The Things the Same
Dr. Tery Anglea
Terry Anglea is the pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (II Timothy 2:1-3)
I guess if you looked down in my heart today, this -- the subject of this message -- is the reason why we have hosted the Revival Fires! National Conference in Bourbonnais for several years. Every year when we see the preachers come, especially when I see the young preachers, my burden just grows heavier for this meeting. I’d like to reveal to you the purpose why I feel this conference is so vital and necessary, and I’m sure that’s even more so in the heart of Brother Corle. It is what the ministry has always stood for, as well as the men he has invited to preach. Have you noticed the continuing theme about the Old Time Religion?
Second Timothy 2:1 is a familiar passage where Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (II Timothy 2:1-3)
I want to just notice these words, “the things… the same.” The things -- the same. The same thing that was passed on to you from the preachers of the last generation, the things you have been taught and the training you’ve received, THE SAME THINGS are what you are to hold on to and pass on to the next generation.
The greatest abuse of any doctrine found in the Word of God is that which is taking place these days concerning the doctrine of Grace. It is my own personal opinion that the most beautiful word in the Christian vocabulary is the word grace. I love songs about grace. I love verses about grace. Right away in chapter two, verse one, we find the word grace as Paul exhorts his preacher boy, his disciple, Timothy, to, “…be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
Some are using a false definition of grace to justify a Christian walk that is far less consecrated than the Bible mandates. So, let me just say this, true grace has never facilitated worldliness. Grace has always facilitated godliness. Some are using grace to justify a Christian walk that is far less committed than the Bible mandates. Grace has never facilitated a freelance lifestyle of doing nothing and no accountability and no responsibility. Grace has always facilitated a spirit of service and surrender to God.
Paul said in I Corinthians 15:10 that grace made him labor abundantly. It made him work. “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” It didn’t give him liberty to not be accountable to anybody and do nothing for God. It forced or constrained him to labor. That was the effect of the grace of God in his life. Some are using grace to justify a Christian walk that is far less challenging and hard-working than the Bible demands.
Brethren, grace has never facilitated being satisfied with what we are striving to do for God. Grace facilitates a desire to go farther and do more, to see what God can do through us. Grace desires to see how God will make a way and see the way that God can make when we ‘hit the wall’ and seem to be at a crisis point in our ministries, and in our own strength and wisdom. In my opinion, these people are not using grace, but abusing grace. They’re not using it in its proper context, but abusing it to justify and promote a body of faith where things are not ‘the same.’ We have been commanded to do and teach ‘the same things’.
Do you see those two groups of words? Paul wrote to Timothy, “The things…the same.” “... the things that thou hast heard of me... the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also...” I think it’s remarkable that Paul is discussing this in a pastoral letter to a young pastor that he has invested in, that he has trained, mentored, prayed for, wept over and taught. He’s reminding Timothy, “Timothy, the things that you heard, you keep them the same.” He describes the progression of ‘the things’ in this verse. I believe the implication here, when he uses that phrase “the things” he’s talking about the things that constitute the body of faith, both belief and practice. Folks, you cannot separate practice from belief! They’re twins, two sides of the same coin! He said, “Those things which constitute the body of faith, both what we believe, and what we practice, that body of faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Paul is talking about ‘these things’ in the context of teaching and handing down to the next generation the same faith that he had handed to Timothy.
There are four commitments to the body of faith in verse number 2, as I see it:
1. Somebody committed it to Paul.
2. Paul committed it to Timothy.
3. Timothy was to commit it to faithful men.
4. Those faithful men were to teach others.
Now that, most obviously, would cover a span of time, maybe a generation per each commitment. Brethren, each generation was commanded and expected to teach the next generation. The obvious progression has reached to you and me here this morning, because others taught others, who taught others, who taught others, who taught others who have taught us exactly what the faith is! The things -- the same.
The one main thing we are told about this body of truth, the body of faith in this passage that Paul wrote to Timothy, is that it is to be the same. That body of faith that we received from those who have gone before us; we are not to fix it, amend it, alter it, or ‘improve’ it. We’re not to change it. We are to take that which we have received and pass on exactly THE SAME to those who follow us. The same.
Now, I understand that technology and its rapid advancement has obviously brought some additional opportunities in advertising and broadcasting. I’m not against that. This conference is going out on a radio station this morning by way of Internet. Previous generations didn’t have that opportunity. There’s nothing wrong with us using that technology, as long as WHAT we are teaching is THE SAME. Previous generations, if you go back far enough, didn’t have electric lights! They used candles. I like the technology of having light. I agree with what Brother Booth said about not creating the mood and atmosphere of a nightclub in your services, but having the lights on. The family is getting together, let’s have a wonderful time.
Technology brought about amplification. I’m glad that we don’t have to stand, as George Whitfield did in days gone by, and preach to 15 or 20 thousand people with no amplification. Technology has brought changes in printing and in media.
Some of you know our son and daughter-in-law are over in Madagascar as missionaries, about 10,000 miles away from where I stand in this pulpit. Several years ago when Ashley was expecting a baby, I took my wife and our daughter, Cherith, and we went to a sale at Kohl’s. I think it was a Labor Day sale, and brother, believe me, when you go with your wife and your daughter shopping, it is Labor Day! There’s no doubt about it. They saw a clearance sign over at the maternity clothing. Well, that’s like a magnet, right? So they were looking at clothes and saying, “Oh, we ought to get this for Ashley! I wonder if she’d like this?”
I had my phone with me and I used Face-Time to call Ashley Anglea. Here we are in Kohl’s in Orlin Park, Illinois, and she’s on the other end of the FaceTime, 10,000 miles away, and they’re holding up tops and skirts, saying, “How about this one?” “No, I don’t like that. Yes, I like that one. Get that one.” Shopping at Kohl’s 10,000 miles away! That’s like the Jetsons cartoon when we were kids! It’s incredible! Just a few years ago we could not have imagined it.
I’m not against any of that, friend. But what was being taught, as far as the body of faith, was not to be amended. It was not to be changed. It was not to be altered. The same body of faith that was committed to Timothy, Paul expected Timothy to commit it to faithful men. He expected those faithful men to commit the same to others, also. There was no sense in changing it. You take and you give the things the same.
Brother, it’s pretty obvious that cultures have changed quite a bit over the generations of time that Paul mentioned here in II Timothy, chapter two. Cultures change, but friend, culture has never defined truth. Truth has always confronted the culture! It never has defined it. I am weary of reading and hearing that today’s culture in America demands that you and I can’t preach certain things. If you take that to its logical end, you’ll never preach against sodomy in your pulpit again, because that’s what our culture is embracing. The culture has never defined truth. Truth has always confronted the culture.
I want you to notice something here, friend. Paul begins this chapter by exhorting Timothy to “be strong in grace.” So being strong in grace is evidently necessary for each generation to keep the things the same. Now pardon me, but our day and age is calling the fellows who are changing everything, people of grace. They claim to be the grace crowd. But as I read it in my Bible this morning, it looks to me like Paul was telling Timothy, “In order for you to keep the things the same, you’re going to have to be strong in the Grace of God!” So maybe the preacher who is adamant about keeping the things the same is the one who is actually embracing and engaging in Biblical grace, not the one who abusing grace to justify changing things and not keeping them the same.
In verse three he says, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” “Because of this challenge to be strong in grace, because of this challenge to pass on the things the same, Timothy, you will need to endure hardness. This commitment will not be easy. This challenge will not be without hardship. Some, maybe even many around you, will compromise and begin to amend the things, and change the things and they will not be the same. When they hand them down to the next generation, when they commit them to others also, they will not be the same things that they were handed. Timothy, you be strong! You endure hardness if necessary, with the things that have been committed to you, and those same things need to be committed by you to the generation that follows.” The truth, the message, the commission, the emphasis -- as we teach others and pass down what we received from the generation before us, it all needs to be THE SAME.
So you say, “Brother Anglea, where is all this going?” Well, brethren, the Bible never goes out of relevance or out of date. God didn’t write a Book that ceased to be relevant in the year 2000. We are right back in this same context. We’re right back here again. This needs to be emphasized and preached. It needs to be said from the pulpit. It needs to be taught in our college classrooms and Bible institutes. We need to be busy about handing down the things the same as they were handed to us.
Now let me tell you my burden this morning: The emergent churches and the contemporary churches are not my burden. By the way, folks, I don’t expect them to birth Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. Everything reproduces after its kind. They’re emergent, contemporary churches, they’re going to birth more emergent, contemporary churches! We have some within the ranks of Independent Fundamental Baptists who, I don’t know if they’ve even been taught standards. They came out of schools that quit teaching separation decades ago.
My burden is us. My burden’s us! My burden is for the young men at Commonwealth Baptist College and Providence Baptist College. My burden is the young men at Bethel and Blessed Hope, where Brother Kenny Graham is. My burden is our colleges, our churches. My burden is the young men who have been taught right, the young men who have been handed the things right, because the people that have handed it to you have taken care not to change things. We have passed on the things the same as we got them. My burden is you. I don’t want to see you take the things that you’ve been handed and now, you alter it, and amend it, and change it and teach others a different thing than you were handed.
In our own state years ago, there was a Southern Baptist pastor who decided, “This is not it.” He began to go to Pastor’s School and Sword of the Lord conferences and he had Dr. John Rice come to his church and preach. He was seeing the light and the truth about Independent Baptist Churches, which is the only kind of church you’ll ever find in the Bible, an independent church. This man was seeing the light and making changes toward the Bible and right. Eventually that pastor pulled his church out of the Southern Baptist Convention and became an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
But now we’ve got Independent Fundamental Baptists going into the Southern Baptist Convention! Young men leaving Independent Fundamental Baptist teaching and training and going to that crowd! That is my burden and heartbreak. Therefore, we must be committed to handing down the things the same! The things the same.
Now I’m going to mention a couple of things that some of you have experienced along with me. We watched it with our own eyes. Others of you are older than me and you saw things before we did, but I remember the day when Jerry Falwell was an Independent Fundamental Baptist. I remember when he was the keynote speaker at the Sword of the Lord Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. I sat there and listened to him preach twice that week. I sat in the commencement exercise along with Brother Oliver Araiza, at Hyles Anderson College, and heard Jerry Falwell deliver the commencement address at Hyles Anderson College in Dr. Jack Hyles’ pulpit. But Jerry Falwell then went down another road. He went down a path that led him away from where the Bible stands. He was handed some things, and he changed some of those things, and altered some of those things, and amended some of those things. Where Liberty University is today friend, that did not happen overnight. That was a progression of time. Jerry Falwell changed some of those things and now those things have been changed and amended even further and are being passed down to more young men and it’s incredible what’s going on in the name of church today in the United States of America! Absolutely incredible.
When I first got saved, I used to go down to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Brother Mike would take us down to that great Highland Park Baptist Church where Dr. Lee Roberson pastored. That choir would sing, “Behold, He comes. Behold, He comes.” I’m not nitpicking, folks. Lee Roberson’s choir sang in robes! But, boy, the power of God was on that place. The things were the same. I mean, the things that he had been taught and handed, he kept them the same and he passed on to that generation of preachers at Tennessee Temple University the same things that were handed to him by the preachers of the generation before him. But Dr. Roberson went off the scene and pretty soon, passed on to Heaven and the things there began to change and people began to amend, and fix, and alter the things that had been handed down and look at where it is was at the end. In fact, it’s gone.
I remember when Baptist Bible College changed. They did not hang onto the things that J. Frank Norris passed down, and what they are committing now to the next generation is not what they received. The things are not the same. You say, “Brother Anglea, that’s old news. We’ve crossed this bridge.” Have we?
Years ago I was invited to go to preach on the mission field and had a wonderful time at a family conference with a man who is my age. He’s been there many years and labored to build a church and it was such an exciting ministry. There was no air conditioning. Oh, my goodness, it was hot. The windows and doors were open with people packed in there. This preacher and I were on the same page with the old time religion that had been handed down to us. His young son had started another church in a little village area, outside the town where they lived. We had such a good time. I enjoyed the services and God spoke to hearts, and I heard the other Mexican preachers preach through the translator. I enjoyed the messages.
Before we left the son took me out to see his ministry in the village. He kept talking about Vacation Bible School. “We have a great Vacation Bible School. I’ll send you some pictures of it.” A few months passed, and I got some pictures and a Power Point presentation by way of e-mail about his Vacation Bible School, and here were the pictures. The building was jam-packed full of boys and girls and running over, but playing over the pictures was this music. I thought, “What is this? I was in that church for four days. I didn’t hear any of that type music the whole time I was there! Where is that from?”
So, I e-mailed him. I said, “Loved the Power Point presentation. Enjoyed the pictures. Man, it looked like a great Vacation Bible School. Just curious, what is the name of that song and who’s singing?” He e-mails me back and gives me the name of the song, “God of the Ages,” sung by such and such Baptist College. I’m not an internet geek. I don’t usually go on websites. That’s not my thing, but I typed in the song, “God of the Ages” and do you know the first thing that came up? Liberty University. The fellow who wrote the song was a student there, and they had a YouTube clip and he was leading the Liberty University Choral Choir and singing that song, “God of the Ages,” with his long hair flowing down over his shoulders. That was the first thing that came up on the Google search.
Brethren, listen very carefully. When you start down that road, that’s where it ends. There is no way to start down that road and avoid that end. That is the destination where that road leads. They went down that road because they did not take the things that were passed down to them and pass them on the same. They began to alter and change and, if that path continues to be followed by that church’s school, then it will become what Liberty University is today because that’s where that road leads.
Young men and old are being encouraged by some in the ranks of our churches, Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches, to loosen up on dress and music, and here’s what they say, “If you want your congregation to grow... If you want to grow…” It doesn’t sound like Brother Fugate is having much trouble growing. “If you want to grow, you’re going to have to loosen up on your dress. You’re going to have to loosen-up on your music. Our culture doesn’t look at that as an essential anymore.”
I don’t know that you and I were ever given permission to decide what is essential in this Book, and what is not essential in this Book. Paul didn’t say, “Timothy, we’re going to give you some things, and you go through them, and you decide on your own, for your day and age, and the culture that you live in, what is essential and what is not essential because, you know, it may not be essential for the culture you’re living in.” He never gave Timothy that permission! He said, “You take the same things and you pass them on, “…the things… the same.”
The truth of the matter is, I don’t see anything in II Timothy 2:1-3, about being concerned about how big or small your church is. He said, “Timothy, what you need to be concerned about and committed to is passing on the things the same!” Some will say, “Well, you’re against big churches…” I’m not against big churches. We need big churches. We need the church in Lexington. We need the church in Elgin. We need them. We need churches of like-practicing faith that are larger in number. But brethren, those ministries are not the size they are because those men have been committed to getting big! Those ministries are the size they are because those men have been committed to the things the same! The things the same. My church may never get that big. Yours may never get that big. That’s okay, whatever God wants to do for us and give us. Let’s not be lazy. Let’s keep working. But the thing we need to be committed to is making sure that the things are the same, and by the way, that would include soulwinning as much as standards.
Now we’re being told to change the names that identify us. Don’t use the word fundamental anymore. Don’t use the word independent anymore. Some are saying, don’t use the word Baptist anymore because, you know, there have been some Independent Fundamental Baptists who have ended up in immorality and sin, and somebody else had an angry spirit and called people all kinds of names in the pulpit and so we don’t want to be identified with that crowd anymore. Well, we certainly don’t want to be identified with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Should we stop using the term witnesses?
It reminds me of Jephthah. In the Old Testament Book of Judges where they defeated the children of Ammon and didn’t call the Ephraimites. The Ephraimites were mad, “You didn’t call us!” and they had that little skirmish there and said, “We don’t know who the Ephraimites are!” He said, “You get them to pronounce the word, ‘Shibboleth.’” The Bible says that the Ephraimites could not frame it to pronounce it. They said, “Sibboleth.” They identified them by how they pronounced the word.
Look. I’m just saying that I’m not ashamed of being Fundamental Independent Baptist. I’m not ashamed of that. It’s what I was taught. It’s what I was handed. It’s what I was given by the old-fashioned Holy Ghost preachers from the generation before me.
We’re fully aware that, unfortunately, there have been some Fundamental Independent Baptists who have fallen to the temptation of females or finances. Some have had an ugly and vindictive spirit. But that doesn’t change what was given to me to do and stand for and then someday pass on to the next generation. I am a Fundamental Independent Baptist, and those names mean something. Now they have been turned into terms of derision and scorn. “You’re the ‘IFB-er.’”
But I believe that the doctrines of this Bible clearly make you an Independent Fundamental Baptist. That’s the things I have received and, by God’s grace, I intend to pass the same on. That’s why we have this conference. It’s for you young preachers who are being courted and influenced and somebody’s trying to pull you in another direction. You’ve been struggling in your church. Guess what? So am I. I don’t know a pastor who’s not struggling and working and trying to get God’s Hand and see maturity built and developed into the people, and that doesn’t happen easily, friend. That is always a struggle.
I just want to warn you of something. The quest for souls sometimes can lead a man to put a lesser priority on the body of truth as a whole. Now somebody may label me as not interested in seeing people saved. That’s not true. I think I have a little bit of the same spirit that Jude did. Jude said, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 3)
I watched with my own eyes a church in Iowa back in the 1980’s. A struggling work called a pastor who had graduated from Hyles Anderson College. He was the darling of the school when I was there. He had a burden for souls. He had worked under Dr. Vineyard in the bus ministry. He was a great motivator. Reached a lot of people while he was in college and motivated a lot of people to reach souls. He was a soulwinner and the church began to grow. I have in my possession, on cassette tape, the service where he stood before his people on a Sunday and said, “Folks, I have reached a decision that we will be removing the word Baptist from our name.” He changed it to Grace Church. He said, “The name Baptist is offensive to some and if we drop the name Baptist we can reach more people.”
I actually believe he was sincere. I really do. He had a huge heart for people. But reaching people, soulwinning, is only one portion of the body of faith that has been handed to us. You can’t violate two thirds of the body of faith that has been handed to us to achieve success in one third. You can’t do that.
When I was a youth pastor there was another youth pastor in our state, and we were friends. We were practicing alike and having youth group activities and we enjoyed our fellowship and friendship. He got an invitation to go pastor a church in another state. He called me and said, “Brother Terry, do you think Brother Brown would allow you to come and do an adult Valentine banquet for us and then stay over to preach on Sunday?”
Brother Brown said it was fine, so my wife and I drove there and I preached the Saturday night adult Valentine banquet. Then I preached on Sunday morning and he took us out to eat. After we ordered our food, we were sitting around the table talking about how things were going. He said, “Things are going great.” Then he said to me, “You know, if I didn’t have an invitation, I could be running a thousand.” I literally laughed. I thought it was a joke.
I said, “Yeah, but you would never do that. That’s part of who we are. That’s part of what we believe, part of our faith. Preaching for decisions.”
He said, “No, I never would.” But he did. He took the name Baptist off the church, went haywire with his music and standards, got rid of it all. He has his thousand. You wouldn’t be able to tell that was ever a church if you walked in it today.
I believe with all my heart that this is something that every pastor has been touched by either in his own family or his church family or through the Christian school, or with friends he went to college with. We have seen people leave us for contemporary churches. I agree with you Brother Booth, any time a person leaves youre church they take a piece of your heart with them. We have talked about this with each other, we’ve had broken hearts watching family members or church members leave for these type of ministries and churches. It never ends well. But brethren, we just need to commit and recommit to handing down the things the same. The things the same.
Let’s be careful about our music. Where was it birthed, who wrote it? In what context was it written? If it was birthed in the Contemporary Christian genre, don’t try to clean it up and use it, kick it out.
Let’s not be ashamed of Bible standards. Study. Teach. Preach. Pray. Be patient. Have you read what Paul wrote about in his pastoral letters? Have you not read what he wrote about modest dress? How can we call that a nonessential?
Let’s keep our feet on the ground. By that, I mean, let’s keep our organized, soulwinning and visitation programs. Let’s keep people going because God said so, not because of the results. I realize that some of you are in towns much smaller than this. I served in a town of 6,500 for 10 years. I know what it means to be at the same doors over and over. I look at some of you preachers who are in rural areas and small towns and I know it gets tough. I just know to tell you this, keep your feet on the ground! Keep your feet on the ground. Jesus sent out the twelve, two by two. Then He sent out the seventy, two by two. Jesus instituted the feet on the ground soulwinning program! Add to it, but don’t ever get away from it!
Let’s keep preaching the whole counsel of God. Yes, I think a pastor, especially, who’s preaching to the same group of people, week-in and week-out, you need to use your head and be led of the Holy Ghost. But I am against categorizing this Bible into Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night. “Well, this is for Sunday morning, and this is for Sunday night and this is for Wednesday night.” Let’s keep allowing God to sanctify us, inside and outside. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?… He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;” (Psalm 24:3, 4) that’s outside and inside, brethren.
Let’s keep our invitations. Let’s keep pastor-led churches. Let’s keep this Bible as the final authority. It’s what we have been handed! The things the same.
Have you ever been to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington D.C.? If you ever get the chance to go there with your family, it’s worth it. The meticulous precision of that ceremony and the Changing of the Guard in front of that tomb, it’s so impressive. I was in Moscow at the Kremlin when the Russians did their changing of the guard. It was ridiculous. I kept thinking in my mind about what I had seen in Arlington compared to what I was looking at in Moscow. There was no comparison, none.
At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, that’s a beautiful ceremony with three men involved. They have the Relief Commander. They have the Retiring Sentinel, and the Relieving Sentinel. The Retiring Sentinel is the one who’s been walking the post. It’s 21 steps, turn around, 21 steps. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth on that same little piece in front of the tomb. He’s the Retiring Sentinel. He meets the Relief Commander and the Relieving Sentinel at this end of the tomb. The Relief Commander does a meticulous inspection of his uniform, his weapon. Then he says to the Retiring Sentinel, “Pass on your Orders.” The Retiring Sentinel simply says, “Post and Orders remain as directed.” That’s all he says. “Post and Orders remain as directed.” The Relieving Sentinel replies, “Orders acknowledged.”
Brother Smith, could I impose on you to come to the platform? Brother Tony Wilcoxson, did you go to Trinity and train under Brother Smith? Do you mind standing here, Preacher? Face this way. Here’s the Retiring Sentinel. Oh, he’s not done yet, but there’s less time left than there was previously. He’s been walking duty for many, many years. Are the things the same? “Yes, sir.” Over 60 years continuing on with what was passed down to him from the previous generation.
You’re the Relieving Sentinel, Brother Tony, and doing a good job. This is why we bring the Conference here, for the younger generation of preachers, the Relieving Sentinel. The Relief Commander, the Lord Jesus Christ, says to the Retiring Sentinel, “Pass on your Orders.” Do you know what the Retiring Sentinel says? “Post and Orders remain as directed. I got it from a man trained by J. Frank Norris. I’ve guarded it for all these years. And now I’m handing it over to you exactly the same as I received it.”
Now, if you start trying to decide what’s essential in what this man did and what’s nonessential because the culture’s changed, we are in trouble. “We can’t do some of the things that he did because… We can’t preach some of the things he preached, because the culture’s different today…” That’s not our job. Post and orders remain the same.
What have we done? Do you know what you are to say, young preacher? “Orders acknowledged.” In that ceremony, the Retiring Sentinel is led away, and the Relieving Sentinel takes his duty and walks his post exactly the same as the soldier before him. That is a moving picture of what we are to do, preachers, in remaining faithful and then passing the baton to the preachers of the next generation.
“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” That is why we have this conference. We were handed things by men who paid a great price, who lost friends, who lost church members. But they stayed faithful and paid the price and handed us the things the same, and by God’s Grace, my age and younger a little bit, we need to be committed to handing down to the next generation the things the same.
Brother Tony, and Brother Caleb, and Brother Jason, and Brother Jonathan, and Brother Michael, and Brother Jon, and Brother Pete, we’re handing on to you the same things that we received. You men take over, guard‘ em, and if Jesus doesn’t come back for us soon, when you hand them down to the next generation, make sure the things are the same. Amen.
