Number 188, number 188, my Savior, 185, our Lord.
Number 185, my Savior's love.
My Savior's grace in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene,
and only from how He loved me, a sinner can tend on me.
How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
For he was in the garden, he prayed, how might will blood die?
He had no tears for his own grief, but sweat, drugs, and blood for mine.
How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own.
He bore the burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone.
How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
When with the ransom and glory His face I last shall see,
He'll be my joy through the ages to sing of His love for me.
How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
Father in Heaven, thank you for the love of your Son Jesus Christ,
and your love toward us as well.
Father, thank you for the gathering of believers here.
I pray that you please bless all aspects of the service,
and Pastor Anderson as well. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Amen.
Number 293.
And number 293 is our ball on the altar.
We have longed for sweet peace, number 293.
Let's sing it out on that first verse.
You have longed for sweet peace, and we're waiting to increase.
You have longed for sweet peace, and we pray.
But you cannot have rest, for we perfectly bless
until all on the altar is laid.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart has a spirit control.
You can only be blessed, and a decency rest
as you yield in your body and soul.
Would you walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
enemies and contentment always?
You must do His sweet will to be free from all ill.
On the altar you're always on display.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart has a spirit control.
You can only be blessed, and a decency rest
as you yield in your body and soul.
Oh, we never can know what the Lord will least know
of the blessings for which we have prayed.
Till our body and soul be the fully controlled,
and all on the altar is laid.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart has a spirit control.
You can only be blessed, and a decency rest
as you yield in your body and soul.
Who can tell all the love He will send from above?
And how happy our hearts will be made
of the fellowship sweet we shall share at His feet
when our all on the altar is laid?
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart has a spirit control.
You can only be blessed, and a decency rest
as you yield in your body and soul.
All right, this time we'll go through our announcements.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6.
Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we'll be in Psalm 68.
We've got the soul-winning times listed there below,
as well as salvations and baptisms.
Don't forget tonight's the deadline
to quote your Bible memory passage,
and once you've quoted it to someone word perfect,
be sure to sign your name on the clipboard by the kitchen
so we can get you your prize.
We've got the field trip coming up
to the Wildlife World Zoo on October the 26th,
annual chili cook-off on October 31st.
On the back, remember to avoid the spread of germs.
Do not come to church if your children are sick
or if you are sick.
Just stay home and livestream it if you are sick.
Keep praying for our ladies that are expecting,
that are listed there,
that they would have a safe and healthy pregnancy
and delivery, and then don't forget
that we are not supposed to park in the covered spots here.
Those are reserved for the other church here,
other tenants at other times.
And then as far as the weekly events,
we've got the preaching class on Tuesday nights,
open to participants only.
Tucson shuttle every Thursday.
And then there's a ladies game night
coming up on November the 6th at 6.30,
and Mrs. Suzanne Forte is the one to see about that.
And so that sounds like a good opportunity
for some fellowship with other ladies.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning
from the past few days,
going back to Thursday the 8th.
Anything from Thursday the 8th?
How about Friday?
Anything from Friday?
Okay, gotcha.
Okay.
Yep.
Anything else from Friday?
Alright, what about Saturday?
Anything from Saturday?
Alright.
Gotcha.
Anything else from Saturday?
And then how about today Sunday?
Brother Scott?
Five for the main group with Brother Scott.
We got three.
We got one.
Is that a three?
Okay.
Anything else?
Alright, very good.
Keep up.
There we go.
Keep up the great work with soul winning.
And with that, let's sing our next song.
Come lead us.
Alright, you should find Psalm 24.
There in your hymnals, you should find Psalm 24.
If you need one, you can raise your hand.
Let's sing it out on that verse.
The earth is the Lord.
Sing it out.
The earth is the Lord.
Sing it out.
The earth is the Lord.
Let's sing it out on that first once or gone from my heart the world, God's charm, number 181, let's sing it out on that first.
Gone from my heart, the world in all its charm,
Gone are my sins and all the world's alarm,
Gone evermore, and by his grace I know,
The precious blood of Jesus cleansed as white as snow.
I love him, I love him, because he first loved me,
And purchased my salvation on Calvary's tree.
Once I was lost upon the flames of sin,
Once was a slave to doubts and fears within,
Once was afraid to trust the loving God,
But now my guilt is washed away in Jesus' blood.
I love him, I love him, because he first loved me,
And purchased my salvation on Calvary's tree.
Once I was bound, but now I am set free,
Once I was blind, but now the light I see,
Once I was dead, but now in Christ I live,
To tell the world at peace that he alone can give.
I love him, I love him, because he first loved me,
And purchased my salvation on Calvary's tree.
Alright, this time we'll pass the offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 10.
Matthew chapter number 10, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1.
Matthew chapter 10, follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads.
Matthew chapter 10, starting in verse number 1.
Matthew chapter 10.
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples,
he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out,
and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these.
The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother,
James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother,
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican,
James the son of Alphaeus, and Labias, whose surname is Tharias,
Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying,
Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans.
Enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,
cast out devils. Freely ye have received, freely give.
Provide neither gold nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
nor scrip from your journey, neither two coats,
neither shoes, nor yet staves, for the workman is worthy of his meat.
And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter,
inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till ye go thence.
And when ye come into a house, salute it.
And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it,
but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,
when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet,
verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,
be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils,
and they will scourge you in their synagogues,
and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake,
for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak,
for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you.
And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death,
and the father the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents
and cause them to be put to death.
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake,
but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another,
for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel
till the Son of Man be come.
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master,
and the servant as his lord,
if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more shall they call them of his household?
Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered
that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light,
and what ye hear in the ear that preach ye upon the housetops.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for falling?
And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father,
but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men,
him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth,
I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father,
and the daughter against her mother,
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
and a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me,
and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it,
and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
He that receiveth you receiveth me,
and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward,
and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man
shall receive a righteous man's reward.
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones
a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple,
verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Father, I thank you for helping us be gathered here at church tonight.
I pray that you bless this sermon, bless Pastor Anderson as he preaches,
fill him with the Holy Spirit, give him the words to say
so that we can learn how to live better lives and be edified,
and it's in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
In Matthew chapter 10 here, we have the passage where Jesus is sending out
the twelve apostles, and before I get into the sermon,
I want to talk a little bit about the fact that obviously this passage
is directed to a certain group of people at a certain time.
We're not apostles, and so some of the things in this chapter
obviously are not going to apply to us, and even later,
they wouldn't even apply to the apostles themselves,
because later he changes these instructions and tells them to go to teach all nations
and not just Israel, for example.
Or later he tells them you should bring shoes and a staff and script
and a purse and all those things.
But what we need to understand when we read the Bible is that
all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
If we're going to be throughly or completely furnished unto all good works,
you know, we need to study all of the scriptures.
We need to study all of the Bible.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
Sometimes you'll see people just discarding whole parts of the Bible,
just like, oh, this doesn't apply to us, or what do we need Leviticus for?
We're not Levites. We're not living in the Old Testament.
And they kind of just disregard giant chunks of scripture.
But what we need to understand is that every part of scripture
is important to us today in 2020, whether it be Leviticus,
whether it be the four gospels, whether it be Ezra and Nehemiah,
it doesn't matter.
All scripture is profitable right now in 2020.
So we don't want to get this attitude that says that certain parts of scripture are obsolete.
I remember when we'd study the U.S. Constitution in high school
and then we'd go through all the amendments.
Do you remember how there was just a line through a lot of things?
Who knows what I'm talking about when you're reading the Constitution?
These are the people who actually read the Constitution, folks,
because there are all these strikethroughs or line through it
because when the Constitution gets amended, then certain things become obsolete,
so there's a line through them and so forth.
We don't want to just start drawing a big line through things in our Bible.
We need to understand that even things that have been amended for the New Testament
or things that changed because of being in a different time or a different place,
we still can learn from this passage and apply many great truths from this passage.
And this is why the Bible says,
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
One of the ways that we divide the word of truth is understanding,
okay, this is Old Testament, this is New Testament,
this is talking to this person, this is talking to that person.
But just because we aren't apostles doesn't mean that there aren't many things in this passage
that we can directly apply to ourselves.
We can always learn from it.
I mean, if you go down that road, you say, well, I'm not Titus.
You know, what can I do with the book of Titus?
I'm not Titus, my name's not Timothy, I'm not a Corinthian.
You know, Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, count me out.
That doesn't make any sense, folks.
Obviously the entire Bible is written to us.
And even in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 when he talked about the law of Moses,
he said that those things were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
So he's saying that the stuff written in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
was relevant to the Corinthian church, you know, 1500 years later.
And guess what, it's still relevant to us today.
We should still learn from these examples.
So let's jump into this passage with that in mind.
It starts out in verse number 1,
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples,
he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out
and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Now we have not been given this power to heal every sickness and cast out every demon.
And what you need to understand is that the apostles were given the power to do, quote,
special miracles.
You know the Bible talks about special miracles being done by the hand of Paul
where he's doing these healings and so forth.
Well let me ask you this.
If everybody was doing it, would it be special?
The whole thing that makes these things special is that this power was given to the apostles
and the apostles alone.
Now this does not mean that God can't answer prayer.
And the Bible does command us as Christians to pray for the sick and God can heal the sick.
God can work a miracle.
But isn't there kind of a big difference between me praying for someone to recover
and God miraculously healing them versus me, just everybody I touch is being healed, right?
My shadow falls on someone and they're healed.
Somebody touched the hem of my garment and they're healed.
That's a big difference, isn't it?
So the apostles did have the power to do some special miracles.
That's what the Bible uses that term, special miracles.
Some people call this the apostolic signs.
You know, God here is giving power to a certain group of people.
Because Jesus had a lot of followers.
Jesus did, you know, I remember that blasphemous rabbi said in Marching Design,
you know, we have 12 disciples.
I mean, you know, that's not a lot.
It's like Jesus had thousands of people following him, didn't he?
You know, he's got 5,000 over here, 4,000 over here.
Throngs of people, multiple people, an innumerable multitude comes to hear him.
But he gives this power not to every single saved individual,
not to every person who believes.
He's not giving this power to just every Christian.
He gives this power to these 12 apostles.
And then later he ordains 70 apostles.
So here it says that he called his 12 disciples.
He gave them power against unclean spirits and so forth.
And we talked about that.
Jump down if you would to verse 5.
It just lists their names.
But look at verse 5.
These 12, Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying,
Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not,
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Now this is, again, another instruction that would not apply to us as we go out preaching the word of God
because they were limited to a certain geography.
At the end of the book of Matthew, in Matthew 28, he says,
Go ye therefore and teach all nations.
So first he wanted the word of God to go to the house of Israel.
Then after that he wanted it to go to everyone else.
Now the key word here that I don't want you to miss is the word rather.
He says in verse 6, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Why is that word important?
Because of the fact it's not that he doesn't want the Samaritans to hear the Gospel.
It's not that he doesn't want the Gentiles to hear the Gospel.
Obviously, he would love nothing more than for the Gentiles and the Samaritans to hear the Gospel.
He's saying rather to the house of Israel because there's only so much time in the day,
there's only so many months in the year, there's only so many apostles to go around,
and he wants to make sure that Israel gets the priority.
So he's saying rather go to the house of Israel.
It's more important at this stage.
You know, the Gospel was to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
And the Apostle Paul said in the book of Acts that it was necessary that the Gospel first be preached unto the Jews or the children of Israel.
But they rejected it for the most part, and so then it became predominantly about preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles.
But whether they had accepted it or rejected it, it was always going to go to the Gentiles.
It was always going to go to the Samaritans.
It's just a priority here.
And there's a lot of things that we could learn from this, even though we would not take this directive and say,
well, you know, let's all head for Israel and go soul winning.
You know, you could look at this and still draw an important principle from this that says reach your own area with the Gospel first.
Reach your own area first.
Reach the people that are close to you first.
You know, if we here in Tempe, Arizona, are going to go do some missions trip in Mexico,
or a missions trip in Guyana, or a missions trip in Trinidad and Tobago,
but then we're not doing soul winning right here at home, then we're violating this principle.
And you say, well, that sounds crazy. Who would do such a thing?
Oh, I don't know, like 90% of Baptist churches that I've ever seen?
Folks, I went to a Baptist church that never did any evangelism in the local area.
I never saw anybody get baptized for a period of almost two years.
There was no door-to-door soul winning, nothing like that, but yet they evangelized in Mexico one time.
They made this big deal about a missions trip.
They trained everybody on how to present the Gospel.
They went through this big thing.
They went down there and when they came back, I mean, they were just like these epic heroes coming home from this great crusade.
They're like, we went door-to-door and gave the Gospel.
It's just like, whoa, that's crazy.
It's like, okay, why don't we just walk across the street and do that?
But they didn't do it.
In fact, at that exact church, this is back when I was a teenager, I actually approached, because I didn't know how to do soul winning back then.
I approached my youth pastor who was a pretty cool guy and I asked him, I said, hey, can you take me out evangelizing and teach me how to do it?
Can we knock some doors together?
He said, oh, well, you know, and guess what?
He never would do it.
Instead, he said, well, why don't we go check up on people who haven't been to church in a while?
And I said, that's not what I had in mind.
You know, I wanted to actually get some fresh doors and preach the Gospel to someone and see someone get saved.
But it's amazing how they would go do that in Mexico, but they wouldn't do that in their own backyard.
Folks, we need to start right here at home and knock doors and windows right here in Phoenix
before we even think about going to some other distant land or crossing sea and land to make a proselyte.
Why aren't we doing soul winning right here at home?
And so that's one principle that we could take from this.
You start with your own area and you radiate outward from there.
But he says, rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, because of course that was his mission to first go to Israel and then take it to the Samaritans and then to the Gentiles.
And it says, as you go, verse 7, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And as you go, preach.
I love that statement, as you go, preach.
And when we go soul winning, preach.
As you go, soul winning, preach.
You say, well what else would I be doing?
I don't know, handing out a flyer, doorbell ditching, you know, just leaving a tract.
You know, there are lots of people who they go out into the highways and hedges and the towns and villages to evangelize, but they don't preach.
Or maybe they just show up and just invite people to church and just, hey, nice dog, nice car, nice house, hey, we'd love to have you, hey, alright, you know, come to church.
Preach.
As you go, preach the gospel, right?
Open your mouth boldly and make known the mystery of the gospel.
As you go, preach.
You say, well I'm going.
Okay, but when you go, preach.
You gotta be preaching the gospel.
As you go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Now, obviously, this preaching about the kingdom of heaven is at hand, some people would take this and just try to make it out that that's all they did.
That's all they said, just one sentence.
Don't be silly, this is one part of the message that they're delivering.
They're going and preaching and teaching.
They're not just saying one sentence and being like, alright, that's all I got, what's for dinner?
You know, because he talks about them going to people's houses and being fed, like, hey, kingdom of God's at hand, so, what's cooking?
You know, when do we eat?
Obviously, they're doing a lot more preaching than that, but the thing that the Bible wants to highlight here is the fact that they preached that the kingdom of God is at hand.
And the thing that I would take from that is a sense of urgency, because what does at hand mean?
At hand means it's right here, right?
It's right at the door, here it is, it makes it feel urgent, doesn't it, when you say the kingdom of God's at hand.
It's at hand, where does that expression at hand come from?
Like, you could just reach out and touch it, it's that close, okay, with your hand.
The kingdom of heaven's at hand, you know, when we go out and preach the gospel, when we go out into the highways and hedges and preach the lost,
we need to have a sense of urgency about it.
And what do I mean by that?
Is that now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation, right?
We should try to get people to make a decision to be saved today if they're to that point, if they're ready, you know.
And obviously, look, if somebody doesn't believe, they're not ready to get saved.
If somebody is not sure about whether they believe, the last thing we want to do is just get somebody to pray a prayer
or repeat something with us that they don't really believe or understand.
So if people don't understand the gospel, today's not their day.
You know, I can't count how many times I've given somebody the gospel and they just didn't understand it.
It just went over their head.
And you know what, I walked away and I told my soul-winding partner, hey, today's not their day.
You know, hopefully somebody can water that seed and someone else can talk to them another day, but today's just not their day.
They need to sleep on it.
Sometimes the seed has to be planted and watered and so forth.
But you know, when somebody understands the gospel and they comprehend it, we want to try to get them to get saved today.
We want to try to push them.
And you say, well, you know, I don't know if we should do that confrontational evangelism or, you know, I don't want to push people.
But here's the thing, you know, I do want to push people if they actually understand it and they're close.
And you know, like the guy who said to the Apostle Paul, King Agrippa, what did he say?
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
And Paul basically then begins to preach and admonish him, go all the way, not almost, get all together, you know, get there.
And so, you know, there have been times when I've been preaching the gospel and you've got to obviously use discretion and discernment when you're out there.
But you want to make sure people know, look, heaven's real.
Hell is real.
And we could die today.
We could die any time.
You don't know what a day is going to bring forth.
Now is the day that you've got somebody at your door with the Bible making it easy for you.
Today's going to be easy for you to get saved if you understand it.
Here we are.
We can take care of this right now.
You don't want to be one of these soul winners who just kind of goes around delivering information and then you just kind of walk away and leave people hanging.
You don't know how to actually reap the harvest.
You know what I'm saying?
There are people out there, they go out and they give the gospel, they present the gospel and then they just walk away.
Bring it to a decision.
You know, once you've presented the gospel, once you understand that they comprehend the gospel, you know, ask them if they believe what you've shown them and then invite them to get saved today and say, look, let me help you right now.
Pray and ask Christ to save you.
You know, you believe what I'm showing you?
Well then, you know what?
Let's pray right now and I'm just going to help you tell God that that's what you believe.
And do that.
I remember one time I gave the gospel to my coworker in the hotel room.
You know, we were working together, we were staying out of town together and I gave this guy the gospel and I'd been giving him the gospel a bunch of times, you know, because sometimes people have to hear things over and over again.
So I'd been kind of talking to him and preaching to him and giving him the gospel.
And we go to bed that night and we're each laying in our bed, lights out and, you know, it's just silent.
And then all of a sudden he just starts talking about the gospel, you know, because it's on his mind.
You know, God's working on his heart and so he just brings it up again and says something about it.
And, you know, so I'm answering his questions and he's asking me about it and then finally he just flips on the light and just says, can you just help me do this right now?
I just want to get saved, right? What do I do to just get this done?
Now look, that's a great attitude, you know.
You wish that all the fish would just kind of jump into the boat like that.
Okay, but not every fish is just going to jump into the boat and say, just show me what to do right now.
Let's pull the trigger.
Not everybody's going to say that. A lot of times you have to be the one to explain that to them and say, look, you understand this? You understand that?
Okay, you know what? If you believe this, then let's do it right now and bring it to a head, bring it to a decision and try to get them to receive it.
And I'm not saying to be rude or belligerent, but you know what?
You want to create a sense of urgency because, you know what, there is a sense of urgency.
Because, you know, if somebody hears the Gospel and they don't get saved, you know, a lot of times other things can come in and distract them and life gets in the way and they might just put it off, put it off, and then eventually it's eternally too late.
You know, we want people to understand that today is the day of salvation.
That's what the Bible says, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.
And again, the caveat with that is that when there are people who don't understand, no, today is not their day.
If they don't get it, don't just be like, oh, you're not sure if you believe this or not? Well, just pray with me anyway.
You know, that's not going to do anything. You know, they've got to have the faith.
Now, if somebody says, well, I'm not sure, sometimes I'll try to talk them into being sure and making a decision.
But you know what, if I'm not confident that that person has understood what I've said and truly believes it from their heart,
then I don't want to just go through some song and dance of praying a prayer that doesn't mean anything, right?
It's with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
You've got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart, not just say some magic words or something.
So therefore, we want to create a sense of urgency in the hearts of those that are ready to get saved.
We want to preach that to them and say, look, you know, we're not using these exact words, the kingdom of God's at hand,
but we're creating that same sense of urgency by saying, hey, you know not what shall be on tomorrow.
What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
And so that's part of their message here in Matthew chapter 10.
So you can see how even when things don't specifically apply, you can still adapt them and learn from them.
When you read the Bible, you should always be doing this.
When you read the Bible, instead of just saying, oh, this isn't for us, that's for the Jews, nuts to it.
No, instead say, okay, yeah, I'm not an Israelite, I'm not doing animal sacrifices,
but what is God showing me in this passage right now in 2020?
What is the timeless truth in this passage that still applies today?
Think about that. I mean, instead of just throwing it out and saying, oh, well, Matthew 10, that's not relevant.
I mean, that's already obsolete in chapter 28.
No, we go to Matthew 10 and we say, what are the timeless truths?
What is God showing me right now in 2020?
What can I learn from this and apply to my soul winning right now in 2020?
And, you know, people's doctrine on this can be so bizarre sometimes.
You can show them a verse in Deuteronomy saying, the woman shall not wear that which pertain to a man,
neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are an abomination.
Oh, that's Old Testament.
It's like, what in the world?
So why would that be any different?
Like Jesus, when he died on the cross, you know, the veil in the temple is rent and twain,
and then the veil between the men's department and the women's department at JCPenney also just ripped in half.
Do you think that's what happened, folks?
Not only did God open up the holy place in the temple, he also opened up the women's department to men.
The veil was rent in the curtain in the dressing room so that women could put on men's clothing.
Folks, you have to be an idiot to believe that.
You think that God is pleased with the gender-bending garbage of 2020 America,
the empire in decline with a bunch of sodomites and trannies and freaks and cross-dressing faggots,
and then we're supposed to say, oh, well, this is a New Testament.
You think that's what Jesus died for, to bring in some age of transvestites?
Folks, that's blasphemous and stupid.
If God said in Deuteronomy, don't put on women's clothing, you still don't put on women's clothing.
I don't care what dispensation you're in.
I don't care what testament we're under.
You don't put on women's clothing because it's a sin, and women shouldn't put on men's clothing.
It's a sin.
It was a sin then.
It's a sin now.
Now, obviously, yeah, there are changes from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant,
but last time I checked the book of Hebrews, that wasn't one of them.
Why would that change?
That's illogical.
That doesn't make any sense.
So always look for the timeless truths, and it's not hard to find the timeless truth in Deuteronomy 22.5, amen?
That's the timeless truth right there, that cross-dressing is an abomination to God,
and Jesus didn't change anything about that.
His death, burial, and resurrection didn't change anything about that.
That's nonsense, but that's what I'm talking about, where people will just,
they'll just take a piece of scripture and just throw it out.
Oh, that's Old Testament, you know?
And even other things that are maybe a little more controversial,
because that should only be controversial if you're a total weirdo, okay?
But other things that are more controversial, like, let's say, tattoos.
You know, he says, don't print any marks upon your body.
Why would that be, why would he all of a sudden say, hey, look like a cannibal now.
Print marks all over yourself so you can look like a cannibal.
Why would he do that?
Why would that change?
That didn't change.
Folks, if God didn't want us printing marks on our body back then,
there's no reason to just assume that that changed.
Look, if God doesn't tell us that it changed,
we should just assume that what he said back then still stands.
Anything that changed, he tells us about the change.
Hey, this changed.
In Hebrews, there are a lot of verses dedicated to telling us
what the difference is between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
But he didn't say, like, hey, tattoos are cool now,
and, you know, you can cross-dress, and getting drunk is cool.
It's just like, what?
It doesn't make any sense, folks.
So we need to rightly divide the word of truth,
and we need to understand that any passage in the Bible
is still profitable for doctrine right now.
All scripture is profitable, so find the timeless truths.
So as we go through this, he says in verse 8,
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,
cast out devils, freely you have received, freely give.
Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses,
nor script for your journey, neither two coats,
neither shoes nor yet staves, for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Now, keep your finger right here and flip over to Luke chapter 22,
just a couple pages to the right in your Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke.
Go to Luke 22, and Jesus is going to reflect back on this
and talk about this time that he sent them out without those things,
because he's telling them, don't bring two coats.
Now you say, what do you mean, don't bring shoes?
Well, he tells them in Mark chapter 6 in the parallel passage,
he says, be shod with sandals and not put on two coats.
Because if you're just going on a light journey, a light trip,
if you're traveling light, sandals are sufficient.
You know, I've gone on different day trips and hiking trips
and even overnight trips just wearing a pair of sandals.
But if I were going on any kind of a serious journey
where I needed to be prepared for anything,
and if I were traveling a little heavier, then of course,
even if I'm wearing sandals, I'm going to pack a pair of shoes.
But he's telling them to travel light, not to bring anything.
He says, do not bring shoes, don't bring two coats.
You know, just one outfit, don't bring two coats,
don't bring staves, staves is the plural of staff.
So one staff, two staves.
He's saying, don't bring gold, don't bring any money.
Now look, when you travel, you pretty much bring money every time.
It's kind of silly to leave the house without money, right?
Except when Jesus is telling you, don't bring money, you don't bring money.
You're not going to need money.
So Jesus is telling them to go just basically with the shirt on their back
and just wearing sandals and just travel lightly and just go preaching.
He wants them to be able to move quickly, village, town, preach.
And he wants them to rely on God to provide their needs.
So God is going to provide in every single town, in every single village,
someone who's going to feed them, someone who's going to take them in,
so they don't have to worry about anything.
Now look at Luke chapter 22 and let's look at Jesus' reflection on this
as he talks to them right before his crucifixion, verse 35.
And he said unto them, when I sent you without purse and scrip.
Scrip would be like paper money or some kind of a cashier, or not a cashier,
a traveler's check.
Those don't even exist anymore.
You know, I started doing missions again after a long hiatus
and I went to the bank like, hey, I'm here to get some traveler's checks.
They're like, what? What's a traveler's check?
Who remembers traveler's checks?
I remember the first time I went to Germany.
I had a bunch of traveler's checks.
I'd go to the bank and cash them and everything.
That was the way you did things back then.
But not anymore.
When I sent you without purse, without the traveler's checks, right,
and scrip and shoes, lacked anything and they said nothing.
So they went out not bringing any supplies,
but yet they had everything they need.
Then said he unto them, but now he that hath the purse, let him take it.
He said, bring your money.
Let him take it and likewise his scrip.
Don't leave home without it.
And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
So he's saying, you know, not only am I telling you not,
that you don't want to leave the staff at home,
you might even want to upgrade the staff to a sword.
And he says, I say unto you that this is,
that is written must yet be accomplished in me.
And he was reckoned among the transgressors,
for the things concerning me have an end.
And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords.
And he said unto them, it is enough.
So we see here an amendment to his previous instructions.
He said, look, back then I sent you out.
You had everything you needed.
But now I'm changing that.
From now on, you're going to bring the purse.
That's why when we go soul winning,
we don't tell people, hey, don't bring a $5 bill.
Don't, you know, look, when we go on mission trips,
we bring the money, we bring the gear.
We don't just say, you know what,
we're just going to rely on charity.
We actually bring our gear.
We don't bring a sword because it wouldn't make it on the airplane.
But basically, he sends them out and he tells them,
you don't need this stuff.
And then later it gets amended.
But do we do a strike through like in the US government class
in high school, we just put a line through that?
No, because what can we learn from this?
We can still learn the timeless truth here
that my God shall supply all your needs
according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
If he was able to do it for the apostles
with the shirt on their back, then he can provide our needs too.
Now we're supposed to still bring the wallet that we have
and the money that we have and the weapon that we have
and the gear and the shoes and the jacket that we have,
but he will make up the difference if we lack anything.
He will supply our need.
So this truth is still applicable.
He also says, freely you've received, freely give.
You know, we should not withhold the word of God
or the gospel or Bible teaching
and charge people money to be able to hear those things.
You know, and this is why it kind of bothers me
when there will be like a church that puts on a conference
and you have to pay to get in and it's held at a church.
You know, I can understand if somebody's having
some convention somewhere or convention set,
but it's like I got to pay to go to church?
And there are even some churches where you pay for seats
even every week to be on some televangelists, you know,
that's like being on a game show or something
if you can be in the front row.
And the thing is, you know, we want to make the gospel without charge.
We want to make the word of God without charge.
And this is why, you know, over the years
my sermons have been freely available.
And to me it's always been bizarre
that anyone would try to copyright a sermon,
a Bible sermon and try to copyright that.
It's bizarre because of the fact that, you know,
first of all, the things that I preach are not original to me.
Most of them I learned from other people teaching me
and growing up, learning the Bible, my parents, pastors
and Bible teachers that I've had, brothers and sisters in Christ
that I've communed with and talked about the word of God with.
So I don't just get up here and just give all my own original ideas.
And I'm not going to get up here
and give an APA citation or an MLA citation,
you know, every time I want to like reference someone else's.
You know, I'm a preacher in church.
I'm preaching the Bible.
Let it just be understood that when I'm up here preaching
I'm not just giving my own original ideas
because if it's new it probably isn't true.
You know, most truths are old timeless truths that get preached in church
and I have a great debt to the Bible
and other men of God and other preachers.
So I'm up here preaching ideas that are not necessarily original with me
and I'm going to turn around and copyright that and protect that.
Well, you know, thank God that everything I was taught growing up isn't copyrighted
or I wouldn't be able to use that stuff to preach.
I can't even count how many times
I've re-preached other people's sermons that I've heard.
I hear someone else's sermon, I re-preach it.
But you know what, it's a two-way street.
I have no problem with me preach, with people preaching my exact sermons.
If people take my exact outline and preach it, go for it.
I'll even print out my outline and hand it to you
if you want to go preach it somewhere.
Because of the fact that I am not trying to protect the knowledge
or protect my intellectual property.
You know, I've received freely and I'm ready to give freely.
And so I've been taught the Word of God.
People have ministered unto me
and that's why there are thousands of hours of preaching on thepreaching.com.
www.thepreaching.com.
What a great earl.
But basically, you know, that stuff's all out there, thousands of hours.
And I'm not saying, oh, you got to mail in five bucks or you got to mail in 20 bucks
or you got to mail in a hundred dollars.
Folks, it's free.
It's all out there for free because I want people to learn the Word of God
and I received it for free.
I want other people to receive it for free.
I'm not trying to hide it or conceal it
or make a profit from it or something like that.
So this is a great principle.
This is something that I quote often.
Freely you have received, freely give.
You know, in our house, my wife has a rule
that if anyone receives something for free,
they're not allowed to sell it to one of their siblings.
Okay?
You're not allowed to take what you got for free and sell it to your sibling.
You say, well, who would ever do that?
Well, I'm sure that would never happen.
I don't know why my wife came up with that rule.
But we've received freely so we should give freely.
But not only that, not only freely we've received,
freely we should give, but how about this timeless truth that we just read?
The workman is worthy of his meat.
The labor is worthy of his hire.
Listen to me.
Jesus Christ had a ministry that lasted for approximately three and a half years.
During that three and a half years, I don't believe that he made a single table.
I don't believe he made a single chair or hearth or any other furniture.
He said, well, you know, he's a carpenter.
I don't believe he was a carpenter at all whatsoever during that time.
Not at all.
I believe that day in and day out, he was preaching and teaching the word of God
and if he wasn't doing that, he was praying.
He was fellowshipping with his disciples.
He was teaching them one on one.
He ministered about the word of God full time.
And you know what the Bible tells us?
That there were women who ministered unto him of their substance.
You know, Jesus was humble.
He would even basically, not only did he have obviously men contributing,
but it even lists some women and says that they ministered to him of their substance.
You know, Jesus Christ, does that make Jesus Christ a deadbeat, a freeloader, a derelict?
Absolutely not because Jesus Christ was working super hard.
In fact, Jesus worked so hard when he was on this earth
that there were times when his disciples wanted to stage an intervention.
They said he's beside himself.
This guy's got to take a break.
They did an intervention to try to get Jesus to take a break
because he was just going so hard.
Study the Bible. Read the book of Mark.
He went hard. He preached and preached and worked and traveled.
I mean, he really was not loafing around, was he?
But yet he didn't have a secular job and neither did his apostles, by the way.
His apostles were fishing and you know what they did?
They forsook. They didn't even give two weeks notice.
They forsook the net.
They forsook the job and they followed him.
And you know what?
For three and a half years, Peter didn't do any fishing except fishing for men.
And it was only when he was backslidden after Jesus died on the cross and rose again
and after he was discouraged and felt like God couldn't use him anymore
that he said, I go a-fishing.
And then some of his buddies said, we're going fishing too.
And when they're out fishing, the very first day on the job,
first of all, the job didn't pan out.
They're not catching any fish. It's not going.
And by the way, when you try to go back to the old life, it's not going to be the same.
But they go back to fishing and Jesus is there, right there, to step in and correct Peter
and say, Simon, son of Jonas, love us thou me more than these.
It's interesting that he calls him the son of Jonah, Bar-Jonah, right?
Son of Jonah, Simon son of Jonah.
You know, that's his dad's name.
Yeah, but here's the thing.
A lot of names in the Bible have symbolic significance as well.
You know, Jonah is a guy who's supposed to be preaching the word of God
and he goes and does something else.
And he goes in a boat to do something else.
And then Simon, the son of Jonah, goes in a boat doing something else
when he's supposed to be preaching the word of God.
And so for people to sit there and say, well, every preacher needs to have a secular job.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
In fact, Jesus really didn't want Peter and John and James and them to have a secular job.
He didn't want them being fishermen and carpenters and publicans and all these things
because of the fact he wanted them dedicated full time to the work of God.
And here's the thing.
Soul winning is legitimate work.
Okay?
And the workman's worthy of his meat.
By the way, that's why when we take a missions trip, you know, we try to buy people as much
food as we can while we're on that missions trip.
We try to buy as many meals and try to feed people.
When we have a soul winning marathon, that's why we feed breakfast, we feed lunch and everything.
And people come up to me and they're like, thank you for the lunch.
Thank you for the breakfast.
But I'm kind of thinking to myself like, hey, you earned it.
There's no need to thank me because you know what?
This is your meat that you deserve because, you know, I'm not going to muzzle the ox that
treads out the corn.
And let me tell you something.
Preaching is hard work.
Soul winning is hard work.
The work of the Lord is hard work.
It's a difficult job.
That's why so many preachers are so unhealthy because it's an unhealthy lifestyle.
Okay.
I try to make a point to be healthy and take care of my body because I want to be in this
for the long haul.
I want to be here 20 years from now, 30 years from now.
I don't want to burn out or anything like that.
But let's face it, you see a lot of preachers who are very unhealthy.
You see a lot of preachers that are overweight, diseased, sick all the time, constantly missing.
And part of that is because it's an unhealthy lifestyle.
You know, there's a lot of stress.
It's hard work.
It's a difficult job.
But even not just preaching, how about when you go out soul winning?
Is that a picnic?
Hey, when you go out soul winning, who here is exhausted after soul winning and it's tiring?
It's hard work.
You go out soul winning for an hour, two hours, three hours.
Man, that is exhausting.
It's tiring.
Because it's not just physically tiring.
It's kind of just spiritually and emotionally and mentally draining.
Especially if I go soul winning in Spanish, man, my brain is drained because, you know,
it's a lot harder work speaking a foreign language.
It stresses you out and you're just exhausted.
So the workman is worthy of his meat.
Don't ever let anybody tell you that the work of the Lord is not legitimate work or that
it's not a legitimate occupation.
Okay.
Not everybody is going to serve the Lord full time.
Obviously, the vast majority of God's people are going to do great things for God while
having a secular job.
That's going to be 90 some percent of the church.
But there are going to be some people who do serve the Lord full time.
And it's not that they don't have a job or they're unemployed.
You know, let me ask you this.
My wife has 11 kids at home.
Is she unemployed?
Would you consider her unemployed right now?
No, but that's a job.
But today the world looks at that and says, oh, you don't have a job.
You don't work.
You're unemployed.
You don't have a career.
But that is a career, being a homemaker.
Well, guess what?
So is being a preacher or a missionary or an evangelist or a deacon or whatever.
Those are legitimate careers too.
Obviously, most of God's people are not going to do that.
And they're going to do great things for God while having a secular job.
But it is quite biblical for the workman to be worthy of his meat.
And by the way, that's why if I'm out sowing and people give me food and drink,
you know, I receive it.
And I don't feel like a freeloader at all.
I've been out sowing a couple of times and been invited to dinner.
And I'm just like, sure.
You know, I remember one time when I first started the church,
I knocked on this door and I'm preaching this guy the Gospel.
And I get like halfway through and his wife comes out and says,
dinner's ready.
And he's like, why don't you just join us for dinner?
I'm like, okay.
I just expected whatever.
I walked in.
I kid you not, it was like Thanksgiving in there.
I mean, they had a bird and mashed potatoes and corn and gravy.
And I mean, hey, the guy didn't get saved.
But hey, I still considered it a great door, you know,
because of the fact that I planted a seed, amen.
But, you know, but I mean, it was an amazing meal.
And I've actually had that happen more than once.
That was the most dramatic because it was the Thanksgiving style spread
just on a weeknight.
It's like, man, this guy's living the dream.
But the thing is, you know, other times,
I've been invited to come in and have dinner.
And I've many times just said, sure,
and just come in and have dinner.
And you, well, did you feel like you were imposing?
Nope.
Hey, I'm an ambassador.
I'm an ambassador for Christ.
Right?
No problem.
If somebody wants to feed me dinner or give me a cold soda
or cold water or whatever, you know,
I'll accept those things because of the fact that I'm worthy of those things.
And you're worthy of those things because the workman is worthy of his meat.
So look, I want you to be thankful for the free breakfast
and the free lunch and the free dinner on the soul wedding.
But don't be too thankful.
Don't be too thankful because you know what?
When you go on the Indian reservation trip and we buy you all dinner,
don't be too thankful.
To me, be super thankful to God because every good gift comes from God.
You can't be too thankful to Him.
But don't act like I'm doing some big favor for you
by having the church provide you with those things because guess what?
The church ought to provide those things.
That's what we believe.
That's our philosophy because the workman is worthy of his meat.
So we, to us, it's no problem to stick you in a hotel.
And obviously, you know, as long as, you know, wall supplies last.
Amen?
See store for details, void where prohibited, wall supplies last.
But here's the thing.
You know what?
We say wall supplies last, but the supply still has never run out to this day.
The supply has never run out.
And that's why, how many, who, okay, who here has had faith for Baptist Church
by your hotel on a missions trip, a soul-winning trip or something?
Look around, folks.
Okay, how many of you have had faith for buy you a meal out on a soul-winning missions?
See what I'm saying, folks?
Here's the thing.
They're worthy.
And of course, hey, of course you deserve a hotel room and food,
maybe even some gas money if you're going out and putting in a day's work for the Lord.
Hey, why not use the church's resources to finance you to be a missionary
and me to be a missionary and all of us that, you know what I mean?
Instead of just, you know, what else are we supposed to do with the money that comes in?
You know, except to eat and drink and serve God with it.
Amen?
And put it toward getting the Word of God out, whether that's soul-winning trips,
missions trips, whether that's putting out DVDs, CDs,
which by the way, those are all free back there.
All those shelves back there, DVDs, CDs, flash drives, Bibles, New Testaments,
don't try to pay us for those things.
It's free.
Load up.
Say, well, you know, I want to pay so I can feel like I can take more.
Just take more anyway.
As long as you're going to give it, they're free to a good home.
As long as you're going to give them to somebody, as long as you're going to use them
and not just like hoard them like some kind of a demented reality TV show,
if you're actually going to give them to people, then take them.
Look, people have literally, I kid you not, we've had somebody fly into our church on a Wednesday afternoon,
fill a suitcase with DVDs and fly out Thursday morning.
I'm like, so what brings you to town?
Just loading up all material.
I'm like, here, let me help you pack.
You know, we want to get the Word of God out freely.
We've received, freely give.
The workman is worthy of his meat.
And so there's a lot of great truth in this passage,
even in the portions that you would say, okay, it's been amended,
but is the truth still there, though?
Is the application still there?
Absolutely.
He says,
Into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, verse 11,
we're in Matthew 10,
inquire who in it is worthy,
and there abide till you go thence.
And when you come into a house, salute it.
And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it,
but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you,
and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words,
when you depart out of that house or city,
shake off the dust of your feet.
Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment than for that city.
And in this scripture, we see that when you go to a house,
you salute it, and part of that salutation is to bless them.
Blessing them in the name of the Lord, right?
Peace be upon them.
And I'm not saying to act weird,
or say things that don't fit in with our language
or culture of today.
I'm not saying to come and be like Pax vobiscum,
you know, and do something weird,
or peace be upon you, my saints.
You know, but what he's saying is,
when you go to a house,
you should go there giving people the benefit of the doubt
that they're good people, blessing them.
Here's the thing.
I just indiscriminately bless people
if I don't know who they are.
If I don't know who they are,
if I don't know anything about them,
if I don't have any,
I say, hey, God bless you, right?
Just, you know, I salute people, I bless them.
And here's the thing.
When someone opens the door to me,
my default is that I'm going to like that person.
I'm going to love that person.
I want to get that person saved,
and I'm going to consider them a sincere person.
Whether they're saved or unsaved,
I'm going to consider, hey, this guy is a decent guy,
he's a sincere person.
That should always be where we start with people.
We shouldn't just start at zero with people,
like, I don't know, I wonder what this guy's going to be about.
Isn't it better?
It's better to just go into the situation thinking,
hey, I like this guy.
I like this guy.
This guy's a good guy.
You know, have a good attitude when you're out soul winning.
You know, when you come into a house,
don't start the inquisition and start the witch hunt.
You know, when you go to a house,
immediately you just salute it.
You start out being positive, friendly, blessing,
love in your heart, and then here's the thing.
If it turns out that they're rotten people,
if it turns out that they're unworthy
of that greeting or that blessing,
if they turn out to be wicked people,
then you know what?
You basically, you let your peace return to you.
And what do you do?
He says, when you leave,
you just shake off the dust off your feet.
You don't have to get in some big fight with them
or waste a bunch of time arguing and debating them,
but you know what?
If someone rejects you, maybe they're even rude to you,
maybe they even curse you.
Well, you know what?
If they curse you, you know what you do?
You just walk away and you shake the dust off your feet.
And you know what?
Basically, all those blessings that you,
you don't even have to say to them,
I take it back.
But honestly, when you leave,
you basically just, it's like you just,
just take it, you know,
it all comes, it just returns to you.
When you shake off the dust off your feet,
all those blessings are just like poof,
they're gone.
What does it mean to shake off the dust off your feet?
You know, obviously it's symbolic,
and it's a gesture that basically
is kind of placing a curse upon them in a sense
because he says it'll be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
than for those people that reject you
when you shake off the dust off your feet.
But here's what I think also God's getting at
by using this gesture of shaking the dust off your feet
is basically that nothing from that encounter
is clinging to you.
Even the dust on your feet,
which is something that's so minuscule
that it doesn't really matter, does it?
Does it really matter if I've dust on my feet
from that door?
It seems so meaningless.
So he's saying, look, even the very dust
of our feet, we're gonna leave that.
Basically, nothing is coming with me
from that encounter.
Okay, so here's what I take from that.
Let's say I knock on somebody's door out soloing,
I preach the gospel to them, they yell at me,
they curse me, they reject what I have to say or whatever.
You know what?
I'm not gonna spend the rest of the day brooding about that.
I'm not gonna spend the next ten minutes brooding about that.
I'm not gonna spend the next five minutes brooding about that.
You know, I'm gonna shake off the dust on my feet,
and you know what that means?
It means that it's over.
I don't need to think about it,
I don't need to dwell on it,
I'm not gonna let it affect me,
because I've seen, I've literally seen somebody
get so mad that they said,
I'm never going soloing again.
Because someone yelled at them and chewed them out,
cussed them out, and they're just like,
that's it, I'm done soloing.
That's a person that can't shake it off.
Shake the dust off your feet.
And so I'm gonna quit there in Matthew chapter 10,
but as we can see, as we go through this passage,
even though a lot of people would look at this passage and say,
well, Matthew 10's not really describing soul winning.
I mean, you really think Matthew 10 is soul winning?
Well here's the thing, is Matthew 10 exactly like
what we're doing when we go out soul winning?
No.
It's not even like what they're gonna do soul winning
five years from then, you know?
After the resurrection, there are changes that are made.
And obviously, we're not apostles,
and we're not at this time and in this place,
but even though it's not the exact activity
of soul winning being described here,
although the exact activity of soul winning
is described elsewhere in Scripture,
don't get me wrong, because there are plenty of other verses
that talk about preaching the Gospel in every house
and going up the highways and hedges and so forth.
But here's the thing, even though this isn't explicitly
about soul winning, can I take this and apply this
to soul winning and learn some valuable, important truths?
And what I'm trying to show you tonight
is not just some great tips on soul winning,
which obviously we can get some great tips on soul winning
from the Word of God in Matthew 10,
and understand these things about, you know,
speaking freely and not holding anything back
and not charging money, but yet when people give us,
you know, food and drink and help us out
or give us lodging, we take it.
We're worthy of it.
And yeah, we can look at this and say,
okay, yeah, you know, I'm also going to trust the Lord
to provide my needs, and I'm also going to shake the dust
off my feet when I have a bad experience,
so I'm not going to let that cling to me
and bother me and drag me down.
But also the purpose of tonight's sermon
is just to also teach you how to read the Bible,
because when you read the Bible and you're reading
a portion of scripture that does not have immediate relevance
to us right now, and it's not explicitly directed at us
right now, you know, let's say we were in Leviticus right now
or Deuteronomy or even a passage like this
that's directed to certain people at a certain time,
later got a little bit amended.
Folks, you can always find the timeless truths
that you can apply to yourself right now in 2020.
So don't ever think that there's a chapter in the Bible
that you can't get anything out of.
Every chapter in the Bible has something for you.
Say, well, I'm a woman.
Every chapter in the Bible has something for you.
I'm a child.
Every chapter in the Bible has something.
Well, you know, I'm white, black, Asian.
I'm Jewish.
I'm a Gentile.
You know, I'm young.
I'm old.
I'm a pastor.
I'm not a pastor.
Every chapter has something for you.
Learn the timeless truths from every single chapter,
and don't ever be one of these people
that just rejects a whole chapter out of hand
or rejects a whole book out of hand like,
well, that's back then.
That's not for us.
Okay, but what's the timeless truth?
Because it's still profitable for doctrine
and for instruction right now.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord,
and it's so packed with truth.
Help us to study it every day,
and Lord, help us come to church and hear it preached,
to read it ourselves,
and Lord, help us to always be looking for the application
for us today on every page,
and in Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.
Please take your hymnals.
We'll be dismissed and singing 397.
Little is much when God is in it.
Number 397.
Let's sing it out on that first verse.
Number 397.
In the heart, let's speak up now, right men,
there's a word for all to do.
Hark, the voice of God is calling,
to the heart is calling you.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor, God, for wealth or fame,
there's a crown and you can win it.
If you'll go in Jesus' name,
God's a place you're called to labor,
seems so small and little known.
It is great if God is in it,
and he'll not forget his own.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor, God, for wealth or fame,
there's a crown and you can win it.
If you'll go in Jesus' name,
are you laid aside from service,
body born from toil and care?
You can still be in the battle,
in the sacred place of prayer.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor, God, for wealth or fame,
there's a crown and you can win it.
If you'll go in Jesus' name,
when the conflict here is ended,
and our race on earth is won,
he will say to all the faithful,
welcome home, my child well done.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor, God, for wealth or fame,
there's a crown and you can win it.
If you'll go in Jesus' name.
Amen.
.