I think myself happy and so if you're gonna go through life down and and and
gloomy it's really no one's fault but your own because the Bible says rejoice
in the Lord always and again I say rejoice this is the day which the Lord
made we will rejoice and be glad in it that's a choice that you make it's not
just oh I'm happy because everything's going great today and I got a raise and
and you know I got a check in the mail and and you know all my family's in a
good mood and everybody's happy and and the church attendance was great and now
you've got to learn to be happy when you're based and when you bound Paul and
Silas were in the prison singing praises to God they were rejoicing and the Bible
says I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually in my
mouth that's through the good times and the bad and so Paul was a man who
thought himself happy he said in verse 3 especially because I know thee to be
expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews wherefore I
beseech thee to hear me patiently said you know I'm glad to be talking to
somebody who understands the Bible because you're gonna understand
everything that I preached to you right now because you're an expert in the Old
Testament he says in verse 4 my manner of life from my youth which was at the
first among my own nation at Jerusalem know all the Jews which knew me from the
beginning if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our
religion I lived a Pharisee now he lived a very strict religion the Pharisee the
word Pharisee means the separated ones and he lived after the most straightest
sect basically out of all the Pharisees he was in the strictest group but wait a
minute was he on his way to heaven no before he got saved before he believed
on Jesus Christ if he would have died he would have gone to hell he was on his
way to hell even though he did a lot of good things even though he followed the
law of the Old Testament blameless but guess what nobody's totally blameless he
was still a sinner and he was not saved it doesn't matter how strict you are of
your religion it's not gonna get you saved and he lived after the most
straightest sect of Pharisee and says in verse 6 now I stand and am judged for
the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers unto which promise our twelve
tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come for which hopes sake
king Agrippa I am accused of the Jews basically talking about the resurrection
of the dead why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God
should raise the dead now I love that statement because think about it if God
can create the whole world why would it be incredible that he could raise the
dead and this is what blows me away about people who try to attack the
miracles of the Bible they used to have a TV show when I was a teenager
mysteries of the Bible and they shouldn't have been called mysteries of
the Bible it should have been called how to debunk the Bible and the whole show
was just to try to debunk the miracles of the Bible and it showed how they
didn't cross the Red Sea they crossed the Reed Sea and ankle deep or knee deep
water and you know I don't know how Pharaoh drowned in the knee deep water
you know it must have been doing a handstand okay and then they said that you
know there was a cool spot in the fiery furnace I mean they have this computer
generated picture of the fiery furnace showing how there would have been a cool
spot except the Bible says they didn't even smell like smoke the Bible says the
ropes were burned off of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's hand the Bible says
that it was so hot that the guys who threw them into the furnace they died so
I guess they weren't in the cool spot and so it's ridiculous and then they try
to attack and Brother Garrett was telling me that when he was in seminary
at Fuller Seminary they said this professor taught that Jesus was when he
walked on water he wasn't really walking he's walking on an underwater Ridge okay
now wait a minute basically they're calling him a deceiver and a liar but
wait a minute these people they don't even believe that God exists period
because if they really believed in God if they believe that God spoke the whole
world into existence if they believe that God just said let there be light in
the firmament of the heaven I mean they just spoke that one word and all of a
sudden the Sun Moon and stars these massive bodies came into existence
because he spoke it he's the one who formed the first man out of the dust of
the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man
became a living soul how ridiculous is it to say well I don't know if he could
really walk on water though he created water you know I don't know if he could
really heal a blind man you know really it was when he spit into the dirt and
made that clay they put on it was certain chemicals in the clay there that
healed this man's eyesight it's ridiculous and what it shows is that
they don't really believe that Jesus Christ really was the Son of God they
basically just believed that Jesus Christ was a man and he had a lot of
parlor tricks and he did a lot of tricks and walked on it yeah an underwater
ridge to trick the disciples and basically they're calling him a liar and
a deceiver and so Paul is exposing that saying why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you that God should raise the dead he's omnipotent all power
is given unto him he created everything by him all things were made that were
made and so that's a great question in verse 8 there either you believe in an
all-powerful God that can that can do all these miraculous things because he
created everything or what kind of a God do you believe in it doesn't even
make sense and so it says in verse 9 I barely thought with myself that I ought
to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth so he's saying I
started out thinking that I need to fight against Jesus of Nazareth which
thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints did I shut up in prison
talking about believers on Jesus Christ having received authority from the chief
priests and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them and I
punished them often every synagogue and compelled them or forced them he's saying
to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even
under strange cities he's saying I went all the way to Damascus you know to try
to bring them in a foreign city whereupon as I went to Damascus with
authority and Commission from the chief priests at midday Oh King I saw in the
way a light from heaven above the brightness of the Sun shining round
about me and then which journeyed with me and when we were all falling to the
earth I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue Saul
Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks and I said who art thou Lord and he said I'm Jesus whom thou persecute
of course that's the story that we already saw in chapter 9 where Paul's on
the road to Damascus he's going to persecute God's people the light comes
knocks them all down on the ground and he hears that voice that he didn't get
saved at that time but he was basically given an instruction to go unto
Damascus to find a man named Ananias Ananias was the one who basically preached
the gospel unto him he called upon the name of the Lord with Ananias he got
saved immediately got baptized after that and so forth but let's keep
reading because here it gives a little bit more of what God said to him in this
vision than we've gotten in previous accounts but rise and stand upon my feet
for I've appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and a
witness both of these things which thou has seen and of those things in the
which I will appear unto thee delivering me from the people and from the Gentiles
unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to
light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me
now a lot of people look at this and say wait a minute this is different than
what was said unto him back in chapter 9 you know it's a contradiction here why
is the story keep changing well first of all Paul's telling the story years later
but I believe that this is 100% accurate and what's going on here is that Paul is
just giving more detail than what the Bible gave us earlier because some of
the statements are the same and then there's just some additional statements
that God gives us now a lot of times when you're reading Matthew Mark Luke and
John you'll get sermons that are pretty much the same sermon but then you'll
look at it and one of them will have totally different statements in it or
saying things in a slightly different way and so some people will look at that
and they'll say well you know the Bible has given us kind of roughly a vague
idea of what Jesus said that's why it's a little different in Matthew a little
different in Mark a little different in Luke no that's not what's going on
because think about it the Sermon on the mouth for example really famous sermon
chapters five six and seven of Matthew how long would it take you to read those
chapters those three chapters out loud probably about 15 minutes okay does that
sound about right so I mean if Jesus Christ if that's all he preached on the
mouth that day the Sermon on the mouth do you really think he only preached for 15
minutes and when you stop and look at it there were all kinds of times when Jesus
preached and he preached for hours and he preached all day and he preached for
days on end remember that after three days he fed the five thousand after
three days of preaching to them so what you have to understand that for three
and a half years Jesus was preaching and speaking God's Word all day every day
and so a tiny tiny percentage of that is what we have written in the Bible right
because we only have 15 minutes of that sermon so when you see something
different in Mark and different in Luke and different in Matthew it's not that
they're wrong guess what it's two different statements he said both I mean
if you were to take my preaching over the last five and a half years that I've
passed through faith for Baptist Church you're gonna find themes that I've
repeated now most of my you know each sermon is different than the last you
know I preach 800 some sermons they're all different they're all dramatically
different point of but there are going to be certain portions of each sermon
and certain things that are repetitious they're in every sermon there are going
to be new things and old things and so over the course of five years you could
take parts of this sermon and parts this or and compare and find a lot of the
same statements the same things may be worded just a little bit differently and
that's what you see here so don't be disturbed when you see a difference it's
two different sermons or it's two different parts of the same sermon
different parts of a let's say a three hour sermon boiled down to 15 minutes or
something you're gonna come up with different parts and the Bible God in his
infinite wisdom was emphasizing a different part in the book of Matthew
emphasizing a different part in the book of Luke emphasizing a part of the
book of John now people will say well is there more scripture a lot of people say
you know that there's this Gospel of Thomas and there's this other gospel of
Bartholomew you know these missing books about no I don't believe in that there's
a lot of fraudulent stuff out there a lot of you know imposters that would try
to seem like God's Word we have the four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John
that's all we need that's all God has given to us that's all there is that's
all that exists these other books are fraudulent and it's amazing whenever you
look at these other books you know the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of
Bartholomew they totally contradict the rest of the Bible they contain heresy
because they're people that are trying to add to God's Word now you say well
wait a minute Pastor Anderson Jesus Christ lived on this earth for 33 years
didn't he say a lot of things that are not written in the book here didn't he
do a lot of things that are not written yes the book of John says that if
everything were written down the world itself couldn't contain all the books of
what Jesus said and did but you got to remember that Jesus Christ was both God
in the flesh and he was a human being right he was 100% God we're not taking
away from his deity at all he was in the beginning with God he was God he existed
before this world ever began he became flesh in Bethlehem's manger or even
before that when he was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of Mary but he
had already existed long before that we know that he's co-equal with God he is
God in the flesh but he was also human member he wrote he took upon himself the
form of a man he even said that he didn't know the time of the second
coming because in his human form he took upon himself limitations of man and so
everything that came out of Jesus Christ's mouth was not necessarily God's
word some of it was just him speaking as a man you know it's you know perhaps
sitting at the table you know past the past the bread or something you know
what I mean and that's not in the Bible okay so he preached he spoke as man and
he also spoke God's Word of course the Bible said of Jesus Christ for he whom
God had said speaking of Jesus speaketh the words of God and God giveth not the
spirit by measure unto him so he was the perfect man tempted at all points like
as we are yet without sin totally filled with the Holy Spirit totally
sinless totally walking you know in perfection but he was man he was God and
he was man and so just because Jesus said things that aren't in the Bible
don't make that bother you that there's some other God's Word some other book
that we need or or it's up in heaven we'll read it when we get there or
something this is I believe this is the whole thing right here don't add to
God's Word and so back to where we were here we see that we get a little more
detail of what Jesus Christ is telling Paul and he's telling them right away
that he's going to be going to the Gentiles he's going to be spending most
of his life not preaching to the Jews but preaching the general you see God's
plan was for Paul to preach to the Gentiles and for Peter and a lot of the
other Apostles to preach unto the Jews but you see the problem with Paul is
that what got him into this whole mess that he's in where he got arrested is he
decided to leave preach to the Gentiles and he just really wanted to go preach
to the Jews he just really wanted to go back to Jerusalem and God told him don't
go to Jerusalem you're going to get arrested you're going to get thrown in
jail you're going to be and he just said I don't want you to do it and he sent
him different prophets to tell him that but he in his own will just wanted to go
there and you know what lesson we should take from that it really doesn't matter
what group we're bringing the gospel to Paul was so fixated upon giving the
gospel to the Jews but in reality the Gentiles are just as important as the
Jews you know if God told Paul to preach unto the Gentiles and we see that here
that that's God's plan for his life spelled out to him I'm going to take you
far from hence far away to preach to the Gentiles that's your life's work that
should have been good enough for me should have just stuck with that instead
of thing why I want to give it to this specific group of you you know what we
need to just give the gospel to everybody and given the gospel to a
Gentile is no less than giving it to a Jew given the gospel to a black man is
no less important than give it to a white man or you know a Navajo versus
white man but some people they want to just focus on a specific group instead
of just preaching the gospel to everybody and Paul should have just said
okay I'll go far from hence like you told me I'll give the gospel to the Jew
I'll give it to the Gentile anyone I'll testify both to Jews and Greeks as what
it says later in the chapter I'm gonna preach to everybody but instead he had
this fixation where he just wanted to risk everything and disobey God just
because he wanted so badly to preach in Jerusalem to the Jews when those were
the least receptive people nobody we don't see anybody getting saved in that
scenario where he went back and did that thing in the temple I didn't see anybody
get saved they just screamed at him and arrested them and all that and so we
shouldn't put one group of people and value them higher than another you know
I think it's more important to reach this group than the other group let's
just get the gospel to everybody and God has made all nations of the earth of one
blood and they're all just as important unto him so he says in verse number 18
to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me so faith in Jesus Christ
is what gets us forgiveness of sins according that verse faith in Jesus
Christ is what gets us an inheritance among them that are sanctified the Bible
says that we have an inheritance in heaven that faded not away that's
incorruptible and that comes through faith in Christ we're saved by faith the
Bible says in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of
sins being saved means having your sins forgiven it means that you believe on
Jesus Christ look at verse 19 whereupon O King Agrippa I was not disobedient
under the heavenly vision but showed first unto them at Damascus and
Jerusalem and throughout all the coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that
they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance for these
causes the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me now a lot of
people take verse 20 and twist it from what it actually says now look at it
because that you know the people who try to say that believing our Christ is not
enough but that you also have to repent of your sins to be saved and if you
don't do works you're not saved well the Bible is clear that there's no works
involved at all with salvation except the work that Jesus Christ already did
on the cross the Bible says but to him that worketh not but believeth on him
that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness and you know
we could go on and on but the verse that I always like to point out to people
whenever I'm out soul winning and people are struggling with this concept well
you got to do more than believe you know where I always come back to is John 3 16
and the reason why I come back to that is because where it says that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and I say to them
if there's one person on this whole earth who believes on Jesus Christ and
then they perish well then that verse is lying you know and you could go to other
verses too that say that whosoever believeth in him you know he that
believeth on me as everlasting life if any man hear my word you know and
believe on him that sent me whosoever heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life if there's one guy who hears his word and believes
on him that sent me and doesn't have everlasting life then it wasn't really
whosoever and that means that God lied and God cannot lie and so you gotta
understand that if there's one person in the whole world who believes on Jesus
Christ their Savior and they're somehow not saved because they didn't repent of
their sins or because they didn't get baptized or because they didn't join a
church or wherever then that would make God's promise a lie and I've even heard
these preachers I've heard independent fundamental baptists say well you know this guy
believed but it wasn't enough because he didn't repent of his sins well then John
3 16 lied John 3 15 lied in fact John 3 18 lied in fact John 3 36 lied that's
just one chapter and we could go all through the Bible and show how many
places that show that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life and so they'll try to bring this in and sometimes they'll
say this well but the people who believe they're automatically gonna have the
works you know anybody who really believes gonna have the works then why
does the Bible say faith without works is dead if faith is always accompanied
by works I was at a funeral with you brother Secchi remember and the pastor
got up and said you know faith is always accompanied by works and works is always
coming you know you can't separate the two they go hand in glove you can't have
the one without the other well guess what there are a lot of people have
works without faith and guess what faith without works is dead which means that
there are people who have faith without works okay and so to sit there and say
well faith always is a coming then why does it say but to him that worketh not
but believeth so you can believe and still not have works you know and the
Bible says his faith is counted for righteousness even as David also
described the blesses of the man who God imputed righteousness without works
saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin and that's without works
so with all that in mind you've already got all that in mind look what it says
in verse 20 because this is their big proof text you know to show you that you
have to repent ever says but it says this that he preached in all these
different places that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for
repentance okay now let me ask you something should people repent and turn
to God should they do works of course should I do good works okay should I be
baptized should I read my Bible every day should I pray should I keep God's
commandments should I live a good life should I give to the poor should I help
my neighbor should I love my neighbor as myself should I honor my father and
mother should I love my wife should I love my children should I go to work but
what must I do to be saved believe there's a lot of things that I should do
but there's only one thing I must do to be saved believe now after I believed in
Christ there are a lot of things I should do that's why it says in the
peace to a net for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of
yourselves it is the gift of God not of works but say man suppose for we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus on two good works which God had before
ordained that we should walk in them so he says salvation is by faith without
works but he says there are works that we should be doing we should do works he
says they should repent and turn to God first of all that's not repenting of
your sins that the repentance there the turning there is to turn to God from
idols to turn from idols and false gods to the living and true God we've seen
that throughout the book of Acts we see on 1st Thessalonians 110 and then the
other thing is that they should do works meet for repentance now what is meat for
repentance me well you remember when God created Adam and Eve first he created
Adam and then he had Adam naming all the animals and then Adam was trying to find
a help that was meat for him God wanted a help and a companion for Adam because
it's not good for the man to be alone I will make and help meet for him okay
what does meet me it basically means suitable for him or fitting to him or
appropriate for him okay does that make sense basically you know a lion was not
an appropriate companion for Adam that was not an appropriate helper you know
if that's getting you know and people have pets you know they've got their dog
and so but they don't have the same bond with an animal you know you can't
you know you sit there you know you try to have a conversation with your dog and
say yeah it's gonna get it's kind of a one-way conversation real fast what do
you think about that so you say you know I need a help that's meat for him so
basically go to go to Titus chapter 2 keep your finger here in Acts but just
quickly go to Titus 2 it says in verse number 9 this is Titus 2 9 it says
exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them
well in all things not answering again that means like not talking back not
purloining purloining means stealing but showing all good fidelity watch this
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things for the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men what brings us
salvation the grace of God the Bible says by grace are you saved through
faith grace is something that we don't deserve right God's grace brings us
salvation through faith teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we
what should not must in order to be saved but we should live soberly
righteously and godly in this present world okay so go back to Acts 26 God's
saying that salvation is by grace salvation is by faith but there are
other things that we should do to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all
things as an adornment okay the Bible says we should have good works the Bible
says you know let your light so shine before men that they may see your good
works and glorify your father which is in heaven and so good works are
something that adorns the gospel good works are something that is I mean okay
meet do works meet for repentance for what for the repentance of turning to
God okay works that are appropriate to that for example if I believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior I should go to church I should get baptized I
should read my Bible those are the things that are meet for a Christian to
be doing that are appropriate for a Christian to be doing that fit how a
Christian should live their life now worldly unsaved people are gonna live
according to this world and that fits them okay it fits for an unsaved
ungodly person to go hang out at the bar I mean they fit in there you know they
fit right in but see for a person who's a believer in Jesus Christ they shouldn't
fit in there they don't belong in that world anymore they are more suited or
appropriate or fitting to be at church you know to be around other believers
to be out soul winning than to be out drinking at a bar now are there saved
Christians who go out drinking at bars absolutely but it's not the right place
for them to be they're a child of God they're a child of the king they should
not be over there you know with the world with the unsaved palling around
being a friend of the world you see there are works that are meet for
repentance John the Baptist said the same thing bring forth works meet for
repentance okay bring forth works that would be suitable for a Christian to do
for a believer in Christ to do so don't mix this up and say well it's required
for salvation that's not what it says the Bible says what my one time what
must I do to be saved believe earlier in this book acts 2 30 days and men and
brethren what shall we do not what must we do just what shall we do and he tells
them repent be baptized they of course we should be baptized of course we
should do works of course we should live a good life but guess what nobody's
gonna do all the works perfectly there's none right just know not one and so what
must we do to be saved God made it easy for us his belief so don't let people
whenever people try to show you a verse like this stop or read what the verse is
actually saying hey they should repent does it say that they have to to be
saved does even mention anything about being saved in that verse does even say
this is how to be saved this is salvation no it's just saying that they
should do works and they should and we should for these causes the Jews caught
me in the temple and went about to kill me because he went around and preaching
the gospel to all these Gentiles and also preaching that they should do works
see Paul didn't preach just salvation and then go to the next town he would
preach the gospel he would get people saved but then he would spend maybe a
year and a half as in I believe Ephesus spend months here weeks there confirming
the souls and preaching to them the works that they should do just like when
you come to church on Sunday and Wednesday you're not just hearing
salvation every time you're hearing about all the works we should be doing
look what it says in verse number 22 having therefore obtained help of God I
continue unto this day witnessing both to small and great saying none other
things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come okay what did
Moses and the prophets say should come see that colon he's gonna tell us now
what Moses and the prophets said should come that Christ should suffer and that
he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should show light
unto the people and to the Gentiles that means you can find that stuff in the Old
Testament all the things listed there that's taught both in the Pentateuch the
first five books of Moses and all the prophets that's why it said in Acts 10
43 to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believe
it in him shall receive remission of sense keep reading it says in verse 24
and as he thus spake for himself so he's in the middle of preaching Festus said
with a loud voice so here's the governor of the whole country Agrippa has said
to Paul not Festus Agrippa said to Paul okay Paul you can answer for yourself so
Festus and Agrippa are sitting back and listening to Paul preach about all the
things we just read all of a sudden Festus just blurts out I mean that kind
of weird he just blurts out Paul thou art beside thyself much learning
does make thee mad now basically what he's saying is Paul you're crazy you've
lost your mind that would be putting in today's vernacular because he's because
thou art beside thyself basically means like you're you're you're you're off you
know you're crazy you're out of your mind right now and he's basically saying
that he's much learning has made him insane like you but he could tell he was
very educated but he said all of your education has driven you to insanity
we were out soul winning I can't remember who I was with I think I was
with Joshua we're out soul winning about a month ago and we ran this guy and he
said you know I heard that if you if you read the whole Bible cover to cover it's
gonna drive you insane I said I've heard of people going insane from reading the
Bible who's ever heard that before you heard that more I guess this is still
around like 2,000 people saying this if you read the Bible too much you're gonna
go nuts I told him I said well I must have gone nuts a long time ago then
because I've read it cover to cover many many many times I said I think I've
completely lost my mind and I said actually I look around and I feel like
this world has lost their mind because they didn't read the Bible but that's
what they accuse him of they say like you're insane you're crazy
did he say anything that was that weird what did he say I mean all he said was
that Jesus you know died and rose again and he's gonna preach that to the
Gentiles and all of a sudden Festus starts yelling that he's insane now
watch what happens next but he said I am NOT mad and he didn't mean mad like
angry this is mad like nuts like crazy like a madman but he said I'm not mad
most noble Festus but speak forth the words of truth and soberness for the
king knoweth of these things so now he points to a grip on says he knows that
what I'm telling is the truth for the king knows of these things before whom
also I speak freely for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden
from him for this thing was not done in a corner
King Agrippa believeth out of the prophets I know that thou believeth so
he's pinning down Agrippa now he's saying Agrippa tell me right now do you
believe the Bible or not do you believe the prophets and he said I know you
believe it I know that believeth now look think put yourself in Agrippa's
place here Agrippa is sitting next to the Roman governor that's in charge of
the whole province the Roman governor just said that you're insane you're out
of your mind you're crazy this is stupid and now Paul's pinning him down
so whose side are you on Agrippa do you think I'm insane too or do you believe
the Bible so Agrippa here I mean because a lot of people will say you know
because he said almost you know and obviously almost isn't enough to get you
to have it is it but really Agrippa is really stepping out on a limb here
because this you know his boss or his guy right here just pretty much said
that everything is being said is insanity so even for him to say almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian that's just probably looked at my huh
are you serious and so he says almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian I
don't know did King Agrippa get saved later I hope so but almost isn't gonna
get you there unfortunately the Bible says if thou believeth with all thine
heart thou mayest and so he wasn't quite there but he was close I hope he got
saved hopefully we'll see him in heaven we don't know but Festus probably not so
much he probably didn't ever get saved because he pretty much just blew it off
and so he said Agrippa believeth thou the prophets I know that thou believeth
now here's what else I see going on here people will often criticize a soul
winner who really tries hard to get somebody saved say oh you're
confrontational soul winning you're you know this aggressive soul winning good
amen praise God for confrontational aggressive soul winning I mean this is
aggressive here where he says believeth thou the prophets he didn't just stop
there he said I know that thou believeth he's trying to persuade him to be saved
because did you notice what he said almost thou persuadest me to be a
Christian so what's Paul doing he's trying to persuade him now let me give
you a perfect example of this what when we out so winning two days ago to my
hair three days it was a Saturday we're also winning on Saturday brother Garrett
and I and we knock on this guy's door and you know I give him the gospel it
was Saturday Sunday I don't know it all blends in after a while but I think it
was Saturday we knock on this guys to get this guy's door and I give him the
gospel and I asked him if he believed it you know do you believe this you believe
what I've preached unto you for the last 15 minutes or whatever and he said you
know he said I'm not sure I don't know and then I explained to him I said well
you know what I said you know you got to believe something you know some
something's out there and I and I explained to him out you know God created
this world and and I basically said this to him I said you know what I said God
here is commanding you to believe the gospel you know and I said you have a
choice right now you can be saved right now you know right now you're saying
I'm not sure I said that's not enough to get you to heaven you've got to
believe you got to put all your faith on Christ but I said you can do that right
now I said are you and I you know I said a bunch of other things to him to
persuade him and then I basically said to him are you willing to take that step
right now and just step out in faith and put all of your faith on Jesus right now
are you willing to just believe the Bible and believe what it says and he
said yes I will do that and I said okay let's pray right now I'm gonna help you
call upon Jesus Christ right now to save you and that's what he did and I've
been out solely with somebody one time that just happened on Saturday and then
and the guy truly got saved I mean he truly believed it he was on the fence
about it but then I persuaded him and I wasn't just trying to get him to pray I
was trying to persuade him to believe I'm not trying to persuade him to pray a
prayer with me because just saying words with me isn't gonna get him saved he's
gonna believe with all his heart but I tried to persuade him to believe and I
succeeded at persuading him to believe on Christ but let me tell you story
going back years I'm out soul winning with somebody and this person was kind
of a critical person of soul winning and this person standing next to me while I
give the gospel to somebody and I go through the whole thing and you know
pretty much the same thing the guy just said I don't know I don't I don't
necessarily believe that so I preached to him and said you know what if you
don't believe it you're gonna go to hell you know and I explained to him how
all the other religions of this world are a fraud and how God created the
world and you've got to put your faith on Jesus Christ and I preached him for
another like 10 minutes and I said are you willing to step out in faith right
now and place all of your faith on Jesus Christ and and just forget everything
else and just put all your faith and believe the Bible and believe what says
and he said yes I will be saved yes I'm gonna get saved right now okay and
basically I bowed my head with them he prayed and and received Christ his
Savior he called upon the name of Lord and you know what that person later went
around bad-bouthing me saying this this guy said he didn't believe and then
pastor Anderson just said pray with me anyway now that's a lie I spent another
10 minutes preaching to him and telling him oh you don't believe well then change
what you believe or go to hell change what you believe so that you could be
saved and go to heaven and it's just the stupid Calvinist mentality where it's
like if I don't show up at the door and you just already believe it you know
after the first time through and you just oh yeah I totally believe that okay
well then probably you know if they don't believe it they need to change
what they believe and so I'm not gonna sit there and just say oh you know oh
you don't believe it okay well see now a lot of times that's how it's gonna end
up right it's you know most people when you get there if they don't believe it
and they say I don't believe the Bible most people are not gonna change on that
right but does that mean we shouldn't even try to change them does that mean
we should just walk away and just say oh well too bad you know you know if
somebody's open to it you know try to persuade them and I'm not ashamed of
that tonight I'm not gonna sit here and say well I just want to just show up and
just you know find the one that's ready-made you know the guy who is
already 99% there you know he already believes a lot of it he's heard a lot of
it but he just hasn't ever put it all together and been saved he's just
missing a few pieces of the puzzle I'm just gonna go and just reap that harvest
that's already been sown that's already been what you know what sometimes you go
and you work a little harder and you convince somebody to get saved because
guess what salvation is it's a person changing what they believe so why can't
that change take place as you're preaching to somebody as you're talking
to somebody you see what I'm saying and so to sit there and say well you know
well he said he didn't believe it and then you just talked him into it yeah I
talked him into believing on Christ because that's my job that's the whole
point of soul winning it's the whole point but people don't get it it's
because they're not a real soul winner anyway that's why they don't get it
turned out later that person wasn't even saved and later I later I got them saved
literally I'm not kidding a few months later I won that person to Christ that
critic of soul because it turned out they weren't even saved they were they
were trusting and work salvation and I prayed with them after I changed what
they believed but you know the critics of soul winning are always gonna attack
you for being too aggressive and being confrontational and you know we ought to
be really nice and I'm always nice I try to be nice and kind with you I wasn't
rude or anything but I just I'm just lovingly trying to beg people to get
saved you know I've said it before I'll get on my knees and beg somebody to be
saved but I won't get on my knees and bake somebody to come to church because
I you know that's their problem if they don't want to come to church but you
know what when it comes to being saved man I'll beg people to get saved I'll
plead with them to be saved I won't beg anybody if somebody doesn't want to come
to church I'd say all right see ya but you know what I'll beg somebody to get
saved I'll persuade them to get saved let's keep going whoa just about done
with the sermon here let's just blow through these last few verses Paul said
I would to God that not only thou but also all that hear me this day were both
almost and altogether such as I am except these bonds you know he said I
wish you were totally like me except that you weren't chained up like I'm
chained up I think he's just kind of kidding they're throwing that in at the
end you know that'd be great if you were just in my exact position except that
you weren't in jail like I am and when he had thus spoken the king rose up and
the governor and Bernice II and they that sat with them and when they were
gone aside they talked between themselves saying this man do it nothing
worthy of death or bonds so even Festus even though Festus thinks he's crazy he
still said well it's not against the law to be crazy though you know so it's not
like he's done anything worthy of death or of bonds then said Agrippa and the
Festus this man might have been said of Liberty if he had not appealed unto
Caesar of course he didn't know the story that if he hadn't have appealed
unto Caesar he would have been jumped on his way back to Jerusalem and killed he
might have been killed if he didn't appeal unto Caesar let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word tonight
interesting chapter dear God and help us to be a soul winner dear God help us to
be like the Apostle Paul and to try to persuade people to be saved to preach
the with power like Paul did and have the results that he had and father I
just thank you for your chance to look within your word bless us now as we go
our separate ways and in Jesus name we pray amen