Good evening everybody. Thank you for joining us for this week's edition of the Focus of Freedom, a television ministry based right out of Freedom Tavern, Aco Baptist Church in Atkins, Virginia. And I've been inviting you ever since we've been here on CTN, WVLR for East Tennessee television and we're grateful that you're watching. And I've been encouraging you to visit with us on the website, ftministries.org.
There's a lot of information there for you. The simplest thing I think these days, Facebook, like it, love it, fuss about it or whatever, I don't like it all, I don't like a lot of it, but like Billy Graham said years ago about the television. Got knobs on it, you know, I don't have to go places that frustrate me or aggravate me. I can go places that encourage me and instruct me.
And there's a lot of great churches and great ministries with Facebook pages and we're no exception. Freedom Tavern Aco Ministries, Atkins, Virginia, and trust me, I want to tell you, if you haven't went by there yet, you'll discover that bunches and bunches of music, archived services on live stream from over a year ago. And all of that is right there for you. Inspirational sayings, truths, Bible verses, short video clips from this old preacher and others and then our live stream recordings from the services there at Freedom every Sunday, all of that right there for you on the Facebook page.
So you can come by anytime. I would deeply appreciate it. And many of you are, as we are growing in numbers on our app, it's my blessing to get into the Word of God every day on the app on the podcast there. And the topic, the signs of the coming of Christ and at the end of the world.
And we are in the book of Revelation right now on the podcast. We have covered Matthew 24, Matthew 25, Luke 21. We've been in the Pauline Epistles. We've been in the book of Daniel.
And that's another thing like the Facebook page. I just thought of it. On the app, all of those podcasts are archived for you there. And I think there's about a hundred.
So you can take your time, even if you don't have to worry about being behind. You can catch up at your own pace, make your own notes, go back and listen again, come back through them again. And additional Bible studies are there as well on the app plus information and plus music. From back in the 80s and 90s when God gave us a lot of songs that we wrote, a lot of gospel groups on those songs, you'd probably be familiar with some of them.
Well, the way we did them, all of those are not all of them. I mean, don't tell you something's not true. Some of them are there on the app. So download that app today, Freedom Tabernacle app from any app store.
I did it. And as technologically disadvantaged as I am. I'm just an old dog and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I promise you, you'll be able to find out we're the little bitty men are in a great big ocean.
So you may have to scroll down the ways, but you can find our app at any app store with Freedom Tabernacle app. It's burgundy with a gold cross. Look for it. It won't take you too long because a lot of folks are finding it and a lot of folks are joining us on the app.
Would you be one of those? I would certainly count it a blessing to be with you every day, Monday through Friday, 10 minutes every day going through the Word of God, line by line, verse by verse, word by word in regard to things regarding prophecy and the signs at the end of the world. We're there every day on the app. So there are some ways that you can stay in touch with us.
And here is a picture of the cover of the book I've been talking to you about all throughout the month of May entitled Grace for Grief. Why how come? What am I going to do? Where do I go from here?
More than just the steps of grief. We put aside all the academic books and all the book, some psychiatry, psychology, theology, all that. And we just sat down at the keyboard and from 50 years of experience of dealing with people in their darkest moments. We just shared from our heart, put it on paper and that book is available and it doesn't cost anything.
If you would like a copy that might help you or some of your loved ones or friends who are struggling with grief and getting through that valley of the shadow of death or some other catastrophic calamity that might have happened in their life, unfortunately, because of this old sin cursed world and the things that happened down here. This little book could be used to the Holy Spirit to just be of help and be of assistance. So order it today and at 442 Freedom Tabernacle Lane, Atkins, Virginia, no cost if you don't have $5 or $10, don't worry about it. Just write and ask for that book and we'll make sure that you get it in return mail.
If you can give us a donation, then it would go every penny back in the paper. We've already got the books paid for. But donations do come in. It goes right back in to the work of the Lord in all that we do.
One reason why we ask you to come by the social media is so you can see some of the things that are going on. We're right now just, I'm going to say this by faith. This is pre-recorded a month away, but I think we've got the big house paid for it. There's free, no interest at all as we expand both the ministries of Freedom House and Hadassah House.
I remember one of the girls in the ministry there that had came to us through the drug situation and all and then the director of the ministry asked me one time, who is Hadassah? I've taken two, I've pre-just book read it through. I don't know how many times. I did not know who Hadassah was and they wanted to name that ministry, Hadassah House.
Well, I found out because I just told them, girls, I don't know. And it's just the other name for Esther. So this is an expansion, an extension of Hadassah House and Freedom House. This house is 6,500 square feet, nine bedrooms, six bathrooms.
Was built in the 90s as an adult assisted living facility. Both sector systems have been approved by the health department. We're ready to start ministry in this house right now. And you can help and be a blessing.
Just contact us. Our contact information is here on the screens for you. They do such a good job here at CTN East Tennessee, WVLR. And we appreciate these young men.
We appreciate this studio. We appreciate them. We appreciate God above all. And we appreciate you for watching and to labor together with God for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom is just such a blessing.
And I appreciate the opportunity. So get you a copy of that book and I hope and pray that God will use it to be a blessing to all of us when we go through our sorrow and our struggles with grief as we traverse with the shepherd through the valley of the shadow of death. God bless you for listening and I appreciate that and I appreciate your prayers. I appreciate your love.
And I am humbled and considered a sacred trust to enter into the labor of the Lord with you as people of God in the day in which we live. Last week we talked about the lives of the devil and the fact that the devil is a lie. And we of all people should not fall victim to the lives of the devil. We went over in the book of Proverbs and we were talking about people that even after we're saved, we in chapter 18 there in the beginning verses, that we want our own way, that the devil can mess up our fellowship.
If he doesn't want you having a relationship with God. And you see, Christianity is not a religion about God. It's a relationship with God. We've all heard that and we all know that and I think there's universal agreement to that statement.
We now have a relationship with God. We are the sons and daughters of the most high God through the married and mercy and might of the Lord Jesus as we said last week. Now the devil doesn't want you if you're a sinner having that relationship. But through the merit of Christ, his finished work at Calvary, his death, burial and resurrection, the gospel, you can be regenerated, born again.
No longer a child of the devil and a citizen of this world but a child of God and a citizen from another world. The conversation is in heaven and that solidifies our relationship with God solely through the merit of Christ and his ongoing priesthood. But as we left the air last week, we were talking about the fact that the devil wants to intervene in our fellowship with God. That's why he keeps us from the Bible.
That's why he splits and divides the people of God. He knows from the three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, that a house divided Jesus, that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. So the devil then, being the murderer and the liar and the thief he is, wants to steal our power, wants to steal our fellowship with God and with each other and therefore weaken us because the limitation that he tries to bring to bear upon our faith. Last week we said from Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Faith is what enables us to please God. Faith enables us to overcome this world. Jesus found folks and we do too and you do with no faith, little faith, but some with great faith. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
He wants us to grow. 2 Peter 3, 18, in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And the more we know him like Paul said in Philippians 3, inevitably then our faith will increase. John 3, 30, John the Baptist.
He must increase. I must decrease. So the decrease of self brings about the increase, the decrease of the human spirit and every spring into action, the increase of the Holy Spirit. I want my human spirit to decrease.
I want the Holy Spirit's power and authority and leadership to increase in my life. Therefore my faith can increase. We left the air last week saying that it's obvious why the devil wants us to be sleepy and not studious in the scripture. He wants us not to read our Bible.
He doesn't want us to love one another. He wants us to despise one another. He doesn't want us humble. He wants us proud.
He doesn't want us unified. He wants us to divide it. And he's alive. And alive brings problems because if I'm not fellow shipping with my wife, then the relationship with my wife will suffer as a result of my dereliction of duty in enhancing my fellowship with her.
I need to talk to her. I need to talk to her. I need to help her. I need to love her in all ways.
That fellowship enhances and reaches and expands our relationship. So if the devil can't mess up my relationship in direct ways, indirectly he will come in and hamper and hinder my relationship through trying to get me to limit my fellowship within whatever relationship with my family, with my church members, and especially with my God. So when my fellowship is limited and hindered, then it affects strongly my relationship. You see how the devil operates?
And he's alive. So he tells me I'm better than the church cross-tail. He tells me my scholarship is superior. He uses Calvinism and Armenianism.
He uses standards against us. He uses all kinds of things against us because the devil is against us. He's a liar. He's a thief and he certainly wants to take away our vibrant, abundant life in Christ.
I'm turning on over now from Matthew 5 over to Matthew 12. And if you're there at home and you're able, somewhere in the margin of your Bible, if you don't mind, jot down Luke 6 because you'll find that's the same account of the words of Jesus there in Luke 6 that we're looking at here in Matthew 12. Jesus said, either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit. What is seen from me reveals who it is that has the dominant position in my life, whether the old spirit of Adam or the Holy Spirit of the second Adam.
That's what Jesus said here, man. Old generation of Ipers, how can you be an evil speak good things? Or out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh? A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things.
So when we hear things about people, wouldn't it be a good idea to check it out like Jesus said plainly and on over in the 18th chapter of Matthew? If somebody's got order, you hear something? Go to that person. I think we could eliminate a lot of problems if we would just adhere to the word of God and not be hearers of it, not hearers only, but doers as James would say.
We're going now, I'm going over to Ephesians chapter 4, the little past Pauline Epistle of Ephesians chapter 4 and continuing the thought that we're sharing together. Verse 15, Ephesians 4, but speaking the truth in love. I hear a lot of people speaking lies in hate. And back to Proverbs chapter 6, and I'm just being nudged of the Holy Spirit to go to quickly turn back there, holding my place in Ephesians chapter 4.
The six things again that the Lord hates, the seven things that are an abomination under him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. You know if I repeat a tale I've heard about somebody and it's not true, I'm shedding innocent blood. A heart that diviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift and running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies.
And man, my heart is pounded every time I read this last one. He that sows discord among the brethren. Would you be honest and humble enough to think with me just a few minutes, a few seconds rather, about your past experiences in your local church? What do you hear out of people?
What do you see out of people? When I was just a child I shared a bedroom with my old granny and every night we would read the Bible. I've told this story quite a few times. And then we would go to church.
And just as a 13 year old boy I would observe the behaviors of the church folk. And then I would listen to my old granny read God's word before we turned the little lamp out to go to sleep. And the Holy Spirit began to prick my heart strongly of the great incompatibilities between the behaviors of church folk and the directives of God's word when it come to the behaviors of church folk. You got to watch that discord sowing.
You got to watch that lying tongue and you got to watch that proud look. I promise you that in your life and more importantly to me in my life. Verse 15 of Ephesians 4, speaking the truth in love that we may all grow up into Him in all things which is the head even Christ. Being people of great faith, not people of no faith and little faith, that's the devil's objective for me.
The Lord Jesus has an objective and a plan and a desire for me too that I would be able to please Him by faith and overcome this world by faith. We're being overran by the world. And so we're not being pleasing to God because of not spending honest humble time in the word of Almighty God. Our faith is small when it should be great.
It decreases instead of increases and that, my dear friend, has to change. Verse 25, we're for putting away lying. Speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. We are the building of Christ, the bride of Christ and the body of Christ, the church of the Lord Jesus, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen generation.
Upon the rock of the Lord Jesus we've been established and the gates of hell shall never prevail against us. So let's go forth and let's grow and let's glow as the light of the world. And preach with the love of Christ, the gospel to every single solitary creature. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying.
You know what the word edifying means? Edifications of gift and spirit. It's basically translated cheerleading. If God be for you, then why would I want to be against you?
But here's the reality of God's for you. They can't nobody be against you anyway. But as old Dr. B.
R. Lakin used to say, let's be friends with everybody, that's friends with Jesus. Let's not be insecure in our own selves. Let's be secure in our Savior and have love for everybody, even the unlovable, because as Christ said, if you just love those that are good to you, what thank have you?
But I've sent you out as sheep amongst wolves. I want you to go and let your life be a living epistle of the power of my grace and the reality of my gospel. And as far as our oneness in the body of Christ, we ought to be edifying one another. I don't want to abuse myself.
I'll be mentally, if somebody wrong my mind. If I lay my hand on a hot stove, it's an involuntary reflex. I want to get that thing all the way as swiftly as possible. And I don't have any control of that.
That's an involuntary reflex. Now, if there's something wrong between my mind and my hand with the wiring of my body, he's wrong. But so many of us in the body of Christ, let's a hand fry or let's a foot stay in a fire pit. God help us is all I've got to say.
Christ Jesus, our Lord is the head and he wants his body to be one. As a matter of fact, when he was going out to die for us, he prayed in agony. Father, I pray that they'll be one as we are and those who believe my gospel through the words of these apostles, I pray that they will be one. No wonder Psalms 133 says how beautiful and how pleasant it is for brethren, the family of God to dwell together in unity.
So let no corrupt communication. You remember over there in the book of Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, let your communication be ye, that's clear communication. Communication can be problematic because even our attention spans not enough for me to really hear what you say. So if I'm not going to be able to hear everything you say, I want to try to listen.
I think if we do a lot more listening and a lot less mouth running, don't you think we'd be better off? I want the clear communication of Christ, don't you? I want the corrupt communication of the old human spirit, which is that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Where about your seal to the day of redemption?
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you for Christ's sake. Clear communication or corrupt communication. And then that we may be able to reach people with the word of the Lord that our compassion would be seasoning our speech and our communication. The last verse we're going to go to on this broadcast over in Colossians chapter 4 verse 6, where it says, well, I got to back up and read verse 5, walk in wisdom toward them that are without those that are lost, redeeming the time.
You know how precious time is, how valuable we ought to realize that time is. I was a dear minister here just a few weeks ago, was working on the church plant, church building. Fell off the ladder and was killed. Most not yourself tomorrow, you don't know what a day may bring forth.
I don't know if Jesus is going to come today or not for sure, but I know the great possibility exists that I could be leaving today. And so knowing that I could be facing God in judgment that day ought to spur me and drive me to judge myself today and every day of life that I might be preparing every day for that day. So take and take, take, take, realize how valuable every day is to reach those that are unsafe. Let your speech be all way with grace, season with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.
So we've got clear communication and I hope we will strive to maintain that and even enhance it and expand it and we stay away from corrupt communication so that we may have some convincing communication. You know, in the book of James said, if you remember right here, no man contained. The only way to tame the tongue is by allowing Jesus to constantly minister to the heart. As we read from Matthew 12, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
So I asked myself a question, is my heart right? I hope that I will allow the Lord Jesus through the indwelling Holy Spirit and the instruction of the sacred scripture to constantly keep this whole heart fixed, pure, clean and focused upon the ultimate objective and that is being engaged together with you in the ongoing work of God that we may not be overcome by this world, but that we would be overcoming this world by faith in Romans 12, not being overcome of evil, but overcoming evil with good. And there's only one good thing in us and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he, the Savior of our soul is allowed to be the absolute unchallenged Lord of our heart and our life, maybe we can communicate convincingly to this world.
So if we want to have convincing communication, let's fight against the corrupt communication and embrace the clear communication to send the gospel to every creature, to every area of this world. In the name of Jesus, let's pray that. Thanks for watching. May God bless you richly.
And may he use you for his glory and to be a real blessing to someone else. I have the privilege of pastoring and being the director of Freedom Tabernacle Babbed is church and Freedom Tabernacle Ministries in Atkins, Virginia. And we are going to get to know one another a lot better through the weeks and months to come. It's my prayer.
But right now you can join us on our Facebook page, Freedom Tabernacle Ministries, Atkins, Virginia, or our YouTube channel, Focus of Freedom, Atkins, Virginia, our website, ftministries.org, or you can download our app, the Freedom Tabernacle App, download it for free from any app store and we can stay in contact that way. As we labor together with our Lord for his glory and for the advancement of his glorious gospel of grace.