# Why is RCBC different

Category: Church, Ministry & Spiritual Gifts
Key Passage: Proverbs 22:6
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: February 17, 2025

We’ve never done this before, but we’re having what we call “I Love My Church Sunday” today and next Sunday. We’re a little bit highlighting maybe the uniqueness of our church and some of the ministries just to touch. One of those we want to just mention briefly here is the bus ministry.

It is a wonderful, wonderful ministry. So many make that ministry happen. Those that are directly involved in the bus ministry, either ride a bus, you visit on Saturday, all those things. Not all of them are here, but if you’re directly involved in the bus ministry, would you stand? Let’s have those folks stand.

We’re thrilled. They come. Thank you for the bus workers. They’re usually the first ones here, and the last ones to leave, basically, too. I sometimes call them the Marines of the ministry. Man, they get the job done, a great job. It is a wonderful, wonderful ministry. Ministering a lot of times to people that would not be able to come to church.

Of course, our primary church going on right now, junior church going on right now, and the majority of those in those classes will be from our bus ministry. So many of them, the first time they’ll hear the gospel, will be here at church. And the first time they’ll hear about Jonah or Noah in the ark, and all those different things will be here at church.

Praise the Lord for people that just take their time and their energy and minister to them in a great, great way. We have two of our young men that ride the church bus. How about that? Yeah, there you go. Thank you. Somebody from Shepoviv isn’t going to understand that. They got it. But they’re going to give us just a quick testimony. I’m excited, looking forward to that. Ethan, if you’ll come up.

He’ll give just a quick testimony. I wanted to get in there at least how long he’s been coming to church and when he got saved. Right after Ethan, Oscar’s going to come up and just give a quick testimony. That’s tough for a young man to do this. I appreciate them being willing to do it. Ethan, if you come on up, give us a testimony real quick here. I’m looking forward to especially how long you’ve been in church and when you got saved, if you would.

Oh, this is okay. Well, good morning, everyone. Before I give a testimony, I want to thank the church for being such a loving church family. It was very welcoming when I came. It felt like being at home, but you’re in the Lord’s House. Let’s get started on the bus ministry. I started coming in 2020 on the bus when Brother Anthony was still running it.

When Brother Josh took over and Brother Anthony eventually moved away, let’s see. When did I get saved? VBS in 2022. Let’s see. My bad guys, I’m not playing games when I’m looking at my notes.

The bus ministry is a very important ministry because it’s how we get the kids to church because we know a lot of parents can’t bring their kids to church. It’s how I get to church. It’s a way for kids to get to church without having to worry about a ride. Kids are important to the church. In the book of Proverbs chapter 22 verse 6, it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

What this verse is saying to me is that it is teaching kids from a young age to love God and how to spread the word of God, and he will not depart from his knowledge and he will let it go with him. Having kids in God’s house is the best way for a church to grow, and it’s planting seeds in the youth that passes that down to their youth.

Speaking of knowledge, the most important thing is salvation. Like I mentioned, I got saved in VBS in 2022 by Brother Josh. Since then, I’ve been able to learn about salvation and how to plant the seed in others. If there’s anyone who isn’t 100% sure, there are people in this church willing to talk to you about your salvation. If there’s a teen that isn’t saved, I’d be willing to talk to you about that.

I want to thank you, Pastor, for allowing me and Oscar to talk about the bus ministry because it affected us so much. I’m done. Oscar is going to come up.

Oscar’s going to come up for years and years. Good to have Oscar’s mom with us this morning, Wendy. Good job, ma’am. Good morning.

The church has done so much for me over six years. The first time I got saved was when Brother Anthony was just bus visiting and he stopped by my house. I have been coming ever since for a long time. The bus ministry motivates me to come every week.

I try my best to help around, like getting on the snacks, trying to talk to little kids. It has given me so many opportunities to get close with God and teach others of his love for us. The church has taught me about God’s good works and how we should treat others like he treated us. It has also taught me that nobody is perfect, but we should try to be our best and do what God wants us to do. It has also reassured me that I will go to heaven, and I come to learn something new every week. I want to get closer to God. I want to thank Pastor Paul for the opportunity to talk about the church and the bus ministry and what it means to me. Thank you.

Good job, good job. Someone said years ago, “Oscar’s going to be our Spanish pastor one day.” All right, sounds good. Oscar said, “Thanks a lot for letting me know about it.”

How many, somewhere in your youth, at one point in your life, you were riding a bus to church? How many would raise your hand? Just look around. Keep them up for just a second. At some point in your life, you’re riding a bus to church.

I would say that’s about one-third of the church. Can you imagine what America would be like if there had been no bus ministry? A third of the people in here were influenced some more than others by the bus ministry. What a great, great ministry. But it takes a lot of work. I appreciate those that work that ministry. It is a lot of work. Those men will start off the day with their ties just right. It’ll be down to their belt buckle just like it ought to be. The kids will be swinging from that tie on the bus by the time they get done, it’ll be down to their knees. It’s a wonderful, awesome ministry. I appreciate those that make it happen. We’ll talk about just a bit in the message this morning also: soul winning.

Our spring soul winning campaign starts on March the first. I hope you get involved in that if you’ve never been involved in it. It’s just a wonderful opportunity to go and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We’ll have breakfast at 9:30. We’ll meet here on Saturday. We’ll have breakfast. Then at 10 o’clock, we’ll have a training time. About 10:30, we’ll head out to our neighborhood. If you’ve never done anything like that, we’ll pair you up with someone that has. We always try to be back here by noon. We know everybody’s busy, so we just try to keep that flowing quickly. God is amazing how He blesses and uses that. Usually, we’ll have a group, and we’ll go on one of these buses. We’ll go together, and almost every Saturday, through all the efforts of the people, some of them will bow their head and ask Jesus Christ to be their Savior. The Marines is bus ministry; soul winning is special ops. It’s the Navy Seals or something. All of them are awesome. It’s great. Love to have you come to that. That’s starting up on March the 1st, not this Saturday, but the next.

This Saturday is the Building by Grace Banquet at 4 o’clock. It’s going to be wonderful. I hope you’re here. We’re going to talk about the building. It’s all about the building. The builders and the designer of the new building will be here that night. We’ll talk about a timeline. We’ll talk about just a lot of things about the building. We want to be involved in that, and I want you to be praying about what God would have you do financially in that. By the way, we’ll have a great meal: baked chicken, three different vegetables, and desserts. Now, we need to work at dessert. I have four ladies that can bring desserts for us. Good. We’ve already got one, two, three, four, five, six. We’re good. We’ve got enough. Thank you so very much. People won’t come for the banquet, but they’ll come for those desserts right there. That’s why I’m coming—that banana pie I’m putting over there. I’m looking forward to that, but looking forward to that.

Then, teachers Wednesday at 6:30, we’ll have a teachers’ meeting. That’s covering all the teachers: Sunday school, children’s church, adult classes, all that. We’ll have a teacher’s meeting in the Fellowship Hall at 6:30 on Wednesday.

Men enjoyed our first time ever having the Strengthening Men’s Conquerors series on Thursday night. If you didn’t get to come, we still love to have you at 6 o’clock. Just a good group of men, just a core group of men showing up Thursday. We’re going through that series and strengthening us, helping to overcome addictions. You say it may not be my problem. It may not be, but it may be someone else that you can help. If you can come on Thursday nights, I’d love to have you come to that. That’d be a wonderful thing.

Then, March 16th, Friend Day. How many of you have invited someone to come on March 16th Friend Day? You’ve invited somebody? We’re about half. My goodness, we got to get about 90% working that thing. Everybody, we want to meet your friend on that day. Even if they don’t come, at least invite them to come. We have an invite card. Anyone need an invite card for that? You say, “I want one.” Good. I want to invite some friends to it. Yesterday I went out and invited some people who have been on my heart about it. Ms. Deena needs some down front here. And one of those men, I believe, is going to come. Let’s do our part on that Friend Day, March 16th, and I’m looking forward to God using that in a great way.

Ushers will have our offering. As soon as you can come down for that, that would be great. Brother Adam wants to have a quick meeting with all the piano players after the service. Brother Adam, do you want me in the Fellowship Hall or here? Down front right here. All the piano players, we’re coming out. He said, “I got that note about meeting.” I said, “Yeah, you want to meet with the pianos?” I said, “No, you’ll meet with the piano players, not the pianos.” Piano players, if you’ll meet right after the service down front here with Brother Adam, that would be wonderful. Praise God, thank you all for playing the piano. That’s a tough job; you’re always put on the spot. Our daughter plays; she’s out of town today, but there’s a lot of pressure on those, and I appreciate those that are willing to be a part of it and play on the piano.

This is primary church. We’re kind of featured in the bus ministry. Many of these ride a bus to church. They’re going to sing for us during the offering, and I’m excited about that, looking forward to that. There’ll be a blessing for it. It’s a blessing just to see them come in, isn’t it? They’re a little cuter in person, for sure. I promise that. A whole lot cuter. Excited about them singing for us, and they’re ready to go. Good deal. That’s exciting.

Brother Joel Farfan, good to have the Farfans. They’ve had sickness to go through the house. Good to have all of them back today. Ms. Lauren was very, very sick. Good to have all of them back. I asked Brother Joel, “Did you survive Sunday school?” He helps. Through six-year-olds, he said, “Yeah, I survived.” I said, “Did you want to get a boy or did you get a boy in the headlock?” He kind of asked him, “Did you want to?” He said, “Definitely I want to.” Brother Joel, would you lead us in a prayer for the offering, please?

Would you turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter number 3, in God’s Word? A little different type Sunday, a different type message. We want to really—I Love My Church Sunday focuses a little bit on the uniqueness of Rutherford County Baptist Church. Not to say there aren’t other churches like ours across the land; there are many great churches. But I will focus a little bit more than usual kind of just talk about the uniqueness, why we’re different or how we’re different than maybe the average church in our area. Not all—and I said there are other good churches in our area, and I’m not trying to belittle them—but I am focusing on the uniqueness of our church today, and “I Love My Church Sunday.”

We’re going to start over here in 1 Timothy chapter number 3, and we’ll start reading in verse number 14. If you’re able to, would you please stand just to show the Word of God respect? 1 Timothy 3, starting out in verse number 14. By the way, I look down and see the Dumpers, and I know many of you have been praying. Continue to pray for them and for the whole Byrd family. Would you do that, please? It’s great to see them this morning.

1 Timothy 3, look in verse number 14. “These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God; which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

“Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,” speaking of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. That’s what Christmas is all about, the incarnation. “God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit.” Remember when He was baptized, and the Spirit descended like a dove upon Him. “Seen of angels.” The angels ministered to Him several different times in the Bible: when He was fasting in the wilderness and when He was praying in the garden, and so on. “Preached unto the Gentiles.” He preached to the Jews first, but also the Gentiles. “Believed on in the world.” An amazing Christ just lived in the Bible lands in Galilee, but all around the world, centuries later, they believe in Jesus. More songs, more poems, more literature has been written about Jesus than any other single person in history. “Believed on in the world, received up into glory.” That’s His ascension when He went back, and He’s on the right hand of the throne of God now.

There’s just a bit we want to focus on: the church specifically. We’ll get to it in about one or two verses. We’ll get to this part of it. Thank you, one person for lying to me. No, it wasn’t like she likes me preaching; I know she does. We’ll get to the pillar and ground. I really want to focus on the ground of truth today. It’ll take us a minute to get there, but we’ll get there. Would you pray with me that God would really just make this church that you’re sitting in, rather that your local church, real to you and make it—sometimes we see all the problems. Every church has problems. But sometimes it’s good for us to focus on the blessings and the uniqueness and what we ought to be thankful for, maybe, of our church. “I love my church.” Would you pray that God would speak to hearts about that?

Father, Lord, help me to have just the right blend that You want, Lord, of Scripture, Your Word, and yet practical about this local church. Father, did You give me the wisdom to put it together? And, Father, would You speak to the hearts as only You can? Thank You, Lord, for Your church You have here, and the difference You’ve made through this church and these people. Lord, I pray You continue to bless Your church, prosper it, grow it. Lord, not for our name—forgive me if I got any of that in me, Lord—but for people to be helped and reached and saved. Father, I pray You use our church to that end, Lord. We’ll thank You for what You do, Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

First and Second Timothy are books of the Bible where Paul is the one that God used to pen it. God’s the author, but He used this man, Paul, and he’s writing to a younger man named Timothy. Paul at one place calls him his son in the faith. Probably Paul led him to the Lord—his son of the faith. Timothy’s a young preacher. These books, First Timothy, really, are Paul giving instruction to a young preacher about the church and how a church ought to be run and the practical points of a church, and very much about the church, First and Second Timothy. Let me just say a word about that.

God had used Paul to start many churches. I use that term “churches” because sometimes we think of kind of two different things of the church. There’s what we call, sometimes called the universal church, and that’s the bright one. When we get raptured out of here, we’ll be one group then; we’ll be raptured to church. But until then, we meet in local churches.

Paul—God used Paul to establish, some will say 17, all up into the 30s—we don’t know how many churches. But I say that to say Paul was a local church guy. He started many local churches. The early church apostles, they led many churches. Paul was one of those guys. God used Paul, the apostles would be these early church leaders, but then sometimes they would use someone, and Paul was using Timothy to really lead and pastor some of the local churches. He’s talking about local church. By the way, most of the books that God used Paul to write were written to a local church. I emphasize that because somebody said, “Well, I’m part of the church.” Okay, but are you part of a church? Yeah. In the Bible, you say, “Hey, don’t forsake the assembling.” You don’t assemble at the universal church until the rapture, but we ought to be assembling in churches—local churches in our day and time. Paul was a local church guy. I like Paul. You’ll like the local church.

So, really much about the church. Chapter three really starts off talking about a bishop, and the word “bishop” means an overseer. We use this term a lot in our day. I’m a pastor, all right, and it’s someone who oversees that local church. He gives qualifications: he can’t have any blemish. So, I’m not technically—I can’t be a pastor because I’m missing fingers; I have a blemish. I’m joking. But a lot of qualifications he gives for a pastor there. Then in verse 8 down through verse number 12 or along there, he starts talking about a deacon and a deacon’s wife, and he gives qualifications for that. He’s teaching them about a church, the importance, and how a local church ought to be run.

Then verse number 14, we read it earlier. Let’s read it again. Are you all with me here this morning? Good, good. Look at verse number 14. He says, “These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly.” Timothy, I want to visit you soon. I’ve left you in charge of this church, and you’ve got a lot going on. I want to come and be with you personally, mentor you more.

But verse number 15, he says, “But if I tarry long,” I might not be able to get to you quite as quick as I wanted to. By the way, they didn’t have Southwest Airlines back then. There was no Chevys. I don’t know; maybe there were a couple of Fords broken down back then. Brother Kevin says they’re going to get you back for that one. There were no vehicles. Actually, Hondas were around. You know, Hondas are in the Bible: “And they were all in one accord.” That’s Bible right there.

He said I might not be able to get to you as quickly as I would like to, verse number 15. “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the…” What are the next three words? “…house of God.” And then notice what it says, which is the what? Church. I like it: “of the living God.” Praise the Lord, this is the church of the living God. He takes care of this church, His church.

I want to focus for just a minute on this thing: it’s the house of God. I understand these walls are just where the house of God, the people of God, is symbolized. But this is a special place. It is the house of God because we meet here on Sunday mornings. I often say—I said it this morning on purpose; I don’t always say it, but I say it a lot of times on purpose—“Hey, glad to see you in the house of the Lord on the Lord’s Day.” I love it.

Satan is always pumping out his filth. He’s the prince of the power of the air; he pumps it out through the radio, it pumps it out to the internet, it pumps it out through all TV and all these different things. But I love it: on the Lord’s Day, Sunday morning, across America, there’s a whole lot of preachers and Christians and teachers that are pumping out God’s truth on Sunday in the Lord’s House.

By the way, there are all kinds of groups in our day and time: motorcycle groups, bicycling groups, pickleball leagues, basketball leagues, golf leagues, every kind of league. Underwater basket weaving league. There’s everything. Praise the Lord, I’m part of a local New Testament church. I’m not against all of them, but hey, I want to be involved in a local Baptist church. That’s God’s house. It’s sacred, it’s special, it’s unique. It’s Sunday, the Lord’s Day, and the Lord’s house, man, we have God’s people meeting together, and the preacher, the bishop, the pastor that God’s put there, He’s pushing out the truth, and a lot of other teachers, by the way. Praise the Lord for Sunday being in God’s house.

I’m so grateful that my parents raised me in the house of God. I’m so grateful for that. I wasn’t always grateful for it when I was young, but I’m grateful for it now. You’ve heard me say, I was raised on drugs—I was drugged to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. I tried to get out of it. You’ve heard me tell the story, some of you, a million times. It’s story number 35.

Sunday night, didn’t want to go to church because next door, Grandpa had his grandsons there, and they’re about my age; we wanted to play. And then we’ve got to go to church. Never a question around our house: we’re going to be in church. So those boys stole their grandpa’s Copenhagen. Anybody know what Copenhagen is? The purpose wasn’t to dip it; we ate that crazy stuff because you were supposed to get sick when you ate it. You weren’t sick, and you had to prove you were sick. So we ate that. You say, “Now I know what’s wrong with that guy up there,” eating that junk.

Me and my older brother—he was younger, but he was too young—but me and my older brother ate that crazy stuff trying to get sick because we didn’t want to go to church. We didn’t get sick. I can’t remember which one went first. We picked each other up like a fireman carry over your shoulder and just spun each other around, trying to get sick. Never got sick. We even made fake throw-up. We got a little container, put some noodles in there, whatnot, and some ketchup in there, and a little water, mixed it all up. It looked pretty good. Mom and Daddy—it won’t fly; Dad’s going to be on it. We didn’t try it; we made it. We didn’t try it.

Sunday night, you know where we were? Church. We began to get this grumbling in our stomachs, and we turned green in the face, but we were in church. I’m glad today. By the way, I’m always shocked that the parents say, “Well, I want to give my child an excuse,” you know, “give them a decision. I want them to make their own decision.” You make them go to school on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Hey, bless God, they can be educated and die and go to hell. If they go to church, you’re going to hear about Jesus, how to go to heaven. I didn’t have no choice in the matter. Eat Copenhagen, still in church. And I’m glad for it.

Notice what the Bible calls it: the house of God. We have some wonderful neighbors over here that just had a baby, and they decided to do a home birth. Sweet people. But typically, typically, the baby’s born at home, or back in the day, everybody was born at home. But typically, in every day and time, they’re born in the hospital. After a couple of days old, whatever, you take them home. That’s where that child gets to love and the nurture and the discipline and the relationships and all that happens. It should happen at home. That’s healthy. That’s proper. There are exceptions to it; I understand all that. But that’s God’s plan.

I say that to say, you’re like, “No, duh, everybody knows that.” But that’s what’s supposed to happen for someone that gets saved: they become a child of God, and the children of God go to the house of God. If a child of God doesn’t go to the house of God, they’re not going to get the love and the nurture and the training and the relationships that God wants them to have. That’s the house of God. That’s where you’re supposed to get it. That’s God’s plan.

It’s interesting over there in Matthew 28:19, the Great Commission. We typically use that verse—five times in the Bible, this is one that typically used: “Go ye therefore, 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.” Isn’t that interesting? Ultimately, it means observing those commandments. But He uses that word “observe.” You know how a young Christian observes the commandments of God? Go to church and see other good Christians. That’s how they observe it.

Growing up, I knew what a good Christian was because I saw it in all the churches that we went to. That’s God’s plan. Young people here, their parents can’t come or they’re not here for whatever reason—they’re not here. Wendy is, praise the Lord for that. But typically they’re not here. But hey, they can still know what a good Christian is because they come to church and they see other children of God, and they go, “Oh, that’s what a Christian is supposed to look like.”

By the way, that over there in Matthew 28 is talking about getting people saved, baptized, and disciplining them, and the best discipleship program there is—I’m not against them—but the best one there is is church: Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Someone said, “If you go to church for six months, don’t miss a service, and it’ll change your life for the rest of your life.” That’s where you learn and you’re growing and you get disciples. That’s where the children of God go to the house of God. That’s God’s plan.

I’m not against Bible studies in the coffee shop and all the rest. I’m not against that. Praise the Lord, if you can reach someone, disciple them, and do it. It ought not take the place of a local church. God’s plan. It’s a house of God. It’s what God calls it.

I thought about some of our children that grew up, but not just children who grew up riding the bus, but some of them. I think about a widow lady, or just a single lady—I’ll say that—she came to church, and her son, a good man of our church years ago, took under his wing. He took many young men under his wing. John Fontaine. I remember John Fontaine. That man loved the Lord, loved his wife, and he loved to fish. I’m not sure the order of that; fishing was way up there. But he would take a lot of young guys fishing. And like I said, I remember moms even saying, “Hey,” and sometimes I’d say, “Hey, can you already focus on it?” And he had already been focused on them.

Those young men, I’m glad today. I’ve watched some of our young men going out soul winning. I think of one who grew up riding the bus. He lives in Colorado, goes to church over there. If he goes soul-winning and he’ll knock on the door, and he holds that tract out there like that, and in my mind, I know he learned to go soul-winning, or he saw John Fontaine soul-winning. Because that’s how John Fontaine always had that tract. He wanted to know, “We’re not Jehovah’s Witnesses; we’re not Mormons; we’re Baptist.” I loved it, that those young men knew what a Christian is supposed to be because they’ve been around it, godly being in church. It’s God’s plan, God’s method, God’s house.

By the way, in church, talking about discipleship a little bit, in church, you know what goes on in church? Accountability. Bruce Ford. How many remember Bruce Ford? He was our song leader for years until the dirty rat moved away. Predilever got a great song leader now, but he was just a good man. Bruce Ford, he was raised in church but got out of church and got really in a cult, but he’s getting back in the church. He said when he was just a young Christian, trying to get established, get his feet on the ground as a Christian, he said, “Honestly, the reason why I went to church as a young Christian there is because if I didn’t go to Sunday school, I knew my son’s school teacher was going to be calling me.” He said he didn’t always say, “Where were you?” He may be just saying, “Hey, how are you doing? Everything going good?” But I knew why he was calling me, so I would show up to church just because I didn’t want my son’s teacher to call me. There’s accountability.

“Hey, brother, I missed you the other day.” That’s a good thing. If you’re part of the universal church, there’s no accountability. Friend, you get in a local New Testament church—by the way, don’t visit everywhere all the time; you find you a home church, that’s your church—and there’s accountability. Not only are you at church, but come on now, you know, “Yeah, I saw you up there sleeping today. Did you have a good nap?” Accountability in different ways. It’s not a bad thing. That’s part of church.

It’s interesting when God uses Paul to write this. Over in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, he says, “And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost.” Here’s why I read that: “where you followed us”—that team. He was writing to a local New Testament church, the church at Thessalonica. That’s God’s plan. That’s part of discipleship: you see it lived out in front of you at the house of God.

I’m amazed sometimes—but I really ought not to be amazed—how Satan really just has got the mindset of people in our day and times to shoot at the church. I heard another great Christian leader, I think he’s a wise man, and he said, “I’ve learned that the church is the whipping post of our day and time.” Everybody’s shooting at the church. Might not be surprised; it’s the house of God. Satan’s trying to get all the neighborhood against that house right there. Satan knows if you’re going to get good, strong Christians, they need to be in a local church, and so he spends his time trying to shoot at and criticize the church all the time.

Church ain’t perfect. But let me just say this: God’s people are the best people in all the world, friends. We ain’t perfect, but bless God, when they need something, they need somebody to pray for them, they need somebody—where do they go to? They go to a local church. That’s where they go to because they know deep down inside they are the best people you can find: church. Satan loves to just try to get the whole neighborhood against it.

Since the New Testament, the giants of the faith, if they’re able to, they’re in a church. You check it out. That’s why we’re having Friend Day, because we want people to get in here and grow and get in a local church and just get plugged in. They’re hearing about the Word of God and building relationships, getting to know everybody. They need that. That’s why we had that. That’s why we’re building a new building over there. Not for us, by the way; that new building is not our building. That’ll be the house of God, and it’s to get more people in, get them grounded in the things of God and growing, strong Christians shining the light of God in our area. That’s the purpose of it.

One of our guys, a good guy, he’s been involved in several different ministries full-time, whatnot. He recently, maybe a year or two ago, he’s now working in a local church. He was already a great Christian, but I told him—he said, “Well, I think about this.” I said, “Hey, brother, I’m glad you’re now going to be involved in the day-to-day grind of a local church. You’ll see the good, the bad, the ugly; you’ll hear the problems. You’ll be like, ‘Whoa, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes.’” But that’s where lives get changed.

When a person gets saved and they get plugged into a local church, and God begins to conform them to the image of a Son, God uses that conforming much through a local church, the house of God. That’s God’s plan. I love it. I’m so glad to be a part of a local church.

Let’s go back to this verse. We’ve been talking about the house of God a lot. Let’s get a couple more things out, and we can be done pretty soon here. Back in verse number 15, would you please? Are you back at verse number 15 there? Let’s start off where he says the house of God, “in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” What are the next three words? “The pillar and ground of truth.”

Now, since we’re from Tennessee, I have to say when he says “pillar,” he’s not talking about what you sleep on, friend. That’s for me; I’m a hillbilly. I often think of the pillar—these pillars right here are from Haines Lumber down there in Murfreesboro, and they cut them in half for us. These pillars, at pillar and ground of truth, the truth’s supposed to be up there. I used to think, well, I need to say the pillar and the ground of truth. I think “pillar” has to do with us holding it very high so the world can see the truth. Even if they don’t live it, they know what the truth is because of the church.

The “ground,” we’ll get to here in just a minute—the pillar is holding it high. It has to do with us living it so everybody can see, and it has to do a lot with outreach, us getting the truth out, lifting it high, putting it on a—not hiding under a bushel of it—so everybody can see it. We’re having outreach. You’re trying to get that light out to others this morning. We’re focusing on the bus ministry, and praise the Lord for those. It’s a great, great tool.

By the same token, some will say, “Well, you know, your church is so old school, Bible, you’re so narrow-minded and all that, and you won’t just love, love, love, grace, grace.” Which our whole theme this year is Building by Grace, and by grace I love that; it is my favorite subject in all the Bible. But sometimes those that come at us and say you’re too rigid, you’ve got too many standards of conviction, you ought to love more—I want to say, “Hey, if you go out here and start your bus ministry, start bringing in some kids and making a difference in their life, I might listen to you talk about love and grace after a while.” They really love so much. Go out and roll up your sleeves and go out and minister to someone that needs your love instead of trying to get people in your church and get their wallet. You don’t mind me preaching a little bit, do you?

That’s a wonderful ministry of the bus ministry. I grew up riding a church bus because my dad was driving it and my mom was running a program on it, and they would say, “Go back in the back and make those kids behave on the back of the bus.” I’d say, “I don’t do that; they’re bigger than me, man. They don’t listen to me.” Go back there and give them candy. It’s a wonderful ministry. Praise the Lord for those. The bus workers are awesome. Sunday school teachers and children’s church workers just investing in their lives. That’s part of holding it up high, the truth, for the world to see it.

We want to have outreach, and we’ll talk more about that probably next Sunday, but it’s so very, very important. We came here 25 years ago, just started knocking on doors, and I was shocked 25 years ago how many doors I’d knock on and be asked, “Hey, if you died today, do you know for sure you go to heaven?” And this was a pretty common answer: “Yeah, I’m going to heaven because I got saved years ago riding a bus to Franklin Road Baptist Church.” Boy, you could tell this whole area—they may not be in church like they ought to be and all that; they’re not grown like all of them—but they knew they were saved from an old church that had a bus ministry for years around here. Pray a little forward.

There need to be many of those. By the way, you don’t see near as many—and I’m not talking about Franklin Road, I’m just talking across the board—you don’t see near as many bus ministries that are working it like they used to. But holding that light up, the truth, trying to get it out everywhere you can. Praise the Lord for a church that has a bus ministry. You say, “Well, they put bubble gum underneath the seats.” That’s all right; they get to say they get forgiven for that. It’s going to be work; it’s part of it. But praise the Lord, that’s our job: to hold the truth up high. And outreach is so very, very important, and what a wonderful way is a bus ministry. Great, great way.

Now let me say this, but it’s what I’m trying to get to here. He says the pillar and what? The pillar and ground of truth. Ground—He doesn’t say shifting sand, but ground. The ground is like the foundation. Who ought to be the foundation of the church? Jesus Christ. Does Jesus Christ change? He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. The church, and the church ought not to be shifting and always changing.

I want to highlight some things. Our church, we try not necessarily to change with the wind how it’s blowing. We’re a little bit unique in some of our ways. There are good churches like this, but it’s getting harder to find. I visited a lady yesterday. She visited our church maybe a month ago. Her name is—well, I won’t say her name. Good lady. She said we moved from about an hour or so away out in the country. We went to an old-fashioned church down there. When we moved up here years ago, she said, “I was shocked.” She said, “We visited 28 churches looking for like an old-fashioned church,” and she said, “really couldn’t find it.” So you should have waited three years; we’d have been started by then. Not years—28 churches. I didn’t get a big step, but anyway, she said I couldn’t find it. I’m saying this: a church that doesn’t change is getting harder to find.

Paul, look over in chapter number 2 of 2 Timothy. We’re in 1st; look over in 2 Timothy, chapter number 2, and he’s giving more instruction to Timothy. I want you to just notice one word of this verse here, 2 Timothy 2, and look in verse number 2. You there? Look at this verse number two. He says, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses.” So Paul said, Timothy, you’ve heard this many a time among many different people. You heard me say this. He says, the what’s the next word? The same. Don’t change. He says, “the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” I actually have four generations there: you’ve got Paul, you’ve got Timothy, reach the faithful people, give it to them, and they’ll be able to reach somebody else.

But notice “the same.” The church is not supposed to be—now, maybe our buildings will change, and our air conditioning and all that, there’s a thing—but our morals of a church ought not to change. You understand? He said the same thing, those same truths, teach the same thing to the next generation.

Can I get a little bit more personal, direct, if you will? Our music ought not to change. Who was it? David Bowie, I believe it is. B-O-W-I-E. Bowie, thank you. What they said. I think it was 1976. He said rock and roll music has always—it will always be the devil’s music. That wasn’t a preacher; that was a rock and roll singer.

Sometimes we’ll go to a restaurant, and I listen in. Tammy, is that Christian music? Because I’m like, well, one thing, I can’t even hardly understand the words, and then it sounds like rock and roll music to me. You’re a little quiet. I remember several times I’ve talked to people; they say, “Well, I like my church”—sometimes older people say, “I like my church, but you know, I don’t like the first part; it’s like a rock and roll concert.”

I was talking to a man yesterday, and years ago, he had—praise Lord, I got to lead his wife to the Lord—and he didn’t like her music, and he had left, and that was one other reason why. But he told me that he called. He said, “I’m thinking about coming back.” He said, “I’m realizing some of those old songs, a lot of them are born out of revival.” Of course, I’m not going to say, but I don’t want to say, “Hey, they didn’t lead your wife to the Lord anyway; somebody out knocking on doors led your wife to the Lord from an old-fashioned Baptist church.”

We strive, we work at it, to be distinctively Christian. We want it to sound like Christian music; we want it to be different. He’s put a new song in my mouth, amen, new song. We want to be different. I’m not saying, by the way, if they’re preaching the gospel, they’re not my enemies. But I’m saying we’re different, and we’re going to stay different.

By the way, moving to the new building, and God blesses and all that, are we going to change to fit the crowd? No, we want to change to fit the Lord. So we’re going to have a little bit different music. By the way, our radio station, we don’t want to sound like honky-tonk; we want to sound like Christian. We work at that. It’s a continual job. And why? We want it to be different. It’s God’s house, and God’s music. It wouldn’t sound like God’s music, not the world’s music. There is a difference, friend. We work at those things. It’s not to change. “Well, this is what people are wanting.” Well, what does God want, friend? “Well, this teenager likes this.” Friend, I’m not going to let a teenager, half the time they’re not even saved, decide what kind of music we play. We want God to decide these things, friends. It ought to be a church that doesn’t change. It’s the ground of truth.

Part of us holding it high, the truth, the pillar and the ground—the truth is us. We’re not perfect. I’m far from it. I mess up so much. We ought to be trying to live it in a church. The church ought to have every stage, and it’s very tough; it takes the Lord. I can’t make it happen, but a good, healthy church will have—will have just young Christians, and well, they don’t have everything right, for sure. And then maybe those that are grown, some, but they’re not quite there to mature, you might say. And then the mature Christians. All three stages ought to fit in a good church. By the way, this higher stage isn’t those that look like they have it; those are those that are reaching out and helping them. That’s the true high stage. But they ought to have all three stages in that church, and that takes the Lord to do it.

I like what an old preacher in Texas used to say. He said if you see—if you never have any cigarette butts in your parking lot, who are you reaching? I like it. We ought to have some of them sometimes because that’s the people we want to—end up, however, yet sinners. Christ died for us. But, you know, as you grow, there ought to be some differences.

We… you ever see so-and-so over there? He’s a deacon in the church. I pray, Lord, he goes to church. Why not? But you’re like, “He’s a deacon.” “Yeah, I’m a deacon.” Hair down to here. Man, you just heard him over there talking dirty and using dirty words. You’re like, “He’s a deacon.” Now, friend, I’m saying that’s why we have leadership requirements: as you grow, we want everybody to be welcome here. Everybody felt comfortable here; we want that. But somewhere you ought to have growth, and if you get in leadership, you ought to be somewhat living the truth. That’s God’s methods: the pillar and ground of truth.

I thought this was interesting, just talking about this thing here. I read a book years ago about overcoming sexual addictions and all those things. In the book, I read this; I’m going to read part of it to you. It says, “That is recovering from drug dependence at a local Christian ministry. I’ve been trying hard to get my life in order at the drug center. I’ve learned more about myself and my addiction to drugs than I expected. But since that, while I have been there, I have discovered a second unexpected thing: I have a problem with lust and impurity. I want to be free when I’m becoming frustrated and angry with the church. The Bible says women should dress modestly, but they don’t. The women’s soloists are wearing the latest, tightest fashions. I look at them, but all I see are the curves and legs. You know, the one who wears the slit way up the thigh—that thigh flashes with every step she takes. I just get enraged. Why do they make it worse?” Don’t get quiet on me.

We are far, and I don’t want to act like our church is perfect. I am trying to highlight the difference of our church here. But we ought to be striving to hold the truth high for people to see it. This is what a Christian man and Christian lady is supposed to be. We’re striving for that. You with me? The pillar and ground. It doesn’t change; it’s not shifting.

I don’t talk about this a lot on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. We did a series on it, Bible studies on it. But we use an old-fashioned King James Bible. That’s what we use. I am beginning to see it just seems so much anymore that for this verse, we have to find out what this educated—and I use “educated” loosely—man that knows Hebrew and Greek tells me what this verse really means and what words should be best there. Now think about that, so the everyday guy really doesn’t have to have a final authority in that book because the book can change.

How many of them—I’ve had another experience this at least twice talking to Muslims who say, “Well, y’all have all kind of Bibles. Do you really have a Bible that you can depend on?” We have the Korean—how about y’all? I say, “Yes, we do have a Bible we depend on. We don’t have a bunch; we use one in our church.” But I’m seeing how it just becomes where this guy that quote-unquote knows Hebrew or Greek can decide what that really means. By the way, all he’s going by is what someone taught him that Hebrew or Greek word means, and we don’t know what that guy’s like. I like to have a final authority. We’ll talk about what it means later on; let’s talk about what it says right now: a final authority.

I believe those 47 men that God used to translate into English were better educated than these educated people in our day and time. Society—we’re at the height of translation during that time, for sure, anyway. By the way, over 400 years, been tested and tried. Every great revival in the English language, that’s what they used, the great revivals, since it’s been translated in 1611. I don’t want what someone thinks God said; I want what God said.

So we are different. It’s interesting, and I’ve got to—we’re running out of time—but it’s just kind of spotlighting, spotlighting some differences in our church. And we are different. Not all; there are other good churches. And I can say they’re not my enemy if they use other—if they’re presenting the gospel of Jesus and Jesus alone, says—they’re my brother in Christ. I’m for them. But I am different, see? And I’m not ashamed to be different, and the church is different, and we’re not planning on changing. I just believe it does matter.

Thursday night, they’re using this video, and they’re using other versions. I told the men, “I don’t like that.” I chose this time to use—couldn’t find anything good and right in that subject that used King James. And so I shared one verse that they’ve changed, and it changes from “a servant of righteousness.” “We have been made free from sin, become a servant of righteousness.” They change it to “a slave of righteousness.” A slave doesn’t have a choice in the matter; a slave is owned. A servant, you have a choice in the matter; you agree to work for this man; you’re a servant of his. God never forces His leadership on anybody. And yet you check that out online, and there’s an educated man in California, a pastor in California, by the way—that’s the Calvinist that believes in lordship salvation that puts down the blood of Christ—that man says, “Well, doulos is a Greek word that always means slave.” And so we’re letting that man change the word of God. Come on now.

Interesting. Brother Patrick had a little debate with somebody online about what version of the Bible. He told me—I didn’t really notice this—but it’s over in Genesis 3:16, where a woman, you know, Adam got cursed, and Eve got cursed, and Eve’s getting cursed, and it says, “My desire shall be to thy husband.” He said, “Pastor, you don’t believe with the ESV”—that’s a big version out in our day and time—“it changes to ‘thy desire shall be’—let me get it—‘your desire shall be contrary to your husband.’” I’m like, “Wow, that’s the total opposite of what the Bible says.”

Look over real quick. We’ve got to run out of time. Do you have time for a verse or two? Look over in Isaiah real quick. Isaiah 14. We’re going to close this thing out. But Isaiah 14, does it really matter? “Your church is so archaic.” And we are about 400 years archaic. Well, let’s find out: does it really matter? Let’s just look at a couple of verses and see. Proof is in the pudding.

Look at Isaiah 14. Look in verse number 12. Isaiah 14, verse number 12. We typically don’t cover this on Sunday morning, but I thought we’d do a little bit how our church is unique. It’s different. It’s a different Sunday morning; I understand. It’ll be all right. Isaiah 14, look in verse number 12. He says, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations?” Did you get that? “Or cut down to the ground, O Lucifer, son of the morning.”

Let me read for you—I’ve already hit it once; we’ll hit it again—the English Standard Version. It says this: “How have you fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn!” I thought that was Jesus Christ. The Common English Bible is becoming very, very popular. Isaiah 14:12: “How have you fallen from heaven, O morning star?” Wait a second. I thought that was the name of Jesus. There is a hallway out there right beside, adjacent to our water fountain. There’s a plaque. We’ve got a lot of names of Jesus. I believe “morning star” is in there, Revelation 22:16, I believe it is. That’s the name of Jesus, and yet they’re calling Lucifer Morning Star. NIV 2011—they have different versions of the NIV. The NIV 2011: “How have you fallen from heaven, O morning star?” So they’re calling Lucifer the same name that Jesus is called. I have a problem with that.

Look down in verse number 15. You’re in Isaiah 14. Look down in verse number 15, talking about Satan again: “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” I’ll be honest with you, friend, we’re not supposed to hate anybody besides the devil. It’s all right to hate the devil. You see all the hurt and the pain and scars and the tears and the death—you hate the devil. It’s all right for him; he’s behind it all. I am looking forward to seeing God take the old devil and putting him down into hell, lock him up and throw away the keys. We used to sing in Sunday school. That’s what the Bible says.

Let me review what the English Standard Version says: “But you are brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit.” If you’re trying to make it easier to be understood, go ahead and translate it—that’s the Hebrew word—“to the far reaches of the pit.” Go ahead and just say, “Put him in hell.” Common English Bible, Isaiah 14:15: “But down to the underworld you are brought, to the depths of the pit.” The underworld can mean a whole lot of things, friends. I mean down in the ground; there’s a body. It can be a whole lot. No, I want to see the devil in hell, created for him and his angels. New International Version 2011: “But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” Realm of the dead. A whole lot of Christians’ bodies are in the realm of the dead down at a graveyard cemetery over there, Maplefield. I don’t want the devil there; I want him put where he belongs, be put in hell. That matters; that’s what I’m trying to do.

Now, I’m not—they’re not my enemy if they use other versions, but here we’re different. I think of years ago, a guy that had gotten saved out of a rough life, and he had been online. He had been studying, and he had learned about the King James. He said, “Man, I’m going to use the King James only.” And he was going to—not a bad church; I know the church—but they were using all the different versions. By the way, isn’t it so confusing that the guy in the pulpit is reading something different than I’m reading down here? God’s not the author of confusion, you understand? But he said he asked somebody in that church, “Is there such a thing as a church that just uses the King James Version?” And praise the Lord, they said, “You need to call Rutherford County Baptist Church.”

He called. He said, “Hey, I heard that all you—is that true that all y’all use the King James Version? I’m looking for it. Is there really such a thing like that?” I said, “Brother, come on over. You’ll feel at home here.” And he did. Our banker—I’m closing out—our banker, he told me—he’s a preacher’s kid, good guy, and been a blessing to us—but he told me one time, he said, “Paul, your church is becoming unique.” He likes us, and he knows what we’re all about. He said, “Y’all go door-to-door soul-winning. Nobody does that anymore. Y’all sing the old hymns. Y’all using King James. You’re really getting a niche in the Smyrna area.” And he was saying it in a good way.

By the way, when we needed a loan to buy that land over there, he told the—you know, you’ve got to go before a board to get a big loan like that—and he went before the board for us. He said, “If I’m going to stick my neck out for anybody, I want to stick my neck out for that church right there because those folks are different.” It’s all right to be different, friends. And I love my church. I’m glad I go to a different church. It’s on the ground, pillar and ground—the ground doesn’t change there.

One last illustration. I was going to take my glasses off. They’re all right off. What about that? An old story: a little town had a lake beside it, a beautiful lake, just pristine. Tourists began to come in there, and it became really a tourist town. They did very good. For a while, their budget got real tight. The town leaders met and said, “Man, we’ve got to cut budget some way, somehow.”

One of them said, “You know that stream cleaner they call him up in the mountains? We’ve been paying for him for years. Nobody ever sees him. We don’t even know if he’s up there. We just send a check.” They said, “All right, let’s cut it. Let’s cut it out.” They sent a letter to him: “Hey, we’re going to cut your job; we’re just cutting out no more checks.” They did.

A little while afterwards, the lake began to fill with trash and dirt, this ugliness. After a while, it started getting a little stink to it, just slime and everything else. Then the word began to get around, “Well, that’s such-and-such town; it’s a tourist town. It’s not what it used to be. The lake isn’t pristine anymore.” And boy, tourists there would drop off.

They said, “Well, maybe it does make a difference, the stream cleaner up in the mountains that the water is flowing down from.” So they started paying him again, hired him again, started paying him. And pretty soon, the lake started getting cleaner and cleaner until it became pristine. That’s what a church is supposed to be, the stream cleaner, if you will, the moral conscience of a nation. The pillar and ground of truth. That’s what it’s supposed to be.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. This is a different type of message. I hope I’m not trying to offend anyone, just telling you why we’re different.

You hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, I want to be thankful for my church. I know every church has problems; we do for sure. But you say the Lord spoke to me. I want to be thankful for my church, the local church that I go to. I want to be thankful for it. I want to enjoy it.” God spoke to my heart about that right there. That’s you this morning. You say, “Hey, that’s me, preacher.” Just lift your head. I’m there with you. I have to work it out of myself, friend, but I’m thankful. I’m glad to be a part, glad to be a part of an old-fashioned Baptist church, glad for that, pillar and ground of truth. God bless you. Thank you. Many, many hands.

Maybe here this morning you say, “Preacher, I want to be involved in it. I want to be involved in this local church. I want to be right in the middle of it all and doing what God leads me. I want to support. I want to be involved. I want to be involved. I want to be involved. I want to be involved.” If that’s you this morning, “I want to be involved. I want to do this. I want to support.” That’s you this morning, just lift your hand. “Preacher, that’s me. I want to be involved in it.” God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. That’s wonderful. That’s God’s plan, God’s wonderful plan. Thank you so very much. You put your hands down.

I did not preach a salvation message for sure, but maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, you know, you talk about outreach. I don’t know that I’m saved myself. If today were your last day, you’re maybe heading home from church and you were in a car accident and you stepped out into eternity, would you awake in heaven or hell? Only two places. God loves you. Jesus shed His blood. He would love to save you here this morning.” You say, “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m a believer in Christ; I don’t know that I’m saved. I need to get saved.” If that’s you, we will not call your name, will not embarrass you, but you say, “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m saved; I’d like to settle that.” If that’s you this morning, just lift your hand up. Anybody like that? Just lift it up. Anybody like that? Anybody like that?

I don’t see any hands. Hey, Christians, man, let’s just say, “Thank You, Lord, for the church, the local church.” You go to another man rejoicing, just getting in your local church and say, “I want to be right in the middle of all: the house of God, a child of God should be.” Let’s stand, if you would, please. We’re going to have a word of prayer. Would you come? Maybe just pray for your local church. Ask God to bless it. Ask God, “What’s my part in the local church?” Would you do that? Let’s pray. Would you come?

Father, thank You for Your plan of Your church. Lord, I preach You blessed all the gospel-preaching churches. Thank You for them. Lord, thank You for this one, the one that You’ve given us. We love it, Lord. Thank You for it. Would You bless it? Would You use it to help us to reach many, many people and hold the truth high, not changing for You? We’ll thank You for what You do. It’s in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen. Would you come as our piano plays? This is the Lord leads you. Harvey leads you. Stay there, you stay there. Harvey leads you; you follow what He wants.

Praise the Lord for our election. And, boy, I think God just blessed in a great, great way, and I love what the changes. I love it, man. I’m like, “Yeah.” But honestly, righteousness exalts a nation. You know what America needs beyond that? A whole lot of rock-ribbed churches all across America. I was just sitting here thinking, going through my mind a little bit, and I’ll miss some—I miss so many. But I thought about Brother Dumpert when he got saved, him and Miss Dumper, and that church in Indiana; they still talk about it. That’s where they got grounded. I was talking about Steve Goldforth, and he preached not too long ago; got saved years ago, Miracle Babe, got grounded there. Wanted to be there all the time. The Renicks, praise the Lord, they were saved, but God used this church a lot. I thought about Brother Kevin over there and his church in Arizona, I think, where he got saved and got grounded in that church. I thought about my mom and dad. I mean, just—they were drug dealers. No, I’m joking; they were not. But they didn’t know, man. They got saved. They started going to Birchwood Baptist Church, a little bit of church in Plant City, Florida. And those churches—that’s what America needs, all across America: people getting grounded in local churches. That’s God’s plan. It works. I can hear it: “Let my people go,” like Pharaoh, you know, “Let my people go.” We’re going to let you get out of God’s house. I’ve been late the last two Sundays. Might as well get something while we’re here. Thank you for being here. We’re glad to have you. Looking forward to tonight, 6:05. We’re going to start a new series on the armor of a Christian, and be here for that. Love to have you come to that. Good to have the McCords. They’re still getting over—like a lot; there are some still out over the above. But good to have Brother David back with us. Would you dismiss with a word of prayer, please?

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Why is RCBC different＂- Sunday AM 02⧸16⧸2025 [h3vlqxnoNfY]