good morning thank you so much for coming to steadfast baptist church if
you'd please find your seat and we're gonna be singing some special songs
today we have some special handouts that you should have gotten as far as with
your bulletin if I don't know if our ushers have those if there's someone
that does not have one or it does not have those will you guys try to get to
them and try to give them some of these we're gonna be singing our first ones
give me oil in my lamp it's a song we sang on Friday night and so we'll be
singing this again also it's got some it's got some motions with it so if you
can do some of the motions that'll be a lot of fun but we're gonna sing give me
oil in my lamp to start our service this morning on the first hit me oil in my
morning thank you heavenly father so much for giving us this opportunity to
have a service and to sing praises unto you for us to celebrate with our
children and with our youth and encourage them to serve the Lord I pray
that you would just bless this conference that you'd bless this day that we would
all try to serve you better and in Jesus name we pray go to our hymn books for
one song Jesus loves me may even just know it by heart 187 in your hymn books
Jesus loves me 187 there on the first announcements this morning and thank you
for joining us we are having this weekend our heritage of the Lord
conference and so sermon Friday morning and this evening is going to be a little
bit more focused on the youth and kind of participating in the services and I
really appreciate everybody who has been coming to our conference so far we had a
great crowd on Friday we also had a spelling bee on Saturday and it went
really well we got to enjoy a lot of fun activities and cookouts thank you so
much to all of our volunteers and people have cooked we had a lot of extra
leftover pizza and hot dogs and stuff from some of our events and so we'll be
setting that out in the fellowship room I don't know that it can necessarily
feed everyone but it is a lot of food and so if you want to stick around after
the service you can help us and we'll try to set out as much food as we have
as a leftover if you'd like to have some of that I will put that in our
fellowship room I also want to just thank all of our volunteers who have
helped us like clean and just pick stuff up and did all kinds of things let's
give them a round of applause because here's the thing I saw what y'all did to
this place before they cleaned okay and so they did a really good job and we
really appreciate you guys and also thanks to Alex for bringing us doughnuts
this morning I'm sure everybody like let's give him a round of applause alright
there we go yeah doughnuts everybody likes the guy that brings doughnuts okay
so that's if you need a tip in life that's how you get people to like you
alright also today we have a normal service schedule so we are still just
having a regular soul winning from two to four and we have the evening service
I'll be preaching that at 430 as well but we are continuing our conference and
our theme today we also are doing an a lab and elongated announcements because
I'm going to be doing some Bible drill and sword drills with our kids for this
morning's service but I want to get through our bulletin quickly on the
inside we have the service times and we notice if Sunday morning Sunday evening
also Wednesday evening Wednesdays we've been going through the book of
Ecclesiastes and I just want to make one note this Wednesday I'm not going to be
preaching on Ecclesiastes and there's been a lot of drama that has been going
on with our church another church and all this stuff I don't want to dress
that because we're having a kids conference and we're having a lot of fun
so I'm going to be addressing that Wednesday but I will say this if you're
even kind of nervous don't even show up because it will not be a gracious
sermon at all and I will be addressing things with the raw truth and that's my
fair warning all right all right so let's go ahead and keep with
announcements there is soul winning that meets here at two for four we have
regional soul winning down below there's church stats and then on the right there
is the expecting ladies also we have a prayer list please be in prayer for a
church we have several people that we can be in prayer for down below we have
some upcoming events there's a false swap and actually miss Alicia Naeem is
the one that's helping us with that and so if you have any questions you need
some details she would be a great person to ask and wants to help with that
October 31st is our Texas chili cook-off and that is of course no beans it's not
just no beans there's no fillers I think people don't understand like Texas
chili cook-off it's about the the sauce and the the meat it's not about what
fillers you can put in there that's why beans aren't allowed just like we don't
put works in our salvation folks okay and look there's nothing wrong with works
we just don't put it in our salvation people falsely accuse me all the time
like not liking beans and I'm just like I like beans I love beans I have my dad
grew up eating only pinto beans and then he would just make me pinto beans all
the time but I don't put pinto beans in my chili and you know if I get chili
from like Wendy's I just eat around the beans okay you know I'm like you know
let's I like Texas chili okay even when they serve me something else now if you
want to enter the competition you got to show up with your chili before 6 p.m. so
you got to try and get it here before then so we can get all the samples
ready we'll get a few judges and they'll be winners and losers that's how
competitions work okay there's no there's no participation trophy because
it's not a kids conference all right and but at the same time we'll be trying to
eat too so you can show up enjoy have some chili play games and we can just
fellowship together I can't what night is that of the week it's a Thursday okay
so it's a Thursday so we're still having Wednesday service but we'll just have a
Thursday fellowship so you're welcome to join us for that November 16th is the
Miami soul winning marathon if you'd like to participate with us in that and
I think that's really all I have as far as bulletin announcements but what I'm
gonna do is I'm gonna do two different games with the kids first I'm gonna do a
trivia and then we're gonna do a sword drill okay I also have this but if you
if you kids get it a question right you can come down and you can pick a prize
in our trivia questions you only get one after you've won you can't win again in
that round if you in the Bible drift I'm sorry drills section you could if you
win twice you get a piece of candy so I'm gonna ask some questions this is for
age group specifically though okay so the first group that I'm gonna do is
eight years old and under so who's eight and under that's you guys okay so
whenever I ask the question you're gonna try and raise your hand real high and
I'm gonna call on you and you have to answer the question correctly okay but
y'all can put your hands down all right pastor Shelley says all right there you
go you can put your hands down I'll try my best to pick on the guy that puts
their hand up first but I'm not always perfect on that okay so you can try to
help me but I'm gonna ask the question as soon as you know the answer you're
gonna lift your hand up and I'll call on you if you know what it is okay how many
people were crucified with Jesus are you eight mmm come on down good job all
right you can pick whatever you want here's second question for eight and
under all right who were the ten commandments given to come on down good
job who betrayed Jesus for money BAM got it come on down what did God do with
Adam's rib BAM nailed it we had she had to know that okay it's inside all right
built in what color was the sea that God parted BAM nailed it come on down good
job all right so now we're gonna move up the age to 13 and under so if you're
eight and under you can still answer the question but now we're letting the
13 year olds the 13 and under all right all right making sure what did Jesus use
to drive people out of the temple BAM come on down
baptize Jesus yeah I'm going down but it wasn't just John it was John the
Baptist folks okay not the Methodist all right or the Catholic what is the
longest chapter in the Bible which chapter all right I'm gonna have to ask
someone else even BAM come on down what was the first epistle written by Paul
in chronological order in the Bible what's the first book chronologically in
the Bible written by BAM nailed it I may have said that wrong I meant like in the
order of the Bible not necessarily the time because I don't know the time sorry
you got it right you knew what I meant all right it was the spirit of the law
okay who was David's best friend come on down all right this is 19 and under okay
not so anybody that's that's 19 or under all right you got it who turned into a
pillar of salt no wrong yeah all right come on down I don't know what happened
to Judas's wife but it probably wasn't good all right who committed the first
murder in the Bible come on down who said come with me and see my zeal for
the Lord you already answered G who all right cool in these teenagers revealed
Samson's secret come on down all right one more for the Bible trivia after
Elisha spake how many children were killed by bears nailed it come on down
all right now we're gonna do some sword drills okay so all you kids need to have
your Bibles and the way this is gonna work is I'm just gonna pick a section in
the Bible a verse in the Bible and when you have it you have to just stand up
once you stand up and I call and you have to read it right away or quote it
right away if you can quote it word perfect it counts just as much as
reading it okay so whenever I say the chapter of the Bible now you have to be
fair because you have to start with your Bible closed okay if you want to do a
real Bible drill you have to start with it closed okay you can hold it out like
this and as soon as they say the verse then you can turn wherever you need to
go all right so we're seeing how quick you are with your sword all right
everybody ready John 3 15 sorry that was 16 you you I tricked you all right here
you go all right come on down good job all right next one but I'm gonna I meant
to do this I want to do this for 8 and under first but that you didn't it's
fine I didn't say that clearly okay 8 and under for these first few ones okay
so if you're 8 and under Romans 10 8 good job alright come on down chapter 1 1
treatise you got it theopolis nailed it good job I'm giving y'all tough words
Genesis 6 6 good job good job good job alright so now we're gonna go we're
gonna go to 13 and under okay so if you're 13 and under you can do this as
well Ephesians 2 9 nailed it not of works this animation both good job judges
20 verse 5 ready go ahead concubine good job good job come on down
Psalm 12 1 fail but good job come on down 2nd Timothy 3 16 you read first 15
that was a good verse but I 16 second great job come on down alright so this
is all teens all right all teens Ecclesiastes 3 1 come on down Genesis
3 16 amen he shall rule over thee first John 4 1 and come on down alright we'll
do two more Revelation 20 10 well you already did come on down one more Romans
128 man come on down all right good job let's give them a round applause
everybody all right good job so we're gonna be singing our third song it's
gonna be in our handouts my God is so great my God is so great and this one's
got some motions with it too so if you can follow along with me on my God is so
great turn your Bibles to 1st John chapter 2 this morning follow along as
it's read 1st John chapter number 2 as the musicians play will pass our offering
plate but please turn your Bibles to 1st John chapter 2 1st John chapter 2 the
Bible reads my little children these things right I unto you that ye sin not
and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the
righteous that he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but
also for the sins of the whole world and hereby we do know that we know him if we
keep his commandments he that saith I know him and keepeth not his
commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoso keepeth his word in
him verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him he
that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked
brethren I write no new commandment under you but an old commandment which
he had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which he have
heard from the beginning again a new commandment I write under you which
thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is past and the true light
now shineth he that saith he is in the light and hated his brother is in
darkness even until now he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and
there is none occasion of stumbling in him but he that hated his brother is in
darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because
that darkness hath blinded his eyes I write under you little children because
your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake I write under you fathers
because he have known him that is from the beginning I write under you young
men because he have overcome the wicked one I write under you little children
because he have known the father I have written under you fathers because he
have known him that is from the beginning I have written under you young
men because he are strong and the word of God abideth in you and he have
overcome the wicked one love not the world neither the things that are in
the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all
that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passeth
away and the lust thereof but he that do it the will of God abideth forever
little children it is the last time and as he have heard that Antichrist shall
come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time
they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they
would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of us but ye have an unction from the Holy
One and you know all things I have not written unto you because ye know not the
truth but because ye know it and that no lie is of the truth who is a liar but he
that denieth that Jesus is the Christ he is anti Christ that denieth the Father
and the Son whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that
acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also let that therefore abide in you
which ye have heard from the beginning if that which ye have heard from the
beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the Son and in the
Father and this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life these
things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you but the
anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any
man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth
and is no lie and even even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him and now
little children abide in him that when he shall when he shall appear we may
have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming if he know that
he is righteous you know that everyone that do with righteousness is born of
him. Man I want to look at verse number 12 again the Bible says I write unto you
little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake and the
Bible again talks to children in a lot of different contexts of the Bible. Now
here it's talking about young children and the fact that they could be saved
because the Bible is describing how their sins are forgiven the only way to
get the forgiveness of sins is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Bible makes it clear that to go to heaven you have to put all of your faith
in what Jesus did for you and even a young child five six seven eight nine
they can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved and the Bible makes
it clear that even young children can understand all of these concepts they
can put their trust in Jesus Christ and myself included when I was five years
old I heard a gospel message week after week in church and I did not want to go
to hell because hell is a scary place it's a place of torment it's a place of
fire it never ends and the only way for you to go there is to put all of your
faith in Jesus Christ okay it's not by being a good person it's not by going
to church it's by deciding that what Jesus did his death burial and
resurrection paid all of your sins and that by believing in him you would be
saved and it is a decision that you have to make your mom can't make that
decision for you your dad can't make that decision for you only you can make
that decision but God also wants to give you the
conference young children that those of you who have believed in Jesus Christ
you are saved and all of your sins have been forgiven you this is important
because as a young child you have not committed the worst sins that you're
gonna commit in your life all the bad sins you're gonna commit in your life
are gonna be in the future kids people do not sin the worst in their life at
ages one two three four and five now some of you parents that only have
little kids you're thinking like I don't know the reality is when children get
saved at a young age we're gonna send worse in the future than we did in the
past but this is what God wants to come for you with your sins are already
forgiven you they've already been forgiven you if you're not saved you
need to ask your mom and dad or ask someone here I want to learn how to
believe in Jesus Christ and what that means and it's an important step my wife
when she was young and forgive me the age I think was seven is that okay she
was seven she asked her mom mom I want to be saved and her mom sat down with
her on the bed and showed her the Bible and showed her how to be saved and
showed her what it meant to believe in Jesus Christ and she called on the name
of the Lord with her mother in the bat in the bedroom and got saved at a young
age and got baptized at a young age I you know prayed and asked Jesus to save
me when I was five and then I went and tried to get my my neighbor saved you
know I don't know that I was successful but you know in my five-year-old mind I
was just trying to my best to tell them and here's the thing young children can
know these things now not every five-year-old not every six-year-old not
every seven-year-old is gonna necessarily have the maturity or the
mental capacity to understand these things and that's okay but many do and
we as parents should come alongside of them and encourage them and show them
what the Bible says and give them an opportunity to genuinely believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ for themselves and you know what I believe in getting people
saved young I believe and letting your young children hear the gospel and
getting saved now of course not just repeating something but actually
understanding the concepts understanding what it means to be saved and you know
what that's what we're gonna be doing this morning is we're gonna be testing
ourselves a little bit on if we can tell if we're saved or unsaved or really
just when someone makes a statement are they saved or unsaved okay or are they
saved or not saved and so the title my sermon this morning is this saved or not
saved okay now I'm gonna need some volunteers in a moment but I'm or at
least one but I I want to just make it clear where we're going go to 1st John
4 for a second look at verse 1 beloved believe not every spirit but try the
spirits whether they have God because many false prophets are gone out of the
world this says you can't trust anybody you can't trust everybody and you know
what children when I was your age I thought that every church that I drove
by was a good church I thought that being Catholic or being Methodist or
being Baptist or being non-denominational or whatever I thought
it was just they did music different you know what those churches are not all
good in fact the Bible teaches that most churches are not good churches and most
churches do not teach salvation by faith in Jesus Christ
okay and so it's important for us to test the spirit meaning we're going to
try people we're going to test them and see is this person really saved what do
they know from the Bible and this is an important concept that we all need to
realize because most preachers are false most churches are false and most churches
do not believe what the Bible says and so you kids are going to help me today
and we're going to test some spirits all right so we're going to try some spirits
this morning I want to go to one more place go to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 go to
the left a little bit in your Bible there's a bunch of T's that run
together there and I want to go to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 Eli you got
this one nailed okay you read it earlier for us 2nd Timothy chapter 3 look at
verse number 15 and that from a child that has known the holy scriptures which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus you know the crazy thing is is there's a lot of young children in our
church that know more about salvation than most preachers out there you know
everybody wants to think you have to go to a cemetery I mean seminary to learn
what the Bible says yet we have five six seven year olds in here that could
school many professors in the Bible that they have better doctrine and you know
what you can be wise unto salvation you can be a young child and know what the
Bible says about salvation and how to be saved and how someone is saved or not
saved you know take your kids out soul winning and they'll start learning wow
most people just aren't saved and they give a lot of bad answers at the door so
here's the thing I need a volunteer that's between the ages of 16 and 19
that wants to help me the entire sermon you're not gonna be sitting alright come
on down I might swap it maybe I'll swap Charlotte I'll swap halfway and you can
do it for me okay that way you're not doing it this is what we're gonna do
I'm gonna give a statement okay and if you can if you know based on the
statement what you think if the person saved or unsaved you're gonna raise your
hand okay if you think that they're saved or unsaved you're gonna raise your
hand you're gonna answer the question if you get the question right you can come
on down and get a piece of candy I'm also gonna give a verse that answers
that question for us okay if you can find that verse you're gonna stand up
and brother Teddy can I call you Teddy is alright alright brother Teddy is
gonna come to you and you're gonna read the verse for the whole church okay so
we're gonna be doing two different things I'm gonna read a statement and
you're gonna tell me do you think that person was saved or unsaved if I agree
with you you can get a piece of candy all right if also I'm gonna give a verse
that I want you to go find and we're gonna read a verse to give us an idea
of whether we think that person was saved or unsaved okay you guys ready
you're gonna play this game early we're gonna try the spirits we're gonna see
if they're saved or not saved so when I'm done making the statement raise your
hand and I'll try to call on you you're gonna tell me if you think this person
saved or unsaved so if you meet someone and this is what they say all religions
go to heaven bam now unsaved all right go to John 14 6 so this is any kid that
gets it first and stands up right here Teddy you got to pay attention it says
unto him I am the way the truth in the life no man cometh unto the father but
by me amen all right you can get a piece of candy too hey brother Teddy I'm gonna
help you here okay I just want you to mute and unmute between readers okay
so it's red is good all right good job and you can go find them they don't have
to necessarily you can come on down or you can come find you okay the second
statement we are saved by works well you already read you already Eli come on
down unsaved you guys are doing pretty good I want you to go to this place in
your Bible Ephesians 2 8 9 come on amen good job these kids are ready God does
not have a son yet on saved that was for sure that's what the that's what the
Muslim will say the Muslim will say that God doesn't have a son now here's a
verse I want us to go to second John 9 here here wait let him however
transgressive and abide if not in the doctrine of Christ have not God he that
abide if in the doctrine of Christ he have both the father and the son amen so
notice of the Bible it says that the doctrine of Christ includes both the
father and the son you can't have one without the other because without a son
don't really have a father that a father you don't have a son and so this is a
very important concept and you know to be saved you have to believe on the Son
of God and it demonstrates the love that God has toward us that he'd be willing
to sacrifice his own son if Jesus wasn't his son then it's not really that big of
a sacrifice is it being willing to sacrifice his son is the essence of the
gospel and we we go out and we talk to people if they're mixed up on the Sun on
the on the father on these concepts you know the Bible says they're just not
saved because they abide not in the doctrine of Christ notice what it said
in verse 9 they hath not God it doesn't say like they're just a little screwed
up now again these are important concepts because there's some things you
can be screwed up on the Bible and you're still saved of course many people
don't know a lot of things in the Bible many people don't know the stories many
people are confused on standards many people are confused on a lot of stuff you
know what there's some things that are what we call salvific doctrine or their
doctrines about salvation they're about what it means to be saved and if someone
is transgressing in that doctrine they're believing false doctrine then we
have to question if they're even saved and the Bible is really clear this
person hath not God here's my next statement salvation is a free gift saved
save save save all right come on down so this is the verse I want you to go to
Romans 5 18 there as what there as by the offense of one judgment came upon
all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto just justification of life amen good job you know I really
like this verse and the other ones in Romans because if you'll notice in verse
number 15 it says but not as the offense so also is the free gift for if through
the offense of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by
grace which is by one man Jesus Christ had the bound on a mini so you have in
verse 15 of Romans 5 the Bible telling us that salvation is a free gift it
says in verse 16 and not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the
judgment was by one deconimation but the free gift is of many offenses under
justification notice the Bible says in verse 15 it's a free gift notice in
verse 16 it says it's a free gift and then if you just skip down to verse 18
what does it say therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all
men deconimation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life what an important verse in the Bible I
mean this verse is just so clear to destroy so many false doctrines the
Bible is crystal clear that it's the righteousness of one meaning what you're
not righteous there's none righteous no not one we're not good enough we cannot
enter into heaven by our righteousness because no one else has righteousness
it was salvation is by the righteousness of one it's not by our works it's not
by how good we are and notice the Bible is crystal clear that it's a free gift by
the righteousness of one the free gift and notice it also says came upon all men
meaning what we're not Calvinists here folks meaning that salvation is offered
to every single person and it's offered to every single person as a free gift
and it's offered to every single person only through the righteousness of Jesus
Christ so the Bible is crystal clear that children we will never be good
enough to go to heaven on our own it's not about being good to go to heaven
now you need to be good just not to go to heaven and the thing is is we all
make mistakes we all sin and we all will sin until we die but remember little
children your sins are forgiven you and Jesus Christ offers us the free gift in
verse 15 is free and verse 16 it's free and verse 18 it's free and this is the
eternal word of God because it's always been free to us why because of our
invite it says Jesus paid it all right on the front doesn't it what does that
mean it's free to me it's free to me what a great blessing that we have in
the Bible let's go to my next statement here we are justified by faith come on
down all right this is the verse I want you to go to Galatians 2 16 knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law but but by faith Jesus Christ
even we believe in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ
and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law should no flesh be
justified amen good job and look these are great verses to just have in your in
your memory that you know off the top of your head when you're going soul winning
that when people start bucking and people start getting you know
controversial or arguing or not sure hey let's just go to another verse that's
really clear on this you know this is not a verse that I typically show in my
soul winning but it's another verse that I could have in my arsenal that if I
just need another one I'll just go another verse and this is a tip that I
give is that if I'm kind of been talking with someone for a while and I'm not
really making much progress but I haven't really showed them a verse in a
while just go to another verse because you know faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God and so what really is gonna be compelling is not
really our logic all the time it's just another verse and just another statement
coming from the Bible and here's just another great verse I mean this is a
long verse it's really detailed and I like the first word because let's be
honest if we talk to people that are not saved they always say no one can know
they always say no one can be sure but what does it say knowing hey we know
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of
Jesus Christ even meaning specifically we have believed in Jesus Christ that we
might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified no one will get to
heaven based on what they did you either go to heaven because you believed in
Jesus or unfortunately you go to hell it's that simple and you know what
being raised in a great church won't save you having great parents won't
save you going out soul winning won't save you getting baptized won't save
you the only thing that will save you is by one time putting your faith in
Jesus Christ saying you know what I believe Jesus died on the cross and he
paid all my sins not just today not just yesterday but my entire life and I'm
gonna ask him to give me salvation as a free gift and you put your faith in him
and then you're saved and you know what the Bible says you can be wise under
this because how many how many how many verses we already gone through let's
do another one here's another statement we are sealed with the Holy Ghost come
on down we're making some good soul winners here here's the verse I want to
go to Ephesians 1 13 here wait wait for a teddy to come over here so trusted
after that he heard the word of the truth the gospel of your salvation and
whom also after that he believed he were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
amen good job you can come get a piece of candy if you want so the Bible says in
whom he also trusted notice that this is something that happened in the past
salvation is a past tense event it's not an ongoing process it's not something
we have to do every day we don't have to pray every single day and you know when
I was little I went to some bad churches and I felt this pressure to get saved
every single week and the reality is you don't have to get saved every week you
get saved once it's a one-time decision to believe in Jesus Christ and then we
can know that we have eternal life and one of the things that God does for us
when we believe in Jesus Christ according to the Bible says after that
you've heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and him also
after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise the
Bible says the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of us when we get saved and
that's a special thing because children when you read the Bible the Holy Spirit
is inside of you and he can help you to understand what the words of the Bible
mean you know it's you don't have to have somebody else to teach you but it
is important still ask your parents it's still important to ask other people that
are saved it's important to listen to your pastor it's important to listen to
preachers and also it's important to really listen though to the Holy Spirit
because people can be wrong but the Holy Spirit will never be wrong he'll guide
you into all truth and you've been sealed with him he'll never leave thee
nor forsake thee and so you know what you children you need to read your Bible
tomorrow on your own you need to get go go by yourself somewhere and just open
the Bible and read it and if you don't understand something you know you can
pray and you can ask God for the Holy Spirit to help you understand that
passage and you know what there's been plenty of paces in the Bible that I did
not understand and then I prayed and then I read it again and I didn't
understand and then I prayed and I asked and I didn't understand and I did this a
lot and then later at some point it's like the Holy Spirit just turned on the
lights and now I understood that passage and you know that's the cool thing about
the Bible is it will probably well just for a fact we'll never understand all of
it and so when the parts we get to the Bible that we don't quite understand we
need to constantly pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us and you know we're
sealed with him he'll never leave us nor forsake us we're destined for heaven
once we have the Holy Spirit here's the next statement I want to make faith
without works is dead and not saving faith unsaved yeah there you go that's
that's a triggering triggering word for me here's what I want you to go to the
Bible Romans 4 5 to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness amen the Bible makes it
clear that salvation is literally no works whatsoever to such an extreme that
if someone believed in Jesus and did nothing for him they would still go to
heaven and you know as aggressive as our soul winning is I wouldn't be
surprised if there's a few people in heaven that we've gotten saved like that
you know I mean we're going out there I mean just think about it there's plenty
of people that get saved and they really just they're just like thanks and then
it's just like I'm just close the door it's like you never see them again you
probably never gonna see them again but you know what they got saved and you
know people get all mad at us like ah well where are all the people that you're
getting saved I don't know you know I don't even know where you're at okay I'm
not following you around what do you want CCTV I mean I don't like Big Brother
wondering where I'm going all the time you know it's like I would way rather
believe my doctrine than yours because at least my doctrine there's gonna be a
lot more people in heaven your doctrine it's like the the frozen chosen over
there or something right I mean think about it it's like yours if this soul
winning doesn't work and not even most of the people coming to church are
saved wow that's just really sad you know I'd rather believe that when I go
out and I offer someone a free gift that it's actually free you know I mean if
it's a free gift don't you think at least one person just took the free gift
and didn't really do anything about it but you know a lot of people they just
they're too prideful to believe what the Bible says and you know why they're
prideful because they're lazy because they don't want to go out and preach the
gospel they don't want to get people saved and you know what when you go
into the ghetto and you preach to someone you get them saved and then you
never see them again well no one's gonna ever congratulate you no one's
gonna there's not like there's not like this thing on our arm that like this
like tattoo that like ticks up every time you get someone saved it's like a
movie like this where you have like a timer on your wrist or something it's
like it's not like oh I got another one saving I'd be like hey look man it's
not like I'm getting teardrops tattooed on my face or something you know like
crosses or something or an alpha and Omega okay it's not like I'm getting
that tattooed on me and so you can know like all this guy guys if you like you
could run into somebody you have no idea if they're a soul winner if they've
gotten anybody saved whatever you know what I walk by faith not by sight
anyways you know I'm not and I don't even necessarily keep a journal I'm not
against you if you do but I don't keep this journal just like all right now
it's 378 because frankly speaking I don't even know it doesn't even matter
to me because what matters to me is what I can do right now and God God has a
better tally system than me anyways okay cuz I don't even know how it works now
I'm for us keeping some numbers as a church and turning those in having
stats and trying to encourage ourselves and you know God's a numbers guy he
wrote a book called numbers okay like the Apostle Paul makes it clear he's
getting people saved people get all people get all like oh yes you're just
bragging about yourself you got somebody saved it was Jesus of course it was you
really think you really think there's any soul winners out there that are like
I got them saved Jesus didn't what a straw man argument right and it's it's
them virtue signaling about how they're not prideful when in fact they're
actually prideful and they're lazy and they don't go so winning all right so
I'm getting a little bit of preaching in this morning but Romans 4 5 let's keep
reading I like verse 6 even meaning specifically as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto him God imputed the righteousness without works
hey even in the Old Testament they were preaching the same free gift salvation
that it was without works even David described it what did he say saying
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered
"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
Now I love this verse in context of what we started with.
Remember little children, your sins are forgiven you.
And notice what David is saying, hey, God's not going to impute your sin.
So even when I sin, God's not going to hold that against me when it talks about going to heaven.
Now of course we need to still ask for forgiveness every single day.
We still need to make amends, we need to repent, and we need to make sure that we're not sinning as much as we can.
The Bible gives us a direction to be perfect, and when God said that He wasn't joking, He meant it.
The expectation is perfection, but the reality is grace.
And we have to understand that God wants us to follow His commandments, but that's not how we get into heaven, it's by believing in Jesus Christ.
Now let's swap our... you did a good job, Teddy. Come on, let's give him a hand. Alright, good job.
Miss Charlotte, you want to help me? Red means on, it's off, alright?
So we're going to go through some more statements here in just a moment. We're testing the spirits, we're trying the spirits.
And look, this is the most important discernment you're going to ever get in your entire life.
Being saved is the most important thing you can do, and the second most important thing you can do in your life is getting other people saved.
And you should never take other people's salvation for granted. You have to ask them. And that's what we call confrontational soul winning.
Now it doesn't mean that we're like pulling out a gun and like, "If you die today, you know, are you sure you're going to..."
That's not the type of confrontation. We're not going to grab them and get them in a headlock and try to like, "Hey, you're going to listen to the gospel today."
But what we're going to do is we're going to confront what they believe. We're going to confront what's in their heart.
And how do we tell what's in someone's heart? If we don't do open heart surgery, we ask them what they believe.
Because you know what? There's some people that have literally gotten a new heart.
Their chest was cut open and someone took a different heart and literally put it into their heart.
But you know what? Salvation is not a physical thing. It's a spiritual thing.
And there's a spiritual heart somewhere in there. And the way that we test that, the way we figure out what's inside of that is what comes out of here.
And so we ask people what they believe. You know what I don't look? I don't look and see how godly they look on the outside.
I don't look to see what their physical church attendance is like. I don't ask what their physical baptism record looks like.
I don't ask them what kind of sins they have going on. You know what I ask them? What do you believe?
Because salvation is by faith. Salvation is doctrine. Salvation is testing the spirit of what kind of spirit they have.
And you know the unsaved person doesn't have the spirit of God. They don't have the Holy Spirit. And so they're not going to give the right answers.
Of course, a lot of people have been tricked into parroting biblical phrases, but they don't understand them.
And when you prod a little bit, that's when you can figure it out.
Here's the next statement I want to make. Jesus is one of many gods. Unsaved. That's like a Mormon.
But you know, the Mormons are tricky. They won't tell you that at first, okay? You have to prod. You have to prod.
Or you can just recognize when they have an elder badge and they're 19 years old that they're a liar, alright?
I want you to go to your Bibles. 1 John 5 20.
1 John 5 20. And we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true.
And we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Amen. Good job. The Bible tells us Jesus Christ is the true God.
He's not one of many gods. He is God.
And there are a lot of good verses on this. John 1.1 is a good verse.
But I wanted to show you this verse because, you know, when you're confronting someone that's got some goofy doctrine on this or has been influenced by a cult,
it's pretty much impossible to win these people that are in the cult.
But some people have been influenced by Mormons or influenced by Jehovah's Witness or influenced by some of these weird groups.
You know, you want to show them some verses like this that are clear, like Jesus is the true God, okay, and eternal life.
And that's who we're believing in.
Here's the next statement I want to make.
Jesus paid only small sins, unsaved.
Man, you kids are smart.
Kids are wise in salvation.
1 John 1, 7.
Eli, just wait a second, just wait a second.
"But if we walk in the light as he in the light, we have fellowship one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
Amen. Good job.
You know, I really like this verse. I actually do use this one so many a lot because notice it says that he cleansed us from all sin, not just the small sins, he paid for every single sin.
And that's a really good verse that talks about what Jesus did for us.
Here's my next statement. "You are not saved by works, but by faith."
I'm sorry, I wanted to... You got it right, but it's saved. All right. Good job.
Y'all both can come down. You can come down, too. Y'all get a piece of candy.
It was kind of tricky the way I worded that. Romans 3, 28.
Ethan, can you go over there?
There we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Amen. Good job.
Yeah, and honestly, Romans chapter 3, I think, in some cases, even underutilized by a lot
of our soul-winning techniques, and I'm not against that, but if you really think about
some times past soul-winning, it used to be called the "Romans Road." Who's heard
that term, like a Romans Road? They really didn't even jump around the Bible much. They
pretty much just literally went through Romans 3, maybe it showed a few verses out of 4,
5, and would go to 10. Because if you read Romans chapter 3, verse 23, through 28, it's
really powerful. Like if we just kind of just focus in on what it's saying in these verses,
like there's just a lot of great information that's really powerful. Look what it says,
"For all of sin comes short of the glory of God," verse 24, "being justified freely by
His grace." There's another free word that you got there. "Freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Notice, we're only justified freely. Not anything
we did, only by what He did. Verse 25, "Whom God has set forth to be of propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness that He might
be just, and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus."
So again, He's saying the only person that has righteousness, the only righteousness
that we can declare in any way is Jesus.
That means you cannot say, "Well, I also go to church.
Well, I also follow the commandments.
Well, I also haven't done this."
No, we can only declare Jesus Christ's righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of
them which believe in Jesus.
So I'm justified because of what He did, not because of what I did or will do or would
do.
That's what some people believe.
Well, if you're willing to give up your sins, you say, "No, it's just by putting your faith
in Jesus Christ."
That's when you ask, this question just like rolls off the tongue.
Where is boasting then?
It's just like, "Well, wait a minute.
If it's literally nothing, if it's absolutely free, if I did absolutely nothing, if it's
only about Jesus, then how can I brag about it?"
It's excluded.
You know, that's why it's so frustrating.
You go to churches today and they want to give a testimony and it's about them because
salvation is not about them.
It is excluded.
It should be if we said, "Hey, come up here and explain your testimony."
It should be the exact same between all of us.
And if it's different, you can find another church, right?
Or we'll try to get you saved.
But at the end of the day, we should have the exact same testimony.
Romans 3.23, John 3.16, Romans 10.9 and 10.
All of the clear salvation verses.
That is our testimony.
And it then expands by what law of works?
Nay, by the law of faith.
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
So according to the Bible, it's crystal clear.
It's already been concluded.
We've already established that fact.
Now, think about this.
If you were writing a book, and you're making a really important point, and you proved it
over, and over, and over, and then you say, "In conclusion, we have concluded, in the full
conclusion of the matter, we've established the man is justified by faith," do you think
you need to elaborate on that anymore?
And of course, I'm not saying there aren't other verses in Romans that give us the same
message, but he's moving on to different subjects now, folks, because he's already concluded
that faith alone is what saves you.
And then people like to go to like Romans seven or eight to teach you how salvation
is by works.
Well, you forgot that we already concluded in chapter three that it was by faith alone.
We already figured that out.
You know, it's just like, it's like trying to use multiplication to prove addition wrong.
And it's like, no, we've already established addition.
Now we're moving on to harder math.
Okay.
Just like in the gospel and just like the Bible, after we establish salvation, now we're
going to move on to harder concepts and other aspects of Christian living.
But you know what?
If we want to know what the Bible says in the book of Romans about salvation, let's
go to the places before the conclusion, not after the conclusion, okay?
That's a good tip that you can have there.
Here's my next statement, kiddos.
You must follow the commandments to be saved.
Tatum, come on down.
Galatians 3:11.
You've already read for me.
You too.
I want a new reader.
You've read for me, I think, too.
I don't know if she has.
All right.
"No man is justified by the law in the sight of God.
It is evil."
Evident?
"Evident for the just shall live by faith."
Amen.
I mean, how much clearer can the Bible get, folks?
It is evident.
I mean, think about how the Bible words some of these verses.
It's evident, knowing, we concluded.
And then people want to go to verses that don't have words like that at all to tell
you what salvation is about.
Why don't we go to the verses that say, "It's evident, knowing, therefore we conclude."
These are the type of verses that we want to go to when we want to establish things
that are known and facts.
Here's the next one I want to go to.
Alright, kiddos, you ready?
"Jesus broke the commandments."
Jackson, that's his fault, so they're unsaved.
Come on down.
Alright, go to 2 Corinthians 5, 21.
Someone that hasn't read.
"He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him."
Amen.
So here's a great verse that explains to us that Jesus Christ did never sin, but he
became sin for us.
And that was to give us righteousness.
So here's the thing, he had to make a transfer.
All of our sin had to go somewhere, and all the blame had to go somewhere, and all the
punishment had to go somewhere.
And instead of God just allowing us all to bear our own sin, bear our own consequences,
and bear our own punishment, God allowed all of that, and not just for us, for the whole
world to be taken and put on Jesus Christ.
And Jesus Christ, who was perfect and had no sin, and didn't even know, like knew no
sin and had no punishment, He shifted all of His righteousness to us when we believe
in Jesus Christ.
And so we see that scapegoat, we see that perfect swapping that's there in the Bible
of how His perfection is given to us and our imperfection and our transgression was given
to Him.
And this illustrates true love.
True love is taking someone's burden off of them.
Not loving someone is giving them a burden.
When you don't love someone, you're making their life harder, you're hurting them, you're
damaging them, you're causing them to not serve Christ.
True love says, you know what, you have a problem, you're hurting, you need something
and you take that on yourself.
And this is what God demonstrated for us because what did we do to deserve that salvation?
Nothing.
We sinned, we transgressed, we did wrong.
And Jesus said, you know what, even though I've been perfect, I'm still going to come
down and I'm just going to bear that burden for you anyways.
And this is the ultimate picture of love.
We need to bear the sins of others, we need to come along others and encourage them and
help them and do good unto others.
This is a picture of true love and the true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Here's the next statement I got for you, kiddos, alright?
If I lie tomorrow, I won't be saved.
Good on, good job.
Come on down.
Now, you better not lie tomorrow, okay?
If you're saved, you're still saved, alright?
Someone's like, "Pastor Shelley's handing all these licenses of sin."
I'm handing out candy, okay?
Now, maybe, you know, that's up for debate, but I want to go to Romans 5:20.
"This might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
Amen.
Good job.
Alright, I got a few more.
We're going to go rapid fire on these ones, alright?
And I only want you to raise your hand or read the verse if you haven't done it, okay?
So if you've already done it, no more.
You're already saved, we got it, okay?
You're good at testing the spirits.
If I stop being a good Christian, God still loves me.
Nope.
Romans 8.38.
Here, I want you to read the next verse too.
"Persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels, nor person, but these."
"Principalities."
"Principalities.
Nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord."
Amen.
Good job.
Next one.
"If I commit a big sin, I will not be saved."
Abby.
Unsaved.
Good job.
John 5.24.
Tatum.
Just wait a second because we want to hear it.
"Say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."
Amen.
Good job.
I like how all these little kids can read all this Shakespeare English or whatever.
Funny how they're smarter than all these cemetery professors, you know?
Got two more.
"If I make a mistake, I lose eternal life."
Back here in the back.
Unsaved.
Come on down.
Go to John 10, 28.
Do you have it back there?
"I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand."
Amen.
Good job.
You can't lose eternal life.
It's eternal, folks.
And you can't get out of God's hand.
He's stronger than you.
Case closed.
It's that simple.
All right.
One more.
"You become God's son through baptism."
Jula.
Yep.
Unsaaved.
Come on down.
All right.
Let's go to John 1, 12.
Because we're Baptists, and we're going to have two baptisms this morning.
It's important, but we want to make sure it's not how you get saved.
Oh, wait.
Read it again.
"Who received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name."
Amen.
Good job.
Let's go back to 1 John chapter 4, and we'll finish for this morning's sermon.
Thank you guys for participating with me.
You kids did really, really good.
And you know what?
This is a skill that, unfortunately, many adults do not have.
This is a skill that many Christians do not have.
And you know, it's important that we teach our children to try the spirits and to test
the spirits.
And the Bible says in 1 John chapter number 2, verse 12, "I write in you little children
because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake."
You know, the Bible is written to you little children.
It's not just written to men, not just written to moms, it's written to little children
as well.
God wants you to know that your sins are forgiven.
Now here's the thing.
That doesn't mean that we should just live however we want, it's that we can be comforted
with salvation.
And that when we screw up, we still know we're headed to heaven.
And because we're always going to go to heaven, then we should always be motivated to serve
God the most, because that's where you're going to live the longest, that's where you're
going to exist the longest, that's going to be the longest house that you have, that's
going to be the longest body that you have.
And so, there's never a bad time to start serving God.
And there's never a bad time to get right with God, there's never a bad time to start
doing the right thing, and so even when we make mistakes, even when we do things that
are not good, we should try to get on the right path.
And we should realize, hey, my sins are forgiven, I'm going to confess and forsake them, and
I'm going to move on, I know I have my home in heaven.
And we need to make sure, though, that we're taking as many people with us as possible.
And you know, use these verses, you know, maybe you can go back, write them down, try
to learn some of them, try to memorize some, because there's some really good verses to
use to help people that are confused on salvation, to realize salvation is a free gift, just
by faith.
All right, let's close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for all these little children, and for the youth.
Thank you so much for these parents, and all of the people that are here at this conference.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to have a conference today, and to read about
the Bible, and thank you so much for the free gift of salvation that you've given us.
I pray that you would help us to be a church that always emphasizes the Gospel, that's
always focusing on the free gift, that's making sure that we're not only getting our
children saved, but we're also encouraging them to be soul winners and to confront other
people about the Gospel.
And I pray that you would help us to stay wise and to stay a church that's always testing
the spirits.
And in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Like I said, we have a couple of baptisms this morning, but we're going to sing a song
before that, and we'll let them get prepared and get ready.
So it's in our special handouts.
It's "I'm in the Lord's Army," okay?
Now this one's got some motions to it, and if you kids want to, actually we can just
all stand up if you want, alright?
Because it's hard to march when you're sitting, alright?
So if you want, everybody can stand up, and we'll be marching in the Lord's Army.
If we need to, we'll just sing it a couple times.
You guys are in the Army until we get ready for our baptism this morning, alright?
Actually I'm sorry, I changed my mind.
You parents want you to sit down so I can see your kids better, alright?
Because they can't see.
I don't like looking at y'all as much anyways, alright?
All the kiddos, alright?
They're on the 1st.
I want you to sing a little louder this time, alright?
One more time.
We have a couple baptisms this morning.
We have Shelby, who's coming.
Remind me how old is Ms. Shelby this morning?
Six years old.
Alright.
I'm just going to look right here and take a picture.
Holy Ghost.
Hold your nose.
Hold your other hand.
I'll dip you down and bring you back up, okay?
Ms. Shelby, have you trusted Christ as your savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness
of the death, raised to walk in newness of life.
Congratulations.
Good job.
Right here.
Wow.
We also have Ms. Kinsley.
And you're 10 years old today.
This is her birthday.
Yeah?
She's getting baptized on her birthday.
Ms. Kinsley, have you trusted Christ as your savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, raised to walk in newness
of life.
Congratulations.
I congratulate all of our baptisms, and thank you so much for coming.
God bless you.
You are dismissed.