In John Pruitt's sermon titled 'Christian Privileges, Duties and Responsibilities,' the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding and balancing the privileges, duties, and responsibilities of a Christian life. He recounts personal anecdotes about his journey in faith and highlights the joy and satisfaction found in serving God and being part of a church community. The sermon discusses the significance of scriptural baptism, fellowship, and the encouragement found within a church. Pruitt elaborates on the distinctions between duties and responsibilities, noting that duties are obligations while responsibilities involve carrying out these duties with integrity. He stresses the importance of being faithful to church attendance and participation, drawing from biblical teachings and personal experiences to underscore the lasting joy that comes from a relationship with God. The sermon concludes with a call for Christians to recognize and embrace their privileges, duties, and responsibilities to live a fulfilling and joyous Christian life.

I'm glad you could be back here. And I had a delightful surprise this morning. Walked in the hotel lobby, and there was some folks that I hadn't seen in a long, long time. So we were so thankful to be able to be here and be a part of this service. I remember that tent.

I look back now, I didn't notice it then, but I look back now it must have been 110 under that tent. But the Lord blessed and we had a great day. That was a wonderful day. And I'm so happy to see that the Lord has blessed this church over the years. And I was pastor of the West Griffin Baptist Church back then, and I noticed not just those folks, but I noticed over the 25 years that I wonder why everyone got old but me.

I only seasoned. I didn't get old, I just got seasoned. Now, the Lord has blessed my wife and I. By the way, we represent the Lake Rose Road Baptist Church in Elliville, Georgia now. And the Lord has blessed us greatly and we're enjoying life there with our church members and with our grandchildren.

Oh, and our children too. I'll tell you, being a grandparent is so much fun. It is so much fun. It is so much fun. This morning I want to bring you a message that is not doctrinal in its nature.

It's more of a message of encouragement to this church and to others who are represented here because believe it or not, we need encouragement all the time. Amen. And encouragement keeps us going. And God is faithful in that. He is faithful to encourage us and to make us want to go on.

And so, you know, in the New Testament when mentioning Christians, it was a foregone conclusion that it was church members. You know, nowadays You know, nowadays we have to, you know, since the the the Baptists, some of them went to rogue and went into other things and departed from the faith. There now it becomes necessary to make a distinction. And we know that there are believers who are not church members nowadays, and who are believers but have not really, have not come to scriptural baptism for whatever reason. Other denominations and things like this.

But as a church member no one had to be persuaded then to receive scriptural baptism. It was not that you didn't have to talk people into that. And when I first got saved, no one had to tell me, no one had to say to me that I had to be baptized. When the Lord showed that to me through the teaching and preaching of God's word, I wanted to do that. I wanted that.

And no one needed to show me or no one needed to make me do some of the things that I had to do. My duties. I remember my first Sunday school teacher when I was a member there at a church in Houston, Texas. Well, in Galena Park, Texas. I remember that he taught a lesson on tithing, and I was just a very young Christian.

I've not been saved very long. But once I was shown that, that's what I did. Because it was just what you did. And that's what I've done ever since. And Lord, I've not regretted it one bit.

But there are many joys in the Christian life. There's many privileges, but there's many duties and responsibilities. And I want to make some differences on that if you don't mind. Some of the basic things you know that we talk about is, you know, your pastor. If your pastor doesn't point out things that you, that your duties and your responsibilities, then he's not being your pastor and he's not being your friend.

He has a responsibility, he has a duty to do that, and so he must carry out that responsibility. And he, sometimes he can do that with joy, as we learned in the 13th chapter of the book of Hebrews, and sometimes it is not so much joyous to be able to have to do that. But I have no right or authority to go beyond what the scriptures teach, or to come short of what the scriptures teach and We must do that the blood of Christ has set us at liberty Sure, we have liberty so that we are free from the law of sin and death. However, we are not at liberty, not at liberty, to go beyond or fall short in the things that the Word of God teaches concerning the Christian life. So I want us to take these four points and I'm going to say I started at 10 o'clock.

Is that pretty close? Yes, sir. All right. And how much time do I have? Forty-five minutes, brother.

Well great. I'm not used to that. But perhaps I won't take all that time. But let's talk about this. Philippians chapter 1, I believe is a good passage of Scripture that covers these things, the joys, the privileges, the duties, and responsibilities.

Beginning in verse 20, according to my earnest expectation in my hope, chapter 1, That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ. Can you say that? We can say it, but is it real? Right.

Is that something real to you? Well, you know, let's be honest with each other. We don't know. Because we've never faced the opposition as the Apostle Paul, as the Church of Philippi did. Paul said, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gang.

Now I know that We want to have that attitude. We want to have that in our minds. But we've never faced that. You and I have never faced making that kind of a decision. But he says, but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what shall I choose?

What I shall choose I want or I know not. For I am in a straight. Straight means a narrow place. He's trying to make a decision. We know that Paul is not making decisions on his own, but he's speaking concerning his heartfelt attitudes.

So He said, I'm in a straight, a twix too, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. You know, there's been some times in my ministry that I thought, man, I'd just rather go home and not have to face all the things that I've faced. I'd rather be with Christ, and I would today. But he said, nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your fervence and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you.

Only let your conversation, that is your living, your walk, your lifestyle, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversary." which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God." So to them, their actions testify against them, but your actions testify for you. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye saw which ye saw in me and now here to be in me. I can remember some of my life before I was saved. Some of it, a lot of it, I wish I could forget. There are certain things in my life before I was saved that, and I was not a very good person, of course.

But some of the things that I did in my life before I was saved, I wish I could forget about. But you know, the Lord is wiser than me. And he keeps these things, I believe, in my mind to remind me of where I came from. Folks, don't forget where you came from. If you do, you're going to lose sight of where you're going.

But I can remember these things. But at that time I didn't know the difference between having fun and joy. Joy is something that is unique with the child of God. Joy as a noun is a passion or an emotion and when we receive or expect to receive something it is joy to us, something good. Here's what Paul said in Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 2.19, For what is our hope, or our joy, or our rejoicing, or crown of rejoicing, are not ye even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he at his coming, or ye our Lord?

See, Paul's rejoicing was that he expected the church at Thessalonica to be in the bride of Christ. He said, my joy is, my expectation is, that you will be found in Him at His coming." So Christian joy does not in no way involve worldly passions. You have to make a very distinct difference there. Worldly passion is an emotion which can never be satisfied. You go on vacation, anyone here ever been on vacation, and you had such a wonderful time that you said, you know, I don't ever have to go on vacation again.

This has been the most wonderful thing. I'll never have to go on vacation again. Has anyone ever had that? No, you keep going back. Right.

Yeah. And because life doesn't satisfy, the flesh never satisfies. Some of you may remember the old song that the Rolling Stones recorded in the 60s where he said, I can't get no satisfaction. He listened to the commercials on the radio and everybody tell him how good it would be if he did this or did that. I can't get no satisfaction.

The flesh never satisfies. If you're looking for happiness in the flesh, it is only temporary. You can never be satisfied in your soul. There is an emptiness in the soul of the lost man or woman and people will look for a fulfillment all sorts of ways and you never find it. Because it isn't there.

You know people on drugs, people that start taking drugs. I've been told this, I've never experienced it. But I've been told that Once a person takes a certain type of drug of some sort, illegal or illegal, that gives them such an exhilarating experience that the addiction comes from reaching and searching for that same experience again, and you never find it. It never comes back. And you take more and more to find that exhilaration, but it's never there.

The flesh can never be satisfied but there is joy in Christ. Joy. And that can never be taken away. Christian joy does not involve the world. So as a verb, rejoicing, as he says here in this verse, in the verse 26, rejoicing is the expression of Christian joy with the cause of it in view.

So one of the great joys of the Christian life is the fellowship, number one, with other people. You know, boy, I've had a good time already this morning seeing you folks and just, oh, it's just sweet to be able to hug you And just, oh, it's just wonderful. We have a kindred spirit about us. The world doesn't understand that, but there is a kindred spirit. The Holy Spirit abides between us.

And we just have that warm joy with one another. Another great joy is seeing someone come to Christ. You know, coming to Christ, To see someone come to Christ is the most wonderful thing that could ever be. Because, you know, we're talking about eternity. We're talking about eternity.

And to see a sinner come, and the latest one that I have been close to was my son-in-law, and my youngest daughter's husband. And my youngest daughter's husband. And he was coming to church with her. And so one day she said, you know, I feel like I need to talk to the preacher about something." So she told me about it, and I said, well, I'd be happy to talk to him. And so he came, we talked, and I asked him about his salvation.

He said, well, I don't know. And so we talked about how to come to Christ, and he right there under our carport received the Lord Jesus Christ, and my daughter just told me the other day, she said, you know, He is a totally different person. That brings joy to my heart. It took me to tears to hear her say that because I knew that the Lord did a wonderful work in him. And of course we have had that experiences, those experiences through the years.

And another great joy is for the pastor to see his people fully serving the Lord. Yes. You know, the heartache, greatest heartache that a pastor can have is to see someone of the congregation drifting away, drifting away, and you try to pull them back and they just seem like they're in quicksand and you can't get them back. And that's a sad thing. And it brings weeping to the pastor's heart to see this.

But you know in 2 John, verse 3, John said, for I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in truth." Then in the next chapter there, verse four, rather verse one through four, in third John, I think I just read 3 John, I'm supposed to read 2 John, 4. He said, I rejoice greatly that I found that of thy children walking in truth as we have received commandment of the Father. And then in 3 John, verse 1, The elder unto thee, well-beloved, Gaius, whom I love in the truth, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth, for I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." No greater joy. What a joy for the pastor to see His people walking in truth.

The greatest joy of all, I believe, is in our personal salvation, of course. Habakkuk said this in Habakkuk chapter three, verse 18, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in God as my salvation." And so a wonderful change has taken place when a person comes to Christ. And you know I've been saved about 53 years I think, something like that. And I've been saved that long and I still haven't got over it.

Amen. It's amazing. And if y'all had known me before I was saved, none of you have, if you'd known me before I was saved, you wouldn't like me very much. I was not a likable person. And I, well, I don't want to get into all that.

But I was not a likeable person. But God saved me and changed me just like that. Amen. Amen. And people where I worked thought I was done lost my mind.

I was telling the church the other day, I said, you know, I rode to work with a man, we shared rides, and he would drive one week and I'd drive the next. The Lord saved me, and I began to witness that man, he said, you know, I don't think I wanna do this anymore. He didn't wanna ride with me anymore. Because the Lord had changed me so much. I have an assurance in my sin that my sins have been pardoned in Christ.

I'm assured that nothing nor no one can take away what I have in Christ, and that is eternal life and being in His presence. So I have joy. I have joy unspeakable as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 8. So there are some privileges that come with being a child of God and a member of the Lord's church. Privileges.

Verse 29 of our text says this, For unto you it is given, that means it's a privilege, a privilege. Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. You have the privilege. God has given us the privilege when called upon to suffer for him. Paul considered it a privilege.

And may God give me the courage if at some time in my life I have to be faced with that, that God would give me the courage to stand as Paul did and not compromise in the word God. You know, people think that the American dream is supposed to be a great privilege. Owning a house, having a business or something like that. Great and these are, I suppose these are things. Being a citizen of the United States, I consider that to be a great privilege.

You know, the Lord didn't have to put you here. Right. The Lord could have put you somewhere else like China or Russia or Afghanistan or some other country like that where people do not openly worship God like we do here, but they do it at the peril of their own lives and their welfare of their families. You ready for that? Are you ready for that?

You know, don't take for granted that we have liberty in this country. I'm glad we still live in the greatest nation on earth. Don't take that for granted. And don't take it as an entitlement. It's a privilege.

And God can take it away any time He wants to. And He may. And if He does, what can we say? Praise God from whom all blessings flow. You know, so living in the Christian life, having the Holy Spirit abide in us, having constant access to the Almighty God, Privileges.

You can actually talk to the Heavenly Father on a personal basis anytime, anywhere, for any reason. Now you think about that? Hey, you try to walk into the governor's office up in Atlanta and knock on the door and say, hey, I'd like to just sit down and talk a little while. Why you can't even get close to the governor. Right.

You go, you make an appointment and it may take months. If you have something very critical or very important to meet him for, you'll not have an audience with the Governor. Because he's a person that's very busy and great responsibilities and things like this. And you know, my dad, I had an audience with Governor Moore up in West Virginia one time, him and his neighbor. And it took him months.

It took him months to sit down with the governor for about five minutes. But you know, you can go to the Lord right this minute. You can go to him anytime. You can have the most trivial, the most frivolous, the most the simplest, the most unimportant issue or matter, and you can go to Him and you can be assured that He will hear you. That's right.

Amen. And He will answer you. Amen. Why? Because He's our Father.

He is the Almighty God. He is sovereign in all things. He is the Creator. But He's our Father. And so we have that privilege.

We have a perfect high priest. You know the Old Testament saints, they had a high priest. And the high priest would go in and make the atonement once a year. But you know the first thing he had to do? He had to make an offering for himself.

And he, if he didn't make an offering for himself, then he had no right to make an offering for you. But our High Priest is the perfect one. And He is always in the presence of the Father and is always there to make intercession for us. He comes to us on God's behalf and he goes to God on our behalf. What a privilege we have, a high priest who is perfect in all ways.

It's a privilege to be allowed to worship God. As I said, you know, God permits us to come into His presence. Have you thought about that? Have you thought about it that way? We used to come to church, you know mindless, we sit down and we go through the motions, we go through the routine, we sing the songs, we have the prayers, and we listen to the preaching and we get up and we go home and we come back and do that over and over again.

Have you stopped to think? Have you stopped to think that God, the reason that you have this is because God permits you to come into His presence. You know when the Lord's Church assembles together we're in the very presence of God. He is present with us. He's here today with us and He is allowing us to worship Him.

He allows us to worship Him. Imagine that. Amen. And it's because we have access through the blood of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that probably as a Christian, the greatest privilege that we have, the greatest privilege ever, is to be a member of the Lord's church.

I don't believe there's any greater privilege in being a member of the Lord's church. It's his body. And he died for his church. There's no higher earthly privilege. And it's a pity that so many people squander that privilege.

You know that? Waste it. Waste the privilege of being able to assemble with God's people as the body of Christ and worship in spirit and in truth. And I'm going to tell you something, when you squander that away, you can't get it back. You can't return.

You can't get anything. You can't say, well, I take it all back. Because you've lost that privilege for that time. So There's no need to look anywhere else for what we already have in Christ. Wonderful privileges.

And enjoying the great joys that we have. Before we get into this next set of points, duties and responsibilities, I want to direct your attention to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 8. Verse 12, verse 8. Vanity of vanities, sayeth the preacher, all is vanity.

And you know, when you measure what we have in Christ with what we have in the world, it's vanity. It's worthless. This life is only temporary. Some of you in here have been around longer than me. But it doesn't last long.

I mean, in the scheme of things, what is my 77 years in measure with eternity? He couldn't even measure. I'm not 77 yet. Almost there. My wife would want me to correct that.

So, he says, Vanity of Vantage. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yea, he gave good heed, and sought out and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out accountable words, and that which was written was upright even words of truth. The words of the wise are as gouts and as nails fastened by the master's assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.

And further by these, my son, be admonished of making many books, there is no end, and much study is a weary of the flesh. Yet, he says so in verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Fear God, keep His commandments. A duty.

Did you know that it's not only the duty of the child of God, but it's the duty of every human being on earth to fear God and keep His commandments? Commandments of God are not just for Christian people. Commandments of God is for all mankind without exception. Amen. And so we have those duties, but Philippians, let's go back to the Christian life though in Philippians chapter one verse 24.

And notice he says, "'Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is nor more needful for you. Paul recognized his duty as a child of God to abide in the flesh because that was needful. But the greatest duty of man is to fear God and to keep his commandments. Here's what Jeremiah said in Lamentation 340, Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord." The word of caution here. Fulfilling a duty.

You want to understand it. Fulfilling a duty does not relieve us of responsibility. You know, there's a distinction between duty and responsibility. So fulfilling a duty does not relieve one of responsibility to serve the Lord from the heart. Not going through the motions.

How many services do you attend and participate in, and you're just going through the routine. And your heart's not in it. Maybe you've got something else on your mind. Maybe you've got a pressing job to take care of. Maybe you've got a sick parent or something you're worried about.

And all these things are noble. But when you come to the Lord's house to worship, our heart, our mind, our heart must be in it, and not just a duty. So we approach our duties, any duty, as a way to serve and honor the Lord. Colossians 3.17, Paul said this, and whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. We are to first of all love the Lord with all our heart.

Now, You have to understand that the child of God does love the Lord. You can't be saved if you don't love the Lord. And if you don't love the Lord, you're not saved. But that's not the question. The question is, how much do you love the Lord?

Amen. See? Preach it. How much do you love the Lord? Your actions, your walk, your service is going to testify as to how much you love the Lord.

True. True. Yeah. So, this is not something that you put on. A duty is not something you put on a list and check off a list and say, well, I've done this duty, I've done that duty, I've done that duty, I've got that all worth it.

I'm sure glad that's all over with. That's just going through the motions. And you know what? That's all it is. You think the Lord is pleased with that kind of an attitude?

No. It's with the Lord. Now it's good if you do your duties. It's good. But in the eyes of the Lord, if your heart's not in it, it's as if you never done it.

True. So, here's some things. These are little things. Little things. How about this, as a little thing.

Treat other people the way we want to be treated. That's a duty. The principle of the old golden rule, you know that's found throughout the Word of God, this what we call the golden rule, simply treating people the way we want to be treated. That's a duty that we have. And to perform that duty, it must come from the heart.

Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 1, Psalms 15, Matthew 7, these all discuss. Let's just read this one in Psalms 15. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? I take this to mean, who shall abide in your fellowship? To make it practical, we'll do it that way.

Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbideth not with his tongue, nor doth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes avail a vile person is condemned, brother. But he honoreth them that fear the Lord, he that sweareth on his own hurt, and changeth not." In other words, he is willing to do what's right regardless of how much it may hurt himself. He that putteth not out his money into usury, nor taketh a reward against the innocent, he that doth these things shall never be moved." That's a duty.

It may seem trivial, but it's important. It's an important duty. And then the children of God are to support one another in prayer, intercession, supplications, confession. You know, Job and David and others give us an example that we're to confess the sins of our children, confess the sins of others, as Daniel did. And So these are duties.

They shouldn't be just habits, but they should be good habits. But especially duties. We should swiftly come to the aid of a brother or sister. And as I said, these are just practical things that we, as his people, should be concerned with. I must move a little quicker here because I'm just about finished.

So let's notice the responsibilities. I want to make this distinction with responsibilities. The apostle here in our text, Philippians chapter 1 and verse 27. Only let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the fate of the gospel. While a duty is the law or rule to go by, a responsibility is the carrying out of that duty.

So I like to use this illustration of a stop sign. You know the stop sign out there, if you have a stop sign, well I don't know if you all have one out here, sure you do, but it's the responsibility of every human on earth to stop at that stop sign. You know that? Everyone. No exceptions.

Everyone. I see some snickering and grinning here. But it's a duty. And so You may choose not to stop at that stop sign. And that's fine.

But when the state trooper is sitting there and you go through that stop sign and he stops you, That makes you accountable. Now you see it's a responsibility. So, in every level of life, people bear some sort of responsibility. The members of the Lord's Church are supposed to grow into more and more responsibilities as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all have duties.

Every member of the church, every member of this church has the same duties. But the question is whether you are responsible to carry out those duties. We have a responsibility to be faithful to the Lord's house. And I usually end up on this, and it's basic. It's so basic because being faithful to the Lord's house will determine everything else in your Christian life.

Here are some reasons. I'm going to give you this passage, but I'm not going to take the time to read it, because I'm just about out here. Ecclesiastes 12, 13, write that down and read it. Seven reasons to obey the Hebrews 10, 25. Hebrews 10, 25, for sake not the assembling of yourselves together as a matter of some is, for sake not the assembling of yourselves together.

And so much the more you see the day approaching. Now there's different interpretations as to what the day means. First of all, it honors God. Amen. Being faithful to the house of God honors God.

It honors Christ because the Lord's church is his body. You know if you miss a service to the Lord on the Lord's Day, can you say that what you're doing has honored Christ? If you stay out of the Lord's House on the Lord's Day for something else, Can you say that that is honoring Christ? You're to support your pastor, and being faithful to the Lord's house supports the pastor. To encourage the church members, we encourage one another to be an example and a mentor to your children.

If you're not faithful, don't ever expect your children not to be faithful. They just won't. To cultivate your own spiritual growth, which is probably one of the most important things. Church attendance is always going to be an effort, a hassle, an inconvenience until or unless you change your attitude. It's always going to be a problem.

Something's always going to come up. Things are always going to get in the way. And church will become secondary if we do not remain faithful. And I'll close with this question. Do you want your pastor to be just like you?

Or do you want to be just like your pastor? Now that's something to think about. Now I believe that if we'll learn to cultivate and practice these four things, realizing our joys, take advantage of our privileges, recognize our duties, and account ourselves for our responsibilities. We will be much better and happier Christian people. Thank you and God bless you.

Thank you. God bless.