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

Now, in Malachi chapter 3, the part that I'd like to focus on is there, beginning in verse number 15, where the Bible reads, And now we call the proud happy, Yea, they that work wickedness are set up. Yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. And what we see described here in Malachi chapter 3 is a period in history where there was a lot of ungodliness and a lot of wickedness around, and people were lifting up and exalting those that were ungodly. And people were having a hard time distinguishing between who was righteous and who was not. And obviously the day in which we are living in the United States of America is very similar to what we see described in Malachi chapter 3, where we see a lot of ungodly, wicked people being exalted. We see a lot of confusion about who is righteous and who is wicked. And when we look at this, the part that I want to focus on is what it says there in verse 16, when it says then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. You see, in times of ungodliness, wickedness, confusion, such as the time in which we're living, those who fear God, those who love God, those who serve God and are righteous should seek out one another and speak often one to another in order to keep ourselves on the right path. It's important that we surround ourselves with the right kind of people. And that's why church is so important, because church is a place where we can assemble together with like-minded believers and get that breath of fresh air. You know, we're out in the world and we're exposed to a lot of sin and people might think we're crazy just for believing basic things from the Bible, just for living just a clean life and just a normal existence. People think that we're nuts, but when you go to church, nobody thinks you're nuts if you're in the right kind of church. You know, you go to church and you get around other people who believe the same Bible that you do, they're serving the same God that you do, and it becomes easier to discern between the righteous and the wicked. It helps you to keep your feet firmly on the ground and it helps you to keep your head in the right place spiritually and not to let this world wear you down and get you to start accepting a lot of the ungodliness that's in our society. Now turn to Acts chapter 2 in the New Testament. Acts chapter number 2. The Bible said in Malachi chapter 3 that in this time where wickedness was being lifted up, when the proud were being called happy, when those that tempted God were being delivered, when people were confused about who was righteous and who was wicked, that the people that feared God spake often one to another. And the Bible says in Acts chapter 2 verse 1, this is about the early church in Jerusalem, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Jump down to verse 42. It says, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayer. So they continued in the doctrine. That's the most important thing. They believed God's word. But not only that, they continued in fellowship and breaking of bread. I mean they spake often one to another. They ate together. They fellowshiped together. They broke bread together. They prayed together. It says in verse 43, and fear came upon every soul. Many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. So when we see the early church in Acts chapter 2, we see a close-knit group. We see people that are together. They're in one accord. They're in one place. They eat together. They're fellowshipping together. They're continuing in the doctrine, but they're also continuing in friendship and fellowship with one another. And the Bible says that they broke bread from house to house and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. These words keep coming up over again. One accord, one place, singleness of heart. They're together. Look, unity was what characterized the early church. Go to Acts chapter 4. Now, sometimes we get to think of unity as being a bad word, and I can understand why. Because there's a lot of wickedness being done today in the name of unity, where they want to unify believer with unbeliever. They want to unify Christianity with Islam. They want to unify the world with God's people. They want to have unity between all nations, when the Bible teaches that there should be separate nations. You know, we shouldn't just all be under a one-world government. You know, we want to have a difference between local churches, not just a unity where all churches are united. Because the Bible says to not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Okay, but unity amongst God's people that do believe the same Bible, that are saved, that do have the same doctrine, should be something that we should strive for in our church. We should have unity. We should all strive to be of the same mind, and in one accord, striving together for the faith of the Gospel. Now, I think this is a very interesting verse in Acts 4.31, where it says, And when they had prayed, and this is where the early church is assembled together, it says, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. What's interesting about that is that the people in that group, the people in that church, the people in that room, were not all spiritual giants. Now some of them were spiritual giants. You know, Peter, James, and John are in that room. Okay, there were spiritual giants among them. But it was also a group of just everybody, common man, man, woman, boy, and girl. And yet we see that because they were all there, because they were all assembled together, at that time when that prayer was prayed, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Now look, if you would have been there, I believe if you would have been in that group, if you would have been praying there with these people, you would have been filled with the Holy Ghost too. But are you filled with the Holy Ghost today? Are you filled with the Holy Ghost when you're not in that group? You see, being around the right people, being around godly people, spending your time amongst spiritual giants, or just great Christians, or just people who love God, or people that are filled with the Holy Spirit, it's going to rub off on you, it's going to have an effect on you, and just being assembled together with them in that place when God's power is evident in a mighty way, you're going to be a part of it. But if you're not in that group, you're not going to be a part of it. Now conversely, being in the wrong kind of a group can have the negative effect on you and cause you to become a sinful person and ungodly. Go to Proverbs chapter number 13 if you would. Proverbs 13. It's important for us to spend our time hanging around the right kind of people, speaking to people that are godly, not spending our time hanging around with people that are ungodly, because their ungodliness is going to rub off on us. Look down at your Bible there, Proverbs 13 20. It says, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. I mean, right there, he says, look, you want to be wise? Walk with wise men and you shall be wise. That's going to make you wise. Conversely, you start hanging around with fools, you're going to be destroyed. You're going to be ruined by the people that you hang around with if you hang around with the wrong people. Now one thing that's interesting here when he says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, flip back just one page to Proverbs 11 30. The Bible says in Proverbs 11 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. How do you become a person who wins souls? How do you become a person who wins people to Christ? By walking with those who win people to Christ? Now let me tell you something. I got saved when I was a six-year-old boy and I never won anyone to Christ until I was 17 years old. Okay, so I got saved at age six and I never won anyone to Christ until I was 17 and you know when I started winning people to Christ? When I got into a church that was a church that went out, knocked the doors, preached the gospel to every creature and within a few weeks of being at that church I was out knocking doors. That's not something I would have been doing on my own. I wouldn't have just on my own gone out, knocked the doors, been preaching the gospel to every creature, getting people safe, but being in that church is what motivated me. The people around me motivated me. I went with them. I started out just following them, just a silent partner. They were doing the soul winning, but it was only a few weeks before I was opened in my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel where I was pulling out the Bible and using it to win someone to Christ because it rubs off on you and if it weren't for that church I would not have won anyone to Christ as evidenced by the fact that from age six to 17 I didn't win anybody to Christ. Now sometimes I tried a feeble attempt to give somebody the gospel a few times, but I never was effective. I never was able to succeed until I started walking with the wise and when I walked with the wise I became wise and when I walked with those who won souls I began to win souls. You see the Bible says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they've not heard? And he says how shall they, I'm sorry I got that wrong, let's back up the sermon a little bit. It said whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how should they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how should they hear without a preacher? And then here's the key, how should they preach except they be sent? The Bible is just giving us the realities of salvation. You can't call upon the name of the Lord to save you unless you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Look, calling upon him when you don't believe in your heart isn't going to save you, you're just saying words. If you just pray a prayer or say words. It's the belief in your heart that saves you but you cannot believe in someone that you've never heard of. And you cannot hear without a preacher, without someone telling you about Jesus Christ. And look, the reality is that there's not going to be a preacher unless he's sent. And so when you go to a church that sends you out, you're going to go out and give the gospel. When you don't go to a church that's sending you, you're not going to go. Okay, that's why from age 6 to 17 I didn't want anybody to Lord. I wasn't being sent. I was going to dead churches that were not preaching the Bible like they should. They were more like a social club. They were not winning the loss to Christ. No one was being saved. No one was being baptized. Okay, one time I even went to my youth leader as a teenager and said, hey, you know, just from reading my Bible I said can we go out and give the gospel to the lost? Maybe we can knock doors. He wouldn't do it. He wasn't interested. But when I got in a church that would send me, when I got in a church that said, hey, here's a stack of tracts, here's a place to go, you know, let's go, let's do it. That's when you go out and do it. It's getting around the wise that makes you wise. It's being in one accord with God's people that becomes a good influence on you. Hebrews chapter 10, go ahead and turn there if you would. Hebrews chapter 10, the famous passage, Hebrews chapter number 10 is a famous passage that we often think of about being in church because it talks about the assembling of ourselves together and not forsaking that assembly. But the verse right before that verse is a very important verse. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. The Bible is saying that we should be prodding each other on and motivating each other and provoking one another to love and good works. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So we have three things here, considering one another, provoking one another, and exhorting one another. Do you see that three stage process? In verse 24, first of all, we consider one another, meaning that we care about people. We love people. We want to help them grow. We want to help them serve God because we know that, look, in our service for Jesus Christ, there's only so much that one person can do. There's only so much that one person can do. And so therefore we need to get others involved in soul winning. You know, if you look at the map back there, all the hundreds and thousands of people whose doors have been knocked with the gospel, and that, by the way, wasn't just a door hanger. It was actually asking them, do you know for sure if you died today you go to heaven and give them the gospel? Look, no one man could have ever done that in any amount of time. It's just not going to happen. We know that the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he'll send forth laborers into his harvest. Look, we need to consider one another. We need to pay attention to the people around us. We need to try to realize that, you know, we need to help motivate people to be in church. We need to motivate them to go soul winning, to read their Bible. Let's be a good influence on each other to do the right things. So we need to consider one another, then we need to provoke one another. And that's basically a calling out. And we don't mean provoke like, you know, pick a fight with them. When we use the word provoke today, we think of like making someone angry. That's not what he means. You know, provoke, it comes from the word like the provoke, the voc there is a calling. And provo is like calling forth. You know, calling someone forth. Basically calling someone out and basically confronting someone and saying, hey, let's do some good works, is what that is. Hey, let's go to church. You're going to come to church tonight? Hey, let's go soul winning. I mean, that's what we see with the provoking there. And then the exhorting one another is motivating each other, you know, encouraging each other, trying to get each other to do the right kind of thing. Look, this is what people do out in the world in an ungodly way. They try to get you to do wrong things. They try to motivate you to sin. They try to get you to go to the bar. Hey, let's go to the bar. I remember when I worked at Round Table Pizza as a teenager, as soon as I turned 18, there was constant pressure on me to go to the gentleman's club. Because that's what a lot of the guys at Round Table Pizza did. They would go to the, you know, does anybody know what a gentleman's club is? Okay, it's a bad place. Okay, you know, I don't want to go into any detail. But anyway, you know, they're trying to get me to go to this place because I'm 18 years old. And I refuse to go. One time they literally, several people pooled their money and offered me $200. They said, we will give you $200 to go to the gentleman's club. You know, that, talk about provoking unto bad works. But I mean, they were always trying to get me to hang out with them and go to sinful places and do sinful things. They wanted me to drink with them. You know, I wasn't even 21, not that that matters. But they, I mean, they wanted me to drink with them, they wanted me to go to the gentleman's club with them. You never hang out with us after work. Look, it's because I'm going a different direction than you guys. I'm not, you know, I don't have fellowship with you guys. I want to hang around with Christians. I want to hang around with God's people. I want to do things that are wholesome, not going out and drinking and going to the gentleman's club and all this kind of stuff. But look, that's what the world does. We as God's people need to do the opposite in God's house. And we need to try to motivate people to do what's right. And try to be a good influence, not a bad influence. And try to provoke unto love and to good works. Proverbs 23, you turn to 1 Corinthians 5 if you would. But Proverbs 23, and by the way, like I'm going to sell my soul for 200 bucks. You know, and it's funny. It's funny, I got a call a couple months ago from some TV producer with NBC. And they wanted my wife and I to participate in a television show called Wife Swap. Okay. And, you know, this show, I guess it's just a show where, and I've never seen the show, obviously. I don't watch TV. I haven't watched TV in a decade. But this show, Wife Swap, I guess it's a show where they take, you know, basically your wife goes with them for some other guy for like five days or a week or whatever. And then you take in their wife and they try to do like a total mismatch or whatever. And then it's just supposed to be funny because I guess it's just this really shock to the system, you know, when they switch wives. And it's not, you know, it's nothing, supposedly it's nothing going on in the bedroom or anything. It's more just everyday life where they have to take, so they probably, I mean, what are they going to, who are they going to swap my wife with? Some atheistic, like, short-haired, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know, feminist woman or something that has one kid or zero kids. And then it's like, okay, bake this bread. Serve seven kids, you know. Shut up and sit down and listen to fundamental Baptist preaching. You know, I guess that's what they had in mind. And this is what they said. They said, you know, but wait a minute. Because I'm like, no, sorry, not interested. She's like, but wait a minute. You get ten thousand dollars. Ooh. And I'm thinking to myself, you know what, at least Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. I'm like, ten thousand dollars? I mean, is that all the devil thinks I'm worth? Like, the devil thinks that I'm going to sell out for ten thousand dollars? I mean, that's just kind of sad. You know, that kind of hurt my feelings a little bit, you know? I mean, at least offer me a hundred thousand or a million or all the kingdoms of the world. I mean, I know I'm not Jesus, so you don't have to offer me all the kingdoms of the world. But it's like, ten thousand dollars? Really? Are you serious? And obviously I wouldn't have done it for any amount of money. But it just goes to show you that the devil is willing to strive to get you to sell out. And he wants to provoke you to do sinful things. And there are plenty of people out there that are always tugging on you, being a bad influence, trying to get you to do things that are wrong, trying to get you into sin. You know, church should be a place where people are not trying to get you to do things that are sinful, but rather, they're motivating you to go to church, they're motivating you to win souls, they're motivating you to do more for God, to read your Bible, to serve God. There are a lot of bad influences out there in this world. We need to make sure that if we're going to succeed in our Christian life, that we hang around with people that are helping us and not hurting us. We need to speak often one to another, and that's why I believe that your social life should predominantly focus around church. That's what I believe. I mean, you can't read Acts chapter 2 and tell me that those people just showed up at church once a week for an hour, and then they just went and just hung around with everybody who is not saved, or everybody who's a liberal, watered-down Christian. Because look, even people that are saved, but they're not winning souls, they don't believe the doctrines. You know, you can't tell me that the people in the Book of Acts, that that's what they were doing. You can tell that they were spending the most time around the people of God that were continuing in the Apostles Doctrine, that were steadfast in the faith. And look, obviously we all interact with people outside of church. We all have friends outside of church. We all have family. We all have co-workers. We all have acquaintances and neighbors that we spend time with. But let me tell you something. I believe from the bottom of my heart that church should be the centerpiece and the cornerstone of the social life of God's people. I believe that your closest friends, your best friends, should be believers. And ideally should be people from your church. You know, I mean, church should be a place where you go not to just hear preaching. And that's why a lot of people just stay home and watch it on TV or listen to it online or listen to it on the radio. And they say, well, I just do church on TV. I just do church off the internet, or I just do church on the radio. But there's no fellowship there. There's no friendship there. There's no socializing there. You're missing out on one of the main reasons why God gave us church to be a place where we can assemble together, provoke one another, and exhort one another unto love and glory. You're not provoking that computer screen. You're not provoking that radio antenna. That TV is not going to specifically say to you, and I mean, I don't know, maybe the technology's coming. But that TV is not going to reach out to you and speak to you. Now, Scott, I'm talking to you. Scott, are we going soul winning this week or what, man? I mean, that TV preacher's not going to say that to you, Scott. But you know what, you go to a fundamental Baptist church and you get around people and you're motivated by people, you're friends with people. Look, Kenneth Copeland's not going to invite you over to his house for dinner. It's just simply not going to happen. Benny Hinn is not going to take you out to eat. Benny Hinn is not going to break bread with you from house to house. But you know what, other people in this church will. Other people in this church will dine with you, will talk to you, will sup with you. Look, the Bible is teaching us, and don't just ignore it. TV is not a show where we come once a week and punch our ticket and sit down and watch the show. Church is a group. Church is an assembly. Church is a congregation, and we need to speak often one to another, as it says in Malachi 3, and I believe that we should make friendships with people at our church. There are plenty of bad influences out there, and if you're going to be friends with all of what the world has, and the Bible says, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. You know, if you just want to have all of your friends be outside of the church, all of your friends are unsaved, or all of your friends are liberal, watered-down Christians, and then you come to church once a week, and then you expect to be a righteous and godly Christian, it's just not going to happen, because I've heard this saying, and I believe it's very true, that says, you are right now, or you soon shall be what your friends are. And that's totally congruous with what the Bible said when it said that if you walk with the wise, you'll be wise. But if you're a companion of fools, you'll be destroyed. 1 Corinthians 5, 9, look down at your Bible if you would. While you're turning there, if you're not there already, 1 Corinthians 5, let me read for you Proverbs 23 verse 20. It says, be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. So God's warning us about some specific sins there in Proverbs 23. He warns us about drinking, he warns us about gluttony, and he warns us about laziness. And he says that if you hang around with people who are drunks, you hang around with people that are gluttons, and you hang around with people that are lazy, that's how you're going to be. That's how you're going to end up being. You know, you're going to eat the way that the people around you eat. You're going to drink the way the people around you drink. You're going to live your life the way the people around you live their life, because of the fact that it's very easy to be, and look, no one's above this. It's not a critic, if I say to you, your friends are going to influence you, I'm not insulting you. Oh, you're just saying that I'm just this pliable person. You're just saying I'm just a sheep, I'm a follower. No, look, would anyone dispute the fact that I am a leader, that Stephen Anderson is a leader? I mean, I'm the pastor of a church, I've got my family, I'm a leader, but let me tell you something. I notice that the people that I hang around with rub off on me. Even though I'm a natural leader at this point in my life, okay, I still get around with people that aren't even trying to lead me, that aren't even maybe as charismatic of a personality as I am. I still find myself acting like them. I'm not saying that's bad, because I try to hang around with a lot of good people and pick up a lot of good habits and act like people. You know, but if I hang around with bad people all day, I'm sure that I personally would pick up bad habits from those people. You know, I find myself going soul winning with people, and then pretty soon, when I'm soul winning, I find myself starting to say some of the things that they say or act the way that they act, pick up mannerisms of people that you hang around with. It's just part of being a human being. It's not an insult to you to tell you that you will be influenced by your friends. I don't care how strong and dominant your personality is, you will pick up the traits of the people you hang around, no matter who you are, and I'll include myself in that. I need to be aware of this. Everyone needs to be aware of this. Don't be among wine bibbers, the Bible says. Don't be among riotous eaters of flesh. Don't be around people that are lazy unless you want to become a drunk and a slob. That's what the Bible teaches. Now in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 9, the Bible says, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. Why not? Why not hang around with fornicators? Because it's going to make you much more likely to commit fornication when you're hanging around with fornicators. Pretty simple, isn't it? And then it says, yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous. You know, you start getting around people who all they care about is money, all they talk about is how fancy their car is, how fancy their house is, how much money they made this week, what they're going to buy, the vacations they're going to take. When you get around people who are obsessed with material goods and very materialistic, they will rub off on you. You will become materialistic. You will begin to covet. And look, I've even noticed this in myself. I'm not a covetous person by nature. I'm not one that's into money. But let me tell you something, when I get around people that start bragging about their vehicles and houses and stuff, I've literally caught myself thinking to myself, man, maybe I should upgrade my vehicle. I'm just, I'm being honest. I mean when somebody's just telling you, bragging and bragging and bragging about their car, pretty soon I start to, I start to look at my Hyundai Sonata that I sewed together the front with wire, my Hyundai Sonata that has 355,000 miles on it. And I'm just looking, maybe I need a new car, you know. And then people are talking about the square footage of their house and you know, and they're showing you all the crown molding and you know, and they just go on and on. And honestly, I've honestly had the wicked thought creep into my heart of, wow, I need a better house. And then I catch myself, what am I talking about? My house is fine. But it does rub off on you, I'm telling you, when you get around covetous people. It says, you know, those that are fornicators, those that are covetous, those that are idolaters, railers, drunks, we already covered that, extortioners, with such and one, know not to eat. Look, break bread with God's people, dine with God's people, eat supper with Christians. But look, don't eat with fornicators, covetous, railers, drunks. I mean, this is what the Bible is teaching. And why? Because it's in verse 6, why? Your glorying is not good, know ye not, that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And you say, oh, I saw your little don't go back to school party in the bulletin, you know, you guys are nuts. Let me tell you something, we're not nuts. You know where young people are picking up most of their bad influences today in the public fool system? And look, I'm not saying that if your kid goes to public school that they're for sure going to turn out wrong and that they're for sure going to go to the devil, because look, I graduated from public school, I didn't go to the devil. But you know what? I'm going to tell you something, there's a real good chance of your kid going to the devil if you're putting him in the government school. And I'll tell you something, there are a lot of opportunities for them to pick up bad influences at that school. I picked up a lot of bad influences there. I picked up a lot of bad influences in Christian school, even worse. And so I homeschool my children, that's what I believe, that's what I preach. I do not recommend that anyone put their child... If your child is in school, I'm not mad at you, I'm not against you, that's up to you as the parent. I'm not going to tell you what to do. But I'm telling you what I believe, I am against it because of the fact that public school today is filled with bad influences. And here's what I've learned, because I went to public school, I went to Christian school, I was homeschooled, I did everything growing up. Several different Christian schools, a couple different public schools. And let me tell you what happens at school, the least common denominator. One apple, one bad apple, spoils the whole bunch. Because children don't have a lot of boldness. Children aren't just going to stand up and say, you know, the rest of you kids, you can worship the gods of the Ammonites, or Amorites on the other side of the river, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! That's not the way it is. In school, you go to school and you just kind of want to survive. I mean, that's how it was when I was in school. My thing was just like, I just need to make it through another day of school. You know, you just have to kind of survive. And you go to school and there's all kinds of bad influences, and you know what? Kids don't like to be made fun of. Kids aren't just quoting the sermon on the mount when they get made fun of. You know, oh, rejoice and leap for joy! People are making fun of me! Great is my reward in heaven! That's not what you're thinking when you're a kid, because children are weak. Children are immature. Children are still growing up and they're still gaining strength. And let me tell you something, when you're in school, you don't want to get made fun of. You don't want to be the oddball. You want to just fit in. You just want to get through school. You just want to fit in. You want to have your friends, and you just want to take the path of least resistance, and there's always that kid who's bold about sin. He's bold with alcohol, or with drugs, or with pornography, or with a dirty joke, and he's bringing in all the sin, he's bringing in all the filth and ungodliness. And look, you don't think these sodomites are bold in school today? I mean I was just talking to my sister, and she was telling me that her son at school was approached, just constantly being approached with these petitions to join some queer, straight alliance or something. You know, just coming right up to you, just, you know, hey, you need to join this pro-fag school group or whatever. You know, it's just like, you know, and if you don't, you're a bigot. You're racist. Yeah, you're racist, like being gay is a race. And by the way, man, it's so easy to get off on a tangent, but look, these bunch of homos that say like, oh, they're born that way, so it's just like a race. Look, first of all, let me say this, you know what, all people, red and yellow, black and white are all equal in God's eyes. God created us all, God has made us all in His image, everyone is in the image of God, red and yellow, black and white, okay, but you know what, homos are not a race. It's not red, yellow, black and white, and pink, okay, it's just, you know, precious in His sight. Okay, so look, homos are not a race, but they always say like, oh, we're born that way, oh, we're born that way, oh. I read a study this week that was done of literally tens of thousands of identical twins, and identical twins have the same genes, because you know, oh, the gay gene, okay, all these identical twins, they have the identical genes of one another. You know, I mean, there are slight differences, like their fingerprints are different, but pretty much genetically, they're the same, and yet the chance, if one of them was a homo, the chance of the other one being a homo was like five or ten percent. That's nothing, I mean, that's easily environment, because look, if it was genetic, you'd look at it and be like, well, ninety percent, you know, if one of them's a homo, ninety percent chance the other one's a homo, or a hundred percent chance, no, no, five to ten percent chance, and the reason that there's even that five or ten percent chance is because they're obviously growing up in the same home, they're probably learning the same stuff, hanging around with the same type of people, but look, that proves it. I mean, that just scientifically just proves that they're not born that way, that it's not genetic, it's a choice. It has to do with being exposed to things, making a choice to reject the Gospel, reject Christ, and go into perversion and wickedness and sin. So you know, the only gay genes are the ones that you bought at Abercrombie and Fitch, you know, and hopefully they have a good return policy, okay? You know, gay genes, God didn't make you that way, until after you became a reprobate he did, but you know, God, you're not born that way. That's a lie. But that's what the school kids are being taught. They use the word queer or fag on the playground and it's like, oh, you know, they're going to sit you down and they're going to indoctrinate you on tolerance and they're going to indoctrinate you on, you know, diversity and all this, you know, perversity is what it is. It's not diversity. But what I'm saying is these are the type of influences that are out there and look, those that are sinful and wicked are often very bold with what they believe. You know, those who are the biggest drinkers and the biggest fornicators and those that are the biggest covetous type people, they're usually very bold at cramming it down your throat. And when you go to school you put children there that aren't really ready to stand on their own two feet. I mean, what do you, do you expect a baby to just stand up for itself? Expect a toddler to stand up for itself? Look, children have not yet become strong enough to fend for themselves. You just throw them into the deep end. You just throw them into the government school system, right, and it's like sink or swim I guess. Here you go, resist temptation. Don't go into sin. You know, they're 8, they're 10, they're 12, they're, you know, 14. A 14-year-old girl is supposed to resist all this temptation, you know, at the public school. Realistic, my friend. And there are so many bad influences that are picked up there and there's so much pressure to do wrong and to sin and a little leaven leavens the whole lump. It takes one bad kid in that class, he can corrupt huge groups of kids. I mean I think that most of the kids probably that are put into public school, probably a majority of them when they first go in are probably reasonably nice kids. What do you think? I think so. I mean I look at the kids on my street, you know, unsaved kids. I mean they're not just, they're not just these demons. I mean they're relatively nice kids and that's how they start out. But what happens is the Bible says one sinner destroyeth much good. I mean you could put, you could literally put nine really nice kids and one really bad kid in a room, they're all going to turn bad. It's like if you took a teaspoon of filthy pond water and nine teaspoons of purified water and mix them together, right? Well there's nine times as much of the clean stuff. That's a clean glass of water, right? Wrong. Because sin and dirt and filth has a way of corrupting everything around it. That decay, that leaven, that bacteria spreads like wildfire. And so we need to be very careful not to allow ourselves to be leavened by fornicators, to be leavened by covetous, to be leavened by drunkards, to be leavened by the slothful. Second Samuel 13, I'm kind of in a hurry at this time, but let's go to Second Samuel 13. Let's just turn to about two other places. Second Samuel 13, I tells a story about Amnon. And you know Amnon was a guy who grew up in a good home, I mean David's his father, he was definitely taught the things of God, and he committed a sin of covetousness in his heart. He had lust and covetousness in his heart. Now that is a sin in and of itself. Because of his friend that emboldened him to do more, his sin of covetousness or lust, which probably would not have destroyed his life, probably would not have destroyed the lives of the people around him, he would have been punished for it. It was definitely sin, but it became a massive sin because of the friend that he had. Look at verse 1, it says, It came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister whose name was Tamar. And Amnon the son of David loved her, and Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin. And Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her. So here's Amnon, he finds Absalom's sister very beautiful, it's his half sister. And he looks at her and he is just head over heels in love with this girl, and he thinks she's the most beautiful woman ever, and he's so in love that he becomes physically sick. And this is what the Bible talks about in Song of Solomon, about being sick of love. So he's physically sick because he's just so in love with this girl, but is he going to do anything about it? No. It says she was a virgin and he thought it hard for him to do anything to her. So he's not going to act on his wicked lust. Look, lust in and of itself is a sin. The Bible says that if we look on a woman to lust after her, we've committed adultery with her already in our heart. Proverbs tells us, lust not after her beauty in thy heart. But he was going to let it stop there, and he said he was not going to do anything about it. Look at the first word of the next verse, but. So he thought it was hard to do anything to her, he wasn't going to do anything about it, he wasn't going to act upon his wicked feelings, but Amnon had a friend. See there you go right there. So every child is going to have temptations. Every Christian is going to have temptations. We all go through periods where maybe we are tempted to sin in some way, shape, or form, but it's just going to stop there. You know, we're tempted to sin, but we say, you know what, I'm not going to do that though, because it's wrong. But then what happens when you have a friend that's like, come on, let's do it, or they're doing it. See how a friend can push you over the edge. Now look, granted, you're a stalwart, strong Christian, you are walking with God, you're like Joseph, where even when this strange woman is grabbing you and ripping your clothes off, man, you run out of there and you'd rather get thrown in prison than committing adultery. You know what, praise God if that's you. That ought to be you. You ought to be that way. I ought to be that way. But hold on a second. What about people who are maybe a little weaker in the faith, maybe a little bit younger of a believer, maybe physically younger, maybe spiritually younger, right? And maybe they're kind of on the edge of committing sin. Maybe they're kind of thinking along the wrong lines. See how a bad friend can push them over the edge and plunge them all the way into major sin. I mean, would you say that Amnon committed a major sin when he takes this woman that he's not married to and forces her? That's a really big sin. I mean, that's a really bad sin. I mean, fornication is a wicked sin, but I mean, he's forcing her against her will. Someone that he's not married to. I mean, it's his half sister. I mean, this is wrong on so many levels. And it was because his friend pushed him over the edge. Look, there are people today who are teetering on the edge of maybe starting to go soul winning. Maybe they're teetering on the edge of like, you know, maybe I should start reading the Bible on my own. Because look, there are a lot of people who come to church but they don't read the Bible on their own. There are people who are teetering on the edge, man, maybe it's time to read the Bible cover to cover on my own. Maybe it's time for me to start soul winning. There are people who are teetering on the edge of doing right and all it takes is somebody just to push them over the edge and just say, hey, let's go soul winning, buddy. You want to go this Tuesday night? All it takes is somebody just putting a Bible reading plan in their hand and say, hey, Have you seen this? That can just push them over the edge to do right. And then other people are teetering at the point of sin and all it takes is for somebody to put their arm around them and say, hey, let's grab a drink after work. You know what I mean? Bad friends, bad influences can push you over the edge, push you off the cliff into major sin. And good friends can push you over the edge into great service for God that you never really saw yourself doing until you got around a bunch of people that were doing it. I'm telling you, the influences in your life are so important. The Bible says, and we'll turn to one last place, Galatians 2. The Bible says in Proverbs 22 verse 24, make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Did you hear that? If you make friendship with the angry man and go with the furious man, you're going to learn his ways and you will get a snare to your soul. You know, there are people out there who are just mad all the time. You ever get around people like that? You get around them at work, they're just grumpy, you know, every day it's like, hey, how you doing? It's Monday, it's Tuesday, you know, it's like what? They're just always, the glass is always half empty to these people. They're always mad. They're always complaining. They're always angry. They're just mad. And let me tell you something, it's very unhealthy to be that way. The Bible says marry hard, do with good like a medicine. You know, if you read the book of Proverbs, there are a lot of verses about how being happy and marry and cheerful is actually physically good for your health. And how constant striving in your life, constant anger and fighting and not getting along, it's like drains the marrow from your bones. It's rottenness in your bones. It breaks you down, your spirit, and it just makes you weak and slothful. It's true. And so people that are angry all the time are not living, obviously, a happy life. They're physically not going to be healthy. They're going to, you know, the Bible says the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. You know, so they're basically going to go into sin. And look, there are times when being angry is righteous. There are times when Jesus was angry. There are times when we're commanded to be angry. But you know what, more often than not the Bible tells us not to be angry. You know, there's more times when anger is a sin. There are times when anger is righteous, but there's most, if we looked at all the anger that we've had in our lives up to this point, most of it was probably not righteous if you think about it. Most of it was probably not justified. And especially the Bible says we should not let the sun go down on our wrath. Therefore if we get mad about something, it's an acute anger. It's an anger that's for now I'm mad, I'm angry, I'm upset, but then I move on. But the angry man, I mean that's just his personality. It's not like he's getting mad about something. He's just an angry person. He's just furious all the time. And look, I've been around, I mean I've got people in my mind right now that I'm thinking of that are like this, you know. They're just always mad, always just. The Bible says stay away from people like that because you'll start to get that way. You'll start to see the glass as half empty. You'll start being negative about everything and mad about everything all the time and you will get a snare to your soul because you are right now or you soon shall be what your friends are. If you want to be a soul winner, get around soul. You want to be a good Christian, get around good Christians. You want to be a drunk and a slob and a glutton and a sloth and a fornicator and a drunkard and covetous and ungodly. Just find somebody like that and just hang around with them, guaranteed to get you there. But in Galatians 2.11 it says, But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, which was the right thing to do by the way. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. Now these are Christians, these are all godly people. Peter committed sin here. Peter committed sin by withdrawing himself from the Gentiles, contradicting the doctrine of the New Testament, that there is no Jew or Gentile, that we're all one in Christ Jesus. He contradicts that doctrine, he separates. And because Peter does that, he takes a whole bunch of people with him that also get involved in the sin. And then even Barnabas, I mean Barnabas is one of the great apostles who especially was being used to reach the Gentiles more than most. And even Barnabas got caught up in it. And then Paul stood up and it says, When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou being a Jew liveth after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to liveth to the Jews? And say that five times fast, okay? But he's saying, look, you're wrong. And he had to rebuke them before everybody because he was influencing so many people. I'm telling you, people by and large follow the crowd. It's that simple. Now even if you're a leader, even if you're not one who follows the crowd, you're still going to be influenced by the people around you. But most people aren't leaders even. That's giving people way too much credit because 90 some percent of people aren't even leaders. And they just follow the crowd. Look, I'll tell you this, you could have a church where nobody goes soul winning, right? Nobody's doing any soul winning. One person starts going soul winning, it's just one person. But then once a couple people start going, I remember I told this to Brother Jimenez, we were talking about this because earlier in his church's growth there weren't really a lot of people soul winning. The people who did go soul winning were a lot of silent partners, this is real early days. I said, listen, this is how it works. I said, you're going to go from having no soul winners into your church to just having like 15 overnight. You don't have one and then two and then three and then four. I said once people, once you create a soul winning culture, once soul winning becomes just what we do and people influence one another, then it's not just you preaching it from the pulpit but rather it just becomes a movement of soul winning within the church. And it was just like I said, he told me that it went exactly like I said. He went from having like nobody doing the talking out soul winning to just all of a sudden now he's got like 10 people, just like that. That's the way it was at our church. Why? And look, there's nothing wrong with that. Basically God created us and designed us to be a part of a group. That's why he gave us the local church. He didn't send us out as lone commandos out into this sinful world to be a hermit and a lone commando. No, he told us to assemble together. He told us to be in a group. And that's why if you are a soul winner today, probably a big part of that is because you go to Faith Ford Baptist Church. And if you started going to a church that had no soul winning, you'd probably quit going soul winning. You know, I mean it's just that simple. I would probably quit going. I'm not criticizing you. I'm not insulting you. I'm just telling you. You go to a church where there's no soul winning, you're not going to do any soul winning. Okay. And so what I'm saying is we need to make very sure that we get around the right kind of people. We might think we don't need this and we're so strong and we don't, no. Every single person needs this, myself included. I'm thankful for Faith Ford Baptist Church because even if I get discouraged or I get backslidden or I'm tempted to lighten up, you know what, I'm around people that are going the right way. And that's going to help me to keep going the right way. Everybody needs this. What's the moral of the story? Number one, don't go to a lame church. Go to a lame church if you want to be lame. And there are plenty of lame churches that are still called independent fundamental Baptists that do almost no soul winning, that will preach a soft, watered down, sugar coated sermon that will not motivate you or provoke you or exhort you to do anything where you can comfortably set down your backside and just sit there and just coast. If that's what you want, it's out there. But you will become lame if you go to a lame church. Go to a red hot church that's on fire for God, that's winning souls, that's preaching the Bible, where lives are being changed and that's the type of person that you're going to become. But not only that, and look, I'm already talking to people that are already here. You're already in a good church. But hold on a second. Don't just come to church and just get here five seconds before the service starts and leave five seconds after it ends and you're coming Sunday morning only and you're not getting to know people at the church, you're not making the friends. And you know what? One of the best ways to make friends is to go out soul winning. I mean, what do you think you do between doors? What do you think you're doing as you walk from door to door? You're making friends, you're talking, you're fellowshipping, you're getting to know people. Don't just come to church and just say, wow, I heard Pastor Anderson preach. You only got a small percentage of what this church has to offer if you heard Pastor Anderson preach. To get everything this church has to offer, make friends in the church, spend time with people in the church, speak often one to another in the church, break bread from house to house, knock doors, win souls, join in the group, get here early, stay after late, and take advantage of the assembly that God has given us here. Because you know what? This assembly is not everywhere. There are a lot of people who wish that they had a group like this of people that are like minded. We have a great group here. Let's enjoy it. Let's not take it for granted. Let's take advantage of it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for these warnings. And Lord, thank you for a great church. Help us to make sure that we're spending most of our time with the right people and that we're not spending 90% of our time with drunks, fornicators, and covetous persons but rather we'd be spending 90% of our time with God's people and basically gravitating toward people that love you and that serve you. Help us to do these things and in Jesus' name we pray.