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I'm going to take a break from the Ten Commandments series that I've been working through mid-week during this time. Partly because I didn't have time to prepare a sermon for the Ten Commandments just because of the soul winning. I've reduced the time that I've had to prepare for a sermon. But secondly, because we've been doing the soul winning mega marathon week, I thought let's have a sermon that ties into this idea. The importance of getting the gospel out. The importance of, you know, going out as teams and encouraging one another and furthering the gospel, right? Furthering the kingdom of God by having people enter in by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. The title for the sermon tonight, brethren, is The Importance of the Silent Partner. The Importance of the Silent Partner. And you know what? Not all of us have the confidence, or not all of us are ready or prepared enough to necessarily go and preach the gospel to a complete stranger. Knocking the doors and, you know, giving the great message of salvation. Even though salvation in of itself is quite straightforward, quite simple, it still requires a lot of effort to prepare yourself to understand how to teach it, and how to read other people in order so you can pick up where they might be missing places where they haven't fully understood, where you can go back and clarify those things. And so it does require some level of effort. It does require some training. And you know, before someone becomes a soul winner, before someone becomes a preacher, and yes, you know, we're all, you know, God desires that each one of us will become a preacher. Even women preachers. Amen? Hey, but not behind this pulpit, out there preaching the gospel, you know, of salvation to the lost. We've all been given that command by our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we had a look there in 1 Samuel, we are going to come back to 1 Samuel. We'll tie it all together later on. Maybe you don't realize why we read through that, but we'll tie it in later on. So I'll come to that later. Please turn to Mark chapter 6. Turn to Mark chapter 6 in your Bible. Mark chapter 6. And the first thing that I want us to think about is when we do go out soul winning, the ideal scenario is that we would go two by two. Amen? That we would have a preacher and that preacher would have a silent partner. And listen, you know, generally speaking, even if I go out with another preacher, two people that can preach the gospel, one of us acts as a silent partner while the other one's preaching. And then we might swap that at the next door or whatever system we come together by. But when you think about going two by two, you know, this is something we practice in our church. You know, I don't mind going with three if there's going to be two silent partners or to bring a child along with us. It's probably a good idea to go with three. And look, there's nothing wrong with going all by yourself either. But what we see, the pattern that we see with Jesus Christ is that he sends out his disciples two by two. Look at Mark chapter 6 and verse number 7. Mark chapter 6 and verse number 7. And he called unto him the twelve, those are the twelve apostles, and began to send them forth by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirits. So you see, the reason we go two by two primarily is because this is the example that we see from our Lord Jesus Christ. He sends two by two. And brethren, it says he called unto him the twelve. So if he's got twelve disciples, twelve apostles, and he sent them out two by two, how many groups are there? Six groups, right? Twelve divided by two, six groups. And here's the great thing, they're going out preaching the gospel, but not only that, they've got power over unclean spirits. Now you say, Pastor Kevin, have we got power over the unclean spirits? Absolutely. Why? Because we're going with a sword of the spirits. We're going there, listen, a lot of people have been misled by unclean spirits. A lot of people have been misled by false religion, false prophets. We go out there with the truth of God's word, with the gospel, brethren, and those unclean spirits, they can't handle God's word. You know, I truly believe, you know, we don't probably even realize, because you know, when Christ walked this earth, you know, we see stories where Christ is dealing with unclean spirits. I have no doubt that as we go door to door, there are people with unclean spirits that we speak to. They're not necessarily throwing themselves in a fire, they're not necessarily screaming and going nuts, but under the influence of some unclean spirit. And when we're able to give people the gospel, when they're able to understand and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you know who comes and resides within them? The Holy Spirit. And that Holy Spirit's going to clean out whatever unclean spirits may have been influencing that one individual. So we do, we are given great power. There is great power in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can you please now turn to Luke chapter 9. Turn to Luke chapter 9. So we turn to Luke chapter 9. We're going to read the same event, the same story that we just saw there in Mark chapter 6. The reason we read Mark chapter 6 is just to show you that Jesus Christ did send them out two by two. We don't have that level of information in Luke chapter 9, but obviously he did send them two by two. Luke chapter 9 verse number 1. Luke chapter 9 and verse number 1. The Bible reads, Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And brethren, in order for us to see the kingdom of God, in order for us to enter into the kingdom of God, as it is taught to us in John chapter 3, we must be born again. That's the whole point is that we go out there preaching the gospel in the hope that people will be born again so they can enter into that kingdom of God. When the Bible says preach in the kingdom, what we're doing is preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why did Jesus Christ send out two by two? What is he trying to achieve? Just to remind you, you know, as I said, you know, when Christ started to get his disciples together, his apostles together, he says in Matthew 4.19, And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. You know, I've got brother Michael up there on the Sunshine Coast. And he doesn't say we go soul winning. You know what he says? He says we go fishing, right? And instead of saying, hey, this person got saved, you know what he says? Or, you know, this person called upon the Lord. He says we've caught a fish. You know, we've caught two fish, we've caught a fish. You know, for brother Michael, he just considers, you know, fishing. We're out there, you know, fishing for souls. And that's exactly what we're doing. Christ came and made them fishers of men. Then they're going out two by two. And what are they trying to do? They're trying to catch the fish. They're trying to win souls. As I said to you, you've got 12 disciples, six groups, all right? So where does a silent partner fit in? Well, here's the thing, brethren. Even if you have no confidence in preaching the gospel, if you say to me, Pastor Kevin, you know what? I just don't think I can do this. I don't think I can just knock on a stranger's door and give them a gospel. Can I just come along and be quiet for the rest of my life? Absolutely you can. Praise God that you're willing to even go out there and join up and create a new group because that's the advantage of the silent partner. Could you imagine if the 12 disciples then had 12 silent partners? And let's say these 12 silent partners all said, hey, I want to be silent for my whole life. I never want to open my mouth, but I just want to go out there and experience it and be a support to you. What do you have now? Now you've got 24 people going out there preaching the gospel, right? And instead of groups of six, you've got groups of 12. Hey, and there's one person preaching, one person's a silent partner. Brethren, there is great benefits. There is great importance of being a silent partner. You know, I never want someone to think that if I just come out and not speak, that I'm not valued or I'm not doing God's work, you are doing God's work. You are doubling the efforts. You are doubling the groups of people that can get out there and preach the gospel. And here's the thing, truly you will never be a silent partner for the rest of your life. Okay, eventually at some point you'll be like, you know what? I want to have a go. I want to knock a door. I want to see if I'm able to do this, right? Eventually God's word is going to burn within your bones. You're just going to desire to, you know, speak God's word. And instead of being a silent partner, you're going to become a fisher of man. Okay, but this is where we start. If you haven't got the confidence, hey, just come out as a silent partner and double our efforts. And here's the thing, not only does the silent partner double the efforts, but we're already putting into place the ability to quadruple our groups, quadruple our work. Why? Because the silent partner will eventually become a speaker. And then as they become a speaker, then you can have a silent partner, right? Then we can all have some, then we've not just doubled it, but eventually we start quadrupling how many teams, how many people are able to get out there preaching the gospel. Now you're there in Luke chapter 9. Please go to the next chapter, Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 and verse number 1. We start with 12 disciples going out there preaching the gospel. What happens a bit later on? Luke chapter 10 verse number 1. It says here, Praise God! What do we notice here? They go from 12, okay? Then they have some people, they get silent partners, train up in the ministry, and now Christ has another 70 to go out there and preach the gospel. Do you see how the efforts, they continue. The more we go and do the labor for the work of God, and you know, I'm sad because lockdown has really prevented us from being able to preach the gospel, but look Brevin, we have no excuses right now. We can go out there. Any of us can knock doors. We don't need to wear those stupid masks. We can go out there and preach the gospel. We can double our efforts. We've not been able to serve God the way we would have liked during lockdown, but now we've got our chance. And Brevin, I don't know. What if we face another lockdown? What if come January, come February, we face another lockdown? You know what, let's use the time now. We know we have the freedoms now. We have the ability right now. Let's use our time wisely. Let's get out there. Hey, Christmas is coming around. And generally speaking, when it comes to Christmas, people are more receptive to God's word during this time. And praise God, you know, we had one salvation. We had eight soul winners out today. One salvation. It doesn't matter. One salvation. Even if it was zero salvations, I would still say it's a success. That people are going out there, preaching God's word, planting seeds, all right. You know, I don't think someone's great just because they get many people saved. I think you're great if you just go out there and help the work, okay? Because look, let's keep going there. Let's get Luke chapter 10, verse number one. And after these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whether he himself would come. Now look at verse number two. Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. What? Jesus, you've just gone from 12 to another 70. It's actually 12 plus 70. It's actually 82, all right. And Christ still says, the laborers are few. And brethren, this is still true. In the days of Christ, it is still true today. The laborers are few. Then it says, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. You say, Pastor Kevin, I can do that. I can pray. God, please send more laborers. How about you say, Lord, how about I be the laborer? You send me, Lord. Can you do that? You know, that's a bit harder, right? It's easy to say, Lord, send others, but how about you? You know what? You can start as a silent partner, okay? We can go from 12 to 70. And who knows what we're able to achieve with this church that God has planted here on in Fairfield East. And then notice what it says at verse number three, sorry. It says, Go your ways. Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. You know, that's what I feel like when I go door to door, when I go knock on someone's house. And for sciences, beware of dog. I feel like I'm a lamb there right in front of wolves. I'm in someone else's territory. Who knows? I don't know what kind of person might be behind the door. But Brevin, if one of your fears is that we're going to be rejected, people are going to fight against us, people are going to call us all names, you know, there's going to be persecution. You know, we've done some, I've done some research into this, some statistics around this. And one thing we picked up with the numbers that were looked at before was that you would have one overly aggressive person per thousand doors that you knock. I mean, the chances of you getting into some major conflict at the door is so insignificant. It's probably not even going to happen to you. It's probably going to happen to someone like brother Tim. He'll probably get them all, you know, every thousand. And the rest of us will have great peace as we go door to door soul winning. Okay, I mean, those fears really, they're not real. Okay, as long as you're kind and polite, and you know what, if people aren't interested, they're not interested. You move on, you say, hey, have a great day, you move on. But truly, you understand that, yes, we are in many ways, lambs among wolves. Now, please go back to Luke Chapter 9. Go back to Luke Chapter 9, look at verse number 51. Luke Chapter 9, verse number 51. It's important that we have people supporting this work. Or if you're not able to get out there, I understand, you know, it's a working week, people have to work a job, I understand that, okay. I'm not expecting everybody to be able to get out there for a whole week going soul winning, okay. But, you know, the more people you have together, the greater the support is, the greater the encouragement is. Because soul winning can be very emotional. You know, it can, you know, people can rile you up. Why? Because we still have this flesh. We still have the pride. Even though we know we're lambs amongst wolves, sometimes this lamb wants to become a wolf as well, and fight back if things get a little bit tough. But, you know, I want you to notice this here in Luke Chapter 9. So, remember what Luke Chapter 9 was, he sends out his 12, okay. But look at Luke Chapter 9, verse number 51. And it came to pass, when the time was come, that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before him, and they went, so now he's sending other messengers, he's sending other people, okay, and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And brethren, that's our job. We go out there to the city of the Samaritans, the suburbs of the Samaritans, okay, and we're there to make people ready for the Lord Jesus Christ. So, they would believe on the Lord. Look at verse number 53. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. You know, there are some people that are just not going to receive you. They're not going to receive Christ. Yes, and they might be a little bit rude, all right. Verse number 54. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did? You know what, that happens. I've gone through that. And I think any experienced soul winner that's been doing it for a while, you're going to be like, God, just destroy these people. I mean, I'm going out there. You know, this guy has said a swear word at me. This guy has threatened me. This guy's told me rudely to get off his property or something. This guy's just shut the door in my face. He doesn't, you know, and there can be that feeling of rejection. You're like, God, just destroy these people. But is that the right attitude? What I'm trying to show you here, brethren, is that going soul winning can be emotional, okay. You can get worked up. And this is the advantage of having other people like a silent partner with you. Because how does Christ respond? In verse number 55, But he turned and rebuked them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. Brethren, if you get rejected, I don't want to hear it. I don't care about your religion. I hate God. I don't want you guys here. What do we do? And they went to another village. We go somewhere else. We go to the next door. We go to the next place, wherever someone will receive God's word. We don't need to get overly emotional. But notice this. The disciples, they were so emotional. God, let's destroy them. But they needed a voice of reason. And that voice of reason came from Jesus Christ. You know what? Having another partner there, having the second person there, as you go door to door, that voice may very well be a voice of reason. Okay, because sometimes you're out there presenting the gospel. You know, you're pouring your heart out. You love the lost. You're just trying to do, you know, you're doing God's work. You know, you're trying to save this soul. And they reject you. They reject Christ. And you can get emotional, but hey, you know what? You're having a silent partner there, or having your friend there that's helping you, you know, you've got that accountability. You know, you're less likely to lose it. You're less likely to get emotional when you know you've got someone else right there with you. Or if they see you starting to get worked up, your silent partner can, hey, let's just walk away. Let's just go from here. And you know, sometimes I've had to do that. Sometimes I've started to get worked up. I've had it inside a partner. Let's just go. It's like, yeah, of course. You know, in my mind, it's like, I didn't even consider. Let's just go. Like, what's the point? But my silent partner has pointed out, hey, you know, let's move on because this person doesn't want to receive God's word. And so, you know, another voice. Also, the accountability will cause you to reassess your emotional state because it does require a lot of emotion. It does require a lot of love to preach the gospel to the lost. Can you please now turn to Matthew chapter 11. Turn to, actually, you know what? Turn to Galatians chapter 6. Turn to Galatians chapter 6 for me. Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. The next thing that I want to say is the silent partner lifts the load. The silent partner, even though you're not preaching, you are lifting the load. And while you turn to Galatians 6, I'm going to read to you from Matthew chapter 11, verse number 29. Matthew chapter 11, verse number 29. These are the words of Christ. He says, Now look, when it comes to serving our Lord Jesus Christ, He doesn't ask a lot from us. We've been saved by the glorious gospel. All we have to do, brethren, is go out there and save others with that same gospel. Okay? It's actually, as I said, we understand the gospel is easy. Christ did all the hard work. It's easy to believe on Christ. It's not easy to reject the things you've learned before. It's not easy to reject false religion or easy to reject false gospel. It's not easy for someone to come to realize they've been deceived this whole time. But once they understand the gospel, it is easy to believe on Christ because Christ has done all the hard work. I believe in easy believism. You believe on Christ and you're saved. Hey, I believe in hard believism also. Hard believism. Okay, because it is hard for some to reject a false religion. But whether it's hard or it's easy, it's still believing. It's believing on the finished work of Christ. I believe in both. And I believe in medium, medium rare believism. Right? I believe in all. How difficult or how easy it is for someone to believe as long as they are believing on the finished work of Christ. But I want you to notice Christ says, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Nevertheless, there is a yoke and there is a burden, even though it is light. Okay? And this is where the silent partner helps. The helper, right? They lift the burden. And I want you to notice here in Galatians 6 and I know when we look at Galatians 6, it's not about soul winning, but we can take the principle here and apply it to the work. Galatians 6 2. It says, Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. You know brethren, it is so much more easier to go soul winning with a silent partner than all by yourself. Okay? Because it's hard to kind of just motivate yourself. It's so important that we have a church that sends us, that sends us two by two. Because it's very rare, it's very difficult to just send yourself. Now I've known certain individuals that have been without church and they've gone soul winning week after week after week and I praise God for them because there was something within them, there was a great desire, a great love to just go out there, you know, even if it's individually, to go out and preach the gospel. But you know what? Not all of us are able to do that. I don't think if I had a soul winning sending church, you know, that I would be doing as much soul winning. You know, I don't think if I, if I think if I, if I didn't have silent partners, if I didn't have someone to help me along, I don't think I'd be doing as much soul winning. You know, having someone there helps you lift those burdens. As it said in verse number 2, Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Then it keeps going. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But I want you to notice verse number 4 here. So we are to lift each other's burdens, help each other out in the soul winning ministry. It says, But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. I love this passage because we are there to lift each other's burdens, to help one another, but at the end of the day, brethren, your burden is your own. At some point, you need to be able to get out there and do the work yourself. What did it say in verse number 3? But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone. You know, there is great rejoicing when you go from being a silent partner where you are lifting someone else's burden, and then you turn around and you carry the burden, and you go do the work alone. There's great rejoicing when you've been able to say, Hey, now I can preach the gospel. Hey, now we can create another group. Now we can, you know, double the efforts. We've got more soul winners. There's great rejoicing when that happens. And brethren, yes, it is a burden. Each one of us have been given that burden to preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can you please turn to Matthew chapter 10? Turn to Matthew chapter 10, verse number 41. Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 41. Matthew chapter 10, verse number 41. I do a lot of soul winning with my children, and the reason for that is usually the weekdays are the easiest days for me to go soul winning. I try to go on a Sunday, but, you know, I'm usually preaching and, you know, preaching takes a lot out of you, especially if I'm preaching two sermons, you know, on a Sunday, for example, and then trying to do soul winning between. It's quite tough. I've done it before, I've done it many times, but it's tough. I'd much rather do it on a weekday where I can actually just bring one of my kids along and help them out. And every now and again, you know, we get someone saved with my children and I always say to my kids, hey, you got them saved. And they're like, no, Dad, I was just silent. I wasn't doing anything. You did all the preaching, I'm just here. No, you know, you get rewarded as well. The silent partner gets rewarded by just going out there, being a support and helping the preacher. I want you to notice this in Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 41. Matthew chapter 10, verse number 41. It says, He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. That's interesting. What's a prophet? Just remind yourself. A prophet is a preacher, someone that proclaims God's word, all right? And you know what? When you go door to door soul winning, yes, even the ladies, ladies, you're a prophet, Tess, you're a prophet, you're proclaiming God's word as you go door to door preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it says here that if we got a prophet, a man of God, you know, doing a work and look, you're hospitable, you receive him into his house, guess what? You're going to receive the same reward that the prophet's going to receive for the work that he's done. All you have to be is hospitable. All you have to do is be a help to the prophet. You know what that teaches us? That if you say, Pastor Kevin, I just want to be a silent partner for the rest of my life, that every time you go and you support that man's work, the preacher that's preaching the gospel and they serve the Lord and they're doing the work and they're doing the speaking and they're winning souls, that even the silent partner will receive the same reward that the prophet's going to receive. So brethren, look, being a silent partner is wonderful. Not only are you furthering the work of God, but you also are receiving great rewards in heaven for being a support to the prophet. Let's keep going. It says there in verse number 42, or let's keep going, verse number 41. And he that receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. You know, the Bible says even if we just give a cup of water to a little child, right, we serve one another. Because as we serve each other, we serve our Lord Jesus Christ and Christ himself will give you a reward in heaven. I have no doubt we're going to get to heaven, God's going to give us great rewards and be like, what was that for? Oh, that one time that he gave a drink of water to one of the little ones, okay. And so if God's going to reward you just to be a support and a help and a service to little children, how much more is he going to reward you for being a help to a prophet, to a preacher, preaching the Word of God, preaching the gospel to the lost. And so brethren, I just see full benefits of being a silent partner. You know what, I don't think low of you if you just want to be a silent partner and never preach, I don't, you know, I'm just thankful that you're there. I'm just thankful that you'll be in an encouragement and support, our help to the person that is preaching door to door and you will be rewarded, okay. Let's turn to Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 please. Ecclesiastes chapter number 4 and verse number 9. And brethren, this is a soul winning church. Let me just repeat that. We're a soul winning church. I don't want to be pastor in a church that is not soul winning. You know, when we started this church some three and a half years ago, you know, I was willing to make that trip, that sacrifice from Queensland back here every week, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And I said from the very beginning, I'm willing to do it as long as we, because you know, we didn't have a full-time pastor here, as long as we are able to have one service per week and also we're going out soul winning once a week. If we're just doing that, at least one service a week and soul winning once a week, and I'm not saying every member, but at least, you know, people in our church are doing this, then I'm happy to continue serving this church. We can start this church and serve the Lord. I do not want a church that is not soul winning. You know what, I'd just much rather, you know, if this church just gets cold and soul winning, and look, I don't think that's our hearts. I believe our hearts have a true desire to win as many people to Jesus Christ as we can. But here's the thing, lockdown's made us cold. It has, it's made me cold. Lockdown's made us rusty. It has, all right. I mean, these things are out of our control, brethren. So we need to relight that fire, relight that love for the lost as we go soul winning. Look, if you haven't got it in you right now to preach, hey, come as a soul partner, okay. Help the work. Ecclesiastes chapter four, please. Ecclesiastes chapter four and verse number nine. Ecclesiastes chapter four and verse number nine. Two are better than one. Man, that should be the title for the sermon, I think. Two are better than one. Guess what, the soul partner creates two and we're gonna be better than just one. Praise God. Somehow that's true. It's always gonna be true. Look at this. Because they, hey, that's both, they have a good reward for their labor. Soul partner, you go and you be quiet. Guess what, you're laboring. You're going to receive a good reward. It's not just a preacher. Two are better than one. Why are two better than one? Verse number 10. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe unto him that is alone when he falleth, for he have not another to help him up. Hey, that's the danger of going alone. Again, it's not wrong or sinful to go by yourself and preach the gospel. Jesus Christ went alone to the, to speak to the Samaritan woman at the well. We got examples of people going by themselves as well. But the problem there is that if something happens to you, you're not gonna have your helper there, you know, to assist you, right? I mean, you could sprain your ankle, you could have a fall. Who's gonna help you up, right? But if you've got your helper, two are better than one, they're able to come to your assistance. Hey, if you've got some crazy dog, right, nipping at your heels, it's gonna be less likely to go on the attack if there's two or even three people, okay? You know, there are many advantages to having two. You know, something else that might happen, you know, if you go by yourself, people can make up false accusations about you. They can say you are trespassing. They can say that you've tried to break into the house. You know, they can say any matter of false things about you, but if you've got your second, your silent partner, you've got the second person there, they're able to verify what is true and what is false. You've got a second witness of what took place. There is a lot of protection when it comes to having a second person. Verse number 11. And if two lie together, then they have heat. But how can one be warm alone? Verse number 12. And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. You can see that having two is better than one, but you know what's even better than two? Three. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. This is why I'm not against having three people at the door, especially if it's a little child. I think that's great, okay? Especially, you know, people generally are more receptive or more kind when they see a little child. Not always, there are freaks out there as well, okay? I mean, I've had little children, I've had freaks just, you know, say all manner of bad words and horrible things and, you know, they haven't even considered little children. But more often than not, right, most people are kind of normal, right? And most often than not, when they see a little child, they're going to be a little bit less harsh when you go door-to-door soul winning. Two are better than one. You know, two are going to encourage one another more so. You know, it's easy to become discouraged when you're by yourself. You know, let me just give you some thoughts around two are better than one, the thoughts around the silent partner, okay? Number one, as I said, you've got accountability, right? Protection from false accusations. The other, no, that didn't happen, you know? You've got two people saying, no, that didn't happen, versus one person at the door saying, this or that happened, which are not true. As I said, there's the advantages of safety, right? It's less likely some wicked person or some crazy dog's going to attack you when you're with somebody else, all right? Number three, the silent partner can be an armour bearer. And this is what ties into the passage that we read there earlier in 2 Samuel, but the silent partner can be an arm bearer. You know, when you're going door to the soul wing, you're carrying water, you're carrying tracks, maybe you're carrying a Bible. I've got my cargo pants, I've got a lot of pockets, I'm carrying a whole bunch of things. I'm used to going by myself. But usually when I take, especially my own children, I get them to carry the tracks. I get them to carry the swords. I get them to carry the armour, not literally, okay? But I get them to be a help, right? To carry the water, right? To give me, so my hands are less, more free, and then I'm not worried, hey, which pocket is my Bible? Which pocket is the tracks, right? Having an arm bearer, someone that can help support you, is beneficial. Hey, a silent partner can be a prayer warrior as well. You know, when someone's preaching the gospel, the silent partner can be just faithfully there, just praying, God, can you please help this person at the door? Receive God's word. God, can you please help the preacher right now? Have a clear mind that they'll be able to teach and explain the gospel clearly for this person to hear. You know, having that silent partner, just praying right there, live praying, for that situation is a great benefit. You know, a silent partner also provides great fellowship. It makes it a lot more entertaining when you've got someone that you can speak to. You know, going out soul winning two hours in the morning, two hours in the hour, four hours, it's a long time for one day, but I find myself when I'm with somebody else and just having that chitchat, the fellowship between doors, time flies. Before I know it, oh, two hours already, you know? Two hours already, praise God. But you know, that's the advantage, the fellowship, the encouragement, the motivation, right? You keep soldiering on, even when it's been challenging, even when it's been unreceptive. You know, sometimes when I go by myself, it's unreceptive. People don't want to hear, they want to hear, they don't want to hear, no one's on, no one's on. I'm kind of like half an hour in and I want to quit. But you know, when you've got your silent partner, you've got someone else, you just can't quit, right? You're trying to encourage that person and they're encouraging you and you just keep going because you're enjoying the sweet fellowship. The other advantage of the silent partner is the feedback, is the learning, right? I mean, if someone doesn't have the confidence to preach the gospel, obviously as they observe and watch the preacher, they can learn as well. But here's the other thing, if you've got two people that are experienced preachers, you can learn off one another. You can give good feedback to each other. There are times that I've given people good feedback and they've received it and there are other times, even as a pastor, that I've received good feedback from other people saying, hey, maybe if we put it like this, if we say it like this or we illustrate it like this and I've learned a lot of great things from listening to the feedback of others. I do not get offended, brethren. I do not get offended if I get some great feedback, some critical, some, what is it? Some positive feedback. Some, wait a minute, I'm thinking of criticism. Some constructive criticism, that's what I'm looking for, right? I don't get offended if I receive some constructive criticism because I know where that person's heart is. They just want us to be more effective. They just want us to be more clearer. They want us to win more souls. I don't get offended with anything like that, brethren, and I'm the pastor, and I've been soul winning for many, many years, but I appreciate it when I receive good feedback. You know, I'm at a point that I feel really comfortable with my soul winning presentation, but sometimes when you get too comfortable, you start to, you know, lose, you start to kind of forget some of the key things and maybe having those pair of eyes, new pair of eyes that can pick up on those things and help you. You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharp enough iron, so a man sharp enough the countenance of his friend. You know, we can use that in many ways, but yeah, I do believe when you go two by two and you encourage one another, you give good feedback one another, it is ironing sharpening iron. We're getting better. We're getting better, becoming better soul winners, becoming better presenters of the gospel. And so, brethren, there's a lot of advantages to the silent partner, and you know what my favorite advantage of the silent partner is? That they can help with the distractions, okay? So, for example, and this comes with experience, right? You know, you might be at the door and a lot of people have dogs and they're yapping away, woof, woof, woof, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, right? And you got the preacher trying to give the gospel to the person at the door, but the dog's making so much noise. You know, silent partner can just, you know, well, I don't know, not everyone likes dogs, but right? I mean, I don't really like dogs that much, but here's the thing, even the silent partner can just get down to that dog, right, and play with the dog a little bit, pat it on its head, you know, and cause that dog to stop barking, you know, take away the distraction so that the person at the door can hear the gospel. You know, some of my favorite times when I've gone preaching the gospel is when I've been, or yeah, you know, let's say I've been preaching the gospel to someone at the door and then like halfway through the presentation, someone shows up and starts to distract the conversation, okay? That's where the silent partner can come in and talk to that second person and give them a track and try to avoid them from interrupting that halfway, you know, presentation gospel that's occurred. You know, there's been times in the past where the silent partner has become the preacher because, you know, I remember one time when someone was preaching the gospel to someone at the door, it was the wife of a man, then the man comes out and go, hey, what's going on? And I go to the man, I give him a track, I invite him to church, I start giving him the gospel and then that preacher got the wife saved and I got the husband saved, praise God. But listen, if we didn't stop the distraction, maybe neither of them could have been saved. There's a lot of advantages to being a silent partner and the more experience you get, the better you'll get. You know, it's such a blessing. It's such a blessing. And brethren, as I said, you can't be a silent partner forever, even if you want to be. If you say, look, I want to be a silent partner forever till the day I do it, okay, that's fine. But I know it's not going to happen. I know eventually you're going to start wanting to preach the gospel at the door, okay? It's going to build up. Now, let me just say something else about silent partners. I'm going to quickly read to you a passage in scripture. Amos chapter 3 verse 3. Amos 3, 3, which says, can two walk together except they be agreed? Can two walk together? Because that's what we're doing. We're going out two by two. We're walking together. But the only way we can walk together and be effective is if we agree. So we need to set some rules around being a silent partner. And rule number one, okay, and this is hard for some people, but rule number one of being a silent partner is to be a silent partner. Don't speak. What happened, Les? Les is like, yep, that was more, I don't know, maybe the other way around. All right, yeah, rule number one, silent partner, be a silent partner. Be silent, okay? And I know you want to help. Listen, the only time a silent partner should jump in and help is if the preacher's having a hard time. They turn around and say, look, can you help me? Can you finish off? Can you finish off this discussion because I've lost my way? That's the only time you should step in. You know, if you've got, if you just have, I just have to say something, then say it to the next door and let the other person be the silent partner, okay? Because here's the thing, you know, just me preaching, like me preaching, you know, for 40 minutes, an hour, it requires focus. It requires concentration, okay? And if I've got you guys asking questions all the time as I'm preaching, I'm going to get lost. I'm going to lose my way. I'm going to get distracted with the message. And then before you know it, it's not as profitable as it was without the distractions. Even when you mean well, you know, you can cause the preacher to lose focus, to lose concentration. And so please, you know, don't distract. Hey, if you think the preacher could be doing a better job, that's when you pray. And say, God, please help the preacher, you know, to be focused, to have a clear mind, help that person to receive God's word. That's going to be a lot more effective than like a tag team attempt of winning, giving someone the gospel, okay? Because it can cause distractions. And look, if you can't help but not speak, then that just tells me you're ready to preach. You take the next door then, right? The point is, can two walk together except they be agreed? We need to have some rules in place as we go out two by two as a silent partner. You know, one of my favorite rules and when I've got two people that are ready to preach, one of the favorite things that I do, the way that we kind of swap doors is I would say, instead of being like every second door, so I might knock a door, okay, then the next person knocks a door. But here's the thing, I might knock the doors and no one's home and then the other person knocks a door and they're home and they give me, like that person is going to get tired eventually, okay? So what I do, the way I like to work is basically if you get one Bible verse out, okay, then it's the next person's job. Next person's house, sorry, okay? And they will keep going until they get one Bible verse out. And once they have that one Bible verse out, then it's the next person's turn, okay? And generally speaking, a lot of us, if the person's not interested, we try to, you know, get John 3.16 out as that one verse. Hey, you get that John 3.16 out, you explain the gospel in a nutshell, then you can say, hey, now it's the other person's turn. I personally think that's the best way because then you all get to talk a little bit and then, you know, one person won't get exhausted if they get all the doors that are receptive. But I think setting some rules with the two by two, then we can walk better, we can walk together and we can be more effective as we go through the doors of soul winning. All right, please turn to 1 Samuel 14, please. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 14. 1 Samuel chapter 14. There's a reason why we're ready for this passage. 1 Samuel chapter 14. Because I said that the silent parlor is like an armour bearer, okay? Now, in the times of the Bible, you had a skillful soldier, right? They would wear an army, they would, sorry, an armour, they would have the weapons and they would be a skilled fighter. But when it comes between the battles, like, you know, that armour is heavy, you know, the sword is heavy. And so between battles, in order to keep the strength of the fighter, he would generally have, if you were a skilled warrior, you know, you would have an armour bearer. And that person would carry your armour, would carry your weapons as you would go fight battle to battle. So then the fighter wouldn't be exhausted. He would have that support. And that's, when I think of a silent parlor, that's what I think about, an armour bearer, to help that preacher along. 1 Samuel 14 verse 6, please. 1 Samuel 14 verse number 6. And Jonathan, Jonathan was the son of Saul, King Saul, and he was a godly man. And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour. So this young man is the armour bearer, okay? Come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. And brethren, this applies to us today. We're a small church, okay? But it may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. Brethren, there aren't many of us, but you know what? We're seeing Saul saved. We had one salvation today. We had three salvations yesterday, but there's not many of us. Hey, but it's the Lord's work. He's guiding us. He's directing us. Verse number 7. And his armour bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart. Turn thee, behold I am with thee according to thy heart. So notice the armour bearer is supporting Jonathan. That's what a silent parlor is. You're there to be a support. You're there to motivate them. Hey, you want to go soil winning? I'll come and join you as well. I'll be silent. I'll be the armour bearer. You go and fight, okay? Let's keep going. Verse number 8. Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men and we will discover ourselves unto them. And if they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you, then we shall stand still in our place and will not go up unto them. But if they say, Come up unto us, then we will go up, for the Lord have delivered them into our hand and this shall be a sign unto us. Notice that. They're going to walk up to the Philistine garrison. Just these two. Instead of the whole army of Israel, just two fighters are going to walk up. And if the people in the garrison, you know, they basically say, Hey, you know, stay there. Don't come any closer. We're not going to go. But if they say, Come up, we'll go. Now, this is like soul winning. If we go and knock on the door and the guy says, Not interested, please go away. We don't go. But if they receive it, yeah, I'm happy to hear the word of God. Then we go up and we give them God's word, right? Let's keep going. Verse number 10. But if, I'm sorry, verse number 11. And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, Come up to us and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armor bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord have delivered them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet and his armor bearer after him and they fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer slew after him. So what's happening? Okay, Jonathan, he's a skilled fighter. He goes into the garrison, he starts taking down the enemy and, you know, obviously with these weapons, if you get, you know, cut by a sword or something like that, you're going to fall but you may not necessarily die. So what's happening? You know, Jonathan's fighting, right? People are falling at his feet. The armor bearer sees these people that are hurt, these enemies that are hurt and he's finishing them off. And now the armor bearer is doing some fighting himself. That's what the silent partner is. Okay, you're there to bear the armor but eventually you're going to want to fight. Eventually you'll be like, Hey man, now it's my turn. Now it's my turn to take down these filthy Philistines. Well, they're not filthy Philistines our community. But they are the uncircumcision, aren't they? What were they? The Philistines here that were called the uncircumcised. We believe in salvation. We do believe in circumcision, the circumcision of the hearts. Listen, we're circumcised in the heart but our community, they're the uncircumcised. Hey, we're going out there to do a great slaughter. But it's a great circumcision with the word of God, with the sword of the spirit as we go and preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's keep going. What am I up to? Fourteen. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about twenty men within, as it were, a half acre of land which a yoke of oxen might plow. And there was a trembling in the host in the field and among all the people, the garrison and the spoilers, they also trembled and the earth quaked and it was a very great trembling. And the watchman of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked and behold the multitude melted away and they went on beating down one another. And so they had this great garrison of the Philistines that the army of Israel were prepared to fight and decided to see the Philistines are fighting amongst themselves. How could two people cause so much havoc? Listen, how can two people go and knock on the door and take the soul of a man that was going to hell and change its destiny to heaven? Hey, that's the earth shaking. That's the power of God's word can change people's destiny. And so they're watching the work of two men, a fighter and his arm bearer and they're destroying the Philistines. The Philistines are panicking. Let's keep going there in verse number 17. Then said Saul, unto the people that were with him, number now and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold Jonathan and his arm bearer were not there. So it becomes obvious to Saul, oh man, it's Jonathan, it's my son and his arm bearer that's gone out there and caused havoc amongst the Philistines. I'm just going to show you that within the entire army of Israel it was only two. Okay, the fighter and his arm bearer. And brethren, we're not a big church. I understand that. You know, it doesn't worry me. We can still be powerful in the hands of God. By few or by many, we can see many people saved. We can see many come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please turn to Exodus chapter 4. Exodus chapter 4 and verse number 10. Exodus chapter 4 and verse number 10. And I think I'll end on this one. Exodus chapter 4 and verse number 10. You know, usually people want to be a silent partner because they have a love. You know, that they want to see souls saved. They want to be involved in the work of the kingdom. But as I said, many times it's just a lack of confidence or a lack of preparation that causes someone to not be ready yet to preach the gospel. And that's fine. We all need time to prepare. We all need time to get our plan together. But you know what, the best learning is just to go out there and be a silent partner and just watch. Okay, that's the best way you can learn. Learning on the job. And as I said, eventually you will want to become the speaker. And the reason I wanted to end on this passage here in Exodus chapter 4, we're looking at the story when the Lord God called Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. And it says here in Exodus 4.10, once God has told Moses, you're the man. I'm going to use you to deliver this nation out of Egypt. Exodus 4.10. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou has spoken unto thy servants, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. That's why people don't want to preach the gospel to the Lord sometimes. They just think, I'm slow of tongue. I'm not eloquent. I can't speak. I can't do this. I can't just knock on a neighbor's door and open up the Bible and show them how to be saved. Actually you can, but those are the excuses that we make. You know, preaching the gospel is a task. It's a work that God has given everyone that is saved. Everyone that is saved. Okay. That means each one of us have the ability to preach the gospel to the lost. You know, this isn't just the work of a pastor or the work of an evangelist or the work of a missionary or a work of someone that's been saved for 10 or 20 years. This should be or can be the work of someone that has been saved the very same day. Because it's just telling people the same way that you got saved. That's it. Okay. We can refine our skills. We can get better. Okay, but the only way you get better is by speaking and putting it into practice. Verse number 11. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or death, or the seen, or the blind, have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And brethren, if you've got a fear of preaching, you know, preaching the gospel, I want you to remember these words, the words of God. Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. You know, God will use our mouths. You know, I never thought I could preach a sermon. I never thought I could be a pastor. I never thought I could pass the two churches and preach sermons that people will actually want to listen to. I never thought that. Okay. And I still don't think that. It still surprised me that people want to listen to me preach. Okay. But listen, it's not my mouth anymore. It's the mouth of the Lord. You know, we just have to be willing to be used as a vessel for God's work. And you know what, when you go there preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus, Christ of the neighbors, it's not your mouth anymore. It's the Lord God. It's the Holy Spirit God moving your mouth, teaching you what you should say. Verse number 13. And he said, O my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. Moses says, look, instead of sending me, send him, send someone else. Verse number 14, And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well, and also behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And so even though God gets angry at Moses, look, was Moses an eloquent speaker? He actually was. He was raised as an Egyptian. He got the best education. He knew it was his role to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. He tried when he was 40, but that wasn't God's timing. Now he's 80, and he doesn't want to do it anymore. So God gets angry at Moses. And you know what, brethren, I don't want God to be angry at us. You know, God has given us the gospel. You know, he's given us lost people that we know, family, friends. And if you don't have family and friends that are lost, we've got a community that is lost. We're surrounded by neighbours that are lost, that are going to hell, that are uncircumcised. And the Lord wants to use our mouths, but here's the thing, even though the Lord realised Moses was not ready to speak, he allowed Moses to have his brother Aaron to do the speaking for him. Okay? And so guess what? Moses started as a silent partner. That's how Moses started, as a silent partner. Now as you keep reading through the book of Exodus, you know who's speaking? Moses. At some point Moses said, all right, Aaron, actually, this is my job, right? Thanks for doing the speaking at the beginning. Now it's my turn. Now it's, you know, God has actually given me that responsibility. And you go in and you see Moses being a great leader for the people of Israel. But everyone should notice that, okay? He started as a silent partner. We think of Moses as a great preacher, as a great leader, and he was. Of course he was. But even he had some concerns. Even he had some worries and some fears about whether he could preach God's word or not. But you know what? Silent partner, Aaron helped him out. Aaron helped, you know, led him. And eventually Moses got on the program and served the Lord Jesus Christ. And so brethren, I'll just end on that one. You know, I hope I challenge you tonight. You know, if you're able to come out soul winning, I want you to be a preacher, you know. But if you're just willing to be a silent partner, great, I'm thankful. God's going to reward you. You know, we need you. You know, we're out there. We've done two days now of a soul winning marathon week. And again, I'm not expecting everybody to come out. I'm just trying to get it going again, right? Getting that fire in our bellies once again. Because we need to start doing this every week once again, our church, okay? You know, I don't know how long we're going to have these freedoms. Who knows? Lockdown might be around the corner. And when it hits again, you're going to regret it if you didn't take the time to preach the gospel when things were open.