(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please head back to your seats, everybody. I need a gavel. Good evening. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Yeah. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Grab your hymnals. We're going to go to page number 19. I need that baton, dude. I need that baton, dude. There is a fountain. 19. If you'd stand. There is a fountain. Page number 19 in your hymnal. There is a fountain. Page number 19 in your hymnal. There is a fountain. There is a fountain. There is a fountain There is a fountain filled with blood found from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains lose all their guilty stains lose all their guilty stains and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains the dying thief rejoiced to see the fountain in his day and there may I though vial as he washed all my sins away washed all my sins away washed all my sins away and there may I though vial as he washed all my sins away dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more be saved to sin no more be saved to sin no more till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more here since by faith I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die and be till I die and shall be till I die redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die then in a humbler sweeter song I'll sing thy power to save when this sportless being's stammering tongue lies silent in the grave lies silent in the grave lies silent in the grave when this sportless spring's stammering tongue lies silent in the grave Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your son's blood that cleanses us from all unrighteousness Lord, thank you for the folks that were saved today and please be with us during this service Pastor Stuckey and Lord, thank you so much and I pray this in your son's name Lord Jesus, Amen Let's go to we're going to go to page number 389 Bring them in page number 389 page 389 Bring them in Hark! Tis the shepherd's voice I hear out in the desert dark and drear calling the sheep who've gone astray far from the shepherd's fold away Bring them in Bring them in Bring them in from the field of sin Bring them in Bring them in Bring the wandering ones to Jesus You'll go a help his shepherd kind Help him the wandering ones to find You'll bring the lost ones to the fold where they'll be sheltered from the cold Bring them in Bring them in Bring them in from the field of sin Bring them in Bring them in Bring the wandering ones to Jesus Out in the desert hear their cry Out in the mountains wild and high Hark! Tis the master speaks to thee Go find my sheep where'er they be Bring them in Bring them in Bring them in from the field of sin Bring them in Bring them in Bring the wandering ones to Jesus Welcome back to Mountain Baptist Church on this Sunday afternoon. Let me find my bullets in here. First, let's get the soul winning numbers and everything here first. Before we get the soul winning numbers, I guess there was an altercation at the domain and that police were called and everything and I'm not sure if they were. I don't know. And that police were called and everything else. I just want you to know our stance when it comes to how to deal with those situations we just got an email from the domain and that whether this is true or not and someone can tell me whether it is true but they said something about like physical harassment. So obviously there should never be any type of physical harassment or anything like that. Now maybe the person that's talking about it when they say that, that means something different to them. But when it comes to the way that we deal with those situations if the authorities are called or they're asked to leave, our stance is that you just leave. Now you can speak your piece and say hey we're not soliciting, we have a right to be here but if they're like well no, you know, you gotta leave then you just leave. And that doesn't mean that we can ever go back there but the idea is that the way I look at these apartment complexes there's usually few of those that actually do this that they actually, we have these applications, is that we'll just wipe the dust off our feet when it comes to these, some of these apartment complexes. So we don't need to get on a soapbox or anything like that with that. Does that mean that I've never done that with the police? I'm not saying that. But when it comes to this, this is just the stance that we take on this, that if the police are called or if the management is coming to you, you can speak your piece but then just say alright, if he wants to leave, we'll leave and just go from there. And so we don't want to get into any legal battles with these people or anything like that. Obviously we know that the court case is that we have the right to be there and that we can win in court but here's the thing, everybody's too happy in this world and it doesn't matter whether we're right or not, we'll still get sued and we'll still have to pay money and the lawyers are the only people that win in that case. And we have plenty of places to knock and I look at these apartment complexes as mini cities and if we shake the dust off our feet, then we'll run to that place. We'll run to that apartment complex if they are kicking us out of that apartment complex. Now others may have different stances on how they deal with that that's how I deal with it here in West Virginia when it comes to how we do that but we definitely don't want to get into any physical confrontations but you know, if that, from going forward, you know just speak your piece and then if they say no, you got to go, then go find a different place to knock. Also, we don't want to waste our time with people so I'm not going to waste my time dealing with that whole situation and so it is what it is but just future reference there when we're at apartment complexes especially college complexes you always get that manager, get that one person that gets angry about it and the cops get called or something like that. Sometimes it's the big nothing burger. Sometimes the cops come and they're just like, oh okay you know, you're fine. And then sometimes they're not. So it is what it is in certain situations but anyway, we definitely don't want any physical confrontation with anybody when it comes to these situations and all that. Again, I don't know if that's even true, if they're just making up stuff or whatever but I'm just speaking for future reference here when we're dealing with that. So, but as far as so many numbers for the week what do we have during the week? Two on Monday? One on Monday, so three. Is there anything else during the week? One on Wednesday, so so four. And then today, what did we have today? I know in our group we had two or in our truck we had two. Two, so there's four, so that's eight. Is there any others today? Okay, so ten? Seven? Were you over there at everybody was over there at the domain, right? Pretty much everybody else, right? Besides our groups? So, so seventeen? One more? Eighteen? One? Nineteen? Alright, so so when it comes to, like I said apartment complexes are different wherever you're going. Some places we don't have any problems, but there are certain apartment complexes we have problems every single time. And so and especially the ones up in Moringtown with the colleges and all that stuff, so here's the thing, we're not in shortage of going soloing anywhere in this area. We never have this problem when we're out going into neighborhoods. And so, you know what, if every apartment complex were to be like this, then nuts to them. And you know what, God will judge them for that, the people that are running it. And you know what, we'll knock everything else around it. But it's only a couple or a few. There's certain ones, especially in that area. It seems it's in that Morgantown area that they're like that. And I had a police officer one time over here that someone was called and what he told me was that if you just leave you just come back a different day. He's like, it's not a big deal. And so what, and you can say, well no, you should die on that hill. You know, you need to make a stand. Well, let me ask you a question. Did the apostles do that in every city? Or did they shake the dust off their feet when people were kicking them out? And listen, not everybody in the city was kicking them out. They were winning people to Christ. But when the leadership of that city comes out and they want you out of the city or they're throwing you out of the city, then it is what it is. And that's the way I view it. I view it as a small little city. Small little town. And I'll just view it that way. But either way we don't want any physical confrontation. Obviously I'm on your side when it comes to those places. I'm on your side when it comes to that. I'm just saying that that's how we deal with that situation. And if everybody were to just be like, you can't come here and the police are calling the cops on us and every place that we go to, you know what we're going to do? We're going somewhere else. We're going to a different town. We'll go completely somewhere else. And then this place will be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah when the judgment comes. So that's just my stance. It may be different at different churches but my stance is the cops come just be like, hey, we have the right to be here, but we'll leave. And then we'll go somewhere else. And then, you know, we'll wait and come back some other time when the smoke clears. It's usually one person, it's usually like one resident that gets angry and then they ruin it for everybody. So, anyway, good job with the soul winning. But we just want to be cognizant of that. If you have any questions about it, if anybody has any questions about how to deal with those situations, come to me, talk to me, and we'll talk about like, hey, here's how I would want you to deal with it and all that. As far as our announcements here, we have obviously our afternoon service right now. So Pastor Stuckey is going to be preaching for us again. And so I'm excited about that. The sermon this morning was fantastic. And, well, definitely some truth bombs there when it comes to our state. But also just exciting to think about how we can make a difference in West Virginia. So I'm excited to hear his sermon this afternoon. We have Wednesday night normal time. Lord willing, we'll be continuing through our study through 1 Samuel. Soul winning times, Monday night's not going to happen this week, but the other soul winning times there be on lookout on your church group there. And then the soul winning event, the marathon coming up this weekend. So be in prayer there for the efforts out there in Martinsburg, West Virginia. So if you can make it out to that, that'd be great. Our chapter memory for the month is Psalm 110. And our memory verse for the week is Proverbs 18. 24. We sang to half the church this morning when it came to birthdays. Got all that out of the way. And then pregnancy, be in prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list when it comes to that and then also the ladies that just had little ones. And so the offering box is in the back there. You want to give a tithe or an offering. Mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only. I think that's about all I have as far as I know. Is there anything else to announce? I think that's about it. So Who's reading tonight? Brother Wade. Okay. So Brother Wade is going to be reading what chapter are we doing? When it's not me, I don't know. What is it? Psalm 50. Brother Wade is going to be reading Psalm 50 after we do one more Psalm. After Brother Matt comes up here. If you could turn in your hymnals there to page number 140. We have an anchor. Page number 140. We have an anchor. Will your anchor hold in the storms of light when the clouds unfold their wings of strife when the strong tides lift and the cables strain will your anchor drift or your firm remain we have an anchor that keeps our soul set fast and sure while the billows roll fast into the rock which cannot move grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love it is safely more twill the storms withstand port is well secured by the Savior's hand though the tempest rage and the wild winds blow not an angry wave shall bark or flow we have an anchor that keeps our soul set fast and sure while the billows roll fast into the rock which cannot move grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love when our eyes behold though the gathering night does many of gold our harbor bright we shall anchor fast by the heavenly shore with the storms all past forever more we have an anchor that keeps our soul set fast and sure while the billows roll fast into the rock which cannot move grounded deep in the Savior's love if you turn in your Bibles to Psalm number 50 Psalm chapter 50 Psalm 50 if you want to replace it say amen the mighty God even the Lord has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun into the going down thereof out of Zion the perfection of beauty God has shined our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very temptuous round about him he shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people gather my saints together unto me those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice and the heavens shall declare his righteousness for God is judge himself here o my people and I will speak o Israel and I will testify against thee I am God even thy God I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before me I will take no bullock out of thy house nor he goats out of thy folds for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills I know all the fowls of the mountains and wild beasts of the field are mine if I were hungry I would not tell thee for the world is mine and the fullness thereof will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high and call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shall glorify me but unto the wicked God sayeth what hast thou to do declare my statutes or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth seeing thou had instruction and castest my words behind thee when thou sawest a thief then thou consentest with him and had been partaker with adulterers thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frame of deceit thou sitteth and speakest against thy brother thou slanderest thy own mother's son these things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such and one as thyself but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver whoso offerth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordered his conversation I write I will show you the salvation of God let us pray dear Lord please be with Pastor Stuckey let us get something from your word and let us be edified from your message in Jesus name I pray Amen Once again it's an honor to be here to get a chance to preach here tonight and as I said the first sermon was a bit rough it wasn't that nice the second sermon is a lot nicer okay so if you got driven away by the first sermon you just got to wait for the evening service to get the nice sermon okay and so we're here in Psalm chapter 50 let's start here at verse number one where the Bible reads the mighty God even the Lord hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof out of Zion the perfection of beauty God hath shined out of Zion the perfection of beauty turn to Psalm 96 as you're turning there I'm going to read you from Lamentations where the Bible says all that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem saying is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole earth and what the Bibles highlighting is that a location can be known as a beautiful place says the perfection or completeness of beauty now look there's nothing inherently beautiful about Israel there's nothing inherently beautiful about Jerusalem I mean all around the world we see God's creation everywhere is beautiful when you see the things that God's made the mountains or whatever state you're in I mean the things that God has created are amazing they're beautiful when the Bible is saying the perfection of beauty it's not saying that Jerusalem just magically is more beautiful than any other area because of what God has created now that's not the reason why the Bible says it's the perfection of beauty and the name of this sermon is the beauty of Mountain Baptist Church the beauty of Mountain Baptist Church and when I'm saying the beauty of Mountain Baptist Church I want you to realize in the Bible the word beauty is not just in reference to women it's not a feminine thing necessarily so when I'm saying the beauty of Mountain Baptist Church I'm not saying the walls are pink okay that's not what I'm saying I'm not saying there's Barbie dolls here at every corner or something like that right it's not a girly or a feminine thing to say the beauty of Mountain Baptist Church and say this is the most beautiful part of West Virginia you say brother Stuckey I'm in town visiting do you have a place to recommend to visit I want to see a beautiful place you're at it right now this is the most beautiful place in West Virginia during the church services at Mountain Baptist Church and I believe that now this sermon is going to be divided into two sections with three points in each section section one is about how the church is set up just from the start of it and then section two is the result of how the church is set up when it comes to the beauty of Mountain Baptist Church point number one it starts with the songs it starts with the songs you say why the songs because literally that's the start of a church service it starts with the songs it says here in Psalm 96 verse 9 oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth now the word worship is not merely about praising God but let's look at the context where it says the beauty of holiness going back to verse 1 oh sing unto the Lord a new song sing unto the Lord all the earth and part of the context of worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness part of how we worship God at Mountain Baptist Church is what? we sing praises to God we sing songs praising God and what he's done and look the songs that are sung at this church are beautiful songs they're amazing songs when you think of the world's music versus God's music there's a pretty big difference isn't there? the Bible says here in verse 1 oh sing unto the Lord a new song why does it say a new song? what the Bible's indicating is this is not the music that you sung before you were saved this is not the music of the world this is not what you hear on the radio look what you hear on the radio is trash it's garbage look I got into music probably when I was a teenager and I really got into Aerosmith was the band I really liked I loved Aerosmith and the hard rock music and when I really stop and think about the music I listen to the Dream On, the Sweet Emotion and you stop and think about Steven Tyler's voice it doesn't sound better than the people that are singing at this church it's not there's something about your sinful flesh that gravitates towards that music the sex, drugs, and rock and roll or in the country music just the drunken alcohol that you always sing about losing your dog, losing whatever there's something about the sinful flesh that gravitates toward that music but when you really stop and think about it it doesn't sound more beautiful it's not actually better look the songs we sing at this church they're beautiful the best music you're going to hear in West Virginia is at this church congregational singing where people are praising God together and look you might not be the greatest singer but when the voices come together at a church like this doesn't it sound amazing? you can come to a church like this in a bad mood you just lost your job, everything's going wrong you start singing songs and it's like man I'm in a good mood why? because it's beautiful music that you're hearing here at Mountain Baptist Church it says here in verse number 2 sing unto the Lord, bless his name show forth his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the heathen his wonders among all people for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the nations are idols but the Lord made the heavens you know what this shows me? the music that we sing praising God it should be very different than music of other religions it should be very clear the songs that we sing hey, Islam is wrong Hinduism is wrong Buddhism is wrong it's all garbage because the Bible is saying here the gods of the nations are idols and it talked about praising God in the verse before it but is this what you get from the CCM music? the Christian contemporary music? the Christian rock? I mean the Christian rock music it doesn't condemn false religions our God is an awesome God a Hindu is going to agree with you they're going to agree God's awesome a Muslim is going to agree with you but the Bible says all the gods of the nations are idols they're false and the songs we sing I mean there is a fountain filled with blood what a beautiful song that is beautiful words beautiful music music that hits you on the inside powerful music that is based on the word of God that's what we sing at Verity Baptist Church this is the most beautiful music you're going to hear in West Virginia go in your Bible to Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians 5 say, brother, I can't believe that you used to listen to hard rock well, let me just say this at least I never liked Metallica and that's a bit of an inside joke but at least I never liked Metallica yeah, I listen to hard rock you say, why? because the sinful flesh likes music that's sinful and I look back and think to it why did I like this music? I remember I worked a job in college I worked at the Little Caesars in Morgantown and sometimes I was the head person at the Little Caesars when I was working so the head person got to pick the music so when I was the head person we listened to songs, hymns, and spiritual songs and I remember my co-workers were like how can you like this music? I was like, how can you not? this is great, what are you talking about? but see, as a saved person that is serving God and loves God you understand this and it's beautiful music you know what's interesting? the world will travel hours to go to a concert, won't they? and pay $150 they will travel two hours to hear the world's garbage and pay for it oh, the Mountain Baptist Church is so far away I can't travel 20 minutes we have people say oh man, it's so far away I mean, that's like 10 minutes it's like, what? I mean, it's mind-boggling to me and to us that love God but it's like, you would travel for hours to hear the world's music and God's music is better it's more beautiful so why wouldn't you make an effort to travel to hear God's music even aside from the sermons and obviously the sermons are the premier part of a church service but even aside from that it's like just the music itself you travel hours to hear garbage you travel hours to listen to rock music or whatever person who's popular now why wouldn't you travel to hear God's music? the music we sing here is beautiful the Bible says in Ephesians 5 verse 19 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord the Bible speaks about psalms, hymns and spiritual songs and it says singing and making melody in your hearts I'm being dead serious about this I'm being dead serious about this the music of the world doesn't sound good you know what it sounds like? the noise of war right? man, rock music wasn't invented in the 50s actually, I mean, in the book of Exodus he got rock music sounds like there's a war actually, people are singing right? I mean, there's no new thing under the sun is there? and look, the noise of war that doesn't sound as good as it's literally not better than the music that we sing but it's the sinful flesh that likes the sound of it it's the sinful flesh that gravitates toward that music it's not the spiritual man that likes it but the spiritual man says, I like the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and it is more beautiful than what the world has to offer go in your Bible to Psalm 27 Psalm 27 Psalm 27 and look, before you judge me you all listened to garbage music in the past too, and you know it's true and you walk into Walmart or whatever you hear that song and you start singing it without realizing it, you know that's true and let me say this as someone who got rid of the junk music over a decade ago the good thing is, your desire for it just keeps dying and dying and dying where you really just don't have much of an interest at all and if you were to hear it, you don't really feel like, I gotta start listening to that music again, because I'm sure there's people in here you're battling that now and I'll tell you what, casting down that altar of veils, so to speak, is a very difficult thing I remember how hard it was to throw away all those CDs that I had wasted all my money on right, but the good thing is when you get rid of it, your desire starts to fade for those things, and you start to desire the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs as you draw close to God, and so when it comes to the beauty of Mount Baptist Church, it starts with the songs and the church service, another part of the beauty of Mount Baptist Church are the sermons, the sermons at this church are beautiful, the Bible says in Psalm 27 verse 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple, do you see the link between beauty and inquiring of God learning from God and see the sermons that are preached in this church are beautiful you say, Brother Secchia, a sermon on Genesis 19 is beautiful, yes it is as a parent with three young children yes it is it's beautiful the sermons you hear at this church, they're beautiful and once again people would travel hours to listen to some politician and pay money for it people would travel hours to a get-rich seminar somewhere, right and you can travel to this church and get answers to the great mysteries of life and you pay nothing for it, it's free now I understand gas money is a lot more expensive in 2023 but you don't get charged here at the door to hear the sermon now there are churches that do do that some mega churches, they actually charge you to be in church service if you want the premier seats that doesn't happen in Mountain Baptist Church you get to hear the great mysteries of life and get all these answers from God and what the Bible says is, it's the beauty of the Lord turn your Bible to 1 Timothy 3 1 Timothy chapter 3 I've met a lot of people from different countries in my life before and in the United States when you're speaking in English you wouldn't really say, hey Pastor Stuckey, that's a beautiful shirt you're wearing but I've run into people from other countries and they'll use that terminology beautiful because in their country they don't really make that distinction, the Bible even speaks about the beautiful clothing upon the men in the Bible, so it's not a girly thing when you're using this word beautiful and when you hear great sermons, they're beautiful speeches they're beautiful sermons that you're hearing beautiful preaching, nothing girly about that where you learn the great things and the Bible's saying, the beauty of the Lord to inquire in his temple now why are the sermons so beautiful at Mountain Baptist Church? well because you don't get lied to and you get the truth the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3 verse 15 but if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth see the church of God is meant to be the pillar and the ground of the truth now part of that is no lies are being stated now obviously everybody makes mistakes when they preach nobody knows everything about the Bible but at this church it's not like you know you're at church and you're like oh man that was wrong that was wrong, that was wrong and I've been to churches like that I've been to Baptist churches where you're just like counting all the mistakes in the sermon that's a sad thing but it's not just that you're not getting bad information you know what you get at this church you get good information and see I would say the big problem with churches today is really that they're not giving any correct information they just don't really say anything and it's interesting when preachers will get up and they preach hard but they're very generic like sin is bad okay what's your point? you didn't say anything why don't you be more specific like you know the Lord hated putting away or something I wouldn't say that at church because you don't want to offend people right? but the Bible speaks about church being the pillar and the ground of the truth and look you know this as a member at this church that when you come to this church you learn isn't that true? your pastor knows a lot about the Bible I mean I'm sure you realize that I hope you do I've been around each other for a long time he knows a lot I mean I don't you know when you preach three times a week I actually preach five times a week I don't listen to a whole lot of preaching but I do listen from time to time to your pastor preach and I always learn during the sermons and you can come to Mountain Baptist Church and you can inquire at the temple of God the church of the living God a local New Testament church and what happens? you learn the word of God turn your Bible to Isaiah 52 Isaiah 52 Isaiah 52 but if you turn on CNN is that the pillar and ground of the truth? if you turn on MSNBC you turn on Fox News is that the pillar and ground of the truth? and I'm sorry because here's what's interesting about the news they will often say something that's actually true and it really doesn't even matter to take away from real issues that do matter it's like you know what and you know nowadays the LGBT is so much in our face they have to talk about the drag shows at schools and all this bizarre stuff but it's like why didn't you bring up that stuff a long time and go oh because actually there's people that work at Fox News as anchors that are homos so it's kind of hard to actually bring it up isn't it? but see you don't have to worry about coming to this church and oh I'm afraid Pastor Robinson's going to be afraid to mention something no no you actually get the truth at this church you don't get lied to and it seems so basic but isn't it true that as you get older you start realizing almost everything I learned in life was a lie everything I learned pretty much this is why I love math because 2 plus 3 still equals 5 but what you learned in history is kind of like well I don't know maybe it's true maybe it's not you come to the church of Mountain Baptist Church and you learn the word of God and you're not lied to and the sermons at this church are beautiful sermons where you hear the word of God preached you need to realize how special it is to be at this church let me explain something you don't walk up behind the pulpit just randomly and just well I'll just figure it out and preach something that's not what your pastor does if you want to preach good sermons you know what the secret is? you put in a lot of time to the sermons now look I consider it an honor to guest preach the word of God and I spend real time in these sermons practicing them, looking over them and I do that when I'm in the Philippines as well you say why? because there's people in this church that love God and they deserve to hear good preaching and when you come to Mountain Baptist Church you know what you get? you get preaching directly from the word of God that can help you change your life point number 1 of the setup of this church are the songs the songs of this church are beautiful songs point number 2 are the sermons point number 3 the soul winning the soul winning of this church is beautiful Isaiah 52 verse 7 how beautiful Isaiah 52 verse 7 how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation that saith unto Zion thy God reigneth the Bible speaks about soul winning and it refers to the feet as being beautiful as they're out preaching the gospel I've never directly asked your pastor but I'm 99% positive that part of why this church is called Mountain Baptist Church is because of the soul winning and of course it being the mountain state it is the perfect name honestly for this church Mountain Baptist Church but how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings you know if you've ever been to soul winning marathons you see pictures of them and you see 30 people holding their Bibles dressed conservatively ready to go out preaching the gospel isn't that a beautiful picture? isn't that an amazing sight? when I see videos like advertising the soul winning in Martinsburg or Wheeling I think this church is done in Ohio and I don't know all the places you've gone it's like man it's exciting to me it's a beautiful video it's like going out to preach the gospel nothing could be better and what God says is how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings go to Romans 10 Romans 10 Romans chapter 10 sometimes you use this terminology in sports where I know in soccer if there's an amazing goal you say what a beautiful goal what a beautiful piece of art or something like that there's nothing wrong with using this term beautiful and soul winning is the most beautiful activity that you could do look people travel hours for entertainment don't they? right? you travel hours and pay a lot of money you travel two hours, three hours and pay $200 to do something and it's like you can come to Mountain Baptist Church you don't get charged for the soul winning you don't get charged for the invitations and then you go out and you preach the gospel I mean there's nothing more beautiful and exciting thing that you could do and you do it for free and what's great is you come to this church I mean there's a ton of people's soul winning right? we got back a little bit late from lunch and it's like man I hope I don't miss soul winning there's like 30 people here ready to go out and preach the gospel that's beautiful, that's amazing there's room sight to see people going out to preach the gospel anyway God says it's a beautiful thing because he says how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings Romans 10 verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things it's interesting that God says how beautiful are the feet the feet are not exactly the most beautiful part of the human body it's not the first thing you think about and quite honestly if you are soul winning on mountains which you literally do here at Mountain Baptist Church you know what takes place? you get blisters on your feet your feet get worn out they don't really look that great, do they? so why does God sit here and say how beautiful are the feet? because he doesn't just say how beautiful is a soul winning he's very specific, isn't he? how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet go to Song of Solomon chapter 7 I'm going to try to answer that question for you and I'm going to give you another example of this with actually, you know, I believe this is Solomon stating this to his wife in Song of Solomon chapter 7 verse 1 and he says this how beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter the joints of thy thighs are like jewels the work of the hands of a cunning workman now if you're not really thinking about this verse you might say, well it sounds like he's saying your feet are beautiful as long as you have shoes on I don't believe that's what the word of God is saying here's what I believe the Bible is trying to teach you in this verse here's the thing you wear shoes when you're working and doing something but if you're at home sitting around you're just not wearing any shoes maybe you wear socks if it's cold but you're not wearing any shoes right? and I think what he's saying is I love my wife that's a very hard working woman and he's saying how beautiful are thy feet with shoes because he knows the hard work that she's doing and that's mentioned earlier in the Song of Solomon she talks about how her skin is just worn out from being in the sun and she said the sun hath looked upon me and so what I think he's saying is this hey, you know what? I look at you and I find you so beautiful because I see how hard of a worker you are look, no husband is going to look at his wife who's working very hard to take care of the kids and do everything around the house and she's doing all this she doesn't have time to get made up you're going to look at your wife and say man, how beautiful my wife is you find her beautiful as you see her working hard and being a great and godly wife is that not true? when your wife is being a great and godly wife and maybe she doesn't have time to take care of herself because she's taking care of the kids it doesn't make you unattracted to her it makes you attracted to her is that not true? because she's working hard and I'm sure the contrary is true how wives feel about their husbands when wives are working hard look, if you're sitting around just drinking beer and doing nothing it's like, man, why does my wife not find me attractive? well, I wonder why do you know why a lot of wives don't find their husbands attractive? because they sit around and do nothing all the time and let's get real specific in this type of church do you know why a wife might not find her husband attractive? because he comes home from work and just listens to online preaching all night really? is that what God told you to do in the word of God? where does God say, go home and not spend time with your wives and just listen to online preaching? now look, I'm not against online preaching that's from our church in the Philippines hey, I'm thankful for it but don't sacrifice your time with your family to listen to a sermon if you're getting great sermons three times a week here, it's like, hey, you're already being fulfilled in your preaching if you can go above and beyond, that's great but don't come home and just listen to preaching and avoid spending time with your wife and kids and that is actually a very specific thing that happens in churches like this and I get it, because when you're single you're listening to all this preaching and learning all these things but here's the thing, if you're married you have responsibilities and it shouldn't be something that's a burden I mean, I personally, I'd rather spend time with my kids and listen to a sermon maybe that makes me carnal maybe I need to want the Bible more but I'd rather just spend time with my family than listen to a sermon when I come home from work and honestly, that's what God has told you to do now, there's nothing wrong with listening to good preaching but when you're sacrificing time with your family for the sake of it, there's actually a wrong balance there and you need to realize, as a married person you have responsibilities that God has given you and look, a husband is going to find his wife attractive when she's being a godly lady and doing what she's called to do and a wife is going to find her husband attractive when he is being a godly husband and doing what he is called to do and what the Bible says, though, specifically about soul winning is how beautiful are the feet you say, why? because they're doing what they're supposed to do your feet are not meant to just sit up here on a chair while you watch TV all day long they're meant to actually go out and do something now turn your Bible to 1 Chronicles 16 1 Chronicles 16 that was all introduction see, section 1 of the sermon are things that you already know so I kind of just quickly went over it that's not really the point of the sermon what I want to preach on is the beauty that comes as a result of how this church was set up because this church was set up on old fashioned songs old fashioned hymns old fashioned preaching, the sermons and old fashioned soul winning right? the old paths is what I'd say the songs, the sermons, the soul winnings that's how this church was set up now when you set up a church like this, here's the thing this church has grown a lot since the last time I was here four years ago but this church is not going to be a mega church it's not going to happen if you visit us in the Philippines you'd see the same thing we've grown a lot, we're not going to be a mega church we're not going to be the biggest Baptist church, it's not going to happen you say why? because when you set up a church on the old fashioned songs and sermons and soul winnings it doesn't actually draw a big crowd now there's plenty of people here that love God and want to hear the word of God preached I don't think this church is starving for members but you're only going to appeal to a certain section of the population you're only going to appeal to a certain section of the saved population see, non-denominational churches, they're more appealing to a lot of people you say why? you never get offended right? you never get offended but if you sit in a church like this you're going to be offended from time to time don't be upset if you get mad at something that your pastor says man, how dare he say that? I mean, didn't Moses rebuke Joshua in the Bible? and Joshua took it like a man, didn't he? and he became one of the greatest leaders throughout the entire Bible look, I've sat in church before when I was a Verity Baptist for three years there was times like, man, he's preaching about me it's like, ouch, this hurts because if you need to be preached about, you need to be preached about be happy that this church will preach the truth and not hold back look, we don't have our lives fixed I mean, yeah, this morning's sermon wasn't really about you but at the same time, all of us need the word of God in our lives don't think you're above being rebuked by the word of God and here's the truth when you get offended, it's not because of your pastor it's because the word of God is sharped the word of God is sharp, and it gets to the inside like no human sword actually can it gets down to the heart starts hitting those emotions and it can be very easy to get offended this church was set up in a beautiful way and you get to partake in the beauty of Mountain Baptist Church as a result of how this church was set up but what are some of the side effects what are some other beautiful things we get at this church as a result of how it was set up well, one thing is holiness godliness this church is a place where people are serving God and trying to do what's right 1 Chronicles 16 verse 29 give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name 1 Chronicles 16 verse 29 give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come before him worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness isn't it great to come to a Baptist Church where they don't just talk about the NFL all day it's a beautiful thing I'm not against sports anyone who knows me, I love playing sports but even when I was worldly and I really loved football and every other sport I didn't really want to hear it at church I kind of wanted to get a break from it and I just wanted to be around God's people I want to hear about the Bible being talked about you know, people, you know, you're raising kids you have, you know, things that you do I want to hear real things not pointless things and you come to a church like this and you get the beauty of holiness you say, why? because people are trying to serve God people are trying to do right go to your Bible to 2 Chronicles 20 2 Chronicles chapter 20 doesn't your soul vex you at your secular work sometimes with your co-workers? right? I remember when I worked up in Cumberland, Maryland and I would just hear my co-workers openly talking about committing adultery on their spouses and it's just like you know, it angers you and they just think of it and they think nothing of it that's what the world's like but you come to a place like this isn't it a beautiful thing where you get to escape the world for a little while? escape the garbage that's out there and just to get to hear the word of God preached in fellowship with God's people and sing praises to God I mean, isn't it a beautiful thing that you get the beauty of holiness why did God say that Jerusalem was, you know, the perfection of beauty? because at one time it was filled with holy people and of course one day in Zion, that's what we're going to look at but that's not Jerusalem today Jerusalem is not the perfection of beauty it was the perfection of beauty in 2023 I mean, it might be the perfection of sin I'm not sure, but it's not the perfection of beauty my friends the reason why it said perfection of beauty was because the people were trying to serve God and do what was right and the same could be said at Mountain Baptist Church where they're trying to serve God and do right and I would say this is the most beautiful part of West Virginia why? because people are trying to do what's right the beauty of holiness 2 Chronicles 20 verse 21 and we had consulted with the people he appointed singers unto the Lord and that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and to say praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever go to Psalm 29 Psalm 29 it's also true when you just think about actual people I mean, I talk about husbands and wives a little bit but as I said, if your spouse is being godly you find them more attractive right? but if your spouse is being obnoxious and angry and bitter and complaining you find them less attractive. Is that not true? I mean, look and just in a sense of just when you're around people growing up in life it's like you meet certain people and maybe someone looks attractive and then you hear the words coming out of their mouth and it's like you will never see attractive on their face ever again and you cannot separate that from the way they look I mean, it's like you think of Hollywood actresses and, you know, famous singers they're not attractive people now maybe the first time I saw them, maybe I'd think that but when I hear their pro-abortion come out of their mouth I would never find them attractive ever again when you hear this pro-LGBT garbage it's like, I'm sorry but I will never find that person attractive because they're just ungodly and wicked people and the contrary is also true maybe you meet somebody, they just seem like an ordinary person but then they love God and you say, hey, that person looks very beautiful you say, why? because of their character because of who they are because of their attitude because the big thing you're seeing with beauty in the Bible is actually holiness that's the big thing when you hear someone, make sure you physically find them attractive but obviously the number one thing is do they love God? and if they don't love God, it doesn't matter what they look like or how attractive you think they are it's like, I'm sorry, you're going to be miserable your entire life because what the Bible says is the beauty of holiness Psalm 29 verse 1 Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty Give unto the Lord glory and strength Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness I would tell you give unto the Lord the glory that's due unto him be a holy person be a godly person you owe it to God you owe it to God to get rid of your sins and your worldliness and your vices and do what's right in life you owe it to God to serve him and obey him you owe it to God to read your Bible every day you owe it to God to go soul winning every week you say, why? because God deserves it the Bible says give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name I mean, he deserves it we owe it to him I mean, Jesus Christ died and paid for all of our sins and suffered when he did nothing wrong and when he asked us to be a living sacrifice he's not asking too much we owe him all of our lives the Bible says worship him in the beauty of holiness and when you come to Mountain Baptist Church is that not what you find? trying to live a godly life and serve God turn your Bible to Isaiah 28 Isaiah 28 Isaiah chapter 28 and look, this is very different than other churches at other churches you go to you're not going to find a group of people that are trying to serve God you're not going to find that and I'm not even just stating outside of the Baptist realm in Baptist churches, that's not really what you find at a lot of Baptist churches you don't find people that really want to serve God I mean, look at the average, even independent fundamental Baptist church what percentage of people are going soul winning? I mean, a pretty small percent it's not a high amount and I'll tell you what many of us have been members of churches like that before and isn't it frustrating when you're one of the few people going soul winning and everyone that doesn't go soul winning wants to attack you because you're going soul winning they say, oh, they got saved, where are they? it's just like you're sitting around doing nothing and then you're going to criticize me because all my converts aren't coming to church but is that not what you get at a lot of Baptist churches? and see, when you come to Mountain Baptist Church you get to worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness you say, why? because that's how this church was set up and in an old fashioned way and I'll tell you what, when you set up a church like that church growth is hard it's not easy I've been in the ministry for five years in the Philippines and I know by example that, you know, after a couple years I kind of wondered in my head are we going to grow? because it's just like, you're doing things right it's like, man, we're going soul winning all the time we're preaching the truth and it's just like, you're not really growing now look, over the last three years we've grown quite a bit but it's like, it's a slow and steady growth you say, why? because things that have value take time things that have value take time you know what grows very fast? weeds weeds grow very fast and look, if any minute this church ever become a pastor or start a church one day you know what? get it out of your head that your church is going to massively grow very quickly, it's not going to happen if you're doing things right if you're doing things right it's going to be a slow and steady growth you know what? that's actually a good thing because if this church tomorrow was filled full of just 80 people that just got saved there'd be a bad balance because very few people would be soul winners at this church as this church has grown you know what's great? is the percentage of soul winners has stayed very high and that's what you want in a church and see, things that have real value they take time to grow but at this church you get the beauty of holiness what about living in sin? what does sin do to you? well, Isaiah 28 verse 1 woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim so people drinking alcohol notice this whose glorious beauty is a fading flower whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one which as a tempest of hail and as a destroying storm as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down the earth with the hand the crown of pride the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden underfoot and the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower did you know that drinking alcohol will make you ugly? literally and I'll tell you what, anyone who knows people growing up if you've seen them in the last like 10 years that drank a lot of alcohol you'd say, yeah, you know what, you see it they age very, very, very quickly in Sacramento, California there are a lot of homeless people around the church and you know, you see certain people you think and they're not an old person they're maybe 40 years old and you think maybe that person was attractive like 10 years ago before they started doing drugs but as a result it causes them to be very ugly and look, sin is not a beautiful thing it's an ugly thing it's a horrible thing and it has side effects but look at this church you don't have a bunch of people living ungodly lives you have people that want to serve God now look, it's never good if someone has to get kicked out of church I can say this as a pastor it's not fun kicking people out of church it's kind of the worst thing that's part of your job responsibility but you know why your pastor has done that in the past and in the future, I'm sure, unfortunately it will have to happen? because you want to keep this church a beautiful place you don't want this place being filled with all kinds of sin that you're allowing because once you start allowing that you're going to see a side effect on all the children all the families that's not what you want this church is a beautiful place because of the way it is set up and one of the side effects is people are trying to serve God and do right go in your Bible to Isaiah 64 Isaiah 64 Isaiah chapter 64 Isaiah chapter 64 verse 10 thy holy cities are a wilderness Zion is a wilderness Jerusalem a desolation our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praise thee is burned up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste notice how holy and beautiful are mixed together there? because when people are living godly lives and doing what's right, it's a beautiful thing and it's not just a beautiful thing to God it's also a beautiful thing to someone who loves God it's a beautiful thing when you see people that are serving God and trying to do right it's a beautiful thing when people are reading the Bible and going soul winning and saying praise to God that is a beautiful thing and of course Isaiah God's people have really departed and so the holy and beautiful house is no more and see here's the thing if this church got filled full of sin it would no longer be a beautiful place this place is not just inherently beautiful because of the walls it's beautiful because of the holiness it's beautiful because of the sermons the songs, the soul winning I mean when you see the number in the bulletin I don't have a bulletin here but you see the number of salvations it's a beautiful thing you're getting praise reports of salvations and you hear somebody God, somebody Savior thinking amen, that's great it's a beautiful thing and this does not exist at every Baptist church not all Baptist churches are created the same not all IFB churches are created the same not all IFB churches are created the same not all IFB churches are created the same turn your Bible to Exodus 28 Exodus chapter 28 Exodus 28 Exodus 28 for many of you you've got relatives, your parents and co-workers that say you travel an hour to go to a Baptist church there's a Baptist church right down the street but not all Baptist churches are created the same are they? they're very different from one another I mean there's a ton of Baptist churches there's literally one right across the street I know nothing about this church I'm not saying anything negative I know nothing but I'm just saying there's Baptist churches everywhere they're not lacking Baptist churches in West Virginia but they're lacking Mountain Baptist Church they're lacking a church like this for those of you that are here visiting they're not lacking Baptist churches in your area they're not lacking independent Baptist churches they're not lacking King James only IFB churches but they're lacking a Mountain Baptist Church aren't they? that's why you're here today so in section 2 the result is holiness now I personally like to alliterate my sermons and so for this section 2 I'm using the letter H and it's very hard sometimes and so you've got holiness as number 1 you're probably going to learn a new word tonight ok, but it's always good to be in the house of God and learn something new habilement what is habilement? it's clothing habilement the habilement at Mountain Baptist Church is a beautiful thing notice what it says in verse 1 that's one of those archaic words that nobody uses in real life Isaiah 28 verse 1 Isaiah 28 verse 1 and take thou out of thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me in the priest's office even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar Aaron's sons and thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty and this is as I'm saying that the word beautiful is not merely associated with women in the Bible the clothing for Aaron was beautiful clothing the Bible says go down to verse number 40 verse number 40 verse number 40 and for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats and thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty and thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother and his sons with him and shall anoint him and consecrate them and sanctify them that they may minister unto me in the priest's office you say brother Secchi what is so beautiful about the clothing that they're wearing well let me give you one thing found in verse 42 and thou shalt make them linen britches to cover their nakedness you know one thing that's beautiful about the clothing of people at Mountain Baptist Church is you're not naked right now and that seems like such a basic thing but in today's world it's like people have not figured that out the way people are dressed just showing off their nakedness all the time they think nothing of it why? because that's what everybody does and you know what I like to tell these people is you know what actually you would look a lot better if you wore more clothes it's true look women look most beautiful when they are wearing dresses it's a fact you know why? they look feminine and guess what? if you're actually a man you know what you find attractive? women that look feminine imagine that a two gender sort of preaching I don't know if that's going to get you a strike on YouTube or not but it's like men find women attractive when they look like women they talk like women they act like women when they're feminine you know what men don't find attractive? Joyce Meyer they don't find that attractive men find women attractive when they're feminine and you know what women find attractive? when men are actually masculine not as in our culture this metrosexual culture where basically men act like women and women act like men men find women attractive when they actually are feminine and when they're wearing a dress and they're talking like a lady and acting like a lady that's why men find women attractive we're talking about beauty here today this is just a fact and the way you dress does affect your appearance of how attractive you are to people when my wife is dressed like a lady she's attractive when your wives are dressed like ladies they're attractive when they're acting feminine they're attractive but what if your wife decided you know what I think I'm just going to shave my head I'm going to start just wearing the clothes my husband wears I'm just going to start just putting on his pair of pants and getting his buckle and putting on his tie and everything and just start dressing just like him is that going to be attractive to you? no it's not why? because actually clothing does affect your actual looks and here's the thing when you come to church you see people that dress very nicely men are dressed like men women are dressed like women it's a very beautiful thing I personally, I hate New York City no offense to anyone who likes it but I always wanted to get a shirt that said I hate New York but here's the thing I've seen old video stills and old pictures in New York City from a hundred years ago and it looks like a very beautiful place to live by the way people are dressed I mean if you've seen this you know what I'm talking about you look at cities because I'm not really a big city sort of person but big cities in America a hundred years ago man, men dressed like men and acted like, men and women dressed and acted like women and it looks like a beautiful place to live looks like an amazing place because of the way that they're dressed and obviously that doesn't tell you what type of person they are but if people dress in a certain way it does kind of tell you something and it's nice to come to the house of God where people are actually dressed in a nice way because they want to glorify and praise God they want to be here in God's house go in your Bible to Ezekiel chapter 16 to Ezekiel chapter 16 Ezekiel 16 Ezekiel 16 you say brother Saki, if what you're saying is true then why is it and by the way, you don't have to take my word for it I don't have this in my notes but it's one of the funniest verses in the Bible to me where Paul basically says, you know, judging yourselves is it comely that a woman praying to God is not uncovered he's basically saying, you be the judge is a woman attractive with short hair that's what he's saying and so Paul said it and so look, I don't need you guys to say amen or whatever but every man in this room is going to say yeah, you know what, women with short hair are not attractive and that's what Paul said he's like judging yourselves you know that's true because women looking and acting like women are attractive men acting like men you say, well brother Saki, if that's true how can we live in a culture where that's not the case if that's such an obvious fact because people want to rebel against God because here's the thing I mean, Paul states there's certain things that doth not even nature itself teach you and it's not referring to mother nature it's saying naturally inside of yourself you know these things to be true and the world could get mad at what I'm saying but they know that what I'm saying right now is true but they want to rebel against God they want to rebel against God and rebel against God's rules and just go out and do whatever they want but you know this is true inside of you is what Paul says there nature itself teaches you this and so look, if you're mad at this you know I'm right you don't have to admit it to me if you get offended at what I'm saying it's fine because I know that you know I'm right whether you want to admit it or not because Paul said, hey, nature teaches it to you look, I mean kids growing up, it's like I have three kids and my son Zev and my daughter Christabel they're just very different from the time they were born they just act differently because one's a boy and one's a girl you know the great example I use my wife or one of her relatives or something got a doll for my daughter my daughter's playing with it and everything my son grabs it and just rips it apart and it's like I can't be that mad at him because that's what boys do because men and women are different boys and girls are different males and females are different and inside of you you know that it's true now nobody at this church is going to be mad at what I'm saying you know what I'm saying, but even the world knows this is true they know though what I'm saying so you say, why? because nature taught it to them they were born with this understanding whether they want to accept it or rebel against it they know it's true Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 10 I clothe thee also with broidered work and shod thee with badger's skin and I girded thee about with fine linen and I covered thee with silk I decked thee also with ornaments and I put bracelets upon thine hands and a chain on thine neck and I put a jewel on thine forehead and earrings in thine ears and a beautiful crown upon thine head thou wast thus wast thou decked with gold and silver and thy raiment was of fine linen thou didst eat silk and broidered work so referring to clothing thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil and thou wast exceeding beautiful and thou didst prosper into a kingdom and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty for is perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God and what I'm just trying to show you is that this is one of the side effects of the way this church was set up one thing is the habeeliment right? the new word we learned the clothing the clothing as a result I mean it's a very beautiful thing people that are dressed conservatively in a nice way I mean it's a beautiful thing to see and you don't see this in the world I mean like literally and what is it in Pennsylvania where my parents live they've got a senator that refuses to dress in proper clothing to like senate meetings he wears like a sweatshirt what was his name? John Fetterman or something? and it's like you gotta be kidding me right? I mean it's just like, and look my wife's parents live in DC we actually forgot my suit so that's why I do not have a suit here today but it's like how would you feel if I walked up here just like John Fetterman in shorts and a sweatshirt and a hoodie there's nothing wrong with shorts and a hoodie but there's a proper place for things and you come to Mountain Baptist Church and people are dressed in a nice and godly way Isaiah 52 go to Isaiah 52 Isaiah 52 Isaiah chapter 52 look, you could obviously go overboard with this I don't wear a suit and tie when I go to the grocery store I mean I like to work out and you know what I don't lift weights wearing like a suit and a tie we get that and obviously you know what the outside appearance is not the most important thing but I'm just being honest with you it's a beautiful thing that you come to the house of God and it's like man, people are very excited to be here they're happy, they take the word of God very seriously Bible says in Isaiah 52 verse 1 Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments O Jerusalem, the holy city for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean 1 Timothy chapter 2 1 Timothy 2 you say brother Stuckey if we made some changes at this church we could have the attendance rise yeah, but it would no longer be a beautiful place it wouldn't be the same yeah, you would appeal to more people no doubt about it I mean when you do things the old fashioned way it does not appeal to as many people I preached a sermon recently you know, in the Philippines called an acquired taste and what I was talking about was you know, our church, and the same will be true of this church it's an acquired taste because it's so different than what the world is and so you go to non-denominational churches well, the music's not an acquired taste because it's the same music right? but you come to a church like this, it's an acquired taste and some people don't acquire the taste there's certain foods you don't acquire the taste for them right, certain things that people tell you hey, it's an acquired taste it's like, I've tried it 20 times I still don't like it right, and that's the truth I mean, certain people, they're just never going to acquire the taste of this church they're not going to like it safe people would not like this church it is not going to appeal to as many people but here's a fact it's going to appeal to those that do love God this is the place in West Virginia where those that love God gather together and whether you get mad at your pastor or mad or disagree with something that you cannot deny this is where God's people gather in West Virginia Mountain Baptist Church why is this the most beautiful place? because this is where God's people gather this is where the people that love God gather 1 Timothy 2 verse 9 and like men are also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array confessing godliness with good works now look I don't think there's anything wrong with a woman that wants to, you know put on makeup and try to make herself look nice there's nothing wrong with that but here's the thing your husband will actually find you more attractive if you make sure you spend time in God's word and draw close to God that will be more attractive to him than if you spend a lot of time in the mirror and you never spend time in God's word you say why? because this is the way that every single person acts if they're not spending personal time with God they're quick to be angry they're lazy they're in a bad mood is this not true? I'm going to be honest with myself when I'm not spending time in God's word it's probably pretty obvious to my wife I get angry very quickly, I'm short tempered I get mad at my kids for everything and when you're drawing close to God it's like great peace have those that love thy law and nothing shall offend them you just don't get mad that easily I mean if a glass of milk gets knocked over by your kids it doesn't bother you that much if you're close to God but if you're not close to God and you haven't been spending personal time with God you know what? you get mad very easily right? you know that's true and so if you want your spouse to find you attractive number one, spend time with God everyday and yeah I mean try to dress up and look nice, there's nothing wrong with that but more important is spending personal time with God go in your Bible to 1 Samuel 16 we'll look at a couple more places 1 Samuel 16 for section 1, the setup of this church we talked about the songs, the sermons and the soul winning the result of that we talked about the holiness we talked about the habiliment the new word that you've learned and happiness one of the side effects of a church like this is you come to a place like this and people are happy they're in a good mood and isn't that a beautiful thing? who wants to be around people that are always in a bad mood and complaining? nobody! you want to be around people that are in a good mood people that are happy and you come to a place like this and you know what? people are happy they're in a good mood the Bible says in 1 Samuel 16 verse 12 and he sent and brought him in now he was rudy and withal of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to and the Lord said, Arise, anoint him for this is he the Bible speaks about the beautiful countenance and that's the appearance of how you look but it's also what you put upon your face and what I'm saying is if you're like that's not a beautiful thing but what is a beautiful thing is when you're happy and you're in a good mood and I'll tell you what there's something wrong with you if you come to the house of God and you're not in a good mood I mean because you get to be around God's people you get a break from the world you get to hear great preaching you ought to be in a good mood I mean my favorite times during the week are when I'm in church when I'm around God's people and I love preaching but it's not really just the preaching I just like being around other people that love God and just talking and fellowshipping with them and one of the side effects one thing that's beautiful is the happiness you see upon people's faces the happiness in their attitudes when they're out of place like Mountain Baptist Church go to 1 Kings 10 1 Kings 10 you say, Brother Psyche is that different than other churches? I mean, how many of you grew up Catholic? Are people happy to be there? I grew up Protestant I grew up Protestant it's basically the Calvinist version of Catholic I mean, they're not exactly happy to be there it's just like you know, we'd always sing every single week at the Protestant church you know, two times every service is like praise God from whom all blessings flow and that's actually a great song but I always hated it until recently because I always heard it in Protestant church but it was always like people were like praise God from whom all blessings flow it's like you're singing praises to God and you sound like you're really upset about it you say, why? Because they don't want to be at church they're not happy and here's the literal truth I mean, you've probably been to Baptist churches that are pretty lame and you're not even that happy to be there right? sometimes because I'm sure there's probably people that have moved to this church and sometimes you kind of forget it's been so long and you forget what it was like at your old church you forget you need to realize how special it is to be at this church because after a while you know what, there's excitement you first start coming here and then the excitement fades and then it's just your church now if you were ever to visit another church you'd be like, okay, now I remember why I left that church but realize people are happy because they want to be here and there's something infectious about people that are in a happy and good mood is that not true? I remember a church we used to go to we were talking about it earlier today but I'm sure he's going to remember there was someone at our old church that he was always in a great mood and I remember coming to church sometimes and I'm tired we got finals week it's a long drive and then all of a sudden he's like, hey brother, how are you doing today? and then it's like, I'm doing good now I mean, literally after he shook your hand and talked to you he was in a good mood like literally he had that sort of infectious personality and when people are happy and in a good mood it's a beautiful thing, isn't it? it's great around being around people that love God and are happy and in a good mood but the contrary is also true when people are miserable and in a bad mood ask Moses how happy he was in the wilderness when the people are complaining probably not that happy why? because they're complaining they're murmuring 1 Kings 10 verse 4 when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom and the house that he had built and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel and his cupbearers and his ascent by which she went up unto the house of the Lord there was no more spirit in her and she said to the king hear a report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom howbeit I believed not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen it and behold the half was not told me thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame which I heard happy are they men, happy are these thy servants would stand continually before thee and adhere thy wisdom look, I believe that's probably the reaction of many people here before you moved here and you were thinking about it you're like, man, maybe I should move and be a part of this church and after you came I was like, man, this is so much better than I expected so much greater being around God's people, the preaching the fellowship, the soul winning I mean, everything is so much better than I could have ever expected and that's the way a church ought to be that when you come I mean, you have a rough week out in the world you hear everybody, you know saying all manner of garbage and worldliness and sin and you're tired, you're exhausted then you get to be in God's house and get refreshed being around God's people it's a place where people are very happy so, there are points in this sermon the set of this church the songs, the sermons, the soul winning the old fashioned way what's the result, what's some of the beauty we see holiness, habiliment happiness these are some of the side effects now, here's what I would like to say to you that are members of Mountain Baptist Church I hope from the sermons I've preached today that it's inspired you it's reminded of you of how great of a church that you have here get on board with this church and I'm not saying you're not on board I don't know the situations at this church but be excited about this church well, if I was running the church I'd do things differently you're not running the church get on board with it there's a soul winning marathon I'm not saying you have to go to every soul winning marathon I understand Martinsburg is a long ways away be happy about it maybe the pastor makes an announcement saying hey, we've got food that's being dumped everywhere outside make sure you pay attention to your kids look, all of us have kids that act up, it could be any parents don't get mad, don't get offended keep this place a beautiful place it's not even part of the sermon, but if there's trash everywhere it doesn't make it beautiful, does it? get on board with the church this sort of church is not everywhere it's not in every state it's not in every country there's countries, they don't have anything like this they have states where they don't have anything like this get excited about what you have at Mountain Baptist Church get behind your pastor, get behind your pastor's wife get behind the leadership at this church get behind Mountain Baptist Church and help make this, continue to make this the greatest place in West Virginia and here's the thing, it's a great place now but you know what, you want more people you want more people why? because you want to get more people saved you want to reach more people look, this is already a decent sized church and I can tell you that as a pastor our church is about the same size it's like, I already feel like hey, it's a decent congregation there's already enough headaches with a church this size you know, if it grows you know, but here's the thing why do you want that? because you want to reach more people you want to get more people saved and there's a lot of people and there's a lot of people out sowing today I don't know how many, but it's like even though you're reaching a lot of areas there's a lot of areas left to hit get behind this church, get excited about the church and realize the most beautiful part of West Virginia it's not Harpers Ferry it's not Cooper's Rock it's not Seneca Rocks it's Mountain Baptist Church let's close in with a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father thank you for allowing us to be here today the beautiful and great church that people have here at Mountain Baptist Church and I ask you to help this church continue to grow I ask you to help put your spirit upon Pastor Robinson as he leads this church help this church continue to grow through the years and get even more salvation and more members so we can have more soul winners and the future start church as God and continue to make this place the greatest place in West Virginia we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen All right, turn in your hymnals to page number 49 meet me there and if you'd stand page number 49, meet me there meet me there meet me there meet me there when the storms of life meet me there when the storms of life are o'er on the happy golden shore where the faithful part no more meet me there here on fondest hopes are vain, dearest links are rent and twain no thrall nor pain meet me there by the rivers sparkling bright in the city of delight where the faithful love's inside meet me there meet me there meet me there where the tree of life is blooming meet me there when the storms of life are o'er on the happy golden shore where the faithful part no more meet me there where the harps of angels ring and the blessed forever sing in the palace of the king meet me there where in sweet communion blend heart with heart and friend with friend in the world and