(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good morning everybody. Welcome back to Sure Foundation Baptist Church. If you would please grab your hymnals and turn to song number 209. Song number 209, Sunshine in the Soul, 209. There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright Than glows in any earthly sky For Jesus is my light Though there's sunshine blessed sunshine When the peaceful happy moments roll When Jesus shows his smiling face There is sunshine in the soul There is music in my soul today A carol to the King And Jesus listening can hear The songs I cannot sing Oh there's sunshine blessed sunshine When the peaceful happy moments roll When Jesus shows his smiling face There is sunshine in the soul There is springtime in my soul today For when the Lord is near The dove of peace sings in my heart The flowers of grace appear Oh there's sunshine blessed sunshine When the peaceful happy moments roll When Jesus shows his smiling face There is sunshine in the soul There is gladness in my soul today And hope and praise and love For blessings which he gives me now For joys laid up above Oh there's sunshine blessed sunshine The peaceful happy moments roll When Jesus shows his smiling face There is sunshine in the soul Alright, good singing. Let's open in a word of prayer. Dear God, thank you for letting us all be able to gather together again in your house. God, thank you for everyone who came out. God, please bless the service. Please fill Pastor Thompson with your spirit as it breaches to us. And please let us be edified as well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, song number 327, Higher Ground. Song number 327. Pressing on the upward way New heights I'm gaining every day Still praying as I'm onward bound Lord, plant my feet on higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane than I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground My heart has no desire to stay Where doubts arise and fears dismay Though some may dwell where these abound My prayer, my aim is higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane than I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground And though live above the world Though Satan's darts at me are hurled For faith has caught the joyful sound The song of saints on higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane than I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground I want to scale the utmost height And catch a gleam of glory bright But still I'll pray, tell heaven I've found Lord, lead me on to higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane than I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground Alright, this time we'll look for an analysis. If you need a bullet, just look up your hand and get it. So, on the perfect hour of the anniversary of the week, Foundation two verse one, blood. Lord, it is good after the name of the 18th, I told you that it can, In fact, never you see information about a church. This is Church Foundation Baptist church, One State. We are a church client Church Foundation Baptist church, One State, Vancouver, Washington, And, the foundation is the pastor, Pastor, Pastor and Counsel, I'm going to go over here. You'll see a service time list is below there. Holy morning service, 10.30 a.m. Sunday evening service, usually at 5 p.m. I'm tasting it at 3 p.m. Here's the evening Bible study at 7 p.m. and Sunday soloing time, you're at 1.30 p.m. You'll see a salvation of that person at 7.10 schools. Those offerings, that's on the other page. Announcements, so yesterday, soloing thing went back to 36 solo winners and four salvations, so that's really good. Celebrations, today June 11th, Pastor and Counsel services evening service will be changed to 3 p.m. And then obviously at 5 p.m. you got a soloing, then coming up in Toronto, Ontario, and we'll go to that and of course, Bible memory passage, you can go to that one, you'll see. So we've got, and my voice is going, so we've got some birthdays, do you want to do a sing out with me? Yeah, okay good. So we've got Brother Chris Shire, he's got his birthday on Monday. We've got our Keziah, that's on Monday. And we've got Miss Alex here. And we'll have some plays at the end. So we'll be, yeah, we have some of them after. I guess so. One other announcement, we got some preserved Bible documentary that somebody doesn't have one, we take one there, it's a good documentary. I think that's it for the announcement. So we are a family integrated church, children and infants are always welcome in the church service list. And if you have a cell phone, please post it on silent or on vibrational. Okay, one other announcement with the documentary. So we're going to be having baptism after the donation service. And so when we're singing that last song, first person that wants to get baptized, I just need to get changed. I just need to get changed and then the rest of the people kind of standing around here ready to go. Do you see anything else? I just want, if everybody's getting baptized the person that's going in or whatever, but as long as he doesn't have any. Okay, sounds good. With that, you can sing happy birthday and then we'll go. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right, let's go to the next song here. Let's go song number 439, count your blessings. 439, count your blessings. One, two, three. When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. Are you ever burdened with the Lord of care? Does the cross seem heavy, you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly. You will be singing as the days go by. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold. Count your many blessings, money cannot buy your reward in heaven or your home on high. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. So amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged, God is over all. Count your many blessings, angels will attend. Help and comfort give you to your journeys and your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. All right, little Jasper, this time you wanna come up and take the offering, please? ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] Okay, Psalm 48, Psalms 48. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in a mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it and so they marveled, they were troubled and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there and pain as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever, Selah. We have taught of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth and thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughter of Judea be glad because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion and go round about her, tell the towers thereof. Mark, yea well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that yea may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God forever and ever and he will be our guide even unto death. So let's pray. Thank you, our God, for the beautiful day outside. Thank you for the great day yesterday, our soul winning. Thank you for the people, God, you've got her here together. Please God, fill this church, Lord, with your spirit. Fill Pastor Thompson with your spirit and help him have the words to say and help us have the ears to hear, Lord, and we thank you in Christ's name we pray, amen. It's great to be here and I'm very happy to have been able to spend some time with everybody. In case you didn't realize that I am the pastor of the church, but today we're gonna be doing an ordination service and before I begin the sermon, I just wanted to say thank you to everybody for all your wonderful hospitality, it's been really great and brother Jim, Miss Judy, thank you so much for everything. The accommodations and everything have been wonderful and just a blessing to be up here and be able to get some people saved in a place I've never been before and this is an interesting area. They call this the Bible Belt out here, so I was seeing some interesting stickers on people's trucks and things like that about your president or whatever. Is that what they call it, or is it the prime minister? Prime minister, okay. Well, anyway, after I preach this sermon, I'm going to ordain brother Jim as the evangelist of the church and so he will be ordained to baptize and lead this church and he's been leading up here for a long time and I'll get into that a little bit later as far as how I met him and everything like that, but I just want to get into the sermon now and the title of the sermon this morning is Northern Lights, Northern Lights and the springboard verses here are Psalm chapter 48 verse number one where the Bible says, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the North, the city of the great King and the Bible refers to this also where Satan wants to be in charge of God's kingdom, but notice how it says that Mount Zion is on the sides of the North. So the North is mentioned a lot in the Bible and the Bible says that people will be saved all around the world. It says that God is the joy of the whole earth. So yes, God loves Canada, God loves the people that live in the great North up here and we live in the Northwest. I'm from Vancouver, I'm actually from Portland, Oregon which is in the Northwest and it's obvious who's ever been to Portland, Oregon before, anybody? Yeah, well, that city's changed since I was born there many moons ago and now it's just pretty much ruined, but our church is in Vancouver, Washington which is right across the river from there. But the reason why I call this sermon the Northern Lights is because I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights and I guess I missed my window of opportunity. I guess it only happens in February and March or something. You guys have probably seen it a million times, right? But I've never seen it with my eyes and so I've always thought it was really cool and it's a unique thing for the North. Not everybody gets to see those lights and I've seen pictures of it, I've seen video of it and things like that, but I've just never actually seen it with my own eyes. And the Northern Lights are like, or it's called the Aurora Borealis or whatever, but it's a beautiful array of lights not seen anywhere else but in the North and it's a special phenomenon that can only be seen in February and March. And the Christian people of the North are also a unique light in this world and with their own set of challenges in a region that is known for being cold and dark. Now, I'm pretty sure that most people would say that the country of Canada as a whole is a pretty liberal place and obviously there are some Christians still here and obviously the light has gotten dimmer in this country and I don't know if there was ever like a powerhouse of so many independent fundamental Baptist churches. I know that there's independent fundamental Baptist churches up here, but it seems like everybody's kind of getting on the bandwagon of all these liberal ideas and things like that, but it's a unique thing to be a Christian up here and people from around the world, they come to see the special lights of the Northern Lights and Jesus is also a special light that although he's a special light and he's willing to save sinners still and people have sought his light for many, many years and he's a unique light. He's the only kind of light that will actually save your soul and the Bible talks about him being a light and people will not seek the Lord unless they have a light to look forward to and as people in the North, you guys have a unique situation here where you're able to do great works for God. Now, is this area the most receptive place I've ever gone soloing? No, it's not, but people still need to get saved up here too and if you knock the doors and you do the work, people will get saved and you can present that special light that is Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world up in the Great North here and if you think about other great stars that are considered something that has to do with the North is the North Star and many people for many thousands of years have used that star to navigate their way across the world or to find themselves, to find their way when they're lost by navigating by that star and today, people are lost and need that great light, the Lord Jesus Christ to shine down upon them and if you remember when the wise men came from the East to seek Jesus, what did they do? They sought after this star that's in the star came and appeared over the top of where the child Jesus was born and you know what, wise men will still seek him today. Wise men will still seek that light today and it takes that special kind of light to attract people and it takes a special kind of people to direct people to that true light because saved people beget saved people. People don't just get saved by osmosis, people don't just get saved because they're sitting there just thinking about God. That's not how it works, a saved person has to bring that message of salvation and that's why Jesus told us to go forth in all the world to preach the gospel. Let's turn over to Matthew chapter five into the Beatitudes, very famous section of scripture here but just like you have some unique lights up in the North, you know, we need to make sure that we're sending people and showing people that unique light that can actually save your soul. So the North Star can navigate you and get you out of a place where you're lost. People at sea can find that star and navigate themselves to safety but we need to say, we need to point people to a star that can save someone that's lost in sin and lost and on their way to a devil's health. Look at Matthew 5 13, it says, ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt had have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. Now Jesus is talking to the people he's preaching to here. When it says ye, he's talking to the whole group of people here and he says, ye are the salt of the earth and if that salt has lost its savor, so like we put salt on meat, we put salt on things because it makes something taste better, right? It's a good taste but it also, salt preserves. Anybody that's done any kind of skinning of animals, you put that kind of salt on the, and tan the hide that way and things like that but salt also irritates people. It irritates your eyes. If it gets into your eyes, salt can sting. When you're, have you ever gone swimming in the ocean? You know, it kind of just irritates your skin but he's calling us the salt of the earth because we can have a great effect upon people and sometimes when we, the things that we preach about makes people salty, that term salty, they get upset about it, right? But we have, salt does a lot of great things and Jesus said we are that salt but if it's lost its savor, if we don't do the things that we're supposed to do as Christians, then it says we're good for nothing. And so it's very important, this church is very important here and people are like, well, it's just a small little church in some storefront, you know, in some small town but this church has a great effect, more of an effect than you could possibly ever know and because of the fact that there's not a lot of soul in churches in Canada as a whole, then your light is gonna shine even brighter and you're like, well, it doesn't seem like it's shining that bright but you know, I believe it is. I believe it's shining brighter than you could ever possibly imagine. Look at verse 14, it says, you're the light of the world. So who's he calling the light of the world? Ye are the light of the world. Now we know that Jesus is the light of the world but we are the, kind of the reflection of Jesus to other people and the Bible says, we are, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. This church is not hidden from people's eyes. You might think, well, nobody even knows we're here. Listen, people know you're here and the enemies of God know that you're here. It says, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. So if you have a light, you know, a light in your, you know, he's talking about times when people actually had to light and use candles to walk around with those candles and he says, you don't put it underneath something, you put it on something so that people can see it. You put it on a candlestick and of course we got lights all over in here now that are not candles, they're just regular lights but those lights help us to see in dark places and so we're supposed to be a light to other people and to let that light shine. See, look at verse 16, it says, but, excuse me, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So we're supposed to shine the light of God, we're supposed to shine the light of Jesus. You know, have you heard that Sunday school song, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine? And you know, it says, hide it under a bushel. No, I'm gonna let it shine, you know. I'm saying that song, you know, with kids a lot of times but it's a great truth because that's what we're supposed to do as Christians so you as people in the great north here you can shine a light that is brighter than other lights because, you know, you think about the Bible Belt in America, there's churches, literally, there's Baptist churches almost on every corner down there. When I was in Georgia, I was really amazed at how many, you know, churches are out in the middle of nowhere and they're Baptist churches but you don't have that here. So the lights kind of blend together in big cities and it's hard for you to see the stars, right? But when you're in a small place and in a place where it doesn't have what other places have, then you can shine brighter than other places. Look at Luke chapter 13 verse 29, Luke chapter 13 verse 29. And Jesus Christ prophesied the fact that there's gonna be people saved all over the world and the Bible often likens Jesus Christ or the fact that he, when he came to this world, he shined his light upon the whole world. Now look at Luke 13, 29, it says, and they shall come from the east and from the west and from the, what's it say there? The north and from the south and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. So when you think that you're not affecting anything, the Bible says that people are gonna come from the north and you know why people are gonna come from the north? To sit down with Abraham, Isaac and all the patriarchs and all the people and all your loved ones that are saved? Because someone in the north went and reached people and got them saved. So does it say people are gonna come from the north? Yes, it does. So that's y'all here, you're in the north and you were born in a time and in a place to where you could be here in this spot to reach the nation for the gospel's sake. And there's nothing really that's gonna be able to hinder you. You know, obviously God's enemies can hinder you, but what the Bible say, it says that the gates of hell will not prevail against us, right? So the gates of hell, the people from hell, the minions of hell, those types of people can hinder what you're doing, but they're not gonna stop it. They're not gonna destroy it. The only thing that's gonna destroy this church is if this church quits, if the leadership quits, if the people here quit, don't quit on God. You have an important job. The people of the north are talked about in this verse right here. And yet you're like, well, there's a lot of places in the north, but the world, when the people think of the north, they do think of Canada. They think of obviously Russia and all these other places, but what are they doing for the gospel's sake right now? This is, you know, and I'm sure that there's people who are saved all up in the northern areas, but you know, you can have a great effect just on your nation alone. Yes, a tiny church meeting in a small storefront can do big things for God. Why do you think that they're always trying to shut our YouTube channels down? Why do you think that they're always trying to stop us from being able to preach the message of God's truth? Because darkness hates light, and the darkness wants to snuff that light out, and laws are being passed and people's minds are being defiled all over this world with a false message that everybody is just supposed to be inclusive with all this other stuff. Look, the Bible says we're supposed to, what we hear, what Jesus told them in dark and secret, to preach upon the housetops. He didn't say to hide the message. And so it shouldn't, you know, be some big wonder to us why people want to shut down. You know, if we're so tiny and we're so small, we're so insignificant, then why do they want to stop us from preaching? Why do they want to shut us up? Why do they want to show up at our church building and try to defile the children's eyes of our church? Because they want to affect it for evil and for wickedness. That's why. Look at Luke chapter two, verse 30. So you have a great responsibility here to reach the people of the North. And that verse would be fulfilled that the people from the North will sit down in the kingdom of God. Amen. So look at Luke chapter two, verse 30. It says, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared before the face of just some people. No, it says all people. Does that include the people in Canada? It absolutely does. A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. When Simeon saw the child Jesus, he was excited about the fact that he saw the Savior and these scriptures are written by his words that Jesus is a light to lighten the Gentiles and to all people. And so that includes people up here. Look at Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter number 42. Isaiah chapter 42, verse one. The Bible says, behold my servant to my uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and the aisles shall wait for his law. People are waiting to hear the words of the law, the Bible to be preached to them. And yeah, is everybody gonna accept it? No, not everybody's gonna accept it. A lot of people have heard of Jesus, but when we come to their doors, there are people that are going to get saved. That's evidenced yesterday. Wasn't the easiest soul-willing area I've ever been to. I got to open my Bible one time yesterday and then the person that I was trying to preach the gospel to didn't believe that Jesus Christ was God. So, and then he just kind of broke the conversation when I went to that point. But people will hear it. There was still four people that got saved yesterday. So, you think about, well, I'll look at all the money that was spent. Look at all the resources that was spent. Look at all the gas money that people had to put in their tank. And we had to, people were dragging their kids all over the place. They're tired. I mean, there's kids passed out in the pews, in the chairs last night before we left. And so it's hard work and it's a rough day, but you know what? The eternal destination of four people, you might not think that that counts for much, but those people will sit down with you in the kingdom of God. And it says they come from the north. Look at verse five. It says, Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out. He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it. He that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and I will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles. And so Jesus Christ was given and the covenant he's talking about is the new covenant, the new Testament. And it says for a light of the Gentiles. See, the Jews won't get saved. The Jews rejected Christ. They, as a whole, as a nation, they rejected their Messiah. The one that they were waiting for appeared before them and they hated him and they spit on him and they mocked him and they crucified him. But all that was done so that the whole world could then be reached. And it says in verse seven, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from prison. There's people in this country that are in prison right now and they're in prison. They're taken captive by the devil at his will. And it's our job to shine the light of Jesus in their eyes and in paired venture, those people would receive that light and God would heal them. And he would open their blind eyes so that they could see the truth of the gospel. And it says, and bring out the prisoners from prison and to sit in, excuse me, and then to sit in darkness out of the prison house. There's a lot of people in darkness today and it's our job to reach them with that light. Turn to Malachi chapter one, Malachi chapter one. It's the first book right before Matthew. It's the last book of the Old Testament. I just began doing Bible study through that first chapter and God in this chapter, he's fed up with, he's basically telling people I'm fed up, I'm done. The priests are wicked, Judah has become wicked. The people are kind of waiting for about 400 years for Jesus Christ to come from the end of that book. So, but I thought it was really interesting something that's said in Malachi chapter one. It says, for from the rising of the sun, verse 11, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place, incense shall be offered into my name and a pure offering from my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. Because in times past it wasn't and the nation of Israel wasn't giving that light to people. And Jesus talked about how they would compass sea and land, these Pharisees would compass sea and land to make one prose light and they would make them twofold more the child of hell than they are themselves. So that was the state of the people of God at that point, buried in works salvation, racist, hating other nations when God said his name was supposed to go out throughout the whole earth. Even in the book of Exodus, why did he do all that stuff? So the whole earth would know who God was. And people did get saved that were Gentiles, but obviously now it's on a way more massive scale. But God's name is to be great among the heathen and among the Gentiles and I noticed yesterday that there's a lot of heathen around here. And heathen just means that they're just, you know, they're unbelievers. And so it's our job to reach them with the gospel. Look at Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter number one. See, Jesus is a different kind of light. And you know, the kind of what got me thinking about this concept of the great lights of the north, you know, the northern lights and the north star is that it is a unique light. That's a unique star. Jesus is a unique light. Look at Genesis one, three. It says, and God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness. So see, what does light do? It divides from the darkness. And this light is not talking about the sun here. See, a lot of people would think that, but that's not what it's talking about. It's talking about the S-O-N sun. It's the son of God, the light of Jesus. Look at John chapter one, verse four. John chapter one, verse four. See, the sun wasn't made until, the sun, moon and stars weren't made until day four. This happened on day one. God said, let there be light and there was light. So what was that light? Well, that was the light that lights all men. John one, four says, in him was life. And the life was the light of men. See, it's a different kind of light. It's not the kind of light that you need to read or get your way through, but it's a picture. You know, that light that he made later on is a picture of what God will do for us. He'll light up our life. He's a light that we should seek after. Look at John one, five, it says, and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. And yeah, it's true. There's a lot of times we will go and shine the light of Christ to people and they don't comprehend it. They don't understand it. They don't want it. But it says that, because darkness and light, they don't mix together well. And the darkness, you know, some people, the Bible says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And so some people just want to be in their sins. They don't want to be reproved by God. And so they won't receive that light. Look at verse seven, it says, the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, talking about John. And it says, that was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And so doesn't the Bible say that Jesus' light lights every man? Every person will have a chance to be saved. But just because that's true doesn't mean that everybody will. And so, but the true light, see how it says that that's the true light? I believe that's referencing back to Genesis chapter one, that he's that true light that came into the world. God said, let there be light. He said that the light was good. And there's none good but what? God, right? So God is good. And so Jesus is good. So if Jesus is good, then what is he? He's God. And it says he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. But again, Jesus is a unique light. Can we see the light of Jesus? It's a different kind of light. It's a different special kind of light, just like y'all up here have special lights. And that can help you when you think about those things. I mean, do you think that that's just an accident that God made a great star in the North? That's not an accident. There's purpose behind it. And again, it's a navigating star, isn't it? And so it helps us to think of how Jesus Christ is a star and how we can navigate people toward him. And if people will take that light and they'll receive that light, they'll be saved. So it's our job as Christians to know the light of the world, Jesus Christ, and to proclaim that light. And again, the North can shine brighter than any other place because it's so dark up here. Because I mean, I know that we're not here on that spot where it's like you have the night that lasts like, what does it last for almost 24 hours or something when you get up further North. But I mean, think how bright the light that would shine up there. So I think that there's places that can be reached just from this small location all around the world. The world is so huge. It's funny that people say this world is overpopulated. When I drove from Winnipeg to here yesterday, it didn't look like it was very overpopulated to me. And you can only see a certain distance, but I just saw green fields and green trees. And that's just a microcosm of how big this world really is. And I'm sure that we drove past hundreds, maybe thousands of people, their dwelling places on the way here. I mean, in an hour and a half, you're gonna cross some paths. Obviously, I didn't see a lot of houses, but I'm sure that someone works those fields and prepares them and brings them forth, right? So this world is not overpopulated, but I'll tell you, we have a lack of people that are willing to do the work. And so we have to be, even though we're a small group, we can do a lot of damage to the enemy. We can do great things for the kingdom of God in this small place. It's bigger than you think it is. It's greater than you think of it is. I'll tell you what, the more effective this church becomes here, the more enemies you're gonna draw your way. And that's just a fact. It's gonna happen. So be prepared for that, because people aren't gonna just put up with it. Jesus was killed not because he was judging people, even though he did, but he was killed because he was good. He was killed because of the message. They wanted to shut him up. You know what, they want to shut us up to, but we can't allow that to happen. At this church, we should always preach the truth and always proclaim the truth. Look at Genesis 1.14. Genesis 1.14. So this is what happens on day four, is that God, he makes these lights, and they are for a specific reason. So we can see them. So we can see that God created the heaven and the earth. Look at Genesis 1.14, it says, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. So we can count time. We can count the seasons. We can count, and it says for them to be signs. What kind of signs? Well, signs of things to come. I mean, what's going to happen before Jesus Christ comes back to the earth? The sun and moon are going to be darkened. The stars of heaven are going to fall, and they're going to be for signs for us to know. I mean, he said specifically that was going to happen before the coming of the son of man. So when we see that happen, we know that the time is drawing nigh. And look at verse 15, it says, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. So what is the other purpose of the sun? To give light upon the earth. And notice that the sun rises every day for us to be able to see. And the earth revolves around the sun. And so, you know, a lot of people are into geocentricity, which means that the earth is the special place of the whole universe. But I would say that, you know, that's a picture. I think the better picture is that we revolve around the sun, which represents Christ, right? So he gives us light upon the earth, and that's a picture of him rising, ending the darkness that we had for that day, and bringing light upon us once again. It says, and God made two great lights and the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And I believe that the heavenly bodies are pictures for us. God obviously reflects that. You know, if you think about the story of Joseph and how he had the dream that, you know, his brothers and sisters would fall down and worship him and all that. But the sun itself is, you know, is a representation of a dad, the moon as the mother, and the stars as the children. But another way to actually look about it is that, you know, we, you know, have those great lights, but we as stars can shine. There's, you know, stars differ in their shining. Some stars shine brighter than others. And, you know, God gave us those pictures for us to see. And I believe that those stars represent the different believers in this world, because some people in heaven will shine brighter than others. Some, you know, people that do great works and great exploits will shine, it says, as the stars forever, right? So I believe that obviously God represents that sun. And then, you know, the church would be represented by the moon. You know, the sun reflects onto the moon and then gives us light in a dark place, doesn't it? But, you know, the church is, you know, because if you think of it as a father, or I mean, excuse me, as a husband and a wife, well, Christ is the head of the church and we are the bride of Christ as believers, right? So we reflect what God, that light that God gives us. Our job is to reflect as the church. And then the church is made up of many different little different people, right? So, I mean, there's a good picture there of how God, you know, sees us and how we can reflect our light. But, you know, like I said, that North Star shines really brightly, doesn't it? So I personally believe that the people that live in places that are darker or harder to reach, that are laboring and working hard, and maybe they're not gonna have the souls saved that got saved in some super receptive country, but I believe that God will still reward people that live in those hard places. Like, hey, you've been faithful over a few things. Let me, you know, be faithful. You know, let me, you've been faithful over 10 towns. You know, here's 10 cities. And God is gonna shine. You know, some people are gonna shine brighter than others. And the fact that the North Star is like the brightest star in the North just shows that picture for me, is that, you know, people might think, well, that's just, it's all just reprobate up in Canada and nobody's ever get saved. And it's just, you know, it's just really hard. Well, embrace that fact that it's hard. You live here. This is where you're at. You're here in this town today, this morning, listening to Bible preaching. You know what? The rest of this country is not getting Bible preaching around them. They're listening to false prophets. They're listening to false gospels. They're getting a false message. They're, nobody's sending them out. Nobody's telling them to go and reach the world with the gospel. It's not happening. But here you are, a tiny, a tiny church, but God looks at you like a bright shining star in the North. Don't, don't think that he doesn't. Don't think that he doesn't. Look at verse 17 says, And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. So as Christians, it's our job, those little stars to shine forth also. And the church would be represented by the moon, I guess. And the fact that as, you know, as a whole, we shine, we can shine really bright, right? So, and it takes up, the church isn't some mystical, invisible thing or something. It's people gathered together in one place for the purpose of reaching this world and for proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 18, it says, to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. See, as Christians, we should also be shine, you know, we, we affect that darkness. We're supposed to divide from darkness. And a lot of times you'll see Christians will be like, you know, we accept anybody to come to our church. Well, that's not separating light from darkness, is it? It's you're, you're embracing darkness. We're supposed to divide that light from that darkness. We're supposed to be wholly acceptable unto the Lord, which is our reasonable service, right? So we're supposed to be different. We're supposed to shine and give our light unto other people. And you say, well, well pastor, it's not really receptive up here. How can we shine if we're not getting people saved? But you are getting people saved. But my question is this to you. Do you think that God knows that you're here in the North? Do you think that he knows you're here right now? He knows exactly where you are. And he knows that you're here. And he knows what you're doing. He knows your good works. He knows your intentions. And he's not blind to that. God's already said all this stuff in the Bible. Look at Acts 17, Acts 17. And I would say this, that God knew, he looked through the annals of time and he knew that this church would be here at this time for such a time as this. You know, Esther said, you know, Mordecai told Esther, he said that, you know, how do you know that maybe you were put into the kingdom for such a time as this? And I believe that if Esther would have failed, that God would have somehow still preserved the children of Israel, but she did that which was right. She lived in a time that was a crucial time because all the Jews would have been destroyed and killed at that time. But, you know, you think, well, you know, I don't know. Maybe God just, you know, he doesn't think about us. But I'll tell you what, I believe he does think about this church. I believe he loves this church. Look at Acts 17, 26, it says, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. So God made that happen, didn't he? It says he made of one blood all nations and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. So what does that say? Well, he determined the times before appointed. He knew when you were gonna be here. He knew how you were gonna be here. And it says he knows the bounds of their habitation. So he understood there was gonna be people here at this time. And so what this church is is very important. It's more important than you even realize, you know, heaven and hell are on the line here for many people. And yeah, I mean, one generation, can you reach all of Canada? Well, you know what, you can try. You can try to make an effect on this country that's going in a wicked way. It really is. And you know, the United States is following suit. They're probably actually leading. You know, people think that they're, you know, oh, America, you're so free. It's not free there. I watched a guy get arrested for even just starting to utter a Bible verse at a pride parade. In Pennsylvania, USA, free speech. A cop walked up and arrested the man that he was starting to say a Bible verse. He wasn't yelling and screaming. He wasn't freaking out and calling them all kinds of names. He just was holding a sign, which I mean, yeah, don't go to a pride parade. I mean, bad things are probably going to happen to you. Maybe that was the best thing that was going to happen to him when he got arrested. Maybe God was protecting him, but you know what? The government wasn't protecting him. The government wasn't helping him. The government was hindering him. So God understands what's going on. And we're not a free country in the United States anymore. Look, anybody that actually thinks that Joe Biden is really leading the United States, you got another thing coming. I mean, the guy can't even spit out two sentences without talking about some weird stuff. I mean, America could be summed up in one word. But, whatever. That's the guy you think is leading our country? It's not. There's somebody higher than him. The Bible talks about there being principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. What do you think it's talking about? So does it, I mean, we get shocked about how much is allowed to happen to Christians and how there's this double standard, but this double standard has been going on throughout history. You know, the violent have always tried to take the kingdom of God by force. And I'll tell you what, if they can't shut us up, which is what they're trying to do, then they'll try to shut us down another way. You know, so, but the Bible talks about those times coming. Hard times are coming folks, this is easy right now. And I realize that your situation here, you know, many people travel for many miles to be here. And it just blows my mind, you know, the distances that you all travel to be here. And like only one family lives in this town, but you all converge here, just for what? Because you love the Lord, because you love people, because you love preaching, because you want unfiltered truth. Not everybody wants that. But you know what? I do think that this place is special. And I think that God has determined the times before appointed. He knew you were gonna be here today. He knew you were gonna have a church here. And he determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. He knows who lives up here. And he knows where you're at. And you know what, he loves you for it. God provided a church out of nothing here, a bunch of people that just love God. They got on fire for God. They wanted to learn how to go soul winning. I didn't realize that Faithful Word had sent people up here to train people to soul win. I didn't even know that until like this weekend. And so that sparked something to where all these people are here today, being blessed by the word of God every single week. And I appreciate your faithfulness. I'm just kind of a Johnny come lately to everything. But you know what, I believe that this church is legit. And so I wanted to make sure it's legitimized in people's eyes that people see the great works that are going on up here. And they're like, hey, there's a bright and shining star in the north and it's not the north star, it's the people of the north, in the church in the north, and reflecting the light of God to a wicked nation. So it says that they would seek the Lord. So I mean, God, it's not an accident that you're here. It's God knows you're here. He knows that you were gonna be here. And it says that they would seek the Lord if happily they might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us, because God is really everywhere, isn't He? God is all knowing, He's all powerful, He's omnipresent, He's everywhere at once. He's closer than people realize. You know, what does it say? That they might happily feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us. He's not far, and in here, if you're saved today, He's in you, that's how close He is. He's very close. Now, when the rewards are given out, I think it's very possible that those that work diligently in the harder areas will receive great rewards for the faithfulness that they have. And so don't count it as nothing. Well, we've only got so many people saved this year. Don't count that as nothing. It's something, it's important, it's a big deal. It's bigger than you think it is. Look at Daniel chapter 12, verse two. Daniel chapter 12, verse two. Daniel chapter 12, verse two, the Bible says, and many of them which sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Listen, folks, there's a heaven to gain, and there's a hell to shun. There's people that are headed to hell by the droves. Hell hath enlarged herself. Every single day, probably millions of people die. I mean, I don't know what the stats are on that. I'm sure that, I think that, you know, I've looked at that stuff before, but every second someone's dying. Every second someone's dying and going to hell, because most people we know are going to hell and not heaven. So we gotta find the ones that are able to be saved, right? Look at verse three. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Why does God like it that way? Because we will shine like the stars forever. I mean, there's that song, like, you know, from Jesus the crucified one, right? But they shall turn many to righteousness, the wise. So if you're wise, you're gonna win souls, the Bible says. And we that are wise and do those things, we're gonna shine that light and turn many to righteousness. Don't take it for granted. It's an important job. This church is important. This church is a big deal. This church is a bright and shining star. This church has a special light that they can share with other people. And I believe that this church will get bigger. I believe this church will do more exploits. And the more, the bigger you are, the more people you have, the more people you can affect with the gospel. The Bible says in Romans chapter 10, go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 10. And you guys probably know these verses by heart, especially this one, I hope you know it by heart, if you're a soul winner. Romans 10, verse number 13. The Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the mission. That's the job. Get people to call upon the name of the Lord. It's our job to find those whosoevers. And whether we have to knock, I mean, we knocked a whole bunch of doors yesterday, me and brother Jim and everybody, you know, but we knocked a whole lot of doors and we were just getting exercise. So God has like an exercise program involved in soul winning too. I mean, even if you don't get people saved, you're still getting benefits from it, right? The 10,000 steps yesterday, that's pretty good, right? I mean, that's heart healthy stuff, right? But you know, we didn't get anybody saved, but you know what, other people did. We knocked the bad doors so you could get some of those good ones. But everybody probably knocked a bunch of doors yesterday. But you know, it's our job to find, that's what we're doing. We're finding the whosoevers. We're looking for the whosoevers. Because whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Look at verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Those are, that's an important verse. Because the Bible says they're not gonna hear without a preacher. Oh, well, people just, you know, God just gives them the faith. That's not what happens. People get the faith because someone told them how to get it. Look at verse 15, it says, and how shall they preach except they be sent? This is a fundamental Baptist church that believes in preaching the gospel. And this church sends people out like the Bible says. Most churches, even Baptist churches will say, hey, just invite someone to church today. Invite someone to church today. And you know, there's nothing wrong with doing that. Of course, that's what we do all the time when we go out soloing. But they mean, so I can preach the salvation message that I preach every single 11 a.m. service, and I can call people up to an old-fashioned sawdust trail altar, and then they can kneel before me and get saved or whatever. That's what they mean. That's not the system that God set up. He said, go ye therefore, and preach the gospel. He didn't say bring them into church. And you know, of course, if someone comes in, we want them to be saved. Don't get me wrong. But how shall they preach except they be sent? And it says, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. God thinks your feet are beautiful. I don't think they are, but you know what, God thinks they are. I think feet are some of the ugliest things about us. And the more you, the older you get, the uglier they get, right? But God still, he thinks that your feet are beautiful. You know why? Because you're proclaiming the gospel of peace and bringing glad tidings of good things. That's, and you know what? It's never gonna happen unless someone sends you out. A lot of, you know, through the years, a lot of people have just tried to go soloing on their own. Not, you know, without a church to go to. They've started, you know, soloing campaigns and things like that. And this church started as like a, as like not a church, but it started as a soloing group. People got trained to go soloing. People started getting together. And then, you know, obviously there's a dearth in the land of Bible-believing Baptist churches here that actually, that you don't have to sit there and explain everything that they said wrong in a sermon afterwards. Because look, I mean, yeah, we should be in church, but if you're just being lied to, your kids are being lied to every single week in the pulpit, from the pulpit, and you have to deescalate everything and defrag everything that they said, say, well, we believe this at home. But that's a confusing message to your children, that you're going to a place where they're preaching false things. And look, false doctrine is false doctrine. Heresy is heresy. Obviously, if they're not preaching damnable heresy, then whatever, you should be in church. But I think that when, you know, we say to be in church and, you know, find the best church in your area, that's very few and far in between here. I'm sure there are some good churches here. I'm sure that there are some churches that are old IFB that are okay. They're still lying to people from the pulpit though. They're still telling people, you know, there's still people that are in Baptist churches, preachers of Baptist churches in this country that are saying you got to repent of all your sins. Or that salvation and repentance are two inseparable graces. Where's that verse in the Bible? Where is that verse in the Bible? But you know what? In most people's, you know, where they talk about what their church believes on their websites, they'll say that same stupid thing that's not even in the Bible. I believe repentance unto salvation is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you change your mind from whatever you used to believe, and you believe what's correct, right? That's repentance. Where's the coin? Show me the coin of the repentance coin that on one side it's repentance and the other side it's belief. That verse doesn't exist, and it's a garbage doctrine. And it's just their way of sneaking in repent of your sins to their churches. You know what? I don't want my kids listening to that. My kids are all grown up now, but you obviously didn't like it either. Because you're here. Is this church perfect? No. Does it have like a stained glass and it's 10,000 square feet, and it's got children's church and places where you can put your kids? You know, if they're crying, you have to walk outside. I don't know what you guys doing, it's 30 below here. But that shuts them up real quick. What? They're just frozen. But that's a good system, actually. I like that. But you know, you don't have like a bunch of space. But you know, this church is gonna grow, and you know, look, there's one bathroom. There's some struggles. It's not perfect. Nobody's perfect, no church is perfect. But you know what? What comes out of the pulpit here is truth. That's important. That your children aren't being confused about the rapture. Your children aren't being confused about, well, God's still, you know, the children of Israel are still God's chosen people. That's not true. That's not what the Bible says. They're not still God's chosen people. And the fact that people would be in a new IFB-style church and then go back to that stuff, I mean, I just think, did you ever believe in the first place? What? Like, now you're saying, oh, well, Israel is still God's chosen people. I know people that were in our church saying garbage like that. Saying that they believe that all these almost are reprobates and stuff like that. And now they're like following their Instagram pages. And they're like, how are you transitioning? It's weird. How can you go back to that garbage? Is it wise? Because they're weak. They're weak. And like at some point people can be like, well, you know, I just don't want to be in a church that preaches like this anymore. I just want to, you know, you're just saying I'm a coward and I don't want to be in the fight. That's what you're saying. And you know what? It'd be better to be a coward and not be in the fight somewhere else than to be affecting a church like this in a bad way. And you know what happened when the children of Israel went to war? God said, if your heart is afraid, then stay behind. Stay with the women. Stay with the children. Don't come to the battle. He said, just don't come. So we got to be, you know, if you're going to be a part of this church, just know that battles are going to come. It's going to happen. And just, we need to deal with it. But people need to realize that unless people are being sent by a church, they're not, the gospel's not going to get preached except they be sent. And who's going to send them? Who's going to send them? And the people that are on their own out doing so, God bless them. I'm happy that they're actually doing something. But is it as good as being sent by a local New Testament church? That's the system that God set up for the New Testament is a local New Testament church. What's he talking about here? Being sent by a local New Testament church. Being charged with preaching the gospel. And that's what this church needs, leadership. And that's what this church has is leadership. You know, you have maps that tell you where to go. You have all these things highlighted on the maps. You have organization happening. I saw a lot of hard work going on yesterday. And I don't think it's just for show. It's just how you guys are. You know, and Brother Weeb and his family are hard workers. And there's a lot of hard workers in this church that I saw out helping and offering to do things. Hey, let us get this, let us do this. And that's how you can be a blessing at this church to their family. Look, don't take for granted the fact that you have a leader that will send people out. Because Brother Jim, as far as I know, has been preaching here for what, five years or something? Faithfully? And now he's doing it three times a week and working a full-time job? It's not easy, folks. And he lives like an hour and a half from here. Or is it an hour and 10 minutes, okay. That's still a long way. I drive 20 minutes to church. And you guys are like, well, I drive three and a half hours. I understand that, okay. I was here for four, yeah. But to be in leadership and to have to worry about all the things that are happening and is this there, is that there, do we have this, do we have that, do we have the maps, do we have the invites, do we have all the Bibles that we need, that stuff is harder than you think it is. You know, people will say like, well, all you have to do is get up and read a couple verses and let's see you try to preach. Let's see you try to get up and find the time as a full-time worker at a secular job to get up and preach sermons here. It's harder than you might think. And it's funny that people, like we have a lot of men that preach at our church, and a lot of times the comments I'll get the first time they preach is, I didn't realize it was gonna be like that. Because preaching the word of God is not an easy thing. You think it's just getting up and just, bleh, no. You actually have to study the Bible, you have to know the Bible, you have to know what you're talking about, you have to know how to deliver the sermon. And you know, every preacher's different. He's not Jim Anderson, he's Jim Weed. He's not Jim Jimenez, he's Jim Weed. I'm Aaron Thompson, I'm not Aaron Anderson. I'm not Aaron Shelley. Every preacher is different, every preacher has their own style, every preacher has their own flavor. And look, you should just be thankful for the fact that you have somebody that will get up here and do the job. Because here's the main part. You know, you have to have all these qualifications to be in leadership and all this stuff. But here's the main thing. Are you faithful? Can you be here Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, or Thursday evening, or whatever it is? Can you do that? Because I'll tell you what, there's not a lot of people that can't. They wake up and they're like, well, three and a half hour drive, you know, the wind's blowing, I'm not coming. And I know you guys are faithful. I'm not talking about that, I'm just saying there are people like that though. But he can't be that way. He has to be here, and if he's not here, he has to make sure someone's here and responsible to fill this pulpit. That's his job. You know, and he's doing it for free. He's not being paid to do this. You know, hopefully there'll be a time when he can be, but right now that's just not how it is. But I met the Weeb family for the first time in Vancouver, BC in 2017. I was trying to remember yesterday what year that was. It was 2017, it's been a while. And I was really immediately just impressed by their, I wasn't even a pastor at that time, I was his brother Thompson. But I was impressed by their family because of the fact that they drove on bald tires. Through the most treacherous mountains, over the hills and through the woods, snow and ice, roads, to be a part of a big event that was happening. And there was kind of a big letdown that happened because Pastor Anderson got banned from the country. It was that time. Well, but you know what, the plan still went on. We still, you know, and we went sowing in like some of the hardest sowing areas that I've, you know, they picked Richmond, which Richmond is like the richest, I think, part of Canada. I think it's all of Canada. Like there's all these Chinese billionaires living there and every house is like a million dollars or whatever. And we didn't know it at the time. We're just like, well, here's some government housing. This should be good. It's like, no, no, no. Like even the government housing people were rich. So, you know, it's weird. But I was impressed by his family because of the fact that, how far was the drive to BC? 21 hours. That's a long way to go. And you know why he did it? Because he loved God. Because he wanted to be part of something big. And God has rewarded the faithfulness of Brother Weeb and his family and your faithfulness by having a church here. And you know, I've watched this little sowing group here for a long time and maybe you just didn't realize I was watching, but I was. I was making sure that Brother Weeb wasn't calling himself pastor. No, he never did that. Because, you know, I was like, hey, well, if they just, if he ordains himself, then you know, I guess I'll just quit watching. But he never did. He just was like praying faithfully that someday that this church would be a bona fide independent fundamental Baptist church. And you guys are on your way there. And I'm just overseeing the general things that are going on. I'm the pastor, but I can't be here every week. I can't be here every month. I could probably only be here once a year. But my plan is for Brother Jim to become ultimately the pastor of this church, God willing. Because you know what I look for? I look for people that are faithful. I look for people that are hardworking. That was very obvious. His whole family works hard. You know, he has his children in subjection. That's very obvious. He has his wife in subjection. His wife is helping him with everything he does. This is a working family. And these are the things I've noticed just being here, but the faithfulness to preach for five years and nobody would pick them up. It's like, I just, I was just like, I don't want this church to die. I don't want people to lose heart and say, you know what? We don't really have a good church to go to. And this is never gonna become a church, so I'm just gonna leave. But you all stuck with Brother Jim, you all stuck at this church for this time, and you know, God's rewarded you for that. And look, I'm nothing special. I'm just a regular guy that puts his pants on the same way every other guy does in this church. I'm just, you know, I just show up and do the work. That's what I do. And so if you can do that, then you can become a leader in a church. But you know, God isn't gonna reward the lazy. He's not gonna reward the people that don't show up. He's gonna reward those, and he picks those people that he sees working. Isn't it nice when your boss catches you working? Guys? Or kids, your parents? They're like, go clean your room, and you're like, they come in and you're just like, organizing all your stuff. But when they catch you not working, that's when you get in trouble, right? But when your boss catches you at work and you got your feet up on the desk, oh hey, I was just taking a break, you know. Whether you were or not, I mean, obviously he thinks you are. But you know, when your boss catches you working, that's great, but you know what, we have a boss, our Heavenly Father that sees everything that we do. He sees all the work we put in, and he looks down and he's like, I want that guy. That guy's gonna do what I asked him to do. And that's how God picks people. He picks the hard workers, he picks the faithful. And obviously, yeah, you gotta have qualifications. But I was really impressed with brother Jim and his family, and I've been impressed the whole time I've been here. Brother Jim, I'm charging you to lead this great church, this great light in the north, to love the people in the north, and to lead the church here to do great exploits for God. Now, the first thing I'm charging you with is to preach the word of God without compromise. Don't compromise the message, don't trim the message because you're afraid that someone's gonna get mad. I think that you should preach the whole counsel of God in Acts 20, verse 27, it says, For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. So Paul didn't shun to declare all the things that God told him to do. And God, he's talking to people that would be overseers of a church. He's like, feed the church of God. So you need to preach the word of God without compromise. Number two, to fulfill the great commission as our Lord has commanded us, save, baptize, and teach the Bible to the heathen. In Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, it says, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Jesus promised that he has the power, he told us to go, and he says, I'm with you always. So we have everything that we need from God. He said he's gonna be with us, he's told us to go. So when people go, well, you can't be here. Well, what Jesus said we could. That's what I say to people now. Some apartment manager calls me and leaves a nasty message. I just type back, I have permission to be there. I go, yeah, from who? Jesus. He told me I could go. I don't care what you say. So we have that power of God. And number three, I want you to war a good warfare and keep the faith. Be a good soldier of Jesus Christ to fight the battle against all of God's enemies, whether that be from within or whether that be without. Obviously, that warfare is a spiritual warfare. I'm not telling you to take up arms or anything like that. That would be weird, you would lose. So I'm expecting you to keep the faith and war. So, and also number four, to do the work of an evangelist. Second Timothy chapter four, verse five, Paul's talking to Timothy and he says, but watch thou in all things and endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. So as an evangelist, you're supposed to do what? The work of an evangelist. And you know, when you look at Philip in the Bible, he was a deacon and he was set apart from everybody else because of the work that he was doing. And then 20 years later, after you see him, when Paul goes back to visit him, he's called Philip the evangelist. So obviously he was no longer qualified to be a pastor. He was, you know, he's not in a local church, so how can he be the deacon? So obviously he was still ordained to be an evangelist. And I believe that Jim, you know, meets the qualifications to be an evangelist. I believe, you know, there really isn't, he doesn't even have to be married to be an evangelist, but I believe he's on his way to becoming a pastor. And so as long as I, you know, see that he's being faithful and doing everything that he's supposed to do, that's gonna happen. So here's the other thing is that the Bible says in Second Timothy 4.1, it says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. So as the leader up here, it is also your job to lead, correct and edify this church. And it's your job to preach the Bible, okay? Preach the word, not the commentaries. And I believe that brother Jim and his family are a gift to this church. That's how you should look at them, act accordingly. Don't be a pain in the neck, be a blessing. And why do I say he's a gift to this church? Well, I'm gonna have you turn to this verse, Ephesians chapter four, verse 11. Ephesians chapter four, verse 11. It says in Ephesians four, 11, it says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists. So does God give evangelists? Is that what it says? Yes, it does. And some pastors and teachers. Why? For the perfecting of the saints to get you to the point where you're a well-rounded Christian that not that you're perfect, that you walk on water or things like that, that you're sinless, but that you are the whole package deal as a Christian. And the Bible says that God gives evangelists for that reason. And for the work of the ministry. And I don't care what you say. People just think, well, you're just a pastor. You just preach like, you know, people, this is how people view pastors. You preach like a 15-minute sermon and it's poems and all this other stuff. That's what some pastors do. And they make a lot more money than I do by preaching one service a week and have everybody else do everything for them. But the ministry, if you're actually doing it right, is work. It's hard work. And it says for the edifying of the body of Christ. So that's the job of an evangelist is to help this church perfect the saints, do the work of the ministry, and edify the body of Christ. And I can already see that his family helps him, but I hope the other family in this room will help him also and be supportive of him. And you know what, if he has to make a hard choice and a hard decision, back him up. Because let me just explain this to you really quickly. You're not gonna like every decision he makes. In a room this size, if he makes one decision, so this is the way it's gonna be, because this is a pastor-led church. This is a one-ruler type church, right? You know, you're not, there's gonna be a time when you don't like something he does. You don't like the way he paints this, or you don't like the color of the carpet in the new building. You don't like where we're having the new building. You don't like, you know, what he's preaching about. You don't want, you're gonna get hair-lipped at some point over something he says, or a decision he makes. But here's the thing. The Bible says that we're supposed to obey them to have the rule over us, and that we're supposed to be subject unto them. Just like women are supposed to be subject to their husbands. Wives are supposed to be subject unto their husbands. It's not whenever you feel like being subject unto him. It's subject at all times. You're like, well, that's not a very popular message. I know it's not. That's why this world is crazy. That's why we live in countries where the government tells us we can't spank our kids. You know why? Because they want this generation to turn out to be super wicked, and it's already happened. You stop spanking kids, how are they gonna know what God's like? How are they gonna know what a real father's like if the real father doesn't ever spank them when they need to be corrected? And look, brother Jim is supposed to be correcting people from the pulpit, and if you don't like that, then tough luck. But you know what you don't do? Quit. Because I guarantee you, he's gonna preach something that you don't like, and you're like, oh, I don't know if I agree with that or not. Who cares? Are you gonna agree with everything he says? Do you agree with everything your wife says? Do you agree with everything your husband says? No, you probably don't. Kids probably don't agree with every decision their parents make, and they think that they know more than their parents, but they don't. Well, my parents were just mean and strict. You know why? They're not mean. They're correcting you because you need to be corrected. That's important. Because otherwise you're gonna have a nation of people that don't spank their kids, and then the women and the children are gonna rule over them. And you know what the Bible says? That's a curse onto any nation. But what do you see in this nation now? That's what's happening, folks. And we have to set the standard, and we have to be the ones that show people what Christians are actually supposed to be like. And you're not gonna like every decision he makes, but you know what? Be an adult. It's called adulting, right? Be an adult and go, you know what? I don't agree with that, but I know that Brother Jim's a blessing. I know that he has the best intentions. And just deal with it. People don't agree with things I say. You know what? I don't care. I don't care. It's not my job to get everybody to be happy with me every time I preach a sermon. Because the Bible is gonna show us what's inside of our hearts, and sometimes that's you just being rebellious and not wanting to do what the Bible says. You're like, well, I just don't think that's what it says. Well, that's because you wanna keep your high places. You know, the kings of Israel would keep their high places, right? They would do all this stuff right, and then they would, but the high places were still there. Because everybody has a high place in their life that they don't want that road, they don't want people to go down with them in the preaching. But you know, maybe it's time you stripped the high place down. Maybe it's time that you just sit back and say, you know what, whatever God has for me, that's what I'm gonna do. And I'm placing Brother Jim as leadership of this church because I believe that he's been faithful. I believe his family is faithful. I've watched him and continued to watch him faithfully leading from a soul wanting group to now being a satellite leader and then now being the evangelist that is able to baptize and is ordained as a man of God. And I, you know, I've observed even the faithfulness of him even after he's come under the shadow of the wings of Sure Foundation Baptist Church. You know, I don't just go around looking for more work for me to do, believe it or not. I don't. But people want churches. You know what, I believe that it's my job to do that. Do the work of an evangelist. That's what I'm supposed to do. We're supposed to start churches and people can call me crazy all they want, but when I see people doing it right, then I want to help them. I want to be a blessing to them in any way I can and I want this church to be an independent fundamental Baptist church that has its own pastor someday. So one last verse and we'll be done. It's only 1203. All right, First Corinthians chapter four, verse one. While you're trying to read First Corinthians 1 26, it says, for you see your calling brethren, of that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of this world that confound the wise and God has chosen the weak things of this world that confound the things that are mighty. And you know, the Bible, so the Bible's saying not many wise, not the smartest people don't get saved, the greatest athletes, the mightiest warriors, the most noble kings. He says he doesn't call many of those people. He calls just normal people. When great men of God in the Bible did great things, I mean, what was so great about Gideon? He was just the poorest family in that tribe and God just saw that he was a worker. That's what he found in him. He was faithful, he was a worker and God's like, I'm gonna use this guy. He's gonna do what I say. First Corinthians 4 one says, let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. That's what I found. A man in this church that can be found faithful, he has been found faithful, that's the job of a steward to do the stewardship to be faithful in the things that he's supposed to do. So brother Jim, I'm gonna have you come up. Okay. We're gonna pray and then brother Jim will be officially the ordained man of God here and so I hope you make sure that you congratulate him and that you're a blessing to him and his family. All right. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I come before you in Jesus' name and I just ask you, Lord, to anoint the preaching and the life of brother Jim and his family. I pray, Lord, that you would just be with him in power. You'd fill him with your spirit. You'd give him a special anointing as the man of God here and that, Lord, you'd help him to be courageous to fight the battles of the Lord and that he would preach the word of God without compromise and that he would lead this church to the next level and that he would continue to make a difference for the gospel in the great north here. Lord, I pray that you would just bless him and bless this church, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, this is your new evangelist. Thank you. Everybody want to take a couple pictures real quick so that we can memorialize this? All right, praise God. Let's, we're going to be dismissed in a word, well, not dismissed, we're going to have a word of prayer. I hope you're a blessing to brother Jim and his family. We're going to do some baptisms after that. So while the song starts to play, if you're going to supposed to be getting baptized, start making your way into the changing room and, uh, anybody else that's getting baptized, it's not in there changing, I want to meet with you over here, I can just give you some instructions really quickly, but let's pray to God right now, your heavenly father, we thank you Lord so much for this great church up here, up here in the great North, I pray that their light would shine brightly in this country, Lord, in this province and the Lord, they would do great exploits and that one day they could have a great many number of people that would sit down from the North with you in the kingdom of God, Lord, we pray that you just bless and help brother Jim and, and, and, and help this church to be a support to him and the Lord that they would listen to the preaching, they would apply it to their lives and Lord, they'd be a huge blessing in this church for many years to come, Lord, I pray this church would grow numerically and spiritually under your guidance, Lord, and we pray these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Come on up.