Good to be in the Lord's house today. We're thankful for this good day that God has given us Scripture I'm gonna read this morning Comes out of 1st Peter chapter number 2 1st Peter chapter number 2. I'm gonna read Probably 9 10 and 11 But in usual fashion I do this I This is not something that has to be done, should be done, regardless. This is just something that I myself have always done. I enjoy doing it. And I think it's good for the candidates to hear. You get to hear it. twice this year. But I think, especially in this day and time that we live in, we need to be doctrinally educated, and I want to clarify something. If you're depending on the church to get you to heaven, you have put your faith and hope and trust in the wrong thing. If you're depending on the preacher or a conversation with the preacher to get you to heaven, you're depending on the wrong thing. If you're depending on materialistic things, you're depending on the wrong thing. But an experience that you share with the Lord Jesus Christ, That is the only thing that we will have. That's the only thing that we have to offer. We know, we've already said this previously this morning, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 9, 27, for it's appointed unto man once to die, but after this, judgment. We understand that. So long as we're, the Bible tells us also, consecutively with that, we understand that there will be a place, a point in time within the realm of what we know, some people will not die. Amen? We know that. You know why we know that? Because that's what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us that, listen, that one of these days, we which are alive and remain shall be called up with the Lord, but we shall not prevent them which are asleep. The Bible says that we shall meet the Lord in the air, in the clouds, and so shall we ever be the Lord. So we know, we understand this and we know this to be true. We know that it is true and I'm looking forward to that day. When the Lord makes all things new again But like I said, I want us to understand and know who we are what we are And I want to read this this morning that I'm gonna read I'm gonna go through the articles of faith and we'll try my very best not to keep you That long this morning But we want to say and do all that the Lord would have done this morning second or in first Peter in the second chapter in verse number nine And listen, this is not just a charge to the new candidates, this is a charge to the church as well. I want us to understand we are saved and born again. I want us to understand who we are, amen? Listen, I want us to rejoice in the fellowship in knowing that we are saved, born again by the blood of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, and I'm gonna tell you this, we need to enjoy being saved, amen? Too many people today, listen, when they walk around with long faces, listen, You couldn't find a smile on them if you give them $1,000. They can't do it. They're so burdened. Listen, I'm going to tell you something. And listen, I want people to hear what I say when I say this. They tell me all the time, well preacher, it's hard to be a Christian. No, it is not. Amen. You know what is hard? It's hard to be an alcoholic. It's hard to be a drug addict. It's hard to live in the suppressions of sin in this world. It's hard to live a life, listen, when you're constantly seeking peace and you're constantly seeking joy and you cannot find it. But listen to me, it is not hard to wake up every day knowing that the Savior of the world is my elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that if my life should come to an end today, I know that I could say as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 15, if my hope were in this world, I'd be of all men most miserable. Amen? Smile. Hey, if you're redeemed by the grace of God, we should enjoy what God has done for us. I'm gonna say this too. Everybody's all drawled up good. Enjoy church. Amen. Enjoy each other. Enjoy the fellowship. I'll just be truthful with you. Listen, I believe that God puts us in places, amen? And it is left up to us to cultivate the relationships, to cultivate fellowship. Listen, and once we cultivate these things, listen, and I'll say this to those that are well aged in the gospel and those that have studied and understand this to be true, Listen, these new converts are those that have come forth, chosen to join the church, and some have been saved a while, some have just gotten saved. Listen, it's the obligation of the church. It's not a good thing to do. It is your obligation, church, to make sure that they are educated. Amen? Listen, I want to say this. Too many people today, listen, all we want to do is walk around and tell people what exactly they're doing wrong. Amen. Let me tell you something. If we study the Word of God, listen, the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 3 and 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your heart and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is within you with meekness and with fear. In 1 Timothy 2.15 he said, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. And there goes, there's a very specific part of that scripture that we all need to do. We need to rightly divide the Word of God. Word of God. In Saint John chapter 1 the Bible tells us in verse number 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. Without Him there's nothing made that is made. Amen? Listen, the Bible tells us, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Amen? So we know, listen, I know that physical carnal men wrote this scripture, but the Bible tells us that they were inspired by the Holy Ghost and they penned as God inspired them. Listen, this is the roadmap, this is the actual accounts of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Listen, if we want to sustain joy, if we want to know what faith is, if we want to know what hope is, if we want to learn how to pray, This is the, listen, this is the staple of our Christian livelihood. Preacher, I want to learn how to pray a deeper prayer with my father. And listen, I've said this many times, listen, Christ has given us the true example. And the, listen, the Bible tells us that the disciples came to Jesus and they said, Lord, teach us how to pray. Amen. And that's not just for the well-aged. That is especially for the well-aged. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Well, friends, listen to me today. Listen, if we want to educate ourselves, if we want a deeper understanding of God, listen, the Bible tells us in the first chapter of the book of James, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. Listen, if you want to be wise in the scripture of the word of God, listen, the Bible tells, he says, ask. Amen. And I've said this, and I had this discussion earlier on this week. I have been very, very guilty of this, and I'm gonna, by my own admission, I'm gonna own up to it this morning. But listen, a lot of times what we find ourselves doing, and listen, I wonder sometimes if it's because we feel like we are inferior. because we're smaller sometimes, but a lot of times what we do is we try and rebut things. We hear something and we want to lay down a good rebuttal for it, and we want to argue back about it, and we want to let them know that they're wrong and we're right. Jesus never set out to prove anybody wrong. He just told them the truth, and they hated him for telling it. He didn't try and offer rebuttals to the Pharisees and Sadducees and the scribes, even though that they made, listen, these Hippocratic statements, listen, listen, over and over and over again. There was a gross misinterpretation of the Scripture. And listen, when they would misinterpret the scripture, they would phrase it in such a way and they would present it to Christ. And listen, they would often, they challenged him on marriage. They challenged him on divorce. They challenged him on sin. They challenged him on every single facet of the scripture. But listen, Jesus never tried to rebut him with anything. He just told him the truth. So listen, I'm praying through this. I want you to pray through this. Because listen, I want us to be the place. I want you to be the people. I want to be the pastor. who doesn't constantly stand and preach rebuttal Sunday after Sunday after Sunday about what we don't like. But we stand here and we are a people that are all embracing of the doctrine of our Savior Jesus Christ to the understanding of the Word of God. We take the Word of God. We pray over the Word of God. We seek joy, we seek peace, we seek the salvation of those that are unconverted. Amen? Listen, and we just tell them the truth. Listen, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse number 9. This is for the saved people. Amen? I want you to understand who you are. Listen, look at me in the eyes. You are not inferior. You are not substandard. You are not meaningless. You are not not loved. You are not not cared for. The Lord loves you. Let me tell you something else. He loves you just like you. Look at me. He loves you just like you are. Amen? Don't try to be somebody else or live to somebody else's standards. We have the Word of God. It is our roadmap. It is our inspiration. The Bible tells us, if you read over in the third chapter of 1 Peter, he said, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for instruction, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. We have everything we need. Listen, we don't have to live in the suppression of those around us. We need to live in the liberty of Jesus. Amen. We live in the suppression of the church. Listen, I want you to listen very closely to what I say because I don't want to be misunderstood when I say this. I don't want to be known as a man of good doctrine. I don't want to be known as a man of the church. Amen. I don't want to be known as a man of religion. I want to be known as a man who loves his Savior Jesus, who preaches his Savior Jesus, who loves people, who tells them the truth, listen to me, is not constrained and constricted by the ordinances of man and by the restrictions the churches have put on the people, but lives in the liberty and the freedom of our Savior Jesus. Verse number nine, but you, ye, listen to this, but ye are a chosen generation, amen? Preacher, I'm not special, if you realized how special you were. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, amen? You understand what privileges you you have received because you're a chosen generation because you're royal priesthood What does that entitle me preacher? Listen what the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews in the fourth chapter in the 16th verse He said let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need Amen, what does that allow us? What access does that give us that allows us access in the presence of our Holy Father through the precious shed blood of his son the Lord Jesus in which we are kept by the person of the Holy Ghost, amen. Listen, we have been given, we are entitled to all things heavenly. But you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. I want to bring some clarity to this issue. We look across the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific, whichever way you're looking, We look to a little country that's segregated right in the middle of all the turmoil and all the wars and everything that's been fumigating ever since the word go into creation. We understand this. We look over there at that little bitty place and we see a little bitty land called Israel and we say that that is a holy nation. Hey man, but listen, I'm going to tell you who is the holy nation. The holy nation is the chosen generation. You're the royal priesthood. It's those that have been saved and redeemed. It is not a place, it is a people. Preacher, that land is special because that's where Jesus walked. Do you understand how special you are? Jesus didn't walk across you. He lives in you. Amen? That's how special you are. But you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. Amen? Listen to this. That you should show forth your praises of him who hath called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Hey, he loved you enough not only to make you a chosen generation, a royal priesthood in the holy nation, but not only did he give us these things, not only did he give us heaven, but when we could not find him, he found us. Oh, listen, I tell you what, listen, I want to preach the message of love. I want to preach the message of need. Listen to me. I want people to understand that God is a God of fierce anger. His judgment will be executed one of these days. But God is also a God of love. He's a God of mercy. He's a God of peace. But listen, when you blatantly abuse his mercy and you blatantly abuse his grace and listen you trample over the Son of God there is not but one thing and one alternative and that's judgment God is all these things that's what makes him holy and that's what makes him perfect that ye should show forth your praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Which in times past were not a people. Did you know that? There was a place and point in time in our lives when we were unrecognizable even to God. Preacher, I'm somebody. I've done something. Listen, I'm a leader of men. I don't care. Neither does God. For in Him, we have our hope. In Him, we have our trust. In Him, we find mercy. And in Him, we find grace. It's not of our own admission. It's not what we do, what we've done, or what we will gain, but it is all from Him. In times past, we were not a people, but now are the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And what a privilege, what an honor, what a special blessing. that it is to be a child of the King. Amen? We're a chosen generation. I want you to remember this. When people talk about you and when people persecute you and when people try and run you down, listen, just love them anyway. Amen? Because love, hope, and truth, most of all truth, Truth will be the victor in the end. When they crucified Jesus, Pilate questioned Jesus and he said, what is truth? Yet not knowing nor understanding that he stood with the truth. Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man come unto the Father lest he come by me. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the life. I hope that you can leave this service this morning knowing that you are loved, knowing that you're cared for. knowing that there is purpose for you. Listen to me, and I want to tell you this, because the devil has done a tremendous job of taking and, listen, entrenching himself, listen, in the minds of Christians. And he has convinced you that you are unworthy. He has convinced you that you have no self-worth. He has convinced you that the world would be better off without you. Look through the lies, look through the disbelief, and look to the promises of hope. Amen. When the devil tells you you are worthless, you tell him, no, I'm part of a chosen generation. You have no access, no, I'm a part of a royal priesthood. I'm part of a holy nation. Amen? That's what David declared, wasn't it? And it's so simple, we learn it when we're a child. David and Goliath, but if we let David and Goliath permeate through our Christian livelihood, oh what victors we would be. When we face the giants. You know, you ever been around those people? A lot of times they have them at certain companies and they hire them. Bulldogs. Things just ain't going right. Everybody's mad at each other. Everybody's fighting because everybody's so smart they know the right thing to do. And you finally have this one guy that comes in. He says, you're a good guy, but I'm not listening to you. And you're a good guy, but I'm not listening to you, because we're going to do it my way. And y'all are going to like it, or you're going to go work somewhere else. And all of a sudden, everybody agrees. Amen? Because it's by necessity. And then, listen, we are people who love leadership. Amen? Listen, and if we choose to set out and convert lost people, sinners that are hell-bound, if we choose to convert them, we have to be leaders. And to be a leader, we cannot constantly be, listen, offering defenses. Do you ever hear a leader offer a defense? Huh? Let me present it to you in a way which you can understand. Who is the greatest nation in the world? The United States of America. And there was a time when the President of the United States would take the podium and every nation around the country, the entire world, listened. And if they said, this is what we're gonna do, you know what the world did? What we said. And it wasn't because we were bullying and because we were going and dominating and taking over countries and imposing our will, it was because we were leaders. We were innovators. And when you create that culture in the Christian community, people want to follow you. So I encourage you, be a leader. Know that you're loved, know that there's hope, and be a leader. Listen to this, we're gonna go through this quickly. I know I've taken a lot of time. Oracle number one, we believe in the true, we believe in only one true living God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three in one. Of course, we believe in the triune Godhead, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We discussed this this morning when we went into the liquid grave. Listen as Tommy read the scripture when he declared when Jesus was baptized the Father from heaven said this is my beloved son whom I am well pleased and the dove set upon him in the form of the Holy Ghost as an actual true representation and witness of the triune Godhead. These three are three individual persons. Listen, they are not, listen, the Holy Ghost is not an it, so you know, amen. You ever heard anybody talk about the Holy Ghost and they talk about it? It is like lint, and it is dirt, and it is a wrapper in my pocket. He is not an it, he is a person. Amen? Article number two, we believe that the scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are the Word of God. Amen? Boy, I'm proud of that, aren't you? We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are the Word of God and the only rule of faith and practice. Don't let anybody ever tell you any different, anybody. You hold fast to the Word of God. We've got Bibles sitting over here, and I'll tell you, that's kind of a hard accomplishment to find Bibles anymore. And there are all kinds, a myriad of beautiful colors. Amen. So I'm not gonna disperse them. I'm just gonna let you get the one you want. Because they're so beautiful and brightly colored. I tried really hard, I promise. But take the Word of God and study it. And don't look to me and say, preacher, I need different flavors, I need different versions, I need books. Listen, I enjoy, I read constantly. I read books, I read commentaries, listen to me, I've got an hour drive to work and home, amen? And most of the time somebody's either singing to me, teaching me, or preaching to me, amen? I enjoy, I love, listen, I seek the knowledge, amen? I want to know more. And you know what? I think that's what's going to change the mindset and the direction of the churches when we get hungry for the Word of God. Amen? We want to understand the nature and the nurture of our Savior. Listen, and I want to encourage you, study, study, study. But listen, don't, but Spud English said this a long time ago. You ever seen baby birds in a nest when the eggs just hatch and the eyes are all glazed over and mama leaves the nest and all of a sudden mama starts flying back into the nest and they can't see, but they hear. So the first thing they do is just start squawking to the top of their lungs. They throw their head back and open their mouth. Whatever's dropped in is what they eat. Eat carefully, for we live in a world. Boy, I'm telling you, friends, listen to me. We're living in a world, and I want to tell you this. 1 Peter 5 and 8, be sober, be vigilant for your adversary, the devil, walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. There is so much stuff out there that sounds so good, and it sounds so right. but it is so wrong. Right here. Take it here first. If it doesn't filter out here, I don't care who said it, I don't care who wrote it, don't believe it. If it don't filter out here, Because listen, I know, and this is a culture that we have created, amen? We live in a culture of education. We live in a culture of intelligence. Listen, we want to gain intellectual knowledge. I understand that. I raise my children the same way, amen? I raise my children from the time they come out of the crib, send them to Georgia Tech, amen? That's just, that's our mindset now. We have to be educated. We have to garner these things. We want the degrees of the world. We want the, listen, we want all these accolades. And I understand that, listen, and listen, Education provides us a way to make a good living. But education is not going to get you to heaven. I'll tell you this story. Jack Pierce, and y'all probably don't know him. You may. One of the greatest men of God I have ever known. One of the most powerful, spiritual, prayerful men that I've ever known. Preached the word of God for over 50, 60 years. But he couldn't read. And when he first started, he had 14, 15, 16 revivals all over the country. So what he did at night is he would have his wife read him the Bible, and then he would quote it back to her. She'd read him some more, and he'd quote it back to her. She'd read him some more, and he'd quote it back to her. When he preached the first five or 10 years of his ministry back in the 40s and 50s, he never carried a Bible. But he memorized the whole thing. I wasn't there, but in the 60s over at Pilgrim Church in Gainesville. And he never would own up to this, but they said that he stood up and preached for over an hour and 45 minutes, quoting chapter and verse through the Word of God. And he made this statement in front of a house full of preachers. He said, if they burnt every Bible in the world, it would be okay because I'd have a new one wrote by the time the sun come up in the morning. Don't tell me it's not precious. And don't tell me you're not educated enough. Don't tell me everything that stands in the way. Just show me what you can do. Amen. Listen, let's work through this. I'm taking way too much time. Article 3. We believe in the doctrine of original sin. Of course, we know that that was the understanding and the interpretation of Adam when he fell in the Garden of Eden, him and Eve. In article number four, we believe in man's inability to recover himself from the fallen state he is in by nature, by his own free will and wholeness. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot redeem ourselves. There's nothing that we can do, say, search, inquire, no intellectual knowledge that we can gain that would save us. But it's only through the merits and the mercy of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We believe that sinners are justified in the sight of God only by the merits of Jesus Christ. Amen? Listen, he has waved the truth into life. Article number six, we believe in the election of all of God's people that they are saved and called according to his purpose and grace given them in Christ Jesus before the world began. Article number seven, we believe that saints shall persevere in grace and not finally fall away. If you have professed that you have been saved by the grace of God, you know that there was an inward transaction that happened, something that transpired, and you know that heaven shall be your eternal home. There is nobody that can take that. There is nobody that can steal that. You can't give it away, for God is the one who gave it, and God is the one who keeps it. Article number eight, we believe that baptism and Lord's Supper are the ordinances of Jesus Christ, that true believers are the only people subject, and the only spiritual mode of baptism is immersion. Amen. Hold them till they bubble. Y'all need to smile. We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the general judgment one of these days. John 5 and 8, the Bible said, Amen. Well, I believe it to be true. I can't wait to see His precious face. Amen. Well, listen. Article number 10, we believe that no minister has the right to administer the ordinances only to such as have been called as was erring, regularly baptized, approved by the church, and come under the imposition of hands by presbytery. Article number 11, we believe that none but believers has a right to the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. I love you this morning. I appreciate you being here. I know I preached way too long. But it was good for me. Don't know if it was for you, but I enjoyed it. Thank you.