Music
Alright, thanks for coming everybody. Please go ahead and take your seats. We'll begin at the service this morning.
Please take your seats and put up a song number 45.
I can read my title here. Song number 45 this morning.
Song number 45.
Music
Song number 374.
Music
Now, I can't vouch for Vinnie's, but pizza usually is a no-brainer. Some pizzas are better than others, but all pizza is good. I have heard from time to time that some pizza is inedible. I've never run across this pizza. Of course, I haven't crossed much that isn't inedible as far as food goes. We're going to give it a shot. We're going to try it out. I don't know how New York they are, but that's what they put on the sign.
So, hopefully we have our native coaster with us on this trip. He's not here right now, but he can come out and tell us if it's nanny or nanny on the New York style. That's where we're going to have lunch, and then we'll go out at the end of the afternoon for a couple more hours of soul winning, just knocking on doors, preaching the gospel to people at their homes, and then we'll turn around and drive back and stop at In-N-Out, which of course is always a crowd pleaser for a quick dinner.
So, come on out if you can make it. There's a sign up sheet in the back there. Please do sign up if you're planning on coming, and do so as soon as possible if you haven't already signed up. That way I can begin planning this week, maps, ordering food and things like that, so it's helpful for me to know how many people to expect.
I know some people are planning on meeting us out there in Sierra Vista, so that's also an option, but we'll take care of everything. We'll feed you a bunch of carbs. This is all going to be on us.
We'll drive you out there in the church band. If there's not room, you've got to take your own vehicle. We'll fill up your gas tank. We're going to provide all of that, the water, everything, so all you need to do is show up, provide the Holy Spirit.
If you're a silent partner, this is a great opportunity for you to come and get a full day of soul winning. I don't know how receptive this area is going to be, but I know the gospel has power, so we're going to go out and preach it. We need to preach it to these folks, just the same as anybody else.
I'm looking forward to it. I know it's getting warm out there, but it's a great time to fellowship, if nothing else. Below that, as well, tomorrow is Mexico Monday. This is something that Brother Segura does up in Tempe.
Usually it's the first Monday of every month. There's some scheduling conflict this month. That's why I push it back until tomorrow, May 16th. If you want to go to that, please speak with me, unless you've already spoken directly with Brother Segura.
I think he stops here regardless, about 9 p.m. and lets the Tempe folks use the bathroom, the way down and the way back. That makes it easy for the Tucson folks. You don't have to spend those extra four hours in the van like the Tempe folks do.
It's been great solely down in Mexico, from what I understand. When you're speaking Spanish and trying to learn how to give the gospel in Spanish, it's a great opportunity to go.
Also, on the back, we're excited to announce the first-ever Faithful Word Baptist Church. That's the FWC Maygut Conference. This is actually something that's going to be up in Tempe, our Tempe location.
We have the preachers listed there. While our pastor is out preaching at their churches doing his road trip, he's going to be having those preachers come here and preach at our Tempe location.
Obviously, our midweek service is Thursday, which is great because that means we can run a shuttle up there on Wednesday. If there's anybody that would like to go, we've got these dates. If you want to take advantage of a church shuttle from Tucson on Wednesdays, I'll provide that. I'll be going regardless.
By all means, I'll have more details about that as it comes up. Also, if you want to make it up there for a Sunday, you've got the list of preachers there if you want to go take any of those services.
Don't forget the Bible Memory passage below that, Proverbs 3.21-22. This is for children and young people. If they can memorize this and recite it word perfect to a non-relative in a church, they can help themselves to an ice cream bar out of the freezer.
Remember, they can't recite it to their sibling. They can't recite it to their best friend. They can't recite it to an adult. It's not related to them. Adults, you've got to hold their feet to the fire.
No stuttering, no stammering. Make sure they say it word perfect. So that's that. We've got a couple of announcements below that if you want to take note of that.
Also, we had a great mother-daughter tea party yesterday. An Honored Mother's Day was a great success. It was great to see a lot of ladies come out and enjoy that.
The other great news for the rest of us is there's a lot of salad left over. No aliens on a salad. These are Panera salads. They've got meat, fruit. It's good salad.
Join us after the service this morning for salad. Otherwise, I'm going to throw out a lot of salad. I know some folks want to catch lunch after the service, but we've got a lot of salad.
There's even some bread. So salad, bread. I'm going to break out some water for you. We'll have the salad after service. Help us clean that up.
That will do it for announcements. If you want to go ahead and turn over to our next song, we'll sing a song number 166. I will praise him. Song number 166.
Song number 166.
When I saw the planting, mounting, hope and light for all I see. I will make the Spirit's holy, make it simple that I'll be free.
I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land for sinner's sake. Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
The world awaits him, straight and narrow. All I claim was swept away. My ambitions, plans and wishes, at last will be in ashes' pain.
I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land for sinner's sake. Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Let us fire upon the altar. Love, my heart, will set a flame. I shall never cease to praise him. Glory, glory to his name.
I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land for sinner's sake. Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Blessed be the name of Jesus. I am so gladly to be. He has forgiven my transgressions. He has pushed my heart from sin.
I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land for sinner's sake. Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Glory, glory to the Father. Glory, glory to the Son. Glory, glory to the Spirit. Glory to the three in one.
I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land for sinner's sake. Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
This morning, that's Luke chapter number four.
Luke chapter four.
First one on the bottom lines.
Show them to them all the kingdom of the world in the moment of time.
The devil said unto them, All this power I have given you, in the glory of God, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I will give it.
And thou, therefore, will worship me, all shall be gone.
And he has answered and said unto them, Get me behind this thing, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt not serve.
And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto them,
Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from heaven, for his writ he shall give.
And he goes hard over them to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bury thee up.
And thus at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone.
And he has answered and said unto them, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
And when the devil had ended all the depredations, he departed them for a season, and used to return the power of the Spirit to Galilee.
And they went out of fame with him, through all the region around the top, and he taught him the synagogue, and he glorified it all.
And he came from Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for a degree.
And there was a river and a book of the prophet of Silas, and when he had opened the book, he found a place where it was written,
Spirit of the Lord is upon him, because he had been going to me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He had sent me to give a broken heart, to preach the livers from the Catholics, and to cover the sights of the blind,
and set up liberty, and then approved, and preached the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it to the minister, and he sat down.
And in the eyes of all men, there were the synagogue and the fascinum.
And he had a saying to them, This day is the scripture that is fulfilled in your ears.
And all there are witness, and wonder that gracious words have receded out of the top.
And he said, It is not this Joseph's son?
And he said to them, You will share the same to me, this power and position to heal us whatsoever we have not heard,
to have a man, who also here in thy country.
And he said, Verily, I say unto you, no prophet is accepted into his own country.
But I tell you the truth, many widows were the initiator of the native Goliaths,
who had not been shut up for three years and six months,
for the great pattern that was throughout all the land.
But unto none of them was Elias second,
to take up the serepta, to save Silas,
and unto a woman that was a widow.
And when he left them, where initiator of the type of lysia is the prophet,
and none of them was climbed to save the man, but he seared.
And when they lay in the synagogue, when they heard these things,
filled with wrath, and rose up from the synonym of the city,
and led them into the brow of the hill, where on the city was built,
where they might cast them down heaven,
and came down to Capernaum to see a gallop,
and top them on the saddle-pits.
And they were astonished at a doctor for his orders of power.
And in the synagogue, there was a man, which I had seared,
who would never think of death, and cried out with a loud voice,
saying, Let us alone, but have we to do with thee, a fetus of Capernaum,
and where thou comest to destroy us? I know they who thou art,
and the holy one of God, can be used to rebuke us,
and say, Hold thy peace, and come out of it.
And when the devil had thrown him into the midst,
and came out of it, and turned him up,
and they were all amazed, and spake among themselves,
saying, What word is this, for it is the authority,
and the power, and the man of the unclean spirits,
that they come out? And if they were them,
and went out into every place in this country,
run about, and he arose from the synagogue,
and entered into Simon's house, and Simon's wife's mother,
and the same with the great beaver, and he saw him for her,
and stood over her, and rebuked her, and left her,
and immediately she arose from the ministry,
and when Simon was sitting, all they that had in his sit,
with diverse diseases, brought them unto him,
and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them,
and the devil also came out of him, and he cried out,
saying, Thou art the Christ, the Son of God,
and he rebuked him, and said, Suffer not to speak,
and they knew that it was Christ, and when it was day,
they departed, and went to a desert place,
and the people saw him, and came unto us,
and stayed in the nation of my department,
and he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God
to other cities also, for therefore I must act,
and he preached in the synagogue of Galilee.
Father Martínez was a great person.
Lord, thank you so much for today,
for the opportunity to be in church this morning,
for the blessing of the Lord,
for the opportunity to offer him,
and we bless that, Lord, for the people of our church,
Amen.
So in Luke chapter four, of course,
a very famous chapter, a lot of familiar stories.
I'm sure we've all heard the temptation of Christ,
which you have there in the beginning,
where he's taken out into the desert,
and he's tempted by the devil,
and then you have this beginning of Jesus' ministry,
and it's always interesting when you look at
a beginning of something and the end of something,
because typically, when people are starting to do something,
they want to make that first impression.
They want to do the most important things first.
They want to make a strong impression
about what they're about, what they're doing.
They really put the priority on the beginning of things,
and also, as we'll see, on the end of things, too.
And so we're looking here this morning
at the beginning of Jesus' ministry,
and you'll notice a couple things, really,
that are not completely related to the sermon,
but he's going in as his manner was,
and he's reading the word of God.
We can see that part of the fact that he had that ministry
was that he was familiar with the word of God.
Of course, he was the word of God,
but it's a great example to the rest of us
that if we want to be in ministry,
if we want to serve in ministry,
that we should know the word of God.
We should be able to preach the word of God,
be able to read the word of God as he did,
and also, we see that he did a lot of miracles,
and we've heard a lot about those.
Throughout the gospels, you see him healing the dead,
healing the blind.
You see him doing a lot of great miracles,
so of course, these are important things.
These are major themes in his ministry,
but another major theme in the ministry of Christ
is the preaching of the gospel.
It's going out and preaching to those,
the glad tidings of salvation by grace through faith.
That's a major theme in Christ's ministry,
and it's still a major theme,
or at least it ought to be in any ministry
that claims the name of Christ today.
It ought to be that theme,
that same theme that Christ had,
that yes, we preach the word of God.
Yes, we like to see people healed,
not exactly in the same manner that Christ does.
We like to see lives mended.
We like to see people get away from sin.
We like to see them brought back from the dead spiritually.
We like to see them be born again and all of that,
but a major theme that ought to be a part of our ministry,
and praise God is a major theme in this ministry,
is preaching the gospel,
going out and preaching the gospel to other people.
If you notice there, Jesus,
he kind of gives them a foretelling of his ministry.
I don't want to say he predicts his own ministry,
but he kind of gives some foreshadowing to these folks
that he's reading the word of God to them,
and he's reading Isaiah 61,
and they say,
well, wait, isn't this Joseph's son?
Isn't this just the son of the carpenter?
I mean, we know this guy.
He's just one of us,
and Jesus says unto them in verse 23,
and he said unto them,
Ye will surely say unto me this proverb,
Physician, heal thyself.
Of course, that was him predicting
or prophesying of his own death,
and he said,
Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum,
do also here in thy country.
Saying, hey, all those things that you did in Capernaum,
and if we go on and read the story,
that's where he goes and does these things next.
That's where all the healing and the preaching
begins to take place,
is in Capernaum.
So he's kind of predicting it.
If you notice there in verse 30,
it says, but he passing through the midst of them,
you know, they get irate.
They said, well, let's take Jesus,
and let's take him up on this hill
and throw him down a hill for what he said,
which goes to show you that, you know,
if you have a preacher that's being hated on
by the world,
you've probably got the right man of God in your life.
You know, if they're willing to take Jesus,
who's just saying, hey,
I'm just here to tell you that I'm going to fulfill this scripture,
and he's just telling them how it is.
He's just preaching at them.
Stepped on their toes a little bit,
and they get so irate that they're ready to just cast them
headlong down a hill.
You know, if they'll do that to him,
you know, it shouldn't surprise us
when we see that take place,
you know, to the men of God that we know.
That's another story.
That's another sermon.
But notice he says in verse 30,
but he passing through the midst of them went his way
and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee.
He said, look, you're going to hear,
you're going to say, do what you did in Capernaum.
He said, because that's where I'm going next.
He said, you guys aren't going to receive it.
You know, you're not ready for this.
You don't want it.
You're rejecting me.
I'm just going to go somewhere else,
and I'm going to preach the gospel there.
He's saying, and he goes and passes through them in verse 30,
and he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee,
and taught them on the Sabbath days.
What this shows us is that, you know,
Jesus knew where he was going next.
He wasn't just kind of, you know,
I guess I'll go over here and try preaching there,
and I guess I'll go over there and try preaching there.
You know, he had a method.
He had a plan when it came to going out
and preaching the gospel.
Jesus understood the mission that was before him.
And that same mission is the mission that we have today,
the same preaching of the gospel.
Look, we're not going to do a lot of the things that Jesus did.
But he said unto his disciples
that we will do greater works than these,
meaning these being the works that he did.
He said to his disciples,
thou shall do greater works than these.
Now, by, you know, we think of the word greater
as in, you know, something is better.
You know, so this thing is a greater thing.
This is good, but this is greater.
But in scripture, it often just means more of.
And he's saying, look, you're going to do greater works.
You're going to do more works than I have done.
We're not going to do the exact same works that Jesus did.
Look, I'm not I'm not Pentecostal.
I'm not some charismatic.
I'm not trying.
I'm not going to, you know, try to raise the dead.
You know, this isn't Benny Hinn up here.
I'm not going to take my coat off and start slaying in the spirit.
OK, but that's not the type of works he's talking about.
The works he's talking about is doing greater works.
And what were the miracles that Jesus did?
You know, he said, hey, tell John, you know,
that the lame walk, the blind see the deaf here.
And he lists all these miracles.
But how does he end that list?
He's trying to reassure John the Baptist.
And he said, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them.
He said it's a miracle that the poor have the gospel preached.
It's a miracle that there's people that have enough of a burden
that will go out and reach people that can't profit them anything.
That will actually just go out to poor people who don't,
aren't probably going to come to church,
probably aren't going to get involved in the ministry.
It's a miracle that there would be somebody out there
that would have the heart, that would have the burden that Jesus had
to actually go out to people that can profit you nothing
and preach them the gospel.
He says it's a miracle.
That's the greater work that we're here to do.
That's the greater work.
We're here to do more of that, of what?
Raising the dead? No.
Healing the blind? No.
We're not going to do those things, but what are we going to do?
We're going to do that last miracle of preaching the gospel to the poor.
And not only that, Jesus said to preach to every creature.
That's the mission that this church has.
That's our driving, compelling motivation here.
That's what we're here to do.
You say, boy, you guys go on and on about soul winning a lot.
It seems like everything about here,
it's written on the front door that you're soul winning.
It says soul winning on your invite.
I come in, you've got a map of all the places that you've gone door knocking
and gone soul winning.
I read your bulletin and you're going out to some city an hour away
in three digit heat and you're going to go soul winning.
Why is that such a big theme?
I'll tell you why it's a big thing because it's a big theme in Jesus' ministry.
That's why we're doing it.
It's the work that he's given us to do.
Jesus understood that.
Look, we need to understand that too.
That's what we're here to do.
He said in Luke chapter 4, look at verse 42,
And it went as day he departed and went into a desert place
and the people sought him and came unto him and stayed him
that he should not depart from them.
These people that are in Capernaum that he's done all these miracles
and he's preaching to say, don't leave.
We love having you here.
Ever since you came, things have been getting better.
We want to hear more.
We want to do more.
And you know, Jesus, I'm sure in his heart,
would have loved to have stayed with those people
and just stayed there and continued to preach to them.
But he said in verse 43,
And I said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also.
He said, look, I've got other cities I've got to go to and preach the gospel to.
I would love just to stay here with you.
You're receptive.
You know, I got rejected in my own country.
I got rejected by my own kinsmen.
I came here.
You believed.
You had faith.
You received me.
You were receptive.
You got healed.
You heard the preaching of the word of God.
I'd love to stay, but I have a mission.
I have a plan.
I have priorities.
I have something I have to accomplish.
I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also.
And we have a goal here at Tucson Baptist Church,
Faithful Word Baptist Church Tucson,
of preaching to every, knocking every door in the greater city of Tucson.
And we're going to accomplish that.
We're only almost four years in.
Go look at the map.
It's shading in.
We've got a core group of people who are dedicated to that.
And I praise God for that.
But, you know, we also have a greater vision,
being part of Faithful Word Baptist Church,
of knocking not just the doors in Tucson here and in Phoenix, respectively,
but also going out and preaching to other cities also.
You know, Tempe has their small town soul winning
that they've been running for many years now.
We've gone out and preached on all the Indian reservations.
The only one left is the Navajo reservation,
and we're working on that and working on the Hopi, those two reservations.
We've knocked the rest of them.
Look, that might not sound like a big deal,
but when you're in Arizona, that's a big deal.
Because there's more reservations here than any other state.
And this is, this is, you know, that's a big deal.
We've knocked the Tohono O'odham.
Every door.
On the Gila.
Every door.
Why is that?
Because that is the mission that we've been given as God's people.
You know, and it's ironic that that's the thing that most Baptist churches,
I'm not even talking about just your ecumenical, your just new evangelical,
just your, you know, your have it your way Burger King church today
who just wants to go in there and scratch your ears and put on a rock concert.
And wants to have all these other, I'm talking about Baptist churches
that come from a heritage of soul winning,
are forsaking the mission of preaching the gospel to every creature en masse.
They say, oh that'll never work.
You can't build a church going door to door.
But here's the thing, is that what I'm here to do?
To build a church?
No.
I'm not.
That's Jesus' job.
He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
He said, you need to go do the work that I've given to you.
And what is that?
To preach the gospel to every creature.
That's what he told us to do.
And we just leave the rest to him.
That's why it's such a major theme here because, you know,
that's the mission that Jesus has given unto us.
He understood the mission.
He said, look, I've got to go preach to other cities also and so do you.
He said he has to go and do what?
To preach the kingdom of God.
You know, that's what we're all called to do.
Look, we're not all called to stand up behind the pulpit
and preach the word of God to God's people.
But every single one of us is called to preach the gospel.
If you're saved, if you're born again, if you're God's child,
you are part of that mission of preaching the gospel to every creature.
And not to just the people in our immediate vicinity,
not just to the people that we come into contact in our personal lives,
to complete and total strangers you've never met before.
You know, we're called to go out and knock those doors,
to go out and follow the biblical example that has been given unto us
to go from door to door, house to house, and preach the gospel to every creature.
That's what we're called to do.
And not just here in Tucson, but where?
To other cities also.
And this is all introduction.
That's the title of the sermon.
Preaching to other cities also.
You know, we've got our first small town soul winning trip coming up to Sierra Vista.
You know, I hope that people are understanding why we're doing that.
You know, I joked during the announcements,
but it's not just an excuse to eat pizza.
That's just a benefit.
It's because I have to feed you.
You're a Baptist after all.
If you're anything like me, you get cranky.
You get hangry.
And I don't want to be stuck in a van in hot weather with a bunch of hangry Baptists.
They begin to speak of stoning me.
I'll feel like Moses.
That's not an excuse to just go sightseeing.
If you looked at that itinerary, there's five hours of soul winning in there.
That's a long day.
But look, that's the work that we're called to do.
That's what we're supposed to do.
He said I have to go to preach to what?
To other cities also.
Not just where it's comfortable.
Not just where it's easy.
Not just where it's convenient.
I mean, it would have been easy for Jesus to say,
Yeah, I'll stay here in Capernaum.
Everybody can just come to me.
I mean, we already read that the fame of Him was already gone round about in all the country.
Everyone was already talking about Jesus.
People were already seeking Him out.
He could have just stayed there and said,
You know what? I'll just stay here and let you all come to me.
That would have been real easy for Him.
And that probably a lot of people would have come to Him.
But He said, You know what? I have to go and preach to other cities also.
I have to go to them.
He set an example for us.
That we can't just preach where it's easy.
We can't just preach the gospel when it's convenient.
That if you're going to fulfill the mission of preaching the gospel,
whether it's in other cities or in your city,
you're going to have to get inconvenienced.
You're going to have to show up for the soul winning time on a Saturday,
on a Tuesday, on a Thursday, on a Sunday afternoon.
You're going to have to show up at one of those times.
You're going to have to go out and be a silent partner.
You're going to have to learn the scriptures.
You're going to have to one day work up the courage to actually knock a door
and open your mouth and boldly proclaim the gospel.
That's not easy.
Well, you know, it wasn't easy for Jesus either.
And consider how far He went for us.
To bring us the gospel.
He said in Luke, if you would, go over to chapter 24.
Go over to Luke 24.
Keep something in Luke 4. Sorry.
I should have told you that before I told you to turn.
Go over to Luke chapter 24. Keep something there in Luke 4.
I'll begin reading in verse 46.
He said, He said unto them, Thus it is written,
and thus it behoove Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day,
and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name among
all nations.
Beginning at Jerusalem.
Look, it has to be preached among all nations,
but where does it begin? It begins at Jerusalem.
And that's the pattern that we follow here.
Is that we preach here, this is our Jerusalem.
Tucson is our spiritual Jerusalem.
This is our home city.
And believe me, Tucson is going to get the gospel preached to them.
Because this is where we're going to be three times a week minimum.
There's going to be somebody out knocking the doors.
And as we grow, just like Tempe, we'll probably get to the place one day,
as we get big enough, and there's enough interest, and there's enough manpower,
and there's enough people willing to take the time out of their schedule to do it,
that we might have preaching every single, or going out preaching the gospel every single day.
That happens every day up in Tempe.
There's a soul winning every, someone's going out and knocking the door.
That's how it gets, that's how it's accomplished.
But that's where it begins.
We just begin here at Tucson.
And then we go to what? All nations.
Obviously one church can't do all of that.
But if every church had this mindset,
if every soul winning Baptist, independent, fundamental Baptist church,
that had the right salvation, that was preaching the salvation by grace through faith,
that had a King James Bible in their hand, and the Holy Spirit in their heart,
if they all adopted this mentality, if they all shared the same philosophy that Christ had,
we would reach all nations.
We would knock every door many times over in this country, in this world,
if God's people were actually doing what they were supposed to do.
But the problem is that very few of them are doing it.
Go to Acts chapter 1, Acts chapter number 1.
This is the model.
That we are to preach the gospel to every creature.
Begin at Jerusalem, but they're going to go to all nations.
And look, we can't, you know, we're not all going to be able to just hop on a plane and go down to St. Thomas.
And we've got a group that's going from Tempe right now.
They're going down to the Caribbean to preach the gospel.
I don't know how, I mean, I don't know what else we've got to do to sell you on a missions trip.
Maybe you're holding out for Aruba. I don't know.
Maybe you're waiting for that more exotic place. I don't know.
You know, but we've gone over to Africa. We've gone down to South America.
You know, there's these trips going on.
And look, the churches that we're associated with,
the other churches that we fellowship with, they have this mentality.
And, you know, they're helping fulfill this mission.
Obviously, just us, we can't, you know, this group here, we can't preach to all nations.
Look, if we do our part and set an example, you know, maybe other people will catch on and say,
oh, it is possible.
I mean, that's why we preach about it.
That's why we practice is because we're trying at Faithful Word Baptist Church to be an example to other churches.
Why are you guys so determined to knock every door in the state of Arizona?
To show that it can be done by one church and not a huge church.
Not a huge church. I mean, it's big by, you know, independent Baptist standards.
You know, when you're running, you know, 250 to 300 people on a Sunday morning, you know, in Tempe, that's a big church.
You know, this, you know, this morning would be considered a bigger church when you get in those, you know, around that 50 mark.
You know, and you say, just this small group of people is going to knock every door in Tucson? Yes.
Because it was a small group that, you know, they didn't start out in Tempe with 300 people.
I moved there 8 years ago, I think, maybe longer. I don't know, I can't do the math right now. Close to 10, actually.
And they weren't even running 100 people yet. You know what, they've done a huge portion of that area up there.
They've knocked so many doors. It'll be done in the next 5 to 10 years, I believe that.
The entire, did you hear what I just said? Phoenix, Arizona, every door will be knocked in the metro area.
Not just our zip code, I'm saying the metro area. What's Phoenix like, the 5th largest city in the United States?
4th? 6th? I don't know, somewhere in there. It's big. Millions of people.
One little Baptist church in the lifespan of one individual is going to have knocked every door.
And preach the gospel to everyone that would listen.
And then we'll say, well you're done, what are you going to do then? Take it easy? No, we're just going to start over.
We're just going to take the map down and start over.
And there'll be, you know, by then there'll be more places to go knock. People have come and gone.
The point is this, is that, you know, one church that's determined that has this vision can accomplish great things.
They can knock every door in Phoenix. They can knock every door in Tucson. They can knock the doors on all the Indian reservations.
They can knock every door in every small town in every village. They can go to the other cities also and accomplish something.
And we're doing it to set an example to other churches in this country, in this world, that if they would just get a vision,
if they would get some passion, if they would just get, you know, some priorities like the Lord had,
and share the mission and share the vision that Jesus had that we could preach the gospel to all nations.
And unfortunately, you know, we're going to do it. Let it not be said in heaven that we didn't try.
I mean we might get there and say, boy, you know, as a whole, my people have failed. They have not preached the gospel to every creature.
They got so distracted and so busy and so, you know, the cares and the riches and the deceitful, you know,
the deceitful and the riches and the cares of this world have crept in and choked them and made them unfruitful.
But let it not be said of you. Let it not be said of us. Let it not be said of this church that we didn't try.
That we didn't at least do our part to go out and preach not only to Tucson, but we went and preached in the other cities also.
And we shared that vision. Did I have you go to Acts chapter 1 verse 6? He says,
When they therefore come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his power,
but you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, has come upon you,
and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost parts of the earth.
That's what he's telling his disciples. A small group of men. He's saying, you guys are going to be my witnesses,
not only in Jerusalem, but also where? In Judea, which is that greater area surrounding Jerusalem, and Samaria.
You know, those people you don't get along with, that you look down on. You're going to go preach to them too.
And you're going to get your heart right. And then you're going to go to the uttermost parts of the earth.
You're going to go preach to all those Gentiles that all the Jews think they're so much better than.
You're going to go preach to them too. You know why I know this is important? Because this is the last thing Jesus told them.
And we saw earlier in Luke how he said, look, I've got to go preach to other cities also. I've got to go set the example.
And that's what he did. He came, he set the example, and then when he's ready to leave after his resurrection,
when he spent 40 days with his disciples and they've gone up on the mount and they're saying,
are you going to restore the kingdom? He said, no, you've got work to do.
You know, I know this is important because look at verse 9.
And when he had spoke these things while they beheld, he was taken up. And a cloud received him out of their sight.
And every time I read it, and I know I've preached this, but every time I read that it just blows my mind.
I mean, can you imagine having been there and seeing that happen?
I mean, let alone, you know, it's the resurrection. You're talking to the resurrected Christ. That's amazing.
I mean, they saw other great things in his ministry. You know, Peter, James, and John,
they got to see him transfigured in the mount in all his glory. They heard the voice from heaven.
John the Baptist got to hear the voice from heaven at Jesus' Baptist.
I mean, there's so many great things that people beheld, but imagine this.
And Jesus is giving you his parting words as he leaves this earth.
The last thing he said while he was physically, excuse me, on this earth,
was you're going to be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria
and unto all the nations, the uttermost part of the earth.
And he drives it home. I mean, he could have just said that and crossed his arms and said,
right? But what does he do? He emphasizes it by literally just beginning to,
and I don't think he shot up. Look, when he comes, he's going to come as lightning
from one end, you know, from one end under heaven to the other.
I believe that. But when he was leaving, he might have been saying those words
as he just slowly began to descend, or ascend, excuse me, like a balloon.
He's just going up. And we know the rest. They stood there just gazing into heaven
until the angels came and said, why stand you gazing into heaven?
He's going to come in a cloud too. And they're like, get to work.
You didn't hear what he had to say? Didn't hear what he told you?
Because the beginning of a person's ministry, he makes that first impression saying,
I've got to preach to other cities also. Then that last thing he says,
the last impression, which is important, it says, was the last thing he told us to do.
Look, he told us to do a lot of things, didn't he? I mean, he didn't, he said,
not one shot or one tittle shall any wise pass from the law to all be fulfilled.
He said, look, all that applies. You still have to love your neighbor as your stealth.
You still have to love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, strength and might.
But the last thing that he said to do was to go preach to all nations.
You preach here, you preach there, you preach everywhere.
And he emphasized that by doing this last miracle being taken up into heaven out of their sight.
We're called to go soul winning. We're called to follow Jesus' example.
And let me just tell you right now, that call is a call to being inconvenienced.
You say, well, soul winning is just not very convenient. Yeah, I know.
It's not supposed to be. That's why nobody's doing it.
That's why there's so few people actually trying to accomplish this mission.
Because it's not convenient. You know the saying, if it were easy, everybody would do it.
Right? It's true. It applies in so many areas. It applies to soul winning.
If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.
You know it's easy. It's just starting a church where we're just going to have fun all the time.
Look, we're not against having fun. We've got a ping pong table.
We do other things. We have fun. We had the tea party.
We're going to have a camp. We're going to get away from the heat up on Mount Lemon.
For a few days. And have preaching and food and fellowship.
Look, we have fun. Not against that.
But we're also about being inconvenienced. We're also about getting the work done.
Doing the hard work.
If we didn't want to be inconvenienced, I'll just sit here and we'll just bring people out.
And I'll just try to preach them down an aisle and we'll start doing altar calls.
And you don't have to worry about knowing how to preach the gospel. I'll take care of all that.
We'll just have people come down here. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about.
Because you've never been in an old IFB church where they have the altar call.
Every head bowed, every eye closed.
If God has dealt with your heart, would you come as the piano begins to play?
If you're here today and you don't know Christ as your Savior, would you just come down here?
One of our workers. And look, I'm not against that.
If that's what people want to do, fine. Go ahead and do that.
It's not something we're going to do here.
Have everybody come down here and stick their backside up in the air.
That's what they do.
I thought it was weird too.
I'll tell you, I've been to plenty of altar calls. I've been down there doing just that plenty of times.
I was that guy.
Because as I was told, there's only two reasons to come to the altar.
If God spoke to your heart, or he hasn't.
Well that's everybody.
So I was there. I fell into one of those categories.
And look, we could do that.
And none of you have to be ever climbing a stinky old church van.
And hold on for dear life while I'm driving down the road.
With that stupid beep beep beep sensor going off that's going off right now.
Go out there and talk to total strangers and have people look at you and say,
What are you doing at my door? Can't you read the sign? Be rude.
And all that.
And we could just not do any of that.
And not be inconvenienced. But that's not what we're called to.
That's the call to soul winning.
It's a call to being inconvenienced.
To having to sacrifice.
And look, it makes it so much sweeter when you do knock that door.
And you ask that person, Can I show you how you can be 100% sure that you're going to go to heaven when you die?
You can say, Hey, the Bible says it's all by grace.
It's by grace through faith that we're saved.
It's not of works of righteousness which we have done.
By his grace he saved us.
It's all through Christ. Can I show you how you can be 100% sure that you can't lose it?
That it's eternal?
And somebody just looks at you and says, Yeah, you can show me that.
And just you and the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
And in just a few moments, taking a soul that was bound for hell.
And changing their eternal destiny.
You know, whatever inconvenience I have to go through, it's worth it.
It's worth it.
I'll put up with the smelly man.
I'll put up with Vinny's Pizza. Maybe it's not going to be that good. I don't know.
I'll put up with whatever. I'll put up with the triple digit heat.
Because hell is a whole lot hotter, isn't it?
You're called to be inconvenienced. I've got to move on here.
But if you would, go over to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter number 10.
I'm preaching this not because we don't have a soul winning church.
Look, we have a soul winning church.
We have people here that are seasoned soul winners.
We have people here that are starting out soul winners.
We have people here that I believe one day will be soul winners.
We have a soul winning church.
And I want to encourage the people that are soul winners.
Because like I said, not everyone is doing this.
And maybe sometimes we can start to get this idea of,
Is this what we're supposed to be doing as a church?
Why do I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb?
Why do I feel alone as a soul winner?
Why isn't anybody else doing this?
It's easy to feel that way when you're on your way to church
and everybody else is getting on their motorcycle
to go drive around the mountains and get bugs in their teeth.
They're grabbing the golf clubs. They're doing whatever they do.
They're not thinking about God.
They're not thinking about the things of God.
They're certainly not going to come listen to me preach at them.
You can start to feel like I'm alone.
But here's the truth. You're not alone. You might feel alone.
He said in Luke 10 verse 2,
Therefore said He unto them, Luke 10 2,
The harvest truly is great.
He said, yeah, there's a lot of work to do.
I mean, it's every nation.
It's Jerusalem. It's Judea. It's Samaria.
It's the uttermost parts of the earth.
The harvest truly is great.
And it's not just the work. It's the harvest.
He's saying, look, there's people out there that will get saved.
There are people out there that, and I know this from experience, as many of you do.
There are people out there that if you would just go to them,
with the gospel, they would listen and get saved.
The harvest truly is great.
You know, some fields, it's a little more spread out than others. I get that.
But it is great.
Here's the thing. We're not, you know, this harvest, we're not just going to take it all in in one day.
We're sowing. We're planting. We're harvesting.
We're watering. We're sowing. We're harvesting. I mean, it's a process.
But it is great.
There are many souls that can and will get saved if we would preach to them.
What's the problem then?
The harvest isn't the problem. The work is there to do.
The souls are there to get saved. The harvest is great.
What's he going to say? It's the labors, though.
But the labors are few.
You know, it's perfectly natural to feel like maybe we're all alone in this.
Because the truth is, we are.
You know, that's a knock people make on churches like this.
Oh, you're so small.
Yeah, Jesus said, fear not, my little flock.
For it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Look, if Jesus called me little, I don't care who else calls me little.
You know, as the hymn goes, you know, little is much when God is in it.
We might be a little church, but we've got a great God.
We might be a little church, but we've got a powerful word.
And we might be weak, we might be small, but, you know, the God we serve is the Lord God Almighty.
And the gospel has power.
And it might seem like we're alone, that there are few.
And he said, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labors into his harvest.
You know, that's why I preach sermons like this.
You know, that's why we pray for these things.
Because the harvest is great and we need more laborers.
Like, Sierra Vista is a town, you know, the city limits, I think it's about 40,000 people.
It's a small town.
You know, the greater area I think is over 100,000.
Maybe I'm wrong about that. It's been a while since I looked.
You can straighten me out later.
But the point is this, is that, you know, that's not something that we have to drag on over the course of years.
Some of these small towns, look, we go out as a group, you know, in Tempe, they go out, they knock it in a few months.
Going out every other weekend.
I mean, they've knocked Globe, I can't even go out, Strawberry, all these small towns that are out there.
Every door's been knocked there.
Because why? Because they had the laborers to do the work.
You know, I'm going to go out, Sierra, I'll go out there with me and my kids if I have to and start knocking those doors.
Because, you know, I'm about this mission.
This is what I want to do.
This is the example I want to set.
But if we're going to accomplish something great as a church, look, we need more laborers.
If we're going to knock every door in Tucson, we need more laborers.
We need people to take their soul winning to the next level.
We need people to get involved and make a point of being inconvenienced.
And I'm preaching this now because it's warming up.
You know, and it's just human nature and I'm not, you know, I understand we all need a break from time to time and it's hard.
But as the temperature goes up, the soul winning seems to go down a little bit.
And I get that. That's just natural. I'm not upset about that.
But I'm going to preach this and say, look, we still need the laborers. The work still needs to get done.
The harvest hasn't gone anywhere. It's still out there.
We would go over to Matthew chapter number 28. Matthew chapter 28. I'm almost done. He said Matthew chapter 28.
It said in verse 1 of Matthew 28, I'll begin reading, or I'm sorry, you're going to Matthew 28. Go there.
It says in Luke 1, I should have had you finish, it says, after these things the Lord appointed others 70 also.
So he said, hey, pray the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.
And we might feel alone, but the fact is that we don't go alone.
Even if we do go physically alone, the Lord is with us.
It's interesting that Jesus, you know, he sends them out there to go and do this labor.
It says he pointed other 70 also and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place.
So in Luke 10, he's saying, look, I'm going to take you 70, two by two, 35 teams.
You guys are going to go into every city and place and preach the kingdom of God.
You're going to go preach the gospel.
But it goes on, and I know I had to turn away.
But Jesus doesn't just sit back on his laurels and say, well, come back and tell me how it went.
And kick his feet up.
It says he sent them before his face in every city and place whether he himself would come.
Obviously that's not going to happen literally today physically.
Jesus isn't going to follow up on our converts or anything like that.
But the point is this, is that Jesus has already done that work.
He's already set the example.
And he said that I am with you unto even the end of the world.
I am with you.
That's what it says in Matthew 28 verse 18.
Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations.
Baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, you're on your own.
I did my part and you better figure out the rest.
No one said, and I am with you always even unto the end of the world.
Amen.
You say, what does he mean by that?
It's hard to put it in words, but those of you that have gone out and are regular soul owners
and have gotten people saved through preaching the gospel, you know what I'm talking about.
Because soul winning isn't just some formality.
It's not just something we check off on a box that we did our duty.
It's a supernatural experience.
It's a miracle.
That's what he said.
Go tell John the gospel is preached to the poor.
He said, that's a miracle.
And those of us that have been there with the word of God in our hand,
just preaching, not saying anything, not anything eloquent, not anything,
just simply preaching the gospel, we have felt the closeness of God.
We've realized that he is with us, even unto the end of the world.
Even if our partner is staring at his phone,
which he shouldn't do, he should be praying.
Even if, you know, we are by ourself, physically, the spirit meets with us.
But notice also, you know, we don't go alone, but we don't go powerless either.
I think that's why a lot of people don't do it.
They just say, well, I just can't. I don't know how.
I'm not very good at it.
But here's the thing. It's not about you.
People that want to hear the gospel, it's not because, you know,
the way you look or the way you sound or who you are.
It's because they believe what you're telling them.
They're saying, oh, they have respect unto this, under the word of God.
That's what they want to hear.
So don't make it all about you. Don't worry about it.
You know what? And here's the thing.
You're not powerless either.
Even if you aren't the most eloquent speaker.
Even if you aren't, you know, the greatest people person there is.
And look, I used to be, for a season, I got real nitpicky about this.
And I used to just say, oh, people got to do this and do that.
You know what people need to do? They just need to go out and preach the gospel.
However they do it.
I think there's certain things that we should follow, certain guidelines,
you know, certain scriptures we should be, all of that.
But you know, as far as, people can't just change their personalities.
People can't just stop being who they are to preach the gospel.
And if you got to stutter and stammer and if you're a little rough around the edges,
maybe even a little curt or root at the door, I don't care.
As long as you're preaching the gospel.
Because that's where the power is.
And if you're not a people person, you're not a salesman,
you don't have people skills, I don't care.
Because it's not about you. It's not about us.
He said in verse 18, in Matthew 28, where we are, Jesus came on him saying,
all power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
Look, that's who's going with us.
That's who's going to be with us until the end of the world.
He to whom all power in heaven and earth is given.
That's who's word we're preaching.
That's who's spirit is with us when we preach the gospel.
He said, look, all power is given unto me, go ye therefore.
Why should we go? Because all power is given unto me.
And I am with you under the end of the world.
You know, and if we would just be faithful, if we would just step out in faith,
and if we would just go out and knock that door,
you know, and have the cottonmouth and dried out and nervous
and the sweaty palms and everything else and just get over ourselves
and just try to preach the gospel,
we'd be amazed at what we could accomplish through him,
through the power of the gospel.
Go over to Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter number 5.
I'll just read you from 2 Timothy, you know the verse,
God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
You know, that's a verse we like to tell our kids when they're afraid to go to bed at night.
They think there's a boogeyman under the closet or under the bed or something.
Well, God hasn't given us the spirit of fear. Is that what that verse is talking about?
Look, I'm not saying don't tell your kids that.
It's a great verse for that.
You know, the angel of the Lord acampeth round about them that fear him.
You know, there's a lot of great verses that we can put our children's minds at ease with,
you know, at night when it's bedtime.
But is that what that's talking about, where God has not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and a sound mind? No.
But he's saying, if you read the context, I'll just read to you verse 8,
and in the next verse he says,
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me as prisoner, but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel,
according to the power of God.
He's saying, God hasn't given you a spirit of fear,
so that you won't be afraid to go out and testify of him.
He's saying, look, God hasn't given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.
He's giving you a spirit of power, of love, a sound mind. Why?
So that you would not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
that you'd be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.
That's why God has given us a spirit of power and not of fear.
Not just so we can, you know, walk in the door when it's dark and not, you know,
because I still feel that way.
I still get that same feeling that something's going to reach up and grab my foot in the middle of the night.
I hate that. It's silly.
You know, and I could quote that all day long, but that's not what this is talking about.
You know, when I apply this is the fact that now when I go out and look, this wasn't always the way it was for me.
But I don't really get nervous preaching the gospel to people anymore.
I really don't get nervous going out there and knocking on people's doors.
And I get it's because I've done it so many times, but it's also because I know that I've seen the worst of it.
You know, and it's not that bad.
If anything, it's gotten to the point where it's entertaining when someone's rude.
When people say things like, I don't worship Jews and books they wrote.
Oh, okay. Well, have a nice day if you can.
You know, it's funny. We laugh about it now.
When some people, they just, they hear stories like that.
Oh, man, someone might say something rude and slam the door in my face.
It's so scary. I don't know if I could do this.
You know, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 is for you.
And you'll get over it. You go out there and you face that fear and what you'll realize real quick is it wasn't that bad.
And then you'll get so used to it and so calloused.
It'll be entertaining.
You know, that's what I always say. Even if I'm in a neighborhood that's not receptive,
it's usually at least entertaining.
You never know what's getting behind that door. Especially these days.
Ephesians 3, he said that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise by the gospel.
Wherefore I was made, whereof I was made a minister according the gift of grace which is given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
You know, Paul went out and preached to the Gentiles and got them saved through the power of Christ.
Through God's power and not his own.
Our message is Paul's message. Our power is the power of Christ. That's what we do.
We have that.
He said, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
I mean, what if, here's another fear that people have about soul winning.
What if they say yes?
What if I ask you if I can show them from the Bible and they say yes?
What am I going to do?
You're going to preach them the gospel just like you would anybody else.
Just like anybody else would.
And look, there's practical steps we can take and you know, I should probably have a whole sermon devoted to just this but,
you know, just learn the verses.
Grab somebody that knows them. Come to me.
I'll tab up a Bible for you. I'll show you what to say. I'll point you to sermons.
I've preached and others have preached.
We'll teach you how to do it. Just come out with us.
Take notes.
You know, get your Bible marked up.
It's real simple. You know, you go to Romans 3.
Highlight Romans 3 so you can find it.
For all of sin comes short of the glory of God.
And you just look down at where you've been in that moment.
We were giving the gospel, you know, the first few times and you're just.
You're stepping out by faith and you don't know what to say next.
You just look down at the bottom of your page.
All those words just overwhelming you.
And you've already written Romans 6 23.
And you just go, okay, that's where I go next.
And you just go there and then it's, you know,
For all of sin comes short of the glory of God.
You know, the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And then you get through that verse.
And you explain that briefly.
And then you go through that panic mode again of not knowing where to go next.
And you just look at the bottom of your page again.
Because you've written it all out. You've prepared ahead of time.
And then you'll just end up doing that so many times.
Maybe you'll take the time to memorize those verses.
That you won't even need your Bible eventually.
You'll be able to just stand there and just, you know,
If you need to turn to something it's there. If you want to show them you still can.
But you'll be able to just go to verse to verse to verse to verse.
And you'll, what? You'll have the power of a sound mind.
You'll have the power of Christ with you.
Which you've already always had.
If you would just go and do it.
You know, the gospel, the preaching of the cross to us which are saved.
It is the power of God.
It's not my intellect. It's not my salesmanship.
It's not my personality. It's not my people skills.
It's the gospel that's the power of God.
And if I just preach that, I'm good.
If you just go preach that, you're good.
And I've seen some of the most introverted people go out and have won scores of souls over the years.
People that if you talk to, you would think this person couldn't talk to anybody.
People who do not have good, and I'm not down on them.
Just that's the way some people are, and I'm not against that.
You know, it just makes it harder for the rest of us to have a conversation about other things.
But those same people who are quiet, reserved, keep to themselves.
They go out and they can preach the gospel just as well as anybody else.
Because it's not about them. It's about the message that we bring.
You know, I want to wrap it up with this. Don't sit on it.
Don't sit on it.
Look, you know, he said, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
To the Jew first and also to the Greek.
He said, look, I've got the power. It's the gospel.
You know, that's the same for all of us. That's true for every single one of us.
We all have the same gospel here.
We all have the same Bible. We all have the same verses. We all have the same Holy Spirit.
To go out, we all have the same ability and opportunity to go out and preach the gospel.
Don't sit on it.
I mean, I remember being in a church for years and doing everything but preaching the gospel.
Doing everything but.
And you getting involved with all these other ministries, trying all these other messes,
just to get people to come to church.
And all I wanted to do was just preach the gospel.
I wanted to know how to do it.
I wanted to see somebody get saved like I got saved.
I went for years like that.
And now, you know what? And you say, well, what did you do?
Well, I packed up my family and moved 2,000 miles to a church that would teach me to do it.
You moved for a church? Yeah, I did.
People look at you like you've got another head growing out of your neck or something when you say something like that.
But people have no problem just dropping everything to move for a job.
Oh, move for money. That makes sense. Yeah.
Oh, move for a school. I can understand that.
Move to go do something spiritual. What's wrong with you? Are you in a cult?
Like, no, I'm just, you know, my priorities are heavenly.
You know, I want to be in a church where I can learn how to win souls.
I want to go somewhere where they're actually going to give me opportunity and empower me and teach me
to actually do what the Bible says I'm commanded to do.
That's why I want to do it because I want to obey what Christ told me to do.
You just read it. You just read several passages where he's ascending up into heaven saying,
Go preach to everybody. What am I supposed to do?
Run a soup kitchen? Look, I'm not against a soup kitchen. Go have your soup kitchen.
What am I supposed to do? Run some kind of outreach? Build fences for people?
Just do a social gospel? Just go out and do nice things for people?
Look, great, you know, but do all those things. Go ahead.
As we therefore have opportunity, let's do good unto all men, especially they have the household of faith.
Let's do that. But that's not why we're here. We're here to preach the gospel. That's it. That's the mission.
God wouldn't charge us with that mission and not give us the ability and the power to do it.
Which tells me that we have it. That we have it.
The problem is that some people just sit on it and do nothing with it.
The Bible says, I know I had to go to Matthew 5, but I've got to wrap up.
He said, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
Look, if you hide the gospel, you're still going to heaven. You're saved.
But if you hide it, it's going to be hidden from people that are lost, people that would get saved,
people that would believe, that would put their faith in Christ, that would call upon his name if you would preach it to them.
If you don't preach it, they're going to say unsaved.
Because we're not Calvinists here. Let me make that perfectly clear. We are not Calvinists here.
And you've got to say that even in independent, fundamental Baptist churches.
We're not Presbyterians. We're not Reformed.
We believe that if we don't preach the gospel, people that would get saved are not going to get saved.
And I say that because I've even heard it come out of a Baptist preacher's mouth.
Well, if God wants them to get saved, they'll get saved. No, I thought God wanted everybody to get saved.
What sense does that make? He's not willing that any would perish, but that all would come into repentance.
He's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
For there is one God and one meteor between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
I thought God wanted everyone to get saved.
Well, so if your logic holds true, if your philosophy, well, if God wants them to get saved, they'll all get saved.
That means everyone's going to get saved, whether we preach it or not.
But is that what we see happening?
Then why did Jesus tell us to go preach? Oh, you don't have to preach. Don't worry about it.
You don't have to go to all nations. You don't have to preach to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and everywhere else.
Don't worry about it because I want everyone to get saved and they're just going to get saved anyway.
That's not how it works, folks. If our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost and will remain hid.
Let me just close by having you go to one last passage, Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine.
Look, it's hard. Soul winning is hard work. It's going to be difficult in the summer months especially to go out and stay faithful to soul winning.
Look, I'm not saying you've got to show up to every single one of these things.
You know what? We should try to find time to learn how to preach the gospel.
We should get in the regular habit of preaching the gospel.
The thing is people want their family members to get saved and praise God for that.
But then they have no idea how to preach to their family members.
You know the best way to learn how to preach to your family members? Is go to preach to somebody else's family member.
Because it's the same gospel. I used to struggle with that.
Man, I really want to preach the gospel to my family member, but I've got to find this cute way.
I've got to talk to them for like three hours before I can get them.
You know what I found out? They're just like anybody else.
Hey, can I show you from the Bible how to go to heaven? Not interested.
That's sad because it's my family member, but that's the way it is.
And if they say yes, then it's like, okay, well, I've already done this a hundred times with perfect strangers.
It's real easy for me now. It's second nature.
But it's hard work, isn't it, to go out soul winning? It's difficult.
It's why people don't do it. Or that's why people quit.
So why should I go? For souls. For souls.
Why are you preaching this, Brother Corbin? Why does it seem like you're always bringing up soul winning in this church?
Because if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
Because there is a world that is going to hell en masse.
Whenever I think about it, it's like you could just envision all the souls in this world are just going down this river of life.
And it's just at the end of that river, it's just a waterfall that cascades into the bottomless pit, into a lake of fire.
And all we're doing is we're standing on the bank just trying to grab a few on the way out.
I can't get them all. We can't get them all.
You know what? Maybe we could learn to cast a line and maybe we could learn to throw out a lifeline.
Maybe we get a lifesaver and at least pull a few out.
Maybe we could get a little bit of a burden for those that are just going to be taken off into that torrent down into hell.
And we could get a burden and get inconvenienced and put out that hand and say, I'll help you. Do you want help?
And look, some people are going to look at that hand and just go, no thanks. Don't need it. I'm a good person.
But there's going to be some people that are going to say, this isn't good.
I don't know where this river is leading. I don't know what's at the end of this life.
But I see that hand. I see that person reaching out. I hear that voice, that person who's standing on the bank and they will reach out and they will grab hold.
And you know what? And you will pull them to shore and put their feet upon a rock called Jesus.
But you know, people will never do it if they don't do what? And this is why I'm preaching this.
If they don't get a burden for the lost.
If the only reason you're going to go soul winning is because you don't like being uncomfortable in sermons like this.
Because you want to show the preacher that you're doing what he said to do.
You're not going to last. And you're probably not going to be very good at it.
But if your motivation to go out and preach at the loss is because you actually care about the souls of total strangers.
That you have this understanding that the Bible clearly teaches that if people die without Christ they go to hell.
If you let that sink down into your heart, you'll develop a burden for souls and then you'll endure.
You'll put up with all the heat. You'll put up with all the rudeness. You'll put up with all the inconvenience.
You'll put up with all the nerves. You'll put up with all the fear. You'll put up with all that.
You'll do the hard work if you have a burden for souls.
Did I have you go to Psalms 126? Romans 9?
We'll stay there in Romans 9. I'll read Psalms 126.
He said in verse 5, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again bringing his sheaves with him.
There's two parts to that equation. You say I want some sheaves. Okay great but there's two parts.
Yeah you got to go. You got to sow. You got to go out there. You got to go forth.
But you got to go with tears. You got to go with weeping if you want to come back with sheaves.
If you want to come back with a harvest. You know you got to have what? The burden.
Because people that just go and just go oh hey yeah we're from a Baptist church.
Do you want to know what the Bible says about God? Okay I'll see you later.
Look just because they're unsaved doesn't mean they can't pick up on people's attitudes.
You know people are you know most people can tell you know whether or not you care or not.
I'm not saying even if they can tell that you care that they're going to listen.
But if you show up and they can tell you're just going through the motions.
That you could be somewhere else. They're not going to want to listen.
You got to have the burden folks. And that's what's going to make you a lifelong soul winner.
That's what's going to get you to heaven where you can say I did my part.
I know we didn't do everything you said Lord. I know we didn't accomplish the mission like you said for us to do.
But I did my part. My church did my part. And we went out and we did what we were supposed to do.
I came not responsible for all these other people. But I reached my Jerusalem.
I reached my Judea. I reached my Samaria. I preached in other cities also.
I was inconvenienced. You got to have a burden. I mean look at the burden Paul has from Romans 9.
I don't know that I could say this. He said I say in truth in Christ I lie not.
He's like you're not going to believe what I'm about to say but trust me it's the truth.
My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. God knows it's true.
That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
For the Gentiles? For those nations that knew not God? Is that what you have a continual sorrow in your heart for Paul?
No that's not who he's talking about. Although I'm sure he had that for them.
He said for I wish that for myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren.
My kinsmen according to the flesh. What's he talking about? Well who was Paul?
He was a Jew. He was a Jew. And who was it that beat Paul and stoned Paul and whipped Paul and followed Paul around and persecuted Paul?
It was his own kinsmen according to the flesh. It was his fellow brethren. It was the other Jews.
It was the people he used to run with. People who hated Christ. People who rejected Christ.
I mean you got to really think about who he's saying that about.
I mean we could say oh yeah I have a sorrow in my heart. Yeah I'm really greedy.
I got heaviness for people who are just ignorant in their sin and are very receptive.
But what about the people that don't? That hate God?
I couldn't say this. I'm just being honest. Because my conscience would not bear witness to the Holy Ghost if I were to say something like that.
I can't say I wish I was accursed for people that hate God. I don't think I could say that.
But Paul could. Because he had a burden that was real. Because he had a genuine love for the lost. No matter who they were.
I want that. I think we should all endeavor to get there.
But look if we can't even just go out and preach to the just people who don't wish us any ill will.
People who are receptive. We can't bring ourselves to get a burden for people that would actually listen and get saved.
We're never going to be able to say what Paul said in Romans chapter 9 verse 1.
You got to have the burden. We have the goal, the mission, the desire here to preach not just here but in other cities also.
To do the soul winning that needs to be done that we've been commanded to do by God.
We'll never fulfill that mission if we don't of course have to go.
But we'll never go and accomplish that if we don't have the burden for the lost like we have.
Or like we ought to have. So that's my challenge this morning.
If you search your heart and say I'm just not motivated. I've got my own problems.
You know there's other people that have a lot bigger problem than you do.
And I'm not minimizing people's problems. I know we all have struggles. We all do.
You know what one problem I don't have that a lot of other people have today.
One problem I don't have that a lot of other people have is that I'm not going to hell.
I'm saved by the blood of Christ. By the grace of God.
And there's nothing I can do to change that. I couldn't go to hell if I wanted to.
Because I've been born again through faith.
You know I don't care what other problems I have. That one got taken care of.
You know what would help you get your head out of your own problems?
Is worrying about somebody else's problem which is way bigger than any problem you have.
It would start to make your problems maybe seem not so big.
It would do you some good. There's your therapy for you.
Get a burden for somebody else and realize that there's people that are way worse off spiritually than you ever will be again.
And that might give you a burden. And that might actually make you into a soul winner.
And that might actually cause you to accomplish the work that you've been commanded to do.
See we act like it's optional. Like oh soul winning that's for some people. It's for everybody.
It's for all of us. But we won't do it without a burden.
That's my challenge this morning. Get a burden. Let's go preach to the other cities also.
Look if you can't make it to Sierra Vista that's fine.
But could you make it around the corner? Could you make it across town?
Could you go to the south side with us and preach there to your neighbor?
You can do that. Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord again thank you for the great opportunity that is set before us Lord to do the greatest work that you've given anyone to do Lord.
To save souls from hell that you've empowered us.
That you've given us the Holy Spirit. That you've given us the Word of God.
That you've given us the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.
And Lord thank you for the promise that you're with us until the end of the world.
And Lord thank you for setting the example of being inconvenienced. Of being burdened for the lost.
Lord I pray you help us to follow that example. To share that burden.
And Lord that we would be willing to preach to those near and far. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.
Alright we'll sing one more song before we go.
I know not my God's wondrous grace to be and may know.
For my unworthy, I stand up, redeeming for his own.
For I know him who I am believing in and persuading.
And he is able to keep that which I believe in unto him against that pain.
I know not how to say within to believe in God.
For how revealing with his word God is within my heart.
For I know him who I am believing in and persuading.
And he is able to keep that which I believe in unto him against that pain.
I know not how the spirit of this event I'll sing.
For he gave me Jesus to love her, believing in him.
For I know him who I am believing in and persuading.
And he is able to keep that which I believe in unto him against that pain.
I know not how the Lord help me be reserved for thee.
I'll bring him his grace on golden days before his place I sleep.
For I know him who I am believing in and persuading.
And he is able to keep that which I believe in unto him against that pain.
I know I'll bring my poor faith up at night unto him.
For I know him who I am believing in and persuading.
And he is able to keep that which I believe in unto him against that pain.
Thank you.