Thanks for watching!
Good morning everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
We can go ahead and find our seats.
We will get started.
Once you find a seat, grab a hymnal and we'll start in song number 143.
Song number 143.
Blessed assurance.
Song 143.
And everybody sing it out together on the first.
Blessed assurance.
Jesus is mine.
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.
Heir of salvation.
Purchase of God.
Born of his Spirit.
Washed in his blood.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission.
Perfect delight.
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending.
Bring from above.
Echoes of mercy.
Whispers of love.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission.
All is at rest.
I in my Savior am happy and blessed.
Watching and waiting.
Looking above.
Filled with his goodness.
Lost in his love.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Great singing, everybody.
Let's open up the service with a word of prayer.
Lord, we love you.
We just thank you once again for Steadfast Baptist Church,
and we just thank you for the opportunity to gather here and sing unto you.
Lord, we just ask now that you fill this room with your spirit and bless this church,
and it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our next song, let's go to song number 198.
Song number 198.
I believe we've sang this in a while.
So those who know it, sing it out.
Song number 198.
Joy unspeakable.
I have found his grace is all complete.
He supply in every need.
While I sit and learn at Jesus' feet,
I am free, yes, free indeed.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
though the half has never yet been told.
I have found the pleasure I once craved.
It is joy and peace within.
What a wondrous blessing I am to sing
from the awful ghost of sin.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
though the half has never yet been told.
I have found that hope so bright and clear,
living in the realm of praise.
Oh, the Savior's presence is so near.
I can see his smiling face.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
though the half has never yet been told.
I have found the joy no tongue can tell,
how it wanes of glory.
Oh, it is like a great old flowing well
springing up within my soul.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
though the half has never yet been told.
All right, great singing, everybody.
Hello, everybody. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
At this time, we'll go through some announcements.
If you don't have a bulletin, just raise your hand.
One of the ushers would be happy to get one to you.
You'll notice on the front of the bulletin,
we are memorizing Psalm chapter 59.
This week, we're in verse 13.
And so if you can quote that to a non-relative church member,
you can get a special prize.
On the inside of the bulletin, you'll notice our service
and church-wide and regional soul-winning times,
as well as our church stats.
There's a prayer list we go over on Wednesday nights.
You can be in prayer for those concerns throughout the week.
We have our expecting ladies list there.
We have our names. Just be in prayer for them.
And for those wondering, Pastor Shelley is in Houston, Texas,
this morning preaching for Pure Words Baptist Church.
But he'll be back this evening for our 4.30 p.m. service.
So be in prayer for him to just have some safe travels
as he makes his way back up here.
Brother Dylan Oz will be preaching this morning.
We have upcoming events listed August 4th.
It's a going away dessert fellowship for the Oz family
after the p.m. service.
So Brother Oz, as many of you know,
is going to be taking on our church plant in Oklahoma City,
Steadfast Baptist Church in OKC.
So we'll be saying goodbye and Godspeed to him at that event.
August 15th through the 17th, it's the Mighty Men's Conference
featuring Pastor Roger Jimenez of Verity Baptist Church.
So you want to make it out for that.
August 24th, it's a baby shower for Hannah and Lori May.
September 8th, Dr. Phil Stringer is guest preaching.
And of course, Dr. Stringer was in our documentary,
The Preserved Bible, and he's written many books,
one of which is The Unbroken Bible, which I highly recommend.
October 4th through 6th, it's the Heritage of the Lord Conference,
which is designed basically just for children and younger people.
We'll be focusing on them for that conference.
We have various church rules and reminders there,
and we ask that you observe a quiet time from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
There is no talking in the sanctuary during that time.
Both the mother-baby room areas are shared spaces for people to enjoy,
and the fellowship room is basically just for quiet activities,
reading, using an electronic device with headphones, things of that nature.
And we also have the baby showers listed again there on the back.
So that's it for the announcements.
And with that, we'll go to our next song,
which will be actually Psalm 146.
Brother Dustin will lead us.
All right. That's Psalm 146.
Psalm 146. Sing it out on the first.
Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
While I live, will I praise the Lord?
I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
Would not your trust in friends live, nor in the Son of Man,
in whom there is no help, whom there is no help.
Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
His breath going forth, he returned him to his earth in that very day.
His thoughts perished, happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help.
Whose hope is in the Lord, the Lord his God.
Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
Which made heaven and earth the sea,
and all that there is which keep in truth forever,
which executed judgment for the oppress which giveth food to the hungry,
the Lord who sent the prisoners.
Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind,
the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down.
The Lord loveth the righteous, the Lord reserveth the strangers,
he relieveth the fatherless and minnows.
Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
But the way of the wicked, he turneth upside down.
The Lord shall reign forever, even by God, O Zion.
Unto all generations, praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord.
Great singing everybody.
Now as the offering plates are being passed around,
go ahead and turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 20.
That's Acts chapter 20.
Now as the offering plates are being passed around,
go ahead and turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 20.
Acts 20, the Bible reads,
And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples,
and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.
And when he had gone over those parts,
and had given them much exhortation,
he came into Greece, and there abode three months.
And when the Jews laid weight for him,
as he was about to sail into Syria,
he purposed to return through Macedonia,
and there accompanied him into Asia,
Sopater of Berea, and of the Thessalonians,
Aristarchus and Secundas,
and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus and of Asia,
Tychicus and Trophimus.
These going before tarried for us at Troas,
and we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread,
and came unto them to Troas in five days,
where we abode seven days.
And upon the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow,
and continued his speech until midnight.
And there were many lights in the upper chamber,
where they were gathered together.
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus,
being fallen into a deep sleep.
And as Paul was long preaching,
he sunk down with sleep,
and fell down from the third loft,
and was taken up dead.
And Paul went down and fell on him,
and embracing him, said,
Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him.
When he therefore was come up again,
and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while,
even till break of day, so he departed.
And they brought the young man alive,
and were not a little comforted.
And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos,
there intending to take in Paul,
for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.
And when he met with us at Assos,
we took him in, and came to Mydalene.
And we sailed thence, and came the next day,
over against Chios.
And the next day we arrived at Samos,
and tarried at Trojilium.
And the next day we came to Miletus.
For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus,
because he would not spend the time in Asia.
For he hasted, if it were possible for him,
to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus,
and called the elders of the church.
And when they were come to him, he said unto them,
Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia,
after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
serving the Lord with all humility of mind,
and with many tears and temptations,
which befell me by the lying in weight of the Jews,
and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but have showed you, and have taught you publicly,
and from house to house,
testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem,
not knowing the things that shall befall me there.
Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
But none of these things move me,
neither count I my life dear unto myself,
so that I might finish my course with joy,
and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus,
to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
And now, behold, I know that ye all,
among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God,
shall see my face no more.
Wherefore I take you to record this day,
that I am pure from the blood of all men.
For I have not shunned to declare unto you
all the counsel of God.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God,
which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing,
shall grievous wolves enter in among you,
not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things,
to draw away disciples after them.
Therefore watch and remember,
that by the space of three years,
I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.
And now, brethren, I commend you to God,
and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up,
and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified.
I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands
have ministered unto my necessities,
and to them that were with me.
I have showed you all things,
how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak,
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
how he said,
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
And when he had thus spoken,
he kneeled down and prayed with them all,
and they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck,
and kissed him, sorrowing most of all
for the words which he spake,
that they should see his face no more,
and they accompanied him unto the ship.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you so much for this day,
and I pray that you fill brother Dylan Oz
with your Holy Spirit.
Just give him clarity of mind
as he preaches the word of God to us, Lord,
and also help us to pay close attention.
Give us ears to hear the message,
and apply it to our lives.
We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Amen. Well, thank you, Pastor Shelley,
for allowing me to preach here this morning.
It's always an honor and privilege.
And we are here in Acts chapter number 20,
and the context of this chapter is that
Paul is gathered together with the elders at Ephesus,
and he's kind of giving a farewell address to them.
He's giving them some exhortation.
And I want to focus on verse number 28
of Acts chapter number 20.
Let's read it together, verse 28.
He said, Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock,
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God, notice this,
which He hath purchased with His own blood.
And in this famous, powerful verse,
we learn a few things.
First of all, we learn the fact that
Jesus Christ is God, because it says
it's the church of God which He,
who's that? Jesus Christ,
has purchased with His own blood.
So that's a great proof of the deity of Christ.
And another powerful truth in this verse here
is that the church is deserving of our love.
Why? Because it was literally purchased
with the blood of Jesus Christ.
That means it's very precious to us.
That means it's of high value to us
if it was literally purchased
with the most expensive thing in eternity,
the blood of Jesus Christ.
And so I kind of want to preach a special
sermon this morning a little bit different
than what I would normally preach.
And the title of my sermon this morning
is Why I Love Steadfast Baptist Church.
Why I Love Steadfast Baptist Church.
You know, here we learn that the church
is purchased with the blood of Christ.
So right off the bat, that makes me
love the church of God.
And not only that, I think
Steadfast Baptist Church is a special church.
Now, I moved to this church in August of 2020
before I was going to
Sure Foundation Baptist Church,
and I had met Pastor Shelley one time
at the Red Hot Preaching Conference,
and he was needing an employee,
and he called me and kind of asked,
you know, what is the desire of my life is?
Would I ever want to serve in the ministry?
Would I ever want to maybe be a pastor
or just work for a church?
And we talked, and he ended up offering me
a great opportunity to come work for him.
And that was an amazing opportunity
that I took advantage of because
being able to serve in the church
is a blessing. Why?
Because it was purchased with the blood of Christ.
I mean, there's nothing greater
than you could do than that, serving
Jesus Christ, serving in the church.
And I have four points this morning
of why I love Steadfast Baptist Church.
And number one, I love Steadfast Baptist Church
because of its pastor.
I love Steadfast Baptist Church
because of its pastor.
Go to 1 Thessalonians, chapter number five.
You know, if this is the only church
you've ever been to,
here's what you've got to understand.
Not all churches are created equal.
Some of us have been to other churches.
We've been to possibly even bad churches.
I spent three years,
three long, grueling years
going to a ruckmanite, old IFB church.
In fact, it's the same church
where Sam Gipp famously said
that Jesus Christ is not your Messiah
if you're a Gentile.
And I suffered through three long,
grueling years of this.
And as soon as I'd get out of church,
you know what I would do?
I would go on YouTube and listen to
Pastor Anderson and Pastor Jimenez
and actually get some good doctrine.
But look, you've got to realize
that if you're in Steadfast Baptist Church,
you are blessed today.
And if Pastor Shelley is your pastor,
you are blessed today.
1 Thessalonians, chapter five says this.
And we beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labor among you
and are over you in the Lord
and admonish you.
And notice, to esteem them
very highly in love
for their work's sake
and be at peace among yourselves.
You know, one of the things
that the Bible's exhorting us to do here
is to know those that labor among us
and that are over us in the Lord.
And you know what?
You should endeavor to know your pastor,
Pastor Shelley.
You should endeavor to get to know him
as a person.
Why? Because a pastor is a very
valuable resource in your life.
And in fact, the Bible describes elsewhere
that pastors, preachers, evangelists,
that these people are actually
gifts from God to you.
And so because of that,
you should get to know him
because the more that you know him,
the more that he knows you,
the more he's going to be able to
effectively minister unto you.
And that's what a pastor's job is,
is to minister unto his people.
And it's a lot easier when you know
your flock to know what do they need.
You know, if you've ever read
Pastor Jack Heil's book,
Teaching on Preaching,
he kind of equates preaching to
a doctor giving prescriptions to a patient.
And the doctor, he analyzes the patient,
he sees what they need,
and he gives them the right prescription.
Well, that's a lot what preaching is.
A lot of times, you know,
you have the apothecary of the word of God,
but you kind of need to know what people need
so that you can make sure you're getting
the right prescription of the word of God.
And so that's one reason why
you want to get to know your pastor.
If you go to Ephesians chapter number five,
Ephesians chapter number five,
but you know, the pastor of any church
is charged by God
to watch over the flock in spiritual matters.
That's a very important job.
That's a very daunting task.
And so we should appreciate the work that pastors do.
Ephesians chapter number five,
I kind of mentioned this earlier,
in verse 11 it says,
and he, that's Jesus,
and he gave some apostles
and some prophets
and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers.
So you know, there's different roles in the church,
and throughout history,
there's been different positions like apostles.
That doesn't exist today.
But we do have preachers.
We do have teachers.
We do have pastors.
We do have evangelists.
We do have deacons.
Why did Jesus give us those people?
Look at verse 12.
For the perfecting of the saints.
For the work of the ministry.
For the edifying of the body of Christ.
You know, the two-fold mission of the church
is to evangelize the lost
and edify the saved.
And the pastor is the head of that operation
and he is making sure
that those tasks are being accomplished.
Look at verse 13.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God
unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ,
that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro
and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the sleight of men
and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
And you have to realize that
Pastor Shelley cares about this flock
and he doesn't want people to be blown about
with every wind of doctrine.
He doesn't want people to be carried to and fro.
And so what he's doing is he's ministering unto us.
He's doing the work of the ministry.
And one of the things that he does
that's super important,
the most important thing he does
is preaching the Word of God.
And let me tell you something.
That is a blessing that we have today.
And that is one reason I love
Steadfast Baptist Church.
Because you're not going to go
to just any church in America
and get the type of pastoral leadership
that you have here at Steadfast Baptist Church.
You're just not.
And it's not about, you know,
a cult of a personality.
You know, it's about someone
that's just faithfully doing the work of God.
That is a blessing.
And that is a reason to love your church.
1 Thessalonians chapter number 5.
Let's read this part again
in 1 Thessalonians chapter number 5.
Look at verse number 13.
It says,
And to esteem them very highly,
means to respect them,
to keep them in mind.
Why?
In love for their work's sake
and be at peace among yourselves.
You know, one of the aspects of ministry
is the fact that it's a lot of work.
And the Bible says that
you should esteem your pastor
very highly in love.
What does that mean?
It means love your pastor.
Respect your pastor.
Why?
For the work's sake.
And I don't know if you realize this,
but Pastor Shelley does a lot of work
for this church.
And if you went to other churches,
you would realize that
this is a special church
that has a lot more to offer.
Okay, here's some of the work
that our pastor does.
First of all,
the most important thing,
like I said, is preaching.
He preaches three awesome sermons a week.
All of his sermons
are just packed with doctrine,
packed with good application
for our lives
to make us better Christians,
and that's something that
we should esteem him
very highly for.
That's a great work that he's doing.
Okay, here's something
not every pastor does.
How about all these awesome documentaries
that our church puts together?
That's a lot of work.
Where does the Bible talk about
making documentaries?
It doesn't.
He's just going above and beyond.
Why?
Because he's a hardworking pastor.
We should esteem him in love for that.
How about all the great fellowship events
that we have for free
at Steadfast Baptist Church?
Again, if this is the only church
you've ever been to,
you don't realize that
most fellowship events
in other churches,
they charge you money
to do anything.
You know, at this one church I went to,
they literally charged you money
for the handouts.
If you wanted to go soul winning,
they charged you money for it.
And here, we probably all have a thousand handouts
just sitting around at our house, right?
We need to make sure we're being good stewards
of the church's materials.
But look, providing those fellowship events,
that is a great blessing,
but that's a lot of work
that Pastor Shelley's doing.
Okay, multiple conferences
that this church puts on.
The Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship,
where this church is bringing
literally the best preachers
in the world, in my opinion,
here in this room
to administer the word of God to you.
That takes a lot of work,
but that's a great blessing.
That's one of the reasons I love
Steadfast Baptist Church.
Another thing that he's done
that's a lot of work
is he's put on soul winning seminars
in the past.
He wants to make sure that our church
is very equipped to go out
and fulfill the Great Commission
and make sure that
we're not just going soul winning,
but we're actually doing it effectively.
So he puts in the work
to put on a soul winning seminar.
How about missions trips?
That's a lot of work.
I've helped him plan some of these,
and it's very hard
to run a mission trip,
but we've done it in Mexico.
We've done it in the Bahamas.
I know he's gone to Jamaica in the past,
and as a result of that,
our church has seen thousands
and thousands of people saved.
That's a lot of work,
but you know what?
I commend him for that.
Soul winning marathons.
I mean, it seems like Steadfast
has a soul winning marathon
every three or four months.
That's awesome.
It's a great opportunity
to go soul winning
and to get better at soul winning,
to teach people soul winning.
Here's another thing
that's not in the Bible.
How about a podcast?
The Baptist Bias podcast.
Who watches the Baptist Bias?
Just about everyone, okay?
Look, that has nothing to do
with the commandments of God
or anything like that,
but he's very passionate
about getting Christianity
into the culture,
and I share that same passion.
I think that is a great idea
that we shouldn't just be
hiding as Christians
and just only sticking to our church.
No, we actually want
to make this country Christian.
We want to make the people
around us Christian.
We want to make the culture Christian,
and so he's bringing
the Baptist Bias to the culture.
Weddings and funerals.
That's a lot of work
that Pastor Shelley does.
Counseling people.
Taking time out of his day
to help people that are in need.
That is a lot of work,
and here's the thing.
You've got to realize
that not every pastor
puts in that much work,
and so some of us
are just spoiled
and we've never
experiencing anything different,
but I'm telling you,
you should love
Steadfast Baptist Church
because of its pastor,
and you should esteem him
very highly in love
for the work, say.
Go to 1 Timothy 3.
1 Timothy 3, verse 1.
This is a true saying.
If a man desired
the office of a bishop,
that's just a synonym
for the word pastor,
he desireth a good work.
Notice, pastoring
is a lot of work,
and it shows in the
preaching of God's word.
You could tell
when you listen to a pastor
that hasn't put a ton
of work into it,
and it's a lot of work.
You can tell
when you listen
to a pastor
that hasn't put
a ton of work
into his sermons,
or hasn't put a lot
of work into his study,
but that's not the case
at Steadfast Baptist Church.
You could tell
Pastor Shelley
is studying the word of God.
I went to this
old IFB church once,
and this pastor
was a nice man.
He was sincere.
He loved the Lord,
but I remember
this one time
where I invited someone
to church
on a Wednesday evening,
and I was a little bit
embarrassed by his sermon.
I'm just being honest.
It's not necessarily
that there's anything
wrong with this guy
or anything wrong
with this guy.
I respect him,
but here was the Wednesday
evening Bible studies
at this one church
I attended for a while.
Everyone would get
a little sheet,
and it was numbered
one through 10,
and it had fill
in the blanks,
and this was
the Bible study.
Okay, number one.
God loves Israel.
All right, Israel, yeah.
Like, this was
the Bible study.
There was no expository
preaching verse by verse,
explaining the book
of Zechariah,
explaining the book
of Revelation.
No, that wasn't happening.
We were filling in a blank
that said Israel.
Okay, and I'm like,
oh, I just got this guy
to come to church,
and this is the most
boring thing I've ever
heard in my life,
and I'm just, like,
feeling a little bit
embarrassed to do that,
but look, we don't feel
embarrassed to bring
people to this church.
They're gonna hear
hard preaching.
You know, they may be
surprised by the content
of the Word of God,
but at least they're
getting the Word of God here.
At least they're
getting the truth here.
If they don't like it,
it's because they
don't like the Bible.
Let's go over to
1 Timothy chapter number 5.
Look at verse number 17,
it says,
Let the elders that rule
well be counted worthy
of double honor,
especially they who labor
in the word and doctrine.
You wanna know why it
says those that rule well
and those that labor
in the word of doctrine?
Because there's some
pastors that aren't
ruling well,
and there's some pastors
that are not laboring
in the word of doctrine,
but we have that today,
and so what we should do
is give our pastor
double honor.
Respect him highly.
Give him our love.
Give him our support.
That is what the
Bible teaches.
Look at verse 18.
For the Scripture sayeth,
Thou shalt not muzzle
the ox that treadeth
out the corn,
and the laborer is
worthy of his reward,
against an elder
receive not an accusation,
but before two or three
witnesses,
them that sin,
rebuke before all,
that others also may fear.
You know, one way
that you could show
love to your pastor
is by not receiving
false accusations against him,
and by not receiving
criticism and crap talking
about the pastor.
Because let me tell you,
if you just decided
to go on Google this morning
and type in any
pastor's name from the new
IFB into the Google
search engine,
you know what you're
going to find?
You're going to find
a lot of false accusations.
But the Bible is saying here,
don't even receive
a false accusation
against an elder,
but before two or three
witnesses.
So you know what that means?
That means that when
your family is talking
crap about Pastor Shelley,
and I know it happens,
I know it happens,
it means you don't give
heed to that garbage.
You say,
yeah, you know,
I love you mom,
I love you dad,
but I'm not listening to this.
This is my pastor.
You know, you should
respect the man of God,
the ordained minister
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
more than your own family.
You absolutely should.
Because when the pastor's
preaching the word of God,
he's God's man,
and someone wants to
speak against them,
they're in dangerous
territory there.
Ask Aaron and Miriam
about that,
when they speak
against God's man.
Okay?
So you want to show
your pastor love,
don't listen to
crap talk about him,
don't listen to
false accusations
against him,
and certainly don't
engage in it yourself.
It's a wicked sin
in the sight of God.
Go to Hebrews 13,
Hebrews 13.
Hebrews chapter 13,
look at verse 17.
It says,
Obey them that have
the rule over you,
and submit yourselves,
for they watch
for your souls,
as they that must
give account,
that they may do it
with joy,
and not with grief,
for that is
unprofitable for you.
So notice,
you have a great pastor,
we have someone that's
over us in the Lord,
so what does God
exhort us to do
is to submit ourselves
unto him.
And you know,
this isn't really
a question thing
in other areas of the world.
You know,
when you get on
an airplane,
there's someone called
the pilot in command.
And you know what he does?
He makes the decisions.
The stewardess doesn't
go to the cockpit and say,
hey pilot,
let's go heading 170
instead of whatever
you wanted to go.
I want to just change
the heading here.
You know,
why don't you just
put the flaps down early?
You know,
why don't we just
put the landing gear down
in the middle
of cruising altitude
at 30,000 feet?
Hey,
why don't we turn
on the spoilers midair?
It's like,
no stewardess,
go back and serve
some water,
and let the captain
pilot the airplane.
Okay?
And look,
just like there's
qualifications to become
a pilot,
you wouldn't just let
any bozo fly you
30,000 feet above the air
at 500 miles an hour.
Why would you let
just any bozo
preach you the word of God
and lead a church?
Yet today we see
an epidemic of churches
that are being led
by unqualified people.
People that have
no business preaching
the word of God,
not to mention pastoring.
How about
women pastors?
They don't even
have business opening
their mouth in church,
not to mention
leading the flock of God.
Yet we have so many
people today that
have an uppity attitude
where they don't want
to submit themselves
to a pastor,
they don't think that
there should ever be
any type of human
authority or human
leadership that's
actually in charge.
They want to live
in this democracy
where everyone's in charge.
But let me tell you
something,
democracy is a hellscape.
Democracy is a terrible idea.
Democracy never,
ever works.
No,
you need a strong
leader.
And notice why.
It says that
they watch for your
souls as they that
must give an account.
Some people who
aren't very spiritual
don't realize the
gravity of that statement.
That there's people
that have been entrusted
to watch over souls
and that those people
will give an account
to God for what they do.
That is a big deal.
There's some people
that don't even care
enough to read their
Bible or do anything
for God.
I get that.
So people that are
like that may not
understand what I'm
doing or the work of
God seriously,
there's some people
that actually realize
that pastors will
stand before God someday
and give an account
for their stewardship
of the flock.
And so because of that,
we need to just
obey the pastor.
We need to submit
ourselves to the pastor.
Why?
That they may do it
with joy and not
with grief,
for that is
unprofitable for you.
You know,
it would be
unprofitable for
Steadfast Baptist Church
to rebel against
Pastor Shelley,
to not submit
unto his leadership
and cause him to
be unprofitable
for this church.
And thank God,
I don't think
that's the case.
I think this is
a great church and
I think that the
church is in line with
the leadership here.
But hey, someone could
come in this church
in the future and
try to change that.
And Acts chapter number
20 talks about that.
And so you need
to be aware of
anyone that would
want to turn your
heart away from
your pastor or that
would want to
incentivize you to
disobey him or not
submit yourself
unto him.
So look,
I love Steadfast Baptist
Church because of
the work that he does.
And even just on a
personal level,
Pastor Shelley has
done a lot for me
personally that I
very much appreciate.
And I'm sure there's
many people in this
room that could say
the exact same thing.
And it just shows
that we have a pastor
with a good heart,
with a heart to
serve his people.
I love
Steadfast Baptist
Church because of its
pastor, but go to
Isaiah chapter number
58.
Number two, I love
Steadfast Baptist
Church because of its
preaching.
Steadfast Baptist
Church is a church that
believes in hard
preaching.
And let me tell you
something else if you've
never been to a
different church.
That is not the case
in most churches in
America today.
Most churches are not
going to do what the
Bible says here in
Isaiah 58, verse 1.
Cry aloud,
spare not,
lift up thy voice
like a trumpet,
and show my people
their transgression
in the house of
Jacob their sins.
Notice how biblical
preaching is described
here?
It's described as being
loud.
You go into a lot of
churches today, you're
going to see a dude
with skinny jeans,
sitting on a bar stool
with an ear mic coming
out, and he's like
whispering to you his
sermon after you just
spent 40 minutes
listening to a bunch of
effeminate CCM music.
That's what a lot of
churches are today.
There's no crying
aloud.
There's no yelling.
There's no showing
people their transgression.
It's just a joke is
what it is.
It's just a social club
is what it is, or it's
just a money-making
scheme a lot of times
is what a lot of
churches are.
But notice what else
biblical preaching is,
is showing my people
their transgression.
See, a lot of people
think hard preaching is
when we get up here
and we rip on the
Sodomites, or when we
get up and we rip on
the drag queens, or
when we get up and we
rip on Hillary Clinton,
we get up and we rip
on Joe Biden.
And look, that could be
hard preaching in a sense
if a liberal wasn't
here.
If some weird Democrat
was in here, yeah, okay,
that's hard preaching
to them.
But notice what real
hard preaching is, it's
when you're showing
God's people their
transgressions, and that
is a blessing from God.
You may not think so.
You may not feel that
way.
You may feel upset when
you hear it, but that is
what God has commanded
pastors to do.
I like what Pastor
Shelley says.
He says that hard
preaching is biblical,
corrective, and specific.
And you see that in
the Word of God.
Preaching the Word of God,
correcting people's sins,
and showing people their
transgressions.
That's very specific.
But let me just bring
a reality to you, and
that is that most people
do not like hard
preaching.
And I guarantee you,
there's a lot of people
in this room right now
that think they like
hard preaching, and let
me just break this to
you, you don't like
hard preaching, okay?
Because there's a lot of
people that think
they're faithful, and
they're not faithful.
They think they're
really forgiving, and
someone crosses them in
the slightest way, and
they're not very
forgiving.
People think they're so
charitable, but actually
when I see people's
lives and when we
observe each other,
there's actually very
few people that are
charitable.
There's actually very
few people that are
faithful.
And let me tell you
something, there's
actually very few people
that actually like
hard preaching.
There's actually very
few people that can
have their specific sin
called out, and
screamed and yelled
about for an hour
long, and actually,
though it hurts,
internalize the fact that,
you know what, this is
actually helping me.
This is actually coming
from a place of love,
and I need to accept
this, internalize it,
and apply it to my
life.
There is very few people
that do that.
And so, look, if you're
in this church, I'm very
happy you are, but you
need to like hard
preaching more, because
I've seen it over the
last 10 years of being
in church that people
think they like hard
preaching, but no.
No, most people do not
like hard preaching,
even in the new IFB.
We need to learn to
love hard preaching.
Go to Hebrews chapter
number 12, Hebrews
12, look at verse 6.
For whom the Lord loveth,
He chasteneth and
scourgeth every son
whom He receiveth.
You know, we know that
because God is our
Father, and because God
is a very loving Father,
after we get saved,
when we sin, God's
going to correct us.
God's going to chasten
us.
God's going to punish
us for our sins on
this earth.
He'll never send us to
hell, we can never lose
our salvation, but He is
going to punish us on
this earth.
And we know that that's
coming from a position of
love from God, right?
Well, let me tell you,
sometimes hard preaching
feels like you're being
chastened.
Sometimes hard preaching
feels like you're being
scourged, okay?
And it's not necessarily
feeling fun at the
time, but look at verse
7, it says,
If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you
as with sons.
For what son is he
whom the Father chasteneth
not?
But if ye be without
chastisement, whereof
all are partakers, then
are ye bastards, and not
sons.
Furthermore, we have had
fathers of our flesh,
which corrected us, and
we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather
be in subjection unto the
fathers of spirits, and
live?
For they verily for a few
days chastened us after
their own pleasure, but he
for our profit, that we
might be partakers of
His holiness.
Now, no chastening for
the present seemeth to
be joyous, but grievous.
You know, when you're
being chastened by
the Father, you're
going to be
chastened by the
Father.
You're going to be
chastened by the
Father.
You know, when
you're being chastened
by Mom and Dad, or
you're being chastened
by God, or it seems
like you're being
chastened by the
pastor from behind the
pulpit, let's be honest.
In the moment, it's
not fun.
It kind of feels a
little bit grievous to
our flesh, doesn't it?
It's not a very fun
experience.
But keep reading.
Nevertheless, afterward,
it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby.
Notice if you actually
take the correction and
you actually exercise
that in your life, if
you don't just get mad
and upset at the
preacher and think that
he's just coming after
you personally, and you
just want to shut off
your mind and become
stiff-necked and
hard-hearted, but you
actually exercise that,
what does it yield?
The peaceable fruit of
righteousness.
Let me tell you
something.
The problems that
people have in their
lives today all over
this world are pretty
much the same things.
People struggle with
sin.
People struggle with
alcohol.
People struggle with
adultery.
People struggle with
fornication.
And you know what?
Those things are
ruining those people's
lives.
Whether they realize it
or not, they may think,
oh, I love my
girlfriend.
I love my boyfriend.
Why would I want to
break it off or have
to get married this
young or anything like
that?
But they're actually
destroying their life by
sinning.
People getting divorced,
they think that that's
a good idea.
They think that they'll
be happier, but it
always ruins people's
lives.
It ruins children's
lives.
And when people go to a
church where they
actually hear a man of
God say, no, the Bible
says never divorce.
You're wrong for
wanting to divorce your
spouse.
The Bible says no to
that.
No, adultery is actually
a capital offense in the
Word of God.
No, you're not to
commit fornication.
No, you're not to
drink the devil's drink.
People will get
offended by that.
But you know what
would happen if they
actually exercise the
things that are being
preached?
It would yield the
peace of righteousness
in their life.
They would experience
peace, and that's
something that everyone
wants.
They may not understand
how to get it.
A lot of times people's
kids are a nightmare,
and they want peace in
their home, but they
don't want to do what
the Bible says to
actually spank your kids,
right?
But look, it may seem
like chastening at
times.
It may seem like it's
hard to hear, but
realize that if you
internalize it, you
just accept it, you
just be strong, and
you apply it to your
life, that it will
yield the peaceable
fruit of righteousness
in your life.
You need to learn to
love hard preaching.
You know, when I first
got saved as a teenager,
I heard really hard
preaching on alcohol by
Pastor Anderson.
This was like the first
year I ever went to
church.
I think it was like
2013 or 2014 or
something like that.
And he's ripping so
hard on alcohol.
And let me just be
honest with you.
As a brand new
Christian, when I heard
this, I was thinking,
hmm, I don't know
if he's 100% right
on this.
Because he was saying
these are all the
consequences in your
life if you drink
alcohol.
This is the consequences
of it.
And I was looking at
people in my life that
I knew that drank, and
I'm thinking, I just
don't see this in their
lives.
And I thought, well,
maybe these people that
I know are the
exception to the rule.
You know, maybe the
Bible is right.
Maybe Pastor Anderson's
right about this.
I'm just not sure.
But I thought, you
know, these people
that I know, they're
the exception because
I'm not seeing all
these consequences in
their life.
I'm not seeing their
life be destroyed
without my action
anymore.
Finally, that day came
where something
extremely catastrophic
came in their lives
that affected them
for the rest of their
life because of
alcohol.
And you know what
I realized?
I'm a prideful idiot
for thinking, oh, maybe
the biblical preaching
isn't right about
alcohol.
And I realized, oh,
it's right.
Sometimes God's just
merciful and
long-suffering to us.
And you think, well,
I haven't seen the
consequences of my
actions yet.
Yeah, yet is the key
word there.
But you know what?
We need to have the
humble attitude that
just realizes that
whatever the Bible says
is right about
everything all the time,
every time.
And when the preacher
gets up and preaches
against our sins, we
may think that we're
the exception, but
we're not.
And if you're the
exception today, that's
only by the result of
God's grace to you.
And that could run out.
And so you need to
take it seriously when
you hear the
preaching of God's word
and love the preaching
of God's word.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
I want to read a couple
of verses for you.
While you're turning
there, I want to read
for you 1 Thessalonians
5, 20.
It says,
despise not prophesying.
You know, the reason
that's in the Bible is
because it is a tendency
of human nature to
despise or want to turn
our ear away from the
preaching of God's word.
So God has to exhort
us, hey, do not
despise prophesying.
Still go to where I told
you, I want to read for
you Ecclesiastes 7, 5.
The Bible says it is
better to hear the
rebuke of the wise than
for a man to hear the
song of fools.
Look, that statement is
not in line with our
human nature, with our
flesh.
Our flesh would rather go
to a church a lot of
times where there's a
show, where there's
lights, where everything's
nice, where nice words
are being spoken,
that's just a lot of
people's flesh, that's
just how we are.
But the Bible says it's
better to hear the
rebuke of the wise.
But how many people
today are actually
seeking to go to a
church where they will
be rebuked?
Very few.
Just like there's few
that are faithful,
there's few that are
charitable, there's few
that are forgiving,
there's few that
actually like hard
preaching, there's few
today that actually want
to go to a church with
the desire that the
pastor will rebuke
something in their life.
That is rare today.
I'll read for you a
couple more.
Proverbs 9-8 says,
Reprove not a
scorner lest he hate
thee.
Rebuke a wise man
and he will love thee.
Look, people that have
quit different churches
in the new IFB because
their sins were
preached against and it
says that they hate,
if they feel like
hatred towards the
pastor that does that,
that is showing that
that person is a
scorner.
That is showing that
that person is froward,
that that person has a
serious heart issue.
And you just have to
realize that when
your sin is being
preached against that
it's not just you, every
single human being in
this church is going to
have their sins
preached against from
time to time because
news flash, we're all
sinners.
And even when I'm
writing a sermon, I'm
seeing this verse and
I'm like, okay, that
verse just rebuked me.
Oh, that scripture just
rebuked me.
It's literally everyone,
all of us.
So what a prideful
attitude to think like,
well, I never want to
be preached against.
It's like, are you
God or something?
Do you think you're
the Lord Jesus Christ
now where you have
no sin?
Leviticus 19 17 says,
thou shalt not hate thy
brother in thine heart.
Thou shalt in any wise
rebuke thy neighbor and
not suffer sin upon him.
Notice what is showing
love to your neighbor?
Rebuking him.
Why?
Because you're not
suffering sin to be
upon him.
Why wouldn't you want
sin to be upon him?
Because it will ruin
his life.
It's actually hateful not
to say what needs to
be said from the
word of God.
You're there in 2 Timothy
4.
Look at verse 2.
It says, preach the
Lord, be instant in
season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all long suffering
and doctrine.
You know, not only does
the Steadfast Baptist
Church just believe in
hard preaching, but also
Steadfast Baptist Church
believes in preaching
doctrine.
That is something I love
about Steadfast Baptist
Church is that this
church cares about
doctrine.
What is doctrine?
Doctrine is just
teachings of truth.
And here's the thing.
Every single person on
this earth, every single
organization has doctrines.
They have teachings.
You know, I've never
been in the military,
but I know several people
that have, and I've
heard people say this,
that when you go in,
you go through an
indoctrination phase.
Is that correct?
What are they doing?
They're teaching you
how to behave, their
beliefs, how they want
you to represent the
Marine Corps, the Army,
or whatever, right?
And many jobs have an
indoctrination phase.
This is how you
represent the company.
This is how you dress.
These are the policies.
These are the teachings
of the company.
You know what?
The Bible is full of
doctrine.
The Bible is full of
teachings.
And if we're going to
sit here and open the
Bible, let's just not
make it a game.
Let's actually just see
what the truth is.
I want to know what
the doctrines are.
I want to know what
the truth is.
Go to 1 Timothy 3.
Flip over.
1 Timothy 3.
Verse 15.
It says,
But if I tarry long,
that thou mayest know
how thou oughtest to
behave thyself in the
house of God,
which is the church
of the living God,
the pillar of the
truth.
What is doctrine?
It's just teachings
of truth.
And what is the job
of the church?
It's to be the pillar
and ground of the truth.
Yet, this is crazy to
me, but many churches
today do not care
about the truth.
They don't care.
You know, that
freak in Watauga that
preached a whole sermon
against me and
Pastor Shelley when
all that stuff was
happening a few years
ago if you were at
our church.
And he was saying,
yeah, you know,
we're going to be
the pillar of the
truth.
We're going to be
the pillar of the
truth.
And he was saying,
yeah, you know, back
in Bible college,
we're all reading
Leviticus 2013 and
it does say that
homosexuals should be
put to death, but we
just don't know if
that's really what
it means.
It's like, hello,
person that doesn't
care about doctrine.
Because you're admitting
that's what it says.
You just don't care.
You just don't
actually want to
believe what the
Bible says.
But the church of God
is to hold up the
truth to be a bright
and shining light in
this nation and in
this world regardless
of that truth
is popular or not.
There's a lot of
truths today that are
very popular.
And a lot of
churches are still
willing to preach
some of those truths
because it's popular.
You know what?
Our nation is
becoming a dark place.
This nation is
forsaking God.
This world is
forsaking God.
I mean, thank God I
didn't watch the
Olympics opening
ceremony, but I
heard about it.
That they had some
sort of tranny
last supper blaspheming
Jesus Christ.
Look, someone needs
to hold up the
word of God.
And say the truth,
the uncomfortable
truth that no one
wants to say today,
that these freaks
should be executed
by the government.
That they bring
nothing good to
society.
They're a scourge.
They're disgusting.
Just cysts on a
nation and on a world
that needs to be
wiped off the face
of the earth and
sent to hell.
But churches aren't
willing to say
that today because
it's unpopular.
You know what?
This church needs
to hold up doctrine
whether it's popular
or not.
Flip over to Titus 1
a few pages over.
Titus chapter number 1.
We're talking about
doctrine here.
Holding fast the
faithful word as he
had been taught that
he may be able by
sound doctrine both to
exhort and to
convince the
gainsayers.
You know, one of the
jobs of a pastor,
if you read Titus
chapter number 1,
is to shut the
mouths of false
believers.
You know, one of the
jobs of a pastor,
if you read Titus
chapter number 1,
is to shut the
mouths of false
believers.
You know, one of
the jobs of a pastor,
is to shut the
mouths of false
prophets.
And you know how
you do that?
You don't do that
with good speeches,
with being really
smart, being really
educated.
You do that with
the faithful word.
You do that with
sound doctrine.
And with that sound
doctrine, you can
exhort and convince
the gainsayers,
those that speak
against the truth.
And I love that
Steadfast Baptist
Church is a church
that cares very much
about doctrine.
You know, this
church is not
wishy-washy on
everything, but I know
that Steadfast Baptist
Church is right about
salvation.
I know it.
I don't have to
wonder, guess, hope.
Look, I don't know
everything, but I know
that Steadfast Baptist
Church is right about
baptism being by
submersion in water,
by being after
salvation, that it's
not by sprinkling and
it's not baptizing
babies.
Look, I know for a
fact that God
doesn't want us to
confess our sins to
a priest.
I know for a fact
that God doesn't
want us to repent of
our sins for
salvation.
I know for a fact that
you can never lose
your salvation.
You want to know
why I know that?
Because the faithful
word.
And preachers today
need to get up and
just boldly proclaim the
faithful word.
Because people today
have this attitude
where they're like,
oh, there's so many
religions, there's so
many doctrines, how do
you know you're
right?
Are you saying that
you're the only one,
you guys are the ones
that have salvation?
Yes!
That's exactly what
I'm saying.
I'm saying it's
and thou shalt be saved
and every other
religion you'll spend
eternity in hell.
That's a hard line there.
But we take that hard
line why?
Because of our opinion?
No, because of the
faithful word.
Because of sound
doctrine.
And it is a blessing
to be at a church
that believes in
sound doctrine.
But not only, you
know, I love
steadfast Baptist Church
because of the
preaching, hard
preaching, doctrine,
but you know also
the preaching of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
So that's one thing
that makes Steadfast
Baptist Church special.
Now go to 1 or 2
Corinthians chapter
number 4.
2 Corinthians chapter
number 4.
Now these numbers
have changed a little
bit because I wrote
this sermon earlier
this week, but from
the time, from the
year that I moved
here in 2020 until
this week in 2024,
this is the number of
people that have been
saved by the soul
winning efforts of
Steadfast Baptist
Church.
9,818 salvations.
Glory be to God for
that.
And look, praise God
that we can go to a
church that cares
about preaching the
gospel.
You say, oh, soul
winning doesn't make
a difference.
Really?
9,800 people whose
eternity has been
changed, who is going
to spend eternity in
heaven now, no matter
what?
Look, that's worth it
folks.
That's worth all the
time, money, work,
energy, sweat, sun
burns.
It's worth all of it
to go out there and
preach the gospel.
Why?
Because about 10,000
people are going to
heaven now, just from
the work of Steadfast
Baptist Church since
2020.
Praise God for that.
2 Corinthians 4 verse 3,
but if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them
that are lost.
We're not going to
let that happen.
Verse 4, in whom the
God of this world
have blinded the minds
of them which believe
not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the
image of God, should
shine unto them.
For we preach not
ourselves, but Christ
Jesus, the Lord, and
ourselves, your servants,
for Jesus' sake.
For God, who commanded
the light to shine out
of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts to give
the light of the
knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
You know, this church
is not a church that
wants to hide the
gospel from the lost.
No, this is a church
that realizes that
there's a world out
there that is dying
and going to hell that
will spend eternity in
flame and in torments
and we want to make
sure that the
gospel of Christ is
not lost.
No, this is a church
that realizes that
there's a world out
there that is dying
and we want to spend
our time, effort, money
and energy on helping
those people.
You know, let me just
exhort you, if you're
a person that does not
go soul winning, I want
to read verse 6 again.
For God, who hath
commanded the light to
shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our
hearts.
Look, you're sitting
here today and the
light has been shined
unto you.
You're saved.
You know you're going
to heaven.
You have the light.
Why would you not
want to bring that
light to someone else?
How can you live
life knowing that heaven
and hell are real, knowing
that's your real mom
that you know, your
real friend, your real
co-worker are going to
spend eternity in a real
place called hell, you
know the truth and you
don't want to preach
them the gospel.
Look, that's a sick
thought.
That's a heavy thought to
think that we can affect
people's eternity like
that, but we can and
we do and you need to
do the same thing.
And if you're not a soul
winner, I exhort you today
to learn to go soul
winning.
Come to a soul winning
time.
Become a silent partner.
You don't even have to
preach the gospel.
You can just be a silent
partner and that doubles
our efforts.
If you don't know how
to go soul winning, you
know I mentioned Pastor
Shelley has put on a
great soul winning
seminar in the past that
could be a great
resource to you.
Recently, I myself, I've
been making some videos
where I've just been
putting on a little camera
while I go out soul
winning and filming gospel
presentations.
So hopefully people that
come in and can see what
a real encounter looks
like with a real person
getting saved with a real
gospel presentation and
you can just copy that
exact thing and just
write it down if you
have to.
Write down a script.
I don't care.
Just learn to preach the
gospel because it's the
most important reason
you're on this earth.
And Steadfast Baptist
Church takes that care
takes that very seriously.
So number one, I love
Steadfast because of its
pastor.
I love Steadfast because
of its preaching.
Number three, go to
1 Corinthians 5.
I love Steadfast Baptist
Church because of its
policies.
Because of its policies.
I'm talking about church
discipline.
Something that, again, if
you've never been to
another church, you might
take for granted and
realize that this is
something that's not
practiced everywhere in
America today.
It's not practiced in many
churches today.
But let's look at the
principle behind this.
I'm not going to show you
everything that the Bible
says someone should be
church disciplined for.
I just want to show you
the principle here.
In 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6
it says,
Your glorying is not good.
Know ye not that a
little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump?
What's the principle here?
The principle here is that
if you have someone in
grievous sin, in sin that's
worthy of church
discipline, if you allow
that leaven into the
church, it will leaven the
whole lump like a piece of
bread, meaning it will
corrupt the whole church.
That is the principle being
taught in the word of
God.
That if you just allow
someone that's just a
rampant fornicator, drunkard,
idolater, all the
different things that the
Bible lists for church
discipline, someone's
unrepentant of that
stuff and you just allow
that to be in the church
and it's known, no one
says anything about it
and kids are growing up
in church and they're
seeing people commit
fornication, there's no
consequences for that,
what is that going to
do?
It is going to corrupt
other people.
It's going to corrupt
the church.
It's just a fact.
And look, it's a blessing
today that of course,
yeah, we're all sinners,
absolutely.
Every single one of us
are a sinner.
But it's great that this
church is not full of
corruptness like this.
It's great that I don't
have to worry about if
I'm going to church
with someone that's
just reeking of booze
because they're such a
drunk.
It's great that I don't
have to go to church
sitting next to an
idolater.
It's great that I don't
have to go to church
sitting next to someone
that is a tranny, okay?
These are great things.
It is a blessing to
have policies like this.
What does the Bible say,
verse 7?
It says,
Purge out, therefore,
the old leaven,
that ye may be a new
lump, as ye are
unleavened, for even
Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep
the feast not with
old leaven,
neither with the leaven
of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity
and truth.
Look, I'm thankful for
the policy of
Steadfast Baptist Church
of practicing
church discipline.
And the only people
that wouldn't like
that policy are
probably people that
need to be kicked
out of church anyways.
I mean, if you're
just a righteous person,
a sincere person,
with a sincere heart
that wants to serve
God, you probably
read 1 Corinthians 5
and you're like,
Amen, I don't want
those people here
either.
The only people that
are really guilty of
it themselves.
You know, another policy
that I really love
about Steadfast Baptist
Church is the family
integrated model.
Look, that is a blessing
to have the children
in the service.
That is something that's
very rare in other
churches today.
You go ahead and go
to 2 Timothy 3,
I'll read for you.
Matthew 19, 14,
But Jesus said,
Suffer little children,
and forbid them not
to come unto me,
for of such is
the kingdom of heaven.
You know, we as a
church, we need to
have a mentality of
the church is the
kingdom of heaven.
You know, we as a
church, we need to
have a mentality that
cares a lot about the
next generation and
wanting to make sure
that we're passing the
torch, that we're
passing the doctrines
and the teachings of
the Bible to the next
generation.
Well, what's a great
way to do that?
How about having them
in church?
Yet for some reason,
Christianity today has
just cut themselves off
at the knees where
they don't want the
next generation hearing
the word of God.
What is up with that?
It makes no sense.
Separating them with
a random stranger
that, oh, they've
been background
checked.
You don't know who that
person is.
It's usually someone
that's just randomly
hired for a low-paying
job to watch kids.
You know, it's not a
safe thing to do at all,
especially in the time
that we're living in.
Leaving your kids with
random strangers is a
terrible idea.
And then a lot of times,
the people that are
attracted to that type
of position are not
necessarily good people.
They're not all bad
either, but, you know,
it's not worth taking
the risk at all.
One time, I was at
Shur Foundation.
I was part of the
safety team there, and
this really weird guy
came into church, and
before church, he was
looking around at
everything, and he
straight up asked me,
hey, where are the kids
kept at this church?
That's a horrifying
question coming from an
old dude by himself with
no family.
Why would you ask that
question?
But just realize that
predators target churches.
Predators target the
weak like children.
And it's a naive thought
to have that you could
just drop your kids off
at church in the
nursery, and because
it's church, they'll
be safe.
Because it's church,
they'll be okay.
Look, some of the worst
predators on this earth
are in churches.
It's weird because
church attracts like the
best people on earth,
and also the worst
people on earth.
And like pastors are
usually like the best
people on earth or the
worst people on earth.
And so you can't just
take a gamble with
your precious children
that God gave you to
protect, that God gave
you to raise, and
just drop them off with
a stranger.
Don't ever, ever do
that.
And I appreciate the
policy that Steadfast
Baptist Church has of
protecting children,
having them in the
service to preach the
Word of God, or to
listen to the Word of
God.
Lastly, this morning, you
know, I love Steadfast
Baptist Church because
of its pastor, because
of its preaching,
because of its policies,
but I love Steadfast
Baptist Church because
of its perseverance.
Because of its
perseverance.
Look, it's in the name.
Steadfast.
Unmovable.
Always abounding in the
work of God.
That's not just a name
for us.
That is who we are.
And I've seen that
because this church has
been tested to see if we
really are Steadfast.
I told you to go to
2 Timothy 3.
Look at verse 12.
It says this.
Yea, and all that will
live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer
persecution.
It is a guarantee.
No matter if you're
living in 1950s America,
no matter if you're
living in the 1700s,
or in the colonial
period, or in 2023,
or even in the
early 1900s,
or even in the
early 1900s,
or even in the
early 1900s,
or even in the
early 1900s,
or even in the
early 1900s,
or in 1924,
no matter what culture
you're in,
if you are living godly
in Christ Jesus,
you will suffer
persecution.
You know, don't
glorify some other
nation or some other
time in the past and
think, oh if I lived
here I wouldn't
suffer persecution.
Wherever you are,
whatever time you're
living in,
you're living godly,
you will suffer
persecution.
And we have definitely
seen that as a
church, haven't we?
And maybe not everyone
in this room today
was with us during
that time and
experienced the things
that I'm going to
talk about today.
So let me just give
you a quick review
of some of the things
that happened at
Steadfast Baptist Church.
You know, first of all,
before I ever even
came to this church,
Pastor Shelley already
had protests at
Jacksboro Highway.
So that was even
before my time.
You know, this
church was living
godly in Christ Jesus
even back then.
But you know, I
remember in 2021,
Pastor Shelley preached
a sermon called
Sodomite Salvation
Debunked.
Epic sermon.
Fiery sermon.
And it was like
either the next day
or the next weekend
at the Sure Foundation
Baptist Church in Spokane.
And while I was up there,
I was at the airport,
and I got a call
from the Hearst
Police Department.
And I'm like,
this is not good
to be getting a phone
call at like 6 a.m.
from the police.
And they're saying,
hey, there's been
a brick thrown through
your guy's window.
You know, your
alarm's going off.
I checked the
security cameras.
Cops are going
through our church
building with guns
clearing it and
everything.
And I'm like,
oh, okay, it's on.
Here we go.
We're seeing thousands
of messages coming
to our church,
thousands of phone
calls and voicemails.
Literally, you just
put your phone down
and it's just
vibrating all day.
It just doesn't stop.
Doesn't stop from
all over the world.
Phone calls coming in
of people hating us.
And I remember
when that happened,
I was thinking,
this is not a one-week
protest that we're
about to experience.
I did not think
that for a second.
I was like, oh,
this is going to be
a fight for a long time.
And it was.
It was a fight that
literally went on
June was the first
June since I've been
here that we have
not had protests.
So that tells you
how long that fight
went on.
We know we're
protested all summer
long and then we
had this Satan
worshiper, Satanist-loving
landlord, some faggot-loving
landlord that decided
to evict Steadfast
Baptist Church wrongfully
for the preaching of
Pastor Shelley.
Kicked us out and
we had to have
church services every
single week at different
hotels throughout DFW.
So we had to get boxes
of audio-video equipment,
get boxes of hymnals,
and we sung acapella
or Brother Jared Plant.
Where are you at,
Brother Jared?
He's hiding.
God bless you,
Jared, thank you
for your trumpet.
Otherwise, I would have
been singing acapella
every single time, you know.
And sometimes they would
follow us to a hotel.
We had to find a new one
and just pack up just
over and over and over
going through this mess.
Finally, we get a new building
and the protesters followed
someone from their house,
found out where we are,
and it all started again,
the protest at Watauga.
I preached a sermon there,
which I felt like was
the most mild and
caveated and just
logical thing ever,
and people got really
mad about it.
It went viral, too.
The phone calls started again.
People were following me
and my wife to restaurants
and coming to my house
for like a year straight,
and it was just craziness.
I mean, that time was
just crazy.
It was.
There was a lot going on.
Let's see.
I don't want to miss anything.
Oh, so then, you know,
we got evicted from
Watauga again,
and we had to do the
hotel church thing
all over again,
going to different hotels.
Once again, these protesters
are following us there,
getting us canceled
at different hotels.
Thank God that this church
is in DFW because
there's so many hotels here
that you can keep picking
all these different ones.
Like, I'm thinking about
towns I used to live in
like Boise, Idaho.
Like, you would have run
out of hotels.
Like, this would have
been a serious problem there,
but there's 8 million
people there.
We could accommodate it.
That was great.
Then, during this whole
crazy time, these three
wicked people decided to
illegally seize the bank
accounts of Steadfast
Baptist Church and stole
over $100,000 of church
money that Pastor Shelley
had to litigate in court
and get that all taken care of.
Look, that's persecution,
and it's quite a bit,
and it was a crazy time.
During that time, there was
a lot of opportunity for
people to quit church,
and that's why I'm bringing
this up.
You know, I love Steadfast
Baptist Church because of
its perseverance.
Look, you had plenty of
opportunity to quit going
to Steadfast Baptist Church.
One thing I did enjoy
about being protested is
that if you were here at
Steadfast Baptist Church,
it's because you wanted
to be here.
No one's accidentally
stumbling into Steadfast
Baptist Church when,
like, hordes of
demon-possessed freaks
are out there screaming
at you, right?
Like, if you came here,
you wanted to be here,
and during that time,
we experienced a unity
in church that I've never
seen anywhere else.
This church during that
time was brought very
close together because of
the battle that we were
going through,
because of the hardships
that we were going through.
Go to 1 Corinthians
chapter number 58,
1 Corinthians chapter number
58, and look,
I'm boiling that down
into a very quick recap,
but it didn't feel like
just a quick recap
when you're living
through it for years
and years and years, okay?
And just even recently,
I mean, it doesn't happen
that often,
but even recently,
I was getting weird
messages from sodomites,
even recently random people
I went to high school
with are messaging me,
is this you on TikTok?
Like, there's still kind
of weird stuff happening.
It's just not as prevalent
as it used to be,
but 1 Corinthians 15, 58
says this,
Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye 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.
That verse is not just
words to this church.
That verse is who we are.
That verse is how we
operate and live as a church,
that being steadfast,
being unmovable,
not moving our positions,
not moving our preaching,
not moving our policies,
not moving from anything
that we have said or done,
but rather, remaining
unmovable and steadfast
in the Lord.
Why?
Because we know that the
work that we do for God
is not in vain.
We know that regardless
if the world hates us,
if God is pleased with us,
that is all that matters.
And praise God,
we have a building,
but we don't need
to have a building
for God to be pleased
with us.
Praise God that we're not
going to hotel church
all the time.
I love that we have
a building, but look,
we could still be
blessed by God greatly
being in hotel church
forever, and God could
still be pleased with us
and love the work
because here's the truth,
is that during this time
when we were being attacked,
we had zero losses.
We had only victories.
Say, but you got kicked out.
You had to move around.
Yeah, but here's the thing.
How many sermons were
stopped by the protesters?
Zero.
How many documentaries
were stopped by the protesters?
Zero.
How many soul winning times
were stopped by the protesters?
Zero.
How many missions trips
were stopped?
Zero.
How many conferences
were stopped?
Zero.
How many times was
someone coming to church
and getting saved
or getting counseled
or saving their marriage
or learning things
about the Bible
to improve their life?
How many times
was that stopped
by God's enemies?
Never.
They didn't win at all.
They had zero victories.
We had all the victories.
They lost every single time,
and so here's the thing.
Right now,
Steadfast Baptist Church
is not necessarily
going through persecution
right now,
but it could again someday,
and what you need to do
is you need to remember
this time and realize
that no matter what
the church is going through,
that we are still winning
if we're preaching
the Word of God,
if we're being faithful
to what He's told us to do,
if we're going out
and fulfilling the
Great Commission,
if we're bringing them in
and discipling them,
we are still winning,
and look,
I love Steadfast Baptist Church
because of its perseverance,
because the devil tried
to stop this church.
The devil tried to stop
the work that was being done
here in Texas,
and guess what?
He failed.
Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.
That is something that
we've seen happen,
and here's the thing.
Our church may not be
going through persecution
or tribulation or trials
right now,
but maybe in your life,
maybe in your personal life
right now you are
going through tribulation.
Maybe you are
going through a trial.
Maybe you are having
financial problems.
Maybe you are having
health problems.
Maybe you're having
marriage problems.
Maybe you're having
problems with extended
family members.
Look, in the Christian life,
you're always pretty much
going to be in a trial
or about to be going
into a trial or barely
coming out of a trial.
That's just how
the Christian life works,
and so what you should
do is realize,
hey, if God took
Steadfast Baptist Church
through our trials,
He can take me
through my trials.
He can take you
through your trials,
and remember,
the perseverance of
Steadfast,
you too need to be
steadfast on a personal
level.
You too need to
continue to serve God,
continue to read the
Bible, continue to
support your pastor,
continue to pray and
do the things you
need to do, and
realize that if you do
that, God will take
care of you.
Romans chapter number
five, Romans chapter
number five.
You know, the new
IFB kind of has a
reputation where our
enemies will be like,
oh, you guys kind of
like glory and
tribulation.
You guys kind of glory
and going through
fights.
Okay, well, let's look
at Romans chapter
number five, verse
three.
And not only so, but
we glory in
tribulations.
Also, knowing that
tribulation worketh
patience, and patience
experience, and
experience hope.
Yeah, I do glory in
tribulation, because
the Bible literally
says that.
Why though?
Just so that we
could look cool, just
to be like, yeah,
we got protested,
yeah, we went
through a hard time.
No, it's because it
actually brings
experience to our
lives.
It causes us to be
patient.
It causes us to have
that experience to say,
I've been through this,
our church has been
through this, you've
been through it on a
personal level, and
what does that give
you?
It gives you hope.
It gives you hope for
the future, to know
that whatever comes our
way, God is on our
side.
And if God is on our
side, that's all that
matters.
You know, someday, I
don't know if it's
our generation or one
down the road, but
someday there's a
great tribulation
greater than anything
we've ever gone
through.
And look, there's
churches right now
that I know of that
have been through more
than our church right
now on this earth.
And there's people in
the future that will
go through way more
things than we will
ever go through.
But you know what,
though?
God's people being
persecuted in the past
and staying faithful and
God delivering those
people and God still
being pleased with
those people and God
protecting those people
should give every
single Christian in
the world this
generation and those
to come hope that he
will do the same for
them.
I mean, isn't that why
we like to read a lot
of the stories in the
Old Testament?
We see God's power and
His might.
We see Him deliver God's
people.
We see God split the
Red Sea and destroy all
the Egyptians and save
the children of Israel.
And doesn't that give
you hope that we have
that same God on our
side that could
protect us?
It gives me hope.
Look, it should give
you hope for the
future that no matter
what this church goes
through, you just
keep supporting God
supporting your pastor,
keep preaching the word
of God, keep soul
winning, keep doing
the things that you
need to do and God
will protect you, God
will deliver you.
And here's the thing.
Someday in the future
if a generation goes
through the Great
Tribulation, there's
going to be some people
where God doesn't
necessarily deliver them
physically.
There will be people
that are martyred.
There will be people
that God has called
for them to die
physically for the
Lord Jesus Christ.
That is a reality that
people can face today.
But you know what?
He still delivers
them from hell and he
still saved them and
they're still going to
spend eternity in heaven
and this life, this
body, our age, our
pain, our method of
death, all of that is
just temporary.
It's 100 percent
temporary.
The truth is if you're
saved, you'll live in
eternity in heaven with
God forever saved,
forever triumphant,
forever victorious,
forever steadfast.
In conclusion, let's go
to Acts chapter 20.
Acts chapter 20.
In conclusion, let's go
to Acts chapter 20.
Last verse we'll read.
Definitely thank you to
this church.
The last several years
has honestly been the
best years of my life,
so thank you.
Acts chapter 20, verse 28
says, take heed,
therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock
over which the Holy Ghost
have made you overseers
to feed the church of
God, which he hath
purchased with his own
blood.
Look, church is the most
important institution in
this world, and you
should love it.
Continue to love
Steadfast Baptist Church.
Continue to love its
pastor.
Continue to love its
preaching.
Continue to go soul
winning.
Continue to support the
policies.
Fear against tribulation.
Continue to be steadfast.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much
for this day.
Thank you for this great
church.
Thank you for the
opportunity to serve here
the last four years.
I just pray that you
would bless these people,
that they would continue
to be steadfast.
Love you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right.
In closing, let's go
to song number 150.
My faith has found a
resting place.
Song number 150.
My faith has found a
resting place.
Not in device or creed.
I am the
living one.
This truth for me shall be.
I need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me.
Enough for me
that Jesus saves.
This is my fear and doubt.
A sinful soul, I come to him.
He'll never pass me out.
I need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me.
My heart is leaning
on the Word,
the written Word of God.
Salvation by my Savior's name.
Salvation through his blood.
I need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me.
My position heals the sick.
The loss he came to save.
For me his precious blood he shed.
For me his life he gave.
I need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me.
Great singing everybody.
You are all dismissed.