Now, we're continuing this morning's sermon because I didn't even get off the first half
of the first point. I kind of jumped into point B of part 1 and just barely touched
on it. I said a little bit about it. I want to say more about it right now. And then when
I'm done saying more about that, I want to get into points 2 and 3 of the sermon. And
so just to quickly bring you up to speed, I don't want to sit here and review, but we
talked about God's command in Matthew 28 to go ye therefore into all the world and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,
and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I command of you, and lo, I am with you all
the way even unto the end of the world. Now, we talked about God's command to go ye into
all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature and how in the Old Testament, I mean
in the New Testament, the Book of Acts, these men, I mean we're talking about the 11 disciples,
we're talking about Jesus Christ himself, we're talking about the early church in the
Book of Acts, they brought the Gospel to every person in these towns and these villages and
the cities that they lived in. And the way that they did that was by going house to house.
Paul said in Acts 20, he said, I am free from the blood of every person in this whole city.
And he said that in Acts 20, we didn't read the whole chapter, but he said, I have not
ceased to warn you. He said, I can wash my hands of this city because I have preached
the Gospel to everybody in this city. He said, all that are in Asia have heard the word of
God in 2 Timothy. And so, Paul had brought the Gospel to people from house to house because
he wanted to make sure it got to everybody. And so, we strongly believe in the Lord over
solely. And so, what the sermon was about was what happens to a church and what happens
to a person when they lose their first love? They forget what it means to win people Christ,
when they forget the importance of going out and knocking the doors and out on highways
and edges, getting the Gospel to them. And not just your friends and loved ones and co-workers,
but to complete strangers, I mean, just to the lost madness out there to seek and to
save that which was lost. We talked about number one, it leads churches into false doctrine.
And it's the truth. I mean, if you've been a Baptist for a while or you've been in church
for a while, you've seen churches go into false doctrines when they get away from solely.
They start dreaming up these strange ideas about salvation. They open up some big theology
book somewhere by some guy who, he didn't win souls, he was just sitting around with
his head in books all day. And I'd love to have my head in this book all day, but not
these theology commentary books about the Bible, how about the books of the Bible? Okay,
that's what I like to study. And so, we talked about how it can lead to number one, Calvinism.
I mean, the teaching that we don't have any control over anybody going to heaven or hell,
God is the one that's choosing who goes to heaven or hell. And that is plain not true
because God would have all men to be saved under the knowledge of the truth. He said,
whosoever will, he said, whosoever believeth in him should not perish forever. And if God's
will were to take place, I'm telling you, every single person would be saved. But unfortunately,
God, because he's given us a free will, many people reject the Gospel. We saw that many
people resist the Holy Ghost. Many people resist the Word of God. The gentleman that
we were talking to today, he pointed at the Bible. I mean, he even the Gospel clearly
from Brother Dave, and he understood every word of it. And he pointed at the Bible and
said, I don't believe that. He was a Roman Catholic, and he thought it was by works,
and he said, if you're a good person, you'll make it whether you believe in Jesus or not.
That's the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches. He pointed at it, and it wasn't God's
will for him to point at the Bible and deny it. It was his sinful, wicked heart that said,
I refuse to believe what God says. And that's, that Calvinist is garbage. And anybody who
goes soul, anybody who's a real soul winner knows that Calvinism is garbage. And I'll
stand by that statement. I've never known anybody who is a Calvinist who is a bona
fide soul winner ever. In fact, I doubt the salvation of many people who are Calvinists
because they attach works to salvation so much, and they claim it's all by grace. It's
all by grace. It's all by grace. But if you don't endure the end, you never were really
safe. If you didn't stay in church, you never were really safe. If you didn't get baptized,
you must not really been safe. If you didn't live for God, you didn't do good work. You
must have never really been safe. I'm sorry, but the Bible says it's by grace through faith,
not of works. That's the imagination. And he said that him to work if not, but believing
on him to justify the ungodly. His faith is counted for. I said, now how much is working
not? If I said, my name is Steve Anderson and I work not, you tell me you'll get a job.
Because if you don't work, if you work not, you don't work. Well, this is tough. I know
we got into so much English grammar. Sorry to, sorry to belabor anymore, but the word
not is an adverb. It means that you didn't do it. Okay. And so I'm not going to go any
further with that. And so Calvinism, but number two, the other false doctrine that creeps
in and I, I talked about how even in my home church, does it correct in this thing of,
well, in order to be safe, you must repent of your sins. I mean, you got to be willing
to give up the sin in your life. And of course we talked about the fact that none of us has
given up all the sin in our life. I mean, that would be perfect if we gave up all the
sin in our life. In fact, there are so many sins in the Bible. There are probably things
that I do in my life, even after I read the Bible, the main things that I do that are
a sin, I mean, I'd be aware of it to this day, right? I mean, I'm constantly learning
new things. And so the unsaved man is not able to repent of all his sins or any of the
same. He just has to believe on Jesus Christ. Once he gets saved, you know, hopefully he's
going to begin to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And repentance
for the Christian should be a daily thing. I mean, if you have a sin in your life today,
you need to repent of that sin today. But that's not going to affect whether you go
to heaven or hell. That's going to affect your fellowship with God. 1 John 1, hey, if
we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another
in the blood of Jesus Christ, and his Son cleanses us from all sin. And so it's a question
of fellowship, not a question of salvation. Salvation is by faith without the works of
the law. For by the works of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
Amen. Now let's go into that a little further. We're going to develop that just a little
more, and I'm going to jump into the rest of the message. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter number 3. Keep your finger in Deuteronomy 27, where we were reading. Now you say, well,
repentance is part of, you say, well, you must repent of your sins and believe on Jesus
Christ. In fact, they're both two sides of the same coin, because you're turning from
sin to the Savior. That's what they say. And you know, Charles Adams Spurgeon is the one
who said that. Turn from sin to the Savior. And he also said this, he was, by the way,
he was a hyper-Calvinist. I don't know if you know that. He has a chapter in his book
called In Defense of Calvinism. And this is what he says about Calvinism. He said salvation
is like a door. And on one side of the door, it says whosoever will may come. And then you
walk through that door, and then you turn around. It says, hey, by the way, God already
chose you before the world ever began. Now look, I don't care which side of the door
you're on. Salvation is not something that God chose certain people to go to heaven or
certain people to go to hell. You know, you can stand on your head in the doorway and
go up one side. That's ridiculous to say, well, let's go ahead and tell people it's
whosoever will. But when they get through the door, then they'll know the truth, that
it was not really whosoever will. It was actually just you, because you got picked. Hey, we
ought not to think of ourselves above what we are, because God has given every man a
measure that says Romans 12.3. So let's not think to ourselves, oh man, we've been chosen
by God. Yeah, he chose those he foreknew to be holy. He chose that you would live right.
He chose that you be conformed to the image of the Son when he saw it this morning. But
he said, well, I believe also that you got to turn from sin to the Savior. Look, and
I've explained this before, you can't turn from sin to the Savior, because they're not
the same thing. I mean, like, for example, and I'm not going to belabor this, but you
can't say, well, I switched from, I switched from drinking Sprite, I switched from drinking
Sprite, are you listening, to eating mashed potatoes. Okay, that doesn't make any sense.
Well, I switched from Sprite to mashed potatoes, or, well, I switched from Sprite to a car.
Well, you know, I switched from getting my gas at Arco to eating at Blimpie. That doesn't
make any sense. Now, you can switch from Arco to Shell, you can switch from Sprite to Pepsi,
you can switch from water to coffee, but did Joseph hold drinks? I mean, did Joseph
have something coffee? Are you just saying what I'm saying? You don't switch from sin
to, well, I went from sinning to Jesus. That doesn't make any sense. Because you don't
have to stop sinning in order to believe on Jesus. Okay, now you could say I switched
from Buddha to Jesus, right? Or you could say I turned from sin to living righteous
and lowly like a virgin. There's none righteous, no, not all. But here's what I have to say
about that. You say, well, they both go hand in hand, they both happen at the same time.
It's repentance plus faith. Well, let me just give you a definition from the Bible and look
down at Galatians chapter 3. The Bible says this, in verse number 9, it says, so then
they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Look at verse 10. For as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Now, this curse that God has in the Bible is a curse that says, if you don't obey all
the words of the Old Testament, he says you're under a curse. Now, that curse, we can be
redeemed from the curse of the law. We can be saved from that punishment of sin. If we
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness of sins, redemption through his
blood. We can be forgiven. All our sins can be wiped away as God as far as the east is
from the west. But he says, if you are one of these people who believes that you're justified
by works, you're going to be held accountable to that curse. And as Brother Jimenez so eloquently
preached when he was here, he said, when you get to that great white throne judgment, you're
an unbeliever? You want to be justified by works? You thought it was by works? You thought
it was by living your life? God will get out the books and judge you by your works at that
great white throne judgment, if you're unsaved, that is. And he will go through it, and you
will be weighed in the balances and be found wanting. You will not be good enough, and
if your name is not in that book of life, you will be cast into the lake of fire. And
so you have to understand that if you decide that you want to go the route and say, I don't
agree with Pastor Anderson, I don't agree with the Bible, I don't agree with Baptist
doctrine that says that you're justified by faith alone, I think it's by works. Hey, that's
fine. But you're under this curse right here that says you'll be cursed unless you continue
in every word that's in that law to do it. And I'd like to see you live perfectly, because
I can't do it. And if you do, then you must be Jesus, because he's the only person that
ever walked this earth. Jesus said this, he said, why call us out here? He said, there's
none good but one, and that's God. And he was God, and he was good, but there's nobody
else who's good. Now, you have to understand that repenting of your sins is worse. Now,
I was out stolen one time, and I had this, I was trying to win this young guy in the
Lord, and I'm giving him the Gospel, and this was a couple years ago, and I'm giving him
the Gospel, and a Seventh Day Adventist man walks up, and he started interrupting and
confusing the issue, so I wasn't going to be able to get this guy saved, because this
other guy was confusing it, you know, by bringing up all this stuff. And this is what the Seventh
Day Adventist guy said to the guy who was with us. He said, yeah, you know, people accuse
us of believing in work salvation, because he said, we believe that you must keep the
Sabbath day in order to be saved. He said, people say that that's work salvation. He
said, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, because even the Sabbath day is
resting, which is the opposite of working. He said, we're telling people not to work,
and they call it works. And of course, the Seventh Day Adventist believe that you've
got to keep all these other things. They didn't bring that up. They've got to keep all these
other works. But let's think about that statement. Let's talk a thing about that. Is what he's
saying true? Is keeping the Sabbath day works, even though you're resting? It is works. I'm
going to prove that to you from the Bible. You see, not only is works good things that
you do, which is called in the Bible good works, like in Ephesians 2, 10, where he said,
it's ordained us unto good works, which God of the four angels should walk in them. Good
works, doing good things, helping people, coming to church, with his soul, you know,
whatever good things you do. But not doing bad things is also called works. I mean, when
God tells you not to work on the Sabbath day, he doesn't tell that to us, but he told them
that and the children of Israel, he told them not to do it. If they did not do it, if they
did not work, God calls that the works of the law. Now, let's say if God says thou shalt
not steal, and you don't steal, according to the Bible, you have fulfilled the works
of the law. You say, well, that doesn't really make sense to me. Well, whether it does or
not, I'm going to prove it to you right now. Now, look down at your Bible, Galatians 3,
10. It says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is
written, we're going to get a quote from the Old Testament, cursed is everyone that doeth
and continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them,
and look at the next verse, but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God
and is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Now, and of course, it says in verse
13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. Now, turn back to do, look in
your Bible. Who has a Bible that has little references in the column? You got it right
here, okay? You got these little references? Look in your Bible, look, I want you guys
to look at the reference for Galatians 3, 10, okay? It'll have a little letter, like
a little footnote, okay? Let's see here. Let's go over to Galatians real quick. Okay, Galatians
3, 10, you got some notes in here, and it says right here, what's that reference say
right there? Deuteronomy 27, 26. Is that what everybody, is anybody saying anything different?
Okay? Now, it says that that's a quotation for Deuteronomy 27, 26, and they're right,
it is. I mean, it's just telling you, hey, here's where to find that little thing. Well,
let's look at it. Go back to Deuteronomy 27 where we started reading, okay? Deuteronomy
27, 26, and we'll see the same quote here, the same thought. It says, cursed be he that
confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them, and all the people shall say amen.
Now, is that the quote that Paul was referring to in Galatians 3, 10? He said, as many as
there are the works of the law are under this curse. It's found in Deuteronomy 27, cursed
be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. Now, let's look at this
passage here, and we're just going to quickly go over it, but look back at Deuteronomy 27,
14. It says, and the Levites shall speak and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud
voice, because that's the way every preacher who preaches with a loud voice, okay? People
always say, why do you have to yell when you preach? Good night. You get the same idea
without all the yelling and screaming. One time we had somebody come to our church, and
I was preaching and yelling, and she got up and walked out and sat on the sidewalk
and listened to the whole sermon from there. And she said, I heard every word of it. But
she said, I just couldn't stand being in there because it was too loud. And so this was back
when we were meeting in the house in the living room. I'm sure my neighbors loved that. But
we had a neighbor that we, you know, I went over and won the neighbor to Christ, and I
said, you know, we have church, you know, but he's like, oh yeah, he said, I've been
hearing your sermon. I was all washing my car and listening to you preach the other
day. And this lady sat on the curb, and she listened and said, why are you yelling so
much? Look, isn't that what the Bible says? Hey, preach with a loud voice. The Bible says
in Isaiah 51, cry loud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a cupboard. Hey, you know why
I preach so loud? Because I've got something important to say, and I want everybody to
hear it. And you know what? If you want to go to some church where there's nothing important
being said, then I'm sure the pastor will get up and he'll be, he'll talk like Michael,
you know, Michael Jackson, you know, and you know, then he's got, he's got, did you notice
that there's no sound system in here? Good night. I just noticed that for the first time.
There's no microphone. There's no sound system. Why? Because I've got a built in sound system
right here. Okay. This is, this is it right here. It's called my chest. Okay. This is
my built in sound system. And you see many preachers, they, they're preaching to like
three people or 20 people and they've got a big sound system because they're like, okay,
can you hear me now? You know, you can't hear them until they got their mic on. That's right.
Because they don't know how to preach with a loud voice. You say, well, some people are
louder than others. Well, some people should be preachers and some people shouldn't. That's
what I believe. How do I know if I'm called to preach? Are you loud? You have something
to say? You like to yell? I believe the Bible's God's word. God just scream and yell about
it because it's important. And you might be, this might be called. But anyway, it says
say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, curses be the man that maketh any graven
or molten image. Has God really mean that? I think he did. I don't think he wants anybody
to make any molten or graven image of anything. He said, uh, an abomination unto the Lord,
the work of the hands of the craftsman and put it in a secret place. And all the people
shall answer in faith. Amen. Ask yourself this question. Has God been telling people
to do something in that verse or not to do something? Not to do something, right? He's
saying, don't make an idol, you know, don't make that golden calf, don't make that plastic
Jesus or don't make that image and put it in a secret place. Look at the next verse.
He says, verse 16, curses be ye that seteth light by his father or his mother and all
shall say him. And is that telling you to do something or not to do something? Not to.
Okay, you can go down and I'm not going to read the whole list, but every single verse
in this whole list is telling you not to do something. There is not one positive command
in this whole list. Think about the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
That's a negative command. Don't have any other gods before me. He says, thou shalt
not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain. Okay, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, but really, what does he mean by
that? Don't work on the Sabbath, okay? So that's even a negative command. On to thy
father and mother, that's a positive command, okay? You know, and then you've got, of course,
thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not bear false witness, and thou shalt not govern. So really, one or two positive commands
in the whole bunch. Yet, God said that this verse, Deuteronomy 27-26, which is a follow-up
of a list of only negative commands, he says that if you are justified by works, this is
the curse that applies to you, because following this list and obeying this list is called
the works of the law, by Paul in Galatians 3-10. Paul said, if you will obey this law
right here, you have fulfilled the works of the law. If you don't make a graven image,
if you don't set light by father and mother, if you don't make an abomination put in a
secret place, if you don't lie with your family members and do all these wicked, abominable
things, he said you have fulfilled the works of the law, and you're cursed if you don't.
Look, not doing things that God told you not to do is works. And God didn't just say you're
not justified by works, he also said you're not even justified by the law at all. And
so, anything about your salvation has to do with your respect for the law, or your obedience
to the law, or you not doing things that God told you not to do. Well, I've given up
drinking, therefore I'm going to heaven. You are not saved, you're trusting in works. Because
God said it's by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God,
not of works. Let's say he managed to boast. And so, you're under the curse if you think
that you're earning your way to heaven by your adherence to God's laws. And yet, I'm
telling you something, I've tried to tell this to people and they won't listen to me,
because people will call me all the time and they're looking for a good church in their
town, in their city, and I try to help them find a good church, and I've tried to tell
them because I've been on the phone, I've made the calls, I've made the research, I've
looked at the websites, that probably 75-80% of independent fundamental Baptists right
now believe that you must repent of your sins in order to go to heaven. And I've said that
to other people, I've said that to other pastors, and they say, no way, come on, there's
no way. I mean, I know there's a few people that believe that, and they're teaching that
and they say, there's no way. I said, listen, I've done the research, to me, I don't have
the exact number, but it's about 75-80%. It's the truth. And we've lost the clear message
of the Gospel that says, Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it by the snow. I like what this psalm says, one of my favorite psalms, I guess
you know. A man has said, well, every psalm, he keeps saying that. Well, one of my two
favorite psalms, okay, but verily, verily. Though all unworthy, yet I will not doubt,
for him to cometh, he will not cast doubt. He can believe it, though the good news shall
hath everlasting light. Though all unworthy, I can trust my Lord. Though weak and sinful,
I believe his word. Oh, glad message, every child with God hath everlasting light. That's
a great psalm. Because we are sinful. I mean, we do shame. And to sit there and say, and
you know, all this does is it makes people doubt their salvation too. Because they say,
I don't know, have I really repented enough? And that's one of Martin Luther's 95 pieces.
One of the points is that no one can be sure that they're going to heaven. I read this
from the booklet about a month ago. Nobody can know for sure they're going to heaven,
but nobody knows whether they really repented sincerely enough. That's what Martin Luther
said. I mean, that's work salvation. I mean, how much, are you really sorry, do you really
hate your sin? Well, let me ask you something. If you hate sin so much, why do you watch
it all on TV so much? See what I mean? Are you saying you have to quit TV to be saved?
That's ridiculous. Well, if you really hated sin, you wouldn't turn it on and watch it.
Come on, that's the truth. And yet people will say that you have to turn from your sins,
hate sin, love the things that are right, hate the things that are wrong. And yet their
DVD case goes all the way to the ceiling. You see what I'm saying, how hypocritical
this is? Salvation is not by how good you are. And if it's all to you about how good
you are and all the things that you've given up, that's pride. That's right. And so it's
not about you, it's about Jesus and what he did on the cross. And so I could go on and
on on that point and I have a lot of stuff down here. I'm going to move on from that
because I just don't want to spend the whole night on that. But the next thing that happens
in terms of Ephesians chapter 4, so we saw number one, the problem with the church not
going slowly, besides the fact that man, there's a lost and dying world out there that needs
the gospel. The other problem is that it caused the church to go into false doctrine. I mean,
it caused the church to get all mixed up on this doctrine and nobody knows where they
stand. And people, I ask people all the time, I say, what do you believe about repentance?
They say, oh, that's a tough question. There's nothing tough about that question. Do you
believe it's faith? Or do you believe it's faith plus give up your sins and do works?
There's nothing tough about it at all. Man, why do I have three different drinks going
on? Ephesians chapter 4, look at verse number 11 and we're going to see the second result
of a church that quit soul-winning or a person that quit soul-winning. The Bible says in
Ephesians 4, 11, he gave some apostles and some prophets and 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. Now, what is the purpose for the God of the pastor?
And by the way, you're looking at him. Let me introduce myself. My name is Pastor Stephen
Anderson. I'm the pastor of this church. I'm also a teacher because I teach the Bible here
Sunday morning and Sunday night. Now, when you look up here at me, what do you see as
my purpose? And by the way, I'm also an evangelist because I go out and knock doors every week
and preach the gospel. What is my purpose? My purpose, according to the Bible, look at
verse 12, you'll see my purpose, the perfecting of the saints. Now, who are the saints? Are
they unsaved people or are they saved? They're saints. So my job is to perfect the saints.
And that's you if you're saved tonight. And what's my other job? To work for the work
of the ministry. The Bible says he that desire the office of the bishop desire the good work.
So my job is to do the work of the ministry. That means I'm going to be out soul-winning,
I'm going to be preaching, I'm going to be out doing what I'm supposed to do. And what
else am I for? For the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, what is the body of Christ?
The body of Christ is the congregation. The body of Christ is the born again and baptized
believers that are assembled here right now, make up the body of Christ. So who am I serving
when I'm here, and this was spoken to the church of Ephesus, in church here, who is
this church geared toward? Is it geared toward them or us? Us. I mean, it's geared toward
the saints. It's geared toward the body of Christ. And that's all it's geared toward.
You'll never find in the Bible that the church, the local church, the congregation, is to
be geared toward unbelievers. And yet when a church forgets the great commission, they
forget the go, they forget go ye in, priest of God, they forget go out into the highways
and hedges, go ye into all the world, they get rid of the go and they switch it around
and they say, come, let's bring unsaved people. That's how we're going to get them saved.
We got to get our unsaved friends and our unsaved loved ones, we got to bring them to
church so that they can hear the plan of salvation and come down the aisle and get saved. You
say, well, wait a minute, isn't that what it's about? Well, you tell me what the Bible
says. And you got to understand that you say, well, come on, don't you want to reach the
laws? I was out knocking the doors, were you? You better know I want to reach the laws.
I'm out every single week, you know, just loving people and just trying to get people
to say, I'm just opening my Bible, showing them how to be saved, knocking the doors,
going up one street, down the other, up another street, down another. Why? Because I want
to go out and win souls to Christ. But what happens is when you forget that, the church,
what happens? It becomes worldly. That's right. Because first of all, we saw number
one, it goes into false doctrine, but number two, it goes into worldly doctrine. That's
where it goes. Now let me show you, here's an example. Brother Dave here, he lives in
Gilbert and he lives in a new subdivision in Gilbert. Now here's the thing. We live
in Tempe. We live in an old, this is an old part of town. I mean, Tempe has been around
as long as Phoenix has been around almost. I mean, it's, it's an older part of town.
Our house was built 50 years ago. This is a well-established area. There aren't a bunch
of new subdivisions going around here. And so as a real, people don't really start churches
in Tempe. In many churches are moving out of Tempe. Okay. Many of them, because they
want to go into these bedroom communities. They want to go into the new areas of growth,
Chandler, Gilbert. They want to go out into Avondale, Buckeye, all those kinds of outskirts.
They want to go up north into Anthem. They want to go east, you know, Patsy Junction.
The areas where the growth are. And when I was, when I was going out to start a church,
everybody told me to go to the outskirts, go to the suburb, go to the bedroom community,
go to the new suburbs. And I just looked at the map and I just said, man, I want to be
right smack dab in the middle where all the people are. And so I chose to start the church
in Tempe. We're the most populated area right here in the middle. Well, because Brother
Dave is out in these outskirts in his bedroom community, he is just the victim of all this
advertising of churches that spring up. And it's funny because I was, I was making a list
of songs to practice on the piano. And after I realized I was doing it on the last advertisement
you brought me. Jesus for president advocating for change. Well, this one that he brought
me and he brings him to me all the time and he probably doesn't even bring me all of them.
But this one takes the cake. I mean, this is the most blasphemous, wicked advertisement
for a church that I've ever got. And I've seen a lot of it. I've never seen anything
like this. This is unbelievable. This is from a, I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything,
but I'm going to. It's a Sun Valley Community Church in Gilbert, Sun Valley Community. And
listen to this. Let's just, can we just go, let's just go through this right now. Shall
we? Let's just go through a page of eight and let's ask God, you know, I believe that
God's here with us because the Bible says wherever two or three are gathered together
in his name, he's right here. So you know what? I want to, let's just have a little
talk with Jesus, shall we? And let's open this up and let's see what he would think
about it. Okay. It says right here, what happened to the Huxtables? Okay. Now we got the Bill
Cosby Show. Remember the Bill Cosby Show from the 1980s? So we got the whole family of the
Bill Cosby Show. Okay. And then we open it up and we've got this man and woman pulling
this little girl apart like they're going to tear her in pieces. And it said, what happened
to the Huxtables? Real life happened. Not all families experience the wealth and peace
of the Huxtables, but all families matter. Now, wait a minute. Is that, that's, that's
the goal, right? Wealth, wealth, wealth, and peace. That's all we need, right? Just money,
money, money. Now, wait a minute. I don't know about you, but I, you know what? I'm
just going to, can I just make a confession to you? When I grew up, I watched the Cosby
Show. Who watched? Put up your hand. Okay. I grew up watching the Cosby Show. Theo and
you know, I don't remember their names. That's all I remember. Okay. It's Theo. I guess I
didn't watch them once. I thought, you know, well, do you remember them going to church
on the show? Do you remember them going out soloing? Do you remember, do you remember
the episode where Theo was reading his Bible in the bedroom? I don't remember. And yet,
I'm supposed to look at this and be upset because I can't attain to what the Huxtables
had as far as wealth and peace. I thought Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And I don't remember
Jesus coming out of the lips of anybody on that show, except maybe if they were just
using it as a curse word, they might have said, oh, you know, and used it last week.
But hey, this is the role model now because of what? Well, remember dad was a doctor.
Didn't she have a job or something? Lawyer. Really? So we had a doctor and a lawyer, you
know. Wow, wealth and peace, you know. And these are our role models that says nothing
has greater impact on our lives than family. Really? Because the biggest thing that's ever
had an impact on my life is the Bible. You know what I mean? I mean, I love my wife,
but you know what I love more than my wife? Jesus Christ. You know what I love more than
my kids or I love with all my heart? Jesus Christ is who I love more. And you know what's
had a greater impact on me than my family? The Bible. Soul winning. Church. God. That's
what's had the biggest impact on my life. And I'm not going to make an idol out of my
family and say, well, really, it's all about you, honey. In fact, I'm going to make a graven
out of you after the service. But nothing has a greater impact on our life than family.
Now that you have your own family, brother Dave, now I'm just kidding, you don't. Even
though this is addressed to you, right? What? But it says, now that you have your own family,
how does it feel? Is your family all that you hoped it would be? Are you a doctor? A
wife, a lawyer? Where do they live? In York? Pennsylvania. Somewhere on the east coast
of our country. Is your family all that you hoped it would be? Join us as we explore God's
design for the family and discover the full potential of what your family could become.
Now, these are the series that are starting. That's on the 9th and 10th. You say 9th and
10th? Well, that's because they have service on Saturday like their Roman Catholic mama.
And they have it on Sunday, you know, for the people who think the church is on Sunday
like the Bible says. And then they have it on Saturday for all the wannabe Catholics
who want to come to church on Saturday. You know, I might come to church on Saturday.
I'm coming to church on the first day of the week like the apostles did. I'm not a seventh
day happiness. And so they have church service on Saturday and Sunday. And by the way, I'm
glad that my mom's not a whore. Because you know what? The Protestants, their mom is a
whore. Because the Bible says that it's the whore, the mother of all abominations, Revelation
17, that all these false religions came out of the Catholic church, which is called the
great whore. Does that offend you? That's what the Bible says. I'm not trying to offend
you. Thank God my mom's not a whore. And it says in August, if you all know that it
offends me. Well, get ready to be offended more. Because on August 16th and 17th, their
series is called this, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? That's some kind of TV show
apparently. I've never seen it. But apparently. And then on August 23rd and 24th, you know
what the title of the sermon is? Dirty S-E-X-Y Money. That's the title of the sermon. Those
three words in a row. Look, I'm not lying to you. It says right there, August 23rd and
24th, dirty blank money. That's what the topic is. And then on August 30th and 31st, The
Real World, which is a wicked show on MTV that is displaying alternative lifestyles
and whatever. September 6th and 7th, How I Met Your Mother. I've never heard of it, but
somebody told me it's a TV show that's out right now. I don't know what it is. And then
on September 13th and 14th, Yours, Mine and Ours. August 9th and 10th, Married with Children,
a show that I've never seen because my mom and dad said that I was never allowed to watch
it because they said it was wicked as hell. And so my mom and dad said, don't ever watch
the show Married with Children because it's smut. And so thank God I've never even seen
one episode. And Yours, Mine and Ours, apparently that's the show. I don't know. I'm sure it
is because they got this logo. And then on September 20th and 21st, the sermon topic
is S.E.X. Embassy. It's the title of the sermon right there. You can see it right there.
And then on September 27th, it gets even better. The series is called Plastic Jesus. And it's
got a picture of a plastic Jesus belt. And the sermon is on plastic Jesus. Now look,
this is blasphemy. Do you think I'm going to preach my sermons on TV shows? Well, this
week we're going to preach on The Cosby Show. Next week we're preaching on Married with
Children. Next week we're preaching on Family Ties. And next week it's going to be Growing
Pains. And next week it's going to be Seinfeld. And next week it's going to be S.E.X. in the
City. And next week it's going to be this and that and the other. This is what church
has become, folks. Because you know why? You say, why would they do this? Why would they
be so blasphemous? I'll tell you why. Because they're curing it toward the unsaved. And
this is what unsaved people do. They wash their feet. I mean, do you think unsaved people
have a problem watching Married with Children? Or are you smarter than fifth grader? The
real world judge might not. That's what they do. I mean, they wash it. And so if we're
going to gear church toward unsaved people, this is where we'll eventually end up. And
if an independent fundamental Baptist church, like Faithful World Baptist Church says, you
know what? We need to start gearing our service toward unsaved people. It wouldn't start out
like this, but it would end up like this. That's right. You know what I mean? It would
start out. You wouldn't really notice it. And you notice it a little more, a little
more, a little more, a little more. And then priesthood, this is where we'd be. And then
listen to this. Then on September 16th, we've got Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.
Now, I don't know Dave Ramsey. I've seen him on billboards. He's some kind of a financial
tiger. Does he even claim to be a Christian? He's talking about Jesus. I don't know. I've
heard it. You say no. I believe you. That settles it. You're the expert. Hey, Dave Ramsey's
Financial Peace University. You know what? Let me just share something with you from
the Bible. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt
and where thieves break through and steal. You say, preach the Bible. I'm preaching the
Bible. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Why, Jesus? Why should I not pile
the money? Why should I not invest in what Dave Ramsey's telling me? Because where your
treasure is, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The Bible says this.
The day that will be rich, the Bible says, the day that will be rich fall into diverse
temptations and forceless. People that want to be rich, people that love money, let me
just explain something to you. And I'm not saying that rich people are bad. Of course
not. I'm not saying that people who have money are bad. Of course they're not. And you know,
most people contrary to popular belief, most people in America who have a lot of money,
they work very hard for their money. I mean, people aren't just giving away free money.
I don't know if you know. I mean, maybe there's the Paris Hilton's and whatever of this world,
but I'm telling you something. The vast, vast majority of people in this world who
have money worked very hard to get that money. Am I saying that rich people are bad? No.
Am I saying that people who have money are bad? No. But I'm going to say something. People
who love money are bad people. Because the love of money is the root of all people. And
people that love money are bad people. And people that are always talking about money
all the time, you know why they talk about all of them? Because that's what's in their
heart. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is speaking. And so people are constantly
talking about money, constantly talking about money, constantly talking about money. Preachers,
ouch. Preachers keep talking about money, money, money, money, money. This fund, that fund,
money, money, money. Because what's in their heart is a bunch of money. And they love money
and they're bad people. That's why. And people who always want to talk to you about money,
that's what they love and that's what's in their heart and that's what they talk about.
Because they're bad people. You know, this is true. And they're going to fall, the Bible
says. And so there's nothing wrong with working hard, having money. There's nothing wrong
with buying nice things and enjoying life. But when you begin to stack up treasures for
yourself on this earth, you're violating what God said in the Bible. And so you shouldn't
lay up these treasures on this earth. Do you say, well is it the sin to lay up treasures
on this earth? Well the problem is that when you do it, then that's where your heart is,
on this earth. And the Bible says, set your effects on things above, not on the things
on this earth. He said, love the things that are eternal, not the things that are temporal.
Love the things that are not seen, not the things that are seen, because the things that
are seen are temporal and the things that are not seen are eternal. And so we've got
Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We've got, let's see, I think that's, is that it?
I don't know. You look at this and tell me if I missed something. It says everything's
going to be relevant. Relevant and life changing? Great. All right. Irresistive. I don't know
what that means. Is that like that too? Are we back on too low? Irresistive and race?
And so this is not what I want our church to become. And this is what independent fundamental
church should become. Now listen, let me ask you something. Sorry about this. Let me ask
something. Is this church serving Jesus Christ or their own belly? Okay. They're serving
their own belly. I mean, this is not what God wants. God doesn't want, because you say,
I don't know. I'm not sure. Are you Ephesians 4? Flip over to Ephesians 5. Let's put this
to the test of God's word and let's see if this is what God wants. Look at Ephesians 5
7. The Bible says in Ephesians 5 7, Be not ye therefore partakers with them, for ye were
sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the
fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Verse 10, Prove me
what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which
are done of them as secret. Now, we should not have any fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness. We should not have any fellowship with these wicked children. I can't
even read the name of the show because I don't want to offend your child's eardrums. Are
you listening to me? Because the name of the show is offensive. And yet, and a lot of people
misunderstand what the word fellowship means. Many people think fellowship is like, oh,
that's when we eat ice cream at the service. When in reality, fellowship means that we
have something in common. We have a fellow goal, or we have a fellow, he's saying, look
at everybody, he's saying in verse 11, don't have anything in common with the unfruitful
works of darkness. Do you understand? Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them. And let me ask you, do you think that this pastor
will ever get up and rebuke these shows after he promoted them and advertised them? When
he ought to be standing behind the pulpit and saying, married with children is wicked,
the real world is wicked, yours, mine, and ours, it's wicked. How I met your mother,
it's wicked. Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Wicked, wicked, wicked. Blank in the
city, it's wicked. It's shame, it's smut, it's pornography. But instead, he's having
fellowship with it. It's wrong. Now, let me ask you this though. And here's where the
rubber meets the road, my friend. What if I had a flyer that looks exactly like this,
but it doesn't have any of this bad stuff in it? Do you listen to me? I mean, it's just
the King James, the soul wing, but what if it just looks all just like this? I don't
want to copy this church. I mean, I don't want to, you know, let me ask something. Can
you tell the difference? Anybody having trouble seeing the difference? No, because I don't
want to have any fellowship with the unfulfilled works of darkness because I'm going to be
able to stand behind the pulpit and reprove them and rebuke them and say that it's wrong.
And so what happens is when the church ceases to be a soul winning church that goes out
and gets people saved. And that's where the unsaved people are. They're all there. We
got to go out and get them. But when we stop going out and get them, we say, man, okay,
let's see. Out there, 110 degrees. In here, Eric Michigan. Let's bring them in here. In
here, I'm sitting in a chair. Out there, I'm walking down the street and my only shade
is a palm tree that's 12 inches wide. I think I'll stay in here. No. God said they're out
there. You go out there and get them. But when you say, well no, we got to bring them
in here. Okay, good luck. Good luck trying to get unsaved people to come and blow faithful
work. Us aid people are gonna like the music. They're not going to like the preaching.
They're not going to like the flyer. They're not going to like me. They're not going to
like the way I dress. They're not going to like you. They're not going to like your family
They're not going to like the decorations. They don't like the maps and the pictures.
They probably won't even like our restroom. They're not going to like any of it.
So, in order to bring them in, we're going to have to change a lot.
And the biggest thing that's going to have to change, you're thinking right now, is you.
That's what I said. You need to change a lot.
They might like me. They might like my kids. They might like my other. They're not going to like you.
You're right. But, I'm not here for them. I'm here for you.
And you have to let that flatter you. You have to walk in and say,
Man, thank God I go to a church that's all about me.
Thank God I go to a church that's geared toward people that are saved.
Because you know what? Christians are the ones who need to learn the Bible.
And if I got up every Sunday and played a bunch of rock and roll, had a bunch of TV shows,
Laughed a bunch of laughs, and then I got up and said,
Let me give you the plan of salvation for the five millionth time.
Let me preach to you the Gospel.
You're not going to be fed.
That's right.
Because you need all the counsel of God.
You don't just need the plan of salvation.
You need to learn what sin is and what's right and wrong.
You need to learn about soul eating. You need to learn Bible doctrine.
You need to learn every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
And by the grace of God, stick around long enough and you will be taught every word of this book.
Hey, on Wednesday nights, we're preaching every chapter.
Twenty-three and a half years, we'll be done.
And on Sunday morning and Sunday night, we're going through Bible upon Bible upon Bible.
Subject upon subject.
Is it what they need? I don't know.
Is my visitor going to like it? Probably not.
Is my relative that's unsaved going to enjoy it and want to come back?
Probably not.
But I like it.
Do you like it?
Amen.
Hey, great. All right.
Well, that's all that matters because we're the ones that it's for anyway.
And so as long as we like it, it's fine.
Bible says, verse 1 Thessalonians 5 22, abstain from all appearance of people.
I don't like that.
Nobody will get my literature and confuse it with that literature.
They'll see, oh, here we go again.
Faithful Word Baptist Church, you know.
Oh, maybe it's a new one. No, it's the same one.
It's just a different color.
I got the orange one last week.
Now I got the green one.
We had a missionary that came soloing with us.
And the missionary not come to tour.
And he had the green one.
And they pulled out the orange one.
Already got it.
And he said, this is why I'm not coming to your church.
And he's like, I'm just a missionary.
He said, I'll show you why I'm not coming.
It's this part right here.
Thank God.
We don't need him.
We want people who love God.
We want believers.
We want people who are saved.
And you say, oh, man, you're excluding the unsaved.
No, we're going to get them saved.
And then we're going to baptize them.
And then we're going to teach them to observe all things whatsoever.
Jesus Christ has commanded us.
And he'll be with us all, even to the end of the world.
Amen.
That's the Bible.
And that's the truth of the matter.
And so, church, number one, what happens?
It goes into Paul's doctrine.
Number two, what happens?
It becomes worldly and sinful.
But number three, it becomes a church of pride.
I mean, it becomes a church of pride.
Because what happens is, you'll walk in,
and boy, you won't ever see any men with long hair in that church.
You won't ever see anybody who's not dressed right.
You won't see any of the girls that are dressed wrong in that church,
because you know what?
And they've all been saved for like 15 years.
Okay?
And so you get prideful.
You know, what keeps you humble
is when you're out in the highways.
And you know, you don't get so high and mighty, you know,
where you can't reach down into the gutter
and pick up somebody and say,
come with me and I'll make you a fisher of men.
You know, you get all high and mighty.
You get all prideful and spiritual.
And you know what?
I was talking to my sister about this week.
These people who talk very hyper-spiritual,
you know, people like that bother me.
And you'll notice nobody in this church talks like that.
I mean, people like that really bother me.
You know, this come not near to me cry,
I'm holier than thou is what it calls in the Bible.
This attitude of people who they just laid on so thick
and they're all, everything they talk is just all this,
oh, you know, it's kind of like
we're talking about the Roman Catholic Church, right?
The words come out of their mouth,
they're not saying anything.
And you know, people who know me
and people who know anybody in this church know
that if you talk to us on Monday,
talk to us on Tuesday,
talk to us on Wednesday,
talk to us on Thursday,
you're going to find the same person.
Come home with me tonight,
I'll be the same.
Say, your wife lives with us all week?
She does, you know, but I'm out of town a lot, so.
Hey, I'm serious.
But you get these people who,
they come to church and they put on a show
and everybody's got to be perfect.
You know, doesn't the Bible say in James chapter 5,
confess your faults one to another
and pray one for another that you may be healed?
You know, the Bible says don't put on a show,
don't try to be something that you're not,
don't get so prideful and arrogant
that you don't want anybody to know
that you ever do anything wrong in your life.
Now, I'm not ever condoning sin
and people who make light of sin
and brag about sin, shame on them.
But I'm going to tell you something,
we all have faults and we're all human beings
and putting on some pompous air
where you're better than everybody
and talk this hyper-spiritual talk.
You get around the hyper-spiritual talker
and you find out that they've got skeletons in the closet,
that they don't really love the Lord.
And you get around the people that are down to earth
or a human being, they talk normally,
they talk the way that a normal person talks,
they're not trying to put on a show and a facade,
they don't think church is some fashion show
where it's all about the way you look
and about the way you...
Hey, I'm more concerned about being right
than looking bad.
And I hope I look right.
I mean, I haven't looked in the mirror in a while
but I hope I look okay.
I'm wearing a suit and tie, I've got my shoes shined.
But you know what?
I'm going to tell you something.
I'm willing to...
I'm not trying to put myself on a pedestal as a pastor,
I'll confess my faults to you.
I was in traffic school yesterday, right?
Hey, I'm done wrong.
I was in traffic survival school, okay?
And you know, look,
don't be one of these people that just puts on a show.
Be right.
Be yourself.
Be real.
And you know, who you are ought not be simple and wicked anyway.
Why don't you get yourself right and come to church
and be real and be who you are.
And speak your mind, as the Bible says.
Say what you believe and be who you are.
And you know, those of you that are in school
or public school or college,
hey, go to school and be who you are.
Don't go there and pretend to be worldly
and pretend to be something you're not.
Hey, I hope you're not the world
and I hope when you go to college
or go to school or wherever you go,
you walk into the job and you just are who you are.
You get out the Bible and you set it down on the table
and say, this is who I am.
Deal with it.
Accept me.
This is who I am.
You know, since our world's so tolerant these days
and accepts everybody,
hey, they ought to be able to accept the fundamental baptism.
Slap that Bible down and walk in and say, this is who I am.
I'm not saying to be hyper-spiritual.
I'm not saying to act like you're better than them.
I'm not saying, oh, man, you know, I'm not near to me.
I'm more near than that.
That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about being real.
Be yourself.
Be who you are.
Confess your faults one to another.
And I'm not saying to come confess to me
like a priest or something,
but I'm saying, hey, come to church and just be who you are.
You don't have to prove anything to me.
You're not, look, impressing is nothing.
Oh, man, you know, you got to impress God.
Don't try to impress me.
That's who you got to try to impress, God.
You got to be pressing God.
But churches, I'm telling you,
churches that get away from soul winning,
it gets to be a popularity contest.
It gets to be a fashion show.
It becomes worldly,
but it becomes a place where the sinful
and the down and outer are not even welcome.
And, you know, when I walk into a church
and everybody there is always dressed perfect all the time
and looks perfect all the time,
that just tells me that they're not winning anybody a prize
and bringing them.
That's what that tells me.
But if I walk in a church where everybody's worldly and ungodly,
I say, here's the past.
Here's the church where the pastor doesn't preach on sin.
And so Faithful or Baptist Church is not Stephen Anderson.
It's the group that you see right here.
Look around, talk to everybody.
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night,
then you'll know what this church is about.
Then you'll know who we are.
And you know what?
The people in this church that I believe are the most spiritual
are the ones who don't talk the hyper spiritual part.
They're just real people.
And you can be with them anywhere, anytime, anyplace,
and they're the same as you'll find them here on Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night.
And that's what's right.
Real.
Be real.
Be who you are.
Don't try to be somebody else.
I'm trying to put a facade that you're somebody else.
If you're a Christian, act like a Christian.
Talk like a Christian.
Walk like a Christian.
Hey, have a haircut like a Christian if you're a man.
You know, have your dress like you're a Christian.
And you know what?
If you're worldly, then go be the world.
But if you're not the world, then don't act like the world.
Don't dress like the world.
Don't talk like the world.
Have no fellowship with the unto the full of stars.
Don't have anything in common with the Hollywood stars.
Don't look like them.
Don't talk like them.
Don't dress like them.
They're wicked.
And it's a shame to even speak of the things that are done as a secret,
and that's why you don't want to have anything to do with them,
because they look good on the outside,
but with them, they're full of hypocrisy and dead man's bones.
They look good on the outside.
Look, kids.
Angelina Jolie, on the outside, boy, she's a humanitarian.
She's helping people in Africa.
No, she's damning America to hell with her wickedness,
with her pornographic movies, with her wicked lifestyle,
with her ungodly message, with her communist philosophy.
She is damning America.
She looks great on the outside, right?
Right, guys?
Oh, wow.
Oh, man.
Wouldn't you love to date Angelina Jolie?
I wouldn't, because you know what?
The Bible says that a beauty in a wicked woman,
it's like putting a jewel in a swine's snout.
That's what it says.
You can have an outward appearance on something.
He said it's just like if you took a filthy pig
and stuck a jewel in its nose.
Oh, wow, that looks a lot better.
That's a big improvement.
I mean, think about it.
What if you just found the most hideous-looking person
in the world?
No matter what you put on them, you know what I'm saying?
They're going to look the same.
And that's what he's saying.
He's saying, look, you can dress it up, you can polish it up,
but what's on the inside is the same garbage and the same trash.
Don't be trickled.
Don't be tricked.
The devil's the secret.
And the devil deceives the whole world, the Bible says.
The whole world, according to Revelation chapter 12,
is deceived by the devil right now, the whole world.
And by and large, this world has been deceived by the devil.
They've been deceived by Bud Weiser.
They've been deceived by Bud's stupid earth.
They've been deceived by Coors.
They've been deceived by Miller Time.
And they show you a picture, young people,
of beautiful ladies and handsome studs,
and they've got a beer in their hand.
They don't show you the other side.
They don't show you the broken home.
They don't show you the beating.
They don't show you the drunk driving accident.
They don't show you the abuse.
They don't show you the liver surgery.
They don't show you the kids crying and saying,
I wish that my dad loved me and I wish he loved my mom
and didn't beat her up.
They don't show you in the gutter and drunk and disgusting
because the devil's the deceiver and wants to fool you.
But look, you don't even want to dabble.
You don't want to have any fellowship with it
because as soon as you begin to have fellowship with it,
you become enabled among the heathen.
You learn their works.
You serve their idols.
And you become destroyed in their destruction,
like Lot was, like Lot's life was ruined,
like everybody else who's played with the world
has been destroyed.
And so number one we saw was that at church,
false doctrine, when they quit snowboarding.
Number two, a church becomes worldly
because they begin to think we need to please the unsaved.
We've got to bring the unsaved in here.
We've got to be like them to win them.
And by the way, what you win them with
is what you'll win them to.
You win them with a rock costume?
Oh, you've won them to a new rock.
You didn't change their heart.
You didn't change their life or Jesus Christ.
And then number three, a non-snowboarding church
becomes a prideful, arrogant museum
where we show how spiritual we are
or we get into little cliques and factions.
You know what I'm talking about?
Where you get into these little cliques and factions
and the in-crowd and the out-crowd.
And oh, man, you're not dressed the way that I'm dressed.
You're not this way.
And you get to the point where you're so high and mighty
that you can't just be real.
You've got to talk all this hyper-spiritual,
every word, that's right, praise the Lord,
and hallelujah out of your mouth.
You can't even have a normal conversation.
And you can't even reach that.
I mean, look, when you go out soul-laying,
you won't be like that.
You say, well, how is going soul-laying going to stop me
from becoming prideful, high and mighty
and hyper-spiritual and more than that?
Here's why.
Because if I knock on the door and I knock on your door, Joe,
and let's say you're an unsaved guy, OK?
You're just an unbelieving guy and you're at home
and I knock on your door and say,
well, praise the Lord and hallelujah.
Blessed be God.
How you doing, buddy?
He's going to say, like, what are you doing?
Get away.
You're crazy.
I mean, is that right?
You're like, what?
No, I'm bored.
Praise the Lord and the Lamb forever.
I'm here to give you glad tidings.
You're like, get away from me.
Now, you better know when I come to you, Joe,
and if you were an unbeliever, what you got.
But if you were, if I came to you, I'd have to worry about it.
I'd be speaking the word of God.
And by the way, I wouldn't have it even in my pocket
somewhere.
I just got an hour away.
I mean, I'm sorry.
Everybody tells me I'm doing it wrong.
But I just walked down the street with a big black Bible
in my hand and knocked on the door and opened it.
And he said, well, that's going to turn people away.
Well, they probably aren't going to listen anyway then
if they can't even bear to look at the Bible in my hand.
And so I'm going to walk up to him, and I'm going to say,
hey, buddy, how you doing?
Good to see you.
I'm Pastor Steve Anderson.
I'm from Faithful Word Baptist Church.
And I just want to invite you to church.
Where do you go to church?
It doesn't matter what he says, because I don't care.
Whatever church he says, I just say,
one more before they go to church.
I ask him the question.
See, I like to get on the subject of church with people
just so I get off him.
So I just say, hey, I'm from Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Do you go to church somewhere?
Just make up a church.
What church do you go to?
Holy Cross.
Holy Cross, OK.
Well, listen, a lot more important
than going to church, though.
If you were to die today, are you 100% sure?
Do you go to that?
I hope so.
You hope so?
OK.
Hey, can I show you how you know so?
100% sure?
Would you like to know that?
OK, well, look.
This will only take a few minutes.
All right.
Now I'm going to speak the word God,
and I'm going to show him the word God.
But you know what?
I can relate to him.
OK.
Because I don't think that I'm better than him.
Right.
You know, because I've repented of all my sins,
and I don't even look at things that are wrong anymore.
I mean, I'm not even tempted to say any more, brother.
Look, you've got to be down to earth with people.
Yeah.
Because you know what?
You've got to just, and I'm not talking about sinning,
but Paul did say, and we visited this morning.
Paul did say, you know, to those that were without the law,
I became as one without law.
But he said, without law, not without law of Christ.
He said, I didn't break any God's law.
But he said, you know, he said, you know,
when I was with the Jews, I became as a Jew.
When I'm with the Greeks, I become as a Greek.
Yeah.
You know, and when you're, you've got to be willing.
Paul said this, condescend to men at lowest day.
That's what he said.
He said, condescend, get down on people's level.
Amen.
Don't be so high and mighty where you can't get down
on the level with Joe Blow, no offense to your name, Joe,
with Joe Blow on the street.
I mean, with just Joe Blow going to Holy Cross.
He's telling me he goes to Holy Cross.
He really only goes on Christmas and Easter.
It's a big story.
But that's why it's true.
And I didn't know he'd get on his level.
Just be real with him.
I'm not trying to, and here's the thing.
People that really are spiritual,
they don't have to go around pooping on spiritual things.
Right.
They just are spiritual.
You know what I mean?
My real leader doesn't have to go around saying,
I'm a leader.
He doesn't have to go around and say, well,
I can't be friends with the people in my church
because then I'm going to lose my mystique.
I'm going to lose my celebrity status.
You know what I mean?
And that's how it's time to call it.
They said, you've got to keep the mystique.
Don't get too close to anybody in your church.
He said the pastor, this is what they taught him.
He calls him, the pastor is the loneliest man in the world
because he can't be friends with anybody's congregation.
That's what they taught him.
But you know what I say?
You know what?
I'm a leader.
I am spiritual.
Am I good?
No.
Do I have mistakes?
Yeah.
But you know what?
I am spiritual.
I am a soul winner.
I am a leader.
And you know what?
I'll come right down where you live and say, you know what?
This is who I am.
You know?
And you know what?
You say, well, I don't know if I like what you are.
Well, look, what you see is what you get.
And it's not just good enough for me.
You as the believer in the pew, you as the soul winner,
should be able to condescend and then at lowest state,
get off your high and mighty horse,
get off your horse, go to those neighborhoods
that you maybe normally wouldn't even want to drive through.
Go to that neighborhood.
And you know what?
The Bible wins your souls to Jesus Christ.
And say, you know what?
It doesn't matter what color you are.
It doesn't matter how much money you have.
It doesn't matter what your background is.
Hey, I am willing to be your friend.
And I am going to win you to Jesus Christ
because I love you, no matter who you are.
See, so many will do that for you.
So many will teach you.
So many will teach you to love people
that you never loved before.
Because you know, the world just loves the people
that are like them.
The world loves the people that can do something for them.
But you know what?
We should love the unlovable.
We should love the people that are out there.
I'm telling you, I love people I don't even know.
I like what Jesus, he looked on the rich man ruler.
He'd never seen him before.
He walked up to Jesus.
The Bible says, Jesus, beholding him, loved him.
He looked at him and said, I love you.
He said, how are they going?
He said, you know what?
I love you.
And I'm going to tell you the truth because I love you.
And you know what?
You will learn, I'm telling you.
You learn to love people by doing things for other people.
Love's not a feeling.
But you go out there and you are pleading with somebody
to get saved and you win somebody to Christ,
you will love that person.
I'm telling you.
And you'll love that person.
If you win somebody to the Lord in your life,
you'll love that person for the rest of your life.
It's almost like a child.
Somebody that you won to Christ.
You'll always love that person.
And I'm going to tell you something.
The love of many is waxing cold.
They've gotten away from soul waiting on it for love.
They get high and mighty.
Wow, you know, people are really saved.
They're going to do this, this, this, and this.
And they're going to be like this and do this
and dress like this.
Look, hey, believe me, I preach on the clothing.
I preach it all.
But I'm going to tell you something.
I'll walk up to anybody who's dressed any old way, OK,
and I'll get down right on their level and say, you know what?
I love you just the way, you know, whatever, whatever race,
whatever background, whatever finances, whatever you,
oh, it's a convicted felon.
You know what?
So what?
You know what?
I'm going to, you know, I can get along with a convicted felon.
I mean, we relate to each other a lot.
A lot of things.
You know, I'm just telling you the truth.
You've got to be willing to condescend them in a low state.
Be yourself.
Be who you are.
And don't get on some high and mighty thing
because you don't know what it is to love somebody
because you don't go out in the highways and hedges
and love the unlovable and compel them to come in.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for loving us, dear God,
because if anybody loved the unlovable, it was you.
When you died on the cross for us, dear God,
and gave us the gift of eternal life.
And Father, we love you and we thank you.