I just pray that you would speak to their heart tonight, or this morning rather, through
the message and use it to stir us all, dear God, and it's something that we need to constantly
hear again and again, and so I pray that you would bless the sermon this morning, and in
Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Now the part of this chapter that I want to focus on is in verse number 18 there where
the Bible reads, And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called
Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they straightway left their nets and followed him.
So here we have Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, he's faced this great temptation
that was put on him by the devil, and now he's heard that John the Baptist has been
thrown into prison, kind of an end to his public ministry, and so now Jesus Christ is
going to assemble the disciples, he's going to assemble his group that he's going to use
to one day turn the world upside down about three and a half years from now.
In the book of Acts chapters 1 through 5 there we see that.
But here he says this great statement to them, and really it's a promise, if you look at
the way he says it.
He says, Follow me, there's the command, he says, Follow me, and I will make you fishers
of men.
Now isn't that a promise from God?
God says, If you follow me, I guarantee you I will make you a fisher of men.
Now do you believe the Bible this morning or not?
I mean we must believe that the Bible is God's word, why else would we be in a church like
this?
But when we read this he says, If you follow me, I will make you fishers of men.
So either number one, you're not a fisher of men, that means you're not following Jesus.
Or if you are following Jesus, you're on your way to becoming a fisher of men.
Because that's what he does.
He takes a person and he says, Okay, do you want to follow me?
Okay, well then I'm going to make you a fisher of men, do you want to follow me or not?
Because that's where you're going to end up.
Well think about this, I was thinking about fishing, and there's so much theological and
biblical error out there, but think about fishing.
There are three elements that I see involved in fishing.
There's the fisherman, and then there's the fish, and then of course God is involved in
everything.
Now, soul winning is the same way.
You've got the fisherman, the soul winner, you've got the souls that you're trying to
reach, and you've got God, you've got the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now tell me something, who is the biggest deciding factor when you're fishing?
I mean, who is the one who determines how many fish are going to be caught?
Is it the fish, is it the fisherman, or is it God?
So who's the one who determines how many souls are going to be saved?
Think about it, when I go fishing, I'm not very good at fishing, I've only been fishing
a couple times.
I bait up my hook, and yes I bait my own hook, I'm not one of those people that says bait
my hook for me.
So I bait my hook, I get out the worm or whatever and stick it on there, or the night crawlers
and salmon eggs and all that stuff, I bait my hook, I throw it out there.
Now there's an element where the fish has a decision, because really if I throw it out
there the fish can decide whether it wants to bite that hook or not, isn't that right?
I mean every fish that swims by is going to make a decision of whether or not to bite
that hook.
But if I don't throw the hook in the water, there's no way I'm going to catch any fish.
The fish didn't even have a chance, unless it just hops into my boat by chance.
And so the chances of me catching any fish like that are very slim.
And when you're out soul winning, and when you're thinking about soul winning, you have
to realize that you are the determining factor of whether or not people get saved.
Yes, every person makes their own choice.
Yes, every person has to decide whether they're going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and be saved.
Yes, I believe in the free will of every single person, but I'm going to tell you something,
if somebody hears the gospel one time, or if they hear the gospel a hundred times, which
one do you think is more likely that they're going to get saved?
Well if they're going to get saved, they're going to get saved, right?
No.
You can get people saved, and I'm going to prove that to you a little bit later in the
program, but you can get people saved.
Now I don't believe in either extreme here of saying, well, it's all the person's choice.
They decide a hundred percent whether they get saved.
And people try to ask me this question, I'm just trying to get in the message, but people
ask me this question, you know, are you Calvinist or Arminian?
Now John Calvin's burning in hell this morning, I want to tell you that right now, and so
is Arminius burning in hell.
They're both heretics who don't believe the gospel, they don't believe in salvation by
grace through faith.
I'm not a Calvinist, and I'm not an Arminianism, they're both wrong.
They're false, I don't have to choose between those two.
See Calvinism says that God decides who goes to heaven and hell.
Well it's up to God, I mean, God chose before the foundation of the world who would be saved,
and who would go to hell.
Now think about what kind of a God would just damn people to hell, would create people and
then damn them to hell without even giving them a choice whether they want to believe
on Jesus Christ or whether they want to do right.
That's not the God that I believe in, that's not the God of love in the Bible, and so why
would God just damn people to hell?
It'd be like if I went down to the hospital this morning and I went to the maternity ward,
and you know how they line up all the babies there and people look through the window at
the babies that are lined up?
I don't know, do they still even do that?
That was a long time ago.
But anyway, they line them all up, what if I just went, saved, saved, go to hell, go
to hell, go to hell, saved, because that's what Calvinism teaches, it's not based on
anything that people have done, just God chooses to save some and God damns the rest
of hell, it's all for his glory.
That's ridiculous, that's horrible.
Now you say, well how can you say that, and so I'll put this forth to you, I don't think
that God is a deciding factor at all with whether people get saved.
You say what?
God is not a deciding factor because God already decided, he's not a deciding factor, he decided
when he died on the cross for the sins of the whole world, he said, he's the lamb, he's
the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world, the Bible says.
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, so
God is not the deciding factor for whether people get saved, because he already decided,
I want everybody saved, I died for everybody, I shed my blood for everybody, I preached
the gospel to the whole world, and now I've given you the gospel and I want you to take
it and compel people to be saved.
Now who's the deciding factor?
Is it God?
No, it's not God, it's not God deciding, is it the fifth?
Is it the unbeliever?
Are they the one deciding?
Well they're partly the one deciding, but I would say that the biggest decider is you,
you're really the one who's deciding the most, whether you give them the gospel, whether
you preach the gospel, you say, I don't believe that, look, my wife right here, let's use
her for an example, when I met my wife, the first thing that I did, I met her out soul
winning, so what's the first thing I, the first conversation I ever had with my wife
was giving her the gospel, I opened my Bible and I went through the Romans road and I went
through the plan of salvation with my wife here, did she get saved?
No, not the first time I showed her to her, I think I gave my wife the gospel about twenty
five times, is that about right, literally, probably about twenty five times before she
got saved.
Now look, you can say all you want, well it's their decision whether they get saved or not,
her decision was not to get saved, the first twenty four times, okay, it was no I don't
believe that, no I won't be saved, but what, but look, I just kept throwing my hook back
in that palm, I just kept casting it again and casting it again, I kept throwing the
net down and throwing the net down, and finally she got saved, but at any point I could have
just given her the gospel one time and said well, washed my hands like Pontius Pilate,
I gave her the gospel, she goes to hell, that's her problem, no sir, because now she's saved
and on her way to heaven, why, because I decided that I was going to win her to Christ, that's
why.
Now there are some people who will never get saved, I mean you could do anything, tell
them anything and they're not going to get saved, but you have in your hand the power
to get people saved, or to just let people go to hell, and that's the truth, if you think
about fishing, the illustration that Jesus used, that's really what it's about, the fisherman
decides how long he's going to spend out fishing, the fisherman decides how well he's going
to bait his hook and how good of a job he's going to do and how much practice he's going
to get and how much work he's going to put into learning how to fish properly, he's the
one who decides where he throws the hook, he's the one who decides which pond he's going
to go fishing in, really he has a lot more to do with how many fish are caught and which
fish are caught than the fish do, the fish are just swimming around, they're just swimming
around, they might grab it, they might not grab it, the fisherman is the biggest deciding
factor my friend.
Now look if you would in your Bible at Luke chapter 19, you're in Matthew 4, flip over
to Luke chapter 19, and so this is an awesome power that God has given us, it's a huge power,
think about just in the physical realm, human beings, my wife and I for example, we have
the power to bring life into this world, isn't that right? I could give my wife a bunch of
dopes so that she doesn't have kids, but we have the power if we want to, which of course
we do, and of course we have another one, we have number 4 due in February, we have
the power to bring an eternal life into this world, isn't that right? I mean these children
that we produced, and really it was our choice whether to do that or not, our choice whether
to obey God and to have children, and so we obeyed God and had children, we made that
choice and the product of our choice are eternal souls that will always exist, I mean Solomon,
my first born son, will always exist for all time, always, I mean every human being, and
I pray to God that all my kids will be saved and I believe that they will be, but whether
or not a person is saved or unsaved, once they come into this world, I mean they will
never cease to exist, they will spend eternity in heaven or hell, and so God has given us
an awesome power of creating human life, obviously God is the one who is creating it, but we
are the ones making the decision whether or not we are going to create human life or not,
and it's the same thing in the spiritual realm, God has given us the great power of seeing
people born again, of begetting children, as Paul said to Timothy, he said you are my
son in the faith, he said to Titus, my own son in the faith, my dearly beloved son, he
said in the book of Philemon that he had begotten Onesimus, he said I gave birth to Onesimus
in the prison cell, he said oh ye Galatians of whom I travail in birth again until Christ
be formed in you, so he likened winning souls to having children, and what a great power,
what an awesome power to be able to take somebody who is on their way to hell, take somebody
who has no hope without God in the world, and to preach to them the gospel of Christ,
and to throw them the life raft so to speak, so that they can be saved, now Jesus is the
one that is saving them, but we are the one that is pointing them to Jesus Christ, we
are the one that is bringing them to Jesus Christ, and that's why the Bible says that
we are also the one saving them, it's a team effort between us and God, now look at Luke
19 verse 10, the Bible reads in Luke 19 10, for the son of man is come to seek and to
save that which was lost, why did Jesus come to this world, to set us an example of how
to live primarily, no, why did Jesus come to this world, he said I came to seek, that
means to go out and look for, and to save that which was lost, that's the whole purpose
of the Bible, that's the whole purpose of Jesus Christ's time here on this earth, that's
the whole purpose of Faithful Word Baptist Church, is to seek and to save that which
was lost, now think about it, you remember John the beloved apostle who leaned upon Jesus
Christ's breast at the last supper, he sat right next to Jesus, he was right with him,
the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he leaned over and put his head on the savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ's breast, I'll guarantee you that when he heard the heartbeat of Jesus
Christ, that beating heart inside of his chest, it would be beating, soul winning, soul winning,
seek and save that which was lost, that's why I'm here, that's what I'm training you
to do John, that's what it's all about is winning souls, you see the Bible says in John
14, 12, you don't have to turn there, the Bible says verily, verily I say unto you,
and this is right after the last supper Jesus is speaking to John, verily, verily I say
unto you, he that believeth on me, that's us right, he that believeth on me, the works
that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my
father, now when Jesus said to the disciples, he said, you will do greater works than I
do, is he talking about a greater quality of work, no, because how can you do any better
than Jesus right, I mean obviously Jesus is the best that there is, I mean he's going
to be the best soul winner, I mean he healed people, he preached the greatest sermons of
all time, I mean what can you do better than Jesus, but he said you'll do greater works,
the greater he's talking about size, he's saying you're going to do the same works that
I did, you're just going to do more of them, because you know Jesus only, his ministry
only lasted three and a half years while he was on this earth, but the apostles, their
ministry lasted you know 50, 60 years in some cases, and so they saw more people saved,
more people baptized, more churches started than Jesus Christ did, because he said it's
expedient for you that I go away, he said I'm going to leave and I'm going to send you
the comforter, he said I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, and with you and the Holy
Spirit teamed up, combined, will do greater works than I've done while I'm on this earth,
you see greater than healing the physical body is winning a soul to Christ, that's the
greatest work that you can do, and then the quantity can be greater because we have more
time, because we have more people, Jesus was one person, okay, the apostles were 12 and
then 70 and then 120 you know disciples and followers of Christ, then there were 3,000
souls added to the church, and then 5,000 and then they were added daily to the church,
and so they had this greater, larger number of people doing it, they could win even more
people to Christ, they could even do even more than Jesus did while he was on this earth,
and so all throughout the Bible you see a great theme of soul winning, one of the last
verses in the Bible, Revelation 22, 17, you don't have to turn there, but the Spirit and
the Bride say, and the Spirit and the Bride say come, and let him that heareth say come,
and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely,
he's saying come, come, come, be saved, get saved, the Holy Spirit is saying be saved,
the Bride, talking about the church is saying be saved, get saved, he's saying the Holy
Spirit, the Bride, let him that's athirst come, whosoever will come, anybody come, and
so that's our job, is to say come, is to put out that invitation to mankind, all throughout
the Bible and ending in the book of Revelation, he thunders out that great call to be saved.
First John 4, 17, you don't have to turn there, here in is our love made perfect, that we
may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
You remember Jesus said as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world, but
then he said, ye are the light of the world, in Matthew chapter 5, and so as long as he
was in the world, he's the light of the world, but now he says, you're the light of the world,
as he is, so are we in this world, the Bible says, and so we are the representatives, the
ambassadors of Jesus Christ on this earth, we're to do the works that Jesus did, what
is the work that Jesus did, he said I've come to seek and to save that which was lost, now
seeking means you have to go out and find people that are not saved, seeking is that
you can't just say, well he came to save them, well we're going to get people saved, we're
going to get saved, we've got to go out and get them right, you can't sit around in church
getting people saved, you get people saved outside of church, you go out into the highways
and hedges and compel them to come in, the Bible reads.
Now look if you would at Acts chapter 5, flip over to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 5,
and I'm going to show you one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, Acts chapter number
5, and look at verse 42, Acts 5 42, you say why is it that when I read the book of Acts
it seems so much more exciting than my Christian life, why is it that when I read the book
of Acts it doesn't really seem like some churches that I've been to, it doesn't really seem
like my experience, it just seems like everything is so exciting, everything is so big, everything
is so powerful, boy God's power is so mighty and prevalent, well let's see if we can understand
why maybe from this verse in Acts 5 42, maybe we can see why there was such power, why there
was such excitement, maybe it's because the Bible says in Acts 5 42, and daily, and daily
in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ, boy
do you think that had anything to do with it, do you think that if every single person
in this church, or what if every single person in every independent Baptist church across
America was daily in the temple and in every house teaching and preaching Jesus Christ,
do you think that our society would be somewhat like the book of Acts, I do, I think it would
be exciting, I think churches would be thriving, I think that the power of God would be poured
out in a mighty way, I think it would be great, you see inviting people to church is not soul
winning, it's not, it's not seeking and saving, what part of seeking and saving is inviting
people to church, none, see I've talked to many of these people and somebody recently
was trying to tell me, not too long ago, they were trying to tell me that they had this
new method for building a church, and you know they're telling me because I just started
this church a year ago and so they wanted to give me some advice and they said this
is the new thing, they said you know what, you just got to invite people to church, just
go out and invite them, just don't spend more than a minute or two at each door, just invite
them to church, be friendly, compliment them, oh I love your dog, I love your tie, I love
your house, come to church, we love you, we love everybody, you know, and just be friendly
and just say hey God bless you, give them a try, and leave, ok, and go to the next one
and just put out thousands of flyers and invite people to church, then when they come, you
preach the gospel to them, or even if you don't preach the gospel he said, you know
just preach your sermon, and then whoever comes then you can go back and visit those
people and then get them saved, everybody who came, now there's so many things wrong
with that, it would devote a whole sermon, but like, number one, talk to those same people
and you know what they'll tell you the definition of a church is? This is what they say, because
they have all their little theological, little dictionary definition, they say a church is
a called out assembly of born again baptized believers, that's what they say the church
is, now the Bible's definition of a church is a congregation, so a conglomeration of
people together, that's what a church means, they say a called out assembly of born again
baptized believers, well let me ask you something sir, if a church is supposed to be a called
out, born again baptized believers, and it's supposed to be for the edification of the
saints, as the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, if it's supposed to be for believers, then
why in the world would we go out and invite a whole bunch of unbelievers and bring them
to church? Tell me what sense that makes at all, now I'm not against an unbeliever coming
to this church, I'm not against you bringing unsaved visitors, but is that the purpose
of church? Is that God's plan for winning souls, bringing unsaved people to church?
And here's what we'll do, we'll bring a bunch of unsaved people to church, fill this place
up with unsaved people, and then I will get up and just preach them down the aisle, because
I'm such a powerful preacher, and I can just tug on their little heartstrings and make
them feel the fires of hell and they're going to start crying in their seat and come down
the aisle and fall on their face and walk down the sawdust trail and get saved, hey
that is not true, that doesn't happen, that is fake, that is not real, it's not true,
it's not legitimate, I spent years bringing unsaved people to church, the pastor preached
the gospel and not one of the people that I brought ever went down the aisle and got
saved. Now I'm not saying it never happens, but people don't just start crying and walk
down an aisle, I'm in search, okay, I've stood up and preached a sermon for an hour and preached
on the plan of salvation, nothing but the gospel, nothing but the plan of salvation,
just point by point, and I've walked up to somebody afterward and said, a visitor, and
I walked up to them afterward and I said, if you were to die today, do you know for
sure you'd go to heaven? And they said, yeah, I think I would, I hope so, I've been a good
person, I've lived a good life, I think I'd go, and it's like they didn't even hear a
word of what I said, it's like it just went in one ear and out the other, because that's
not God's method, it doesn't work, what works is the method that Jesus used, Jesus' method
was going out and talking to people one-on-one, like Nicodemus, like the woman at the well,
like the two blind men in Matthew chapter 8, he goes out and he talks to people one-on-one
and preaches the gospel to them and gets them saved, then after he sent out his 12 disciples
two by two, after he sent out his 70 apostles two by two, and they went out and preached
the gospel, then in the next chapter was gathered together unto him in Luke chapter 11, an innumerable
multitude of people who'd already been saved, of people who'd already been won to Christ,
and brought to him, and then he gets up and he doesn't preach the gospel, he preaches
the Bible, you know, whatever in the Bible, preaches all through the Bible, do you want
to come to church every Sunday morning and listen to me give the plan of salvation for
the 500th time? No, no, that's not what you need, you need the whole council of God, you
need everything in this Bible preached, and so that's problem number one, problem number
two with that philosophy is that if we're bringing a bunch of unsaved people to church
with the goal of getting them saved, well then the service is going to be geared toward
unsaved people, we're going to be gearing the music toward unsaved people, that's where
you get all the worldly music, that's where you get all the rock music, you think unsaved
people like to listen to the music that we just sang in this church? That's not what
they want to hear, they want to hear the rock and roll, they want to hear the Christian
contemporary, they want to hear Amy Grunt and Sandy Fatty and all this liberal Christian
music, they don't want to listen to the old time hymns of the faith that have power, that
teach doctrine, they want to hear something that's going to make them wiggle and jive
and woo, you know, that's why every ad for a church has got people up, you know, they'll
open the phone book, got their hands up, come to feel the worship experience, they're trying
to gear church toward unsaved people, I'm not gearing this church toward unsaved people,
I could care less about what an unsaved visitor thinks about our music or my preaching, say
man, Pastor Andrew, you preach so hard, you're going to run off these unsaved people? I'm
not afraid of that at all, because I didn't invite them here in the first place. If you
get them saved, you get the Holy Ghost inside their chest, I don't care if they've been
saved for five minutes, then bring them to church, they will receive the preaching of
God's word about ten times better when they've got the Holy Spirit of God living inside of
them. You bring in some unsaved person, the Bible says they're going to think you're nuts,
you bring in some unsaved person preaching the gospel, they can't understand the sermon,
they can't understand the Bible, the natural man received not the things of the Spirit
of God, they're foolishness unto him, and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. And so you get people saved, and then you come to the house of God bringing
your sheaves with you, which is an already harvested crop, and then they can be edified
and built up in the faith. I'm telling you, I've seen people who got saved the day before
come to church, and I brought them to a different church, you know, when I was not the pastor,
I brought them to church, and they heard the most hardest, I mean just screaming and yelling,
I mean the pastor was ripping on every TV show, I mean he was just going down the list,
and I walked out, I said, how did you like that? They said, that was great, I love it,
I love church, this is great, you know, and they didn't believe anything that he was preaching,
but they were saved, and they enjoyed church, they liked the preaching, they liked the Bible
preaching, and he said, I didn't agree with everything, but I like it, I think I'll come
to church. You know, but, you see, unsaved people can sometimes become inflamed or angered
by hard preaching I'm saying, but see, when a person has the Holy Spirit inside them,
they hear this kind of preaching, or some kind of hard preaching, something inside them
is kind of telling them, hey look, you know, what the pastor is saying is right, you know,
that's the voice of God, that's the truth. And so, number one, the problem with that
philosophy of just inviting people to church, is that number one, church is supposed to
be geared toward saved people, it's supposed to be geared toward you. I'm gearing church
toward you. When I decide what to preach, I'm preaching what you need to hear. I'm thinking
about each one of you when I prepare my sermon, that's what I'm preaching on. I don't preach
for some visitor, oh, a visitor walked in the door, better change my sermon. Never,
never, never do I change my sermon with visitors, and we have visitors a lot in this church,
almost on a weekly basis, and when we have visitors, I never change my sermon, ever.
Never, never, never. I mean, if I'm preaching on just sin and what's wrong with television
and everything, I won't change it. I'm like, oh, I better preach on the gospel. No, I won't.
I'll preach the gospel to them before the service, if I can get to them in time. I'll
preach the gospel to them after the service, but I'm not going to change my sermon of what
you need. The dedicated Christian who comes to this church every week, you're who I'm
catering to, you're who I'm serving. I'm not serving some visitor that may never come back.
And so that's the problem with it, number one. But number two, if you bring people to
church and you're not a soul winner, you don't know how to win people to Christ, now Pastor
Anderson is the only soul winner in this church. How many people can I possibly win to the
Lord by myself? I'm one person. I'm one man. And why would I be the only one who gets to
have the joy of seeing somebody saved? Wouldn't you personally love to be that one who God
uses to win somebody to Christ, where you open your mouth and give the gospel to somebody?
Where you open your Bible and show them how to be saved? Where you give birth to that
spiritual child yourself? And where you can stand before God one day and present your
convert to God and say, this is who I won to Christ for your glory. You take the crown
off your head and throw it at his feet and say, this did I for thee. Now do you want
to be the only, or do you want me to be there with everybody and say, these are the people
I won to Christ and these are my church members who didn't win anybody to Christ. See the
problem with that? Why should I get all the rewards? Why should I get all the blessings?
Why should I do all the soul winning? Why not every single one of us in this room could
be in one accord with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel? Every single
one of us could be a soul winner. If every single one of us could be a fisher of men,
we could do greater works than Jesus did. Can I do greater works than Jesus did personally?
No. Do you think I'm going to get more people saved than Jesus Christ did? No. But can all
of us collectively get more people saved than Jesus Christ did? Absolutely. And as this
church grows and as we multiply and as we train others also to be a soul winner, there's
no limit to how many people could be saved. We could see thousands of people saved. Hundreds,
thousands of people saved from this church if we're all striving together for the faith
of the gospel. You see, inviting people to church is not soul winning because if you
invite people to church, there are some people who will never come to this church. You want
people who never come to church to go to hell just because they won't come to church? Some
people say, I don't like church. I'm never going to go to church. I don't want anything
to do with church. Well, I still want those people saved, don't you? I mean, don't you
want everybody saved like Jesus did? Well, some people are just never going to come to
this church no matter what you do, no matter what you tell them. And so we've got to get
those people saved in the home because that's probably the last opportunity that they're
ever going to get to be saved. And not only that, but some people are handicapped. Some
people are not able to get out to church. How are they going to be saved if they're
relying on me? I can't get to every one of them, but you're there with them. You can
get them saved right there if you know how to get people saved. If you've been out soul
winning with us and learned how to get people saved, if you've studied your Bible and learned
how to win people to Christ, if you've prepared yourself, then you'll be able to get them
saved yourself. But not only that, look if you would at Esther, the book of Esther. Flip
back in your Bible to Esther. This is just a few books before the book of Psalms. Esther
chapter 8. Esther chapter 8 verse number 6. See, there's a huge movement in this country,
there's a huge movement among Baptists away from personal, door-to-door soul winning.
And there's a movement toward inviting people, big programs, bring in an evangelist who's
going to preach the gospel and we can bring all our unsaved people and they can listen
to him, wax eloquent and preach the gospel. I want to get back, I want to push the reset
button and get back to every single Christian being a soul winner and aiming for and shooting
for seven days a week out soul winning. I mean maybe once or twice a week out knocking
doors is great. But then what about on the job? What about your friends and family? What
about your relatives? What about the people that you come into contact with every day?
Look if you would at Esther chapter 8 verse number 6. It's what Esther says in verse number
6. For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? Or how can I endure
to see the destruction of my kindred? She said how can I endure to see my own brother,
my own sister destroyed? How can I endure to see my aunt or my uncle cast into hell?
How can I endure to see my best friends cast into everlasting fire? How can I endure to
see my co-workers, the people that I love, the people that I spend time with? How can
I endure to see my children or my nephews or my nieces or my cousins? How can I endure
to see the destruction of my people? Look there are all kinds of people going to hell
every day but I don't want it to be my people. I don't want it to be my family. I don't want
it to be my good friends. I don't want it to be my co-workers. Hey if people I don't
know go to hell that I've never met, that I've never known in some distant place, hey
that's a sad thing, that's a tragedy. But how much more of a tragedy is it when it's
my people? There's only so much I can do. There's only so many people I can reach but
I'm going to make sure I can reach my people. How am I going to reach my people if I'm not
a soul winner? How am I going to reach my people if Jesus Christ has not made me a fisher
of men? How am I going to reach my people if I've not been made a fisher of men? That's
something about your character. It's somebody that you are. It's not just something that
you do. Soul winning is something that you do but it's also something that you are. You
are a fisher. That's a person. That's a noun. Fisher. I'll make you a fisher. See you take
a fisher of men and you put them next to an unsaved man, that's where you're going to
see somebody saved. But see you take somebody who does not know how to win people to Christ.
They've never been in a church that emphasized winning people to Christ. They've never been
out door to door soul winning. Or they've never given the gospel to anybody. They've
never watched somebody else do it or they've never done it themselves or they've never
studied the Bible to find out how to get people saved, to get the right methods, to
sharpen their methods. How are they going to do it if they're not a fisher, if they're
not following Jesus, if they haven't been made a fisher of men? How can I endure to
see the evil that shall come into my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction
of my kindred? Proverbs 24, flip over in your Bible forward a little bit, pass the book
of Psalms. Proverbs 24, go forward, pass the book of Psalms to the book of Proverbs. Chapter
24, verse 11. See, soul winning is everybody's responsibility. You say, well, I was the pastor,
that's why we got the pastor for, to be a soul winner. Look, I am a soul winner. I feel
like I should be setting pace for soul winning. I should try to lead the way of soul winning.
But I can't be the only soul winner in this church. Everybody's got to be a soul winner
in this church if this church is going to grow like it needs to be. And more important
than this church growing, far more important, is that your people are not destroyed. I'm
never going to come into contact with a lot of your friends and relatives. You know, I'm
going to Chicago tomorrow, I don't think I'm going to meet any of Brother Dave's friends
while I'm there. See, he's got to learn to be a soul winner, which he's doing, and he's
working very hard at that. And he's been preaching the gospel fantastically. But listen, he's
got to take responsibility for his own friends and for his own family in Illinois, because
there's no way I'm going to run into them while I'm there. I mean, the chances are more
than remote. And you have people that you care about, people that you love. Well, if
you don't take it upon yourself and say, you know what, I don't care what it takes, I don't
care what I have to do, I don't care what the sacrifice, I am going to do what it takes
to become a Fisherman. Hey, Jesus, wait, Jesus, you're walking away. Wait a minute, I wanted
to follow you. Hey, I heard you say that if somebody follows you, they'd be a Fisherman.
Is that invitation still open in 2007? Can I still follow you, Jesus? Can I still become
a Fisherman? And Jesus says, I'm still calling. That's why he uses the present tense. I love
the King James Bible, the only Bible in the English language that uses the present tense
ever. Jesus saith unto them. That's why the King James Bible is such an exciting book
to read. It gets you right into the story. Every other Bible will say, Jesus saith, Jesus
saith, that's what they did. Jesus saith unto them, follow me, and I'll make you a Fisherman.
Oh, I feel like I'm right there. I feel like Jesus is saying it right now, because saith
is in the present tense. But look, if you would, at Proverbs 24, verse 11. If thou forbear
to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain, if thou
sayest, behold, we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the hearts consider it, and
he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it, and shall not he render to every man according
to his works. He said, don't sit there and say that you didn't know. Don't sit there
and say, well, not my fault. They had their chance. They heard the Gospel once ten years
ago, and they rejected it, so I guess they're just going to go to hell. He says, no, don't
just consign people to hell. He's saying, flip over to chapter number 31. You're in
Proverbs 24, right? Flip over to Proverbs 31. He says, don't just consign people to
death. And look at verse number 8. And you'll see the same words, destruction, which is
a common word in the Old Testament, talking about people dying and going to hell. The
Bible talks about them being destroyed. Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell, the Bible says in the book of Luke, chapter 12. But look at Proverbs 24,
verse number 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb, and the cause of all such as are appointed
to destruction. Well, they're appointed to destruction. They're on their way. No, open
your mouth and get them saved. Preach the Gospel to them. Preach the Gospel to every
creature the Bible says. Now flip, if you would, to Jude, the second to last book in
the Bible. Jude, and there's only one chapter. Look at Jude, verse 22. Jude 22. You see,
there are so many things that I preach about. There are so many things that are important.
And I'm not, I try so hard, like I talked about last Sunday morning, not to just cook
one side of the cake, you know, we talked about last Sunday morning. I try so hard not
to be one-dimensional, one-issue preacher, you know, just one thing over and over. And
look, I, you know what, I preach a lot on sin. I mean, I preach against everything that
I can think of, everything I see in the Bible that's wrong, I preach against it. I preach
a lot on Bible doctrine. You know, I teach about the local church. I teach about the
Word of God, about the preservation of God's Word, the inspiration. You know, I preach
about the deity of Christ. I preach about all manner of things. I preach about reading
the Bible, how important it is to read the Bible. I preach how important it is to memorize
large portions of the Bible. I preach about prayer. I preach about the power of the Holy
Spirit. I preach about everything I can think of. And I preach about this, but you know
what, this is really what everything is kind of pointing to, okay? Why do we learn the
Bible? So we can be a better soul winner. Why do I memorize the Bible? So I can be filled
with God's Word and filled with the Holy Spirit to be a more powerful soul winner. Well, that's
why I memorize the Bible, to be a more powerful soul winner. Why do I read the Bible? So I
can learn more methods about soul winning. Why do I pray? So that I can pray for God's
power to be a soul winner. Why do I abstain from sin? Because I want to be a clean vessel
that God can use, that God can fill, that God can do the most with, because I'm not
held down by the sin which does so easily beset us. I can run with patience the race
that is set before me. Well, that's what it's all really geared to. Why do I go to church?
I go to church so I can get fired up about soul winning. I go to church so I can learn
how to be a soul winner. But look if you would at Jude 22, the Bible says here, and if some
have compassion making a difference. Well, have compassion on lost souls. Have compassion
on your loved ones. Have compassion on the people that you don't even know that you see
when you're out and about. Have compassion on them. Love them. I remember I just got,
you know, I was out in, outside of Blythe, California. I got towed on Wednesday when
my car broke down for the second time. And I got towed and I'm sitting in the tow truck
driver. I looked over at the tow truck driver and you know what, I can honestly say I loved
the tow truck driver. I'm not kidding. I mean, I'm serious. I mean, I've never seen the guy
in my life. Never known the guy in my life. And I remember when Jesus, when the rich young
ruler came to him, the Bible says, and Jesus, beholding him, loved him. Didn't even know
the guy. The guy walked up to him and asked him a stupid question. The guy didn't even
know what he was talking about. Good master, what good thing shall I do that I might inherit
eternal life? And he illustrates that, man, you can't do anything to get eternal life.
You're not good enough. You need to just accept, receive Jesus Christ as savior. But he didn't
even know what he was talking about. He was arrogant. He was pompous. He thought he was
perfect. He said, I've done all these things for my youth. I've kept all the commandments.
But Jesus, beholding him, loved him. Boy, if we can get that spirit inside of us, if
we can get that love inside of us. And I just remember, I sat there and I looked over at
the tow truck driver. Didn't know him from Adam. And I just, I loved the tow truck driver.
And I said, you know what, I don't want this guy to go to hell. And so I gave him the gospel
because I loved him. Can you get some love for people, just for your fellow human being,
for your fellow man on this earth? He says, if some have compassion making a difference,
and others, verse number 23, and others save with fear. So some people, you know, you just
need to have compassion and have the compassion to talk to them, to deal with them, to give
them the gospel. And he says, and others save with fear. Pulling them out of the fire, hating
even the garments spotted by the flesh. Now, do you notice the word save with fear? Who's
the subject? Think about it, think about English for a second. That's an imperative, right?
Others save with fear. That's a command. It's an imperative sentence. God's telling you,
save with fear. Now, every imperative sentence has one subject. What's the subject of imperative
sentence? You, you know, whoever you're talking to. If I say, open the door, what's the subject?
You open the door. You know, it's implied, you don't have to say you. If you tell somebody
to open the door, you mean you open the door. You open the door, okay? Well, look, when
he says save, who's the subject? You save. He's saying, of some, you have compassion
making a difference, and of some, you save with fear. People have said to me, you know,
you talk about soul winning, we don't win souls. We don't save souls, you know, that's
God. God does that. Well, read the Bible, because the Bible says, others save with fear.
Paul said, I become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Who's
doing the saving? I am. Now, it's not that we're the Savior, don't get me wrong, but
see, Jesus Christ cannot save people without us, and we can't save people without Jesus
Christ. He has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation, and so he's the Savior,
but we must witness of the Savior, or else there's no way anybody's going to be saved,
period. And so, Jesus saves, but we save also. And so you say, I don't like that, I don't
believe that. Well, I don't know what to tell you. I think you're steeped in tradition,
because the Bible says here that we can save people, that it's our job to reconcile people
to God, that it's our job to save people. And obviously, Jesus Christ did all the work,
all we're doing is just being the tool, you know, being the preacher, and that's about
it. But he says here, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. Now think about
this illustration. Obviously the fire, you know, he's talking about hell. He's saying
when you get somebody saved, he said, and some people he says that compassion is what
you need, you know, a tear in the eye to get them saved. But he says other people, you're
going to have to save with fear. You know, maybe scare them a little bit, you know, tell
them about hell. I mean, you should tell everybody about hell before you went into Christ, obviously,
because that's part of the plan of salvation. They need to know what they're being saved
from, or else it's not going to make any sense to them. But think about this illustration.
Can you imagine a fire, imagine a raging fire in this room right here. Let's say this room
were totally on fire off to the side here. And somebody's in that fire, and they're burning,
and they're suffering in that fire, and they're screaming out for help. Now if I'm going to
come to them and pull them out of the fire, I'm going to get a little hot. You think so?
I mean, you think I'm going to get a little uncomfortable? He said, good night, I'm not
going anywhere near that fire. I'm comfortable over here, you know. I'm all right. No, he
says, look, sometimes it's a little uncomfortable. Sometimes you're going to have to get out
of your comfort zone a little bit. Sometimes you're going to have to roll up your sleeves
a little bit, and you might even have to endure a little bit of the pain when you get close
to that fire. And he says, reach in and pull those people out of the fire. He says, when
you get somebody saved, it's the equivalent like you're pulling them out of hell. Now
obviously they never went to hell yet, but that's where they're going. And he's using
an illustration here that sometimes it's going to be a little uncomfortable. And let's say
it, isn't it a little uncomfortable sometimes to open your mouth and give the gospel to
people that you don't know, or to people, even worse, to people you do know. And sometimes
it can be embarrassing, or you know, you're shy, or you feel like you're going to mess
up, or you feel like you don't know what you're doing, or you don't know how they're going
to react, if they're going to like you anymore. And sometimes you just got to feel that pain
a little bit, and sometimes you just have to endure the discomfort of getting close
enough to that fire to pull somebody out of the fire, and to get somebody saved. But once
you've gotten somebody saved for the first time, and the people in this room who've actually
personally won somebody to the Lord themself, you know that once you get somebody saved,
that's the greatest thing in the world. I mean, I still remember the first time I got
somebody saved. I mean, I was literally jumping up and down, you know, once I left, you know,
not in front of the, yeah, give me blood, you got saved! No, I was like, alright, see
you later. I was like, yeah, woo! Hey, I was so excited! Hey, Pastor Anthony, you want
to watch some of the movies tonight? Stupid! Boy! I just got somebody saved! Huh? I just
changed the eternity! I just pulled somebody out of the fire! I just shot somebody saved!
You want to go watch some stupid movie, some stupid Hollywood movie, a bunch of cussing
and nudity, and a bunch of stuff that's against Jesus Christ, that makes a mock of Jesus Christ?
Huh? Hey, Pastor Anthony, come to this rock concert. What? You think I think that's fun?
It used to be fun until I found out what soul winning was about. Hey, Pastor Anthony,
come look at this filthy magazine. Hey, look, I found something far more exciting than any
of the world's garbage. It's called Winning Souls. It provides lasting accomplishment,
lasting joy. Fruit that remains is what the Bible calls it. And see, everything that the
world has to offer just loses its appeal when you become a soul winner. You see, if
you're not a soul winner, if you're not a soul winner, and I'm not talking about just
going to a soul winning church, I'm saying if you're not a soul winner, your Christianity
is going to be very boring. You say, Pastor Anthony, church is boring to me. I'm glad
you're excited about it, because at least when I come to church, you know, at least
you're up yelling. I mean, I'm glad it's not boring to you, because then we'd really
be bored. At least you're enjoying it. That's how you say, but Pastor Anthony, I just don't
feel that way. You know, I'm just not that excited about church. To me, it's just kind
of something I do, because my dad used to spank me if I didn't go to church. And so
I just, I don't know, I went to church for like 20 years straight, and so I just feel
like I have to keep doing it or else he's going to come back and whoop me or something.
But look, church will become exciting to you when you become a soul winner. Reading the
Bible will become exciting to you when you become a soul winner. Because reading the
Bible, church, prayer, what fun is it, what good is it if there's, if nothing's coming
from it? You know, if you're not using it. I mean, there's no purpose. But when you start
getting people saved, you know, Christianity becomes exciting to you. Church becomes exciting.
The Bible becomes exciting to you. Look, if you would, at Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter
1. See, if you're not a soul winner, this is how it is. If you're not a soul winner,
you're basically, you're always taking in all the time. It'd be kind of like this. Let's
say I quit my job tomorrow. I quit pastoring this church tomorrow. And I just told my wife,
I said, hey, I'm not going to do anything around the house. Now that wouldn't change
that much. No, I'm just kidding. I'd say, you know, I'm not going to do anything around
the house. I'm done. You know, I'm just going to sit around and do nothing. But I want you
to bring me lots of food. I want you to bring me just every, whatever I tell you I want
to eat, I want you to bring it to me. I want you to bring me lots of food. And I'm just
going to sit around and do nothing but just eat all day. I mean, I want you to bring me
just the richest, I mean the most nutritious, just the most dense food. I mean, I want like
big slabs of meat, okay? I want just carbohydrates. I want protein. I mean, I want just the most
richest foods that are going to really give me the most calories, give me the most substance.
Now what would happen? Do you think that'd be a healthy lifestyle to just sit around
and just eat and eat and eat? Pretty soon I would just balloon out. I mean, I could
be like 500 pounds. Can you imagine? You know, like 500 pounds, okay? I'd be like a
500 pounder, okay, sitting there just gorging myself. Well, that's exactly what these Bible
college professors are. If you could look at their spirit, you know, you're looking
at their physical body and they might be slender or they might be medium-billed or they might
be grossly overweight. But, you know, if you look at somebody that's one of these Bible
college professors, you know, Dr. Fatbottom in some university somewhere who studies the
Bible all day. He knows all the deep things. He studied the Greek and the Hebrew. But he's
not a soul winner and most of them aren't. If you could see his spirit, you'd see a
500 pound man. You'd see a man who's just gorging himself with food because all he's
doing is just study the Bible, take it in, take it in. Well, look, it's not even helping
him. It's actually hurting him the more that he studies his Bible. It's actually making
him less healthy, less productive, less active. Why? Because he's not using what he's taking
in. Look, if you would, at Romans chapter 1 and verse number 15. So as much as in me
is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. He says, with as much
as I've taken in, he says, I'm ready to preach the gospel. I'm ready to put out for a while
since I've been taking in so much. Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't take in a lot.
I think you should read the Bible incessantly. I think you should put down the TV remote,
throw the TV out the window. I think you should just get out the Bible and just read the Bible
for hours. I believe that. I believe you should memorize the Bible. I think that you should
just gorge yourself in the Bible and eat as much Bible as you can. But for every amount
of Bible that you eat, you've got to work that off. And boy, the more you eat and the
more you work, boy, you're going to get stronger. You're going to get more powerful. But if
you just eat and eat and eat and come to church and just eat and eat at church and eat and
eat in the Bible, but you never have any outflow, you're going to become even more unhealthy.
You're going to become spiritually obese. You need to get some exercise. And you say,
okay, well, I'll quit eating. Now, quitting eating is not the answer. You need to work
off some of those calories. You've already eaten a lot. If you've been in the church
for a while, you've been eating a lot. It's time to work it off. It's time to use it.
It's time to preach the gospel. It's time to get it out.
Now, one last place that I want to show you, 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5. And so,
you must balance the intake with the outflow. You can't just constantly take in all the
time. And I'm all for taking in. Take in as much as you can. Read as much Bible as you
can. Listen to as much preaching as you can. But you've got to work off some of that calories
that you're taking in. But look at 2 Corinthians 5. It's the last place we'll see. 2 Corinthians
5 and look at verse number 18. The Bible reads, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled
unto us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation,
to which that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we
are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
head, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now this passage is clearly teaching
that there are two phases to the reconciliation process. Reconciling a lost soul to God. You
know, getting somebody saved, getting somebody born again, on their way to heaven. He says
there's two parts to this process. Part number one is the Bible says in verse 19 that God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Now that's past tense. He already did that.
He already died on the cross. Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them. And then here's the second phase, and hath committed unto us the
word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by
us. It's as if, he's saying, as though God did beseech you by us, it's as if God is the
one, you know, inviting you to come. He says God's not going to come and talk to somebody.
God's not going to appear at their door and say, would you please be reconciled to me?
Would you please believe on Jesus Christ? He says no. He's committed to us the word
of reconciliation. We're there in Christ's stead. We're in the place of Christ, beseeching
them from God, saying, be ye reconciled to God. See, that's what I said about God not
being a deciding factor. He's already done his part. God's already died on the cross.
He's already been buried and rose again. He already gave us the word of reconciliation.
He already gave us the seed to sow. He did sow with the good seed. You know, the seed
is the word, the Bible says. He gave us the seed. He died for their sins. He's not going
to impute their trespasses unto them. But he's committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.
And it's our job to say to the unsaved world, be ye reconciled to God. Now think about that
phrase, be ye reconciled to God. Is that, would you like to be reconciled to God? No,
he's saying, be ye reconciled to God. Yeah, I got a thing back, you know, I've been putting
out my feelers for missionaries, you know, because we're looking to put on a new missionary.
And so I've always got my feelers out there. And I have a thing on our website that says,
you know, if you're interested in being a missionary, click here, you know, fill this
out, send it in to us. And I got my feeler out. Do I have it here, honey? All right,
let's see. Yeah, listen to this. It's unbelievable. So I got this one back, you know, I get these
from time to time. And it's just a questionnaire that has five questions on it. Just to kind
of get people in the ballpark and then I can talk to them and find good missionaries. Are
you an independent fundamental Baptist? Question number one, yes. Okay. Do you believe the
King James Bible is the preserved Word of God? In English, yes. You know, it's some
kind of weird answer. Number three, how many hours have you spent soul winning in the past
month? Ten hours, okay. This guy is full time Christian service, okay. This guy, like, I
work, you know, 70 hours a week last week on the clock, okay, for my job. I mean, for
my fire alarm job. This week, the week before, actually, this last week I worked about 55,
50 hours. But this guy gets paid full, that's all he does, is ten hours. So I say, okay,
you know, at least he went for ten hours. Most of these guys don't even go for that
long. And that's all, that's what he's being paid to do. I mean, he's a missionary. His
whole purpose is to go evangelize some area. So think about if you worked ten hours at
your job and that's what you get a paycheck for. You think the positive you have. I mean,
think about you got the same pay, Brother Dave, that you got last month, except you
only showed up at the shop, you know, ten hours. You think the boss would feel good
about giving you that check? He'd lose money. I mean, do you think you make the company
enough money to pay your whole salary in ten hours? No. But anyway, you know, that's beside
the point. You know, he went out for ten hours. How many people have you won to the Lord in
the past month? Oh, one soul. You got one person saved in a month. And he's, you know,
getting paid, you know, $4,000 a month to do this. This is his job, okay. He got one
person saved. And, you know, me and Brother Dave are seeing that many people saved, you
know, weekly, at the least. And we're not getting paid a dime. But it says here, you
know, how many people have you won to the Lord in the past week? None. And listen to
this little note on the back, because he has to put something cute on the back, because
he doesn't want me to just read this and say, you know, wow, that's a real good investment.
Pastor, we are historic Baptists. At that point I was just, you know, I don't care what
historic Baptists, why don't you read the Bible. We are historic Baptists, believing
in the old-fashioned repentance-from-sin gospel. So that's, the gospel is that you turn from
your sins, you'll go to heaven. Wow, that's what people already believe. That's what the
Catholics believe. That's what the Protestants believe. I always thought it was the belief
on the Lord Jesus Christ gospel. I thought it was Romans 1.16, for I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that
believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And you can't show me that in the Bible,
and I've preached whole sermons about that, that faith is what saves you. But we believe
in the old-fashioned repentance-from-sin gospel of our Baptists forefathers. The Bible says
not to call any man father upon this earth, for one is your father which is in heaven.
So I don't have any Baptists forefathers. I have God the Father, who said believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, for by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, thus any man should boast.
But I don't have any fathers, forefathers. We abhor shallow modern-day easy believism,
he has in quotes, and high-pressure evangelism. Now tell me if this sounds like high-pressure
evangelism. Be ye reconciled to God. That sounds like you're really putting it to people,
isn't it? I mean, and it's not a mean thing, it's like please be reconciled to God. You
get saved. I'm trying to pull you out of the fire. Think about Paul standing before
Agrippa. King Agrippa, believeth thou the prophets? I know that thou believeth. And
he said, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would that you
were not almost, but he says I wish you'd be all together a Christian. I wish you'd
just get saved, Agrippa. Now if he was almost persuaded, was somebody persuading him? Yeah,
somebody's trying to persuade him. Somebody's begging him to be saved. Somebody's saying
be ye reconciled to God, please be saved. What he means by he abhors high-pressure evangelism,
he means that this is his evangelism. Hey, how you doing, you know? Alright, see you
in church Sunday. That's his evangelism. That's what he's doing for ten hours. That's why
he saw one person saved, and the one person's probably not even saved. They probably thought
that they had to give up all their sins to be saved, which is his version of the Gospel.
And you say Pastor Anderson, that's not popular to preach on this controversial issue about
repentance. That's not a controversial issue. I settled that issue when I was six years
old, and I got on the knees by my bedside and said, Jesus paid it all to him I owe. Sin
had left the crimson sand, he washed it white as snow. I don't believe that I have a part
in salvation where I turn over a new leaf and reform my life and give up drinking, give
up smoking, give up this, give up that. No, my friend, that's not controversial. Yeah,
maybe it's controversial if I'm in a Catholic church. Maybe it'd be controversial if I'm
at some liberal, charismatic church. But if I'm in an independent, fundamental Baptist
church, it shouldn't be controversial unless I'm in the wrong church. If a church can't
even figure out that salvation is by grace through faith, by grace alone, through faith
alone, to God alone be the glory, I'm in the wrong church. If that's controversial in this
church, I'm going to leave this church and go start another church. You can take over.
And so, that's not controversial. And you know what? People who say they're opposed
to high pressure evangelism, you know what they're really opposed to? They're opposed
to high pressure of somebody actually expecting them to do something. They're opposed to high
pressure, stop pressuring me. You know? Well, I gave you 4,000 bucks, are you going to get
somebody saved? Stop pressuring me. You're shallow. I'm going to go save the Bible all
day and become 600 pounds spiritually. No, my friend. Get off your dog and go out and
whip people to Christ. Get the pressure on, put the heat on, get near the heat and pull
them out of the fire. Hey, give them the Gospel. Be ye reconciled to God, for God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth, whosoever believeth,
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Please be saved.
Please, as Jesus said, dost thou believe on the Son of God? He said, Lord, I believe.
And He says, Blessed art thou. He basically tells me to be saved, if you read that passage
in John chapter 9. And so, let's all, and this is something that I preach on and you
say, Pastor Anderson, I already knew all this that you're preaching. And it's not a very
deep sermon this morning. It's not a real lightning bolt type sermon. Wow, I never knew
that. But it's something that I need to hear constantly. It's something that we all need
to hear. It's something that needs to just constantly be stirred up in us about soul
winning. You know, the importance of soul winning. The importance of the people that
we love being saved, our friends, our family, our relatives. The importance of trying to
be a seven day a week soul winner. And you know, I'm not always giving the Gospel seven
days a week. Of course not. You know, but that's what I wanted. That's what I'm moving
toward. You know, I'm not just going to make an excuse and say, well, you know, that's
crazy. I'm just going to do it once a week. You know, spend an hour out knocking doors.
No, look, my goal, even I work, I'm busy. My goal is that even if I can't go out door
knocking, you know, my goal is to try to give somebody the Gospel every day. Whether it's
the tow truck driver, whether it's, you know, somebody that I meet somewhere at a store
or restaurant or sitting around waiting together at the post office or waiting somewhere at
the DMV, you know, I try to open my mouth boldly that I may make known the mystery of
the Gospel. But the reason that I do that and the reason that I'm pushing toward that,
and I'm trying to grow in this area, because I'm always trying to press on the upward way,
new heights I'm gaining every day. I'm always trying to push myself more. I've not arrived.
I'm not the ultimate soul winner. Not even close. What a tragedy if I've already arrived
at my age. But I'm always pushing myself and trying to move forward in this area. But the
reason that I'm even going that direction is because I'm following Jesus. That's the
direction he's going. He's going the soul winning direction. And he says, if you follow
me, I will, I will make you fishers of men. And Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ.
And so I pray to God that I can stand up here and say, follow a faithful word about this
church. Follow those that are here that are already soul winners. You know, follow me
as I follow Christ. Follow Christ and he'll make you a soul winner. Let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer. God, I thank you so much for giving us the ministry of reconciliation.
Boy, the world has no purpose at all. Unsaved people have no point in their life. They live
to eat. They live to watch the next DVD. They live to see how much money they can acquire
and then they'll die and it's going to go to the government, it's going to go to lawyers
and it's going to be a waste. They live for nothing. They live for sports. They live for
entertainment. They live for nothing of value at all. And a hundred years from now, nobody's
even going to know who they are. But thank you so much, dear God, for giving us such
a great purpose in our lives. You've given us the most important job in the entire universe.
More important than being the President of the United States. More important than being
someone at the UN. More important than being the Governor of the State of Arizona. More
important than any job imaginable. You've given us the greatest job in the entire world.
Every single one of us, man, woman, boy, child. You've given us the job of reconciliation.
You've given us the job of a soul winner. You've given us the greatest title in this
church, which is soul winner. Not pastor, not deacon. The greatest title in this church
is soul winner. And it's available to every man, woman, boy, and girl. God, I thank you
so much for giving me the most important job in the world. Because you think that we're
that important, dear God. You think that you love us and you think that we're important
and so you give us an important job. You've done a fantastic job on your end when you
were in Christ reconciling the world to God. But Father, I pray that you would help us
daily to strive to do our part and to be a soul winner. And we love you and in Jesus'
name I pray, amen.
Alright, let's turn to one last song before we go. Song number 377. Song number 377. Song
number 377, we're going to sing Rescue the Perishing.