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

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