A taste of grace, a food divine.
I've been chased in, I've found the place.
Thank you, my friend, for all I fear.
For your deliver, that I should raise.
Stay with your bed, well at Christ our God.
And the main things that your fear bears.
My sacrifice can't help it here.
Sleep on his bed, he's meant to sleep.
Stay with me, with me, with me, with me now.
Give me such faith, and swallow me.
Wait, wait, wait, for so much of my life.
Live in the will of nature now.
And let the blessed heart be strong.
Let so amazing storm be mine.
We let our soul ride by for a long time.
All right, well, welcome out this morning, everybody,
to Straight Paths Baptist Church.
So that's going to take a little while for me
to get used to that.
But of course, this is our first Sunday service
as Straight Paths Baptist Church.
Just to bring everybody up to speed in case you don't know,
this last Wednesday, after six years of pastoring down here
as deacon, I was ordained as the pastor of this church.
So as of Wednesday night, Pastor Anderson
laid hands on me and ordained me to start,
I guess, continue on in this work, rather, as the pastor.
So of course, Thursday was our official service,
first official service, but this being our first Sunday service.
Bit of a special day to us.
And I know it's going to take everybody a little bit of time
to stop calling me deacon and start calling me pastor.
So you don't feel like you have to,
I'm not offended if you do, or anything like that.
Like, my ego is a little bit more intact than that.
But you just have to buy me lunch if you do it.
I think there needs to be some kind of negative reinforcement
to kind of help you along.
So I'm just kidding, of course.
So again, please don't feel like you
have to be overly apologetic.
We'll all get there, believe me.
I'll still respond to deacons.
People have been calling me deacon.
I'm like, yeah?
I mean, it's been six years of that.
But of course, this is, again, our first service
as an independent Baptist church.
So I'm very excited for what the Lord has in store for us
in the years to come.
It's been a great six years as Faithful Word Baptist Church.
We're very grateful, very appreciative for everything
that Pastor Anderson and the church up there has done for us.
It's great to have some of our friends from Faithful Word
down here this morning helping us celebrate
this special day, this special occasion.
And I'm thinking maybe we should move
the anniversary service, like when we acknowledge it,
to the first Sunday in October,
because it's a little cooler,
and then we can save the Labor Day weekend
for something else, I don't know.
I guess we'll have to figure that out.
We've got some time to think about that.
But anyway, again, it's great to be here as the pastor.
I appreciate everybody coming out this morning.
And again, I'm just very grateful for the body of believers
that God has built here over these last six years.
It's great to have solid, loyal people
that are faithful to the cause of Christ,
that desire to see souls saved,
that desire to hear the preaching, the Word of God.
I honestly believe that great things
are in store for this church
as we continue to remain faithful,
as we continue to follow Christ
and serve Him to our capacity.
So anyway, let's go through our announcements very quickly.
If you need a bulletin, you can go ahead
and slip up your hand, and one will be brought to you.
I don't know if, a lot of,
I know there's a lot going on this morning,
so we might not have been able to hand those out at the door
just because the guys are busy.
And try to stay, you know,
don't get too distracted by the food.
I know the aromas are already wafting their way up here.
I might have to cut this a little short
and get to eating.
But anyway, if you've got a bulletin,
you can go ahead and turn it over.
And we have our service times there.
Of course, we'll be back tonight at 5.30 p.m.
And then Thursday, we'll be back at seven
as we make our way through the book of Genesis,
chapter by chapter.
We'll be in chapter 39 this week.
We have the church-wide soul-winning times below that,
as well as some regional soul-winning times,
as well as the totals for both the month and year,
and some of the averages for the attendances.
And we just broke our annual record on Wednesday,
or Thursday, rather.
Oh, and that reminds me, too,
several people have asked,
we're not changing anything
as far as the schedule of services.
A couple people have asked,
hey, are we gonna switch to Wednesdays?
We're not, we're just gonna keep it on Thursdays.
We're used to that, we like that.
And then we can still,
if we wanna go up and have fellowship in Tempe,
we can do that.
If they wanna come down,
or I'd rather come up, right?
Because we're 1,000 feet higher than the people up there.
We're, they're coming up, we're going down, right?
Now, you can look at it in terms of a map, right?
You could say we're going north, we're going up,
but I like to look at it in terms of elevation,
because it lifts us up and brings them down.
Just kidding.
But we can continue to have that fellowship.
So that was part of the reasons.
And I just don't see any reason to change otherwise.
So, anyway.
Again, happy birthday to everybody
that's celebrating this month.
We have a short list there.
And a couple of,
we're actually just the one anniversary to the Nunez's,
so happy anniversary to them as well.
And we don't have donuts this morning,
just because I didn't wanna ruin everyone's appetite.
I kinda assumed there was gonna be, you know,
a lot of food and stuff like that,
so we'll do donuts next week, okay?
I know there's probably some little broken hearts out there
about the donuts, but I'll make it up to you, okay?
But anyway, I don't think there's anything else
as far as announcements,
so we'll just go ahead and get into the next song
before we get into the preaching.
["O Come All Ye Faithful"]
Thank you.
The Spirit of the Lord rose upon you.
Carefully, the people is vast.
The grass withers.
The flower fades.
The word of our God shall stand forever.
O Zion, that bringeth good highness,
get thee up into the high mountain.
O Jerusalem, that bringeth good highness,
lift up thy voice with strength.
Lift it up, be not afraid.
Stay unto the city of Judah,
and hold it to your God.
And hold the Lord God with confidence
with your strong hand,
and your heart shall work for it.
Behold, this award is with them
in his work before us.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.
He shall gather the land with his eyes,
and carry them with him.
He shall guarantee those that are rich and young
who have measured the waters
and the house of his hand,
and needed out heaven with his strength.
Comprehendeth the dust of the earth and earth,
and wade them out into the state,
and the hills, and the valleys,
and the valleys, and the valleys.
Who hath directeth the spirit of the Lord,
or being with counsel,
hath taught us.
With whom could he counsel,
who hath struggled with, and taught us,
in the path of judgment, and taught knowledge,
and showed us, and brought to us,
that they were in the sand?
Behold, the nations are at the drop of a bucket,
and are counted as a small judge of the galaxy.
Behold, he takeeth up the island of Judah,
and there it is indeed,
and that in us is not sufficient
to burn the earth,
nor there be for us sufficient
for our burnt hearts.
All nations before him are as nothing,
and there are counted human dreads
of the galaxy.
With whom, then, wilt his life be done?
And what life is to be prepared indeed?
The workmen now could have recommended
the golden myth,
and the golden myth spreadeth with over
the globe.
We have to still be clean.
We better accomplish that.
We have no population
seen that is free, that is not right.
We seek to run to him the fun he is working on,
and prepare to bring him in.
That should not be new.
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Have you not been broken from the beginning?
Have you not been saved from the stagnation
of this earth?
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of this earth,
in the absence of the Lord our God helpeth,
that stretches out the heavens of this earth,
and that is rung out
as a tent to earth,
to make the principles of nothing,
to make the judgments of the earth
of the galaxy.
Yea, they shall not be planted.
Yea, they shall not be thrown.
Yea, they shall not be distributed in the earth.
Yea, they shall also grow upon them.
Yea, they shall live in them.
And the grown men shall take them away as lovers.
And the ruined angels be righteous,
but shall not be decent,
they shall not be.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold,
two x-rays of these things that bring us out
of this world by number,
and call them all by name,
that are plentiful to Christ.
Yea, he is strong and tolerant,
not one place.
Why play his cell,
and speak it over him?
My way is here from the Lord,
and my judgment has to be in my God.
That shall not know,
that shall not hurt,
that he,
that the everlasting God the Lord,
the creator of the heavens and the earth,
shall give the powers of the saints,
the young that have no might,
to be free from sin.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary,
and the young men shall always fall.
For they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength.
They shall not help but weep as evil.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not think.
Lord, Lord, Lord, may our fathers and
thank you for the time that you have lived together
here at Great Baptist Baptist Church.
We ask that you bless the pastor, bless the mouth
of the Lord God so that he may only
preach your word.
We also ask you to bless our hearts
and Lord God in our spirit that he
may receive your word from us.
Amen.
So as I mentioned in the announcements,
we are having our first
official Sunday as Straight Paths Baptist
Church, and so
if you're here this morning as a visitor
or
you can say, like the rest of us
that are here, that you were here
the first day that Straight Paths
Baptist Church began,
and although we've been here for six years,
it does feel very much
like a new beginning. It does feel
very much like we're starting something
new, but really not
anything is going to change.
The names and the titles have changed,
obviously a little bit there, but the
work remains the same, the mission
remains the same, and
we're going to continue
doing as we have done all these six years,
but again, it's just a special Sunday to be here,
and I'm grateful to be here
again as your pastor.
But I want to kind of
explain the name this morning of
Straight Paths Baptist Church.
I know there's been a little bit of discussion about that already,
and my understanding is that
after the ordination in Tempe on Wednesday
night, the guys were going back
in the church van, and we almost
had a church split over the name
on the way back in the van. Like, people
are debating. I don't know who all the players
are. I don't know who was taking what
side with who, saying it should be
plural, path should be plural. No,
it should be singular.
It should be plural because that's what I called
it. And there's also
when you read this
phrase, straight paths, or
paths straight in the Bible,
it's always plural.
Of course, I get that from Isaiah chapter 40,
and this is our theme verse for the
church, in verse 3
where it says, the voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make straight in the desert
a highway for our God. That is
the theme that I've chosen for this church,
and of course, Isaiah chapter 40,
there's several great verses that we
could turn to and
preach about, but I chose this one
because, and you say, well it doesn't say straight paths
there, it says, you know, a straight, make straight
in the desert, a highway for
our God, right? That highway is singular
by the way, right? But
this is quoted in the
Gospels, and we'll see that in a minute,
and that's really where we
derive the actual name, straight paths,
or make, as it says in Matthew,
make his paths straight when it's
quoting Isaiah chapter 40.
But I made this the theme verse
because, you know, it's just so fitting,
right? That's kind of where we are.
One, I mean, we can all identify
with making a straight in the desert,
right? We're surrounded on either side
by the Saguaro National Forest
where we are in the Sonoran
Desert here in Tucson, so
I thought that's fitting.
And also, you know, we're doing the same work
here that is being
talked about in Isaiah chapter 40.
Isaiah chapter 40, of course, if you know your Bible,
is a
very prophetic of not only Christ
but also John the Baptist, right? John the Baptist
would later say, I am the
voice of him crying in the wilderness,
make straight
his paths, make his paths straight.
So, that's kind of where we're going
to for this verse is where
we're going to to kind of, you know, get our
name and kind of get a vision
and get an understanding of
what our mission is as a church. You know, we're here
in the desert and we,
like John the Baptist, are going to
continue to lift up our voice
and we're going to share that same message
that we need to make straight his paths,
we need to make a highway in the
desert for our God. We're bringing
the gospel, we're proclaiming
Christ in this desert,
in this place, to this city,
to the people of Tucson and the region
round about. And
the idea actually wasn't
mine. And I want
to explain the name a little bit because
I don't want anyone to misunderstand and think
that I chose this name out of a need to persuade,
you know, straight paths,
right? I don't think anyone here
needs persuading of that, hopefully,
right? We're
all straight, okay?
I actually got this name
from my daughter.
My oldest daughter, Karen, actually came up with
this name. So it's special to me. So
you know, if you don't like it,
don't tell me about it, okay? If you don't
like it, you know, it's very special.
And no one has, okay? Everyone
has said they enjoy the name. A lot of people
have expressed that they really like the name.
But you know, when you're naming
a church, it's kind of hard because
you want to find something unique, you
want to find something that's cool
or maybe stands out.
And while, you know, straight paths
isn't, you
know, isn't necessarily
really common, you know, it's not unique.
There are other straight paths Baptist churches
out there. And
of course, we're the one here in Tucson.
But again, I got this
name from my daughter and
it was especially
endearing
to me because of the fact
that when she expressed this idea
is when we were out solvening. We were doing
the east side blitz.
I think, I can't remember when, maybe
over a year ago.
And we were just going door to door as we
always do, bringing the gospel, attempting
to preach to people that would hear and
listen and be saved. And
she just kind of out of the blue. We weren't even talking
about what we should name the church or anything
like that. She just kind of thought, I mean maybe
we were, I don't know. But she said, well
Dad, what do you think about the name straight paths
Baptist church?
And the more I thought about it, I said, you know, the more I like that.
And then I started looking up the verse and said, man I'm
really liking this name.
And I had expressed the name to
several guys in the church over
several months now.
And nobody had any objections.
So I went with it.
So that's where we get our name.
That's the story behind how we got, chose this name.
But I do want to preach a
sermon again this morning called Straight Paths
in honor of our first Sunday
as Straight Paths Baptist Church.
And kind of build off of this
and make some application
because really, you know, there's a couple different
ways you could look at this
phrase in the Bible, this idea
of making the Lord's path
straight.
Now if you want to keep something in Isaiah,
we'll come back in a little bit.
But let's go over to, well let's go over to
Mark chapter number 1. Mark chapter number 1.
I'll read to you from
Matthew 3. Again, Isaiah 40
verse 3 here, this is quoted
in all of the gospels.
This is quoted in Matthew chapter 3 verse 1.
In those days came John the Baptist preaching
in the wilderness of Judea and saying
repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
for this is he that was
spoken by the prophet Isaiah saying
the voice of one crying in the wilderness
prepare ye the way of the Lord
make his path straight.
So that's a quote of Isaiah
or Isaiah, right, in Isaiah
chapter 40. And
although it's worded a little bit differently,
it is a quote, right. He's saying
and Isaiah makes straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
John the Baptist comes on the scene
and is preparing the way for Christ and he says
make his paths straight.
He is the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, right.
This is also quoted
in John chapter 1. He said I am the
voice of one crying in the wilderness.
If you remember they came to John and said
art thou Christ, art thou that prophet or some
other prophet. And he said I am not
he but I am the voice of
one crying in the wilderness
make straight the way of the Lord
as said the prophet Isaiah.
Now what I also love about this
is that it's a Baptist
that's quoting this, right. We're a Baptist
church. So this is very fitting
that this is our theme verse.
It was a Baptist who quoted
Isaiah chapter 40 when he said
I am a voice crying in the wilderness
make straight the way of the Lord
I believe that we as Baptists
this is something that we should continue
to cry in the wilderness
no matter whether we're in a desert
or wherever we are geographically
as Baptists we all have
that great commission we all have
the responsibility
to go out and preach the gospel to
lift up our voices and make known
the mystery of the gospel
to boldly open our mouths and make
known the mystery of the gospel. We as Baptists
must continue on like our forefathers
like the man John the Baptist
and do the same. We have to
go out wherever we are
and say make straight his paths
we have to go out and proclaim the name
of the Lord. I just love the fact that it's
a Baptist that's saying it.
The Baptists of Baptists in fact.
One way we can kind of apply
this idea of making his paths
straight of making that highway
of going out and proclaiming
the Lord and saying make his paths straight
is it's the idea that the Lord
is coming unto his people. Of course that's
the context with John. He's
going out and preparing the people
to acknowledge
and receive Christ. Christ
very shortly is coming on the scene
to be baptized of John
and people are going to begin to believe on
him and follow him.
So this idea of a path
or a highway in the desert
can be interpreted as and I believe this is the
primary interpretation of the Lord coming unto his
people. You're there in
Mark chapter 1 look at verse 1
the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God
as is written the prophets behold I send my
messenger before thy face
which shall prepare thy way before
thee. And really again
it's a parallel with what we're doing.
We are ambassadors we are
messengers today like John
the Baptist was and we are going out
and we are also preparing
the way before Christ.
And we do that when we go to the door
when we preach the gospel when we
tell somebody what it takes to be saved
you know we are helping
the Holy Spirit we were preparing that way
of course it's not just our words
it's not in fact it's not our words
it's his word that we're preaching
and it's the ministry of the Holy Spirit
that is going to work in the hearts of those that will
hear and believe. So in a sense
we are preparing the way
for the Holy Spirit to come in and
indwell that new believer.
But he says to John the Baptist to go out
and prepare the way before him
it says in verse 3 the voice of one crying
in the wilderness prepare ye the way
of the Lord make his paths
straight.
John did baptize in the wilderness
and preach the baptism and repentance for their
mission of sins and there went out unto
him all the land of Judea
and they of Jerusalem and
were all baptized of him in the river
Jordan confessing their sins. So
again in the context on the Baptist
this idea of preparing
the way before him is to prepare the people
for the Lord's coming unto
them. And the same thing is true
in our lives. If we've believed on
Christ the Lord has come
unto us. This is obviously
the physical manifestation of Christ
coming unto them. He's
already been alive 30 years.
The Bible says that God
was manifest in the flesh talking about
the fact that Christ was born of a virgin
and now he's making his appearing
known unto the people
of Israel as the Christ as
the Messiah.
That's a physical appearance that took place
back then but today you know
we who have believed
on Christ the Lord also has come unto
us. Someone prepared the way for us
and we have made our
path straight to receive Christ.
If you think about it
that's kind of what you have to do to get saved.
When we're living
this life and we're believing
one thing or another or we're confused or we don't
know what to believe we're walking on
kind of a crooked path aren't we?
Our paths aren't really straight. We don't really
know which direction we're going
but when Christ comes you know that
is straightened up. Jesus said
you know that no man cometh unto
the Father but by me. That's a straight path.
He said
no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
He said I am
the way, the truth and the life
right? That's one
path. That's a pretty straight path.
And so you know our path was
made straight in salvation.
You know when Christ came unto us
the path was straightened out and
He came unto us and we received
Him.
But the application
I want to make is to believers this morning.
Of course that's the message we're going to continue to bring.
That's the theme verse of our
church is to you know make straight
in the desert a highway for our God.
We want to continue to go out and
bring people to that straight path so that
they can receive Christ.
But there's also an application I believe that we
can make to the believer.
Because again the Christian life
you know is a straightening of what
is crooked.
You know when you get saved
yeah you've got salvation down
but you know you weren't made perfect.
And you never will be made perfect.
Right? We all have to come to the
knowledge, the fullness of the knowledge
of the stature of Christ. We have to grow up
into Him. Right? That's why we have
pastors and teachers and evangelists.
That's why we have the local church.
That's why we have the Bible so that we
can grow up in Him as the Bible says.
We can desire the sincere milk of the word
that we may grow thereby.
That is the Christian life.
You know it's a continual straightening.
Okay? Because I want to make application
to the people that are here that are
attending this church
that you know we still have to
straighten the paths out in our life. And that's why
I like that it's plural.
While we all got on the same path
that same straight path that one
path to salvation in Christ, we all
have our own walk with God. Don't we?
You're on a path with Christ.
I'm on a path with Christ.
Every single person in this room who is saved
is walking with the Lord and has a path
to walk with Christ. That's why I like
the name straight paths.
Plural. Because each one of us still has
a walk that we have to
maintain through this life.
And a part of our
walk you know often is straightening
things out in our lives.
You know we come to Christ, we get saved,
we have sins.
We have you know different things
in our lives that we have to get
worked out. Right? We have to straighten
these things out in our lives.
And that is the Christian life. If you want to go over to
2 Corinthians chapter number 6.
Go ahead and turn over there. 2 Corinthians chapter number 6.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 4 verse 18
the path of the just
is as a shining light.
You know we're on a path with Christ.
And that path that we're on as
individual is as a shining light.
The Bible says that shineth more and
more into the perfect day.
You know as we walk with Christ as that
path becomes straighter it becomes
brighter. It gets
brighter and more brilliant. It gets
more you know just
better in every way. There's more joy.
There's more peace.
And that all comes through what?
Through straightening out that path.
By shoring things up.
You know getting the sin out of our lives.
Walking more closely with the
Lord day by day getting that path
straighter. The Bible says the way of the
wicked is as darkness.
They know not what they stumble.
And we want to bring the
light of the gospel to those people who have been
whose minds have been blind
blinded by the power of the
devil who have their understanding darkened.
We want to bring them
and bring them onto this bright path
this straight path with us. But let's
not forget that we also
have a path to walk that must
be made straight for ourselves.
Look at
2 Corinthians chapter number 6
verse 14 and again it's this idea
of you walking with
God. God dwelling with you.
You know you have a path to walk in
this life for God. Every single one of us.
God wants
to work in your life. God wants to
change things in your life. God wants
to help you understand what it
means to be a better husband. God
wants you to help you to understand
what it means to be a better
wife. God wants you to understand
what it means to be a better parent.
God wants you to understand what it means to
be a better church member. God wants you
to understand what it means to be a soul winner.
God wants you to understand what it means
to be a child of God.
God wants to teach us
things. God wants to show us things. God
wants to draw an eye to us. Each
and every one of us. It's not reserved
for, you know, that's not off limits and only reserved for certain people in certain
positions. That's for everyone. You know, we can all boldly come before the throne of
God to find grace and mercy and time and help in a time of need. We can all do that. We
all have access to the same throne through Christ. Every single one of us. And God wants
that for us. He wants all of us to grow closer to Him. He wants us to draw an eye to Him.
The Bible says that if we draw an eye to Him, He will also draw an eye to us. So again,
this idea of straight paths. Yes, it's a great verse about, I mean it's used in the Bible
when it comes to, you know, reconciling the sinner to Christ. Right? But the application
that we can make and the one I want to make this morning is that it's paths plural because
as a saved believer, you are on a path with Christ. And this church here, I want it to
serve as a means by which that path can be made straighter. You know, I want the sermons
that come across the pulpit to help the people here in this church. Help them to be the Christian,
the child of God that God wants them to be. To be on that straighter path. And not to
be like the wicked that are just stumbling and fumbling through life and just hoping
that things somehow turn out. That's not a good way to live your life. That's not a
good way to raise your children. That's not a good way to try and have a marriage. Patterning
ourselves after the world. And let me tell you, the pattern of the world is not much
of a pattern at all. But God has a pattern. God has a path. It's straight. It's to the
point. And if we'll get on that path, our lives as Christians, as people, will improve.
They'll be better. And that's what I want this church to be for the people in Tucson.
A place where they can come and get on that straight path. Get on the straight and narrow.
And learn what it means to walk with God in their own personal lives. So again, it's this
idea of God dwelling with us. I mean, if you're on a path, you know, the Bible says can two
walk together except they be agreed. You know, if you're on that path with someone, you're
walking in the same direction. God wants to walk with us. I believe that. Look at Second
Corinthians where I had you go. Chapter 6, verse 14. Be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what
communion hath the light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial? That's
the devil, Satan. Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of God. In the New Testament,
you know, there is no tabernacle. There is no temple that God is going to dwell in. We
are that temple today. And again, it's not us as a body. It's you. Ye are the temple
of the living God. That's plural. Every single person that's saved in this room is the temple
of God, meaning God dwells in you. That's what he says. For ye are the temple of the
living God, as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God.
See, it's this idea that not only is God dwelling in us through the power of the Holy
Ghost, through the sealing and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but God also desires to
walk with us. And if we're going to walk with God, as I quoted, we have to be agreed
with God. And the path that God walks on is a straight one. And honestly, it's not always
an easy one. There's a lot of uphill on the walk with God. But you know, the higher up
you go, the better the view gets, in my experience. It's not always easy, but that's where the
best views are. And God wants to walk in us. This is an interesting verse because Paul
here is, it's an amalgamation of two different Old Testament passages. You know, he's quoting
both Exodus 29 and Leviticus chapter number 26. He says, I will dwell in them. That's
Exodus 29. I will dwell among the children of Israel. And then he quotes Leviticus and
walk in them. That's a quote of Leviticus 26. I will walk among you and be your God.
See, it's not just enough to have the way prepared for you, to have Christ come unto
you on that straight path and receive him. Now that he has come to us, we must walk in
newness of life. We must get on that path with him. Now that he dwells in us, we must
in turn begin to walk with him. That's kind of the, what I'm getting out of this passage.
I will dwell in them, but I will also walk in them. I will walk alongside them. I will
lead them in the way they ought to go. That's a straight path that God wants to lead us
on. And of course, both passages, Exodus and Leviticus are quoted again where he says,
I will be their God. See, we don't have a God that's far off and distant and uninterested
in our lives. The God that we serve, the God of the Bible is a God that cares about
every step you take. He's concerned about what direction you're headed in. He cares
about what moves you're going to make, what decisions you're going to make in this life.
That's why he's given us this book, this book that addresses every area of life and tells
us how to live a life that is well pleasing unto God. It's all right here. God is interested
in every single one of us. And he wants to lead us in a path. He wants to lead us in
a straight path. The indwelling here is the leading of the Lord. And to walk with him
is to walk a straight path. If you would, go over to John chapter 14, John chapter number
14. See, the indwelling of the Spirit, that's not just given to us for salvation, right?
Now we understand that because we're saved, if we've received Christ as Savior, we are
sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of our redemption. It's like God has put a stamp
on us. But you know, there's a difference between the sealing of the Spirit and the
filling of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit comes when we walk in his commandments,
when we no longer grieve the Holy Spirit, when we do not quench the Holy Spirit. Rather
than walking in the flesh, we walk in the Spirit. That's the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
It's not just salvation, a mark or a sign of salvation. It's the leading of the Holy
Spirit. You know, we as Christians have this very unique privilege of being partakers of
the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It's very real. And look, I'm not talking about some
Pentecostal, charismatic, wild-eyed doctrine about the filling of the Holy Spirit. We're
not going to roll around on the floor. We're not going to bark like animals. We're not
going to have laughing fits. We're not going to babble, you know, unknown languages, quote
unquote. It's not even a language. Right? That's not the Holy Spirit, friend. God is
not the author of confusion. That's a whole other topic. And I can't stand that stuff
because it just cheapens what the ministry of the Holy Spirit actually is. The ministry
of the Holy Spirit is more subtle. It's that still, small voice. It's God speaks to us
through his word. The indwelling of the Spirit is the leading of God. God wants to lead us
on the straight path through the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in John 16, I'll just read
to you. You're in John 14. When He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, this is Jesus speaking,
He will guide you into all truth. You know, a guide is someone that leads you on a path,
isn't it? He's going to guide us into all truth. Look, all the truth that we could ever
want to know is right here in this book. And, you know, the Bible says that the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them for they
are spiritually discerned. And if you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He can
guide you. You are no longer the natural man. You are a spiritual man, created and renewed
in Christ Jesus. You can do something that the unsaved of this world cannot do. You can
open up this book and read it and understand it and be led by God on a path, a straight
path. He said He shall guide you into all truth. You see, to walk with the Lord is to
get on a straight path. And not a perfect path. On that path, you know, we'll stumble,
we'll fall. The Bible says that, you know, a just man stumbleth seven times and riseth
up again. We're going to make mistakes. The important thing is, though, is that you get
up and you keep moving on that path. To walk with the Lord is to walk a straight path.
You know, there are rules in the Christian life. There's a way that God wants you to
have a marriage. There's a way that God wants you to raise children. There's a way that
God wants you to be at work. There's a way that God wants you to be in the home. There's
a way that God wants you to conduct yourself in this world. There's a path that He wants
to lead you down. You know, in all the signposts, you know, you go out and you do some hiking.
You find that, you know, you find the trailhead or, you know, some marker along the way. It
says, you are here. You know, you look at the map. You are here. That's what this is
right here. That's that marker. And if we would read this and we would be attentive
to the preaching the Word of God, you know, we would find out where we are on that path.
God wants to lead us on that path. We might find out, well, I'm not where I'm supposed
to be. I've journeyed off the path a little bit, but now I can see where it is. I'm going
to get back on that path. And we can see where it's leading. You know, God's Word is a light
unto our path and a lamp unto our feet, the Bible says. I like John 14. This verse was
showed to me very early on in my Christian life. I think, honestly, the first time I
ever got in an independent fundamental Baptist church, I believe it was at a, you know, I
went to the Sunday services and then there was a Monday night men's prayer meeting. And
I remember showing up to that and having the pastor there, who I would go on to serve
for 11 years in that church, serve under him. He showed me this verse. I remember that.
Like I was there yesterday. If you look at verse 23, Jesus answered and said unto him,
if a man love me, he will keep my words. You know why some people will never get on the
path? You know why some people are never going to walk with God? Because there's no
love. There's no love. How can we say we love God and not walk the path with him? Look,
if you love somebody, you spend time with them. You know, how much would my wife feel
loved if I just never spent time with her? I mean, I'm begging to spend time with her.
I got to make appointments. You know, when you have five kids, it's hard to get a word
in sometimes. Right? And that's just the way life goes. But you know, that's how she wants
to spend time with me. I can't believe it either. You know, that's how I know she loves
me too. I mean, I could say it all night long. Oh, I love you. I love you. I love you. Well,
will you hang out? Can we go do something together? No, I can't spend any time with
him. Jesus said, if a man love me, he will keep my words. What did Jesus say? If you
love me, keep my commandments. Why does it seem like some Christians never make any progress
in their Christian life? Because they're not on the path. Because they don't want to walk
with God. He says, if a man love me, he will keep my words. And notice this, and my Father
will love him. And we will come unto him and make our abode with him. You want to walk
with God in this life? You want to have a fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit?
You want to know the ministering of God in your life? Keep his words. Look, it's not
some mystical, charismatic, over-the-top thing to walk with God. It's actually quite simple.
How do you know you're walking with God? Are you keeping his commandments? Are you
walking with him? Are you keeping his words? That's all you know. If you want to go back
to Isaiah, just go over a couple chapters to Isaiah chapter number 42. Keep something
in Isaiah 40. We'll be back at the end, but go to Isaiah chapter number 42. God desires
a walk with you. God wants to minister to you. God wants to lead you in a straight path.
We have to hold up our end. We have to love him and keep his words. I love Isaiah chapter
42 verse 16. It says, and I will bring the blind by a way which they knew not. I mean,
isn't that just a great picture of salvation? I mean, that was us. We're blind. We're
without Christ, without hope in this world. We're like the wicked, not knowing what
we stumble at. We walked in darkness, spiritually blinded by this world, by the devil in this
world. And then God came along, and God began to minister, and eventually the gospel was
brought to us, and it was preached to us, and we believed, and our eyes were opened,
and we were brought by a way that we knew not. He goes on and says, and I will lead
them in paths they have not known. The Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new
creature because all things are made new. I mean, I started walking with God those years
ago, and it hasn't been a perfect walk. I've had my share of setbacks. I've had
my share of, I've stumbled, just like everybody will, but I can look back at my life now and
say, well, I'm walking in ways I didn't even know. I was blind, and God came along,
and He led me, and now I'm walking in a way, I didn't know anything about child rearing.
My parents weren't independent fundamental Baptists. Far from it. They weren't even
saved when they were raising me. There was no Bible brought up in my home. We never went
to church. Quite the opposite. But you know, I was, I got saved, and now I look back and
say, wow, God's leading me in what it means to be a godly father. God has led me in what
it means to be a godly husband, according to His word. And that's not, and look, I'm
not saying that because I'm something special. All I'm saying is, you can do that too.
If you would start walking with God, and those of you that have been know that this
is true, and if you would just continue walking with God, you'll look back eventually and
just see where God led you here, and God taught you this, and you learned this, and you were
instructed here, and you'll look back and say, I was led in paths that I haven't even
known before. I will make darkness light before them. Doesn't that sound nice? The Bible says
that this book right here is a light that shineth in darkness. This is a light that
shines in darkness. That's what this book is. You know, if we were to take you out on
some starless cloudy night with no moon, out in the middle of the wilderness somewhere
where you can't even see your hand in front of your face, and I threw a flashlight in
the woods and dropped you off, you'd probably try to find that light, wouldn't you? You'd
be groping in the darkness. Where did that light go? Where is that flashlight? I need
to get out of these woods. You know, that's where a lot of us are spiritually though in
this world. That's where a lot of people are. They're just wandering through life,
just stumbling around in the dark in the wilderness, and those of us that have been given the opportunity,
you know, God has put the flashlight right in your hand. God's not saying, oh, find
the light. It's right here, my friend. He's saying, here you go. You want your
way out? Here's a light, and I'll make the darkness light before you. I don't know
how to be the wife I'm supposed to be. I don't know how I'm supposed to be the
husband I'm supposed to be. I don't know how I'm supposed to be the parent I'm
supposed to be. I don't know how I'm supposed to be the child that I'm supposed to be.
I don't know how I'm supposed to be the child of God I'm supposed to be. God says,
I'll show you. I'll show you. I'll shine light on all of that. I'll illuminate it.
And if you'll do it and keep my words and obey me, I'll lead you. That's the promise
we have in God. That's the promise we have in the Bible. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and forsake them not.
Oh, but what if I mess up? What if I make a mistake? Look, do you think I got here without
making any mistakes? Of course not. It was mistake after mistake after mistake after
mistake. There's been so many mistakes. Oh, you're the pastor because you've never
made any mistakes. Wrong. And look, I'm just saying that because what he's done for
me in my life, he'll do for you. Maybe there's a pastor sitting out there right now. I don't know.
Whatever he's done for others, he'll do for you, as the song says. The promise is
to all of us that he will illuminate the path. He will make the darkness light. He will make
the crooked things straight. I will make darkness light before them and crooked things
straight. Your life's a mess. You don't know what direction you're going in. God
will straighten that out for you. But it won't be easy. You say, how does God guide? How
does God straighten? Well, with his word. If you want to go over to Hebrews chapter
12, keep something in Isaiah. We'll go over to Hebrews chapter 12. God will guide us.
He will straighten these things out. He'll illuminate the path before us with his word.
He will set us on a rock. He will set us on a straight path and lean us in the way we
ought to go through the Bible. He said, it's not my word. This is Jeremiah 23. He said,
it's not my word like as a fire. I love how God describes his own word. It's like
a fire. You know, a fire can be a pretty scary thing. You know, fire can also be something
that purifies. Think about, you know, trying to refine metals and things like that. You
got to have a lot of intense heat. He said, it's not my word like a fire and like a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. There's just this obstacle in my way. I don't
know how to get past it. I don't know how to get around this thing in my life. I don't
know how to be what I'm supposed to be. He says, my word's like a hammer that will break
that obstacle. It'll break that thing in pieces and make the path clear before you. It'll
clear it. And God guides us and straightens us out with his word.
You know, it's the illustration of straightening something like a piece of iron, right? Anyone
ever try to straighten out a piece of wire? I know I have and for the life of me, I can't
remember why. Why I was doing it. But I know there's been times in my life where it was
like a coat hanger or something. It's all twisted up. You know, you unravel it and it's
got that little squiggly end on it, right? The little curly cues and you straighten that
out. But it never gets perfectly straight, does it? And then you roll it on like a vice
or something and just tap on that thing with a hammer to straighten it out. Try to make
it a little bit straighter. Look, that's the illustration that helps us understand
that that's how God's going to work in your life sometimes. It's like, well, I just
start going to church and everything just magically just starts to happen. I just go
listen to the preacher and it's just like, you know, he waves a magic wand over me. Look,
this isn't a book of incantations. This isn't a spell book where I'm just going
to say some words and you're going to walk out and life's just going to, you know,
be perfect. If you want things to get straightened out, you know, the Bible is going to have
to hammer some things through. There's going to be some hammering in your life. There's
going to be a kink in your life and he's going to go, well, we got to beat that down.
You're going to have to break out the holy hammer and do some smacking and straighten
that thing out. There might be some heat. It might get intense. It might get uncomfortable
to straighten things out. You know, you heat something up, it's malleable. That steel
that's so hard, you get it hot enough. I mean, you can bend it like it was made out
of rubber. That's how God leads us and straightens us out. It's through his word. And I'm
just telling you, it's not always comfortable. Sometimes it gets hot. Sometimes that hammer
has to come down. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 7. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. And what's he saying earlier on in the chapter? That
he chasteneth every son whom receiveth, neither is there any son whom he chasteneth not. And
if you be without chastisement, then are you bastards and not sons. God's saying in Hebrews
chapter 12 that if you are a saved, born-again believer, you can expect chastening from God.
It's guaranteed. And see, this is the mistake people make. They think, well, you know, I'm
saved, but I'm just not going to live for God. Okay, well, God's not going to let
you get away with that as his child. Any more than we're going to let our kids just go
play in traffic. Well, you know, there are kids, always be our kids, but they can do
whatever they want. You know, that's not a good parenting tactic, right? Because here's
the thing, we're God's children. You know, as many as received unto them gave you power
to become the sons of God. You know, we're God's children. If you're God's child,
God will chasten you. And if you decide you're just going to go live for the flesh and live
for the world, live for the devil, you know, just understand that chastening is coming.
And even those of us that aren't doing all those things, that are trying to walk on a
straight path, that are trying to live for God, you know, we also can anticipate chastening.
Because there's no son whom he chasteneth not. Look at verse 7, if you endure chastening,
if you say, I'll put up with it, I'll let God get me on the straight path, I'll let
God straighten me out, I will obey and keep his commandments, whatever God says, that's
what I'm going to do. If you endure chastening, then God dealeth with you as with sons. Look,
the father-son relationship is not all discipline, is it? Look, the discipline has to be there.
The rules have to be maintained. Order has to be maintained. Discipline must be enforced.
But it's out of love. Just because a father chastens does not mean that there is no love.
If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom
the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers and
ye are bastards and not sons. Jump down to verse 11 for sake of time. Now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous. All the kids could say amen to that, right? If
they're getting raised right. No one likes getting a chastening, no one likes a spanking,
no one likes, you know, when mom and dad discipline. You know what, there's going to be some things
in the Christian life that you're not going to like in the flesh. That's why Paul said
you have to mortify your members. You have to die daily. Salvation, praise God, is easy.
Salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Praise God. Christian
life, pull another ball of wax. Christian life is, you know, is a battle, it's a fight,
it can be a struggle sometimes against the flesh. We have to learn what it means to walk
in the Spirit. We have to be disciplined to do that. And eventually he says, you know,
if you allow the chastening, you let God straighten you out long enough to get you on this path,
you stay on the straight path, it's going to yield something. There's a light at the
end of the tunnel. He said, nevertheless, verse 11, afterward, after the chastening,
it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby. You
know, I don't look back on the 20 plus years of living for God, of serving Christ, of being
a Christian, and lament, you know, a bunch of sin that I didn't get to participate in
or something. I look back and I thank God that I don't have some of the problems my
peers have from back then. I thank God that I can look back and say, well, I don't have
that problem and I don't have this problem and I don't have that sin and I don't have
the consequences of this sin in my life. That's peace, friend. That's the peaceable fruit
of righteousness, being able to look back and say, well, God's been good to me. I stayed
on the path, others got off it, others went out in the world, they lived for the devil,
they lived for the flesh, they enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season, and now they're
paying the price. And I'm sitting here in middle age saying, pastor in a church, praise
God, got people following me in a church, going out and preaching the gospel and winning
souls to Christ. I didn't see that coming. You would have told me, you know, at 21 years
of age when I first got saved that this is where that path led, I would have laughed
and thought, no way. If you would have told me, you know, 11, 12 years ago when I was
still living back in Michigan that I was going to move out here and join a church and eventually
become a deacon and eventually get ordained as a pastor at a church in Tucson, I said,
well, I didn't see that coming. And I'm still waking up having to pinch myself. It's like,
how did, you know, me? But I'm, and I'm just using it as an example just to say, if you
get on the path, who knows where it will lead? You might not know where to lead, but I'll
tell you, you can know where to lead you away from. I can tell you that it's going to lead
you in a direction that you want to be in. It's going to take you in another direction
that from things that you want to leave behind. No one gets married and says, can't wait to
get divorced. No one gets married and says, can't wait to raise a bunch of ungrateful
brats. No one, you know, does these, starts on the Christian life and says, can't wait
to just make my faith shipwreck. Can't wait to just be, you know, a blemish on the body
of Christ. I can't wait until I, you know, can look back on a life and have accomplished
nothing for God. But, you know, people do it all the time. People do it all the time.
You get on that straight path. You let the hammer of God's work start to straighten things
out in your life. You let God bring the heat. You endure the chasting. He'll deal with you
as sons. And you know what? In time, you'll look back and have the peaceable fruit of
righteousness. Look at verse 12. You know, this could have been another theme verse,
right? 12 and 13, wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make
straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lain be turned out of the way. You know,
some of us, we've got the straight path of God coming to us. He's come, right? Someone
made a straight path in the desert and Christ came unto us. And now we need to get on that
straight path. We need to make straight paths for our feet and we need to start walking
in it and follow it all the way wherever it leads, wherever it goes, wherever it takes
us in life. Because we know for sure one thing, you know, it's just going to get the path
of the just shineth brighter and brighter into the perfect day. You walk with Christ.
You live for God. I promise you, your life will get better. And I don't mean you're going
to have a bunch of wealth, although maybe God will give you wisdom. Maybe God will bless
a business. Maybe God will give you the talent and ability and the thinking and all that
so that you can succeed. I believe that too. But I don't want people to conflate this with
some prosperity gospel. What I'm saying is if you get on the path and you stay on it,
you stay on that straight path with God in your life, you will in time look back. And
you'll thank God you never got off. And you'll be blessing God. You'll have the peaceable
fruit of righteousness. But you have to do your part. I love this in Hebrews 12 because
he's saying you lift up the hands. You lift up the feeble knees. You make straight paths
for your feet. Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, let it rather be healed.
The straight path is a path of healing, of shoring things up, of straightening things
out. You know, there's so much more that I wanted to go into here. Let's just go back
to Isaiah chapter number 40. Isaiah chapter number 40. We'll close there. Why did we choose
straight paths as a name for this church? Well, it's a biblical title. It's a theme
in the Bible. The theme of crying in the wilderness and making a highway in the desert
unto our God, of making his path straight. But you know, in Hebrews chapter 12, you know,
we also have to straighten out some things. We need to make straight paths for our feet.
We need to start walking with God. It's great that we're saved, but now, you know, if we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Look at Isaiah chapter 40. Look at
verse 1. We'll start there. He says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. Remember, Isaiah's been preaching judgment upon Israel for their sins, and God's saying,
look, it's just like Hebrews chapter 12. You know, the chase thing comes, and if you deal
with it, then there's the peaceable fruit of righteousness. You know, we have to be
exercised by chasing and judgment sometimes. He goes on in verse 3, The voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in a desert a highway
for a God. And then this is very prophetic. Every valley shall be exalted in every mountain,
and hills shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places
plain. Of course, this is prophetic of the second coming of Christ, and I believe these
are, he's talking about the literal change to the topography or the geography of this
earth. That mountains are literally going to be brought low, that valleys are literally
going to be filled, and that crooked ways are going to be made straight and rough places
plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, cry, and he said, what shall
I cry? And this is the message that we cry today. All flesh is as grass, and the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. You know what your life is? The Bible says it's
a vapor that appearth for a little while and then vanishes away. The Bible says that our
flesh, our life, is just grass. It rises up, it flowers, and then it withers away and
is gone. I mean that's a season, right? I mean that can happen in a day or two. It goes
on and says, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it, surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but my friend, he says, the word of our God shall
stand forever. Make your life about the only thing that's going to last for all of eternity,
the Bible. The things that you do for Christ in this life will extend into eternity. And
I believe, you know, as this church continues on through the years, as long as we remain
faithful to this book, and we keep lifting up our voice, and we keep being that voice
in the wilderness, that this church will make an impact on people's lives for decades
to come, beyond my own life. I believe that. Because it's not me that I'm preaching, it's
the word of God. And I've already seen it happen. I've already seen people join this
church, get on that straight path, and watch God start to straighten some things out. And
I know God is going to continue to work in those lives, and God is going to continue
to mold those people far beyond my years. There's children that are raised up in this
church that are going to learn what it means to be a God-fearing Christian, to be a Godly
parent, and they're going to raise the next generation. I mean, that could just continue
on generation to generation. Why? Because the word of our Lord shall stand forever.
My life is just grass, friend. You know, and I guess maybe I'm flourishing a little bit
right now. I guess maybe I'm blooming, as it were. But no matter how pretty I am up
here, this is all going to fade away. No matter what greatness we achieve in this life, in
the terms of this world, it's all going to fade away and be forgotten. However much money
you make, whatever accolades you get, whatever achievements you have in terms of this world,
it's going to wither up and fade away and be forgotten forever. But whatever you do
for God will have an impact. And not just far off, it'll change your life right now.
You get on that path with God and start walking that straight path, your life will begin to
change. You start obeying these commandments, putting these things to practice in your life,
your life's going to change. How couldn't it? How couldn't it? God will bless it. But
even greater than that, you stay faithful all the way to the end, man, there's just
going to be so much that just reaches far beyond our own reach. It just extends beyond
our own reach. Because we preach Christ Jesus and not ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus
and Him crucified. That's what we cry. And that's why we chose straight paths. That's
why I settled on that. I loved it when my daughter suggested it. I fell in love with
it very quickly. And just the more I've been meditating on it and thinking about it and
what it could mean to us as a church, the more I like it. We want to go make that desert
or that highway in the desert unto our God. We want to bring people to Christ. But you
know what? We want to go beyond that too. We want to get people on the straight path.
I want to see God work in the lives of the people in this church and those that are yet
to come. And I'm just saying this morning, that's not a vain hope of mine. That's not
just something I think might happen. I'm assured of that. I absolutely believe that if people
attend this church and as long as I stay on the path that I'm supposed to be on, if I
follow Christ and I preach the word I'm supposed to preach and the way I'm supposed to preach
it, lives out there will change. And the impact this ministry has is going to be one
that goes on forever and ever. It's going to be a path that just keeps shining brighter
and brighter. I believe that. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord,
again, thank you for this church. Thank you for this body of believers that you've assembled
together in this town and this city, Lord. And Lord, I know there's a great work that
is laid out before us. It's a work that we've already begun. And Lord, I pray you give us
the strength and the fortitude to continue in this work. And Lord, help us to do it with
joy in our hearts. Help us to appreciate what we have here in this church. Lord, help us
to love one another. And Lord, help us most of all to love you and appreciate what we
have in Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Lord, thank you for the Bible. Thank
you for the word of God. Thank you that we have the promise, Lord, that if we keep your
words, you will abide with us. That we can know what it means to walk with God in spirit
and in truth. I pray you just bless the rest of our day. And Lord, bless this ministry
in the years to come, we ask in Christ's name, amen. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one
more song before we are...
We ask in Christ's name, amen.
Amen.