Thank you.
Song number 64.
Song number 84.
That is shape!
You guys have an opportunity to come to church.
Please bless us now and fill your launch centers
with your spirit and let's do something new tonight in
Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Ready for the next song, song number 132.
Never alone, never alone.
Let's go.
Song 132.
I've seen the mighty flashing, I've heard the roving roar,
I've felt it ring the sash, I've heard the storm,
I've heard the voice of Jesus, I've felt it ring the storm,
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone,
No, never alone, no, never alone,
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone,
No, never alone, no, never alone,
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone,
No, never alone, no, never alone,
I've felt it ring the sash, I've heard the roar,
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone,
No, never alone, no, never alone,
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone,
No, never alone, no, never alone,
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone,
No, never alone, no, never alone,
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone,
No, never alone, not yet the growth of the pair,
never to pass me down.
And my Savior just brought His promise
never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, never alone, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, never alone, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
He died for me on the mountain, for he lived years beside.
For he opened the fountain of friends and friends in time.
For he lived in glory, seated upon his throne.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, never alone, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, never alone, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
All right, at this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we will be in 2 Chronicles chapter 13,
and we have the soul winning times listed there below,
as well as salvations and baptisms.
Across the page there will be a special lunch
that is for all those who participated in the soul winning,
either in Greenlee County or on the Hopi Reservation.
So if you took part in any of those soul winning events,
you may be entitled to compensation in the form of a lunch on June 30th,
which is one week from today at 1 o'clock.
Please sign up if you're planning on going
so that we'll know how much food to prepare for that.
And then thank you for all those who prayed about the Nigeria trip.
There were only three people that went on this trip.
It's kind of a little bit more difficult of a trip.
You have to get a visa and jump through some hoops and do some different things.
But we had three people from our church down there,
and they went to Nigeria and they had a total of 63 people saved.
So it's very exciting, and so God bless them for doing that.
And below that we've got the notes about the Fiji trip.
We had 23 people from our church on this Fiji trip,
and they had a total of 750 people saved over the course of a couple weeks.
Of course, the whole trip itself had almost like 60 people
because there were a lot of people from Australia and elsewhere,
and they had literally a couple thousand people saved on that trip.
So praise the Lord for all the successful missions trips that have been going on.
We've got a trip up to the Navajo Reservation for soul winning coming up this Friday and Saturday.
Hopefully you've already signed up if you're planning on going,
but the details and the sign up are still here.
It's not too late to sign up for that.
And you can also get a visit to Grand Canyon National Park Inn.
On the back, we've got the list of preachers that are coming for the mega conference.
Pastor Jonathan Shelley, Pastor Bruce Mejia, Pastor Aaron Thompson,
Pastor Enrique Reyes, Pastor Dave Berzins,
Pastor Roger Jimenez, Pastor David Mark, and Brother Dylan Oz.
And so I hope that you'll enjoy getting to hear some of these great men of God preach in person.
And if you have perfect attendance, there will be a prize for that as well.
I will be preaching in South Carolina on July 5th in the evening,
so spread the word to anybody who lives in that area.
And then down at the bottom, we've got a roller skating night coming up in August on the 15th.
It's a ways out, but mark the calendar for that.
And that is about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past several days.
So going back to Thursday, do we have anything to report from Thursday?
Gotcha. Got it.
OK.
Got it.
OK. All right. And then how about Friday?
Anything from Friday?
OK.
All right. And then how about Saturday?
OK. And then what about today?
Brother Scott?
Six for the main group of Brother Scott.
Gotcha.
OK. Got it.
Got it.
All right. Very good.
Keep up the great work on soul winning.
And with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
Fifteen.
Please raise your hand if you need one.
Song 15.
Right.
Just.
His heart.
Right.
Just.
He.
Is.
I.
Is.
He.
Is.
Oh.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Is.
He.
Song books into song 231.
Sunlight song number 231.
Two.
Three.
Two.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
One.
Follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads
Acts chapter 20 beginning in verse number 1.
Acts chapter 20.
And after the uproar was ceased
Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced them
and when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation
he came into Greece and there abode three months
and when the Jews laid weight for him as he was about to sail into Syria
he purposed to return through Macedonia
and there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of Biria
and of the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus
and Gaius of Derbe and Timotheus
and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus
these going before tarried for us at Troas
and we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread
and came unto them to Troas in five days
where we abode seven days
and upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread
Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow
and continued his speech until midnight
and there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together
and there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus
being fallen into a deep sleep
and as Paul was long preaching he sunk down with sleep
and fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead
and Paul went down and fell on him
and embracing him said, trouble not yourselves for his life is in him
when he therefore was come up again
and had broken bread and eaten
and talked a long while even till break of day so he departed
and then they brought the young man alive
and were not a little comforted
and we went before his ship and sailed unto Essos
there intending to take in Paul for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot
and when he met with us at Essos
we took him in and came to Myllene
and we sailed thence and came the next day over Chios
and the next day we arrived at Samos
and tarried at Shrogilium
and the next day we came to Miletus
for Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus
because he would not spend the time in Asia
for he hasted if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost
and from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church
and when they were come to him he said unto them
ye know from the first day that I came into Asia
after what manner I have been with you at all seasons
serving the Lord with all humility of mind
and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying and weight of the Jews
and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you
but I have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house
testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ
and now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem
not knowing the things that shall befall me there
save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me
but none of these things move me
neither count I my life dear unto myself
so that I might finish my course with joy
and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus
to testify the gospel of the grace of God
and now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God
shall see my face no more
wherefore I take you to record this day
that I am pure from the blood of all men
for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God
take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood
for I know this
that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you
not sparing the flock
also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things
to draw away disciples after them
therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears
and now brethren I commend you to God
and to the word of his grace
which is able to build you up
and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified
I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel
yea ye yourselves know
that these hands have ministered unto my necessities
and to them that were with me
I have showed you all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus
how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive
and when he had thus spoken he kneeled down and prayed with them all
and they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him
sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake
that they should see his face no more
and they accompanied him under the ship
Father in heaven we love you Lord
we thank you for the opportunity to hear your word preached
we ask that you would fill Pastor Anderson with your spirit
and give him great boldness and wisdom
and Lord we pray that you would also prepare our hearts now
to receive the engrafted word
thereby we may grow from it
we pray your blessing now and all these things
in Jesus' precious name Amen
Amen tonight I'm continuing preaching through the third missionary journey
of the Apostle Paul
if you remember last time we talked about this
there was that great uproar in Ephesus
Paul had just had a tremendous amount of success in Ephesus
multitudes and multitudes of people were getting saved
to the point where the pagan idolaters were afraid
that their religion was going to be completely destroyed
and that the makers of the idols were afraid that people wouldn't even buy them anymore
and the word of God had just spread all throughout the Roman province of Asia
also known as Asia Minor or the modern day country of Turkey
and so the Apostle Paul had had great success
but there had also been a lot of opposition
both from Jews and Greeks that were persecuting the Apostle Paul
and so it says in verse 1 of chapter 20
after the uproar was ceased
after that big riot where they were all shouting
great is Diana of the Ephesians and so forth
it says that Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced them
and departed for to go into Macedonia
and when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation
he came into Greece and there abode three months
so just to give you a vague idea of the geography here
you could think of it as sort of like a triangle
because you've got Ephesus on the west coast of the modern day country of Turkey
and then northwest of that would be Macedonia
like what would today be northern Greece
and then down south would be Greece
what the Bible is talking about here as Greece
so it's sort of like a triangle of Ephesus, Macedonia
and then down into Greece
of course everything is backwards because I'm standing up here doing this
it's more like the other way
but hopefully you get the gist of what I'm saying
but it says that he abode there in Greece three months
so he goes through Macedonia
he's preaching to churches in places that he's already been
you know this is like another trip through Macedonia
so he's exhorting them, preaching to them, edifying them
and then he gets to Greece
and it says that when the Jews laid weight for him
as he was about to sail into Syria
he purposed to return through Macedonia
so really returning to Syria
just hopping on a ship and just sailing directly to Syria
would have essentially ended the third missionary journey
I mean that would have been it
but we still have another like chapter and a half of this journey
because of the fact that he ends up not doing that
he does not sail directly back to the home base in Syria
rather he ends up backtracking
so he goes from Greece back up to Macedonia
back to the west coast of Asia Minor
and pretty much just going back the same way that he came
and so what we can see here is that a lot of wonderful things happen on this trip
a lot of great preaching and a lot of great events happen on this trip home
and so what the Jews intended for evil, God intended for good
I have no doubt that it was God's will that Paul be waylaid
and that he not be able to just hop on that ship and go straight back to Syria
so even though the Jews are trying to hurt him
and they're obviously wicked and ungodly
what the evil people of this world, what they mean for ill
God often means for good
and God often uses for good
it's sort of like when Joseph's brethren sold him into slavery
they did that out of hatred and spite and wickedness
but what they meant for evil, God meant for good
it was always God's plan that Joseph go down into Egypt
and that he be used to spare the entire family of starvation
and so a lot of things in our life that happened
even negative things, even people persecuting us or harming us
ultimately all things work together for good to those that love God
and to them who are the called according to his purpose
so whatever happens in our lives
we can rest assured that as long as we love God
as long as we're serving God
ultimately it's all going to work out for the best anyway
and so the Jews here want to harm the Apostle Paul
God protects him
and he just ends up having more of a missionary journey
than he had originally planned
which was obviously God's will in the first place
it says in verse 4
and so he gets to bring all these people with him
he's teaching them, these are his apprentices
that are going to be the next generation of preachers
that can carry the torch after he's gone
it says in verse 6
and continued his speech until midnight
so the Apostle Paul is preaching for a long time
I mean he preaches an evening service
we don't know what time the service started
but he's preaching the evening service
and he ends up preaching until midnight
ok, now the Bible doesn't really prescribe
how long a typical sermon is supposed to last
and of course I'm not going to get up here
and say that this is how long sermons need to be
this is the right length for a sermon
this is the wrong length for a sermon
because obviously that's a matter of opinion or preference
but I will say this
there's an increasing trend in churches today
where the sermons are just getting shorter and shorter
to the point where it's getting kind of ridiculous
where you show up to church
and it's funny because the church service still lasts for an hour
or maybe even an hour and a half
but the sermons are getting to be like 20 minutes long
and my impression
again I'm not trying to say this dogmatically
or to be legalistic about this or something
but my impression of a preacher
who gets up and preaches for just 20 minutes
every single time over and over again
it's just these little 15, 20 minute sermonettes
is that this guy just doesn't have very much to say
this guy just doesn't really care
this guy's not really that passionate about anything
I mean if the apostle Paul got up and preached for several hours
it's because he had several hours of material
he had a lot of good stuff to say
he had a lot of the word of God burning inside of him
that needed to get out
and he was trying to preach important things that people needed to hear
and so he's redeeming the time
he's making use of all the time that he has with people
he's working hard
he's not just trying to phone in a 20 minute sermon
so that he can just knock off early for the day
now admittedly I may knock off early tonight
because my throat is damaged as you can hear from my voice
unless this is your first time here
maybe you think that I always sound this way
but my throat is damaged
and so I'm just barely hanging by a thread up here
so this might be one of those short sermons
but at least I have an excuse
if I preach short
not like these guys who just get up and give little 15, 20 minute sermonettes
with barely any content
without any meat on the bone
hey, God's people need to be taught the Bible
the Bible's a big book
there's a lot to say
there are a lot of issues that we're dealing with
in 2024 that are important
and we need preachers who care about what's going on
care about what the Bible says
and care about the people enough to want to communicate God's word to them
so that they actually learn something that they've got to know
I'm not just up here filling time
I'm trying to preach the word of God
so that people can be edified
because they need it
it's necessary
why do we have three services a week
why not just have one
because honestly there's just too much information to teach
there's just too much doctrine that needs to be taught
there's too much edification that we as believers need
and so 15 minutes on Sunday morning once a week
just isn't going to cut it
and when I think about the attention span that people have
obviously you don't want to preach too long
you're going to lose people
as we see in the story here in a moment
talk about losing somebody
but the point is that obviously
you don't want to go beyond people's attention span
or beyond what people can digest
but stop and think about this
if you go to school
think about elementary school
junior high, high school
the classes last about an hour
you're in class for 50 minutes
or an hour
sometimes an hour and 15 minutes
sometimes 90 minutes
but that's really the range that you're looking at
for a school class
whether it's at a university
whether it's an elementary school
junior high, high school
you're going to be in the neighborhood of 45 minutes
hour, hour and 15
that's usually about what you're looking at
and then think about the TV shows people watch
and they have no problem
locking in and watching a TV show
for one hour
right, a typical episode
or whatever, one hour
people have no issue sitting down
and watching a feature length film
that lasts 90 minutes
right, they sit down
they watch a movie for 90 minutes
they're able to pay attention
and the people who craft these films
man, they have it down to a science
of the 90 minute
format and you know
this happens around the 20 minute
mark and this happens around
the 45 minute mark and this
happens around the 65 minute mark
because they know what
people can handle
and what their attention span can
tolerate, you know, so therefore
if you went to a
sporting event and it lasted for 15 minutes
you'd feel a little disappointed
and if you went to a movie
and you bought a movie ticket and
it lasted for 15 minutes, you'd say
what, was that it?
right, people don't, people want
their entertainment to
last for more than 15 minutes
well guess what, this is way more important
than some stupid entertainment
you know, this is the Bible, this is life
and death, this is heaven and hell
this is the eternal word of God
and I understand that we're all human
and we only have so much of an attention span
and so much that we can absorb
but I'm pretty sure it's more than 15 minutes
or it's more than 20 minutes
that we can handle
we need to grow up and sit down
and listen to the word of God
being preached and learn something
and the Apostle Paul had something to say
and he preached for a long time
and I guarantee you that the people
that were there, man, they wanted him to keep preaching
because it was kind of like a one night only
he's passing through
and this is their chance to hear from
the Apostle Paul himself, man
you want to hear as much as you can
in that sermon and he had a lot to say
people that care
have a lot to say
and so the Bible says
in verse 8
there were many lights in the upper chamber
where they were gathered together
and there sat in a window a certain young man
named Eutychus
being fallen into a deep sleep
I mean this guy
was in the REM sleep phase
and as Paul
was long preaching
he sunk down with sleep
and fell down from the third loft
and was taken up dead
so I mean this guy's on the
third floor
and he's in the window
you know, if you're going to sit in the window
stay awake, buddy
but the guy just
is in deep sleep
slumps over, falls over
and when the Bible says that he was taken up
dead, basically it means
that they thought he was dead
so they took him up like this guy's dead
that's what they're thinking
and Paul went down and fell on him
and embracing him said, trouble not yourselves
for his life is in him
so you know, everybody's freaked out
but they say hey, you know
Paul says relax
he's still alive
and Paul went down and fell on him
and said, trouble not yourselves for his life
and in verse 11
when he therefore was come up again
he began to eat bread and eating
and talked a long while, even till break of day
so he departed
so the apostle Paul doesn't say, well I guess
I'm preaching too long
he just says, well this guy didn't die
did he? let's keep going
nobody died, so the sermon's not over
and so he just keeps on preaching
and he preaches from midnight all the way
until the break of day, he just doesn't
he just keeps on preaching, he just doesn't stop
now obviously
this is a literal event that actually
took place, the events
in the book of Acts are historical
real, true events
nothing could be clearer than that
when you're reading the book of Acts
the author of the book of Acts, Luke even
puts in a lot of historical data
about who is the governor, who's the Caesar
what year things happen
because he's making it very clear that he's writing
a historical document, not a made up story
it's a true story
and so in the book of Acts
we have obviously
a historical event, but there is also
of course an allegorical
interpretation to
pretty much everything in the Bible
and there's nothing wrong with
taking an allegorical interpretation
of the Bible, but we don't want to deny
the truth of the actual events
when the Bible is clear that they
are historical events that took place
that really happened, so because we say
that something's allegorical, we're not saying it
didn't happen, we're not saying it isn't real
we're just saying that there's also a
symbolic meaning, you know, it's included
in the Bible, not just
as a fun little anecdote, like
haha, this guy fell out the window
we thought he was dead, turns out
he was alive, cool story
but rather, we're supposed to take some kind of
a lesson from what's being
taught here, and so the idea
of the young man that is sitting in the
window is that he is
half in and half out
right, and a lot of people are this
way, where they're in church
they're saved
and especially this could be true of young
people, but
they're sitting on the
edges of church
and I'm not talking about literally now, I'm talking
spiritually, because they've basically
got one foot in the world
one foot in church, meaning that they're
enamored with what's going on
out there, so they're
listening to the word of God being preached
but they also want to be in a place where
they can also have their finger on the pulse of
what's going on out there, because
they aren't really all the way in
they're not really dedicated to
the service of God fully
rather they're just kind of half in
church, they're not really there
and they're not necessarily paying attention
I mean this guy's just asleep
he's zoned out, he's not
hearing the sermon, and
one moral of the story right away
is that if you're half in, half out
you end up going
out, right
and if you're half in, half out, you don't accidentally
fall into church
you don't accidentally just wake up one morning
and all of a sudden you're super zealous
for the things of God, and you're
you know, I don't know how I got here, but
you know, I just find myself constantly reading my Bible
and praying and soul winning
and things like that, those things take a lot of effort
you know, the passive move
when you just go limp
if you go limp
you're going out the window
not into the window, okay
and so when this guy just kind of goes
meh, whatever
he ends up inadvertently
falling out of church
literally falling out
but I'm saying spiritually
if you're half in, half out
if you're not serious about the things of God
if you're not paying attention to the preaching
if you're not staying awake
and listening to what's being said
and staying awake and reading your Bible
and staying awake and caring about the things of God
then, you know, there's a chance that you're just
gonna fall out
and next thing you know, you'll slowly be fading away
and we'll see you less and less
until you're just gone
now the other thing that I want to point out
is that when this guy falls out
people assume that he's dead
and a lot of times
people will make the mistake of assuming
that just because someone doesn't go to church
that that means that they're not saved
or if someone gets out of church
oh, well that person must have not been saved
and of course this is totally false
this is totally wrong
lots of people that are saved
end up not going to church
for whatever the reason
okay
and here's a powerful proof of that
John the Baptist
had multitudes of people saved
and baptized under his ministry
Jesus and the apostles
had even more people saved and baptized
than John did
over the course of three and a half years
of Christ and the apostles
doing ministry full time
day in day out
week in week out for years
getting thousands and thousands
and thousands and thousands of people
saved and baptized yet when we get to
Acts chapter one in the early
church, men, women
children, everybody together
how many people were in that early church
120
so explain that, explain to me
how when thousands and
thousands and thousands of people have been saved
thousands and thousands and thousands of people
have been baptized, explain to me how there are only
120 people
in the early church in Acts chapter one
well you know in Acts chapter two, you know
thousands more were added, I'm not talking about Acts chapter two
I'm talking about Acts chapter one
I'm saying in Acts
chapter one you have 120 people
who were those 120 people?
those were the diehards
those were the really
zealous, dedicated, sold out people
they're going to be there no matter what
they're going to be there when the doors are open
that's who's there in Acts chapter one
120 people
now does that mean
that only 120 people were saved
you know if you asked a lot of people today
a lot of these dead, dried up
Calvinist types, that's what they'd tell you
oh it's just 120 saved
that's baloney
okay, they had multitudes saved
there's a big difference
between getting saved by simply
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
and being an actual dedicated
zealous servant of God
a lot of people wonder
if we have so many thousands of people saved
you know why is our church only running
300 people or 350 people
on a Sunday morning
well here's the thing about that
is that 300 to 350 people on a Sunday morning
is a lot, number one
that's a pretty good sized crowd
that's bigger than the average church
but you say well yeah
but you had all these thousands of people saved
are we running more than 120?
because we didn't do as much as
Jesus and the apostles did
and they're only running 120 in Acts chapter 1
okay
so we're running 300
whatever, what's the point?
you know the point is
that just because we win somebody to the Lord
doesn't necessarily mean they're going to go to a church
or even to our church
and by the way, the majority of people that we win to Christ
are not even in this area
so how can they come to church
and really the majority of people that we win to the Lord
are on the mission field
going to places like Fiji
Nigeria
or small towns across Arizona
or the Navajo reservation
four or five hours away
or people that are using
you know video conferencing software
and winning people to the Lord
all over the world
through video calls and so forth
the point is that a lot of the people
that are getting saved, they're not even in this area
who cares?
and then people will say
well did you plant a church in all these places?
you're not going to believe this
but there's already a Baptist church in every city in America
I mean
in fact, most cities in America
have tons of Baptist churches
and it's not my fault if they suck
it's not my fault
I'm not going to take responsibility for it
some of them are awesome
many hundreds and hundreds of Baptist churches
across America are awesome, they're great
many others suck
that's not my problem
get mad at the Baptist church
it's no good
don't demand that I start a church
in every town in Hamlet
that's not my job
that's not what God has called me to do
I can't bear the weight of the world on my shoulders
and neither can you
all we can do is just win people to Christ
and just send them to whatever
Baptist churches in their area
every country in this world virtually
every area has Baptist churches
and you know, hopefully they're good
some are better than others
but you know what?
all of them are better than nothing
and so the bottom line is
that we've got to
go out and win people to Christ
and preach the gospel to the lost
that's what God wants us to do
and it's up to God to build the church
it's not our job to sit and stress
why didn't everybody come to church
and by the way
a lot of people that you win to Christ
they end up getting swooped up by some other church
you know, I can't even count how many times
I've won somebody to the Lord
and then their uncle finds out
their cousin finds out
their aunt finds out
their brother finds out and says
oh you got saved, well you're coming to church with me now
and people are more likely to go to church
with family and friends
even though those aren't necessarily the people that won them to Christ
but we don't care
we don't care about the kingdom here
or build, you know, just a group here
we're just trying to get people saved
and let Christ build his church
however he sees fit
whatever he wants to do
and so the point that I'm making here
is that people who don't go to church
or people who stop going to church
are not necessarily unsaved
because I could point to a bunch of people
that you and I know well
that are good, serious, godly Christians
and they would tell you
that there was a time in their life
when they didn't go to church for years on end
you know I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands
but I'll bet there are people in this room right now
that have been saved for a long time
that would say you know what
I was out of church for a couple years
you know I just talked to a good buddy recently
he said I was out of church for a year and a half
but now I'm back in church
now I'm serving God
look just because somebody's not in church
or gets out of church doesn't mean they're not saved
last time I checked the Bible doesn't say
thou shalt be saved
it says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved
you can go to heaven
without ever setting
foot in church
now none of you can because you're already in church
so that doesn't work for you
but somebody out there who's never been in church
could literally never set foot in a church
in their entire life and still go to heaven
because the church isn't what saves you
it's faith in Jesus Christ that saves you
and so church
is not necessary for salvation
it is necessary for obedience
it's necessary for Christian growth
it's necessary for fellowship
but when it comes to getting to heaven
it's just believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that saves you
and so when somebody falls out of church
quits going to church
gets backslidden
gets away from church
people will often assume
that this person is unsaved
and so that is symbolized by the fact
that they think this guy's dead
you know he fell out and they're just like
this guy is dead they're assuming that
but then the apostle Paul says
no he actually isn't dead he's actually still alive
and that's what I'm here to tell you
is that many people
who have quit the church are still
alive they're still saved
they just got backslidden they just
got lazy they just quit the church for whatever reason
but it doesn't mean that they aren't
saved
now if someone says oh I don't believe in Jesus anymore
I'm not a Christian anymore
that person is not saved
but guess what they were never saved in the first place
because it's impossible to lose
your salvation
the Bible says they went out from us
but they were not of us for if they had been
of us they would no doubt have continued with
us but they went out that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of us
and the context of that scripture is talking about false
prophets who deviate from
right doctrine
okay they start teaching heresy
you know they leave
and become Roman
Catholic or Mormon
or Buddhist or Hindu
or Islamic
or whatever you know obviously
or East Orthodox these people were
never saved to begin with
okay that's why they're not believing in Christ
that's why they don't believe the gospel of Jesus Christ
but what I'm saying is that for
people to just get out of church
that doesn't make them unsaved
when people start saying that they don't even
believe the gospel well then yeah you can pretty
much take it to the bank that that person's
not saved but somebody who just gets out
of church there could be other reasons for that
laziness
tiredness drowsiness
not caring apathy
that's what this guy's problem was
he didn't care he's not paying attention he's not
listening he's half in half out
he's enamored with the things of this world
and he ends up falling out well guess
what that could happen to a lot of saved
people and that means that you and I need to take
heat unto ourselves lest we fall
saved people
can get out of church
saved people can stop serving
God and mess up their lives and make stupid
decisions and that includes me
and that includes you and so we got to be
careful that we
are paying attention that we're staying
awake that we're staying sober
that we're listening to the word of God
and going to church to learn something
and you know what
not every sermon
is necessarily going to be a banger
you know not every
sermon is necessarily going to just
blow your socks off and be
the funnest most exciting most
dynamic sermon ever and in fact
I'd be willing to bet that the Apostle
Paul's probably not preaching a super
dynamic sermon because if he were
he probably wouldn't be able to go for 8 or 9 hours
I mean if you're super dynamic
how long can you
go
you know these dynamic sermons
after an hour you know
your aerobic engine is starting to slow
down
and so my guess
is that if he's going for 8 or 9
hours some of it might have been
a little bit more dry maybe all
of it was a little bit more subdued
and mellow if he's able to preach for that long
let me tell you something
we don't come to church
to be entertained
I strive to be as interesting
and entertaining of a speaker as I can be
because I know that the spoonful of sugar
makes the medicine go down but you
know what at the end of the day it's not my job to
entertain you it is my job
to educate you it is my
job to motivate
you it is my job
to exhort you to correct
you to instruct you in the word of
God not
necessarily to be fun all the time
I hope that my sermons
are fun and interesting most of the time
but whether they are or not you know what
I'm not sorry because at the end of the
day I'm only going to be sorry if I teach
you things that are wrong
you know we don't want to become
people who are just looking
for the most wild
shocking sermon ever
right just the most offensive
the most in your face this isn't like a
a Howard Stern show of
Christianity or something where we can just see
how edgy and shocking and radical
we can be and you say well you preach some
radical stuff pastor actually
I haven't actually I haven't
preached anything radical actually
I'm a very moderate person
but the reason that I'm
accused of being radical is because the
world is so radically weird right
now and the world is so radically
ungodly that if you just
act normal and say some normal
things and preach some sane
normal things people think you're crazy
because they're crazy
I'm not I'm not into being
radical I'm not into
getting up and preaching something now have I
said shocking things I I mean
if they shocked you then that's you
you know I've
never said anything that shocked myself
I've
never scared myself with the things that I
said you
know it's like I'm not up here like
oh here's a shocking thing I can say
this will really this will really
uh you know get them going
crazy on the internet or something
and look I've said some
things that went crazy on the internet but it wasn't because
I'm like hey let's go crazy on the internet
it's just because
I said stuff and that's what happened
but I don't think
that we should set out to offend
we shouldn't set out to shock
we shouldn't set out to just be
the wildest craziest
you know uh preacher that we could be
you know I don't believe in that for one second
and I think that there are some people that
have a tendency to be like that and
it's not good it's a bad it's a bad
look you know we should
rather just get up and preach the word of God
if the word of God
is quote unquote radical then let's
be radical if the word of God
offends then let's offend
if the word of God shocks
well then prepare to be shocked
but it
shouldn't just be hey let me get up
and really shock ya you know
and I'm gonna just show you the the hottest
preaching you've ever seen or something you know
that's really just pride and
vanity at that point
and again like I said I try to be
interesting in my sermons
but at the end of the day you know
it's not really my job
to keep you awake you really need to slap
yourself and stay awake on your own
you know what I mean and here's the thing
if it's the shock
and the wildness
of the sermons that you
enjoy so much that's not really gonna last
for very long
because eventually you're just gonna get burned
out on that and tired of that you know at the end of the
day if you stay for years
it's gonna be because you actually
care about the content of what's being preached
the people are just like oh man
I just wanna hear Pastor Anderson rip some face
I like to hear him just go crazy up there
you know yeah that's fun for a few weeks
and then they find the next little entertaining thing
at the end of the day
we gotta be here for Christ
and for the doctrine and
for the right reasons we wanna stay here
for the long haul
even look I've gotten up
and screamed and yelled and foamed at the mouth
and literally seen someone sleeping
literally asleep
while I'm up here screaming yelling
and foaming at the mouth
why?
because after a while
even that just becomes common place to people
you know
it's like my sister
in law that grew up on the carnival
you know and she could
sleep through all the noise at the carnival
and everything because you know that was just
her life
you know you just get used to anything right?
so I guess kids growing up at Faithful Word
can just sleep through
a screaming and yelling sermon
you know at the end of the day
you have to make a decision to actually care
about the Bible and what's being preached
so that you don't fall asleep
so that you don't fall out
so that you don't ultimately get out of church
and so those are some of the
things that we can learn from this story
it says in verse 11
when he therefore has come up again
and had broken bread and eaten
and talked a long while even till break of day
so he departed
and they brought the young man alive
and were not a little comforted
they were not a little comforted
that means they were comforted a lot
and the idea here is
that when someone
who is backslidden
or gets out of church
decides to come back
we ought to rejoice with that person
we should not
act like
where have you
been
you got a lot of nerve
to come back now or something after you've just been
gone without saying anything
it's sort of like when you're filling out
a job application
hey you need to explain these gaps in your resume
you better explain
this gap in your church attendance
where were you at for these five months
when somebody shows up
back at church after a while
I don't go where have you been
I would just say to them
hey it's great to see you
and I want to just pick up with that person right where we left off
as if nothing happened
you know we should rejoice
greatly when people
come back to church
when people who have gone astray
the prodigals when they return
we should be glad we should rejoice
it says they went
before the ship
and you say why does it say we because the author
Luke is actually
with the apostle Paul so now
although earlier in the book of Acts
you saw a lot of they did this
and they did that now you're starting to get
into some first person because Luke
is literally there and so
he says we because he was actually present
we went before
the ship and sailed into Assos
they're intending to take in Paul
for so he had appointed
mining himself to go
afoot now this is really interesting that
they are sailing
along the coast to go
home but the apostle Paul actually chooses
to go separately
and to go on foot
folks this is a man that is in shape
I mean the apostle Paul
he doesn't need the boat ride
he's able to actually go from city to city
on foot walking
many miles
on his own two feet
I think that this is a good example for us
we see the apostles and Jesus
and men like the apostle Paul
constantly able to
walk to where they need to
walk to preach the gospel
obviously soul winning involves a lot of walking
and I get it obviously
some people are injured
and people have problems
maybe they have knee problems
back problems, hip problems
of course there are all kinds of injuries
and ailments that can make it difficult
for us to walk but you know what
don't do that to yourself though
and what do I mean by that
don't become a slob
we should at least try
to stay physically active as much as we can
and stay physically active
stay in decent shape
I'm not saying to make some kind of
a god out of athletics
or out of exercise
and to put that before all else
but at the same time
we don't want to neglect our bodies
just due to sheer laziness
right, or just due to sheer gluttony
or something and just kind of just let ourselves
go, why?
because of the fact that ultimately we're not
going to be able to serve God as well
if we let ourselves go physically
you know, why is the apostle Paul able to preach
all night, he obviously had the stamina
to preach all night
he also has the stamina to walk
huge distances between cities
on foot, even when he's offered a boat ride
he says no, I want to take a walk
probably wanted to be by himself
maybe he wanted to pray, maybe he wanted to spend
some time thinking, meditating
maybe he just wanted the exercise
but either way, this is a man
who is actually able to get around on his own
two feet, and again, I'm not down
on you, you know
I'm not down on you, period
especially if it's through no fault of your own
because you have some ailment
but I would just encourage you and admonish you
be in shape to at least go soul winning
because some people literally
they can't do soul winning because they just
can't do the walking
they just can't even just
ambulate, you know, to get the soul winning done
let alone the preaching and everything like that
and it's a big challenge for them
you know, we don't want to be that
guy or gal that's just
and you know, I say this
it's really for your own benefit as well
because of the fact that
you know, what's your quality of life
like if you can't walk
and you know, I'm constantly thanking God
for the ability to walk
and every once in a while, I've had
like, you know, some kind of a problem
with my knee or something
where I haven't been able to walk very well
or haven't been able to walk as much as I wanted to
and it drives me nuts
I'm always praying like, oh God
please allow me to
continue having the ability
to walk, you know
no matter what else happens to me, Lord
thank you for the ability to walk
please let me keep walking
because walking is an enjoyable activity
and walking
is so important to just
do what you need to do
just get around, go soul winning
get from point A to point B
it's great exercise
it's a great way to spend time
going on a walk
going on a walk with loved ones
you know, I'm just thankful every day that I can walk
and you know, if you can't walk, I'm really sorry
but, you know
don't just cripple yourself
you know, if you're crippled through no fault of your own
or if you're crippled due to providential circumstances
that's one thing
but don't, it's not worth it
to just
let yourself go to the point where you just can't even walk
you know, you're really going to suffer
in the long run if you do that
and so I encourage you to walk
every chance that you get
and maybe sometimes when you're offered the boat ride
maybe you should decide to walk too
you know, and maybe sometimes when you're offered the elevator
maybe you should take the stairs
and maybe sometimes when you're thinking about
driving a quarter mile to the store
you know, maybe you should just think about
just walking there
you know, if you don't have too many things to pick up
and just grabbing that gallon of milk on foot
why? Because the Apostle Paul did it
that's why
he walked when he didn't have to
he did an extra
curricular walk
he minded himself
to go afoot, the Bible says in verse 13
verse 14
Paul met with us at Assos
we took him in and came to Mydalene
and we sailed thence and came the next day
over against Chios
and the next day we arrived at Samos
and tarried at Trigillium
and the next day we came to Miletus
for Paul had determined to sail by
Ephesus
because he would not spend the time in Asia
for he hasted, if it were possible
for him to be at Jerusalem
the day of Pentecost
and so this is just kind of hilarious
to me how he's had
the most success
and he's had the most victories
in Ephesus
but he just really wants to just skip Ephesus
and just sail by Ephesus
because he just really wants to be at Jerusalem
at Pentecost
which makes absolutely no sense
why? Because the Jews are not his
receptive audience
but he just hasn't grasped this yet
he's in denial about this
later, finally, he's going to realize
I'm done with the Jews
I'm going to the Gentiles
because of the fact that they're just not receptive
I mean, the Jews are the ones that were lying in wait for him
earlier in this chapter
they're trying to sabotage him everywhere he goes
and he just wants to go into the belly of the beast
and you know what's going to happen when he gets to Jerusalem?
they're all going to scream at him
and arrest him
and just put him in prison
and he's going to spend the next few years
in prison, probably remaining in prison
until his death
seems to indicate
he's probably never going to have
total freedom again after he goes to Jerusalem
but he's just hell-bent
on going to Jerusalem
you know, he's just got to reach the Jews
and you know what? Paul is a human being
and we sometimes have these kind of irrational
things
these monomanias
where we just are obsessed with something
that doesn't make sense
right? Like, we just have
to do missions in this certain
place or in a certain way
you know, when in reality we need to take a step back
and say, hey, wait a minute
the power of God is really at work over in Ephesus
okay, and then what's funny is
that he ends up bypassing Ephesus
and stopping
at another city nearby
all the elders from the church in Ephesus
they travel
to meet him
and so he won't go to Ephesus
Ephesus literally comes to him
and he ends up preaching to the Ephesians
anyway
I mean, on the one hand you got the Ephesians
that are begging you to come
and in fact, they're traversing sea and land
to get to you, they'll come to you
but then it's like, nah man
we got to go to the Jews
and there are still people today
I mean, look
you can forgive the Apostle Paul for not getting it
because he didn't have a whole copy of the New Testament
in front of him explaining to him how things are
and the Apostle Paul
he grew up
Jewish, and he grew up among the Jews
so he's got all this nostalgia
for the Jews
but you know what kind of blows my mind
is when some Gentile Baptist
is
on the same hard-headed program
as the Apostle Paul
2,000 years later
and they're still just like, hey, we got to go to Jerusalem
hey, we got to witness to the Jews
it's like, go to Ephesus buddy
what are you doing?
it makes no
sense, okay
we need to be preaching the Gospel
to every creature, we need to teach
all nations
and having a ministry
to the Jews
is not what the Bible teaches us
in the New Testament, okay
now look, in the process of preaching
the Gospel to every creature, we're going to preach the Gospel to Jews
when we knock every door
in a city, we also knock the Jewish doors
but
targeting the Jews
and saying, hey, let's just go to the most
Jewish neighborhood, oh, you think that's fun
I've got an even funner idea
let's go to the most Mormon area that we can find
and beat our heads against the wall there
since you're such a masochist
since you like to fail so much
why don't we just go witness only to Mormons
they're even harder to get through to
than Jews
folks, common sense tells us
to go to the people
that want to hear the Gospel
to go to the people that are receptive
and it ain't Jews
not only does common sense tell us that
but the Bible tells us that
the Bible says that if there's a city
where they will not receive your words
you shake off the dust of your feet and go to a different city
let me name you a city like that
Jerusalem
let me name you a city that doesn't want
missionaries, that doesn't want
Christianity, that doesn't want
a fundamental Baptist soul winner
it's called Jerusalem
it's called Tel Aviv
it's called Joppa
these are places that don't want you
now let me name some places that do want you
Fiji
the Bahamas
Mexico
the Philippines
we could go down the list
here's some places that want you
the Apache Reservation
we could go on and on
all of the wonderful places
Nigeria wants to hear from you
okay
Kenya wants to hear the Gospel
South Africa wants to hear the Gospel
okay
here's who doesn't want to hear from you
Israel
and there are just too many
and look you say, well they need it too
yeah, but you know what
there are a disproportionate number of missionaries
going there
because they get all
coo coo per cocoa puffs about the Jews
they get all
romantic about the Jews
they get all
they're like, I don't know what the Jewish version
of like a weeb is
like the weebs get with the Japanese stuff
that's how they get with the Jews
they're like a jweeb or something
they're a jeeb
like they just get all
you know these people that get really geeked out on all things
Japanese
these kind of japanophiles
these judeophiles
they just get all geeked out
it's not spiritual
it's got nothing to do with spiritual things
it's really just, oooh
exotic, oooh cool
grow up
man
and you know what, I'm all for you
finding some exotic place to win souls
where people want to hear the Gospel
because the Bible says
that if they won't receive you, if they're
unreceptive, shake off the dust
of your feet and go to the next city
go to the next town
that's what we see Jesus doing
that's what we see the apostles doing
that's what the Bible tells us to do
go preach the Gospel to those that have an ear
to hear
and so the Apostle Paul unfortunately
has this irrational
fixation
on preaching to the Jews
and going to Jerusalem
and as we see
as we're gonna see later on the journey
men of God are gonna warn him about this
the Holy Spirit's gonna warn him about this
and say, hey
if you go to Jerusalem
you're gonna get arrested
now look, obviously God's still gonna use the Apostle Paul
and God's still gonna work through that situation
but ultimately
this is not what
Christ commanded
Christ commanded to preach the Gospel
to all nations
Jesus already preached the Gospel to the whole nation
of Israel in his lifetime
Jesus and the apostles, they covered the entire nation
and then
after Christ's resurrection
they were only supposed to wait at Jerusalem
until they were endued with power from on high
then they were supposed to go out and preach to the whole world
you know, the Apostle Paul talked about
how great it would be to go preach in Spain
and how he wanted to take a journey into Spain
he said in the book of Romans
when so ever I take my journey into Spain
you know, I want to stop at Rome on the way
but from what we can tell
the Apostle Paul never made it to Spain
he was too busy
you know, wasting time
with a bunch of unreceptive Jews, unfortunately
you know, maybe Spain would be a more godly place
if he would have made it there
who knows
but the bottom line is
we need to follow the good example of the Apostle Paul
but we need to also realize
that the Apostle Paul is a human being
and that everything that the Apostle Paul did
in the book of Acts is not necessarily the best thing
or right
and this is the key thing when we're reading
in the Bible
we need to be able to rightly divide the word of truth
and understand that certain books of the Bible
are historical books
and that historical books are simply recording
what people did
and they're not always prescriptive
sometimes they're just descriptive
right?
hey, this guy had two wives
that's not telling you to have two wives
it's just telling you that that guy had two wives
you're supposed to have one wife
okay
because somebody did something or said something
in the book of Acts
doesn't necessarily make it right
we need to use the rest of scripture
to interpret the historical book
we need to take clear statements from Jesus
and from the narrator of the Bible
and use those to interpret
the stories that we read in a book like Acts
the Apostle Paul is a great man of God
but he wasn't perfect
he made some mistakes
what can we learn from this passage
is that we need to be all the way in
we don't want to be like Eutychus
where we're half in half out
we need to care about church
care about the preaching
care about the word of God
whether it's a great sermon
or whether it's just an okay sermon
at the end of the day
take what you can from the Bible
as long as the word of God is being preached
you can be edified
and I hope that my sermons are up to snuff
but someday you may be in a church
where the sermons are poor
you may be at a
hopefully it's not a faithful word
I'm saying like somewhere else
but at the end of the day
you ought to show up to church
no matter who's preaching
whether it's a great preacher
or just an okay preacher
show up wanting to learn something
from the Bible
and have your ears opened
to what the Holy Spirit is saying
and I guarantee you'll get something out of it
and you know what?
I fell asleep in church one time in my life
I was super sleep deprived
and it was the most boring preacher
of all time
and I was super sleep deprived
and in fact, you know what?
I take that back, it wasn't really a church service
it was a graduation
so that should give me a little bit of an excuse
it was a sermon preached at a graduation
and this is the only time I ever fell asleep in church
in my entire life and I said
God, I am sorry God
I fell asleep now
and I said like
I was like, this guy is super boring
you know what I've been through over the last few days
I just can't take it anymore
this is the most boring preacher on the planet
like, I, forgive me
Father
for I have sinned
and I went to sleep
all I have to say is
the one time I slept in a service
I did it on purpose
now
I find it hard to believe that when you're falling asleep
it's an accident
now maybe you're narcoleptic or something
God bless you
you know, I don't want to pick on the handicapped up here
okay, if you're narcoleptic
but let me tell you something
I've stayed awake
during some pretty boring sermons
I only gave in to the temptation one time
to go to sleep
other times I've had to, you know
pinch myself
and work hard to stay awake
you know, I've always been able to stay awake
in every sermon
and I think you probably can too
unless you have some kind of a doctor's note
you know, I think you should be staying awake
during every sermon
Father, we thank you so much for
your word, Lord
and we thank you that even sometimes
if the messenger is not the best
even if sometimes I don't preach my best sermon
or if I'm not on
you know, my A game, Lord
I'm thankful that it's your word
that brings the power
and it's the Holy Ghost that speaks
to the hearts even if I
am not able to do my best
Lord God, help us always to come to church
ready to learn and ready to listen
and help us to stay awake
both literally and
figuratively
and paying attention and caring about
what you have to say to us
in Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Next to song number 110
All the way my Savior leads me
Song 110
One, one, zero
All the way
my Savior leads me
But I want to
have peace God
Can I now
understand her mercy
Through life
God's made my life
And with me is
the highest thunder
Where my faith
is yet well
Oh, I know
I'm here before me
Jesus, you may love me
as well
Oh, I know
I'm here before me
All the way my Savior
leads me
Jesus, my Savior
is dead
If He breaks
for every child
He's been there
I'll make Him pray
All my worries
have been altered
And my soul
at first became
God's sheep brother
God before me
God's sheep brother
God before me
Oh, what a stream of joy I
sing
All the way my Savior
leads me
Oh, what bold
His love is loud
Perfect rest
to be His promise
In my God
is God someone
When my spirit
victory pours
There's my song
through endless ages
Jesus, turn me all the way
There's my song
through endless ages
Jesus, turn me all the way
There's my song
through endless ages
Jesus, turn me all the way
There's my song
through endless ages
Jesus, turn me all the way
There's my song
through endless ages
Thank you for watching!