I'm sick of it, and I'm not going to back down, and I'm sick of people not backing me up on this, and you know what? If you're not going to back us up, then get out of here. We don't need your help.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above the heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
There's a land that is fairer than pain, And by faith we can see it apart,
For the Father waits over the pain To prepare us a dwelling place there.
In the sweet by and by We shall be on that beautiful shore.
The melodious songs of the blessed, And our spirit shall sorrow no more,
God aside for the blessing of rest.
In the sweet by and by We shall be on that beautiful shore.
To our bountiful Father above We will offer a tribute of praise,
For the glorious gift of His love, And the blessings that hallow our days.
In the sweet by and by We shall be on that beautiful shore.
II Timothy chapter 4
I charge thee therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who shall judge the quick and the dead, and his appearing and his kingdom,
Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke,
Exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
But watch thou in all things endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist,
Make foolproof of thy ministry.
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
Which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day,
And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me,
Having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica,
Crescents to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Only Luke is with me, take Mark, and bring him with thee,
For he is profitable to me for the ministry, and Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.
The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee,
And the books, but especially the parchments.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil, the Lord reward him according to his works,
Of whom be thou aware also, for he hath greatly withstood our words.
At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.
I pray God that it may be laid to their charges.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me,
That by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear,
And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work,
And will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom,
To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.
Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.
Do thy diligence to come before winter.
Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all her brethren.
The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
Amen.
Well, we had a great time with you guys today at the park.
Thanks for having me out to preach.
And we're in 2 Timothy chapter number 4 tonight.
It starts out in verse number 1.
I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who shall judge the quick and the dead.
It is appearing in his kingdom.
Preach the word.
Be instant in season, out of season.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
And in this passage, we have the Apostle Paul speaking to his protégé in the ministry,
Timothy, a young preacher, and he is saying, I charge thee in verse 1 there.
That means I command you.
I'm telling you, you have got to do this.
Preach the word.
Be instant in season, out of season.
Whether it's popular, whether it's what people want to hear or not,
you've got to preach the Bible.
You've got to preach the word.
And he says there's coming a time when people will not endure sound doctrine.
Of course, today we look around and there are very few preachers getting up
and really telling it like it is and giving the whole counsel of God,
preaching the whole Bible unabashedly,
getting up and just rebuking and repubing and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine,
whether it's in season or out of season,
whether it's popular or not.
I mean, how many preachers are really willing to just get up and say whatever needs to be said,
let the chips fall where they may,
they're just going to give it to you straight down the line from the Bible
with no thought of popularity or what it's going to mean with regard to persecution.
I mean, would you say that this characterizes most Baptist churches in America in 2023?
No, there's so much careful preaching.
You've got to be really careful and make sure that we don't offend people.
And that's not what God has called us to do as men of God.
We're supposed to just get up and just preach what the Bible says.
And even when that includes rebuking, meaning telling people that they're wrong,
reproving, which means telling people that they're wrong,
exhorting, which has to do with motivating or encouraging or getting people going.
And the Bible says we need to do this with longsuffering and doctrine.
Now, when we hear the word doctrine,
the first thing that comes to mind are theological type things.
Like when you think of doctrine, wouldn't you think of like the Trinity or the deity of Christ
or the priesthood of the believer or something about soteriology or eschatology
or all of these theological type things.
But, you know, when the Bible says doctrine,
the literal meaning of the word doctrine is just teaching.
And really doctrine can be anything that we teach from the Bible.
Anything that's taught from the Bible is a doctrine.
And let me show you how this word is actually used by the Apostle Paul
and by the New Testament in general to get an idea of what it means
when it says the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
Now, what does it mean to endure something?
You think about sports and you think about endurance, right?
Well, when we talk about an endurance sport,
we're talking about something like running a very long distance
because running a long distance gets painful.
And so to endure means, you know, you keep on going even though it hurts,
even though your body is being depleted of resources,
even though you're redlining certain systems in your body,
you're still going forward. That's enduring.
So enduring could be like putting up with something that's hard.
Think about the word durable, right?
If something's durable, it's hard, okay?
It's strong.
And so when the Bible talks about people will not be able to endure sound doctrine,
basically for them to sit and listen to actual biblical preaching
is how you feel when you go running.
Like, when is this going to be over?
When can this stop? Like, you know, this hurts.
They're trying to endure sound doctrine.
That doesn't sound like they're having a good time.
And so they're just not able to endure sound doctrine.
Even just hearing it, sitting through it, it bothers them, it's painful,
and they're just like, that's it, I can't handle this preaching,
I can't handle this.
But it's sound doctrine. What is sound doctrine?
It's actually real biblical teaching that actually lines up with the word of God.
We're going to come to a point where it's hard for people to handle it.
It's painful for them to listen to.
It's like something that they just can't take it anymore.
Shut that guy up.
I don't want to hear any more of that sound biblical doctrine.
I mean, that's what the Bible is saying.
Time will come when they will not be able to endure sound doctrine.
I mean, think about it.
Sound doctrine shouldn't even be something that we endure at all.
It should be something that we enjoy or crave or love.
You know, like people who enjoy long distance running or something.
You know, sick people.
But the point is that enduring sound doctrine shouldn't even be a thing for us as godly Christians.
We should actually enjoy preaching.
I mean, think about how many people are traveling to Sacramento this week for the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
You know, it's not that they can just endure sound doctrine.
They'll literally drive hundreds of miles or get on a plane in order to get to the sound doctrine.
They're not enduring it.
They're thriving on it.
They're enjoying it.
They're seeking it out.
But the Bible says that society in general is often going to get to a place where they can't even endure sound doctrine.
Now, what is it that's bothering them so much?
Is it something about the Trinity or the deity of Christ or eschatology or soteriology?
It's not necessarily that theological stuff that you're thinking of when you hear doctrine that they can't endure.
Go back if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 1 because I'm going to show you that what they actually can't endure is preaching against sin.
That's actually what they don't want to endure.
That's the sound doctrine that bothers them and offends them and gets them all worked up.
Now, obviously, people have disagreements and people are wrong about theological issues as well, right?
There are people that would, you know, be for Calvinism.
We're obviously against Calvinism.
There are people that would, you know, deny the Trinity and teach some heresy about that.
Obviously, there are theological differences.
Obviously, we're Baptist.
So we believe in baptizing people by immersion after they get saved.
Other people are out there sprinkling babies and whatever.
These are doctrinal differences that are about theology.
But is that really what people are not going to be able to endure in the end times?
Is it just that they can't endure hearing about baptism by immersion?
They just can't endure hearing about the Trinity?
That's not really what's making people mad today.
That's not really what the end times people that are in Christian churches are just not able to handle.
I mean, is that what we come under fire for, preaching in 2023?
Is it really that kind of stuff?
What is it that we really come under fire for?
It's the preaching against sin.
Okay.
Well, look what the Bible says.
Let's see if the Bible calls that doctrine.
Go to 1 Timothy 1 and look at verse 9.
It says, Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,
for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for man-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons.
Watch this.
And if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.
So what did he say in 2 Timothy 4?
He said they will not be able to endure what?
Sound doctrine.
2 Timothy 4, 3.
They won't be able to endure sound doctrine.
What is contrary to sound doctrine?
According to the same author, writing to the same person, Paul writing to Timothy, he says,
Here is what is contrary to sound doctrine, lying, murder, stealing, kidnapping.
Isn't that what is there? Whoremongers.
Being a whoremonger is contrary to sound doctrine.
That is not necessarily a theological thing.
Saying don't fornicate, don't steal, don't lie, don't murder.
That is what is contrary to sound doctrine.
So if I get up and preach against sin, that is a biblical doctrine.
If I get up and say, hey, the Bible teaches not to steal, the Bible teaches not to murder,
the Bible teaches not to fornicate, not to commit adultery, not to be drunk, all these different things.
That stuff is doctrine.
And let me tell you something.
That is what people don't endure in 2023 America.
They don't want to hear the preaching against sin.
The time has come where they will not endure sound doctrine.
We are not just talking about theology, folks.
We are talking about anything that the Bible teaches.
And the Bible has a lot to say about sin, doesn't it?
How many times does the New Testament address the issue of fornication?
Many times.
Jesus preached about it.
The epistles of Paul bring it up repeatedly.
You could go to the epistles of Peter and find mention of it.
You'll find mention of it in the book of Jude.
I mean, you go through the New Testament, you find a lot of talk about fornication.
What about adultery, right?
Jesus is preaching about it.
The epistles are talking about it.
It comes up in the book of Revelation.
I mean, just again and again, you have preaching against sin in the Bible, right?
Stealing.
How many times does the New Testament bring up stealing?
Jesus preached against stealing.
The epistles talk about stealing.
Ephesians chapter 4, let him that stole steal no more.
In Revelation, you have God angry about sin, blasphemy, theft, murder, idolatry, you name it.
The New Testament is constantly rebuking sin, defining sin, telling you what sin is, giving specific examples of sin,
and then getting up and sternly admonishing the congregation not to be sinful.
Now, look, obviously none of us is perfect.
Obviously, we all have the flesh.
None of us is without sin.
It's not that we're without sin, so we're going to get up and condemn everybody who does it.
No, but here's the thing.
Precisely the fact that we all do have the flesh, that we all do have those tendencies,
is the reason why we need constant preaching against sin at church, because otherwise we could start to get lax about our own morality in our own lives.
You know, if we're not hearing preaching on sin in church, we could start to relax our own standards of morality.
Next thing you know, fornication doesn't seem so bad.
Stealing's not a big deal.
Well, an abortion, well, you know, maybe it's not ideal, but hey.
And we could start to relax those standards of morality.
And I'm telling you something.
If you go to a church where there's never any preaching on sin, there's a lot more sin abounding in that church than the church that does preach on sin.
You know, because you need, look, I need to hear preaching on sin.
I need to do preaching on sin.
You need to hear preaching on sin.
We all need to be stirred up about these things, because even though something as simple as stealing, we all know thou shalt not steal, right?
But yet, people do it.
And so you need that sermon to get up and rebuke it and make sin exceeding sinful, because guess what?
Everyone who sins finds a way to justify their sin, of course, even stealing.
Like, well, I kind of deserve this anyway, or that, you know, they have too much, or, you know, they're Jews or whatever, so I'm going to steal from them.
And, you know, and all the justifications we could come up with for why it's okay.
You know, I've had a couple bikes stolen in my life.
Who's ever had a bike stolen from you in your life, right?
Yeah.
Even in a crowd this small, we've got a bunch of people with stolen bikes, okay?
But I guarantee you that that person who stole your bike, they felt entitled to your bike.
And they probably even justified in their mind, like, well, you know, these people are privileged, and they have more advantages than me, and I'm poor, and I haven't gotten a fair shake in life.
And that's why, you know, I can take this bike, and it's not really going to hurt them.
They can just buy another one, but I really need it.
You know, that's the kind of things that people do in their mind.
You know, we need sermons to get up and rebuke stealing, rebuke murder, rebuke abortion, which is murder, rebuke all of these things because of the fact that we all have that sinful nature, and we need the Word of God to be hitting us with these prohibitions so that we can live a clean and godly and right life.
So what is contrary to sound doctrine according to the Bible?
Well, it's being lawless and disobedient, being ungodly, being unholy, being profane, being a murderer, being a killer, being a whoremonger, being all these things.
Sin. We need preachers to preach on sin.
Now, go back if you went to 2 Timothy 4.
He's saying, look, the time will come when they won't endure sound doctrine, and the sound doctrine that they won't endure is the preaching about sin.
That's one of the biggest irritating factors.
I mean, think about how many people get offended at the preaching against the Sodomites.
And it's like they freak out.
They get emotional.
They get angry.
They can't endure it.
It makes them so angry.
They get so mad.
You know, what they ought to be mad about is the sin.
They ought to be mad about the wickedness that is taking over America.
Instead, they get mad at somebody who's fighting against it, who's preaching against it, because they preached a little too hard or whatever.
Meanwhile, the whole world out there is pushing really hard in the other direction.
Well, you know, excuse us for trying to balance things out in the house of God, getting some sanity back to our world and calling a spade a spade and preaching sound doctrine from the Bible.
Now, in Chapter 4 there in 2 Timothy, it says,
Time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
You know, sound biblical teaching, just even the basics of fornication, stealing, murder, kidnapping, lying, perjury, whatever, okay?
Stuff that you think is pretty basic, but yet people don't necessarily want to hear about it because maybe they're involved in it, okay?
But it says they will be turned, they will turn away from sound doctrine.
And then it says in verse 3 in the latter part,
After their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
Now, this word to heap is like a giant pile of something.
So what this is saying is that teachers that will not preach sound doctrine,
teachers that will not be instant in season out of season, preach the whole word, all the counsel of God,
they're going to be a dime a dozen in the end times where they're just going to be heaps upon heaps,
just stacks and stacks and piles of not preachers, but teachers.
Teachers of the Bible, right?
That will scratch the itchy ears of their congregation and basically make them feel good.
I mean, why do you scratch a dog's ears?
Because it makes the dog feel good.
And so people want to go to church and they always want to be made to feel good all the time.
You know, they don't want to be rebuked.
They don't want to be reproved.
They don't want to be exhorted.
They just want to be made to feel good.
And so there are just heaps and heaps of just pastor after pastor.
Like if we could just look at an area like Spokane or look at an area like Phoenix or you name the place,
they're just going to be pastor after pastor preaching feel good sermons,
but not wanting to actually preach what needs to be preached sound, right doctrine from the Bible,
including not just theological stuff, that's important too,
but also the preaching against sin is what we need as well.
And so they're just going to heap to themselves teachers.
Now, sometimes you'll notice that when a preacher is boring,
he's a boring preacher and he doesn't ever preach hard,
they'll say, well, he's just kind of a teacher type.
You know, it's just that he's more of a teacher.
But you know what, that's just a code word for his preaching is lame.
He's boring.
You know, he doesn't preach hard.
He's weak sauce.
And it's just like, well, he's more of a teacher type.
Well, here's what's so dumb about that is that all of us are teachers.
Anybody who preaches is teaching.
If you're not teaching, you're not even preaching right, right?
Because all preaching is teaching, but guess what?
All teaching is not preaching.
Okay.
So if I go to church and I'm listening to preaching,
hopefully I'm also learning something because preaching includes doctrine, right?
Preach the word with all long suffering and doctrine.
So preaching includes doctrine, therefore preaching includes teaching, right?
It's just that the guy who preaches is actually saying it clearly.
He's making it crystal clear.
He's getting emotional about it.
He's preaching with conviction and power and fire.
And he's actually, you know, preaching in a way that's engaging to the crowd
as opposed to being boring, okay, or being soft and weak.
Okay.
So, oh, he's a teacher type.
But that's what people want today.
They'll heap to themselves, teachers.
It's funny how one hand he says, preach the word,
and he says they won't endure sound doctrine from preachers,
but rather they'll heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears.
The switch from preaching to teaching is not coincidental.
What it is is that they don't want anybody getting harsh with them.
They don't want anybody rebuking them.
They don't want anybody reproving them.
They don't want any pulpit pounding, kind of leather lung,
hellfire and damnation kind of stuff.
They want the deep teaching of God's word.
But don't talk about fornication.
Let's not talk about abortion.
Let's not talk about queers.
Let's not talk about stealing.
Let's not talk about drinking.
Let's not talk about drugs.
Let's not talk about porno, you know.
Let's just have some teaching of the Bible.
And they want it to be mellow and soft and chill
when what we need is some fire-breathing, red-hot preaching today.
Reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all long-suffering and doctrine, right?
Long-suffering, being patient, understanding that people need to grow and learn,
teaching them the truth, but it still needs to be preaching,
not just teaching and teaching by making people feel good
and scratching their itching ears.
And it says in verse number 4,
they shall turn away their ears from the truth
because of their desire to be made to feel good
as opposed to giving sound biblical doctrine.
It says they will turn their ears away from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables.
Now, what are fables?
Well, if you just think about what the word fable means,
it's a story is what it is, right?
But specifically, it's a story that is understood not to be true, right?
So if we think about Aesop's fables or something
and we hear the story of the tortoise and the hare,
nobody for one second thinks that that's a real story that actually happened.
It's a little fun story that you tell to teach a moral lesson,
but it isn't actually true. Nobody thinks it's true.
It's never been considered true.
And not only that, but it's basically just told in order to either entertain
but to teach a little bit of a lesson as well.
And you know, preachers tell a lot of stories in their sermons.
Now obviously, in the Bible, we have a lot of Bible stories to work with, don't we?
And so we can really illustrate a lot of truth using Bible stories.
We could be preaching away and we could be talking about stealing, right?
And then all of a sudden, boom, we can say,
don't be like Achan or you don't want to be like Gehazi or something.
And then you could tell that story about Achan.
You could tell that story about Gehazi, whatever.
We could talk about murder and then we could bring up murders in the Bible, right?
And we could talk about Naboth's vineyard or something
and how Ahab and Jezebel murdered Naboth.
And we could talk about all the different examples of murder, stealing, fornication.
We could talk about all the bad examples of people who committed fornication
and the consequences that they endured and so forth.
We can go all through that with biblical stories.
And so when we preach, the focus should be on Bible stories.
If we're going to tell stories, right, that should be the main story is a Bible story.
The focus should be on Bible doctrine, right?
Quoting a lot of scripture, talking about what the Bible says.
Here's what the Bible says over here.
Let's turn our Bibles and look at it here.
Let's compare this scripture to that scripture.
So preaching Bible verses, Bible truths, Bible doctrines,
and then let's illustrate it with a Bible story.
Let's go to the Old Testament and get some of those stories from the Old Testament
to illustrate biblical truth.
You know, that's what we ought to be doing.
Now, sometimes preachers will use personal stories from their own personal life
and say, hey, I was out soloing the other day and this is what happened
and here's how that illustrates what the Bible says.
But then there's this idea of turning away from the truth,
getting away from emphasis on Bible stories
or stuff that actually happened to me in my real life or your real life
and stuff that actually happened to people in the Bible
and actual Bible verses that God told us to preach
and they turn away their ears from the truth
and they're turned instead onto fables.
They're turned to these kind of feel-good, motivational, like chicken soup for the soul kind of stories.
And listen to me, my friend.
A lot of preaching today abounds with just a lot of feel-good, made-up stories.
Now, I'm not saying that fables are always bad
or that made-up, chicken soup for the soul type stories don't necessarily have their place,
but you know what?
When we're in the house of God and when we're preaching,
if it's just week after week, a bunch of little feel-good stories
that you got from some sermon illustration book,
there are whole books of just stories that preachers can use to spice up their story.
You know, I got a book of stories right here to spice up your sermons,
but the problem is most of these stories are a little too gnarly for today's audience in 2023 America.
So what?
You know, oh man, that story about Onan, that's rough.
Sodom and Gomorrah, don't tell that story.
Give me the tortoise and the hare.
Give me that story where they're walking down the beach throwing starfish in.
Give me footprints.
Give me that footprints bookmark, you know, the two sets of footprints.
Then there's the one set of footprints.
That's where I carried you.
And again, don't get mad at some preacher because he used that once in a million,
but if it's week after week, it's the footprints, it's the starfish,
it's the tortoise and the hare, it's just all this.
I mean, I can't really think of it anymore because I'm just not really a dealer in fables.
You know, the guy who's on the roof and it's flooding.
And then, you know, the motorboat comes and the helicopter comes.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Put it on your hand if you know what I'm talking about.
You know, and the guy's like, God, why didn't you help me?
And then God's like, I sent you a motorboat.
I sent you a jet ski.
I sent you the helicopter.
That's a fable.
Now look, again, I'm not saying, you know, don't go say, well, you know, I, you know, my pastor did that once or something, you know.
I'm saying when it's just week after week, that kind of stuff.
And we don't, but we don't want to talk about Sodom and Gomorrah.
We don't want to talk about Onan.
We don't want to talk about King Ahab and Jezebel.
We don't want to talk about all the gnarliness of the Old Testament.
Instead, we'd write, you know, give me Hallmark.
Give me chicken soup for the soul instead.
Give me Aesop.
You know, the time will come, it says, when they will not endure sound doctrine.
They'll turn away their ears from the truth and they'll turn unto fables, right?
It's just basically, they want to go to church and get inspired with a feel-good story.
They don't want sin rebuked.
They don't want the Bible clearly taught because some of it could offend them.
They want it only to make them feel good.
Sometimes when we go to church, we need to hear something that hurts a little bit, that hits us a little close to home.
Look, I'm not perfect. You're not perfect.
Sometimes we're going to hear some preaching that hits a little close to home.
And, you know, maybe we look at ourselves and say, hey, I'm kind of guilty of that.
You know, oh man, you know, that's me.
I need to change.
I need to fix that.
That's something I need to work on.
What if I told you that you're not the best at everything?
What if I told you that you're not the world's strongest man?
You're not the best looking woman in the world.
You're not the coolest dude ever.
You're not the greatest cook.
You're not the greatest athlete.
You know, even if you won the pull-up competition, you know, like, it doesn't matter because guess what?
None of us is perfect.
Well, guess what?
Morally, it's the same way.
We all have moral weaknesses, moral shortcomings.
And so if any preacher is actually getting up and preaching down the list of sins where Jesus is preaching against sin,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness, evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, theft, you know, when that preaching comes at us,
all of us, if we're actually listening and paying attention, some of it's going to hit us where we live.
And we're going to be like, oh man, that's me.
I'm guilty, right?
But guess what?
That's good for us to go to church and hear those things so that we can actually be motivated to get the sin out of our life
and so that we can be reminded, hey, I shouldn't be doing that.
I shouldn't be saying that.
I shouldn't be acting that way.
I need to fix that.
We need that sound preaching not to just have this itching ear fable preaching that's just chicken.
Sometimes you don't need chicken soup for the soul.
Sometimes you need a swift kick in the pants.
You know what I mean?
Like sometimes you don't need chicken soup.
I don't know.
I'm trying to think of like a more abrasive food or drink that you need.
Like I can't really think of a good illustration.
Somebody help me out.
I mean, I mean, sometimes what's this like a gnarly food?
You know, sometimes it's like, it's not the chicken soup for the soul.
Sometimes like you need to eat like your Brussels sprouts or something, you know, what's a gnarly food that you need to eat sometimes?
Garlic.
Garlic's good, man.
What are you talking?
Raw garlic.
Just raw garlic.
You come past your house and it's just like, open up, buddy, onions, garlic.
You know, here you go.
Here's a jalapeno for you.
Bite into that sucker.
You know, you're coming to church, you want chicken fingers that fries every meal.
Chicken soup for the soul.
Sometimes you need something a little stronger.
Sometimes you need some of that picante kind of preaching, okay?
But I'm just saying that, you know, the fables replace Bible stories today in preaching.
They replace Bible verses.
They replace Bible doctrine.
And really, church in many cases has become something of a TED talk.
You say, what is a TED talk?
A TED talk is basically preaching without Jesus or the Bible.
It's like people who don't go to church, they feel like they need preaching in their life.
It's a TED talk.
It's sort of like a sermon, but it has nothing to do with the Bible.
That's kind of what podcasts are in a lot of ways too.
It's sort of like, you know, people who don't have preaching in their life, then they have these like other types of preaching kind of.
But the sad thing is when church becomes a TED talk, I'm not against TED talks.
You know, some of them could be interesting and you could learn a lot.
But what I'm saying is that a lot of church services have become a TED talk where it's this polished teaching, a lot of stories, a lot of fables.
It makes everybody feel good.
It's heartwarming.
Sometimes you need something that actually hurts a little bit.
And, you know, the Bible says it's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of mirth.
Sometimes church should actually make you a little sad or make you a little upset because of the fact that you get hit with some truths, some realities that maybe aren't always comfortable.
And so he says they'll be turned into fables.
But verse five of chapter four, Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
For I'm now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand.
I have fought a good fight.
I've finished my course.
I've kept the faith.
You know, the Apostle Paul is saying, Timothy, I want you to pick up where I left off.
I fought a good fight.
Notice he didn't say I talked a good TED talk.
You know, I was an inspirational speaker.
You know, I made the people happy.
I drew the big crowds.
I brought in the big money.
He says, no, no, I fought the good fight.
I guarantee you there are a lot of pastors out there that literally like thinking about them as a fighter is almost kind of laughable.
You know what I mean?
Like listening to their teaching, listening to their preaching.
You're like fighting is not the word that comes to mind because they're trying to get along with everybody.
It's kind of make everybody happy.
Teaching smooth things, prophesying smooth things, you know, and just not wanting to offend people.
There's no fight in that.
Why is Timothy being told to fight the good fight of faith in 1 Timothy chapter 6?
Why in 2 Timothy 4 does he say I fought a good fight?
Because here's the thing, when you teach sound doctrine, when you get up and preach hard against sin, a fight ensues.
Because the devil's not just going to take that lying down and today's watered down, sissified generation isn't just going to, you know, endure all your sound teaching.
You know, when you do the sound doctrine, they can't endure it.
They'll fight you.
They'll try to get you fired.
They'll try to get you kicked out from preaching.
They'll try to get you kicked off of social media.
They'll try to get you kicked out of town.
They'll try to get you kicked out of the Bible college or kicked out of the board of trustees of the Bible college or whatever.
You know, if they can't endure sound doctrine, they want to put a stop to it and it's a fight in order to keep doing the preaching and keep standing up for what's right.
There's no fight needed to be a fable teller.
But to teach sound doctrine, to preach the word of God, there is a fight involved.
And we need men of God who have some fight in them who are willing to face the persecution.
Keep going and look what he says next.
In verse number five, actually says it before this, verse five, watch thou in all things endure afflictions.
Right?
See, if you're willing to preach sound doctrine, you've got to be willing to endure afflictions because that goes hand in hand.
There are going to be persecutions.
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
And so if you dish out the sound doctrine, don't expect there to be no pushback or blowback from that.
You're going to face afflictions.
Endure the afflictions.
Do the work of an evangelist.
Make full proof of thy ministry.
Look what the Bible says in verse number nine.
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for demons hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.
You know, the people who are in love with this world and they're just so enamored by all the things that this world has to offer,
whether it's the riches and the fame and all of the fancy things that this world has,
those people who just want to enjoy life right now and they're not really thinking about eternity,
they're not thinking about getting people saved and heaven and hell.
Those people, they are going to forsake the guy who's preaching sound doctrine.
This guy loved the present world demons.
I mean, poor Demas.
He's up in heaven and people are like, every time somebody dies and goes to heaven,
they get to heaven and they're meeting people and it's just like, Demas.
You're that guy who really loved the world.
He's just like, shut up.
I'm sick right now.
That was like 2000 years ago.
I've been up here in heaven.
I like it up here now, you know.
No, you must be getting bored up here because you really loved that world back then, you know.
You probably missed that stuff from 1900 years ago, huh Demas?
He's like, shut up.
No, I'm just kidding.
Those kind of conversations don't happen in heaven because everybody's cool up there.
Everybody's chill.
Nobody's up there screaming and fighting.
That was a joke.
But the point is, I mean, imagine having your name in the Bible.
Oh man, super, you know, Stephen Anderson, super worldly guy, loved this present world.
He's like, oh man, why though?
Did you really have to say it like that?
For Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world.
You know, what we should take away from that is we don't want to be a person who's just in love with this present world.
We need to understand this world is not our home.
We're just passing through, right?
I mean, this life is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
And we ought to be laying up treasures in heaven.
We ought to be doing things that have eternal value, like winning souls to Christ, preaching the word of God, ministering to the saints.
Doing things that actually matter for eternity, not just, you know, ice cream, TV, roller coaster, sleep, repeat or something.
You know, I mean, look, obviously we're having fun in our lives and we do stuff and there's what the silver wood trip coming up in September.
But here's the thing, is that what we really just live for?
We just live from one roller coaster to the next.
We're just living from one Chipotle to the next.
You know, we just give us this day our daily ice cream.
I mean, no, in our lives, you know what, obviously we need to eat and drink and we need to blow off steam and have a good time.
We've got our families, we've got our friends, we've got our jobs.
But at the end of the day, our lives are more than that.
The life is more than meat.
The body is more than raiment.
And we don't want to just be in love with this present world.
No, we need to think about something greater, something higher, God's word and God's mission that we're a part of to win souls unto Christ.
To do a work for God in 2023 America, to call America to repentance because America is not right with God.
And we've got to preach against sin and call America to repentance and call Christians to repentance who have gotten so worldly and these itching years Christians, they need to be called to repentance.
And so we need to think about those type of bigger issues than to just be in love with this present world.
And there are Apostle Paul's in this world.
There are Timothy's in this world who are preaching the whole council of God.
And we don't want to bail on them because, oh, they hurt my feelings because they preached against my sin.
You know, here's the thing, like, let's say somebody preaches against your sin.
You know, don't get mad about it.
And let's say somebody preaches against something that you're doing and you're like, I don't even think that's a sin.
I don't, you know, I don't even see what the big deal is.
Then just let it go because obviously everybody's not always going to agree on every single moral issue.
And some people will say that, you know, you should dress this way.
Other people would say, no, I don't agree with that.
You should dress this way.
You know, there could be gray areas or differences of opinion on things.
I mean, obviously we all know what the big ones are.
Not fornicating, not committing adultery, not stealing, not lying, all those different things.
But then some people on the finer points would disagree, right?
So then maybe the pastor gets up and preaches against your TV show and you're like, well, I think that show is fine or whatever.
You know, he gets up and preaches against your music and you're like, well, I think that music's fine.
Or he preaches against, you know, whatever.
Let's say he preaches against drinking and he's preaching and you're like, well, I think it's okay to just rarely have one beer or so, you know.
And you, I mean, you're wrong, but let's say that's your opinion.
Well, you know what though?
Here's the thing about that is that why don't you just be happy that you have a man of God preaching to you against sin in the first place.
And if he, if he preaches something and it affects, you know, and it affects you and you don't think he's right or whatever.
Well, you know what, nobody's going to always be right about every subject.
First of all, maybe you're the one that's wrong.
But let's say even he's wrong.
He's human.
Nobody's going to preach perfectly all the time.
You know, why don't you just be thankful that you have a pastor who's getting up and preaching and you're ripping face.
Like, you know, when it comes to this issue of the sodomites, you know, people think that we are too radical.
We go too far.
So what?
At least we're saying something.
At least we have the boldness to take on this giant Leviathan in our country, this wickedness, this abomination.
And meanwhile, you got somebody sitting on the sidelines who's scared to death to even preach even the basics of that subject.
And then meanwhile, it's like, well, I think, I think, you know, Pastor Jimenez just went a little too far.
You know, Pastor Thompson just took it a little too far.
Well, so what?
Who cares?
First of all, they didn't take it too far.
But even if they did take it too far, I mean, look, if somebody if somebody legit did take the preaching against the sodomites too far, you know, I would just sit back and just be like, I'll allow it.
You know what I mean?
Right.
It's like, so what?
Big deal.
Why are you expecting perfection out of the preacher?
Right.
You know what you ought to expect is a preacher who actually is striving to preach the whole counsel of God, striving to preach the whole Bible and not trying to win a popularity contest with this world.
Right.
Because he says, henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day.
And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
He's like, man, I've got this award ceremony coming up where God's going to reward me for the preaching that I've done.
Oh, and by the way, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.
See, I'm thinking about the future.
I'm thinking about heaven.
I'm thinking about rewards.
I'm thinking about facing Jesus Christ.
I'm thinking about facing Jesus Christ and having him look at me and say, well done, that good and faithful servant.
That's who I answer to.
That's who I want to please.
Meanwhile, Demas over here just love this present world.
He's like, oh, man, I just can't believe, you know, I sang all about homos because I have some homo relatives and homo friends.
Shut up.
There's no there's going to be no homos in heaven.
Moron.
You know, it reminds me of my favorite song.
I must be strong and carry on because I know that there'll be no queers in heaven.
No, it's not really my favorite song.
But anyway, I kind of I kind of like the sound of that, though.
That was a little commercial break.
But the point is that, you know, people who love this world, they get so indoctrinated by this world that they get most excited and most passionate about defending homos or they get most excited or most passionate about defending a TV show or they get most excited, most passionate about defending a movie franchise or they get most excited or most passionate about defending their music.
So somebody says something against their music or their TV or their movies or their queer buddy or queer uncle or whatever, you know, then it's like that's when they just lose it and freak out.
Right.
What we ought to be passionate about and excited about is standing on biblical truth.
Now, like, oh, the pastor got a little carried away and hit on my show or my movie or my friend or my whatever, you know, the things of this world that they're into.
That's what they want to defend.
That's why they'll quit the church, because that stuff got touched instead of getting really passionate and excited about the biblical truth that's being preached and just loving the biblical truth, loving a pastor who's thinking about eternity, thinking about what Christ thinks, not caring what this world thinks.
Just going through Bible story after Bible story and chapter after chapter and verse after verse of just God's word, God's word, God's word.
And they're just kind of like, and then it's like, you know, mentioned something about their show or whatever.
It's just like, hey, wait a minute.
Right.
It's just like, you know, just all this teaching from Genesis, Exodus, just Bible verses, chapters, and just all this great biblical doctrine, biblical teachings.
You know, Sodomites are reprimised.
Oh, what's the big idea?
What it ought to be is just, you know, if we act is, is we're, yeah, we're learning about the Trinity and salvation and yeah, we're getting stealing and murder and fornication and adultery.
Yeah.
You know, let's learn about the end times.
Let's, let's read that story in second Kings and let's go.
And then, and then the pastor's just like, these stupid queer faggots.
And we'll just be kind of like, eh, might've been a little radical.
Oh, well, next.
I'll allow it.
You know what I mean?
Right.
That should just be our default mode.
We need just, we need a sombrero and just be like, I'll allow it.
You know, Oh, pastor preached a little too hard against the sodomites.
I'll allow it.
Pastor hit on TV shows and movies and music that happened.
Actually, they turned out to be fine.
So what, but see, they're straining at a net and swallowing a camel strain and not of like, well, the pastor's a little too strict on clothing.
Is that real?
You know, I thought the life was more than Raymond.
Why are you obsessed with Raymond?
So what, you know, Oh, you know, the pastor's preaching the women should wear skirts and dresses.
Why don't you just put on a skirt and come to church and just, and just get over it.
Right?
Like, is it a big deal?
But then it's like, you'll go to some super liberal watered down church where the, where it's fable city, but at least they don't talk about your clothing.
At least they don't talk about your drinking.
At least they don't talk about your prescription drug issues.
You know, you can just pop all your pills and drink all your beers and wash down a Vicodin and whatever.
I'm serious, man.
You know, it sounds like I'm joking, but I'm actually not because guess what?
Churches today are filled with people who are abusing prescription drugs, drinking beer, fornicating, smoking pot, doing all these things.
That's why we need preaching, my friend.
Not because we don't love people because we do love people and we want them to get right with God for their own sake and for the Lord's sake.
You know, you think about some of the most basic teachings, like fornication, you know, I mean, we, we all know what the Bible says, you know, and that, and that we need to be married to engage in that activity, right?
Man and woman are not to sleep together until they're married.
I mean, that is so basic, right?
And you just think, well, yeah, duh.
Do you even have to talk about that?
Do you even have to preach that?
You know, we all know that you're supposed to be a virgin when you get married, whether you're a man or a woman, that is God's will that you Christian young person, male or female, that you be a virgin when you get married.
That is God's will.
That is what the Bible says.
And once you get married, you keep the only unto your spouse until death do you part, right?
Marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge.
It's basic, but it needs to be said.
And it needs to be said again and again and again.
And I thank God that I grew up hearing that preaching because when I was a teenager and the temptations were strong, that preaching resounded in my ears.
The word of God resounded my ears, flee fornication and how God killed 23,000 people in one day because of fornication and all those things.
They kept me scared to go out and commit fornication.
And the fear of the Lord kept me from evil, right?
We need that kind of preaching.
And you say, well, who would that preaching offend?
You know what?
People get offended by that.
And I'll tell you who gets offended by that.
People who weren't a virgin when they got married.
It bothers them to hear that.
Now, look, I'm not up here preaching that to, you know, hang somebody's past over their head because here's the thing about the past.
You can't change the past.
So I would never want to sit here and try to make you feel bad about something that you did years ago because it's not even relevant.
You know, forget those things which are behind and reach forth unto those things which are before.
You know, if I were preaching to an audience where everybody in the audience was already married, then I probably wouldn't even bring that up because it's like, what's the point?
But you know why I bring that up?
It's for the young people, right?
I want every boy and girl, I want every teenager, I want every young adult who's single to grow up understanding what the Bible says that fornication is when a man and woman sleep together and they're not married.
That's fornication.
That's a big sin.
That's something that's constantly rebuked by scripture and that the Bible wants you and commands you and demands of you that you be a virgin when you get married.
It's like, oh, you know, you keep saying that, you know, I wasn't a virgin when I got married.
And you know what?
And you can't endure sound doctrine.
Look, everybody knows that sound doctrine.
It'd be crazy to say that the Bible condones of sleeping with people that you're not married to, going as a young man sleeping with a bunch of women, a young lady sleeping with a bunch of dudes.
Everybody knows that's wrong.
But it's just they don't want to hear about it because it makes them feel bad that they did that 10 years ago, 8 years ago, 15 years ago.
Get over it.
It's not about you.
It's about the church.
It's about the kids.
It's about the youth.
It's about the truth.
It's not about your feelings.
And same thing with tattoos.
Nobody wants to hear the preaching about tattoos because they have a tattoo.
Well, look, that doesn't change the fact that the Bible says don't print any marks upon your body.
Well, I disagree.
I think that's the Old Testament.
Okay, fine.
Why don't you just put on your sombrero and just allow it?
Because you really think that tattooing ourselves up like a bunch of cannibals is really going to bring us closer to God as a generation or as a church?
Yeah, but I got a tattoo.
Okay, quit being so obsessed with yourself.
Like the pastor gets up and preaches, and it's just like you're just obsessed with yourself.
Like the pastor getting up and preaches, hey, young people, you got to be a virgin when you get married.
And you're just like obsessed with yourself.
Like, oh, but I wasn't a virgin when I was married, so, you know, oh, man, you know, is he just trying to rub my nose in that?
He's not even talking about you.
He's not even thinking about you.
Everything's not about you.
He's talking to people that are young people before they've done that.
You know, oh, you know, the pastor keeps preaching on tattoos.
He's probably just trying to rub my nose in it that I have a tattoo.
That's not what we do as pastors.
I was just up here like, man, who can I just really burn today?
You know, I'm just, you know, I just get so annoyed with Sister So-and-so.
What is her biggest shortcoming that I can just, maybe I can find something in her past and just do a whole series on it.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, she had an abortion 10 years ago?
Oh, well, that's why. I'm going to preach about abortion.
That'll show her.
No, no, no.
The reason the pastor's getting up and preaching on abortion is not to make someone feel bad who had an abortion in the past.
It's to make sure nobody does it in the future.
The reason I'm preaching against tattoos is so you don't go get a tattoo.
If you already have a tattoo, I'm not mad at you.
That's not even, you know, that's something you can even change at this point.
It's permanent.
You know, if you weren't a virgin when you got married, well, then, you know, all you need to do is just stay faithful to your spouse.
Now that you're married, stay faithful.
Forget the past.
Look, all you have to do is just confess that sin to God one time and just say, God, I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have done that.
I was wrong. That was wicked.
And from now on, I'm going to stay, you know, only for my spouse and I'm going to not commit adultery.
Thank you for forgiving me.
Thank you for your grace.
And then just move on and quit being all touchy about it.
Right.
Because I've done things in my past that I wish I could go back and change or that I regret.
So have you.
We all have mistakes and sins and stupid things that we've done in our lives.
But you know what?
If the pastor preaches about it, quit being obsessed with yourself.
And instead, just be glad that the pastor is helping other people in their Christian walk not to make some of the mistakes that you made.
You know, he needs to rebuke.
He needs to reprove.
Let him do it.
You know, the pastor gets up and preaches against divorce.
Guess who gets offended?
Everybody who's been divorced.
Right.
And just, oh, he just keeps talking about divorce.
That's because he wants the people who are currently married not to get divorced.
Right.
And it has to be said when the divorce rate among Christians is pretty much the same as the divorce rate among non-Christians in America.
Well, something's wrong with the preaching, my friend.
I guarantee you, if every pastor were just thundering against divorce and preaching sermons called God hates divorce,
you'd have less divorce than in a church where it's never covered.
And it's some watered down doctrine of like, well, you know, you don't get a divorce unless here's 50 exceptions.
And it's like every single person, you know, except in cases of abuse.
And then abuse is like any abuse, like like it's not even just physical abuse.
It's like it's like emotional abuse, mental abuse, like like probably like dietary abuse or something, you know, like like culinary abuse, artistic abuse, like like, I don't know, theological abuse.
I'm just making up abuses, man, like athletic abuse.
I was abused athletically.
I was culinarily abused.
I got abused.
You know, I mean, you know, you can just come up with this.
Everything's abuse, right?
I got yelled at.
That's auditory abuse.
Right.
You know, I saw something weird is a visual abuse.
Right.
You can just always you can just you know, it was a it was a olfactory abuse because my husband smelled so bad is what some woman could say.
Right.
Olfactory abuse.
You know, I mean, go down the list, because basically when you start giving these exceptions and watering down being like, well, you know, shouldn't get divorced, but you know, everybody just all they hear is that they just see that loophole and you got a loophole the size of the Grand Canyon, you know, and then you wonder why there's just as much divorce among Christians as non-Christians.
Right.
You know, what you need is a pastor who gets up and preaches how it with marriage.
It's do or die.
It's till death do us part.
You made that commitment.
You made a vow.
You open your mouth unto the Lord.
You cannot go back.
It's till death do us part for better for worse.
You stay with it.
Then there's less divorce.
Now, look, people get divorced, even at faithful word Baptist Church.
There have been people that have gotten divorced, but you know, it's a lot less than the general population.
It's a lot less than out there in the world.
Let me tell you, because we really demonize it and really make sin exceeding sinful, or at least we try to.
That's that's the goal is, man.
I don't I want people to just think like, man, divorce is so bad.
I want my kids growing up saying like, man, divorce is really bad.
You know, well, I don't appreciate that because I'm divorced.
It's like whatever.
Look, and here's the thing.
We have a lot of wonderful church members that are divorced and remarried.
Some of them have been divorced multiple times.
Right.
I mean, the woman at the well, Jesus called her out and said, you've had five husbands.
Right.
Look, if we had a woman at our church who had five husbands, she would be welcome at our church.
We would love her and treat her well and whatever.
But you know what?
She's going to have to just sit down and shut up while I preach against divorce for the people who haven't done it yet and for the young people.
And if she doesn't like it, she can just go back to that well and jump in it if she just can't handle the preaching about divorce.
You know what I mean?
Because it's like, I don't you know, I'm not trying to make people feel bad for their past.
That's not the goal.
The goal is sound doctrine so that we can raise up a godly generation of young people that don't make the mistakes of their fathers and mothers.
You know, and look, I want my kids to be a better Christian than I am.
I want the next generation in America to be more godly than the last generation, even within churches, even within Baptist churches, even within independent Baptist churches.
Right.
We want to preach against sin.
We want to be instant, in season, out of season.
But there are people who can't endure sound doctrine.
What is it that particularly offends them?
I mean, why is it that the Baptist churches that preach the fables and the chicken soup for the soul and the rock and roll and the party church, why are they running in the thousands?
And then often it's an uphill battle to found the real soul winning, leather long, King James Bible preaching churches and you're struggling to hit 20, 30, you know what I mean?
And to get that thing off the ground and to, and you know, the ones that are really thriving, you're struggling to hit 200, 300, 400 people, right?
And the average independent Baptist church in America is 85 people.
That's the average in America today.
But then you've got these mega churches running thousands.
Why?
What is it about the hard preaching, fundamental Baptist churches that people can't handle?
It's the preaching against sin.
It's not the preaching on the Trinity.
It's not the preaching on theology.
They get that, you know, in very small doses and watered down, but they'll get that at these liberal fund centers often.
But you know what you're not going to hear at the fund center.
You're not going to hear preaching against fornication.
In many cases, you're not going to hear preaching against drugs, drinking, you know, adultery, divorce, you know, there's certain subjects they just don't want to touch.
They don't want to touch on the tattoos.
They don't want to touch on the drugs.
They don't want to touch on the prescription drug addiction.
They don't want to talk.
I mean, I've had people get angry at me and quit the church because I preached about people abusing prescription painkillers.
You know, I've had people get angry at me for preaching against marijuana.
Had people get angry at me because I preached in a sermon that fornication is wicked and that you should not allow your children, even if they're adult children, don't allow your adult children to be fornicating in your own home and living in fornication in your own home.
Whole family left the church because I preached that.
And you'll never guess why.
Why do you think that?
Why do you think when I got up and preached, hey, you shouldn't have an adult child living in sin in your home because you shouldn't be allowing fornication under your roof.
As for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord.
That's a mega sin.
We're not supposed to fellowship with Christians and fornication.
You shouldn't just be.
When that's your house, you own that house, don't have fornication in your house.
Why do you think that offended someone?
Any guesses?
Does anybody have a guess?
Fornication in the house.
Yes, we have a winner because they had that situation.
Now, here's the thing.
I didn't even know that that was their situation, but this is what they're thinking.
Like, oh, he must have known that that's me.
And so he just gets up and it wasn't even a whole sermon.
It was just like a point in a sermon.
Like, the whole thing probably took 60 seconds.
I mean, how long did it take just now for me to say that?
Was that about 60 seconds of the sermon?
Maybe 90?
We'll go back.
We'll catch that on the instant replay.
But, you know, what was that, 70 seconds or something?
That's about how long it took me to explain it in the sermon.
It was a sermon about something else.
But then it's just like, oh, you were saying that specifically about me.
Now, first of all, no, I wasn't.
I didn't even know that that was going on in your house.
But here's the thing.
Let's say that I did.
Let's say that I knew that this family had just a fornicating couple living in their house.
Right?
Let's say I knew that and let's say I decided to address that for 90 seconds in a sermon.
Would that even be out of line of me as a preacher?
And if they don't agree with it, they can just say, well, I think it's fine.
And I love Pastor Anderson.
I love 99% of what he's teaching.
I just think he's wrong on this one point.
But no, no, no.
It's just, oh, how dare you.
And then they go out and don't go to church at all or go to some watered down liberal church that doesn't preach on sin at all.
Because I supposedly just had it in for them on that one point.
You know, I remember when I first started Faith for a Baptist Church, church was really small.
Right?
I mean, like, we're talking typical service, 8, 9, 10, 11 people in the service.
Just a little small church.
Right?
I got up and I preached a sermon.
There's like 10 people in the church, literally.
Maybe 11.
It was for sure less than 20.
I got up and preached against smoking.
Whole sermon against smoking.
It was like 2006 or something.
Entire sermon against smoking.
Turned out, and I did not know of anyone in the church that smoked.
Like, if you would have asked me, does anyone at Faith for a Baptist smoke?
I'd be like, no.
I don't think so.
Turned out there were four smokers.
And we're talking there's only like less than 15 people in the church or something.
Right?
So there's like 15 people.
Turns out four of them are smoking.
And then multiple people came to my wife.
Because some of them were ladies that were smoking.
Multiple people came to my wife and said, is Pastor Anderson mad at me?
Because, like, you know, he was just preaching so hard against smoking.
And he seemed so upset as he was preaching about smoking.
So I was so worked up about smoking.
And in the sermon, we had this little wooden step stool.
Because this is when the church was meeting in the house.
So it was sort of like a cooking show.
Because I was, like, preaching in the kitchen.
Okay?
It was like a Hellfire and Damnation cooking show.
Okay?
You think Gordon Ramsay rips face, you know?
This was Hell's Kitchen, my friend.
But I was literally, like, the kitchen counter was my pulpit.
And I would beat the kitchen counter instead of beating the pulpit.
And soon the tiles started falling off and I had to get, like, new grout and stuff.
Because I would just be slamming my fist down on my kitchen counter.
And I preached that way for a year and a half.
The church met in the house for a year and a half.
And so I'm preaching in my house.
And we had this little wooden step stool to allow children to get up on the step stool and get something down from a higher cupboard or whatever.
And I had a pack of cigarettes that I bought at the store.
I think I'm almost out of time here.
But this is not a fable.
This really happened.
This is a good story.
I went to the gas station by my house and I walked in and, you know, I talked to the Indian dude or Pakistani.
Sorry, it was Pakistani.
But big difference.
But he was behind the counter and I said to him, I said, you know, I'm a preacher.
I said, I need to buy a pack of cigarettes because I'm going to preach against it.
Because I didn't want to think I'm just buying cigarettes because I'm just like, I don't smoke.
So he's just like, well, which kind do you want?
I said, well, I don't want any of them.
It's not about what I want.
I said, I want you to give me the most popular brand.
Give me something popular.
I said, I'm a preacher.
I'm going to preach against cigarettes.
So I need a pack of cigarettes so I can preach against it.
And the guy was just so confused.
Like, I don't know if it was a language barrier or whatever.
He's just like, well, I don't know what kind of cigarettes you like.
I'm like, I don't like cigarettes.
That's why I'm buying them precisely because I don't like them.
Because I'm going to preach against them.
Which one do you want?
Just give me the most popular kind.
I said, you sell cigarettes all day.
Who do you think knows more what's popular, me or you?
You're the pro.
So then he goes, I give you Marlboro Red or whatever.
So he goes and he gets it.
I was never sure, did this guy even understand what I was telling him?
But then finally he rings it up and he says, I give you discount.
I was like, okay, wow.
You literally gave me a discount.
I don't know if the penny finally dropped and he figured out what I was saying or what.
But if you ever want to get a discount on cigarettes, that's how you do it.
Right there.
So I had it all planned that I was going to preach against smoking
and that I was just going to have this pack of cigarettes in my pocket
and just kind of pull it out nonchalantly in the sermon.
Like it was the most normal thing in the world for me to just have cigarettes.
So I'm preaching this sermon.
So I bought this in the gas station out of my pocket.
And I'm preaching and I'm like, you know, you feel like craving for a cigarette.
You know, you reach in your pocket and it's like pulled it out nonchalantly.
And everybody's kind of like, whoa, you know, where'd that come from?
But eventually, I don't remember exactly how it went.
But in the end, ultimately, I had the cigarettes like on this little wooden step stool
and I was just like beating them with a hammer.
I was like beating them, tobacco is going everywhere.
And I was just like smashing them and just smashing up the cigarettes and destroying them.
And they're just like, man, you know, is Pastor Anderson mad at me?
Like he knows that I smoke.
Like all four of them thought they were the only smoker.
And they're like, Pastor Anderson's up there and he's beating cigarettes with a hammer
and he's screaming about it.
Like is he mad at me?
And my wife's like, no, he's not mad at you.
Like he probably doesn't even know that you smoke.
And, you know, like, you know, he's just and other people smoke too.
And it's just like, you know, he's just he's just preaching, right?
There were literally four.
I kid you not.
They're like three women and a man who were smoking at the time.
I didn't know that.
And so here's the thing.
You know, if you preach against sin, someone's always going to be guilty of whatever you preach against.
And I'm telling you, it's a big mistake not to preach against sin.
And, you know, whenever I give advice to young preachers and what's what's the book of Second Timothy?
It's an older preacher giving advice to a younger preacher, right?
Here's the advice that I often give to younger preachers.
I always tell them, don't ever assume that you don't need to preach on a particular sin because no one's doing it.
Because it's easy to go to church.
Everybody's in their Sunday best.
Everybody looks good.
And you just assume, surely nobody here is using drugs.
Surely nobody gets drunk.
Surely nobody's looking at porno.
Surely nobody here is thinking about divorcing their spouse.
Sure, no one would commit adultery.
Abortion?
Come on, we're in a fundamentalist Baptist church.
That is a big mistake to think that way.
Because I could have just said, well, surely nobody's smoking.
Why would I preach a sermon against smoking when I'm pastoring a church with 15 people in it and none of them smoke?
Why would I preach against smoking?
It turns out there's four smokers.
Why?
Because you don't know what people are doing.
And I guarantee you, man, there have been people in my church over the years, I mean, people that I thought, like, this is a godly church member.
This person is just, you know, a mature Christian.
And I never would have guessed that that person is literally, not even just drinking a little bit, but literally getting seriously drunk.
I mean, I've been shocked to find out that certain people were drunk, shocked to find out so-and-so is smoking pot, so-and-so committed fornication.
I'm just like, what?
But let me tell you something.
One time I preached a sermon against suicide.
I preached a sermon about suicide.
And I remember literally while I was preaching the sermon, I had this, like, surreal moment where I was like, why am I preaching about suicide?
Like, what?
What?
And I just, like, I'm preaching about it, but then this other part of my brain was just like, hold up.
Why did you pick this subject?
This was a weird one.
You know, a whole sermon against suicide.
I had literally somebody come up to me after the service, and it was a visitor, but the visitor literally said, I attempted suicide, like, a month ago, and I really needed this sermon.
And, you know, and then I had other people emailing me, oh, you know, I was contemplating suicide, and your sermon helped me so much.
And it's just like, you know, you don't know what's out there.
You've got to preach the whole Bible.
It's going to offend people that are guilty, but you don't know what's out there.
So you've got to just preach against all the sins in the Bible just to make sure it's all covered, because wouldn't it be sad if you just never cover fornication?
Oh, everybody knows not to fornicate.
Everybody knows that.
And then a bunch of young people grow up and fornicate, and you just assume that they didn't need that.
Oh, nobody's smoking.
It turns out people are smoking and destroying their lungs, getting along, because their bro's over here smoking pot, and you're thinking, like, surely no one would ever smoke pot.
Yes, they would.
Prescription drugs washed down with a cold beer is happening today in churches, and somebody needs to talk about it.
Somebody needs to call it out.
Somebody needs to preach about it and cover that and not just assume that it's all.
No, we need to preach the whole counsel of God, and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether people like it or enjoy it or if it's fun for them.
What matters is that Christ is pleased with the preaching, because at the end of the day, we answer to Christ.
Christ is the head of the church, and I promise you this, Christ does not want the church to be a den of iniquity.
Christ does not want independent fundamental Baptist churches to be filled with fornication, divorce, drunkenness, drugs, whatever.
He wants us to do the best we can to purge ourselves from these and to clean up our acts as Christians.
And the only way we're going to clean up our act, it's got to start with the Word of God and preaching, and it's got to start.
Judgment's got to begin at the house of God, and we've got to have the hard preaching.
And so I'm thankful for a conference like the Red Hot Preaching Conference, because it's just unabashedly saying this is not ear-tickling, back-scratching, fable preaching.
This is actual red-hot, face-ripping, leather-lung preaching, because that's what we need.
And if it goes a little too far sometimes, here's the thing. It's like the famous motorcyclist said, you don't know how fast you can go until you crash.
So it's like if a preacher is actually red-lining his preaching, every once in a while he's going to go a little over the line.
You know what I'm saying? Every once in a while that word's going to slip out, or he's just going to go a little too far or say something too far, because he's red-lining.
Meanwhile, the guy down at the liberal church is in first gear all the time.
Well, my pastor would never say that. That's because your pastor is on a tricycle, okay?
Our pastor is in a hot rod, pedal to the metal, pulls up on the e-brake, just spinning out, doing all this stuff.
Every once in a while he gets a little dorking, because he's going 100 miles an hour.
Meanwhile, you're like, my pastor, your pastor's like some Sunday grandma driver going 15 in a 30.
Your pastor's going 15 in a 30 with the hazard lights on, just to make sure everybody don't offend anybody here.
Warning, I might talk a little bit about sin in general.
He's got hazard lights. He's just going so slow, right?
Meanwhile, fundamental baptism is like, and then it's like, oh, you got door dinged.
Here's the point. Preaching is going to go, if preaching is red hot preaching, sometimes it's going to be a little over the top.
But you know what? Here's the thing. You know, if it's like, this is where the preaching needs to be and we're like,
everyone's going to go a little over the top and you're just like, that's it, I'm quitting the church.
Just get over it, you big baby. Sit down, shut up and, you know, buckle up and hang on.
This is a big boy church.
OK, you know, but it's just like, oh, you know, if anything gets a little too hard, a little too radical.
Look, man, it's going to happen because nobody's perfect.
People are going to maybe, you know, sometimes I preach sermons and felt like I went just a little too far that time.
And then usually everybody's like, no, you didn't. Keep going.
But I'm thinking like sometimes I'm like, OK, that was a little overboard, you know, every once in a while.
I'm not talking about like any of my main doctrines.
I'm just saying like every once in a while I get a little worked up and just kind of just go a little crazy in a sermon.
But you know what? It's like if you preach a hundred times and you're redlining it every once in a while.
Yeah, you're going to, you know, you're going to, you know, hit the curb every once in a while or whatever.
Big deal. Get over it.
You know. Oh, but then you're going to be the Mr. Safety Baptist.
Right. The parking breaks just always on.
OK. Down at Safety Baptist.
Stay with the man of God.
Stay with preaching.
Stay with this church.
Stay with the hard stuff.
And don't get offended.
Don't be an itching ear person.
Right.
Be the person who can endure sound doctrine.
I even endure it, but but love it.
Yeah, thrive on it.
Seek it out.
Let's find a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this church.
Lord, thank you for sure.
Foundation in Vancouver.
Lord, thank you for sure.
Foundation here in Spokane.
And Lord God, I just pray that we would win a lot of people unto Christ because there are so many people that are unsaved and they need Jesus.
Lord, help us to preach the gospel to them.
But Lord, also help us to call Christians to repentance and to get American Christians fired up about serving you and to get the sin out of our lives and be a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Lord, please just help the Red Hot Preaching Conference, Lord, over the next few days just to have a big impact in the lives of young people and children, Lord, and people that are viewing online.
Just please use that conference in a mighty way, Lord.
Be with all the preachers over the next several days down in Sacramento.
And Lord, just bless us all as we go our separate ways.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You know, the Bible's really clear on salvation. It's not based on how good you are.
A lot of people think they're pretty good, you know, and yeah, they're going to get to heaven because they're pretty good.
But the Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
The Bible says as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
I'm not righteous. You're not righteous.
And if it were our goodness that would get us into heaven, none of us would be going.
Because the Bible even says in Revelation 21, 8, it says,
But the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable, and murderers, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and idolaters, and listen to this,
and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and works done in Jesus' second death.
I've lied before. Everybody's lied before.
So we've all sinned, and we've done stuff worse than lying, let's face it.
We all deserve hell.
you