All right, we're here in Acts chapter 16.
This is obviously a very famous passage for us
that are soul winners, and obviously we know
Acts 16 verses 30 and 31, but I want to address
this question that I've heard from a lot of people,
and oftentimes it's from people that are pastors
and their church doesn't really go soul winning,
but maybe they do, or people in a church
that they go soul winning, and they're just like,
why doesn't anybody at a church go soul winning?
And they ask that question, why does our church
not go soul winning?
Why don't people go soul winning?
So I want to preach a sermon on reasons why
people don't go soul winning, because I think
it's very clear in the Bible that God tells us
to go soul winning, because he says,
go ye into all the world.
Ye is plural, so when it says go ye into all the world,
he's not saying, hey, I just want you 12 people
to reach the entire world.
No, he's saying I want everybody.
Go ye into all the world.
So we know that we're supposed to go soul winning,
and yet people don't go soul winning,
so the question is, why don't they?
And so we have three points in this sermon,
but there are sub points on, especially the first point,
and so the first reason why is due to fear.
Due to fear.
A lot of people do not go soul winning
simply because they are afraid.
That's the reality.
Now, there's many reasons why they are afraid, okay?
Now I want you to notice here in Acts 16, verses 30 and 31,
then I'll explain this here in a second,
but it says in Acts 16, verse 30,
and Brock Mount said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Okay, now I want you to understand
there are many things that we should do.
We should read the Bible.
We should go to church.
We should pray.
We should get sin out of our lives,
but what must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe in the word of Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
And so the thing you must do to be saved is believe.
It does not say believe and get baptized.
It does not say believe and live a good life.
It makes it very clear that it's just by believing.
Now us that are saved, this is plain,
and this is simple, and it makes perfect sense.
But honestly, one reason why people are afraid
to go soul winning is they quite simply
don't understand salvation that well.
And I'm talking about people that are saved.
Look, some people get saved
and they hear a lot of false preaching,
and due to false preaching,
they're kind of confused about salvation themselves.
And if you ask them this question,
do you need to repent of your sins?
They're gonna be like, I don't know.
I'm like, what does the word repent mean?
I don't know.
They're confused.
And because they're confused a little bit,
they're not gonna be confident to preach the gospel.
And so these pastors that wonder,
why is it I can't get my members to go soul winning?
You're just not being clear enough about salvation.
That's a big reason why.
Look, if I just walked up to Brother Chris
before this sermon and said, hey,
I want you to preach this, two minutes before the sermon,
is he gonna be confident?
No, because he doesn't even know what I'm talking about.
He's gonna quickly look and be like, okay,
I need to preach on this and this and this.
He's not gonna have much confidence
because he doesn't understand this that well
because he just looked at it.
If I hadn't written this,
I wouldn't understand it very well.
I mean, I could look at it and learn from it,
but I mean, two minutes before,
I wouldn't have any confidence, right?
See, the more you understand something
and the better you understand it,
the more confident you're gonna be to present it.
Look, I'm confident to preach this sermon here today,
but do you think that I'd be confident
to give some lecture about, I don't know,
some foreign language I don't know?
Well, no, because I don't understand it.
I see some saved people,
they hear a lot of false preaching
or their pastors aren't clear or their churches aren't clear
or their churches are preaching a false gospel
and the members are a little bit confused themselves
and they don't know what to say.
Let me give you an example.
I got saved when I was 18
and I listened to lots of I have been preaching
right after I got saved.
The problem was some of that preaching was good
and some of it was bad, but I was a new believer,
so I didn't really realize that.
I didn't realize what this repentance topic was
and I heard a lot of preaching that said,
you must remember the exact moment you got saved
and basically, once you get saved,
there's gonna be a little bit of a change
and they make the moment so monumental
that you start to get wondered,
well, when I prayed to receive Christ,
did I have that moment like I'm supposed to have?
And so you're not really questioning God
about your salvation, but you're questioning,
did I say it right, did I have that right feeling?
And it's basically confusing the message of salvation
and what I've heard is this example that,
hey, you know what?
If you met the President of the United States
or if you met President Duterte,
would you ever forget that moment?
Well, of course not.
I would never forget that.
Well, what if you met the King of the Universe?
Would you ever forget that moment?
And then so basically, they give that example
to basically say that, hey,
if you have to have such a clear moment
of when you got saved and if you're not sure,
then you must not be saved.
Now, look, I do have a clear moment when I got saved.
Not everybody does, though.
I remember exactly when I changed
from believing a false gospel to the true gospel.
I do have that moment, but if somebody believes
the right message of salvation right now,
then they're saved.
That's the truth.
Even if they're kind of fuzzy on the exact moment
because they heard a lot of preaching
and they're not sure when they got it,
hey, if you believe the right message right now,
you're saved.
Amen.
Now, obviously, there is a moment where you get bored,
but quite honestly, some people are confused about this.
But this is why that example is a bobo and stupid example.
Amen.
Let me give you an example why.
Because here's the thing.
I do not remember when I was born.
I don't remember.
I cannot remember.
Because if you're gonna give an example,
why not give ones from the Bible?
Because you're talking about meeting
the king of the universe.
Well, what more political example of being born again
of when you're actually born?
I do not remember when I was born into this world.
I mean, do you remember that moment?
But guess what?
You're alive.
You obviously have the moment you were born.
And so, look, you know what?
Honestly, do most people know?
Probably, but honestly, some people are confused
at the exact moment where they switch
from believing something else
and putting their full faith in Jesus.
And so, some people are confused about that moment.
But if you believe the right gospel now,
faith is the evidence.
Amen.
How do you know if somebody's saved?
What do they believe?
And so, when you heard this preaching,
or when I heard this preaching about
how, man, you gotta have this monumental moment,
I'm like, you know, I don't know.
Did I fully get it then?
Did I pray it again one time?
There's like a third time.
Because you're hearing this preaching and it confuses you
that, hey, I thought I got saved,
but I'm not reading the Bible.
So maybe I'm not really saved.
That's what they're basically saying.
I thought I got saved, but man,
I'm not going so any regular.
Maybe I'm not really saved,
because there's supposed to be some sort of change.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
But when pastors' salvation message is kind of in between,
people are confused.
And if they're not even confident themselves,
how are they gonna be confident
to go out there and preach the gospel?
They won't even know what to say.
See, the reason why it's so important
that you thunder against repentance of sins
is because it helps us all understand,
hey, when I preach the gospel,
I gotta make sure I make it clear
you do not have to repent yourself.
You do not have to get baptized.
You do not have to go to church.
You have to make it clear to people
so they can have confidence,
hey, this is what I need to tell people.
Look, in our church, we make it clear
that once you're saved, you're always saved.
And it makes people realize,
man, when I'm preaching the gospel,
I better make sure it's clear to people
that you cannot lose your salvation.
I better make sure it's clear to people
they don't have to repent of their sins.
And so a church that makes salvation very clear
ends up having people that have confidence
and not fear to preach the gospel.
You say, well, how do people,
now turn to Jonah three, Jonah three.
Now, in Acts 16 as you're turning to Jonah three,
I want you to understand that the salvation message
he gives is more than just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and now shall be saved.
That's what you call the synopsis.
Basically, the summary of what they said is believe.
That doesn't mean that his gospel presentation
was 10 seconds.
It was longer than that.
Yeah, okay.
So a lot of Baptist churches say,
well, you know, all I do is say,
hey, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and now shall be saved.
No, you gotta explain that.
Obviously, you know, he said more than just those words,
but the synopsis, the summary is believe.
And when we preach the gospel, we say a lot.
15, 20 minute conversation,
but the summary of that is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You say, well, how do people answer these verses
that believe in a false gospel?
This is what I've heard from people that are part of cults
that say you gotta get baptized to go to heaven.
They'll say, well, all it says is believe, right?
Right.
But does it end there?
No, because then he got baptized.
Well, yeah, he got baptized.
It doesn't change the fact that all you must do is believe.
Right, right.
Just because he started to live for God
doesn't mean it's automatic.
Now, I've heard people that say
you have to repent of your sins
and what they say in Acts 16 is,
well, all he says is believe,
but what that shows you was when they were in prison,
they were singing phrases about repentance.
And so basically, they already heard them
talk about repentance and all they had to do
was say believe because in their song,
that is what made the guy just say,
what must I do to be saved?
Because he heard that song about,
he heard Victory in Jesus and then he just hit the deck
and it's like, I repented of my sins.
Man, I want that message.
Now, that's ridiculous.
Right.
What must I do to be saved?
And they said believe.
And look, we use verses like John 3.16,
that's the most famous verse in the Bible.
You want to show me some verse from Ezekiel,
why don't you explain to me John 3.16?
Amen.
Do you so ever believe in anybody that believes,
whether or not they repent, whether or not they don't.
Now, Jonah 3.10 is another very clear verse about salvation
or what is not salvation.
And it says in Jonah 3, verse 10,
And God saw their works
that they turned from their evil way.
According to the Bible,
turning from your evil way is works.
When you have to quit drinking, that is works.
When you have to quit lying, that's works.
When you have to make lifestyle changes,
that is work according to Jonah 3.10.
God saw their works that they turned from their evil way.
But how many churches make that clear?
Even churches that are right on salvation
would rarely turn to a verse like this.
Most churches that are right on salvation,
they won't fight the repentance topic.
They will avoid it.
And the problem is your members will never go soul in it.
Because they're confused now.
You have to make it clear.
And look, there are some Baptist pastors
that believe the right salvation message
here in the Philippines.
But unfortunately, most of them don't make it plain.
Most of them don't make it simple.
And they wonder why their members have no confidence
to preach the gospel.
Because they're not quite sure what to say.
At this church, we know what to say.
Because it's preached very clearly.
God saw their works that they turned from their evil way.
Look, this same verse says God repented of the evil
that He had said that He would do unto them
and He did it not.
Is God a sinner?
But wait a minute, God repented.
I thought repentance was the term from your sins
according to these people.
If turning from your sins is what repent means,
then apparently, God is a sinner.
And you say, well, that's just one verse.
There's no one in the Bible that repents more than God.
The first person in the Bible that repents is God.
And more than anybody, it's God.
Because turning from your sins
is not the same thing as repentance.
And so they can say that all day as much as they want,
but then God is a sinner apparently.
And according to this verse, turning from your evil way,
that is worse.
Say, what does repent mean?
It basically means to change your mind.
And so yes, people can change their mind about their sin,
but the word repent itself just means to change.
And so God chooses not to destroy Nineveh.
He said, I'm going to destroy Nineveh unless they change,
and then they change.
And God said, well, I repented of the evil
that I had said that it would do on them.
He says, I would have destroyed them,
but because of the fact they did turn from their sins,
God says, I'm not going to destroy them.
They turned from their evil way,
and God repented of the evil he would have done on them.
And God decided not to do it.
So you can change or turn from many different things.
It's not just simply referring to your sins.
And so when the Bible says repent ye and believe,
what it's saying is you change your mind
about what you believe,
and you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You quit trusting the seven sacraments to get you to heaven,
and you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You quit trusting in baptism to get you to heaven,
and you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You quit trusting in repentance of sins to get you to heaven.
You repent of that belief,
and you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't we make it very clear at this church?
We make it very clear, and quite honestly,
most churches don't make it that clear.
Turn to Habakkuk 2, Habakkuk 2.
There's a famous pastor here in the Philippines,
famous Baptist pastor that, you know what I'm saying,
a Calvinist, he preaches a false gospel,
and he preaches a sermon I listen to,
and he's like wondering, you know, man,
why can't I get my members to go soloing?
He's like, you don't really hear a lot of preaching
about soloing in light and sovereign grants.
And he's like, I just don't understand.
Why won't my members go soloing?
It's because, you know what,
you're very confusing on what you believe.
Right.
For one, you're preaching a false gospel.
For two, they don't even understand,
because you could go to most churches
and ask everybody around the church,
what do you have to do to be saved?
And you're gonna hear a dozen different answers.
Yeah.
Some people are gonna say, well, I don't know,
Sudin on the seven sacraments?
I don't know, Gungo Anang Mabuti?
I don't know.
You know, Pramana Palatayo?
Pramana Palatayo Long?
No, also, you know, be a good person.
Yes, you know, it's faith.
But, you know, of course you're gonna get baptized
and you're gonna obey God's commandments, too.
Look, you're gonna hear a lot of different answers.
You're not gonna hear a lot of
different answers to this church.
Right.
It's gonna be very clear what we believe.
Look, if you ask a question around this room,
hey, what if a saved person commits suicide?
What will happen?
Now, if you ask that at most churches,
there's gonna be a lot of confusion.
Right.
There's not confusion at our church.
Didn't I just preach a whole sermon on that a few weeks ago?
About how, hey, you know what,
if you kill yourself, you kill the body?
Look, kumam papakamatae kou isanarau,
I killed Ankato Ankou, I did not kill Ankato Luoko.
Man.
It is my soul that has eternal life, not my body.
Right.
And so it's very clear around here,
because we preach it.
But look, it's not very clear to most people,
but what does the back of two verse two say?
And the Lord answered me and said,
write the vision and make it
plain upon tables that he may run their reading in.
When it says that he may run,
once again, this is not literally a race, okay?
We're talking about running today.
It's talking about running the Christian race.
Right.
And if you don't make it plain,
people aren't gonna be able to successfully
run the Christian race.
You must make it plain what is needed to be done.
And see, when it comes to preaching the gospel,
if people don't understand it very plainly and simply,
they're not gonna be running that part of the Christian race
and preaching the gospel because they're afraid.
They don't really know.
Now turn to 1 John 5, 1 John 5.
And you know, honestly, I believe this and it's sad,
but I believe that most people here in the Philippines
that are saved, only referring to saved people,
if they had somebody literally drop on their knees and say,
what must I do to be saved,
they would not know how to get saved.
Right?
That's what I believe.
Now that's sad, but it's reality.
When I first got saved,
I would not have been able to lead someone in the Lord.
Right.
I didn't know because it was new to me.
I didn't know how to do it.
The sad thing is, you know, a lot of people that are saved,
honestly, they just don't know the Bible that well.
And they're very confused.
And that's why it's very important for churches,
especially with salvation,
to make that first step plain to be done.
Look, you've got to make it plain
what salvation is and what it isn't.
And the reality is that most people that are saved,
they believe that 20% of this country is saved.
Most people that are saved believe
the majority of people at victory are saved.
Most people that are saved believe
the majority of people at CCF are saved.
Most people that are saved believe
the majority of Pentecostals and born again are saved.
Man, a lot of people that are saved in this country
think a lot of the Catholics out there are saved.
And I'm talking about people that are saved,
but they understand so little about salvation
that they don't realize that these people
are preaching a false gospel.
Right.
And yes, there's a remnant of people
that are saved in victory that need to get out
and go to a real church.
Yes, there's a small remnant at CCF
that need to get out and go to a real church,
but you know what, the amount of people
that are saved at those churches is very small.
Right.
Very small.
That's the reality.
And look, you know, there's members of our church
from victory, ask them about it.
And they're gonna tell you that yeah,
you know, the majority of people aren't saved,
and I wasn't saved when I was at that church
until I heard the gospel from a pastor online.
I mean, it's sad, but it's reality.
Look, just because someone says they're not Catholic
doesn't mean they're saved.
Right, right.
Just because they're not part of that cult
or one of these other cults or the Catholic Church
does not mean they're saved.
The amount of saved people is very small
because the Bible says narrow is the way
which leadeth onto light and few there be that find it.
It's very narrow not because it's difficult.
It's very narrow because there's only one way.
And the sad reality is most people
are trusting in the works.
Right.
The truth is the truth.
1 John 5 verse 13 it says,
these things that are written on you
that believe in the name of the Son of God
and that you may know that you have eternal life
and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God.
See, the Bible says that God wants you to know
that you have eternal life.
Isn't it true that most people say
you must wait until your dying day
to find out if you're going to heaven?
Yeah.
When they say that, what they're actually telling you is
I'm not saved, but I don't know if I'm going to heaven.
How arrogant of you to think that you know
you're going to heaven.
How conceited of you.
I am, because of the fact I don't know.
Actually, you just don't know what the Bible says.
Right.
Because the Bible says he may know.
Right.
And so, look, for them to say
they don't know if they're going to heaven,
they're showing me they don't.
Yeah.
They don't know if they're going to heaven
because they're not.
Because once you're saved, you have the spirit of truth
indwelling you, you know you're going to heaven.
Well, how can you know you're going to heaven?
Well, going back to verse 10,
it's going to make it very clear.
1 John 5 verse 10,
He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar,
because it believeth not the record
that God gave him the Son.
Now, I go to these passages a lot
during the sermon to explain this.
And you say, why?
Because we want to make sure that everyone
understands salvation very clear at this church.
Right.
We have new people that come in,
we want them to make sure they understand it very clear
and they know what's true and what's false, okay?
And so in verse number 10, it says
we must believe the record that God gave the Son.
Basically, you believe what's written about Jesus Christ.
If you do not believe what's written about Jesus Christ
in this book, then you're calling him a liar.
You're basically saying, God, I don't believe you,
I don't believe what you say, okay?
And so what does it tell us in 1 John 10, 5, 1 John 5?
If you have 10 chapters in 1 John, there's a problem.
1 John 5, verse 11, verse 11.
And this is the record, so what is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life
and this life is in his Son?
The Bible says this life, eternal life, spiritual life,
is in his Son.
Amen.
It is not in Muhammad.
It is not in Buddha.
It is not in any church or any religion or any person.
No, it's in his Son, Jesus Christ.
And so if you believe there is two ways to get to heaven
or three ways or more than one, you are not saved.
You must believe that life is only in his Son.
That's what you, when Jesus said, I am the way,
I'm the an, the way, which means there's not two ways.
He's the way.
Right.
There are not, you say, well, there's another way
to get to heaven for the people that live in India
because they're Hindu.
No, those people need to believe in the true God,
and you say, Amen.
Right.
If there's another way to get to heaven
for them in the Muslim country,
no, they need to believe like Jesus and get saved.
But if you go to Baptist churches and ask the pastors,
ask them this question, what about people
that never hear the true gospel?
And quite honestly, a lot of those pastors will say,
I don't know, it's in God's hands.
I don't know what happened.
I mean, the Bible says neither is there salvation
in the other.
Right.
What part do you not, what must I do to be saved?
They said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that is the truth, that is the answer,
but it's an answer a lot of people get offended by,
so quite honestly, they don't want to believe that.
Right.
Look, the Bible says you must believe life is in His Son,
and you know what, it is sad that we have false religions
all over the world, and the way to fix that
is to get churches started and to preach the gospel
and reach those areas.
But look, it doesn't matter whether you're born here
in the Philippines or born in the United States
or born in a Muslim country, look, you must believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But this is why that statement's so foolish,
because people bring up that question and say,
well, how unfair is that for God in a Muslim country
or a Hindu country?
This is why that's foolish.
Nobody is born saved.
Right.
Every single person must change their mind
about what they believe before they believe
in the true gospel.
Yes, some people are raised by saved parents,
but even still, they reach that age,
and they must change their mind once they're old enough
to comprehend these things to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if they, look, I was raised, and guess what?
If I had died as a baby, I would have gone to heaven,
because when you're before that age of understanding,
God will send you to heaven.
That's a whole other sermon, the Bible proves that.
But then once you reach an age where you can understand,
you must change your mind, because the world
will always teach you work, work, work, work, work,
and that's what you naturally believe.
You must change your mind about that
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Right.
And if you're a single person in this room,
hey, know that we're not born Muslim,
but we're still born with a false system
that's gonna send us to hell.
Yeah.
Even if you were raised Baptist and your parents are saved,
you still must change your mind about what you believe
and believe on Jesus Christ.
Right.
Once you reach that age,
you must be born again, the Bible says.
So to say, well, what about people in the Muslim country?
What about people in the Philippines
that are born Catholic?
What about if you're born in a Protestant family?
What if you're born even to a Baptist family
with the right message of salvation?
You still must change your mind and believe on Jesus Christ.
And you can sit all day and say how you think it's unfair.
It doesn't matter what you think,
it matters what the Bible says.
The Bible says, life is in His Son.
And if you don't believe that, you're not saved.
That's what the Bible teaches.
But it also says, God hath given to us eternal life.
What does it mean by God's giving us eternal life?
It basically means it's a gift.
And if it's a gift and God's giving it,
then you say, well, kai longan kong 15 pesos.
Well, He's not giving us a gift then.
I'm charging you money.
Or if I said, kai longan kong 15 pesos.
No, I'm requiring Him to obey what I say.
That's not a gift.
I'm not giving Him eternal life.
And if God says, well, here is His Son,
great God, like what, you need to be a good person.
That's not a gift.
You're doing something to earn it.
So people to be saved, they must understand
that their good works, their baptism,
their church membership, none of that stuff's
going to get into heaven.
They must believe it is a gift
and they must believe it is eternal life.
Yeah.
As I mentioned in the first sermon,
ya ano katagaw uhaina o alan han gan.
It means it lasts forever.
And if you think you can lose your salvation
for any reason, you're not saved.
Why?
You're still trusting in your works to get you to heaven.
Amen.
Now, making that statement offends a lot of people
because that means the vast majority
of this world is unsaved.
Right, yeah.
And here's the sad thing.
This is the truth.
The sad thing is when you get saved,
you understand that it's narrowed against the heaven
but when I first got saved, I thought,
well, one third of the world says they're Christian
and probably one third of those people are actually saved
so yeah, one ninth of the world, that's pretty narrow.
And actually you start realizing
the road to heaven's actually very narrow.
Very few people are on that path.
Very few people believe the right thing
and that is sad but I'm not going to put a blanket
on my head and pretend it's not real.
I mean, yeah.
The truth is, yes, very few people are saved
and sometimes people say this thing,
well, they have this attitude.
I don't want to believe this because if this is true,
then that means all my relatives are in heaven.
Well, you can either just pretend it's not true.
Look, you can jump off a cliff
and just pretend you won't die when you hit the ground.
It doesn't change reality.
Or what you can do is believe on Jesus Christ
and try to rescue as many of your family members
as you possibly can, amen.
And look, unless you're a fool,
you're going to just believe on Jesus Christ
and you're going to try to do that.
And look, I get it.
Most of us, the vast majority of your family is Catholic.
Guess what?
They believe in another way to get to heaven.
That's the reality.
They don't believe that God's giving them eternal life
and they don't believe it's eternal
because 99 point whatever percent of this country
says if you commit suicide, you go straight to hell.
Once again, if you commit suicide,
you killed your body, not your soul.
And so quite honestly, when you're saved,
no matter what you do, you're going to go to heaven
because it is eternal life.
It never ends, it lasts forever.
And so we have to make salvation clear
because when pastors don't make salvation clear,
their members are not going to have much confidence.
Look, the world will brainwash you all the time
and so unless the pastors and churches are making it clear,
their members aren't going to have any confidence.
Turn to Romans 10, Romans 10.
So one reason why saved people don't go slowly
is quite honestly, they're kind of confused
about some of the questions about salvation.
They don't really know how to answer stuff.
They don't know their Bibles.
They don't have a strong knowledge of salvation,
even if they are saved.
But another reason why people don't go soul winning
is quite honestly, they don't have a church to save.
That is a big reason why people don't go soul winning.
Romans 10, verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But it doesn't end at verse 13.
We often quote verse 13, but keep reading
and there's a lot of information to learn.
Verse 14, how then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed?
And so look, you can pray to God a million times,
but if you don't believe in your heart, it's meaningless.
And how so they believe in him of whom they have not heard,
and how so they hear without a preacher?
So you must hear the gospel from somebody else
before you get saved.
Nobody gets saved on their own.
You have to understand, God set up your entire life
as a system to make you humble.
He does not want you to become arrogant,
and if you could say that I got saved on my own,
you could be very arrogant about that.
God does not allow it because he says,
unless any man should boast.
He does not want you to boast about your salvation at all,
and we can't boast because everybody in this room,
you heard the gospel from somebody else, okay?
I heard the gospel from somebody else,
and I would have gone to hell without that.
And he says, how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach except they be sent?
So how are you gonna preach the gospel unless you're sent?
What does it mean by sent?
Well, I mean, obviously we sing the song,
so send I you to labor unrewarded,
but at the same time, that comes through a church, right?
A church sends you to preach the gospel.
They give you a map and they say,
here's your soul winning partner,
and you go out and you preach the gospel.
If you did not have a church sending you though,
you'd probably come to church and that would be it.
But what do we do at 220 every single day?
We pair you up and say, here's where you're knocking,
knock those doors.
We're sending you out to preach the gospel.
What do I do every Sunday?
I pair up with someone and I go out
and I preach the gospel.
Look, you need a church to actually send you.
We're doing this together.
It doesn't come on your own.
And this is what happens with people
that aren't really involved that much with church.
They might have a seal to go soul winning
for a little while.
It's gonna die out.
Yeah.
I mean, they're just not gonna do it for very long.
You say, why?
Because they don't have anybody sending them
out to preach the gospel.
But see, when you're in a church and involved,
that church will constantly send you out,
if it's a real church, to preach the gospel.
Now, most people go to churches that never send them out.
But you know, obviously here,
we send you out to preach the gospel.
But look, most people, if they don't go soul winning,
they have no confidence to preach the gospel
because nobody's sending them.
Turn to 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 17.
And so look, I always find it encouraging
when you meet people that are motivated
in preaching the gospel,
and they don't really have a church that sends them.
But even for that to be successful,
they really need to kind of band together
to go out to preach the gospel.
Like for example, we have a group in Singapore
that gets together and they go out and preach the gospel.
But they're almost kind of creating their own church.
You know, they listen to live stream sermons
and they go out and do soul winning.
They can encourage one another.
But you need that sort of system.
And look, many of you, before this church started,
you understood salvation very clearly,
but most of you probably didn't go soul winning.
So why?
Because you don't have a church that's sending you.
You need to be part of some sort of organization,
a church that's gonna send you to preach the gospel.
And obviously when I say organization,
how God operates his people over here.
Now some of you did get together before this church started
and you were going soul winning.
The reality is that would not have lasted forever.
Eventually you need a church to just send you out, okay?
Now in 1 Samuel chapter 17,
we have the story of David and Goliath.
This is probably the most exciting chapter in the Bible,
I think.
And in 1 Samuel 17, verse eight, the Bible reads,
And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel
and said unto them, why are you to come out
to set your battle on a ray, and not eye of Philistine?
And he serviced us all?
Choose you a man for you and let him come down to me.
He be able to fight with me and to kill me,
then will we be your servants.
But if I prevail against him and kill him,
then shall you be our servants and serve us.
And the Philistines said,
I defy the armies of Israel this day,
give me a man that we may fight together.
So Goliath is mocking the enemy, mocking the opponents.
Verse 11, when Saul and all Israel heard those words
of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
So everybody is afraid because of one man.
Goliath is only one man.
Now look, yes, Goliath was a giant, he was very tall,
but as we talked about last week,
we're not talking about 200 people talking.
There's one man, and quite honestly,
one man does not destroy an entire army,
but they're afraid because of this one man, okay?
Now who should have fought Goliath?
King Saul.
For one, he's the leader.
For two, he's the tallest person.
The Bible says he was head and shoulders
above everybody else.
The leader should be fighting the battle.
You know, there was actually a time in history
where leaders actually went and fought the battles themselves.
And so the way we live in the world today,
presidents or rulers, they never go and fight the battles.
See, it's very easy to send your country off to war
when you're not in front of battle.
It's a lot more difficult if you're President Trump
and you say, well, you know, we're gonna fight the battle.
I'm gonna be the first person in line
with that machine today.
You know what, you're not gonna be so quick
to just start a war with some random country guard.
But see, there was a day when leaders fought the battle,
and that's what King Saul should be doing.
He is not fighting the battle,
so everybody is afraid because of that.
Drop down to verse number 45.
45.
Then said David to the Philistine,
Thou comest to me with a sword,
and with a spear, and with a shield,
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts.
The God of the armies of Israel will now testify.
This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand,
and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee,
and I will give the carcasses of the hosts
of the Philistines this day under the fowls of the air,
with the wild beasts of the earth,
that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
And all this assembly shall know that the Lord hath
saved them not with sword and spear,
for the battle is the Lord's,
and he will give you into our hands.
One man is willing to fight Goliath,
only one man, and it's King David.
Well, he's not the king of this.
It's David willing to fight the battle.
Go down to verse number 50.
So David prevailed over the Philistine
with a sling with a stone, and he kills Goliath,
and smote the Philistine and slew him,
but there was no sword in the hand of David.
Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine
and took his sword and drew it out of the sheep thereof,
and slew him and cut off his head therewith,
and when the Philistines saw their champion was dead,
they fled.
So because one person dies, the Philistines are afraid.
Now remember, all the Israelites are greatly afraid
for this takes place.
And the men of Israel and of Judah arose
and shouted and pursued the Philistines.
Look, David only killed one man,
but because David was willing to fight that battle,
everybody else had confidence to fight the same battle
and go after the enemy.
But when it comes to soul winning,
you need a church to be willing to fight that battle.
Now, there's no question that I need you to fight this battle
because if nobody went soul winning and didn't want to,
I wouldn't have confidence either.
But at the same time, you have churches
where the pastors never go soul winning.
They never go soul winning.
They never lead the charge.
They might even pair you up and say,
well, I'm just gonna sit back, I got work to do.
Now, I understand that running a church
that takes a lot of work,
and there are times that I have work that I need to do,
but I go soul winning multiple times every single week.
Now, it never changed.
It doesn't matter how busy you get,
you need to be able to go soul winning.
And look, when your members see the leader
just being like, well, I can't fight Goliath,
then they're not gonna go and fight battle.
They wanna follow the leader,
and if the leader's never going to fight the battle,
you have a church that either isn't sending
or isn't being led by the pastor doing it,
they're never gonna fight that battle.
That's the reality.
And this is the problem with King Saul.
You wonder why no one will fight Goliath
after the Philistines.
Well, you're not willing to step in there
and put yourself out there on a limb a little bit.
You said, Brother Stuyck, you don't understand.
You've been soul winning for a long time.
I don't go soul winning because I'm kind of afraid,
but you've been doing it for a long time.
Look, when I started preaching the gospel
here in the Philippines,
I was a little bit nervous every single time.
You say, why?
Because I was trying to preach the gospel in Tagalog
and learn, and quite honestly, it's difficult.
Now, anyone who's gone soul with me
in the last couple months,
you hear me preach the gospel in Tagalog
and explain eternal security
and explain it's only by Jesus in Tagalog.
And I'm able to do that,
and I don't understand why people
that have been pastors here for 20 years
who learn that language as a child
haven't figured out how to explain eternal security
or how to explain the gospel.
If I can learn it as a second language
and learn how to preach the gospel,
they ought to be able to do it.
But look, when I started preaching the gospel here,
I was nervous.
It's like, man, can I run into an American?
That would be really great.
Run into someone from Europe,
you know, from Britain or something like that.
Yeah, you know, that felt a little bit uncomfortable
because when you start preaching the gospel
in another language, you make mistakes.
You say things and sometimes it doesn't quite make sense
because that's what you're trying to say.
You make mistakes and you get nervous and embarrassed
and you learn through trial and error.
You say, Brother Stucky, if I start preaching the gospel,
I'm gonna make mistakes,
as did I when I came here and started preaching the gospel.
And I say things and it doesn't always translate correctly.
But you learn through trial and error
and you have to be willing to put your foot out there
and step out and faith a little bit.
Because otherwise, it's gonna be 20 years from now
and you're still not gonna know how to do it.
Look, every time you start something new,
you're not gonna know how to do it perfectly.
You're gonna make mistakes,
but quite honestly, you gotta just do it
and not have that fear.
But the problem is, a lot of people,
they just don't have a church that says that.
Now, here's the thing, at this church,
turn to Ephesians 6, Ephesians 6.
At this church, though,
you cannot say you don't have a church that says that.
You can't say that I don't go out preaching the gospel.
You can't say that this church
is not really interested in sowing.
No, you do have a church that is interested in sowing.
You do have a church that goes out sowing
several times every single week.
And so at this church, you have a church
that will send you to preach the gospel.
But a lot of people still have fear.
You say, why?
Well, quite honestly, a lot of people,
they have trouble stepping out in faith.
Ephesians 6, verse 18, the Bible reads,
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit
and watching thereto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints.
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me
that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the ministry of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in bonds,
that therein I may speak boldly as they ought to speak.
Now, I think most of us would say
that outside of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul the Apostle, he'd say is probably
the greatest soul winner, or most motivated,
or most zealous soul winner that's maybe ever existed.
We consider him the greatest missionary
and the greatest church planner
and the most zealous soul winner who ever existed.
And yet, in verses 19 and 20, he says,
please pray for me so I can be bold.
You know what he's saying?
I am not always bold either.
You know what he's saying?
Honestly, sometimes it's tough for me to preach the gospel.
Sometimes I get nervous, and he's praying for boldness.
So look, if you say, man, I'm afraid.
I don't know what to say.
Well, realize you're no different than everybody,
because everybody is gonna be afraid from time to time,
and you have to step out there in faith.
Now, the great thing in our church is this,
that if you go soul winning,
you're not just shoved out there with a Bible in your hands
and expected to do the talking.
You learn as a silent partner.
You go with somebody else.
You know, when I first started preaching the gospel,
I was a silent partner,
and I was just kind of there along for the ride,
learning from other people.
And I learned what they said, and I heard what people said.
And over time, I eventually became the soul winner myself.
Did you know that Moses in the Bible
started out as a silent partner?
Right. Right.
When he starts, who's the one doing the talking?
Aaron. Why?
Moses tells God, I can't do it.
Right.
See, Moses, Moses.
And so the way you feel is no different
than anybody's ever felt,
because that's the way Moses felt.
Moses said, I can't be the one preaching the gospel.
In fact, I still remember very clearly telling
the person who led me to the Lord
as he was trying to get me to become a soul winner,
hey, it's just not my gift.
I'm not a confident person.
You know, I'm afraid.
I get nervous.
I'm not an outgoing person.
It's just not my ability.
But wait a minute.
In the Bible, where does it say
this is something that's your ability?
It's just something you need to do.
Right. Yeah.
You know, one thing I've found is many people
that are very outgoing are the ones
that actually struggle with soul winners,
because honestly, they're not used
to getting afraid in situations
and having to fight through it.
And so honestly, many people that have just a personality
where they're really outgoing,
they're the ones who don't do it,
because, man, I'm used to having confidence,
and now I'm like, oh, I don't know what to do.
Whereas people that maybe are more introverted,
they can have more confidence,
because they're used to feeling uncomfortable.
Right.
Look, it's just something where when you first start,
you're gonna be uncomfortable.
But the great thing is you don't have to be nervous,
because you can go with someone as a silent partner,
someone who can do all the talking.
They won't put you on the spot.
They won't embarrass you.
They'll let you just kind of learn and grow,
and eventually, and even if you stay a silent partner
your whole life, praise the Lord for that.
But honestly, you'll probably eventually learn
and get confidence to do it yourself.
Now turn to Philippians chapter one, Philippians one.
And so Philippians chapter one, verse 13 and 14,
the Bible reads, so that my bonds in Christ
are manifest in all the palace and in all other places,
and many of the brethren of the Lord
who are actually confident by my bonds
are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
And so what Paul is saying is,
because I am in prison, because I'm arrested,
people are actually more bold to preach the word God.
Now that sounds kind of strange.
You would think that with everybody just,
with him being in prison, people would be nervous.
It actually gives them boldness,
because when you see somebody willing
to step out there in faith
and to go through trials in their lives,
it causes some people to kind of step on the fire in line
and figure out what side they're on.
You know, honestly, there was people
that got into the fight, like-minded pastors,
when they saw a very Baptist protest in California,
and they said, man, if that church
is willing to be protested,
I've gotta be willing to step out of faith
and show what I believe.
And so, you know, honestly,
the world we live in today, though,
you don't even have to worry about
getting arrested for the cause of Christ.
But unless you're crazy,
I mean, if you're just preaching the gospel here,
you're not gonna get arrested.
You're not gonna be murdered.
I mean, honestly, it's really not that intimidating.
Honestly, you're just going up to the door,
and honestly, most of the time, people are friendly.
And if they're not friendly,
then you just move on to the next door.
We don't encourage people to argue
and fight with people at the door.
We just knock and just see if they're interested,
and honestly, it's not really that intimidating.
And when you start, you can start as a silent partner,
and you can learn how to preach the gospel.
And the reason why we do that
is because that's how it all starts.
I understand what it's like to be nervous and afraid,
because every single person, they start out afraid.
But if you want to please God,
you must be willing to step out a little bit in faith.
And it's good to feel a little bit uncomfortable.
But I would say that Peter was one of the greatest Christians
who ever lived, and yet, him stepping out on the water,
do you really think that's easy to do?
And then he gets there and he fails.
He starts to drown.
And guess what?
You know what Jesus did not do?
Jesus did not put his foot on his head
and just shove him under the water.
You know what he did?
He helped him up.
And so you know what happens in your life
when you step out of faith and you fail?
What God does, he helps you out.
God urges you.
He doesn't kick you when you're down.
He's happy you step out in faith.
Yes, you fail when you step out in faith.
Every single person, when they step out in faith,
they're gonna fail from time to time.
There's gonna be mistakes made, but that's okay.
It's not the end of the world,
and you have to realize that everything in life,
there's gonna be a trial and error, period,
that you have to be willing to start that.
I turn to Matthew nine, Matthew nine.
And honestly, we can look at a lot of reasons
why people don't go sowing,
but fear is one of the big reasons.
There's many reasons for that fear.
Sometimes it's the church's fault.
Sometimes people are newer.
I mean, there's various different reasons,
but fear is obviously a big reason, okay?
I'm not saying that if you struggle with sowing,
that this one fits you or this other one,
but obviously there's some reason you're not going sowing
because we know we're supposed to do it.
And honestly, another reason
why people don't go sowing is laziness.
That's the reason why.
Matthew nine, verses 35 through 38.
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.
When he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them
because they fainted and were scattered abroad
as sheep having no shepherd.
And so Jesus and his followers are doing all this work,
but no matter how much they do,
they look out there and say, wow,
there's like, what, 13 million people
that live in metropolitan.
So it doesn't matter how much we go sowing anyway.
There's a great need for more soul owners and more churches.
Same thing here.
Verse 37, then saith he unto his disciples,
the harvest truly is plenteous,
but the laborers are few.
What does it mean to labor?
Think of a woman having a child.
When she's going through labor, it's difficult.
It takes a lot of work.
That's what you're implying.
You think of someone who's a laborer,
they're a very hard worker.
And what Jesus is saying is,
it's going to take a lot of hard work
to reach these people in the gospel
and to train them up in the things of God.
It takes a lot of work.
It takes a lot of labor.
Verse 38, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest
that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.
And so what we should pray for
is that more laborers will rise up,
that we'll have more soul owners here in another six months,
that we have more people out preaching the gospel.
We should pray for laborers.
Now look, when he says to pray for laborers,
that does not mean that this is just some Calvinistic thing
where basically God's like,
man, I'd send you a thousand laborers if you just pray.
And it's just like,
man, I don't want them to hear the gospel unless you,
no, I mean, obviously,
obviously every church should want to have more laborers.
But honestly, there's a part of getting God a hold of this
and then realizing the main focus of our church is soul
and praying God will send us more.
And if we have more soul owners, it means more work.
Making the maps and things such as that.
So if you want God to send you more laborers,
you need to do a good job with the laborers you have.
Make sure you're reaching the areas
and then God can slowly build that, okay?
Look, if we had 200 soul owners show up today,
I wouldn't even know what to do.
You should have been there
for the first Red Hot Creation Conference.
You know, there was a lot more people than we expected.
And we had lots of maps made, we thought we were prepared.
And then all of a sudden,
I mean, it's hard enough to pair when you have like 40 people
then all of a sudden you have 200 people show up,
a lot from out of town, a lot don't have cars.
You don't know their names
and you're trying to pair them up
and it's like, what do we do?
Because we don't even know.
Look, it would be tough
if we had 200 soul owners showed up today.
And so you have to kind of grow slowly
with more and more laborers,
but you need to do a good job
and get it all under control
and then God can slowly build.
Because quite honestly, you know,
the church is not going to be ready for that many
from day one.
It would take a lot of work,
it would take a lot of effort from God.
Matthew chapter 10, verse 10, next chapter.
So they actually are sent out to preach the gospel,
but I want you to notice what it says
in Matthew 10, verse 10.
Nor script for your journey,
neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet stage,
for the workman is worthy of his meaning.
See, soul winning requires work.
Right.
And see, a lot of people don't go soul winning
because they're lazy, they don't want to do it.
It's difficult, it's not easy.
It takes a lot of work.
Turn to Mark 16, Mark 16.
Takes work from the individual,
it also takes work from the church.
You know, it does take work
to send people out to preach the gospel.
These are reasons why.
Now, I'm happy to be in this location,
but there are some things I miss about Rizzolo Park.
Boy, that was easy to pair people up.
It's like, hey, you know what,
there's a thousand people in the park,
just I send you any direction to go wherever you want.
There's just lots of people here.
Here, if we did that, it would be a free for all,
it wouldn't be that bad.
You know, it takes work, it takes effort,
it's not very easy.
It says in Mark 16, verse 20,
and they went forth and preached everywhere
the Lord working with them.
So notice how it says the Lord working with them
in Mark chapter 16, verse 20.
This implies soul-winning requires work
because this is a soul-winning passage.
The Lord working with them.
Now, notice the Lord does not work without them.
Say, well, I'm a Calvinist.
Well, we need to get saved.
Amen. Right.
That's a false gospel.
And the Lord working with them,
he doesn't work without them.
And so, yes, you know, when we go soul-winning,
God works with us.
If we don't go soul-winning,
then God's not gonna get,
I've never seen God come down from heaven
and preach the gospel to me.
Right. Amen.
It's not gonna happen.
Yeah.
He will work with you.
He will not work without you.
You say, Brother Stuck, Jesus is the savior.
Yeah, but it also gives the terminology that we save people
because there's also someone who's throwing out the lifeboat
for them to grab ahold of.
Amen.
And the truth is that if we don't go soul-winning,
nobody's gonna get saved.
If every single person that was saved
stopped soul-winning and never preached the gospel
to anyone, including their kids,
then every single person in this world would be unsaved
for 60 years or whatever.
The only way people get saved is if we preach the gospel.
It is impossible for anyone to get saved
without somebody preaching the gospel.
Amen. Amen.
Now turn to 1 Corinthians 3.
1 Corinthians 3.
That would encourage us that God works with us.
Amen.
God's not saying, hey, you go out and work.
Good luck.
No, he's actually working with us.
Man.
And when we get nervous, realize,
God wants you to get this person saved.
God wants to help you out.
And when you step out in faith, God is going to help you.
He wants you to do it, and he's gonna work with you,
but he will not work without us.
That's the reality, man.
1 Corinthians 3, verse 8 and 9.
Now he that committed and he that wadeth are one,
and every man should receive his own reward
according to his own labor.
For we are laborers together with God.
We are God's husbandry.
We are God's building.
Turn to Philippians 4, Philippians 4.
Once again, we are laborers together with God.
This is something we are doing in tandem.
Now I understand that on the cross,
Jesus died and paid for all of our sins.
And he rose again.
That was not the end of his work.
When we go so when he actually is out there working with us,
that is why we pray and ask God to give us power
and boldness to give the words to say,
because we honestly believe that God is helping us.
And there's a spiritual battle
that we don't fully understand, okay?
It's not something we can fully grasp
how the devil's trying to prevent people from getting saved,
but yet I've been sowing before,
and you get down to the very end of the conversation,
and madness happens sometimes.
All of a sudden they get that phone call
right when they're about to get saved,
and you know there's a spiritual battle to be placed.
That's why we pray for God's help.
But guess what?
God is helping us, okay?
Philippians 4, verse 3.
And I entreat thee also, true young fellow,
help those women which labored with me in the gospel,
with Clementa also, with other my fellow laborers
whose names are in the book of life.
And the Bible speaks about women laboring here.
Now I understand that women are not to preach
behind the pulpit, but women are to preach the gospel.
Every single woman.
God wants everybody to preach the gospel
if they're old enough to be able to do it.
You know, if my son is aged seven years old,
he's able to preach the gospel, amen.
At any age, help those women
which labored with me in the gospel.
And so women can be just as good as soul owners
than men, and quite honestly, I think usually better.
You say, why?
Because people are more likely to listen to a woman.
Right.
That's what I've found.
That sometimes women will feel uncomfortable
if a guy knocks on their door,
but they would talk to a woman.
And quite honestly, you know, a guy would probably be
just as equally comfortable with a man or a woman.
Look, I've noticed whenever my wife and I pair up soul winning
she always has more people that are willing to talk to her.
And this is in the U.S. or the Philippines, it doesn't matter
because they just feel a little bit more comfortable.
And so quite honestly, we need women laboring with us
in the gospel.
It is not just something for men,
it's something for women as well.
Now, turn in your Bible to Revelation 2.
Revelation 2.
It's funny because, you know, true Christianity,
when I say true Christianity, I mean,
Christianity, that is right on salvation,
but also really preaching the commandments of God
and things such as that.
We get ridiculed for being very prejudiced against women.
As if we're very sexist and very prejudiced against them.
Quite honestly, it's the exact opposite.
Look, you know, at our church we encourage women
to go and preach the gospel.
Now, every other religion in the world,
they are very sexist against women.
I mean, you can look at, I mean,
I was watching a documentary on Hinduism,
and this is something I've known for a long time.
Look, in Hinduism, like 100 years ago,
when the husband died, the woman was always burned to death.
It's called Sati, S-A-T-I, and this is not a conspiracy.
It's a fact, and she was burned to death
as an atonement for the whole family.
Go live in India and tell me how sexist Christianity is,
because last I checked, we don't burn our wives to death
if the husband dies at a young age.
You say, I've never heard of that.
Well, it's a fact, and the reason why you don't hear of it
is because, for one, it's embarrassing,
and because the media, which is run by the devil,
ultimately is trying to lie to you,
make you think, well, every culture's the same.
There's nothing wrong with Hinduism or Islam
or these other countries.
We need to be accepting of everyone.
It's like, man, those two religions
are so sexist against women,
and yet they accuse us of being sexist against women
because we believe there's different roles
for men and women.
It's ridiculous, okay?
Revelation chapter two, and the last point I wanna look at
is not just fear, not just laziness,
but a lack of love is a reason why people are so.
Revelation chapter two, verse one,
on the angel of the church of Ephesus, right,
these things say that he did hold
of the seven stars in his right hand
who walked from the midst of the seven gold candlesticks.
I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience,
and how thou canst not bear that much evil.
Now has tried them which say they are apostles,
and are not, and has found them liars.
Now notice in verse two, this is a church that does work.
This is a church that does labor, okay, verse three,
and has borne and has patience,
and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted.
This is a church that in the name of the Lord
they are doing work, they are laboring,
and they haven't fainted.
They're still doing work.
They're still doing work for the Lord
and trying to serve God, but notice verse four,
nevertheless I have somewhat against thee
because thou hast left thy first love.
Now this is a church that's still working,
but unfortunately they've lost their first love.
Now people have a different opinion on what this means.
I think very clearly this is referring
to leaving their love of the soul.
Now I'll explain why here in a second.
But the reason why I think it's pretty clear
is because this is clear that this is a church
that is doing things in the name of the Lord
and have some sort of love for God.
I don't think they're losing their love of God
because they're doing some service for God, okay?
And also because if you look at the next verse
it mentions doing the first works.
So the love is in reference to the works that they're doing,
doing the first works.
So you're doing work, get back to the first works,
and what are gonna be the first works
at every church that even resembles a church?
It's going to be soul winning.
Amen.
Because when a church starts
you're trying to build that church up, okay?
Even churches that are lame, when they start
they have some sort of evangelism program.
But what can happen to a church
is that they can grow in number
and all of a sudden they can really replace
all the soul winning for just fellowship activity.
It's a lot easier to do that.
Now you need a balance.
As our church grows it's good to have fellowship
and we do that from time to time.
But when you remove the soul winning
there's a problem there.
And this is what a lot of Baptist churches do.
And you say, well how do you know that?
Because we're talking about a real bona fide church here.
So this would have been a Baptist church back then
even though they went by a different name.
And guess what?
They've left their first book.
And so this is something that a church
could have done back then.
It's something a church can do in today's world as well.
And we need to make sure in our church
that we never leave the first love.
Our first love must always be soul winning.
No matter how much we grow and have fellowship
and activities, soul winning must always be first.
And anything else is something you do on the top.
And so in our church we have official soul winning times.
We can't just replace the soul winning times
with fellowship.
Amen.
We'll add fellowship from time to time
but you cannot remove the soul winning
because if you remove the soul winning
then God might just remove that candlestick all together.
And so it says thou hast left thy first love.
And so what that's showing is that when you're not
going soul winning it's because you just don't have
enough love.
This has been taking place here.
Because it says in verse five,
remember therefore from whence thou art fallen
and repent and do the first works.
So he's telling them get back to your first works.
Get back to your first love.
Now turn in your Bible to Philippians two.
Now obviously we believe in soul winning around here
but honestly it's pretty easy to lose your first love
because when you first go soul winning it's new to you.
You're excited about it.
Even if you get nervous.
Once you do it it's kind of addictive.
You get really excited.
But eventually it just kind of becomes
you know why I'm not going soul winning.
Now when you first start soul winning it's really exciting
because it's new.
But everything's exciting when it's new.
You start some new video game or whatever.
And I don't play video games.
You start some new video game and it's fun
for the first several weeks, first month.
Then it's just, you get sick of it, right?
Isn't that the way things work in life?
Something is new, it's fresh, it's exciting.
And it can kind of lose its excitement to some degree.
Now first off, let me say you do need to find a way
to get that excitement back
because there is a joy in soul winning.
And when you're losing that excitement
you're just gonna quit soul winning and that's a problem.
But at the same time you have to realize
that we don't live our lives
just based on what's exciting or fun to do.
We live our lives based on what should we do.
Going to church is not always exciting.
Now some of you, you know you were zealous
to church before the church.
But some of you this is kind of the first church
you've been in and you might have thought,
man I'm always gonna be excited about churches.
Now I'm finally at a church where I'm gonna learn
the word of God, preach with authority,
a church standing up for the truth.
And yet you found that being here about a year
is not always fun to be here.
You have some services you just don't feel like coming.
Hey that's part of life.
I love being a father and yet there are times
you're like man it's so much stress.
I just wanna relax.
Look everything in life has ups and it has downs.
And yes I get it, this church was really exciting.
Look that excitement's gonna kind of wear off.
And you're gonna have ups and you have downs.
But look you don't come to this church
simply because it's fun or you enjoy it.
You come because this is where God wants you.
And look yes there's gonna be ups and downs in your life.
Soul winning is not always fun.
Look I enjoy soul winning, I love soul winning.
And yet sometimes I go soul winning
and I don't wanna go soul winning.
Say what?
That's just what you do.
Look this past Wednesday we had preached at the schools.
I preached like four times at the schools,
like 45 minutes for each of them.
And then we had Wednesday soul winning.
Guess what?
I didn't really wanna go soul winning on Wednesday.
It's like I've been preaching the gospel
for three hours today.
I'm tired and I gotta preach a sermon in two hours.
But guess what?
That's just what we do.
And I went soul winning because that's what we do.
And so even though you don't feel like going
you still just go quiet because that's what you do.
And so whether or not you feel like soul winning or not,
well the question isn't really what you wanna do.
The question is what does God want you to do?
Whether or not you read the Bible today,
God I don't feel like reading the Bible.
Well it doesn't really matter what you feel like.
What does God want you to do?
I don't feel like praying today.
It doesn't matter what you feel like.
I don't feel like going to church.
It doesn't matter if you feel like going to church.
You go because God tells you to go.
Remember when we said in the first sermon
how to please God?
The main thing is just obey what He says.
And you just do what He says whether you feel like it or not.
It doesn't matter what you feel like doing.
Look I don't always feel like going to church.
You say you're the one preaching the sermons.
Yeah, it's more stress.
There are times I would be like yeah,
I just wanna sit in a chair and just have no stress
and no responsibility and just listen to someone else do it
and not have to worry about it.
Yeah, there's times I feel like that for sure.
But it doesn't make a difference
because you do what you're supposed to do.
But when I was at Verity or before that
at churches in West Virginia,
there were times I did not feel like going to church.
And guess what I did every Sunday?
I went to church.
Say why?
Because that's just part of life.
You're not always gonna feel like it.
There are times I don't feel like reading the Bible.
I'm tired, I'm exhausted.
Guess what you do anyway?
You read the Bible.
It does not matter what you wanna do.
It matters what God wants you to do.
And a large reason why people don't go soul winning
is they just don't have enough love for the lost.
And that's not the only reason why people don't go soul winning
but that's definitely a big reason.
I remember when I first got saved
and the first thought that went through my head
when I got saved was what about my parents?
What about my sister?
What about my roommate in college?
Those were the four people I immediately just thought of
like do they understand salvation?
I remember the next day I told my roommate in college
like hey, you gotta talk to this guy.
You gotta hear about what it takes to get to heaven.
He explained to me I know I'm saved and going to heaven
and I brought my roommate to the person
that preached the gospel to me
and he preached the gospel to him.
And he never got saved which it is what it is
but I was like man, I care about my roommate
and I didn't really know how to tell him.
I remember talking to my sister and calling my parents
and it boggles my mind that some people get saved
and then they just don't even care
about the people they know.
It's like man, if your parents don't believe the gospel
they're gonna die and go to hell.
It's like don't you have enough love?
Now I was raised in a very good way
so I have a lot of love for my parents.
I love the way they raised me, they made sacrifices
but for a lot of people they get saved
and it's like they don't even care about the people around.
And it just boggles my mind.
It's like how do you not have enough love
to try to get your family saved?
Now look, there's no guarantee
your family's gonna get saved.
There's no guarantee your friends are gonna get saved
because this is a free world choice that people have to make
of whether or not they believe or not
but you need to give them at least the opportunity
if you have enough love in them.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And the Bible says here in Philippians chapter two verse two
fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded
having the same love being of one accord, one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory
but in lowliness and mind let each esteem
other better than himself.
The Bible says in verse number two, having the same love.
We're supposed to have the same love toward one another,
the same love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it says in verse three,
let each esteem other better than themselves.
So on times you do not feel like going soul winning,
the question you have to ask yourself is
what about the people that I would be talking to?
Do they want me to preach the gospel?
And I promise you the answer is yes.
There are people that wanna hear you preach the gospel
every Sunday whether you feel like it or not.
And honestly it doesn't matter
whether you wanna do it or not.
The question is what does God want you to do
and what would those people want you to do?
Because we're supposed to esteem others
better than ourselves.
Your life is not about you, it's not about you.
You're supposed to make yourself a living sacrifice
and the reality is when you think your life is about you
you're gonna live a miserable life.
What makes you happy is when you basically
lay down your life for other people.
And the truth is that when it comes to soul winning
we are esteeming others better than ourselves
because all of us would love to just eat lunch
and go home and relax for a little while.
Because it takes work and we're tired.
And because people wake up tomorrow morning
and they go to work.
But if you have love towards one another
and esteem them better than yourself, what do you do?
Just go out and do a soul win, verse four.
Look not every man on his own things
but every man also in the things of others.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
The entire life of the Lord Jesus Christ
he did not think about himself.
He made himself a servant unto all.
Isn't that what we see in the Lord Jesus Christ in life?
Turn to Acts chapter one, Acts one.
And we need to try to have the same life as him.
The same love that he had.
And so you know honestly when it comes to soul winning
this is just something that needs to be part
of our weekly lives.
And quite honestly you know if you have the ability
to go more during the week you go for it.
I mean it's great for you to do even a little bit extra.
But quite honestly just making it part of your weekly life
is kind of a bare minimum serving God.
And so honestly we should be striving with God
even more and more.
And you say well do I have to?
Well I mean how much do you love other people?
Because the more you go soul winning
the more you love other people.
Right.
The less you go it shows you don't love other people
as much as you could.
The more you go, now I understand you know
there's a balance between living our lives
and not just running ourselves into the ground.
And I preach those sermons don't I?
I do not put ridiculous rules on this church
or say you gotta do this and this.
Because I realize life is difficult for all of us
including myself.
But at the same time you know we should be striving
to really give it all to God.
And if you want to please God the more you do
the more you're gonna please him.
And look this is just a way that we need to be his people.
And it says in Acts chapter one verse eight
it says that he shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
And he shall be witnesses on me both in Jerusalem
and in Al-Judea and in Samaria
and on the uttermost part of the earth.
And see the Bible says that we are to be witnesses
on the uttermost part of the earth.
The problem is that quite honestly the earth's pretty big.
And quite honestly we don't have the ability
to do so many marathons in every country around the world.
I mean it's way too far away from us.
And what it says is you reach Jerusalem
and then Al-Judea and then Samaria
and on to the uttermost part of the earth.
So basically you slowly expand.
You have your area right here
and then you slowly expand to other areas.
Does that mean what you do is you start going
so many 20 minutes away and eventually get to like
two hours away?
No we're not driving two hours.
What it means is you get a new church started.
That's what you do.
That is the goal, the number one goal of every church
is to get churches started.
And the reason why is that's the only way
you can reach the world.
Now every church needs to be a solely church
but every church needs to be striving
to get new churches started.
Because otherwise this message of salvation
is not gonna reach everybody.
And as much as we reach this area
there are people all throughout Luzon that love the Lord
and would love to have this church in their area
but they don't.
And they don't have the ability to come.
And there's an example I saw this week
that made me pretty excited was that
a couple of my wife's sisters were out soloing in Pampanga
and they go soloing pretty regularly.
And there was two other people that came to,
or three other people that came to our preaching event
that we had just like a month ago.
And my wife's sisters were there as well.
And they saw them out soloing there as well.
And I was like man, amen.
People that even without a church sending them
they have enough motivation to go soloing anyway
because they love them.
And that is why we need to get churches started
all over there because there's people like that
that they need a church because quite honestly
as zealous as those people are
that zeal dies out without a church.
And there are many reasons why people don't go soloing
and honestly all of us from time to time
can't exhibit any of these.
All of us can get afraid for a time.
There's some time for whatever reason
you're really bold to preach the gospel
and then other times for whatever reason
you're kind of afraid.
You're kind of worried what are people thinking.
It happens to all of us.
It happened to Paul the Apostle.
He prayed for boldness because he needed it.
And this is why you need a church
banding together to do something.
And this is why you gotta really take church seriously
because honestly if it doesn't come from church
so it's just gonna die hard.
That's the reality.
And so honestly when it comes to people not going soloing
there's many different reasons.
Let me just say for those of you maybe
that are into this with soloing or maybe haven't come
look you know we'd love to have you come.
Honestly it's not that intimidating.
I remember when I first started preaching the gospel
and the first time I really went up to someone
just kind of randomly and invited them to church
and asked them if they knew they were going to heaven.
I'm really nervous and everything
and then I got done and I was like
that really wasn't that bad.
Isn't that the truth with everybody?
The first time you preached the gospel
you're like no I don't know.
And then afterwards you're like wow
that was actually pretty easy.
Whether they listened or not
I just said that wasn't intimidating at all.
This isn't so bad and then you have confidence.
That's the way it is forever though.
The first time is when you're stepping out of faith
and quite honestly it gets easier after that.
And so honestly when you start you can be a silent partner.
You don't have to worry about somebody
shoving you out soloing.
You can just come and just be a silent partner
and learn from the person you're with
and then you're gonna realize how easy it is
but also the joy of soloing.
There's a joy associated with soloing
that very few people in this world will ever experience.
For many different reasons.
One reason's fear, one reason's laziness
and another reason is just a lack of love.
Let's close in word of prayer.
Dear heavenly father thank you for allowing us
to be here today and it's good to see a word
of reasons why people don't feel soloing.
This is something God we can all struggle with
and it's not something that just completely goes away.
We all struggle with maybe caring too much
about the things in the world
and not enough love for others.
We all get afraid from time to time.
We all get tired and get lazy from time to time
and we do have lives to live God
but help us to all make soloing a priority in our lives.
And this is the number one main reason
why you reward people and how they get rewarded
for the works they do God.
And as the church as well
we must be a church that never loses our first love
and our works, our first works must always stay there.
God help us to reach more people.