Jesus' name, amen.
Now we noticed here before, we need to understand the context of what's happening here.
Jesus has already risen again from the dead.
These are actually the last words that he's saying before he goes up to heaven.
And when you think about this, when someone says the exact, the last words he says in his entire life,
they're going to be pretty important.
These are his last instructions for his disciples.
It's going to be very important what he has to say to them.
Now there's lots of important things in this book.
This book tells you everything about life.
How to raise your kids, it tells you about the end times, it tells you about everything.
But that's not what Jesus focused on.
He focused on something even more important.
You look at verse number 15.
It says, And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
That's why we're here tonight. That's why we have this event.
We came out here to preach the gospel and to get people saved.
Now the Bible says, Go ye into all the world.
Now I know you guys know these verses, but they're very, very important.
He says go. That means we're expected to do it.
We don't expect them to come to us.
I've never had anyone walk up to me and say,
Matt Stuckey, what must I do to be saved?
It has never happened in my entire life.
We are expected to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Now this is not a command to just some people.
This is a command to everybody.
You see, not one person could fulfill this.
We tried our best this last month going out to California and going to Boston,
to the ends of the United States, I guess.
But to go into all the world, it's going to take everybody doing this work.
The vast majority of people in this world are not saved.
They don't even know what it takes to get to heaven
because people aren't there preaching the gospel to them.
He says, Go ye into all the world.
See, God expects you to work.
He expects you to labor.
You see, people have this false idea that Jesus just died so that we could go to heaven.
That's not the only reason why he died.
There's other reasons listed.
It says that he died so he'd be zealous of good works.
God expects you to work.
He expects you to labor.
I can't think of anything more tiring than preaching the gospel.
It's not just going out door to door in the heat 90-some degrees a day.
That's not all.
It's also mentally draining just giving the gospel over and over and over again.
It's extremely tiring.
But see, God has called us on to labor.
He expects us to work hard.
Now look at verse number 20.
I'm going to prove to you tonight that this is work, to go out and preach the gospel.
It says, And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.
If the Lord is working with them, what are they doing?
They're working, right?
We went out there today.
We went out.
We worked.
We labored.
And God expects that out of us.
He does not expect us to just get saved, kick back our feet, and we're on our way to heaven.
No, he expects you to do something with your life more important than just that.
He says, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
And it says in verse number 20 that it is work.
You see, the last words that he said to his disciples were, Go out there, get people saved,
go work, go labor.
God expects that out of us.
Ephesians 2.10.
The Bible reads this.
You know, it's funny.
When I first got saved, you look at verses about salvation as like the most important thing.
Like you were saying, Douglas.
Every verse on salvation, you're like, Dude, it's eternal.
It's eternal.
And you know, Ephesians 2.8 and 9 are some of the great verses on salvation.
But as I learn more about the Bible, usually when you see really great verses in the Bible,
the ones that are connected to it are just as important in another way.
Ephesians 2.10 is an awesome verse.
It says in Ephesians 2.10, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus onto good works,
which God hath before day, that we should walk in them.
You see there, God expects us to get saved, and he's created us onto good works.
God expects that.
He expects us to labor and work.
He didn't just expect you to get saved and do nothing with your life.
He expects you to work.
He expects you to labor.
That's for kids that are young.
That's for people that are older.
He expects you to labor until the day you die.
You say, Brother Stocky, I've gotten people saved before.
Can't I just kick back my feet?
I mean, I've gotten more people saved than other people.
Well, other people aren't doing the work.
We have to bump up our levels because they're not doing it.
It doesn't matter that they're not talking to people that they need to.
We need to bump up our level even more.
The only time you can just kick back your feet and you're done is when you're up in heaven.
When your race on earth is done.
But you see, you didn't sign up for a sprint.
God expects you to run a marathon, not a sprint.
He says run the race.
That's not a sprint.
There's been lots of people over the years that were soul owners that we saw that ran a good sprint.
And they're not really going soul winning now.
I hope they join the fight again because we need them.
But God expects us to run a marathon, not just a sprint.
Romans 16, 12.
And I'm going to fly through these verses tonight.
The name of my sermon, I'm still in Richie's title since we're in Boston.
The Baptists are coming, the Baptists are coming to give homage to Paul Revere.
But it's amazing, I was looking up the word labor and work in the Bible.
And they appear so many times, more than I even expected.
And I literally, this is about 120th of what the sermon would be if I wrote down every single verse.
So I had to pick out the ones that were most important.
I'm going to be flying through these.
But it's amazing, God's last words were for His people to labor.
It's extremely important to God.
And throughout the Bible, He talks about it over and over and over again.
Romans 16, 12, it says,
Sleuth, Tryphina, and Tryphasa, who labored in the Lord,
sleuth of beloved persons, which labored much in the Lord.
It also talks about the women that labored much in the Lord.
Throughout the Bible, He's always talking about specific people that labored.
See, Paul always builds up the people that were workers, that were laborers.
It's interesting, at churches, it's not like that.
Usually, the people that are lifted up at church, they're not the ones that are laboring and going soul winning.
Usually, the ones that labor and go soul winning,
they're the ones that get criticized for being arrogant,
because they're saying they went out and got 37 people saved as a group today.
And we'll be considered the ones that are arrogant.
Oh, you don't save anybody, God's the one who saves someone.
We ought to read the Bible that says over and over again that we're the ones doing the saving.
You see, if we didn't do it, God's not going to come down from heaven
and just magically touch them and they'll be saved.
God expects us, He's committed unto us, the ministry of reconciliation.
God expects us to be out there going out there preaching the gospel.
He always makes mention of the people that are the true laborers.
1 Thessalonians 5, 12, the Bible reads,
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you,
and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you.
See, God tells you to take note of the people that are laborers.
He constantly is naming people by name, because He wants you to know these people.
These are the ones that are laborers.
See, guys, at your church, wherever you're at, take note of the people that are the laborers.
The other people that are laboring, take them out solely to go with them.
Get part of their zeal if they're more zealous than you.
Or if they're also zealous, impart more to them.
God wants you to know the laborers, He wants you to respect them.
That's who God looks at as being the real heroes of the church,
the people that are actually doing something.
There's plenty of people that just go to church, and I don't understand this,
because I can honestly tell you that if I quit going solely, I would just quit church.
I really wouldn't see a reason to go.
If I'm not going to be involved in the action, I'm not just going to sit on the sidelines.
You'll get the story of David and Goliath.
David was told to just go to the battle. He wasn't expecting to get involved.
But when he saw it, he said, I've got to get involved in the action.
He's like, what's going to come to the person that kills this Philistine,
take away their approach from Israel?
You know, David said he had to get involved in the action,
and I don't understand why people can go to church,
and yet they don't want to get involved in the action.
I mean, it's exciting, too, what we did today.
Laboring, seeing all those people get saved,
there's nothing more exciting.
Now, I know the people here tonight, most of you have listened to Pastor Anderson,
you guys know what you're expected to do.
You've got to get involved in the action.
All of us need to bump up our levels even more.
We need to labor, because no one else is doing the work.
Philippians chapter 2, actually turn there, verses 25 through 30.
It's interesting, I think Philippians 3 is probably my favorite chapter in the Bible, I would say.
And the person that's talked about right before Philippians 3 is Epaphroditus.
He's not really mentioned much,
but when he is talked about in these six verses, it talks about him laboring.
He's something you never hear about preaching in churches.
But it says in verse 25 of Philippians 2,
Yet I suppose it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor,
and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
Verse 29, Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation.
Verse 30, Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death,
not regarding his life to supply your lack of service toward me.
This is a person who was so zealous about laboring and doing the work,
he didn't even care about his own life.
He was willing to sacrifice his own life to be a laborer, to go out there and get people saved.
That's the sort of labor Epaphroditus is.
There's a reason why Paul makes note of this person, because he's a true laborer.
Paul always makes mention of the people that are laborers.
When I think about the people that I talk about to other people,
I talk about my friends that are laborers.
You know, Richie and I were talking about this.
Richie and I probably spend about five hours every week going soloing together.
Not just in a group, but together.
We're so much closer friends than we've ever been, because we're laboring together.
And see, you see, Paul always is making note of the people that are companions in labor.
Those are the people that he wants you to know about.
First Corinthians 15, 10.
Bob Reid's book, By the Grace of God I Am What I Am,
And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain,
But I labored more abundantly than they all,
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
When you think about why was Paul looked at as being such a great man?
Was it because he was a great speaker?
The Bible doesn't say that.
Was it because he was tall?
Was it because he was good looking?
Was it because he was really intelligent?
No, it's because the Bible says he labored more abundantly than they all.
That is the reason why we look at this poem being such a great man.
He didn't have any special gifts.
He just worked harder than everybody else,
Since he labored more abundantly than they all.
That should be the people that we look at today as the people that are great men.
The people that labor more than everyone else.
And it's interesting, when you look at preachers from the past,
In Baptist circles, who's the great preacher everyone talks about?
Charles Spurgeon.
The Prince of Preachers.
You know, it's interesting, all these great Charles Spurgeon stories I hear,
I've never heard one of him going sowing.
Has anybody?
You hear all these stories in churches,
Has anyone ever heard of a story where he went sowing?
I've never heard one.
There's no indication he was a laborer.
Whenever there's a man that's lifted up by the world,
You know that man is not of God.
Because if you're really living for God,
You're not going to be lifted up by the world.
Charles Spurgeon, he wrote a book called,
In Defense of Calvinism.
So basically he said,
I don't believe in sowing.
That would be another name for the book.
But people say,
No, no, no.
He wasn't really a Calvinist.
You've got to understand the time.
When he said In Defense of Calvinism,
He didn't really mean it.
He wasn't really a Calvinist.
But he wrote a book called,
In Defense of Calvinism.
No indication he ever went sowing.
No indication he ever believed it.
From what I understand,
He's the one who came up with a wordless book,
Which is another sorry excuse to say that you're going sowing when you're not.
There's no indication he was ever a sower,
Yet people call him the Prince of Preachers.
Why?
What great thing did he do?
The only thing I know about him is,
He smoked cigars,
Bleed in Calvinism,
And was overweight.
I mean, that's not something to be like,
Man, this is the greatest preacher who ever lived.
Why are we calling him the Prince of Preachers?
What did he ever do?
I've never heard of anything that he's done that's good.
I've never heard of anyone even claiming he went sowing.
Ephesians 4, 12, the Bible reads,
For the perfecting of the saints,
For the work of the ministry,
For the edifying of the body of Christ.
You know, most independent Baptist churches need to take note of this verse,
When it says the work of the ministry.
They don't seem to believe that it's work.
They seem to believe it's preach a couple sermons,
Don't do any sowing,
And get a nice paycheck and do nothing.
That's the way most pastors seem to look at it.
And not just that,
The other people that are deacons and members of the church,
The work of the ministry,
The people that we should lift up are the ones doing the work,
And God expects us to work.
He expects us to labor.
1 Timothy 3, 1, the Bible reads,
This is a true saying,
If a man desire the office of a bishop,
He desireth a good work.
Pastors need to take note of that.
I would love to be a pastor one day,
Because I desire the work.
I want to do the labor.
I want to do what other pastors aren't doing.
Most pastors, they're not doing any work.
They're not fit to be a pastor.
If they don't desire to do a good work,
If they're not out there sowing,
They're not fit to be a pastor.
I love what Pastor Roger Jimenez told us about a month ago.
He was saying he wants to become a full-time soul winner
As a pastor within about a month.
And he's going to go soul winning at least 25 hours a week.
See, there's a man who desires the office of a bishop.
He desires a good work.
He wants to do something with his life.
Why are you going to sign up to be a pastor
If you're not going to do the work?
And yet, these pastors of independent fundamental Baptist churches,
They sit here and they say,
I'm King James only,
We're for standards and living holy,
But they never go soul winning and get a bunch of people to their church.
And since they're not sending people out to preach the gospel,
No soul winning is happening at the churches.
They're basically destroying the zeal of people that would go soul winning
If they had a real pastor behind the pulp that was doing the work.
I mean, you hear these stories of these guys.
They're like, back in 1989 when I was knocking the doors one time.
I mean, I've got a story from a couple of hours ago knocking the doors.
If you don't have a story within the last couple of months of knocking the doors,
There's something wrong when you say you're a pastor.
See, God expects a pastor to work.
He doesn't expect us to be lazy.
First Timothy 5, 17, it says,
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor,
Especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
See, God says the elders that actually labor,
Those are counted worthy of double honor.
Now, he's not talking about the little 19 year old Mormon with the name tag that says elder on it.
When he says elder, looking up in the dictionary, that means somebody who's older.
Definitely older than 19.
Now, we should take note of this verse though,
Because you know what, it's hard to stay in the fight as a laborer.
I've been saved for 10 years, I've been soul winning for 9 years,
And I've been a real bona fide soul winner who knew what he was doing for 5 years.
And there's that constant pull to cut back the soul winning.
Because you know you're doing more work than most everyone else,
And you're thinking, I can just throw in the towel, everyone else is doing it,
And the devil will lie to you and think you'll have more fun, just relax.
When it's a football game, when it's a soccer game, do something else.
I can go to church, I can go on soul winning, I can read the Bible.
But see, God says that we're supposed to count the elders worthy of double honor,
Especially those who labor.
I respect the man who's been soul winning for 20, 30 years,
Because that's hard work.
That's a man who's signed up for a marathon,
Someone who's gone soul winning every week for the last 15, 20 years.
That's not easy to do.
I do respect that person a lot.
But I don't respect someone who's an old person at church that has never led anyone to the Lord.
Why should we respect him if he's not actually a laborer?
2 Timothy 4-5
But what shall in all things endure afflictions?
Do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 4-5,
Do the work of an evangelist.
You see, God expects us to work,
And I don't understand the title of evangelists in modern day churches,
Where they go around to these big events where they call it revival,
And they have these preaching services where they get you to take a couple days off from work,
And no soul winning is done.
I mean, we went to the old Pat's conference a couple years ago up in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
I don't know of anybody else besides me and a couple of my friends who are out there soul winning.
They didn't have any times to meet like,
Hey, this is a revival service, we're going to go out there and do the work.
How can you call them an evangelist if they're not doing any soul winning?
You say, Brother Starkey, let's say for example some famous evangelist,
You know, sent you a message that said,
Hey, I want to come down to Boston to preach for you guys.
Well, I can tell you this, he wouldn't be accepted.
We wouldn't allow it unless he was out there knocking the doors all day with us.
If he's not going to do the work of an evangelist,
I don't want to hear what he has to say.
Even if it was Pastor Anderson,
And he decided to take a couple months off from soul winning,
I wouldn't want to hear what he had to say.
I want to hear someone who's actually doing the work,
Because God is going to bless that,
And you're going to notice it from the preaching.
You see, preachers that get on fire for God,
You can hear it in their sermons that they're on fire for God.
You can see a difference in that.
Let me tell you something.
God says to do the work of an evangelist.
For these people that are taking money out of these churches,
Giving these love offerings,
Going to different churches to preach one sermon,
And do no soul winning, there's no respect.
I have no respect for them.
God doesn't have any respect.
He says do the work of an evangelist.
God expects evangelists to work.
Philippians 2 12, the Bible reads,
Wherefore, my beloved, is he always obeyed,
Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Now there's a lot of people that misunderstand this verse.
They say, well see, you've got to work out your own salvation.
If you lose your salvation, it's like, no.
That's not what it's saying.
Work out your own salvation.
You've already got the salvation.
He expects you to do something with him.
He expects you to work with him.
He expects you to go out there and get people saved.
Not just be saved and kick your feet back.
He says with fear and trembling.
Not fear and trembling because you're going to go to hell.
I'm saved, I have a eternal life.
There's absolutely nothing I could ever do that would send me to hell.
But you know what?
We ought to have a healthy respect and fear for God in our lives.
If we know what the truth is,
And we crazily just disobey it,
We need to respect God.
We need to fear God.
We don't know what's going to happen.
Obviously you're still saved and on your way to heaven.
But God expects you to labor.
And if you know that, which everybody in here should know that,
And you don't do it,
You know what?
You need to get more respect for God in your life.
You need to be in fear of him a little bit.
It says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
So throughout the Bible, I could mention 50 other verses that talk about us laboring.
And how God wants us to do that.
Throughout the Bible, God says labor, labor, labor.
But whenever God really wants something,
You know the devil wants the exact opposite of that.
See, throughout the Bible, God says to labor.
So the devil wants you not to labor, obviously.
Well, let's go back to Mark 16, where we started.
We're actually going to look at verses 9 through 20.
I'm not going to read them.
But we're going to make mention of this.
I mean, these are the last words of Jesus Christ.
Pretty important words.
His last words,
Going into all the world and preaching to God is whatever creature.
Pretty important stuff.
The modern perversions, they try to take these verses out.
There's a reason why.
First off, these are the last words of Jesus.
They're pretty important.
It's amazing how they always take out the parts of the Bible that are really important.
They have key doctrine.
They have key things that he's teaching us.
He says in Mark 16, 9 through 20,
Going into all the world and preaching to God is whatever creature.
His last words were to go out.
And the last verse confirms that to work, to labor.
Now does anybody know how many verses are in the book of Mark in the King James Bible?
Anybody know?
Two hundred and seventy...
No, six hundred and seventy-eight.
Now they say verses 9 through 20 aren't supposed to be in the Bible.
Do you know how many verses that is?
It's twelve verses.
Let's say you take twelve verses out of six hundred and seventy-eight.
How many are you left with?
Six, six, six.
Six hundred and sixty-six verses.
You see, the NIV said not only are we going to get rid of the last words of Jesus Christ,
about laboring, let's take out a few more so we can get the number down to six hundred
and sixty-six.
Because truly the NIV was a book written by the devil.
That's very obvious.
The NIV, the New King James, and all these ones that say,
Well, you know, this isn't supposed to be in the Bible.
Just a coincidence that it's six hundred and sixty-six verses, right?
And he took out the last words about going into probably the best command in the Bible,
to go out and get people saved.
It's not supposed to be in the Bible.
Because God wants this and Satan wants the exact opposite.
He does not want you to know you're expected to labor.
He wants you to think it's only for certain people, but not for everyone.
But God says, go ye into all the world.
2 Corinthians 5, 9, this is what the Bible says,
Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
So the Bible says, this is what Paul said, we labor.
God expects us to labor.
Well, I was curious what the devil had to say about this.
So I decided to look it up in the New King James in the NIV.
And this is what this verse is.
I'm going to read it again in the King James so you know what it says.
It says, Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
This is what it says in the New King James.
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him.
In the NIV, so we make it our goal to please him whether we are at home with the buyer or away from him.
You see, the King James says, if we want to be accepted by God, we're going to labor.
See, God doesn't just expect you to be saved. He expects you to do something with your life.
Now, the NIV in the New King James says, it's really sweet.
We just make it our goal to please him.
You know, that's real sweet.
It doesn't tell you how you're going to please God.
What did God say in the Bible?
How are we going to be accepted of him?
We labor. That's what he said.
In the NIV in the New King James, we just make it our aim to please him.
They don't tell you how to do it.
See, God expects you to labor.
Genesis 47, 6, I love this verse.
The King James Bible reads, the land of Egypt is before thee, and the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell, and the land of ghosts to let them dwell.
And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.
See, I love that phrase, if thou knowest any men of activity.
You know what that's saying, men of activity?
It's somebody who works hard, somebody who's a laborer.
It's like, if you know anyone who works really hard, who's a man of activity, make him ruler over my cattle.
Now, in the New King James, this is what it says.
And if you know any competent men among them.
In the NIV, it reads, and if you know of any among them with special ability.
You see, in the King James Bible, it says, those that are men of activity, those that labor.
You know what the NIV and the New King James say?
Those that are competent, those with special ability.
I thank God that the Christian life is not about those with special ability or who's competent.
I would not be up here preaching.
I wouldn't be out there getting people saved.
But the reason why I'm up here is because I labor.
The reason why we're able to get people saved is because we labor.
You see, it's not the person who's the most wise with their words.
There's plenty of people that are probably much better at speaking the words of the Bible than we are, just naturally.
If they went door to door and got fired for God, maybe they'd get more people saved than us.
But you know what? It's not about that.
Who has special ability or who's competent, it's about those who put in the work.
It's about those who labor.
But see, the devil doesn't want you to know that.
He wants you to think that you have to have some competent, special ability to be a soul winner.
To do something for God.
That's not true at all.
Some of the shyest people I know are some of the best soul winners.
Some of the shyest people I know are in this room and those are some of the best soul winners.
I'm not a naturally outgoing person or a nationally good public speaker or anything, but you know what?
God says it's those who labor.
You look at Moses.
Moses was a man he labored.
Till the day he died, he said his eyes were not dimmed.
I mean, it talks about him climbing a mountain when he's older than 80 years old.
He was a man who worked hard.
But he wasn't the most naturally gifted speaker, though.
Look at Joshua chapter 7.
Joshua 7.
We're going to look at the first four verses.
Satan is doing his best to get rid of this in the other versions of the Bible.
But at the same time, you know, independent Baptists, in general, don't read the other versions of the Bible.
But you see, throughout it we can still see in the King James Bible what Satan's done in the past.
Just trying to destroy the labor.
Joshua chapter 7, starting in verse 1, the Bible reads,
But the children of Israel committed to trespassing the accursed thing.
And for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zara of the tribe of Judah,
took up the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.
And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which was beside Beth Avon,
on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying,
Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.
And they returned to Joshua and said unto him,
Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai.
And make not all the people to labor there, for they are but a few.
So they went up there, and there were people of about three thousand men,
and they fled before the men of Ai.
So here we see a story in the Bible, where they come back to Joshua,
and they said, Don't make everybody be a laborer.
Not everybody. Just make certain people.
It's the exact same way with churches.
It's like, Let's not make everybody have to labor.
Let's just make a few people. There's a few still owners at the church. That's fine.
Honestly, in a lot of independent Baptist churches, if you're not dressed right,
they don't even want you out there soul winning.
They expect you to clean up your life before.
Which doesn't make much sense, because the thing that's cleaned up my life the most is soul winning.
It forces you to start living a holy life, because you want to see more people get saved.
It shows you what's really important. But churches do the exact opposite.
They say, Well, once you get that suit and tie on, then you can go out and preach the gospel.
You know what? I've gotten people say wearing shorts and a t-shirt before.
And guess what? They're still just as safe as if I had worn a shirt and tie.
See, God expects us all to labor. No matter what level we're on, He wants us out there.
Whether you're a silent partner, or whether you're the one doing the speaking,
He expects us all to labor.
In this story in Joshua, they said, Let's just send a few.
And what happens? They end up fleeing before the men of Ai, because they didn't send everybody.
Ezra chapter 4, I don't have time to really go into this story,
It's a story where in Ezra 3, they start getting the money in terms of wanting to build for the Lord.
Ezra chapter 4 is when they actually start doing it.
And that's when the devil tries to destroy it.
You see, once Satan sees the work being done, he wants to do whatever he can to destroy that labor.
Nehemiah 6-3, Bob reads, And I send messages on to them saying,
I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you?
See, that's the response we need to have.
Because if you've decided today, You know what? I want to do more laboring.
I want to do more soul winning than I've ever done.
Satan's going to try to get you to stop it in whatever way.
This is the reaction you need to have. I'm doing a great work. I'm not going to come down.
No matter what comes up, you have to decide, You know what? I haven't done my soul winning this week.
This is my soul winning time. I'm going to do it.
It doesn't matter what comes up. We need to go soul winning every week.
God expects it. God demands it. He expects us to labor.
Let's look at Revelation chapter 2, the first four verses.
So God expects us to labor. Over and over again He says it in the Bible.
Satan wants the exact opposite. He doesn't want you to labor.
But a lot of people labor, but their labor is in vain. It's useless.
Revelation chapter 2, starting at verse 1, the Bible reads,
On to the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand,
who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil,
and thou hast tried them which say they are possible, and are not, and hast found them liars,
and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.
So far it sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
It's a church that's laboring. It's working exactly what we're talking about here tonight.
But look at verse number 4.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
You see, this is what most independent Baptist churches have done.
They still labor in different areas. They still hate a lot of the evil sometimes.
They're involved in bus routes, in Sunday school, and in a lot of things.
But you know what? They're nice works. They're good things.
But that's not the first love. God expects so many firsts.
You see, I try to get as involved as I can in my church.
I work on the bus route at my church.
But you know what? If I had to sacrifice my soul to work on the bus route,
you know what I would end up doing? I would quit working on the bus route.
Because the bus route's not a command from God.
Soul winning is a command from God.
You see, we need to look at the first love.
What is really important in life?
You see, so many people get bogged down by things that do not matter,
especially in independent Baptist churches.
They focus on all these things that are not commands of God instead of doing what He said.
I mean, God's last instructions, they weren't that complicated.
Going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He didn't say you've got to come up with some crazy ideas of how to do all these different things
and bring people into church.
He just says, go out, preach the gospel, last verse, the Lord working with them.
He's like, you do what I command you to do, I'll work with you to get people saved.
That was what His command is.
Hey, if we have time to get involved in other areas and help out a church,
if you get a chance to teach at Sunday school or get a chance to preach, go for it.
That's great, but do not let your soul winning take a back seat.
Never let the soul winning die because that has to be your first love.
That's got to be the driving force of your life, wanting to get people saved.
1 Corinthians 3, verses 13 through 15, the Bible reads,
Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare,
because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abideth which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,
but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Now, I love these verses. It talks about works being burned up.
It doesn't say these are sins.
You see, these are works. They just don't have any eternal value.
They don't last in the fire.
See, there's a lot of good things we can do. Spending time with family is a great thing.
I love doing that, but that doesn't really have eternal value.
He didn't lead someone to the Lord. He didn't memorize the Bible or read the Bible.
It didn't have really any eternal value.
And see, that's what the Bible says.
See, God talks about works that end up being burned up because they don't have eternal value.
See, a lot of people spend so much time laboring in vain.
They look at hobbies, they do all these different things, and their labor is in vain.
It doesn't last through the fire. It doesn't have real eternal value
as winning people of the Lord like we did today.
Philippians 2, 12-16 is the last place I'm going to have you turn.
Can you just turn to Philippians 2, 12-16, New Testament.
Philippians 2, 12-16, the Bible reads,
Wherefore, my beloved, is he of always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God which worketh in you both to will and do its good pleasure.
Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless,
the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
Verse 16, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
See, Paul looks at this group of people and he says,
When I leave, I want you to still be zealous.
I still want to hear about the great works you're doing.
He says, I want you to hold forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ.
He doesn't want his labor to be in vain.
Now, we all put in a lot of work here today.
We spent our entire day out soul winning.
Thirty-seven people say, nine soul winners, I don't know how many hours, six, seven hours,
a lot of people say, we spent a lot of labor here today.
Don't let this labor be in vain.
I mean, I know you guys have knowledge, there's no question, everyone in this room,
listening to Pastor Anderson, you know a lot of things that a lot of other people don't.
You have knowledge. I hope you have zeal.
After today, it's kind of hard not to have zeal, seeing all these people get saved.
I mean, you're obviously zealous to even want to come out here, we all are,
to want to go out and preach the gospel.
But here's the thing, how are we going to keep that knowledge
and keep that zeal to keep getting people saved?
You have knowledge, you have zeal, there's still something you need to do
to make sure your labor is not in vain.
Jeff's going to preach what you need to do here.
So we know what we need to do to keep going out there
and get people saved until the day we die.
Let's close in a word of prayer.