But I just felt impressed of the Lord to preach this message that the Lord has put upon my heart. And I sure want to be faithful to Him. If you'll go to the longest psalm in the Bible, Psalm 119. Go over next to the, about to the end of it. I want to read one verse of scripture. And then I'll quote some more verses or read some more that I have in my notes here. And get right on in the message. You see how valuable a pastor is when he's not here. Amen? See, everything usually runs smoothly, and I'm up here like a bumper car beating around trying to get something. Me and Michael came, sang a song. What can I say? Best you can. Psalm 119, if you would, please. Let's stand and just take a moment. I want to have a word of prayer as soon as I read this passage of Scripture. Just one verse, and then you can be seated after the prayer. Look at verse number 140, if you would. Psalm 119, 140. The scripture says, thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. Father, we thank you for the privilege of being in the house of the Lord. Lord, we're just home folk. This is our church. Nobody, we haven't got a single visitor that I can see. So Lord, we're just home folks. Lord, we sure do need you here to come visit with us. We pray that the sweet spirit of God would have his way in this service. Lord, I don't understand everything that you put on the heart of man. All I know is trying my best to obey you. So I don't know who's gonna be here and who's not. So as you touch our hearts together with the message that you've put upon my heart, move in amongst us, Father, and bless us, I pray. I pray it should be with our pastors. He's gone and his family. I pray it should help them have a good time where they're at. I know they're in church somewhere this morning. I pray it should take care of them. I pray for the others that are not here, Father, that should be here that are not here. I pray that it should help them move in their heart and let them to see the situation that they're in. Speak to our hearts together as we look in the Word. Lord, what's accomplished this morning, we'll be careful. praise You and glorify You. We love You, Lord, and want to serve You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You can be seated. I've been looking up a couple of words. This verse of Scripture is kind of like a starting point. If you went to Psalm chapter number 12 and verse number 6, you would find the Bible where it says, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth purified seven times. If you look at Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 5, you'll find the scripture says, every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. If you skipped over into the New Testament, for lack of time, we won't read a great lot of verses, you'd find this passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter four, in verse number 12. It says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even and dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marra and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And when the Bible says the word of God is quick, it's not talking about fast. It means it's alive. The Word of God is alive and powerful. Then if you went to 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 21, you'd find the Bible where it says, For the prophecy came not in old times by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And you understand what I'm talking about is the Scripture, if you would, please. Matthew says in chapter 24 and verse number 35, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. Mark chapter 13 verse number 31, Luke chapter 21 verse number 33 says almost the same words that heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. These passages that I've read in your hearing are a brief synopsis, I guess you could say, of the purity and the preciousness of the Word of God that we have the privilege of holding in our hand. I know this to be a fact that there have been many people die for the privilege of having a Bible like we have. And I hate to say, but there are probably times in our lives when there's a little dust on the top of our Bible because we leave it laying around. a whole lot more than we should. These passages that I've read to you show you the preciousness of it, the purity of it. But this Bible is how we know God. This is the revelation of God to us. You don't need anything else outside this book to know about God. You'll not be held accountable for anything outside this book, what this book says. The Bible talks about the books were opened and another book was opened. the man we were judged out of the books, I believe it's these 66 books we have right here. It tells us how we're supposed to treat our fellow man, how we're supposed to walk and how we're supposed to talk, how we're supposed to act, the Word of God is. This Bible teaches us morality. It teaches us that there is a definite right and a definite wrong. We're living in an age right now where people don't know right and wrong. They don't know what is right. It's because they've abandoned the purity of the Word of God and the morality that's taught in the Word of God. Our society was built on the on the Christian values that you find in the Word of God from the blessed Lord Jesus Himself, from God the Father in the Old Testament. That's how we know morality. The Bible talks about us that the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Let us see that our need for sinners, that we're sinners and our need for salvation was because of the Word of God. There's no salvation outside this book. You can't get saved outside the Bible. Amen. You say, well I just have, I just have, no, no. You can't get saved outside this Bible. This is the womb that birthed me this Bible was. Amen. The preacher was preaching that Bible when I got saved. I remember one time I was visiting a church over in a, right between Tate and Nelson. over around in Pickens County, I guess it would be. I was up there visiting a church. I saw a little country church like I used to be a member of when I got saved, and so I decided I'd go and be part of that revival meeting that was happening there. When I went in, I did something that I found out later was a very bad no-no. I took my Bible in. I didn't know you weren't supposed to take your Bible in. I was taught to carry your Bible. I took my Bible in, and then I went up and sat down and watched what was going on, and the preacher supposedly preached a little bit and everything, give an invitation, and I saw a little chunky guy go to the altar. When I seen him go to the altar, it reminded me so much of me at that time in my life, about that same age. And I watched him pray and pray around him. We all got in the altar and prayed. And I prayed around him and the little boy never got satisfied, never got saved. And I said, well, I figured this guy was the pastor. And I eased up next to him and I said, sir, can I say something to that boy? And he said, no, you can't. And I said, okay, why not? He said, I don't know who you are. I said, my name is Freedware. He said, I don't know what you believe. I said, I believe the same thing you do if you're Baptist. He said, let's step outside. So we stepped outside. Immediately I was surrounded by about 30 men, very hostile men. They thought I'd come in to cause trouble. I didn't. And they started talking to me, and they said, why, you act like you're one of those Bible Baptists. I knew what they were talking about. I said, Bible Baptists? I'm not sure I understand what a Bible Baptist is. Will you tell me? He said, yeah, it's them people that carry their Bible everywhere they go. I said, well, I'm guilty of that, if that's a Bible Baptist. They said, yeah, they believe that damnable heresy that the Lord is going to come and rule and reign on this earth for 1,000 years. And I said, that's a Bible Baptist? And they said, yeah. I said, I'm guilty as a dog. That really set them off. They got highly irate at me because I was there. And I said, that's what the Bible teaches. And I started, they'd try to quote a verse of scripture and I'd finish the verse with them. I'd take my, they, I put my Bible under my arm. And I said, yeah, the Bible says that right here. And I'd open my Bible and they'd take my Bible away from me and put it back under my arm. And I'd try to finish a verse of scripture for him again. I said, yeah, that says it right here. And they'd take my Bible away and put it back under my arm. They'd scare that Bible if it had been a 45 automatic. And I'm thinking, we're at church, y'all. We're at church. This is supposed to be a precious thing to us. This book is how we know God. This book is how you know you're saved. This book is what we base our life upon. Just a minute they told me whether they thought I ought to be able to, I ought to leave. They said, if you'll take your Bible back and put it in the car, said you can come back in the church house. I said, if I knew my Bible, bringing my Bible to the church here would offend you as it definitely has, I would not even brought it in or I probably would not even come. And I said, I apologize for having any trouble, causing you any trouble, but to put my Bible back in my car, you're asking me to deny the womb that birthed me. And I said, sir, I will not do that. He said, then you need to leave. And I said, it won't take me just a minute to do that. And I give him what the Bible said about the Lord coming to rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years. just by memory, shook his hand and left. Let me tell you something, this book is what we know. This book is not a series of fairy tales. We went through in our Sunday school, we've talked about what we believe as Baptists, that the Bible is the sole authority for faith and practice. We believe in the autonomy of the local church, the priesthood of every believer. We believe in the two ordinances of the Lord's Supper and Baptism. We believe in individual soul liberty. We believe in a saved church membership. We believe that there's two offices in the church, a pastor and a deacon. And we believe in separation of church and state, that no state can tell this church what it ought to do. And the next time we have a pandemic, I say we don't shut church down. That's me. There's some fundamentals of the faith that we have, and we find all these things. I could give you Scripture for all of them, but for sake of time, I won't do that. We believe in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. We believe that God breathed this book on holy men of old. We believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. We believe in the vicarious suffering of our Lord. That word vicarious means He suffered and took our shame and our sin and died for us in our place. We believe in the victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe, excuse me, on the third day, he got up out of the graveyard. Amen. We can find that in the scripture. And I believe one of these days, and I can show you in the Bible, one of these days, he's coming back. We believe in the visual return of Jesus Christ. I don't want to sound redundant, but the Bible is not a storybook. The Bible is the truth. It's recounting actual events, places, people. For instance, the book of Genesis talks about Abraham. Can you imagine the situation if Abraham turns to Sarah and says, honey, start packing. We're fixing to leave. And she says, OK, I'll start packing. Where are we going? I really don't know where we're going, but we've got to go. The Lord has told me we got to leave early. The child ends and we're going somewhere, but let's go. If I did that to my wife, she'd say, now wait a minute, honey. I love you and we went from here to there, but I at least need to know a destination of where we're going. But Sarah at that time did not even ask Abraham that. She's ready to go. And he says this, I've been promised by God that my seed would multiply as the sand of the sea in number and that I'd have a son. Amen. And through that son, the whole family, the whole world will be blessed. Can you see him sitting in the tent door of his split-level tent? when here comes the three men going to Sodom. And he talks to that angel, which is really a Christophanes or a Theophanes, which is a pre-incarnate visit from Jesus Christ. And he talks about him and said, let me just give you some Scripture. Turn with me to the book of Romans chapter number 4. We've got a good account of it, the book of Romans 4. Everybody in the book of Romans. Romans chapter number 4, I'll begin reading in verse number 17. He tells him there's a son coming, an S-O-N coming. He says, that is written, verse number 17, Romans 4, 17. I have made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even God. "...who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Who quickens the dead, makes them alive. Look at verse 18. "...who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be." And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able to perform. There's no doubt in my mind, there's no doubt in my mind, when this 90-something-year-old wife brought this bouncing baby boy and put it in the hands of that 100-year-old daddy. There's no doubt in my mind that Abraham said, it's more than a story. It's not just a story. It's more than a story. Can you understand this was the son of promise? For years, Abraham had been told by God that in him shall all the families of the earth be blessed. You can find that in Genesis 12, 3, Genesis 22, 18, Genesis 26, 4, Genesis 28, 14, et cetera. He says, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And then if you went to the book of John, you can find something there that to me was so interesting. In John chapter 8 verse 56, the Bible says, Jesus is speaking here because it's read in my red letter Bible. It says, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and when he saw it, And he saw it and was glad. I believe God opened the eyes of the patriarch Abraham and let him look down through unlived time. You say, what kind of binoculars were those? I don't know, but he looked through time and he saw the Lord Jesus. He saw that son, that promise, that blessing to the whole of humanity. He saw him coming. And the Bible says, and was glad. I can just imagine as Abraham got to look and see the prophetic teachings of the Word of God come to pass in his own eyes by faith. I kind of believe that Abraham said, you know, It's more than a story. Listen, youngins, I want you to know this book that we look at, this book that we revere, this book that we hold in our hand, the Bible, is more than a storybook. Can you imagine sitting on the throne of Egypt? Here's a little old boy that had dreams, had a bunch of dreams that kept him in trouble all the time. He's been in the pit, he's been in the Potiphar's house, he's been in the prison, and now he sits in the palace, and he's sitting there second in command only to Pharaoh and the patriarchs, his brethren that he said one day they were going to give him obeisance. There they are on their knees before him, just like the dreams. that he said. I can just imagine that maybe Joseph said, you know, hey guys, it's more than a story. It's happening just like God said it would happen to me. Let me tell you something. This book is more than a story. Don't you think this Bible is a storybook? Can you imagine the old man Noah For 120 years, he's a preacher of righteousness, what the Bible says. To the world, he preaches and stands against the evil. Their thoughts are only evil congenial, is what the scripture says. He's had to deal with the ridicule. He's had to deal with probably the Noah jokes. Can you imagine what kind of jokes they told about Noah? He's out here building this big old boat on the middle of dry land. There ain't even water around it, much less something to float it. Can't you imagine? Probably they'd sent the DHS out to see about his boys to be sure they were all right. Here's this idiot out here building this big old boat. dealing with all the questions about the animals. I believe every time he got a little group of people up, he'd take a text and start preaching. It's going to rain. It's going to rain. Destruction's coming. It's going to rain. Now, that wouldn't bother us too bad because we know about rain. Even though we hadn't had much this year, we know about it. But here, it had never rained before and Noah was preaching about rain. But can you imagine what it was like? The animals come in two by twos, just like they're supposed to, unless they were clean animals and they come in by sevens. I believe they went to the place that was prepared for them. I don't believe you had to hurt them. I believe God put that in their hearts too. Amen. Can you imagine what it was, all the people laughing and looking at the zoo he's got inside that? But on that seventh day, that door shut. Noah, Miss Noah, Ham, Shem, and Japheth and their wives inside that ark. Can you imagine how they laughed at them, all of them in there, until the first pitter patter of rain started. All of a sudden, Noah the crazy man started looking really, really good. I just kind of believe Noah looked over at his boys and said, Let me tell you, it's more than a story. It's not something just made up. This is happening just like God said it. It's more than a story. When you get your Bible up, and you read the Bible verses in there, and you read the accounts of things that's taken place, I want our young people, I want our kids especially to understand, it's more than a story. It's exactly what God said. I can just believe it. Israel. been in bondage 430 years. The taskmasters have heaped upon them more than they could possibly humanly accomplish. The Jews fall down on their face and begin calling out to Jehovah God. At the same time, there is an outlaw shepherd keeping his father-in-law's sheep. It runs upon a bush that's burning and not consumed. and God starts dealing in his heart, telling him to go to Egypt. He probably had a standing order for him because he had already been guilty of murder, but 40 years is a long time. He goes back. They follow him. He comes back and tells them. I mean, after you see the plagues that happened to Egypt, all the way from flies and frogs and the blood and then the death of the oldest, of the firstborn, No wonder they followed him. They have already, this is what gets me. They took everything Egypt had when they went to leave. They barred stuff and they got paid for 430 years of fooling around in Egypt, being a slave there. But as they go out, no Pharaoh besides knew I may have made a mistake. Can you imagine the children of Israel? If you look historically, you can find the place where they crossed the Red Sea. There's a mountain on this side, and there's a mountain on that side, and it's a valley where you go to the Red Sea there, and then it's a sea, and then nothing. And then behind them come the Egyptian army. This was the most powerful army in existence at that time. But there was a God in heaven that put a pillar of fire between them where they couldn't get the children of Israel. And one of the first thing they started saying, we should have stayed back in Egypt, oh dear Lord, if that just like us human beings. We're a poor-mouthing crowd, I'm telling you what. God's already done miracles to get them out, and now we should've stayed back there. We should've had, at least we had leeks and garlics. Let me ask you something. How many of you ever ate leeks and garlics? That's terrible stuff, y'all. If you're gonna eat leeks and garlics, you can put it in with other stuff, but leeks and garlic? And they're wanting to go back to leeks and garlic? Then Moses said, hey, y'all just stand still. and see the salvation of the Lord. Can you imagine what it was like when that wind come through there? I've always thought, I have a wonderful imagination. I can just see as that water starts parting in that. The Bible says it's like walls on both sides of them. And they walk through on dry ground. Can you imagine them seeing the fish swimming around? I think Red Sea has fish in it. Can you imagine them seeing that as they walked through there? Can you imagine what it was like when they come out on the other side? Some of them may have hesitantly went in because, I mean, look, water standing up on both sides. I mean, I can swim, my wife does, like a rock. I mean, you think about going in a place like that. Can you imagine that? Then coming out the other side and seeing the Egyptian army drowned in the middle of that Red Sea. I was in school, Tennessee Temple, and we had a teacher. He said, now, gentlemen, I want to let you know that this area where they crossed was not really the Red Sea, but it's called the Reed Sea, R-E-E-D Sea. I said, really? My Bible said Red, R-E-D, you know, I don't know, Red. They said, yeah, it's the Reed Sea, and really, really the water in that area, don't it get up about knee deep is the deepest part through there where they cross the Reed Sea. They're looking back, and I said, well, thank God, hallelujah. My teacher said, what do you mean? I said, if the Lord can drown the whole Egyptian army in knee deep water, I guess Israel can go through. It wasn't the Reed Sea, it was the Red Sea. The water stood up on both sides. Can you imagine when they come out on the other side and they look back and saw their enemy drown on the whole place? Can you imagine them not saying, it's more than a story, y'all? It's not just something somebody's told us. It's more than a story. It really happened. Can you imagine a 15, 16 year old, maybe 17 year old boy picking up five smooth stones to fight a nine foot six inch giant? This man, when all the rest of them are shaking in their boots, he walks down there, picks them up. If you ever read that, you need to read it. They do some trash talking. I'm going to feed you the fowls. And he said, yeah, I'm going to cut your head off and all this stuff. But can you imagine when that fellow fell on his face? and David jumped up there and cut his head off. Can you imagine what the armies of Israel thought? It's more than a story, y'all. God is real. This Bible is true. It's real. It's more than a story. You can base your life on the Word of God and what it says. When it comes to the end of time, your time, you don't have to worry about the situation because you've based it on the truth of God's Word. Do you know we believe this Bible is inerrant? That means without error. It is infallible. Do you know what that means? That word infallible means it cannot have error. There's no way it can produce error. The Word of God is. We believe that to be true. Can you imagine sitting on the side of the road blind and hearing about Jesus coming? And He comes by and says, what can I do for you? And he says, sir, I might receive my side. The Lord touched him and Bartimaeus got to see. I believe he said, you know I've heard about him, but it's more than a story. It's the truth. It's really real. Let me give you another little story. I heard a story about a young boy, been in church all his life. Raised up in church. Never one time saw his need of a Savior. One night in a revival meeting in 1964, a lay preacher in the church asked him a question, have you ever thought about needing to be saved? He answered honestly, no, never thought about me needing to be saved, the boy said. But the Holy Spirit used that, convicted his heart of sin a year later in 1965 on June 11th. He went to an old-fashioned altar and trusted Christ as his Lord and Savior. And he changed his life completely. Made him a new creature. And called him to preach. Sent him to different countries in the world to let him preach. Africa, South America, Canada, Alabama. Been to all kinds of places to preach. And let me tell you something, this business of serving God is more than a story. If you don't know the Lord as your own personal Savior, I want you to know it's more than a story. If you've just had your little experience, you've just come with a few little tears, if God didn't change you, I'm sorry, you're not in. What do you mean, preacher? I mean if the Lord didn't change you. If any man, and that's a gender neutral word there, man, woman, boy, girl, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. You cannot pass from death to life. You cannot be born in the family of God and it not make a difference in you. If you don't know Him really, well, you need to. But if you've been saved and you're not following Him like you should, You sure should. Because let me tell you something, church, it's more than a story. It's real. It's real. Go back through the biblical characters and ask them. Ask those of us who've been following the Lord for a number of years to see how God has blessed and opened up doors and shut doors and I guess you could say managed our lives as we had let Him manage our lives to bring glory and honor to Him. Let me tell you, it's more than a story. Don't you ever read that Bible and think, well, this is like Aesop's fables. Don't you dare think that. There was actually a man called Abraham. There was actually a man called David. There was actually a man called Noah. There was actually a man called Moses. Yeah, sure was. And there was actually a man called Bartimaeus. These are physical things that really happened. It's more than a story. Let me ask you this. Have you put your faith in Him? Are you following Him? Is He more than a story to you? I mean, if it's just something you do on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night, you're in pitiful shape. Amen. You're in pitiful shape if it's just something you do. It's more than a habit to know Him. Let's bow our heads. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness. I've tried my best to preach what you put on my heart. I've tried to be faithful to the Scriptures. All of this that I've tried to explain and tried to say, Lord, we can find it without any trouble. I can't imagine what it was like to hear the words Lazarus come forth and see a brother come back from the dead. I can't imagine, Lord, what it was like to see the Gadarene demoniac. He'd be living at home now. People are not afraid of him anymore. No one's trying to put chains on him. He's wearing clothes and he's testifying of what Jesus did, probably telling everybody that it's more than a story. I can't imagine the Samaritan woman trying to keep quiet about what the Lord did for her. Dear Lord, I pray that you would help us. Oh Lord, help us that we not keep our mouth shut. Help us tell everybody about what God's done for us. Because one of these days, Lord, this could be the generation This could be the ones we could be sitting right here in this church house or maybe driving down the road or living our life at home when the trumpet of God sounds and we'd be snatched out of here. We could turn back to this world and say it's more than a story. Speak to our hearts today. Move in our hearts so we'd realize this business of serving God is real. Doing what the Lord has us to do is real. God, speak to us, I pray. You know the needs that we have.