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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] at 10 30 Sunday evening is at 5 p.m and then we have our Thursday night bible study at 7 o'clock and then we are just as a reminder we are a family integrated church infants and children are always welcome in the service with us and for your convenience we do have mother baby rooms located in the hallway should your child need some diversion changing tables are available in those rooms as well and then you see the soul winning times and teams there as well if you like to learn how to preach the gospel you want to learn how to soul win see me after the service you can be placed on the team with the team leader they'll disciple you they'll train you to be a bona fide soul winner and so you can see me after the service for that you see the list of expecting mothers please continue to pray for them and in particular please pray for miss sarah ortiz she's experiencing some complications and um and so if you could just uh pray for her throughout the week i think she's going to be out of church for just a couple of weeks or so or actually a couple months right is that correct and so please pray for her and um just keep that in mind some of the upcoming church events we do have the midwest fundamentalist conference coming up this week october 1st through the 3rd begins october 1st at 7 p.m and the location is cincinnati ohio and that's all we're giving about the location amen and so it's going to be somewhere in that state and somewhere in that city all right and so we're looking forward to it we have a great lineup of preachers pastor dave burzins pastor jason robinson pastor joe jones will be preaching for us and i'll be there as well and so we're looking forward to that it's going to be great pray that we see a lot of people saved we're going to see do a lot of soul winning throughout that time and so i hope to see a lot of people saved throughout that uh those days there and we are going to be live streaming it i'm probably not going to stream it to my personal channel uh i'll probably do it to the wild olive tree channel uh just in case you know someone wants to shut it down or something like that uh we'll stream it to the wild olive tree channel there and so uh next announcement here the fall program begins october 4th and i'll get into that just a bit but let me just breeze over that real quick and then we're going to go over the sheet after the end of these announcements uh sarah tees baby shower is actually october 4th but i think that's going to be have to be put on hold for now because she's not going to be able to make it uh we'll postpone that even if we have to do it after she has the baby uh we're going to be celebrating the october birthdays on october 4th and that'll be here and then we have a homeschool park day on october 8th the location is to be determined but you can see my wife for more details about that now uh pull out this sheet here we're going to go over this real quick this is the fall program it actually begins next week okay and uh how many were here for last year's fall program okay a lot of fun we had a great time a lot of visitors and so a lot of salvations and baptisms and so we're going to do it again this year and it's going to run from october 4th all the way actually to october 8th it says november 1st but i think some of yours might actually say november 8th and some of yours might actually say november 1st right who has a november 8th at the bottom where it says birthday breakfast and pie baking contest okay who has a november 1st uh-huh i see okay so it's a little mixed up but i'll clarify that for you right now so let's go over some of the themes here of course october 4th we begin with birthday breakfast we'll have a special breakfast for everyone and don't worry it's not going to be keto okay you know it'll be nice and fattening and delicious and sugary you'll love it okay and if that's not enough for you we got a caramel apple sunday on october 11th okay and so uh bring your children it's gonna be great we're gonna have it for all uh for the for the entire church and then october 18th on sunday night we'll have an apple cider fellowship october 25th we're gonna have idol bashing sunday amen now last year we did idol burning sunday but we almost burned the church down uh should i say mark almost burned the church down okay let's just be honest you know mark and john actually because john brought the most idols threw them in there and uh you know it was like babylon all over again right it just went up in smoke so this year we're not gonna do that we're actually just gonna bash some idols instead and it'll be like a pinata type thing you know what i mean for the kids so it's gonna be great we'll probably uh i don't know we'll give a reward or something like that but uh so look if you have any idols in your household bring them on that actually you should get rid of them like right away um but you know maybe you don't want to look look for them until then that's fine but just bring them uh and if you don't have any idols just see brother john his his household is filled with them or something i'm just kidding but along with that on sunday on sunday so that's on sunday night idol bashing sunday's on sunday night we're gonna have a raising canes sunday night as well we're gonna cater in raising canes here and for the entire church and so looking forward to that and then uh on november 1st okay we'll fix this for next week november 1st it'll be the birthday breakfast november 8th we're having a pie baking contest so the pie baking contest is not on november 1st it'll be on november 8th and that'll be the conclusion of the fall program there and this this is only for ladies by the way okay and so uh we'll let you know the rules to that there'll be a first second and third prize winner to the to the pie baking contest but in actuality all the men are winners because we're gonna eat all the pie amen so we're looking forward to that now as far as the program is concerned the the point system okay um here is what you got to do in order to get some prizes now by the way the first prize will be a missions trip paid so the next missions trip we go on will pay for your missions trip out there that'll be the first prize winner second prize winner will receive a 50 gift card who doesn't like money right as a gift third prize winner will be a 35 gift card and then anyone who reaches 14 000 points will receive a 25 gift card to uh what's the store called good works raiment okay if you're not familiar with good works raiment it's the store that that sells all the um the first work shirts it has the the you know eternal lives matter shirts has the sweaters and whatnot so we'll give you a 25 gift card to that store and all you have to do is reach 14 000 points it's not a whole lot and by the way let me just remind you is that anybody who gets the first second or third prize you get the missions trip you get the 50 gift card you get the 30 uh 35 gift card and you also get a gift card to that store as well okay so the really the 25 gift card to the good works raiment anybody could win that all you have to do is get 14 000 points don't be lazy okay and i'm the reason i say don't be lazy a lot of people did not earn their points or did not get their points you know why because they didn't fill out the sheet it's really easy like they bring the visitors and they do all these things and then they don't fill out their sheet and then it's just like they don't get the points you know i'm not keeping track of who's you know coming to church or whatever you know so you gotta make sure we're gonna have a little sheet inside the bulletin every single week so you can fill out you throw it into the offering plate it goes into a a spreadsheet and then at the end of the week or at the end of the fall program we'll announce the winners now how do you get points first bullet there attend all three services that's easy thousand right there so go to sunny morning sunday night thursday night and you will get a thousand points for that week okay so keep that in mind so a thousand points per week just for attending all three services so really what the fall program is is just helping you to add to your faith right and really it's helping you to kind of set a reset button and if you've been missing church or something like that you got to come in all three services to get a thousand points per week and then you get an additional thousand points if you go sowing once a week now by the way you can't uh add more you can't get two thousand points if you go twice a week or something you just just baseline a thousand points if you just go once a week you will get a thousand points per week okay and then look look down at the third bullet there if you bring a first or second time visitor you get two thousand points per visitor okay now look let's say you brought a visitor already let's say you know uh uh adrian brought a visitor today um that's his first time visitor obviously we're not in the fall program right now but if you were to bring him back for the fall program he would get two thousand points but look if his friend comes back next week he can't get the points for the fall program okay you understand how that works so what you want to do is go to all your family and friends and say don't come back to church until the fall program starts you say but i want to hear god's word no fall program i'm just kidding okay so if you bring a first time visitor this is only for the allotted time of the fall program okay bring a first time or second time visitor you will receive two thousand points and obviously you can bring as many visitors as you want okay um mrs dj is actually the one who won last year's fall program she brought a group of visitors so and a lot of people did so that was exciting it's gonna be great i'm excited about this i hope you get excited about this as well first of all because there's a reward to be earned but also just because it's exciting to see people come to church get saved get baptized and it's good to have a little competition right a little friendly competition never hurt anybody all right so i'm looking forward to the fall program if you have any questions about that we'll keep going over this every service to get it ingrained in your mind so keep that in mind there if you have any questions you can see me after the service and that's pretty much it for our announcements let's go ahead and sing our next song until then a little bit of a slower song here so singing on that first verse my heart can see when i pause to remember oh it's not me until me will me and the things we take joy until me it's May it take its toll, a misery let's thrive. The soul of man is like the rain it found there. When it's released, it's destined for the skies. But until then, my heart will go and see me. Until then, we'll turn up every eye. Until the day my eyes become the city. Until the day God follows me home. Until the day God follows me home. Until the day God follows me home. Until the day God follows me home. Be in the book of Colossians this morning, chapter number four. Colossians chapter number four. Colossians chapter four. Masters, given to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be all way with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. All my estate shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that you might know your estate and comfort your hearts, with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom you receive commandments, if he come unto you, receive him, and Jesus, which is called Justice, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers under the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. Epiphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. Salute the brethren, which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it. The salutation by the hand of me, Paul, remember my bonds, grace be with you. Amen. Let's pray, dear God, just thank you for your word, and just ask that you would be a pastor now, filling with your spirit, and please just prepare our hearts to receive your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Colossians chapter number 4 this morning, and the title of this sermon this morning is Be Perfect. Be Perfect. Look down at your Bibles at Colossians chapter 4, and verse number 12 says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Now, the commandment to be perfect is actually found multiple times in the Bible. If you just look up the word perfect, or be perfect, or anything having to do with that, you'll find it multiple times in Old and New Testament. But particularly, we'll see it commanded of the Christians in the New Testament, and really, it can almost seem as though the Bible is contradicting itself sometimes. Because of the fact that the connotation that we have with the word perfect is to be without error, or to be sinless, right? Now, you know, we often say, hey, no one is perfect, which is true. When we're referring to someone who is, you know, a sinner, they're without error, or excuse me, they have errors, they're not, they're fallible men, this is a correct statement. But this isn't a discrepancy in the Bible at all. In fact, the Bible defines itself using this word. And in fact, we see it here in Colossians 4, in verse 12, he says, he's praying for them that they may stand perfect, and what? Complete in all the will of God. So based upon that verse, we can see that to be perfect simply means what? To be complete. It doesn't mean to be sinless, or without error, it simply means that you are entire, you are complete, okay? And in fact, we often think of the verse in James chapter one, and verse number four, referring to patience, it tells us, let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, the Bible says. So what is the implication there? Well, the implication is that when tribulation works patience, the end result of that work is that we're not lacking any spiritual virtue, right? You know, God is doing a work in us, we're not lacking anything, we are mature, we're complete, we are entire, that's what the Bible is referring to there. Now, people get this mixed up, and you have a lot of people who believe in a works-based salvation, that you have to repent of your sins, or they teach a lordship type of salvation, you know, they often say, hey, well, the Bible says to be perfect. You know, the Bible says you have to be perfect even as your father, which is in heaven, is perfect, and they'll use that and twist that to mean that means you can't sin, that means you have to keep God's commandments perfectly, this is obviously false. And look, the Bible says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. You know, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, but if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us, the Bible says. So it's a stupid statement to say, well, you know, we can't sin, we don't sin, false, we're actually deceiving ourselves, and we're actually making God a liar, we're calling God a liar, okay? To be perfect means you basically have all the essential parts in order to function properly as a Christian, think about that. So when God says to be perfect, He's really referring to, hey, you need to make sure you have all the essential parts in order for you to function as a worker of Christ. The Bible tells us that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, but in order to do that, you gotta be entire, you gotta be perfect, you gotta be complete in order to fulfill that work. Now go to 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter number 3 if you would, I'm gonna read to you from a couple verses in the New Testament in regards to this word here, it says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, you go to 2 Timothy 3, 1 Thessalonians 3 says, night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. So what is Paul saying? Hey, I'm praying for you that basically we would be able to fill in the gaps to your spiritual growth. You know, we all have spiritual gaps, do we not? We're not necessarily fully entire, we're not fully complete, and there's gonna be seasons where we weigh in on one aspect of the Christian life more than the other, and the Apostle Paul is basically saying, hey, I'm praying for you that we're able to fill in those gaps. Because in order to be an effective Christian, we have to be whole, we have to be complete, okay? 1 Peter chapter 5 in verse number 10 says this, 2 Corinthians 13 and 11 says, finally, brethren, farewell, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. He's not saying, hey, be sinless. He's not saying, hey, you need to make sure that the old man doesn't even exist in you. We obviously understand that that's not possible, this side of eternity. You know, we have the new man, but guess what? He is in tandem with the old man. He lives in the same body. So we have the new man, we have the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. That's why the Bible tells us to put off the old man, put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. But to say that this side of eternity, we're only in the new man, never in the old, that's a fantasy, okay? That's a fable. It's not going to happen. So we obviously understand that God doesn't have that expectation of us. So when he says be perfect, just rule out the fact that it's not talking about be sinless. Now, a good way to explain biblical perfection is to consider what is it that we're trying to perfect, okay? To be perfect simply means that you don't have any deficit of virtue. You're well-rounded, as we mentioned. The end goal is not sinlessness. The end goal is actually, it's not to be without sin, it's actually to be prepared unto every good work. Now look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, it says, And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, all scriptures given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So what is the Bible telling us? It's basically saying that the word of God has everything that pertains to life and godliness. It's profitable for us. For what? Well, to teach us doctrine. It's profitable to correct us. It's profitable to reprove us. And it's profitable to help us to live a godly life. So it's a well-rounded book that helps us to be well-rounded as well. And in fact, look what it goes on to say in verse 17, That the man of God may be perfect. So he says, look, you need all scripture if you're going to be, you know, fully complete. If you're going to be perfect, if you're going to be entire, you need the entire Bible. It says that the man of God may be perfect, look what it says, it defines it, Thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Now this is pretty interesting that it says in 2 Timothy, it defines perfection as being thoroughly furnished or thoroughly furnished. What does it mean to be furnished? It means that basically it is supplied with all the necessities. And let's give an example of a house for example, okay? Let's use that. You know, you think of when you first get married, right? When we first got married, you know, we had just the bare basics, bare essentials. And even then we had a little bit more than that, okay? But you think of what are the essentials when you move into a house, okay? Now I'm not talking about just you singles, okay? Singles, they don't need a bed, they don't need nothing, they just need a floor and pizza and they're good to go. They can survive for years on end, you know? We're talking about like if you're married, you have children, you know what I mean? Like you have a family and stuff, you have to take care of others, you know? What do you need? You need a bed. You need a stove. You need a refrigerator. You know, you need a kitchen table so you're not eating on the floor. You need bowls and forks and spoons. Nah, we just use our hands. Well, again, I'm not talking about the singles. We're talking about married people, okay? You know, a couch for example. You know, and later on you start adding other things. You add a coffee table, dressers, chairs, lamps, you know, some decorations. But if you were to walk into a house that's just completely bare, you're like, man, this thing is lacking. It's lacking quite a bit. You know, they don't really have much. There's an empty wall there where a refrigerator is supposed to be. Aren't you guys supposed to, don't you have a place to sit, you know? But a person who has all those things, we will say, hey, this house is fairly furnished. It is thoroughly furnished. It has all the necessities, everything that you need, right? In order for people to be able to inhabit that house. That's what it means to be thoroughly furnished. And if you were to walk into a house and someone just gave it to you and you walk in, you have beds, you have couches, refrigerators, coffee table, you would say, perfect. This is perfect. Doesn't mean it's just, doesn't mean you're not going to have any issues with it later on. Doesn't mean the plumbing's not going to go bad. Doesn't mean that, you know, you're not going to have any issues with, you know, cracks in the wall or a leak in the roof or whatever it may be. You may have those things, but when you walk in and you see that it has all the essentials that you need to be able to inhabit that home, you would say, this is perfect. This is complete. That's what you're referring to. Well, in like manner, the Bible actually says in Hebrews 3, 6, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. So we're actually considered like a house of God. In fact, the Bible more specifically says that we're the temple of the Holy Ghost. We're the tabernacle of the Holy Ghost. You know, he's bought us with the price and he inhabits this house. So we want to make sure that if God is inhabiting us, if he lives in this house, we need to make sure we furnish it. You know what I mean? So that when the Holy Ghost is filling us, he has something to work with. It's just like when he's trying to feed us, there's not a, you know, it's just like, well, you don't have a refrigerator. When he's trying to cook up a good meal, so to speak, and teach you the word of God, he's like, hey, did you do any shopping? There's like no food in here. What's the equivalent? He's like, did you read any Bible this week? I can't bring things into remembrance if you never thought about it in the first place. Right? It's just like, you know, I'm trying to give you rest, but you don't even have a bed in here, sleeping on the floor or something. That's my son, sorry. He's pretty loud. So what we're saying here is that we want to be Christians who are fully furnished, right? We don't want to be someone that's, well, we have one bed and just nothing else. Now it's great that you have a bed. You can sleep in a bed, but that's it. You don't want to be someone who just has a refrigerator and nothing else. You don't want to be the one who just, oh, you have a nice plasma screen TV, but there's nothing else. You want to be balanced. You want to have, you want to be, you want your home to be complete. And in like manner, you know, us as Christians, that's exactly what we need to be. Now go with me if you would to, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Let me read to you from Hebrews chapter 13. You see, when we're entire, we're basically perfect into all good works. We are able to fire on all four cylinders, so to speak. We can serve at whatever capacity. We can win souls to Christ, but we can disciple the people that we win. We can win people to Christ and we can also baptize them. You know, we know how to lead in a church, but we could also lead our wives and kids, right? We're good servants in the church, but guess what? We're also good employees in the secular realm. What is that? This is referring to a perfect man, okay? A person who is entire. They're not lacking anything. And that's not to say you're not going to have anything to work on. We're just saying you're a well-rounded Christian, okay? The Bible tells us in Hebrews 13, verse 20, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will. So why does God want to perfect us? Is it just so we can just show off that we're all in a bag of chips and look how I got everything together? No, it's for every good work, you know, according to His will. We can be effective servants of Jesus Christ, that's why. The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 20, If a man therefore purge himself for these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Hey, I want to encourage you this morning, be perfect. Seek to strive for perfection in your Christian life. Not sinlessness, perfection, completion. Be entire, be mature, be a well-rounded Christian, okay? You know, the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 2, verse 4, But watch thou in all things endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make foolproof of thy ministry. What does that mean? What that means is this, we need to make sure that our church doesn't have any breaches, any holes, right? We want to make foolproof of our ministry, not weigh in on one aspect of the ministry more than others. We want to make sure we have a well-rounded ministry, you know? I'll give you an example. Hey, the orchestra is helping our church to be a more well-rounded church. Why? Because, you know what, singing unto the Lord is important to God, and doing it skillfully is important as well. Playing instruments unto the Lord is a very important thing to God, and we should do it skillfully. So why did we integrate an orchestra for our church? Because it helps us to be more well-rounded. It helps us to sing with more passion, to have a greater appreciation for the hymns, for the songs that we sing, and we want to be well-rounded, okay? So we need to furnish our spiritual house in order to be ready to every good work. Now, as a church, in order for us to be successful at this, we need to have a team-like mentality, right? We cannot be a well-rounded church if not everyone's on board, okay? And again, I'm not referring to being in lockstep. We just need to agree on every single preference that we have, but generally, as a church, we should all be going in the same direction. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you. He's saying, hey, you guys got to make sure you get along. Now, sometimes the guys in our church, you know, every once in a while on a Sunday night, they don't get along. But I guarantee you, at the end of the night, they get along. Because that's what brothers do, right? They fight, they fist fight, they bleed, and then they shake hands, and it's all good afterwards. Now, no one fist fights here, okay? But we don't want to have the type of church where we just, like, you know, don't agree with what's going on with the church, don't agree with the program, the direction of our church, or try to cause people to stray from the direction of what the church is generally going in. He says, speak the same thing, there be no divisions among you. Look what it says, that ye may be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. What is that saying? That we need to be completely joined together. We need to be going in the same direction. So let me give you a couple of things here, what to be perfect in. You should obviously be perfect as a Christian, be perfect as a husband, be perfect as a wife. God wants you to be perfect. Not sinless, not without error, but just a mature person who basically is well-rounded in what they do. Okay, go to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. We as Christians, individuals, we need to be perfect. Our church needs to be perfect. And I'm going to give some things here, what specifically we need to be perfect in. Be perfect when it comes to number one, our mission as a church. We should be perfect when it comes to that. Now again, this doesn't mean that we need to do it correctly every single time, there can be no errors, no flaws. That's not what we're referring to. When we say be perfect, when I say be perfect in our mission as a church, what I'm saying is this, we need to be complete, not lacking any parts. We need to make sure that we have all the essential aspects in order for us to fulfill the great commission. Now I would say this, First Works Baptist Church is a soul-winning church, would you agree? We love soul-winning. We like preaching the gospel, we love to win people to Christ, and we like talking about it too. This is what we would call a culture in our church. It's not like, you know, oh this half likes to do soul-winning, but this half does street preaching. You know, well that little group, yeah they're into their little Bible studies at the coffee shops or whatever, and that's how they do lifestyle evangelism, wrong. Generally speaking, our church is just a soul-winning church, and that's great, amen. But I want you to notice this, look at Matthew 28, verse 18. It says, And Jesus came and spake it to them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations. Now when the Bible says teach all nations, what is that referring to? It's referring to preaching the gospel, right? It says teach, because that's exactly what we do when we go out there and preach the gospel. We're teaching them that they're sinners, we're teaching them that they need a Savior, we're teaching them that they deserve hell, we're teaching them eternal security. That's exactly what we're doing. But hold on a second, our mission is not only to win people to Christ, right? According to the Bible, look what it says, Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. So what is this? What do we see here? We see a perfect commission. It's entire. Now wouldn't you say that if we only did soul winning, we would be an imperfect person or a church? Yeah, because that's not the only thing that God commanded us to do. We're supposed to baptize, and we're supposed to evangelize, baptize, and discipleize. Now let me explain some things here. Our church, we're going into our third year, and praise God for that. Really, the last couple years we've emphasized a lot of soul winning to the point where it's part of our culture. It kind of just, our church runs like a well oiled rig, right? Like a machine, we just know what we're doing, and we're going out there, we're preaching the gospel, seeing a lot of people saved. But you know what's another thing that we've actually integrated into the culture of our church, what? Baptism. Baptism is just like second nature, when we get someone saved in the church, we just like peer pressure them into getting baptized. Yeah. Yeah, you heard that, right? We peer pressure them into getting baptized. Why not? The wicked people out there in the world peer pressure God's people into sinning. We can do the same where we just peer pressure them into serving God and living righteously. Obey God's commandments, amen? I tell people when they get saved, I say, hey, now you got to get baptized. Like, well, and if they say, yeah, not today, I always say, why not? Why? We got shorts, we got, you know, robes, we got hair dryers, we got makeup, we got whatever, we remove all the excuses. And I would say this, within the last year and a half, I would say since the fall program actually of last year, we've seen a lot of baptisms. Almost on a weekly basis. Almost, if not, you know, every other week or at least, you know, a couple times a month at least, I will say that. And it's gotten to the point where it's become part of our culture. It's not something we flinch at, right? And it's not, the pastor's not the only one who's doing it. Everyone else asks everyone who they get saved to get baptized. It's just part of who we are. What are we doing? We're being well-rounded. Now, I will say this, is that this year, this fall program, guess what I want to integrate into being more perfect? Discipleship. Discipleship's important. Now, sometimes we as Baptists, we can have a knee-jerk reaction to that word discipleship because of who? Liberals, right? Because they have such a crappy way of discipling people. They use a little booklet, you know, called Continue or whatever. And it's just a bunch of shallow doctrine that doesn't teach them anything. This is not discipleship, folks. Now, I'm not against teaching people doctrine from a book if it has the right doctrine. Hey, if you had the post-trib pre-wrath in that booklet, okay, we'll let it slide. If you had replacement theology in there, if you had eternal security, if you had the reprobate doctrine, if you had these types of doctrines, absolutely, I'm for it. But they don't, okay? But discipleship really is when you take someone under your wing and you show them the ropes. You teach them how to be a Christian. You say, well, how do I do that? Well, you have to learn how to be a Christian first, right? Because they'll only become who you teach them to become. And they're going to emulate who you are, okay? So in order for us to be perfect in our mission as a church, these are the elements that we need to integrate into our church. And I would say that we're in the beginning stages of being a discipleship type of a church where we disciple people because we have these teams here that literally disciple others on how to do soul winning, and not just that, how to live the Christian life. And I want to say this, is that within the next couple of months, I'm going to start tightening up the screws on that ministry there. To be more effective, why not? To disciple more people, teach them doctrine, teach them how to walk with God, teach them how to live a righteous life. And you know what? It's going to pay off big time in the long run. Especially when it becomes our culture. Our church will begin to multiply after that exceedingly. I promise you, I've seen it before. I've seen it before in different churches where they do proper discipleship and the church grows because of it, okay? Go to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter number 4. So in order for us to be perfect in our mission as a church, hey, we need to make sure we keep the main thing which is soul winning, amen? Keep preaching the gospel, we're still serving on that end, we're still doing great works, but because it's become a culture of our church, it's not really lacking. Then we integrate baptism, you know? When you get someone saved, tell them they need to get baptized. Don't ask them to get baptized. Force them to! No, I'm just kidding. Just tell them, hey, you need to be baptized. And let me show you why you need to be baptized. And if they're like, well, you know, I just want my family to be here and all this stuff, it's just like, just do it. Just Nike! Just do it! Try to remove all excuses. And you know what? I guarantee you, when they do it, they're happy that they did. It doesn't matter how cold the water was, right? That has now become a culture in our churches to baptize people. Anybody who comes in here, they're not saved, they get saved, it's like the church members just kind of surround them and just like, all right, you need to get baptized now. I'm thinking we should just pull out the gowns, the baptism robes or whatever, and the clothes and say, hey, here you go. What else do you need? I remember one time, I was buying a suit from downtown L.A., because they have that suit district there. You guys know what I'm talking about? You're run by Armenians, by the way. And I remember, there's tons of them. There's just loads of them, right? And it's just hard to find a place where you get the right price. It's not expensive, but it's a nice suit. And we're walking down the street, and this Armenian guy, he just pops out of the store, and he's looking fresh. He's like, he's looking good. He's got his suit. He's got his nice tie on, the nice shiny shoes. And he comes down, he's like, it's right here. And I was like, what's there? He's like, everything you need is right here. Come on in. It's right here. I know what you're looking for. It's right there. And I was just like, I'm kind of like walking in, kind of like, like he got me. And somehow I had just ended up in the store. Why? Because he made it really easy. And you know what? They probably sold me something that I didn't even want or something. I don't know. I probably got one of those like square checkered suits. I don't remember. But I remember he popped out, and he's like, it's right here. Everything you need is right there. It's right there. Come on in. I was like, he just made it easy for me. Well, you know what we need to do is once they get baptized, or once they get saved, it's like, you need to get baptized. It's right there. Yeah, but my clothes, oh no, it's right here. The robes are right here. Yeah, but you know, my hair, oh, blow dryer right there. Well, how far do we got to go? We got to go. No, the baptism's on that side. It's right there. It's easy. Just make it as easy as possible, right? Look at Ephesians 4, 11, it says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. What is that? A complete man. Unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ. Go to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter number 3. So, really, a Christian can't be complete and entire without a local New Testament church. Because it's in the local New Testament church that God provides teachers and pastors, evangelists, and we begin to perfect that person, add to their faith virtue, to virtue knowledge. They begin to integrate righteous living to their lives, and then they become a perfect man, okay? Look at Revelation chapter 3, and verse number 1 says it. It says, unto the angel of the church and Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found thy works, what? Perfect before God. What is he saying? Your ministry is lacking, Sardis. There's some things in your ministry, they're ready to die. What does that mean? You're not a well-rounded church, Sardis. You're emphasizing one aspect of the ministry more than anything else. And look, this is true today. I mean, think about independent fundamental Baptist churches who have bus ministry, for example. Some of these churches run into the hundreds and even thousands, but really, when you look at who are the ones that are coming to church, it's pure bus ministry. And look, I'm not down on bus ministry, people get saved in bus ministry, you know, people sincerely serve in that area, but you know what? If you look at the majority of the people who come to church, it's children from the bus, not adults. It's not a well-rounded ministry. They're depending on going to the projects, getting these kids, and sometimes they don't even witness to them or get them saved. It's a numbers game to them. We don't want to be that type of a church where we have things that are ready to die. And God says, hey, I haven't found your works perfect before God. You're lacking in these areas. Look, I remember the former church plant that I was a part of, we were renting from a Southern Baptist church, okay? And I remember renting from there, and I think they're still there. But I remember they had a baptistry, and we basically asked them, like, hey, can we use this? And they're like, yeah, well, how many times a year do you need it? Like, how many times? Like, we need it like every week. What do you mean? Like, how many times? He goes, what? Every week? How many times do you guys baptize? We're like, well, sometimes every week, sometimes every other week, a couple times a month at least. And they're just like, whoa. They're like, we only baptize, like, once a year. And you look inside the baptistry, no water. They use it for storage. They literally use it for storage. Why? Because they don't baptize anybody, because I guarantee they're not seeing anybody saved. And if they are seeing people saved, which I highly doubt it, they're not asking them to get baptized. You understand? So they're like, you know, when do? We're like, we need it every single week. We'll fill it up if you need us to. We're Baptists, and this is what we do, kind of thing. Look, folks, we don't want to be that type of a church, where there's certain things that are just ready to die. We're just imbalanced, right? We need to make sure that we have a perfect, perfect church. Go with it, if you will, to Acts chapter 18. Now, look, the fall program's right around the corner, folks. We have a perfect time to start this. Start inviting people to church, get them baptized, and start discipling them. You say, well, how do I disciple them? Well, bring them to all the services. Wait, let me show you a great way to disciple people in our church. From a practical perspective, very easy, you take them out to eat. And more than that, you take them with us to go eat. You know why? Because that's when they begin to develop friendships, relationships. They get close to the people in our church. That was crazy. What was that? Just kidding. You know, they get close to the people in our church, and they begin to form a brotherhood in the church, right? That's discipleship. And we're going to have a great opportunity for the fall program, folks. Right now, the fall program is to help you. We're always doing soul winning. We're always baptizing. Now it's time to integrate bringing people to church, getting people saved here at our church, baptizing them, and then teaching them the ways of the Lord. Look at Acts chapter 18. I'm going to read to you from Colossians 1, 27. It says, whom we preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. We want to preach. We want to warn. We want to teach. Why? Because we want to create perfect men, not sinless, entire, complete, lacking nothing. Look at Acts chapter 18 and verse number 24. It says, and a certain Jew named Apollos, born of Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in the Spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. So this guy was not a bad guy. He had great elements in his life, right? The guy was already preaching. He knew the baptism of John only. But you know what Aquila and Priscilla did? They just perfected him. It's like Android and Apple. Android makes up some cool inventions. And what does Apple do? And what does Apple do? It takes it and just perfects it. For those of you Android users out there, okay? What I'm saying is this, is that we want to be like Apple. Hey, if someone comes from a different church and they're not a new IFP church or a new IFP Christian, they're going to have some good things if they came from an independent fundamental Baptist church. They're going to have some things right. But when they come, what are we doing? We're just showing them the way of the Lord more perfectly. That's what we're doing. And here's the thing, we need to rid ourselves of this expectation that every individual who comes to that door listens to Pastor Anderson. Because that's not always going to be the case. Okay? And so when people come and they're just as green as the day is long, maybe they come from some liberal church. Maybe they're, you know, last year when we had the fall program, we had a ton of people in our church that like never even stepped foot in an independent Baptist church, period. This is their first taste of a Baptist church. Well, you know what we need to do? Is show them the way of the Lord more perfectly. That's what we're doing. It says in verse number 27, And when he was disposed to pass into Achaea, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace. For he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. So look, you might get some old IFB guy come in here and he's like a pre-tribber. He loves the Jews. He's Zionist, but he loves sowing. Don't persecute him. Don't smack him upside the head. What do you need to do? You need to show him the way of the Lord more perfectly. Okay? You need to show him like, hey, let's talk about end times Bible prophecy. Lock the doors. Just kidding. Hey, let's talk about the Jews, you know, and not in a confrontational, I'm just going to prove you wrong type of a way. More of an attitude of let me just perfect you in the Lord. Let me just show you what the Bible says about these things. Challenge them, right? That's what we want to do. So when it comes to, you know, our mission as a church, we should be perfect. Let's create a culture where we already have a culture of sowing. We already have a culture of baptizing. This year, let's create a culture of discipleship, okay? And I got some plans about that, but I'm not going to divulge those blueprints just as of yet. Something's coming down in the next couple of months. I'll let you know then. So be perfect when it comes to our mission as a church. Go with me, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter number 6. We're talking about being perfect. Not without error, not without sin, but simply meaning complete and tired. We're not lacking virtue. We're not lacking work in a specific ministry of our church. Now, how about for the individual? Hey, well, let's be perfect in our doctrine, okay? You know, the law of the Lord is perfect, right? Converting the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. We have a complete Bible, you know, 66 books. We have the right type of doctrine that the Bible teaches. We have everything right, but we need to make sure that we are well-rounded in these doctrines, okay? Now, what do I mean by that? You never want to be the type of a person that emphasizes one doctrine over another other than if it's, obviously, when it comes to salvation, that's the most important doctrine. You can never overemphasize salvation, eternal security. But there's secondary doctrines that we should not emphasize more than others. Why? Because God wants us to be well-rounded in His Word, right? In other words, we need to be balanced. We don't want to weigh heavily on one end of the spectrum more than the other. And let me just give you an example of this, okay? If you're just like, I don't know what you're talking about. Well, think about this. Think about flat-earthers, okay? I know it's not pleasant to think about, but just think about them for a minute. By the way, we don't believe in the flat earth here. The flat earth doctrine is a stupid doctrine, okay? But think about this for a minute, okay? I'm sure most of you have run into a flat earther at one time or another. Raise your hand if you have, okay? And you know what? No matter what you talk about, no matter what subject you hit on, no matter what you say, it always comes back to the flat earth. Am I right? You can talk about, I mean, I could put out a clip where I just say the world is round, but I'm like speaking against sodomites or something, and they're like, you're wrong! The earth is flat! They're just like, that's not even what the clip's about. But what is that person? They're an imbalanced person, Christian. They weigh so heavily on that doctrine, which is a false doctrine, but they weigh so heavily on it that they filter everything in the Christian life through the flat earth. Is that not right? They view it through the flat earth. It doesn't matter what you talk, I mean, you have Tyler Doka, who's this flat earth pastor, who literally said you cannot understand the book of Revelation if you're not flat earth. What kind of nonsense is that? It's like you have to believe in the flat earth in order to be able to understand the book of Revelation. Yeah, retarded indeed. Stupid. And you listen to his Revelation series, it's just crap. Go figure. Now that's an extreme example, but it's true. People who are flat earthers, they weigh so heavily on it, and look, oh man, they're touchy. Ooh, they're touchy. You say anything and you just like get some riled up, they get all mad, why? Because they're so heavy on that end of the spectrum of this false doctrine that they can't, they just, it's their life. The flat earth doctrine is their life. You post the picture of space, space is not real. The heavens declare the glory of God, it's like, planets aren't real. It's like, dude, you are like, you are fat when it comes to this doctrine. So much on the scale that you just, you can't view any other doctrine, you can't agree on anything else, because it all boils back to the flat earth doctrine. That's an extreme example, but it's very true. Now look, there's Christians like that sometimes, where they have a hobby horse doctrine. Am I right? Where it's just like, well this is my favorite doctrine and everything goes back to this doctrine here. Wrong. False, folks. Unless it's the doctrine of Jesus, everything points back to Jesus. You say, well, you know, are you saying we're not supposed to be strong in these doctrines? We're supposed to be strong in all doctrines. Right? Strong in all doctrines. Now, I'm not a weightlifter, and obviously you can tell. I know I deceive some of you because of it. But as a weightlifter, don't you want to be a well-rounded weightlifter? Let's just imagine, for example, that you want to be like a bodybuilder, okay? We have so many here, okay? Wouldn't it be weird if you were just like top-heavy, but you got little twigs for legs? It looks kind of weird, right? It's like, you don't spend a whole lot of time on legs, huh? Or you got these massive legs, but you're just like really like thin on top? Or how about you just got these massive biceps, massive legs, but you got this massive stomach too? You're like, this person's not a well-rounded bodybuilder or whatever. You understand? You know what I'm saying? To be perfect, it means you're just well-rounded. You have everything, and you don't emphasize one over the other. You emphasize each at its appointed and appropriate time. You know, our church, hey, I want to make sure that when I preach the Word of God, I'm giving you the whole counsel of God, not just bits and pieces. And look, all the happy churches are notorious for doing that. They're not well-rounded because they only stick to the book of John. They only stick to the book of Proverbs. You never see them touch Leviticus with the temple pole. You never see them touch the book of Judges or any of the minor prophets. They stay away from those things because they're not well-rounded. We should be able to touch on anything, right? Jesus said of the Pharisees, he says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye payth tithe and mint in Annas and Cumund, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, faith, these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. So he's saying, look, tithing's important. But so is love, judgment, and mercy, and faith. You've got to have both. He said your imbalance is what he's saying. Look what he says in Hebrew chapter 6. And it's okay to have like a pet doctrine. A doctrine that maybe that's how you're reached. Maybe it was the poster of pre-wrath. Maybe it was the ripen rate doctrine. Maybe it was the doctrine about the Jews. You know, whatever it may have been. It's okay to have that special love for that specific topic, but let us move on to perfection. Look what it says in Hebrews 6 verse 1. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on to perfection. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. What is he saying? Hey, we need to be well-rounded. You know, we would not be a well-rounded church if every Sunday all I talked about was salvation. That's not a well-rounded church. We need to talk about it all. And recognize, hey, and you know one thing I've noticed is that people who are imbalanced in their doctrine often are unstable and imbalanced in any area of life. It's a fact. They're imbalanced Christian. They're probably imbalanced in their Bible reading. They're probably imbalanced in their Christian walk. Why? Because they're imbalanced in their doctrine, and your doctrine determines what kind of person you're going to be. We want to have it all. And look, we don't want to be a church that just emphasizes end times Bible prophecy. But you know what? I know a lot of churches that don't emphasize it at all. So when we talk about it, it's just like we're trying to fill in the gap of independent fundamental Baptist churches who don't talk about the rapture. Who don't talk about end times Bible prophecy. You understand? So when it comes to being perfect, hey, let's be complete. Emphasize every doctrine. That's why it's important that you read your Bible from cover to cover every year. So you can learn the array of different topics and different subjects. And look, don't be an expert on one specific topic. Right? Be an expert in all different types of topics. Be an expert in replacement theology and the posture of pre-wrath and salvation and the reprobate doctrine and tithing and righteousness and holiness and soul winning and everything. Why not? That's what God wants us to do. Yeah, but it's not as interesting as my pet doctrine though. Well, you know, take it up with God. That's what God wants us to do. Have the whole counsel of God, not just 10%, not just 15%, 100% everything. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 5. We're done here. This is my last point. Be perfect when it comes to our mission as a church. Let's be complete. Let's be entire. Hey, be perfect when it comes to our doctrine. Let's love all doctrines of the Bible. Now, see, you know, we shouldn't come to church and say, well, I want to hear an exciting doctrine today. Well, why don't we just listen to a doctrine that we've already known about and just reinforce that doctrine because the word of the Lord is pure. It's wonderful. It's not grievous to us. We love it. Be perfect when it comes to our love as well as our hate. Right? A well-balanced Christian actually has both. Not just love, we also have hate. And not just hate, we also have love. Now, over the last couple of decades, we've unfortunately seen churches who are in balance in that area, right? Where they just emphasize the love of God and the love of Christ, but they don't emphasize the hatred of God and the hatred that Christ has for the workers of iniquity. And that's why you have churches that are in the state that they're in. Because they're welcoming in all of these workers of iniquity, these sodomites and reprobates. Why? Because they are imbalanced. They're more of a Gandhi type of a Christian church. We're just like, well, we've got to welcome everyone. We've just got to accept them. God doesn't hate anybody. It's like, do you believe in the doctrine of hell? Hello? How can you say that God doesn't hate anybody when there's a boatload of people in hell to prove that he does? And if you don't agree with that, your definition of love is just weird. You're like a sadist or something. Where you think that love is just, yeah, oh yeah, of course he loves the people who he's burning for all of eternity and he doesn't want them to go to heaven and not have eternal life and just be tormented day and night. It's nonsense, folks. We want to be balanced. Not reality deniers. The Bible tells us that there's a time to love and a time to hate. A time to love, a time to hate. For those of you hippies out there, former hippies. The Bible says, let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Now look at Matthew 5 verse 43. It says, ye have heard that hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them to despitefully use you and persecute you. That ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven, for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and send his reign on the just and on the unjust. Now people want to use verse 44 and say, see, you're not supposed to hate anybody. People love them. And they want to ignore every other verse that talks about God hating people. You know Psalm 5 5, that he hates all workers of iniquity. They want to ignore Psalm 139. They want to ignore these clear passages where the Bible specifically states that God hates people and they just want to focus on verse 44. Folks, that is imbalanced. So is Psalm 139, Psalm 5 5, are these not scripture? Is this not the word of God? Of course it is. So if it's the word of God, then we need to reconcile the two. And here's the reconciliation, we love some and we hate others. It's easy. Why you got to make it so complicated? What Matthew 5 is teaching is that our default setting as Christians should be that we just love people. So we don't have this hate radar like who's coming to that door, do I hate that person? Nah, he seems pretty cool. Alright. I don't hate you. I don't hate this. No, we by default love every individual that we come in contact with unless we find out that they're a worker of iniquity. I don't run into workers of iniquity every week. I don't know about you. You might, I don't. I know people think that California is just like, you know, just all these sodomites are just crawling out of the sewers. I rarely see a sodomite or a reprobate. And you know what? There's reprobates out there that are not sodomites. They're just complete psychopaths, but they don't necessarily have a sign over their, you know, neck that says, I'm a psychopath. I, you know, I scored high on the psychopathy checklist. You know, if they did, I'd be like, okay, I hate you then. Get away from me, freak. You know? I generally just want to love people. All people, right? We love sinners. And yes, we do love all people. Here's the exception. When we find out that these people are just wicked workers of iniquity. Okay, sorry. I made a mistake. You're not someone who's deserving of my love. But what God is teaching here is this. He's sending, or the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, because by default, everyone receives the benefits of the sun. Sendeth rain on the just on the unjust. Why? Because by default, God just sends rain upon the earth, and people just benefit from that, from his benevolence. It says in verse 46, For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publican so? Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Now, no one is denying that God is sinless, obviously. We know that. What this is saying is this. Just as God is very complete in his love, where he blesses the just as well as the unjust, he sends rain upon the evil and on the good, in like manner, we should be well-rounded like that. Just the same. We should be a well-rounded person where we don't go around trying to accuse people of being workers of iniquity. We just trust the Lord that he'll give us the discernment that if we come across some psychopath reprobate, we can see it and just cast that person away from us. Get away from that individual. But we should generally love just people. The problem is, churches, they love people, they love them so much that even when they find out there's some wicked child molester, they're like, well, we're going to love you anyways. God loves you. You imbalanced moron. You're imbalanced. You imbalanced fool. You are glorying in your shame by doing that. You're showing yourself to be a foolish pastor and a leader. You know, it's good to love people, but once they show themselves to be wicked, that love is removed, folks. And look, some Christians need to work on their hate life. You've got to work on your hate. We've got to have both. Love and hate. Love people, love the brethren, love sinners, but when the time calls for it, hate as well. And you should hate as fervently as you love. Right? We should love people and show them that we love them, but bless God, when we come across some worker of iniquity, it should show as well that we hate them just as much as we love normal people. Because look, people that we love, we want to see saved and we want to bring them to church. So the opposite of that is this. People that I hate, don't you even step foot in my church. Workers of iniquity, don't even look at our church. Don't even defile our church with your eyes. Don't even step foot in this vicinity. It needs to be both. Okay? Here's the last verse. Go to Psalm 101. Psalm 101. James 2 22 says this, Seeest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? See, in order for us to have good works, we need to have faith, but a faith that works. And once we couple works with our faith, we're not justified before God for our salvation, we're justified before man and our works become whole, complete, perfect. So I'm saying this because, Lord willing, we're going to have a lot of visitors in the next couple weeks. And you know what? Some dude might come in here with a man bun. I'm just kind of preparing you. Whoever was going to bring the man bun person, oh man, I'm glad Pastor said that. Because I'm the one who's going to bring them or whatever. Some dude might come in with a man bun, long hair, might be a little bit feminine. Don't throw up when you see him. The default setting is what? I'm going to love this guy. Now if he's like some queer little sissy, okay, there's the door, Jack. Don't you come back. Right? But look, if some guy comes in here or some girl comes in here and she's all emo'd out, black nails or whatever, and just looking all gothic because it's October, and her favorite holiday is Halloween or something, don't just like, hey, and you're just like covering your children and stuff. Be kind to them. And look, just see it as an opportunity to be a blessing. I remember when I first came to church, I did not look like a fundamental Baptist to say the least. I'll be honest with you, I had a mohawk when I first came to church. I know you don't believe it, it's true. And guess who's the first person that I met when I first came to church? Brother Albert Gutierrez. Right there in the back. Raise your hand, Brother Albert. The one with the mohawk right there. I came in and I was not dressed like a fundamental Baptist. I was dressed in worldly clothing, worldly hair, you know, and I remember walking in, he saw me, he showed me to my seat, he talked to me, he befriended me, he was kind to me, and I remember thinking to myself, wow, this guy hasn't said one thing about my mohawk. He hasn't looked that in, he wasn't like, hey, what's up, man? I was just kind of like, he just treated me just like a friend. And you know what, I remember my old pastor, Pastor Myers, he came to visit my house on a Saturday and he was basically checking up to see, hey, how come you didn't come to church? And I had gone to some concert the day before or something like that, and he came and I told him, yeah, I was at this concert, and he was like, oh, okay. But he didn't blow me out of the water. He didn't say, Wicked! What are you doing in concert? No, he was just like, oh, okay. Well, I hope you come to church on Sunday. I'll be looking for you. You need a ride. He's very kind, very gracious. You know what, things like that made an impact. And things like that showed me that people love me. You know what, we need to be the same exact way. Folks, you can be hardcore in your doctrines and still be kind to people. You can still be hardcore in your doctrines, still have hatred in your heart for wicked people, but when individuals come to that door, you welcome them, you love them, you're kind to them, you shake hands with them, you sit with them. And look, folks, if someone is sitting in our church and they're by themselves and it's the first time they've ever come, you know, get away from your clique and go talk to that individual. Go get to know that person. Go invite them out to eat. Go befriend them, be kind to them, be loving to them. And you have a great opportunity to do that within the next couple of weeks. Why do we need to be perfect? Why do we need to be perfect is because in order to serve God at our fullest capacity, to be effective, we need to be complete. Look what it says in Psalm 101, verse 6. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. So the individual that is entire, he's complete, he's going to be the one who really serves God. She's going to be the one who serves God effectively. Let's not be in balance. Let's be complete, entire, and perfect. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and Lord, thank you for the admonitions that we find here, Lord. I'm thankful for First Works Baptist Church. I'm thankful for these people here, Lord. And I pray, God, that you'd help us, especially as the fall program is right around the corner, that as you bring people to our church and visitors, that we would be able to fulfill these areas right here, that we would be perfect in our mission to not only get them saved, we want to get them baptized. We need to follow up on them and do discipleship. You know, when it comes to our doctrine, we need to weigh in on every doctrine. Every doctrine of the Bible is important, every single one. And we need to be knowledgeable about all of them. And especially when it comes to our love and our hate, we have both. We need to have both and not be in balance. We need to hate the work of iniquity, but we also need to love people when we meet them, even if they look a little different than we are. They look a little different than us. They don't look like an independent fundamental Baptist. Help us, Lord, to see past that. As an individual, he either needs to get saved or that is saved, and they just need to be shown the ways of the Lord more perfectly. And I pray, God, that your hand be upon us, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Song number 161, our great Savior. Song number 161 is our dismissing song. Song number 161. Do you know the verse? Jesus, Lord of friend, O sinners! Jesus, Father of my soul! Friends, we pray that we close ourselves. He who makes me whole. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord of friend, saving every human, loving he has made me to be. Jesus, Father of my soul! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord of friend, saving every human, loving he has made me to be. Jesus, Father of my soul! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord of friend, saving every human, loving he has made me to be. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord of friend, saving every human, loving he has made me to be. Jesus, Christ, now receiving Lord and all in him I come. He has granted me forgiveness. I am his and he is mine. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord of friend, saving every human, loving he has made me to be. Amen. Wonderful scene. You are dismissed. . . . . . .