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Amen. All right, well, let's take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin this morning, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we'll get one for you.
The first verse this week, 1 Peter 2.9 says,
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
And that's a good verse there. We like that.
If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service times.
Sunday morning service starts at 10.30 a.m. We're glad you're with us this morning.
Every Sunday we have a time of fellowship in the break room with coffee and donuts and refreshments from 10 a.m. to 10.30.
And of course we have our Sunday evening service at 6 p.m.
This week has been a little different. It's been the week of our Red Hot Preaching Conference.
But this coming week we'll be back in our regular schedule and we'll have our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m.
I want to encourage you to be here on Wednesday night.
We are starting a new section of the book of Ezekiel.
We're finishing the book of Ezekiel.
We're starting chapter 40 which deals with that temple at the end of the book there.
And we're going to be able to finish up here soon.
There's eight chapters left in the book of Ezekiel.
And if you want to read Ezekiel chapter 40 beforehand and look at it, read it, and be ready to study it together on Wednesday night, that would be great.
If you look at our soul winning times, Saturday morning is our church-wide soul winning.
Soul winning is when we go out in the community, we knock doors, we invite people to church, and we preach the gospel to everyone who's interested.
And we have our main soul winning times on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays and on Sundays at 2 p.m.
If you look at our praise report, salvation is for the month of July 15.
Salvation is year to date, 289.
Baptism is year to date, 33.
Last Sunday, we had 183 in church on Sunday morning.
Of course, we've got way more than that here today.
I'm not sure what the number is.
I haven't got it yet, but I'm sure there's a lot more than 180.
Of course, this is the week of our Red Hawk preaching conference.
We're glad you're with us.
And if you look at the bulletin there, we are a family integrated church.
Children and infants are always welcomed in the church service.
We don't separate children from their parents for any reason.
However, we've got mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience.
All of the mother baby rooms have comfortable seating.
They have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it.
If you're not sure where one of those are, if you look at the back of the bulletin,
you'll see a layout of our church building.
It'll show you where the mother baby rooms are, where the daddy rooms are, where the restrooms are,
so that you can know where everything else is if you need it.
And if you have a child that's being distracted during the service or if you need some privacy,
we would encourage you to head to those mother baby rooms and daddy rooms.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, first of all, we want to greet our guests.
And of course, we've got a lot of people here for the Red Hawk preaching conference,
and we're glad you're with us.
We appreciate you staying with us through Sunday.
And if I can get the ushers to help me out, I don't know where the folding chairs are.
I think they should have got back from the park.
But if we've got them here, can we just start putting folding chairs out
so that we can try to bring people in, and let's try to get as many people in as possible.
I appreciate the kids being here, and kids are welcome to come sit up here if they'd like,
but here's what I need.
This morning we're going to have our choir sing for us,
so I need you guys to clear off just this section.
Danny, if you just want to move that way, and if you just want to move that way that way,
they don't trample you.
If you guys want to just move closer to the middle.
Actually, Brother Matt, let me ask you, are they coming this way or are they coming this way?
They're coming this way?
All right, so let's make sure that we...
Danny, why don't you just sit right here. Sit right here.
Yeah, there you go. Good.
I just want to make sure you don't get hurt.
But let's see if we can get some folding chairs,
if we can start trying to sit people in the service.
Let's try to get as many people in the service as possible,
and that would be great.
If you're a first-time guest, if it's your first time at Verity Baptist Church,
we're glad you're with us.
And again, if it's your first time here, and you're just from the community,
maybe you got an invitation on your door, you were invited by a friend,
realize that this is our Red Hot Preaching Conference,
a special conference we put on every year,
and so it's a little different than normal.
But we are glad you're with us, and we have a special gift for you.
As you walk out of the church building this morning,
as you go through the foyer, you'll see a little table set up.
On that table, you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one of these on your way out as a gift from us to you
for being our guest this morning.
We realize you could have gone to church anywhere today,
and you chose to be with us. We appreciate that.
There are several resources in this bag we'd like you to have.
The one I'd like to highlight is this documentary.
It's called After the Tribulation.
It's a documentary about end times prophecy.
It's about the one world government, one world religion.
It's very well made, very interesting,
and we want to give this to you as a gift for being our guest.
So if it's your first time here, you're from the community, from Sacramento,
we just want to let you know that we're glad you're with us.
And we also ask that you please take a moment
and fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin.
If you need a pen, just raise your hand,
and one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen.
And we're not going to do anything weird with your information.
We're not going to sell it to anybody.
We just would like to have a record of your attendance.
And we'd like to be a blessing to you as well,
but we need your info to do that.
So please take a moment to fill the card out.
In a moment, we're going to sing a song.
When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering.
As the offering plate goes by, you can drop the card in the offering plate,
or you can hand it to me.
I'll be standing at the back door after the service.
If you look at our announcements,
I also want to let you know that next week,
we're going to continue our summer series.
We're going through a series this summer called encounters with Christ.
You should have one of these cards in your bulletin as well.
And if you'll notice, we've been looking at these conversations
that the Lord Jesus Christ had with individuals.
We're not looking at parables.
We're not looking at miracles.
We're just looking at these intimate conversations He had.
We're watching and learning from Jesus as He dealt with people,
as He spoke with people.
And we started off with Nicodemus.
We talked about the woman at the well.
Last week, we talked about the woman caught in adultery.
This week, we're taking a break from the series
since it's our Red Heart preaching conference.
Next week, we're going to be back in our series,
and we're going to be talking about Jesus in the house of Simon.
So we want you to take one of these cards
just to remind you what's going on this summer
as far as our Sunday morning service.
And we also want you to use this as a tool to bring a friend with you.
Invite a friend.
Maybe you've been thinking about inviting a coworker
or a neighbor or a family member.
You can use this card and say,
hey, we'd love to have you come for this series.
And if it's your first time here,
just realize it will not be this full next week, all right?
We'll have a few more open seats,
so if you can help us with that, we'd appreciate it.
Red Heart preaching conference,
we just want to say thank you to all the workers,
volunteers who helped to make this year a huge success.
And we're blessed to have a church family
that is just willing to sacrifice and to give of themselves.
And just last night, as we were driving home,
my wife and I were talking about the fact that my wife,
myself, and the staff, and their wives,
we could not put this thing on.
And it's not just a staff thing.
It's a church family thing,
just people volunteering and giving their time.
And I walk in here sometimes just early in the morning,
and people are vacuuming and mopping
and taking care of things.
And I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you
to our church family and thank all of you
for coming out to the conference this year.
Now, tonight is our evening service.
We do this every night for the Red Heart preaching conference.
We're going to have a men's preaching night
or men's popcorn preaching.
And all the men of the conference and, of course,
our church are invited to preach.
And we're going to give every man a 10-minute slot
to be able to preach.
The rules to preach are you must wear a shirt and tie.
You must use the King James Version of the Bible only.
You must stay within your time.
And the number of preachers will be limited
and selected by a random draw.
Here's the thing.
More of you are going to sign up to preach tonight
than we'll be able to have preached.
So we're going to have just a certain number of people
come here and preach.
And we're just going to pick your names randomly.
And then those will be the guys that get to preach.
So if the Lord chooses your lot, all right,
then you'll be the one that gets to preach.
And then tonight, after the service,
we have Baskin-Robbins ice cream
just as a fellowship time.
So we'd love for you to come back tonight at 6 p.m.
and we'll have a good time.
We have a homeschool seminar coming up
on Tuesday, July 30th at 7 p.m.
This is a seminar my wife puts on every summer.
And it is training for new homeschool moms.
If you are a new homeschool mom,
you are considering homeschooling.
And even existing homeschool moms are welcome
to be a part of this homeschool seminar.
Dinner will be served at no cost to those attending.
There is a free gift for all the homeschool moms
in attendance.
And if you're going to be part of the homeschool seminar,
since we are having it catered,
we do need you to sign up through your communication card.
Let us know you're planning on being a part of that.
So please make sure you do that.
Also, we're excited about starting a brand-new church
in Fresno, California.
And we're going to be doing that at the end of August.
And we're going to have a big soul-winning marathon
and push on Saturday, August 24th.
And then we're going to have the first service
on August 25th.
So here's what we need from you.
If you live in Fresno or near Fresno
and you are interested in being a part of that,
if you would just fill out your information
on this communication card.
Somewhere on the back, just write Fresno,
Fresno Church Plant, BBC Church Plant, whatever.
Let us know that you are interested.
We'd like to get your information about that.
And just be in prayer for this new church.
We're sending out the Pazarski family
to lead that satellite.
And Brother Jared and Miss Heidi have been
a huge blessing to our church,
and we're excited about that.
We have a ladies weight loss meeting
every Wednesday at 6.15.
This is a class my wife leads.
It's a free class.
If you'd like some encouragement
or accountability in that area, ladies,
they meet in the first mother-baby room,
the one closest to the foyer,
every Wednesday at 6.15.
We have our homeschool group.
Usually for the homeschool group,
they've got a Spanish class and a PE class.
Right now we're in our summer schedule,
so they're only doing PE class.
But the next PE class is July 25th at 9.30 a.m.
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off
or place them on silent during the service
so that they are not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin,
birthdays and anniversaries for the month of July.
We had Brother Ray Anderson's birthday.
It was yesterday, July 20th.
And today is Miss Kimmy Gester's birthday on the 21st.
Also, it's not in the bulletin,
but Brother Joseph Loqueta's birthday is today also on the 21st.
And we have Miss Sandra, Miss Gina, Miss Alethea,
and Miss Laura Beth all share a birthday on the 23rd.
And Edgar and Selena have an anniversary this week on the 27th.
If you're not a first-time guest,
don't forget that you can use the communication card
to update your information on the back.
You can sign up for different things,
like the men's preaching night, the homeschool seminar.
You can write in a prayer request for the Wednesday night prayer sheet.
And if you've had any salvations,
if you've been out sowing this week and you've gotten somebody saved,
we want to recognize that in the bulletin.
There's a place on this card for you to write that you've had salvations.
Just give us the number,
and you can drop this card in the offering plate when it goes by.
Quotable quotes.
We like to have a quote in the bulletin every week.
The quote this week says,
Each person has the potential of making an impact on the world.
It all depends on what you do with what you have.
And that's a good quote there.
Money matters.
You can look at the offerings,
the totals that have came in so far for the month of July.
I'd appreciate your prayers for me.
Every Red Hot Preaching Conference,
I end up losing my voice at the end of the week,
and yesterday there was a lot of booing, you know.
So I'm just kind of losing my voice.
I've got some tea here,
and I'm not singing any songs or leading any music this morning,
but pray for me that my voice doesn't give out during the preaching.
Just a few more announcements if you wouldn't mind me taking the time.
Tomorrow at 10 a.m.,
myself and my family and Pastor Thompson and his family
are going to be having breakfast at the IHOP on Northgate at 10 a.m.
If there are any of you who are still in town at that time
and you'd like to join us for breakfast,
you're welcome to do so.
We are going Dutch, all right,
so it's just kind of every man for themselves.
But if you'd like to just come,
if you just haven't had enough fellowship by the end of this week
and you'd like to come,
10 a.m. IHOP on Northgate Boulevard,
and if you would do me a favor, find Pastor Thompson.
He's not hard to find.
Just look up and just let him know.
I'm planning on being there.
My family's planning on being there.
We're planning on being there.
Let him know because we're going to call ahead and tell them,
hey, we've got 30 hungry Baptists coming
or 50 hungry Baptists or whatever.
But if you would do that,
if you'd like to come and have some fellowship,
tomorrow morning 10 a.m. at the IHOP on Northgate.
This morning our choir's going to be singing for us.
I'm excited about that.
And then of course I have to make one final sad announcement,
and that is that Sure Foundation Baptist Church won
the Red Hot Preaching Conference Bowl next year.
Let's give them a round of applause.
How much did you pay the referees?
Did they give you a good deal?
No, no, I'm just kidding.
They did a good job.
It was fun, and I'm glad, you know,
everybody had a good time, and praise the Lord for it.
This morning I'm preaching on the subject
of bodily exercise prophet of the little,
and I'm just kidding.
I'm not.
I'm actually preaching on, you know,
the first shall be lost, and no, I'm just,
I'm trying to just think of as many jokes as possible,
you know.
I'm actually preaching about how the only champion
in the Bible was Goliath.
Pastor Thompson, I'm coming after you.
And no, no, no, no.
You know, this is what I always say.
I always said it doesn't matter whether, you know,
you win or lose.
It's just the fact that Pastor Thompson
is not invited next year.
No, I'm kidding.
I'm done.
All right, we're going to have the offering,
and then Brother Matt's going to,
actually we're going to have Brother Matt come up
and lead us in the chorus of the week.
If you want to find your chorus of the week,
we're going to sing Rejoice in the Lord.
We'll have Brother Matt lead us in that song
as we prepare to receive the offering,
and if you're in the choir,
let's sing it out.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Let's sing it out on the first.
God never moves
without purpose or plan.
Rejoice in the Lord.
God never moves
without purpose or plan.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Let your testicles fall.
In goodness, live in the Son.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks for mistake.
Let me hear the beat.
Let my mind sway.
For when I am dry,
and through the night,
I shall not go.
We're going to sing it out on the second.
I can now see
through the shadows ahead.
So I run down the cross
and I say,
Lord, instead,
I'm bound to a myth
of a mess through the day.
There is faith,
it is fed away.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks for mistake.
For when I am dry,
and through the night,
I shall not go.
We're going to sing it out on the last.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks for mistake.
Let my mind sway.
For when I am dry,
and through the night,
I shall not go.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks for mistake.
For when I am dry,
I shall not go.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks for mistake.
For when I am dry,
I shall not go.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks for mistake.
For when I am dry,
I shall not go.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks for mistake.
I shall not go.
Amen.
At this time, we're going to have the ushers come forward,
so let's have a word of prayer.
Dear Father, we just come to you now, Lord.
We ask that you would bless these tithes and offerings, Lord.
Use them for the furtherance of your kingdom, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Turn your Bibles to Acts, chapter 19.
Acts, chapter 19.
If you do not have a Bible, raise your hand,
and an usher will bring you one.
Acts, chapter 19.
Just keep your hands up, and an usher will bring you a Bible.
We will read the entire chapters as our custom.
Acts, chapter 19.
Acts, chapter 19, the Bible reads,
And it came to pass that, while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus.
And finding certain disciples, he said unto them,
Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?
And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?
And they said, Unto John's baptism.
Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him,
that is, on Christ Jesus.
When they had heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,
the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied.
And all the men were about twelve.
And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months,
disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
But when divers were hardened, and believed not,
but spake evil of that way before the multitude,
he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
And this continued by the space of two years,
so that all they which dwell in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus,
both Jews and Greeks.
And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul,
so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons,
and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists,
took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus,
saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preached it.
And there were seven sons of Wonskiva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them,
and overcame them, and prevailed against them,
so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus,
and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.
Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together,
and burned them before all men,
and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit,
when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying,
After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him,
Timotheus and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
And the same time there arose no small stir about that way,
for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith,
which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsman,
whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said,
Sirs, ye know by this craft we have our wealth.
Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia,
this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying,
That they be no gods which are made with hands.
So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at naught,
but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised,
and her magnificence should be destroyed,
whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.
And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath,
and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
And the whole city was filled with confusion,
and having caught Gaius and Erastacras, men of Macedonia,
Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater.
And when Paul would have entered into the people, the disciples suffered him not,
and certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him,
desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater.
Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was confused,
and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward,
and Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defense unto the people.
But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours,
cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus,
what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians
is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana,
and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against,
ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.
For ye have bought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches,
nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him,
have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies.
Let them and plead one another.
But if ye inquire anything concerning other matters,
it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar,
there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.
And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
Let's pray.
Almighty God, thank you for this day, and thank you for this conference.
Please bless pastor, please bless the message.
Open our hearts and our ears to your word.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, amen.
Amen.
Alright, we're there in Acts chapter number 19.
Thank you.
I sent you another text, make sure you see that please.
Acts chapter 19, and we are of course ending our Red Hot Preaching Conference today.
And I appreciate you being here,
and being here for the last day and the last speaker.
There in Acts 19, if you look at verse number 1,
the Bible says this,
And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus,
and finding certain disciples, and it goes on to the story.
I want you to notice that we are jumping into one of Paul's missionary journeys.
And Paul of course would go into these cities,
and he would try to do missions work and evangelistic work,
and here we see him coming to the city of Ephesus.
And of course we know that he ended up establishing a church in Ephesus.
We've got the epistle written to the Ephesians,
where it's Paul giving instruction to the church in Ephesus.
And I want you to notice there's a lot of just kind of stories that are found in this chapter,
very interesting chapter,
but I want you to notice how the chapter ends.
If you go down to verse number 35, the Bible says this,
And when the town clerk had appeased the people,
when the town clerk had appeased the people,
he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not,
how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana,
and of the image which fell down from Jupiter,
and by the way that's considered one of the great ancient landmarks of the world, verse 36,
Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against,
ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly,
for ye have brought hither these men,
which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
Wherefore, if Demetrius and the craftmen which are with him have matter against any man,
the law is open, and there are deputies, let them impede one another.
But if ye inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
Now here we have the town clerk and he's literally trying to disperse a group that has gathered together
because there's been a huge protest against the ministry of the apostle Paul.
Notice verse 40,
For we are in danger to be called in question of this day's uproar.
And I want you to notice that word, uproar, there.
He says, We are in question for this day's uproar,
there being no cause whereby we may give an account for this concourse.
And that word means this gathering or this assembly.
Look at verse 41,
And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
Here's what I like about Acts chapter 19,
is that when Acts 19 begins in verse 1,
we have the apostle Paul entering into the city of Ephesus,
and when Acts 19 ends at the end of the chapter,
we have the whole city in an uproar.
We have the whole city in chaos.
We have the whole city just persecuting him and persecuting his followers.
And here's what you need to understand.
This idea of Paul or New Testament Christians or first century Christians causing an uproar
is a theme that we find through the New Testament.
I'll show you a couple of verses in the book of Acts.
If you can go back to, actually go to Acts chapter 21.
Acts chapter 21, you're there in Acts 19.
Go to Acts 21.
And of course, you remember that the Lord Jesus Christ caused a bunch of uproar.
And there was one final uproar that led to his crucifixion,
where the people, the mob turned on him,
and they had him crucified,
and they had the city officials, the Roman officials, put him to death.
Notice Acts 21 and verse 30, the Bible says this,
and I want you to just notice these words.
And all the city was moved.
Acts chapter 21 verse 30.
And all the city was moved, and the people ran together,
and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple,
and forthwith the doors were shut.
And as they went about to kill him,
tidings came unto the chief captain of the band.
Notice what it says.
That all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
Here we have another example,
where Paul and his ministry and his preaching and his presence had caused an uproar.
And here we have the captain of the band,
a Roman soldier coming and rescuing him from this mob, from this uproar.
Go to Acts chapter 17.
Look at verse number 4.
And again, we could look at a lot of passages.
I'll just show you a couple.
Acts chapter 17, look at verse 4.
Acts chapter 17 and verse 4, the Bible says this,
And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas,
and of the devout Greeks a great multitude,
and of the chief women not a few.
I love that wording.
He goes in there, and he's starting getting people saved.
You say, how many people saved?
A great multitude.
And of the chief women, not a few.
Look at verse 5.
But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy,
took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort,
and gathered a company, don't miss these words,
and set all the city on an uproar.
I want you to notice that when you study the book of Acts,
and when you study New Testament, first century Christianity,
they did not have this attitude that we need to just go along to get along.
We need to just exist and try to not cause problems,
and try to not cause issues, and try to not get any attention.
In fact, the opposite was true.
Everywhere Jesus went, everywhere Paul went,
everywhere New Testament Christians went,
they were causing an uproar in the cities that they were ministering in.
Look at verse 6.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city,
crying.
Notice what they said.
We take this as a compliment.
We use this verse as a compliment of New Testament Christianity.
But this is not how the verse was given.
These words were not given as a compliment to the apostle Paul and his ministry.
They are saying, these are people in an uproar.
These are people at a protest.
These are people that are upset, and they're crying.
These that have turned the world upside down.
Are come hither also.
See, they would look at these New Testament Christians and say,
these people are troublemakers.
These people are trying to shake things up.
These people are causing an uproar.
These people are trying to cause problems.
The choir this morning sang about turning the tide.
And you know what we need in America?
We need to turn the tide.
You say, how are you going to do that?
Well, you know what?
I believe, and it is my position, it is my belief,
and we can see it from the Word of God,
that we need New Testament Christianity to get back to causing some uproar.
You say, what do you mean by that?
I'm saying we need to cause a ruckus.
I'm saying we need to challenge the status quo.
I'm saying we need to disturb the balance a little bit.
I'm saying, I don't know how to say it.
I'm trying to think of as many.
You know, I wrote down some analogies here.
We need to make a stink.
We need to rock the boat.
We need to upset the apple cart.
We need to stir things up.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
New Testament Christianity would come into a city,
Paul would walk into a city,
and he'd walk out of that city after the city was made an uproar,
after the city was made to protest, after the city.
He went in places, and he just kind of rocked the boat a little bit.
And the question today is, why do we as New Testament believers believe,
or maybe we should answer this question,
how can we as New Testament believers rock the boat,
cause a ruckus, cause an uproar in our cities today?
And here, please understand this.
There's a right and a wrong way to do this.
There are some churches out there that they cause all sorts of uproar,
but they do them in ways that are not biblical and in ways that are not scriptural.
Look, I'm not talking about going and protesting somebody's funeral.
Are you for the military industrial complex?
I'm not for the military industrial complex.
I don't ever see the apostle Paul protesting anything.
I don't ever see the apostle Paul walking into somebody's funeral
and talking about how they ought to protest that funeral.
I'm not talking about walking into other religious buildings
and having some sort of a protest or whatever,
but we will find and we do find that in the Bible,
in the Bible we find this pattern of the apostle Paul,
how he biblically and how he scripturally caused an uproar.
I'm preaching this morning on the subject of causing an uproar.
I want you to notice what the apostle Paul did.
Go back to Acts chapter 19.
That's our text for this morning, Acts chapter 19.
I see in this chapter three steps that the apostle Paul took
to cause an uproar and I'd encourage you to write these down
on the back of your course of the week.
There's a place for you to write some notes down.
Maybe you can write these down and you say,
why would you preach this sermon?
Well, number one, just to remind our church,
Verity Baptist Church, what we're trying to do
and what we're trying to accomplish.
But you know, I'm also hoping that we can influence some other churches.
There are some Baptists who are watching online right now
and they agree with us and they believe what we believe
and they like this preaching, but they're just in the closet.
They're not really sure what they should be doing.
I'm trying to give them an instructional sermon this morning,
what it is that they need to do.
We've got some young men sitting in this auditorium right now
that are hoping that one day they'll be able to be ordained
and go into the ministry and they'll be able to go into the city
and start a church there.
And I want to give those young men just some instructions,
some steps as to what it is that they should be accomplishing today.
We're talking about causing an uproar.
You say, how do we do it?
Well, number one, causing an uproar will require
saturating our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Causing an uproar begins with soul winning
and it begins with mass evangelism.
It begins with saturating our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I love this theme that's also found in the book of Acts of the Apostle Paul.
You say, what did he do in Ephesus?
What did he do in Ephesus that ended with an uproar,
that ended with a protest, that ended with these problems?
Notice verse number eight. I'd like you to notice these things.
We're talking about saturating our city,
saturating our community with the gospel of Christ.
You say, how do we do that?
Well, first of all, he was confrontational with the gospel.
Notice verse eight.
And he went into the synagogue and, notice these words,
speak boldly.
Say, how do you know you're filled with the Spirit of God
when you speak boldly?
You say, how can we cause an uproar in our city?
How can we cause an uproar in Sacramento?
How can we cause an uproar back in the town that I came from?
Hey, you ought to have a goal of saturating your community
and your city with the gospel of Christ.
You say, how do I do that?
You do it through confrontational soul winning.
You do it by taking it to them.
You say, when you say confrontational, what do you mean?
We don't need, I'm not talking about contentious.
I'm not talking about being mean and ugly
and angry out there when we're preaching the gospel.
You say, what do you mean by confrontational?
I mean, we're on the offense.
We're taking it to them.
I'm pretty sure I read these words somewhere in the New Testament.
Go, go ye therefore, go preach the gospel.
Hey, we're supposed to go.
We're supposed to confront them.
He went into the synagogue and what did he do?
He spoke boldly.
That's why the Apostle Paul would pray that utterance may be given unto me,
that I may open my mouth boldly to make note
the mystery of the gospel of Christ.
Notice verse 9.
But when the divers were hardened and believed not,
but spake evil of that way before the multitude,
he departed from them and separated the disciples,
disputing daily, notice, in the school of one Tyrannus.
I want you to notice, Paul preached the gospel.
Paul preached the gospel wherever they'd let him preach the gospel.
He went everywhere.
He went anywhere and everywhere.
Why? Because he was on the offense.
Why? Because he had confrontational soul winning.
But I want you to notice, not only was he confrontational with the gospel,
he also contended for the gospel.
Notice verse 8 again.
And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months.
Notice these words.
Disputing, disputing, what does that mean?
That means to refute and to argue against.
Disputing and persuading.
What does persuade mean?
To convince or to win over.
He went out disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Notice verse 9.
But when divers were hardened and believed not,
but spake evil of that way before the multitude,
he departed from them and separated the disciples.
Notice these words.
Disputing daily.
I love that.
Disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
Doesn't the Bible say,
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you
that you should earnestly contend for the faith,
which was once delivered unto the saints.
We've been called to earnestly contend.
Again, I'm not talking about being contentious,
but I'm talking about contending for the faith,
defending for the faith.
We ought to be kind when we're out soul winning
and we're talking to lost people.
Look, when we knock on someone's door, we are uninvited guests.
I don't believe in going out there and being ugly and being nasty and being rude.
But look, it is our job to confront them
and it is our job to contend with them in regards to the gospel.
And we can do that in a kind way.
I'm not talking about spending hours with a heretic.
The Bible says a man that is in heretic after the first and second admonition, reject.
I'm not talking about getting into some egotistical debate.
But if you can talk to someone and you can help somebody
and you can dispute and you can persuade somebody,
you ought to take the time to do it.
Earlier this week, I was out soul winning with,
I think it was Brother Rob from Australia.
We were out soul winning.
We knocked on a door of a lady.
A Russian lady.
And she goes to one of these Russian churches here in Sacramento
and preaches a false gospel.
And we were talking.
We had a long conversation.
It was a pleasant conversation.
It wasn't heated or angry in any way.
But we were definitely disputing and I was attempting to persuade.
And I was trying to preach to her and explain to her
that the gospel and salvation is not of works.
You don't have to earn it.
You don't have to repent of your sin.
And I told her, the Bible says, Jesus said he must be born again.
I tried to use that illustration and explain to her.
Salvation is like a birth and you get born into the family of God.
And once you're born, you don't get unborn.
You don't lose that.
I was trying to explain to her, you know,
the way you live your life does not affect whether you're born into the family of God.
Now, it may affect whether you get a spiritual spanking.
You know, and she's giving me her illustration.
She's saying, she told me, well, salvation is like riding a motorcycle.
And if you ride a motorcycle without a helmet,
I'm like, I'm not even sure what you're talking about.
She's like, you could ride the motorcycle and do good things with it,
but if you don't have a helmet and you fall, you'll die.
And I'm like, okay.
And she said, salvation is like, salvation is like, she said,
salvation is like enrolling for college.
You can enroll for classes, but if you never show up to the class,
you won't get your diploma.
And I looked at her and I said, listen, lady, that's nice and that's good, but listen,
nowhere in the Bible does it say that salvation is like enrolling into a college program.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that salvation is like riding a motorcycle without a helmet.
But the Bible tells us that salvation is a new birth.
The Bible tells us that you get bored and you say, what were you doing?
We were disputing and we were persuading and we were attempting to get her saved.
You say, why would you do that?
Because that's how you cause an uproar.
That's how you make an impact.
I don't know about you, but I want to make sure that my life has made an impact for the cause of Christ.
Why don't you notice that he confronted them with the gospel
and he contented with them for the gospel.
But notice thirdly, he continued in the gospel.
Acts 19 and verse 8, notice what the Bible says.
And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly.
Notice, for the space of three months.
For the space of three months disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
But when thy verse were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of the way before the multitude,
he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
And this continued, notice, by the space of two years.
Paul wasn't the guy that showed up to go soul winning because he was at the red hot preaching conference.
Paul continued in the gospel.
And he continued when it was fruitful.
He continued when it was not fruitful.
He was in it for the long run.
You say, is it going to take three months to get this area done?
Then he'll take three months.
Is it going to take two years to get this area done?
Then he'll take two years.
He confronted them and he contended with them and he continued.
He was faithful.
Why don't you notice, fourthly, and I'll use this word and I hope you don't misunderstand it,
but he also canvassed with the gospel.
Now today that word is misused and usually when you talk about churches canvassing
and they're talking about door hangers and putting flyers on doors
and obviously we're not talking about that.
We're talking about being confrontational with the gospel.
You say, but what do you mean by canvassing?
We mean this, we're going to knock every door in Sacramento, California.
We're going to make sure that this entire city and the cities around
get an opportunity and they are warned.
We can't win them all, but we can warn them all.
We got a map and we're going to highlight it.
We're going to print maps and we're going to give them to you
and we're going to systematically and structured go through the city
and preach the gospel and saturate this community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You say, why?
Because that's what the apostle Paul did.
Notice verse 10.
And this continued by the space of two years.
I love these words.
What to God this could be said of Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento.
So that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
Notice verse 17.
And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Jerusalem
and fear fell on them that the name of the Lord was magnified.
Look at verse 20.
So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
Look at verse 26.
Moreover ye see and hear.
This is Paul's enemies speaking about him.
This is what they're saying about Paul.
They said, moreover ye see and hear that not alone at Ephesus
but almost throughout all Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away
much people say that there be no gods which are made with hands.
You say, Pastor, how do you cause an uproar?
It all begins with soul winning.
Some of you became aware of our church and started following our church
and started rooting for our church back when we had a little uproar here in Sacramento back in 2016.
And I praise God for it and I thank the Lord for it.
But let me tell you something.
Before the media caught on, this church was preaching all that
and going soul winning and doing all those things for years and years and years and years and years.
We were faithfully knocking doors.
We were printing maps.
We were going through.
You say, why?
Because we want it to be said that Verity Baptist Church
has persuaded and turned away much people from Catholicism,
much people from Mormonism, much people from Jehovah's Witnesses,
much people from Hinduism, from Islam.
You say, why?
Because we're trying to cause an uproar.
We're not trying to maintain the status quo.
We're trying to shake things up a little bit.
You say, how do you do that?
You do that through saturating this community.
By the way, this is a theme in the New Testament.
Go to Acts 5, 28.
Acts chapter 5, verse 28.
Notice what the Bible says.
This is in Jerusalem, not Ephesus.
Acts 5, 28.
This is again the enemies of the church in Jerusalem.
Notice what they said.
Saying, did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name?
And behold, notice what they said.
The enemy said to the church in Jerusalem,
ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
Say, Pastor Jimenez, what is it that you're trying to accomplish in Sacramento, California?
I'm trying to fill Sacramento with our doctrine.
And by the way, it's not just the gospel.
That's where we start.
You say, well, yeah, I mean, you guys can preach the gospel all day long,
but why do you got to preach on the homos?
Because we're trying to fill Jerusalem with the doctrine.
Because we're trying to let them know everything the Bible says,
everything the Bible says, everything the Bible teaches, everything.
Look, we're trying to preach the whole counsel of God.
Notice Acts chapter 9, verse 42.
Acts chapter 9 and verse 42.
This is after Peter resurrected Tabitha.
Acts 9, 42, the Bible says this,
And it was known throughout all Joppa,
and many believed in the Lord.
Notice Acts chapter 10 and verse 37.
Acts 10, 37 says this,
The word I say ye know.
Notice what it says.
Which was published throughout all Judea,
and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached.
Go to Acts chapter number 13 and verse 44.
Acts chapter number 13 and verse 44.
The Bible says,
And the next Sabbath day came almost.
Acts chapter 13, verse 44.
And the next Sabbath day.
I'm showing you New Testament Christianity,
first century Christianity.
And the next Sabbath day came almost.
The whole city together to hear the word of God.
Look at verse 47.
For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying,
I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles,
that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the end of the earth.
And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified at the word of the Lord,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed,
and the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
You know in the book of Acts they had this idea
that you need to go big or go home.
And would to God vary the Baptist Church,
we've got a vision to go big in this area.
To just saturate this city and saturate this community
with the gospel and the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And would to God, some of you young men
would get a fire burning in you and say,
I'm gonna go take over a city for Christ.
I'm gonna go find me a little storefront,
let them mock the storefront, let them mock the ghetto buildings,
let them mock, it's not about the buildings,
you get a cheap map and you get a highlighter
and you start knocking the doors in that city
and conquer and take conquest and conquer that city for Christ.
You say, how do you start it?
How do you cause an uproar?
It begins by saturating,
saturating with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is why, you say why would you send out
over 350 soul winners yesterday to preach the gospel?
Cause we're trying to,
we're trying to upset the apple cart a little bit.
Why would you pastor a church
and you're trying to influence your church people
90 to 100 of them every week
to be out in the community of Sacramento
and knocking doors and preaching the gospel
cause we're trying to cause a ruckus a little bit.
And look, I'm for preaching the gospel anywhere
that allowed us to preach it.
I believe soul winning and door to door
and two by two, that's the method given in scripture
and I don't think we should replace that
but I'll add anything to that.
You know, this summer we had our soul winners
in the county fair,
we had our soul winners in the state fair.
You know, if someone will sneak us into the fair,
hey, I'll preach the gospel,
we'll preach the gospel there.
Say, why do you have these YouTube channels
and these live streams?
Why say you're just constantly,
they keep shutting you down
and you keep starting up new ones, why?
Cause we're just trying to get the word out.
By any way, by any means.
Say, why do you pay
till you put your preaching
on that public access channel here in Sacramento?
I don't know cause it reaches 3 million people
in Northern California.
And by the way, let me just take a moment
to give you a quick, you know, commercial.
You can watch us at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays
on Comcast 20, AT&T 14 and Consolidated 19.
You say, oh, do you have to remove
all the heavy doctrine, all the,
we don't remove nothing.
You say, well, what if they shut you down?
We'll just keep preaching God's word
till they shut us down.
So far, it seems like it's going great.
Don't call anybody.
Don't tell anybody.
You say, why do you guys spend money
to send that psychopath to reprobate CVD
to every person that moves into Sacramento, California?
Cause we're just trying to saturate
this city with the gospel.
I'm excited once we're done
with this Red Hawk preaching conference
we're gonna take a little break
and rest a little bit, but this fall,
we're looking to starting a prison ministry
and we're gonna try to get into
as many prisons as possible.
You say, why?
To reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This fall, we're gonna get some ladies together
and some guys have got some time
and we're gonna go into the public schools
here in Sacramento, not into the schools,
but we're gonna stand outside the schools
and talk to these kids as they're coming
out of school and try to get them saved.
You say, why would you do that?
Because we're trying to saturate this community
with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's where it begins.
That's where it starts.
You say, how do you cause an uproar?
Causing an uproar will require
saturating our city with the gospel,
but it's more than that.
It's more than that.
That's where we start, but it's more than that.
You can't get there without that,
but it's more than that because here's the truth.
Here's the truth.
They don't mind.
The world doesn't mind if all we do
is preach the gospel and get people saved.
They really don't care.
It doesn't matter to them.
Now it bothers Satan.
We'll see that in the text.
The world doesn't really care.
You say, well, when does the world begin to care?
How did Paul cause an uproar?
Well, we saw number one,
he caused an uproar by saturating his city
with the gospel of Jesus Christ,
but number two this morning,
we see that he was causing an uproar
and causing an uproar will require
separation from the world and its practices.
See, this is where you actually begin to cause an uproar
because I want you to notice that Paul
was not the type of soul winner
who just got somebody saved and said,
well, see you in heaven.
Have a good one.
Paul, the Bible tells us,
he would follow up on his converts.
He'd go back and confirm those that he got saved.
He tried to get them in church.
He tried to get them baptized.
He tried to get them discipled.
He tried to get them going.
Doesn't the Bible say,
go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things?
That's discipleship.
Look, let's not just get them saved.
Let's get them baptized
and let's get them growing in the Lord.
Let's get them learning.
Let's get them becoming disciples
and followers of Jesus Christ.
Now, here's what that's going to require.
What that's going to require
for someone to become a follower of Jesus Christ,
to become a disciple of Jesus Christ
is sanctification and service.
They're going to have to learn
to live a sanctified, a separated life
and they're going to begin to serve the Lord.
Notice this is what he does in Ephesus, verse 18.
And many that believed came.
So notice, he didn't just get them saved.
They came.
They came to church.
They came to the services.
They came and confessed and showed their deeds.
They started working.
They started serving.
Look at verse 19.
Many of them also,
and this is where Paul gets into trouble,
which used curious arts,
brought their books together
and burned them before all men.
See, worshipping Diana was witchcraft.
By the way, worshipping idols is witchcraft.
The Roman Catholic Church worships idols.
It's witchcraft.
They're worshipping devils.
And these people got saved and Paul said,
you can't worship these idols anymore.
You got to get rid of this Diana thing.
What do we do with our Harry Potter books?
Well, let's burn them.
And they brought these books.
Used curious arts brought their books together
and burned them before all men.
And by the way, let me tell you something.
I'm not preaching on this subject this morning,
but separation is going to cost you something.
And they counted the price of them
and founded 50,000 pieces of silver.
Let me tell you something.
You want to cause an uproar?
Hey, teenagers, we have some young people here
and they got to sneak out of their house
to come to church like this, right?
Your parents are old IFB?
You don't lie to them.
Hopefully you didn't lie to them.
Where are you going?
I'm going to conference.
Oh, North Valley? Sure, yeah.
You're going to college days at Golden State? Uh-huh.
I didn't know they had college days July 18, 2024.
Yeah, it's a special thing. You don't find it online.
You come here.
Hey, you want to cause a ruckus?
You want to cause an uproar?
Take all those stupid rock and roll CDs
and that music and all that.
You say, I've invested a lot of money into that stupid music.
Delete it. Burn it.
Say, I spent good money.
Hey, the Lord is able to give you much more than this.
You want to cause an uproar?
Dad, go through your house
and take all those stinking pants your wife has,
all those stinking pants your daughters have
and throw them in the trash and burn them.
You're going to cause an uproar.
I'm just telling you.
You say, how do I cause an uproar?
Start living a separate life. It'll come to you.
You don't have to start any uproar.
They'll come to you.
Let me tell you something.
You'll cause an uproar when you tell your family,
we're not showing up to the family reunion
if that queer uncle's there.
That'll cause an uproar.
We're not showing up to the family gathering
if everybody's going to get drunk
and get in a drunken stupor.
We're not showing up to that.
That'll cause an uproar.
Hey, when the grandparents of your precious children
find out you're not vaccinating,
that'll cause an uproar.
When they find out you're pulling your kids
out of the public fool system
and you're going to homeschool them,
that'll cause an uproar.
When your in-laws realize that they wasted their money
when they sent their precious little daughter
and got a four-year education
and now you're talking about being a stay-at-home mom
and loving your children and being a keeper at home
because that's what God said.
That'll cause an uproar.
I'm just telling you.
They don't care.
Look, when you got saved, they thought that was weird.
When you started going to church,
they thought that was odd.
When you went back on Sunday night,
they're like, what's going on here?
Wait, you're knocking doors on people.
Are you a Jehovah's Witness?
Hey, tell your family you're moving across the country
to go to a good church.
That'll start an uproar.
You know what I'm telling you?
That we cause an uproar when we saturate our city
with the gospel of Jesus Christ,
but we start an uproar when we begin to live separated lives,
when we actually begin to walk with God and love the Lord
and we say, no, we're not going to go there.
No, we're not going to tolerate that.
We're not going to tolerate fornication.
You'll cause an uproar when you start telling your family,
no, it's not okay for them to live together when they're not married.
That'll cause an uproar.
We're not going to tolerate the queers and the LGBTQ.
I like how Pastor Perry put S-D-D-A-I-D-S movement.
We're not going to put up with it.
We're not going to tolerate it.
We're not going to allow it.
It'll cause an uproar.
It'll cause an uproar when you start living a separate life.
When you start burning NIVs, that'll cause an uproar.
When you start burning your Harry Potter books,
that'll cause an uproar.
You start cleaning up your life, it'll cause an uproar.
This is what we're trying to accomplish.
I'm telling you, we're trying to shake things up a little bit.
The United States of America is on a rainbow-colored boat,
and we've got to shake that boat up.
I'm trying to take the rainbow back for God's glory.
The rainbow was meant to picture the judgment of God.
I'm just telling you, it's time for Christians to embrace New Testament,
first century Christianity, and say,
let's walk into a city and just cause problems, cause issues,
not be rebellious, not rebel against God,
but just cause some problems for the glory of God.
Causing an uproar requires saturating our city with the Gospel.
Causing an uproar will require separation from the world and its practices.
Number three, causing an uproar.
Go back to Acts 19, if you're not there.
Causing an uproar will require suffering persecution from the enemies of Christ.
I want you to notice in this passage, we see two forms of opposition.
First of all, we see the spiritual opposition. Look at verse 13.
And certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them,
which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying,
We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.
We've got the wannabes here, right?
The new I.P. that's all trendy and stupid.
And there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, and the chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, I love this.
The evil spirit answered and said,
Here you got some wannabes trying to cast out a devil.
And the evil spirit talks to them and he says,
Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was,
leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against them,
so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
Let me tell you something.
When you start preaching the Gospel,
and it's conquering a whole city with the Gospel of Lord Jesus Christ,
when you start growing a church and discipling some people,
and they start separating, and they start living for the Lord,
the devil's going to take notice.
You don't think there's been devils at the Red Hot Preaching Conference this week?
I promise you they have.
You don't think there's a devil just watching Verity Baptist Church?
You don't think there's a devil just watching Faithful Word Baptist Church?
You don't think there's a devil, all these churches,
Old Paths, all these churches represented at this conference,
you don't think there's a devil watching Liberty Baptist Church
that has just focused in?
Here he says, these false prophets, I don't know anything about you,
but the devil said, I know Jesus and I know Paul.
You say, why?
Because Paul was causing an uproar.
Paul was rocking the boat a little bit.
Notice there's this spiritual application.
There's a spiritual opposition.
He says, Jesus I know and Paul I know.
But notice, not only is there a spiritual opposition,
but there's also a stirring of the people.
Notice verse 8.
Please understand this.
Some of you need to just get this.
Acts 19 verse 8,
He went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months,
disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Verse 9,
But when divers were hardened and believed not,
you realize not everybody's going to get saved, right?
But spake evil of that way before the multitude.
Realize that sometimes there will be those who oppose the things of God,
who oppose soul winning.
They believed not and they spake evil of that way before the multitude.
Look at verse 23.
And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
For a certain man named Demetrius,
a silversmith,
which made silver shrines for Diana,
brought no small gain unto the craftsmen.
Here we have a man who makes idols for a living.
And now Paul is taking people out of that false religion.
And this is how he makes his living.
He made a good living, he brought no small gain.
Notice verse 25.
Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation and said,
this guy has a problem with Paul.
He said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
Right next to that verse you can put the love of money is the root of all evil.
By this craft we have our wealth.
Moreover ye see it here that not alone at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia,
this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people
saying that they be no gods which are made with hands.
So that not only this our craft is in danger to be said at naught,
but also is an afterthought.
That the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised.
Notice, look, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
This guy is concerned with his wallet.
You say, Pastor Jimenez, why do the false prophets just hate the new IFB movement?
You know why? Because we're affecting their paycheck.
You know why they hate us?
You know why they can't stand us?
Because you're not buying their stupid DVDs anymore.
You're not going to their stupid Christian bookstore anymore.
You're not going to their church that has a bookstore in the floor which is unbiblical anyway.
You know that's why they're mad at us.
That's why they hate us because the love of money is the root of all evil.
And they're saying, hey, our craft is in danger but it's also because we love Diana.
Afterthought.
And notice what he said.
Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed.
And all Asia and the world worshipeth.
Verse 28, and when they heard these sayings,
they were full of wrath and cried out saying,
Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Notice verse 29,
And the whole city was filled with confusion,
and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus,
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel,
they rushed with one accord into the theater.
And when Paul would have entered into the people,
the disciples suffered, the word suffered there means allowed, allowed him not.
And certain of the chief of Asia,
which were his friends,
said unto them, desiring that he would not adventure himself into the theater.
Some therefore cried one thing and some another,
for the assembly was confused and the more part knew not where of.
That means for what reason they were come together.
And they drew Alexandria out of the multitude.
The Jews putting him forward and Alexander beckoned with his hand
and would have made his defense unto the people.
But when they knew that he was a Jew,
all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out,
We are Orlando.
No, I'm sorry, I'm having flashbacks.
Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
People say, Pastor Jimenez, aren't you embarrassed that there was this huge protest against your church?
You know, we had a big uproar here.
We had the news reports that there was 1,500 protesters outside of our church.
Whether that's true or not, I don't know, I'm not sure who counted.
The police department, Sacramento Police Department, told me there was 200 law enforcement personnel that were there
to make sure that these stinking, filthy reprobates didn't kill us.
You say, Pastor Jimenez, aren't you?
I mean, isn't that something you're kind of embarrassed about?
Isn't that something you kind of have to explain away?
You know, we only have to explain away because Christians today don't know their Bibles.
There's no new thing under the sun.
We're living New Testament Christianity.
People say, hey, your church got protested.
There must be something wrong with your church.
Well, then there must have been something wrong with Paul's ministry because he got protested too.
You say, the master conference got protested.
The media was going crazy and talking ill against the master conference
and there was a protest at Revival Baptist Church.
They must have been doing something right because that's what happened in the New Testament in the book of Acts.
Revival Baptist Church got protested.
Faith Forward Baptist Church has been protested several times.
All Scripture Baptist Church got protested.
Set Fast Baptist Church got protested.
Mountain Baptist Church got protested.
You say, is there something wrong with that?
There's something very right with that.
Welcome to New Testament Christianity.
Because here we have this huge protest for the space of two hours.
Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Look, if the world loves you, you're doing something wrong.
If you're never coming head to head with Satan, if you're never coming at odds with Satan,
you must be running in the same direction.
Because when you try to swim upstream, when you try to cause an uproar,
when you try to cause a ruckus, when you try to cause some issues,
hey, somebody is going to get upset.
Somebody said to me yesterday they were out soloing.
They said, I went out soloing and somebody started yelling at me.
They saw your picture on the invitation.
They started yelling at me saying, hey guys, preacher, blah, blah.
You know, sometimes when that conversation goes, you're kind of trying to gauge the individual.
Sometimes you have to say, hey man, I'm sorry you got yelled at,
but the world doesn't like our standard word.
Before I started that, they were like, yeah, that's great.
I didn't realize how famous you were in Sacramento.
I'm like, I'm not sure famous is the right word.
Maybe infamous, but they were saying, I can't wait till my pastor,
I start getting yelled at because of my pastor back home.
Hey, I'm just telling you, this is New Testament Christianity.
If you're going to stir things up a little bit,
if you're going to cause an uproar a little bit,
if you're going to accomplish something for God a little bit,
you might have to suffer just a little persecution.
Look, no one has died.
We're supposed to be willing to die for the cause of Christ.
And you say, I'm afraid I might lose my job.
Look, if we're going to make an impact for Christ,
we have to be willing to suffer.
Yea, all they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
And if you're not suffering persecution, that is a promise from God's word.
If you're not suffering persecution, then you must not be living godly.
Because they hated Christ.
And if they hated our Lord and Savior, our Master, why would they love us?
Why do you guys preach against Billy Graham?
Because there's just something wrong with Billy Graham,
who was supposed to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he's just loved by the world.
There's something wrong with that.
The Bible tells us, you say, how do you know a false prophet?
When the world loves him, false prophet.
Joel Osteen, false prophet.
Billy Graham, false prophet.
Any other preacher out there that the world loves?
False prophet!
Pastor Jimenez, can you just give me a quick way,
sometimes you know, I'm running into preachers or sermons on YouTube,
can you get me a quick way or trying to look for a church in the area,
how do I find the best church in the area?
Read their Google reviews.
Oh, if they've got five stars, no, no, no.
If they've got about 700 reviews that say,
hateful, angry, ugly, he's good looking but I don't like his preaching,
I think that's one of them.
If you've got a one-star review, hey, you say, how do I know if a church is good?
The less stars, the better.
Because look, if the world loves you, there's something wrong with you.
If the world loves you, there's something wrong with you.
You say, yeah, but all this media attention, you know, all the news,
Pastor Grace and Frank, by the way, we stand with Pastor Grace and Frank.
Praise God for a man of God.
You know, it's great that as far as losing his job, you know,
and he's going to have rewards in heaven,
I'm just sad that they took a man out of law enforcement
that actually knew what the reprobate doctrine was,
and actually could identify a psychopath reprobate that would hurt people.
You say, oh, Grace and Frank was all over the news,
and you've been on the news, and Pastor Anderson, you know,
this is a bad mark for Christianity, aren't you afraid?
Aren't you afraid, all this negative media attention, aren't you afraid?
Look, when it comes to Christianity, there's no such thing as negative publicity.
Let the Word of God be published.
Hey, let me let you in on a little secret.
This week, the Red Op Reaching Conference,
there's been a journalist from the L.A. Times with us the entire week.
My wife was opening with her yesterday.
Nice lady.
You know, I hope she gives a fair and balanced view of our church and our movement.
Pastor Jimenez, aren't you afraid, though,
because the media's taken you out of context before.
The media's not been nice to you before.
Aren't you afraid they're going to make you look bad?
Aren't you afraid they're going to take you out of context?
Aren't you afraid they're going to say things about you?
Your wife went solo, aren't you afraid you're going to say something?
So, you know, I hope that doesn't happen.
I hope we get a fair shake at this thing, but you know what?
Even if they do, the Word of God is magnified.
Well, aren't you afraid? Afraid of what?
Aren't you afraid they're going to get on the L.A. Times?
There's going to be an article saying that you hate queers.
You fine with that?
You're like, Ben, you're known as the preacher that hates sodomy and preaching.
If I go down in history as the hardest preacher against homos, praise the Lord.
I mean, Paul's going to have all these great stories and be like, hey, you know what?
They said, Romans 1, I was your champion, man.
I championed Romans 1 for you.
You know, aren't you afraid they're going to take you out of...
Look, aren't you afraid they're going to say something?
Aren't you afraid that they're going to stand up and say,
well, Verity Baptist Church thinks that Leviticus 2013 ought to be the law of the land.
Hey, news flash, we do think that.
Aren't you afraid that they're going to say,
well, Pastor Jimenez believes that if a man also lied with mankind as he lied to the woman,
both of them have committed abomination, they should surely be put to death.
News flash, we do believe that.
So what if they put a clip of that all over the news?
Then the Word of God will be magnified.
Acts 19, 17, notice what the Bible says.
And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all.
And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Acts 19 verse 20, so mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.
You say back in 2016 with that whole thing and you were in the news.
You say, well, was that a mistake?
Was that a setback?
Did that hurt you?
You know what?
Probably more people read Leviticus 2013 and Romans chapter 1 in the United States of America
and that week and in the weeks coming to it than had ever read it before.
And the Word of God grew and was magnified.
And the Lord was magnified.
Aren't you afraid they're going to take you out of context?
I like it, even when they take us out of context, I like it.
When they, but what if they lie about you?
What if they say you're not nice and you're mean and you're, look, whatever.
I'm not here to build up my reputation.
We are here to cause an uproar.
We are here to turn the tide.
We are here to cause a ruckus to challenge the status quo, to disturb the balance, to make us think.
Maybe that should have been the title of the sermon.
I probably would have got a lot of clicks.
To rock the boat, to upset the apple cart, to stir things up a little bit.
Pastor Jimenez, why would you start the Red Hop Reaching Conference?
What's the point of this?
What's the point of 418 people coming out here, whatever the number was?
Do you understand we have people here from Romania, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Japan?
I don't know. I didn't take a census, but we have people here from probably most of the states in the United States of America,
if not every state in the United States of America, but maybe some of the smaller ones.
We have people here from all over the place.
Why would you do this? Isn't this expensive? Isn't this time consuming?
Doesn't this take a lot of time?
Here's why we do this.
I'm hoping we'll just set a little fire in you.
I'm hoping some of you will go back home and say, hey, let's make an uproar.
Let's walk into the emphasis being a God-hating, Diana-worshipping culture, and let's walk out with an uproar.
Let's walk out with a protest.
Let's walk out, whether they get saved or not saved, at least let's make sure they know that a prophet has been among them.
Let's cause an uproar.
It's not a bad thing.
New Testament Christianity went from city to city to city shaking things up.
Why? Because things need to be shaken up.
And what to God? What to God?
That they would say. What to God?
That somebody in Fresno, when we start soul-winning out there and we start building that church up there,
somebody in Fresno would say, these that have turned Sacramento upside down are come hither also.
And what to God? They say that of your town, in your city, and every city in America today.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for these principles, these stories you've given us as an example.
And, Lord, help us not to be afraid.
Let's make some waves.
Let's cause an uproar.
Let's make an impact for the cause of Christ.
Lord, I pray that you would help our church here, Verity Baptist Church, just be focused on what you've called us to do.
And, Lord, I pray that you would just light a fire in some churches today.
Some church members would go home from this conference and just get behind their pastor.
Say, let's do something big. Let's go big or go home.
Lord, I pray there'd be some young men in this room right now.
That years from now we would glory in the fact that they'll be able to look back at the Red Hot Preaching Conference 2019 and say,
that's the day, that's the week when God worked in my heart, when I decided, forget business, forget the world,
I'm going to go conquer a city for Christ.
And, Lord, we give you the honor and glory and praise for it.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Now, Brother Matt, come up and lead us in our final song as we prepare for baptisms this morning.
Let's turn to song number 410.
Song number 410.
410. Let's sing it out on the first.
Encant along the hills of life,
We Christian soldiers rise,
And rest our battle ere they lie,
Shall mail their glory rise,
Against the calling bells below,
Let all our strength behold,
Great peace of victory we know,
That overcomes the world.
Faith is our victory,
Over its victory,
That overcomes the world.
He's better over us,
He's done us for the world above,
He traveled through the seas above,
His sons were drawn and drawn,
That faith, that lack of fullness brought,
Swept on o'er every field,
That faith longed to shake off the dust,
It's still our shining shield.
Faith is our victory,
Oh, glorious victory to me,
That overcomes the world.
On every hand and earth we find,
Drowned in dread or pain,
The taste that leads me back in time,
And onward to the prey,
Salvation's ground is on its right,
It's true, our hope, our God,
We are sure to believe our strength,
And love, our gift, our shine.
Faith is our victory,
Oh, glorious victory,
To him that overcomes the world,
What great man shall we give,
Before the angels we show,
That faith can force him there,
May love him from the hills of life,
While hearts will fill the fame,
The faith will show the voice of life,
May Jesus come for thee,
Faith is our victory,
Oh, glorious victory,
That overcomes the world.
Let's go to song number 209.
Song number 209.
Sing it out on the first.
There is sunshine in my soul today,
For glorious and bright,
May you close your eyes,
Oh, Jesus is my light,
Oh, the sun is shining bright,
Oh, Jesus is my light,
Oh, the sunshine,
Let the sunshine show,
Oh, Jesus is my light,
Let the sunshine in my soul.
We've got Noah coming for baptism this morning,
and Noah is son to Joseph and Christine,
who are relatively newer to our church,
but they've really just got connected,
and we've really learned to love them,
and Noah, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ
as your personal savior?
Yes, Master.
All right, Noah, by your profession of faith,
I baptize you, my brother,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost,
buried in the likeness of his death,
and raised to walk in newness of life.
Do we have the next one ready?
Why don't we sing another stanza?
Brother Matt, you can help us with that.
Or do we have it ready?
Okay, come on, quickly.
If we have more, let's get them going.
Are you a young lady?
God bless you.
Do you want to take your glasses off?
Yeah.
All right, let's do that.
Thank you.
Give me your name.
Alice.
All right, Alice, come on up.
Go ahead and sit down, Alice.
You want to scoot up?
Scoot up?
There you go.
Good job.
All right, have a seat.
And let's look at Miss Victoria
so we can get a picture, okay?
All right, we have Alice coming for baptism.
Alice, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ
as your personal savior?
Yes.
All right, Alice, by your profession of faith,
I baptize you, my sister.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost,
buried in the likeness of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
Come on, come on.
Give me your name.
Mariel.
Okay, go ahead and have a seat.
And let's look at Miss Victoria
so we can get a picture.
All right, Alice,
come on up.
Come on up.
Come on.
Come on up.
All right, we have Mariel coming for Baptism.
Mariel, the accepted Lord Jesus Christ,
is your personal savior.
By your profession of faith I baptize you,
my sister, in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
buried in the likeness of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
All right, we have an angel coming for baptism.
Angel, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior?
Yes.
All right, Angel, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my brother, in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness
of his death, raised to walk in the witness of life.
All right, we have Richard coming for baptism.
Richard, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior?
Yes.
All right, Richard, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my brother, in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness
of his death, raised to walk in the witness of life.
All right, well, praise the Lord.
I think those are all the baptisms for now.
If we have any other, if anybody else wants to be baptized, look, this is how
you identify with Christ, through baptism, and if you need to be baptized, we'd love
to baptize you.
We can do it between the services.
We can do it tonight after the service.
We appreciate you being here.
Let me just give you a couple reminders.
We have soul winning at 2 p.m. today.
If you'd like to go soul winning, we've got soul winning here at 2 p.m.
The service tonight starts at 6 p.m.
We're having the men's preaching night, we're having Baskin Robbins afterwards, and I want
to remind you that if you're part of the Verity Baptist Church family, next Sunday
we're back in our Encounters with Christ series, and we encourage you to bring a
friend, invite a friend, a coworker, a neighbor, get them in church, and then lastly, just
one last thing, we're going to be releasing our Being Baptist documentary tomorrow
morning at 9 a.m. on our Verity Baptist Church YouTube channel.
So if you can help us promote that, if you can help share that, if you can let people
know about that, there's a video on our channel right now letting people know about
it.
I think it's got close to a thousand views.
If you could help us share that, and then tomorrow morning when it comes up, click
it, like it, add a comment, share it, repost it, whatever you want.
We would really appreciate your help.
Thank you for being here.
This has been a great conference this year.
We've shattered every record, and praise the Lord for that, and we'll have Brother Matt
lead us in a final song.
All right, let's go ahead and finish up song 209.
Song 209, let's sing it on the second.
I think I should keep this on and go to the next one.
All right, let's sing it on the second.
This morning, if there are any guests here from Sacramento area, in a few minutes,
if you would like more information about church membership, baptism, or salvation,
pastor will be at the door.
I'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained to talk to you about
that.
I'm going to ask Brother Graham, would you close this in prayer?
Father God, thank you for this message.
Please bless our efforts to make it up for in all our local communities as we go back, and bring
us back safely tonight.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.