Now, they made almost a perfect circle in Asia. And God just said that these seven churches, with these seven actual spiritual experiences, I will use as samples. And you know that not only did those churches exist, but ever since then in Christendom, there have been churches down through the ages that have experienced exactly the same spiritual experiences that these churches had. And you know what? You can find your church in one of these churches today, maybe one or more of these churches. And we need to take heed to these because God has not only given us these things. Now, you're going to find that all seven chapters, all seven letters really follow the same outline. First of all, you're going to have the characteristics of Jesus that really apply to the circumstance that's in that church. And we will look at those characteristics of Jesus. The second thing is he will bring to them a commendation and he's going to look for something good he can say about the church. I'm thankful that the Lord, you know, when sometimes we think that the Lord is is so punitive, he's he's he's so vindictive and he's just looking around. Ah, I see you. I see what you're doing, man. I can't wait to stomp you out. No, that's not good. You know, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Is that right? God wants to bless you and God wants to be able to commend you. All right. But then there is a complaint by God in many of these churches, he said, but I have a few things against you, somewhat against you. And he will make a complaint. You know, God doesn't just wink at sin and you can't either. And sin has to be dealt with and he will he will deal with that in the life of every church. But then not only that, we find that he had the recognition that there needs to be some some commendation and counsel from the Lord. And so he will give you some counsel to say, all right, now listen, repent or else five of the seven. He said, repent, change, go back to what you were. And, you know, the Christendom today really needs revival. We need revival. Did anybody say amen? Somebody said it. We need revival. We need to change back to what we were. You know, this is the home of old time religion. What do you call it? Home of the old time religion. And seek the old paths. Walk in the old ways. Remove not the ancient landmarks. Go back. And he's going to say that. Repent or else. And I'll tell you something. He means the or else. Do you believe that? Believe that. And he said, repent or else. But then he also in his counsel would say, hey, listen, for those of you that will stay true, I'm going to reward you. Aren't you glad for that? It's not like a carrot that he hangs out in front of us and we say, ok, just keep on keeping on. Just do right because I'm going to bless you. You know, you can't give a cup of cold water in the name of the Lord without receiving the Lord's reward and blessing. Is that right? It's still true. Still true. Now, as you look at these things, we recognize that not only does God have a plan and a pattern for the local church. But we can find ourselves in these churches. And let me just recount them for you. Ephesus was a cold church. They had left their first love. Smyrna was a rich church, though they had lost everything. They were rich. And we have Pergamos. It was a contaminated church. It was the wedding of the church in the world. We believe in separation of church and state, but they wedded the church in the world and they were contaminated. Thyatira was a misled church. Sardis was a dead church. Dead Christendom. He says you have a name that you live, but you're dead. But then we come to Philadelphia and the Philadelphia church is a victorious church. Can I say it's a fundamental church? A fundamentalist church. And I'm going to talk about that, but then we're going to come to the church of Laodicea and the Laodicea is a lukewarm church, but it's apostate church. within the framework of Christianity. And as you think about this, I believe that these churches depict not only a state of church history, and we recognize that we are in the Laodicean age. We're here. And we are seeing that now Christianity has turned from being Christ-centered and God-centered and the Word of God-centered to man-centered and entertainment-centered. Right? And it's just been froth and foam, and that's what brings people into churches. And it's become a big business rather than a ministry of the Spirit of God in the hearts of believers who want to stand for the Word of God. Things have changed, haven't they? Churches across our country have changed, and we have the Laodicean church. The word Laodicea means people's rights or justice for the people. And so the people, you know, I can do it any way I want. I can live any way I want. And they have it, you know. And they think, boy, look at our building. Look at how big we are. Look at how we're growing. We have three services and there's 7,000 people in our church and who knows how many. And let me tell you something. You could meet in a garage and be blessed of God. You know, it's not the building. It's not the program. It's not the personnel that's important. What's important is where does it put Jesus Christ? Where does it put the Word of God? Is that true? Now think about it. Christianity has changed. You know, this church thinks, I am rich and increased with good and have needed nothing. And what does Jesus say? Thou art poor and wretched and miserable and naked and blind. Ah, man. I'll tell you something. When God looks at it, He's not impressed with these churches. And we see these churches and they've changed. You know, they changed the name. We have a big church in our town. You say, well, you're just picking away. You're just like a little dog that barks at the big dog. No, I'm not. But we have a big church. They don't even call it an auditorium anymore. They call it a celebration center. And in their celebration center, they recently had an Elvis Presley impersonator doing a whole Elvis Presley program. I've been witnessing to this man. And talking to him and he knows he needs to be saved. I went through with him through a divorce. I went. I didn't divorce him, but I went through him when he was got a divorce. You'd understand. I went with him when he went through rehabilitation from drugs. He lost two years of his life with drugs. And now he's an Elvis impersonator. He wants to be the world's greatest, you know, impersonator. And he knows that he needs to get saved. He knows that. And every time he sees me, you know, it doesn't make any difference. Last time I saw him in the bank, he looked at me, pointed at me, and he said, I know you're praying for me. I said, yeah, I'm praying for you. But then you have a church that takes him in, puts him on the platform, puts the big drums and the guitars and the whole sound system and a bam, bam, bam, bam. Oh, you know, jailhouse rock. Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, I'm so sorry. This same church this last week had Wayne Newton, Mr. Las Vegas. Big picture on the front page. In a church! Wayne Newton rocks the house. Hey, you know what? This is the church of the closed door. Because Jesus is on the outside knocking. And he says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will hear my voice and will open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me. I'll tell you something. He says, I don't have anything to do with the church. It's now individuals. That church, that apostate church, Jesus is left out. He's left out. You know, when we think of what we have here. A local church. and how thankful we are for the local church. But I'll tell you something, there's a difference in these kinds of churches. The Bible says that this apostate church in the book of Laodicea or the church of Laodicea, it says, would that you were cold or hot, but in that thou art lukewarm, I will spew thee out of my mouth. In other words, these modernistic, emerging, progressive Christianity, whatever terms you want to use with them, These churches that are given over to entertainment. Churches that have just become businesses. God says, it makes me sick. And let me tell you something, He's going to vomit them out. And He's not going to vomit them into heaven. He's going to vomit them right into the tribulation period. These are no longer churches. They're synagogues. They're gathering places. But Christianity has changed. But let's go back to that portion that we read. We talk about the Philadelphia churches. It's wonderful that the Bible says the Philadelphian church. Philadelphia means brotherly love. And Jesus said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. Isn't that something? You know, you can go to these other churches and they don't even know you're there. They don't even shake your hand. They couldn't care less who you are. What they're concerned about is, hey, did you see the entertainer we have up on the platform? Have you heard our pastor? So what? Where's Jesus? Where's Jesus? When people come to fundamental or excuse me, to the Faith Baptist Church. Do they see Jesus? Are they directed to the word of God? You know, look at the character of Jesus that's mentioned here with this Philadelphian church, because this is a victorious church. This is a fundamental church. He says, These things saith he that is holy. Is that the first one? Hello? You say, I'm not looking at it. You are OK to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right? These things saith he that is holy. That's what I read. You know, God is holy. God is holy. And that means he not only is pure and free from sin, he has a hatred for sin. God hates sin. And he expects a church that's going to walk in the light as he is in the light and have fellowship one with another is going to be a church that's going to practice personal and corporate holiness. Do you believe that? That's not something weird. I think their CD, Is Thou Alone Art Holy, is that what it says? Only Thou Art Holy. I just saw it. Okay. Only Thou Art Holy. God is holy. But you know what? God expects you and me to be holy. He wants His church to be holy. Is that right? He's called us to holiness. He's called us to put away the works of the flesh. To put off those rotten attitudes. And that gossip, and the whispering, and the slander, and the anger, and the wrath, and the malice, and put it all away. And he says, put off the adultery, and the fornication, and the drunkenness, and the lustfulness. Put it away. Put it to death. Be ye holy. And he talks about the fact, wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. I will receive you and will be a God unto you. A father unto you, and you should be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all the filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Him that is holy. The second thing is Him that is true. God expects this church not only to be holy, He expects it to be true. When people come in here, they ought to know that they're not going to be deceived. And many people that are going to churches in Avon and in Indiana and all over the United States, they will be in churches today, and they're going to be deceived by the Pope. They're going to tell you, if you just do good, do the best you can, keep the law, do all you can, join the church, and you'll be alright. That's a lie. That's a lie. Jesus Christ is true. He is true, his word is true, and he expects you and me to be true. Put away lies, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one with another. Is that right? You know, your preacher has to tell it the way it is. He has to preach the Word of God. It's not because he hates you. It's just like when I had my son at home and my daughter, you know, if they did wrong, I had to spank them. And you know, you ever hear this? This hurts me more than it hurts you. Did you ever say that? And your dad says, this hurts me more than it hurts you. Oh, yeah, sure, Dad. Yeah, you know, that's a bunch of alone. You just heard somebody say that. No, I've been on the other side. Oh, it hurts to discipline, but I have to. We've got to take a stand for truth. We've got to take a stand against evil and sin and wrong, don't we? And lying? We do. We've got to do that. And then it talks about the administration of the church. You know, the Bible says he has who has the key of David. He openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. I'll tell you something. God started this church. God's kept it open. And the only way it's going to keep on being what God would have is for God to continue to do his work of administration. You know who the head of the church is? It isn't the Pope. I hate to tell you that. But it's Jesus Christ who is the head of the church. He's the head of the body. It's not the pastor. The pastor is an under shepherd. He's the servant of God. But Jesus Christ is the one who is leading this church. And let me tell you something. He's the one who has the key. He's the one who opened it and no man shut it and shut us and no man opened it. And let me tell you something. It's not going to be the Muslims that's going to destroy this church or close the doors of this church. It's not going to be President Obama that's going to close this church. It's not going to be any government that's going to close this church. It's going to be Jesus Christ that's going to keep the doors open in this church. He says, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. Hey, you know, this is the church of the open door. I used to see that, you know, and sometimes people would take that as a title. The church of the open door. Well, sure, the door's open now. But wait a minute. The apostate church is the door that's closed to Jesus Christ. This is the church of the open door. Why? Because we're here to preach the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we're calling all men to accept Christ. Won't you be saved? Won't you come to Christ? Won't you accept Him? Now, he says, Thou hast a little strength. I'm thankful, he said. You see what it says right there in chapter 3? And he says at the end of verse 8, For thou hast a little strength and hath kept my word and hath not denied my name. You have a little strength. You know, compared to all the big machines of the world, we're really kind of just kind of struggling along, doing our best, right? But I'm thankful that God didn't say you have no strength. He said you've got a little strength. The fundamental Bible-believing, Bible-preaching churches are getting smaller and smaller. The Bible says there's going to come a time when men shall not love sound doctrine, but shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And shall be turned away from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Is that right? Let me tell you something. That time has come, folks. The time has come. You are in the extreme minority here. You still have the Word of God. You still have the pulpit that's centered. It's not that this music that was presented so wonderfully this morning was here for your entertainment. It was here for your edification. It was here for your blessing. It was here so that you would glorify God and say, oh Lord, that's true. That's true. That's a true message. Praise God what You did for me. We don't sit here and clap and say, wonderful, look at there. Boy, you guys did a great job. No. We did it to the glory of God. Is that right? Did you guys want to glorify God? Or do you want to say, look at us? Alright, just keep the money flowing. You know, this is pretty lucrative. We're going to go around the world and we're going to make a real living out of this. No, you're not. You're going to starve. It's not your business. We're here to lift up Jesus Christ. The Bible says, You have kept My Word. Hey, do you know what? I have young preachers that say, I don't want to be called a fundamentalist anymore. Guys that have gone to good schools, been raised in good churches, they don't want to be called a fundamentalist anymore. I had one man say to me, who's not only Bible college trained in one of our good Bible colleges, and a good seminary he went to, he came to me and said, what is a fundamentalist anyway but a bad attitude? Can I say this? A fundamentalism is not an attitude. It's a doctrinal position. It's a doctrinal position. And it's a position that says, this is God's Word and I'm loyal to it. I'm loyal to it. And I praise God, your pastor loves the Word of God and he's loyal to the Word of God. He's loyal to it. But you know what? It goes beyond just being loyal to the Word of God. It means it calls for separation from those who are disloyal to the Word of God. You can't separate this word. That's kind of a bad choice of word. You can't separate separation from fundamentalism. You know, an evangelical, or what we used to call a New Evangelical, but an evangelical is one who may believe the Word of God. He may be loyal to the Word of God, but he doesn't believe in separation from those that are disloyal to the Word of God. He believes in compromise. God never blesses compromise. Oh, don't start compromising. Don't let the Word of God... You know, if you see somebody show up here on some Sunday, and they've got a trap set and drums, and they've got an electric guitar, and they're starting to go on, and they've got the old leg going like this, you'll kick them out. Kick them out. Say, don't let it happen. Oh, preacher, don't let it happen. Compromise. A modernist is not loyal to the Word of God, and he doesn't believe in separating from anybody for anything. He says, you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Oh, by the grace of God that you would take standing for Jesus Christ. But then the last thing that we see here, and I much more, but he says, he says, behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews or not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come. and worship before thy feet, and know that I have loved thee, because thou hast kept the word of my patience." Hey, you know what? I haven't seen Jesus Christ. Have you seen him? My dad used to preach, Jesus is coming again, and he's coming soon. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. But I haven't seen him. Great preachers down through the years have been preaching. Jesus could come. He could come tonight. Are you ready? Jesus is coming. And you know, the word of His patience, the Lord is not slack concerning His promises. Some men count slackness, but His long-suffering to us were not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And He says, you've kept the word of My patience. Hey, you've been most patient with Me, but listen to this. Jesus is coming again. He is coming. He could come today. And he said, you kept the word of my patience. He says, I will keep you from the tribulation. You know what? I'm not going into the tribulation. I'm looking for the rapture of the church. Are you? You know, I tell you, this was this fundamental church that believed the word of God. The next thing that could happen is Jesus is coming again. I don't know many of you heard of the evangelist, late evangelist, Dr. John R. Rice. How many of you have heard of John Rice? John R. Rice was a young teenager in Texas. And as he was in a service, the preacher was preaching on the second coming of Jesus Christ and on the rapture of the church, that Jesus is coming again. And for the man, John R., I believe when he said this, and I heard him in college, was saying that I wasn't a believer at the time. But he said, I was in this service and he said, the preacher said, to show you how this is going to be like. He said, when Jesus comes again, every single born again believer is going to be caught up. And so he says, there's going to be a division. And he said, everybody that knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that when Jesus comes again, I want you to come stand up here on the platform. Well, this was something else. He says, now, if you don't know Jesus Christ, stay right where you are. If you don't know that you're saved, stay right out in the audience where you are. And people began to get up. And, you know, a husband got up and started to walk down. He looked out. His wife wasn't following him. And John R. said, I watched the man turn back and said, come on, come on. She said, no, go away. Go on. If you're going to go, go ahead. He said, no, I'm not going to leave you here. Come on. You're going to go to heaven. No, she said, I'm not. He said, you are. And he began to cry and said, come on, wife, come on, come on. Don't sit there. Come on. She said, you're embarrassing me. Go ahead if you're going to. And John R. said, you know, the man started to struggle with his wife. He said, if I have to carry you on my shoulder, I'll take you. Do you know what? Though we love people, we can't take them to heaven on our shoulder. They have to accept Jesus Christ. They have to come to the realization that they are a lost sinner and need a Savior. And he said, I saw men stand on the platform and they called out to their son and say, son, come on, won't you come to Christ? Won't you come daughter? Won't you come? Won't you come to Christ? He said, I didn't even the man didn't have to give an invitation. The people were giving their own invitation. Come. You come. Don't sit there. Come to Christ. Let me tell you something. We have the same message. Jesus is going to come and he's going to step out of heaven. He's going to call the church home. And the raptured saints are going to be caught up in the twinkling of an eye. And we're going to see the Lord of the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Oh, we've got a glorious future. Is that right? But the people that are left, the people that will be sitting in the pew, maybe it will be you. If Jesus were to come right now, you say, Pastor, I'm not ready to go. I'm not ready to meet Jesus. I'm a sinner. I'm not ready. I know it. I feel the guilt of my sin and I'm not ready. Oh, Jesus, don't come right now. Listen, He says, you've kept the Word of My patience and I'm going to keep you. But I would be wrong, this church would be wrong if we didn't say, today is the day of salvation. Come to Christ while there's time. Get saved now. Don't wait for tomorrow. Someone says, tomorrow never comes. When it gets to me tomorrow, it will be today. Today. Let me ask you this question. Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior? Do you realize that you're already a condemned sinner? You don't have to wait to die to find out whether you're going to be condemned or not? The Bible says, He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Let me just say this. I know that this pastor has been praying for you. And that there are people here perhaps that haven't accepted Jesus Christ yet as their personal Savior from their sinfulness. Today is the day of salvation. In a moment, the pastor is going to ask you to come to Christ. Not come to join this church. You don't go to heaven through a church. You go to heaven by putting your personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ. and receiving what He did for you once and for all forever on the cross. Parents, are your children on the way to heaven? Children, are your parents on the way to heaven? Do they know it? Get saved while there's still time. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer, shall we? Our precious Heavenly Father, how thankful we are for the fact that we're in a church that still believes in the Word of God still realizes that salvation is by grace through faith in what Jesus Christ did once and for all forever on the cross of Calvary. Father, we're thankful that Jesus died, but he rose again and he's alive and he's able to save unto the uttermost every man, woman, boy or girl, not only in this auditorium, but anywhere around the world that would accept Jesus as their personal Savior from sin, put their faith in him. I pray that you might just open hearts and that you might glorify yourself.