So the second service is going to be on Monday, so check out the person there in the middle.
Check out the person there.
So the next service is going to be on Monday, so check out the person there in the middle.
The first service is going to be on Monday, so check out the person there in the middle.
Let's start our first service by getting our hymns and turning to hymn number 335.
Let's sing the song, If Jesus Goes With Me.
Get your hymns and turn to hymn number 335.
Let's sing the song, If Jesus Goes With Me.
It may be in the valley.
On the first ready, sing.
It may be in the valley where countless dangers fly.
It may be in the sunshine that I in peace abide.
But this one thing I know.
It may be hard or fair.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It's happened to me where I may be.
If he is there, I've got it up river to cheer.
It's cause to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It may be I must carry the blessed bird of life.
Across the burning deserts to those in sinful strife.
And though it be my lot to bear my corner stare.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It's happened to me where I may be.
If he is there, I've got it up river to cheer.
It's cause to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
But if it be my portion to bear my cross at home.
While others bear their burdens beyond the billows pole.
I've broke my faith in him.
Confessed his touch and fear.
And if he stays with me, I'll go anywhere.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It's happened to me where I may be.
If he is there, I've got it up river to cheer.
It's cause to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It is not mine to question the judgement of my Lord.
It is but mine to follow the leadings of his turn.
To go or stay or whether here or there.
I'll be with my Savior content anywhere.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It's happened to me where I may be.
If he is there, I've got it up river to cheer.
It's cause to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
We thank the Lord for this morning.
We thank you for the good God that has given us.
Help us all Lord to have successful services Lord.
And I pray that you bless his brother Stuckey as he preaches a sermon Lord.
And I pray that you fill him with your Holy Spirit.
And I pray that you would help us to be attentive with a sermon Lord.
Remove the distractions dear Lord.
And I pray that you would remove any hindrances in our hearts and our minds Lord.
And I pray that you would bless our fellowship, the reading of your word, the congregation of our singing.
And I pray Lord that you would give us a good prayer this afternoon so that we can go out and win souls for Christ.
We're asking all these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
For our next song, let's turn to hymn number 41.
Let's sing the song sweet by and by.
Hymn number 41. Let's sing the song sweet by and by.
Hymn number 41. Sweet by and by.
There's a land that is fairer than day.
On first ready, sing.
There's a land that is fairer than day.
And by faith we can see it afar.
For the Father waits over the way.
To prepare us a dwelling place there.
In the sweet by and by.
We shall be on the beautiful shore.
In the sweet by and by.
We shall be on the beautiful shore.
We shall sing on the beautiful shore.
From the glorious songs of the land.
Let our spirit show sorrow for good.
Not a sigh for the blessing of Christ.
In the sweet by and by.
We shall be on the beautiful shore.
In the sweet by and by.
We shall be on the beautiful shore.
For the last verse, we're going to sing the chorus in a cappella.
For the last verse, on the verses the accompaniment will accompany us.
But on the chorus, we're going to sing a cappella.
On the last ready, sing.
To our bountiful Father above.
We will offer our tribute of praise.
For the glorious gift of his love.
And the blessings that hallow are these.
In the sweet by and by.
We shall meet on the beautiful shore.
In the sweet by and by.
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
Great scene.
Alright, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Take out your bulletin.
And we already have a great crowd here this morning.
You know, one of our goals when we sing through the hymns is to go through the entire hymnal.
And it's always interesting, some songs a lot of people know and then some songs they don't.
Like the first song, it's like, what am I going to sing in a cello here today?
And in the second song, everyone's really loud.
I guess that's not as well known of a song, the first one.
But anyways, our verse of the week is Revelation 22 verse 17.
And the Spirit and the bride say come, and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is a thirst come.
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
And that's a great verse there.
We are a family integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcomed during the services.
We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience where you can see and listen to the sermon.
As well as the ladies restroom.
Men's comfort room is up here in front.
Remember no eating during the services.
Maintain a professional atmosphere.
And keep the children from running and making noise during the church service.
In the middle of our bulletin, our service times are listed.
Our first service is at 10 a.m.
And I will warn you, the first sermon's on Calvinism.
So we're long tongue holly on nigh on, right?
The second sermon will be shortened so that way we can make sure we can still eat and everything like that.
But the first sermon I got done at 11.45 yesterday.
So it is what it is.
That second service normally starts at 11.30.
Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m.
So many times listed we have soul winning at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Saturday afternoon soul winning, we have soul winning all day.
10 to 12, lunch provided by church.
And then in the afternoon 2 to 4 as well.
And we do have Sunday afternoon soul winning here today at 2.15 p.m. here today.
And our salvation's are listed for the year from this past week.
We don't have the totals up yet. We'll have those in next week.
Birthdays and anniversaries for February listed.
And then on the next page our Bible memorization challenge.
And so I updated this last week.
So just take note of this if you haven't noticed it yet.
That for the Bible memorization challenge we have it into age categories now.
If you are 11 years and above, to get the prize you must memorize an entire chapter.
If you're memorizing an entire chapter and you say two versus onto or something very, very minor,
then you know what, that's okay.
But obviously if you're making a ton of mistakes then you need to review it more and everything.
So obviously use some wisdom if somebody's quoting it to you.
Because we want to motivate people to memorize and we don't want to make it super hard where they're not interested in doing it.
Ages 8 to 10 you need to memorize seven verses perfectly or more.
So it could be seven verses in a row.
It could be seven verses throughout the Bible.
Obviously if you pick seven verses this week you can't quote Romans 3.23 every week for the rest of your life.
Unless you're going soul winning and then absolutely do it every week the rest of your life.
And then ages below 8 it's one memory verse perfectly.
So you do have the Bible memorization prizes in that container there and then we have extra in the fridge.
Right now just one chip left I think.
Last I saw the rest are Snickers bars but we'll add and make it more diverse here in the coming weeks.
Upcoming activities.
So next week is the married couple sweetheart banquet.
So who's excited for that?
We had a great time last year.
Just me.
Thank you. God bless you.
I see that hand.
But we had a great time last year and so one change is going to be this year.
Because last year the ladies did a great job.
They spent hours and hours decorating.
Maybe some of you ladies have kind of wondered.
So the food that we provided they do like an all in one service.
They'll do the decorating as well as the food and the ladies did an awesome job last year.
But I also know it took a lot and a lot and a lot of time.
So we just decided to just do an all in one service where they provide the food and do the decorations.
So they'll be doing that next week.
We're still going to have our soul winning time and then we'll have the couple sweetheart banquet afterwards.
Things are a little bit different this year because last year we sent the singles to the mall to do bowling or something.
And so obviously there's more complications this year.
So if you're a single you're welcome to stay around during the sweetheart banquet.
The sweetheart banquet will be up here in front.
And so I posted in our chess group that in the 19th century the name of the style of chess was known as romantic chess.
So the singles, since that's our new activity, can play romantic chess while you know that we have the married couple sweetheart banquet.
OK.
And so it's up to you.
But if you're single you're welcome to stick around.
We will have food and everything like that.
We'll have the banquet up here in front for those that are married.
And then on the 20th we do have our prayer meeting.
New Testament Bible Reading Challenge.
Obviously we are done with January now so hopefully you're able to finish it.
So if you completed the New Testament in January and you did not get your prize, you also can grab from that container there.
We have, as I said, extra in the fridge.
We have snicker bars.
So one snicker bars or one prize for reading the New Testament in January or for doing the Bible Memorization Challenge.
But hopefully you're striving to read the Bible through, you know, February to December.
You know, hopefully you have a Bible reading chart or something.
I'm on a chart that tells me what to read every day.
It just makes it, to me it makes it a lot easier rather than waking up and trying to always be motivated.
I just have a chart where, you know, I just read through it because I have a chart.
But anyways, current and upcoming series.
So we are in the book of Daniel now and also in the false philosophy series.
Genesis is on Tuesday evenings via live stream.
Or if you want to make the trip all the way to Pampanga to come then by all means that'd be great.
But it's via live stream if you're not able to do that.
Information on the group chat and then on the back there is a place for the notes for the sermons here today.
So I believe that's it for announcements while Brother Marlon leads us in another song.
And for our third song, let's turn to hymn number 42.
Hymn number 42, my latest song is St. King Pat's.
My latest song is St. King Pat's, my race is nearly run.
All the verbs ready? Sing.
My latest song is St. King Pat's, my race is nearly run.
My strongest triumphs now are best, my triumph is begun.
O come, angel band, the men around me stand.
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home.
I know I'm near the holy ranks of friends and kindred dear.
So if Jordan's banks the crossing must be near.
O come, angel band, the men around me stand.
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home.
O come, angel band, the men around me stand.
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home.
The men around me stand. O bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home.
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home.
O bear my knowing heart to him, be fed and dined for me.
O come, angel band, the men around me stand.
O bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home.
It's time. Let's take our offer.
Amen for scripture reading. Please open your Bibles to the Book of Genesis.
Genesis chapter 15. Genesis 1-5 chapter 15.
And as our custom we will be reading the entire chapter.
Genesis 15. Please say amen if you're there. Amen.
Genesis 15.
After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying,
Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.
And Abraham said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?
And the steward of my house is the Elizer of Damascus.
And Abraham said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir,
but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them.
And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
And he believed in the Lord, and accounted it to him for righteousness.
And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chkaldis, to give thee this land to inherit it.
And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old,
and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.
And he took them unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another,
but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo, an honour of great darkness fell upon him.
And he said unto Abram, Know of it surely that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,
and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years.
And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old age,
but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
And it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold the smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river of the river Euphrates,
the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
All right. We're here in Genesis chapter 15, and we'll continue the series on false philosophies.
And we're going to be covering the philosophy of Calvinism here today.
Now, obviously if you know me, my number one topic I like to preach on or the thing I hate the most is Calvinism.
I don't think there's any question about that, and I have to stop myself from not preaching too much on it.
I've got to be balanced in my preaching with the sermons I write.
I'm always like, I want to do a Calvinism series and stuff like that.
But I want to approach this sermon from a different angle because we're in this false philosophy series,
so I'm not just going to preach on it like I normally do.
So what I want to help you understand is that Calvinism is a philosophy in and of itself.
And it's something that is not just in the Christian realm, right?
I'm calling this Calvinism because this is a church. This is Christianity.
So that's the term that we know it under Christianity.
But Calvinism exists in every religion around the world in every country under a different name.
It exists in the Christian realm, it's known as Calvinism, named after John Calvin.
Now, before we get into this, let's read Genesis 15. Look at verse number 2.
Genesis 15, verse 2, and I'll explain what Calvinism is as we go.
Genesis 15, verse 2,
And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?
And the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus.
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born of mine house is mine heir.
Now go to verse number 8.
And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
So Abraham has promised that he's going to have a great offspring and nations of people are going to come out of him and everything.
And he's like, you know, where's my proof of that? Because I don't have an heir, right?
I don't have a child to pass this down to.
Now, in Genesis 15, you'll notice in verse 2 it says, Lord God, right?
In Genesis 15, verse 8, it says, Lord God.
But in the NIV, it says, But Abram said, Sovereign Lord.
Sovereign Lord.
Verse number 8, But Abram said, Sovereign Lord.
In fact, the word sovereign appears zero times in our King James Bible.
Zero times, almost 300 times in the NIV.
It's like, man, that's teaching something a little bit different because people are going to ask you in churches, hey, do you believe that God is sovereign?
Well, here's the thing, when we're looking at a word that is not a Bible word,
because if the Bible defines something, I'll say, Thus saith the Lord, this is what it means.
This is what repentance is.
This is what perfect means in the Bible, right?
When we're talking about a word that is not part of the Bible, my answer would be, well, what do you mean?
By is God sovereign?
I mean, are you asking me, is God in control?
Is God all powerful?
Then, well, yes, I believe that.
But what people mean when they ask you that question, is God sovereign?
What they're really saying is, do you believe that we have free will or is God predestining every single step that you take?
Right?
See, what Calvinism teaches, if you're not familiar with that term,
it's this teaching that everything in your life is predestined and you're basically like a robot.
You're basically a puppet, right?
And someone's pulling the strings and you're just kind of like, okay, I'm here in church because God forced me to go to church.
And everything you're doing, it's because you're just a robot that's just following everything that God is having you do.
Now, in the Christian realm, we call this Calvinism.
When I say Christian realm, I'm not saying true Christians.
This is an abomination, this teaching, because the Bible teaches very clearly we have free will.
In fact, our verse of the week in our bulletin, and here's the thing, I could put many verses on here, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds,
but we just finished the New Testament or hopefully you did in January, so this verse right at the end, you know, it's easy to remember.
And what it says is, and the spirit and the bride say come, and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is a first come,
and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
And what the Bible says is, whosoever will.
Right, I mean, we sing that song, whosoever will, right?
And it's just like you have your own free will choice.
This is why in the Bible you'll see terms like a free will offering.
Well, it's not really free, right? I mean, it's not really your own free will, it's just called a free will offering, right?
I mean, what's stupidity? I mean, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of verses that show that we have free will,
but people reject it because they're not using the Bible to determine what they believe, but they're trying to use human wisdom and human logic,
and here's the thing, the world by wisdom knew not God.
That's what the Bible says.
If you sit here for hours and hours and hours and try to logically understand where did God come from, you're not going to get the answer, right?
Now, we know God is real. It's inside your heart. You're born without belief.
You can walk outside and you know it, but you cannot give me a great answer for where did God come from?
And look, I understand I've heard a lot of those answers.
I've heard a lot of the really slick answers and good answers, and there are good answers,
but at the end of the day, we were created in a system of time.
We can't understand what it's like to be outside of that, where you've always existed.
It's not a math problem. There are certain things about God that you will not understand,
and the reason why we do not understand why someone can fully have free will is because of the fact,
if I create a robot, it doesn't have free will, right?
I create a computer program, guess what? It doesn't have free will.
It's doing what I say. Even if you create like a random generator, it's not random.
It's still following a set of rules. It just appears to be random to you as you type that in.
We could never create something with a conscience and free will, and so since people can't understand it,
they say, well, then obviously, you know, we can't have that either because it just doesn't logically make sense.
Once again, the world by wisdom knew not God.
See, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of verses that say we have free will,
so whether you understand that or not, it's a fact. That's what the Bible teaches.
But see, what they say, whether it be in Calvinism or in the atheistic world, is called free will versus determinism.
Is everything just determined ahead of time? It's a big debate.
And famous people that are evolutionists, they reject the idea of free will.
What they'll say is this. Everything is a cause and effect relationship.
You do certain things because you were raised in a certain way.
You were raised in a certain way because how your parents grew up and things in their life,
and it all goes back to a big bang 13.8 billion years ago.
That's what they'll say because they don't understand how we can have free will,
so they say it's simply a cause and effect relationship.
You say, well, Brother Stuckey, isn't that true that you do things because of how you're raised?
Look, it's partially true because, yes, that can affect things, but you still have free will to make your choice.
You have free will. And look, we cannot fully understand that.
We can't because if I create a robot, it doesn't have free will.
Right? The famous science fiction movies in the 70s and 80s, it's like you create a robot,
and then all of a sudden, it's like, isn't it like Pinocchio ends up having free will or something at the end?
He becomes alive. It's like, but that's not reality because if you create a robot,
it doesn't just independently have its own free will and make its own choices.
It's just following a set of rules that you gave it, that you programmed it with.
Okay? Now, turn in your Bible.
Turn your Bible to 2 Corinthians 5.
You say, Brother Stuckey, this really exists in all walks of life.
Well, within atheism, it's a big debate.
In the philosophical realm, there'll be whole college classes on, do we have free will or is it all determined?
You know, I've watched documentaries on it.
And it was enlightening to me because I always just think of the term Calvinism,
because that's what we're familiar with.
And then I realized, no, wait a minute, this exists in all areas, all walks of life,
because it's people that are trying to use human wisdom to determine God,
and people from all religions end up coming up with this false philosophy, many people, right?
In Islam, it's known as the Calvinism of the Orient.
That's the term that's given to a westernized, western world like the U.S. or the Philippines,
because it's a Christian country, western mindset, you know, western philosophy.
And so it's known as the Calvinism of the Orient.
You know, I talked about Daoism before, and in Daoism, you know, it talks about all these things in life
and all these problems and things we need to change,
and then they say in these documentaries, so are you saying it would be better if this didn't happen?
And it's like, well, no, that's not what we're saying, because it had to happen for us to get to our present place.
It's all just part of fate. It's all part of the Dao. It's all going to happen.
So they teach it's just all determined. They just don't call it Calvinism, right?
You have these two terms. There's a term fate, and there's a term destiny.
And I understand people use these terms kind of different today.
But if someone says fate, what they're saying is something is automatically going to happen no matter what, right?
It's just my fate in life. Like, that's going to take place no matter what.
Now, the term destiny is a little bit different, because if somebody says it's my destiny to become, like, the greatest boxer in the world,
what they're saying is, if I do my part, it will happen.
But fate would say it automatically happens because it's just in the cards, right?
It was just the roll of the dice. It took place. Automatically going to happen.
Buddha, there's a quote from him where he says,
everything we do is because of our thoughts, and our thoughts are because of previous actions.
And Buddha, from the quotes he had, he taught Calvinism.
He taught we didn't have free will. Right? So it exists in Buddhism. It exists in all his philosophies.
Quotes from Albert Einstein, who, guess what, just some famous people didn't believe in free will. Right?
And this is very common in the scientific world because they say it's just cause and effect.
It's random chemicals that are causing you to do something, and the only reason why you believe in free will is because you feel like you're making your own choices.
Well, let me say this. Number one, I do feel like I make my own choices.
I do feel like I have free will, but that's not how I determine what I believe.
My number one source of what I believe is, what does the Bible say?
What does the word of God say? I do feel like I make my own choices.
But, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Thus say the Lord, whosoever believeth. Right?
The Bible's very clear we have free will, so whether you understand it or not, guess what?
Doesn't change reality. We have free will.
I've used this example many times because, look, I do not suggest people trying to get too philosophical when they're trying to figure things out.
Well, you can get confused. Your wisdom is going to fail you. Okay?
But I've used this example that, you know, if I took my son, for example, and I said, I told my son, you know, I'm going to give you something to eat, and I give him two options.
And I got a bag of potato chips in this hand, and I got a carrot in this hand.
Well, which do you think my son's going to pick?
The bag of potato chips. Does that mean he doesn't have free will to make his own choice?
No, he's making his choice. I just know what he's going to do.
Just because God knows what's going to happen doesn't mean he's forcing it.
Yes, I mean, he knows everything that's going to happen. All the hairs of our head are numbered.
He knows that. It doesn't change the fact that when you make choices, it was your own choice.
You made a decision here today whether or not you're going to read the Bible or not, whether or not you're going to pray in the morning or not, whether or not you're going to come to church,
whether or not you're going to set your alarm at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., or whatever.
You know, for me, I set my alarm usually at 5 a.m.
It's not like, you know, I'm going to bed at night, and it's like, okay, what is God forcing me to do?
Well, I guess it's 5.30. No, it's like I make the choice based on how tired I am and what I need to get done and everything like that.
You have free will in your choices, okay?
Point number one is this. What are the problems? How do we know Calvinism is false from like a philosophical standpoint, or what's the problem with this?
Well, number one, when people believe in Calvinism, they can often make excuses for not doing what they should do if you buy into Calvinism.
See, Calvinism is a very comforting philosophy to a lot of people.
See, a lot of people, their lives get really screwed up, and then they can just say, well, this is just where God led me.
I mean, I'm being dead honest. This is the way that people figure it out in their heads. I mean, it can be a very comforting thing to people.
People can make excuses for not doing what they should do, and it's just like, well, it just wasn't meant to be.
It's like, you know, do you read your Bible? It's just not meant to be. It's just not what God has me to do.
Right? Don't use God as an excuse for why you're doing wrong, right?
One big example for excuses for not doing what you should do is with soul winning, and I want to say this in regards to Baptist churches.
What I want to show you in the sermon is how this philosophy creeps into people, even saved people, without them realizing it.
There are people that would stand up behind a pulpit and say, I reject all five points of Calvinism,
and yet they make statements and they live their lives in a way as if they believe in Calvinism.
You say, what do you mean by that? Well, notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
When it comes to the job of getting people saved, reconciling people to the Savior, wasn't given to the angels,
God's not going to come down from heaven and do it, it's given to us. Saved people.
It is our job to go out and preach the Gospel. Now we have free will whether or not we're going to do it.
It's your choice. But it's the job that God has given us.
Just like your boss gives you an assignment at work, it's like, hey, finish this assignment.
Well, you've got a free will choice whether you're going to do it or not.
Now, you should just do what the boss says. I mean, finish this assignment by lunch or you're fired.
Well, that'd be pretty dumb, right? And when God tells you to do something, it's kind of dumb to just say,
wow, you know, I'm just not going to do it. But it is your own free will choice whether or not you're going to do it, right?
Verse 19, to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
So we use the word of God to reconcile people to the Savior, right?
Verse 20, now that we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God.
So it's very obvious, according to the Bible, that it is our job to go soul winning and get people saved, right?
We believe that. Go ye into other world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
Here's the thing, though. A lot of Baptist churches say this, but then they say a lot of things that contradict that.
You say, what are you talking about? Go to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3.
Here's an example of a statement you'll hear people say. Somebody will say, well, yeah, you know what?
I've been praying for my brother to get saved. I really want him to get saved. I'm praying.
Well, don't worry about it, brother. If it's God's will for that person to get saved, it's going to happen.
What? What do you mean if it's God's will for that to happen?
I mean, don't worry when you're praying about it. Don't stress about it, because if it's God's will, it's just going to magically happen, right?
That's Calvinism, whether you realize it or not. That's this idea that everything's determined and God is, we're just puppets, right?
Well, if it's meant to happen, if it's God's will, it's just going to take place.
Well, let's see what God's will is in regards to people getting saved.
2 Peter 3, verse 9.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but his longsuffering to us would, not willing that any should perish.
You say, what does it mean to perish? Well, think of John 3, 16.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish. We're referring to going to hell.
And guess what? God is not willing, it's not his will, it's not his desire, it's not his wish for anyone to go to hell.
And doesn't that just make sense? I mean, we don't believe in an evil, wicked God that takes glory.
Yes, another one went to hell, right? Like, what in the world is wrong with these people that believe that?
I mean, are you happy when someone dies unsaved and goes to hell? I'm not.
This attitude, well, I mean, for God's glory, amen, God predestined it. He wanted another person to burn.
Like, what a twisted mindset to say something like that. I mean, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
And when people say things like that, I'm afraid what else is inside of there?
I mean, there's some pretty brutal clips you see from some of these famous Calvinists online.
Like, we had posted that one on our old Verity channel in Sacramento, and I think it's on our new channel now,
where this one famous preacher, his name was, I think, Doug something, you know, this Calvinist preacher.
Really famous, has a Bible college, and he said, every unsaved person has a desire to murder God.
What? That thought has never come into my mind. It's one of those things no one would ever think about.
And then he goes on to explain it. It's not just a dumb statement, because then maybe I'll give a pass, he's just trying to be dramatic.
He explains for five minutes what he's saying. He's like, after all, on the day of judgment, it's either you or God.
So if you had a chance to strike a blow to kill God, it's like, what is wrong with this person?
And what that guy's saying is, hey, before I got saved, man, I really wanted to murder God.
What in the world? That's crazy. That has never even come into my mind.
Like, I would have never even thought of something like that until I heard this guy say it.
I'm like, who would ever think about that? Murder God? Are you kidding me?
Now, look, I understand people get like Jonah, they get backslidden or angry. God, we understand that.
But never do you have the thoughts like, man, if I could just kill God, it's like, well, you're some kind of reprobate, right?
It's like, wow, bizarre. Then there's James White online where they pin him down on this question.
Because when it comes to Calvinism, there's a bit of a spectrum where some people believe everything, such as right foot or left foot, is predestined by God.
Others will say, well, we don't necessarily believe that. We just don't believe you have free will to get saved.
But you still have a choice whether you want to go to Burger King or McDonald's. There can be a spectrum.
The famous Calvinist preachers, though, they believe fully just everything is just preordained by God.
And they try to weasel out of this because it gets them into some embarrassing questions that look really bad.
Such as with James White, they asked him, is pedophilia ordained by God?
And he tries to weasel out of the question because the answer to that, according to him, is yes.
Well, that sounds really bad. Right? It sounds pretty bad that God wants little kids to be molested.
Yeah, that sounds awful. So I can see why he's trying to avoid answering that.
But then he said, well, if it's not, then that means it's a mindless and meaningless action.
And I don't believe in anything. It's like, what is wrong with your heart, buddy?
No. That out of your heart, you're saying that God wants serial killers to exist and pedophilia.
Like, what is wrong with you? Why does God condemn and say, thus saith the Lord, do not do this,
if he's the one who's actually doing it? It doesn't make any sense.
If God says, thou shalt not kill, but I'm going to force you because I created you, you're my robot,
and boom, I'm going to have you murder someone. That doesn't make any sense.
I'm using logic to determine what I believe because it's, thus saith the Lord. There's so much Bible.
What I'm just saying, it doesn't, I mean, how did you use wisdom to understand God and arrive to that?
It doesn't make any sense. But the Bible says God is not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Now, of course, we understand with repentance,
talking about salvation, it's referring to somebody who changes their mind and believes on Jesus.
God's saying he's not willing that anybody dies without the belief and the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ.
He wants them to repent, change their mind, and believe on him and get saved. Okay?
Go to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew 9.
Look, I understand sometimes people make these statements, they don't think about it,
but when you're saying something like, well, if it's God's will for this person to get saved,
well, the Bible tells us it's his will for everybody to be saved.
And, you know what, the problem is people use this as a justification. Somebody's praying for their brother for 20 years.
I'm just praying for them to get saved. Have you ever shared the Gospel with them? No.
Right? This philosophy people use as a justification for not doing what they should do.
They have this attitude, man, I really want to see this person get saved, but they don't actually preach the Gospel to them.
You're the one who's failing. Look, by all means, do both. Pray for the person and do the work.
But let me be honest, if you're only doing one, just preach the Gospel and don't pray about it.
If you only had to pick one, because praying for it, it's not going to take place.
Somebody must open their mouth boldly for that person to get saved. Don't just pray about it, do it.
I mean, today we're going to cancel soul winning. We're just going to sit here in this room, we're just going to pray for people to get saved.
Right? We're going to chart this new strategy. Right? We'll see what works better.
I mean, Sir Bobo, it makes no sense, but what it's called is people trying to get out of their responsibilities.
And churches don't want to feel guilty, so they bring up these stupid ideas and they're allowing Calvinism and this philosophy to get sucked into their churches.
It's never going to happen at this church.
Another thing you'll hear people say is this, we need to just pray that God will send revival.
What does that mean?
A lot of times people ask questions and they want a yes, no answer. It's like, what do you mean by that? Send revival?
What is revival? Some magical, mystical force?
And what they'll say is, well, in centuries past, God would send revival to a town and then just everybody would just be like, what must I do to be saved?
Like, what kind of a movie are you watching? I mean, this is madness.
God wants people to get saved in 2022 just as much as in the 19th century. Just as much He wants people to get saved.
Sending revival. Look, God says, I send you to preach the gospel. There's the revival.
God wants people to get saved, but when people say, well, I just pray God will send revival, you know what I pray?
I pray we'll just do the work.
And here's the thing, I'm not using just my opinion. Let's see what the Bible says about sending revival.
Notice what it says in Matthew 9, verse 35.
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
Then saith the unto His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few.
A lot of work to be done, a lot of people to get saved.
Verse 38, pray ye therefore.
He says there's a lot of work to be done. What does He say that we should pray for?
Should we pray that just a lot of people get saved?
Of course that's a good thing to do, but what's the primary thing listed?
Pray ye therefore that the Lord of the harvest said He will send forth labors into His harvest.
You know what He says? Hey, pray for more soul winners.
What He's saying is, pray for more saved people to get on fire for God.
That ought to be our prayer in 2022.
It's like, hey God, there's a lot of people to talk to, a lot of doors, so many people we should pray.
Let's pray some of these saved people get on fire for God and start coming with us.
Because there's so much work to do.
Pray there will be more soul winners.
Now, by all means, praying for people to get saved is a great thing to do,
but the primary thing instead of, hey God, just send revival.
What they mean is just send salvation. No, no, send us.
I pray that we'll send more people to preach the gospel, we'll have more soul winners.
That's the context.
Praying that God will send revival to the Philippines, what do you mean by that?
Right? I mean, I pray people start to serve God and read the Bible.
I mean, if that's what you mean, then amen, I agree with that.
But generally when people mean that, they expect this sweeping thing to happen where the Holy Spirit's like,
all right, I'm just going to go in and boom, revival's sinned, people are getting saved left and right.
It's like, look, that's a science fiction movie.
Okay, this is not biblical.
Turn to Romans 10. Romans 10.
But a lot of people like this philosophy, or even if they say they reject Calvinism, this idea,
because then that way you can get out of doing the work.
You don't have to feel guilty when you're not doing the work.
Right? When you're not going soul winning, you don't have to feel guilty.
There's a reason why a lot of people like churches like that, because at our church,
you probably feel guilty just about every week.
When people are preaching sermons, I'm feeling guilty every other word.
I'm like, man, this hurts, right?
Number one, when it comes to with soul winning specifically, they'll make statements like,
if it's God's will for someone to get saved, then they'll get saved.
No, no, no, it is God's will for someone to get saved.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Number two, they'll say, well, you know, just pray that God will send revival.
Another idea that creeps into Baptist churches is this idea that somebody can get saved without a soul winner.
Well, that's a Calvinist philosophy, my friend.
It's not a biblical one.
That attaches itself to Calvinism.
Look, a lot of Baptists believe, and probably most Baptists believe that,
that you can get saved without a soul winner preaching the gospel.
Well, once again, what does God say?
Romans 10, verse 13.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call in him in whom they have not believed?
And so the Bible says very clearly, you can't call on someone to save you if you don't believe.
Now, look, I think this is pretty obvious, but there was a famous Baptist preacher,
and I preached on him a while ago, and he said,
you can call on Jesus to save you without even understanding salvation.
What?
Right?
That's this idea where you're basically, you know, just sitting at home and just, you know, like, whatever,
and then all of a sudden, just boom, you just, you got saved.
You're going to be taking a nap.
You know, you're taking a nap.
You know, you're a Satan worshiper.
You take a nap.
You're going to Satan.
All of a sudden, you wake up.
Man, I believe in Jesus.
Where'd that come from?
Right?
This is crazy.
And look, they don't want to make this, you know, they don't want to be so open with what they believe,
but this is actually what they believe, that God can send that revival at any time.
You'll hear some of these stories, like John MacArthur, like his testimony of salvation.
It's like he was a teenager in a car, and he got, the car got into a big wreck,
and he got shot out of the car and just went flying and everything.
And it's just like, God, whatever your will is for my life, I want to do it.
Where's the soul when you're preaching the gospel?
Where's believing?
I mean, it's just this crazy thing, and when I listen to that, it's like, is that his testimony of salvation?
Is that how you got saved?
You're in a car.
You're in a jipney.
Got into a wreck.
You're riding a saw blade on the jipney, and then got into a wreck.
You went flying back 50 feet.
Boom.
God, I believe.
Right?
That's crazy.
They always have these ridiculous over-the-top stories.
But the Bible says you can't call if you don't believe.
That's just common sense.
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
Well, how can you believe in something if you've never heard it?
Now, people say, well, everybody's heard about Jesus.
Yeah, everybody's heard the name Jesus.
That doesn't mean they've heard a clear explanation of salvation.
Yeah, everybody in the Philippines knows the name Jesus.
That doesn't mean that they've heard about salvation, though.
They have to actually hear a plan of salvation from someone.
And here's the thing about this.
The Jehovah's Witnesses aren't going to give it to people.
The Mormons aren't going to give it.
These other religions that are preaching a false gospel,
they can't get anybody saved.
They believe something different.
They have to hear it from saved people.
Then it says this.
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
You say, brother, I just believe that God is so powerful
that someone can read the Bible on their own without a soul and then get saved.
Are you doubting God's power?
Well, I base what I believe not on what seems right to me,
but what does God say?
How shall they hear without a preacher?
Well, people say, well, wait a minute,
but the people that wrote the books in the Bible, they're preachers.
Yeah, but here's the thing.
We have the story in Acts 8 where he's reading the word of God on his own,
and guess what?
The eunuch doesn't get saved on his own.
How can I except some men guard me?
He says I can't get saved on my own.
And here's the thing.
If anybody could get saved on his own, it would be the eunuch,
or maybe Cornelius, an unsaved man that fears God.
Him and his whole house prayed to God, did alms.
I mean, very dedicated to God.
If anybody could get saved without a soul winner, it would have been Cornelius.
But what took place?
Well, God sent Peter to preach the gospel to him.
Doesn't that seem like a wasted trip if he could just get saved on his own?
But he can't get saved on his own because he needed a soul winner.
And when you say things like, well, someone can just get saved on their own,
it's this Calvinistic sort of idea that if it's meant to be, boom, it's going to happen.
Just, you know what?
If it's God's will for them, let's just pray for them to get saved.
If it's God's will, they're just going to open up the Bible one day
and then just be like, man, you know what?
I'm ready to call on Jesus.
That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says you need a soul winner.
Turn to Matthew 4.
Matthew 4.
Matthew chapter 4.
Now, of course, in Calvinism you don't need a soul winner
because God just sends that salvation to your heart.
And they say that it's irresistible grace that you cannot resist the Holy Ghost when it comes.
Even though Acts 7, he said, you do always resist the Holy Ghost.
It's like, it's funny you use terms that literally I can show you a verse that disproves what you believe.
You do always resist the Holy Ghost, it says in Acts 7.
That's what Stephen said before he got stoned.
So it sounds like it is possible to resist God's, the Holy Ghost in your life.
Look, God wants you to read the Bible every day.
Does that mean it automatically happens?
No.
You have free will to make your choice.
And we're preaching on a lot of stuff, but I'm spending some time on salvation
because I don't want this philosophy to creep into our church.
As far as I know, it hasn't.
As far as I know, if somebody wants to bring in a false doctrine, this is probably the last one they'll try.
The last time we had somebody come in and try to bring this, at least the last one that I'm aware of,
you know, he's talking, I remember he was talking to Brother Jay back there,
and so I just went right up to him and said, are you a Calvinist?
He said, I'm not beating around the bush where this guy's going to wait for a couple months and try to suck people into it.
Are you a Calvinist?
It's like, we don't believe that.
Right?
But then he wants to get trained by the ministry by me.
It's like, I don't, I'm not a Calvinist.
Right?
Go to a church that's a Calvinist church.
And look, I've seen this in action where they try to creep into churches.
And the reason why they do this is you'll have people that will reject all five points of Calvinism,
but if they can spread that philosophy into your head, they win.
That's what their goal is.
That's what the devil is trying to get them to do.
Where basically people would say, hey, I reject tulip.
I don't like flowers.
I hate that flower.
I hate the tulip.
Right?
Which is part of Calvinism if you're not aware.
The tulip.
The deadly flower.
Right?
The five points of Calvinism.
And they'll say, well, I don't believe in tulip, but the philosophy gets sucked into
them more than the Calvinist wins, because that's their goal.
That's what their religion is, this philosophy creeping into your head that guides your beliefs,
because you've changed your mindset.
Right.
That's what their goal is.
That's why it's so dangerous.
Matthew 4, verse 19.
The last one I want to show you in regards to soul winning is this idea people say something
like, well, if God wants me to reach someone with the Gospel, then I believe God's going
to send them to me.
Right?
They'll say, you know what, I believe in getting people saved.
I believe in spreading the Gospel, but I don't believe in confrontational soul winning.
If God wants me to get somebody saved, God's going to send them to me.
They're going to walk up to me.
I'm just going to be reading my Bible and just doing right, and then God's just going
to send them to me, and then boom, I'll preach the Gospel.
They'll get saved.
Right?
Now, it's funny when you ask these people, how many times has that happened in your life?
They'll be like, yeah, it's happened twice.
It's like, wow, it happened twice to me just on Sunday because I went and found people.
Like, what are you doing?
Right?
But how do we disprove this from the Bible?
Well, notice what it says in Matthew 4, verse 19.
And he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
So God says, we need to go and get them.
Right?
But let me help you understand the illustration that's being mentioned.
Who in here likes to fish?
Have we got any fishermen in here?
I'm not so much one.
Brother Herman, let me ask you, brother, I'm putting you on the spot.
How often when you're going fish do the fish jump in your boat, kill themselves, clean
themselves, and cook themselves?
Does that happen?
No.
We've got to get the fish.
Fish don't just willingly commit suicide and then clean themselves and cook themselves.
When it says you're fishers of men, it means you go out and get the fish.
It's like, man, how did you catch this giant fish?
Man, I don't know how it happened.
I was just at home watching television, sitting down, eating potato chips off my chest, and
then all of a sudden this fish just magically showed up and it was cooked.
That's crazy.
Right?
When it's saying we're fishers of men, it's using the illustration that, you know what,
if you want to catch fish, you've got to do the work.
They don't just willingly kill themselves and jump in the boat.
Right?
This is why the Bible uses earthly examples because they really prove the foolishness.
Just, oh, that's a good point.
When do fish ever jump into the boat?
Yeah, it never happens.
Right?
Go to Revelation chapter 2.
Revelation 2.
I mean, we sing songs like, so sin die you, right?
We're sinning to preach the gospel.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Well, if the Bible's saying go, it's indicating that you're doing the effort.
They're not doing the effort.
They're not coming to you.
Right?
Revelation chapter 2.
You say, well, why do we need to go and do it?
Because unsaved people don't understand the danger they're in.
We're the ones that understand that.
Did you ever stop to think that we knock on doors and we understand this person's drowning
and about to die, you know, meaning that they need a salvation.
They're in a burning building and they don't realize it.
Can you imagine if a building was on fire and you knock on the door, it's like, hey,
your house is on fire, and they don't believe you and shut the door.
But like literally, that's the sort of example you can put in your head where people are
going to burn in hell one day, but they don't realize it.
Well, here's the thing.
I'm not going to run out of my house and grab all my supplies if the house isn't on fire.
Right?
If my house was on fire, by all means, make sure you get your kids, get any valuables
and get out.
But if you don't realize your house is on fire, you're not going to do that.
Here's the thing.
These unsaved people don't realize their house is on fire.
They don't realize it.
Who does realize it are us, which is why we should go because we understand the danger
they're in.
They don't understand that danger.
Why is it important for a church?
Well, Revelation 2, verse 4.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works,
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place,
except thou repent.
Now, this is in the context of a church.
And the Bible is saying, you know what?
If a church leaves their first love or their first works, God will remove his blessing
or remove that candlestick.
Even permanently, just the church could be abolished because God's like, my blessing
is not upon you anymore.
Now, you say, well, how do you know the first love and first works are referring to soul
winning?
Well, just think about this logically.
If you start a brand new church with ten people, even if you're not a church like ours, you
got to find a way to reach people.
I mean, it just makes common sense.
Your first works is going to be, well, let's start getting people to come to church.
Then you can have a sweetheart banquet because you have people to attend.
Are you going to host a sweetheart banquet, though, when there's no couples?
Wouldn't make sense.
So the first works of a church, whether you're like a church or not, is to do some sort of
evangelism, which is just kind of a broad term for reaching people, or at least how
it's used, right?
So even in a church that's not like ours, they're going to do something to try to bring
people in, right?
That's always going to be the first works of a church.
Now, here's the thing, though.
As a church grows, you can have more activities, and those are good things.
However, the problem is when you spend all your time on those activities and remove the
first works.
Now, I think as a church, we should be balanced.
You know, I believe in soul winning.
I love soul winning.
We also try to have a lot of activities because we're trying to keep people to have fun and
fellowship and things like that.
It's a tough balance to strike, but unfortunately with a lot of churches, what happens is you
have so many activities, and you feel like you're close to God and doing right because
you're still fellowshipping with God's people.
But unfortunately, the first works start to die out.
We must make sure that never happens at our church.
Go to Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews 10.
I mean, if you believe in Calvinism, it doesn't make any sense to go soul winning.
It makes no sense.
I mean, if it's all going to happen no matter what, why would I spend my time, right?
I mean, I'll be honest.
I have a lot of hobbies and things I like to do.
If I had more free time, I'd spend a lot of time on various hobbies, but there's certain
things that are more of a priority.
Now, here's the thing.
If everybody was going to get saved no matter what we do, then I'll be honest, we would
just cancel our soul winning.
There'd be no point because there's lots of other things we can do.
I mean, I would love to be able to stick around and play basketball sometime, but I get back
really late at night if we do that.
It's kind of hard.
You know, we'd start having basketball.
We'd have more games and competitions because if people are going to get saved anyway, well,
let's just fellowship and have fun, right?
But that's not reality.
Reality is if we don't do the work, they're going to die and go to hell.
We must make sure the first works of our church never change.
I mean, one of my favorite churches, their name is First Works Baptist Church.
What a great name.
I was like, I love that idea.
Keep the acronym FWBC.
I was like, that is awesome.
First works.
What are they saying at that church?
They're saying soul winning.
Bring them in.
Get people saved, right?
That must remain the first works of our church, soul winning.
Hebrews 10, Hebrews chapter 10.
Another idea is with careers.
People pick careers and jobs where they can't serve God.
And they'll say, well, this is just where God led me, right?
God just led me to have this career and I can't go to church.
You know, I can't serve God.
Well, what does the Bible say about that?
Hebrews 10 verse 25.
It says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is,
but exhorting one another in so much the more as they see the day approaching.
See, the Bible says that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
We should be gathered together in church.
We need to be part of a good local church.
If you move somewhere someday, that's fine.
Make sure you have a good church to be a part of, right?
Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves.
So if God commands you to be part of church,
would God lead you to a career where you can't be in church?
Right?
Look, there's a lot of careers where you can't be in church.
You know, it used to be a hundred years ago when sports became a big thing professional.
You could have been a professional athlete and still serve God because they never had games on Sunday.
But in America, the big event is Super Bowl Sunday, right?
Because no one's doing anything important on Sunday.
Everyone has free time to sit around all day and watch the Super Bowl because Sunday is the day you relax.
It's not like people go to church in 2022, right?
So here's the thing. Would it be God's will for someone to be a pro athlete and not be able to be at church?
No.
Even if they're offered 20 million dollars, it doesn't matter.
Because what God says is you need to be in church.
And look, that's just one example, but there's millions of careers.
I mean, hundreds of careers you can look at where you cannot be a part of church.
Well, here's the problem with that.
God said don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
I don't believe God's going to contradict.
If he says be in church, he's not going to lead you to a career where you can't be in church.
But what people mean by that, whether they realize it or not, well, they're just saying this is the career I want.
This is what I chose.
And they just want to say, well, God chose this for me.
It's not my fault.
You're not doing what you should do.
Go to Proverbs 22.
Proverbs 22.
Now let me help you understand this.
I'll give you a couple secular examples to understand this concept.
You have to realize, often in life, people get themselves into lose-lose situations.
You know, the expression, a rock in a hard place.
Where basically there's no good options.
Right?
I mean, think about, let's say somebody's in a boxing match.
Okay, you're in a boxing match and you lose the first round.
You lose the second round.
You lose the third and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh and eighth.
We only got a couple rounds left.
What do you need to do?
You need to knock the other guy out.
Here's the thing, though.
If you don't play defense and just swing wild haymakers and everything, that's your best chance.
But most likely it's going to be like, boom, knocked out in the face.
But the idea is, well, if I just let myself lose every round, I'm going to lose by decision for sure.
So I've got to just go for broke.
Right?
We've been playing a lot of chess recently.
This is an example people can think of.
Sometimes, you know, the first eight or ten moves you do some bad decisions and you get yourself boxed in where you don't have any moves.
Your bishop can't move anywhere.
Your knight can't move anywhere.
Well, here's the thing.
If you don't change something, you'll just get picked apart and lose the match over a long haul.
And sometimes you've got to just forsake pieces to have some space to do something.
Now, is that a good option?
Neither one's a good option.
But you got yourself in a lose-lose situation.
Well, sometimes in life, people get themselves in lose-lose situations.
What we need to realize at the end of the day is all of us make freewill decisions and it leads us down various roads.
And sometimes it's a road we should have never gone down.
Look, I understand sometimes these decisions are made even before you're saved and you don't even realize it.
You make decisions in life and it leads you down a road.
And if you could go back in time to change things, you would.
But now you're in a rock and a hard place, right?
But at the end of the day, you can't sit here and say, well, it's God's will for me not to be in church.
I don't believe that.
It's just one example that God commands you to be in church.
Now, it could be you made decisions where now you can't be a part of church because of bad decisions five, ten, fifteen years ago or whatever.
But that was still your freewill choice.
At the end of the day, God wants you to be in church.
The reality is, when you decide to make church a priority, you do have to make some sacrifices in your life.
All of us could make more money if we decided, you know, working on Sunday.
In America, it's very common to get like overtime, which is time and a half pay, 50 percent increase for each hour if you work on the weekends.
And look, of course, there's a temptation that my old job is like, man, you know, I'll get paid a lot more money if I just work on Sundays.
But you got to make choices in life.
Turn to the Bible to Proverbs 22.
Proverbs 22.
Another big one I see is with raising kids.
What does the Bible say about raising children?
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Look, I understand my kids are young, my kids are two and four and then still inside the womb.
But here's the thing about this, God promises in Proverbs 22 verse 6 that if you do your job correctly, your kids will grow up and love God.
That doesn't mean they're going to be perfect, it doesn't mean they'll never make any mistakes.
But what the Bible says is if you train your children correctly, if you put in the time and effort, it's going to make an impact, it's going to make a difference.
And I believe that.
And what I'm saying is this, if my kids grow up and they don't love God, it means it's my fault.
Now it is very easy for me to say this now because I'm not in a situation where I have to make excuses because my kids are still young.
But that's just reality.
If your kids grow up and then they hate God, they don't, obviously you did something wrong.
But you know what will take place is kids will grow up and be adults and the parents will say, I don't know what happened, I did everything right.
Isn't that what they'll say?
Did you read the Bible with your kids? Did you teach them about salvation? I did everything right.
I brought them to a Christian school, I did everything right.
Well obviously not if your kids grew up and they don't love them because God promises your kids will grow up and serve them and love them.
That's what the Bible says.
But people have this idea, I did everything right, it's not my fault.
And it's just making excuses, just saying, well it was just destined to happen.
It's just determined, you know, my kid or whatever, it's making excuses.
And see the problem with this philosophy is it gives you excuses and all of us like excuses, right.
Excuses are fun.
When you mess up you can just give an excuse, you know, why didn't you read the Bible today?
Well I have a valid reason, right.
It's nice because then you don't have to feel guilty, right.
Why didn't you do this that you were supposed to do and then you have a valid reason, I got an excuse, I got a valid reason.
Well the excuses feel nice.
The problem is excuses don't change reality.
And when you get in a pattern of making excuses it's going to cause you to make more and more problems than just always make excuses for it.
Turn your Bible to Matthew 19, Matthew 19.
Actually just, you know, turn to Galatians 6 for sake of time.
Because as I said it's going to be a long sermon.
I want to eat lunch today so.
Point one was excuses for not doing what you should do.
Point two is excuses for doing what you shouldn't.
So same sort of thing on the other, so what I'm saying is this.
If you don't read the Bible you get this Calvinistic idea, well I was just not meant to be.
God just didn't create me as someone who reads, right.
Or whatever excuses.
And then also like, you know, you're like a drug dealer for ten years.
Well that's just the road that God led me down.
Right, the excuses for doing things you shouldn't do.
Well notice what it says in Galatians 6 verse 7.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.
Do you see how in Galatians 6 verses 7 and 8 the responsibility is on us.
If you sow the spirit, if you sow wickedness, if you do wrong, the responsibility is on us.
It's our choice.
You can't sit here and blame God and say, well God just led me down this road to be a drug dealer and a drunk.
That's just the path God had for me.
And people say things like this.
People get divorced five times, well I mean just God led me to a different person.
Is that what God says?
Is that what the Bible says?
I mean people make major mistakes in their life.
Well this is just the path that God led me down.
Don't blame God for your mistakes.
If you make mistakes in life and you make sins, it's your choice.
And what the Bible says is, hey, be not deceived, God is not mocked, you're going to reap for it.
Right?
Because what will take place is we'll do wrong and then we think we're getting away with it because nothing happens immediately.
Right.
And then time goes by and then you start thinking, well I mean maybe God's not that upset about it, it's going to be okay.
But the Bible says, hey, be not deceived, God is not mocked.
Now does this verse make any sense if you believe in Calvinism?
God is saying, hey, make sure you do right, I'll be very angry if you do wrong.
It's like, well if God's the one forcing you to do wrong, it doesn't make any sense.
Go to 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12.
This is, especially it's super common in the US because divorce is legal in the US,
but people will be married like three or four times and they'll always say, well God just led me to this other person.
It's like, well God condemns divorce.
It says he hateth putting away.
So you can't sit here and say that God led you to a different person.
That was the choice that you made.
The Bible doesn't contradict itself.
Right?
And all that is is an excuse for doing something that you shouldn't do, where you don't want to feel guilty about it,
you don't want to say, well, you know what, I did wrong.
And look, whenever it comes to anything in life, if you make mistakes, you must take responsibility.
2 Samuel 12 verse 7.
Now in this story, Nathan tells basically like a parable to David,
and he's using a physical example to explain his spiritual truth,
and then David's like, this is terrible.
How dare somebody do this?
And it's like, oh, it was you by the way.
Right?
Thou art the man.
And then all of a sudden it just dawns on David.
What's crazy about this story when you think about it,
because here's the thing, Calvinists will say David was not saved at this time.
They'll say, well, obviously David couldn't be saved,
because no Christian would ever commit a sin so bad.
No Christian would live in a carnal state, in a fleshly state.
It's like, well, the Bible says throughout the New Testament that you can be carnal as a Christian.
That's what Paul said.
He said, I am carnal.
And all carnal means is to walk in the flesh.
I used this example yesterday.
You know what?
Here's the thing.
We have a body, soul, and spirit.
Right?
When you get saved, you're indwelled with the spirit of God.
Okay?
But here's the thing about this.
My flesh still exists.
When I look at a mirror, guess what?
I see something.
Right?
My body's still here.
It's like, no, brother, I got saved here last year,
and now when I look at a mirror, it's just like, whoo.
My body's not there anymore because my body's gone.
I mean, it's just like this philosophy is so dumb.
Right?
It doesn't make any sense.
But it's just like our flesh does not change when we get saved.
When you get indwelled with the spirit of God, the old man still exists.
The Bible says the old man and the new man.
It doesn't say the old man's gone because every day it says put off the old man.
Put on the new man.
Right?
The old man still exists.
So here's the thing.
Every sin you're capable of before you're saved, you are capable of afterwards.
Anything you might have done before you're saved, it's possible afterwards as well.
I mean, if somebody was a drug dealer, you know, before you're saved,
and you can be someone who's just an unsaved person and not a reprobate,
well, you can be a saved person and do that as well.
Now, obviously, God's going to judge you because be not deceived, God is not mocked.
For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
According to the word of God, anything that you're capable of before you're saved,
also afterwards as well.
You know, when I got saved, I loved rock music.
I loved hard rock music, 70s and 80s, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses, that sort of music.
Guess what?
When I got saved, I still liked that music.
You say, why?
My flesh didn't change.
You say, brother, do you like that music today?
I killed off the old man.
I killed off that music.
And that end of my life, no, I don't desire that music anymore.
You can get rid of it over time, but here's the thing, it's not like I'm perfect.
I have many things I'm working on.
Here's the thing, though.
The only reason why I got rid of that sin and that problem is I spent time reading the Bible,
going to church, and as years go by, you start to not like it as much.
It's like, for example, if you're addicted to cigarettes, well, if you haven't smoked
for five years, your desire is going to be a lot less than the day you quit.
Right?
And just common sense examples.
Our flesh, though, does not change.
And so David is clearly saved at this time.
He's a man after God's own heart, the Bible says.
He was specifically chosen by God.
But what's scary is he doesn't even realize that he's guilty of this.
It's like you make excuses for the sins that you do, and then you don't even think about
things that you're doing that are wrong.
You make excuses in your head.
Verse 13, And David said unto Nathan, It's not my fault, because God made me do it.
Right?
I mean, that's what the Calvinist believes.
Right?
That's what the Calvinist believes.
It's not my fault.
God made me do it.
He says, I have sinned against the Lord.
And look, whenever you're confronted with your sin, you must just admit that you did
wrong.
Turn in the Bible to 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5.
And they'll say things like, well, the Bible speaks about being a carnal Christian, and
then they'll add the word continuous.
Well, I'm saying you can't continuously be a carnal Christian.
It's like, what in the world?
It's like, the Bible, I'll show you a clear verse.
Right?
The Church of Corinth, guess what?
They're a church full of saved people that are carnal.
Living in the flesh.
The Bible says if you have envy and strife of divisions, Paul said that, you know what,
I'm carnal.
But he's not continuously carnal.
Right?
It's just, it's madness.
It's like, no, maybe your theology just doesn't make any sense.
Because you're trying by wisdom to understand who God is, and you're not going to arrive
at that conclusion.
What the Bible says very clearly is we have free will.
Okay?
Point number one, we talked about basically making excuses for not doing what you should
do.
Point number two is making excuses for doing what you shouldn't do.
And point three, just major, major heresy attached to this idea of Calvinism.
Notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17.
And one of those big statements you'll hear in churches is this.
Well, if you're really saved, then there will be a change.
That's Calvinism, my friend.
If you're really saved, there's going to be a change.
Amen?
No.
I don't agree with that.
The Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible doesn't say, well, if you're really saved, there's going to be a change.
And they'll turn to 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
And they'll use this verse and say, well, see, the Bible says old things are passed
away, so basically your desire for smoking is gone, and all things are become new, so
you just have a desire to read the Bible.
So you don't desire to smoke, now you desire to read the Bible.
Now look, any one of us in this room would admit that when we got saved, we still had
a desire for the wrong things.
And when people teach this sort of thing, it scares people that are actually saved because
they're like, man, I haven't changed that much.
Like, I got saved when I was 18, but then I also heard sermons after I was saved in
the next year from people that would say things like, well, if you're really saved, there's
going to be a change.
And I looked at my life, and I'm like, man, I'm trying to make changes.
I mean, I believe that's all the Bible says I need to do, but why am I still sinning?
Right, because this is what this false teaching does.
This is heresy.
And when people are teaching this, these are people that are unsaved people, and they're
confusing people that are saved.
So you say, what is this verse saying?
Well, the Bible's saying old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
Look, if this is referring to sin, if it is referring to sin, which it's not, if it is,
though, all things are become new would have to mean that you're perfect.
If that's saying that when you get saved, all things are passed away, completely gone,
all things are become new, then that would have to mean that you're perfect.
Is anybody perfect?
Right?
So what's it say?
Well, here's what takes place when you get saved.
You get in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God.
You get the new man.
And also attached with that is there are certain new things that are now your job and responsibility.
You say, what are you talking about?
Didn't we just read the verses right after this to talk about soul winning?
Guess what?
That's not for an unsaved person.
But when you get saved, all things are become new.
Hey, before you're saved, you don't have to go soul winning, but guess what?
All things are become new.
Now that you're saved, you get the Spirit of God.
Hey, here's something that's new.
Open this Word of God, take it out, go door to door and preach the gospel.
All things are become new.
There are certain things that, you know what, for unsaved people, they're just not going to get it.
They're not going to understand these things.
They don't know these things.
But when you get saved, God says, you know what, whether you realize it or not, you're enlisted in the army.
Right?
You say, Brother Stuckey, do you believe in mandatory, everybody must be in the army like they're talking about?
Absolutely.
If you're saved, absolutely get involved in the fight.
Go out there and preach the gospel.
Everyone should be involved in the spiritual warfare.
All things are become new.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I didn't hear that in my old church.
Yeah, because they preach a false gospel and they don't understand it because all things are become new.
Look, before you're saved, you don't understand all of these things.
You don't understand all of this preaching and a lot of this stuff goes over your head.
It doesn't make sense.
But now that you're saved, hey, guess what?
All things are become new.
You're in trouble with the new man that has different desires, but it's still your choice.
Am I going to walk in the old man or walk in the new man?
And here's the thing.
If Calvinism was true and everything's predetermined, because what they'll say is this.
Well, we know that somebody must be making changes in their life because if you're saved, then God's going to cause you to start living a better life.
Well, then why would you ever sin, though, if God's the one in charge of it?
It doesn't make any sense.
Go to Luke chapter 8.
Luke 8.
And, you know, what you'll see is even these famous Calvinists, every once in a while they'll show in their heart that they're actually afraid of their eternal destiny.
Right? One of the great examples is R.C. Sproul because he had a big website, Ligonier Ministries.
I don't know if you ever heard of Ligonier Ministries, one of the big Calvinist websites.
If you type in something on Calvinism, lots of articles along with Desiring God, Ligonier Ministries, those are two of the big ones at least that I'm aware of.
And, you know, R.C. Sproul, we made a clip on this.
I looked for it yesterday.
It was on our old Verity channel.
It was like a YouTube channel that got taken down.
But he said he was in Bible college.
Right?
And I'll try my best to act like R.C. Sproul.
Okay?
So he was at a Calvinist Bible college.
He's like, you know what?
When I was a freshman, you know, in Bible college or seminary or whatever he said, he said there was this great question that was sweeping around the campus.
Can a person really be 100% for sure they're on their way to heaven?
It was a great question.
People were on both sides of the fence on this.
This is Bible college!
What do you mean?
Can you really be 100% for sure you're on your way to heaven?
This is Bible college.
You're going to be trusted with leading people to have that assurance.
And you're just like, I'm not sure myself.
And later on in the video, because what's funny is he's using this video to try to give people that assurance so they don't have to worry.
But he says, I myself have had times I've woken up in the middle of the night, you know, in sweats, and I'm scared that I'm going to die and go to hell.
It's like, this is one of the biggest Calvinist Ligonier ministries.
And he's saying that he's had times he's afraid.
And this is what he said.
This is what made him get out of his fear.
He said, well, you know what, if my theology is correct, no unsaved person would have any desire for God's word or any love for God.
So therefore, I must be saved because I do have a desire for God's word.
Ask a Mormon if they have a desire for God's word.
They're going to say yes.
Ask anybody if they have a desire for God's word.
Ask anybody if they love God.
People tell us they don't know for sure they're going to heaven.
But if you ask them, do you love God, they say yes.
Now, as funny as we're saved people, we're sort of the opposite.
Because we know we're going to heaven, and yet sometimes I'm like, man, I can't really say I love God as much as I should, right?
And he said in that video, and it's just mind-blowing.
You can find it on the internet, and he's just like, you won't have any love for God if you're unsaved.
Well, that's not what the Bible teaches.
Everybody thinks that they love God.
And there's no guarantee you're going to love God after you're saved.
All you have to do is just believe.
And what he's showing is he's paranoid about his eternal destiny.
Well, last I checked, I mean, those that are saved know they have eternal life.
Why do you have so many doubts?
I'm not saying it's impossible for a Christian to have doubts.
I understand that can take place.
But, you know, you're not going to have me preach a sermon where I'm just like, man, I'm scared to death.
I'm just being honest here today.
I am scared to death.
I'm going to hell.
But let's go soul-winning at 2.15 p.m., right?
It's like, that's madness.
And it's stupid because if I'm honest with myself, I wake up some days and I'm like, man, I really love reading the Bible.
Then I have other days like, man, I don't feel like doing this at all.
Right?
This idea that if you're really saved there's going to be a change is garbage.
It's not what the Bible teaches.
The only reason why people believe it is they've heard it over and over and over again, but you did not find that from the Word of God.
Luke 8, verse 11. We'll close up here in Luke 8.
The other thing you'll hear with this, with heresy being attached, they'll say, well, if you're really saved, then you're going to bear fruit.
Right? Who's heard that before?
Every saved person, everyone genuinely saved will have fruit in their life.
Well, let's look at what it says here in Luke 18 with the parable of the sower.
And I preached a sermon series on this, you know, along with Brother Oliver at Verity.
This is like a five-part sermon series.
It's going to be a long sermon. No, I'm just kidding.
So I'll just quickly explain these verses.
But there's a lot of information in these five verses.
We preached a whole series just on these verses.
Now the parable is this.
Luke 8, verse 11. The seed is the Word of God.
So the seed is what we're sowing. We're sowing the Word of God.
We use the Word of God to get people saved.
This is a sower-winner's parable.
What it's giving you is a description of people you run into and situations that take place
when we go sowing, preach the gospel, get people saved.
Verse 12. Those by the wayside are they that hear.
Then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
So in verse number 12, these are people we preach to, but they do not get saved.
And the Word of God is actually taken out of their hearts.
And what this shows you is this.
Sometimes we preach the gospel and we plant a seed.
However, sometimes, I mean, if it's six months later, that seed might be gone
because the devil allowed things to get in the way.
People will say things like, well, at the end of my life, I'll start thinking about these things.
The problem is when the seed of the Word of God is there now, you need to make a decision now
because you might not have tomorrow to make that decision.
And in verse 12, these are people we talk to that hear the gospel.
They don't get saved, and they never do get saved unless they end up believing and being saved.
But this happens all the time.
I preached the gospel to somebody yesterday, didn't believe.
He answered questions right along the way because he knew what the answer was,
but at the end, he's just like, I was like, what do you have to do to be saved?
He's like, mani wala.
I said, mani wala long?
Or, plus, kumu wanang mabuti, right?
And then he's like, plus.
So it's just like, you know, that happens all the time, right?
We preach the gospel to people, and here's the thing.
When you're explaining the gospel, it just makes perfect sense.
And so it's just like, it's like, okay, I see how this is solved.
Okay, a gift makes sense.
Eternal, that's forever.
Salvation's received the moment you believe.
I mean, it's only saved one time.
It's a promise of being saved from hell, so you only need that promise once.
It all makes sense, doesn't mean they necessarily believe it, and this takes place.
We preach the gospel to people, and unfortunately they don't always believe.
Verse 13.
They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy.
Now, here's the question.
Are these people saved?
Yes.
You say, why?
Because they receive the word.
They're saved because they receive the word.
They're not saved because they receive the word with joy, because you don't have to receive
the word with joy to be saved.
A cross-reference, which we're not going to go to for sake of time, but in Acts 2, they
gladly received his word with baptized.
You know what that indicates?
A lot of people received the word that didn't get baptized.
3,000 people got saved and baptized.
How many people got saved in Acts 2?
I have no idea.
A lot more than 3,000, because what the Bible's saying is those that gladly received the word
actually got baptized.
The indication is receiving the word with joy or gladness is when you not only receive,
because the Bible says as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the
sons of God.
So what if you receive without joy, without gladness?
Well, as many as received.
Whosoever believeth, right?
We say, hey, if you believe and never go to church, because whosoever believeth, would
you receive everlasting?
Well, yes, because whosoever.
So when it's saying receive the word with joy, it's telling you these people got saved
and they actually did something with it.
And it says, and these have no root.
Well, what does that mean they have no root?
Well, that's not saying they don't have the Holy Spirit.
Because some people say, well, that's saying they don't have the root of the Holy Spirit.
No, when you're looking at root throughout the Bible, we're talking about being rooted
and grounded in church and grounded in the things of God, where you're not just saved,
but you got your roots down deep where they can't get pulled out of the ground very easily.
Because when someone first starts coming to this church, they're excited, but they're
not necessarily like, hey, I'm going to be at this place until the day I die.
But many of you, as you're here for a while, you start feeling that way, like this is my
life.
I am rooted in the things of God, right?
But these people, they're excited, they do things with it, they get baptized, but it
says they have no roots.
Then it says, which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away.
Now, this is where people get confused.
They say, wait a minute, I thought you couldn't stop believing.
Well, you can't stop believing the gospel.
It doesn't say which for a while believe the gospel.
It doesn't say which for a while believe salvation by grace through faith.
You just assume that.
But once again, this is not a salvation parable.
This is a soul-winning parable.
And it's describing people we talk to, and these are people that receive the word with
joy.
The problem is they're not rooted in the things of God.
Well, why does it say which for a while believe?
What are they stopping believing?
Here's the thing.
When you get saved, aren't all things become new, the Bible says?
And there's a lot of new things you learn at church.
Isn't that true?
When you got saved, you had no idea the things that you know now.
And when you're at a church like this, you're learning new doctrines, new beliefs, new standards.
You're like, yes, amen, I believe this.
Here's the thing, though.
If you were to backside, quit church, you wouldn't still believe all these things forever.
At this church, you love it when I rip on the LGBT.
You're like, amen, that's what the Bible says.
Here's the thing, though.
Even the most ardent person here that loves that preaching, if you left this church and
stopped reading your Bible, you'd start saying, Brother Stuckey was too harsh to them.
Right?
Because here's the thing, you're getting brainwashed every single day by the world.
Now, why is it that we have that strong stand?
Because we read Genesis 19.
Hopefully, you're reading it every year or several times a year.
You're reading Judges 19, and I'm preaching verses, and you're looking at a lot of other stuff.
It's like, well, that's what the Bible says.
But if you were to leave church and never read the Bible, you know what?
You're going to stop believing a lot of those things.
Your standards are going to follow.
You go to a church like this, and I preach hard against sin, and you might change your standards to cut some things out of your life.
But then if you were to quit church, you're going to stop believing those things.
You say, why?
Because we all like to justify why we're not doing what we should do, or why we're doing what we shouldn't do.
And that's just reality.
If I quit church, then you know what?
I would stop believing some of the things that I hold very strongly today.
You say, why?
Because you want to ease your guilty conscience.
That's reality.
It doesn't say they stopped believing the Gospel.
Because here's the thing.
They believed for a while, and in time of temptation, fall away.
When you cross-reference, it's talking about people going through persecution.
You get saved, and you love this church, and then all of a sudden you start getting mocked by your family members.
Why do you go to that church?
I mean, that pastor's so mean.
He's always yelling.
He's got no love.
He's a hate preacher.
And then all of a sudden, many people, they quit on church because of peer pressure.
Isn't that true?
A lot of people come to a place like this, but they get mocked by their friends.
They get mocked by their family members.
And then all of a sudden, they quit on a church like this.
And the thing is, they loved the preaching when they were here.
They believed it, but they could not take the persecution and temptation.
I wish this didn't take place, but it does take place.
Where people get persecuted for what they believe, all of us are going to go through that.
And it's your decision. Am I going to last through it or not?
And what's interesting is, I've heard many stories, you know, through the two decades I've been saved,
of people where they start to serve God, and they'll tell you their story about how when they started to serve God,
people rejected them, their old friends and their family.
And they're always telling these stories thinking it only took place to them.
And then it's like, you know, especially when they're telling it to a group of people, they're all like,
Don't worry. It's happened to all of us. Right? Isn't that true?
You start serving God, you get on fire for God. A lot of people start making these critical statements.
Even people you love and care about, they just subtly try to criticize you and tear you down and tell you you're wrong.
Happens all the time. Many people quit on church because of the persecution.
In time of temptation, in time of trials, temptation, trials, synonyms, persecutions,
when you go through those times, many people quit on church.
I want to say this really doesn't have anything to do with a sermon, but let me just say this.
If you're going through this, I understand your position.
And here's the thing. I've gone through the same things that you're going to go through as well.
I've gone through these things of persecution and people criticizing you and telling you you shouldn't go to that church.
Why are you so harsh? Why are you so strict? And they just criticize you.
It's like, Man, I'm just trying to read my Bible and attend church and go soul winning and everyone's criticizing me.
It happens to everybody. Right?
And unfortunately, many people just fall out of church when this takes place.
Verse 14,
And the Bible says that we can get choked with cares and riches and pleasures.
Things of this world that, look, some of these things aren't necessarily sinful, but they can basically suck the energy out of you.
They get so wrapped up in the things of this world and don't consider spiritual matters and things that actually matter.
And the Bible says, Choke with cares and riches and pleasures of this life.
I like to try to bring these verses to life because the Bible uses words to represent something.
Just think about if somebody was in a fight and then they started getting choked.
They try to fight against it. Someone's got a rear naked choke on you.
Some of you are like, What in the world is a rear naked choke? Right?
I can't do it to myself. But they're choking you and everything.
And then you're trying to get the arm down because otherwise you're getting choked out. You're trying to fight against it.
And eventually you just run out of the energy to do it and then fight over. Right?
Well, the Bible's saying this is what takes place with all these other things in our life. They choke the energy out of you.
What happens? You bring no fruit to perfection.
They didn't have any fruit. What does that mean? Bring no fruit to perfection.
What they'll say is, Well, your fruits are good works.
They'll say these things choke you and you don't produce good works anymore.
Everybody in the world has done good things.
Unsafe people do good things.
When I was a kid, our neighbor, you know, she was an elderly lady. She was almost 100 years old.
And so during the wintertime, I would always shovel the snow out of her driveway.
Now, snow is this white thing. It's hard to describe. Snow is this white thing that falls from the sky when it's 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Right?
Not 20 degrees Celsius. But it's like, I would always shovel her driveway because she's near 100 years old. There's ice. It's very dangerous.
And I just did it. I didn't get paid for it. It was just, it was our neighbor.
You're just trying to help out and I would do it, you know, several days a week. You're just trying to help out. Right?
Isn't it true that we've all done nice things?
So, to say this is talking about your works, why, if you allow these cares in your life, you're never going to do a good work ever again the rest of your life.
That doesn't make any sense. Everybody does good things. Right?
So, what is it talking about? Well, it's talking about getting somebody saved.
The Bible's showing you, and we're going to look at the last one here in a second, the last one's the person that gets saved and actually becomes a soul winner and does something for God.
And what the Bible's showing you is, hey, even most people that get saved, they don't become soul winners because of trials and then cares and riches and pleasures.
They come in their life and they prevent them from serving God.
And it says they bring no fruit to perfection.
Say, wait a second, well, I believe that if you're really saved, you're going to bear fruit.
Well, I wish that were the case because the Bible says the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise.
I wish everybody had a desire to go soul winning.
I wish people would go soul winning and get people saved.
I pray there's more soul winners.
But most people don't go soul winning that are saved.
Now, do they still do good things? Yes.
They do nice things. It's not like they never do anything nice. Right?
The fruit is clearly talking about winning souls to the Lord.
And the Bible's showing you, hey, many things can stop you or prevent you from being a soul winner. Right?
Now, look, obviously, you know, if you're part of our church and you regularly come soul winning, obviously you could say, hey, this is part of my life.
I'm a soul winner.
But I would say that all of us will have times where we start to get things in our life and you start to feel yourself kind of fade out for that zeal for God and soul winning.
This is why we need to be reminded of the first works and the first love.
Because I'll be honest, when I first got saved and I was 18 years old, started going soul winning at 19, man, it was super exciting.
It was fun, all these stories and everything like that.
I also had a lot of free time.
Then all of a sudden, as you get older, there's a lot of things that come into your life.
All of a sudden, you start getting a lot more busy. It's a lot harder.
You've got to start making choices in life.
What is really important to you?
It's very easy to fade out of soul winning.
But the Bible says we need to make sure we stay soul winning.
The last group of people, but that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
The Bible is saying those that become soul winners, every time they hear the word of God, they have an honest heart.
They admit to themselves whether or not they're innocent or guilty or if they need to make changes.
They have an honest heart.
They have a good heart, meaning they make the change.
They realize what they need to do.
They make the change.
And it says having heard the word, meaning every time they hear the word of God preached, every time they read the Bible.
It's not referring to when they got saved because it's showing you someone who eventually becomes a soul winner.
Every time they hear the word of God, they keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
And it takes patience because your zeal can fade out over time.
And look, if you're going to be a soul winner until the day you die, you have to bring forth fruit with patience.
You have to endure trials.
You have to endure heartaches.
You have to endure storms of life.
You have to endure many things that are going to come in your life and distract you from serving God.
You'll see people drop out of soul winning, drop out of serving God.
It takes place all the time.
And so look, there's a lot of heresy being attached to this because when they're saying,
Well, if you're really saved, you're going to have works.
I don't believe in work salvation.
What do you mean if you're really saved, you're going to have fruit, you're going to have works if you're really saved?
What do you mean if you're really saved?
I mean, there's just saves.
You're either saved or unsaved, right?
Well, you know what, are you all the way saved or just partially saved?
It's like, you're saved or lost, right?
You either have eternal life or not.
It's like, well, my life is like 150 years, but I've got to keep doing my part to increase it.
It's either eternal life or not.
Either you have that gift or you don't.
Either you've accepted it or not.
You've either received it or not.
And so look, this idea, this philosophy of Calvinism, it's a very dangerous philosophy
because what I'm trying to show you in this sermon, because by and large at our church,
if you've been here for a while, you reject and hate Calvinism.
I mean, I've preached on it many times, and you've obviously sat through it, and I've preached against it.
We've missed lunches before, right?
You've heard me preach on this before, and obviously you're still here,
so obviously you at least generally agree with me on that.
But what I'm trying to show you in this sermon is this is a philosophical idea
that is in Islam and Hinduism and Buddhism and Atheism.
This is a mindset, and here's the problem with it.
You can feel like you're rejecting Calvinism, and yet you're allowing that to creep into your life.
And you can start thinking things, well, you know what?
God has just led me down this path in life.
Now look, I don't want you to misunderstand me because I don't believe that our lives are just random
and basically God is not intervening at all because we do believe that God does intervene in this life.
I do understand God guides us in our life, but this is what I believe.
Just an example to understand what we're talking about.
Let's say you're walking down a road, and then all of a sudden you come to a fork in the road.
You've got left or right. You've got to make a decision, right?
And this way is the right path. This is the path that God wants, right?
That's the thing. What I believe is that if you're serving God and doing right,
God is going to make sure that you don't accidentally go down the wrong path when you're actually doing right.
God's going to be like, hey, this is the job for you.
I know you think it's this one. Hey, you know what?
I'm going to close that door and put you down the right path because you're serving me.
And I do believe that God can do that.
Where God says, hey, you're serving me, you're doing right, and I'm guiding you in your steps.
I do believe that takes place where oftentimes God has led us down a certain path,
but God did not lead you down a path of sin, though, right?
I mean, if you say willingly go down a path where it's like drugs and alcohol,
and then you get down the road 20 years later, your marriage is destroyed,
you messed up raising your kids, your health is gone, your kidneys and liver are messed up.
Well, God just led me down this path. That's foolish, right?
You have free will, according to the Bible, to make your own choices in life.
Let's go to the word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and get to see where we're on this topic.
Help all of us in this room be willing to take responsibilities for our actions
and realize that our life is in our hands.
We make our choices, we make our decisions, and you do not force us to make the right choices.
It's up to us what we do, God.
We do ask you, though, to help guide us and lead us on the path as we're trying to serve you and do right, God.
But help us be willing to fight and overcome the sin in our lives, God.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.