Thank you.
It is time to get started with service. Welcome back to Anchor Baptist Church.
If you would find a seat and grab a hymnal, our first hymn this morning, 296. Follow on.
296 there on the first
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day,
for another opportunity to gather together freely.
Lord, I just would pray that you would be with us all
for the services both this morning and this evening,
that you would open our ears to the preaching
and fill pastor and the men preaching this evening
with your spirit as they preach your word.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
For our next hymn, number 145,
it is well with my soul.
145 and we do want to do this in parts in the chorus so I think many of you are
probably familiar with it as well with my soul but that top part in the chorus
that it is well is the ladies on the top and then the men do the bottom portion
and of course the rest of it you seeing all together just seeing it in parts 145
it is well with my soul
One hundred forty-five on the first win
Genesis chapter number one verse five and we're stocked up on ice cream for
Wednesday so nice fresh ice cream for all the kids under 18 that can quote that
to any adult non-family member so keep working hard on that on the inside you'll
see our service times are listed Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening at 4 30
and our Wednesday Bible study through Proverbs at 7 o'clock
We do also have all of our soul winning times listed below there and of course Saturday is our soul
winning rally. Yesterday we got to do our SWAT team soul winning our soul winning action team
whenever there's like a tragedy in our neighborhood our community here and so there was an apartment
where this week there was a homicide and an attempted suicide that didn't work we went there
and we got five people saved yesterday and I think these SWAT team soul winning times are super
Now, I understand maybe it's not for everyone and if we're ever doing a SWAT team soul winning
and you're like, hey, I would like a regular nonviolent place map, I will always give that
to you.
You will not be judged whatsoever, but I think it's fun to go where the crazy stuff happens
and so we had a great time.
We also have some SWAT team merch now, which this is like a little Velcro patch.
Anyone is welcome to grab them.
They're at the front.
Just one per person please, but yeah, these are free for everyone.
Feel free to grab those.
So lots of fun there.
statistics for soul winning and baptisms. We're at 15-22 for the year. Praise God for that.
And Brother Theodore is still in the Philippines, so we're still getting weekly updates from him
and his soul winning as well. So please keep him in prayer. Upcoming events, of course,
this evening is our men's preaching night. We've got four guys signed up for this evening,
and then we will have a potluck and game night immediately after. So make sure to stick around
This upcoming Saturday is the Anadarko, Oklahoma, soul-winning marathon.
There is a sign-up sheet in the back. It's still not too late. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you for sure.
August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church, just right around the corner.
And also, very soon, is the Bahamas Missions Trip. That is October 6th.
through the 11th really excited about that trip coming up and this morning I'm preaching a sermon
kind of in preparation for that trip just to get us in the right mindset and so very excited for
the work coming up we do on the right have our visitor card qr code there as well as information
about giving online as well as our prayer list as always any requests please email me and I'd be
happy to add that for you that's going to be it for our announcements let's go to our third song
Our third song this morning, 410, faith is the victory, 410, 410, faith is the victory.
410, starting there on the first.
And in camp, along the hills of white,
ye Christian soldiers ride,
and press the battle there the night,
shall hail the glowing sky.
Our sword, the word of God, we tread the road, the saints above, with shouts of triumph drawn.
My faith, eh, like a whirlwind's breath, swept on.
It's pain
If you would do Matthew chapter 28 Matthew chapter number 28
Matthew chapter 28.
In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first
day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to
see the sepulchre and behold, there was a great earthquake for
the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled
back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was
like lightning and his raiment wide as snow. And for fear of
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus,
which was crucified.
He is not here, for he is risen.
As he said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly, and tell his disciples
that he is risen from the dead, and, behold, he goeth forth before you, and a Galilee,
there ye shall see him.
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and they run to bring his disciples word.
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, all hail.
And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him, then said, Jesus unto them,
Be not afraid, go tell thy brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me.
Some of the watch came into the city and showed under the chief priests all the things that were done and
when they were assembled
With the elders and had taken counsel
They gave large money under the soldiers saying say he his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept
And it and if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you
So they took the money and did as they were taught and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day
Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee
Undo a mountain where Jesus had appointed them and
When they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth
go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you
and lo, I am with you all way, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Hey man, Matthew chapter 28, very famous passage here starting verse 18.
The Bible says in Jesus came and spake unto them saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
This is what's known as the great commission and the reason that it's called great there is not necessarily it's physical size that we do have a large job physically to accomplish.
But it's talking about really its importance that this is the most important thing that we have been commissioned or ordained or told to do by the Lord Jesus Christ and it contains three parts here.
First, it talks about teaching all nations.
Now that's talking about preaching the gospel,
getting people saved.
We'll prove that in another passage,
but the second thing there is baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.
That's a very important part of the Great Commission.
I don't think it's as important
as getting people saved, obviously,
but you know, it's there, it's very important,
and teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you.
This would be talking about the edification
of the saints, people going to church,
Bible, all of God's commandments, you know, we've been ordained as Christians.
Jesus left us this job.
This is what he wants our church to be focused on primarily.
And there's a lot of churches today where soul winning is nowhere near the top of the list of priorities.
There's a lot of churches today, maybe they have soul winning, but let's be honest, the kids program takes precedence.
The building fund takes precedence.
A lot of other things is where their money and time and effort and energy is going into.
But you know, this is the most important thing that Jesus highlights.
This is the first works he talks about in Revelation.
This is the thing that if churches don't do, Jesus is mad at them in Revelation saying,
I'm going to come and take your candlestick away so you know this is really really important
But this morning I really want to focus on the first part of this
great commission here, which is teaching all nations.
And so the title of my sermon this morning is this,
Having the Right Mindset on Missions.
Because, you know, our church, thank the Lord,
we're about to be involved in a really great missions trip.
And this is gonna be the first missions trip
that we're involved in as Anchor Baptist Church.
And this trip, traditionally, has been extremely fruitful.
It is a really fun time.
It's just a great way to preach the gospel.
making sure that our church has the right philosophy on missions because I
don't want to do just this one trip and be like all right let's check it off the
box we've done a mission trip we're good you know this is something Lord willing
that we want to do very often that we want to do yearly in all sorts of
different places across the world and so we would need to make sure we have a
biblical mindset on this so number one
Missions should be focused on getting people saved.
Now, I know that sounds like just the most obvious statement ever,
but you'd be surprised if anyone has spent any time in the old IFB,
what we affectionately call the old IFB.
Their missions program, I'm just going to say it,
is not primarily focused on getting people saved.
And part of this I think is just the structure to how they have missionaries.
A lot of churches, they don't just have like a dedicated guy that is responsible to them
and is accountable to that church and that pastor that they're just supporting,
you know, these missionaries, they go out on deputation where they just go from church to
church to church and try to like sell them a pitch to get them to donate $10 a month,
$20 a month, $50 a month.
And the thing about that is, if our church is putting a $10 a month investment into something,
we're not really going to care about it as much as a church that's like fully supporting a guy
or fully putting their name behind a guy and sending someone out into a different country.
You're going to be a lot more invested in that model.
So that's one way of doing it is like sending a guy singular to go be an evangelist.
Like an example of this would be evangelist Duncan Urbanic.
Duncan Urbanek was a layman that attended steadfast at the time that I moved there in 2020 and I think he was there till like
2022 and he just was really faithful for years and years. He was really helpful in the ministry
He had a great zeal for soul winning. He had a great family really hard worker really great preacher great song leader
He's just a great guy and so Pastor Shelley ordained him
to go become an evangelist to the Philippines and man,
he has been doing a ton of great work for the Lord.
Same thing with who is now pastor, Matthew Stuckey.
He was once an employee of Verity Baptist Church
and he served there, I don't know for years and years,
five, six, seven years or something like that.
And then he got ordained as an evangelist.
went to the Philippines,
has planted like three or four churches,
has been getting tens of thousands
of people saved a year.
And man, that's a great way to get a lot of work done
in the Great Commission.
Here's another way to do it is do it yourself missions where we as a church, you know, a whole
bunch of people here are not necessarily ordained as an evangelist. It's not like you guys are going
to go move to the Bahamas and spend the rest of your life, you know, serving in the Bahamas.
But we're just of our own time, of our own resources, taking a week out of our life
and just going and preaching the gospel. Let me tell you something. We can get a lot of people
saved in that method.
And it's kind of a shame to a lot of the
moochinaries of the old IFB,
a lot of the evangelists that spend years and years
on the mission field, and their results are nil.
or their results are laughable compared to like a layman that actually just goes out for a week
and works really, really hard. But why is it that our church and churches like us get those kind
of results is because we understand this very, very basic point that the primary focus of missions
should be on getting people saved, not on building huts.
Not on giving clean water, not on passing out food, not on building schools.
I'm not saying those things are bad in and of themselves,
but what the primary focus should be on a mission strip is preaching the gospel.
Go to Mark chapter 16.
We saw in Matthew 28, Jesus taught us to teach all nations.
He gets a little more specific as to what that exactly means in Mark chapter 16 verse 15.
The Bible says and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
So now we're getting a clear picture of what he means by teach all nations it's to preach the gospel.
And you know what for people to get saved they need to be preached the gospel.
And how shall they hear without a.
Preacher Romans chapter number 10 says,
you know, we don't get people saved.
We talked about this a little bit yesterday
at our soul winning rally.
We don't get people saved
by this thing of lifestyle evangelism.
where we kind of just show how wonderful we are
and how great our family is
and how nice and friendly we are.
And we just have like this halo around us
and this angelic glow
that's just shining to the world,
saying, wow, there's something different about you.
Wow, what is it that's different about your family?
I want to come to Jesus.
That's not how it works.
You know what Jesus said works?
Go into all the world and preach the gospel.
And you know, we start here at home.
This is why we go in Oklahoma City.
and we knock on people's doors and we give them an opportunity to hear a clear presentation
of the gospel. Why? Because that's how people get saved. That's how great works for God
are done. It's not just from building a good church here in Oklahoma City that's going
to reach people here with the gospel and just kind of hope that they come into church and
just preach them down the aisle to do an altar call after the service. No, no, no, we're
going to go reach them.
We're going to go into all the world and you know, it's kind of funny how a lot of churches, they'll have this mission program, which really is them giving $5, $10, $15 a month to some missionary, and they're so concerned about their mission program when they haven't even checked off
off step one of preaching in their neighborhood.
and preaching in their city and preaching in their state.
And so look, I want to do missions,
but in order to do missions,
we need to be at least doing Oklahoma City first.
It's not like we're just neglecting our city
and then going to the Bahamas.
No, no, no, we're gonna go preach in Oklahoma City
and next Saturday, we're gonna go preach in Anadarko
and we're gonna constantly have soul-winning marathons
across this state and this country.
And then on top of that,
we're gonna go preach the gospel to all the world.
Look, that is what we should be focused on.
I'm all for people going to Africa and helping starving people, giving them food.
I think that's great.
I think it's great to give people clean water or to build school or whatever it is that
they're doing, but not at the expense of preaching the gospel.
Because what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
Like what does it profit for us to take our church money and go give some hungry kids
like how is that like do you just pat yourself on the back at night old IFV
passers like you just feel so great about that that you spent some money to
build some schools as they're going to hell
Let me tell you, the primary focus should be on preaching the gospel.
And the reason why we should review this is because here's the thing.
When we go on this trip, we are going to have a lot of fun.
And I am for that, and we're going to have a whole point talking about that in a minute here.
But you should have this mentality right now that, okay, it's going to be a fun trip.
It's going to be a vacation in a sense.
But the primary thing that we are there to do is to work.
The primary thing that we are there to do is to preach the gospel and you know even even my wife
We were discussing like back in January. Hey, you know, what are we gonna do? Let's schedule out our year
And we were kind of deciding back and forth,
are we gonna go between the King James Conference,
Sure Foundation, or are we gonna go
to the Bahamas Mission Trip?
I said, hey, we could do one of these,
we can't do both of these.
And we both kind of wanted to do the Bahamas Mission Trip,
but I just said, hey, you know, we've got young kids
and it's gonna be tough, but here's the thing,
if we go on this trip, we are gonna be working hard.
We are going to be preaching the gospel.
We are going to be involved in all the events.
We're going to work extra hard and not let our kids be an excuse
to hold us back from working hard.
Hey, if you're planning on going on this trip,
have the mindset to work because this is what Jesus emphasized.
The primary focus should be on the work.
If you've never been in the old IFB world, I tell these old IFB stories and I understand some of you have no idea what I'm talking about.
And so that's why last night I just found a random IFB missionary letter, okay?
And here's the thing, I don't know who this guy is, he could be a good guy, he could be saved.
I'm not saying necessarily anything against him personally, but I just found a random missionary letter.
And in the old FB, you constantly get these missionary letters
from these guys that you're paying 10 cents a month
and you're like sponsoring them.
You're like they're sending church or whatever.
Random guy, all right?
So here's the thing.
This one is not even the worst I've ever seen
because I just picked a random one.
But this is, I think this is a good sample
of what these are looking like.
Let me just read this prayer letter for you.
It says this, in the last several months we've had more visitors from outside of Italy visit
our family than any other year since we have been here, so these are missionaries to Italy.
All of the guests were tremendous and a huge blessing to us.
Two of the visitors were some of our previous church members.
We were also visited by one supporting pastor, one assistant pastor of a supporting church,
We thank, especially, Bethel Baptist Church for sending their pastor and his wife over
for a whole week.
It was a bit of a rough time for our family health-wise, but we were also grateful for
the time that they gave us.
Two of the preachers spoke in our church while they were here, and I know that our people
were edified by their preaching.
After all of that, we went down to Grissetto to participate in the first annual summer
camp for kids, hosted by Missionary Paul Childers.
for our kids so notice the first half of this missionary letter it's just like hey people
came and visited us and this one pastor minister to us and these two other guys came and preached
for us and we were like edified by their preaching oh and then we went to this summer camp that was
really fun for our kids and it's like wait a second aren't you supposed to be ministering
to the people of italy like aren't you ordained as a missionary to go and i don't know minister to them
Like, shouldn't you be visiting them and preaching for them?
And shouldn't your kids be soul winning to them?
And it's like, this is your missionary update.
So this is the highlight.
Like, this is the best of what's going on.
Because obviously, if you're a missionary,
you're going to update with the best stuff that's going on.
OK, well, this is the greatest stuff
that happened in this evangelist life.
Pastors came and visited him.
Ex-church members came and visited him.
Assistant pastors came and preached for him.
And his kids went to a summer fun camp.
Wow, don't you just want to get your checkbooks out right now?
I mean, you need to write this guy a thousand dollar check, and you're going to be so rich
in heaven because of all the work that he's doing.
What is this?
How is this a missionary here?
He said the camp was fun and uplifting for our kids.
The first week was for younger children and the second week was for teenagers and young adults.
The first week was quite hot with temperatures in the mid 90s all week.
Wow, we really needed that detail.
What was the temperature on your kid's summer camp?
Oh, here's more money. Let me just help you out even more.
What in the world?
But the setup worked well and everyone was able to stay cool for the most part.
Our kids don't have a lot of other friends and this was very good for them spiritually.
So again, it's just like all about him and his family and his kids and how they're being benefited by everything.
At the end of the first week of camp, there was a nationwide missionary gathering for the 4th of July.
So he's a missionary, he's in Italy and they're like, we're still celebrating Independence Day, amen.
We're having our 4th of July barbecue because I'm an American.
It's like, come on bro, you're in Italy.
You don't need to update us on your 4th of July party.
Wow.
We sang a lot of songs,
and Pastor Mayetta taught about Baptist history in Italy.
So what are you doing?
It's just like, here's all these other things
that everyone else is doing.
These other pastors are teaching,
what are you doing?
Followed by a cookout.
That's great.
Last time we had a fellowship like this was in 2022.
Amidst all the visitors, we have been able to plant and care for a garden for the first time in Italy.
Man, aren't you so glad?
This evangelist has planted a garden in Italy.
That's the work of the Lord right there.
Man, can you see why some people have a bitter taste in their mouth about missions and about evangelists?
Because a lot of them are like this, lazy, not ministering to other people,
not getting their worth of the church's money from them.
He said this I finished my master's program from Hiles Anderson College, which I started in 2011
We also had two baptisms at our church. Finally. We finally get one work for the Lord being done mentioned
You had two baptisms towards the end of your prayer letter
He said, both were single young men and who have attended for some time.
We are excited for them in their future lives walking with the Lord.
We are also reminded again about how thankful we are to have a portable baptistry.
Just this last weekend, we were out preaching the gospel finally.
We finally get to, you know, you're doing something here.
Just as last weekend, we were out preaching the gospel one-on-one with people.
And remember, he's going to give us best highlights.
This is the best highlights that he's going to give us sending churches.
We had a long but encouraging conversation with a young man named Alessandro.
But an elderly lady shocked and saddened us when she said in all seriousness
that Pope Francis was greater than Jesus.
There is still so much work to do here and the laborers are few.
The end.
Wow, so it's like, here's my missionary update.
Man, a lot of people came and ministered to us.
It was wonderful.
Our kids went to a summer camp.
It was hot, but we stayed cool for the most part.
Don't worry, kids don't have a lot of friends.
So it's really nice that they had this spiritual boost.
Also, I planted a garden.
That was fantastic.
And we had two baptisms and we went out
preaching the gospel and here was the coolest thing.
We had a long and encouraging conversation with one man.
who didn't get saved because he was interrupted by a demon-possessed Catholic woman saying that
the Pope is greater than Jesus.
I mean, aren't you excited for old IFB missions, folks?
Wow.
And I literally just looked up IFB missionary letters.
Like, I did not spend hours scouring
for the funniest story or something like this.
This is what's out there.
This is the state of missions today in a lot of churches.
Now, let me give you the 2024 recap letter
from Pastor Matthew Stuckey in the Philippines.
Let's see what a real evangelist looks like.
And I'm not reading the whole thing,
I'm just giving the highlights here.
He said, greetings from the Philippines.
We appreciate your prayer and support
and want to update you on the exciting events
that occurred during 2024.
Since this newsletter is for the entire year,
we will be formatted,
this will be formatted a little bit differently
than other newsletters.
During 2024, we had a total of 15,746 salvations
between our four churches.
Now that's,
What's the difference between this random bozo and Pastor Matthew Stuckey?
Pastor Stuckey understands point one of the sermon this morning is that the primary focus
of missions is preaching the gospel, not church camp, not your garden, not all you being ministered
to.
No, it's you going out and preaching the gospel.
And when you get a spirit filled man who really believes that and who's really going to put that into practice,
you end up with getting 15,746 salvations in one year.
And you know what? I believe that number.
That's not video game numbers.
I believe that number with the number of labors they have and how receptive I've heard the Philippines is.
This is not one, two, three repeat after me.
This is thorough soul winners doing a good job, 15,000 plus salvations.
Then he breaks it down by church Salvation Report Verde Baptist Church Manila
11,938 VBC Papanga
2083 VBC
Bickel, I don't know if I'm saying that right
1042 VBC Warsaw, so that's in Poland
683 salvations
That is great work for the Lord being done.
Here's the thing, you know, we had two of our soul winners go out and spend a couple of months in the Philippines.
These guys aren't even ordained. They're not evangelists.
They're not taking a paycheck from churches where they need to update this prayer letter, this, you know, missionary update, okay?
And in a couple of months, our two soul winners have had 1,152 salvations just for our church.
Not talking about when they were also joining Verity and doing work with them.
That's two guys in a few months, 1,152.
You know, you could just make your prayer letters pretty short when you're getting those type of results.
It's like, hey, thanks for praying for us. We've gotten this many people saved. The end.
That's going to satisfy people because, you know, we actually care about reaching people with the gospel,
not just paying people to, you know, avoid secular work.
It's like a lot of missionaries. They just want to go into the ministry.
and become some sort of evangelist just because they're lazy.
They just want to sit on their butt in a foreign country on a lifelong vacation,
taking their kids to summer camps and playing in the garden
while taking a paycheck for that. You know what? It's insane.
And I think that the old I've been needs to completely scrap their missions model 100%.
The idea of deputation needs to be absolutely destroyed.
You know, but part of the problem is you got people just so into Bible college
nowadays where they're not really accountable to any pastor or any church.
Look, if you want to be a missionary, if you want to be an evangelist,
this is what you should do. You should join a church that is on fire about soul
winning,
that cares about soul winning, that cares about reaching the lost.
You should serve in that church for a long time,
get proved,
Get tried in the fire, if you will.
Serve, work super hard, be a blessing,
become a better preacher, learn the ministry,
and then get sent out, if that's God's will for your life,
and do a great work for the Lord.
That's one great option, or here's another great option.
Live your life here in Oklahoma City,
live your regular life, and say,
hey, once a year, I'm going to the Bahamas.
Hey, once a year, I'm going to the Philippines.
Once a year, I'm gonna go do whatever mission trip
is going on in the new IFV over the span of your lifetime.
You're going to get thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people saved if you're working super, super hard and you could do a lot more as a layman making these once a year trips than a bunch of old IV missionaries spending their whole life on the mission field.
And so you know what, I think that just laymen here,
just people that go to church,
I think that you could have great rewards in heaven
and have great results if you just really internalize
this first point that the purpose of going on a mission
strip is to work for the Lord and to preach the gospel.
Let's go to, if you will, Matthew chapter number 10,
Matthew chapter number 10, number two this morning.
Missions should be geared towards receptive areas.
Here is another philosophy that we differ
from a lot of other churches on,
is that the old IFB, they will just send people
a lot of times to very unreceptive countries.
And you know, you got the proverbial missionary to Israel,
except it's not proverbial, it actually happens.
There actually are those people.
And it's like, it does not make sense.
to take our men, our good preachers, our soul winners and send them to a place where they're
going to be banging their head against the wall for the rest of their life. Now, look, I'm not
saying we could never, ever spend any time going to a place that's not as receptive as the Philippines
or something like that, but I think that we should primarily focus our efforts on the poor,
on the receptive, just like we do here in Oklahoma. Matthew 10 verse 11
Jesus said, and into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire in it, who in it is worthy and thereby till you go thence, and when you come into an house, salute it, and if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when you depart out of
that house or city shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you it
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of
judgment than for that city.
Notice the mentality Jesus wanted his disciples to have.
Hey, when you go to a city, when you go to a house,
let your peace abide on it, right?
You want to give them the benefit of the doubt.
You're there to preach them the gospel.
You're there to minister to them.
But if they reject you, if they don't want you,
he's saying, hey, shake the dust off your feet and leave.
He's not saying, well, you know, give them a hundred chances.
give them 200 chances, try to build a personal relationship with them, and hopefully in 20 years,
they'll get saved. No, he's saying like, go to them, offer it to them. If they say no, bounce
and leave. You know, this is even what we do on a micro level here in Oklahoma City.
When we knock on a door, if someone is not interested, we are ready to go to the next door.
And you know, I don't like it when people are just sitting there and they just have to argue with every single person
and they just have to shove their foot into the door and they have to preach to every person even if they're not interested.
You're wasting your time.
And let me tell you something, it's not biblical.
It's not what Jesus wants you to do.
Jesus wants us to take the little amount of time that we have in our lives and go to those that are receptive.
Go to Acts chapter number 13.
Let's take a look at Paul's first missionary journey.
Obviously very applicable with what we're talking about here.
Acts chapter number 13, verse number 38.
Acts 13-38, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
And by him all that believe are justified from all things
from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.
So just to give you some context here, what is Paul doing?
He's preaching the gospel.
He's fulfilling the great commission here.
He's on a missionary journey.
This is his first missionary journey.
And what is he doing?
He's preaching the gospel, verse 40.
Beware therefore, lest that come upon you,
which is spoken of in the prophets.
Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish.
For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe,
though a man declare it unto you.
And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue,
the Gentiles besought.
that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
So here we have a dividing line that occurred.
Paul's out, he's preaching the gospel, the Jews are what?
They're not listening really.
But the Gentiles, they're beseeching him
that the words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
What is that?
That is receptivity.
The Gentiles here are the ones that want to hear the gospel,
that want to believe on Jesus Christ,
that want to hear the word of God preached unto them.
And so it would be wise obviously for Paul in this situation
to go back and keep preaching to the Gentiles,
which is of course what God wanted him to do.
And you know, even here in Oklahoma City, I often pray,
Lord, please lead us to people that are receptive.
Please lead us to people that want to hear the gospel
because I'm not trying to just waste my time.
I don't want to just knock on the door of every, you know, orthodox Jew.
That would be a really crappy soul-witting time.
It's just like orthodox Jew, orthodox Jew, orthodox Jew.
You're not getting people safe, folks.
Maybe, you know, once in 10 years.
But, you know, when you run into a bunch of Baptist or Catholics or evangelicals,
these people are a lot more easy to get saved.
And so we want to reach people that are receptive.
Verse 43.
Now, when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
And the next Sabbath day, notice, came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
So that's obviously a great positive sign that, you know, not all people are the same when it comes to receptivity.
Not all areas are as receptive as others.
This is even true in the U.S.
You know, I've lived in California, Idaho, Washington,
and you could get people saved over there.
I'm not doubting that whatsoever.
There's churches doing great works for the Lord over there.
God bless those people. They're doing a great work.
But I'm just saying, Oklahoma is way more receptive
than Idaho and Washington and California.
It's not even questionable.
And so, hey, I thank God that we live.
in a place like that, we should not take that for granted.
We should do great works here in Oklahoma.
And if we say, hey, we want to spend some time and money
and resources and effort and energy to go into the world,
to do what we do here, why don't we pick a place
that's more receptive than Oklahoma even?
If those places exist, why would we not want to go there?
First, verse 45.
But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken
by Paul
contradicting and blaspheming. So the Bible is making it very very clear here and unless you just deny reality
this is so obvious that the Gentiles are way more receptive than the Jews.
And guess what? It was that way in the New Testament when these events were taking place. It's that way now.
It is a foolish endeavor to take a good preacher, a good soul winner and be like, let's send him to Israel.
Let's send him to the Jews.
No, no, no, they're the exact same way as they are then.
They see the multitudes, they're filled with envy,
they speak against those things which were spoken by Paul.
The Bible says in the New Testament
that concerning the gospel, that they're enemies.
They're enemies according to the work of God.
The Jews are, we wouldn't want to go to them first.
Now here's the thing, of course, we still love the Jews.
We still want to get them saved.
If I knock on the door,
of a Jew here in Oklahoma City,
I'm gonna lovingly try to give that person the gospel.
And man, I haven't gotten a Jew saved before,
but I would love to do that someday.
That'd be wonderful.
I've gotten Muslim saved, I've gotten Hindu saved.
You know, I believe that there are Jews out there
that can get saved, but why would we go to them
as our primary focus?
Doesn't make sense, it's foolish.
Verse 46, then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said,
it was necessary that the word of God
should first have been spoken to you.
But seeing he put it from you and judge yourselves, notice, unworthy of everlasting life, low
we turn to the Gentiles.
So Paul, the greatest missionary who's ever lived, he agrees with my point this morning
that we should spend our time.
going to the receptive areas.
Now here's the thing, Paul,
because he had such a love for his brothers
and he loved the Jews personally,
he kind of had this blind spot
where he's saying the right thing here,
but his actions didn't always line up.
He's like, man, I'm done with you Jews.
I'm going to the Gentiles.
You flip the page,
he's gonna keep trying to get the Jews safe.
And finally, the Holy Ghost is gonna have to forbid him
to keep doing all these trips with the Jews here.
But he's saying, hey, it's necessary
that they came to the Jews first,
but they've judged themselves
unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
And today, the Gentiles, the world,
the non-Jews of this world is where
we should be spending our time and
energy and focus on places like
the Bahamas.
But the Bahamas is an extremely receptive country and the people there are very respectful towards the word of God
Everyone there is King James only which is amazing like all the kids are King James only you go and you preach in the public schools
There which Lord willing will be able to do that King James Bible verses on the wall
All the ladies are skirts and dresses the young men are like shirts and ties and school uniforms
And they're respectful and they listen to you
and they love the preacher, they pay attention to the preacher,
that sounds like a great place to preach the gospel.
And so, man, get excited to get a lot of people saved
because if you come with us to the Bahamas,
we are going to a receptive place.
If you've never been on a mission trip,
you are going to be blown away because here's the thing.
If all you've experienced is Oklahoma...
You don't, you don't know what you don't know.
So I've experienced like Vancouver, Washington, California, Idaho.
I come to Texas, Oklahoma.
I'm like, the soul winning here is amazing.
It's fantastic.
It's wonderful.
Then you go to the Bahamas and it's a whole different level.
So I'm excited for you guys to experience that.
Look at verse 47.
For so hath the Lord commanded us saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles
that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Notice the result, and the word of the Lord
was published throughout all the region.
So when you actually stop banging your head
against the wall, going to the Jews,
and you turn towards the receptive people,
the result is the word of the Lord
is spread throughout all the region.
That's what's happening in the Philippines right now.
All sorts of different islands are getting
tons of people saved there,
tons of new churches starting there.
We need to go to the receptive countries first.
Let's focus on Mexico.
Let's focus on the Bahamas.
Let's focus on the Philippines,
you know, before we go to Iceland.
Before we go to Afghanistan, before we go to North Korea or Norway, and look, I'm not saying that we could never touch any of these areas,
but what I am saying is the majority of our efforts should be focused on receptive areas.
There's a lot of really zealous soul winners at Faithful Word where they're not ordained evangelists,
but they kind of just go out throughout all the world all the time.
They're going on these cruise mission trips.
And they've done a whole bunch in the Caribbean and just in these really receptive parts of the U.S.
But I saw they're doing one in Northern Europe soon.
Hey, I'm not against that.
You can get people saved in Northern Europe.
I've gotten someone saved in Germany.
They're soul-winning clubs in Germany, getting lots of people saved.
But here's the thing, they're not going to Northern Europe every time.
You know, they're going to the Bahamas a lot.
They're going to the Caribbean islands a lot.
Then, hey, we're going to go do a Northern Europe trip too.
I'm not judging anyone that goes to a place that's not as receptive as the Philippines, okay?
But we get the idea, we should focus on those things.
And this would be the exception, I would think.
Let's say you're already in an unreceptive country.
Let's say like, hey, I'm Joe Blow living in Norway,
and I live here, and I love the people here,
and I wanna see a great work of God being done here.
I wouldn't be against that person, of course,
getting, hooking up with another church
and starting a great work for God in their area.
That's great.
But if you're going to move somewhere to be a missionary,
you should choose somewhere receptive.
I even looked at it this way with pastoring.
I'm not from Oklahoma City, I didn't grow up here,
but hey, if I'm gonna uproot my family
and move to a place to be a pastor,
I wanna move to a place that's very receptive.
And you know, there was a lot of different places
that were on the table for me,
but one of the greatest things about Oklahoma
is how receptive this place is.
And hey, if I'm gonna be in the ministry and work
and do the work of God my whole life,
I wanna do it in a place where I could actually
get a lot done.
I don't wanna go move to San Francisco, California.
just because I'm moving.
You know what I mean?
Like I want to live in a receptive area.
Go to Acts chapter number 16.
Acts chapter number 16.
Verse number six, it says,
Now when they had gone throughout
and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.
So notice, the Holy Ghost is guiding them of where to go, where not to go.
Why? Because God doesn't want us wasting our time in unreceptive areas.
Again, this is why it's important to pray that God leads us to receptive people.
After they were come to Messia, they assayed to go in Biphenia, but the Spirit suffered them not.
And they passing by Missiah came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us.
And after he had seen the vision immediately, we endeavored to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us forward to preach the gospel unto them.
So, you know, I believe that the Spirit of God is heavily involved, obviously, in mission's work.
And here, Paul has his idea of where he's going to go, what he's going to do.
But in certain situations, the Spirit suffered him not.
The Spirit didn't want him to go there. Why?
Because there was people in Macedonia that were calling out, that were wanting to hear the gospel.
And so, we should always be praying and being sensitive to God's leading us,
that God would, you know, open the right doors for us.
Let's say, you know, for example, a place I would like to go someday is Uganda.
I would love to go preach the gospel in Uganda.
Why? Man, because they have a really cool president that says, why are you gay?
OK, you are gay.
You guys know what I'm talking about?
The funny video on YouTube.
Yeah, you know, they don't like the LGBT over there.
And I'm like, you know what, I like you guys.
I want to go get you saved and preach you the gospel.
And it's funny.
I was doing some research like, is it safe for Americans to go visit Uganda?
And it was saying like, oh, man, there's a.
the U.S. Department travel advisory against traveling to Uganda because of how they treat
the LGBT.
I'm just like, sign me up, man.
I want to go to Uganda even more now.
But here's the thing.
So, you know, I have a personal desire to someday go to Uganda and I'm going to pray.
God, lead us to countries that are receptive.
Lord, if this is a good opportunity, open the right doors for us to be able to do that.
and we want to be sensitive to God opening and closing those doors.
And if God opens the door to Uganda someday and we're able to do that,
praise God. And if we go to the Bahamas, praise God.
You know, and if I'm just like, man, you know, I just really want to go to Norway
someday because, you know, that's where my ancestors are from
and that door just stays closed, well, we just need to be sensitive to that.
You know what I mean? Because here, this man of Macedonia,
he's praying, he's calling out, and God is working on the other side.
This man in Macedonia, he's not seeing this happen,
but God's working on the other side of the situation here,
and he's moving Paul, and he's guiding Paul,
and he leads Paul to him.
You want to know why I think the Bahamas
is getting so many great soul winners?
Because the people there are hungry for the Word of God.
You want to know why the Philippines
are getting such great pastors and evangelists
and soul winners?
It must be because people are crying out
and asking for God, and asking for wisdom,
and asking for the gospel,
and the Holy Spirit is leading people to do that.
God is definitely involved in this.
Go back to Acts 13, number three,
when it comes to having the right mindset on missions,
if you're going to do missions, expect opposition.
Expect opposition and you know this is one of the reasons why I'm preaching this now months in advance of this mission strip
Because let me tell you something spiritual warfare is very very real
And if we're gonna go endeavor to do a great work for God, you should expect opposition look at Acts 13 verse 4
So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.
One thing I want to point out of that verse is that they are perfectly in the will of God here.
He's being sent forth by the Holy Ghost. Paul's not doing anything wrong. He's on the right track.
He's doing the right thing. Verse 5.
And when they were at Salimus, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John to their minister.
And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false
prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus.
which was with the deputy of the country,
Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul
and desired to hear the word of God.
So notice, Paul and the soul winners that are with him,
they are right with God, they are doing exactly what God wants them to be doing.
They're out preaching and here's this false prophet, this Jew, this sorcerer,
who is about to get in the way of a guy who wants to hear the Word of God.
Notice how it said he wanted to get the Word of God there.
Notice verse 8,
And let me tell you something, if you go out and you desire to do a great work for God,
the devil is not going to take that lying down.
The devil will oppose you.
The devil will try to stop us.
You know, I've had situations very similar to this happen to me, specifically in the Bahamas,
where I remember one time I was soul-winning with Brother Ben, and I walked up to these three people.
They were probably in their young 20s, and man, they were so receptive.
so respectful, I was towards the end of my gospel presentation, things were going great,
but this super wicked false prophet came up and was just being unbelievably loud and just screaming
and just getting in my face and just not allowing me to continue. And I literally thought the guy
was going to physically attack me, like he was so angry and just so bombastic. And it was so
distracting. I could no longer preach to these people. I mean, I screamed at this guy, I rebuked
I could no longer preach to these people, so the only thing I could really do
is just play interference while Ben was preaching the gospel.
And you know, obviously in that situation it happens, you can do what you can do,
and at least the people that Ben was preaching to got saved.
But here's the thing, those three people, I believe that those people would have gotten saved.
But what happened? The devil's coming after us.
You have to realize that you're not going to just be unopposed.
We're not just going to waltz into the Bahamas and waltz into the Philippines
and just waltz into thousands and thousands of salvations and expect no
problems, no stress, no issues, no people coming after us.
I'm not saying for sure bad stuff will happen,
but what I'm saying is you should expect that.
You should be ready for that and not be surprised if it happens.
Notice Paul's
Reaction, then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtlety, and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord.
Now this is the right reaction to have.
Not just someone who's a little confused, doesn't understand,
but someone who's just wicked, who's trying to turn away other people from the faith,
you have my full backing to rebuke the fire out of that person
for the sake of the individual's listening.
It's not like you're going to convince him,
this guy's a reprobate you're dealing with, this guy's wicked you're dealing with,
but hey, I wanted those three kids to know that this person's a false prophet,
teaching lies,
going to hell, not teaching the right thing.
And hey, notice that Paul did this
when he was filled with the Holy Ghost.
Not this, you know, new evangelical style of Christianity who probably would come give him a hug and just let's pray for you brother
You know, it's okay. No, no, no, there's a time to rebuke and when people are turning away others from the gospel
That's a time to rebuke and of course you got to be strategic with this too because keep in mind
What's your soul winning partner doing? Is he involved in a gospel presentation?
You may sometimes just need to play interference and just talk to this retard for a few minutes while your soul winning partner gets them saved
Obviously, if Ben wasn't preaching the gospel,
I would have just left that guy and come back to those three
later, found him later.
Notice says in verse number 11,
and now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee,
and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.
Man, I wish I could do that.
And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness
and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
Then the deputy when he saw what was done,
believed being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
Wouldn't that be cool?
I mean, you ever had a situation like that
where some devil's trying to turn people away
from the gospel?
Wouldn't it be nice to just be like, blind, you know?
But, you know, you could at least pray.
And there's this thing in the Bible called imprecatory prayers, and boy, lately have
I seen those prayers come to fruition, so don't be afraid to send those up to the Lord.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number three.
What are some ways that the devil might come after you at a mission strip?
Well, one is like false prophets like we just talked about when you're out soul-winning
You may expect this to happen to you for false prophets to come at you get in your face get angry
Prepare yourself for that now mentally. Here's another thing that could happen persecution
Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 12,
yea, and all that will live godly in Christ, Jesus,
shall suffer persecution.
You know, of our brothers in the new IFB
that have done lots of missions work,
there has been people that have suffered persecution.
You know, I think about the trip to,
what was the trip, was it Guyana?
I think there was a,
I forget exactly what country it was in Africa,
but Pastor Anderson and multiple other soul winners
literally got arrested and deported.
Now look, I'm not expecting for us to get arrested
and deported in the Bahamas,
but here's the thing, you should just realize,
hey, anything can happen.
And so why I'm preaching this now
is so that we can all fervently, consistently pray
that things go well, that God opens that door.
for us wide, that the gospel can just thrive over there,
unhindered from persecution,
and so that you could mentally prepare yourself now
of how you're gonna handle that.
Are you gonna be steadfast?
Are you gonna stand if that happens?
Again, I'm not trying to scare you away
from doing a missions trip.
I want you to come.
I don't anticipate anything bad happening in the Bahamas,
but it can happen, okay?
I'm not gonna lie to you.
It can happen, you should be ready.
Here's another thing that could happen.
in anticipation for a mission trip, and that is spiritual attacks.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 5.
Spiritual attacks.
1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 8.
The Bible says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,
as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
He's saying, hey, be aware, be sober, have a clear mind and clear thoughts about the reality that the devil does walk about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
And again, we're talking about this months in advance because now is the time that the devil would love to come after Anchor Baptist Church, Steadfast Baptist Church.
Now is the time where the devil would love to come and tempt you to sin.
Tempt you to get backslidden from church,
tempt you to stop reading your Bible,
stop soul winning, stop praying.
Now is the time where the devil would love to sow division
and discord in our church
and cause us to be at odds one with another.
And look, I'm not aware of any of that stuff happening right now,
but I'm saying if it's gonna happen,
now would be the time.
Now would be the time you know you might start fighting with your wife now is the time where finances might start hitting you bad
Now is the time it might be rough in your marriage your child ring
So what I'm saying is hey all that stuff spiritual tax is real. We wrestle not against flesh and blood
We're in a spiritual battle. So now in anticipation of our trip. You need to remain steadfast
Now is not the time to stop reading your Bible to stop soul winning to ease off the gas now is the time to stay unmovable
and realize that it's super super important so that we don't give the devil an advantage
over us. Go to Isaiah chapter 65. 1 Corinthians 15 58 says therefore my beloved brethren be
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your
labor is not in vain in the Lord. And you know these spiritual attacks while I said that right
some of the things that have been happening over the last few months, some of the situations
that I know about that's going on out there in Christians lives, I do think that a lot of that
has to do with the fact that the new IFB, our church, other churches are doing a great work for
the Lord and are striving to do greater works for the Lord. And like I said, the devil's not going
to take that lying down. So we got to be vigilant. We have to be steadfast. Number four, when it comes
Right mindset, rather, on missions.
Number four, don't be a holier than thou on a missions trip.
Please don't be a holier than thou on a missions trip.
I'll explain what I mean by that.
Go to Isaiah 65 verse 3.
The Bible says a people that provoked me to anger continually to my face.
That sacrificeeth in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick, which remain among the
graves and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things,
is in their vessels, which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier
These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
And while these people are involved in a false religion,
super wicked individuals, let me tell you something,
Christians can also get this mentality sometimes.
This attitude of you're different,
you're in a different class,
I'm so much better than you.
Stand out over there for I am holier than now.
And unfortunately, one of the times this mindset
really rears its ugly head is on mission trips.
Sometimes there's people that do not go on these trips
from a sincere heart.
of wanting to serve God and do good and preach the gospel and be a part of the team.
Some people go on these trips to show others how awesome they are.
and how, oh, you only went soul-winning for six hours?
Well, I went for 12.
Oh, you know, you guys are gonna spend an hour
going down to the beach?
Wow, you're so carnal, you're so worldly.
Oh, you guys are eating food?
I'm fasting, because I'm so much more godly than you,
and I'm soul-winning 14 hours a day.
Never have that attitude.
That attitude will be rebuked harshly.
Because you know what, I'm not trying to get people
to spend their time.
money, effort and resources to go on this mission trip just to have a bad taste in their mouth
from people judging them and you know being a holier than now and I know people personally
who they went on their first mission trip and it sucked because people were like this
and it's like bro I went out so many for six hours why are you why are you being like this
or you know sometimes what people will do is they'll tell you
to go preach the gospel to someone it's like you know you're at the line in an airport
and they're like hey you see that that person there you know you should go preach the gospel
it's like bro sounds like God's calling you to do that I mean it sounds like the Holy Spirit
just put that on your heart don't do that to people don't have that holier than now attitude
and look while I said go back to point one what's the primary reason we're over there to work
to preach the gospel.
I told my wife, hey, we've got young kids,
but we're working, we're soul-winning,
we're gonna do the work of God.
But you know what we're also gonna do?
We're also gonna have fun.
We're also gonna have the best time.
Our church is gonna have great fellowship
and camaraderie and time together.
And look, that is super important as well.
Because you know what's better
than someone going on one missions trip,
hating it and never going again?
Is someone maybe going soul-winning
an hour less than the holier than thou?
or two hours less than the holier than now,
having such a great time that they want to go every year.
I mean, what are we going to do more for God
is if we get people to go to the Bahamas once a year,
once every two years,
or we just burn everyone out from being holier than nows.
And let me say this also,
I'm not trying to dampen anyone's fire.
If you feel called to go soul-winding for 14 hours in the Bahamas, knock yourself out.
Like, I'm for you. I'm not against you. I'm not even trying to make you feel bad.
But don't you dare try to make other people feel bad for wanting to go and swim in the ocean
and hang out and go to the nice restaurants and hit the jet ski and do all that fun stuff.
And let me just tell you, I want to do that stuff.
Oh, Pastor Ross is so hard on leaving the church.
Well, okay, then leave then.
But I'm going to the Bahamas,
and I'm gonna go preach the gospel and work really hard
and also have fun.
And I want my wife to have fun.
I want my kids to have fun and have great memories.
And I want all of you to have fun
and work at the same time.
But man, people could just ruin the spirit of a trip real fast
by being holier than thou's.
Do not do it.
Don't be too cool to take a break.
Don't be too cool to eat food.
Don't be too cool to hang out with God's people.
You know, we need to do both of these things.
Go to numbers 11.
Proverbs 13 verse 10 says,
only by pride cometh contention.
but with the well advised is wisdom.
Don't go causing contention on a mission trip.
And this is what I mean.
This is like the spiritual warfare that I'm talking about,
that the devil could get an advantage of us
is by just sowing division through some prideful jerk.
Being a holier than thou, do not be that person.
Number five, having the right mindset on mission,
excuse me, do not complain on a mission's trip.
Do not complain.
Look at Numbers chapter 11 verse one.
And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord.
And the Lord heard it, and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them,
and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
And the people cried unto Moses when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.
And he called the name of the place Tabira because the fire of the Lord burnt among them,
and the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting.
And the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.
But now our soul is dried away.
There is nothing at all beside this manna, you know, beside this God-given manna from heaven,
before our eyes and the manna was as coriander seed and the color thereof as the color of bedelium.
So notice, these people are complaining, God hates it.
He's displeased with it.
He sends the fire of the Lord and starts killing people.
Moses prays, it quenches, and then the children of Israel,
they fall elusting.
They start complaining about the manna
that God gave to them.
And there's nothing wrong with the manna.
It's gotta be really good.
It's made by God.
It's a miracle from heaven.
And what are they doing?
They're complaining about how they don't get the garlic,
the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions.
Don't be a complainer in life.
Just in general, don't be a complainer in life,
especially if you live in Oklahoma, in America,
like you have nothing to complain about.
Why don't you focus on the positive
and thank God for all the blessings?
But let me tell you something,
especially on a mission strip, do not complain.
And let me tell you why.
Having planned one of these trips before
and planned all the logistics of these trips before,
this is a very hard event to plan and hard to run.
And this year, it's gonna be way harder
because I think there's gonna be way more people
than there was last time.
Last time, I think there was about 60.
I would not be surprised if it was doubled that time.
I mean, practically our whole church is going.
Practically all of Steadfast is going.
I'm sure people from other churches are going as well.
But hey, Pastor Shelley, evangelist fur,
any any person that pastor Shelly
delegates authority to over there.
When they tell you to do something, do it.
Don't complain, don't back talk.
They're saying hey,
here's the part of city you're going to preach
the gospel there.
You just say yes sir and go.
If you are getting lodging paid for you by someone else,
do not complain about your lodging.
If you're getting a meal paid for you,
do not complain about your food or anything like that.
Now, here's the thing. If you're going on your own dime
and you're just, your bankroll and rolling your own trip,
you do whatever you want.
You go assaulting as much as you want.
You go have fun as much as you want.
You go to whatever restaurant you want.
You do anything that you want. You're paying for it.
Absolutely. I'm not against you.
But here's the thing. If you are taking of other churches' generosity,
to pay for you to go preach the gospel,
you know, go work hard, preach the gospel,
go where they say to go and do not complain.
That is another way that could just really ruin
the spirit of this trip.
And you know, a lot of people.
maybe there's been some people in time past
that have had this attitude where it's like, all right, cool.
The church is gonna pay for me and my family
to go fly there, to have the rental car,
to have the housing, to have the food.
And it's like, but you know,
I don't really want to go soul winning though
because I have kids.
And it's like, what are you doing?
What are you talking about?
Like someone's paying for you to do this.
Don't be a missionary like the old IFB.
Go out there, work hard, don't complain.
You know, stay on schedule.
Stay on schedule young single guys who always seem to have the worst ability to stay on schedule
Which doesn't make any sense like on a mission trip. I'm always expecting all right this family with 12 kids
They're gonna be late. We're gonna have to wait. No, they're early. They're on time
It's like the single guys rolling out of bed always late. It's like bro be respectful
Be considerate when there's something that starts at a certain time
Be there on time at these mission strips.
Be considerate of other people.
Think about how you could help other people.
You're getting ready in the morning.
Help people pack their waters and all that stuff.
Man, you need to be considerate of other people.
Go back to Matthew 28.
We'll go ahead and close.
Matthew 28.
Matthew 28, look at verse number 19.
Jesus said, go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you, and lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Let me tell you something, Anchor Baptist Church,
we take the Great Commission seriously.
We value this as a church.
This is our primary focus here in Oklahoma City,
in this state.
And man, I am excited for this church
to finally break into the new realm
of preaching in all the world.
I hope you're excited for it.
I'm ready for it.
I'm ready to do a great work for God
with those of you that are coming.
But look, I hope you're preparing now.
That's why I'm preaching this sermon.
Right now, you need to prepare mentally.
for the possibility of what could come.
You need to be preparing spiritually, staying right with the Lord.
Don't get prideful. Don't go be a complainer.
Don't start division in the church. Don't stop reading your Bible.
And I'll even say this, now would be a good time to prepare physically as well.
Because if you've never been on a mission trip, it is hard work physically.
And I've kind of been preparing for this like since January.
Look, when you're out there, the Bahamas is so stupidly hot, it's not even funny.
It's super hot.
See, I'm scaring you again.
I see some faces.
Don't be scared.
Still come with us.
It's very hot.
It's very humid, we're walking around all day.
Hey, prepare, right?
Maybe you need to start running, all right?
Maybe you need to start going on some evening walks
or walk around even in the heat of the day.
Get hydrated, start eating healthy,
because I would hate for someone to go on this trip
and it's like their health is the limiting factor.
You wanna get over there and enjoy yourself.
You wanna get over there and do a great work for God.
And look, we're going there to work.
We're going there to get tons of people saved.
And you know what?
We're also gonna go have some fun.
I'm going to go enjoy the beach, I'm going to go snorkel with the little fishies.
Last time I was snorkeling and I didn't realize this one fish that I was chasing, what was
the name of that fish?
I give you permission to speak.
Do you remember?
Barracuda. That's right. I didn't know what a Barracuda was. I'm like chasing this little fish under water and all of a sudden it turns around and shows me its teeth.
I was like, oh, I'm chasing the wrong fish right here. You know? But I'm excited to chase the Barracuda again. I'm excited to hit the jet ski.
I'm excited to hit the good food. Hey, I want you to join me with that. No holier than thou attitude. No complaining.
Let's go do a great work for the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day and we thank you for the great opportunity that we have in America.
To be able to go on these trips to be able to send missionaries. I pray that you would just
constantly give our church the heart and the desire and the resources to get lots of people
saved here in Oklahoma City, but not just here, Lord, I pray that we would always have a mission's
mindset. I pray that we would be able to send out our own evangelists someday to do great works
for God and other countries. I pray that people in this room would be blessed financially, personally,
that they would be able to use their money to go on these trips and get people saved. I pray that
everything would go smoothly for the Bahamas mission trip, that you would help steadfast in
and in the logistics needed for this.
And I just pray that we would have a wide open door
to have a great work done for you in the Bahamas in October.
We love you in Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
Our last hymn this morning is number 134.
My anchor holds.
Hymn number 134 134 my anchor holds
134 there on the first
I need