Now in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, look at verse number 1, it says,
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not, and the last word, seen.
Things not seen.
What is faith?
Faith is when you can see something that you haven't physically seen,
but because God has told you that it exists, because God has promised it or explained it to you,
you know that it's real, you can even so much as see it in your mind, that's what faith is.
It's the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
Now of course verse 3 it says,
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.
It's not the Big Bang, it wasn't evolution, but God spoke the world of new existence.
I mean if you read Genesis chapter 1, that's what it describes.
And so it says through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.
So that things which are seen were not made of things which do bad.
I wasn't there, you weren't there, nobody was there,
to see either the Big Bang and evolution and all these different things, or creation.
But we can read the Bible where God has told us that He created the world,
we can see the truth on that subject through faith in what the Bible says.
But look down at verse number 11,
and this is his introduction to the sermon.
It says, Through faith also,
Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed,
and was delivered of a child when she was past age,
because she judged him faithfully who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead.
So many as the stars of the sky and multitude,
and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.
Of course it's talking about Sarah and Abraham.
Abraham was a hundred years old,
Sarah was ninety years old when she gave birth to Isaac, the promised child.
And God had told Abraham that He would make of Abraham,
through Sarah his wife, a great nation,
and that they would have all these descendants.
He didn't even have one child.
He got to be a hundred years old before his wife gave birth to their first child, Isaac.
The only child that they ever saw in their lifetime.
Later on they would watch Jacob and Esau, their two grandchildren, be born,
and then they would die with only three descendants.
But, look at verse number 12, or verse number 13, it says,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off.
You see, they could see it.
They had a vision of what God was going to do.
Therefore, it says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them,
and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers of pilgrims on the earth.
Now, keep your finger in Hebrews 11.
Turn back to the book of Proverbs.
The book of Proverbs, right in the dead center of your Bible, is the book of Psalms,
and then the next book is Proverbs.
It might help you find it.
Just open it right to the center, and then go forward to the book of Proverbs.
And look at Proverbs 29, verse number 18.
And here's the title of my sermon this morning.
It's found in Proverbs 29, verse 18.
The Bible reads, Where there is no vision, the people perish.
But he that keepeth the law happy is he.
That's the title of my sermon.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
You see, every great man of God who's ever been alive,
every great Christian, every great Christian lady that we read about in Hebrews chapter 11,
which took us on a tour de force through the Old Testament,
all the way from Abel, all the way through Noah,
we saw Enoch, we saw Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses,
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Samuel, David,
hey, all these great men in the Old Testament had one thing in common.
They had a great vision of what God was going to do in and through their lives.
That was the common denominator.
The common denominator throughout Hebrews 11, they all had faith.
And that faith was translated into a vision that they had for what God was going to do,
because they knew what God said he was going to do.
They believed it, and they had a great vision for how Abraham envisioned the nation of Israel.
Abraham envisioned all his seed and his descendants being so many,
as the sand that is by the seashore innumerable.
He'd never seen it.
All he laid eyes on his whole life was one child and two grandchildren.
But he saw what God was going to do.
Now, I have several points this morning,
but the first point is found right here in Proverbs 29,
if we take this verse in the context of what God's actually saying,
back up, if you would, to verse number 15,
because this is a very famous verse, Proverbs 29 and 18,
where there is no vision, people perish.
But let's look at the first way that we need to have a vision.
We need to be able to see what God's going to do
and have a little bit of imagination, if you will,
to look forward and see the great things that God's going to do.
Look at verse 15.
The Bible reads, because we're going to get the context.
You know, we want to see what God's talking about here.
The rod and reproof give wisdom,
but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
This, of course, is not about raising your children, right?
The rod and reproof.
You know, have you ever heard this term, spare the rod, spoil the child?
Okay, so the rod is like, you know, discipline, spanking your children.
He says the rod and reproof.
Reproof is when you tell somebody they're wrong.
It's telling your child no, okay?
So he's describing here the rod and reproof give wisdom,
but he's saying that's not all.
Spanking your children is not going to make them turn out right.
That's not all there is to it, he says,
but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
So what's God saying here?
Discipline is one thing, yes, it's important,
but you've got to spend time with your children.
You've got to spend time communing with them,
training them, raising your children.
Don't just ignore, you see so many people ignoring their children.
What do they do? They stick them in front of the television.
They're a little makeshift babysitter.
They stick them in front of the television.
They stick them in a little crib or a cage all day
to just scream and cry and do whatever.
Everybody ignores them, walks by them, doesn't talk to them.
They're too busy, you know,
whether it be hanging on the phone or hanging on the internet
or hanging on the television themselves.
And God help even have a television.
I hate stupid television, I'm so glad I don't have a television.
But, you know, just whatever it is,
or even just getting so involved in work
that the kids just get neglected and shipped off somewhere.
Hey, you've got to spend time with your children.
They're going to bring you to shame one day.
But you've also got to discipline your children.
You've got to learn to tell them no.
You've got to spank them.
But not only just the negative side, the positive side,
now I spend quality time raising and rearing my children,
loving my children.
But look at the next verse.
We're trying to get the context, remember,
of what God was saying in verse number 18.
Verse 16 says,
When the wicked are multiplied,
transgression increases,
but the righteous shall see their fall.
Verse 17,
Correct thy son.
You see that? Same thing we saw in verse 15.
Correct thy son,
and he shall give thee rest.
Yea, he shall give the light unto thy soul,
where there is no vision the people perish,
but he that keepeth the law happens.
If you look at this whole chapter,
and I don't want to go through the whole chapter for sake of time,
but the Bible talks much about child rearing in this chapter,
before and after verse 18.
You go down further and it talks about
bringing up, even if you bring up your servant
tenderly from a youth,
you'll have him as a son at the length.
Hey, God is teaching us in chapter 29
about raising our children.
And isn't it amazing that right in the middle
of this verse on raising children,
he puts the verse that I'm taking as the title of my sermon,
where there is no vision the people perish.
Hey, number one point this morning is,
you ought to have a vision for your children.
You ought to have a vision for what your children could be one day.
You ought to have a vision for raising godly children
that are one day going to do great things for God,
and be great Christians and soul leaders and preachers.
Hey, you ought to raise your children with a vision.
When you look at your child, don't you see a dirty diaper?
You know, don't you see a,
oh man, you know, these kids are such work.
Don't you ever wish that we didn't have kids,
and then, well, no, I don't wish that.
Oh man, I wish I didn't have all these kids,
and I could go to Hawaii every time,
and I could go on some cruise,
and we could go backpacking all over the world or whatever.
I don't wish that.
You know, I love having children.
I love my children.
And, you know, when my wife and I go out on a date,
you know what we do? We bring all our kids.
Isn't that terrible?
We don't, oh, don't you need that quality one-on-one time?
You know what? I love to bring my kids everywhere I go.
We like to go as a family,
and sit down and have dinner at a restaurant somewhere.
Now, a lot of people can't do that
because their kids would burn the place down, you know?
But, you know, we take our kids out to eat with us.
You know, we give our one-year-old like the glass glass,
you know, and everything.
But, you know, that's another story.
But anyway, the point is, we love having our children.
I mean, I'm thrilled to be with my children.
I want to spend time with my children
because when I look at the back
and I see my kids lined up back there,
I don't just see toddlers and little kids.
I don't just see work or something that's holding me down.
Hey, I see the future.
I see my legacy to the next generation.
I see the men who are going to carry the torch
for the next generation when I'm gone.
I don't just see a little kid.
I see a great man.
I see a great worker.
I see somebody who's godly and righteous and moral
and clean and pure.
I see somebody who's going to be a preacher and a soul winner
and to do ten times greater
than I will ever achieve in my lifetime.
That's what I see when I look at my children.
Hey, what kind of a vision do you have for your kids?
What kind of a vision do you have for your daughter?
What kind of a vision do you have for your son?
You got to have a great vision and not think,
well, my children, I just, man,
I just hope they don't just completely go off the deep end
and go off on drugs or something, you know?
You know, I have a little bit bigger of a vision
for that than my kids.
You know, they turned out okay.
I don't want my kids to turn out okay.
I want them to turn into Psalm 45.
We're in Proverbs.
Let's go back a few pages to Psalm 45.
But you see, we live in a day where we live in a time
where people are not even interested in having children
in many cases.
I mean, some people are not even having children.
I mean, you see young people getting married
and they're just not even having a single child
and they don't want to have children
or they want to put it off as long as they can, you know,
and they don't want to mess with it
because look at verse number 16 in chapter 45 verse 16.
It says, instead of thy fathers shall be thy children
who thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
See, you can make your children princes,
not just some kind of a decent human being or, you know,
they're a good citizen, you know,
they go to church once in a blue moon or well,
they're not, at least they're not all on drugs.
At least they're not on welfare.
I mean, at least they work for a living, you know,
at least they have been, you know,
buried, you know, less than five times or what, you know,
you know, hey, you can make your children princes.
You got to have a vision.
And when I look at my child, I see princes and kings.
I see great men and I look at my daughter,
I see a godly Christian lady who's a soul winner,
who loves God, who does something big for God with her life.
Hey, what kind of a vision do you have for your kids?
You see, maybe part of the reason
why people don't want to have kids in 2008
is because they have no vision
for what their kids would even be.
I mean, think about it.
Why would an unsaved person, just a worldly person,
why would they want to have kids?
So they can grow up and do what?
Well, what's their best case scenario?
Oh, they could be a pro football player
and be a millionaire.
Maybe they'll buy me a house or something,
like Elvis Presley bought his mom a house, you know,
that's their dream.
Good night, man.
If it's about money, you know, invest,
just invest, invest all that money.
I mean, it costs a lot of money to have kids, you know,
put all that money in some kind of a stock market or something.
If you just want to get money back in return,
you can buy yourself that little house that, you know,
you want your little rock star, sports star, TV star.
You know what, if my son became a professional athlete
or a movie star or one of these, you know, rock singer,
you know, I'd be disgusted.
You know, I hope my son does more with his life than that.
Okay.
But see that, what is the world?
I mean, that's literally the dream.
I mean, I tell people, I'll have three boys and say,
wow, you know, keep having all these boys.
Maybe one of them will really be a great athlete
and be a millionaire.
Hey, there's more to life than just money and fame
and popularity.
Hey, you can kind of see maybe why people aren't that interested
in having kids, you know, maybe they'll have their one boy
and their one girl, you know, whatever.
Or maybe not even that.
They're not that interested in having kids,
they don't have a vision.
They have no purpose in their own life,
let alone for their kids' life.
I mean, they're just going through life, eat, sleep,
drink, go to work, don't know what I'm going,
don't know what I'm doing, let alone bringing other people
in this world to send them on the same journey through life
of just wandering around, not knowing what to do with your life,
try a little of this, try a little of that.
Hey, I know where I'm going in life.
I know what God wants me to do.
I've got the Bible as my guide.
It tells me exactly where I'm going.
It tells me exactly where I came from.
I know exactly where I'm supposed to be going.
There's no question or doubt in my mind right now
what I'm going to be doing.
And so I know exactly how to raise my kids.
I don't have to sit there and buy some book by Dr. Spook
or Dr. Spock or whatever his name is.
It's going to tell me about how to do time outs.
It's going to tell me about how to raise my kids
and don't ever tell them no and don't ever spank them
and blah, blah, blah.
They make sure they watch Barney and Friends
and learn how to share so they can grow up
and be a good Communist.
But hey, I don't have to go through life
wondering how to raise my kids.
I don't have to wonder what to do.
I just have to try to find the time to do everything
that God told me to do.
That's my only challenge.
It's not knowing what to do.
It's doing what He told me to do
because I know what I'm supposed to.
It's just doing it.
It's the only thing I struggle with.
And so I know how to raise my kids.
I know what direction.
And you know too, if you read the Bible,
if you say, wow, it's not just me.
I don't have some knowledge that you don't have.
I've got the same Bible, the same Holy Spirit.
Hey, I know what to do.
I've got a vision that tells me
what God can do with my children,
what God can do with me and my own life.
Hey, have a vision for your kids.
Spend time with your kids.
Raise your kids and bring them up
with a vision of what they could be one day.
Let's look at an example.
Go back to the beginning of your Bible,
Exodus chapter 2.
This is the second book in the Bible, Genesis, Exodus.
Go to Exodus chapter number 2.
And let's see an example.
And this was from Hebrews 11 where we were reading.
We're going to see an example
of somebody who did have a great vision
for their child.
And these are the parents of Moses, okay?
Let's look at it together.
Exodus chapter 2 verse number 1, the Bible reads,
And there went a man of the house of Levi
and took to wife a daughter of Levi,
and the woman conceived and bare a son.
And when she saw him that he was a goodly child,
she hid him three months.
She said, well, why did she hide him?
Well, in chapter 1 of Exodus,
Pharaoh had put out a decree
because the Israelites were multiplying too many
and they were the slaves of the Egyptians.
And they were going to be so many,
they said these people are going to turn on us.
I mean, as soon as any of our enemies attack us,
they're going to join with our enemies against us.
And they said the children of Israel
had become more and mightier than we.
So they were afraid of having these slaves.
There were too many of them.
And so Pharaoh, in his wickedness,
look at verse 22 of chapter 1,
had said, and Pharaoh charged all his people,
saying, every son that is born,
listen to how horrible this is,
ye shall cast into the river.
So he's telling them that if a male child is born,
if a son is born, he says it has to be thrown in the river
because they were trying to get rid of the male population
of the Israelites.
And it says in every daughter, you shall save a lot.
So they didn't see the women as a threat, you know, militarily.
And so they said every male that's born of the children of Israel,
throw it in the river.
I mean, that's pretty evil, isn't it?
Can you imagine how wicked you have to be
to pick up a newborn?
I mean, have you ever looked at a newborn baby?
To pick up a newborn baby and throw it in the river.
What kind of a sick person would you have to be to do that?
It's so inhuman to do that.
But that's why she hid him.
Now, she disobeyed, you know, the king.
You know, people are so crazy sometimes.
They say, oh, you always have to obey the law.
I mean, no matter what.
You know, what about a law like this?
Okay.
And they say, well, you know, the powers that be are in the name of God.
And that's true, and I've pulled sermons on that stuff, Romans 13.
But to sit there and say that, you know,
well, you've got to obey the law,
you've got to throw the baby in the river,
unthinkable.
It's horrible.
You never should obey a law.
Because the Bible says in that same chapter that says that the powers that be are in anybody,
it says, let every soul be subject to the higher powers.
God first, his laws,
and then the king's laws,
and then, you know, your other authorities, your boss at work,
if you're a lady, your husband, you know, or kids, your dad,
and your mom also, or your authority.
There's higher powers, but there's a time to break the law.
Yes, there is.
I mean, what if they made a law against priests in the Bible?
Not going to stop, no.
What if they made a law against the soul?
Not going to stop, no.
What if they made a law against what have you?
You're going to keep on doing it, okay.
Now, and you know, these people are so...
You say, well, you know,
God's the one that chooses who's going to be in charge,
so we just got to get behind, you know, whoever the president is,
we just got to get behind him.
You know, that's not true.
Our president right now is wicked as hell,
and every single one of the candidates right now is wicked as hell.
I'm talking about the ones that actually won the primary,
and I don't want to go into all the reasons why.
It'd be a fun sermon just to go down the list,
but here's the thing.
You got to understand that we don't have to get behind a leader
who's wicked and undobbly.
You say, well, I think we should.
He's an ordained leader.
Okay, well, think about it for a second.
What about when the antichristes are?
We got to obey them, right?
Obey the government.
Wrong.
Think about it with a little sense of it.
Now, when there's not a conflict, you know,
when it doesn't contradict what God says,
you should obey authority, okay?
So if you can obey all of them, that's your goal.
But when two of them conflict,
you got to go with what God says first, okay?
So if your dad, if you're a child, your dad tells you to lie,
you don't do it.
But if your dad tells you to take out the trash, you better do it,
or else you're wrong, okay?
And you say, well, my dad's a wicked guy.
Yeah, but if he tells you to take out the trash,
you better take out the trash.
He tells you to mop the floor, you better mop the floor.
But if he tells you to tell a lie, or if he says,
hey, drink a beer with me, you say no,
because you got to obey the higher power,
what God is telling you to do.
But don't use God as an excuse to disobey authority,
just because they're not perfect.
No authority is perfect.
But the point is here, she's disobeying the law here,
by keeping her son alive,
hiding him in the house till he's three months old.
Well, by the time he gets to be three months old,
babies are getting a little more noisy,
they're getting a little bit more hard to conceal.
And so look at verse number three.
It says, and when she could no longer hide him,
it said no longer could she hide him anymore, okay?
She took from him an ark of bulrushes,
and dobbed it with slime and with pitch,
and put the child therein,
and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
And his sister stood afar off to wit
what would be done to him.
So here's what happened.
She takes baby Moses, and she makes a basket, okay?
A small basket, an ark of bulrushes, an ark is a boat.
So she makes a little boat for him out of bulrushes,
so it's all weaved together like a basket.
She dobbed it with pitch and slime,
and she opens up and she puts the baby
inside this little boat that she made,
closes it up, and sends him down the river.
But she doesn't just send him down the river.
She sends her daughter Miriam
to follow along with this little basket
and to make sure that, you know, somebody finds him, okay?
And this way they maybe will not know that he's a Hebrew.
You see what I mean?
Because he's just a baby floating down the river.
They don't know it's a Hebrew.
They'll just think it's an Egyptian
or another nationality and so forth.
So he's floating along down the river,
and in verse 5 it says,
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down...
So this is the daughter of the king himself.
The daughter of Pharaoh
came down to wash herself at the river,
and her maidens walked along by the riverside,
and when she saw the ark among the flags,
she sent her maid to fetch it.
And when she had opened it, she saw the child.
And behold, the babe wept, so the baby's crying.
And she had compassion on him and said,
This is one of the Hebrew children.
So she identifies,
Wait a minute, I can tell by looking at this kid
that he's a Hebrew, okay?
But watch what she says.
Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter.
So the daughter, Miriam, walks up,
Moses' sister.
She makes this suggestion,
Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew woman,
that she may nurse the child for you?
This is before the days of, you know,
all this formula and the infamous synthetic stuff, you know?
And so they said, you know,
Well, we need somebody to nurse the baby,
because obviously Pharaoh's daughter did not have a baby,
so she can't nurse the baby.
And so the daughter very wisely says,
Oh, why don't I get a woman that can nurse this baby for you?
And look what happens.
It says that Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go.
And the maid went and called the child's mother, you see.
So now, basically, Moses is going back to his mom
to be nursed, right?
But this is amazing. Watch what happens.
And Pharaoh's daughter said to her,
Take this child away and nurse it for me,
and I will give thee thy wages.
Notice that she says, Take it away.
Like, take it back to your house,
nurse it, I'll give you wages.
And the woman took the child and nursed him.
And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter,
and he became her son.
And she called his name Moses, and she said,
Because I drew him out of the water.
So here we see this baby is taken up by the king's daughter,
Pharaoh's daughter.
She says, Okay, go ahead and just take the baby.
You know, I don't want to mess with him.
I want to get through this whole diaper phase and cursing,
you know what I mean?
And so she says, Here, you go take it, nurse.
And it says the child grew.
Obviously, when she brought it back is when she finished nursing it.
Okay, so we're probably thinking about like a baby that's like two or so.
I mean, you know, how long you nurse a child for, right?
I mean, not past like two.
Okay.
And so, you know, when they're mouth full of teeth and everything,
and you know, you start putting the t-bone steak in their mouth.
So the point is, obviously,
Moses was only with his mother and father for a very short time,
because he was with him for three months.
And then whatever time it took to finish nursing him, right?
And then she said, Okay, here he is.
Passes him off to Pharaoh's daughter.
Now she takes care of him, and he became her son.
He was known as her son.
Now, turn back if you would to Hebrews chapter 11, where we were.
That's the first place that we read.
Hebrews chapter 11, the end of the Bible.
Hebrews chapter 11, the Bible reads in verse 23,
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents,
because they saw he was a proper child,
and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
But watch this.
By faith Moses, when he was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,
esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,
for he had respect under the record of his divorce.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.
Now think about it.
Do you think he had an important position if he's the son of Pharaoh's daughter?
I mean, that's a pretty high-ranking guy.
He said he esteemed the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.
I mean, he could have had the riches and wealth associated with being in the royal family,
but when he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
He said, I'd rather suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Why?
Why did he just grow up and have this great fortitude and faith and strength of character,
to deny ungodly lust and to live righteously and soberly and godly in the...
Why?
You know why.
Because his mother and father had trained him even just for the first few years of his life.
And when he got to be his full age, he came full circle to what he was taught in those first few years.
Let me read this for you.
You don't have to turn there, but this is Acts 7, verse 20.
In which time Moses was born and was exceeding the fair and nourished up in his father's house three months.
And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son.
Listen to this verse.
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
So, I mean, he went to their schools.
I mean, they trained him in all the different knowledge and philosophies and science and wisdom of the Egyptian culture.
He says he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.
He was very successful while he was in Egypt.
I mean, he was a great speaker.
He had many great acts and exploits and accomplishments.
And when he was full 40 years old, it says in verse 23,
it came into his heart to visit his brother and the children of Israel.
So it took him all the way until he was 40 before he came full circle.
But you better know he came full circle.
You see, you got to have a vision.
When you're teaching a child, think about this.
I've been to churches where they break it up by age, you know, like in the Sunday school.
And they break it, and we don't do that here, of course, but they break it up into like the kindergarten age.
They call that like the beginners, four and five.
They have like the nursery, birth through three years old.
And then they have like the beginners, which is like four and five.
And they have primaries, which is like six, seven and eight.
And they have juniors, which is like nine, ten, eleven.
And then they have junior high, high school.
They have it all broken up.
And I've watched and noticed one thing.
That whenever they're choosing who's going to teach these different classes,
they always put the best preacher is preaching to just the adults.
And one of the reasons why we don't break it up here is because we want kids of all ages
to hear preaching, not just like a little flannel graph and pictures, a little story.
We want them to hear Bible preaching and to sing the hymns, not just little ditties all day,
but actual real hymns, real preaching, real Bible.
But it's interesting how you notice who they put.
They put the very best preacher preaching to the adults.
The second best preacher in the church is preaching to the teenagers.
And then the next best preacher they'll put with the junior high.
And then the next best preacher is preaching to the junior department.
And then the next best preacher is preaching to the beginner, the primary department.
And then the next lowest preacher, who's barely a preacher,
and usually when you get down into the beginners and primaries and nursery,
it's no longer a man preaching.
Now it's a woman that's teaching because they ran out of men who knew how to preach.
So they put like a guy who can't preach his way out of a wet paper bag,
or like a woman who's not, of course I'm qualified to be a preacher because he's a woman, you know.
Newsflash for you.
But the point is, it shows a lack of understanding and respect
to put the most unqualified person in front of the most important people,
which is the youngest people.
And I remember when I went off to Bible college, you know,
you walk in the door, it's like they don't know who you are.
They don't know me from Adam.
I walk in, so what job did they give me?
Teaching the, you know, the beginners and primaries, okay, in our ministry in South Chicago.
And I had a class in the inner city ghetto, and you better know it was a ghetto.
This is the worst ghetto in America.
If you've been there, you know that South Chicago, Inglewood, 67th and Halsted, okay,
you know, for the couple people in here that know anything about Chicago.
I mean, this is the ghetto, okay.
And I mean, we were in the inner city ghetto, and I had a class there,
and usually I had about 20 kids in my class.
One time I had 41 kids with just me teaching them, and one helper that was a teenager, okay.
And so I got this class full of kids, and I remember I used to preach to those kids,
and you better know, I preached to those kids like I'm preaching to you right now.
I mean, I would yell and preach, and it was Bible doctrine, and it was,
you know, I made it a little more on their level, of course, but man, it was preaching.
And I remember they would apologize to me, like different people would say like,
you know, we're going to get you an adult class and everything,
but for a while you're just going to have to keep doing this, because I said, hey, that's fine.
I said, I'm happy with what I'm doing.
I said, I know, I said, you preach to these adults,
half of them are sitting there, you know, because they've been taught something else,
they got an idea.
I said, hey, these kids are hanging on every word I say.
Hey, these kids are learning truths that they're going to know for the rest of their life.
Hey, they're like a blank sheet of paper, and they're learning the truth about the Bible.
Hey, when they're 40 years old and they're 30 years old,
they're going to remember these things.
And when they seek out a truth, it's going to be an independent fundamental practice church that preaches right.
It's a so many church that loves people, that knocks the door.
Hey, that's what they're going to do because they learned it right here as a little kid.
Hey, I had the wisdom from the Bible to understand that my position in that ministry
was the most important position anybody had, preaching to those young kids.
But you're not going to see that with your eyes.
Have I ever seen the fruit of all that preaching that I've done?
No.
I mean, those kids I was teaching, now how old are they?
10, 11.
And I guess I'm not even in the same state to even see what becomes of them.
But you know what, I can see what becomes of some of them.
Because I have a vision.
Because I have a vision of what is going to happen when they come to years,
and when they come full circle, and when they go back.
You know, when I was a teenager, we went to the most liberal churches, you imagine?
The NIV, the rock band.
But you know, when I was really small, we went to independent fundamental Baptist soul winning churches.
And you know what, when I came to years, I came full circle,
I went back to the way I was taught as a little kid.
Boy, do you see the awesome responsibility, parents, of that little child, that little mind?
Don't put that little mind in front of a TV.
Don't put him in front of the Wiggles unless you want him to grow up
and become a little booty whittling faggot like the show is.
Oh, I'm sorry, did I just say that?
Whoops.
See, I planned on saying that.
You know what, the point is, you put him in front of these little girly man shows,
all these queer little sissies, all this watered down trash,
and then you wonder why they grow up and they're feminine.
You wonder why they look like a queer.
You wonder why they're not manly.
You wonder why they don't work hard at their job.
You wonder why they're lazy and lame and sorry.
Hey, it's because you didn't think it was important to raise them in those early years,
and then later when they're 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
you're trying to straighten them out when they're 13, 14, 15, 16,
you're trying to straighten them out when they're in their 20s.
Hey, it's too late.
You gotta get them when they're young.
You gotta have the vision to understand that that baby, that toddler,
one day could be a great Christian, one day could be a great leader.
Who knows what they could accomplish one day.
I'm not gonna go out and work and work and win soul and whistle.
I don't have time to spend time with my kids.
I'm too busy doing all this.
I'd rather stop and maybe do a slightly bit less.
And believe me, I believe in going full speed ahead,
anybody who knows me.
But the point is, sometimes you gotta stop and just spend time with the kids,
because you know what?
If I can raise my kids to grow up and to do what I do,
my four kids right now, that's gonna quadruple anything I can do by neglecting them,
and then they go off the deep end, and I'm doing my thing full speed ahead.
Hey, the four people could do more than one person could do.
And they're gonna be doing it 20-something years longer than I would,
because I'm gonna be dead and gone one day, and they're gonna still be here,
still preaching, still winning this role.
You see what I'm saying, how important it is?
But you gotta have the faith, because you're not gonna see it for decades.
You're not gonna see the result.
Moses' mom and dad, think about how they felt when they watched him go to those Egyptian schools.
Think about how they felt when they watched him go off to the Egyptian university.
Think about how they felt when they watched him grow up,
and he was wearing all the Egyptian clothes, doing all the Egyptian...
For 39 years!
But boy, when he was 40 years old,
the faith that they had came to reality and fruition,
and they watched Moses become one of the greatest men who ever lived.
I mean, he's one of the greatest men of the Old Testament.
One of the greatest men in the whole life.
I mean, who here has never heard of Moses?
I mean, you walk down the street, and people who've never been to church know who Moses is.
They saw Charlton Henson on the Ten Commandments.
They know who Moses is.
Charlton Henson just died this week, so I put him in that place.
But hey, Charlton Henson on the Ten Commandments, they've seen the movie!
Everybody knows who Moses is!
And he's known for being a great man of God, a great preacher, a great leader.
The man who freed the children of Israel from the bondage in Egypt.
The man who held up his staff when the Red Sea was parted in two, and he walked across on dry land.
Amazing man.
But see, you're not going to know that for another 39 years.
That's why you've got to have the faith to have the vision to see what Moses could be one day.
You're Moses. You're little baby Moses.
You better see what he's going to be someday,
and invest the time and effort to do the discipline, to give the reproof, to do the strength.
It's not always fun. You've got to do it.
You've got to spend the time with them, because you have a vision for what they're going to be one day.
But not only that, how about having a vision for your church?
So number one, having a vision for your children.
And that was my biggest point, so don't worry.
We're not going to be in America on here.
But how about a vision for our church?
Look at Judges, chapter 20, verse number 1.
Judges, chapter 20, verse number 1.
That's the seventh book in the Bible.
Judges, chapter 20, verse 1.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges.
But let me read this verse for you.
Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18,
And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.
He didn't say I might.
I mean, he said, I will build my church.
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against.
So Jesus Christ promised that he would build his church, right?
I mean, we can believe that.
We take that today.
So we can have a vision that one day God will build this church into the church that he wants it to be.
Okay, of course, we started just a little over two years ago.
And for those of us who've been with us for a long time, hey, we've come a long way, baby.
I mean, we started out in the living room of my house with nothing.
I mean, just we didn't have any furniture in the whole living room because we didn't have a room for furniture because we were having a church in our house.
Okay, and we had that thing set up with all the chairs.
And those of you who are here, of course, remember all the chairs were set up.
The kitchen counter was my pulpit.
I used to beat on the counter and all the preaching and broke the tiles.
You had to fix some of the tiles because I beat the pulpit, which was not a pulpit, which was a kitchen counter.
And we had that whole room emptied out.
We had the chairs set up and people used to pull in and be like, this is church, this is a house.
I said, this is not a house, this is church.
You just have to have a vision to see that.
But some people couldn't see that.
They couldn't see past the house.
You know, we used to have visitors that would come.
They'd see that it was a house, they'd just drive away.
They had no vision, they had no faith to understand what God was doing.
Hey, a church isn't a building, a church is people.
And so, we had the people in the house, and man, we were out soul living, and we had hard preaching, and we sang the old hymns.
And we had a vision that one day God would bless and that it would continue to grow, which it has.
And more people say that people's lives changed.
Hey, you've got to have a vision and believe that God is going to build this church.
It's not going to happen overnight.
I mean, it's not Burger King.
And you know, if you want a Burger King quality church, it's going to come in the Burger King amount of time.
I mean, churches, you know, you can build Burger King Baptist Church if you want to.
It won't take long.
You just get a big Christian rock band, and send out a bunch of flyers, have a rock band, and don't preach anything controversial, and get up and just share for a little while, and wear a pink tie, and whatever.
You know, hey, I'm not looking for Pastor McMuffin.
That's not what I'm trying to do.
I'm not looking for McChurch.
I'm not looking for McBible.
McSoul-winning.
Hey, man, I want like...
Okay, if you go to a fancy restaurant, you don't get it in one minute and 38 seconds like you do at McDonald's.
And I've timed it before, because we were doing mystery shopping, you know, where you go through and you get your meal for free, and you tell them how they did, and they give you like 20 bucks or whatever.
We did mystery shopping at McDonald's in like a minute and 38 seconds.
From the time we pulled into the drive-thru.
But what are you getting?
Autumn's not here, you can't get garlic.
Oh, I say that Autumn gets upset when I bring her to McDonald's.
But you know, the funny thing is, there's a reason why I don't eat at McDonald's.
And it's not because I hate McDonald's.
It's not because of McDonald's.
It's because my dad taught me to never eat at McDonald's.
You know, just back, let's jump back to the first question.
One time, my dad had a bad experience at McDonald's, okay?
I'm going to tell you this story, don't anybody get grossed out.
Before I was even born, this is before I was born, I mean years before I was born, this is in the 70's, okay?
My dad went to a McDonald's, I believe it was the one in Elk Grove, I'm not sure which one it was.
But he went to a McDonald's back in the 70's before I was even born.
And my dad, he likes everything plain.
And he always is checking everything just to make sure it's plain.
You know, if you've ever known people like that, they just ask to be a certain way and they check it and everything.
So, he went to McDonald's, this is before I was even born.
And he opens up his, you know, Sausage McMuffin.
And he took the lid off that thing and a vein like popped out, okay?
And he was like, you know what my dad is, if anything is not just right, I mean he won't eat it.
You know, everything's got to be plain and he's a very picky eater.
He said, oh, disgusting, you know?
And my dad didn't eat a McDonald's for like the next 20 years.
Okay, now he used to eat a McDonald's all the time.
But when that vein popped out, he said, I'm through with McDonald's, okay?
And so my whole time growing up, you'd say to my dad, well how about McDonald's?
No way.
So I had never even tasted McDonald's until I was a teenager.
You know, until I was going to like a church, we'd go to a church group or something.
And they'd take us to McDonald's, I ate McDonald's, I didn't have a problem with it.
But now that I've come to years, I went back to what my dad taught me as a little baby, you know, baby and toddler.
No McDonald's, no.
I'm kind of being facetious, but there are a lot of things that my parents taught me that, man, I live or die by.
Not because it's in the Bible or just because it's like that's what mom and dad said, you know?
And things like that.
But the point is, what was the point?
I don't know.
No, I'm just kidding.
But hey, a church of McDonald's or Burger King or Jack in the Box quality, Arby's quality, okay?
You know, it's going to come fast.
Everything's going to be fast.
You want things that are junk, just get them fast.
But if you want to sit down at a really nice restaurant, you know, you want to sit down at like Black Angus, sit down at a really nice steakhouse, or I mean, it takes a little while to get served.
You sit there for an awfully long time, but man, when that food comes, it's good.
It's worth the wait.
And that's the way it is with anything in this world.
Things that you just get right now are trash.
Things that you have to wait a little bit longer are what the real quality is.
And that's the kind of church that we want here.
We don't want some church that's just like everybody else.
Because you have to understand, the faithful Word Baptist Church is the church that I always wish existed.
I mean, it's kind of the church that I was always looking for as a teenager, you know, and looking for it in my young and old life.
And this is a church that I always dreamed of.
And I'm going to tell you something.
Long before I pulled into town on December 22, 2005, and long before I knocked the first door on December 22, 2005,
and won the first person to Christ, that was actually, that person actually showed up on Sunday.
And then the next day, I won your husband, the Lord, and he showed up on Sunday.
And long before I knocked the first door on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and had the first service three days after we hit town on December 25, 2005,
I saw Faithful Word Baptist Church long before that.
Faithful Word Baptist Church was not born on December 22, 2005.
Faithful Word Baptist Church was born years and years and years ago in my mind, in my heart.
And it was a vision given to me from God.
I know that it didn't come to me, you know, like a revelation or something.
But what I'm saying is, hey, I had a vision of what a church could be like, of what church could be, what church could exist.
And I worked and studied and prayed and read the Bible and memorized the Bible because I wanted to bring my vision to reality.
But you're never going to have a vision come around if you don't have a vision.
I mean, you're never going to start a successful business if you don't have a vision for that vision.
You can't even do anything with your life.
You can't have a great family without having a vision of what that family's going to be.
You've got to have a vision in your life.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
It's dead when there's no vision.
You ever been in a church where there's no growth, there's no vision?
Hey, it's dead.
It's a place that's dead.
It's always a shame.
It's dying.
It's staggering.
Hey, get a vision for what this church could be, but let's have a church that's alive and moving forward and growing.
But you've got to have that vision.
I envisioned a church where everyone was in one accord with solely hitting people's shame, reaching the laws.
Everybody was in one accord.
The Bible reads, you're in Judges 21, but let me read a few others for you.
It says in Acts 2, verse 1,
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
That's why they had such a great success in the book of Acts.
Philippians 1, 27,
And let your conversation be as it cometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast with one mind, in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.
Did you hear that?
In one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.
That's God's intent for the local church.
A place where people are in one accord.
They have a unity of saying, we all are in one accord, striving together, working together for what?
Working together to decorate a building.
No?
Working together to build a great building.
Working together to put on a great music book.
No.
Striving together for the faith of the gospel.
Striving together for solely.
And visit a church where it wasn't just like one or two in a hundred that go solely.
You know, many years ago, I mean, it's like ten out of a hundred that go solely.
Ten percent of the people, or even twenty percent of the people go solely.
That's terrible.
Should be a hundred percent solely.
And you know, this church, I think, has more of a percentage of people that go solely than any church I've ever seen or heard of.
Okay?
And so, I envisioned a church like that.
A church where we're in one mind about the gospel.
Look at verse one of Judges 7, 20.
I love this verse.
It says,
Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation...
Of course, we know that that's the word in the Old Testament.
It'd be like our word church, the assembly.
It says,
And the congregation was gathered together as one man.
You see that?
And the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in misery.
In the unity of a group of people that can band together as one man, and accomplish something great for God.
That's unity.
That's what God wants.
That's the church that I always envisioned.
And I always envisioned a church where the pastor gets up and preaches on his sin, and names the sin, and calls it what it is.
I got so sick and tired of sitting in church my whole life, and sitting there saying,
Come on! Say it! Say it!
You know, the pastor would kind of like be ready to say it, and he's thinking it.
And I'm thinking, I'm just like, just say it.
Just say, who cares what the visitor is saying?
Who cares what the deacon thinks?
Who cares what Mr. Money Bucks thinks?
Just say it!
And he didn't say it.
Remember, you'd be in church, the pastor said,
Well, I'm going to go out on a limb.
And you're like, yes!
And you're sitting there, and it would just be like,
Whoo!
You know what I mean?
It'd be like, the balloon's filling up.
He's filling up the balloon.
He's like, man, he's going to really rip.
He's going to really say it, man.
He's going to preach something.
And then he gets right to the end of the story.
He's like, oh, man!
Just say it!
Come on!
Has the cat got your tongue?
Say it!
Hey, I'm glad that I go to a church where the pastor says it.
Where anybody who's been to this church really knows that
Pastor Anderson will preach on sin, and he'll name the sin and call it by name.
He'll go in alphabetical order and name every sin under the sun,
and specify, be specific, and name it.
Hey, I always dreamed of going to a church like that.
Seemed like the only people who knew how to preach like that,
every once in a while, some crazy evangelist would come through or something,
and they'd say, oh, I could never be a pastor.
Preaching like that.
Hey, my goal is to prove them wrong.
And then, what about a church where people really love God?
I mean, people are sincere.
They don't just come to church just like a fashion show,
to show off their clothing or something.
You know, a place where they really love God.
They really love the Bible.
They actually read the Bible cover to cover,
again and again and again and again.
A place where people know the Bible, love the Bible,
love God, and love one another, and love each other.
Where there's a spirit of unity.
Where it's like a family.
Hey, where it's not just a place where we go once a week
and just take it out the way we're there.
Hey, these are our friends.
These are our brothers and sisters.
These are our co-laborers in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Hey, that's what this church is.
Praise God for a faithful word back at this church.
But that's what I envisioned a long time ago.
But let me ask you this.
What's your vision for the future of this church?
Let's just stay right where we're at.
No, let's go forward.
Let's move forward, more so with it.
Greater, greater Bible knowledge, greater preaching,
greater heights, greater depths.
Hey, let's go bigger, better.
Let's have a vision.
Hey, have a vision for your own life.
Don't live small.
I mean, in any area of life.
I mean, when I go to work for my job,
when I approach business, I want to go big.
I don't want to just go and just punch in my time card
and I'll do my seven hours and 59 minutes and 59 seconds
and take every coffee break I can,
take every lunch break I can.
Hey, I want to think big.
I want to go big in every part of my...
I mean, when I go to work,
I want to be the best worker on the job.
I want to excel. I want to do extra.
I want to push it further than the boss wants.
I want to go big. Why?
Because every area of my life, the Bible says,
whatsoever thy hand finds it, do it with thy might.
Hey, I have a vision for work.
I've got a vision for my family.
I've got a vision for my marriage.
I've got a vision for this church.
Hey, you've got to have a vision of greatness
in every area of your life.
Just be some minimum.
Do the minimum.
It's a good way to be a loser at your job.
It's a good way to be a loser in every area of life.
You need to get a vision.
You need to just close your eyes
and see what it could be like.
You need to see things that are invisible,
as the Bible said in Hebrews 11.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
If you see it,
say, seeing is believing.
No, believing is seeing.
That's the way that saying should be.
Believing is seeing.
You can see it.
You know what?
You have the faith to do it.
You have the vision.
Then you can go out and accomplish that vision for God.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for the Bible.
And I thank you so much that I can read the Bible
and get a vision.
Man, what kind of a vision would I have?