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| Sunday Morning |
Yesterday I arrived at the Fort Wayne, IN, airport and was met by Jake Jackson. Jake is one of the sons of Pastor Doug Jackson. Pastor Jackson founded and pastors the THREE RIVERS BAPTIST CHURCH of Fort Wayne. He will begin his 19th year of pastoring this great church. God led Pastor Jackson to start this dear church after graduating from Hyles-Anderson College when Dr. Jack Hyles was pastor.
I am thrilled at stories like this that exhibit the blessings from personal soul winning. There are nearly 20,000 independent Baptist churches similar to this one around our great nation. The enemies are there, but God promises that the gates of Hell will not prevail against a soul winning church. (Matthew 16:18) AMEN!
No matter how many haters, (mostly female) with their lap tops, type out their weekly venom on the internet attempting to destroy God’s work, independent Baptist churches still are flourishing.
The buildings were full and the spirit was exciting. 6 trusted Christ with 3 professions and 3 adult baptisms. Person after person shared with me their story of how this church reached them with the Gospel. My heart was warmed and encouraged.
I have known Pastor Jackson and his family for nearly two decades. He and his dear wife have experienced some major health problems, but their sons have stepped up to the plate and provided necessary leadership during these days. This is similar to what Mrs. G and I have gone through with all of the surgeries. I admire Pastor and Mrs. Jackson! If you are ever in the area please make plans to attend the THREE RIVERS BAPTIST CHURCH.
I PREACHED MY SERMON “I HAVE FALLEN AND I CAN GET BACK UP!”
Psalm 37:24, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
Proverbs 24:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”
INTRODUCTION
1) Some fall because of what they do
2) Some fall because of what others do
3) Some falls are seen
4) Most falls are unseen
LESSONS
1) The just man does fall
2) The just man falls many times
3) The just man gets back up
4) The just man develops a habit of getting back up
5) The just man is perfected by both falling & getting back up
6) The just man does not blame others
7) The just man ends up on his feet
We go after the fallen and give them the Gospel. We bring them to church. We baptize them and teach them and help them to grow.
Then one day they fall again. If we are not careful we will lose patience, become upset, and even give up on them. Always remember we are all just sinners saved by grace. We are all trapped with our flesh. When we brought them in we did not know a thing about them, nor did we care. We were excited about reaching them with the Gospel.
But, once they are in and we get to know them and trust them, if we are not careful we will become bitter at them, if they fall again. We forgot that we are all sinners whether saved or unsaved. Because some sin makes the front page of the paper does not make the rest of our secret sins any better in the sight of God. Whether the sin is known by the congregation or not known does not make our sin any less sin.
We reach the fallen to start the process. We must keep reaching the fallen even after they are in church, in order for them to grow. No one piece of flesh is better than another piece of flesh!
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| Nicolle
After preaching I came back to the motel and I was greeted by a young lady behind the desk. She was not the one who was there when I left to go to Sunday school so I stopped to chat with her and to find out something about her. She was very kind. I gave her a church tract and began to talk to her about eternity. She listened and made it clear she wanted to know how to go to Heaven when she died. After explaining the Scriptures she sweetly bowed her head and prayed to Christ for salvation. When I raised up my head she was wiping tears away from her eyes. She then thanked me for stopping to talk to her. WOW! I wonder how many others are waiting for us to stop and take time to talk to them about eternity?
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GOTTA LOVE SOUL WINNING!