Good morning everybody. Welcome back to Sure Foundation Baptist Church.
If you would please grab your hymnals and turn to song number 209.
Song number 209, Sunshine in the Soul, 209.
There is sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky
For Jesus is my light
Though there's sunshine blessed sunshine
When the peaceful happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There is music in my soul today
A carol to the King
And Jesus listening can hear
The songs I cannot sing
Oh there's sunshine blessed sunshine
When the peaceful happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There is springtime in my soul today
For when the Lord is near
The dove of peace sings in my heart
The flowers of grace appear
Oh there's sunshine blessed sunshine
When the peaceful happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There is gladness in my soul today
And hope and praise and love
For blessings which he gives me now
For joys laid up above
Oh there's sunshine blessed sunshine
The peaceful happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
Alright, good singing. Let's open in a word of prayer.
Dear God, thank you for letting us all be able to gather together again in your house.
God, thank you for everyone who came out.
God, please bless the service.
Please fill Pastor Thompson with your spirit as it breaches to us.
And please let us be edified as well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, song number 327, Higher Ground.
Song number 327.
Pressing on the upward way
New heights I'm gaining every day
Still praying as I'm onward bound
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith on heaven's table and
A higher plane than I have found
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay
Though some may dwell where these abound
My prayer, my aim is higher ground
Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith on heaven's table and
A higher plane than I have found
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
And though live above the world
Though Satan's darts at me are hurled
For faith has caught the joyful sound
The song of saints on higher ground
Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith on heaven's table and
A higher plane than I have found
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright
But still I'll pray, tell heaven I've found
Lord, lead me on to higher ground
Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith on heaven's table and
A higher plane than I have found
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
Alright, this time we'll look for an analysis.
If you need a bullet, just look up your hand and get it.
So, on the perfect hour of the anniversary of the week,
Foundation two verse one, blood.
Lord, it is good after the name of the 18th,
I told you that it can,
In fact, never you see information about a church.
This is Church Foundation Baptist church,
One State.
We are a church client Church Foundation Baptist church,
One State, Vancouver, Washington,
And, the foundation is the pastor,
Pastor, Pastor and Counsel,
I'm going to go over here.
You'll see a service time list is below there.
Holy morning service, 10.30 a.m.
Sunday evening service, usually at 5 p.m.
I'm tasting it at 3 p.m.
Here's the evening Bible study at 7 p.m.
and Sunday soloing time, you're at 1.30 p.m.
You'll see a salvation of that person at 7.10 schools.
Those offerings, that's on the other page.
Announcements, so yesterday,
soloing thing went back to 36 solo winners
and four salvations, so that's really good.
Celebrations, today June 11th,
Pastor and Counsel services evening service
will be changed to 3 p.m.
And then obviously at 5 p.m.
you got a soloing, then coming up in Toronto, Ontario,
and we'll go to that and of course,
Bible memory passage, you can go to that one, you'll see.
So we've got, and my voice is going,
so we've got some birthdays,
do you want to do a sing out with me?
Yeah, okay good.
So we've got Brother Chris Shire,
he's got his birthday on Monday.
We've got our Keziah, that's on Monday.
And we've got Miss Alex here.
And we'll have some plays at the end.
So we'll be, yeah, we have some of them after.
I guess so.
One other announcement,
we got some preserved Bible documentary
that somebody doesn't have one,
we take one there, it's a good documentary.
I think that's it for the announcement.
So we are a family integrated church,
children and infants are always welcome
in the church service list.
And if you have a cell phone, please post it on silent
or on vibrational.
Okay, one other announcement with the documentary.
So we're going to be having baptism
after the donation service.
And so when we're singing that last song,
first person that wants to get baptized,
I just need to get changed.
I just need to get changed
and then the rest of the people
kind of standing around here ready to go.
Do you see anything else?
I just want, if everybody's getting baptized
the person that's going in or whatever,
but as long as he doesn't have any.
Okay, sounds good.
With that, you can sing happy birthday and then we'll go.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, God bless you.
Happy birthday to you.
All right, let's go to the next song here.
Let's go song number 439, count your blessings.
439, count your blessings.
One, two, three.
When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed,
when you are discouraged thinking all is lost,
count your many blessings, name them one by one,
and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
Are you ever burdened with the Lord of care?
Does the cross seem heavy, you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly.
You will be singing as the days go by.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
your reward in heaven or your home on high.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
do not be discouraged, God is over all.
Count your many blessings, angels will attend.
Help and comfort give you to your journeys
and your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
All right, little Jasper, this time you wanna come up
and take the offering, please?
["O Come All Ye Faithful"]
Okay, Psalm 48, Psalms 48.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God, in a mountain of his holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth
is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
the city of the great King.
God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
For lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
They saw it and so they marveled,
they were troubled and hasted away.
Fear took hold upon them there
and pain as of a woman in travail.
Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
As we have heard, so have we seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.
God will establish it forever, Selah.
We have taught of thy loving kindness, O God,
in the midst of thy temple.
According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise
unto the ends of the earth and thy right hand
is full of righteousness.
Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughter of Judea be glad
because of thy judgments.
Walk about Zion and go round about her,
tell the towers thereof.
Mark, yea well her bulwarks.
Consider her palaces that yea may tell it
to the generation following.
For this God is our God forever and ever
and he will be our guide even unto death.
So let's pray.
Thank you, our God, for the beautiful day outside.
Thank you for the great day yesterday, our soul winning.
Thank you for the people, God, you've got her here together.
Please God, fill this church, Lord, with your spirit.
Fill Pastor Thompson with your spirit
and help him have the words to say
and help us have the ears to hear, Lord,
and we thank you in Christ's name we pray, amen.
It's great to be here and I'm very happy
to have been able to spend some time with everybody.
In case you didn't realize that I am the pastor
of the church, but today we're gonna be doing
an ordination service and before I begin the sermon,
I just wanted to say thank you to everybody
for all your wonderful hospitality, it's been really great
and brother Jim, Miss Judy, thank you so much for everything.
The accommodations and everything have been wonderful
and just a blessing to be up here
and be able to get some people saved
in a place I've never been before
and this is an interesting area.
They call this the Bible Belt out here,
so I was seeing some interesting stickers
on people's trucks and things like that
about your president or whatever.
Is that what they call it, or is it the prime minister?
Prime minister, okay.
Well, anyway, after I preach this sermon,
I'm going to ordain brother Jim
as the evangelist of the church
and so he will be ordained to baptize and lead this church
and he's been leading up here for a long time
and I'll get into that a little bit later
as far as how I met him and everything like that,
but I just want to get into the sermon now
and the title of the sermon this morning
is Northern Lights, Northern Lights
and the springboard verses here are Psalm chapter 48
verse number one where the Bible says,
great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness,
beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth
is Mount Zion on the sides of the North,
the city of the great King
and the Bible refers to this also
where Satan wants to be in charge of God's kingdom,
but notice how it says that Mount Zion
is on the sides of the North.
So the North is mentioned a lot in the Bible
and the Bible says that people will be saved
all around the world.
It says that God is the joy of the whole earth.
So yes, God loves Canada,
God loves the people that live in the great North up here
and we live in the Northwest.
I'm from Vancouver, I'm actually from Portland, Oregon
which is in the Northwest and it's obvious
who's ever been to Portland, Oregon before, anybody?
Yeah, well, that city's changed
since I was born there many moons ago
and now it's just pretty much ruined,
but our church is in Vancouver, Washington
which is right across the river from there.
But the reason why I call this sermon the Northern Lights
is because I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights
and I guess I missed my window of opportunity.
I guess it only happens in February and March or something.
You guys have probably seen it a million times, right?
But I've never seen it with my eyes
and so I've always thought it was really cool
and it's a unique thing for the North.
Not everybody gets to see those lights
and I've seen pictures of it,
I've seen video of it and things like that,
but I've just never actually seen it with my own eyes.
And the Northern Lights are like,
or it's called the Aurora Borealis or whatever,
but it's a beautiful array of lights
not seen anywhere else but in the North
and it's a special phenomenon
that can only be seen in February and March.
And the Christian people of the North
are also a unique light in this world
and with their own set of challenges
in a region that is known for being cold and dark.
Now, I'm pretty sure that most people would say
that the country of Canada as a whole
is a pretty liberal place
and obviously there are some Christians still here
and obviously the light has gotten dimmer in this country
and I don't know if there was ever like a powerhouse
of so many independent fundamental Baptist churches.
I know that there's independent
fundamental Baptist churches up here,
but it seems like everybody's kind of getting
on the bandwagon of all these liberal ideas
and things like that,
but it's a unique thing to be a Christian up here
and people from around the world,
they come to see the special lights of the Northern Lights
and Jesus is also a special light
that although he's a special light
and he's willing to save sinners still
and people have sought his light for many, many years
and he's a unique light.
He's the only kind of light
that will actually save your soul
and the Bible talks about him being a light
and people will not seek the Lord
unless they have a light to look forward to
and as people in the North,
you guys have a unique situation here
where you're able to do great works for God.
Now, is this area the most receptive place
I've ever gone soloing?
No, it's not, but people still need to get saved up here too
and if you knock the doors and you do the work,
people will get saved
and you can present that special light that is Jesus Christ
to a lost and dying world up in the Great North here
and if you think about other great stars
that are considered something that has to do with the North
is the North Star
and many people for many thousands of years
have used that star to navigate their way across the world
or to find themselves, to find their way
when they're lost by navigating by that star
and today, people are lost and need that great light,
the Lord Jesus Christ to shine down upon them
and if you remember when the wise men came from the East
to seek Jesus, what did they do?
They sought after this star
that's in the star came and appeared over the top
of where the child Jesus was born
and you know what, wise men will still seek him today.
Wise men will still seek that light today
and it takes that special kind of light to attract people
and it takes a special kind of people to direct people
to that true light because saved people beget saved people.
People don't just get saved by osmosis,
people don't just get saved
because they're sitting there just thinking about God.
That's not how it works,
a saved person has to bring that message of salvation
and that's why Jesus told us to go forth
in all the world to preach the gospel.
Let's turn over to Matthew chapter five
into the Beatitudes, very famous section of scripture here
but just like you have some unique lights up in the North,
you know, we need to make sure that we're sending people
and showing people that unique light
that can actually save your soul.
So the North Star can navigate you
and get you out of a place where you're lost.
People at sea can find that star
and navigate themselves to safety
but we need to say, we need to point people to a star
that can save someone that's lost in sin
and lost and on their way to a devil's health.
Look at Matthew 5 13, it says,
ye are the salt of the earth
but if the salt had have lost his savor,
wherewith shall it be salted?
It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out
and to be trodden under the foot of men.
Now Jesus is talking to the people he's preaching to here.
When it says ye, he's talking to the whole group
of people here and he says, ye are the salt of the earth
and if that salt has lost its savor,
so like we put salt on meat, we put salt on things
because it makes something taste better, right?
It's a good taste but it also, salt preserves.
Anybody that's done any kind of skinning of animals,
you put that kind of salt on the,
and tan the hide that way and things like that
but salt also irritates people.
It irritates your eyes.
If it gets into your eyes, salt can sting.
When you're, have you ever gone swimming in the ocean?
You know, it kind of just irritates your skin
but he's calling us the salt of the earth
because we can have a great effect upon people
and sometimes when we, the things that we preach about
makes people salty, that term salty,
they get upset about it, right?
But we have, salt does a lot of great things
and Jesus said we are that salt but if it's lost its savor,
if we don't do the things that we're supposed to do
as Christians, then it says we're good for nothing.
And so it's very important,
this church is very important here
and people are like, well, it's just a small little church
in some storefront, you know, in some small town
but this church has a great effect,
more of an effect than you could possibly ever know
and because of the fact that there's not a lot
of soul in churches in Canada as a whole,
then your light is gonna shine even brighter
and you're like, well, it doesn't seem like
it's shining that bright but you know, I believe it is.
I believe it's shining brighter
than you could ever possibly imagine.
Look at verse 14, it says, you're the light of the world.
So who's he calling the light of the world?
Ye are the light of the world.
Now we know that Jesus is the light of the world
but we are the, kind of the reflection of Jesus
to other people and the Bible says,
we are, ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
This church is not hidden from people's eyes.
You might think, well, nobody even knows we're here.
Listen, people know you're here
and the enemies of God know that you're here.
It says, neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick
and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
So if you have a light, you know, a light in your,
you know, he's talking about times when people
actually had to light and use candles
to walk around with those candles
and he says, you don't put it underneath something,
you put it on something so that people can see it.
You put it on a candlestick and of course we got lights
all over in here now that are not candles,
they're just regular lights but those lights
help us to see in dark places
and so we're supposed to be a light to other people
and to let that light shine.
See, look at verse 16, it says,
but, excuse me, let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
So we're supposed to shine the light of God,
we're supposed to shine the light of Jesus.
You know, have you heard that Sunday school song,
this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine?
And you know, it says, hide it under a bushel.
No, I'm gonna let it shine, you know.
I'm saying that song, you know, with kids a lot of times
but it's a great truth because that's what we're supposed
to do as Christians so you as people in the great north here
you can shine a light that is brighter than other lights
because, you know, you think about the Bible Belt
in America, there's churches, literally,
there's Baptist churches almost on every corner down there.
When I was in Georgia, I was really amazed
at how many, you know, churches are out
in the middle of nowhere and they're Baptist churches
but you don't have that here.
So the lights kind of blend together in big cities
and it's hard for you to see the stars, right?
But when you're in a small place and in a place
where it doesn't have what other places have,
then you can shine brighter than other places.
Look at Luke chapter 13 verse 29, Luke chapter 13 verse 29.
And Jesus Christ prophesied the fact
that there's gonna be people saved all over the world
and the Bible often likens Jesus Christ
or the fact that he, when he came to this world,
he shined his light upon the whole world.
Now look at Luke 13, 29, it says,
and they shall come from the east and from the west
and from the, what's it say there?
The north and from the south and shall sit down
in the kingdom of God.
So when you think that you're not affecting anything,
the Bible says that people are gonna come from the north
and you know why people are gonna come from the north?
To sit down with Abraham, Isaac and all the patriarchs
and all the people and all your loved ones that are saved?
Because someone in the north went and reached people
and got them saved.
So does it say people are gonna come from the north?
Yes, it does.
So that's y'all here, you're in the north
and you were born in a time and in a place
to where you could be here in this spot
to reach the nation for the gospel's sake.
And there's nothing really
that's gonna be able to hinder you.
You know, obviously God's enemies can hinder you,
but what the Bible say, it says that the gates of hell
will not prevail against us, right?
So the gates of hell, the people from hell,
the minions of hell, those types of people
can hinder what you're doing,
but they're not gonna stop it.
They're not gonna destroy it.
The only thing that's gonna destroy this church
is if this church quits, if the leadership quits,
if the people here quit, don't quit on God.
You have an important job.
The people of the north are talked about
in this verse right here.
And yet you're like, well, there's a lot of places
in the north, but the world,
when the people think of the north,
they do think of Canada.
They think of obviously Russia and all these other places,
but what are they doing for the gospel's sake right now?
This is, you know, and I'm sure that there's people
who are saved all up in the northern areas,
but you know, you can have a great effect
just on your nation alone.
Yes, a tiny church meeting in a small storefront
can do big things for God.
Why do you think that they're always trying
to shut our YouTube channels down?
Why do you think that they're always trying to stop us
from being able to preach the message of God's truth?
Because darkness hates light,
and the darkness wants to snuff that light out,
and laws are being passed and people's minds
are being defiled all over this world with a false message
that everybody is just supposed to be inclusive
with all this other stuff.
Look, the Bible says we're supposed to,
what we hear, what Jesus told them in dark and secret,
to preach upon the housetops.
He didn't say to hide the message.
And so it shouldn't, you know, be some big wonder to us
why people want to shut down.
You know, if we're so tiny and we're so small,
we're so insignificant,
then why do they want to stop us from preaching?
Why do they want to shut us up?
Why do they want to show up at our church building
and try to defile the children's eyes of our church?
Because they want to affect it for evil and for wickedness.
That's why.
Look at Luke chapter two, verse 30.
So you have a great responsibility here
to reach the people of the North.
And that verse would be fulfilled
that the people from the North
will sit down in the kingdom of God.
Amen.
So look at Luke chapter two, verse 30.
It says, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou has prepared before the face of just some people.
No, it says all people.
Does that include the people in Canada?
It absolutely does.
A light to lighten the Gentiles
and the glory of thy people Israel.
When Simeon saw the child Jesus,
he was excited about the fact that he saw the Savior
and these scriptures are written by his words
that Jesus is a light to lighten the Gentiles
and to all people.
And so that includes people up here.
Look at Isaiah chapter 42.
Isaiah chapter number 42.
Isaiah chapter 42, verse one.
The Bible says, behold my servant to my uphold,
mine elect in whom my soul delighteth.
I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice
to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break
and the smoking flax shall he not quench.
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he have set judgment in the earth
and the aisles shall wait for his law.
People are waiting to hear the words of the law,
the Bible to be preached to them.
And yeah, is everybody gonna accept it?
No, not everybody's gonna accept it.
A lot of people have heard of Jesus,
but when we come to their doors,
there are people that are going to get saved.
That's evidenced yesterday.
Wasn't the easiest soul-willing area I've ever been to.
I got to open my Bible one time yesterday
and then the person that I was trying to preach the gospel to
didn't believe that Jesus Christ was God.
So, and then he just kind of broke the conversation
when I went to that point.
But people will hear it.
There was still four people that got saved yesterday.
So, you think about,
well, I'll look at all the money that was spent.
Look at all the resources that was spent.
Look at all the gas money that people had to
put in their tank.
And we had to, people were dragging their kids
all over the place.
They're tired.
I mean, there's kids passed out in the pews,
in the chairs last night before we left.
And so it's hard work and it's a rough day,
but you know what?
The eternal destination of four people,
you might not think that that counts for much,
but those people will sit down with you
in the kingdom of God.
And it says they come from the north.
Look at verse five.
It says,
Thus saith God the Lord,
he that created the heavens and stretched them out.
He that spread forth the earth
and that which cometh out of it.
He that giveth breath unto the people upon it
and spirit to them that walk therein.
I the Lord have called thee in righteousness
and will hold thine hand and I will keep thee
and give thee for a covenant of the people
for a light of the Gentiles.
And so Jesus Christ was given
and the covenant he's talking about is the new covenant,
the new Testament.
And it says for a light of the Gentiles.
See, the Jews won't get saved.
The Jews rejected Christ.
They, as a whole, as a nation,
they rejected their Messiah.
The one that they were waiting for appeared before them
and they hated him and they spit on him
and they mocked him and they crucified him.
But all that was done
so that the whole world could then be reached.
And it says in verse seven,
to open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from prison.
There's people in this country that are in prison right now
and they're in prison.
They're taken captive by the devil at his will.
And it's our job to shine the light of Jesus in their eyes
and in paired venture,
those people would receive that light
and God would heal them.
And he would open their blind eyes
so that they could see the truth of the gospel.
And it says, and bring out the prisoners from prison
and to sit in, excuse me,
and then to sit in darkness out of the prison house.
There's a lot of people in darkness today
and it's our job to reach them with that light.
Turn to Malachi chapter one, Malachi chapter one.
It's the first book right before Matthew.
It's the last book of the Old Testament.
I just began doing Bible study through that first chapter
and God in this chapter, he's fed up with,
he's basically telling people I'm fed up, I'm done.
The priests are wicked, Judah has become wicked.
The people are kind of waiting for about 400 years
for Jesus Christ to come from the end of that book.
So, but I thought it was really interesting
something that's said in Malachi chapter one.
It says, for from the rising of the sun, verse 11,
even unto the going down of the same,
my name shall be great among the Gentiles.
And in every place, incense shall be offered into my name
and a pure offering from my name shall be great
among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
Because in times past it wasn't and the nation of Israel
wasn't giving that light to people.
And Jesus talked about how they would compass sea and land,
these Pharisees would compass sea and land
to make one prose light and they would make them
twofold more the child of hell than they are themselves.
So that was the state of the people of God at that point,
buried in works salvation, racist, hating other nations
when God said his name was supposed to go out
throughout the whole earth.
Even in the book of Exodus, why did he do all that stuff?
So the whole earth would know who God was.
And people did get saved that were Gentiles,
but obviously now it's on a way more massive scale.
But God's name is to be great among the heathen
and among the Gentiles and I noticed yesterday
that there's a lot of heathen around here.
And heathen just means that they're just,
you know, they're unbelievers.
And so it's our job to reach them with the gospel.
Look at Genesis chapter one.
Genesis chapter number one.
See, Jesus is a different kind of light.
And you know, the kind of what got me thinking
about this concept of the great lights of the north,
you know, the northern lights and the north star
is that it is a unique light.
That's a unique star.
Jesus is a unique light.
Look at Genesis one, three.
It says, and God said, let there be light.
And there was light.
And God saw the light that it was good
and God divided the light from the darkness.
So see, what does light do?
It divides from the darkness.
And this light is not talking about the sun here.
See, a lot of people would think that,
but that's not what it's talking about.
It's talking about the S-O-N sun.
It's the son of God, the light of Jesus.
Look at John chapter one, verse four.
John chapter one, verse four.
See, the sun wasn't made until,
the sun, moon and stars weren't made until day four.
This happened on day one.
God said, let there be light and there was light.
So what was that light?
Well, that was the light that lights all men.
John one, four says, in him was life.
And the life was the light of men.
See, it's a different kind of light.
It's not the kind of light that you need to read
or get your way through, but it's a picture.
You know, that light that he made later on
is a picture of what God will do for us.
He'll light up our life.
He's a light that we should seek after.
Look at John one, five, it says,
and the light shineth in darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not.
And yeah, it's true.
There's a lot of times we will go and shine the light
of Christ to people and they don't comprehend it.
They don't understand it.
They don't want it.
But it says that, because darkness and light,
they don't mix together well.
And the darkness, you know, some people,
the Bible says that men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds are evil.
And so some people just want to be in their sins.
They don't want to be reproved by God.
And so they won't receive that light.
Look at verse seven, it says,
the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light
that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light,
but was sent to bear witness of that light,
talking about John.
And it says, that was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
And so doesn't the Bible say that Jesus' light
lights every man?
Every person will have a chance to be saved.
But just because that's true
doesn't mean that everybody will.
And so, but the true light,
see how it says that that's the true light?
I believe that's referencing back to Genesis chapter one,
that he's that true light that came into the world.
God said, let there be light.
He said that the light was good.
And there's none good but what?
God, right?
So God is good.
And so Jesus is good.
So if Jesus is good, then what is he?
He's God.
And it says he was in the world
and the world was made by him and the world knew him not.
But again, Jesus is a unique light.
Can we see the light of Jesus?
It's a different kind of light.
It's a different special kind of light,
just like y'all up here have special lights.
And that can help you when you think about those things.
I mean, do you think that that's just an accident
that God made a great star in the North?
That's not an accident.
There's purpose behind it.
And again, it's a navigating star, isn't it?
And so it helps us to think of how Jesus Christ
is a star and how we can navigate people toward him.
And if people will take that light
and they'll receive that light, they'll be saved.
So it's our job as Christians to know the light of the world,
Jesus Christ, and to proclaim that light.
And again, the North can shine brighter
than any other place because it's so dark up here.
Because I mean, I know that we're not here on that spot
where it's like you have the night that lasts like,
what does it last for almost 24 hours or something
when you get up further North.
But I mean, think how bright the light
that would shine up there.
So I think that there's places that can be reached
just from this small location all around the world.
The world is so huge.
It's funny that people say this world is overpopulated.
When I drove from Winnipeg to here yesterday,
it didn't look like it was very overpopulated to me.
And you can only see a certain distance,
but I just saw green fields and green trees.
And that's just a microcosm of how big this world really is.
And I'm sure that we drove past hundreds,
maybe thousands of people,
their dwelling places on the way here.
I mean, in an hour and a half,
you're gonna cross some paths.
Obviously, I didn't see a lot of houses,
but I'm sure that someone works those fields
and prepares them and brings them forth, right?
So this world is not overpopulated,
but I'll tell you, we have a lack of people
that are willing to do the work.
And so we have to be, even though we're a small group,
we can do a lot of damage to the enemy.
We can do great things for the kingdom of God
in this small place.
It's bigger than you think it is.
It's greater than you think of it is.
I'll tell you what,
the more effective this church becomes here,
the more enemies you're gonna draw your way.
And that's just a fact.
It's gonna happen.
So be prepared for that,
because people aren't gonna just put up with it.
Jesus was killed not because he was judging people,
even though he did,
but he was killed because he was good.
He was killed because of the message.
They wanted to shut him up.
You know what, they want to shut us up to,
but we can't allow that to happen.
At this church, we should always preach the truth
and always proclaim the truth.
Look at Genesis 1.14.
Genesis 1.14.
So this is what happens on day four,
is that God, he makes these lights,
and they are for a specific reason.
So we can see them.
So we can see that God created the heaven and the earth.
Look at Genesis 1.14, it says,
and God said,
let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven
to divide the day from the night
and let them be for signs and for seasons
and for days and for years.
So we can count time.
We can count the seasons.
We can count, and it says for them to be signs.
What kind of signs?
Well, signs of things to come.
I mean, what's going to happen
before Jesus Christ comes back to the earth?
The sun and moon are going to be darkened.
The stars of heaven are going to fall,
and they're going to be for signs for us to know.
I mean, he said specifically that was going to happen
before the coming of the son of man.
So when we see that happen,
we know that the time is drawing nigh.
And look at verse 15, it says,
and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven
to give light upon the earth, and it was so.
So what is the other purpose of the sun?
To give light upon the earth.
And notice that the sun rises every day
for us to be able to see.
And the earth revolves around the sun.
And so, you know, a lot of people are into geocentricity,
which means that the earth is the special place
of the whole universe.
But I would say that, you know, that's a picture.
I think the better picture is that we revolve
around the sun, which represents Christ, right?
So he gives us light upon the earth,
and that's a picture of him rising,
ending the darkness that we had for that day,
and bringing light upon us once again.
It says, and God made two great lights
and the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night.
He made the stars also.
And I believe that the heavenly bodies are pictures for us.
God obviously reflects that.
You know, if you think about the story of Joseph
and how he had the dream that, you know,
his brothers and sisters would fall down
and worship him and all that.
But the sun itself is, you know,
is a representation of a dad, the moon as the mother,
and the stars as the children.
But another way to actually look about it is that,
you know, we, you know, have those great lights,
but we as stars can shine.
There's, you know, stars differ in their shining.
Some stars shine brighter than others.
And, you know, God gave us those pictures for us to see.
And I believe that those stars represent
the different believers in this world,
because some people in heaven
will shine brighter than others.
Some, you know, people that do great works
and great exploits will shine,
it says, as the stars forever, right?
So I believe that obviously God represents that sun.
And then, you know,
the church would be represented by the moon.
You know, the sun reflects onto the moon
and then gives us light in a dark place, doesn't it?
But, you know, the church is, you know,
because if you think of it as a father,
or I mean, excuse me, as a husband and a wife,
well, Christ is the head of the church
and we are the bride of Christ as believers, right?
So we reflect what God,
that light that God gives us.
Our job is to reflect as the church.
And then the church is made up
of many different little different people, right?
So, I mean, there's a good picture there
of how God, you know, sees us
and how we can reflect our light.
But, you know, like I said,
that North Star shines really brightly, doesn't it?
So I personally believe
that the people that live in places
that are darker or harder to reach,
that are laboring and working hard,
and maybe they're not gonna have the souls saved
that got saved in some super receptive country,
but I believe that God will still reward people
that live in those hard places.
Like, hey, you've been faithful over a few things.
Let me, you know, be faithful.
You know, let me, you've been faithful over 10 towns.
You know, here's 10 cities.
And God is gonna shine.
You know, some people are gonna shine brighter than others.
And the fact that the North Star
is like the brightest star in the North
just shows that picture for me,
is that, you know, people might think,
well, that's just, it's all just reprobate up in Canada
and nobody's ever get saved.
And it's just, you know, it's just really hard.
Well, embrace that fact that it's hard.
You live here.
This is where you're at.
You're here in this town today,
this morning, listening to Bible preaching.
You know what?
The rest of this country
is not getting Bible preaching around them.
They're listening to false prophets.
They're listening to false gospels.
They're getting a false message.
They're, nobody's sending them out.
Nobody's telling them to go and reach
the world with the gospel.
It's not happening.
But here you are, a tiny, a tiny church,
but God looks at you like a bright shining star
in the North.
Don't, don't think that he doesn't.
Don't think that he doesn't.
Look at verse 17 says,
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven
to give light upon the earth.
So as Christians, it's our job,
those little stars to shine forth also.
And the church would be represented by the moon, I guess.
And the fact that as, you know, as a whole,
we shine, we can shine really bright, right?
So, and it takes up,
the church isn't some mystical,
invisible thing or something.
It's people gathered together in one place
for the purpose of reaching this world
and for proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 18, it says,
to rule over the day and over the night
and to divide the light from the darkness.
And God saw that it was good.
See, as Christians, we should also be shine,
you know, we, we affect that darkness.
We're supposed to divide from darkness.
And a lot of times you'll see Christians will be like,
you know, we accept anybody to come to our church.
Well, that's not separating light from darkness, is it?
It's you're, you're embracing darkness.
We're supposed to divide that light from that darkness.
We're supposed to be wholly acceptable unto the Lord,
which is our reasonable service, right?
So we're supposed to be different.
We're supposed to shine and give our light unto other people.
And you say, well, well pastor,
it's not really receptive up here.
How can we shine if we're not getting people saved?
But you are getting people saved.
But my question is this to you.
Do you think that God knows that you're here in the North?
Do you think that he knows you're here right now?
He knows exactly where you are.
And he knows that you're here.
And he knows what you're doing.
He knows your good works.
He knows your intentions.
And he's not blind to that.
God's already said all this stuff in the Bible.
Look at Acts 17, Acts 17.
And I would say this, that God knew,
he looked through the annals of time
and he knew that this church would be here
at this time for such a time as this.
You know, Esther said, you know, Mordecai told Esther,
he said that, you know, how do you know
that maybe you were put into the kingdom
for such a time as this?
And I believe that if Esther would have failed,
that God would have somehow still preserved
the children of Israel, but she did that which was right.
She lived in a time that was a crucial time
because all the Jews would have been destroyed
and killed at that time.
But, you know, you think, well, you know, I don't know.
Maybe God just, you know, he doesn't think about us.
But I'll tell you what, I believe he does think
about this church.
I believe he loves this church.
Look at Acts 17, 26, it says,
and hath made of one blood all nations of men
for to dwell on all the face of the earth.
So God made that happen, didn't he?
It says he made of one blood all nations
and hath determined the times before appointed
and the bounds of their habitation.
So what does that say?
Well, he determined the times before appointed.
He knew when you were gonna be here.
He knew how you were gonna be here.
And it says he knows the bounds of their habitation.
So he understood there was gonna be people here
at this time.
And so what this church is is very important.
It's more important than you even realize, you know,
heaven and hell are on the line here for many people.
And yeah, I mean, one generation,
can you reach all of Canada?
Well, you know what, you can try.
You can try to make an effect on this country
that's going in a wicked way.
It really is.
And you know, the United States is following suit.
They're probably actually leading.
You know, people think that they're, you know,
oh, America, you're so free.
It's not free there.
I watched a guy get arrested for even just starting
to utter a Bible verse at a pride parade.
In Pennsylvania, USA, free speech.
A cop walked up and arrested the man
that he was starting to say a Bible verse.
He wasn't yelling and screaming.
He wasn't freaking out and calling them all kinds of names.
He just was holding a sign, which I mean, yeah,
don't go to a pride parade.
I mean, bad things are probably going to happen to you.
Maybe that was the best thing that was going to happen
to him when he got arrested.
Maybe God was protecting him, but you know what?
The government wasn't protecting him.
The government wasn't helping him.
The government was hindering him.
So God understands what's going on.
And we're not a free country in the United States anymore.
Look, anybody that actually thinks that Joe Biden
is really leading the United States,
you got another thing coming.
I mean, the guy can't even spit out two sentences
without talking about some weird stuff.
I mean, America could be summed up in one word.
But, whatever.
That's the guy you think is leading our country?
It's not.
There's somebody higher than him.
The Bible talks about there being principalities and powers
and spiritual wickedness in high places.
What do you think it's talking about?
So does it, I mean, we get shocked about how much
is allowed to happen to Christians
and how there's this double standard,
but this double standard has been going on
throughout history.
You know, the violent have always tried to take
the kingdom of God by force.
And I'll tell you what, if they can't shut us up,
which is what they're trying to do,
then they'll try to shut us down another way.
You know, so, but the Bible talks about those times coming.
Hard times are coming folks, this is easy right now.
And I realize that your situation here,
you know, many people travel for many miles to be here.
And it just blows my mind, you know,
the distances that you all travel to be here.
And like only one family lives in this town,
but you all converge here, just for what?
Because you love the Lord, because you love people,
because you love preaching,
because you want unfiltered truth.
Not everybody wants that.
But you know what?
I do think that this place is special.
And I think that God has determined
the times before appointed.
He knew you were gonna be here today.
He knew you were gonna have a church here.
And he determined the times before appointed
and the bounds of their habitation.
He knows who lives up here.
And he knows where you're at.
And you know what, he loves you for it.
God provided a church out of nothing here,
a bunch of people that just love God.
They got on fire for God.
They wanted to learn how to go soul winning.
I didn't realize that Faithful Word had sent people up here
to train people to soul win.
I didn't even know that until like this weekend.
And so that sparked something
to where all these people are here today,
being blessed by the word of God every single week.
And I appreciate your faithfulness.
I'm just kind of a Johnny come lately to everything.
But you know what, I believe that this church is legit.
And so I wanted to make sure it's legitimized
in people's eyes that people see the great works
that are going on up here.
And they're like, hey, there's a bright and shining star
in the north and it's not the north star,
it's the people of the north, in the church in the north,
and reflecting the light of God to a wicked nation.
So it says that they would seek the Lord.
So I mean, God, it's not an accident that you're here.
It's God knows you're here.
He knows that you were gonna be here.
And it says that they would seek the Lord
if happily they might feel after Him and find Him,
though He be not far from every one of us,
because God is really everywhere, isn't He?
God is all knowing, He's all powerful,
He's omnipresent, He's everywhere at once.
He's closer than people realize.
You know, what does it say?
That they might happily feel after Him and find Him,
though He be not far from every one of us.
He's not far, and in here, if you're saved today,
He's in you, that's how close He is.
He's very close.
Now, when the rewards are given out,
I think it's very possible that those that work diligently
in the harder areas will receive great rewards
for the faithfulness that they have.
And so don't count it as nothing.
Well, we've only got so many people saved this year.
Don't count that as nothing.
It's something, it's important, it's a big deal.
It's bigger than you think it is.
Look at Daniel chapter 12, verse two.
Daniel chapter 12, verse two.
Daniel chapter 12, verse two, the Bible says,
and many of them which sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life,
and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Listen, folks, there's a heaven to gain,
and there's a hell to shun.
There's people that are headed to hell by the droves.
Hell hath enlarged herself.
Every single day, probably millions of people die.
I mean, I don't know what the stats are on that.
I'm sure that, I think that, you know,
I've looked at that stuff before,
but every second someone's dying.
Every second someone's dying and going to hell,
because most people we know are going to hell
and not heaven.
So we gotta find the ones that are able to be saved, right?
Look at verse three.
And they that be wise shall shine
as the brightness of the firmament,
and they that turn many to righteousness
as the stars forever and ever.
Why does God like it that way?
Because we will shine like the stars forever.
I mean, there's that song, like, you know,
from Jesus the crucified one, right?
But they shall turn many to righteousness, the wise.
So if you're wise, you're gonna win souls, the Bible says.
And we that are wise and do those things,
we're gonna shine that light
and turn many to righteousness.
Don't take it for granted.
It's an important job.
This church is important.
This church is a big deal.
This church is a bright and shining star.
This church has a special light
that they can share with other people.
And I believe that this church will get bigger.
I believe this church will do more exploits.
And the more, the bigger you are,
the more people you have,
the more people you can affect with the gospel.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 10,
go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 10.
And you guys probably know these verses by heart,
especially this one, I hope you know it by heart,
if you're a soul winner.
Romans 10, verse number 13.
The Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.
That's the mission.
That's the job.
Get people to call upon the name of the Lord.
It's our job to find those whosoevers.
And whether we have to knock,
I mean, we knocked a whole bunch of doors yesterday,
me and brother Jim and everybody, you know,
but we knocked a whole lot of doors
and we were just getting exercise.
So God has like an exercise program
involved in soul winning too.
I mean, even if you don't get people saved,
you're still getting benefits from it, right?
The 10,000 steps yesterday, that's pretty good, right?
I mean, that's heart healthy stuff, right?
But you know, we didn't get anybody saved,
but you know what, other people did.
We knocked the bad doors
so you could get some of those good ones.
But everybody probably knocked a bunch of doors yesterday.
But you know, it's our job to find,
that's what we're doing.
We're finding the whosoevers.
We're looking for the whosoevers.
Because whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
Look at verse 14.
How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him
in whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Those are, that's an important verse.
Because the Bible says they're not gonna hear
without a preacher.
Oh, well, people just, you know,
God just gives them the faith.
That's not what happens.
People get the faith
because someone told them how to get it.
Look at verse 15, it says,
and how shall they preach except they be sent?
This is a fundamental Baptist church
that believes in preaching the gospel.
And this church sends people out like the Bible says.
Most churches, even Baptist churches will say,
hey, just invite someone to church today.
Invite someone to church today.
And you know, there's nothing wrong with doing that.
Of course, that's what we do all the time
when we go out soloing.
But they mean, so I can preach the salvation message
that I preach every single 11 a.m. service,
and I can call people up to an old-fashioned
sawdust trail altar,
and then they can kneel before me and get saved or whatever.
That's what they mean.
That's not the system that God set up.
He said, go ye therefore, and preach the gospel.
He didn't say bring them into church.
And you know, of course, if someone comes in,
we want them to be saved.
Don't get me wrong.
But how shall they preach except they be sent?
And it says, as it is written,
how beautiful are the feet of them
that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things.
God thinks your feet are beautiful.
I don't think they are,
but you know what, God thinks they are.
I think feet are some of the ugliest things about us.
And the more you, the older you get,
the uglier they get, right?
But God still, he thinks that your feet are beautiful.
You know why?
Because you're proclaiming the gospel of peace
and bringing glad tidings of good things.
That's, and you know what?
It's never gonna happen unless someone sends you out.
A lot of, you know, through the years,
a lot of people have just tried to go soloing on their own.
Not, you know, without a church to go to.
They've started, you know, soloing campaigns
and things like that.
And this church started as like a,
as like not a church, but it started as a soloing group.
People got trained to go soloing.
People started getting together.
And then, you know, obviously there's a dearth in the land
of Bible-believing Baptist churches here
that actually, that you don't have to sit there
and explain everything that they said wrong
in a sermon afterwards.
Because look, I mean, yeah, we should be in church,
but if you're just being lied to,
your kids are being lied to every single week
in the pulpit, from the pulpit,
and you have to deescalate everything
and defrag everything that they said,
say, well, we believe this at home.
But that's a confusing message to your children,
that you're going to a place
where they're preaching false things.
And look, false doctrine is false doctrine.
Heresy is heresy.
Obviously, if they're not preaching
damnable heresy, then whatever,
you should be in church.
But I think that when, you know,
we say to be in church and, you know,
find the best church in your area,
that's very few and far in between here.
I'm sure there are some good churches here.
I'm sure that there are some churches
that are old IFB that are okay.
They're still lying to people from the pulpit though.
They're still telling people, you know,
there's still people that are in Baptist churches,
preachers of Baptist churches in this country
that are saying you got to repent of all your sins.
Or that salvation and repentance
are two inseparable graces.
Where's that verse in the Bible?
Where is that verse in the Bible?
But you know what?
In most people's, you know,
where they talk about what their church believes
on their websites, they'll say that same stupid thing
that's not even in the Bible.
I believe repentance unto salvation
is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you change your mind from whatever you used to believe,
and you believe what's correct, right?
That's repentance.
Where's the coin?
Show me the coin of the repentance coin
that on one side it's repentance
and the other side it's belief.
That verse doesn't exist, and it's a garbage doctrine.
And it's just their way of sneaking in
repent of your sins to their churches.
You know what?
I don't want my kids listening to that.
My kids are all grown up now,
but you obviously didn't like it either.
Because you're here.
Is this church perfect?
No.
Does it have like a stained glass
and it's 10,000 square feet,
and it's got children's church
and places where you can put your kids?
You know, if they're crying, you have to walk outside.
I don't know what you guys doing, it's 30 below here.
But that shuts them up real quick.
What?
They're just frozen.
But that's a good system, actually.
I like that.
But you know, you don't have like a bunch of space.
But you know, this church is gonna grow,
and you know, look, there's one bathroom.
There's some struggles.
It's not perfect.
Nobody's perfect, no church is perfect.
But you know what?
What comes out of the pulpit here is truth.
That's important.
That your children aren't being confused about the rapture.
Your children aren't being confused about,
well, God's still, you know,
the children of Israel are still God's chosen people.
That's not true.
That's not what the Bible says.
They're not still God's chosen people.
And the fact that people would be in a new IFB-style church
and then go back to that stuff,
I mean, I just think,
did you ever believe in the first place?
What?
Like, now you're saying,
oh, well, Israel is still God's chosen people.
I know people that were in our church
saying garbage like that.
Saying that they believe that all these
almost are reprobates and stuff like that.
And now they're like following their Instagram pages.
And they're like, how are you transitioning?
It's weird.
How can you go back to that garbage?
Is it wise?
Because they're weak.
They're weak.
And like at some point people can be like,
well, you know, I just don't want to be in a church
that preaches like this anymore.
I just want to, you know,
you're just saying I'm a coward
and I don't want to be in the fight.
That's what you're saying.
And you know what?
It'd be better to be a coward
and not be in the fight somewhere else
than to be affecting a church like this in a bad way.
And you know what happened
when the children of Israel went to war?
God said, if your heart is afraid, then stay behind.
Stay with the women.
Stay with the children.
Don't come to the battle.
He said, just don't come.
So we got to be, you know,
if you're going to be a part of this church,
just know that battles are going to come.
It's going to happen.
And just, we need to deal with it.
But people need to realize
that unless people are being sent by a church,
they're not, the gospel's not going to get preached
except they be sent.
And who's going to send them?
Who's going to send them?
And the people that are on their own out doing so,
God bless them.
I'm happy that they're actually doing something.
But is it as good as being sent
by a local New Testament church?
That's the system that God set up for the New Testament
is a local New Testament church.
What's he talking about here?
Being sent by a local New Testament church.
Being charged with preaching the gospel.
And that's what this church needs, leadership.
And that's what this church has is leadership.
You know, you have maps that tell you where to go.
You have all these things highlighted on the maps.
You have organization happening.
I saw a lot of hard work going on yesterday.
And I don't think it's just for show.
It's just how you guys are.
You know, and Brother Weeb and his family are hard workers.
And there's a lot of hard workers in this church
that I saw out helping and offering to do things.
Hey, let us get this, let us do this.
And that's how you can be a blessing at this church
to their family.
Look, don't take for granted the fact
that you have a leader
that will send people out.
Because Brother Jim, as far as I know,
has been preaching here for what, five years or something?
Faithfully?
And now he's doing it three times a week
and working a full-time job?
It's not easy, folks.
And he lives like an hour and a half from here.
Or is it an hour and 10 minutes, okay.
That's still a long way.
I drive 20 minutes to church.
And you guys are like, well, I drive three and a half hours.
I understand that, okay.
I was here for four, yeah.
But to be in leadership and to have to worry
about all the things that are happening
and is this there, is that there, do we have this,
do we have that, do we have the maps,
do we have the invites, do we have all the Bibles
that we need, that stuff is harder than you think it is.
You know, people will say like, well,
all you have to do is get up and read a couple verses
and let's see you try to preach.
Let's see you try to get up and find the time
as a full-time worker at a secular job
to get up and preach sermons here.
It's harder than you might think.
And it's funny that people, like we have a lot of men
that preach at our church, and a lot of times
the comments I'll get the first time they preach is,
I didn't realize it was gonna be like that.
Because preaching the word of God is not an easy thing.
You think it's just getting up and just,
bleh, no.
You actually have to study the Bible,
you have to know the Bible,
you have to know what you're talking about,
you have to know how to deliver the sermon.
And you know, every preacher's different.
He's not Jim Anderson, he's Jim Weed.
He's not Jim Jimenez, he's Jim Weed.
I'm Aaron Thompson, I'm not Aaron Anderson.
I'm not Aaron Shelley.
Every preacher is different,
every preacher has their own style,
every preacher has their own flavor.
And look, you should just be thankful
for the fact that you have somebody
that will get up here and do the job.
Because here's the main part.
You know, you have to have all these qualifications
to be in leadership and all this stuff.
But here's the main thing.
Are you faithful?
Can you be here Sunday morning, Sunday evening,
Wednesday evening, or Thursday evening, or whatever it is?
Can you do that?
Because I'll tell you what,
there's not a lot of people that can't.
They wake up and they're like,
well, three and a half hour drive,
you know, the wind's blowing, I'm not coming.
And I know you guys are faithful.
I'm not talking about that, I'm just saying
there are people like that though.
But he can't be that way.
He has to be here, and if he's not here,
he has to make sure someone's here
and responsible to fill this pulpit.
That's his job.
You know, and he's doing it for free.
He's not being paid to do this.
You know, hopefully there'll be a time
when he can be, but right now that's just not how it is.
But I met the Weeb family for the first time
in Vancouver, BC in 2017.
I was trying to remember yesterday what year that was.
It was 2017, it's been a while.
And I was really immediately just impressed by their,
I wasn't even a pastor at that time,
I was his brother Thompson.
But I was impressed by their family
because of the fact that they drove on bald tires.
Through the most treacherous mountains,
over the hills and through the woods,
snow and ice, roads, to be a part of a big event
that was happening.
And there was kind of a big letdown that happened
because Pastor Anderson got banned from the country.
It was that time.
Well, but you know what, the plan still went on.
We still, you know, and we went sowing in
like some of the hardest sowing areas that I've,
you know, they picked Richmond,
which Richmond is like the richest,
I think, part of Canada.
I think it's all of Canada.
Like there's all these Chinese billionaires living there
and every house is like a million dollars or whatever.
And we didn't know it at the time.
We're just like, well, here's some government housing.
This should be good.
It's like, no, no, no.
Like even the government housing people were rich.
So, you know, it's weird.
But I was impressed by his family because of the fact that,
how far was the drive to BC?
21 hours.
That's a long way to go.
And you know why he did it?
Because he loved God.
Because he wanted to be part of something big.
And God has rewarded the faithfulness
of Brother Weeb and his family and your faithfulness
by having a church here.
And you know, I've watched this little sowing group here
for a long time and maybe you just didn't realize
I was watching, but I was.
I was making sure that Brother Weeb
wasn't calling himself pastor.
No, he never did that.
Because, you know, I was like, hey, well,
if they just, if he ordains himself, then you know,
I guess I'll just quit watching.
But he never did.
He just was like praying faithfully that someday
that this church would be a bona fide
independent fundamental Baptist church.
And you guys are on your way there.
And I'm just overseeing the general things
that are going on.
I'm the pastor, but I can't be here every week.
I can't be here every month.
I could probably only be here once a year.
But my plan is for Brother Jim to become ultimately
the pastor of this church, God willing.
Because you know what I look for?
I look for people that are faithful.
I look for people that are hardworking.
That was very obvious.
His whole family works hard.
You know, he has his children in subjection.
That's very obvious.
He has his wife in subjection.
His wife is helping him with everything he does.
This is a working family.
And these are the things I've noticed just being here,
but the faithfulness to preach for five years
and nobody would pick them up.
It's like, I just, I was just like,
I don't want this church to die.
I don't want people to lose heart and say, you know what?
We don't really have a good church to go to.
And this is never gonna become a church,
so I'm just gonna leave.
But you all stuck with Brother Jim,
you all stuck at this church for this time,
and you know, God's rewarded you for that.
And look, I'm nothing special.
I'm just a regular guy that puts his pants on
the same way every other guy does in this church.
I'm just, you know, I just show up and do the work.
That's what I do.
And so if you can do that,
then you can become a leader in a church.
But you know, God isn't gonna reward the lazy.
He's not gonna reward the people that don't show up.
He's gonna reward those,
and he picks those people that he sees working.
Isn't it nice when your boss catches you working?
Guys?
Or kids, your parents?
They're like, go clean your room,
and you're like, they come in and you're just like,
organizing all your stuff.
But when they catch you not working,
that's when you get in trouble, right?
But when your boss catches you at work
and you got your feet up on the desk,
oh hey, I was just taking a break, you know.
Whether you were or not, I mean,
obviously he thinks you are.
But you know, when your boss catches you working,
that's great, but you know what, we have a boss,
our Heavenly Father that sees everything that we do.
He sees all the work we put in,
and he looks down and he's like, I want that guy.
That guy's gonna do what I asked him to do.
And that's how God picks people.
He picks the hard workers, he picks the faithful.
And obviously, yeah, you gotta have qualifications.
But I was really impressed with brother Jim
and his family, and I've been impressed
the whole time I've been here.
Brother Jim, I'm charging you to lead this great church,
this great light in the north,
to love the people in the north,
and to lead the church here to do great exploits for God.
Now, the first thing I'm charging you with
is to preach the word of God without compromise.
Don't compromise the message, don't trim the message
because you're afraid that someone's gonna get mad.
I think that you should preach the whole counsel of God
in Acts 20, verse 27, it says,
For I have not shunned to declare unto you
all the counsel of God.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers to feed the church of God,
which he purchased with his own blood.
So Paul didn't shun to declare all the things
that God told him to do.
And God, he's talking to people
that would be overseers of a church.
He's like, feed the church of God.
So you need to preach the word of God without compromise.
Number two, to fulfill the great commission
as our Lord has commanded us,
save, baptize, and teach the Bible to the heathen.
In Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, it says,
And Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world.
Jesus promised that he has the power,
he told us to go, and he says, I'm with you always.
So we have everything that we need from God.
He said he's gonna be with us, he's told us to go.
So when people go, well, you can't be here.
Well, what Jesus said we could.
That's what I say to people now.
Some apartment manager calls me and leaves a nasty message.
I just type back, I have permission to be there.
I go, yeah, from who?
Jesus.
He told me I could go.
I don't care what you say.
So we have that power of God.
And number three, I want you to war a good warfare
and keep the faith.
Be a good soldier of Jesus Christ to fight the battle
against all of God's enemies,
whether that be from within or whether that be without.
Obviously, that warfare is a spiritual warfare.
I'm not telling you to take up arms or anything like that.
That would be weird, you would lose.
So I'm expecting you to keep the faith and war.
So, and also number four, to do the work of an evangelist.
Second Timothy chapter four, verse five,
Paul's talking to Timothy and he says,
but watch thou in all things and endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist,
make full proof of thy ministry.
So as an evangelist, you're supposed to do what?
The work of an evangelist.
And you know, when you look at Philip in the Bible,
he was a deacon and he was set apart from everybody else
because of the work that he was doing.
And then 20 years later, after you see him,
when Paul goes back to visit him,
he's called Philip the evangelist.
So obviously he was no longer qualified to be a pastor.
He was, you know, he's not in a local church,
so how can he be the deacon?
So obviously he was still ordained to be an evangelist.
And I believe that Jim, you know,
meets the qualifications to be an evangelist.
I believe, you know, there really isn't,
he doesn't even have to be married to be an evangelist,
but I believe he's on his way to becoming a pastor.
And so as long as I, you know,
see that he's being faithful
and doing everything that he's supposed to do,
that's gonna happen.
So here's the other thing is that the Bible says
in Second Timothy 4.1, it says,
I charge thee therefore before God
and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead
at his appearing and his kingdom.
Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering
and doctrine.
So as the leader up here,
it is also your job to lead, correct and edify this church.
And it's your job to preach the Bible, okay?
Preach the word, not the commentaries.
And I believe that brother Jim and his family
are a gift to this church.
That's how you should look at them, act accordingly.
Don't be a pain in the neck, be a blessing.
And why do I say he's a gift to this church?
Well, I'm gonna have you turn to this verse,
Ephesians chapter four, verse 11.
It says in Ephesians four, 11, it says,
and he gave some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists.
So does God give evangelists?
Is that what it says?
Yes, it does.
And some pastors and teachers.
Why?
For the perfecting of the saints
to get you to the point where you're a well-rounded
Christian that not that you're perfect,
that you walk on water or things like that,
that you're sinless,
but that you are the whole package deal as a Christian.
And the Bible says that God gives evangelists
for that reason.
And for the work of the ministry.
And I don't care what you say.
People just think, well, you're just a pastor.
You just preach like, you know, people,
this is how people view pastors.
You preach like a 15-minute sermon and it's poems
and all this other stuff.
That's what some pastors do.
And they make a lot more money than I do
by preaching one service a week
and have everybody else do everything for them.
But the ministry, if you're actually doing it right,
is work.
It's hard work.
And it says for the edifying of the body of Christ.
So that's the job of an evangelist is to
help this church perfect the saints,
do the work of the ministry,
and edify the body of Christ.
And I can already see that his family helps him,
but I hope the other family in this room
will help him also and be supportive of him.
And you know what, if he has to make a hard choice
and a hard decision, back him up.
Because let me just explain this to you really quickly.
You're not gonna like every decision he makes.
In a room this size, if he makes one decision,
so this is the way it's gonna be,
because this is a pastor-led church.
This is a one-ruler type church, right?
You know, you're not, there's gonna be a time
when you don't like something he does.
You don't like the way he paints this,
or you don't like the color of the carpet
in the new building.
You don't like where we're having the new building.
You don't like, you know, what he's preaching about.
You don't want, you're gonna get hair-lipped
at some point over something he says,
or a decision he makes.
But here's the thing.
The Bible says that we're supposed to obey them
to have the rule over us,
and that we're supposed to be subject unto them.
Just like women are supposed to be subject
to their husbands.
Wives are supposed to be subject unto their husbands.
It's not whenever you feel like being subject unto him.
It's subject at all times.
You're like, well, that's not a very popular message.
I know it's not.
That's why this world is crazy.
That's why we live in countries
where the government tells us we can't spank our kids.
You know why?
Because they want this generation
to turn out to be super wicked,
and it's already happened.
You stop spanking kids,
how are they gonna know what God's like?
How are they gonna know what a real father's like
if the real father doesn't ever spank them
when they need to be corrected?
And look, brother Jim is supposed to be correcting people
from the pulpit, and if you don't like that,
then tough luck.
But you know what you don't do?
Quit.
Because I guarantee you, he's gonna preach something
that you don't like, and you're like,
oh, I don't know if I agree with that or not.
Who cares?
Are you gonna agree with everything he says?
Do you agree with everything your wife says?
Do you agree with everything your husband says?
No, you probably don't.
Kids probably don't agree with every decision
their parents make, and they think that they know more
than their parents, but they don't.
Well, my parents were just mean and strict.
You know why?
They're not mean.
They're correcting you because you need to be corrected.
That's important.
Because otherwise you're gonna have a nation
of people that don't spank their kids,
and then the women and the children are gonna rule over them.
And you know what the Bible says?
That's a curse onto any nation.
But what do you see in this nation now?
That's what's happening, folks.
And we have to set the standard,
and we have to be the ones that show people
what Christians are actually supposed to be like.
And you're not gonna like every decision he makes,
but you know what?
Be an adult.
It's called adulting, right?
Be an adult and go, you know what?
I don't agree with that, but I know
that Brother Jim's a blessing.
I know that he has the best intentions.
And just deal with it.
People don't agree with things I say.
You know what?
I don't care.
It's not my job to get everybody to be happy with me
every time I preach a sermon.
Because the Bible is gonna show us
what's inside of our hearts,
and sometimes that's you just being rebellious
and not wanting to do what the Bible says.
You're like, well, I just don't think that's what it says.
Well, that's because you wanna keep your high places.
You know, the kings of Israel
would keep their high places, right?
They would do all this stuff right,
and then they would, but the high places were still there.
Because everybody has a high place in their life
that they don't want that road,
they don't want people to go down with them
in the preaching.
But you know, maybe it's time you stripped
the high place down.
Maybe it's time that you just sit back and say,
you know what, whatever God has for me,
that's what I'm gonna do.
And I'm placing Brother Jim as leadership of this church
because I believe that he's been faithful.
I believe his family is faithful.
I've watched him and continued to watch him
faithfully leading from a soul wanting group
to now being a satellite leader
and then now being the evangelist
that is able to baptize and is ordained as a man of God.
And I, you know, I've observed even the faithfulness of him
even after he's come under the shadow of the wings
of Sure Foundation Baptist Church.
You know, I don't just go around
looking for more work for me to do, believe it or not.
I don't.
But people want churches.
You know what, I believe that it's my job to do that.
Do the work of an evangelist.
That's what I'm supposed to do.
We're supposed to start churches
and people can call me crazy all they want,
but when I see people doing it right,
then I want to help them.
I want to be a blessing to them in any way I can
and I want this church to be
an independent fundamental Baptist church
that has its own pastor someday.
So one last verse and we'll be done.
It's only 1203.
All right, First Corinthians chapter four, verse one.
While you're trying to read First Corinthians 1 26,
it says, for you see your calling brethren,
of that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called,
but God has chosen the foolish things of this world
that confound the wise
and God has chosen the weak things of this world
that confound the things that are mighty.
And you know, the Bible,
so the Bible's saying not many wise,
not the smartest people don't get saved,
the greatest athletes, the mightiest warriors,
the most noble kings.
He says he doesn't call many of those people.
He calls just normal people.
When great men of God in the Bible did great things,
I mean, what was so great about Gideon?
He was just the poorest family in that tribe
and God just saw that he was a worker.
That's what he found in him.
He was faithful, he was a worker
and God's like, I'm gonna use this guy.
He's gonna do what I say.
First Corinthians 4 one says,
let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ
and the stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required in stewards
that a man be found faithful.
That's what I found.
A man in this church that can be found faithful,
he has been found faithful,
that's the job of a steward to do the stewardship
to be faithful in the things that he's supposed to do.
So brother Jim, I'm gonna have you come up.
Okay.
We're gonna pray and then brother Jim will be
officially the ordained man of God here
and so I hope you make sure that you congratulate him
and that you're a blessing to him and his family.
All right.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I come before you
in Jesus' name and I just ask you, Lord,
to anoint the preaching and the life of brother Jim
and his family.
I pray, Lord, that you would just be with him in power.
You'd fill him with your spirit.
You'd give him a special anointing as the man of God here
and that, Lord, you'd help him to be courageous
to fight the battles of the Lord
and that he would preach the word of God without compromise
and that he would lead this church to the next level
and that he would continue to make a difference
for the gospel in the great north here.
Lord, I pray that you would just bless him
and bless this church, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, this is your new evangelist.
Thank you.
Everybody want to take a couple pictures real quick
so that we can memorialize this?
All right, praise God.
Let's, we're going to be dismissed in a word,
well, not dismissed, we're going to have a word of prayer.
I hope you're a blessing to brother Jim and his family.
We're going to do some baptisms after that.
So while the song starts to play, if you're going to supposed to be getting
baptized, start making your way into the changing room and, uh, anybody else
that's getting baptized, it's not in there changing, I want to meet with you
over here, I can just give you some instructions really quickly, but let's
pray to God right now, your heavenly father, we thank you Lord so much for
this great church up here, up here in the great North, I pray that their light
would shine brightly in this country, Lord, in this province and the Lord,
they would do great exploits and that one day they could have a great many
number of people that would sit down from the North with you in the kingdom
of God, Lord, we pray that you just bless and help brother Jim and, and, and,
and help this church to be a support to him and the Lord that they would listen
to the preaching, they would apply it to their lives and Lord, they'd be a huge
blessing in this church for many years to come, Lord, I pray this church would
grow numerically and spiritually under your guidance, Lord, and we pray these
things in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Come on up.