Amen.
The title of my sermon is going to come from verse number six and seven where the Bible
read, and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were in samples to all that believe
in Macedonia and Achaia.
And the title of the sermon this evening is, The Ensample of a Church.
The Ensample of a Church.
We see that Paul's writing to this church at Thessalonica, and he's saying, look, you
guys are an ensemble to other churches, to other believers, you're an example, it's something
that we can look at, and you're encouraging other churches.
And we see there's four things that he mentioned specifically in verse number six.
He said that they became followers of us, there's one, and of the Lord, there's two,
and three, having received the word in much affliction, there's three, and four, with
joy of the Holy Ghost.
So why don't we take these four elements and see how we can apply them to our church so
that steadfast Baptist church can be an example to the whole world.
Why can't we be an example to every single church of how a church should be?
Being an example.
Well, let's look at our first point.
Go if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number four.
And when you read the Bible, this comes up over and over in Romans chapter one, the Bible
says, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world.
When Paul looked at the church at Rome, he said, you guys have such great faith, everybody's
heard about it.
Everybody knows about how great a church you are because you're just doing great works
for God.
And why not us at Steadfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas?
Why can't we be an example to the entire world?
And look, this church has gone through a very difficult struggle.
You know, a lot of churches when they're pastors and grievous sin, the church just collapses
like, you know, nothing.
I mean, it just goes away.
It's just a shame.
They have to change the name.
They get, they lose a whole bunch of members.
I mean, all kinds of horrible things happen to churches when they have a transition.
But does that have to be the case for Steadfast Baptist Church?
Why can't we be the example to other churches to say, well, you know what?
Our church is based on the rock.
It's based on God's word.
So we don't have to fall even if our leadership goes into grievous sin.
No matter what happens, we can be steadfast in the faith.
And Romans 16, I'll read another verse for you.
It says,
Paul commends Priscilla and Aquila saying these guys are so well known.
All the churches like these guys.
I mean, these guys are helping all the churches.
Now obviously, we are an independent, fundamental Baptist church.
And independent, what does that mean?
That means that the pastor, the only authority over the pastor of the church is Christ.
There's not some pope somewhere.
There's not some other man.
There's not somebody telling us what to do.
No, God's word is telling us what to do.
And I'm the person deciding what we're going to do.
But obviously, I'm still subject to what this book says.
If I start making up rules or ideas that go against the Bible, I'm supposed to submit
to Christ.
I'm supposed to submit to the Word of God.
But does that mean that I can't have friends?
Does that mean that we're the only church that exists on the planet?
No.
We should have fellowship with all believers, with all Christians, with every church trying
to do the work of the Lord.
We should want to support and love and encourage that church.
And we see Priscilla and Aquila, they had a great love for a lot of churches.
They were helpers of the apostle Paul.
We see the apostle Paul is going and helping many churches.
So we as Steadfast Baptist Church, we should be an example to other churches, other like-minded
churches.
We should want to help them, encourage them, inspire them to do the work of the Lord.
Now, how's the first way we're going to do that?
Well, what did he say?
They became followers of us.
The church at Thessalonica followed Paul.
You say, oh, you're talking about following a man?
Yes, I'm talking about following a man.
Yes, if you want to be a good Christian, you have to follow men.
That's how the Bible teaches.
Look at 1 Corinthians 4 verse 10.
We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ.
We are weak, but ye are strong.
Ye are honorable, but we are despised.
Yet under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted
and have no certain dwelling place and labor, working with our own hands, being reviled,
we bless, being persecuted, we suffer it, being defamed, we entreat.
We are made as the filth of the world and are the offscoring of all things unto this
day.
I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you, for though
you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers.
For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel.
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
For this cause I send on you to Mothius, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord,
who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ as I teach everywhere
and every church.
Oh, you're talking about following a man.
Yeah, that's what Paul said.
He said, follow me.
He said, you need to follow my instruction.
Not only that, follow Timothy.
Now he brings up this point though, interestingly enough in verse 15, he says, you have a lot
of instructors.
Look, there's a lot of guys that'll preach.
There's a lot of men out there that want to get their name out there.
You could go on YouTube.
How many instructors could you find on YouTube?
You know what?
You need to be careful who you're listening to.
And Paul's saying, there's a lot of instructors, but not a lot of people will beget you.
You need to be careful who you're listening to.
You know who you should be listening to?
Me.
You know who else you should be listening to?
Timothy.
These are two guys that you can trust.
They have been proven.
They've been steadfast in the faith.
Don't just go with every wind of doctrine.
Follow the true man of God.
Now go if you would to Philippians chapter three, Philippians chapter three, first Corinthians
chapter 10.
I'll read for you.
It says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory
of God, give none offense, neither the Jews nor the Gentiles nor the church of God, even
as I please all men and all things, not seeking my own prophet, but the prophet of many that
they may be saved.
We see the apostle Paul, he didn't have a favorite church.
Now obviously today we don't have apostles, but we see the apostle Paul, he had a great
love for all men.
He wanted all men to be saved.
He had great love for all the churches because he just loves Christ and every single Christian
is made in the image or every man at least is made in the image of God.
We're all God's offspring.
We're all children of God if we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we're all children
of God by faith.
And you know what?
Paul didn't have favorites.
He just loved all his children.
He loves all the children of God and first Corinthians 11, the Bible says, be followers
of me, even as I also am of Christ.
He says, look, you need to follow me as I'm following Christ.
Look at Philippians chapter three verse 17, brethren, be followers together of me and
mark them which walk so as you have us for an example.
For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly
and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
Paul is saying, look, I keep telling you, follow me.
You need to follow me.
How many times do you want to see me show you in the Bible where it says follow Paul?
Paul might even bring that up more than the Christ.
Obviously he's not trying to elevate himself above Christ, but he's saying, I'm telling
you this because there's a lot of wicked people.
There's a lot of enemies.
There's a lot of seducers.
And if you start following these guys, they're going to lead to destruction.
That's why you need to follow me because I know I'm following Christ.
I know I'm doing that, which is right.
So if you follow my instruction, if you're doing what I'm doing, you're going to be led
to the right path.
We need to take a consideration to who we're learning things from.
Does this guy, is this guy qualified pastor?
Does this guy actually go out soul winning?
Does this guy actually do what he says?
I mean, you look at a guy, he has this YouTube ministry, not a qualified pastor, doesn't
go soul winning.
I mean, you're like, why in the world do you listen to anything this guy has to say?
And he's saying, hey, these guys are actually the enemies of the cross of Christ.
Even this guy named Kent Hovind.
Now look, I listen to every single one of his creation seminars.
I thought they were great.
But the reality is, does this guy go soul winning?
Does this guy preach the gospel?
You know, I've never found a single person, one person who's ever told me, you know who
got me saved?
Kent Hovind.
That sounds like a problem.
I mean, you devote your whole life to ministry and you're never getting anybody saved ever?
Now I've seen some people say, I found Kent Hovind and then I found Pastor Anderson got
saved, or I found Pastor Anderson got saved, or I found, you know, a soul winner and I
got saved, or I got in the right church and I got saved.
I've never seen anybody say, hey, I got saved from this guy.
Well, that sounds like a problem.
And look, I'm not saying that Kent Hovind's not saved, but it sounds like he's detracting
from the gospel and he's bringing in distraction of all kinds of other things, isn't he?
Go to 2 Thessalonians, chapter number three.
I'll read for you.
It says in 2 Timothy 3,
He's saying, look Timothy, you need to consider where the information is coming from.
Where's your source?
What is the source of your information?
When your source is corrupt, your information's corrupt.
That's why you have to have a good source.
So when the Apostle Paul's giving you instruction, hey, that's a good source.
When the seducer, an evil man, is giving you advice, you need to just reject all of his
advice.
And sometimes you ask this question, do you think wicked people like Tyler Baker or Adam
Fannin know that they're wicked?
It says here that they're deceived and being deceived.
I think a lot of these guys, they don't even realize how wicked they truly are.
They're just deceived themselves.
But they're just, they're the blind leading the blind into a ditch is what the Bible teaches.
Look at 2 Thessalonians, chapter three, look at verse six.
He's saying, you know why you can trust us?
Look at our works.
I mean, we're coming here working hard, just trying to get things done.
We're not taking money from you.
We're just trying to serve the Lord.
That's why you need to take heed under what we are saying.
Follow us.
Follow our words.
And yes, if you want to be a successful Christian, you need to follow man.
You need to find a faithful guy who's actually doing the works, who actually does what the
Bible says, who actually goes out soul winning and preaches the gospel and lives a godly
life and lives up to the Bible and say, I want to follow him as he follows Christ.
You know, and it was sad day whenever I decided to try and get my doctrine right, because
I just wanted to find a church where someone would teach me soul winning, but I couldn't
find it.
I was like, where's the church?
Where's the guy that just wants to actually serve Christ?
And especially my generation and my age group, I kept thinking like, which one of my friends
just like really cares about the Bible and just wants to do what the Bible says and actually
loves the Lord.
And it's so hard to find and the Bible says, help Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for
the faithful fell from among the children of men.
And so it's important that when we receive instruction, we receive it from them who actually
do the works.
The people are not forgetful hearers, but doers of the work is what the Bible says.
So if someone's not a doer of the work, I don't care what you want to tell me.
That's why in our preaching class, if you don't go soul winning, you're not going to
preach.
Why?
Because I don't want to hear what you have to say.
Now look, I can learn lots of things from lay people.
Just because you're not a pastor doesn't mean you can't instruct somebody.
Doesn't mean that you can't preach a godly sermon.
You can't be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Of course you can.
But at the same time, if you're going to receive instruction, you better be careful who you're
getting that instruction from.
What is this person like?
Do they really actually live a life that follows through with what they're preaching?
Go to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews chapter 6 verse 12 says that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises.
So according to the Bible, you're supposed to follow godly men.
The question is just where are the godly men, right?
Where are these guys that actually care about the Bible?
I'm trying to find some.
I'm trying to find some godly men to help lead in some of these churches that we have
going on, right?
My question is where are they?
And by someone's works, you can get a good idea what this person is like.
So we see it's important how you live your life.
Look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5.
Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have.
For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say
the Lord is my helper.
I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God,
whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever.
What is he saying?
He's saying you ought to obey the man of God when he gives you clear instruction.
But he gives a caveat.
He says considering the end of their conversation.
What is he saying?
Don't follow a hypocrite.
Consider the way this guy lives his life.
If he's getting up and preaching one thing and then you notice everything's screwed up,
it's like, whoa, what's going on, buddy?
And look, obviously as a pastor, as a preacher, I'm supposed to preach every commandment of
the Bible and I'm not perfect.
I make mistakes.
I'm still a man.
I'm still flesh and blood, so I'm not going to do everything perfectly.
But if I get up here and start ripping on going soul winning and I don't go soul winning,
there's a problem.
If I get up here and rip on reading your Bible and you say, hey, did you read your Bible?
I don't, I don't read the Bible.
That's not for the pastor.
That's for you guys.
I'm just trying to tell you what to do.
Look, that's some serious issues right there.
You ought to just walk out.
Don't even come to church anymore.
If the pastor's admitting he doesn't read his Bible, that's a big problem.
Go if you went to Ephesians chapter number four, Ephesians chapter number four.
So it's important though that you follow men, but you need to follow godly men.
What about the Pharisees?
Jesus Christ was warning, don't do as these guys do because they were hypocrites.
They would say one thing, but then they would not follow through.
They would not actually do the things that they taught and they preached.
John chapter, third John chapter number one, I'll give you another verse.
It says, beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.
He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
He's saying, look, the godly guy is going to do godly things.
The righteous man is going to do righteous things.
They're not going to be a bunch of hypocrites.
So if you see a hypocrite, this is not somebody to follow.
You need to follow the guy.
That's why when these guys are divorced and remarried and decide to keep pastoring, false
prophet.
I don't want to hear what you have to say.
Hypocrite, get out of the pulpit, you know, step down.
We need to find guys that are actually doing what the Bible says and follow them.
But we shouldn't get so jaded to say, well, I just think we shouldn't follow any man because
man could disappoint me.
Man could let me down.
Well, here's the reality.
If you put your trust in man, you're going to get let down because it's man.
You got to put your trust in God.
But God is commanding you to find faithful men, find godly men and follow them.
As long as they're following Christ, get on their program.
Do what they're saying.
Support the man of God, support your church.
And if we want to be a godly and sample to other churches, we must follow godly men.
We must decide, hey, here's a guy who actually wants to do what the God is saying.
Maybe I should just obey what he's saying.
Maybe I should just follow the rule of the man of God.
Maybe I should get behind the pastor.
That way you can have unity.
That way you can actually move forward.
If we all have a row and I say move forward and you all are going backwards, we're going
to have me in trouble, you know, or the right's going right and this one's going left.
I'm just spinning circles.
Look, we must have unity in the church to accomplish anything for God.
That's why we have the same Bible.
That's why we have the same gospel.
Imagine us all going out preaching with different Bibles and gospels for our soul winning.
How effective is that going to be?
The amplified Bible where they just basically, they try to put like every possible definition
of a word, you know, and it's ridiculous.
It's stupid.
Obviously you must be unified on the core fundamentals of the faith.
Look at Ephesians 4 verse 11.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and
teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statute of the fullness
of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie and wait
to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
So what is the Bible saying?
The purpose of a pastor is to grow the church, is to help you grow closer to God, to be more
perfect.
What is that?
More complete.
So a lot of people say, oh, I feel like I wasn't being fed at church.
That's a legitimate problem.
That's a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed because the pastor should feed the
flock of God.
It should help you grow.
It should help you serve Christ better.
It should help encourage you and exhort you and edify you to want to serve God.
And when the pastor's not feeding you, well, you're going to have issues.
But there's another problem.
What happens if you refuse to eat?
You got your two-year-old, eh, I don't want that.
You're trying to feed them.
No.
You have to try and like force feed it down their throat.
I mean, look, in order for the baby to grow, it's got to eat.
And look, if the pastor's getting up three times a week trying to feed you, you need
to show up and eat it.
Hey, if my kids skip meals, they're not going to grow.
If the man of God is going to work hard and prepare a sermon and put the, you know, the
turkey in the oven and pull it out and make the mashed potatoes, I need somebody to eat
it.
You know what I mean?
So how can we be in sample to the church by people actually coming and eating the food?
By people deciding, hey, I want to be perfect.
I don't want to skip meals.
I mean, nobody in this room skips meals.
I guarantee you pretty much eat all the same meals every single day, don't you?
But is food more important than the word of God?
I mean, I thought Christ was our life.
I thought after we were dead, the only thing that matters is godliness and righteousness.
But people, they'll skip church for all kinds of number of reasons.
But to skip a meal, I mean, they're not going to skip a meal.
I mean, they're going to find a, there's a food restaurant on every corner.
Why?
Because people can't, you know, stop themselves from eating.
They love to eat food, food, food.
Well, what about the food of God?
How about spiritual food?
That's what you need way more.
I'd rather skip a meal than skip the word of God.
Go to Matthew chapter 10.
We're talking about following a man.
Why?
Because it's important.
And obviously, you got to have a good balance.
You have to have a man of God that wants to preach you the Bible, that's doing a good
job, but then the people have to respond.
They have to want to show up and eat the meal and digest it and follow their leader.
This is how we're going to be a good example to other churches.
Look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 32.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is
in heaven.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother,
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall
find it.
He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent
me.
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.
And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward.
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only
in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
So if someone wants to get a reward, they can come up here and give me a cup of water.
But look, Christ is saying he that receiveth you receiveth me.
So if you don't ever receive a man, how can you receive Christ?
And look, in order to get saved, what do you have to do?
You have to answer the door, don't you?
Someone's going to show you the Bible.
Look, we get saved through man.
God uses the vessel of man to get you saved.
And you know what?
He also uses a man to preach you the Bible, to be your pastor, to be your leader.
So if you want to follow Christ, you have to follow man.
That is how it works.
Hey, you're not going to lose your reward, all right?
Go to Matthew chapter 4.
But obviously, Christ said in verse 38, follow after me.
We should never elevate man above Christ.
So if you want to follow Christ, you have to follow man.
But at the end of the day, our authority should always be Christ.
That's where we should be founded.
That's where we should be rooted and grounded.
And for a church to survive a leadership change, it ultimately has to say, well, you know what?
The only thing that matters is this.
The only thing that matters is Christ.
That's who I'm ultimately following.
And if one guy falls down and another guy steps in running, I'll just keep following
him.
Why not?
I follow this guy.
He's following Christ.
Who cares who's out in charge?
Who cares who's leading me?
I'm just going to follow this guy as he's following Christ.
Look at Matthew 4 verse 18.
And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew's
brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they shall straightway left their nets and followed him.
So Christ said to his disciples, if you follow me, I'll get you to make a fisher of men.
And when you catch a man, what is he going to do?
He's going to follow you.
So we see that Jesus caught the disciples.
The disciples catch the men.
We see the program of the Lord, but we see when you're a follower of Christ, you will
be a fisher of men.
You know what this also tells me?
If you're not a fisher of men, you're not following Christ.
Look, the people that don't go soul winning, they're not following Christ.
Christ said, go you out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
The Bible says you want to be wise, you got to win souls.
Look, the whole point of your life is to preach the gospel and get people saved.
God gave you the gospel.
You're a minister of the gospel.
Look, he trusted you with the gospel so that you could get other people saved.
But we see most Christians today, they don't even try to get one person saved.
It's so sad.
It's such a sad reality that you have the gift of eternal life.
You're never going to suffer the flames of hell for all of eternity.
But you look at somebody else and you say, well, they are, who cares?
Let them burn in hell for all of eternity.
Look, I go out into public and I feel like most everybody's unsaved.
You go to the mall, you go to the park, you just walk down the street.
I mean, it's like all these people are dying and going to hell.
Does somebody care?
I mean, who cares?
And look, if you're following Christ, he says, I will make you a fisherman.
Why?
Because this word has power and it's going to get people saved.
If you preach the gospel, you will get people saved every single time.
Go over to Matthew 16 now, Matthew 16.
Christ tells us to follow him.
And ultimately, that means following through a man.
But we need to make sure that we're following Christ.
Look at verse 24.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
So we are to lay down our own ambitions, lay down our own selfish desires,
and follow Christ.
That's where our life resides, not in the vanity of our flesh,
not in the vanity of our mind, but serving Christ.
Go over to Luke chapter 18, Luke chapter 18, just a couple books over.
In John chapter 8, the Bible says, then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,
I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Look, when you follow Christ, when this is how you make all the decisions of your
life, you're going to be in light.
You're going to have every decision be in light.
Look at Luke chapter 18, verse 28.
Then Peter said, lo, we have left all and followed thee.
And he said unto them, verily I say unto you, there is no man that have left house
or parents or brethren or wife or children for the kingdom of God's sake,
who shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come.
Life everlasting.
He's saying, oh man, you're telling me to give up a friendship?
Yeah.
You're telling me to give up a brother?
Yeah.
Give up a sister?
Yeah.
You know what my brother and sisters are, and my mothers and fathers?
They that do the will of God.
Amen.
I have a great family here.
I don't need, you know, flesh and blood.
I can, you know, be brothers and sisters with people that love God,
that want to go out and preach the gospel.
They actually care about godly things.
And they're going to be my brothers and sisters in Christ forever.
Physical brothers and sisters, that's temporary.
They're going to come and go.
And look, many times a man's foes are those of his own household.
Your family's going to detract you from Christ.
And the question is, who are you really going to serve?
Christ or yourself?
Your own ambitions.
Go to John chapter 10.
John chapter number 10.
Go one more book over.
John chapter number 10.
And I'm not saying that you should just be mean to your family on purpose.
You know, would to God, all of your brothers, all of your sisters,
your mother and your father would all serve Christ.
You know what?
A whole family serves Christ.
God bless them.
That's great.
That's awesome.
That's wonderful.
But you know what?
If your family's not going to serve Christ,
you should decide I'm still going to do it anyways.
I'm still going to serve.
I don't care what happens.
I love God.
I love the Bible.
I'm going to do it.
Look at John 10, verse 1.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door
in the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way,
the same as a thief and a robber, but he that
entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them,
and the sheep follow him.
For they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow,
but will flee from him.
For they know not the voice of strangers.
This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things
they were which he spake unto them.
Christ is saying, look, if you get dialed in on me,
you're not going to follow the stranger.
Some guy comes along and tells me salvation's by works.
OK, see you, stranger.
See you, buddy.
Oh, you want to tell me about the NASB, and the NIV, and HIV?
See you.
I don't want that disease.
You get to get that filth out of here.
So when you're on Christ, when you know what the voice of the shepherd is,
you're not going to be led by a stranger.
You say, then why are all these Christians following
Joel Osteen, and TD Jakes, and following all these false prophets,
these wicked people?
I'm going to tell you an answer.
They don't know what this says.
They have no idea what the voice of the shepherd is.
When you're ignorant of what the Bible teaches, you can be led astray.
You can be led astray by seducers and evil men.
You could have the person behind your pulpit be deceiving you constantly.
And you say, how did I follow that person?
Well, did you know what the Bible said?
Are you listening to the voice of the shepherd?
Are you getting up every morning and reading your Bible?
You say, how can I be protected, Pastor Shelley?
How can I know you're not a false prophet?
How can I know that you won't deceive us?
How can I know you won't let us down?
Well, first of all, it doesn't matter.
If you're following Christ, you're going to be on the rock.
No matter what happens, you won't be let down when you're following Christ.
But ultimately, you won't be led astray.
You'll say, whoa, what is that guy saying behind the pulpit?
What is that guy doing?
This isn't lining up.
This isn't what the Bible teaches.
And you can protect you and your family.
Look, every man needs to be responsible for his own house and read the Bible
and decide, you know what?
No matter what the pastor says, I'm founded on the Bible.
And as long as he lines up with the Bible, I'm going to support him 100%.
But if he gets off, I'm still on the Bible.
I'm still locked into God's word.
I'm still locked into Christ.
Look, don't follow me off a cliff.
But you know what, that goes for everybody.
Everybody that stands behind this pulpit, don't follow him off a cliff.
You better be on this rock.
That way, whenever the wind comes and the rain comes,
it's not going to break down your house.
Your house is going to be good.
Your family is going to be good because you're founded on the rock.
Go to Revelation chapter 2.
Revelation chapter 2.
The Bible says in Acts chapter 17, these
are more noble than those in Thessalonica,
and that they receive the word with all readiness of mind
and search the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
So when you come to church, you should be ready to learn,
ready to receive the word, excited about the things of God.
But you better go home and check and make
sure that's what the Bible says.
You better make sure that what the preacher is saying,
what the pastor is saying, is what the Bible is saying.
And if you're ignorant of the Bible, you will easily be led astray.
So you've got to coordinate, well, this guy's a man of God.
He has a good conversation.
I could put some trust in this person.
But at the end of the day, this is where all of your trust needs to lie.
Not in man, but in Christ.
Look at Revelation 2, verse 1.
Under the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand,
who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience,
and how thou canst not bear them which are evil.
And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not,
and hast found them liars.
So you have a church where you have a guest preacher come in.
And guess what, he starts preaching false things.
And the church's like, you're a liar.
You're a false prophet.
You're a deceiver.
Get out of here.
But if the whole church is ignorant of the Bible,
you're just going to let false prophet after false prophet come here
and lead you all astray and get you all mixed up.
That's why you need to read the Bible for yourself.
You need to know what the Bible says.
I can't help you with that.
You need to read it yourself.
And look, obviously, I'm teaching you this
because I'm not afraid of what the Bible says.
It's like Geico.
They would give you the price check on everybody's insurance.
The reason they said that is because they knew they were the cheapest rate.
They weren't afraid of what everybody else's rate is.
And I'm not afraid of anything the Bible says.
But I want you to know what the Bible says so that you can protect yourself
against wicked people.
Because guess what?
Wicked people abound.
And the devil would love nothing more than for this church
to be destroyed from ourselves, from false prophets.
The thing that's going to fix this is you knowing the Bible.
That's what it means practically to follow Christ.
This is Christ.
You want to know the voice of Christ?
Here, read it out loud.
You say, I want Christ to talk to me.
Read your Bible out loud.
He's talking to you.
Get scurvy to open up your ears to the word of Christ, OK?
Look at verse 12.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,
these things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges.
I know thy works, and where thou dwelleth, even where Satan's seat is,
and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith,
even in those days where an Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain
among you where Satan dwelleth.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there
them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who
taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel,
to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
which thing I hate.
So you're saying, you know, you're doing some good stuff here, church,
but you've got some bad doctrines.
Why?
Because they're ignorant of the Bible.
They're letting people come in and preach wicked false doctrine,
because they are ignorant of the Bible.
When a whole church is founded on Christ,
they're not going to let this Nicolaitan doctrine creep in.
They're not going to let the doctrines of Balaam creep in,
because they're following Christ at the end of the day.
And they're not going to tolerate that type of wicked false doctrine.
Go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter number 2.
So in order to be an ensemble church, what must we do?
Well, we have to have a whole church of people that read the Bible.
That would be a great example.
Wouldn't it be nice if the whole church knows exactly what the Bible says?
It's not just one person.
Everybody, you walk into church, and everybody's ignorant of what the Bible says.
Nobody knows anything about the Bible.
Look, if we're going to be an ensemble to other churches,
we need everyone in here to know the Bible.
That's why it should be encouraged and preached and exhorted and admonished
for everyone to know the Bible.
That way, we have good doctrine.
Look at that church.
They have great doctrine, because everyone in the church knows the Bible.
They have great doctrine, because they're following their leader.
They're following their pastor.
It's not like everybody has a different doctrine than the pastor.
Look at 1 John chapter 2, verse 18.
Little children, it is the last time.
And as you 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 you have an antichrist from the Holy One, and you know all things.
I have not written on you because you know not the truth,
but because you know it, in that no lies of the truth.
He's saying, look, you know what the truth is.
That's why when one of these false brethren get exposed,
you're not horrified.
I mean, you're not shocked.
You can actually believe it, because the Bible already told you.
There's going to be false brethren.
And when they get exposed, when they expose themselves,
when they leave the church, and you see, oh, this guy's into oneness.
This guy believes in works salvation.
This guy believes in speaking in tongues.
Look, there's people at Faith Lord Baptist Church that left,
whoa, they left Faith Lord Baptist Church
that were speaking in tongues when they left.
There's people that believe in works salvation.
They mocked the Trinity.
They mocked God the Father sending the Son.
They have all this weird, wicked false doctrine.
You're just like, whoa.
You know what?
Because I know what the Bible says, I'm like, okay, well, you're a false brethren.
Get out of here.
Go away.
You know?
I'm not, well, maybe, you know, maybe that's right.
No, we need the whole church to believe what the Bible says,
and we're not going to be shocked and horrified when it happens.
Look at verse number 25.
And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you,
but the anointing which you've received of him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie,
and even as hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
So what is he saying?
The whole reason I'm warning you about the antichrist,
about the false brethren, is because I don't want you to be seduced by them,
seduced by their friendship, seduced by their flattery,
seduced by, but you don't understand, when I was in the hospital, he visited me.
You don't understand, Pastor Joe, he bought me a computer.
He put a really nice YouTube comment online about me.
Yeah, they're seducing you.
You think they're going to tell you something mean?
They're going to tell you right things that sound good, pleasant to the ears.
He said he likes my jacket.
He likes the way I preach.
He thinks I'm strong.
You know, whatever.
Some stupid garbage that they're just trying to flatter with you.
Why?
So they get you off into their wicked false doctrine.
To get you off of the Bible.
And he says, look, you don't need any man to teach you.
If you read the Bible yourself and you let the Holy Spirit guide you,
you won't be led astray.
You say, oh, I need Pastor Shelley to come hold my hand for all the seducers.
Nope.
You just need the word of God.
And look, that's why he's saying in verse 28, abide in him.
When you're abiding in Christ, you're not going to be led astray.
That's why we must be followers of the Lord.
Followers of Christ.
Go if you would to Luke chapter six, Luke chapter six.
The Bible says in first John five, if we receive the witness of men,
the witness of God is greater.
For this is the witness of God, which is testified of his son.
If you can believe what any person would say,
you should more so believe the Bible.
Look, before I was ever born, before anybody in this room was ever born,
this book I hold my hand said the same thing.
And then a hundred years before that, still said the same thing.
And then a hundred years before that, it still said that this is a way greater witness
than any man alive.
You say, why do you believe the Bible?
Because it's true.
Because it's the greatest witness known to man.
It's the most popular book on the earth.
That's never changed a single word since it was translated one time from the original
languages.
And you know what it said in the original languages?
This.
This is what it said.
You say, I want to know what it said in the Greek.
Here it is.
Let me tell you.
You know, I don't understand Greek.
Well, you understand what the Bible says in English.
That's what it said in Greek.
That's what it said in Hebrew.
It's right here.
I don't need a lexicon to tell me what it doesn't mean.
I need the King James Bible to tell me what it does mean.
Even in John chapter 10, he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow
me.
He says, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall I mean pluck them out of my hand.
My father, which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand.
When you're in Christ, when you're in the father, no man's going to take you out.
Romans chapter 16, I'll read you one other thing.
It says, now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause the visions and offenses
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive
the hearts of the simple.
If you're simple, you're going to be deceived by wicked people.
They're going to tell you good things, fair speeches.
Oh, but you don't understand he's such a great speaker.
Everything he says sounds right.
Okay, but what does the Bible say?
Oh, everything he says sounds wicked when you compare it to the Bible.
Sounds like a false prophet.
Sounds like a wicked person.
Look at Luke chapter six, verse 47.
Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.
He is like a man which built an house and dig deep and lay the foundation on a rock.
And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon the house and could not shake it.
For it was founded upon a rock.
But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house
upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell.
And the ruin of that house was great.
You say, oh man, there is this guy in the church and he, you know, he thinks Adam Fannin
hasn't told a single lie in the last week and a half.
That house was immediately ruined.
Why?
Because it was founded on the rock.
Look, and there's going to be winds.
There's going to be raging storms and seas and all this tribulation, all this affliction
and all these struggles.
But when you're on the rock, you say, I don't care.
I'm on the rock.
My house is going to stand, period.
It's not going to fall.
And this is what I kept telling people in Jacksonville.
I knew it was a tumultuous time.
It was a tempestuous time.
It was, the seas were roaring.
But I said, look, if Christ is in your boat, it's not going to sink.
You think that Christ was going to sink down in that ship when he was asleep?
Not going to happen.
And look, obviously you want him to stand up and rebuke the wind and the waves, but
no matter what you're going through, if you're founded on Christ, he will make sure you're
taken care of.
Look, you're going to tell me, oh, I'm faithful soul winner and I'm reading my Bible and I'm
serving Christ and I'm getting the iniquity out of my life and Christ is just going to
leave me deserted.
Really?
The guy that you trusted your soul with, you think that's what he's going to do to you?
Never.
Christ will never forsake you.
He's never going to leave you.
If you're doing that, which is right, God will take care of you.
So why don't you get founded on the rock and realize I'm not going anywhere.
My house is secure.
Something bad will happen to me.
Go to Mark chapter number four.
It's important to receive Christ in all areas of your life.
Be founded on the rock, not on man.
But obviously if you're going to be founded on the rock, you've got to find that godly
man who's following Christ.
You can't be a lone ranger.
Nobody serves Christ on their own.
I venture you to find me the fired up, you know, soul winning guy who knows all the Bible,
but he just doesn't go to church.
Doesn't happen.
Look, Paul seemed like a lone ranger, but guess what?
He was going to church.
He was going to lots of churches.
Not only that, he had lots of helpers.
He wasn't this lone ranger.
He always had Silas with him, or he had Timothy with him.
He has helpers.
He has people going with him.
Why?
The Christian life is not to be done alone, it's to be done with people.
But at the end of the day, I'm founded on the rock, not on any man.
So if I have to switch out Silas with Timotheus, who cares?
You know what?
I'm still going to serve Christ with other brethren, with other brethren in Christ.
So what we need to do is we need to make sure we receive the word of God, even when we're
in affliction, even when the storms are coming.
Look at Mark chapter 4 verse 14.
The sower soweth the word, and these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown.
But when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts.
Now, this is just a side point, okay?
These people, did they accept the word of God in their hearts?
They said the word of God was in their hearts.
The devil had to go into their heart to take the word out.
Now what is the word?
Isn't Jesus Christ the word?
Now don't you go out soul winning and you talk to people and they say, you just got
to accept Jesus Christ in your heart.
Wait a minute.
Didn't these people accept Jesus Christ in their heart?
Here's my question.
Are they saved?
Well, look at verse number 15 again.
He says he takes that sown out of the way, and if you read it with a parallel passage,
it says, lest they should believe and be saved.
So Satan comes in, takes the word out of their heart.
They heard the gospel, but they didn't believe him.
Satan takes the word out of their heart, they forget it.
Go back to watching the Dallas football game, and they don't get saved.
It's like accepting that the gospel is true doesn't save you.
You actually have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.
You actually have to trust.
You have to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus.
That's how you get saved.
Look at verse 16.
And these are they likewise, which are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard
the word, immediately receive it with gladness.
So these people get saved right away, but look at verse 17 and have no root in themselves
and so endure but for a time afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the word's
sake, immediately they are offended.
So you see there's a group of Christians.
They get real excited about eternal life.
They like that.
They like that they can't go to hell anymore.
But then when they actually get persecuted for believing the Bible, like, well, I'm out
of here.
You mean you guys actually don't like fags?
You actually want them to be put to death?
Yeah.
Oh, well, that's scary.
I can't do that.
I love everybody.
They're going to be seduced away by the evil men because, look, evil people exist.
It's just a reality.
I don't know how else to wake you up.
Just look at the newspaper, how many evil people there are.
And we see you have to have a root.
You have to be grounded and rooted in Christ's word or you're just going to be offended.
You're going to go away.
You know how I know people stay in this church because they read their Bible?
Look, if you read your Bible, you're going to want to come to this church.
If you stop reading your Bible, you'll forget why you would even want to come to this church.
You're just going to start getting offended because you didn't realize certain things
in the Bible is what it says.
You can say, oh, I don't you know, I don't really agree with that anymore.
I don't like that part.
I don't want to do that.
Look, if you have no root, you're not going to endure through the persecution and the
tribulation.
If I walked into a church and they say, hey, the pastor, you know, was doing, you know,
he's doing drugs.
I mean, there's financial problems.
He's been in prostitution.
That's going to be every reason I could possibly need to run away from that church.
Look, there were some people, their first service was Wednesday night.
Talk about a hard time to want to come back again.
But look, if you're rooted on Christ, if you have the word of God in your heart, you say,
well, we've got a new guy coming in.
I'm just going to serve Christ anyways.
And you know what?
They received the word and much affliction.
They say, you know, I can still serve Christ no matter what persecution, what affliction,
what the newspaper says, what the TV says.
I don't care because I just want to serve Christ.
And we see that's an example to other churches because they're going to have persecution.
They're going to have tribulation.
And when they see your courage, when they see your boldness, it makes them want to stand
on the rock too.
When you see our church fold like a deck of cards, it makes everybody afraid.
So I don't want that at our church.
Well, do you see what happened to that church?
We have an opportunity to be an example, to be an example to all churches across this
entire world.
How does a church respond in tribulation?
How does it respond in affliction?
And when you read the Bible, when you read about great tribulation, the things we've
gone through are light.
They're not that burdensome.
I mean, in Revelation, people are getting their heads chopped off.
Who's gotten their head chopped off last week?
I mean, come on.
It's talking about your own bowels, your brother and sister delivering you unto death to the
authorities.
That's some persecution.
That's some tribulation.
Bible talks about in Hebrews, people being sawn asunder, famine, all kinds of things
that are unimaginably difficult.
If you can't go through your pastor having some sin, I mean, you're not going to make
it in the great tribulation.
And we have to show how we can endure through great affliction and still receive the word
of Christ.
Go over to 1 Thessalonians chapter three, 1 Thessalonians chapter number three.
The Bible says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
You say, I want to serve God.
Well, just tack on some persecution.
Gonna happen.
If you're not getting persecuted, sounds like you're not godly enough.
Maybe you're not separated enough.
Maybe you don't love the Bible enough.
Because guess what?
When you do that, which is right, persecution will come.
You don't have to try and find it.
You don't have to look for it.
It's going to happen.
That's what the Bible says.
Look at verse four.
For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation,
even as it came to pass.
And you know, for this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith,
lest by some means attempt to have tempted you, and our labor be in vain.
But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith
and charity, and that you have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us as
we also to see you, therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction
and distress by your faith.
For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord.
The Apostle Paul's looking at this other church, the Thessalonicans, and he's saying, because
y'all are strong, it makes us want to be strong.
Because you're enduring, it makes us want to endure.
Because we see you going through this great affliction, but you still have faith, it encourages
us to have faith.
So you say, oh, you're an independent church.
Yeah, we are.
What does that mean?
That means there's nobody over me except for Christ.
But that doesn't mean that we aren't an example, that we aren't in fellowship with other churches.
We can't be an example to other churches.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 8 now.
Go back in your Bible.
2 Corinthians chapter number 8.
We see the Thessalonicans, they received the word in much affliction.
They still stood strong on the word of God.
You say, yeah, but they said they received the word.
Well, the Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
So if their faith was strong, sounds like they were getting a lot of the word of God
coming to them.
Because that's how you get faith.
If you don't have this, you can't have faith.
That's why I'd never go to a church that's not King James only.
I can't have any faith.
They get up and preach the NIV, I can't get any faith from that because faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God.
So if you don't give me the word of God, I can't increase my faith.
You know, I increase my faith by hearing and seeing God's word and then saying, you know,
I believe that.
I believe that verse.
I believe what the Bible says.
That's how my faith is going to get strengthened and encouraged.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1.
Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia,
how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded under the riches of their liberality.
For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves,
praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship
of the ministering to the saints.
And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto
us by the will of God, insomuch that we desired Titus that as he had begun, so he would also
finish in you the same grace also.
What is he saying?
Well, there's these churches in Macedonia.
They're poor and they're in great affliction, but they decide to bestow Titus unto the apostles
for the work of the Lord.
They give a great gift.
And in 2 Corinthians chapter number 8, he's talking to the church at Corinth saying, see
the example that the Macedonian churches gave.
They were willing to give of them own selves, give you Titus, give you this great man to
do the work of the Lord.
And then he's going to ask the Corinthians for a gift.
He's going to ask them for money.
You know, we see the coordination in the fellowship of the churches.
One church has a great preacher.
They take him and give him to them.
And then the church that received the great preacher, they asked them to give money and
they give money to churches that were poor.
So we see the fellowship, we see the unity, we see the great in sample of, hey, you are
willing to give, you're willing to receive, now give.
And they were willing to give, let's receive something for them.
So we see the coordination, the fellowship, the in sample of a church.
And the Bible says it's more blessed to give than to receive.
I want to be a church that gives.
I want to be a church that looks at, you know, people that are having problems and says,
we can help them.
We can be a blessing unto them, whatever we got.
And even when we're in affliction, even when we're struggling and having problems, I want
to take all the resources we got and give them all away, all of it.
Why?
So that we can be in sample to other churches.
And we see, look, God will repay, pressed down, shaken together.
Look, God is going to make sure when we bless others, he's going to bless us.
The way to get blessing from God is by blessing others, by helping others, by encouraging
others.
Go to Matthew chapter number five, Matthew chapter number five.
So even in their affliction, they still receive the word, they were still willing by faith
to bestow Titus, to bestow a great preacher of theirs.
But what was the fourth thing that a church, the in sample of a church, it was that they
did it with joy of the Holy Ghost.
The Bible says, God loveth a cheerful giver.
You know, the Bible uses this word free will a lot, and it's usually in coordination of
offerings.
God commands the tithe.
What's the tithe?
It's 10 percent.
But then everything above the tithe was considered a free will offering, meaning of your own
volition.
You wanted to.
You wanted to bless the Lord.
You wanted to give an offering.
And we see, God likes it when you do it of your own volition.
Some churches teach you have to do it by command.
I've been in churches where they're like, you need to give like 20 percent.
You need to give like 40 percent.
Or they'll have faith promised missions, where they're like, you know what, we need to all
give $100 every month, and you need to dig in your pockets, and the Lord told me maybe
we should all give 10 percent more, and 20 percent more, who can give $10,000 right now,
and I see a brother over here, and we can give $5,000.
It's like an auction.
That's not free will.
That's not of your own volition.
God doesn't take, you know, joy in that.
God likes a cheerful giver.
God likes a person doing it of their own heart, doing it with joy.
And everything we do in the Christian life should be of joy, should be because you want
to, because you're excited to help somebody.
Look at Matthew chapter 5, verse 11.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of
evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they
the prophets which were before you.
So everything we do should always be with joy, whether it be giving, whether it be helping,
whether it be serving, and especially in persecution.
You say, hey, Pastor Shelley, what did you think about Friday?
I loved it.
What did you think about Saturday?
I loved it.
What did you think about Sunday?
I loved it.
I rejoice in the persecution and the affliction when I get to fight for God's word.
When I'm fighting the good fight of faith.
When I'm believing the Bible and I'm doing what it says, God says, why don't you rejoice?
I thank God that I have the opportunity to fight for the word of God, to fight for the
Lord, to serve, to be a humble servant and try my best to just help others.
I can rejoice in God.
I can be thankful for him putting me in the ministry, for giving me the opportunity.
And look, when we have persecution, when we have affliction, we ought not look at it negatively
and say, oh, man, why am I going through this?
Why are people lying about me?
Why are people saying all manner of evil against me falsely?
Why am I having to go through this?
And I can look at it and say, hey, this is an opportunity for my faith to be tried and
I can rejoice.
You know, the apostles, they went away rejoicing after they were beaten because they say, hey,
we were counted worthy to be beaten for the cause of Christ.
They were excited that they were counted worthy to suffer affliction for the cause of Christ.
They're like, we must be doing something right.
We must actually be serving God.
And look, I'm not saying I'm rejoicing in a pastor's fall.
That's not something that I rejoiced in.
I greatly sorrowed and had grief in that.
But you know, when we get to expose false brethren, wicked Judas Iscariots, like Adam
Fannin, that was exciting.
That was fun.
I'm telling you what, I like that.
And you know what?
I like getting rid of the trash.
I like a church being purged because you know what, when you purge, you get to bring
forth more fruit.
You know, God's constantly talking about being a husband, men.
And you know, when you have a tree, sometimes you need to clip some vines.
This vine's sucking a bunch of resources, gone, clip that off, throw it in the fire.
Now we're going to get better fruit.
Now we can put those resources to better use.
Go to Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one.
The Bible says in Luke chapter six, blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they
shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name
as evil for the son of man's sake, rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.
For behold, your reward is great in heaven for in the like manner did their fathers unto
the prophets.
You say, what should you do pastor Shelley when they lie about you?
Yeah.
Hey, if I'm serving Christ, if I do something right and they're persecuting me, I should
get excited.
That's what the Bible tells me.
You know what?
I do get excited.
That is exciting.
I like it.
Let's fight.
Let's go.
Look at Colossians chapter one verse 23.
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereby
Paul made a minister who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which
is behind the afflictions of Christ and my flesh for his body's sake which is the church.
How did Paul feel about his sufferings?
He rejoiced.
He enjoyed it.
He liked it.
He was encouraged.
Why?
Because the Bible says when you do that which is godly, you're going to be persecuted.
So you say, I'm never persecuted.
You need to step up your godly factor.
You need to get a little more godly.
You need to get a little more separated.
You need to do a little more Bible reading.
That way you can be more persecuted and then you can get more joy.
It's a vicious cycle of joy.
You go through all these trials and tribulations and you get more hope and you get more patience
and you get more experience and look, that's great.
We should embrace affliction.
We should embrace persecution, embrace tribulation and then when people look at our church, they
say, oh man, nothing can stop this church.
Nothing can shake this church because they're founded on the rock.
Because they're sitting on the rock and nothing can stop them.
The gates of hell shall not, you know, defeat them.
Go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter number 11.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against them is what the Bible says.
Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, great is my boldness of speech toward you.
Great is my glorying of you.
I am filled with comfort.
I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
Paul says I'm super happy in every single tribulation.
Not some of them, all of them.
That should be our attitude.
And now sometimes if you don't know the Bible, you think this is weird, right?
This guy enjoys it when you're suffering.
This guy enjoys it when you're in tribulation.
Well, as long as it's for Christ's sake, as long as it's for righteousness sake, as long
as we're standing with what the Bible says, look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 28.
Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all
the church.
I'm sorry, I want to read a couple more verses before that I think.
Well, let's just focus on the last phrase.
Paul in this chapter, he's saying, look, I care not about just you.
I care of all the churches.
And you know what, that should be an attitude still of an independent fundamental Baptist
church.
Look, we're still independent, we don't have any authority over us, but we should still
have the care of all churches.
Not Joel Osteen's church, not Gateway, that thing needs a whole sermon in itself.
We're talking about actual Christian churches, godly churches, churches that love Christ,
but we should have the care for them too.
We should look at them that are struggling or having affliction and want to help them
and love them, come alongside them.
Go if you would to 1 Thessalonians 4, the last place I'll have your turn.
We see Peter.
You know, some people would look at this sermon and they'd say, okay, well, the apostle Paul,
that was his job to go to lots of different churches, but we're independent, so the pastor,
the pastor should only care about one church.
I mean, why would an elder care about other churches?
He should only be focused on one church and one location.
I'm pretty sure Peter was an elder.
Didn't he go out preaching everywhere?
Didn't he go to the Gentiles?
Didn't he go to Cornelius?
Didn't the Holy Ghost specifically tell Peter to go to other people and help other people?
Look, we ought not get so isolated and fixated in one little place.
We should care for all the brethren, all the churches.
Our church should be an ensemble to every church that loves the Bible.
It even tells the pastors in 2 Timothy chapter 4, but which thou in all things endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist, make full proof thy ministry.
The pastor is supposed to be an evangelist, not a full time evangelist, but at least part
time.
Part of the job of a pastor is to go out and evangelize, reach the lost, reach people,
encourage other people, go out and not just care about his flock.
Some people say, oh, you're a hireling, Pastor Shelley, because you care about other people.
Now I'm just trying to do what the Bible says.
I care about all the churches.
I care about all the people.
I care about all the lost too.
I want to get them saved.
I had a family member, they say, hey, when are you going to stop being an evangelist
and be a pastor?
I said, never.
The Bible commands me to do the work of an evangelist.
So I'm going to keep being an evangelist.
They say, you keep going to Mexico.
Yeah.
They need to be saved too.
Yeah.
Oh, you go to Jamaica.
Yeah.
They need to be saved too.
Yeah.
Go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
I want to care about everybody.
And look, how can we be an example?
Well, we must be followers of men, godly men.
Paul said, you're followers of us.
That's why you're a great example.
Followers of the apostle.
You need to find the godly men, know of whom thou has learned and decide I'm going to keep
following that guy.
This guy's conversation, everything that he's doing, his lifestyle, it all matches with
the Bible.
I'm going to follow his faith.
But at the end of the day, we must be followers of the Lord.
We must be founded on the rock.
Not only that, we must receive the word in affliction.
Even when the trials and the tribulations and the afflictions and the sufferings and
all the bad stuff's happening, we're still ready to hear the word of God.
We're still listening to the word of God.
We're still coming to church.
We're still getting fed by the word of God.
And lastly, we need to have the joy.
We need to be excited.
I mean, be encouraged.
Look, even when there's things that are going badly, we can still embrace that and be joyful.
Look at verse number seven.
First Thessalonians four, verse seven.
For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who has also given unto us his
Holy Spirit.
But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are
taught of God to love one another.
And indeed you do it toward all the brethren, which are in all Macedonia.
But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.
What do I want our church to do?
I want us to love all the brethren, and I want us to increase more and more and more.
We need to be a good example, not just for us here, but for all the churches.
We need to have love for all of the churches, and we need to set forth a godly example.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for Steadfast Baptist Church.
Thank you so much for everyone in this room.
Thank you for giving us your word so that we could be founded upon the rock.
I pray that you would just raise up godly men whose faith we could follow.
But ultimately that we would know we should be founded on the rock, we should be founded
on your word, and no matter what we go through, what kind of affliction, we still want to
receive your word.
Not only that, but we can even have joy in persecution, joy in tribulation, joy in sufferings,
and that we can continually increase in our love towards the brethren, towards the churches,
that you could use this church greatly to do great works for you.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.