Good morning everybody and welcome to steadfast Baptist Church. We can go ahead and find our seats
We will get started see everybody here. We can go ahead and find our seats grab a hymnal
We'll start this morning in song number three hundred and sixty four number three hundred and sixty four
Thank you so much for this church, thank you so much for everything you do here
We just ask now that you fill this room with your spirit help us lift up our voices unto you Lord
It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. All right for our next song. Let's go to song number 101
This never fails. Maybe a newer song song number 101 if it isn't sing it loudly
It is follow along. I'm sure you'll get it after the first verse
101 Jesus never fails
Thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist Church
If you did not already get a bulletin and you would like one just lift up your hand real quick
Just can come by and get you guys a bulletin on the front
We have our Bible memory passage. We're still working on Matthew 28 and on the inside
We have our service so winning times. We have our church stats down below
Please continue to turn in any of your soul winning maps and your stats to our troop our group chats or our bin
On the right, we have our expecting ladies list. Please be in prayer for all of them
Upcoming events our kids choir practice is starting today at 2 p.m
And so if you would like to participate you can just stick around right after the soul winning is
Sent out then we'll be starting our kids choir practice
Evangelist urbanic is gonna be preaching for us this Wednesday. So please please if you can I
Encourage you to come out this Wednesday and support evangelist urbanic and be here for that service
He's gonna be preaching and it'll be just a great time of fellowship and getting to see them
He's traveling a lot farther than you to come to service. All right, so there you go
Also this Saturday, we're gonna have a small-town soul winning marathon. It's gonna be an hazel
We're gonna meet around 11. I don't know if we are we meeting at 11 or being sent out at 11
I can't remember
I think it's I think are we getting are we sending out at 11 or meeting at 11 sending out at 11?
See brother of manic if you if you want the address of the park
They're gonna be meeting at but who's kind of planning on and going out to the hazel thing next Saturday
Okay, so
Yeah, I would say about you got 40 50 people at least so
He's gonna be preparing food and some some activities and stuff like that weather permitting
But they'll also have a lot of soul winning out there in that region. So that's kind of West Fort Worth area
It's a little bit west of the Fort Worth area
If you would like to participate
If you brother a bandit can put in our group chat just address and other details as well
And then you can follow up with him that Sunday. And so it's not this Sunday. You almost made it. It's next Sunday
We're gonna have a barbecue bash. All right, so
well
Since advantageous or bannock is coming we're gonna be celebrating him
And so we'll have a barbecue luncheon here on Sunday. You don't want to miss it
Also, our spring recital is gonna be Saturday March 22nd
Most likely in the afternoon and then we're gonna have we have a sign-up sheet for tryouts for that
I saw several people already signed up
we'd love for you to participate if you would like to and of course the entire church is invited to
Come and join us for the recital
Even if you don't have a student or anybody that's directly participating if you just want to support it
I usually they're pretty short and honestly our kids do a really good job
So I've been to a lot of recitals before steadfast and I hated them
But the steadfast recitals are great. So I'm just being really blunt
All right, I went to a recitals like two hours and I have never gotten over it. So but
it's our our recitals are really actually
well performed and very
Engaging and I've really always enjoyed them
So if you'd like to participate you can come out our Mansfield soul winning marathon is gonna be April 19th
That is the day before Easter
We do already have Easter fliers made but we'll probably just wait just another week or two and then we can start handing them out
So if you'd like to hand out a flyer invitation for our Easter services, we have made some
but we are
Gonna have a special marathon the day before in Mansfield and that's really just kind of across the lake
so there's Joel pool lake over here and then kind of on the other side is
That south ground prairie and then Mansfield area and so it's not too far from here
And we figure we go out and invite people for Easter Sunday Easter Sunday is April the 20th. And so
We are looking forward to those services down below as our church reminders on the on the back
I have a note we had a Spanish marathon yesterday
And we had a couple dozen people come out for soul winning and we ended up having 22
Salvations for yesterday from just the Spanish soul winning. So thank you to all of our soul winners to do that
We also probably have some remnants of food
So we'll probably just set out all the food that we had left over from this morning and from yesterday
For anybody that was that would like to have that this afternoon for soul winning
So if you'd like to stick around it's a free-for-all. I don't know how much there is just I'm just saying so just eat it
I don't care down below. We have our prayer list
Continue to pray for our church family and that's pretty much all I have
We do have some Spanish like our normal little business cards for the church
We have Spanish versions of those available. So hopefully they're either set out, but if they're not just asked what we have
Spanish specific cards. So if you'd like to have some of those you can have them
We're also working on ordering the pamphlets in Spanish too, but just as an extra reminder
We do have some new Spanish cards that you can use for our soul wedding. That's pretty much all I have
We're gonna go ahead and sing our psalm of the week. It's psalm 15
psalm 15
psalm 15 psalm chapter 15
Turn in your body chapter 8 or 8 consenting unto his death and at that time there was a great
Persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria
Except the Apostles and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him as for Saul
He made havoc of the church entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere
Preaching the word then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them and the people with one accord
gave heed unto those things which Philip spake hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with loud voice
came out of many that were possessed with them and
Many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed and there was great joy in that city
but there was a certain man called Simon which before time in the same city used sorcery and
Bewitched the people of Samaria giving out that himself was some great one to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest
Saying this man is the great power of God and to him they had regard because that of long time
He had bewitched them with sorceries
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ
They were baptized both men and women then Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized
He continued with Philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done now when the Apostles which were at
Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God
They sent unto them Peter and John who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost for as yet
He was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus
then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost and when Simon saw that through laying on of the
Apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given he offered them money saying give me also this power done that on whomsoever
I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost
But Peter said unto him thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this manner for thy heart is not right in the sight of God
repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee for I
Perceived that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity
Then answered Simon and said pray ye to the Lord for me that none of these things which he has spoken come upon me and
They when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many
Villages of the Samaritans and the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip saying arise and go toward the south under the way that goeth
down from Jerusalem unto Gaza which is desert and he arose and went and behold a man of
Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the
Ethiopians who had the charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship
Was returning and sitting at his chariot read as sias the prophet then the spirit said unto Philip go near and join thyself
To this chariot and Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet of sias and said
Understandest thou what thou readest and he said how can I accept some man should guide me and he desired Philip that he
Would come up and sit with him the place of the scripture which he read was this
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before his shearer
So opened he not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his?
veneration for his life is taken from the earth and the eunuch answered Philip and said I pray thee of whom speak at the
Prophet this of himself or of some other man
Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus
And as they went on their way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water
What doth hinder me to be baptized and Philip said if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest
and he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he commanded the chariot to stand still and
They went down both into the water both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him and when they were come out up out of the
Water the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way
Rejoicing but Philip was found at Azotus and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to
Caesarea, let's bow our heads forward a prayer father in heaven. We thank you for this day and for our church
I pray that you fill pastor Shelley with your spirit and
Give him boldness and clarity of mind as he preaches your word to us
give us ears to hear the message this morning and apply it to our lives and
Enable us Lord God to be doers of the word not hearers only we love you and in Jesus name. I pray amen
Amen, the title of my morning sermon is problems with Bible College problems with Bible College now
I want to make a few things clear before I start this sermon is number one
I don't think that Bible College is a sin or that it's necessarily
Something that is just bad
inherently
But at the same time, I think that we can still look at biblical principles and make our own conclusions
And for our church, you know, I want to make it clear where I kind of stand on the issue and what I see
As the future for our church. We have a lot of people in our church. We're a growing church
we have a lot of young people in our church and I feel like it's important to cast a vision for the young people and
essentially give my opinion on what I think they should do for their future and for
Essentially their growth and what's the best decision I wouldn't say that even people that go to Bible college are doing anything necessarily wrong
I just think there's better alternatives
and so I want to essentially talk about the problems I see with Bible College and what I think are a better solution to
the
education or
Future or career for our youth as a church. I can't say I don't want to say things, you know
Dramatically, but I don't really see a vision where we'll ever have a Bible College or anything similar
I don't believe that we'll ever have a Christian school or anything similar. It does not matter how big we get
I personally believe in homeschooling as the as a superior form of Christian education
And I believe if someone wants to get a college education
It's best leaving that to colleges and not necessarily having the church focus on such an idea
You know, the church does not need to replace all of the businesses and institutions we have in this world
I think some people have this attitude where they want church to become all these things that are not church
Like to become a supermarket to become a social hangout to become an education center to become
friendzone to become a playground to become a
Cafeteria to become all these different things that it's not and then a lot of churches
They almost emphasize or become all these things that it's not rather than focusing on church
Church is something that all these other places are not right. The restaurant is not a soul winning center, right?
The restaurant is not a place for you to learn hard biblical preaching. That's the church, right?
So church should be distinct church should be separate
We should we should focus on church activities and not trying to become our own little
Social environment where we accommodate, you know, this is place for sleeping. We have a place where you you know, hang out
We have our own dormitory M and we have our own education center
We have our own furniture making business and it's like no we're not gonna be like that. We're gonna be the Amish
We're not gonna create some kind of community out of church. We want church to be church and we want hey
Restaurants can be restaurants and we want education centers to be education centers
And it's sometimes good to have these distinctions whereas I think some churches want to try and be a
We do everything we're focused on all these things
But then it distracts from the point of church and so I really want to make it clear where I'm standing on
Some of these issues additionally, I would say someone went to Bible College or is enrolled in Bible College
I'm not trying to attack that person or go against them
But again, I find there to be some problems with Bible College philosophy
And I don't want our church to go down that path now this morning. Sermons
Also, not just only just to attack Bible College. I want to provide a viable alternative
I want to make it clear what I think young people should do
So I don't want to just sit here and say what not to do
I want to tell you what you should do as a replacement or in in lieu of going to Bible College
Specifically, okay. Now the word college is found in the Bible a couple times for sake of the sermon
I don't think it's really necessary to necessarily go to all those places, but you know
Just to bring it up a couple times that mentions a woman in college and they're like going and asking her about the Word of God
It's usually in a very dark time in history
It's when there's not a man of God there to ask so we go to the college and we find women there and we ask
Their opinion on the Bible not really a big supporting verse on college
You have another mention of a school in the book of Acts and it's basically the disciples run out of places to go preaching
They get kicked out of the synagogue and then they're going to a school of tyrannist to dispute with people and argue people
Okay, but you know school and college really isn't mentioned that much in the Bible a college in by
Definition is this an educational institution or establishment in particular one providing higher education or specialized
Professional or vocational training so it's basically it'll learn something at a high level or for specialized knowledge for a job
And I think that's a good definition for college, and I think that would be the purpose of college
I'm not against college in theory if you're going to learn more about something or you're going to get special knowledge for a job
Those are great problem with most of our society is college has turned into everything but that and a lot of times people go
to college not for those goals and not for those purposes and they're being taken advantage of
by a system that's pushing college on a lot of people and in an effort to compete with this churches instead of providing an
Alternative has said let's just do our bizarro version of college and we'll call it Bible college
And I don't really like that
Why because if the point of going to college is to get a job?
Which to me that if you're not going to college to get a job, you're probably going for the wrong reasons
There's almost no reason to go to college unless you're going for a specific job or specific career that that
Education is needed. Okay, if that is not why you're going you should really question why you're going if that's the point
And then you create an institution called Bible college, which what is the point of Bible college?
It's to have a job in ministry is to have a job in ministry. Well, here's the thing
I don't believe that jobs in ministry are for sale
The ministry is not for sale. The ministry is not for the highest bidder
The ministry is not do you want to pay $20,000 to become a pastor?
Do you want to pay $40,000 to be an evangelist?
That is not how the ministry works according to the Bible and we have a guy in the Bible
Trying to purchase a position in ministry. And what does the Bible say? It was wicked. Let's look at Acts chapter number eight here
Let's look at verse number 14 now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God
They sent to them Peter and John who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost
For as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus
Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost and when Simon saw that through laying on the apostles hands
The Holy Ghost was given he offered them money saying give me also this power
That on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost
But Peter said in him thy money perish with thee because thou has thought that the gift of God
May be purchased with money the Bible rebukes the idea that you can buy your way into the ministry
Now again, no one today can be an apostle to be an apostle
I believe the number one requirement is you had to see the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ
Now if you think you've seen the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, you can leave at any time go join the Pentecostal Church
Okay, you have not seen him and they always try to tell me what he looks like and it's the opposite of what the Bible says
He looks like anyways, okay. So number one, we don't have Apostles, but I don't think that this
passage is limited to at a time of Apostles we can make application from this further down and
There are gifts in the ministry. The Bible says that the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery is a gift
So a pastor laying hands on someone whether that be an evangelist whether it be a deacon or whether it be another pastor
They are giving them a special gift of the Spirit and they are passing their
Spirit on to that particular person and you know what that is not something that is for sale
That special gift is not for sale
Just like the Apostles giving out gifts of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament was not for sale
Also ordination is not for sale. I do not believe that there's an ordination certificate that you should be able to purchase
They are handed out at the discretion of other men of God that have found you worthy
Not because you paid for it not because you bought it and you know what it's a shame today
There's so many people getting married today by an ordained minister and that ordained minister bought their ordination certificate online
You know
There'd be a lot less faggot marriage if you couldn't buy your own ordination certificate because they would come to a real church and say
Hey, will you marry us and we'll say you're not even allowed to be on the property where you're standing is holy ground
And you're unholy get away from us. Okay, so faggot marriage couldn't even exist if you didn't allow
Bozos to literally go online - I think it's like some Denver school
There's like some Denver school or something that everyone buys this online ordination certificate for like
$29 or something like that and they all become this licensed minister because they'll just hand it out to anybody. They'll pay them money
Hey, you know what? It's a joke. It's a fraud. It's not legitimate and you say well, that's not what Bible College is doing
Yeah, you have to wait more time, right? I mean you just have to wait more time
You know what the ministry is not a participation trophy either. It's not like hey, I just paid
$10,000 I went to the two-year program the four-year program and they just gave me a license to preach and they gave me ordination
Certificate and now I'm ordained. That is what a lot of Bible colleges are doing today. A lot of Bible colleges are quote ordaining
1920 21 and 22 year old men that are not married don't have kids and then there's a license to preach now
They're just ordained minister because they showed up took a couple Bible college courses and now okay, you're an ordained minister
I don't believe in that that is not the biblical principle. And so number one problem
I have a Bible college is that the ministry is just not for sale. It's not for sale
It should never be for sale and whenever this guy tries to purchase it
What does the Apostle Peter say that's neither pot look at verse 21
That's neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God repent therefore of this thy
wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee for I perceived that thou art in the
Gulf bitterness into the bond of iniquity
Then answered Simon and said pray ye the Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken
Come upon me. Now. Here's the reality is
Our society is not built by preachers that bought their way in the ministry
You show me the great preacher of the day that just simply went and just paid for his ordination certificate
I mean if it was effective then we would see the results of it wisdom is justified over children if
Bible college is really really great then we would see the fruit of Bible college
But show me the red-hot fiery preachers show me the zealous soul winners show me the guys making a big difference in this world
And I'll show you people that don't think Bible college is what got them there
Some of them may even gone to Bible college, but at the end of the day
They're not gonna say Bible college is the reason the way they are they'll say it's despite Bible college in many cases
Despite Bible college because you know it's not something that can be purchased go if you would to
John chapter 2 the Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse 23 by the truth and sell it not
also wisdom instruction and understanding I can understand that if a young man wants to be in the ministry has a desire to be a
pastor and
Everyone around him is saying the only way you can do this is if you pay money
Then they would be willing to pay the money
I can't even necessarily fault that guy if that's the only option he's given and he feels like he wants to serve God
You know, we should be willing to buy the truth
If I can only get the truth by buying it I should be willing to buy it
But you know what you should never sell it. You should never sell it
You know what?
We don't see the Lord Jesus Christ doing going around signing up people to be a disciple and they have to pay tuition
You don't see Elijah going to Elisha and saying hey
Can you get some student loans to pay for this?
You don't see Timothy going around having to make payments to follow Paul
No, no, you know what the ministry should not be something that ministers are selling
It's not something that we say. Hey, can you afford to be a pastor?
Can you afford to be an evangelist? Can you afford to be a deacon?
You know, the Bible talks about God choosing those who are rich in faith poor in this world that are rich in faith to do
The great works of God
You know what?
There shouldn't be a limit on people entering the ministry because they don't have enough money to enter the school and why in the world?
Would I as a minister want to say like hey, I want to take advantage the next generation that wants to serve God
It wants to be zealous. I want to take advantage of them
I want them to pay me in order to become a pastor pay me to become an evangelist pay me to learn the Bible
You know what?
How are you applying this verse when it says to not sell the truth then and there are many pastors many churches where they say
Hey, I want to learn about this topic. They say well go to Bible college. I'm not gonna preach on that
They won't preach on everything. You know, it's a shame churches should be preaching everything now
I get it. There's a little bit of specialized practical knowledge that comes with pastoring that you're not gonna preach a sermon on, right?
I'm not gonna get up here and explain to y'all the practicalities of a funeral
I'm not gonna get up and preach a sermon on the practicalities of how to run a wedding
I'm not gonna get up here and and and just demonstrate for you how to baptize someone and we're gonna all take turns and baptize each
Other or something, okay
But you know to be honest with you
It probably takes just a few hours or maybe a day or two to explain some of those practicalities of someone that has a high
Aptitude it's not like you need four years of education to learn how to dunk someone underwater
In fact, I would argue you don't even need it
It's just a nice to have you could literally figure out you want to know how many times pastor Anderson sat me down and explained
To me how to have a funeral zero, you know, he did he gave me a book
He's like this explains up here have fun
You know how many times he explained me how to have a wedding zero, you know, he did explain to me how to be baptized
We sat on the ground. Okay, I crossed my arms and he just air baptized me. All right, I wasn't in real water
That was like my one time and then he's like, all right, here's four people go
It's intimidating. But you know what we made it work
I was able to put someone underwater and pick him back up
Okay, and if they if I hadn't done it, they probably figured out themselves. Okay, praise God, but at the end of the day
It's like I don't need four years to explain all that. Okay. Yeah, I'm sure there's a little bit of
Practical knowledge practical wisdom that could benefit in the ministry, but just generally speaking
99% of the information should be coming from the pulpit
Whereas I find that a lot of churches they're gonna preach about 10% of the Bible in the pulpit and they're like hey the other
5% I teach go to the Bible College and then they're still lacking in a lot of instruction of the Bible
I mean, you know they they act like oh and Bible College you just learned so much
But I guarantee people that come to this church for four years if you come to this church four years and go to all three
Services and you take notes of everything that's being said you will learn more than any of the Bible colleges that are being taught
Out there and not not just because it's right. I'm just saying quantity of information
Quantity of information there is a lot. I mean I preach long sermons
You think the professors are long-winded just come to steadfast Baptist Church. Okay. These are some long sessions
I mean, you know, they call it brother Ben called me. It said this is a pastor Shelley hour
I was like, what's an hour in 15 minutes? It's a pastor Shelley hour. Okay, and hey, I'm preaching a lot of things
I'm preaching all kinds of parts of the Bible
We're going to all kinds of Bible said you will learn a lot going to church and you should and not just the the college grads
Everybody because I don't want there to be this facade
Like well, I don't know as much as the Bible college students
That's just that's a joke. Everybody should be on the same page. Everybody has the same opportunities. You have the same Bible
We're not gonna sit here pretend like there's this special
Eclectic knowledge that you learn by going to Bible College or something. It's usually fake anyways and a lot of Bible colleges
They'll just teach you
Theological vocabulary to make it seem like you know more than everybody else when you really don't they use a specialized language
To make it sound like they know things that you don't know, but it's fake. It's not real
There is not this extra knowledge secret wisdom that they really have
It's really a lot of just junk and I would I would take any of the young men that have been our church for a while
Their knowledge over the young men in Bible College today, Matthew 10 verse 8
I'm just reading for you a verse it says freely you ever see freely give how do you apply that?
Hey, we should be freely giving out the wisdom of God not saying well
Yeah, you'll get 10% of the Bible at church
But if you want that other percentage, you got it. You got to pay you got to pay to learn or something
No, no, I spend hours and hours and decades of my life studying the Bible to just spoon feed it to everyone
Not just the people that are willing to pay everyone we put it online
We put it out there. You know what?
It's more important that people just have the truth than I make a buck off of it
Then I make some money off of it my Bible Institute or something like that
No
It's kind of embarrassing that people are studying the Bible to then make a prop like a minimal profit off of it
Hey, you want my sermon pay three bucks for the tape. You know you have to have the password online
You don't have to have any but in fact we have the opposite problem
We're trying to give it to too many people and they censor us. They ban us, you know, they take it down
I'm trying to give it out as much as I can and they're like no stop, you know, this is danger
This is dangerous information, but the church is not supposed to be a place where we're just making money
Look at John chapter 2 verse 16 and said unto them that sold doves take these things hence
Make not my father's house and house of merchandise
This is just not a place where we're supposed to be selling a bunch of stuff
Okay, and I'm not I'm not gonna try and throw stones at churches that sell anything in any context
But like we try to be as far away from that as possible and we as a church just don't really sell anything
I mean, I don't know of anything that we've ever sold. I don't know of anything that we've ever made someone pay for, you know
Sometimes we reimburse people, you know, because they helped, you know acquire material for us
But it wasn't something that we were expecting them to pay for
Obviously on missions trips that are foreign missions trips
We sometimes ask people to buy their own tickets and stuff out of practicality, but generally speaking that's not I didn't make money on you
Buying a ticket for yourself. The church isn't selling things if anything we I guarantee are one of the most generous churches in this area period
I was looking up just because I was interested
I was looking up other churches and I saw this like old IFB church was having a men's conference
And I was just looking at it. The men's conference was not at a special resort. It was not at a special area
It was at their building with just preachers coming you had to pay 50 bucks to go to it
How many how many people in here have paid to come to any conferences here? Yeah, not true
All right, I
Know somewhere else somewhere else. I know what you meant. I mean, yeah, we would have luncheons at the old
I'd be church. I went to you had to pay to eat the lunch
And you know for some of us that have you know when you start having six seven eight kids
Those start things like nickel and dime you you know
I mean it may not be that much to you that have point one seven children or something
But those of us that have eight nine kids, you know five bucks of pop starts adding up
Then it's like oh, I paid $40 and then when it's not and it's not brisket
Like you go to some of these old IV luncheons. It's not Texas brisket folks
It's like warmed over cafeteria food. Sometimes and I'm thinking like I paid 40 bucks for this, you know
That's kind of like it kind of starts, you know, it's kind of like that's weird, but you just want to participate
You want to be with the church? You want to be with them? You got to pay for the tracks
There are churches that make you buy the tracks
There are churches that make you pay for all this stuff
And look, I'm not trying to throw a bunch of stones at these people because I get it because you know
This is why they do that
So y'all don't gripe and complain about everything being free for some reason
Sometimes people have a better attitude that they paid for it than if you give it to them for free. It's weird
It's really really weird
But at the end of the day, I just want to be extra generous and I want our church to stay as far away from selling things
But how much more education how much more than I mean the church is the pillar and ground of the truth
but I'm supposed to say hey all of you young people all of you 18 19 20 year olds that actually stuck with it and
Like the Bible and actually want to do something with your life
Make sure to give me a bunch of money so that you can really learn so you can really get the information
I think that's pathetic as a church
I think as a church we should be willing to give you all that information for free as much as humanly possible
So point number one why I have a problem a Bible college is that the ministry is just not for sale and the ministry should
Not be for sale and the people that are trying to sell it are not the ones making a big movement in this world
They're not the ones doing a lot of great work in this world by and large
There could be exceptions go to John chapter 7 go to John chapter 7 and again like someone's gonna bring up an exception
They're gonna think about what I'm saying right now, and they're like well my Bible college doesn't sell tracks
Okay, well my Bible college gives out scholarships every once in a while, okay
Well if it doesn't apply to you then guess what it didn't apply to you, you know, but by and large a lot of what
I'm saying is true for a lot of different schools and a lot of different contexts. Okay. I'm not just bringing up strawman argument
I'm bringing up things that are really happening at real Bible colleges point one
They're selling the ministry. It is not for sale. If you come here and you say pastor Shelley. I want to be a pastor
I'm gonna give a million dollars to the church you in fact are probably at the bottom of the list now
I'm skeptical of why I would even ordain you because why would you think that you could buy it?
What did what did Peter say when someone tried to buy it? You're done. You have no part
You have no part you can't even you can't even participate now
Do not think that giving money at this church will give you special privilege
It does not give you special privilege
In fact, I'll be skeptical of you and look sometimes people seem to like want to buy their way into this church
They want to buy becoming a friend. They want to buy being a good member
They want to buy a position of authority and let me tell you something
None of them are for sale our soul winning tribe captains not for sale our music ministry not for sale
Being a piano player not for sale being a soul winning leader not for sale
You want to be an evangelist a deacon a pastor not for sale. We're not gonna sell it
We're not interested in money
We're interested in the truth and we're interested in people that want to work hard and in fact, we'll try to help you
You know people that are willing to go into the ministry and make those sacrifices
I'm extremely generous towards ask ask any of the guys
that we've ordained to be evangelists or
Pastors or anything ask them if the church paid for their moving expenses ask if the church paid
Just over an abundance of their moving expenses
Just extra love offerings or extra bonuses or just extra checks because you know what?
I want to make it easy on these guys ask them every single one will have to say yes
Every single one of them will have to say yeah, they actually tried to make it pretty easy for me because you know
I don't want to make it hard. I don't want to say like hey you better have 20 grand or 50 grand to serve God
You know what? I want a heart that loves God. I want a heart that hates covetousness
I want a heart that's not in it for the money
I want someone that's willing to serve God and you know what we'll fund it
You know, we want to put we want to invest in the people that actually want to serve God. Whereas Bible college
It's putting a barrier to entry. Do you have the money? Are your parents rich?
Can you finance these things and you know what?
That's not the right way to serve God number two problem
I have with Bible college is it the the church ends up watering down its preaching because of Bible college
It waters it down. Now. This is not a new thing watered down and compromised people in church
And you say why are people watering down the preaching for fear for fear now look at John chapter 7 verse 13
How be it no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews
People were afraid to say things in the Old Testament because of the Jews
Look at John chapter 9 verse 18 John chapter 9 verse 18 John chapter 9 verse 18
The Bible says this but the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight until they called
The parents of him that had received his sight and they asked them saying is this your son whom you say?
Was born blind how then doth he now see this is crazy. This is so funny
They're saying they're not saying hey your son that was blind the son
You say was born blind. They're trying to gaslight parents on their own child having been blind. Did you catch that?
That's a weird nuance. The Jews are like hey you say he was born blind, but was that really what happened?
Yeah, we know our son was blind. Okay, folks like that's what the Jews do
They try to gaslight you on your own reality and your own history like of course your son couldn't have been born blind
You just say that you're just claiming that now
Why because they're trying to get rid of the miracles of Jesus, aren't they? There was a man born blind
Jesus heals him and then the Jews are trying to twist the narrative so much
They're like you just say he was born blind. Don't you what do the parents have to respond?
His parents answered verse 20 his parents answered them and said we know that this is our son and that he was born blind
Like you can't you can't gaslight us on this narrative
We know this guy's our son and we know he was born blind
You know why because we had to change the diapers of a blind kid because we had to watch a blind kid
Look, you know how hard it is to watch kids. How about one that's blind?
That's you mean think about all the dangers all the the pits they could fall in all the times
They hurt themselves all the times they ran into things
You're not gonna forget as a parent if you raise the blind child
It was a huge burden and they're like look we know this is our son. We know he was born blind
Okay. Now verse 21, but by what means he now seeeth we know not who hath opened his eyes. We know not
He is of age ask him. He shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews
There's the thing. They're willing to at least say it was his son and born blind
But they were afraid to say it was because of Jesus
They're afraid to admit that Jesus had healed them why because they were afraid of the Jews again
Okay, so they won't say this for the Jews had already agreed that if any man did confess that he was Christ
He should be put out to the synagogue. They don't want to lose their position. They don't want to be kicked out of church
So they're afraid of saying this fact verse 23 therefore said his parents he is of age ask him
So they're basically putting their son in the tough spot
Hey, we're not brave enough to speak this you say it you be the one that's brave enough to preach this doctrine
John chapter 12 verse 42 skip a few more pages John chapter 12 verse 42
This is a theme in the New Testament that people are afraid to say things because of the Jews
John chapter 12 verse 42 nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees
They did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Let me tell you something
This is not a new doctrine churches
pastors and
Members are afraid to talk about Zionism because of fear of the Jews and let me tell you something
Bible colleges will not turn on Zionism because of fear of the Jews
You want to know something Bible colleges need something. It's called money
And you know what? They're afraid of going against Zionism. So they'll lose bank accounts
Why bank accounts because there's a certain group of people that own banks
Let me tell you they are Jews and let me tell you something
Show me a Bible college today that won't preach pro-zionism sermons. They're all Zionists
They're all watered down and compromised on that issue and they will not talk about it
In fact, if anything they raised money for Israel and they raised money for the Jews and they have Israel flags all over their sanctuary
And all over their building and look, you know
If you had a sanctuary deck decorated with all the different flags of the world because you want to go missionaries there
I'm not mad at you. If you have an Israel flag next to Jamaica flag in a Mexico flag
I'm not mad at you. But if you have a big giant Israel flag on the stage next to a Texas flag or American flag
That's blasphemous and that's weird and it doesn't make sense and it's a cult-like behavior and it's for fear of the Jews
You know, I love people that live in Israel. I want them to be saved
We shouldn't hate a group of people just because they're born into a bad
Ideology or a bad religion the Apostle Paul wanted Jews to be saved. But let me tell you something
He wasn't afraid to tell people what Jews were like
He wasn't afraid to preach the harsh realities of Jews and you know what we have John also not afraid
He's tall calling them the synagogue of Satan
How many church I mean how many Bible colleges a day are gonna get up and explain what the synagogue of Satan is today?
Not only that they're afraid to say that they know Jesus. They can't talk about him openly
How many Bible colleges a day listen to a new IP preacher and they can't tell anyone and let me tell you something Bible
colleges will not preach the truth on sodomites today because almost everybody has a faggot in their family somewhere some uncle
cousin brother sister mother
Both their dads or whatever and for some reason they just won't preach the truth on that issue
They won't take a big stand on that. They don't want protesters at their Bible College. They don't want to lose the funding
They don't want to lose the enrollment. They won't preach what Leviticus 2013 means. They won't preach what Romans 1 really means
They won't preach on Jude. They won't preach on 2nd Peter chapter 2
Those go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 6 in the Greek and try to tell you that means homos can be saved
They'll ignore the all the clear verses on homos and try to go to an obscure passage
Not about them to try and preach this weird hypothetical that doesn't exist folks. They're not gonna preach the truth on the rapture
They're gonna be pro-zionist
They're not gonna tell you the the distinctions of the Trinity because they don't want to get people riled up on the Trinity
They don't want to talk about church discipline. They won't exercise church discipline
If they catch kids in their Bible college drinking smoking committing fornication
They'll handle it privately and they won't kick anybody out because they don't lose those enrollment dollars. They're gonna be weak on alcohol
They're not gonna get up and say alcohol is a sin period because people leave the church
People will leave a church if you get up and rip on alcohol
That's why churches have to constantly say like I know it's not a sin and I know I know that you know
It's it's people can drink and you know
Moderation look that's lies
Drinking alcohol is a sin is poison drinking alcohol is poison
Why in the world when I get up and say drinking poison is not a sin the thought of foolishness is sin
Good night. What an idiotic thought. I love drinking alcohol you drunkard
You know they won't get up and preach Proverbs 23 on a beverage
That's never supposed to be looked at in fact you go to a lot of Bible colleges
They'll literally hand out the birth control to their Bible colleges handing out birth control
They're not gonna preach the truth on birth control. They're not gonna preach the truth on divorce
They're gonna get up and tell you yeah divorce is fine
Yeah, it's it's you know sometimes. There's exceptions that we understand
And there's all these different scenarios, and they basically make a case for divorce
They're not gonna talk about women wearing pants. They will not bring up that issue
It's too divisive, and they'll lose people in their car. They're gonna be compromised on that issue
They're not gonna talk about racism. They're not gonna talk about issues with different communities
They're not gonna say like hey
The black culture in America is hurting black people because then it's offensive and now they're seen as racist and they don't want that kind of heat
They're not gonna take bold stands on any of these issues
They would never defend anybody on any kind of issue that has to do with race. They would avoid it
They'll stay away from it
In fact, they're probably closer to teaching CRT than they are teaching what the Bible says on these issues
They won't teach anything about the death penalty at all. They will avoid the death penalty
They will avoid the applications of the death penalty. They won't tell you historically what the death penalty was like in America
They won't tell you that in 2003. It was illegal to be a fag in the state of Texas
They won't talk about any of these things and let me tell you something the new IFB is forbidden in all Bible colleges
You better not bring up their documentaries. You better not bring up their preachers. You don't bring up their their
Zeal for soul winning you can't talk about any of that stuff or you'll be thrown out
And I'm not just saying these things as hyperbole
I know people in my personal life that have told me they were brought into the Dean
They were brought into the school counselors office and said if you listen to every preaching we're kicking you out of this school
Just listening all the haters couldn't go to Bible college because they just they listen too much
Go with the second timothy chapter one go to second timothy chapter one
Look, I'm not gonna go and start a Bible college so that I just stop preaching all those things and you know
Why because they're afraid of losing money. They're afraid of the Jews. They're afraid of losing their position. They don't want to
Take bold stands and you know what this church is never I don't want to make any decision
I don't make any decision that ever stops me from preaching something in the Bible. I don't want to get too big
I don't want to have too big of a nice of a building. I don't want to be stretched out financially
I don't I don't want anything to to stop me from saying you know what if I say this
It's gonna cause us problems because I just want to say what the Bible says
It's more important for me to get up and just say what the Bible says period and let the chips fall where they may if
That means our church grows or shrinks or has problems or has issues or as protesters
I want to say what the Bible says and there's too many people today that won't say everything the Bible says and let me tell
You Bible college is a big reason
It's a huge reason why a lot of those churches will not preach the things that I just mentioned and it's not even like they have
To agree with me personally. They just won't even touch the subject. They won't even provide an alternative to these substances
They're too controversial and the Bible is too clear on them
But let me tell you something that is not the right attitude
The right attitude is not be ashamed of anything in the Bible 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 for God hath not given us a
Spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind
We should not be afraid of Jews today. We should not be afraid of the synagogue of Satan today
We should not be afraid of sodomites today. We should not be afraid of losing money today
We should not be afraid of protests. We should not be afraid of persecution. We should not be afraid of the devil
We should not be afraid of other Christians. We should not be afraid of being embarrassed
We should not be afraid of losing family or friends or fame or fortune or any of it
We should preach the truths of the Bible
God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind
And we should preach with boldness today and let me tell you something Bible colleges are not preaching with boldness
They're preaching with fear
Pastors are getting in their pulpit and they're afraid of the congregation. They're afraid of other churches
They're afraid of their friends. They're afraid of the bankers. They're afraid of politicians
They're afraid to get up and just say something and they don't know what they're talking about
And so let me tell you something get up and they preach water down
Lukewarm basic sermons so as not to offend that's not this church
It will never be this church as long as I'm the pastor as long as I'm the pastor
I will not water it down. I haven't watered it down
It's not even it's not about to start if we get a new building that's bigger
I might go harder on just to be just be safe
I'm not gonna go softer and let me tell you some right now when we can barely fit in the building
It's not gonna get soft anytime soon
Because I don't want soft people here and I don't want to try and like get a bunch of soft people to feel
Like we need to move to then just lose them anyways
So if I can get you out, I'll try second Timothy chapter 2 verse 1 thou therefore my son be strong in the grace
That is in Christ Jesus. We're supposed to be strong as preachers
So we strong as Christians and let me tell you some preaching weak compromise sermons doesn't make you strong. It makes you weak
Easily offended when you won't preach things that you know, piss people off every once in a while
You know you do you make them soft. You make them soft. We need to challenge our congregation a little bit
We need to put a little of pressure on them
Sometimes you should feel a little uncomfortable in church because we want to make you a little stronger
Think about going to the gym if you never felt any pain or any discomfort when working out
You're not gonna make any gains you make gains by actually working your muscles out to where they they hurt
They hurt a little bit or you get that soreness the day after or when you get older that second day soreness gets real
Actually, it turns into three and four and five day later soreness
He's just like man when you get old you're thinking like what's wrong with me
I mean if I haven't worked out legs for a while and I work out legs, it's like two weeks man
I'm just telling you it gets rough you start those stairs for soul winning actually become a challenge
You're like, I'll take the lower apartments
Apartments because it's it's rough. But you know what? That's it would be the Christian life
We should actually feel a little bit of discomfort. We should feel a little pain. We should be challenged a little bit
We shouldn't just be going and just be like, oh church is so comfortable. Oh that sir was just so nice
It's so pleasant. No, you should feel a little uncomfortable. No, I should hurt a little bit every once in a while
No, you should be challenged a little bit. Okay, that's the type of preaching that we want
That's kind of preaching gonna get whether you like it or not go to Revelation chapter 2
So point one is this for Bible cause I need to speed up for sake of time. Those are some important points
I'm just gonna kind of run through these next ones so I can get to this impractical application here
But number one the ministry is not for sale. It is not for sale number two problem with Bible College is
They water down the preaching and we don't want to water down our preaching for any reason any decision
I make that waters down the preaching was a bad decision number three Bible College distracts from soul winning now in Revelation chapter 2
This is an important point look at verse 2. I know thy works now
He goes on a long description of the fact this church has works, but they've done something wrong verse 4
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first work. Let me tell you something Bible College is a lot of work
It is real. I mean you have to hire staff
You have to get all kinds of people to write curriculum
You have to be challenged like the amount of work that goes into Bible College in school is
Immense tons and tons of work, but you know what if we're taking all that effort and energy to put in in school
It's gonna go it's got to come from somewhere. You only have so much energy for the day
You only have so much creative energy you only have so much zeal and if you're just putting so much work into this institution
it's got to come from somewhere and a lot of times what happens is it's taken from the soul winning and
It's it's taking some energy effort creativity and money and finances and time and it's investing in the school to get the school done
And so it's zapping some of the soul winning energy time focus attention when you notice our bulletin
What is the first thing service times and soul winning times we want to keep those as the first works as the preeminence as
What we we don't want to take away from those we want to increase those
And if you come to step as Baptist Church, you've noticed our soul winning times. We've gotten more it's grown when I was here at first
It's only like a couple days a week now. It's every day of the week. There's ladies times. We're trying to do more
There's more regional times. There's more more missions trips than we've ever had more small town soul winning events that we've ever had
We don't want to get less we want to get more and we're an increase that Bible colleges don't plus a lot of kids
They come from a church where they don't do so when they do visitation and they don't want to offend those kids
So they don't want to get up and rip on the importance of soul winning like so when if you want to do that
We have an option over here behind closed door three, but don't don't pressure anybody
Don't make anybody feel uncomfortable. And if you don't want to do it, no problem
Or let's just have a visitation because we don't want to like confront people on soul winning
It's just not the biggest program. They're distracted with other things Bible College will distract from soul winning
They have too much of a mixed culture. They're too focused on the school
They're too worried about all the school activities and they're too worried trying to be like a real university
With programs groups and sports rather than emphasizing soul winning. Look our main program at church is soul winning
Our main program is not Christian Academy. It's not college. It's not the college sports
It's not the college hangout. It's not only things and whatever you give your time focus energy is and become the most important thing for many
churches their most important thing is their college and
Showcasing their students off and getting them to graduate and their little choir and all the other things
No, we want to focus our effort energy money time to soul winning when we have special announcements
What are they about a missions trip that they went to Antigua where they went to st
thomas where they went to nasa we have somebody come up here and talk about the philippines next week
advantage of spending what other churches do here's our graduates here's our kids in college here's the
choir here's what they're doing at their sports activity here's a banquet about the kids they're
emphasizing the school not soul winning and look if you go to a school i would expect for them to
emphasize the school but when you come to church you know we want to emphasize soul winning that's
what we're emphasizing that's what we're promoting that's what we want on the forefront some
institution has to put soul winning at the front you go to a restaurant what are they making
priority food i mean do you really want to go to restaurant and they're putting all their effort
and energy into education hey we go to this restaurant well we want to teach you some stuff
we put our chefs back there they're actually learning how to educate they're not learning how
to cook i don't know i want to go to a restaurant where they're focused on making quality food i
want to go to a furniture store where they're focused on making furniture i worked for a bank
and they put all this money and effort and making software and i'm thinking like you're a bank
you're not a software company you know let's let the software companies make software let's let the
banks worry about managing money let's let the restaurant worry about making food and let's let
colleges worry about education and let's let the church worry about soul winning about soul winning
it is the primary thing go to titus chapter 2 go to titus chapter 2 you're pretty close
fourth problem i have is it zaps the zeal of many youth bible college zaps the zeal of many
youth i've seen a lot of young men on fire zealous and ready to make bold stands and then by the end
of bible college they're a different person you say why how in the world could you take a red hot
17 or 18 year old man and then at 22 he's kind of weak and soft you want let me explain it to you
it's really simple he went to bible college and had a bunch of women teach him he had a bunch of
of women professors. You know what? You're not going to have a bunch of women produce a bunch of
red hot fiery preachers, especially not the women in Bible college. You might have a mama bear,
right? You might have a Proverbs 31 woman teaching her son Lemuel at home. But let me tell you
something, it's not going to be the women in Bible college, those, because they're trying to be like
a man and they're a soft version of a man. They're a weak version of a man. You know what produces
effeminate men? Women teachers. Women teachers. Because they're soft, because they're feminine,
because they're a woman. I don't want to send my son to Bible college to learn how to be a
God-fearing fiery preacher from a woman. And you know why they have to have that? Because most men
actually have a career and a job and are trying to make serious money. So who do they need? They
need people that they can use and pay a low wage that need to do on the side. That's usually women.
And so there's getting older women to come in, some bitty, to come in and just teach them how
to be basically a watered down, weak, soft guy. And it's zapping the zeal. You know, the Bible
says in Galatians, "They zealously affect you, but not well." And of course that's about a different
context, but you can be zealously affected, not well. It's a good thing to be zealously affected
always in a good thing. But look at Titus 2 verse 14, "Who gave himself for us that he might redeem
us from all iniquity and purifying himself of peculiar people." Zealous of good works. I want
the youth to stay zealous and red hot and fiery. And let me tell you something, it's not coming out
of Bible college. Their enrollment trumps all of their standards. They're not going to take bold
stands. They're not going to go and let the school be threatened. It's going to be a safe space.
Let me tell you something, colleges, even Bible colleges today, are worried about having a safe
space for the children. Let me tell you something, Steadfast is not a safe space. It's a dangerous
place. I mean there's protesters. You don't even know what's going to be preached. You have no idea
except for you know it's going to be Bible. But let me tell you something, the Bible scares people.
They get nervous when the preacher or the prophet comes into town because he could say anything in
that book and it's gnarly. And let me tell you something, this isn't a safe space. That's what
actually produces strong men. Not going to Planet Fitness, going to Strouds or whatever, right? Yeah.
Going to a real gym where you actually have to grip. You have to actually pick up the free weights.
It's not on a lever system where you can just click a bunch of buttons and then just it helps
lift it. There's a pull-up bar and there's nothing underneath to hold you up. You actually have to
be able to do a pull-up to even start doing the pull-ups. And let me tell you something, when we
talk about church, this is a church where you have to come already having to have to do some pull-ups.
You pretty much already have to hate fags even show up. That's a pull-up. That's one pull-up,
okay? Second pull-up is you already are against Zionism. And I'm just telling you, if you can't
do one of those, you won't even be able to start. You'll show up and you just kind of grab the bar
and just kind of hang in this and then fall. And they're like, I need to go to Planet Fitness
Bible College. Where we have, is there a counselor? There is no counselor here. I'm the counselor.
If you got offended by me, I'm the one to console you. Sorry. You're like, I don't like how Pastor
Shelley preaches. Who do I get to talk to? Pastor Shelley. Brother Tanner is not the person to
complain to. My wife's not the person to complain to. In fact, honestly, if you ask my wife,
she'll be harsh with me. When I hear what's the advice that she gives, I'm thinking like,
"All right," you know. I was like, "Dang." I'm like, "Did they ask you another question
after that?" "No." Yeah, I get it, all right. Good act, chapter 17. There's no soft guidance
counselor here to try and help ease your little pains and your little woes and whatever. No, no,
no. Go to Bible college and you'll have some lady there to try and tell you why what the Bible said
didn't really mean it and why you're an exception to what the Bible said and why we, you know,
we might have, we said that but we were just riling up the base. The preacher didn't really
mean what he said. No, no, I really mean what I say. Obviously, I can exaggerate and sometimes
I can be a little over the top. You know what? The Bible exaggerates. I mean, Paul said he's the
chief of sinners. That wasn't literal. That was him using hyperbole, okay? Some people get really
nitpicky with preaching. If you do that to the Bible, you're going to find mistake because the
Bible constantly uses hyperbole and exaggeration. Seventy times seven. It's not literally 490 times,
folks. It's just an expression. Jesus is constantly using expression. It's where people
just miss the whole point. It's like, oh, what about if you confess with your mouth and believe
with your heart? What about the guy that doesn't have a mouth? It's an expression. Quit trying to
twist the Bible into something that wasn't real. It's like, well, Pastor Shelley said 20 was
really 18. It doesn't matter, okay? You're missing the whole point. And people just need a safe space
today for weak minds. Weak minds. And you know what? This is not this place. Here's a fifth
problem I have with Bible colleges is not legit careers. Now, look at Acts chapter 17, verse 21
for a second, and this is kind of a parenthetical statement. But if you notice about the Athenians
and the strangers, it says that they spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to
hear some new thing. Let me tell you something. Just because you're learning something at Bible
college doesn't mean it's beneficial information. Yeah, the Greeks loved to just go and just chat
all day. And look, a lot of colleges, it's just you go around, you just chat, and you just chat
with the professor, and you just chat, and we're just learning stuff. You know, that doesn't mean
it's beneficial to you. You could just go to school and you just learn about World War II.
That doesn't necessarily help you. You could just go and learn Erasmian Greek. It's not necessarily
going to help you. You could learn all kinds of things. You could learn about the historical
context. Let me tell you what it was like in the days of the Jews. And you're like, I'm learning so
much information. It doesn't help you. What was the point of college here? Oh yeah, getting a job.
Not all information gets you a job. Not all information gets you a job. Well, I learned
this click language. Well, great, but that doesn't help you get a job. That doesn't help you in the
practical world. You know what? Just because you're learning stuff doesn't mean it's good.
There's an opportunity cost to your time, and you need to be careful what information you're
learning. Is it good information? The Bible says, "Happy is the man that finds his wisdom."
I find that a lot of Bible colleges, there's kids that are spending four years to become a
pastor, but that's not a career that they're necessarily even going to have. And then they
just wasted four years. There are women going to Bible college to get a career and being a secretary.
I'm not, I'm not like saying this as like a joke. It's real. There is real Bible colleges where
you can get a four-year degree in being a secretary. Like is there like answering the
phone 101? You know, pick it up. Hello? I mean, here's how you write on a piece of paper, a note.
Here's how you type on a keyboard. I mean, there's typing classes, okay? I mean, what, I mean,
I'm just trying to be honest, like how much formal education do you need to be a secretary?
And look, I'm not saying that there isn't a little bit of benefit, but do you really
need to spend $10,000 going to a Bible college for four years? Do you really want to send your
daughter to school to learn to be a secretary? And you know what? I just personally think we
should eliminate 18 to 20-year-old secretaries at churches. I mean, if you have a male pastorate,
probably the worst person to be his secretary is a young, attractive 20-year-old woman.
Like if I were to say, like, what is probably the most distracting person to be a secretary?
How about a 20-year-old graduate from college? Female. Yeah, that's probably bad. You know,
in fact, most preachers would say, like, if you get a woman secretary, she should be your grandma.
And I'm thinking, like, if you had to have a female, that's probably the best option.
But you could have a male assistant. You could have male assistant pastors, male deacons. We see
in the Bible they didn't hire a bunch of 18-year-old girls to help in the church. They hired men like
Stephen. And you know what? You'll get a lot more work done when you're working around men than women
anyways, folks. I'm just sorry. Sorry to say it. You know, why don't we just eliminate that position?
Not a legit career. Why would I? I'm not going to send my daughter to school to learn to be a
secretary. Are you kidding me? She could be my personal assistant. She'll learn way more, all
right? For the sake of time, I'm not going to go to this other verse, but number six, it takes the
money from our youth. You know what the last thing we need to do is make our youth have even less
money. We live in such a debt society where they're behind the ball, inflation's so high.
What's like one of the worst things I could do is put them in debt or take all the money, the
little bit of money they already have. You know what young people need is some extra money. You
know what makes money? Money. You want to know why rich people stay rich? Because it takes money to
make money. When you have money, it's easy to make money. It's just easy. You can literally just put,
if you just have like millions of dollars, you could just put it in the bank and get 5% interest
on your money and do nothing and just make a couple hundred thousand dollars a year doing nothing.
Literally. Or you could just invest in stuff and you just make a bunch of money. The reason why
people have money is because they have money. It's a sad reality. So if you want your children
to have money or be well off financially, the worst thing you could do is say, "Oh, can I take
the two nickels that you have? Can I take the little five thousand dollars you have?" I mean,
you worked for four years mowing lawns when you were 14, 15, 16, 17. Let me take all of that
lunch money you had just to sell you the ministry. It doesn't make sense. You know,
the parents are not supposed to take the money from the kids. The parents are supposed to lay
out for the children. The children are not supposed to lay out for the parents, but the
parents for the children. You know what? I don't want my children to be in debt after they leave
my household or have to pay their way to get a job. You know, I'd like to help them. And if
you're spending money, if you're spending money for a career that is not a very clear, high-paying
career, don't do it. Do not do it. I do not believe in it. I think it's a bad move. I think that
there are some programs that you might have to spend money for education to get a better career,
and I'm not against that. But it should be really clear and really specific, and you better work
really hard to get there fast. You know, there's certain trade schools, there's certain code camps
and similar like activities, and there are specialized careers like being a doctor or lawyer
that made sense to go to college. In times past, it was pretty much you go to college to be a doctor
or lawyer. You know why? Because when you graduate you make millions of dollars. So it can make sense
to get a hundred thousand dollars in debt if day one you're going to make half a million or a million
dollars. You know, it does not make sense to go two hundred thousand dollars in debt because you
went to an Ivy League school or Division One school to go out and have a general studies degree
where you're going to have to get a sales job or you're going to have to get some job that you
didn't even need the degree for in the first place. Doesn't make sense. Don't do it. Okay,
not worth it. So I want to provide some alternatives here. Here's my alternatives for men.
Number one, instead of the ministry, paying for the ministry, the ministry not being for sale,
this is what young men should do. And I'm talking about 17 to 22 or whatever the college age, right?
What should you men do? You should serve in your local church. You should not worry about being a
pastor until you're married with two kids. I have people email me, will you train me to be a pastor?
They're 17, not married, of course, not married, no kids. I'm like, no, get married and then have
kids and then tell me if you're still interested in pastoring, okay? Don't even ask me about it
because I'm not interested. Read your Bible. When your pastor asks you to step up, take every
opportunity. Train from the best. Train from the best. Go find Elijah and follow him. Go find Jesus
and follow him. Go find Paul and follow them. That's what you should do if you want to be in
the ministry. Come to church three times a week. Take notes. Work on sermons all the time. Preach
at church. Go soul winning. If you want more opportunities preaching, preach in a nursing
home. Preach in a prison ministry. Preach in preaching class. And hey, you say I don't get
that many opportunities. Well then would you do? It better be an awesome sermon because you've had
months to write it. I mean if you have three months to write a five-minute sermon, shouldn't
it be a pretty good sermon? And let me tell you something, when you've had three months and we
haven't heard you speak and you have a five-minute sermon and it seems like you threw it together
last minute and didn't really try hard, boy am I going to give you an extended opportunity? No.
Let me tell you something, when I showed up at church as a young man, I had a sermon in hand.
I had a sermon in hand. I was ready to preach. I didn't know the pastor would ever ask me to
preach. I just had a sermon ready. I'm ready to go. When I guest visit, I have a sermon I
could preach right then. If I walk into a church and the pastor said, "Hey, would you preach?" I'd
say yes, and I'd have a sermon in hand. Not because I'm expecting that. I don't expect it.
I expect to just sit down, shut up, and learn, but I'm ready. And there's a prepared place for a
prepared person. I'm not even kidding. One day, I went to church, and the pastor just literally,
at the end of his sermon, just says, "John and Achille is going to preach tonight." I was just
like, "Oh, okay." It's weird. But you know what? I had already written a sermon. I was ready. I
wasn't sitting here like, "Oh no, what am I going to do?" I'm like, "I'm ready to go. Let's go."
Hey, prepare yourself. Maybe an opportunity to open. Dress nice. Dress like a man. Read books.
Memorize scripture. Learn a foreign language with the most soul-winning opportunities.
Here's the list of languages you should learn in order. English. You say, "I already speak
English." Well, you better learn it, too. Spanish. French. Those are the order. Why? Because they're
the most soul-winning opportunity. If you want to learn Greek, Hebrew, or other major languages,
that's great, too. But I'm just saying, from a priority perspective, that's what I would do.
When it comes to Timothy and Paul, it says, "But you know the proof of him that as a son with a
father, he has served me in the gospel." The picture of ministry is finding someone to just serve.
It's not going and paying to go to some institution where some lady's going to teach you
the Bible, okay? Number two, when it comes to watered down preaching,
instead of going to Bible college and getting watered down preaching, you should go to the
best church in your area, period. Not where the Bible college is, where the best preaching is.
And you should listen to challenging preaching. And if you feel like it's inadequate,
you should move to the best church you can go to, period. Go to just the best church, period.
Why not? We only have one life to live. Why would I? I mean, people want to go to the best school.
People want to go to the best hospital to work at. People want to go and train with the the greatest
athlete. Why would we not say, "Hey, in Christianity, go to the best church. Go where the best preaching
is. Not just where the biggest school is. The best preaching." Don't compromise on doctrine
if you don't have to. If you're in an area and it's the best church and there's a little bit
of compromise, you just go, sit down, shut up, and learn. But if you don't have to compromise,
never compromise on doctrine. Go to a church for the preaching. Go to church for the preaching.
Don't go to church for the friends. Don't go to church for the proximity to where you live.
Don't go to church for the music program. Don't go to church because that's where your family goes.
Don't go to church because you're friends with the pastor. Go to church for the preaching.
Go to church for the preaching period. Here's number three. Instead of going to Bible college
that distracts from soul winning, you should go to a church where your challenge is to do more
soul winning than you already were doing. Ask anybody that came here if they were challenged
to do more soul winning or less when they showed up. If they felt like, "Hey, I feel like I'm doing
too much." Or if they're like, "Hey, I started doing more." Go to Bible college. I guarantee many
people go to Bible college and they start doing less soul winning than they were before. Like the
soul winners that were plugged into churches, they'll go to Bible college and they'll be busy
with books, studying, girls, whatever, and they'll do less soul winning. Go to a church that challenges
you to do more soul winning. Number four. Instead of going to Bible college where it zaps your seal,
go to a church where you're going to be challenged, where you're going to be around people that are
actually more zealous than you. People that are fired up for the things of God and hang out with
those people, rub shoulders with them. Instead of going to Bible college and not getting a legit
career, get a job. I mean, just get a job and get experience and have a career minded focus. Think
of the job that you want and work at getting that job, whether you can get it right now or not.
Just think, here's a job that I want. I want to be a plumber. I want to be an electrician. I want
to be a programmer. I want to be an accountant. I want to be a lawyer. I want to be a doctor. I
want to be whatever, whatever it is that you want to be. Just figure out, I want to do this, and then
I'm going to get there. That's what you need to do. You need to be career minded as a young man.
If you're 17, figure out something you're going to do and do it. Review applications for the
requirements of that job. Say, okay, I want to be, just figure out what it is. General contractor,
electrician, whatever. Go read about the job that you want. Just go find a job online, find the job
you want. Say, hey, here's a senior electrician, master electrician. They're paying 150,000 dollars.
I want this job. And then look at requirements. It says 10 years experience, this certification,
working here. And then you say, okay, I'm going to do everything on this checklist. It's now your
checklist to get that job. Find a job you want right now. Look at the requirements and get that
job. And whenever you get that job, say, I want a job higher than this. Go look at that job
requirements. Get those requirements and do it. Hey, you say, I want to be a business owner. Okay,
look at the requirements to be that business owner. Meet that checklist. Do that work. As a young
man, instead of just going to college aimlessly, like, I don't even know what I want to do. I'm
just taking this class on underwater basket weaving. I'm taking this class on Jewish philosophy. I'm
taking this class on what the historical context was of Galatians. Who cares? You're just learning
stuff in vain. Network with people in the industry you're going to work in. You say, hey, I want to
be a contractor. Find a contractor and go talk to them. Find people in this church or people around
or neighbors or friends or whatever that are successful in that industry and say, I want your
job. How do I get it? And network with those people. Talk to those people. You say, it's all
in who you know. Well, then go know them. Talk to companies you want to work for. Say, hey, I'm 17.
I saw this job of being a senior in your company. I want that job. Where do I start? And many times
they'll say, great, we'll put you at this low level. You work a couple of years. We'll keep moving
you up. You're successful. We'll put you in that job eventually. Go find the job you want. Go talk
to those companies. Go talk to those people. And then whatever education you need for that job,
get it right now. Don't waste money on this college stuff. It's a joke. This is what they really want.
Now, if there's a job that has to have college, then go to college. But go to a college that's
the best college that's going to give you that education that's going to make sense. Number six,
instead of going to Bible college that takes money from the youth, invest your money in real estate
or in a new business. Invest your money in real estate. Look, you could be a young man and already
start buying properties, start buying things. I mean, think about how much money people are
spending on college. A hundred, two hundred thousand dollars on an education? Think if you
put two hundred thousand dollars into real estate. I mean, you could buy two or three properties,
especially if you were working on the side as a plumber or an electrician. You could be buying
houses and fixing them up. I saw a YouTube channel of this guy, him and his wife, they just dedicated
their life to basically just buying a cheap garbage house, fixing it up, and as soon as they
fix it up, sell it, put all their money in the next one, then fix that one up, move and sell it,
and then by the time they're like 30, they have a million dollar property that's super nice.
Why? Because they went through that hard work and that dedication and they had a vision and
they put that money and effort and energy into doing that kind of work. What if that guy just
got a $200,000 debt and now he's just working some $50,000 a year job? They're borrowing against
their own future. It doesn't make sense. Take the money you have, your parents give you, you work
for it, invest it in yourself, invest it in your future. If you want to start a business, invest it
in that. Instead of, I want to make sure, oh I'm on women already. All right, here's my quick women
rundown, all right? For women, the ministry's not for sale. You shouldn't be in it anyways, okay?
You should just be a sole winner. Don't get a secretary degree. Go to conferences. You know why
you know why girls go to Bible college? To get married. Just go to conferences. Go to the
conferences. Always be at church. Always be available. Always be attractive. Just be in public.
Be friendly. If a guy comes to talk to you, talk to him. Be clear to them. If they are interested
in you, just be clear if you're interested or not. Don't play games. It doesn't matter. The games
aren't... No one wants to play the game. If you're not interested, say, "Hey, I'm just not interested.
Thanks. I appreciate it." If you're interested, be interested, okay? And you know, as men, when
you confront young ladies, make it clear what you want to do. Don't put the ball in their court.
Don't say, "Hey, if you want to ever hang out with me, let me know." Wrong. I am taking you
to lunch at 12. Now, maybe ask your father first before, you know, don't get too aggressive, okay?
But I'm just saying, like, have a plan. Don't just, you know, don't just throw, throw up there.
If you kind of like me, will you let me know on Instagram? Don't do that. Just say, "Hey,
what's your name? I like you. I would like to take you to lunch. Could you go to lunch today?"
No. Next week. No. Okay. You have like eight backups. I don't know. It's just like,
"I'm free Monday." What about Monday? No. Tuesday? No. Wednesday? No. Thursday? Yes. Okay.
You just wore down, all right? I mean, it's just like, hey, just don't take no for an answer.
Be ready, right? And if you're a lady, don't go to the Bible college because you're getting
the weak, watered-down guys anyways, okay? Don't go to a church where there's watered-down preaching.
You know why? Because that's not the men you want to be around. You want men that are tough.
You want men that can handle you. You want men that don't need a counselor because of the woman
preacher or the woman professor. You want to be around men that are going to lead. You want
to be around men that are not intimidated easily. You want to be around men that see your value.
You want men that are going to take marriage serious. You want to go to a church where they're
saying never divorce, period. You want to go to a church where the preacher's getting up and
screaming, "You need to provide for your spouse." You need to go to a church where the guy's
encouraging men to be strong and not weak and not soft. They're going to take marriage serious
and that are going to be challenged. You want to go to a church like that because you want someone
to tell your husband what to do. Not you. You need the pastor to tell your husband what to do.
You need the word of God to tell your husband what to do. And if you're going to these weak,
soft, watered-down churches, you know what? They have to tell their husbands what to do
because no one else will tell them what to do. You should be appreciative of a guy getting up
and ripping on your husband every once in a while. Go to that church. You don't want to go to Bible
college to distract some soul-winning ladies. You want to go to a church that increases soul-winning.
You know, Philip the Evangelist had four daughters which did prophesy, four virgins that prophesied.
The Bible says in Philippians, Paul praised the women which labored with him in the gospel.
Don't go to a church that zaps your zeal. Go to a church where you're pressured to dress godly.
Not where it's like, well, pants, women pants. Stupid. Go to a church where you're encouraged
to be a wife, not a pastor's wife. Men, if you go to talk to one of these girls and she says like,
"I'm called to be a pastor's wife," run away. You do not want one of those. You want a wife.
You do not want a pastor's wife. She will tell you what to do for the rest of your life.
And the reason why you don't fight, you know why? I do think there are couples that don't fight.
You want to know the couples that don't fight? The ones where the husband never tells his wife
to do anything. That's the only way to not fight. There's only one way to not fight in marriage.
It's because the husband never corrects his wife, period. The wife is the one constantly
correcting her husband. That is the only way to not fight and he's just holding it in and he's
soft and weak and effeminate and not a good example. Don't go to a church where you're
encouraged to be a career woman, be encouraged to be a mother. I don't know, like one where it's an
expecting ladies list constantly. Go to a church where you're not encouraged to be a busybody and
a gossip, like the pastor's wife. Go to a church where you're encouraged to not gossip. Go to a
church where if you go try to gossip to the pastor's wife she'll give you a bad look. Go to a church
where the pastor's wife is a good example of a soul winner, a mother, a wife, and serious.
And let me tell you something about my wife. She is a soul winner. She is an excellent mother.
She is the best wife. And let me tell you something, she is extremely serious.
She is sober. She is not playing games. She doesn't like the women drama. She doesn't like
immaturity. She is not about that. And let me tell you something, that's the type of pastor's wife
you want to see is one that's a soul winner, a wife, a mother, and serious. Not constantly trying
to be a slanderer, busybody, online, having her ministry and trying to gently lead all the ladies.
You don't want that. You want her to be educated. And look, my wife is extremely educated. My wife
is extremely smart. She knows her Bible. In fact, I had her take my pastor's test and she did better
than I would say like 80% of the men that take my test. That's sad. You should beat my wife, okay?
But it's tough because she knows her Bible. You know what? She knows a lot of the Bible. She's
really smart and she's not involving herself in other people's lives. You know, some people think
that the pastor's wife should be like everyone's friend, but that's how you become a busybody in
the gossip. You'll notice my wife's not like trying to get into your life. She doesn't care.
She's about, you know what she's about? Soul winning. You know she's about being my wife.
You know she's about being a mother. You know she's about being serious. She doesn't need to
be gal paling with everybody. Don't expect to be friends with everybody and with every lady.
Ladies need to be friends with their husbands all right. Make women focus on their family. Isn't
that what it says in Titus about the aged women that they're supposed to love their husband?
And look I'm not against women having friends but let me tell you something. Friends is so far down
on the list. It should not be your top priority. Top priorities? Soul winning, wife, mother. Go to
a church where that's emphasized. Don't go to a bible college where you're emphasized to be a
secretary. Where you're emphasized to be a women's pastor or be a women's guidance counselor or the
women's teacher or the women's professor or the women's... No, no, no. Be a wife and be a mother!
We need more wives and we need more mothers. Have you seen how many single guys are in here?
Someone needs to be available for these guys and they need a lot of options apparently,
okay? Man, we're low on options, okay folks? You know, as a young woman, instead of worrying about
a career and becoming a secretary, become a soul winner, want to be a wife, want to be a mother,
be a help at home, help with kids, maybe babysit if it's the right opportunity, read, date. When
you date, learn about the career the guy you're dating wants to have. You say, well, what if he
doesn't have a career? Stop dating him. Say, oh, you're interested in me? What job do you want to
have? I don't know. Bye. I'm not joking. I am dead serious. Guys that don't know what they want to be,
don't figure it out in many cases. You want a guy that knows what he wants to do. You want a guy
that's ready to take care of you because for the rest of your life you're on his dime. What do you
want to do? I don't know. That's a guy working at Subway when he's 40 years old. You don't want to
be with that guy. Learn about the career he wants to have. Oh it's a career where he's going to be
traveling 90 percent of the time. Don't want that guy. It's a career where he's not going to focus
on church or family. You don't want that guy. It's a career where he's going to surround himself
around a lot of young women. You don't want that guy. Learn about the career of the guy that you're
dating. And if he doesn't have a good career, bye. Date men you want to follow. Date men you
want to follow. That they're a spiritual success, they're career-minded, they're family-minded.
They want kids and they want you to have kids. Learn how to cook, learn how to clean, learn skills,
learn sewing, learn gardening, learn home improvement. There's a lot of things that
you can do. Don't go to college and become a secretary. There's a lot of skills you can
learn as a young woman. Go to Proverbs 5 and we'll finish. Sorry, I went a little long on this,
but look, the youth is important and I don't want to just get up there and say, "Bible College bad."
I want to tell you what's better. And I'm going to tell you this, church is going to stay church
here. We're church first and second, third, fourth, and fifth, all right? We're not interested in
becoming a school. I'm not interested in babysitting your kids. I'm not interested in taking your youth's
money. I'm not interested in trying to get everybody married. That's the conference, okay? Just
show up at the conferences. Show up every time. Look, you'd be surprised how many times just a random
young single person would just show up at church and people miss out on it. I can't even count how
many times a young single lady just shows up at church and none of the single guys talk to her.
I'm sitting here like someone's bringing her to talk to me and I'm like, "I don't need to talk to
her. Where's the single guys at?" And they're all hiding over here talking about Dungeons and Dragons
or something that they're going to play later. They're over here in their little mini chess club
or something. They're over here talking like, "What would it be like if we talked to a girl?"
Don't be like that. Find out. Just go talk to her. And let me tell you something, the Bible
colleges actually prevents people from getting married younger. A lot of people say we have to
wait until we graduate to get married. Bad idea for some people. Not all, some. Look, if you're
already super interested and you're 17, why wait four years to get married? If you're 18, 19,
and you're serious, you know, I don't want to tell my kids like, "Let's wait another four years."
That's weird. I don't think it's a good idea. Just get married. What does the Bible say in
Proverbs 5 verse 13? "Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth."
Me and my wife got married like virtually the week or something after we graduated college
because we were waiting. We were waiting for college. But let me tell you something,
I wish we got married sooner. We had started dating seriously when we were 17 and we waited
until we were 21. I think we should got married at 18 if I met the criterion that was on here.
Now, if I wasn't focused on a job or career and I wasn't ready, then yeah, I need to wait to get to
those points. I need to get the approval of her father. And look, I asked both her mother and
father for her hand in marriage. And they said, "Yes." I bought her a really expensive engagement
ring. Men? Hey, we actually planned our wedding. We actually paid for a wedding. We actually went
on a honeymoon. You know what I hate? And I'm just going to be honest with you. This is my
personal opinion. This is what I hate. When single guys come up to me and say, "Hey, we're getting
married." And I say, "Oh, congratulations. When did you propose?" "Well, I didn't." "Where's the
ring?" "I don't know." "Can you throw me a free wedding in a week?" I think that's real special.
That's real special. And look, I'm not against throwing free weddings. We don't need to waste
$20,000 on a wedding, unless you have it. If you have it, go for it. I don't care. But I'm just
saying, like, make it a little special. I mean, you're getting married to this woman for life,
right? Let's put a little bit of effort and energy into it. Let's actually make it seem like you
really want to do it. You know, when you're actually asking their parents permission,
and you're actually buying a nice engagement ring, and you actually proposed and made a serious
public profession of love, your banner over her was love, and you're preparing to invest in this
relationship, it shows a lot. And let me tell you something, people put a lot into getting married
will probably put a lot into their marriage. People that just fly by night. And look, the young ladies
that we're raising are high value ladies. They deserve better than that. They deserve better
than that. And we need to take marriage seriously, and we need to make it great again. Not just
America, marriage, all right? And you know, I'm just, I'm not into Bible college. I think there's
a lot of problems. I'm into us being a red hot fiery church. So again, if you're in Bible college,
you can quit and join steadfast whenever you want. And if it's not steadfast, go to a better church.
Go to the best church that you can possibly go to. If you're trying to become a pastor by paying for
it, stop and get a real job. Don't think that you, because let me tell you something, being a pastor
is a real job, but buying a pastorate is not a real job. That is not legit. You should be called
into the ministry, not purchase your way into the ministry. And you know, this church is not going
to focus on school. It's going to focus on soul winning. That's our S that we're focused on,
soul winning, soul winning, soul winning. Let's go to prayer. Thank you heavenly father so much for our youth.
I pray that as a church, we wouldn't zap their zeal. I pray as a church, we wouldn't take their
money. I pray as a church, we wouldn't hold back information and knowledge from them. I pray as a
church that we wouldn't try to put them down a bad career path. I pray as a church, we wouldn't set
them up for failure. I pray as a church, we wouldn't encourage them to get birth control. I pray as a
church, we wouldn't try to water them down and take away their energy and take away their zeal. I pray
that you would help us as a church to allow the youth to expend their energy into marriage and
to careers and to a successful life. I pray that young people out there that are hearing this sermon
or hearing this message, that they would start making wise decisions for their future. I pray
that you would help our church to not compromise on the truth in any way. And I pray that you would
help us to set a good example for the youth and that we could raise a great generation.
Please help us as we encourage these youths. In Jesus name we pray, amen.