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We're gonna be having brother Robinson come here at this time, and he's a friend of mine through Facebook We're Facebook friends right brothers that you know so we're real real friends now We've actually it really enjoyed getting to know each other this weekend And we have he's come highly recommended to me from pastors And I really really appreciate and love and so we have mutual friends And I've heard great things about him and this is something that I we have a burden this church was a church plant some almost 20 years ago and We need more churches. I've said that before and so you know I talked to him about the his vision and his idea about what he wants to do and it's Compatible with what we believe and so what we're gonna Do is we're gonna help him and we want to amen and we want to give an offering to help him get started in his Local church, and he has the desire to reach that region with the gospel And we need every door in America to be knocked over and over again You know and this is our generation This is our chance to do this and we need to give a clear presentation of the gospel and in order to do that the Mobilizing force the institution that God has established to do that is the local church, and so we're excited about that So brother Robinson come and preach for us. We're looking forward to hearing from you today Oh Good morning everybody I was telling Pastor Johnson. This is actually my first Sunday morning service that I've actually preached at so knock that off the list But I just want to tell you a little bit about my testimony and and what the plans are for Mountain Baptist Church but if you'll find your places in Philippians chapter 1 is where we're going to start and we'll read the whole chapter But I just kind of want to start off with the Bible, and then we'll get into my testimony Mountain Baptist Church, and then we'll get into the message, but Philippians chapter 1 And once you get there someone would say amen to me, so I know someone's there Alright, so Philippians chapter 1 starting in verse 1 it says Paul and Timothy is the servants of Jesus Christ all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons grace be unto you and peace from God our Father from the Lord Jesus Christ I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always and every prayer of mine for you all Making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ Even as it is me for me to think this of you all Because I have you in my heart in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel Ye all are partakers of my grace for God is my record How greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more Knowledge and in all judgment that you may approve things that are excellent and that you may be sincere without offense till the day of Christ Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God But I would you should understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather into the furtherance of the gospel So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places And many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of goodwill the one preached Christ of contention not sincerely Supposing to add affliction to my bonds But the other of love knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel what then? Notwithstanding every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is preached and I therein do rejoice yay And will rejoice for I know that this shall turn to my salvation Through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed But that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body Whether it be by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor yet what I shall choose I what not for I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you and having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith that you're rejoicing may be more Abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again Only let your conversation be as it become at the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast and one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel And in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition But to you of salvation and that of God for unto you It is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him But also to suffer for his sake having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here to be in me Let's open with the word of prayer the only father Lord we think tonight or this morning and Lord We just thank you for everybody that came out and Lord I prayed you'd fill me with your spirit and Lord that you to help me to preach this message Rightly and Lord that we can glean everything we can from your word and ultimately to bring glory to your name Lord We love you and pray else in Jesus Christ name Amen, so my sermon actually is Be ready to die Be ready to die and so I'm gonna get into that in a little bit But first I want to give you a kind of a little testimony about how I got saved Where I can't where I've come from and stuff like that and then Mountain Baptist Church what the plans are for that church I brought my own water, but I guess there's a couple up here. I think okay. I may need it all I may need it all So I got saved when I was 17 years old in high school I grew up in a and my mom was Catholic and her whole side of the family is Catholic and my dad was Protestant more like Church of God And I grew up in a Christian home in the sense of Christian values both my parents Believed in Jesus as far as the the values of Christianity, so I had a good upbringing, you know as far as Just values and good parents, but neither my parents were saved and I wasn't saved either in high school my friend Michael Meluditch Invited me to a Baptist revival and I remember I heard the first time leather-lung hard preaching sermon and And it took me back. I was just be honest. I'm used to the the dead Catholic Church or some Nondenominational Church where they're just you know, they don't get loud and so It took me back But one thing that I noticed was he was saying that salvation was by grace and that you that it was not a work So I've heard that before, you know, a lot of churches preach that and a lot of people say that But what he said was is that if you believe you can lose your salvation Then you're not saved and that hit me. I was like, it's like whoa and so It kind of resonated with me but it made sense and it made sense that it was just by faith and not of works and That you can't lose something if you didn't work for it to get it You can't work and do anything to keep it. And so at that point You know it hit me and then my friend Mike and I we actually ended up being roommates in college we were both going into engineering and And but in high school we talked about that and and I ended up getting saved After talking to him and and and getting that nailed down and then in college Mike and I were roommates, but then he won Matt Stuckey to the Lord in a Bible study or not a Bible study It was it was a chemistry study. They were studying chemistry together. And and so same thing brother Matt he didn't he thought you could lose your salvation and And Mike gave him the gospel when he ended up getting saved Long story short we had a kind of a big group of friends that were we just got saved besides Mike And we all wanted to go tell everybody because I said well if I didn't know about this who else didn't know about it so we went to the mountain layer, which is like a hangout for all the Students and we can eat and study and all that and I didn't know what I was doing I knew I had some verses that I got down like Ephesians 2 8 9 and John 3 16 I just went up to somebody said hey, do you know a hundred percent sure you're going to heaven? You know and then a quarter to Ephesians 2 8 9. I had no plan I didn't have like a plan of action of how to do it but long story short after college and being with friends that were like-minded and we were trying to study and learn we watch Ken Hovind and all that and I got plugged into a an independent Baptist Church and Not the same one that I'm in right now But it was kind of further out from town and now I'm into I mean the church that I'm getting sent out from is actually in Morgantown so Just reading the Bible memorizing the Bible Just learning going soul winning for years Pastor Anderson obviously was a huge influence on me back in 2008. I met him actually going to the Ron Paul But I didn't know I was going to the Ron Paul rally We were meeting we met him and David versions out of DC and And This will kind of segue into the starting the church We went saw so we marched in the Ron Paul rally and then we actually my wife was with us Although she was actually talking to another friend of mine. And so that's a long story of how we got we ended up getting married but Well, we marched in Ron Paul rally and then we were just kind of talking about Bible the whole time and we were looking up to him a lot because Honestly what drew us the pastor Anderson was the fact that he was post-trib and me and my friends throughout college were like this pre-trib just doesn't fit and we're like it's post-trib and Well, I didn't have all the details hash I'll just gonna be honest with you didn't have all the little ins and outs of it but I knew that it was you know, the rapture came after tribulation, but before we poured out his wrath and So we met him through that and we saw him online. This is when YouTube was kind of a small thing and so anyway, we met with him in DC and and He he could he just preached a sermon. I don't know if you guys have ever heard it called if not you then who? and That was like it just been preached like a week before that and it resonated, you know with soul winning obviously But with starting a church and I was obviously nowhere near qualified at the time to start a church But I remember telling pastor Anderson Because he was basically saying you guys need to do something, you know, you need to you need to Take advantage of the fact that you guys got this group. You guys are all one to do this type of stuff and And I said, well, I just don't know if God's calling me to do that You know, like I don't know if that's what he wants me to do. And he said he said let me ask you something Jason do you think it needs to be done? I'm like, yeah, do you think there needs to be more churches? I said, yeah He's like then you need to do it. And so from that day on I was like, okay Well, I'm gonna plan on doing that and you know, obviously I got married three years ago a little over three years ago We have two beautiful children. And so my pastor back at home believes that I'm ready to To start this church. So I'm ready to start it. So so that's That's my testimony in a short as far as how I got saved why I want to start this church But at Mountain Baptist Church, I just picked the name because we're in the mountain state So if you want a short of it, but also, you know, it talks about a lot of times the Sermon on the Mount How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him to bring it good tidings that publish at peace that bring it You know good tidings of good that publishes salvation. And so one of the best verses in the Bible is is you know Where we talk about? How beautiful are the feet of them to preach the gospel of peace? So and that that comes from Isaiah it comes from Nahum and all that where it talks about preaching upon the mountains And so that's what I want our church to be I want our church to be a soul winning church And if anybody if I ever get out of soul winning then you need to point at my moniker verse As far as why aren't you doing what your whole church is supposed to be about? So That's what we want to do. We want to reach all North Central West Virginia. So if you guys aren't If you don't know West Virginia too well The northern portion of it is really where all the activities that if you if you look at Morgan towns where WVU is at And then Fairmont's just below it and then Clarksburg just below that and literally if you're in Fairmont It's 20-minute drive to each city and I say city, but it's really a town But there's about a quarter of a million people in those three counties but when you go between that and Charleston, which is our capital, there's pretty much just Just woods and people living out in the country. So So that's the area that's the hub as far as where the church is at But I don't want to just hit that area. My vision is a lot bigger than that I want to do small-town soul winning marathons and all the little provinces and little areas and Eventually, maybe we'll get someone to go down to Charleston and we'll get the whole state. And so You know, that's my vision for the church. That's our Jerusalem. So to speak And our Judea is is the state and of course we want all American all the world to hear the gospel So that's so that's our push if you want to know what our mission is. It's all winning It's all winning and so that's what we want to do We want to change that we want to we want to win them to Christ See him baptized get him in the church and it seemed to do likewise and we need more labor. So So I'm excited about it I'm excited to to be a part of it and I'm really excited to see everybody else is getting excited about it. So It makes me feel like I'm not alone and I have a lot more respect for pastors When you actually take that step and go out there on your own like that Because it's it's it's it's kind of daunting but I have a lot of support and really it's it's not that hard when you have everybody backing you so okay, so we're gonna get into the sermon here and The the titles be ready to die So when we get into Philippians 1 when I think of Philippians 1 all I can think about is someone that just doesn't care if They die. Yeah, they're ready to depart, you know, it says for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain Yet if I you know, it talks about he's giving the the two sides of it He says if I'm in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor But you know, but I'd rather be with Christ, you know, there's there's a need for me to be here physically So he's not he doesn't have a death wish in a sense in a sense, but he just is better You know if he died, you know, it's better off anyway So if you'll turn to So There's two people in the Bible where they said that they're ready to die one was Peter and One was Paul and don't quote me There may be another person that said that but what I'm using today is Peter and Paul now these two people if you look in The book of Acts are the two main proponents in the book of Acts Before you get to Paul you have Peter and all the stuff that he's doing with the Apostles But Peter is pretty much one of the guys is being mentioned until you get into chapter 13 where Paul's Coming out and doing what he needs to do. And so Peter is a great character in the Bible But you know, we also know that he had some pitfalls. Obviously Paul had pitfalls before he got saved Yeah, he was consenting to put Christians to death. But if you turn with me to Luke chapter 22 Luke chapter 22 and I want to read These two cases one one case where someone said they were ready to die But they weren't and then someone that was ready to die and he was so and what's the difference between them? So let me get there myself So Luke 22 and then we're gonna go just down to let me see where I want to start here Luke 22 33 is really aware where I want to You to look but I may want to read a little more before that Yeah, let's start in 31 It says in the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan had desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted Strengthen thy brethren and he said unto him Lord I am ready to go with thee both in the prison and To death and he said I tell thee Peter the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny That thou knowest me. So Peter we know we know the story he didn't go to him to the death, but he said he was and What's interesting is right after this you get into the Garden of Gethsemane where you have? All the Apostles with with the Lord Jesus Christ and in Mark chapter 14, you don't have to turn there He says watching and praying lest she enter into temptation The Spirit truly is ready But the flesh is weak now a lot of times I am quoting it from Matthew The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So when you look at ready and willing That's those are kind of the two to the same things, you know, if you're ready to die you're willing to die And that's what we're talking about right here is being willing to die and so Paul though in Acts chapter 21 We'll turn there real quick and I just want you to see these two sides We have Peter who said he was willing to die, but he wasn't his spirit was ready, but his flesh was weak But go to Acts chapter 21 Acts chapter 21 and go to verse 13 And to give you a little background on this this is where Paul is going down to Jerusalem and Everybody's saying don't go don't go don't go and he's like no I'm gonna go and so That's where this is kind of coming from is everybody's telling don't go down. You're gonna be in bonds. You're gonna die They're gonna kill you and so actually after 21 in verse 13 Then Paul answered what me need to weep and to break my heart for I am ready not to be bound only But also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Now we know Paul Was ready because Paul was stoned and they thought he was dead there, you know, Paul, you know went through all these trials He was ready to die and he proved that now with Peter. He Jesus said, you know that Satan's gonna wants to sift you as wheat and he says after you're converted Strengthen the brethren if you remember at the end of John chapter 21 or in John chapter 21 He goes out fishing But then Jesus kind of rebukes him for that and says do you love me more than these? and I believe at that point it was a turning point for Peter where He was willing he was willing to die at that point. And so we see that Peter later on he says let We ought to be bait God rather than men, you know, so we see the boldness of Peter later on So it's not that here wasn't ready eventually But this is a process with being ready to die physically But spiritually the first thing is if you're gonna be ready to die for a cause You need to be you need to be spiritually ready so the first step to be ready to die is to be saved and so The first step that that all of us need to have and hopefully everybody in here at least most everybody I know we have kids in here that that aren't saved yet, but That we need to have salvation down. We need to have that planted Here's the thing if you doubt your salvation, you're not gonna be ready to die So we need we need to have that down and the Bible says and this is a soul wonders verse right here, right? It says these things have are written unto you that believe in the name of the Lord The believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on The name of the Son of God, right? This is a verse that I use probably every person I talk to you This is how I open up Because I want them to know that hey you can know this you can know a hundred percent sure that you're going to heaven You can't know that if it's by repenting of your sins, right? You can't know that if it's by baptism You can't know that if it's by all these sacraments that the Catholic Church teaches or by all these different Baptisms and all this other stuff that all these Church teach The only way that you can know that is because it's by faith alone in Jesus Christ And so we have to have that settled and we have to have it super clear But see when the gospel is muddied when you go to a church that preaches that well You got to turn from your sins. You got to repent of your sins Some people may be saved in the church, but they're probably even wondering at that point. Did I repent of all my sins? So when you when you muddy the gospel, first of all, a lot of people aren't gonna end up getting saved But then the people that are saved are gonna be worried whether they're even saved now Someone's worried about whether they're gonna go to heaven or whether they're gonna go to hell Do you think that they're gonna go up to the magistrates when they're gonna put them in prison and say we're gonna behead you You think you're gonna say we ought to make God rather than men or do you think that they're gonna be a little more? Willing to recant or to try to back out of that because they're not ready And so the first step is to have salvation down pat and so you need and you know what? I didn't even really write that much about this because When we go soul winning we say these verses so many times. I don't need to worry about remembering them, you know Where it says in Romans? 323 for all of sin to come short of the glory of God You know, I didn't mad I didn't sit down to memorize that You know for the wages of sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I didn't sit down and memorize that I said it so many times from reading it to Hundreds to thousands of people when I go out so winning that it just ingrains into you And so and sometimes you end up missing up verses because you have some of the verses are similar But the thing is is that you're gonna remember those verses and you're gonna have it clear when you go out soul-winning when you go Preach the gospel to every creature when you go out every single week. You're not gonna be messed up on salvation Because it's gonna be reminded to you every single week. Yeah, we're right about that When you win someone to Christ You're gonna be reminded by that when you go out and you preach the gospel to ten people and none of them get saved You're still gonna be reminded about it. And so we need to have the gospel clear and when you go soul-winning It's gonna it's just gonna be ingrained into you that this is right This is what I believe faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, you know We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, but how do you have your assurance the Bible the Bible? You know when I want to know hey, is that is that right? Am I right about this? I look to the Bible because the Bible is gonna tell me that this is the promise that he had promised us even eternal life And it says that you know that he can't lie, you know in hope of eternal life Which God that cannot lie promise before the world began if I go to hell Then God lied to me By I am putting my promises on the Word of God and his word cannot be broken and he'll never There's nothing could ever pluck me out of his hand But see when you have the Word of God inside of you and you have a memorized and you go out soul-winning It's gonna be clear to you and you're gonna be ready. You're gonna be willing at that point to die now Peter I think was at that point. I think he knew hey, I'm saved. I know I'm going to heaven You know, I'm not in the belief that he thought you could lose your salvation or something like that You know that I believe that all his disciples believed on him The Bible says they did except for Judas who was a devil, right? So we know Judas didn't believe but I believe all his disciples bleed on before the resurrection Now obviously they were mixed up on things didn't understand it completely or what was going on But I believe they had that nailed down as far as where they would go when they died So you can be saved you could have the gospel down And you can you can understand salvation but maybe not You know be ready to die physically, right? And so When there was a story also, you know, if there's someone in here, that's not saying that someone says I'm not sure You know if I if I know a hundred percent sure I'm going to heaven, you know, your time is now To get saved you need to get that settled immediately Jesus said to his brothers and yes, Jesus had brothers and Mary was not eternal virgin So but he said to his brethren in John chapter 7 It says for neither did his brethren believe in him then Jesus said unto them My time is not yet come but your time is all way ready You know when it comes to this the loss their time is all way ready It's always ready for them to be saved. They need to be saved immediately The Bible says now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation You know, it's interesting that it says now it doesn't say today is the day of salvation Because you could say well I'll wait to the end of the day No now because you may not make it to the end of the day so We need to have salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ and I could go give you scores of verses on Salvation and how it's it's by faith alone in Jesus Christ and that we need to have that clear this repentance Of sins that's creeping into Baptist churches. That's been a major issue and and it is an issue And and you know when people when people tell me it's not an issue You know what that tells me is they don't go soul-winning, right? Well, as soon as you go soul-winning most of people that don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ or that aren't saved I believe you can lose your salvation. What do they say you have to do? Well, you got to turn from your sins You got to stop saying and and those are the big issues that they say But what are the Baptist preacher saying you got to turn from your sins and stop sinning? So what's the difference between them and every other church that's out there? So we need to have that clear when we go out soul-winning that it's by faith alone keep it clear keep it simple And yes, the gospel is simple. I'm easy believe ism If you if you want to put a ban on me that says easy believe ism I'll wear it because it is easy to be saved But we also when we go so many we need to make sure that we're clear We need to make sure that we're thorough When I give some of the gospel and I'm not perfect But here's the thing when I give some the gospel I treat them as if They're one of my family members that I want to be saved So we need to be very loving very, you know He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with them Those that sow with tears shall reap with joy. And the thing is we need to have compassion, but we need to be thorough Just imagine to the person you're giving the gospel to and I don't care if he's you know Completely doesn't look like anybody that would be in your family Look at them as if they're a family member and treat them that way because they're their souls just as precious as everybody else's so We need to be thorough about the gospel now How do we how do we how are we ready to die physically now? We're saved we understand that we have that nailed down that we're ready We're ready to go if we were to die, we would go to heaven but people still fear death They still don't want to like suffer. They don't want to go through that that pain So, how are you gonna be ready physically? Well, the answer is you need to walk in the spirit, you know There's a difference between being saved spiritually and then that's the physical aspect So in Colossians, for example and this is where I think a lot of people will have problems in their Bible doctrine is the fact that We have our spirit that's perfect and saved and and without sin He is born of God doth not commit sin for a seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God That's talking about your soul talking about your spirit, but our flesh is not that way the things that I would do I did I do not you know allow not so Paul talked about that that fight between the flesh and the spirit and so what do you what do you do? He said I die daily you know, I He starves the flesh. He keeps under his body right but in Colossians chapter 2 in verse 6 If you want to turn there what you can Colossians chapter 2 in verse 6 There's being saved that's that's the first step salvation's the key right before you can before you can walk you got a crawl right and so we need to we need to Understand salvation have that crystal clear and if you have that crystal clear, you're not gonna doubt it And that's the first step is having a firm grasp that hey i'm saved no matter what You know that's settled, right? but the colossians chapter 2 in verse 6 The Bible says as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and build up in him Established in the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving And now you don't have to turn there But in Galatians chapter 5 it says if you live in the spirit if we live in the spirit Let us also walk in the spirit. So you can you're saved in the spirit, right? You're saved by faith by grace But We're also supposed to walk in the spirit. We're supposed to we're supposed to walk after him, right? And so walking in the spirit is a process. It's something that takes time It's something that that we have to work at and so this is what I believe will get you ready For for any types of trials and tribulations is walking in the spirit like we were talking about with soul winning How are you gonna be really firm on your salvation? You got to walk in the spirit because going out soul winning is walking in the spirit When you win some of the Christ you are walking in the spirit so How do we walk in the spirit? What are some steps that we can do and I'm just gonna give you a few obviously There's tons of things that we can do to be walking in the spirit to love our neighbor all these different things But I want to give you some practical Measures I'm going to turn to Galatians chapter 5 myself here But Galatians chapter 5 is a great passage and when you couple that with Romans and as you know Romans and Galatians a lot of times are very paralleled but in Galatians chapter 5, I just want you to Look at chapter 5 there and at the end of the chapters where it says if you live in the spirit Let us also walk in the spirit But in chapter 5 and verse 16 We'll start reading there It says this I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts thereof For the flesh lusted against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other So that you cannot do the things that you would But if you be led of the spirit, you're not under the law Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envying Murders drunkenness revelings and such like of the which I tell you before as I also Told you in time past that they would do such things or not shall not inherit the kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy. Peace long-suffering gentleness Goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law. So Walking in the flesh walking in the spirit. We can see there's a bit stark contrast between these right walking in the flesh Is where you're you're openly committing fornication lascivious ness drunkenness all these different aspects of sin, right? Well, what's walking in the spirit while I'm walking in the spirits opposite of that, right? So the the fruit of the spirit is love joy. Peace long-suffering all that, right? Walking in the spirit is keeping God's commandments. So what's walking in the flesh breaking them? So walking in the spirit is keeping his commandments. We are called obviously to we are ordained on the good works we are ordained to keep his commandments and so What what can we do to be ready for these times or for these? Tribulations to be ready to die is to walk in those Commandments now do the stuff that you need to do now and you'll be ready when the hard times come But in Romans chapter 13, you don't have to turn there The Bible says the night is far spent the day is at hand Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and oneness Not in strife and envy but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts They're up Sound familiar, right? So how are we supposed to walk in the spirit? Well, we're supposed to walk honestly We're not to be riding We're not to be drunken and we're to keep his commandments and the commandment is fulfilled in one word In this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. It says that in Galatians 5 so We need to keep his commandments and when you keep his commandments you'll be ready to die you'll be ready to stand up there and and when you go out soul winning and And yes soul winning is a priority and I know people are like trying to put a wet blanket on soul winning But when you go out soul winning it gives you that Boldness and it gives you that that drive to say, you know what? I'm ready to do anything when you win some of the crisis nothing better than that in my opinion So or to maybe see them walk, you know walk in the right way and to do the same thing, right? I want my younger brother to the Lord. We were kind of talking about him And one a lot of my family members to the Lord but seeing him win people to Christ was even more exciting You know than seeing him get saved and obviously that's a the first priority but By doing that if you get out of soul when you get out of the work You're gonna fall So you need to keep going? I don't care if you don't want to do it because here's the thing there's always gonna be a time that I don't want to do it and when you look at your pastor you Look at your your your the people you look up to And I know I'm friends with pastor and pastor Jimenez and all them, you know, there's times that they don't want to go You know, there's times that they don't want to do it. And so and we're all human We all we all have that desire to say, you know what? I'd rather just go home and just relax and not deal with with other people and not and not deal with all that But you just need to go anyway You just need to suffer through that and you know It says that for unto you it is to be given is given on the behalf of Christ Not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake So the Bible says that yes, we are to believe on him for salvation But that's not the end our end game is to suffer for him. Our end game is to die for him now we may not all die, you know with With a sword to our neck or you know in the end times here or you know in these Persecutions that people go through but we can still die for him you know, you can live your whole life and live for him and do everything you need to do and Die for him and it may be of old age It may be of some illness, but here's the thing You need to go to your death doing this but the only way that you're gonna do it is by walking in the spirit the Bible says in and Ecclesiastes 2 or 12 13 and said let us Hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man You Know what we need to do as far as Christians is not complicated It's not easy, but it's not complicated So some things that are that are easy to know what you need to do aren't always that you're the thing Yeah, if I could say that right the things that easiest to understand are not always the easiest things to do so So our whole duty is to keep his commandments And his commandments are not grievous, but we just need to keep them That's how we're gonna walk in the spirit now other ways To do this is Read the Bible read the Bible and memorize the Bible Whenever you're going through hard times You need to have the Bible on your mind. You need to be meditating upon the Word of God You need to be reading your Bible and I'd say for for church members You need to at least try to get through it in a year Each time a year that's 15 minutes a day I listen to it in my truck on the way to work and I get through the Bible on just audio Just going to work back back and forth from work and obviously I'm by myself when I'm doing this But I get through the Bible close to four times just from audio And so it's very easy to do it. I'm not saying you have to do that You know you can turn it down a little bit on the audio You can listen to like music and stuff like that, you know and listen to hymns or whatever You can listen to the wind blow, but here's the thing You know, it's possible to do that. It's possible to get a lot of Bible reading and just from listening to audio But you also need to set a time There's set aside those times where you're gonna be reading it and read through it So blessed are those that hear and blessed are those that read right? So I think you should try to do both I think there's a blessing in both of them, but you need to read you need to have the Bible In your heart now the best way To have the Bible in your heart and to have it ready at your disposal is to memorize it So I want to read a few verses to you, but the Bible says in Colossians. This is just about If you know the parallel passage and in Ephesians where it's talking about being filled with the Spirit It says let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord so To be filled with the Spirit is I believe the same thing is walking in the Spirit when you're walking in the Spirit You're filled with the Spirit those things that I believe are synonymous and If you look at the parallel passage of Colossians to be filled with the Spirit It says to be not drunk with wine where is in excess If you look at where it talks about teaching yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs That's where it says that in Ephesians. Well right here. It says let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly So what's a good way of being filled with the Spirit have the Word of God inside you because what is the sword of the Spirit? the Word of God right so Have the Word of God inside you it says in Psalm 1 1 blessed is the man to walk and not in the counseling on Godly nor stand from the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of scornful But as the light is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night Now there's scores of verses I could show you thy word have had I hidden mine heart that I might not sin against thee there's so many verses and and passages we're talking about meditating on the Word of God and and and memorizing it right So you need to have that memorized you need to take the time to do that now why why do you need to memorize it? Well, there may be a time where you don't have a Bible in front of you You know, there was a time that I went to a funeral and I didn't have my Bible on me I was just kind of going there just real quick and and then we were in this big little line It was a big Catholic one where it was like a big viewing and I didn't have a Bible on me But there was people there. There was like some younger guys behind me and I was like, well, I'm wasting time here Just sitting here. So I started giving them the gospel one of them to the Lord But it was because you have Bible memorized and you can't win somebody to Christ out without the Word of God That's right, you know faith comes by hearing you hear about Word of God You have to have the Word of God in order to get saved But there's also applications with the Holy Ghost if you're gonna be filled with the Spirit the Spirit does not he's not gonna talk to you audibly So I think we stepped into a Baptist Church not a Pentecostal like the church where we're like holding up snakes and God's talking to Audibly the Bible talks about how God and sundry times in a diverse manners faking time passed on to the fathers by the prophets But half in these last days spoken unto us by his son You know back then yes, he talked to him through a burning bush He talked to him through visions and dreams, but now we have the Word of God We have Jesus Christ the Word of God that we have right here and but the Spirit of God Will not speak of himself and I want to show you that a little bit But I want to show you why that's important go to Mark chapter 13 Mark chapter 13 So obviously we have tribulations and trials that we're going to go through in our lives But the ultimate tribulation is coming You know, you know the tribulation is closer than it was yesterday. I Know it seems simple, but it's true that that it is closer to the time is at hand Yesterday of Christ is not at hand, but the time of the tribulation is at hand that could happen That could happen soon. You know that that seven-year period could start today, you know We don't know that and we won't know maybe until the Antichrist is revealed when it's actually it started But just know that that time is it it's near the last days It says that we're in the last days that that verse in Hebrews It says it happened these last days spoken unto us by his son You know The Bible calls it last days and if the earth is around six thousand years old and we've gone through two thousand years of time from Jesus Christ It wouldn't make sense to call last days unless it's getting pretty close right now You know, I don't think it's gonna be halfway through the time period of the whole earth and say that these are the last days so more chapter 13 This is obviously a familiar passage when you're talking about Bible prophecy and we're not gonna get into Bible prophecy But I want to see an aspect of when the tribulation comes good verse 9 there verse 9 in Mark chapter 13 Bowries but take heed to yourselves for they shall deliver you up to councils and in the synagogues You shall be be beaten and you shall be brought before rulers and kings For my sake for a testimony against them and the gospel must first be published among all nations But when they shall lead you and deliver you up take no thought beforehand what you shall speak neither do you premeditate? But whatsoever shall be given you in that hour that speak ye for it is not ye that speak but the Holy Ghost Now, what does that mean? Now if the Holy Ghost isn't talking to you be audibly and I'm not a preterist I don't believe this is back then So I believe this is talking about something's gonna be in the future So it's talking about people that could be us, right? So what's it talking about when it says that the Holy Ghost is gonna tell you what to say? We'll go to John chapter 16 If you know John chapter 14 15 16 talks about the comforter The Holy Ghost coming but John chapter 16 in verse 13. I Just want to give you a little little idea about the spirit what the spirit does what he doesn't do and so In John chapter 16 verse 13 it says how be it when he the spirit of truth has come He will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and He will show you things to come So he's saying he won't speak of himself now It doesn't mean he's not gonna talk about himself right because we're reading the Bible where it's talking about the Spirit of God Right what that means is that he's not well anything he speaks is only because Jesus already spoke it It's what Jesus said, you know, Jesus said I only speak I speak the words of my father which sent me, right? So there's this chain of command where the Holy Ghost is only gonna say what Jesus has said but he's gonna bring it into remembrance go to John chapter 14 just a Chapter or a couple chapters behind that and notice what it says here John chapter 14 verse 26 And if you can't get there in time, don't worry about it, but I kind of want you to see these verses here John chapter 14 verse 26 it says but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever. I have said unto you So what this is talking about in in Mark chapter 13 where you have You're up against these all these rulers and all these people that are gonna beat you But when you come up to them It says don't try to think of some plan of some like oration that you're gonna say to these people The Holy Ghost is gonna tell you but here's the thing the Holy Ghost can't speak of himself The only way that the Holy Ghost is gonna speak Then speak through you is if you have the Word of God memorized He can only bring to remembrance that what you already have and you may only have John 3 16 and you can use it But but wouldn't you rather have a lot more wouldn't you rather have some Bibles by books of the Bible memorized? When you rather have a whole arsenal of verses at your disposal where the Holy Ghost can bring that to remembrance Have you ever been out soul winning and you're talking to somebody and you just thought of this verse and just quoted this verse off To somebody and you're like where in the world that come from? I remember I don't remember quoting that verse in years But you know, I didn't memorize it at one point. It's not like it came out of nowhere, right? I had read it at least some point and so the way that you're gonna be ready for those times the way that you're gonna have an answer to every man and ask if you a Reason of the hope that is in you is by having the Word of God sanctify in your hearts It's a sanctified Lord God in your hearts And so the only way that you're gonna be ready to give an answer the only way that you're gonna be ready in those times The tribulations those that great tribulation is to have the Word of God memorized now You can't you can't go up to that Council and be like man. I need to memorize all this now It's not gonna happen that takes hours and hours and hours and days and years of time You know when I memorize certain books of the Bible It takes me months to do it sometimes and sometimes I'll get on a big spree Well, I'll do a lot but you know, you got to retain it too. So, you know There's there's only so much your mind can take in to where you got to have a break so it just takes time It's just doing it over and over and over again, you know on my website I say that I don't have a Bible college degree I do have an engineering degree, but it doesn't really help me when it comes to to see the Bible But here's the thing What I do have is experience going soul winning And what I do have is over 70 chapters of the Bible is committed to memory word for word And and the thing is that didn't happen overnight and I'm not the best at that if you look at other people they have more Bible memorized than I do but that took time that took eight to nine years of just trying to memorize Chapters verses and trying to retain it and I don't want to stop there You know, I my goal is to memorize a whole New Testament, you know, we're willing but here's the thing It takes time. It takes hey, it takes patience. It takes a work ethic to do that and I'm not you know, some golden boy up here to say that I am the poster child of that Actually, if I can do it that anybody's doing so But the thing is is that that when we get to come to that time and you know What my mindset is that we're gonna be here for the tribulation The way things are running today and I'm not here to scare anybody. But you know what? I'm not scared I'm actually I'm actually excited about it because you know when Daniel talks about in the end times that the People of God are gonna do great exploits for the Word of God They're gonna win tons of people to Christ and it talks about how the the gospel is going to be published throughout all the nations How's it gonna happen if we don't do it? The only way it's gonna be published is if there's a Movement of God's people that come out and say you know what? It's time to throw away the video games It's time to put away all the games all the all the the stuff that just doesn't matter And it's time to get serious about the things of God. It's time to get into the Word of God It's time to go soul winning. It's time to just do everything that God tells us to do because the time is at hand so How are you gonna be ready to die? Have the Word of God memorized. Amen. Hey, you be ready to die. Keep his commandments Living a wholly separated life is gonna help you stay in the fight Because as soon as you mess up, you can be like well one might as well. I I do diets Because I I Especially around Christmas and Thanksgiving. I've never died. I'm just gonna tell you I just eat whatever I want But when I do that I get fat and I get like I get pretty fluffy By the time New Year's comes around and so I do these diets where I go on this you know like these sabbaticals of like just go eat nothing but like meat and veggies and so And I forget where I was going with that. I lost my train of thought on why I was dieting Lost it. Well, it'll come back to me eventually. So What my next point was is that you need to not fear what man is supposed to do Everybody that man's gonna do unto you And so when you when you do the work when you're when you're memorizing the Bible and when that's on your mind you You don't think about all the stuff of this world You know, we talked about The the homosexual agenda that's out there Well, if you're watching TV all day long and you're watching Hollywood movies all day long and someone says, you know The homosexuals are reprobates and they should be put to death You're gonna be like, whoa, you know, I just saw my my favorite little queer, you know on this show over here And I can't believe that you would say that and so and people probably say queer, you know It says they went after strange flesh. So that's queer. So but here's the thing when you're when you're in the TV when you're just watching those movies, you're not going to See the difference, but when you're reading the Bible You're gonna see what the Bible really says for it and a lot of people say well your children are gonna be They're gonna be in a cage. They're not gonna see the real world No They're gonna see the world over for what it is when we go out soul winning and they see some drag queen That hates God when you give them the gospel and they and they they blaspheme their Savior and they hate God When you try to give them the gospel Then they're gonna see it for what it is when they see the the guy with a potbelly coming out with with a beard Smell all over them and and just they see inside of his apartment and just see it's disgusting and vomit filled Yeah, you know they're gonna have a little difference about what alcohol does to people then what these these Commercials show with all these these handsome guys and beautiful women that are having a party You know because they don't see all the vomit filled tables and all this this Uncleanness that that produces they don't see what it does the families how tears families apart how people you know How women get abused and how children get abused through alcohol, but they'll see it for what it is So we need to fill ourselves with the Word of God and it's gonna give us a different perspective But to not fear what man's gonna do unto you and second Timothy. I'll just give you a few verses here It says it says for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but a power and of love and of a sound mind So when we go into these last days and we go into the Great Tribulation And let's say it's in our days. We go into a Great Tribulation. We're not the fear what they're gonna do to us We're only part the only person we're supposed to fear is God Fear God and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man, right? And so don't fear what man's gonna do unto you Jesus said and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell So who are we supposed to fear someone that's able just to kill the body or someone that's able to cast someone to hell Right, we're supposed to fear God now God would never send us to hell but he's giving you that contrast that these people could only do that They can't send you to hell And so God God has the power to do way more than what they can do So we need to fear God rather than men we need to obey God rather than men It says in Hebrews chapter 13 It says so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me So we need to have this stuff But here's the thing when you're going through those times If you don't have this committed to memory if you don't have these verses on your mind if you haven't read it How's it gonna help you? Some people haven't even read it so I'm talking I'm taking a stream as far as memorizing it I'm talking about reading at least if you read it, you'll remember it sometimes, right? There's passage that don't have memorized that I can remember and I can go to them and think about them, right? But But people that don't read their Bibles, they're not gonna have that comfort They're not gonna have that that strength in the time of need right and so when you're at when you get to that point and I'm just Fast forward to where you're at that point where you're standing at a judgment hall and they say you're a believer You're a Christian. What do you have to say for yourself? What would you say? Would you have Bible because here's the thing I'd rather I'd rather speak all the words of God Than any of my own words because they have power You know, I don't want to just be explaining what I believe in my own words I want to have the Word of God Because that is the highest authority in all of the universe and they cannot gainsay that So we need to be ready. You need to have that and I my goal is that I'll have an answer for everybody My goal is that I get that they can't gain say anything that I say that they would be dumbfounded Did they look at my face as if it was an angel? But like Stephen who said, you know when they said they held his faces if it were an angel and they couldn't say anything against it All they could do is mash on them with their teeth and stone them to death But let it be said of that, you know, let it be said of the day where they just can't say anything They're just they're just so angry because they can't say anything because they can't confound the Word of God so in Revelation 2 we have an example of a church that that Smyrna who was Going through trials and tribulations It says fear none of those things which they shall suffer that thou shalt suffer Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison That you may be tried and you shall be have tribulation ten days Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life So this church this wasn't even in the end times They were faithful unto death. There was there was Antipas, you know, also one of the martyrs that that was faithful unto death and These people God said I'll give you a crown of life if you're faithful unto death And so we're not the fear what they're gonna do to us not to fear the suffering that they would put upon us because that's Only for a season, you know this like what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes the way and that's what we need to think about is the fact that our life is just a little little speck and Not to worry about it not to fret not to worry not to fear right fear He that fear is not made perfect in love because because fear had torment, you know fear can torment your soul and The last thing you want to have is fear when I before I got saved I was tormented by fear It was around 2000, you know, like when the y2k and who remember who remembers to y2k, right? and that was where some of you guys are a little young but But y2k was like a big thing where everybody's like all the end of the world's happening and I wasn't saved And there's all these shows about how the end of the world was gonna happen and I'm like, I don't want to die I don't want to go to hell, you know, like I didn't know just hadn't just no confidence, right? I was afraid to death when I heard the gospel. I was like give it to me Yeah, because I was just that that's just how I got saved I was I you know, some have some have compassion making a difference others save with fear Pulling them out of fire hating even the garden spotted by the flesh. I was saved by fear. And so But I want to give you one last illustration. There's a there's a passage in 2nd Samuel go to 2nd Samuel chapter 23 And this is really we're gonna end here About Fighting to the death fighting to the end and 2nd Samuel chapter 23 and this is the passage of David's mighty men and No, we're not gonna talk about all of them in this sermon. We're gonna talk about one of them 2nd, same as chapter 23 and Go ahead and go to verse 9. We're gonna talk about a guy named Eliezer and so His dad had an interesting name dodo But I want to read this real quick and then I just want to give this as an application as far as someone that was ready to die someone that was ready to To die for his king Right and and Jesus is our King. He's the king of kings and Lord of Lords go to 2nd Samuel chapter 23 verse 9 It says and after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Oho height one of the three mighty men with David When they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle and the men of Israel were gone away He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword And the Lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to spoil So we see here at Eliezer Was in this battle with David and to me it said looks like it was only him and David So he was him and David and that's what we have in our lives We have Christ and we have ourselves in this battle, right? You know, I've said the Lord always before maybe and because he's at my right hand. I shall not be moved, right? And so when I look at this story, I think of Eliezer and David I think of me and Jesus Christ going into this battle and Eliezer Says that he he smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave to his sword now What does that mean that he clave to sword now? Obviously when you when you go in the battle, you're gonna be cleaving to your sword, right? But what I believe that's talking about it Has anyone ever hear of grip something so long and so hard that they couldn't pull their fingers off of it. I Lift weights I I lift, you know like bench press all that stuff and there's times where or I was doing like CrossFit and Don't do that much anymore, but basically you do and you do you're holding on to it So tight that you literally have to peel your fingers off Because your hands your joints just get locked into that position So I believe that he was fighting so long so hard He was swinging that so long and so hard and just grip into it that he literally couldn't take his hand off the sword Because he was doing it so long and so hard And so we need to have that in our mind is that I'm cleaving to that sword I can't even take my hand off of it You know, I read so much Bible that I can't think of anything but the Bible I memorize the Bible so much that that you know, that's only thing that's on my mind You know what? I when I run into people that that are like-minded believers I can tell the people that read their Bibles I can tell the people that that are doing the work because that's what's on their mind That's what they want to talk about and then I can tell people that are backslidden that they're talking about other things They're talking about things that that aren't Bible related, right? and so This man Eleazar clave to the sword now. There was a time. I'll give you a personal story This is way back. It was in high school. I used to be on the wrestling team and That was fun, except for the singlets don't recommend that for for men that are one to wear the the old spandex singlets, but But I was back in high school, right? And so I was at this match and I was if you know how wrestling works You can either win by points or you can pin somebody and it's not the one two three like the professional wrestlers It's as soon as your your shoulder blade both your shoulder blades Hit for one second. You're out Well, I was in this match and I was pretty much evenly matched strength wise. We were just right right on the same par, right? And I was losing by points. It was the last round. I was losing by points if I just stayed there I would I would lose by points and so something and at this point all I was trying to do was survive Like have you ever been to that point where you're just trying to breathe? You're just trying to Take get that next breath and you're like I don't know if I can Even if I'm gonna pass out or if I'm just gonna be able to do this and so there was something though that snapped In me where I said, I don't care if I die I'm gonna beat this guy and I literally turned them over and in the last few seconds I used every last ounce of my strength and pinned the guy and one and but I thought I was gonna die I was like literally whether they want to put my hand up I like laid on the ground and just like gasp for air But here's the thing in our Christian life There's gonna be a time when you are saying I don't know if I can take the next breath I don't know if I can if I can go out so any again I don't know if I can do it. I got so many problems at home I got so many things I got to deal with I got work issues, you know, I just can't handle it all I don't know if I'm gonna be able to survive you need to do it You need to go anyway, you need to do what you need to do And you know what that's gonna make you stronger. You need to be willing to die for the cause of Christ You need to be willing to die for the cross of Christ Because it will be worth it in the end in the end. You will have the victory and we are more than conquerors through Christ So you need to be willing you need to be able to cleave to that sword until that last breath and you'll win the victory You know, we're gonna have the victory in the end no matter what But in the end do you think you think after I won that match to be like man, I wish I wouldn't have pushed it I wish I wouldn't really done it You know what that that was something that was a driving force in my life to say You know what? I need to go until I die. I need to go until that last breath, you know And what if I I don't think I would have died, you know But you just had that in your mind where you're you're not gonna make it and so we had that in our spiritual battle We're not fighting fighting against flesh and blood. I'm not talking about going out into a wrestling match here We're not gonna do jujitsu after this, right? We're not gonna but what I'm talking about here is a spiritual battle and we all have problems in our lives our you know Your pastor is gonna have problems that he's going through and he's just trudging through he's getting through it And you know everybody has their high times in their low times But in those low times or in those two trials and tribulations when the the queers are knocking down your doors for preaching the Bible When all these these these live liberals out in Hollywood are are trying to condemn you When the police are coming after you because you're trying to preach the gospel You know what? You just need to dig in your heels. You need to say that this is I'm gonna do this in the last breath I'm gonna cleave unto that sword So where it can't be taken out of my hand and when you memorize the Bible when you when you go out soul winning They can't take that from you. You know those souls that I've won the Christ, you know The souls that you guys have won the Christ. No one can take that away from you You know, they can take my car they take my house They can take everything away from me But they can't take away my salvation and they can't take away the souls that I've won and they can't take away the Bible In my heart, so you need to take you need to take a thought of what is eternal What what can someone take when can someone not take they could take my money all day long and let it perish with them That's right, but they can't take away the work that I've done for Christ because that is eternal so Be ready to die Be ready to die for your Lord Jesus Christ, you know that he he suffered on the cross for you He he he bled and died. He He's the author of our eternal salvation and he strove against sin He resisted on the blood striving against sin for us. He despised the shame But he did it anyway and you know, we have a great king to fight for and I want I want to go out of the battle fighting. I want to go out of the battle like Ellie Azar Where you know afterwards, you know, you could say hey me and my Savior we fought we fought the good fight We fought to the bitter end and in the end we won the battle and then you can peel that sword away Once you're done, so let's end with a word of prayer. Do you have a father we think today? Thank you for everybody that came out and Lord just praise you blessed the time of fellowship Also with the soul winning coming up afterwards as well and Lord just thank you for this opportunity Lord We love you in Paris in Jesus Christ name. Amen