Find a hymn up close by once you take your seats and turn number 429.
Hymn number 429, the Harold Angel Sing, number 429.
Let's sing it out on that first verse, nice and loud all together, number 429.
It's kind of crazy.
Yeah, you can do that too.
Yeah, I wanted to get you more than just let me get bit on the SD card.
Because the SD card fits like 200 gigs.
Because I know they don't have internet, they probably won't come back.
I figured let me get them as much as you told me that.
You're right.
You told me that.
Let me get you.
That's what they've been asking that day.
It's hard to travel.
It's hard for me and I'm young.
Yeah.
Hail the evidence of peace.
Hail the Son of righteousness.
Light and light to all he praise.
Praise to daily in his peace.
Highly praise his glory by.
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth.
Born to give the second birth.
Hark the herald angels sing.
Glory to the newborn King.
Come, these iron nations come.
Fix in us thy humble home.
Rise the womb, it's concrete sea.
Bruise in us the serpent's head.
Adam's life is now in vain.
Stamp thy image in its place.
Second Adam from above.
Re-insay us in thy love.
Hark the herald angels sing.
Glory to the newborn King.
Lord, thank you for this opportunity to be here this morning.
And thank you for 15 great years at Faithful Word Baptist Church.
And I pray that you'd bless this service.
It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Amen.
Four hundred and thirty-four.
Just over a few pages. Number four hundred and thirty-four.
O little town of Bethlehem.
Sing it on that first verse. Number four hundred and thirty-four.
O little town of Bethlehem,
how still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,
the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shine in
the everlasting light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
are met in need to die.
For Christ is born of Mary
and gathered all above.
While mortals sleep the angels keep
their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars together
proclaim the Holy Word.
And praise this scene to God the King
and peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently
the wondrous gift is given.
So God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming
but in this world of sin
where mean souls will receive him still
the dear Christ enters in.
O holy child of Bethlehem
be sent to us we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in,
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
the great black tidings tell.
O come to us, abide with us,
our glory, Emmanuel.
Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements.
And if you don't have a bullet then slip up your hand nice and high
and we'll get to you with one.
Of course 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 Wednesday we will be in Judges chapter number 4.
And we've got the soul winning times listed there below
as well as salvations and baptisms.
And of course today we're celebrating our 15 year anniversary as a church.
So it's very exciting to have made it this far.
And join us today.
Everyone's invited even if you're brand new
even if you're just visiting it's your first time.
Everyone's invited to a potluck luncheon from noon to 2 o'clock.
You know that's if I'm done preaching by noon.
Now I'll be done, alright.
And then we're going to have the food afterward.
Please stick around and enjoy.
No matter who you are.
And then we also want to wish everyone a happy new year.
And we've got a couple birth announcements here.
Just in time to get the tax write off.
So I always get nervous when my wife's pregnant and it's close.
You know you're just like you got to get it on this tax year baby.
Come on.
Congratulations to the Fritz family on Samuel Christian.
Born Wednesday, December 23rd.
947 p.m. 9 pounds 1 ounce.
And then we've got the Dickens family.
Baby Benaiah.
Born Saturday, December 26th at 902 a.m.
8 pounds 14 ounces.
Couple of big babies there.
And then on the back, be sure to congratulate them.
On the back we've got the Bible memory passage.
And the deadline to recite this year's passages are December 30th.
That's for the people who memorized all the passages all year long
and are going for the big prize.
Then we will have coffee and donuts at 10 a.m. next Sunday morning.
In honor of those celebrating birthdays in the month of January.
Keep praying for our ladies that are still expecting.
They're not going to make the write off.
But they're not due until it looks like April and May.
But pray for them to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
And then that's about it for announcements.
So let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
Alright in your hymnals you should find an insert with the song entitled Good Christian Men Rejoice.
If you need one you can raise your hand and one of the men will get to you with one.
Good Christian Men Rejoice and sing it out on that first verse.
Good Christian Men Rejoice with heart and soul and voice
Giving heed to what we say
News news Jesus Christ is born today
Ox and ass before him thou and he is in the manger now
Christ is born today
Good Christian Men Rejoice with heart and soul and voice
Now ye hear of endless bliss
Joy joy Jesus Christ was born for this
He has opened heaven's door
And man is blessed forevermore
Christ was born for this
Good Christian Men Rejoice with heart and soul and voice
Now they need not fear the grave
Peace peace Jesus Christ was born to save
Calls me one and calls you all
In his everlasting all
Christ was born to save
How many of you have the first time you were signed?
Okay, got two more tries on that one. Let's turn that sheet over.
What child is this?
What child is this? Let's sing it out on that first verse.
One child is this too late to rest on Mary's lap it's sleeping
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are feeding
This this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Hey, say to bring him love
The babe, the son of Mary
Why lies he in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding
Good Christian fear for sinners here
The silent word is pleading
Nail spear shall pierce him through
The cross be born for me for you
Hail, hail the Word made flesh
The babe, the son of Mary
So bring him incense, gold and myrrh
Come peasant king to own him
The king of kings, salvation brings
Let loving hearts enthrone him
Praise, praise the song on high
The virgin sings her lullaby
Joy, joy for Christ is born
The babe, the son of Mary
Alright, this time we'll pass the offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles this morning to 1 Corinthians 3.
1 Corinthians 3, as we always do.
We'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with Brother Raymond as he reads.
Oh, and also, by the way, if you did not yet get one of the 15-year anniversary t-shirts,
they are in the back on those tables, so be sure that you grab one.
It seems like there's still a lot of sizes left, lots of shirts left.
We got plenty of them, so you got to get them.
This is the day to get them, so don't forget to get your t-shirt in the back.
1 Corinthians 3, follow along silently with Brother Raymond as he reads.
1 Corinthians 3, verse 1, the Bible reads,
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it.
Neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal.
For whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
For while one sayeth, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal?
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos?
But ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man.
I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth, and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.
For we are labourers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest,
for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
Therefore, let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come.
All are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
Brother Daniel, will you pray for us?
Dear God, I pray that you fill the past with your spirit, and please bless us and give us ears to hear this message.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Man, the title of my sermon this morning is, Only a Saved Person Can Get People Saved.
Only a saved person can get people saved. Why is this important?
Because we're saved people, and there's a world out there that needs to be saved.
There are unsaved people out there, and we are their hope.
Because only a saved person can get another saved person saved.
And we're going to approach this from four different angles in scripture this morning.
First of all, I want to point out to you that number one, people cannot just get saved from reading the Bible on their own.
That's why the Bible doesn't emphasize, hey, we just got to print copies of the Bible.
We just got to ship this book everywhere, and if they would just read it, they'll get saved.
No, my friend, people don't just get saved from reading the Bible on their own.
It has to be preached to them by someone who's actually saved to explain it to them.
Now look what the Bible says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 4.
It says,
Doesn't the Bible here say that there are ministers by whom we believed even as the Lord gave to every man?
So everybody has some minister by whom they believe.
Now when it says minister there, that doesn't necessarily mean that it was a pastor or a preacher.
That could be a little boy or a little girl, man, woman.
That could be anybody, whoever's serving God.
Minister simply means servant.
Whoever explained the Gospel to you is a minister by whom you believed.
And the Bible says God gave that to every man.
So everyone got saved as a result of someone giving them the Gospel, or many someone's giving them the Gospel.
But it was explained to them by someone.
That's how they understood it and learned the Gospel.
Now if you would flip over to Acts chapter number 8.
Here's the famous story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8.
And here's a man who is devout as far as he's sincere and he's coming to Judea to learn about the God of the Hebrews.
And he's interested in the Old Testament scriptures.
And he's showing up in Jerusalem for the holidays and the feasts.
He's a very wealthy man.
He's an important man because of the fact that he works for the Queen of Ethiopia.
He's her servant.
And so the Bible says in verse number 27 that Philip, he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia,
a eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians.
Let me ask you something.
Do you think this guy's pretty smart or what?
This guy is a man of great authority.
You're not put in great authority over a nation without being, well there's Biden, but you know.
Okay, the exception proves the rule.
You're not typically going to be in great authority, second in command to Candace, Queen of Ethiopia.
He's obviously an intelligent, educated man.
He's traveling to another country.
He's reading a book in a foreign language, right?
I mean this guy knows something.
And he's sincere, okay, but he doesn't understand what he's reading because look what the Bible says.
He had the charge of all her treasure.
And it says, he had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot, verse 28,
read Esaias the prophet.
Then the spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot.
And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Esaias and said,
understandest thou what thou readest?
So the Ethiopian eunuch is riding down the road and he's reading it out loud.
He's reading Isaiah out loud.
And he just happens to be at one of the great messianic passages pointing to Jesus Christ.
He's reading in Isaiah 53.
And so Philip says to him in verse 30 there, Philip ran thither to him and heard him read
the prophet Esaias and said, understandest thou what thou readest?
And he said, how can I except some man should guide me?
And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
Here's a smart guy, he's reading the Bible, but you know what?
He needs someone to guide him and teach him the gospel and explain to him salvation through Christ.
Go if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number 2.
1 Corinthians chapter number 2.
People do not get saved from reading the Bible on their own.
If they do, show me an example in the Bible.
I'd like to see an example in the Bible of someone just reading the Bible all by themselves,
no one's teaching them, no one's preaching them, and they just get saved on their own.
Because I just showed you an example where Scripture's showing us a smart, important
guy reading the Bible, sincere, devout, but yet he doesn't get it until a preacher explains
it to him.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 1.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
Watch this.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but
in the power of God.
You see, understanding the Bible, understanding the Gospel, understanding the salvation is
not just a math problem where the wisdom of this world is going to help you just comprehend
facts and kind of put two and two together.
And A plus B equals C. That's not how it works.
It's a spiritual thing to get saved, to understand the Gospel.
Look if you would at verse number 13.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him.
Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
The Bible teaches it is impossible for an unsaved man to comprehend scripture.
Doesn't matter how smart he is, doesn't matter how educated he is.
And folks, there are whole theology departments at Yale and Harvard and Stanford and all these
big Ivy League schools and if you sat in those you would laugh at the things that they teach
many times because they don't understand the Bible even if they spent their whole lives
studying it, even if they study all the biblical languages and they know Hebrew and Greek
and Aramaic, they don't get it because it's spiritual and the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, they're foolishness unto him.
Neither can he know them.
It's not that he just doesn't want to, he can't.
He can't understand it because these are the things which the Holy Ghost alone can teach.
The unsaved man picks up the Bible.
And how many times have you talked to unsaved people, oh I read the Bible cover to cover
in prison?
Two times, three times, but they don't get it, they don't understand it.
Right over their head.
But yet in ten minutes you can explain it to them and they get saved ten minutes later.
You spend years reading it, don't get saved, ten minutes with a Spirit-filled soul winner
and they're saved.
Why is that?
Because it's spiritually discerned and here's the thing, they don't have the Holy Spirit
inside them, the unsaved.
You do.
The saved person who goes out, so basically they're able to piggyback off of your indwelling
Holy Spirit in that sense, right?
It's like a rescue breathing.
You're coming to them with the scuba gear and saying, hey buddy, here you go.
Here is the Spirit of God.
You have to have the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible.
But when I show up to an unsaved person, I bring the Holy Spirit to the party and then
they're able to understand the Bible.
Okay.
Now the Bible says in, flip over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, so we
see that every man has been given ministers by whom they believed.
Nobody can just say, I won myself to Christ.
I got myself saved.
Just me and the Bible, we did it all on our own.
Look at me.
I did it all by myself like a big boy and nobody helped me.
That's not true because somebody preached the Gospel to you at some point.
Somebody taught you the Word of God because that's how the Holy Spirit spoke to you was
through a preacher who was saved.
And again, when I say preacher, I'm not talking pastor.
That could be man, woman, boy, girl, just whoever gave you the Gospel, okay.
And God uses all kinds of people to get people saved, not just ministers in the strict sense.
But we also see that the unsaved man is incapable of understanding scripture and God gives a
story to exemplify that with the Ethiopian eunuch, okay.
But 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 says this, and all things are of God who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit
that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us, we pray
you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God.
Now the word commit has several definitions and here's what the dictionary says for commit,
and this is the relevant definition, to give in trust or charge especially for safekeeping.
To hand over as for safekeeping, charge or in trust.
For example, to commit a child to the care of its aunt.
So what's the Bible saying here, or not the Bible, good night.
The dictionary is saying it's trusting somebody with something.
You're giving it to them for safekeeping, you're committing it to them.
So when the Bible says that God committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation, you
know what he's saying?
He said, this is your responsibility, this is your job, I'm trusting you, I'm relying
on you to get this done, here is the job, right.
If I were running a business and I committed this job unto this employee, if he's a good
employee I'm just going to put it on him and I'm just going to forget about it.
And just say, well it's as good as done because I committed it unto old Joe over here and
he's going to get it done, I can trust him.
God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.
And notice what the Bible says.
It says that we beseech you, in verse number 20 it says, now then we are ambassadors for
Christ as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, in the place
of Christ.
Instead of Christ, we plead with you, we represent Christ, God has committed to us the ministry
of reconciliation.
Oh, just kidding, people get saved by themselves.
I'm committed to you the ministry of reconciliation, oh just kidding, people just reconcile themselves
to God, reading the Bible by themselves.
That's not what the Bible teaches, my friend.
So number one, people can't get saved just from reading the Bible on their own.
Number two, getting someone saved is likened unto having a child and everything brings
forth after its own kind.
Look if you would at Romans chapter 7.
While you're turning to Romans chapter 7, I'll read for you from Philemon where Paul
said in Philemon, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my bonds.
Now Paul talks about winning Onesimus unto Christ and he calls that I've begotten Onesimus
in my bonds.
I begat Onesimus.
He says to the Galatians in chapter 4 verse 19, my little children of whom I travail in
birth again until Christ be formed in you.
So he talks about giving birth to them as a woman giving birth to a child, that's the
illustration that's used.
He said I begat Onesimus.
He says to Titus my own son after the common faith, to Timothy my dearly beloved son, unto
Timothy my own son in the faith.
So over and over again, Paul uses this terminology of begetting, travailing in birth, you're
my son.
If he won the birth, he even says to them elsewhere, he says, well you have many instructors
in Christ but you only have one father, I begat you.
He says to them, okay, he's saying I begat you in the Gospel.
So he used that illustration.
Look at Romans chapter 7 verse 4, wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ that you should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
What he's saying here is that we're married unto Christ, it's just a metaphor and illustration.
He says we're married unto Christ so that we can bring forth fruit unto God.
What's the fruit of marriage?
Children.
You know, when God told Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply, what's he telling them?
He's telling them you're going to have children.
Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth.
And so here it talks about winning people to Christ as an illustration of, hey, we're
dead to the law, we're married to Christ so that we can bring forth fruit unto God.
Oh, just kidding, we can just bring forth fruit unto God without being married to Christ.
Wrong.
We have to be saved to get people saved, okay?
Everything brings forth after its own kind.
The fruit of oranges is oranges, right?
If we took an apple and that apple brings forth fruit, it'll be apples for sure every
time.
The Bible says except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone,
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
You know, the fruit falls into the ground, it rots, it decays, it goes into the earth
and new life springs up of an apple tree and the tree is known by its fruit because
everything brings forth after its own kind.
But number three, if you would, turn over to John chapter nine and then we're going
to go to Acts chapter nine.
Go to John chapter nine and then we're going to go to Acts chapter nine.
Jesus got people saved during his earthly ministry, but now it is up to us.
Now Jesus Christ was on this earth, walking the earth as a human being, and during that
time when he was physically on this earth, walking the earth in his earthly ministry,
he got people saved.
He did the soul winning.
I mean, he's out there, he's just getting people saved.
But guess what?
He's not doing that today.
In 2020, Jesus Christ is not walking the earth getting people saved.
Now it is up to us to do that.
Remember what it said in 2 Corinthians five?
It said that we pray you in Christ's stead.
Now why would I need an ambassador if I'm there doing it?
I mean if I'm, let's say I'm the President of the United States and I'm over in Beijing
or whatever, you know, I don't need the ambassador to do the talking for me because I'm there.
But if I'm back home then I'm going to send the ambassador to that other country to represent
me to pray them in my stead.
And so we are ambassadors for Christ because Christ is no longer on this earth directly
winning people unto himself as he did during his earthly ministry.
That's what, look what the Bible says in John chapter 9 verse 4.
It says, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day.
The night cometh when no man can work.
Jesus is basically saying, I have a limited amount of time here to do my work.
I'm running out of time.
It's like you're out working and the sun's going down and you're burning daylight and
you say, man we've got to hurry up because when that sun goes down we can't work anymore.
Jesus is saying, I must work the work of him that sent me while it's day.
The night cometh when no man can work.
Verse 5, this is the key, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Okay, but you know what he says to us?
You're the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and to give
it light unto all that are in the house, let your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
And so we're the light of the world, my friend.
Jesus said, well as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world.
But he's saying, look, the night cometh when no man can work.
I've got to work the works of him that sent me while it's day.
I've got a limited amount of time here.
That's why you see Jesus working so hard and preaching so much and traveling so much because
he had a limited amount of time and now he's committed it to us.
He says, okay, I was here, I did it, now it's you.
As the Father sent me, so send I you.
So Jesus saved people during his earthly ministry but now it's up to us.
Now of course Jesus is the Savior, ultimately.
Without him we can do nothing, but is he physically on this earth doing it?
No, we are the ambassadors representing him.
Now if you would go to Acts chapter 9, hopefully you're already there, Acts chapter 9.
I'll start reading while you get there.
This is a story about Saul of Tarsus who later became known as the Apostle Paul.
And we talk about his famous conversion on the road to Damascus.
And we even use this as an expression a lot where we say, you know, man, that guy had
like a Saul on the road to Damascus kind of conversion on any kind of issue or whatever
if somebody just does a 180 on something.
But here's the thing.
If you actually read this story carefully, you will see that Jesus is not directly getting
Paul saved but rather he points Paul to the guy who's going to get him saved.
So like I said, when Jesus was on this earth, he was getting people saved but after his
death, burial, and resurrection and ascension he committed that to us and now that's our
responsibility.
It's up to us.
The Bible says in Acts chapter 9 verse 3, let's examine the story.
And as he journeyed, this is Saul of Tarsus, he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined
round about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying
on him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And he said, who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest.
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what
thou must do.
So notice he does not explain to him anything about how to be saved or anything.
He just says, look, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest.
And when he says it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks, you know this shows that
God's already been working on Saul and it seems like he's not doing very, it's not getting
through to Saul and Saul's kicking against the pricks as it were.
And so he tells him, you've got to go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou
must do.
Look at verse 7, and the man which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice
but seeing no man.
And Saul arose from the earth and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they
led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
Notice he's still blind, which is a picture of the fact that he's not yet saved.
Jesus was kind unto him to give him a warning and tell him, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest.
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And then he says, okay Lord, what do you, what do I need to do?
Go into the city and there's going to be a guy that will tell you what to do.
So he's still blind, still being led by the hand.
Verse number 9, and he was three days without sight and did neither eat nor drink.
Now flip over to chapter 22 where the Apostle Paul tells the story in retrospect.
We could keep reading in chapter 9, but it's a little clearer in chapter 22.
So I want to show you chapter 22 for sake of time.
It says in verse 10, And I said, What shall I do, Lord?
Remember that?
And the Lord said unto me, Arise and go into Damascus, and it shall be told thee of all
things which are appointed for thee to do.
And when I could not see for the glory of the light, of that light, being led by the
hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews
which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul received thy
sight and the same hour I looked up upon him.
And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and
see that just one and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Watch this.
This is the key verse, folks.
Verse 16.
Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Now let me ask you this.
Why does he need to call on the name of the Lord and wash away his sins if he's already
saved?
Guess what?
When I got saved, my sins were washed away.
When I got saved, I called upon the name of the Lord.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Why is Ananias telling him to call upon the name of the Lord and thereby to wash away
sins?
A lot of people twist this verse and say, Hey, baptism washed away your sins.
There's plenty of scripture that teaches us that it's not baptism that saves, it's faith
that saves.
And you could be saved without being baptized.
If you believe in Christ, whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting
life, you don't have to be baptized for that to apply to you, okay?
Being baptized is a picture of salvation and in the Apostle Paul's case, both of them happen
right at the same time because he basically just, he calls on the name of the Lord and
gets baptized just in rapid succession.
But you know what?
Some people get saved and then they get baptized much later.
I got saved when I was six years old, I didn't get baptized until I was nine.
But guess what?
I was saved when I was six, I was saved when I was seven, I was saved when I was eight
and even if I never would have gotten baptized, I still would have been saved because I believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So he says that you wash away your sins calling upon the name of the Lord.
Why would you need to do that if you're already saved?
You wouldn't need to do that because that's a one-time deal.
So the Apostle Paul did not actually get saved.
You could still talk about his conversion as far as the fact that he, you know, changed
gears or, you know, turned in his trajectory.
But as far as when he actually got saved is when the Apostle Paul was confronted by Adonias
and that's where he called upon the name of the Lord, received his sight, washed away
his sins, etc.
Now just to prove this further, there's another example of this in the book of Acts.
Go to Acts chapter 10.
So folks, this is not something that's based on an isolated scripture.
There's a lot of evidence here.
You know, point number one was that people can't just get saved from reading the Bible.
We saw the Ethiopian eunuch.
We saw 1 Corinthians 3 which says that God gave ministers by whom they believed to every
man.
We saw 1 Corinthians 2 that says that unsaved people are incapable of understanding the
things of God and that they cannot understand them.
2 Corinthians 5 showed us how Christ committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.
And then we saw all these verses about how getting someone saved is like having a child.
You're married to Christ so that you can bring forth fruit unto God.
Everything brings forth after its own kind.
And then we have the story about the Apostle Paul getting saved as a result of Ananias
explaining to him what he needs to do to be saved.
But look at Acts chapter 10 verse 1.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called
the Italian band, a devout man.
We're in Acts chapter 10 verse 2 and one that feared God with all his house, which gave
much alms to the people and prayed to God all the way.
So this guy's giving to charity and praying to God.
But he's not saved.
He's a good guy, sincere guy, and there are a lot of people out there that are like that,
right?
But giving charity and praying doesn't mean that you're saved.
And so it says in verse number 3, he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour
of the day an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius.
And when he looked on him he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord?
And he said unto him, thy prayers and thine alms are come up for memorial before God.
So here's what we see here.
When people are nice people, good people, sincere people, God looks down on that and
he does have compassion on people like that that are sincere but sincerely wrong.
And so he'll work in their lives and try to send people and make sure that they hear
the Gospel.
Okay?
That's how God works.
It says in verse 5, and now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter.
He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside.
He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
Now why didn't the angel of the Lord just tell him right then and there, hey buddy,
you're a good guy.
I like you.
You're sincere.
Let me just explain to you how to be saved in a few minutes here.
Let me preach this to you.
Why did he not do that?
Because that's not how it works, my friend.
Because only a saved person can get someone saved.
Because God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.
So the best he can do for Cornelius is to say, hey, go to such and such the town and
go find this guy named Simon and he's going to explain to you the Gospel.
And of course Peter, later in chapter 10, what does he do?
He preaches the Gospel to these people and they all get saved.
And by the way, there have been a lot of missionaries who've told stories about, you know, they're
out in the jungle or whatever and there will be some guy who stumbles into their village
and says, hey, I had a dream a few days ago that just told me to just walk this way, to
just head this way and I'm going to find some, you know what I mean?
And then they won the guy to Christ.
And you say, well, I don't know if I believe that story.
Hey, that story seems totally plausible to me because of the fact that there's an exact
parallel of it right here in Acts chapter 10.
I mean, think about it.
Don't you think God could just, if some guy's out in the jungle, he's sincere and God knows,
hey, if this guy hears the Gospel, he'll get saved.
You got some faithful missionary over there serving, why wouldn't God in a dream put it
into this guy's heart to say, hey, you know, just you need to head over.
And people have told stories like that.
And maybe some are apocryphal, but you know what?
They make perfect sense to me because they mirror what's in Scripture.
You know, when people come at me with a story, I'm going to compare it to Scripture to see
whether it's plausible or not and all you can do at that point is just take people's
word for it.
But a lot of people just say, I've been walking for five days and I don't even know why.
I just felt like I needed to just take this trip and I don't even know why I'm here.
And then it's like, well, here's why you're here because I'm going to tell you about Jesus
and they get saved.
That's what happened in the story.
But why didn't the angel just do it himself?
Because God did not give the angels the ministry of reconciliation.
I mean, think about it.
God could just use the angels as a great soul-winning army.
I mean, how many angels does God have?
Hundreds of millions of angels if you study Scripture.
So couldn't God just send out a hundred million red-hot soul-winning angels?
But I'm supposed to believe that Judas got people saved, but angels can't do it.
It's stupid, right?
People can get saved from reading the Bible on their own, but an angel can't do it.
Folks, it takes a saved person to get someone saved.
That's why God says, hey, go talk to Peter, he'll get you saved.
Go talk to Ananias, he'll get you saved.
Here let me grab Philip so that you can get saved.
I mean, look, Philip in that Ethiopian eunuch story was preaching to big crowds in Samaria.
I mean, he's doing a great preaching campaign in Samaria, preaching to great crowds.
God pulls him off that job and sticks him out in the middle of the desert to go talk
to one guy in a chariot who's already reading the Bible, he's already into it, why didn't
God, you know, the Bible's powerful, the Word of God's so powerful, then why couldn't Philip
just keep doing his thing in Samaria and the Holy Spirit and Jesus and the angels and everybody
can just get the Ethiopian eunuch saved themselves instead of having to beam Philip over there?
Philip had to be beamed in because of the fact that that's the only way that the Ethiopian
eunuch could get saved.
Now go if you would to Matthew chapter 23.
Only a saved person can get people saved.
Number one, people cannot get saved from reading the Bible on their own.
Number two, getting someone saved is like having a child, everything brings forth after
its own kind, so you have to be saved to produce a saved convert.
Number three, Jesus got people saved during his earthly ministry, but now it's up to us.
That's why in the book of Acts, he has to delegate it to Ananias, he has to delegate
it to Peter.
And number four, unsaved people cannot get someone saved.
This should be obvious, but unsaved people cannot get anyone saved.
Look at Matthew 23 verse 15, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye
can pass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he's made, you make him twofold more
the child of hell than yourselves.
Now what is a scribe?
The word scribe has to do with someone who writes things down, and in this context the
scribes are people who are copying scripture, okay?
Copying scripture, copying scripture.
Now this is before the printing press, right?
Because the printing press is a more modern invention.
In ancient times, in the Bible days, there was no printing press.
Every document is handwritten.
Every copy of the Bible was handwritten.
And so you have these guys called scribes who write out the Bible.
Now look, if you've ever tried to write out your own copy of scripture, who's ever written
out like multiple chapters of the Bible, you've done that either as a school exercise or just
as a personal exercise, it's a lot of work.
It's incredible.
Okay.
I started copying the Greek New Testament because I want to create my own Greek manuscript
and then I could bury it and dig it up and it could be codex tempeh or something.
So basically catalog it and whatever.
James White has the Greek New Testament tattooed all over his arm like a cannibal.
So after he dies, he's going to be skinned and that's going to be entered into the textual
record.
But anyway, that's another sermon which I'll be preaching another time.
So the bottom line is that writing down scripture is very tedious and laborious to copy the
Bible by hand.
But throughout history, it's been done millions of times.
I mean people, I mean just even what still is extant today, there are tens of thousands
of handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament.
Not all in Greek.
You have about what 5,000 some manuscripts in Greek but you've got of course Latin, Georgian,
Syriac, etc.
So you've got all these handwritten copies of scripture that describes our guys.
This is what they do.
And by the way, throughout the Middle Ages, you had Roman Catholic monasteries, right?
Where these guys in the monastery are just copying and copying and copying.
Now let me ask you this.
Are those guys in the monastery saved?
These Roman Catholic monks, are they all saved?
No way.
I don't think any of them are saved if they're devout Roman Catholics.
Oops.
Sorry.
But it's true.
So anyway, the bottom line is you've got these guys that are copying the scripture.
Now let me ask you this.
Are they copying out copies of the writings of Buddha?
Are they copying out the Vedas for the Hindus?
Is that what they're copying?
No, what are they copying?
Is it the right Bible or the wrong Bible that they're copying?
Are they copying the Tao Te Ching or what?
They're copying the Old Testament scriptures, the right Bible.
So the scribes here that he's referring to are guys that are copying the inspired Word
of God delivered by God to the Hebrews and they are taking the Word of God into a foreign
country but they're not saved.
So well, the power of God's Word to just get people saved, you know.
Don't underestimate the power of God's Word.
Hold on a minute.
God's Word is very powerful but you know what it also needs?
An explanation from someone who's actually saved so that the Holy Spirit can do it.
Hey, I'm not saying that the sword isn't sharp.
I'm just saying somebody's got to wield the sword.
I'm not downplaying the power of the sword.
And here's the thing.
You're not going to get anybody saved without the sword.
You can't get anybody saved without the Bible.
But the Bible can't get anybody saved without you because it takes both.
Just like it takes a mother and a father to produce a child.
You've got to have the Word of God and you've got to have the Holy Spirit present in the
person who's explaining it so that the penny can drop and someone can be saved.
And so here we see that they can pass sea and land and they get precisely zero people
saved even though they are compassing sea and land with a copy of the Word of God.
Because they are scribes that are taking a trip.
I'm sure the scribes get on a boat and take the Word of God to a distant land and don't
give out any copies of the Bible or don't read any copies of the Bible to people.
Really?
No, the scribes are taking the Word of God across sea and land and yet they get precisely
zero saved according to Jesus.
This is what the Bible actually says.
It says they can pass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he's made, hey they
got somebody saved.
Nope.
You made him twofold more the child of hell as yourself because everything brings forth
after its own kind and since you're not saved, your convert isn't saved.
Look at Luke.
Actually, stay in Matthew.
Go to Matthew chapter 15.
Matthew chapter 15 and I'll read for you from Luke 639, and he spake a parable unto them.
Can the blind lead the blind?
Shall they not both fall into the ditch?
Look at Matthew chapter 15 verse 12, then came his disciples and said unto him, knowest
how that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?
Oh man, whoops, I'm sorry.
Notice how not that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?
But he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be rooted up.
Folks, the unsaved false teachers, false prophets, the scribes and Pharisees were weeds.
They're weeds and guess what, they're not going to produce good fruit.
You're not going to go out to the weeds and the thistles and the thorns and briars and
collect grapes and figs.
It's trash.
And so he says here, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be
rooted up.
Let them alone.
They be blind leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind, well, the Word of
God, you know, can still do it on its own.
No, if the blind lead the blind, they both shall fall into the ditch.
And these people are all using the correct Bible, but yet they're leading people into
it.
Look, the Mormons have the King James Version and you know what they're doing with it?
Leading people into the ditch.
You know what they do when they go on their little tricycles and name tags?
They're leading people into the ditch because they're blind, they're leading the blind.
Go to Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew chapter number 7, the Bible says in verse 15, beware of false prophets which come
to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.
How do we identify false prophets?
You shall know them by their fruits.
Now some people try to twist this and say, well, that's just, you'll know them by what
they say.
Really?
Because I've heard a lot of false prophets who say the right things and they know how
to talk the talk and guess what?
There are people who pretend to believe one thing, repeat things that they've heard.
That doesn't mean that it's coming from their heart, okay?
And so the Bible says you will know them by their fruits.
Why?
Men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles.
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.
Watch this.
Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
Now look, my friend, you're not going to gather oranges from an apple tree, okay?
It's not going to work.
It's not going to happen.
Well guess what?
You're not going to gather saved converts from an unsaved preacher, an unsaved teacher,
an unsaved.
So it's not going to work.
It's impossible.
In fact, this is a way to identify false prophets by their lack of good fruit.
Now here's the thing.
Not every person will bring forth any fruit.
If you think about it, there are people who go to the grave without having any children.
There are animals that die without having any offspring.
There are plants that never reproduce.
Does that mean that they were not human?
Does that mean they were not an animal?
Does that mean, I mean look, if I go buy an apple at the store and I eat it, that apple
didn't produce any apples.
It did not multiply because I ate it.
Does that mean it wasn't an apple?
No, it was still an apple.
But let me tell you something.
If that apple brings forth fruit, it better be apples or that wasn't an apple, right?
It isn't really that tough to understand here.
Jesus is making this simple.
And he's saying, look, when you see somebody bringing forth fruit, multiplying, having
converts, the Bible says you'll know the false prophet by his fruit.
He said, when you see somebody with a bunch of good fruit, you know what?
You can know that he's a good tree.
And when you see somebody with a bunch of evil, corrupt fruit, you can know that's a
bad tree.
Okay.
So the Bible says the tree is known by his fruit.
You shall know them by their fruits.
You know, I don't know about you, but I don't know enough about plants to just start identifying
trees in an orchard if the fruit's not growing on it.
I don't know what that is.
I can tell the apple from the orange, from the pear.
You know what I mean?
I wouldn't really know.
Now, some people could be that kind of an expert, but in general, the tree is known
by his fruit, isn't it?
I mean, how do average mortals tell what an orange tree is?
Only because you saw oranges growing on it, otherwise you have no clue.
You know, if I give you a paper and a pen and said, okay, now draw the leaf of a cherry
tree.
Draw the leaf of a apple tree.
Draw the leaf of, none of us would be, but if I said draw an apple, draw an orange, you'd
be able to draw it, you know?
Okay.
You could probably draw like a marijuana leaf and a maple leaf and that's about it.
Okay.
But you're not going to be able to draw anything else because the tree's not known by his leaves.
The tree is known by his fruit.
Now we look at the leaves of the tree and it's beautiful and it's nice, but typically
we're like, man, I don't know what that is until it, oh wow, look what's growing on it.
It turns out it's a grapefruit.
Turns out it's a pomegranate.
Turns out that's what that tree is because the tree is known by his fruit and he's saying,
look, when you're looking at a false prophet versus a true prophet of God, behold his fruit.
Right?
Why?
Because the one thing an unsaved person can't do is win people to Christ.
That's the one thing that they can't do.
Can they copy copies of the Bible?
Can they run a printing press or a printing ministry?
And look, they can get up and preach sermons and say a lot of the right things.
Why?
Because they're wolves in sheep's clothing.
They're in sheep's clothing.
And by the way, the Bible even says that the Antichrist will be so convincing that if it
were possible, he would deceive the very elect.
Right?
But of course it's not possible for the people to believe in a false Christ once they're
saved.
And so we see that the Antichrist, the devil, they're slick.
And you know what?
There are a lot of preachers that can fool us for a while and to think that they're good.
You know, I went to a church for a couple years where the pastor was a horrible false
prophet.
But here's the thing.
I didn't realize that.
I thought he was a man of God because he was basically just repeating and parroting all
the teachings of his father-in-law.
So his father-in-law is a man of God and he comes in, beware of the evil son-in-law.
The evil son-in-law comes in and he's just repeating a lot of the things from his father-in-law
and it sounded great, sounded great.
But then after he'd been a pastor for about five years, all of a sudden he started rolling
out the false doctrine and started teaching worse and worse heresy and weirder and weirder
doctrine and it's like the frog in the hot water.
He's getting people ready for more and more bad doctrine and heresy and false teaching.
And eventually, you know, he was exposed and he's in federal prison right now as a
total phony.
But, but the thing about that is that, you know, the Bible says there about false prophets,
their folly shall be manifest unto all men, you know, and, and, and God has a way of exposing
false prophets in the long run and exposing false teachers in the long run and showing
them for what they are.
You know, the Bible says, by their fruits you shall know them.
This would be meaningless if, if the false prophet can have good fruit, then this, this
check's not going to work, is it?
This isn't even going to work.
How is this going to work?
How am I going to know them by their fruits?
You know, this bozo that recently taught this, this independent Baptist bozo who recently
taught that Judas got more people saved than any of the other disciples.
He had the most converts of any of them.
Okay, well then how can this test work?
You shall know them by their fruits.
So I guess Judas had all this good fruit, right?
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life.
You want to know how many people Judas got saved?
Zero.
Because you have to be saved to get someone saved, and so Judas got precisely zero people
saved.
Okay.
Now some people say, well, you know, then why didn't they know that he was the phony
then if he got zero people saved?
Because number one, we don't know who's saved and who's not right away.
It's especially not always apparent right away.
You could go out soul winning with somebody and watch them explain the Roman's road to
somebody and pray with that person.
But look, I've got bad news for you.
When we go out soul winning and go through the Roman's road with somebody and go through
the Gospel with somebody and pray with them, we don't know 100% sure that that person actually
got saved, do we?
I know that's terrible news for you, but you know, the number in the bulletin is not exactly
right.
It's not 100% accurate.
I confess, it's not.
How could it be?
How could we see inside people's hearts and see if they're actually getting saved?
Now in the long run you see if people are saved, right?
Because you can tell because they continue believing and you talk to them later and they
still believe the same.
But look, what if I want somebody to cry through the door and then I went back a week later
and talked to them and they have no clue about salvation?
You'd say, look, this guy didn't get saved.
He was going through the motions, he was repeating, he was just going with the flow, but he didn't
actually believe it because as soon as we left, he reverted back to his wrong belief.
But if I go back a week later and that person is still sound in the faith and I talk to
them a year later and they still believe in Christ and I'd say, okay, yeah, this person's
obviously saved.
Look, I know a guy and this guy's actually a friend of mine and he says, oh, I grew up
Christian and he went to Bible college and everything, but now he says, I'm an agnostic.
I don't believe in Christ.
I don't believe in the Bible.
Well, I just got saved reading the Bible.
You're just wrong about how you got saved is all I'm saying.
I'm not saying you're not saved.
If you believe, you're saved.
Period.
Full stop.
End of story.
But I'm just saying you're wrong about how you got saved.
And it's funny because when somebody will sometimes bring up an example, somebody brought
an example to me one time and they said, well this preacher, this famous preacher, he's
a great evangelist, got many people saved.
You know, he got saved just from reading a tract or reading the Bible.
Then I went back and listened to that guy's testimony and he talks about being given
the Gospel multiple times, how his buddy at work's going through the Roman's road with
him, the guy at the diner's going through the Roman's road with him.
Then he went home that night, read the tract, read the Bible, got saved or whatever.
And I'm just like, did you even listen to this?
You know what I mean?
Like the guy.
So first of all, I want to make sure that we understand, number one, I'm not saying
to doubt your salvation or someone else's salvation because of how they supposedly got
saved.
I would just doubt the story of how they got saved.
It doesn't mean they're not saved.
If you believe, you're saved.
But secondly, I would say this.
It is possible for an unsaved person to plant the seed because of the fact that the Word
of God does have power and even if the Bible is just written on a billboard or even if
we just hear a verse, it could cut to the heart.
It is powerful.
But that's not the point.
Getting emotional or cut to the heart or wanting to seek God is different than salvation.
See the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus is cut to the heart and now all of a sudden
he wants to seek God now.
He wants to get saved now.
But did that make him saved?
No.
So here's the thing.
I've heard all kinds of testimonies where people heard a Bible verse in a Hollywood
movie and it got them thinking and then that ultimately led to them getting saved.
So God used a Hollywood movie produced by a bunch of unsaved Jews or whatever to get
the Word of God to them or, you know, my wife talked about just growing up and hearing in
the Roman Catholic Church, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
And that verse just ringing in her ears and just thinking about it and thinking about
it and thinking about it.
And she as a little girl got on her knees and prayed, God, reveal yourself to me.
Show me.
You know what I mean?
And she was sincere and she's hearing Bible verses in the Catholic Church and she's praying
to God to show her the way and you know what happened?
It didn't work and as a teenager she's still unsaved and as an adult she became an agnostic.
Totally just not believing in Christianity until I came along and won her to Christ because
I'm saved.
Isn't it interesting how she was sincere and she's taking in the Word of God and she's
praying to God for an answer.
Now did God answer her prayer?
Yeah, because he sent 19 year old or 18 year old Steven Anderson who was actually saved
to bring her the Bible and explain her the Gospel and get her saved.
But was she, so here's the thing, the Catholic Church planted the seed there.
You know, or didn't you see like a signage or something of that Bible verse or was it
just in, yeah.
But I've been, when I was in Germany, I saw signs that said, you know,
Ich bin der Weg die Warheit und das Leben, niemann kommt zum Vater den deus mich.
You know, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
And I saw that all over the place and I guarantee you when people see that, it gets them thinking.
When people hear a Bible verse, it gets them thinking.
When people hear a Christmas song, it gets them thinking.
When people hear scripture, the Word of God cuts to the heart and it's powerful.
But that's not enough to get saved.
You have to understand the Gospel to get saved and it takes the Holy Spirit of God
working through someone to give you the Gospel and show you the Gospel and explain to you,
how can you get saved except some man should guide you, ministers by whom we believe, even
as God gave to every man.
And you may not know the name of the person that won you the Lord but I guarantee you
that somebody up in heaven's getting the commission on that salvation.
And here's the thing, Judas, his commission check is hell because the wages of sin is
death.
That's his paycheck.
That's his payday.
It's not like he's in hell reaping dividends on salvation that he did.
It's ludicrous.
Just when you think false doctrine can't get any more stupid, you have pastors getting
up and saying, Judas got the most people saved.
And then last night I heard another bozo preacher get up and say, well Jesus didn't
know which one was going to betray him.
He just knew one of them was going to betray him but he didn't know.
It's like, hello, is anybody home?
It says in John chapter 6, he knew from the beginning who it was that would betray him.
It's like he knew from the beginning who it was that would betray him.
And defending this weird thing about Judas getting the most people saved, it's like,
well you know, Jesus just knew it was one of them.
I mean Judas was so good, Jesus didn't even know.
He chose him so that the scriptures would be fulfilled and he knew from the beginning
who it was that would betray him.
He knew who believed not.
And then the same bozo reads John 6, 64 where he says, there be some of you that believe
not and he says, oh he's just talking to the 12 there.
Two verses later the crowd walks away and then he's left with the 12.
In verse 64 he's talking to a big crowd, then a bunch of disciples don't follow anymore.
Then he turns to the 12 in verse 66 and says, well are you also going to go away?
And this bozo says, well you know when he says there's some of you that believe not,
you know he's only talking to the 12 there.
So basically implying that there's just other guys that aren't, like Jesus has all these
unsaved crew and it's like, I got a bunch of unsaved crew, I wonder which one's going
to betray me.
Don't get to find out until the very end of the season.
The plot twist.
Folks, this is the kind of stupid garbage when you don't read your Bible.
Oh us preachers, you know, don't ask us where stuff is in the Bible, we're the last people
you should ask, shucks.
That's why we're never that good when people ask us weird things.
Hey, you better be good at finding stuff in the Bible if you're a pastor.
You're supposed to know the word of God, that's the job.
The job is to know the Bible.
And you know what, when you don't know the Bible, you get into all this goofball teaching
of oh, Judah's got people saved.
Folks, no unsaved person has ever gotten anyone saved.
Because it takes a saved person to get saved.
And you know what the moral of the story is?
We are the hope for America.
We are the hope for this world.
God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Are we going to let him down?
Are we going to be that employee?
Well it's like, well I committed unto him that job.
But you know what, I better check up because he probably didn't do it.
We should be faithful ambassadors.
He's committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation.
Let's get out there and do it because Judas isn't going to do it for us.
The Gideons aren't going to do it for us.
Okay, we've got to get out there and do it as God's people.
We've got to preach to them the word of God.
Yes, unsaved people can plant the seed.
Yes, God can use it.
Yes, God's word is quick and powerful and it can get people thinking.
It can get people, but it cannot get them across the finish line.
Because somebody at some point along the way is going to have to preach it to them in a
way they can understand.
And they're going to have to piggyback off of the Holy Spirit's power of the soul winner.
And you know what, this is the thing that kind of blew my mind too about saying Judas
had the most people saved.
You know what you're basically saying?
That the fullness of the Holy Spirit's not going to make you a better soul winner.
Basically what you're saying.
Because you can have a guy who's just totally unsaved and he's getting the maximum results.
What?
Like, because to me, I thought that even if we're both saved, right, let's say two of
us are saved, right?
Come on up here, Daniel.
You know, so let's say we've got two saved soul winners, right?
We're both saved, so do we both have the capability to get someone saved?
But let's say he's right with God and I'm not.
He's filled with the Spirit, I'm not.
Let's say I'm super carnal and worldly and he's reading his Bible, praying, singing Psalms
hymns, spiritual songs filled with the Spirit.
Who's going to get more people saved, me or him?
Well no, because we both spent the same hours out soul winning.
We both talked to the same amount of people.
Who's going to get the most souls saved?
Why?
Because getting people saved is a spiritual act and the fullness and power of the Holy
Spirit's going to make you more effective, have a seat.
And if you don't have the Holy Spirit at all, you're not going to do anything at all.
Last time I checked, without me you can do nothing.
Didn't Jesus say, I'm the vine, you're the branches, you've got to abide in the vine
in order to bring forth fruit and without me you can do nothing unless your name's Judas,
you can just kick butt without me.
This is the kind of garbage from ignorant, imbecile preachers.
You've got to be saved to get someone saved, folks.
It's our job, it's my job, it's your job.
It's not just my man, woman, boy, girl, it's all of our job.
We're the hope for our neighbors, we're the hope for our loved ones, we're the hope for
our co-workers.
God has committed us the ministry of reconciliation, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and Lord what an amazing job you've
given us, Lord, and thank you so much for giving us the most important job of being
your ambassador and sharing the gospel, and Lord what a blessing it is to get people saved.
And Lord, I'm blessed to have the eleven physical children that you've given me, Lord,
and I'm thankful for my eleven children, and Lord I'm also thankful for the spiritual children
that you've allowed me to produce.
And Lord, I know there are people in this auditorium, hundreds of people, they've got
their own spiritual children out there, Lord, and we're thankful that you've given us this
important task, help us to be reliable and trustworthy in our job, and in Jesus' name
we pray, amen.
Amen.