Turn to Ruth chapter one in your Bible, Ruth chapter one.
As you're turning to Ruth one, let me just say, I've been to a few preaching conferences,
independent fundamental Baptist preaching conferences outside of the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
I went to one where there was more than 500 people, probably the biggest one on the East
Coast back then, and I remember asking around to the people that were running the conference
about soul winning, and there was none going on whatsoever.
Like zero.
It was me and my three friends that went soul winning.
It's like, well, we've got far too many events to go soul winning, and in the preaching,
they're preaching about revival, revival, and there's no soul winning whatsoever.
Here it's the exact opposite.
We've got so many people here.
It's probably a modern day record for real soul winning in terms of tons of people going
out, knocking the doors, and I know why they didn't have soul winning, because it takes
a lot of work to prepare that, and they were just not up for the labor.
They just weren't up for the work.
They didn't want to make the maps.
They didn't want to be organized.
They were more concerned about other things.
They were preaching about money and revival and all these things, but there's no soul
winning whatsoever.
It's great to be part of a movement that actually cares and is willing to labor and
work hard to win souls of the Lord.
Now in Ruth chapter 1, let's look at verse number 10.
The Bible reads,
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
And Naomi said, Turn again my daughters, why will ye go with me?
Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Turn again my daughters, go your way.
For I am too old to have an husband.
If I should say I have hope, if I should have an husband also tonight and should also
bear sons, would ye tarry for them till they were grown?
Would ye stay for them from having husbands?
Nay, my daughters, for grieveth me much for your sakes, that the hand of the Lord has
gone out against me.
And they lifted up their voice and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth
clave unto her.
And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people and unto her
gods.
Return thou after thy sister-in-law.
And Ruth said, And treat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee.
For whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried.
The Lord doest so to me, and more also, if aught but death, part thee in me.
When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left, speaking unto
her.
Let's open a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today in this great soul-winning
event, God, and ask you to help us all, though, to put aside these distractions
and to pay attention to your word, God.
I believe this is a very important truth this morning.
I pray right now you'll give me boldness and clarity to preach your word.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now, to give you a little bit of a background here, Alimelech was married to Naomi and
they had two sons, Malon and Chileon, and because there's a famine in the land, he ends
up fleeing into Moab, into a very wicked place.
You know, we've heard the sermons earlier this week about how you should forsake money
to go to a godly place, but sadly, most people do the opposite thing.
Most people will leave a great place because they're worried about money, and Alimelech
should have known from the book of Genesis several examples what happens when you
chase after money, but even today, people do it all the time.
People from our movement will do that as well.
And you see what happens to Alimelech.
Alimelech dies in the land of Moab, and he takes down his whole family because his
sons marry Orpah and Ruth, and then his sons die in Moab as well.
So Naomi is left with her two daughters-in-law in this area, which are not God's people,
you know, a bunch of wicked people, and she realizes she made a terrible choice that
they should have never left to begin with.
Now in verses 6 and 7 in Ruth chapter 1, both Orpah and Ruth are returning into Judah
with Naomi.
Not just Ruth, Orpah is planning to return as well with Naomi.
Now in verses 8 and 9, Naomi basically pleads with them not to go, because she realizes
that if they go back to Judah, they're going to have trouble finding a husband.
These are Moabite women, and they're also, you know, their husbands have passed away.
And she knows it's going to be hard for them to find a husband, so she pleads with
them, hey, just stay here in Moab.
And in verse 10, they said under, surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
Notice that both Orpah and Ruth are returning into Judah.
Not just Ruth.
In verses 11, 12, and 13, once again, Naomi pleads with them and says, you know, basically
just stay here.
Don't follow me.
And you notice that they lifted up their voice and wept again.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave onto her.
Notice the difference there.
Now I want you to understand something.
Orpah was not a bad person.
She wanted to follow her mother-in-law into Judah.
She was planning to do that, and then Naomi pleads with her.
She is still planning to go into Judah as well, but when Naomi pleads again, she decides
to go back to Moab instead of going into Judah.
See, I want you to understand that Orpah was not a bad person.
I personally believe she's in heaven.
It's hard to tell with these people in the Old Testament.
She was not a bad person, but you know what?
I didn't tell you to turn to Ruth chapter one this morning, or Orpah chapter one.
I told you to turn to Ruth chapter one.
See, what's the difference between Orpah and Ruth?
Ruth was a tad bit more dedicated.
There's not much of a difference.
It's just Ruth wanted it a little bit more.
Turn to 1 Samuel 23, and in 1 Samuel 23, we're going to see the difference between
Jonathan and David.
Now if you know your Bible, Jonathan was a pretty good character in 1 Samuel.
He did a lot of great and mighty things for God.
He was a really good guy.
You know, King Saul, the kingdom was taken away from his lineage, and Jonathan actually
steps in to protect David.
You know, Saul was angry that the kingdom was going to be taken away from his lineage,
but Jonathan was okay with it.
He was willing to help out David.
He was a very godly person.
You see him do many mighty things for God in the book of 1 Samuel.
But I want you to notice in 1 Samuel 23 what it says.
In verse 16 the Bible reads, And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David into
the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
And he said unto him, Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee,
and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee.
And that also Saul my father knoweth.
So once again you see that Jonathan is helping out David.
He puts his neck on the line because King Saul in a fit of rage tries to kill his
son when he's not thinking clearly.
Jonathan was a pretty good guy.
But look at verse 18.
And they too made a covenant before the Lord, and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan
went to his house.
Notice how David is without the camp.
Notice how David's rejected of men.
Notice how David is in the wood.
But you know, Jonathan went home to his nice and comfortable and cozy house.
Jonathan shouldn't have been there.
He should have been out in the wilderness with God's people.
Because when you stand up for the things of God, sometimes you might not have a certain
dwelling place.
Sometimes you might not have a lot of money.
But you know, God's presence was with David, and Jonathan went home to his comfortable
house.
Now he was willing to help David.
He went out there.
But he went home to his house instead of being out there in the wilderness with David.
You say, Well, I think you're reading too much into that.
Well, if that's the case, why is this?
This is the last instance of Jonathan until he dies.
Jonathan is a very central character, but is there anybody who dies a more anticlimactic
death than Jonathan?
I mean, I remember the first time I read the Bible how he's a really central character,
and then out of nowhere he's dead.
It's kind of like he's forgotten.
Why?
Because he went to his comfortable house, and David was abiding in the wilderness.
Turn to 2 Kings chapter 2.
Now we're going to look at Elisha and the sons of the prophets.
Now 2 Kings 2 is a really interesting chapter because it's almost parallel with the book
of Ruth chapter 1.
It's really interesting because they're different characters, but Elisha plays a part of Naomi.
Notice how Elisha tells Elisha that you don't have to follow me, just like Naomi
said to Ruth and Orpah.
And then you have Elisha playing the role of Ruth, who is willing to forsake all and
steadfastly follow the leader.
And then you have the sons of the prophets that play the role of Orpah.
Now look at what it says in verse 7.
And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off, and they
too stood by Jordan.
Notice how there are fifty people watching the great works of God, and two people involved
in the action.
Just two people.
Now I do want you to understand this about the sons of the prophets.
Just like Jonathan, just like Orpah, they're not bad people.
In fact, you see that Elisha helps the sons of the prophets throughout these chapters.
He has good fellowship with the sons of the prophets.
I don't believe the sons of the prophets are like the old IFB movement.
I don't believe that.
I think that they were pretty good people.
And I'll be honest with you, I believe that if you look at the characters I mentioned,
I believe many of those people would probably be here at this Red Hot preaching conference.
I believe they'd be listening to sermons online, being involved in soul-winning
marathons.
You look at Jonathan, he was a good guy.
The sons of the prophets, they weren't willing to stand up front and center against
the enemy.
It's a lot easier to back up the man of God than to be the one in front against the enemies.
When Pastor Menes and our church had all the protesters around, obviously for any
of us it's tough to follow and be supportive, but do you realize how much tougher it was
for him than any of us?
It's not even close.
It's a lot easier to support the man of God than to be the one front and center.
And a lot of people don't want to be front and center.
Now I want you to understand though about our movement.
Our movement is reaching people around the world.
We have someone in our church here from France who just got here less than a week ago.
He heard the preaching online, he got baptized on Sunday, he's already won his first soul
to the Lord.
And you think of the country of France and you think of Europe, Europe is a very
wicked place.
You think it's hard to go soul-winning in America?
It's so much harder in Europe.
I was in Europe in the 90s and they were as wicked as we are now.
Probably more back then than we are now, just the things on television.
What a wicked country.
But you know, I see sometimes on our YouTube how someone will say, I'm watching from Barcelona, Spain.
Spain is 92% pro-sodomite.
I think it's the number one most pro-sodomite country in the world.
And yet we still have people that listen in Spain.
There's tons of people that listen in the Philippines, in Australia, in New Zealand,
in the United Kingdom.
People around the world are being touched with this message.
It's just how like God told Jeremiah that he'd be set above the kingdoms and the nations
and God's word has always found a way to get out to the end of the world.
God's word is going to get out there.
We're reaching people around the world.
These soul-winning marathons and these events in Guyana, the Philippines next year,
Malawi, Botswana, man, they are reaching so many people.
When I was in Guyana, someone actually told our group or asked our group, are you that
group from Botswana?
I mean, can you believe that?
It's like, how in the world have you heard about that?
I mean, that's amazing that around the world, this message is getting out.
And around this country, so many soul-winning marathons in Dearborn, in Washington, D.C.,
around the world, great things in this country.
And it's not even just our churches that put them together.
People in our movement rise up, they have an event, we publish it, 25 people show up,
people are getting saved around the country, around the world.
It is amazing what's going on.
And here's the thing.
Our movement has been amazing at producing Orpas, Sons of the Prophets, and Jonathans.
But you know, the great works that are being done are masking a bigger problem.
The fact is, we only have a handful of churches in our movement.
I mean, great works are being done through these churches, great works are being done
in our movement, but do you realize that we have not produced a lot of Davids?
We haven't produced a lot of Elishas, people that are willing to stand up against the
enemy and have people against them.
That's a big problem.
Because these soul-winning marathons are great, but do you realize how much more we
could do for God if we had a pastor in that area?
I mean, just a simple understanding of multiplication and exponents.
If we get churches planted in various places, that can explode and do so much more than
just one soul-winning event.
That's a big problem.
We need more men of God to stand up.
And here's the thing.
We can't blame the pastors that are laboring 70, 80 hours a week to do soul-winning marathons,
to preach great sermons, studying the Word of God, just a normal day-to-day life in
a church.
No, we need us young men to rise up and be that person, to fill in the gap.
Now, let me be very clear, though, before, as I'm preaching this, let me just say
two things.
One, I'm not a pastor, and I'm not an evangelist.
And the Bible says, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that
putteth it off.
You know, it's one thing to get up and preach a sermon every once in a while, but
I have not proven that I could be a successful pastor, and if I had been proven to
be faithful in the ministry, I probably would already be an evangelist or pastor, and I believe
God's waiting for me.
And, you know, I think it's the same with many of us.
It is my goal, and I believe I'll be successful.
That's my desire.
But I'm preaching this because I know this is a big problem that we need to fix.
We need young men to rise up.
You know, it's not that hard to figure out who's going to be invited to preach at
the Red Op Preaching Conference, because there's a pretty small pool of pastors.
You know, there's only a couple.
It's not like we have to, like, put names in a hat or anything like that.
It's pretty easy to figure out, you know, who's going to be there this year.
It's probably pretty easy to figure out who's going to be preaching next year,
because there just are not a lot of churches in our movement, and that's a big problem.
We need to fill in the gap.
And let me just say something else, though.
I don't necessarily think it's everybody's job or responsibility to be a pastor.
You know, I believe that certain people have an ability to teach and to preach and
get certain opportunities.
Some people maybe came to this movement kind of later in life, and maybe it's in the
eighth inning.
But towards the end, you might be better off supporting one of these great men of
God and being a great blessing to that church.
I understand that.
But, you know, there's far too many of us that have a bit of a desire to be a
pastor and have been given opportunities and have had great training from great
men of God, and we're not returning on that investment.
And we need to fix that problem.
We need men of God to rise up in the areas to start churches.
You know, I was born in 1984.
And when I was born, you know, I was a big sports fan.
The most famous athlete in the world was Michael Jordan.
Not just in America, but I believe the world as well.
When I was in Guyana, I actually saw a car that was painted red that had the
silhouette of Michael Jordan dunking the basketball with number 23, if you know what
I'm talking about.
When I was in France in 1999, it was the year after France won the Soccer World
Cup, and they had soccer jerseys and memorabilia and scarves and, you know,
everything, and all these stands at corners on the streets.
But then they had one other thing, and that was Michael Jordan jerseys.
Because Michael Jordan was the most famous athlete, I believe, in the world.
And, you know, when I was a kid, me and all my friends, you know,
we started drinking Gatorade.
We started wearing Nike.
You know, we wanted the Air Jordans because we really thought if we bought
those, we might be able to fly, you know.
And, you know, everybody wanted to be like Michael Jordan.
And they actually ran an ad for Gatorade called Like Mike.
And it was said, like Mike, if I could be like Mike.
It said, sometimes I dream that he is me.
And here's the thing, in this room, and maybe people that will hear the
sermon, there are a lot of people that would say, I want to be just like these
pastors.
I want to be like Pastor Anderson.
I want to be like Pastor Mendez.
I want to be like Pastor Berzins.
Now, when I was a kid, there was probably at least tens of millions of
kids in America that wanted to be Michael Jordan, and at least hundreds of
millions of people worldwide that wanted to be just like Michael Jordan.
People who would eat Wheaties, drink Gatorade, wear the jersey,
get the Air Jordans, and people that would just simply watch Michael
Jordan play every single game.
But do you realize how foolish it would be to think that you become like Michael
Jordan by watching him play?
I mean, that would be pretty foolish, wouldn't it?
And it's like people say, well, I want to be like these pastors.
It's like, well, how much do you read the Bible?
Yeah, about 10 minutes a day.
But I listen to like four hours of sermons.
I mean, surely I'll be just like them.
But think about this.
Do you really think that these pastors became these pastors by just listening
to preaching?
I mean, I'm sure they listened to a lot of preaching.
But you know what they actually did?
Every day they opened this book and they read it.
Every day they memorized the Bible.
Every day they got on their knees and they prayed.
And I understand his heart.
It's a lot easier at 9 o'clock at night to just listen
to these guys preach.
But you know, you learn so much more if you actually open up this Bible
for yourselves.
And look, I'm not the greatest preacher in the world.
But you know, when I preach sermons, it's something that I learned that
came from my heart.
And you know what, it's so much easier to preach something that came from your
heart than just regurgitating what they said.
It's not going to have the same power if you just listen to their sermon
and just re-preach the exact same thing.
We need to read the Bible and learn for ourselves.
This is a big problem.
And if you're a young man here, and you got all the time in the world
to serve God, and you're not that old, and you're at a great church,
you ought to really consider going all in.
Because there's plenty of people that are like the sons of the prophets.
Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off,
and they too stood by Jordan.
And let me say this, that these pastors, if you were to take
the Faithful Word Baptist Church, and I guarantee that if you were to ask
Pastor Anderson, if he had the ability to send out 20 people tomorrow
to start churches that were ready, prepared, and were great men of God,
and it would cause his church to have a size of, let's say, 100 people,
because people are helping out all these churches, I promise you in a second
he would do that, to get great churches started.
He'd be perfectly willing to forsake all.
Because all these pastors already forsook all.
They forsook all to serve God.
And if they were able to do something great for God, it's like, yes,
because the Bible says, he must increase, but I must decrease.
We must be willing to decrease in our lives so the Word of God can multiply
and grow and big things can happen.
We must be willing to do that.
And we need to understand this, good people fail in the ministry all the time.
It's not just bad people that pretend to be like us.
Good people fail all the time.
Through the years of this movement, multiple people that had the exact same beliefs
that were good people did not make it, because it's hard.
And we need to understand that.
And when they give you a standard reading the Bible like 10 times or 15 times
or whatever standard they put on you, they're not trying to put a yoke on you
that no one can achieve.
I mean, that's not that many times.
But what they understand is this, it's a tough job.
And you need to make sure that you're ready.
And you need to make sure you have the Bible memorized.
And you've read the Bible over and over and over.
And one of the problems can be, when you come to a place like this,
you look at the crowd, you might just assume everybody's reading the Bible.
You can pretend like you're really reading the Bible.
But you know, there's people in this room that have never read the Bible cover to cover.
I promise you that.
There's people that don't read the Bible more than five minutes a day.
And you can show up at every soul winning event.
You can listen to sermons online.
You can go soul winning all the time.
And you can make it look like you're really on fire for God.
But you know, you got a lot of things you got to fix.
And you're never going to make it as a pastor if you're not zealously reading the Bible all
the time.
You got to be willing to wake up early and stay up late.
And we need it.
We need churches out there.
We need people to say, you know what, I'm not willing just to be an Orpah.
I want to be a Ruth.
I'm not willing just to be a David or a Jonathan.
I want to go all in and be a David.
I'm not willing just to be a son of the prophets that's viewing from afar off.
I want to be involved in the action.
See, the question this morning is not, do you want to be a pastor?
The question is, how badly do you want it?
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here this morning.
And I just ask you to help us apply this sermon, including myself, to our lives.
Ask you to help us have a great soul winning event today, God.
We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.