You
you
You steadfast Baptist church, you can find your seats and grab a song book and turn in your hymnals to song
169 come now bounce
song
169 come now bounce
Song 169 come now found
Come now
Come now found
Come now found of every blessing
To my heart to sing my praise
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me son the Lord you son
one hundred and sixty nine on the second here I raise my
and I know
Oh
Good singing. Let's have a word of prayer Lord
Thank you so much for this day and the opportunity to be in church
Thank you for all of our members and visitors
Pray that you bless every person here and that you bless the service and in Jesus name we pray. Amen
All right for a second song. You should have a handout in your bulletin. You should have two handouts
We're gonna sing I'd rather have Jesus
The new song I'd rather have Jesus, you know, it's sing it out
If you don't have one go ahead and raise your hand us. We'll bring you one
And we run out share with the neighbor whatever works I'd rather have Jesus
I'd rather be
I
Rather
I
Jesus
He's fair
He's sweeter than money
All that my
I
Today
Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist Church
If you did not already get a bulletin
You can slip of your hand nice and high and one of the ushers can come by get you a bulletin on the front
We have our Bible memory passage Psalm 148 verse 7 any child that's 18 or under that can quote the verse this week
Will receive a special prize. I think I think verse 7 is actually different than this one
So you might double check on that one
Also on the inside. We have our service times are so winning times also our church stats on the right
we have the list of expecting ladies and
Then also we have a prayer list that if you'd like to send any requests in you can email us steadfast Baptist
kjv at gmail.com
Our upcoming events we have music practice for our conference at 4 p.m
On Sundays if you'd like to participate you can even just show up and help sing
Some of the newer songs and just help the musicians get used to their timing also
September 25th pure words Baptist Church is going to be disposing of all the trash
That is the NIV HIV, you know kind of viable versions that are out there. And so if you'd like to donate
You can donate any false version that you would like and we typically try to gate
Gather these throughout the year as we go soul winning and we run into people we try to offer them our placement
here's a King James Bible for what you have and will help dispose of that and
So every year we try to have a special
commemoration of why we use the King James Bible and we dispose of all of these wicked lies that people claim are a Bible on
October 2nd, we have our fall swap. It's gonna be 9 a.m. To 3 p.m
So if you have any items of value you can come by even if you don't have any items
But you're just want to just show up
There's gonna be a lot of stuff that you can just look at and anything that's left over is gonna be donated charity
anyways, so you might as well just swing by just see if there's something of interest and
I think even the church might have a few things that they want to donate some some furniture and stuff
So if you are interested just come by check it out. October 6th of the 10th
We have our conference and so we're really excited about this
It's gonna be a lot of fun
A lot of guest preachers are coming in and so I'd really encourage you to participate in as much as possible
I already made a video. I made a video of details, but is that on our other channel?
I don't know, but we'll make sure to put it back up there if it's not
I think it was on our original channel that got removed on YouTube
So we might upload that again just so you can look at the whole list of details
Also, November 13th. We have our Oklahoma City
Marathon so we have a lot of soul-winning marathons
Pure words in Houston, Oklahoma City on the November 13th, and then hopefully a couple other maybe even at the end of the year
Just to give you a quick rundown of the schedule that way even if you're not online or something, you know Wednesday
We're gonna meet for church at 7 the exact same normal time. So 7 o'clock Wednesday night pastor
Aaron Thompson is gonna be here preaching for us and we're gonna have ice cream after the service
So if you want to participate in soul-winning that day
We're gonna instead of leaving around 515 530 we're gonna leave at 5
So if you can make it for soul-winning
We're gonna have so many at 5 just so we can get back in time have plenty of time for preparation for the service
Thursday Thursday morning
We're gonna have ice skating from 10 to noon so from 10 to noon and then from 2 to 4
We're gonna have afternoon soul-winning
We'll also have our church service that evening at 6 p.m. So that's gonna be pastor Bruce me
And we're trying to move it a little bit earlier
So people can just kind of show up right after work or something and then maybe go out to dinner afterwards
There will be a pastor's dinner
That we're gonna have right after the service
So we're gonna try and gather all the pastors out and take them to dinner
So then you guys can leave and go to dinner too. All right, and then also
Friday we're having in the morning a lady's coffee hour
For it's actually like a couple hours and so and just time of fellowship. It's gonna be nurselings only preferred
But we don't want any lady to not show up because they have to bring their kids
it's just if possible its nursing is only preferred and
All the ladies of our church are invited to participate. It's gonna be a lot of fun
I'm not gonna be there but I heard it's gonna be fun. Okay, that's why it's gonna be fun
Right now I'm sitting and then from 2 to 4 so winning again
church service is gonna be 6 on Friday as well and
We're having on Thursdays pastor Bruce Mejia from first works Baptist Church Friday evening at 6
It's gonna be pastor David Berson's from stronghold Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and then we're gonna have pizza in between
Right a following after the service and we're gonna have a second preaching service with pastor Roger Menes from Verde Baptist Church in Sacramento
California and so that way you don't have to go anywhere
You can just show up church service have pizza and then have another service. Hopefully that break will help
With the fact we're gonna be packed in here. So that'll be a lot of fun, right and then Saturday morning
We have our kids spelling bee
So this is gonna be the first year that we have a kid spelling bee for all ages of between 5 and 17
So if you have a chilled children of that age and you'd like for them to participate
You just can show up
There is a sign-up sheet just we have an idea
But even if you didn't sign up if you show up and you meet the requirements age-wise
Then you can participate if you want to do well
There is a list that I have already put online where you can see all the words that are gonna be used
But they all should be found in your King James Bible
So the goal is to have a Bible spelling bee where we're actually spelling words from the Bible and getting more familiar with Bible words
And so you can check that out online
We'll have a singles event from
About 11 to 1 it's like a lunchtime thing and then we'll have afternoon soul winning again on Saturday
I'll preach both services on Sunday. We have a guest preacher for our Spanish service pastor Enrique Reyes in Houston, Texas
He's a pastor at Spring Creek Baptist Church
Spring Crest Spring Crest Baptist Church and in Houston
And then we're gonna have a dessert fellowship after the the Sunday evening service
So I'm just asking the church family just bring your best dessert and we'll just have a potluck a dessert
I'm not gonna be a Baptist Fellowship if you don't have a potluck dessert
Alright, so I mean we got to bring that in and so pretty much that's the only thing, you know
I really ask if you can help us with bringing a dessert if you can that Sunday evening service
And that's pretty much all I have for
Announcements this morning. Let's go ahead and go to our third song
Song 43
Song 43 marching to Zion
43 marching to Zion
Song number 43. We're marching to Zion
We're marching to Zion
Beautiful Beautiful Zion
We're marching to Zion
A beautiful city of God
Let those green
He who's to sing
Who never knew
Are God
The children of the heavenly king
Thanks be to God
As offering plates are being passed around please turn your Bibles to
Galatians chapter 1 Galatians chapter 1
Galatians 1 the Bible reads Paul an apostle not of men neither by man but by
Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the
brethren which are with me under the churches of Galatia grace be to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself
for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father to whom be glory forever and ever amen I marvel
that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ but though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you let him be accursed as we said before so say I now again if any
man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be
accursed for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for
if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ but I certify you
brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I
neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ we have heard of my conversation and time passed in the
Jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and
wasted it and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in my
own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my
fathers but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him
among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither
when I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me but I went
into Arabia and returned again under Damascus then after three years I went up to
Jerusalem to see Peter and abode within 15 days but other of the
apostles saw why none save James the Lord's brother now the things which I
write unto you behold before God I lie not afterwards I came into the
regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by face under the churches of
Judea which were in Christ but they had heard only that he which persecuted
us in times past now preach it the faith which once he destroyed and they
glorified God in me let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father we
thank you for steadfast Baptist Church in the morning service that we
have here the opportunity to gather in your name and listen to the word of
God being preached I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and
just help him to preach a sermon boldly and also Lord that you would
help us to pay attention so that we can apply the lessons from this
sermon into our Christian lives in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Amen. I wanted to focus at the beginning part of the Galatians here where it says in verse number six
I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel
which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would
pervert the gospel of Christ though we are an angel from heaven preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him
be accursed as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other
gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed for do I
now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I
should not be the servant of Christ and so the Apostle Paul is making
abundantly clear in Galatians chapter number one that we as Christians are
not allowed to tolerate a false gospel that basically someone teaching another
gospel or preaching another version of the gospel or perverting the gospel is
not something that's supposed to be tolerated it's not something that you
would put up with look at chapter 2 for a second and look at verse number
three neither Titus who is with me being a Greek was compelled to be
circumcised and that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in
privately to spy out our Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus they might
bring us into bondage whom he gave place by subjection know not for an hour
that the truth of the gospel might continue with you notice the Apostle
Paul's attitude is he's not willing to submit himself is not willing to
subject himself to someone teaching a false doctrine regarding salvation I
mean if someone's teaching a false doctrine on salvation he's gonna pipe
up he's not gonna be able to handle it he's not gonna listen to it he's not
interested in being submissive to someone teaching such an offensive
false doctrine when it's in regards to the gospel of Jesus Christ and I
bring this up because the title of my sermon this morning is this what
church you should go to what church you should go to and point number one
this morning is this if they believe salvation is by faith alone I mean I
think that's probably the number one but I'm gonna give you four non-negotiables
this morning I have seven points but I have four non-negotiables when it comes
to going to church or what type of church you should go to but this first
point here as evidenced in Galatians chapter 1 & 2 is if they're preaching
another gospel that's not something that you can just decide well I know
they're wrong in the gospel but I really like the building well I know
they're wrong in the gospel but I really like the pipe organ I really
like all the murals or I really like the name of the church I really like
how close it is to my house you know it doesn't matter any of the other
factors if they're wrong on the gospel you're not allowed to tolerate
it you shouldn't subject yourself to it you shouldn't submit to a false
gospel that is the most primary foundational doctrine that we have is
getting saved and is by faith alone okay now go if you would to Psalms
chapter 89 Psalms chapter 89 I want to show you a few more verses here but
the Bible makes it clear that church is for the safe therefore I need to have
the right gospel because I need to have fellowship and unity with other
people that believe the same thing in regards to going to heaven in regards
to being saved and the Bible uses all kinds of different ways to indicate
to us or to describe for us the fact that church is for the safe I'm
gonna just read for you but in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 the Bible says
under the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the
name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours so whenever the
Apostle Paul's writing to the church at Corinth he says very clearly to them
that are sanctified now that's a description of someone that's saved
meaning when he's talking to the church he's anticipating all of the
people in that church to be sanctified because they're all saved okay so that's
why it's important to realize that church is for the safe it's supposed
to be the safe gathering together it's not the institution to try and get
people saved it's where we're basically coming together as already
being saved the Bible makes a delineation or soul winning is where
we go out and we preach the gospel to the lost we go out and we teach all
nations but when we come together the purpose is to gather all those that
are already saved to come together to be edified to sing together to have an
assembly to have a congregation and basically praise the Lord and it would
make no sense to gather a whole bunch of unsaved people together to
worship God because the Bible says that without faith it's impossible to
please him okay and it says they so they that are in the flesh cannot
please God is what the Bible says so meaning unsaved people can't please
the Lord I don't care what Hillsong song they're singing this morning I don't
care what notion that they make I don't care if they have a Bible in their hand
I don't care how they're dressed if they're not saved them coming to church
to worship God is not pleasing him what pleases them is them getting
saved what pleases them is being saved and what gives honor and glory to
Jesus Christ is the saved singing praises to his name the saved doing
the works of God the saved gathering together for the church look at Psalms
89 and look at verse number five the Bible says and the heaven shall praise
thy wonders o Lord thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the Saints
so notice the Bible says hey here's a congregation but notice of who the
Saints meaning a group of saved people coming together that's why it's
important that we have the same doctrine of salvation if we don't have
the right doctrine of salvation is the church or you're going to a church that
doesn't believe salvation is by faith now you're a congregation of
people that are not all saints now you have a congregation of a whole
bunch of unsaved mixed people and that's weird now obviously if an
unsafe person wants to visit your church let them come in you know we
want people to come into church we want to try and give them the gospel
afterwards we want to try and get them saved there's nothing wrong with
having visitors but you know what the majority of your church people that are
members of your church need to be saved and that's why it's so importantly you
have the right gospel as far as what church that you're going to look
at verse 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints
and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him so notice God
is supposed to be feared in the assembly of who the Saints again
picturing the safe go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 14 now go to
1st Corinthians chapter number 14 I just wanted to show you those two
verses because the Old Testament while it doesn't necessarily emphasize the
word church it uses the word congregation or assembly oftentimes and
in the New Testament the word church is often used but they're synonyms
congregation church what is a church is a congregation of believers what is a
congregation of believers it's a church and we even have a congregation
and the Old Testament known as the church in the wilderness with those that
were going out with Moses the children of Israel and so while it may look a
little bit different we don't have a moving tabernacle out in the
wilderness you know we have a building that we're meeting in this morning
it's still essentially got the same most important elements save people the
Word of God we're singing the Word of God we're preaching the Word of God
so in that essence it's going to be very similar and eventually we'll go to
the church in heaven that's going to be a great church service we're all
gathered together and guess what we're gonna do sing praises hear the Lord
speak and I'm sure it's gonna be a great time of fellowship as well now
1st Corinthians chapter 14 if you understand the context of this chapter
it's talking about what's allowed in a church service and specifically what
kind of preaching and the preaching is supposed to be done in the language in
which people understand you know it doesn't make sense for me to get up
and preach in Mandarin this morning or to preach in some foreign language that
nobody understands that wouldn't be very edifying to the congregation or
more importantly in the past church services for the Catholic Church will
be held in Latin even though people in that area wouldn't even speak Latin
they don't even know Latin but they would get up and they would pray in
Latin and they'd sing in Latin and the preaching would be in Latin and
everybody just sitting there just like a dumb sheep you know they have no
idea what's being communicated how can they even say amen at the preaching
when or the prayer when they don't even know it was spoken and so it's
making fun of the idea or basically proving how silly it would be for me to
get up and preach in a foreign language when you just don't even
understand that language that wouldn't be any benefit that wouldn't be any
benefit to God's people it only be benefiting the person that actually
understands that language okay but in this chapter he also explains what's the
purpose of preaching anyways what's the point of even speaking anyways what's
the point of showing up it says in verse number three but he that
prophesyeth speak of them into edification and exhortation and
comfort okay so the whole purpose of preaching is to edify exhort and
comfort though now the word edify you know it means to build up or it means
to you know basically construct or to add to a foundation you know we're
basically building people up spiritually is what you're supposed to
do in the church but here's the thing if you don't even have the gospel
right there's nothing for me to build on so it doesn't even make sense
you know just like you're not going to start building a house when no
foundation has been laid you don't want to build a spiritual house when
no foundation has been laid okay and if the church doesn't even have the
foundation right why would I then want to allow them to try and build anything
else on top of me you know and the structures that people build on
something that has a bad foundation are not the same structure that you want
built on the right foundation meaning I'm not going to go to a church
that has the wrong gospel because they're not going to be equipped to
then edify me to exhort me or to comfort me with the scriptures when
they themselves don't even know the scriptures go to first Timothy turn to
the right first Timothy and look at chapter number four it's you've got
first and second Timothy Titus by Lehman in Hebrew so we get to Hebrews you
went too far first Timothy chapter 4 look at verse 13 till I come give
attendance to reading to exhortation the doctrine again the purpose of
church is to be exhorted with the Word of God is for the doctrines which
here's a synonym for the word doctrine beliefs the beliefs of the
church to be made known under the congregation for us to all have unity
around the Word of God to understand the Word of God but here's the thing if
we don't have the same foundational doctrine of salvation by faith then
it's not going to make sense to have any of the other doctrines to be
taught to you and the other exhortation to be preached unto you you
have to all start at a commonplace which is the doctrine of salvation being by
faith alone in Jesus Christ go if you would to second Corinthians
chapter number 10 now go to second Corinthians chapter number 10 you say
well why do we meet at church for doctrine to find out what the Bible
says to know what the Bible says if I miss the most important basic
truth of the Bible then what's the point of being at a church you know
if I can't even teach you how to get saved from the Bible or if they're
preaching a false gospel how is anybody going to learn anything else so then
every other point of the church is completely destroyed when you don't have
salvation by faith this whole point was doctrine if it wasn't for doctrine
you know people meet together for all other kinds of reasons you know they
meet together because they all want to have coffee or they all meet
together because they read some kind of other book that's not the Bible you
know about a coffee club or a book club or maybe they meet together to
play a sport maybe they meet together to play an instrument or maybe they
meet together to speak a foreign language or maybe they meet together
for all manner of other reasons maybe just to watch a football game you
know don't people do that don't be able to gather together on a Sunday to
watch a football game and see here's the thing I've even been to churches
where Sunday night instead of having church service they all gather
together to watch football but he's think that's not church even though
it's in the building that's a church and even though there was a bunch of
saved people there it wasn't church that's just having fun that's just
having fellowship or whatever that's just enjoying one another's company you
know what church has a different purpose urge is for people to come
together and to hear the word of God being preached for doctrine to be
established and settled and if so we're not going to have the most
foundational doctrine of salvation by faith clearly preached from the pulpit
there's no point never going to that church don't show up at that church
that's not even a real church okay it's a fake church it's a false
church if they have a false gospel and it's a dangerous building if you
walked into this building this morning and I said look there's no foundation
under this floor it's just quicksand okay you might be nervous to be in that
building that it could fall or crumble or be destroyed or whatever and
especially if there was a storm coming you would be like I'm not going
to go into that building because that building is not really a secure
building to be in these things going into a church where they have the
wrong gospel that's a dangerous building it could collapse on you and
kill you or destroy you it's a hazard to your health it's a hazard to
you in a spiritual way it's only going to cause damage to you it's only
in a cause some kind of discomfort or evil that could possibly come upon you
that's why I'm not going to show up at a church if I know they have a false
gospel it's just not on the table it's never acceptable it's not even
church you can call it church you can say it's a church but it's not a
church unless it's saved people with the right gospel of Jesus Christ now
second Corinthians is going to emphasize again the point here of the
purpose of preaching in church it says in second Corinthians chapter 10 verse 8
for though I should boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord has
given us for edification and not for your destruction I should not be
ashamed to notice the doctrine has to be something very specific it has to
build you up not destroy you but here's the problem if you have a false
gospel that can't build you up it can only destroy you so by preaching a
false gospel by preaching a gospel that's going to lead people to hell that can
only destroy people and so if the church is there preaching a false gospel it's
not there for edification it's there for destruction and so you'd leave it
run away from it have nothing to do with it whatsoever you know we get
people saved out soul winning and they told you before I go to St.
Mary's I go to St. Thomas's I go to St. whatever it's a Catholic Church
okay you should tell them very plainly after getting them saved do not go back
to that church they have a false gospel they don't even believe salvation
by faith and so it's only going to destroy you hurt you and harm you by
going back to those services back to hear them preach and look I'm sure
plenty people do it I'm sure many in fact I've been with people going so
winning and it almost seemed like they didn't give any indication to the
person that the Catholic Church was bad you know because they'll knock on
the door and they'll say hey where do you go to church and they'll say I go
to St. Mary's like well I don't want to take you from a good church and I'm
thinking like what why would you say that we don't want to take you from a
good church but can I show you what the Bible says about salvation like
hey you don't have to be mean okay I'm not saying like I go to St.
Mary's well they're wicked as hell you know like that's two extremes okay
don't do either of those options okay but if you were gonna pick one say that
it's wicked as hell I mean I'll be less offended if you screamed about how
horrible the church is then you would say well I don't want to take you from
a good church okay so you want to make it abundantly clear to people
especially when you're going out and preaching the gospel don't go to a
church that has the wrong gospel and look I do this I will show them I'll
show them like 1st John chapter number 4 verse 1 it says beloved believe not
every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false
prophets are going on in the world and I'll say look the majority of
churches are false and they have a false prophet they have a false teacher
preaching a false gospel and you should never go there and the church that you
said you're going to the Catholic Church teaches differently than what the
Bible says I even told them that already because before I pray with them
I make it clear I say look what I just showed you is different than what
your church teaches you believe the Bible or your church and if they say
the Bible then I pray with them and try to get them saved then I say now
that you realize that your church is teaching something different don't go there
it's a false gospel it's a false doctrine you shouldn't have any
fellowship with these people you shouldn't be yoking up with them you
know we want to make sure that people after they get saved have an
opportunity to realize what church they should be going to which is one
that believes the gospel of Jesus Christ okay and they don't have to
come to my church to be right with God you know what going to the
Catholic Church is evil it's wrong it's wicked there's nothing good about it
and look I'll put every other Christian Church in that bucket if they have
the false gospel too it's not like oh just the Catholics are bad look there's
plenty of Christians so-called there's plenty of non-denominational churches
virtually every Protestant Church whether that be Presbyterian whether
that be Episcopalian whether it be Church of Christ I don't care what
they call themselves Church of God I mean we read in 1st Corinthians
chapter 1 the Church of God you know what the Church of God in 1st
Corinthians is way different than the Church of God down the street because
the Church of God down the street is a bunch of tongue-talking Pentecostals who
either faking it or possessed with the devil let me make it abundantly clear
how I feel this morning and you know why I know that what they're doing is
fake or of the devil because they have a false gospel that's why because
when you don't have the right gospel you're built on a wrong foundation and
so no longer you edifying the congregation you're destroying the
congregation and notice the doctrines that they teach they teach that you can
lose your salvation that's destructive they teach a false gospel that's
destructive they use modern Bible versions that's destructive then they
get up and say hey speak gibberish when you're praying to God instead of
actually making your prayer known to you and another person I mean you
really think that God is pleased when the same person sits here and says God
shukla kalalalala kandalabukalala that's not gonna help anybody
that's destroying your mind that's not gonna help you with your dictation or
your speech or your understanding it just you just look like an idiot
let's be honest and they'll be like oh I'm gonna be an idiot for
Christ no you're just an idiot you're an idiot for false doctrine say
okay and you know what everything in the house of God is supposed to be
decently and in order this morning and that's why having salvation by
faith having that is your core basic principle your foundational
principle is a must-have not negotiable the Apostle Paul isn't saying like well
I know that no church is perfect so I guess we'll just tolerate a false
gospel he says not even for an hour he would walk out of the service or
yell or something he wasn't he's not gonna sit there and listen to a false
gospel being preached and obviously back in those days if we showed up at a
church they probably don't have a website okay they probably don't have a sign
outside that says Baptist or whatever so you might actually show up at a church
back then and not even know like what's going on you think it's safe but as
soon as they start preaching salvation by works you're just like I'm not
gonna sit here and tolerate that I'm gonna leave now praise the Lord today
you can pretty much figure out what a church believes before even walking
through the door and if they won't tell you what they believe you already
know what they believe and you say what do you mean well don't you have to go
there to figure out what they teach no let me tell you something if they don't
tell you what they believe on the website you won't learn what they
believe when you go to the church service either the church service is
gonna be the exact same you have no idea what they believe because they
just say everything in vague nondescript term analogy so as to
not offend anyone or to turn anybody away and basically if you come into the
pastor and say this is what I believe he'll say great I can see why you
believe that me too and then someone will come a contract review yep me too
yep because he just believes everything everything's good every valid every
opinion is valid look I've even had ministers tell me this they say look I
went to Bible College and they were teaching us how to understand that every
viewpoint is valid now everybody has their own interpretation everybody has
their own way of looking at things and you know we have to all learn how
to appreciate other people's viewpoints and other people's interpretations and
everybody's walk of life and it's like no we go to hear the truth of
God's Word and I don't care what your opinion is that's what a church is
supposed to be like and if you believe salvation by anything other than faith
you're not saved you will split hell wide open and you know what it's not
building upon any foundation whenever you go to a church that has the wrong
gospel look at verse 10 of chapter 13 it might be on the same page or flip
a page chapter 13 verse 10 therefore I write these things being absent
less being present I should use sharpness according to the power which the
Lord have given me to edification and not destruction now he says look I can
use sharpness now what is sharpness it's being precise it's saying things
that are real clear like the Catholic Church is unsaved like saying
Pentecostals are unsaved like saying the Church of Christ has a false
gospel you know instead of getting up and say there's these churches out
there somewhere they exist and they have a name some of them have a name
and some of them teach work salvation look I grew up in a church like that I
grew up in a church where they said there's some people out there that
believe in work salvation and they're not safe and I'm just thinking like
who you know who are these people like what are the church like what's
the name I like wanting to know what's actually going on and if you
actually want to have precision I mean what if you were building a project
you know whatever you're building the stage up here and I said I need a piece
of wood and they're like okay what kind what size what shape you know
wouldn't that be important questions oh don't worry about it just bring some
wood you're gonna have a really weird-looking stage you want to have
it's precise hey bring me that two by four over there cut it to six in six
inches or six feet exactly I mean that's using sharpness why because that's
going to be good construction good edifying using precision using
sharpness today you know it's not destructive to get up and warn people
about the wicked Church of the Catholics to warn about the Pope and
to warn about the Pentecostals that's not going to hurt you you
know sticks and stones may break my bones but words still never hurt me
right when do we can we go back to that we go back to the idea that words
don't hurt that words didn't do anything to you and in fact when
you're hearing the word of God being preached it doesn't hurt at all it
only helps it only benefits it's edifying you it's making you a better
person okay go go to Psalms chapter 12 for a moment go to Psalms chapter 12
now I want to make something clear this morning I'm primarily preaching to
a audience that would be in the United States of America today because
if you live in the United States of America you pretty much are not going
to have any excuse as to why you can't go to church because I believe
you're gonna be able to find a church that meets all the bare
requirements for a church okay if you live in the United States of
America you can find a church where they have salvation by faith now it
might be two hours away it might be an hour and a half away it might be you
know 30 minutes away it might be 15 minutes away I know that's far for some
people but I mean it might be a little bit of a drive but you know
what if you're looking for a church that has salvation by faith you can
find one pretty much in the United States of America you can get one other
parts of the world you may not you know or maybe you you'd violate some of
these other principles I'm going to teach you in a second but you have to
understand that's the same even in the Bible right isn't there times when
godly people or Christian people can't go to a good church I mean how about
when the Apostle Paul's thrown in prison you think he's going to church
when he's shack in shackles how about just the Apostle Paul in general
when he shows up and to a new area he goes to Athens okay and he's there to
preach the gospel to someone that's never even heard the gospel before you
think there's a good independent fundamental Baptist Church already
established that he can go show up at so obviously if I'm going to reach
the loss if I'm going to reach people that are unreached with the gospel of
Jesus Christ it's very likely there may not be a good church yet and the whole
purpose is try and get people saved and start gathering together to
start forming a church so they can actually have a church to go to
that's the whole point and you know what if you live in the United States
though you don't have that excuse but there's going to be people in this
world that don't have a good church they can go to it's not reasonable for
them to travel to in a single day or to get to and you know I would this is
my opinion if I was that person I would do everything in my power to move
to where I could go to a good church or start trying to get as many
people saved as possible so that a church could be formed in my area but
I don't think it's okay if you're saved and you have no good church
option and you're doing nothing about it you say I'm not even seeking to find a
church and I'm not even trying to get people saved so that a church could be
formed then I don't believe you're right with God now again I'm not gonna
say you're not right with God for not showing up at church if you were in
prison or you're in one of these weird hypothetical situations but if
you're in the United States of America and you're just not going to
church you're just not right with God it's that clear it's that simple the
Bible makes it clear in Hebrews chapter number 10 not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the man or some is but so much the more
as you see the day approaching so we're supposed to not forsake going to
church we're supposed to seek to go to church as much as humanly possible it
says in Psalms chapter 12 though here's my second point of what churches you
go to as the King James only Church Psalms chapter 12 look at verse 6 the
words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in the furnace of earth
purified seven times thou shalt keep them o Lord thou shalt preserve them
from this generation forever you know I like verse 6 so much a church should
be named after that probably right why because isn't the whole emphasis of
going to church here the Word of God being preached and if you're going to
hear the Word of God being preached don't you want to be pure I mean think
about water what is like the pretty much the main characteristic or the
main quality that everybody's seeking when it comes to water isn't it that
it's pure I mean what have you said hey I have a glass of water you
really want it it's just defiled a little bit it's 98% pure wouldn't you be
like what do you mean by 98% what does the 2% mean you know like what
else is in it right what if it was 99% water and 1% arsenic oh it's pure
isn't it that's why look it's so important to have a Bible that we
believe is pure that we believe is God's Word as intended you know in
English obviously God didn't come down from heaven and speak to Moses in
English okay Jesus wasn't going around in 1611 English speaking you know what
God's Word can be translated in any language and notice that the
translation process according to the Bible is not dependent upon man look
what the Bible says in verse number seven thou shalt keep them now who is
he talking to God Oh Lord he says thou shalt keep them Oh Lord it's super
clear thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever what sense would it
make it that the God of the universe could preserve mankind the earth and
food but oops I lost my word oops I mean nobody has it and then on top of
that when the Bible clearly says that he was going to preserve it that would
make God a liar if you didn't have it and you say well you're making up a
strawman argument because every Christian believes he's preserved his
word it's just that it's not as accurate in the translation you have to
look it up and study it and you have to try and find anywhere but here's
the thing people that don't believe that the King James Bibles the Word of
God preserved they don't believe anything's preserved in oh it's
preserved in the originals okay well let's see how much preservation God
claims is gonna be in the Bible go to Isaiah chapter 59 for a second
good Isaiah chapter 59 because you know what I don't care what they say I
don't care what man's gonna tell me I care what the Bible says and you know
what God said in the flesh you know what Jesus Christ said when confronted
with the devil he said it is written that man shall not live by
bread alone but by every word of God now how riddle me this how is that
true if the every word of God doesn't exist I mean that would be kind of
silly hey you need every single word Oh Lord please give it to me sorry
fresh out sorry it was it was lost in translation sorry it was lost in Egypt
sorry it's somewhere and I'm buried under the earth in the Dead Sea Scrolls
we got to go bury unbury it we got to go find it somewhere look my God is
not in the ground did you know that Jesus Christ rose from the grave so
what kind of silliness did it say that the Word of God is buried in the
ground no he lives he lives Christ Jesus lives today and you say where
right here in my hand the King James Bible that's where he lives and you
know what I'm not going to use another version I'm not gonna kowtow to
the modern contemporary movement oh we need to get something easier let's get
a picture book every picture book has Jesus along hair which is already false
doctrine you know picture books never seem to have salvation by faith wrong
foundation again
ok but let's again I want to show you from the Bible not just my
personal opinion the Bible saying to what degree God is going to preserve
his work look at Isaiah chapter 59 and look at verse 21 as for me this is my
covenant with them is the Lord speaking say it the Lord
ok my spirit that is upon me and my word which I have put in my mouth to
not depart out of my mouth nor out of the mountain I seed nor out of the
mountains I seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever notice how
God says it
hey everything I told you you're going to preach it and then the next
generation is going to preach it and then your grandkids are going to preach
it and then your great-grandkids are going to preach it and then you know
what pastor shell is going to preach it and the people in this room are
going to preach it because he's going to keep his word forever
not going to part of their mouth and you say so does that mean that we have
to speak Hebrew
no because you know what God's word can be translated any language it
doesn't matter for speaking Hebrew Greek or English you know what this is
what God said
this is the word of God and in fact even when Jesus was crucified didn't
they have it in three different languages mounted right above his head and you
know what they all said the same thing
go to Proverbs chapter 30 go to Proverbs chapter 30 backwards just a
hair
Proverbs chapter 30 and look at verse number five you say well I think we
should you know add or move to the Bible a little bit
yeah who would think that well you know if you actually open up an NIV
and you just read the preface just open it up and just read exactly what
they said you know what they'll say they'll say this is not an exact
translation
this is what we think it says like this is our words that's why they have a
copyright on it
you really you can't get a copyright for anything if Dylan writes a song and
then I copy exactly what he did
I can't then go get a copyright on that because it's not my work it's his
work
ok here's the thing you can't get a copyright on a work that's already been
completed or constructed
that's why when it comes to the King James Bible which is already passed any
kind of a copyright theoretically from the UK you know what if I were to
write my own version of the King James Bible I can't put a copyright on
that and have exclusive rights to sell it
you know what every one of these modern versions has a copyright on it and
you can't even use it without the permission and in fact if you watch the
popular preachers of today
just do this just go look watch Joel Osteen, PD Jakes, Kenneth Copeland, just look on
the screen
every time a Bible verse pops up, you know what pops up right below that?
the copyright for that version because if they don't use that copyright for
that version on the screen
the publisher might sue them for having used their work
the NIV or the New King James or whatever and I'm not talking about the
footnotes
I'm not talking about the extras that they added in the Bible I'm talking
about the words they claim to be God's words
they're saying nope those are our words and nobody else has those words
the NIV is ours and the New King James is ours and the ESV is ours
it's sick and that's why you even have the motive
for people to constantly make new versions not because they're rediscovering
the Word of God or they really found it or they want to have
integrity to the doctrine it's so that they can have their own version to sell
you'll notice you go to the Dollar Tree
and you know you'll find on the shelves a King James Bible
you can buy a King James Bible for a dollar at the Dollar Tree
I bought lots of them now it's not necessarily the best public
it's not necessarily the best paper okay it's not the best binding or whatever
but you know what you can't buy there an ESV you know what you can't buy there
the HIV and everything else you can't get it
why because of the copyright issue again
tell me the motive there the love of money is the root of all evils what the Bible
actually says
and you know what we shouldn't be seeking to try and add and
and remove or try to put the Bible in our own words we're supposed to keep
exactly what he said let me show this to you Proverbs chapter 30 look at verse 5
every word of God is pure he is a shield
unto them that put their trust in him add thou not unto his words
lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar
notice we're not supposed to do anything with God's Word we're not supposed to tamper it
we're not supposed to beef it up we're not supposed to subtract from it
we're supposed to just give it verbatim we're just supposed to give it
like Jesus wants every word of God
untainted just raw just exactly like
he said it go to Revelation chapter 22 go to Revelation chapter 22
and look I'm not so as ignorant to understand the fact that the King James
Bible is a translation
it's not that it's not a translation but the reason why I use it is because I
believe it's a perfectly
accurate translation of the Word of God it's exactly what God said
so if it's what God said in my native tongue
then that's what I should use now I don't speak English
okay and again this is for people that are not in the United States primarily
but if I don't speak English or if I'm in another area and they've got salvation by faith
and they're using a different version as long as it's
the same as the King James Bible or the underlying Greek
okay as far as textual integrity
then use it in fact you should use a Bible that you understand the best
whatever Bible you understand the best as far as language goes
you should use that but we're not going to see what what book
is the easiest you know should we get the Dr. Seuss version of the King James
Bible or should we get what God actually said in English
okay obviously I'm not saying get a picture book or let's get a dumbed
down version
or let's get the easy to read version look it's not easy to read
it's easy to hear heresy that's what it is it's easy to take people to hell
okay that's what that version does but at the end of the day we need to have
exactly what God said in our language now
some languages of the world I will grant you don't have that
and then guess what that's always been the case when God gave the Word to Moses it was
you know in Hebrew okay every other language
the Elamites and the Parthians and the Canaanites and whatever they didn't have the
Word of God in their language
okay so if they wanted the Word of God they would have to seek unto the Hebrews to get the
Word of God
okay and obviously at the time of Jesus
you know and the the New Testament being written it's in Greek
so if you want the Word of God you gotta learn Greek or you gotta go figure out
Greek
as it were okay and today's world today you know what the
the linga franca or the most popular language in the world is
English so if you really want God's Word it may be that you have to learn another
language
such as English now I don't think that everyone has to learn English
necessarily
you know there's other good translations we have a Spanish Bible that we help
you know print copies of the reign of Alire Gomez 2010
I don't I wouldn't put my stamp and say that every single verse is exactly
perfect or dialed in as much as
King James is but for the most part I mean it's really
it's really good I would say it's more accurate than the Bishops Bible
was in English and the Bishops Bible
I don't have a problem with it was a work in progress they're trying to get the Bible
the difference between the Bishop Bible and NIV is night and day though my friend
and look I'm working on a documentary expose that I want to show
how when you actually look at the English versions the translation process
and how they change and then you look at the NIV
it's radically different in fact I read for you
John 3 16 if you don't have that memorized
if I read in the Bishops Bible you might not even realize I wasn't reading
the Bible okay
as I mean it's not just John 3 16 John 3 like the whole chapter
I mean you start reading it's like the exact same and a lot of times the
changes
are just word order you know like deciding how you're going to put things
and everything like that and just kind of
trying to make it sound better more poetic more accurate
having more integrity and a lot of those other elements but you know what
other languages that are working through the kinks are trying to get to that
level
that's great that's fine if you have a Bible in that language read the word of
God in that language
but you know if I if you wanted to be a student of the Bible
you know you probably should learn English you should probably learn
you know even potentially Greek or Hebrew if you wanted to understand
other things if you already speak Greek maybe reading the Bible and Greek would be fine
I don't have a problem with that I'm not Peter Ruckman up here saying you
have to learn English
okay I'm not saying that's the only way to get to understand the Lord
or to understand the way to read his word but I am saying that it's superior than
virtually every other translation
okay and it's obviously the translation that God has used to spread the word
I mean show me the on fire godly people of this world
using a different language translation
right I mean who's spreading the gospel in the world is it Mexico
I mean is it the I mean look I'm not against the Spanish Bibles okay
don't hear me wrong what I'm saying is is it really the Spanish Baptist
that are going around the world preaching the gospel
is it the Hindus is it a Hindi language is it Aramaic
I mean is it the Muslims that are spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ
I mean is it somebody from Russia no offense
it I mean is it is it people from Africa mean what who's really doing the
work of God
because let me tell you something the Word of God has power and so if it's the
real Word of God
you're gonna see fruit from it and so at the end of the day
if you don't have any fruit from any of these other languages or
translations
I don't know maybe it's not being preached maybe we need to go in there and fix the
gospel first
but I'm telling you this this is an evidence of the fact this is the Word
of God
it's the most popular book in human history the King James Bible
most popular book the most sold the most read
most praised it's the greatest literature ever written my friend
okay it's testifying on the fact that it's the Word of God
I mean even unsaved people can look at this and understand how great it is
we don't want to sit here and tamper with it and alter it and go to a
church
where they don't have it I mean if you have the greatest book
ever and you're all gathered together to worship the God of the universe
which is the Word of God and then they show up with an NIV
what a disgrace what a shame
I mean you know what I don't want to come to you in part today I want to
come to you in whole
you know I don't want someone to snip off my fingers my elbow and my kneecap and walk up
here and preach you
I want to have all those parts and so why would I want to sit here and start snipping the Word of God
cutting it up dicing it up moving it around I don't have my hand on my face and you know
an elbow coming out of here whatever and look like a freak
no I want to be normal and whole and in part that's what I want to have my Bible
too
is in whole and part and look there's a curse of God upon people that have tampered with
His Word
look what it says in Revelation chapter 22 verse 18
for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book
if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him
the plagues that are written in this book and if any man shall take away from the words of
the book of this prophecy
God shall take away his part out of the book of life
and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book that's a strong
curse
He said look you tamper with my word you take away from what I said
and I'll take your part out of the book of life
meaning these people are damned meaning these people are not going to go to heaven
these people are wicked people
why would I want a bunch of unsaved people
that have already damned themselves to hell to then tell me what God said
that sounds pretty scary
that sounds like that's not going to be for my edification sounds like it's going to be for my
destruction
and let me tell you what I can show you all kinds of damnable heresies
brought into these modern versions that's a different sermon that I'll
preach
at a different time but go over to second John chapter one I want to make
it clear though
I have some non-negotiables when it comes to church number one salvation by faith
number two King James Bible
and that's real specific but you know what the word of God is real specific
and so hey they're saved no King James no
hey they're King James but not saved no I'm not going to go
and have fellowship I'm not going to go and hear what they have to say
you gotta get both of those dialed in okay here's
number three and then my first four again I'll mind you are non-negotiable
now I'm not going to go through some of these in depth as I went through the other
but I do want to explain a couple of things I believe are non-negotiables
number three is the Trinity and why I say the Trinity
is because if you got the Trinity right then you're going to have all the
persons right you're going to have who the Father is right you're going to have
who the Son is right
and you're going to have who the Holy Ghost is right so basically you gotta have God
right
you gotta be worshiping the same God here you know you could theoretically
have a King James Bible say salvation is by faith
but you have a wrong God and I'll tell you who this is, it's the Mormons
I've ran into Mormons and I've talked to the Mormons at link
I've sat them down, I've bought them lunch, they've been my co-workers
and I said the Bible says salvation is by faith and he says yes
I said it's not of works, he's like yes, which is weird because most of them will say it's by
work okay
this guy's telling me salvation is by faith, he's telling me whatever
you know Mormons carry a King James Bible in their backpack
he's got a King James Bible, now he would violate this because he adds the
Book of Mormon to it
but then additionally he has a wrong God though, he has a wrong Jesus
and look there are groups, there are people that are King James only
they'll say salvation is by faith but they're messing with who God is
and I want nothing to do with them, they're a cult, I would never go to their
church
for any reason, you have to have the Trinity
right and let me make it clear what the word Trinity means, three persons one God
three persons one God, that's what the word Trinity even means
if you look it up in a dictionary, you look it up online
everybody will say that, I've already preached a whole sermon on the Trinity and I proved
beyond a shadow of a doubt
Baptist believe Trinity is three persons one God, if I walk into church
and they say
I reject three persons one God, I'm gonna say see ya
bye, why? well look at second John chapter one verse nine
whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ
hath not God, he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ
he hath both the Father and the Son
notice you have to have the right doctrine of Christ in order to have both
and guess what the word both implies, two
okay, why? because there's really a father
and there's really a son and the most important verse in the Bible John 3 16
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
those are two real people with real emotion and if God the Father didn't
have a son to give
that verse is completely destroyed, think about it
how could you see the love that someone asked for you
if they said hey I just wanna let you know I love you so much I'm willing to
sacrifice my son for you
oh really you have a son? no I'm just kidding I don't really have a son
that would make that sentence so meaningless, it would make it so void
it doesn't make sense all of a sudden, now you're blaspheming
who the Son of God is, you deny the existence of the Son of God and look
there are people that will deny the existence of the Son of God
a lot of them are known as modalists or oneness Pentecostals
but there's even other cults and weird groups that will deny the deity of Jesus Christ
or they'll deny the distinct personages of God
and then it's just destroyed, how can you have an advocate
if there's no three persons? how can you have a mediator
if there's no three persons? go to Hebrews chapter 1 for a moment, go to Hebrews chapter 1
look Jesus is not a phase that the Father is going through
okay Jesus is not a character that the Father plays
it's not like he puts on his Batman costume and plays Batman
it's not like he puts on his Jesus suit and plays Jesus
no, Jesus Christ is a real person okay
and God the Father is a real person and you know what the Father loves the Son
look at Hebrews chapter number 1 and look at verse number 8
but unto the Son he saith, thy throne oh God
is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom
thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows look you have to believe Jesus
is a separate person or you don't have the right Jesus
but Jesus is a real person Jesus has his own
self and you know when God looks at him
he doesn't just look at him as a son notice how God the Father
talks to him thy throne oh God
is forever and ever notice Jesus Christ is God
and you know what he's not like a lesser God or something like that
when God the Father looks at Jesus he calls him God
oh God and notice it says in verse number 9
therefore God even thy God so notice God has a God somehow
you say well how does that make sense does that mean that there's multiple gods
no we can show other places in the Bible that make it abundantly clear there's one God
so the only way to reconcile this doctrine is through the doctrine of the
Trinity
which teaches that there's three persons that are one God
there's one God manifested as three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost
these three are all God yet they're distinct persons
they're not each other they have their own selves let me prove that go to John
chapter 17 for a moment go to John chapter 17
this is an important doctrine I think one of the best ways to illustrate this is using
time
you got past present future everybody would agree that the past is time
everyone would agree that the future is time
but you know what the past and future are different from one another people
understand this concept as well
there's only one time it's made of a past present future there's not a fourth
option though
there's not like a Batman sequence or something or there's not like some other
word that you could use to describe
another instance you have past present future that's it
you know what they all make up time together okay
there's only one time yet they're all three time and you say well that's weird
I can't understand it
well then guess what you need to learn something okay you need to get a little smarter
okay get a stopwatch or something get a wristwatch that works
or look at a cake I used a tri-layer cake
this is a great illustration of the Trinity how a tri-layer cake has three different layers
that are all the exact same cake you would say the middle layer is cake
the bottom layer is cake the top layer is cake yet when they're put together it's one cake
it's just one cake and you have the cohesiveness
just like God you have one God who's the Father, Son and Holy Ghost
and they all share the same attributes the same character
I mean imagine if someone popped out and they looked exactly like me
they're standing right next to me identical you could not tell a single difference between our
physical characteristics
the voice was the same all the memories were the same
we have all the same attributes all the same characteristics everything about
us is exactly the same
it's like an identical clone theoretically okay how would you know which one's which
number one and number two
how many Jonathan Shelleys would there be though there's only one Jonathan Shelley
because there's no distinction in characteristics
there's no distinction in you know what we look like there's no distinction in
anything that can be identified
but there could be two instances of me right so when it comes to God
you know the Bible describes Jesus Christ as the express image of his person
meaning he looks exactly like the Father and look when they're both the truth
when they're both the Almighty when they both have
all the same characteristics it's like how could you say that there's
more than one God there's only one God
it's Jehovah okay but at the end of the day there is three persons
there's the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost
and if you don't have this doctrine right I don't want to go to your church
I don't want you to come to my church John chapter 17 look at verse 5
and now oh father glorify thou me with thine own self
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was
ah you think that there's different selves according to God
yeah because I read the Bible that's what he says
with thine own self what sense would it make if Jesus was talking to himself
here you know you have a schizophrenic Jesus okay I have the God of the
universe
on my side go to John chapter 6 I want to show you one more not only do they have their own selves
they have own wills okay
maybe I don't know you could cut me in half
right you could cut me in half and half of my body could look
at the other half and say thine own self and mine own self
right but here's the thing you wouldn't have two wills though
right because your center of consciousness is going to remain in one I'd be dead
if you cut me in half okay I'm just saying like if you could theoretically have part of your body over here and
another part over here you could say oh that's what Jesus is doing
look no there's really two different selves
and very important distinction two different wills
okay look what it says in
John chapter 6 verse 38 for I came down from heaven
now who was in heaven was there a person with physical flesh
in heaven no because that's why Jesus had to be born of Mary
was made of a woman so before he was made of a woman he's up in heaven
now he could have you know a glorified type of flesh or something else
but he didn't have the type of flesh that you and I have he didn't have a
he wasn't made in likenesses in the flesh yet this is just God
up in heaven this is the Lord in heaven this is just Jesus Christ in heaven
and he says I came down from heaven not to do mine own will so notice he has his own will
but then he says this but the will of him that sent me meaning there's two wills in heaven
the will that sent him and his own will and he says it wasn't my will
I didn't say I'm coming down from heaven who is it that decided Jesus was coming down from heaven
the father which is why John 3 16 even makes sense
when it says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
because it was God's will that he was sent down his son
it's the father that loved the world so much it's the father that wants us to be reunited with him
and Jesus Christ being an obedient submissive
and subjective unto the father did the father's will
and he laid down his life which Jesus said no man
you know can have any greater love than a man who would lay down his life for his friends
we have the perfect love of a father sacrificing his son
we have the perfect love of a son being obedient to his father and sacrificing himself
so that we could be restored into heaven and we have all the different aspects when it comes to
who God is go to Hebrews chapter 6
like I'm not going to church if they don't have the trinity right
you're attacking who God is it's the wrong God
we're not worshiping the same God together then at that point
if you have a different God then you know what you can stand before him at judgment day
but here's the problem he doesn't exist
you're going to stand before my God which is the real God and you know what he's going to judge you
and you're not going to edify me by teaching me about a false God
I come to church to learn about the real God
God that's in heaven and look I understand that when it comes to the trinity
it's such a deep doctrine and there's so much revelation that could be understood about it
then not everybody's going to have it dialed in
but if you tell me on the surface I reject free persons when God
I'm going to say bye see ya
and someone doesn't understand all the inner workings of the trinity
you know they need to sit down and learn but at the end of the day
you know the teacher better understand the man of God better understand
the church better have that doctrine right
here's my fourth non-negotiable and it's baptism by immersion
now let me prove why
therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ
let us go on into perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works
and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms
and of laying on of hands of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment
go to Ephesians 4 notice he said this is the principles
meaning this is the foundation this is just the basic baby doctrine
and he says let's go on into perfection because the book of Hebrew is going to get to
chapter number six
he's mad at them from chapter five for having not
been able to handle strong meat not knowing all the doctrines
not understanding all the Bible that's been taught so he's saying let's go on
to perfection
let's learn more of these doctrines and he says one of those foundational
baby
just most simple doctrines is baptism so if you don't even have one of the most basic
simple foundational doctrines right why would I then want to learn anything else you have to say
that doesn't make any sense okay and notice that we're a baptist church
what does that imply that you baptize by immersion like I don't know of maybe it exists
I don't know of a baptist church that doesn't believe in baptism by immersion
and look I'm not going to fellowship with a bunch of baby sprinkling
child dunking heretics
I don't care what they do you know and look not only baptism by immersion
but save people that are baptized by immersion because I have seen like
I can't remember it was an Orthodox church I think they literally do
baptized by immersion because
in Greek you can't translate the word baptize other than immersion
or whatever so the Greek Orthodox know that it's immersed but they'll still do babies
so they grab a full baby and they just literally are dunking it in water
they're just like can you imagine right after you have a baby I'm like
bring the baby to me and I'm just like
in the name of the father in the name of the son in the name of the Holy Ghost
and the baby's just screaming the whole time that is literally what people are doing
you can watch it
isn't that psycho
I mean it's like that's not edification that's destruction
you're trying to harm that baby that's weird
that's crazy
so we baptize adults and I tell them to hold their nose
so if you got some water in your nose it's your fault
but Ephesians chapter number four
it's talking about the unity of the church and it says that we're supposed to
endeavor to keep that unity
look at verse three
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace
there's one body
and one spirit
even as you're called in the hope and one hope of your calling
one Lord one faith notice this
one baptism
hey there's some things we can vary on there's some things that we can
disagree upon
there's things that we don't have to have all settled exactly the same
you know what there's one baptism
there's one plan of salvation
there's one King James Bible
okay there's one trinity there's one baptism
if you're wrong on any four of those
I'm not going to your church
those are non-negotiables for me
and I believe that you should make those your non-negotiables as well
I want to go into another one that's very important go if you would to Revelation
chapter two for a moment
here's point number five
is that your church should be soul winning
now I will say this
if I have multiple churches
that meet the first four
okay if I live in an area where I have multiple churches that have the first four
then my next non-negotiable is going to be five
okay it was just soul winning
now if I lived in an area though
where
there's no church that's soul winning
but they meet those other four criteria
I will still go to that church
and I think that you should go to that church
now I think you can prove that even from the Bible
because you have churches
in the New Testament
that are called churches
that are not doing the first works
the church at Ephesus
now obviously they're in danger
of losing their church
obviously it could be a dead church
obviously it could be a church that has a name that it lives but is dead
obviously it could be like Sardis Baptist Church
where he's basically like everyone there is just like
really screwed up
a lot of unsaved people but at least there's still some saved people in that church
so
there could be some really stinky churches out there spiritually speaking
there could be some really screwed up churches spiritually speaking
but if that's all you got
I think you should still go
you should still drag yourself out of the house
show up to all the church services that they have
and you know what? Start the soul winning program
or you go soul winning
or encourage the soul winning
as long as they're not
basically stifling you from going soul winning
then you should go and show up
and look I've been to independent Baptist churches
where they had salvation by faith
they were King James only
they had the right Trinity
they had the right baptism but there was no soul winning
you know what?
there was no other church in my area that had soul winning
and I believe
it was right to go to that church
and you know what? I still went soul winning
I still drug people out soul winning with me from that church
they even still had tracts that looked exactly like ours
that I could use for soul winning
it's just they didn't do it as a church
they just didn't have an official program
I even asked the pastor about it
he's like yeah
we'll start one again at some point or whatever
and I'm just like
why go here you know?
I asked my whole Sunday school class
I go soul winning on Saturdays at 10
if anyone wants to go with me here's my number
if that time doesn't work let me know
and I'll go with you any other time
you know?
but at the end of the day I'm not going to say
well I can't go to church because they don't have soul winning
well then do something about it
start the soul winning right?
and be respectful
I wasn't in there making my pastor feel bad
or trying to make him look you know
like he's doing something wrong
I'm just saying I want to do this
can I help?
I didn't walk in like where's your soul winning program?
have you ever watched Pastor Anderson?
eh?
you're not right with God
have you ever read Revelation chapter 2?
I said you know what I did?
I walked in I said
I love this church it's been a blessing to me
I'm really interested in going out preaching the gospel
you know do y'all have an official program?
I've been trying to go on Saturdays
are you okay with that?
I wasn't sitting in there rebuking an elder
or talking negative about the church
or giving them a hard time
I'm just trying to be a solution
and you know what?
when you go to a church you should try to be a solution
not a problem
Revelation chapter 2 look at verse 1
unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write
these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand
who walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks
I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience
and thou that 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
and hast borne and hast patience
and for my name's sake hast labored and hast not pained
nevertheless I have somewhat against thee
because thou hast left thy first love
remember therefore from whence thou art fallen
and repent and do the first works
or else I will come unto thee quickly
and remove thy candlestick out of his place
except thou art pit
So notice there's a strong warning
on a church that's not soul winning
and I'm not excusing that church for not soul winning
but what I am saying is that's not an excuse for you to not show up
now if I have a choice
between the churches
they have to meet the first
four thresholds
after they met that number one is soul winning
every other doctrine is on a back burner
if I like the church
I like every doctrine they have
but they're not soul winning
and then there's another church I don't like any of the doctrines they have
but they have soul winning I'm picking the soul winning church
it's that important
it's that much of a major doctrine
and look there's other churches in this chapter
think about this okay
other churches in this chapter
that are being rebuked for having false doctrine
this church is saying they have good doctrine
it's saying hey I'm glad that you're not tolerating false doctrine
but let me warn you
if you're not soul winning I'm going to remove your candlestick
whereas the churches that have the false doctrine
while they're in trouble
and God's mad at them
they're not in threat of losing their candlestick
and that tells me that soul winning
is more important
than secondary doctrinal issues
and it also tells me this
you can go to a church that has doctrinal issues
and still serve God
and you know I'll say
one thing go to Habakkuk chapter
no go to 2 Timothy 4
I'm going to kind of just speed up to finish my sermon
I don't have time to preach everything I wanted
but I'll say this look there's been some people
that were you know in this what's called
butterfly of bee
so called or whatever
and they sometimes
end up not being exactly
the right flavor okay
instead of being Coca Cola they're like Diet Coke
and it's like eh
but you know what
at the end of the day
if they've got the first four right and they're going soul winning
it's still a viable church
and it's probably
the best church in that area
because even if I could find a church
that maybe they're a little bit better
on another particular doctrine
if they're not emphasizing the soul winning
I'm not going to go there
that's why you know just because someone's not my friend
personally or doesn't like me personally
doesn't mean you can't go to that church
doesn't mean you couldn't serve God there
doesn't mean you couldn't be friends or whatever
at the end of the day obviously
if someone doesn't want to be my friend
I'm probably not going to be their friend or whatever
I get that not everybody has to be friends
not even in this church
you know some people don't want to be friends with other people in this church
so be it
you know you don't have to be friends with everyone
you can't be friends with everyone
you're going to really have
when you're like hey I'm going to invite everybody for dinner from church
you've made me a lot of food
I mean don't do Himes because it's expensive
you know if you're going to invite everybody
and everybody's going to show up
in fact a lot of extra people are going to show up when you have Himes
but at the end of the day
we shouldn't sit here and pick every church apart
that isn't exactly like us
exactly like you think or you want or whatever
hey if they've got the first four
they're a church
and if they're doing soul winning
that's an even greater bonus on top of that
all the other issues they've got
hey they're pre-trib or they're Zionist or whatever
look I'm not saying I'm going to that church
I'm not saying I believe their doctrine
what I am saying is you can serve God in that church
you can still do things for God
God can still be pleased with you
and we don't want to look down upon people
that have to go to a church like that either
or make them feel like they're inferior or whatever
there's plenty of people that go to a church
that's not as doctrinally right
and they're going to be greatly rewarded
more greatly rewarded than people that are going to churches
that are doctrinally right
you know just showing up here doesn't get you a bunch of extra rewards
serving God does
and you know what you can serve God in the same capacity
at a church like ours
or another church that you may find doctrinally inferior
or if you find our church
doctrinally inferior to another church
you say you know what
I don't like this church that I'm not going to
I just tolerate steadfast or whatever
look you can still serve God to your max capacity
if you don't like every doctrine
that's fine
you know what church you should go to
is the one that I've already mentioned
those first four and so on
and once you already get that on the list
you realize there's not very many options on the table already
okay
so a lot of you are just like
why go to steadfast cause I mean you know
there's not a lot of options
that's fine you know
I can be the not many options church
okay
it's like I don't really like pastors preaching
but you know he's got the right foundation
you know
not so winning and everything like that
preaches for so long
but we can just fix that
go to second Timothy
you don't have anything better to do
Sunday second Timothy chapter number four
look at verse two
preach the word
for the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine
but after their own lust shall they heed to themselves
teachers having itching ears
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables
here's my sixth thing that I'm looking for
a church and I want to make it clear what I'm saying
because I can go to a church that's not meeting
this criterion and still serve God
but if I'm looking and I have options
this is something I'm looking for is hard preaching
hard preaching
number six okay
now what is hard preaching
it's biblical, corrective and specific
but it's possible to go to another church
that has a sweet spirit
and still serve God okay
but that's not the church I'm looking for
that's not the church that I want
I want the church that's going to preach the hard truths of the Bible
that's not going to sweetly lie to me
and sweetly skip over the inconvenient truths
and skip over naming the names
and skip over
you know some people are like oh I really like this pastor
he's such a sweet spirit he never names the names
he just vaguely talks about people
well you know what you're not going to like this chapter of the Bible
look at verse 10
for Demas hath forsaken me
having loved this present world
you know not only did the apostle Paul call out
heretics he called out save people
think about that he didn't just call them out
he called them out by name
ah I want to go to sweet spirit
don't go to any of the
churches that Paul set up
which was like I don't know all of them
I mean what church are you going to go to
in the New Testament
that wasn't established by Paul
right?
oh I want to find a sweet spirit church
well it sounds like a bad church
sounds like a false church to me
yeah look churches should preach the hard truths of the Bible
and you know what even if I go to a church
and they preach me the gospel every single week
but they're right on the first morning going still winning
I'm still showing up
but if I get a choice
I want to hear some of the hard truths of the Bible
I like hearing the hard preaching
I like hearing the specific preaching
I like getting my toes stepped on
I like hearing what I can improve on
I like hearing what I got going wrong
I like hearing long sermons
I like all of it
because I don't show up at church
like ah it's just a thing I do
I show up to get better
and I want to get better
and I want to hear how I get better
I want to see how I can draw closer to God
I want my spirit to be filled with the word of God
I want to hear a lot of verses
I don't want to show up at church where they preach just a couple verses
I want a lot of Bible
and I want to be comparing spirit with spiritual
and I want everything to be proven to me
and I want it to be real specific
I don't want to walk away and think like
I wonder what the pastor really thinks about that subject
I wonder what he really thinks about Leviticus 23
that's why I say
that I really mean it
whenever I say something really hard
just to make it clear
this is what I mean, this is what I'm saying
this is the person, let's identify it
I want to make it as specific as humanly possible
and you know what the Bible says
make it plain upon tables
that he may run that readeth it
what's the point of me getting up and teaching you something
if you don't understand it and you can't do it
you should just walk away and be like
well I know what pastor Shelley means
because he said it like a hundred times
he just keeps reiterating it
and keeps emphasizing it
and saying it over and over and over again
the seventh bonus point
you live in the Dallas-Ford area
so honestly
you'd probably have a lot of options
especially when it comes to the first four
and when it comes to the first four
there's a lot of independent fundamental Baptist churches
in this area
that are saved by faith
the right Bible, they got the trinity
they got baptismed by immersion
and in fact, even if you just add soul winning
you just tag soul winning on there
you'd probably have dozens
I don't have an exact count
but I'm just saying you'd probably have dozens
that would meet that criterion even
and then beyond that you'd probably
maybe even have options in hard preaching
because not all hard preaching is the exact same
but I'm sure a lot of these guys are getting up
they name names
they call out sin
they make a lot of things
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