Message June 11, 2020

What would a world without God look like? When a people leave God out of their lives and omit Him from the problems of living in this world, the result is what we have seen the past few weeks. Without God we live in a world where a policeman, sworn to uphold the law, would take a life needlessly of another human being. George Floyd did not deserve to die that way and at that time. Without God we live in a world where instead of prayer and faith, we turn to looting in the streets. Burning buildings, stealing, and wreaking havoc in so many ways. Without God, we elect governmental leaders who talk as though they may be out of their minds. Truth for them no longer matters, right is relative, and whatever it takes to stay in office is the right thing to do. Without God, it becomes obvious that every life is not precious but expendable. Beginning with unborn babies, they are done away with; in one city last week 65 people were murdered. On Monday of this week in the same city a record number of killings took place. If one desires a world without God, then we have clearly seen what it looks like.

Through the darkness of the past weeks, we have seen glimmers of light. Some Good Samaritans (Christians) go quietly through the city streets cleaning the trash, washing the graffiti off walls, etc. Prayer meetings are held such as ours in Dequincy last Thursday. Godly men and women calling people to turn to God rather than to revenge, hate, and destruction.

The message should be loud and clear to the churches of America. So many have become a place of fellowship and entertainment only. The truth of the Gospel is often secondary to everything else the church offers. That sounds scary and it should. Many will disagree with my assessment, but it is undeniable when we step back and look. If the churches to include FBCDQ and our sister churches in DQ were being effective with the Truth, our nation would not look like a world without God.

The church is infected with much of what we’ve seen in our world. People attend the church of their choice based on comfort, entertainment, fellowship, and etc. As a pastor of growing churches in the past, I used to say loudly that to grow, we have to have good restrooms, parking, and a great nursery. What I left out was the Gospel truth that I took for granted. But the fact is, most people who attend church today do not focus on the Gospel, but on the other stuff. Hear me, BAPTIST: It is urgent that we focus on the TRUTH. We may have failed at living out the truth very well, but it will never be lived if ignored. Everywhere I’ve lived, I have known Baptist who attend other churches where they say they “Don’t agree with their doctrine but love the music, or they have many friends there. That is a great example of why the world is so messed up. We don’t rally around the truth but around what makes us comfortable. If you or I were a Catholic and believed as a Catholic, it would be out of the question to attend a Baptist Church because we liked their music and had friends there. Doesn’t what we believe mean anything? If you or I was a Pentecost and believed as a Pentecost, how could we attend a Baptist Church just because we liked the pastor or had a friend there. Again, doesn’t what we believe mean anything? If we are Baptist and believed in SALVATION BY GRACE only and SECURITY of the SAINTS in the Hand of God, how could we worship as a Pentecostal who rejects that view of Scripture. More than one has explained it to me this way, “I just take what I can believe and leave the rest.” I guess that means we can join the Mormon church and still be Baptist or Pentecostal or Catholic. I guess we can become Muslim because we like to pray 3 times a day on our knees. I guess the TRUTH of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ just isn’t as important as our feelings and our opinions.

Message June 16, 2020

As I said last Sunday, “All TRUTH IS FROM AND OF GOD”. But His truth is often ignored or not recognized in this very secular world of ours. In our courtrooms witnesses place one hand on the Bible, raises their right hand, and “Swears to tell truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Then they call on the Name of God for help in doing it. If they fail to do so, it is called perjury. This common scene tells us a lot about human nature. We must swear to tell the truth under penalty of law because we are prone to lies, half-truths, and inuendos. Perjury is a crime derived out of necessity in that man will often not tell the truth. Jack Nicholson in the movie, “A Few Good men” made famous the words, “You can’t handle the truth”.
Is that why people speak lies instead of truth? I really don’t think so. Unless one is mentally ill, all lies told are for a reason. One is to hide a sin committed; another is to get something desired; some are told to get revenge or to hurt someone. There are many reasons people tell lies and not one of them are legitimate.

There has to be TRUTH in this world somewhere. Is it in textbooks written by revisionists historians, or in books that constantly change with scientific discoveries? Is it in government and politics where we see some degree of dishonesty on a regular basis. Where is the TRUTH? We must have the TRUTH! TRUTH does indeed exist if only because lies and deception exists. Without TRUTH there would be no lies because that would be all we know. Again, where is TRUTH? The only place I personally trust for TRUTH is the BIBLE, GOD’S WORD. It states that God is TRUE and Jesus came to earth make known HIS TRUTH. Some self-proclaimed theologians may deny the Bible as TRUE. These are people who just decide without any evidence or study that they don’t believe. But I must say there are men like Blaise Pascal, Billy Graham, Bill Tolar, David Jeremiah, Ravi Zacariah, and multitudes of other men and women through the ages who stand on the TRUTH of the BIBLE. I think I will side with them rather than the old country boy who doesn’t or the atheist who is loved by God but has chosen not to accept nor believe.

TRUTH is FROM GOD. All truth is from God. Peter says in Titus 1:2 that it is impossible for God to lie.
Jesus said, “I Am the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life and no man cometh to the Father but by Me.” That statement alone divides all the saved from all the lost. If this statement of Jesus is not true, then we are in deep trouble. This statement is so profound, it MUST BE TRUE. Acts 4:12 agrees with it when the writer says, “There is none other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved.” When God is speaking we hear TRUTH! Wouldn’t it be refreshing if Congress and the cities of our land would stop and listen to God and come to believe the TRUTH, the WHOLE TRUTH, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH?”