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

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms Oh how sweet to walk in this filterway Leaning on the everlasting arms Oh how bright the path grows from day to day Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning on the everlasting arms I have blessed peace with my Lord so dear Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms Amen. Dear God, thank you for the anniversary. Thank you, this church, for being here. Thank you for the service, for the spirit. That's all. Amen. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. Let's turn to our next song, song number 86. I dare you to sing this out on the first. I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses Hear the voice I hear falling on my ear The Son of God discloses And He walks with me and He talks with me And tells me I am His own And the joy we share as we carry there None other has ever known He speaks and the sound of His voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing And the melody that He gave to me Within my heart is ringing And He walks with me and He talks with me And tells me I am His own And the joy we share as we carry there None other has ever known On the last, that's song 86, on the last I stay in the garden with Him Though the night around me be falling But He bids me go through the voice of hope His voice to me is calling And He walks with me and He talks with me And tells me I am His own And the joy we share as we carry there None other has ever known Amen. All right, welcome to Strong Old Baptist Church this morning. It's good to have you all here with us. At this time, we'll go through our announcements. So if you don't have a bulletin, slip your hand up real high. One of our ushers will get one to you. And if you have a bulletin, you just open up to the first page. You will see our service times listed there Sunday morning at 1030. Sunday evening again at 5 p.m. Wednesday night 7 is our Bible study. We are studying the book of Habakkuk. It is our second week. There's only three chapters. We do one chapter every week. So hopefully you could join us for that. We've got two more weeks to go before we complete the book of Habakkuk on our midweek Bible study. We've got the soul-willing opportunities listed there as well as the salvations and the baptisms for the month of June. Which, by the way, baptisms we can do here at the drop of a hat we have just to fill up. Actually, today we're going to have some extra water out here as we're celebrating our anniversary. I'll get to that in a minute. But we're always able to fill up a tub with water. We have a change of garment for you. We've got robes that you can put on to get baptized in. So if you have not been scripturally baptized, and by being scripturally, I mean not sprinkled as a baby, but actually like dunked under water after you put your trust in Jesus Christ to be your savior. If you're saved today and you have not been baptized properly, then I encourage you to get baptized today. You could speak to myself. You could speak to one of the ushers. We'd be happy to set that up for you this morning. Continuing on. Oh, here. Let's count up. If there's any salvations to report for the week, please just slip up your hand. We'll get those counted up quickly. Yes, sir. One on Friday. Friday as well. Lance. Okay. Amen. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Friday. Amen. Who am I missing? Austin. Yesterday. All right. Am I missing anybody else? Very good. Keep up the good work. And if you're if you're visiting with our church this morning, I'll go a little bit more in depth actually with my with my sermon this morning. We're church is focused on preaching the gospel to every creature. It's the most important thing that we could do as a church, as a body of believers is to share the gospel, the good news of Christ as savior. And that's what we do on a regular basis. So if you have not actually gone out with the intention of trying to preach the gospel to somebody and show them from the Bible how they could be saved, I encourage you to join us. We have plenty of opportunities to do that. We're happy to show you how to do that. Obviously, if you're saved, you know how you're saved. But it's good to know, hey, I could turn to this verse and this verse and this verse and kind of show them a way that makes sense. And in a way where you can keep the conversation on track where you're not getting off into all kinds of different areas of discussion, but keep focused on being able to explain the gospel to people. So we would love for you to join us in that effort. And the easy part is, if you ever want to come sold in with us, is that we have always only one person doing the talking and anyone else is going to be a silent partner. So you don't have to even say anything. You just come along for the ride and join us as we go out and and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Continuing on, we've got the offering totals received through the month of June down there at the bottom of the page. Prayer requests. Does anyone have any updates for anyone who is on the list as of today? Any updates? All right. Well, let's continue to pray, of course, for everyone who is on our list. There are some very serious problems, many people with cancer and other very serious diseases. So please. Oh, who did I? Amen. Yeah. Yep. I think it works. So he's he's as he was prior to the accident. Now, for the most part, I mean, it's a little sore, maybe, or not even too much. That's good. Well, amen. That's that's brother Esteban's father, Esteban, who was having a brain problem for the result of an accident. But we're glad to hear that that that prayer has been answered and he's doing as good as he was before. Excellent. Thank you for that update. Was there any other updates? I'm sorry. There's there's a lot of people. Just raise your hand up real high if there is an update. All right. And churches and pastors were praying for Pastor Jason Robinson Mountain Baptist Church, Fairmount, West Virginia. Please pray for him and his family, their ministry and all the good work that's being done up there on the next page. Happy sixth anniversary. Our sixth anniversary as a church. We started six years ago in June. Yes, in June. I don't know what I was thinking, but this is I apologize. I kind of sweat a lot. I've been doing a lot of work trying to get things ready this morning. But we would love to have you stick around after service for just to enjoy the celebration. We're going to have burgers and dogs, refreshments, food, all kinds of stuff. Just please. Everybody's welcome. We'd love to have you stay in the back here. We have water slides in a bounce house with a little water slide for the for the smaller kids. It's going to be a blast. It's going to be a lot of fun. Just ask parents, please, at least take turns monitoring children. Children take heed to the adults out there that they're if they're telling you not to do something that's that's kind of crazy and wild. You know, just take heed. Listen to them. And this is extremely important, though. I really kids that really listen up to this because I do I don't want anyone getting hurt and we want everything to be safe. We cannot allow you. And I know every kid wants to do this. It happens all the time. But I'm going to tell you right now, please. And adults also don't let the children have more than one person going up on those slides and especially sitting up at the top. And the reason why is because if someone just accidentally unplugs, kicks, trips over one of these outlets and the air stops, you're coming down. And if there's a bunch of kids up there, you're coming down really fast. And these water slides are very high up in the air. So, you know, it's a lot of fun. But when it's all working, so please, let's not have, you know, if one child's up there, two children up there, it's not going to come down as fast. If we've got five or six or seven or eight or 10, you know, that's not going to be good. Also, we have littles, we have bigs, we have all size shape of children that are going to be out there. So everyone be aware, especially on the big water slides, no little kids playing in the pool end of the big water slide. OK, that's over the far one, I think is the big one. So we're going to have a lot of fun. It's going to be great. Like I said, food, refreshments, water slides, there's a basketball, one of those those those hot shots. You got like two people go head to head. Really cool stuff. We've got snow cone machines, we have popcorn. Stick around, join us. It's going to be a lot of fun this afternoon. And yeah, everyone's welcome. So appreciate you all appreciate all the hard work that everyone's been putting in for the past six years and making this church a great success. Continuing on a June challenge. Wow, look at that. The gospel again. We do various challenges throughout the year. This month, since we have the most daylight hours, is one of my favorite challenges, a challenge to start all challenges was to attempt to give the gospel to at least one person every single day this month. So hopefully you're keeping up with that Greenville church plant details. So we are opening up a brand new church plant in Greenville, South Carolina in the next two weeks. So this Saturday coming up, if you would like to help, you can show up here Saturday morning. I'm assuming the flooring is playing and being done by then, brother Carter. Right. This week should be should be taken care of, which is excellent. So then there's leaves. Just we're just have enough time to get in there and start loading up all the chairs and all the other things that are going to go in that building there. So if you'd like to help out, we have there's two places you can help. One is loading, which is going to be done here is where we have the vast majority of the stuff that's going up to Greenville. So if you want to help Saturday morning, June twenty ninth, just show up here. Probably around eight o'clock. OK. Eight o'clock, we'll start getting things loaded up. The goal is to be out of here by about 10 o'clock. To then get on the road and unload in Greenville. So if you want to help on either loading, unloading both, whatever you want to do, whatever you have time for, we'd love to to get your help with that. When we go up to Greenville, we'll also serve lunch before we unload. It'll be around noon. We'll order some pizzas or something and then get everything all set up for the following week, which will be all our services and our grand opening. But just prior to that, June 30th. So one week from today, we're going to be ordaining Brother John Carter as the evangelist. He's going to be running everything over there in Greenville. He's going to be preaching. He's going to be administering and making sure things are operating the way that they ought to. And and please show your support for Brother Carter next week as we lay hands on him and commission him to do the work out there. And then we've got a special guest preacher in Greenville, July 5th, it's Friday night. Pastor Steven Anderson for Faith Ward Baptist Church is going to be preaching at seven p.m. at that new church plant, then followed by a soul winning marathon starting at nine fifteen. Again, meeting up at the building and we'll be so winning until four. We'll feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner. And then the grand opening Sunday service, July 7th, Brother John Carter's going to be preaching the morning service. I will be preaching the evening service and we're going to switch. Then I'll be here in the morning and I'll be there in the afternoon. He's going to be there in the morning and here in the afternoon. So. All the support that you want to give to the church. Appreciate it. Some people plan on sticking back here a little bit, maybe on that Sunday. But I get if you're if you're excited, you want to go be part of the first service, by all means, go support that church. And it's a it's going to be record breaking services, right? Sunday morning is going to be record breaking services Sunday night. And then their midweek is on Thursday at seven. So, yeah, all the details are there. We've got the Bible memory passage, so this is the last week, but I am going to give you a review week for Hebrews chapter 11. This the last two verses of the chapter and I'll give you one more week to put it all together and to be able to quote verses 21 through 40. And if you're able to do that, you'll be able to get a prize. And then the upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, we got a birthday today. I thought I saw. Where why can I not? OK, wait. Yes. Where's Asher? Asher. He's like, why is my name being called? Asher's here. It's Asher's birthday today. So we're going to sing a happy birthday to Asher. And, you know, Asher could get more than one ice cream today because I was planning on just giving everybody ice cream today. Because we kind of need to clear out and recycle and get out. If the ice cream is sitting in there for too long, we're going to eat it up today and get new stuff for our next record breaking service. But since it's his birthday today, he could pig out and have however many ice creams that he wants. So at his parents discretion, of course, let's sing a happy birthday to Asher. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. God bless you. Happy birthday to you. Amen. All right. That's a real special today, Asher. I mean, we got these water slides for you. We're having burgers and dogs, the whole party just for you. And then the rest of the birthday's anniversary are listed down there on the page. That's about it for announcements. I'm going to stop rambling. I'm going to get Brother Peter back up here, who's going to lead us in our next song. Thank you for being here with us this morning. Church, if you can open the handles to song number 416. Song 416. As a volunteer, song 416. On the verse. A call for the soldiers from through on and on. Soldiers for the company, will you be the call? Will you venture quickly with a ready cheer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the captain we will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Yes, Jesus calls for soldiers who are filled with power. Soldiers who will serve him every day and hour. We will have our safety, he is ever near. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the captain we will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the captain we will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the captain we will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? And when the war is over and the victory won, When it's true and faithful, never one by one, Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the captain we will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? This is the book of John chapter 15. And as we do customary here at Strong Old Baptist Church, we want you to read the entire chapter. That's Brother Denzel. John chapter 15. I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth of the branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. As the father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own, but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father. But this cometh the past, that the word might be fulfilled, that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. But when the comforters come, whom I will send unto you from the father, even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the father, ye shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. Let us pray. Dear God, thank you for this day, and thank you for this passage here. Thank you for letting us all be gathered together in your house, and letting us have six years of a great church. Pray you be with Pastor Burzins as he preaches. Fill him with your spirit, and let us apply the message to our lives to become better Christians because of it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Alright, as you all know, it's our anniversary service, and I like to preach every year, just kind of summarizing how far we've gone, where we're at, and where we're going. And I didn't do the big whiteboard. I did that last year with all the numbers of salvations and things like that. But it's just, as you all know, especially if you've been coming here for any length of time, the church is growing. Everything is continuing to increase and improve and get better. I think our church is getting better. We're getting stronger. We're getting more, just doing more of the right thing. We're getting a lot more work done, and things continue to improve. And, of course, this year is marking now the first year we actually get to reproduce as a church and bring forth another church plant. And it's exciting to be a part of. I'm glad that you're all here. And I've said this many times, and I hope you know this, I hope you feel this, I hope you understand this, that, of course, the church is not the pastor. The church is all of us together. We're all striving together and doing a big work. And I love how many people come to church and are involved in our ministry and not just showing up and then leaving and showing up and leaving. Hey, wherever you're at, that's great. I'm glad you're here, and I hope you're blessed by the service. And I hope that you get something through the preaching, through the Word of God, and through the other believers that are congregated here together. I hope you get encouraged. I hope you're edified. And I hope you learn something. But I am very encouraged by the number of people here that really take the Bible, the Word of God seriously and serious enough to make the changes that are necessary in our lives to be more focused on doing the right thing and serving the Lord and ultimately just being ministry-minded, even if you're not the pastor of a church or have a specific ministry that you run, but just in the sense of being a minister to other people, being there to help them, being there to preach the gospel, being there to share the truth, being there to do all the things that the Bible says that we ought to be doing, whether you're a leader or a layman alike. It doesn't matter. The church is strong because of all the people, and God is working and doing many wonderful things here in this church, and it's just an exciting thing to be a part of. And, of course, I like spreadsheets. I like tracking things. I like seeing where we're at, and I'm kind of a nerd in that regard. But just overall, year over year, we've continued to see growth in pretty much every metric, whether it be church attendance and salvations and baptisms and everything. We're continuing to do well. Last year, this year, for the first half of the year, we're a little bit lighter on the salvation numbers, but we got to look at everything as a whole. First of all, we can't control how many people get saved because if people decide to believe, that's on them, and there's definitely times where we hit areas and neighborhoods that are not as ready to hear the word of God. And, you know, specifically, the more affluent, the richer neighborhoods are, the less people are likely to listen to the gospel because we need to be humble and humble ourselves in order to receive the word of God. And too often, people who have everything going for them are not very humble. They have everything figured out. Sometimes we knock a lot of neighborhoods that that's the case and no one really wants to listen and no one wants to hear, and as a result, there's not as many people getting saved. That's just life. But what really matters the most, I think, is obviously souls being saved is extremely important. We talk about that a lot. We focus on that because it's something we need to be working on all the time. But those numbers show up just in general, right? It's kind of over the long term. What I like seeing is more people getting involved, more the more growth we have of people getting out and being active and more times going out and more people getting together. That is sign of true growth, not even just attendance, but just the whole package, right? Like everything together. And things have been great here. Like I said, the Lord's been working. We've had a total since this year, since the church's existence in 2018. According to our numbers, over 5,000 people have been saved as a result of this ministry. So that's amazing. That's awesome, right? Praise the Lord for that, for every soul. Now, obviously, we can't tell you 100% for sure if every single person actually literally got saved, but you know what we do? We base it off of the confession of what they say, what they say they believe, them calling on the name of the Lord, them understanding the gospel, the best that we can ascertain that when we speak with people. We do not just do a one, two, three, repeat after me and just start pronouncing people, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved. We take our time. We go to the scripture. We answer questions if there's any problems. People are not getting it. As long as it takes for somebody to understand that salvation is a free gift, that salvation is something that's given to you. It's not earned. That salvation is something that is eternal. It lasts forever. It is eternal life. It literally has nothing to do with your works. Your bad works can't make you lose your salvation because your good works didn't get your salvation. So however long it takes for someone to kind of just comprehend the concept of the gospel that Jesus paid it all, right? All to Him we owe, but He paid it all. He made the ultimate sacrifice and the only payment that will work for our sins, His blood. And once a person understands that, accepts that, receives Christ, and, you know, that's how, as we count someone as being saved. They've confessed all this stuff. So we do the best job that we can in that regard as well. And if you doubt that, just come on out with us and you can see how we do. But I'm not going to go over all these numbers. I really want to just get into the passage this morning because it is a good reminder. What is our church about? Our church is about, ultimately, glorifying God, glorifying the Father. You know, I've had people say, you know, scoff a little bit at our church name, right? Our church name is Stronghold Baptist Church. And the reason why some people scoff at that is because there's many places in the scripture that just the words stronghold are used in a negative connotation because it's talking about heathen, it's talking about unbelievers, it's talking about people who might be fighting against God and their strongholds being taken down and their strongholds being destroyed. But a stronghold itself is not a bad thing. It's a bad thing if you're fighting against God, sure. But if you're on God's side, it's not a bad thing. And in fact, you know, of course, our church verse comes from Nahum. It's right here on our card, actually. That verse, Nahum 1.7, says the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. The Lord is our stronghold. And that's where our name of our church comes from because we want to glorify God. God is the one who ultimately is our defender. God is the one that we trust in. God is the one that's going to be our defense. But there's another facet to the name Stronghold Baptist Church is that I want to, you know, I'd like to see more strongholds for the Lord set up, more places, more churches, more congregations where people are going to say, look, we're not compromising on the word of God. We're not backing down. You're not going to push us around. We're going to believe every word of this book because it's God's holy word and I don't care how much the culture changes. I don't care what the media says. I don't care what the politicians say. I don't care what the false prophets say. I don't care what the world says. I'm not going to change what I believe if it's written in this book. We're going to maintain a stronghold. We're going to make firm our foundation on the word of God and not budge and not move. And if it's unpopular, so be it. You know what Jesus taught when he was on this earth? It was popular with some people, but definitely not all. I think the result of Jesus' preaching is what got him arrested and crucified. There were a lot of people that rejected what Christ taught and what he said, yet Jesus Christ is the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And that very message infuriated people. A lot of people. It gets people mad. It gets people angry. It's a message of love, truly. It's a message of truth, absolutely. But not everyone's willing to accept that. But you know what? As Jesus suffered, we should be willing to suffer as well and maintain a stronghold for the Lord. Now, I've titled my sermon this morning Glorifying the Father, and this is coming directly from John 15. We read the entire chapter. I want you to look down real quick. It comes from verse number 8. The Bible says, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. So this is how the Father is glorified, that you, ye, plural, y'all, bear much fruit. That's what he's saying. You need to bear fruit. Now, what does it mean to even bear fruit? Well, it's not complicated. It's really not complicated at all, which is why he uses the term bearing fruit because he's using something that we understand and that we see in the natural world. We see trees. We see, and specifically in John 15, vines. Right? Vines, trees. What do they do? They bring forth fruit. Hey, we have some fruit out here. There's some watermelon out here. How do we get that fruit? It grew off a vine. Right? It grows. It brought forth fruit. There's trees, apple trees, orange trees, lemon trees. You know, every type of tree, it brings forth fruit. It brings forth fruit. What is it doing? It's bringing forth the same thing over and over again, right? How do you know a tree? You know the tree by its fruit. Say, what kind of tree is that? I don't know. The leaves look the same as this other tree or this other tree. Oh, but what's coming off of that? Oh, it's apples. It's an apple tree. So, good trees bring forth good fruit. The Bible teaches that. We see that. It's obvious. And bad trees bring forth bad fruit. But how is God glorified? He wants us to bear much fruit. Well, what is the fruit to the tree? It's ultimately a reproduction. Right? Because how did that tree, that bear's fruit, get there? It got there by a seed. It got there by a seed that died in the earth and then new life was created. It became a tree. It needed to be nourished and watered and fed. Right? It needed to receive nutrition until ultimately it's able to bring forth more fruit which bears seed that can in turn become another tree. Right? Well, the Bible talks about our salvation being born again and is related to a sower, which we'll go to the parable of the sower in a little bit. The sower sows the Word of God. Right? There's a seed being sown in our hearts, in the hearts of all the people in the world, and it comes from the Word of God. That's what's being sown. And when that seed brings forth life, it comes at the time that a person receives the gospel. They receive the Word of God. They accept it. They believe in it. And then there's a new life that's brought forth and they become that new tree, that new life. They have now been brought forth as someone else's fruit. But I'll tell you what, not every tree necessarily is going to produce fruit if it's not nourished and watered and maintained and kept. It might not bring forth much of anything. And not every person who believes on Jesus Christ, because salvation's easy, it's a free gift, it is easy to be saved. It is easy. I do believe in easy believe-ism. And I have no problem with that term because how hard is it to put your trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Not hard at all. You know what is hard? Doing right every day. Getting all of the sin out of your life. But you know what? That's why salvation isn't based on you getting all of the sin out of your life. That's an impossible task while we're in this flesh. It is. You show me the person that's not sinning, that doesn't sin, and I'll show you someone that's deceiving themselves. Read 1 John 1. God wants us to bear much fruit. How are we going to do that? Well, only by reproduction. So how do we reproduce as children of God? We bring forth other children of God. We sow the seed, we sow the word of God, we sow the gospel into the hearts of the unsaved and encourage them and guide them and try to lead them to putting their trust in Jesus Christ and then when they do that, now you've reproduced and brought forth another believer. Let's go up though to verse number 2 here in John 15. Well, I might as well start in verse number 1. I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it and it may bring forth more fruit. So again, just this concept of, and this is exactly what you do in the natural world, right? If you have a vine, you have a tree, it's bringing forth fruit. Well, think about this. If you have an orchard, if you have any, you know, group of trees, group of plants that bring forth fruit and you've got one tree that's just not doing anything, right? You planted it, you watered it, you're doing everything you can for it and it's just not producing for you, why would you continue to keep that tree taking up space and taking up your resources and everything else? You're going to want to get rid of that tree and replace it with another one, right? I mean, especially if that's what you're doing, I'm the owner of a vineyard, I'm the one that has this lot, I want to get as much fruit as possible out of my land, so I'm going to plant trees and I'm going to water them and I'm going to take care of them and I'm going to protect them, I'm going to do everything they need because I want to get their fruit. Well, that's how God is with us. He's like, hey, you're born again, I want you to bear fruit, I want you to be fruitful, I want you to multiply, I want you to increase, I want you to do something for me. Hey, God did everything for you, maybe you could do something for him, right? It only seems kind of right that we should offer our bodies a living sacrifice, as the Bible says, that we should offer ourselves up as that living sacrifice since Jesus sacrificed himself, Jesus is the one who suffered and bled and died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that we could be saved, so that we could enjoy eternal life. Well, how about then we show our thanks to the Lord by now sacrificing for him, by now bearing fruit. If that's what he wants, then that's what he should get. And he's saying, here, look, every branch that beareth fruit, I'm going to purge it. He's going to clear it, right? He said, great, you're bearing fruit, now I'm going to take that and I want you to bring forth more fruit. And not just that, you're going to be also getting rid of the dead branches, you're going to be getting rid of the dead weight, right? You're going to get rid of, you're going to trim, you're going to prune, you're going to maintain that tree to get it optimally performing. And symbolically, that's what God does with us by getting the sin out of our life, by helping us to get the sin out of our life, by making us vessels that are meat and ready for the Master's use so that we can be the best fruit-producing tree, right? We can bring the most forth and God could use us the most by trimming us up and cutting out the things that we don't need in our life and helping us to get more focused on serving him. The Bible says this in verse number 3, Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. And of course, the source of the life, the source of that seed, of everything, it's not found just in us. So like, I'm born again, I'm a child of God, but I can't just go out in my own power, in my own wisdom, in my own effort, my own strength, my own skill, and just start reproducing in the sense of like bringing people to Christ. I need Christ, I need the Holy Spirit, I need God to be with me. God has to be that ultimate life source in order to bring forth the right fruit, because otherwise then you're just a cult leader. There are men out there that could get people, men and women, they could get people to follow them, right? But they don't have the Holy Spirit, they're not of God, and they could get people to do whatever they say and things like that, and that's just weird, and they're just a cult, and they're not, that's not of God. But the only way that we could bring forth fruit is abiding in Christ. That's where the life comes from, that's where ultimately all the glory goes anyways. And mind you, when we talk about the salvation, it is not to bring honor on ourselves. And it should never be talked about that way. And if you go around pumping, puffing out your chest, and talking about how many people you get saved as a pride thing for yourself, your heart is completely wrong, you're not right with God whatsoever. We talk about the numbers because it's exciting. Because it's joyful, it's joyous to hear that there are people coming to Christ. It's exciting to know that God is working, and that God is using us and using the people of our church to witness the people and turn people to Christ. That's exciting, we rejoice in that, and hopefully it should be an encouragement, and even encourage you to be a part of the work and help. But you know who gets the glory and the honor? All of the credit? God does. Jesus does. He's the one who did the work. He's the one who did all of it for us. Now we're just his servants, now we're just the laborers, now we're just here to serve him. And we're going to serve him gladly. He's righteous and he deserves it. But it's not for our bragging rights or our glory or fame or anything like that. It is truly to glorify the Father. And God, the Father, is glorified when you bear much fruit. Let's keep reading here, verse number five. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them and cast them in the fire, and they are burned. You ultimately just become good for nothing if you're not bringing forth fruit. Jump down to verse number 16. The Bible reads, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. We're going to cover a lot more of these type of verses because this is what our mission is. It's a reminder of Stronghold Baptist Church and what we're trying to do here. We're trying to bring forth fruit. We're trying to glorify the Father. And how are we going to do that? By bringing forth fruit, by bearing fruit. Verse 26, but when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me, and ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 5. Bearing witness with the Holy Ghost is what we just read there. That's how we're going to bring forth fruit. We need to bear witness to the Word of God. We need to bear witness to Jesus Christ, and we need the Comforter. We need the Spirit of truth with us in order to do that and be successful in that endeavor in order to bring forth fruit. Matthew chapter 5, verses 14 through 16, the Bible reads, Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and do what? And glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Not glorify you when they see your good works. They glorify the Father. Why? Because you're living for the Father. Because your good works are showing the Father, showing Christ. They're showing how we ought to live, but not drawing the attention to yourself, but you're living in a way that shows that you have integrity and that you actually believe the things that the Bible says. When people are gonna glorify the Father is when they look at you and they don't just see a big stinking hypocrite that wants to say all these things about the Bible, but you're not really doing it. But you're just doing the opposite, and you're no different from anyone else. That is not a good testimony. But think about this, even just with the lighting the candle, you're saying, look, the whole point of a candle isn't to hide it. So it brings forth the light. Hey, if you're saved this morning, you have the light of Jesus Christ inside of you. You have that light. And guess what? The light is not meant to be covered. Well, how are you covering your light? Oh, when, you know, you're gonna talk about the Bible. Oh, I can't talk about the Bible. I mean, that's just not appropriate. Oh, I don't want the... This person might not want to hear that. I'm not gonna say anything. Oh, I don't want them to hate me. I don't want... I don't know if they... I don't know what they believe, so I'm just not gonna say anything. You're covering your light. You're covering your light. And that's what the majority of believers do. They don't shine the light. You have to talk about these things. It is incumbent upon you. The Bible says that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that we need to be out there reconciling the world unto God. Because we are ambassadors for Christ. Christ is no longer walking around this earth like He was 2,000 years ago. And He's given us the task. He's given us the job of going out and talking to people and sowing the Word of God. And anyone who's gonna receive it is gonna receive it and knows that don't... Fine, whatever. You don't have to just keep trying to cram it down your throat. Like, just leave it be. Just keep going around, though. There's plenty of people. You know, there's millions of people in the Atlanta area that we could reach and bring the Word of God to, and that's what we need to be doing. Let that light shine. It's not a commandment to a pastor. It's not a commandment just to the deacon. It's a commandment to all. All believers. Let your light so shine. Because when your light's shining, guess what? You're doing good works because He's equating, letting your light shine, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. God gets the glory. Turn, if you would, to Matthew 13. The parable of the soul. We're not gonna read the actual parable. We're just gonna read the explanation of the parable. If you don't remember the parable, if you don't know the parable, you can read it. That's why we have, by the way, on the back of our bulletin, sermon notes section. There's a whole blank page back here. Write down the references. If I go too fast for you, if you need to check the context, please do. As a side note, make sure that what you hear, no matter what church you're in, no matter who you're listening to, whoever's teaching the Bible to you, make sure for yourself that what they're saying is what the Bible says. And, you know, no one should ever fear, no teacher, no man of God should ever fear someone taking notes and looking these things up and being like, well, I'm gonna check you on that. Good, do it, because you're responsible for what you believe for yourself. Matthew chapter 13, verse number 18, the Bible says, Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. This person doesn't get saved. They hear the word. They hear the word of God. They hear the word of the kingdom. But they don't understand it. They just don't get it. And look, there's a lot of people out there that don't understand the Gospel. Even though it's really simple, a lot of people have been lied to their whole lives. They've never really had it explained. The vast majority of people in the world will tell you that in order to be saved, you have to do good things. That is what the majority of the people of all walks of life, of all religions will tell you, even Christians. I can't tell you how many people are professing to be Christians that tell me, oh yeah, in order to be saved, I mean, you just gotta, you gotta do unto others the way you'd have them do to you. You have to respect people. You have to live according to the word. You have to do what the Bible says. You have to do this. You have to do that. You have to pray. You have to go to church. You have to be baptized. All these different things that people will say. God knows your heart, so you at least have to try. You have to do as much good as you can. That isn't what saves. So anyone that's hearing the word of the kingdom and they're thinking all these things and they think that that's the way it is, they don't understand. They don't understand the Gospel. And if that's you this morning and you're not understanding even what I'm saying about this, stick around and talk to me after service. I would be happy to show you in detail why our salvation is not dependent on how we live at all. But it truly is just a free gift. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus paid the whole way for you to be saved. And some people hear that, but they don't understand it. And then Satan comes and he doesn't want that word to be lingering. He doesn't want them thinking about it very much, so he tries to distract them. He takes that word and just gets it out of their life. No, no, no, no. Don't pay attention to the Bible. Don't pay attention to the kingdom. Don't pay attention to Jesus' stuff. Watch this new movie. Listen to this new song. Get distracted with all the cares of the world. Go make some more money. Whatever. Verse 20 says, But he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, in anon, with joy, receiveth it. So he hears it. Clearly he understands it because in order to receive it, to accept it as yours, you're going to have to understand it, right? So this person's receiving it. And was he receiving? The word of God. He's receiving salvation. Yet hath he not root in himself, but doereth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended, which is why it's important for people to be discipled, for people to get grounded in the word of God. It is possible, as this verse is explaining, for people to believe, to receive Christ as their savior, but then they don't really get in the Bible. They don't really get plugged in, and there's still just this new babe in Christ that needs a lot more growth and understanding, and they're not very strong, and sometimes, you know, they might just end up getting, just kind of stopping anything for the Lord because they get scared, they get offended, there's tribulation, there's persecution, like, whoa, wait, hold on a second. I don't want to deal with all that, right? When family, friends, coworkers, whoever starts saying things, oh, wait, you go there to church? Oh, wait, you know, and then they just don't have the character. They don't have the strength they haven't been rooted down enough to be able to deal with that, and a lot of people end up just backing out and getting out of church. Verse 22. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. So this example is someone who, hey, they received it, and they became fruitful because in order to become unfruitful means you had to have been fruitful, so they were bearing good fruit. They were doing things, but they ended up getting deceived by the riches of the world, and it just draws them away, and this happens all the time, unfortunately. People get caught up in the material things. They get caught up, well, I need to make more money for this. And then what happens? The things of God take a backseat. Yeah, but I have to just make this. Oh, I just have to have this. Oh, this job is calling me over here, and I'm going to double my salary or whatever. Yeah, but then you don't have church to go to, and most people in the world choose the money over the spiritual things, and then they end up becoming unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some in hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty, and this is ultimately where I'm starting to spend the most time is just on this last verse here, verse 23. Because we're talking about bearing fruit. Father's pleased when you bear much fruit, right? And this is the person who receives the seed into the good ground. They hear the word. They understand it. They receive it, and they start bearing fruit, and they bring forth some in hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty, and my point to this is it's quantifiable. It's not he brought forth a hundredfold love and sixty peace and thirty longsuffering, right? That's the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, longsuffering, those are all good things. Galatians chapter five talks about the fruit of the Spirit, and that is what the Spirit brings forth, but, you know, the Christian, we need to bring forth other believers, other Christians. When we're walking in the Spirit, the Spirit's going to bring forth all of that good stuff, but when we are going to be fruitful as a tree, we need to reproduce, and some believers, some Christians, will reproduce thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold. Amen. And that's what God wants us to do, and that's the best seed. That's the best example of someone who's bringing forth the fruit. Being fruitful is about reproduction and about multiplication. Ten times in the Bible, there's ten verses that instruct to be fruitful and multiply using both of those words together, because if you're reproducing, you're being fruitful, and if you're doing that, guess what? You're multiplying and multiplying, and I love multiplication. It's so much better than addition, right? It's addition on steroids. You go and just boom, boom, boom. That's how we need to grow. That's how we need to attack things, and this is what's also taught in Scripture about bearing fruit and multiplying. I'll just read these verses real quick for you. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter 16. I'll be reading, and the vast majority of these come just from Genesis, so nine out of the ten are in Genesis. Genesis 1.22, the Bible says, And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters and the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. So, currently, physically, the Bible, God's commanding just for the plants and even humans to be fruitful and multiply. So just multiply on the earth, right? I want you to fill the earth, so I want you being fruitful. I want you bearing, bringing forth, and physically, what is it to be fruitful? You're bringing forth offspring. That's what being fruitful is, and this is also why I apply it spiritually as well, spiritual offspring of being fruitful. Genesis 1.28, God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it. Genesis 8.17, bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl and of cattle, of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth. Genesis 9.1, And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. And you, be ye fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. Now, before I continue, you say, Oh, yeah, but that's just talking about, you know, the animals, and, of course, Noah's up after the flood because the world's barren, so, of course, you need to be fruitful and multiply. Let me ask you this. Spiritually speaking, it's kind of a wasteland out there. It's kind of a desert. The world is not just full of a whole bunch of people that are already saved. And, look, you're saved by Pastor Burns. I thought you said it's easy. It is easy. It is, but Jesus said that broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Now, that's not talking about the straight and narrow that most people think about as, well, you just have to live a holy life, and that's why there's only so many people that get to heaven. No, straight and narrow mean the same exact thing, and the reason why the way that leads to life is straight, the reason why it's narrow is because there's only one way there. It's because it's only through Jesus Christ, because there's many ways to go to hell. There's many gods out there. There's many false religions. There's many beliefs. There's many things that you could trust in and believe in, and they're all going to send you to hell unless it's Jesus. That's why it's narrow. That's why it's straight. It's only through Him. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That is the way, and look, it's a wasteland out there. There are so many people not saved. God wants us to be fruitful and multiply, reproduce, bring forth other believers. Spiritually, let's go out and sow the Word of God in the hearts and minds of everyone we come in contact with, and who knows if it's going to take root, and it doesn't always take root right away, and you know what? Sometimes that seed's going to go fall on the stony places, and sometimes people are going to get saved, and they're going to start serving God, and then they're going to fall away, and they're going to get out of church, and they're going to backslide, but hey, God just commanded us to be fruitful and multiply, so let's just keep doing it, and don't be discouraged when people don't live up to the expectations maybe that they ought to be doing. Genesis 17, 20, the Bible says, and as for Ishmael, you're in Acts 16. As for Ishmael, I've heard thee behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. Genesis 28, 3, and God Almighty blessed thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people. And God said unto him, Genesis 35, 11, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. God likes bearing fruit and multiplication. Genesis 48, 4, and said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And then of course, Leviticus 26, 9 says, for I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. Now, individually we bear fruit, we bring forth other believers, but even collectively as a church, this is the exciting news, this is what we're really excited about, just coming up in the next short couple of weeks is bringing forth another church. Just as you're gonna see here in Acts 16, just as new churches were established and instructed in the book of Acts, we're gonna be doing the same thing, even in our era. Just as it was during the time of the people of the book of Acts, we ought to be doing the same thing. And I brought this story up in the past while I was bringing it up again anyways, for those of you that don't know, when I started going to church and I started getting more zealous and on fire for the things of God, and making a lot of drastic changes in my life, and really getting serious about serving the Lord, my favorite book of the Bible has always been the book of Acts, and the reason why is just because it's Acts, it's actions, it's what, I mean, people are doing stuff, right? Like, that just appeals to me. I like effort, I like people doing things, I like reading about the miracles and just the boldness and the, man, we're just preaching, and they're getting arrested, and they're still preaching, and an angel comes, and opens up the prison doors, and they're still preaching, and they just can't be stopped. They're turning the world upside down, and they're dealing with these other people, just like so many exciting stories in the book of Acts, and I go, man, I love that. And I remember the conversation I had with Pastor Anderson going, man, wouldn't it be great to live during that time and to see all these things happen, but what we need to understand is, well, wait, why don't we just do these things today? And to me, it was just like mind-blowing. And you know what? It ought to be mind-blowing for you if you've never really considered that. You don't just have to read about great people in the Bible and great things that they did. How about you be a part of that and do great things today? Do you really think that God is still not looking for people to show Himself strong in? Do you really think God doesn't want anything like this to ever happen again? Of course not! Of course He's looking for people who will yield themselves to be His servants, to do His will, to do His work, and to show the world that there is a Savior. How about this? To shine a light like Jesus already commanded. When I heard that, it's like, you know what? You're right. You're right. Instead of focusing on what other people have done and just enjoying the story, be part of a story today. Be part of the service. I love this book. I still love the book of Acts. It should be, though, not just the story you like to hear about. It should be the instruction manual for what we should be doing today. Look at verse number 4 in Acts 16. The Bible says, And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily. So they had originally gone through these cities and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to a bunch of people who were unsaved. And what happened? A lot of people received the word of God and got saved. Well, now you have an area that has people who are saved and they don't have anywhere to go to church. So they started forming churches. Okay, here's what you need to do now. You're saved, great. You're going to congregate together. You're going to praise the Lord. You're going to hear from the word of God. This is what's going to happen, right? So they establish the churches and then as all this work is continuing, the Apostle Paul, Silas, Timothy, they're going around and they're then reconfirming these churches and they're visiting them again and they're delivering decrees for them to keep as we see in the New Testament doctrine that were ordained of the apostles and the elders and the churches are being established and they're also increasing in number daily. This is our vision. This is our goal. We're reproducing. Yes, we're continuing to reproduce on the soul winning but at some point, you know, I mean, it's great. We're going to level out. But we can continue to reproduce by starting these new churches. But you know, the only way that we can do this as a church is if our church is grown enough and strong enough and has enough people because the bigger the church gets, guess what? The more things there are that we need to do, the more work there is to do, the more workers we need to help. There are a lot of aspects that go into running a church service. I mean, unless you get involved, a lot of people just kind of take these things for granted. But you know what? I hope for all of our visitors that they can take everything for granted and enjoy the service and be served and be ministered unto and receive a great blessing because that's what we want to do. We want people to be served. But if this is your church, if you say Strong Old Baptist Church is my church, I want you to serve. I want you to get involved because the only way we could really achieve the big objectives, what do we want to do? We want to reach the entire Atlanta metro area with the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? But it's not going to happen with the numbers that we have right now. It's too much work to do, which is why we need to continue to reach people. And the more everyone gets involved, the more of a reality that can become. But we need men getting trained up. We need men having the desire to be trained to want to do more, to want to serve more, to want to be able to preach, to want to be able to serve and minister in various capacities. We need people to help ushering and doing the work that they do, which is a ton of work within this church, by the way. The ushers have probably the biggest job in this church. We need more people to fill that because guess what? We are losing people to this church plant that are coming here. It's a sacrifice, but you know what? It's well worth it. In turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 9. It's going to come at a cost to start this church plant. It's a financial cost. It's coming at a cost of members leaving here to go there. But that doesn't matter. It's the long run is what we are doing this for. Because you know what's going to happen as a result of that church plant starting up? One, right away there's going to be people who haven't been able to make it to church as frequently because they live much farther away that now will be going to church much more frequently and receiving the word of God and edification and all the blessings that come with just being part of a good church is going to bring. There's going to be more soul owners. There's going to be more people reached. There's going to be different people reached in a whole new area. There's going to be growth as a result of that. So yes, we sacrifice. Yeah, we're going to have to sacrifice some relationships in the extent that you're not going to see some of the people that you love and care about as frequently as maybe would if we didn't start that plant because they'd still be coming here. But at the end of the day, we need to continue to reach more people. And you can still love your brothers and sisters in Christ and you can still keep in contact with them, but you know what? We need to continue to multiply and bear more fruit and bring more people into the spiritual family because that's really what it is. Because guess what? Even if people move away, even if people start going to another church, but they're saved, we're going to see them again. We have an eternity to be able to spend together. An eternity. Let's try to add more people to eternity, right? And build more relationships here and find more people that we can minister unto. Instead of getting so settled down and comfortable with your friend group, let's expand that because we need more people. God wants more people. The fields are white in the harvest, but the laborers are few. And at the end of the day, is it about us, is it about our relationships, or is it about God and glorifying the Father? We're going to be much, much, much more effective at reaching people in general, ministering to people the Word of God by having another stronghold in another location. And then hopefully we can see another one started, and then another one, and we can have this great stronghold. It doesn't all have to have the same name, but I'm just saying all these outposts, all these fortresses, all these places that are standing on the Word of God and saying, this is what we believe. And we're going to go and continue to preach a gospel. We're going to shine that light and reach the world, reach as many people as we can. But in order to do that, everybody needs to be growing. We need involvement. Everyone needs to participate. If it's a one-man show, guess what? It's going to stay a one-man show. It's not going to be successful with a one-man show. We need a church group to help. 2 Corinthians 9, look at verse number 1. It's the last place we're looking to. The Bible says, For I was touching and ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaea was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked very many. And look, the provoking with zeal, it is awesome. And when you have a zealous church and people come in, first of all, you can't fake zeal, and zeal is contagious. Zeal is contagious. It is awesome to see people who are fired up and serving the Lord. Hey, I want to be a part of that. Verse 3, Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that, as I said, you may be ready, lest happily, if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we, that we say not ye, should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and make up beforehand your bounty whereof ye had noticed before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetousness. Now, this isn't the reason why I'm turning to this passage, but basically, just so you understand the context here, what the Apostle Paul is saying is that the church at Corinth who he's writing to, he's saying, you know what? I've been bragging on you guys to the people of Macedonia, and you guys have been great, and you're awesome, and you're supportive, and all this other stuff. He's been telling them what a blessing the churches at Corinth have been, but what he's asking of them, he's asking of them to supply the need, to supply the want of other saints. So what he's looking for is a financial giving for them to be able, that's what he's calling a bounty and all this other stuff, to say, hey, there's some saints over there. There's some saints over here. They need your help, right? They need some support. They need some funding. Can you help them with this? You guys have been generous. You've been great. And he's saying, just lay it aside so that way when we show up, we can have it ready to go, and this isn't anything about covetousness. It's just supplying their need. Let's keep reading that, just to bring you up to speed because I'm getting to another verse here. Verse number six says, But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And again, he's just talking about how they're giving, which is why verse seven says, Every man according as he purposeeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. So he's explaining, hey, you're sowing in this regard, when you're giving, to help to supply the needs of another church. Why? Because this other church is also serving the Lord. They're also sowing the spiritual seed. They need a little bit of help. Well, when you supply them financially with what they need, which is what we do when we support missionaries, by the way, we're helping them get the work done. They're serving the Lord. We're serving the Lord. Hey, if God's blessed us, he's saying, then just give. And you know what? The more you give to help these people and their cause in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're going to be able to reap bountifully. If you're sowing liberally, then you're going to reap the same. But if you sow sparingly, you're going to reap also sparingly. This is what he's telling them. Verse eight, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. And these are the blessings he's saying. If you're ministering seed to the sower, right, you got another ministry, another missionary, another church, you got another group of people, another group of saints, you got another group of saints doing the work, but you're able to contribute to them to be able to minister seed to them to keep sowing and keep doing the work. He's saying here, he that minister seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown. So you're going to receive a blessing by helping them, is ultimately what he's saying here. And increase the fruits of your righteousness. And there's fruit that actually can be put on your account when you help support people who are doing that good work. Verse 11, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service, not only supplyeth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Whilst by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto them and to unto all men and by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. And you know, this last part, I'm kind of bringing up because the expense and the cost that's been going into this church plant, right? We're supplying the need, even before there are saints showing up there, right? It's a cost. It's an investment. But what it is, is an investment. And as I said before, I believe that God is going to bless those of us here as well as those that are going to be over there in South Carolina together by putting forth the effort, putting forth the love, giving whatever you can give. If it's financially of your time, of your energy is even more important, being able to preach the gospel, doing all the spiritual work is extremely important. And this isn't a pitch for money. We're doing great financially. God has blessed us ever since we started this church. And we've been able to do everything that we wanted to do and everything we've been capable to do, by the way. There's only so much we can do as a church. There's only so many ministries we could run. There's only so many people that are here. There's only so much that we can do until we grow and until all of us grow more spiritually, to be able to handle more. And God has been great with that. So I very rarely even bring up money and giving. And guess what? We already passed the plates. I'm not asking you to put any more money in the plate or anything like that. But the whole point is, it's an investment. All of it. It's an investment all the way around. But it's totally worth it. And this is the most exciting anniversary for me. While every year has been exciting, because every year we've seen growth, every year we've had more people. We've done an expansion in this building. We've been growing and seeing more people saved, more people baptized. But now we're actually spreading to another state and planting another church. And the growth that's going to come as a result, I'm just waiting to see how God builds that church and how that is blessed. It is the right thing to do. And it's what we need to be focused on doing more of. Let's borrow as I board a prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this church, for this great group of people here that you brought together, that you've added to this church, Lord. I pray that you would please help us to grow. I pray to please help people to find their way and where they can serve, dear Lord, because we are all members of this church. We're parts of the body of Christ, and we all have a job and a function that we should be doing within this body, Lord, and especially as we are going to be transplanting, as it were, some of the members of this body to a new body, Lord, I pray that you would please help us to help both churches to become fully capable, functioning again quickly, and that you would help us to continue to train up and to disciple people, and Lord, we love you. We thank you for providing in such abundance and help us, Lord, to be bold and to stay strong for preaching your word, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're going to sing one more song before we dismiss, and I just want to quickly make an announcement. I believe all the food's getting set up right now. There's, Leslie, is there a table set up for outside? Are we going to be, or you don't know? Okay, I'll make one more announcement after the service when I know exactly how we're going to set up and line up for the food, but I will just say this real quickly. Okay, kids, I know you're super excited. You want to get out there. I still have to get the hoses turned on and everything like that, everything needs to fill, but also make sure you go to the bathroom before you get out into the water. Parents, make sure the kids all go to the bathroom. We had issues with that last year. We'll probably have issues with it again this year, but no one wants to swim in yellow water. I hope you all enjoy. We'll say a quick blessing for the food in just a few minutes, so please stick around after the service. We've got one more song, and then we'll be dismissed, and thank you all for being here. Brother Peter, who's leading the last song? Brother Will, come on up here, please. All right, church, turn to song 374. Song 374. Send the light. Song 374, on the first. There's a call come ringing for the restless wind. Send the light. Send the light. There are souls to rescue. There are souls to save. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Let it shine. Oh, ever more. On the last. Let us not grow weary in the work of love. Send the light. Send the light. Let us gather joy for the crown of love. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Let's the gospel light, let it shine, we're so sure. Stand alive, let's the gospel light, let it shine, forevermore. Let's the gospel light, let it shine, forevermore. Let's the gospel light, let it shine, forevermore. Let's the gospel light, let it shine, forevermore. Let's the gospel light, let it shine, forevermore. Let's the gospel light, let it shine, forevermore. Let's the gospel light, let it shine, forevermore.