Okay, we're in Acts chapter 20 and the title of the sermon tonight is having an acts 20 vision now
I'm sure you've heard the term have an acts 20 20 vision
But I'm gonna talk about things in this whole chapter because I think that we need to get a vision for this chapter
It's not just about soul winning and obviously soul is a big deal
And there's a part of my point of the sir point one of my points of the sermon is concerning this
But there's a lot of things that happen in the Christian life
And we need to understand that things aren't always gonna be
Hearts and flowers and puppy dog tails and whatever else you want to say the Christian life is a battle and the Christian life
You know, there's gonna be times where you know, we're being betrayed
We're being maligned and lied about and there's also be great times when you know
There's great victories like today having 11 salvations and just this whole last couple weeks has been victory after victory, right?
We haven't really had any
hard-fought battles to fight except for just picking up our feet and going to preaching the gospel and it's been a great time and
I'm very happy about that
Happy about our trip and I do want to thank once more the church for having us here and obviously, you know
it's I'm the pastor but but
But hey you guys, you know made sure the trip happened and brother, you know, I've taken seven COVID tests since I left home so
But yeah, my nose is a little sore but I'll be okay, but
Anyway, you know, I just want to thank you once again, you know, it's a great church. And again once again, he's
Exceeded my expectations just want to thank miss Lisa also for all the hospitality and she really cooked up some great meals
for us while we were here and
Just just the the fellowship with the tavern her family's been great and brother Ian is already a good friend of mine
I mean, we've been working together for a while, but like getting to know their family like they're a great family
You guys are so blessed to have them
So let's have a word of prayer. We'll start the sermon. Okay, Heavenly Father
We thank you Lord so much for this great church and for all the great
Victories that they've already won Lord. I pray you'd strengthen them Lord because
Lord, you know that sometimes the Christian life can be a battle Lord
I pray that you'd help each and every single person here to stick with the Christian life and
To not get knocked out of the battle not knocked out of the race Lord, they'd finish the race and
They they'd keep the faith Lord. Pray. You'd help me to preach this sermon fill me with your spirit and
Also boldness and power in Jesus name we pray. Amen
All right. So Acts chapter number 20 having an axe 20 vision
well, one thing that we need to have a vision about from Acts chapter 20 is there will be up roars and
Treachery there will be up roars and treachery. What's it say in verse number one?
It says and after the uproar was ceased. Well, what uproar is it talking about?
Well, he just got through going through this great is Diana of the Ephesians
Whole issue or you know, they were trying to rip him from limb to limb for what preaching the gospel getting people saved
Having people that were given over to idols get rid of them and you know when when the devil's people start having
You know their business is damaged then that's gonna cause an uproar when the people around here
Start getting saved and when people around England start getting saved and baptized and their lives are starting to change
You know, there's gonna be a big target on the back of this church and you know
Things would go easy at the beginning believe me. I've done this before
I've I'm living this life right now and when we first started the church, everything was all great
There wasn't a lot of battles to go through but like as I've gone through in the last five years
There's been some battles, you know, there's been some treachery there's been some up roars, you know
And when you go out soul and there's sometimes there's an uproar isn't there?
Sometimes people are yelling and screaming at you and all this other stuff
But look what it says in verse 1 it says and after their uproar was ceased Paul
called unto him the disciples and embraced him and departed for to go into Macedonia and
When he had gone over those parts and had given them much much exhortation
He came into Greece and there are both three months and when the Jews laid wait
For him as he was about to sail into Syria. He purposed to return through Macedonia
So one thing you want to notice is there's always gonna be someone laying in wait back then
You know, they had the Jews were always laying away. They were always traveling and trying to intercept Paul
They were trying to kill him. They wanted to kill they wanted to murder Paul
Because you know the man that once destroyed the Christian faith was now their their greatest opponent
And so these Jews hated Christ they obviously had him nailed to a cross
That doesn't mean you like somebody when you do something like that, right? So Paul the Apostle
You know, he became a Christian and what his friends his old friends all these guys were friends that he used to be
You know, he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, you know
he knew a lot of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and
You know at this point they all want to kill him
So don't be surprised when people trade against you and your family betrays you that's what that's what the Bible says is gonna happen
I mean, it shouldn't be a big surprise to us, but it always seems to be a lot of things in this chapter
You know, we forget that the Bible is real
Okay
And when we go through our lives that you know
The book of Acts is showing us things that we're gonna have to endure also in this chapter
Just kind of encapsulate some of the Christian life that's gonna be hard sometimes
You know and and people just not being able to endure sound Bible preaching
It's just the Bible comes to life as you live the Christian life
true Christians are gonna go through these types of battles and
Treachery and have you ever heard that term with friends like you who needs enemies never heard that term before that's actually the truth
You know, there's people in this life in the Christian life
Even people maybe even amongst us in this room that might turn against you they might trade against you
They might be one person one day and then the next week they hate you and they hate this church
You know, that's that's one of the things that I've seen happen
They're so strange to me that somebody could just be like, yeah, I love this church. I love all this stuff
I love soul winning and and then the next thing they're just your bitter enemy
That's because there's people that you know are just phonies. They're fakes. They're not real
They're spurious. I'd say okay spurious. Yeah, that means not genuine not real and so
But sometimes people could just you know, they want to go to whatever different kind of church
They don't want to be in a battle like this and that makes you know splits type
Splits happen, right?
so like, you know the Apostle Paul
over John Mark split up and so with
Barnabas and then he chose Silas as his missionary partner after that but
You know Paul had a thing where he had friends and they would betray him. Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse number 10
2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse number 10
So Paul had people that like traveled with him and helped him minister and things like that
But there's gonna be times when there's two molds
There's gonna be times when there's up wars and we need to stick with our leadership when those kinds of battles happen
Because you know, there's a lot of misinformation that gets spread out there. People are always just trying to just lie about
especially pastor friends of mine
Yours truly people will try to lie and and and say things about us that aren't true and the gullible
Are gonna are gonna believe it, you know, the gullible people in this world are gonna believe it the simple believe everything
Right and sometimes the first thing that someone says that accuses you people automatically believe that person without ever being ever coming and talking
To you personally. It's just so weird how that seems to be the case, but it's true
so
2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 10 says for Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world
So Demas was one of the Apostle Paul's companions and went soul winning with him and went and and did all these things with him
Tearing the world up, you know turning the world upside down
But look what it says Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world
So instead of loving God instead of loving the thing, you know soul winning and doing all the things that a missionary would do
He loved this present world more and so when someone loves the world more
There's a big chance that they're gonna just go back to what they were before and it says
He's departed unto Thessalonica
Creations unto Galatia Titus unto Dalmatia only Luke is with me take mark
So after all these years later now, he wants mark to come back
So he was you know, this is Apostle Paul, you know, maybe he wasn't wrong, but he necessarily wasn't right either
So mark, you know, he went back and didn't go to the work with them
But apparently he redeemed himself, you know
He actually was a faithful man and says take mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable
To me for the ministry. So the Apostle Paul had a change of mind about mark, didn't he?
So the Christian life, you know is measured in decades. We're gonna we're gonna we're supposed to be measured in decades, obviously
But you know, sometimes people are gonna forsake us. Sometimes people are gonna betray us, you know
Sometimes you're only gonna have one person standing with you. That's what the Apostle Paul went through
Do you think he deserved to have everybody forsake him? No, he was a great man of God, wasn't he?
It says in Tychicus verse 12 have I sent to Ephesus the cloak that I left in Troas and Carpus
When I'll come us bring with thee and the books but especially the parchments
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil the Lord reward him
According to his work, so it doesn't really say what evil he did to him
This man Alexander who's obviously trade is being a coppersmith it says he did a much evil
But what's what's the Apostle Paul said the Lord reward him according to his works?
So the Apostle Paul said doesn't say well when I see Alexander the coppersmith, we're gonna have a fight
You know, he didn't say that, you know, because the Lord is the one that fights for us
The Lord is the one that avenges us, you know
Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord and so we need to just kind of give those things over to God's hand and you know
Sometimes you know you get angry and you you wouldn't mind, you know working somebody over
But the thing is as a Christian when I thought what we're supposed to do as a pastor
I'm not supposed to be a striker, you know, I can only just imagine those things and then I just got to put those away
The old man wants to
Lash out the old man wants to just you know settle at how I used to settle it
But that's not what God's called us to do. Amen
Look at verse 15 of whom be thou where also for he hath greatly withstood our words
There's people you know that are gonna be just this thorn in our side always trying to to
To turn people away from the faith
these betrayers these
Treacherous people, you know and there's gonna be people that can greatly withstand
Words, you know, this guy wasn't it doesn't say he was Alexander the Pharisee. He's Alexander the coppersmith
He's just a regular guy
But obviously he has you know, some kind of satanic gift to be able to greatly withstand the words of you know
If they're ever standing the words, this is our words
You know the Apostles words, so these guys, you know, these evil people they can seem to be right
They can turn people away from the faith, you know, but in the last time I preached I you know
We have to be able to withstand these people and resist these gainsayers and turn them aside with our preaching
You know, sometimes people are just gonna believe who they want to believe and that's just the way it is
Look at verse 16. It says at my first answer. No man stood with me
But all men forsook me. I pray God that have been that may not be laid to their charge
You know, there might be a situation that comes up in the future where Ian's having to make a stand or I'm having to make
A stand, you know, you know, God forbid that all men should forsake brother Ian
God forbid that all men should forsake me. That's what happened to the Apostle Paul though
So we shouldn't be surprised, you know when that kind of stuff happens where people are just like, you know what?
I'm done, and I don't know what why they would just not
Stand with them except for they were being threatened with death or something like that. Maybe that's what it was. I'm not really sure
But it's but look what here's a comfort, you know to you when everybody forsakes you
Nobody likes you the dog won't even play with you, you know
You know what God's always gonna be there for you. He said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee
look at verse 17 says notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and
Strengthened me see the God is always gonna be there to strengthen you and to stand with you when you're on the side of right
It says that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered
Out of the mouth of the lion so the Apostle Paul was delivered even though no man stood with them even though he had no
Allies God stood with them God strengthened him
Look at verse 18 and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom
to whom be glory forever and
Ever so and even if we do get martyred at some point, you know, God is gonna give us a better resurrection
You know, it doesn't feel good to go through persecution. It doesn't feel good at all
It doesn't feel good to be threatened to have these types of people threaten you and people betray you people
You thought you were friends and they turn on you and they stab you in the back, you know, it doesn't feel good
But you know what God's gonna come for you and God's gonna get you through those times number two
The second thing out of this chapter is that long preaching and fellowship are biblical now
That's a good thing we can get from this chapter long preaching and fellowship are biblical, you know
Maybe I will crack it at 10 till 12 tonight, you know, see who falls out the window
We got food we can't do that to Baptist. Okay, we got it
That would be a wicked sin. No, but we need to understand that long preaching and fellowship are biblical
Don't be weak. All right, stay with the preaching. Hey, it might be a long sermon
Maybe you need to hear something out of it and I don't and I don't think everybody hangs on my every word
You know if you get something out of the sermon though, that's a good thing
And the longer I preach the more you might get something out of it
So but look at verse 7 in Acts chapter 20 look back in our text
Long preaching is a biblical concept. Look at Acts chapter 20 verse 7
It says and upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together, so they're going to church right to break bread
Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until when?
midnight
That's some long preaching right there. I don't think I've ever done that before
You know, maybe it was midnight in a different country or something, but like never have I preached out long
I preached some long sermons. I mean I can't get some my first sermon here. I preached it an hour and 20 minutes
so that was that was a long sermon and
But you know something, you know, you got a lot to say sometimes and while I'm over here
Why not unload the whole truck while I'm here
Why not give you as much as I can possibly give you because I'm not gonna be back for another year or so
So but the Apostle Paul continued his speech till midnight and there were many lights in the upper chamber
Where they were gathered together and there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus
Being fallen into a deep sleep and as Paul was long preaching
See, it's biblical. Isn't it long preaching? He sunk down with sleep and
fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead as apparently they didn't care about the building code and
So Paul was worthy of death. No, I'm just kidding. But yeah, I mean
He was long preaching it put somebody to sleep, you know, it put Eutychus to sleep
you know his name is Eutychus and
There's the joke is that Eutychus too if you would have had to sit into that preaching for that long. But anyway
it's a stupid joke, but
Still funny though
But you know, he was long preaching and you know Eutychus fell down from that third loft was taken up dead and
Says the apostle that Paul went down and fell on him and embraced embracing him said trouble
not yourself for his life is in him and so
What'd he do? He went down and he rose and back from the dead
So, you know be careful about falling asleep in church services, you know, you might just fall down dead, right?
I'm just kidding. There's people already out there sleeping right now, but I know you're tired guys. It's alright, so
You're already asleep this sermon is for you wake up
But it says in verse 11
it says when he therefore was come up again and had broken bread and eaten and
Talked a long while even till break of day
So he departed so not only was the Apostle Paul long and preaching but he was long in fellowship wasn't he?
I mean he they hung out and talked together until the break of day and it says and so he
Departed so he he preached till midnight then they talked and fellowship
until the daylight came was what six in the morning five six in the morning and then he left so
And it says and they brought the young man alive and we're not little comforted
So, you know the thing is that you know, there's nothing wrong with long preaching
Okay, so if Ian's going along sometime the pastor Thompson goes along tonight and you don't get your fish and chips right on time
I'll try to I'll try to do that. But that's there's nothing wrong with it. That's biblical preaching
so, you know, what's not biblical preaching is for someone to get up and preach for 15 minutes and
Give you a poem one scripture verse
you know in some stupid, you know, three or four stupid stories about how they're the
Star of the show or whatever in every story. That's not biblical preaching now. There's nothing wrong with telling stories
There's nothing wrong with having a poem or or whatever every once in a while, but you know, you should be preaching the Bible
And so when you come to sure Foundation Baptist Church
You should be hearing the Bible not one verse and then a bunch of stories and a bunch of other fluff
You know, I just can't understand how these preachers get up and just they they do anything but preach the Bible
And they just have one scripture. They go to have you ever been in a church like that? Yeah, and you're just like
You're like they read that one scripture. You're just like waiting for them to go to the next one
Come on just give me some Bible
But then you'll come to a church like this. Oh, man, he preached too long. Well, if it's only an hour or
Whatever that's not too long because the Apostle Paul that Sunday night service probably started at six o'clock at night
You know just like most or four or five at night. I mean he's preaching till midnight
That's like a pastor Thompson pastor Shelley
combined sermon, right
so
Anyways, I'm teasing we both can preach some long sermons though, but there's nothing wrong with that
It's biblical and so and that I think in acts 20 that you should that you should you know
pick up on is that biblical preaching is sometimes long preaching and
Fellowship is sometimes long and fellowship usually includes food. So amen. We're gonna have some food tonight and fellowship together and
We'll be flying out on a jet plane tomorrow. So number three tonight things you should get from acts chapter 20
To have an axe 20 vision
Realize that biblical preaching doesn't hold back or spare and I kind of brought this point up this morning
But I kind of want to expound on it a little bit more
Verse number 17 in our text it says and from elitist
He went to Ephesus and called the elders of the church and when they were come to him
He said unto them, you know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you
at all seasons
Serving the Lord with all humility of mine and with many tears and
temptations which befell me by the lying weight of the Jews and
How I have
Excuse me
I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you
But have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house
So he calls these elders of Ephesus to him and he says hey
I just want to remind you how I kept back nothing that was profitable to you
Nothing. And so what does that mean?
He preached the whole counsel of God and so as a as a preacher and biblical preaching should be preaching the whole
Council of God and you know and it says and have taught you publicly
See when we go and we have a church service in here, but we put that on YouTube. That's public, isn't it?
That means anybody in the public can view that sermon and we're not trying to keep back anything from anybody
Why do we go on YouTube people criticize us about that? There's a lot of preachers that won't even go on YouTube
They just think it's you know, we're just trying to be popular or something. No, I'm trying to make Christ popular
That's who I want to be popular. I want Jesus Christ to be popular
I want his words to be popular. I want his words to go out through the whole earth
That's the reason why we have our stuff on YouTube. I
Remember when I first started the you know, the church with pastor Menes and it was very Baptist Church
I said pastor do I have to go on YouTube? I
Didn't want to go on YouTube. It's I'm just I just it's not something that I just enjoy, you know, but it's something that's necessary
Why is it necessary?
Because the whole world needs to know about Christ and hey, there's people that can't travel here
There's people stuck in other countries. I we get emails
We get all kinds of messages
From people in other countries or people that are in some desolate part of the United States and they don't have a good church for miles
They don't have a good church that they can go to and sometimes they just need to be able to get some biblical preaching
Or maybe their church is lame and they wish they had a church like this
You know, you guys are very privileged to have a church like this and even though you have to travel for some miles to get
Here. Hey you at least you've got a church in England now you can go to
Because I saw you guys struggling I saw the struggle
I know the struggle because the struggle was real for me too at one point
You know, well, there's a point when we didn't really have a great church to go to in our area
And so, you know, we started that church there in Vancouver and it's grown. It's doing well. We've started other churches
We have a church in Canada that's doing well. It's growing and we have this church here
We have a church in Spokane that's thriving and I want the whole world to be filled with the doctrine of Christ
Not Pastor Thompson's doctrine the the doctrine that's found in the Bible
And so in order to do that, we need to not keep back anything that's profitable
And so sometimes the sermons get a little bit gnarly, don't they?
Sometimes the sermons get a little uncomfortable and you're like man, that's that's rough
But sometimes we have to preach the rough stuff too. And you're like, well you preach about it too much
Well, it's out of season, isn't it?
Some of this preaching is out of season and you know
There's just a lot of things that we preach about that I preach about that would be
It's very upsetting to people. It doesn't just have to be about the homos
It's a lot of stuff just about how your dress standards hair standards, you know, just
Bible versions now people get upset about that
But we have to keep we have to preach what's profitable on to everybody
We can't hold anything back and biblical preaching does not hold back
It does not spare and you know, we have to teach it publicly and the Bible says and from house to house
Paul preached everything he threw everything in he unloaded the whole truck. He threw all everything in
Including the kitchen sink right turned to Isaiah chapter 58 verse 1, you know
and and people get upset by yelling and screaming and pounding on the pulpit and stomping and clapping and
Preaching loud and preaching hard people get upset about this stuff. Why?
Why would they get upset about it?
The Bible teaches us that this is what we're supposed to do
We're supposed to get up and lift up our voices right look at Isaiah chapter 58 verse 1. It says cry aloud
Spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their
Transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Have you ever heard Joel Osteen lift up his voice like that before?
Never you've never heard it. He's just like don't let the devil steal your joy
God's not mad at you. He's never mad. That's not true. God gets mad at people
And when we're out, you know this guy this bozo we were talking to earlier we're out
So when he needs to strike trying to tell us all this stuff about the Hinduism and all this other stuff
He's like Jesus just teaches about love. I was like, well he teaches about other things too, you know
And he does, you know, obviously
Love is a big part of the Christian religion. I'm not denying that
I think it's the most important thing we do we when we go and knock on people's doors. We're loving people
Aren't we we're loving our neighbor as ourself like the Bible says people like well
You guys just try to hide all the stuff and all the hate with going and just say well as long as we're going so
winning
Well, you know it's going so many is a big thing. A lot of churches don't do it
Are there churches in England to do it? I'm sure that there are
Maybe they just don't call it soul-winning
They call it evangelism, which there's nothing wrong with that word. I know
Evangelist evangelism, you know, it's a good word
But why do people hate the word soul-winning so much?
Why do pastors hate the word soul-winning because they're not doing it because they're so losing
That's why they're so losers. Yeah, and so why would they hate something? Hey, so winning that's a positive statement, isn't it?
We've saved someone's soul. Oh you you don't save anybody. Yeah, we do
Yeah, we do we help the process, you know, we're we didn't die on the cross
but we tell people about the Jesus that died on the cross and rose from the dead and
We need to lift up our voices. The Bible says to cry aloud. That means
It's not talking about your tears. Let's talk about crying out crying with your voice
loudly
spare not
Don't spare people's feelings, you know
You got to step on some toes every once in a while when you're preaching biblical preaching does not hold back or spare
When somebody's doing something wicked and it gets called out in a sermon then, you know, it just gets called out in a sermon
You know pick up your toes count
Make sure you count all your toes and then go home and get it right or get it right where you're sitting
You know
The the Word of God is is quick and powerful and sharper than need to edge sword
Piercing even through the divining asunder of soul and spirit and the joints of the marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts and
Intense of the heart and so when the Bible's preached it's gonna cut you to the quick
It's gonna cut you where you need to be cut and maybe slice off a chunk of fat that needs to be sliced off
You know, the Bible says that we're gonna be pruned, you know, we need to
Realize that God's gonna work on us until the day of Christ, you know, he's gonna work on us and how does he do that?
Well, he perfects the Saints by the preaching of his word and we're not supposed to spare
We're supposed to lift up our voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression
So we're supposed to show people the sins. How do we do that Bible preaching?
The house of Jacob, you know, who's the house of Jacob now? Who's the Israel of God right now?
It's saved people right and so this this doesn't just go away after the New Testament
No, it's still applies today
Jesus
wants us
The Lord wants us to preach hard and to preach the Bible
Look at Ezekiel chapter 6 verse number 11
Ezekiel chapter 6 verse number 11. It's not like this is just the only verse that says this. How did the prophets preach?
How did the prophets act were they a bunch of sissies
No, were they wearing pink shirts out in the wilderness was John the Baptist wearing a pink shirt out there a little alligator on it
No offense, you know if you like the alligator shirt, what's it called? Lacoste or something like that?
Hey, I like those shirts, but not a pink one
John the Baptist was in a coat of camel's hair, you know, he was eating locusts and wild honey
He was a man's man. He had a belt that means he had pants, right?
He wasn't wearing some dress
I've seen multiple people men wearing dresses here and they're just like they're part of a religion
It's like what in the world are you wearing brah? I have some dignity
It's just unbelievable to me it's like bro you're in a dress do you realize that
They got their little cosplay, you know wizard outfits and the the friar too we saw a guy, you know
He he was like a Catholic guy had like the whips on him or he whips himself in the back or whatever
Then he had like what do they call those prayer beads, you know, like he's like, he's Indiana Jones or something
And he just wore at the train station he just walked through and like oh it's the Friar Tuck, you know
But he looked you know, he had to like the little leather belt, you know
You know, he looked like he just you know came out of the monastery from the 1500s
It's like their outfits their their costumes, you know
But look what Ezekiel chapter 6 verse 11 says thus saith the Lord God
Smite with the hand stamp with the foot and say alas for all the evil
Abominations of the house of Israel see it's once again the house of Israel for they they shall fall by the sword
By the famine and by the pestilence see, you know as
Christians we can't lose our salvation, but God can still put the pestilence on us
He can still curse our lives and you know what he's gonna do if we're not keeping his commandments
He's gonna curse our lives. He's gonna curse us if we're not tired. He's gonna curse us
You know if we're committing some some sins and not, you know making those things, right? He's gonna curse us
You know and is he waiting like I was saying at the at the door, you know
I say this to people at the door
I say he's not waiting with the big cricket now just waiting to snatch you in the face every time you do something wrong
But you know if you just keep doing wrong and you never get corrected by the preaching then God is gonna come down on you
And he's gonna hit you a full full steam ahead with that cricket thing. Whatever you call it. What does it call the cricket?
What is it?
Back. Oh, it's actually called a bat. That's just like a little wide one. Is that because they can't hit the ball
Gotta be extra wide
Baseball a bat is like this big right? Okay. Anyway, sorry
About to start talking about some American football here. You guys are gonna throw me out
True sport
None of this Queen's rules stuff. Okay. Anyway, sorry. I lost the crowd now. Sorry. I
Know how to play croquet Queen's rules, right? Anyway
Well, don't you wear those little polo shirts when you play croquet I
Like croquet actually so anyway, but that's not what I'm talking about tonight. So but you know people ask why do you yell?
Why do you smack the pulpit because God said to?
Why do you cry aloud and spare not because God said to?
it's important that the Bible gets preached in this church and
You know if you get up to preach hey have some respect for this pulpit
Guys, when you get up here, don't just preach your own agenda your own hobby horse
Whatever it is. You want everybody to know that, you know that nobody else knows you know that
Hey get up here and preach the Bible
You know, what's gonna make me happy is when I get up and see men preach the Bible
and
Not about you know, obviously
We're not trying to get YouTube clicks we're trying to get you to be a better preacher
So if you have a desire to preach in this church get up and just preach the Bible
It doesn't have to be some you know thing about the six thing. I figured out the mark of the beast and what it really is
You know, there's nothing wrong with preaching stuff
If you're if you're in a more advanced and you know how to preach that kind of stuff and that's that's cool
I don't have a problem with that. But like hey, just get up here and preach the straight doctrines. What about what about baptism?
What about salvation? What about eternal security?
And just the the easy truths of the Bible and then start getting into some more complicated stuff, you know
You got to have the milk first right and before you can just try to chew on that meat
so
You know, how how is it that these sissy britches?
Sissy britches preachers out here they get up and they're afraid to speak what the Bible says
They only preach the positive stuff, don't they?
They just put that's all they are is positive only preachers and
The the Bible is actually pretty negative if you've actually read it before
There's some pretty negative stuff. Like I try not to read Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel back to back to back anymore
I try to mix it up a little bit because it can get depressing when you get when you finally gotten into Ezekiel's like man
These people are wicked
You know
And it can be depressing, you know because but that's just how people are
You know, but what do you how do you see them preaching they preach hard?
They preach the Bible right and so look at verse
27 in Acts chapter 20
You know people have been preaching these sissy sermons for over 20 years now and what's that what's that gotten us
Do you think that our this nation's better off with that kind of preaching absolutely not
Why do people get shocked and they're in horror when they hear us a hard?
Preaching sermon from one of the pastor friends that I have or just a hard preaching sermon by a Baptist in general
They why do they it's just what is this? This is Bible preaching
This is the truth. Yeah, this is the truth and God wants us to preach the truth
Look at it says in verse 27 for I have not shunned to declare unto
You all the counsel of God, so he is not shunned. He is not not preaching
He's preached the whole counsel of God unto them
It says take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
Over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers
That's what an elder does they oversee the flock to feed the Church of God
Which he had purchased with his own blood and that's exactly what he did tell Peter
He said feed my sheep feed my lambs feed my sheep
That's what pastors are supposed to do. We're supposed to feed the sheep
We're supposed to oversee the flock and part of that is not shunning to declare
Unto you all the counsel of God and so hey if you're offended about something in the Bible
Then you need to you're the one that's wrong
They're like, well, you didn't have to preach it like that
That's not what the Bible says
We got to get up and rip hard on sin. That's what's gonna fix you. You got a problem
It's called sin and the only way to get sin out of your life is hard preaching. Don't just shut your ears off
Don't shut your eyes off don't close your eyes like eudicus and fall asleep
Hey, listen to what the Word of God's telling you and fix what's going on with you fix your life fix your errors
Fix the problems that you have
Hey, if you're not getting, you know edified by God's preaching by the preaching of the Bible that something's wrong with you
It's not something wrong with the preacher. The preacher is supposed to do that and you know in a church like this
That's what you're gonna get
So
Let's move on to point number four
Point number four is biblical soul winning does not hold back the truth biblical soul winning does not hold back the truth
Let's look at acts 2020
now in acts in
2020 I thought that year was gonna go way different than it did
But here's what I've learned about that as a pastor is that you can't you know
Your plans might not fit what God's plan is for that year just because it's like yeah, it's 2020
acts 2020 vision
But that's not how it went. We had to like the worst year so learning that we ever had our church for 2020
Now we still had a lot of people saved but it just wasn't
You know, it was just like kind of like a shortened season, you know, sometimes like teams go on strike
you know in America, you know where those
Those professional players are they go on strike and have short seasons and it's like they don't have you know
People don't have as productive of a year in the sport or whatever
It's like an asterisk next to the year because it just didn't turn out the way it was supposed to well
That's kind of how it happened in 2020 as things didn't really turn out the way they were supposed to
and so
We can't just we can make plans
But you know just because we make plans doesn't mean they're gonna happen
But one thing I do know is that we need to not hold back in our soul winning presentations
Sometimes we have a tendency to just you know, I don't want to offend them
But sometimes if someone's 69 years old, you know, nobody's ever gonna go to their door again
You need to tell that person the truth. Yeah, you don't have to go
Yeah, I got one to have you know doesn't have to be like that, but you can just say look
You know the Bible says that Jesus, you know is the Son of God and he died for your sins
He wants you know
He's the only way of salvation if you don't believe that truth you are gonna go to hell
You can say just like that, you know, and if somebody gets mad about it. Well, where are they gonna go to hell number two?
You know, we don't want to offend people but sometimes you have to tell people the truth
You can't hold back in your soul any presentation and how do we do Sony?
Well, we do it door-to-door like the Bible says look what acts 2020 says and how I kept back nothing
That was profitable unto you and I've showed you and have taught you publicly and what's it say from house to house?
How did Paul get that church started in Ephesus? Well, he went from house to house knocking on people's doors
You know what? We went out and did today
We went from house to house knocking on people's doors and 11 people got saved today. Praise God
And that's because you didn't want to hold back you wanted to show people, you know, and sometimes we try too hard
Right, but you know, I don't really fault people for that unless it just gets into the ridiculous mode
But like if you try to say well, hey, you know, I'm gonna give you a verse
And then that person like listens to the verse they're okay with you giving it to them
But then that person, you know you ask them
Hey, are you sure you don't want to hear it? And they say no, I don't have a problem people doing that
I think that's good because sometimes people do still want to hear but most of the time once they've said no the first time they're
Done, right, but there's nothing wrong with that. And you know why people do that
I know why people do that because they want people to get saved
That's why and you don't want to spare them you don't want to hold back the truth to them you want them to hear the
truth
But the facts are is it's just some people just will not get saved. They don't care
They don't want to hear it, but we should still do our job. We should still knock every single door
And regardless, you know, sometimes after you've been so wanting for a long time
You see the body language. You see the look on their face, you know, they're not gonna hear it
You know what their answer is gonna be
But you know what? You still have to say what you say anyway
And there was a few doors. I was like, I don't know like nah
Not interested not not mate not interested I
Mean probably three or four doors, huh brother Ben. Yeah, so
But you know if they shut you down they shut you down, but you should still you know, sometimes you'll say well
Hey, you know just trying to invite you to church and they're like and they'll say okay
And then you're like, are you a hundred percent sure and they're like closing the door?
closing the door
You know I'm saying they do do that you're like, oh wait, there's more
But hey when we get the chance we got to give them all we got
You got to give them all we got
Look what it says in verse 21
Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ
We got to tell people hey, there's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun
There's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun
I'm gonna says and now behold I go bound to the spirit under Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there
See when you go out and preach the gospel, you don't know what's gonna happen
You know, obviously none of us have ever been maybe physically attacked out there
But Paul didn't live that reality
Like anybody could have turned on him at any minute
He was actually going through some severe persecution and that could be how it is for us one day
But right now we don't have that problem
You know if someone gets mad and and tells you you're weird or whatever who cares if someone cusses you out at the door
That's not a big deal. That's when you know, they start sticking their dogs on you
You know
Using you to light their lamps in their garden things like that. That's when we have to get a little concern right like Nero
But it says, you know the things that he didn't know the things that were gonna happen to him once he went there
But it says save that the Holy Ghost witness it in every city
So God wants us to witness in every city and we're a far cry from that right now, but we're trying
We're trying to get it done
You know, we just need a whole bunch of people to get saved in all these cities and we can start with
You know, the Holy Ghost is gonna witness in every city regardless of whether it's our church or not
But we got to get there. We got to get to these cities. We got to get to these towns
We got to get to these small towns and big cities little cities, but there's a lot of ground to cover
there's like I think 7.9 billion people in the world right now and
We're just like carving a little tiny dent and that but you know
God can do great and mighty works through a small amount of people
Yeah, he can and that's why I like YouTube is a big deal
That's why some of the technology that we have is a big deal because people can still hear the Word of God
Through this multimedia and all this other stuff. Yeah. Look, I'm not big into like what so
Facebook is like, you know, basically you can't say anything on there without getting in trouble
I'm always going to the clink because of things I say, but what is the other one Instagram?
Like I really don't understand Instagram. It's just like you're taking pictures or something. Anyway, but I'm not big on selfies either. So
But you know, we can use this stuff to reach people with the gospel
I think that we should try to do that because save the Holy Ghost
Witnesseth in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me, but none of these things move me
Neither count. I'm my life dear unto myself
See that's the the
Attitude that Paul had was that hey, none of these things movie whether someone's gonna kill me or not
Whether someone's gonna yell at me or not, whether someone's gonna cuss me out at the door or not
You know, what's he say? I don't care, you know, none of these things move me neither count
I my life dear unto myself that I might finish my course with joy. Remember what we're talking about this morning
Finishing, you know in basketball
I'm sorry basketball enough to bring it you guys know what basketball is right in basketball
Michael Jordan was a great finisher wasn't he when he when he didn't just roll up and just like you little finger rolls and stuff
Like that. He's just like
Janded on people that's that was called finishing when you get to the basket you you want to finish so you score the points
Right, and so that's some kind of what he's talking about. We need to finish
You know, we need to finish but you know, if you're if you're a sports team and you're up, you know finish them off
You know those people are just like oh you're playing not to win here that they're playing not to win
They're like just easing up and trying to play safe. We don't need to play safe
We need to go full steam ahead and press on the mark so that we can finish our course
With joy and that was his big goal, wasn't it? He talked about it a lot. He talked about finishing
He talked about you know getting to that marker
Right, and so that's what we need to do is, you know when it comes to soul winning, you know
We need to finish the map right get the maps finished brother. You know, let's talk about the maps
You know, we got to finish each area. Why because it's a goal. It's a mark. We're meeting
It's a mark we're setting and in that mark in that goal
We're trying to reach this whole city with the gospel. We can't hold anything back
We got to give it all to him and the Apostle Paul didn't hold anything back even unto his own hurt
so it says
That I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I've received with the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel
of the grace of God and
Now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God
Shall see my face no more
Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men now
You know, what? What's the good thing about, you know, giving everything we can we're solely because nobody can say we didn't try
That person at the door that you tried with every effort. They just went no
Hey, you tried you're free from the blood of that person that rejected the gospel the rejected the good news
We go to people's doors and people will probably haven't been to that door in centuries
You know, there's places here that are centuries old and people have lived from these in these houses over and over again
and there's probably hasn't been someone that knocks some of these doors that we knock today for a long time and
Came with the true gospel to preach to them and they just rejected but you know what you're free from the blood of those people
Just like the Apostle Paul said hey, I'll take you to record this day. I am pure from the blood of all men
1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse number 16 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse number 16
The Bible says for though I preach the gospel. I have nothing to glory of for
Necessity is laid upon me. Yea. Whoa is unto me if I preach not the gospel
So there's a whoa, what does that mean? It's it's hurt. It's destruction. It's it's he's saying whoa unto me
Hey, this made bad things happen to me. If I don't preach the gospel. That was the Apostle Paul's attitude
Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse 13
First Corinthians 16 verse 13 says watch ye stand fast in the faith quit you like men be strong
Amen, we got to be you know, there's a lot of wimpy looking men out there today
Dress strong look strong act strong when you get to the door be strong
Quit you like men be strong. It says let all your things be done with charity
I beseech you brethren, you know that the house of you know
The house of Stephanus that is the first fruits of a care and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the Saints
You know what? I see when I look at this church. I see a lot of people addicted to the ministry
You know what our ministry is the Ministry of Reconciliation
The Ministry of Reconciliation was is what our job is and I see a lot of people in here addicted to that ministry
Praise God for that don't lose that zeal though because like I said before in another sermon, you know
The newness is gonna wear off
Yeah, you start doing something all the time. It's not gonna feel as special
You've been going for seven months. You've been going for more seven months
Some of you guys have been doing so many for a long time
But don't lose your zeal go out of duty
Because you know, you're not always gonna feel addicted to the ministry
But while you're feeling it right now get out there and do it
Hey, even when you're not feeling addicted to the ministry, maybe you don't feel like going out. So maybe your body hurts
maybe you're hurting but go and try and do what you can and
Do it out of duty because you know what you're gonna get that seal back again
Just keep fighting keep trying to finish the mark try trying to get to that mark and finish your course
number five
Beware of wolves and sheep's clothing
Beware of wolves and sheep's clothing. I'm gonna finish off the last 15 minutes. You're talking about this. I
Think this is a very important point and I know it's kind of a negative point, but it is important
Look at verse number 29 our text Acts chapter 20 verse 29
It says for I know this that after my departing shall
Grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock
Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them
Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to be
One of the things that we need to get is that there are going to be wolves and sheep's clothing
It was warned about by the Lord Jesus Christ. It was warned about by the Apostle Paul
It was warned about by John. It was warned about by Peter
It was warned over and over again
If there's so many warnings about false prophets in the New Testament
It was warned about by John it was warned about by Peter
There's so many warnings about false prophets in the New Testament why because they're gonna increase as
We get closer to the end times and there's teachers having itching ears
You know these heaps and heaps of teachers
Do you think there's more godly Bible believing pastors and preachers than there are false prophets?
You're out of your mind if you think that I mean
If you just rounded up all the pastors in England, how many of them do you think if you're saved?
a few
That's a sad state of affairs, isn't it? But that's what it's like everywhere in the world
There's probably countries where there might not even be a saved pastor
I mean the world has gotten worse and the Apostle Paul is sitting here saying hey, hey after my departing
grievous wolves
Shall you know shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock?
So he's saying hey, even of your own selves shall men arise even people within this church
Men will rise speaking perverse things to draw away
Disciples after them. What's the goal to speak perverse?
Thanks to make up lies to draw people out of this church and hey when wolves get exposed
Sometimes they drag the sheep out with them
They want to try to destroy as many people as they can so they act all innocent
Oh, I can't believe that they're doing this. I can't believe they're kicking me out
Sometimes people have to get kicked out a little leaven leaven at the whole lump
You know Ian's probably gonna have to kick somebody out at some point, you know, and I'm not saying go hunting brother Ian
You know and and looking for people to kick out because you know
Despite what people say we don't just aren't we're not on a hair trigger to just kick people out
You know, if someone gets kicked out they deserve to get kicked out period I haven't even had to kick out that many people
But I've had people leave
I've had people leave that I asked not to come back because it was revealed that there were wolves
Look at what what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7
To have an axe 20 vision we need to realize we need to see
that there's gonna be wolves and sheep's clothing that are gonna come in and
No matter how look Paul said that in the space of three years. I cease not that means he didn't stop
Cease not to warn
Everyone night and day with tears sounds like he preached about it a lot doesn't it night and day?
He was with tears
He didn't stop and then people will be like pastor Thompson. You talk about the false prophets too much
Well, the Apostle Paul talked about it a lot apparently, too
He was warning people, you know, I don't preach every sermon about false prophets
You know, there is some other things I preach about but it's an important topic because it happens all the time in churches
And which ones the Satan want to infiltrate the most the ones that are doing the most work
The ones that are doing the most good Matthew chapter 7 verse 15. What's Jesus say beware of false prophets?
Which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves
So Jesus said that there's gonna be beware of these people, you know
But no matter how many times I preach about stuff like this
It seems like when someone leaves or someone turns on our church or something like that then other people go with them
it's just like
Did you not hear the sermons that I preached about this?
Have you not read the Bible or it just over and over again expounds on this and talks about this and people are just like
Oh, well, I think they're good. I think they're right
Sometimes
Legit legitimate bona fide Christians get pulled out of churches over false prophets
That's why Jesus said to be aware of them. That's why the Apostle Paul warned about them day and night and you know what?
They turn is the Church of Ephesus around anymore. Does anybody know?
anybody been to Turkey and been to the site of Ephesus, you know, is there a
You know dragon slain King James only Baptist Church just tearing it up
you know, obviously be a different language, but
You know good a good Bible version they're just tearing up the preaching, you know is the Church of Ephesus still around
Jesus said he was gonna remove their candlestick if they didn't repent and do the first works
So I think that happened long ago. I'm pretty sure there's not a great Baptist Church
in the place where Ephesus was and why well
You know when you let false prophets in and then you just allow them to just tear up the sheep
then it's gonna tear up your church and
We need to be warned about that. Jesus said beware look at Matthew chapter 24 verse 11
Matthew chapter 24 verse number 11
Bible says and many
false prophets shall rise
Let's say a few no, it says many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many
Does it say they're gonna just deceive a few people? No says many doesn't it? They're gonna deceive people look at verse 24
For there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much
That if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect
This is how good they are that if it were possible
They would deceive the elect the very saved people that he's trying to warn
You know, he's just saying hey, they're gonna do so many things that make you think that they're really saved
But you will have the Holy Spirit. You'll know the difference at this time
Look at Mark chapter 13 verse 22 mark chapter 13 verse 22
I'm gonna try to just rifle through some of these mark chapter 13 verse 22 says for false Christ
And false prophets shall rise and show signs and wonders to seduce
If it were possible
Even the elect a parallel passage there and look at Luke chapter 6 verse 26
Matthew mark Luke 6 26
It says woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to who?
the false prophets
You know if people didn't hate me then you might wonder if I'm a false prophet
right
Because the false prophets everybody likes them
Everybody likes Billy Graham everybody like Ravi Zacharias all these, you know, bum loser false prophets
And you know Ravi Zacharias was very careful about his doctrine
He didn't let a lot out on the internet saying what he believed but he was a false prophet, right? He was a loser
He was a false prophet. He's roasted in hell
Just like Billy Graham and just like his son Franklin Graham is gonna be roasted in hell someday
He'll get mad about that kind of preaching but look these guys are false prophets
They're the worst kind of scumbags that you could possibly imagine
What do they want to do? They want to kill destroy?
They work for the devil
You know, maybe they could get saved they used to be saved what are you talking about?
They were never saved
But Billy Graham used to preach like he never preached right people loved him because he was a false prophet
Look at 2nd Peter chapter 2 verse 1
2nd Peter chapter 2 verse 1
And people like he doesn't even say he's a prophet. It doesn't matter if they say they're a prophet or not
Teacher prophet, whatever you want to call it. Look what second Peter says in chapter 2 verse 1
But there were false prophets also among the people talking about the Old Testament even as there shall be false teachers
among you who privately shall bring in
Damable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves
Swift destruction, so there was false prophets then you know what but there is false prophets now because Jesus said to beware of false prophets
So does that mean it's talking about in the future, right? So he's calling them false prophets
So people that say this thing like there's not even prophets anymore. It's like yeah, there is there are false prophets
You know, are you calling Jesus a liar because he said, you know beware, you know that so did their father the false prophets
so he also said
There'll be false Christ and false prophets. So Jesus is right and you were wrong
first John chapter 4 verse number 1 1st John chapter 4 verse number 1
the Bible says beloved
Believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God
Because many what's it say?
False prophets are gone out into the world. So we you don't have you don't believe everybody you try them
Well, what do you try about them? What what is what they're saying matching up to this book
If it's not matching up to this book
Then there are false prophet if they're teaching salvation by anything but grace through faith false prophets
If they're preaching the Word of God
They're saying you got to repent of all your sins and they mean you really got to repent of all your sins
That person's a false prophet
Now I will agree that sometimes people get mixed up and preachers get mixed up with this but here's the thing
If they if they can't be corrected on that issue, then what is that? What does that tell you about them?
If somebody just gently tells that pastor. Hey
You know the Bible
Doesn't teach that repenting of your sins is a work and then you show them the scriptures about and they're like
No, you still have to repent of all your sins. It's two sides of the same coin
You know, you got to repent you got to be sorry for your sins, or you can't be saved. That's a false prophet
Yeah, I don't care what anybody says. That's a false prophet if they cannot be corrected on that doctrine
They're preaching a false gospel. They're preaching lies. That's not how you get saved
It says many false prophets are gone out in the world
Look at Matthew chapter 13 verse 24 Matthew chapter 13 verse 24. I'm getting close to my deadline here. Oh
My watch says 17 23. I got eight minutes. All right another another parable put he forth unto them saying
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field
But while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way
And when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tares also
So the servants of the household were came and said unto him sir
This thou not so good seed and I field from whence then hath it tears
He said unto them an enemy hath done this the servant said unto him
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
But he said nay less while you gather up the tares you root up also the wheat with them
Let both grow together until the harvest and the time of the harvest
I will say to the Reapers gather you together first the tares and bind them into bundles and burn them
But gather the wheat into my barn
So the person that's the you know, this this parable is talking about how there's gonna be wheat and tares that grow together
there's gonna be in the congregation of wheat and tares and
But you know, sometimes we'll know like as a pastor. Sometimes we get a little bit different of discernment than other people do it
I'm not saying better. We're better than anybody or anything like that
but as a pastor, I see things that other people don't see in the church and
You know, and I'm sure brother Ian has that same
discernment
But the thing is is that sometimes you're just like I don't know about this person, you know
And and I don't like to think bad about anybody
But the Bible says we're not supposed to say anything until we know for sure
You know, that's that's basically what it's saying. Don't don't pull them up
You know if I thought somebody was bad and I don't have the goods on them
I'm not gonna say anything, you know, but once I have the goods on them
That's what I'm gonna say something once they reveal themselves. Sometimes these people just reveal themselves. They can't help it anymore
Sometimes people are just total clowns when they first come to church
But you know, you're not always gonna be you know, some people are just better hiding it than others
But rest assured that the Bible is true that there will be tears among the wheat and we have to be on guard for this
Right if someone's saying weird stuff look sometimes we like to give people the benefit of the doubt because our friends and look
I'm not saying go on some kind of heretic hunt here. Okay, I'm just saying that sometimes
We'll give people that we're friends with the benefit of the doubt
Because we want to see the best in people and most Christians are like that
But don't don't forget about those weird things
You know and in and don't go out around just trying to route people out
I'm not saying that but what I am saying is that once they're revealed that's when it's time to kick them out
We don't go around trying to remove tears without
Knowing and for sure that that's what they are and honestly
The ones you don't see common are the ones that you got to worry about because like weren't the Apostles weren't they fooled by Judas
They were weren't they? Yeah, so, you know and sometimes I've picked a couple people who turned out to be bozos as leadership
I've befriended and trusted people that turned out to be losers and bozos and haters of God later on
But you know Jesus knew who Judas was
But you know, none of the other guys thought that everybody else thought Judas was great
The guy we went out salt, you know talking to preaching the gospel today. He thought Judas was great, too
He thought Judas died for your sins or something. I don't know it was weird
But what I'm saying to you is this you know, it's the one you don't see coming that you got to worry about
And you're not always gonna see that person sometimes
You know when you're not in church for a long time, or you've never been to a Baptist Church
You don't know how to behave yourself in the house Lord seems like everybody here is doing a pretty good job at that
but
You know some people just if you're not in church you're a little weird, okay
You're you kind of have a little bit of quirks about you. Maybe something, you know, you have some real strong feelings about certain doctrine
but
It doesn't mean that that person is a wolf. Maybe they just need to be straight now
Maybe they just need to be three to thrive in church
But anyway, I'm gonna finish up here. We got to be careful about the false prophets
But I don't want you going around heretic hunting people and stuff. Just let the leadership deal with that kind of stuff
But obviously if someone's just doing something really weird or something, maybe come to eat about it or whatever
Or me so but anyway, let's finish up here Acts chapter 20 verse 25. It says and now behold I know
That you all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face
No more skip down to verse 32
It says and now brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace
Which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified
I have coveted no man silver or gold or apparel
Yea yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me
And I've showed you all things how so labor and yacht to support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus
How he said it's more blessed to give than to receive
Look at verse 36 and it says when he had thus spoken he kneeled down and prayed with them all and
They all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him
Sorry, most of all but the words which he spake that they should see his face no more and they accompanied him
Unto his ship now. It's a possibility that you might not ever see my face anymore
I'm not comparing myself to the Apostle Paul
I'm just saying I'm a visitor in this country and I'll do my best to get back here
But you know, you know
The reason why we didn't announce this trip in the first place is because they would have tried to get me banned for sure
Okay
So is it is it a possibility that I might be banned for life from here?
It's a possibility, you know, and I'm sure that they'll try so but I can't predict
You know what will happen after this trip, you know, whether I'll be allowed to return or not
But I will say this regardless of whether you see my face again here in England. I'm still your pastor
I still care about you
We pray for you all every single week and I'll do my best to make myself available to you
Should you ever need me and I hope it's not the last time I see your faces. Well, maybe some of you know, I'm just kidding
No, I want to see your faces again, I just want to say I've been blessed on this whole trip and
Hopefully I get to come back. That's my goal. But even if I don't I want you to still
press towards the mark
Of the high calling of God and Christ Jesus and regardless of whether I ever get to come back here again or not
You need to keep the course. You need to finish your faith. You need to set yourself towards the mark and finish
All right, regardless of what happens because you know, we can still do great things for God
Even if I can never come back here again
So I have faith in this church that it's gonna grow and do great things. So let's pray
And dismiss in prayer Heavenly Father
We thank you Lord so much for this wonderful day this wonderful trip or to pray that once again that you would just
Just protect this church Lord and help them help brother Ian and miss Lisa help the leadership here and
Just all the people here in our church Lord
they're all play an important role in the integrity of this church and
They all have a specific
Purpose in the body of Christ. I pray Lord that you just bless each and every one of them
Help them to be strong and help them to be courageous and
Just pray that you'd help them to finish what they've started Lord and that many churches would would come forth out of this church Lord
And I pray that you just bless them in Jesus name pray. Amen
All right, let's sing another song