Amen. Matthew chapter 28. You turn there with me, please. And let me tell you before I start this, what I'm gonna try to accomplish tonight. I'm gonna try to give you, as quickly as I can, a reason for something that we're praying about doing at Victor Baptist Press. And if what I'm thinking comes out clearly and you understand what I'm talking about tonight, then we will have accomplished something. I used to hear a preacher pray before he would preach. He'd read his text and then he would say, Lord, help me to say what I see and help the people to see what I say. That's pretty good prayer. So Matthew chapter 28 recognized by most people as the great commission. And we begin in verse number 16, and it said, then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain. Boy, a study of mountaintop events is very important in the scriptures, and we'll look at two of them tonight. But anyway, they went away into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. And let that thought hang in your mind tonight as we go through this. Go ye, go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. I'm sure that in our preaching and Bible studies that we say a lot of things that could be misconstrued, misunderstood. And so many times we preface a statement with now, don't misunderstand me. And if I could just tell you to start with, and I wouldn't have to say that going all the way through it, that if I say anything in what I preach tonight to indicate that I think we have ability in the flesh to please God, no, the Bible says very clearly, they which are in the flesh cannot please God. And what it's saying that what we do in the energy of the flesh, my own ingenuity, my own mentality, my own dedication or whatever, outside of Jesus Christ, it's fruitful and will come to naught. There's nothing to it. And in fact, it's better off that you didn't do anything than you try to do some good works to please God without doing it through Christ. And so you understand that. I'm not going to end this with the idea that we have abilities without God. And so I won't have to preface that going all the way through. Now, I thought today when I was thinking about saying this stuff tonight, But some of that's redundant, then it all of a sudden it dawned on me, it's all redundant. And I haven't had a new thought or come up with any new truths and I couldn't tell you when. And so this is all old hat, but the conclusion of it will be a little bit different. A few years back, I wrote a little book on the church that Jesus promised to build versus old landmarkism. And recently I've been trying to do the fourth chapter in the book. and the fourth chapter has to do with the importance of the local church. And that was a good message this morning about the church and how we need the church. Let me be a little more doctrinal tonight in order to get to what I want to really lay on our hearts and minds, and that is, what is a local New Testament church? What is that? You know, there used to be a couple of preachers in Pensacola And I called attention to those two just because I had fellowship with them. And one of them, I remember preaching Watts, and he said, when you say local church, that's a misnomer. Just say church. Because if you say local church, that's indication there's one that's not local, which that's what I believe. But you know, so don't say local church, because there's only one. And that's the local church, the only church. And well, that's not so. And then another fellow who taught the same philosophy, he would quote Matthew 16 upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And they would apply that to the local church and it can never go under. Both those preacher's churches went under. And I was, I don't know how you explain that, but anyway, both of them closed and sold out. There was another fellow in Pensacola, and I remember specifically once talking to him at a gas station, and we were talking about the church, and I said something about the Baptist bride philosophy. I said, you know, he said, well, that's what we believe. And recently, their church closed, and they went under. I don't know how you explain that stuff, but anyway, that does happen. Now, my view, here's my view and see if I can establish it in the scripture. But my view is that a local New Testament church, not just any church, but a local New Testament church. And I could put Baptist in there, but I don't think you have to have Baptist on the name to be a New Testament church. But my view is that the New Testament local church, if it's a New Testament church, It's a replica, it's a representation of the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven. And of course, you know, I say it right up front, I believe in a mystical, invisible, universal church. What does that mean? That means that the church that Jesus Christ is building, you can't see it, and you can't feel it, and you can't touch it. And, but it's in heaven, it is there. And we'll see that before I finish tonight. And on earth, we ought to try to build a church that is a reflection of that. Now, a couple of mountains. You know, in the Old Testament, there's a mountain, of course, Mount Sinai. And when we say Mount Sinai, you probably think, and most people probably think, about the mountain where Moses got the 10 commandments, and that is what happened. But there's another event that took place on Mount Sinai that's very, very important. And I read about it in Hebrews chapter eight, verse five. In Hebrews, he refers back to what God said to Moses. And it said, Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for see, saith he, that they'll make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. So Moses got a pattern on Mount Sinai for building the tabernacle. Now, when you study beginning with Exodus chapter number 25, when you begin studying about the tabernacle, boy, I'm telling you, every intricate detail is laid down and they built it that way and God gave the pattern. but I don't wanna deal with the pattern of the tabernacle itself tonight. I wanna say a word about the people who were around the tabernacle, the people that God built the tabernacle for. And I'll give you four earmarks. We'll deal with the fifth one a little bit, but you might wanna write the references down of the statements that I make so you could study it later on, see if this would be true or not. But the first thing that those people who became the congregation of the tabernacle had was a blood bought redemption. And you can read that in Exodus chapter 12. You're probably already familiar with the passage, but that's where The Lord said, I'll pass through the land at the midnight hour. But he said, you take the lamb, slay it, put the blood on the doorpost and the lintel over the door. And when I pass through the land, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I'll not sever the destroyer to come in. And so they were blood bought. Now that's the crowd that he's gonna use to make up the congregation around the tabernacle. So what were they? They were blood bought people. Now, the second earmark, and we have to go to the New Testament again to find this one, but those people that had been redeemed by the blood had been baptized. Is it really? Absolutely. Now, there's a lot of different modes of baptism. We believe we got the right one. But we wouldn't know this truth except for 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And Paul said, moreover brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So you know what we got? We got a people that redeemed by blood that had been baptized. Now isn't that something? You know, learned Bible teachers often said that the New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New. That's a good proof text for that. I would never have associated the Israelites crossing through that Red Sea as a baptism were it not for that verse in 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. So very clearly, this crowd had been redeemed by blood. They had been baptized. Now, you know, something else that is interesting to me, they had been given a divinely appointed leader to follow. In fact, when Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the Bible talks about how that he saw the bush burning, and the Lord said to Moses, he said, now Moses, speaking out of that bush, He said, I've seen the children of Israel and the affliction that they're under. And he said, I've appeared to these, I've come, I've called to you. I'm appointing you to go out and lead them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I'll show you. And he said, it's a land that's flowing with milk and honey. That was Moses' call. You know what he was called to do? He was called to go lead those children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage into the wilderness and through the wilderness and eventually to Canaan's land. And so, point number one, they were blood bought. Point number two, they had been baptized. Point number three, they had a divine leader. And point number four, they had a physical place to meet as a congregation where they could worship God. In fact, Exodus 25, eight, it said, God said to Moses, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Now, I know if you know God, that you and him can get together and fellowship, and you can learn and you can pray, and I mean, you can have a good time just you and God, and we're two or three together in my name, there am I in the midst. But did you know, corporately, we come together, when the Bible said, forsake not the assuming of yourselves together as the manner of some, you know what they did? That's corporately gathering together where you meet with God. Now notice this, you'll need to remember this, but God didn't say, I'm gonna build a tabernacle. He said, let them make me a sanctuary. He told the people to do it. I wanna say before we're over with tonight, God's not building local churches. They told you to do that. Let them make me a sanctuary. And in Exodus 29, it said, and there I will meet with the children of Israel and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar. I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest's office, and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God." You see that? How he said, I will dwell among them. So what are we looking? We're looking at blood-bought people that had been baptized, that had a divine leader and a designated place to meet with God corporately. Now, think about this one. They were still carnal. They had a fallen endemic nature. And so this congregation led by Moses. Now think about it. 430 years in Egyptian bondage, redeemed by blood, scripturally baptized, had a divinely appointed leader, took them through the Red Sea, and yet, you know what they did? They murmured. You know, that's hard to get a hold of, isn't it? Unless you've been a Baptist a little while. They murmured. In fact, do you know, once they begin that journey out of Egypt, before they got all the way out of Egypt, I mean, before they got all the way out, I mean, they're over there under those hard taskmasters, and before they got all the way out, they've had the promise that God is going to take them to the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. But the Bible said in Exodus chapter number three, before they ever crossed the Red Sea, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are on Egypt. I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and I'm coming down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land, unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. But it goes on to say in Exodus 14, and when Pharaoh drew nigh, okay, after that promise was given, Pharaoh drew nigh, and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were so afraid, and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord, and they said unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt. Has thou left us, led us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? Would it have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness? Well, God said, you're gonna get through the wilderness. You're going to Canaan land, a land full of milk and honey. And before they even got across the Red Sea, they're already saying to Moses, let us alone. Well, you would think that surely, after these people have been redeemed by blood, scripturally baptized, given a good leader, and said, now look, when you get through that Red Sea, I'm gonna give you a place to meet and to congregate. You would think that when he opened up that Red Sea and let all those people go over on dry ground, dry shod, when they got up to that wilderness, you'd think they would have never have complained again. You would think so. But, you know, They went over there very long until they began to murmur. In fact, let me turn to Deuteronomy. Turn with me there to Deuteronomy chapter 12 for a minute. And it kind of summarizes all the things that God had said that he was going to do for them. Deuteronomy chapter number 12. And in Deuteronomy chapter number 12, look at verse number one. And God said, these are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it all the days that ye live upon the earth. That's pretty good. God said, I'm gonna give you a place, it's gonna be yours, you're gonna possess it. You'd think they'd rejoice in that. Now look at verse number five. And in verse number five, Deuteronomy 12, it says, but unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall you seek, and thither shalt thou come. That's a pretty good promise. And then you move on to another verse, Deuteronomy 12, verse number seven. And in verse number seven, he says, and there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto, ye and your household, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. You know what he's saying? You're going to a land that floweth milk and honey. Well, look in verse number 10. And verse number 10, but when ye go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye shall dwell safely. How about that? These are the promises of God and what it's going to be like when you get into Canaan's land. Look at verse number 18. I'm sorry, verse number 12. And verse number 12, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God. Ye and your sons and your daughters and your men servants and your maid servants and the Levite that was in your gates for as much as he hath no partner in inheritance with you. Go be a time of rejoicing and happiness and tranquility and peace and safety. And then look at verse number 18. Here's a good one. And he said, but thou must eat, but thou must eat then before the Lord thy God in the place where the Lord God shall choose thou and thy sons and thy daughters and thy manservant and thy maid servant and the Levite that was in thy gates and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hand to. And look at verse 20. When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh because thy soul longeth thee flesh, thou mayest eat flesh whatever thy soul lusteth. You know what he said? You can have rib eye every day if you want it. I mean, you might have lived on meager fare in Egypt, but when I get you through the wilderness and across the Jordan into the Canaan land, I mean, you name it, you got it. Those are pretty good promises from God, aren't they? You know what? You would think those people would have rejoiced all the way. I mean, by the time they crossed that Red Sea, and by the time they crossed the Jordan, they'd have rejoiced all the way. But you know what Exodus 15, 24 said? And the people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? Well, let's trust the Lord for that, all right? In Exodus chapter 16, and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, what to God we'd have died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, where we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger. How about that? They murmured against Moses. And then in Exodus 17, And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Revitem, and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore, the people did chide with Moses. You know what that means? A heated argument pursued. I mean, you know, one of those in-your-face kind of deals. And they began to chide with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses. You know, there was a time during these complaints that Moses got so upset with the children of Israel, Lord, who am I that you'd give me this congregation? And Moses' anger waxed hot at certain times. In fact, there was a time when God got pretty upset with him. and would have wiped them out, as some of these verses say, had not Moses stood in the breach between him and the Israelites. And Brother Al reminded me this week of what old Dr. Bob Jones Sr. said one time. He said that Israelites better be happy that God and Moses never did get mad at the same time. There wouldn't have been any Israelites, amen. Well, anyway, you can read Numbers chapter 13 And that's a wonderful, wonderful passage because here's what happens in that passage. These Israelites, remember, redeemed by blood, scriptural baptism, had a divinely appointed leader, had a congregation to where they would meet. And yet they murmured. They got through the Red Sea and all the way through that wilderness. You know what? God supplied every need they had for survival. Didn't matter whether it was clothing, didn't matter whether it was protection from it, didn't matter what it was, food, whatever. God supplied every need that they had, took them all the way through the wilderness, and now they're right up to the banks of the Jordan River. I mean, they're there. They're ready to cross into the Jordan River and enjoy the blessings of God in Canaan. And so they sent out a search party, and that search party goes across the Jordan into Canaan land under the direction of Joshua and Caleb, and they search out the land. And when they searched the land, they came back and gave a wonderful report. And in that report, they said that it is truly a land flowing with milk and honey. That's what God promised them. And they brought back a bunch of grapes from Eskil, the grapes of Eskil, you probably heard the song. And it took two men, they took a pole and put that pot of grapes on that pole and carried it back from Canaan, back over the other side of Jordan to show the people what kind of a place that is. But, There was a mixed multitude, the Bible said, that went with the children of Israel and fell a lusting. They could have been some that indicated this. But the multitude that went over as a part of the search party, they gave an evil report. And they said, the giants of the land said, it's too bad, we can't take it. And you know what the children of Israel did? They believed the evil report. And when they believe the evil report, I mean, you know, they had all the promises of God, but when they believe the evil report, you know what? Let me read to you what they said. Now you get the picture. You got Israelites, hard bondage, over 400 years, redeemed by blood, scripturally baptized, given a divinely appointed leader, and a promise that I'm gonna take you into a land flowing with milk and honey. Took them through the Red Sea miraculously, met every need that they had, and got them right on the banks of the Jordan, ready to cross into Canaan land. And the evil report comes back. And when the evil report came and they believed it, here's what those children of Israel said. And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried. And the people wept that night. The children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said unto them, would, excuse me, would God that we died in the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in the wilderness? And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be afraid? Would not better for us to return unto Egypt? That's what they said one to another. Here's what they wanted. Let us make a captain. Let us return into Egypt. Listen, you know what we need to do? We need to vote that preacher out and get us one that'll take us back to the world. I mean, what do you think? You know what Egypt is? It's the type of the world. And what Moses did, he led them out of the world. He was the divinely appointed leader. And when they got all the way through the wilderness, I'd say Moses did pretty good getting up to that point. Of course, Joshua, he's ready to take over Moses. Moses, now by the way, you know what? Moses stayed with it all of his life. He gave his life to it. You know what that is? That's discipleship. Discipleship today is when you come to the altar and cry a little bit and leave and do the same thing tomorrow you did yesterday. You know, that's not discipleship. Discipleship's your life. You give it a 10 year, trial run and it didn't work, so you threw in the towel. You never was a disciple. Discipleship is your life, your entire life. And so anyway, they said, we need to get rid of Moses. We need somebody to take us back to the world. You know, there's a synopsis of this in Psalm 106. And let me read it, Psalm 106, beginning verse number six. And the writer of the psalm, and I don't know who the author is, but he said, we have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for his namesake. that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up. So he led them through the depths as through the wilderness, and he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies, there was not one of them left. Then believed they his words, they sang his praise. Well, that's the song, you know, it's recorded. It didn't last long. God said they soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel. They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request, but sent leanness under their soul. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, the saint, said the Lord. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram. And the fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked. They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgot God their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea. Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach." You know what? Now, you know, you can be fatalistic if you want to, but you're really not. That says that one man stopped God from destroying a nation. I mean, that's what it says. God would have if Moses had stood between them. And I know some fatalistic guys that says that God, the prayer doesn't change God. God doesn't answer the prayer. That prayer conditions you to receive what God was gonna do anyway. No, there's people that get saved, would not have been saved had you not have prayed. There are things that happened that would not have happened had you not have prayed. Yeah, man does play a part in this. You do have a responsibility. God will use you, you can make a difference. But you know, some guys who are against fatalism and you know, It wouldn't matter whether they're Calvinists or not, neither one of them do anything, so, you know, what's the difference? You know, we need to face some responsibility here. You know what? You've got God using a man. You know what the man did? He led these people through that wilderness. He stood between them and God. He prayed down the presence of the power of God, God use that man. Oh God, use you. You know, what's he gonna use you to do? I hope he'll use you to help build a church. That's where I'm headed. If it's built, you're gonna have to help do it. You say, but Bible said, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain. Yeah, I know it. But he didn't come down here to drive nails. He didn't come down here and saw the board. He didn't come down here and construct it. You know what? He's the supervisor over it. He told you how to do it. He gave you the instructions. He gave you the power to do it with. If somebody's building a new house, they may not touch it. They may have that contractor doing it and he'll tell his friends, we're building a new house. He might not be doing anything. But it's awfully easy when you get involved in church work to say, well, except the Lord do it, it won't be done. We understand that, we know that, we know that, we know that. So you come Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, that's the extent of people's Christianity. You don't build a house two days a week. You know what you do if you build a house? I mean, you get up every morning, go to work on it. Isn't that right? You can't build a church and you can't have a ministry just working a few hours every week. You know what it is? I mean, it's a lifelong, everyday, all-day dedication. Well, anyway, it's almost impossible to believe that this people, with all of the blessings that God heaped upon them, could murmur at the things that Moses led them to do and to be and to have. But nonetheless, he did. Now, what have we seen? We have seen that the people redeemed by blood, scripturally baptized, had a divinely appointed leader, had a place to meet, and not only did they have a place to meet, but when they met, They reveal their carnal, earthly nature by murmuring and grumbling. Are you ready for a shocker? Here's the sixth point. You know what God called them? He called them a church. That's what Acts 7.38 said. They were the church in the wilderness. How about that? Said, boy, what a good church, wasn't it? That was a scriptural church. Amen. Now, they got the pattern for building the tabernacle on Mount Sinai. We get a pattern for building a church from a different mountain. We take that example to build New Testament churches. But we get the type of the church from that tabernacle scene back there. Look at Hebrews chapter number 12. And I'll just have to quote you some passages here in order to get to what I want to say. Hebrews chapter number 12. In Hebrews chapter number 12, and notice in verse number 18, you might want to underscore these words. The year not come, Now move down to verse number 22. You know what he's saying? He's saying there's some New Testament saved Hebrews. For you're not come under the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire. You're under blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. It was fearful. You know what that is? That's Mount Sinai, God's given law. You're not come to Mount Sinai. But here's the way he said it, that may be touched. You're not come to a mount that may be touched. Verse 22, but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God. the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men, made perfect. Without turning to the passage, in Matthew 16, Jesus said upon this rock, I will build my church. Well, whose church will that be? It'll be church of the firstborn. That's who Jesus is, he's the firstborn. You know what church Jesus is building? He's building the church of the firstborn. You know where it's assembled? Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now, let's take the pattern. And I'm not sure that God may only have one pattern. I don't know. But I do know one thing, that that pattern that Moses followed that he got Mount Sinai meant that he was going to build that church in the wilderness with blood-bought people, baptized people, people that were under the leadership of a divinely appointed man, and they were gonna do it at a designated place. Guess what? That's the same pattern that Jesus is building his church with. You know what determines whether you become a part of the church that he's building? If you have a credible testimony of being redeemed of the blood, You have a biblical New Testament baptism. Now, we read the verse, we're not gonna go back to it, but the verse said that they were baptized under the cloud in the sea unto Moses. What's it mean when they were baptized unto Moses? You know, the Bible says when it deals with baptism, you're either baptized unto something or into something. Now, in case of the baptism of the Spirit, which takes place when you trust Christ, you're baptized into Jesus Christ. Let me show you that. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, you know that verse, four by one Spirit, are we all baptized into one body. Look at Romans chapter number six. In Romans chapter number six, And we read, what shall we save then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live no longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Now some teach that as water baptism, but if that is water baptism, you have to be baptized in the water to be saved. That's not water baptism. That's a baptism that puts you into Jesus Christ. Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Do you believe that a person who is washed in the blood of Christ, they got a credible testimony, but they're not baptized in water for 30 days later, that between the time that they're born again and they're baptized in water, that they don't walk in newness of life. They have to be baptized in water to walk in newness of life. Oh, no, no, no, no. When you're baptized into Jesus Christ, you know what that is? That's him building his church, the church of the firstborn, which are in heaven. Now, but in case some people, you know, follow the tradition of the fathers, and it don't matter. You know, I know a lot of people that follow that philosophy. But let me give you one, okay? And this one's real practical, I'm sure that any of you can get ahold of this one. We read in Hebrews chapter number 12, that that assembly in heaven is made up of. What's it made up of? Well, among other things, it's made up of the spirits of just men made perfect. How about that? That disqualifies it from being a local church. There is not one local church on planet Earth where every member there has a spirit that is never out of sorts at any time under any certain, never, it'll never happen. We have that carnal and damning nature that 6,000 years ago was evident in those children of Israel. Guess what? It's still around. you still have that same Adamic carnal nature. You say, how do you know? They murmured. That's how I know. You know what people do today? They murmur. Now, Moses got a pattern in the mount to build the tabernacle. And the people that he used in that congregation were blood-bought, scripturally baptized, had a divinely appointed leader, had a congregational place to meet. That's the pattern. They had the Adamic nature. They were called a church. How about the church Jesus was building? Same deal, blood-bought people. a credible testament, the earth of Christ, the son of the living God. A lot of synonymous terms for that, being born again, being saved by grace, having all your sins forgiven, being in Christ, a lot of synonymous terms. But you know what we do? When there's somebody that makes a profession of faith, now notice, we always use the word profession, not confession. There's a difference. Whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. A lot of people profess that. but they lied about it. You know what that does? That puts maybe, you know, maybe some tares in the wheat. You know what they do? They murmur. That's what they do. So, baptism, divinely appointed leader, congregation, got a place to meet. So, down here, what do we do? we find somebody that professes to be redeemed of the blood, saved by grace. They're gonna make a profession of faith, but they're gonna follow the Lord, we often say, in believer's baptism. But there are people that'll baptize them, they don't have a joint in church, that's not a scriptural method. You baptize them into something or unto something. When they were baptized unto Moses, they became a follower of him. And when a person affiliates with that church, you know how they do that? They can transfer up to another church, they've got a scriptural baptism, but if they haven't, you know what they do? They go to that baptistry up there, and he'll say, on your profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, I baptize thee, my brother, my sister, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And you know what they do? They become a part of a body. with a divinely appointed leader who has a designated place to meet. Now, we are doing that. That's the pattern of the Church of the Firstborn, which is in heaven. Now, here's how easy it is to see. Look back at Matthew 28 again. Matthew 28. And this is an inference. It's not explicit. It's implicit. All right, I'll find it. I'm at Mark 8. I'll be there in a minute. Okay. In Matthew 16, Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build. He didn't say he had started. He didn't say he was building or he had built. He said, I will build my church. Now that's an unfailing promise. He's doing it. He'll continue to do it until the body's complete. But when you get to Matthew 28, he said in verse 19 to those disciples, go ye therefore. In other words, I told you back in Matthew 16 what I'm doing. I'm gonna tell you what I want you to do. It's your time. Now, it's ironic. It's not ironic. It's a blessing to me that God inspired every jot, every tittle just by it. And the word church, of course, the first time it's found in the New Testament or in anywhere is that verse in Matthew 16 upon this rock, I'll build my church. In the Matthew 18, church is found two times in one verse. And I personally believe it's just how you got in trouble with your brother. If you and him can't settle the thing before the church, that's about all it said about it. I think he was saying, hey, don't settle this dispute just among you and him. If he can't do it, but if he can't, let's get these other 10 apostles in it. Let's get the group in. And I think that's what he's saying, but I don't know that. There's no instructions given. And when he gets to Matthew 28, the evidence that I have for him telling them You go build churches now. It's because the book of Mark Church is not found, the book of Luke is not found, the book of John is not found. And in Acts chapter number one, this is the promise. And he points to not many days hence you should be baptized in the Holy Ghost with fire. That's the day of Pentecost. You know what happened at Pentecost? The first baptism of the Holy Ghost that ever happened happened on the day of Pentecost. You know what? That's the day that Jesus began building his church. That's the day that we had material to build this church out of. You can't build a church out of people that are not a part of that body of Christ. And in Acts 2 47, church is mentioned. And then it's mentioned 22 times in the book of Acts. Over 100 times in the rest of the New Testament. And by far, the majority of the verses are applied to local New Testament churches. So you know what you got? You got an opportunity to obey the Great Commission. How do you do that? You do that by following the instructions in the Bible. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And here's what he says. I'll give you a manual to go by. I'll give you the power of the Spirit of God inside to operate on. That's pretty good, isn't it? I'll give you the material that's needed to build it out of, that saved people. And if you hit a problem that the Bible doesn't cover, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. that giveth to all men liberty, and abreateth not. Now, that of mine, I've already said, don't misconstrue at all the idea that I'm thinking. It's just all up to you, and God's not the picture. God is the picture. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord. you know what you do you use your personality you use your abilities you use your money you use your energy and you can build or be a part of building a new testament church if you don't what's going to happen you're going to stand in the judgment seat of Christ with a red face you're going to be embarrassed Let me put it like this. What's our church going to be in the future? It's up to you. It's going to be what you make it. That's what it's going to be. It's going to be what you make it. You can't make it a good, effective New Testament church without being involved. I mean, lock, stock, and barrel. I heard a good testimony this week at Oakland people say those tracks out there you know to you that's not the end of the book i believe that was the end of the book me the end of the book the wrong this year to do it they would also use one of the best of their so it's just uh... all twenty of them I'll stop there. That's my doctrine of the church. I don't believe that. Hey, we don't have to be enemies because you're wrong. I think, you know, really. I was writing something the other day about a guy come into town, going to start a new church, going to build a church. So he did a survey, you know, feel the wind, see what everybody wants. Knocked on one door, a fellow comes to the door, he said, sir, I'm here to start a new church. He said, What kind of church do you think this community needs? The fellow said, red brick. That's about what some people know. The old story used to be told about the lion of the jungle. Said he'd come over to the skunk and said, who's king of the jungle? He said, you are, Mr. Lion. And said he went to a groundhog and said, who's king of the jungle? He said, well, you are, Mr. Lion. He went to the raccoon and said, who's king of the jungle? He said, you are, Mr. Lion. Made a mistake and went to an elephant and said, who's king of the jungle? So the elephant wrapped that big trunk around him and threw him sideways into a tree. And the lion got up and went limp and off. He heard him whisper back over his shoulders and said, well, you know, he'd get mad because you don't know the right answer. You know, isn't that about where we are? You know, I think if you'll get in the Bible and read a little bit, you'll find out what I said tonight's true. Now, what do you do? We come church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, see what happens, you know, while I wasn't here, you know, whatever. If you're a disciple, your life ought to be given to Jesus Christ. Now, let me give you something to pray about. And this could be the biggest thing that we've ever gotten involved in. But you think about this. See, and I don't think most people are real thinkers nowadays, not too creative, not too aggressive. Missionaries coming home, missionaries on the field can't get home. We don't know what's going to happen. Nobody does. So many things have happened. We sent a load of scriptures to Peru the first of March. It was a couple of months before they ever got them out of lockdown. Whether Rich has them, we're not sure. How many of them has been distributed? Is he able to distribute to other countries? How long is it going to be before he can take another truckload of Bibles in South America? We don't know. We're finishing up a run of Sibuano Bibles for the Philippine Islands. Well, that's over. What do we print next? Do we do another truckload of Spanish for South America? I think it's good advice to plan your work and work your plan. We don't want to just do things hoping somebody will come by and read a Bible. I think maybe this week we'll ship out about the last, I think, 8,000 English John and Romans for Pennsylvania to be distributed in an Amish country. And then the floor's clean. But we got to thinking and praying. What can we do at Victor Baptist Press? I mean, what's, it just seemed like the Lord's speaking to my heart. I said, well, you're thinking about all the foreign countries, and that's good. But what about the foreign people? Or what about even the native people living in America that don't have the gospel? There's gotta be a way of reaching more people with the gospel. Well, last year, the shop printed 1,085,000 of those little cards that everybody knows about. Now, that little card that they printed, a little bit smaller than this one, but it had that picture of that cross over that pit, over that fire. and on the back it had nine salvation verses uh... fourteen verses rather there's a nine different languages and different sets of cards and uh... brother burgundy they printed one million and eighty five thousand of those and we shipped them to Rwanda, Africa those cards now are being used in South Sudan Uganda Congo and Rwanda Brother Tony Stark was the brainchild on that. They have a little thing in the bottom that tells about their radio station. But Brother Stark now, and maybe already over there doing it, I'm not sure, but this is the plan. He takes those cards and he goes into the public schools. Brother Stark told me personally, he said, there's no trouble getting into the public school. He said, the only ones you can't get in is the Muslim schools. And he said, they're so small, so few. doesn't make any difference, but he said, here's the plan. We go in the school, we give the teacher of the class a Bible. Then we give every student in the class one of these cards, and on the back, we show them those 14 salvation verses, and we say to them, now when you've memorized all 14 of those verses, you come back and tell me, and quote them to me, word perfect, And when you do, he said, I'll give you a Bible, give you your own Bible. And I said to Most Ark, I said, do you think most of them will memorize them? Probably not, but they'll try. And even those who try, but don't memorize all 14 of those verses, he said, that word of God has gone through their hearts and through their minds. He said, that's our way of saturating our wonder with the word of God. Well, it seemed like in the last two weeks, I thought, why don't we do that in America? Why don't we do that here? And so we got busy, and Sarah Byrne took that card, took that file, that cross, and she Americanized it. She put a flag right there. That flag represents America. And about half of it is burned off by the fires. of that pit. You know where America's headed? And she put that verse right there. The wicked should be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. So that's a little strong. Yeah, it is. That's right out of the Bible. And she put that on there. And then I had a set of verses in the back. We had a little powwow shop, they rejected my set, and they put these on here. But here are the verses. And if I'm getting a little lengthy for you, you know, you'll be all right. Here are the verses. Now you think about this. Enter ye into the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in thereat, and go straight as the gate, and narrow as the way which leadeth unto life. And few there be that find it. Matthew 7, 13 and 14. For what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16, 26. But the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Revelation 21, eight. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3, 9. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. But God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. 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. Now, here's the catch. That set of verses within themselves is probably not gonna tell a person how to be saved. But if they'll read that carefully, it'll tell them you're in trouble. That is designed to bring people under conviction. Are you just gonna leave them under conviction, though? We turned the card up sideways. There's a QR code there. And there's a text that said, scan the code or visit victorbaptistpress.com slash peace for a video explaining how that you can pass from death unto life. You know what we did? We connected that to a local church. And when somebody clicks that QR code, it's linked to the website, and Tim comes on giving a clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He said, well, what do you do about it? What would be wrong with Sunday school teachers taking that and giving their class, every one of them, one of those cards? and said, now, when you memorize those verses, word perfect, you come to me and quote them. And when you do, I'll give you a $10 gift certificate to the bookstore. But if you got people reading that, Doug Sehorne, I've been talking with in Kentucky, Doug said you got one of the greatest ideas. Boy, I mean, that's, yeah, that could be big. Doug said 50 years ago in the public school, you could do it. He said 50 years ago, there was a group of Christians came into the public school that he attended as a kid. And he said, they said that if we would memorize a certain set of verses, we could go to youth camp free. Doug said, I probably memorized 200 verses. And he said, I got to go to youth camp. But he said, those verses that I memorized put me under conviction. When I got to the youth camp, I heard a clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and was saved. He's been preaching now for 40 years, pastor of the church in Eastern Kentucky. What's a church gonna be? It's gonna be what you make it. Why don't you do something like that? What would be wrong with people who have a prison ministry given all those inmates that you go to week by week by week and give them that. Tell them now, when you've been around so many verses, you come to me and quote them. And I'll recommend a pardon for you. I mean, I just hope you do a little bit of creative thinking, okay? Now, here's the deal. Travis Alltop, in Danville, Kentucky, their supported church. And Travis, when we pulled up his website, Travis had a picture of that cross over that pit, but it was sharp. It was clear. I mean, it was, but the one we had was pixelated. It was the best we could do. But when we saw that, Sarah Berg, which does this stuff, Sarah, she tried to copy the picture, but it wouldn't let her. So I called Travis. We didn't know where that picture came from, but Travis said, well, it came from Mr. Riesler, I believe. He was a Presbyterian guy in Philadelphia. He said, I talked to him before he died. He died in 2018. And he said, Mr. Riesler sent me a link to an original copy of it. And so we got that quality, high resolution picture. That's what Brent Logan wanted. logan is trying to get one of these put on a billboard uh... or i assume about a sixty-five you're going about sixty-five they're about a mile or two he's trying to get one i've called some preachers if you would put a clear presentation of the gospel website a clear presentation it could be a video, or it could be written. But it's gotta be a clear presentation on your website. That's all you'd have to do. We will take that presentation, read a QR code, and put the information about your church and your website. And if you promise to use it, we'll supply it. Can you imagine what would happen if 100 churches did 1,000 each? That'd be 100,000 people that would get one of those. So it won't work. Well, don't sell it short. Now, you say, what can I do? Well, I'll tell you what I'd do. I always look for something to open the door for people. And Brother Lee Caden had an hour on Friday went out lunch over at Sonny's and when I walked in there was a guy standing there, a big old guy, I mean big guy. I do this a lot. I said, man, I walked in, I looked with some better body slam, but I said, when I saw you, I changed my mind. I don't feel good today, I'm gonna let you off. He laughed, so I appreciate it, and I said, you're a man. Here's something that hadn't been printed long without off the press for you. He said, thank you, sir, thank you. The waitress came to take our order. that's a bad before you take orders and make a deal with us and we'll get this whole picture she's doing but i thought they were all good if you will take this turn it over that you will read the verses give you a t so i read it that would give you tips about what you don't know now here's where it's looking for something to do this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week's motorcycle this week I'd be a good place, one-on-one, hand them out and leave Victory Baptist Church's website on it. What about this? Doug Seahorn's big on this. What if you took this and blew this up the size that the post office requires for a piece of direct mail? It was 18 cents each. And what if you put one of these in every home that's got an address in Billingswater. Church gonna be what you make it. And you know what he said to do? Go ye. Go ye, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And that is the great commission. Now, somebody's pretty good with your math. You've probably got about 7,000, 8,000 addresses. You've got about 13,000 population, I think, of Milton. If you had 10,000, if you had 10,000 addresses in Milton, Florida at 18 cents each, what is that? How much does that cost? What is 18 cents? It's how much? $1,800. You paid a quarter of a million to have the parking lot paved so the women wouldn't scratch their high heels. You know, come for it. I'll help you do it. But you know what? If you do that, now if the preacher says no, scrap it. But somebody ought to get on top of that. In fact, I'll tell you what, my wife would give $1,000 to pay. She'll do it. Now she may drop it here too, but she'll do it. No, she wouldn't complain. I'd pay $1,000 on it. How much? $1,200. Well, let's find out what the preacher said. I'm not, I'm afraid to conduct a business meeting here, but you know what, Sarah Berg, listen, Sarah Berg, she'll design it, and whatever that boy's name is, it works, the French have him, he'll print them, Brother Joe, he'll print them, and I'll tell you something, that is quality work. In fact, Sarah Berg, I said, oh, Sarah's my hero, okay? Why? I mean, she worked herself to death making it right. Talk about a young lady like that. I'm old enough to be her grandpa, okay. But I'll tell you what, she does it, it's right. There's only one person out there who likes her better than me, and that's my wife. And the other day, she was over in Pensacola. I guess the peaches she bought had a certain load to it. She'd give $27 for a peck of peaches. I said, man, she brought them home, divided them up, said, give them to Sarah. I said, all right, my heart wasn't in it, Anyway, I mean, that work is flawless, amen. But anyway, all you gotta do is, you know, get them put it together and find out how you do it and do it. Then what do you do? I put together a bunch of specs and recommendations for churches and ways to use this kind of thing and put it out and you'll have more requests for this and you can feel that could be bigger than anything we've ever done. All right, I'm out of something to say to you. Okay.