Amen. Enjoy. Enjoy the talent God's given our musicians. And that
sounded like that needed to be played in a lobby somewhere, just
soothing. I meant that in a good way, not a bad way. Love that
song. Turn, if you would, in your Bibles to Romans, chapter 14.
Romans 14. As we continue our series of messages on the Baptist
distinctives. The Baptist distinctives. These are, again, a
collection of biblical truths unique to Baptists. By that, I mean
that as a collection, all these truths together is what makes
Baptists unique. It is not that we don't have other denominations
and. And other good churches out there teaching and preaching
portions of these. It's that Baptist historically. All right,
so historically, these 12, and we're going using 12. Sometimes it's
8 to 12 of them using these 12 that have been historically, again,
a way to describe Baptists. And so I just want to make it clear
that, in fact, I will use an example of a Bible church. A lot
of Bible churches are very, very close in belief to what we as
Baptists believe. But there's still a couple of these as we go
through them, these 12 that you wouldn't necessarily say that
a Bible church absolutely believes this way, but you would
say, again, I know I'm repeating myself on purpose because
I've had some questions as of recently about reading recently about
this, but I'm saying, again, the collection of the 12 together
is what makes, again, Baptist. We are unique. All right, so our
series, our theme verse for the series again, that we as a church,
our churches, have been instructed by the Lord to be caretakers
of the faith or caretakers of the truth. And so we are responsible,
we are accountable to pass on biblical truth to the next generation.
Second Timothy, chapter two and verse two. The things that thou
has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to
faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. And so we take
these biblical truths, the things that we have heard and the
things that we have witnessed, then we commit those same things
to the next generation. Now, look with me in Romans chapter 14,
and we'll cover the Fourth Baptist distinctive as we go through
this. So again, Romans chapter 14, verse 11. As it is written, as
I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God. Look at verse 12 now. So then every one of
us shall give an account of what does it say himself. It could
say herself of himself to God, that everyone will give an account
of themselves, himself, herself to God. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, again, we just pray that you'd be with us today. As we
look at this again, most important subject, I pray God that
you'd help me to be very. Have clarity of thought and make the message
and the truth very clear to the congregation. We thank you and
love you. In Jesus name, Amen. As we think about the Baptist distinctives
we've covered, number one, we covered the Bible. That the Bible
is the final authority for faith and practice. Amen. The Bible
is the final authority for faith and practice. Not just what
we believe, but how we go about applying those beliefs. It's
our roadmap. It's our guide. It's inspired, inerrant, the infallible
word of God. And then number two, the other, the second Baptist
distinctive we've covered is salvation by grace through faith
in the person, life and work of Jesus Christ. Salvation is found
by grace through faith solely. That means only in the person and
work of Jesus Christ. Jesus said himself, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. Again, we
know most of you can quote several verses. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his works. All right.
We know that for by grace you saved through faith and that not
of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works, as we mentioned,
both. So again, on and on and on. Salvation is by grace through
faith in the personal life and work of Jesus Christ. Then last week
we covered eternal security. And that is the security of the believer
that once you're saved, once you've accepted Christ as your Savior,
you're always saved. And we covered it from a little different
perspective this last week when we really went through Romans
chapter four and five in Romans chapter eight, if you'll remember.
Maybe, maybe, no maybe. And we covered how that again, there's a
battle between the old and new nature. But we were given a new nature
when we got saved. And I said, when the Holy Spirit came into your
life, when the Holy Spirit came to abide in you. When something
that big shows up, you'll know it. And there ought to be in your
own life. And there ought to be an assurance that you know that.
You know that you know if you were to die today that heaven would
be your home. John said it himself. He said that you might know
that you have eternal life. And you've heard it, most of you,
as I've heard it for all my life. We do not believe in a hope
so salvation. We have a no so salvation. I can lay my head down
at night. I know that if I were to die in my sleep, I know without
a doubt, without a shadow of a doubt that heaven would be my home.
Every Christian ought to know that. Every person ought to know
that for sure. And you can. And that is eternal security. I did
nothing to gain my salvation. I did nothing to work for my salvation.
Therefore I cannot work to lose it. I can't do anything to lose
it. I didn't earn it. It was a gift. It's a gift on two occasions.
The Bible. The Bible refers to salvation as a gift. If it can be
taken back, it's not a gift. It's just to me, it's simple. But
I know this is one of those areas that a lot, a lot, a lot of
individuals and denominations and churches preach that you can
lose your salvation tonight. And this is one that's not spoken
on or preached on much, is soul liberty. Soul liberty. That
we are accountable to God individually. That's what the verse
said. Right? Shall give an account of himself to God. I'm not
accountable for what you have done or what you will do. You're
not accountable for what I have done and what I will do. I am
accountable. I'm personally accountable to God. By the way, this
is one of the problems with America today, personal accountability.
Personal accountability. It's one of the reasons America is suffering
is because people will not take personal accountability, won't
take personal their own actions. And I could go a lot more
than that and spend time on it. But you are personally responsible
for your actions and you are going to be accountable to God one
day for your actions. By the way, if you're saved not for your
sins, but for your works, the Bible says whether they be good or
bad, in other words, whether they be for your glory or for God's
glory, did you do them out of selfish motivation or did you do
them out of a motivation because you love the Lord and you
love others, Right? And so understand that. But personal accountability
is one of those areas, America. And really across the world
there's a severe problem. And we know. And my wife and I were having
this discussion today. It's a sign of the end times. Me and Caleb
were having the discussion. It's a sign of the end times that
we get to that point where people do not feel personally responsible
for their own actions. It's crazy, isn't it? It's crazy, isn't
it? I want to do some more, talk about that some more. And I
don't want to do that. Every one of us shall give an account for
himself to God. So the Fourth Baptist distinctive is soul liberty
and competency. Competency. How can we, I'm sorry, how can one
be accountable if he does not have soul liberty? In other words,
if we're going to give an account to God, how can we do that
if we don't have soul liberty? In other words, if we're not making
the choices. If we're not making the choices. The Bible makes
it clear that when we, we were created, we were created in the image
of God and we were created with a free will, mind, will and
emotions. Amen. Mind, will and emotions. We talked about this when
we talk about Calvinism and Calvinism kind of it pushes that
out. It makes people, you know, robots who don't have the,
they don't have the option whether to believe in, you know,
salvation by, you know, salvation or not. If you were chosen,
you're chosen. And so God didn't create us as robots, but we
have a free will. And because we have a free will, we are again
personally accountable. So let's look at the words defined here.
The word soul. The word soul. So his or her soul. Again this is
talking about individual and personal. The soul is the innermost
self awareness or self consciousness of a man that makes
him an individual able to reflect upon God, his revelation
to man. All right, so it's that self awareness that enables
me to reflect upon God. I can reflect upon his revelation, in other
words, how he has revealed Himself to me. I have the ability
to look at creation and make a decision. I can make a decision that
that just happened or I can make a decision that that is God
revealing himself to me. And by the way, it is God revealing himself
to me. Creation, all of creation is nothing but a finger
pointing up to God. I created this. I am the creator, I am the
curator, I am the caretaker. And one day he will be the consummator.
This is going to happen. And so all of creation tells us that
there is an absolute, tells us there is a God. So God, we have the
ability, because we've been given again free will and be given
sole liberty to make these decisions and to reflect upon, be
able to reflect upon God and his revelation of himself by the
way he reveals himself through his Bible, through the Word, the
written word of God. And again he reveals himself to us and make
us aware of himself and Himself in light of such. And then
we, we have the ability to act on it. So I have free will, I have
soul liberty, the ability to make choices. And I've been given
the wherewithal to reflect upon God and the way in which he
has revealed Himself to me through creation or through the Bible,
through history. And then I act upon that. In other words, my
actions is what's going to be accounted for, for, accountable to.
Right, accountable for. Stay with me. By the way the human beings
are made are a trichotomy. Body, soul and spirit. Body, soul
and spirit. In the Bible we refer to as a trichotomy. Body, soul
and spirit. The body of course is this tabernacle. That's the world
consciousness. Somebody has said the soul, self, conscience and
the spirit is that part of us which is God, conscience, the body,
soul and spirit. There are some who believe in dichotomy that
believe that spirit and the soul are one and the same. I don't
believe the Bible teaches that. I believe the Bible makes it
very clear that it's a separate part of us that we are as
the Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
So we are a trichotomy as well. Body, soul, spirit. And so
the soul again is that part of which of us that is self conscious.
Alright then, liberty. Well, we all know what liberty means. Freedom,
soul, soul liberty. I always think about KIA soul. Why? I don't
know. That's an ugly car. Soul liberty. I think about those little
is it gerbils in the commercial. Y'all remember that?
That's the stuff that goes through my mind when I'm preaching.
I'm sorry, just that's the way I'm wired. It's just the liberty,
Freedom, freedom, freedom. Every person has autonomy from God
to study His Word and we can come directly to him through Christ.
So the point we're making here is soul liberty. Every person has
the wherewithal to come to Christ, to come to the Word of God,
to come to read the Word of God, to understand the Word of God,
that we can come directly to the Lord through Jesus Christ. We
don't need someone sitting in a booth, you know, confessing our
sins to in order to get direct access to God. No, the Bible says
we are priests, that we are a royal priesthood and we have direct
access individually to God. You do not have to come to the preacher
and come to my office and confess your sins and then ask me
God for forgiveness. No, you go to God on your own, you are personally
accountable. You have soul liberty and you can go directly to
God on your own and ask for forgiveness. We can come directly
to God. Not just for forgiveness, of course, but when
it comes to the word of God, understanding the Word of God. The
Holy Spirit is given to every person who accepts Christ as their
Savior. The moment you're saved, the moment you transfer your
trust from anything else and anyone else or yourself unto Christ
and Christ alone and you put your faith in him, you immediately
you receive the Holy Spirit of God. And that Holy Spirit of God
gives you plenty of blessings. One of those is illumination. Illumination.
In other words, it is the Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth.
He is the one who enables you to understand the Bible, to lead
you to understand the Bible. You have the same Holy Spirit that
I have. I have the same Holy Spirit that you have. Preachers don't
have any special illumination versus the person sitting in the
pew, the chair. One of my favorite Bible teachers is Brother
Stewart. I think he is the smartest man I've ever met. When
it comes to the Bible. He doesn't have a corner the Bible.
In other words, he doesn't have some special revelation from
God, some special light that's been given to him in order for him
to understand the Scriptures better than you or me. We all have
the same Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is there again to not
only to illuminate us, but to fill us, of course, and seal us.
And you can grieve the Holy Spirit and on and on and on the works
of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So liberty, freedom. And then
third is competency again, the wherewithal to act as a free moral
agent. Again, that we are not robots, that we have a free will
and that. And that because we are created in the image of God,
again that body, soul, spirit, again the mind, will and emotions.
I always like to point out when we talk about moral awareness.
So as human beings we have competency. We have moral awareness,
moral awareness. So we are born with some light. That's what
the Bible says. He lit every man that cometh into the world. Romans
says that the law of God is stamped on the heart of every person
born into this world. We know because of sin, because of Adam's
sin, and that sin's passed to every man, all mankind, that that
moral awareness, that conscience that we are given has
been warped. That's why when we say, well, just let your conscience
be your guide, that's not a good thing. Yes, you have a conscience.
Yes, we have moral awareness. But because of sin, that moral awareness
is not like Adam and Eve had before they got saved, before they.
I mean, before the fall. One day we'll have that again. By the
way, one day we'll not sin. One day the Conscience will no longer
be warped. Warped is maybe not the right word, but you get what
I'm trying to get across. So a proof that humans are not animals
again, that moral awareness that we have humans again, human
beings are not animals. We're of a separate created order and we
are above the animals. Animals were made for us. Some of them were
made for us to eat. They're very tasty. Very, very, very tasty.
I'm definitely for people eating. I won't go through with it.
Tasty animals. Sorry, I just had to do it. People eating tasty
animals is really good. PETA? Nobody. Some of y'all. Okay, good
animals do not have moral awareness. Why? Because they were
not created in the image of God. This competency, all right,
it kind of goes back to. We did a study talking about the Gnostics
in the Book of Colossians. Remember that some of you and the
Gnostics believe that you could get to the point of a point
of. That you have a special light that somebody else does not
have, that you have a corner on understanding a certain portion
of Scripture. It's kind of like the person who says, well, you
just haven't gotten there yet. You haven't received enough light
yet. And it's somebody who comes across and says, well, I have
more light than you have. And I'm just telling you we all have
the same Holy Spirit, we all have the same ability. And God hasn't
given, again, some special anointing on someone else that God
hasn't given to you when it comes to Scripture and understanding
the Scripture. Amen. Amen. Alright, so that leads us into the
next point. So when it comes to soul liberty, one of the ways
in which we can kind of track this or talk about it is through
history. How has this been or how has this been affected and whereabouts
did it come from? As far as the understanding of it, One of the
areas is the Pilgrims. Everybody know who those are? Those
used to be taught in school, the Pilgrims. When I was in elementary,
you used to dress up as a pilgrim and some dressed up as Indians.
It was fine. It was fine. And so the Pilgrims have taken a bad
rap because of the revisionist history writers. But the Pilgrims
came to America. Why? Why did the Pilgrims come to America? Religious
freedom. Absolutely. There's no if, ands or buts about that. There's
no debate. That's why the Pilgrims came. They came to get away
from an oppressive king, an oppressive state. They came to get
away from the Church of England. They went to Holland. And
even there they were persecuted somewhat, and they were
what we would call a denomination called Congregationalists.
Congregationalists. And so they wanted to go to a country, go
to a place where they could worship according to the dictates
of their own conscience. Does that sound like anything familiar
to you? That's individual soul liberty that God has given us, again,
the rights, if you Would you believe how you want to. I believe
how I want to. That's called religious freedom. Religious freedom.
The Pilgrims were influenced by Baptists, by the way, in Holland,
and they migrated. Pilgrims migrated to the United States in
waves. So they came. Some of them came. Then some more came. Then
some more came. Pilgrims are sometimes lumped in with Puritans.
And that's not necessarily the case, though, as the Pilgrims were
here first in America, and they kind of melded into. And with
the Puritans, The Puritans came. They really were a sect, religious
sect, that wanted to purify the Church of England. They wanted
to get it purified, to correct it, to get it right. And it wasn't
doable, of course. And so eventually the Pilgrims were absorbed
in America into and in with the Puritans. That's a fact. So you
have the Pilgrims, you have the Puritans. These individuals expressed
and these groups expressed what we're trying to say. Individual
soul liberty. Stay with me now. We're going somewhere. Soul
liberty, this right of understanding that each person is
accountable to God for what they do and what they believe. And
then take into account not only the Pilgrims and the Puritans,
but take into account the Protestants. The Protestants. All
right, so a Protestant, Again, we think about Martin luther, the
early 1500s, their belief in soul liberty. In soul liberty. Again,
this led the ideal that the Bible be equally available to all.
So then you had Tyndale and you had all these Reformists and
the group of Reformers who said, okay, the Catholic Church is
the only one who has the Bible. The Catholic Church made it
illegal to have the Bible in your own language. And when Tyndale
and these others began to translate the Bible into English,
they were burned at the stake. They were killed. They were martyred.
And so that's. Again, as the Protestant Reformation began, Martin
Luther and others, you began to see this shape or this doctrine,
these teachings take shape. And one of those doctrines was individual
soul liberty. Individual soul liberty. Again, the Protestants weren't
perfect about it. I did come across, and I haven't really studied
this much, but we ought to be grateful, the Protestant movement.
By the way, Baptists are not Protestants. We're not Protestants,
we didn't protest the Catholic Church. We were around before the
Catholic Church. Amen. We went through the Reformation, we went
through the dark ages. The 50 million or so Christians that were
martyred during the Dark Ages now called the Middle Ages because
you can't politically correct call it the Dark Ages. Most of those
were Baptists, separatists, Montanists, Novatians. I mean there's
so many different names there. But those who held to the Baptist
distinctives. And so the Protestants had their teachings,
their doctrine versus what the Catholic Church was teaching. And
it's called the five solas. Solis means light of the Protestant
movement. So there are five, if you would, pillars of the Protestant
movement doctrine, their teachings. Alright, here's the five
pillars. Scripture alone, in other words, it's the Bible dictates
what we believe. Just what we're saying tonight, the Bible is
our final rule and authority for all faith and practice. Number
two, by faith alone, that salvation is by faith alone plus
nothing, minus nothing. By grace alone. You say, well, some
of the Protestants didn't practice us very good, I agree. But
this was their five pillars, if you would. By grace alone we believe
that for by grace he is saved through faith. We just talked about
it. And then Christ alone. Number four, Christ alone. And then
number five, glory to God alone. In other words, all glory
goes to God. Not to the Pope, not to someone else. Glory. In other
words, it's God whom we have access to that we don't have to go
through a priest. And he's the one that we, that we ought to bring
glory to, not to some denomination or some. Anyway, so
Baptists benefited from the Protestant movement. Baptists benefited
from the Reformation because of the acceptance of these five truths
by most Protestants. Most Protestants. Now again, that's been
kind of back and forth throughout the ages. But most Protestants
did not sufficiently practice our lineup doctrinally with these
five pillars. They had these five, but they in practice did not
line up. Many of them did not line up with it. All right, so what
happened was because they did not line up with it, you had not
only Catholics oppressing Baptists or separatists, but you
had Protestants. There were Baptists martyred in America by Protestant
churches and denominations, not just the Catholic Church, because
mainly because we believe believer's baptism, that only a believer
can be baptized. Only someone who's been saved can be baptized.
And that baptism has to be done by immersion. Man, go read the
Fox's book of Martyrs. Man, read through. There's so much, so
much history behind all this but in reflection, as we look back
through history, I know it bored some of you. As we look back
through history, we can't discount the impact the Protestant
movement, the Reformation movement had on Baptists as well.
It allowed for so much more to come out and to be done as the Catholic
Church began to lose its influence and the Protestant movement
began to grow. Thank the Lord for it. And many of the Protestant
churches, and there are some still today, still preaching the
gospel, still teaching salvation by grace through faith
and certainly teaching individual soul liberty. So we do
have some today who even in that vein of thought because of individual
soul liberty. So think about this. If somebody has individual
soul liberty, then they have individual soul liberty. It's not
just that the Protestants have it or the Catholics have it, but
sometimes even among Baptists there can be some coercion into.
If you don't believe exactly like I believe, then phooey on you.
Maybe nobody wants to talk about this, but there are a lot,
there are some things going on, some weird stuff out there online
in some of these so called. They call themselves Baptist churches
and they call themselves the New. There's a group called the New
Independent Baptist Churches. And man, that Steve Anderson crowd,
they're something. So just be aware out there that there are even
among people who call themselves Baptists who are oppressors.
And if you don't believe exactly like they do, then they'll
have nothing to do with you. Not just that they won't have nothing
to do with you, they will oppress you. You're not a part of
their club. Then you know there is going to be some oppression
happen. That's just not. And you think, well preacher, that's
just preacher talk. I am telling you it affects individuals.
Individual soul liberty means that I alone am personally accountable
to God for myself and that's the way God made me. Alright, Soul
liberty. Each person is responsible to God for their faith.
Each person is responsible for their salvation. In other words,
accepting the Christ as their Savior. I can't get saved for my
kids. You can't get saved for your kids. They're individually responsible
at the time in which they come to that age that they would accept
Christ as their savior. Personally accountability in the
area of morality and theology. Personally accountable in the area
of morality. I can't control another adult and so I'm not personally
accountable for him or her. Sometimes this happens with parents.
Their kids get raised, their kids become an adult and they still
think they're accountable for what their kids do at the age of
21 I'm not accountable for what my kids do at the age of 21.
They are. Quit beating yourself up over it. If you have
a kid who has strayed. And certainly absolutely pray and pray
that God would intervene. Pray for them, help them when you can,
but be careful about beating yourself up over they're personally
accountable. They're personally accountable and your grandkids
too, by the way. And then accountability to the Scripture as
to what their meanings are. In other words, I'm personally accountable
for what I believe. The Bible is saying search the Scriptures.
The Bible says whether these things be so, whatever coming out
from the pew, we need to be careful that we have searched the
Scriptures and these things be so. Be careful, be careful. We're
all accountable. All accountability, therefore is capable
of responding to God directly. We are all capable of responding
to God directly. And yes, as we read our Bibles, we ask for the
Lord to open our eyes that we must understand the marvelous things
found in the Bible. Lord, help me to understand these things. And
yes, there's still absolutely. The Bible makes it clear that there's
a place for a pastor's teachings that we ought to again,
the pastors to feed the flock, the pastors to be apt to teach. And
so certainly we, we can listen to and be taught by men and women
the things of God. But again, we are personally responsible for
what we believe. What we believe. So be careful. Search the
Scripture again, each person responsible. No group or man has
special light from God. No certain group or man has special
light from God. I'm thankful for good Bible teachers like Brother
Stewart. I'm thankful for mature saints whom I can listen to
them as they teach and as they preach and receive instruction from
the word of God. But understand they don't have a corner
on the market. I have the same Holy Spirit. I'll end here. America
has contributed to governments around the world the teaching of
religious liberty. It is America. It is America. And I would
say to you, and you can do your own research, Baptists influence
among those founding Fathers. It was Baptist influence that influenced
Madison. It was Baptist who influenced George Washington. It's
Baptist who influenced the, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights
and so forth. And that we have religious freedom today. There were
many of our founding fathers who wanted to institute government
churches. In fact, there was one set of plans put forward that
there would be four denominations in America. And it
was again the Baptist influence among our founding fathers
who shouted from the rooftops that individual, that we as individuals
are responsible to God as to what we believe and what we practice
soul liberty recognizes the right of a person to hold views they
choose. I do want to say this. Individual soul liberty gives the
right to choose what you believe. But you can't call yourself
a Baptist if you divert from the Baptist distinctives historic
Baptist belief. And this is where I would caution you that we
live in a day and age in which there are some who call themselves
Baptists who are not Baptist. They do not believe in the historic
Baptist faith. By the way, the historic Baptist faith is Bible faith.
If I thought any other denomination or any other church
was teaching the Bible straightforward as it is what it
is, that's what I would be. But I'm Baptist because Baptists
historically have lined up with the Scripture teaching and preaching
the Bible as it states, as it stands. And there are many out there
today who claim to be Baptists who are not. So again, I would just
caution you there are those who don't have Baptists on their
name anymore, but that do have Baptist beliefs. So it can go both
ways. So liberty, so what, preacher, so what? So what? How does
this affect me? Well, I'm thankful for individual soul liberty,
aren't you? That I can worship God to the dictates of my conscience.
I'm thankful for America where we have religious liberty and religious
freedom based upon individual soul liberty. Because there are many
countries out there that don't have that. There are many in the
Middle east and China, many who are suffering today. Many who
still today are giving their lives for the faith. I'm thankful
for individual soul liberty. Individual soul liberty on every
level encourages Christians to study and read the Bible on their
own. I need to be careful that I don't use so and so podcast or
so and so books or so or whatever as a crutch for not reading
the Bible myself and asking the Holy Spirit to help me to know
and understand what I'm reading. So individual soul liberty
makes me accountable, but the Bible makes me accountable to God
personally for what I believe. Therefore it encourages Bible study
not from just the preacher, but for everyone. Every Christian
ought to be a Bible thumper. Every Christian ought to read and
study their Bible on a daily basis. Every Christian ought to be
just enthralled with this book. This is the meat, this is our
food. This is how we grow spiritually. And I just can't rely
now again, it's wonderful. We ought to seek out good teachers and
good podcasts and all those things encourages us and, and we
can grow and learn a lot. But individually I am to take the time
and walk with God myself, walk with Jesus yourself, have a daily
walk. That's what God desires of you. He desires to personally
walk with you and talk with you. And I know I'm the preacher
up here, but sometimes too, if we're not careful, we can put preachers
on another shelf, another level or. And I'm telling you, preachers
will let you down. I let myself down all the time. That was
supposed to be funny. It's not, but I do. I've had preachers
let me down. Man. Your faith. You are personally accountable for
your faith. You, not your preacher, not your Sunday school
teacher, not that person you're listening to on the podcast
or that book you're reading. But you. Would you want it any other
way? No. I don't want to live in China. Do you? I don't want to
live in the Middle East. Do you? No. I'm thankful for my liberty.
I'm thankful for religious liberty. Amen. Let's all stand. Hymn
156. Individual Soul Liberty, one of the Baptist distinctives Baptists
were. I'm telling you, do your own research. You'll find the influence
of Baptist upon the founding Fathers was indeed the reason why
we have one of the number one reasons why we have religious liberty
the way that it's stated. And I'm so thankful for it. Heavenly
Father, we thank you for. We thank you for freedom. We thank you
Lord, for liberty. We thank you that you created us with a free
choice. And I pray God that you would help each of us to read
our Bibles and pray and develop and have a walk with you
understanding and knowing that we are personally accountable. Well,
what a blessing it is to have direct access to the Heavenly Father,
I thank you, thank you so much for that wonderful truth. In Jesus
name, amen.