(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] It is well with my soul 145 in your hymnal on that second verse My helplessness made and have shed his own blood for my soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul I sin, though the bliss of his glory has gone I sin not in part, but the whole Is nailed to the cross, and I bear in no form Raise the Lord, raise the Lord, O my soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul And Lord hates the day when my faith shall be stopped God clouds me, rolled back as a scroll A child shall resound, and the Lord shall descend He can sow, it is well with my soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul Amen. Let's open with a word of prayer if you'd bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for another opportunity to gather together this evening. Lord, I just want to thank you for all those that called on your name today, all the salvations that we had, all the seeds that were planted, and just our continued efforts. I pray that you'd be with us as a church. Also pray that you'd just be with us for the service, that everything would be done decently and in order. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, for our next hymn, turn if you would to 154. 154, blessed be the tie that binds. One, five, four. 154, there on the first. Let's be the tie that binds, our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred heart is light to that of love. Before our fathers grow, before our ardent prayers, our fears, our hopes, our aims are one. Our comforts and our cares, we share our mutual hopes. Our mutual burden is there and often for each other grows, the sympathizing fear. When we thus under part, it gives us everything, but we shall still be joined in heart and hope to meet again. Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming to Anchor Baptist Church. This time we'll go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. On the front is our Bible memory verse of the week, Galatians chapter 1 verse 9. On the inside you'll see our service times listed Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m, Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m, and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock. Our soul winning times are all listed there and all those meet here at the church building. Nursing home ministry schedule is listed there. I heard it was a great day at the nursing home ministry. There was five saved, so praise the Lord for that, especially once people get up in age like that. It's kind of rare to get those people saved, so praise the Lord for five saved today. Below that we have our year to date statistics. Had a couple of salvations this afternoon and congratulations to brother Jeremiah on having his first ever salvation. So give him a round of applause. So yeah, praise the Lord for that. So in 2025 that makes three soul winners in our church to have their first ever salvation. That fires me up right there, so praise the Lord for that. I feel like we're really unified right now and doing great things and it seems like everyone's really zealous. So I'm really thankful for the direction our church is going right now and definitely want to encourage you. If Jeremiah could do it and if I could do it, you guys can do it too. So if you are in this room and you understand the words I'm speaking, you're old enough to be a soul winner. So definitely want to make sure everyone is striving to get their first salvation. So great job on that. On the right we do have our list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for Miss Whitney Reed. March 9th, next Sunday is going to be the men's preaching night. We've got to have some more people sign up, all right? So don't be afraid. We want some men to preach, all right? Sign up. March 9th, after that is the potluck. March 15th, Whitney Reed's baby shower. Some information is on the back of the bulletin about that. April 19th is our Easter soul winning marathon. May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Definitely looking forward to learning more about that issue during that week. May 31st, the Durant, Oklahoma soul winning marathon. June 28th, Tinker Air Force Base Air Show is a fellowship date there. August 27th through the 31st, Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast. And October 6th through 11th is our missions trip to the Bahamas where we're going to be preaching the gospel just out around town and also in the schools. So we're really looking forward to that. If you'd like to support our ministry, there's some information about giving there. And on the back is our prayer list. Brother Travis Haberman this morning asked to be added for a job opportunity he has. Pray for that. And if anyone has any updates or prayer requests throughout the week, please email me and I will make sure to get that updated. So that's going to be it for announcements this evening. We'll go to our third song. All right, our third song and make sure to sing this one out. 162 to God be the glory. 162. 162 to God be the glory. We'll sing there starting on the first. And Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Let good people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son. And give him the glory, great things he have done. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood. To every believer the promise of God. The vilest offender who truly believes. That moment from Jesus the pardon received. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let good people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son. And give him the glory, great things he have done. Great things he have taught us, great things he have done. And great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son. What more an honor and greater will be. Our wonder, our transport when Jesus be seen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son. And give him the glory, great things he have done. Amen. As the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to John chapter number 13. John chapter number 13. Good evening, John 13. The Bible reads. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God. And he raised from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after that he had washed their feet, he had taken his garments, and was set down again and said unto them, Know ye what I have done unto you? Ye call me master and lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am. If I then your lord and master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. When Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Neither was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned unto him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him, then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him, for some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, and Jesus had said unto him, By those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then having received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night. Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him and himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you, ye shall seek me. And as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come. So now I say to you a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this all men shall know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. Let's bow our heads forward in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day. The soul is ever saved out this afternoon, and we just ask that you would bless our church and bless everyone that's in here. And we pray that you would bless the whole spirit, and we pray that you would bless the whole service. Amen. Amen. John chapter 13, verse 34, the Bible reads, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. And probably most people in this room are familiar with the concept of how there's a big difference between just being saved and being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? Being saved is very simple, very easy. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. It's not of works. It's not by getting baptized. It's not by going to church. It's putting all of your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And once you're saved, you're always saved. But being a disciple is a lot harder than that. Being a disciple is one that follows Jesus very closely. And the disciples during the time of Jesus Christ were people who physically walked with Jesus, who were following his teachings, following his ministries. But even us in 2025, we could be disciples of Jesus Christ by following his word, by following his commandments. And believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is just one of those commandments. There's a lot more than that. But notice how he gives this test to his disciples, how he says, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one toward another. And really, the New Testament gives several of these statements to where they're kind of litmus test statements for being a disciple. And I don't know about you, I want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I don't want to just be saved. We have a lot of people in here that I would consider disciples. And so even if you are already a disciple, you should want to become a better one. You should want to work on things, become a better disciple. And if you're not one, you should want to become one. So the title of my sermon this evening is discipleship tests. Discipleship tests. Number one, a true disciple loves the brethren. And we get this teaching right from the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read verse 34 again. It says, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. So the Lord Jesus, speaking to his disciples here, gives this command that we love one another. But he gives a kind of a qualifier to that. He says, as I have loved. That's a pretty high standard of love. That's not just, well, we could kind of judge ourselves and say, yeah, we're loving people. No, we actually have a standard to compare it to. And it's the love that Jesus Christ had, which is a very high bar. Then it says in verse 35, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Now, this isn't a litmus test for salvation necessarily. Obviously, if someone's hating their brethren, I would probably question their salvation. But the test of someone being a disciple is that they would love one another. And by this, by people's love for other Christians, you could tell, hey, this is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I'm really thankful for the spirit of our church and the unity that we have right now. And it feels like our church has a lot of love. And, you know, we want to keep that going. We want to have a reputation at Anchor Baptist Church that when people visit, when people come here, they say, wow, this is a loving group of people. These people actually care about each other. This isn't one of those churches where you kind of just show up to church. And it's kind of a fake hello to everyone. And you sit down and you kind of just sit there and immediately leave after the service. There's churches like that. I've been to churches like that, and it's really uncomfortable. And it doesn't matter how long you go. It just seems like that continues to be the case. You know, I like that at this church, people are friendly. We can talk to each other. This church has love one toward another. We want to make sure that we keep that reputation and work on that reputation even more so. You know, we don't want to be like these Christians that just dedicate their whole life just to attacking other Christians to where, like, they live. Their existence on this earth is just to watch and criticize every single move of other Christians. We want to be focusing on loving one another. And, you know, one great way to do that is just to actually live in the real world with your real church, with your real friends, because then you could actually love the people that are here. Not worried about everything that's going on online. You know, love the people that are in this room. Go to Romans Chapter 13. Romans 13. Chapter number 13. And, of course, one of the ways that we could show love towards each other is by simply not sinning against each other. That seems pretty obvious, right? Romans 13, verse 8. Notice what it says. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Verse 10 says, See, today we live in a time where people like to project or grandstand or make some sort of big show about how loving they are. And everyone likes to talk about how loving they are, right? But what does it mean to show love towards someone? What does it mean to show love toward your brethren? Well, one of the things that means is to not work ill to your neighbor. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. So an example of that, if you are lying about someone, if you are committing adultery with your neighbor's wife, if you are stealing from them, if you're committing any sin against the law of God, any sin is by nature unloving. And so you could sit there and fool yourself about what a loving person you are, but, you know, let's just use this as an example, because this is a sin that many Christians are guilty of. How about gossiping? You know, you could sit there and pretend like you're such a loving person, but the Bible says that the words of a tail-bearer are as wounds. You're harming people when you're doing that, and you could think you're real loving, but if you're working ill to your neighbor, you're not loving. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Let's go to Proverbs 18. Proverbs chapter 18. And I love how the Bible just succinctly summarizes that for us, how basically all the commandments, if there's any other commandment, it's briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Every single law in the Bible, every single law is loving, and loving your neighbor is the culmination or the summary of all of the law, because everything that God tells us to do is loving at the end of the day, and refraining from doing the things that God tells us not to do is also loving. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Proverbs 18, verse 6. A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. So notice what a fool does, what a stupid person does, what someone who lacks understanding does, is that they enter into contention. You know, it's one thing if strife and contention finds you, or it's one thing if you're striving and fighting for the things of God, for the Gospel, for doctrine, for things like that, but the stupid person, the fool, they're just always finding themselves in contention. And it's just every day they wake up and they're just in a new battle. Every day they're in a new argument on Facebook. They're in a new, you know, text war with someone. Why is that? It's because they lack love, first of all, and it's because they're a fool. Notice what it says, and his mouth calleth for strokes. He's saying, like, you're kind of begging to be punched in the face. That's what he's saying. The fool's mouth calleth for strokes. You know, you go out and just want to be a fool and be contentious and get in fights with everyone, you know, eventually you're going to cross the wrong guy, as your mouth is sitting there calling for strokes, and you could get punched in the face for acting like this, literally. Now, it's funny, a lot of people accuse us of being really unloving and walking in the flesh and stuff like that, but it's like, you're lucky that we're actually spiritual and walking in the Spirit, because a lot of the enemies of this church, their mouth calls for strokes a lot. But as far as I know, none of us has given them any, and we're not going to, because we actually are not going to engage in that kind of behavior. But verse 7 says, a fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. And then this is the verse I was referencing earlier, the words of a tale bearer are as wounds. They go down into the innermost parts of the belly. You know, don't sit here and pretend or fool yourself that you're a loving Christian when you're going around being a tale bearer. What is a tale bearer? It's one who carries stories, basically. A tale bearer, you're carrying around all these stories, and you're going and telling a bunch of other people about it. Could be true, could be untrue. Either way, it's not something that Christians should be involved in, where we take every single mistake someone's made, every little imperfection about their life, and it's like, hey, did you hear what Brother Cameron did the other day? Let me just tell you all the things that he did. Even if it was true, you know, why would we not want to be loving and cover someone's transgression? Or someone could do the same thing to me. Oh, do you see that stupid thing Pastor Oz? He mixed his words in his sermon. Can you believe it? He said that, what was the thing I mixed up the other day? I messed up something. Yeah, I was saying like, you know, we are, I think I said we're against child discipline. And my whole sermon was how we're for child discipline. And obviously anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows I just misspoke, right? But, you know, we're not going to go around and just like have all these little tale-bearing sessions. I had like 400 milligrams of caffeine before the sermon, all right? Have some grace with me. Do you hear Pastor Oz? He's like mixing up his words and can't even speak right while he's preaching or whatever. You know, this is not a loving thing to do. You know, we're not going to go around just talking crap about each other, talking crap about other Christians, being tale bearers. Why? Because love worketh no ill to his neighbor. And here's the thing, we're a team here at Anchor Baptist Church. I'm on your side. I'm for you. I'm pumped when I see people out serving God and soul winning. We are on a team here to fulfill the Great Commission. Why would we try to destroy this church? By sowing discord amongst brethren, talking crap about each other behind each other's backs. You know, if you have a problem with a brother or sister in this church, here's your two options. Ignore it and get over it. Be mature, grow up, let it go or just privately confront the person. And you know that you could solve ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of problems with those two things. You really can. And here's the thing. In church, if we're going to be disciples, if we're going to be serving God together for who knows how long God gives us on this earth. Do you know that I'm going to do things that are going to personally offend you? You know, I'm going to say things that are going to personally offend you. And you know that you're going to do things the same to me. And there's going to be instances where I'm like legitimately in the wrong and there's going to be instances where you are legitimately in the wrong and vice versa to each other. And it's the same thing in marriage and it's the same thing in a company. It's the same thing in government. Like this is just dealing with other human beings. So we have a choice to make because we can't we can't eliminate sin. We can't eliminate us, you know, having problems with each other, but we can decide how we respond to those things. Do we want to respond to those things with love? Or do we want to respond with breaking the law, talking crap about each other, being tailbearers, lying, gossip about each other? You know, we get to choose that reputation that we're going to have at Anchor Baptist Church. And I would submit to you, you should choose to be loving, to not work any ill to your neighbor. Go to Proverbs 26. Proverbs chapter number 26. Verse 24. Notice what it says. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips and layeth up deceit within him. That word dissemble is kind of an older word in this usage here, but it means to conceal one's true motives, thoughts, etc. by some pretense, speaking or acting hypocritically. So the Bible says someone that's full of hatred is the opposite of someone that's being a disciple. They dissemble with their lips. They conceal their true motives. They try to pretend to be someone that they're not. And here's the truth is that all of us should be transparent, honest, real people. And we're all on different levels spiritually. We're all growing differently. Some of us have been saved for a year. Some of us have been saved for over a decade. Hey, that's OK. Just be honest with who you are. Be open with who you are. Don't be one that dissembles and hides their motives. Verse 25 says, When he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart. So there's some people who are dissemblers who they speak fair, meaning to your face. They're going to say, Oh, I love you, brother. Oh, sister, you're a great person. Let's hang out sometime. But they don't actually mean it right. This is someone who has abominations in their heart, the Bible says. Verse 26, whose hatred is covered by deceit. His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. Who so diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. Notice verse 28. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. And a flattering mouth worketh ruin. You know, the Bible defines hatred as being a person that lies. If you lie about other people, let me help you. You are a hateful person. And I just love to see and hear about all the losers that have quit church, quit serving God. They're just in their little echo chamber talking crap all day long on the Internet. And it's funny how they like to pretend how loving they are as they lie and lie and lie and lie. What does the Bible say? A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. You know, you can't fool God when it comes to this issue. You can pretend to be all sweet and syrupy and nice and kind and loving, but when you're speaking lies against someone else, you are a hateful person. Go to Romans chapter 12. So look, let us not be that way in this church. Never lie about someone. I mean, it's a serious act of aggression towards someone. Lying against them like that. Here's another way that we can love each other. Verse number nine of Romans 12, it says, Let love be without dissimulation. So it's saying don't have a fake love. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one toward another with brotherly love. In honor, preferring one another. One of the ways you could choose to love your brothers and sisters in Christ is simply by preferring them, by choosing them over other things in life. You see, this evening you had a choice to come to church or not. No one made you be here. You could have chosen to go hang out with your work buddies. You could have chosen to go play video games with your online buddies. You could have chosen anything else. But here you are. That's the right choice to make, because the Bible says that we should prefer one another. You know, if you find yourself where your best friends are just the people of this world, your best friends are your, you know, hobby buddies, whatever it is, golf, baseball, bowling, whatever. Those are your best friends. It kind of shows that you're not preferring God's people the way that you should. You know, your best friends. If you live in Oklahoma City, your best friends should be at Anchor Baptist Church. You know, your best friends or it could be other great churches in different cities. But, you know, that's my best friends. The people at this church and the people that are disciples of Jesus Christ are closer to me than a lot of blood relatives even are. Because, hey, we have that in common that we're wanting to serve Jesus Christ, our love is not dissimulated. Verse 13, distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality. Go to 1 John chapter number 2. 1 John chapter number 2. Given to hospitality, wanting to spend time with God's people. And hospitality, I always think of opening up your home, spending time with people, inviting them in, serving them a meal. But it could also just be simple acts of kindness as saying hello to a brother or sister that walks into church or a visitor. You know, how you doing? How's your day going? Just being hospitable in our day-to-day interactions with each other is very important as well. 1 John 2, 10 says, He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. See, when you are loving your brother in sincerity, when you from your heart are coming from a place where you're motivated by love, you could see clearly. You know, like here's an example. I love lost souls getting saved. I love soul winning. I know many of you feel the same way. And so when we see new soul winners preaching the gospel, we're abiding in that light and we're getting excited about those things. We could see clearly like this is a great direction our church is going. This is a great work that's being done. We get excited about these things. Why? Because we have love in our heart for the lost and for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Verse 11 says, But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. See, when you are motivated by hatred, you're blinded. You're walking in darkness. And you kind of hear people, you can kind of hear how blinded they are in this area when they're like, well, I know they're getting lots of people saved. I know they're doing great works for God, but they're still terrible people. Oh, but he's still a terrible pastor. Oh, yeah, I know Pastor Anderson's gotten millions of people saved, but never go to his church. He's a terrible person. He's an abuser and all these things. It's like, wait a second. You're in darkness right now. Because if you were motivated by love, you wouldn't have just skipped over this giant statement that you said of like, oh, yeah, I know they're getting millions of people saved. It's like, that's a big deal. Hey, churches going out and preaching the gospel and doing a great work for God, that should get us excited. We should want to get on fire ourselves and join that team and want to do more for God, not tear down people because we have some sort of personal beef with them. Look, I hope that every single person that hates me or hates Anchor Baptist Church goes soul winning this week. I hope that they all get lots of people saved. I hope that they baptize people. I hope that they teach people the Word of God. And if they're doing that, praise the Lord. I'm excited for that. I want that for them. I don't understand this mentality of just wanting to see churches destroyed, wanting to spend our lives attacking our brothers and sisters in Christ and lying about them and making videos about them and making podcasts about them. It's like you are motivated by hatred. You have hatred in your heart. Oh, no, I don't hate my brother. OK, what would hatred look like then? Like you spend every single day speaking against them. You post every single day against them. You preach sermons against them all the time. You make podcasts against them. You tell people they're abusers. You tell people you shouldn't go to their churches. Like, oh, OK, what would it look like if you hated them then? Oh, yeah, you are motivated by hatred. You are in darkness. Go to First John Chapter three. First John Chapter number three. And look, I'm preaching towards you guys right now because I don't want our church to get this weird culture that other churches are taking right now where we're just like spending our lives online in this weird battle with people. Because here's the thing. I'm not going to see any of it because I block everyone. I don't want to see it. I don't listen to their preaching because I'm not a creepy ex-girlfriend. But what I'm preaching right now, all the haters are going to go watch. They're going to make clips about it. They're going to make posts about it. Have fun. Go soul winning, though. Have fun. Go to church, though. But you in here don't get this attitude where you start hating your brother. We're going to start being obsessed over everything that they're doing. No, we need to walk in love. First John three, verse 11. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Here's what wicked brethren do is they get envious. They get envious. You know, Cain got envious that God had respect to Abel's offering. God had respect to Abel and his offering. And he did not have respect to Cain's. And you know what? That made Cain very angry. He became envious of his brother and he murdered his brother. You know, there's some people in this world that just can't handle other Christians getting the attention. They can't handle other Christians doing something great for God. They have to be at the forefront. They have to be at the forefront of everyone's attention. And then they get envious when other people do. Because here's the truth. These people that hate Pastor Anderson and they've made it their life's mission to obsess over him and obsess over us and all these things. The truth is, they are envious. Oh, why would I be envious? Like, there's a scandal going on with his family. His family's having issues. Why would I be envious? I'll tell you what you're envious of. You're envious of his influence. You're envious of the great works that he's done for God over his two-plus decades of ministry. And you wish that you had that. But instead of doing great works for God yourself, instead of focusing on your congregation, instead of loving your people, instead of doing your own missions trips, your own documentaries, your own works, you just sit here all day studying Abel, paying attention to Abel, being envious of him. Well, why is God respecting his offering? Why is God blessing his church? Why is he getting more members? Why is he getting more soul winners? Instead of actually just looking at your works and your life and you doing something for God. Instead of being a bitter loser, doing nothing, you could actually get better. Like, did you ever consider that? You know, I told you I'm not in this stupid group, but people show me stuff. And the funniest thing I saw was this one person was like, hey, you know, shouldn't we focus on, like, getting the good doctrine of the new IFB out into the world? Because, like, we agree with them on major doctrines. Like, shouldn't we try to push the doctrine? And everyone's just like, like, it's like that meme with the business meeting. It's like, hey, if you consider this, they're like throwing them out the window. It's like in the haters. It's like, hey, you know, shouldn't we just like serve God and just like anathema to these people? You guys are insane. Like, do some works for God. Focus on your church. Motivate your people. Love your people. People love your brothers. Don't be like Cain, who's so envious. I tell you, these people hate when new, new IFB churches are started. Boy, do they hate when new pastors get ordained. Boy, do they hate when you post your soul winning numbers. That makes them angry, right? Oh, don't they get upset when you tell them that there's some new soul winners, when there's some new visitors, when there's new missions trip? Why do these things make people mad? Because they're carnal and they don't love their brother and they don't love God. They're not disciples of Jesus Christ. They're in it for themselves. Go to Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. Look, when you find yourself on the other side, when you find yourself wanting churches that have been around for 20 years that have won millions of people to Christ, when you find yourself wanting those churches destroyed, you might consider if you're on the right side or not. You might consider whether or not you've been blinded by envy and hatred. Okay? And again, I'm preaching this to you guys because God forbid we would have this mentality. And so many people are getting sucked into this stuff. I feel like I just have to warn you a little bit because there's so many people wanting to drag you away. Genesis 37 one. And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. Notice what it says. And Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. You know, it made Joseph's brethren mad to the point where they were ready to kill him, where they sold him into slavery. It was the fact that Joseph brought to his father his brother's evil report. And, you know, it's kind of like how out in the world some women will be just super offended by another lady wearing skirts and dresses only. Even though you didn't even say anything. You didn't judge them. You didn't say, why are you wearing pants? That's an abomination. Haven't you ever read Deuteronomy? Like a lady will just exist wearing skirts and dresses and people will get offended by that. Because, in a way, your lifestyle, the things that you believe, can kind of be an affront to people who aren't following the Bible. And it's like, why is it that people doing missions trips offends you? Like, why is it that posting soul-winning numbers makes you mad? Why is it that new pastors getting ordained makes you want to rip your hair out? Why is it that Anchor Baptist Church being here makes you so angry? Faithful words, steadfast Baptist Church. Why? Is it because our existence is reproving you? Is it because seeing Pastor Anderson and Pastor Shelley do great things for the Lord and win all these people to Christ and do all these great missions trips, even after all the lies and slander that have happened against them the last several months, and they're still succeeding? Does that make you mad? And look, God is the judge. God is going to make a lot of these things manifest. And I pray to God that someday soon He exposes all of the lies that have been happening against Pastor Anderson and Pastor Shelley and me and all these churches. I hope God makes it so clear someday so that these idiots are brought to a point where they have to either apologize or just dig in and show what a wicked piece of crap they really are. I really pray that God makes it manifest and obvious someday because, in my view, it already has been made obvious. But when that happens, boy, it's going to be a day of reckoning. They don't like it when we bring their evil report because they're not going soul winning, because they're not preaching hard sermons, because they're not reaching people, because they're making crappy documentaries, because they're talking about coffee enemas on all these podcasts. It's gross. Okay, good night. Verse three. That's a sign of hatred is when you can't speak peaceably unto someone and you see a lot of these haters. They're just in a perpetual frenzy, in a perpetual state of anger and hatred in their hearts. Look what it says in verse five. Man, they hate it when Joseph dreams a dream, when Joseph preaches, when Joseph prophesies, they hate him even more. Verse 18, skip down. And we will say some evil beast hath devoured him. We shall see what will become of his dreams. So notice they're conspiring to kill their own brother here, their own blood. And what drove them to this point? Envy of the fact that Jacob loved Joseph more than the rest of the brothers. Getting angry at the fact that Joseph is bringing to his dad his brother's evil report. The fact that Joseph was beloved and dreaming dreams. And it says in verse 21, They took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty where there was, sorry, there was no water in it. Hey, this is obviously people that are not motivated by love right here. These are some brothers that hate their brother. The Bible says love worketh no ill to his neighbor. But because these people were convicted by Joseph's preaching, by his dreams, by what he was reporting to his father, they literally conspired to kill him and ended up selling him into slavery. Go to Matthew chapter number 16. Matthew chapter number 16. But look, we don't want to stoop to that level. We don't ever want to stoop to that level. We want to focus on the work of God. Focus on loving each other. Focus on coming to Anchor Baptist Church, being an asset here, being a blessing here, going out soul winning, reaching Oklahoma City with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, that's what we are going to focus on. We are not going to be the ones that go and lie about other Christians. We are not going to go gossip about other Christians. My wife isn't going to go call ordained men of God punks. We're not going to stoop to that low level. We are going to be having our integrity at this church. Matthew 16, number two, a true disciple. Here's the second litmus test of discipleship. A true disciple denies self. Matthew 16, 20, then charged to his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. So put yourself in the place of these disciples. You're following the Lord Jesus Christ. You love him. You know, you're excited about his ministry. And at this point, Jesus is breaking it to you. Hey, I'm going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to suffer many things of the Jews. And in fact, they're going to lie about me. They're going to have this false trial and they are going to kill me. You know, that would hurt. That would be something that if I heard that, if I wasn't fully aware of the full canon of scripture, I'd be like a little down in the dumps about that. And that's kind of what Peter did. Peter took it way too far though because in verse 22 he says, Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him. Bad idea to ever rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? You're not going to rebuke him. And then it says, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Now, I don't think Peter was intending any sort of wickedness here. He just loves the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, he doesn't want him to die. But what he's saying is obviously wrong. You're not supposed to rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus actually said in verse 23, But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me. For thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. See, the truth is, even though Peter was coming from the right intention, and I don't think he meant anything wicked by this, Peter is a disciple of Jesus Christ. And you know what that means? That he should deny his desires, his wants, his ambitions, and whatever God's will is, whatever the will of the Lord Jesus Christ is, that's what Peter should get behind. And if that means Jesus being exalted and doing great things as king, then Peter should get behind that. Or if it means that, hey, Jesus Christ has actually come to this earth to die for our sins, then you should get behind that, even though that's not what he necessarily wants in his own self. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. And take up his cross and follow me. See, part of being a disciple is denying self. And the word that I love for this is the word of discipline. Because being a disciple, I mean, it's that same root word, discipline, disciple. Being a disciple is someone who is very disciplined. And what is discipline? It's really denying self. That's what it is. It's like doing things that you don't want to do. It's like if you looked at a professional athlete, if you looked at some sort of Olympian, you'd say, oh, man, that person's really disciplined. What are you saying? Man, they're doing the same workouts week after week after week after week for years. They're doing the same things. Man, they're on the same diet plan and they're sticking with it week after week, year after year after year. This is someone who's really disciplined. Let me just tell you a secret. There's nothing special about the Olympian. Like he wasn't born in a way where like he only desires chicken breasts, broccoli and rice. And ice cream is not even a temptation to him. And fast food, if he put it in his mouth, it would taste gross to him. No, we're all the exact same. We're all the exact same. He doesn't just wake up with this special motivation dust that causes him to work out every day and to eat right. Motivation dust isn't real. You know what there is, though? Discipline. Meaning I've got to do something and I don't want to, but I'm going to do it anyways. And being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ could look like, hey, I've got this desire. I've got this idea of what things should look like. But turns out the Bible says something different. Turns out that Jesus has a different plan. And guess what a disciple does is they submit to the will of their savior, to the will of God. They read the Bible and say, OK, that wasn't how I had things planned. That wasn't necessarily my intention for my life. I didn't know I was going to be spending my life knocking on random people's doors, asking them about what happens to them after death. But turns out that's what soul winning is. Turns out that the Great Commission involves preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And hey, I got to put my will aside. Oh, you're shy? Who cares? Oh, I'm shy. I can't become a soul winner. Get over it. Have some discipline. Oh, I don't want to talk to random strangers. I don't care. And neither does God, because do you want to be a disciple? That means you have to deny self. And guess what? We all have things that we don't want to do. There's times I don't want to write another sermon. There's times that I don't want to go soul winning. But you know what? You just do it anyways. That's what makes you a disciple. People that are ruled by their emotions and ruled by the little fairy dust of motivation are called people that never accomplish anything. And I'll tell you, you look at the most successful people in life. I don't care if it's in church. I don't care if it's a spiritual goal. I don't care if it's business. I don't care if it's athletics. You will find one thing in common with them, and that is this word discipline, discipline. And here's the truth. Discipline spiritually gets us greater rewards than any of those other areas anyways. Like we could waste our life being really disciplined towards athletics and we'll get some corruptible crown. The Bible talks about we could be super disciplined and start a business and put all of our effort and energy into making money. And we get that mammon that's going to burn up someday and be completely pointless in eternity. Or we could take all that discipline and say, I want to be a disciple and be disciplined for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, that's the best way to put in your effort and time and energy and discipline is into spiritual things, because that actually lasts for all of eternity. And the work that you do spiritually has so much more meaning and value than building a business or than getting some sort of personal record in athletics or winning the World Series or winning the Super Bowl. All these things are meaningless in vain, but that which we do for Christ is very important. It's very important. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, verse one says, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. See, if we're going to run the Christian race, if we're going to be disciples of Jesus Christ, part of that is denying self when it comes to ideas, motivations and things like that. But there's also a sin component of this, right, is getting off those weights and the sins that so easily beset us so that we could run this Christian race. Because the truth is, you know, some people, when they're training for running, they'll kind of purposely put on weight vests because it makes it so much harder to run than when they take those weights off. Now they're able to run much faster for longer distances. You know, the same thing is true spiritually, right? Salvation. Easy. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. All your sins are forgiven from an eternity's perspective. But if you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and run the race and get great rewards in heaven. Yeah, an aspect of that is going to be set getting off sins from your life, you know, repenting of your sins. People say, oh, you Baptists don't believe in repenting of your sins. Oh, yes, I do. You should be repenting of your sins every single day. But here's the difference, though. You don't have to repent of your sins to be saved. But you know what? You should be repenting of your sins. And the more you repent of your sins, the more sins that you throw off, the better you're going to be able to run the Christian race, the more effective of a soul winner you will be, the more effective of a preacher, the more effective of a dad or husband or mother or wife. You'll be a more effective Christian, the least amount of sin that you have. And so we should cast these things off. Verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. See, Jesus was disciplined. He endured the cross. He wasn't motivated to go to the cross. He just endured it. Verse three, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. You know, that statement is pretty motivating for me to try to get sins out of my own life, because I look at my life and I'm like, I haven't done anything. I haven't suffered anything. I haven't strived. I haven't resisted unto blood, striving against sin. You know, I think about guys like we talked about this morning, William Tyndale, who was burned alive at the stake for translating the word of God into English, for believing salvation by faith alone. It's like, that's a guy that was striving unto blood. That's a guy who was really a great disciple of the Lord. And I'm just thinking like, OK, William Tyndale could be burned alive at the stake. Can I repent of some sins in my life? Like, OK, William Tyndale could be burned alive. Can you get off your lazy butt and go soul winning? Like, he could be burned alive. Can you open the Bible and read it? Can you like show up to church when the doors are open? Can you like give 10 percent of your income to God through the tithe? Like, can you do these simple things while other people have died for Christ? This is like the self-loathing mentality is like, man, I've done nothing. I suck. I'm weak. Look at all these great people that have done great things. You know, like, let's strive to be like those people. That's what we that's what we need to tell ourselves more of is like, hey, let's get rid of the crap in our lives. Let's repent of our sins. Go to First Peter Chapter four. First Peter Chapter number four. First Peter four, verse 12, 11. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. Notice the Bible talks about this fiery trial that's going to try us, and we shouldn't be thinking it's strange or be shocked or surprised when we go through hardships, when we go through struggles or trials. Rather, we should rejoice realizing that we're partakers of Christ's sufferings. Why? Because what is one of the aspects of being a disciple? It's denying self. And sometimes that means going through suffering. I mean, if you're going to go through suffering and actually endure it and keep going, you have to deny yourself. If you're going through some sort of tribulation or persecution, a lot of times when you're going through that, there is an escape button. There is a quit button to where you can kind of make it all end and make it all go away. But you know what you would be doing is you would be ceasing to be a disciple. The right thing to do when you're going through a trial is to endure the sufferings. Deny yourself. Yeah, I know it's not fun. Yeah, I know it's not fun to lose your job or to lose, you know, your reputation with loved ones or stuff like that. But if you endure that stuff, then you're being a partaker of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2. And you know, that's what a lot of the disciples did is they endured suffering. They endured hardships. They worked long hours. They skipped meals. Many of them were killed, but they were disciples. 2 Timothy 2 verse 3 says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entanglement himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier. You know, when I think of people who are disciplined, I mean, the military definitely comes to mind when it comes to this issue. The military is usually very, very disciplined people. They're very regimented. They're very scheduled. And the Bible kind of compares us to a soldier. And what are we supposed to do as soldiers? We're supposed to endure hardness. That's what a soldier does. Right. You know, I was never in the military. I was never a part of that whatsoever. But go ask some people who were. I guarantee you, when they go in their long rucks with their big backpacks that weigh 100 pounds and they're rucking 40 miles, 50 miles, they're not going to tell you that was fun. They're not going to tell you that was enjoyable. They're going to tell you that they were enduring hardness. Right. People who have actually experienced combat, which, again, I'm not speaking from experience here. I've never done that. But, you know, you read books of people who have done things like this. It's not fun. It's not enjoyable. It's people enduring hardness. You know, I read this one book about a sniper in Vietnam. And this situation that this sniper described, I'm just like, man, 99 percent of people would have died in this instant. He was a sniper. He was laying down in the prone position with his spotter, both laying prone, both looking at the Vietnamese. And all of a sudden they felt this heavy, big cylindrical object slithering across their back. And it was a giant Vietnamese snake. And they're you know, they're in combat where they're close to the enemy. So they can't move. They can't get the snake off of them. They can't scream or anything. And they said that it was super heavy. It was like a person on them. It's just like this big giant snake is just going over them the whole time. But you know what they did? They endured hardness as good soldiers. And here's the thing. We are spiritual soldiers. You know, we are we are literally in the Lord's Army. We are going to go through times where it feels like you're a sniper laying prone and there's all these snakes around you. What's up with all these snakes around us? Right. And you're just you're you're in the sniper's nest. You're trying to kill the enemy. Meanwhile, there's snakes all over you. And sometimes you just got to endure that hardness or you could quit. But you know what? That's a lame soldier, isn't it? Who wants to be around the soldier that fled in battle? The soldier that turned tail and ran. You know, General George Washington in the Revolutionary War ordered that people that fled from combat be shot in the back on the spot. Why? Because that's cowardice. You can't have your soldiers turning around in battle. We need to be a united front, facing the enemy, enduring hardness, being disciplined. Why? Because that's what disciples do. And that's what I want you to be. A disciple of Jesus Christ. See, most people aren't going to do this. Most people are going to get saved and they're not going to get serious for the things of God. Most people are going to be that seed that falls on the ground. And as soon as persecution rises because of the word, by and by, they are offended. Right. But that shouldn't be us. We should be want to be the good ground. The good heart has deep roots, who's able to withstand and endure a lot. Go to John chapter number eight, John chapter number eight. Number three, this evening, a true disciple continues in the word of God. A true disciple continues in the word of God. Look at John chapter eight, verse thirty one. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. What is he talking about? He's talking about being a steadfast Christian. He's talking about not just serving Jesus Christ for a day, for a month, for a year, but someone continuing in the word of God. It denotes that idea of someone that's serving God for a long period of time, because that's what a disciple is. A disciple is not someone who wanders into our church, who goes soul winning one time and they quit and you never see him again. You know, a disciple is someone who continues in the word. A disciple is someone that I'm going to see, Lord willing, five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, at least serving God in some church. That's what a disciple is, not someone who just does it for a while. It's kind of a phase. And then they quit. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. When I think of someone who continued in the word of God, who was steadfast, who kept going despite obstacles and different odds, I always think of the Apostle Paul, because, man, did he go through so much. Man, was he steadfast. Man, was he resilient. And in 2 Corinthians 11, he talks about some of the things that he went through. And as we're reading this list, I just want you to compare it to your life and ask yourself, how many of these things have you gone through? Or do we live a pretty easy life or do we not have as bad challenges as the Apostle Paul had? Look at verse 23, are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors, more abundance. He's saying I'm working more than anyone. In stripes, above measure. I was getting beaten more than I deserve. In prisons, more frequent. In deaths, oft. Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes, save one. Man, I've never had the Jews beat me a single time. Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. That would be terrible. A night and a day have I been in the deep. I hate the ocean. That would be terrible. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. That's a long list of things that he had to endure. You think that the Apostle Paul endured these things by motivation? No way. I mean, his flesh had to have been destroyed from this much stress and persecution. And in fact, he talked about how he had a great thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him. And it's like when you're getting beaten by the Jews five times, you know, it's very likely that you're going to receive some sort of permanent injury here that's going to be a thorn in the flesh for you. So, you know, he's going through all this stress. He's taking care of all the churches, all the administrative work. He's working a full time job. He's getting shipwrecked. He's getting arrested. He's getting beaten, sometimes beaten to the point where people think he's dead, where people stone him and look at him and say, yeah, he's dead. He gets up the next day, preaches to the next city, just keeps going, keeps going. And it's just like, this guy is a machine. This guy is a disciple. This guy is awesome. And here's the thing. I think there was a couple of things about the apostle Paul that enabled him to endure so much hardship, because remember, it's just like the Olympic athlete. There's nothing special about their flesh. They have the same temptation. The apostle Paul has the same flesh as us, has the same temptations. He felt the same pain that we would feel, the same tiredness, the same just agony of being turned on. And all these problems, we would feel the same emotions that he probably felt. But there were some things that were different about him. Go to Acts chapter number 20. There was a mentality that he adopted that enabled him to keep going and to endure and to continue in the word of God. I always think of Acts chapter 20, verse 22. I love what he says here. He says, And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. Save that, meaning accept that, the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. So don't miss what he's saying here. He's saying, look, I'm going to Jerusalem, and I don't know what's going to happen to me there, except that I'm going to get thrown into prison and that I'm going to go through a bunch of afflictions. So he's not going into this situation blind. He doesn't think he's going on a vacation. He says, I know that what's going to happen to me is going to be terrible. But yet he chose to do it anyways. I mean, isn't that amazing? Most of us in our life, if we look, if we can kind of see down the road of a decision we're making and we see, oh, the end of that, there's some problems, there's some stress, there's some sufferings. Most people, they don't push that button. Most people aren't willing to endure that kind of stuff. He knew what he was going to face and he chose to do it anyways. Why? Verse 24. Here's one of the reasons why. But none of these things move me. Neither count I my life, dear unto myself. The apostle Paul did not look at his life as something that was so dear and so precious and all of his thoughts and his ambitions, he had to put himself first and whatever his dreams in life were, you go chase your dreams. No, you know what he said? He's like, I don't count my life, dear unto myself. This is like the mentality that I take when I run. OK, it's the self loathing mentality. It's like if you're going to run five miles, all it's like, I don't know what's going to happen to me on those five miles. But all I know is that suffering and pain awaits me. But what is going to make you choose to do it is by saying, like, I just don't care about my life then. It's just saying, like, I just don't count my life, dear unto myself. I don't count my precious little legs as being that important to me or my lungs or my shins or anything how I feel, because I want to reach the finish line because I want to complete the task. And that's the apostle Paul. He's like, look, I'm going to Jerusalem. I've got a job to do. I don't know what's going to happen to me there, except everything's going to suck and I'm going to endure a bunch of hardship and pain. But guess what? None of these things. He said none of these things move me. It's not even troubling him. Like, it's not even like he's doing it grudgingly or he's kind of dragging his feet. He's just like, this doesn't even move me. I mean, people would look at a guy like this and think he's crazy. But you kind of have to adopt this crazy mentality like, yes, it's going to be painful. Let's just do it anyways. Yeah, it's going to it's going to suck. You want to join me? It's going to be hard. You want to do it with me? Yeah. None of these things move me. Neither count on my life dear unto myself. Here's the next thing. This is just as important so that I might finish my course with joy and these words, the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. You have to have you have to have these two things. If you want to be a disciple, you have to believe in your mission and you have to believe it with all your heart. You have to really believe the things that the Bible teaches. You have to really believe that when you go out soul winning and knock on someone's door and preach them the gospel, and they call upon the name of the Lord, you have to really believe that that person was just delivered from hell. And guess what? If you believe that, I mean, if you've got this ministry that you've received of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're committed to fulfilling that, you know what you're going to do? You're going to say, oh, obstacles. Oh, pain. Oh, problems. Oh, persecutions. No problem, because I don't count my life dear unto myself. You know what I count dear? The ministry of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the great commission that he has given us. That's what we count dear. That's what we care about. And then that enables you. I mean, you're unstoppable at that point. You're a disciple at that point. But it's a mentality that has to be real for you. You can't fake this. You have to really believe. You have to really trust the word of God. You have to really think that what you're doing in the ministry matters. And look, if you want to go into ministry and be a full time minister, this is a requirement that you have this mentality because you will experience hardship on a weekly basis. It will be difficult. You will experience pain. You will get weary. You will get tired. But you know what? You have to believe in the mission. You have to internalize it and love it with all of your heart. Then when the problems and trials come, you say, oh, wait, I don't count my life dear unto myself because of the ministry that God has given to me. Go to Matthew chapter number four. Matthew chapter number four. That leads me to my last point of discipleship tests. Are you a disciple? Number four, a true disciple is a fisher of men because that's what the apostle Paul was doing his whole mission for. Why was he going to Jerusalem? Why was he enduring the pain? It was because the ministry that he received of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was what? To preach the gospel. Matthew four, verse 18. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren. Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. See, Simon and Peter were literal fishermen. That was their trade. That was their occupation was to catch fish and sell it for a profit. Look what Jesus said. And he saith unto them, Follow me. That's a disciple, right? And I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. It is an ironclad guarantee. It is a litmus test of discipleship. If you follow Jesus, you get people saved. If you follow Jesus, you are a fisher of men. And if you do not get people saved, listen to me. Oh, thou three to thrive Christian. Though you are a three to thrive Christian, though you read the Bible, though you listen to preaching, though you pray. If you don't get people saved, you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ. And I don't say that to chastise you or to scold you. I say that to get you to come soul winning. Hey, come with us. Become a fisher of men. Go soul winning. Learn how to preach the gospel, because if you don't, you're saved. You could do other other things that God likes. But I'm telling you this. You're not a disciple of Jesus Christ unless you're a soul winner. Period. End of story. Doesn't matter if you're a pastor, you know, because there's pastors that don't go soul winning. There's people that are pastors. They're the leader of the church. They get up and preach three times a week. They have a staff. They have all these resources that they have and they don't even go soul winning. That pastor is not a disciple of Jesus Christ. What a shame for someone to be a pastor and not be a soul winner. Look, as long as I'm the pastor of this church, we will be a soul winning church. And the moment that I quit soul winning or get rid of the soul winning program is the moment I need to step down as being the pastor. Because the goal here is that we go out and fulfill the Great Commission. You know what that means? That we get people saved. That we get them baptized. And that we bring them in here and teach them to do the same thing. And that's my job is to tell you, go soul winning. Go preach the gospel. Go be a fisher of men. Go to John chapter number four. Now here's the good news. Is that any saved person can do this. Any saved person can preach the gospel. You're old. You're shy. You're a woman. You're a child. Are you saved? Because if you're saved, you can be a soul winner. Every single one. John 4 verse 15. This is the famous story of the woman at the well. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands. And he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that sets thou truly. Wow. I mean, that's a pretty rough life, right? I mean, he's talking to this woman at the well and he's like, oh, go call your husband because he knows, you know, and she's like, oh, I have no husband. And she's like, yeah, that's right, because you've had five husbands and the dude you're shacked up with right now in fornication is not even your husband. I mean, this sounds like a pretty sinful woman, right? Absolutely. Yet notice what the Bible says. I love her response here in verse 19. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. By the way, I love her attitude here. She's not one of these weak, whiny, sniveling leftists that are that can't handle any correction. That can't handle any Bible preaching. They can't handle anyone telling them that they're wrong. You know, she could have just got all offended. Oh, I'm church hurt. Oh, I'm an ex. I'm a cult survivor because Jesus talked about my sin and he called me out for my wicked lifestyle. You know, she just said, wow. I mean, this guy must be a prophet because he knows what a jacked up life I'm living. God bless this woman. Verse 25. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, so she's not even saved yet, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Wow. What a powerful moment in the word of God where Jesus says, hey, I am the Messiah. By the way, John Hagee likes to talk about, he's some false prophet in Texas. He likes to talk about how Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah. Yes, he did. To the woman at the well. Yes, he did. Verse 27. And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, what seekest thou or why talkest thou to her? So, you know, his disciples are being a little bit holier than thou right here. Oh, why would you talk to this sinful woman? Right. Verse 28. The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city. This this is after she believed in Christ and sayeth to the men. Notice what she says. Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this. The Christ. And here we see the super sinful woman. What is the first thing that she does after getting saved? She goes around and tells a bunch of men, hey, this is the Christ. And, you know, that's what soul winning is. This is soul winning. We're going up to people and we're saying, let me introduce you to the savior. Because right now you think you believe in Jesus, but you actually believe in a different Jesus. Or you believe in a different gospel. You believe in a different spirit. Let me show you what the Bible says about salvation. Let me introduce you to the savior, to the Messiah. And we're getting people to believe in him and to trust him. Verse 30. Then went they out of the city and came unto him. So this woman, she goes out super sinful life. She immediately just starts preaching the gospel. You don't have to be some person who's just living this super, super clean life, doing everything in your life right. Because guess what? No one's life is perfect. No one's life has everything going right for them. We all have sins that we're dealing with. We all have issues that we're dealing with. But I've heard this idea out there that, you know, oh, you've got to clean up your life before you become a soul winner. Oh, you've got to make sure you repent of all your sins before you go soul winning. No, if you're saved, you're qualified to be a soul winner. We want you to be a soul winner. And here's the thing, no matter where you are in life, no matter where you find yourself, even if you're really wicked and you're in jail for something that you did, that you were guilty of, guess what you could do while you're in jail? You could preach the gospel to people. You should never stop preaching the gospel. No matter where you find yourself, no matter how backslidden you get, no matter what you get involved in, continue to preach the gospel. Now, look, ideally, hey, let's be disciples, meaning let's clean up our lives. Let's be disciplined. Let's repent of our sins. And then let's preach the gospel. You'll be more effective that way. You'll get more people saved that way. But it doesn't matter where you're at in life. If you're saved, you can preach the gospel. Go to John chapter number 15. John chapter number 15. This will be the last place we go to this evening. John 15. What are we talking about? Continuing in the Word of God. Fisher of men, verse one. See, the desire that God has for us is to bring forth more fruit. And sometimes He's even willing to purge our life and purge some things out of our life so that we could bear more fruit. See, the truth is, the cleaner of a life you live, the more you're abiding in the vine, the more you're continuing in the Word of God, the more fruit that you will bring forth. But any Christian can get someone saved. Any Christian can preach the gospel. But of course, we want to do more, right? Verse three. No more can ye accept ye abide in me. Why is it that a Christian is able to get someone saved regardless of how they're living is because we're attached to the vine. And without the vine, we could do nothing. You know, this idea that unsaved people can get someone saved is insane and ridiculous. You've got to be plugged into the vine to bring forth fruit, right? I mean, it's like saying that that chair is going to bring forth apples when the apple tree is over there in the dirt. It doesn't make any sense. You've got to be connected to the apple tree to bring forth apples. Verse number six. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire. And they are burned. So, you know, here's the motivation to clean up your life and to, you know, start going soul winning and abiding in Christ is that God is going to punish you if you know to do right and don't do it. You know, if you're here, if you're here in this church and you're hearing the preaching and I try to be very repetitive about this, go soul winning, go soul winning, go soul winning. I'm never going to stop that message. I'm trying to be repetitive about this. But if you decide like, hey, I'm just going to ignore it. I'm just not going to be a soul winner. I just I'm saying no, I'm not going to do it. God is going to punish you. God is going to purge things out of your life. And I would rather spare you the pain by just telling you just go soul winning before God has to do that. And there could even be severe cases where God looks at a Christian and says, look, their life is so unprofitable. They're not obeying my word. They're not doing that, which is right. They're not getting anyone saved. They're not doing anything productive with their life. God can even take away someone's life and just take them home early. I don't want that for anyone. But we've seen in the Bible people that are saved that God killed. That actually happened in the word of God. Verse seven. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. Notice what it says. So shall ye be my disciples. I'm not making this up. This is not my opinion. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you must be a soul winner. You must be winning people to Christ, being a fisher of men. And if you want God to be glorified, then you better bring forth lots of fruit. The more fruit we bring forth, the more we glorify God. By the way, this is why we're not going to stop posting our soul winning numbers, because it's glorifying God when we bring forth fruit. You know, today I made a post. I'm excited for Brother Jeremiah getting his first ever salvation. Why? Because it glorifies God. Hey, we got another disciple in the house. Praise God for that. I get excited about that. I get joyous about that. And you know what? And you know what? I want that to be our vision going forward. That, look, if you're in this room and you understand the words that I'm saying, you are old enough to be a soul winner. If you're saved and you understand what I'm saying right now, this is your year. 2025 is your year to become a soul winner. Why? Because I want you to become a disciple. And those of us that are already soul winners, I want you to become a better disciple. I want you to bring forth more fruit so that God can be glorified. If you don't know how to go soul winning, I've said this and some people have that kind of surprising. Like, oh, I didn't know about that. So I'm just going to repeat it again. Go on our YouTube page. Go to the playlists. There's a playlist there called Learn Soul Winning where I'm literally wearing a body cam and I'm preaching the gospel to real people, real interactions, and I'm getting them saved. And you can just watch that video and copy it. Just copy it. Go through all the verses that I go through. Ask the questions that I ask. And the more you become experienced as a soul winner, you probably do things your own way a little bit here and there. Some things that work better for you. Hey, I'm fine. I'm happy with that. But if you don't know how to go soul winning, there's a start. I've got another playlist. I'll just send it in the signal group tonight. I've got another playlist on my personal account with a bunch more videos of the exact same thing. Look, you can learn how to be a solar. It's not that hard. You can do it. And here's the thing. You can go out with us. You could be a silent partner and you could just watch us do it. Just go with us. Watch us do it. There's no pressure. Take as much time as you want. We're not looking down on you for being a silent partner. We're excited to have silent partners. I'm telling you, of all the things that have been happening in our church, the things that make me the most excited is having new soul winners, having new people show up. That makes me so excited. And in twenty twenty five, having three soul winners. There's been three months so far. Not even really. Just basically two in a few days. We're in our third month of the year and we've had our third soul winner get their first ever salvation. That excites me. That fires me up. Why? Because I'm motivated by love and you guys are motivated by love. And we're excited that we're out there loving people and getting them saved. And I'm excited to see my brothers and sisters in Christ preaching the gospel. Look, we need to be disciples. We need to be better ones. You already are. If you're not, you need to become one. How are we doing that? Love your brethren. Deny self. Continue in the word of God. Be a fisher of men. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word and thank you for the instructions we find therein. I just pray that you would help us all to make the decision to become a disciple. Not wait for a feeling or motivation, but just say, you know what? I'm going to do the things that I need to do to follow Jesus Christ. I pray that you'd help us to encourage each other along the way. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. For our last hymn this evening, if you'll grab your hymnals, turn to 170. Hymn number 170, 170. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hymn number 170, 170. Hallelujah, what a Savior. We'll sing there right on the first. Man of sorrows, what a name For the Son of God who came Ruined sinners to reclaim Hallelujah, what a Savior Bearing shame and stopping fruit In my place, the tempt he stood Sealed my garden with his blood Hallelujah, what a Savior Guilty, vile, and helpless King Spotless Lamb of God was he Full atonement, can it be Hallelujah, what a Savior Lifted up was he to die It is finished was his cry Now in heaven exalted high Hallelujah, what a Savior When he comes our glorious King All his ransom home to bring Then a new his song will sing Hallelujah, what a Savior