Amen. It's good to be here. It's good to see everybody. Red Hot Preaching Conference number
eight. Thank you to, of course, Pastor Jimenez for allowing us to be here, allowing me to
preach. Thank you to Pastor Jimenez for this church. Thank you to Verity Baptist Church.
Thank you to Pastor Jimenez for being Pastor Jimenez. All right. I was pondering what
to preach here. If you ponder, you know, the Bible says we should ponder the path of thy
feet. You know, I was just thinking, I ponder. I've been pondering a lot more than usual
in my life lately. I've got some big things coming up in the next few weeks in my life.
I've been doing a lot of pondering. My wife sometimes will talk to me, and she'll talk
to me for about ten minutes, and I won't hear anything that she says. And it's not, she'll
say to me, she'll say, did you hear anything I just said in the last ten minutes? And I'll
say, no. And it's not because I'm trying to be a bad husband. It's just sometimes a
man should ponder things. He should ponder things. I was pondering about what to preach
here, and this is a really big deal to preach here. This is a big conference. You know,
best preachers in the world, in my opinion, are here. And, you know, what do you preach?
What do I preach? So I was just thinking about the Red Hot. I was thinking about how this
is the eighth Red Hot. The Red Hot is very, it's a huge milestone in my life. The first
Red Hot in 2016 was literally a crossroads in my Christian life where I stopped just
standing there, and I started moving in the right direction in my Christian life. So I
was thinking about this road. I was thinking about this road that, to me, when I look back
on this road and some of the things that I'm going to talk to you about tonight, or
this morning, sorry, they seem like 10,000 miles away. But I'm going to bring those things
up. I was thinking about what I could bring to you with that road that I can look back
on and hopefully edify you this morning. So I want to give you, I want to give you kind
of a look back on the last few years of my life, what the Red Hot has done for me, how
influential this ministry has been. And what I did was I put together a sermon that has
four points. I want you to keep your place in Genesis chapter 25. It's got four points,
but the title of the sermon is Four Lessons for the First-Generation Christian. Just thinking
about things that I've come through, things that I've, you know, since that very first
Red Hot preaching conference, I'm going to start out with the things that the first-generation
Christian will see first in their Christian life. What am I talking about first-generation
Christian? What do I even mean by that? I mean somebody that was the first-generation,
I mean kind of two things, really. It's kind of that first-generation, obviously, that's
been saved. So you're the first one in the generation of your family or whatever that's
been saved and now you're hoping to pass that forward to future generations in your family.
I hope that's your goal. And also, you know, just that first-generation is you're the first
one, you're the first one going forth in the Christian life. So yeah, you're the first
one saved and you're also the first one going forth in the Christian life. And I want to
just kind of give you some ideas of the things to expect as that first-generation Christian
that's now saved and as you start going forth in your Christian life. I'm going to start
with the very simple ones. And obviously if you're a second, third-generation Christian,
this still will apply to you. You'll still, hopefully, some bells will start going off
to you this morning. But let's just, I want you to reflect as we go this morning, as we
go through these four points. I got three sort of quick points and I got a long point
at the end that we're going to go to Genesis chapter 25 on. So when I have you turn to
verses you keep a bookmark in Genesis chapter 25. We'll get there. So looking at four lessons
for the first-generation Christian this morning. The first one is this. The first one is this.
As you're a first-generation Christian, turn to Luke chapter 13. As a first-generation
Christian, especially somebody who's recently been saved, recently started moving forward
in their Christian life, you are going to have to realize that not everyone is going
to feel the same way that you do. That's the first one-on-one lesson you need to learn
about this Christian life. I'm talking about friends. I'm talking about loved ones. I'm
talking about family. Look, hopefully they all do, but I've never seen it work that way.
And Jesus himself actually told us that it's not going to work that way. And look, to me
when I look back that 10,000 miles and I look back at that first, it was kind of my first
revelation as that first-generation Christian, it was a strange phenomenon to me at the time.
I'm going to tell you why you're going to see that, but look at Luke chapter 13. Jesus
himself actually told us this. Luke chapter 13, look at verse number 23. Jesus literally
answered this specific question for the disciples, and there's a reason that he answered it.
It's because one of the first things that's going to pop into your head is, why doesn't
everyone feel the same way that I do? Look at verse 23. He says, then one said unto him,
Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, strive to enter in at the
straight gate. Straight meaning narrow. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in
and shall not be able. Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 7, 13. Enter ye in at the straight
gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many
there be which go in there at. Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth
unto life. This is a soul winner truth too, right here. The first thing that you need
to realize is that not everyone is going to get saved. I'm not happy to report that to
you, and I'm not saying that, you know, we shouldn't try. That's not what I'm saying.
I'm just saying that's a reality. When you go out soul winning, the bottom line is Jesus
explains this in Matthew chapter 7. It's not everyone's seeking. Not everyone's knocking.
So not everyone is going to get saved. As a matter of fact, Jesus reports this sad fact
that it's the broad way that leads to destruction and it's the straight narrow way that leads
to life. It's no different. This is why we don't go out and we don't have a culture at
Hold Fast Baptist Church and that culture came from here. We don't go out and we don't
argue with people. We don't debate with people. If it worked, I'd be all for it. If I could
go out there and I could debate, because like any soul winner knows like 100 times
more of the Bible than any average person. You'd win the debates. The debating doesn't
work because it's a heart problem. It's a not seeking problem. It's a not knocking problem
that Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 7. It's no different, folks. It's no different
with friends and with family. Basically everyone that you have known in your life up to the
point of salvation, I'm not saying don't try. I'm not saying don't, you know, I've seen,
you know, people have varying success. You'll see people that get saved and they get a lot
of their friends and family saved. But then you'll see people that just have very little
success. But what I am trying to get you to understand this morning in this first point
is that once this reality is known to you, you cannot let it destroy you. Turn to Romans
chapter 4. It cannot stop you. It may surprise you. I'm trying to tell you this so you know
you won't be offended. I'm trying to tell you this so it won't surprise you. But it
may surprise you. So the first point is that not everyone is going to get saved. Jesus
himself said the vast majority of people are not going to be saved. The second point, the
sub-point on this one is that not everyone is going to feel the same way as you is that
even people that do get saved, not every saved person is going to do something about it.
You have to realize that reality. Look at Romans chapter 4 and verse number 4 and verse
number 5. I love these two verses. I love these two verses talking about two different
people here. I'm talking about two different people. Look at Romans chapter 4 and verse
number 4. The Bible says, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace
but of debt. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for. These are great verses right here because this shows you.
I mean the people in the world, the normal worldly person would look at verse number
4, they'd look at that guy and be like that's a pretty good guy right there. That
guy is going to hell though. They look at the guy in verse number 5 like that guy is
a jerk but that guy is going to heaven. He worketh not. He is a jerk but he is saved.
See this is what people are missing that try to destroy soul winning too by the way. Oh
yeah, you go out and you get these people saved. Where are they? How come they are not
in church? They are not really getting saved. And that leads into some of the stuff that
Pastor Tom Robinson was just talking about. Some of the, you know you start twisting into
that repent of your sins and if you don't turn from your sins, were you really saved?
He worketh not folks. He worketh not because it has nothing to do with works. So what you
need to realize as a first generation Christian is not everyone is going to feel the same
way you do. Even if they are saved, they are not going to want to do anything about it.
A lot of people are like that. A lot of Christians unfortunately are like that. I mean look a
husband and wife, I just said this to someone a couple of weeks ago. A husband and wife
that have both gotten saved. I had a guy tell me a testimony about how he got saved later
in life. He got saved and he was so excited. He went to Sure Foundation Baptist Church
and somebody there got him saved and he was so excited about getting saved that he literally
did a really unsafe thing that you should never ever do. He got in his three hour car
ride home and was just like texting and calling his wife and giving her the gospel as he is
driving in the dark. He was so excited that he couldn't keep it in. She gets saved, now
they are both serving the Lord in a great church. That is such a blessing by the way.
Because you will hear cases where the husband gets saved and then the wife, maybe she gets
saved but she is just not really into it or vice versa. So if you are here with your
wife and you are both serving the Lord, you are both saved, that is a huge blessing. Don't
take that for granted ever. Don't complain. Great sermon last night. Great marriage advice
in that sermon. People will use this against soul winning because oh yeah, they are not
doing anything about it so they are not saved. No. Marked. False doctrine. He worketh not
and he is going to heaven. This is not hard to understand. See but people, they start
making changes. They start getting some things right. They start acting different. They start
looking different and people don't like that. People get upset at that because they don't
want you to look different. Look, saved and unsaved alike. I am at the hotel with my daughter
yesterday. We were walking out of the hotel. I mean, is it so bad that we look different
as Christians? I mean, it is ridiculous what people wear today. It is ridiculous what you
see mostly women not wearing around. We were at the hotel and I am walking out with my
daughter and there was a young lady at the hotel that was in the hotel and she said,
at the hotel that was probably her age, it is hard to say anymore, but she was dressed
especially inappropriately. Like beyond what normal would be today. And this young lady
shouts out to my daughter and she says, I like your outfit. And I am walking out with
my daughter and my daughter says thank you and I am walking out with my daughter and
I turn to Ashley and I say, how come you didn't say you liked her outfit? And then
we laughed. You got to have some fun with your kids in this Christian life. But seriously
though, here is what is interesting about that. Here is this young lady. Here is this
young lady completely inappropriately dressed. You know what that tells me? That young lady
has a conscience in her mind, in her heart that God gave her. And she is sitting there
and she sees a young lady walk by and she is like, I like that. God gave her that. So
as we snicker and we laugh and all these things, I actually felt bad for that young lady. But
people aren't going to like it when you start doing things different than the way they do
things. You say, why is that? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. A lot of people are happy being
saved and working not, folks. You just have to realize that. Here is point number 2. You
just have to realize that that is just a truth that you need to realize. As you start soul
winning, it is a truth that you are going to see every single time you go out soul winning.
And you just can't let it wreck you. You can't let it destroy you. You might go out soul
winning and knock 200 doors and nobody wants to hear. That is not on you. And that doesn't
mean, it is kind of a tough balance. We don't want to get hard hearted. We don't want to
get to the point where we are like, none of these people want to hear this. And whenever
I feel myself starting to get a little frustrated with the neighborhood or something and I just
keep going, something great happens. I gave a soul winning tip on giving the gospel to
Pentecostals a year and a half ago. I am personally irritated with the doctrine. It
kind of bugs me a lot. Maybe I am over the top on Pentecostals. But I kind of gave this
soul winning tip to my church and I was just talking to them about Pentecostals. I might
have said some things like, they are just really hard to get saved. I think I said something
like that. They are just really difficult to get saved. Especially in this area, kind
of giving some tips on what they believe and some Bible verses that you can go to to kind
of counter some of that stuff. We ended up getting like three Pentecostals saved that
day or something crazy. Look, not everybody is going to get saved. Not everybody is going
to feel the same way that you do. That is the first thing. That is a very simple point
right there. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3. The second point for the first generation
Christian that I have for you this morning is this. Destroy the status quo as soon as
possible in your life. You say, what are you talking about? That was kind of a mouthful.
That is kind of complicated. What do I mean by the status quo? What is the status quo?
If you look at the actual definition, I will give you the actual definition and I will
just tell you what it really is. The status quo is defined as the existing state of affairs
especially regarding social or political issues. To me, the status quo is one of the dumbest
of human behaviors. Because it is basically, here is a definition, here is a layman's definition
of what the status quo is. It is doing things because that is what people do. That is the
status quo. You must, as a first generation Christian, you must destroy it as quick as
you possibly can. I mean you ask people, why do you do things that way? Because that is
what everybody else does. Why does everybody else do that? Because that is what they have
always done. You are like, what? Well, that is what everybody does. Destroy this as soon
as you can. And by the way, hey, you say, why do people do this? I will just give you
two reasons why people do this, why it is so powerful, why 99% of the population is
stuck in the status quo. It is because it is mentally and physically easier. It is easier.
You don't have to think for yourself. You can just go along with what everybody else
is doing. You just, you don't have to, look folks, look young men, men, if you can destroy
the status quo in your life, you will be extremely successful at work. If you can go to work
and you can question things in a nice professional way, you can question things and try to think
of different ways to do things and don't just accept everything that they have done that
way for 30 years, you will be extremely successful because nobody else is doing it. Nobody else
is thinking for themselves. Here is the second reason and this one, this one is really I
think the main reason, maybe it is 50-50. People need validation. People need validation
for what they do. So if I do something and I am all on my own, that is very difficult
for people. But if people just do what everybody else does, that is easier for them. Sin works
this way. Drinking buddies. Drinking buddies aren't buddies. Drinking buddies are sin
validators. They just want someone to be with them while they sin and wreck their lives,
wreck their health, wreck their marriage, wreck everything, wreck their children so
they are not standing by themselves ruining everything. It is just people validating each
other sin. That is why people will get so mad when you stop sinning. This one shocked
me 10,000 miles ago. You start getting some things right and I am like getting some things
right here. I am pretty excited about it. Everyone is mad. Why? I don't care what you
do. I am just getting some things right in my life, people upset. Why? Because I am not
validating them anymore. That is why. Destroy the status quo. You are taking their validation
away from them. Destroy the status quo in your life. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
Did you turn there? The faster, my second point is this, the faster you can destroy
the status quo, the faster you will grow in your Christian life. The Bible says the wisdom
of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written he taketh the wise in their
own craftiness. I am thinking about it as I took notes for this sermon. I am looking
back on these things and I am just laughing about some of these things. How people actually
think today. Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to the Bible. And the more
you get in the Bible, you are going to see that foolishness. The faster you can realize
that everything that you have been taught is wrong, the better off you will be. Look,
we have all been programmed to a degree. I mean, let's be real. We are just talking about
the states and all these different things in the podcast. It is all the same. It is
all the same media. It is all the same Hollywood. I heard Hollywood went on strike. That is
the best thing that has happened in this country in 50 years. Can they stay there?
We have all been programmed to a degree. You have got to de-program this stuff and let
go of this stuff. Don't stunt your own growth by getting caught up on things that you have
done that way because you grew up doing them that way. I will give you some examples. And
I mean, these are funny to me now. But some examples, before I was even saved, we started
homeschooling and it was difficult for us to jump into homeschooling before I was even
saved because number one, we didn't have you people. We were off by ourselves in the middle
of nowhere and we were the only ones doing it, very difficult to plow this road on your
own. Some of the status quo things that bugged me was like organized sports. It seems silly
now. Organized sports like, man, aren't my kids going to be able to be in like wrestling
and like basketball. So we kind of try to keep one foot in the public school system
and all that. But the Bible says like have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of
darkness. And so, I mean, we struggle with that. We should have destroyed that status
quo immediately. We should have nothing to do with that wicked system. Nothing.
Here's another one. Here's another one that got me. I really laugh about this one now.
University. University. I mean, like, that, man, I mean, but shouldn't my kids go off
to the university and go off to college? I've said this a million times. I'll say it again.
I'm for education. I'm for world class education. You should be educating your children to the
max amount and when they stop high school and beyond high school, whatever they go into,
they should continue educating themselves for the rest of their lives. That's the beauty
of homeschooling is these kids become self-starters in their own education. But the university
system, I'm supposed to, I'm saved and I believe the Bible and the Bible says all this stuff
and I'm going to send them off to this wicked evil culture? And not only that, but it's
like most people go to college. Why? Because that's what you do go to college. Oh, oh,
if I hear this one more time, I'm just going to have a heart attack and die. Oh, some kid
likes his puppy. Oh, you should be a vet. Everybody likes a puppy. Every child likes
a kitten. Oh, you're going to be a vet when they're five. Or you get to college and it's
like, you know, you're literally in college and you're like, hey, what do you want to
be when you grow up? And everyone's like, I don't know. As they're just spending money.
It's one of the biggest scams in America today. I mean, it's crazy. I'd go off on this one
for an hour by itself. There's 1.7 million people leaving the job workforce in the skilled
trades every single year. And there's an 80% shortage every single year on people to fill
those jobs. 80%. You know what that means? I had this graft like 15 years ago in preparation
for my kids. I had this graft because the back 15 years ago, the average bachelor degree
would start out just a little bit above the average skilled trade apprentice type thing.
Now it's like that. Now they don't even start out making more money if that's all you care
about is money. And they're going to go out and they're going to destroy themselves. They're
going to destroy their future marriage. They're going to destroy their lives with sin in this
wicked culture. I can't tell you how many people I know and love that have gone to that
culture. You see them come out the other side in six, seven years with a four year degree.
And they're just a completely different person. There's no success. I mean, there's so much
success everywhere else without delving into that wickedness. It's crazy. It's the status
quo. You got to destroy it. Destroy it in your life. Those are just two examples that
kind of affected. I laugh about them now. I laugh about them now. My family, we laugh
about these things. Can you believe that we were worried about this stuff? Can you
believe it? It's foolishness to God. The wisdom of this world is absolute foolishness.
Number three, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter six. It's just programming folks. You got
to deprogram yourself. This is why, and this is why, this is why church is so vital. Because
it's tough to plow a new road by yourself. Church is so vital. You get to a place like
this, it's easy. It's easy because you're just edified. I mean, you're not alone anymore.
That's why church is so vital. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter six, verse number 17. Come out from
among them. Wherefore, come out from among them, the Bible says, and be separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. Whatever your status
quo is, look, you got to separate from all that, but you got to separate to this. Don't
be all come out from among them and be separate all by yourself, in the middle of nowhere
by yourself. That's difficult to do. Separate unto something. This is what you're supposed
to separate to, God's people. So realize everybody's not going to see things the way you see things
when you get saved. That's number one. Number two, destroy every status quo item in your
life and start over with everything in the Bible. Number three, these are the quick points.
Look at Luke chapter nine. Luke chapter nine. The third point is this, you got to let the
past go. You got to let the past go. Look at Luke chapter nine to verse number 62. Look,
learn from it. That's good. Okay, look, there's three ways to learn. There's three ways to
learn. You can follow the Bible and avoid all trouble. You can watch others get into
trouble and learn from them. These are the top two ways to learn. Or, if you're a first
generation Christian, you can make your mistakes and learn from your own mistakes. That's not
the ideal way, but if you're a first generation Christian, you probably got some mistakes
in your past. You need to learn from those mistakes and do what? Look at Luke chapter
nine to verse number 62. The Bible says that Jesus said unto him, no man having put his
hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. You got to let it go and
look forward. You got to, hey, learn from it. Maybe you could be a blessing to other
people because, you know, you've made some mistakes and those people can learn from you
instead of making their own mistakes, but you got to let it go and move forward. That's
what Jesus is saying. He's like, hey, we don't need people that got anchors back in the past.
He's like, we're moving forward. We're plowing forward in this Christian life. Look, your
life is going to be different now if you're moving in this Christian life. Your marriage
is going to be different now. You're going to be raising your kids different now. You
got to let go of all that other stuff because, look, bitterness can set in too. You can start
to see the truth and see the truth and see the truth. Don't let it make you bitter. You're
here now and that's what matters. What's behind doesn't matter. That's what Jesus is
telling you. You know, don't forget. You probably can't. Forgive where forgiveness is necessary.
Forgive where God would forgive and then move forward. Move on. Look at Hebrews chapter
10. I'll just read it to you. Hebrews 10, 17 basically says, there's sins and iniquities
I will remember no more. God doesn't even remember your sins. Why would you be dwelling
on past sins? The past can stop forward progress. You got to let it go. Turn back to Genesis
chapter 25. Turn back to Genesis chapter 25. Here's the fourth one. This is the big one.
Genesis chapter 25, you see an interesting story here about Jacob and Esau at the end
of Genesis chapter 25. Look at verse number 29 of Genesis chapter 29. Look at verse 29
of Genesis chapter 25. Let's just read a few verses here and see what's going on. Jacob
saw a potage. Remember Esau was the oldest by, you know, a second or whatever it was.
But it matters. It matters to our story here. Jacob saw a potage and Esau came from the
field and he was faint. Esau said to Jacob, feed me I pray thee with that same red potage
for I am faint. Therefore his name, his name, his name called Edom was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold I'm a point to die.
For what profit shall this birthright do to me? Birthright is, he says he's the first
born. He basically gets a double inheritance from his father. So it's not a nothing burger.
You know, there's something there, right? And Jacob said, swear at you Jacob's a lovely
character. Jacob said, swear to me this day and he swear unto him and he sold his birthright
unto Jacob. So Jacob takes advantage of the situation. But the Bible's kind of hard on
somebody different here. The Bible's kind of hard on Esau. Look at the Bible when it
says in verse number 34, Jacob gave Esau bread and potage of lentils. I mean, it wasn't even
good food. And he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way. Thus, look at this, Esau
despised his birthright. What does this mean? What does this mean? It says Esau despised
his birthright. He was the oldest. He got a double inheritance. He was going to inherit
more, you know, money, land, whatever it was. It consisted of this double portion of the
inheritance. You say, why? Why would he do this? Why would he do this? Well, the first
thing is, you know, I mean, we kind of learned about this last night, but I'm sure he was
really hungry. I'm sure he was really hungry. You know, Pastor Shelley brought up watermelons,
apples, cucumbers, all this stuff. And when I moved to California, I actually had a little
bit of a problem with fruit stands. You know, I was driving north of Sacramento two hours
every single day for a couple of years. And like I had to like, I had to kick the fruit
stands. I mean, it was like, you know, you don't get a lot of fruit in North Dakota.
It was like blackberries, blueberries, you know, you're driving and just like pretty
soon I'm spending like $200 a month on fruit stands. And I'm like, this is not sustainable.
Like persimmons, what's that? I've never even heard of most of this stuff. But anyway, I
think Esau was really hungry. That's kind of like, you know, hunger is a real deep feeling
of desire. But you know, he probably didn't, maybe he thought they were wealthy enough
and a double portion didn't really matter. I don't know. But the main thing the Bible
is pointing out, this is like the people that they won't go buy a lottery ticket. Don't
ever buy a lottery ticket. But they're like, the lottery is like 50 million. And then it
gets to like 250 million. And they're like, oh, now it's worth a dollar. I'm like, what
in the world? You don't even have a belt on your pants or around your knees. Like what
are you gonna do with 50 million versus 250 million? But the point I'm trying that the
Bible is pointing out here back to Esau, whatever his actual reasoning was in that moment, the
Bible is saying that he despised it. What does it mean by that? It means that he counted
it of very little value. It means he like literally took this thing that was valuable
and he traded it for a bowl of beans. He counted it for almost nothing. And the Bible is saying
that this is very foolish. Turn to Titus chapter 3. Let me tell you something, as a first generation
Christian or as any Christian, any saved believer here this morning, our birthright is the same.
Look at Titus chapter 3. Look at Titus chapter 3. Look at verse number 7. Titus chapter 3,
look at verse number 7. The Bible says that being justified by his grace, who's that?
That's us. That we should be made what? We made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life. Go to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. The Bible says in Hebrews, the Bible says
in Hebrews 12, 15, look diligently lest, you're going to Romans 8, look diligently lest any
man fail the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby
many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, one who for one
morsel of meat sold his birthright. Look at Romans 8, 16. The Bible says the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then
heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so that we suffer with him that
we may also be glorified together. Romans 8, 28 famously says, we know all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
That means those that are not only saved but are out there doing what Jesus Christ wants
you to do. That's what that means. God loved us. Go out and show God that you love him
by doing what he says. Look, you have a birthright as a saved, born again believer. Don't despise
it. Don't go through step one of realizing that everybody's not going to feel the same
way you do. Don't kick off all the status quo in your life. Don't go, let go of the
past, plow forward and then despise your birthright. I mean, I don't know how many
times I have to see this happen in my young career as a pastor. I mean, get saved, get
in church, get your kids in church, change your life, get rid of sin in your life, go
go be a silent partner out soul winning, get to be a soul winner, go out and get some people
saved and then go back to the bottle. Go get hooked on drugs. That's somebody that counted
their birthright of very little value. Trade it for a bowl of beans. I'm sick of seeing
it. You got to ask yourself, you better ask yourself questions. This Christian life, what
would I give it up for? What's it worth to me? You should ask yourself that stuff. Would
I give it up for cars? Would I give it up for houses? Would I give it up for opportunity?
This one makes me nuts. I'm going to start choking people out on this one. What else
must I do? What you have, James chapter 1 verse number 17, every good gift is from above.
Your job, your blessings, anything good in your life is from God. And then you get some
opportunity put in front of you and you're like, I'm going to get out of church now.
What in the world? I mean, what is happening? I mean, we're naked joke. I mean, how can
people make this type of mistake? People that have gone through step 1, step 2, step 3,
what would you give this Christian life up for? They come this far and they trade it
for a bowl of beans. They trade it for sin that destroys everybody in their life. Destroys
their wife, their kids, everything. They're just like, hey, time to burn it down. You
better ask yourself these questions because whatever you would give this Christian life
up for, that's what's coming after you. That's what's going to be set in front of you. And
the thing that kills me is just like, we're talking about the simple. Talking about simple
mind. I mean, we're not building a space shuttle here. If you have something come to
you, the litmus test is, does this help or hurt my Christian life? Turn to Genesis chapter
27. Esau was weak. He was weak. I mean, and you know, you see Christians, they make it
so far. I'm shocked some of them made it that far. They're so weak. Genesis chapter
27, verse number 38. Look, Jacob rips them off again and, you know, Jacob's another sermon.
But I mean, he realizes what he's given up at one point in his life. He's just a broken
man bawling about it. Look at verse number 38 of Genesis chapter 27. And Esau said unto
his father, Hast thou but one blessing my father? God has blessing stolen too. Bless
me, me even also my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. You know, think about
people that trade in their Christian life for a bowl of beans. They're going to know
they did it. Because you know what? You can't unknow this stuff. You can't unlearn the Bible.
You can't unlearn the truth. You're saved. You went out. You'll always know if you're
a soul winner today and you stop being a soul winner tomorrow, you will always know
that you should be out preaching the gospel to people. You will always have that knowledge.
Esau was weak. I mean, the lesson is just don't get this far and be weak. He's quick
to act without thinking. I mean, just like it's so easy. If I was a young man, I would
just, and like somehow you found yourself, you just stumbled into Verity Baptist Church.
Like, here's how easy your life is. Just like ask all kinds of questions to Pastor
Jimenez and then just do whatever he tells you to do. Like, you don't even have to know
anything. Just be like, I don't know what to do Pastor Jimenez and he's going to tell
you what to do and then go do that thing. God gave you pastors and teachers. You're
not without tools in this Christian life. You have people throw it all off and just
throw away this birthright for a bag of beans or a bowl of beans or whatever. Here's another
one as part of despising your birthright. Don't despise the time we're in. We need
to appreciate the time we're in and let me tell you, let me explain what I mean by that.
We kind of talked about this. I hate speaking to people like two days before one of my sermons
because I end up spewing, you know, Brother Trevor's laughing, because I end up spewing
stuff out, but we're talking about this Wednesday night. Look, 2023 America, don't
despise this time. Don't despise this time. I'm driving up here from the Central Valley
in California and I'm seeing these signs on the farmer's fields, One Nation Under
God, God Bless America, all these types of signs, big American flags flying. You know
what? God bless the American conservative, but they're like a blind guy driving down
the road at 90 miles an hour with their ears plugged. I mean, One Nation Under God. I brought
this up to the guys Wednesday night. I'm like, can somebody tell me, can somebody tell
me what the culture is in America today? One nation. Here's what a nation is in the Bible.
A nation has nothing to do with what color your skin is. People are a bunch of morons.
What the Bible says is that a nation is a common culture. Ruth was a mobitis. She's
in the line of Christ. It has nothing to do with your ethnicity, who your parents were,
has to do with in Israel if you accepted the one true God or not. But a nation in the
Bible was people with a common culture. Can someone tell me what the culture is in America
today? One nation under God, right? What are you talking about? What's the culture? This
is my opinion for the next three minutes. I like trends and I like noticing all-time
highs and all-time lows. People know the least about the Bible at what date in American history?
Today. People get married the least at what date in American history? Today. It's important
to point these things out. Here's my opinion. We've never been more divided in this country
than we are today. What are you talking about? Civil War. That was really division, man.
The Civil War. You know that all these big names like George Pickett and Stonewall Jackson,
and General Lee, George Meade, Ulysses Grant, Winfield Hancock, all these men that became
great generals in the Civil War, did you know they had way more in common than Americans
today? You know they all, before they were general this, general that, you know they
all fought in the Mexican-American War like 10, 12 years earlier. They fought side by
side. A lot of them went to West Point together. You know what? They had the same God. I'm
not saying they were saved or not. I don't know. They had the same God. They had the
same traditional family values. Before the Civil War, where men went and killed. Then
they went off and they went and they sent thousands of soldiers against each other and
600,000 Americans died. I don't want to get into the politics of the Civil War. It wasn't
the first time and it won't be the last time that, you know, men were sent to die for an
unjust cause. But the point I'm trying to get you to understand is we're way more divided
today. You say, what are the two sides today, Pastor? Well, I mean, we literally have Satan
worshipping, open Satan worshipping child predators today. That's one side. That's one
side. Like the LGBT whatever is not even, and I think there's, I think there's some
optimism here. They're not covering their cards anymore. I mean, obviously we knew the
truth. Why? Because we know the Bible. But they flipped over too many cards. Aaron's
like, oh, whoa. They're after my kids? Whoa. I mean, we've been telling you that. On one
side, you've got the little child predators. And I agree a thousand percent with what Pastor
Robinson said. You mark those people that come out and say, oh, some movie comes out
talking about, you know, child predators and child abuse and all these things and, oh, we
think that was overblown. You mark that person. Let me just mark everybody for you. The
American media mark every bit of it. There's never been a time in American history, here's
another all time, where Americans are the least informed people in the world. You've
got to go to foreign news to figure out what's going on in this world. It used to be the
communists and the USSR and North Korea. I was like, they didn't know anything. They were
being told in the 80s and the 70s, you go to America, you're just starving the streets.
Now it's Americans who are the morons. Because their media is just covering everything up.
The two sides today. Literal child molesters versus God's people. And then you know what?
You've got everybody in the middle. And that's who we're after. The people in the middle.
Because you know what? My kids aren't in public school and I hope your kids aren't in public
school, but you know what? I care about the kids in public school. I care about this.
And I'm happy that the angel of light, he's being transformed into an angel of light for
too many years and people didn't know because they didn't know the Bible and now it's being
exposed. So I'm thankful for that at least, but the point, to bring it back to where I
started, we have never been more divided today. I mean, this is my opinion again and I don't
want to get all doomsday prep around you here, but if this thing is a single political entity
in ten years, I'll be shocked. If it is, it means there's just extreme cowardice amongst
the men. Which is also a possibility. You need to not despise the time that you're in
because those people in the middle need us. We are the extreme flank. We are the ones
carrying the truth. We are the ones that need to bring the truth to the people in the center.
And we need to show them because look, you can't understand it. You can't understand
it if you don't have the Bible. This is why the Tucker Carlson's and I don't know who
the Crowder guy was, but probably similar thing. The conservative minds, they can't
figure it out. They can identify the problems, but they can't figure it out. You know why?
You know why? Bud Light. You look at, why would a corporation who exists solely to make
a profit for their shareholders willingly destroy themselves? Why? It doesn't make
sense in the material world. You must realize that it's a spiritual battle. And if you
don't know the Bible and you don't listen to preaching from the Bible and no one's
telling you the truth, you don't see that spiritual level up here. It's spiritual
wickedness in high places. That's why it's happening. So look, we need to get that truth
to these people in the middle, especially now that they're waking up. I hope there's
an explosion of homeschooling in this country. People wake up and just, hey, you know what,
forsake the money. And we go and we show them the truth. We're already seeing it in Fresno.
We're already seeing it out knocking doors. The soul winner will have their pulse on the
population of an area, a community, a country better than anybody. And you're already
seeing it. People are sick of it. They're disgusted. And they're literally marching
through the streets saying, we're here, we're queer, and we're after your children.
I mean, I'm like, yes, at least now everyone will know. Wake up. And then, you know, CNN,
oh, they were just joking. We are needed now more than ever. Do not despise this birthright
that you have. Because there's not enough of us. And we will leave grain on the ground.
The harvest is plenty. Laborers are few. We can't afford to have people taking this birthright
and throwing it away for stupid, baby Christian stuff. We're the tip of the spear. We're
the 50,000. In Genesis 18, don't forget that God wouldn't have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
if there was 50. We're the 50. We're the 45. We're the 40. We're the 30. We're the 20.
We're the 10. We're the ones that would stop it from being destroyed so we can go pick
up some of those people in the middle. Don't despise your time. Don't despise this time.
This is an exciting time. This is an exciting time in the Christian life. Start moving.
Start separating. Start throwing off the status quo in your life. Start moving in this Christian
life, letting go of the past. Start realizing the value of your life that is in front of
you, that the value of your Christian life and you growing and being a strong Christian,
people's eternity depends on it. You say, Pastor Pozarnsky, I've never had these problems.
You probably aren't doing much if you've never had these problems. I see a lot of heads nodding.
I think a lot of you have had these problems. But if you haven't, you've got to start moving.
Look, here's the thing. When you start a struggle, when you start moving in your life,
you're probably not going to be great at it. I just started teaching Jacob, my youngest,
to lift weights. He's learning the exercises with the dumbbells. It's not so much that
he can't lift the weights. It's just that he's never done that exercise before so his
elbows are all over and it's kind of really hard for him to control the dumbbells. It's
hard at first. It's more of a struggle at first. You're probably not going to be great
at it at first, but pretty soon you're going to be slamming weights if you stick with it.
So look, you've got to start moving. That's why you're not having... If this sermon resonates
with you only in spirit only, you're just like, yeah, yeah, but you don't really know
personally what I'm talking about, it's time to start making some waves because we need
to make some waves. We need to start moving. The irony of embracing your birthright, and
Pastor Jimenez touched on this last night, the irony of embracing your birthright is
when you step forward, God meets you. A lot of people have just never had God meet them
because they've never stepped forward. The irony, the beauty of embracing your birthright
is the more you embrace it, the more it becomes. The more opportunities. This is the parable
of the talents right here. The more opportunities the Lord will put in front of you, real opportunities
from the Lord. Your impact on this world, folks, saved believers, first generation,
second generation, third generation, whatever you are, your impact on this world has nothing
to do with money. It has nothing to do with the job that you have, with some... It has
to do with you embracing this birthright that you have. Let me land this thing where we
started. The first Red Hot Preaching Conference, let me just give you an analogy of Red Hot
Preaching Conferences here. The first Red Hot Preaching Conference, I did nothing. I
was a visitor. I came here, I was a visitor, and we just observed we were spectators and
it was great. It obviously made a big impact on our lives. But that was the last Red Hot
Preaching Conference where I did nothing. The next Red Hot Preaching Conference, my
family and I, we were serving wherever we could. We were helping wherever we could.
We got here, we started serving, and eventually I was an usher. These guys do a great job.
A lot of work goes on that you don't see. And we were serving. I remember one year,
one year the whole auditorium was watching a movie. I can't even remember the documentary
that it was. And there was this furniture crew next door that they were less than friendly
to us. And they didn't like the parking that was going on with all the people parking over
in their spot. They needed to move a semi in there. And they were very upset, like to
the point of like busting in here and causing the scene. And we were trying to talk this
guy down. And Brother Vladi is like walking with this guy and he's on the phone with his
brother and his brother's like get in there and start pulling people out of chairs or
whatever, start causing a problem. And like there was just no way he was coming in the
door. And he got to the point of the door and I put my foot on the door and I'm like
all right, we're getting physical at this point. And then Brother Vladi came up with
this idea where we would help them unload their furniture truck and all this kind of
stuff and avoided a confrontation. As we went out there and we unloaded this furniture
truck, it was like 150,000 degrees, and the furniture truck was like it was everlasting.
I was sweating for like four hours after this. I told Brother Vladi after, I was like next
time let's just fight. But the point I'm trying to get at is that that first red hot
preaching conference was the only conference where we did nothing and then we just decided
you know what, it's time to start doing something. And that's how you have to live this
Christian life and embrace this birthright. The more you do, the further you step out.
The more things that will be revealed to you. And that's where you're going to see, as
the preacher said last night, that's where you're going to see, you're going to see the
Bible coming alive in your life. You're going to see these things that the Bible says are
true and even with the disgusting and the vile and all the sodomites today, it's like
at least the Bible's coming true to us. We're not fooled. We're not, our children aren't
in danger. And we can embrace this birthright. We can make a real difference today. I believe
it. I believe it. We've got to start picking those people up in the middle. They need us.
But don't throw it all away for a bowl of beans. Protect it. Grow it. Strengthen it.
Embrace your birthright. I mean, this country, the United States of America, they need us.
They need us. I'm talking to the people in this room, the hundreds of people. You say,
but there's millions of people in this country. Yeah, but how many people can you affect in
your life? Embrace it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank you for the Bible. I thank you for the fact that, Lord, we're not confused. I
ask that you just help us as we move forward in this Christian life, Lord, you help us
to understand the things that we're going to run into, not be surprised by these things,
not let these things weaken us, Lord. Lord, I ask that you just show the Bible to us,
help us read the Bible, help us study the Bible, help us to know what the truth is of
your word, Lord, help us to be strong and embrace this birthright so others literally
may live, may have everlasting life. Like literal, eternal lives depend on us appreciating
what you've given us, Lord. I ask that you just lay that in our hearts today, Lord. We
pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.