All right, we're here in Acts chapter 2, and of course we preached on street preaching
in the first sermon, and we looked at kind of just the differences in refuting street
preaching from a logical standpoint of sowing versus street preaching, and in this sermon
I'm going to refute street preaching arguments, so we're going to look at five
different arguments they used to try to support street preaching and why they are
wrong, and it's not going to be a logical reputation because kind of the first sermon
kind of covered that, like I talked about how, you know, in church I preach sermons and
that's for people that are saved that want to listen, but I'm going to basically look
at five different people in the Bible or chapters or passages where they say, here's
a street preaching example and we're going to refute that, and perhaps the biggest one
is when Acts chapter 2 with the day of Pentecost, and this is a story that people
are very confused by. There's a lot of tricky verses, of course we don't have time
to cover the whole chapter, but go to verse number 41. Verse 41, and the Bible says
in Acts 2 verse 41, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the
same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. Now, when it says
three thousand souls were added, it's saying they were added unto the church. They got
baptized and they joined the church. Now, there's probably a lot more than three
thousand that got saved, but those are the ones that took that step of gladly
receiving his word. But when people explain this story, some people will say,
well see, Peter stood up and preached and led three thousand souls to the Lord, okay?
That's the way a lot of people use this story. That's what I commonly
heard in Baptist churches, but when you really break it down, that's not
actually what's taking place. This is the famous chapter where people had the
ability to speak a foreign language that they didn't normally know how to do,
and so if Peter's just the one preaching the gospel to three thousand
people, what's everybody else doing speaking in random languages? It doesn't
make sense with this chapter, okay? And so let's go to verse number one.
Let's break down this story. Acts 2 verse 1, and when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Now, when it says
they, that's indicating more than one person. So this is basically the early
church. They're meeting together. They're on the same page. They're with one
accord. Basically, they made the decision, let's go out there to preach
the gospel. Now, why did they pick this area? Well, they pick it, it's a public
area, but not for screaming against people, but meaning you can stop people
and talk to them one-on-one. Kind of like, you know, we go to parks. Parks are a
great way to preach the gospel because many people will meet, and you can talk
to more people at once than going door to door. We try to do a mix, and of course, I
don't know what the perfect balance is, but if you can go to parks with
lots of people, you can get a lot of people saved. Remember when we went to
CDC, was it CDC park? Is that the name of it? You know, I would love to do
that again if things open up, and everything would be a great event to do,
because you get a lot of people saved, you have good fellowship, and you know,
praise the Lord for stuff like that, right? I hope the parks will open up
more here in the coming months, but that's basically what's taking place. Verse 2,
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and
it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto
them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak other tongues with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. So everybody's filled with
the Holy Ghost. Now, this does not mean that they're indwelled with the
Holy Ghost. It's saying when the Spirit of God comes upon you, you can have
boldness to do mighty works. When we go soul winning, many times the Holy Spirit
will come upon us so we can be more bold and better as we preach the gospel,
or preaching sermons, that can happen, but the Bible is saying they're
filled with the Holy Ghost, they're going to do some great soul winning
campaign, and then God fills them with the Holy Ghost to do a better job, okay?
It's not talking about what Pentecostals would say, they're filled with the
Holy Ghost, and then, or like, you got that holy laughter. That's not what it's
talking about when they're filled with the Holy Ghost, okay? Verse 5, and
they're dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under
heaven. Now when this was noise abroad, the multitude came together and were
confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold, are not
all these which speak Galileans, and how here we every man in our own tongue
wherein we were born. What's taking place is all these people are filled
with the Holy Ghost, and they're going up to people and preaching the gospel
to them. You got a big group of people, a big soul winning event, they're going out
and preaching the gospel. Now, we don't have a perfect understanding of this
situation or application here in the Philippines, but let's say we were in
Ermita, okay? Let's say we lived in Ermita, and we were going to so many in
Rizal Park, because that was a common spot we went to when our church met
there the first couple weeks, Verity and Manila, because obviously in Rizal Park
there's a lot of people, and sometimes you have people from different nations.
See, imagine a place where you have people from like 50 different nations.
You have people from China, you have people from France, you have people
from, you know, Korea, you have people from all over the world that speak
different languages. And see, God gives them the ability to speak to those
people to preach the gospel, because, you know, none of us are able to preach
the gospel in Chinese or Korean or whatever, you know? There's all these
different languages, and in certain parts of the world that's the only language
they speak. We won't be able to preach the gospel because we don't know
that language. God gave them the ability in this situation, okay? So this is
what's taking place, but then notice what it says in verse 9,
Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers of Mesopotamia and in Judea
and Cappadocia and Pontius in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt and in the parts
of Libya, about Cyrene and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Crete and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the
wonderful works of God, and they were all amazed and were in doubt saying one
to another, what meaneth this? Others mocked and said these are full of new wine.
So there's this great event, all these people are getting saved, and the
people that are in this area are questioning what is going on, right?
Because normally we wouldn't just walk up to, you know, random people from
other countries that don't speak, you know, English or Tagalog or whatever,
and just start preaching the gospel, but that's what's taking place here.
Then it says in verse 14, but Peter standing up with the 11 lifted up
his voice and said on to them, ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at
Jerusalem be this known on you and hearken to my words. So what you're seeing
is that Peter is speaking to a specific group. He's not speaking to
everybody, right? What's taking place is they're going out and preaching the
gospel, and there's a specific group that is confused like what is going on,
and then Peter is addressing that group of people, those that dwell at
Jerusalem. So let's say we're at Resolve Park preaching the gospel, and
then all the local people start to question what is going on, and then
somebody stood up to basically round up that crowd to stop distractions from
the soul owners going out to preach the gospel. Now Peter, I don't believe,
was planning to do this, but this is just kind of the situation how it
happened, okay? They're preaching the gospel, all these people are kind of
mocking it and questioning it, so Peter rounds them up and basically he's
talking to the people that have questions and are distracting just
random people from listening to the gospel. This is not Peter speaking to
10,000 people one time. He's speaking to those that are questioning, and it's
a specific group of people, okay? Many languages were being spoken, and
look, Peter was speaking one language at a time. He wasn't up there speaking
all these languages for all these people to convert. He's speaking to a
specific group of people, the men of Judea and those that dwell in Jerusalem,
but this was an event where there's people from all over the world. We just
saw that. They're from all over coming to this event, and they're soul winners
preaching the gospel and getting people saved, and then Peter is
addressing a specific group of people. So Peter's not standing up winning
3,000 people to the Lord. Now I believe he probably won some people to the Lord. This is a
miraculous event and people are willing to listen, but he didn't stand up and
win 3,000 people to the Lord. All these people are filled with the Holy Ghost,
preaching the gospel, and people are getting lots of people saved. Look, if
you have a church of 120 people with a miraculous event, and you're going out
and talking to three people and four people, a lot of people are going to get
saved, especially because they're probably surprised when they're speaking their
language during this time period, like, whoa, I didn't expect you to speak
Mandarin Chinese or whatever the languages were that existed back then,
and so people are very willing to listen. They're a captivated audience. Obviously
Christ has just died, so this is very fresh in people's minds. A lot of people
get saved, but what you are not seeing is Peter standing up and
preaching this sermon to 10,000 people and everybody getting saved.
That's not what's taking place. He stands up to preach to those that
would have been a distraction from the soul winners doing the work. So the 3,000
saved, did Peter get some of those 3,000 that got saved and baptized?
Maybe so, but the vast majority were just soul winners going out and getting people saved.
You have some churches who have this idea that basically the preacher stands up
and preaches this sermon, people walk down to the altar, and then the preacher was the
result of getting like 1,000 people saved, right? They try to apply this to Acts, too.
That's not what the Bible ever teaches, though. We get a lot of people saved because there's
many people going soul-laying. It's not like I gave 90% of the
salvation to our church. It's not like I have some special ability where
basically you just bring them to church and I'll get 10,000 to walk the
aisle, right? That's not reality. That's not what the Bible teaches, and that is
not what is taking place in Acts, too. There's actually a lot of soul winners
preaching the gospel, and Peter stands up to preach to prevent distractions
from taking place. Go to Matthew chapter 5, Matthew 5, Matthew 5, Matthew
chapter 5. So one of the big arguments is Acts 2. They take this story to say
Peter stood up and preached the gospel and led 3,000 people to the Lord.
Well, that's not what's taking place in Acts chapter 2 when you actually read
it. He's speaking to a specific group of people, but there are many soul
winners doing the work. I mean, does this make any sense? If you had a church
meeting together, let's say you had 150 people on a Sunday, and then all of a
sudden the preacher just goes out and he's like, man, I led 3,000 to the Lord, and
everyone else is just kind of hanging out. You have an ability to speak other
languages, but you're not getting anybody saying. Are you talking about
the weather? I mean, it doesn't make any sense, right, when you're
looking at Acts 2. Peter's speaking to a specific group of people. Argument
number two they have is this. Jesus was a street preacher, right? Isn't that
what they say? Jesus was a street preacher. Well, let's see if that's the
case. Matthew 5, verse 1, and seeing the
multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his
disciples came on to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying. Now
here is a multitude, right? If God's technique was for one man to stand up
and preach the gospel to thousands of people like a Billy Graham crusade, why
didn't Jesus do that? Here is his opportunity. Thousands and thousands of
people, but when he sees the multitudes, he goes up to a mountain, and then his
disciples, the ones that actually want to listen, come up and he preaches a
sermon. He teaches the Word of God. But he doesn't go and just preach to
10,000 people at one time. You say, why? It's just not an effective method.
It's not what you see in the Bible. Jesus, when he sees the
multitudes, he avoids the multitude. Now look, Jesus preached sermons, and people
listened, and by all means, if I preach sermons, and our next-door
neighbors heard it, they walked in in the middle of the sermon. Praise the Lord
for that, right? With Jesus, he preached sermons, and you know what? A lot of
people would come, and they would listen. But what he's doing is not
preaching the gospel. He goes up into a mountain, and look, this is the
Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is not about salvation. He talks
about it a little bit, but it's not like the Sermon on the Mount is about
salvation. He's preaching doctrine. He's just teaching the Word of God, okay? So
he avoids the multitudes, does not preach the gospel, and he goes up into
a mountain and just teaches the Word of God. Of course, the Billy Graham
Crusade is, Billy Graham's very famous, there's other people like him, and they
have this idea, well, let's just get some, you know, popular musical artists, and
they'll just sing some songs, and gather together everybody from every
background. Satan worshipers, atheists, do whatever we have to do to bring in a
crowd, and then we'll just have a Billy Graham stand up and just preach, and
thousands will walk the aisle and get saved. Well, you know, first off, at Billy Graham
Crusades, people that actually attended those, what they do to try to motivate
people to walk the aisles is the first people that walk down the aisle
actually work for the Billy Graham Crusade, so they're lying. They're just
like, pretend like, it's like the same guy walks down every single Billy Graham
Crusade just pretending, like, you know, that touched my heart, and then he
walks down to try to get other people to walk down. Then when you get to the
front, this is what happens, and of course Billy Graham's passed away already, but
you walk to the front and you're Catholic, and they say, hey, what church are you
from? It's like, oh, you know, I'm a Catholic, and then they send you to a Catholic
priest to talk to, or some Catholic religious person. They don't have a
Baptist preaching the gospel because they work with Pentecostals and
Methodists and Lutherans, and when you get to the front, if you're a United
Methodist, it's like, go talk to that United Methodist. They don't have you talking to a
saint person, so unless, you know, a Baptist who walks the aisle, they
send you to someone who's a fundamental Baptist, you're going to hear
a false gospel. It's a joke, right? You get to the front, you know, you're a Mormon,
well, here's a Mormon for you to talk to. It's like, what in the world? And you say, well,
brother, I'm not sure if that's true. Well, anyone who's been there will say
that's a fact. You can look it up online, but Billy Graham was close
friends with the Pope, Pope John Paul. He was close friends. Go to Google and look up
pictures, you can see Billy Graham hanging out with Pope John Paul. And then Billy Graham
talked about how Pope John Paul should have been the man of the century, like
he's the greatest man who ever lived. I mean, Billy Graham was a fraud, and this is the
Baptist representative, so to speak, right? It's a fraud, it's fake. I wish I could find this
clip. I saw this clip over ten years ago, and I wasn't making YouTube videos or whatever back
then. It would have been a good clip, but Bill Clinton had some sort of ceremony,
he was being honored or whatever, and Billy Graham was one of the speakers because Billy Graham
was friends with Bill Clinton, right? They both have the same first name, your name's Bill,
my name's Billy, let's be friends, right? You know, you support murdering people
and abortion and stuff like that, but you know, I'm a Baptist preacher, hey, we can let
bygones be bygones or whatever. But what Billy Graham said was that if Bill Clinton had picked
a different field of work, meaning as a missionary or evangelist, he believes he could have been one
of the greatest evangelists in the world. That's what Billy Graham said about Bill Clinton.
It's like, how do you even, what in the world, right? Billy Graham was always close
friends with every president that came out in the U.S. And look, I'm sure it's no
different today with whatever the famous Christians are or whatever. I know with Billy Graham,
Johnny Cash used to play music at a Billy Graham crusade because Johnny Cash was famous,
and then, you know, he'd sing about something, and then all of a sudden people would walk the
aisle, you'd bring in more people, Johnny Cash was playing for you, right? But look,
this is not what you see Jesus doing. He doesn't bring in some popular rock artist,
right? And when there's a multitude, he doesn't even preach the gospel because he
realizes, if I'm going to preach the gospel to 5,000 people at one time, they're not all
going to be quiet. It's not going to work. So here's the thing, I will just preach a sermon
to those that are willing to listen. Look, just imagine if at our church there
were people that were constantly making noise. Of course, we understand there's
kids and kids make noise from time to time, but let's say we had people that are just
always like talking and being distracted. We wouldn't be able to pay attention,
would we? And think about if you had a crowd of 5,000 people and most are not saved. It's
going to be madness. It's not going to be effective. Then when you get to the end of
the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7, verse 24, notice this. Matthew 7, verse 24.
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him
unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell,
and great was the fall of it. So Jesus preaches a lot of different things in the
Sermon on the Mount, and he's preaching about surviving the storms of life is
kind of the recap that he's giving. It's not about salvation. He talks some
about salvation, but that's not the primary goal of the sermon. And the same
thing is true when I preach sermons. Do I talk about salvation in sermons? I do
from time to time, but not usually full sermons because you're saved. I'll
preach against false doctrines during a sermon, but it's not like every sermon
is about salvation because guess what? It would be boring, right? If every
sermon was about salvation, you'd be like, man, have you ever read anything
besides John 3, Brother Stuckey? Is there something else you could talk
about? There's so many books in the Bible to talk about just always about
salvation, it would get boring. And see, Jesus is actually preaching doctrine.
He's not just preaching about salvation. Go to Matthew 9, Matthew chapter 9.
And notice what it says in verse 35.
So all of a sudden, there's a great multitude, and all of a sudden, Jesus says,
you know what? We don't have enough laborers. You say, why? Well, let's say
2,000 unsaved people showed up at our church today. We don't have enough
soul owners to get the job done. Right? And what Jesus is saying is, hey, we've
got a group of people that are soul owners here, but there's a great
multitude. We can't praise the gospel to everybody. We don't have enough people. Well, why didn't
Jesus just stand up and just preach a sermon about salvation? Why didn't he
just preach the gospel to the multitudes? Because it wouldn't work.
There'd be distractions. There'd be noise. People would have questions, and he'd
preach a sermon, and guess what? People would not get saved. Because you need
laborers to preach the gospel, and that is all of us. That's what the Bible says,
go ye therefore and teach all nations. It's plural, go ye therefore. Preach the gospel
to every creature. That's a command for all of us that are saved. Not just
one person, but all of us need to go out and preach the gospel. And that's
what you see with the ministry of Jesus Christ. What's interesting is then
you go to Matthew chapter 10. The laborers are few, and how does Matthew 10
verse 1 start off? And we had called unto him his 12 disciples. He gave them
power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these.
The first, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother. James the son of
Zebedee and John his brother. Philip and Bertholomew, Thomas and Matthew the
publican. James the son of Alphaeus and Levius, whose surname was Thaddeus.
Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. So you're seeing
it's kind of broken down into groups of two, and you feel bad for Simon the
Canaanite if Judas Iscariot was his sowing partner because, well, he got to
reprobate with you, right? But this is a passage as he sends them out to
preach the gospel, and in a parallel passage in Mark it says he sent them
out two by two. So they're going out to preach the gospel. The labors are few,
there's a great multitude, then he sends people out to preach the gospel. Why?
Because one person preaching a sermon to thousands of people is not an
effective way to get people saved. What is effective is a church that
preaches sermons in the church and teaches the Word of God, and then you
have so many times to go out and get people saved. If our church changed and
canceled the so many times, and just every sermon was about salvation, or we
had an over-call, our salvation would plummet. It doesn't work. It's not an
effective way. Now look, I understand logically it seems like it should work
because you think, man, if I could just preach to thousands at one time, how
effective would that be? But you know what? When I was in college, I got to
preach a few times at churches, and I would always invite, you know, unsaved
friends of mine at college to listen to me. And I had people show up to listen
to me preach. I'd have like eight unsaved people come to listen to me preach.
And this was really before I talked to people about the gospel, I did some
soul winning, but I didn't have everything organized in a great fashion
or whatever. But I just figured, if an unsaved person listens to me preach
about salvation for 40 minutes, surely they're going to get saved, right?
Doesn't that seem to make sense? Let's say an unsaved person came here
today, and I preached for 45 minutes on salvation. Doesn't that seem like it
should work? But it doesn't. And I learned that when I had unsaved people
listen to me. One of my friends who was Mormon, he came to listen to me
preach. I asked him afterwards, hey, what did you think of that? He's like, man,
that was great. I agree with all of it. But he still was Mormon. It's just
like it went over his head. I'm like, really? The part about, you know,
whosoever believeth, the gift is eternal life. It's not a word. It went straight
over. It just doesn't work. And look, you know, I thought it would work.
So every time I got a chance to, yes, preach, I preached on salvation.
Never got anybody saved from it. It doesn't work that way. But what's
amazing is when we talk to people one on one, it works right. And so
Jesus doesn't get up and preach the whole sermon to a multitude because
he knows that it's not going to be effective. Now, of course, if you
have opportunities to preach at weddings and funerals, take those
opportunities. Sometimes I have people ask me to preach like my wife's
mom asked me to preach at a birthday party where there's like 50
Catholic relatives. And I got up and I preached about salvation, you
know, took the opportunity. And of course, at weddings, I'll preach
the gospel and stuff like that. I'm not saying that someone cannot
get saved. I'm just saying it's not the most effective method. I'm
saying make sure you take the time to talk to your unsaved Catholic
member one on one and don't just trust. Well, they heard the gospel
at a wedding. They're just not likely to get saved from that
method. Go to Jonah chapter three, Jonah three, Jonah three.
I've met people that are, you know, new IFP people or whatever
that, you know, they listen to preaching for a long time and they
didn't get saved from it. It took them a super long time. I
know somebody from West Virginia, and you know, he grew up in the
same city as me. We both went to the same United Methodist
Church, but I didn't know him. He's like a year younger than
me. But years later, you know, I saw that there was someone
from my hometown that was, you know, a friend of Pastor
Anderson. So I sent him a message. He came up to church
the next day in Morton town, 40 minutes away. Well, he
goes out soul winning with me. And you know, we talked
and we get a couple of people saved. And all of a
sudden, you know, he told me a couple of years later, that
when he first went soul winning with me, he said, he's
like, actually, I wasn't saved. He's like, you're actually
the one who got me saved. I'm like, really? So why didn't you
tell me that a couple of years ago? But he had been
listening to Pastor Anderson for over a year. And he didn't
get saved from it. You say why? Well, people can get
saved from preaching. But I'm just saying it's much more
effective, just the gospel presentation. It's just far more
effective. It's just the way it works. And so this is the
way God's designed it. And you know, I think there's
reasons we talked about some of the logical reasons of why
it's like that. He listened to a sermon online,
realistically, you probably usually don't sit there
captivated for an hour paying attention, taking notes, you
listen for 10 minutes, you take a break, you know, you
get something to eat, you go back later on, right. And
it's the same thing if people are going to hear a
sermon, when it's preached among Jews, people tune in
and tune out. Right now, some of you are not listening
to me, but you're going to come back in a couple of
minutes, right? That's the way it works. You hear
sermons, and sometimes your mind just fades out, you're
distracted with things. It's just not the most effective
method. And look, Jesus understood that. So you don't
see him preaching the gospel to these multitudes of
people. But you do see john three, and john four, you see
him talking to the rich young ruler, you see
conversations one on one. Jonah is another example. So
Peter was not a street preacher, Jesus was not a
street preacher. But they'll also say that Jonah was a
street preacher. And this is one of the most famous, this
could be the most famous example where they say Jonah
preached to one nation and one man led an entire country
to get saved. Well, let's see what Jonah three
actually says, Jonah three, verse one. And the word of
the Lord came on the journey the second time
saying, Arise, go on the Nineveh that great city and
preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah
rose and went on the Nineveh, according to the
word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great
city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into
the city a day's journey and he cried and said, yet 40
days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Now realize Jonah
is warning Nineveh that they're going to be
destroyed. He is basically street preaching in this
example. He's not trying, I mean, he's not preaching
on salvation, he's preaching that Nineveh is going to
be destroyed. Now, considering that, you know, this is
not something Jonah probably normally did because he
talked to people one on one, he's probably wondering
because people like Jonah in the Old Testament, God
spoke in diverse ways. He had prophets preach to his
people, like at one time, which is sort of like a
church service. But here, Jonah's being asked to
preach to Nineveh, which is going to be unsaved
people by and large. So it's kind of strange, but
let's see what takes place. Verse five. So the
people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed the
fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of
them, even to the least of them. So the people
believed God. What did they believe? Well, they
believed that Nineveh was going to be destroyed.
That's what the context is in verse four, that they
believe Nineveh was going to be destroyed. Now,
why would they believe that? Because one man says
that while verse six says this, four. So four is
giving us the explanation. Why do people believe for
word came out of the king of Nineveh and he arose
from his throne and he laid his robes from him and
covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And
notice verse seven. This is the important verse
chapter and he caused it to be proclaimed and
published through Nineveh by the decree of the
king and his nobles saying, let neither man nor
beast, bird nor flock, taste anything, let them
not feed nor drink water. So here's the thing.
Everybody in Nineveh hears this message because
the king believes what Jonah is saying and the
king is in a position of power to cause it to be
proclaimed and published everywhere that our
country is going to be destroyed. And so I don't
know exactly how this took place. Jonah's, you
know, screaming and maybe somebody walks up to the
king and says, there's this crazy guy outside.
Looks like he got swallowed by a whale and he's
screaming Nineveh is going to be destroyed. And
then the king hears it and he believes it. He
believes that this message is true. I mean, God
allowed the king's heart to be touched where he
believed this and he is the one who causes it to
be proclaimed and published everywhere. Look, one
man could not preach to a hundred thousand
people at one time, right? I mean, Jonah's
getting up there and screaming. And guess what?
The message gets back to the king. But Jonah
was not preaching to a hundred thousand people at
one time. That doesn't even make sense, right?
But Jonah preaches that Nineveh will be
destroyed. The king hears word of it and the
king causes it to be proclaimed and published
everywhere. Now, here's the thing. I cannot prove
this to you. But one thing I can prove is
there was definitely some safe people in Nineveh
because there's safe people everywhere. However, I
would say, logically speaking, if the king makes
a decree that everybody is going to hear this
message of Jonah, I believe soul winners would
have risen up and taken the opportunity to
preach the gospel in Nineveh. So I do
believe a lot of people got saved in this
situation, but not because one man was
preaching about salvation, because Jonah was
preaching that Nineveh was going to be
destroyed. But I do believe that safe people
would take this opportunity. I mean, imagine if
you lived in communist China. Imagine if you
lived in a Muslim country. Let's say you lived
in a Muslim country, Saudi Arabia or Iraq. And
let's say the king or the leader of Saudi
Arabia said, you know what? I believe what this
bible-believing Christian said. And then he said,
you know what? I want everybody to listen to
this message. That would probably be the
perfect opportunity for safe people that live
in Saudi Arabia to take the opportunity to
preach the gospel to Muslims when they would
not normally have an opportunity. That's
probably pretty similar to Nineveh, where
anybody who's saved is like, man, here's my
chance. Let's preach the gospel. So I do
believe a lot of people got saved. But the
main context of Jonah 3 is that Nineveh will
be physically destroyed because of sin and
wickedness. And that's what Jonah was preaching
against. And then the king hears it. He
believes it. And he causes it to be proclaimed
and published everywhere. Then it says in verse
eight, But let man and beast be covered with
sackcloth and pride mightily unto God. Yea,
let them turn everyone from his evil way and
from the violence that is in their hands. Who
can tell if God will turn and repent and
turn away from his fierce anger that we perish
not? And God saw their works and they turn
it from their evil way. And God repented of the
evil that he had said that he would do unto
them. And he did not. God does not destroy
Assyria because they turn from their sins.
They turn from their wickedness. Do I believe a
lot of people got saved? I do believe a lot
of people got saved, but not by turning from
their wickedness, which would mean if a lot
of people got saved, there must have been
saved people in Nineveh who took this
opportunity to preach the gospel. Assyria was a
very wicked country in the Bible. They were the
most brutal of all of the empires. So if you
lived in Assyria as a saved person, if you're
an OFW in Assyria, but you're saved, guess
what? Here's your chance to preach the gospel.
And I do believe that happened. But it's not
like Jonah was standing up preaching about
salvation. And the reason why people turn was
because of the king who got word of this
message. Now turn in your Bible to Matthew
3. Matthew 3. Matthew 3. Matthew 3. Now here's
the thing. You know, God has not told any of
us that any country is being destroyed
anytime soon. If God tells us this country
will be destroyed in a month and you believe
that the president is going to hear your
message and stand on the corner and scream
or whatever, but I would not take this story
to say, well, let's just do this in the
modern day, because for one, he did not have
a message that a country is for sure going
to be destroyed. Every country is very
sinful today. The whole world lies in
wickedness. And obviously God's very
long suffering. I don't know when God
would drop the ultimate hammer on some
of these countries because they're all
filled with wickedness. Okay? So I don't
believe that you can take this story
and just say, well, let's just do this
in the modern day and just preach against
sin. And then maybe the heart of the
president or king will be touched. And
then everything's going to change in
the country. I think that's very
unlikely. I think this is a bit of a
miraculous event. And the reason why
it's so successful is simply because the
king hears the message. Jonah probably
thought he was on a suicide mission.
No wonder he didn't want to do this.
Right? I mean, imagine if your enemy,
because this was the enemy of God's
people during this time period. I mean,
imagine if during the cold war between
the US and Russia, you know, you were
told by God, go to Russia and just
stand on the corner and say how Russia
is going to be destroyed. I'd be like,
no, I'm leaving. It's not that
shocking that Jonah says no to this
message. It's like, what in the world?
It's like, I'm going to be killed.
Right? Or during World War II, when
the US and Japan are at war, it's
like, yeah, you're on a kamikaze
mission. You go to Japan and preach
against Japan when they're at war.
Right? I mean, so when you're looking
at this story, it's just like, this
is obviously a pretty miraculous event
that God must take place because the
king's heart was touched. If the
king's heart was not touched, then
Jonah could have been stoned to
death, potentially, honestly. So
number one, Acts chapter two, the
day of Pentecost, that does not
prove street preaching. Number
two, Jesus was not a street
preacher. You don't see that in
the Bible. Number three, Jonah was
kind of a special situation, but
it's not like he led thousands of
the Lord with his message. And
it happens because the king's
heart is touched where the
country turns from the weakness.
Number four, they'll say that
John the Baptist was a street
preacher. They'll say, well,
John the Baptist was out in the
wilderness just preaching against
sin. And then people came from
a hundred miles away just to
hear him scream against sin. Well,
notice what it says in Matthew
three, verse one. In those
days came John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness of
Judea and saying, repent ye for
the kingdom of heaven is at
hand. Now he says repent ye for
the kingdom of heaven is at
hand. When it comes to John the
Baptist preaching, there was
kind of two types of
preaching John the Baptist did,
which is the same two types of
preaching that any man of God
is going to do. One of them is
soul-winning telling people how
to go to heaven. Another one
is preaching sermons, and
you're going to see the mix in
the Bible where John the
Baptist, when he's preaching
and screaming in the
wilderness, what is that? It's
a sermon. But when he's trying
to get people saved, he's
preaching the gospel. The same
is true for everyone in the
Bible, right? When it says no
was a preacher of
righteousness, did Noah preach
sermons? Yes, he did. But
don't tell me he never let
anybody in the Lord over 900
years of his life. He got
people saved, but he also
preached sermons and they
didn't believe the judgment
coming because they didn't get
into the ark, right? And so
John the Baptist, he says,
repent ye for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. And
here's the thing, when people
get saved, they've got to
repent of their unbelief and
put their faith on Jesus
Christ. Verse three, for
this is he that was spoken of
by the prophet Isaiah saying,
the voice of one crying in
the wilderness, preparing the
way the Lord make his path
straight. So what takes place
is John the Baptist, he gets
people saved and he's
basically got a church. Okay.
And then he would preach
sermons to the people at his
church. And look, sometimes
people think John the Baptist
was just this one lone man in
the wilderness, but actually he
had disciples that followed
him. So he had members that
would be taught by John the
Baptist. And guess what they
did as a church. They went so
many and got people saved. And
then John the Baptist baptized
the converse. It's not really
any different. And did he cry
in the wilderness, which would
mean to scream out? Yes. When
he preached sermons and he
also talked to people one on
one and got them saved and
got them to join their
church. Right. It says in
verse four and the same John
had his Raymond of Campbell's
hair and a leather girl about
his loins and his meat was
locust and wild honey. Then
went out to Jerusalem and
all Judea and all the
region round about Jordan and
baptizing him in Jordan
confessing their sins. But
when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees
come to his baptism, he said
unto them, O generation of
vipers, who hath warned you
to flee from the wrath to
come? Bring forth therefore
fruits made for repentance. So
what you see here is false
prophets show up to his
baptism. Pharisees and
Sadducees show up and John
the Baptist is baptizing
people. And then all of a
sudden a Pharisee is coming.
He's like, well, wait a
minute. It'd be like, for
example, if we're doing
baptisms and then all of a
sudden, you know, a Mormon
elder shows up, you're like,
well, wait a minute. Well,
who warned you? Who got you
saved? Right? You would want
to make sure that they're
actually saved because you
would obviously have
question marks because it's
not just a random person, but
the Pharisees and Sadducees
were fighting against the
message John the Baptist
said. So John the Baptist
doesn't believe them. He
thinks that they're just
there to cause problems or
do whatever. And you know
what? He's right. He's
smart. John the Baptist
realizes bad people will try
to link up to our ministry
and destroy it. There's
nothing new under the sun.
This is reality, right? And
John the Baptist said, well,
who warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? And
he's like, first, what I
want to see is actual
proof that you got saved.
Meaning you are preaching a
false gospel. Bring forth
your fruits. Bring forth
those that you have led to
the Lord that you have
converted. Show me that
you've actually changed what
you believe because he figures
these guys are just showing
up to get baptized. And
you're like, they're not
actually saved. And he was
right. He was a smart guy.
Okay. So when it comes to
John the Baptist, you need
to realize as you're
reading him, he would
either be preaching to
people one-on-one and
preaching the gospel, or he
would preach sermons to
the members of basically
what was a church. Go to
Acts 19 and let me prove
to you that John the
Baptist would preach to
people about the gospel.
So when it's saying
repentance, it doesn't
necessarily mean turn from
your sins. Now, here's
the thing. When I preach
sermons against sin, I
will tell you to repent
of your sins, but that's
not to get saved. If I'm
going to give you the
gospel, I would tell
somebody, Hey, repent of
what you believe. Repent of
this belief and believe on
Jesus, meaning change
what you believe. Okay.
Acts 19 verse one, acts 19
verse one. And it came to
pass that while Apollos
was at Corinth, Paul,
having passed through the
upper coast, came to
Ephesus and finding
certain disciples, he
said unto them, have you
received the Holy Ghost
since he believed? And
they said unto him, we
have not so much as
heard whether there be
any Holy Ghost. And he
said unto them, unto what
then were you baptized?
And they said unto John's
baptism. Then said Paul,
John barely baptized with
the Baptist baptism of
repentance. And people
would like to stop there
and say, well, see,
repent of your sins. But
wait a minute. What does
it say? Saying on the
people that they should
believe on him, which
should come after him.
That is on Christ Jesus.
When they heard this, they
were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus. So
they got baptized after
they believed on Jesus
Christ. That's the
baptism of repentance that
John the Baptist was
preaching. OK, go to
Acts chapter 17, Acts 17.
Acts 17.
So, yeah, you know, he
can point to things where
John the Baptist is
crying and screaming,
screaming out. That's
not what he's preaching
the gospel. And he was
operating like he had a
church. He was baptizing
converts. He had
disciples that were
there listening to him.
And they're doing that
to learn God's word.
But then they're also
going out and getting
people saved and bringing
people to the church.
And then those people
would get baptized.
So realize that he's not
just standing in the
wilderness just screaming.
And, you know, we get
this in our heads because
that's what you see in
the movies where John
the Baptist is out here
in the wilderness, just
screaming at the top of
his lungs. Repent! And
then people are coming
and everything like that.
And he's just always
screaming. Repent! Repent!
Repent! Right.
But that's not really
what you see with John
the Baptist. When he's
screaming, he's screaming
because he's preaching a
sermon just like I do on
Saturdays, Sundays,
Tuesdays, right?
Lastly, we see Paul
with Mars Hill, right?
Now, when we say this,
we say, Brother Second,
why would false converse,
people that didn't even
believe, why would they
just come up to get
baptized? Well, you know,
we had our missions trip.
We had a lot of
different people that got
baptized. And there are
several of them that
clearly were just faking
it. One person got
baptized by Pastor
Jimenez, and he just
tried to latch on to our
ministry for money.
He came only a couple
times and he was trying
to give people the church
to give him money.
And so he faked getting
saved just to try to get
money from the members.
There's another guy,
this one guy was
strange. This guy, you
know, he and it turned
out, you know, once we
found out what this guy
was doing, it answered it.
But this guy got
baptized by Pastor
Jimenez, but he came
to like the church
services that are
meeting in the hotel.
He kept like walking in
and out during the
church service. Now
that's strange when
someone keeps walking in
and outside, what is
this guy doing? Right.
And, you know, this
guy was doing this
really weird. And then
all of a sudden he was
like asking us, you
know, questions and
stuff like that. And he
asked me a question and
this was right after,
you know, there was a
pastor in the US that
got caught with
prostitutes and all
this stuff. And he's
like, so, you know,
he's like, I just
wanted to ask you a
question. Let's say
there's a pastor who
got caught with
prostitutes. Does that
make him a rep for
me? And I'm like, what
kind of a question is
that? Like, why are you
asking me that? I was
like, first off, you
know, I'm not the
pastor of this church.
So it's like, you
know, I have no opinion
probably on this
matter. There's
absolutely nothing to
do with me. But I
was like, what was
the purpose of this
guy? And he's taking
all this footage. I know
so many with my
friend. This is
after we had just
moved here to the
Philippines. And all
of a sudden he comes
to us. He's like,
Hey, do you mind if
I just film you guys?
It's like, okay. And
this guy brought this
married woman with
him. We said he was
married to some other
guy to come be a
part of the church to
hear a couple of
sermons or whatever.
This guy was with us
for like a week. He's
like, what is this
guy doing? But it
turned out this guy
gets a lot of film
footage from every
Christian under the
sun and he compiles
it together. And he's
like a missionary, a
source where it's
like, look at this.
I'm reaching people
here and doing this.
And he makes it look
like it's all of his
own work. So he got
baptized by pastor
minutes. He probably
got baptized by
somebody else the
day before. And he
just links up with
the ministries so that
way he can get money
from people as they
look at this. You
know, I'm getting
Pentecostal saved and
Baptist saved and
Mormon say it was
fake. This guy was
strange, but what is
this guy doing? What
is the purpose of
this guy? But he
pretended to get
saved to get baptized
by pastor minutes.
There's also two
other people that got
baptized. I mean,
probably over half of
people that got
baptized. Two other
people got baptized
and you know what
these people were led
to the Lord by
someone who was
visiting. And you
know, they got
baptized, but they
had gotten saved
supposedly at the
earlier missions trip
that we had done
before he moved here.
Then the next missions
trip, they came back,
got baptized by
pastor minutes. It was
very obvious. They
wanted to link up to
Americans because they
wanted to move to
the U S and they
were just faking it
because they were
hoping to be able to
move to the U S and
get someone to
sponsor them. And you
know, a long time
later, this one guy,
one of these two
people, and you know,
my wife and I already
knew this, but you
know that it's
obvious they're just
trying to use
Americans to move to
the U S but this one
guy messages me and
he's not from, you
know, Manila. He's
not from Arimita, but
he said, Hey, you
know what? I got
stuck here in Manila. I
ran out of money. I
need to get back to
my province. Can you
just send me some
money, please? I'm
desperate. And I
unfollowed this guy
a long time ago
because he put up all
these weird things, but
I went to his
Facebook to look at it.
He had all this
pornographic stuff on
his Facebook. And then
he would, you know, he
had messaged me a
couple of times, like,
I'm trying to get
people saved in my
life. Yeah. While
you're posting a
bunch of pornography
on your Facebook, it's
like, you're a phony.
It's like, yeah, you
probably did get
stuck in Manila getting,
you know, on some
part of your day, but
it's like, it's clear
that you're just
faking it, right?
Look, people will
fake getting saved just
to link up to a
ministry for various
different reasons. And
it should be no
surprise to us today
because I've experienced,
we experienced it at
a missions trip and
that's what's happening
with the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. Why
did they do it? I
don't know if they're
trying to destroy the
church or they're
trying to do it for
Miami. Who knows? But
John the Baptist is
like, whoa, wait a
minute. You're a
false prophet. You're
a Mormon elder, right?
You're a pastor at one
of these false churches
and you showed up to
get baptized by me. It's
like, what's going on
here? Right. And the
last example that I'll
give you is with Paul
and Morris Hill. They'll
give the story of Paul
preaching to Morris Hill
and they'll say, well,
see, this is what we
should do today. Well,
notice what it says in
act 17 verse 17,
therefore disputed he
in the synagogue with
the Jews and with the
devout persons and in
the market daily with
them that met with him.
So in verse 17, he's
disputing or arguing,
you know, he's going
back and forth with
those that met with him.
It's kind of like
preaching the gospel
in a public area. And
he talked to anyone
willing to listen to
you. So he's disputing
with those that actually
met with him. Those
that are willing to
listen to him. He's not
getting up and
preaching a sermon on
safety verse 18. Then
certain philosophers of
the Epicureans and
other Stoics encountered
him. And some said,
what will this babbler
say? Other some he
seemed it to be a
setter forth of
strange gods because he
preached under the
Jesus in the resurrection.
And they took him and
brought him on the arrow.
Peg is saying, may we
know what this new
doctrine, where of
those biggest is that
bring a certain strange
things to our ears. We
would know therefore what
these things mean for
all the Athenians and
strangers, which were
there, spend their time
and nothing else, but
either to tell or to
hear some new thing. So
Paul, Paul, the
apostles preaching the
gospel, people find out
about it. And this group
of people say, Hey, we
also want to listen to
what you're saying. When
we would go so many in
resolve park, there's this
one section, which is
sort of like the
religious section where
the people will preach
and then people will
just listen to them.
And it got all these
chairs set up and like
50 people sit down and
listen to people and
they'll have many
debates and stuff like
that between various
religions. Now, if I was
preaching in resolve park
and there's 50 people
there, and then they
basically all said, we
just want to listen to
what you have to say
for 20 minutes. You
know, I would stand up
and preach the gospel
for 20 minutes. That's
basically what Paul the
apostles was doing. People
had said, they're
willing to listen or
hear anything new. And
people say, Hey, can you
just listen to us? And
Paul says, I'm going to
take that opportunity. So
he's preaching the gospel
one-on-one and an
opportunity arises where
people are willing to
listen. And look, if
those opportunities arise,
preach the gospel at
the funeral, preach the
gospel at the wedding,
preach the gospel to a
group of 20 people that
are willing to listen.
Absolutely. Okay. It
doesn't mean that it's
our template where that's
all we're going to do.
This is an opportunity
that arose football verse
number for verse number
22, verse 22. Then
Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said,
he men of Athens, I
perceived that in all
things, you're too
superstitious for that
pass by and be held your
devotions. I found an
altar with this
inscription to the
unknown God whom
therefore he ignorantly
worship him declare I
have you. So Paul is
preaching the gospel. He's
not standing up saying,
repent of your sins. He's
not saying, quit drinking.
He's saying you're
ignorantly worshiping God.
You got the wrong
belief. He's trying to
get them to change their
mind. Go to verse 32,
verse 32. And when they
heard of the resurrection
of the dead, some
mocked and others said,
we will hear the
again of this matter. So
Paul departed from among
them. How be it, certain
men, clay bond them
and believe among the
which was Dionysus, the
Arab pay guy and a
woman named Damaris and
others with them. So some
people listen to what
Paul say says, and they
get saved. Most do not
get saved. It's a good
opportunity, but once
again, it's not the same
as talking to somebody
one on one. So look, if
opportunities arise in our
lives, for example, if
they said, Hey, you
know, brother Stuckey, we
want you to speak at
this radio station, the
gospel tomorrow. Great. I'll
preach the gospel at the
radio station. Brother
Stuckey, we want to put
this on TV for 20 minutes.
You're going to be on an
APS CBN. We just want
to hear you preach the
gospel for 20 minutes.
Great. I'll preach the
gospel. Absolutely. I'm
not saying it's wrong
to take good
opportunities. Sure. I
mean, if, if, if there's
some, some group that
says, Hey, can you come
in and just speak to
these 50 people? We'll
listen to what you have
to say. Sure. But if
you're going to argue
with me and yell at me
while I'm trying to
talk, I'm just going to
move on to something
else. Right? See what
street preaching is not
speaking to a captive
audience that wants to
listen. You're speaking
to people that don't
want to listen. And
that argue with you.
That's not the same
thing as 20 people
saying, we are going to
listen to everything you
have to say. Right? So
when it comes to street
preaching, there's a lot
of passages that are
pull out and they
pretty much all fit in
this category. It's
what Jeremiah was a
street preacher. Isaiah
was a street preacher.
It's the same argument
over and over again. And
look, when it comes to
preaching, there are
really two types of
preaching from any man
of God. Number one is
so many. Getting people
saved one-on-one with
small groups, and that
is for all of us. And
number two is preaching
sermons. And look,
every person that they
point to in the Bible,
yes, he did both of
those things. Now,
here's the thing.
Sometimes they'll show
somebody in the Bible
and it doesn't show
them preaching the
gospel one-on-one, but
they obviously did preach
the gospel one-on-one
because so many has
always been around. We
see it in the Old
Testament and God is
not going to use
someone unless they are
a soul winner. So just
because we don't see
Noah talking to someone
one-on-one, obviously he
did though. They also
preach sermons and
you have the people
that didn't want to
listen to his sermons,
although I'm sure he
got a lot of people
saved one-on-one.
Bottom line is with
our church, we are
always going to be a
soul winning church. We
are never going to have
a street preaching
ministry. We're never
going to stand on some
corner with a megaphone.
We're never going to
scream at anybody on
the streets. We're just
going to talk to people
that want to listen.
Someone will get saved
and someone will. Let's
close the word of
prayer. Dear Heavenly
Father, thank you for
allowing us to be here
today and just getting
to see this topic and
understand more
thoroughly what we mean
by soul winning and
what the Bible teaches
God. Help us to
always be a soul winning
church, zealously
preach the gospel. And
we do ask you to
give us opportunities to
preach to large groups
of people if those
opportunities are
available. But help us
to always be a soul
winning church God. We
pray this in Jesus' name.