Thank you, gentlemen. Ezra chapter 4 this morning, Ezra chapter number 4. Brother Hooks, who preached in chapel on Monday, I was so glad that he was able to come. His message on submission, you may sit there and think, well, yeah, you probably really like that for us students. I want you to know I was helped by it as well. And he told me before the service, he said, you know, I was tempted to buy you a girl's bicycle helmet and present it to you so that you wouldn't hurt your head anymore. And that's what true friends will do for you right there. And I'm glad that he didn't do anything. I had another pastor I just saw this last weekend, and he was prepared to do something similar, but he said he just didn't know how I felt. So I was glad that... I assume, though, I'll probably get some helmets in the future. And so if you see the guy in the hallway with the helmet, you know who it is. But I appreciate your prayers. People ask how I'm doing. Probably the biggest thing that I have right now is no sense of smell whatsoever. Now, that can be a blessing, but it also is a little bit different. My wife, the other day, she was cooking something in a crock pot. My son, Jared, he walked in and he said, man alive, that smells great. And I said, really? I said, I don't smell anything. And so I went over to the crockpot, and I lifted the lid, and I didn't smell anything, but I burned my face really good. So anyway, I'm going to let my curiosity wane, and hopefully it'll reoccur. The doctor told me the next four to six weeks, hopefully some of these things will return back to normal and sometimes even takes months, but that's the biggest thing that we deal with now and so just glad to be able to be back in several hours a day, be able to mix and mingle with you, teach an evangelist class and get back to preaching, not just preaching in chapel, but hearing the chapel messages and they're just a great thing. You don't realize sometimes what you have until you miss it and I've enjoyed getting back into the flow of things. Ezra chapter 4 this morning, a different type of message. One that my goal is, is in your four years here at Ambassador, you'll at least hear it four times. It's called building the walls of Ambassador. Now, I want to emphasize a couple of different things this time around for some of you that say, well, I've heard this thing twice already and some way that things are changing in Christian school landscapes and such. But let me make a couple of disclaimers before I read our text and we begin. Number one, I know that there are other schools out there that do things differently than we do. And by preaching this message, I'm just saying this is what we are. My goal is not to stack you up against other schools and say we're number one and they're trash. However, you know, other schools put their stakes in the ground about such things as accreditation. And they're given that privilege. And I think we ought to be given the privilege to explain why we're not. There are schools that show there are certain distinctives and such, and there's nothing wrong with that. And that's what this message mainly does. And like Brother Comfort said, and I echo his sentiments from years ago, if there was a school-like ambassador already there, this school would have never been started. And if there was a school-like ambassador today, I wouldn't be very interested in just duplicating somebody else's efforts. And so today I want to explain to you some philosophical things for you freshmen. Some of this you've heard in freshman orientation, others of it you haven't. For those of you that are upperclassmen, listen, I think a message like this also bears some great importance in teaching you a philosophy. And I want you to look this way. There's a younger generation today that does not think twice about going into a ministry and taking it into an opposite direction than what it was founded upon. And that's dishonest. That's not just a doctrinal and philosophical problem, that's a character issue. And it's important to me, not just for the sake of Brother Comfort starting the school, but what I believe God founded this place to be, for it to continue in the way that it has been for the last 26 years. And young people, when you go into a ministry, listen, if you're different Your philosophy is different, then don't stay there and try to change it and undermine. The best thing you can do is go to a place that's like you. Go to a place that has that same burden. And there's a lot of that that takes place, and I hope that as you're dreaming now of what God would have you do in the future, I hope that you will determine, hey, God calls me to a place, that's a place where I fit philosophically, and boy, we're going to row in the same direction. That's the way it needs to be, and I thank God for our faculty and staff that exhibits that in their lives and ministries. All right, Ezra chapter 4, verse number 12, different kind of message this morning. The Bible says, "...be it known unto the king that the Jews which came up from thee to us are coming to Jerusalem, building the rebellious and bad city, and have set up the walls thereof and joined the foundations." All you have to do is read those words, the rebellious and bad city, and you know that these people are not friends of the Jews that are writing. What has happened is the Jews have begun to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The foundations are there, they're building the walls and they're connecting them together. And somebody is upset about it and they write the royalty and they say, listen, if they do this, if they build upon these foundations, and they build these walls." In the very next verse, verse 13, "...be it known now unto the king that if this city be built, and the walls be set up again, then they will not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so shalt thou endamage the revenue of the kings." And what they had done is they had just taken a very pragmatic argument and said, listen, if they rebuild these walls, if they build these walls upon the foundations, then they're not going to pay you taxes and you're going to lose money. They were pulling every card they could to try to persuade the king for this effort to be squashed. Now, that's the context of the message. It's the idea of the Jews rebuilding a wall. Now, I explained that to you, understanding that the context in which we're talking about in Israel is not identical to what I'm mentioning today. But you know as well as I do, for walls to be built, a foundation has to be laid. And that's what happened in Israel today. And young people, let me tell you, in the years preceding 1989 and for the first 20 years of Brother Comfort's time at Ambassador, a foundation was laid at Ambassador. He preached a message, Foundations of Ambassador, almost every year in which he would articulate many of the things that I'm going to articulate to you this morning. And I'll tell you what that message did. That message cemented some things in my own heart and soul. And I had no idea until just a couple, two or three years prior that one day I would be doing what he would do. But you see, I believe that we're at this stage in the ministry here at Ambassador. The foundation has been laid. What is the next thing to do? I'll tell you what it is. It's to build the walls. I'm not interested in just maintaining something. There are some people that are just in maintain mode. Listen, I believe that God wants us to continue to advance here. I believe that some of the best years of this place, and God is the one who determines that, but some of the best years of this place could very well be ahead. But in order to build the walls of this place, it just doesn't start with me. I want you to know it continues with you. Every week I hear from our alumni and they talk about things that they're seeing and trends that they're seeing, and they talk about the training that they receive. But now listen, the foundations are very important. And we're going to explain to you some of those foundations. The Bible gives us several verses that tell us about the importance of foundations. Psalm 11, verse number 3. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? 1 Corinthians 3, 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, it mentions a foundation, but we're going to talk about building the walls, and walls carry great importance. Back in Israel's day, walls were for the sake of defense and protection. Walls are not a bad thing. They were also for sake of identification. Somebody from a distance could look and see the walls of a city and immediately identify which one that it was. And so before I go through some of these aspects this morning, I want to just tell you a little bit about how I even came to play to come as a student and ambassador. Saved around the age of 12 off of a bus route at the age of 15. It was in a neighborhood Bible time rally, and the preacher, a young college student, was preaching. He said, man, you need to give your life to God. You need to be willing to do whatever God wants you to do. And as a public school kid, I waved the white flag that day. I said, all right, Lord, I have no idea, but whatever you want, that's what I want. At the age of 17, in a Wednesday morning revival service, I came forward and surrendered for the ministry. God had been dealing in my heart. And then all of a sudden, it was now what? My dad had passed away when I was 15 years old. I helped my mom financially, and it came to the point where during my senior year of high school that my pastor brought me down to a place called Ambassador Baptist College. It was located at 900 South Post Road, Shelby, North Carolina. Now I believe the Pinnacle Charter School is there. I remember going there. I'd never met Brother Comfort before. He was not there when I came for my visit, but I can still remember sitting in Brother Child's class. I can still remember sitting in chapel, hearing Dr. King, Dr. Charles King, preach a message entitled, Saying a Good Word. I'll never forget it. He preached a message about how that when Saul and Jonathan were killed, he talked about what David said about Saul. And when many of us would have said, that sorry backstabbing, javelin-throwing buzzard, David said they were lovely. I remember walking out of there and I thought, man, this is great. And before we headed out the driveway, I knew that Ambassador was the place that I needed to be. However, I didn't realize some of the harder things that would come after that. Telling your mom who was widowed, who lived on a social security pension that you're going to college, and she was totally supportive of it, but I knew what was going to happen. All of a sudden, her only child being taken away, it was rough for her, it was rough for me. I remember coming to school and mom crying as she left, and I'm sitting in a hallway with a school bill wondering, what in the world is 16 hours of classes? You know, that first semester, there was a lot of growing in my life. I'm going to mention some of it along the way. I'm telling you, I was far from perfect. By the way, I still am not and won't be until I get to heaven. But I'll tell you what, I remember all those things coming into my life. I mean, it was baptism by fire. I was raised in public school. It was wonderful to sit in a class and just talk about the Bible the whole time. That was great. Some of you that were in public school, you can understand the same thing. But I began to learn from the very first day that I was a student some of the things that made this a special place, and I want to reiterate them to you, and I want you to see that some of these things need to translate into your local church ministry. Now, I realize in college and church it's not an identical thing, but I want to talk to you now about some things that, listen, they're important, they're what make this school, and when any of them are stripped away, Ambassador ceases to be what it's supposed to be. All right, number one is that it's a school with a single focus, and that's the ministry. A single focus. You know, through the years, schools have broadened their curriculums and such for various reasons. But listen, we do one thing well. What is that? Teach the Bible and train people for the ministry. That's what we do well. That's what we are called to do. Schools experience financial pressure. We've had financial pressure for 26 years. And you experience that and you think, well, if we can just offer more programs, we can get more people in. But this place has a specific focus, and that's for the ministry. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 1, verse 12, Paul said, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Listen, this ought to be a place where guys in the dorm daydream about pastoring churches. It's okay. You know, one of the benefits that I had in the dormitory... Now, I'm a sports fan, and you know, when I get around Tar Heel fans like Brother Surrett, you know, we can talk about the different things, and we can enjoy how well our team is doing, or we can groan together at how poorly they're doing. But the same camaraderie and even more so ought to be found among our students in talking about the ministry. Guys, we're going to be evangelists. Well, it's okay to talk to other guys about doing the work of an evangelist. Young ladies, talking about serving the Lord, having that common bond, that's not in every Christian college. You know, we want you to think about the pastorate, evangelism, missions, youth pastorate, whatever it may be. Whatever God has called you to do that program, we want you to dream about that. We want you to talk about that. But now there's a dangerous philosophy that I think is being taught in a number of places. Now, I'm not going to be totally exclusive about this. I realize that there may be people who go into third world countries who need another trade in order to get into that country to give the gospel. All right, I'm not going to be unreasonable. But there's a philosophy that is peddled by many well-meaning people that say, well, if you're going to go in the ministry, it's good for you to have something to fall back on. I don't know of another profession that really promotes that. Do you? You know, if you're going to be a doctor, but you can't cut it, I'll tell you what, just take some plumbing classes too. You know, when somebody goes in to be a lawyer, listen, they go in whole hog. I realize that once they get through their undergrad, they go at it. But there is nothing wrong with throwing yourself unreservedly at training for the ministry. And while the world may rationalize, listen, I believe in large part, hey, throw yourself into what God has called you to do and give it 100% and don't look back. And I think sometimes in liberal arts settings, that's exactly what happens. One of the reasons Brother Comfort started Ambassadors, he got tired of taking people on internships who were going to Christian college and they would go on ministry internships and they would end up an accountant. Some of you say, well, hey, you know, people like Brother Burris count money. That's a that's that's a needful thing. You're exactly right. But if God's called you to preach and don't do anything else. And so having a focus on the ministry, now there are some of you in here that are One Year Bible students. You're here for a One Year Bible program and you say, you know, I have no idea what God wants me to do. I'm just here. And sometimes I'll hear One Year Bible students say, you know, I just don't like turning in an outline. Or, by the way, if you're a One Year Bible student, you may be teaching Sunday school sometime. It'll help you out a little bit. But you're here and you're just trying to sort things out. Listen, you're not a second-rate citizen. I'll tell you what, you just be willing to do whatever God wants you to do. And I'm amazed to see the direction that God has given our one-year Bible students through the years. Somebody's quick to say, well, not everybody's called to the ministry. I realize that, but everybody ought to be willing to go. And so a single focus. So I'm telling you, the day we broaden it, the day we go outside and say, you know what? We need to delve in other things besides ministry. Show up on my doorstep and let me have it. You'll be right behind Brother Comfort. I told him, I said, you're the chancellor of this place. I said, you have a right to come to me and express that opinion and express and tell me that those kind of things. But we have a single focus, the ministry. Number two, a strong Bible curriculum. You do a lot of reading, don't you, in college? I'll make a confession, I was so burned out on reading, it took me two years to regain my love for reading casual things. You know, after you've read every work Dwight Pentecost has made, memorize things to come, You know, by the time you get finished with that, it's just, I don't care how much you love to read, it's a little taxing. But a couple of years later, I regained my love. But I'll tell you one thing that I'll never forget was sitting in Acts class. And Brother Childs, I think at that time I had to read Acts six times. I'm a little bit bitter because in Pentateuch, he made us read it three times. And then later on, he cut back to two. I just said, that's not fair. Everybody ought to read Leviticus three times in the course of the semester. But I'm going to tell you right now what's happening to you. Have you ever reached a point when you've done that reading and you've just read and you've read and you've read and you've read and you've read and you're like, I mean, I'm talking about your Bible reading for class and you get this constant reading, this constant pouring and you say, boy, boy, you know, sometimes I wonder if this works. I'm going to tell you on this side of the spectrum, you'll be amazed at how that suddenly works in your life. The Word of God will not return void. And you're getting this constant, constant thing. See, there's a difference. I want to explain to you there's a difference between a Christian college and a Bible college. You can say that every Bible college is a Christian college, but you can't say that every Christian college is a Bible college. And herein lies the distinction. When you take a liberal arts program, by the way, Christian colleges, advertising, very much so, because that's what they are. We are a liberal arts college. That's what they think they need to do, and that's alright. But here's where the problem falls. They give their Bible majors 30 hours of Bible. And not all that 30 hours is really strictly a Bible curriculum. You come to a Bible college where it's not a liberal arts education, and you're unable to have over 60 hours of Bible. Now why is that important? I'm going to tell you why it's important. Because young people, you're stepping into a day and time right now that questions things like human sexuality. Listen, you go to Charlotte here in a year and there may be transgendered bathrooms. We're sitting in just a few months watching our Supreme Court make one of the biggest moral mistakes that it has ever made. And I'm going to tell you something, biology is not going to change this nation. It's going to be the Bible. I'm going to tell you, you might as a preacher be able to spit out the periodic table, but if you're not grounded in the Word, the winds are only going to get worse and you need every anchor you can get. And that's why I stand before you this morning. I don't care what the world says. The world may look at a place like this and say, you need a better rounded education. And I'm just looking, listen, we need more preachers, more servants of the Lord with a fire in their soul and an anchor to the Word of God to go do the work of God. That's where we're at here. You know, you're teachers. You get in a classroom. I want a teacher to teach you in a way that supports the Bible and is sourced from the Bible and one who disparages it. Listen, there are institutions today that are very interested in telling you all of the errors in this book. That's very sad. And we wonder why we have raised a skeptical younger generation. I want you to sit in a place where you can have confidence, where you know the Word of God, listen, as it does that work in your life. And not only does it need to do a work in your life in the classroom, but even more importantly, listen, it needs to do a work in your life, in your everyday living, in your everyday time with God. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word? You're going to go, you are in a world right now that is growing more and more an enemy of the cross, and you need all the Bible you can get. Yet we live in a day in which Christian education sometimes says that we need a lot of other things. And again, other institutions are invited to do whatever, but I'll tell you, I'd just soon take somebody who's a graduate of this school, who would be anchored in the Word of God, do the work of God, and have a good firm foundation. We want to take you from Genesis to Revelation, book by book, in the classroom. So, number one, You have a school with a single focus. Number two, you have a strong Bible curriculum. By the way, if you ever get in a classroom and you have a teacher, and I don't think this would happen, but I just say this, who tears the Bible apart, I want to be the first one to know. Because this book is our foundation. But then number three, an experienced faculty. You know what makes this place? I know we don't have a lot of amenities here in Lattimore. We do have a sheep farm. You tell me any other Christian college that has a sheep farm within throwing distance, rock distance, huh? You tell me what other Christian college place has a coffee roast in place right on the other corner, even though I can't smell it right now. We don't have a lot of amenities. You know, right now we have a lot of road construction. It makes it hard. If you get the ambassador, it's on purpose right now, you know. We're off the beaten path. When Brother Comfort started the school, he looked at major, major areas like places that had large populations and God put him in Shelby. And he thought Shelby was small. And God pointed up the road and said, eight miles west, that's where you're going to be. Yeah, that old public school facility that's run down, that's where you're going to be. We don't have a lot of amenities. You know, we have a foosball table, ping pong. We have a coffee shop. That's a lot. I'm telling you, it was a lot better than when I was in school. When I was in school, we had a room filled with donated furniture, and that was a dating parlor, but no, that was about it, and it was very blah. But you know what's happening today in our world, I'm afraid, especially with the younger generation, we're wooing them with all kinds of amenities. I would have to say this honestly, probably the best thing that I could offer to you here at a school, an ambassador, is not our amenities, but I'll tell you, I think one of our greatest treasures, that's our faculty. Diverse, from different sections of the world, from different colleges, backgrounds. The thing I love is to talk to a guy who went to Bob Jones, here's another one who was from Maranatha, and we're sitting all in the same room, and they graduate in whatever year, and I mean identical, on the same page. I love that. You know, the experience that God has given them. Young people, I'm going to tell you, who's teaching you is probably one of the most important considerations in a college education when it comes to preparing for the ministry. Brother Comfort, whenever he started the school, he wanted experienced people, training people for the ministry. You know, every month I get applications, contacts from people, and to be honest, some of the resumes are like this. I couldn't cut it on the mission field, I couldn't cut it in the pastorate, but I think I can teach in Bible college. That scares me to death. I feel like a guy saying, you know, I couldn't do plumbing worth anything, but I think I can teach you how to do it. You know, there's a Bible pattern. It's Elijah's training Elisha's, it's Paul's training Timothy's. Being taught by people who have been there and done that, who have been in the work, that is very, very, very important. And every one of our classes, they're taught by a veteran in the ministry, and we're going to keep it that way. You know, you go to some places and they're taught by graduate assistants. I remember talking to a young man several years ago in the state of Virginia, and I was talking to him. He was a Bible college student. I said, hey, what's God called you to do? He said, I'm here to be a missionary. God's called me to be a missionary. I said, well, that's great. I said, where do you go to school? And he told me, and I said, hey, I said, who's your missions professor there? He mentioned the name. I said, man, I don't know him. I said, what mission field did he serve on? And I'll never forget his response. This is somebody paying just as much tuition as you are. He said, well, he's actually never been on the mission field. But he's going to go one day. Now, I don't doubt the sincerity of that young man who was teaching those missions classes. I don't doubt his love for the Lord. But I'm going to tell you something, there was something sadly missing in that young man's education in the classroom as he's being taught by somebody who's never done it before. Imagine being Timothy traveling with Paul. There's a big difference being Timothy traveling with Paul than Timothy traveling with a freshman. You'd say, yeah, Timothy would have to keep the freshman in line. But that's a trend that happens in education. Many times it's a financial consideration. They get somebody who's fresh out of school, and sometimes it's not a matter of experience, but the more degrees they have, the more qualified they are to teach. Now, here's my question. Where's that in the Bible? By the way, I'm not against education. That's why I'm here. Part of the reason we're here is to educate you. But there are some places they say, you know what, if a guy's got a doctorate and he's wet behind the ears, he's more qualified to teach people in the ministry than a man who's been 20 years faithful through thick and thin and been a student of the Word more than you could ever imagine. And so our faculty, you know, an open door policy. There's certain faculty members that you gravitate towards more so than others. There's some of you, you say, Brother Dylan's tests, they throw me off. I have a hard time relating with him. If you'd study, it'd help you a little bit, you know. And then there are others of you, you say, I just, Brother Camp, I tell you, I like this, bam, he's just right up front. I need him to come and just smack me, just tell me what I need to hear. Everybody in here's nature differently. You gravitate towards different professors and such. But listen, they're to pour their lives into you both in and out of the classroom. And that's what we want. So an experienced faculty. You know, another distinctive is local church. Without a doubt, one of the most misunderstood aspects of our ministry. Tell you what, I could go to local church pastors and if somebody came up to them and said, listen, we don't think ambassador teaches their students much about the local church and that's not a major part. I know some pastors that drop whatever they're doing and say those are fighting words. Because they've been able to pour their lives into our students. Young people, you have to understand when you come to this school, you have that first six weeks or whatever the case, and you choose a local church in the area. There are some of you, I believe right now, are perhaps learning more about the local church than you did back home because you've been kicked out of the nest. Not because you weren't taught, but because you've been brought into an environment. Now you're looking at things from this side than just the pew. I told the guys and preacher boys yesterday, I said, you know what, right now in your church, you ought to know what special meetings are coming up, and you ought to be praying for those, and you ought to be helping any way you can. I don't want our guys to just sit on the sideline, and by the way, ladies too, had I been in Christian womanhood, I would have told you the same thing. Maybe a little bit softer. But I want you to be a help. I don't want you to sit there on the sidelines. I want you to dive in, hey, in this aspect of the church. And you know, there's several advantages to the way that we do it. I know that we don't have a church here on campus, but I'll tell you what, many of you, if not all of you, have a greater opportunity to have personal contact with your pastor than a lot of people in other colleges. You can sit down with them. They can talk with you. The wife can talk with you. You have an opportunity to be involved in a lot of different ministries. You know, if somebody is a junior or senior and you're not really up to your elbows in ministry, I question where you're at. I'm not saying just because you're a junior or senior, you ought to be there, because some of you, maybe you're just not ready for that. But listen, you're missing it. If you're not up to your elbows in church ministry, the farther you go, listen, you're missing the whole reason you're here. You know, the sizes of the churches are varied. Some people like to get lost in a crowd. Other people, you come from a church of 50 or 20 or 100 or whatever the case. You've got a variety that's here in this area. But the local church. That's something that's very, very important. Let's continue on. Got to hurry because there's a couple of things I want to touch on. It'll take me a little while to do it. Another thing is a family atmosphere. Now I don't think, I told the guys and preacher boys this, I don't think something has to be small in order to be spiritual. And I realize there are schools that are smaller than us, there are schools that are larger than us, and wherever God puts us in that whole spectrum, one thing I always want to be true is to have a family atmosphere. I had a guy yesterday, he asked me, he said, what do I call you? Do I call you doctor, mister, all this other stuff? I said, how about brother? I like that. You know, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. We live in a day and time, again, I told the fellows this and preacher boys, man worship is so preeminent, more so, it's more than it needs to be, it needs to be at a total zero, but I'm afraid that we come to a place where we treat preachers like rock stars. Now, I believe you ought to respect preachers. You know what, I've talked to some people and they would call a preacher by his first name just to spite him. I'll tell you, now that's lack of submission. That's a lack of respect. I know some people, they do it just to spite somebody, and that's wrong. But you understand that when it comes to the professors, when it comes to preachers, yes, there ought to be a level of respect, but we put our coats on just like you do, one arm at a time. And it ought to be a family atmosphere, not one of these things where there's just such a, boy, I'll tell you what, this so-and-so, he's the only one that can teach and talk about the ministry. That is fostered in our circles. We've got to beware of that man-centered philosophy. Our faculty members are accessible. We want them to be in and among you. We don't want there to be some throne mentality. Wanted to be a place where you can bear one another's burdens. I know, I remember one time when I was in college, we had a particular fellow, his dad committed suicide. All of our guys in the dorm got together and took up the money for him to have that ticket to go home. Why? Because we were all part of the family. And so having a family atmosphere, and even here in the Dean of Students Office, having that family atmosphere. You know, sometimes in a family you get disciplined, don't you? Some of you are like, I don't know. No, you did probably more than likely. And that discipline, you know, it's administered in several ways. And, you know, here we have said through the years, Brother Comfort has made a statement that the student is more important than the rule. That doesn't mean that students run the school. But that means when the rule is broken, rather than just putting a postage stamp on you and mailing you home. It's how can we fix this? What's going on in your heart, in your life? And being the size that we are, we can do that. We can add that personal touch. All right, let's talk about a couple of other things. Music. Conservative. Non worldly. Christian music. Now, in freshman orientation, we talk about music, and you've heard messages about music. My purpose this morning is not to give you all the biblical background and reasons. That's done in various other places. But let me tell you some things that mark our music philosophy. Did you know music's very important in church ministry? As a matter of fact, behind preaching, it's the most visible aspect of the service. Now here, and we'll talk more about preaching a little bit later, but music is a very important aspect of the service. A guy gets up and he waves his hands. Or you go in some churches, he just stands there with a hymn on his hand. Somebody gets up and sings a solo. Ladies get up and sing a trio. Music. Music's very important. But young people, I'm going to tell you something. In the last five years, the world has crept into so-called Christian music more than I've seen in my lifetime, in our circles. You can't mix the holy and the profane and get something that's good. Just ask the priests in Ezekiel's day. God firmly declared in Ezekiel 22, you can't mix the holy and the profane, but there is a synthesis that is taking place and it is being accepted in which you take the rock type of music and you put it to supposedly good words and it's validated in the eyes of some people. You've got to make up your mind where you stand in music. Now, I know there's some of you, you say, well, I'll tell you what, it's music at Ambassador. It is just of a really, really like super high standard. You're right, it is. Now, there's some of you that do misinformation and you say at Ambassador, you don't believe if it wasn't written, if it was only music written before eighteen hundred, it can be used in churches. I know probably some of you have joked about that. You've said whatever. But you know, we draw a high standard and we do it unapologetically. Let me tell you why. You leave this place and you drop under it. We're not we're not worried about it. You'll be all right. There's a principle that Dr. Comfort taught me, and I want every one of you to write this down if you don't have it somewhere. Here's the principle he taught me, and I've seen it over and over again. What you do in moderation, The next generation will do in excess. That's been stamped in my soul. What you do in moderation, the next generation will do in excess. I can illustrate that with my own kids. You know, I could take a firecracker with a short fuse. And you know what? I could light that firecracker and throw it just fine. I mean, I'm an adult. You'd be amazed what adults can do. They can cut off thumbs, they can bang their head, they can do all kinds of things. But if I'm sitting out on the front porch and I'm lighting those firecrackers with short fuses and I'm throwing them out and then a little eight-year-old boy named Andrew looks up at me and says, Daddy, I want to try that. It's not going to work so well for him. And what has happened is, I'm afraid people are taking their standards all across the board and just lowering them as close to the world as they can. And it's a sad thing, and I'll tell you what, in ten years we're going to see more contemporary churches. Because that standard has been lowered. When it comes to music, you're right, we have a high standard. We have set it up here. You say, well, if somebody listens to something here, they're not right with God. Grow up. Please. But I'll tell you what, if our standard is here, guess what happens? You get down in the murk and the muck and it's bad news. Right now, there's a big discussion, big debate that takes place about associations in music. You know, there's a lot of music. There's some music out there today. While the music is questionable, sometimes the lyrics are stronger than some of the words you'll find in a hymnal. The devil, he knows how to work. And so people have begun to say, well, you know, is this song right? Let me tell you what we do at Ambassador and why. Here at Ambassador, we consider association important. Now, immediately some of you say, well, then let's go through our hymnals and rip out Faith of Our Fathers. It was written by Roman Catholic. Well, hear me out what I say about association. I'm the first one to acknowledge that we sing songs in that hymnal. They were not independent Baptists. I hate to tell you Fannie Crosby was not an independent Baptist. But you know what? When you sing Saved by Grace, you don't have to worry about somebody going to YouTube and making a track to Calvinism. Unless it's a really weird thing. But you know, there's a lot of modern day association that can be very detrimental. You're not going to hear songs by contemporary Christian groups in this chapel service, even cleaned up versions. Number one, because we don't believe in using Christian rock and that's a misnomer. Number two, even if it is cleaned up, it is traced back to an active source that pushes against the very things that we believe. Listen, there are people right now that are listening to CCM and independent Baptist churches and using music in which the very people that perform it and authored it and promote it actively today are steeped and supportive of homosexuality. Do you want that influence in your congregation? You know, there's a very well respected man. He told me, he said, well, you know, even Elvis Presley sang Amazing Grace. He said, does that mean we don't sing Amazing Grace? And I said, respectfully, sir, that's apples with oranges. You know, there are modern day entities that are steeped in Calvinism who have expressed that one of the purposes of their music is to usher a generation into reformed theology. Is that where you want your church ended up? If so, you're at the wrong school. You know, there are associations. And by the way, let me tell you this. In our preaching, we're careful about associations, aren't we? If I stood up here and I said, you know, I was reading a book by John Piper. And John Piper said the sky is blue. You know what I would rather say, Jordan Mann said the sky is blue than than than Piper. You know why? Because he and I are on the same page. But you know why I would do that? Because I wouldn't want you to pick up things about support for pedo-baptism, having rock music in your services. You know, I don't care. There's people out there that maybe they say the greatest thing, but they have such sway and influence. I'm not going to set that for my people or any people. Now, it's funny, there's preachers today that'll guard their pulpit from that garbage, but yet they'll let whatever music from CCM flow through the platform. There's a double standard. Now, I'm not God's policeman, and I'm glad I'm not. I'm not even a deputy. But I know when it comes to this place, I know what we do and why we do it, and I want you to understand why. Stay away from the edge. The world's teaching you to live closer and closer to the edge. And if you're not careful, those who follow you will pay for it and pay greatly. Another thing is the subject of accreditation. No accreditation. That's a hot subject today. Do you know at one time every Christian educational institution in our circles was non-accredited and unapologetic about it? If not all, most of them, and now that has greatly changed. There are some schools that have sought regional accreditation, Christian colleges. These are men that are my friends, men that I have talked with about it, but let me tell you why Ambassador doesn't do it. We don't do it because of 2 Corinthians chapter 6. We're not going to yoke up with unbelievers, even in an educational setting. Christian college. By the way, Christian colleges, when they're attached directly to local churches, I really don't understand how that can function, because you're yoking yourself up. But that's why we don't do it. We're training people for the ministry. I don't need the help of the world. And then there are others that have sought national accreditation through Christian organizations. You say, well, that sounds good. Why don't you do it? Because I don't want to be yoked up with Nazarenes. You say, well, Nazarenes are going to heaven, too. Well, if they are saved, they will. And when they get there, they'll learn they should have been Baptists. All right. You know, I say that tongue in cheek, I got a feeling I'm going to learn a few things, too. I don't want to be yoked up with church of God. I don't want to be yoked up with those that that are not where we're at. Indoctrinal disobedience. Now, if you came to me after service and you said, well, so-and-so is accredited and so-and-so is accredited, and what do you think about that? I'd say to you, I think people do whatever they think they need to do. I know it's not the answer you're looking for. But here at Ambassador, we're not going to do it because we're not going to yoke up with disobedient brethren and we're not going to yoke up with the unsaved. You know, some places, not all, I will give some credit that have moved into the accrediting realm where they have refused public financing. I'd at least say they've exercised a matter of discernment there. You're a lot better off learning to live by faith than to live by the government. There's not going to be a Pell Grant for you when you take your first church and you're in that building program and the commode needs to be fixed. And I really feel that one of your preparations through here is depending on God. And by the way, that used to be a strong argument against accreditation years ago. What's happened is, is sometimes if we're not careful, we could say, well, you know what? The easiest thing for us to do would just be to fly the doors open and get accredited and let you get that government loan. And guess what? There goes our summer deficit because you'll pay on time thanks to the government. But you know what's expedient for me? It's not always right. But accreditation, some people say accreditation is a sign of quality. Ask the University of North Carolina, I pull for their Tar Heels, but when you be a basketball player and you can take classes that didn't exist. That happened in an accredited institution. Some might say, well, you know, there are bad unaccredited institutions, I would say you're exactly right, but accreditation and equality are not equal. Somebody comes to me and says, I believe to prepare for the ministry, you need an accredited degree. How many of your pastors had accredited degrees when they graduated from college? They must have been grossly unprepared, weren't they? You know, I think instead of checking with maybe an accrediting agency, we'd do well to look at Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy. Brother Syrett has said this, listen, if local churches affirm what we're doing and they support what we're doing, that's all we need. That's that's the accreditation right there. Some people say, well, an unaccredited education is, you know, you'll have a hard time if you do master's work. Well, you know, if you're going to study something totally in the liberal arts realm, I'll admit. You have a problem, but I'm going to tell you, there have been guys who graduated from here, gone to seminary and got an advanced standing because of what they got in the classroom at an unaccredited institution. No joke by regionally accredited institution. They even recognize it. Young people, when it comes to accreditation, we're not trying to be a stick in the mud. We're not trying to, you know, we talk about old paths and sometimes old paths are good and other times people talk about old paths and it's just simply tradition. But we're not trying to be a stick in the mud. We're trying to give you the best education that we can and we're going to do it in a way in which we don't compromise. So understand that. And then the last thing that I leave you with and we're done, it's called preaching. There's other things I could talk about. I could talk about no intercollegiate sports program. Somebody's like, why does an ambassador have an intercollegiate sports program? All you got to do is watch a set of league games and you understand why. You know how many other teams we'd have to pay for the injuries that our guys caused to them? I'm glad. I'm glad we can play basketball. I'm glad we can play volleyball. I'm glad we can play whatever. And we need that. It's a healthy outlet, but it's not the main thing here and it doesn't need to be. But preaching. Young people, listen, I hope when you leave this place that you have a love for Bible preaching. You know, in some churches, they'll have Christian school teachers who they labor all week and they don't want to go to church on Wednesday night. They say, I've been here all week, why should I have to come back on Wednesday night? I want our people here, I want you to love preaching. Listen, a hot chapel platform, listen, you pay attention, you take notes, you listen, opening revivals, missions conference, Bible conference, daily chapels, the most important part of the day, preaching. It won't hurt you. You ought to sit down and calculate how much preaching you hear over the course of four years. and you're still normal. The shaping that takes place, times that God rings your bell. I don't know how many times I've talked to alumni and they say, I will never forget this day in chapel. Because on this particular day, I was ready to quit. This particular day, I was so fed up I could kill somebody. And they'd say, God rung my bell. You know, in chapel, I want you to have a freedom to respond to the Lord. Formal invitation or not, you ought to be able to come. You ought to be able to kneel and let those messages impact your life. There's a lot of other things I could tell you. I could tell you about the gift of the evangelist, a place where we want to promote that. There's just a lot of other different things, but those are some main things. A little bit about the heartbeat. If you have a question, you can ask me about it. If you have a question, you can ask a faculty or staff member. That is where we're at. And that's by God's grace where we intend to be the rest of our existence till Jesus comes. If you're here and you don't want to be here, we don't want you here either if you're not supposed to be here. But when I came to school, let me tell you, I didn't have all these things together. Let's talk about music for a minute. You know, when I came to Ambassador, I sat down at a, we used to have a Thanksgiving concert, and with this I'll be done. And Bob Regal, Gage Gilbert, you know Brother Regal. Robert Regal sang, and it was more of an opera style thing. You remember, I'm from Yadkinville, North Carolina. The whole semester, I'd struggled mightily with chapel music. They didn't sing the same songs we sang growing up. Of course, we only sang 20 or 30. And I mean, I'm hearing these things. I'm like, oh, please. People getting up in chapel and they're singing songs. I'm like, I've never heard of that before. And I remember after a Thanksgiving concert, I looked at my girlfriend, who would later be my wife, and I told her this. I said, I can't stand this opera music. Yuck. And I was every bit as emphatic about it. But it didn't take me long till maybe in the following semester I'd sit in chapel and for the first time in my life hearing, my faith has found a resting place. Old song in a hymnal. And I said, that's pretty good. And a lot of other areas I had to grow up that I'm not going to share with you. Unless you want to tell me all your stories. But that's how God brought me to this place. You know, I'm sure that when I get to heaven, I'll find out some areas I know that I'll be like, boy, you know, I wish I would have done this here. Boy, I could have done this here. But ambassador, this is what we are. And my prayer is that you'll learn to embrace it during your four years, not only understand what we do, but why we do it and that God would use you in a great and a mighty way.