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Music Good morning everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here this morning. We can go ahead and find our seats. We'll get started. And once you find a seat, grab a hymnal. We're gonna start this morning out with song number 56. Song number 56, when we all get to heaven. Song number 56. Everybody's singing out as loud as you can on the first. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. Sing his mercy and his grace. In the mansions bright and blessed. He'll prepare for us a place. When we all give to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. While we walk the pilgrim pathway, clouds will overspread the sky. But when traveling days are over, not a shroud, not a sign. When we all give to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. When we all give to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. When we all give to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Onward to the price before us. Soon as beauty we'll be whole. Soon the pearly gates will open. We shall tread the streets of home. When we all give to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. When we all give to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all give to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. Face to face, what will it be? When the rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ to die for me. Face to face, I now behold Him far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by. Only faithfully now I see Him with the dark thing well between. What a blessed day is coming when His glory shall be seen. Face to face, I now behold Him far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by. What rejoicing in His presence when our banishment may be. When the crooked ways are swayed and the dark things shall be played. Face to face, I shall behold Him far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by. Face to face, oh, blessed moment. Face to face, you see and know. Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loves me so. Face to face, I shall behold Him far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by. Last verse of the chapter, so if you can get this one quoted along with the others, you can get a special prize. On the inside, we have our service and soul winning times. We have Spanish services that start on 9 a.m. in the morning. And we have the entire services in Spanish, the hymns, the announcements, and the songs. And so it's a great encouragement if you can invite people that only speak Spanish, there'll be a great service for them to attend. Also our Sunday morning sermons at 10.30, Sunday evenings 4.30, and then we have a Bible study on Wednesdays. We just completed the book of Ecclesiastes, and so this upcoming Wednesday we'll be starting on the book of Matthew. And so we'll be going through the Gospel of Matthew this upcoming Wednesday. We have our soul winning times that meet here at the church. That's church wide, regional meet in different parts of the city. And you can see any of those leaders. Also we have our entire church broken up into church tribes with a captain that helps just facilitate with any questions about soul winning. Also we have a church group that we can put all of our soul winning information in. So if you collect any information as far as emails or totals or anything like that, you can send them in and we try to send out information to people. I know also brother Milstead's tribe I think also does some follow up stuff. So just get with your tribe captains, ask them questions and they'll try to help you. If you're not sure you can ask me or one of the ushers and we can help point you to what tribe that you're a part of. And then down below we have our church stats. On the right we have a list of expecting ladies. And then we have our prayer list. On the back we have a note about some of the upcoming events. So this is going to happen. This is kind of down the list on the event list. But on December 7th there is a turkey bowl that brother Marcel was going to host. We did something like this I think previously this year in an earlier part of the year and it was a lot of fun. So if you'd like to participate the details are down below. Just a friendly flag football game. I think you're going to do kind of a kids version at first. And then maybe a youth like 13 and up and even the adults can get in the game. So if you'd like to participate in that. If you have questions ask brother Marcel and then the details are there. November 16th is our Miami Soul winning marathon. There was a sign up sheet. If you are still planning on coming just please let me know just so we have some idea. If you have a question about it please talk to me. Otherwise the details are there as far as like where we're going to be meeting and what we're going to be doing. There's a Friday afternoon soul winning meet up time. And then there's a Saturday morning and afternoon. And so we'll be doing soul winning out there in the Miami area. And I'm really excited to go out there. I think this is a great time of year to visit that part of the world. Plus they have a lot of Spanish soul winning opportunities. They have a lot of English soul winning opportunities. And I've heard that the soul winning is pretty receptive generally speaking. And so please if you can't make it just pray for us anyways. November 24th is going to be an ordination service for brother Oz. And really looking forward to that church, Anchor Baptist Church and what the Lord is going to do with them. And we know a lot of people are going to be coming out for his service. And a lot of people are in prayer and looking forward to what they're going to do. And just continue to pray for brother Oz and his family and continue to pray for that church. And the soul winning up there. Soul winning in Oklahoma is actually pretty good. There's a lot of great opportunities to go soul winning in Oklahoma. And you know there's even a lot of Spanish opportunities which surprised me. But there is in some areas a lot of Spanish opportunities too. And so just pray. Oklahoma City has like well over a million people in population. And so there's a great work that needs to be done up there. And so we're excited about what the Lord will do up there. December 6th is the ladies Christmas party. December 9th is our Christmas caroling that we do. December 25th is a Christmas cookie bake off. And then January 1st we're having a men's preaching night and pizza. And so we've got a lot of great events. Yesterday we had a soul winning just tips and suggestions event. I think we had about 40 people or something come. And our soul winning captains helped lead that. And it sounded like it was a great success. People were telling me they enjoyed it. And they had a lot of good results even yesterday. I know a lot of people got some good salvations. But we'll probably moving forward. I was talking with Vangelis Fur about this. We'll probably end up having some like soul winning blitz events. Maybe like once a quarter where we kind of have maybe about a 30 minute to 45 minute instruction period on a Saturday. Maybe around 10. Go out soul winning for a couple hours and then have like a lunch or something. And so we'll probably try to do that on a somewhat quarterly basis. And so probably the beginning of next year we'll probably host another one of those events. And we'll just kind of keep them going. And I think people really enjoyed that and really got a lot out of it. And so it'll just help keep us sharp. Give new people opportunity and allow us to all just rally together for some soul winning opportunities. So thank again to all of our soul winning captains and stuff for leading that and putting that event together. And we look forward to continuing to do more with our soul winning. That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We're going to sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 149. 149 is in our special handouts. So if you can follow that along. All right. That was Psalm 149. Psalm chapter 149 in your handout. Everybody sing out real loud in the first. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord. A new song in his praises. A new song in his praises. Love sings. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto him with the temple. Let the Israel's Playing and Hymn of the Night be evermore sung. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them praise his name in the dance. And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance upon the heathen, The heathen and punishments upon the people, To bind their kings with chains, And their noble defenders of iron, To execute upon them the judgment, Praise and dishonor at all. Praise be the Lord. Great singing, everybody. Now his offering plates are being passed around. Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. That's the book of Matthew chapter number 7. Great singing, everybody. Great singing, everybody. Matthew chapter number 7, the Bible says, Judge not that ye be not judged, For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, But consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, And behold, a beam is in thine eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, And then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, Lest they trample them under their feet, And turn again and rend you. Ask, and it shall be given you, Seek, and ye shall find, Knock, and it shall be opened unto you, For every one that asketh receiveth, And he that seeketh findeth, And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, Will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, Will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, Do ye even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate, For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, And many there be which go in thereat, Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, And few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, But inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, And a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit Is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, Shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, Have we not prophesied in thy name, And in thy name have cast out devils, And in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, Which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, And the winds blew, and beat upon that house, And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, And doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, Which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, And the winds blew, and beat upon that house, And it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, The people were astonished at his doctrine, For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for this day. I thank you for the victory that you give us in Jesus Christ. Thank you for sealing us with the Holy Spirit. I ask you to bless Pastor Shelley now as he preaches. Please give him boldness and clarity. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. I want to look back at verse 13. The Bible says, Enter ye into the straight gate, For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, That leadeth to destruction, And many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate, And narrow is the way, Which leadeth unto life, And few there be that find it. Now, in this section of scripture, The Lord Jesus Christ is making it kind of clear How many people are going to be saved. And now it doesn't give us a number, It doesn't give us a percentage, But it gives us some general idea. And we notice in verse 13, Many are not saved, And then in verse 14, Few are saved. And so we have to understand that in the Bible, When Jesus Christ is describing the reality of our world, Salvation is going to be the few. It's not going to be the many. So we have to have a doctrine, We have to have a religion, That is the few, not the many. Because if we had a religion that was the many, That would be contradictory to what the Lord Jesus Christ Is actually even teaching here. Now, few could be interpreted several different ways. I mean, I think you could argue that few could be 30% out of their lump, Or it could be 20, Or obviously it could be anything less than that. So even upwards of 30% could be argued the few, But it would be hard to say that it's 50%, It would be hard to say that it's above 50%, That just doesn't seem to match what the text is saying. So we would have to say it's probably, For sure, under 30%. Now, go to Luke chapter 13, I want to look at a parallel passage here, But I wanted to identify and point out that word few. And what I want to explain to you this morning is How Christianity is a religion of the few. Christianity is a religion of the few, And in Luke chapter number 13, We're going to see something similar being mentioned. The first few that's being mentioned here is that the saved. Few people are saved in comparison to the general Population of the world. If we were just to look at the world, Only a few people are going to be saved, In comparison to how many people have been born, How many people exist, How many people are alive. Now that's a sad reality. It's sad reality because we don't want them to go to hell, God doesn't want them to go to hell. And you have to ask this question, Why are so many people going to hell? The reason is it's called free will. And apparently, when you give people free will, They more often than not rebel. They more often than not make bad decisions, Don't do the right thing, And so the vast majority of people will not choose To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Which is crazy, Because believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is free, And it's easy. I mean, you would think, like, Wouldn't the vast majority? People get saved, Considering that salvation is literally free, Yet, because of free will, Many will choose not to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, And it's a very sad reality. Luke chapter 13, look at verse 23. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them. So, we're kind of getting the same question, And one of the disciples is wanting to know, like, Is it few that are saved? He says in verse 24, Strive to enter into the straight gate, For many I say unto you will seek to enter in, And should not be able. Now, isn't that pretty much exactly what we read In Matthew chapter number 7, verse 13, Where he brings up the same concept? So, sometimes what you can understand is that, Probably, a lot of these conversations Are the exact same conversation, It's just we're getting a little bit more information About what was happening. Somebody literally even is asking Jesus Christ, Like, hey, there are few that be saved, And then, of course, we understand in Matthew chapter 7, He literally explains that few people are saved. He also says here in verse 25, When once the master of the house has risen up And hath shut to the door, And ye begin to stand without, And then knock at the door, Saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, And he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not, whence ye are. Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, And thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not, whence ye are, Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. This also is parallel to Matthew chapter 7, Because if you go a little bit further, Where you have verses 21 through, I think it's like 24 approximately, That's where you get the exact same idea and concept That Jesus Christ is bringing up of, The people that are basically saying, We've done all these wonderful works in thy name, And he's like, Depart from me, I never knew you, Ye workers of iniquity. And so it's like the exact same parallel that's being brought up. So we can tell that this passage is also the same. Verse 28, he says, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, When ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob And all the prophets and the kingdom of God, And you yourselves thrust out, And they shall come from the east and from the west And from the north and from the south, And shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold, there are last which shall be first, And there are first which shall be last. Verse 29 is a pretty strong replacement theology verse there. You notice he's basically saying, A lot of you Israelites are not going to be in heaven, But you're going to notice people coming from literally every other direction, And they're all coming in, they're saved, And you guys are actually thrust out, You guys are not actually saved whatsoever. Now the point that I'm just making, It's a simple point, Is that few people are going to be saved. And think about this, Christ came unto his own and his own received him not. I mean, by and large, The vast majority of people that Jesus Christ preached to, Healed, ministered, taught, I mean just everything you could think of, Only good, loved on, had compassion, ministered unto, Fed, gave them wine at the wedding, He did all of these things, they rejected him. The vast majority rejected him. And we have to understand about Christianity, Is the vast majority will reject Jesus Christ, And will reject free salvation, Will reject the truth, And do not like the truth. Go to Matthew 9, go back to Matthew chapter 9. So, initially we understand that few people are going to be saved. Now because salvation is free, Because salvation costs you absolutely nothing, Because salvation is an easy, one-time decision, That you make in a moment of time. There is going to be another group of people that are few, That are ones that actually choose, To do anything positive for the Lord Jesus Christ. So if we take the world as a whole, We narrow them down to a few, Of just the people that are going to be saved. But then if we start whittling this down even further, And understand what group of those people that actually get saved, Are actually going to do something for Jesus again, We get another word again, few. Now, this is Matthew chapter 9, look at verse 37, what Jesus Christ says, Then say thee unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, But the laborers are few. So if you were to understand Christianity from a biblical perspective, And what Jesus Christ is saying, Initially, of just the saved people, it's a few. Then of the saved people, the people that are actually going to go out and preach the gospel, And get people saved, the laborers, They're going to be few. So we're whittling it down to a very, very small group of people already. Go through to Matthew 10 verse 1, And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, And to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Think about this, of the people that have the ability and the power to cast out devils, And to do these special works, how many were there chosen? That's what you would call a few. Now, I can know that because additionally, in the Bible, I think it's 1 Peter, or 2 Peter, I'm getting confused in my mind. It's 1 Peter chapter 3, Noah, it says Noah and his family were saved, And it says it was eight people, and it says it was a few. So if eight people is a few, according to 1 Peter chapter 3, Well then I guess a few is also twelve. And I don't know what the world population was at the time of Christ, We could look at historical estimates, we could look at just some levels of anecdotal evidence, But there was probably for sure millions and millions of people. I don't know what the exact estimate is, maybe it's even upwards of a hundred million, Someone could fact check me, I could be way off on this, But I know it wasn't a billion, But even if it was just one million, twelve out of one million is a lot. I'm very sure that most historians estimate that there's millions and millions of people alive at this time. And Christ is saying only twelve are given this ability to go out and do these special works, And do this type of thing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because Christianity in many cases is a religion of the few. Now, he's also talking about these people being a disciple. What is a disciple? Well go to Matthew chapter 16 now, Go to Matthew chapter 16, we're kind of just meandering through the gospels here for a moment, And noticing a few things. The few, the few, the few that are saved, the few that are labors, the few that are disciples. Okay, because I would say that we've narrowed it down three times. Number one, saved, that's a whittling down of people. The people that are actually ever going to preach the gospel or do any labor, that's an even smaller group. And then the people that are actually considered disciples, that's an even smaller group than those who even do some of the labor. Okay, so we're just whittling it down to these really small groups of people. Matthew chapter 16, look at verse number 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. So according to the Bible, if you want to be a disciple, it's not just being saved, it's not just doing some labor. What does the Bible say specifically? You have to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him, and be willing to lose your life. That's extreme. That is something that is rare. There are very few people in this world, very few, that will be willing to deny themselves, take up their cross, follow Jesus, and lose their life for the gospel's sake. It's very few. It is not the vast majority of people. So we can't look at what the Bible is saying here and then come up with this idea that this is going to be a large group of people. It will never be a large group of people. There will never be just a mass group of people that are the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will always be a few. And that's an important thing to recognize and to realize when we're reading the scripture. Go to Luke chapter 14. I want to look at some more verses on this. This is an important point. Luke chapter number 14. And look at verse 26. Luke chapter 14. Look at verse 26. Now I'm just going to throw out some numbers here. This is just my personal opinion. I'm just trying to give you some idea. In my personal opinion, I estimate that about 5% of the world population is probably saved. That could be a little bit more. It could be a little bit less. That just depends on how you look at things. Obviously I can't have any way of verifying that for sure. I think when I go out soul winning and I knock on doors, around 1 out of 20 doors that I talk to, so I'm saying about 1 out of 20 people that I talk to seem saved already. They seem like they already understand the gospel. And it seems like generally other parts of the world, sometimes it's less, sometimes it's a little bit more. But considering also the fact that we get a lot of people saved in these areas, that statistic probably went pretty high pretty quickly. So I'm just saying that's just kind of my general idea. If 5% of the world is saved, we're still talking about hundreds of millions of people. So it's not like it's just a small group of people in just a sheer volume or number. It's just in percentage. If we say 100 million people or 200 million people, that doesn't sound like a small group. But in the context of 7 or 8 billion people, well now it's a few. Now it's a small percentage. Then of that 5%, I don't know what the percentage would have to be, but even if it was just another 10% that did labor, I mean if we were starting at 100 million or 200 million and we just do 10% of that, that's still like 10 million to 20 million Christians that are doing some level of Angelism. That's still a lot. So I don't want you to get confused about these numbers. Now I personally don't think that 10% of Christians are even actually going out soul winning or preaching the Gospel on a regular basis. Because if there was 10 to 20 million people doing soul winning, I'm just being honest with you, if 10 to 20 million Christians were doing soul winning, we would probably be giving every person the Gospel 50 times a year. Like every person on the planet would be getting their door knocked like 50 times a year getting an opportunity to be saved. That doesn't match reality. I don't think anybody in this room has ever had their door knocked by 50. Even Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Babs, all combined together in their life, let alone a year. So it's probably way less, it's probably less than 1%. Even 1% of 100 million would be a million. So it's probably even less than 1%. And I'm just trying to put some numbers out there to give you some kind of an idea of what we're talking about. But the people that are saved versus the people that go soul winning or do evangelism, huge difference. And then the people that actually do some level of evangelism that want to actually separate themselves and become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, even smaller number. But even though that is a small number, percentage wise, it could still be a big number, right? I mean, I think we live in an area of 8 million people approximately. I think Dallas-Fort Worth area metro greater is about 8 million people. So even if you take these numbers and whittle them down, you could still even have hundreds of people in a church, thousands of people in a church with a lot of people striving for this. But just overall percentages of the world, percentages of the general population, it's going to be a few, it's going to be small. And when we talk about disciples, it's always going to be a very, very small number. Luke chapter 14, look at verse 26. I didn't say this. I read to you what Jesus said. What did Jesus just say? You have to hate your father, mother, wife, children, brother and sisters, which is already an inconceivable statement. But then, this is where it's truly difficult. Yet, your own life also. His own life also. People often struggle with having any distance or any animosity between family members or close relationships. But I'll tell you something. When people have to actually die to themselves, when they actually have to crucify their own flesh, when they actually have to give up their own personal sacrifices, that's really going to separate people and that's really going to call very few people out. There's very, very few people who are willing to say, I'm going to put my personal desires, my personal wants, my personal wishes on the back burner to then serve the Lord Jesus Christ. That is very few. Now again, hate here, I don't believe and I don't think anybody believes that this is talking like an active dislike or an animosity or a hatred in the sense that you're attacking them. It's just simply saying, if you have to choose, you're never going to choose that person. If I have to choose going to church and serving God or having a relationship with this person, I would choose church. That does not mean I'm going to attack them, lie about them, hurt them, wish evil upon them or anything like that. We have to understand that the hate here is just basically in the context of what would you choose when push comes to shove. Also, it's not saying you have to choose, it's saying if you are forced to choose, you would choose this. Again, we don't want to choose to hurt any relationships. We should obviously take in balance of the scripture, husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. We should take in context the fact that we should love our enemies. We should take in context all the different verses that are commanding us and exhorting us to love the brethren, have good relationships, honor thy father and thy mother. This is not contradicting honor thy father and thy mother whatsoever. It's just simply saying, if dad says, hey, I'm going to the Pentecostal church, you're like, well, I'm going to the Baptist church. It's not saying that you're going to hurt or harm them, you're going to respectfully disagree and you're going to choose Jesus Christ. And in a context, it's almost like you would even be willing to go to the extreme of hatred, but you're not trying to hate anybody actively. But we have to be honest with the text. This is what Jesus said. Jesus literally said this, and then he says this, And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether you have sufficient to finish it? Less happily, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sitteth in amassage and desireth conditions of peace. Likewise, whosoever be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. What is Jesus saying over and over? If you can't give up any relationship, you're not my disciple. If you can't give up yourself, you're not my disciple. And in fact, if you're not willing to forsake all that you have, you cannot be my disciple. How many people are going to truly meet this definition? Now we have men in the Bible like this. Abraham, willing to offer his only son Isaac upon the altar, showing a true idea of someone being willing to forsake something so precious to him, something he cherishes. Now again, no one that believes the Bible would say that Abraham had animosity, hatred, or dislike towards his son. In fact, this was a difficult thing for him to do, because he did love his son, because he did cherish his son. But in contrast, he loved God so much, he was willing to obey God so much, that he's even willing to sacrifice his own son on the altar, and that's what makes him a disciple. That's what makes him a friend. That's why James 2 says, you see then how that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. In what way? That Abraham is justified in being called a friend of God, and not just by his faith alone, but by the work of really being able to offer his son on the altar. Because it would be easy to say, I'd give anything for Jesus. Okay, show me thy faith without thy works. Okay, well you can't really do that. But a guy that's willing to literally sacrifice his son on the altar, it's going to be pretty hard to argue that that guy doesn't have a lot of faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. That that guy isn't willing to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when you see the apostles and you see the prophets going out and being willing to be martyred and killed for the cause of Christ, you can see what kind of faith those men truly had. Okay, and so when we talk about the disciples in the Bible, we're talking about the few. The few. Go to John chapter 6, go to John chapter number 6. Even of disciples, not all of them pan out. Not all of them stay with it. Not all of them keep going. It's the few. John chapter 6, look at verse 63. Jesus says, Verse 64. And he said, Now I think it's interesting, and this is just me maybe making a big deal about this word, but I think that this word is interesting. Okay. Look at verse 64 again. But there are some of you that believe not. Now the some sounds like more than one. But here's a word that's definitely more than one. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not. It sounds like not only did Judas not believe in Jesus Christ, but there were other disciples that did not believe in Jesus Christ. Now not in the twelve. Of the twelve, for sure it's only Judas. But he's saying, hey there's some here that don't believe. And he knew they. He knew they. Now that could sound like legion, but I'm just saying like, it sounds like he's implying that there were other imposters. There were other fakes, there were other frauds, there were other people that were just going along and didn't really believe. And then it says very clearly after this, when he preached, what? From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away? So he's distinguishing between a lot of people that were trying to be a disciple, a lot of people that were following him, versus the twelve. And many of them didn't even believe, and many of them didn't pan out, and many of them aren't going to be basically steadfast in their discipleship. Now when he says this, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is the devil. So notice again, Jesus is saying I chose you, I picked you out, you're special, there's something special about you, you're unique. Go to chapter 8 and look at verse 31. Sounds like again, the few. The few. Few are saved, few are soul winners, few are disciples. Few. John chapter 8, look at verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make ye free. Again, he's not saying discipleship is automatic. He's not saying discipleship is free. Discipleship costs everything. Salvation costs nothing. So a lot of people love the free gift. A lot of people get excited and want to preach the gospel. But very few are willing to give everything up. Very few are willing to give everything up. And so we see that whittling down process of a distinguishment between these different groups of people. Chapter 15. So can you be a disciple if you're not following the commandments? No. Can you be a disciple if you're not willing to choose Jesus over certain earthly relationships? No. Can you truly be a disciple if you're not willing to forsake all that you have? And the answer is no. So the discipleship is a very extreme program for the few. Now John chapter 15, look at verse 14. The Bible says ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. You're not just automatically Jesus' friend. Now that might be upsetting because I think that a lot of people want to think like Jesus is my friend. But truly the Bible makes a distinguishment of even friends that are saved. Saul became the Lord's enemy. But Saul was saved. And we can see examples of people that God is fighting against and is upset with that are saved in the Bible. Because friendship is different than being saved. And again, being saved is different than being a disciple. Not everybody that's saved will be a disciple. Not everybody that's saved will be a friend of God. That's why it makes the distinguishment in James chapter number 2 of how Abraham's not only saved, he's also the friend of God. And why is it? Because he doesn't just have faith, he also has works. And again, those works are being willing to sacrifice personal relationships, being willing to sacrifice your own personal ambitions, being willing to forsake all that you have, and to keep his commandments. That is what truly makes someone a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, go to Revelation chapter 3. I'm really belaboring this point this morning before I kind of get into what I want to preach on. But this is the meat of what I'm trying to explain to you this morning. Few people are saved, few people are soul winners, few people are going to be disciples. Now, I'll show you, even in the New Testament, how even in a church there could many times be only a few good people in a church. Look at Revelation chapter 3 verse 4. Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Look, you have to understand something. The seven churches which are in Asia are not removed from the apostles. I mean, these are churches that would have been formed by the direct apostles and early Christians, and yet some of these churches have already gone bad. Some of these churches are already filled with bad people. We sometimes think that churches are just going to stay good forever or be good forever. The Bible does not paint that picture at all. In fact, it's funny how when you read in the Bible, we're talking about the apostle Paul, we're talking about the apostle John, how many of those churches that they started turned against them soon after it was formed. I mean, you have diatrophes rising up against the apostle John. I mean, John is like one of the most lovable characters in the Bible, folks. One of the coolest guys in the Bible, and he's a fast runner, you know. He likes to tell Peter all about that. We have the apostle Paul going around starting churches. I mean, the apostle Paul is saying all of Asia is turned away from him. The apostle Paul, this is what's so funny to me, and I noticed last night when I was reading. Go to Ephesians chapter number 6, go to Ephesians chapter number 6. You know, you think about the epistles. The whole epistle of the Galatians is basically like your church is so screwed up, I don't even know if any of you are saved anymore. The apostle Paul is reprobating his own church. Well, that's what the text says. He says, I'm afraid of you who have bewitched you. I mean, he just started a church in Galatia, and he's already freaking out about them. He's already thinking this is weird. In Acts chapter 20, the apostle Paul says that he warned night and day with tears about the false prophets and the wolves that were going to come in, and specifically, he said, even of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, drawing away disciples after themselves. Now, this is what's funny. In Acts chapter number 20, the apostle Paul is speaking to the elders which are at Ephesus. That's super clear in the context, and he's saying, even of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, right? And then this is what's so funny. The epistle to the Ephesians, let's read the last verse, okay? Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. That's not a coincidence. Isn't it so funny that the apostle Paul, even he already knew, hey, I'm kind of questioning how many of you guys are even sincere. Why? Because just immediately, he already realizes there are insincere people here. There are people trying to subvert churches and ruin churches, and churches are going bad so quickly. Why? Because very few are actually going to be a disciple. Many people will get saved. Very few will go out soul winning and preach the gospel, and then a really small number are actually going to be disciples. And of course, the devil wants to constantly subvert and attack and destroy and twist and do everything he can to hurt and harm churches. The devil is a destructive force, and his minions are destructive forces. If you want to see a true man of God, if you want to understand if someone's a good preacher, a good pastor, a good prophet, it's by their fruit. And what is the fruit of a good pastor, a good preacher? It's one that's preaching the word of God with power. It's one that's getting people saved, and it's one that's building the kingdom of God. If you understand the bad preacher, he's preaching heresy, lies. He's ruining churches, destroying people's lives, and he's just a destructive force. When you identify someone as just destroying things, bad guy. When you understand someone building things up and ministering in grace, that is the true preacher of the word of God. Now, I want to basically explain kind of my sermon concept, and then I want to teach you just a few points of this. But I pretty much explained to you something that's necessary as a foundation. It's a big foundation that we laid this morning. But the sermon title I have this morning is this, The Spiritual Special Forces, or Spiritual Special Forces. And I want to be honest with you that I believe our church is a church that is the spiritual special forces. And meaning what? That we strive for not only being saved, not only being a soul winner, but being a disciple. And I preach sermons geared towards people going all the way to that end. That's my goal. I preach the really extreme hard truths of the Bible. And we call ourselves a hard preaching church. You want to know why we call it hard preaching? Because many of the sayings in the Bible are hard sayings. Many of the things in the Bible, Jesus Christ literally says, All men cannot receive this saying. There are things that Jesus said that people cannot stand. They can't get over. They don't like. Discipleship is hard. After he preached, people are just walking away in droves. And if you want me to preach just the general truths of the Bible, generic happy-go-lucky, encouraging only sermons, you are in the wrong church. I will not preach that way. That is not my goal. That is not my design. And that is not the type of Christianity that I'm striving for. I am striving for us to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have to realize that is going to be the few. Now does that mean that our church can't run hundreds? No, of course it can. Does that mean our church can't run thousands? No, it can. It could run. Could it run millions? No. Is it going to be probably the biggest church in the world? Probably never. But you have to be honest and you have to recognize that not everybody is ready to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in an extreme way. And we look at the military. And again, I'm just speaking from the general basic understanding I have of the military. But that special forces are not your average soldier. Who could testify to that? You have to say, hey, the special forces are not your average soldier. They're a little bit more extreme. They're a little bit more disciplined. They're of a higher caliber. And really, here's the two points that I think we could just agree to about special forces versus your average soldier is the quantity is smaller and the quality is higher. Those are the only two points that I'm taking from that carnal picture to then apply to what we want to look at from a spiritual perspective. So when we look at, spiritually, Christianity, we have to understand those that are going to be the disciples are going to be smaller in quantity, but they're going to be a higher level of quality. And so, why is this important? Well, go to Psalm chapter 12 for a moment. Go to Psalm chapter number 12. Number one point, again, there's only two points. Quantity and quality. Let's talk about this. The spiritual special force is the quantity. The vast majority of people will not want to be in the spiritual special forces. Whatever that is. Now, I'm not saying that we all are. I'm just saying that I'm striving for that. I'm just saying that I want that. That's my goal, is to be like that and to encourage other people to be like that. And frankly speaking, I think that we are doing that very well and I think a lot of people in this room are the spiritual special forces. I think a lot of people, you know, when I look at you guys in this room, I look at some of the best Christians that I know in this world. And I'm not just saying that because I want to flatter you. I sincerely believe it. I sincerely look at people and I look up to them. I'm encouraged by their example. But you have to understand, not very many people are going to want to do that. And what does the Bible even say in Psalm 12 verse 1? Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor with flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak. Here's the harsh reality of the Bible, is that very few people are godly and that they're constantly failing all the time. They're constantly falling by the wayside. And this is an important verse. Why? Because when we look at the quantity being few, there's kind of two problems that we could have. Two things that I want to address. What's the first one? Well, because there's few and because many people are failing and because many people fall away, it could discourage you. And look, it's a real thing. It's discouraging. It's discouraging when you see people that you love, people that you care about, good people, walk away from Jesus. Don't you think it was a little discouraging when the 12 saw many of Jesus' disciples walking away and no longer following with him? Wasn't it probably a little discouraging after all the work that the Lord Jesus Christ had done, that there was only 120 disciples meeting in an upper room in the book of Acts? It was probably a little discouraging. I'm sure it was pretty discouraging when the Lord Jesus Christ was arrested and literally everybody forsook him. Everybody just walked away from Jesus the moment he was arrested. I'm sure that that was discouraging. Same with Paul. Paul basically gets arrested, everybody walks away from him, everybody's ashamed of him. Onesimus was not ashamed of his chain, but many people basically just walked away. They're not interested in the things of God. And the reality is many people are not going to be following the Lord Jesus Christ and so it could be discouraging to us that are, when we see that happen, when we see people walk away, stop serving God, get backslidden, commit grievous sin, do whatever. Go to Romans chapter number 12. Go to Romans chapter number 12. Hey, if you ever asked to help me, I wanted to get the whiteboard. If you just bring me the whiteboard, I want to draw something. I forgot to bring it up here. Romans chapter 12, here's the other side though. Because we're few in number, one problem we could have is we get discouraged by being small. A second problem could be is because we're small, we start getting proud. We start thinking that we're better than other people because, well, look at us. We're the few. I think of this kind of logo or thing that people say about the Marines, the few, the proud, the Marines. That's literally their slogan. And to some degree, the word proud in the English language is a confusing word because biblically speaking, the word proud is always negative. There's not a positive mention of the word proud in the Bible, but in our English today, in our modern English today, the word proud can sometimes have a positive meaning. Like when we talk about, hey, my son did really good in school today, I'm proud of him. Or my kid did really good in this athletic, I'm proud of him. And what we're trying to say is we're pleased with him. That's what we mean by that. And there's nothing technically wrong with that. It's just biblically speaking, the word proud or pride is always wrong. And so that can be a little bit confusing. And we as God's people, we want to make sure that we're not proud biblically speaking. Romans 12, look at verse 3. For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. So according to the Bible, the sin of pride, I think, is really well encapsulated in this concept that's being taught here, that we should not think more highly. Notice it says, not to think of himself more highly, notice this, than he ought to think. This does not mean that you have to have a bad idea of yourself. It's just saying don't think more highly. Now just to help illustrate this, I wanted to kind of draw something and just kind of help you understand these words, okay? So we have the word pride, and I wish I had written this previously just for speed of time, but pride, then we have a word confidence, okay? These are different words. Now they both deal with self-esteem, and self-esteem is basically your own perception of yourself, your own idea of yourself, okay? So if we think of the idea of self-esteem, and I'm going to write it over here too. Pride, biblically, when we talk about the sin of pride and we talk about pride in a negative context, pride is an exaggerated self-esteem. Or what it just said, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, okay? That's what this is. Confidence is a reasonable self-esteem, meaning that you're not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think. You're thinking soberly, you're thinking appropriately, you understand things that are true about yourself, and you're willing to agree with those. Now from confidence, I want to kind of draw kind of two other stems here, okay? And these things that can go with it or something. But a problem is you could have another thing, which is I'm going to label weakness. You could use a lot of different terms here. But weakness is when you have low self-esteem. And you don't want to have low, this isn't good either, this is wrong. We shouldn't have exaggerated self-esteem, we shouldn't have low self-esteem, okay? Confidence is fine, reasonable self-esteem, but there's something better than confidence, okay? And the thing that's better than confidence is humility, okay? In the context of self-esteem, I don't really necessarily have like a single word to define this, but the concept of humility is understanding that you're capable, but you prefer others. Or you give others the preeminence, okay? And this is the ultimate goal, okay? The ultimate goal is for us to have humility and not have pride. And when we get to the few, again, what can happen is with the few, you could have weakness by having low self-esteem, being discouraged. With the few, you could also have exaggerated pride and think we're better than other people or think that we're more special than we really are. But what we want to have is we want to have confidence with humility, okay? What is confidence with humility? Well, confidence with humility would be the idea that, hey, I know that I am in the right religion. Here's some confidence, I know I'm saved. Here's the thing, I also am confident that I know how to get other people saved. And I know I'm capable of getting other people saved. Here's another thing, I am confident that the King James Bible is the Word of God. I am confident that it's right and I'm wrong if there's a disagreement. I'm also confident that I've read this thing cover to cover many times. I'm also confident that the core doctrines that we have of our church are true. And I'm confident that we are on the right path, biblically speaking, okay? But here's where the humility comes into play. Humility comes into play as thinking, I also know, though, I can't do the work of God by myself. I know that I need other people. I know that the work of God does not hinge on me, it hinges on us and it hinges on other people. And I also understand that it's not just necessary for me to do the things of God, it's necessary for other people to serve God, too. And so instead of always putting myself in a position of the premier spot or superiority, is to sometimes encourage others to take opportunity to step up to the plate and to do the work of God. Now, I think a really good example of this would be soul winning. Soul winning is a way to really understand this, okay? Maybe I don't know if I have another color here, let's see, alright. What would be pride in soul winning? Pride in soul winning would say that you do 75% of all the soul winning at the church. This is the prideful person, okay? The confident person says, I know I can get people saved, right? They know that they're capable, okay? The weak person says, I don't think I can get someone saved, but here's the thing, but they can. The weak person thinks that I'm not capable of giving the gospel, but I'm thinking like, if you're saved, you should probably know how to explain it a little bit, right? You should probably know at least John 3.16. In fact, I've seen so many gospel presentations where pastors are giving the gospel and they only use John 3.16, or they only use like one or two verses, and I'm thinking like, I know you guys know more than those three verses. And that would be a low self esteem to say, you know what, I just don't feel worthy to give the gospel or I don't feel capable or something. You know, this is not the type of attitude that we want to have when they say that they're not capable when they really are. Plus, I know you're all smart enough to be able to figure out how to give the gospel, especially you adults. Like, even if you were not the most skilled soul winner or super prepared right now, I know that you're capable. And so I would hope that you wouldn't have this view of yourself, okay? The humble person, this is what the humble person says. I know I'm capable of getting this person saved at the door. I know that I'm a great soul winner, but I also know that my soul winning partner needs more work, needs more practice, needs more help, so I'm going to let them take this door. The private person would say like, I'm obviously the best person here, I should get every door. I should get every conversation. The humble person says like, even if I am really capable, even if I am maybe a little bit better, I want to give this person opportunity and I'm going to give them the preeminence. And I want to let them have the opportunity to get this door and to read someone the gospel and to build them up and encourage them and give them tips. And look, I'm not saying, hey, let's give people that can't give the gospel all the doors and not necessarily do an effective job out soul winning. But it's saying, let's try to build up and encourage other people. Let's try to help other people. Let's not think like it's all about me and my silent partners out there to see how great I am and how wonderful I am. Let's see how we can build others up and encourage them and do good unto them. We don't want to get this prideful attitude that says like, I'm just doing 75% of the soul winning bros. I'm just so great, I'm just so wonderful. You know, that's the wrong attitude. And even if that was true, then you know what? Your goal should be to lower this number, not increase this number. Say like, I'm going to figure out a way to encourage other people and help other people and get other people out there because that's what's important. It's not about me, it's not about what I can accomplish. You know, sometimes we have to lower ourselves and humble ourselves to encourage others. The Lord Jesus Christ, he was capable, but you know what? He lowered himself to encourage other people and to get his disciples to go out and do the work. Because Jesus was going back to heaven and he knew that and so he was trying to train and prepare his disciples for the incredible work that they were going to do. And you know, we as Christians, we too should try to make disciples and encourage other people, be fishers of men, and take people from not just being saved to soul winner and not just soul winner to disciple. And hey, that's getting people baptized and that's teaching people all things whatsoever Christ commanded. That's what it says in the Great Commission, isn't it? And we need to understand that at that point. Now go over to 1 Peter, chapter number 4. I'm going to kind of move this out of the way. I just wanted to use that to help you understand some of these words. Now again, in a modern context, the word pride or proud can sometimes be a positive thing. But biblically speaking, I will submit to you that I've never found a singular time where the word pride or proud is a positive mention. It's pretty much 100% wrong. But I think if you look even in an 1828 Merriam-Webster dictionary, pride is described as a negative thing. If you look in a modern dictionary, pride is a positive thing. It's weird. Like if I read the word pride, I looked it up. Merriam-Webster, pride, it says a reasonable self-esteem. And then I read the 1828, and it says an exaggerated or an ordinate self-esteem and unreasonable conceit. So it's funny how it's like almost exact opposites. In the same dictionary, just based on the time. So I'm just trying to throw that out there so you don't get confused. Pride is also described as an ostentatious or showy display. So it's trying to put on a show and get attention and people looking at you. It's all about you. Now, we as spiritual special forces, if we're going around being showy, bragging, talking about ourselves, that's not really being spiritual, that's being carnal, and we don't want to fall into that trap. We want to understand, hey, when people leave, it's sad. But I'm not going to be discouraged, I'm going to stay in the work of God. And just because you are in a small group of people that are trying to serve God the right way, don't give this high and lofty attitude of thinking, I'm better than other people, or the world needs me, or whatever. We want to make sure that we're still staying humble and saying, it's not just about me. We want to encourage other people and have the attitude of helping other, helping your partner, knowing that we need other people, and knowing that we're not perfect anyways. But I want to elaborate on this point, because it's not just about soul winning. It's about everything. And I want you to understand that going to a church like ours, listening to sermons that I preach, is extreme in comparison to the world. Now, I don't think that they're extreme. I think that they're normal, and I think that they're biblical, and then they make sense. But I'm just trying to be honest with you, that from the world's perspective, they are going to find the Bible extreme, they're going to find my opinions extreme, they're going to find a lot of this stuff extreme. What are things that are kind of extreme to the culture? The number of kids. I mean, I only have six children, which is honestly, in my opinion, not a lot, but to most people in the world, it's crazy. I mean, just unsolicited comments all the time. They're just walking around, and they're just like, you know what causes that, right? Hey, man, a TV will fix that, man. And I'm like, it doesn't need fixed. They're like, hey, you know what causes that? And I'm like, yeah, it's my favorite thing. You know, what's another thing that's extreme to the world? How we dress. And this is especially true for ladies. If you dress modestly and you wear dresses and skirts only, you're going to freak everybody out in your family. Everybody's going to think that you're weird. Crazy things. It's kind of extreme in comparison to the world, whereas we go back 50 years, it was illegal. It was illegal in the state of Texas and many areas for a woman to wear pants. Sorry to burst your little bubble, but yeah, back then, it wasn't extreme for women to show up wearing dresses and skirts, okay? Now it is. That's not the Bible's fault, but it is extreme. We have to be honest, though. It's extreme. We have to understand that a lot of things are counter-cultural. Homeschooling. It's extreme to a lot of people still. Being a traditional church, not having the plexiglass pulpit, not a 15-minute sermonette, not the rock band, not just basically a cool hangout, not the movie seating chairs, not the little PowerPoint. I mean, they actually have to open a book called a hymnal and actually look at the words. They don't just have them with a little bouncy ball on the screen or something like that. And it's literally only the exact same words 25 times, so they don't have to actually learn any words or doctrine. And look, singing the Psalms that I've written are way harder than hymns even, way harder than contemporary music. But you know what? I love it. I love it because we're singing what the Bible says, and we're learning so much good doctrine. We're getting it inundated into our minds, into our brains. And you know what? That's extreme to some people. Some people, when you hear Psalm 139 sung, it's going to be extreme. And you know what? They're going to probably be a little bit like, you know, I've read Psalm 139. Y'all skip some verses. There's some verses in Psalm 139 that say, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. That's a really nice verse. Why didn't you put that one in there? Okay. And look, I didn't write the song, okay? So don't criticize me. But at the same time, I still like the song. I still sing it. And you know what? They'd be hypocrites because virtually every one of these contemporary songs just cherry-picks one verse or two verses out of a Psalm and makes a whole song out of it. So why can't I do the same? Why can't other people do the same? Well, that one's negative. Okay, yeah, but some of the Bible's negative. Some of it is, you know, related that way. But again, it's going to be extreme. It would be funny if you got to see the faces of every visitor and every family member and every person that comes to our church when we start singing that song. They're like, the music sounds like, oh, this sounds kind of nice. Do not, I hate them. Oh, Lord, I hate thee. And they're like little kids just screaming it. They're like, do not, I hate them. And they're like, what in the world? Where am I? They think it's weird. Being old-fashioned is extreme. Soul winning is extreme and weird to people. They're like, hey, do you want to go with me and knock on people's doors? They're like, no. That is like to some people, one of their biggest nightmares, one of their biggest fears would be to just go out there and just knock on random people's doors. And they're like, okay, well, what's the neighborhood? Like Southlake? Okay, okay. Collierville? No. South Dallas. Like what? You want to go into South Dallas and knock on people's doors that you don't even know? Yeah. Well, what are you going to say if you were to die today? That's the first thing I'm going to say. Like what? You're crazy, man. Like what is wrong with you? I'm just being honest. It's extreme. It's called confrontational soul winning. What if they give the wrong answers? We're going to tell them that they're wrong. People don't like that. Yeah. But you know what? I don't want them to go to hell. It's actually loving. Protesters. That's weird. People don't want to go to a church that's being protested. And look, we're not even just being protested. And in the past, the protesters that are protesting us are literally the worst people in our entire area. Like the absolute worst scum filth imaginable. Trannies and Satanists and witches and all kinds of just psychopaths. Literal psychopaths. Literal people that are showing up that you can't tell what it is. With children, you can tell that they never sired whatsoever saying, this is my minor. That is the most despicable filth I've ever seen in my life. Some of the worst people. I mean, we had in Watauga women not wearing shirts just to try and protest. I mean, talk about trying to make church unpleasant and weird. I mean, I can't even imagine. Someone's like, hey, do you want to go to the church where there's all these crazy trannies and weirdos and freaks yelling and screaming and megaphones? And then you're going to go in and they're going to sing songs from Psalms 139 and they're going to scream and yell from the pulpit. The sermon might even be over an hour. They're like, an hour? And let's do it three times a week. That's extreme again. How many people that don't go to a fundamental Baptist church go to church three times a week? It's the few. It's the few. And not only this, drive a long distance to go to church. How many people literally drive over 15 minutes to go to church? I'm not saying you guys. I'm sorry, all of you guys. I'm saying, like, the people in this world, they don't want to go to churches further than 15 minutes from their house. They don't want to do that kind of stuff. And let's be honest, most people don't read their Bible. Go over to 1 Peter 4. I don't know if I had you to go there. 1 Peter 4. Most people would be, you know, just enraged if I said, or they heard their pastor say, I don't even think women should vote. I mean, like, that would just blow their minds. And again, that's my personal opinion. I think it's based on some verses in the Bible that we could clearly teach. And historically, that was what it used to be like. But they would just lose their mind. Our feminist culture is so extreme that they think that we're weird. They think that we're extreme. They think that we're normal in the past are now considered weird. Look at 1 Peter 4, verse 2. This is talking about someone that's, you basically stop living in the flesh. That he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walk in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries. Wherein, they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. Notice that the world will think that you're strange, think that you're weird, think that you're not normal. But let's just be honest again. The special forces in the military, they're not normal anyways. They're the more extreme. They have to do the harshest combat. They have to face the worst foes. They have to do the most difficult missions. And in many cases, they're the most effective. They're the ones doing the most damage. They're the ones getting the most kills. They're the ones doing the secret missions that matter the most. You know, there's a high cost and a high reward to being in the special forces military that's also in the same spiritually. That if you're going to be in the spiritual special forces, if you're going to be a disciple, well, you're going to have to probably face the worst enemies. You're going to have casualties. You're going to have to go on perilous missions. I mean, that's just going to be a reality if you really want to serve God. And show me the guy that was a great Christian in the Bible that had no opposition, no problems, no foes, no enemies, no persecution, no lies, no false accusations, no attacks. I mean, it just doesn't exist. It's going to happen. But here's the thing that also worries me a little bit. And so we've covered quantity. We're going to be a small group of people that try this. We don't want to get discouraged when they leave. We don't want to get proud thinking that we're better than others. But because of the quality needed, because of the lifestyle chosen, many people are going to quit. Most people are not going to count the cost and they're not going to do it. Go to Romans chapter 12 again. Go back to Romans chapter 12. Many people are going to quit. They don't want to go to a church where they're going to say women should wear dresses and skirts. Even if they disagree. They're not going to want to go to a church that's going to say don't drink alcohol. They're not going to want to go to a church that says, hey, you could be church disciplined if you violate 1 Corinthians 5. They don't want to go to a church that says you should come three times a week. They don't want to go to a church that you're going to feel uncomfortable that you never give the gospel ever. They're not going to want to go to a church that's being persecuted or protested or all these kind of things. And so when persecution arises, by and by, they are offended. Now, Romans chapter number 12 tells us, though, also, that people quitting, we need to basically realize that Christ is giving us an admonition here that we shouldn't quit. Why? Verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable in the God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You know, it would be easy, easy to quit this church and go to one of these big, mega evangelical churches. It's easy. But you know what? In many ways, you're going to be conformed to this world. But you know what is a reasonable service is to be a living sacrifice and to say, you know what? I'm going to go where I'm going to be challenged with what the Bible says. I'm going to be challenged with going to church three times a week. I'm going to be challenged without going soul winning. I'm going to be challenged living a separated and holy life. I want to be a disciple. And that is reasonable. When others quit and take the easy route, take the easy path, you don't do that likewise. You say, you know what? No, I'm going to do what my reasonable service is and I'm going to be a living sacrifice. Go to Romans 15 and look at verse 1. What's the other side of this, though, is that you could become really militant. You could become overly militant. And this is what I think of. You know, as a spiritual special force, when you're on the battlefield, there's really no way you could be overly militant. When you're fighting enemies and it's war, I mean, you've got to go hard. But here's the thing. Many times those special forces have to go back into civilian life. And then they could get a little bit of PTSD. Or they could get a little bit overly militant. And they could start getting a little bit, like, uncomfortable with civilians. Because they're kind of used to just blowing people's heads. Like, someone pops around the corner and they're a goner, right? So it's like someone that's a special force or marine, you probably don't want to surprise them. Like, you probably don't want to sneak up behind them and, like, jump at them or something. Like, that's probably the wrong person to do something like that to. You know, because it might be hard for them to adjust to civilian life. Not realizing, like, in the war scene, in the battlefield, everybody's like an enemy trying to kill them and attack them. But in civilian life, people aren't necessarily like that. And we have to understand that in the Christian life, in the Christian world, not everybody's an enemy. Not everybody's a Judas. Not everybody's a reprobate. Not everybody's a God-hating Satanist protester. And what we notice about these people is that they lie, steal, rail, attack, they're vicious, they're trolls. Like, all of these horrible things and horrible sins. But here's the reality. Just normal unsaved people and even normal saved people still commit a lot of those same sins. And what we wouldn't want to do is just start blowing everyone's head off just because they did something wrong or commit a sin. Because we just think literally everyone's a Judas, everyone's a reprobate, everyone's a bad person. Okay? And we get a little bit of PTSD. And look, I could be in the same vein as you. You know, when you're just getting stabbed in the back a hundred times in a row, sometimes it's hard to discern, like, who's real and who's not, who's fake and who's not. And sometimes what we have to do is we just have to give people the benefit of the doubt, turn the other cheek, and sometimes it's even to the person that you're like, man, in hindsight, I wish I hadn't given this person the benefit of the doubt. But at the end of the day, I'd rather give more people the benefit of the doubt than blow a bunch of innocent people's heads off. You know, when you're going to that police training, and look, I've been in it. We took the Pure Words Baptist Church members, we all went to the shooting range, and we did this, like, police course or something like that. And it's like real life scenarios. And sometimes it'll be like a little girl, it'll be like, you're like in a college scene. And I watched plenty of guys, it's like a bad guy, and then a little girl comes out and just blows her head off, you know. Or it was even funnier, one time they had these bank robbers come out, and you're supposed to give them audible commands. And the bank robbers come out and it's like, this guy goes, drop the money, not the guns, drop the money, then they set the money down, and then he kills all of them. And I was like, what? So, you know, you could be in a situation where you're just in a stressful situation, you're being attacked, and you don't really know. And it's dangerous, right? I mean, not everybody with a gun is going to always make the right move, okay? And it's easy also for us, you know, when you're being stressed and protesters and blah, blah, blah, that you may not always know who's who, and sometimes there's friendly fire casualties, okay? And I'm not saying we should, I'm saying we should be careful so we don't, right? What does it say in Romans 15 verse 1? We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that approached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So what we need to do is we ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. You know, if someone gets out of church, if someone gets backslidden, if someone is being kind of dumb, what we don't want to do is just instantly blow their head off. What we want to do is we want to bear the infirmities of the weak. We want to say, you know what, hey, let's come alongside these people, let's encourage these people, let's help these people, and let's realize that being a disciple is hard. That being a special force spiritually is difficult. That very few are ever going to do this. Go to Romans 12. I want to explain one more quick concept, is this. A lot of people, especially in our generation, are unchurched and have been reached by the gospel. And not only were they not saved, maybe their spouse wasn't saved or their friends or their family. And so now they're trying to enter into Christianity, and they're entering into a Christianity that's not just a happy, feel-good, lucky, you know, just free salvation. It's a, like, hardcore extreme discipleship. And what's realistic is that there's going to be some people who they get saved, they get their spouse saved, one of them wants to be a disciple, one of them does not want to be a disciple. You get saved, and you get your brother saved, and one of you wants to be a disciple, and the other one doesn't want to be a disciple. There's going to be Christian parents who raise ten kids, and some of those kids are going to want to be a disciple. And some of those kids are not going to want to be a disciple. And what I think we need to do is sometimes have realistic expectations for others, no matter how you feel. If you want to be a disciple, you shouldn't necessarily expect every other saved person to just automatically agree with that and want to do that. And in fact, you know, just speaking about me and my wife, I kind of had a desire to become a pastor at one point in my life, but I knew that it would be very hard. I knew that it would be very extreme. And what I did not want to do is I did not want to force my wife into me becoming a pastor, and she didn't want to do that with me. And I gave her a lot of space to make a lot of decisions on her own to see if she wanted to do it or not. And after she made a lot of decisions on her own without me telling her what to do, or without me forcing her to do it, that's what gave me the confidence to say, you know what, I think that she wants to do this. But you know what, it may not have been realistic if I had just forced her to do all that. And even if she would have made those decisions, sometimes it's not always good to force her, because then she doesn't feel like she made that decision. And mentally, there's something about making those decisions yourself. And sometimes we have to be careful with the relationships, with the family, with the people that we have in our lives, to say, hey, if they're not on the exact same page as me, I want to make sure I'm sensitive to that and careful with them. I'm not telling you to stop serving God the most that you can. But at the same time, sometimes we have to be careful. And sometimes we have to lead on softly. There's this game out there. It's called Oregon Trail. Who knows what I'm talking about? Okay, a lot of people. I'll just explain it. Oregon Trail is basically you going from the east coast of the United States out to Oregon. And in this process, you're basically trying to survive. That's the goal of the game, is just to survive. But as you go down the game, you could potentially run across like you have to cross the river. Someone gets sick. There's snakes. You got to eat. The water went bad. And throughout the game, what it does is it presents you options. It's like, hey, should we take a rest for all the kids and the wives, or do you want to just cross the river now? And then it's like, hey, do you want to go hunt for food, or do you just want to keep going? And I'll just be honest with you. Every time I played this game, it was just like cross the river, keep going, skip a meal. They're sick. They can make it. And it's just like pretty much it would just be like baby died, mom died, typhoid. And just basically by the end of the thing, we just all died. And then I end up realizing like while I personally like to just be kind of extreme and just go hard and do all these things, that may not be very realistic for other people and people that I'm responsible for and other people that are accountable to me. And you know what? I don't want to do that necessarily in the spiritual special forces. I'm saying, you know, because I'm not just taking men with me. I'm taking women and children with me. So in some cases, I need to make sure like, hey, even though I want to sprint, can y'all? Is that even what you want to do? And being realistic about the spiritual special forces. Did I not prove to you that it's the few anyways? And even the few that even choose it, many of them get burnt out, quit, or whatever. So I don't want to get so militant that I'm dragging people on a course that they don't want to go. I don't want to get so over the top and so extreme and fighting really dangerous battles and forcing people to go that way that they don't want to. That's why our church has an open door. That's why our church has no problem with people leaving. I know everybody wants to say you're a, quote, cult, but it's never been easier to leave our church. And in fact, it's so easy that 95% of people that leave our church never tell me ever. They don't say bye. They don't say anything. They don't give any excuse. It's just after three weeks of not seeing them, I'm like, I don't know. OK, I'm not even mad at them, though, because you know what? I hope that they come back that fourth week. I hope that I see them, because you know what? I love all the people that have been coming to our church. I love people that love and want to serve Christ. I'm here to just help others serve Christ better. And you know what? I don't even hate the Christians that are only saved. You know what? I'm hoping that I can just move them into the category of now preaching the gospel. And then the people that are preaching the gospel, I hope I can move them a little bit closer to discipleship. And the people that are not saved, I'm hoping I can get them either closer to salvation or all the way to being saved. And then I'm hoping I'm dragging those people to baptism. And then I'm hoping I'm dragging those people to King James only. And I hope I drag them to Fundamental Baptist. And then I hope I drag them to one service. Then I hope I drag them to the evening service. Then I hope I drag them to the Bible study. Then I hope they start learning and memorizing the Bible. Then I hope they start separating their family. But let's be honest. There are going to be thousands of people that we get saved that are not going to want to come to church, that are not going to want to dress right, that are not going to act right, that are going to do dumb things and be carnal Christians and just do whatever. But you know what, at least they're not going to hell. But you know what, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. As for me, I want to be a disciple. As for me, I like the hard sayings of the Bible. As for me, I want to be steadfast and unmovable. As for me, I'm willing to face the foe. As for me, I'm willing to have people attack and to Judas and to just go against me. Hey, I'm willing to do those things. You know what, not everybody is willing to do that. I'm willing to face uncomfortable situations and false accusations and whatever because you know what, I'm sincere and I love the Lord and you know what, I'm here for the sincere people. There's a lot of fakes, a lot of frauds, a lot of phonies, a lot of selfish, envious people out there that just want to tear down and destroy Christianity and you know what, it takes brave men to build it. It takes brave men to say, you know what, I'm willing to count the cost. I'm willing to serve Christ. And let me tell you something, you know what, if you go to a church like ours, you will very likely experience the same problems that the special forces experience. And there could be some serious problems. You know, you have to be careful because not everybody can handle the truth. And that's the ultimate problem. I want to go one more place and we'll finish, go to Proverbs chapter 9. Why is it that people hate our church? Why is it that people get disgruntled against our church? Why is it that people get disgruntled against church in general? It's for one reason, they can't handle the truth. They can't handle the truth. And let me tell you something, only the spiritual special forces usually can handle the truth. And I notice this all the time, there's plenty of Christians, they love the good parts of the Bible, they love the grace, they love the forgiveness, they love the kindness, they love the mercy, they love the reign, they love the blessing, but you know what, they cannot handle being corrected. Very few people can handle being corrected. Proverbs chapter 9, look at verse 7, we're proven not to scorn or lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, he will love thee. Hey, scorners, they can't take any correction, in fact, when you correct them, they'll hate you. There is so many people, and you know what? I get up and I preach hard all the parts of the Bible, and I kid you not, most of the time, this is what happens, people will say, Pastor Shelley was preaching against me for this thing. And this is what I think should be the real question. This is the question. Not whether or not I preached against you, here's the question, is it true? Because yes, if I preach this book, it will be against you. It's against me too. It's against all of us. And the question shouldn't be, did I get preached against, here's the question, is it true? And if it's true, change. If it's not true, ignore it, it doesn't even matter. You know why they say he preached against me? Because they know it applies to them. Because I'm not calling people out by name, and it's so funny to me, it's so funny to me how almost every time a person says this, it's someone that I don't even, wouldn't even think about for a sermon, or wouldn't even understand. There's been so many times, this is what actually happens, let me just explain to you, let me reveal the curtain, okay? Here's the curtain behind pastoring. There's a person that has a problem, and when you're writing a sermon, that person, you're like, oh man, it would be great if this person could learn this truth. And then you preach a sermon. That person's ignoring you and sleeping and doesn't care and doesn't change anything. And then there's this random person that comes up to you after, and it's like, you're preaching about me, and you're like, I'm just like, sure, okay. But it's like, you know, narcissist, every sermon's about them. People that are prideful, people that are arrogant, they think literally everything's about them, because everything is about them in their mind. And even if it is, then change! You know what? I hope that when I go to church and I get to hear the preacher preach, he preaches something that relates to me and applies to me. And you know who usually does that, is the Holy Ghost anyways, who's applying the Bible and trying to convict you of sin and trying to encourage you to do something. You don't think I'm a disciple. I don't know or don't care. I'm just telling you, be one. But you know what, the scorners, they can't take correction, and they're going to always hate, and they're going to always attack, and you know what? I'm nuts to the scorners, because I'm not here for the scorners. I'm here for the wise man. And the Bible says I can rebuke him, and he'll still love me. I can rebuke that person. And you know what? I have rebuked people. I've even rebuked people to their face, and they handled it great. I've had people come up to me and correct me, and I can take that. I'm not afraid of correction. But you know what? I'm not going to hearken to lies and false accusations and the flattery and all the junk. And you know what? You have to decide right now, can I handle the truth? Can I handle being the few? Can I handle the extreme discipleship of forsaking all for Christ? Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us this church, and thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to serve you. I pray that there would be people in this room, that there would be some of us that decide to be disciples and continue to follow. And I pray that those who may not be a disciple, that we can still encourage and love and bring along with us. I pray those that are outside of these walls, that we would still encourage them, that we'd love them, that we have compassion on them, that we have grace on them, that we wouldn't force them to be like us. I pray that you would help us to be very confident with humility, to understand that someone needs to go out there and preach the gospel. Someone needs to reach this dying and lost world. And for many of us, that's going to take a lot of sacrifice. But I pray that you would help us to have the faith to realize that the Caribbean and Mexico and Africa and Asia and all these places are filled with so many lost and dying people. Cedar Hill, South Dallas, Louisiana, all of these areas have so many people that are dying going to hell. And I pray that we could just put aside our own personal issues, our own personal desires, our own personal problems, to realize that at the end of the day, we need to get people saved. And we want to make even more disciples out of those that are saved. I pray that you would be with us, that you would strengthen us, that you would give us confidence and humility, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, closing, let's go to song number 238. Song number 238, Christ liveth in me. Song number 238. Song 238, sing it out in verse. Once far from God and dead in sin, no light my heart could see. But in God's word, the light I found, now Christ liveth in me. As rays of light from yonder sun, the flowers of earth set free, so life and life and life are one. And Christ liveth in me. As birds of power within the sea, as in the foam of the tree, so praise the God of truth and praise His Spirit dwelleth in me. Oh, what a salvation it is that Christ liveth in me, with all me know, my heart and soul, that life in mine may be, as on the wondrous law I dwell, that Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation it is that Christ liveth in me. Great singing everybody, you were all dismissed.