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You All right, welcome them out in Baptist Church you turn your song books a song number 420 Song number 420 we'll sing there's a song in the air And if you'd stand we'll sing all four verses a song number 420 There's a song in the air There's a star in the sky There's a mother's deep prayer and a baby's low cry and the star reigns is far while the beautiful sing for the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king There's a tumult of joy or the beautiful birth Or the virgin sweet boy is the Lord of the earth Hi, the star reigns is far while the beautiful sing for the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king in the light of that star Lively ages in pearl and that song form afar has swept over the world every earth is a flame and the beautiful thing and the homes of the nations that Jesus is King We rejoice in the light and we echo the song That comes down through the night from the heavenly throng I wish out to the lovely Angel they bring and we created his cradle our Savior and King All right, let's pray God, thank you for tonight God. Thank you for another chance to come and hear your word preach God I thank you for the souls that were saved this afternoon And God I pray that you would be with pastors who preaches tonight and help us learn something from this sermon And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen All right, if you turn in your song with the Sun number 432 432 will sing angels from the realms of glory We'll sing all four verses of song number 432 Angels from the realms of glory Wing your flight o'er all the earth Ye who sang Creation's story now proclaim Messiah's birth Come and worship Come and worship Worship Christ the newborn King Shepherds in the field abiding Watching or your flock by night God with madness now Residing yonder shines the infant light Come and worship Come and worship Worship Christ the newborn King Sages leave your Contemplations brighter visions beam afar Sink the great desire Of nations ye have seen his natal star Come and worship Come and worship Worship Christ the newborn King saints before the altar bending watching long and hope and fear Suddenly the Lord Descending in his temple shall appear Come and worship Come and worship Worship Christ the newborn King Amen so welcome back to Mount Baptist Church and First before we get into Announcements, let's get the solely numbers for the week. Did we have any souls during the saved it during the week? To on Thursday So to on Thursday and then that today I know the way you guys have one Okay, and then To okay There any others today who Jim had one, okay Okay, so Okay, so a good job with the soul winning and Speaking to soul winning On our announcements there We have our regional sewing times during the week just gotten the whatsapp there as far as times places and everything For those times and then also this Saturday Richie's gonna be leading up that done doc Maryland soul winning marathon. And so Is there a place that you have picked out for that? Okay Maybe maybe just send that have you already sent that out as far as the location? Okay, that's cool So if you want to go on that Marathon with brother Richie just get with him and just make sure you know where you're meeting up so and so Panera What to figure out a way because obviously we want to be able to like Get the breakfast and lunch and stuff for you guys as you do that. So Who's all going Anyway, we'll talk about that later, you know as far as like so that all that stuff's taken care of so And then the men's prayer meeting at the end of the month here We're not doing Basically a New Year's Eve Thing this year because New Year's Eve is Sunday So after all day of church, I don't I'm not gonna feel like staying up till midnight Actually, I never feel like staying up till midnight, especially last year when we build a barn And then came over here and try to stay up till midnight So This year, we're just not gonna be doing that Maybe next year where we do the kind of thing till midnight play games and all that stuff, but With with it being on Sunday That's a long enough. That's a long enough stretch of time of being around each other. I don't love you, but that's a long time so On the back of your invite there or your bulletin there we have our chapter memory for the month is First Thessalonians chapter 3 and then Proverbs 26 7 is a memory verse for the week I Got the birthdays anniversaries The pregnancy list used to be in prayer for my wife on the pregnancy list there. The due date is February 8th. So Yeah, we're We're getting closer. So Being prior for all those that aren't feeling well that are dealing with sicknesses Yeah, maybe one day we'll all get back together wherever it's not somebody's sick somewhere so As far as the other announcements offering boxes in the back there for the tithes and offering if you want to give a tired authoring the mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only and Brother Levi's gonna sing one more song and then brother brother David's gonna be reading Galatians chapter 1 for tonight All right turn in your song books to 426 song number 426 We will sing. I heard the bells on Christmas Day. We'll sing all five verses of 426 I Heard the bells on Christmas Day their old familiar Carol's play and wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth goodwill to men I Thought how as the day had come the bell freeze Chris and um had rolled along the unbroken song of peace on earth goodwill to men and in despair I bowed my head there is no peace on earth I said for Hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth goodwill to men Men peeled the bells more loud and deep God is not dead nor He sleep the wrong shall fail the right prevail with peace on earth goodwill to men they'll Ringing singing on its way the world revolve from night to day voice a time a chance sublime of peace on earth goodwill to men Turn your Bibles to Galatians chapter 1 Galatians chapter 1 if you're there say Amen And the Bible reads Paul an apostle not of men neither by man But by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead And all the brethren were so with me unto the churches of Galatia Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world According to the will of God and our Father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel Which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ But though we are an angel from heaven Preach any other gospel unto you than that which be a priest unto you let him be accursed As we said before so saying now again if any man treats any other gospel unto you than that you have received Let him be accursed for do I not persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ But I certify you brethren that the gospel which is preached to me is not after man For I neither received it of man neither was I taught it by the revelation of Jesus Christ For you've heard of my conversation time past and the Jews realism for that beyond measure I persecuted the choice of God and raised it and profited and the Jews realism above many my equals in my own nation Being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's room and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me That I might preach him among the heathen Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither when I yet to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me But I went into Arabia and returned again into Damascus then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days But other of the apostles saw I none save James Lord's brother now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lie not Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by faith into the churches of Judea Which were in Christ But but they heard but they had heard only that he was persecuted us in times past Not preaches the faith was once he destroyed and they glorified God in me. Let's pray dear Lord I thank you for this time that we have the change to come back to your house load And I pray that you be with past and that you fill him with your spirit Jesus name. Amen So you're there in Galatians chapter 1 and I'm continuing my series through our statement of faith, so basically just going Point by point down the statement of faith I'm actually gonna combine two points And the reason for that is because I've already done a series on being an NIFB New independent fundamental Baptist and I really hit on the independent thing already But I'm gonna be hitting on it a little bit So I'm gonna really the the next two points in our statement of faith is being an independent Baptist Church and being a local Church and not this universal church So this is really dealing with being an independent local church, okay So let me read to you our statement of faith That's on our website. It says we are an independent Baptist Church and have no affiliation with any type of denomination or convention. We are completely autonomous and I have a couple references there Ephesians 5 to 523 in Colossians 1 18 And then the next point is we believe in the local church and reject the teaching of the universal church Okay, so I'm gonna be hitting on both these points. I really hit on the idea of being independent in the fact that We are not a part of a denomination there is no one that is leading this church besides Well, I'm the leader but Jesus is the head, okay Even the church that I've sent out from Immanuel Baptist Church, they have no say and what we do at this church They don't they don't fund us. We don't get funding from anyone else. We're completely autonomous and being autonomous means that Everything that we pay for everything that we do is by the funding that is given to this church. Okay and so we're not against obviously people giving to our church, but But yeah, it's not not like any other churches is Overseeing anything we do the sermons that I write you know that That they're mine because I don't know what they are until the night before I preach them usually No, but it's not like I get sermons down the line, you know, like you get the Methodist Church where they have like Everybody's supposed to be preaching the same sermon same thing with the Catholics. They all have the same sermons. They're just giving it to them and No, we're independent or also a local church now Go to Acts chapter 16 keep your finger there in Galatians the reason I had you in Galatians, but Acts chapter 16 and verse 5 I'm gonna be really hitting on the fact that we're a local church and we reject this doctrine of a universal church now the term Catholic Literally means universal. Okay. So when you think of the Catholic Church, they're known basically as the universal church So when when you think of a Catholic Church, they basically look at every single person as a part of that church as being one church Okay, and I'm gonna debunk that false doctrine that We're all a part of the church and when I say the church, I mean like every believer that's out in the world right now That's just not true. That's not what the Bible teaches but I want to I want to first hit on the fact that the Bible is very clear to say churches and Many many places. Okay, meaning that there's multiple churches. There's not just this one all-encompassing church Okay, it's not like the Catholic Church like well, this is the Catholic Church This is the Catholic Church and every church that you go to is that's the Catholic Church. No, there's local What should be local New Testament churches that are completely autonomous from any other church? Okay So I do think these are very linked as far as being independent and being a local church and not a universal church but in Acts chapter 16 and verse 5 notice what it says here it says so Were the churches Established in the faith and increased in number daily notice that plurality of churches Okay, it's not just this one all-encompassing church to where we're just all a part of the church. Okay Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 16. I'm going to show you that there's churches in Asia. There's churches in Macedonia There's churches in Galatia and there's churches in Judea Okay, I'm going to show you four places where there's multiple churches in one region, okay Because sometimes you'll see like the church of Corinth the church at Ephesus, you know And it's like there's one church there but and that's fine. Okay, but at the same time The fact this is that in one region you have more more than one church. So these are local churches Okay, and it's not just all-encompassing universal church like the church Okay, and in verse 6 you're in chapter 16 and verse 19 It says the churches of Asia salute you Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house It's also also promotes the fact that you can start a church in your house We didn't actually have to do that But you know as it's very biblical to start from scratch in your house and then move on to a building and then go on To bigger things right the churches in Asia We all know those the seven churches right the seven churches in Asia that Revelation talks about, you know Ephesus, Myrna you know Pergamos going down the line as far as the the churches in Asia, and so We know that there's at least seven in Asia Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8, 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 1 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1 it says moreover brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia the churches of Macedonia So now we have multiple churches in Macedonia go to Galatians go back Galatians chapter 1 Galatians chapter 1 So I'm just proving a point and this isn't all-encompassing when it comes to where it says churches But to say that like there's just one church One holy and apostolic Catholic Church, you know, that's like the Apostles Creed, right? What do you make of all these churches that the Bible talks about okay now obviously I believe these churches are legit churches But what we're gonna get into is the idea that each church is a legit church that Jesus Christ is to be the head over But they're autonomous from each other. They're not linked to each other Okay, so in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 1 it says Paul an apostle not by not of men neither by man But by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren which are with me unto the churches of Galatia go down the verse 21 verse 21 afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by faith unto the unto the churches of Judea Which were in Christ? So notice that even in Judea you have the church that was at Jerusalem, right? But there was other churches within Judea besides that church So you have churches in Asia, you have churches in Macedonia, you have churches in Galatia, you have churches in Judea And then think about all the other churches the church at Ephesus, right? You think of Philippi you have the bishops and deacons that that you know, Paul's writing to in Philippi How about Colossians, you know, like you go down the line the Thessalonians obviously in Greece, you know, but But you think of the Thessalonians, Corinth, like these churches that are all around You know the known world if you will at the time that they're being spread out throughout the world They're all these local churches. Okay now when it says that he went into the region of Syria and Cilicia Where was he at? You know a lot of times in the book of Acts He was in Syria in a place called Antioch. Go to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, the church in Antioch Acts chapter 13 and verse 1, Acts chapter 13 and verse 1 So I'm trying to make a very very Very clear that there's multiple churches. So the Bible uses that plurality of churches So, how could there be just this all-encompassing universal church then? Unless you're saying like the you know, like this the church is made up of churches you know, like it's like the Church of Churches or something and you're like some You know hierarchy of like the church is made up of like a whole bunch of churches inside that church And but show me a Bible, you know chapter and verse on that where where that's the case No, you just have individual churches where you have members of those churches and Jesus Christ is to be the head of every single one of those churches and It's like people can't understand the fact that Jesus can be in more than one place at a time but the churches in Asia proves that point because in Revelation chapter 1 it says that he he walks in the midst of the Candlesticks and those seven candlesticks are the seven churches. So Jesus is literally walking in the midst of Every one of those churches at the same time why because he's God because he's omnipresent. Okay, so Or else why wouldn't it just be the church in Asia and then there's like these multiple churches within it, right? Why would he why we distinguish between all these different churches? Okay now Acts chapter 13 verse 1 it says now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and Teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manan which had been brought up with Herod the teatard and Saul as They ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them And when they had fasted and prayed and lay their hands on them, they sent them away Notice that they didn't ask for permission from Jerusalem They Laid hands on them and they went their way And they did their work That church that's in Syria. Okay, just so you know, that's not injured. That's not in Israel. That's not in Judea Notice how they're conducting their own business Okay, obviously in this time things were a little different because you had apostles back then right, you know Barnabas and Paul were apostles But notice how even the apostles were having hands laid on them to be sent out to do a work Right. The church was still involved there because The church is where the authorities at Now he had set in the church first apostles then prophets, you know The teachers and goes down the line and guess what? The apostles are still first in the church because I have the writings of the apostles right here. I Have the Word of God the inspired words of God that were written by the apostles so guess what they still are first in the church, but When it comes to this I just want that to be very clear when he was in Syria and Cilicia He was at Antioch and I preached on this and I don't want to really belabor this point because I already hit on this When I was dealing with being independent in Galatians chapter 2 shows you a great reason why you should be independent Because certain that came down from James James Caused Peter to cause a dissimulation between the Jews and the Gentiles and Peter had to repeat. I'm sorry. Uh, Paul had to rebuke Peter to the face because of it and It was influences from another church And he had to rebuke him to the he didn't call up He didn't like send a pigeon care a carrier pigeon up to to Jerusalem and say hey James, you know Just so you know, I got a you know, what's going on here and let me get permission so that I can Rebuke this no, he just rebuked him to his face and said you're wrong You're wrong because James I believe the Lord's brother James who was an apostle Was trying to put up a middle wall partition between the Jews and the Gentiles Which was evident later on in the book of Acts When he had Paul doing like a sacrifice and shaving his head and doing a bow and all this stuff. Okay, but so there there's this trickle-down effect of not being independent and This universal Church idea because if the head is wicked everything else is wicked Yeah, it trickles down into everything else. So I believe God set it up to where it would be local churches With local pastors that are heading up those, you know are leading up those churches. I gotta be careful I'm not the head Okay, but they're leading up the churches and you have elders and bishops you have you have you have deacons you you have the leadership There that are accountable only to the Lord and Not other churches show me the Bible where they were accountable The only thing that you could show me is where James sent out a letter saying hey Those people that were going out from us. We didn't send them They're just making it known like we didn't send those guys You know the guys that came out of Jerusalem saying you must be circumcised to be saved We didn't send them and by the way, you don't have to you know, keep the law Moses You know you should just keep these certain little things which that's another serve for another day as far as like The little list that James put together on what they should, you know, obviously you should abstain from one occasion and stuff like that. But But they're making a point like we didn't say that this is what we think you should do But it wasn't like thou must do this, you know, it's not like Commandments coming down from headquarters in Jerusalem Okay. Now there were influences from Jerusalem that even affected the Apostle Peter and So when it comes to being local and independent you you could still be influenced in the the the manner in which a denomination or In the cases like the the Catholic Church where you have like this universal Church idea That you got to watch out for so even though we're independent. We're a local church. We still have to look out that we don't get Wrongfully influenced by even pastor friends or churches that are friends with us and stuff like that to where You know Maybe they're doing something they shouldn't be doing. We don't just follow a walk and step just because we're friends with them Okay, and so that's the beauty of being independent now the same thing would apply for them. Maybe I'm doing maybe we're doing something wrong They shouldn't just follow a walk and step with us just because they're friends with us. Does that make sense? It's a two-way street So the idea there is that if this church like the church that we know of let's say there's a church that's a you know, an independent fundamental Baptist Church even new independent fundamental Baptist Church and They're they're going so when you're doing all that stuff, but then something happened. They just fall apart That'd be horrible right it'd be a horrible thing to see but guess what We're still fine See how it it doesn't affect us Because we're still gonna do what we're gonna do It's horrible. We'll pray for them. Hopefully, you know that can get cleaned up or whatever, but at the same time we're independent that's not gonna affect what we're doing and so There's a big reason why you want to be in a church that's local and independent because we're completely autonomous And our head is ultimately the Lord go to Ephesians chapter 5 and I'll just show you a couple places here where it states that I believe it's gonna be you're gonna be hard-pressed to have the Lord Jesus as the head of the church if you have a denomination Okay, if you have someone above you that down this whole daisy chain of churches that is telling you what you must preach and what you can't preach and All that so Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 And Just because the church isn't low isn't independent doesn't mean that they're like not a legit church I want to be clear on that. I mean they could still be a legit church. I think they're gonna have problems though And they could be a church that's gonna have issues that that Would be fixed if they were just Independent and didn't have to listen to people trying to push them into preaching certain things. Okay I'll say this. Good luck finding that church Okay, it's hard enough in the in the in the IFB realm to find a good church, you know That's right on salvation that has the it's King James Bible only So and that goes out soul winning find me a church as a part of some convention or or you know Denomination that does that and then we'll talk I'm not saying it doesn't exist Okay, but let's be honest who's out soul-winning independent fundamental Baptists That's who's going out. So But it I do believe it exists I do believe that there are people out there that are part of maybe like the a the ABA the ABC, you know My conventions and all that stuff that You know King James only and all that stuff I think that you're just gonna be hard-pressed to find those it's gonna be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Okay but In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 here says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ let So let the wives be to their own husbands and everything So Christ is the head of the church and it's giving you an example just like the the husband is the head of the wife Christ is the head of the church. So Christ is to be an authority of the church He is the head he is the the supreme ruler if you will of our church and Jesus is the Word of God So when it comes to who's the head it's the Bible. Okay I'm I'm the pastor. I'm the bishop, you know, I'm the overseer I'm the leader and so we don't believe in this leaderless church mentality of you know Just it's open mic night tonight and do whatever you want to do No, you know, I'm gonna call the shots. Okay, but ultimately You need to be knowing if I say something it better line up with the Bible And if it doesn't line up with the Bible you go with the Bible Okay, obviously my job is that hopefully most everything that I'm preaching to you is the Bible and is is right and and you can take it to the bank but You should be sitting in the pews or chairs and and and basically discerning whether it's right or not Based off what the Bible teaches, okay And some of it should be so similar to be like, yeah, of course I know the Bible says that okay you get into deeper stuff and you may think about like I gotta look into that, you know Which is fine But you should hopefully you're not up here just being like what's he gonna say every word? I am just trying everything he has to say if you're like that then you're gonna be exhausted by time you get out of church And Plus you probably don't agree with me if you're at that point where it's just like constantly just like what does he really mean? That is that what it really is a Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 another place where it talks about Jesus being the head of the church And it also calls the church the body of Christ, okay And this is where a lot of people say like well, aren't we all a part of the body of Christ? and What I'm going to show you is that there's a difference between being a part of the Like this all-encompassing church and being a part of the nation of believers, okay, and That's kind of like the premise of the sermon So if you get that idea that we're all a nation of believers, but we're not all part of this one all-encompassing church, okay And Colossians 1 verse 18 says and he is head of the body the church Who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence okay, so that's the idea of why you want it to be a local independent Baptist Church is that Jesus is the head. He's one that has the preeminence the Word of God so When it comes to doctrine and faith and practice, it should be based off the Bible not based off some convention somewhere Yeah, should I say some Bible college somewhere right now we come for you know, like out of a realm waters You know, I'm always picking on house Anderson College because it's the only one I kind of know just from people. I know But there's obviously other ones there is a there's one. What's the one that? Or talking about Crown College, but then it was like the other one is down in Kentucky The Commonwealth yeah, and so there's these other colleges and stuff like that and What ends up happening is where it's not You know like on paper a denomination but what happens is because of the cliques and the fraternity atmosphere and All that stuff that goes into being like alumni and and everything when it comes to a college, you know What that turns into a denomination, right? It's kind of like it's not a denomination on paper But it turns into that because everybody's like all your graduate from house Anderson. Oh, we're buddies then right you believe in the preacher rapture Right, and then if you don't believe in the preacher rapture, then it's like well, we got to cut ties You know and then it gets into this whole like club mentality like we're in this club Now I'll say this even in the realm where I have pastor friends in the new IAB You got it. You got to make sure that you guard yourself from being in a club mentality Even in that realm which is I think a safer realm than being in this like college Graduate type of level right, but you don't want to get into that either to where just because you're friends with somebody You're afraid to preach on a subject that you believe to be true in the Bible that make sense so it needs to be that aspect of like And and and you don't want to be the person that's like I have no friends. I don't want to talk to anybody It's just us in the wilderness Okay, that's too far okay, we're not that's where you start drinking the Kool-Aid, okay If you can't be friends with anybody and you can't agree with anybody then there's probably something wrong. Okay, so That being said go to Hebrew chapter 2 Hebrew chapter 2. I want to define the word church for you We're not Puritans. So I'm fine with the word church You mean what do you mean by Puritans the Puritans They didn't like using any term. That wasn't just basically an English term to where You knew exactly what it meant. So if it said church, it needs to say congregation Or assembly like they don't want to see the word church. They don't like the word, you know baptized Because that's a Greek word that was translated literated into English. They wanted to say immerse Now listen baptism does mean immersion and church does mean congregation which I'm gonna prove to you with the Bible, but You know, I'm not against you know That'd be like saying like I don't want to use the word Christ because it should be anointed, you know like how far do you take that and You know, the Puritans were the ones that you know, like names have meanings Like I think my name I think means healer like Jason I think means healer And but they wouldn't say Jason they'd be like come here healer. How you doing healer? And if your name met like the Lord cometh Instead of like it being the name, you know, they would say Come here the Lord cometh Lord cometh, where are you? You know, like you're yelling for your child I mean talk about some weird names But the idea there is that the Puritans were all about like not having any type of name that meant something It just needs to be spelled out what it means. Okay, so I like the word church. Listen, it doesn't say Mountain Baptist congregation out there. It says Mountain Baptist Church. So obviously I'm for that term But let me prove to you that it means congregation Hebrew chapter 2 and verse 11 here We're gonna do some cross referencing It says in Hebrew chapter 2 and verse 11 it says for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church While I sing praise unto thee. Well, that's a quotation Verse 12 there from Psalm 22 go to Psalm 22 and verse 22 Psalm 22 in verse 22 Psalm 22 in verse 22 It Says I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the what Congregation will I praise thee? You know, the the King James Bible is a magnificent book Translation of the Bible because a lot of times you can just figure out what words mean just by Cross-referencing them looking up the first mention of the words and so You'll see this many times where it'll say this like for example in Acts chapter 7 and verse 38 It says this is he that was in the church in the wilderness. I Mean that should tell you I mean you don't see that term church in in the Old Testament But it's looking back to the the Old Testament and saying the church that was in the wilderness What are we talking about the congregation in the wilderness and how many times do you see congregation congregation congregation? the congregation of the children of Israel The tenth of the congregation of Israel, right? It's just constantly congregation over and over and over again in James chapter 2. It talks about if anybody any come unto your assembly What are we talking about the same thing? This is an assembly of believers. This is a congregation of Believers now, I want you to think about this If there's this universal church that means that right now we'd have to be congregated with every believer It's not possible I'm not congregated for example stronghold Baptist Church is going on down in Georgia right now But we're not congregated with them right now We are all believers with them we're brethren But we're not congregated with them You know, we're two different churches in two different locations We're two local independent churches in two different locations What I do here as a pastor is not dictated by what stronghold Baptist does down in Georgia but vice versa you know what he does down there is not dictated by me and Those are two separate congregations two separate assemblies two separate churches, okay? So this idea of a universal church and you say what's the what's what's your point with this? Well, you know this gets into a lot of problems when it comes to church discipline, for example For example in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 I don't have this in my notes But there are certain things that if you're cabbages a fornicator a railer idolater You know there's these things that if you're in that and it is known and you're not willing to let it go Right or stop doing these certain sins then You have to be kicked out of the church And it comes down to this is that I Can't control what other churches do right? How am I supposed to excommunicate somebody from someone else's church? I'm I don't have authority in that church Do you see how that doesn't make any sense if you have this universal church? And then it gets into the fact well, we need to love these brethren over here And we need to help these brethren over here. They're not a part of our church And it really does make things a lot simpler though when you understand the fact that it's a local church and That we worry about what's going on here Okay, it takes a lot of stress out of the way. I don't have to worry about even my pastor friends I don't have to worry about what they're doing I Don't have to worry about the churches now. I'll pray for them cuz I care about them, okay But I don't have to be just like what are we what are we gonna? Do like how are we gonna fix this problem? It's not my problem You know if they come to me asking for advice, then I'll give my advice, but in the end they got to deal with it And the same thing if there's a bunch of problems coming here They don't have to worry about what's going on here. They have to worry about what's going on at their church It takes that anxiety away takes that stress of worrying about what other people are doing in other churches But also know this is that when Jesus is writing to those seven churches in Asia What Thyatira does doesn't affect what Pergamos does? And the punishments that's being put on Thyatira is not being put on Pergamos or Smyrna or Philadelphia You know that everybody has their own problems They got to deal with their own problems, and they're separate churches and Jesus is the head of every single one of those churches Unless he takes the candlestick away like he threatens to do that to Ephesus So when we're dealing with this it takes away But I mean it also this is that What you do what you do bad will only be reflected on you and not other churches but what you do good reflects on you and Doesn't just carry over to other churches right well that church over there is doing great things Let's just lean on that. You know we're part of that We're all part of the one church, brother No like if you're not doing what you should be doing the candlesticks being taken away from you you're gonna be chasing for what you're not doing or what you are doing that's wrong and You have the consequences what you're doing not this church over here And you can't just lean on their glories and what they're doing and all the stuff that they're doing for the Lord No, you have to take responsibility for yourself, and so I feel like that's what a lot of churches do They're just like well We're all part of the church, and I know this church over here is doing great things over here And they're doing great things, and I saw this church over here, but what are you doing? What is your church doing? What are you guys doing on? What's the you know the local ministry doing there? Well we give money to all these missionaries, and we give money to all these things that go out there, but what are you doing? in your area in your local church And it really does put that that onus on you and on that local ministry Because our ministry is North Central West, Virginia But then we go outside of that and say you know what West Virginia is like our Judea North Central West Virginia is our Jerusalem That's where we're hitting every single week But then we have small-town soul-winning marathons where we go into Judea But then you have like America, and you think about like going out to Maryland right or Pittsburgh or Virginia or just the other areas right going out and you're kind of going out in Samaria You're broadening outside of your local state if you will then you have the outermost parts of the world That's where you get to the missions, right? You think of Belize you think of you know like the the Caribbean where we're trying to go back to but When you think about these other missions and stuff like that What are you doing locally? And I'm not saying it's bad to give the missions or to help other people out and help other churches out But listen you can't just use that as a cop-out Because what you do here locally is gonna Reflect on that church individually go to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22 There will be a time when you can say we're all a part of the church Okay It's not right now though Hebrews chapter 12 And right now I do believe there's a General Assembly if you will and that's what I'm going to show you right here That there's a church in heaven a General Assembly But they're congregated together. Okay, so that's what it means and verse 22 it says but year come on to Mount Zion unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem into the 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 and to Jesus the Mediator to the New Covenant into the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel I mean, yeah, you can say the people that are in heaven are congregated together Because you have the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn But that's not what we have down here. Okay, there there will be a time where I believe all believers will be Gathered together at the rapture I mean think about Revelation chapter 7 because then Christ shall rise and you know All we which are alive remain to be gathered together with him in the clouds And then we're all going to be standing before the throne notice what says in Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 So I'm not saying it's never gonna be true That we're all congregated together as believers. But right now it's just not the case. It doesn't make sense. It's not what the Bible teaches Now, where does it say that we're all believers are just part of this one congregation? Okay or one church in Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 it says after this I beheld and lo a great multitude Which no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothes with white robes and palms in their hands and cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb so now Okay, you could say this is the this is the church right here, right? That makes sense because we're all standing before the throne Now it's a of all nations and kindreds and tongues, but we're all congregated before the throne. We're all singing praises the Lord So I'm not saying it's never gonna happen But right now you can't say that's true. You can't say all believers are standing before the throne at this point Now go to Go to first Peter chapter 2 I know we kind of already hit on this first Peter chapter 2 Now one thing you can say when it comes to all believers that we're all a part of one nation There is a nation of believers But a nation of believers is different than a congregation, right? If I said I'm on the nation of the United States of America That can be true and I don't have to be congregated with everybody from America for that to be true You know what that means is I'm a citizen of a nation right But there's plenty of citizens of West Virginia right now that are not congregated together and So or of America or of any other province if you will So but so that is true when it comes to if you want to say like what's this all-encompassing? Entity of believers in the world today. It's it's an holy nation. It's a nation of believers So in first Peter chapter 2 in verse 9 it says but you're a chosen generation a royal priesthood and holy nation A peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness, which in time past As I called you out of darkness into his marvelous light which in time past were not a people but an out of people of God Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy So when we're talking about this holy nation, we're talking about the people of God who are the people of God Until unto them which believe he is precious, you know, it got done saying earlier up in the chapter we're talking about believers that are a part of this holy nation and I'll say this. I believe this holy nation is The nation of Israel the true Israel, okay, you know, like when he said then when Jesus said to Nathaniel behold an Israelite indeed In whom is no God Now he knew a lot of Israelites, right? I mean everybody there was claiming to be Israelites But he said an Israelite indeed. What's another way of saying instead of in saying indeed? truly True this is truly an Israelite right here. Why because in his spirit is no guile because he's a believer and when you're talking about Israel as far as believers you're dealing with a spiritual Israel. Okay in the New Testament That's what Nation, we're talking about in the Old Testament You had the physical nation that just represent, you know, they had the the physical nation of Israel Which had some believers in it, but it was a remnant of believers within that nation But the believers as a whole even even those that weren't even of Israel were a part of the holy nation Which would be You know the spiritual Israel. Okay, go to Galatians chapter 6 Galatians chapter 6 and Jesus even said, you know That he's gonna take the kingdom of God from you talking about the Israelites and of Israel and give it to a nation Bringing forth the fruits there up And in this nation you have neither it's neither Jew nor Greek barbarian Scythian bond free We're all one in Christ Jesus and in this nation It's not a matter of where your background is. You're a believer You believe on Christ you become a child of God. You're a child of God Therefore you're the people of God and you're in that holy nation, okay? So Galatians chapter 6 and verse 15 and I believe that we're what we refer to as the Israel of God Okay, this holy nation of Israel and notice what it says in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 15 Galatians chapter 6 and verse 15 it says for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision But a new creature and as many as walk according to this rule Peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And you say well I think that's talking about the physical nation of Israel that would be really weird considering he just got done Rebuking the physical nation of Israel in chapter 4 and saying that they're not of the children of promise They're not going to inherit the promises, but anything beat peace be upon them No, he says that many as walk according to this rule. What rule? That the new creature right for in Christ Jesus those that are in Christ Jesus in chapter 5 It says for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision But faith which worketh by law So what's the rule you believe you believe then? Peace be on you and mercy and upon the Israel of God because why because the believer is a part of that holy nation That royal priesthood right and so when you're dealing with the difference between When you're when you're when you're talking about like what do we call all believers in the world? Right if you're gonna say like well if we're not all the body of Christ, and we're not all like the Church of God Then what are we the holy nation? The holy nation of believers, that's what it is so which makes more sense right because congregation is what Church means So that can't be all believers right now, but a nation does make sense so Go to a Romans chapter 9 Romans chapter 9 Just to kind of show you also that that idea of There's two different Israel's there's a physical Israel, and there's a spiritual Israel, okay? And when the the Old Testament was done away with okay when it was taken away That physical nation was no more regarded by the Lord, okay? And then it was just the spiritual, but let me show you that there's two different Israel's okay? Notice what it says in verse 6 So Romans chapter 9 verse 6 it says not as though the word of God has taken that effect For they are not all Israel which are of Israel Now the only way that that could ever make sense is if there's two different Israel's right? If they're the same exact thing then what in the world is he saying? There are two different Israel's right they are not all Israel which are of Israel Okay So that means that those that are of Israel. They're not it's not just like it's just Israel Right and then it goes on to say in verse 7 neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children But in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God But the children of the promise are counted for the seed so when it's saying like what we're talking about all Israel We're talking about those that are the children to promise That's why you have the Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with our children, but Jerusalem Which is above is the mother of us all right? There's two different Jerusalem's That means there's two different Israel's okay, and the Israel that matters That you need to be a part of is that spiritual Israel right? It's just like we were talking about this morning about he's he's he's not a Jewish with one outwardly But a Jew which is one inwardly There's obviously a difference between being a Jew outwardly and inwardly isn't there there's circumcision that's of the flesh and then there's circumcision of the heart What's more important though? I? Mean if you had to choose which one you're gonna be in right which one would you choose I? Mean obviously you're gonna choose the you should choose the spiritual right now back in the Old Testament You could be a part you could obviously be spiritually Israel and a part of that nation of Israel that physical nation that God had a covenant with From you know what you think about Exodus chapter 19 where he's making a covenant with them that he's gonna bless them and the promises are gonna come through and and Obviously they have this this law that they're supposed to be keeping to picture. What Jesus is going to do, but I See the physical part was done away with and the spiritual is what remains Go to Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 explains this as well that The big thing about the New Testament is that there's there's no more this middle wall partition between the Jews and the Gentiles What was that middle wall partition well the Jews could go to heaven and the Gentiles couldn't is that what it was Was it just that only Jews could go to heaven and now Gentiles can is that what the is that what the middle wall? Partition was or was it cardinal ordinances and divine service? That's what it was The middle wall partition that was put up between them is that God it said, you know through this covenant this nation through these ordinances These diverse washings, you know Circumcision like all these different things that they would be God's people and he'd bless them as a nation and do all these different things So if you're a Gentile and you believe on Christ Back in the Old Testament in order to be a part of those promises as far as God blessing them as a nation They had to go join that nation See that middle wall partition The middle wall partition is broken down is that that's no longer a thing It's no longer this idea of You're not a citizen of Israel No We all are citizens of Israel because the Israel that matters that the only Israel that there is now is That spiritual Israel notice what says here in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11 Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are Called on circumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. I love how he words that They're called on circumcision, but are they Now the Bible actually says we are the circumcision But he's saying that you're called on circumcision by those which are called circumcision notice how it's like they're saying you're called Uncircumcision they're calling you that but they're also called Circumcision because Paul's not even saying like they're circumstances like they're called circumcision that make sense But spiritually speaking They're uncircumcised Okay, so notice the language there that's being used It says in verse 12 that at the time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants Of promise having no hope and without God in the world meaning this is that outside of Israel you weren't a part of all these promises that were being given there as Far as the nation's concern and being a citizen of Israel Commonwealth you think about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, right? Or the Commonwealth. I'm not sure which other states use that but there's depending on the state It'll say like Commonwealth or you know Province or just different things that it'll use to talk about the state or whatever but When it comes to Commonwealth you're talking about the fact that they're aliens. They're strangers. They were not citizens Okay, they were not a part of that nation Okay in verse 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were Or far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ for he is our peace who had made both one and had broken down The middle wall partition between us notice this having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments can named in what? ordinances Now in other places in the Bible call these cardinal ordinances Now what does that mean like like fleshly ordinances meaning like physical things that you would do, right? From like dietary laws to what you're wearing Right, they're cardinal ordinances. They're not spiritual ordinances or cardinal ordinances But it's saying that were contained and commandment or and commandments contained in ordinances to make in himself between one new man So making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross Having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you which were a far off Or which were a far off and to them that were not so he's basically I'm preaching peace to both both sides Okay for through him We both have access by one spirit unto the Father now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners But fellow citizens with the Saints into the household of God So now there's no difference See back in the Old Testament. There was a difference not for salvation But there was a difference between whether you're a citizen of Israel and whether you were right, I mean You do believe that? Name in the Syrian right or you know, he got saved right? He was cleansed, but he went back to his country He didn't become a part of Israel other people did become a part of Israel And guess what? The Bible teaches that anybody could become a part of Israel and you say well what tribe would he be a Bible says pick? Like it literally said just pick tribe You pick whatever tribe you wanted That's what it says in the book of Ezekiel So you could be a part of Israel, but you'd have to move there See the Old Testament was more of a localized ministry where it was like the hub was Israel And they were supposed to come out from that and preach the gospel and be a light unto the world The New Testament on the other hand is there there's not like this one all-encompassing hub of this nation No, the nation is all believers and all those believers Make up individual local independent churches and See how it's spread out. I Mean if you think about it, you're like we're going to the Gentiles Well, here's how you do it You spread out and now you have local New Testament churches and the church is called the house of the Living God So I Hope that makes sense when you're dealing with the idea of this this spiritual nation of Israel That's believers and that's the great thing about the New Testament is that the I believe the spiritual Israel was all were always there Okay, even in the Old Testament Okay, in the Old Testament you had both the physical and the spiritual in the New Testament. The physical was done away with and Now you just have the spiritual Okay, now I believe there will be a physical nation of Israel when Jesus comes back and you had the resurrection and and stuff like That but if you think about like when you die right now your body goes to the grave your soul goes to heaven and It's with the Lord. It's kind of like that right now in the fact that the physical has been done away with The spiritual is here eventually They're gonna come back together Because Jesus is gonna physically rule and reign and we're gonna rule and reign with him for a thousand years in that Israel All right, and he's gonna rule and reign from Jerusalem. Okay? So, I hope I didn't lose anybody with that That's just a kind of understanding the idea of the difference between a local church Which is a congregation and a nation which obviously makes sense that you could have The whole you can have the whole world being accomplished in that nation okay, now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 and I'm gonna explain something because what people will do with the idea of Passages in the Bible and say well the Bible says the church here, you know use that definite article the church But what you have to understand is that sometimes when you're speaking about something you'll use a definite article to describe something that would apply to every single one of those right and Let me just show you one example here of it Dealing with a husband and wife situation. Okay? Notice what it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 3 let the husband Render unto the wife do benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband the wife hath Not power over her own body, but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body But the wife now, I don't think I need to tell you this but there's more than one husband and wife out in the world There's not the husband and that's the only one right But when you're talking about something to give an example to right and you're like You know what? You know what this means this applies to every husband and every wife The husband means like every husband that's in this situation The wife means every wife that's in this situation. Does that make sense? So when you see that the idea like in the church Do this right like this is the ordinance in the church. It's not talking about some universal church That everybody's a part of it's just saying like in any church every church This is what you do Okay Even in Ephesians chapter 5 which we we already hit on in verse 23 It says for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the Savior body Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ The church it's universal. Well, is there a universal husband, right? I mean, hopefully not But no, there's just it's just showing you that it for every husband Every husband is to be ahead of every wife and every church Christ is to be the head of that church Okay So when you understand that kind of grammatical speech if you will Then when go to go to 1st Corinthians 1st Corinthians Chapter 12 and the last thing I'm going to mention here When you see things spoken of the body and the church and and people just want to twist that and be like that's universal That's every believer Okay, the thing you have to ask yourself. Does it say every believer? and I Want you to look first look at verse 1 chapter 1 verse 1 First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 1 it says this is the beginning of the book obviously Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto what the Church of God, which is at Corinth So you see the Church of God? Which is that Corinth, right? So we got done talking about all these other churches in Galatia Macedonia Asia You know all those different places that their churches we're talking about a particular church the Church Of God That is in in Corinth. So we go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12 1st Corinthians chapter 12 so when you see like the being mentioned here about the church and about the body and the church and you know, Then the many members of one body In context you're talking about the Church of God that is in Corinth Okay You're not talking about just you know, like and I'll say this just as much as I was talking about with the the wife and the husband Everything that's in here applies to every church. Okay, even though he's specifically talking to the church in Corinth if the language here is So that you don't look at this and say Well, it's only for that church Right that only applied for Corinth that didn't apply to that apply to us Right That that'd be as silly as looking at all the churches in Asia saying well that applied to Thyatira But I mean we can commit fornication and adultery and we're fine Like obviously everything that God is saying to those churches in Asia and everything that God is saying to the church in Corinth and everything that God Is saying to the church that's in Thessalonica or wherever, you know, those things apply to us, too So when he uses that definite article is it's more so saying like this is you but every church This is a committee. This is stated for everybody so in first first Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 12 It says for as the body is one and have many members and all the members of that one body Being many are one body all so also is Christ For by one spirit, we're all baptized in the one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles Whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit For the body is not one member But many if the foot shall say because I am NOT the hand I'm not the body of the body Is it therefore not of the body and if the ear? Shall say because I am NOT the eye. I Am NOT of the I am I am NOT of the body Is it therefore not of the body if the whole body were an eye? Where were the hearing if the whole were hearing where were the smelling? but now have God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him and if they If they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members yet? But one body in the eye cannot say unto the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you may much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are Necessary and these members of the body Which we think to be less honorable Upon these we bestow more abundant honor and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness for our comely parts have no need But God hath tempered the body together having given more abundant honor to that part Which lacked that there should be no schism in the body But that the members should have the same care one for another and whether one Member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it now Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular now you could read that and be like well. This is universal body Now let me let me let's think about that for a second Let's say every believer every church out there makes up this all-encompassing body of like our church if you will right Well, are we the feet and that's it. Where's the Bigfoot? Right and then the other church over there. You know let's say let's say pastor pastor a bird is another foot right and Then was it you know is uh? You know is pastor Anderson the hand Right Do you see how that doesn't make sense no every body has all the body parts? We're supposed to all have the feed and the hands and the eyes and ears All in one okay. I think about this though. It says that if one if one member Were to suffer then we're all suffering with them How many know what's going on in these other churches? I Was supposed to suffer how much I mean I supposed to have ESP where I just know what everybody's doing in these churches And just be like they're suffering over there. I could feel it I Feel it because there's this all-encompassing. You know Church of God a universal church that makes me feel it No, it's the fact. I know listen. I know what people are suffering in the church, or if they tell me they're suffering I know because I see them I talk to them. They're a part of our church and This is true if one of our members is suffering we suffer with them if another's rejoicing we're rejoicing with them and We're all members. There's many members in one body but they think that we're just a foot or a hand or an eye and Some other all these other churches make up all these other members I Mean how many churches are out there? Are we just like the little pinky? Like is there only one eye is there only two eyes out there and only two churches get to be the eyes You say you're being silly yeah, I'm being silly because it is silly Okay Because every church should have two eyes and two hands and two feet One head right and that head is to be Christ Okay, and so when you read this you could read it and say well that the there though It just seems like it's like this all-encompassing But when you understand that the could just be talking about the church that's at Corinth and he's specifically talking to them and guess what? This whole thing is just specifically talking to one church, isn't it? But it's also if you think about it a list of things that would apply to any church It could be applying to just one church. It could be applying to two churches. It could be applying to every church And I believe it applies to every church like when you read this this is applying to any legitimate churches out there But there are multiple bodies Okay There's multiple bodies because there's multiple churches over and over and over again So we're an independent local New Testament Church Meaning that we're not a part of some universal church. We're independent. So we're not a part of a denomination The idea there is that Christ is our head and We are accountable to Jesus Christ. What we do or don't do here is solely based on what we do or don't do here if We're rewarded. It's because of what we did here if we're punished. It's because of what we did here we're accountable to what we do here and We're not accountable to what some other church does out down the street they're completely on their own and You know what that's the way it should be that's biblically the way it should be but also praise the Lord. It's that way. I Don't want to have to like phone up all my pastor friends and be like, what are all the problems you're dealing with? So I can feel them with you You know, I'd be like I got no problems so You know It takes a lot off of each Pastors plate needs each churches plate to where you can just focus on each other You can focus on this ministry here. You can pray for other people there You can go and help out with other people and other churches as well. There's nothing wrong with that, but ultimately this is Mountain Baptist Church and This is a local independent Baptist Church. That's completely autonomous from any other church that's out there Jesus Christ is to be the head of this church. I am your leader at this church as the pastor but Jesus is the head and As soon as Jesus isn't the head of this church then we need to all get out of here So I hope that makes sense that is you know, kind of two points on the statement of faith I do believe it's important and I was talking actually about John You know when I think about a church or finding a good church, you know It being King James only having the right gospel and going out soul winning are my three top ones But if I had another one to be independent Okay Because if you don't have that independent, you're gonna have you may have it's just susceptible to problems. Okay, and You know that that's just our stance when it comes to that I believe it's biblical and let's end with a word of prayer to Heavenly Father We thank you for today. Thank you for your word and just pray to be with us as we go home this evening I pray to give us all safe travels and pray that you would Bring us back to the appointed time and we thank for the souls that were saved this week and pray that you'd Heal those that aren't feeling well and keep our church healthy and safe and more. We love you proud in Jesus Christ's name. Amen So brother Levi will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed All right, turn your song books to song number 441 song number 441 We will sing great is thy faithfulness stand we'll sing all three verses song number 441 Great is thy faithfulness O God my Father There is no shadow of turning with thee Thou changes not thy Compassion's they fail not as thou has been now forever will be Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning New mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath Provided great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me summer and winter and spring time and harvest Sun moon and stars in their forces above join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness mercy and love Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning New mercies I see all I have Needed I had Provided great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning New Mercies I see