Sunday, September 24, 2023 AM

The Apostolic Greeting and the Setting of the Message

Our brother Dean Tucker to come preach for us this morning. He's been a faithful minister of God's Word for many decades, I won't say how many, and we have greatly enjoyed his fellowship. Brother, we're looking forward to the Word of God.

Come.

Preach it. He doesn't follow orders very well because he asked me what I'd like for him to say in an introduction. He didn't say a word of it. I wanted him to tell what a great guy was and all that, but he knew better than to approach it that way.

But I am grateful to be here this morning, thankful for the Michael and the elders for giving me this opportunity to be before you. Just a word or two before we get into our passage. It's been a blessing to be able to be here with you, my wife and I, Marsha, for the last few months for many reasons, for certainly the exposure and teaching of the Word of God that we've received, and to be able to worship again with a young man that was under my ministry from diapers up to about 19 or 20 years old, Brother Ryan Mounts, one of your elders.

I know there's a few rough edges you've had to knock off, but we did our best. And so it's been great to be here and to renew our fellowship together and so forth. And then this morning we're grateful for a couple to be here, came here from Velma, Arkansas this morning.

They were in our ministry when I was pastoring the First Baptist Church of Hydro out west. We got to talking about that earlier and someone reminded us that it was approximately 50 years ago. I can hardly believe that.

When we drove up, Brother Jim and Kenite and his wife Sarah, Jim was getting out of the truck and Marsha said, You suppose that's him? I said, Well, I don't know. His hair certainly has changed a lot.

We haven't seen them in several years. We've communicated some over the phone, but we're so thankful that the Lord has brought them here this morning. A few weeks ago, the Lord put me on Brother Jim's mind and he just texted me.

We communicated a few times and told him I'd be preaching here this morning and he said, Well, we're gonna come. And so we're thankful for their being here this morning. Well, we're going to share with you some things this morning out of the book of First Thessalonians.

So if you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn to that epistle and stand with me and watch, follow along as I read the scriptures from First Thessalonians. I'll read the entire chapter. First Thessalonians chapter one.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.

Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God, for our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.

For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

This is the word of God. Let's pray. Our Father, we are thankful to you this morning that you are all that you are, God of gods, sovereign, supreme, Lord over all, creating, sustaining, maintaining, guiding and controlling all things under the word of your power.

We thank you for this morning for your excellency and your greatness, for your majesty and your glory. We thank you for giving us as weak vessels the opportunity to handle your word, and we do not take that lightly, but we know that we are only able to do so by the person of the power, the presence of the Holy Spirit.

And so we ask this morning that he shall be free this morning to guide us in our thoughts, in our words, in everything that we say and do, that he shall guide us into truth. For, you know, we do not want to instruct in error, but Father, where something may be said that might not be quite the truth, may you snatch it from us and not let it go down deep in us, but let us speak the truth and let that truth go deep into our hearts and spring up into everlasting life for the glory and for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it's in his name we pray.

Amen. Be seated. We want to take just a little time to do a little background on the letter to the Church of Thessalonica, and we do so by turning to the book of Acts in chapter 16 and 17. Acts 16, if you remember, was the time that the Apostle was there, and the Lord gives us an account of several individuals who the Holy Spirit touched and called and brought into the church.

We find in Acts chapter 16 that there was a group of women meeting by the riverside, one whose name was Lydia, and as the Apostle began to speak to them the truths of the Word of God through Jesus Christ, they received that truth.

The Bible says that the Lord opened Lydia's heart to that truth. A little later, as they were thrown into prison, we find that the Philippian jailer who was attending their cell came to them because of the angel opening the door of the prisons, and he said he was going to kill himself, and Paul said, do yourself no harm for we're all here.

He came and he fell on his knees, and what must I do to be saved? So we find that these things were taking place by the power of the sovereign God in Philippi, and then a little bit later there was a vision that came to Paul to come to Macedonia, and so following that instruction he went to Macedonia, and during the course of that travel wound up in Thessalonica.

I think it's interesting to find that the Holy Spirit was so guiding and directing them that in places he said they wanted to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit refrained and would not permit them to go.

They wanted to go to another place. The Holy Spirit restrained and would not let them go, but now we find the will of God that they wind up in Thessalonica. And just a quick statement as to what he proclaimed to them in Thessalonica when they reached there in chapter 17 verse 1, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.

That was his message. I did a little bit of a survey of the Book of Acts a few years back. Well, what was the message of the apostles as the Lord sent them out from place to place to proclaim his word?

And over and over the Bible says they preach Christ, they preach Christ, they preach Christ. And so here we find that the message that the apostle preached as he went to the synagogue, as was his custom, he went there three Sabbath days and he preached Christ, that he had to suffer and rise from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.

And from that simple message, we find that the Holy Spirit moved within the hearts of individuals and a church was formed at Thessalonica. Now, as we understand it, he was only there three Sabbaths. Now, that was the whole duration of his time among them or not, we can't be for sure, but it appears that it was.

Just three Sabbaths there in Thessalonica. But my goodness, when you read the epistles of first and second Thessalonians, the things that were taught to them in that short period of time are amazing. We find that in just writing down some of the great truths that were presented to them, number one, the Trinity was presented to them.

The Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the function of the Holy Spirit was preached unto them. The second coming of Jesus Christ was proclaimed to them. As a matter of fact, in both first and second Thessalonians, in every chapter of those two epistles, something is said of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fourthly, the day of the Lord is taught in chapter 5 of first Thessalonians. Fifthly, there was assurance that was presented to them in chapter 1 and verse 5, how the Word of God came to them and the power of the Holy Spirit, the assurance that it would to give to them.

And then in chapter 1 verse 9, repentance that was made, how they turned from idols to serve the living and true God. In chapter 1 verse 4, they were taught of election. Eighthly, they were taught of the resurrection in chapter 4 verses 14 through 18, a great section that says, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who fall asleep, that you sorrow not even as others who have no hope.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to be with them in the Lord.

We'll ever be with him. And sanctification was presented to the little church. And then lastly, there was a great deal that spoke of the Christian behavior in chapter 2 verse 12, walk worthy of the vocation to which you are called.

And so those three Sabbaths were certainly not wasted as the Apostle Paul, Silas, Timothy were with them. And I assume that in those three Sabbaths that the messages presented lasted longer than 30 minutes.

I just assumed that. I'm not real sure. Maybe even longer than 45 minutes that they were there on those Sabbath days, absorbing the Word of God. And I'll tell you, brother, Paul must have been in the third heaven during that period of time, though his feet were still on the earth.

What a joy it must have been to him to be in this group of people who were absorbing the Word of God like a sponge and was giving them so much to cut their teeth in and to rely upon in his absence that would soon come to them.

Now I've seen a fourfold outline develop in the first three verses of the chapter, and that's where we would like to focus our attention this morning. And this fourfold outline covers the position of the believers, the provision that God makes for believers, the prayer that is spoken for them, and proof that they are indeed the elect of God.

The Believers' Position in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

First of all, the position. We found back in verse 1, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's their position. They are in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I wish I knew how to explain that, what it means to be in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know that I have the words to do that. I've tried, I've read, I've listened to others who have tried to explain what it means to be in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have some other passages of scripture that may help us a little bit. First of all, this was exactly what Jesus prayed for in his high priestly prayer in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. In John chapter 17, beginning in verse 15, he says, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one.

Now for whom is he praying? Well, first of all, he's praying for those whom God has given him. I pray for these, these that you have given me out of the world. First of all, certainly the apostles, the disciples that are there.

And secondly, that particular prayer extends, no doubt, to today, to you and I. But he says, I don't pray that you take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I send them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone.

That's where we come in. But also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us. That the world may believe that you sent me.

And the glory you gave me, I've given them, that they may be one, just as we are one. I in them, and you in me. That they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you've loved me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.

What an interesting passage of Scripture. That they may know that you love them, even as you have loved me. I stand amazed this morning at that great statement. How the Father, God the Father, could love me as he loved his own son.

My disobedient, rebellious spirit, and yet his love upon me. Not for any merit, nor for any worth that was found in me, but because he chose to love me. Because he set me aside from before the foundation of the world to set his love upon me, and to love me as he loved his own son.

But Jesus Christ is praying that they may be one, even as we, Father, are one. You in me, I in you, and they in us. Let's read another passage of Scripture that's very interesting to me on our position in Christ.

Ephesians chapter 2, and beginning with verse 4. Ephesians chapter 2, and I'll begin reading in verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us. I think sometimes I'm afraid that we as believers and constant, consistent, church-going people become underwhelmed at some of the statements of the Word of God.

I'm afraid we read some of these statements and and we just kind of blow past them. But we think again on the great love of God. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us.

What a wonderful thought. And don't ever pass over the little but-gods of the Scriptures. Over and over. The Lord put me in a study several years ago in El Reno on the but-gods of the Scriptures. And you find if you read the first few verses of this chapter, it describes us in our natural condition.

It describes us in our depraved, sinful condition. He says in verses 1 through 3, We're in big trouble. It's an understatement to say man has a problem, isn't it? Has a problem before God. But this is the problem that we all were in before God.

Until that but-God comes into play. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you've been saved, and raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

What's my position? I'm in Christ Jesus. How did I get there? Oh, I made a decision. How did I get there? Well, I walked down the aisle. The preacher told me if I walked down the aisle, he'd meet me halfway and he'd get done.

Preacher told me, if I made part of a move, God would make the rest of it. I made a decision. I did this, I did that. How did I get in Jesus Christ? God put me there. He raised us up together. He made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Folks, that's now. You say, no, I'm sitting here. Yeah, I see you sitting here. But we're seated in Christ Jesus, in the heavenlies, because God has placed us there. In verse 7, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, for by grace you've been saved for faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. I know we're in the world and Jesus says, I don't pray that you take them out of the world. I don't know why he didn't do that. Wouldn't you like to be out of this world?

This world is no friend of God or God's people. But he left us here and he said, I pray you'll keep them from the evil one. So we have that hope and assurance that he's keeping us from the evil one. But notice Colossians chapter 3.

The apostle says, if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things that are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Where are we? Our life is hidden with Christ in God. That's our position. That's what God, that's where he has placed us.

And again, I don't know that I have the words to try to explain. Our life is hidden with God in Christ. There's some interesting words of Galatians 2 .20 when the apostle said there that I have died, I've been crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live, I live by the faithfulness of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Explain that one to me. I died, I'm alive.

Well, there's a death to sin. There's a death to the old man. There's a crucified man, but there is a living man and it's centered on the living life of the Lord Jesus Christ who now indwells me as I am in him.

Some of these things I hope he explains when we get to heaven. I hope we're a little sharper, I'm a little sharper, I put it that way, than I am here so that I can understand it better when I get there.

That he by his grace alone has placed me in himself and in the son. Whatever it means, it's got to mean it's better than being in the world. It's better than being in the old dean. It's being in that new creation that God by his grace has formed and developed.

Well, we go back to 1 Thessalonians and we look again just a little bit at how we actually got there. Of course, God placed us there. And how and why did he place us there in himself and in the son? Verse four explains that, knowing brethren beloved, your election of God.

Here again, we don't want to overlook the word beloved. Some of the translations may say brethren loved by God. And indeed, there's nothing wrong with that translation. Brethren beloved, your election of God.

Oh, the Bible tells us that Jesus came to give his life a ransom for many. You're God's child because God purposed and determined that you would be. You're God's child because you have been birthed into his family.

The Bible calls it being born again. How are we born again? Well, again, it is very interesting that God would use this example of being born again spiritually in relationship to being born again physically.

If I think about being born again physically, I'm not positive, but I don't think I had anything to do with it. I don't think the doctor asked me if I was ready to be born. My mom might have. My mom might have said, I'm ready to get rid of you, boy.

But anyhow, being born again, we had no say so. We weren't asked if we wanted to be born again. Folks, in the spiritual respect of being born again, it's the same way. It's the same way. Let me give you about three or four passages of scripture.

I think you could probably line up, well, let's just go with Baptist. I know them about as well as anybody. I've been around Baptist most all of my life. If we lined up many Baptists and said, what do you have to do to be born again?

What would be their answer? Well, you have to believe, you have to receive, you have to walk down an aisle, you have to say a prayer, you have to shed some tears, on and on it might go, on what you have to do to be born again.

Are any of those things actually scriptural in reference to being born again? Well, let's see. If we turn to John chapter one, and we look there in the gospel of John, and we begin in the 12th verse, a verse that I remember memorizing as a kid in a Baptist church in a Bible school one summer, it says, but as many as received him, to them gave he the authority or the power to become children of God to those who believe in his name.

All right, I'm with you there. But you see, they stop at that verse. They stop at that verse. And it's not a sentence. It's not a period. My Bible has a semicolon at the end of his name, not a period.

And so we have to attach the next verse to it. And it says, who were born, and I assume that's being born from above, being born again, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God.

What's the first thing we find in the scriptures that tells us how we are born again here by the will of God. You're not born by your will or anyone else's will. You are born by the will of God. Oh, now wait a minute.

Wait a minute. I know I made my decision. I know I was told if you will, you may. Well, let me tell you, if you willed, it's because you were. If you willed to come to Christ, if you willed to come to him, if you were able and capable of receiving, as it says here, to them who receive him, if you were able to receive him, it's because of the pre-work of the Holy Spirit within your life, birthing you, giving you life that gave you ability to receive and to believe.

If I understand the doctrine of total depravity correctly, and the old man, the natural man, we had no ability to do that. You see, I see the deal of total depravity expresses itself in a couple of ways as far as I see it.

First of all, the deal of total depravity, sinfulness of man, if you want to like that term better, expresses itself in just absolute sinful behavior. It's sinful behavior. We hear about that about a lot of people.

We read about it daily in the papers and on the news that men, they're just wicked, they're evil, they just do everything all the time, sin, sin, sin. But there's another thing that that depravity holds, and that's called inability.

Being depraved gives us the ability to sin, but it also gives us the inability to respond to spiritual things. The natural man understands not the things of God. He cannot receive them. They are spiritually discerned.

The fleshly man cannot be made subject unto the law of God. And so we find that there is something happens here, and it is by the will of God that it happens that gives me an ability. He births me. He borns me from above.

He borns me again by his will. I have to be thankful for that because if he left it to my will, what would my will do? Reject, reject, reject. That's what my old will was all about. If total depravity means anything, it means totally depraved.

Mind, emotion, affection, will, all of it fallen as far as it could fall, as far as it could fall. I used to use an illustration of falling over a cliff, and so many talk about free will and so forth, and they fall over a cliff, but I grab a hold of a limb sticking out of the side of the hill, and I holler for help, and he comes and helps me get off of that limb and delivers me to the bottom of the cliff safely.

No, that's not true. That's not it. I was dead. I hit the bottom. I hit the bottom. One of the fellows of the church I pastored in Owasso, he used to talk about, he's kind of gross, but he used to talk about drowning, being in the ocean and drowning, and rotting, and decaying, and all of that.

That was our sinful depravity, and God had to come and restore. He had to come and revive. He had to come and give life where there was death, and that's what he gave, to be born from above is to be born by the will of God.

John chapter 3, Jesus' time with Nicodemus. How come the time goes so much faster when you're preaching than when you're listening? John chapter 3, I should have borrowed somebody's watch that was broken or slowed or something.

In John chapter 3, the Bible tells us in that particular chapter that we have to be born again by the Spirit. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God.

No one can do these signs you do unless God's with him. Jesus answered and said to him, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he's old?

Jesus answered, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel, I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound, but cannot tell where it comes from nor where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. So now we're born of the will of God, and now we're born again by the Spirit as he moves without sound, not knowing from which he came and not knowing where he goes.

In first Peter, we find these expressions concerning being born again. So far, we have not found you must have faith or you must believe to be born again, have we? We're born by the will of God, and we're born by the Spirit of God.

First Peter, chapter 1, verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

How have we been begotten by God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? According to his abundant mercy has begotten us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The abundant mercy of God, he has begotten us that we might be called the children of God.

Born again by his will, born again by his Spirit, born again by his mercy. Now lastly, first Peter, chapter 1 and verse 22, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever.

Born again, how? By the Word of God. Born again by the will of God, the Spirit of God, the mercy of God, the Word of God. I'm beginning to think our being born again depends upon God. It depends upon the actions of a sovereign God.

And all of those actions are dependent upon another thing, the finished work of Jesus Christ. Notice the resurrection of Jesus Christ back in those verses that we read. By the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're born again by God's work.

And if we look into verse 23 again of this first Peter, chapter 1, having been caused to be born again. He caused us. Now that's original. But having been caused us to be born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible.

And I ask, is faith ever involved in our relationship with God? Yes it is. I'm not trying to throw faith out the window by any means. But I'm telling you, something has to happen before faith kicks in.

Something has to happen before faith becomes a reality. I used to be a little amused at it. Not so much anymore. It kind of is disturbing to listen to some preachers on the radio or read some books. And they go through our relationship with God, how we become a Christian, how we be born again, how we are redeemed, how we are reconciled.

And they go on and on. There's nothing you can do to do it. There's nothing you can do to get it. There's nothing you can do. Nothing you can do. Nothing you can do. And then come to the end of the message and say, now here's what you have to do to get it.

You ever heard that? Now here's what you have to do to get it. Folks, if we have to add anything to the finished work of Jesus Christ, we have annulled the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ plus nothing.

Nothing. It is God in the Son by the Spirit working their decree and their established plan to bring us unto himself. Now why do I believe? If I believe, why do I believe? Well, we go back to John chapter 10 and we pick up an interesting thought here.

John chapter 10 is all about the good shepherd and the sheep. Do you know why you believe at all? It's because you're one of his sheep. In John the 10th chapter, John chapter 10, I'll begin reading at about verse 34.

I'm sorry, I'll begin reading in about verse 25. Got ahead of myself. Verse 25. They wanted to know if Jesus was the Christ. Tell us plainly. Jesus said, I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you don't believe because you're not my sheep.

As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give to them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who's given to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

I and my Father are one. Now, let me ask you this. In modern day evangelism, we often hear that it's more like you were a goat until you believed and then you became a sheep. Is that scriptural? I say no.

Have you ever known of a goat that ever became a sheep? I mean, in life. I grew up on a farm and we raised cattle and so forth and we never had a cow that ever became a goat or sheep. They were cows at birth and that's what they were at death.

One of the great things about the wonderful grace of God is that you were set apart in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. Folks, if you're a sheep today, you've always been a sheep. There's never been a time you weren't a sheep.

Isn't that amazing? And how lightly we take the glorious elective grace of God. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me and I give to them eternal life. That's why you believe today is because you were a sheep and you're a sheep.

You always have been and because you always have been, you always will be. There's nothing you can do. Not now. There's nothing you can do ever could have done to become a goat because you're a sheep.

We say, it sounds to me like you're giving me a license to sin. No, you don't need one. You sin all year. You don't need a license to sin, do you? Hopefully we know we sin more than we want to even now.

But a sheep based solely and totally upon the grace of God alone, the sovereign will of God alone. My sheep hear my voice. Over in Matthew and the 15th chapter, Jesus said, every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be rooted up.

And you look in Matthew chapter 13 and you see there were two that went out to sow. One sowed good seed, the other sowed bad seed. The bad seed came up and it was tares. The good seed came up and it was wheat.

But folks, the tares never made a decision at any time to become wheat. The tares were tares to start with. They were tares in the end. The wheat was wheat to start with. They were wheat in the end. Folks, you are not a tare.

And when you believed, you became wheat. You have been wheat your whole time because the heavenly father has decreed and planted you as wheat. And you grow up as wheat. And it was for you that Jesus Christ died, gave his life at Calvary.

It was on your behalf in your place that Jesus died to redeem you, to reconcile you to God. To propitiate God and satisfy God for our sin. It was for you, his sheep, that he died. Read carefully John chapter 10.

The good shepherd give his life for the sheep. And he places those sheep within the father's hand, within his own hand, and there's no power with any ability to ever pluck them out of either hand. Maybe that's okay when we want to look at our position in God the father, in Christ the son, in their hands safe and secure.

We turn to Romans chapter eight and we find these things about our security in Christ. In Romans and the eighth chapter beginning with verse 31. After the Holy Spirit has gone through these things about foreknowing and predestining and those words you don't want to deal with.

I remember as a teenager asking one of my Sunday school teachers about predestination one day and she said, oh you'll have to go ask the preacher. I just don't deal with those things. So I went and asked the preacher and the preacher said, well there's some things we just aren't supposed to know.

They kept me from knowing some things that would have been a blessing to my heart for many years. It wasn't until I was about 25 years old that I was in a church that preached these things and God opened my heart to them.

Sister Paula, that was at Bethel Baptist Church in Owasso. You've had associations there. And God opened my heart to embrace these wonderful truths in that place. And they weren't scary words then. They were blessed words.

They were words of joy, words of praise, words of relief. For years, for years I would wonder did I believe enough? For years I would wonder was I sincere enough? Did I shed enough tears? Was I really truly sincere when I repented?

You've probably heard the statement in other places. You don't hear it here but you've heard it in other places. If you sincerely believe, if you really believe, well I thought I did but I'm telling you things get a little dim and dull after a few years.

And I don't know about you but sometimes my faith has a tendency to waver a little bit. I'm sorry if that disappoints you about me but there it goes. And so you begin to wonder well maybe I'm not. Maybe I didn't do what I was supposed to do.

And maybe I did what I was supposed to do but I'm not doing it now so I don't have it now. Maybe I was a goat. I became a sheep and there are some people who do believe this. I was a goat. I became a sheep and now I've sinned and I'm a goat again.