Welcome to Ripley Church. We're so grateful for all of the people who have come to be with us today to celebrate and to observe this. Tremendous occasion. Where we will officially. Set apart by the Lewis Akron to the work of the gospel ministry. The first thing, children, you should understand that this service is a little bit different than most services. This is not what we do every time we meet. This is a worship service. It's a special service where we recognize what God has done in calling little Lewis to the ministry and the presbytery of elders lays their hands on him, setting him apart to this work. And. He is given the opportunity to speak regarding the everlasting truths that God has revealed in his word. So this service is a little bit longer than most services and just just be ready for that. And I'm apologizing for that. It's a special day. I think back to the feast and the observances of the Old Testament, particularly the Feast of the Passover. People would look forward to that day and they would commemorate the faithfulness of God to provide and protect and to To to to redeem. Now, this service is not the Passover feast, but this service also is a great celebration, not of who Brother Lewis is. I'm glad you're here because you love him and because you've been blessed under his ministry. But this service really is a celebration. It's the best way to describe it, of God's faithfulness to his people. Just as the rainbow is a reminder after the rain has come. And the rainbow stands or rests over the throne of God to remind God himself of his covenant faithfulness to us. This service today is a great reminder that God remains faithful. Though the years pass by and storm clouds come, bouts assail us, temptations would tempt us, yet God remains faithful. He remains faithful to his promise to never leave us, to never forsake us, to continue his truth to all generations, that the nations may know that God reigns and that he is God. And so it's a joyful time. And we thank you for coming to commemorate this and celebrate this with us. I especially am thankful for the elders who have assembled with us before our presbytery. And I love the symbolism as displayed as the deacons here are interspersed with the elders. It's a symbol that in the church of God, no man is an island and no man can stand alone. And so We are thankful that God, like Aaron and her before us, lifting up the hand of Moses, that God has raised up spiritually minded men, men who love the Lord and love his cause and love his ministers and stand up with them alongside of them, helping to lead the Church of God. So we thank you guys for sitting with us today. There's any deacons that want to come and sit in the first couple of rows. We invite you to do so. Now, I'm going to ask these elders that have assembled here now to just form a presbytery. And we would ask that you would, we've asked Brother Lewis to kind of give his preferences for all the procedures today. And so he has requested that I serve as a moderator, that Elder Nathan Pitney serve as a clerk, that Elder Timothy Guess would question the candidates, that Elder Herb Hatfield would offer the ordination prayer, and then that But is that guess and myself would offer the charge to the newly ordained minister. Is that suitable with you guys use a higher raise your hand symbol. All right. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. There has been that made. Yes, sir. Thank you. We have asked these brethren this commons former predatory. to lay hands on Brother Lewis and to ordain him. We've also selected some spokesmen from Ripley Church to come and just testify as to Brother Lewis's calls to the ministry, his character, and what they've observed as the Lord has led this church to call for this day. We ask Brother Aaron Hunt and Brother Claude Ewing to speak for the church. I'm going to ask Brother Aaron to come forward first and speak on behalf of the church. Good morning. I'll just say a few short things and just things that. I feel that I speak on behalf of the entire church and can't say everything. But there's three things that I really would like to speak towards you about Brother Lewis about. And two of these things follow under the first one, which is his character. I'd like to speak about Brother Lewis's character for just a minute. The first thing that as soon as Brother Lewis and Brother Isaac had asked me to say something, the first thing that came to my mind was Brother Lewis's character, that he was a man of great sound character. He was a man who stands for the truth of God's word. He seeks wisdom and understanding. As Proverbs 1, verse 5 says, a wise man will hear and will increase in learning and a man of understanding. shall attain unto wise counsels." And I believe Brother Lewis has done that before us. He's a man that also loves his family deeply. He speaks highly of his wife. He speaks highly of his daughter and his love for his daughter. He speaks highly of his parents and his brothers. his grandparents, all his family, and even the family he is married into, he speaks highly of them. To me, that is great strength of character, that he loves his family. He never speaks down towards them, always lifts them up. He is a man who, in the Church of God, he speaks highly. of each and every member of the Church of God here at Ripley Church and elsewhere. When he goes other places and preaches, he comes back and he speaks well of those places that he has been at. To me, that is a great characteristic and a man of high character for Lewis. I appreciate that in you and I love you for that. Under that character, he also has great leadership ability. And being a leader, he has and has shown the ability to lead and he is led by God most importantly. There was a time in this church when Brother Lewis was very young. He hadn't been here just a real long time, but we were without a pastor. And Brother Lewis stepped in for us many, many times, preaching the Word of God, bringing us great sound wisdom from God's Word, leading us by his example, encouraging us to walk the straight walk, encouraged us to stick together. encouraged us to follow Christ. And he did that many, many times. And it was difficult. It was difficult for a young man, a man who was not ordained, a man who was just practicing ministry to get up and encourage the church along. And he did that very, very well. And that gave us great, great strength and led us along to where we are today, where God has led us. And also, what strikes me most is his passion. Passion is an intense, a driving, an over-mastering feeling or conviction. I truly believe that Brother Lewis has a great passion for God's Word. He has a passion for God's people. He has a passion for the Church of God. He has a passion for this church here, Ripley Church. He has a passion for pointing others to Christ. He has a passion for preaching the gospel. His passion for his family. As we all know, none of these things can be done outside of the work of the Holy Spirit, outside of God's calling, outside of the saving shed blood of Jesus Christ. Brother Lewis, we see all those things in you and we thank you for that. I'll just speak on a personal note, Brother Lewis, I love you. I love you so much and just have been so encouraged by your leadership, by your passion, by your character. here to me personally, but to our congregation. I know there's times even in our deacons meetings that Berlouis has sat in on And a lot of times we'll get to discussing this and that back and forth and can't come up with maybe the right decision. But Lewis is always the one who says, guys, guys, what does it say in the word of God? What does the word of God say about this executive? And we'll say what it is. And he said, well, then there's no question. There's no question about what to do. And he has always done that before us. It's a very great strength to me and to this church. And I thank you for it. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone that's come today. This is not, it's not all about Brother Lust. We'll be glorifying God. And he's the one that has ordained this day to come to pass. I'm just thankful that I can be just a little small part And through the years, past years, since I've known Brother Lewis, since he come in our group and my family, I've noticed and seen and watched Brother Lewis grow as this church has grown. And as Brother Aaron has mentioned, we've had trials and we'll continue to have trials and some that we thought was devastating. My brother Lewis is like that man that I mentioned, and I'm going to read it because I'm afraid I'll misquote it. Psalm 32, 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whom spirit is no guile. And he is proven to be a man who is certainly not deceitful. That's one of the sins in the Bible that God speaks of a number of different times. We all have it. But God has appointed some to rise above them because he told them, Nathaniel, I believe it was, that here's a man, an Israelite, which is no God. So I do believe, without a doubt, God has appointed some over others to do certain things. In fact, in Romans 12, I believe, it says it gives different gifts. So there's no shame in believing and knowing that, man, he's got more gifts than I have in a lot of ways. And we should be overly thankful for that, to glorify God. This is all about glorifying God today. I believe that Brother Lewis was ordained before he was ever born to be a minister. And God has prepared him during all these years and since I've known him, He wrote me a letter about two months ago. Boy, I'd love to read it, but of course I won't. I don't believe it'd be appropriate. But when I got through reading it, I thought, well, if I was wise enough to put good words on a piece of paper, I'd write back to him and tell him exactly what he told me, because I love him that much. And he'd love them to put those things on paper. And only God knows what all he said. But see, he's a man that can be trusted. And you actually find these things out to a period of time. It's like a marriage. You don't know just exactly what's going to happen during the honeymoon. It's all great and nice and everything's rosy. But as you get on down the track and on down the rough roads and falling ditches and all that kind of stuff, have difficulties, then you can really tell whether a person's going to bail out or not. Brother Lewis won't bail. I trust him. And I trust him because I trust in God and what I've seen in him. He's a wise man. He loves his family. And I just don't believe that he would, he's always, for the most, I've noticed in the time that he's been here since Brother Isaac, you know, that's another miracle that's happened here at this church because, you know, we went a long time without a pastor. And Brother Isaac, he left us kind of blank. We didn't know what he was going to do after two or three years, a long time. He kept us guessing. But God, when God does something, there's no guesswork. I'll tell you people, when God does something, things move. And most of the time, people don't move in the right direction until God does it. Now, we are responsible. I understand that. I don't take that away from us. But I'll tell you, we can't claim nothing good outside of the mercy of God. And I can prove that through my own life. But through the years that he's been here, and Brother Isaac, I've seen God mold those two men together. Their hearts are kind of knitted together, kind of like Johnson and David. And there must be a lot of strength in Brother Isaac. And Brother Isaac is certainly a big strength to him, and they'll work together. I'm looking forward to God doing great things. I'll tell you, I'm not a charismatic, but I certainly believe that God does things when He gets ready and on His timing. And usually he does not bless a person or group of people unless there's deep obedience and a great love for the Holy Spirit in their lives. And so we must love one another. And Brother Lewis will not fade. I'll tell you, if he doesn't, then by God's grace, he will not. This is a great day. I'll tell you, I look forward to I don't want to make no fairytales out of things that I say, but today may be a springboard. Who knows? It may be just a leap. There's times that I read in the Bible that God appears to a group of people. You read it in Wilson Thompson's book time and time again. He could feel God's Spirit moving in a group and people would come in weeping and just fold up under the Holy Spirit of God. It wasn't nothing that just somebody said. It was the Holy Spirit was working. But it's what people does. It's wanting to be obedient and being in the hands of God that brings that on. I don't believe the rebellious people gets much of that. So I thank God that he has blessed this place already before Brother Lewis come along. But he's an addition here that God added and has been a great asset. I praise the Lord. Thank you, brother, Aaron, brother Claude. What a blessing that was. We now come to the part of the service that for me is my favorite part of the service, we really have an option to to do this or not do this, really. The church has determined here that the Lewis has been called to the ministry. They sound in the faith. But what a blessing it is to be able to stand up before God and men. and to proclaim the everlasting truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to stand on the fundamentals of the faith of Jesus Christ, the fundamentals that have always been true because God has always been, God is. To stand on these truths and to proclaim the truths that we believe God's word to teach as he has revealed to us from his word and through his spirit and most particularly through the revelation of Jesus Christ who reveals God to us perfectly. Now, when you read about the qualifications of a pastor, of an elder, of a leader of a church, you read about him being apt to teach the truths of God's word, to be able to open God's word up and unveil it for the people, to give sense of it for the people. But the majority of the qualifications that you read about are qualifications regarding moral integrity, character, his personal walk with God, his personal devotion to faithfulness, to integrity, to walking with God in the in the in the open before the church and to walking with God in the night when no one is around. When I went to the ordination service for Brother Matt Carpenter at Gadsden Church, Brother Mike Rogers had a list there of some questions that he had gone over with Brother Matt and his wife in private, and so I asked him for a copy of that. And I won't go over that with you today, but a couple of weeks ago, I had the great joy of sitting in the home of Brother Lewis and Sister Abby and being able to ask them these probing Deeply probing questions. I asked Brother Lewis the question and I asked Sister Abby if she could verify that these things were true regarding his moral integrity and his personal walk with God, his integrity in the home. It was a formality for me in some ways because I know Brother Lewis very well. We've had a very close walk these last three or four years. But it was more than a formality. What a blessing it was to be able to, with tears in our eyes and lumps in our throats, say that by the grace of God, he is what he is. And may we, as witnesses today, may we lift him up and all these men of God up in prayer that our moral and integrity and our walk with God may never be compromised. to the destruction of our name, the destruction of the glory of God. But may God's glory shine brightly as we live in the quiet of the night when no one's around for Jesus Christ walking worthy of the Lord. unto all pleasing. And so now I'm going to ask for the tendency to come up and ask these questions. And you'll pray for Bill Lewis, that he would be able to fight the nerves and just be able to proclaim. And it's impossible to do this in two minute segments, but you have to try to do that. Proclaim these truths of God's word. Amen, amen to all that's been said. Well, Lewis, would you please first Describe to us your belief of what makes up the written revelation of God to man. And is there any additional revelation that we should be looking for other than the word of God, other than the Holy Bible, the scriptures? I believe that the canon, the books that we have in the Old Testament, books that we have in the New Testament are what makes up God's revealed word, his written word to us. I believe that's complete. In Jude 1 3, he admonishes the people there that they would contend earnestly for the faith that's once for all delivered to the saints. I believe that the nature of God's Word as well. I believe that scripture is God-breathed. We can get that back from the Old Testament. The Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. All these prophets, as they would prophesy, as they would preach, as they would bring the message, it wasn't as if they were coming up with things on their own or that they just pulled something out of a hat. The Word of the Lord was coming to them, and then they were revealing to the people, teaching to people, what God had revealed to them. We get that in 2 Peter 1, 23, 21. It wasn't as if they again were just coming up with their own stuff. The Holy Spirit moved them and they spoke and they spoke the message of God. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, God's word is God breathe or they say all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That inspiration is breathed out by God. It's profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished into all good works. And so God's word is breathed out by God. There are no, I believe every single word is inspired by God, even though that back in the Old Testament, New Testament as well, Paul doesn't write the same way as Peter. They have different mannerisms, different styles. I believe that every word was inspired by God. I also believe that the word of God is sufficient for all of our needs. I believe that. I believe it's sufficient for all that we need, that the man of God may grow into maturity. full maturity there. First Peter says it's our nourishment that we might be nourished by the Word of God. It's our milk and our meat. I believe the Word of God is perfect. Psalm 119, 96. I believe it's pure. Psalm 12, 6. And I believe that it is true or flawless. Proverbs 30, verse 5. Amen. Amen, brother. Brother Lewis, would you come also and describe for us your understanding of the nature and the character of God, including what we call the Trinity? In Isaiah, chapter 40. Starting in verse 18. What God says. He says, To whom will you liken God, or what likeness will you compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over a gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh to him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. Have you not known, have you not heard, Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sit upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers that stretches out that I'm sorry, that stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as to dwell in. That bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth. And he shall also blow up on them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One?" And I wanted to read that before I said anything about God, to just say, who could we compare God to? God is incomparable. What words could we use? What really thoughts could we put into words outside of God's revealed word to us about his own character? What could we say to fully reveal the nature of God, to fully communicate the nature of God? And obviously the answer to that is out of God's own revelation to us and our own limitations in our mind. Nothing. There's no comparison. There's no comparison to really grasp the full nature of God. But just because we don't know everything doesn't mean that we know nothing about God. So the first thing I want to say about God and his nature and his essence is John 4, 24. God is a spirit. God is a spirit. It's important for us to know that because God as a spirit must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Second thing, God is self-sufficient. In Exodus 3, he comes to Moses and he says, tell them that I am sent me. Tell them that I am sent me. Self-sufficient. Does it need anything else? It doesn't need anyone else. God is pure. 1 John 1 5. He's light and there's no darkness in Him. He's too holy to even look upon sin. And so in God's nature, in His essence, He's completely pure. He's eternal. He's holy. He's sovereign. He's omnipotent. He's omnipresent. He's omniscient. He's immutable. He's full of love and mercy. He's full of justice and wrath. He's good and God is always right. Worship God. Worship God. What were you saying? The Trinity. OK, the Trinity. First thing, God is one God. Deuteronomy 6, 4. Hero Israel, your God is one Lord. He's revealed to us in three persons. And sometimes, again, I want to go back to the whole idea that we really don't understand God. I can't really compare anything to God. And we're talking about persons. I'm not talking about me, Brother Timothy and Brother Zach morphing into. We don't know what that is. So, you can call it persons, personalities, subsistences, whatever you want to call it. We're talking about one God that's revealed in three persons, one what, three who's. We know that the Father's God, that's John 5, I think it's John 5, 6, 5, 26. The Son is God, John 1 through 5. And the Holy Spirit is God, Acts 3-4. These persons of the Godhead are distinct. We can make distinctives, but we can't make separations there. We find in Jesus' baptism that the Son was baptized, the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, and the Father was well pleased with the Son there. We also find in John 8, 14 through 18, as the Pharisees are challenging Christ and they say, you know, you bear witness to yourself, but your witness is not true. And Christ says, look, I do bear witness to myself, but I'm not the only one. My father bears witness of me. And in your law, you take two witnesses. You take a truth from two witnesses. He says, I'm one witness. My father's the other witness. And then in first Peter, chapter one, we get the Trinity and the whole scheme of salvation that they've been elected by God, by God, the father. by the foreknowledge of God the Father unto sanctification of the Spirit, I'm sorry, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ. And so they are one God, or we have one God, and he's revealed in three distinct but not separate persons. Brother Lewis, would you come forth and define your understanding of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God? Sovereignty of God, just a couple of verses before I. Before I give the definition here, Psalm 115, three, our God is in the heavens, he's done whatsoever he will or he's done whatsoever he's pleased. Daniel 435, he does what he he does, his will works, his will among the armies of heaven and heavens of the earth. None can stay as and are saying to him, what do you say? Isaiah 46, 5 through 10, he says, To whom will you liken me? We get that again. And make me equal and compare me that we may be alike. They lavish gold out of the bag and they weigh silver in the balance. The higher goldsmith and he maketh it a god. They fall down. Yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder. They carry him and set him in his place and he standeth from his place. He shall not be removed, yea, one crime to him, yet can he not answer nor save out of his trouble. Remember this and show yourselves men. Bring it again to mind. Oh, you transgressors. Remember the former things of old. For I am God and there is none else. I'm God and there is none like me. declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. What does it mean that God's sovereign? It means that God does what he wants to do, uninfluenced, unhindered, without counsel from anything outside of him, outside of his own self. And so as God works his will and he does work his will, he's in heaven, he does whatever he pleases, whatever he wants to do as he works his will. He does that because it's good. He does it because it's good. And so whenever we talk about the sovereignty of God, the first thing I want to say about that, I guess, would be the second thing outside of God being completely sovereign is that his sovereignty is good. His sovereignty is good. And so as we look at it, we got to get our point of reference from God. for good. We don't come up with our own good and then see if God fits our model. We look to God to define good for us and then we get our definition there. So God is completely sovereign over all. He's sovereign over humanity. Proverbs 21 1. He turns the heart of the king with his whoever will. He's sovereign over creation. Psalm 148 8. He talks about the fire, the hail, the snow, the vapor, the stormy wind fulfilling his word. Also, in Job chapter 38, 8 through 12, he speaks of God who puts bounds around the seas. He puts a line and says, you proud waves can come here and no further. We also get that when we look at the sun as he was on Earth. He walked on water as if it were land. He was able to walk like it was nothing. He was sovereign over that. He commands the waves. He speaks to them, the winds, the waves, the storms, and they're calm. And so he's sovereign over creation. And then he is Sovereign over salvation and Ezekiel chapter 36 and I do want to go here and read. Ezekiel chapter 36. And I'm going to start in verse 22, Ezekiel 36, 22, he says, therefore, saying to the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake. So House of Israel, but for my holy namesake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whether you win and I will sanctify my great name. which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of the countries and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you will be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Will I cleanse you? I want you to know how many times God is saying, I, I'm going to take you from among the heathen. I'm going to sprinkle you with clean water and I'm going to clean you. A new heart also will I give you and the spirit will put in you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and you shall keep my judgments and do them. And so you could keep going and I can remember several months ago studying this passage and just being amazed and going through and highlighting every time God says I and God is doing everything in this verse. He's calling the people out. He's cleansing the people. He's causing them to walk in his way. He's the one that's doing the work and the people and then they respond as they can't resist the sovereignty of God. And so he's sovereign over creation, he's sovereign over humanity, he's sovereign over salvation. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Brother Lewis, come and tell us your understanding of the person of Jesus Christ. The person of Jesus Christ, he was 100% God, 100% man, Isaiah 9, 6. For unto us a child is born, for unto us a son is given. We get the humanity of Christ and that he was born. He was born of a virgin. We get the virgin birth, but we also get the eternality of Christ and that the son was given. The son that came as a lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. The one who was with God from all eternity in John 1. And so we have humanity and we have the deity in one person. Matthew 118 through 25. I've said this already, but he was born of a virgin. Immaculate conception there. A miraculous birth. People that knew Christ. I think it's important that Christ was a man. He was 100% human. He wasn't a This is not downplay it but he wasn't a man who was so empowered you can't separate the nature but he was so empowered that he never thirst or never hunger or never had any of the common things that we have. He was a human. Those who knew him thought he was just a regular guy. There's a passage in Matthew. I think it's Matthew chapter 5 and it speaks of Christ's fame going, it's not Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter, I don't know, something. His fame goes way out and the people are coming from all over to get healed and have their diseases healed and just to see him. And then when he goes back to his hometown, the response from his hometown is, what? This is just the carpenter's son. Isn't this Joseph's son? This is the guy that does the carpenter work? And so they just thought he was an ordinary man. He was fully human. But that's, that's, That's not where we leave it. I mean, that's just not all he was. Not only was he human, but he was eternal and eternally God. I'm going to go to I'm sorry, the gospel of John, chapter one. I do want to read it for this gospel of John, chapter one. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And Him was life, and the life was the light of man, and the light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." We get just the plain language that we read here, that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, the Word was with God. points to the fact that Jesus Christ was God. But outside of that, the little word was W.A.F., the word was, there's two different Greek words that's used in about the first 15, 18 verses of the Gospel of John. And if we were to really kind of expand this out or stretch out the real meaning, it would say in the beginning, the word eternally existed. And the word existed with God and the word existed as God. The same was in the beginning with God. And then all things were made by him and without him was not anything made. That's not the same word there. So God, even the grammar in the text points to the eternality of Christ, the Godhead of Christ there. So he's fully human, fully man. Fully God, Colossians 2, 9, in him the fullness of the Godhead dwells. He's sinless, Hebrews 4, 15, and he's our Redeemer, 1 Peter 1, 18 through 20. He's full of compassion. He's full of grace. He's full of mercy. He's the God man. He's Jesus Christ. He's our Savior. Praise God. Brother Lewis, come and tell us what you believe about the creation of the world. I believe the creation account in Genesis chapter one, I believe that because I by faith embrace the sufficiency of scripture, the inspiration of scripture, that what we have here is the account that came from God, that God's spirit really did move men and that it really did come from God. And so when I embrace Genesis chapter one, it's because of my faith in God that embraces that. And that goes for every other question that I'm going to answer here. Now what I believe about that is that God created the world in six literal days and he actually rested on the seventh 24 hour day. I believe that for a couple of reasons. Number one in the text we find that the days are measured or as they would as he would end a day of creation he would say the evening and the morning was the whatever day. So he's measuring there. And then when we get to Genesis chapter one, verse 14, God creates the sun and the moon. And then when he gets down to the end of that day, he begins to describe their function. And one of those functions that we might measure time. And so God is measuring time, giving us a reference point where we could measure time through the sun and the moon. And then the last one. In Exodus chapter 20, as God has given the commandment about keeping the Sabbath holy, God's point there is you need to put a day, a literal day, 24-hour day, aside. It's the Sabbath day. Put this aside. You don't work. You don't do anything on that. And then God uses for an illustration the Sabbath day in creation. And illustrations, by their very nature, are used to clarify a principle to clarify whatever's being told. And so as God points there, he says, just like I rested on the seventh day back there in Genesis and creation, you rest on the Sabbath day. And so morning and evening, the sun and the moon and the fact that God would use that for an illustration to talk about a 24 hour day. I believe that all that was done in six days. God rested on the seventh 24 hour days. Brother Lewis, you've talked to us about the nature of God and the purity and the holiness of God. Now, let's talk about the nature of man. Is man good or is man fallen? And if man is fallen, can man recover himself from his fallen condition? The Bible teaches that we are, when I say we, man is the nature of man. We are all fallen in Adam. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. We have all, we all, Romans 8, are habitually influenced by our depravity. It's not as if we wouldn't want to be that way by our nature, but we love it. We love it. We've got a dog at home that loves to chew, and I got up this morning after trying to get all the trash where it needed to be. And Abby looked outside and said, I thought you're supposed to put the trash bag wherever it was supposed to go. And I said, I didn't put it where it was supposed to go. And I looked outside and there was plastic everywhere. And the dog just chewed it up. And I get mad at the dog and I slap the dog in the face. And when he does all that, and I try to get him to stop. But listen, that's his nature. He's being a dog. Whenever I leave, whenever while we're gone right now, he's going to find something and she's going to chew on it. And then when I give her another spanking, she's going to find something else and she's going to chew on it because that's her nature. And so in the same way, we love sin by nature. We love the opposite of righteousness by nature. Not only do we love it, but we crave it. We embrace it. We run headlong into it. And outside of the sovereign grace of God, we can do nothing about it. And as I say that, I say that and you can look and people have been trying, men have been trying for a long, long time to fix man's nature. And it hadn't happened. Freud thought he had the key. He thought if he could get the subconscious of men and alter that a little bit, then we'd be fixed. It didn't work. Adler thought that if we could just change the way we think a little bit, then we wouldn't be so messed up. It didn't work. Other guys thought that if they could just alter our behavior and, you know, kind of give us a bone or a treatment and we did things well, then we would forsake wickedness and go to righteousness. It doesn't work. But what does work is when Jesus Christ takes that stony heart, that rebellious heart, and replaces it with a heart made of flesh. And then you're able to hunger and you're able to thirst after right. You're able to see where you are and who you are. Not only that, but you're able to see that there's hope for you. There's a place for you. There's a person for you that has died, taking your sin upon him and giving you his righteousness that you would walk wholly before God. We get Our sin, let me just say this, just for technicality's sake, our sin is both inherited, it is embraced as well. We are fallen in Adam, but again, we love sin by nature. It's great to us, it's just like that bag of garbage that my dog just cannot leave alone. That's exactly the way we are with sin. Exactly the way we are with sin. Brother Lewis, what do you believe about the doctrine of election? I believe that Ephesians 4.1, I'm sorry, Ephesians 1.4, I believe that we were chosen in God before the foundation of the world. I believe that God had a people in mind, that God has chosen his people. before the foundation of the world. I believe that God's choice is not based on anything that we merit, anything that we do, but it's based on his purpose and on his will and his will, not any merit that's found or foreseen in us. The act of election in first Peter chapter one is attributed to God the father. And I believe that we don't believe I do believe, but the scripture reveals to us that we are elect unto obedience to the blood of Jesus Christ. So our election is unto obedience. So I believe it's from the foundation of the world. not based on what we do, and we are elected unto obedience and blood of Jesus Christ. Brother Lewis, for whom do you believe that Jesus Christ died for on the cross? And in that death, what did he accomplish? Matthew, chapter one, verse twenty one, he shall save his people from their sin. Who did Christ come to redeem? Who did Christ die for? And the Gospel of John, chapter six. Gospel of John, chapter six. Verse thirty nine. And this is the father's will, which had sent me that of all which he had given me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up again on the last day. Who did Christ atone for? Christ atoned for those that the father had given him. Over in John, chapter 17, verse nine, as Christ prays, he says, I'm not praying for the world. I'm praying for those that you've given me. In John, chapter Six. Now, John, Chapter 10, he refers again and again, I'm the good shepherd. I come to give my life for the sheep. And then as the Pharisees would come and they would say, well, tell us again, are you the Christ? If you are, show us something. He says, look, the reason that you don't believe me, the reason you're not listening to what I'm saying, because you're not of my sheep. And so Christ came to die for his sheep. It's a particular sheep. It's a sheep that was given him by the father before the world ever began. It was the sheep that God elected back there. And Christ came to redeem them. to atone for them in his earthly ministry in Isaiah 53. verses 5, 8, 11 through 12, we find that Christ completely accomplished redemption for his people. Completely accomplished. He didn't get it halfway. He didn't leave it all out, but one, he completely accomplished redemption for his people. What has atonement accomplished? Christ was a sacrifice for his people. He put away sin by the sacrificing of himself. That's Hebrews 9, 26. He's our propitiation. God is not mad at us anymore. He doesn't have wrath. His intentions toward us are not full of wrath. because all that wrath that were to fall upon us for our sin has been taken, quenched, satisfied by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He has reconciled us back to God where we were estranged. The relationship, fellowship was broken there. He has brought us back to God. That's 2 Corinthians 5.18. And then he has redeemed us, bought us back from the slave market of sin and Satan. And that is 2 Corinthians 4.3-6. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Brother Lewis, would you talk to us about the doctrine of irresistible grace? When we talk about the doctrine of irresistible grace, We're talking about regeneration. That's what I'm talking about when I'm talking about irresistible grace. And I just want to say that before I say anything about irresistible grace, if we go back to our nature just to kind of make a connection here, is that in our natural state, before God does anything with us, we're in a state of irresistible sin. We can't resist it. That's all we want. It's our nature. And so what happens when we regenerate? What happens when we talk about irresistible grace? It's the fact that our nature changes. God comes in and does a great change, a great work. in our life. And so I want to start by saying that regeneration is a sovereign immediate work of God. There's no assistance on our part. There's no assistance on anyone else's part. God does the regenerating. He regenerates through his spirit sovereignly and immediately. Colossians 1 3. He translates us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. John 3 3 through 8 as Christ would speak about the spirit and compare it to the wind. Man is completely passive. John 1 3. He says it's not. Let me go there so I don't mess it up. John 1 3. Not 1 3. 1 13. He says, But as many received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed in his name, which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Over in Romans chapter nine, he would say it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that has mercy. And so when we speak about regeneration, we're talking again about something that God does. Regeneration must happen before anyone can or will of hunger or thirst after God before they will ever see their need of God. Before they are able to see anything in Christ that's attractive. No man can come to me unless the Father draws him. Or, as he would go on a couple of verses later, unless the Father grants it. Whenever we get into Acts, we find that Lydia in Acts chapter 16 verse 14 is listening to Paul Preach, and it says that God had opened up her heart and then she responded to the gospel. So God opened her heart first. And then in 2 Corinthians 4, 3 through 6, God shines his light into our hearts. And then we receive the gospel of Jesus Christ or the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Brother Lewis, what is your understanding of the purpose of the gospel? The purpose of the gospel is to bring life and immortality to life. That's 1 Timothy 1 10. It turns the light on in a dark room. When God regenerates us, when God puts his spirit in our hearts, it's not as if we're plugged up to a jump drive and all of a sudden we understand everything that we'll ever understand about God. Salvation is a process. It's something that you grow in, something that you mature in. And so the purpose of the gospel is to be our map as we mature, as we live, as we relate to God. It's a light that brings light and immortality to life. It's the good news, Romans 10, 5. It's God's dynamite power, Romans chapter 1. It's powerful in the life of a believer. The gospel comforts, it convicts, it nourishes, it encourages, it liberates, and it has a sanctifying effect in the life of a Christian. Tell us your understanding of the doctrine of the preservation and perseverance of the saints. All right. And as we talk about preservation, perseverance of the saints, I'm talking about sanctification, sanctification, becoming more and more like Jesus Christ, God continuing that work that he's begun in you. So I want to go to or the first place I want to reference, I guess, is First Thessalonians four, three through seven. And I just want to say that sanctification is the will of God. It's the will of God for your life. God is active in our sanctification, but in our own sanctification, we're not completely passive. Paul says, look, if anybody wants to win a race, they don't just stand around. They don't just pull up the river. He says, you strive to be temperate, self-controlled in all things. He says, I bucket my body. I keep it under subjection, lest after I preach, I might be a castaway. And so it's something that God's involved in. It's something that God works in us. And then we work it out. And I'm going to go there for some scripture. So I'm not just, you know, I'm not just It's his will, he does his will, Daniel 4.35, we're kept by the power of God, that's 1 Peter 1.5, it's a continuous work, a lifelong process, that's Philippians 1.6, we're working out what God has worked in. 12 through 13. And then I want to say this about sanctification. Sanctification is a struggle. It's warfare. Romans 7. Paul says, good grief. Whenever I would do good, evil is present with me. Those things that I wish I did, I don't do those things that I wish I didn't do. Those are the things that I do. Who shall deliver me from the body of the sin? And he says, I thank God for Jesus Christ. Sanctification is a struggle. It's a struggle, but it's occurring. If you're a believer, if you're in Jesus Christ, it's occurring in your life. And then the end result of sanctification is that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That's Romans 8, 29. Just to follow up, and you can answer yes or no on this one, do you believe that one is ever truly saved by God's grace, can lose that gift of salvation? No. Praise God. Would you describe for us the nature of the church? The nature of the church. In Matthew 16, 18, we find that the church was God's, Christ's idea. Christ started the church. It wasn't something that men just came up with. It wasn't something that people thought might be a good idea, and so folks started meeting and doing this and that. It was established, it was started, and it's sustained by Jesus Christ. The church is to be a pillar and ground of the truth, and its highest priority is to uphold the truth of Jesus Christ. Well, I don't want to say that. It's highest priority is to uphold the truth of Jesus Christ. It's God's house. God meets with his people in a special way there, 1 Timothy 3, 15. And the church is a place, if I could just piggyback off the last question, the church is a place where sanctification occurs, that's Ephesians 4, 8 through 16, as we are all being brought up, nourished up together in the faith. We are being brought to a unity in the faith. And God is using us to sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron. We're learning from the older. We are edifying each other. And matter of fact, we're putting all those one another's to practice. It's not that does not to say that those are exclusively bound to the church. But it is to say that the church is a congregation of believers that are being called out who meet on a regular basis, who minister to each other on a regular basis, who have opportunity to love one another on a regular basis. and actually put their faith and their practice into use. It's one thing to say, hey, I love everybody. It's quite another thing to say, I love the person that gets on my nerves back there that I see every Sunday, and I just can't get it right. Two completely different things. And so you go from generic to pretty specific in working out what God has called us to be in the Gospels. Quick follow up on that one as well. You can answer yes or no. There's some people that say, you know what? Jesus started this church, but it went out of existence. And Joseph Smith or Alexander Campbell Found it again or started it back up again to the institution that Christ started ever quit to lose existence. So tell us in talking about the nature of the church and the life of the church. What is the significance of baptism? And along with that, the significance was the proper mood. Romans, Chapter six is where I want to start. Romans chapter six. Let's start in verse three, no, you know that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as the Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. I want to say this about baptism, that it does not it does not cleanse anybody from sin. There's no magical thing that happens at baptism that washes away any kind of filth that's there. That's first. I'm sorry. Yeah. First Peter 321. But what it does is it is it identifies the believer with Jesus Christ. He says, I want to identify with his death, with his burial, with his resurrection. And so whenever whenever we talk about baptism or the meaning of baptism, the significance of baptism, its significance or I guess its picture is that of the believer saying, I was I believe by faith that I was in Christ and that he is paid for my sins and that he was as he as he was died and he was buried and he rose again, that I was there with him. He was my covenant head, as it were, took the place of where I was in Adam and now I'm there in Christ. Proper mode for baptism is immersion. We get that just from the Greek word, the baptizo, is to dip or to immerse. And when I say dip, I don't mean dip like this. I mean dip something into something else. But not only that, if we're going to picture the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, it's immersion that does the picture there. And so we believe, I believe, that the Bible teaches that baptism is the believer identifying himself with Christ, and then they are to be immersed. We get that, again, through the Word, through the regular principle as far as interpretation of Scripture. In Acts 8.36-38, I believe in believer's baptism. Christ didn't, or none of the church fathers or biblical writers ever said anything about folks just being baptized for the sake of being baptized. We were being identified with Christ. I believe I was in Christ whenever I'm, whenever he was there. And so I identify, I believe, and I'm baptized. And then baptism is an ordinance that is given and is carried out in the church. That's Matthew 28, 16 through 20. Two more questions left for all those who want to know. Talking about the church, what are the two offices in the church and describe their function? Beginning of the Philippian letter, Paul greets the church and then he greets the elders and the deacons also. The two offices in the church are the elders and the deacons. The first one I want to talk about are the elders. The fact that they are biblically established as an office in the church. In Titus 1-5, Paul said, I left you in Crete so that you might go and establish or appoint elders in all the churches that were there. In 1 Peter, Chapter 5. 1 Peter, Chapter 5. Verse one, he says, the elders which are among you, I exhort who am also an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Paul greets the elders there. And then if we're going to go ahead and get into the function, I'll just get into it here. The elders are to be teachers there to feed the flock, the words of God. They're to feed and teach and explain and encourage, be an example of what they're teaching. And then they're also to lead God's church. And again, it's not a dictatorship, as Peter would lay out here. It's not as if they're constraining or taking leadership by constraint. but by their character, by their dealings with the people, their understanding with the people, they willingly follow the people there, or the pastors there, the elders there. The second one is the deacons. We find the deacons in Acts chapter 6. The word deacon just means to serve. In Acts chapter 6, there was some complaining going on. People were getting unfair treatment, and so they appointed spirit-filled men that could carry out administrative work, make sure that these widows were getting the food that they needed, the things that they needed, so that the elders could give themselves continually to prayer and ministry of the word. And so we have pastors, elders, who take the oversight of the flock, they feed the flock, and then we have deacons who serve, spiritually minded men, who serve along those elders and give them the freedom to be able to commit themselves to prayer and ministry of the gospel. Lastly, what is your understanding of what we call the second coming or the final appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ? My understanding of the second coming is that. Number one. It is a physical second coming of Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 1 verse 11, as they watch Christ ascend, the angel comes and he says he will come back the same way that you've just seen him go up. In Romans 8 chapter 11, 8 verse 11, He says, but it's the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by a spirit that dwelleth in you. And so whenever we're talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ, his ascension, his coming back, we're also talking about our resurrection. We'll be resurrected at the time that Jesus Christ comes back. It will be a final judgment will occur there in the Gospel of John, chapter five. Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 28, marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good into the resurrection of life and they that have done evil into the resurrection, resurrection, resurrection of damnation. I believe there's going to be a judgment there. The Bible teaches that Revelation 20, 11. And then I believe that hell is an actual place. Christ speaks about it. It's Backed up by scripture, I want to go to Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14, verse nine, says in the third angel, follow them saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark on his forehead or in his hand. the same should bring to the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture in the cup of his indignation and he should be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the lamb and the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Also in Revelation 20 verse 10. So I believe that Christ is coming back. I believe that we'll be resurrected. The dead will be resurrected. We will rise up to meet him who are still alive. I believe in a final judgment and I believe that hell is an actual place. It's not just an allegory. Yeah. OK, so thank you, Timothy. All those who who are in Christ, all those who Christ died for, who Christ redeemed will be called up and will live with him in glory and will be sinless, sinless. There will be God will wipe away every tear, every sorrow, every heartache, and we will live perfectly still dependent upon God, but perfectly in fellowship with God without any taint of sin, without any struggle towards selfishness or our flesh. And we will live with him. We will praise him. We will see him as he is. And we will love God for eternity. That's all the questions I have. Trust everybody's satisfied with that. Thank you, Brother Lewis. Well, I hope that that was exhaustive, but not even close to being exhausting. Yes, that took a while to do, but what a blessing, what a blessing, tremendous blessing to sit here. And as I was listening to Brother Lewis speak, I thought back to not just the heart of gratitude, not just to God for calling him out of darkness into his own marvelous light, for making him love God. I love Brother Lewis' testimony, a testimony of one who, for a long period of life, these things were just dull and dreary topics you can imagine. He sat on a pew all through his growing up years, and then something changed. And that something is what he described today. He described the work of the Holy Spirit in his life, in the lives of God's people. I'm also very thankful to the men of God who have been an influence in Lewis's life and who have taught him. And I thank God for when he met Abby and that he was able to come here and learn from Brother Mike Strebel for a systematic study for a period of several years and then for the opportunity for me to be able to be a part of his of his his fellowship these last few years. And I just praise God for the truth that he has proclaimed. May Ripley Church, our hearts be full of gratitude this day for what God has done. Now I'm going to ask the elders to assemble and to gather at the front and have Elder Lewis kneel down. And according to scripture, this is the work of setting them apart for the gospel ministry. I ask Elder Herb Hatfield to lead us in prayer as we lay hands upon him. Let's just kneel down here in front. If you'll go with me in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we come here with great joy in our hearts that we have indeed given evidence that you have been manifest in this world and life, that you have indeed called me unto your benediction. We do not believe that it's in the power of Him to do this, but we are here simply to recognize what we believe that He may have ordained and what He would have taught us in the past in Bethlehem, Jerusalem. We thank You for His testimony. We thank You for His character. We thank You for His knowledge that we've been pleased to instill into it. We pray that your Holy Spirit, indeed, without killing every day of his life, guide him, give him an understanding of his scriptures, even more so than what he has benefited here today, that we have experienced ourselves, that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May you be pleased, dear Lord, that you blessed his life with longevity, blessed his wife that would be his assistant and helpmate. Then, dear Father, I pray that in the years to come that you would be made known to the world indeed that this man was called to God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and was faithful to the Word of God throughout his life. Guide us, dear Father, in your service. Bless his ministry here, his church, in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. As the elders sit back down, we're going to have what's called Charge next. Paul, Charge, Timothy, welcome to the ministry. Let's stand up for a moment with our legs and sing a verse of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Come, thou palt of every blessing, to my heart, using thy grace.