Let's go ahead and get into the Bible here in Galatians, chapter number four.
Look down at your Bibles at verse number 19, it says, My little children of whom I
travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present
with you now, and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you.
And the title of the sermon this evening is travailing in birth, travailing in birth.
Now what does that mean?
What does that word travail mean?
Well, the word travail simply means to agonize, to suffer, to experience extreme pain.
The Bible would often use a synonym to illustrate birthing, and the word it uses is pangs, okay?
Talks about labor and travail, uses the word pangs, and it often uses this throughout
the Bible to describe someone who is suffering.
You'll see this throughout the Old Testament, where they'll say, you know, they're going
to be suffering like a woman in travail.
They're going to have, you know, trouble like a woman in travail.
You know, they're going to be judged like a woman in travail, and it's constantly
always talking about this and using that illustration there.
Now you're in Galatians, I'm going to read to you from Psalm 48, verse 6, it says,
Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as a woman in travail.
Isaiah 21, 3 says, Therefore are my loins filled with pain.
Pangs have taken hold upon me.
As the pangs of a woman that travaileth, I was bowed down at the hearing of it.
I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
Romans chapter 8, verse 22 says this, For we know that the whole creation groaneth,
and travaileth in pain together until now.
One thing that I notice about this is this, these are all things that women do when
they give birth.
They groan, they have pain, they murmur, wait, I didn't say that in there, but you
know, they murmur, you know, they have pain, they have travailing, they suffer,
they feel pain, okay?
So what does that have to do with Galatians 4?
Well, let me just give you an overview of what's taking place here in the book of Galatians.
In the book of Galatians, you have these Judaizers who have infiltrated the churches
that are found in the region of Galatia.
And they're infiltrating these churches, trying to get the believers to go back under
the law of Moses.
And more specifically, they're trying to get them to get circumcised, to observe days and
months and times and years, and to adhere to the law of Moses, that which was already
done away with.
The meats, drinks, and diverse washings, as we see in Hebrews chapter number 9.
And we see here that the apostle Paul contends for the faith that was once delivered
into the churches in Galatia, and he gives a real thorough explanation of the gospel.
And in fact, the book of Galatians is one of those books that you want to use when
you're out soul-wounding.
Because it has some verses in there that are just clear as day, and it's so explicit.
It tells us that salvation is by faith alone.
And in fact, look at Galatians chapter number 2 and verse number 16.
He provides a lot of arguments throughout the book of Galatians.
Chapter 1, he says, if anybody else preaches another gospel, let him be accursed.
He says in chapter number 2, he rebukes Peter for his dissimulation.
Look at verse 16, it says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that
we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
So he just hammers this concept, hammers this doctrine over and over and over again.
And in fact, in chapter 3, he uses Abraham as an example of the fact that all we
have to do is believe, right?
We had the famous verse in Galatians 3, 16.
Chapter 4, he uses the illustration of Isaac and Ishmael, Isaac being the representative
of those who are believers in Christ, Ishmael being those who are Jews, those who dwell
in Jerusalem, which now is.
And he uses all these different illustrations to explain to them and to defend the gospel
that they seem to be departing from, okay?
Now his presentation is so thorough within this book.
It's so thorough and so sharp and so filled with emotion that he describes it as travailing
in birth, okay?
Now I've heard people say, I remember at my old church, they used to say, well, travailing
in birth till Christ be formed in you.
This is what discipleship looks like, you know?
You're travailing, you're working with someone, but that's not a proper understanding
of that scripture.
Because of the fact that travailing in birth is synonymous with someone being born again,
getting saved, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know what this tells me is that it takes work to see someone saved.
It takes labor to see someone saved.
It takes suffering to see someone saved.
It takes pain at times, it takes weeping to be able to form Christ in someone through
our presentation of the gospel, right?
You know, getting people saved can be compared to giving birth.
And this hits home to me because of the fact that my son, my third son was just born
last week on Tuesday, Esaias.
And right now, these are the three things that he does.
He sleeps, eats, and poops, okay?
And he's got those down packed.
But you know, as I read these scriptures, I'm like, man, this is so true.
And the reason I say that is because, well, I'm not the one who gave birth, obviously.
My wife gave birth, but I observed her travail.
I observed her pain, okay?
And I saw that.
Go with me if you would.
You're in Galatians chapter two, go to chapter four.
You know, the Bible uses this analogy consistently to describe the conversion of a
lost person, of being born, right?
And in fact, the famous passage in John chapter three, verse three, you don't have
to turn there.
Jesus answered and said unto him, barely, barely, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
First Peter 123 says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
You know, when we got saved, the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit of God came to dwell
within us and he sealed there until the day of redemption, that we're a new creature in Christ.
It's the new birth.
This is exactly what God uses to illustrate, to help us to understand that this is what
salvation is like.
Look at verse 27 of Galatians four.
This is speaking of Sarah, who at one time was barren.
Obviously in her lapse of faith, she had Abraham going to Hagar and that's where,
you know, the Ishmaelites came from.
But this is a prophecy of Sarah and it says there in verse 27, for it is written, rejoice,
thou barren that barest not, break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, for the desolate
hath many more children than she with which hath and husband.
You see, Sarah was barren.
You know, she couldn't have children.
She wasn't travailing.
But you know what God is saying?
There's going to come a time when you're going to break forth and cry.
Why?
Because of the fact that you're going to be like the mother of those who are believers
in Christ.
That's why it says the mother of us all who dwells in the new Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
which is above is free.
Okay?
Which is the mother of us all.
That's what it says.
And so we see here that this is constantly being hit that, you know, the salvation can
be compared to a birth.
Now, let me just say this is that we as Bible believing Christians, you know, we believe
in having physical children, right?
I mean, we promote that.
We preach that.
We believe that children are a blessing from God.
You know, we believe, you know, the Bible tells us that children are a heritage of the
Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
We understand that children are a sign of God's blessing on a family, correct?
We love children.
Childbearing is a blessing.
Children are a blessing from God.
Well, you know what?
Bearing spiritual children is also a blessing.
Okay?
And begetting people through the gospel should be a priority.
You know, to be fruitful and multiply physically is important, but to be fruitful and multiply
spiritually is also important.
Giving life to a child is important.
Giving eternal life to a lost person is also important.
You know, but with that being said, we also understand that, what, abortion is wicked.
Because we love children, we believe that abortion is wicked.
Birth control, which is a silent abortion, is wicked.
This is murder, okay?
And abortion should never be an option for a Christian, right?
We should be fruitful and multiply.
But you know what?
We should not only hate physical abortions, we should also hate spiritual ones, too.
Now here's the funny thing is that, you know, people will look at our type of soul
winning, confrontational soul winning, when we go door to door, we preach the gospel,
we get them saved, we leave them with some material, and if they come, they come,
if they don't, they don't.
And they'll say this, you know, these lazy people who don't want to go out and preach
the gospel, they want to look at the people who are doing the work and say, oh, that's like
spiritual abortion.
You just lead them to the Lord, you get them saved, and you just leave them there?
But this is a misunderstanding of what even abortion is, okay?
It's like, no, we actually birth, we travailed in birth.
They got saved, they're born again.
Abortion takes place in a mother's womb, right?
They commit the murder within the womb.
So in actuality, they're the ones who are actually committing spiritual abortion.
Now why is that?
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4, let's make a parallel here.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter number 4.
You see, when we go out there, we're producing babies all the time, amen?
We're producing babies, we're seeing people say when we preach the gospel, we are helping
people to understand the crucifixion of Christ, the resurrection, we're helping them to overcome
their false doctrines and false ideologies that they learn throughout their entire lives,
and they get born again, they're alive in Christ, right?
Whereas someone who knows the gospel, someone who knows about the death, burial, and resurrection,
if they don't go, guess what?
They keep that inside.
Look what it says in verse number 3.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them, for we preach not
ourselves but Christ Jesus, the Lord and ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may
be of God and not of us.
What is he saying?
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, but we need to get it out.
What good is it if you know the gospel, you've memorized the Romans road, you know
what the Bible says about salvation, but you'd never tell a soul.
That's spiritual abortion right there.
You know, awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God.
I speak this to your shame.
You know, it's shameful when a Christian practices abortion, it's shameful when a Christian practices
birth control, but you know, it's also shameful when a Christian who knows, who's saved, who
knows how to preach the gospel doesn't do it.
So don't tell me I'm committing spiritual abortion.
No, I'm producing babies every week.
I'm producing babies every week.
Whereas these people, oh, you know, they just keep it to themselves.
Their gospel is hid, not because, you know, not because, you know, these people don't
want to hear it, it's because they don't want to give it.
Okay.
That is spiritual abortion.
You know, and the thing is, a lot of these pastors, they're just a bunch of hirelings
is what they are.
Bunch of hirelings.
You know, the Bible tells us in John chapter 10, verse 11, I am the good shepherd, the
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that is in hireling and not the
shepherd who's owned the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep
and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep.
The hireling fleeth, but he is in hireling and careth not for the sheep.
Go with me if you went to Colossians chapter number one.
So let me give you some parallels here between with giving birth physically and giving
birth spiritually, okay?
Because they go hand in hand.
There's a reason why God is constantly referencing this.
He's using this as an illustration because it illustrates the point greatly, okay?
Number one, so let's talk about travailing in birth and how it relates to soul winning.
Well number one, it requires labor.
Requires labor.
And in fact, when a woman's about to give birth, what do we say?
She's going into labor.
You know why they call it going into labor?
Because it requires work.
You know, if you've ever seen a woman give birth, if you've ever seen your wife give
birth, I mean they're working.
Sometimes they're working eight hours, 12 hours.
I've known ladies who give during labor for 24 hours.
No rest, just tired, laboring, trying to push that baby out, feeling those contractions
and all the pains and the sorrows.
They're laboring to get that baby out so he can be out in the world, okay?
Now labor means to work.
It means to put in effort to expend yourself to accomplish a specific task there.
Now look what it says here in Colossians chapter 1 verse 27, to whom God would make
known what is the richest of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching
every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto
I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
You see, soul winning requires work.
You know, especially when we do confrontational soul work, we're doing home births, right?
The doctor's going to the house.
Just as we go from house to house publicly preaching Christ, okay, where we're giving
the gospel, we're going to the house, we're working, diligent, we're laboring to help
them to understand.
And you know what?
We need to make sure that we're not lax, lazy soul winners too.
You know, that we're not just going there and just dropping off an invite, you know,
not putting in the effort necessary to try to persuade them.
You know, the Bible says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
Try to get them to understand and to overcome the false ideologies put in that work.
You know, it requires work to study the Bible to be ready to give an answer to every man.
You know, to memorize the verses, to know where to flip through in your Bible in case
they ask a different question.
It requires labor to be able to study, to show yourself, approve them to God, a work
man that needeth not to be ashamed, okay?
It requires work in case someone tries to hit you with some question about the reprobates
and, oh, here's a sermon on YouTube.
Why don't you just take them to the Bible?
You know why?
Because that requires work.
It requires for you to study.
You know, it's good when a brand new soul winner, one of the things that I like seeing
in our church is when brand new people come to our church and they get saved and they
start going out soul winning, they have these tabs on their Bibles, right?
But after a while, you know what, those tabs need to start disappearing.
You know why?
Because they should know where all the verses are at.
I encourage people, look, when you're out soul winning and you're going from one point
to another, as you're making your second point, you're already flipping to your next
scripture.
You know, put in the labor, put in the work because that's exactly what it takes.
No woman just like, okay, you know, just baby's just coming out and, well, this is
over, man.
Oh, there he is, you know.
No, it's labor.
There's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, right?
Why?
Because it's labor requires work.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.
I'll read to you from 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 8, it says, neither did we eat any man's
bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not
be chargeable to any of you.
Why do we want to put so much travail and labor into preaching the gospel?
Because we don't want people's blood on our hands, that's why.
We want to make sure that when we are out there preaching the gospel that, you know,
we're above reproach and they understand, hey, you know, this guy pleaded with me.
He wanted me to be saved, you know.
And look, numbers are important, amen.
I mean, there's an entire book in the Bible called the Book of Numbers.
But you know what?
The reality is that we should go out there because we love people.
There should be a tear in our eye.
There should be a, we should have a broken heart when they reject it.
Oh, no, no, they're reprobates.
No, it's probably, they're just, they're just rejected the gospel that time.
And that should cause us to travail, to have sorrow, you know, because we put in the
word to want them to be saved, to give them the gospel.
I'm going to have you skip that.
Go with me if you would to Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter 20.
I'll read to you from 1 Thessalonians 1.
It says, Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father, knowing,
brethren and beloved, your election of God.
You know what this tells me is that when we go out there and preach the gospel,
you know, we're not just trying to get information out.
We're actually giving them the gospel because we love them.
You know, because there's actually a desire within our hearts that we don't want them
to go to hell.
So the people that we talk to should see sincerity in our attitude and our demeanor.
There should be a desire, and by the way, people could read us.
You know, if you're, if you're rushing, if you're just trying to, you know, get
the invite in, get them to, to, to say yes to everything you're saying, you know,
we want to make sure that we know how to read people.
And if they're understanding, then we can follow through.
But if they're not, if they're disinterested, if they're just like swatting at the flies
around and stuff, you know, but what will help us to hone in on that?
Loving them.
Loving people helps us to view their demeanor and see, okay, this person's getting it.
They're almost there.
Now I remember about a year ago, I went sowing with a, with a church member of mine, and
we were going by this house and the garage door was open.
You can see through all the way through the kitchen.
There was a guy there and I said, yeah, hello, you know, I just want to give you
this invite to our church.
And he came out and I give him the invite and I started giving him the gospel and he
just was not getting it.
You know, it was just kind of just going over his head and I'll be honest with you,
I was kind of getting frustrated.
And for me, it's just like, well, if you're not getting it, I'm just going to move on
because I don't want to waste my time.
But I can tell that he wasn't being like a jerk or anything.
He just really was not understanding.
It took me 30 minutes, close to 30 minutes to give this guy the gospel, to reiterate
the fact that it was not by repenting of your sins.
And literally, it just kind of clicked with him.
And it clicked when he when he looked at me and he had a tear in his eye and he said,
I get it now.
I get it.
And I remember my soul winning and then he got saved and my soul winning partner told
me afterwards, he said, he's like, man, I feel like you're going to give up on that
guy.
And I was just praying like, God, please give us work in his heart in such a way
that we see that he is getting something so we don't give up on him.
You know, takes labor, takes work, takes travailing.
Look at the Bible says in Acts chapter 20, verse 20, it says, And how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly
and from house to house testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance
toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is he saying?
Man, I worked hard to give you the gospel.
I worked hard so so that you knew everything that I knew that you would understand the
gospel in its entirety.
Now, aren't there substitutes for laboring, though?
There's a lot of substitutes, are there not?
Even with physical births, there are substitutes.
You know, you have the epidural, right?
Shot.
And if you if you got that, you know, I can't hate on you because I'm not a woman.
So, you know, I know that that's that's crazy.
But the pain is ridiculous.
But you know what?
There is complications when you get an epidural shot.
And epidural, what that does is it minimizes the pain so you can deliver the child, right?
But sometimes there's potential potential risks that come after that.
That is a substitute so that you don't have to feel the labor and pain.
You know, sometimes there's there's C-sections, okay?
And there's also complications that come with that.
And you know what?
There are equivalents in spiritual births as well, where you can take the easy route,
right?
And not put in the work, not put in the labor.
You say, well, like what?
Well, like track dropping is one of them.
When you just put a track on the door and you just alleviate your conscience, you're
not really putting in the labor.
The labor, the work that you're doing is the work of a mailman.
You're doing ding dong bitch, right?
You're doing the door hangers, the evangelistic services, right?
Lifestyle evangelism, where we all, you know, they'll just, I'm just waiting for them
to come to me, kind of thing.
That's not labor.
These are cheap substitutes for the labor that God has called us to, all right?
Nothing compares to just good old fashioned childbearing.
Good old fashioned, you know, spiritual births where you just go to someone's door, you
open your mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the Gospel, you show them the
verses and they believe, they call upon the name of the Lord and they get saved.
There's nothing that compares to that.
That's the way you're supposed to do it, amen?
Go to Acts chapter five, Acts chapter five.
You know, today we live in a society where it's just enthralled in technology, but you
know what?
And technology is a blessing, but at the end of the day, technology should never replace
door to door sowing, amen?
It should supplement it, it should help it, but at the end of the day, going door to
door still works today.
Still works.
Going door to door, knocking on those doors, talking to people face to face, confronting
them with their condition that they're a sinner, helping them to recognize that they
deserve hell, helping them to understand the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, helping them to understand this by faith alone and they can't lose their salvation
and helping them to call upon the name of the Lord, you can't replace that.
Look at Acts 542, it says, daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not
to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
So I come from a church that was very heavy on soul winning, okay?
And it was a church about 1300.
And my father-in-law started that church and he was a hard preacher.
You know, he was obviously old IFB, so you know, he was a Zionist and all that stuff.
But you know, he believed in soul winning and he believed in hard preaching.
And he's the one who actually taught me how to go soul winning.
When I first got saved, I wanted to go soul winning and he took me out for weeks on
end to show me how to do it and that really got me on fire, forgotten, I really
appreciated that.
And I remember some liberal pastor came one time and he was like anti-soul winning.
You know, he was anti-spiritual births in the right way.
And he was like, wow, you got a big church here.
He's like, how did you build it?
And he's like, did you do soul winning?
And he's like, really?
That's weird because soul winning doesn't really work.
And my father-in-law was like, well, looks like it did for us.
He's like, yeah, I only know of like two more churches where they said that and
they run like 5000 too, by the way, you know, during that time.
And so, you know, nothing compares.
Now obviously today, we can't necessarily build a church on soul winning, but you know what?
Soul winning is not meant to build a church, it's meant to see people saved, regardless
if people come to church or not.
But what I'm saying is this, is that soul winning door-to-door always works.
And look, people will come to church when you go soul winning.
We've had people come to church because we left a track on a door because no one
answered.
But at the end of the day, the labor is in the preaching.
At the end of the day, the labor is in us presenting the gospel to a lost and dying
world.
So travailing in birth, what does it require?
Requires labor, going into labor, okay?
But not only that, go with me if you would to Isaiah 54.
Isaiah 54, it also requires bodily preparation.
What do I mean by that?
Well, months prior to my wife giving birth, you know, she was eating all the health
foods, she's on keto, and she's making sure that she's getting the right proteins
and the fats.
Why?
Because there's going to come a day when this baby comes and she needs the strength
to push.
She needs to be able to give birth.
She needs to be able to endure and be able to help this baby come into this world.
So what was she doing?
She was preparing her body.
Okay?
Look what it says in verse number one of Isaiah 54.
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing, and cry out loud,
thou that didst not travail with child.
For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith
the Lord.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitations.
Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on
the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make
the desolate cities to be inhabited.
You know, it goes without saying, when it comes to spiritual births, we need to prepare.
We need to prepare ourselves, spiritually speaking.
What does that mean?
You need to make sure that you have the verses memorized, that you know what you're
going to say, you need to know your introduction, you need to be prepared, you need
to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, right?
Now go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 16.
Matthew chapter 16.
Preparation is key to succeeding at spiritual birthing, but you know what, it requires
a healthy diet.
Do you know what that means?
You got to eat some, you got to get some good preaching in.
Don't, don't feed yourself McDonald's Ray Comfort before you give birth.
Don't feed yourself with, you know, tofu, Calvinistic preaching.
Don't give yourself crap.
Because your body needs the nutrients, the proper doctrinal nutrients, so that when
you go out there and you're about to give birth, you do it well.
You're able to deliver.
Though you're travailing, though you're in pain, you have the strength to be able to
push.
You understand?
Look at Matthew 16 verse 6, then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, is it because we've taken no bread?
Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye
among yourselves because ye have brought no bread?
Do you not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many
baskets you took up?
Neither the seven loaves of the 4,000 and how many baskets you took up?
How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that
ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Then understood they, how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of the bread, but
of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
You know, some preaching, if you listen to it too much, it'll kill your soul winning.
It'll make you lazy, it'll kill your soul winning, Calvinistic doctrine will kill your
soul winning.
It'll destroy it.
You know, you get your soul winning tips from Ray Comfort.
Good night.
You're going to be committing abortions left and right.
You know, you're going to have stillbirths is what you're going to have because you're
not leading anybody to the Lord if you're learning from Ray Comfort.
We need to make sure we get a proper diet of some hard preaching, biblical teaching
on soul winning, understanding how to properly present the gospel so we can deliver spiritual
children correctly each time.
We're talking about travailing in birth until Christ is formed and it requires labor,
requires bodily preparation.
Go with me if you would to 1 Thessalonians chapter number two.
Now I mentioned this already, but it's worth mentioning again that it is accompanied with
pangs and sorrows, okay?
Because sometimes you're going to get discouraged when you don't see people saved.
You know, sometimes you go and you preach the gospel and you know, people are not receptive
or you know, you just have a dry season.
You know, that should cause some sorrow.
I'm not sorrowful about that.
Then you got to check your heart because it should cause sorrow when people reject
the gospel when they're not receptive towards it.
But how about this?
How about the sorrow that you should have for your lost family members?
You know, we're so busy winning the world to Christ that often we neglect our own family.
Our fathers, our mothers, our sisters, our cousins, our aunts or uncles, people that
we know are not saved, you know, and often we neglect them.
That should cause, we should sorrow for them.
You know, look what the Bible says in First Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 3, it says,
For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile.
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak,
not as pleasing men, but God would try at their hearts.
For neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor cloak of covetousness,
God is witness, nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others when
we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ.
But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children.
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you,
not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear to
us.
What is he saying?
We wanted to give you the information, but you know what?
We're also going to give you our emotion as well.
We're going to weep.
We're going to pray.
We're going to feel.
We're going to have emotion when we actually go out there and preach the gospel.
So when a woman's giving birth, they have what's called contractions, okay?
That is painful.
Contraction is when the uterus is contracting to push the baby out, and it causes a lot
of pain.
Well, you know what?
It should cause us pain as well when people reject the gospel, when we go out
there and no one gets saved, that should burden us.
It shouldn't be like water off a duck's back.
Now let it be water off a duck's back if it's some fag, okay?
Some flaming sodomite who hates you and curses you out, you know, you walk away with
a smile on your face and go eat a burger in celebration thereof, okay?
But if it's some lost person who is just has trouble understanding the gospel, that
should break our heart.
You know, it should break our hearts that we have family members that are not saved.
That should cause pains and sorrows within us, okay?
The Bible says in Acts chapter 20, you don't have to turn there, verse 31, therefore
watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears.
Let me ask you a question.
When's the last time you actually wept for a soul?
Think about that.
Well, I'm not the crying type, you know.
Well, then you got to check your heart, because God gave us tears, you know, and tears are
a product of pain.
Tears are a product of sorrow.
And we need to make sure that we check our hearts that it's still tender towards
lost people, okay?
And I'm not saying just be this drama queen where she's just like, oh, you don't want
to accept the gospel?
You're just like crying every block.
But I'm saying, you know, when you go back home, you fight back some tears.
You don't say, Lord, please use me, you know, this person was rejected the gospel.
And if that person dies, they're gonna go to hell, and it breaks my heart.
You know, Lord, prepare the hearts of the people we're going to speak to, so they
can be saved so they can receive the gospel and overcome that.
What I'm saying is this is that there should be a level of emotion that comes with
someone.
You know, the Bible does say he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
And look, sometimes weeping doesn't necessarily require tears, but it requires a trembling
voice when you talk to people.
And often that captures the attention of people because they understand that you actually
care for them.
You know, because people often think, oh, you just want my money, you know, you just
want my tithes is what you want, you know, you just want this and it's just like,
we have no ulterior motive other than the fact that we want to see you saved.
Don't even have to, you don't have to come to my church.
We just want you to be saved, okay?
So it requires labor, requires bodily preparation.
It is accompanied with pains and sorrows.
By the way, this is why it's important that we have so many partners.
You know, you need to make sure that you find someone that you go with on a weekly
basis.
Don't just go by yourself.
Why?
Because discouragement will set in.
And when you're discouraged, you need your silent partner next to you to encourage you
to keep going forward.
So this last time we did this, this, the pool birth, you guys ever heard of anything
like that?
You guys ever heard that?
You know, you're, you're, it's a literal pool.
Okay.
Now he wasn't born in the pool.
It just didn't work out, but it felt good for like the first hour.
And you know, I was there helping my wife and you said, what did you tell her?
Nothing.
I just held her hand and I was there and you know, whatever she needed, you didn't
say anything.
No, I was a silent partner.
Yeah, I was praying, you know, because obviously, you know, you know, the worst, we got
to expect the worst sometimes, you know, you just never know what's going to happen.
So during that time, just praying and encouraging her through the process, and I was her silent
partner.
Well, you know what you need a silent partner to someone who's praying for you that God
fills you with the Spirit of God so you can boldly present the gospel when the opportunity
presents itself.
Turn with me if you would, to First Corinthians chapter number four.
So it requires labor, bodily preparation is a company with pains and sorrows.
Hey, here's a novel thought.
It requires human effort.
What does that mean?
You need a daddy, right?
God doesn't have two babies.
You know, babies are made by a man and a woman.
In other words, there's a father involved, okay?
What am I saying?
How?
So how do you even apply that?
It requires a person going to another person.
In other words, don't think that the track is going to do all the work for you, right?
Don't think that, you know, just leaving a track, oh, you know, they'll probably just
get saved from that.
They're not going to get saved from the track.
They need a gospel preacher.
They need someone to explain to them, they need a soul winner.
That's the only way they're going to be saved.
Jesus needs us, right?
He's the one who saves, but you know what?
He can't do it without us.
We are the instrument that God has chosen to use to go out there and give the gospel
and see them saved.
But you know what?
It's not going to happen if we don't go there.
You know, God does not have two babies.
It requires a spiritual father, okay, and let me prove it to you.
Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 4.14.
He says, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you,
For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers.
For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel.
What is he saying there?
What he's stating is this, because the book of 1 Corinthians is the Apostle Paul
validating his authority on that church.
Basically he's saying, he's like, hey, I'm the one who got you saved.
I'm the one who got you saved.
You're my seal of my, you're the seal of my apostleship.
You know, God is the one who used me to get you saved.
Guess what?
You have 10,000 instructors in Christ.
You may have all kinds of Sunday school teachers.
Guess what?
You don't have many fathers.
You got one, because I'm the one who begot you.
I'm the one who got you saved, is what he's saying.
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
You know what?
You need to go father someone, okay?
Be someone's daddy, right?
We're going out there.
We're looking to be someone's daddy.
I'm not saying go there and say, I'm your daddy.
But that's basically what we're doing when we're explaining and when we get them saved,
they become like a spiritual son to us, right?
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 1, am I not an apostle?
Am I not free?
Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?
Are not ye my work in the Lord?
If I be not an apostle unto others, yea doubtless I am to you.
For the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, 5, who then is Paul and who is Apollo's, but ministers
by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man.
Don't have this mentality that someone else can be a daddy.
No, you be a daddy.
You be the father.
You take the responsibility to put it upon yourself to be a preacher of the gospel, to
see people saved and father someone spiritually speaking.
Now obviously, you know, we could adopt spiritual sons.
Paul the apostle did that with Timothy, right?
Timothy was already saved.
He just adopted him as his spiritual son.
But for the most part, we're the ones who are to be partakers of the ministry
of reconciliation.
So we're talking about travailing in birth until Christ is formed in them.
It requires labor.
Okay, you got to work for it just as a woman when she is in labor.
It requires bodily preparation, getting those proteins in, getting those fats in, memorizing
the scriptures, getting some good preaching in, you know, getting fired up about soul
winning.
Getting company with pains and sorrows, making sure you go out there with a broken heart.
It requires human effort.
And then lastly is this.
It always ends.
Listen to this.
It always ends in rejoicing, does it not?
Go to John chapter 16 because I'm telling you, there's times when you do have a dry
season.
And it's just like, man, am I doing something wrong?
Am I not giving an illustration correctly?
Am I not quoting the right scriptures?
What is it?
Am I in sin?
Sometimes you just have a dry season.
Or sometimes you just need to go to a different block, okay?
I remember, you know, where we're at right now, the most fruitful place that we've
ever experienced is Compton, okay?
Yeah, it's, the bloods and crips there, they're open to the gospel, okay?
And you know, we thought like many of the cities that are around there were going to be the same way.
And we went to some other cities, it's just like, people didn't even, people were like
screaming at us to get off their property.
And it was like, not nice place, like it was, it was like a ghetto place.
I can't believe you just said that, I came from the ghetto, okay, so it's okay.
You know, I thought, man, this place is gonna be receptive, I thought it was gonna
be great.
You know what?
It was not receptive at all.
But what do we do?
Do we just like go under the juniper tree and just be all discouraged and all woe is
me?
No.
We just went over to another city.
We went to Watts, is where we went.
We went back to Compton.
We went to East LA.
We look for the people who are receptive towards the gospel.
And look, at the end of the day, at the end of the month, at the end of the year,
it will end in rejoicing.
You will see someone saved.
Look at verse 21 of John chapter 16, a woman when she is in travail hath sorrow.
You know, that process is not fun.
Because her hour is come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers
no more of the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.
You know, one of the things that will help you if you're going through some trial
in your life, go soloing.
Go get someone saved.
And when you get someone saved, you know, the trials and the afflictions, the pains
and the sorrows and the travailings of this world, they grow very dim.
Because then soloing just kind of redirects your focus, and it helps you to remember,
this is what it's all about right here.
This is what it's all about right here.
You know, I got to lead someone to the Lord at the Denver airport, okay?
Her name was Anastasia.
She was, she was Russian.
And I was eating, she sat right in front of me.
She saw my New Testament there.
And we just began to talk, and I got to lead her to the Lord.
You know, and I'm thankful, and I'm thankful that I was able to come here, because if
I didn't come here, I wouldn't have been there.
And then I wouldn't have seen her saved.
That's just one.
But you know what?
That's one soul that will live for all of eternity.
You see, so when he redirects your focus, and it helps you to remember, man, a man
is born again.
A man has been saved.
A woman has has trusted Christ as her Savior.
That's another soul that gets to go to heaven because of my effort.
Oh, that's prideful.
No, because of my effort, because remember, God has no two babies, okay?
So what is the sermon today?
Well, the sermon is simply this.
You know, I just want to encourage you to keep preaching the gospel, keep refining yourself
as a soul winner, making sure that you're travailing in birth till Christ is formed
in each individual that you speak to over the lifetime, over your lifetime, you know,
and recognize it's no easy task.
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right?
If it was easy, every independent fundamental Baptist church would be doing it.
But you know what?
It's not easy.
It requires travail.
It requires pains and sorrow, preparation.
It requires all these things.
But you know what?
What does it yield?
Souls that are saved and eternal rewards.
Amen.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your Word.
We're thankful for the person who travailed in birth till Christ was formed in us.
Those who led us to the Lord, those who prepared, those who prayed for us before
they even knew us.
And they prayed and earnestly pray that you would prepare our hearts so that when
they spoke to us, that we would be receptive towards the gospel.
Thank you so much for that person who put in all that work for us.
May we return the favor as we go out and do the same to others.
And I pray God that you prepare the hearts of the people we're going to speak to tomorrow.
May you use this in a great way to see a lot of people saved.
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.