["O Come All Ye Faithful"]
Alright, good morning everybody.
Happy anniversary, happy six years of blessed at Baptist Church.
My phone's telling me that Canada and Chile are about to play Cop America.
But I'm saying no, I'm going to be the house of the Lord.
I'm going to be worshipping and serving Jesus Christ instead of watching the soccer.
I know you're all doing the same thing, praise God.
So grab your hymnals, let's begin by praising our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have 143.
In your hymnals, 143.
We've got to start with this one.
Blessed assurance, just because we're called blessed at Baptist Church.
143, can you please stand when you have found it?
Blessed assurance, 143.
Blessed assurance.
Alright, let's sing out to the Lord.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.
Heir of salvation, purchase of God.
Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight.
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending, ring from above.
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, all is at rest.
I in my Savior am happy and blessed.
And waiting, looking above.
Filled with his goodness, washed in his love.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Alright, beautiful singing guys. Let's go to a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we want to thank you for six years of blessing up Baptist Church, Lord,
that we've been able to come together as a church united under our Lord Jesus Christ
to serve, to worship, to learn from you.
And Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will do a great work in us this morning.
Please revive us, Lord. Please light a fire, Lord, within us,
and if that fire's been burnt out a little bit, Lord, over the recent months,
then maybe trials and tribulations, Lord, have caused us to lose our sight upon you.
So Lord, please just uplift us, encourage us this morning.
Lord, we want to ask for another six years of blessing up Baptist Church,
another 10 years, 11 years, 100 years, whatever you have for us, Lord, to serve you faithfully.
Thank you for the love that we have, one toward another, for your help, Lord.
And Lord, I pray that as we sing our praises to you this morning, Lord,
that you'd receive it with gladness.
Lord, we want to honour you. We want to bless you, Lord.
You're a great God. Thank you so much for your salvation.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.
All right. 200, please. 247. 247 we'll sing. Saved, saved.
Again, happy birthday. Blessed up, Baptist Church.
You guys are a real encouragement to me.
Thank you for your love and friendship over these last six years.
And, you know, we would not be together if not for Jesus Christ, you know.
He's the one that brings us together.
He is what we share in unity.
Our common interest is Jesus Christ, of course, and our salvation through Him.
So we'll sing 247. Saved, saved. 247.
I found a friend who is all to me.
His love is ever true.
I love to tell how He lifted me.
And what His grace can do for you.
Saved by His power divine. Saved to new life someone.
Life thou is sweet and my joy is complete.
For I'm saved, saved, saved.
He saves me from every sin and harm.
Secures my soul each day.
I'm leaning strong on His mighty arm.
I know He'll guide me all the way.
Saved by His power divine. Saved to new life someone.
Life thou is sweet and my joy is complete.
For I'm saved, saved, saved.
When poor and needy and all alone.
His love He said to me.
Come on to me and I'll lead you home.
To live with me eternally.
Saved by His power divine. Saved to new life someone.
Life thou is sweet and my joy is complete.
For I'm saved, saved, saved.
Amen. Excellent singing. Let's go to 448, please.
448.
448. Thank you so much for the soul winning yesterday.
Brother Anthony, you counted nine, I counted ten. I don't know how many were there.
Does anyone know? What's the final number?
I think Tony put down like we had a salvation at the door.
Tony put it down and I put it down so maybe he counted the same one.
Ah, Brother Tony.
Nine salvations yesterday. Praise God for that. Excellent work guys.
Thank you for going out door to door. Soul winning, that's the main reason.
We exist as a church to preach the wonderful good news of Jesus Christ.
So 448, we're gathered here today.
Brethren, we have meant to worship.
We've come together for fellowship. We've come to know more of Jesus Christ.
So 448, brethren, we have meant to worship.
Brethren, we have meant to worship.
And adore the Lord our God.
Till you pray with all your power.
While we try to preach the word.
Holy is the unlester spirit.
Of the holy one comes down.
Brethren, pray in holy manner.
We'll be showered all around.
Brethren, save for sinners.
Round you slumbering on the brink of woe.
Death is coming. Hell is moving.
Can you bear to let them go?
Sing our fathers and our mothers.
And our children singing down.
Brethren, pray in holy manner.
We'll be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us?
Moses, sister, aid at him.
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior.
Tell them that he will be found.
Sisters, pray in holy manner.
We'll be showered all around.
Let us love our God supremely.
Let us love each other too.
Let us love and pray for sinners.
Till our God makes all things good.
Then he'll pull us home to heaven.
At his table we'll sit down.
Christ will gird himself and serve us.
We'll spin man out all around.
Alright, excellent singing. Sounding beautiful this morning.
Brother Tony, what time are we meeting for lunch today? What's the goal?
It's around 12, 12.
12, 12. 15.
Brother Tim, you've got some trivia questions.
We can do it at the restaurant.
I was just thinking about breaking up the singing a little bit.
We'll do it at the restaurant.
So bring on your trivia caps for the restaurant.
Half the church is not going to turn up for lunch.
Because they're like, I don't want to play trivia.
Turn up for lunch.
And if you get the right answers, your meal will be covered.
It will be painful.
Alright, let's turn to hymn number 332.
332 before the Bible reading.
332 will sing channels only.
300.
332 channels only.
332.
How I praise thee, precious Saviour,
That thy love laid hold on me,
Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me,
That I my guide channeled me,
Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all thy wondrous power
Flowing through us, thou canst use us,
Every day and every hour,
And did that thou shouldst fill me,
A clean vessel in thy hand,
With no power but as thou givest,
Graciously with each command,
Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all thy wondrous power
Flowing through us, thou canst use us,
Every day and every hour.
On the third?
Witnessing thy power to save me,
Set him free from self and sin,
Thou who bought us to possess me,
In thy fullness would come in,
Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all thy wondrous power
Flowing through us, thou canst use us,
Every day and every hour.
Jesus filled now with thy spirit,
Hards that full surrender know,
That the strings of living water,
From our inner man may flow,
Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all thy wondrous power
Flowing through us, thou canst use us,
Every day and every hour.
All right, we need to make some space.
If we are able to move to the walls,
and don't leave a seat in between,
we can make some room before we get into the Bible reading.
The Bible reading's going to be from the book of Acts.
Acts chapter 2, please, Acts chapter 2.
And before we get into the reading,
our reader's going to be Brother Emilio.
He's come all the way from Melbourne just to read the Bible for us.
I do want to acknowledge, of course, Brother Emilio,
to come from Melbourne, to come across state borders.
All right, Sister Clarissa as well from Melbourne.
Okay, Brother Martin from Victoria.
Man, we thought nothing good comes out of Victoria.
But there's at least three great things coming out of Victoria.
Praise God for that.
Okay, so Brother Emilio, if we can get you to come up here for the reading.
Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2.
Thank you, Brother.
All right, Acts chapter 2.
When you found it, please stand up for the Word of God.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And they appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men,
out of every nation under heaven.
Now when this was noised abroad,
the multitude came together and were confounded,
because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
And how hear we every man in our own tongue when we were born?
Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia,
and in Judea and Cappadocia in Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt,
and in the parts of Libya around Cyrene,
and strangest Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Crete and Arabians,
we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another,
What meaneth this?
others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven,
lift up his voice and said unto them,
Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem,
be this known unto you,
and hearken to my words,
for these are not drunken you suppose,
seeing it is but the third hour of the day,
but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel,
and it shall come to pass in the last day, saith God,
I will pour out of my spirit upon the old flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams,
and on my servants and on my handmaidens
I will pour out in those days of my spirit,
and they shall prophesy,
and I will show wonders in heaven above,
and signs in the earth beneath,
blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke,
the sun shall be turned into darkness,
and the moon into dark,
before that great and notable day of the Lord come,
and it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words,
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you,
as ye yourselves also know,
him, being delivered by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God,
ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,
whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
For David speaketh concerning him,
I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
for he is on my right hand,
that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad.
Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope,
because thou will not leave my soul in hell,
neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Thou has made known to me the ways of life,
thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David,
that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Therefore being a prophet,
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on this throne.
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh deeds in corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted,
and having received the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this which he now see and hear.
For David is not ascended into the heavens,
but he saith himself,
The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit down on my right hand,
until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know shortly,
that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this,
they were pricked in their heart,
and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles,
Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you,
and to your children,
and to all that are far off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
And with many other words did he testify and extort,
saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Then they that gladly received this word were baptized,
and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
And fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
And all that belief were together,
and had all things common,
and sold their possessions and goods,
and parted them to all men,
as every man had need.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple,
and breaking bread from house to house,
did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God, and having faith with all the people.
And the Lord added the church daily such as should be saved.
May the Lord bless this reading.
Heavenly Father, Lord God,
just thank you for everything that you've done for us.
You've been so faithful, Lord,
whether it's just in regards to our salvation,
that you saved us from sin and death,
coming victorious over the grave,
giving us salvation.
And not only salvation,
but we can also join Jesus Christ,
that we can know the Father,
and know you personally on a personal level,
and that you hear our prayers,
that you've answered them,
that you've brought us to church,
you know, whether it's been, you know,
whether it's helping us to have the health to come to church,
or making all the travel,
and giving us smooth travels.
And Lord, we also pray that you bless this service,
Lord, just fill the parts with your Holy Ghost,
just give him utterance and clarity of speech,
and also be with us as well,
that you'll be softening our hearts,
ready to receive the word with all, all meekness,
and to just receive it in our hearts,
that we've applied to our lives,
and that we may learn more about you, God,
to just glorify, to lift up your name,
and to be a witness to those around the world.
We pray also you bless our lunch,
bless our fellowship as well.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Amen.
All right, I had a suggestion,
if we could take a church photo.
We've not had a church photo for years, actually.
Blessed up at this church.
So if you guys are happy after the service,
before we go out for lunch,
if we can, we'll move this pulpit,
maybe to the side, maybe to that side,
and we'll try to take a church photo here with everybody.
So we'll aim to do that after the preaching this morning.
All right, so we had the reading there from Acts chapter 2,
Acts chapter 2.
And of course this is when we have the amazing story of Pentecost,
where the disciples were gathered together,
and the Holy Ghost came upon them.
They started to speak with other languages,
with other tongues,
they were preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And I want to pick it up there from verse number 37,
Acts chapter 2, verse number 37.
It says,
And with many other words he did testify and exhort, saying,
Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Now, I want you to notice how they responded there in verse number 41.
We've got Peter preaching to them, right?
It says,
Then they gladly received the word.
Sorry.
Then they that gladly received the word were baptized.
And the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls.
So the church in Jerusalem suddenly grew from about 120 people
to about 3,000 added.
So 3,120 people added to the church there in Jerusalem.
Now, I don't know,
because if you keep reading through this chapter,
they're meeting in houses.
I don't know if someone had a house big enough for 3,000 church members.
I don't know.
Maybe someone had a massive house or whatever it is, right?
But they also,
the Bible tells us they went house to house,
breaking bread and things like that.
And so it might be possible that within Jerusalem there were,
maybe there were smaller churches just in the city itself.
And the 12 disciples or the 11 apostles at that time
were going around and just teaching those people.
That could be another way of viewing it, okay?
But what I love about verse number 42,
it says,
And they continued steadfastly.
Brethren, the title for the sermon this morning is
Continue Steadfastly.
You've done it for six years.
And I don't know how you're feeling right now, spiritually speaking.
You know, I see your happy faces.
I enjoy your fellowship.
I enjoy your friendship.
I enjoy the conversations we may have
via phone call or via text or via email,
whatever it is that we, however we communicate.
But I really can't see your spiritual walk with the Lord.
I don't know how you're doing so much in the faith, you know?
And if you're anything like me,
if I can be a judge of my own spiritual life
as I, you know, go and get it saved from a young boy
and teenage years and the adult years and all that,
it's not always on the up and up, the spiritual life.
Sometimes you're having the little moments of the depression
being cast down, you know, feeling judged
or, you know, you just fall into sin
and you feel like a hopeless wreck.
You feel like you're, you know, you feel insecure.
You might feel, you know, that's what I'm looking for,
that you're not up to the level of other people in the church.
You might say, well, I go to church
and Brother so-and-so looks like they're doing really well.
Sister so-and-so seems to be doing really well.
Yeah, it always seems to be, but you know what?
One thing that I've learnt in the past is that we all have problems.
Every single one of us have problems.
Every single of us has insecurities and problems in our lives.
And we know about our own insecurities.
We know about our own problems,
but we often don't, we don't recognise it in others.
And I just promise you, I tell you the truth,
everyone's got problems, everyone's got issues.
Everyone's got hurts
and everyone's got things that they're trying to overcome in their life
and people have relationship issues
and people have financial difficulties
and people have whatever it is, right?
Just every issue under the sun.
And so when we go through life,
I've never promised anyone that your Christian life's going to be rosy
and it's going to be just always wonderful
and always on the up and up.
No, no, no, because we have so many enemies that are against us.
We have so many adversaries.
We have the devil, we have the world, we have our own flesh
that is working against us.
And sometimes God will use Christians,
sometimes God will use even our own church members,
our own brothers and sisters in the Lord
to be a discouragement to us.
And so I don't know how your spiritual walk is going,
but I want to exhort you this morning to continue steadfastly,
continue steadfastly serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, thank God for blessing up at this church.
Thank God for you.
You know, you are an encouragement to me.
Like, honestly, you're not this burden.
It's not like our pastor's got to travel every week.
Yeah, the travel's a burden, but you're not a burden.
Like, coming to church is not a burden.
Coming to church is wonderful.
You know, being in fellowship, seeing your faces, you know,
following friendships, all these things for me is just great.
It's just great to have each one of you part of my life.
And with you there supporting me, giving me words of encouragement,
it encouraged me to continue steadfastly serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at verse number 42 again.
How did they continue steadfastly?
And this is where I'm going to build a sermon from this morning.
It says in verse number 42,
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles what?
Doctrine, number one, and?
Fellowship, number two.
And in number three, the breaking of bread.
And number four, and in prayers.
Okay?
So these are the four points that I have for you this morning.
Doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and in prayers.
If we want to continue steadfastly,
we want to continue seeing this church for our 10-year anniversary,
another six years, another 20 years, whatever God wills,
then we need to continue steadfastly.
If we fall off the wagon bread front, it doesn't take long.
It doesn't take long for one to be discouraged,
then to pass on the discouragement to another brother.
It doesn't take long for one to get angry at the pastor
and then to tell everyone else to get angry at the pastor.
It doesn't take long for discouragement to come.
And I want to tell you that you are going to get mad at the pastor sometimes.
I'll just be honest with you.
And I'll be honest with you, sometimes you're going to get upset with one another.
Brother so-and-so did not say hi to me this morning.
Brother so-and-so forgot to call me.
He said he's going to call me tomorrow.
He didn't call me.
Whatever it is, right?
There's going to be something.
Brother so-and-so, I don't know if he was joking,
but I don't think it was.
Was he being sarcastic or was he trying to attack me?
Was he trying to tear me down?
And you know, those things happen and before you know it,
you're not going to continue steadfastly.
Before you know it, you're going to think of brothers and sisters in the Lord
as the most horrible people in the world.
And yet, anywhere you form friendships,
anywhere you have people around each other,
there's always going to be people issues.
And so you know what?
Even in church, there's going to be people issues.
And I just want you to continue steadfastly.
Because I don't know about you,
but first and foremost, I come for Jesus Christ.
I come to serve my Lord God Almighty.
And I'm not perfect.
I'm not perfect.
If I know I'm not perfect,
to the point that without Jesus, I'm going to hell.
That's how bad I am.
Then how do I expect my brothers and sisters to be better than me?
I don't have that expectation.
I expect people to have problems and failings
and sometimes you're going to rub me the wrong way,
I'm going to rub you the wrong way,
but I just want to make sure that we continue steadfastly.
And the first thing that we saw there was doctrine.
Doctrine is what's going to help us to continue steadfastly.
Now, we're not going to come to Acts chapter 2 anymore.
Come with me to Deuteronomy 32, please.
Come with me to Deuteronomy chapter 32.
Deuteronomy chapter 32.
We're going to look at the first mention of the word doctrine in the Bible.
And it comes from Pastor Moses.
Remember, Moses was the pastor, as it were,
of the church in the wilderness.
And he brings up this word doctrine.
What does doctrine mean?
It's not that complicated.
It just means teaching, or teachings.
That's what doctrine really,
when you boil it down, it's the teaching.
And in Deuteronomy chapter 32,
this is known as the Song of Moses.
This is shortly before he passes away.
And he sings this song in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse number 1.
He says,
Give ear, O ye heavens,
and I will speak,
and hear, O earth,
the words of my mouth.
And so you can see he passed to Moses.
As he begins to speak, he's saying,
to the heavens, give ear.
And by the way,
that's what gives me the greatest fear
when I get up to preach,
because I know God is listening.
I know the heavens are listening.
I'm not just preaching to man.
God is hearing what I have to say.
Jesus Christ says,
when two or three are gathered in his name,
he is there in the midst of us.
So guess what?
This morning, Jesus Christ is in one of these chairs,
listening to what I have to preach.
And he's going to be the biggest critic,
because I'm using his words.
I'm trying to do my best to speak his words.
Obviously, that gives us a lot of fear.
He continues and says,
O hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
So he's speaking to the common man there,
the human beings.
Hear the words of my mouth.
And so Moses was a preacher.
He was a teacher of the words of God.
Then he says this in verse number two,
and for the preachers,
this is important for you to remember.
This is why you get up here to preach.
It says in verse number two,
My doctrine shall drop as the rain.
My speech shall distill as the dew.
As the small rain upon the tender herb,
and as the showers upon the grass.
Think about those words.
When you get up to teach doctrine,
what is the purpose of teaching doctrine?
Well, he compares teaching doctrine as the rain,
or as the dew, okay?
And we need the dew and the rain for what purpose?
For the grass to grow, for the trees to grow,
for our crops to grow?
You know, the purpose of teaching doctrine
is not to destroy, is what I'm trying to say.
The purpose of teaching doctrine is to build up,
is to encourage, to give, you know,
the rain to the, it says there, the tender herb.
You know, doctrine ought to be considering that
there are people that are tender right now.
You know, maybe there are babes in Christ
that do not know much.
Maybe there are people that feel easily offended.
And, you know, if you just preach at people
rather than to people, you can cause great offense.
And, you know, there are preachers like that.
There are people like, I've come across them.
They almost just want to just, you know,
tell you all about your sin and like,
and just destroy, like, I'm going to preach against sin.
But I'm not here preaching against your specific life.
Like, I'm here to preach God's word,
and if God's word touches your heart,
then that's the Holy Spirit doing a work in your life.
You know, I want to see you build up.
I want to see you, as a tender herb,
grow up and be, you know, fruitful
and become a forest and become something great and mature.
That is the purpose of doctrine,
for growth, not to destroy, you know,
our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Not only that, what else does Moses say in verse number three?
He says,
Because I will publish the name of the Lord,
ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
What else is there?
What's the other reason for doctrine?
To ascribe greatness unto our God.
To publish the name of the Lord.
We don't come to publish the name of the pastor.
To publish the name of the pastor, Kevin Sepulveda.
Or to uphold, you know, a great preacher,
or lift up man, you know, on a pedestal.
No, the reason we come to church and hear doctrine
is that we can uphold and lift up
and put our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord God Almighty, our creator, our savior,
the foundation of this church,
the head of this church is our Lord God.
And so we ought not to be in a church
that is uplifting men.
Why? Because men fail.
And if men fail and we uplift men
and our eyes are upon men,
guess what? You're going to fail.
Because your eyes are in the wrong place.
Now the purpose of preaching doctrine
is for growth and to, of course,
put our focus and attention on our Lord God
and our savior, Jesus Christ.
Can you come with me to another passage?
Come with me to Isaiah 28.
Isaiah 28, I did not preach on this very long ago
because we're going through the book of Isaiah, chapter by chapter,
on Thursdays, but Isaiah 28,
Isaiah 28, verse number 9.
Brethren, the Bible is,
it's a big book, but it's not really.
I mean, I've seen books bigger than this.
And, you know, I think the number one book
that people read, like fictional book,
is the Harry Potter series.
And I don't know how many books there are,
there are nine books, I have no idea.
Okay, but you put all those books together,
there's more than this one book.
And this is not the biggest book in the world,
but it's got 66 books, you know.
We've got 40 different authors here in this book,
and this book is all sufficient for our whole lives.
Like from the time that you get saved
to the time that you go down to the grave,
this is a book that you need to be reading, okay.
Now let me tell you, you are never,
you will read the book cover to cover, okay.
If you spend 15 minutes a day,
you'll read the Bible cover to cover within one year, okay.
So it's not difficult to read the Bible cover to cover,
but you'll never fully experience the full depth
and richness of this Bible for your entire life.
You will continue to, I continue to learn
from God's word every single moment
that I pick up his word.
There are great riches, okay.
There are great riches.
And my point is this.
This book is supposed to last your entire life
and the next generation and the generation after that
and generation after that and generation after that
until we go to be with the Lord forever
in the eternal state, okay.
And the reason I say that is that there is no rush
to be this all-knowing,
I've got all the books of the Bible,
I know all the doctrines, I know all of it.
Brethren, there's no rush,
and it's so important that you remember this
because if you rush to know everything, you will burn out.
You need a life, it's a lifelong journey
learning God's word.
And I promise if you read the Bible every single day
for 15 minutes, even on the day of your death,
there's going to be something that you learn,
something that you did not pick up
because that's how deep and rich God's word is.
And I say that because in Isaiah 28,
look at Isaiah 28, verse number 9.
Isaiah 28, verse number 9.
It says,
If we're going to continue steadfastly,
we need to understand doctrine.
Who gives us that knowledge?
God, okay.
And I really want you to, like, consider these words.
Think about it, okay.
Look, I'm not against you listening to sermons every day,
but look, if you're listening to, like, 10 sermons a day,
if that's your life, like, Monday, 10 sermons,
Tuesday, 10 sermons, Wednesday, 10 sermons,
dude, slow down, slow down.
Who can God teach knowledge?
Who can God teach or help understand doctrine?
This person, okay, in verse number 9 continues,
them that are weaned from the milk
and drawn from the breasts.
The ones that are ready to learn
are those that are, as it were, babes
and even willing so much to learn
some of the most basic principles of the Bible,
the milk of God's word.
Now, look, God's word, when you are saved,
you're not going to know much.
Just enjoy the milk, okay.
My baby, our newest baby, she's, I think, eight months.
My wife's going to kill me if I get that wrong.
I think she's eight months.
She's still drinking milk, believe it or not.
She still wants to be on mom's breasts, all right.
And now slowly we're introducing the solids, all right.
Slowly introducing some of that rice cereal,
whatever it is, that early stage stuff,
and then slowly you progress maybe to a bit of yogurt,
something nicer.
You know, but it all takes time.
It's patience, right.
When baby is born, you're not feeding that baby a steak.
We're not taking baby to the Macedonian Thai restaurant, right.
We're not doing that.
We're just, baby, just enjoy the milk.
Because if you don't take it slow,
you know, you're not going to be the person
that can get the knowledge and the doctrine.
You know what happens, and I've seen this,
and no offense, because I want doctrine to be like dew and rain,
but I know people that have a lot of knowledge
because they've listened to so many sermons online,
but then when you ask them, show me that in the Bible,
some in the Bible,
why do you believe what you believe?
Because of a man?
Now that man ought to help you,
show you where the Bible contains that information,
but if you've just believed something because of a man
and you've never gone to God's word,
there's something wrong.
I'm just telling you.
I'm just telling you, okay,
and you're going to stunt your growth
because you're going to think you know all things.
Look how much I've learnt.
But when you're ready to show some of the scriptures,
you can't.
People, you know, I get corrected all the time.
Pastor, it's this, it's this.
Can you show me the Bible?
Oh, it's somewhere there.
Oh, let me send you this sermon.
Just show me the Bible.
Can you show me the Bible?
Isn't that God's word?
Isn't that what we base?
Isn't that what we say?
We say that all the time,
that we build our doctrines from his word.
But then when you want to show me something,
you can't show me the Bible.
It's like, what's going on?
I tell you what's going on.
People are rushing to grow.
And look, when you start young,
and look, and you realise,
man, there is so much that I need to,
I still need to absorb.
Then you understand this principle,
verse number 10 there in Isaiah 28, verse number 10.
For precepts must be upon precepts.
The word precept is kind of like that word,
kind of like the word principle,
the most, the most basic things.
You know, for you to understand some deep doctrine,
you must first lay the foundation.
And then you build on that precept another precept,
another precept upon that precept.
You see, the Bible is something that you slowly grow
and add to, bit by bit.
This is how God teaches you.
Precept upon precept.
It says, line upon line, line upon line.
And this is so important.
Here are little, and there are little.
Now, the average man, they get to their height.
How old do you get to?
I hear that men don't stop growing
until they're about 21.
But usually, by the time they're 16 and 17,
they've reached pretty much their max height.
But then there might be a little bit further growth afterwards,
generally speaking.
Okay? 16 years.
And we know what it's like.
You know, as parents, we don't see it so much
because we see our kids every single day, all right?
But then if a family or friend don't see our kids
for a few years or a few months even,
they'll be like, boy, you know, your son's grown
or your daughter's grown.
I'm sure we've all kind of said those words.
You know, because we've not seen them for a while.
But as parents, we see them every day
because it's here a little.
It's there a little, right?
It's here a little.
It's there a little.
And brethren, that's the same
with your Christian understanding.
If God's going to teach you things,
give you knowledge, teach you doctrine,
it's just a little by little.
Okay?
Please don't be the 10 sermons a day believer.
A lot!
And then a lot!
And a lot!
But you're not actually growing.
You think.
You have the perception that you're growing.
You have the perception of great knowledge.
But all you know is what someone said.
You don't know what God's word contains.
Brethren, if we're going to continue steadfastly,
doctrine needs to be a little by little.
Little by little.
And look, I've got four points for you today, right?
We said doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer.
If that's too much,
just take one of those things.
Take doctrine.
Make that your, okay,
what's the one thing that I'm learning
from the sermon this morning?
Maybe I should slow down.
Take it easy.
Get the knowledge.
Absorb things.
Precept upon precept.
Line upon line.
Little here, little there.
Okay?
Maybe take that as your principal teaching this morning.
And that's sufficient.
If that's all you take away from the sermon this morning,
that's enough for you to grow thereby.
But doctrine is so important for us to continue steadfastly.
Can you come with me to Romans chapter 6, please?
Come with me to Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6.
While you're turning to Romans chapter 6.
While you're turning to Romans 6,
I wanted to read from you from Matthew chapter 7.
Because Christ, of course, taught doctrine.
And when Christ came to this earth,
it says in Matthew 7, 28,
you go to Romans 6.
Matthew 7, 28, it says,
And it came to pass,
when Jesus had ended these sayings,
the people were astonished at his doctrine.
When Jesus was out preaching,
I was like,
whoa, this is amazing teaching.
They're astonished, brother.
They've never heard any teaching like this before.
Because this is why.
Verse number 29.
For he taught them as one having authority,
and not as the scribes.
So the scribes taught, but not with authority.
Jesus Christ taught,
now, of course, he's God Almighty.
Of course, he's got authority.
But what does it mean to teach with authority?
Because there's a lot of first preachers
right this morning teaching with authority.
And full in the masses.
Well, what authority are we talking about?
If we're talking about authority,
we're talking about preaching
the authority of God's word.
Right?
Not the authority of the pastor's authority
or a man's authority, the preacher's authority.
No, no, if we're going to teach with authority,
it doesn't mean that you're teaching
with a big voice or a big volume.
I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.
I try to apply that when I can.
But authority comes down to
who is the one in charge?
Is Pastor Kevin in charge
or Blessed at Baptist Church?
Not even close.
It's Jesus Christ, his word.
If we're going to teach with authority,
we must teach God's word.
We must expound God's word.
We must read God's word.
We must honor God's word.
That is above the opinions
and suggestions of man.
If we're going to continue steadfastly,
we must continue the authority of God's word.
You're there in Romans 6, verse 17.
Romans 6, 17.
But God be thanked
that ye were the servants of sin,
but ye have obeyed
Look at this, but ye have obeyed
So look, we were the servants of sin,
but ye have obeyed what?
From the heart
That form of doctrine
which was delivered you.
Another reason doctrine is important
is that we no longer serve sin.
We need to be obedient to the doctrines.
Be obedient to God's word.
And look, do we still struggle with sin today?
I'll be the first to say so.
Put your hand up if you don't struggle with sin.
Okay, there you go.
So what's the answer?
What's the solution?
What's going to help us in life?
To obey doctrine.
It continues there, verse number 18.
Being then made free from sin,
ye become the servants of righteousness.
So how are we going to continue
steadfastly with doctrine?
We want to make sure when we teach,
yes, we highlight sin, the danger of sin,
the damage that sin can cause in our lives,
but we also need to give the solution.
We need to give a way that we can,
or an application, a way that we can walk
in the paths of righteousness.
That we can be servants of righteousness.
I hope that's what Blessed Baptist Church
has helped you with over the years.
I hope so.
I hope you can walk away from church
and go, boy, I'm serving righteousness
more than I did before.
I'd be a little bit upset as a pastor
if you're like pastor for six years,
I'm even more in sin.
I'm doing even less righteous
and something like, oh, man.
But all we can do, of course,
is teach doctrine
and then it's your own personal responsibility
to decide whether I'm going to obey
those words or not.
You're in Romans.
Come with me to another passage.
Romans 16, Romans 16.
Romans 16, verse number 17.
Did you know there's not a single human being
in this church
that will agree 100% with me on everything?
I guarantee you,
there's not a single person,
maybe even right now, this morning,
I've said something
that you don't even agree with.
Now, look,
there are going to be differences of opinions
and even differences of understanding
certain scriptures.
And that's just part of being a human being
because we don't have absolute knowledge,
we're not infallible with our teaching
and our wisdom
and our different experiences and backgrounds
and maybe even our grammatical understanding
of English sometimes
may affect the way we understand certain passages.
But in Romans 16, verse number 17,
I want you to be also careful about this, brethren.
It says in verse number 17,
Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them which cause divisions
and offenses,
contrary to the doctrine
which ye have learned,
and avoid them.
There are people that we are to avoid.
You say, who is it, pastor?
You know, brother,
I'll say brother Tim because he said, yeah,
brother Tim on Sunday said,
I disagree with pastor's teaching on Thursday,
you know,
I wait to mark him and avoid him.
Look,
that person that is teaching a contrary doctrine,
if their teaching is causing this,
look at verse number 17 again,
Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them which cause what?
Divisions and offenses,
contrary to the doctrine which you have delivered you.
It's not that we may have a contrary view
or understanding.
Look,
the fact that you hear this more,
like again, I know,
you're not all going to agree with me about something
and I know you're not all going to agree with one another.
Whoever you think is the closest to you
in understanding certain things,
you're going to find a disagreement in some area of the Bible.
But are we causing offenses?
Are we causing divisions?
No.
And this is what you need to be aware of, okay?
Just because,
you know, brother Anthony believes
Adam had a belly button and I don't,
and I don't, that's not even true,
anyway, whatever it is, right?
Like,
oh, pastor, did you know brother Anthony believes
Adam had a belly button, you say he didn't,
oh man, we need to get him out of the church or something.
I was like, that's dude, you're an idiot.
You're the one causing divisions.
You're the one causing controversy here.
It's not a big deal, it's nothing.
So what?
So I want you to understand how we apply this, okay?
Just call, well pastor down the road
said this is different to you,
pastor Kevin, let's get rid of,
let's mark him, avoid him.
You seem like the one causing divisions
if we have that kind of attitude.
If pastor down the road is saved,
okay, he's got the right gospel,
teaching him the King James Bible, right?
Doing the best he can,
even if you don't think he's up to the standard
you think he ought to be.
I'm not going to just mark him and avoid him
and call him a devil or something like this.
Sometimes we have that attitude
because I know doctrine
and that pastor doesn't know
the doctrine that I know.
Man, who's causing divisions?
You know, so all I'm saying, brethren,
is be careful of doctrines
that cause divisions and offences.
Remember what I said,
when I'm teaching doctrine,
I'm not here to offend you.
I'm not here to just tear you down.
I'm here to preach you God's word
I want to think of you guys as tender herbs,
I want to encourage you
and sometimes God's word will offend you
but I tell you it's not offending the new man.
It's not offending the spirit
that's been revived within you
that was born again.
Sometimes God's word many times
it'll just offend your flesh.
Okay, it'll offend your sinful nature.
So be it, because we want to learn about these sins
and walk in the paths of righteousness.
But the reason I wanted to read this verse to you
is because be careful about who you listen to online.
Just because they say Jesus
or just because they read from the King James Bible
or just because they have the word Baptist in their name
doesn't mean that's someone you need to listen to
because they might be a very divisive, offensive person
causing destruction.
Those kinds of people are to be avoided.
Look at verse number 18, it says
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ
but their own belly
and by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple.
You say, pastor, what's going to help me
not to be deceived by false doctrine?
Don't be simple.
It's the simple that are easily deceived.
You know, if you grow little by little
line upon line, precept of one precept
you will be grounded on the foundations of the Bible.
You'll be able to go to God's word
and when someone says this is a contradiction
you'll be like, no it's not
because you've built your foundations
you know exactly how to understand that passage
and you go from there
and you won't be led away by the false doctrines of false prophets.
So brethren, for us to continue steadfastly
number one, we need doctrine being taught
we need to give focus and attention on doctrine
otherwise you're going to be tossed to and fro
with every wind of doctrine.
Now the next thing that we spoke about was fellowship
the importance of fellowship.
Can you come with me to 1 John please
1 John chapter 1
1 John, I better hurry up
I've spent too much time on doctrine
1 John chapter 1 please
1 John chapter 1
What is fellowship?
The word ship, like in relationship, fellowship
has to do with a state of being
and so a relationship, the state of being
is that you're related one to another.
A fellow, a fellow is a man
a person, a human being
a state of being is that we have a common
a commonality between our fellow man, fellowship
talk about church and we're coming together for fellowship
that's important, that's an important part of continuing steadfastly
you know sometimes I hear people say
well I don't go to church for fellowship
I just go for Jesus
I mean Jesus is number one
but if you avoid fellowship altogether
you will not continue steadfastly
that's important, that's an important part
and I often say this
look this is just a reality of church
whether you like this statement or not
people like Blessed Our Baptist Church
and people like New Life Baptist Church
for the doctrine
and people often move to our churches
for our doctrine
but you know what's going to keep them in church?
Fellowship
if they feel like yeah this church is the right doctrine
but no one likes me
no one talks to me
everyone gives me
I don't know
a side glance
rude
you know
they avoid me
you think they're going to want to hang around?
Fellowship is key
for Blessed Our Baptist Church to continue steadfastly
now look at 1 John chapter 1 verse number 3
1 John chapter 1 verse number 3
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you
so John is saying look we're telling you what I've seen
what I've heard because John was one of the apostles
I was teaching about Jesus
this is what I've seen
I'm telling you all about Jesus right?
this is why
that ye also may have fellowship with us
so it says the important part of our fellowship
is that we have in common Jesus
this is why I'm telling you what I've seen
what I've heard
so we can have fellowship one with another
and then it says this
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ
you know what's going to fix or improve the fellowship at Blessed Our Baptist Church?
if we have fellowship with the Father and his Son on a personal basis
you want to get along with each other?
then have fellowship with God
have fellowship with Jesus
spend time in prayer
spend time reading your Bible
spend time finding a quiet place alone
get away from the TV
get away from the video games
get away from the social media
and take your Bible to a quiet place
and say God I want some fellowship with you
God I've got things to talk to you about
and Lord you speak to me in return as I open your word
you know what?
as you improve your fellowship with God Almighty
naturally through his love
you're going to improve the fellowship one with another
here at this church
okay?
you know
have you ever sort of met a stranger
just a complete stranger
you've got nothing in common with that stranger
I'm sure this has happened
if you've lived long enough
and then you get talking
and you find out that you've got the same mutual friend
or you have something in common
somebody in common
and then all of a sudden
you're two strangers
and all of a sudden you're like
oh wow you know
I've known him for this long and what have you
all of a sudden you're complete strangers
but because you know the same mutual person
develops a fellowship of closeness
you've got something in common
well
that which we have in common
the same person that we all share
is Jesus Christ
think about that
if not for Jesus
you and I would be complete strangers
did you know that?
I mean I might bump into Les at the gym
he would not lend me his car
just because he met some stranger at the gym
Les goes well you know Jesus
I know Jesus
and so we're brothers and sisters in the Lord
I often think about that
we would not know each other
we would not be meeting this morning right now
I'd be watching Chili vs Canada
whatever
if we did not know Jesus
Jesus is what brings us together
like what better friend is there
like when you think of that example
when people, strangers, know the same person
and it builds a connection
the best friend we've all had is Jesus
he saved us
he's like oh you know Jesus too
yeah he saved me 10 years ago
he saved me 5 years ago
man that ought to be
like if there's anything that brings us together
in fellowship
it's our love for Jesus
and you know what
when a church does not have fellowship
when a church does not develop friendships
it's because someone's love for Jesus
can you imagine like 2 people
you know Jesus
I mean he saved me praise God
but I don't really like walking in his ways
I don't really like the people that call themselves Christians
because they're all hypocrites
like man that's the wrong attitude to have
if you love Jesus
if you truly love Jesus
you will love your brother and sister in the Lord
because Jesus loved your brother and sister in the Lord
enough to die for them as well
to pay for their sins as well
you're there in 1 John look at verse number 5
1 John 1 5
this then is the message
which we have heard of him and declare unto you
that God is light
and in him is no darkness at all
if we say that we have fellowship with him
and walk in darkness
we lie
and do not the truth
what's going to help your fellowship with your fellow man
again our fellowship with God
but there is no darkness in God
so if you're walking in darkness
and we all make mistakes of course
but if we walk in darkness
and we just live a sinful life
we don't pick up our Bibles
we don't care about church
brethren you're not in fellowship with him
you lie
you say I'm in fellowship with God
but you're lying
and in reality you're only really lying to yourself
look at verse number 7
it says but if we walk in the light
as he is in the light
we have fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ
his son cleanseth us from all sin
so again I don't know your position
and your fellowship with God this morning
I know if your fellowship with God is right
then your fellowship with your brothers and sisters
are going to be right
I know that
and I know that if your fellowship with God is wrong
then your fellowship with your brothers and sisters
in the church will be wrong as well
these things cannot be separated
but if your fellowship with God is wrong
if you are in darkness
if you know you've not been praying toward him
you've not been opening his word
it says the blood of Jesus Christ
his son cleanses us from all sin
you can keep reading for yourself
all we need to do is confess our sins before Jesus
saying Lord forgive me
I've not been walking with you
I've not been walking in the light
Lord I've been walking in darkness
Lord I've not been seeking your fellowship
Lord I've not even been seeking fellowship
with my brothers and sisters in the Lord at church
can you please forgive me
and that's it
done and dusted
alright now you're back in the light
singing in praises
you know whenever there's a burden in your heart
instead of going and telling some other human being
go and tell Jesus first
go and tell the Lord first
build a fellowship
build friendship with Jesus Christ
can you come with me to 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians chapter 8
and verse number 1
2 Corinthians chapter 8
and verse number 1
you know what breaks my heart
when my brothers and sisters in the Lord don't get along
it breaks my heart
when there's divisions
you know when there are offences
it's like let's just get along
like let's just put things aside
alright if I have a beefy view
let's talk about it
let's just get over it
let's move on
let's serve Jesus together
it breaks my heart because there's so few of us
like really when you think about
how many believers there are in the world
like truly saved
like you say there are a lot of Christians
you know there's a
I don't know I'm just gonna make this up
there's 1.8 billion Christians in the world
yeah but they're not saved
how many people are truly saved
think about that
how many of the saved actually
are King James only
and Baptist
and have a heart for winning souls
when you start to add all these different layers
it becomes less and less and less and less
and I want to have fellowship
and then we're arguing and
this issue and that issue
and this is raw it's raw
it's like dude come on
you're gonna be alone
you're gonna have nobody
you know just divide churches
and cause issues everywhere you go
and it tells me your heart's not right with the Lord
like if that's the attitude you've got
like to me it's like
we've got a full house
this morning
yeah it takes six years
to grow you know
and then it's like that's it
I don't like this brother
I don't like that sister
divisions family goes here
family goes there
it's like man
that labor that effort
the love for Christ
the what we ought to have
the walking in the light
instead of the darkness
it's like man
cause we're such selfish creatures sometimes
I just want to make peace with you
I've got no problem saying sorry
even if I think I didn't do anything wrong
I don't care if you think I did something wrong
I'll say sorry to you
honestly like that's how I am
because I love you
and the reason I love you is because I love Jesus
that's it you know
and to me that is vastly more superior than
the one rude word I said to you
or the one rude word you said to me
you know ten years ago
we're still holding the grudge ten years later or something
you know that's crazy to me
I was in 2 Corinthians 8 verse number 1
Paul is right into the Corinthian church
Corinthian church was really messed up
but he says moral brethren
we do you to wit
of the grace of God bestowed
on the churches of Macedonia
so he's talking about the Macedonian churches
and then he says
how that in a great trial of affliction
the abundance of their joy
and their deep poverty
abounded unto the riches of their liberality
he says the Macedonian churches
have great tribulations
and yet there's an abundance of joy
and look it says they've got deep poverty
these churches in Macedonia
aren't rich churches
they haven't got deep pockets
and yet they've abounded unto the riches
of their liberality
he says these Macedonian churches
have dug in deep into their pockets
even though they're poor
even though they're going through trials and tribulations
and they've given of their finances
he's kind of saying that
if you know the context of all this
it's not a poverty
it's a rich church
and I'll keep going
verse number 3
it says for to their power
I bear record
yea and beyond their power
they were willing of themselves
beyond their power
so again they're poor
they're doing more than they really should
they're giving more than really
what they have is what he's saying
they've gone beyond their power
and this is why
that we should receive the gift
Paul's like no no
Macedonian churches
you're giving too much
and they're like no please Paul
take it for the purpose of the ministry
that we should receive the gift
and this is important
and take upon us the fellowship
of the ministering
to the saints
now I'll give you the context of this
the churches in Judea and Jerusalem
they went through a massive drought
there was a shortage of food
and so the Jerusalem church sends
representatives to other churches
and says guys we're not doing very well in Jerusalem
and so the churches come together
and they do a special offering
for the brethren down in Judea
in 1 Corinthians
Paul says to the Corinthian church
remember you guys promised that you're going to send something to Judea
you haven't done it yet guys
come on this is kind of embarrassing
and then we get to 2 Corinthians
they still haven't done it
look the Macedonian churches
they're so poor
and they've gone above their power
and they've said look just take it Paul
we need to go and help those brothers down in Jerusalem
and it's trying to encourage the Corinthian church
guys get your things together
that's why later on he goes give willingly
and not gradually and all these kinds of things that he teaches
and what I love about this
is that in verse number 4 it says
beyond their power they were of themselves
willing of themselves praying
sorry verse number 4
praying us we're much intrigued at that
we should receive the gift look
and take upon us the fellowship
of the ministry to the saints
so you see fellowship is not always just
getting together, having coffee
going for lunch, going to church
it's also looking out for the needs
of one another
okay this is the Macedonian churches
they probably don't even know anyone in Jerusalem
but they've heard about their need
they've heard about the great drought
and they're like you know what
let's give our fellowship toward our brothers over there
let's give
even though we're poor
we're going to dig in deep
Paul take these resources
and go help the church down there in Jerusalem
that's one way to show fellowship
and that's why I said there's not many of us
and guess what we all have issues
we all have trials
sometimes it happens
a brother, a family, the Lord
is going to need financial help
financial aid
okay
our fellowship is to say hey
let's put together a special offering
for this purpose or that purpose
let's show our fellowship
to our brother who is struggling
and Brandon if we're always just fighting
I'm not saying we do, I'm just an example right
if we're just fighting conflict
this problem, this problem, blah blah
he doesn't believe like I believe
on this doctrine and blah blah
we're never going to be able to come together
and show fellowship in a time of need
like we need each other
you know God's put us together
to support one another
to pray for one another
okay and again I told you
we all have problems
every single one of us
you know you might get angry
your sister so-and-so ignored me
at church today
you probably don't realize how much her heart is breaking
and her mind's filled with problems
and worries and issues
and she just doesn't feel like smiling today
because she's bearing so much upon her shoulders
but you don't see that part
but it's quick to, we're quick to criticize
but brethren our focus
if we want to continue steadfastly
ought to be fellowship
I've got two more points
let's get through them quickly okay
the breaking of bread, the breaking of bread
come with me to 1 Corinthians 10
1 Corinthians 10, 1 Corinthians 10
now in the Bible the breaking of bread
can be two things
it can be just general food
just getting together for lunch
you know, sometimes brother Ash is like
hey let's just go to the Assyrian sports club
and grab some dinner after on a Thursday
yeah that's kind of the idea of breaking bread
just sharing one another
but I want to show you obviously in the Bible
when the Bible speaks of breaking of bread
in those kinds of words
this is more than that
this is actually communion
this is when we get together and you know
have the grape juice and the bread
and remember the body of Jesus Christ
look there in 1 Corinthians 10, 16
1 Corinthians 10, 16
it says the cup of blessing which we bless
is the communion of the blood of Christ
the bread which we break
is it not the communion of the body of Christ
is it like the bread that we break
what is that?
that's the communion of the body of Christ
for we being many are one bread and one body
for we are all partakers of that one bread
we've all been saved by the broken body of Christ
and is shed blood
okay the bread, the grape juice
represents the body of Christ
being sacrificed for us
and that's what communion is
com, with, union, united, union
bringing us together
what brings us together
is the broken body of Jesus Christ
his sacrifice
and brethren if we're going to continue steadfastly
we need to break bread together
and look it's our church anniversary
just letting you guys know
this coming Thursday if you can make it to church
we'll break bread
okay brother Rams
if you can organize some pizzas for us
pizzas on the Horsley
it'll be free
it'll be free for you guys
pizza on the Horsley
Thursday we'll have a meal together
won't preach for too long
and then we'll break bread
because I want to continue steadfastly
I want to see another six years
so let's spend time to break bread
and remember the body and the blood of Jesus Christ
okay
now let's talk about prayers
we talk about breaking of bread
let's go to prayers
come with me to Matthew 21
in hindsight I should have made each of these points a sermon
Matthew 21 verse number 12
of course this is when Christ is walking the earth
ministry
just very quickly
blessed up by this church is the house of the Lord
the house of God
in the New Testament days the house of the Lord is your local church
okay
but when Christ walked the earth
okay the second temple that was
reconstructed after the Jews returned from Babylon
anyway Matthew 21 verse number 12
it says
and Jesus went into the temple of God
and cast out all them that sowed and bought in the temple
and overthrew the tables of the money changers
and the seats of them that sowed doves
and said unto them
it is written
my house shall be called the house of prayer
but ye have made it a den of thieves
now one thing I know for certain
the house of God here at blessed up by this church is not a den of thieves
I know that for certain
but I want it to be a house of prayer
and at New Life Baptist Church on Wednesday nights
after the service we stop and have a time of prayer
the reason I don't do it on Thursday is because we generally start later here at 7 o'clock
and so it just takes up an extra time to have a time of prayer
but we saw if we want to continue steadfastly
the fourth point was prayers
we need to pray together
and number one we ought to be praying
on our own with our own fellowship with God of course
but we ought to be praying one for another
and if you can come with me to another passage during Matthew
so come with me to Matthew 17
come with me to Matthew 17 please
and while you're turning to Matthew 17
I'll just read to you from Ephesians 6 verse 18
you go to Matthew 17
Ephesians 6 18 says
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit
and this is important
and watching there unto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints
if we want to continue steadfastly
we're talking about perseverance
we want to persevere
we want to continue, persevere
well we'll see here in Ephesians 6 18
is that we need to be watching for the saints
okay we need to be bringing our supplication
supplication means our needs
our needs, our prayers before God
for all saints
you know brethren it's good and proper
to say to one another
brother can you pray for me
church can you pray for me
you don't need to give people all the details
cause sometimes you know there are private matters
or there are personal sins
that you just don't want to broadcast to the whole world
alright we don't need to know all those things
but if you turn around and say brother
I've got a silent prayer
maybe you're embarrassed
maybe you had a fight with your spouse
and you just don't want to be broadcast
that broadcast that right
you don't want your spouse to look like a horrible person or something like that
you just say brother I've got a silent prayer
the Lord knows can you please lift me up in prayer
sister can you lift me up in prayer
that's good and proper
we have our church chat, whatsapp
you know some people don't like whatsapp
whatever it is right
but if you've got something that you're willing to share
hey church can you pray for this
church fellowship to come together
and bring our needs once
cause we all have needs
I'm sure you all have a need
like I'm sure if I spend time with you
enough time talking to you today
you'll be saying pastor there's this issue
that I need in my life
you know pastor I don't know
I'm struggling financially
struggling to pay the bills
you know pastor I've just
my heart is toward the world
and you know I'd rather watch Cop America
than go to church this morning
or church doesn't like me
or I don't like this person
or whatever it is right
I guarantee there's something
there's something
pastor I've got this sickness
in my body and it's just bringing me down
cause I feel pain every morning
when I get up or whatever
you know pastor I'm single
I haven't found a wife
I haven't found a husband yet
and it's a burden on my heart
you know everyone's got some issues
all of you do
so this coming Thursday
pizzas on the horsely
alright we're going to eat
we're going to feast
just like this afternoon
and we're going to have the Lord's table
we're going to break bread
and then next Thursday
we're going to pray and fast
okay we're going to pray and fast
for our church
and brethren it's good to share
our concerns again
however whatever measure
you want to share that
they came to him a certain man
kneeling down and saying
Lord have mercy on my son
for he is a lunatic
and sore vexed
for oft times he falleth into the fire
and oft in the water
and I brought him to thy disciples
and they could not cure him
so this poor man
his son's going crazy
he's got a devil within him
and he's gone to the disciples
he's gone to you know
these disciples have the power
verse 17
then Jesus answered and said
O faithless and perverse generation
how long shall I be with you
how long shall I suffer you
bring him hither to me
and Jesus rebuked the devil
and he departed out of him
and the child was cured
from that very hour
then came the disciples to Jesus apart
and said why could not we cast him out
and Jesus said unto them
because of your unbelief
for verily I said unto you
if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed
ye shall say unto this mountain
remove hands from to you on the place
and it shall remove
and nothing shall be impossible unto you
howbeit this kind
goeth not out
but by prayer and fasting
prayer was insufficient
to cast out this particular devil
and I don't know the spiritual realm
I don't know it enough
the Bible just tells us
that there are certain pieces here and there
but there are some issues
that just continue in our lives
I'm sure there are issues
you've been praying about for years
and it seems like
I never get an answer
I never get a solution
why is that?
Well number one God's heard your prayers
I guarantee you that
he hears our prayers
and maybe God's already answered it
you just don't realise it
the answer might be on its way
one potential reason I should say
is that sometimes we just don't take things
in prayer and fasting
you know one thing that really blew my mind
was at New Life Baptist Church
this was in the early days
we went like three months
without seeing a soul saved
we're out there week in week out
preaching the gospel
no one's hearing us
and I don't know if it was my decision
or someone else's decision
we just spent time praying and fasting
that weekend, salvations
and then every week afterwards
salvation after salvation after salvation
it's like okay we have to fast
I don't know all the issues
that we have within this church
and your own personal struggles
or how the Lord can further bless
maybe there are hindrances
to how God can further bless this church
and so hey
this coming Thursday we feast
we break bread
we have communion
because I want to continue steadfastly
I want blessing up Baptist Church
to continue for another solid six years
and beyond
so brethren in conclusion
title of the sermon was
continue steadfastly
number one for us to continue steadfastly
we must continue in doctrine
doctrine is so important
preaching doctrine
learning doctrine
but be patient
line upon line
precept upon precept
is try to form friends in church
get yourself out of your comfort zone
open up a little bit
the best way to make friends
I just think is to show interest
in someone else's life
that's how I make friends
I just start asking you about your life
within me
I don't make friends very easily
I don't have best friends
you are all my friends
that's how I see it
that could be wrong
my wife is my best friend
and the rest of you guys are friends
sometimes people say to me
oh pastor you're really close to that person
and I'm thinking
I'm as close to that person as I'm close to you
that's how I am
but to me the easiest way to make friends
is just to ask about your life
and then when you tell me something next week
oh how's that thing that you told me about last week
and then that makes you feel like I care about you
and then you're like you like me
and then we like each other
and we're friends
fellowship is important
I'm going to be there on Thursday
please be there on Thursday if you can make it
and in full we must continue steadfastly in prayers
not just for our own needs
but for the needs of others
Alright brethren let's pray
Heavenly Father Lord
I want to thank you for your word
thank you for the six years that you've given
blessed up at this church
Lord I never for the life of me thought we would last six years
Lord when we started this church
it was meant to just be
just meant to be a band-aid solution
Lord just a temporary measure
Lord thank you for the faithful members that have been here
Lord even from the very beginning
and then added on to afterwards
Lord I pray for this church
Lord we are not the biggest church in Australia
Lord we're not the richest church in Australia
we're not even the church that has the most activities
and Lord there are things that of course
Lord as a church we can develop and build
and Lord but we want to be able to do those things
with your help
Lord give us your wisdom
thank you Lord for the six years
and help us to continue steadfastly
in your word by the help of your Holy Spirit
and Lord if there's any divisions
if there's any conflicts
problems amongst the brethren
Lord even things that I may not be aware of
please I pray Lord that you'd give them peace
Lord I pray that you'd bring union
Lord that we would remember why we even gather together
it's for the name of Christ
and Lord there's nothing greater than your son and his sacrifice
So Lord if we just give our attention
to the most important things the spiritual things
Lord I know that our church will be able to continue
to do those things
thank you Lord for being a great saviour
for loving us Lord in Jesus name we pray
Amen
Alright hymn number 216 please
216
Don't forget after the service
we'll have a church photo
Okay
216
Where is it?
We'll sing
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life
all in the house of the Lord
forever, forever
I hope that will be the case for our church
216, 216
Surely goodness and mercy
And now I am on my way home
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days, all the days of my life
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days, all the days of my life
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days, all the days of my life
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days, all the days of my life
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days, all the days of my life
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days of my life
He restoreth my soul when I'm weary
He giveth me strength day by day
He leads me beside the still waters
He guards me each day
I lift the Cathy
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
When I walk through the dark lonesome valley, my Savior will walk with me there,
and safely His great hand will be made, to the mansions He's gone to prepare.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
And I shall burn in the house of the Lord forever, and I shall feast at the tables spread for me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
All the days, all the days of my life.
Alright, good singing everybody.
Alright, very quickly, let me think.
Are there any birthdays? Anyone celebrate birthday this week?
No birthdays? Just the church? Happy birthday church?
I think my wife's birthday is coming up this week actually, let me just check that.
Thanks for the reminder guys. Let's see.
Yes, it's my wife's birthday on the 6th of June, so that's Thursday.
Alright, so if you want to send my wife a little text message, happy birthday on Thursday.
Is that right? No, end July.
Saturday, thank you mum.
I was thinking, ah man, my wife's birthday on Thursday, I'm coming to church.
I messed up, no it's alright, Saturday the 6th.
Christina's birthday, happy birthday Christina.
So there's no one else's birthday this week? No?
Any wedding anniversaries? No?
Alright, so don't forget we're going to do a church photo straight afterwards
and then we're heading to...
If you can share that address brother on the church chat.
How far is it? It's about a...
It's on the Halsey Drive.
Yeah, maybe a 20 minute drive from here.
Yeah, 15, 20 minute drive from here.
Yeah, I'm trying to think, there's something else I wanted to mention.
Ah, turn off the...
Thanks for watching.
...that I wanted to cover.
And I missed anything important.
Brother Tim's got some trivia for us at the restaurant.
Got pens.
Oh, pens, I think we'll be okay.
We'll just shout it out.
Alright, let's close in a word of prayer.
Brother Les, do you mind closing us in a word of prayer?
Thank you.
Dear Lord, thank you for allowing us to be here.
Thank you.
Dear Lord, thank you for allowing us to all gather here safely,
hear your word for this special day, this anniversary of ours.
Please bless the fellowship.
Bless the drive over there, Lord.
Thank you for our master, the way he preaches the word,
so you can understand.
And just bless the rest of the day, Lord,
and give all of you his blessings in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You're not really dismissed, because we're going to do a photo now, okay?
Thank you guys.
Bye.