We just pray that the Lord would be with the rest of this week, and the Lord, everything
that's done in your name, that you would just fill in with your spirit as I've been preached.
I pray, Lord, that everybody here would also be filled with your spirit, Lord, and that
you would give the ministry here what the Spirit has to say, and we'll be saved tomorrow.
Just bless everything you've done.
In your name we pray, Lord Jesus, amen.
Amen.
All right.
Well, first of all, I just want to say thank you to brother Matt and brother Justin, and
for all the hospitality, and a couple of church members that came with me.
Brandon is also my son-in-law.
His birthday was on Friday, so I joke around about it being a day that shall live forever
for him to meet with Pearl Harbor there, and married my daughter.
Anyway, I've been on something for the bill from our church, and it's a blessing to be
in our church anyway.
I also want to say thank you to everybody that traveled.
I know a lot of people traveled pretty good distances to be here, and I just want to say
thank you for coming here.
We can pretty much do this at any big city.
We say there's a new IP region coming, and people will just show up, and you say that
there's so many going on, and people are going to come, so praise God for that.
I'm sorry about the lighting.
We didn't really know that there wasn't going to be very good lighting, but I figured men
love darkness rather than light.
So if you have trouble seeing them, just use your phone or flashlight on your phone or
something like that.
Anyway, I want to start off by kind of telling you just a little bit of the story.
I used to work for the City of Portland Water Bureau, and I kind of got what people would
say is the golden ticket.
When you get a job working for a city municipality, my first day someone said, man, you guys won
the golden ticket when we got our orientation paperwork and stuff like that.
It's a 30-year retirement.
The pay is pretty decent, and you get great benefits and all that kind of stuff, and so
a lot of people coveted after that job.
I was 67th on the list of 66 and just happened to get in somehow.
I don't know how that happened, but I was really excited about it.
I was telling somebody else earlier today, I said that was probably one of the most uncomfortable
six months that I ever had because it's one of those environments where the hazing gets
really bad.
Nowadays it's kind of hard to haze people on those kinds of jobs, but it still happens.
I was 38 years old starting a new career, and I got hazed.
Even younger men, just young men, are hazing me.
It was awful.
Then the fact that there's no place to ever go to the bathroom, you're constantly looking
for a port-a-ton, port-a-potty or whatever you guys call it.
We call them solesies because it's the name of the company to put them out, but anytime
you got to go to the bathroom, you're looking for one of those pout houses or whatever.
On my first day at the job, I got major heat exhaustion to the point where all my muscles
were seizing up on my way home.
I'm calling my wife and I'm cramping up and stuff.
My first day, I worked overtime, it was 95 degrees outside, and I got heat exhaustion
so bad that for the rest of the summer, if the sun even came out from the clouds, I started
cramping.
I would just keep praying, please God, all of a sudden the clouds roll away because it
gets overcast and blow a lot.
That same week is the first time I ever had to drive a service truck.
Service trucks, I've just never driven a big truck besides a U-Haul for any amount
of time.
You're driving around a bunch of guys that are hazing you at any bad move you make, or
if you say, hey, which way should I take care of it?
I don't know, we'll figure it out.
Look at the cab car, which is this car we're trying to figure out.
It's just constant pressure coming from you to all sides.
I remember at one point in my first week there making me drive because I didn't need
a CDL for this specific truck.
I'm up in the West Hills in Portland and traffic is going right at the end of the day and it's
rush hour and people are just coming from both sides.
I'm on this hill and I'm being pressured to go and I'm just frozen.
I didn't want to pull out.
I just felt the pressure.
Who's ever felt like you're in pressure to drive and please somebody or something?
Anyway, I don't know.
I'm 38 years old.
I'm like, why am I being pressured by these people to do this stuff?
I'll never forget this.
My crew leader said, you've got to want it.
What he's implying is you're going to have to pull out at some point or another because
I just didn't want to.
I was afraid I was going to get an accident and the chance of work was going to happen.
He said, you've got to want it.
Then he said, they've got breaks.
I was just like, yeah they do.
I just pull it out and it went.
That's the thought of my sermon.
You've got to want it.
It can apply to a lot of things in our Christian life, but I think it's just really important
to be in the best church you can possibly be in.
It's really important.
We only have one life to live.
How do you want to spend that Christian life?
A lot of people are like, I want a new IFP church here.
I want a new IFP church there.
Everybody wants a new IFP church in every city that they want.
That's one of the most requested things that I get is people wanting me to start churches.
I don't know why they always ask me, but maybe because I've started a lot of churches,
I guess.
I can only do so much, but I kind of want to preach this because sometimes I think people
say that they want it, but then they don't show that they really do.
Look at Matthew chapter 19.
I also just want to say, I want to help people.
If that's really what you want, then let me give you the kind of formula on the rest of
people to make it happen, to make people stand up and take notice and say, hey, that
place needs a church.
Look at what they're doing.
Now look at Matthew chapter 19 verse 27.
The Bible says, then answered Peter and said unto him, behold, we have forsaken all and
follow thee.
What shall we have therefore?
And Peter's right.
Didn't they just drop their mats and follow Jesus?
They just stopped their whole lives and said, we're going to follow you no matter what.
And they did.
They followed them for three years.
They hung up their professional jobs.
And I'm not saying you have to do that to get a new church.
I'm just saying that with great risk comes great reward sometimes.
And the more you put on the line for the, for, for Christ, the greater the rewards are
going to be in this life and in the life to come.
Every vacation, you know, I started saying, I started calling my vacations church patients.
Because anytime I'd get vacation time, you know what I'd do with that?
I'd go visit a church.
Amen.
And, and, and go soloing.
It's like, most people are just like, Hey, we're going to go to Disneyland or we're going
to go here.
It's like, we're going to go to church or we're going to go and visit some churches.
And that was like our vacation for many years.
But anyway, look at verse 28 says, and Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto
you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when some man shall sit in the
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
So they're going to get big rewards, aren't they?
They did something great.
You know, obviously Jesus called them.
They didn't pick themselves.
He picked them, but because they chose to follow him, they're going to get great rewards.
They get to sit on the 12, you know, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
That's a great reward.
Isn't it?
It says, and everyone that have forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother
or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall
inherit everlasting life.
So, you know, I mean, and sometimes this life calls for us to forsake our mother and it's
like, well, yeah, but didn't Jesus say to respect your, you know, honor your parents?
Well, yeah.
But it's like, if they're just like, they want nothing to do with God and you're supposed
to be serving God and we're supposed to, you know, you know, Jesus said, if you don't hate
your mother and father, you cannot, but you know, it has to appear as hate compared to
how much we love God is what I'm saying.
When we serve God, everything is off, is on the table to cut out of our lives.
And like, and some people, you know, they, they won't do that.
They're not going to give up their lives for Christ.
But all I'm saying to you is this, is that, you know, if you want something enough, you're
willing to follow him all the way to get those things.
And it says, verse 30, it says, but many that are first shall be last and the last shall
be first.
So sometimes, you know, also you have to wait on things that you want.
You wait for a great church to come to your area and that's great.
A lot of people are waiting.
Like I know people in this room specifically that are waiting for a great church to come
to them for a long time.
And I'm not saying you haven't done all you could to have made that happen, but there
is something to be said about tenacity and about perseverance and about making things
happen.
And I'm not saying, you know, to be annoying.
I'm not saying to just force a round peg into a square hole.
I'm just saying that, you know, I want to kind of explain to you how our church started
in Vancouver.
So I started listening to Pastor Anderson, Pastor Dave Berzins, Pastor Donnie Romero
when he was a pastor and Pastor Roger Jimenez.
And, you know, I kind of happened upon Pastor Anderson just by typing in Baptist preaching
because I got sick of just looking through YouTube and Facebook and it's always these
same old preachers.
And it's like, I'm a Baptist.
Why don't I ever see Baptist preaching on the internet?
It's because they just are in the dark ages still like putting their CD, their sermons
on tapes and CDs.
They just discovered CDs and stuff.
And they're just in the dark ages when it comes to meaning.
But Pastor Anderson kind of discovered YouTube and just took advantage of it.
So I just typed in Baptist preaching and it's Pastor Anderson, you know, in in front of
a pulpit and it has the white room with the door of the piano next to it.
I think those are like the 2009, 2010 years or something.
But anyway, I listened to his preaching and then, you know, I mean, it wasn't like, you
know, just it was like life changing to me or anything, but I liked it.
And then, you know, I mean, I'm not saying it wasn't good.
I just, you know, whatever.
But I was in this like King James Defenders group.
It was a bunch of ruckmanites.
And, you know, I was always arguing with them and stuff like that.
And then one time they said, yeah, he won't debate me.
And they were just like making this post about after the tribulation.
Well, I was never pre-trib.
And so I thought it was just like this bizarro weirdo that was the only one that's post-trib.
And, you know, out of all the Baptists, I just sometimes I just wondered, like, is there
something wrong with me?
I was like, there's something wrong with him, too, because he doesn't believe me either.
It's like, so, you know, I watched after the tribulation and I just slowly started to get
plugged in and listen to this preaching.
And, you know, you know, that's kind of what happens.
And then you start listening to the preaching and it starts to change you.
You know, I introduced it to my wife, started to change her.
She's calling me on the phone, crying.
You know, she's listening to like birth control sermons.
She's like, I'm never going to listen to them again.
I can't believe you said this.
I'm sorry.
You know, I don't know what to say.
She's like, I'm never going to listen to them again.
Except for I'm going to listen to this one more.
And then she called me back.
She's like, I can't believe you said this.
And, you know, so that's kind of how it went.
Whoa.
All right.
This is going to go down quickly.
I'm sure this never touched her in the first place.
There we go.
All right.
Can you guys hear me okay still?
Yeah.
Don't want to do this.
Damn.
Hit somebody in the face.
Anyway, so that's kind of, you know, how everything kind of started off with me.
And, you know, I was going to a Baptist church and, you know, I realized that there's something
wrong.
Like I had moved away and I came back and like when I left that church and moved away
to a, you know, to another part of Oregon, you know, when I left all the pastors, daughters
were wearing skirts and dresses.
His wife mowed the lawn in a dress.
And I'm like, people thought that was weird, but I thought it was cool that like they had
those, those, you know, those kinds of things.
Cause like I, I showed up in the church with a blazers Jersey, just the tank top, you know,
with my arms showing, right.
And a pair of basketball shorts.
I, you know, I still wear a dress like that today, but not at church.
But anyway, you know, I mean, that's how I showed up.
And when I showed up the first service I showed up, you know, I'm like interrupting the pastor,
raising my hand.
You know, I'm just like, you know, I had no idea what I was doing.
I got, just got saved.
I thought, you know, they said it was a prophecy conference.
So I was just like, okay, well, you know, this question and answer time, you know, it's
like, that's just how raw I was.
I was 26 years old, just got saved, you know, you know, and those standards got preached
into, you know, it just, I just started, you know, reading the word of God and all that.
But anyway, I moved away.
I came back, all the pastors, daughters were wearing pants.
His wife's wearing pants.
The preaching got soft.
The preaching got weak.
It's like, what happened?
Well, this is kind of the state of what the old IFP has become in all places.
So I'm sure everybody has the same tale to tell that I have.
Everybody else has gone through the same thing that I was going through at that same time.
And it's just, it's just kind of where we're at.
I'm not saying that all old IFP churches are bad because there's some good ones out there.
There's some, some good pastors that are still out there that are old IFP.
I'm not saying that there's not, but the majority of them have a lot of issues.
And I'm not saying that new IFP churches don't have any issues.
You know, we still, you know, need help working on things too, I'm sure.
But you know, you can't have everybody believe in a different kind of salvation.
You can't have a bunch of people believe in the different Bibles and, you know, some people are not eternal security and some people are.
It's like the pastor just never corrects that, never says anything about it.
You know, it's just weird.
There's just so many weird things.
I think I would take a whole sermon and a half just to even talk about all that stuff.
But you guys know what I'm talking about.
And it, you know, it's just, it just got tough.
I'm just like, there's something wrong.
I just can't quite put my finger on it.
And then you listen to Pastor Anderson and these other pastors like, that's, that's what, that's what's wrong.
This is what's wrong.
And, you know, even like, and I was the Sunday school superintendent, I was involved in my church.
And, you know, we went to everything.
We did everything.
And we were very involved.
And I got in trouble because I preached, you know, why Judas pretended of his sins and still died and went to hell.
And I got turned in by the Navy into the pastor.
It's like, but it's true, isn't it?
Judas didn't repent of his sins.
He tried to give the money back.
But then he went and hanged himself.
And I got in trouble for that because that's what that pastor would say.
Repent of your sins.
It's just like, and some people believe that that meant he really happened.
And it's just like, there's, there's the spectrum.
You know what I'm talking about?
But I got in trouble for that.
I got in trouble for teaching the truth to my Sunday school people.
And that kind of was the demise of me going there.
But, you know, we put up with a lot of stuff.
And we went to another church.
And I ended up going down and visiting Faithful Word.
And when I went down there, we had a great time.
And I was like, we were pleading.
We went down there for the purpose of asking for some pastor to get sent up there.
Because all the churches are just like probably all the churches are around here.
You know, pretty lame, pretty watered down.
And just teaching a lot of weird stuff.
Going back to the Greek.
All that garbage.
Sunday school.
Bus ministries and all that stuff.
But we went to Faithful Word.
Had a great time.
We're on cloud 10.
You know, they're talking about sending somebody up there.
Up there they get trained.
And, you know, at this time we have people, a group of people from Seattle.
And then the Portland area.
We're just like kind of gathering all these listeners together.
And we're doing events.
And, you know, after that Faithful Word came up and did the Portland Sony event.
Which was like I think the second event out of, you know, when you kind of started doing the tours.
What was the first one, Dearborn?
Dearborn.
And then was Portland the second one?
Yeah, Portland.
So that's, I mean, that's been a long time ago.
But we did, we did, like we went to Tempe.
Came back and we're just like, I'm like, I'm going to join the church.
Because I want to be involved and do the, you know.
This is the, you know, contrary to, you know, unpopular belief.
Or popular belief actually.
In these other churches they say that we just come in and start trouble.
And try to turn everybody against, you know.
Try to, you know, turn everybody against each other.
And take over these churches.
That's not true.
What's taught is we should shut up and go in and get plugged in and do the best we can.
Amen.
And it just seems like what ends up happening ultimately is the pastor gets envious.
And, you know, eventually they just, they kind of turn into like bladed.
At first they like the fact that there's a bunch of zealous people coming to their church.
They like that they're free to thrive.
They like that they're, you know, tiding.
They like their soul winning.
And then they just kind of start to just get that look, you know.
That look, that different look like, you know, how Jacob got that look.
That he just doesn't seem very friendly to me anymore.
Yeah, and then the cold shoulder and the kind of they want you to believe type of things.
So, but we came back.
And I'm bouncing all over the place here.
But we came back and I'm like I'm going to join the church.
Well the way you join the church there is you have to wait until there's a business meeting.
And then you say I want to join the church.
Which, I don't know where they get that from.
But anyway, we do that.
They vote us into the church.
And then after we already join.
It's already, you know, it's already a done deal.
Then the pastor says well we have one other thing in business we have to talk about.
We have a guy here.
He's a registered sex offender.
And I would let my kids have dinner with him.
I would eat dinner with him.
I would let him go to mine.
I'd take him over, I'd go over to his house and eat dinner or whatever.
And he's like, what?
And it's the song leader.
And he like always wears like pink and purple shirts.
And he's like the sound booth guy.
And he's just effeminate his whole head.
But like he got caught with like 280 something porn, child porn things on his computer.
At a different church.
And they shoved him to this church.
And supposedly he went through the R.U. program, if anybody knows what that is.
And he was fixed or whatever.
And so it's just like that's, you know, this is what we all deal with, right?
We all have dealt with this kind of thing.
It's just super annoying, right?
And, you know, what I've found out is you just can't put new wine into old wines.
And it just kind of, they just end up bursting.
They might be able to handle it for a while but then eventually they just burst.
And this is kind of just what happens.
It seems like I've seen this play out over and over again.
In person after person and place after place that this kind of stuff happens.
But, you know, it's just a big punch in the stomach.
Like after, you know, going to Faith at Work, like we're all charged up.
And it's just like, really?
We join the church and then reveal that there's a pervert here.
That, you know, and I had to drag that out.
And I went in and I just like, hey man, like this guy needs to go.
And I didn't say it like that.
I didn't treat him as a father.
I was not rude to him.
I just said, you know, this is what the Bible says.
Like, you know, this guy shouldn't be amongst us.
And he did agree that if he ever did anything else he'd throw him out.
Well, he did do something else and he did throw him out.
But it was much later.
We just had to look at this guy's face all the time and just, you know,
and a lot of these places they do harbor these perverts.
And they don't tell you about it.
They just don't tell you.
The other church that I went to before that, the church I got married at,
the church I got baptized at, the church I wore the basketball shirt at,
all that stuff.
They had five registered sex offenders that nobody else knew about.
And we still don't know who they were.
But they weren't allowed to go downstairs to the children's church.
They weren't allowed to work with the children.
But, look, this is why the NYFB just doesn't do bus ministry.
We don't do Sunday school.
We don't do these things because we don't want these types of things to happen.
Amen.
We're just tired of it.
And you shouldn't have to be in a position where you're harboring some kind of predator in your church.
Amen.
And hiding it from the rest of the church, which is weird.
So, anyway, this is kind of what happened.
And, you know, I'm just, like, ready to move.
But we're waiting for someone to come and pay for word.
And, you know, meantime, we're just kind of just staying organized.
And this is the thing that kind of, you know, that just kept me going,
is that, like, you know, I wasn't setting out to be some kind of leader.
I wasn't setting out to be the pastor.
It wasn't really entering into my mind to do that at all.
I just wanted to be in a church where I could serve and do my thing,
go soloing, and just be a part of something great.
I just wanted to be in a good church.
I wanted to be in a church where I didn't have to hide what I believe.
Yeah.
And, you know, we should just be able to be open about what we believe.
That's right.
Instead of, you know, just slinking around like a kicked dog or something, you know.
But, you know, it was what it was.
I mean, we had a big group of people.
We had a big group of people going to that church.
And so basically what ended up happening is we got the call that the thing wasn't going to happen,
but he wasn't going to be ready, and it kind of got called off.
So then I was just like, well, I'm probably just going to move.
I was just thinking about moving.
I was on my anniversary here every year.
I take my wife someplace special.
I kind of got that call during that time, and we were just talking.
We were just like, well, we can just move, you know.
Well, church is going to move, too.
Because I don't want to be in a place where nothing is going on.
Amen.
And I want to be in a great church.
So I started kicking around ideas and things like that.
I ended up calling Donnie Romero.
He was the pastor at Stedfast at that time.
And I was kind of just like, you need to move down here.
And that's what his voice is to me.
But I think that's what he said to everybody.
But anyway, so I mean, Pastor Romero made a video, and he said,
here's some other ways to start churches.
And he started Faith and Work More.
And that's probably why he made the video.
I'm sure that's probably why.
But he was talking about church planting and satellite churches.
And I was like, wow, I never really thought about that before.
And then I called Pastor Romero, and I kind of talked to him about the video.
And he was like, you just need to move here.
Just move.
And I was like, OK.
And then I called Pastor Jimenez and just kind of ran the whole thing past him.
And I'd visit Pastor Jimenez a few times.
And we were friends.
And I just said, well, I'll pray about that.
And I said, OK.
And then he said, well, why don't you talk to your pastor
and see if you do want to send God?
I said, I will.
You know, I will do that.
You know, I'm not sure what he's going to say.
So I meet with the pastor.
The pastor says, yeah, let's do this.
You know, we've said it with Starbucks and talked for a long time.
It was all cool.
He's going to send me out.
I was like, so when's the ordination?
He's like, oh, I'm like an ordained.
I was like, what?
He's like, yeah, the Holy Spirit's called.
We're just going to start a church.
I was like, Pastor, that's not how it works.
I was like, first of all, I don't believe that.
And second of all, I said, I will not be accepted.
I said, nobody's going to come to my church.
I said, oh, yeah, I'm just, the Holy Spirit just sent me out.
You guys want to come to my church?
So that ended up not working out.
And then Pastor Nez said yes.
And so, you know, and really, I'm not trying to toot my horn or anything,
but we are the first satellite.
Sure Foundation Baptist Church was the, what was it?
Verity Baptist Church was the first satellite church.
And I was the first pastor ordained out of that satellite system or whatever.
Amen.
And, you know, but what if I would listen to Donald Trump?
And I'm not saying that his advice was baptized,
but I did seek a second opinion and second counsel.
And here we are seven years later and thousands of people have been saved.
That's true about the Baptist Church and hundreds of people have been baptized.
Nine total churches have been planted.
And, you know, we just ordained Pastor Tabner in September, August, September.
And so, you know, if I would have listened to him, I would have said,
yeah, I'm just going to move.
None of that would have happened.
But it's not like I was seeking to become a pastor again.
People are like, well, why don't you just do it?
And, you know, I just, God's looking for people that will just say yes,
you know, a man, and then a wife will get behind that man.
And all I'm saying is that, like, this is what I come across when people are saying,
hey, pastor, can we start a church here or whatever?
Look, there needs to be a man that's willing to do it, okay?
There needs to be a woman that will stand behind that man.
And there needs to be a group of people.
And here's what happens is that people will say, yeah, we've got, like, 60 people,
and then, like, really there's, like, five or six.
And none of their lives show up.
You know, don't just say that there's 60 people and there really isn't, okay?
Just be realistic about it.
But you can gather people from other areas and still be a big soloing group,
but, you know, get a group together and then just keep going.
And here's the responsibility that has to be from the soloing group that wants a church to be there.
Be faithful.
You have to be faithful to it because, yeah, you're not a church yet,
but, like, what pastors are looking at is are they faithful now?
Can they do it now?
Have they given up everything and they're doing it now?
Because this is what Jesus is talking about.
You know, Peter said we gave up everything.
What are we going to get?
It's like you're going to get rewards for it.
That's what you're going to get.
So, you know, Pastor Jimenez said yes.
And, you know, we went down, you know, the proof is in the pudding.
We all drove down to the first Red Hot Preaching Conference.
I got, like, 50-something people to come down there.
We all met in the kitchen or the break room or whatever.
And, you know, he saw that there was people that would drive 10 hours or 13 hours or however long
to get there and look in his face and he could see that we were serious about it.
So that's what I would say, you know, are you serious about wanting a church in your area?
Well, get serious about it because just saying you want something isn't going to make it happen.
You have to want it.
You've got to want it.
So, you know, we've had our first official service and, you know, obviously everything that's happened has happened
and it's been great.
It's been a great run.
And go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 16 because, look, churches don't just start by osmosis
or convalesce out of the ether.
They have to, you know, hard work has to go into it and people that are dedicated have to just say,
you know what, I'm serious about this.
I want to make a church happen.
You know, but if, like, you know, say there's 30 people that are in the area
and you guys are trying to put soloing together every week and only half those people come,
you're not helping that church get formed in that area.
You're being a hindrance because, you know, what are you going to do when it's easy
and you can do it really easy, what are you going to do when the church actually comes
and you've got to do it three times a week and it's actually a little bit harder, you know,
you can't show up once a month for the soloing thing and preaching service.
Well, what about three times a week when there's traffic on a Wednesday night?
What about three times a week when it's an all-day thing and you've got soloing in between on a Sunday?
Are you going to be able to do it?
Do you have the character to do it?
Are you really wanting a church in your area?
Because that's what it takes.
It takes dedication.
It takes people that are willing to do the work because it can't be just the man of God that's in that area that does it.
It can't be just the man that steps up or his wife that does everything.
It's a church.
Everything has to fit together, tempered together as a body of believers and everybody has their card to play.
It can't be just two people or three people or four people doing everything.
It's got to be the group.
And, yeah, groups can start out fairly small, but, you know, what pastors, I think, in this movement are looking for
are people that are going to be like that city set upon the hill that you can see what's going on.
You can see the light shining from that place and say, hey, that place needs a church and they need it right now.
They've got what it takes.
Let's make it happen.
Now, you're in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18.
It says,
Thou art feared, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
So Jesus Christ said he's going to build his church, right?
So is Jesus Christ in the building church business?
He is.
He said, I must be about my Father's business.
So does he want a church planted in Indianapolis?
Yes or no?
Does he want a church planted in every city in this country?
Yes, he does.
So, but what is lacking?
You know, he said, will I find faith when I come back to the earth?
Will I find faith?
And, you know, I think that what's holding people, what's holding cities back from having great churches is the people themselves.
You know, sometimes I just wonder like, you know, we've had like 41 baptisms this year.
And like 500 salvations at our church.
And I think, why is the ratio like that?
Because it never, I mean, I feel like every time in the book of Acts when someone gets saved, they get baptized.
So like, why is it, you know, 3,000 get saved on the day of Pentecost, and 3,000 get baptized on the day of Pentecost,
and then we have 500 saved in a year and only 41 people get baptized?
It's just, you know, it is a sign of the times.
You know, people are just not as spiritual as they used to be.
But, you know, people are asking and clamoring for churches to get started, need to have some character, need to have some tenacity,
need to have some gumption, and need to just say, you know what, I want it bad enough to where, hey, I'm going to just, you know,
when someone tries to organize something, then I'm going to be there.
I'm not going to plan some dumb thing that coincides, that doesn't matter.
You know, when something can break, that can take place, that can happen, I'm going to be a part of it.
I'm going to make that happen.
So, and what I look at is, can it happen?
Is there somebody that can make this happen?
Is there a group of people that can make it happen?
So, and look at what it says in verse 19.
It says, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
So, it's like, it's funny, because Jesus, how did he get the keys?
He died, you know, obviously, he has the keys, you know, he's talking before he goes, you know, before he's crucified here.
But, he says, I will give them to you.
So, he hasn't given them yet.
But eventually, he gets the keys, doesn't he?
And then he says he's going to give them.
To who? Who's he talking to right here?
Peter, right?
And Peter was the one that preached on Pentecost.
And Peter, like, started the Ferrari, right?
On the day of Pentecost.
Preached that great sermon, right?
And it's like, you know, they just peeled out, you know, the Holy Spirit was poured upon them, the power of the Holy Spirit.
And then all those people get saved and, you know, the book of Acts kind of just takes place.
And Peter's the one that kind of takes that off, right?
But, it's kind of like, you know, I don't know, my dad never gave me a car.
I had to work for my own car.
But, you know, they kind of like, you know, because God the Father, you know, he's our Father, it's like he's given us the keys to the kingdom.
Jesus gave the keys to Jesus.
Jesus is like, here, I'm going to give them to you.
Here's the Ferrari.
Here's the keys to the Ferrari.
And it's like, people are just like, I'm going to drive the Prius.
Yeah.
And you're happy in the Prius church.
Instead of the Ferrari church, it's actually doing the burning out and doing the great work for God.
I'm just going to, you know, I'm just going to be quiet and sit here and just, you know, lay down.
When you can actually just be part of something big.
Right.
Because the new IFB, you know, we're not perfect.
We don't have it all figured out.
The one thing I do know that we have figured out is so many.
Amen.
We're preaching.
Amen.
And the Lord's already, he gave us the keys.
Peter got them.
He passed them on to his kids.
And the spiritual children have been getting the keys ever since.
You know, we got the keys to the Ferrari.
You know, why do you need to keep going to the Prius?
You know, you got to charge that thing.
It takes forever.
He thinks Tesla is like, you know, I mean, when you got to have a generator go before you, you know, driven by a gas-powered vehicle,
and it goes like miles ahead of you, and then you got to pull the Tesla and have the generator charge the Tesla so that you can get it the rest of the way.
I mean, that's pretty lame, isn't it?
Yeah.
Don't you want to, you know, like a Hemi-Dog Ram, Super Mega Charger Diesel Ram or whatever?
Get there all the way.
We got the keys.
The kingdom said, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be down in heaven whatsoever.
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven.
Turn to Matthew chapter 28.
Here's the thing, like, we already have, Jesus already said he wants us to start churches.
Jesus already said he wants us to go save people.
Jesus already said he wants us to preach everything in the Bible.
He already said that stuff.
He said, go baptize people.
We've already got the marching orders.
We don't need to wonder what he wants.
We already know what he wants.
It's like, well, we're just, you know, we're in, we're in this city, and it's just like, not sure what we're going to do.
Start churches.
Get people saved.
Praise the Bible, right?
Get people baptized.
Rinse and repeat.
Amen.
Get the Lamborghini, you know, fine tune it.
Make more Lamborghinis.
Right?
Amen.
I don't know if you like Lamborghinis or not.
I know Ron does.
He doesn't tell me.
Anyway, Matthew 28 and 17 says, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.
See, even the disciples doubted sometimes.
But it says, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
Who's got all the power?
Jesus has all the power.
Amen.
And he already says, here you go.
Here's the keys, son.
Don't get any scratches in it.
You know, he's just like, here you go.
We got the keys.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and 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.
Amen.
He commanded us to go.
He gives us all the power.
He says what to do.
And he says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
Is anything off limits in the Bible?
No.
You're supposed to teach the whole thing.
And lo, I am with you all the way.
Amen.
You'll never leave us or forsake us.
Amen.
The only thing, the only stumbling block is ourselves and our doubt and our lack of faith and our lack of action and our lack of conviction.
Amen.
Right.
And our lack of obedience.
Right.
Amen.
He says, even unto the end of the world, he's going to be with us.
So why are people lacking in these areas?
Sometimes it's just as laziness.
Sometimes it's just lack of character and conviction.
And, you know, it's all these things.
But here's the thing is that, you know, obviously I know that God built the church.
That's what the Bible says.
It says, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain to build it.
So obviously we've got to build it the way God wants it built.
He uses men to build the church.
But we've got to do it by his formula.
Amen.
We've got to do it the way he said to do it.
How do you say to do it?
Preach the gospel.
Preach the little Bible.
Get people saved.
Get people baptized.
Start churches.
That's what he wants.
Amen.
It's just like it's not really that complicated.
Amen.
Turn to Joshua chapter 14.
I'm not trying to like preach some name it and claim it thing or something.
But, you know, there is a little bit of truth to that in a way.
I'm not saying name it, claim it, or Lamborghini.
The Lamborghini for the story is not a literal Lamborghini.
OK.
Hopefully everybody understands that.
It's a spiritual Lamborghini.
OK.
Maybe you'll have a heavenly spiritual body Lamborghini in heaven.
I don't know.
Maybe your body will be Lamborghini now.
You'll be able to fly and learn faster.
I don't know.
But I love the story here because this guy is 85 years old.
He's talking about Caleb here.
And Caleb was one of the two spies that went into Canaan to spy out the land.
And all the other people with him lacked faith except for Joshua.
Now Joshua is the leader of the children of Israel at this point.
Joshua chapter 14.
And also his name transliterated is Jesus in the New Testament.
OK.
And he is a picture of Jesus because Moses pictures the law and Joshua pictures the New Testament of Jesus Christ.
They didn't follow Moses.
They didn't keep his commandments.
And they kept all Joshua's commandments and took the promised land like they were supposed to.
And so you think about the picture of taking the promised land.
Well that's the picture of the New Testament church.
We're supposed to go in and take the land.
We're supposed to go in and reclaim our area.
Right.
So look at verse 6.
It says,
And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenazite said unto him,
Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me, and thee, and Kadesh Barneim.
Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barneim to spy out the land,
and I brought me more again, as it was in mine heart.
Nevertheless, my brethren, that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God.
Isn't that kind of what Peter was saying that he did?
He followed.
You know, we followed and we forsaken all and followed him.
Anyway, it says,
And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land wherein thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever,
because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.
And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses,
while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, and now, lo, I am this day four score and five years old.
He's 85.
So 45 years before this day, he's, you know, he was promised by Moses that he was going to be able to take this land.
So he's waiting, and it says, As yet I am strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me,
as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war both to go out and to come in.
Caleb has great faith.
Great faith is, you know, he's this man that has wholly followed the Lord.
And, you know, he's still as strong as he was 45 years earlier.
I mean, you know, it'd be nice to be as strong as Caleb.
You know, we're probably not going to be as strong as Caleb when we're 85 years old.
But this is just a picture of how God can bless you when you wholly follow after the Lord.
And you know what, you know, we sing that song, I Want That Mountain, right?
That's the song about Caleb.
He said, I want that mountain.
That one's mine.
You know, and when we have that mentality about, you know, hey, I want that mountain.
I want a church in my area.
I want to have the spiritual blessings of God in my life.
But you know what you got to do?
You got to wholly follow after God.
It's not optional.
We can't just slide by and just expect great things to happen in our Christian life.
We have to go after it.
We got to want it.
We got to want these things.
We got to want great spiritual things to happen in our life.
And we got to, we can't just want it by words only, but we got to want to have it by deeds also.
By showing up.
By being a part of it.
By playing our part.
For the first world.
Now, therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day.
For thou hurtest in the day how that the Anakins were, there that the cities were great and fenced.
If so be, the Lord will be with me.
Then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.
So, he's like, give me what I want.
Isn't he climbing the name of the climber right here?
He kind of is, isn't he?
He's like, give me this mountain right now.
Both said it was fine.
And he said, no, I'm following the Lord, holy.
So, and he said, if so be, the Lord will be with me.
But he already knows he's going to be with them.
And he says, then I shall drive them out, as the Lord said.
Who's he talking about?
These Anakins, these giants, right?
And the walls there, and the castles there.
And he's not worried about any of that.
But, you know, don't we have to go out in those kind of, you know, obviously there's not giants out there.
But, you know, you might have a gun, like some kind of gun battle happened in front of you almost, or something.
You might have situations that are spiritual battles that happen in front of you.
I'm sure every time you go out soloing, there's some kind of spiritual battle that happens.
But we also tread on our enemies, and false prophets doctrine is overturned in front of our officers.
I mean, the guy that pulls the gun out when we're out soloing today,
before he pulled the gun out, though, we talked him out of this lot.
Brother Owen's like, and this guy was like, he's like a gangster, right?
But he was like, he was a Muslim.
And so Owen was just waxing gold.
He's just like, he's like, you know, I love you.
This is over his block, man, Owen.
Just tell me this because I love you.
And he's like, Muhammad, you know, was told that he was told his doctrine by an angel.
And the Bible says in Galatians, and he went to Galatians and he showed him that, you know,
whether it be, you know, him or an angel comes and tells him any other doctrine, let him be accursed.
Any other Gospels, let him be accursed.
And so he read those verses to him, and the guy was just like tripping out.
And then he read, you know, he read that whole passage and he was just like,
so, you know, we believe that Muhammad's a false prophet.
And I'm just like, you know, how many of you guys like this tall, though?
But you can tell he was a hardened, you know, a hardened gangster type dude.
But anyway, and then I waxed it.
I was like, well, these would be gold.
I was gold, too.
And I was like, yes, he married a six-year-old named Aisha.
And Thompson made his marriage at nine.
I was like, do you have any kids?
And he's like, yeah, I got a 27-year-old daughter.
I was like, how would you feel if somebody constipated an American with your daughter
when she was nine years old?
He's like, oh, it would make me mad.
And I was like, yeah, I'd kill him.
He's like, yeah, me too.
And he's like, well, you know, it gave me a lot to think about.
And he, like, we changed his mind.
He was like, man, we're like, cool.
And then we're like, well, I'm about to preach the Gospels to him.
And some other dude comes walking up and then he like starts set tripping on him.
And I'm like, what are you doing here?
And he's just like, well, that escalated quickly.
You know, he goes to his house and grabs his gun.
And we're like, oh, man, let's go.
Well, at least we talked about Islam right before.
My point is, is that we might not be fighting literal giants.
We might not be pulling literal walls down,
but we're out there mighty for God pulling down strongholds in people's lives.
And, you know, hopefully we gave that guy a card.
It's got some great information on it.
Maybe he'll watch that stuff.
We know he didn't kill the guy because we came back around the corner to see
and there was no police parts there.
So there's no way they claimed that the crime seemed that fast.
So, you know, he did pull out a gun and walk into somebody else's corner.
And I was like, oh, that's cool.
But I just don't want to have to be a witness, you know what I mean?
So I was, you know, we had to get here.
So we did check up on the situation, but like I don't have a gun on me.
So, you know, I'm not going to do anything.
But anyway, but look at the faith of Caleb.
He's like, I don't care what's going on.
I'm 85 years old and I have the faith that God is going to be with me.
You know, when we have faith and we're fully following after God, too,
he will be with us.
And so we don't have to worry about that.
We just have to have the faith that God's going to do the things.
He's already promised he's going to do these things.
He's already given us all the power.
He's already said he's going to always be with us.
You know, we just have to do our part and God will be with us, too.
And God will start great churches wherever we're at.
And God will lead us and he'll be directing our lives
and we'll be able to do great things and great works for God.
And, you know, we don't want to go past the primes of our lives
and then be too old to do anything.
You know, because you get old faster than you think.
And then it's like, I've talked about this before,
but we do have a shelf life, folks.
You know, there's nobody in here that's 90 years old
that was out sowing with us today.
Or 80. Or 75.
You know, so just think about that.
We're in the primes of our lives where we can actually serve God to our fullest.
So don't waste these years when you could be in a great church
or start and help to form a great church to come and be a blessing.
So look what happens.
He says, I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said,
and what's it say?
And Joshua blessed them.
So Jesus, you know, obviously pictures Joshua.
I mean, Joshua pictures Jesus and Joshua blessed them.
And gave unto Caleb the sons of Juni and Hebron for an inheritance.
He gave them what?
It's a city, isn't it?
He gave them that city.
And didn't Jesus, you know, I forget what parable it is,
but he's like, I'll give you ten cities.
I'll give you five cities.
I'll give you, you know, for what we, how we use our talents
and the things that God gives us, he's going to reward us likewise.
And so it says, Hebron therefore became the inheritance to Caleb,
the son of Jephunneh, the keys knight unto this day
because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.
So how bad do you really want a church here?
That's my question.
How bad do you really want a church in the area that you're already living in?
Are you willing to go the extra mile?
Are you, you know, willing to, you know, put in the hard work
and be there for all the extra stuff?
I mean, there's people out there that are doing a lot of soloing
in their areas and, you know, we need to do enough to stand up and be noticed.
You know, there's something wrong when there's not a new IP church
in the Midwest.
I look at the Midwest and I go, why are there not churches here?
This needs to change.
We're already starting to plant more churches in Canada.
We had a great event last week in Calgary.
Thank you for going to that, by the way.
And, you know, there were 62, what was it, 62 people in the church service
in Calgary.
Who would have thought that 62 people would be there?
I mean, that was great.
And then 22 people got saved.
Praise God.
You know, if people can get saved in Canada, they can get saved here.
So, you know, but are you willing to make the sacrifice?
And here's the thing about, you know, about the new IP churches.
Sometimes you're going to have to make a sacrifice and drive.
You're going to have to drive a little ways sometimes.
Are you willing to do that?
Are you willing to be free to thrive?
Are you willing to be involved?
Are you willing to forsake all of me to be associated with the Lord Jesus Christ?
Because there's a badge of dishonor that you get from the world,
from your family.
You know, they start throwing the seed work around,
calling you a cult member and all that kind of stuff.
Or is this just a fad with you?
Is this just, you know, are you just a new IP fan club member?
You know, that's not, you know, that's not what God's looking for.
He's looking for church members.
He's looking for churches.
Amen.
And so turn to Jeremiah chapter 12.
Jeremiah chapter 12.
I have no idea how long I've been free to go.
Nor do I care really.
It's been a while.
Started late, right?
I'm good?
Yeah.
Well, he said I'm good.
I got a few more things.
I'll wrap up here.
Jeremiah 12.
Joshua 12.
Isaiah 12.
Jeremiah 12.
Ethiopia 24.
Jericho 12.
Jeremiah 12.
umply.
teams like.
r south.
He.
One of them.
Like.
I mean God is no.
He wants us to work with them.
Also.
So we.
detached from church. They feel like they're not adding something to it. They start to kind of like
draw away, and they're like, well, I just don't feel like connected. Get in and work, and you'll
feel connected. Get in and do something, but if you're just like the first one out the door,
the last one in the door, and then you're not going soloing, you're not talking to people,
you're not preaching, well, you're not going to feel like you're part of a team.
So let's go to one last verse here.
Let's go to Matthew chapter five. We'll wrap it up.
I mean, really the main point of this sermon, I just want people to realize that if you want
to get noticed, you want a church to come to your area, you want to do great things for God,
you know, obviously if a church is never going to come to your area, I'm not saying if you live
in a town of 500 and it's just you, you know, you're going to have a hard time getting to church.
I'm just talking about big cities where you can gather from a big group of people.
This place, Indianapolis, I didn't know this until yesterday, but Indianapolis is called
the crossroads of the Midwest. Like pretty much every, like there's like many major cities that
are like two hours away from here, you know, like Chicago and all these other places, like
there's a lot of, you know, a lot of believers around here, a lot of people to draw from,
but look at Matthew 5 14, it says, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hit. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and
give light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see
your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Amen. That's good. This is what
Christ wants us to do. And the more people that are gathered together, the brighter our light's
going to shine. That's right. So, you know, we are, you know, as when we're a church,
you know, the more people to gather together, the more people are going to see that light.
So, and God will take notice and man will not be able to help, but take notice. So,
and don't you want to do the most that you can in this life for God and be in the best church
we can. That's your greatest chance and hope of actually having a church start in your area.
But let me just say this. If God grants you the desire of your heart of having a great church in
your area, God forbid that you should draw back and forget what you asked for in your hearts.
Because I've seen this happen too. And that you would deal falsely with God in the work that
you've undertaken with him and so cause him to withdraw his present help from our movement and
from our churches, from our families and our lives. And God will break forth his wrath upon us
and we cause our enemies to speak evil about our Lord. And God forbid that we return back from
serving the Lord and go back to Egypt and serve again the idols and false gods of our past. Amen.
In whatever form that would be. I'm not saying you literally
bow down. Whether that's basketball or video games or whatever women do.
I'm just joking. Don't get mad at me.
All right, so you never know what women will do. I know because I'm a woman. But anyway,
but whatever form that is, be faithful. Don't take God's mercy and his blessings for Brandon.
Amen. Because when God gives you the desires of your heart, you know, when you draw back,
that's when he gets upset. When he gives you the desires of your heart, you say
that's when he gets upset. When you go back to Egypt. That's why he warns
a lot not to go back to Egypt. You might tell the children in business, don't go back there.
All right. Well, that's all I got for tonight. It's only an hour and a half breakfast.
Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this great group of believers that's here. Lord,
we thank you so much for all the privileges you give us as your children. Lord, that you allow us
to work with you and work for you. And Lord, I pray that many great churches would still be
started in this country. Lord, I believe that just the surface is just being scratched off.
The Lord can be done in this great country. I pray, Lord, that churches be started in the Midwest
and Lord that people would have a fire in their hearts and their bellies to
just make this happen. Lord, that when these great churches start to rise up that people
pay attention. Lord, that people would take them off. I pray, Lord, that each and every person under
the sound of my voice that's just wanting a church to start in their area. Lord, they'd get serious
about it. Lord, they wouldn't shirk in their duty to be part of it. Lord, they wouldn't just say,
oh, somebody else can do it. But they would get in and be part of the team and start trying to
move towards the goal of getting churches in every single city in this country. Lord, so that we can
spread the gospel wide all over this country, Canada, and Lord, all across the world.
We pray these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.