WBPPv2 by GLMO LLC

WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH

Other Books by Daniel Whyte III - LETTERS TO YOUNG BLACK MEN - LETTERS TO YOUNG BLACK WOMEN - MO’ LETTERS TO YOUNG BLACK MEN - WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH, Volume I, Editor - WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH, Volume III, Editor - MONEY UNDER THE CAR SEAT (AND OTHER THINGS TO THANK GOD FOR) - 7 THINGS YOUNG BLACK MEN DO TO MESS UP THEIR LIVES - 7 THINGS YOUNG BLACK WOMEN DO TO MESS UP THEIR LIVES - GOD HAS SMILED ON ME: A TRIBUTE TO A BLACK FATHER WHO STAYED - JUST JESUS!: THE GREATEST THINGS EVER SAID ABOUT THE GREATEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED, Editor

WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH LEADING BLACK PREACHERS GIVE DIRECTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO A NATION THAT HAS LOST ITS WAY

Volume II Edited and Compiled by Daniel Whyte III

WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH, VOLUME II Cover Designed by Bill Hopper of Hopper Graphics Copyright 2006 TORCH LEGACY PUBLICATIONS, DALLAS, TEXAS; ATLANTA, GEORGIA; BROOKLYN, NEW YORK First Printing 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner, except for brief quotations included in a review of the book. _________________________________________________ The Bible quotations in this volume are from the King James Version of the Bible. The name TORCH LEGACY PUBLICATIONS and its logo are registered as a trademark in the U.S. patent office. ISBN Number: 0-9763487-4-8 Printed in the U.S.A.

To THE GLORY OF GOD and to the GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD and To all preachers everywhere who despite the fact that we are living in a time when people “will not endure sound doctrine,” they preach “sound doctrine” anyway. Preach! Preacher Preach!

WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH VOLUME II CONTENTS Introduction to When Black Preachers Preach Volume I..........................................................................15 INTRODUCTION Daniel Whyte III..........................................................17 The Tragedy of Lingering Lynwood Davis………………………………...........21 Hell: The Abode of the Lost Ed Carter……………………………...…….….........33 10 Things God Wants You To Do In The Last Days Daniel Whyte III…………..…………………..........51 The Spiritual State of Black America: Time For A Change! Louis Baldwin…………………………….…….......63 The Greatest Investment In The World Glendy Hamilton………………………..………......81 To Have Sight Marshall Robinson………………………………......89 God’s Remedy For Societal Disintegration Aaron Lavender………………………………..........97 Did John See You? Tommy Steele…………………………….……........111 APPENDIX OR OTHER SIGNIFICANT STUFF….............121 On “Being Saved” Daniel Whyte III…………………………...............123 Things You Ought To Do After You Enter Through The Door Daniel Whyte III…………………………........129

Things To Remember In The Ministry Dwight Scott………………………………..….......133 Is Afrocentricism A New Religion? William Banks………………………………..........137

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the Lord for His mercy and grace. I also want to thank all of the preachers included in this volume for standing strong and for being such an inspiration to me down through the years. And, of course, I want to thank my wife, Meriqua Whyte for typesetting the manuscript; my children, Daniella Whyte and Daniel Whyte IV for helping in the editing and proofreading process; Bill Hopper of Hopper Graphics for not only creating the beautiful cover on this volume, but for helping in the proofreading process of this volume as well; my younger children: Danita, Danae`, Daniqua, Danyel Ezekiel, and Danyelle Elizabeth for being good and quiet children, thus allowing me to work long hours in their presence.

WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH Volume I INTRODUCTION The idea and vision for such a book as this one has been in my heart for quite some time now. In the not too distant past, God began to raise up a fresh and exciting voice in America. That voice is the voice of the black preacher who refused to use God’s sacred desk as a stage for entertainment or as a platform for political causes. Rather, these God-sent black preachers chose to stand boldly and preach “Thus saith the Lord” without compromise, fear or favor. These preachers are not popular, but neither were the preachers in the Bible. No, these preachers may not be popular, but they certainly need to be heard. This book basically has a three-fold purpose: A. To bring glory and honor to God and to His Son Jesus Christ. B. To show honor and appreciation for the older black Baptist preachers who have paid the price, and who have laid the foundation for those of us who have followed. (Of course, all of the older brethren could not be included in this volume, but my hope is that these who are included will represent them.) C. To reach this generation of Americans, who seem to have lost their way. The sermons included in this volume were selected based upon how long the minister had been faithfully preaching the Gospel and based upon the impact of the sermon when it was actually

preached. You will notice that some of these sermons were stenographically recorded because we not only wanted to get the “letter of the sermon,” but the “spirit of the sermon” as well; so that when you read this book, you will feel as though you are actually in the congregation, hearing the man of God, preach “thus saith the Lord.” I believe that if you read each sermon and the “significant stuff” in the back of this book, and you take heed to it, you will be convicted, challenged, comforted, and changed. —Daniel Whyte III South Bend, Indiana

WHEN BLACK PREACHERS PREACH Volume II INTRODUCTION The first volume of When Black Preachers Preach is dedicated to the honor and appreciation of the older black Bible-believing preachers who have laid the foundation for correct and clear Bible preaching and teaching in the black community of America. Well, this present offering â&#x20AC;&#x201D; When Black Preachers Preach, Volume II, highlights some of the most dynamic preachers of our present day. Some of the men included in this volume are pastoring some of the fastest growing Bible-believing churches in America. Also, some of these preachers head up exciting, evangelistic organizations and conferences aimed at reaching black America with the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ. These men of God have broken the mold of the traditional black preacher. They have broken away from tradition itself. These men have forsaken the old way of doing black church, and they have chosen to stay clear of the religious confusion that has engulfed black America. These are men who do not claim perfection, but who are being mightily used by God. As I approach my closing of this introduction to the second volume, allow me to state the four-fold purpose as to why we publish these down-to-earth messages from Heaven: 1. First and foremost to glorify God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 2. Black America, white America, and whosoever will needs to hear these messages from the Word of God. These are messages that should not be preached into the air and then forgotten.

3. Posterity. Friend of mine, we do not publish these books to make us feel good about ourselves, or for our own personal enjoyment. If the Lord should tarry His coming, I want these books to be available for the generations that will follow. They will need to know that there was a remnant of black preachers who stood for God in these times. 4. And as we said in the first volume, to reach this generation of Americans, who seem to have lost their way. If you are one of the few dear people who still love what God calls “sound doctrine;” if you love powerful and exciting preaching that is also biblical, then the book that you hold in your hands is the right book for you. May God use this book to change your life forever, and usher in many children of slaves into God’s glorious Kingdom. —Daniel Whyte III Irving, Texas

THE TRAGEDY OF LINGERING by Dr. Lynwood Davis, Sr. Dr. Lynwood Davis is the long-time pastor of the Northeast Baptist Temple in Fort Washington, Maryland.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they say, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of

the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son in law and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought them forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” —Genesis 19: 1-17 The wickedness of Sodom was beyond measure. It was the most wicked town that part of the world had ever seen. And it was a town where homosexuality was outrageous. Wickedness and sin increased until it finally got to the point where God couldn’t take it anymore. So God went down to his friend Abraham and He told Abraham exactly what He was going to do. He said, Abraham, I can’t take the sin of that city anymore. And I’m going there to destroy that place. Abraham, being a righteous man, agreed. But then he thought about it. He said, wait a minute! My nephew and his family live down there.

Now folks, let me show you some real intercessory prayer. This man, Abraham, stood before God Almighty — God, the one who made the universe; God, the one who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The God who said let stars appear, and twinkle, twinkle! There were stars. The God who said, Hey, give me a sun, and there was a sun — no question asked. This same God is the one who told Abraham I’m going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And to this same God, Abraham, an ex-heathen (for he had not been a Hebrew long), had the nerve to say, no, you’re not! Abraham said, wait a minute God. If there are fifty people there who are righteous, will you, being the just God that you are, destroy the righteous with the unrighteous? God said, I tell you what Abe, you find me fifty folk down there who are saved, and I’ll spare that city. And then Abraham started thinking — Lot...I don’t know. Lot is a worldly person. He said, wait a minute God, suppose I can’t find fifty, but forty-five, will you then spare the city for the sake of forty-five? God said, yes, you find me forty-five righteous people and I’ll spare the city. (Now keep in mind, this is the same God that could snap his finger and Abraham would be history.) And then Abraham said, Wait a minute God, suppose I can’t find forty-five. Suppose I can only find thirty, will you spare the city for thirty’s sake? God said, alright Abraham, I’ll spare the city for thirty’s sake. Then Abraham said, Now Lord, don’t get mad with me, but let me speak one more time. Suppose I can only find ten. And the Lord said, “I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.” Now look, Abraham had the nerve to tell God — NO. If you recall, Moses did the same thing. God said, Moses, I’m going to kill all of the Jews and start all over with you. Moses said, Oh, no You’re not. Now you’re not supposed to say those kinds of things to God. But Abraham sure did. Abraham talked God down to ten people. And folks, I believe that if Abraham would have pushed

the issue, he would have talked God into sparing Sodom altogether. This just goes to show what the power of prayer can do. If we would only pray for Atlanta, D.C., New York City, black America, like Abraham prayed for Sodom, God will give it to us. But we must pray for it. The angels went down to see Lot and Lot was sitting in the gate. (Lot’s sitting in the gate of the city indicated that he was chummy with the people of the city and did not oppose their sin.) As the story goes on, Lot asked the angels to come into his house to spend the night, but the angels said, Brother, we’d rather stay out here in the street. But Lot begged them, and they went on inside. Later, the homosexuals came and said, open up the door, we want to come inside and make love to those boys. The angels told Lot, we’re going to destroy this city, so get your family and all of your belongings. We’re leaving here. And in verse fifteen, we see the angels telling Lot, come on Lot! Speed up! Get a move on Lot! Hurry up! And the angels said, Look Lot, if you don’t move it, you’re going to be destroyed with this city. Now folks, my text tonight is found in verse 16: “And while he lingered…” The angels had to literally pull Lot out of the city. I mean look at this man! Lot was a born-again Christian. His uncle is the great Father Abraham. Lot had seen more miracles than you and I will ever see. He knew the promises of God to Abraham. When God first called Abraham, Lot was there. So Lot knew that what God had said was sure to happen, yet he lingered. When I look at this folks, I see Lot as a picture of many of us. Listen, there are people on our jobs going to hell and what are we doing? Lingering. There are people in our families going to hell and what are we doing? We’re lingering. There are folk in our neighborhoods, and even in our churches who are going to hell! And we’re lingering.

Let’s look at some of the things Brother Lot lingered in. First of all, LOT LINGERED IN BEING SEPARATED Look at verse one. We see that there was no separation from the wickedness of Sodom. Verse one says, “Lot sat in the gate of Sodom.” Now Lot knew God’s principle of separation. He knew that from when God called Abraham away from his family. God wanted His people to be different from those of the world. But Lot wasn’t separated. Let me tell you something, people, there are churches today, where the man who plays the piano is just as sweet as a Hershey candy bar. There is no sense of separation in many of our churches today. God told Lot, if you don’t leave this city, the same thing that I’m going to bring upon them, I’ll bring upon you. Listen! Don’t linger with that kind of mess! Get away from it. Now, you may ask, are you against homosexuals? No, I love them, but I hate the sin that they are in. And we need to separate ourselves from such. Second, LOT LINGERED BECAUSE HE HAD NO IMAGINATION OF THE PUNISHMENT THAT AWAITED SODOM Verse two indicates that Lot had no imagination of the fact that there was going to be no tomorrow for Sodom. He was totally unaware that there was no future for Sodom. God was telling Lot that this is Sodom’s last night, and while Sodom was about to go to hell, Lot was lingering. Listen, there is a city out there, and that city is on its way to hell, and unless we do something quick that city won’t last. There is a country out there, and it’s on its way to hell, and unless we start caring about it soon, it’s not going to last too long.

We talk about reaching black America but look at what we are doing with our children. Are we teaching our children about the LORD? Are we sending our young people to schools that will teach them how to serve the Lord? I’ve been preaching for a long time now, and I have not seen one black missionary go to a foreign land. Why? Because we teach our children that they should get an education so that they can get a nice house and a car. Now we have the nice houses and cars, but where are our children? Now friend, the rooster has come home to roost; due to the fact that we didn’t teach our children to go and get a decent education to serve the Lord. And as a result of that, many of our kids are gone. Many of us don’t teach our young girls to get a Christian education and prepare her to marry a preacher or a missionary. We don’t tell them that, and because of that many of our young girls have gotten pregnant early, and many of them run away from home. Look around you, where are they? My friend, we have lingered. Listen, if Jesus Christ is first in our lives, we need to teach that to our children. We need to stop trying to send our kids to Morehouse and send them somewhere where they can learn about the Lord so they can come back and evangelize our city! The hope of America is in our children! And if we don’t teach them something, we’re going to suffer the consequences. Just like Lot, many of us have no imagination as to the danger ahead. We must stop lingering! Third, LOT LINGERED BECAUSE OF SIN Look at the worldliness of Lot. The homosexuals came to Lot’s door and said, Yoo, hoo, Lot… You see, if Lot was a straight Christian, they would’ve never come to Lot like that. They would have said something like, there’s no use in going to that crazy

Christian. He’s only going to push us away. But they came and said, Yoo, Hoo, Lot darling, give us those men that are in your house. Now, my mama didn’t raise any fools, and if she did, her oldest boy wasn’t it. I believe that if you get that close to them, you’re probably doing something with them. You might ask, do you think Lot was mixing with them? No, I don’t think Lot was mixing with them but I think Lot was powsy-wowsy with them. I think Lot went by every now and then and said, how are you doing, honey? You see Lot was a worldly Christian. He didn’t have any convictions or any principles whatsoever. The homosexuals said, Lot, those men that you have in your house, can we have them? Listen to what Lot says, “Brethren, do not so wickedly.” Lot did not call them brethren because they were related, he called them brethren in the sense that he was one of them. In essence Lot said, hey my friend, I’m just like you are. Man, don’t do this. Lot lingered because of sin. Are you lingering because of sin, Christian friend? Fourth, LOT ALSO LINGERED IN HIS STANDARDS Look at what Lot did. He said in verse eight, now wait a minute fellows, you can’t touch these men. Let me give you my daughters. They’re virgins which have not known men. You can do to them what is good in your sight. Now folks, I have two daughters. And I don’t care if the angel Gabriel was in my house, those guys wouldn’t get my daughters. Gabriel would have to take care of himself. Before I got saved, I had a pretty good right hand, and now that I’m saved, I have an even better right. Lot said, let’s make a deal. If you would stop this nonsense, I’ll give you my daughters. But you say, Oh! We don’t do that today.

Yes we do. Many of us are doing the same cotton-pickin’ thing because we’re lingering in our standards. In my own church, I hear people singing, “O How I Love Jesus” and they tell me how much the Lord is working in their lives, and I ask them, “Where are your kids?” “Oh, they’re home watching T.V.” Like Lot, many of us are giving our kids over to the Sodomites. In many of our homes today, we allow our children to watch garbage like M-TV. What are we doing? We’re turning our children over to the world. Twenty years from now, we’ll be asking, Where are our black preachers? Where are our Sunday school teachers? Listen, we don’t even have decent Christian schools for our children to go to. We’re turning them over to the dogs. We don’t have these things and we criticize those who do. And some of the most selfish and jealous people you will ever want to meet are preachers. There are many pastors who are jealous of other pastors. What some of the pastors say is, “If I can’t have it, I’m not going to join in it.” That’s for the birds. There comes a time when that kind of garbage must stop. We’ve got to unite and start helping one another and start fighting the devil. The angels told Lot, we’ve got to leave this city. But Lot was lingering. Christians, if God can get us out of the world then maybe He can destroy the world. If God can get us out of wickedness, then maybe He can put wickedness down. If God can get you and I to live right, maybe He can get the world to follow our example. Lot lingered in separation. He lingered because of sin and then he lingered in his standards. Fifth, LOT LINGERED IN HIS SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD

The angels were telling Lot to hurry up and leave, but Lot continued to linger. He was slow in surrendering to God’s will. Many times God tells us things to do, and we don’t do it. How many people come to your church every Sunday and don’t get saved? They’re lingering in their salvation. How many folks are in your area who are born again but they have never been baptized? They need to be baptized. They’re lingering in obeying God about the ordinance of baptism. How about people regarding church membership? Do you know why churches don’t grow? Because we play musical churches. I know a lady who came to our church one time, and she said, “I want to join your church, but first I want to know if you and your choir get down? Because I want to hear a man and a choir that can get down.” I said, “Lady, I’ve been down all my life, and I’m trying to get up now. No ma’am, we don’t have that kind of choir.” “Why?” “Because sometimes folks get too carried away and don’t think about what they’re singing.” “Well, how do you raise money?” “No, we don’t sell anything either, lady. We don’t sell cakes and pies, and we don’t have raffles. If God doesn’t provide, we just don’t get it.” “Well, you all are not going to make it,” she said. “We haven’t been making it, lady. We’ve just been surviving.” Let me ask you a question — Did you build your church on selling chittlings and potato salad? No. You built this church upon the Word of God. But so many churches today are built on cabbage and collard greens. We need to do things God’s way and according to God’s will. Lot didn’t want to do this. He lingered in surrendering to God. Sixth, LOT ALSO LINGERED IN WINNING SOULS

Even though I don’t agree with Jesse Jackson on some things, I do admire him for getting out there and registering all those people to vote. He knew he was going to run for president, but he also knew that there were not enough black people out there registered to vote, so what did he do? He started evangelizing. How did he and his coalition do it? By knocking on doors. And from their efforts they helped register some two million voters for the Democratic Party. You might say, Brother Davis, why isn’t your church growing in Washington, D.C.? Well, because we don’t have too many door knockers. Listen, the world knows how to reach the world. No wonder Jesus Christ said, “That the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” It seems like it takes a team of mules and all the angels in heaven to get some of our people to serve God and to knock on doors. Not only have we lingered in our soul-winning, but many of us have lingered in our giving to the Lord’s work as well. You would be surprised at how many of us love the Lord until it’s time to pass the offering plate. And then we say, well pastor, how come we can’t have fifty buses like some of these other churches? How come we can’t have silk drapes like everybody else? Instead of lying and telling them we just can’t afford it, we should ask them to show us their tithing record. For therein we might find the answer. We need to stop lingering in our soul-winning. We need to stop lingering in our giving. Last,

LOT AND HIS WIFE LINGERED IN RUNNING FROM THE WORLD Look at verse seventeen. The angels told Lot and his family, “Escape for thy life, look not behind thee…” They said, run! Keep running for the Lord! Don’t look behind you.

Before I got saved, one of the biggest problems I had was gambling. I used to keep all of my money in a little metal box, and I used to keep that box underneath the head of my bed. One night I had done so well, I left the poker game and went to a car dealer and paid cash for a brand new Cadillac. I used to keep money. But after I got saved, my money seemed to disappear. (Somehow salvation and crooked money don’t mix.) My money got lost, but I kept that box. And every now and then, when we would get broke, I would look at that box. But that box only gave me memories of how it used to be. So, one day, my wife came to me and said, “Look sweetheart, if we don’t get rid of that box, we’ll never face the future.” In other words, she was saying, we’ve got to stop looking behind us. We need to stop looking behind to see what the devil gave us, and start looking forward to see what God will give us. I dare say that if we would stop looking behind and start looking at the promises of God, we can do far more than what we’re doing now. We need to start reaching out to the lost. You see, Lot and his wife didn’t do that. As they started running out of the city, she started to remember the good things she was leaving behind in Sodom. She remembered her lovely home and nice car, and she thought she would just take one last look. And she turned around for a little peek and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his wife lingered in running away from the world. Dear Christian, are you lingering in your service to God? Are you lingering when it comes to separation? Are you lingering because of sin? Are you lingering when it comes down to your standards? Are you lingering in running from the world? If so, please repent and stop lingering. In closing, I want to ask those who might not be saved, are you

lingering in your salvation? If so, don’t linger any longer. Don’t slow dance with God. You need to run. You need to run to Jesus and say, “Lord, my sins are ever before me, and I confess them to you. Lord come into my heart and save my soul. I believe with all of my heart that you died for me, was buried and rose again.” Do it today. DON’T LINGER!

HELL: THE ABODE OF THE LOST By Evangelist Ed Carter Dr. Edward Carter is the founder and director of Death Unto Life Ministries in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has preached across this country and literally around the world.

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell, he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from

the dead.” —Luke 16: 19-31 Today, I want to preach to you a message entitled: Hell: The Abode of the Lost. Many people do not believe that hell is a real place. The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that if a person dies, they merely go to the grave and that is the end of it. Others have erroneous ideas about where hell is and what hell is all about. But here in these verses the Lord Jesus makes it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that hell is a very real place and those who are not prepared to meet Him when they die will wind up in this place for all eternity. THE PLACE KNOWN AS HELL I want you to know that throughout the Bible there are various scriptures that point to the place known as hell. In Revelation 20:15 hell is referred to as a “lake of fire.” In Isaiah 33:14, Isaiah refers to hell as a “devouring fire.” In Revelation 20:1, hell is referred to as a “bottomless pit.” Then in Matthew 13:42, it is referred to as a “furnace of fire.” Then in Luke 16:23, our text for this morning, hell is a “place of torment.” Then again in Revelation 22:11, hell is a place of filthiness. In Matthew 25:46, hell is a place of “everlasting punishment.” Then in Matthew 25: 41, hell is a place “prepared for the devil and his angels.” God never intended for men to go to hell. He originally prepared hell for the devil and his fallen angels. In Revelation 19:20, hell is a place of fire into which the unsaved are cast alive. That verse says: “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

Revelation 21:8 says it is a place where murderers and liars and the fearful and the abominable shall be cast for all eternity. Then Mark 9:44-46 says hell is a place where the inhabitants have no rest. Then again in Matthew 12:32 hell is a place where the inhabitants can never repent. And then again the Bible records in Matthew 8:12 that hell is a place where the inhabitants gnash their teeth. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth the Bible says. And then in Revelation 14:10, it is a place where the inhabitants drink the wine of the wrath of God. The Bible says in Luke 16:28, hell is a place where the inhabitants do not want their loved ones to come. Then in Revelation 14:11, it is a place from which the smoke of the inhabitants torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. You know, it’s an amazing thing, but this place called hell was spoken of more by Jesus Christ than any other person who ever lived! Jesus spoke more on hell than John. He spoke more on hell than Peter and Paul and all the Bible writers combined. And in Matthew 5:21 and 22 we find the very first allusion to hell and Jesus is the very one speaking of this place. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgement: But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever shall say unto his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Listen, this was Jesus, the babe that was born in a manger, speaking about this place called hell. I want you to look in our text and I want you to notice some things about hell. First of all, I want you to notice that God doesn’t want anybody to go to hell. He doesn’t want young ladies to go to hell. He does not want young men to go to hell. He does

not want men or women to go to hell. But God is holy and because He is holy His holiness demands that sin be penalized. And the Bible says in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…” In our verses we have a very amazing story. There are two characters. First there was a rich man. Verse 19 says: “There was a rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen…” I want you to see this rich man this morning. He was a man that had all of the world’s goods. He had fine apparel. He had servants that waited on him hand and foot. He lived in a very spacious mansion. This man had everything going for him. But you know the amazing thing about this rich man is, he was so engulfed in his riches that he forgot Jesus Christ. And Paul says in I Timothy 6, speaking about riches and how they lead to an uncertain end: in verses 9 and 10 he says: “But they that will be rich shall fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” O, there was another man. The Bible says in verse 20, there was a certain beggar. His name was Lazarus. He was laid at his gate full of sores. I want you to see the beggar — his clothes are dirty and filthy, he smells, his body is covered with sores. The Bible says: “And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.” Can you picture him as his body is covered with sores that perhaps may be a type of leprosy, or a cancer of sorts? And those sores are oozing out. And as he lays there, the dogs come by and lick his sores and the flies are swarming around him.

Then the Bible says: “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried.” The old beggar lived a terrible, hard life. He begged every single day of the year for goods, and to be fed and to sustain himself. But now he was dead. The rich man also died. Listen, the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Everyone will die one day except those Christians who will be taken alive in the rapture. But if He doesn’t come before our time is over all of us will die one day. From the youngest to the oldest we are all facing death. The question is, when you die where will you spend eternity? This is why I have traveled across America warning people and pleading with people to trust Jesus Christ so that they can know they are going to Heaven. The rich man also died. How would you have liked to have been this rich man? Imagine your living in a spacious mansion. You had servants that waited on you hand and foot. And say like this afternoon, you went to your home, had a meal, watched a few television programs and then you went to your favorite room and laid your head down, and when you opened your eyes instead of being in that bedroom, the demons of hell were staring you in your face? The flames of hell were engulfing you? You see the Bible leaves nothing to the imagination. This rich man laid his head down on his bed and the next time he opened his eyes, instead of being in his spacious mansion, he was in hell! That’s what the Bible says — He was in hell! PEOPLE IN HELL HAVE A BODY I want you to know first of all that people in hell have a body. They have a very real body. You say, how do you know?

Look in Matthew 5: 29-30: “But if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” This reveals that people in hell have a real body. But look again in Mark 9. This gives a more graphic description of the fact that sinners who go to hell have a literal body. Mark 9: 42-43: “And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.” Several years ago I talked to a Jehovah’s Witness. She said hell is an imaginary place and it’s not real. I said, Okay, let me see your Bible. I took her Jehovah’s Witness Bible, opened it and found this passage and her Bible says this, “Hell is a place where the fire shall not be put out.” That’s even more graphic. Our verse says it shall not be quenched. And literally it does mean, “Shall not be put out.” Her Jehovah’s Witness Bible says the very same thing. Verses 44-48 say: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut if off: it is better for thee to enter into life halt, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Back in our text in Luke 16, Jesus talked about the body that men will have in hell. In Luke 16:23 we find that men and women who go to hell will have eyes: “And in hell he lifted up his eyes…” Listen, you can’t have eyes without having a body! That man had his very eyes in hell that he had in life! But now in hell he wasn’t able to see the beautiful landscape that was around that mansion. He couldn’t see the beautiful family that he once loved. He couldn’t see the good things of this life because now he was engulfed in hell in the flames. The Bible says: “...He lifted up his eyes, being in torments.” Not only did he have eyes but he could see. He says, he seeth Abraham afar off. I wonder what went through that rich man’s mind when he woke up. Maybe he woke up and said I’m having a nightmare. I’ll close my eyes and go back to sleep and when I wake up I’ll be in my home. And then he closed his eyes. But when he opened it he was still in hell. That’s right. He could see. Not only did he have eyes in hell, but verse 24 reveals something else. “And he cried…” He had a mouth in hell. He had to have a mouth to be able to cry out to others. And in hell the Bible says he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented…” That word tormented means suffering. He said, I’m suffering in these flames. You know, in this life before he died, he never cried out to Jesus for mercy. He was too busy entertaining his friends. He was too busy singing the world’s song. But now in hell he cries and says, Cool my tongue. Not only did he have a mouth, but he also had the sense of feeling. He could feel. He wasn’t an imaginary being. He could feel in hell just as well as when he was alive. He said: “Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my

tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” I’m suffering! He said I can feel these flames. He had eyes in hell. He had a mouth in hell. But he also had a memory in hell. In verse 25 Abraham said: “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” Abraham said, do you remember rich man, when you were on planet earth you had all kinds of opportunity to be saved but you wouldn’t do it? Could you imagine being in hell and having a memory, and being able to remember that you almost got saved? You almost did! But you didn’t do it. The rich man had a memory in hell. O, but I’ll tell you something else he had in hell. He was able to hear. You see he was holding a conversation with Abraham. The Bible says he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried to Abraham and asked him to have mercy on him, but Abraham said, Son, remember. This rich man could hear Abraham — a miraculous mystery of God that I can’t explain. But the rich man could hear in hell. WHO WILL GO TO HELL? “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous,, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” —I Corinthians 6:9 & 10 People in hell will have a body, but second, who is it that will go to hell? You say, Can you predict who will go? No, I can’t predict

who will go. I don’t believe anybody can and the heresy that some are destined to go to hell and some to heaven is not scriptural. But I’ll tell you, the Bible tells us something in I Corinthians 6:9. If these dear people don’t turn away from their sins, they are going to wind up in hell. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” There are people going around today saying they are going to heaven. They have never repented of their sins. They are merely church members. They may have been baptized. They may put money in the offering plate. And they may outwardly appear to be saved, but they have never repented of their sins to Jesus. The Bible brands those individuals as being unrighteous. “Be not deceived: neither fornicators.” That is what’s being taught all across America and around the world. These are usually the individuals who have never been married — the young man or young woman involved in premarital intercourse. It’s a sin. I don’t care what the TV program says about it. I don’t care what the book says about it. It’s a sin! Hebrews 13:4 says: “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” Fornicators, if they don’t repent of their sins and let Jesus save them, they’ll wind up in hell. He says “idolaters.” Idolaters are people who worship gods made out of stones and gods made out of golden images. But who in America would do such a crazy thing as that? But I’ll tell you the sin that America is guilty of — materialism. And we have people that want cars and want clothes and want fancy homes. There’s no sin in having these things. What I’m talking about are people who are consumed with a desire for things. We’re so busy getting degrees and getting all the finer things of life that we’ve left God out of our lives! And when we do, you and I, in twentieth century America become guilty of idolatry.

Idolatry is the worship of anything or anybody other than God. You can worship cars, you can worship clothes, you can worship sports, you can worship prestige, you can worship popularity, you can worship power and even people. Idolaters, if they don’t repent of their sin of idolatry, they will never make it to heaven. Not only did he say “fornicators and idolaters,” but he said, “adulterers.” Who are the adulterers? This is a man or woman who has been united in holy matrimony and who is involved in extra-marital intercourse. Perversion! God says people who are involved in this sin and this is their manner of life, this is their custom, this is their practice, this is their desire, this is what they live for, He said adulterers, if they don’t repent, are going to wind up in hell! And then He says the “effeminate.” This is a compromiser. They’ll be one way with one group and another way with another group. They do what ever everybody else is doing. The effeminate. But also it could refer to men who have feminine features and characteristics and qualities. These people need to be saved. Who else? “Abusers of themselves with mankind.” Who is this? I’ll tell you who it is. These are lesbians and homosexuals. Listen, God loves sinners but He hates sin. Homosexuals can be saved. Lesbians can be saved. Adulterers can be saved. Fornicators can be saved. But God hates these sins. And if these people don’t repent of their way of life and let Jesus save them and change their life, they’ll never make it to heaven. Then he says “thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Paul says these people, if they fail to repent of their sins, will never make it to heaven.

But you know God has a way of keeping all of us in our places. In verse 11 he says: “And such were some of you…” You see the Holy Spirit knows that some of us who are saved have a tendency to put our pious noses up in the air and we wouldn’t go tell a drunkard in the street of Chicago about Jesus. We wouldn’t go tell a pimp or prostitute about the Lord. That’s beyond our dignity. But we better get off our high horses and go down and talk to sinners of all walks of life and from all categories because Paul said, “Such were some of you…” Every one of us are guilty sinners; despicable before God. And we’re not only sinners, but we’re sinners saved by grace now. But we deserve hell. That’s what we deserve. But only because of the grace of God are we saved and we do have the authority to go and warn the lost about Jesus’ soon coming and about the impending judgement. O, if sinners don‘t repent of their sins, they are going to wind up in hell! I want you to know people in hell will have a body. I also want you to know who will be in hell. And third, people in hell will beg. Do you know what they’ll beg for? PEOPLE IN HELL WILL BEG First of all, in Luke 16: 23-44 they’ll beg for mercy. “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” I talk to men, I talk to women, I talk to boys and I talk to girls, and I don’t believe it when they tell me they don’t care about heaven, they don’t care about hell and they’re not concerned. I don’t believe they’re telling the truth. I believe they’re talking off the top of their heads and they’re just pretending and they’re trying to be Mr. Hard-head and Miss Hard-head. But deep down in their hearts

they are concerned about where they will spend eternity. If they have any kind of a mind at all they will be concerned about where they will spend eternity. You see the rich man was too busy in life to call out to God and ask for mercy. And now in hell, he is crying out for mercy. The Roman Catholics teach that if a person dies he goes to purgatory. They spend some time there and then after they have suffered, God will allow them to escape purgatory and come up and then go on to heaven. But there’s no such teaching in the Bible. Listen, my friend, if you die and you failed to receive Christ and repent of your sins you are trapped for all eternity in this place called hell. There’s no escaping it. And it will be too late to beg for mercy after that. The time to ask God to be merciful is now. And in Luke eighteen the old Pharisee stood and said, I thank thee God that I am not as these extortioners and adulterers. I tithe all that I have. And he went on and told how good he was. But the old Publican would not even as so much look up to God. He smote himself and said, God be merciful to me a sinner. The Bible says, I tell you that man went home justified because he realized how wicked he was. And he pleaded for the mercy of God. If you’ve never received the Lord as your Saviour and never been born again you need to plead the mercy of God today. Not only will sinners in hell plead for mercy, but they’ll beg for miracles. “Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.” Can you imagine being in hell and being surrounded by the flames of hell and begging for one drop of water to cool your tongue? Nothing short of a miracle? What can one drop of water do? But he was begging for a miracle. And sinners in hell will never see a miracle. He begged for a miracle, but there is something else he begged for. He begged for a clear mind. You see in verse 25 Abraham

said: “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” He said, Rich man, don’t you remember when you were on planet earth you “fared sumptuously everyday.” You had servants that waited on you hand and foot and you had a social life. You had everything that a person could want! Rich man, do you remember when the disciples of mine came and told you about the kingdom of God? Do you remember when they told you you need to repent because the kingdom of Heaven was at hand? Don’t you remember when they pleaded with you to go to the synagogue and you heard the words of God and you turned away and turned a deaf ear on them? There are people who will die and they will stand before the Lord and they will say, I remember that gospel tract. I remember that preacher telling me to get saved. I remember my mother praying with me and pleading with me to get saved. I remember my aunt. I remember that person talking to me about my need to get saved. But I didn’t do it! And throughout all eternity their minds will haunt them because they could have gotten saved. Agrippa said: “Almost thou persuadest me” to Paul. If we could raise Agrippa from the dead today, he would say, I wish I had gotten saved. I heard Paul. He told me. Felix would say, Paul, I told you to come back at a more “convenient time,” but I never got around to it. People are always going around saying, I plan on getting saved. I’m going to get saved. I’m fixing to do it. But time’s going to run out on you. Proverbs 29:1 says: “He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” They will beg for a clear mind in hell, but they will beg for something else too. They will beg that their lost family members

will be saved. In verse 28 the Bible says: “For I have five brethren…” He already said in verse 27, I wish you would send someone to my father’s house, “For I have five brethren: that he may testify (or witness) unto them.” He said when I was up there on planet earth, I didn’t believe in hell. I didn’t believe in the gospel. I didn’t consider any of that relevant. But now I am in hell and I don’t want my family to come down here. He said, Abraham please send somebody to warn them lest they come to this terrible place. I don’t want my brothers to be here. It’s awful! It’s terrible! It’s tragic! It’s horrible! Please send somebody to tell my brothers. I’ll tell you why I believe this rich man didn’t want his brothers to come here. See, he was probably the eldest brother and they followed his example. And he told them that hell wasn’t real and they didn’t have to worry about the kingdom of God and all that fanatical preaching from those followers of Jesus. And they listened to him. He influenced them. And he knew that if they died and came there to spend all eternity, they would point a finger at him and say, Older brother, you told us hell wasn’t real. Well, we’re here! He said, I don’t want my five brothers to come to hell. I believe now that people who die without Jesus really will wind up in hell. They will believe that one must repent. They’ll believe that you must repent! Look at verse 30: “And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.” See, he wasn’t willing to repent when he was on planet earth. He never repented. But now as he was down in the midst of hell, and as demons in hell were torturing him and those flames were engulfing him, he suddenly realized that he did need to repent. And though he never did he said, Send someone back to

my five brothers and let him testify to them and maybe they will repent because they certainly need to. In Acts 17:30, the Apostle Paul says this: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” I want you to know that God says you must repent. You must recognize that you are a sinner, that you’re guilty and deserve the judgement of God and then be willing to admit that to God and ask Him to forgive you of all of your sins — past, present and future — and ask Him to help you forsake that type of a lifestyle and to change your life. They’ll believe that a person who went to hell went there because they failed to repent and be saved. NO SECOND CHANCE IN HELL And then they’ll believe, finally that there is no second chance in hell. In verses 26-27: “And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. And then he said, I pray thee, therefore father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house.” You see, this rich man was in hell and before Jesus went to Calvary’s cross and rose from the dead, paradise had two chambers or two compartments — hell and paradise proper where Abraham’s bosom was located. And there in that dreadful place the poor rich man said, I realize now just because of what Abraham told me that it’s impossible. Abraham said, Rich man, though you can hear me and though I can hear you, though you can see Lazarus and though we can converse with one another, it’s impossible, there’s a great gulf fixed between you and me so that it’s impossible for us to ever be able to make contact with one another. But I’ll tell you that chasm is even wider now because Jesus ascended on high. And when a believer who knows the

Lord dies he goes to be in the presence of the Lord while sinners are in hell. It’s impossible for sinners in hell to go up to heaven. And I’m sure that those in heaven certainly do not want to go to hell. You say, well, what’s the remedy? The Bible says in Romans 10:9-13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, for the scripture saith, WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH ON HIM SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED, For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.” If you have never repented of your sin, and you’re merely relying on your church membership and your baptism and your putting money in the offering plate and your trying to be a good person, you may as well forget about those things and be honest with yourself. Be honest with the Lord. Come today and repent of your sins and be honest with the Lord before you wind up in hell. Listen, there will be some beautiful people in hell. There will be some attractive people in hell. There will be some handsome people there. There will be some intellectual people there. There will be some strong men there. There will be some weak men there. There will be people from all walks of life in this place called hell. Hell is no respecter of persons. Anybody who fails to do it the way that God says to do it will wind up in this place. And there are some believers who need to ask God to give you an injection

of a new birth and a desire to see sinners saved. I tell you, the average Christian doesn’t believe hell is a real place! You say. O yea, I believe hell is a real place. Then why is it that we don’t go knocking on doors? Why is it we don’t give out gospel tracts? Why is it no one’s heart is broken for the lost? Why is it we don’t plead for sinners to get saved? We don’t believe hell is a real place. You know if we believe hell was a real place, the average crowd, that crowd that comes out on a Sunday morning, that same crowd would be here on Thursday or whenever your visitation is. And everyone of us whenever we went to work, we would be uneasy until we told those around us how that hell is real and how that they need to be saved! Some of us, we’ve lost our burden for the lost. You say, I believe in hell. You come to church when you get ready. Some don’t come but to one service on Sunday morning. You know, if you really believe hell is real, you would be in God’s house for Sunday school and Sunday morning worship and Wednesday and whenever the doors of this church are open. You would be here. We have too much callousness. We have too much unconcern. And I’m telling you that even Christians have become engulfed in the sin of materialism. We’re too busy seeking material things. And everybody’s too busy trying to get all of this old world’s goods and sinners are dying and going to hell. I heard my pastor say, some years ago, he went next door to this church to talk to a person that lives there and do you know that person said, “In all the years I’ve lived here no one from that church has ever come over and invited me to come. Nobody from that church has ever come and told me how to be a Christian.” I hope that is not the testimony of your church.

There are people all around us who need to know about Christ. And I want you to know that young people can talk to people about the Lord. Married couples can talk to people about the Lord. The elderly can talk to people about the Lord. Each one of us needs to have a burden for the lost. Each of us as Christians need to be busy telling others how that they can be saved from hell.

10 THINGS GOD WANTS YOU TO DO IN THE LAST DAYS By Daniel Whyte III “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of war: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” —Matthew 24: 1-14 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times

some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” —I Timothy 4: 1-3 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” —II Timothy 3: 1-4 The Lord made it perfectly clear that “last days” would come. The Lord never told a lie. I believe according to the Word of God, those “last days” are here. Make no mistake about it, friend, something is about to happen in this old sin-cursed world and that is, the Second Coming of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. We are now living in perilous, dangerous, wicked, bitter, hard times. We are living in the last days. It’s time to look up because your redemption draweth nigh! I tell folks all the time that we are living in days that only God can help us now. However, even though we are living in these difficult times, God wants us to stand even if we have to stand alone. Below are ten things that will help you stand in light of these last days. The following are ten things that God wants you and I to do in light of the second coming of Jesus Christ. First of all, if you are not already saved, GOD WANTS YOU TO BE SAVED

In light of the second coming of Jesus Christ. If you desire to be saved, you will be glad to know that it is very simple. First, understand that you are a sinner. In other words, you have broken or transgressed the law of God and because of that you stand guilty before God. In Romans 6:23 the Bible states that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And due to our sin, regardless of how much or how little, we are headed to eternal punishment in a place called hell. God states in the Holy Bible, Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.” That is the bad news. Following is the good news — the gospel of Jesus Christ: God did something wonderful for us poor sinners so that we would not have to go to that awful place called hell. What did he do for us? Well, He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to shed His Holy blood for our sins and die in our place. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Dear friend, if you want to start the year right by getting saved, all you have to do is believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose again by the power of God, for you. And He will save you. The Bible states clearly in Romans 10: 9-13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raise him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Friend of mine, the first thing that God wants you to do in light of the second coming of Jesus Christ is to get saved if you are not already. Please do it today, for tomorrow is not promised to you. After we are sure of our own salvation, the second thing that God wants us to do in light of the second coming of Jesus Christ is CONFESS OUR SINS WHEN WE COMMIT THEM One of the main reasons why God wants us to do this is so that we can maintain that sweet fellowship between us and Him. When we as Christians sin, it does not cause us to lose our salvation, but it does cause us to lose fellowship with God. The Apostle John speaking to Christians, wrote in I John 1: 8-2:1: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess out sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” I know that you may think that you will not sin at all. But the chances are you will, and probably more than once. Even though GOD DOES NOT WANT US TO SIN, sometimes, we, even as the people of God, sin. And when we do sin, let’s not lie about it and try to cover it up. Let’s confess our sins and ask God for His forgiveness. And God will abundantly forgive us of anything that we may have done wrong. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

Third, God wants us, as His children, TO PRAY “Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Most spiritual Christians agree that one of the biggest and most serious problems in the lives of individual Christians and in local churches is a lack of sincere prayer unto God. Churches are literally being ripped apart by prayerless people. Homes are breaking up left and right because Mom and Dad refuse to pray together. “Christian” children are going astray like never before. Sin is running rampant all around and even in the church because the church is playing instead of praying. God wants us to pray. And if there was ever a time to pray that time is now! Then fourth, God wants us as His people to LIVE A HOLY LIFE BEFORE HIM While we wait for His second coming. God stated in His word in I Peter chapter 1: 15-16: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye Holy; for I am Holy.” Now, sadly, none of us will be perfect on this side of chilly Jordan. But God does want His people to strive, by His grace, to live a holy and godly life before Him. You may ask how can we live a holy life in this wicked world in which we are living in? There is only one way, and that is through the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Friend, you and I cannot live a holy life in our own feeble strength, but we can if we allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives and not our flesh. Notice what God wrote through the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 5:16 and 22-23: “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Dear Christian friend, in light of the second coming of Christ, God wants us to live a holy life before Him, and the only way we can do that is to “walk in the Spirit.” Notice what God stated in Zechariah 4:6: “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Ze-rub-ba-bel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts.” Fifth, to also help us live a holy life, God wants us to READ AND MEDITATE ON THE HOLY BIBLE DAILY Notice what God stated in Joshua 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon, day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Today, many people are speaking about success. But there is no real lasting success in a person’s life without reading, meditating on and obeying the Word of God. To be successful, that is truly successful, God wants you to read and meditate on and obey His Word daily. By the grace of God, at least read one chapter in the Word of God a day, preferably more, but at least one a day. And God will richly bless you for doing so. Sixth, God wants you to FAITHFULLY ATTEND AND PARTICIPATE IN YOUR LOCAL BIBLE BELIEVING CHURCH

While you wait for Jesus to come back. Listen to what God has to say about this important subject in Hebrews 10: 23-26: “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Strangely, there are many dear people who feel that they can miss church or be irregular to the House of God, and still be fully blessed of the Lord. Folks, the simple fact of the matter is that we cannot be blessed of the Lord if we choose to disobey the Lord. Sadly, many people make up all kinds of excuses to miss church, not realizing that it is no one but the devil trying to keep you from the House of God. Friend, don’t let the green-eyed monster fool you. The House of God is the place of blessing and power. You can rest assured that God wants you in church every time the church doors are open in obedience to His Word for your benefit. Seventh, God wants us to TITHE AND GIVE TO HIM THROUGH YOUR LOCAL CHURCH until He comes. Tithing and giving is always a touchy subject, but it is still in the Word of God and we should take heed to this part as well. Notice what God says about it in Malachi 3: 8-10: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now therewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room

enough to receive it.” Also, notice with me the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 6:38: “Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” There you have it, dear friend, in black and white. If you want to be right with God you need to tithe and give to God through your local church. If you want to receive a joy that is quite unusual, then you need to give back to God. And if you want to be blessed financially of the Lord, then you need to tithe and give to God through His local church. As the old song goes, “You can’t beat God giving no matter how hard you try.” So true. Eighth, in light of the second coming of the Lord, He also wants us TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER I know this may sound corny to some, but it is vitally important. Jesus said in John 15:12: “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.” We may not like the ways of a person, but God commands us to love that person regardless of his ways. You say, but I can’t love that person now knowing what he has done to me. Yes, you can. Because first of all, love is a choice that we make. Second, after we make that choice to love someone, God can and will give you the grace and the power of His Holy Spirit to carry it out, if you will allow Him. Let God love people through you by the

power of His Holy Spirit. In these last days, the ninth thing that God wants us to do, is WITNESS TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT IN CHRIST In Matthew 29:19, Jesus commanded us, His disciples to: “Go ye into all the world, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Many of us as Christians complain about the rising crime rate, teenage pregnancy and the outrageous violence and drug problems in our communities, yet many of us as Christians who possess the solution don’t get out there in the streets with the life-changing message: JESUS SAVES! “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” —Romans 10:9 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” —Romans 10:13 This may sound like a worn out cliché, but the simple fact of the matter is: JESUS CHRIST IS STILL THE ANSWER TO ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS! Let’s get busy for Jesus Christ as we see His coming drawing nigh. Think about it, what if every born-again, blood-bought child of

God in America witnessed to just one person each day in this year, I believe that we would see a dramatic change in the complexion of our country. Let’s witness for Jesus Christ in the last days! For as the song goes: “PEOPLE NEED THE LORD.” The tenth thing that God wants us as Christians to do in the last days is PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD You may be asking the question, What is the whole armour of God? Well, here it is as it is described in the book of Ephesians chapter 6: 10-18: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all saints.” Friend, did the devil shout at you this year? Did he try to scare you? Did he try to discourage you, yea, even destroy you this

past year? Well, guess what? Your adversary the devil is going to try to knock your block off next year as well. You know why? Because he evidently was not successful in doing so this year. And the devil does not give up easily. Yes, dear friend, if you are a true Christian and you mean business for God, the devil will be on you like white on rice and black on me. With that in mind, arm yourself. “Put on the whole armor of God.” Leave nothing off because the devil will be sure to find your unarmored spot. Therefore, put on the armor of truth. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Then don’t forget to put on the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. And don’t forget the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, and the secret weapon of prayer. Put on the whole armor of God, and stand and do all to stand for the Lord in these last days. There is no doubt about it, we are living in the last days. These are indeed difficult and perilous times. But, we as God’s children can still live vibrantly, victoriously and powerfully in the last days, if we would do the aforementioned things which is really basic Christianity. Friend, do what God instructs and be blessed even in the last days!

THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF BLACK AMERICA: TIME FOR A CHANGE (Religiously Confused * Racially Neglected * Ready For Change) By Pastor Lou Baldwin Dr. Louis Baldwin is the long-time pastor of the Crossroads Baptist Church in Baileyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Crossroads, Virginia.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was a certain rich man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said, unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; And when he had declared all these things unto them, sent them to Joppa. On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise,

Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” —Acts 10: 1-15 There have been several incidents in my life that have influenced, motivated and even directed my Christian efforts the past thirteen and half years. The first incident began on Easter Sunday, March of 1976. For the first time in twelve years, I walked into a church. It was not just a church; it was an independent, Bible-believing Baptist church. The interesting thing about this church was that it was predominantly white. I’d never been in a white church of any kind. But I walked into this church on this particular Sunday morning. Ironically, the Lord allowed this to happen. My mother, who grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, had told me that she would never go to a white church. She said, after all (and I hope I don’t embarrass her, but we’ll settle that later); she told me that most of those people don’t really have the Holy Spirit like us anyway. I think, sometimes, that might be true because some of the churches that we go in, sometimes there seems to be something missing. But anyway, my mother allowed a bus captain to talk her into going to a white, independent Baptist church. And not only did she allow a bus captain to talk her into going, but she talked my wife into going. And as my wife went (she had been looking for a church to go to for a long time), she and my mom came down the aisle the same time and joined the church, and my little son, Michael who was six years old got saved. And they came home and told me. And then we had some friends to come down from New Jersey and they talked me into going to this church. I walked into that

church that Sunday morning. It was Easter Sunday. I don’t remember the message. I don’t remember a whole lot about it. But there is something I remember that had an impact on my life. During the invitation, Pastor Calvert took the Bible and said, “Let me take the Bible and show you how to go to Heaven.” Those words rang down in my soul and I never forgot them. I didn’t get saved that Sunday. But that influenced me and did something in my life. Four months later, twenty minutes ‘till nine on Thursday night, I got a phone call from a man that said he was looking for my house. He said he was from Fairfax Baptist Temple. I gave the phone to my wife because I just knew it was for her. Nobody from the church would be looking for me. I didn’t go to church. But she took the phone and said, “No honey, it’s for you.” And for some reason, God, the Holy Spirit allowed me to let those two men into my house that night. And sometime between 9:00 and 10:00 o’clock that night they opened the Bible and showed me that I could be saved not by having a feeling, not by singing in the choir, not by some particular miracle, but by simply believing in the Word of God. I never forgot that. The next incident that happened in my life took place on a Thursday night at the church that I had been baptized in and now I’m a member of. I was sitting in that church that night. My wife and my son, Michael, and my mother were there. Mrs. Lattimore was sitting in the choir, a lady that had just sung. We were sitting there in that church that night and our dear pastor whom we love so much, stood up in the pulpit that night and made this statement; he said, “I can count the number of good, black independent Baptist churches on one hand.” I looked over at my wife and said, “Who’s he?” I mean who in the world does he think he is saying there’s only a handful of black churches in all of America? Well, I found out later on, that he probably needed only a couple

of fingers because there weren’t that many good black independent Baptist churches in America. That had an impact on my life. The next thing that happened, happened in 1977. I had been saved one year, in this same church. (It seems like a lot of things happen in this same church.) I’m in a fellowship meeting at the Fairfax Baptist Temple in July of 1977. I’m getting used to the independent Baptist movement, enjoying the preaching, enjoying seeing people get saved and all those things, and I’m a real independent Baptist Christian. But in this fellowship meeting, I heard for the first time in my life a black man, who was an independent Baptist, preach the Word of God. Oh, how my heart was stirred. I got excited as a one year old Christian until I heard in that fellowship meeting a preacher say these words: “He’s a good black preacher.” My antenna shot up in the air. I began to investigate. What does he mean he’s a “good black preacher”? And that showed something to me that just grieved my soul, and it boils down to this — He’s a good black preacher but not necessarily a good preacher when he’s compared to a good white preacher. I have never forgotten that in all of these years that there are some white preachers who believe that a black preacher is less than a God-called preacher. This had an impact on my life. The next thing that happened was in July of 1978. (Yes, in the same church). In July of 1978 we had another fellowship meeting and my good friend, Bro. Lonnie Stinson and I were there, and there was another black preacher preaching on the subject of the burden for black America. And as he preached that particular night, he said something like this: “Our people are in sad condition.” And he began to make fun of how black people are ignorant to the Word of God and how they baptize in waterholes and go after every kind of sham there is. And I began to listen to that and began to be disturbed in my heart. And then he said these words which I have never forgotten. He looked at the group of

white fundamental preachers that day and he said this, “All we’re asking for is the crumbs that fall off your table. We don’t want the meat. Just give us the crumbs.” I said, O, God, the last thing we need is crumbs! And I left there grieved in my soul. On my way back to my office that day, God began to speak to my heart as I complained to Him. And God said to me and impressed upon my heart, it was almost as if I could hear the words. I said, God, why? Why is it like this? And God said to me, Why don’t you do something about it? God began to deal with my heart that Tuesday. And that Sunday night at the Fairfax Baptist Temple as the pastor was preaching, I put out a fleece to God. I said, God, he is always preaching that we need more black preachers and that we need a black man to go do something for black America and this particular night he has said nothing about that. And I said, God if you really want me to preach, if you are really dealing with my heart, let me know tonight. The next minute he started talking about the need of black America. I don’t know what happened after that. I went down the aisle and I walked up to him with tears in my eyes and said, “Preacher, I know God called me to preach.” He said, “You’re not doing this for me?” I said, “No, I’m doing it for God” I’ve never forgotten that on that night God called me specifically to do something for black America. The next thing that happened began in 1981. A handful of us began the Crossroads Baptist Church. God has built the church with some of the finest Christians, some of the finest soul-winners, some of the finest who have a burden for missions, some of the finest people that believe the Bible and believe that God is no respecter of persons. And He has allowed me over these many years to pastor this church and has taught me one thing — all the

demons of hell will never convince me you can’t have independent, Bible-believing, black Baptist churches all over America. And for many years I’ve prayed about these things, I’ve preached about these things and I’ve practiced these things. Oftentimes I’ve been misunderstood. Oftentimes I’ve made enemies — both black and white. But I thank God He stood with me over the years. My greatest burden in the world is to see independent Baptist churches established all over America — in every city, every town — to be able to reach our people. For over twenty years I’ve labored and labored, and it will be a continuous problem to deal with all the time. The first part of that problem is trying to convince our people how bad off we are spiritually. There are churches on every corner, preachers in every city. It’s hard to get us to realize that black America is in a terrible state spiritually. It’s hard to get black people to even believe that. The second part of that problem is trying to get white people who know about the problem to try to do something about it. That is a continuous problem that we’re battling all the time and in the meantime America, not just black America, is dying and going to hell. Tonight, I simply want to speak to you about “THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF BLACK AMERICA: TIME FOR A CHANGE.” We’re not here to put you on a guilt trip. We’re not here to be rude. We’re not here to make fun of black people and make criticism of white people. We’re simply here for one thing, to let you know the spiritual condition of some 37 million black people in this country. I want you to know where we are. I want you to know why we’re here. But I also want you to know what can be done about it. In Acts chapter ten, I think if we look back at Cornelius and his

situation, we’ll find out some things about the spiritual state of black America: RELIGIOUSLY CONFUSED First of all, I believe black America today is religiously confused. Cornelius was a very respectable man. The Bible says he was a devout man. He renounced idolatry. He was one that feared God with all of his house. He was resourceful. He gave alms to the people. He was religious. He prayed to God always. He was sincere. He was serious. He was saintly. But religiously he was confused. Black America is religiously confused today. There are churches on every corner. There are preachers in every town and yet we’re overrun by immorality and drugs. And you can knock on a door day after day, night after night in Washington, D.C. and our people still do not know how to go to Heaven. They go to church every single week. Black America is religiously confused tonight. Black America is religious, not righteous. We find today that our people are often times seeking the truth and finding a sham on every corner. Black America today is religiously confused. You say, why is that? I believe first of all it’s because of our heritage. I’ll tell anybody, and I believe this with all of my heart, if you want to change a town, if you want to change a city, if you want to change a community, then you get you a fireball, independent, Bible-believing, Baptist church, put it in that community and it will change it. And black America is the way it is today, because we don’t have those kinds of churches. We have churches, but our heritage was not founded upon churches that were founded upon the Word of God — but oftentimes upon survival. I’m not going to give you a lesson on the history of the black church because I don’t think I could get through it. But I’ll

tell you something — it’s by the grace of God, when we study the history of the black churches and how it was founded, that we have anything going today. It’s our heritage. You can go back into the history and find out that even during the time of slavery there was a compromise; the truth was compromised through slavery and we find that preachers preach today about works for salvation when they preach to our people; therefore leaving folks ignorant of the only way to Heaven. Then there was competition among slaves who preached for reward. And we wonder why we’re in the state that we are in today. Well much of it is our heritage. We don’t have many heroes. You see, we don’t have any Spurgeons for our heroes. We don’t have any Moodys for our heroes or the Rices for our heroes. But many of our folks have simply not made the effort — a concentrated effort to evangelize black America. Therefore, we get our heroes from who we see among the drug lords and the low down. We are religiously confused not only because of our heritage, but also because of our false hope. We live in a nation today that taught our people not to continue in righteousness but in civil rights. The hope of mankind is in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not civil rights. Black America tonight is religiously confused! I don’t like it. It grieves my heart, but it’s true. RACIALLY NEGLECTED Second, black America today has been racially neglected. Peter and the Jews had a real racial problem with the Gentiles. And I’m sad to say today, black America is where it is tonight because over the years many whites who know the truth neglected blacks.

And we’re paying for it now. And we’re wondering what to do now. You’ve heard the statement, “We’re all prejudiced.” That’s not true. Every human being on the face of the earth, black or white, is not prejudiced. I remember as a little boy I lived out on a farm in Tallahassee, Florida way back in the fifties. And my Dad had an old ‘49 Ford. He worked for $64.00 every two weeks and his boss owned a store in Tallahassee, Florida. When my dad got his paycheck, he signed it over that week to his boss who owned the store who charged us an exorbitant rate just to buy food. Then there is the week he got on what is known as a rolling store. He went out into the country area to sell these high priced foods. There was a little white lady who ran the store when he was gone called Mrs. Millie. We remember that day he went on a rolling store. He would drive that old ‘49 Ford through the woods and all he took from us or stole from us, Mrs. Millie gave it back to us. Do you know why? She wasn’t prejudiced. I remember the first time I ever saw a baseball game on a color television. Mrs. Millie gave my dad the key to her house which we watched when they were on vacation. We would sit in her home and watch the World Series. I remember in 1963, when I was a junior in High School; I went to work for Winn-Dixie in Tallahassee, Florida. I was the first black bag-boy ever to work for Winn-Dixie in the city of Tallahassee. There were nineteen other bag-boys there, all white, and I worked at the cash register, bagging. There was a little white college student. He was the best cashier in the store and I was the best bag boy. You put us together and we could shorten a grocery line real quick. There came a time when Mr. Dover, who was the store manager, needed a head bag-boy. He looked around and he saw nineteen white. But he saw that his best was a young black junior in high school. Guess who Mr. Dover made his bagboy? Yes, yours truly. Do you know why? Mr. Dover wasn’t

prejudiced. I remember after I became head bag-boy that I walked into the stock room one night and Ben came out. Ben was a big fellow. He walked out and he had blood all over his face. I said, “Ben, what’s the matter?” Well, he told me that there were four of the bag-boys waiting in the room to get me and I, (Ben) went in and took care of them for me. Ben wasn’t prejudiced. I remember walking down to the drug store back in 1963 when as a black you couldn’t eat there. And I remember seven of the bag-boys would go down there everyday to eat and they would order their food. I would go with them. When the owner put me out, they would leave. Finally, guess what? I was eating at the drug store. My seven friends weren’t prejudiced. INTENTIONAL NEGLECT Black America has been racially neglected first of all. Look with me at what Peter’s problem was. In verses 13-14, “And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord…” One of the problems in America today is that there has been intentional prejudice for years and it is still going on because there are still preachers all over America who are still saying, “Not so” and “Lord” at the same time. “Not so, Lord, for I have never.” “Not so, Lord, for I have never broken tradition.” “Not so, Lord, for I have never baptized one.” “Not so, Lord, for I have never really believed the great commission that says go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Black America has been racially neglected because of intentional prejudice. Let me illustrate what I am saying. A number of years, ago I talked to a preacher and he’s here tonight. I’m sure I won’t call his name. I won’t call the name of his church. I won’t call his city. But I’ll tell you what he told me several years ago. He said, “I will never encourage a black man in my church to win souls.”

I said, “Sir, why wouldn’t you?” He said, “Because if I encourage them to win souls, they will go out and win other blacks and bring them to my church and I don’t want that.” That’s intentional prejudice. There are members in his church that if they knew that would leave, and I’ll never tell them. Now let’s turn it around a little bit. In 1975 there was a black family that came to a church that was just a few years old in North Virginia. And the pastor of that church was faced with a problem of having a black family in for the first time. And as I understand the story, he called six well-known preachers in America and five of them said, I would not have them join my church. But the Holy Spirit of God told him God is no respecter of persons. And he went ahead and received this family into his church. And not only that, but God began to speak to his heart and told him that he had the responsibility of reaching black people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He led his church to start a black church. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, who he was going to start it with, but he just knew God wanted it started. In 1976, God led a young black man to his church who got saved, was called to preach, to help him start this church. Now I will call his name and I’ll name his church and I’ll name his city. He’s my pastor Dr. Bud Calvert of the Fairfax Baptist Temple. I want you to get a hold of something. What if he’d said (which he hasn’t done thus far), “Not so, Lord, for I have never received one.” “Not so, Lord, for I have never baptized one.” “Not so, Lord, for I have never broken tradition.” What if he’d said that back then? Where would I be? Where would the souls saved in our church be? What if he had say, “Not so, Lord?” You would not have heard this choir sing today. If he had said, “Not so, Lord” you wouldn’t see that group of people down there today. There wouldn’t be a

missionary church that supports missions all over the world if he had said, “Not so, Lord.” IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE The second problem is that there is an ignorance of the people. Peter had a problem understanding what creeping things are. I think if we all look back to where we came from, and realize that if it were not for the grace of God, where would we be today? I think we can all kind of identify with creeping things. We have people in the world today who for some reason think that applies to black people. I have a good friend (several good friends from the city of Cleveland), Mary and Debbie Stover, good friends of ours doing a work in the inner city. We used to go up and work with them for several years. I have a good friend in a great church up in Cleveland; young couple in charge of visitation. We went up to work in the inner city. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. The first year we went up there, I preached in the inner city, gave the invitation and forty people came down to get saved. And I had five workers including my wife. And I looked out for help and they were all crying. And I said, Come up and help me. And they all came up and helped me with the people that got saved that night. We got back on our van to go home and Ed Harris was driving that night. And in the middle of the street he stopped and was crying. The whole van started crying. We grew up in the country and we were poor and didn’t have a lot, but I had never seen anything like that — 11, 12, 14 year old people with 2 or 3 babies, drug infested. I mean the most deplorable situation you ever did see. I said that to say this — A good friend of ours came to our house, born and raised in Cleveland, went to a Christian school.

(I told her a number of years ago that I was going to use that every place I preached). But she sat at our dining room table one night and said this to me, “Bro. Baldwin, before we came to your house tonight we thought all black people were like the inner city.” That’s ignorance. A number of years ago, I worked with a white fellow from Fayetteville, North Carolina. We had him over to our house for dinner. We lived in an apartment then. He came to my house and we fed him dinner. He went back and he called his grandmother and said this, “Grandmother, I went to Lou Baldwin’s house and guess what? They live just like we do. They eat the same kind of food we do.” Do you know she made him quit his job and move back to Fayetteville because I think she saw he was among “creeping things.” Let me give you something that will help you tonight. There is an ignorance between our races in a lot of things. But we as black folks know you a little better than you know us. You see, my mom used to work in the white folks kitchen. A lot of what we learn, we learn from you. You don’t see a whole lot of white people in America trying to learn how to be black. But you see a lot of black people in America trying to learn the “American way”. And I think if you look at it realistically, we know more about the “American way” than the average white person knows about the black person in America today. If we don’t ever overcome this ignorance, we’ll never reach people for Christ. Often times, racial neglect stems from ignorance. And it gets worse — intentional prejudice. And we have a serious problem in fundamentalism today — we don’t know how to properly train and motivate a black man to reach his own people. We as fundamentalists don’t care anymore. What do I do? There are more black people in white churches today than any time in our

history; more black colleges today than any time in the history of our country. We’re not starting a lot of churches. We still don’t have more than a handful of good solid independent, Biblebelieving, Baptist black churches in America today. What’s our problem? Our problem is this thing has gotten out of hand. And we have a lot of drop-outs in the ministry today because they are independent. They have no example. They have no where to go. They’re defeated. They’re discouraged. And in the mean time hell is enlarging itself. We have a serious problem. I hear oftentimes (Oh this really hurts me), preachers say, the most spiritual men in my church is a black man who is called to preach. And yet my area is sixty percent black and I can’t reach it. Have you ever thought about it? Kicking him out and telling him to go start a church. Have you ever thought about that? I mean, kick him out. But get behind him and support him so he can get the job done. We’re mixed up. We’re backwards and we’re losing. Not only as black people are we losing, but our nation is losing. We need each other. We need some men like a Bud Calvert that will say, “I’m going to do what is right. I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I’ll leave it up to God.” And as humbly as I know how to say it, God did a good job. God gave him what he needed. I had a preacher (He’s here too) to tell me two years in a row — “The hope of America is in the black church.” Let me say that again — The hope of America is in the black church. Now if I believed that, do you know what I would be doing? I would be trying all I could to start black churches. I mean, if the hope of this country that our children should live or die for is in the black churches, we ought to be starting some black churches. That just makes sense to me.

Black America is religiously confused. It has been racially neglected. Those are two facts whether you accept them or not. But hey, I got some good news for you. Cornelius was religiously confused. As a Gentile he’d been racially neglected. But he heard about a fellow named Peter who had the truth. He said, go get Peter. And when Peter realized that the grace of God would save anyone, he got rid of his problem and gave the truth to Cornelius and his whole household. And when Peter started preaching to him the Word of God, he accepted the truth. READY FOR CHANGE I’m simply saying, black America is religiously confused, racially neglected, but it’s ready for change. And we as independent, Biblebelieving, Baptists have the truth and we just need to set aside our ignorance, our intentional neglect and we just simply need to get the truth out to a group of people who are ready — ready for change. How do you know that? The most receptive people I have ever talked to about the gospel, the Bible and the things of God are black people. Over many years, I’ve never one time had a black person to slam the door in my face when I told them I was from the church. When I was a young Christian, saved a few months, I used to knock on doors in Fairfax, Virginia. There were times when 4 out of 5 would slam the door. It got so bad I used to take a tract that had my pastor’s picture, knock on the door and held up the tract and say, “Hey, look, it’s not what you think. Here. Here. Look.” Black people are receptive to the gospel today. They’re ripe. They’re ready. We have a receptive people. We’re producing some mighty fine preachers. I’m in a prayer meeting from eight to ten every Saturday morning and one of the men would preach. I mean they handle the Word of God. They showed me up sometimes, and I’m their pastor. I mean, they stand there for 15

minutes and take this book and they preach it. They are soulwinners. They stand up for the Lord and all the demons of hell and the few that run around on the earth couldn’t convince them that they could not go out and build a church for God. You could never convince them that God hasn’t built the kind of church that needs to be built all over America, right at Crossroads. It’s kind of like when Mordecai told Esther that God had raised her up for such a time as this. He told her this early — you know God is going to deliver His people one way or the other. I’ve learned something over the past years – God’s interested in black people. The fastest way, the most effective way to get the job done is if all of us would use our God-given ability. That is all it would take to get the job done. But if not, God is still going to do it. He might have to go a little slower, but I guarantee you the next five or ten years I’ll never be able to hear that statement again — “I can count on my one hand…” I’ve heard some of the finest preachers on the face of the earth. They are black fellows. You see, they just believe. When I started in 1976, Pastor Calvert had a vision and had to convince me it would work. But see, you don’t have to convince them. They live it. They see it everyday. They see the workings of God. They see the effects of prayer. They know the power of God! When they go out you’ll never stop them! We have a receptive people. We have a reliable power. “But ye shall receive power: after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” That same power will get the job done today. I will tell you something else, we have the right plan. That’s building churches. A great problem today is that many of you independent Baptist preachers somehow think that you can reach

black people with less of a church than you can reach white people. I could reel off names from all kinds of schools and churches of men who have gone out, straight on the gospel and here’s a church sent a man out who didn’t believe the gospel, but he can be off on a whole lot of other things but he’s alright after all he’s going to reach “creeping things.” That is sad. God’s plan is the right man. He had better be God-shaped, God-called, God-compelled, Godconstrained, if he’s going to do something for God. He has to have the right manual. This Book — not just the gospels, but all of it. He had better have the right mission. I don’t care how black the church is, it still has to reach the world. I tell you something else, it had better have the right music. Were you not educated tonight a little bit about music? Now all your life you expect us to come in here and rock and roll. And some of you got educated tonight and some of you even got enlightened today because we’ve been told a lot of things that are not true. I think if we ever changed something, maybe we could change the methods a little bit. We might do things a little different with black people. But the man’s got to be right, the manual’s got to be right, the mission’s got to be right, the music better be right. But I’d have a little different methodology. But you’ll get the job done for God. Black America is religiously confused. If you’re a black person, I know you don’t like to hear that and I don’t like to say it. But it’s true. If you’re white here tonight, black America has been racially neglected. You don’t like to hear that, but it’s true. But if you know Christ today, you’d better realize that black America is ready to change. We have to join our hands and join our hearts tonight and realize that 37 million people are perishing without the gospel and not only are they going down, but our nation is going down. And I’m not asking you to go out and bus all the

black people in to your church. I’m simply saying, go out with a determination in your heart that it’s my responsibility to do it. God will work it out. Black America — religiously confused, racially neglected, ready for change! What are the choices tonight? We can stick to that old thing that’s destroying us by saying, “Not so, Lord, for I have never…” and we’ll all head down the drain. Or, we can do like Peter. The Holy Spirit told him to go nothing doubting. And in your area if you just go with a burden you would be surprised who God will save in your city to do what you don’t even know how to do if you just get right in there.

THE GREATEST INVESTMENT IN THE WORLD By Pastor Glendy Hamilton Rev. Glendy Hamilton is the long-time pastor of the Harvest Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida.

“Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is being interpreted, the Christ.” —John 1: 35-41 What is Life’s Greatest Investment? We find here how life’s greatest investment works. In Christ’s economy it has always worked like this and it always will. After Andrew met the Messiah, it was his responsibility to find and tell someone else of the Messiah, and on and on it goes. So we see that life’s greatest investment is the winning of others to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the word investment means to lay out something valuable in order that something of greater value will return. Now of course, God would not have us to lay out money and try to bribe people to come to Jesus. But what is even more valuable to

us than our money? It is our time. That’s right. If we are going to find people and bring them to Jesus as Andrew did his brother, we must invest valuable time in doing so. Sadly, many of us are not involved in life’s greatest investment. Why? Because we say we do not have the time. But do you know what? We find time for the things we want to do. And if we don’t have time, we’ll make time for it. Listen, time is our most valuable commodity and we must invest in it wisely. And there is no better way to invest our time than to invest it in sharing the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ with those who are lost. JESUS CHRIST: THE MESSIAH — THE MESSAGE. Make no mistake about it, Jesus Christ is the Messiah. There is no other Messiah! In John 14:6, Jesus Christ said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” If you plan to get to the Father, you must go by Jesus Christ. In John 10:9 Jesus said: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved…” Now dear brother, I say this with the utmost respect, Jesus Christ is the Messiah or He was the greatest liar ever. And I can assure you that He was no liar. He is not one of the Messiahs. He is THE MESSIAH! Not only is Jesus our Messiah, but he is also our message. After Andrew was saved himself, the text reads in verse 41: “He first findeth his own brother, Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias…” We learn from this that Andrew not only found the Messiah, but he also found his message. And he quickly began to share it with others. He thought that this was so important, that he invested his time in sharing this message — THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. And those of us who have the Messiah and

the Message must do the same. Allow me to share with you six reasons why every Christian should invest his time in sharing Jesus Christ with others: First, WE BECOME INSTRUMENTS OF SALVATION IN THE HANDS OF GOD When we invest our time in personal soul-winning, we allow God to use us as instruments of salvation whereby others may come to know him as Saviour. We must keep in mind that Jesus Christ died for all people. And it is an honor to be used as an instrument in His hands to lead others, that He died for, to Him. The second reason why we should invest our time witnessing to the lost is, BECAUSE OF ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES Turn with me to Galatians 6: 8-9: â&#x20AC;&#x153;For he that soweth to his flesh shall of his flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.â&#x20AC;? Basically he is saying there that you have an option. You can use your time following after fleshly pursuits or you can invest your time wisely in spiritual activity. If you follow the former, you will reap corruption. However, if you engage in the latter, you will reap eternal fruit. Many of us as Christians need to repent of squandering our time on fleshly pursuits and invest our time and energy in sharing the gospel with those who are lost. There are eternal consequences! If we invest our time foolishly, some may go to hell. However, if we invest our time the way the Lord would have us to, many will

spend eternity in heaven. Third, BECAUSE IT DEMONSTRATES OBEYING THE LORD’S COMMAND In the gospel of Luke chapter 6:46 Jesus Christ asked this question: “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” All Christians call Jesus Christ Lord, but few of us do what He says. There are some who say that Jesus never told me to go soulwinning. If you are one of them, you are not reading your Bible because Jesus Christ commanded all Christians to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” in Matthew 28: 19 and 20. Now if you are not doing that, why do you call Him Lord, Lord? Oh I hear some say “Well I just witness when the Holy Spirit moves me.” Many of you wouldn’t know the Holy Spirit if he sat down beside you. Jesus Christ said that the Holy Spirit would glorify Him. And what glorifies the Lord most? Our bearing much fruit. So that being the case, the Holy Spirit is always prompting us to witness to those who are without Jesus Christ so as to bring glory to God. We need to invest our time in witnessing for our Lord because it demonstrates our obedience to Him. Fourth, BECAUSE IT CARRIED OUT THE WORK OF THE CHURCH Look with me at the book of Acts chapter 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in

Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Do you want to help your local church? Do you want to be a blessing in the church, and not a hinderance? If so, you need to begin investing your time in the work of the church, and the work of the church is sharing the gospel with the world. Another reason why we need to get involved in Life’s Greatest Investment is BECAUSE IT GLORIFIES GOD In John chapter 15:8 Jesus Christ said: “Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” I think all Christians want to glorify God. But in order to do that, we must bear much fruit. I’m going to confess something to you. The last few years, I’ve had this goal of winning at least one person to the Lord per month. But the Lord started dealing with me about that, and I began asking the Lord to use me to win people everyday. You know why? Because God is glorified when I bear much fruit. Do you really wish to glorify God? Then get involved in life’s greatest investment. Sixth, BECAUSE IT DEFEATS THE DEVIL “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8). I am going to ask you a strange question. Do you love the devil? If you are a Christian I’m sure you don’t. But sadly many of us sometimes act like we do because we never aggressively witness

to those who are blinded by the devil. You must understand that every time we witness to someone and win them to the Lord, we in effect give the devil a black eye. Listen folks, if you want to help the devil out, then you stop telling others about Jesus. All you have to do to help the devil is keep your mouth shut about the gospel of Jesus Christ. But if you want to keep the victory over the devil, then get involved in life’s greatest investment. Get involved in soul-winning. The final reason why we should invest our time in sharing the gospel with others is, BECAUSE ANOTHER SAVED PERSON WILL PROVIDE ANOTHER LIFE WHICH JESUS CAN USE TO EXPRESS HIS GLORIOUS LIFE THROUGH You know you don’t hear much about Bro. Andrew. It seems that he was always working behind the scenes. He was always finding somebody. He found Peter. He found the little boy that had the little bag lunch. Andrew was always finding the right things. But that day he found Peter, it was a find indeed. Because after Andrew took him to Jesus, this Peter went on to become one of the greatest men in the history of the world as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Thousands were saved under his powerful ministry. But don’t you know that every soul that was saved through Peter’s ministry went to Andrew’s account because he was the man that brought him to Jesus. My friend, you never know who you might bring to Jesus. We must invest our time in bringing people to Jesus Christ. WHEN SHOULD I GET STARTED WITH LIFE’S GREATEST INVESTMENT? After you are saved yourself: You will notice in our text John 1: 35-41, that Andrew had met the Messiah first. In other words, Andrew got saved himself before

he began to witness to others. You remember the woman at the well and all the questions she had before she accepted Christ as Messiah. But once she was saved herself, she went back to the city and boldly told others of Jesus Christ. Friend, if you are not saved yourself, how can you tell others of Jesus’ saving grace? You can’t make the greatest investment until you meet the Messiah for yourself. Second, you should get started, after you have had communion and fellowship with the Lord: Notice in verse 39 of our text that Andrew dwelt with Jesus for some time before he went to tell others of the Messiah. You and I must spend quality time in the presence of our Lord before we can do an effective job witnessing for Him. I believe many of us spend too much time looking at TV instead of spending quality time in prayer and Bible reading. We must take time daily to commune with our Saviour so as to receive power from on high to do the job He wants us to do. Third, you should get started, After you have full assurance of your salvation: Notice with me verse 41 in our text: Andrew said to Peter, “We have found the Messias…” Now he didn’t say, we hope we found Him. Or we guess we found Him. He said confidently that “We have found the Messias…” Andrew was persuaded. He was sure that he was saved. He had no doubt. Brother, that is why I am able to tell the Yahweh group and the Jehovah’s Witnesses that they are nothing but cults. Because I know whom I believed in, and I am persuaded that when I die, I will see Jesus face to face. My hope is sure. Is yours? Do you have complete assurance of your soul’s salvation? If not, it will

be hard for you to make this great investment of witnessing for the Lord. If you are saved, ask God for peace and assurance of your salvation so that you can confidently share the gospel with others. Are you saved? Have you been with Jesus? Are you sure you have the only Messiah? If so, this is the time to make LIFEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GREATEST INVESTMENT.

TO HAVE SIGHT By Dr. Marshall Robinson Dr. Marshall Robinson is the long-time pastor of the Grace Baptist Tabernacle in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging: And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him. Glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.” —Luke 18: 35-43 In the black community, tonight, there is a tremendous need for sight. There is a great blindness, not only in the black community, but in America as a whole. But I am kind of like Paul. I am concerned about my brethren according to the flesh. I want all people to be saved, but I have a special burden for my people. I feel that God is doing something in the black community of America today. He is calling and raising up men that are taking a stand for the unadulterated Word of God. Now in this passage, Jesus came near the city of Jericho. This is an interesting city. Anthony had bestowed this city upon Cleopatra

as an expression of his devotion. Herod erected an amphitheater in this particular place. And then, this is where the nobles went to spend their vacations. But this scene here shows a beggar sitting by the wayside when Jesus was passing by. This beggar was blind. Now physical blindness is one of the most difficult things that a human can experience. But spiritual blindness is a disease certainly unto death, unless the light of the glorious gospel shine upon a person’s heart and heals them. There are many today who are blind and searching for the light, but the only light that they can find is second-hand light. This light is bounced and tossed about by the whims of wicked men. And they have done this down through the ages to condemn and to bind men’s souls to hell. However, there are still those who are seeking the true light. They are still by the wayside waiting for the true light to come by and shine on them. For many people it’s uncomfortable to be in a major crowd. And it is ten times worse to be in a boisterous crowd and not to be able to see what is going on. However, this man became excited when he heard the voices of the crowd and people passing by, nearly stepping on him. As they passed, he asked what was all the excitement about. And when they told him that Jesus was passing by, and he became more excited because he had heard about this Jesus of Nazareth. He had heard about the… CHARACTER OF JESUS There is no one who has ever possessed the complete character that Jesus had. Whenever someone met Jesus, they knew that there was something different about Him. It is good to know someone who is different, someone whom you can really trust and believe in. Thank God, Jesus is different from all other men.

THE GREATNESS OF JESUS Not only had he heard about the character of Jesus, but he had also heard about the greatness of Jesus as well. He had heard that Jesus was full of power. They had told him that Jesus was the one that stood on the deck of a ship that was rocking and reeling in a rough sea, and He had the power to calm the waves by simply saying, “Peace, be still.” He had also heard that this man had healed the sick and raised the dead. He had heard about this man’s greatness. THE CLAIMS OF JESUS And then, this poor blind man had heard about the claims of Jesus. He had heard about Jesus being the Son of God, and the Son of David. And as Jesus passed by he said, “O thou Son of David.” He believed what he had heard. And in that faith, he cried out, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” God, who made heaven and earth through His Son, and who by Him divided the light from the darkness is both able and willing through Christ to open the blinded eyes and minds of men to illuminate them with the glorious light of Heaven. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS — A HORRIBLE CONDITION This man’s condition is representative of all of mankind. All of mankind is in this position before they are saved. We are all poor and blind outside of Jesus Christ. We are utterly destitute without Christ! Each one of us here tonight have been blind before. We didn’t know our way. We were stumbling and crawling in the midst of darkness until someone came and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with us.

I never will forget the time I was in religion; not Christ mind you, but religion. For you know that we can be religious but lost. I was a deacon in a church, but I was blind and on my way to a devil’s hell. And a young man that worked with me on my job said to me one day, “Marshall, it seems as though that you are a Christian, but there seems to be some Galatianism in you.” Now I had never heard that word before. And I began to ponder and study. And I went home and pulled out some literature that I had. For you see, I was a Sunday School teacher, even though I was lost and going to hell. Then after I read my Bible and this literature, I began to see what this man was saying. You see, I was one of those religious people who knew how to say all of the right things, but in my heart believed something totally different. You know how it is when we get a little education under our belt, we try to circumvent a lot of things. We pride ourselves in being able to be diplomatic and side step certain things. Frankly, I thought I had gotten around that man. But I could not get around the Word of God. And the Word of God started pricking my heart and I began to realize for the first time that I was blind and needed Jesus to open my eyes. We were all in that condition once. Blind, Blind, Blind! AN ANXIOUS INQUIRY Not only was this man blind, but he had an inquiry. Hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. There are still crowds around today. Anytime there is something real religious going on you will find a crowd. You may not find the truth, but you will find a crowd. For example, you put on a feeding at the church, I dare not say a meal, because many people come to church dinners like animals. Yes, you put on a religious feeding, the people will be there. Since there was a boisterous crowd, the blind man had an anxious inquiry.

THOSE IN THE CROWD This multitude was around the Lord Jesus Christ. But who was in this crowd? Let me share with you some of the kinds of folk in that religious crowd, and unfortunately many of these people are in the religious crowd today. There is, first of all, the nominal Christian. They are always following Jesus. They are saved, but they don’t want to sell out. They really do not want that much of Jesus. They want enough to get to Heaven. They want the benefits, but not dedication. They want the crown, but not the cross. They want the glory, but not the suffering. They want to follow, but they want to follow like Peter did when they had taken Jesus to be condemned, i.e. “a far off.” They love following a far off. What about you tonight? Are you really close to Jesus? Have your eyes been truly opened and has Jesus become glorious in your sight? Then in this religious crowd one will find what I call the religious bigots. These are they who think they know it all. They think that they have all the answers. Yet they have cold and callous hearts toward Christ and His people. These are they who know the Word of God but they deny the power thereof. They look down their noses at poor souls who are really striving to know the Lord in a real and intimate way. These religious bigots really don’t want to be close to Jesus. And then in this religious crowd one will find the controversialist. This little group loves to fight. They love to find that which is controversial and cause a ruckus. Thankfully we do not have too much of that in our circles yet. And I hope we never will. Many of this group like to say things like, Oh that

should not have been put in the Bible that way. Many of these guys who try to find mistakes in the Bible, usually do not have a genuine concern and burden for the souls of lost people. And then, one will find in this crowd the ceremonialist. These are they who go to church every time the doors are open so that they may be seen of men. Their faith is not really in the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather in what they do. These, you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find in church when the chips are down and when the going gets rough. They will not continue to come unless someone is there to give them a pat on the back. This crowd just does things for show and to be applauded of men, not for the glory of Jesus Christ. Because of a religious crowd like this, you see why an honest seeker like this blind man has to cry so loud. He had to cry loud enough to get through this largely phony crowd. This man had lost his sight but he had his hearing and he had his tongue. And he used them both. And I believe that is what we all should do. If we were to put to proper use what we have, we would find ourselves perhaps richer than we could imagine. There are still great multitudes around Jesus Christ today, and somewhere in that crowd, there are a few who are willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Jesus Christ. Have you seriously asked what the multitude around Christ meant that day. What does it mean to you today? What does that crowd mean? That crowd means that there are lost souls around Jesus. There are lost souls around churches today. And we that know and have the truth should be seeking to reach these dear people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. CRY OUT LOUDER There is something that we as Christians can learn from this blind

man and that is found in verse 38. This blind man, by faith, knew that Jesus Christ was the Saviour, and inspite of the crowd rebuking him and telling him to be quiet, “He cried out the more.” And that is how we ought to be. The more the devil, the flesh and the world tells us to shut up and hold our peace; we ought to cry out the more so that others who are blind can receive their sight. Jesus is the only one that can give sight! He is the only one that can save us. Jesus is the only one that can set the captive free. The more they rebuked him, the more he cried. Why did this man cry in the way that he did? Because he was conscious of his desperate need and he was aware that the remedy was at hand — “Jesus of Nazareth passes by.” To this blind man, this was the “accepted time,” and he took full advantage of his present opportunity. You see, the scripture tells us, “Today is the day of salvation.” Unfortunately, a lot of people put it off until later. You don’t know about tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Don’t try and wait for a “convenient season.” Your convenient season is right now. Jesus said it is today. Then He tells us “harden not your hearts” as they did in the wilderness. If you are lost, you need to cry out to Jesus right now. This man cried out to Jesus and he received his sight. You can too. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

GOD’S REMEDY FOR SOCIETAL DISINTEGRATION By Dr. Aaron Lavender Dr. Aaron Lavender is the pastor of the Grace Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” —John 3:14-21 The gospel of John is perhaps one of the most exciting books in the New Testament. John doesn’t waste any time dealing with the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, he starts his book with power telling us that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” And so he is teaching us about the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and why this man named Jesus came into the world.

When we get to the third chapter, we find that wonderful but unique interview Jesus had with the religious man named Nicodemus. And Nicodemus came to Jesus and inquired and flattered the Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus as was His custom always goes to the heart of the issue. And the heart of the issue has not changed over the last nineteen hundred years. You see, what man needs more than anything else is not religion. He needs Jesus. And so the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t waste any time thanking Nicodemus for the wonderful compliment that he gave Him in verse 2, but He comes to the issue in verse 3. And He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” So the issue of chapter 3 is how to see the kingdom of God. How is it possible to perceive it, and to also inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus deals with Nicodemus. And what is interesting to me is that this religious man is quite ignorant in terms of his own religion. And Jesus always refers people back to the written Word of God. And he is somewhat amazed that Nicodemus, being a Pharisee, doesn’t even understand these simple ABC’s of salvation. When we get to verse 14, Jesus is giving an illustration as to how and why He came into the world, and the results of His coming into the world. Now mind you, we are dealing today with all kinds of teachings regarding the reason why Jesus came. There are some who purport that Jesus came to set up a welfare program. But I take issue with them. That is not why my Saviour came. There are others who would have you believe that Jesus came to raise dead folk from the grave. May I remind you that Lazarus was not the only dead man in the grave during Jesus’ time. There are others who would purport that Jesus came to feed all the hungry people of the world. And I take issue with them on that because that’s not why He came! O, He didn’t even come to show us how to die for a good cause. In fact, Jesus stated why He came

100

— “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” And so when we get to chapter 3, that’s the chapter that deals primarily with Jesus coming into the world to die on the old rugged cross to save us, not just from sin, but also from Satan and from ourselves as well. And so, I want to look at this matter of God’s remedy for societal disintegration. Now I want to share before I actually give the full substance of the text what I believe to be the root cause of societal disintegration and then the effects. First, THE CAUSE FOR SOCIETAL DISINTEGRATION Look with me at verse 9: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness…” This is the root cause of societal disintegration. You see the Bible speaks out on the issue of sin. For instance, two things the Bible says about sin: First, sin is universal. Sin jumps over all racial barriers and socio-economic barriers. Sin is universal! And it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, how old you are, how colored you are, you’re a sinner born in sin! Romans 3: 10 — 18 teaches the universality of the sin problem. The second thing the Bible teaches about sin is that sin corrupts the whole person. It doesn’t just corrupt part of the person. It corrupts the whole person. This is why the prophet Jeremiah summed it up in his message in the seventeenth chapter when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” The hard-headed man is sick with sin. So we are essentially dealing with a society that is totally corrupt. There is nothing good to say about our society because the whole man is sick. Now I am not saying that there are no good things happening.

101

What I am saying is it can’t be counted as good until God is added to the agenda. So sin corrupts the whole person. But the funny thing the Bible teaches about sin is that sin is condemned. Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Look at John 3: 18: “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already…” In other words, those who are a part of sin, those who are corrupt are already under the condemnation of God. They are not coming under the condemnation of God, they are already under the condemnation of God. God has already made a judgement. He’s already given the sentence on sin. It is death! So the root cause of our problem today is not a socio-economic problem or an environmental problem or a color problem. It is a sin problem! This has nothing to do with how much money you have in your pocket. You’re born with a sinful nature! And it sure doesn’t have anything to do with your environment. Can you prove that from the scripture? I’m glad you asked me. Yes, I can. My Bible tells me in the first two chapters that God made a perfect environment. The environment that God made, He said was good. And a look at the Hebrew word means perfect — everything is in its proper place. Then God put man in the garden; this perfect environment, and in just a little bit of time man spoiled God’s perfect environment. You and I are not products of our environment. The environment does not make us. We make the environment. And if you got a problem in your environment, it’s because the problem is in your heart and not in your surroundings. So we’re not dealing with a socio-economic, environmental, racial problem. We’re dealing with a sin problem! As one preacher said, sin has nothing to do with the skin; it’s a matter of the heart. And so the root cause of our societal disintegration is that every person is born with a corrupt, depraved, miserable, poor, naked,

102

blind nature that needs to be saved. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness…” That is the reason. The reason why we kill in Kansas City is because of darkness. The reason why the drug traffic is growing in Kansas City is because of darkness. Don’t you be bewitched by these charlatans who come on the news and tell you that all our children need is a job. Yeah, they need a job, but they need a heart change. All we need to do is put more money back in society. Listen to me. What good is it if I’m going to have more money in my pocket, walk outside and my neighbour hits me upside my head and takes it! See, what man needs is to be changed from the inside-out. Not from the outside-in. So the root cause of societal disintegration is sin. Notice some effects. It says here in verse 19 that “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” If sin is in the heart it’s got to surface in the life. You can’t keep sin a secret. That’s how deadly it is. That’s how demoralizing it is. That’s how disintegrating it is. It will be seen! And I want to show you tonight just three or four areas of breakdown that I see. A BREAKDOWN OF OUR MORAL STRUCTURE (The Effects of Sin) There is a breakdown in our moral structure today. Now I don’t know how things are in Atlanta, but I guarantee you that they are very similar to the way things are in Kansas City, Missouri. There is a breakdown in the moral structure. Fornication is in D.C., Orlando, Chattanooga and many other places. Sin is everywhere. There’s a breakdown in the moral structure of our society. Fornication, so-called “safe sex,” adultery, teenage pregnancy, homosexuality, lesbianism, abortion, pornography, phone sex, and the media — all of these things have borne witness to the fact that the laws of morality have been torn down.

103

A BREAKDOWN IN OUR FAMILY STRUCTURE There is a breakdown in the family structure. My heart bleeds for families. The problem in the African-American community again is the breakdown of the family structure. You see I happen to believe that if you get the family on target, then everything else is going to work out because the family is what makes up the church, and the school and the government. Don’t get mad at D.C. Work on your family. You get the family together you got something going. The divorce rate is increasing. No commitment to the marriage vows. People stand before the preacher and say for better or for worse but under their breath the young lady says, “till somebody better comes along.” Or at least she stands there and says, well, he ain’t going to get any better and he is already as bad as he’s going to be, so I’m going to hang in there as long as I can. But as soon as the first glimmer of problems come, I’m going to leave. That is a shallow commitment. We have weak families, and because we have weak families we have weak churches. Because we have weak families, we have weak school systems. Because we have weak families, we have a weak governmental system. And so there’s a breakdown of the family structure which is the result of sin. BREAKDOWN IN THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE There is a breakdown in the political structure. These things are not new to you. You know them better than I do. I think that the political climate today stinks — even in the holy nostrils of God. Stinks! And I think that many politicians are liars. They feed on the people and line their own pockets while others struggle along. We have a preacher who is the mayor of our city. The honorable Rev. Whatever. (I’m not going to say his name.) I had a meeting with that man. I was concerned about the homo-sexual issue.

104

Some other religious leaders met with the mayor face-to-face. Everybody sat around scared to ask the man a question. Well, I got a big mouth so I asked the man a question. I said, “Sir, What are your convictions about homosexuality?” He said, “Why do you need to know that preacher?” Well (You know the Lord supplies wisdom when you need it), I said, “Well you appear to be a good man and so far you have done a tremendous job as mayor of this city, and as a preacher, from one preacher to another, I know that preachers operate on convictions. I know that if you have a conviction, one thing is right or wrong that will not sway you. You will be like that whether in your home, whether you’re in the mayor’s office or whether you’re in the pulpit. So I just wanted to know what is your conviction about homosexuality.” Then he started stammering and coughing and all of that. He said, “I have read through the Bible and I am convinced that God makes people like that.” I said, “I don’t have anything else to ask you.” I started to say, I didn’t vote for you anyway. So we said, “Why would you condone this thing and sign it.” He said, “Well, I didn’t sign it.” “You didn’t?” He said, “No. I was in Severn, Spain.” “O.K.,” I said. “Well the mayor’s secretary signed it and she had to get authorization from somebody.” Then another preacher said, “Mayor, had you been here would you have signed it?” He said, “Yes.” He said, “I have a cousin and God made him a homosexual.” I had nothing else to say. I will picket. I will sign petitions. I’ll do whatever it takes to get that thing overturned from our city. They left another state and decided to have their annual convention in our city because we have a mayor that is sympathetic. The political structure stinks! Because I know he gets in his pulpit and preaches another way. See, a man or woman of conviction will stand their ground no matter what the situation.

105

A BREAKDOWN IN THE RELIGIOUS STRUCTURE And then, of course, there is a breakdown in the religious structure. I don’t have to go into any details here because anything goes today. When it comes to the cult population, it’s increasing, churches are dying, people are no longer committed as they used to be. So I want us to look at this text and there are two things that I want to explore in the text. First, I want to look at the historical significance of the text, and secondly, the spiritual significance of the text. Notice what Jesus says in verse 14-15: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so shall the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In order to get the historical significance we need to turn to Numbers 21: 5-9. Notice in verse 5 we find Israel’s sin that brought on the wrath of God. Notice verse 5: “And the people spake against God, and against Moses...” The first thing we find is insubordination. You know a lot of folk are insubordinate to God and proper constituted authority today. They speak out against God. They have the audacity to stand and speak out against God and His man. Insubordination! That’s followed by murmuring. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Sounds familiar? Kind of like us, right? Then that is followed by ingratitude. There is no bread here. You know they lie here because that was not the truth. Anyway, “...for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread (angel food);” this coriander seed that just happens to fall from heaven on the ground. In other words, this sin was so deadly in the eyes of God that He

106

had to judge. Now what bothers me about this is that we are very similar. Here is a people that God has blessed. He has raised up a leader. He got them out of Egypt. He opened up the Red Sea. He gave them His laws. He gave them water to drink. They still had the nerve to stand and say to God, God you ain’t doing your job right. That is just like us because we too get filled with insubordination and murmuring and ingratitude. But this is the sin, the straw that broke the camel’s back. God had mentioned His nation even while they were in Egypt and now they get to the point where they are shouting, we’re tired of this. We want something else. God said, I got it for you. You want something else? It’s coming. Notice God’s response in verse 6: “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” You won’t do right, I’ll take care of business, God said. So God responds to their disobedience and He sends these fiery serpents to go amongst the nation of Israel and they bit many of them, and many of the people of Israel died. Thank God He doesn’t operate like that today. Can you imagine that? God sending out the serpents biting us until we die? God is a gracious God. Now what I find interesting about the nation of Israel is that whenever God turns up the heat then they want to confess and repent. Kind of like us. Notice in verse 7 there is confession and repentance: “Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned…” O really? “...for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee; pray unto the Lord…” Please Moses, do something! “...pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.” Notice also God’s response to Israel’s confession. By the way,

107

this is the conditional response. Verse 8-9: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” God’s remedy was conditional for a sinful yet repentant people. Here’s essentially what God is saying, God is trying to show them that the very thing that brought sin into the world, the semblance of the same is going to take sin out of the world. It was a serpent that brought the disease and a serpent was going to take the disease away. Now God is teaching us something here. This has a spiritual significance. So, I’m going to ask you to go back to John 3. God is good, isn’t He? Praise the Lord! Let’s look at the spiritual significance of the text. We’re talking about God’s remedy for societal disintegration. Society has been bitten by the serpent of sin, and folks are dying and walking around. They’re dead and they are walking around like zombies. They’re dead! They’re dying by the dozens. Our black men are dying by the dozens. Do you understand that? Thirty six percent of all the young black men in Kansas City are either on drugs or in jail. Is there an answer? Homes are being torn apart. Is there an answer? Drive by shootings — one a week in Kansas City? Is there an answer? There must be an answer to this problem. God tells us what the answer is as we look at the spiritual significance of the text. Notice verse 14: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness..” We’ve already looked at that. That was the historical significance.

108

THE REMEDY FOR SOCIETAL DISINTEGRATION Now notice the spiritual significance, “...even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Here’s what I am saying. God’s Son, the Son of man must be lifted up. He was lifted up. And the emphasis is on the must. “...even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Man’s condition demands that the Son of man be lifted up! And just as the serpent brought the problem to Israel, the serpent took the problem away. And just as man brought sin into the world, only man can take sin out of this world But it’s going to take somebody more powerful than this preacher. Because I can’t even save myself. So who is it going to be? Let’s take a vote. Anybody here willing to die? Anybody here powerful enough to save man from sin? O but we hear thundering from the book of Galatians chapter 4, where the apostle Paul says, “When the fullness of time was come,” Praise God. “God sent forth his son, made of a woman.” Jesus Christ is the answer to man’s problem! And Jesus Christ alone! So he says here, God’s Son, the Son of man must be lifted up. That’s the answer to societal disintegration. Jesus Christ died for our sin in-order to bring folk to God. Let me show you what I’m talking about. God’s Son, the Son of man was lifted up. Jesus died on the cross. Thank God for that. First Peter 3: 18: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God…” That he might bring us to God. That’s why He died! That’s why He came. He didn’t come to preach. He came to save! Praise God! He was a great preacher. But just Him preaching is not going to save me. Somebody has to be put upon a pole so that I can look at it and live! Somebody! Man himself cannot do it! It’s going to take somebody who is perfect, somebody who is holy, harmless, unblemished, and only Jesus fits that bill. This is why John deals with the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he wants us to know that He is God, and there is not one flaw in Him. There is

109

not one speck of darkness in Him. This is why I John 1: 5-7 teaches us, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” — No, not one itsy, bitsy, little bit. There is no darkness in God! And so only Jesus could come and give His life. A lot of folks died before Jesus died. Jesus was not the first man to hang on the cross nor was He the last. But that was the first time the Son of God, died on the cross; the one who became the philanthropic person of Christ, the God-man. It was the first time that Jesus, the Son of God, the only time and the last time that He died. Moses lifted up that pole in the wilderness only once. He didn’t holler out every first Sunday, we’re going to lift the pole up tonight folks. We’re going to lift it again. No! Jesus Christ died once in order to bring us to God. So God’s Son, the Son of man was lifted up, and I thank God for the death of Jesus Christ. O praise God for Calvary! That sacrifice fully paid for my sin and your sin, making it possible for man to be reconciled to God according to Second Corinthians five. But not only do we find God’s Son, the Son of man lifted up, but the second thing we find is that man must look in order to be saved. Look back at the text. John 3: 15-16: “That whosoever…” I love that word. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The emphasis is also on the must and it calls for whosoever. It does not matter what sin you have committed. You are a whosoever! And if only we could take this message to the world. Don’t get angry and all bent out of shape at society if you and I are not going to go out there and make a difference! Shame on the church of Jesus Christ! Always

110

talking about how much truth we have in our churches. We have the truth. We preach the Bible in our church. Let me tell you something folk, this Book here is great, it is powerful, it is authoritative, it has the answer to the problem of every human being. I believe in the total sufficiency of the Word of God. And if this is the answer, if this Book has the message of truth, if this Book tells that I have a responsibility to let the dying world know that there is a God who loves them, then I have that responsibility and so do you. So the emphasis is on must. Men must look to the cross in order to be saved. I wonder how many Israelites chose not to look. That doesn’t make any sense; telling me he’s going to put a brass serpent on a pole and I’m to look at it. That doesn’t even make sense, does it? They probably said I am not going to that meeting tonight, and they never went to another meeting. See, this calls for heart belief: belief that one is a sinner, belief that Jesus can save you, belief that Christ’s death is sufficient. There are folks who are not looking and who choose not to look and say I don’t understand that. That does not negate the responsibility of the church, and so I say today that there is an answer to society’s problem and His name is Jesus Christ. We don’t need drug rehab programs, we need saved people. We don’t need new housing programs, we need new people to live in those houses. We don’t need a new educational system. We need people who want to be educated. The newness comes from inside. People need to be born again. All these self-help programs are a dime a dozen. God’s only remedy for societal disintegration is Jesus Christ.

111

112

DID JOHN SEE YOU? By Rev. Tommy Steele Dr. Tommy Steele is the long-time pastor of the New Life Baptist Church in Concord, North Carolina.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is

113

the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” —Revelation 5: 1-12 A preacher had a heavy burden to see a certain man get saved. He visited this man time and time again, but the man just would not give his heart to Jesus. Some way, someone let this preacher inside this man’s house when he was not home. The preacher took some 4 x 8 cards, and he wrote on those cards the question “Did John see you?” And he placed them all over the man’s house. He went inside the kitchen and put one on the refrigerator, “Did John see you?” He put a card in the hallway. He went to his bedroom and put a card on his bed, “Did John see you?” Then he put one in the children’s room. He put one in the living room, “Did John see you?” Finally, he placed a card on the phone, “Did John see you?” He then placed his telephone number beside his phone and then left. Later, the man came home, and everywhere he looked he saw these cards with nothing on them but the question “Did John see you?” Struck with fear, he immediately called the preacher and said, “Preacher, I don’t understand. What do you mean, ‘Did John see you?’” The preacher said, “I figured you would be ready to call me by now. I read in the Book of Revelation, chapter four, where John was caught up in the Spirit, and he saw into the future. And he saw the saints of God around the throne of God rejoicing and praising God forever and forever, and I just wanted to know when John looked into the future that day, DID JOHN SEE YOU?” DID JOHN SEE YOU? We find in Revelation chapter five, that John, the beloved, was caught up in the Spirit of God. John saw in the future the saints of God rejoicing and praising God and having an old fashioned

114

fit around the throne of God. I don’t understand you folks that can’t shout because you’re saved. Brother, you can go to a ball game and sit there, but if somebody gets that ball and run a touchdown, you’ll shout. You’ll shout over Michael Jordan. You’ll shout over “Magic” Johnson. “Magic” Johnson and Michael Jordan didn’t die for this preacher’s sins. If I can shout over a ball game, I sure can shout because I’m going to heaven! Amen! Old John saw the future. He saw the throne of God. He saw God sitting on His throne and that precious Lamb of God that was slain from the foundation of the world. John heard them say “Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy to open the book.” I tell you, my friend, if anybody’s worthy, Jesus is worthy. I thank God today that my Saviour is not dead. He’s alive and well. I often go on soul-winning visitation and people talk to me about Sweet Daddy Grace and Mama Grace, but nobody can save you outside of Jesus Christ. You can’t talk to me about Mohammed and Buddha, because all of those men died and they’re still dead and are burning in hell. But thank God, my Saviour went out to the cross almost two thousand blessed years ago; yes, He hung there and bled and died for your sins and for my sins. They put Him inside of a tomb and they tried to put guards around to protect that tomb. But thank God, that precious Lamb of God, said, Nobody can take my life. I lay it down and I have the power to raise it up. The blessed Saviour on that glorious day came out of the tomb and kicked the devil in the face and said, I am he that was dead but I’m alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and hell. I want to ask you this question, DID JOHN SEE YOU? John is the one who tells about a place we’re going to go to in Revelation 21 where there’s no more tears and no more death, no

115

heartaches, and no more burdens. It’s all passed away. But, did John see you? I guarantee you one thing — He saw me. You say, I think I’m a hot-shot because I’m a preacher. Oh no, I was a child of God long before I became a preacher. Being a preacher didn’t save me. I got saved through the Blood of Christ. THE INVITATION I want to give you several things today. First of all: THE WORD OF GOD GAVE ME AN INVITATION! The reason I taught on this thing called emotionalism lately is because I want you to know what you’re shouting about. There are some of you who want something to come and hit you and run up and down your spine so you can know you’re saved. But I don’t care if I never shout, bless God, I’m still saved. I didn’t get saved by my feelings. I got saved by faith in the Blood of Jesus. Some eleven years ago, Mrs. Steele and I were joined in Holy Matrimony. I stood before the preacher and the preacher looked at me and said, Son, do you take this woman to be your wife? I said, I sure do as good-looking as she is. He said, Ma’am, do you take this man to be your husband? She said, I do . So we were announced husband and wife. When we got married we felt good. But after being married for a while, there are times when as husband and wife, we have disagreements. I could say, I’m not married anymore. I’m getting out of here. I don’t feel like I’m married. I didn’t get married by how I felt. It was the words that put us together, and it was sealed in a marriage license. Many blessed years ago, the Bible gave me my invitation to God. Old Danny Willis took the Word of God and showed me that I

116

was a sinner and on my way to hell. I got down on my knees on the way to hell, but, when I got up I was on my way to heaven. He showed me the way to God. Look at I John 5: 10 and 11: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” You say, I know some folks that used to have it but they lost it. No, you know some folks that never had it. This is a perfect Book and this Book gave me my invitation to go where John went so John could see me. Amen! This is a perfect Book. This is a pure Book. It’s a holy Book. Look at Proverbs 30:5 and 6: “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Old Voltaire was an atheist. He said before this generation passed, the Bible will be outdated. Well now, Voltaire is dead and in hell and the Bible marches on. Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. Folks will come and folks will go, but the Word of God will keep marching on! The Word of God gave me an invitation. John 6:37: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Brother, I can’t get out once I get in. GOD’S GRACE MAKES IT AVAILABLE Ephesians 2:8 and 9: “For by grace are ye saved through

117

faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.” Some people today want to boast. They want to stand before God and say, Lord I made it in. But you’ll not get to heaven and boast about what you did. You’ll get to heaven and boast about what Christ did. They sing a song, I’m climbing up The rough side of the mountain, Doing my best to make it in. You can get mad if you want to, but I’m not climbing any mountain doing my best to make it in. Almost 2,000 years ago my Saviour climbed the mountain to make it in. Now, I’m trusting Him to get me in. Grace made it available! If you’re saved by the grace of God, you didn’t get saved by joining the church. You did not get saved by getting baptized. You didn’t get saved because you got some feeling. But you got saved by grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found: Was blind but now I see. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3: 12: “...there is none that doeth good, no not one.” Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” II Timothy 1: 8 and 9:”Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God:

118

Who saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” Thank God, the same grace that saves me is the same grace that keeps me. Some people today say you were saved once, but you’re not saved anymore. Your problem is you never got saved. His grace has brought me safe thus far And grace will lead me home. Some of you feel so down and so low that nothing can bring you up. But you never get so far that grace can’t bring you up. Romans 5: 20: “Morever the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Isn’t that good? Brother, grace made it available, and no matter who you are, what you’ve done, where you’ve been, grace can save you. JESUS: THE REASON John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Some dear folks today have been calling on the wrong person. Some of you have been calling on Daddy Grace and Mama Grace, but He didn’t say that’s the way to get there. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” That’s the way to get to heaven. Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” There is no other name! There is no other way! There is no other truth! There is no other life! Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth

119

and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” I was a nobody, but now I’m somebody because Jesus made the difference. Second Corinthians 5: 17: “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new.” Let me tell you why the old things aren’t passed away yet. Because it says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ.” It did not say, therefore if any man be in the choir. You see, some of you have been in the choir, some of you have been on the usher board, or the deacon board, but you’ve never been in Christ. If you get in Christ, you’ll become a brand new creature, and the old things will pass away and all things will become new. THE WAY IN WHICH I WILL GO Second Thessalonians 4:16 and 17: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Some of you ask how fast are we going up. First Corinthians 15:51 and 52: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Some of you have been “raising Cain” in your family and putting down those that believe, but one of these days you’ll pull up in this parking lot here at New Life Baptist Church, and you’ll ask, Where is Brother Tommy? Where are those old bus captains? They should have been here by now. Bless God,

120

while you are down here cursing and fussing, I’m going to be shouting. The trumpet is going to sound and we’re going to leave this place. AN APPOINTMENT I don’t have to look at my watch. I don’t have to call and make the appointment. It’s already been set. I have an appointment with the King of kings. You say, what are you going to do? You see, one of these days, I’m going to leave this place. The Bible says in verses 55 – 57 that this is what I am going to say: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When Jesus died on the cross, He took the sting of death in Himself and you that are saved, the sting of death cannot bother you. In Psalm 23:4 David says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” Where there is a shadow, there’s got to be light. Jesus, the light, will be right there and death will be just a shadow to you. When it comes time for this preacher to die, death will be just a shadow. I won’t be afraid to die because death has been conquered in Jesus. When I got saved eleven years ago, I was put on a lay-away plan. Jesus said, I’ll be back to get you. I’ll be back! I’m going away, but I’ll be back to get you. You say, He hasn’t come back yet. But He will! He’ll be back. And when He comes back, He says, “where I am, there ye may be also.” When John saw those elders shouting around the altar, saying “Worthy is the Lamb,” did John see you?

121

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another thing that John saw in Revelation twenty. John saw a great White Throne Judgement. He saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened. He saw people cast into hell. Did John see you shouting around the throne, or did John see you cast into hell? When you die, you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go to the grave. The body goes to the grave, but your soul, which is the real you, steps forward if you never trusted Christ, and goes to hell. Now where did John see you? Did he see you around the throne shouting and praising God? Or did he see you being cast into the Lake of Fire?

122

APPENDIX OR OTHER SIGNIFICANT STUFF 1. On “Being Saved” by Daniel Whyte III 2. Things You Ought To Do After You Enter Through The Door by Daniel Whyte III 3. Things To Remember In The Ministry by Dwight Scott 4. Is Afrocentricism A New Religion? by William Banks

123

124

ON “BEING SAVED” By Daniel Whyte III While growing up in a very religious and church-going family, I often heard the phrase “Being Saved.” Now to me and my peers, “Being Saved” was a rather spooky and mystical thing, and only the real holy folk could be such — whatever it was. I was under the impression that anyone who went up and took the chair after the preacher said, “The do-o-o-rs of the church are open,” was saved. And then, if a person got baptized he got a little more saved. And then, if they really got a dose of this “Being Saved” stuff, they would follow a set of rules like not drinking and smoking. And these really saved folk would also engage in shouting and/or speaking in some unknown tongue on Sunday mornings. Now if a person was considered a hard case, he would have to be put on the mourner’s bench until he saw a vision or felt some kind of a change. Then, he was considered saved. Even though I was raised in this religious environment, I was still rather doubtful about this thing called “Being Saved.” I just could not buy what people said “Being Saved” was. I always had questions in my mind about this matter such as: Saved from what? Saved to what? Was a person saved to live a sinless life? Could a person ever lose this savedness? If so, how and at what point? It wasn’t until I was a grown man and in the Air Force that these questions, along with a host of others were answered. I finally found out what it really meant to be saved according to the Holy Scriptures. Allow me to share with you what “Being Saved” really means. But first, let me share with you what it does not mean. WHAT “BEING SAVED” DOES NOT MEAN I am a firm believer that before a person can fully grasp and appreciate truth, error must be exposed for what it is: error. Here

125

are some things many believe “Being Saved” is, but is not. 1. Having your name on a church roll does not mean that you are saved. A person may be a good standing and long standing member of a very fine church. He may attend that church faithfully. But if he hasn’t been saved, he will go to Hell with the vilest of sinners. For the Bible states in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” 2. Being baptized will not save you. There are many baptized people in Hell. I was baptized at the age of twelve, but I didn’t get saved until I was nineteen. Baptism is a very important aspect of the Christian’s life, but one should only get baptized after one has been saved. This is to testify to others that you are identifying with Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. The penitent thief on the cross was saved, but he never got baptized before he died. The Apostle Paul told some Corinthian believers this in I Corinthians 1:17: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” Brother Paul would not have made that statement if baptism was necessary for “Being Saved.” 3. Being able to speak in an unknown tongue does not prove that one is saved. Speaking in tongues is not evidence of being saved. In I Corinthians chapter 12, Paul asked some rhetorical questions regarding the gifts of the Spirit that demanded some very obvious answers: “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” The obvious answer to these questions is an emphatic NO! If everyone does not have the gift of tongues, it stands to reason that tongues are not necessary to be saved. 4. Trying to keep the law, much religious activity, and keeping the Golden Rule will not save you. One can’t keep the law because all have broken the law at some point in their

126

lives. For the Bible states in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” One may be a preacher, a deacon, an usher and still not be saved. One could shout, dance, sing in the choir, work on every auxiliary in the church and still die and go to Hell. Why? Because religious activity, no matter how much, no matter how sincere, does not save a soul. For the Bible says in Titus 3:5: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” 5. Seeing a vision or feeling a change at some time in your life is not a basis for “Being Saved.” True salvation is not based on sight or emotions, but rather on the eternal, infallible Word of God: the Bible. Now the Holy Scriptures state in the book of II Corinthians and Hebrews respectively that “We walk by faith and not by sight…” and “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” 6. To be born into a religious family does not assure that you are saved. Just because your grandparents and parents are saved or religious does not mean that you are automatically saved yourself. It is a fearful truth that every man will have to stand before the Judge of the universe for himself. Psalm 49:7 states: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him…” In short, none of the above are ways of “Being Saved.” There is only one way of being saved. Allow me to share it with you now. WHAT “BEING SAVED” REALLY MEANS Error being exposed, truth can glisten like a beautiful diamond on the backdrop of black velvet. In order for one to be truly saved, one must first: 1. Recognize the fact that he needs to be saved. Or realize that he is a sinner and totally unable to save himself.

127

Let’s face a cold, hard fact. We all have sinned. We all have done something wrong in our lifetime. Everyone born into this world since Adam, with the exception of Jesus Christ, has transgressed the Word of God. The Bible states in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not.” And the Bible also says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” 2. Second, one must realize the fact that there is a horrible punishment for those not saved. That penalty, that punishment, is a place called Hell. Hell is as real as the house you live in, the clothes you wear, the water you drink. Now, whether you believe that there is a Hell or not, it really doesn’t matter because your unbelief will not change the fact that there is a Hell. For the Bible says, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” If you would investigate the Holy Scriptures, you would find a myriad of verses regarding that awful place. For example, King David said in Psalm 9:17: “The wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God.” Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:22b: “...Whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire.” He also stated in Matthew 25:41: “Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” So, friend of mine, there is a very severe punishment for the unsaved and their sins. And that is a place called HELL. 3. The third thing that we must recognize is that God loves us very, very much. “God is not willing that any man should perish” (II Peter 3:9). God loves us so much that He gave His only Son. As the Bible states: “...God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Someone once said, “That if anybody ought to want to go to Heaven, it ought to be black folk with all the trouble we’ve seen.” So if it is our desire to bypass that awful place called Hell (and it should be), we need to realize that God loves us more

128

than we love ourselves. And He has made a way for us to escape. And that is by simply believing in the person and accomplished work of Jesus Christ, plus nothing, minus nothing. Now the way for us to apply this to our own lives is to be willing to repent (that is to change our minds about sin), and do as Romans 10: 9-13 says: to simply believe with your heart that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose again for your sins, and then call upon the Lord in prayer and ask Him to save your soul. And believe me, He will. Romans 10: 9-13: â&#x20AC;&#x153;That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.â&#x20AC;?

129

130

THINGS YOU OUGHT TO DO AFTER YOU ENTER THROUGH THE DOOR By Daniel Whyte III Dear Friend, this article is primarily for people who have already entered through the “Door” of Life by accepting Jesus Christ as their Saviour. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour as of yet, please do so today by simply believing in Jesus Christ — that He died for you, that He was buried and rose again — and by calling on His Name to save you: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). Jesus Christ said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). I am convinced that there are many people who have entered through the “Door,” that is, they have been truly saved, but, sadly, no one ever sat down with them and told them correctly what they should do after they have entered through the “Door.” Getting saved is most important, but what you do after you are saved is very important as well. Following are seven things that you definitely need to do after you are saved: 1. Get Baptized. Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” It is very important that you obey the Lord and follow Him in Believers’ Baptism. Even if you were baptized at another time in your life, if you are just now truly getting saved, you still need to be baptized again because you were not saved the first time you were baptized. You see, we don’t get baptized to be saved; rather, we get baptized because we are saved.

131

2. Join with a good church. Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Let’s face it: everything that says church on it is not necessarily a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. For there are many false churches and teachers in the world. Below are some marks of a good church: A. The pastor preaches from the Word of God — the Bible — and he strives to practice what he preaches. B. The church stands on the basics of the Christian faith. The basics of the Christian faith are: • The Bible is inspired by God • The Deity of Jesus Christ • The Blood Atonement for sin by Jesus Christ • Salvation by Faith in Jesus Christ • The imminent Return of Jesus Christ C. An emphasis is placed on reaching out to others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. D. The love of Jesus Christ is shown. These are just a few marks of a good church. Pray and follow the Lord’s leading. 3. Allow yourself to be trained. Matthew 28:20: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” This will mean that you will have to humble yourself and listen to your pastor and those he appoints to help you. You see, becoming a Christian is something totally new to you and there are many important things that you will have to learn from others who are trained and have the experience.

132

4. Pray daily. Luke 18:1: “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint.” You will find that regular prayer unto God will be one of your greatest sources of strength, power and blessing. 5. Read your Bible daily. Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” As they say, “When you pray, you talk to God. When you read your Bible, God talks to you.” Do you want to live a vibrant, strong, useful and successful Christian life? Then you will want to read and meditate on your Bible daily. 6. Witness for Christ daily. Acts 1:8: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Jesus Christ commands us to witness for Him. One of the greatest joys you will ever have in this life is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with another person. A greater joy is to see them come to know your Saviour as their Saviour. So plant the seed everywhere you go and allow God to use you to “turn many from darkness to light.” 7. If you are willing to follow Jesus Christ as one of His disciples, pray with me the following prayer: Holy Father, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ please forgive and cleanse me of all sin. Create within me a pure heart and a right spirit. Please help me to do the things that I just read, and grant me your grace to be a Christian that will glorify your name. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen. Congratulations on entering through the “Door” of Eternal Life by believing in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Trusting Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour is the most important thing you will ever do. Now that you are saved, let’s live for the One who died for us. God bless you as you serve Him.

133

134

THINGS TO REMEMBER IN THE MINISTRY By Rev. Dwight Scott Rev. Dwight Scott is the pastor of the Bannister Road Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

It is very important to the minister that he keeps in focus his calling, his purpose, and his goal in serving the Lord in his church. This world has many distractions that can cause us to lose our bearings in the work of the Lord. The Holy Spirit in Colossians 1: 23-29 gives us what we need to stay on course. In the cockpits of airplanes, there are all kinds of instruments and gauges. These are there to guide the pilot when he, by senses (sight, hearing, etc,) cannot follow his flight path. So, likewise, the Bible is our instrument to guide us in our ministry when we, by our feelings and senses, do not know what to do. Remember that at all times you are a minister of the gospel (verse 23). This verse tells us not to move away from the hope of the gospel â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes in our desire to reach the lost, we think we must change the message or meaning in order to reach people today. Our methods may change, but our message should never change. Remember that the ministry will involve suffering (verse 24). I am glad that God did not reveal to us when we first surrendered to the ministry the sufferings that we would endure because of the ministry. We may have declined the calling. Spiritual maturity will not cause us to like the suffering, but it will help us to endure and understand the sufferings.

135

Remember that the ministry is a stewardship (verse 25). Paul was reminding us that what we have is given to us from God. It is given to us from God for the saints. This is done to fulfill the Word of God. He promised to give shepherds that would feed them. He promised to give pastors, evangelists and teachers for their edifying (Eph. 4:11-12). Remember that the ministry still involves a mystery (verses 26-27). Because of the gospel message, we can now be excited in this ministry to want to see Christ in people. Paul is an example of what Christ in a person can be. According to Second Corinthians 5:17, it made him a new creature. Don’t just visualize people in your church, nor visualize the offering increasing, but visualize people in Christ. Many are in churches who are not in Christ. This is true salvation when Christ is in a person. Remember that the ministry has a goal (verse 28). The goal of our ministry is to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” This is not an argument for sinless perfection, but rather for completeness and maturity that comes from being full grown in Christ. People in Christ should grow up. Preaching, warning and teaching every man in all wisdom is our ministry also. The goal is many times lost because we do not use wisdom. Our constant prayer should be for wisdom, as Solomon prayed for, to bring the people to maturity. I can say that through a lack of wisdom I may have hurt some faithful people in Christ that I could not bring to maturity. Now there are many people in Christ that will not allow you to bring them to maturity; those you must warn. Remember that the ministry involves work (verse 29). The ministry is not for the lazy person. You and I must be willing to put out sweat, blood and tears for the work of the Lord. Our Lord did just this for you and I. But at all times, remember that human effort alone is not enough to fulfill this ministry. “He worketh in

136

me mightily,â&#x20AC;? is what we need to fulfill this ministry. John 15:5 says that without Him we can do nothing. What a wonderful ministry He has entrusted to us. Are you enjoying this ministry, even when the going is rough? Check your perspective on your ministry.

137

138

IS AFROCENTRICISM A NEW RELIGION? By Dr. Williams Banks Dr. Banks has faithfully pastored several churches down through the years. He is also a former professor at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and he is a renown author and conference speaker.

I think Afrocentricism is a new religion with its own “prophets:” Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B. DuBois, Mr. Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Ron N. Karenga, Nat Turner, et al. Obviously, this new religion does not care how one lives or what its leaders do without repentance, so long as they fight for the “liberation” of Blacks. Take for example, M. K. Asante’s sickening praise of Nat Turner. This professor at Temple University appears to have a complete disregard for the value of human life — in the interests of Afrocentricism! But whoever heard of the Hagiology of Hell? You recall that in 1831, Nat Turner, along with sixty or seventy other slaves, killed approximately sixty whites in Virginia. In turn, angry Whites murdered about two hundred innocent slaves, in addition to killing Turner and hanging about twenty of the rebel slaves. So we are talking about more than one hundred and eighty lives taken! In addition to more suffering imposed by Southern Whites because of the rebellion. Does Afrocentricism teach it does not matter what one does in the fight against the White man? Is the rallying cry, “By any means necessary!” Is murder, therefore justified (Exodus 20:13)? Is Nat Turner a saint? Dr. Asante goes on to state that unlike Christianity, Afrocentricism does not make “us submit to a strange

139

God...a white Jesus who does little for our image.” Afrocentricism makes claims that only the God of the Bible can keep. For example: “Afrocentricism is the centerpiece of human regeneration.” According to the Bible, men are regenerated by the Holy Spirit through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And listen to this claim: Afrocentricism “is a transforming agent in which all things that were old become new and a transformation of attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviour results.” Compare this with II Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.” Millions of people can attest to the transformation wrought in their lives by the Lord Jesus Christ, but who can claim the same for the Afrocentricism? How sad it is then to have Afrocentricism exalt itself while putting Christianity on the same level with Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Marxism, and claiming that Afrocentricism can stand its ground among any idealogy or religion. The beliefs espoused here by this leading Afrocentrist, Dr. Asante, cannot be reconciled with Biblical Christianity. His stance is anti-Christian! Beware of this new religion. WHAT AFROCENTRISTS SHOULD BOAST ABOUT Israel is a good example of what happens when a people puts structures and ritual before God. Jehovah spoke through Jeremiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgement and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 9:23-24; II Cor. 10:17).

140

Having found it necessary to destroy Israel’s reliance upon the temple and its sacrifices, and going through the motions of performing rituals, it was incumbent also upon the prophet to undermine any confidence the Jews had in their leaders. And so Jeremiah states: “From the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely” (8:10). Now the seer turns his attention to the people themselves. He weeps for his people, Judah. Morally, they are adulterous, treacherous, liars, slanderers, deceivers. They are ignorant of God, and refuse to know Him. Such is the moral corruption and ruin of the nation described by Jeremiah 9: 2-8. Because of their idolatry judgement is forth coming, inescapable, devastating! What can the wise man do? What escape is there for the mighty warrior? What shall the rich man do? The answer is: Nothing! There is only poverty in man’s wealth; weakness in his strength; and ignorance in his wisdom (for they have rejected the word of the Lord, Isa. 8:9). The only thing that counts in Israel’s time of crisis is the knowledge of the Lord’s gracious dealings with the children of men. God’s moral consistency is the antidote for Israel’s infidelity. There is then but one way leading to safety, and that is through knowledge of the Lord. But man, prone to self-glorying, seeks to be independent. Indeed, the desire to stand on his own two feet, apart from God, is one basic attitude of the fool. Man wants to be in charge, not have God in command. So Jeremiah informs us that all human boasting is to be stilled before Almighty God. The Bible speaks much against bragging or self-glorying. Nothing escapes man’s blighting pride. Ben-hadad boasted of achieving victory in war; Goliath boasted of his strength and military prowess; Absalom was proud of his beauty and long hair; Jezebel

141

boasted of her determination to capture and kill Elijah; Naaman boasted of the rivers in his own country; Nebuchadnezzar boasted of the glorying of his kingdom. Christ talked of the Pharisee who boasted of his tithing and good works; still others boast of gifts they have not given; and of their plans for the future (Prov. 25: 14; 17:1; James 4:16). Men even boast of the very things of which they should be ashamed (Phil. 3:19). Now the text in Jeremiah 9: 23-24 mentions three things of which men boast: wisdom, might (or strength), and wealth (or riches). However, these are not to be the objects of our bragging! What then should men boast about? That they understand and personally know the true and living God, the Lord who delights in the lovingkindness, justice and righteousness which He exercises upon the earth. Our present study of Afrocentricism leads us to add to the delusive objects in which men confide and pride themselves. Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idolatry failed the nation. Eurocentricism has failed to satisfy the hunger of the souls of the Whites. Eurocentricism has not saved the White man from ruin. Witness what is taking place in what was Yugoslavia and Russia. In other citadels of Eurocentricism (including America) there is evidence of moral deterioration: abortion, racism, crime syndicates, suicide, fraud, homosexuality, pornography, alcoholism, AIDS, etc. It is amazing to encounter Blacks who think their suffering because of Racism in America somehow eradicates the old nature in them. So that once given the opportunities afforded Whites, the Blacks will not make the same mistake Whites have made.

142

This is naïve, and is one reason “Afrocentricism is Eurocentricism in blackface.” On the other hand, the person who comes to know Jesus Christ is enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit to practice steadfast love, kindness, justice and righteousness towards others — and that regardless of skin color. Afrocentricism imparts no such power, not even to its adherents to practice among its adherents! For sin is no respecter of skin. But what is paradoxically amazing about this boasting in and about Jesus Christ is that in itself it is a humbling experience. And from what I have observed, humility is not an ingredient of Afrocentricism. Let us take a cue from Jeremiah, then. Away with Afrocentricism! Away with Eurocentrism! Hold high the banner of Christocentrism! For what we ought to do is boast in God all the day long (Psalm 44:8). Yea. “God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14). “He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord” (II Cor. 10:17). NO FLESH NO HOW! To my mind, one of the verses which devastate the concept of Afrocentricism is first Corinthians 1:29: “That no flesh should glory in his presence.” This scripture leaves no room for misinterpretation. There is to be no deification of race, no glorification of flesh, in the presence of God. Since God is omnipresent and omniscient, it means the end of all such boasting of “humanity in its mortality or sinfulness.” Consider the context for a moment. One of the major problems in

143

the Church at Corinth was the wrong concept of wisdom. The members were impressed with their own importance, selfsufficiency and wisdom. Saints there must learn that had it been left up to human wisdom and worldly standards of success, they would not be in the church at all. Their calling, their conversion, was in no way influenced by their station in life, their culture, wealth, learning or success. For the God of the Bible sees all men as sinners, whether down and out or up and out. We are still out — out of Christ, out of His will, out of Heaven. And without cleansing in the shed blood of Jesus Christ men will suffer permanent lockout! Paul said: “For you see your calling, brothers, how that not many of you are wise men after the flesh; not many of you are mighty, not many of you are noble.” This was true, for the constituency of the Corinthian church was composed of slaves, freedmen, and for the most part, people considered insignificant. But note the apostle Paul did not say, not any but not many. Not all the wise and mighty and noble are unwilling to surrender to Christ. The point is, their wisdom, education, wealth, success, power and prestige are not required in order for them to be converted or saved, and made citizens of Heaven. What counts is the calling of God, and that summons to enter the kingdom of Grace is not influenced one iota by worldly success and standing, skin color or race. When Christians are aware of this, it helps them to see that their calling is solely God’s gracious gift. Now the Lord’s reason for doing it this way is in order that no human being might boast in His presence. He chose the foolish things to confound the wise. Thus the wise could not boast of their academic training, education, knowledge and scholarship. He chose the weak things to confound the mighty. In this way,

144

the men of power, position and prestige could not boast. He chose the base and despised nothings and nobodies to bring to nothing the high and noble. In this way no one could boast of his family background, descent, or racial heritage. What folly that men should boast of that which was given to them! (I Cor. 4:7). The genes inherited, the place of birth, the color of skin, the era or times, the gifts bestowed, stature, etc., — what DO we have that was not given to us? And if given or received, why are we boasting? Where then is the basis for Afrocentricity? There is none, except in the minds of men who are puffed up with pride, and who deliberately seek to ignore the Word of God and the claims of Christ. The Lord has so fixed it that no flesh — black, white, brown, yellow or red shall boast in His presence. And this principle should be a warning to all who seek to exalt themselves or their race, culture, or skin color or Afrocentricity. All racism is a form of glorying in the flesh. The principle with which we deal here is illustrated throughout the Bible: God uses weak instruments to demonstrate His power. Search the Scriptures and see. In Exodus He spoke from a burning bush to a runaway murderer, and sent him to the king of Egypt armed only with a rod in his hand. In the book of Numbers a donkey saw an angel, turned aside and saved the life of Balaam after speaking to the greedy prophet. In Deuteronomy 7, God announced His choice of Israel was not based upon Israel’s number: “for you were fewest of all people.” In Joshua a prostitute hid two spies who had come to Jericho. In Judges a tent peg in the hands of a woman snuffed out the life of Sisera. And Samson used the jawbone of a donkey to

145

slay a thousand Philistines. In first Samuel 17, a smooth stone was slung from a young shepherd’s sling felled a giant. In first Kings 17 ravens brought bread and meat to the prophet Elijah. In second Kings 5, a Jewish girl informed the wife of a Syrian Commander in Chief of God’s prophet who could cure leprosy. A dead man touched the bones of Elisha and was brought back to life. In Jeremiah, an Ethiopian servant recovered God’s prophet from the dungeon of mud. In the gospel of Matthew, a poor obscure unknown peasant girl, a virgin, was found with child of the Holy Spirit. She conceived brought forth her firstborn child and His name was called Jesus. In the gospel of Luke, a poor despised beggar whose body was full of sores and who ate the crumbs fallen from the table of the rich man, died and was carried to the bosom of Abraham. In the gospel of John, five barley loaves and two small fishes obtained from a small boy were used by our Lord to feed about 5,000 men, plus women and children. In the book of Acts it was an ignorant, unlearned and poor Peter and John whom God used to restore a man lame from birth. It was a man whose physical ailment or thorn in the flesh rendered his bodily presence weak and whose speech was considered contemptible; this man, the apostle Paul, was used mightily of God. Finally, it was to an old man, banished and exiled on a little island, to whom God granted the Revelation of things to come. This then is God’s way of doing things. Though the flesh forever attempts to boast in God’s presence, it really has nothing in which to glory. “It only thinks it has, it only deceives and cheats itself.” It does not matter whether you are Black or White, despised, rejected, a second-class citizen, blind, old, young, cripple, in prison, weak, feeble, etc. If you accepted the precious blood of

146

Jesus Christ, God can use you for His praise and glory. Will you surrender to Him and let Him use you for His glory?

147