men well we're getting down to the end here of the book of Ezekiel and we're in
this section describing the return from Babylon that's what the sections about
we've been talking about it for many weeks of course we had a gap there for
the mega conference but chapters 40 through 48 are talking about what things
are supposed to be like when they return from Babylon of course we've talked a
lot about how the Judaizers and the Zionists and a lot of pre-tribbers and
dispensationalism people will try to teach this bizarre interpretation that
we're talking about the millennial reign of Christ which is absurd because of the
fact that this is squarely situated within the Old Testament paradigm I mean
as we're reading this we just read it just now you feel like you're reading
something out of Leviticus or something out of Deuteronomy or something that's
the genre because there are all kinds of animal sacrifices burnt offerings and so
on and so forth those things are done away in Christ and they're done away
once for all we're not just in some little temporary pause on animal
sacrifices it's over it's done and God's program does not move backwards it moves
forward and we're not going to somehow revert back to the Old Testament now
that's what the Antichrist wants you to think because the Antichrist is going to
be a big-time Judaizer and the spirit of Antichrist according to scripture is the
spirit that denies that Jesus is the Messiah which is of the synagogue of
Satan right that's another sermon but I just wanted to kind of refresh your
memory kind of mentally put you where we are in the chapter here so it says in
verse 1 of chapter 46 does say at the Lord God the gate of the inner court
that look at toward the east shall be shut the six working days but on the
Sabbath it shall be opened and in the day of the new moon it shall be open
and again remember the new the New Testament tells us to avoid these things
you know we're not supposed to worry about the new moons and the Sabbaths and
the Holy Days the meats and the drinks those were a figure for the time then
present those were imposed on them only on the Old Covenant okay and then it
says the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without and
shall stand by the post of the gate and the priest shall prepare his burnt
offerings and his peace offerings and he shall worship at the threshold of the
gate then he shall go forth but the gate shall not be shut until the evening so
it goes on and on about these different rules we already read it together about
the meat offering and the burnt offering and so forth I want to just really focus
in on a couple of verses here let's start with verse number nine it says in
verse number nine but when the people of the land shall come before the Lord
in the solemn feast he that enterth in by the way of the North Gate to worship
shall go out by the way of the South Gate and he didn't enter thin by the way
of the South Gate struggle forth by the way of the North Gate he shall not
return by the way of the gate whereby he came in but shall go forth over against
it and the priest or excuse me the prince in the midst of them when they go
in shall go in and when they go forth shall go forth what's he saying here
well obviously we have our four cardinal directions we've got north south east
west and if you remember the East Gate no one goes in and out through the East
Gate that's the gate whereby the Lord entered and so it remains shut on the
six working days it's open on the Sabbath it's reserved for the Lord the
prince of the people meaning the ruler governor king whatever he actually goes
through the porch on that east side he goes in and out the same way but
everybody else is supposed to either enter through the South Gate or the
North Gate but what the Bible said is that if they enter in through the South
Gate they're supposed to exit through the North Gate and if they enter through
the North Gate they're supposed to exit through the South Gate meaning you don't
enter an exit by the same gate you say what in the world does that matter well
all of these things are symbolic right obviously there's a literal aspect but
then there's a symbolism and I believe that the symbolism here is that when we
go to the house of the Lord we are not supposed to leave the same way that we
came in we are supposed to change it's supposed to be a place that changes our
direction changes who we are we leave differently than we came in now if you
would go to Romans chapter number 12 Romans chapter number 12 you see we as
Christians are supposed to be different than unsaved people we're supposed to
live our lives differently we're supposed to change as a result of being
saved and coming to church and hearing the preaching of God's Word the Bible
famously says that if any man be in Christ he's a new creature old things
are passed away behold all things are become new look at your Bible there in
Romans chapter 12 verse 1 the Bible reads I beseech you therefore brethren
by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy
acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed
to this world what does that mean don't be patterned after this world don't be
just like the people of this world that aren't saved rather be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God now think about what does it mean to be transformed it
means that you are changed into someone new right think about a transformation
of a caterpillar into a butterfly right it changes into something different and
God is saying that our minds should be renewed through God's Word because we're
saved because the Holy Spirit lives inside us and we hear the preaching of
God's Word that should transform us that should change us so that we are
different than we used to be and therefore we are different than the
people around us in this world and God's house is instrumental in that change
because the preaching of God's Word is designed to edify the body of Christ to
build up the body of Christ and to bring about unity because we all learn the
Bible we all learn what God's will is and then we can prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God and a lot of those things are learned at
church we come together at church so that we can be changed but today what a
lot of people are looking for is a church that just already fits who they
are right now and they don't want to change they don't want to change what
they believe they don't want to change anything about their life they just want
to go somewhere that just affirms what they already believe and what they're
already doing and this is not the purpose of church go if you would to
second Timothy chapter 4 you know sometimes people would say like well I
don't agree with you on everything Pastor Anderson well that's why you need
to be here you know if you already agreed with me on everything then you
know what do you need to listen to me for it sounds like you've already got it
all figured out you know and and it's like we're on the same page folks and
I'm not saying that I'm right about everything but I'm right on some stuff
okay that hopefully I can get you right on some stuff that's the whole point
okay of being in church is for me to get up and preach the truth from God's Word
and to try to correct things that are wrong in the flocks understanding and
again I'm not saying that I'm perfect I could be corrected by a church member
it could flow the other way as well but in general typically in a church the
pastor is called the elder because he's usually been saved for a long time he's
supposed to have been saved for a long time knows the Bible really well and is
able to teach and expound scripture to people that maybe are less experienced
or don't know the Bible as well and if they're gonna be exceptions that they're
gonna be people in the church they've been saved for 40 years and so they're
not really gonna need as much correction but what about the guy who got saved
last week you know what about the guy who got saved a year ago it's probably
got a lot to learn and I know that when I was growing up there were a lot of
things that I was wrong about and I would go to church and the pastor would
straighten me out on stuff that's part of the experience of going to church is
getting corrected you say well I don't think that's a good way to look at it
but this is what the Bible says because the Bible actually says that preaching
is supposed to do that very thing did I have you turn to 2nd Timothy 4 ok so
yeah in 2nd Timothy 4 but before we get there I want to touch on something from
2nd Timothy 3 first at the end of 2nd Timothy 3 it says all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable now before we read the rest of that
let's jump to verse 17 that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished
unto all good works so the context of verse 16 is that the man of God is going
to use the Word of God to do the work of God ok so what is the work that the man
of God is furnished to do look at verse 16 again now all scriptures given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine right so the pastor the man of
God is supposed to lay down doctrine teaching reproof correction instruction
and righteousness do you see those things listed there it says that it's
profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and
righteousness so therefore the church is a place where the man of God preaches
things that correct Christians right it's my job to reprove to correct also
to instruct also to lay down doctrine but the point is that you should be
willing to be corrected by the preaching of God's Word and to have an open mind
about being corrected when you hear something preached from the Bible that
if it doesn't line up with what you used to believe you're ready to actually say
okay if that's what the Bible says I'm gonna change what I believe about that
I'm gonna go with what's being preached from the Bible because it it's in the
Bible and again obviously you should search the scripture daily whether the
things that I'm preaching are so and not blindly accept what I have to say but
you should be ready to be corrected by the preaching you know there are a lot
of people out there that are just kind of floating around the independent
fundamental Baptist world and they're the kind of people that call the church
and they want the church just line up on every little pet doctrine that they have
they call the church and just want the church just line up on every little
thing because they're not interested in learning anything or changing anything
that they believe they just want to go to a place that just affirms them on
what they already believe and what they're already doing and they're just
looking for a church that fits them when in reality a lot of people in the
independent fundamental Baptist world are wrong on a bunch of the things that
they would call us up and ask us about and so they need to get have a little
more of an open mind about maybe getting under the preaching of God's Word at a
church that's a soul winning church that's a Bible preaching church that's a
happen in church and get in there and sit down and listen to what the Word of
God has to say and maybe keep an open mind maybe they're wrong about the Jews
maybe they're wrong about end times prophecy you know maybe they're wrong on
some of their views about these things and actually be ready to learn we as
Christians need to always be learning okay fools despise wisdom and
instruction a wise man will hear and will increase learning and part of
learning is replacing your wrong ideas with a right idea that's part of what
learning is you know I recently said that when I was on the road trip and I
was preparing those sermons on the twelve tribes of Israel the twelve sons
of Jacob that all I learned so much I learned a ton when I was writing the
sermon on Reuben I learned a ton when I was writing the sermon on Levi I learned
a ton and and I made that statement but you know what's implicit in that
statement is that I must have had some misconceptions about some of those
stories you know what I mean and I had a little bit of a wrong understanding
about some of those stories and then I learned more meaning that actually I was
able to get some aspects of the story right now sometimes learning is just you
know adding a brand new fact but often learning is replacing a wrong idea with
with the right idea isn't it because we're not all just this blank sheet of
paper we're not all just this just empty vessel ready to receive knowledge you
know our minds are filled with ideas and a lot of those ideas are right and a lot
of those ideas are wrong and so yeah sometimes learning is just there's an
empty slot and we stick some knowledge in there but a lot of times there's
something wrong in that slot we need to take it out take out the pre-trib
rapture and stick the post-trib rapture in there does everybody understand what
I'm saying that's a type of learning you know I'm learning constantly I'm
constantly studying my Bible reading learning about the Word of God and just
learning about life and just learning things out there in the world and so
therefore in the process of that learning I get corrected and I get up
here and I preach three times a week and I hope that my sermons are able to
correct some wrong ideas and some wrong thoughts and wrong beliefs that are out
there because let's face it the Christian world is filled with error and
people have a lot of weird ideas and a lot of wrong ideas and so you know
hopefully the church is a place where you walk in and you learn and you walk
out a little different than you walked in and maybe your understanding is a
little different and you can get corrected on some things you can learn
some new things and also get some corrected on some things that you
thought you knew that you're actually wrong about okay and unfortunately we
live in a generation that never wants to admit that they're wrong about anything
ever even when they're just proven wrong even when it's right in front of them
they'll just be so stubborn and you know what stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry that's what the Bible says the Bible says rebellion is is the sin of
witchcraft and stubbornness is an as iniquity and idolatry so you know just
stubbornly hanging on to a wrong belief when the Bible says that you're wrong
that's wickedness to be stubborn like that so be willing to change now for a
long time the mantra of the independent fundamental Baptist has been we're not
gonna change don't change don't change we're never gonna change and I get what
they're saying they don't want to be you know changing with the times they don't
want to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine they don't want to just
go the way of this world as it gets weirder and weirder amen I get that but
at the same time you know what there are some changes that we all need to make
all the time and and we need to be willing I need to be willing to change
you need to be willing to change and we don't want to be given to change we
don't want to be the type of person that's given to change meaning that you
know we're just like changing for the sake of changing or that we change
easily or that we're just tossed to and fro but there's no way that you are
right about everything there's no way that I'm right about everything and so
we need to be willing to learn and I am NOT willing to just lock in the beliefs
of the independent fundamental Baptist from the 1960s or 80s or whenever and
just say that that's now what we all have to believe for the rest of our lives
because brother so-and-so who died 20 years ago or pastor so-and-so who died
30 years ago that's what he stood for bless God we've got to stay by that you
know no I'm not willing to just lock in that understanding because there's no
way that whoever that guy was that he was right about everything and so we
need to be willing to keep learning you know and this is what cracks me up too
about those that are reformed Baptist where they have the 1689 London Baptist
confession you know well that's a great view of what those people believed back
then in 1689 but to sit there and just be married to that and say well this is
what we still believe in 2022 and we believe every word of it and we're not
going to change any of it the thing needs an update for crying out loud okay
I mean the thing is is it has a lot of great chapters but a lot of things that
are just dead wrong it teaches Calvinism which we don't believe in obviously and
so forth and so but my point is you know let's say that the thing was not
Calvinistic and let's say it was like an independent fundamental Baptist type
slant or something you know I still don't want it because I don't want to be
locked in to some document other than the Bible you know the Bible is the
document that's locked in like this is locked in everything else is up for
grabs my friend except this this is not up for grabs the entire Word of God and
look we got 31,000 verses here that's enough to keep us anchored now a lot of
people think that we need some kind of a confession of faith or some kind of a
doctrinal statement that's just set in stone and locked in to somehow anchor us
and keep us from drifting but last time I checked this is the anchor last time I
checked we have an anchor right here and I didn't think that was about a
man-made document I thought it was about the Word of God this is the rock this is
the anchor this is the thing that doesn't change everything else can
change everything else is up for grabs except this and so we don't want to have
well and this and it's not like the 1689 Baptist confession is just like some you
know one-page list of the core beliefs of Christianity that are never going to
change because obviously yeah certain things yeah they're they're obviously
locked in you know salvation by faith the Trinity the deity of Christ I mean
obviously duh but I mean these these Baptist confession or Presbyterian
confession they're like a book it's literally a book so there's it they're
given their opinion on everything and a lot of it's just totally wrong not even
just the Calvinist stuff there's other stuff in that book that's just it's just
wrong it's just totally wrong it's telling you about that it's okay for you
to swear oaths and and make vows and you know Jesus said swear not at all you
know so that that chapter is wrong that was it that was easy you know and of
course they have other ways to justify you know ignoring that teaching of
Christ but no we are not to swear at all you know that's why whenever anybody
wants me to swear at anything that I say well I affirm that that's why it even
says in the Constitution that warrants are issued upon oath or affirmation the
reason it says oath or affirmation is because some people are religiously
opposed to oaths like moi okay I'm opposed to oaths because Jesus said
swear not at all but above all things my brethren swear not okay somebody got
that wrong back there didn't they it's just an example but just because some
statement of faith somewhere says oh Jesus can return at any moment and the
rapture is before the tribulation that's not what the Bible says in Matthew 24
that's not what the Bible says in 2nd Thessalonians 2 1 through 4 change it
get rid of it also these type of statements of faith need to change with
the times because each time has its own challenges you know we're facing the
challenge with the sodomites and the homos that wasn't even on their radar
back when a lot of these statements of faith were written you know hey we need
an update on that sucker to deal with what we're dealing with to send a clear
message to this world where we stand on that subject and so therefore we as
Christians need to be willing to change look what the Bible says in 2nd Timothy
chapter 4 verse 1 I charge thee therefore before God you know you just
finished saying hey the Word of God is to correct it's you know it's it's it's
it's inspired by God but it says I charge thee therefore before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead is appearing in his
kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove what does
reprove mean tell people that they're wrong rebuke what does that mean tell
people that they're really wrong exhort what does that mean to basically you
know encourage them motivate them right exhort them with all long-suffering and
doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but
at their own lusts what does that mean after their own desires is what that
means the word lust is used interchangeably in the Bible with the
word desire but if 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 what we have is a phenomenon of people they want a certain
itch scratched they already know what they want to hear when they walk into
the church building they walk into church and they know what they want to
hear they don't want to hear anything else they want to hear what they want to
hear that which affirms them that which tells them that they're already right
that which just pats them on the back and even in our type of churches we
could be guilty of this too where people they want to come in and they want to
hear a certain thing from Pastor Anderson they go to the Red Hot
Preaching Conference and they want to hear a certain kind of sermon and they
want to have that certain itch scratch but the bottom line is that we as
pastors are supposed to just preach everything that the Bible has we're
supposed to be led by the Spirit of God we're supposed to let the Holy Spirit
guide us into what to preach look in the Bible and read and find everything that
could be beneficial and bring it to the people and feed the people not just well
what do people want to hear let's give it to them no it's my job to preach
things that you might not want to hear maybe they're not popular maybe I might
get up and preach something in 99% of the church disagrees but hopefully if I
do my job right and I preach it from the Bible and I explain it from the
Bible and give proof from the Bible hopefully we can bring that percentage
down and we could bring people over to what the Bible is saying and so the end
times phenomenon is that the people are seeking out a teacher who tells them
what they want to hear notice it says that they heap to themselves teachers so
notice which way things are going instead of a preacher getting up and
preaching the Word of God and rallying people to his cause and getting up and
saying thus saith the Lord this is what the Bible says and people hearing that
and being like wow this is great I'm learning something this is that you know
let's follow this preaching this sounds you know biblical this is correct you
know this is a vision I can get behind instead it's going the opposite
direction where you have the people basically heaping to themselves teachers
not even preachers but teachers okay because here's the thing you said what's
the difference between preaching and teaching well stop and think about how
if we told someone in 2022 like that you know stop preaching at me like outside
of church let's say you know we're just in a worldly conference I said you know
oh you know that documentary was a little bit preachy what would I mean by
that basically that it's that it's basically telling me hey you need to get
on board with something you need to change this is right this is wrong
preachy means that it's authoritatively telling you this is right and this is
wrong and if you're wrong well you need to change isn't that what it means to be
preachy or to be preaching or he's kind of preaching at me it means they're
trying to straighten you out they'll heap to themselves teachers having
itching ears basically they'll heap to themselves what does heap imply a lot
heaps are just like piles and piles many many thousands that so here's what we
have today we have just thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of
pastors in this area just heaps upon heaps of pastors that are just ready to
scratch that itch of what people want to hear now not everybody wants to hear the
same thing that's why you have all these different denominations you have all
these different pastors you always have in churches there's a there's a scratch
for every itch right you know one of them's a little itchy behind the ears
they got that over here one of them likes to be scratched right above the
tail one of them likes to be rubbed right here you know they have a
scratcher pastor scratcher for all their little itches you know and I mean look
there are people that are real political and they just they just want to go to a
church that's gonna get political and and you know bring up how bad the
Democrats are and and and talk smack about Biden and and say let's go Brandon
and so whatever they want that pastor that's gonna get real political and make
it all about politics am i right that's the itch because that's what you do on
Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday is talk radio and then they want to go to church
and get reaffirmed on all that stuff that they already believe and everything
like that you know other people just they just want to be encouraged they
just want it to be positive they want maybe to preach hard against people who
are doing stuff that they're not guilty of you know I mean it's always easy to
say amen to those sermons about the sodomites because it's not even a
temptation it's gross and so you're just like yeah but then what about when the
preaching hits you where you live what about when it corrects an error in your
life are you gonna get all mad and upset and go find one of these heaped up
teachers that's gonna tell you exactly what you want to hear because even in
independent Baptist churches there are churches out there that are just ready
to scratch your itch instead of telling you you're wrong change learn something
new grow this is why there are so few elderly people in new IFB churches you
know why are there so many young people and so many people that are my age oh
wait that's the same group no I'm just kidding but here yeah so many young
people so many people my age but there aren't a lot of older people and you
know what those of you that are older I'm not gonna name any names but God
bless you I respect you for being in a new IFB church as an older person as a
senior citizen and you know when I was out preaching you know there were a
bunch of senior citizens that I ran into at all these churches that I went
through it's the but like I said it's the minority our churches are mainly
young and middle-aged people but you know when I see these senior citizens
that are in a new IFB church I have great respect for that because it shows
me a lifelong learner that's what I see I see a lifelong learner I see somebody
who wants to go in through the South Gate and go out the North Gate they want
to come in the North Gate and come out the South Gate they're not just looking
to be exactly the way they were when they walked in and walked out just not
ready to learn you know it's it's always a beautiful thing when someone in their
60s or 70s and 80s can still learn new things and I I pray to God that when I
am that age I could still be learning and growing and then I'm not just stuck
in 2022 and it's just the same old Pastor Anderson from 2022 you know I'll
hope that I'm still growing and learning so that I can keep bringing you new
teaching so I can get corrected and I can correct you and we can keep growing
and learning and getting more and more from God's Word that he has for us
instead of just getting stuck and and and so you know many people today are
stuck and it's really sad for them you know because they miss out they go to
their dead as a doornail independent fundamental Baptist Church that just
sits around talking about the good old days and sits around talking about how
oh you know we need to pray for revival you know and then they just want to talk
about some revivals from the 60s revivals from the 70s great works from
30 40 years ago and oh man back in 1990 whatever this happened that happened you
know what that's a bunch of baloney okay praying for revival is baloney okay
did you hear me this thing what is that what is that praying for revival this
what did this what they do they're not doing anything but then they pray for
revival like they think it's just gonna be some magical thing that just happens
out of nowhere folks this is why it's silly and absurd for these dead churches
that aren't soul winning that aren't preaching hard that aren't aggressively
doing missions and then they're sitting around praying for revival it's garbage
it reminds me of when God says to Joshua get off your face why are you praying
get off your face and go fix the problem and look I'm all for praying but you
know instead of just praying for revival some generic meaningless prayer waiting
for the Holy Spirit to come do everything for you okay you know I'd
rather get on my face and pray about the stuff that we're gonna be doing that God
would lead it that God would bless it that God would motivate it that God
would use it right see instead of just praying for revival why don't I get on
my face and pray for the soul winning that we're doing today why don't I get
on my face and pray for the mission strip that's happening next weekend
instead of just Oh God send revival Oh God you did it for Curtis Hudson and
you did it for Lester Roloff and you did it for Jack Hyles Lord Oh God would you
just send revival in our day too no what is that why don't you get on your face
and say God please guide and direct me as I go out soul winning right now God
please bless me as I get up to preach right now this brand new fresh sermon
from your word written this week that you have blessed this sermon that it
would motivate your people that it would correct the errors that are out there
Lord bless our works that we're doing right now not like Oh God would you
please do again what you did 75 years ago you know God's up there thinking
well why don't you do the stuff that they did 75 years ago and we can make
something happen here folks here's what I'm saying God is ready for revival in
any moment so if you're just gonna be idle and lame and weak and pray for
revival that's meaningless it's totally you know what it's like I'll tell you
what it's like it'd be like if I just didn't go to work anymore and I just
prayed all day for God to meet my needs right I mean it's exactly what it's like
that's what this praying for revival is it's basically like if I just quit going
to work you just quit going to work you just put in your two weeks notice and
just said you know Oh God where are the paychecks of yesterday Lord I remember
back in 2021 those paychecks would come every Friday Oh God do it again go to
work again it's identical that's what it is my friend it makes no sense if you
want things to change you have to change if you want revival to come you have to
have a personal revival in your life okay somebody is gonna have to revive
these dead churches by firing up the soul winning program and I don't know
maybe the put a put a thumbtack in the pastor's chair in his office so he could
sit on it maybe you know get a little motivated or something get a little
bounce in his step again because of the fact that if a church a dead church it's
because the works aren't there you know and look and like I said I'm all for
praying but the prayer has to be connected with work you know like for
example if I pray that somebody's gonna get saved I also have to go witness to
that person wouldn't you agree with that like think about how powerful this would
be getting on my knees and praying for someone to say then to get saved and
then going and witnessing to them that sounds like a good strategy amen but
what about just praying for them to get saved never give them the gospel
meaningless this is what I'm saying my friend and so we've got to be willing to
be transformed if we want God to do a great work we've got to grow spiritually
and so not only is the church a place where our views can change our beliefs
can change as we learn more scripture and we learn more about the Word of God
it's also a place where it should change our actions you know if we come to church
we should walk out living differently not just believing differently but
living differently as well so that means that maybe there's some sin in our life
and we come to church the pastor preaches on that sin from the Word of
God and then we walk out of here and say you know what I'm gonna fix that in my
life I'm gonna work on that I'm gonna change that I'm gonna stop doing that
I'm gonna correct that in my life living different or how about this how
about you hear a big sermon about heaven and hell you hear a sermon about how
people die and burn in hell eternally you hear a sermon about how God has
commanded us to go out and preach the gospel to every creature you know that
should make a change in you where you say you know I'm gonna go witness to
someone I'm gonna show up for that so anytime I'm gonna go knock some doors
I'm gonna go on one of these soul-winning trips and you know we make
it easy to go soul-winning folks at our church there's really no excuse because
we have so many different soul-winning times they meet in different areas they
meet in different parts of town we do that because we want everyone to be able
to participate and you say well I don't want to participate well okay but you
know it's kind of sad that the gospel is gonna stop with you that's kind of sad
isn't it if you think about the person who gave the gospel to the person who
gave the gospel to the person who gave the gospel to the person who gave the
gospel to you all the way down from Jesus Christ all the way to you and then
you're just this dud you're a dead end is what you are think about that you're
a cul-de-sac the gospel has been traveling down that branch of the family
for 2,000 years and then it got to you and you didn't witness to anybody you
didn't win anybody to Christ you didn't get a single person saved you are a
cul-de-sac you're a dead end 2,000 that train has been going the gospel trains
we go for 2,000 years and then it came to you and you just killed it pretty
pretty lame huh you get to heaven without having won a single person to
Christ what a shame and you know I used to hate the thought of that when I was a
teenager because when I was a teenager I'd been saved for years and years and
I'd never won anybody Christ I tried a few times you know a one time when I was
a little kid my brother and I worked together to get a kid saved but I'm
pretty sure he was doing most of the work because he's six years older than I
am so I kind of counted I always counted as like a half salvation under my belt
but you know I'm pretty sure that was on my brother's account but the bottom line
is man as a teenager I used to pray every night Lord just helping to get one
person saved because I just didn't want to go through life not having gotten
anyone saved and just being the dead end of the gospel and so we need to hear
preaching on soul winning and let it motivate us don't get to the point where
the preaching doesn't affect you anymore just like an elderly person could get to
the point where they just can't learn anything new they're just done learning
they're just set in their ways can't teach an old dog new tricks you know you
could get to that point spiritually even when you're young where you're just like
ho hum heard it before doesn't even affect me yeah you know somebody comes
through and preaches a sermon on hell didn't pastor Jimenez come through and
preach a sermon about hell what do you preach about hell the cries of people in
hell I want I wonder what pastor Jimenez was trying to get you to do or
trying to get you to change in that sermon was that pretty clear message or
were you were you kind of like what do I do it was like soul winning okay so
here's the thing you know when you hear that kind of preaching let it move you
be stirred by it be moved by you know if you if you hear that kind of preaching
you're just like meh you need to be tender-hearted my friend instead of
praying for God to send a revival how about this and let's let's replace that
send revival how about this send me how about that
except send revival send me send me this week right not like well someday you
know hey send me this week let's go this week let's go win somebody to
Christ this week let's at least get out there and knock some doors and give it a
shot and you say well it's not as receptive as it used to be or you know
well I'd hate for you to have to do anything hard well you know the Hopi
tribes not the Apache well you know what I bet you that we get people saved on
the Hopi reservation anyway even though it's not as receptive and and let me
explain something to you about the Hopi reservation too is that no one is going
to knock those doors if we don't knock them I believe that I I don't think
anybody else is going to the Hopi reservation and knocking those doors and
winning those people to Christ so let's say we get two of them saved or three of
them saved I mean that is two or three people that are probably not gonna hear
the gospel if we don't go up there period and now they're saved now they're
going to heaven that's a big deal now I'm a hundred and ten percent for
knocking doors in Phoenix and I'm and it's super important that we be out
there knocking the doors in our community but you know at least we could
think to ourselves you know hey if we don't get to somebody in Phoenix
somebody else may get to them because there are other churches knocking doors
and maybe we'll knock those doors again and you know they're they're they're
around it and they might have somebody at work or something but I mean the Hopi
reservation my friend we are probably those people's literally only hope and
so what we're doing up there is important okay I believe that the reason
that we even created this ministry in the first place and said we're gonna
knock every door on every Indian reservation in Arizona is because we're
reaching unreached people in many cases because they're not getting continual
visits from people who are giving them the gospel and so you know a lot of
these people especially older people I mean they live and die in those places
and so you know we got to bring them the gospel it's important so be transformed
by the preaching go into church one way and go out with a new way of thinking go
out with a new mentality go out maybe having tightened up your beliefs or
maybe change your belief on something because of what the Bible said and go
out ready to change your actions ready to get sin out of your life ready to get
in and do some soul winning ready to change you just say well you know I'm
just not the type change I'm just not really a soul winning kind of a guy
change well that's just how I am you know I'm just kind of a jerk then you
need to change you know that's what some people will say some people just flat
out tell you I'm just kind of a jerk okay well then you need to change well I
just get angry really easily change well you know I'm just I'm just kind of just
a negative person and I'm just down on everything and you know then you need to
change is what you need to do this is the day that the Lord has made will
rejoice and be glad in it you need to get the joy of the Lord in your heart
you need to start loving other people you need to love the unsaved and you
need to get out there do something about it by preaching them the gospel change
have you ever heard this word repent that's a pretty common word in the
Bible it's a pretty popular word that you hear about a lot guess what repent
means change so when God's constantly talking about repentance he's talking
about changing right I mean that's what it means to repentance to change you
need to change I need to change we all need to be continually changing this
world is changing and we need to change not the way they're changing but the
other direction right we need to be changing and getting closer to Christ
more conform to Christ transformed by the renewing of our mind it's important
that we change now go back if you would to Ezekiel 46 Ezekiel 46 12 I'm gonna
focus in on another verse along the same lines a little bit but remember in
verse 9 it talked about them coming into the house of God one way and coming out
the other way because of the fact that church is supposed to change us we don't
walk out the same way we came in right a church is supposed to be a place that
that teaches us and we're growing and it changed our mentality change our actions
change our life change our beliefs I guarantee you that people who've gone to
faithful word Baptist Church for many years are probably different than when
they first started coming here probably say like you know I'm soul winning more
I'm better at soul winning or I know the Bible so much better now you know now
I've gotten this sin out of my life or I've changed this about my family or
change this you know that's what's supposed to be happening you know I'm
really just not interested in just like babysitting Christians until Jesus comes
with who don't want to change you know they just they're just looking for
somebody to just kind of like help them hibernate until Jesus comes I don't want
to be like your hibernation pod here okay you know I want to be a pastor that
the challenges you motivate you teaches you new things get you to maybe look at
things from another perspective and you say well I don't agree with you on
everything great there's probably no one in this room that agrees with me on
everything my wife doesn't agree with me on everything my children don't agree
with me on everything my best friends don't agree with me on
everything none of my pastor friends agree with me on everything okay that's
not the point you're just oh I just want to find the church that agrees with me
the most you're looking for the wrong church I want to look for the church
that challenges me the most that motivates me the most that teaches me
the most. That's what I'm looking for, a place to grow, not a place that matches up with
all my preconceived ideas the best. You're looking for the wrong thing. And that's why
my advice to people who are looking for churches is don't get on the phone and call a bunch
of churches on the phone. It irritates me when churches call us or when people call
our church and grill us about our doctrine. And by the way, I don't ever recommend that
as being the way to find a church. Calling them up, but I'm telling you, tons of people
in the new IFB, that's what they do. They're like, oh, I can't find a church in my area.
And this is their method for finding a church. They get on the phone and they start grilling
the pastor, making sure he believes exactly like us. And of course, he doesn't. And then
there's no good church, no church in my area. Calling churches and asking them questions
is usually a waste of time. And it's the wrong method for finding a church. So quit wasting
my time and my staff's time and quit wasting other pastor's time and their staff's time.
Calling them up and grilling them to see if they believe exactly like you on everything,
see if we can find a little clone for you of Pastor Anderson or Pastor Jimenez or of
yourself. That's not what you're looking for in a church.
Here's my advice for you if you don't have a church or if you're looking for a church.
You physically go to the churches in your area and you visit them and you attend them
and you sit down and you listen to the preaching and you meet the people and you figure out,
hey, is this a place where God's Spirit is at work? Is this a place where I can learn
and grow and be challenged? Is this a place that is right for me to go to church? Not
just calling them up at a checklist, you preach rib. Nuts to you, you idiot.
And folks, we think it's pretty stupid when they act that way toward us, when they just
write us off for not being pre-trib. Oh, you're not pre-trib, write us off. Well, you know
what? Are you going to then turn around and write them off for being wrong on end times
prophecy, which is a non-essential doctrine? Hello? Is anybody home? Is that a salvation
issue? Is that an essential doctrine of the faith? And you're just going to write them
off just, no, pre-trib, I can't, no, I can't do that. I can't do pre-trib. You know, you're
just like the, in many ways, you're just like the bozos who wrote me off for not being pre-trib.
You're just doing that in reverse. Now, obviously we're right and that goes without saying,
but it's that same foolish mentality because listen to me, if there's a pastor out there
that's wrong on the timing of the rapture and wrong on Israel, he still may be a great
pastor who knows a lot of Bible and who has a great walk with God that can still teach
you a lot of great things. And you could still go there and grow and learn and I'll even
take it a step further. There could be areas where he is better than the new IFB in that
certain area because different people have their strengths and weaknesses. And so instead
of just trying to find the carbon copy of yourself or the carbon copy of Pastor Anderson
or any other pastor out there that you want, you know, I'm, well, I'm just looking for
the closest thing to faithful work. You know, that may not necessarily be the wisest plan
in finding a church. What you, what you may want to do is just show up to that church
and basically take that church on its own terms, not comparing it to another church
and saying, oh, this is not as good as faithful work. It's not as good as charity or whatever.
You know, why not just take that church on its own merits? And it's not just like, okay,
is this the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is this the right plan of salvation? Is this a church
where the pastor loves the Lord and he's preaching God's word and he's preaching a King James
Bible and he's preaching, because obviously, yeah, there are certain essentials. We need
the right salvation and we need the right Bible, but I'm saying, you know, take it on
its own terms and say, hey, is this church a godly church? Is this a right church? Not
because I'm comparing it to someone else, but just comparing it to the word of God and
just taking it on its own terms. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? You walk into
a church and you get a feel for that church. Every church has its vibe, okay? You don't
get that on a phone call with some secretary or even on a phone call with the pastor where
you're putting him on the defensive by grilling him and you're just bringing up every most
controversial subject. Bring up your most radical views over the phone, seeing if he'll
go along with all your most radical views on every subject. Those aren't the essentials.
Those aren't the foundational doctrines of faith, okay? I have strong feelings about
end times. I have strong feelings about Israel. I have strong feelings about sodomites and
everything else, okay? But if someone else doesn't have those exact views, it doesn't
mean that they're not a great man of God in their own right and that God's not using
them in a great way as they are, okay? So this is important to understand that we need
to be willing to adjust and adapt. And look, that's not to say that you end up going to
a church that is pre-trib or whatever. It's not to say that you're going to start believing
in the pre-trib rapture. Once you've realized the pre-trib rapture wrong, you're never going
to go back to it. That'd be like somebody saying, well, I found out Santa Claus wasn't
real but then I went back to believing in Santa Claus. That just doesn't ever happen.
And I'm sure there's the exception out there just like there's the exception of the person
who went back to the pre-trib rapture. But that's like going back to believing in the
tooth fairy, my friend. You don't go back. But you could still go to the church and just
you don't have to agree on that one thing. You could still love the church, enjoy the
church, thrive in the church, serve in the church and just not worry about the fact that
you disagree on that one little thing. And look, if you disagree with me on some stuff,
I'm not offended by that. I'm okay with you disagreeing with me on things. You know, there
are people who've come up to me and said, you know, I'm pre-trib. Is that okay? And
I'm like, sure. I don't care. You know, I mean, you're going to hear me preach about
it and I'm going to show you in the Bible, but you could be pre-trib. You can go to the
grave being pre-trib for all I care. Okay. And you're still going to rise first when
that trumpet sounds. It's just not going to be when you think it's going to be. Okay.
You know, people have said, well, you know, why? I just, I just believe that homos can
be saved. And I just tell him, don't save as many homos as you want then. Just don't
bring them here. You know, I guarantee you that there are people in this church who disagree
with, who think I preach too hard against the sodomites that think that, you know, uh,
whatever. I don't know. I'm not even going to go into it. All the dumb things you might
think. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. But anyway, I'm just saying, you know, look,
we're not going to agree on everything. And again, I'm not perfect. I'm not necessarily
right about everything. Okay. I'm going to keep learning. Hopefully I'm going to be more
right 10 years from now than I am now. Cause I'm gonna keep learning and growing and adjusting
and changing. So we all need to have a mentality that is open minded to let the word of God
and the spirit of God work in us every time we attend church, even if it's not faithful
word, you know, even if it's a church that we might look down our nose at like, Oh, well
this church isn't as good, but you know, I'm just going to kind of hold my nose and go
there because you know, it's the best thing. Now look, do you want people holding their
nose and going to faithful word? Would you, let me ask you this, you diehards, who here
is a diehard faithful word member? Yeah. Put up your hand. Yeah. Okay. That should be every
hand. But anyway, here's the thing about that. You know, you diehards out there, do you want
somebody coming to our church with an attitude that says, well, you know, this wouldn't really
be my first choice, but I just can't really find anything else in the area. So I'm kind
of just putting up with faithful word. Would you want that type of person coming to our
church or do you want people to come here who think like this church is awesome. Okay.
Well then how do you think other churches feel? You know, if you show up and you're
all down on their church because there's something about it, you don't like, you see what I mean?
Like you need to go to a church where you can respect the pastor and, and you can get
excited about the program of the church and pitch in and get involved and be a blessing
and be an asset. And if, and if, and if you can't feel that way about your church, then
find a church where you can, you know, get excited about being there. You know, I personally,
I want people to be here that are excited about being here, that are zealous about our
soul winning program that, you know, and even if look, even if you don't go soul winning
and maybe you've never been soul winning and you're never going to go soul winning, I hope
that you still like the fact that we go soul winning. You know what I mean? Because I've,
I've known people like that. They'll go to a church like ours for years. They don't participate,
but they're like, I'm glad you're doing it. Well, you know, I can live with that, but
you know, I wouldn't want somebody here who's just like, Oh, soul winning stupid. It's a
waste of time. I'd be like, Whoa, buddy. Well, we don't need that around here. The point
is that when you go to church, you should have respect for the pastor. You should have
respect for the church and you should be willing to be corrected and be taught by that pastor.
And if you can't be taught, if you can't be corrected because you're already so perfect
or you've got someone else that you're listening to online that basically they're perfect and
everything has to match them, you know, that's just the wrong mentality. My friend, you need
to be ready to walk into church, ready to make changes and adjustments as needed and
walk out differently than you came in. And you know, part of this I'm, I'm preaching
for our people, of course, because we all need to have this right mentality. Part of
this I'm preaching because I know that some of you are not always going to be here, right?
Things happen. You end up moving to other cities. Things change in your life and maybe
there's a job or a family issue or whatever. And some of you, young people and children,
you're going to grow up and you're going to go to church somewhere else. Not everyone
is going to be here 20 years from now. And that's not even just because people are going
to get backslidden or they're not going to be right with God. You know, life might just
take them somewhere else. And I don't want them to spend the rest of their life having
this attitude that nothing's ever good enough. You know, we need to have an attitude that,
you know, if God's spirit is there, we can learn something, we can grow, we can change.
And you know, for those of us that are here right now, I hope that you're willing to let
me teach you on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night to the best of my
ability. Not saying that I'm perfect, but you know, I'm digging into this thing constantly
and praying and reading and learning. And I'm up here laying down doctrine so that I
can hopefully bring some correction where needed and bring instruction to the church.
And I hope that you're open to receiving that and that you're not just done growing and
you're not done learning. Be a lifelong learner, be a lifelong repinter, okay? And I had more
for Ezekiel 46, but I kind of went off on that. So I'll make that another sermon another
time. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for our church, Lord, and we thank you
so much for all the wonderful people who go here, Lord, and that we have a soul-winning
program that's exciting and that people are constantly being saved, Lord. Help us not
to take it for granted or to become complacent or just, you know, just to be a part of it.
You know, just too apathetic, Lord. Help us to still be ready to grow and help this year
to be our best year and next year to be even better, Lord. Help us to not get a know-it-all
mentality and help us to be willing to challenge ourselves and our personal lives and to do
new things. Maybe get out soul-winning for the first time or, you know, start doing the
talking out soul-winning. If we've been a silent partner, Lord, just help us to be willing
to grow and take things to the next level and constantly be ready to respond to the
preaching of your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.