- Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to our services here at Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Very nice to see you all here.
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in attendance.
Let's go ahead and get started with some singing.
We'll go to hymn 472 this morning to begin.
Hymn 472.
Hymn number 472, this is my Father's world.
Hymn number 472.
Once you've found your place,
we'll lift it up together on that first verse.
This is my Father's world and to my listening ears.
Hymn number 402.
Sing it out together now.
♪ This is my Father's world ♪
- Lord's blessing on the service this morning,
so I've asked--
- Father, we give you thanks for the opportunity
to come and hear your holy and your precious work.
We ask you open our hearts and open our ears
to receive that perfect.
Humbly ask this in Jesus' holy name, amen.
- Amen, hymn number 208.
Number 208, grace greater than our sin.
Hymn number 208,
the marvelous grace of our loving Lord, hymn number two.
- Bulletin, please raise your hand
and the ushers will bring a bulletin to you.
If you have your bulletin, go ahead and open it up,
we'll just quickly go over it on the left-hand side.
It's our service times below that,
it's our soul-winning times,
and at the very bottom, it's our salvations
and baptisms for the year.
In case you're wondering, Pastor Anderson is sick,
he is not gonna be preaching today,
but if you wanna get baptized, we can still baptize you.
We have it ready to go, so if you wanna get baptized,
talk to me or talk to anyone,
and they'll let you know how to get started.
On the upper right hand, on the top is Happy Father's Day.
For those that are fathers,
we just wanna congratulate you on today's Father's Day.
Sorry about that.
We'll have root beer floats.
They will be served after the service,
so don't just take off if you're a father.
Come get your float.
You know, I promise you, you won't regret it, amen?
All right, every door in Greeley County has been knocked.
Lunch will be served to those who have participated
in the Greenlee or Hopi trips on Sunday, June 30th at 1 p.m.
So we're gonna have a lunch for you guys,
those that participated in knocking out that county.
So please sign up if you plan to attend.
If it's not up here, it'll be up here soon.
And we're gonna have our third annual mega conference.
The schedule's right there of all the pastors
that are gonna be preaching for the entire,
looks like pretty much half of July
and pretty much half of August.
So on the back of your bulletin,
Pastor Anderson will be preaching,
for those on the internet that are interested in knowing,
pastors will be preaching at Stronghold Baptist Church
on Friday, July 5th at 7 p.m.
Once again, that'll be Friday, July 5th at 7 p.m.
And join us for our Navajo soul-winning trip,
including the time of recreation
at the Grand Canyon National Park.
That'll be Friday through Saturday, June 28th and 29th.
I believe there's a sign-up sheet,
so go ahead and sign up if you wanna go.
And please speak to Brother Raymond
if you want more details.
And also join us for a church skate night in Mesa.
This is gonna be Thursday, August 15th from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
The address is right there.
So obviously as we get closer, you know,
we'll make it a bigger deal.
But right now, hey, just have it in your head
that we will have a skate night in August.
So don't worry about memorizing the date.
That'll be probably next week when you have to.
And the managed prison classes postpone
until we pick it up again, probably next year in January.
And all the upcoming events are right there.
Take a look at those when you get a chance.
Other than that, that's all I have.
Go ahead and lead us in the next song, please.
- All right, in the front of your hymn,
those you should have the insert of God of our fathers.
If you don't have an insert, you can raise your hand
and we'll put them together on that verse.
(gentle music)
God of our fathers whose almighty hand
leads forth in the beauty.
Sing it out together now.
♪ God ♪
♪ In the world we would be ♪
♪ Amen ♪
- Place, and as we're passing the offering place,
please turn your Bibles to John chapter number 17.
John chapter number 17,
and Brother Nick will read the scriptures.
John chapter number 17.
- John chapter 17, the Bible reads.
These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, "Father, the hour has come.
"Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee.
"As thou hast given him power over all flesh,
"that he should give eternal life to as many
"as thou hast given them him.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee,
"the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
"I have glorified thee on the earth.
"I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
"And now, oh Father, glorify thou me with thine own self
"with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
"I have manifested thy name under the men
"which thou gavest me out of the world,
"thine they were, and thou gavest them me,
"and they have kept thy word.
"Now they have known that all things whatsoever
"thou hast given me are of thee,
"for I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me,
"and they have received them,
"and have known surely that I came out from thee,
"and they have believed that thou didst send me.
"I pray for them, I pray not for the world,
"but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine,
"and all mine are thine, and thine are mine,
"and I am glorified in them.
"And now I am no more in the world,
"but these are in the world, and I come to thee, holy Father.
"Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me,
"that they may be one as we are.
"While I was with them in the world,
"I kept them in thy name.
"Those that thou gavest me, I have kept,
"and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition,
"that the scripture might be fulfilled.
"And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world,
"that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
"I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them,
"because they are not of the world,
"even as I am not of the world.
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,
"but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
"Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.
"As thou hast sent me into the world,
"even so have I also sent them into the world.
"And for their sakes I sanctify myself,
"that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
"Neither pray I for these alone,
"but for them also which shall believe on me
"through their word, that they all may be one,
"as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee,
"that they also may be one in us,
"that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
"And the glory which thou gavest me,
"I have given them, that they may be one,
"even as we are one.
"I in them, and thou in me,
"that they may be made perfect in one,
"and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
"and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me,
"be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory,
"which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
"before the foundation of the world.
"O righteous father, the world hath not known thee,
"but I have known thee, and these have known
"that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them
"thy name, and will declare it,
"that the love wherewith thou hast loved me,
"may be in them, and I in them."
Father in heaven, thank you for Son Jesus Christ
and for the earnest of the Holy Spirit
in the hearts of the believers.
I pray that you please heal Pastor Anderson
of his infirmity and bless Brother Stagor
as he preaches your word.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
- Amen, really quickly, if you're available
to help bring out the ice cream,
if some ladies can help bring it out
right when I'm done preaching and music starts,
you know, we would love for you to come help us.
So if you're wondering, should I go?
Yes, please go, it's better to have more than less, amen.
And if you're wondering who's preaching tonight,
it is not gonna be me.
So if I totally bomb it this morning,
we got a special treat for you
and it's gonna be Pastor David Berzins right over here.
He'll be preaching tonight, it is confirmed.
News is fresh off the prayers as of five minutes ago, amen.
So if you have your Bibles,
go ahead and go right there to verse number one.
Verse number one is my key verse that says this.
These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, "Father, the hour has come.
"Glorify thy son that thy son may glorify thee."
And the title of my sermon is this.
Honor the Father, honor the Father.
And of course today's Father's Day,
and a lot of people I'm pretty sure are being honored.
Dads, I hope you're being honored by your wife,
your children, and I hope you're being honored
by maybe your brothers.
My brothers, they never text me,
but they decided to text me this morning.
I don't know why out of the blue they text me.
So I'm like, amen.
You know, it's like, hey, happy Father's Day
to you guys as well.
You know, so the thing is this.
My children, they walked in this morning
and they're giving me a happy Father's Day card,
and that's great.
You know, but one of the things that I asked is like, great,
did you guys read your Bible this morning?
And they were silent.
You know, but obviously, hey, she's like, okay,
well, I'll grab my tablet really quickly
and pretty much starts reading it, you know?
But all of a sudden my daughter is just super silent.
She was the one that's like, happy Father's Day, daddy.
I'm like, great, did you read your Bible?
And so what I wanna basically do today is glorify the Father.
Amen, glorify the Father.
And I'm pretty sure if you're a father this morning,
you will want me to help your family glorify the Father, amen?
Because here's the bottom line, kids, my kids, pay attention.
It's great you wanna honor me,
but you know the best way to honor me is to honor Him.
That's the best way, make Him happy, please Him.
That is the best way to honor me.
And we see here that Jesus Christ, another way for honor
is to glorify, He's praying to the Father.
And Jesus Christ is making it very clear.
He is saying, "I have glorified thee."
And if Jesus is doing it, we should do it as well, amen?
Go ahead and look at verse number two, it says,
"This is thou giving Him power over all flesh,
"that He should give eternal life to as many
"as thou has given Him.
"And this is life eternal, that they may know thee,
"the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
"I have glorified thee on the earth."
And once again, if He's doing it,
we should do it as well, amen?
"I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
So fathers, children, everyone here,
hey, glorify the Father until you have finished the work
that He has here for you to do, amen?
Go ahead and go to John 15.
John 15, just a few chapters before that.
Go to John chapter 15.
So this morning, I wanna basically glorify the Father
by bringing Him into your remembrance
and helping you to remember how good He's been to us.
And if you stop and think about all the goodness
that God has brought in your life,
all the years that He has helped you,
it just about brings a tear to your eye.
I know it does to me when I think of all the good stuff
He's helped me with, you know,
so I always look back like, man, Lord, why?
I definitely don't deserve it.
Man, how can I pay you back?
How can I glorify you?
Well, I'm gonna give you guys three things this morning
to help you glorify God.
Three things to help you glorify God.
So the purpose of my sermon is to help you glorify God.
Why?
I'll just read these verses.
You stay in John 5, Psalm 22, 23 says this,
"Year to fear the Lord, praise Him.
All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him, and fear Him.
All ye the seed of Israel."
Matthew 5:16 says this, "Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
That's a nice clue as to how to glorify the Father, amen?
John 13, 31, "Therefore, when he is gone now,
Jesus said, 'Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in him.'"
Matthew 5:16.
All right, just read Matthew 5:16, I'm sorry,
Philippians 1:11, "Be filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ,
unto the glory and praise of God."
Amen?
So you're right there in John 15, it says this,
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."
So shall ye be my disciples.
So how can we glorify God?
By bearing much fruit.
And if you're bearing much fruit,
hey, you are his disciple,
and that's what God wants.
Not just to be saved, God wants to use you,
and I'll even say this,
God wants to use you in a big way.
But it's gonna come down to you.
And I'm pretty sure every father here will love it
when we're dead in God.
Once our children's lives are over,
to be able to say,
"Man, I am so proud that God used you in a mighty way.
Thank you for serving the Lord.
Thank you for sticking with it."
Or am I the only one?
I highly doubt it, thou shy ones.
But what is the first and clear and obvious way
to glorify the Lord, to bring honor to the Lord?
Hey, you don't need to know.
You don't need to take long to figure it out
if you come to this church.
One way, you know, one way to glorify the Lord
is winning souls.
Winning souls, amen?
Talk about winning souls?
Yes, I'm talking about winning souls.
Hey, here's a reminder.
And I'm pretty sure down the road,
somebody else is gonna remind you.
And if you're not nice to me,
for the person that's gonna remind you tonight, amen?
So Matthew 10, 16 says this.
Behold, I send you a sheep in the midst of wolves.
Be ye therefore wise as serpents.
You guys can go ahead and meet me in Matthew 18.
Why not?
Go to Matthew 18.
If you're in John 15, just go to Matthew 18.
I'm just gonna finish up Matthew 10, 16 that says,
behold, I send you a sheep in the midst of wolves.
Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
Jesus Christ wanted people to be wise.
Why?
I'll tell you why.
Proverbs 15, 20, a wise son maketh a glad father,
but a foolish man despiseth his mother.
Hey, when it comes to being wise,
one thing that being wise is gonna do
is it's gonna make a glad father.
And every father here wants to be a glad father.
So children, one thing you should start doing
is praying for wisdom,
'cause God says if you pray for wisdom,
God's gonna give it to you.
Yes, there's a catch, if you don't like the devil,
he ain't gonna listen to you.
'Cause if you have iniquity in your heart,
the Bible says clearly in Psalms,
the Lord will not hear me.
But for the rest of us, if you pray, believing,
you shall receive, Matthew 21, 22, amen?
And I want my kids to be wise.
And when my kids grow up to be wise people,
it makes my heart glad.
And if it makes my heart glad,
how much more is it gonna make the father's heart glad?
Amen? - Amen.
- So start thinking about that, kids.
Start thinking about praying for wisdom.
But one of the easiest things to do,
that obviously will make you a wise person right away,
is number one again, winning souls.
Why?
Because it says right there in Proverbs 11.30,
the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he that win its souls is what?
Wise.
And you'll never regret winning souls.
Obviously some can win more souls than others,
but hey, at the end of the day,
we're all commanded to do something
with the 12 hours that God commands us to work, right?
So if you have to work your 12 hour shift
to allow me to do what I can do
and go out and win more souls,
hey, don't worry about it.
That fruit will be accounted out through your account.
But for the rest of us,
we should try to at least go soul winning
as much as we can.
Hey, we always say at least once a week
and I know it can get tough.
Before I worked for Pastor Anderson,
hey, I worked for cost communications
and cost communications had me working
just about every single day,
except for Sunday.
And guess what?
I would usually start around 6 a.m.
I usually get home around 10 p.m.
That job was no bueno.
Maybe if you're in-house,
but I was a contractor,
we didn't get paid per hour.
You know, sometimes I work a 10 hour day
and literally make 30 bucks for the whole day.
Three bucks an hour.
You're like, "That's slave labor."
Yes, it is.
But hey, that's all I could get at the time.
Praise the Lord, some of the guys went in-house
and I hope they're having a better time than we did
when we were contractors.
But I remember those days when, hey,
Monday comes around, Tuesday comes around,
Wednesday comes around, Saturday, Sunday comes around,
my only day off, and I am dog tired.
I am dog tired.
And I just wanna sleep in the afternoon.
But I know one thing, that you know what?
I'm done, but I'm not that done not to go soul winning.
So I would just say, hey, who wants to go soul winning with me?
My kids were very little, I just grabbed the oldest one.
Hey, let's go to the church.
Praise the Lord, we're able to walk to church.
But at that time, it was very tough to wanna get out there
and win some souls, because I'm tired, it's my only day off.
But hey, we have to do it, amen?
We have to do it.
All you can do is once a week, go for it.
Don't worry, down the road, maybe God'll open an opportunity
where you can do more.
But one way you wanna glorify God,
hey, glorify the Father is through winning souls.
And you already saw that he did winning souls is wise.
So of course, you don't have to go out there
two, three, four times a week.
If you have a busy schedule, you got a family,
you got that crazy job that keeps you
from having some free time for the moment,
but do your best to get out there.
God forbid you go a month, two months, three months,
four months, five months without going so many.
That is bad, that is no bueno.
You're gonna end up working for cost communication,
that's your punishment, amen?
So you don't wanna go out?
Okay, I'll give you a job
that definitely won't let you go out.
But of course, at the end of it all,
anybody who disagrees with this is crazy.
All the soul winning is gonna be worth it
once you're dead and gone, amen?
No one's gonna regret that.
How do we know?
Daniel 12, three says this,
and they that be wise shall shine
as the brightness of the firmament
and they that turn minutes of righteousness
as the stars forever and ever.
That is the whole purpose you're here,
to seek and to save those which are lost.
You talk to 10 people,
hey, what's the purpose of life?
You may get 10 different answers,
but at this church, you talk to 10 people,
you're probably gonna get just one answer,
to seek and to save those which are lost.
We're not confused, the world's confused.
You know, some people say, hey, the purpose of life
is to become the best version of yourself
and make this world a better place.
Yeah, well, people go to hell.
Well, those people that you quote unquote help
are gonna end up in everlasting fire.
Yeah, that's an awesome goal,
become the best version of yourself
and make this world a better place
and no soul winning, nothing.
I mean, dude, I listened to a panel of people
that were asked, hey, what is success to you?
Success to me is playing video games with my child
every morning and spending time with them.
While they're chubby, while they're got like 10 inch arms,
while he smokes, while he drinks.
I'm like, where did he get that?
While he's throwing Christ his name?
That's one reason I was mad
'cause he threw Christ his name out there.
I'm a Christian, I believe in this,
traditional values and this and that and whatever.
And it's like getting up and playing video games
with your kids for hours while you're out of shape
and you look like you need to go work some more.
I don't think so.
But he's throwing the name of Christ out there
just to get some street cred.
'Cause then Christians are like, oh, he's a Christian,
maybe I'll listen to him as he smokes and drinks
while he's doing these podcasts.
But other than that, that ain't the reason we're here.
We're here for the same reason that Christ is here,
Luke 19 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which is lost.
That's which is lost.
Hey, guess what?
If you're saved, if you're born again,
you can get people saved.
Hey, you're a real life superhero.
You can literally save someone.
I preached on this before.
Let's just say your favorite little comic book character
was actually real.
The Wolverine, Deadpool, you know, Superman.
And to you, that in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven.
For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.
And before that he's talking about children.
Go ahead and meet me and John.
John 15, go back to John 15.
More verses on soul winning.
We can't talk about it enough.
Yes, it's not the only thing, you know,
but we'll get to those other things as well.
You know, going soul winning is not the only thing
that's gonna honor the Father.
And today is Father's Day.
Hopefully you guys, you know,
prayed to the Father and say, "Happy Father's Day."
God up in heaven, thank you so much
for all that you've done.
Thank you for the many blessings.
Thank you for faithful word.
Thank you for my health.
Thank you for my wealth.
Whatever the case may be.
But I'm just gonna read from James 5.20.
"Let him know that he which converted the sinner
from the error of his way shall save a soul from death."
Save a soul from death.
You guys are real heroes, don't ever forget that.
Your job is to go out there and save souls.
Proverbs 15.24, "The way of life is above to the wise,
that he may depart from hell beneath."
Hell beneath, that's where we go out.
We usually tell people when we're out there,
"Hey, you ever been to a Baptist church?
The reason we're out here is because more important
than going to church is going to heaven.
If you die today, where are you gonna go?
Heaven or hell, don't you know?"
That's what my pastor asked me that question.
I'm like, "Whoa, hell?
Heaven, I'm not sure.
I'm pretty sure, but hey, that's what we're really doing.
We're saving people from hell, amen?"
Matthew 12.39 says this, "But the answer is set out to them,
and even adulterous generations seek it after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given to it,
but the sign of the prophet Jonah,
for he has joined us with three days and three nights
in the whale's belly.
So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth."
So what do we do when we go out so many?
You're glorifying God.
You're bringing honor to God.
You're telling people they're sinners,
but at the same time you're like,
"Hey, but look how great God is.
Look how amazing God is.
Look how wonderful God is.
Let me glorify Him for a second.
Let me tell you how great is our God,
that even though we're sinners, Christ," what?
"Died for us."
Died for us.
So yeah, we get people saved, but at the same time,
we're also glorifying the Lord
when we go out there in 110 degree heat.
So don't get bummed out when nobody gets saved.
Don't get bummed out when somebody shuts the door
in your face.
Don't get bummed out when somebody's making fun of you
because you're out there knocking doors in 110 degree heat.
Because at the end of the day, it's glorifying God,
and that should be enough to make you smile.
Don't ever forget that.
How many got saved?
None, but hey, we made God happy.
Hey, we glorified His name out here.
Now obviously the unsaved, they're not gonna get you.
Those are not your people, you know?
We get those emails saying, hey, hey,
I just wanna let you know,
there was a member from your church out here
with their child, and that child was in danger.
It was 110 degrees out here.
You know, the lady had a hat on,
but their child had red cheeks.
Archive, they just wasted their time emailing us.
They emailed the wrong church.
And look, we care about our kids.
You know, we don't want them to pass out and die,
but for crying out loud.
We're not crazy either.
We're gonna take them out, and yes, it's hot,
but we're not gonna be out there for four or five hours.
You know, so whoever that lady was,
they had their girl out there, you know,
knocking doors in the heat.
I guarantee you, she under stairs is hot.
She's human too.
She can feel the pain, you know?
And obviously, when they just wanna win the argument,
they're not gonna tell me what really happened.
Who knows if that little kid took the hat off
'cause they didn't wanna wear it anymore,
or who knows what happened.
Maybe it's just the first five minutes
or whatever the case may be.
But at the end of the day, hey, you know what?
We do these things because to the right people,
it will glorify God.
I mean, I've driven before on a non-so-winning time
and see people go so winning, and I get excited.
Like, hey, man, look at that.
Unless your back's slitting, you don't get excited.
You're like, oh, Brother Jakes, really?
Who do you think he is?
110 degree heat?
Then his brother grew up.
Hey, look at him, 110 degree heat.
That's how we roll.
That's how we do it.
Because it brings honor to God.
It brings glory to the Father.
And yes, you know, it's Father's Day,
but let's think about the Father for right now.
Let's bring glory to Him, amen?
Let's praise Him.
But it is what it is, you know?
People are attacking, you know, the doctrine on hell.
You know, they even attack us.
You know, they attack us
'cause we believe that Jesus went to hell.
Well, excuse me if I believe that.
Let me read Acts 2.31.
"He, seeing this, before spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did he see corruption."
I don't know about you, but that verse glorifies God.
And I'm talking about the Father,
because the Father sent the Son, oneness, people,
sent the Son to be the Savior of the world,
fully knowing what He was gonna do.
To save the world.
And if that doesn't glorify God, I don't know what else.
That was a difficult thing to do.
To send your Son to burn?
And of course you got people that are trying to say,
that oh, Jesus didn't go to hell.
Well, excuse me if Jesus says that the Son of Man
shall be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth.
Not the Son of Man's flesh.
He said the Son of Man shall be in the heart of the earth.
Oh, but the heart of the earth
isn't always the heart of the earth.
I heard people say that.
And they wanna say, hey, what Jesus said was enough.
He said on the cross, it is finished.
Well, before he went to the cross,
he says, it is finished as well.
He says, I finished the works.
And we read that.
The dog has sent me to do.
So we all got work to do besides our regular jobs.
We got spiritual work to do,
which is of course gonna glorify who?
God, God.
So keep on keeping on.
Thinking of quitting?
Don't, just don't, just keep on coming.
It's too hot.
I'm tired.
It's my only day off.
I get it.
I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
But you've gotta,
but you gotta believe me.
I didn't regret one single day
that I went out there dog tired.
And listen, this is the church when you can come out
and not even talk if you're dog tired.
I have so many times people came out saying,
I'm having a bad day, man.
I don't even wanna talk.
Let's go.
Somebody get saved.
But I wasn't gonna go.
I'm just here to let you know that we got so many times,
but I don't go out every single time the doors are open.
But I'm here waiting for somebody to come.
So nobody comes.
I got a lot of things to do.
I got a million things to do and I'm behind all million.
But if somebody wants to show up,
I'll push it back even to the next day and we'll go out.
And if any of these times don't work for you,
email the church or come up to me.
I'll give you my cell number anytime, any place, anywhere.
And if I can't do it, I'll Waymo you over
to our soul winning site.
You know, those Waymos are crazy.
I don't know.
Has anybody been in a Waymo yet?
I want to, but I need a good excuse to do it.
Until then, it's Uber.
But if I can't pick you up but you
want to go soul winning with us, hey, this is what it is.
Pastor Anderson, he'll spend every penny on soul winning.
He doesn't care.
What else are we going to spend our money on?
Blue suede shoes?
What are we going to spend our money on?
Prada shoes like the Pope?
A white poofy jacket like the Pope?
You know he always goes everywhere with something white.
Who's seen the pictures of the Pope with that white poofy jacket?
I'm going to confess bro, I own that exact same jacket.
Can I get an amen?
She knows what's up.
First time I showed up at church, I showed up like the Pope.
Big white poofy jacket.
I was into hip hop, come on, leave me alone.
It's what we wore.
Gold chain with a 762 round on my chain trying to be all hardcore gangster.
If you don't know what a 762 round is, it's a machine gun bullet.
I had it around my neck thinking I'm tough, thinking I'm hardcore.
Showing up to a Wednesday night service, my very first Baptist service with a puffy jacket.
Man, I made that play, slide up with that white jacket.
That's how I got my wife to pay attention to me.
They're like, "Who's this guy with that white poofy jacket?"
It's like, "Who is that guy?"
Don't lie, kind of went like that.
Here's you to know, I met my wife at the church.
First time I spoke to her, she knocked on my door, knocking doors.
She was so winning.
It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen, man.
Keep praying.
So yes, people are going to wonder, "Why are you out here?"
Besides saving souls, hey, it does bring glory to God.
When you tell people, "Hey, Jesus went to hell," now obviously they don't need to know
every doctrine under the sun when it comes to hell to get saved.
But I don't like when people try to act like, "Oh, the only reason you believe that Jesus
went to hell is because Pastor Anderson taught you that."
Not even.
I remember the first time I read that verse, I was like, "Wow, wow."
And not only that, people say this, "What kind of a person gets excited over Jesus burning
in hell?"
Ugh.
That's just a weird person.
I'm like, "What are you talking about?"
And in case you're wondering who I'm speaking about, I'm speaking about the McFails, aka
McPauls.
They changed their last names after Pastor Anderson destroyed them up here.
They just don't like being called the McFails.
I wonder why.
Don't believe me?
Go to their website.
John and Jesse McPaul.
Can I get an amen?
Who knows about this?
They changed their name.
I wonder why, you bunch of failures.
But they're the ones that attack us on this.
They're the ones trying to make us look crazy.
They're the ones saying, "What kind of a person comes up with this doctrine?
I was never good with this doctrine because I have the Holy Ghost in me."
That's not a flex, bro.
That actually makes you look unsafe.
Because this is clear that his soul was not left in hell.
Jesus says, "The Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth."
That did it for me.
How about you?
Preach it.
And that's it.
I'm not going to get into all their craziness trying to explain it away.
But to me, when I first read that, I said, "Wow, that's awesome.
I can't believe God the Father loves me so much that he allowed Jesus to do that."
That's what I thought.
And I'm like, "Whoa, at least Jesus finally knows what it feels like to suffer."
That didn't come into my heart.
To me, it's like, "Man, this is crazy."
And I couldn't wait to talk about it.
Next Sunday, I speak to my wife and I'm like, "Hey, did you know Jesus went to hell?"
She's like, "It wasn't hell.
It was Abraham's bosom."
I'm like, "What?"
Hey, old IFB brainwashing, all right?
She was alone.
I'm thinking, "Bosom?
What the heck?
What is that?"
I kind of know what it is.
Am I wrong?
That's a place in hell where he was at preaching to people and then took him out?
I'm like, "I don't know.
I haven't read that part yet, but I'll get back to you."
I wasn't thinking, "Oh, good.
At least Christ knows what it's like to suffer."
I'm thinking, "Wow.
I can't believe how much God loves me."
I'm thinking, "Whoa.
This is insane."
First time I read it, it's like, "Wow."
But no, the only reason you believe that is because Pastor Anderson taught you that.
Yeah, right.
You believe God looked great, how much He sacrificed for us, and we love Him.
I have to wake up.
I went to bed late.
I have to set up everything.
Amen?
This is fun.
I like it.
John 15, 8 says this, "Hearing is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit.
So should ye be my disciples, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Continue ye in my love, if ye keep my," what?
"Commandments."
So it's not all about going somewhere and never said that.
I'm giving you three simple things.
Why?
Because it's easier to remember three things than 6, 9, 12, 21, whatever.
So I'm trying to keep it simple without getting into too simple.
And it makes it very clear.
"If you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide
in His love, these things have been spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment, that you love one another, so I have loved you, and greater
life is no more than this, that it may lay down its life for its friends.
You are my friends.
If you do," what?
"Whatsoever, I command you."
That brings joy to Jesus, and guess what?
You honor the Son.
Who are you honoring?
The Father.
Kids, you honor the Father.
You know who you're going to honor?
You're going to honor your parents.
Hey, I enjoy you guys saying Happy Father's Day.
I enjoy you guys giving me gifts.
I enjoy the letters.
I enjoy all of that.
You know what?
But at the end of the day, I also want you to be grateful for the Father, honor the Father.
That will make me even more happier than any gift you can give me here on earth.
Just keep fearing God.
Keep serving God.
Trust me.
I love it.
Right now, I may be forcing you to go sowing.
We went out sowing yesterday.
And sure enough, they collapsed, not in a bad way though.
They just did the old, you know, "The girl's going to talk for 20 minutes."
I know my dad.
He said, "What am I doing?"
He takes it all the way down.
I turn around and they're all just chilling there.
I was like, "Hey, forgot to take our chairs.
Hey, we forgot to take the umbrellas we usually do.
Hey, we forgot to take the water that we needed.
But hey, people give us water at the door.
Amen?"
And it is what it is.
You won't regret it.
Up in heaven, at least you won't regret it.
Maybe hear it like that, 110, really?
They didn't do that.
They didn't have that attitude.
Right?
It was cool when those dogs almost killed me, right?
Where's brother Pete?
That's the second time that's happened to us.
What's wrong with you attracting big old dogs like that?
But it wasn't his fault.
I agree.
Let's hit the door.
Because I'm very careful.
I'm better safe than sorry.
I've been bit before out, working for cogs, never been bit out sowing in.
So I always tell people, "Hey, look out for the three P's."
The three P's when you go sowing in, the three P's when you go to people's houses.
The first P is watch out for poop.
The second P is watch out for paw prints.
The third P is watch out for posted signs.
There was no poop.
There was no paw prints.
There was no posted signs.
I'm like, let's go.
Get to the door, knock on the door.
All of a sudden we hear, "Bark, bark, bark, bark."
You got to be kidding me.
Dog clarks around.
I'm like, "Minimum size dog, no biggie.
We got this.
Next thing you know, bark, bark, bark."
I'm like, "Pete, you got that one, bro."
That is a pit bull monster mix of a dog.
What was that?
I just stood still.
I'm like, "I'm not moving.
I'm not moving."
Dog's sniffing around.
I'm like, "Oh man, I hope he doesn't bite.
I'm not moving.
I'm not moving."
And Pete had a better attitude, "Oh, wonderful dogs you got there."
And so, of course, the umbrellas that we carry are self-defense umbrellas, but I had to give
it up, so I gave it up to my daughter, but I didn't tell her to go in.
I'm like, "All right.
If Pete goes in there, I think we're good.
Hey, I think we're fine."
Boy, was I wrong.
I was wrong, but the Lord protected us, amen?
That'll be a cool story when I'm dead and gone, amen?
So keep on serving God.
Keep on walking up rightly.
So the first thing obviously goes soul-winning.
Yes, we get people saved, but it glorifies the Father, makes them happy.
There's rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God who were once there to repent.
So guess what?
Even if they're saved, but back to then you can get them back on track and angels are
still happy for that.
So we can go out there for a few reasons.
But besides that, walking up rightly, this is crucial.
This is super important.
This is my commandment.
Did you love one another?
Go to Psalms 84-11.
And because I'm blessed with short-term memory loss, believe it or not, I forgot it was Father's
Day.
After I just bought like 15 jugs of root beer, Pastor knows me like the back of his hand
by now, I guess, because I'm ready to preach.
I got a sermon.
I got a title.
He sends me a text.
Don't forget it's Father's Day.
You're in your life like King David.
If you don't wake up to righteousness and sin not, you're going to end up like King
Saul.
Amen.
But guess what?
I had to put that sermon away because it's Father's Day, amen.
But we'll kind of cover it.
So are you in 84-11?
So if you want to honor God, yes, win souls, win souls, win souls.
You want to honor God, walk uprightly.
Not really for his benefit, but for your benefit, it does make him happy.
But guess what?
If you don't wake up and you fall into sin, guess what's going to happen?
You can't win.
Eventually, you will be destroyed if you go that far into sin.
But let's just quickly see that in scripture.
Psalms 84-11, I learned this, this is probably one of the first verses I learned.
I just got saved, I ended up graduating the police academy, I got a job as a mall cop,
didn't go into law enforcement, I started just listening to Christian radio and some
preacher I don't remember his name quoted Psalms 84-11.
And this stuck out like a sore thumb because I'm like, wow, that's the secret to success
right there.
I need to make sure I remember this as much as possible.
I need to memorize this as soon as possible.
And who knows how long that was, maybe 20 years ago, who knows?
But here's what it says.
"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory.
No good thing will He withhold."
From who?
"Them that walk uprightly.
And whatsoever a man soweth, that shall also reap."
What's ever a good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.
So of course, walking uprightly, super crucial, super important.
Do whatever you can to get on God's side.
If you're not, A, start thinking about it, praying about it, do whatever you can to live
an upright life, amen?
If you can, quickly go to Psalms 34-11, quickly get there, go to Psalms 34-11, we're going
to see pretty much the same thing.
Go to Psalms 34-11 as fast as you can.
It'll be worth it, I promise you, just get to Psalms 34-11, because it says the exact
same thing in a different way, and this is always cool to read, kind of that tranquilizer
when things don't go well.
For those that are here at church, keeping the basics, winning souls, coming to church,
reading their Bibles, praying every day, not being perfect, but obviously keeping the basics,
you force God's hand a blessing upon you, because He has to bless you if you're being
faithful like that.
And so it says right here in Psalms 34, look at number 4, another one that I have to memorize
because I love it.
It says, "I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from what?
All my fears."
Now I don't have it in my notes, maybe somebody can help me out.
But it says somewhere in the Bible that the Lord rewarded me according to my uprightness
or my righteousness.
Basically, it's saying, hey, God will pay you back for all the good that you do.
Because when you please the Lord, guess what?
Without faith, it's impossible to please Him.
You can't please the Lord.
He's not glorified.
He's not happy.
So always remember that, "Hey, you know what?
I need to make sure I'm walking up rightly."
It says in Psalms 34-7, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round them that fear him and
delivereth them."
Psalms 34-9 says this, "Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no one to them
that fear him."
I mean, next.
I'm moving to my next page.
All right, if you have your Bible, we'll start wrapping it up.
Just go ahead.
Go to Matthew.
Go to Matthew, please.
I'll just read from John 8-12.
John 8-12 says this, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness."
So how do you know if you're walking out brightly?
How do you know if you're doing what God wants you to do?
How do you know you're not living a life that's not pleasing to the Lord?
Follow Jesus.
Yeah, that's too vague.
Well, let me read another verse.
John 8-30 says this, "And he spake these words, and many believed on him."
This is Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him.
If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.
Why?
Because if you continue in this word, guess what's going to happen?
You're going to know if you're doing right or wrong.
And once you start doing right, then are you disciples indeed.
And if you don't believe it, here's what it says, if you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed.
And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
So that means you can still go back in bondage even as a saved person.
And even in Romans, I believe it's Romans 6 12, it says not to let sin reign over your
mortal body that ye shall obey it in the lustre of.
You know, so of course you allow yourself to get too sinful, sin is going to reign in
your life.
You're not going to be pleasing the Lord and you definitely are not going to be glorifying
you.
You realize that Jesus Christ, he got up a great while before a day and he went up to
a mountain to pray.
A great while.
That's before the lights are on.
I don't think that's 10 a.m.
I don't think that's 12 afternoon.
I don't know what time that was, but it's really early and you can tell that he worked
hard because he was sleeping in a boat and the boat was in the middle of a storm.
Now how many of you guys have been so dog tired that nothing can wake you up?
Unfortunately, I have as well.
And Marines, because I was in the Marine Corps, Marines, they love to goof around.
Who's a former Marine?
They'll verify, they like to goof around.
It's the one time we were doing these operations and they kept us up for who knows how long
and I was tired and I was so tired, who knows what an amphibious, I'll just call it an Amtrak.
Anybody know besides the Marines what that is?
Basically, an Amtrak is this super loud tank looking, you know, personnel transporter.
It looks like a tank, it sounds like a tank, it's gigantic as a tank, it uses diesel, smelly
diesel and you have a bunch of Marines crammed in the back.
And of course, the guy that's driving it, he needs to be clear minded so they design
it to where, hey, if the fumes have to go somewhere, it's going to go downstairs where
all the Marines are sucking on it.
So they're not fun to ride in, they kind of look fun because they basically go off the
ships and they go in the ocean, they're like a transformer vehicle.
It goes in the ocean, it's like hauling butt and then it gets to land and then it goes
from, you know, sea to land.
It's a very cool vehicle, you could say, but they're not fun to ride in and they're super
loud.
They tell you put your earplugs in and we can't even talk to each other.
As close as we are, you can't even hear each other because it's so loud.
We have to communicate with hand and arm signals, et cetera, et cetera.
Well, I was so tired, I just passed out in that thing and I didn't even know it.
But I woke up thinking I was in hell because our corpsman, our medic thought it would be
so funny to get smelly side and put it under my nose.
So I never, ever, ever passed this cup and I ended up with him saying something like this,
I want to work six days a week for the rest of my life.
That's what he said, so he remembers that part and I think that's where I ended the
documentary.
Well, guess what?
He hasn't changed his mind.
He's still doing the exact same thing he's been doing for a long time, serving the Lord
his way.
Amen?
That's why he's successful, he's being blessed by God.
But I kind of see something in the scripture that has pretty much the same thought as John
11.9, where Jesus is talking and he's talking about the eleventh and twelfth hour.
Let's take a look really quickly.
It says, "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which went
out early in the morning to howl laborers into his vineyard.
And when he had agreed with laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard,
and he went out about the third hour," this is the third hour, "and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, whatsoever is
right I will give you.
And they went their way."
Again, he went out about the sixth hour and ninth hour and did likewise, "and about the
eleventh hour."
Let me just stop it right there.
These guys get hired early in the morning, they go into the fields.
Other guys don't.
Guys come out at the third hour, sixth hour, ninth hour, eleventh hour.
Eleventh hour.
And it says this, "and found others idle, and said unto them, Why stand ye here all
the day idle?
And they said unto him, Because no man hath hired us.
He said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
But it's funny because he says the eleventh hour, I don't know about you, but I probably
would have left after the sixth hour.
I would have been like, man, it sucks sitting around waiting for somebody to hire you.
I don't think anybody's coming.
I'm out.
Maybe you guys have more Christian character than brothers or girls, and y'all would have
just hanged to the end.
Amen.
I wouldn't.
But that took some faith to stay to the eleventh hour.
And I'm going to tell you right now, I'd rather be in the fields because time is going to
go quicker.
I'd rather be in the fields than to be sitting around for six, nine, ten.
He comes out at the eleventh hour.
Why does it say eleventh hour?
Why not just stop it at the sixth or ninth hour?
That's already a lot.
That's tremendous.
Is it not?
Sure is.
But he's bringing up this thing where it's like the eleventh hour, these guys are there,
and he's like going to the field, and they put in a what hour day?
Twelve hour day.
And I kind of wonder, why twelve?
What's up with twelve?
Maybe because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked?
Who can know it?
In other words, you have too much idle time.
You're going to get into sin.
Unless you're very well disciplined and you can maximize your time and be very creative
and stay productive, most of us aren't.
So if we're not busy, we can start watching something we shouldn't be watching, we can
start doing something we shouldn't be doing, but obviously God wants us to be busy.
So get busy.
Nine out of ten.
But hey, people will take you serious when you work serious because it does help to glorify
the Father.
An example, I was working at Friday's Electronics.
I was working the night shift or whatever.
We all got off at 11, checked the schedule to see what time, just to make sure what time
I worked the next day, and it was the same as before, I'm going to work till 11.
And then I looked just out of curiosity, I'm like, "Well, who's opening?
Who's opening the store?"
And sure enough, nobody was.
Nobody was opening the store, manager is not opening it.
So then I'm thinking, "Wow, nobody's coming in the morning?
That is bad."
So I'm like, "Man, I'm already tired," and sometimes I would just show up at Fry's earlier
than I need to, try to get some sales, you know, off the clock, yeah, that was illegal,
but whatever.
I'm trying to make money for my family, you know, to feed them, to take care of them,
to buy them what they want.
I don't care, you know?
And so it is what it is, I'm like, "Dude, nobody scares you for the morning."
I'm like, "By the time I get home, it's midnight, by the time I eat, if I even have the strength
to eat, I got to get up early, I still got to read my Bible, sit, etc., I got to be there
by six."
I'm like, "I'm doing it.
I'm doing it.
I don't care.
I'm not going to call them.
It's going to be a pain, him calling people, trying to wake them up, trying to get them
to come in the morning."
I'm like, "I'm going to show up.
I don't care."
Sure enough, go to fries, I'm there, 6.30 or whatever, because they let us in at 7.
I got my little card, I go to the little clock, I pretend like I punched in just to fool the
security cameras, because I didn't care if I got fired.
I'll go find something else.
But I'm thinking, "Hey, my boss is going to get in trouble."
And then sure enough, my boss shows up a little bit afterwards and he's like, "Hey, what are
you doing here?"
And I just took him aside and I'm like, "Hey, boss, you forgot to schedule somebody for
this morning."
He's like, "Are you kidding me?"
So then he's looking at the thing and he's like, "What?"
He's like, "Oh man, I can't believe I did that.
Can you stick around?"
I'm like, "Sure."
"Can I go clock in and get paid, actually?"
He's like, "Yeah, go."
But then this is what he said that made me smile.
He said, "You know what, Chris?
I like your religion.
What are you again?"
"I'm Baptist.
Independent from the Middle King James, only so when in Baptist, amen."
And that's how we row.
We do unto others, we want others to do unto us.
I got your back, boss.
But he was serious.
He was like, "Wow, man."
He's like, "He didn't say I like you.
He didn't say I like your family.
He didn't say I like that you show up all the time.
He said, "I like your religion."
Why did he bring that up?
That was really interesting.
And so that allowed me to give the guy the gospel.
I believe he got saved, but who knows?
You know, maybe he just agreed just because he wanted to appease me, I guess.
But hey, that's not the only time that that's happened.
So many times I got opportunities at cocks.
Once I went from fries, I went to cocks to be able to get people saved.
I must have got at least seven people saved.
Not a lot, but you're not supposed to witness on the clock.
You're just not.
And so there were two people, me and another guy from this church.
And of course, I'm always thinking, "Hey man, Lord, give me somebody to witness to."
I'm always trying to get people saved everywhere I go.
But the reason I was able to get people saved was because I was working my butt off everything
they wanted.
I did it fast.
I did it nice.
I did it to their liking.
And sometimes they'd be like, "Man, you did a really great job.
Hey man, here's some money."
I'm like, "Oh, I can't take it, but I don't want to offend you."
It's like, "I won't tell no one if you don't tell no one."
"You got any kids?"
"Yeah, I got kids."
It's like, "Really, how many?"
"Seven."
"Whoa!"
"Seven kids?"
"Same woman, right?"
"Yes, the same woman."
"All right, just making sure.
Right on, bro.
Right on.
We'll brush you at Arizona."
And then next thing, you know, "Faithful Word brought me to Arizona."
"Faithful Word?
Where's that at?
Tempe.
Do you go to church anywhere?"
"Oh, I'm Catholic.
I don't really go anywhere right now."
"What more important than do you think this person stopped me?
No way.
They let me go through the whole thing and I even prayed with multiple people that way."
And they were just like, "Wow, man, this dude is legit."
You know, so they took me serious because I worked serious.
But then let's look at the other guy.
He wasn't that good of a worker.
He slacked.
I constantly got complaints from the boss, "Hey, your boy, you know, he didn't do this,
he didn't do that.
Can you go...
It ain't you, Matt.
All right, it ain't you.
You did a great job.
All right?
Stop sweating, bro.
You can dry yourself off now."
I'll say who it is, Dominic Davis.
For those that don't know who he is, you don't need to know.
So he wouldn't do a good job.
He would just always try to just get everybody saved.
And we would get complaints from the customers all the time.
"Hey, this guy came to do cable in my house, and he just kind of just was wasting too much
time talking about Jesus."
You know, he's like, "Can you send somebody to kind of fix this, because they ain't working
that well."
So guess who's getting that call?
Brother Segura's getting that call.
And I'm going over there, and I'm checking everything else, and then I'm chewing them
out later.
Like, "What's wrong with you, bro?"
I say, "You didn't do this.
I gave you a checklist.
I trained you.
What is your problem?"
Well, it turns out he's a reprobate.
They don't care about nobody but himself.
But it is what it is.
Working hard brings glory to the Father.
So this Father Day today, don't forget to bring glory to Him as much as you can.
Not going to be 100% on it all the time, but don't forget, bring glory to God.
Bring glory to the Father.
Honor the Father.
That's the name of the sermon.
Honor the Father.
Not thy Father.
Him too.
Today is Father's Day.
Amen, kids?
Wives?
But don't forget that also honor the Father.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Dear Father, we thank you for all that you've done, Lord.
And Father, this church is a great church.
I can't thank you enough.
You know, but Father, obviously it is what it is there, Lord.
You know what?
We got new people here, people been around for a while.
We got children.
We got all types.
And Lord, I just hope that this sermon was a blessing to someone this morning.
And thank you for all the fathers that are here.
I pray that you help them to raise their children, you know, to serve you, to fear you, to love
you, to glorify you.
And I thank you for all that you've done for this church and me personally as well.
I ask you to do this in Jesus' precious name, amen.
Amen.
We're going to be singing three baptisms shortly after the service, so if you want to join
us for that, right outside here.
Take your hymn.
Let's go to hymn number 303.
We'll be dismissed and singing 303.
My faith looks up to thee.
Hymn number 303.
Lift it up together now.
On that first hymn number 303.
My faith looks up to thee.