["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Far below the storm of doubt
Upon the world is beating
Sons of men in battle
The enemy will stand
Save him, I writ in the castle
Of God's word retreating
Nothing then can retreat
Tis due our way
I'm living on the mountain
Underneath the cloudless sky
Praise God!
I'm drinking at the fountain
That never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the land
From a vouchful supply
For pride and dwelling
And new our land
Let the stormy breezes blow there
Bright and not alarming
I am safely sheltered here
Protected by God's hand
Here the sun is always shining
Here there's not any warning
I am safe forever
In new our land
I'm living on the mountain
Underneath the cloudless sky
Praise God!
I'm drinking at the fountain
That never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the land
From a vouchful supply
For pride and dwelling
And new our land
Good, on the last
Viewing here the works of God
I seek in contemplation
Hearing now His blessing voice
I see the way He has
Dwelling in the Spirit here
I learn of poor salvation
Where new will I tarry
In new our land
Sing it out!
I'm living on the mountain
Underneath the cloudless sky
Praise God!
I'm drinking at the fountain
That never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the land
From a vouchful supply
For pride and dwelling
And new our land
Amen, we want to welcome you to this very special Sunday morning service here at Verity Baptist Church
We're so glad that you are with us
And of course today is the fourth and final day of our Red Hot Preaching Conference
And we appreciate you being here today
Brother Oliver, if you can make sure the ushers know that we can set up rows on that back wall
We can bring chairs down the sides
Make sure they're aware of those things, we appreciate that
Let's begin the service with a word of prayer and let's bow our heads together
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you
We thank you for allowing us to gather together
Today, Lord, we pray that you'd bless
The time that we've set aside for the preaching of your word, for singing, for fellowship
We thank you for the great conference we've had
And Lord, we ask that you'd meet with us today and tonight as well
In Jesus' name we pray, amen
Hear the song 147
Song number 147
147 on the first
What a fellowship, what a joy divine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all our harms
Leaning, leaning
Leaning on the everlasting arms
On the second
Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Oh how bright the path grows from day to day
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all our harms
Leaning, leaning
Leaning on the everlasting arms
On the last
What have I to dread, what have I to fear
Leaning on the everlasting arms
I have blessed peace with my Lord so long
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all our harms
Leaning, leaning
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Good singing
Amen, alright 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 will get one for you
If you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we can get one for you, the verse this week of course
Jeremiah 23 29 is not my word like as a fire
Sayeth the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces
And that's a good verse there, we like that, if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time
Sunday morning service 10 30 AM and we are glad that you're with us
On Sunday morning on the Lord's day for church
We've got some more people coming in so I'm gonna ask if you are able to
I understand if you're not able to and that's okay
But if you're able to come in and squeeze in
I know that you wives don't always want to sit right next to your husband
But if you wouldn't mind just sitting next to him
And giving us room on the edges so that we can let people in
We'd appreciate your help with that
I want to apologize to our church family
Of course we've got our Red Hot Preaching Conference today
We've got many guests with us today so we're just gonna have to squeeze you in a little bit
And to our Red Hot Preaching Conference delegates
We've got our church family with us today
So we're gonna ask you to squeeze in a little bit
But if you could help us just kind of squeeze in
Pretend like you like the person by you
And just free up some chairs, we would really appreciate the help with that
That would help the ushers to be able to get everybody in
We do invite you to be back tonight at 6 PM for the evening service
The evening service is different than the morning service
And we have a special service lined up for you today
We'll talk about that here in a minute
And then of course our Wednesday evening Bible study
This midweek service this Wednesday night
Will be a special service as well
And I'll give you that information here in a minute
If you look at our soul winning times
Our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 AM
And then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 PM
So if you'd like to go soul winning this afternoon
There'll be an opportunity for you to be able to do that at 2 PM
If you are a first time guest
Now I realize that many of you are probably first time guests
But I'm talking about if you're a first time guest from our community
From Sacramento
Maybe you're here this morning because a friend invited you
Somebody knocked on your door yesterday and invited you to church
We're so glad that you're with us
Like I said you're with us right in the midst of a conference
But we appreciate you coming
And we have a special gift for you
As you walk out of the church building this morning
If you go out our main foyer
You'll see a little table set up
And on that table you'll see these little gift bags
Please grab one on your way out
As a gift from us to you for being our guest this morning
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have
But the one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made
It's called Being Baptists
And it's a very interesting documentary
Very entertaining, educational
And you're sitting in a Baptist church this morning
And this will teach you why we're Baptist
And what it means to be Baptist
And we'd love for you to take this as a gift this morning
So if you're a first time guest from our community
Please don't leave here this morning without grabbing one of these gift bags
On your way out
And if you are a guest we'd ask that you please take a moment
To 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 you're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well
We're not going to do anything odd with your information
We're not going to sell it to anybody or anything like that
We would just like to have a record of your attendance
We actually would like to send you a little gift
But we need your information to do that
So please take a moment to fill the card out
When we're done singing we're going to receive the offering
And as the offering plate goes by
You can drop this card in the offering plate
Or you can hand it to me after the service
I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out
I hope you'll come by and say hello
If you look at the announcements there
We of course are a family integrated church
What that means is that children and infants are always welcomed in the service
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason
We do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience
All of the rooms have comfortable seating
They have monitors set up or windows set up
So you can watch the service
They have speakers set up so you can hear the service
So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service
So if you need some privacy
We would encourage you to use those rooms as needed
If you're not sure where they're at
You can look at the back of the bulletin
And you'll see a layout of our church building
It'll show you where the mother baby rooms are
Where the daddy room is
It'll show you where the restrooms are
So please make sure you make use of those rooms as needed
And if you are here this morning and you need to be baptized
Please let us know
We'd love to baptize you
The baptistry is filled
The water is warm
We've got everything you need for you to be baptized
We've got baptistry robes and shirts and shorts
And hair dryers and towels
So all you need to do is at the end of the service
After the preaching while we're singing the last song
If you're here this morning and you need to be baptized
Then you can just head back there
And brother Shaw, one of our staff guys
Will have a sign that says baptisms
You can talk to him
And he can get you situated for baptism
Or if you'd like to speak to somebody about baptism
On your communication card on the back
You can check off that you'd like information about baptism
And we'll follow up with you and talk to you about that
And help you get situated with regards to those things
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events
Of course we are on the last day of our Red Hot Preaching Conference
And I would like to take a moment to thank
The Verity Baptist Church family
For all of the work that goes into this conference
And there's so many volunteers that have helped
In all sorts of different areas
Every day of the conference at 8am
There's been armies of volunteers
Cleaning and getting things ready
Of course we've got the musicians and everyone
It's a group effort
And I want to say
My wife and I would like to say to our church family
Thank you very much
We love you very much
And we appreciate all of the work that goes into the conference
Let's give the Verity Baptist Church family a round of applause
Amen
And we do want you to be aware of the schedule today
Of course this morning I'm preaching for the conference
And I'll be preaching this morning
After the morning service we have a pastor's luncheon
For all of the pastors
We've got several pastors that are with us today
And we appreciate you being here
And we look forward to having a time of fellowship with you
We have 2pm soul winning
For those of you that would like to go soul winning this afternoon
And then tonight we've got Pastor Joe Jones
That's going to be preaching for us from Shield of Faith Baptist Church
So you're not going to want to miss that
After the evening service we're having pizza
For everyone after the service
I think we've got like 68 pizzas coming
Tonight large pizzas coming
So make sure you stick around
And fellowship with us after service
You don't have to worry about dinner
We'll have our evening service
And then out on the front lawn
We'll have chairs set up and tables set up
And we'll have a good time of fellowship with pizza together
So make plans for that
And then of course we've got Pastor Bogart
Who's going to be preaching for our church family
On Wednesday
The Wednesday right after the conference
June 26th at 7pm
And let me just say to our church family
I know this is a long week
I know you're going to be tired next week
But you're not going to want to miss Pastor Bogart
He's been preaching for us the Wednesday after the conference
For several years now
He always does a wonderful job
And I want you to make sure you are here
For that service
And we're looking forward to that
And with regards to Pastor Bogart
Right before the conference began on Thursday night
Right on Thursday afternoon
We decided to start a GoFundMe
To help him with some legal fees
He's from South Africa
And he's preached the word of God
They don't have the same liberties that we do here
And for preaching the Bible
He's gotten himself into trouble
Or gotten in trouble with the government and things like that
He's got some legal fees that we wanted to help him with
And I thought it'd be nice
If we could raise this money
Throughout the conference
To be honest with you, I've been announcing it
Every service, I haven't been pushing it
Or pressuring anyone or anything like that
But we had a goal at the beginning of the conference
I'd just like to give you an update
We haven't even said this to Pastor Bogart yet
We had a goal to raise $3,612
To be able to help him
That might not sound like a lot to you
But that's a lot of money of course
When you multiply the currency
Into the currency of South Africa
It becomes a much bigger number
And up to this point
We have raised $3,677
To pay for his legal fees
The first load for that
And of course I want to thank
All of you who participated with that
And helped with that and we appreciate that
Pastor Bogart will be with us here till Wednesday
So we'll be able to give him that
And be a blessing to him
As he goes back home
And not have to worry about that bill anymore
So praise the Lord for that
If you would not mind, I just want to give a real quick announcement
To our church family
We just want you to remember that the church picnic
Is coming up on Thursday, July 4th
At 3pm
And for those of you that are not part of the Verity Baptist Church family
Something you should know about this church
Is that they are spoiled
It is just party after party with these people
They've got the Red Hot Preaching Conference
And the 4th of July picnic
But anyway we want you to remember
The address is there for you
And it starts at 3pm
We're going to have a great time
Food and fellowship
If you are a man that can help us with grilling
Or if you can bring a grill
Make sure on your communication card on the back
That you sign up and let us know
That you can help with that
For the families in our church
We've got sign up sheets in the foyer
Make sure you go by there and sign up for that
And of course we'll have
We always do a big water balloon
Fight for the kids
The park has water games and things like that
So make sure the kids come dressed
To be able to get wet and they'll have a good time
With that we'll have our ladies volleyball
Game and of course we'll have the men and
Teen boys softball game like we always do
We've got a sign up sheet in the back there
As well men so make sure you go for that
And then we've got the fireworks show in the evening
So make sure you don't forget about those things
And then also we have a ladies
Weight loss and accountability group
They meet every Wednesday at 615
This is a group that my wife leads
On Wednesdays in her office
But we just want to make an announcement
That there will be no meeting this week
Alright so you ladies that are part of that group
No meeting this week please make a note of that
If you're part of the cleaning crew we appreciate your help
Make sure you check your names there
And make sure you're faithful to your sections
And your times there
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off
So that they're not a distraction to anybody
And right now would be a good time to just check your phone
And make sure that it's on vibrate
Or on silent or off
And make sure that it doesn't go off
During the middle of the service
Or during the middle of the preaching
If you look at the back of the bulletin you'll see the birthdays and anniversaries
For the month of June
This week we have brother Evan Smith's birthday
Tomorrow June 24th
And later on this week we have Miss
Selena De Dios' birthday
On June 26th
Anna Chesick has a birthday on June 27th
Anna Chesick has a birthday on June 28th
Miss Sylvia Zuniga has a birthday on June 29th
And Alexander Davidson has a birthday
On June 29th
Happy birthday to all those people
This week
And then of course just a couple of notes there
Make sure you help us with the kids
That they're not running up and down these hallways
And that the upstairs areas
Are off limits
So if you could help us with that we'd appreciate it
Praise report, money matters, those things are
There for you to look at
And today we've got a lot of special things
Going on, we have our choir singing for us this morning
And tonight we have our men's
Choir singing for us tonight
So looking forward to those things
We're going to sing a song here in a moment
And then we're going to receive the offering
And after that we'll have the Verity Baptist Church Choir sing for us
But let's go ahead and take the
Insert, we're going to sing the chorus of the week
Which is the insert in your bulletin
And we're going to sing
Rejoice in the Lord
This is not the type of song
You just try to yell out
Or belt out
You want to try to sing it
With passion, alright
So let's go ahead and sing it out on the first
God never moves
Without purpose or plan
When try is urban
And come and give thanks
Give thanks to the Lord
Though your testing seems long
In darkness giveth a song
Rejoice in the Lord
He makes no mistake
In all with the end of the earth
That I take
For when I am tried
And purified
I shall come forth as gold
I could not see
Through the shadows ahead
I looked at the cause
Of my Savior instead
I bowed to the ground
Of the best bird that day
He is King
Alright good, let's sing it out
Rejoice in the Lord
He makes no mistake
In all with the end of each path
That I take
For when I am tried
And purified
I shall come forth as gold
Good, sing it out on the last
Now I can see
Testing comes from above
God's strength
God strengthens his children
And urges him love
My Father knows best
Trust in his care
For food I will bear
Rejoice in the Lord
He makes no mistake
In all with the end of each path
That I take
For when I am tried
And purified
I shall come forth as gold
Amen, good singing
Before we have the guys come up
Let me just remind you of a couple of things
First of all, I want to remind you that if you've not signed up
For our Band But Not Bound email list
We'd love for you to do that
This is an email list that we use to be able to send out the content from our church
And if we get shut down on different social media sites
We're able to stay connected with you
Let you know where to go to find the content that is needed
And you can do that on your communication card
Just write your email address
And we'll get you signed up for our Band But Not Bound email list
If you're watching online
I know we've got many people watching online right now
You can go to bandbutnotbound.com
And give us your email address there
Sign up for our email list
And we'd love for you to be a part of that email list
Also if you're watching this live stream online
We want to invite you to subscribe to our Rumble channel
We'd appreciate if you would do that
And that would make sure that you get all the notifications
And all the different events and things that we're doing here at Verity Baptist Church
So please take a moment if you are watching
To hit that subscribe button
And subscribe to the Verity Baptist Church Rumble account
Alright, well we'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time
And let's go ahead and bow our heads
And have a word of prayer
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you
We thank you for allowing us to gather together this morning
Lord, we pray that you'd bless the offering, the gift, and the giver
We pray that you'd bless all the special music, the operatory, the choir special
Also the singing tonight
Lord, we pray that you'd bless the preaching of your word
We ask that you would meet with us today
Speak to us through your word today
In Jesus' name we pray, amen
We pray that you'd bless the offering, the gift, and the giver
Thank you.
At this time, we're going to have our choir sing for us.
Thank you.
.
Where our home is on our journey
Following the Lord, where God illumines every step we take
There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us
As we try to understand each move we make
There are times when the path grows thin
And our questions have no answer to them
Albany, trust the heart of your father
When the answer goes beyond what you can see
Albany, lift your eyes for heaven and earth
We've done all eternity
And when you don't understand
The purpose of this path
In the presence of the King
Albany
Where our days may cross around us
And when the rain begins to fall
The cold and lonely winds won't cease to call
And there seems to be no reason
For the suffering we feel
We are tempted to believe
God does not come
When the storms arise
Don't forget we live by faith and not by sight
Albany, trust the heart of your father
When the answer goes beyond what you can see
Albany, lift your eyes for heaven and earth
We need the one who holds eternity
And when you don't understand
The purpose of this plan
In the presence of the King
Albany, trust the heart of your father
When the answer goes beyond what you can see
Albany, lift your eyes for heaven and earth
We need the one who holds eternity
And when you don't understand
The purpose of this plan
In the presence of the King
Albany
In the presence of the King
Albany, trust the heart of your father
In the presence of the King
Turn to your Bibles to John chapter 16
John chapter 16, if you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one
John chapter 16, we will read the entire chapter as our custom
John chapter 16, just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible
John chapter 16, the Bible reads
These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended
They shall put you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh
That whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service
And these things will they do unto you
Because they have not known the Father nor me
But these things have I told you
That when the time shall come
Ye may remember that I told you of them
And these things I said not unto you at the beginning
Because I was with you
But now I go my way to him that sent me
And none of you asketh me
Whither goest thou?
But because I have said these things unto you
Sorrow hath filled your heart
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth
It is expedient for you that I go away
For if I go not away
The Comforter will not come unto you
But if I depart
I will send him unto you
And when he is come
He will reprove the world of sin
And of righteousness
And of judgment
Of sin because they believe not on me
Of righteousness because I go to my Father
And ye see me no more
Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged
I have yet many things to say unto you
But ye cannot bear them now
Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come
He will guide you into all truth
For he shall not speak of himself
But whatsoever he shall hear
That shall he speak
And he will show you things to come
He shall glorify me
For he shall receive of mine
And shall show it unto you
All things that the Father hath are mine
Therefore said I
That he shall take of mine
And shall show it unto you
A little while
And ye shall not see me
And again
A little while
And ye shall see me
Because I go to the Father
Then said some of his disciples among themselves
What is this that he saith unto us
A little while
And ye shall not see me
And again
A little while
And ye shall see me
And because I go to the Father
I cannot tell what he saith
Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him
And said unto them
Do ye inquire among yourselves
Of that I said
A little while
And ye shall not see me
And again
A little while
And ye shall see me
Verily, verily, I say unto you
That ye shall weep and lament
But the world shall rejoice
And ye shall be sorrowful
For she saith hath sorrow
Because her hour has come
But as soon as she is delivered of the child
She remembereth no more the anguish
For joy that a man is born into the world
And ye now therefore have sorrow
But I will see you again
And your heart shall rejoice
And your joy no man taketh from you
And in that day
Ye shall ask me nothing
Verily, verily, I say unto you
Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name
He will give it to you
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name
Ask, and ye shall receive
That your joy may be full
These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs
But the time cometh
When I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs
But I shall show you plainly of the Father
At that day
Ye shall ask in my name
And I say not unto you
That I will pray the Father for you
For the Father himself loveth you
Because ye have loved me
And have believed that I came out from God
I came forth from the Father
And am coming to the world
Again, I leave the world
And go to the Father
His disciples said unto him
Lo, now speakest thou plainly
And speakest no proverb
Now we are sure that thou knowest all things
And needest not that any man should ask thee
By this we believe that thou cameest forth from God
Jesus answered them
Do ye now believe?
Behold, the hour cometh
Yea is now come
The ye shall be scattered
Every man to his own
And shall not leave me alone
And yet I am not alone
Because the Father is with me
These things have I spoken unto you
That in me ye might have peace
In the world ye shall have tribulation
But be of good cheer
I have overcome the world
Let's pray
Almighty Father, thank you for giving us this conference
Thank you for all these people
Please strengthen Pastor
May the sermon lift you up in honor and glory
In the name of Jesus Christ I pray
Amen
Alright, we're there
In John chapter number 16
And this morning
I'm preaching a sermon
On a very specific subject
And to be honest with you
And this could be said about a lot of subjects
But this subject
There's never really
I feel like
There's never really a good time to preach
This sermon
To preach about this subject
And the reason for that
Is because there's always someone
Who is struggling with this
Thinking this
Saying this
Or believing this
And therefore it seems like there's never really a good time
To deal with it
We as preachers
Often times like to deal with certain topics
When we know
To the best of our ability
We perceive that there's no one in the congregation
That's actively
Engaged in
That issue
However, with this subject
Because there's always someone thinking this
It's impossible
To preach it at a time
When someone's not dealing with it
And to be honest with you
It's impossible to even know who's thinking it
Who's believing it
Who's feeling this way
It has been my experience
That there's just never really a good time to deal with it
Because you're just always dealing with it
And I decided to preach on it
At the Red Hot Preaching Conference
For a couple reasons
First of all, it's so widespread
That it affects every pastor
It affects every congregation
So I think preaching at it at a conference
Like the Red Hot Preaching Conference
With multiple churches being represented here this morning
With multiple pastors being here this morning
I think it's as good a time
As any
To preach on this subject
I may be making it sound more serious than it really is
But let me go ahead and tell you what I'm preaching about this morning
This morning I'm preaching on the subject
Of what to do
When you think the sermon
Is about you
What to do
When you think the sermon is about you
Now, I know what some of you are thinking
And some of you are thinking
I think that sermon's about me
And that's why
That's why the sermon needs to be preached
Because this is a common thing
That people get upset about
Where they'll think that
The pastor's just preaching
This sermon directed
Right at that individual
And like I said this morning
We've got several pastor friends that are here
I didn't ask them this in advance
But let me just go ahead and ask my pastor friends
You know, just by raise of hand
Have you ever had someone mad at you
Because they thought you preached the sermon
Yeah, I mean like every single pastor
Has his hand raised
So there you go, you know
This just shows you that this is a problem
You know, where people often think
And what I always, and this is something I deal with
Honestly on a regular basis
And whenever
I deal with this
I always wish that I had this sermon
The sermon I'm preaching right now
I always wish I had this sermon
Just ready to go, like a link
Ready to send somebody
I'd like to give you four thoughts this morning
Four thoughts to consider
With regards to what to do
When you think that the sermon is about you
And if you're taking notes
And I always encourage our church family
To take notes
Then maybe on the back of your course of the week
There's a place for you to write down some things
Maybe there you can jot some of these things out
And let me give you several things here
You're there in John chapter 16
I'd like you to look down at verse number 7
John chapter 16 and verse 7
The Bible says this
Nevertheless I tell you the truth
This of course is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking
It is expedient for you that I go away
For if I go not away
I want you to notice this little title here
The comforter will not come unto you
But if I depart
I will send him unto you
Of course here
The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking about the fact
That he is going to leave the disciples
But he's not going to leave them alone
Now who's the comforter? I know you know this
But just flip back to John chapter 14
Just real quickly
Look at the first part of verse number 26
John chapter 14 and verse number 26
The Bible says this
But the comforter
Which is the Holy Ghost
But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost
Whom the Father will send in my name
He shall teach you all things
And bring all things to your remembrance
Whatsoever I have said unto you
According to the Bible
And here Jesus says
Nevertheless I tell you the truth
It is expedient for you that I go away
For if I go not away
The comforter
Remember John 14, 26 tells us that's the Holy Ghost
Will not come unto you
But if I depart
I will send him unto you
Notice verse number 8 of the same chapter
John chapter 16 verse 8
The Bible says this
And when he is come
When the comforter is come
The Bible says that he will
Jesus said that he will
Reprove the world of sin
That he will reprove the world of sin
And of righteousness and of judgment
The word reprove means to express disapproval
It means to reprimand
Or to rebuke
And the Bible tells us that one of the things
That the comforter
The Holy Spirit does
Is that he is going to reprove the world of sin
And I would like to begin this morning
By saying this
I wrote a number of statements this morning
In regards to what you should consider
When you think that there is a sermon
Being preached against you
When you think the sermon is about you
You should consider that
Number one, maybe
It is the Holy Spirit speaking to you
You should consider the fact
That maybe it is the Holy Spirit speaking to you
And it's interesting to me
That people often assume
And they'll get upset
And they'll say I think the pastor
Is preaching about me right now
I think the pastor is preaching
About me right now
But it seems like they never consider
The possibility that maybe it's not the pastor
Maybe it's the Holy Spirit of God
Maybe it is the Holy Spirit
That is talking to them
See the Bible tells us
That the Holy Spirit reproves
Sin and I understand that the context here
Is reproving the world of sin
And of righteousness and of judgment
But we see that this is something the Holy Spirit does
He reproves sin
And he reproves
And he speaks to us through his word
Not only that but the Bible says
That the Holy Spirit uses
The word of God like a sword
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit
Reproves sin
And the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit
Uses the word of God like a sword
In Ephesians chapter 6
You don't have to turn there
The Bible gives us that great passage
On the armor of God
Therefore take unto you
The whole armor of God
That you may be able to withstand
In the evil day
And having done all to stand
Stand therefore
The Bible says having your loins
Good about with truth
And having on the breastplate of righteousness
The Bible says having your feet shot
With the preparation of the gospel of peace
Above all taking the shield of faith
Wherewith you shall be able to quench
The fiery darts of the wicked
The Holy Spirit which is the word of God
The Bible says
That the Holy Spirit
Uses the word of God
Like a sword
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit
Reproves against sin
And then it tells us that it uses the word of God
Like a sword
The Bible also tells us about itself
That it is a piercing sword
Hebrews chapter 4 in verse 12
But the word of God is quick
And powerful
The word of God is a thunder of soul and spirit
And of the joints and marrow
And is a, listen to this, is a discerner
Of the thoughts and intents
Of the heart
Think about that
The Bible says about itself
That the word of God is a discerner
Of the thoughts and intents of the heart
Now you might ask, well how can a book
Be a discerner
The word discerner means to understand
And the Bible tells us that the Bible
Discerns your thoughts
And your intents
Your intentions, it discerns you
You say how can a book discern me
Well remember it's the word of God
Which is quick and powerful
The word quick means that it's alive
The Bible is not a dead book
It's a living book
It's quick and powerful
And the Bible tells us
That the Holy Spirit of God
Uses the word of God
Like a sword and it pierces
And when it pierces
Your thoughts and your intents
You know what that means?
Is that when a man of God
Stands up to preach
Being filled with the Spirit of God
Preaching the word of God
The word of God will pierce your thoughts
And your intents
And it will apply itself
Where it needs to apply to hit home to you
I always think it's interesting
I'll preach a sermon about a certain subject
And afterwards someone will walk up to me
And say the Holy Spirit today
About this subject
And it will be about something
I didn't even talk about
I mean it's like
You know I preached a sermon on tithing
And someone was like
The Holy Spirit really spoke to me about being a soul winner
I'm like I didn't even mention soul winning
And you say well how does that happen?
Well you know what happens is that the word of God
Is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword
Piercing even to the binding
Sun or soul or spirit
And of the joints and marrow
Not an intent of the heart
And what's interesting to me is that people are often
So concerned about what does the pastor know?
What does the pastor know?
I mean he's preaching this sermon
He must know something about me
What does the pastor know about my life
And why is he making these statements
And why is he saying these things
It must be like he knows me
But you know the truth of the matter is this
That you should be less concerned about what the pastor knows
And more concerned about what God knows
Less concerned about what the pastor knows
And more concerned about what the word of God knows
Less concerned about what the pastor knows
And more concerned about what the Holy Spirit knows
You know what's interesting to me
Is that verse Hebrews 4-12
Is a very famous verse
In regards to the word of God
But the very next verse Hebrews 4-13 says this
Neither is there any creature
That is not manifest in his sight
But all things are naked
And all things are naked and open
And to the eyes of him with whom we have to do
You get so concerned about what does the pastor know
But remember the eyes of the Lord
Are in every place
Beholding the evil and the good
And I'm just saying to you this morning
That when you show up to church
And the pastor begins to preach
And begins to say some things
And you start thinking to yourself
I think he's talking about me
Did my wife talk to him?
My parents tell him something?
I think the sermon is about me
Hey you know one thing you ought to consider
That maybe, just maybe
It's the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you
I mean we say we believe in the Holy Spirit
We say we believe in the supernatural
We say we believe in the word of God
We say we believe those things
And we give lip service to it
But then you show up to church
And the man of God stands up and preaches the word of God
And you immediately assume
I think he's talking about me
Maybe it's the Holy Spirit talking about you
The Holy Spirit will prick you
Remember Jesus said
To Saul on the road to Damascus
In Acts 9-5
Remember he said to him
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks
If you remember in Acts 2-37
They said that they were pricked
The Bible says
In their hearts
I'm here to tell you that if you go to a place
Like the Red Hot Preaching Conference
And you begin to hear biblical preaching
Spirit filled preaching
The word of God being preached
You might begin to feel that prick
You might begin to feel the prick
Of the sword of the word of God
Piercing your heart
Before you start blaming the pastor
You may want to consider if it's the Holy Spirit
Because when you think
That the sermon is about you
You should consider maybe
It is the Holy Spirit of God
Speaking to you
I'd like you to go with me
If you go to the book of Romans
Romans chapter 12
You're there in John 16
If you go past the book of Acts
Romans chapter 12
Let me give you a second thought this morning
I said number one
When you think the sermon is about you
You should consider that
Maybe it's the Holy Spirit speaking to you
But secondly this morning
Let me say this
Maybe you should consider
You should consider the fact
Maybe you should consider
When you think that the sermon is about you
You should consider that maybe
You think too highly of yourself
Are you there in Romans chapter 12?
Look at verse number 3
Romans chapter 12 and verse 3
The Bible says this
For I say through the grace given unto me
To every man that is among you
Look at these words
Not to think of himself
More highly than he ought to think
This is a great exhortation
For all Christians
That we should not think of ourselves
Not to think of himself
More highly than he ought to think
But to think soberly
According as God has dealt to every man
The measure of faith
The Bible says that we should not think
Too highly of ourselves
Go with me if you would to the book of Psalms
Psalm 131
You know what I've learned is this
That vain people
Arrogant people
Prideful people
Spend all day
Thinking about themselves
And then they make this assumption
They think that everyone else
Is thinking about them
And arrogant people
Think that everyone is thinking about them
And look I just want to say to you this morning
If you think that everybody is thinking about you
You think too much about you
You have to think of yourself
You have not to think of yourself
More highly than you ought to think
Psalm 131 and verse 1
Notice what the Bible says
The psalmist said
Lord my heart is not haughty
The word haughty
Means arrogant
Means lifted up
This attitude of superiority
He said
Lord my heart is not haughty
Nor my eyes lofty
The word lofty means again something that is high
Neither do I exercise myself
In great matters
Or in things too high for me
Here the psalmist said
I'm not haughty
My eyes are not lofty
I don't exercise myself
In things too high for me
What is he saying?
He's saying that I don't think more highly of myself
Than I ought to think
I'm not a person who is just constantly thinking
I think the sermon is about me
Nobody is thinking about you
The only person thinking about you is you
The only person you think about is yourself
And you ought not assume
Hey, do not assume
That everybody is thinking about you
You're there in Psalms
Go with me to the book of Esther if you would
Esther chapter number 6
If you go backwards from Psalms
You have Job in the book of Esther
When you think the sermon is about you
You should consider that maybe
It is the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you
And when you think the sermon is about you
Maybe you should consider that
Maybe you think too highly of yourself
And if you think that everybody
Is thinking about you
You think too much of yourself
You're an arrogant person
You're a prideful person
You're a vain person
People
Will often think that
Every sermon is about them
You can't say anything
Everything is about me
You can't get up and preach anything
He's preaching about me
I'm like, I preach out of Romans 1
I preach about the reprobates
I think that sermon might have been about me
I'm like, whoa
We got problems
This idea that every time
Every time Esther gets up and preaches
She's saying something about me
No, you think too much about you
You think too much about you
You ought not be the person
Who thinks that everything is about you
For those of you that listen
To my sermons on a regular basis
My church family knows this
That I often like to read
Or quote or even at times sing
Hymns
In my preaching that underscore
The point that I'm making
And for this sermon I just kept thinking
Of this great old hymn of the faith
You might have heard of it
It's called
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
And that's how
Sometimes that's how I feel
I feel like just getting up
And singing
You're so vain
You probably think this sermon is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this sermon is about you
Don't you
And look when you just think that every
Sermon is about you
Maybe you have a pride problem
Maybe you have an arrogance problem
You're just assuming
Everybody is thinking about you
Nobody is thinking about you
In fact I think this morning
I know this is the new IFB
I'm almost tempted to just have an old fashioned
Invitation and have the pianist
As the pianist begins to play
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
I'm going to make an old fashioned
Alter here under my feet
Don't think everything is about you all the time
Don't be the person
You know it is bad people
Who are often thinking everything is about them
There's a great story in the Bible
That does underscore this thought I want to share with you
I know you know it but I'd like you to see it
In Esther chapter 6 and verse 6
The Bible says here
So Haman came in
And the king said unto him
What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor?
Now I don't have time to develop the story
I know you know it
But Haman is the bad guy here
Mordecai is the good guy
And Haman is a person that is filled with pride
He's an arrogant person
In fact everybody is bowing down to him
But there's one guy who won't bow down to him by the name of Mordecai
And he wants to kill him
And Haman has decided that he's going to go to the king
He's going to go to the king today right where we find ourselves in that story
He's going to go to the king
And he's going to ask to kill Mordecai
He's going to ask to hang Mordecai
But in the providence of God
And we know that God is always working on the other side
God did not allow the king to sleep that night
And as a result he asked for the chronicles and the history to be read to him
And it was read to him in account about Mordecai that he was not aware of
The fact that Mordecai actually saved the king's life
So the king wakes up that day and he wants to do something nice for Mordecai
Get the story
Haman is coming to the court to ask to kill Mordecai
The king wants to do something nice for Mordecai
And when Haman comes in
The king asks Haman this question
What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honor?
Again the king is talking about Mordecai
The enemy of Haman
Haman hates Mordecai
He hates the king to hang Mordecai
In verse 4
Notice what the last part of verse 6 says
Now when Haman thought in his heart
Look at these words
To whom would the king delight to do honor?
More than to myself
Here's a guy who thinks that everything is about him
And the king is saying
Hey I want to do something nice for someone
What do you think I should do for someone that I want to do something nice?
This guy thinks he must be talking about me
This guy thinks everything is about him
And if this guy showed up at a new IP church
You know what he would think?
He would think I think the pastor is preaching about me
Who else would he be thinking about if not me?
And of course Haman
We won't take the time to read the whole thing
But he advises the king
He says let him put on the king's apparel in verse 8
And ride on the king's horse also verse 8
He said let him wear the king's crown in verse 8
He says let him be paraded around the streets of the city in verse 9
He says let someone proclaim before him
Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighted to honor in verse 9
Look at verse 10
Esther chapter 6 verse 10
Then the king said unto Haman
Make haste and take the apparel and the horse as thou hast said
Look at what he says
And do even so to Mordecai the Jew
That sitteth at the king's gate
Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken
And of course Haman has to then do
What he said to do
Not him being the one on the horse
But him proclaiming
Him parading and proclaiming
This man Mordecai who he wants to kill
And he's taking him around the city
And saying
I'm sure his heart wasn't into it
I'm sure he didn't really get into it
But he's going around saying
Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honor
You know the thing about pride is this
That God has a way of humbling us
When we allow pride into our lives
The Bible says that pride cometh before destruction
A haughty spirit before a fall
And you ought to deal with this issue of pride
When you think that the sermon is about you
You should consider that maybe
Just maybe
I know this thought never crossed your mind
But maybe it's the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you
And when you think that the sermon is about you
Maybe you should consider
That you think too highly of yourself
And you think too much about yourself
And you're sitting there thinking that
Pastor Jimenez or Pastor Thompson
Or Pastor Mejia or Pastor Jones
Or Pastor Reyes or you know
These pastors have nothing better to do
Than to sit around in their study all day thinking about you
That's pride my friend
And I know it's funny but really when you think about it
And you put it into context it's disgusting
To think that you would think so highly of yourself
That you consider that everybody's just thinking about you
Of course they're thinking about me
Who else would they be thinking about?
Maybe you should consider
That you think too highly about yourself
Let me give you a third one
Go to Isaiah chapter 58 if you would
Isaiah chapter 58
You're there in Esther
You go past the book of Job, Psalms, Proverbs
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah
Isaiah chapter 58
We're talking about things that you should consider
When you think the sermon is about you
I want to give you these four thoughts
And then I'm going to give you some closing applications
When you think the sermon is about you
You ought to consider that maybe it is the Holy Spirit speaking to you
And when you think the sermon is about you
Maybe you should consider that maybe you think too highly about yourself
But how about this one
When you think that the sermon is about you
Maybe you should consider
That maybe you've never actually experienced hard preaching
You know you come to a conference like the Red Hot Preaching Conference
Or you join a church like one of our churches
And maybe for the first time in your life
For the first time in your life
You are hearing hard biblical preaching
Now I know what you're going to say
You're going to say, well no Pastor Menes
That's not it because I've listened to the hard preaching online for years
And when I showed up to church
And I felt like you guys started preaching about me
Listen, it is not the same listening to it online
Period, end of story
It's not the same
It's not the same as sitting in the room
And having me look in the whites of your eyes
People are like, he was just tearing at me the whole time
Really? I'm just like
The whole time
The whole time I'm preaching I'm just looking at you
Maybe you think too highly of yourself
Maybe you think too much of yourself
And people are like, no no
I listened to this preaching online before and it wasn't the same
Yeah it wasn't the same because you were sitting in your underwear
It wasn't the same because you were checking your email
Your taxi, I mean I know some of you are used to doing that anyway
It's not the same and then you show up to a church like this
And the man of God stands up and preaches the word of God
And you're like, I think he's talking about me
Maybe you've never experienced hard preaching
Maybe you've never experienced biblical preaching
You know that biblical preaching, hard preaching, those are synonyms
Those are synonyms, those are the same thing
You know that biblical preaching and hard preaching are specific preaching
It's specific, Isaiah 58, look at it, verse 1
Isaiah 58, verse 1
Look, you showed up to the Red Hot Preaching Conference
Why did you come here?
Isaiah 58, verse 1, look at the words
Cry aloud!
Why are you guys so loud?
Because the Bible says to cry aloud
Right, keep you awake
Right, get your attention
Cry aloud but then look at it, spare not
What does that mean, spare not?
It means to not refrain, to not forbear
To not hold back
To not water it down
Cry aloud, spare not
Lift up my voice like a trumpet
And, look at the words
And show my people their transgressions
And the house of Jacob their sins
Habakkuk 2, you don't have to turn there
Says this, that we need to make it plain
Easy to be understood
Listen, hard preaching is specific preaching
It's specific
And we're going to be specific
And we're going to name the names
And we're going to name the sin
And at times you're going to think, wow
You know, and we'll mention some movie
Or mention some whatever
And you'll be like, how does he know I'm watching that?
We don't, everyone's watching it
That's why we're bringing it up
It's specific
Hard preaching is specific
By the way, hard preaching is also at times explicit
What do you mean by that?
I'm talking about like sometimes we got to put like an explicit warning sticker on our sermons
You know what the Bible says?
The Bible says that the words of the Lord are pure words
I still have retried in the furnace of earth
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever
The Bible says that every word in the King James Bible is a pure word
You know the Bible sometimes uses words that our world deems as offensive
Sometimes the Bible uses words that people don't act like it's a curse word
But it's a Bible word
You say like what?
Like the Bible uses the word damn
And then you say the word damn from the pulpit
And people are like I can't believe you said that
It's like it's a Bible word
The words of the Lord are pure words
Bible uses the word hell
And then you use the word hell from the pulpit
And people are all offended like I can't believe you said that
Look, the Bible uses the word damn
The Bible uses the word hell
The Bible uses the word bastard
You know the Bible uses the word bastard?
It's a Bible word
So I don't think you should
Well look, it should be shameful
To have children out of wedlock
Obviously if you're here this morning and you've had children out of wedlock
And that's in your past, we love you and we want to help you
And we want to help you do right going forward
But we need to show the people of God their transgression
We need to make it plain
It needs to be specific
It needs to be explicit
The Bible uses the word damn
It uses the word hell
It uses the word piss
It uses the word faggot
No wait, not that one
That's the new IFB version
But what I'm saying is this
It's sometimes Bible preaching is offensive
Because it's so specific
And it's so explicit
And maybe you ought to consider the fact that maybe you just never actually heard
Bible preaching
Because let's just be honest
Not all preaching is created equal
And not all Baptists are created equal
Well I went to an intercontinental Baptist church
Good, I'm God
Praise the Lord
But maybe, just maybe
For the first time in your life
You're experiencing some hard preaching
And you're assuming
You're assuming that we have a lot more time
And we're just a lot smarter
I mean you must think we're smarter than we are
But we're not thinking about you and 275 other people
We're just preaching the Bible
Biblical preaching, hard preaching is specific preaching
Let me say this
Biblical preaching, hard preaching is applicable preaching
You're there in Isaiah
Go with me if you went to Ezekiel
Ezekiel chapter 33
We're talking about things you ought to consider
When you think the sermon's about you
And when you think that the pastor's preaching a sermon against you
You ought to consider that maybe it's the Holy Spirit speaking to you
Maybe you think too highly of yourself
But you ought to consider that maybe you've never actually experienced hard preaching
Because hard preaching is specific
Hard preaching is explicit
And hard preaching is applicable
You're there in Ezekiel 33
Ezekiel 33, look at verse 30
The Bible says
Also thou son of man
The children of thy people still are talking against thee
By the walls and in the doors of the houses
And speak one to another
Every one to his brother saying come I pray you
And hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord
Ezekiel had gotten a reputation of being a preacher of the word of God
And people thought that he was a good speaker
They thought he was an eloquent speaker
Ezekiel would have definitely been invited to the Red Hot Preaching Conference
And they're talking about him and they're saying
Come and hear what the word that cometh forth from the Lord
And they came unto thee as the people cometh
Verse 31
And they sit before thee as my people
And they hear thy words
Notice it though, here's the problem
But they will not do them
Listen to me very carefully
There's no point
There's no point of you going to church like this
There's no point of you getting on a plane and traveling to an event
Like the Red Hot Preaching Conference
Or you packing up your family and moving them across the country
To go to a church like this church
For you to sit there and say
Look at this preacher, look at Pastor Anderson
Look at these other pastors
Look at Pastor Mejia, look at Pastor Jones
Look at Pastor Pazarski, look at Pastor Thompson
Look at these men and they're so eloquent
And they're so powerful
And that's the kind of church I wanna go to
And I wanna sit in a church like this
Hey, there's no point of you sitting in a church like this church
If you're not gonna do what the preaching tells you to do
People are like, I never would go to a church that wasn't a soul winning church
And they don't go soul winning
I mean, figure that one out
I would never go to a church that wasn't King James
And I don't think you should go to a church that's not King James
But how about you read your King James
I would only go to a church that's King James
You don't read the Bible
And look, you can sit there and say
Ah, the preaching's powerful, ah, the preaching's great, ah, the preaching's eloquent, ah, the preaching's dynamic, ah, the preaching's awesome
But they will not do them
For with their mouth they show much love
But their heart goeth after their covetousness
Verse 32
And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song
As one that hath a pleasant voice
And can play well on an instrument
For they will, ah, for they hear thy word
But they do them not
And when this cometh to pass
Lo, it will come
Then shall they know
That a prophet hath been among them
You say, what is that context?
What is the this to hear when this cometh to pass?
You know the, when this cometh to pass
You know what the this is referring to?
The judgment of God
And look, you can read the Bible
And look, you can come to a church
You can move to a church
You can go to a conference
That tells you what to do
With your marriage
How to raise your children
How to live your life
How, all the things
Look, you can come to a church that tells you all these things
But if you don't do them
You're gonna end up having the same outcome
That everyone who doesn't go to a church like that
Do you understand that?
And then we get blamed
You know, because a sermon that will be preached another day
Right now I'm preaching on when you think the sermon is about you
Here's my other favorite one
When your life falls apart
And you're like, ah, that church, it didn't help
That church, it didn't work
I went to that church and it didn't work
No, nothing was wrong with the church
Nothing was wrong with the preaching
Nothing was wrong with the word of God
The problem was you
The word of God works, you didn't work
You can't just be a hearer of the word
You have to be a doer of the word
And biblical preaching is applicable preaching
We will apply it
Often times I'll write a sermon
I'll write an outline
And then I'll spend time just trying to think of
How can this principle, how can this thought
Be applied in different areas of life
In different ways, why?
Because it will not help you if you don't do it
And lo, thou art unto them
A very lovely song
Of one that hath a pleasant voice
And can play well on an instrument
For they hear thy words
But they do them not
And when this cometh to pass, lo, it will come
Then shall they know
That a prophet hath been among them
The only way that biblical preaching
Will help you is if you do it
And this is taught throughout the Bible
James tells us don't be a hearer of the word
But a doer of the word
A doer of the word
Jesus ended his famous, you don't have to turn there
Jesus ended his famous Sermon on the Mount
With the story of the wise man
That built his house upon the rock
And the foolish man that built his house upon the sand
What was the difference?
He said there in Matthew 7 24
You don't have to turn there
He said, Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine
And doeth them
I will liken him unto a wise man
Which built his house upon a rock
And in verse 26 he said,
Everyone that heareth these sayings of mine
And doeth them not
Shall be liken unto a foolish man
Which built his house upon the sand
And look, you ought to consider the fact
When you think the sermon's about you
You ought to consider the fact that maybe
Maybe you've just never experienced
Hard preaching
And look, you ought to grow up and decide
You're not going to be the type of person
That's just always offended
You know what the Bible says? The Bible says,
Great peace have they which love thy law
And nothing shall offend them
And all that is being preached
It should never offend you
It should never be something that causes you to stumble
Oh look, is it going to sting?
It's going to hurt? I don't know
I've never been stabbed with a sword
But I would imagine it hurts
And when the sword pierces through
And discerns the thoughts and intent of your heart
It may hurt
But you ought to decide
I love the word of God
And if the word of God is being preached
If the word of God is being preached
And applied to my life
But I'm not going to be offended
Great peace have they that love thy law
And nothing shall offend them
We're talking about what you should consider
What you should consider when you think the sermon's about you
And look, I hope that this sermon becomes somewhat
I don't know, just kind of this sermon that's just
Out there, fouled away in the back of your mind
You go home
You go back to your church
Or your very Baptist church
You come back to our normal services
And you start thinking
I think the pastor might be preaching a sermon about me
I hope that you'll go back and listen to this sermon
And remind yourself
That maybe, maybe you should consider
That it is the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you
Maybe you should consider
That you think too highly of yourself
Maybe you should consider
Maybe it's just hard preaching
And hard preaching is specific preaching
And it's explicit preaching
And it's applicable
Biblical preaching is applicable preaching
Maybe that's what you're experiencing
I'd like you to go with me if you would
To the book of 2 Samuel
2 Samuel chapter number 12
I think I've got a little towel in here
Is that correct?
Thank you
2 Samuel chapter number 12
In 2 Samuel chapter number 12
Chapter number 12, in verse number 1, I'd like you to notice this very famous story
in the Bible.
Remember David?
David was a great man of God.
The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart.
He was the great giant slayer.
He slew Goliath.
But if you remember, David fell into sin.
He committed sin, committed adultery with Bathsheba, committed murder, and had your
eye of the Hittite put to death.
As a result, David gets a visit from a preacher.
Look at it.
Psalm 12 and verse 1, excuse me, second Samuel 12 and verse 1.
Second Samuel 12 and verse 1, the Bible says this, and the Lord sent Nathan unto
David.
David has committed adultery with Bathsheba, put your eye of the Hittite to death.
He came unto him and said unto him.
Nathan the prophet begins to preach a sermon to David.
He says there was two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing to save
one little ewe lamb which he had brought up and nourished up and it grew up together
with him and with his children and did eat of his own meat and drink of his own cup
and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter.
David became a traveler unto the rich man and he spared to take of his own flock and
of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him but took the
poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him and David's
anger was greatly kindled.
David hears the story of a poor man that has one lamb, a very rich man that has much
herd and many sheep and lambs and he needs a lamb and instead of taking from the many
options that he had, he takes this one man's lamb and here's David's response verse
five and David's anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said to Nathan as
the Lord liveth the man that had done this thing shall shortly die and he shall
restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.
Look at verse seven and Nathan said to David thou art the man, thou art the man, thus saith the Lord God of Israel
I anoint to be king over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and he
goes on to give the application to the sermon. Why don't you notice how David responds?
Look at verse thirteen, second Samuel twelve thirteen, and David said unto Nathan, I think
this sermon's about me. Is that what he said? And David said unto Nathan, I have
sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also have put away
thy sin, thou shalt not die. You know I'm giving you these things to consider when
you think the sermon's about you. When you think the sermon's about you, you ought to
consider that maybe it's the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you. You ought to
consider that maybe you think too highly of yourself. You ought to consider
that maybe you've never actually experienced hard preaching. But you know
when you think the sermon is about you, and here's the thing I'm doing my
best to give you all the answers. So when you feel this way, you know you
can say well maybe it's this one, maybe it's this one, maybe it's this one. I know that some of you
are sitting here thinking, he's speaking about me. And you're like, I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied with any of those.
I don't think that's true. The Holy Spirit's speaking to me? Yeah, right.
Me thinking too highly of myself? I'm the most humble person I know. I mean hard
preaching, pastor, your preaching's not that great. Like some of you are thinking these things.
And you're thinking, none of these apply to me.
Okay, well let me give you one. Look, if none of them applied to you thus far, this one is going to apply to you. I promise.
When you think that the sermon is about you, yes, you should consider that maybe it is the Holy Spirit speaking to you.
And yes, you should consider that maybe you think too highly of yourself.
And maybe you should consider that you've never actually experienced hard preaching.
But if none of those satisfy you, then maybe you should consider this.
When you think the sermon's about you, maybe you should consider that just maybe the sermon is about you.
Maybe the sermon's about you. I mean Nathan shows up and preaches his whole sermon.
And David's like, man, that's terrible. I want to fix that. That's not okay.
And Nathan says, thou art the man. Thou art the man.
And I always think it's interesting, and look, just think about it. Think about it for a second.
Where? Because here's how people act. People act like, people act like a pastor's not allowed to preach a sermon against an individual.
A pastor's not allowed to preach a sermon against a person.
The pastor's supposed to stand up and preach generic sermons, just whatever, and when they happen to maybe apply to you, maybe if it's a good day, then you'll apply it.
But he's not allowed to preach. And here's the question I have. Where does it say in the Bible that preachers are not allowed to preach sermons about people?
Look, I'm not saying we do or we should. I mean, I'm sure we all have done it.
But where does it say in the Bible? I mean, Nathan didn't get that. He didn't get the note. He didn't get the memo.
Nathan must have missed that lesson in Bible college. Hey, Nathan, never preach a sermon about people.
I mean, the most famous sermon of Nathan was an audience of one, and when the audience of one, when it went over their head, because that's what normally happens,
Well, why can't you just try to say it in a way that doesn't just seem so directed at me? Because you don't get it. Because you don't get it.
He preached the sermon, and David's like, I'm so angry. And Nathan's like, it's you. It's you. Thou art the man.
I'm just asking the question, where does it say in the Bible that preachers are not allowed to preach sermons about people?
I mean, show me the verse.
Nathan, I'm not saying that we should or we do or that it's something we should do on a regular basis.
But look, isn't the whole point of going to church to get applicable, directed right at you preaching, is that the whole point?
I'm sorry, I just thought that's why you came to a conference called the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
It's always interesting to me how people leave offended. It's like, you came to a conference called the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
It's not called the Luke Worm Preaching Conference.
It's not called the, you know, old IFB, we're going to go golfing and not go soul winning conference.
It's called the Red Hot Preaching Conference. And then people, I preached about this last year, people invite their, you know, their family member that's not even safe.
Like, I'm going to get them to church. When are you bringing them? Pastor Shelley's sermon is like, ugh. Why?
But where in the Bible does it say, isn't the whole point to preach sermons to help you?
You know what the Bible says?
The Bible says to the congregation about the preacher, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls.
Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls that they may do it with joy and not with grief.
For that, the Bible says, is unprofitable for you.
And the Bible tells us that we are to watch for your souls. We as preachers are to watch for your souls. We're supposed to watch.
And when we see problems and issues in your life and in your marriage and with your family, we're supposed to try to help you.
But here's what people say. And I've had this conversation over the last 14 years multiple times.
Look, if you think the sermon's about you, it is. But it's about a lot of you. Because a lot of people think this.
And this is the idea that people have. People think, like, pastors should just preach these generic sermons.
And then if you see a problem in my personal life, you should approach me and talk to me about that.
And I understand that there's a time and a place for that.
But people get this idea, like, pastors should never preach sermons that are directed at anybody.
And you should just come to me. You should just come to me when you see me have a personal problem.
You should just come to me and talk to me and not preach a whole sermon.
Okay, here's the problem with that. And look, I realize most of you are not pastors and you don't understand this.
So I just want you, I just want emotional intelligence. I've been preaching about emotional intelligence.
I just want to help you understand and see it from our perspective, okay?
You say, you should just come to me when you see personal problems in my life, just come to me and talk to me about it.
Here's the problem with that. I don't think some of you realize how many problems you have.
You have a lot of problems.
I don't think you actually want me pulling you into my office every time I see a problem.
It's just going to be like a standing appointment.
It literally, you say, well, what would it be, pastor, if you just said, I'm going to give you permission,
you can pull me into the office and you can just talk to me when you see a problem,
you know, how often would that have to happen? I don't know, three times a week?
It'd literally be like a three times a week standing appointment.
So guess what? We already have it. It's called Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
Because I don't think you realize how many problems you have.
Well, just come to me personally. Look, I can't fix all your problems in one conversation.
I need an hour slot three times a week.
Pastor, if you think I've got some emotional intelligence problems, look, I have to preach on emotional intelligence for 11 weeks.
One hour sermons for 11 weeks. That's how many problems you've got.
You want me to pull you aside every time I see you doing something stupid? Really?
Where in the Bible does it say that preachers are not allowed to preach?
Sermons directed at people. I thought that was the whole point.
And look, I understand there's a time and a place to deal with certain. I understand that. I'm just saying to you,
I'm just saying to you that the Bible doesn't say never preach a sermon directed at anybody.
In fact, the Bible says the opposite of that.
And look, when you think that the sermon is about you, maybe instead of being angry at your pastor,
you should be thankful that there's a man of God who loves you enough to tell you the truth.
You know what the Bible says? The Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love.
You know what the Bible says? The Bible says that faithful are the wounds of a friend.
You know what Paul said? Paul said, Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
You know, it's like getting mad and angry and upset and getting all pissy.
It's a Bible word. Okay, not the Y.
I think he's preaching about me.
Maybe you ought to be thankful that there's a man of God who loves you and loves your family
and loves your testimony enough to try to help you, who's watching for your soul.
I'm saying, look, you're making some bad decisions here. You're going down the wrong road here.
I'm trying to help you.
Or how about this one? Maybe you ought to consider.
You know, people are always like, they always want to turn around on us.
I think you're preaching this sermon. You're preaching this sermon about me.
And they act. They act like we're doing something wrong.
But have you ever stopped to consider, whoa, I am such a pain in the neck
that my pastor felt the need to preach a whole sermon about me.
You ever thought about that one?
Maybe you should consider that one.
Instead of, I think he's preaching about me. Yeah, ask yourself, why is he preaching about me?
I'm such a stinking pain in the neck. I've been in such a problem.
Maybe you should listen.
I'm just trying to help you consider.
Say, pastor, I think you're preaching this sermon about me.
Like, I don't know most of you.
And your pastor didn't tell me to preach this.
I'm just trying to help you understand some things.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 4 real quickly.
We're almost done. We're going to go to 2 Timothy. We're going to Acts. We'll be done.
2 Timothy, Acts, we'll be done.
I'm just trying to help you understand.
And look, let me tell you something.
This is true for me, and I know it is true for many, many mature Christians,
pastors, pastor's wives, evangelists, deacons.
I know that this is true for me, and it's true of many mature Christians in this room.
I know it because I've talked to them, and I've asked them.
But you know that I know for a fact.
I know for a fact. I grew up an independent fundamental Baptist.
I've been a Baptist my entire life. I was a Baptist before I was saved.
I've been a Baptist my whole life.
I was born into an independent fundamental Baptist family.
And I know for a fact that throughout my life, I've had pastors preach sermons directed right at me,
multiple times, where there was no doubt in my life, he's talking about me right now.
I said, what did you do?
I got angry and just went on God.
You know, did you like it? No.
Was it fun? No.
You know what I did was I listened.
And I fixed it.
And I said, I have sinned.
Yeah, he's right. I shouldn't have done that. That was the wrong thing to do.
And I just fixed it.
And at the time, it wasn't joyful. At the time, it wasn't fun at the time.
But I look back on those times, and I say, man, praise the Lord that there are people in this world that love me enough to correct me.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend.
2 Timothy chapter 4.
Let me just end with a couple thoughts here.
We're talking about what you should do when you think the sermon is about you.
When you think the sermon's about you, you should consider that maybe it is the Holy Spirit speaking to you.
When you think the sermon's about you, maybe you should consider that maybe you think too highly of yourself.
When you think the sermon's about you, you should consider that maybe you've never actually experienced hard preaching.
When you think the sermon is about you, you should consider that maybe the sermon is about you.
Let me tell you something.
You should want the sermon to be about you.
You should want the sermons to be directed at you.
People wanting sermons that are not directed at them, they are the problem.
They are the problem with this country. They are the problem with Christianity.
2 Timothy 4, look at verse 2, you know the verses, famous words.
Preach the word.
Be instant.
What does that mean? It means ready.
At a moment's notice, be instant, in season, out of season.
What does that mean?
Whether it's popular or not.
Whether people like it or not.
Reprove means to admonish, correct.
Rebuke means to express sharp disapproval, reprimand.
Exhort means to encourage, to do right to counsel.
By the way, here we see that biblical preaching is two-thirds negative, one-third positive.
You know what most preaching out there today is? It's 100% positive.
Joel Osteen never says anything negative.
He never says anything bad.
You know why? Because he actually doesn't love you.
It would be a lot easier for me to just say generic things that I know are not going to offend you,
so you keep coming to church and keep putting money in the offering plate.
I say, why don't you do that? Because I'm not a false prophet.
Because I actually love the word of God, and I actually love and care for you.
And I'm watching for your soul. I'm trying to help you, and so is your pastor back home.
Preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.
Look at it, verse 3.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
But after their own laws, they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
There are people all over this country today, Sunday morning going to church,
all over this country, who are hoping the pastor will lie to them.
Who want to be lied to. Who want to be told fables.
They do not want a sermon preached directed at them.
And they're the problem, my friend.
So you know what you ought to consider?
What you ought to consider when you think the sermon's about you?
You ought to consider, I want the sermon to be about me.
I want the sermon to be directed at me because it's bad people.
It's bad people who don't want the sermons directed at them.
Go to Acts chapter 17.
Acts chapter 17, we'll finish up.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
Acts 17.
You know, let me say this.
And this isn't really part of my sermon, but I think it should be said.
You know that honestly, honestly, most of the time that people think the sermon's about them, it wasn't.
I mean, I've had so many people confess so many things to me over the years.
And they're like, you know when you preach that sermon about smoking?
And I'm like, I didn't know you smoked.
And you were preaching about me.
Well, I am now.
And it's like, I didn't know that.
Look, I'm not omniscient. I'm not God.
Most of the time, look, we get up here and we speak for an hour.
Some of us, some of us longer.
Hour.
Three times a week.
We say lots of things.
People think, oh, are you saying that because of me? Are you saying that about me? Are you saying that?
Just humble yourself.
You consider that maybe it's the Holy Spirit speaking to you.
Maybe you're thinking too highly of yourself. You need to humble yourself.
Maybe you've never actually experienced specific, explicit, applicable, hard preaching.
And maybe the sermon is about you.
Respond like David.
When Nathan says, thou art the man, you're right, Nathan.
I have sinned.
You should want the sermon to be directed towards you because people not wanting the sermon to be directed at them are bad people.
They're problem people.
They are the problem in this country.
They are the problem of so-called Christianity.
People who want to be lied to, who want to turn away their ears from the truth and be turned onto fables.
You should want the sermon to be directed at you.
Let me just say this.
You should show up to church ready to receive the word of God when it is revealed to you.
Even if it's directed right at you.
Act 17, verse 11, look at it.
You know the verse, but let's look at it.
Act 17, 11.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
This is God comparing and contrasting two different groups of Christians.
And He says these were more noble. He says these were better.
These were better Christians than those in Thessalonica.
The Berean Baptists were better than the Christians in Thessalonica.
And again, let me just say to you, not all Christians are created equal.
Some Christians are better than others.
What made these people better?
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
Look at it, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind.
Now usually when we go to this verse, we focus on these words.
And search the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
And that's good.
Praise the Lord.
You ought to search the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
You ought to read the Bible.
But you know the Bible doesn't just say that they search the scriptures daily.
That's what they did at home.
But what did they do when they were at church?
They received the word with all readiness of mind.
They were ready to receive the word of God.
They weren't doing this.
That's not for me, that's for you.
I think he's talking about you.
You know what they were doing?
They were ready to receive it.
They came to church hoping that the word of God would speak to them.
You know, when you go home and the pastor preaches a sermon,
and you think it's about you, thank the man.
Thank him for loving you.
For having enough boldness to stand up and preach the truth to you.
For watching for your soul.
And instead of getting angry and upset and mad,
why don't you decide to be like these Berean Baptists who received the word with all readiness of mind.
They wanted the preaching to be about them.
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you.
And Lord, we thank you for hard preaching.
I know that sometimes hard biblical preaching is not pleasant.
I know that sometimes it's not fun.
But Lord, I pray you'd help us.
I pray you'd help us to be the type of Christians who say,
maybe it's the Holy Spirit speaking to me.
Maybe I think too highly of myself.
Maybe it's just hard preaching.
Or maybe the sermon's about me.
And I should fix my problem.
Help us to receive the word with all readiness of mind.
And help us to search the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
Lord, I do thank you for the men of God
who stand up and faithfully preach your word.
It's not easy.
Sometimes we offend people, we upset people.
But we do it because we love them and we love the word of God.
I pray you'd help us to continue to do it.
In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen.
Alright, well we're going to go ahead and have brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song.
I just want to give you a couple of reminders.
Just real quickly for the rest of the day.
First of all, don't forget if you are a pastor here this morning,
we want to invite you and your family to the pastor's luncheon at 1230 p.m.
And you should have that information already.
If you don't see our deacon, brother Oliver, he can get that for you.
We'll also have soul winning today at 2 p.m.
We'd love for you to join us for soul winning if you'd like to be a part of that.
And then don't forget we have church tonight, 6 p.m.
The conference is not over.
We've got one more preacher, Pastor Joe Jones from Shield of Faith Baptist Church
is going to be preaching for us and you're not going to want to miss it.
So make sure you're here tonight.
We'll also have pizza after the service for dinner.
So you don't have to worry about dinner tonight.
We'll have dinner covered for you after the service out on the front lawn.
The sun should be down by then.
It should be cold.
We'll have a good time of fellowship.
We appreciate you being here and being part of this conference.
And we'll have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song.
Turn to song one hundred and twelve.
Song one, one, two.
One hundred and twelve.
All in the first.
Be still my soul
The Lord is on thy side
Bear patiently
The cross of grief or pain
Leave to thy God
To order and provide
In every change
The faithful will remain
Be still my soul
Thy best, thy heavy friend
Through thorny rays
Least to a joyful land
Good on the second
Be still my soul
Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future
As he has the past
I hope by confidence
Let nothing shake
All now mysterious
I'll be right
Be still my soul
The waves and wind still know
His voice will rule them while he dwells
Sing it out on the last.
Be still my soul
The hour is facing on
When we shall be
Forever with the Lord
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone
Sorrow foregone
Love's nourished joys restored
Be still my soul
When change and tears are past
All safe and blessed
We will be at last
Amen. Good singing before we leave here.
If anybody has any questions about salvation, church membership, or baptism,
the pastor will be at the door. He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained to talk to you about that.
Let's go ahead and close in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning's sermon, Lord.
Help us to apply these things to our lives, Lord, to humble ourselves before you.
Pray that you would be with us the rest of this day.
Be with the soul winners that go out, Lord.
Keep us safe. Bring us back to church safely this evening.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.