Herb Reavis | Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at 7:00pm

good evening it is a blessing to see you out excited about this first night of revival we are so honored that you've made the decision to come out and we hope that you will be faithful to all of the night services it looks like there's a pretty good crowd here tonight so thank you for that encourage you to invite folks to to come out with you Wednesday night tomorrow night it's always the most difficult night for us to draw a crowd for the night services so I do encourage you to invite folks to be here tomorrow and I it is an honor to have dr. herb brevis with us again this year he was with us a few years ago and I understand he had a great service this morning so we are so pleased that the Lord has seen fit to bring him back our way and we're trusting that we're just gonna have a great campus revival you know more than just a scheduled series of meetings more than just services that bleed over from what sometimes we think of an academic requirement with chapel it's my prayer that God really deal with our hearts he'll do a work and thus as individuals and as a result you'll do a work on our campus so thank you for being here if you're visiting with us you are our honored guest and we thank you for that but the Ryan Chapman is gonna come he's gonna lead us in prayer then I think Shama is going to lead us in worship tonight after that dr. Revis come and break the bread of life well good evening everybody let's pray father thank you for this day and what a joy and privilege it is to be here tonight and father I pray for your servant dr. Revis as he brings your word I pray that you would anoint him and fill him with the power of your spirit and father I pray that he'll preach your word with boldness and with passion and father I pray for us is the congregation I pray that we'll not whine or complain when this service is over but I pray that we'll rejoice because we can say that we've met with you and that we've done business with you and it's been great to to hear your word preached and father I pray that you will just do a great work in this service tonight and father we trust you and we believe in you and we know that you will and father I ask that you would lead and God and to and have your will and have your way done in all of our hearts tonight and I pray that we'll never be the same and I pray in Jesus powerful name amen amen let us stand together and let's worship tonight you were the word at the beginning one we've got the Lord most high you're hitting Laurine creation now revealed in you are Christ what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name Metis the name of Jesus Christ monkey what a beautiful name it is nothing compared to these what a beautiful name it is the name of Jesus you did it alone living without us so Jesus you [Music] my scene was great he loved his grater what could separate us now what a wonderful name is what a wonderful name it is the name of Jesus Christ Mikey what a wonderful name it is nothing compares to these what a wonderful name it is the name of Jesus [Music] [Music] raise your name death could not hold you and we'll talk before you silence the bows stops in a grave the heavens are all the praise of your glory for you are raised to life again you have no rival you have no equal now in forever gaudy you ring yours is the kingdom yours is the glory yours is the name above all names names what a powerful name you meanies the name of Jesus Christ Mikey what a powerful name it is nothing can stand against what a powerful name it is the name [Music] Jesus what a powerful name how many of you knows that God is great how many of you know that God's name has power it is almost difficult you know going in this world how people praising everything else and we lacked and we failed to praise God's name have you ever think that every single breath you take every single day it's no mistake if you see that way what's the difference between you and somebody else who who's at the hospital right now we all live by the grace of God this is why when we sing we sing of her heart we sing in spirit and in truth we're gonna sing the next song we're gonna praise the name of God sing it like a minute [Music] I guess my my to Calvary where Jesus bled and died for me how C's rules he says his feet my Savior [Music] he's bad he fell and dreams since he's the lady down in July heavy sigh we will see [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my saying that your soul like you mean it [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] if it's one thing I always remember is God never fill us it is a fortress he's a good good father he's a connoisseur let's sing the next time together cornerstone my Jesus I didn't trust the sweetness [Music] wholly trust in Jesus name let's sing it again my hope you deal on nothing less than Jesus blood in righteousness when darkness seems to hide his face unchanging grace [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we in the city we use love through the storm he [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you God for your amazing grace thank you for always reminded us that your name is enough your name is the name above all names your name is powerful your name is gracious thank you for reminding us today to praise you each and every single day in our lives because we depend and rely on you and you alone thank you for bringing us together today to be revived thank you for that thank you for your servant who's gonna bring your daily bread please talk to us we ask you now give us discernment so can grabs what you want us to know what you want us to learn so I can grow and you and your word please be with us not only today but the rest of the week we ask you all those blessings and Jesus name Amen well thank you for the spirit feel singing and I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles please and turn with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 5 in the New Testament the book of Ephesians chapter 5 and I'm gonna begin to read in verse 25 Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25 and ona preach tonight on this subject the beauty of the bride the beauty of the bride from the book of Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 25 and the Bible says husband's love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blemish let's pray together dear God put your words in my mouth and put your thoughts in my brain and I pray God in heaven that you'll give me liberty tonight to preach your word as a dying man to a dying world I want to again Lord confess the words of John the Baptist who said I must decrease and you must increase Lord I pray that the Spirit of God was so fill my mind and my mouth that I'll deliver the message without clouding clouding it confusing it or in any way Lord killing it oh god minister Holy Spirit of God Minister the resurrection life of Jesus Christ to us tonight in Jesus name I pray Lord amen there are strange voices speaking about the church today some people say that the church is obsolete that the church is we've known it is irrelevant and that in the future you will grow and be discipled outside of what we have called church still others say that the church is optional I mean if it's your thing it's okay but it's not a necessity that you can have a growing relationship with Jesus Christ outside of a church I would simply say to these people that the church is not man's idea but God's idea for Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it now because of this kind of thinking today and the minds of some that the church is obsolete so forget it or that the church is an option you know you you want to go to church be a part of a church fine but I worship God my dearest and I worship God my best boat I worship God on a beach I worship God on a lake I worship God in my recliner on a hot Sunday morning I mean because of that we've got a group of people today in the land that are completely foreign to the New Testament and I would call them Church less Christians I mean they say they know Jesus Christ as their Savior they say that they have had an experience with Christ they are born again but they don't attend a church regularly they don't support a church regularly they're not identified with the church they're not excited about church they're not supportive of church they would just tell you they're a free spirit now when you study the doctrine of the church in the New Testament you will notice that the church is pictured in a variety of ways first of all the church is pictured as a body and as that picture and Foles it shows the diversity and the variety that makes up the membership of the church that functions under the headship and lordship of Jesus Christ the church is also pictured as a household of faith speaks of family the church is the family of God and it speaks of the warmth and the belonging and the acceptance that we find in church but to me the most beautiful way the church is pictured in all the Bible is the way it's pictured here in the book of Ephesians chapter five and the way it is pictured in the book of Revelation chapter 19 where the church is pictured as the blushing bride of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now I want to say some things tonight about the Lord's Church I want to say something first of all about the value of the church the value that church how much value should we place on the church well if we're going to understand the value of the church we have to understand what I'm talking about when I used the word church now I know in a few occasions in the New Testament that the word church refers to the universal body of Christ in that wonderful God is safe people all around this world and you go to a foreign country you don't know the language but you can bump into somebody and try to have a conversation with them and even though there's a language barrier there's a twinkle in their eye and there's a twinkle in your eye the Holy Spirit rises up in them and the Holy Spirit rises up in you and bears witness that you are children of God there's this invisible body of believers who know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord but the majority of the times you find the word Church in the New Testament it's not talking about the invisible body of Christ is talking about the visible body of Christ the Bible speaks of the churches of Galatia the churches of Syria the churches of Macedonia the Bible speaks of the churches of Asia these were churches that you could join these were churches that were led by Pastor these were churches that men at a specific address at a specific time on the Lord's Day to do the work of God and to worship Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth you could join these churches you could become attached to these churches you could visit these churches you could join these churches you could serve God through these churches these were local Assemblies of believers and that's what the word church means the word church means a called out assembly the Holy Spirit comes to the heart of a lost center tugs on our heart draws us to Jesus Christ we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ we are born again and in that moment of that new birth we are called out of darkness into light we are called out of death into life we're called out of the family of Satan into the family of God it is an absolute miracle so a church is a congregation it is an assembly it is a body of baptized believers that gathered together on the Lord's Day to work into worship for the Lord Jesus Christ now you say well I don't agree with that I'm a free spirit and I'm not getting tied down to any one Church I don't care what you say I just love all the churches and sometimes I go to a Bible study over here in Knoxville and sometimes I I go to a seminar over here in Lexington and sometimes there's a little group that meets in a coffee house down the street from my house and sometimes I go there and sometimes on Friday I just grab what's there saltine cracker and some orange juice and have communion with the TV preacher I like who comes on at 12 o'clock sharp and I'm just a free spirit and I don't believe you ought to get tied down to one Church I don't believe you have to be loyal to a church I don't believe you have to be plugged into a church I don't believe you have to be a member of a church I don't believe you have to attend a church faithfully on a regular basis well I'm going to show you something here in the Bible I want to show you something here in verse 25 I want you to notice what the word says verse 25 says husbands now let me ask you this what if I had showed up for this meeting and somebody would have stopped me out there and said are you married and I would have said well you just need to understand now something about me I'm a free spirit man I don't believe in getting tied down to one woman I I love all the women of the world I just kiss all of them and hug all of them I'm a free spirit you would have gone to the staff and said this guy's nuts man you need to get him out of here he's immoral with that in mind look at verse 25 husbands love your local this Abell tangible life that same scripture is saying Christian love your local visible tangible Church so now we've established we're talking about a local assembly a believer that gather on the Lord's Day under the leadership of a pastor specified time specified address how much value should you place on a local church well the key to understanding the value of the church is in the word loved notice it says in verse 25 husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her now that's the same word that we find in the book of first John chapter 4 where it says God is love it's that word agape it's that supernatural kind of love that's not of this world it's the same word we find in Galatians 5:22 where it says the fruit of the Spirit is love it's the same word we find over there in Romans 5 where it says the love of God is shed abroad in our heart here's the same word we find in John 3:16 where it says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life now there are two features to this kind of love first of all agape love and that's that's the word that's used there we are to love the church with a copy love it is a love that loves without conditions I am so glad that God loves me without conditions I'm grateful that God does not love us on the basis of our weight on the basis of our height on the basis of our intellect on the basis of our bank account on the basis of the parents that we come from the region of the country we come from I'm grateful that God loves us in spite of us because David said in in did my mother conceive me we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God there is no one who seeks after God even the righteousness that we can conjure up humanly speaking in the eyes of God is filthy rags filthy lepers rags and yet lost undone dead in trespasses and sin God loves us without condition so much that he sent His only begotten Son to die in our place on the cross loved us so much we were running from him but he pursued us loved us so much he kept calling us even though we kept saying no loves us so much that even when we got saved even when we don't act right and do right it doesn't diminish his love for us he knew what he was getting when he got us and he still loves us with such an intensity that the Bible says there's nothing in this whole wide world or anywhere else that can ever separate us from the love of God God loves us without conditions and as believers we love that but now the Bible says we're supposed to love each other without conditions and the Bible says we're supposed to love the church without conditions and we love the church as long as they sing the kind of music we like we love the church as long as the preacher doesn't step on our toes and rub us the wrong way we we we love the church too many times with conditions someday some of you may have to run into this I have run into this over the years you've got a little sweet innocent ladies over here and they just just to bring out a doll inside I just love my church those same sweet ladies you could go to them and say we're just gonna ask y'all you're in a room that'll seat 50 people here for the Bible study hour and we've got a class busting at the seams down here and it's still a nice air-conditioned class and we just like to ask you in the name of making disciples and maximizing the effectiveness of our facilities if you wouldn't mind just to move from this classroom down the next thing I know these ladies have barricaded themselves in their classroom with a double-barrel shotgun and I can hear them in there singing we shall we shall we shall not be moved this it's amazing we love church until it doesn't go our way that's not the way we're supposed to love church we're supposed to love our church good times and bad when the tides in and win the tides out when it's harvest time and when we're just sowing the seed when the preacher is for the one hundred and fiftieth message in the Book of Lamentations and when he's shouting it out in the book of Ephesians we're supposed to love our church it's so so we love it without conditions good days and bad when we get our way and when we don't get our way also that word loved has another feature it's a love that sacrifices sacrifices notice the Bible says right there that that we're to to love the church and in Christ gave him self for her that's the that's the feature that's so amazing about agape love it's a love that that only regrets it doesn't have more to give that it sacrifices it doesn't think of itself so we're to love the church sacrificially we're to love the church with all of our heart our attitude is not to be we don't want to be inconvenienced and I think today we're dumbing down the demands of discipleship into a try to attract kind of a consumer mentality that's out there among the people we're really diminishing what the church is all about and it's kind of like how how far can we dilute this thing down and get it so convenient that you'll show up and it's kind of like would you come to our church we're not going to ask anything of you expect anything of you want anything you don't even have to show up man we just want you to come to our church and yet Jesus says you are to deny yourself here to take up your cross and you are to follow me that's the lifestyle of a disciple and so people have this attitude what does your church have to offer me and so we feel like you know they'll fill that out on the car at a guest card a contact card a connect card whatever you want to call it what does your church I want the pastor to combine tell me we've got some questions and you sit there and say what tell us what does your church have to offer us and so since we are you know since we're all in competition trying to get these wonderful people that you know aren't gonna do squat we we say man you need to come to our church because there's no other nursery in our County like our church our church our church nurseries patterned after the sonic drive-in said I mean you know you have to get out of your car you just we don't want you being convenience we don't want you to break a sweat man we want you to drive up in the church parking lot there's a little post pull up beside of it push a button and our nursery workers they can rollerskate man they'll roller skate out to your car just pitch your baby out the you don't have to open the door pitch the baby out the window they'll catch the baby they'll take the baby in there after the service go back to the car punch the button they'll come back out to your car give you an order of french fries and a chocolate milkshake and your baby I'm there's nobody else now it's not quite that bad but it's getting there so let me I want to say something I hope you never forget this here's the issue the issue is not what does the church have to offer you here's the issue what do you have to offer Jesus Christ through the ministry of your local church that's the issue well I've said lo something about the the value of the church now I want to say something about the vitality of the church the vitality of the church so I believe the most alive place in the community ought to be the church and yet sometimes the deadest place is the church I wonder sometimes if that's why some folks don't want to go to heaven because they've listed a church and now some of you are here and you're kind of looking at me like we still hadn't figured you out listen I've just learned a long time ago to be myself and I've got a sense of humor and I'm going to have as much fun going to heaven as people are going to hell man I'm telling you right now I think the joy of the Lord is my strength and I believe that a half be hard is a medicine just like the book of Proverbs says it and III believe with all of my heart that it's okay to have a lift in your step a song in your heart a smile on your face and and I don't know who taught church folks that reverence and death are the same thing you know I mean I have been in I've been in churches where they're singing the Lord is in his holy temple and I want to get up and say timeout let me tell you why is it in his holy temple because he's not coming to this dead church no way so anyway I believe church ought to be alive and in but I believe the vitality of the local church it doesn't need to be wildfire and it doesn't just need to be emotionalism there needs to be a depth to the life that's there and if you're to have real living vitality in the church well first of all and it's right there in verse 26 I'm getting it right out of the Bible I promise you I'm not making this up verse 26 look at it there the church has to be grown by the word grown by the word now look what it says in verse 26 that he Jesus might sanctify in other words sanctify and the word sanctification and the word saint and the word holy in the new testament all come from the same word and it means set apart you means set apart from sin and set apart for the exclusive use of god and the word sanctification speaks of that process that's ongoing in the life of a believer whereby the Holy Spirit is in the process of making us look like Jesus he's taking the Word of God and the circumstances of our life and he's fashioning our actions our attitudes our words our deeds our mindsets he is fashioning it into the very image producing in us developing in us the likeness of Jesus maturing us it's the process of discipleship growing we never arrived we never stopped learning we never start growing always always some other truths some other application to get a hold of in the Word of God when God when God's gets one area of my life polished over here he says alright we got that dealt with now let's start to work over here listen it's not over until you fall into the arms of Jesus in heaven now look at the primary tool of the Holy Spirit in sanctification the Bible says in verse 26 that he might sanctify and cleanse the church with the washing of water by the word what drinking water in the Bible pictures the Holy Spirit the washing of water in the Bible speaks of the Word of God so the Bible says the church is developed sanctified matured grown the Bible teaches that we become like Christ through the Ministry of the word now I believe the devil wants to get the word out of the church and he would like to substitute anything but the Word of God and there even churches today that you know the prime the primary focus is not on the preaching of the word and the teaching of the word and I want to tell you why the devil wants to get the word out the church because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and we are listen the only thing that restrains our flesh is the word the psalmist said your word have I hid in my heart that I will not sin against you and the chief weapon of spiritual warfare against Satan that he he has no defense against is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God so what the listen do you remember when Jesus was tempted by the devil now I love praise and worship I love praise and worship we will and our church I love it I'm telling you what brother I mean I'm entering into it but let me tell you praise and worship is no substitute for the Word of God when Jesus was tempted by the devil I mean when the devil said turn those rocks into bread existence all right get ready devil here it comes get you better brace yourself man here it comes ooh yeah no sir you know what Jesus did look at it in the book of Matthew 4 he said the word says the word he quoted the scripture he pulled out the Word of God and Satan had to retreat so the devil wants to get the word out of the church he wants the church to be faithless he wants the church to be fleshly and he wants the church to be defenseless in spiritual warfare so he can overcome the church and defeat the church and keep the church from doing it's God or deign task so I believe that the church ought to be centered around the Word of God I believe that the pulpit we ought to be preaching and teaching the Word of God I believe that the praise and worship ministry ought to be centered around the Word of God the preschool ministry ought to be centered around the Word of God the student ministry ought to be centered around there's a single senior adult I believe the church ought to be washed in the word sanctified by the word saturated in the Word of God it is the Word of God that changes people and if there's going to be life that is lasting and continual in the believer and in the church it's gonna be by the washing of the word so church has got to be grown by the word there's all kinds of gimmicks and there's all kinds of fads man when I think about what's coming what's gone over these years of ministry but let me tell you the Word of God is constant people will always need to be the word and for those of you that are called to preach the word I want to tell you something I believe that there will always no matter what happens in church life always be a place for the person who will faithfully preach the Word of God but whether you're called emmissions whether your call to work with children our chief tool is 2t is the Word of God and our task is to give people the Word of God so the church has got to be grown by the word now listen to this we're gonna have vitality in the church the church has got to be governed by the word run by the Word of God now notice what says in verse 26 that he Jesus might sanctify and cleanse her and notice this next part with the washing of water by the word now it's my understanding that word washing there refers back to the Laver in the Old Testament a basin that the priest would ceremony was for arms and hands in before he goes about his priestly duties in the temple or the tabernacle so look at what it's saying everything in the church has to pass the word test it's not as a culturally relevant it's does the word say it's right and what was right 2000 years ago is right now and what was wrong 2000 years ago is wrong now the Word of God is timeless and the word of God is eternal and everything in the church needs to pass the word test now especially yeah I got a lot of students here and I know man you're open and you're flexible but when I'm kind of preaching along these lines and some churches right here I kind of get in trouble sometimes so I'm getting ready to say what I'm gonna say because in love churches they'll be nodding along and I'm preaching along these lines oh yeah I believe the church ought to be run by the Word of God and I always use this example they'll just be nodding along that's right but a man church ought to be run by the word hallelujah and I always point out that a young pastor who go to a new church he's there you know he just hadn't been there long he's walking down the hallway he's listening to his teachers teach the word they're in the son school classes and one of them sort of catches his attention he begins to listen and that guy in there teaching says Jesus is not God the Holy Spirit's not a person and there is no hell and he gets to listening he goes that guy's teaching job was witness doctrine so he goes to the leadership of the church and he says we've got a guy teach him back there brother so-and-so and he's teaching Jehovah's Witness doctor we need to do something about this now pastor just wait a minute you need to be a little more flexible you don't need to you know it's so in concrete so you won't Bend so uptight why are you so uptight man he's a good man he's been going to this church for years we know he's doctrinally confused but we don't want to hurt his feelings he comes from one of the founding families in this church leave him alone in that same church you could move the pulpit 2 inches and 12 people would descend on you with a constitution and bylaws as big as a catalog my friend and they'd say whoa whoa whoa whoa you cannot move furniture in this church according to our Constitution and bylaws on page 476 it says that a committee on committees has to appoint a committee to study the feasibility of moving said furniture they'll need to get 25 bids bring their recommendation back to a special called business meeting which according to the bylaws on page 495 and a footnote can only be held in a leap year on a full moon and we require two forms of photo government ID before you can give a valid vote now you're laughing because you know that this is this kind of thing happens now I'm not saying that you don't we have constitution and bylaws but I just get tickled that people can violate scripture and everybody says don't get uptight but if you break one of the man-made rules they have a complete meltdown and want to run you out of the county let me tell you something my friend human tradition is not above the Word of God and it is wrong to elevate your human preferences and your human opinions to the level of Bible convictions so having said that I'm saying everything in the church got to be washed in the word in other words the the ordinances have got to be washed in the word we don't have sacraments a sacrament is a means of race every time someone is involved in a sacrifice they're trying to earn a little more grace for their grace account but the Bible teaches us that we are saved by grace through faith not a sacrament we have an ordinance which is a sacred tradition and we have two ordinances that have no saving power their pictures they project a message visually first of all there's the ordinance of the Lord's Supper the Lord's Supper is a picture of his broken body and his shed blood the Lord's Supper is a moment for the body of Christ to worship the Bible says every time we have the Lord's Supper we do preach the Lord's death until he comes it is an ordinance of the local church and when Paul was giving his instruction about how to do the Lord's Supper he says when you come together as a church then he gives his instruction it is an ordinance of the local church the second ordinance is believers baptism well well what is baptism because some folks say sprinklings baptism but there is no sprinkling in the Bible there is no sprinkling in the Bible and just in case you're just getting really all theological on me because I'm yeah and let me tell you some sprinkling doesn't replace the mark of circumcision in the Old Testament as some mark of the new come no sir baptism that is washed in the word is by immersion the Bible says Jesus comes straightway up out of the water and you can't come straightway up out of a Dixie cup or a spittoon or a tub man you mean you just a little bow you've got to go all the way under to come up only baptism by immersion pictures the gospel death burial and resurrection everybody baptized in the New Testament was baptized by immersion and in the New Testament baptism comes after an experience of salvation so it is a pledge of allegiance to the Lamb of God it is a confession of my faith is a proclamation of the gospel and it's a testimony that Jesus is the lord of my life so the Bible says that baptism occur the New Testament is by mercy at the hands of a local church after you come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior the giving program of the church is got to be washed in the word now I know I'm probably gonna get somebody disagrees with me but honestly I'm not gonna be here that long all right I believe in tithing to the local church I believe in time it always tickles me when folks want to shift gears and say something's under the law you know you'll be rocking along so I believe it's how I believe that's under the law and I'm going so as thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal but I always point my grandmother taught me to tithe she told me she said if you tie it to your local church got a lope in the windows of heaven and bless your life and she talked about how God brought my grandfather and her through the Great Depression their crop there they're out in Texas their cotton farm completely failed one year made one bale of cotton moved to town got other jobs but at the end of their life they had a card that was paid for a house that was paid for raised their family and she said God brought us through because of this this principle that we practiced and so I had so much confidence in her when I got my first paycheck from the decap sorghum company working out in the sorghum fields in Northwest Texas as a teenage boy of 16 years old first check takes Social Security all that out I got my first check I took 10% of that check and gave it to my local church and I've been doing that all these years now I just want to point out that tithing predates the law in the book of Genesis before Moses was on Mount Sinai Abraham who Romans chapter 4 says is in Galatians says is the father of all those who have true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because the promise was given to him first he believed God and it was imputed or counted to him as righteousness the Bible says Abram or Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek in Hebrews seven says that Melchizedek is a picture of Jesus and Jesus identifies himself with his church when Paul who was called Saul was persecuting the church jesus said when he appeared to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me so when I bring my tithe and put it in the hands of my local church I'm placing it in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ so that he threw the visible body of the local church can continue to minister to the whole wide world that needs the gospel Tay something else I believe even the way you come into the church it ought to be washed in the word I believe in giving a public invitation now I believe there's more than one way to do that but I believe I believe it is scriptural to give a public invitation for instance so Moses said when he came down off the mountain and saw the chaos down there worshiping a golden calf he stands in the gate of the camp and says let everyone who is in the Lord on the Lord's side come over here and stand with me in the Book of Isaiah the Book of Isaiah God gave the invitation for the Prophet even preached the message chapter one come unto me all and and let's reason together and then Jesus called his disciples publicly he said if you confess me before men I'll confess you before the Father who is in heaven and revelation 12:11 says they overcame the wicked one by the word of their testimony and when somebody makes a public confession of their faith I believe when you get saved you should publicly confess your faith I believe that punches the devil in the mouth and it blesses the church at large and it even is a witness to other lost people there that need to do the same thing there were two lawyers one's name was Will and one's name was Tom and and they worked in the southern city years ago and one night Ola will went to an old-fashioned outdoor Tabernacle revival meeting and when that old evangelist gave the invitation he got under conviction he came down there he put his hand in the hand of that evangelist but he opened his hearts and he believed and he received Jesus Christ as a saviour North and stood up there and confessed his faith publicly the next morning got up real early and was going to his law office and he was going to dissolve his law partnership with his law partner Tom and he ran into Tom he hoped he had gotten up early enough and he could miss him and Thomas said we'll what are you up what are you doing he said I'm on the way to the office and I hope to avoid you but I'll just tell you I got saved last night at that type of Knakal revival meeting I know how you feel about Christians and preachers and I don't want you to harass me and so I'm just gonna dissolve our partnership we'll go our separate ways he said hold up wait he said I was out early looking for you because I was there too but I was out there behind a tree no one saw me and he said I listened to everything I saw you sitting there and I saw you get up and go down there and take that man by the hand and I saw you and heard you as you confess your faith in Christ and the Spirit of God spoke to me and said you guys have been in business together you've had cases together you've fought battles together and you ought to be standing down there getting saved with your friend and he said I came to find you so you could tell me how to get saved they overcame the wicked one by the word of their testimony so there's a third thing I want you to notice about the Lord's Church I said something about the vitality of the church and the value of the church but I want to say something about the victory of the church the victory of the church now I know churches are not perfect I mean there's all kinds of people in church good the bad the mean the lean the nice the glad the sad the sour orange dishonest hypocrites the real deal there's all kinds of people in church I mean there's tears in the wheat I mean read the Word of God there's tears in the wheat some of the seed falls by the wayside some of the seeds choke believes some of the seed falls on shallow soil and for a while you got these people that act saved and then they wither away because they never really were saved to begin with there's all kinds of people in the church and so you can get disillusioned but I'm not disillusioned and you say well why aren't you disillusioned because I know where the church is going and I know the tares did you know that God's a miracle-working God in the power of the gospel did you know why that in that parable the master says just let them grow side by side did you ever ponder that don't don't uproot those tears you lip root the weight to just let them go side by side at the harvest everything will be separated here's why because the gospel has the power to turn tears into wheat the gospel has the power to turn goats into sheep the gospel has the power to raise the dead and to even say the hypocrites the likes of Judas Iscariot that's the power of the gospel so let me tell you I'm not giving up on the church cuz I know where she's going look what the word says the Bible says that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot that's the very stain of sin or wrinkle that's the sign of old age or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blemish the Bible says the Lord loves the church so much that it has second coming he is not going to let anybody else walk her down the aisle for that great surface in the sky great ceremony it says in verse 27 that our Lord Jesus Christ is gonna walk the Bride of Christ down the aisle he's going to receive her into myself and it says we're gonna be a glorious church so let me tell you where the church is going one of these days Jesus Christ is coming again and he's gonna reach his unseen hands down and he's gonna grab a hold of his bride the true church those who have truly trusted Jesus as Savior he is gonna yank us off of planet Earth we're gonna land on a street of gold in an environment that is completely holy where there is no sin where there is no Satan where there is no death where there's no temptation are you hearing me where there's no arthritis where there's no gingivitis and where there's no bursitis where we never get oh there's no committee meetings there are no traffic jams there's no termites there's no bank failures nobody ever gets mad it is just glory and there's a glorified church with perfect lungs in perfect harmony we're gonna lift up one perfect thundering voice and praise the Lamb of God the Lord Jesus Christ as the glorified victorious justified sanctified glorified Church that's where the church is going and that's why I'm gonna stick with her so I believe here's the challenge God wanted me to lay down to you tonight I challenge you I challenge you to commit tonight to be faithful to do God's work God's Way for God's glory through God's local church let's bow our heads and close your eyes and let's just stand to our feet and and as we stand together and you know if there's ever anybody in these services that says you know I'm just not sure I'm saved spirit God's been working on me I'll give a little my testimony later in the week but I was a church member for I got saved you may just you know God sent you here there's more than one thing going on your life it may be that you're gonna get saved but just a moment our praise team they're just going to sing and if you have never been saved Brett Charlie's over here he'll be glad to talk to you any of the staff but whether you come to the altar you just want to do it standing right there would you make that commitment you know I'm gonna be faithful to do God's work God's Way for God's glory through God's local church Holy Spirit help us to make that commitment tonight in Jesus name I pray amen guys lead us and lead us in a song [Music] I come in sir [Music] - uh chef here in spirit [Music] not stripping [Music] dear I'm coming back to my facility [Music] the other reason [Music] yes [Music] yes [Music] you the [Music] to spirit me a chair [Music] me too [Music] I'm coming back to my yeah [Music] yes my heart will see [Music] [Music] yes my [Music] you [Music] [Music] yes my [Music] yes Oh [Music] they've been good to be gathered together tonight hey man we praise the Lord for the good word and I'm thankful that look the Lord has spoken to us out of the depths of his holy inerrant and infallible word the Bible says let the redeemed of the Lord say so and on the night services of our revival we don't have the constraint of time like we normally do so I wonder before we dismiss tonight if anybody might have a word of testimony or something you would like to share tonight amen praise the Lord for that someone else yes sir amen hey man we've been praying for him amen yeah that's awesome thank you Lord someone else anyone else yes anyone else yes thank you Lord for that unconditional love anyone else amen that's good amen all right as we wrap up tonight I encourage you to be praying about tomorrow as we continue our revival services at 11 o'clock tomorrow will be off time not a normal chapel hour so be mindful of that and then of course tomorrow night and then two more services on Thursday invite folks to be with us we open our campus to them and always exciting to have visitors with us be in prayer for brother Ewa says he'll be preparing to preach each night and for those that will be leading us in praise and worship as well let's go to the Lord in prayer as we close out this night service father we thank you we thank you for your goodness extended to us through the provision of your son the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary we thank you Lord that you have died in our stead Lord you've presented yourself as a substitutionary sacrifice and you who knew no sin became sin that we might know and experience your righteousness father we thank you that you've placed us in a local body in the body called the church we thank you that you have you formed it you created it Lord you are sanctifying and we thank you Lord that you're coming again that you might receive it that we would be where you are also and father I pray for revival lord I pray that you would send revival our way as a sparker revival has already been ascertained I pray Lord that you would send revival and allow it to begin within me and allow it to begin within us as individuals and father we pray that once again that we would be stirred for you Lord we pray that we would be humble before you Lord that new and afresh we would just declare our love for you and Lord that we would step out and serve of us for you Lord will work on this campus and use those that are on this campus and joining us around the world via livestream and all of our online students Lord use these folks to turn the world upside down for the gospel we pray and Lord we know that in a congregation this size are any size there's there's many needs and many burdens that lay heavy upon hearts and father we ask you that you move like only you can may you be glorified through our lives we pray use us as you see fit we ask you Lord for revival in Jesus precious and holy name we pray amen amen god bless you thank you for me

Channel: Clear Creek Baptist Bible College

Views: 59

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: CCBBC, Kentucky Baptist Convention, Christian Campus, Baptist, Theology, Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, Church

Id: _9PLONwwmp0

Length: 69min 40sec (4180 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 26 2020