Christian Sermons, Bible Studies, and Devotionals | Brighter Day Baptist Church

Understanding the importance of being a born-again Christian

The difference between being good and being saved

The promise of eternal life and glory

The call to salvation and the importance of accepting Jesus Christ

Greetings. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I greet you in his holy name. This is Reverend Fred Proctor, Sr., the pastor of brighterdaybaptistchurch.com. This is the Sunday evening service, and I hope you were able to worship with us on the Sunday morning service. But we are back on this Sunday evening, and we're so glad that you are a part of this, that you're watching and listening, and that if you have a need, you will respond and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you with whatever the need is. At this time, we will go to the Lord in prayer. We have a prayer list. You can go to roderdaybaptistchurch.com and you see the praying hands and you click on that and you will see all that we have that's listed on the prayer list. People that have cancer, people that have had strokes, people that are sick and afflicted and different problems. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, I bow before you this evening and come with a most humble heart and a thankful heart to thank you that I know, that I know, that I know that I have been born again, not through anything that I've done except that I accepted the free gift and you birthed me into the kingdom. And I thank you so much that I know this and I'm confident that when I leave this world, I will be there with you. Heavenly Father I pray for all that's on our sick list I pray for everyone that's watching or listening and for that sick there I pray and ask for great and mighty miracles Heavenly Father according to your perfect will you are God and you can do anything that you want and I pray and ask that you will touch and heal and help and raise up and restore those that are cast down Lord with different afflictions you are God and I pray and ask that you will truly be in this message touch the hearts and minds of people and draw them unto you for salvation thank you heavenly father in Jesus name I most humbly pray and ask it amen and amen sometime back not been very long back I preached the message entitled get right or get left get right or get left and that was related to the rapture the rapture is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for all of those all All of us that have been born again, it shall happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, with the trumpet sound, and Jesus Christ himself shall come. And half the time it takes to blink your eye, we will get a new body. Those that are dead and have died will get a new body first. When you die, you go where you're going. That part in us that lives on. Now the body, it goes back to the dust. But that quick. Every born again Christian. That has died or that's still here alive. Will be changed that quick. And have a brand new and a glorified body. Get right. or get left do you know that you know that you are a born-again Christian do you know of a time when you gave your heart and life and soul to the Lord Jesus Christ and you prayed and asked him to come into your life and to save your soul so you won't die and go to hell that is the most important thing in all of the world that is to know that you know that you know that you are ready and that when your time comes you You will go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you will take this opportunity to check up on your life. You can't get to heaven by trying to be good. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man, no person comes to me, comes to the Father, except you come through me. You can't be good enough because you're a sinner. We're all born sinners. We inherited that from Adam and Eve. And little people say, well, what about children? They're covered by the blood of Jesus until they know right from wrong, and then they have to make a decision. What are you going to do about Jesus? Would you accept him? A lot of people turn over and you leave, they say, and say, well, from this day forward, I'm going to be a good person. No, you can't be a good person. Because there is no good in you until you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. There is none good. No, not one. So understand it's so important. It's the most important thing that ever has been or ever will be. And that is, are you sure that you are a born again Christian? I'm not here to cast doubt on your salvation, but I'm here to ask you to check up and make sure. I want to read some scripture. This is talking to Christians. From the book of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 12, we read, Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. He's talking here to born-again Christians. Colossians chapter 3, verse 4. When Christ, who is our life, and that is what I said, our life is hid in Christ if we're a Christian. If not, we're lost. But let me read this. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. That's what you want to know and be sure about. 2 Timothy 2, verse 10. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. That word eternal means everlasting. Always, always, always, always, always, forever. 1 Peter 1, verse 5. Here a great promise to us Christians who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time Think about that. We're saved because Jesus loves us. He came. He died. He finished his work on Calvary. and then when we accept him as our Savior, he keeps us. Here again, 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 4. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away. by what great and wonderful and mighty promises that he gives us. And by faith, by faith, we believe it. I believe it. I believe it because he said it. I believe it because his disciples knew it so well. And many of his followers were put to death. And all they had to do was say, I don't know Christ. And they would have let them live. But they were so convinced that he, and I'm talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, he was the Son of God. He was God in the flesh. The Holy Trinity, Almighty God, the Father Jehovah, Almighty God, the Son Jesus Christ, Almighty God, the Holy Ghost. the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ and his followers were so convinced that they would be burned at the stake and all they had to do was to recant and say I I don't know him or he's not God. He's not real. They knew it. We know it. Because he said it and he cannot lie. Now. Second Timothy chapter four, verse eight. Please listen to this. Henceforth. There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. And if you're a born-again Christian, you will love his appearing. and you have a desire to be with him, you're not suicidal. No, that's not it. But we know there is a place on the other side that's laid up for us. Now, Titus, in the book of Titus, chapter 1, verse 2, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. God made and gave this promise before the world, before he ever spoke the world into existence, existence. Before he ever created anything, he gave this promise in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. If you're not right, all you have to do is call upon the name of Jesus. Then just tell him, Lord, I'm a sinner. I don't want to die and go to hell. I want to be there with you. Please come into my life and save my soul. So I will know. I will know that I know that I'm going to be there with you. I want to share something personal with you in this message, which I'm entitled Part 2, Get Right or Get Left. I announced my call to the ministry in 1962. I knew that God had called me. I knew it. I think I knew it all my life. I was called into the ministry. And I started preaching in 1962. God has blessed me. I have served as pastor of eight Southern Baptist churches. I'm a conservative Southern Baptist and I do not apologize for that. But I want to share something. I had been called as pastor to a First Baptist Church up in the state of West Virginia. It was a great church. It was a great church. I saw a lot of people accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. This church was up in an area where it was a lot of tourism. Lots of people who had money had a second home. Up in this area where I was pastoring. You had people who lived in Charleston, West Virginia, and different places of West Virginia. But they would have a second home up in that area. And a lot of them came to church. There was a man and his wife. They were up in years. I think they were probably close to maybe being 70 years, 7-0, 70 years of age. They came. They were faithful members. They were born-again Christians. And one Sunday morning, I remember this very vividly. they came to church and they had an elderly woman with them. She was on a walker, you know, got the wheels and she had to hold on to the walker. And she came into church and the very fact that she was on a walker meant she had to sit on the front seat, front row, because she had, you couldn't get that walker between the pews. So she came in with them and she sat down on the front row. I preached. And Satan, the serpent. And let me say, one of our mottos is never trust a snake. Never trust a snake. I preached. And as I was given the invitation. Satan, I could feel him. Fighting against me. And of course I did not hear a voice. But I felt it. He was saying. You sure messed that up. You sure made a mess out of that message. And he repeated it over and over. Well the invitation was given and this woman got up got a hold of her walker and came up front I shook her hand and I said can I help you And she said yes I want to become a Christian And I said well just kneel right there And she said, I can't kneel. I said, well, that's fine. Just right where you're at. Just call upon the name of the Lord and ask him to save you. And Satan was fighting against me. And finally, I just said no one heard me but Satan. I said, it's none of your business. You don't have anything to do with it. I done what God told me to do. You just may as well pack up and go on and shut up. This woman accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. And you will see why Satan was so upset because he knew he was going to lose one of his. She was 86 years old. And when she had finished her prayer, I said, do you have a testimony or a word you'd like to say? And she said, yes, I would love to. So someone brought a microphone and handed it to her, and she told the story. She said, I'm 86 years old. I live in the state of Ohio, and I come with my nephew and his wife to church this morning. And she said, this is the first time I have been in church in over 40 years. and it happened with my sister. We had a falling out about something that happened in church and she said, it's been so long, I don't even remember what it was. But all my life, she said, all the way back when I was just a little girl, I always wanted to know that I would go to heaven when I die. And she said, thank God, now I know I'll be going to heaven. Satan was so upset. He was going to lose someone that he probably thought, she's mine. She is mine. She's 86 years old. but thank God she was exposed to the gospel, the truth, and she accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. And a year or two later, my wife and I were on vacation and we went up through West Virginia and we stopped and visited with her nephew and his wife. They invited us to come have lunch with them. and I talked to them about his aunt. And I said, is she still alive? Oh, yes, yes. I said, well, does she still have a word of testimony? Oh, said everywhere she goes, she's telling everybody to get right with Jesus, to make sure. Folks, it was not me. It was the power of God, the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You don't have many people. Matter of fact, in all of my ministry, that's the only person that I remember to become a Christian that was 86 years of age. Thank God for the power of the gospel. Get right or get left. It is the most powerful thing in the world is the gospel. For God so loved the world, and that is you and you and you. For God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son, that's Jesus Christ. That whosoever, that you, that you, that you, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's how you become a Christian. When you come to this point and say, Jesus, I can't make it. I can't make it. I tried being good. And it didn't work. No. It doesn't work. It won't work. The only thing that will work is the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I want to read you some more scripture. in the book of Romans chapter 6 verse 22 and 23 listen to this but now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death. It's death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin is death. Now listen, I want to give you an example. every person every person I said in the beginning every person that's ever been born or ever will be born except Jesus Christ you're born a sinner you're on death row you are on death row now Now, I have read and heard about people on death row, and they are kept in a separate place because they've been sentenced to die because of some heinous crime that they committed. and when the guards get him or her up and move, they have to say, dead man walking, dead man walking, dead woman walking, dead woman walking. And there you sit, waiting, waiting, and knowing that you're going to die. with lethal injection or however, one state, I forget, it's out west, it's a firing squad. But there you are, sentenced to death. No hope. No hope. No hope. But then, here someone walks in, says it's a warden. He walks in and goes back to your cell, comes into your cell and says, I have here a full pardon signed by the governor or the president, someone that has that authority to do it. And he reaches it out to you. And you just sit there. it doesn't mean anything until you accept it it means nothing until you accept it and if you don't accept it in essence here's what you're saying no I don't want to be free I'm going to die I'm on death row how foolish you say how foolish how stupid why why would anyone be that way well I want to ask you why would anyone be that way spiritually speaking you are on death row if you never asked Jesus Christ to come into your life And here is the gospel The power of God comes in and you hear the gospel and you hear it and it says here is a complete and free pardon that wipes out all of your sin and set you free. Here, take it. And you say, no. Maybe later. Or I will. It's just like it's just like a person who's physically on death row. It's spiritual death row. And until you accept that pardon, you're a dead person walking, and hell is waiting to swallow you up. Why? Why? Why? Why will you die when you can live? Now listen. But now, being made free from sin, free, free, it's free by grace you're saved for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself it's not of works lest any man should boast it's a free gift it is a free gift listen being made now but now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death. You stay in sin, you're going to die. Yes, Christians die, but they live eternally. And that is the second death. Hell, my, my. Now listen, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What did it say? The gift, the free gift, a total pardon. Thank God Almighty. Now listen in Galatians chapter 6, verse 8. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. If all you ever do is for the flesh, then you will die in your sins and go to hell. But if you accept Jesus Christ, then you will have eternal life forever. 1 John chapter 5. I'll be through in a minute, but I want to give you these scriptures. 1 John chapter 5 verse 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. that you may know that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that 86-year-old lady, her testimony, I've always wanted to know that when I die, I'd go to heaven, and now I know it. That you may know that you have eternal life. In the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. Revelation chapter 22, verse 5, we read, And there shall be no night there. He's talking about heaven. There shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever. Thank God almighty. What a place. What a place. I've used, I'm going to use an illustration that I have used several times. Because it's such a great illustration. This is a personal illustration. I went to a Bible college after I announced my call to the ministry. And then I went online for eight years to different Bible colleges and studies. I cannot remember which one, but one of my professors gave this illustration, and it's stuck in my mind, and it's so fitting. He went on vacation. Now, this is not something made up. This is something that actually happened. He went on vacation, and he went to New Mexico to the Carlsbad Caverns. He said they took us down 700 feet. So it must have been, surely had there been an elevator. But he said, I'm pretty sure he said they took us down 700 feet. Then we walked back to a large area there. And then, of course, they had the protective barrier where you couldn't fall in the way on down into this big precipice. And they had a person there that was a guided tour. and he told them, said, we're 700 feet down and we are going to turn the lights off and they'll only be off for a couple of minutes. But he said, let me tell you this. It is known that if a person stands right here and the lights are off, in seven days, you'll be totally insane. And he said, okay, everybody. And they turned the lights off. He said it was so dark you could feel the darkness. And about 10 seconds after they turned the lights off, people began to scream and yell. He said, turn the lights on. Turn them on. Turn the lights on. And they turned them back on. And he gave that illustration. Because he's talking about hell. It's down in the pit. I don't know where, but I think it's down in the pit of the earth. And it is such a place. Listen, I want you to understand. I'm doing everything that I can to get you to wake up and understand. Once you get in that place, you will never get out. There's no need in calling on anybody because they will not be able to hear. And if they could, they couldn't help you. Why will you die when you can live? Folks, you don't want to die and go to hell and you don't have to. Jesus Christ paid the sin debt. And he stands here as I preach the gospel, the great news, the best news ever. Accept it. Accept it and know that heaven is going to be your home. Heavenly Father, I pray. I thank you for this opportunity on this Sunday evening service here at brighterdaybaptistchurch.com to present the gospel to all the world, to everyone who listens. And I say to you, call upon the name of Jesus and accept him and ask him to come into your life and to save your soul. You will never, never, never regret it. Thank you, Heavenly Father. In the holy name of Jesus, I pray. Amen and amen.

Playlist coming soon.