🎵Piano Music🎵
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Can I please have everyone find their seats and grab their songbooks and turn to page number 296.
Please find your seats and grab your songbook and turn to page number 296.
We're going to start the service off seeming follow on.
Page 296.
Follow on and let's go ahead and sing it out in that first verse.
Down in the valley with my savior I would go
Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow
Everywhere he leads me I would follow, follow on
Walking in his footsteps to the ground he won
Follow, follow I would follow Jesus
Anywhere, everywhere I would follow on
Follow, follow I would follow Jesus
Everywhere he leads me I would follow
Page 296. Let's sing it out on the second verse.
Down in the valley with my savior I would go
Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow
With his hand to lead me I will never, never fear
Danger cannot fright me if my Lord is near
Follow, follow I would follow Jesus
Anywhere, everywhere I would follow on
Follow, follow I would follow Jesus
Everywhere he leads me I would follow on
Down in the valley or upon the mountain sea
Those beside my savior would my soul ever keep
He will lead me safely in the path that he hath trod
Up to where they gather on the hills of God
Follow, follow I would follow Jesus
Anywhere, everywhere I would follow on
Follow, follow I would follow Jesus
Everywhere he leads me I would follow on
Great singing. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church and the Wednesday evening Bible study.
Let's open up on the word of prayer.
Father God, thank you so much for this church, Lord.
Thank you for these people coming out here on a Wednesday evening to serve you.
I pray that our singing would glorify you, Lord.
I pray that you would bless the service and the preaching would come.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
All right, now turn to your song books page number 173.
We're going to sing Love Lifted Me, page 173.
Love Lifted Me, and let's go ahead and sing it out on that first verse.
I was sinking deep in sand, far from the peaceful shore
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more
But the pastor of the sea heard my despairing cry
From the waters lifted me, now save am I
Love Lifted Me, Love Lifted Me
When nothing else could help, Love Lifted Me
Love Lifted Me, Love Lifted Me
When nothing else could help, Love Lifted Me
Page 173 on the second verse
All my heart to Him I remember, to Him I'll cling
In His blessed presence live, ever as praise to sing
Love so mighty and so true, merits my soul's best songs
Faithful loving service to, to Him belongs
Love Lifted Me, Love Lifted Me
When nothing else could help, Love Lifted Me
Love Lifted Me, Love Lifted Me
When nothing else could help, Love Lifted Me
Let's sing it strong on the last
Souls in danger look above, Jesus completely saves
He will lift you by His love, out of the angry waves
He's the master of the sea, willows as well obey
Be your savior once to be, be saved today
Love Lifted Me, Love Lifted Me
When nothing else could help, Love Lifted Me
Love Lifted Me, Love Lifted Me
When nothing else could help, Love Lifted Me
Great singing
If you didn't have a bulletin, please raise your hand
I'm not sure if you can bring your bulletin
Just keep your hand up and she'll come by
The verse this week, 2 Corinthians 9-7
Every man according as he purposed in his heart
So let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity
For God loveth a cheerful giver
And we are all out of bulletins
So please share if you would
And if you open up your bulletins, we have our weekly church service times
We have our Sunday morning service at 10.30 a.m.
A Sunday evening service at 6 p.m.
And of course tonight is our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m.
And we do ask that you please pray for our pastor
Pastor Jimenez is in Arizona preaching tonight live now at Faith Ward Baptist Church
So be praying for him and he will be traveling back tonight
So pray for him and his daughter as they travel back tonight from Arizona
And we're excited to have Pastor Steven Anderson from Faith Ward Baptist Church preaching for us tonight
So he's a great friend of our church, a great friend of our pastors
And so we're grateful for him to be here with us tonight
And so if you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times are Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
And for now Thursday and Friday soul winning are postponed
And we do have a Sunday soul winning at 2 p.m. as well
And if you're a first time guest, if it's your first time here at Grady Baptist Church
We're glad that you're with us
We have a gift that we'd like to give you
As you walk out of the main foyer, you'll see a table
And on that table you see these gift bags set up
Please grab one of these on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight
There's a lot of resources we want you to have
But the one that we like to highlight is this documentary
It's called Being Baptist
It's very interesting, very well made about the Baptist people
Where we believe, where we come from
We want to give this to you as a gift for being our guest this evening
And if you are a guest, we ask that you please take a moment to fill out this communication card
Which is in your bulletin
If you need a pen, please raise your hand
And I'm not sure if we can bring you by a pen that you can keep
But we want to be a blessing to you, but we need your information
So please fill this card out and drop it in the offering plate as the offering plate goes by
And we are a family integrated church
Of course we keep the kids together for the services
We have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms
With chairs, monitors, so you can watch the service and listen to it
So you can use those rooms if you need so during the service
And if you look at our announcements there
We did have our vision offering this past Sunday
And we've had more come in since Sunday
And pastor will be updating the church on how that went
On Sunday, so beware of that
The pastor will give us an update this coming Sunday
On the vision offering
And of course tonight we have pastor Anderson preaching for us
And we're excited for him to be here
And this Sunday is daylight savings time
So please make sure that you set your clocks forward one hour
The night before and be on time for church
That is this Sunday, March 10th
So make sure you are aware of that
We do have our next generation youth rally coming up
April 9th through the 10th
So make plans to attend
And if you're a teen or you have a teen
Please register on your communication card
And please give us your name, your age
And your shirt sizes
And let us know that you can join us for the youth rally
Home school group
There is PE class coming up on Thursday March 14th
Choir
There's choir practice again for Easter
This coming Sunday at 5pm as well
Ladies weight loss accountability group
They meet every Wednesday at 615 pm
In Ms. Joanne's office
And cleaning crew, you can see if your name is there on the schedule
If you look at the back of the bulletin
The birthdays and anniversaries for the month
This week we had Ms. Denise Anderson's birthday on March 4th
And Ms. Naomi Nell Kasko's birthday on March 5th
Money matters, praise report
All those things are there for you to look at
And that is it for the announcements
And so normally on Wednesday nights we go through our prayer list
We will not be going through our prayer list
So if you can please raise your hand
We ask that you please take this home
And please pray for your church family
And so please keep your hand up and an usher can come by
And give you a prayer list
And we do ask that you please take this home
Read through it and be in prayer for your church family
We of course want to give Pastor Anderson as much time as possible
So we will not be going through this tonight
And so that is it for the announcements
At this time, Brother Moses will come up
And we will sing a song before we receive the offering
Thank you
Turn your song books to page number 24
We are going to sing
And Can It Be
Now this isn't a song that you can just kind of sit back
And mumble a little bit
We have to actually sing this pretty good
Especially since Pastor is not here
I can actually see everyone who is singing right now
So I will make a list
And tell them
But let's sing it out on the first
Number 24
And Can It Be
And can it be
That I should
Gain
An interest
In the
Savior's blood
Die
Me
For me
Who causes pain
For me
Who will
Die
For me
Who causes pain
For me
Who will
To death
Pursue
Amazing
Love
How can it be
That
Thou
My God
Should
Sign for me
Amazing
Love
How can it be
That
Thou
My God
Should
Sign for me
Now
That was pretty good for the first verse
But we can sing it a little bit better
On the second
Let's sing it out
He left
His father's throne
Above
So free
So
Infinite
His
Grace
Empty
Himself
Above
And
Let
More atoms
Helplessly
His
Mercy
All
Immense
And
Free
For
Oh my God
It
Mound out me
Amazing
Love
How can it
Be
That
My God
Should
Sign for me
On the last verse
Long
High
Imprisoned
Spiritly
Last
Bounded
Sin
And
Nature's
Night
I
Use
The
Quicking
Rain
I
Woke
A
Dungeon
Blamed
With
Light
My
Chains fell
All
Holy
Amazing
Love
How can it
Be
That
My
God
Should
Sign for me
Great singing.
At this time, the ushers come forward with the offering.
And I'll pray for the offering.
Father God, thank you so much for these
church and these people who come here and
give and tithe for you Lord.
I pray that you bless the offering.
I pray that you bless the gift and the giver.
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Amen.
Amen
Amen.
Amen
Amen.
Amen
Amen.
And so we really emphasize that verse 8
about the Word of our God standing forever.
And, you know, the grass of the field perishes.
The flower perishes.
But the Word of God endures forever.
But what is the grass representing in this parable?
What is the grass representing?
Well, the Bible says in verse 6,
all flesh is grass.
But then he gets even more specific
and says in verse 7 at the end,
the people is grass. Now look, what people are we talking about?
You know, we're talking about the people of Israel because he
starts out at the very beginning of the chapter and who's, you
know, comfort my people, say to Jerusalem X Y and Z. Then we get
down to this part and he says, this is what needs to be cried
by John the Baptist. John the Baptist is going to cry, all
flesh is grass, the people is grass. It's the word of God
that's going to abide forever. You see, that physical nation of
Israel is not eternal. God is eternal. The Bible is eternal.
And he that doeth the will of God, the Bible says in 1 John
2 17, abideth forever. So the Bible abides forever. God abides
forever. And he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And
of course, the will of God is that we would believe on the
son, that we would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God
has sent. John chapter six, verse 40. And so it's not a
physical nation that's eternal. It's not going to last forever.
And this is why when John the Baptist shows up, what does he
preach? What's the first thing? I mean, you just start reading
your Bible, right? And you just open Matthew chapter one, you
get through all those names. You go to chapter two, you get
through that Christmasy story in chapter two, you're going
through chapter two. In chapter three is the first time that you
really get to some preaching in the New Testament. It's the
first preaching that you come to in the New Testament. And it's
John the Baptist preaching. And the very first thing in the New
Testament that any preacher says is, O generation of vipers, who
has warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bring forth
therefore fruits, meat for repentance, and think not to say
within yourselves we have Abraham to our father. For I say
unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham, and now also the ax is laid onto the
root of the trees, and every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. He says, look,
you are going into the fire. I don't care if you're a son of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, you're nothing. You're going to hell if
you don't believe in Jesus Christ. It's the first sermon.
You're going to be chopped down. You're going to be cut down.
Why? Because all flesh is grass. Folks, we're grass tonight.
We're just, this is a lawn right here, and God's a lawn mower.
We're grass. We're nothing. But you know what? I'm going to
live forever. I have eternal life. I am going to rule and
reign with Jesus Christ, but this flesh is not going to
be the kingdom of God because all flesh is grass, and
specifically the people, the people of Israel, the nation of
Israel, the kingdom of Israel is grass, and guess what? The
lawn mower came in 70 AD, and they had it set to the lowest
setting, like it was a golf course or something, and in 70
AD, the Roman-Jewish War, the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem
was burned, and Israel was wiped out, and you know, you
say, well, you know, they were still kind of hanging on. Yeah,
then in 135 AD, about 65 years later, you have what's called
the Bar Kokhba Revolt, and in the Bar Kokhba Revolt, about
585,000 Jews were killed in the fighting. Countless more were
killed just from famine, pestilence, destruction, and in
fact, every single Jew was removed from Jerusalem, and it
was made illegal for centuries for any Jews to even live in
Jerusalem. I mean, to where not even one Jew is living in
Jerusalem, because when God wipes out a nation, He wipes out
a nation. Now, of course, the religion, the Christ-hating,
Christ-rejecting synagogue of Satan still continued on, you
know, throughout history, and you say, you know, why did God
allow the synagogue of Satan to exist? You know, because
ultimately, everything that ends up happening in this world
ultimately ends up fulfilling God's will. All things end up
working together for good to them that love God, and so God
even uses wicked people and wicked institutions, and even
the devil himself, you know, they're all allowed to exist
for a reason. I mean, don't you think God could just get rid of
the devil whenever He wants? But yet, He lets the devil be
around. Why? Because one day, God is going to bind Satan and
cast him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. I mean,
why not do it now? And then here's the really crazy part.
After a thousand years, He's going to let him out of hell on
purpose. He's going to open it up and let him go. Why? So that
he can go deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to that
battle, and the number of them will be as the sand of the sea.
Why? Because the devil is a great trash collector. And, you
know, there's so many things in this world that just, I just
wish they would just die, you know, like the Mormon church.
You know, I just wish I could just see Mormonism just cease to
exist in my lifetime. You know, you'd think the internet would
have done that for us. But, you know, still, it's just
everywhere in Arizona, all these Mormon churches and Mormon
temples and everything like that. You know, when are the
Jehovah's Witnesses just going to die? I mean, they've got their
little Temple of Doom set up with all their literature, and
you see them in parks and on school campuses and so forth
with their literature. The nice thing is nobody's ever talking
to them. That's what's comforting. But they're all just
sitting there like... Nobody's ever talking to them. But I'm
just like, why? I just want to walk up to them and just prove
them wrong and just destroy their doctrine because it's so
dumb, it's so ridiculous, it's so absurd, it's so unbiblical.
It's so easy to disprove. Why do they even exist? But you know
what? God allows all these false religions to exist. I was
reading a history book, and you're reading about how Islam
was just almost wiped out by the Mongolian Empire, and you're
just like, finish them! Why didn't they just finish it? Why
didn't they just wipe them out? But God allows Islam to exist.
God allows these false religions to exist. They ultimately fulfill
His will because they are trash collectors. They are providing
an alternative to the truth so that wicked people will be
deceived by them. And anyone who is sincere and wants to know
the truth will find Christ. They will find the truth. They will
find the Lord Jesus Christ. But why did God allow the synagogue
of Satan to exist? Well, you know, one reason is because of
the fact that even though they don't believe the Bible, at
least they were good at just copying the Bible, right? Because
I mean, any robot could do that, right? And now we literally have
machines that just do it for us. So it's just, you know,
computers and machines and printing presses and so on. But
before that, you know, the Christ-rejecting Jews, you know,
they're at least copying the Hebrew Bible. They just kept
copying it and copying it and copying it. And they kept all
kind of great statistics about, like, how many letters are in
this row and how many letters in this column and how many times
this word is used, how many times this letter is used, you
know, just to make sure that everything gets copied
accurately. And if you have the Masoretic text of the Hebrew
Bible at the end of each book, it has all these statistics
about how many letters, how many words, how many verses, all
these different stats, making sure, and it's just funny, it's
like you got all these stats, but you don't even understand
what you're reading, and you don't even believe the Christ
that the book is even pointing to. But you know what? They
served a purpose. They served a function to copy that thing and
get it to us. And of course, they're going to play a role in
the end times. You know, the old IFB loves to talk about how
God's not finished with Israel. And that's quite true. He's not
finished kicking their butt. He's not finished with Israel
because the fake nation of Israel today is going to be
punished by God in the end times for rejecting the Lord Jesus
Christ and hating the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what the Bible
clearly teaches. And so the people's grasp, nation of
Israel's grasp, what abides forever? The Word of God, the
kingdom of God, the people of God. In AD 135, after the
Bar Kokhba revolt, the physical nation of Israel was pretty much
annihilated, you know, and you have, of course, them scattered
into all nations, and they kept the religion alive. They got a
bunch of white people to convert to their religion, and now we
have a bunch of white people who, you know, say they're Jews
and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. But the
salvation that he's promising in this passage in Isaiah chapter
40 is a spiritual salvation, not a physical salvation. You know,
and this is what a lot of the Israelites didn't expect because
they're thinking that the Messiah is going to come, think
about this, that the Messiah is going to come and deliver them
from the Romans and give them their own independent kingdom.
But instead, what did he do? He actually saved the souls of
those who believed in Christ. He gave them peace in their
hearts. He put the kingdom of God within them, and then he
literally unleashed the Romans on them. I mean, they're looking
to Jesus to save them from the Romans. They want Jesus to
deliver them their independent, free kingdom from the Romans.
Instead, what does he do? He unleashes the Romans on them to
take them out in 70 AD and again in 135 AD. And so, literally,
the opposite of what they expected is what happened to
them. There's one final reversal in this passage. If you look at
the beginning of the passage in Isaiah chapter 40, it says,
speak ye, verse 2, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and
cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her
sins are pardoned. And so we have Jerusalem in verse 2 being
given good news, being told good news. Hey, good news.
Captivity's over. Exile's over. Punishment is over. You're
going to be saved. You're going to be forgiven. And then what's
interesting is at the end of the passage, it's actually reversed.
And instead of the good news coming to Jerusalem, by the end
of the passage, we have the good news going forth from
Jerusalem. Because look, if you would, at verse number 9. It
says, O Zion that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the
high mountain. O Jerusalem that bringest good tidings. Of
course, good tidings means good news, also known as gospel. O
Jerusalem that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with
your voice. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of
Judah, behold your God. And so we have now the good tidings
coming forth from Jerusalem. Instead of speaking to
Jerusalem, now it's been reversed. And now it's
Jerusalem that is giving the good tidings to the cities of
Judah, which is the surrounding area. And of course, Christ
said, you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and
in Judea. That's the next step. And in Samaria and unto the
uttermost part of the earth. And so the gospel came to
Jerusalem. For the most part, the Jews rejected the Lord
Jesus Christ. But as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on
His name. And then from Jerusalem, the gospel goes
forth. Because it's at Jerusalem, at the day of
Christ, where God's Spirit is poured out upon the early
church, where the apostles are endued with power from on high
so that they can go out into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. And so everything is reversed by the
time we get to the end of this passage here in Isaiah, Chapter
40. So what is the moral of the story here? You know, we've seen
this passage. And once you study it and look at it and comprehend
it, you can see that verses one through 11 are all about Jesus.
They're all about pointing us to Christ coming and the things
that are going to happen when He comes. What is the moral of the
story? Don't be high minded. Be humble. Why? Because God can
bring down the high. He can make every mountain and hill low. And
He can result every valley. And so if you're smart, you will be
humble. You will have a lower view of yourself. You will
humble yourself in the sight of the Lord so that He can lift you
up. That is the moral of the story here. Because let me tell
you something. Today, it is epidemic today among Christians,
among Americans. I mean, it's probably just a human problem.
People are just super prideful. And you know what? It's easy for
us as Christian people in our type of a church or in our type
of Christianity to get prideful because of the fact that we're
living Christian lives. And let's just face it. Living the
Christian life is a more excellent way to live your life.
The way that we live our lives as Christians is superior. So
it's easy for us to get all high and mighty and lift it up and
look out there at a lost and dying world and say, you know
what? I'm better than them. But here's the thing about that is
that there's nothing good about us. I mean, the Apostle Paul
said, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwell with no good
thing. And if the Apostle Paul could say, well, I don't have
any good thing in my flesh, well, how much more those of us
that are not on the level of an Apostle Paul, we can admit, hey,
in my flesh dwell with no good thing. Yes, we are living a more
excellent life. Why? Because of the fact that Jesus Christ is
the Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells us and has shown us
exactly what to do and has empowered us to live the
Christian life. It's not that we're just better. The only
thing that makes us better is Christ. And yet you have
Christian young people today growing up, and they just look
down on everybody, and they just think they're so much better
than everybody. They just think they're so much smarter than
everybody. They just think there's so much more righteous
than everybody. You know what? Hey, maybe you are smarter.
Maybe you are more righteous. Maybe you are living a more
excellent lifestyle. But you know what? You don't have
anything to brag about because that was all handed to you by
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not you. That's not your greatness.
It's not your goodness. You know, that is your, it's not
white privilege. It's Christian privilege. It's Christian
privilege. This is white privilege. You know what? There
are some white people's houses. If you grow up in them, you're
privileged. There are some messed up white people out
there. And let me tell you something. You'd be better off
growing up in a godly Christian home where your parents are as
black as the night. But they believe on Jesus Christ. You are
privileged, my friend. And I don't care how much money they
have. I don't care what part of town they live in. Hey, the
people who are going to make it in life are Christians. It
doesn't matter what color they are. It's Christianity that will
actually privilege the child and let him grow up and live a more
excellent life. It doesn't matter the race. Because you
know what? A white atheist is going to raise their kids wrong.
There's no white privilege. White privilege is a code word
for Christian privilege. And it's not about being white
because you could be red, yellow, black, white, and still
have that privilege if your parents are Christian. And you
know what? If you're a child here growing up in a Christian
home, you should thank God every day that you're growing up in a
Christian home. Oh, my parents. Oh, shut up. Because your
parents are Christians and have taught you the gospel and have
taught you the Bible. You are going to be doing better in life
than 99% of people. But you're whining that your parents aren't
perfect. Well, you're not so perfect yourself. And the only
good things about you come from Christ and Christian parents and
church and the Bible and everything else. But we got
Christian young people today that somehow think that they're
better than the people out there. But you know what? If the
people out there were raised in your home, they'd be like you.
And if you were raised out there, you'd be a derelict like
That's the true story, my friend. And so we all need to be
humble and be thankful and say, man, thank God that I was born
in America. Thank God that I had the parents I did. Thank God
that... And you know, those of you that got saved later in
life, obviously you have a different testimony. I was born
and raised in the faith. I got saved as a six-year-old boy.
Pastor Jimenez also got saved at a very young age. He's raised
in a Christian home. You know, his parents are here tonight.
My parents are here tonight. You know, all our parents are
here. You know, we were raised in a Christian home. These
things were handed to us. But you know, those of you that got
saved later in life, you know, you should just be so thankful
to God for that person who brought you the gospel or that
you're in a place where the gospel abounds because it's a
lot easier to get saved in America than it is in a lot of
places because the gospel is everywhere here. The gospel
abounds. You know, we need to be humble. We need to be thankful.
We need to realize that we're not anything special. And
anything good about us comes from the Holy Spirit within.
That's what makes us a good person if we are a good person
in a certain area. And all the bad parts of us, well, that's
the part we can really take credit for. You know, hey, that
was my flesh that contributed that. And so don't be
high-minded. Don't be puffed up. Don't be prideful or arrogant
and look down on other people. You know what? We should look
out at the people that are out there and instead of looking
down on them, we should, you know, feel bad for them and want
to elevate them and want to get them the gospel and get them
saved. And then hopefully once we get them saved, we can show
unto them a more excellent way. So the first thing that we can
learn from this passage is don't be high-minded, be humble.
And then the second thing that we can take away from this
passage is that we should focus on the spiritual and not the
physical. Focus on that which is spiritual, not that which is
physical. Be humble because God can exalt every valley and God
can bring down every mountain. And if you're humble, he'll lift
you up. If you're high-minded, he'll bring you down. You know
what? When I listen to prideful people talk, I get scared for
them. You ever hear prideful people talking and you're just,
I'm just scared. Like, what is God going to do to you? Like, I
can't even believe what you're saying right now. And I'm just
wondering what is God going to have to do to humble you because
you're so prideful right now. I mean, I'm just thinking like I
would be scared to death to talk the way that you're talking
right now. Wow. Don't be high-minded. Don't be prideful.
Be humble. But number two, focus on the spiritual. Don't make
the mistake that the Jews made where it's just all about our
nation, our kingdom, America, you know. It's not about the
physical things that we see. The Bible says the things that are
seen are temporal and the things that are not seen are eternal.
And so we need to focus on the spiritual, not on the physical.
You know, today we spend so much time in our society because we
live in such a comfortable society, because we live in so
much luxury and wealth and prosperity. You know, we spend
so much time in our appearances. You know, we're just really
worried about the way that we look, really worried about
clothing and just worried about our physique, and we're just
worried about maybe even the way our things look and, you know,
our possessions, vehicles, houses, things like that. You
know, we need to focus on the spiritual because it's a lot
more important what's going on in your heart than how you look
on the outside. And, you know, I'm not saying to just go around
looking like trash or something, but cleanse first that which is
within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be
clean also, right? Start on the inside. You know, start with
reading your Bible. Start with praying. Start with singing a
hymn. Start with thinking about the fact that we are dust and
ashes, that we are grass, and that God Almighty holds our very
breath in His hand, and humbling ourselves before God, getting
the right attitude and getting a spiritual focus rather than a
physical focus. You know, this church, Verity Baptist Church,
has always been a church that has emphasized that which is
spiritual. Faithful Word Baptist Church has been the same way.
You know, if you think about this church, this church began
with a very humble beginning in Pastor Jimenez's living room,
right? It didn't start out seeking out the building and
seeking out all of the external things. You know, it started
out humbly just seeking to win people to the Lord. And all the
effort went into getting people saved, right? And the effort
went into people and preaching sound doctrine and good Bible
preaching. And notice how because Pastor Jimenez
emphasized that which was spiritual and focused on the
important things first and taking care of the important
things first, now over time, God has blessed, and now God has
given and blessed with a nice building. You know, and here we
are these many years later, and you're sitting in a beautiful
building. You know, it's funny how, you know, you seek first
the kingdom of God, and then all these things are added unto you,
right? And then you get to this point, and then you can enjoy a
nicer facility. You know, there are probably people back then
that despised the church because they'd say, oh, you know, it's
meeting in a house. Oh, it's in an office complex. Oh, it's
in a strip mall. Oh, it's right next to the methadone clinic or
whatever, you know. But now here you are, you know, but here's
the thing. It's the same church. It's the same stuff. You know,
God blessed with some material things, an enjoyable time and a
nice building because of the fact that you focused on the
spiritual first because you made the main thing the main thing
and the priority. And, you know, Faithful Word Baptist has been
the same way where, you know, we started in the living room. We
started just meeting in little office spaces and storefronts,
and, you know, and we are still meeting in an office space, you
know, to this day. But that's okay because it's all about
winning souls and preaching the gospel and preaching the Word of
God. But you know what? God has blessed us in other ways. And so
the point is that this church has focused on spiritual things
and now has been blessed with a cool building, you know, which
is a lot better than making it all about getting the cool
building, compromising, cutting corners on doctrine, not
focusing on hard preaching or soul winning or those things,
focusing on just getting the building because you know what?
Here's the thing. Once you get the building the wrong way,
you're not just going to suddenly become fundamental, you
know. But if you preach hard and do what you're supposed to do,
God's going to take care of the needs in the long run of
facilities and whatever you need. And so this church is a
great example of a church that has focused on the spiritual
and not on the carnal and not on the physical. And even as this
church moves forward, you know, it's never going to be about the
building. It's never going to be about, I mean, the building's a
tool. It's never going to be about the things that we see
because everything that we see, look around the auditorium, look
at yourself, look at yourself in the mirror, look at your wife,
your children, your husband, your friend, everything,
everything that you see here, everything in 100 years, you
know, it's just, is it going to be here? Is it going to be like
this? A thousand years from now, 10,000, everything's going to
be gone someday. But what's going to last is the soul, those
who are saved, the word of God, the kingdom of God. Those are
the things that are going to matter. And so number one, don't
be prideful, don't be high minded, but rather be humble.
And number two, focus on that, which is spiritual in your life
as a church, in your family, focus on the spiritual, not on
the physical. That's probably enough word of prayer. Father,
we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for this
powerful passage in Isaiah chapter 40. Lord, I pray that we
would apply these truths to our lives and Lord, that we would
not be prideful and that we would not become carnal and
focused on physical worldly things. Help us keep us
spiritual in Jesus' name. We pray. Amen.
See and draw a light in the darkness you see. There's life
for a look at the Savior and life for a fun and tan free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light
of His glory and grace. 261 on the second, through death into
life everlasting, He passives all away there. Pour us in all
the light of His glory. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full
in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Let's
finish strong on the last verse. This word shall not fail you,
but it will be promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then
go to a world that is lying, His perfect salvation to tell. Turn
your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the
things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His
glory and grace.
Great singing. If you're a guest and you have any questions
about church membership, salvation, or baptism, you can
see brother Oliver in the front. And can I please have brother
Oliver in the front. And can I please have brother Oliver in
the front.
And can I please have brother Oliver in the front. And can I
please have brother Oliver in the front. And can I please have
brother Oliver in the front. And can I please have brother
Oliver in the front. And can I please have brother Oliver in the
front.