Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity to meet in your house.
I pray that we will never take that for granted.
I pray that you'll meet with us this morning and fill Brother Bruce with your spirit.
We pray in your precious name, Amen.
Amen.
The part of the chapter we're going to focus on in Acts chapter 5 is verse number 27 where
the Bible reads,
And when they had brought them and set them before the council, and the high priest asked
them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name?
And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's
blood upon us.
The title of the sermon this morning is filling Jerusalem with our doctrine, filling Jerusalem
with our doctrine.
Go with me if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number 2.
Here we see that obviously these men, these apostles, these disciples, these Christians,
these believers are doing a great work.
And it's gotten to the point where it came to the ears of these so-called religious leaders
and even they could attest to the fact that these Christians who were unlearned men, who
do not, they didn't know a whole bunch of things, they weren't Pharisees, they weren't
doctors of the law, but these people had filled Jerusalem with the doctrine of Christ.
Okay?
In other words, they had put so much work and effort into so many that the message of
the gospel of Jesus Christ was filled in that city.
They had done a lot of work.
1 Corinthians chapter number 2 and verse number 1, the Bible says, I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with you with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you
the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and him crucified.
Now, I think we could all attest that Paul knew a lot of things, right?
You know, he had a great knowledge of the word of God.
He taught many doctrines within the New Testament.
He was a man who was very knowledgeable of the Bible, but yet he himself said that when
he came to these people, he came knowing nothing, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
What was he saying?
When I go out and I go preach the gospel, that's what I'm focusing on.
I'm focusing on getting the word of God out, getting the gospel out to see people saved.
And I'm not going to act like I know everything when it comes to the word of God, but what
I do want to know when I go out is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's what he's saying.
You know, if you attend your average independent fundamental Baptist church, you're going to
find like a banner.
You'll find some sort of sign that really, they'll say what they, you know, their goal
is for that year.
Right?
They'll have their goal, they'll have their mission, that vision for that year.
And it typically sums up what they want to do for that church.
You know, they want more fruit or they want to come together or they want to kumbaya,
whatever it is.
You know, they have a certain specific goal that they want for that specific year.
And we have that same thing.
Only we don't have a banner, we don't really have a sign or anything, but you know what
our goal is?
It's to fill Jerusalem with our doctrine.
You say, oh, is that for this year?
Yeah, that's for next year too.
And as for the following year, that's for the next 10 years.
Why?
Because the main goal of our church is to preach the gospel in our Jerusalem and fill
it with doctrine.
Soul winning, preaching the gospel.
One aspect of our church that we heavily emphasize is this matter of doctrine.
It's important.
You know, we're not a church where it's just like, you come, I want to inspire you.
I want to motivate you.
Here's your best life now.
Everything's going to be okay and everything's roses and daisies as long as you live for
the Lord.
You know, most of the time it's just not like that.
You're going to suffer.
You're going to struggle.
There's going to be afflictions.
There's going to be persecutions.
And we understand these things, but you don't come here just to be inspired, though that's
a part of it.
You come here so you can learn some doctrine.
Why?
So you're not a child tossed to and far carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
And we know that, especially in California, there's a bunch of false prophets, bunch of
false teachers.
They're in television.
They're all over these different cities, people who are deceiving.
We got the preachers of L.A.
I hope you don't watch that stupid show, teaching a bunch of false doctrine, these men who are
greedy of filthy lucre.
And by the way, I attended Noel Jones' church before I got saved.
They took three offerings.
You know, people criticized us for taking one, right?
They had one where it was just like a normal offering, then the second offering was like,
now this is the $20 offering.
I mean, you're required to throw in $20, okay?
Insane.
But you know what?
There's a bunch of those people all around this city.
And they've been filling their Jerusalem with their doctrine, with their false doctrine.
You know, we as an independent Baptist church, as faithful word, ought to have the goal to
say, I want to fill Jerusalem with doctrine, the proper doctrine.
And where does it start?
With salvation, preaching the gospel.
We're not the type to emphasize the seeker-friendly type church.
We don't cater to unsaved people.
I'm glad Pastor Anderson mentioned that on Thursday.
You know, we're not gearing this message towards unsaved people.
There might be someone in here who's unsaved, and we want you to get saved, and someone's
going to preach you the gospel this afternoon, after the service.
But for the most part, there's saved people here.
And we need to talk to saved people.
We need to edify the saved people.
We need to train and equip the saved people.
We want to edify the saints, teach the right type of doctrine.
So we're not spiritual children.
You know, there's specific doctrines at our church that people would associate with us,
obviously, right?
One of them is, obviously, we are a King James Church, okay?
And we make no apologies about it, okay?
It's everywhere.
We have King James Bibles in the back.
Go grab one if you don't have one.
We're going to teach on it.
We're going to preach on it.
Look, if tattoos were allowed, I'd get it on my back, KJV, okay?
We are a King James Church, and we're not ashamed of it.
Why?
Because the Bible says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed
out of the mouth of God.
And the word of God is important.
In fact, every word is important in the word of God.
And look, there's Baptist churches that claim to be KJV only, and they got people in there
using their NIVs and their ESVs and their STDs, all these different versions of the
Bible.
And guess what?
The leaders of these churches, they would say, yeah, we're King James, but you know,
we don't want to offend anybody.
So we're going to give them about a year or two, a year or two.
You will spiritually destroy someone if you allow them to use that Bible for a year or
two, for a week.
That's just the bottom line.
And let me say this, some of these churches do emphasize reading the Bible.
So what are you going to do if someone's using an ESV and you're emphasizing reading the
Bible and that's what they read?
It's dangerous.
No, we're not ashamed.
We're going to put it on our material.
We claim it.
We're proud of it.
We are a King James Bible believing church, and we will never change that.
Every word.
This is very essential.
You know, it's in our sermon titles, KJV.
I'm thankful for that.
And here's the thing.
That is an essential aspect of our church, right?
We're a King James Bible believing church.
You know, others, we'd say, you know, you guys emphasize that way too much.
You can't emphasize that enough.
Okay.
And now you say, yeah, but you know, to the babes in Christ, no, they need it the most.
They need to know what the right Bible is.
That's why when we go soul winning, we carry Bibles with us and we say, do you have a Bible?
Yeah, I got a Bible.
I got an NIV.
Okay, well, let me get you a real Bible.
Okay.
And by the way, not in a prideful way.
We just tell them, hey, let me just, I'm going to give you a real Bible.
And I explained to them, the reason you can't use these Bibles is because they're fraudulent.
They're missing verses.
And I said, you know, the message I just preached to you right now, that salvation is by grace
through faith is through believing.
They take that out.
And most of the time, I kid you not, people are like, wow, I didn't know that.
Yeah, for sure.
And then they'll take the Bible.
That's important.
You know, not just like, well, you have a Bible.
Okay, yeah, just go ahead and read that, you know, just for a while.
And then, no, it's poison.
We need to get a King James Bible into their hand.
But we would say, you know, people look at us and say, yeah, that's a King James, that's
a K.J. Beecher's.
They really emphasize it.
Yeah, we do.
That's an important doctrine of our church.
But another doctrine that people would associate with us is this matter of anti-Zionism, right?
I mean, I think everyone in here probably is anti-Zionist, right?
If you're not, stick around for a while and you will be.
But we would refer to it as replacement theology, right?
Now, this is not necessarily an essential doctrine in a matter of like, you know, if
you believe differently, I'm going to separate from you.
You know, I'll kick you out of the church or something like that.
That's not, but it is important and it's worth defending, right?
It's worth teaching.
It's worth preaching about.
Why?
Because for years on end, we've been taught the opposite.
And there's a problem.
There's an agenda.
If this is being, if the opposite is being taught, there's a reason for that.
They got an agenda behind it.
So what do we have to do?
We have to uncloak the false doctrine, teach what the Bible really says and say, look,
that's false.
This is true.
This is what the Bible says.
And the Bible talks about it everywhere.
You know, it's not like we just got some obscure doctrine, some obscure verse in the
Bible and just built our doctrine on that.
No, it's everywhere.
It's everywhere.
And if you read anything different, it's because you're reading it along with the commentary
by some unsaved guy who's saying something different.
That's just the bottom line.
Go with me to Romans chapter 4.
By the way, Romans 2, Romans 4, Romans 9, Romans 10, Romans 11, Galatians, Ephesians
2, Hebrews chapter number 8, all, a good majority of the New Testament teaches this doctrine.
And not like, uh, yeah, you're reading a little too, no, no, it says it straight out.
Okay.
He is not a Jew.
Okay.
Does anyone have a problem with like understanding that?
He is not a Jew.
Well, I don't think he really means like not a Jew.
I think he means like not a spiritual Jew.
No, no, no, no.
It says he is not a Jew.
Bottom line, case closed.
Let's pray.
Go home.
You can finish it right there.
Look at Romans chapter 4 verse 13 says, for the promise that he should be the heir of
the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith.
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of
none effect.
Now, the majority of Christians who believe this doctrine, they believe in salvation by
grace through faith, at least independent Baptist, right?
Well, you got a problem because if you believe that, you just made our faith void.
Look at the Bible says in verse 14, or excuse me, 15, because the law worketh wrath for
where no law is, there is no transgression.
Therefore it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be
sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also, which is
of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
You know, the funny thing about this, and this is not the sermon, but we need to talk
about this.
You know, you know, bus ministries, they sing this song called father Abraham.
You guys ever heard that song?
I mean, independent Baptist churches sing it all the time.
You know, father Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham.
I am one of them and so are you.
So let's just praise the Lord.
They're not even thinking about what they're saying.
It's like, yeah, that's, you're singing what I believe.
That's replacement theology.
You know, they don't think about these things.
You know, all hail the power.
Ye chosen seed of Israel's race.
Hello.
Who do you think that's talking to?
Amen.
But that would be a doctrine that would define us, you know, as a church.
Another doctrine that defines our church, of course, is that we're post-trib pre-wrath.
Amen.
We're not ashamed of that.
Again, not a doctrine worth separating over.
I, you know, I have some pre-trib friends, you know, and I don't believe in separating
over people just because of that.
You know, it's not a matter of salvation.
It's not a matter of the Bible.
This is just something, it's just not worth separating over, but it is worth defending.
It is very much worth exposing.
And look, I love my pre-trib friends and so yeah, I am going to talk to them about it
because I care for them.
And yet, it is essential in the fact that, you know, it's going to affect our future
if you don't believe the right thing about this.
You know, and the Bible is very clear on it in the New Testament as well.
Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, Revelation chapter 6, many scriptures that teach this doctrine.
It's very important.
You know, there's another doctrine that people would associate with us is the reprobate doctrine.
Oh, that's the church that hates homos.
Amen.
Capital A-M-E-N.
Okay.
Yes.
Oh, but you don't love, no, I love people.
You know, we go out soul winning.
That's the way we show our love for people, right?
We show them not just by word, but indeed, right, and in truth.
And so how do I do that?
By winning people to Christ, amen?
But I don't love those who hate the Lord.
And I haven't had people say, well, you know, but that's like all unsafe people.
All unsafe people don't hate God.
They're sinners, yes.
But that doesn't mean they hate God.
I mean, I've met haters of God, okay?
And so that would be something that would associate a doctrine that would be associated
with us.
You know, the exercise of church discipline.
We believe in that very strongly because here's the thing, again, our church is not geared
to unsafe people.
And if it was geared to unsafe people, which it's not, then yeah, we would probably compromise
on this matter of church discipline because we don't want people to leave.
And by the way, we don't want people necessarily, we don't want you to leave, but if you leave,
I mean, the door's right there, we're not gonna beg you to stay.
This is a congregation of believers who are here, laborers who want to learn about the
Word of God, who want to be edified, built up, to be trained, to be useful for the work
of the ministry.
That's what it's for.
But let me say this, all these are important doctrines and all these doctrines are doctrines
we know and all these doctrines are doctrines we're gonna preach about and teach about in
the coming weeks, months, and years.
But let me say this, when we're out in the community, these aren't necessary doctrines
we're supposed to be preaching, you know what I mean?
You know, I'm not, they're knocking on the door to see if they're post-trip, okay?
Now very few, you know, in between, you'll meet someone who wants to talk about this
stuff and we can, you know, kind of basically talk about it, but you know what?
We need to be like Paul and say, you know, I'm here and I don't know nothing but save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
I want these people to be saved.
And here's the thing, it's pointless to want to talk to some unsafe person about replacement
theology, about post-trip theology, about the reprobate doctrine, if they're not even
saved because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can
he know for they are spiritually discerned.
And let me say this, most people will understand and they'll accept it more readily after they
get saved.
That's just the bottom line.
Look, I met one person in my life who when I was preaching the gospel to, they were not
saved and this reprobate doctrine was very essential for them to be saved.
Let me explain what I mean.
This person, you know, because they're Catholic, it was in Monterey Park, and I basically said,
you know, I was telling her, you know, it's just by believing, by believing, by believing.
And I was showing her the different scriptures and she said, wait a minute, wait a minute,
hold on a second.
Are you trying to tell me that some child molester, you know, who ruins children's lives
if they just believe they can go to heaven?
And I said, no, I don't believe that and the Bible doesn't teach that.
And they're like, oh, okay, well, that makes a lot of sense then.
And I explained to her, I said, look, this is what the Bible says, and I showed her Romans
1 and I went to different scriptures about the reprobates and they're like, okay, wow,
that makes a lot of sense.
I thought that's what like Christians believe, like anybody, like murderers and all kinds
of people, these reprobates and homosexuals can be saved.
It's like, no, that's not what we believe.
This is what the Bible, and she got saved.
Amen.
Now, what if I were to like comprehend, well, you know, it's just, who knows, rather just
tell the truth, let the chips fall where they may and guess what, the chips fell on her
being saved.
Amen.
Praise God for that.
But we're not there to say, hey, I'm from Faithful War Baptist Church, just want to
invite you to our church and let you know about the reprobate doctrine real quick.
And now they need to learn that after they get saved, obviously, right?
And I've learned that babes in Christ, brand new Christians, they like readily accept this
stuff very easily.
You know?
You know why?
It's because they haven't been duped, they haven't been just ingrained with all kinds
of false doctrine.
Babes in Christ and new Christians are like, that makes a lot of sense.
You know?
They haven't been to churches that have filled their mind with a bunch of junk.
And so when they get it, it's like, yeah, that makes sense.
You know?
But we're not there to preach those types of doctrines, wait till they come to church,
wait till they, you know, get a DVD in their hand, get a sermon in their hand so they can
listen to it.
When we're there, we want to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Amen.
We want to preach the gospel.
Go to Acts chapter number five.
That's what I believe the apostles were doing in Acts chapter five.
They were filling Jerusalem with their doctrine, but the doctrine of salvation, amen?
And they were filling it, going door to door, house to house, preaching the gospel.
One thing I love about soul winning is that everyone, everyone can get involved in this.
Not just the pastor, not just the evangelist, not just the deacon, everyone can be a part
of soul winning.
And anyone can learn soul winning.
If you're saved, you got the Holy Spirit of God living within you, you pray for boldness,
you learn the verses, you can learn it.
You say, man, I just don't, I'm not as eloquent.
You don't need, you don't even need to be eloquent to go soul winning.
At every first a willing mind is according to that which a man hath, not according to
that which he hath not.
Just use what you got.
Learn, and by the way, this is a soul winning Baptist church.
Here's a good place to start to learn how to, how to go soul winning.
You will learn.
Acts chapter five, we see here that they're just doing a lot of soul winning.
The Bible says in verse 12, by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought
among the people and they were, were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
And of the rest, just no man joined himself to them, but the people magnified them and
believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.
Yes.
Were they healing people?
Yes.
Were they performing miracles?
Yes.
But you know what they're also doing?
They were preaching the gospel.
They're seeing people saved.
Why?
Because the Bible says that believers were added unto them.
How are you added unto the Lord?
Well, the Bible says in Acts 2 41, then they that gladly received his word were baptized
and the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls.
They received the word of God.
They got saved is what the Bible's teaching there.
Man, I'm excited.
Over the last three weeks or so since we started the church, we've seen up to 80 people saved.
I mean, that's in between like trying to find a building and like meeting at Dr Rita's and
like meeting at the park and all that stuff, 80 people, you know, I'm not saying we're
not putting the effort into going out soul winning, but that's what the effort we had
as we were like finding a building, trying to find a place to meet and doing the work
of the Lord.
That's a lot of souls.
Praise God for that.
I talked to someone at my job and they said, they're a Christian, they said, how's the
church going?
I said, it's going great.
They're like, are you guys doing so many?
I'm like, of course.
And I told him, I said, we've seen like, you know, over 70 people saved.
They're like 70 people?
That's more than our church has seen saved in a year.
And they weren't being sarcastic, they were very honest.
You know, and we don't say that to boast, we don't say that to be prideful.
We're saying that because first and foremost, we have a great God, amen.
And that's a testament to show that we, the most despised, the most, those who are nothing,
we can, if we just obey God, we can do something great for God.
That's another testament that number two, El Mani is super open.
Very open to the gospel.
And this is a perfect place for a brand new soul winner to start soul winning.
This is a perfect place for a church to get started.
Why?
Because people are ready to hear the gospel.
Yesterday, Brother Noce and I, we led a 15 year old guy to the Lord and he was a little
rough around the edges, you know, he just looked like he has a rough background.
I mean, this guy's 15 years old and he had like a case of beer with him, you know.
And I asked him if he wanted to, you know, if he knew 100% sure and he said he didn't.
I said, can I show you from the Bible?
He said, yes.
I'm giving you a condensed version, of course, but he was open.
And as I gave him the word of God, he was just ready to receive it.
And he said, yeah, I want to get saved.
And he got saved.
We gave him some material.
He was very thankful.
He asked where the church was.
I mean, it was great to see that.
I haven't seen that response in a long time.
It goes to show that obviously this place hasn't been worked on.
Amen.
Well, we're here to work on it.
We're here to see these people saved.
Go to, you're in Acts chapter five, go down to verse 16.
We want to see some believers add it to the Lord, amen.
Acts chapter five verse 16 says, There came also a multitude out of the cities round about
unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and
they were healed everyone.
Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the
Sadducees, and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put
them in the common prison.
But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and
said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to all the people, to the people, all the words
of this life.
You know what that goes to show me is that God is the one who opens the doors for us
to do this.
To go out and preach the words of life.
The Bible says in John 668, Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou has the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
You know, God has entrusted us with the word of God to go out and preach it, the words
of life.
Go to Acts, you're in Acts chapter 5, verse number 29, so what do we see in Acts 5?
We see a lot of sowning going on, and you know, sure enough, as soon as this video gets
out, someone's going to be like, sowning, sowning, sowning, all he does is sowning,
sowning, sowning.
Well, thank you.
Yeah, we do.
Most of the time, when people make fun of us, they think they're making fun of us, but
we actually like what they do.
It's like, yeah, hey, man, you got it right.
You could add one more sowning in there, though.
I'm a little offended by that, you know.
You know, they made it, they made it, some idiot made a video about, you know, Training
Day Baptist Church.
You know, because we're putting our, we're announcing where we're going to start the
church, and I was with some of the guys, and some of my guys, they're just a little rough
around the edges, too, okay.
Well, that's who God saves, amen.
Amen.
They save anybody.
And we're walking, and he put like, with rap music, and made it look like gangsters, I'm
like, man, that looks pretty cool.
Maybe I should like, maybe I should mirror that thing, put that on our channel, you know.
Keep the homos away.
Like, I don't think we want to go there, you know, that's not a good, that's not a safe
place to go.
But yeah, that's sowning, yeah.
Go ahead and make the video.
We'll probably mirror it.
You know.
No, but that, you guys, all you guys talk about, yeah, yeah, you're right, we do talk
about that.
And we're going to talk about it for years to come.
Amen.
Where we at?
Acts chapter 5, go down to verse number 29, the Bible says, Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than man, rather than men.
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom he slew and hanged on a tree.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
And we are his witnesses of these things.
And so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
You know what we want people to do?
Yes, we want people to repent from what they're trusting in, to trust in the living God.
There's a large Catholic church, some around here, Lupita or something, I don't know, some
Guadalupe church or something like that.
We knocked on doors, we ran into a bunch of them.
You know, people are like, I go there, I go, you know what they're trusting?
They're trusting in Mary.
They're trusting in their works.
They need to repent of that, change their mind of what they're trusting in, to trust
in Jesus Christ, so they can receive the forgiveness of sins.
And the Bible says, We are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Someone would use that and say, See, you got to obey God.
Yeah, you got to obey the gospel.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
That's a command, and God wants people to believe that, to obey that.
In fact, the Bible says in John 6, 40, And this is the will of him that sent me, that
everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up in the last day.
Verse 37 of Acts chapter number five.
What do we see here?
We see a lot of just sowing going on.
Acts chapter five, verse 37 says, And after this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days
of taxing, and drew away much people after him.
He also perished, and even as many as obeyed him were dispersed.
And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone, for if this counsel
or this word be of men, it will come to naught.
But if it be of God, he cannot overthrow it, lest haply he be found even to fight against
God.
And by the way, anyone who wants to discourage our church from going forward, from growing,
you're fighting against God.
And if you want to have at it, have at it.
Verse 40, And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus.
And isn't that funny?
Like, yeah, you're right.
You know what?
They're like, yeah, this might be of God.
We should just let him go.
But first, let's put a whooping on these guys real quick.
They beat him up.
How hypocritical is that?
And then, first of all, then they agree to say, yeah, this might be of God, so let's
just let him go.
And then it's like, hey, don't speak any more in his name.
It's like, I thought you said, well, I thought you agreed, you know?
Verse 41, And they departed from the presence of the counsel rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name.
And look what it says in verse 42, And daily in the temple, in every house, they cease
not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
What a testimony.
Black eyes, maybe toothless, I don't know.
Whoop.
I mean, these guys were beaten, okay?
And they got up, went to go preach and teach.
They cease not to preach and teach Jesus Christ.
You know what our vision is, what our mission is for Faith Forward Baptist Church?
To cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
To go from house to house preaching the gospel, seeing people saved, added to the Lord, filling
Jerusalem with our doctrine.
That's what we want.
Why?
To cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, Preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season.
Always.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 1.
Sowing is important, man.
You know, and we have to talk about it all the time.
You know why?
Because we as Christians, sometimes we just wane in our sowing sometimes.
You know, it just, our heart grows cold, we get lazy, we get lax, we don't want, we have,
by the way, we all have excuses why we can't go.
Including Moi.
Okay?
There's always a reason it's like, well, I gotta do this, and by the way, we are busy.
We do have to do things, but we gotta make sowing a priority.
If we want God's blessing to be on our church, if you want God's blessing to be on your life,
if you want God's blessing on your family, you have to make sowing a priority.
It's near to the heart of God.
It doesn't matter how much you preach or what you teach or how much Bible you know or what
you think you're doing, if you edify in the saints and you're encouraging, you're giving,
if you're not sowing, you're not doing God's work.
That's just the bottom line.
We need to see people saved.
What I have returned, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 22, the Bible reads, for the
Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews' stumbling block, unto the Greeks' foolishness.
And by the way, our, those, these pastor, Greek pastors who want to go back to the Greek
and show how much Bible they know, let them, let them preach about that.
We're gonna preach Christ crucified.
Amen?
Let them know all the Hebrew and the Greek and all the Aramaic and all that filth and
nonsense.
Let them quote John MacArthur.
Let them quote Mark Driscoll, that adulterer.
Let them quote whoever they want.
We're just gonna preach Christ and Him crucified.
Amen.
Oh, you guys are a bunch, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Call us what you want.
That's what we are.
We're gonna preach Christ and Him crucified.
Amen.
Yes.
We want to fill on Jerusalem with our doctrine.
The goal of our church is to knock every single door in Los Angeles.
That's a big goal, isn't it?
I mean, that's a huge goal.
I can't do that on my own, absolutely not.
We need people to just get involved and get on board to be a part of that huge vision
because Los Angeles is a big area and there's many cities, many towns found within this
large area.
I mean, when Pastor Anderson said, you know, in Los Angeles, I said, so where in Los Angeles?
Well, you know, right there, I'm like, Los Angeles is big, you know, it's like, it's
a huge place, you know, and there's a lot of work to do here.
There's a lot of work.
We want everyone to have the opportunity.
And by the way, not everyone's going to get saved.
We understand that.
Okay.
We're not going to say we want to save everyone.
No, it's not going to happen.
We understand that.
But we want to knock on every single door and give everyone the opportunity to hear
the gospel.
Okay.
Give everyone the chance to hear the gospel.
One thing that, man, I've been thinking about, I thought, you know, I used to say, yeah,
Rosemead, there's a bunch of Chinese there.
We need to reach the Chinese right here in Rosemead, which is real close by.
No, they're on our block.
We went soul-willing the last couple of times.
I mean, there's like sections of them that speak only Chinese.
And I'm like, I want to give the gospel to this person, but they don't understand
what I'm saying.
You know what we need?
We need some Chinese-speaking soul-winners to come to our church and come win some souls.
Okay.
If you know Chinese, you know how to soul-win and you're living in the Los Angeles area,
you need to be a part of our church because we need some Chinese Mandarin-speaking soul-winners.
He said, bro, I thought you knew, Ni Hao, that's all I got.
Sorry.
That's all I got.
You know, I can say that.
And then they're like, oh, you know, and then I give them the track.
I'm like, hey, you know, you understand?
Do you speak English?
They're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You know, but they need the gospel too.
Amen.
We need to see them saved.
And we need some people who know how to speak Chinese.
Now I'm guessing, I'm just throwing out a guess that no one here knows how to speak
Mandarin.
Okay.
Yeah.
I might be wrong.
If you, if you, if you know how to speak Mandarin, see me right after the service.
Right.
But you know what we need?
We need people who know, who are willing to learn, but not only that, maybe someone who's
listening on YouTube to just come and be a part of what's going on.
We need that.
Why?
Because there's people, there's Chinese people here going to hell.
This is our responsibility.
And we can't say, well, I only speak Spanish, I only speak English, so we're just, we can't
do anything about it.
No, it's our responsibility.
Who else is going to do it?
Who else is going to reach them?
Who else is going to get a burden for them?
No one.
It's our responsibility.
And we need to take ownership of that and say, man, you know what, I don't know how
I'm going to do it, but we've got to do it.
We've got to somehow get the gospel to these people.
You know, they're going to die and they're going to go to hell if Faithful Word Baptist
Church of Los Angeles doesn't get the gospel to them.
We want to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.
Go to Luke chapter 23.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost.
And that ought to be our mantra to just, we want to go out and see as many people saved
as possible.
I believe that's why God has blessed Faithful Word Baptist Church.
I really do.
Because they've seen so many people saved, they've just had, yeah, you know, okay, yeah,
they're mean-spirited.
Yeah, go ahead, say that.
That's fine.
But they're seeing a lot of people saved.
You know, and I don't think God looks down and says, I can't bless them, they're too
mean.
They're way too mean, no.
I know they're seeing thousands saved, but they're just way too mean.
No, that's stupid, okay.
You know what God is saying is like, this may be an imperfect people, but they're doing
my work.
They're seeing a lot of people saved.
And God is just looking for someone who's just obedient to God's Word and just do it
the way He told them to do it.
And not trying to improve upon it.
Just preach the Gospel.
Luke chapter 22.
He left us an example.
The Bible says, and the whole multitude of them arose, excuse me, Luke 23 verse 1.
I tell you, I don't even know if I told you the reference.
Luke 23 verse 1, the Bible says, the whole multitude of them arose and led him unto Pilate.
And they began to accuse him, saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation and
forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the king.
And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews?
And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.
Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.
And they were the more, excuse me, they were the more fear, saying, He stirreth up the
people teaching throughout Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.
You know, people look at Faithful Word and say, they're just perverting the nation, these
group of people, with their false doctrine, so to speak.
They're just perverting Los Angeles.
Why are you bringing, I saw a comment on YouTube, it was just like, can we figure out a way
to keep this guy out of Los Angeles?
Speaking of Pastor Anderson, you know, we've got to figure something out, we got to, look,
you're going to happily fight against God if you do, okay?
And what they're thinking is like, he's just perverting the nation, how's he perverting?
Look at all these people.
People who are not just getting saved, they're cleaning up their lives.
They're loving the Word of God.
They're reading the Bible.
They're on fire for God.
Look, that's the fruit of it, okay?
But here we see that Jesus left us an exact, I mean, he went from throughout all Jewry
beginning from Galilee to this place.
He's like, he's been all over the place.
And we want people, not necessarily to just, to boast, but they may see us and say, man,
I've seen this guy all the way over here.
You know, they got members all the way in Riverside, they got them down in San Diego,
they got them down over here in Highland Park, they got them everywhere.
From here up into this place, right over here, we want to go everywhere to fill Jerusalem
with the doctrine.
Mark chapter one, if you would.
Mark chapter number one.
And look, we kind of got it made here, I'm just going to be honest with you, okay?
Look, the weather here is nice.
You know, I was thinking, when we were thinking about, praying about moving to Faith Ward
in Tempe, I told my wife, we just, we got to get used to that heat.
It's like, we just got to just have it in our minds, you know, it's going to be hot,
you know?
But I told her, just remember, hell is hotter.
I just told her, hell is hot, you know?
And that was going to be like, look, we didn't have to go.
The weather's great here.
Now, yesterday it was hot, we were lacking water, it was a bad move on our part for me
and my partner.
But you know what?
Man, Los Angeles is great.
And it's not as, I mean, no offense, the weather's not as bad as Tempe, okay?
We got someone here visiting from Faith Ward in Arizona.
But we got a man, so there's no excuse.
Look at Mark chapter 1 verse 35, the Bible says, In the morning, rising up a great while
before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place.
And there prayed.
And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.
And he said unto them, Let us go into the next town, that I may preach there also.
For therefore came I forth.
You know what he said?
And as soon as he was done here, he's like, okay, next city, next town.
And look, that's not going to happen necessarily for a while as far as the church when we meet
here because El Monte is very big, okay?
It's a lot of ground to cover.
But as soon as we're done, next town, we're going to the next one.
And I can't wait to get that map, amen?
We're going to put that, we got a lady here who works with maps and stuff.
Just coincidentally, right, you know, we're going to put a map and we just start filling
up those sections of cities that we've covered, amen?
It's going to be exciting.
Go to Matthew chapter 4.
We need to go into the next towns and the next cities.
Some of these areas aren't touched.
You know, there's the Chinese, there's Hispanics, and then there's Armenians, and then there's
Hispanics, and then you have the, you know, different groups of people, and then you have
more Hispanics.
One thing you're going to realize here is Hispanics are everywhere, okay?
They're everywhere.
You need to learn some Spanish too, by the way, not just Mandarin.
We need to learn some Spanish because, look, I've met people here who are Hispanic.
They speak good English, but some that don't, you know, and they need the gospel in Spanish.
And you know, Mandarin, okay, that's a little bit of a stretch, okay, for you to learn,
right?
It's like, I don't know if I know how to, you know, okay, but you know what?
Spanish is a lot easier, actually, you know?
And if you believe that you are gifted in that area or God has given you the skill to
like learn a different language, by the way, not the accent, okay?
You don't have to get the accent down.
If you could, that'd be cool, but if you can't, that's fine.
You know, you need to start winning some people to Christ in Spanish.
We need some Spanish soul winners.
You say, well, I just, I'm a little nervous, look, we're all a little nervous when we first
go out soul winning.
That's just part of it.
You need to pray for boldness, ask God to help you so you can see more people saved.
Matthew chapter 4, verse 23, the Bible says, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching
in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease among the people.
Go to Mark chapter 1 and verse 14.
I'm going to read to you from Matthew chapter 9, verse 35, where the Bible reads, And Jesus
went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel
of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among them.
We see that Jesus now, obviously he taught doctrine.
We have that in Matthew chapter 24 when he's talking about what's going to happen after
the tribulation.
And we see him teaching many different doctrines, but you know what he was also doing?
Preaching the gospel.
Mark chapter 1, verse 14 says, Now after that, John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the
kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel.
You know, that shows me, look, Jesus was all God, but he was a man as well.
His cousin over here is in prison.
He's going through a hard time, but you know what he was doing when he was going through
a hard time?
Preaching the gospel.
You know, there's going to come times in our life when we're going to go through tough
times.
You know, it's a death in the family or a sickness, and I'm not saying don't take time
off.
You know, if there's a death in the family, there's a time to weep, right?
But we need to keep doing right at every season.
You know, when we're going through hard, when you're feeling down, you're discouraged, you
just lost your job, you're struggling, whatever it may be, just keep doing right.
You know why?
Because you want to keep that moment, that spiritual momentum going.
Because it's hard.
Look, if you stop sowing, you stop reading your Bible, you stop praying for a season,
it's hard to get back into it.
It's hard to get that ball rolling again.
Better to just do it, plow through it, just do it, grit your teeth, maybe do it with a
bad attitude than rather than to not do it at all.
Because then once you get past that hill, once you get past that hump, it's like, man,
I'm glad I kind of just went through it.
You know, don't get out of the habit.
Mark chapter 16.
Mark chapter number 16, filling Jerusalem with our doctrine, so important.
How are we going to do that?
The pastor can't do it by himself.
The ushers just can't do it by themselves.
We can't do it by ourselves.
We need a church people to get on board to fill this place with the doctrine of salvation.
Mark chapter 16, very common verse, pretty much everyone I'm sure can quote it.
The Bible says in verse 15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature.
You know, as our church grows, Lord willing, our influence will grow as well.
And when I say influence, I mean the gospel's influence, that we would go into different
states, that we can host our own sowing marathon.
If you can take the child out just right here to the mother baby room, it'll help a lot.
By the way, we love when the children are in the service, amen?
And my son, he's knocked out back there, but he'd probably be doing the same thing, so
just let you know that, all right?
But if the children just get a little bit out of hand, you can take them to the mother
baby room, you can bring them back in, not a problem at all.
I don't get distracted necessarily when children are screaming and stuff like that.
It doesn't bother me.
I love it when the children are in the service.
And they need to learn how to be in the service, okay?
This is part of the training, right?
My son needs to learn how to be in service, okay?
So don't get mad if a child is crying, you know?
We need to learn how to discipline ourselves to listen, too, amen?
And they're growing up in church, they're learning, so they need to learn, too.
This is just part of the process, all right?
But you know what?
We want our influence to expand into all the world.
Lord, one day we'll be able to do our own sowing marathon, that'd be exciting, amen?
Go to 2 Corinthians, chapter number 4.
Let me give you a couple points here, 2 Corinthians, chapter number 4.
Let me say this, and this is something that I mentioned already in the sermon, but this
is very important.
The harvest, this is important in the matter of just filling Jerusalem with our doctrine,
the harvest here is ready in Omani.
And I'm not exaggerating, I've been to areas in Los Angeles that are like closed, like
every single door, they don't want to hear it at all, you know?
But since we've been here, I mean, people are very much open.
You know, I haven't run into any reprobates, you know?
I'm not saying we're not going to, this is Los Angeles, amen?
But for the most part, someone's been, I mean, maybe years ago, someone preached the gospel
here and prepared the heart, I don't know what it is, but there's a lot of open people
here.
Look at 2 Corinthians, chapter number 4, verse 3 says,
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
You know what the Bible's saying?
Look, if our gospel is hid, it's simply hid because we're not going out to tell them about
the gospel.
It's hid to them that are lost.
So he's saying, well, you know, you know, I don't know about people being saved, look,
the only reason they would stay unsaved, okay, is because we're not going out there to tell
them about the gospel.
That's just the bottom line.
Elmani is very much open, they're ready to hear it, they want to be saved, they just
need a preacher of the gospel to go out and just tell them.
If our gospel is hid, it's hid to them that are lost.
If they die and go to hell, it's our fault because we didn't go over there and tell them
about the Lord and how they can be saved.
Go to Acts chapter 20.
Acts chapter number 20, the Bible says, Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have
not the knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame.
Some don't know about God, they don't know about the gospel, you know, they're well-meaning
people.
Look, I've met some nice people here, you know, they're sinners, yes, they're unsaved,
yes, but they're very kind people and they're going to die and go to hell if we don't go
out there and put in the work to tell them about the gospel.
Acts chapter 20, verse number 20, the Bible says, And how I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house,
from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, so to the Chinese
and to the Mexicans, amen, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witness it in every city, saying that bonds
and afflictions abide me.
You know what?
God is working in all these cities and everyone here is ready to hear it.
Now obviously there's going to be some people who reject it, they don't want it, and that's
fine, but we want to find the people who do, okay, we want to put the effort into doing
that.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 4, Elmani is ready, and I know some of you are from
different parts, you've driven from far and wide, that's why we have that regional soul
winning and it's exciting to hear the people, you know, they'll text me and they're in their
area and say, hey, we saw four people save, we saw five people save, we saw one people
save, it's exciting, you know, we're getting the work done not just here, but we are going
to Samaria and Judea and to the uttermost parts, amen, that's exciting, we want everyone
to be a part of that.
But not only that, let me say this, we need some ready laborers, you know, we can preach
about this and talk about it, but you need to be involved in the work, you need to labor,
you need to be a worker.
Look at the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter number 4 and verse number 7, but we have this
treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
You know what I'm saying?
We're the, we're these vessels where the gospel is in, for us to give out.
And we, every single person in here, if you're a saved person under the sound of my voice,
you need to learn how to preach the gospel.
You need to realize that that treasure is within you and God is expecting you to go
out and give that to someone else.
Look, you don't need to, it's not like you need to memorize like a million verses, okay,
to know how to preach.
It's like, man, well, I've got to memorize the New Testament before I go preach the gospel.
It's like, that's a good goal, but don't wait till that, okay?
All right?
Well, I've got to memorize like at least 20 verses or I've got to have this down.
I've got to have the right type of Bible or whatever it is, you know, the right type
of introduction.
No, you just need to have the right type of obedience.
Just go do it, okay?
And look, if you don't know how to sow in, we'll pair you up with someone who does know
and you just listen for a while until you, and by the way, after a while, you'd be like,
I think I can do this.
You know, I remember when I first got saved, my father-in-law is the one who taught me
how to go sowing.
He took me out for about three or four weeks and I just observed him.
I listened to him.
I even wrote down some of the phrases that he would say and what I did, I grabbed one
of the invitations and I just memorized the Romans Road.
You know?
It's simple as that.
And let me say this, if you don't know, if you still haven't memorized the Romans Road,
do it, but take an invitation and just use that to read it to the person as you're witnessing
to them.
But get started somewhere.
We need everyone to be a laborer in this harvest.
Go to Matthew chapter 9.
Matthew chapter number 9.
You know, we're not a church where it's just like, it's just a sunny morning crowd and,
you know, we're going to have fellowship and then you just go home and, you know, you can
do that.
But you know what?
We want to encourage and emphasize here, come sowing with us.
Let's go get some sowing done.
And then he's like, man, but I'm tired.
I know.
I'm going to get tired too.
But I'm hungry.
I know.
I'm going to get hungry too.
Look, there's a taco spot right here.
There's a Chicago style pizza right here.
Have at it.
It's good stuff.
Okay.
Get that in you.
You know, our meat is to do the will of him that sent me.
But right before that meat, we'll have this meat right here.
Okay.
But just do what you got to do.
But come out with us because let me tell you something.
After you're done, you're going to be thankful you did.
You're going to be like, man, I'm glad I went.
I'm glad I made that decision to go.
You know, you know, by the way, we all get lazy.
Right.
But then you go, you see people say, man, it's just like, man, I was exciting.
You know, it's like, I need to memorize that.
You know, I need to learn this.
I want to do this.
Get some souls under your belt, amen.
Where to have you turn Matthew chapter nine, verse 37, the Bible says, then said, saith
he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest.
He didn't say, you know, preachers are, there's a lack of preachers.
Pastors don't, we need pastors.
He didn't say just the labors to go out and preach the gospel is very few.
You know, it's sad when you have a church of like a thousand, 2,000 and only like 100
people go out.
So I mean, that's 100 people, still 100 people.
But for the size of that church, there should be way more going out.
It may be said of us that a good percentage of our church is willing to do it, put in
the work to go out and do it.
First Corinthians chapter number three, verse number nine, the Bible says, for we are laborers
together with God.
You're God's husbandry.
You're God's building.
The Bible says, you know, when you go out, it's not like you're just going out by yourself.
You have a partner, but you know, you got God with you.
God is the one who's assisting you.
God is the one who said, I'll be with you always, even until the end of the world, amen.
God is with you.
He's, he's the one who's going to fill you with his power and his strength and his ability
so you can preach the gospel and see people save.
Go to John chapter four, John chapter number four.
We're labors together with God, but let me say this, God can't do it by himself.
God can do anything, but he can't do this by himself.
He needs vessels.
He needs obedient Christians to obey him to go out.
He needs a mouth.
He needs a mom.
He needs a dad.
He needs a single young man to just go out there and do it to labor with him.
Look at John chapter four and verse 34.
The Bible says here, Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent
me to finish his work.
Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest.
Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white
already to harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathers fruit unto eternal, unto life eternal, that
both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
And herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth.
I sent you to reap that wherein ye bestowed no labor, other men labored and ye are entered
into their labors.
The Bible says, you know what the Bible's telling us here?
Look, don't say, well, you know, I just need to pray about it some more.
I need to start coming to church a little more, you know, and four months I'll start
doing it.
No, just start right away.
It's already, it's already ready.
You know, don't, don't wait until you think you're ready to go.
Just start going.
And it's not like we're going to be like, by the way, if you're a seasoned soul winner,
don't do this to anybody.
It's like you're at a door and it's like, hey, how's it going?
I'm Bruce from Faithful World Baptist Church.
My friend has something to tell you.
You know, what do you do?
You know, I've known people that have done that before.
That's like, that's scary.
You know, it's like, yes, well, what do you need to tell me?
It's like, ah, you know, what do you say?
You know, no, you know, you go out there and by the way, if you know how to sow in, make
sure you clearly present the gospel.
Don't do this hillside Baptist Church gospel presentation where it's just like a one, two,
three prayer after me.
You don't have to believe in hell.
You don't have to, you know, just, just who cares if you understood it or not?
Just listen and just get saved kind of thing.
No, we want to be thorough.
Amen.
We want to make sure we, and let me say this, people, people are like, oh, you know, all
these numbers that you guys, look, these are the numbers that we count are the numbers
that we believe for sure.
It's like, okay, this person got it.
That's not including the people who called upon the name of the Lord, but we would say,
I don't really know.
I don't think that person really got saved.
It looks like it went over their heads.
You know what I mean?
Why?
Because we want to be thorough.
So when you go out, give a clear presentation of the gospel, not for the sake, not only
for the sake of the person who's listening to you, but also for your partner's sake.
So as they're listening, they can catch some things.
They can learn some illustrations.
They know the verses that you're going to.
It'll help them.
Go to First Corinthians chapter number nine.
First Corinthians chapter number nine.
Let me say this.
We need to realize that soul winning is a necessity of the Christian life.
It's a necessity.
This is not an option.
It's not like, well, I'm King James, post-trib replacement.
I hate homos, but I just don't do the soul winning thing.
That's your guy's thing.
That's your gift.
That's your gift of evangelism, what they like to say.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
That's for everyone.
And it's a necessity for everyone.
First Corinthians chapter number nine, verse 16, the Bible says, for though I preach the
gospel, I have nothing to glory of.
For necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward, but if against my will, a dispensation
of the gospel is committed unto me, the Bible says.
He says, man, this is a need.
This is a necessity in my personal life.
And of course, in context, he's talking about paying pastors, which is a biblical thing.
But he's saying, look, whether I paid or not, a necessity is still laid upon me to preach
the gospel.
It's needful, the Bible says.
He says a dispensation of the gospel is being committed unto me.
Now let's not talk about dispensations, right?
We've already gone over that.
What is he saying?
He goes, a dispensation, it's been commissioned unto me, to dispense, it's been dispensed
unto me.
Okay?
It's not like an age has been given unto me to preach the gospel, right?
That's stupid.
He's saying, look, it's a commission, I've been commissioned to preach the gospel.
In other words, whether I feel like it or not, whether I want to or not, God's already
given me this responsibility.
I've got to fulfill it.
Second Corinthians chapter number five.
I like what he says.
He says, look, if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.
And thank God for that.
God, when we go out, you're not working for Faith Word Baptist Church, you're working
for God.
And God is a good boss who's going to reward us.
He's going to give us according to our works and praise the Lord for that.
And he says this, but if against my will.
What does that mean?
He's like, oh, he just kind of grudgingly has to do it.
A dispensation of the gospel is committed.
In other words, he's like, I still got to do it, whether I feel like it or not, because
it's a necessity.
Second Corinthians chapter number five, verse 18, the Bible says that all things are of
God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of
reconciliation.
You know, we don't have a whole lot of ministries at Faith Word Baptist Church.
We don't have a nursery, we don't have bus ministry, we don't have Sunday school classes,
junior church, you know, someone throw something out.
What else?
What other ministries out there?
Someone tell me something.
Vacation, but VBS.
What else?
Youth groups.
What else?
One more.
Anybody else?
That's it.
What is it?
Awana.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Definitely don't do Awanas.
Obama's.
Yeah.
Look, we don't do any of those things.
And here's the thing, I'm not saying the people who do those things are not right with God,
but you know, when you put your energies into, disperse your energies into so many different
ministries, something's going to give.
And more often than not, that which gives is soul winning.
Okay?
That's just the bottom line.
What they're going to sacrifice is soul winning.
Okay?
Rather, let's just kick all that stuff out and get all the energy that you would use
in your youth group, you know, to teach a Sunday school class, to do the nurseries,
whatever it may be, you know, pour it into soul winning.
That's why Awana's getting done.
Because all the ministries you can be a part of is focused on the what?
The ministry of reconciliation, which is soul winning.
Verse 19, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us.
We pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God.
You know, an ambassador, when we think of an ambassador, people have preached on ambassadors
just like we're a representative, you know, you got to make sure you live a clean life,
do right, which I'm not against teaching that.
But in context is really talking about the ministry of reconciliation.
Because an ambassador is someone of the highest rank sent by a government to represent for
a temporary mission.
They're sent there for a specific mission.
And here's the thing, we are sent here for a specific mission.
We're ambassadors representative of Christ to fulfill the mission of Christ, which is
preaching the gospel.
Go to Ephesians chapter number six, Ephesians chapter number six, Ephesians chapter number
six.
The Bible says here in Ephesians chapter number six and verse number 20, for which I am an
ambassador in bonds, that therein, as an ambassador in bonds, I may speak boldly as I am in bonds,
I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, what does he talk about preaching the Word of God.
John chapter 2021, you don't have to turn there, the Bible says, then said Jesus to
them again, peace be unto you, as my Father had sent me, even so send I you.
You know, even as Jesus Christ became the sole winner to the world, he's sending us
to be the sole winners to the world as well.
Go to Ephesians chapter, you're in Ephesians, go to Ephesians six, verse 14.
The Bible says, stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on
the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spear, which is the Word
of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there
unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me, that utterance
may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
Do you hear what he's saying?
I need you guys to pray for me that I can open my mouth boldly.
You know what you guys need to do?
You guys need to pray for one another.
You know, these seasoned Christians that we have here who know how to solve one, you need
to pray for the new Christians, that they would open their mouth boldly to make known
the mysteries of the gospel to those who are lost.
Pray that, and let me say this, the best thing you can do when you're first starting out
is you need to pray for boldness.
That's not cliche, that's just the bottom line.
I have been saved for years, and I still need to pray for that.
God, please make me bold, help me to be bold, fill me with your Spirit, help me to be bold
so I can proclaim the Word of God with boldness, confidence.
You know, one of the reasons why a lot of people are willing to listen to a gospel preacher
is because they come with confidence.
So in other words, like, this guy obviously believes what he's about to tell me.
He has some boldness with it, so I want to give an ear to that.
Pray for boldness.
And we need boldness because sometimes it's scary, we're telling people we've never even
met that they're going to hell, you know?
We're telling people that.
But if we love them, we need to tell them and boldly proclaim that so they can be saved.
Go to Matthew chapter 4.
Matthew chapter 4, and we're done here.
Let me say this, in regards to soul winning and filling Jerusalem with our doctrine, this
is, you know, a lot of people aren't ready to accept what I'm about to say, churches
or not, but it's just the honest truth.
If you're not winning souls, then you're not following Christ.
Amen.
Okay?
No, you're proud.
No.
You're proud if you think you can follow Christ and not win souls.
That's a prideful thing.
Look at Matthew chapter 4 and verse 19 says, and he saith unto them, follow me, and I will
make you fishers of men.
So let me ask you a question.
What is the byproduct of following Christ?
Being a fisher of men.
If you're not fishing for men and if you're not winning people to Christ, can you really
say you're following Christ?
No.
Look, to be a disciple, the Bible says that we're supposed to continue in his word.
Amen?
For people to know that we're disciples, we're supposed to have one love one toward another.
To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that we have to bear much fruit.
What's the byproduct of that?
When we're following Christ, we're going to be soul winners.
That goes for the pastor, all these churches, whoever's here.
The Bible tells us if we're not winning souls, we're not really following, you can label
it however you want.
I'm a follower of Jesus.
Really?
When's the first time you won someone to the Lord?
When's the last time you preached the gospel?
When's the last time you went out there to tell someone about the gospel of Jesus Christ?
If you're not doing that, you're not a follower of Christ.
Bottom line.
Oh, but I visited.
That's not preaching the gospel.
And I'm not against visiting people.
Okay, you're in the hospital, I'm going to visit you.
Okay, you're going through some trouble, I want to visit you.
But you know what?
That's not in place of preaching the gospel.
And I can't fool myself into saying, well, I'm a follower of Christ, but I don't do a
lot of soul winning.
You're not necessarily a follower of Christ then, are you?
Because the Bible tells us right there, when we follow Christ, we're soul winning.
When we're following Christ, we're going to see people saved.
That is the natural byproduct of following the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't tell me you're following Christ, but you're not preaching the gospel.
That's a lie.
Why go out on Saturdays?
Go out on Saturdays and do what exactly?
Visiting the people you've been visiting for the last five years?
You know why?
They're almost here.
They're going to come.
I know they're going to come.
That's a waste of time.
It's just a waste of time.
And by the way, I did it.
I visited people.
I know.
I'm sorry.
The piano's going to play.
I'll come down to the altar.
I've done it.
And let me say this, as a personal testimony, I know what I'm talking about.
A lot of it's just a waste of time.
You can be getting a lot more done if you just go and preach the gospel.
Let me say this.
When you preach the gospel, people will come.
People will come to church.
I mean, we've got a full house today.
That's a blessing.
Amen?
I think God's blessing is on that.
Because why?
Because now the philosophy is, well, we're wanting to do so many.
We believe in so many, but we're doing it so we can fill the church.
No, that's not why we want to do it.
We want to do so many because God told us to do it, and we want to see people saved.
Amen?
If people come, amen.
If people don't, amen.
We're just going to keep doing what we're supposed to be doing.
But we can't say that we're following Christ if we're not winning souls to Christ.
That's just the bottom line.
The Bible says here, go to Luke chapter 9.
Last verse.
Luke chapter number 9.
And by the way, that should be an encouragement to us that if we're sincerely following Christ,
God's going to enable us, and He's going to help us to be a fisher of men.
You know, that's like a promise.
That's the cause and effect, right?
You follow Christ, you're going to be a fisher of men.
So it's like, I'm kind of scared.
I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it.
Look, if you're sincerely following Christ, you're reading the Word of God, you're doing
what you're supposed to be doing, you're obeying His command to just go out, He will make you
a fisher of men.
You will see people saved.
Luke chapter 9 verse 23, the Bible says, And He said to them all, If any man will come
after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for My
sake, the same shall save it.
But what is a man's advantage if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be a castaway?
You know, when we don't deny ourselves, follow Christ, you just fall by the wayside, okay?
And you just, I've met Christians who are in churches who are on the wayside.
I'm not saying they're in the world, I'm talking about they're like in church, lukewarm, not
doing anything for God, and they're like a castaway is what it is.
Why?
Because soul winning keeps your heart burning for the Lord.
It keeps your focus right.
It keeps your perspective right.
It helps you to realize what's the most important thing, and the most important thing is soul
winning.
Amen?
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you for the commission that you've given to us to win people to Christ.
And Lord, we're thankful that there's so much teaching within the Bible about soul winning,
it gives us a template to go by.
It's not obscure, it's not an obscure teaching in the Word of God.
It's something that we can study individually with our families, with our wives, with our
children, and it can help us, motivate us, train us, equip us to go out and preach the
Gospel.
And thank you for the example of the apostles in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 5, that
they had that testimony that by their enemies that Jerusalem was being filled with their
doctrine.
I pray that you'd bless faithful word Baptist church that we would be the same way Lord,
that we would fill our Jerusalem here in El Mani with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And may you bless all the rest of the fallen, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.