the people who love God, the great people who want to learn from you
they want to serve you with their lives, they want to be soul winners
they want to live for God, and so Father
what a privilege it is to help me to preach what's needed tonight
and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
I love the phrase here in this story, it's kind of an odd story
and you have to really understand the whole context of what's going on to get the story
Ishmael is trying to be king over the house of Israel
David has been promised the kingdom by God and so there's this rivalry going on there
and there's also a rivalry where David's wife, Michael, had actually been
stripped from him and kidnapped from him and he wants to get her back and so forth
and we get to a point here where there's a dissension between Abner, the captain of his boss that's host
and his boss that's himself, and they're arguing
and finally Abner says, I'm through with you, I'm going to go to the other side
I'm going to go with David, and he says this great statement to the people of Israel
in verse number 18, or in verse number 17 he says
you sought for David in time past to be king over you, now then do it.
And I just love those four words, now then do it.
And that's the title of my sermon tonight is, now then do it.
You see, God is a God of right now, did you know that?
God's not a God of the future, and God's not the God of the past, God's the God of right now.
I've preached on this a little bit before, this is a totally different sermon
but I've mentioned the fact that the word now occurs in the Bible 1,356 times.
Now that's a lot of times, I mean, you could look up other words that are very important words to our doctrine
I mean, important words, things that are just key doctrines of faith, you know, the blood
you know, you look at these words, but if you look up the word now, you're going to find it 1,356 times
I mean, that's a lot, also you're going to find words like immediately, 55 times
straight way, which means the same thing, 42 times, forthwith, 10 more times
and so God is a God that says I like things now.
I was thinking about when Moses went to the burning bush
and he says, if they ask me, God, what your name is, what am I going to tell them?
He says, I am that I am.
He says, if they ask you what my name is, tell them that my name is I am.
Now, what is I am? I mean, it's the present tense state of being verb.
He says, not tell them my name was I was, or I've always been, or this is what I'm going to be.
He says, no, it's I am, it's right now.
So God even defines himself with his own name with a present tense.
He says, I am the God of now, I am.
So let me show you several things where God says it's something that you need to do now
and something you need to do immediately.
And there were so many things, but I've selected a few because, I mean,
there are hundreds of things I could talk about, but I just picked a few.
And so number one, God says, be a soul winner now.
Look if you would at Acts chapter nine, I'm going to show you an interesting story here.
Acts chapter nine.
Acts chapter nine, and look at verse number 17.
Acts nine, 17, the Bible reads,
And Ammonias went his way and entered into the house,
and putting his hands on him said,
Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus,
that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest,
hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scaled.
And he received sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized.
And when he had received meat, he was strengthened.
Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.
So we see here a timeline of events.
Saul has received a vision.
If you remember, he's on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus.
He's going there to take Christians, anyone who claims the name of Christ,
he's going to take them and have them arrested, thrown to jail,
some of them to be put to death, in fact.
And on the way, a shining light appears to him.
He's knocked off his horse.
All the people that are with him are stunned and unable to see anything.
And he stands and he sees this bright light,
but he can't make out any kind of an image or anything.
And a voice that says, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And it was Jesus Christ.
Because he said, who art thou, Lord?
He said, I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
It's hard for thee to kick against the prince.
And Saul, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And he said, I want you to rise, and I want you to go to this man, Ananias.
He'll tell you what to do.
And he was blinded from that light, and he could not see for three whole days.
And they had to lead him by the hand all the way to Damascus.
When he gets to Damascus, he gets to the house of Ananias.
And a lot of people, they just read this one story in Acts 9,
and they don't really get the full story, and here's why.
Paul recounts Paul who's Saul, it's the same person.
His name is later changed to Paul.
Paul recounts this story several times.
I don't have time to show it to you right now because it's not part of the message.
But later on, he tells this story over and over.
And if you read all the different times that Paul tells this story in his preaching,
you'll get, like, a lot more details about the story.
And so a lot of people say that he was saved on the road to Damascus.
Personally, I don't believe that.
I believe that he was won to the Lord by Ananias when he got there.
Because when he gets there, Ananias tells him to call on God, you know, and be saved.
And you'll see that way.
I don't have time to go there.
But immediately, he calls on Jesus Christ.
Immediately, there fell from his eyes, there had been scales.
And by the way, that's what always happens when you get saved.
The moment you get saved, the scales fall off your eyes,
and you start to see things a little bit differently.
You start to understand the Bible,
because the Holy Spirit moves in and lives inside of you.
Immediately, there fell from his eyes, there had been scales.
And he received sight, forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
So he's blinded and sees this vision from Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus.
He meets Ananias, he gets saved, the scales fall off his eyes.
Right there, he's baptized immediately.
And the Bible says in verse 19,
And when he had received meat, he had something to eat.
He hadn't eaten in three days.
He was strengthened.
Then was Saul certain days with the disciples were Damascus.
So he says he stayed there for a few days with them at Damascus.
But look at this in verse 20.
And straightway, I mean, that's immediately right away,
and straightway, he preached Christ in the synagogues
that he is the Son of God.
Now, how long did it take for the apostle Paul to become a soul winner?
He said, I'm going to be a soul winner right now.
He said, I've been saved, I've been baptized,
and straightway, I'm going to go down to the synagogue,
and synagogue is not church.
He said, I went down to the synagogue
where there's a big group of people that don't believe right,
that don't believe in Jesus Christ,
and he says, I'm going to get up and preach to them that Jesus is the Son of God.
See, he was a soul winner immediately.
You say, now wait a minute.
How did he know all the verses, and how did he know,
I mean, doesn't he have to study the Bible?
Doesn't he be in church for a while and get really grounded in what he believes
before he just goes out soul winning? No.
Look, if you know how to get saved, you know how to be a soul winner.
You could at least give somebody the gospel.
Because, look, the Bible says that if you've been saved,
it says that his seed remaineth in you.
And when you get saved,
you must know how to get saved because you just got saved.
And why don't you just take one verse like John 3.16,
you can show somebody how to be saved.
And not only that, if you're in this church, you have no excuse.
Because we provide, you know, three times a week,
or any other time at your convenience,
where we'll take you and teach you how to win somebody the Lord.
Where you don't have to say a word.
You can just come with us and just watch as we win people the Lord.
And you can learn how to do it immediately.
Look, if you would, at the next verse.
But all that heard him were amazed, and said,
Is not this he that destroyed them, which called on this name in Jerusalem,
and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?
I mean, this was a powerful man.
I mean, he gets up and preaches, and it made an impact.
And part of the reason why it made such a powerful impact,
is because they knew that he had just been
exactly diametrically opposed to what he's preaching.
Now think about this, a lot of people's excuse for not being a soul winner is they say,
Well, you know, my friends, I mean, they remember what I used to be like.
Or, you know, just last week, I mean, I was partying with my friends,
and they're going to say, Well, whatever, we know you.
Look, that helped Paul.
Because he got up and preached, and it was like,
Wow! Look at the change! Look at the difference!
Now, are they going to be more impressed by a difference that takes years?
Or are they going to be more impressed by a difference that happens right now?
I mean, a difference that happens right now is going to be a powerful thing.
And so to see a man who was just fighting against God,
he was just diametrically opposed to the things of God,
get up and boldly say, Jesus is the Son of God!
Man, that was powerful! It was great!
Now look at the next verse. It says,
But Saul increased the more in strength,
and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is very critical.
He confounded them. I mean, he had them confused.
I mean, he talked them in circles to where they said,
Wow! You've just torn apart everything that we believe.
I mean, he stood up a man who'd just been saved days before,
and actually was able to, you know, win an argument with these Jews,
these religious leaders, and prove them wrong and confound them.
That's what made him prove them wrong.
I mean, he proved to them that Jesus was Christ.
Why? Because he had the truth.
Because he was filled with the Holy Ghost immediately.
See, if you're filled with the Holy Ghost,
and if you stand up and boldly preach the Gospel,
the truth is so powerful, you will confound those that hear you,
even if you're not some theologian that's saved the Bible all your life.
I mean, a man like the Apostle Paul who just got saved was able to do this.
He was able to confound the worldly crowd that was not saved
because he had the power of God, because he did it immediately.
Because he did it immediately, God blessed him with power
to preach and strength.
Now look at the next verse, it says in verse number 23,
And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him.
I mean, he was doing so much, he was accomplishing so much,
that they said, we must kill this guy.
But their laying away was known of Saul,
and they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
Then the disciples took him by night, and led him down by the wall in a basket.
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he was saved to join himself to the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the disciples,
and declared unto them how that he had seen the Lord in the way,
and that he had spoken to him,
and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
You see that? Right away, boldly preaching the gospel.
Look at you, what, at James chapter 4.
Turn forward in your Bible to the end of the New Testament,
look at James chapter 4.
James chapter 4, verse 13, you say, look, I want to be a soul winner.
I mean, I know soul winning's important, good night, that's what life's all about.
Getting people saved, winning people to Christ.
But, I just don't feel like I'm ready right now.
Now remember, what's God's favorite word?
Now. Now, now, now.
1356 times, I'm going to tell you, now.
Look at James 4, 13.
Go to now, you that say, today or tomorrow,
we will go into such a city and continue there in a year
and buy and sell and gain,
whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life that is even a vapor,
that appearth for a little time and then vanishes away?
For that you ought to say it, the Lord will.
We shall live and do this or that.
But now you rejoice in your boastings.
All such rejoicing is evil.
Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not,
to him it is sin.
Now, the last verse there almost doesn't seem to fit in.
Because he's explaining here, he says,
don't tell me what you're going to do tomorrow.
Tell me what you're doing now.
He says, don't sit there and say,
well, tomorrow I'm going to go here and do this
and I'm going to go soul.
One day I'm going to learn how to be a great soul winner
and one day I'm going to preach the gospel to my friends
and one day I'm going to be out knocking doors
with Pastor Anderson or Mrs. Anderson
or I'll be out with Amanda, out knocking doors
and I'm going to learn how to be a soul winner.
You know, one of these days, he says, quit boasting.
Quit blowing off your mouth.
He says, you don't know what's going to be on tomorrow
because your life is like a base
that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
And he says, I heard a poem one time that said,
only one life so soon has passed
and only what's done for Christ will last.
But look at the last verse.
He says, therefore, to him that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
He says, that's why if you don't go soul winning, it's sin.
Because I don't care if you're planning
on going soul winning one day.
He says, that is still a sin that you're not a soul winner now
because he says, if you know to do good now,
you need to be doing it now.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow, Proverbs 27 one says,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Hey, this may be the last night that you're alive.
Did you know that?
Did you know that you might lay your head
on your pillow tonight and never wake up again?
I might lay my head on my pillow tonight
and not wake up again.
What a tragedy to lay your head on your pillow tonight
and wake up in glory with Jesus Christ
and say, I never want a soul to Christ in my entire life.
That'd be sad, I mean, it'd be a terrible thing.
And boy, especially if you had every intention of doing it.
You know what I mean?
If you had every intention of saying,
boy, I want to do this.
I will learn to be a soul winner, I'm going to do it.
And then it's like, before you have the opportunity,
it's all over.
Wouldn't that be terrible?
And that's why you must seize the opportunity of now
because the only time that's guaranteed is now.
The only time I know I'm going to be preaching
in Faithful Word Baptist Church is right now,
Sunday night, October 22nd, 2006.
I don't know if there's going to be a Wednesday night.
I don't know if there's going to be a Sunday morning.
I don't know, all I know is that there's now.
And so we must realize the urgency of the things of God.
We've got to realize the urgency of soul winning.
Look at John chapter four,
fourth book in the New Testament,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
Look at John chapter four.
Here's the woman at the well.
We saw Saul.
I wonder if he was the greatest soul winner that ever lived.
I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact
that he started immediately.
I mean, think about that.
I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact
that he got baptized immediately.
And then he said, I'm going to start
soul winning immediately.
I mean, I wonder if that had something to do with the fact
that he became one of the greatest men that ever lived.
Look at John chapter four.
Here's another great lady.
A woman who'd been married and divorced five times
and now she was living with a man who's not her husband.
And Jesus is speaking to her at the well.
He explains to her the plan of salvation.
The thing that Jesus emphasized to the woman at the well
was eternal security.
He said, if you drink this water,
he said, you'll thirst again.
But if you drink the water that I give you,
you'll never thirst again.
He said, it'll spring up in you a well of everlasting life.
It was one time.
And the woman saith unto him in verse 25, John 4.25,
I know that messiahs cometh, which is called Christ.
When he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
And upon this came his disciples and marveled
that he talked with the woman, yet no man said,
what seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her?
The woman then let her water pop.
I mean, she drops what she's doing.
She doesn't even care why she went to the well anymore.
And went her way into the city and saith to the men,
come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did
is not this Christ.
So what's the first thing she does?
She lets her water pop.
And by the way, that's what people do when they get saved.
They leave their water pop.
You know, the people who are trusting in like an,
see, well, what's the symbolism here?
The living water is salvation.
You get it one time, it lasts forever, it's eternal life.
The water pot and the well that Jesus is pointing to,
you drink of this well, you'll thirst again.
That's a picture of, you know, man's attempt.
To have eternal life.
Man's attempt to get to heaven.
The earthly water pot of salvation by works.
You know, where you just have to continually go back,
you know, whether it's Catholicism,
you're constantly going back to the priest,
confessing your sins.
Constantly, you know, I talk to people about tolling
and there seems to be a prevalent thought in people's minds
that are Protestants where they think like,
well, as long as you ask forgiveness for your sins
every day, you go to heaven's kingdom.
I go, wow, every day?
You know, have you ever heard people say that?
They say, I ask forgiveness for my sins every day.
Like, how do you even know all your sins?
I mean, there's got to be sins that you're doing
that you don't even know about.
And there's got to be sins that you're doing
that you forget that you didn't
before you have a chance to ask forgiveness.
I mean, how do you ask forgiveness for your sins every day?
And then you miss one day and then you die and go to hell?
I mean, it's insanity.
But see, the Roman Catholic that gets saved,
they leave that water pot.
That's why they don't, you know, there's people,
oh yeah, I have this buddy that's a Roman Catholic
that they got saved like three years ago.
No, you don't.
No, because when people get saved,
once they've got the living water,
they're not thirsty anymore.
They don't need the water pot of work salvation.
They don't need to go to that church
that tells them that you got to do this,
you got to do this, you got to do this.
Hey, look, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice.
They will not follow another.
A stranger will they flee from.
And that's why when people get saved,
you'll see them come out of the Catholic church.
You'll see them come out of these false Protestant religions
that teach this continual on and on.
Nothing to do with the message,
but I just wanted to point that out
about how she just, she didn't care
about the stupid water pot, she's got the living water.
She's got salvation, she's got everlasting life.
And she drops what she's doing, she runs into town,
and the first thing she does,
it tells everybody she can about Jesus.
Do you see that?
I mean, these are her friends, they knew her.
She just comes and tells them about Jesus.
And then look down if you would.
The Bible says in verse number 39 of John 4,
and many of the Samaritans of that city
believed on him for the saying of the woman.
You see, why did they get saved?
They believed on Jesus Christ
because of what the woman said.
Because of her testimony, she said,
for the saying of the woman which testified,
he told me all that ever I did.
And so this woman's preaching the gospel,
even though she had a little bit of a sordid past,
hey, this was used for many people to be saved,
she went soul wading immediately, the first day.
I mean, look at all these converts.
How would you like to get saved in the first day?
How many did you win to the Lord?
Many, the first day I got saved.
Wow, what a start.
You wonder what this woman's life was like after that.
It's the first day she brings a crowd to Jesus.
Glory to God.
Hey, that's now.
I don't even know if she lived beyond that day.
I don't know if she lived 10 more years,
20 more years, 30 more years.
I'm assuming she was a little bit older
because she's been married and divorced five times.
I mean, she's probably older.
But right away, she said,
I don't know how much time I've got left.
Just going to do it now.
I'm going to win souls now.
And then I was just thinking
about the ongoing command of God.
Not only is now the time to start being a soul winner,
but for those of us who already are soul winners.
We've already won people to Christ.
We already preached the gospel.
Let me just read these for you just quickly,
some of the commands of God that he says about soul winning.
The Bible says in Matthew 21, 28,
But what think ye?
A certain man had two sons,
and he came to the first and said,
Son, go work today in my vineyard.
That's God's command for soul winning.
He said, today in my vineyard,
the harvest truly is plentiful in the labor of the few.
He says, today I want you to be a soul winner.
The Bible says in Acts 5, 42,
And daily in the temple and in every house
they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Psalm 96, two, Sing unto the Lord,
bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day.
I mean, he's saying just daily be a soul winner.
Now look, obviously I'm not perfect at this.
Do I preach the gospel and win souls every single day?
No, but I'm not God either.
I'm not Jesus Christ.
And so don't say, well,
how often do you go to soul winning, Pastor Anderson?
That's how often I'm going to go.
Look, I'm trying to increase my soul winning all the time.
I mean, I'm pressing on the upward way.
New heights I'm gaining every way.
Still praying as I'm onward bound.
Lord, put my feet on higher ground.
And so I'm not going to make excuses about these.
No, I look at these verses that says day to day,
sing unto the Lord all the earth,
show forth from day to day his salvation,
daily in the temple and in every house.
It challenges me.
It pushes me and says, Pastor Anderson, daily win souls.
Like, wow, daily, daily.
See, that's the Bible.
And so don't ever get in a rut
where you say, well, I went soul winning for 59 hours.
59, or 59 hours, that'd be great.
Now, I went soul winning this week
for 59 minutes and 59 seconds, you know.
Ding, one hour, I'm done.
You know, hey, there's no limit to soul winning.
There's no limit to what you can do for God.
Hey, push yourself.
Be increasing.
Go soul winning more next year than you go this year.
You know, onward is the Lord's command.
You know, moving forward, always being a soul winner,
but when?
Oh, next year.
I'm thinking about getting into that next year in 2000.
No, now.
Now, now, now.
What did Abner say?
Now then, do it.
He said, you talked about making David king.
You talked about being a soul winner.
Now then, do it.
Do it now.
So number one, be a soul winner now.
And by the way, soul winning works.
Did you know that?
Soul winning works.
Brother Dave and I were out soul winning yesterday.
And we went soul winning in the morning for a while
and we saw two people saved.
Knocking doors, went off a couple of hours.
Knocked doors, saw a couple of people saved.
We went back out and the first couple of times
we went soul winning.
The first, what, two times?
Nobody got saved.
And I was thinking, Dave, I'm going to leave you at home
because when I go without you, people get saved.
No, I'm just kidding.
But me and brother, and he said, you know what?
He said, this day, you know, today, he said,
we're not quitting until somebody gets saved.
You know, we're just going to keep going
because he's like, I've got to see people get saved.
And so we saw somebody saved and we said, we're done.
We saw somebody saved.
Hey, we kept on going.
We saw somebody else saved.
So then we went out again at night
and we're knocking doors and you know,
I got confused about what streets I'd already done
and what streets I had not done in this area over here.
So I'm knocking doors and we're going along.
We walk around the corner, I knock on the door
and it's like, wow, this person looks familiar.
It was LaShay.
Remember LaShay who came with all the kids and everything?
She came on the two-month anniversary,
she's come several times.
And I'm like, hi, how you doing, you know?
And we walked in and she invited us in
and she had all kinds of, I mean, she had like a niece there,
they had a friend there,
and then some of her children were there
that I'd not had a chance to talk to about salvation.
And so I said, listen,
I just want to sit all these children down.
You know, they're about like ages,
like I think the youngest was six
and they were like 10, 11, 12, right around there.
One of them was like 14, the oldest.
So these children, and I said,
I'm going to sit all these kids down
and give them the gospel if that's all right.
She said, yeah, of course.
So we just lined them up on the couch
and just sat there and spent like 45 minutes or something
explaining them the gospel.
I mean, just really making sure that they all got it
because they're children.
And we're just going through it with them
and they were just really excited
because I was telling them all kinds of stories
and trying to make it real exciting
and animated and everything.
And you know, all five of them bowed their heads
and trusted Christ as Savior.
And you should have seen, I mean, they were excited.
And they were like excited about reading the Bible.
They were excited about church.
And I was like teaching them
how they needed to win people to the Lord.
And I was showing them, I gave them all the invitation
to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
And on the back, they could use that
to show people how to be saved and everything.
And they're asking us all kinds of questions
and they're just saying, wow, you know, this is great.
And here's the funny thing though.
We walk up to the door and tell me
that this isn't just the hand of God.
I mean, we went to the house by mistake.
We weren't even trying to visit Lachey.
We just walked around the corner
and accidentally knocked her door.
We walk in and she says, oh, we just came
from a church service.
She said, you know, a friend of mine over here,
they were having a deal and it was a Saturday
so it wasn't like a normal church service
but it was some kind of a church function
or there was preaching there and what have you.
And she said, we just came from church.
And she said, it's funny because my son,
my little son, Jaleel, he said to me
when we walked out of the service, he said,
I don't like this church.
And he said, I want to go to the house church.
Okay, that's what he said.
And so this little boy, Jaleel,
and he's been here about two or three times now
and he said, I want to go to the house church.
And then it's like, I wonder if God in heaven,
because he'd say, oh, these kids, you know,
oh wow, a bunch of kids got saved.
I want to see adults in this, shut up.
Kids are more important than adults.
And hey, we walk up to the door
and I wonder if God's just sitting in heaven
and he hears the little boy saying,
I want to go to the house church.
I want to go to the church where the Bible's preaching
and it's real.
I want to go to the church where the power of God is.
And God says, what, what'd you say?
I'll send Mr. House Church to your door.
And that night, I mean that night,
we walk up and Jaleel got saved.
Glory to God.
I mean, an unsaved boy says,
I want to go to the house church.
And God says, boy, I like that.
You recognize what's right.
And he says, here, let me bring you salvation.
And so he got saved and then his sisters got saved.
Some of his friends got saved.
Hey, praise God, don't tell me so when he doesn't work.
He does.
Oh yeah, you know, you're going out
and praying a prayer with all these people
and you know, man, you know, what's the bulletin?
You know, it's like, oh, you know,
162 people saved in 2006.
Oh yeah, right, you're just going around
praying a prayer with a bunch of people.
Hey, look, no.
I go out and I'm led by the Holy Spirit.
And if you go out so when you'll be led by the Holy Spirit,
you'll be led by people who are crying out to God.
Hey, show me the salvation of the Lord.
Hey, so winning is a spiritual thing.
It's not something where we just go out and knock door.
Hi, I'm the Avon lady, Avon calling.
No, it's Jesus calling.
It's the power of God calling.
It's not some kind of a sales pitch.
It's the power of God.
Hey, don't tell me that so winning doesn't work.
Because I don't think you say, well, where are they?
You know, these people, they went and look.
Hey, look, I'll tell you something.
20 years from now, you know,
you don't know what's going to happen.
A kid could say, hey, you know what?
I just got in church today.
But man, I remember getting saved way back a long time
because of this crazy guy with a house, with that church.
It's like he was starting a church in his house.
And it was the craziest thing.
I mean, the guy's screaming and yelling.
He's spitting and foaming at the mouth.
And I didn't understand half of what he was saying.
But it's like, he sat me down
and explained to me the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And it's like I saw.
I mean, it just made sense that it was all Jesus.
Jesus paid it all.
And then I just had to receive the free gift of salvation.
It's like I got saved.
You know, who knows?
Who knows what God's going to do with that young man?
Who knows what God's going to do
with that young lady years down the road?
Because that seed was sown and it took root
and salvation took place
and it's going to grow and grow and grow.
And hey, you know what?
Who knows?
Who knows about the people that we've born to the Lord
and we've never seen them again?
Who knows about people we've given the gospel
and they didn't get saved,
but we never saw them again
and somebody down the road is going to reap the fruit
that we sowed.
Somebody's going to reap the fruit that we watered.
Hey, soul winning works.
Soul winning works.
But number two, not only soul winning now,
but number two, quit your sinful habits now.
Look at Exodus chapter eight
and I'm going to show you this concept from the Bible.
But you have to bear with me.
I'm losing my voice a little bit today.
This afternoon I was almost really losing it completely,
unable to speak.
I'm going to drink some water here.
Look at Exodus chapter eight verse one.
The Bible reads,
And the Lord spake unto Moses,
Go unto Pharaoh and say unto him,
Thus saith the Lord,
Let my people go that they may serve me.
Enough thou refuse to let them go,
behold I will smite all thy borders with frogs.
And then Exodus eight three,
And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly,
which shall go up and come into thine house,
and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed,
and into the house of thy servants,
and upon thy people, and into thine ovens,
and into thy kneading troughs.
And the frogs shall come up both on thee,
and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.
Now does this sound like a pleasant situation?
I mean, God is smiting the land of Egypt with frogs.
He said it's going to be in your bed.
You climb into bed,
you're going to feel something wet and squishy.
It's going to be a frog in bed with you.
He said, you're going to go into the oven.
You know, by the way, I cooked brownies last night.
Now I never cook anything,
but I was trying to earn some points with my wife.
And so I said, I'm going to cook you brownies.
Now there's only one cookbook that I can cook from.
And it's this cookbook that I got when I was a little kid.
And I don't have any more,
but it's called the A to Z Gold Medal Bakery Cookbook.
And it's a children's cookbook.
And it's something where you save up two UPC symbols
and you pay and send off for it.
And this is the cookbook that I use.
And B stands for brownies, okay?
So it's A to Z.
So I cooked these brownies last night.
I put walnuts in them and everything.
And I mean, they were good.
It was very good, okay?
I don't even know what that has to do with it.
But you go into the oven,
what does that have to do with the message?
But you go into the oven
and you want to get out your brownies
and there's frogs and brownies.
I mean, can you imagine?
You go to put your shoes on and,
ah, you know, frogs everywhere.
I mean, he says they're going to be on you.
He says they're going to be on your body, frogs.
Now tell me something.
If you're covered in frogs,
do you want to be rid of the frogs now or later?
How about like tomorrow?
No, it's like today, right?
You want to get rid of the frogs?
But look at the story.
It's an interesting story
because the Bible says in verse number five,
when the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying to Aaron, stretch forth thine hand
with thy rod over the streams,
over the rivers and over the ponds
and caused frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.
And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt
and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt
and the magicians did so with their enchantments
and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said,
entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs
from me and from my people and I will let the people go
that they may do sacrifice under the Lord.
He says, just get rid of these frogs.
I'll do what you want me to do.
I'll let them go.
And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me.
When shall I entreat for thee and for thy servants
and for thy people to destroy the frogs
from thee and thy houses
that they may remain in the river only?
And he said, tomorrow.
You see that?
And he said, tomorrow.
And he said, be it according to thy word
that thou mayest know that there is none like
unto the Lord our God and the frogs shall depart from thee
and from thy houses and from thy servants and from thy people
they shall remain in the river only.
And Moses went out from Pharaoh and Moses cried unto the Lord
because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh
and the Lord did according to the word of Moses.
Hey, look, tomorrow?
He said, no, one more night I'd like to sleep
in a bed full of frogs.
One more night.
One more night I want to live with frogs
in my breakfast table.
I mean, think about how insane this is.
Think about, I mean, there's frogs everywhere.
I mean, they're all over the floor.
I mean, read the Bible.
They're all over the floor.
It's like you're kicking them and getting them out of the way.
You get in bed, it's like,
wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
I mean, frogs are wet.
Frogs are slimy.
They're wet.
I mean, frogs are wet.
Frogs are slimy.
I mean, they leave a trail behind them.
They're disgusting.
And he says, get rid of the frogs tomorrow.
I mean, that's insanity.
But you know what?
That's the way you are.
That's the way we are.
Because what do we do?
You know, it's like,
I'm going to quit such and such sin tomorrow, right?
Hey, what's the, wait, you like the frogs one more night?
You want to be with the frogs one more night?
God says, get the sin out of your heart now.
Get the sin out of your life now.
He says, get the filthy frogs out of your bed now.
Do you say, well, you know,
because frogs are representative in the Bible.
A lot of things are symbolic.
They're literal always, but they're also symbolic.
Remember the Bible talked about the three unclean spirits
in the book of Revelation?
That they were like frogs, it says.
They came out of the mouth of the dragon.
And so, frogs are representative of sin.
I mean, because they're dirty.
They're unclean.
And so, you got to understand that God is saying here,
get rid of the sin out of your heart.
I was thinking about Hebrews 3.13.
And you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says,
but exhort one another daily.
While it is called today,
lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.
He says, if you don't get the sin out of your life now,
your heart is going to begin to be hardened
to where you won't even really care anymore about your sin.
You know what I mean?
Like sometimes you'll hear something preached,
or you know, especially you read something in the Bible
that just shoots a dagger through you and says,
I must quit thus and thus sin, or I must, you know.
And by the way, it's a sin not to go soul winning.
So that applies.
Then the notes to do good and do it not as timid as sin.
But whatever the sin may be,
and you're convicted and you say,
oh, I've got to get right with God.
He says, don't say tomorrow like Pharaoh.
He says, today, lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.
He says, if you don't get rid of the sin now,
he says, your heart's going to be hardened
to where tomorrow won't seem that bad to you anymore.
If you don't quit today.
The next day it'll seem even less bad
because the longer that you continue in sin,
the less it doesn't bother you.
People that have been saved recently
and they don't go soul winning,
they're more convicted about that
than people who've been in church for 20 years
and don't go soul winning, you know,
or sin or whatever you, you know, you fill in the blank.
Whatever God's convicting you about right now
is what I'm talking about.
And look at the story in Exodus 8.
Again, go down a little further.
Look at verse 15.
Remember Hebrews said,
exhort one another daily while it is called today,
lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.
Verse 15, but when Pharaoh saw that there was respite,
he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto them
as the Lord had said.
Remember he said, tomorrow I'm going to stop sinning.
Tomorrow I'm going to do right.
Did he do right tomorrow?
No, because nobody who does right tomorrow does right ever.
People who do right today do right.
People who say, today I'm going to do right.
They do right.
People who say, tomorrow I'm going to do right?
No.
He said, no, he hardened his heart.
He did not obey God.
Think about Exodus 19, 10.
I'm just going to read these for you quickly.
And the Lord said unto Moses,
go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow
and let them wash their clothes.
He says, get your life cleaned up today.
Exodus 32, 29, for Moses had said,
consecrate yourselves today to the Lord,
even every man upon his son and upon his brother,
that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
He said, consecrate yourself today
because I want to bless you today.
Clean yourself up today
because I want to bless you today.
Set yourself apart unto God today
so I can bless you today, now.
Now then, do it.
Oh, you're going to quit that sin?
Now then, do it.
You're going to start being a soul winner?
Now then, do it.
You're going to start reading the Bible daily?
Do it.
Quit talking about it and do it.
The next point, number three.
So number one was, be a soul winner now.
Number two, quit the sin now.
And number three, do the will of God now.
Look at Ephesians, chapter five.
Ephesians, chapter number five.
Ephesians, chapter number five,
and look at you with a verse number 14.
Man, I got to make my voice last until the end of the sermon.
I'm not going to quit preaching until my voice is gone,
and then it'll be over.
Ephesians 5, 14, the Bible says,
Wherefore, he saith, awake thou that sleepest,
and arrive from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
redeeming the time.
He's saying, take advantage of the time that you have.
Redeeming the time because the days are evil.
Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
He says, you don't have all the time that you need necessarily
because the days are evil.
We're living in an evil day.
I think it was an evil day when Paul was talking,
but I think that today is a very evil day
that we're living in in 2006.
And you can say, better knock the doors now, Pastor Anderson.
Better build that church now because the days are evil.
There may be a time when you're not allowed
to knock these doors anymore.
There may be a time when you don't have the freedom
to preach the gospel anymore and you're thrown in jail.
There may be a time when, you know,
the antichrist is going to be revealed,
as we saw a few weeks ago when I was preaching
on the tribulation and everything.
Hey, there's come an evil day, my friend.
We don't know how long we have.
He says, redeem the time, use the time that you have,
and don't be unwise, but understanding
what the will of the Lord is.
Because a lot of people say,
well, I would do the will of God,
but I don't know what it is.
And so I'm going to pray and sit around
and figure out what the will of God is.
Don't sit around and figure out what the will of God is.
Just know what the will of God is
because the will of God is found in the Bible.
The will of God is found in the Bible.
If you want to know what the will of the Lord is,
read the Bible again and again and again and again
and again and again and again, cover to cover,
again and again and again and again,
and you will know what the will of the Lord is.
Don't you go read the Bible 10 times
and come back and tell me you don't know what God's will is.
No, you'll know what it is.
If you read the Bible, you'll know exactly what it is.
Look at Psalm 95, and I'm going to show you
why it's so important to do the will of God now,
whatever it may be.
Psalm 95, and it's not some spooky thing
what the will of God is.
Read the Bible.
The Bible will tell you what the will of God is
in all areas.
Psalm 95, look at verse seven.
Here's the danger of not doing the will of God now.
Psalm 95, seven, the Bible says,
for he is our God and we are the people of his pastor
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as in the provocation
and as in the day of the temptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
40 years long was I grieved with this generation and said,
it is a people that do err in their heart
and they have not known my ways,
unto whom I swear in my wrath
that they should not enter into my rest.
These are people who did not want to do the will of God now,
we're talking about the children of Israel,
they came out of the land of Egypt,
they crossed the Red Sea, they were in the wilderness,
they came to Cades Barnea,
they stood at the verge of the Promised Land,
like the song we sang today, Beulah Land.
They stood on the edge of Beulah Land,
where the fellowship with God would be sweet,
where they could just glance across the shore and see heaven
and the kingdom of God,
where it all seemed so real to them
and they could taste the fruit of the land
and taste what heaven will be like
and they stood right on the brink of it
and they said, we're scared,
we're not going to go into the Promised Land.
He said, we don't have enough faith to do this at this point
and they said, we can't do this
and they stood at the brink of the Promised Land,
God got so angry that he sware in his wrath,
I mean he got so angry that it caused him to swear
and when God swears to something, it's end of story, okay,
and he swore in his wrath and said,
they will not enter into my rest.
He said, no one who is over 20 years old
is going to enter into this land
that has refused to go and accept Caleb and Joshua
because they had another spirit
and he said, these men are going to die in the wilderness
and I'm going to make the rest of you wander for 40 years
until they've all died off.
And so what happened, did you know that the next day,
the next day, the next day they said,
we changed our mind, we're going to go in.
I mean, he just swore in his wrath
that they're not going to enter into his rest.
The next day they said, up, let's go
and they went and they fought against the Canaanites
the next day.
A lot of people don't know this part of the story
and the Bible says that they just slaughtered
a bunch of them and pushed them back
and Moses said, don't do it.
He said, God said, no, it's too late.
He said, it's too late, you can't do it.
And they said, no, no, no, we're going to get right with God,
it's okay, we're going to do it.
He said, no, today's opportunity is not the same
as tomorrow's opportunity.
See, there's going to come a time
where you don't do the will of God
and then you lose the opportunity
to ever do the will of God.
Because God says, sorry, you missed the opportunity, son.
And so, you know, God's still going to use you.
I mean, he still used them,
they still fought battles in the wilderness,
they still loved God in the wilderness
and they were used by God.
But hey, I don't want to live in the wilderness, do you?
Want to live in the wilderness the rest of your life?
I don't want to live in the wilderness.
And so, I want to live in the promised land.
And so, yes, it's like, oh, my life's over,
I'm going to quit church, you know, I may stop.
No, no, no, God still wants to use you in the wilderness.
Moses didn't go in the promised land,
God used him greatly in the next four years.
But I'm going to tell you something,
today, if you'll hear his voice,
you could enter into the promised land.
Maybe it's not available tomorrow.
That's why it's so vital to do the will of God now.
I was thinking about another psalm,
quickly, we're running out of time,
look at Psalm 132, and I'm running out of voice.
Psalm 132, verse one, great psalm.
Oh, I love the book of Psalms.
Isn't the book of Psalms great?
I mean, these are the songs that they sang,
aren't they so deep with content?
Look at Psalm 132.
And the Bible says, Lord, remember David
and all his afflictions, how he sware unto the Lord
and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob.
Surely, I will not come into the tabernacle of my house,
nor go up into my bed.
I will not give sleep to mine eyes
or slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place
for the Lord and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
Lo, we heard of it at Ephrathah.
We found it in the fields of the wood.
We will go into his tabernacles.
We will worship at his footstool.
Arise, O Lord, into thy rest.
Now in the ark of thy strength,
let thy priests be clothed with righteousness
and let thy saints shout for joy.
For thy servant David's sake,
turn not away the face of thine anointed.
The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David.
He will not turn from it.
Of the fruit of thy body will I sit upon thy throne.
If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony
that I shall teach them,
their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore.
For the Lord hath chosen Zion.
He hath desired it for his habitation.
This is my rest forever.
Here will I dwell, for I have desired it.
I will abundantly bless her provision.
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
I will also clothe her priests with salvation
and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
There will I make the horn of David to bud.
I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.
His enemies will I clothe with shame,
but upon himself shall his crown flourish.
Now here's a man who said,
and this is on the point of doing the will of God.
Now here's a man who said,
I'm not going to let my eyes go to sleep tonight.
I'm not going to find rest for my eyelids.
I'm not going to walk into the door of my house
and lay in my bed until I find a place for God to dwell.
This is talking about the time when they had the tabernacle.
And the tabernacle was moved around from place to place
and he said, you know, I want to build a temple,
a place for God to dwell in permanently.
He says, I want to find a place
where I can be in the house of God forever.
This is the same man who said,
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
And he said, I want to find a place where God's power is.
I want to find a house of God where I can be with God,
where I can be established forever
and I'm not going to rest until I find it.
And it says that he found it.
And it says, yes, God will be in Mount Zion
where you're building this temple.
And he didn't get to build the temple.
Of course, his son Solomon built it.
But he says, yes, I've chosen Mount Zion.
He says, David, I'm going to show you
the place that I'm blessing.
I'm going to show you the place to build the temple.
I'm going to show you the place of rest for your life.
And he says, here it is.
It's Mount Zion.
I'm going to be there forever.
You plant yourself there.
Your kids are going to be blessed after you.
And that's a great psalm.
Psalm 132, powerful psalm.
And so God says, look, get in the will of God.
Find that place where God wants you to be.
Not just geographically, but also just in your life.
What he wants you to be doing in life.
But it also could be geographically.
It could be a church where God says,
find a church where God is.
Find a place where God is.
Find out what you believe.
Find out what you want to do with your life.
Find out where you want to be.
Find out where you want your kids to be after you.
And he says, do the will of God.
Find out what God wants you to do with your life.
Find it in the Bible.
And then just set yourself and say,
I'm going to do it now.
I'm not going to give rest to my eyes.
You say, well, David, you got your whole life ahead of you.
I mean, you're talking about your kids' kids after you.
You're talking about years and years from now.
But he says, yeah, but it starts now.
He said, it starts today.
And I'm not even going to walk in the front door of my house
until I find out what God wants me to do with my life,
where I'm going to plant myself,
what I'm going to do, where God's rest is.
I'm going to find it now.
You know, the first time that the word immediately is found
in Matthew 4.22, it's the first time
that the word immediately is used in the Bible.
I like that word, immediately.
Matthew 4.22 says, and they immediately
left the ship and their father and followed them.
This is when Jesus sees James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their necks,
and he called them.
Says he called them, and they immediately
left the ship and their father and followed them.
They said, I'm not going to let family stop me
from doing the will of God.
I'm not going to let finances, money,
I'm not going to let my occupation keep me
from doing the will of God.
I'm not going to let fishing and money and a business
and family and friends,
I'm not going to let any of it stop me
from doing the will of God.
I'm going to immediately drop my water pot,
drop my fishing net, drop everything,
and say, Jesus called.
He said, follow me, I'm going to follow him.
That's the first time immediately is used in the Bible.
He says immediately they followed him.
Maybe that's why they were two of the three
that were the inner three with Jesus.
I mean, whenever Jesus just said,
I'm just going to take three disciples.
It's only Peter and James and John.
And maybe that's why John, who was one of these two guys
who immediately followed him,
maybe that's why he was the one who sat right next to Jesus
at the Last Supper and leaned on Jesus
because he was that close to Jesus.
He's known as the disciple whom Jesus loved,
the Bible calls him.
And he's right there with Jesus all the time.
He's one of the three, and he's probably the closest man
to Jesus on this earth was John, the apostle John.
I mean, the man who was caught up into heaven
in his lifetime and shown the entire events
of the end times.
I mean, he saw the millennial reign of Christ on earth.
He saw all the events in heaven.
He said, write the things which thou hast seen
and the things which are
and the things which shall be hereafter.
Why?
Because the time is at hand.
See again, that urgency.
He says, John, I know you understand this.
Maybe that's why he said to John
in Revelation chapter one,
he says, blessed is he that readeth
and they that hear the words of this prophecy
and keep those things which are written therein
for the time is at hand.
He said, John, I know that you understand what I'm saying
because when I called you, you gave immediately.
And maybe that's why we've been so close all these years.
And maybe that's why I'm giving you the revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him
to show unto his servants things
which must surely come to pass.
Hey, look, these men, John, Paul,
the woman at the well were used greatly
because they had an attitude that said now, immediately.
Now I'm going to do God's will.
Now I'm going to be a sole winner.
Now I'm going to quit the sin that's besetting me.
Now, now, immediately, now.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for being the God of right now.
I'm glad that I don't have to wait till I get to heaven
to have the excitement in the Christian life.
I'm glad that I'm not just sitting around saying,
oh, it's going to be great.
I do say that all the time.
But God, it's going to be really great when we get to heaven,
but hey, it's great now.
And so Father, thank you so much for the blessings
that you give us now.
Father, help us to consecrate ourselves now
so that you can give us a blessing now.
Help us to sanctify ourselves today
so we can get a blessing today.
And help us to realize, God, that it's not something
that we need to do in the future,
but it's something that we need to do.