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

I'm going to get back to Acts chapter 5, but if you would turn back to Hebrews chapter 11 toward the end of your Bible, Hebrews chapter number 11. And I'm going to give a little bit of introduction tonight. What I want to preach about tonight is having a vision. And I'm going to talk a little bit about what that vision is. But first of all, I want to establish why we need to have a vision. And Hebrews chapter 11 is what's commonly known as the faith chapter. And it's in the chapter that just every verse is talking about what people did by faith, by faith, and it explains what faith is. Look at Hebrews 11 and 1. The Bible says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So faith is seeing that which is not seen, seeing the invisible. Look at verse number 2. It says, provide the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are what? Seen, were not made of things which do appear. Look at verse 7. It says, By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen, as yet moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteous, was by faith. Jump down to verse 23. It says, By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, and look at this next phrase, because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Let me interject here. At this time in his life, the Bible says he went out and saw his brethren's birds. He saw something there, and it says in verse number 25, Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Faith is seeing something that you can't physically see with your eyes. It's seeing the invisible. It's the evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things not seen. The Bible says in Corinthians 5-7, For we walk by faith, not by sight. That's the opposite. He says in Proverbs 29-18, For where there is no vision the people perish, but he that keepeth the law happy is he. 1 Samuel 9-9, Before time in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come and let us go to the seer, for he that is now called a prophet was before time called a seer. Because faith is all about having a vision of something that you can't see. It's about having a vision of something that's not apparent to other people. And the man was called a seer in the Old Testament, the preacher, the prophet. He was called a seer because he saw something that other people didn't see. Not with the human eye, but with the eyes of faith. That's what faith is. Go back to Acts 5. I want to give you a vision tonight. And the title of my sermon is this. A vision for soul winning. A vision for soul winning. That vision is found in Acts 5. And I want to share that vision with your church tonight here at Verity Baptist Church. It says in verse 27, And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name? And behold, and this is the part I want to focus on, You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We have to obey God rather than men. Look at verse 42. It says, And daily in the temple, here's the part I want to focus on in this verse, And in every house they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. Let me tell you, this is my vision right here at Verity Baptist Church. That's the vision. You might see a map. You might see a couple of AAA maps that had to be ironed all the creases out and glued together and taped together. I see a vision that I had my entire life for Sacramento, CA, That every single person in Sacramento would hear a clear presentation of the Gospel from a spirit-filled soul winner with the Spirit of God upon him and the Word of God in his hand. That's my vision right there. That's the vision tonight. Not filling Jerusalem with your doctrine, but filling Sacramento with your doctrine. That's the vision. The vision of daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ is a vision that I've had my entire life. I'm not going to carry out that vision, but let me tell you something. Verity Baptist Church will carry out that vision. I don't say that they might. It's a great blessing to me to know, being this my hometown, I've come into contact with so many people. I've been to school here. I've been to all different schools. I've had friends. I've worked different jobs. It's just a blessing to me to know that my old friends and my old loved ones and just the people that I've come in contact with my whole life in this city. Hey, somebody's going to knock that door. Somebody cares. Somebody loves them. Somebody's going to bring them the Gospel. Is that your vision tonight? That's my vision tonight. I want to share that vision with you of filling Sacramento with your doctrine, of daily in the temple and in every house. But before I elaborate on that, let me say this. I'm talking about real soul winning, not a cheap substitute. And there are all kinds of cheap substitutes out there. Everybody's got a new cute idea for how we're going to reach the world with the Gospel today. And everybody's got all these new methods and these new ideas, and they've got ideas that would say that it's going to be done through advertising. And I'm not against getting the word out about the church. Hey, get the word out there. But let me tell you something. It's going to be done by preaching. And today, people, they don't want to go out and just do the simple things that God has told us to do. It's not complicated. It's simple. You open the Bible and you walk up to somebody and you show them how to be safe. One on one, straight out of the Bible. What could be said? You say, how can that not work? Oh, it totally does work. Of course it works. When you love somebody and you open the Bible and show them how to be safe. When you knock the door of somebody, you just say, hey, do you know for sure if you die today, you go out and open the Bible and show them how to be safe. But everybody wants to just go out and hang a door hanger. Yeah, come on. That's true. Good. Yes, sir. You know what I mean? And this is where the rubber meets the road tonight. They want to just hang a door hanger. Oh, we're going to go out and pass out tracks. That's not what I see here. I see in the Bible, you know, go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every preacher. One of my favorite verses in Ephesians chapter 6, you don't have to turn there, but it says, and for me, he said, praying always with prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. He's saying, you know, pray for the saints. Pray for those who are safe. And he said, pray for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, wherein I am an ambassador and bond that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. He didn't say, hey, pray for me that I can go hand out door hangers. And I love what a guy said. A guy visited our church from Australia, and he said that he was trying to do a lot of soul in his church. He mentioned that a lot of people just wanted to sneak up to the door, creep up there, and just leave something and run away. And here's what he said, and this just hit the nail on the head for me. He said, hey, I've got an Australia post for that. He said, that's what the mailman's for. You know what I mean? And the mailman doesn't have to be filled with the Spirit of God, my friend. You know, the mailman doesn't have to know the Bible. The mailman doesn't have to be a spiritual person, and he could pay the mailman to go hand stuff out. You know what I mean? And you could even probably build a machine today. You could build a little robot that would go... You know what? But a robot's not going to preach the Gospel with a tear in the eye and filled with the Spirit of God. Hey, that is what God has called us to do over and over again. The Bible teaches that we need to open our mouth and preach the Gospel, get people safe. He said in Acts 20-20, and a lot of people have called this, you know, have a 20-20 vision. Acts 20-20 says this, And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house. He goes on to say, I'm free from the blood of all men. You know, I've preached the Gospel in every house. I've preached the Word. Now go to Matthew chapter 9 today. Matthew chapter 9. And I want to get into more on this. You see, God's not looking for a multitude. And I want to show you that it's not a huge group of people that's really needed to make this vision become a reality. It's not a multitude. God doesn't need a multitude to accomplish this goal. He just needs a group of people that have a vision. And I'm going to prove that to you from the book of Matthew. My favorite part of the Bible is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The four Gospels to me are the heart of the Bible. I feel like everything before them is just pointing unto Jesus Christ. Everything after them is just explaining and expounding what happened. To me, this is the heart of the Bible here. And in Matthew 9 verse 36 it says this, But when he saw, this is Jesus Christ, when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith the unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. But wait a minute. Look at the next verse. I need to turn there one second. Matthew 10, 1. He said, the laborers are few. Pray that God will send laborers. But he says in verse number 1, what he called unto him is what? Twelve. Twelve disciples. Twelve. Twelve disciples. That's who he sent out to preach. But he gave him power. He sent him out to preach the word of God. He looked at the multitude and he saw a bunch of people that were sheep having no shepherd. And he said, man, the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into the harvest. He said, these twelve is who I'm going to send. Twelve people. Are there twelve people in this room tonight? Are there twelve people in Verity Baptist Church? These are the twelve men, eleven men, one of them will be replaced. The Bible says they turned the world upside down. The Bible says they filled Jerusalem with their doctrine. It's not a multitude that we need. We just need laborers. We just need the people that we do have to be laborers. A lot of people look at the church and say, wow, we just have more people in the church. We just need the people that are in the church to be laborers. These people were already in church. The multitude was gathered to hear Jesus preach. He looked on them and said, boy, I wish we had an even bigger crowd. Then we could have the Houston Astrodome to put everybody in. No, he didn't. He said, you know, man, I just wish that we would get some laborers. I mean, okay, it's great that we have a multitude of people. Of course these people are here today and gone tomorrow. Of course these people are going to be all dispersed and scattered abroad. But, he said, we need laborers. He had twelve. Go, if you would, to chapter eight. You're in chapter ten. I'm going to show you some things in chapters eight, nine, and ten. It says in Matthew 8-18, Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. He's basically forsaking the multitude here. He's leaving the multitude. He saw all these multitudes around. He said, you know, I'm just going to go to the other side. I'm actually getting away from these people. And it says in verse 19, A certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. Now, I don't see Jesus begging this guy to follow him. He's not begging. He basically tells him, Hey, I'm going to follow you everywhere. He said, well, let me tell you, it's not going to be maybe a walk in the park because I don't even know where I'm going to sleep tonight. He said, the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. I don't even know where I'm sleeping tonight. And that guy basically didn't come with him. And then he goes on in verse number 21. It says, another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father, but Jesus said unto him, Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead. And when he was entered into his ship, his disciples followed him. You get the context. It's talking about the 12 disciples. That's who followed him. You know, other people, there were some other people that were kind of a poser or faker. They kind of wanted to be in that crowd, but they couldn't take the heat. They didn't want to do the work. And God is showing us here. It's not that he was just trying to get a bunch of multitudes around him. He's trying to get people around him to really love God. He really wanted to serve God. He really wanted to do something for God. It says in verse 9, or I'm sorry, chapter 9, Matthew 9. It says in verse 8, this is just after Jesus had healed a man. It says in verse 8, when the multitudes saw it, so they saw this miracle that Jesus did. When the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. Look at verse 9. And as Jesus passed forth from this, he saw what? A man. He saw a man. You know, it's not like multitudes and everything, but he's focused on a man. And it says he saw a man named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. One man. Twelve men. Look if you would at Luke. Go to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Let me just say this. Luke chapter 9 is basically a parallel of Matthew 10. Do you know what that means, a parallel? Basically, the story of Jesus Christ is told four different times. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. It's the same story, told from four different angles. And so, Luke 9 is basically parallel with Matthew 10, where he sends out the twelve. He basically says, you know, that the harvest is plenty, the labor is few. He sends out his twelve disciples to go out and preach the gospel. Well, Luke 10 is actually after that. And it says in verse 1, After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy. So now the number is gone from twelve to seventy. He said, The Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto him, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. He's saying the same thing again to the seventy. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. He sent out twelve. He sent out seventy. You know, seventy is not really a huge number. Twelve is not really a huge number. Seventy people is not a multitude. God doesn't need a multitude. He needs twelve laborers. He needs seventy laborers. That's who he used. That's who he did his work. Ezekiel 22, you don't have to try that. It says, And I sought for a man. Guys, I'm looking for a man. I sought for a man. And of course, he's also looking for ladies. And the Bible is very clear about that. I love what Paul said, because a lot of people think, well, that's just for the man, you know. But you know, I love what Paul said when he said, I beseech you, Odious, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel. With Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. I love what it says in Acts chapter 2, when of course, God's power was so evident at the day of Pentecost, and Peter stood up and said, This is that which was prophesied by the prophet Joel, when he said, It shall come to pass in the last days, sayeth God, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. He said, Your young man shall prophesy, your old man shall grieve. He said, Upon the servants and upon the handmaidens will I pour out of my Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I don't believe in women preaching behind the pulpit, I believe in women keeping silence in the church, that's what the Bible says over and over. But you know what? Ladies can be used of God to preach the Word, to preach to God, to give people safe. Not in the church, not behind the pulpit, not if you're doing what I'm doing. But you know, going out and winning souls to Christ, going out and one-on-one preaching the gospel. And you know what? That's a lot greater than what I'm doing up here right now anyway. Not every man in this room is going to get behind the pulpit and preach in their lifetime. Not every lady in this room, hopefully, will ever, you know... But you know what? Let me tell you something. Every man in this room, any man in this room, any lady in this room can win someone to Christ. Can open their Bible. You say, I'm not a public speaker. I'm not asking you to be a public speaker. I'm asking you to be a private speaker. I'm asking you to open your Bible to one person and show that person the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what? You say, well, I don't know how. If you're saved, you know how to get saved. And you know what? The only verse you need to be able to find is John 3.16. And I use a lot more verses than that, not so many. But you know what? If you know John 3.16, then use John 3.16. And John 3.18. And John 3.36. Show somebody how to be saved and learn more and do better. But do something. Be a laborer. You know, I think of the word laborer. You don't think of somebody sitting in a cubicle. You know, if I say, well, I'm a laborer. Do you picture me in a cubicle? And I'm not against being in a cubicle, but that's not called labor. You know, that's a different... If I said I'm a laborer, you'd probably picture somebody out digging a ditch somewhere. Or somebody out doing back-breaking manual work. The other thing that comes to mind when we hear the word labor is a woman in labor. That's pain. That's hard work. That's toil. This isn't a light-duty job today. It's hard work. And he said we need laborers, but there are few. But that's okay. I'll give them power, and they'll fill Jerusalem with my doctrine. That's okay. Well, they'll be filled with the Spirit of God, and they'll preach the Gospel to every creature. Now, in Joshua 23... Turn, if you would, to Acts 1. Because we're going to deal with the critics of soul-winning. You know, there are many critics. Any time... You know, I remember when Paul said, Boy, a great door is opened unto me, and effectual, and there are many adversaries. You know, any time God's opened a great door... Any time a man here... And let me tell you something. Pastor Jimenez has a vision. Any time there's a man that has a vision that's doing a great work for God, there are going to be many adversaries. There are going to be many naysayers. I've been attacked, you know, through the years, just in the short time, five and a half years that I've passed. I've been attacked and run through the ringer. You know what? It's going to happen. Because, yea, in all that will live godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution. And you know, Brother Jimenez is going to suffer persecution. Brother Jimenez is going to be attacked. And there are going to be the naysayers who will give the thumbs down unto soul-winning. You know, there will be the naysayers and the people who will try to say soul-winning doesn't work. And they'll throw the wet blanket on soul-winning. And it's always going to be that way. And that's who I'm going to deal with tonight here in Acts chapter 1 in verse 14. I love the book of Acts. Acts chapter 1 verse 14, it says, These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women, and married the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of names together were about 120. And I'm not going to focus on what he said tonight, but let me ask you something. How many disciples were in the early church in Acts 1? Call it out to me nice and loud. Everybody's afraid to talk tonight. Come on, how many? 120! So let me ask you this. Where was everybody else? Now, it says here that this is including, very clear, this is including the women. This is including Mary. This is including Jesus' four half-brothers. This is including woman and man alike, the early church. These are the same people that are about to be endued with power from on high and preached at the day of Pentecost. How many of them were there? 120. Now this is what the critics of soul-winning are going to say tonight. Well, where are all these people that you won to Christ? I don't think they really got saved because they're not at church tonight. They must not really be saved. They didn't get baptized. Well, you know what? There's a church of Christ down the street, and they believe that you have to be baptized to be saved. You may want to go down there tonight and join that religion. If you think somebody has to get baptized to join the church, I don't believe in seven steps to salvation tonight. I believe in one step. Believe I'm the Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved in the house. And so the critics of soul-winning will inevitably say, where are all these people that you won to Christ? Soul-winning is a fraud. That's what they'll say. Now let me say this. The greatest man who's ever walked on the face of this earth, outside of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who was God in the flesh, Jesus said that the greatest man who ever walked the earth was who? John the Baptist. John the Baptist. Now let me ask you something. Didn't John the Baptist get a lot of people saved? Amen. He baptized multitudes, the Bible says. Multitudes. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and the region round about Jordan and they came and were baptized of him and Jordan, confessing their sins. You remember when Jesus Christ in John 3, it was said of John the Baptist that he made him baptized more disciples than John. Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples. So John the Baptist had a ton of people saved and baptized and then Jesus and his apostles came along and they had far more saved and baptized. Multitudes. Thousands. I mean thousands upon thousands upon thousands. But wait a minute. Only 120 of them were really saved. Do you really expect me to believe that? No sir. So 90 some percent of all the people that John the Baptist baptized, they weren't really saved. None of the people Jesus. It was just those 120 who were in church that were really saved. But that's the garbage that's being preached today in independent Baptist churches. Well it's only the ones who really get in church and stay in church and endure until the end. They're the only ones who really got saved. Well that means that John the Baptist was the biggest fraud then. Because all his converts, you know, they didn't pan out. And Jesus' converts and the apostles for three and a half years of Jesus' ministry and at six months of John the Baptist, for four years these great men, John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ had multitudes and thousands and tens of thousands of people saved. And yet in that early church when the going got rough, there were only 120 people in that church period. And people are looking at a church that has 120 people in it today, they look at that church and say, Oh they're lying. They didn't get those people saved. Those people didn't really get saved. Now look, if somebody believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they're saved. That's right. I mean if we can't rely on that, then none of us can even be sure that we're saved. That's the promise I'm relying on. That's right. Amen. Now look, are there people out there who think they're saved and they're not? Oh yeah. There are a lot of people out there. And it's because they're trusting in their own works. It's because they're trusting in self-reformation. It's because they're trusting in, you know, I have joined the church, been baptized, or I quit this sin, or I was willing to quit this sin. You know, they're trusting in their own works tonight. And they think they're saved and they're not. And many will say unto Jesus Christ in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then, while I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me that work iniquity. There are a lot of people today that are relying on their works. You say, how do you know that every single person that you talk to out on soul wedding really got saved? I don't. The only person I really know is saved is the person that you're looking at right here. You know, I know I'm saved. But I do know this. I get on my knees and pray that God will lead me to those who want to hear the gospel. I do know this. I open my Bible and very thoroughly go through scripture after scripture after scripture and preach the gospel and ask that person questions that they understand and dialogue with that person and try to get that person to understand the gospel. And when they say, hey, I believe that. I believe it's all through Jesus Christ. I believe he's the only way to heaven. I believe that once I'm saved, and by the way, this is something I emphasize on someone, that I can't lose myself. Because it's eternal life. It's everlasting life. You know, hey, I believe that. I believe. Well, okay. Well, call upon the name of the Lord right now and be saved if you believe that you are. But that person didn't really get saved. Then God saved and called upon the name of the Lord and believed in their heart that God raised him from the dead. No doubt about it. Now, somebody could lie to me. Somebody could be a Judas Iscariot. You know, Jesus had a phony in his church, you know, that was not saved. The Bible says he didn't believe on him. Judas Iscariot didn't believe on Christ. You know, they're going to be the tares among the weak. But you know what? If we're going out and really being thorough, that's really the problem with a lot of souls, you know, not being thorough. Be thorough and really preach it unto them and make sure they really understand it and they believe it, you know, they're saved. Otherwise, you know, who is saved, my friend? And so the critics of soul when they need to read Acts 1, 14 and 15 and rethink this thing that says, everybody who's saved is going to go to Verity Baptist Church, you know. And by the way, I say this to a lot of the critics. I say, well, do you want to go to my church? No. Are you saved? Yeah. Well then, apparently, everybody who's saved doesn't want to go to Faithful Word Baptist Church. And everybody who's saved doesn't want to go to Verity Baptist Church. Maybe it's some of the things that are preached at Verity Baptist Church that some people just can't handle. Exactly. You know, but does that mean that they're not saved? Anybody who can't, you know, hang in here with this radical, you know, they're not really saved. That's garbage. All you got to do is believe on Jesus Christ to be saved and truly trust Him alone as Savior. That's what John 3.16 says. That's what John 3.18, John 3.36, John 5.42, John 6.47, John 10. Where do you want to stop with this? It's the message of the Bible. Now turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Because that was just to silence the critics of soul winning. Who claimed, you know, where are all these people? And here's what people say, soul winning don't work. And here's what I say to them, you don't work. That's what I came up with recently. Because I have people say, well, soul winning doesn't work. I've decided that every time somebody says to me, soul winning doesn't work, I'm going to say, no, you don't work. Because the people who say soul winning doesn't work, they're the ones just not doing the work. Because if you do the work, it works. And here's the thing, they say it doesn't work because I went out with soul winning and my church didn't develop into this mass multitude. I didn't become the next Joel Osteen. Well, hold on a second. What's the purpose of soul winning? Is it to build the church? I don't believe so. You're going to be shocked when I tell you what the purpose of soul winning is. It's to get people saved. So if I go soul winning and somebody got saved, it worked. Now if it worked for building a church, everybody would be doing it who wanted to have a big church. But see, if you want to build a church, it's not built through soul winning, it's built through a rock concert. You know, I mean, you really just want to get the crowd going. I mean, we could have people, I mean, we got a full house tonight, I mean, it's pretty packed. But we could have people hanging off the balcony. If we brought in, you know, Amy Grunt or Sandy Fatty, you know, one of these Christian rockers to jam for Jesus. Man, we could pack this place out. And we could bring in, you know, Benny Hinn and we pack it up. We could bring in, you know, Joel Osteen and Rick Warren and Billy Graham, Billy Balaam, Billy Bassett, whatever's in it. We could bring in whoever we want to get a crowd. But I'll tell you how I go soul winning, it's just to get people saved. Because my Bible says that Jesus Christ and upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of El Shannah prevail against it. He didn't tell me to build a church. I don't know how to build a church. I just know how to open the Bible and get somebody saved. I know how to get up and preach the Bible. I don't know how to build a church. God builds the church, except the Lord built the house, they labor in vain. And the people are out trying to build that church, they're laboring in vain. They're wasting their time when they ought to be out winning souls to Christ. That's what God told us to do. He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. He didn't say, go build a church. You know, go build a multitude. We got plenty of multitudes today that have no vision. We got plenty of multitudes today, but no laborers. A few laborers. I'd rather have 12 laborers than a multitude floating around like sheep that don't even have a shepherd. I'd rather have 70 laborers. It says in 2 Corinthians 4, you say, why is this so important? Because if we don't do it, no one will. Now look, I'm not saying that there's not other churches out there that are winning souls, but you better get this in your mind. I'm going to explain this further right now. If we don't do it, no one will. And I'm going to back that up here, not in this chapter but in the next one. But look at 2 Corinthians 4, it says in verse 3, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Hey, the people who suffer if we don't win souls, the people who suffer if we don't get this vision right here, the people who suffer are the ones who don't hear the gospel. They're the ones who are going to hell. I'm going to heaven no matter what happens. You know what I mean? I've got eternal life. I'm saved. I'm born again, child of God. I can't lose myself. No matter what happens, I'm going to heaven. It's no skin off my back, but if our gospel is hid, it's hid to the lost. It's hid to your neighbors. It's hid to Citrus Heights. It's hid to Sacramento. It's hid to Pharaohs. It's hid to Natomas. It's hid to West Sacramento. It's hid to the lost. And the God of this world, it says in verse 4, In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. He said that light could shine unto them. But if we'll hide it under a bushel, it's hid to them that are lost. They're not going to get it. They're missing out. They lose. I'm going to heaven. I'm saved. I bet you most of the people in the room tonight are saved. I'm sure they're probably a very small minority here tonight. A few people who don't believe on Jesus Christ, who are not saved. And that's fine. There are always people in church that come to church and they're not saved. But you know what? The vast majority tonight, maybe everybody's saved. I hope you're saved tonight. If not, then talk to somebody and get saved. But the bottom line is, most people here tonight are saved. The vast majority are saved. Because we're in church. And a lot of churches, of course, are filled with unsaved people. But this kind of a church, and these kind of people, I know a lot of people in the air. Brother Jimenez knows the rest. I mean, we're preaching to the saved tonight. We're saved. You know what? Is that going to be the attitude, though? Well, I'm going to heaven to hell with everybody else. You know what I mean? I'm sorry. That's not my attitude. If our gospel is hid, it's hid to the lost, they're going to hell tonight. And somebody needs to bring them the good news that Jesus paid it all. That it's a free gift. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And many are trying to earn it. They're trying to work at it. And they just need to trust Christ as Savior. And they're the ones who are blinded. They're the ones who lose tonight if we don't get this vision. If we don't get a vision, they're going to continue to be blinded by the God of this world. And we need to shine the light of the glorious gospel. And it's the Word. The faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We need to preach the Word. And bring the Bible. Bring the Bible out of soul winning. And use the Bible. You know, I've got a lot of neat little illustrations and cute little things I show people. You know, to try to explain them how to be saved. And I've got illustrations about, you know, you're in court and you're going to jail. You know, you try to explain everything. And it's a gift. I give you my Bible. But you know what? This is where the power is. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Last place I want to turn tonight. 1 Corinthians chapter number 3. 1 Corinthians 3. I want this to really hit home tonight. Because I want to back up what I said a moment ago. When I said, if we don't do it, no one will. That's what I want to back up right now. See, I have plenty of people doing it. I'm going to back that up right now that if we don't do it, no one will. In a couple different ways. But look at 1 Corinthians 3, 4. It says, For while one sayeth I am of Paul, and another I am of Paulus, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? And this is the key. But ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. So then, neither is he that... I'm sorry, verse 6. I planted Apollos' water, but God gave the increase. So that neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Hey, look at me tonight. I'm not much. You know, who's Steven Anderson tonight? Who's Roger Ximenez? Who are we? We're nobody. But you know what? We're ministers by whom others can believe. He said it doesn't matter whether it's him or me or whoever. We can be used by God. What I think he's trying to say there when he says, Who is Paul? Who is Paul? I think he's just saying, I'm not any different than you are. That's right. You think I'm just some special person? Hey, we were doing this when we were teenagers. I was taking him out soul winning. When he was 16 years old, I showed him the ropes. I was taking him out soul winning. We were out doing this, and nobody looked at us in those days. I don't think anybody even looks at us now and thinks that we're anybody special. Oh wow. Brother Ximenez has left the building. The bottom line is, hey, we're just people who are laborers. We just work. We just want to get people saved. Look at this. It says, Ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave their man. I'm not going to turn there, but in 2 Corinthians 5 it talks about how God has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. We beg people to be reconciled to God, to believe on Jesus Christ, to be justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. But the Bible says here, Ministers by whom ye believed, even as God gave every man. Now stop and think about that. Did God give every man a minister by whom they might believe? According to that verse? Is that what it says? Slow down tonight and let's just stop and look at this verse. Who then is Paul, verse 5, and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. Am I reading that wrong? Or did God give every man ministers by whom they might believe? Somebody preached me the Gospel. I remember, and I'm sure I heard the Gospel many times, because I grew up in an independent, fundamental Baptist church. I remember just right at the time that I got saved though, as a six year old boy, you know, my mother was the one who opened the Bible unto me and showed me John 5.24 Verily, verily I say to you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death into life. And she showed me a lot of other scriptures, and I, you know, right there called upon the name of the Lord, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, believed Christ as my Savior. You know, I could look to my mom and say, you know what, that was a minister by whom I believed. Minister just means a servant. Somebody's serving God, somebody's preaching to God. You know, you could stand up tonight and say, you know, hey, this is who gave me the Gospel. You know, and somebody knocked on my door. You know, or somebody took me aside at church or whatever. You know, and gave me the Gospel and won me a Christ. And basically everybody who got saved, you know, somebody had to give them the Gospel. You know, how shall they hear without a preacher? You know, and the Ethiopian eunuch, man, he was reading the Bible over and over again. He didn't get it, and he said, you know, how can I accept some man should guide me? And he needed Philip to be that minister by whom he might believe. But let me ask you something. I know God gave every man a minister by whom they might believe, but does every person in this world hear a clear presentation of the Gospel? No. Has every person in Sacramento, California, heard a clear presentation of the Gospel? No. So that tells me that God's got a plan for you to go talk to somebody and you're not doing it. Right. Amen. You're that minister by whom so-and-so might believe, but you're not there. You're not doing it. You have failed to reach those who... See, the Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and the not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. He has works ordained that we might walk in those works and do those works. But you know what? We should walk in them, but do we always walk in them? No. And they lose when the Gospel's hid under them laws. And if we don't do it, nobody will. And you say, Well, there's all kinds of independent fundamental Baptist churches and other churches that preach the Gospel in Sacramento, California. But you know what? How many of you live in this city, in this area? Put up your hand. And how many of you would say, I live in this area and I haven't had anybody come and knock on my door lately and give me a clear presentation of the Gospel. You know what I mean? Because I'll tell you right now, there are a lot of churches that dabble in this. It's true. I'm from Phoenix. And in Phoenix, where I live, there are a lot of good churches. And I've counted about 11 churches in the Phoenix area that I would say, You know what? That's a good church. And I don't know all, see all. I'm sure there are probably churches in the Phoenix area. I live in a city of 4 million people. It's about twice as big as Sacramento in size and in population. It's a pretty big city. I don't know every church. But I can identify about 11 within an hour radius, just that I know of, that I would say, Hey, they've got the right plan of salvation. They've got the right Bible. I don't agree with everything that they do or whatever. I may not like everything about them. But you know what? I praise God for them because they preach the Gospel. They've got the King James Bible only. And they're in the ballpark, my friend. And I would recommend if somebody didn't want to make the drive on the faith-bored Baptist church, say, Hey, well, there's one over in your neck of the woods. Here's a good one. I can think of 11 like that. But out of those 11, I'll tell you right now, they vary in degrees of really doing any serious soul winning. You know what I mean? Some of them just kind of dip their toe into the waters of soul winning. And maybe they knock a few doors. And maybe just be a few little dots on the map. And maybe they're going out. Maybe they're putting in their little 59 minutes and 59 seconds a week and checking it off. You know what I mean? And by the way, there's nothing in the Bible that says that that's some kind of a limitation. That's right. And you know what? Let me tell you about my friend Roger Jimenez here, Pastor Jimenez. We started out soul winning in a fundamental Baptist church here in Sacramento many, you know, nine years ago, ten years ago. And I'd been soul winning before that, but I'm saying, you know, that's when we start going together. He'd been before that, I'd been before that. But nine years ago, he and I teamed up and started doing a lot of soul winning together. And boy, everybody just went for 59 minutes and 59 seconds. You know, everybody. And it was just like, that was just some kind of a psychological barrier there. And I remember one time my wife went out of town because I was newly married in those days. And I said to Roger, I said, you know, and that's when he was Roger in those days, now he's Pastor Jimenez. But, you know, in those days I said, hey Roger, I said, why one hour? If one is good, two is better. And I said to him, let's just go all day. Let's just try it. Let's just see. And he was just like, wow, really? You know, because we're just thinking in these strange new terms of just doing more than an hour. And I mean, it sounds funny, but, you know, that's just how we thought. You get these limitations in your mind. And I remember I just said to him, let's just go all day. We spent that first Saturday that we did that. We spent eight hours outsold one another. And you're going to be shocked, but we had more people saved. Yeah, come on. Than when we only went for one hour. And, you know, obviously that's a lot. I'm not saying, you know, go for eight hours every day or eight hours every week. You know, obviously you've got other responsibilities in life. That's not what I'm saying tonight. You know, because the next Saturday we only did six, you know. And after that we only did like four a week. You know, that's what we did for a long time. Four, and we'd compete and say like, you know, we got to, we weren't competing, I'm sorry. We'd motivate each other loud. We got to hit four this week. Have you done your four? You know, three and a half, you know. It was just kind of a thing where we would just motivate each other and build each other up to try to hit that four. Four hours, four hours. No, that was just a number we picked. We just picked four hours. Because we just thought four was better than one. And you know what, I still think four is better than one. And so we would do that. And we would go out and we would win souls and push the next level. I'll tell you right now, most churches would not have this vision. They might have a vision that's like this, you know. Or they might have a vision like this or like this, you know. But I'll tell you something. Is this your vision? You know, this is my, I mean, Pastor Jimenez, is this your vision? That's the vision, you know what I mean? Why do we think small? Why not think big? Hey, I'm not going to rely on some church in Citrus Heights to do it. There's some church in West Sac and there could be a great church in Citrus Heights and a great church in Sac. I'm not going to rely on them to do it. Hey, I would say let's just do it. Let's just us do it. Then we know it's going to get there, you know what I mean? And hey, if it gets done twice, praise God. So what if there's some other church doing it? So what if there's a great church in other, and I'm sure there are, like I said. And I'm not saying that they're not out, you know. Hey, I hope that there are other churches in Sacramento that are going nuts with soul in it. I'm not saying they're not. And you know, you here tonight, you might go to a great church and I'm not down on your church. And you might have the same vision tonight. You know, but this vision in a man is rare. This vision here, and this is his vision. I've talked to him about it. He thinks big because we've got to fill in the gap today because if we don't do it, it's not going to get done. And I'll tell you right now, I don't know Sacramento as well as I know Phoenix, but I know in Phoenix if we don't do it, it's not going to get done. So let's do it. But let me just prove to you even further, and I'm going to close the Bible now and just give you one final closing thought here. I want to further support what I said, if we don't do it, it's not going to get done. You know, I love math, and I've got a little mathematical equation here to expound to you tonight. And you probably know what exponents are. Have you heard of exponents? You know, whatever. You may not know what they are, but that's fine. Well, I'm going to talk to you about exponents right now. And here's the thing. Let's pretend tonight that I'm the only saved person in the entire world. Now obviously that's ridiculous. You know, how many people are saved? There's millions of people that are saved in this world, right? Nobody knows the exact number. We know that it's the minority because the Bible says broad is the way that leads to destruction. I know the majority is on their way to hell tonight. But let's just pretend tonight. And in fact, forget me. Let's make it past three minutes. Let's pretend that he's the only saved person tonight, okay? Nobody in the whole world is saved except him, okay? Let's say he just gets one person saved this year in 2011. Is that a crazy goal or anything? That's pretty reasonable, right? Just like the whole year, he just gets one person saved, okay? Then how many people are going to be saved at the end of the year? One. Wait a minute. One plus one is not one. One plus one is two. Wait, exponents, I need to get a little more basic. So hey, at the end of the year there's going to be two. We start with one. Man, I don't know, this is going to take longer than I thought. The pizza's getting cold. Anyway, there's one. So at the end of the year, how many are there? Two. Okay, now we've got two. Now, boy, this is a really thriving church. Two members. Do you think anybody's really impressed? You think the other pastors in Sacramento are probably thinking, wow, I need to learn some tips. Two. Two's not that impressive, is it? After a year of labor. But let's say, you know what, we're just doing a humble... He's a humble... He's setting the bar low. Anglo. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, for those of you in the Air Force... Anyway, the bottom line is here, you'd have two. Well, guess what? What if he could just train that guy to be like him? That's right. Come on. What if he could just say, be like me. Follow me as I follow Christ. Come soul winning with me. I'll show you the ropes. Okay, and let's say they each go out and get one person saved next year. How many people are going to be saved at the end of next year? Four. Okay, I'm going to keep looking at you. You have the right answer. Four. So we start with one. Then you got somebody saved, now there's two. Well, then they each got somebody saved, now there's four. So at the end of two years, only four. At the end of three years, it's going to be eight. You know, if they could just get... If every believer, if every saint, if every born-again child of God would just get one person saved a year. A year. Okay, after three years, you're going to have eight. Then the next year, you're going to have 16. The next year, you're going to have 32. And you say, oh man, we're five years into it and 32 people. Wow, you're a failure. You're a failure. But wait a minute, is he a failure? Let's keep seeing. The sixth year, he's going to have 64. Come on. And we're going to keep doubling like that. Even if just every believer... And we only start with one believer. One believer just gets one person saved per year. Okay, at the end of ten years though, because we're going to go from 64, 128, 256. Now it's a pretty good size shirt. It's 256. 512. 1024. In ten years of just getting one person saved the whole year. Okay? So, after ten years, he's got 100... Now in the world, there's 1024 people saved. We only start with one. Well, let's continue that for the next ten years. And we go from 1024. Hey, next year, there's 2048. But this is a fast-growing church now. And not only that, we're not just packing it with a bunch of bodies. These are bona fide soul winners. Amen. These are guys that have been trained to be like him and to be a legitimate, bona fide soul winner. So this is a church of laborers. Okay? 2048. 4096. It keeps doubling. After 20 years, his church would have a million and 48,576 people in it. You didn't think so, did you, when it was going like 2, 4, 8, 16? Did you know that 20 years later, he would have a million? You know, he's out of the house at that point. Right. He's got a building at that point. So, 1,048,576 people. And remember, we always start with 1. How many people are really saved in the world? Millions. Come on. We're talking about one man with a vision. Okay? And, you know, 20 years, there would be a million and 48,576 people saved. And in 30 years, there would be 1 billion. You know, because you just keep doubling. 1 billion, 73 million, 741,824. And in 33 years, every person in the whole world would be saved. Now, we know that's never going to happen. But you know why it's never going to happen? Because every believer doesn't win one person's award per year. I mean, isn't that, you know, I'm not up here with voodoo math tonight. I'm not making stuff up here. Anybody who knows math tonight knows that what I'm saying is true. And what I'm preaching unto you tonight is the proof that if we don't do it, it's not going to get done. It's the proof. This tells me that Christians are not getting hardly anybody saved in their whole lifetime. Because even if they would just get one person saved a year, okay, let's say that we're starting with millions in 10 years, the whole world would be saved. You know, starting with the millions of... If we could just get every saved person tonight, just get somebody... And of course we know that salvation is a personal choice. You're never going to get everybody saved. And you know what? People have to believe on Jesus Christ. But you know what? I'm not saying tonight that my vision is for every person in the Sacramento area to be saved tonight. Because I know that's impossible. Because you know what? Nobody can make that choice for you. But my vision tonight and the vision of Verity Baptist Church is that every person in Sacramento would be given the choice tonight. And to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel preached in the power of the Holy Spirit by a man, woman, boy or girl, somebody would give them a clear presentation of the Gospel. Because you know what? It breaks my heart tonight that people are going to hell. But you know what breaks my heart more? Is that there are people who are going to hell who would get saved if they would hear the Gospel. And you know, that's a fact. There are people out there who would get saved if somebody would preach them the Gospel. If somebody would go. If somebody would do the work. That breaks my heart even more. Because it's one thing if somebody hears the Gospel over and over again and Verity Baptist just keeps knocking their door over and over again to where they get a sign that says, you know, no more Verity, we're not interested. You know, it would be one thing if somebody just given them the Gospel and then they go to work and their buddy at work pulls the Bible out of the lunch box and it's in the Gospel. And then they're hearing it here and they're hearing it from there and they're hearing it again and again and they reject it and they reject it and they reject it and they reject it and they go down. Now that's sad but it's not nearly as sad and the person has never even heard the Gospel. Because nobody loved him and nobody cared. And he'd say, oh I go to this other church and it's a lot more loving because the passion is so sweet to me. And he writes me a little note and puts a little smiley face and he's really a loving guy. And he doesn't raise his voice because he's screaming yell. But I'm here to tell you tonight that the love of Christ constrains us to preach the Gospel to every creature. This is love that we walk after his commandment. And the greatest commandment that he left the Great Commission was when he said, go preach to the world. Go preach the Gospel to every creature tonight, not just your buddy at work. And I want you to preach to your buddy at work. But you know what, everybody doesn't work at your work. You got to go out into the highways and hedges and knock every door. That's the only way you're going to do it brother. That's the only way you're going to get to everybody is to knock every door. And then knock it again because they weren't home the first time. And then knock it the third time. And you say it's impossible, you say it's a pipe dream, you say this little church, you got to be kidding. You know these five loaves and two fishes, this little church, meeting in a house, you're a joke. Let me tell you something, it's going to get done. Hey, 70 people could get this done in just a few years. 70 people who would be laborers. Our church is not big. I'm not going to get up here and lie to you. You know on Sunday morning we had 68 people in our morning service in Phoenix, Arizona. And you know what, our church has a revolving door in the front because we have tons of visitors there. We knock so many doors and we have tons of visitors because we're out knocking so many doors and winning souls. And we're out there bringing people in. But you know what, people can't take this kind of preaching anymore because they're so watered down. And they're so perverted by the television and everything else. So we have like a revolving door. You know our church isn't huge, we have 68 people in our church. But you know our church has knocked the doors of about 20% of our map that's like this in five years. And our map is double the size because Phoenix is double the size of Sacramento. We've done 20% in five years. That means that a small group that's really out there working. And you know I thank God for my guys that are here tonight. I put up your hand here from Faithful Word Baptist Church. Hey, these guys were out knocking the doors in Sacramento today. And these guys are the laborers, they're the workers. They're here tonight because they have a vision tonight. And I hope you have a vision tonight. Let's pray our hands in that word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your word, dear God. And we thank you for the Holy Spirit. And we thank you for the ability to go out and preach the Gospel. Even if we're not talented or a good speaker, thank you that you can use any... Who is Paul? Who is Steve Anders? Anybody, dear God, that'll yield themself unto you as a laborer. I know that you can use them. And so I pray that every person here tonight, not just a few certain people, but every person here tonight would apply this message to themself. And to get a vision. And as their eyes are closed right now, they see nothing. But, God, let them see the Gospel going out to every creature, dear God, in a vision tonight. And in Jesus' name we ask these blessings. Amen. Amen. Let me just say a few things. First of all, thank you. That's exactly what we needed to hear tonight. I just want to say something. I'm not adding anything to this sermon. The pizza's here and you guys are hungry, I'm sure. I'm not adding anything to this sermon. That's exactly what we need to hear. But I do want to say something. Those of you from Faithful Word and those of you from Fellowship, just stop listening to me right now because I intimately know these two churches and I know that they've got a vision. I know Pastor Mark Lewis has a vision for Vacaville. I know Brother Anderson obviously has a vision for Phoenix. So if you guys can stop listening to the rest of you, just listen to this. The Bible says in Romans 10, verse 14, verse 13 says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And in verse 15 it says, And how shall they preach except they be sent? And let me tell you something. Something about so many is this. You are just not going to do it on your own, period. You know, you say, well I listen to Pastor Anderson on the internet and thousands of people do it, praise the Lord for it. But you know what, unless you get in a church that has a vision for somebody, you're just not going to do it. The Bible says they will not go unless they're sent. And you know what, I don't know what church, you know, half the people here don't even know. I'll be honest with you. We have 19 people in the church on Sunday morning. The rest of you, I don't know where you came from. Let me tell you this. If you're in a church, you say, well I live 40 minutes away. I live two hours away. If you're not in a church that is sending you out to preach the gospel, find one. So it's a very Baptist church. It may be very Baptist. It may be 10 years old. It may be Vacaville. But you need to get yourself somewhere where you're going to have a preacher where you're going to have somebody stand up and challenge you to go soloing. If you say, I don't even understand what a sermon, what does this even mean about me? Say, don't leave here tonight without talking to me, talking to somebody to get saved. But this is what it's about. I told the church the other time, you know, we love petroglyph for the ladies and we love all these activities and we all do all these things. It's a lot of fun. But that's not what church is about. Church is about this right here. He's like, why do you want me to come to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night? So you can learn the Bible, so you can read the Bible, so you can be challenged to do this. Because this is what your reward is based on in heaven. And this is what we've been commissioned to do. So if you're, this is for our church, very Baptist church, please be labor. And we want you to be labor. Thank you Pastor Anderson so much for that.