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Alright, well we're in Acts chapter 5 this morning and it's kind of a different little sermon, but it is about soul wanting and it's about just being bold and it's also it's also about how we should act when we're out soul wanting how we should behave and There's a couple things that are are there's some certain no-nos that I'm gonna kind of teach against this morning And I'm not trying to beat anybody up I just want our soul wanting to be as as good as possible and I don't know if you ever pray for boldness when you go out soul wanting But the reason why we're supposed to pray for boldness is because it's not easy sometimes to go out and preach the Word of God I don't know if you ever get that fear upon you sometimes when you go out soul wanting Maybe it's just a bad neighborhood or you just I don't know There's just like it's a spiritual battle when you get out and start preaching the gospel but we do need to pray for boldness and and you can see that There's a lot of resistance to the message by the apostles they're out preaching the gospel They're out preaching to people they're out teaching the people the Word of God and then you have the religious Pharisees and Sadducees That are very angry with the fact that they're teaching and preaching Jesus Christ, which is what we're supposed to be doing That's why we're here Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost and he left us here to be ambassadors for him In this world to reach the lost as many people as we can in our lifetime Now I'm gonna just start off in verse 17 because the whole chapter just got read But I think there's some important things in here that we need to Highlight the title of my sermon this morning is no soliciting. Can't you read the sign? No soliciting. Can't you read the sign? Look at verse 17 It says then the high priest rose up and all they that were with him Which is the sect of the Sadducees and they didn't believe in the resurrection or the miracles So they're sad you see and were filled with indignation So they're really upset because of what the Apostles are teaching and laid their hands on the Apostles and put them in the common prison But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said go Stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life And so do you think it's that God wants them in jail or out of jail? He wants them out of jail He wants them out Preaching the message and so he sends his angel to open the door in the middle of night to let them out And when they heard that they entered into the temple early in the morning and taught but the high priest came and they that were with him and called the council together and all the Senate of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought and When the officers came and found them not in the prison they returned and told Saying the prison truly found we shut with all safety and the keeper standing without before the doors But when we had opened we found no man within now when the hot when the high priest and the captain of the temple and The chief priests heard these things they doubted of them where unto this would grow Then came one and told them saying behold the men whom he put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people So, I mean they grab these guys they could put violence on them they throw them in jail for What for preaching the Bible for preaching the Word of God for preaching the gospel and teaching the people and so now? They're out suddenly and they don't understand how they got out of jail, right? and it says then went verse 26 then went the captain with the officers and Brought them without violence and they feared the people lest they should have been stoned So this time so in front of the people they treat them nicely but behind closed doors, they're hurting people. They're bashing people They're throwing him in jail and when they had brought them verse 27 They set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying did not we straightly command you That you should not teach in this name. Don't you know who we are? Don't you know where the boss is? Don't you know where the religious leaders? Who do you think you are? Then we straightly command you to not teach in this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood Upon us then Peter and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than man and this is the crux of Preaching the Bible preaching the gospel to people is that no matter what anybody says? No matter what rules or what laws they pass against it We are supposed to still go and preach the Word of God whether they lay hands on us whether they throw us in jail Whether they kill us we're supposed to go out and preach the gospel so This sermons kind of inspired. I had some questions last week because I brought some some things up about how I Was sewing at this apartment complex and it was here in Vancouver many years ago and the apartment manager I didn't tell this part of the story, but I've told it before but the apartment managers came and Told me to leave or they're gonna call the cops And this is before the Supreme Court. This is like in 2001. Maybe it was in 2002 or but I don't think the Supreme Court had ruled on this, but And I'll go into that more Later, but they basically the the police came and they were gonna take me to jail they said you can either leave or I'm taking you to jail and I felt I still feel like I should have just went to jail that day Because I but I was a new Christian and I was afraid my pastor was gonna be mad at me forget Thrown in jail and so I just chose to leave and walk away And if you choose to leave and walk away in that situation that is totally up to you But you know the Apostles didn't leave and walk away. They didn't stop preaching So to me that's kind of like I feel like I just should have done it, you know And because I would have won that case Had that case Had they said I was trespassing or tried to say all this other stuff I would have won that case because it's freedom of speech It's freedom of religion in this country and you can't tell people that they can't practice their religion now Obviously if your religion is sacrificing humans on an altar of Baal or something like that there they can stop that that's that's a crime Okay, but preaching the gospel to people that pay rent in an apartment complex They have the individual right to hear our message The an apartment manager can't make a decision for everybody that lives in an apartment complex Now you notice when we go to apartment complexes They always try to put up these signs all these signs that say stuff like, you know, no trespassing no soliciting No door-to-door this and that and we ignore those signs and you know why because that apartment manager does not own that building It's the people Paying the rent in their individual apartments They're paying their own rent the apartment the apartment managers are charging them to live there And so people have a right to hear what the Bible says and we have the right to go and preach that now Obviously if someone's not interested then we leave It's not like we're there to badger people and to continue to harass them if they just say we're not interested Then we just go what to the next door don't we and that's what we're supposed to do Now last I'm gonna bring up an email that I got last week after church and I get these a lot Usually I'm big soul winning days like Sunday and these apartment managers that you know They have to put the the resume that they're a son of Belial or or something in order to be apartment I think that might be one of the questions at the interview. Do you hate Christians? Okay. Yes, you're hired You know, it seems that way but every once in a while we get an apartment manager That's pretty decent. No, we can just tell them, you know, what the what the laws say and things like that I don't get too ahead of myself, but I want to read this letter to you that I got After church, they kind of inspired this sermon, but it says two of your members came by my house yesterday and left the flyer. I Have two signs on my front porch with no soliciting and one specifically states no religious visiting I do have cameras as well and one gentleman saw my sign and I can hear him telling the other Gentlemen who may have been new that it's up to him if he wants to knock on these doors That specifically say do not please have your church respect that some folks do not want to be bothered at the door Especially when their signage is indicating not to thank you now I don't want to know who who this was I'm not gonna I'm not mad at you or anything like that because I think that I've maybe even said something to the effect that you know, it's kind of up to you, but When it's really specific, I don't knock those doors if it says no religion no politics You know, I'm Catholic. I'm not converting if it has something that's very specific I don't knock those doors and I would say this and if I've said anything to the contrary before I just want to make myself Clear right now that I don't I don't think you should knock those doors I'm telling you don't knock those doors because if it specifically says they don't want religion then that means they don't want you knocking on their door and and You know, I'm not mad or anything like that But the person and I think I forgot to bring bring the picture but they had a no soliciting sign and then they had no soliciting Religion politics all that other stuff, right? I won't knock those doors to me That's no before I ever get to knock the door and I'm already on the next door So if they have you know, sometimes they'll have the yard signs that say in our America We believe you know in science, we believe there's you know, love is love which contradicts science. But anyway So but there's all kinds of signs that people put up and But people will will will have a situation like this and then they'll and this lady emailed me and then she emailed me a picture of the sign so Normally, if someone says well, I have a no soliciting sign I kindly tell them I email them back and I kindly tell them hey, you know, we're not soliciting That's not what we're doing because we aren't soliciting So and I'll give you the definition about soliciting here in a minute But I just want to tell you as a church and as soul winners if it says specifically no religion Don't knock my door. Don't don't take that as that's a choice of yours. Just take that as don't do it Okay, that's my instruction. Don't do that Obviously if it says no soul no soliciting then we ignore those signs and you're like well How can you do that? Well, first of all, we've knocked lots of no soliciting doors that get saved. Okay, and So we ignore those signs because we're not soliciting and the law that law does not apply to us They're talking about now if we're going to the door and saying hey, can you please give our church money? That is religious soliciting and if they don't want you can still do that But I think that there's rules and permits and things like that. You have to do that, but we don't do that We're not asking people for money. We're not soliciting Them giving us anything So that's not what it is. So signage it says no soliciting soliciting means It means requesting with earnestness asking for Attempting to obtain are we requesting something in earnestness? Well, maybe requesting that they get saved but we're not requesting anything personal any monetary things from them We're not asking them for anything but their time which is you know, and they can make that choice so and Attempting to obtain we're not attempting to obtain financial things from them or any kind of goods or products to Solicit means to attempt to try to obtain that's not what we're doing. We're out preaching the gospel now somebody asked me last week about the the rules and laws in Washington about specifically being able to go door-to-door and I didn't I don't know if I found what they were looking for I was kind of digging around a little bit last night to look for it But in Washington State it says this about charitable solicitation it says cities and counties should refer to the provisions of CH 19 dot 0 9 RC W requiring registration with the Secretary of State and various information disclosures by persons and organate organizations that solicit funds from the public or public charitable purposes RC W 1909 100 recognizes local government authority to regulate charitable solicitation and requires Organizations to comply with all local Governmental regulations that apply to soliciting for or on behalf of Cheryl charitable organizations Now you might say well, that's just that's talking about us But it's not okay because as you read more it says regulation of door-to-door door door-to-door charitable solicitation including activities of religious organizations can involve constitutional issues of free speech and Religious freedom we advise consultation with your city or county's legal office when drafting regulations in this area So about making rules against people coming to your door many cities Simply provide exemptions in their regulations for charitable and religious organizations, and you know why they have to do that because of the First Amendment the First Amendment It's not it's it says in the first what the First Amendment says is it provides that Congress shall make no laws Respecting an establishment of religion, so we're not supposed to have a state religion England has the Church of England That's a state functioning paid for by the government the government subsidizes them And and they they have a state religion like I went and tried to baptize at a hotel like we do You know anyplace else in America, and they told me I couldn't because I didn't have a license with the Church of England I was just like that's ridiculous I mean you have to have a license with the Church of England before you can baptize somebody That's a state-run religion. That's America does not have that so we don't have some recognized religion as our religion But it also says or prohibiting its free exercise free exercise of what religion So when we go and knock on people's doors and try to preach in the gospel When I get up behind this pulpit and preach the Word of God I have the free exercise and right to say what I want concerning my religion It protects freedom of speech the press assembly and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances So even in the RCW The charitable the regulation for charitable solicitors We're not soliciting people and asking them for money for a religious cause that's what that's talking about But they even say the free speech You know you don't you don't want to run into areas where you're making Regulations against free speech because we have the right we have the freedom to knock on people's doors but you know what they also have they have the right to say no and Then we should take that no and keep going don't stick your foot in their door Don't continue to talk to them just move on if someone's not interested. They're not interested take that as the Lord Speaking to you and saying they're not going to get saved so quit just stop So And again, I'm not mad at anybody that that whoever said that I don't care I don't want to know don't come to don't come tell me it doesn't matter But I just wanted to kind of put forth that if it says specifically don't knock this door If it's a religious purpose, then they are telling you that they don't want that and it's already like them saying no Just skip the door there. You know if they want to go to hell. That's up to them They have the choice and and to me when someone makes that choice openly by putting that sign on their door They're already telling me. They're actually doing me a favor because if I knock the door they're gonna say the same thing to me anyway But like with further conversation with this lady She you know I because I told her what the soliciting definition one She didn't send me a picture of the sign at first and I when I looked at the sign I was like yeah, that's pretty clear. I said I apologize and I'll make sure to train my people On that so that's this is me training you on that don't do that anymore, please so Now the state of Washington recognizes that we can knock doors the First Amendment Says that we are not prohibited from the free exercise of our religion it protects the freedom of speech Which you know obviously? There's a faction out there that wants to limit what we can say and what we can do and we're we're we're Censored on social media, and they'll say well That's their right because that's their company, but they don't censor other people that say all kinds of weird and wicked stuff There is a bias against Christians out there and social media is part of that there's a big thing going on in Congress about it right now the Twitter files and Basically, they're the the Twitter files Were exposed by it doesn't say who from Twitter Exposed it and who the source was for these these guys that reported on the Twitter files But basically what the Twitter files is a show is that there's a bias against conservatives in there you know that the FBI actually goes in and says this person needs to be banned this person needs to be shut down take away their account and so when all the Coronavirus stuff was going on there was no voice to fight back against some of the weird stuff that they were coming up with And now they're admitting that it was done in a lab in Wuhan aren't they now they're admitting that because the paper trail leads back To dr. Fauci giving nine million dollars to this place that is literally working on Ways to to turn the coronavirus into something that has all these bad Effects so now they admit it after just trying to silence everybody and tell us we're lying I mean they lied about the January 6th stuff all the footage is out there now 41,000 hours of footage is out there showing that it was not some insurrection and the what are the what they call him the shaman the You know what I thought the QAnon shaman is what they call him He's literally being led around by Capitol Police with guns on them. He walks past a group of nine guys With guns on them and and then this is how how far gone the media is there they're the the left far-leaning left CNN literally said well The cops are whispering to him to stop, but they're afraid Nine guys with guns are afraid. Are you kidding me? They're they're like leading him around and trying to unlock locked doors. They're giving them a tour of the building That guy's in prison for four years for What and so now all these files are being unlocked and there's a big fight going on in the Senate and Congress about it But here's the thing. Where was the right when all this stuff was going on? Well, they were being silenced on social media, which is that really the main public square where everything gets talked about and Twitter is a place that breaks breaking news and The the news stations and news pick up what goes on on Twitter and report on that stuff But see they wanted to silence everything about the coronavirus. They want to silence everything about January 6th They want to silence all this stuff that's going on. And what's going on is that we have a totalitarian government that's in charge right now But my my question is why the dog and pony show now Where was Ted Cruz and all these Republicans when this stuff was actually happening not saying a word? That's what they were doing Donald Trump who everybody reveres and loves so much You know, he's the one that came out with the vaccine mandates Don't be fooled into thinking that this banter that you hear right now is is actually truth. It's not truth we are being silenced and and conservatives the conservative voices are being silenced and Investigation into government corruption is being silenced The guys that broke the Twitter files one guy worked for Rolling Stones magazine for 30 years He he admittedly under oath voted for Biden the other guy can't remember who that guy was, but he's also a liberal and They just want to tell the truth and like they're just if you if you see any of the debates about it online The Republicans and Democrats are yelling at each other inside Congress, and I normally don't care about stuff like that But when it comes to free speech and lies and corruption, I do want to know kind of what's going on So I have been kind of paying attention to it lately But what is this? What is the point is that that our our freedoms are being taken away and people are being silenced? But you know what? We're gonna continue to preach the Word of God unfiltered the raw unbiased truth of the Bible and I'm not gonna pull any punches on what I believe and I'm not gonna stop knocking on people's door because the government says it's not safe or whatever Now obviously if there's a real plague that people are stacked bodies are stacked in the streets and all that kind of stuff Which is what they were saying was gonna happen and maybe it will happen in the future, but that's not what it was They're like saying, you know someone that got shot and fell off their motorcycle that died. They're like, oh he died of coronavirus. I mean I'll probably get silenced for even seeing this stuff They'll probably just nuke this sermon right off of YouTube because I even dared to bring it up But facts are really hard things to dispute And when they say that all along The conspiracy theorists were right then, you know, and I'm not I'm not some huge conspiracy theorist person There are conspiracies though. It's a fact 9-eleven was an inside job fact They're like, oh that's not what the government says Have you not been paying attention the government lies to you the media lies to you. I mean even in these Congressional hearings, they're just flat-out just lying But you know, we shouldn't be you know ignorant of the devices because this is what people do that hate our church This is what people do they hate what we're doing and people will always try to silence us and shut us up But we need to resist those types of things So But you know when it comes to going door-to-door soul winning We're not going to stop doing it But we do need to have some etiquette when we're going to the door and I'll cover some of that a little bit more of that later on but People will also ask us in these apartment complex. They'll say who told you you could be here Don't didn't you read what the sign said when he came in here? It says no trespassing Didn't you see what it said? No soliciting and you know We'll have one homo call the the front desk and and tell on us and then they'll try to get everybody kicked out or some Feminist some Nazi, you know, they want to call us Nazis, but they're the real Nazis, right? They want to shut us up and and they want to stop us from preaching the gospel to their neighbor You know, I had this happen a couple weeks ago First door some transvestite starts screaming and yelling and cussing at me, you know, and what am I trying to do? I'm just trying to bring the good news But They that person I think was brother Drew was preaching the gospel later on with like that The the thing went back in its apartment complex door and then brother Drew is literally Getting the neighbors saved and then and then like I think he asked the rapper about You know do all these freaks and weirdos get to go to heaven the Jeffrey Dahmer's and stuff like this Am I kind of on to the truth there? What happened brother Jerry tell us I See he's trying to stop someone from getting saved but that's what happens That's what you know, whether it's a Pharisee whether it's a governmental agent whether it's a police officer whether it's some weird freaky trainee People are gonna try to stop our message. They're gonna try to stop it, but we got to be bold We got to be brave, but we also got to be smart and wise about how we do these things But people say where did you get the authority to come in here you have to have permission to come in here and This is what I will I'm okay with you saying that you do have permission because you do The Bible gives you permission. God gives you permission. Look at Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 And Look I don't like people soliciting at my door. I don't like people trying to sell me the new leaf gutters I don't like people coming and trying to sell me pesticide for my house or moss cleaning or I mean I'm just not interested, but I don't have a no soliciting sign on my door. So I guess they just keep coming but It doesn't matter like we're not soliciting We're going and doing what God told us to do look at Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 it says and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth so who has all the power the Lord Jesus Christ and He says in verse 19 go ye therefore Because I have all the power I'm telling you to go What go therefore and teach all nations? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost This is our command our commander. Our great captain has told us go out and preach the gospel I have all the power. I'm telling you to go and so we're pre to preach and teach all nations It says a verse 20 teach teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you so anything that's commanded to you in the Bible Everything that the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to do he said go and teach those things to people So and it says but unless there's an apartment manager doesn't like you Unless there's a sign that says no soliciting unless you know The government says it's not okay unless a cop tells you to leave and you know, it doesn't say that it says and lo I am with you Always so is Jesus with us when the cops show up is Jesus with us when they try to take us to jail is Jesus with us when you know, they're trying to censor us or follow us around at these places and Antagonize us and mess with us. It says I'm with you always Even unto the end of the world And the end of the world is what the end He's not gonna leave us. He's not gonna forsake us He's always gonna be with us no matter what happens But I would also say to this to you obviously So we let me just say this we have the power because God told us to do it So if they say well, do you have permission to be here? Yeah, I do And if you want to elaborate on that you can but you're not lying If you say yes, I have permission to be here. Who will who gave you the permission? God Jesus the Bible God gave us permission to be here. They might not like that answer, but it's the truth And then if they want some sub some sub points, how about the First Amendment? How about though the laws of the state of Washington? You know, we have the right to go door to door and preach the gospel. I found this article Online about about this and was written by a lawyer and I assume he's a Baptist He's saying we should thank the Jehovah's Witnesses though, which when we get to that part I don't necessarily agree with that. But in a way they did help But what they did what the Supreme Court ruled on what the Jehovah's Witnesses is already reiterating the right we already had They're just upholding What we already had the right to do and people were trying to stop people from knocking on doors By saying you have to have a special license or this or that that's when it becomes Church of England That's when you have to go to the government and ask for them or beg for them to be able to practice your religion This is America right now. We have those freedoms. We have the choice to go door to door But unfortunately, a lot of Christians don't want to do that A lot of that, you know The reason why everybody thinks we're Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons when we come to the door is because nobody else is doing it Now here's I just have some some parts of this article I want to read I'm sorry I do have some articles in here that I want to put forth but this is not the whole article But it says given all the god-given freedoms that the courts have taken from Americans It is surprising that Americans still have the right to communicate freely in America I don't really this is from 2011. So now, you know, we realize that we don't have that right, but I Mean we do to a certain extent but the First Amendment protects American Christians as they communicate the gospel door-to-door and through street preaching carrying signs and handing out tracts Another literature in the public forum in this article the author of this essay a lawyer and a believer in Christ addresses God's commands for doing door-to-door evangelism and the earthly Consequences of obeying these commands in the United States God's Word tells believers that he wants what what he wants them to do If he tells them to do something it is legal Who cares what they say, you know at that point if people say you can't go soloing anymore What are we gonna do? We're gonna still go soloing If people say I can't get up and preach the Word of God and preach whatever I want I'm still gonna preach the Word of God and preach whatever I want They're already saying it and there isn't even laws of hate speech and things like that in this country But the big tech companies have already implemented something and really it's against the law what they're doing by censoring people And it says and the issue becomes whether the government rules regarding that activity are legal We ought to obey God rather than man The Bible says it is legal and God told us to do it as a lawyer the author Addresses only the earthly consequences of a door-to-door evangelism in the United States door-to-door evangelism is also legal under the law of Man in America for the time being believers Who go door-to-door spreading the gospel can rest easy because Christians practicing door-to-door evangelism Excuse me evangelism are still protected from persecution supposedly Christians owe this protection to the First Amendment and the efforts of the Jehovah's Witnesses Now they did bring it to the Supreme Court, but we don't owe our Freedom to preach the Bible and to go door-to-door to the Jehovah's Witnesses They just brought it forth to the Supreme Court who ruled like I said on something that was already in place in the Constitution But he does say the Jehovah's Witnesses a cult so he does understand that they're cold, right? Because the Jehovah's Witnesses stand for door-to-door communication on behalf of their cult Baptists if they are not already doing so can begin to go out and do what God has told them to do The government cannot persecute them for doing so So look we have all the power of Jesus he told us to go and do it we have laws on our benefit to do it How many countries are out there that that probably would love to be able to have the freedoms that we have to come and And worship without someone coming and busting the service open and taking everybody to prison They would love to be able to just go door-to-door and tell their neighbor something But they're probably afraid to tell their neighbor anything because if they turn them in They're gonna end up with a bag over their head in some gulag somewhere We have a lot of freedom, but you know unfortunately the Baptists are falling down on the job The soul-wanting back you know and look if they preach a false gospel I don't want them going door-to-door, but you know those that have the freedom and they have the right gospel And they have the right message. You know why aren't they doing it? They're gonna cry and whine and complain on Facebook and Twitter that you know their freedoms are taken away But then they don't they don't exercise the freedoms that they already have right now Keyboard warriors keyboard Baptist so It says Baptists are it says Baptist if they are not already doing so can begin to go out Baptists been going out for a long time now. They just have curtailed all their soul-winning programs They call bus ministry soul-winning, which it's not you know. It's bus ministry. Maybe you are getting saved Maybe people are being evangelized through those things, but what works is what the Bible says works, and it says going door-to-door How do you reach the whole world without knocking on someone's door? Now obviously we have social media and things like that But even we've been banned and we've been you know taken sermons a bit whole sermons have been taken offline Because of what because of censorship so they are censoring the message Out there, and they're trying to do this by other means because they know what the Constitution says we have these rights a law Enforcement officer may give one who does door-to-door evangelism a citation for allegedly violating a law Prohibiting his efforts to take him to court Probably will not especially if he calls a Christian attorney familiar with the issue, so this is in brackets here What the issue should be the government should the government threaten him, but as it now stands we will prevail Should the government illegally interfere with this activity so look I'm not saying go out there and go to jail But if in this the situation arises, and you're just like the cops say well Hey, if you don't leave then you're going to jail I would just say this like you don't have to fight every battle you can win the war by coming back But you know if you said well You know what why don't you just go ahead and take me to jail and we'll see if the charges stick if you feel like Spending the weekend in jail Monday morning. They'll probably let you out with some kind of citation You'll have to hire a lawyer, but you know we might end up having to go that route at some point And I'm not saying to do it Ignore you know don't ignore those signs like I was talking about But I feel like if I would have went to jail that day I would feel better about myself for having done that because I feel like I'm sticking up for the Lord at that point now again Don't don't don't get me wrong. I'm not saying well. Hey. Let's go all go out and go to jail today. Yeah But even I'm just telling you that even if they do You're gonna win in court all you have to do is cite what the Constitution says Let's do this cite what the laws are and then obviously the the supreme Permission we have to do these things are from God himself in the Bible So and we have the freedom of religion in this country, so I'm just gonna kind of skip through some of this but Yeah, I'll skip through the rest of it here for sake of time Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 10 So the biggest thing the biggest problem we clearly have at the end of the article it says the laws both federal are Excuse me. That's not the article At the end at the end of the article says Christians should be more concerned with second No, let me not read that let's see What are Christians in the free society doing to define the nature of this nation on the doorsteps of our neighbors? That's a good question What are they doing and look if you're coming to this church and you come here for a long time? And you're not part of a soul winning program. You should try to get plugged into it because The question that this author is this the writer of this article is saying is you know What are Christians in a free society doing to define the nature of this nation on the doorsteps of its neighbors? What are you doing? What on earth are you doing for heaven's sake? What are you doing because this is the main thing How do our efforts compare with those of the early Christians who suffered persecution and death for their obedience to God's directions? We saw it in the chapter. They're getting beaten. They're getting thrown in jail It's like so but modern day people say well you guys are getting censored You're getting beaten you're getting if you're getting thrown in jail, then you're you're must be doing something wrong No, we must be doing something, right? So If they're threatening us if they're trying to stop us that means that we're doing something, right? People just try to shut down something that's not doing any good People don't shut try to shut the Mormons down. They don't try to shut the Jehovah's Witnesses down They just get mad when they come to their door. They get mad when we come to their door but obviously we have the message of truth and Righteousness and we want to go in and we're trying to help people. We're trying to give them a free gift We're not trying to buy any have them buy something from us So We are not soliciting but how however I want to bring this up again Concerning signage is very specific. Just remember if it's specific Just take it as they don't want to hear your message Matthew chapter 10 verse 12 It says when you come into a house salute it and if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it But if it be not worthy let your peace return to you So it's talking about when you're going to people's houses when you're going to people's doors and whosoever shall not receive you Nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city shake the dust off your feet So this is Jesus. He's telling us he's telling the Apostles I'm gonna send you out and When someone doesn't want to hear your words Depart from that house leave that house. Is that what I'm saying right now to you leave that house Shake the dust off your feet and sometimes there's whole neighborhoods that we go to and we and literally nobody wants to hear everybody's rude everybody's mean and You know the Bible says to shake the dust off our feet now obviously in the Pacific Northwest You can interpret that as shake the rain off your feet. All right, just clap your the rain off You know, hopefully you have some some waterproof shoes out there, but this is what Jesus tells us to do So this is what we should do right just ignore that person walk on to the next door let your peace return upon you So but when someone wants to hear let your peace be upon that house. And so what are we what are we doing? We're not there to argue Semantics and all these different things were there to preach the gospel so it says in verse 15 Barely I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the in the day of judgment than for that city So, I mean Sodom and Gomorrah got barbecued, right? So when a place doesn't want to receive you, I mean, obviously, I don't want to wish those things on people But that's what God said. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ said. It'll be more tolerable Because you know what? We have more truth now in the New Testament than they did back then So people that know that there's a truth out there that could save them and they just reject that outright Then their judgment is gonna be more harsh. The Lord Jesus has already come Sodom and Gomorrah didn't know who Jesus was. They never heard of Jesus before so When someone has a sign again that specifies no religion or we found Jesus or something along those lines skip it and if it says You know queer pride or whatever and it's got rainbows hanging from every You know, just obviously that that house is conquered for Sodom and Gomorrah already. So I mean That one I wouldn't say you can't do but like, you know beware of men the Bible says so beware of those ones but Just just take that the signs of specific signs as people rejecting the message or rejecting the Lord They're rejecting you let your peace return unto you shake the dust off your feet and walk away Last week. I was with brother Victor and we were out knocking doors and we found a mr Rogers sign and somebody in somebody's yard, but brother Vic. Did you have that? Yeah, there you are Do you have the you saw that did you send me that picture? Okay, I forgot the To print it off, but it basically was like, you know how you have the in our in our America or whatever signs all this was a mr. Rogers says and so to me I just like take that as a mockery of God You know, mr. Rogers says it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It's a beautiful day. Would you be my could you be my neighbor? We're trying to be people's neighbors. We're trying to love people as Neighbors as ourselves and and but they're mocking, you know Christianity by saying that I believe that's what they're doing or maybe they just believe in You know, mr. Rogers or something but turn back look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 16 It says you're you're already still there. So it says behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves so Wise as serpents serpents are wise the way that they are stealthy and things like that We should be wise in the regards the way we do things who also should be harmless as doves The last time I checked people don't have dove fights, you know They have cock fights that were roosters will fight each other or pit bull fights the reprobate of the dog world They'll have those dogs fight, but I've never seen a dove fight before you know, why because doves are harmless They're a harmless bird. So we're supposed to be harmless when we go out now The reason why that lady was able to email me Is because she heard the conversation that was going on. How did she hear the conversation? Because she has one of those ring doorbells and a lot of people have those I have one and We got to be aware that when we walk up to somebody's door and you see that little circle turning like that or some variation of that you're being recorded when you walk up to the door and Not only what you're doing, but what you're saying is being recorded so I would just say this that You know, how do they know that they saw the sign and ignored it and said well It's up to you if you want to knock it or not because they heard the conversation take place And I would just say that that I mean it does make our church look that we want to be harmless So be you know be aware of what you're talking about Sometimes we're just talking and we're moving from door to door and I encourage that I think that's great it's a good way to get to know each other as soul winners, but it also if you're talking about something super spicy or You know like you're just having a conversation about sodomites or because whatever it is Or something that they might not understand or something They might take offense to just be aware when you walk up to these doors that they do have cameras They are listening to you. They are watching you so just be harmless as doves. You know be wise as serpents and harmless as doves Be aware That cameras are they're recording you and think about what you're saying before you say it kind of stinks that we live in a world Where everything you do and say is being recorded? But it is the fact. All right, even your phones are Recording you right now and they're sending data back to these Places and they know everything about you. You can't go off the grid. It's just not possible Okay, even if you have a flip phone or anything like that they can still track you they can I mean they can they can Pinpoint your GPS location on your cell phone and blow you to smithereens right now So We just kind of have to deal with the fact that we live in a world like that So when people go well, I'm gonna have a Facebook account, but I'm not gonna put my profile picture on there You don't have to put your profile picture on they already have your picture They put they have you they have another file about you that has all kinds of pictures of you on there That's why you should be aware of what you say on the internet what you say even in your home I mean, it's kind of like 1984 where they they've or they're in your home What could you do about it? Well, just get rid of all electronics I mean, that's basically the only thing you could do but even things like video game systems and Can record what you're doing, but I don't want to freak you out too bad, but it's a fact, right? It's a knowledge that I just came to not too long ago, and it's really upsetting but it's true now Turn to Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6 Proverbs 2 6 We need to get our wisdom and how we do things from God and He's gonna help us if we get our wisdom from God and apply that wisdom in our lives And and and in this regards in going door-to-door or soul winning It's Gonna help us Proverbs 2 6 says for the Lord giveth wisdom Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding he layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly he keep it the pass of judgment and Preserveth the way of his Saints. He's there to give us knowledge He's also there to protect us and it says then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity Yea Every good path. This is how we should live our life the wisdom and knowledge of God trusting in him to preserve us and protect us and that he's gonna lead and guide our steps in our life and We need to get this wisdom from the Bible. We need to not depend on worldly wisdom Obviously there's things we can glean But I'm talking about how you live your life as a spiritual person a spiritual man or woman of God Be aware of your surroundings Try your best not to offend people before you even get a chance to speak to them if they're already hearing your conversation on the ring doorbell About something super spicy or you're talking about their sign. How do you think they're gonna come out? They're already gonna come out with an attitude They're gonna come out mad before you even have a chance to break the ice with them and kind of leave some of those Those anxieties that they might have about someone being at their door When someone's at your door you a lot. Most people don't like it but You know God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe So he has chosen that message and the way that we deliver that message is mainly door-to-door soul wanting so We just need to be wise when we go out and you know Remember that you came to them you came to their door and you are a guest you are an ambassador So act like an ambassador dress like an ambassador Speak like an ambassador and Ambassadors are trying to win over some foreign nation or have them be friendly to their side So that's what we're trying to do We're not trying to upset people and yeah The freaks are still gonna come out and scream at us and people aren't gonna receive our ambassador to them But we still should you know when we're out solely we're not trying to go out and offend people We're not trying to get people upset with us. That's gonna happen by the message alone, but don't So persecution is gonna come but that doesn't mean that you should force the persecution upon yourself by acting in a way That's not right Acts 4 turned back to turn to Acts 4 I'm almost done here Acts chapter 4 So this is the previous chapter obviously to chapter 5 which is read in context But this kind of stuff was happening all throughout the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the book of action There's always something great going on in it people are getting saved the power of God is being shown forth in people's lives But there's always a faction of people that are trying to stop What's going on? Look at Acts 4 17 It says but that it spread no further among the people let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth To no man in his name. So before all this stuff happened in Acts 5. They're already threatening them They're already telling them not to do these things. Let's threaten them and they'll stop hopefully they'll stop and They called them and command them not to speak at all nor teach in his in the name of Jesus But Peter and John answered and said unto them Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye. That's a bold statement, isn't it? For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard so They're saying I don't care what you say. You can figure that out for yourself But I'm gonna you know, they're basically saying without saying it We're gonna we're gonna do what God tells us to do not what man tells us to do And that's what happens in chapter 5 in verse 21. It says So when they had further threatened them, they let them go Finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people for all men glorified God for that which will has that which Was done which was a man being healed that was crippled for his whole life. Now. Look at verse 23 It says and being let go They went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them and when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is Who by the mouth of thy servant David has said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ This is the world that we live in. This is the world. They lived in this is the world We're living in now where there's kings and rulers and principalities and powers and people are just out to stop us From getting people saved and preaching the gospel and teaching the truth Just like it was then it's that way now It says for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou has appointed Excuse me anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together Or to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done now Lord behold their threatenings Who do we take our threatenings to should take them to God When we're afraid give it to God when we're being persecuted give that over to God and Say God look at what they're doing to us. Stop them help us It says in grant unto thy servants that with all boldness. They may speak thy word Excuse me With all boldness they may speak thy word This should be our prayer to God Also for us that with all boldness we would speak the Word of God and not be afraid to say what it says Whether that's Bible preaching from this pulpit or where that's going door-to-door Soul-waning, you know Paul said pray for me for boldness in in Romans chapter 1 Then he may go forth and preach the gospel because it is scary. Sometimes not gonna lie to you. It can be scary and Now let's go back to Acts 5 verse 39 and then we'll be done So they prayed for this boldness in Acts chapter 4 Because something they already threatened them and they already told them they're gonna try to you know We'll threaten them so they'll shut up and quit teaching in his name. They don't listen to him They say hey you judge whether it's right for us to obey God or man now acts 539 says You know and Gamaliel comes up and says this, you know this theory that you know If it's not of God, then it's gonna be destroyed or whatever And this is where it picks up first 39, but if it be of God you cannot overthrow it lest happily He be found even to fight against God and to him they agreed and when they had called the Apostles and beaten them They commanded they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go so they threatened them now they've actually beaten them and They departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name If you're a soul winner if you're a preacher You're gonna suffer shame for his name Didn't he suffer shame didn't he suffer spitting didn't he suffer violence then he suffer mocking and cruel threatenings Everything, you know, we've nobody here has been crucified before nobody here has been probably beaten for their faith there's a couple people might have got dinged up or threatened or whatever, but As a whole we haven't suffered persecution like the Lord Jesus Christ did we haven't suffered persecution like the Apostles. So Don't get down in the mouth about it They might come that that they might come in our lifetime It might not but we should still exercise the power that we have right now as A people as God's people we can't just forsake this. We don't know what tomorrow's gonna be like I mean when the coronavirus thing happened, they shut everything down Like it seems to me like it was just a big experiment on something bigger that's coming down the line Make people stay in their houses The supply chains being cut off Can't go to the doctor because the hospitals are supposedly filled up while nurses are doing line dances in an empty hospital you know that's what happened a genetically engineered virus Was unleashed upon the population and now there's bickering about it in Congress all these things have happened and Then not only that then all the no police thing happened at the same time Do you think that's an accident that they just took all the just bound all the hands of all the police? And now they're afraid to walk up and tell someone to leave your property Now homeless people are empowered to just Camping people's neighborhoods right on their front right in front of their houses, and there's nothing they can do about it That wasn't an accident and crime just going up I mean Portland used to be a fairly safe place to live. It's not anymore. Don't go downtown I mean if you're walking around down there, you're asking for trouble because some drug demon doubt You know vagrant is gonna attack you I've been attacked down there. Just working But you know I did that matrix move and dodged it or whatever, but someone threw something at me It was like the fat matrix. You know whatever, but anyway They missed But I'm just saying that Look how fast they shut everything down now. We're kind of in a more of a free state now It's like let's let's this is what the Democrats are saying. Let's just move on From this it doesn't matter what the details were That's what they want it They want us to move on and we have in a lot of ways in our mind because now we're enjoying More of the freedoms that we once have had now we don't have to wear a face diaper every place we go And all that kind of stuff but Look how fast your freedom can be taken away and look how quickly everybody stepped in step lock and step with what they were saying They just people are still wearing masks people are still walking around like that. It's just like Just let me tell you something that's over It's it's done Now if you're trying to protect a family member look. I'm not against that or whatever but These people they're just like virtue signaling their triple masks and you know, they're wearing like a Diver's helmet or something, you know with some five masks on or whatever. It's just people have gotten too far with it. But anyway Where was I at verse 39? 40 oh Yeah, they command verse 41 and they depart verse 42, excuse me verse 42 and Daily in the temple and in every house they cease not That means they didn't stop To teach and preach Jesus Christ and if you get one thing out of this whole sermon get this that we're supposed to go to every house or not supposed to stop and How and how long do we have the power to do that? To the end of the world, so let's do that Let's do that and enjoy the freedoms and exercise the freedoms that we have from God in our country Under I mean we live in the greatest country in the world to be able to do the greatest works that we can do More missionaries have been sent out of America than anyplace else. It's a fact King James Bible is the greatest Bible that's ever been put out fact we have There's probably I would say at least a hundred or more King James Bibles just in this building alone right now Probably more than that You go to my office. There's more you go back. There's more so we have everything that we need. We have the Word of God We have the Spirit of God. We have the commandment of God. We have even the government quote-unquote supposedly being on our side They can't convict us of soul winning But let's be wise in the way we do it Let's be gentle Let's be meek. Let's be mild when we're out there doing it and and not out to cause harm and get ourselves persecuted Because God knows the difference did you bring that persecution on yourself by being a jerk or did you? You know get persecuted because they hate your message. They hate the message that God sent us with Let's pray Heavenly Father. We thank you Lord so much for this great church our Lord I pray that you just help us to exercise the rights we have and the power and authority that you've given us to go out and step on scorpions and and and Lord to win this world For you Lord. I pray that you just help us God to be filled with the spirit in our daily lives help us to keep the message at the forefront of our mind that we're to preach the gospel and Everything else is just not as important and Lord we pray for boldness in this church And that we would have the power and we'd utilize that power and authority you give us in Jesus name we pray. Amen