Alright, Acts chapter 1. We're going to kind of slow down a little bit. At least I am, I think. Maybe. And we're going to look at Acts chapter 1. which is the complete name of the book, by the way, is the Acts of the Apostles. I don't know if that's what it says in your Bible there, the Acts of the Apostles, but it is the Acts of the Apostles. So we see here the church And what they did after the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and rose again the third day. He had presented himself and then he went back up into heaven. And so we see how the church conducted herself without Jesus here in the flesh. Now, we know Jesus is here with us today. Amen? Before he was crucified, he said, it is expedient that I go. And he said that when he goes, that he would send the Comforter. And the church, the very first church that Jesus started, did have... The more I read on it, and at first, I'll tell you, even after I started pastoring here, up until about a couple of years ago, and maybe even more recently, it's becoming more and more clear to me, but at first I was a little bit confused on exactly Where was the first church started? And the reason why I was somewhat confused on it is because when I read different authors that write on the topic of the church that Jesus started, I've heard different places. And the Bible talks about different places where Jesus met. So we got to remember the church is not a building. It is the people. But it is a specific people that assemble in a specific place. Because they've got to assemble. They've got to come together. Ekklesia is the Greek word for church, which means assembly. How do you say it in Spanish? Is it almost the same as the Greek word, Ekklesia? Ekklesia. Yeah, I figured it was very, very similar. And, uh, but it means assembly. And so you have to have an assembly of people, but here's the thing. Here's what's interesting about when Jesus was starting his church. He was meeting in a lot of different locations. We as a church on occasion have met at brother Chambers house, uh, several years ago, we used to do that on at least one Wednesday a month, we would meet at his house. And, you know, the church might have a physical address for mail right here. Actually, it's not even right here. It's at a PO Box. But if we give somebody a physical address as far as where we're located, where we generally meet, it's right here, 4101 Thomas Drive, Dell City, Oklahoma. However, this building's not the church. If we meet, let's say if we meet at my house, then that's where First Baptist Church of Del City is at that time, is when we're meeting at our house, if we were to do that. When we met at Brother Chambers' house, that's where our church was. The church isn't the building. So when Jesus was starting the church, and you hear about all these different locations, it's because He was moving around. They were assembling in all these different locations. But it settled, as far as that is concerned, in Jerusalem. And we see in the book of Acts, chapter 1, it says here, "...the former treaties have I made, O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen." to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." And then verse 4 says, "...and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem." Okay, so we read throughout the Gospels where Jesus assembled with his disciples, or as it actually should be stated, as it is written here, that the disciples assembled with Him. Amen? We are assembling with the Lord Jesus Christ every time we assemble. And they assembled with Him, but they assembled with Him in all these different places. But the Church, as it grew, and what we see throughout the the New Testament, churches were started in various different places. It's kind of hard to travel. You know, we can travel. Some of us really have a long ways to go. Like I live on the other side of Sunny Lane. Four blocks away approximately. I know some of y'all chalk talk. Some of the Hennings live in Shawnee, some live in Newcastle. Yukon for Brother Ballard. I don't remember what other cities we have represented in our church. But we travel from our homes to here and assemble. But if we started, and I do know some people, I can't name them right now because it's been a long time, but I know of some people. that would travel up to two hours one way because church mattered so much to them. And they wanted to make sure that their kids were in a good church. They found a good church and then I think that their intentions were to move closer to that church. But if you can imagine, I would like to think that I certainly would have walked however far I needed to walk to hear Jesus speak. Amen? If I was in A lot of times you hear in writing that Jesus started His church in Palestine. Well, what is Palestine? It's that whole general area right there that makes up that area of the world. Well, that's not very specific, but at least it's specific to that part of the world. Well, if I was anywhere in that area close enough to walk or ride a horse or whatever the case was, I think I would do it, to go hear Jesus speak. My goodness! And so I think that they followed Jesus around to hear him speak, but they eventually settled in a specific location. And the churches that were started from that point on, we read about them as being associated with the church at Ephesus, the church at Corinth, you know, the church at Laodicea and the church at Jerusalem, the church at Antioch. and therefore people that are nearby can get to that church. And as it is with Baptist churches from the time of Christ to now, it is our desire to start a church in every single town in the world I heard E.L. Bynum speak one time, and I don't know if any of y'all know E.L. Bynum. I consider him a giant of his day as far as serving the Lord is concerned in a lot of ways. But I heard him preach a little tiny church. He pastored a pretty good-sized church, but he did some evangelistic work as well, and now it's a little tiny church. Was it Altus or Walters? May have been Walters. Whether Willingham. Was that Walters? Altus. It was Altus, Brother Willingham, where Brother Willingham pastored. Just a little small church there. And he preached the message on that our desire should be to see a church started in every town in America. And of course, expand from there as well. We have missionaries all around the world right now that we support. When Jesus, the church at Jerusalem, And we'll see here as we go on. Let's just continue reading a little bit more. But I want to back up a little bit with some of what we said, already read here. The first part of Acts, the former treaties have I made. So what are the former treaties? And what is a treatise? And am I pronouncing it right? Treatise? Okay. Anyways, you know what it is? Let me look it up in my... I can... I'll just, y'all can look it up later, I'll just give it to you in my own words. It can be a tract, a brochure, or a book. It could be any length. And right here, it obviously, the Book of Acts, we see here. The details of the things that were written here. of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. Now, I mentioned Acts, but that's actually the former treatise. What is the former one? Well, the former one is Luke, the book of Luke. I believe that Luke, Dr. Luke, we could call him even, he was a physician. Luke wrote, well, I say Luke wrote, God wrote all of the Bible. I believe God used Luke to pen the book of Luke and the book of Acts. So if you look at Luke chapter 1, listen to what it says here in verse 1. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee, in order, most excellent Theopolis, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. So here we have the name Theopolis mentioned again. Who is Theopolis? I don't think that the Bible reveals to us exactly who Theopolis was, but what we can gather from what we read here in both the book of Acts and the book of Luke is that Theopolis was obviously another Christian for Luke to be writing these things specifically to him and for us as well. inspired it and preserved it for us today to read these things that happened. Of them, by the way, that were eyewitnesses of what happened. Just simply the recording of God's Word is an amazing thing. It really is. If you were to study just simply the inspiration and the recording, the actual writing it down, and the preservation, and then also include with that the infallibility. There's one other, I forget the word for it, one of them means that it was recorded accurately, and the other one means that the teachings are correct. So when we talk about The teachings, the doctrines are true. They're correct. And that's what we're talking about, is the doctrines and teachings. When we talk about it being recorded accurately, we're talking about even the history itself is recorded accurately. Even the words of Satan are recorded accurately. The lies of the devil are recorded accurately in the Bible. The wars and the terrible things that took place as a result of sin are accurately recorded in the Bible, but the doctrines are true doctrines. Now, the lies of Satan are obviously lies, but the Bible lets us know that they're his words, his lies, and so on and so forth. But in studying that part about the Bible and the different authors that God used, or men that God used to pen the Bible, over the different, you know, the different years, the time span. It's really an amazing thing. Books and books are written on just that issue, pointing things out in the Scriptures. So, who is Theopolis? We could also probably say that because he is referred to as excellent Theopolis. I can't remember, was that the book of Luke where it was referred to as excellent Theopolis? And we see that Paul used that title with Felix and who was the other person that that title was used with? There is one other Agrippa maybe, King Agrippa. And since that title is used for Theopolis, Perhaps we don't know for sure but perhaps he was some high-ranking Roman But whatever the case was it the I guess it's not necessarily important for us to know that but the fact that this was written down and the reason it was written down and so the former treaties of the book of Luke and those were written up until the written about up until the day, or of the things, you know, that transpired there, until the day in which he, that is Jesus, was taken up, after that which he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. And if you want to look at more on the apostles whom he had chosen, I just hand wrote a note in my Bible right here, the church, and look at Luke chapter 6 and verse 13. Verse 3 goes on and says, "...to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." When Jesus rose from the grave, it was not a secret. It was not a secret and it could not be hidden. You remember they wanted to say that the disciples stole him away. They put some guards there to guard the tomb so that they could say that he hadn't risen from the grave. But the fact is, whenever it was time, you remember he said, I have power to lay my life down and I have power to take it again. And when it was time for him to take it again, he took it again. He rose from the grave and he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me." Now, what is that promise? You can write this note down and look it up later. I'm not going to take the time to look it up right, to turn to it right now. But Luke 2 verse 4, I'm sorry, Luke 24 and verse 49. And I think Matthew 28, 16 is what I, my notes are getting blurred because of both my crazy handwriting and my sweaty hands. And I'm going to start handing out towels. I really, I laughed about that. It didn't offend me at all that that guy asked me that. I really thought it was funny. But it's true. My hands, they just sweat like that. So if anybody, if y'all, I'm doing the fist bump with you, I do not mind that at all. I hope y'all don't mind. Okay. Now verse five. Continue on with the words of Jesus says where John truly baptized with water But ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence now. I'll tell you where I stand personally on this And I believe I can show you lots of verses to tell you why I stand this way But I believe the only Holy Spirit baptism was this Holy Spirit Pentecostal baptism, which is the church baptizing the church When a person is saved, I know some people want to refer to salvation as Holy Spirit baptism, but that's not Holy Spirit baptism. That is the new birth. There's no doubt on that, that salvation, receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, is the new birth. The baptism that is talked about here happened on the day of Pentecost. John baptized with water. The church was commissioned to baptize with water. Water baptism is the only thing the church was commissioned to do. Water baptism is what we see all throughout. There's very, very few verses that don't make it really clear that water baptism is what is being talked about. The verses that aren't real clear on it, if you look at the context, You'll see that it's water baptism. In, what is it, 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13, if I remember, if I've got the reference correctly there, where it says, for by one spirit are you all baptized into one body. That also is water baptism. Why is it water baptism? Because Paul is talking to the church at Corinth, that specific church. And what he was telling them is that they are one body, just like First Baptist Church of Midway Village is one body. And everyone here has been, where it says, formed by one spirit, we have all been led by the same spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. After salvation, by the way. Once a person is saved, what's the first step of obedience? That's water baptism. So if we're by one spirit, that is being led by one spirit, have we all been baptized? Well, what water? I mean, what baptism? The only baptism that the church has been commissioned to observe is water baptism. And that's what Paul was telling them. They've all been led by the same spirit to be baptized into the church, that is water baptism, into that local church at Corinth. So in verse 6, it says, When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou not at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So we have the great commission here. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up. So basically this first part of the book of Acts chapter 1 is a recap of the last chapter of the four Gospels. And so verse 9 again, when he had spoken these things, that is when Jesus had spoken those things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount, called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, and Philip, and Thomas, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotis, and Judas, the brother of James. You know who is missing in that? Judas Iscariot. So there's only 11 disciples right here. There is 11. There were 12, now there's only 11. And, you know, what we're going to see as we continue reading here, that in the Old Testament, there was prophecies even concerning Judas Iscariot. Listen to what it says right here. It says here, in verse 14, These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." Now, the word brethren right there, sometimes we talk about brethren as being all brothers and sisters in Christ, but I think right here it's specifically talking about the half-brothers and sisters, the siblings, the half-siblings of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had other siblings. He wasn't, as far as Mary was concerned, Joseph was not his father, Joseph was his stepfather, and it's interesting when you study Joseph, Mary and Joseph, that Joseph, there's not a whole lot said about him. Was he even present when when Jesus was crucified? He's not mentioned if he was. Now his mother was. Mary was there. We can speculate about what happened to him. Possibly he could have already died by that time. And I think that's probably the most logical conclusion there. But we don't know. But we do know that Jesus had half-brothers and sisters. not only from this verse, but there's other verses that tell us the same thing. But what's interesting here, what I want to point out, as the verse says, these all continued. In other words, those eleven disciples, with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women that were mentioned and that were close to Jesus, they're in the four Gospels, and with his brethren. And Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. So they were all there. but one of the disciples was missing. Now let's continue on, and we're going to talk about that disciple here in a minute. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, now, I just want to say this about Peter. I've heard people, and for a long time I thought Peter was the pastor, the senior pastor, after Jesus had went up into heaven, that he had made Peter the pastor. And I think that is correct, especially right here, and other conversations that we see that Jesus had with Peter. Peter was the first pastor after the Lord Jesus Christ had gone up into heaven. But then I hear other people say, no, it was James, the half-brother of Jesus, who was the pastor. and James being one of these disciples. And I need to do a little bit more research into which James was a disciple because I can't remember reading any verses that make it clear. If anybody knows, let me know. That's something that I'm looking for as I read through the scriptures. And then we read in the book of Acts, there are places where I believe James, if I remember correctly, I think it was James, I believe that he is the pastor at that time. In other words, all 12 of the disciples, 11 at this point, were ordained men, were ordained to the pastoring. And all 12 of them were pastors, but there was one senior pastor. At this time it was Peter. At another time, it was James. There are churches today that have followed the biblical example of pastors. And, you know, once a church gets so big, then it's good to have more than one pastor for a lot of reasons. You can share the burden and encourage one another. And God may lead one church. I'm thinking of God led the senior pastor to be a missionary for a little while. And then, after some years went by, he let the other pastor do some missionary work, and the one pastor came back, and the church called him to be their pastor again. But all the time, he was still a pastor of the church. He was still a member of that church. He just wasn't a senior pastor when he was ministering away from the church. So anyways, in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said the number of names together were about 120. 120! How big was the church that Jesus started? Well, according to this, on this particular day anyways, it was about 120. I think 120 is a pretty good number. If we were to make a goal of how big we want our church to be, I would say 120 is a pretty good size. We don't have to be 320 or 3,000. I think 120 is a good size. Now later on the day of Pentecost, was it 3,000 that got saved? But you know what happened? After those 3,000 got saved, they didn't all just stick right there in Jerusalem. There were churches started all over the place. I don't remember how many people our auditorium, our sanctuary here holds. Do you remember about how many? I know. What would you say? About 200? I would say that sounds comfortably about 200. I think that the most, since I've been here, Sister Henning's funeral was the largest funeral we've had as far as people in attendance. And I think there was around 300 and that was packed. And there were people standing along the back and in the the aisleways and it was packed. So I would say 200 would be comfortable. I would say 120 would be comfortable. We could do 120 here and still be comfortable. You know, we like our elbow room, right? If we were to get 120 people to join this church, born again, baptized believers, covenant together with us to get the gospel out, being on fire and zealous for the Lord. And we were to grow up to 120 in membership, and maybe, let's just say we got up to 130, 140, 150. I would begin to start praying about a couple of families in this church, starting another church somewhere. We'd pray about where. And as a church, we would sponsor them as missionaries. to start another church. I believe that's the biblical example that we see. I know churches that have done it that way. My brother is a member of a church in Singapore at the moment. the church he is a member of, they have started at least four churches, three or four, I can't remember. Maybe five, but let's just say at least three churches that they've started this way. They grow to a certain size, and then they pray about three or four families breaking off. And three or four families, they'll pray about where to go, and then they'll go out and they'll start another church. And that church will help them until they get on their feet and become their own church. And what a wonderful thing to do. What a wonderful way to spread the gospel. And rather than constantly tearing a building down and rebuilding and tearing a building and what not to build bigger, just build another building somewhere else with another congregation. Amen? And just spread the gospel that way. But anyways, there's about 120 there. And Peter said, men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled. So here we see Peter is talking about the Old Testament. The Old Testament, Prophecy concerning Judas Iscariot. Here's what he says men and brethren this scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before Concerning Judas which was guide to them that took Jesus For he was numbered with us. He was one of us He Walked with Jesus and the disciples communed with them and for three years. Three and a half years. Yet he was the one that betrayed Jesus. So he says here that this prophecy concerning Judas, which was a guide to them that took Jesus, for he was numbered with us and had obtained part of his ministry. Judas had obtained part of that ministry. Now this man, Judas Iscariot, purchased a field with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." What does that mean there? There's a lot packed into that little verse right there. And I suppose with some of it we can only speculate. But I'll tell you what I think it means, and this is just my speculation, but I think that Judas, And there may be some other verse references that have led me to believe this way that I just don't have with me this evening. But I believe that Judas was so beside himself after the fact. And it was too late. What a sad thing for Judas. The Bible says it was better for him had he never been born. But he was so beside himself after the fact that he went out and tried to hang himself on a cross and as he was, I don't know how he'd do it, maybe he had help, I don't know, whatever the case is, but it says here, falling headlong, and if you can just imagine if he was on a cross and he fell with that cross on top of him, he burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem, Insomuch, as that field is called in their proper tongue, aseldoma, that is to say, the field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein. And his bishopric let another take. So here we see the prophecy again, and Peter's bringing this to their attention. And what's fixing to happen right here is the first recorded business meeting or administration meeting that we see without Jesus in the flesh. And so he says here, it says, and his bishopric let another take. What does that mean by bishopric? What is a bishop? A bishop is a pastor. This is talking about his pastoring. He was a pastor. He was a bishop. Judas was a bishop in the first church that Jesus started. He started the church before he was crucified. I like to think of the day of Pentecost as kind of the grand opening, but it's certainly the empowering of the church with the Holy Ghost. The empowering of the church with the Spirit of God without Jesus being there in the flesh. The Holy Ghost. So someone else was to take his pastorate, or his bishopric, as it's worded there. So now we see here, Peter is talking to the church, and he says, wherefore, of these men which have accompanied with us. So there are some qualifications here that aren't the same qualifications. I believe all the same qualifications for today are here, but there's a few that are here that we don't have to follow today. And mainly, listen to what he says here, Wherefore, of these men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us." Well, we obviously weren't living at the time that Jesus walked the earth in the flesh. So the qualification that Peter was giving here is not just any man, but there has to be, and he's going to mention two men here, but these two men, you know the Bible mentions other disciples besides the twelve. The twelve were the ones that he was training and made pastors, bishops. But there were other disciples. There were many other disciples. You and I are a disciple if we're following Christ. If we're learning from the Bible and learning how to be Christians, learning how to follow the Lord, we are disciples. So the specific qualifications to replace Judas had to be someone that was a disciple of Jesus in the flesh and had come, how was it put there, have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice, and Matthias. They had two candidates. that fit the bill right there. There may have been more, but these were the two that were put before the church. And they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship. from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." Now there's a lot of different opinions concerning this last portion of this chapter right here. I have listened and been swayed by two main opinions on this at different times But I want to tell you where I stand on this now and why I stand there I've heard that The Apostles made a mistake right here that was supposed to be the Apostle Paul that they chose and they said I've heard that it was supposed to have been because Paul is called an apostle and I've I've heard it been said that there were only 12 fossils, not 13. So one of these had to be a mistake. Well, I don't believe that. I was convinced on that at one time, but I don't believe that anymore. The reason I don't believe that is because God... I know Jesus is God. Jesus, when he started the church and he set all the qualifications for the church, And he even said several different times, and we read it in several different places in the Gospels, but he says, "...whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." There's another place that talks about even, "...whosoever sins ye shall remit, they shall be remitted." That's obviously not talking about salvation. It's obviously not talking about the church, or the apostles, or the pastors, or whatever you want to put on it. It is not saying that Any man, other than the Lord Jesus Christ, no man has the authority to say, okay, you're forgiven, you're not, you get to go to heaven. No, it's not saying that at all. Concerning the church, this assembly, this is what it's talking about. The decisions they make, they're firm. For this assembly. We can't make the decisions for another assembly on the other side of town. They can't make decisions for this assembly here. We make these decisions and they prayed about it and made the decision on this. The lots by the way, I know that there are different and there may be some instances where the context May be that they rolled dice or something or had straws that they pulled on But I don't believe that's what the case is here nor do I believe that's what the case was with Jonah When the men in the ship cast lots, I believe they had a meeting and they talked about it and And then they cast their lots. They voted on what they thought was the correct decision. And they prayed for God to give them leadership on that. And the lot, or their vote, their lot, fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. And that's where I stand on that. I believe that Matthias was legitimately a disciple and an apostle. And furthermore, when we read in the scriptures, there may be even more than 13 apostles. I haven't set forth to count, but I know that there are some mentioned as apostles who were not disciples. I think that what makes an apostle an apostle kind of had to do with what was set up here where Paul, Peter rather said, wherefore of these men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John and to the same day that he was taken up from us must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. So there could be And I believe that there are. So the idea that there were only twelve apostles, I think some people have just, they have overlooked some verses that say otherwise. Okay, just a few more things. I'm going to go ahead and bring this to a close. Here at our church, there are some things that I'm working on, I want you to pray with me on. I have a whole list right here, I'll just read it to you, and I don't know how long it's going to take me to do all these, but y'all pray with me on this and give me some feedback if you feel like there's something that you can contribute in these areas. But I am going to get some dates for a missions conference, and I want to have a smaller Missions Conference at the end of this year. And not to say that our next Missions Conference after that is going to be really big. We'll plan on that and make decisions on that later. But I want to have a Missions Conference in either October or November. And I want that to be when we have our yearly Missions Conference, Faith Promise Missions Conference. And the reason why I'd like it to be the end of the year is because we have our annual business meeting in January and that will help us in making our decisions going forward. We'll have our missions conference, know what decisions have been made, and how to make better decisions going forward. And I'm praying about a man who pastors, or did pastor not too far from here, He's doing evangelistic work now. I haven't completely settled on this yet. But I'm praying about having him, and the reason why I'm considering him is because he has pastored already for a long time. His church seems to be a thriving church, very missions-minded, and as far as doing things decently and in order, counting the cost before you know just all that kind of stuff he seems to understand these things and I see that that God has used him and so there's a huge reason right there those reasons but also because he lives here not too far from us It would be cheaper on us. We won't have to put him up in a hotel. I'm not going to have a whole lot of other missionaries come. It'll just be him. And we'll kind of do a recap and see how the Lord is working in people's lives. I've provided for him. My pastor, my former pastor in Ohio, he's told stories about how it just seemed. that he would get involved in faith promise, and it's not like that he would get extra money coming in, but it just seemed like his expenses would decrease. So he didn't have extra money coming in, but he didn't have the expenses. Things would happen where his expenses would decrease, and he was able to do what he needed to do and still give to the Lord. And there's different ways. I'm not a, what do they call it, Prosperity evangelist, okay? I'm not talking about, you know, you give a hundred dollars and send it in to me, and I'll send you a holy handkerchief, and God will make sure that that gets doubled and gets sent back to you. No. We see televangelists saying things like that, and getting people to send money. No, I'm not a prosperity evangelist, but I do believe that God takes care of us. And here's the thing, whenever it comes to Faith Promise Missions giving, You've got to pray about it and only do what the Lord lays on your heart. Just do what the Lord lays on your heart, that's all. And if all He lays on your heart is a couple of bucks a month, just do a couple of bucks a month and see what the Lord does with that faith. It's not seeing what the Lord does with that money, it's seeing what the Lord does with that faith, with you exercising your faith. So anyways, I want to have just a small missions conference. just kind of go over some things and then we'll have our yearly missions conference in either October or November every year. I want to set some dates for revival that will be pretty much the same dates every year as well. I'm working on some applications for a benevolence application. I've talked to some other pastors that are helping me with that. I'm working on some policies for building a building usage policy Offering counting policy and guidelines Wedding policy and guidelines funeral policy and guidelines missionary questionnaire I want to send a missionary questionnaire at all our missionaries and maybe Y'all pray with me on this as well Not that I'm wanting to thin them out, that's kind of a bad way to say it, but if they aren't on the same page as we are concerning, I'm just going to use our statement of faith out of our Constitution and bylaws, then let me point something out. I believe missionaries, and I was a missionary at one time, I believe missionaries' goal ought to be to start a church. and either become a pastor of that church or to let someone else become the pastor of that church and start another church somewhere else. But what I don't think is right is when a missionary starts a church and then both pastors and maintains the title of pastor and missionary. So whenever I see a missionary that has a church that he started of several hundred members, and yet he's still taking support from, you know, lots of churches here in the US. I want to know why. Because if the missionary, if God were to call the missionary home or he to move somewhere else, how would that church survive if they're depending on all their funds of everything that they're doing? from churches here in the US. A lot of missionaries do that. They raise their money to even build their buildings and things like that. I think that missionaries ought to train and teach their people to depend on the Lord, to tithe, to give of offerings, to build their own buildings, and I'm not against helping on occasion whenever, you know, there's something to help on occasion, but if they are to be reproducing churches, they need to learn how to start reproducing. And I just don't think it's right. Some of our missionaries, I look at their pictures and their slides and things and see that the building and how nice of a building they're in and they're still receiving support from pastors and churches here. Anyways, I think y'all get where I'm going with this. I just want to reevaluate some of our missionaries and we'll go from there. Y'all can pray with me on that. And I'm working on a missionary questionnaire for that. I want to get a simplified, we have our Constitution bylaws in place now, and that is a huge step forward. And I'm excited about that being done. But I want to take that and make a simplified one where just I want to take out all the worst case scenarios to condense it down so that with our new members, I want to be able for them to have access to the complete thing. But for new members or people who just want to learn more about us, I want them to be able to read and see without all the worst case scenarios, just what we are. And I think taking out all the worst case scenarios, I'm going to be able to condense it down to probably half or even less, maybe. I don't have to have all of the, we'll just have the basics in it. And then, I'm also, we used to do where, when someone joined our church, especially if they were just moving their membership from another church, we would, we had five different lessons. I want to revise those lessons and continue doing that with some of our newer members, just kind of help them get caught up to speed to know what we are, the direction that we're going and things like that. And everybody that I've gone through those lessons with, they've really loved it. Everybody has really enjoyed it. So anyways, y'all pray with me on that. And the goal, the purpose of all of this is the Great Commission. 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 have commanded you." And it is really truly wonderful to be used of the Lord and to be in the ministry and to see the Lord working in people's lives. So I'm excited about moving forward. I hope you all are too.