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We are in Joshua chapter 17 and verse 14 where the Bible reads here and the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua saying why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit seeing I am a great people for as much as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto and Joshua answered them if thou be a great people then get thee up to the wood country and cut down for thyself there in the land of the parasites of the Giants if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee and the children of Joseph said the hill is not enough for us and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron both they who are of the Bethsheon in her towns and they who are of the valley of Jezreel and Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph even to Ephraim and to Manasseh saying thou art a great people and it has great power thou shalt not have one lot only but the mountains shall be thine for it is a wood and thou shalt cut it down and the outgoings of it shall be thine for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites though they have chariots excuse me though they have iron chariots and though they be strong and the time of my sermon this morning is lessons from Compton lessons from Compton now what a great work that was done yesterday in the city of Compton and one of the reasons I was really excited about going sowing in there and and having a group go there and by the way this if there's families coming in men if you can give up your seats all right for the ladies or for their children that would be great now one of the reasons I was excited about Compton is because I lived in the city of Long Beach which which was a city that's right next to neighbors Compton and to be quite honest with you I've never heard of a church I've never heard of a independent fundamental Baptist Church who has made the effort to go out and actually preach the gospel in Compton why is that well because Compton has always had a bad reputation in NWA dr. Dre bloods and Crips and all these you know things that take place in that city and by the way at one point it was pretty bad all right during the 90s they would say don't drive through there if you drive through they're gonna pull you out of your car you know you get robbed and all these things and they were telling the truth but you know what it's not like that anymore and the fact is that any church that says yeah you shouldn't go there cuz you know it's not wise to drive down to Compton and try to send a group out there it's not wise you don't have any discernment if you do that you know they're just a bunch of lazy churches who are fearful and are not trusting in the Lord you know it's our responsibility to go out and preach the gospel to every creature doesn't matter what city they're in okay now one of the one of our members said this is like yeah Compton's not that bad we need to go to Inglewood Inglewood is the new Compton all right well we're gonna go to Inglewood too and look why should we be afraid of going to a city like Inglewood or a city like Compton if we're Christians if we're Baptist we got the gospel you don't you think that God can protect us from these things and look I guarantee you the majority of the murders you've heard about in Compton we're not soul winners all right so it's just not you if you look there's like oh yeah this owner died for preaching the gospel I guarantee you that's not gonna happen but I'm excited about that and I'm excited about what took place because it just goes to show what happens when God's people take God's commandment seriously they go out and do the great work and see a bunch of people saved it's awesome one of the stories that when we're preaching the gospel they wouldn't even get to finish our block and so many different I'm sure a bunch of people come up here and give stories and testimonies of people who got saved and very touching testimonies one of them that I got to experience I got to lead a man to the Lord and he was a deacon in his church okay and so he in a Baptist Church so he gets saved and he literally just said this he said man you know I was born and raised here my family has been here since the 1930s he goes no one's ever come out here to do what you guys are doing and he said thank you for doing that you know you know what that means that means there's been a but been a been a bunch of bloods and crypts who have died and have gone to hell year after year decade after decade why because no independent fundamental sowing Baptist churches we're willing to go out there and give them the gospel and look not every blood and crip is a reprobate let's just let you know that right off the bat that's just the environment they grew up in that's what they know you know and that's just the life they live but they want to get saved you know if you give them the gospel and so what a great work that was done there and and that's not the last time we're gonna go there you know when we plan to do it I said man I hope it turns out well if it does we're gonna keep going back there every week you know and it's not even that bad so let me give you a couple lessons here from this story that we can apply just the sowing in general but just what the experience of the Compton sowing marathon in mind you see this story here and what is Joseph the tribe of Joseph and ask you doing they're complaining you know they're like man we want this other land too and and all these things and and Joshua comes up and is like look you guys are a great people go do it you know go take the land and if you read earlier in the chapter you see that they had ten cities they had all types of possessions but yet they felt they couldn't not overcome this possession right here you know they felt like they could have come to like well they have iron chariots over there you know they got guns and they got Crips and Bloods over there they got all kinds of gangs and all kinds of bad news that takes place over there but you know what though they have chariots of iron we can overcome that we can possess that land okay now look at Joshua chapter 17 in verse number five I'm gonna give you a couple points here first and foremost let me say this is that God has a lot prepared for his people now I don't mean a lot as in abundance though that's part of it I'm talking about a portion okay a possession prepared for his people and in fact look what the Bible says in Joshua 17 verse 5 and there fell ten portions to Manasseh beside the land of Gilead and Bashan which were on the other side of Jordan and so go to Joshua chapter 18 and we see this throughout the Old Testament as God is promising to give a land a possession to his people he's like look this land is yours it's yours for the taking it's just really up to you whether you want to go up and take it it's really up to you if you want to go up and fight those battles you know obey the commandments of the Lord to go out and fight the enemies of the Lord but guess what it's yours it's your portion you know what I get sick and tired I get fed up with hearing about Christians who want to have these strong victories they want to be a part of these great battles but they don't want the process that comes with it you know they want to have the great numbers and the great exploits but they don't want the process that goes along with it so what do they do they have an artificial type of process right bus ministry track drops you know door hangers and look I'm speaking from experience because I come from a church that did that day in and day out week in and week out year in year out and look they would ten thousand fifteen thousand tracks a track drop but you know what it's all in vain it's an artificial process that makes you think you're doing something for God but you're not and they want to make they want to make themselves out to be these great organizations and great churches that are doing a great work by passing out twenty thousand invites that doesn't do anything you know the real work comes when you actually get out there open your mouth boldly make known to mysteries of the gospel the real work comes when you actually pray God that he fills you with the Spirit and go out there and preach the gospel see people say now look at Joshua 18 verse 3 but what's the problem here look at verse 3 and Joshua sent it to the children of Israel how long are you slack to go possess the land which the Lord of God of your fathers hath given you you see God has already prepared it God has already given to give it the land to them they're just slack what is that they're being lazy they're lagging it is what they're doing okay and look I want to make sure that faithful or Baptist Church of Omani is not lazy slack and taking over the cities that surround us right here Los Angeles is a very neat area there's a lot of lost people here that are open to the gospel yeah you have Hollywood and the homos there and the reprobates or whatnot we're not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole but you know the rest of the cities there's people out here who want to hear the truth we don't want to be slack you know what the Lord is not slack concerning his promises as some it would count for slackness but he's long-suffering toward us not one than any should perish but that all should come to repentance so we as God's people are not to be slack either okay and look we're a small church but you know what a lot is being done with just a little and it's typically God using the small little remnants to do a great work you know so we never we should never think well you know that mega church down the street or these churches that have you know run a thousand two thousand the Paul chapels and Lancaster's and the North Valleys and how they have thousands of people yeah but they're not doing anything then they're getting anything done so why don't we just go ahead and pick up the torch and just say hey don't worry I'll do it for you we'll go ahead and take over California along with pastor Jimenez and everyone else is gonna come up brother Chad Morgan's gonna start a church next year let's take it up but look you know what we can't be slack concerning it and let me say this in a battle like this don't just be a spectator be a participant especially if you're part of our church you don't want to just be a spectator and just enjoy the YouTube you know videos and say yeah I'm part of that church no no you need to be a part of the church and a part of what the church is doing oh yeah that's my church yeah but are you a part of the work that's going on in that church you know you're doing the soul winning that's going on in the church you know it ought to be that every single one of us want to be a participant not just a spectator spectators don't get anything participants do okay we need to make sure they look so when you obviously there's everything everything's important okay we're not trying to say the Sony is the most important in a sense because you know there's other things that God puts in priority as well but it should be at the top of the list of a lot of priorities that we have okay and look we only get so much time to do a great work for the Lord take advantage of that take advantage of the fact that this opportunity comes up and the future opportunities as well to say this is my chance this is my opportunity how do you know God's not going to shelve you for not doing something you know God says you know what I given you everything you needed and you're still just like throwing it away I'm just gonna go ahead and take you home and shelve you because you don't seem to be appreciating what's going on here yeah that could happen I don't want God to look down on me and say that I want to make sure that I take full advantage of the opportunities that God has given to us in our church don't be slack go to Psalm 17 excuse me go to Luke 12 I'll read to you from Psalm 17 but God has given us a portion okay God's given his people a portion and yeah there's churches out there that are saved God's given them a portion as well there's an opportunity for them to do great works as well but you know what are they taking advantage of that opportunity the Bible says in Psalm 17 verse 4 for men which are thy handle Lord for men of the world which have their portion in this life you know we ought not to seek the portion of this life you know the goods that this life can offer and the riches and the and the possessions and all the material wealth that this life can offer us that not not to be our goal to want to have you know what shall it what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul we think of that when it comes to unsafe people but you know what we can lose a lot as well we can sit at the judgment seat of Christ and be saved yet so as by fire because everything just burns why because we're striving to have our portion in this world you know the portion without a desire is the portion that comes when God when we do the work of God and we get those eternal rewards look at Luke 12 verse 42 and the Lord said who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat and deuce season blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing of a truth I say unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath the Bible says you know the Bible is telling us is that we ought to have an eternal mindset right we ought to seek the portions that we're gonna get from the Lord the spiritual portions you know seek those things which are above nothing not the things which are on this earth but seek ye first the kingdom of God in his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you the portions of this world they're important in a sense to basically maintain us so we can keep doing the work of God but that are not to be our primary focus you know our primary focus ought to be the portion that we're gonna receive in the life to come and a lot of churches have gone off of that road and they're starting to focus on the you know the big nice buildings you know how many buses that can accumulate in there in their driveway you know how how many fountains and LCD screens or whatever they can have in their in their churches and how many pianos they can accumulate you know ivory white pianos they can accumulate on their platform and all these things those aren't important what good is it if you have all those things but you're not winning anybody into Christ you're not doing a great work for the Lord and look some of these churches they might have soul owners but you know what because the pastor is dying spiritually when it comes to this matter of having a vision for souls guess what the followers who follow them are the same their girl lacks lazy lukewarm cold and they don't have a desire for the things I've got that's why in churches all across America you have people on their phones checking the scores you know the the World Cup I think who won though I don't even know who won the war cuz anybody is the World Cups even still going on yeah exactly it doesn't matter but you know why in many churches it does probably more important than the preaching of God's Word more important than souls you know they slip out early during their invitation time right so they can get to their cars and get home and go watch the soccer game okay no you know why you know what we're doing after church we're going so an inch we want to make sure that we're maintaining good works for the Lord okay and so we can inherit that portion that's the portion we want you know and Lord willing this next generation that's rising up of churches will primarily focus on that portion okay not in the portion of this world but the portion that's of the world to come go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 2 the Bible tells us in Ephesians 2 verse 8 through 9 and 10 it says for by grace are you saved through faith and then not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works that stated man should boast we don't have to work to be saved but then it says this for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them the Bible says so the Bible does tell us that afterwards we should get to work and I'm thankful man yesterday a lot of work got done people are out there ladies with their strollers and their babies and you know the people from Tempe this weather was like nothing to them for us it's just like this is how I'm dying out here and they're like what's so cold crazy someone told me like we went to the beach but man it was cold I'm like cold what in the world is like this is summer this is hot for us but you know what people are out there and they're doing the work okay getting the job done and see this type of leadership and this type of church is what's needed because everything's evenly spread as far as the work is concerned it's not like the pastor is the most important person and he's only one soul winning or the deacon or whatever no everyone's doing the work everyone's a part of what's going on everyone can have a piece of the pie okay look at 1st Corinthians 2 9 but as it is written I have not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him ain't that sad there's all kinds of people out there that they're saved but you know what their eyes aren't seeing what God can do their ears aren't hearing the the great sermons the biblical sermons you know that's not entering into their heart the things which God has prepared for them that portion that lot but look what that goes on to say verse 10 but God has revealed them unto us by his spirit for the spirit search with all things yea the deep things of God of course primarily let's talk about the Word of God right being taught the Word of God but we can apply it to even something like this where it's like you know what but his spirit can reveal it unto us why because we asked him to be to fill us to give us boldness to go out there and see people saved you know I'm sure there's new soul winners that come out and when they see someone say for the first time it's like wow this actually does work it was like I can't believe this person just like God say you know when I went to Compton yesterday and I was with my partner I ran into this guy wearing all red I don't I don't know what why what was that you guys know what that's all about he's wearing just all red and you know immediately what do you think this guy's not gonna listen you know I'd rather just go talk to like a teenager or something and I said hey I want to give you this invite and but more important than that you're 100% sure if you die today you go to heaven he's like I don't know I said can I take about ten minutes to show you from the Bible he said yeah and he just stood there and by the way his friend came and kind of disrupted a little bit his friend actually be ended up being from Arizona he was like on his way back to Arizona Phoenix you know so I just waited there they finished talking and then I talked to him gave him the gospel he got saved his name is Aaron and then when I left that conversation I was like man shame on me for even having that thought that potentially you wouldn't want to listen because he's wearing all red you know red and blue black or brown they're all precious in that town they want to listen he got saved he was very thankful the other guy that I mentioned before I remember after he told us you know we haven't had anybody come out he had the most grateful spirit she said thank you so much for coming out here you made my day he said that touches the heart and that goes to show us that we are not to judge anybody and say oh you know that's that's calm that's the CPT you know we are gonna send the bus ministry over there to go gather the kids there and give them candy and stuff don't even get them saved as long as we fill up the buses that's wicked you know there's people out there dying in year in year out and they don't have one gospel preacher to go over there and give them the gospel we'll take that portion but you know what thankfully we get to see with our eyes we get to hear with our ears and see with our hearts the things that God has prepared for us go back to Joshua chapter 17 Joshua chapter 17 so God has something a great work prepared for us a great reward and I'm thankful that that he entices us with that you know he shows us and he says hey this is waiting for you come and take it you know he doesn't just hand it to us we got to put in the work but it's promised that if we put in the work we'll get it the Bible says in Joshua 17 verse 15 and Joshua answer them if thou be a great people then get thee up to the wood country and cut down for thyself there in the land of the parasites of the Giants if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee skip down to verse 17 it says there and Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph even to Ephraim and to Manasseh saying thou are a great people and has great power thou shall not have one lot only you know often we see that the people who do the least amount for the Lord are the ones who basically God is the least in their eyes they don't think they have a big God to do it but you know God is saying here hey you are a great people with great power why because we have a great God who can do great things okay and look that's why I like the the style of our churches it's their minimalist churches because we don't have a whole bunch of ministries you know I mean we don't have a Sunday school and are you ministry and you know bus ministry and all these different ministries that spreads everyone thin no we have one ministry it's called the Ministry of Reconciliation all right and everyone can be a part of it you don't have to sign a covenant to be a part of that one okay you could be a part all God's people could be a part of it the Bible says in Daniel chapter 11 and verse 32 and such as do wickedly against the Covenant shall he corrupt with flatter by flatteries but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits obviously that's referring to the end times but that's something we could apply today I mean can't you say that we saw a great exploit done yesterday a great work and they that understand among the people shall instruct many you know teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son of the Holy Ghost yet they shall fall by the sword and by the flame by the captivity by spoil many days go to Joshua chapter number one please so look the portion is there the lot is there don't be like Joseph don't be like Manasseh it's just like oh you know there it's just too hard they got chariots of iron over there you know it's too ghetto over there you know it's just not nice look if you go to this church you know what ghetto is look you know what we're doing right before church Mark and I someone threw a dead German Shepherd in our garbage can okay so everyone who's walking in and they're just like it's not a sweet-smelling saber okay we're busy like pushing that thing across you said why do they talk because it's Elmani that's what they do sorry I'm sorry that that's your first impression of faithful Baptist Church of Elmani a full-grown dead German Shepherd in front of the church decomposing they threw it inside of a trash can and then they put it in the dumpster like that I was about to move it I was like whoa there's a dog in here you know that's what people do and it's I'm sorry but that's that's what happened so look if you're part of this look didn't Compton's no different I mean you know yesterday it was funny that if you haven't seen the video brother Frank and brother angel they're out soul winning and I was with brother Chris and you hear the ghetto bird does anybody know what a ghetto bird is it's not a rule it's not a literal bird it's a helicopter it's the police is what it is and they're flying around in our area and you can tell they're looking for something because the helicopter is tilted and it's only going around in one area you know but they're actually in the area where the angel and Frank were and you see the video and Frank is like giving the gospel you see in the background you see a sheriff pull up he gets out pulls out an m16 you know has like headgear and he's like walking around and he looks at he goes hey you guys better get inside he might be coming this way you know it's like that's pretty crazy now they're fine and it makes for good storytelling okay now the second point I want to give you is this is that a lack of obedience often results in a lack of success so a lack of obedience often results in a lack of success if you have a lack of success in your Christian life you know whether as individuals or even as churches it simply is due to a lack of obedience because if God commands something we can have faith that if we obey it we'll receive the success that he promises to give us and if you fail at it don't blame God we just got to reevaluate what we're doing and see if we're doing it the right way or sometimes it's a matter of just God just building our endurance God building our determination you know if we fail it doesn't mean that we ought to quit it means we ought to get back up and try it again it builds fortitude it builds determination you know if you go out so many you don't see anybody save that's not the time to quit this doesn't work I'm going back to track dropping you know I'm going back to the bus mission that no no God says preach the gospel it's gonna work we've all had a dry season out there when we go out there for a week and like no one gets saved but you know what that's not all the time we need to be consistent and can continue to go out there realize that a lack of obedience often results in a lack of success Joshua 1 6 says this be strong and of good courage front to this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto the fathers to give them only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to the to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper with us over that goes so it's interesting to know that in verse number seven he's telling us to be strong and courageous not to do the work but to obey God sometimes it takes more courage and strength to just obey the Lord you know it takes more strength and courage to just I'm gonna go out and preach the gospel obey the Lord then to go somewhere that's really scary to go do it okay look what it goes on to say in verse 8 this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shall meditate there in day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then now shall make that way prosperous and then now shall have good success God says you'll be successful if you obey me you'll be successful you know me times I've heard throughout my Christian life we're not going to Compton it's just not a very receptive area you know and this is their favorite phrase look brother you can reach down but you can't reach up I mean you've ever heard something like that that's the favorite phrase of the old IP you can reach down but you can't reach up in other words we'll send the bus ministry to Compton Inglewood and all these ghetto areas you know but we're not gonna send our church out there you know we want to focus on reaching the people who have Teria that's Spanish for money okay money why because you can reach down but you can't reach up you say do people really yeah people really say that I've heard it all my Christian you can reach down but you can't reach up that's a lie that's garbage that's a garbage philosophy to have that's you being a respecter of people you're having the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons and you need to memorize James chapter 2 now go to John chapter number one no the Bible says just obey just go do it okay don't think that you're smarter than God don't think that you know more than the Lord don't think that you have more wisdom than him you know he's like well you know we need to be wise about this and we can't just send out a whole whole entire church what if something happens well you know what if nothing happens have you ever thought about that what if you don't get shot what if you don't get banged on and you're just successful isn't that worth the risk right yes it's worth the risk but they want to focus on all you know you know there's a lot of black people over there my old I have beer racist man so racist it's just like this is like yeah you know I remember at House Anderson College okay they would literally say for the bus ministry they said no more than five black kids on this bus yeah that's wicked as hell they're all welcome everyone's welcome okay now why is that mentality there well simply for this it's it's a chain it's a basically it's a result of bad just discernment on their part to say well you know we can't preach hard you know therefore because we can't preach our work we have to preach these soft sermons or whatever to keep the people we don't want to offend anybody so if we bring all these ghetto kids from these ghetto neighborhoods it's gonna be offensive to those who have the money you know to me and they're not gonna want to pour their investment in such a ghetto little church with all these ghetto kids and stuff like that yeah forget you and your philosophy you know I want to see all of them saved and even if they don't come to church as long as they got saved it's the most important you know I talked to someone yesterday and they were like well how many of them are coming to church I'm like I don't know do you know where they're at yeah they're in Compton I can show you some of the houses of the people I live to the Lord yeah but you know what it's better than nothing in fact it's the most important thing and look maybe God was gonna destroy Compton at one time but I guarantee he's not gonna do it anymore why cuz now there's a righteous remnant there those people who are saved there and we're gonna keep going back okay but here's the mentality a lot of people have in regards to like a city like Compton look at verse number verse number 46 we'll start at verse 45 Philip finding the Nathaniel and saith and say we have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and Nathaniel said unto him can there any good thing come out of Nazareth Philip saith unto him come and see isn't that what a lot of people say like can there any good thing come out of Compton I mean when the wicked Jews of this world are looking for a wicked rapper they go to Compton so can there any good thing come out of Compton yes and look this is the way it starts a good thing goes into Compton get people saved and then now a good thing comes out of it but they want to have this mentality is like well there's now there's no good thing that can come out of Nazareth any good thing you can come out of Compton well we just saw yesterday that there was okay go to Joshua chapter 17 but look at the result of fear what happens when they have that type of mentality Joshua 17 in verse number 12 it says here yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities but the Canaanites would dwell in that land yet it came to pass when the children of Israel were waxing strong that they put the Canaanites to tribute but did not utterly drive them out so we see that even in numbers God commanded say look when you go into this land make sure you drive them all out don't leave anyone behind and what do they do they left them behind even to the point that they basically taxed them just to live in that in that land that's not what God wanted God didn't want you to just like get along with them and hire them and have them work for you and you can tax them and just do whatever you want in that regard no he said wipe them all out but you know what God told him it was gonna happen they're gonna be thorns in your sides and pricks in your eyes this ultimately will be your downfall and how do we apply that spiritually to churches today those churches that did not want to obey the Lord and just go into every city preach the gospel ultimately that's gonna be their demise why because what gets someone more fired up then going to a city like Compton seeing a bunch of people saved you get excited about those things but you know when your church is not doing that the people don't get fired up then it becomes lukewarm it became begins to get cold people are gonna get carnal and fleshly and worldly and what does the pastor do in order to keep people in the church they got to put the hoochie mamas up here with the CCM music to try to keep them in which ultimately will happen that will be their demise you see you think of a church like Lancaster Baptist Church they started hard man Paul Chapel used to preach hard from what I heard okay he used to be a great soul in him but you compare where he's at where he was at ten years ago or even 20 years ago to where he had he's at now it's a vast difference what happened they didn't drive out all the inhabitants they didn't obey the Lord completely and what happened they began to get more wise and you know they have the wisdom of this world and said well you know if we bring in the CCM the hell songs and all these things you know that's how we're gonna keep the people no that's your demise Paul Chapel your church is gonna get destroyed because of that God's gonna remove your candlestick from your church and they have this attitude where if you can't beat them join them tax them you know if we can't beat them just let them live in the land and we'll tax them they want to they want to pattern themselves after the liberal churches of this world that's not the way to go about it the Bible tells us in numbers 33 verse 51 speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them when you are passed over Jordan to the land of Canaan then he shall drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their pictures and destroy all their molten images and quit pluck down all their high places verse 55 but if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you then it shall come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and shall vet you in the land wherein you dwell more of us shall come to pass that I shall do unto you what I thought to do unto them I mean that should scare the fire out of you he says look not only are they gonna be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your size I'm gonna do to you what I was thinking of doing to them I'm gonna bring that judgment on you what I thought to do unto them you know that reminds me of 1st Corinthians 11 where it says for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged but it but when we are judged we are chasing of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world you know what do you have today churches that just basically assimilated to the culture around them to the liberal churches around them with their music and their low standards and their false doctrine and what are they doing they're basically bringing condemnation upon themselves and the Bible says that there's pricks in their eyes what does that mean they have no vision you know it's just another year you know they have their vision statement with the banner in the back you know the banner in the back that says you know someone give me what's the phrase build together what each one bring one each one bring ten each one reads ten how about that one you know they have all these cute little phrases that they put on their banner to inspire them that doesn't inspire anybody I guarantee none of you even paid attention to that one right there okay but at least that's a Bible verse but you know they have they think they have as you know the Bible says where there is no vision the people perish but he that keep it the law happy as he why because when you keep the law you're obeying God and you're gonna have what good success the Bible says but if you have no vision you ain't going nowhere they're pricks in your eyes your liberal standards and methodologies have placed pricks in your eyes and you can't see it far off you've forgotten that you're purged from your old sins you're not growing you're not abounding we want to abound we want to grow he said you want to become a mega church I honestly don't care if we do or not but what I want to do is reach mega mega people see mega mega people saved that's a good you know goal to have yeah but what if it's like you guys only grow to like 50 or 60 then that's more glory to God if you reach mega numbers of people because it's a small group reaching a lot of people okay now turn with me if you would to go to Joshua chapter 23 we don't want that to be our demise you know we want to make sure we keep the main thing the main thing the main thing is soul we want to make sure that we never have this attitude that when I get up here and I say hey we're going to Inglewood we literally had some when I first announced it okay don't tell anybody you know we let it I said we're going to Compton and one person was like what his heart melted it's like why would we go there it's like why not why are you why are you so fearful it's not even that bad some people from from Debbie said I think El Monte is probably bad worse than that you guys don't even have parking over here but that's not the kind of attitude we want to have well we say hey we're going to Inglewood and it's just like what haven't you're in Inglewood always up to no good haven't you heard that that's not that's not that's what the rappers talk about yeah that's why we're going over there there's lost people there so as a church we want to make sure that whatever city we go to it's like amen let's do it what is the day what's the time let's do it let's band together strive together for the faith of the gospel let's go do a great work don't be a little sissy coward and say oh man that's the ghetto yeah well you know what your church is in the ghetto I was trying to wean you on to that I was trying to condition you to get used to it but there's there's like gangs over there so what makes it even look I like the fact that our church is in the ghetto because that means the possibility no sodomites come in protest here because it's too ghetto and I'm glad there's no parking here because then they can't park their faggoty cars they like there's no parking here we're gonna have to go somewhere else you gotta always look at the silver lining of everything don't be a complainer when we go to Inglewood Compton or these surrounding cities and say oh man you know what then then go somewhere else go to Lancaster Baptist Church and go enjoy the little the little sign in the back that says reach one each one or whatever if that's the kind of Christianity you want that's that's not the kind of Christianity God wants you know we ought to be bold as a lion okay you know I'm just scared then pray from oldness we all get scared from time to time okay there's fear that grips our hearts from time to time but at the end of the day God did not give us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind okay look at the Bible says in Joshua 23 and verse 13 know for a certainty that the Lord your God will would no more drive out any of these nations from before you but they shall be snares and traps unto you and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you and almost you could kind of like read into this that God is basically saying you know what I was willing to drive them out but because you're not willing to do it I'm just gonna let them overcome you and it says until you perish you know cuz I'm sometimes you think how are these mega churches allowed to just go on and on and on you know and we think how can they why does God allow their church to even exist well they're not they're dying and God is basically allowing the snares and the traps and the scourges and the thorns there until they perish from off the land and like you could see it you could even in IFB churches you can see it you know where it's just like man that church is dying and I am I get reports from people who are still in the old IP churches who listen to us and they'll say this church is dying it's that no one goes so any here they have a name that they live it but they're dead it looks like we're doing a lot but we're not the pastor doesn't go so any no one goes so and everyone does visitation they just have this personas if they're doing something but they're not you know it's what's happening they have thorns they have snares traps scourges and they're perishing is what they're doing so you know what we're just gonna let him perish and Lord willing the people who are involved in these churches who are listening to us will just come over here that's the goal amen they should come over here and be a part of a thriving church a church that's going soul winning a church that has a name that lives and is living okay now let's see here go with me if you watch Isaiah chapter 61 Isaiah 61 so lessons from Compton what are some lessons here hey look God that's a that's a that's a lot for the taking right there you know if you guys if churches don't want it all right we'll take it take it look if Tempe was willing to drive out here we got people from another state taking your portion California Southern California they're like if you guys don't wanna we'll take it we'll take your your portion we'll take your lot we'll take your success we'll take that reward they belong to you if you don't want it we'll drive out there and take it and look let me say this the tacos helped but it's a girl hey it was a success well sir they're they're testing us and say we'll see if it pans out brother Perry I'm like I'm a test of our brother Perry he saw no one saved the very oh not no one say like one person saved the first half okay then he confessed his sins he got right with the Lord and he ate like ten tacos and like revival broke out after that pastor Anderson knows what he's talking about it's not just jokes it's true try it out he ate those tacos and I was just like boom they're like what must I do to be saved and he's just giving them the God they're just getting saved so for next year so you know brother it works all right ready now look at Isaiah 61 so here's another principle under that is you know we ought to desire to have preached the gospel to the poor now I understand there's not poor people necessarily in the United States okay it's like there's not people who you know the guy who's standing on the corner with the sign saying a buck please or something or whatever that guy's not poor he's just a lazy bum okay I'm talking about people who are poor in spirit you know people who are humble and I met a lot of people yesterday who just humble they're just humble people they saw people who came to their door who just what we weren't even interested in bringing them to church I think that trips people out by the way sometimes it's like you know here's an invite to our church it's like well I got my own church well you know I don't want you to come to my okay it's like more important is I wanted to make sure that you're going to heaven and it's like okay well this guy doesn't have like an ulterior motive because you know in their mind I'm thinking he wants me to come to church so I can tie them pay a salary and pay for all that's what they're thinking because they got what's his name Noel Jones in Los Angeles who does that to everyone okay he just wants everyone they take like three offerings and one of them is a $20 mandatory offering no joke that's not what we're about you know and we give them the gospel and they get saved you know these people were humble okay look what Isaiah 61 verse 1 says the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he had sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn to a point unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified now obviously this is a prophecy of the Lord and he fulfilled that but you know what that's we can apply that to our personal lives as well because when we get filled with the Spirit of God that's what we can do to people look I gotta tell you this story so we're out there it was brother Chris and I and here's the thing is obviously not everyone's open there you know those people I'm sure they got rejected and they're just like no I don't want it I got this one guy and he was just like you ever you ever run into a soul winner and or excuse me a person you're trying to win and they're just like they're listening but they're not listening they're just like they're kind of going along to get along and they're just like yeah come on it's just like he's like talking to five different people you know and it's just like this guy's not paying attention I got that yesterday and I was just like well hey that's the invite you know if you ever have a question or want to come by that's her address I said you mind if I talk to her he goes yeah go for it so he went on about his business and his wife came she listened she got saved but as I was preaching the gospel to her her niece was standing right there she's about 10 years old her name is Helen and I'm giving the gospel to her aunt and then Helen just interrupts and says wait hold on a second but I never even heard like a 10 year old talk like that he goes hold on she goes what if I don't want to go to hell though I don't want to go and she was dead serious she goes I don't want to go to hell so what do I have to do not to go to hell I'll say that's a great question I'm gonna explain it to you right now so I'm explaining to her and then before I could even get to eternal security we talked about you know trusting Christ and believing on the Lord she goes like this she goes well hold on a second she's obviously she's like a thinker you know I mean and she's like what if I trust Christ though and then I sin afterwards do I have to get like saved again I mean this is like low hanging fruit it's already on the ground it's like it's on a strand you know you just have to go and I said I said no you don't have to get saved again let me show you and I showed her the verses and she had this very innocent just very humble spirit about it and I said Helen would you like to get saved and she goes yeah and she got saved her and her aunt got saved you know and obviously that doesn't happen all the time but man that's awesome when it does it goes to show you that there's people out there who are meek this is in Compton who are me who would just want to hear the gospel so what you need to do is this get some stones churches get over your fears and go meet the Helen's out there the children who are probably going to be born and they'll die in Compton they probably will know nothing other than Compton you know they'll just know the helicopters the sheriff's with the guns the Bloods and Crips tortilla flats and all these other gangs there and that's all they will know what a sad existence isn't it so you who have the light why don't you go out there and give him the gospel she was willing to listen she was willing to hear it and she did and then another story is a lady in Spain by the way if you go to Compton you gotta learn you gotta know some Spanish how many ran into a lot of Spanish speakers out there okay you know this lady she was willing to listen but she was kind of one of those people who were just kind of like uh-huh you know just kind of not get she was answering right until I would ask her like the next question then she was just completely go back to like what you have to work for it and all that stuff but then her son was in the background just kind of walking by and just like listening like he was just kind of like he wanted to know what's going on I say hey man what's up I said can I talk to you real quick can I give you one of these and he's like yeah sure what's up and I was like from a church and and I said goodbye to the mom and I said yeah if you ever want to come by you know I just right there his name was Israel and I gave him the gospel man he understood it completely he you know people get it that when you give the illustration of the gift they like laugh you know it's like here's a gift now can you go wash my car and he starts laughing you know he's just like you could tell it like clicks in their mind like okay he gets it it's a joke to say that it's a gift and you're charging someone after you give it to them so he's getting he's like enjoying it and he gets saved you know and there's so many stories like that of people that we saw saved but you know they they require a person who's spirit filled to go out there not to not to not to be some rich you know with a nice church and all these things they just require someone who loves them and that's really what it comes where it comes down to isn't it yeah it's someone who has love in their heart for it doesn't matter what color what race they are to have enough love in their heart to go out there and said I'll do the work I want to see Helen saved I want to see Israel saved you know I want to see Terry saved I want to see these people trust Christ as their Savior I want to go do be a part of doing that great work for the Lord to preach the gospel and to the poor now go to James chapter 2 and we're almost done Bible says in James 2 verse 1 my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Lord with respect of persons for if they're come unto you your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel and they're coming also a poor man in vile raiment and you have respected to him that we're at the gay clothing and saying to him sit down here in a good place and say to the poor stand out there or sit here under my footstool are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts harken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith I met a lot of people who are rich in faith they just believed it and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that loved him but be but but ye have despised the poor yeah do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats you know our president the pastors today is the rich people in their church look if you want me to keep building your building I mean you make sure you keep this place the way we want it kept now you're exaggerating know it happens well like the rich people in the church they dictate they're they're the real pastors of the church okay through the pastor now go to Joshua chapter 17 we're done last point is this just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's impossible that's what Manasseh needed to understand and Joshua was trying to convey that to them so look just because it's hard doesn't mean it's impossible to do now we can't say that Compton was difficult in fact I think it was easier in most places we've gone to it's very easy but this is a good principle all around that God is trying to teach Manasseh here is like look though they have chariots of iron just keep thinking about that phrase there verse 15 says Joshua answer them if they'll be a great people then get thee up to the wood country and cut down for thyself there in the land of the parasites of the Giants if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee and the children of Joseph said the hill is not enough for us and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valleys have chariots of iron both they who are of Bethsheon in her towns and they who are of the valley of Jezreel skip down to verse 18 but the mountain shall be thine for it is a wood and thou shalt cut it down and the outgoings of it shall be thine for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites though they have chariots of iron and though they be strong now I don't know anything about this type of warfare I just I do know this is that I'm sure chariots of iron are hard to take down I'm sure it's a lot harder than wooden chariots right wooden chariots you just light it on fire or something but you know it's not impossible to take it down especially if you have God on your side it's not impossible but a lot of people they want to use that as an excuse to say well it's just too hard therefore it's impossible know what God all things are possible okay is anything too hard for God his ears not his hands not sure that it cannot save the Bible says his ears not heavy that he cannot hear what does he need he just needs people to go out and do it and believe that it can be done so what's the what's the sermon today Compton's population is 97,000 as of like 2015 or something like that over 97,000 so what we did yesterday was a drop in the bucket but it was a drop and that's just the beginning of it though we're gonna go back again and again and again until we see more people saved okay so what's the message the message is simply this you know we need to get out of this mentality and I'm not saying we because I don't we don't have that mentality but Christianity just in general needs to get out of this mentality that these forbidden cities you know these ghetto neighborhoods are unclean you know touch not the unclean thing no you know what you need to do is go ahead and go out there as God to fill you with his power and spirit take a Bible in hand and go preach the gospel and you'll see success you know what maybe maybe God will spare your church if you decide to do that maybe God won't put out your candlestick if you decide to love the lost in Compton and in Inglewood maybe God will have big plans for you you know God is very merciful you think of Hezekiah and all these kings who did wrong and then once they repented God gave him like years more to live God can do that with these lame churches if they just woke up and said you know what forgive us Lord for not loving the lost and not loving the poor we're going to Compton too I'd say amen to that I'd say all right you go Friday we go Saturday you don't even have to claim us as friends or anything like that if you just want to go out there and do the work amen let's just get the job done but if not we'll get it done we'll make sure it gets done why because we want to make sure that we're loving the lost there and it's not impossible to reach them amen let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you for this day thank you so much for all the soldiers that came out to preach the gospel Lord and all the souls that were saved 142 and that's conservative number there's people in our groups that we didn't count and so it potentially might be even more but I pray God that you'd help us Lord to continue to have a soft heart for the loss for the poor and not to judge these cities as if they're heathen nations that can't be touched can't where we can't give the gospel to may we not think of ourselves so highly that we wouldn't humble ourselves to go to areas like that we're not for the grace of God we'd probably be in the same place I pray God that you'd help us Lord to to continue to have that love and to be humble and to depend on you to be strong and very courageous to obey you and in Jesus name we pray amen you