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Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Alright everybody, welcome to Shur Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your green or red hymn books and turn to page number 45. We're going to be singing When I Can Read, my title clear. Welcome to Shur Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your red and green hymn books and turn to page number 45. We're going to be singing When I Can Read, my title clear. Song number 45, When I Can Read, my title clear. Let's sing it together on the first. Song number 45, When I Can Read, my title clear. Let's sing it together on the first. Song number 45, When I Can Read, my title clear. Let's sing it together on the first. Song number 45, When I Can Read, my title clear. Let's sing it together on the first. Song number 45, When I Can Read, my title clear. Let's sing it together on the first. Song number 45, When I Can Read, my title clear. Let's sing it together on the first. Song number 45, When I Can Read, my title clear. Let's sing it together on the first. Should earth against my soul engage And fiery darts be hurled Then I can smile at Satan's rage And face a frowning world And face a frowning world And face a frowning world Then I can smile at Satan's rage And face a frowning world Let cares like a wild deluge come And storms of sorrow fall May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all My God, my heaven, my all My God, my heaven, my all May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all There shall I bathe my weary soul In seas of heavenly rest And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast Across my peaceful breast Across my peaceful breast And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast Amen, good scene. Brother Eli, could you open us up in a word of prayer? Amen, our second song will be song number 21, What a Wonderful Savior. Song number 21, What a Wonderful Savior. Song 21, What a Wonderful Savior. Let's sing it together on the first. Christ has for sin atonement made, What a wonderful Savior. We are redeemed, the price is paid, What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. I praise Him for the cleansing blood, What a wonderful Savior. That reconciled my soul to God, What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. He cleansed my heart from all its sin, What a wonderful Savior. And now He reigns and rules therein, What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. He gives me overcoming power, What a wonderful Savior. And triumph in each trying hour, What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. To Him I've given all my heart, What a wonderful Savior. The world shall never share a power, What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, They shall mount up with wings as eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31. Of course it's a very famous verse there. And on our inside left page there, there's a little short thing. If you wanted to talk with me about anything spiritual after the service, please feel free to come and see me. If you don't know for 100% sure that you're saved or that you need to be baptized, please see one of our ushers. They're the guys with the pins on their coats that say usher on them. Or you can come talk to me. There's several people you can talk to. But I don't like people leaving this building and them not knowing for sure that they're saved. Of course we believe at this church that salvation is by faith alone and there's no other works required for salvation or to keep your salvation. So if you look down, you can see the service times. Sunday morning service, the one you're at is 1030 a.m. That's our preaching service. Sunday evening service, we're going through the book of Exodus. And we'll be in Exodus chapter 20. And that'll be tonight at 3.30 p.m. Thursday Bible study is at 6.30 p.m. We're in the book of Malachi. We'll be in chapter 3 one more week. And then we'll go on to chapter 4. And then our soul winning times are listed there below. We do have soul winning today. Brother Shawn, you're probably not leading soul winning, are you? Brother Shawn Harrington right over there, he's leading soul winning today. And if you're not familiar with that term, soul winning is when we go and evangelize and preach the gospel. And we basically knock doors and talk to anybody that we come across and try to present them with the gospel and show them how to be saved from the Bible. So we just take our church invites and we knock on the door and invite them to church and then say more importantly than going to church, are you 100% sure if you died today you'd be going to heaven? So we just try to open up a dialogue with people and our end goal is to make sure that that person is saved. So that's what soul winning is. And we do have various times throughout the week that you can go. If you look down you can see our praise report, the salvation totals and baptism totals aren't correct, but I forgot to tell Rylan that's my fault. But we had three baptisms last week in Seattle. So last Wednesday we baptized our first set of people there in Seattle, so it was really cool. We had like a blow up spa type thing that we used, but it worked. The guy was pretty tall, so he had to kind of maneuver his legs. He got all the way wet. He got baptized for sure. So it was pretty cool. A couple weeks ago I had six baptized up in Winnipeg, so that was nice. And last Sunday morning's attendance was 92. And it's funny because I was looking out and I was like, it doesn't really look like there's very many people here, but after the conference we have all these extra chairs in here, so it looks way less full. So I was really surprised to see that we had 92 last week. I was like, we only have 50 people on Father's Day, what's going on? But anyway, that wasn't the case. So if you look at the upcoming events, June 30th, which is this next coming weekend through July 2nd, we're going to be kind of launching or having a big weekend at Bible Believer's Baptist Church in Yakima. And Deacon Corbin Russell is going to be preaching for us on Friday night at 7 p.m. So if you want to make the trip up there, we're going to also be doing some soloning. If you're planning on going up there early, maybe early Friday, I'm not opposed to someone leading a soloning time on Friday. If you have the day off and you're going to be up there early, you're more than welcome to do that. Just let me know that that's what you need to do or what you want to do. I'll get you a map. And then Saturday morning we're going to meet at the church building and we're going to pair up and go soloning at 11 a.m. So from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. we'll be doing soloning on the reservation up there in Yakima. And then meal time is going to be meal and fellowship. And this is also Saturday at the church building at 3 p.m. So it's going to be kind of a potluck-style lunch, but we'll provide the main course. And then Sunday at 10 30 a.m. and 3 30 p.m. I'll be preaching the services there. So if you have any questions about the trip, just come ask me. I'll be happy to help you with that. And then the bridal shower for Madeline Ritchie is at 11 a.m. at the church building on July 8th. So she's trying to leave us. And I don't know how I feel about that. I don't know how Joe feels about that, Brother Joe. I know when you lose your best handmaidens it's tough, right? But she's a great girl and she's going to get married to this guy named Garrett. And he is Pastor Brzezinski's son. And he's come here and helped us out when he didn't have a song leader a couple weeks ago. It was really nice. So their wedding is going to be down in Fresno, I believe. But if you want to do anything for the bridal shower, be here at 11 a.m. I think there'll be food and stuff like that, like there always is at Baptist meetings. But also if you want to get her a gift for the bridal shower, she's listed on Amazon under Madeline Ritchie. So if you want to help out, maybe you can't come to the bridal shower, but maybe help out with a gift for the bride-to-be. So congratulations on that for the Ritchie family. And I know those are tough days, Brother Joe. Just prepare your heart. It's rough. So July 19th, Pastor Anderson will be preaching in Spokane, Washington at 6.30 p.m. at our satellite plant church in Spokane, Washington. That'll be at 6.30 p.m. at the building. And then July 20th, so he's going to drive here, and he's going to be preaching as part of his mega conference. That's two of the stops are ones in Spokane, ones here. And so his mega conference, and I heard rumors that he's preaching about the minor prophets. So that'll be cool. But he's preaching here Thursday night, 6.30 p.m., which is also coincidentally the same day that the Red Hot preaching conference starts down in Sacramento. So even if you can't go down there, you still get some Red Hot preaching up here. And so Pastor Anderson, he was just here for our conference, but he's coming back again one time this year. So if you haven't got a chance to hear him speak before, he's a really great speaker, great preacher, great friend of mine, and looking forward to it. So if you can be here, be here because you don't want to miss it. And then we have, of course, the Red Hot preaching conference. That's the eighth annual Red Hot preaching conference at Verde Baptist Church in Sacramento, California. If you need details about that, I think you can just go on their website. They have a tab called Red Hot preaching, and you can find the schedule on there. I'll probably end up putting a schedule in one of the bulletins here soon. And then July 28th through 30th is the our church five year anniversary. And we'll be having Pastor Roger Jimenez preaching for us at 7 p.m. Friday night. And then Saturday we'll have a soul winning time from 10 30 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1 30 p.m. we'll have lunch provided for the church. And then we're going to have a bounce house out back like we did for the conference. And the bull is going to be back, the mechanical bull. So if your mommy tells you you couldn't ride it last time or you're an adult, you know, maybe talk your mom into doing it this time. Or if you just didn't get a chance to do it, now's your chance. Maybe you just weren't able to be here that day. But the bull, they can get pretty angry and mean and throw people pretty hard. So be careful when you're doing that. No pregnant ladies are allowed to ride the bull, by the way. So anyway, and then we're going to have on Sunday I'll be preaching the morning service. And then we'll have evangelist Winfield Fisher from our church in Surrey, B.C., preaching at the p.m. service at 3 30 p.m. August 3rd through 6 is the Toronto soul winning trip. And I do have a schedule available for anybody that's interested. They're up here on the pulpit and it just kind of outlines. It actually is not the third through the sixth. They're kind of making a big party out of this thing. So Friday, July 8th is actually when it starts and it ends on Sunday, August 6th. So they're doing a whole bunch of things. If you want to know what they're doing or you want to go, just come up and grab one of these schedules if you have any questions. There's the number on there, the email address of the person that's kind of put organizing everything. And that's all I have for the upcoming events. That's a lot, I know. It's busy time around here. And so we're a family integrated church. I heard children crying, so it made me think of it. But we're a family integrated church. That means that children and infants are welcome during the church services. But if they begin to be really disruptive or distracting, please just take them to the mother baby room or outside of the service just for a little bit until they're done crying and they can come back in. And we also, the dad baby room is located in the far back corner there. Mom baby room is located right there. You can still hear the preaching through the speakers. And I think there's a television in the dad baby room that's comfortable seating. And please utilize that room for any convenience that you need to change your child or feed your child or anything like that. And then please reserve the back rows for families with young children. The rockers and gliders are for pregnant nursing mothers or elders only. Please know men in the mother baby rooms and vice versa. No unattended children in any area of the building. Please don't let them go upstairs unattended at all. And then no food in the assembly area, which is this area here. Silence your cell phones if you would do that. Please, we would appreciate it. Or place it on airplane mode for the service. Escorts are available to help people to vehicles by the ushers. They're available upon request. So if you just want someone to walk you to your car or maybe you just need help physically to get to your car, we're more than willing and able to help with that. Just grab one of those ushers and ask them if they could help you. They'd be happy to do it. Our donations are at the bottom of the page there. The tithes and offerings that have come in so far for the month of June. And then we had some birthdays. We have Miss Corina, my granddaughter's birthday is today. She's still in the service. Bring her back in, Adam. We're going to sing happy birthday. And then Ryan and Sarah's anniversary has already passed. I feel like we didn't sing it. Did we sing happy anniversary? We did? Were you here? Okay. Was I here? And then Tony and Jazzy. Okay, so Corina, we're going to sing happy birthday to you. Are you going to be a prima donna? All right. Well, she turned three years old today. So let's sing happy birthday to little Miss Corina. Corina, happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right. So happy anniversary. Everybody had their anniversaries. Okay, that's all I have for announcements. I just wanted to say one more thing. If you're a first-time guest, we're very happy that you're here. We appreciate you coming to our services. And we do have some gift bags if you just look around that. There's a little curtain right there. There's a little stand that has gift bags on it. So make one of those as a token of our appreciation of you being a first-time visitor. And also, if you didn't get a communication card, we would just like to get your information. We're not going to sell it to Google or Facebook. We're not going to open up any bank accounts in your name or anything like that. But Google and Facebook probably already have your information anyway, so don't worry about it. But just write down your information. As much as you're comfortable giving, we just want to be a blessing to you. And we're not going to show up at your door unannounced or anything like that. We might just accidentally do that just knocking doors, but we're not going to do it to follow up. So anyway, that's all I have for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing another song and we'll receive the offering. All right, our next song is song number 24. And can it be that I should gain? Hope you drink some tea or something this morning. Warm your voice up. Song number 24, and can it be that I should gain? Song number 24, let's sing it out together on the first. And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior's blood Did he for me, who caused his pain For me, who him to death pursued Amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me Amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me He left his mother's throne above So free, so infinite, his grace Emptied himself of all but love And bled for Adam's helpless race Tis mercy, all immense and free For, oh, my God, it found out me Amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature's nigh Thine eye defused a quickening ray I woke the dungeon, flamed with blood My chains fell off, my heart was free I rose, went forth, and followed thee Amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me Amen. Good to see you. Brother Sean, could you bless the offering for us? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mark 13, if you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you. Be in Mark chapter 13. Mark 13, the Bible reads, And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed, lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled. For such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be earthquakes and diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. But take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel must first be published among all nations, but when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate. But whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not yet, for it is not ye that speak but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son, and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing where it ought not, let him that readeth understand, then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains, and let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein to take anything out of his house, and let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days, and pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, for in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or Lo, he is there, believe him not, for false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed, behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Now learn a parable of the fig tree, when her branch is yet tender, and put forth leaves, ye know that summer is near. So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work and command the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all. Watch. Brother Bill, will you pray for us? The verse I want to springboard off of here for the sermon is found in Mark chapter 13 verse 31 where the Bible reads, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass. So I'm preaching this morning on the acronym of Baptists. So each letter has a belief that Baptists hold to in most cases, and mine might be a little bit different than other people's, but they're pretty much most of them are the same. And so I already preached about what I believe in the first T there in Baptist, which is three offices that are ordained by the church, and one is pastor, one is deacon, and one is evangelist. And so most people would say there's two, but I mean people ordain evangelists. So evangelists isn't just like, everybody should be an evangelist in the way that we all should go soul winning and preach the gospel, but I'm talking about someone that's ordained as an evangelist, and sometimes they lead churches, sometimes they're full-time soul winners, that maybe they're qualified or not qualified to be a pastor, or maybe they just don't want to be a pastor, but I preached a full sermon just about that topic. So today I'm going to go with the B and the A. So the B, the very first letter in the acronym for Baptists, and we're Baptists here, amen. This is Sherr Foundation Baptist Church, is biblical authority. And so I want to touch on that topic today, but I also want to touch on the topic of the autonomy of the local church. And we just had a big King James conference where the Bible is talked about a lot, and so I am going to preach a little bit about biblical authority, but the main focus of the sermon is going to be the autonomy of the local church and what that means. So let's get into this. Now, the reason I chose this scripture is because the Bible says that heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass. So we still have the word of God today. We still have the words of Jesus today. Is that verse in your Bible? Then God's preserved his word, right? And we believe that the Bible is the authority, the sole authority, for faith and practice in a Christian's life in the local church. And you're like, well, we're supposed to follow Jesus. Well, Jesus gave us his words to follow. And so as a Baptist church, most Baptists, if they're actually real Baptists, are going to base their faith upon the word of God. They're going to base what they believe upon the word of God. And whatever anybody else says or any spin that comes from anywhere else, hey, we rest our head on what the Bible says. That's why we're Baptists is because we believe in biblical authority. It's also said in Matthew 24, verse 35. It's also said in Luke 21, verse 33, the same exact words. I think that Jesus wanted us to understand this, that everything can go away. But you know what's never going to go away? The Bible's never going to go away. The word of God is never going to go away. The devil can never just completely destroy the word of God. It's never going to happen. But he'll try to twist it. He'll try to put substitutes in there. He'll try to put all these other modern Bible perversions that say different things, that take out 16 whole verses, that say that some other guy killed Goliath in 2 Samuel. It's just bizarre things. And people are like, well, those don't affect the doctrine. It does affect the doctrine. Like in Acts, chapter 8, where it says that you must believe in Jesus with all your heart before you can be baptized. That's taken out of all modern versions. And if it's not taken out, there's an asterisk next to it saying that it doesn't belong in there. By these people that like to pervert the Bible, they'll take 1% of the manuscripts found around the world, and they say that's the oldest, that's the best, and so they'll base all the modern versions off of that. So the text is actually the issue when it comes to the modern Bible versions. We hold to the authorized version of the King James Bible, and you're like, well, that's been changed. Well, the spellings have been changed. I'll give you that. And maybe some sentence structure has changed, but the words are still the same. That's why we have them here for you to come up and look at whenever you want. This is the 1611 right here, and I've been corrected. It's not Old English, but what's the font type? Oh, okay, whatever. I can't remember what the font type's called, but this one's the 1769. The revision of the spelling and the sentence structure, and that's the version that we use today, is based upon the King James. Like I said, things have changed, the font type has changed, and the spelling of things have changed, but the Word of God is still the same. Our church is called Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Sure Foundation. What's the foundation? The foundation is Jesus Christ. He is the rock, and His words. Jesus is also called the Word of God. Why is He called that? Because He's the Word of God. That's why. And His word is all throughout this. The Old Testament prophesied about Him. The Old Testament talked about Him, and the New Testament, He was revealed to us. So let's look at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. And people try to throw shade on the New Testament and say, Those are just letters that were written. They're just letters written by Paul, and they have no authoritative value in them. They're just things to help us out. There are people that believe that, and that's just a weird belief, because it wouldn't be in the Bible if it wasn't the Word of God. Look at 1 Thessalonians, where Paul's writing here, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. It says, For this cause also think we God without ceasing, because when ye receive the word of God, so what do they do? They receive the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. So he's saying, hey, you received the word of God, the gospel, basically, but also the truths of the Bible, and they didn't receive it as the word of men, because that's not what it was. It was the truth. It was the word of God, as it says and as the Apostle Paul says. So is the New Testament authoritative? Yes, it is. Is the letter to the Thessalonians authoritative? Yes, it is. Now turn to 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16, where Paul is telling, this is called a pastoral epistle, and this is a very famous verse in the Bible. A lot of people have this one memorized, but it's 2 Timothy 3, 16, and 17. It says, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. So it's profitable for doctrine for the things that we believe, the teachings that we believe, for reproof to correct us, because we're sinful children. We need a lot of correction. And it says for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Tell us how to be good. It's not just telling us how bad we are. It's also telling us how to do good and how to be good and do things in our lives that are right. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So the Bible is what man needs to become perfect. Now, it's not talking about the perfect that you would think about where you're walking on water or raising people for the dead. Perfect there is just talking about that you have a well-rounded, well-balanced life, that you're a top-notch believer, Christian, and you have it all put together. It's not saying that you're perfect as in you're sinless, okay? Now, it says, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So what's that mean? Well, if your house is thoroughly furnished, like some people, you know, everybody's moved into a house and you didn't have any furniture. Right away you have bare walls and all that. But what would be nice is if you moved into a house and all that stuff was just magically put in there for you and it was just there ready for you and ready to go. The Bible is like a thoroughly furnished house that already has everything in it because everything that you need to know is in this book. And so we believe in biblical authority in this church. So if the Bible says it, it's true. If the Bible doesn't say it, not true. And a lot of man-made doctrines come from, you know, people can twist the Bible and make it say a lot of things. You know, even that the earth is flat. They'll try to twist it and say that. They'll try to twist it and say that there's, you know, 450-foot Jack of the Beanstalk style giants that were in the earth in the days of Noah. That's also not true. They came from demon-human hybrids. You know, that's the kind of stuff that people will try to twist and say, but the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible doesn't say that there was, you know, everything brings forth after its own kind. That's what the Bible teaches. So look at 2 Peter 1, verse 20. 2 Peter 1, verse 20. So Jesus said His words were never going to pass away and Paul said that the people in the New Testament, the Thessalonians that he was writing to, that they received His letter as it was in truth, the Word of God. And in 2 Timothy it says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God. So God inspired His Word and it's profitable for everything that we might need in our life. Now, 2 Peter 1, verse 20 says, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. So did it come by the will of man? No, it didn't. It says, But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So mankind, yes, mankind preached the Word of God as they were inspired to do so by the Holy Ghost. They were moved by the Holy Ghost to speak those words. They were moved by the Holy Ghost to write down those words and those words are authoritative. They are the Word of God. Now look at Psalm chapter 12, verse 6. Psalm chapter 12, verse 6. And you can try to argue all you want that the Bible was buried for thousands of years and then they found the oldest text. That's ridiculous, folks. We've always had God's Word available to us in all these generations. So look at Psalm chapter 12, verse 6. Now, I'll say that there was scarce times when the Bible had limited copies. And now we have the printing press. We've had that for, what, 600 years or 500, 600 years or whatever. Now we have multiple copies of the Bible. And the first thing that came off the printing press was the Bible. So the Word of God, people were hungry for the Word of God during all that Reformation time. And God just allowed the Word of God to just go out to everybody when that printing press came to pass. But Psalm chapter 12, verse 6 says, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. So how long are they preserved for? Forever. And who's supposed to keep them? What's it say? Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. God's responsibility is it to make sure that the Word of God continues to every generation. It's God's responsibility. Now obviously He uses man to do that, but He's going to make sure that there's a pure Word of God out there somewhere that we can trust in. Because if you take the Omo, the original manuscript only, if you take that approach to the Scriptures that the Bible is only preserved in the original manuscripts, then how can you trust what we have today? Your faith is not resting on the Word of God. Your belief is not resting on the Word of God. Your belief is resting on some scholar that knocked open some kind of thing in a cave or something, some pottery in a cave, and all of a sudden they found the Word of God that's been missing for all these years. That's just not true, folks. It's just not what the Bible teaches. And so as long as we realize that it's God's responsibility to take care of the Word of God and to make sure it gets to the next generation, we know that there has to be a true Word of God for us today. And that's why we are King James only, because there's a lot of imitators, there's a lot of pretenders, there's a lot of wannabe contenders, but there's only one true champion in the English language. That's the King James Bible. Period. And if you want to challenge that, come up and... I can show you verses in a non-inspired version that are completely changed. There's so many verses changed in all these modern versions, and people can just make it say whatever they want. That's why you go to these churches that have the screens up, and it's showing you a verse from one Bible version, then another Bible version, because they want it to say what they want it to say. That's the advantage to the person that just thinks all Bibles are inspired. Well, you know, things that are different can't be the same. I mean, it's just logic, right? So if they say a bunch of different things in all these other versions, then how can they be the Word of God? They can't be. All 400 and something English translations can't be the right Word of God, because if they say something different, they're not the same. The King James is tried and true. It's been around for over 412 years now, and people are still getting saved out of it today. I got saved out of the King James, and obviously in modern versions you could probably pluck some okay translated verses about salvation in there, but any modern version, you're going to have some messed up verses on salvation in it. It's just a fact. So that's why we use the King James, because we know we can trust it. Now, look at Jeremiah 36, verse 15. Jeremiah 36, verse 15. So we believe the Bible is our biblical authority, because Jesus said His words will not pass away, and they haven't, and that the New Testament is the Word of God, as per the Apostle Paul. All Scripture is given by inspiration. It was God-breathed, and it was also God used men. He moved the men by the Holy Ghost to preach the Word of God and to write the Word of God. Whose responsibility is it to keep? Well, it's God's responsibility to keep the Word of God, so that's preservation. So we believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures and the preservation of those words that He spoke in the Bible. And then in Jeremiah 36, verse 15, there's a really interesting story, and we don't have time to go into the whole thing, but basically Jeremiah's shut up in prison, and he can't go and preach the Word of God. He wrote some things in a scroll, and he wanted it to be read, so he sends his scribe Baruch. His scribe is somebody that writes out copies of the Bible, and he took what Jeremiah told him, and he wrote it down. Look at what it says in verse 15. It says, And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. Talking about the priests, or not the priests, but the princes, and the royal palace-type people, and their guards, and all this other stuff. So he's told to read it, and it says, Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and another. And said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. And that was the point. Jeremiah's trying to get the king's attention, and say, hey, everybody's going to get killed. Those that don't get killed are going to be taken as slaves, and you and your family are going to die. So that's a pretty important message to tell, right? Look at what it says in verse 17. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us, how didst thou write all these words at his mouth? And I love the simple answer that he gives back. Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. That's how preservation and inspiration, you know, God told Jeremiah the words. Jeremiah said, here, write these down for me. And he's just like, well, he pronounced the words unto me, I wrote it in a book. That's how it got preserved. And then they take that preserved original manuscript, and they cut it up with a penknife and cast it into the fire, thinking that they've destroyed the word of God, thinking that they destroyed, you know, well, we're never going to get that back. But guess what? God said to rewrite it again. And so he did. And plus many other words also after that. So when Moses, look at Exodus 32, verse 19. So Jeremiah's word was preserved, which is actually the word of God. We have it today. We have what happened preserved for us today so we can know, well, how does this happen? Does some angel come down and write it with a feathered pen or something for us? No. God uses man. Even though we're imperfect, God can still use us. He can still use us to do great things. So look at Exodus 32, verse 19, it says, And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he, this is after Moses gets the Ten Commandments, they're freshly etched by the finger of God, right? And, you know, and people that like antiquity and things like that are going to be really upset about what happens next here. It says, And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and break them beneath the mount. So again, we have an instance where the original manuscripts are in Moses' hand. They're two tables of stone etched, the Bible says that they were etched by the finger of God. And he came down, he saw them act in a fool, and he's just like, and smashed the original manuscripts. But guess what? He wrote them again. God just said, write them again. So even if it's the only copy in existence, the Word of God still exists, whether you like that or not, it's the truth. That's how God preserves his Word. And he's responsible to do it. He just said, write them again. So they wrote another, there's another copy of the Ten Commandments, and where did those go? In the Ark of the Covenant. Well, where's that today? Gone. Do you know where it's at? People say it's in Ethiopia. Well, I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know. I don't think it is, but I think that's a lot of mysticism. But anyway, so the B in Baptist stands for biblical authority, and we believe that we are supposed to take what the Bible says, and that's what we believe. And so the Bible is our boss. The Bible tells us how to operate, how to do good works, how to live our lives. It corrects us when we're wrong. It encourages us to do great works. It instructs us in righteousness. It's thoroughly furnished for the man of God, or the woman of God, unto all good works, all righteousness. Now, the A in Baptist stands for autonomy of the local church. Now, this isn't written in the Bible, okay? The acronym's not in the Bible. I'm preaching the acronym of Baptist, okay? But the belief behind that acronym is in the Bible. Now, autonomy of the local church, what does autonomy mean? Well, it means the right or condition of self-government. People will say, well, sometimes we'll knock on people's doors, and they'll say, well, we're non-denominational. And I always say, well, so am I. This isn't a denomination. This is a church, an independent, fundamental, local New Testament Baptist church. And you know what? We don't have the Southern Baptist Convention isn't telling us what to preach. I don't get notes from the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. That is not biblical. The Southern Baptist Convention is not biblical. That is a denomination. And the Catholic Church is a denomination. And there's just all kinds of churches that are denominations, and when people say I'm non-denominational, I'm just like, so am I. But there's a negativity involved with that word for Baptists because usually when you're talking about a non-denominational church, it's smoke and lights and three poems and a story about their life and one scripture, close the service, it's over. But we're Bible-heavy here, and we're not trying to bring people in with glitter and glitter shooting out of the air conditioning units and like a Bethel church or something. That's not what we do. We're not bringing people in with breathy, queer-sounding music. We're just like... That's not what we do. We sing the songs, the hymns, the spiritual songs, words that mean something. It's not 7-11 music where you say the same seven words 11 times. That's not what we do here. Why? Well, because we find that if we're going to worship God, don't you think we should worship him in spirit and in truth? You know what he likes? He likes doctrinal songs. Go through the songs. That's what the songbook of the Lord actually is. And there's a lot of hairy stuff in there. David talking about breaking people's teeth out. I mean, let's sing that one. People don't like to sing that kind of stuff anymore because they just... Christianity has become weak and limp-wristed in a lot of different ways. But we believe in autonomy of the local church that someone planted this church. His name is Pastor Roger Jimenez. And it used to be called Verdi Baptist Church. And then when I was ordained as the pastor, he cut the umbilical cord, so to speak, and we became our own local New Testament Baptist Church. So Pastor Jimenez, although he has influence because people love him, because he's a great preacher, he's a great man of God, he led us well into what we are now, but he doesn't have the authority, as in he's not the pastor of the church anymore. So he doesn't tell us how to do things and operate. And he probably doesn't want to do that. And I know he doesn't want to do that. He wants to start churches and then let them become independent, and that way they're a self-governing church also. Now, here's the thing. Why would you want to be like that? Well, for one thing, the Bible teaches that. And for another thing, what if you're in some kind of convention, Southern Baptist Convention, and they want to just let women get up and preach sermons? Well, then you can say, well, you guys can go ahead and let women preach sermons all you want, but as for us, we're going to stay where we were. We're going to stay at the line that God has told us to keep, and we're not going to back down from that, no matter whether it's cool in modern times or not. We don't change with the times. We stick to the old path wherein it's the good way. So go ahead and turn to Revelation 1, verse 9. Now, people will say, well, there's just one big church. Everybody's just in the one big, you know, church, universal church is what they'll call it. And we don't believe that. We don't believe that. And you know what universal means? Catholic. That's what the Catholics believe. They think that even the people that split off from them are still Catholic, they just don't realize it, and that they'll still eventually choose the Catholic faith in purgatory or something. If you're being tortured, right? But you're like, yes, I'll be a Catholic. Please, just stop the fire. But you know what? Guess what? There's no such thing as purgatory either. And you know what? There's also not a choice to change your mind when you're already there in hell. Hell is where people go that don't choose Christ. Hell is where people go and they are tortured, and there's no getting out of it. It's the point of the man who wants to die, and after this the judgment. That's what the Bible says, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27. So you turn to Revelation 1, 9. I'm going to read Psalm chapter 11, verse 3. Psalm chapter 11, verse 3 says, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? So if you're in some kind of convention and you're fundamental, you're with the foundations of what the Bible says is true, and then the head of that organization says, we're doing this, then that's what all those churches have to do. They have to toe the line. And sometimes the Southern Baptist Convention churches will buck against these things, but some of them are even King James only. I'm sure people are saved that are in the Southern Baptist Convention, but they just have gone so bad on so many things, and they're basically a bunch of Calvinists now. And we're not Calvinists at this church. We believe that we have the right to choose whether we can be saved or not. It's called free will. And you're like, well, where's the term free will in the Baptist? How about free will offerings? Do they have a choice to do that, or did God make them do that? It's called free will. You have the choice, all right? And if we want to take the water of life, it's free. We can freely choose to do that. That's what Jesus said, right? Revelation 1, 9 says, I, John, whom also your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia. So how many churches did it say? Seven churches, right? And it says unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea. So are they all one universal, is it one universal church or was there seven individual churches here? Seven individual churches. And it says, And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet were like undefined brass, as they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. So Jesus looks a little bit different, glorified, than he did when he was here on earth, doesn't he? And it says, And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. So it's just that John's describing what Jesus looks like when he's glorified in his presence. And it says, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive evermore, forevermore. Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars, he's gonna explain to us what the seven stars are, which thou sauced in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sauced are the seven churches. So these angels are what I believe are the pastors of those churches. And so why is he writing separate letters to them? Why doesn't he just write one letter and then they all have to do exactly everything that's in that letter? No, he writes to individual churches that have individual problems, right? And he writes to individual churches that he says, you're doing good in this thing, but you're doing bad in this thing, and then here's something you need to work on. So they're not all the same church. They're individual churches, so it is non-denominational. But there is a head of our church, and that head is Christ, okay? The head of every church is Christ. Now, so we don't believe at this church. We're independent of all denominations. And conventions and fellowships. So we would say that we align ourselves as New IFB, which means New Independent Fundamental Baptist. That is just to help distinguish us from other Baptist churches because when people say New IFB, well, what do we believe? We believe salvation is by faith alone, and it's apart from any types of works. It's by grace through faith alone, and you don't have to continue to maintain your salvation in a way that if you do something, you could lose your salvation. We believe in eternal security of the believer. And so why would I believe that? Well, because the Bible says, and He gives unto them eternal life. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have what? Everlasting life. So why do I believe it's everlasting and eternal? Because that's what the Bible says. It's like, well, but I still believe you can lose it. How? How do you lose something that lasts forever? If you said these lights are gonna last forever and they burn out tomorrow, did they last forever? No, they didn't. So salvation lasts forever. That's why it's called eternal life. It means you're never gonna die. So we just have beliefs in our particular, I guess you would say, movement, but we are independent from those churches. So like I said, Pastor Jimenez, he would consider himself like a New IFB-style church, but he's independent of us. Some of us have different opinions on certain portions of Scripture. Now, we believe the same on the main things, the main things being salvation by faith alone, the Trinity, all these types of things, and we believe in the post-Trib pre-Rath rapture. Now, if you don't believe that, that doesn't disqualify you from coming to this church. You're just wrong. But the reason why we read the Scripture is because Paul says, until I come, give attendance to reading. So we're supposed to read the Bible out loud, we give the context, and what did you see when you were reading Mark chapter 13? That he comes immediately after the tribulation, right? And you're like, well, that's the second coming. Exactly. So there is no such thing as the pre-Trib rapture. It's just not true. There's not one verse in the Bible that teaches it, and if you try to say it's in Revelation, where John was called up by the trumpet or whatever, that's not a clear verse. We base what we believe on clear verses also. So is John 3.16 a clear verse? That whosoever, that means anyone believeth on him should not perish, go to hell, but have everlasting life? That's pretty clear, isn't it? There's many verses like that in the Bible that are very clear. So we base our beliefs on clear Scripture. So Jesus Christ is the head of this church, and the Bible is the book that we put things into practice to what Jesus left us. And we don't have some pope, some prophet, some president or board of directors that we answer to. We are an independent, truly autonomous church, self-governing. But obviously people will say, well, you're a colt, you're a new IP, whatever. You can say that all you want, but we are an independent church. Nobody tells us what to do. I don't have to email Pastor Anderson to ask him what sermon I'm going to preach this week. I know people say that stuff, but it's just simply not true. And we disagree with people more than people... Again, we disagree about certain things sometimes and how we apply Scriptures and certain things that are not like a salvation-type issue. So there's nuances of things that people just believe differently. So anyway, this is a quote from William Tyndale. He said, We had better be without God's laws than the pope's. To which... Oh, no, this is the bishop that was talking to him. We had better be without God's laws than the pope's. To which Tyndale passionately responded, I defy the pope and all his laws, and if God spares my life ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost. And so that really got him in hot water with the Catholic bishop. I forget what his name was, but anyway, we defy the pope and his laws, too. We don't bow ourselves down and kiss his big toe. And honestly, the pope is a false prophet. That's what we believe. Why? Well, he's just... I mean, just look at what the Catholics believe, that you have to have all these sacraments and they believe that they literally turned the blood and bread of the Lord's Supper into the literal body and literal blood of Jesus, and that you have to eat him like a cannibal in order to be saved. That's what they believe. Check it out. You don't think it's true? Just check it out. Just, you know, Google, what do Catholics believe? And it'll tell you. You have to be baptized to be saved. That's why they sprinkle babies. Why would they do that? Because they think if that baby dies, that that baby's going to die and go to hell if they're not baptized. But guess what? News flash. You're not saved by works. And you're not saved by something... How can you be saved when you didn't even have a choice in the matter? So babies automatically go to heaven because they don't have any sin on their account. So that's just weird. So that's why we're not Catholic. That's, I mean, some main reasons why we're not Catholic. How about the fact that they have, like, graven images all over their church buildings? Jesus still hanging on a cross. It's blasphemous. Praying to the saints. Kissing pictures of the saints. You know, it's just, it's totally bizarre. It's a cult. That's a real cult. That is a real cult. So there's a billion people that believe it. So, and like I said, Roman Catholic churches, you know, they say that they're the original church. But that's funny because they didn't come around until like 400 years after Christ or whatever. So how are they the original church? I think we read about the original church in the book of Acts. Right? The original New Testament church. There was a church in the Old Testament too. But we are New Testament believers and so they say they're the originals, but they're really not. They claim saints that probably weren't even in their church, like John Chrysostom. How could he have been a Catholic? I mean, the way he rips on Sodomites is just legendary. So he, I don't know. But, you know, Catholics will claim anybody that did great works and, you know, obviously they claim a lot of people that were bad too. But anyway, turn to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22. Now there is going to be a day when we all are together as one big church. And it's not going to be during this lifetime. It says in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22, But you are common to Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. So where are we going to be? The heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect. So there is going to be a general assembly, one big church, but guess where it's at? It's in heaven. It's not here. So turn to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23, now a lot of people use this to teach marriage and it's rightly so, but the main purpose of this text right here is to help us to understand what Jesus is to the church and what we are to Jesus. Look what Ephesians 5 23 says, For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. So who is the head of the church? Is it the pope? No, it's Jesus Christ. And it says, And he is the savior of the body. So anybody that's saved in here, you got saved by Jesus. Verse 24, Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. So we're supposed to be subject unto Christ in everything. So Christ is the head of every church. And there are multiple churches. You saw it in Revelation chapter 1. There's multiple churches. There's multiple pastors. We saw that also. So I'm the pastor of Shur Foundation Baptist Church. And so this is an independent church and you're like, well, does that make it independent? Yeah, it kind of does. It does because we have church plants that we have around the world and in this country and they're not independent, fundamental Baptist churches in the sense that they are autonomous right now. But when those churches get pastors, then they will be autonomous and so we won't be in charge of those churches anymore. And that is, you know, we have a lot of churches right now. But my goal is to have pastors in those churches. It's not to build the denomination. It's not to build the one world Shur Foundation Baptist governing body or something. So I do want them to be independent. But, you know, the laborers are few when it comes to pastors and it's just you have to meet the qualifications and it's difficult. But the letters of revelation, revelation that are sent to those churches and to those seven pastors, they're to be read by those pastors to their church congregations. So every church has its own angel or pastor that Christ is the head of. And if they don't have a pastor, they're still a church, but they're just not, you know, they're not fully governed. Because if I just died today, which is possible, if I died today, this would still be a church. They would just have to find another pastor to lead it. We believe in pastor led churches. That's what you see in the Bible. You don't see a deacon board. You don't see an elder board where they're just like telling the pastor what to do, telling him what he can and can't do, you know, not allowing him to sign checks, not allowing him to purchase things that the church needs. You know, the deacons were brought forth so they could help the pastor do the physical jobs that needed to be done while they would be in prayer and, you know, in the Word of God being able to edify the people. And so somehow churches got this weird idea that deacons are the ones that run the churches and they fire and hire the pastor. Where do you see that in the Bible? See, this is why we're independent. And this is why we're pastor led church. Because the deacons don't tell the pastor what to do. The pastor tells the deacons what to do. That's how it works. And a deacon has to be qualified. It's not some voting thing of what man you like best in the church. But I see that happen all the time. I see that happen in independent fundamental Baptist churches. It's not a vote. You're qualified or you're not qualified. And if you're qualified and if the church has need of a deacon, then they ordain a deacon. And if you ordain an evangelist, that evangelist is going forth and helping start churches and they can run a church but they're not the pastor. The evangelist works underneath the pastor's authority, the church's authority that sent them to do the work. That's how it works. I don't remember Moses saying, hey, would you guys like quail for dinner tonight or would you like steak? Which one would you like? How about manna or quail? What were they going to choose? They chose the quail. And God did give it to them, but then he started smoking them all. While the bird was in their teeth, the wrath of God fell upon them. This is why every time you see the people murmuring and going against Moses, then what happened? Bad things happened to them. Because they're not going under the authority of the man of God, which was Moses. And Moses had 70 people that he ordained to help him with that work, but they weren't the bosses. Moses was the boss. And anybody that went against Moses, Moses' own brother and sister went against them. And they were talking trash about him to the other people. And God called them all together and he's like, why did you think you could talk against my servant Moses? And then Miriam becomes leprous and they're just like, sorry Moses, we're sorry. And then it was over his Ethiopian wife, because he had a black wife. That's what they were talking trash about him for. You see, biblical authority and pastor led churches, that's what God has ordained. And you're like, well Moses wasn't a pastor. Well, I mean, yeah he was. Isn't that what he did for 40 years with Jethro? Before God called him? So, look at 1 Corinthians 1, excuse me, Colossians 1.18. Colossians 1.18. So, I'm not the head of this church, I'm the under-shepherd of this church. But Colossians 1.18 says, And he is the head of the body, the church. Who? Jesus. Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So, Jesus Christ has the preeminence in this church. Well, what is a church? Let's look at Psalm chapter 22, verse 22. Psalm chapter 22, verse 22. People are like, there was no church back in the, they called it the congregation. I know, I know they did. It says, So, in Psalm 22, 22 it says, In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee? Well, what is that? It's an assembly of people, right? And in the case of church activity, or, you know, of believers gathering together, it's believers gathering, and that's a congregation. Now, go to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 12. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 12. This is a quote by the Apostle Paul of Psalm chapter 22, verse 22. It says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. So, the word congregation is substituted for the word church in the New Testament. Why? Because they mean the same thing. So, it's a synonym of the same exact word. So, what does church mean? Congregation. See, the King James Bible is also going to be a dictionary sometimes to help you understand what words mean. Now, Acts 7, turn to Acts 7. Acts 7, verse 37. The Bible says, sorry, I'm going through a lot of scriptures, but it's kind of important. So, Acts 7, verse 37, the Bible says, This is that Moses, Israel, a prophet, shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear. This is he that was, what's it say, in the church, in the wilderness. You see how the word congregation has been substituted for church. So, was there a church in the wilderness? Who was the leader of the church in the wilderness? Moses. As the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So, once again, Christ is the great shepherd. He appointed pastors or bishops or elders, those things mean the same thing, to rule over the church as under-shepherds that are to give an account for how they lead the church. So, turn to 1 Peter, chapter 5. Now, Peter was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody knows that, right? He's the one that denied him three times. He was restored. Jesus told him to quit his job. He told all the apostles, quit your jobs and be leaders. And so, he goes back fishing and then, you know, Jesus restores him in John chapter 21. But it says in 1 Peter 5, 1, The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder. So, Peter is also an elder. What is he? He's a pastor. He's an apostle and a pastor at the same time. And a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. So, what are pastors supposed to do? Take the oversight of what? The church. Not by constraint but willingly. Not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God's heritage. You're like, aha, see, you're not supposed to be the boss. Now, what this is talking about is being lords over them like we're the boss of, like it's saying, you're not the boss of their lives. You guys can come here or don't come here. You have the choice. There's no speaker system where I call everybody and say, it's alright, it's time to come to church everybody. We're not a commune. We're not a cult. You have the choice to be here or not be here. If you're not here, I might check up on you. But, you know, it's like, are you alright? But I'm not calling to say, well, why haven't you been in church? Where have you been? That's not my job. My job is to get up and preach the word of God and to rule this house here, which is the house of the Lord, the church. But in your private lives, I'm not going to tell you what color of car to buy. And yes, that is a thing sometimes with pastors. That's how much lordship they would have in someone's life. To where you've got to go to the pastor and say, hey, pastor, is it okay for me to buy this car? Like, that's weird, isn't it? Hey, what kind of puppy should I get? Pastor, tell me what puppy I should get. Pit bull? No. So I'm not involved in your life in that way. That's what it's talking about here. It says, But being in samples to the flock, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, that's Jesus, of course, he shall receive a crown of glory that faith is not the way. Okay, now turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 5, verse 17. 1 Timothy, chapter 5, verse 17. So we believe that the churches are autonomous and they're started by another church. Churches beget churches. Pastors beget pastors. They don't just appear out of nowhere. We believe in the doctrine of laying on of hands, and I'm not talking about where I'm going to make the Holy Ghost come upon you or something, or I'm going to whip you with a coat and you're going to fall down and start spasming on the ground or something. That's not what I'm talking about. The laying on of hands is when you lay your hands and commission someone to be a leader. And so Pastor Jimenez ordained me. He laid hands on me and commissioned me in the ways that I should go as a pastor. So anyway, look at verse 17, where I had to turn. Let the elders that rule well... See how they're supposed to rule? Well, be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. So the pastor's job is to labor in the word of doctrine. Now, you have a lot of lack of that these days. You know, it's amazing to me how someone can just preach one sermon a week and get like this million dollar salary or something, but that's just kind of what goes on these days. It's weird. But it says, especially they that labor in the word of doctrine, The Scripture saith, Thou should not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Turn to Titus chapter 1, verse 5. Titus chapter 1, verse 5. It's right there in the T-books, right after Timothy. Titus chapter 1, verse 5 says, For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things which are wanting, the things that are lacking, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. Well, why do they need to ordain elders? Because ordain elders are the people that rule the church. So that's how it works. So Cretus is a small island, in case you didn't realize that. And he's saying, what's the will of God there? To ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. So he's training all these pastors in all the different cities that are there. So God does want a church in every place. He wants a church in every city. He wants an ordained man of God to rule over that church and to be an under-shepherd for the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Genesis. I'll just read Genesis chapter 1, verse 24. Turn to Romans chapter 1, verse 17. Genesis chapter 1, verse 24. The Bible says, And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind cattle and the creeping thing and the beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so. Everything brings forth after his kind. So churches beget what? Other churches. And so pastors beget other pastors. That's how it works. And so they just don't appear through osmosis. They just pop up, hey, we're a church. I would say that if a church did not get planted by a legitimate pastor that was already ordained, then that church is not a legitimate church. Look at Romans 1, 17. It says, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith. So how is salvation passed from a person that's saved to another person that's not saved? And then that person gets saved. So everything brings forth after its own kind. Saved people bring forth saved people. Saved pastors bring forth saved pastors. They train them. They ordain them. And then they're replicating what should be done according to the Bible. So, and then, let's see, let's turn to Acts chapter 9, verse 31. I'm probably going to cut this short at some point here, but there's a lot of scripture on this. So, but we reject the local church. I mean, we reject the universal concept of all people are in one big church right now. That's not true. We believe in the local church. Acts 9, 31 says, Then had the, what's it say there? Churches. You see how that's plural? It's not one big church, folks. It's the churches. Rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. So how were they multiplied? Well, people went out and started more churches. That's how it works. Acts 15, verse 41. Acts 15, verse 41. And this is, I'll try not to belabor this too much, but you can see the difference, right? The verbiage in the Bible will say church, but it will also say churches. So obviously there's more than one church. And Jesus is the head of every church. You're like, well, you know, it says the wife in Ephesians chapter 4 or 5, excuse me, you know, it says wife. There's a lot, not everybody's married to the same guy. There's not one guy married to a bunch of different women, right? So there's different churches. They have different bodies. They have different, you know, so Christ is the head of the church. He's the savior of the body. But, you know, there's multiple different churches. So there can't be 15 million noses, 15 million ears. They would be if they're at an independent level, but the body of Christ is where people come together and congregate. That's what the Bible says, the congregation of the Lord. So how are you the congregation of the Lord if you're watching, you know, TBN and putting your hand on a screen? That's not the body of Christ. It's not. You know, because you're not assembled together with the believers. You can say you are all you want, but the congregation means an assembly, doesn't it? And it means a church. It means people that come together. So the Internet is not your church, okay? You can substitute some things with things on the Internet, but don't make the Internet your church. Come to a local New Testament church. That's what the Bible commands us to do. So I had you turn to Acts, chapter 15, verse 40. It says, And Paul chose Silas, and departing, being recommended by the brethren, unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. You know why? Because he planted multiple churches. And they're all different churches, right? So I think I belabored that enough, but... So, now, I just want to finish on this, talking about membership of a church. We believe in this church that membership is a privilege and not a right. You know, people will say, Well, I'm coming to your church. You know, these homos that get mad at us or whatever. I'm coming to your church. No, you're not. I'll throw you out. You're not coming into our church. If I say, You're not coming in, guess what? You're not coming in. That's going to be over my dead body. That's not happening. So, and why? Because not everybody's welcome. And you're like, Well, that's not what Hillsong says. This isn't Hillsong. This is a Baptist church. You're like, Well, that sounds mean. You're excluding people. Sometimes people need to be excluded. Do you have chickens? Who keeps chickens in here? Nobody? Wow. Okay. Okay, we got a couple. We got one. Do you let foxes go into your chicken coop? No. And why? Because they'll eat the chickens. You don't let wolves into your church because they're going to scatter the sheep. They're going to tear the sheep. There's certain people that are just not allowed to be in here. If someone's a convicted child molester, I'm not letting them come into our church. And if I find out that somebody is, they're out. We don't let homosexuals in this church either. Why? Because you're like, Well, they can change. We'll change them outside. Don't change them in here. They're not coming in here. It's not happening. So it's a privilege to be a member of a church, not a right. This is from our doctrinal statement. It says, Church members are subject to be removed from membership and not allowed to attend services or church functions if they violate the qualifications of church membership as set forth in the Holy Scriptures and in the bylaws of Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Matthew 18, verse 15 through 17, and 1 Corinthians 5, 1 through 13, and Romans chapter 16, verse 17 through 18. We don't have time to go to all the Scriptures, but you can write them down. You can replay this video. So Matthew 18, 15 through 17, 1 Corinthians 5, 1 through 13, and Romans chapter 16, verse 17 through 18. There are certain sins that will get you kicked out of church. There's causing division, and teaching false doctrine will get you kicked out of church. And if you offend somebody and the church says, hey, you need to make this right, and they refuse to make it right, then that person's cast out of the church. And people like to use Matthew 18 for everything. Well, it's not for everything. It's a serious thing. You're not supposed to bring forth lawsuits against fellow believers. But people do that, and that would cause you to get kicked out. Fornication would cause you to get kicked out. If you don't repent of those sins, when it's found out that you're doing them, you're out. That's what the Bible says, folks. We have to do what the Bible says. So, because unlike most churches, we don't want to keep trash around our building. We don't want to keep trash in our building or around our building. And you're like, well, that's mean for you to call them trash. Listen, if someone is a sexual predator, they are trash. Trash. And we don't want them here. They're like, well, I'm just going to go to a church that's nice. Okay, well, go. And then let them molest your kids then, and see how you feel about that. Because that's what happens when you just, everything's a free-for-all, anybody's welcome, everybody's welcome, come as you are, leave as you came, stay the same. That's what these churches are like nowadays. You know, I think a lot of people like this church because we say it how it is. We tell it like it is. And that offends people, because in this world today, it's not so much that way anymore. You're offending them. They want us to use newspeak from 1984. I'm not sick, I'm unwell. You're not dead, you're unalived. That kind of stuff. That's the world we live in right now, but you know what? The Bible just uses some really blunt language sometimes. It says, whores, piss, damn, bastard. Stuff like that, and people are like, oh, oh, I can't. It's the word of God. How are you going to condemn something that God used in his word to explain something? That's a cuss word. It's not a cuss word. The words that you use at work around your friends, those are cuss words. On your construction site or whatever. Anyway. But, you know, we're not interested in being your cult also. So a lot of people want to be in a cult. And then when they find out that we're not a cult, they're like, you're a cult. And then they leave. And then they make videos. If I was in a fundamentalist cult or whatever, it's like, no, you weren't. You're just weak. We're not the cult that you were looking for. You were looking for a cult, and we're not it. We're not a cult. I'm not going to call you and tell you what to do in your life. I'm going to get up and say what the Bible says at church. And whatever you implement in your life, that's your choice. So this church governs itself by the word of God, and if people don't like that, that's too bad. That's just the way it is. So hopefully I explained all these concepts, and you understand what I mean by the autonomy of the local church, and also biblical authority. Where do we get our authority? The Bible. Who gave it to us? Jesus. When are those words going to pass away? Never. And how do we start churches? Well, we plant them. We send someone to do it. We get people saved in that area. We build up a local following, and then we send somebody there to lead that place. Then eventually that place turns into a church, and then that person gets ordained as pastor, and then they're a local church. That's how it works. We don't have any authority over that person anymore. We don't have authority over that church anymore. It's independent. So are we non-denominational? We are. We're not a denomination. So if that's what you're looking for, you're looking in the wrong place, because there's plenty of denominational churches you can go to, but it's funny how these places that say they're non-denominational want to be exactly like all those other churches, like Bethel and whatever. They model their churches after them and then say they're non-denominational, but they do exactly everything the same way. So we don't have a pope, hence the name independent fundamental Baptist. That's why we're called that, because we don't have a head over us besides Christ, and the Bible, and we have no organizational heads, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. We reject the universal church doctrine. We reject the Roman Catholic whore, and we reject the Southern Baptist Convention. They believe a lot of weird stuff. If everybody's the same, then all it takes is that one person to go bad, that one church to go bad, then they all fall down, and this is what you see happening. Look at the Methodists. I mean, John and Charles Wesley, not saved, but look how far they've fallen. They believe that the Bible is an allegory, and it's not even true. So why are you going to church then? Why do you have a Bible? That doesn't make any sense at all. Let's close on a couple verses here. I'll just have you turn to Proverbs 22, verse 8, and I'm going to read for you Jeremiah 6, 16. The Bible says in Jeremiah 6, 16, And thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see and ask for the old pass, Where is the good way, and walk therein? And ye shall find rest for your souls, but they said, We will not walk therein. But we're going to walk therein. We're called New IFB or whatever, but we walk in the old pass. We left what we call the Old IFB because they put a lot of unbiblical things in their church services. They believe a lot of unbiblical things, and so we kind of just want to branch away from them because they're corrupted in the way that they present their doctrine. They do altar calls. There's no altar in the New Testament. Lots of churches do altar calls. There's no altar in the New Testament. So it's unbiblical, and there's no steps up to the altar. We'll learn about that soon in our 3.30 p.m. services coming up, but there is no altar, and it definitely doesn't have steps. I had to turn to Proverbs 22, verse 28. Look what it says. Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. The Bible... I mean, I saw a really cool meme the other day. I think it was yesterday, and it's like the Bible. You know, Christianity was this line right here, and then the graph had, like, how the world is going, and we need to stay where the line is. We need to stay where the line is. Doesn't matter what they're doing. Doesn't matter what the world is doing. We're not supposed to be part of this world in that way. So we don't change with the times. God doesn't change. So if God doesn't change, then we shouldn't change, and we shouldn't be going off of what other churches are doing and other denominations. We're going to stay in the old past where there's a good way. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You so much for this church, and, Lord, it's autonomy and the fact that we rest everything that we believe upon the Holy Scriptures, and, Lord, that that's what rules our church, and, Lord Jesus, we just thank You for a great church here in Vancouver, Washington. We thank You for the church plants that we have. Lord, I pray that You would just send men to those places. Send us men that we could send to those places so that they could become autonomous like we are, Lord, and that we would bring forth after the kind that we are, which is an independent, fundamental Baptist church. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You be very sure Your anchor holds And grips the solid rock In times like these You need the Bible In times like these Oh, be not idle Be very sure Be very sure Your anchor holds And grips the solid rock This rock is Jesus Yes, He's the one This rock is Jesus The only one Be very sure Be very sure Your anchor holds And grips the solid rock In times like these I have a Savior In times like these I have an anchor I'm very sure I'm very sure My anchor holds And grips the solid rock This rock is Jesus Yes, He's the one This rock is Jesus The only one I'm very sure I'm very sure My anchor holds And grips the solid rock Amen. Bill, could you close the door of prayer? Amen. Amen.