He would bless and anoint my tongue as I preach, Dear God, and just give me wisdom of what
needs to be said.
Dear God, what needs to be preached.
And use this message in every heart, my own included, in Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.
All right, in Genesis chapter 4 here, a very common story of Cain and Abel is read.
In verse number 1, it says that Adam and Eve, they're married, they had two children, initially
Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel, two brothers.
Now the Bible says that Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel was the keeper of the
sheep.
So God asked them to give him a specific offering.
He said there's an offering that needs to be paid for sin.
Now if you remember in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and
they ate the forbidden fruit, what did God do?
Remember they had sowed themselves the fig leaves into aprons.
Well that wasn't going to cut it with God, that was showing man's efforts to cover his
sin.
But what did God do?
The Bible says that he killed an animal and he took the skins of that animal and that
animal, that lamb that was killed, picture Jesus Christ, and he shed the blood of that
animal, took the skins and made clothing for Adam and Eve.
Now in the next chapter here, in chapter 4, we have Cain and Abel.
Now Cain and Abel also needed salvation, just as their mother and father needed salvation,
they're sinners.
The Bible says, wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
And so Cain and Abel, being sinners, the next two human beings on the earth, they also needed
salvation and God said this is what I want you to do, I want you to bring this offering
to me as a picture of the lamb of God who is one day going to become the lamb of God
which has taken away the sin of the world, that's going to be slain for sin, well Abel,
because he's a keeper of the sheep, he has no problem with this at all, he takes a lamb
out of his flock, he kills that lamb, sheds the blood on the altar and has a burnt offering
to God, exactly what God told him to do.
Now the Bible says in Hebrews 11, by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain.
See, the offering was just a picture of the faith that he had in Jesus Christ, he was
showing that by killing this animal, a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ that would come one day.
Now Cain on the other hand said, you know what, I think that's too bloody, I think that's
too gory, I don't like that, and he said here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to make my
own way to heaven, I'm going to take all the things that I've worked and the things that
I've earned and the things that I've done and what I'm good at and I'm going to offer
it to God and surely God will accept what I have to offer.
Well God did not accept it because God will only accept the blood as a payment for sin,
the blood of Jesus Christ, and so trying to offer God our best is just not good enough.
And so God tells Cain, I do not respect your offering, I have no respect for it, and it
cracks me up sometimes people say, well I just kind of respect all religions.
Well look, Cain is the first religious person in the Bible, he's the first person that said
I'm going to work my way to hell, I'm going to work and do this and get to heaven, and
you know what God said, I have no respect.
Look do I have respect for all the religions of the world?
No.
I don't have respect for Islam tonight, I don't have respect for Buddhism tonight, I
don't have respect for Hinduism, I don't have respect for Catholicism or any other form
of Christianity that tries to say that you work your way to heaven, I don't have respect
for it because God doesn't have respect for it because God says I respect one thing and
that's the blood of Jesus Christ is what I respect.
See I don't respect somebody working their way to heaven, I don't respect somebody calling
me a liar when I tell them what salvation is, I don't respect somebody who's going to
negate my word, he says I don't respect it.
Well we see that Cain becomes angry when God tells him I don't respect your little
religion that you've created, he said I don't respect it.
Well he gets angry, he's out in the field with his brother and the Bible says that Cain
rose up against his brother, he's talking to him out in the field, he gets angry and
kills him.
And of course the Bible says in 1 John, wherefore slew he him?
Because his own works were evil and his brother was righteous, that's why he killed him.
See Cain has always persecuted Abel and it's the same way today.
The Cain's of this world will always be persecuting the Abel's of this world.
Those who believe in the works of salvation, those self-righteous people who want to attack
the person, the preacher who stands up like Abel and says it's only through the blood
of Christ, it's believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved, it's saved
by faith, saved by the blood of the crucified one is the song we sang this morning.
Well that's not the message though.
Anyway, Cain falls upon Abel and kills him.
Look if you would at verse number 12, and this is the message.
It says in verse number 12, when thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto
thee her strength.
A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
Now what's a fugitive and a vagabond?
A fugitive is somebody who's constantly moving around, they're constantly on the run, that's
what a fugitive means.
And what's a vagabond?
Somebody who's homeless.
Again, it's somebody who moves from place to place to place, they just can't seem to
get settled in anywhere.
Have you ever met people like that?
They just can't seem to settle on one thing.
Look if you would at verse number 14.
Behold thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth and from thy face shall
I be hid and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.
And then look if you would at verse number 16.
The Bible says, and Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land
of Nod on the east of Eden.
Now the word Nod means wandering, that's what the word Nod means.
It means wandering around.
And so here's a man, because of his sin, because of his refusal to just submit to God's will
and what God wanted, he spends his life just wandering around, just vagabond.
He can't seem to just find that job and just stay there.
He can't seem to stay married, he can't seem to stay in the same church, he can't seem
to stick with anything.
He just wanders around, he's a vagabond.
Turn if you would to Jude.
And I'm building the foundation for the message.
Turn to Jude, this is the second to last book in the Bible.
Right before the book of Revelation, just a short book of one chapter.
The book of Jude, the Bible reads in verse number 11 of Jude.
It reads, woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after
the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Cori.
These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves
without fear.
So these are people that are following the footsteps of these wicked men of the Old Testament,
Cain, Balaam, and Cori.
And then it says, clouds they are without water, carried about of wind.
See how the wind just kind of blows them around, takes them here, there, everywhere?
Trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, look at the next phrase, plucked
up by the roots.
See, they're not rooted down anywhere, they're constantly floating around.
They're plucked up by the roots, they're carried about with winds, and then look at this, raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness
of darkness forever.
See, God's talking about the unsaved man, he's talking about the man who's rejected
Christ, how he's just so pointless in his life, just so directionless.
He's here a little, he's there a little, he's described as being uprooted, he's carried
about with winds, he's described as being a wanderer, a fugitive, a vagabond.
But sometimes as Christians, I'm afraid that we can fall into the same trap of this wandering
around mentality, this moving around mentality.
What am I talking about?
Well, several things.
First let me show you, first, let me find, Ephesians chapter 4, let me show you one example.
Ephesians chapter number 4, and this is, I believe it's about the 8th book in the New
Testament, the 8th or 9th book here, Ephesians chapter 4, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, chapter number 4, we'll begin reading in verse number 11.
The Bible reads here, and he gave some apostles, he's talking about the local church, and some
prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in
the unity of the faith.
So what's the purpose of the preaching?
What's the purpose of the teaching?
What is the purpose of these evangelists and pastors and prophets?
Well, it's for the perfecting of the saints.
It's the Christians who come to church week after week, it's for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Why?
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we all
basically agree on Bible doctrine.
And then in verse number 14 it says, that we be, that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men
and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
You see that?
He says, look, there's a danger in a church of you being childlike, of you being like
a little kid, that just every wind of doctrine you just get blown around.
You know, it's not really sure what you believe, and you're floating around, and he says, look,
the whole purpose of church, the whole purpose of preaching, is to ground you and root you
down in the faith so that you know what you believe, and some wind of doctrine can't just
blow you here and there and believe in something.
He says, look, he says, they lie in wait to deceive.
Look at that last phrase.
There are people who are lying in wait to deceive you.
There are people whose goal is to creep in and deceive you and lie to you.
Let me read you this from the book of Jude.
You don't have to turn there, but the Bible says in Jude, beloved one, I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation.
He said, I wanted to write to you and just encourage you about salvation.
But he says, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith.
Contend means fight.
Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, for there
are certain men crept in unawares, who were before both ordained in this combination,
ungodly men.
And the Bible goes on and on to describe these men, and that's who we get to, the wandering
stars and everything like that.
What am I trying to say?
Well, the first thing I want to say, number one, don't be carried about, don't be a wanderer,
don't wander to and fro when it comes to your beliefs, when it comes to what you believe
about the Bible, that's the first thing that you need to just be firm and established on.
Well, what's the first thing?
The number one thing is salvation.
Turn if you would to 1 John, this is right toward the end of the Bible, this is before
the book of Revelation.
I know I'm having you turn to a lot of scriptures, but I want you to see some things.
1 John chapter 5, and look at verse 13, 1 John 5, 13, these things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal
life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
See, he's saying, look, I don't want you to wonder, I don't want you to hope so, I don't
want you to wonder if you're saved or think you're saved, or, boy, I'd like to know that.
He says I want you to know that you have eternal life.
Now look, establish what you believe about salvation.
Don't reopen the issue all the time.
I mean, good night, all the time I hear about these churches who change what they believe,
and here's what it is.
They go out and preach the gospel, they win people to Christ, and they tell them it's
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Whosoever believeth that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
And what happens, they pray and trust Christ as Savior, and they're saved.
But then what happens?
Some of them don't come to church, you know, some of them don't end up getting baptized.
Some of them don't end up living for God right away.
And we just want to just see, bam, we want to see results.
We want to see somebody get saved and just jump out and just grab the Bible and just,
you know, their man with long hair, we want to see them just go straight to the barber
and get that hair cut and get the suit on and come to church and shout amen.
I mean, good night, they just got saved, they're like a newborn baby.
You think I expect my newborn baby, when it's born, to get up and start walking around
and combing his own hair, feeding himself, hey, Dad, how you doing?
What can I do for you, Dad?
Do you need any help around the house, this newborn baby?
It takes years before that baby's going to grow up at all.
Takes years.
Look at these trees.
My wife planted several trees.
You might have noticed those on the front yard.
Those trees don't produce fruit right away.
You plant that seed in there and that tree grows up there, it doesn't produce fruit immediately.
Takes years to get fruit out of those fruit trees.
You take a grape vine.
Did you know that a grape vine will never produce fruit unless it's pruned by a human
being?
It won't do.
Seriously.
I mean, it must be pruned.
You could sit there and my mom had a grape vine and it was just nothing, nothing, nothing,
nothing, and she didn't understand it, she cut it back because it was just kind of taking
over and everywhere she cut it back, new shoots came off and it grew grapes.
So now this year, I mean, she's just cutting it everywhere and I spent some time in Napa
a couple weeks ago in Napa, California, and you see just all that's left is just the stub
by the time they prune those things.
Only the trunk is left.
They cut off every branch and then the new growth comes in and it grows.
Look, it takes work to get something to produce fruit, okay?
It takes work.
Look, Cain was a tiller of the ground.
I mean, he had to work it at making those fruits and vegetables grow.
Fruits and vegetables don't grow by themselves.
You must work to make them grow, and trees don't produce fruit immediately, and a newborn
baby is not an adult immediately, and so here's what they do.
They get so disillusioned by people not living for God, but I'll tell you what part of the
problem is.
They win people the Lord, right?
They get those people in church and the people see the hypocrisy.
They see the liberalism.
They see somebody who's half in and half out.
They see somebody who's not on fire for God, and a good night.
They're more excited to go to the sports stadium and scream and yell there because
that's exciting.
People are excited about that.
They're more excited about everything else that's going on in the world because their
church is so dead, and maybe that's part of the problem.
Maybe if we would get on fire for God, maybe if we would get serious about Christianity,
maybe if people saw us and they saw us living a very different life than the world around
us and not just dress like them and act like them and talk like them, maybe then they would
be inspired to live for God and to grow in the faith a little bit, but what do we do?
Instead, we decide, wow, soul winning must not work.
See, this is what happens when you're not established in what you believe.
When you're not rooted down, you say, you know what?
Soul winning must not work.
So we're going to start a whole new, brand new idea, because I got this book from this
guy down the road, and he says we should just go out and just knock doors and just invite
people to church, but not preach the gospel to them, and let's just kind of ease them
in.
Let's get them in a little bit, get them used to things.
Well, here's the problem with that.
Say you start gearing church toward unsaved people, because your goal is to get all these
unsaved people in church, right, so you can evangelize them.
Well, then pretty soon you start getting the unsaved music.
Pretty soon you start getting the unsaved dress code, and pretty soon you've adapted
your church service, and you're preaching toward unsaved people.
I'm not preaching toward unsaved people right now, and I'm preaching toward a saved crowd.
If unsaved people come here, great, I'll win them the Lord before or after the service.
They'll probably get the gospel while they're here, but I'm not going to preach my service
designed for unsaved people.
It's designed for saved, born-again, baptized believers, the local church, and you say,
well, they're turned off by your music.
Fine.
When they get saved, they'll like it.
They will.
When they get saved, they'll like, faith is a victory.
Hey, when they get saved, they'll like, who he that believeth on the Son tis true, half
everlasting life.
Well, they're going to love that when they get saved.
They're going to be praising God, but until then, they're going to like all the rock music
and stuff.
Well, we've got to get them in, and let's use the rock music.
No.
Look, know what you believe.
Soul winning works.
It just doesn't work overnight.
It's not Burger King.
It's not McDonald's.
It takes time.
It takes work.
It takes prayer.
It takes fasting.
It takes reading the Bible.
It takes work, and so you cannot become disillusioned with what you believe.
They change things around, or they come up with all this weird stuff about repenting
of your sins, or you've got to repent of your sins to be saved.
Look, the Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and
they get confused.
Well, do you have to turn from your sins, or do you just have to be willing to turn
from your sins, or do you just have to be kind of willing to turn from your sins, or
do you just have to have an attitude of being willing to?
It's like, shut up.
It says, believe, sir.
Read the Bible.
It says, whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish but ever last in God, and you say,
when did you figure that out, Pastor Anderson?
When did you get rooted in what you believe?
When I was six years old, and I don't want to mess with it.
If anybody wants to come in here and talk to me about that, I don't want to talk about
it.
I know what I believe.
I know what the Bible says.
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not like you.
I'm not a wandering star.
I'm not a, I'm not carried about with winds.
I know what I believe, and I know Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
See, it's all what Jesus did, and it's not of works, lest any man should boast.
And that's all I need to know.
The Bible says it's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God.
I don't have to pay for it.
I don't have to do anything.
Look, know what you believe about that.
You say, I don't know what I believe about that.
Then you get out your Bible and don't put it down until you know what you believe about
it.
Don't go to bed tonight until you know what you believe about it, because that's the most
important thing in the world.
But you've got to know what you believe.
See, here, here's a great phrase.
Get this phrase in your mind.
Know a thing, and then know that you know it.
See, it's one thing to know something, and it's one thing to know that you know something.
See, you've got to know what you believe and say, I believe that, and not only do I believe
that, but I know it's true and I'm never going to talk about it again.
Because look, once you read something in the Bible, just know it's true, and don't reopen
the issue.
Like, if I read in the Bible, it says that, you know, I read like 90 times in the book
of John alone, where it tells me that believing is salvation.
When I get to some passages that I don't understand, I don't have to wonder, hmm, I wonder if there's
something else you've got to do to be saved.
It's like, why would I, it's like, think about this.
Think about if you went to a math class, and you learned that two plus two is four.
And then next year, you're getting into, hey, you're getting into multiplication.
And when you get into multiplication, you've got to add, you know, you get the different
products for the different digits, and then you've got to add them up.
Now look, don't reopen the issue of what you learned in first grade.
You're never going to go anywhere like that.
If you forget what you learned in first grade by the time you get to second grade, I'm not
really sure if two plus two is four anymore.
Let me relearn that.
You've got to learn to just, when you see something in the Bible, and it makes sense
to you, and you understand it, and it's clear, just nail it down.
Just never even think about it again.
Don't even worry about it.
That's the only way you're going to learn, because you've got to build precept upon precept,
line upon line.
You build on facts.
A fact is something that God clearly says in the Bible, just clearly, he just comes
out and just says something, just put it in your computer, it's a fact, it never changes.
And start building that foundation of what you believe.
Don't be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, the Bible says.
Number two, under this category of what you believe doctrinally, know where the Bible
is.
I mean, good night, if everything you believe is supposedly based on the Bible, know where
the Bible is.
I'll tell you, know that the Bible that you have is right, okay?
Look, this is what the Bible says, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall
not pass away.
This is what the Bible says.
The words of the Lord are, that's present tense, that was written by David, Psalm 12,
written hundreds of years after it was originally written by Moses, and copied and copied and
copied and copied and copied and copied and copied down to the one that was in David's
hand.
And he said the words of the Lord are pure words.
I'm telling you tonight, the words of the Lord are pure words in 2006.
As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times, thou shalt keep them, oh Lord,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
See, I believe in the preservation of God's word.
I don't sit around wondering whether my Bible's really preserved.
I don't sit around wondering, well, I wonder if it got a little bit messed up along the
way.
I wonder if some guy went in and changed something.
Look, think if you would.
If you got a book that's been copied millions of times, the best-selling book in the world,
how can somebody change it?
You'd have to go change every single one of them.
Think about it.
Think about the millions of King James Bibles that are in the world right now.
What if I wanted to change the King James Bible?
Am I going to go to every home and every house and change it?
No.
And all throughout history, my friend, the Bible has been translated and copied and copied
and copied by millions of people.
In millions of copies, it's everywhere.
I don't care what some archaeologist found under some rock somewhere.
I want the one that's been distributed and copied for the last 2,000 years since Jesus
Christ was on this earth.
That's the one that I want.
Because I believe that it's preserved by God.
I don't have to wonder whether this book is God's Word.
You say, I don't know if this is God's Word.
Figure out whether this is God's Word.
And you know what?
If you don't think this is God's Word, then stand up and tell me the NIV's God's Word.
Because nobody believes that.
Stand up and tell me that the Bible that just came out last week, the new, revised, more
modern, brand new version.
Tell me if that one is of God.
Because I'll have more respect for you if you tell me that you have some Bible that's
the Word of God than to just sit there and say, well, it's the best we have.
It's pretty close.
Pretty close is not good enough for me to stake my heaven and hell on.
Pretty close is not good enough to be written by God.
The Bible says, many shall not live by great alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God.
And I don't want pretty close.
I want an every word Bible.
If I thought that the Bible was written in Swahili, I would learn Swahili tonight.
I would start working on it.
If I thought that I had to go back to the original Greek and Hebrew to get their true
meaning, I'd be speaking Greek right now.
I'd be speaking Hebrew.
If I didn't believe that the King James Bible is God's Word, I'd go find it wherever it
is.
I'd swim across the English Channel to try to find it, because I must have God's Word.
But look, I already settled it a long time ago that this is God's Word.
And instead of trying to rewrite the Bible, I'm just trying to see how many times I can
reread the Bible.
I'm just trying to see how many times I can read it.
I'm trying to see how many times I can memorize it.
That's all I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to rewrite the Bible.
I'm not trying to change the Bible.
I want the Bible to change me.
I want to become like the Bible.
I don't want a Bible that's like me.
You see, we must know what we believe about salvation.
That's the number one thing.
That's everything.
Everything.
Number two, we must know what we believe about the Bible.
Where is the Bible?
Do we have the Bible?
And we could go down the list of all the doctrine that it's so vital that we must know what
we...
Look, know if you're a Baptist and know why you're a Baptist, okay?
And I know we're living in a day where everything's just non-denominational.
There's no such thing as a non-denominational church, because this is what happens.
You go to a non-denominational church, and it's just a charismatic church.
It's just a Pentecostal church.
And oh, we're non-denominational.
Look, that non-denominational church has a statement of faith that tells you exactly
what they believe about everything.
They believe something.
The difference between non-denominational church, they just don't want to tell you what
they believe.
They don't want to broadcast that you've got to go in and find their little statement of
faith.
But when you go in and find it, my friend, they will have very specific, very laid out
exactly what they believe.
And they all pretty much believe the same thing.
Speaking in tongues, you can lose your salvation, you've got to live a good life to go to heaven,
there's no pure Bible, they're all the same, use whichever one you feel like reading today,
they all believe the same thing.
Sounds like a denomination to me, since they all believe the same thing, and they all act
the same.
They all, you know, wear a miniskirt and shorts to church, and they all play rock music on
stage.
It's all the same.
You know, this non-denominational church.
We had these nursing homes where I was preaching at, you know, it's like, well, there's this
guy who has the non-denominational service.
He's a full-blown Pentecostal.
His church is a Pentecost church that's part of a literal denomination that has thousands
of churches across America that are yoked up in this denomination.
It's a non-denominational service.
Look, he's preaching his doctrine to those people.
I'm preaching my doctrine to those people, I'm just telling them the truth.
I am a Baptist.
And I'm not ashamed to be a Baptist, I'm going to just tell you right now, I'm a Baptist.
It's a Baptist church.
So at least they know what they're getting.
I'm not trying to slip, I could go there and say I'm non-denominational.
I'm non-denominational.
And then I'd get up and preach the same way, preach the same stuff.
But see, it's just a line.
It's just deceiving.
Nobody wants to take a stand.
They want just everybody's welcome.
And look, everybody's welcome in this church, if they can handle it.
Everybody's welcome in this church if they can take the preaching, you know, if they
can hear the truth.
And they'll probably either get in or get out after a while, because if they hear the
truth preached, that's the way it is.
The Bible says it's like a two-edged sword, it divides people.
It divides people who want the truth and people who want to believe a lie.
And so, look, everybody's welcome, but I'm not going to just tone down my message, just
try to get as many people as I can and take Baptists off the sign, because then we can
get more people in here and get more people in here.
No.
We must know what we believe.
I preached a sermon a couple months ago on why I'm a Baptist.
You remember that?
And I had the paper up on the wall and I was explaining a little bit about, just historically,
why I'm a Baptist.
Look, know what you believe.
Why did I teach that?
Because I want people to know that they're Baptists.
I want people to know why they're a Baptist, and not just because, well, I go to this charismatic
church for a while, and then I was a Lutheran, then I was a Baptist, and no, no, no.
It's like, get it nailed down.
If you're a Baptist, be a Baptist.
You believe the King James Bible?
King James Bible.
If you believe salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and alone, not by living a good life,
then shout it on the mountaintop and say, this is what I believe.
It will not change, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
And if it was right then, it will be right 20 years from now, it's right today, then
this church should be the same church, you know, just different people, more people down
the road, but the preaching shouldn't change.
You know what I do?
You know what I constantly do?
I get out old sermon tapes of myself preaching.
I get out old sermon outlines that I wrote when I was in college, and I just try to make
sure, am I toning things down?
Am I mellowing out?
Am I going liberal?
Constantly examining myself.
Because I don't want to sit there and say, good night, I'm listening to this preaching
from six months ago, and it's like, I was really ripping some face, you know?
And now, now I'm preaching on the love of God.
It's like, I can't, you know, and obviously I preach on the love of God, but I'm just
thinking to myself, man, oh, I can't believe I said that.
If I think that's something wrong, because it shouldn't be, it should just be like, man,
I think I need to re-preach that.
That's what it should be, because it should never change.
The truth never changes.
The Bible never changes.
All may change, but Jesus never.
Glory to his name.
And so on and on.
You read this Bible?
The preaching style of Jesus Christ is good enough for me.
I hear it just as abrasive, just to the point, direct preaching style.
I like it.
Oh boy, you want to read some real preaching?
Read Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
These guys, good night, these guys would not be welcome in any church.
They're welcome right here.
And you know what?
These guys would tear it up.
I mean, you read Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, I mean, some of the things I would even blush
to even say in the pulpit, some of the things that these guys preach.
And that's me, okay?
I mean, these guys preach.
These guys rip it up.
And I'm reading and I'm thinking to myself, God must like these guys preaching.
I mean, these are three of the longest books in the entire Bible.
Look, there's more preaching from Jeremiah in this book than there is from Jesus Christ,
than there is from John the Baptist, than there is from anybody.
I mean, where it's actual sermons, where a man is standing up and preaching,
the three men that God chose to give us just the most pure preaching of,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
You read those books and come back and tell me that I'm preaching too hard.
I mean, read them.
Read what they say, and boy, they preach hard.
They preach harder than I preach at all.
I need to work on it.
I'm going to read them tonight.
Get some ideas for good sermons.
But I'm telling you something, it should have changed.
If God liked that kind of preaching in the Old Testament,
I guarantee you He likes it tonight.
I guarantee you He'll like it a hundred years.
I don't care if the whole world just becomes as classified.
I don't care if Hillary Clinton is the President of the United States.
Look, it's going to be the same preaching, okay?
And I don't care what they say.
They can go stick it as far as I'm concerned.
If they don't like my preaching, then they can drag me out of here in handcuffs
and throw me in jail, and then I'll preach in jail.
Because I refuse to change.
Look, if you would, at Proverbs.
Right in the middle of your Bible is the book of Psalms.
Go forward one book there to the book of Proverbs.
Psalms and then Proverbs.
And boy, that salvation thing just gets me.
It's funny.
You're going to find out something
just as you go through life, and I'm finding this out.
That's the biggest battle.
It's amazing.
The biggest battle is for getting people saved.
And the biggest battle is that salvation
is only through the work of Jesus Christ.
It's not us doing anything.
I mean, all we have to do is just believe
and just receive that gift.
And that is the biggest battle that you face anywhere
in any church, in any area, in any time period.
That is always the battle.
That's why God said we've got to earnestly contend for it.
We've got to just fight for it.
Because if you don't fight for that thing,
it'll creep in.
And so that's the biggest battle out there.
Let's do it in Proverbs 24.
Proverbs 24.
I think I forgot to tell you what chapter to be in.
Proverbs 24, verse 21.
I love this verse.
24, 21, the Bible says,
My son, fear thou the Lord and the King,
and meddle not with them that are given to change.
You see that?
He says, don't mess with people
that change all the time.
Don't meddle with those that are given to change.
Look, I am not given to change.
I drive to the extreme.
When a restaurant changes their logo,
it irritates me.
Seriously.
Have you ever felt that way?
I saw Arby's had a totally different sign.
It irritated me.
Or you'll go to your favorite soft drink.
New label, same great taste.
I'm skeptical.
I feel like something's changed.
I'm just one of those people that just has an aversion
to change. I just hate change.
I like things that stay the same.
And it just bothers me,
but some people, it's just all just change.
Change, change, change, change.
God said,
I am the Lord, I change not.
That's what he said.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
I am the Lord, I change not.
And God says, you better watch out for people
who change all the time.
Those are the wrong kind of people.
But number two, not only should we know
what we believe and not change our doctrine,
a non-changing and stable life
as you can. Don't be a wanderer.
You think about your job.
You notice people who wander from job to job
they're always switching jobs.
Those people will not succeed in the business world.
Because the way that you succeed
is by just sticking with one company
and just staying there.
And you climb that ladder
you start getting the benefits
you start getting the paid vacations
you start getting the seniority
but you see people who just jump around
or even worse they'll be in one trade
they'll be an electrician
a plumber, a carpenter
you're not going to succeed like that
you're going to succeed when you just stay with something
and just finish it
let me tell you something
I didn't come to Phoenix
to just blow through town
I'm here for life
I plan on dying here
I'm not just coming here to
start this church
see what happens
maybe I'll go back to California for a while
oh it was nice in Chicago
look, this is where I am
it wasn't nice in Chicago
sorry about that
see it, Natalie
used to live in Chicago
but I didn't like Chicago
I don't like the Midwest at all
I belong here
but anyway I was born and raised in Sacramento
the only reason I left Sacramento
was to go to college
when I was done with college I came here
that's the way I feel about it
because I don't want to just bounce around
I don't want to just float around
look, you're not going to get anything done that way
think about all the people that we've won to the Lord in this church
out knocking doors, visitors that have come
people that we've talked to
we've won them to the Lord
and let's face it
they're not all here tonight
the people that we've won to the Lord
but one of these days
you wait around long enough
you stay in the same place long enough
they're going to realize I need God
and they're going to say
where was it?
they dig around
they're going to find this in some drawer somewhere
they're going to pull it out
it's going to be dirty and tatted up
and they're going to say
I wonder if it's still there
I wonder if brother Anderson is still the pastor
that's what they're going to say
and they'll come back
and people will come
but see it takes time
but if you're constantly moving around
it's like you're sowing
you sow the seed and then you leave
you're never going to reap that increase
you've got to stay somewhere long enough
look, everything in life takes a long time
anything that's worth anything
takes a long time
and it takes just patience
you just have to wait
you plant these trees
we're going to have to be in this house
for long enough to enjoy the fruit of those trees
when they really get big
stay with it
marriage, stay with it
the next one is going to be worse than this one
if you switch to the next one
the truth of the matter is
people who get divorced one time
statistically
I mean just the numbers
I know that if it's bad now
it's only going to get worse
but if you stay with it
stick with it
your job, marriage, church
if you're not sure if this is the right church
then figure it out whether it is
and if you
figure out that it's not, then go somewhere else
and keep going until you find
something where you can
get in with it and stay with it
and not just be bouncing around
you go to this church for a while
people hop from church to church sometimes
they're church hoppers
and they'll bounce, they'll go here, they'll go here
look, if you're not sure that where you're at is right
then get out of there
if you're not sure that this is right then get out of here
but if you think it might be the right place
figure out whether it is
and then if you figure out that it's the right church
then just stay here, that's the way it is
then if you figure out that something else is right then go stay there
but you're not doing
your family a favor
you're not doing the people that you win the Lord a favor
when you move around a lot
because then you're sending them a signal that says
I don't know what I believe
I don't know what I want, I don't know what my church is
but see, when you can just find something and say
I'm just going to stick with it
and thick and thin, the hard times
the lean times, the good times
just stay with it
even just a hobby
if you start a hobby, stay with it
don't be a quitter
because quitters, they develop a habit
a pattern of quitting
that's what they do
they quit one time and then they quit another time
they quit another time, I remember
I used to kind of have that habit a little bit
where I felt like I quit things
I'd start something and just not really finish it
I would just refuse to quit anything
because I wanted to just make sure that I didn't quit
and just the silliest things
I can't think of an example right now
but just the silliest things, I would just not quit until it was done
because you've ever played board games with people?
they quit in the middle of Monopoly?
because it takes so long?
they quit and risk?
it just takes seven hours
stick with it, man
you're playing these games and nothing more irritating
you're just totally, intensely into the battle
and you're into the competition
you're playing the game
and then they're just, oh, I'm tired, I'm going to bed
you're like, no, what?
no, we must finish
and they try to preserve the board
you try to preserve the rest board
you put it up on the fridge, we're going to get it later
it never happens, somebody bumps it
it spills everywhere
but anyway, you can't be a quitter
you've got to say
I know what I believe
I go to the church because I decided to go there
not just because it was just a whim
I read this Bible because it's the Bible that I was saved with
the Bible that I grew up with
the Bible that's been used in the English-speaking world for the last 400 years
the only Bible until recently
I just know that it's what it is
I don't just read it because I feel like it
I don't read it because I like the thes and the thows so much
I read it because it's God's Word and I know that and I believe that
see, you've got to be nailed down
I know what you believe
you've got to be nailed down about who you are
about what you are, about what you do
know what you believe
boy, I've
I'm running out of time but I didn't want to preach songs
because we're having ice cream and everything afterward
but you know, the point that I'm trying to make with all this
is that if you know what you believe
if you know who you are
you know what your church is
you will not be like the unbelievers
you won't be like Cain who floats around
you can be planted somewhere
and what's the goal?
what's the point of the Christian life?
I've heard many people say this
and this is just one of those cute answers
but say, what is our point for being here?
in the world
like, what is our
I'm trying to think of the word
what does God have us here?
you know, like
what are we doing here in the world?
and why did God make us?
what's our purpose in life?
and I've heard people say
our purpose is to glorify God
glorify God, glorify God, people say that all the time
it's to glorify God, we're here to glorify God
and they'll say
all things for his glory are
and were created, it says in Revelation chapter 4
and I believe that
we were created to bring glory to God
but what does that mean?
and they'll say it's to bring glory to God
it's to bring glory to God
well, I thought of a great verse
it says in the book of John
here in is my Father glorified
that you bring forth much fruit
that's where the glory is
that's where you glorify God
you say, what's my purpose in life?
my purpose in life is to glorify God
and God said, here in
is my Father glorified
that you bring forth much fruit
now what does it mean to bring forth fruit?
now, get yourself nailed down about this too
we're talking about not being shifted around
with what you believe
figure out what the Bible's talking about when it says fruit
would you figure out what that means?
because look, let's see if Solomon
has it figured out
Solomon in the front row, my son here, I'm going to ask him
Solomon, what kind of fruit
grows on an apple tree?
apples
apples, very good boy
isn't he exceptionally bright?
what kind of fruit grows on a lemon tree?
lemon
if I take a pineapple
and plant it in the ground
what kind of fruit is going to come from that?
pineapple
pineapple, exactly
what happens if I take a peach and plant a peach?
what kind of fruit am I going to get from that tree?
a peach
I'm going to get peaches, right?
boy, this is tough, isn't it?
so look, what kind of a fruit am I going to get from a Christian?
Christians
now why is that so hard to understand?
this is what they say
bringing forth fruit is when you come to church
what?
how have you reproduced yourself?
when something multiplies
look, when my wife and I bring forth fruit
it's what's sitting across the front row here
it's what's in her stomach right now
that's the fruit
look, how hard is this to understand?
the Bible says in Genesis 1, you only have to read
the first chapter of the Bible
everything brings forth after its own kind
and so, how do we bear fruit as Christians?
how do we glorify God?
what's our purpose for being here in this world?
is to reproduce ourselves
physically, yes
I'm talking about spiritually
I'm talking about where I can say
look, I'm a soul winning Christian
I'm going to reproduce myself
I'm going to win somebody else to Christ
I'm going to get somebody saved
and that's going to be my fruit
so the Bible says the fruit of the righteous
is a tree of life
and he that wins his soul is his wife
so when I win that soul to Christ
when I produce another tree just like me
that is winning souls like me
that is a Baptist like me
that loves God like me
that reads a Bible like me
I have produced fruit, I've glorified God
and God says, you know what glorifies me the most?
is it when I win one person to the Lord God?
no, he says when you win
much fruit
how much God? as much as you can
I mean as much as you can produce
but look, how are you going to produce fruit?
how are you going to produce fruit if you're not planted somewhere?
you see what I'm saying?
and that's what the whole message is about
just floating around, wandering around
you can't stay with your job, you can't stay with a church
you can't stay with an area
look, you've got to be planted
if you transplant a tree and keep moving around
it will never produce fruit
you've got to be planted
you've got to have your root down about what you believe
you've got to have your root down
about where you go to church
you've got to have your root down about what Bible you read
you've got to have your root down about whether you're a Baptist
you've got to have your root down about all these things
then, pretty soon
and know it's not overnight
you'll start to produce fruit
you'll start to multiply
and pretty soon it's not just you
but maybe in the pew next to you will be somebody that you brought to church
somebody that you wanted to Lord
maybe some friend or relative that you got saved
and you say, well right now I'm just alone
sitting here alone in church
hey, wait
stay with it
it takes a long time
and if you stay planted, you will see the fruit
you will see the harvest
let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
just for the word of God and just the encouragement
to know
that if I'm planted, dear God, the Bible says
they that are planted
in the courts of the Lord
shall flourish