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

The part of the chapter that I want to preach on is just the short little statement that John the Baptist makes in verse number 30 where John the Baptist says, He must increase, but I must decrease. The title of my sermon is this, I must decrease. I must decrease. Now if you would turn to Philippians chapter 2. I must decrease. Now what did John the Baptist mean by that? What was the context of him saying that? What happened was John the Baptist came on the scene and began preaching in the wilderness of Judea, baptizing many thousands and thousands of people, preaching, and for six months long he had this ministry. Everybody heard of him, everybody knew of him, everybody was coming to hear him, but what happened is Jesus came on the scene. Of course John the Baptist pointed to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world. When Jesus came on the scene, people stopped following John the Baptist, they stopped coming to hear John the Baptist, they stopped being baptized by him, and they began to follow Jesus. They began to be disciples of Jesus, and they began to be baptized by the disciples of Jesus. And he said that these people came to him and said that, you know, Jesus has baptized more disciples than John. He says, but though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples baptized. And so we saw a transfer here where John the Baptist used to have great crowds coming to hear him, no more. John the Baptist used to be the greatest preacher in the land, but no more. It was all going over to Jesus. And so he said, I told you, I'm not Christ. I'm not Jesus. And he said, he must increase, but I must decrease. That was his attitude. He didn't have an attitude that was upset about that. He said, this is exactly what I wanted to happen. I wanted to decrease so that Christ could increase. Look at Philippians chapter 2, verse 1. The Bible says, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye do like-minded, having the same love being of one accord or one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Notice that statement. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And so what I'm talking about this morning is humility. I must decrease. Paul is saying here to the Philippians that they need to be of the same mind, have the same joy, be like-minded, be in one accord, be of one mind. And he said, in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. That's a great definition of what humility is, esteeming others better than yourself. Now, I think a lot of people misunderstand that statement. And they think that that means that you think that other people are better than you. That's not what it means at all. That's not humility. That may not even be reality. You see, every person in this world is not equal. You may think that they are, but they're not. There are some people who are better Christians than others. There are some people who do more for God than others. There are some people that are more wicked and sinful than others. I mean, it's a fact of life. Anyone who would deny that is insane. I mean, it's literally out of their mind to say that everyone is the same. Everyone does the same thing for God. Everybody's as good of a Christian as everybody else. This is not true. It's madness. You say, I don't believe anybody's better than anyone else. Then why did the prophet come to Saul? Samuel the prophet came to Saul and said that the kingdom is rent from you. It's going to be given to a neighbor of thine, better than thou. Samuel told Saul, David is better than you. Now, what does it mean to be humble? It's to esteem others better than yourself. The word esteem comes from the same root word as the word estimate, estimation. Anybody who works in construction knows what it means to estimate a job, to give an estimate. It's talking about the value. It's talking about the worth of something. If I estimate a project at $10,000, I'm saying the value of that work is $10,000. Now, to esteem others better than myself. If I were, let's take David Jr. here in the front row. If I were to esteem David Jr. better than myself, it doesn't mean that I'm saying, you know what, David, you're better than me. What it does now, he may be better than me. Maybe he's not better. That's not the point. When I esteem him better than myself, it means you have more value than I do. You're more important than I am. That's what it means. So when I make decisions about how things are going to affect me, how things are going to affect you, I'm going to decide to esteem you better than myself. And so if one of us has to suffer, it's going to be me. That's what it means to esteem others better than yourself. I mean, if one of us is going to have to be a failure, it's going to be me. I want to make sure that you succeed, because you are more important than I am. It's more important that you succeed than that I succeed. It's more important that you be blessed by God than that I'm blessed by God. That's what it means to esteem others better than yourself. Look down in the Bible again. He said, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. How are you going to do that? Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. See, being concerned with the welfare of others, being concerned with the benefit of other people, not, well, I'm the most important person, my success is what's important, my prosperity is what's important, my finances are what's important. No, I'm concerned with his prosperity, his spiritual blessing, his education is more important to me than my own success. His success is more important. He's more important than me and I want him to succeed and if one of us has to fail, let it be me, not him, because he's more important than I am. That's what humility is. That's what it means to esteem others as better than yourself. Not to go around and say, oh, I think I must be the worst person in the whole world. I think everybody in this church is better than me. That's not humility. There's nowhere in the Bible that tells you to have that attitude. But let's keep reading. He says, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So who had this attitude exemplified? Jesus Christ. Did Jesus Christ think that other people were better than him? Was anybody better than him? No. And yet he had this attitude of esteeming others better than himself. Did that mean that he put himself in a delusion of thinking that everyone was better than him? No. What it means is that he esteemed others better than himself by, look down, he says, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. I mean, he was equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he did what? He humbled himself and became obedient under death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also had highly exalted him and had given him a name which above every name that at the name of Jesus, every niche about things in heaven and things on earth and things on earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus was not self-deprecating. He was not saying others were better than him, but he said, I'm going to esteem others better than myself. I'm going to make their benefit more important than my reputation. I'm going to make their success more important than my own comfort or my own pleasure or my own prosperity or success. He said, I'm going to be a servant and I'm going to be obedient to the dead. Even the death of the cross so that others might be saved. It says in Matthew 27 42, you don't have to turn there, he saved others himself he cannot save. This is what was cast in his teeth by the Pharisees and the sanctuaries who mocking him very fittingly summed up his life. He saved others himself he cannot save. How ironic that their mockery rings true today. He didn't save himself. He didn't serve himself. He didn't minister to himself. He saved others. He helped others. His life was about others. It's sacrifice of himself. And he gave us an example that we should follow in his steps. Same thing Mark 15 31. Likewise also the chief priest mocking said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others himself he cannot save. And the people stood beholding. This is Luke 23 35. And the rule is also with them. He rioted him saying he saved others. Let him save himself if he be the Christ the chosen of hell. You can't save yourself and others. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself to save others. Now why is this important? Turn if you would to Acts chapter 19. You see John the Baptist is an example of a great preacher. I mean he was the greatest man that ever walked the face of this earth according to Jesus Christ. He said among them that are born women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding the least the few of them is greater than he. He said nobody's ever been greater than John the Baptist. John the Baptist the greatest man who ever lived. John the Baptist the greatest preacher who ever lived. And he said I must decrease. I must he must increase I must decrease. I think that's where his greatness came from. Why was David the man after God's own heart? Because he was a humble man. All throughout David's life the chief attribute that comes out is humility. I mean he had his other faults. He had his other problems when he had humility. John the Baptist's greatest attribute was this verse. He must increase I must decrease. But you see many pastors and many preachers are more interested in their reputation. And that's exactly what Jesus said. He made himself of no reputation. They're more interested in their reputation than the blessing and benefit of the people who are listening to them preach. They're more interested in their increase in popularity. In their increase in financial status. In their increase in accolades and fame and fortune. But I'm here to tell you that the great preachers of this world are the ones who say he must increase I must decrease. You say well can't Jesus increase and I increase? Can't the pastor increase and Jesus can increase? No. He must increase I must. Not it will be helpful if I decrease. In order to please God I must decrease. I have to decrease. I have to go down in popularity. I have to go down in status. I have to go down in material wealth in order for Jesus Christ to be increased. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what this is teaching us. Take for example the Apostle Paul. Look at Acts 19 verse 10. And this continued by the space of two years. It's talking about Paul's ministry in Sargeras. So that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus. Both Jews and Greeks. And of course when it says Asia it's referring to modern day Turkey. Asia Minor. Peninsula. Everybody in that whole area, and it's a pretty big area, heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in those two years. Look down if you would at verse number 26. Moreover you see and hear this is the world talking about Paul. Moreover you see and hear that not alone at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia. Now they thought it was almost throughout all Asia. It was throughout all Asia. He said but almost throughout all Asia this Paul had persuaded and turned away much people. Saying that they be no gods which are made with hands. Now look at chapter 20 of verse 26. Chapter 20 verse 26. In Acts the Bible says, this is Paul again. Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am cured from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now turn to 2 Timothy chapter 1. And so he says here look, I'm cured from the blood of all men. Everybody in Asia has heard the word of God in my mouth. Every single person has at least heard the name of Jesus Christ and the fact that he died and was buried and rose again. I've preached it. I've taught it from he said publicly and from house to house in verse 20 of the same chapter. He said I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And he says I'm cured from the blood of all men. Why? Because he preached it to all men. Not just him but him and the people that he taught and trained and that were in the church with him that did the work with him that were missionaries with him. He said I've preached it to everybody. They've all heard it. And even the world said he is turning people away from false religion in this whole nation. They're being turned away from wicked false religion. And yet look at 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13. And look how Paul ended up his life. This is the last epistle that Paul ever wrote. He's writing it from a prison cell in Rome. And here he writes down at the very end of his life what he has to show for this great ministry of winning a whole nation. At least not everybody got saved of course, but at least giving the gospel to a whole nation. And many people did get saved. Look at verse 13. Hold fast, he sang to Timothy, the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which loved it. You know before we get there, back up. I just thought of something that I want to show you earlier in the chapter. Look at 1 Timothy, same chapter. Look at verse 7. Let me turn in my Bible. I was going off my outline, but I just thought of an important point here that I was leaving out. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound mind. Look what he says in verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. Now why is he saying that? He's saying to Timothy, Don't be ashamed of me. Right? Now that's pretty bad that he has to say that. I mean he's writing this to his friend saying, Don't be embarrassed to be associated with me. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel, according to the power of God. Now let's go back to where we were reading. Look at verse 15. He says, This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are by Jealous and Hermione. Now isn't that amazing? At the end of his life, even though he was the one that preached it to that whole country, even though he was the one that brought them the Gospel, that taught them everything, that got them planted, that got the churches started, he said, At this point in my life they have all turned away from me. And then he names a few of the ringleaders by Jealous and Hermione. Now let me ask you something. Were those people in Asia still going to heaven? Yes. Just because they didn't like Paul, they're still saved, right? Of course. Aren't they still... And you know what? Many of them still could have been good churches. I mean, they could have still been soul-ending churches. They still could have been great Bible-believing Christians, but they didn't like Paul. They didn't want to hear from Paul. They turned away from Paul. Why? Because it wasn't very popular to be associated with Paul. That's why he said, Don't be ashamed to be associated with me. He said, Be an affliction. Be a partaker of the affliction of the Gospel. I'm in jail. A lot of people don't want to be associated with that. A lot of people don't want to stand with me right now. They want to back down a little bit. Hey, that doesn't make them wicked people. It doesn't mean that they weren't saved and on their way to heaven. It doesn't mean that they weren't even doing anything right. Now, were they right to turn away from Paul? No. They should have stood up for him. They should have stood with this great man of God, this great preacher that had been the one that had won them to Christ and taught them what they knew and preached the Word of God to them. But they didn't. But it doesn't change the fact that Paul's labor was not in vain, what he did over there in Asia, because he still was going to get the rewards when he gets to heaven. Look at chapter 4. He still won those people of the Lord. They're still saved. They're still preaching the Gospel. They're still doing what's right. But what did he have to show for it? Nothing. Nothing. Did he get the credit for it? No. Did he have the fame for it? No. Did they invite him to come through and preach? No. Did they take care of him and help him? No. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, he's begging Timothy, would you please just send me my jacket, the cloak that I like to throw out with Karpath, when thou comest bring with thee. And the books for the best. Hey, can you bring me a book to read? Can you bring me a jacket to wear in this jail cell? Can you just help me out here? Can you not be ashamed of me? Because everybody else is turned away from me, he's saying. Look at chapter 4, verse number 1. I charge thee therefore before God of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead that is appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all armed suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they'll not endure sound doctrine. He knew that. But after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight, I finished my course, I've kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all of them also that love his appearing. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world as the pardon of Thessalonica, crescents to Galatia, Titus, and to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Now look, here's a man who decreased. He decreased. He started out his life popular. He started out his life famous. He started out his life being one of the... I mean, he profited in the Jews' religion among many his equals, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers. Galatians chapter 1. Here's a man who profited in the Jews' religion. I mean, here's a man who was financially secure. He was famous, he was doing well, but he had to decrease in order for Jesus to increase. He ends his life in jail. He ends his life with almost no friends. Luke, Timothy, a few people that were still his friends. No friends. Nobody staying up for him. Not even a jacket. I mean, that's his material wealth at this point. Not even his freedom. He's sitting in a jail cell. Because he had the same attitude that John the Baptist had. He must increase, but I must decrease. Now, sometimes a lot of people may not understand some of the things that I preach, or why I preach the way that I do. But I'm going to tell you something. If I got up here and just tickled everybody's ears and told them what they wanted to hear, that would cause me to increase. But Jesus would decrease. It's true. I mean, if I got up here and never preached the negative sermon, only preached the positive and the happy and the good and the nice, that would cause me to increase. You say, I don't believe in what? Look at Joel Osteen. There's a guy who's all positive. There's a guy who's nothing but smiles. There's a guy who won't preach anything that will offend. He won't preach anything that will make somebody mad, that will agitate or that will stir. And yet he increases and he pastors the largest church in America, if not the largest church in the world. Why? Because he wants to increase. He doesn't care that Jesus' message decreases. He doesn't care that the knowledge of God decreases. He doesn't care that salvation decreases. He just wants himself to increase. And if you don't believe that, I don't know what to tell you. Because Joel Osteen... I mean, the guy went on Larry King Live and said, I'm not going to say that people that are Muslims are going to hell. What if they don't believe in Jesus? I don't know. He said, people in India. He said, my dad went to India. And the people there, who are the Hindus, he said, they're just so sincere, they're such good people. I just don't know. I just can't see them going to hell. I just can't see it happening. I mean, they're so sincere and following their religion. They're following their religion to hell. And Joel Osteen doesn't love them and doesn't care about them and couldn't give a rip about them. And his dad neither. Neither one of them cares about those people. Neither one of them loves those people. And he doesn't love the people in his church. He doesn't love the people of America. He wants to increase himself. He wants to build up himself. Now that's an extreme example all the way over here. Let's put Joel Osteen over here, right? Mr. I want to increase, to hell with everybody else, let me increase. That's Joel Osteen. And then you come all the way down to this side. You've got John the Baptist. You've got the Apostle Paul, who says, I must decrease. Paul, what is your motto in the ministry? I must decrease. What's your motto, John the Baptist? I must decrease. That's my motto. That's my mantra. What's your life verse, John the Baptist? He must increase, but I must decrease. You see, many things, if a preacher gets up and preaches the Bible faithfully, it could cause his popularity to decrease. But what we have today is pastors who want to develop a personality cult instead of preaching the truth and being a blessing to their listener. Does anybody know what a personality cult is? A personality cult, a cult of personality, is when people come to a church not because they love the Bible, not because they love Jesus, not because they love Joel Osteen, but because they love the pastor. Right? That's what it is. I mean, it would be like people who vote for a candidate because they love that particular candidate for who he is as a person. Nothing to do with where he stands on issues. Are you listening to me? Nothing to do with where he stands on issues. Nothing to do with how he's going to lead. Nothing to do with that. A personality cult is like when people say to Bill Clinton, I voted for him because he's good looking. You remember that? There were ladies that said he's a good looking guy. I voted for him because he's good looking. A personality cult is when Christians love George W. Bush because he says, God bless you. Nuts to the fact that everything that he does is anti-God. Every position he's taken has been false and wrong. I'm sure he's done a few things right, but 90% of the time he's not against the Bible. He's not against the truth. He's not against what's right. And yet Christians lift him up and exalt him because it's like a cult of personality. They just like him. He's just such a cool guy. You know what I mean? Why did he go to that church? The pastor is just cool. I like him. He's a great guy. And it doesn't matter what he says, right? Whatever he says goes because he's George W. Bush. Because he's pastor so and so. Because he's Joel Osteen. He can do no wrong. And when you see people defending somebody who blatantly just does wrong or preaches wrong, it's just because they're just worshiping that person. That personality. You understand what I'm saying by that? And people love to be lifted up to that level. And whether it's a politician, whether it's a pastor, whatever kind of leader, they love to puff themselves up and exalt themselves and lift themselves up so that people are not pointed to Jesus. They're not pointed to the Bible. They're not pointed to someone. They're pointed to a man. And that man becomes Jesus. That man becomes their religion. That man becomes their cult following of a personality cult. Let me give you an example. When I was in Bible college, this is what I was taught. They taught us in Bible college. They said this. Don't get too close to the people in your church. You need to keep a mystique. This is what they said, mystique. You know, a little bit of an air of mystery. Like you got to keep yourself on a pedestal so that people will listen to you. You got to keep this mystique about you. In order to be a great leader, you can't let your hair down, as it were, around your people. You got to keep yourself distant. Distanced from the people because you don't want them to know what you're really like, I guess. So you got to keep this level of mystique. You got to keep yourself lifted up on a pedestal so that people will, what, worship you? Think that you're God? Think that you're Jesus? What's the point of that? I don't understand. It's funny because people have accused our church of being a personality cult. And yet anybody who's ever even been to one service here knows that nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, more than any pastor I've ever known, I'm willing to get right down on the level. I'm the most down-to-earth person you'll ever meet, almost to a fault. I've had other people accuse me of, to a fault, letting my hair down, being too casual. Anybody who's gotten together with me for lunch knows that I'm not... Is anybody intimidated by me? No. Nobody's intimidated by me. I mean, it's like sitting across the table from another one of the guys. And a lot of people criticize me for that. But you know what? I'm just, I must decrease. I'm not trying to lift myself up. And so if I'm too casual with people, if I bring myself down to the level where I can just talk to anybody and just be like a normal person like I am, I mean, am I a priest, like a Catholic priest or something? Am I a member of the clergy? A man of the cloth? No, I'm your brother. I'm not Father Anderson. I'm Brother Anderson. And you know what? We are equal. You understand that? We're not on a different playing field where I'm the boss man, and I'm this, and I'm that, and everybody needs to tremble in fear of Pastor Anderson. Hey, Pastor Anderson is just another person, another member of Faithful War Baptist Church. That's all I am. You say, who's the greatest member of Faithful War Baptist Church? You know what? Whoever does the most for God. And that may or may not be me. Maybe it's me at certain times. Maybe it's not me at other times. Maybe it's you. Maybe it's the person next to you. Who knows? But the pastor is not necessarily the greatest person in the church. The greatest person in the church is the greatest servant, according to Jesus. I mean, the same Jesus. This is how much Jesus cared about his mystique, his pedestal that he was on. He got on his knees in front of his disciples and washed their dirty feet. You want to talk about letting your hair down. You want to talk about getting personal. You want to talk about being casual. I mean, he took off his garment, got on his knees, and washed their feet. What could be more humbling than to wash another person's feet? That's humility. And yet Jesus did that. Why? Because it wasn't about him. It wasn't about just developing a following to promote him. Jesus' ministry was not about lifting up him. When he said, If I be lifted up, he wasn't talking about being put on a pedestal. He was talking about being put on a cross. He said, If I be lifted up, I'll draw an old man under me. He didn't signify what manner of death he should die. He made himself with no reputation. He didn't try to lift up his reputation. He didn't try to lift up his popularity. He didn't try to... This is how much he cared about his popularity. In John chapter 6, when the multitude departed from him, he looked at the twelve that were left and said, When you also go away, you want to go? Go ahead. He wasn't trying to build a following. He was trying to get people saved. And you know what? There were people back then that were saved who weren't following Jesus. And if you don't believe that, read the gospels again. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Because you know what? Multitudes got saved, and yet how many were really following him at the end of it all? Think about that. Don't try to tell me that everybody who was saved was following Jesus while he was on the side. You know that's not true. At first he fed the five thousand, then he fed the four thousand. He lost a thousand people right there. And you know, at the end of it all, in the book of Acts, there were 120 disciples that were still right with him. They were still following with him. But those people, and you know what? There are people today who are saved who aren't following Jesus. Believe it or not... Well, they're not following Jesus, they're not saved. No. There were people then who weren't following Jesus and were saved. There are people today who are saved, but they don't keep his commandments. They don't follow Jesus. Hey, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life. But does that mean that you love God and are following Jesus? No. You know, very few are willing to pay the price to follow Jesus. Very few are willing to pay the price to abase themselves and live for God 100% and to sell out for God. But you see, we live in a day where preachers and leaders and Christians want to elevate themselves at the expense of others instead of elevating others at the expense of themselves. You see, let me give you a perfect example of this. Early in the life of our church, there was a family in our church, and our church was very small, because we started from scratch. Barely anybody came to our church, a few people. There was a family in our church, and there was a member of this family that was not right for God, that was not saved, and that was believing in false doctrine and spreading this false doctrine. And so what I did was, I corrected the problem. In a way that made me unpopular. Because there was somebody else who left the church because of the way that I corrected the problem, and then this family left the church because of the way that I corrected the problem. But let me explain something to you. Today, that family is going to an independent, fundamental Baptist church in this town, and the person who believed wrong believes right today. They're saved, they're going to heaven, they're serving God, they're living for God in another independent, fundamental Baptist church across town, praise God. And you know what? Guess what? Ask those people if they like me today. They don't. Who cares? Does it really matter if they like me? What matters is that they're saved. What matters is that they're serving God. What matters is that they're in a soul winning church. That's what matters to me. What matters is that they're being used by God, they're trusting God, they're living for God. Why? Because I didn't care about increasing or trying to build up my church or my ministry. Hey, I wanted to do what was best for them, and that's what I did, and it served the purpose, and now they're doing better as a result. That's what it's all about. I preach things that people didn't want to hear before, but yet it's amazing how they quit the church, and then they do what I told them to do. You tell them what's wrong and they don't like it, but then they go out and change what was wrong and fix the problem. Mission accomplished, as far as I'm concerned. Praise God. Thank God. In that same year, the first year of our church was a trying time, and it's amazing because for a while we'd have a bunch of people coming, and then everybody would leave. Everybody would quit the church, but we always had Amanda and Virginia, and I remember for a long time it was Amanda and Virginia, and then we'd have visitors and everybody would come in, but the only people who actually came that we relied on that were there every service was Amanda and Virginia in those first days for a long time. But I'm going to tell you something. When the visitors would come in, and that family would come in, and those visitors would come in, guess who I was preaching to? Those visitors, because I want to get them in. No. Wrong. It made no impact. I'll tell you who I was preaching to. Amanda and Virginia is who I was preaching to. Guess who I thought about while I wrote the sermon? Amanda and Virginia. You know, and then later on Wilma was coming, and then Brother Dave, and it was just a small core of people in that first year, and guess who I was thinking about? Amanda, Virginia, Wilma, Brother Dave. That's who I thought about when I wrote the sermon. When the visitors came in, nothing changed. If the sermon was going to be mean, it stayed mean. If the sermon was going to be nice, it stayed nice. If the sermon was going to be whatever the case, it did not change. It never changes for a visitor. And I'll tell you what, isn't it amazing, guess who's still here, right? Amanda, Virginia, Wilma, Brother Dave. Thank God I wasn't preaching to the people who aren't even here anyway, right? I'm going to preach to the people. I mean, look, guess what? We have visitors, Brother Dave knows this, we have visitors that come, and they ask for money after the service, and then you know why they were really here. But it's funny, what was that, Wednesday night? And so the point is, you sit there and you think to yourself, you know, for some cause that they wanted, you know, they wanted money for some cause or whatever, and they're just going from church to, but I can see those visitors, oh man, you know, I got to change, I got to preach, I got to really awe them, I really got to wow them, I really got to preach what they need to hear. They got their hand out or whatever. I'll tell you what, I'm going to preach to the most faithful people in this church and I'm going to preach that way until I die. Amen. I'm going to preach to the people who come week after week. I'm going to preach to people who've been months and months, and you know, if a visitor comes, great, you know, get on board. But guess what? I'm not going to gear my sermon towards somebody who is not even a part of this church, period. See, I don't, I think you'd be better off to gear your sermon toward visitors, so you can increase. I'm not trying to increase. Well, so the faith for the Baptist Church can increase. I'll leave that up to God. Jesus said, upon this rock I'll build my church. And you know, don't you consider faith for the Baptist your church? It is my church. It's your church, it's my church, it's His church, it's all of our church. We belong to this church, and the head of this church is Jesus. And it's all of our church. And it's Jesus' church first and foremost. But you know what, just because it's my church and just because it's your church, does that mean that it's our job to build the church? Nope, because Jesus said, upon this rock I'll build my church. And the gates of hell should not prevail against it. And so there were times when I preached hard, and you say, oh, you ran people out. You turned people away. People didn't like it. People could have stayed. People could have learned more. They could have grown in the Lord. You know who learned more? Amanda. Virginia. Brother Dave. The people who are still here. And that's why there are so many people to cry. That's why they're still in church. They still love God. They still love the Bible. Because they heard what they needed to hear. And they grew what they needed to grow. And it's not about how big I can be. It's about how big they can be. I mean, do you see what I'm saying here? That it's not about the church growing, or me growing, or me increasing, or me being better. It's about you increasing. This sermon is not to lift me up. It's to lift you up. This sermon is not to make me a better Christian. It's to make you a better Christian. And that's what I'm thinking about when I write this sermon. Not myself. Not how it's going to affect me. I mean, many of the things I say anger people. Make people upset. Make people want to quit. Make people want to leave. That doesn't matter to me. Because the word that I preach is straight out of the Bible. And it's what they need to hear. And the people, and if you come to this church faithfully week after week, hey, you're hearing what you need to hear. Say, are you going to build the church? I don't know. Doesn't matter. You say, but wait a minute Pastor Anderson. Don't you want to be a success? No. I may as well be a failure. As long as you can succeed. As long as David Jr. here can succeed. I might as well be a failure. Because I'd rather have him succeed than me succeed. Because I'm deceiving him better than myself. I don't want to succeed if it means him failing. Because guess what? If I censor and trim the message, he will fail. You know it's true. I mean, if I cut out everything that's offensive to the world, he will not succeed. That's true. He will fail. Because he'll go out of here thinking that fornication is fine. He'll go out of here thinking that men and women living together is fine. When they're not married. He'll go out of here thinking that it's fine to associate yourself with queers. When the Bible says they that do such things are worthy of death. When the Bible says, whosoever lies with mankind as he lies with a woman have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. And see, if I don't preach that, if I join the ranks of 99% of independent fundamental Baptists across this country and refuse to preach what the Bible says, what the Bible teaches, then guess what? He is going to be a failure. He'll be like everybody else. He'll be like every other fully fundamental Baptist. He'll go out of here and start some watered down, namby-pamby, milquetoast church. But I don't care if this church grows. I don't care if this church succeeds. I don't care if I fail. I don't care if I go bankrupt. I don't care if I die. I want him to succeed, and I'm going to preach in such a way where he's going to succeed. And that means preaching all the counsel of God. That means preaching the part that's popular and the part that's unpopular. That means preaching in season and out of season. That means rebuking and recruiting that which is wrong. And whether he... He may not even like it. I think he'd like it, right? Hey, it doesn't even matter whether he likes it. It's what he needs to hear. It's not always maybe what he wants to hear. It's not always maybe what you want to hear. I mean, Amanda, is everything that I said in those early days what you wanted to hear? You're asking something. She even said it. She even said to me, like, I don't even know why it kept coming. Amen. Wait, so you know what? She did speak up. I have a funny feeling this is coming for Jesus. And there were probably some times when she didn't like me and what I was saying. But it's not about me. You know, I believe that if I were to fall over dead today, this church would continue on and grow and thrive without even missing a beat. I believe that. It's not about me. This place doesn't revolve around me. And the thing is, you say, well, what's the point, Pastor Anson? The point is that we have 25 people outsourcing every single week consistently, out knocking doors for hours. 25 people. Say, well, how big is the congregation? But who cares? 25 people are doing the work on a weekly basis. 25 people are putting in several hours a week, knocking doors. Many, many people are getting saved every single week. Every day. Every day people get saved as a result of people in this church. You know, part of that's our full-time employee that goes sold to me all day long, Brother Secchi. But you know, it's not just him and he's going with somebody every day. He's got people going with him. He's got people going separate from him. We're getting people saved every single day in this church. Yeah, but Pastor Anson, people think you're an idiot. So what? Yeah, but they think you're a fool. They think you're a moron. So what? Yeah, but people don't like you. They hate you. You don't have any pastor friends. I have like one and a half. I do. I got one that I think for sure is my friend and one that's kind of my friend. Actually, it's more like one and two quarters. They kind of add up to a half. You know, there's a 25% chance that they're my friend. I'm serious. Yeah, but people don't respect you. So what? God doesn't even respect me. God's not a respecter person. Nobody respects me. You say, what? But there's even people in this church who don't like you. So what? I don't care. I mean, if people in this church are talking bad about me, who cares? And if somebody comes to you and criticizes me, just say, you're right. For all I care. Seriously. Now, if somebody quits soul-winding, that'll make me upset. If somebody quits the church, you know, who's been with us, one of our faithful people quits the church, hey, that's going to break my heart. If somebody quits soul-winding, that's going to break my heart. If somebody quits and goes to some liberal nanny-pandy watered-down church, hey, that'll break my heart. But you know what? If somebody doesn't like me, that doesn't break my heart at all. Because it's not about... As long as you like Jesus. As long as you say, well, I don't like Pastor Aniston, but I love the Bible and I love Jesus, and Faith 4 Baptist Church is where it's preached right. It's where the Bible is preached. It's where the people go soul-winding. It's where the people love God. So I'm just going to go there in spite of Pastor Aniston. Praise God! Welcome aboard. Join the club. Who cares? It's not about me. And if you're coming to this church because of me, what's wrong with you? You need to get to know me better. Hey, let's go out to the large chapel service. I'll show you what I really like. Why don't you come move in with me for a couple weeks? You can see what I really like. But that's not the point. The point is, do you love Jesus? Do you love God? Do you love somebody? Hey, that's all that matters to me. You say, I don't like this kind of preaching. Hey, this is the preaching that gets the job done, whether you like it or not. The proof is in the pudding. This is the preaching that people need. And this is the kind of preaching I heard when I was 17, when I got right with God. And when I was in my early 20s and got right with God, this is the kind of church I was in. This is the kind of preaching I was hearing. But turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter number 12. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Look at Romans chapter 12 verse 16. And so what's the title of the sermon? I Must Decrease. John Beck said he must increase. I must decrease. If I can get somebody saved and then they're not going to like me anymore, if I can preach what a young man or a young lady needs to hear and it's going to cause them not to like me anymore, it's going to cause them to turn away from me, Paul said so be it. I fought a good fight. All day in Asia, turned away from me. But they're saved, but they're living for God, they love God. Let me ask you, what's the difference whether somebody is serving God in this church or another good church? None. Right? Now the sad thing is there aren't many good churches out there. If you want, I could lie to you and tell you that they're everywhere. I can tell you there's hundreds of them. Just in Phoenix alone. Okay, I could lie to you and tell you that's not true. But you know what? There are other good churches out there. And you know what? If somebody goes, if somebody leaves this church and goes to another good church, praise God. Praise the Lord. If somebody leaves here and goes to some namby-pamby phony church, then you know what? That's going to break my heart. And it's going to personally offend me because I'm going to feel as if I've failed to teach. I must have failed to believe. I must have failed to teach you anything if you can walk out here and go to some church that's using these modernized watered down Bibles, that's using all this contemporary rock gyrating, jam for Jesus music. You know what? If you leave here, then I've failed to teach. And if you go to that. But if you leave here and go to some good church, God bless you. Praise the Lord. Happy for you. Because it doesn't matter. It's what matters is, is Jesus increasing. Now, if you go to a bad church, Jesus decreases. You go to a good church and you're out soul winning and you're serving God. Hey, Jesus increases. But Pastor Anderson, faithful word, decreased. Pastor Anderson, you decreased. Your attendance decreased. Your offering decreased. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. It's not what it's about. Look at Romans chapter 12 verse 16. The Bible says this, Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estates. Be not wise in your own conceits. And here's what's interesting about the word condescend. In today's vernacular, the word condescend means exactly the opposite of what it means in the Bible. Isn't that interesting? I mean, it has actually come to be the exact opposite. What do you mean by that? Well, condescension in today's language, in 2008, if I were to condescend to somebody, that means I'm talking down to them. That means I'm putting myself up and talking down my nose. Oh, you. That's condescending. When I put myself above other people and talk down to them like I'm better than them. Okay. But in the Bible here, God is using it in the exact opposite way. You say, well, which one's right? What's the right definition? The Bible's definition. No, I think God's wrong. I'm going to say the Bible's in its track. Because look, condescend, yes, come down to their level, but not talking down to them. He says here, mind not high things. Don't add your head up in the clouds and your nose up in the air. He's saying, get down on the level where people are. Condescend to men of low estate. What do you think of when you think of your estate? Money. Financial saying, right? I mean, what does it mean when they're giving out the estate of someone who died? It's their money. What's real estate? Profit. Something that you own. Okay. So if someone is poor, if someone comes in and they're very poor, I should not talk down my nose to them because I have money and they're poor. Does that make sense? I need to condescend and to the poor, I need to become as poor. I need to get down on their level. And you know what? By the way, when you're talking to these unbelievers or even new believers, you'll notice some people get a very hyper-spiritual talk. It's like they can't speak without saying like, Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah, brother! God bless you! Praise the Lamb forever! You know, you've got to be able to talk to people on their own level. Not to make them feel like you're holier than they are. I'm not near to you, Brian. I'm holier than that. Look, I'm not going to go up to somebody who's out in the world and say to them, you know, Well, praise the Lord! Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! What are you doing? Get away from me! Yes, but I'm trying to show you how spiritual I am. It just oozes out of every core of my body. Every word and every intonation of my tongue oozes spirituality and godliness and righteousness and holiness. That's not what I'm trying to express to people. I'm not trying to show people. And by the way, people who put on this spiritual facade, it's because they're not real. So they have to hide behind all this kind of a facade and this act. But, you know, if I come up to somebody that's out in the world, I'm going to say, Hey, what's up, man? How you doing? Hey, how's it going? How you doing? Oh, I'm going to talk to them like I'm one of them. Now, am I going to sin in order to do that? No. I'm not going to go, you know, I'm not going to go down there and, you know, drive up to go soul winning, you know, you know, out of my car, right? I pull up on the street, get out of the car and say, you know, Hey, let me give you the gospel. You know, Oh man, now I've got street cred. That's not what I'm saying. I'm still going to obey God's laws. I'm still going to follow God's rules. But you know what? I will try to get on their levels. You know, unto the Jew, I became as a Jew, Paul said. To the Greek, I became as a Greek. To the barbarian, I became as a barbarian. You know, I mean, can you imagine Paul probably went to these barbarians and looked like a barbarian. Have you ever heard the saying, when in Rome, do as the Romans do? But look, if I'm in Rome, I'm not putting on that stupid skirt that they call home, right? Because that's against God's law to dress like a woman. But you know, in every way possible, I'm going to try to be like them. I'm going to try to fit in with them. I mean, Hey, when I was in Norway, I became as a Norwegian, you know, when I'm in Mexico, I became as a Mexican. When I was in German, I became as a German. I spoke German. I ate sauerkraut for breakfast when I was in Germany and it was disgusting. And I pretended like I liked it. You know, I mean, seriously, I was there for three months and somebody said that if you eat something 11 times, you'll begin to like it. I ate sauerkraut way more than 11 times. I still hate it. It's gross. Who likes sauerkraut? Who hates it? Okay, who likes it for breakfast? And hey, I eat chips and salsa for breakfast. I just did this week. I mean, that's like one of my favorite breakfast when I'm out of town. I'm not kidding. I stopped at the gas station. I get a bag of this and my favorite ones, yellow corn and santitas. I'm giving you this white corn, tostitos. I want santitas, yellow corn. And by the way, to this morning's story, we're sponsored by santitas. We'll try to increase our revenue a little bit. And I get the medium thick and chunky pasty cupcake. Or La Victoria is really my favorite, but it's a little hard to find sometimes. La Victoria medium thick and chunky for breakfast. But sauerkraut is where I draw the line. I don't mind having an extreme flavor in my taste buds first thing in the morning, but not sauerkraut. To me, sauerkraut tastes like it's old, like it's been left out too long or rancid. That's the way it tastes to me. And I don't like it. But when I was in Germany, every time sauerkraut was put on my plate, I cleaned my plate. Why? Because I was trying to fit in with the German in order to win the German. Trying to get that credibility. I eat some weird stuff everywhere I've gone. Norway, I didn't eat anything weird. Actually, I did eat something weird. We went to this guy's house that was from Burma. Who knows where Burma is? Myanmar is when it used to be called. We went to this Burmese man's house and he asked if we wanted to try the Burmese food. I said, sure. Bring it on. I try everything. I like to try weird things. Yeah, I try everything. Drugs, alcohol. I'm talking about food now. I'll try anything food. And so I said, sure, that sounds fun. Bring it on. And it was good. There's pork was good, rice, fish. And it's great when you get to eat fish. And when you're done, it's like the skeleton of a fish and the tail is still there. I mean, you just eat the fish. You peel it off, eat it, and you're left with that skeleton. So that was fun. But they had this one little dish of stuff. It was kind of like a salsa or something. I put a little bit of that on my food, just a tiny bit. Because it looked a little bit nasty. I put just a tiny bit on my food and it burned my mouth. So I knew it was hot. Because Indian food, you know, Indian food is really hot. Thai food is really hot. A lot of the food over there is really hot. I mean, this burned me. My lips were just burning. So I didn't finish that. But I ate the rest of it, everything on my plate, except that. Well, this guy that I was with was 17 years old named Seth. He was my sewing partner. And he was just spooning this stuff onto his plate. What are you doing? He's eating it. And the Burmese guy's looking at him like, what are you doing? Like, he said, you need to take it easy on this stuff. He said, you're going to feel it later if anything. And he's just eating it. Oh, man, this is good. What is this? What makes it so hot? And he calls his wife to show him what makes it so hot. She brings out this little pepper that was the size of a walnut, this little red pepper from Burma, the size of a walnut. And he said, this is what makes it so hot. And he said, can I try it? And he said, no. He said, just a little bite. He said, don't even take a little bite. You'll go to the hospital. He said, you can't eat it by itself. He said, there's just a little bit in that salsa. He said, you will go to the hospital. And he said, he takes a bite out of it. I'm thinking to myself, what are you doing? But I mean, he looked fine. I was waiting for something to happen, you know, from the ball in the ground or something. It was like in Acts chapter 28. It was like in Acts 28 when the snake bites Paul. Everybody's just kind of waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened. He's just eating the thing. Then on the middle part where all the seeds are, you know, that's the seeds are what really make things hot, right? He just chomped and just swallowed it. He's like, I'm fine. You know, but at one point he was kind of like, I'm fine. But he kept cool. I mean, he looked cool. I mean, he was not showing anything, but I was just watching the sweat start just pouring down his face. He was turning red and sweating. But he's like, I'm fine. No problem. Don't worry about it. He was really good at making sure that he looked fine. And then so then we left, you know, and we were continuing soloing. And I said, what was that like? He said, that was the hottest thing I've ever had in my entire life. He said, I love hot food, so I've never tasted anything like that. And he said his lips were just burning. And I couldn't believe it. But hey, that guy's got some street credibility. That guy wants to be a missionary to Burma. I'll support him. And so what's the point? Look, hey, you've got to be on people's level. But that doesn't mean we're going to compromise our standards of right and wrong. We're not going to make our church like the world. This is not barbarian Baptist church. This is not be like the world Baptist church. When you come into God's house, hey, this is God's house. We're going to make it conform to his culture. Jesus Christ, God, the Bible. But when we're out there in the world soloing, don't put yourself out of a pedestal where you're unapproachable to people or unreal to people. Just be real with them. Just be like them. You know, get down on the road. Because Paul said this, under those without law, I became as one without law. But then he's quick to add it, yet not without law to Christ. He said, I'm not going to break any of Christ's laws. But he said, if I go somewhere where the culture is different, I'm going to adapt to their culture. I'm going to adapt to them because I want to... He said, I've become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. He said, I want to save some of them. And so I've got to come... He said, I've got to condescend to the level of poverty in order to reach those that are poverty-stricken. He said, I'll condescend the men of low estate. If they speak another language, I'll speak their language. If it's Spanish, I'll speak Spanish. If it's Norwegian, I'll speak Norwegian. You know, if it's the poor, I'll be like I'm poor. If it's the rich, I'll try to be like I'm rich. I'll try to do the best I can. But look at 1 Timothy 6. We'll just look at a few more scriptures to be done. And while you're turning there, let me read another scripture. This is 2 Timothy 3. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves. Covetous, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despises of those that are good. And listen, traitors, heavy, high-minded. He lists off here. High-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness for denying the powers of from such turn away. So the people of this world make haces or are filled with covetousness. The love of money. They're proud. They lift themselves up on a pedestal. They're bolstered. They boast about how wonderful they are and how great they are and how much better they are than you. Blasphemers. They drag God down to the level where he can be on the level with them or below them. That's blasphemy. And he calls them high-minded. Look at this verse, 1 Timothy 6. 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded. Condescend to men of low estate. He says, don't be high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. He's saying, if you are rich, it's because God gave you the wealth that you had. God is the one who gives us the power to get wealth. God gave you your intelligence. God gave you your body to work. He said, if you happen to be rich, don't let it go to your head. Don't be high-minded. You should still be able to look right across the table with those who are of low estate, with the poor man in vital raiment, and look at him and say, you're my brother. You're my friend. You're right there on the level with me. In fact, you're even more important than I am. Even though I'm rich and you're poor, you're more important than I am. One of us has to fail. It's going to be me, not you. You're going to succeed if I have anything to say about it. Don't be high-minded. And it may not even just be riches. Riches is a good example. I don't think anybody in this church is rich, you know. If you are seeing me at the service, take me out to lunch in fact. But if anybody in this church is rich, they ought not be high-minded. They ought not let that go to their head. They ought to be able to condescend them in a little bit. But how about this? How about if you're good-looking? You know, just other things that God has given you. Some people are blessed with money. Other people are blessed with good looks. Don't look down on your nose at somebody that is not attractive in your mind. And by the way, God, I think that God believes that every human being that he created and formed and fashioned is beautiful in appearance. But yet we think that sometimes we're better than someone else because we look better than them. Or we dress better than them. They can't match their clothes. I can't match my clothes either. My wife is the one who dresses me. I have not been shopping for clothes since I've been married practically. My wife wants me to come and try things on. I tell her, you try it on. And she does. She does the conversion, you know. Okay, if it fits a little tight here, and if it fits him. Oh, you know, this person dresses like a fool. Oh, this person is ugly. Oh, this person is poor. Oh, this person can't talk right. They have a speech impediment. Oh, this person's this or that or the other. Or this person's got a sinful past. But I've always been living for God my whole life. And they have this wicked, sinful, sordid past. They've been divorced five times and they've done this and they've done that. But look, don't be high-minded. Treat them as you would like to be treated. And in fact, treat them better. Esteem them better. And look not at man's own things, but why don't you look on the things of others? Why don't you worry about what's good for them? How you can help them. How you can be a blessing to them, not how they can help you. I have other points, but I'm pretty much out of time. Childhood. Let me ask you this quickly. Let me ask you this. What's more important to you? Whether your child loves you and likes you and thinks you're cool, or what's best for your child. If you love them, you're going to care what's best for them, not what's going to make them like you. If I'm preaching right, I'm preaching what's best for you, not what's going to make them like me. And the Bible says this in Proverbs 13, 24. He that spareth his rod, hated his son. But he that loveth him, chasteth him betimes. And so if you spare the rod, he says you hate your son. You don't love your children if you don't spank them. He says thou shalt meet him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. If you love your child, you'll spank him. But if you love yourself, you'll say I love my child too much to spank him. No, you love yourself too much to spank your child. Because you want your child to love you and to like you and to think you're cool. You want to be that cool parent that just gives your kids whatever they want, never says no to them, so they can grow up and be miserable. Every child who gets whatever they want is miserable when they grow up. And many times they're miserable now. You want to find the kid in the grocery store that's frowning, that's mad, that's crying, that's on the floor throwing a temper tantrum. It's the one whose mom will not say no. And it's the one whose mom doesn't love you. But the one who disciplines and spanks your child, that you say oh but I spanked the child and then the child's mad at me and doesn't like me and I'm not their buddy anymore. You know what, my kids still like me, my kids are still my buddy. But if I had to choose between a buddy and sending somebody out who loves God and serves God, you know what, I'd rather that my children didn't even speak to me if they were out living for God, than for them to be my best friend and live like the devil, live like the world. I think Paul would rather have done what he did in Asia, preached it straight down the line, left an example for young Timothy who pastored, he went to pasture in Asia, in Ephesus. I think he would have rather left the right example for Timothy preached it straight down the line, no compromise, and had everybody hate him, but had those people succeed, than to walk away being the most popular preacher in Asia, loved and adored by all, a compromiser, watered down, loving himself, increasing in his own right. John the Baptist ended his life in prison and then having his head cut off. Paul probably ended up the same way. You know, the history books tell us the Bible doesn't give us his death. We know that he was killed for the cause of Christ, that's all we know. Probably beheaded. John the Baptist beheaded. Paul in prison alone, few people with him. John the Baptist in prison alone, head cut off. But do you want to be like John the Baptist? You want to be like a modern day apostle Paul? I would love to be like a modern day John the Baptist or modern day apostle Paul. Well, here's the formula. He must increase, you must decrease. No, say, oh, it's important to me to have a good reputation. That's right, you need to concern yourself more about your reputation, like Jesus, who had no reputation, made himself with no reputation. You say, oh, a good name is rather to be chosen than silver. Yeah, it is, it's more advantageous to you to have a good name than to have silver, but I'd rather have neither and be right with God.