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Music You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Everybody welcome to sure foundation Baptist Church if you could find your seats and grab your blue song books turn to page number 270 We're gonna be seeing joy to the world Welcome to sure foundation Baptist Church. You could find your seats and grab your blue song books to the page number 270 we're gonna be seeing joy to the world You Song number 270 joy to the world. Let's see it out on the first joy to the world the Lord is come let earth receive her King Let every heart Prepare him room and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and And Nature sing song 270 joy of the world. Let's see it out a little bit faster on this second verse I think it's my fault. I started it slow. Okay a little bit faster on the second verse Song 270 door to the world joy to the earth The Savior reigns let men their songs employ While fields and floods rocks hills and plains repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy repeat repeat the founding joy on the third no more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found far as the curse is found far as far as the curses found He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nation's proof The glories of his righteousness And Wonders of his love and wonders of his love and wonders Wonders of his love and I get to see brother Jew cuz you up us up with a word of prayer You Song 264 Oh come Oh come Emmanuel Song number 264 Oh come Oh come Emmanuel Song 264 Oh come Oh come Emmanuel, let's sing it together on the first Oh Come Oh come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God Appear Rejoice rejoice Emmanuel shall come to the Israel Oh come Jesse free line own from Satan's tyranny From depths of hell by people Say and give them victory or the grave Rejoice rejoice Emmanuel shall come to the Oh Israel Oh come now key of David Come and open wide our Heavenly home Make safe the way that leads on And show the path that breaks us not Rejoice rejoice Emmanuel shall come to the Israel right good thing with that. We'll have our announcements Good Morning everybody welcome to sure foundation Baptist Church Let's take our bulletins and go through the announcements real quick If you need a bulletin just lift up your hand with the ushers will hand you one On the front cover we have our verse of the week says and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of The body of Christ Ephesians 4 11 and 12 on our inside page there. We have our service time Sunday morning 10 30 a.m. And Sunday evening service 3 30 p.m. Thursday Bible study 6 30 p.m. We will be back in first Chronicles chapter 15 this week and so many times are listed below so we might be a little shortened today because of All the events we have going on But we're having roundtable pizza after the service So We also have a conflict with the picture. So we have three families taking pictures afterwards So if we could please not have the children in there During the picture time and then right after that we need to roll those tables in there and then we can begin to eat So it might just be a little bit later the pizza supposed to be here at 12 So I'll try not to Pete preach past the pizza time, but they're always late So so I'll just I'll just say this I'll only preach as long as the pizzas You know or whatever, I don't know We'll see. I'll try to preach this till 12. I'm gonna try. All right, but Anyway, I don't want to make you suffer longer than you need to suffer you suffer enough for Jesus So I don't want you to have to suffer. It's not to smell that pizza. So yeah, we don't have any chairs set up There's also like a little project on the table back there. I just don't want anybody getting into that. So and then we got the Pictures right after service. So do you are you doing that right after service brother Jeremy? Okay So if you're one of those families just yeah, just make sure you're ready to go so we do have so winning today though and Brother Sean put the map in the whatsapp group. Is that the last time you're doing that? Okay, so and then brother Alex is taking over right? Okay, so brother Alex is preaching in Seattle today, but Let's see the praise report you can see the salvation's baptisms we we did have a baptism and Yakima last week and Kind of want to explain that because people have asked me about it, but I allowed brother Robert Larson to baptize last week as a special Circumstance He's you know, normally it would only be ordained people that I allowed to baptize but And brother Rick used to be a pastor but he had open-heart surgery and so I was going to allow him to do it But he can only lift 15 pounds. So But this lady who's wanting to get baptized for months now, and I just you know, the timing just has not worked out. So but the Bible doesn't specifically say only these people can baptize or whatever so So The the example that you see in Scripture is men Baptizing is ordained people baptizing and you know, you could look at Ananias and say well It doesn't say he was ordained, but I mean God spoke to him audibly. So You know, maybe he was a prophet or he could have been an apostle, but the Bible doesn't say that So I'm just saying that to say this like that was like a temporary Power that I let him do and it's not something that I'll permanently do We're not gonna have people's kids baptizing their parents and stuff like that. So It's okay. I haven't gone liberal. All right, so With that, let's look at the events. We got the children's choir practice after the second service tonight We have brother Sean Collins ordination this morning as evangelist to our church plant in Seattle so he'll be taking over up there and Running the day-to-day Stuff up there. So him and his family have bought a house and they're moving next Saturday. So I Don't know if this you're gonna be here Thursday, though, right? You better be or you're fired. No, I'm just kidding So he'll be his last service here will be Thursday, but we're all kind of gonna kind of Wish him well today and celebrate with him today and his family So and I think there was some kind of a food train or something like that So if you haven't signed up for that or if you don't know about it you want to help out it's in the whatsapp group Also, like I said today is roundtable pizza is supposed to be here at 12 So but they always say they're gonna be here and they're usually not on time. So last time I think they were but Brother Sean is gonna be preaching for us tonight as a newly ordained Evangelist so we'll be judging his preaching very harshly tonight. No, it is. We'll see if the spirit has come on this joke I'm kidding. I'm sure it'll be good as always. So December 12th. We have our Christmas children's Christmas party at the church at 10 a.m. To 1 30 p.m. And my wife has walking pneumonia so she she got antibiotics yesterday for that and So she's hopefully gonna start feeling better. She's saying I'm gonna be there. So But if there is some You know hiccup where she isn't able to do it Well, you know canceling is gonna be the last thing that we want to do But we might end up having to just switch it to another day or something, but I'm pretty sure we're doing it So I'm not a hundred percent sure. Okay, I'm a hundred percent sure I'm saved I'm not a hundred percent sure about the children's Christmas party All right, so but from what I know from what miss Sherry said she says I'll be feeling better by Monday That's what she said. So but antibiotics, you know, they actually do work. They're not like some wizardry or something. So When you have a bacterial infection, they actually do work and you should probably take them unless you want to die. So anyway December 15th those Free medical advice by me. I'm not a doctor December 15th, we have dr. Stringer coming. That's this next Sunday and he'll be preaching both services for us He'll be giving us a report of his trip to Egypt. So I'm looking forward to hearing that and then December 21st, we have Super so winning Saturday from 12 to 3 that would be in Gresham brother. Sean is gonna be leading that He's gonna be putting all the maps in on Friday night. So are you still planning on doing so in Friday? okay, so he's gonna so Sony on next Friday is canceled and He'll be leading that time and then we're gonna go he'll put all the addresses and stuff in for bussers barbecue Don't just show up to the barbecue come up come out and get some people say first But it's Gresham its ghetto its apartments. So there should be good some good soul wanting so And let's see So yeah, all the details will be in the what's that group for that December 20 seconds our Christmas service So we're gonna have the children's choir singing in the morning Christmas dinner and a potluck between the services meet will be provided by the church Summer 29th is a men's preaching night for the evening service Normally, I would do that on the 31st and let the guys get up and preach and stuff But since it's not gonna be on the weekend, I just you know where there's two services I'm just gonna do it on the 29th instead. So you guys can preach about whatever you want As long as it's not heresy as long as you're using a King James Bible as long as you're wearing a tie Then you're good to preach, right? And if you have some kind of a weird doctor that you want to preach and only you know it Then just come talk to me first before you preach it You don't want to embarrass yourself and I don't want to have to embarrass you in front of everybody. So Anyway, let's see last thing is yes, so December 31st that New Year's Eve service It replaces the Thursday service and we'll pray in the new year. We'll have some games and stuff But there will be a preaching service. I'll be preaching The the regular time so we'll be the preaching time will start at 630, but we can come in Early if anybody that wants to come in earlier start playing games You're fine So December 30, so that's December 31st, we're family integrated, of course, that means the children infants are welcome during the church services Please use some other baby rooms and dad babe rooms for your convenience. All the other rules are listed below ties and offerings bottom of the page then we have CJ Woods birthday is how are you gonna be old man? Spill the beans, huh? How are they gonna how are they gonna be on the ninth? Yeah, he's already hard-of-hearing 35 half-life. What is it gonna be? Whoa, I Didn't expect that answer. I thought you were still like in your young 30s I always age people like when we first started the church. I never get past that So Wow 41 Yeah, you're getting up there, sorry Yeah Starting to feel old now. You're not old though. 41 is a young buck. All right Happy birthday, CJ, and then we have Elias Conlon and how old Elias gonna be? He's not answering It's gonna be four Wow awesome Elias are you shy? Does he want to look at me? All right Well, let's go ahead and sing. Happy birthday to the birthday guys both more on the night Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday All right, that's all I have for announcements. Go ahead and sing another song and we'll receive the offering The next song is song number 291, what child is this? Song 291, what child is this? Mm-hmm Song 291, what child is this? Let's sing it together on the first what child Is this? Who laid to rest on? Mary's lap is sleeping Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch our Keeping this This is Christ the King whom? shepherds guard and angels sing Hey Hey to bring him love the babe the son of Mary Why lies he In such meanest state where ox and ass are feeding Good Christian fear for sinners here the Silent Word is pleading This This is Christ the King whom? shepherds guard and angels sing Hey Hey to bring him love the babe the son of Mary So bring Him in since gold and myrrh Come pet send King to own him the King of King Salvation brings let loving hearts and thrown him This is Christ the King whom shepherds guard and angels sing Hey Hey to bring him love the babe the son of Mary Amen good scene Brother Jesse, would you bless the offering for us? You You You You You I Go ahead and open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter number 4 if you don't have a Bible there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you Ephesians 4 Ephesians for the Bible reads and therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation Wherewith you are called with all only lowliness and meekness with longsuffering forbearing one another in love Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit Even as you are called and one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men Now that he ascended what is it, but that he also descended first Into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things And he gave some apostles and some Prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry For the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith And of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ That we henceforth be no more children Tossed to and fro and carried From about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive But speaking the truth and love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head even Christ From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply According to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love This I say therefore and testifying the Lord that he henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past Feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all unclean uncleanness with greediness But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that you have heard him And have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus They put off concerning the former conversation the old man Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another Be angry and sin not let not the Sun go down upon your raft neither give place to the devil Let him that stole steal no more But rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying That it may minister grace into the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed into the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor And evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another Tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you brother drew we pray for us Amen You hear that he blessed the food already so Good to go All right. Well the title of the sermon this morning is the gift of an evangelist So we do we are having a special service this morning and it's going to be an ordination Service and so I'm gearing a lot of this towards brother Sean But this also can teach a lot of us, you know There's a lot of misconceptions about what an evangelist is an evangelist is simply somebody who evangelizes I mean, that's really what the word means But of course there are a lot more than that and in the Bible You have only really one example of someone being called an evangelist and that is Philip the evangelist who was once a deacon one of the first deacons but in Baptist circles Especially in the old life be the preachers that are called evangelists are usually guys that are maybe former pastors or For whatever reason they just go around they travel around and they preach Revivals at people's churches or they'll preach a camp or they'll preach at a youth conference or something But they're generally not what you see Happening in the Bible, you know in the Bible you see what I would think I personally believe that Paul You know, obviously he was an apostle but he was also sent out by the church at Antioch after he already was an apostle So what was he sent out as he wasn't a bishop because he was not married. He didn't have children So what was he what was he ordained as I mean the Bible doesn't say but the Bible doesn't even call the seven Which Philip was one of in the chapter that teaches about how the first deacons came to pass It doesn't even use the word deacon in that whole passage So he and then in Acts chapter 21 It just says he's he was one of the seven and it doesn't say seven deacons but then you have the qualifications for a deacon in the book of Timothy there so Yeah, and so like just when you're reading through the Bible and you just see what Philip did Philip was, you know We see him going into Samaria We see him Preaching the gospel where Jesus had already kind of laid the groundwork and then a lot of people get saved A lot of people get baptized Simon the sorcerer gets saved and then he moves on to the Ethiopian eunuch in that same chapter He gets the Ethiopian eunuch saved and then he goes off to a different place And so that's kind of what Paul did too, but then you see Philip who was a deacon He was one of the seven Then he goes to Caesarea and then he doesn't go anyplace else after that as far as like he kind of makes Caesarea his home base his home camp where he stays and then you don't see him again For 20 years later until the Apostle Paul comes and visits him and stays at his house for the night And then it explains to us, you know that he you know He said at the home of Philip the evangelist who was one of the seven So that's you know, that's the guy who he turns Samaria upside down He goes and preaches in all these places. He gets the eunuch saved. He baptizes the eunuch so obviously he had authority to do those things and Then moves on to Caesarea and then he kind of just plants roots there, but he's called He's he's called an evangelist who was one of the seven and I don't think he was necessarily a deacon still at that point Because deacon serves in their local church more or less And I just don't think that you know Obviously, it's calling them an evangelist for a reason and at this church we believe at least I believe I hope you believe it, too You know, most churches will say there's only two offices pastor and deacon, but I believe that there's three offices So the T one of the T's and Baptist I believe you know, the evangelist is an office that is an ordained office so And the pastor is told to do the work of an evangelist when someone is ordained as a pastor Paul tells them do the work of an evangelist and so he's basically saying hey You got to go still got to go out go soul wanting get people saved and baptized and so on and so forth so now When you see let's look let's look at Philip's beginnings before we get into the sermon I just want to lay a little bit of that groundwork kind of explained it But let's look at the some of the verses in Acts chapter 8 and verse number 3 And I'll just lay some of this groundwork so you can just kind of see it for yourself. How great of a man Philip is and again, I can't think of any other example where you see someone being called evangelist now if you're like thinking Matthew Mark Luke and John are called, you know, the got the Gospels and You know, sometimes they'll say the the book of Matthew the evangelist Have you ever seen that and like that, you know, your headings in your Bible aren't necessarily inspired But they did call them the evangelist because they went out evangelizing for Jesus, right? but Let's look at Acts 8 3 it says as for Saul's talking about Paul the Apostle before he became Saved it says as for Saul He made havoc of the church entering to every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison Interesting how he went to every house, you know before he got saved So he was already used to going door-to-door so But then you know then he was doing bad with that. So it says therefore they were scattered abroad That they were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and Preached Christ unto them and the people with one accord Gave heed unto the things which Philip spake hearing and seeing the miracles that he did For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed With them and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed. So Philip also had the ability he had special Gifts of the Holy Spirit where he was able to heal and cast out devils and it says that there was great joy in that City, but there was a certain man named are called Simon Which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria? Giving out that himself was some great one to whom They all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying this man is the great power of God and to him they all regard Because that of a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ they were both they were baptized both men and Women so what's he doing? He's getting people saved. He's baptizing them. He's doing Great works among that city and if you think about Samaria All those kings that ruled in Samaria and they had great prophets like Elijah and Elisha But you don't really see the great revivals of salvation and the turning around they end up getting so bad where God just removed them Completely out of the land and now Samaria is kind of like this hybrid Religious area where they do believe in God, but they just don't follow him in the right way They don't really know they're not saved obviously so they kind of follow some quasi Christian religion, but it's not The right way so verse 13 then Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized He continued with Philip and wondered the only the miracles and signs which were done a lot of people say Simon wasn't really saved But what does it say he believed also? So it's like okay, well I you know and it's usually will life be pastors or Baptists that will say oh, he wasn't saved because you know he was in great sin afterwards Well, it's like what people can't fall into sin people can't can't get envious people can't you know get covetous and things like that It's like that's ridiculous, but anyway Verse 26 it says and the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip saying arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth From Jerusalem unto Gaza Which is desert and he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopian eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians Whom had charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship was returning and sitting in his chariot Read is is the prophet Then the spirit said unto Philip go near and join thyself to his chariot to this chariot and Philip ran thither to him and Heard him read the prophet Esaias and said understandest thou what thou readest and he said how can I accept some man should guide me And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him So one of the other great things is that you know when the Spirit of God told him to go he ran To where he was supposed to go and then you know as he sees him struggling to read the Bible He explains to him how to be saved and this is another great Quality of an evangelist is that you know again? This is what they do they go out hit people saved, and I would also say that they plant churches in some cases and Let's keep going though in the place of the scripture which he read was this He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before his shearer so opened He not his mouth in his humiliation His judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth and the eunuch answered Philip And said I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or of some other man Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus and as they went on their way they came into a certain water and unit and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized and Philip said if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest And he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God And he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him So he also made sure that the guy was actually saved He's like hey Do you believe you have to believe in Jesus with all your heart and then he confesses that he does believe that and so that he? Stops the stops the progress of everything and they go down to the water And then he baptizes them the right way by the way in the water He didn't throw a spoonful of water on his head or shoot him with a super soaker or something He did it the way it was supposed to be done And it says and when they were come up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip and the eunuch saw Him no more and he went on his way rejoicing But Philip was found at Azotus and Passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea so he was going around He was going around traveling and preaching at different places, but he's preaching the gospel. I'm sure he's also preaching other stuff, too He's probably just not only preaching the gospel, but he is an event you know at this time He's the deacon, but you know the deacon is almost exactly what a pastor is with all They have to pretty much meet almost all the same qualifications as a pastor So in order for that to be the case you know but at this point He's not an evangelist, but I think that probably after all this stuff happens. You know he wants to do something that Carries him away from Jerusalem permanently because he was a deacon in Jerusalem But in case you didn't realize this Caesarea is not the same place as Jerusalem So and then so now we fast forward 20 years look at Acts chapter 21 verse 8 Acts chapter 21 verse 8 So this same Philip he came to Caesarea When you fast forward about 20 years it says in the next day We were of Paul's company departed verse 8 and came to Caesarea And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, it's not calling him Philip the deacon is it It's not calling him Philip the bishop is it It's calling Philip the evangelist which was one of the seven and abode with him So when it refers to one of the seven you can get there on your own But it's Acts chapter 6 it explains the process of why deacons were brought about in the first place, but I mean even Stephen who was a deacon for a while He was killed for what he was preaching and he was preaching to You know he's preaching about the kind of the history of Israel, and then he just like really started ripping into him about Resisting the Holy Spirit, and then they gnash on with their teeth they stoned him with stones Until he died and Paul the Apostle Paul was one of the guys standing by holding their coats in their company So I do believe that Paul the Apostle Paul was was an evangelist also but He also had that higher authority of being an apostle so that's why you see all these these books written to Different churches, and I think that he's writing these different to these different churches because these are churches He started that may or may not have a pastor or someone to lead them and like when you look at first and second Corinthians This is a church that had many problems I mean most people realize that when you read first Corinthians is like he's addressing problems in like every chapter He's trying to encourage them to be better and to do better But when you don't have leadership when you don't have strong leadership in a place doesn't mean that you don't have a church you Obviously the church at Corinth was a church that he met and those are just two epistles that were written But he there it's alluded to in first and second Corinthians that he read he wrote other epistles to them, too I'm sure he wrote multiple letters to these churches, but only some of them got into the scriptures, so now So when he when it says in the same man had four daughters verse 9 Virgins which did prophesy so now don't get all confused and think that there's some mystical prophesying or something Prophesying just means to preach so his daughters He had trained to preach the gospel also obviously the Bible teaches that women are not supposed to get behind the pulpit and preach and So I'm not saying that that's what they were doing they weren't but it doesn't mention his wife and I just I simply believe this so if he started that you know if he he's still in Caesarea He's obviously just planted roots there He's decided to stay there so can someone be an evangelist for 20 years Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that like we've had we've had brother witness an evangelist up but our church in Canada for what six years or so so yeah over six years now and You know he's not qualified to be a pastor because he only has one one child But he's still qualified many other areas, but just you know that's just a title That's just but he's still doing the work that a pastor would do you know him and his wife and? Have done a great job, but they're leading the people and they're doing you know until someone can be a pastor there Then he's gonna be the guy you know so And there's nothing wrong with that There's nothing in the world wrong with that. It's still an ordained position It's still something that should be respected and sometimes I think that in our circles that we kind of look down as at evangelists as maybe being lower than pastors or something but Pastors aren't aren't higher than the church members in reality We just have a position of authority within the church to lead the church But we're still held to the same standards as far as like you know we get punished for sin Just like you get punished for sin. We're not like some special Elevated people that have special privileges above you or something as a matter of fact I think we probably get judged more harshly in a lot of cases Because of our leadership because God depends on us to lead correctly so when we're not doing that Then he's gonna. You know we're gonna be accountable for the things that we do so some of the things that we do as pastors God might judge us more harshly But no you know there's that list in Ephesians, which we'll get to in a minute You know there's multiple different You know positions that are talked about that are given to the church and Evangelist is one of those things so and there's no more apostles because Paul was the last one so in that list you have the You know a posse gave some apostles now. There was the there was the twelve Judas was a traitor He hanged himself he went bad right and so is it Jesus's fault that Judas never got saved No So I mean we've had a cut we've had a few evangelists that haven't really panned out That I've ordained and people act like that's some badge of shame that I have to wear For the rest of my ministry or something but it's like it's kind of like have you who's gotten someone a job someplace they worked and Then you got someone a job at the place you worked and that person ended up sucking at their job And they weren't what they made themself out to be they were horrible, and you're like I'm never gonna have one of my friends Apply at my work because it made me look bad It does make you look bad a little bit, but in reality isn't it that person's responsibility to do the job It's like I could get 20 people a job at the place that I used to work for and If ten of them are good And they are hard workers and do what they are supposed to do and I thought that they were good But then people can just fool you People can say that they're gonna be great people can say that they're not gonna quit People can say that they're gonna show up on time and be faithful and do all these things But you know apply that to the ministry some people are gonna be duds And you don't really know because you know the the other apostles didn't know that Judas was a dud, but he was He was the worst dud you could ever find but Jesus knew that didn't he so Jesus actually knew that and still put him In the ministry so then people are gonna be like oh, well your your evangelist Haven't really worked out that great have they well some of them have though and two of them are pastors right now So and I think those pastors are doing a good job Brother Jim weeb pastor Jim weeb and pastor Ian Tavener are doing fantastic You know ones in Canada and ones in England some of the darkest places that you could probably try to find a church. You know but I'm just saying this so just like you're not responsible for the person you got hired on at your company forever I mean, I know it's different But do you understand what I'm saying do you think that you're responsible for that person for the rest of your career because you? You know said hey this guy is probably you know gonna be a good candidate or hey my friend really needs a job Can you you know help him get in or whatever and then that person sucks is that your fault for the rest of their career? But people will act like it at work won't they oh, I can't believe you had that guy that one guy come here It's just like hey, man. You give you give a dog a bone You don't want to know what it tastes like you know you give somebody you give somebody something, and I don't want to hear you know Oh, well, they were so terrible well You know I didn't think they were terrible at the time and nobody else really did either Maybe some of you had some questions about some one one particular person, but we're not gonna bring that person up But you should have said something You know if you see something say something all right. That's that's the TSA rule But I mean I would say that if there's somebody that's you know you think is really bad that I'm about to ordain You can come talk to me and let me know but I Just wanted to bring that up because You know look there's gonna be duds. There's gonna be people that don't turn out right there's gonna be people that quit And is it is it my responsibility to make sure that a pastor that I ordained? You know is still doing the things that they're supposed to do or are they independent at that point Are they responsible for themselves at that point because I think that they are So it's just even like children that leave your home. Are you responsible for their homes after they leave the house? You're not I mean they run their own house. They you know they're married, and they have their own children It'd be weird if I was just being like coming over to their house making sure they get up on time You know calling hey, did you get up on time Brandon for work? You know like that'd be weird, right? They're responsible for their own selves once once a guy's ordained There is that they still have the responsibility to do things I can't do the work for you brother Shawn when you're up in Seattle And I don't I don't think you expect me to do that. You know if you need me call me I've also had this accusation He never gave me any guidance well That wasn't actually true. There was there's a lot of guidance given at first But you know once everything starts rolling, and you know what you're doing like I would expect those calls to be fewer and far in-between and Then if you have an issue give me a call right it's not that difficult But like I shouldn't have to hold someone by the hand Every step of the way for years and years and years I mean at that point like who's really leading the church then is it you or is it the evangelist? Because you know I can give guidance and everything, but if you can't do the job, then you just can't do the job so Look at let's get to Let's see Ephesians chapter 4 So I just personally believe when it comes to Philip himself You know that he was obviously no longer a deacon at this time. He was what he was one of the seven and Why wouldn't he be a pastor by now if he has four daughters isn't he qualified well? You know Paul the Apostle wasn't qualified to be a pastor because he didn't have children, and he didn't have a spouse Because that's what the Bible says So I would just say that he probably Either his wife. This is what I'm guessing and this is my opinion, okay? So let me just make that abundantly clear. This is my opinion, and this is just me Guessing what might be the problem or what that's not a problem, but why he's not a pastor Probably because his wife died and he didn't want to get remarried That's what I'm thinking that's my opinion because it doesn't mention his wife. It just mentions his daughters He's an evangelist an evangelist is not Does not have to have why a wife and children to there's no Qualifications that say that as an evangelist that person has to have a wife and children Now if that evangelist wants to continue on and be a pastor someday Then I would say that you need to start working on that yeah, but the Apostle Paul didn't have a wife and children But yet he's going off. He's ordained. He's preaching the gospel. He went out with you know Barnabas in the first Missionary trips, and then he you know him and them split and then he took Silas with him for the rest of the time so but Anyway, that's just my personal opinion. I don't think he ever got remarried or you know and and so The other times an evangelist is mentioned in the scriptures in 2nd Timothy I won't have you turn there, but 2nd Timothy 4 5 says But watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry So I would say if you're an evangelist and your goal is to be a pastor then evangelist makes sense to ordain because You know you're on your way to meeting the qualifications, but you're not quite there yet Maybe your children aren't old enough to be considered to be in subjection or You know there's other things that are missing maybe you know you haven't read the Bible or you're not you haven't you don't know the Bible well enough to be a pastor yet that type of thing so There might be just some things that need to be worked on before that qualification can be met So let's get to our Ephesians chapter 4 look at verse 7 it says but unto every one of us is given grace According to the measure of the gift of Christ So of course salvation is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast We were given salvation for free but also we are given gifts by the Holy Spirit that each believer has and The gifts of the Spirit are given according to the measure of the gift of Christ So we don't get to necessarily choose what gifts God gives us they're given to us And we kind of got to figure out what they are and then use those gifts for his kingdom Use those talents for what God gave them to us for Verse 8 wherewith he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men What is the other gift that he gave when he ascended up on high well? He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit He said if I don't leave then this then I can't send the comforter comforter unto you so he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit the gifts of the ministry and When the Apostles were on the earth He gave them special Signs and wonders gifts that we do not have today and so of course you have whole religions called Pentecostals and you know these snake handlers and these people that roll around on the floor and They chirp and mutter and peep in the services, and they're all doing it at the same time, and they're acting all crazy Look first of all the Bible is very clear that you can't you do it one by one and that by course But it's you know it's talking about speaking in other languages in church. I think but You know and women aren't supposed to do it either, but what do you see in every Pentecostal service? You know women are the ones that are usually the ones that are getting up and saying stuff And are they really saying anything no They're just like you know shaking their head like they're at a Pantera concert or something and just saying things that don't make sense You know just like what in the world are you possessed probably? But anyway, I'm not preaching about that tonight or today so but it is weird, but Anyway, so now it says verse 9 says now that he ascended What is it, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended up above all heavens that he might fill all things So he descended in the lower parts of the earth. Why did he do that well? He spent three days and three nights in hell for us, and then he just said he ascended up into heaven afterward and it says and In verse 11 it says and he gave some He gave some so it says apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers so he gives some but He doesn't give all right so there's not pastors and apostles and Prophets and teachers, thank you There's not all these things for every single place on the planet because there's not enough honestly. There's just not enough Men that are willing to step up and do these things That's really the problem. I'm sure God would love to give more of these things more pop or not apostles the apostles are done but you know and you know prophets is subjective, but Evangelist is still something that was continuing in the New Testament we saw Philip Obviously doing that we see the Apostle Paul instructing Timothy to do the work of an evangelist and then it says in some pastors and teachers so pastors are Bishops or elders in the Bible those terms are used synonymously but the Bible is saying here that That You know to have a leader and specifically what I'm focusing on as an evangelist is a gift it's something that you should appreciate because God gave that person to you to lead you as a Gift and he gave is a past tense gave is a past tense for get forgive, right? Give is to freely transfer the possession of something to someone to hand over to So in this case, it's freely transferring someone to some place where some Christians need some leadership And so when God gives an evangelist to some area then he's giving a gift to that area because people need leadership to really thrive and like I mean Obviously in the Corinthian Church, they had a lack of leadership and that was part of the problem That's why Paul kept having to write them letters and admonishing them and rebuking them for things But you know when a place gets a leader, that's what they should consider it a gift because not all places have These things that got that is talking about here. Not all places have pastors not all have play I mean we could start a church in Detroit right now if we had someone that could lead right now If we had someone that could lead But we have to have someone that can lead We have to some have someone that we can count on to preach Week in week out and that is really the hard part. It's like, you know, I I'll give some responsibilities to people and they you know, some people just can't do that and You know, I'm not mad that people can't do that But sometimes I get my hopes up thinking that people can do something and they just can't and I just realized What a gift it is to have someone that they can do it that will do it, you know And sometimes I don't feel like doing it Sometimes I don't feel like getting out of bed and come to church But you know what if I'm the leader don't you think I should be here? I mean if it's like Oh pastor Thompson's out fishing So someone else needs to come and preach Pastor Thompson's out golfing and a lot of people think that like pastors they just get up and do a 15-minute TED talk Every week and then go golfing for the rest of the week but they probably think that because there are pastors that do that and These non-denominational churches that have one service or two services a week They're preaching the same the same sermon twice in a day and it's 15 minutes of something They probably ripped off the internet anyway, and didn't even take time to write the sermon, you know We don't have those advantages when I go and preach somewhere else. I Have my sermons are all online pretty much so if I go to some other place and preach the same sermon I preach somewhere else then people are like I've heard this sermon before you know, so it's like being a You know a pastor of a church like ours is is more difficult in some ways because we're preaching three times a week We're writing sermons and writing sermons who thinks writing sermons is easy Yeah, nobody better raise their hand because this is not easy. It's work but And like that deadline comes every week. Oh, I got to get this done I got to get this done I get this done and then like so I'm preaching in Seattle for the next three weeks in a row Every Wednesday, but then I I go up there I drive up there preach a sermon Then I drive home the next day and preach a sermon here. So that that's four sermons in a week It's not easy You know four sermons a week if you keep doing that for a long time, it'll really burn you out very quickly But But you know, that's it's called work that's not called fun, you know, but the ministry is fun It can be fun, but it is also work, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. So but So, what is the purpose what is the purpose of Giving to or giving an evangelist. Well, it's for the perfecting of the Saints look at verse 12 for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry For the edifying of the body of Christ So it's mentioning three things there right for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry For the edifying of the body of Christ and of course, those aren't the only things but it's kind of just he Just laying out three very important things So verse 13 says till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God Unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and Carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive But speaking the truth and love May grow up Into him all things which is the head even Christ for whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply is according to the effectual working of the measure of Every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love so what is the purpose of giving the gift of leadership so that We can be perfected so that we can get the work done and so people can be edified and We can all grow together and be build it up onto this spiritual Temple, you know, obviously these lively stones placed upon the foundations of the apostles and the prophets Building up this spiritual house and then we're all gonna die and go to heaven, you know But while we're on this earth It's important to continue to grow and look leadership is put in place for us so that we can grow That's why it's important for you to be here so that you can be built up. That's what edifying is is to be built up But I'm gonna give you three reasons why God gives us evangelists and the first one is the perfecting of the Saints Look at verse 13 It says till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man Onto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so till we all come in the unity of the faith, that's what he wants and That we come on to end of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man You're like you want me to become perfect pastor, you know, have you seen my life? Well, look Perfect isn't talking about that. You're walking on water. You're doing miracles, you know that you don't sin at all Obviously you want to strive toward being The least sinful that you possibly can be you want to be doing the most work you can to You know further the kingdom of God and you want to be built up and strengthen and rooted in your faith So that you can be effective for other people and so that our church can get better These are the things that we want to accomplish Now let's look at some verses let's look at the first time this word is used in the Bible Let's look at Genesis chapter 6 I'm definitely not gonna have time to go through all my notes, but Dog on it. I'm gonna give it a try here. All right, Genesis 6 8 Genesis 6 8 but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Why did Noah find grace because he was a sinner Because look someone if someone needs grace Then they're a sinner like people, you know, we'll act like people who Noah didn't sin. Yes He did, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah Noah was a just man. That means he was saved and Perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God. So what what is this saying? Well, what does perfect actually mean? When you're talking about the Bible, it just means that you're complete it means that you have you know, you don't have any super glaring inconsistencies in your Spiritual life in your life in general you have your life your spiritual life pretty much Together it's not saying you're sinless It's not saying you're perfect in that you don't sin or that you never make mistakes or something It's talking about you know, he walked with God. Are you walking with God this morning? Is that something that you strive to do is to wake up and walk with God? Because that's what made Noah what he was He was you know, he was already saved but he was perfect in his generations because he was the complete package He was well-rounded in his spiritual life and Noah walked with God So when the King James uses the term perfect, it's not saying that that's without blemish without fault all the time It's not always meaning that But it is saying that you have a complete Christian life, I mean David was a man after God's own heart, but he committed many sins. He committed some horrible sins So, how could he say he was perfect? well I mean he asked God to forgive him of those sins and he repented of the things that he did and Didn't do those again, you know, so he was perfect in that way. So Another definition is having all the required or desirable elements qualities and characteristics as good as it is possible to be Let me read that again having all the required or desirable elements Qualities or characteristics as good as it is possible to be that's a good definition to to be perfect That you're as good as you possibly can be and that's what all Christians should be Striving for but what is an evangelist given to us for for the perfecting of the Saints and how is that accomplished? Well, I mean it is accomplished Mainly through Bible preaching and obviously for people being able to look at that man's life and say hey, you know That's that's an example or an example for us to follow I want to follow him as he follows Christ Paul said follow me as I follow Christ I'm not gonna have you turn there, but all of you turn to Deuteronomy 18 I'm gonna read for you Genesis 17. It says when Abram was 90 years old and 9 So he's 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram So apparently it took him a while and he said unto him. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect He tells him this when he's 99 Obviously Abraham hadn't arrived yet But God loved him. He was called his friend Obviously, he was a great man, but he's just saying hey walk before me and be perfect Deuteronomy 18 13 says thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God for these nations Which thou shalt possess hearken unto observers of times and unto diviners But as for thee the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do God does is not just okay with us Living our life. However, we want he wants us to be perfect before him and Job one go and turn to Romans 12 I'm gonna read Job 1 1 it says there was a man in the land of us whose name was Job and that man was Perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil So he was you know, and he was also like the greatest man basically on the face of the earth at that time Perfect and upright it says one that feared God and eschewed evil. He hated evil He feared God. He was perfect Romans 12 2 you're like Well, how can we be like these great patriarchs like Noah and like Abraham and like Job? Well, I'm not saying you can be as good as they are, but you can sure try can't you? It says in Romans 12 to look we have advantages that these guys didn't have we actually have the written Word of God Complete before us we can read it whenever we want pretty much, you know, whenever you have free time you can read it, you know if you're not working or whatever, but You know, we have something that they did not have we have advantages Look at Romans 12 2 it says and be not conformed to this world But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that good and acceptable and perfect? Will of God, you know that you can know the perfect will of God How how well by the renewing of your mind being transformed and that's by the Word of God Is that how that's going to be accomplished? So what is the evangelist main tool to help perfect the Saints? Well, it's gonna be the Bible, of course the written Word of God thundered forth from the pulpit and He's gonna show he's supposed to show you how to be a perfect Christian as far as being complete look at Colossians 1 27 Colossians 1 27 The Bible says in Colossians 1 27 To whom God would make known What is the riches of the glory of them this minute this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you? the hope of glory whom we preach Warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man. What to say they're Perfect in Christ Jesus, so This is Paul's goal. He wanted this mystery to be made You know, obviously the mystery of the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory. He preaches warning every man. See the Evangelist needs to get up and warn men and to teach men in all wisdom and that we may present Every man perfect in Christ. So, you know the scriptures and Bible preaching is how this is gonna get done Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 very famous set of verses here 2nd Timothy 3 16 the Bible says All scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect Throughly furnished unto all good works and So, you know this this book is is good for making the man of God perfect But then the man of God is supposed to bring forth those things and teach them to the people so that he can perfect the Saints Let's look at Let's see 1st Peter turn to 1st Peter 5 10. I'm gonna read James 1 25 James 1 25 says But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continuous therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deeds so looking into the Bible is the perfect law of liberty and when we're not a forgetful here, but we're doing the work and Listening to what God says then we're gonna be blessed But if we're just hearing it and not applying it and not doing it out there Then we're not gonna be perfected 1st Peter 5 10 says But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that you have suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen Settle you See, these are things that we should desire and the man of God is supposed to be doing this The evangelist is put in this category as one of those people that is to perfect the Saints Now number two is the work of the ministry and what most people don't realize in the ministry that it is work It's not fun. It's not play. That's why it's called work and Again, you can have fun at work I'm not saying you can't and people should do jobs that they like I get that but not everybody does a job that they like You might have said well, I'm gonna do this when I get older It's like you kind of got caught up and now that's just what you are and you're like, man I kind of wish I was a sports broadcaster or you know something more fun that you like, you know, I You know, obviously you have to have the good voice to do that and you know But there's a lot of things that I could think of that, you know before I started being a pastor Full-time that I would rather be doing with my life than swinging hammers and stuff But that stuff teaches you a work ethic because if you don't have a work ethic and you're around a bunch of Hair-legged men and you can't swing a hammer and you can't drill and you can't follow instructions then you're gonna have a hard time when a construction crew because they're gonna just pick at you and pick at you and And mock you and they might just do that even if you are good at your job So that's just the way men are you know, especially if you're really good at something then you make a mistake and then you're like Oh, yeah, you did that. Remember that one time that you did that. That's how men are and so we we Perfect each other in different ways we burn on each other until we get better. That's kind of how we do it, right? But let's look at one. Um actually, I'm gonna have you turn back to Ephesians 4 but you know Like I said people just think that being in the ministry is is not work. It's it's playing golf It's holding old ladies hands going over to their house You know a 15 sermon 15-minute sermon Ted talk one story one poem a couple Cute ancidotes or whatever and that's all you do That's what most of the world thinks but I would just I would like to play that You know, what's that? They have like a television show where you do job swaps or something. Is that true? Like maybe they don't Maybe it's wife swap. I don't know though. It's just weird but you know some guys about Well, I like to have somebody not nagging on them for a week or whatever it might be nice but But if you could do job swap it'd be interesting to see I mean obviously if they weren't saved They're not going to do the job anyway But like let's see you come in and do the job of a pastor for a couple weeks and just see how well You do they'd probably be going to counseling afterwards So they're like, this is what you put up with Like I'm not talking about with you guys. You guys are great, but I'm talking about other other things You guys are great. I don't put up with much from you guys. You guys are awesome, but But you know, even the fun parts of ministry or work so winning is fun, isn't it? You're like, well, yeah when people are getting saved When you're not walking like five miles, you know, and nobody wants to talk to you Yeah, but so winning is fun and especially if you're with someone and you can talk about the things of God it passes the time when you're when people aren't getting saved but You know the there's other parts of the ministry that are that are pretty hard work counseling people in your churches marriages are falling apart performing funerals for people for for members of your church or you know performing marriages is work and Planning events is work and Running multiple churches at the same time is work but you know, there's also the aspect of building and battling and There's always going to be that aspect of the ministry and sometimes people get queasy over that sometimes people get tired of it Sometimes people get tired of the drama and look I totally understand that because I get tired of it, too But it just seems like it always pops itself up no matter how low-key you try to stay No matter how hard you try to stay out of it It just kind of seems to pop up no matter what and that's just because when you're trying to do something for God Then the enemy is going to attack now. They're not constantly attacking You know God gives us a break and lets us kind of have some relief for a while But then the attacks come and it might be from a different enemy or different new and new enemies pop up, you know But if you're trying to be in the ministry and the sight of blood makes you queasy this job is not for you Big and what I mean is spiritual blood. Okay. I'm not talking about like we're not fighting a real bloody war But it is a bloody war when you think of it on a spiritual level because we're fighting against these principalities and powers and the spiritual wickedness in high places and People that are false brethren people that are false prophets And it's not always fun having enemies come at you and lying about you and so on and so forth it can be disheartening, you know It can really be disheartening and over the years What I've learned is that you know Sometimes it's important to shield your church from some of the things that go on just because if they know everything that's going on it might start to dishearten them too and and So some of this stuff we have to take on it's just like only you know about it or only your family knows about it And you know if it's not public then it's just these attacks that happen and you kind of just have to take the brunt of those attacks as a leader and But we're always going to be battling with people and you know, look the devil knows that we get this Disheartened sometimes and that we feel like quitting sometimes and that's why he throws these freaks at us That's why he throws these trolls at us that pretend, you know that have fake names so they can just attack you without having any accountability and You know just all this weird stuff that happens all these principalities the powers that come at you It's just they come out of the woodworks. You're like, hey seems like I have peace on every side, you know And it's just like then all sudden some new weirdo shows their head, but if you're not able to You know because that is part of the work part of the work is battling at the same time as you're working Let's look at You're already in Ephesians 4 for 14 says that we henceforth Be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and the cunning craftiness Whereby they lie and wait to deceive. Why is this verse in here? We're talking about Edification brother like where did this all come from? It's because God knows that There's gonna be people they're gonna try to toss you to and fro They're gonna try to carry you about with these strange doctrines They use the sleight of men like, you know how magicians use sleight of hand to trick people into and do illusions Well, these freaks try to do sleight of hand by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness They're doing there. They plan these things And They're and cunning is like, you know, they're doing it with Intelligence like the devil was cunning and he was the you know He was the smartest of all the beasts of the field or whatever Whereby they lie and wait to deceive, you know The Bible talks about lying and wait to kill people but they lie and wait to deceive They're waiting and there's all these people and so that's why it's important to have somebody That is actually going to preach the Word of God and when you're fighting Or when you're building and working know that the fights are gonna come that's why we get into confrontations sometimes we're out sowing because Latter-day Satan's will come up or Jehovah's false witnesses and a lot of churches would be like, oh, hey, brother How's it going or whatever and we're just like get out of here. This is our territory But We we contend with them we tell them to go to hell we tell them to get out of here and you're like That's not right. You should pray for them that they get saved. Oh, you mean a false witness a false Prophet we're supposed to pray for them Show me chapter and verse on that Because I don't I don't think that's true. I think we're supposed to pray for them in a different way But anyway, I want to keep this pg-13 tier norms can but let's turn to Nehemiah chapter 4 We're supposed to pray for their destruction You know, we're not supposed to pray for false prophets to get saved if they're savable maybe but you know if they're Accidentally a false for you know, there are false prophets doing it in ignorance That's one thing but what I found is when I try to give any Mormon and I mean any Mormon whether it's a child Or Whether it's some 19 year old punk that says elder on his has a little badge that says elder They never get saved ever if they're preaching a false gospel then the Bible says to even allow them to come in your house is Sinful, you know don't bid them Godspeed. Don't say God bless you to them because you're partaker of their evil deeds But Then you're like just pray for them. Yeah, I'll pray for him to go to hell But Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 6 says so built me the wall and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof for the people had a mind to work now Nehemiah was trying to build the wall around Jerusalem so that they could protect themselves from all the enemies that were constantly trying to attack them and So he had this really hard job and he had people and all these different gates and all these different positions Around the city and they were responsible to build those certain parts of the wall now the people had the mind to work, you know, and it's great to have a church that has a mind to work and get out and Get the work done and to build with the leader Nehemiah was a great leader Look at verse 14 It says and I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people Be not yet afraid of them Remember the Lord which is Great and terrible and fight for your brethren your sons and your daughters or your wives and your houses And it came to pass when our enemies heard it Heard that it was known unto us and God had brought their counsel to naught that we returned all of us to the wall everyone unto his work So when the enemies are coming, you know, what's the leader do he pipes up and Encourages the people to continue to fight for your families Because look the devil wants to take us out He wants to knock us out of the fight and stop us from working for God That's the goal. That's what the enemies come for. It's not like the devil came himself To knock the walls down. He sends his people. He sends his false wit his he sends his false Children of Belial to try to stop the work it says and it came for verse 16 and it came to pass from that time forth that the half of my servants wrought in the work and the other half of them held both spear the Spears and shields and bows and the heart and the haber haber John's and the Rulers were behind all the house of Judah They which build it on the wall and they which bear burdens with those that laid it Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work and with the other Handheld a weapon. I mean imagine you're trying to build a wall You're trying to you know trowel these stones with you know, do this masonry work and then you got a weapon in one hand Trying to you know, just in case someone comes up to try to fight you This is what they're dealing with This is for the builders Everyone had his sword girded by his side and so builded and this is what it's important for us to realize as as people in This church is that we're building yeah, but we also need to be willing to fight when the fight comes to us and he that sounded the trumpet was by me and I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people The work is great and large and we are separated upon the wall one far from another in what place? Therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet resort you thither unto us our God shall fight for us and always remember That yeah I mean God is the one that's ultimately fighting for us when things look bleak when things look rough One thing when the church is going through a hard time and some kind of a battle It might look like we're losing but we never lose We always win always So we labored in the work and half of them held spears from the rising of the morning Till the stars appeared and look it's not always like that It was a certain time period where it was like that church life isn't always like that, but it can get like that Sometimes there's you know a bunch of queer surrounding our church with ar-15s When we walk into the church, I mean hey it's happened We'll have antifa show up and do queer weddings in the parking lot And it's like well. We still got to show up for church. We got it, and we're not gonna fear You know and we did we held our own and they never came back Because our God fought for us. He gave us a lease three weeks later. We're good You know these freaks they think that they're gonna win, but they never do It might seem like they are but they're not look at verse Chapter 6 verse 2 it says that Sambalat and Gisham's these are the enemies Sent unto me saying come let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono But they thought to do me mischief So they're trying to get they're trying to lure the leader away to get into some fight out In in some other place besides getting the work done And this is what you got to be careful of brother Sean is to not get into the garbage pen with these people That are attacking and lose focus on what the work that we should be doing is And I sent message to them to them saying I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down Why should the work cease whilst I leave and come down to you? You know these people want to drag you into the trash heap that they're into That that come against our church, and they want to battle against us and accuse us of all kinds of stuff But the work must go on you know we can't just stop this and cease and cease the work from going on To fight with people that just want to waste our time Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort and I answered them after the same manner Then sent sample at his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand wherein was written is reported among the heathen and Gash moves sayeth it that thou and the Jews think to rebel for which cause thou buildest the wall That thou mayest be their king according to these words And thou has also appointed prophets to preach of the Jerusalem saying there is a king in Judah And now shall be reported of the king according to these words come now therefore and let us take counsel together So he's trying to trick him and is coming again what they want to do is they want to kill him they want to get him outside of his protection and kill him, but they're lying and It says then I sent unto him saying there are no such things done as thou sayest But thou faintest them out of thine own heart for they all made us afraid saying their hands shall be weakened from the work That it be not done now therefore Oh God Strengthen my hands and sometimes rather Sean when you're out there, and you're you're you're doing the work And and you know you're being attacked by enemies You know sometimes you just need to pray to God to strengthen your hands because sometimes we get weak you know we are men and The flesh fails, but you know God can strengthen us and help us in our time of need turn to Acts 13 to Acts 13 to Acts 13 to says as they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the Work whereunto I have called them he didn't say for the play where I told him to go play He said for the work That we're into I've called them and just know this now that it's a lot of work being in the ministry It never ends, and if you don't like hard work then being in the ministry is not for you Final thing is the edifying the body of Christ this will be a quick one We'll be done here just a minute a few minutes here the edifying of the body of Christ What's the other reason why we need an evangelist? Well, we would need them for the edifying of the body of Christ look at 1st Corinthians chapter 14 verse number 3 1st Corinthians 14 verse number 3 and It says in 1st Corinthians 14 3 it says, but he that prophesies speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort yes, there's perfecting and sometimes that requires to get heavy on your preaching and hard preaching which works You know two-thirds negative one one part positive and the positive part is the edifying of the body of Christ now edification Is something that God calls us to do also it can't just always be negative They can't always be but just ripping on people and their sins we have to encourage people you know Encouragement is important because you know if everything's just negative all the time there's never any encouragement, then people are gonna get discouraged over that too, so Edification to the body of Christ is an important thing look at verse 5 It says I would that you all spake with tongues But rather that you prophesied or preached for greater is he that prophesyeth then he that speaketh with tongues Except he interpret that the church may receive what does it say there? Edifying what is that? What does it mean to edify it means to instruct or improve? morally or Intellectually and and really what it really means is to build up or strengthen someone morally So you want to build people up? You know you have you heard that you know I tear people down so I can build them back up again And that's kind of what negative preaching does is that you know you you preach a negative sermon to help people get sin out of Their lives, but then you also want to give them a solution you want to build that person back up I think that they use that in the military a lot, too Like you know they they break you down, and then they build you up and give you the skills that you need so But it's like that in church too, and if we're only being negative not being positive We got to still have that positive element to our preaching and encourage people Even because there's times that are gonna be rough It's not just enemies that are attacking us But the just the hardness of life comes up the hardness of child rearing the hardness of marriage The hardness of being single the hardness of you know just the world we live in is tough enough To always just have it be negative when we come to church is not Good for the people they need to have positive Reinforcement to a certain extent you know and I'm not saying we build safe spaces in our church or something like that This is the safe space. This is the safe space from the world all right This is where we have the Saints come in to get the preaching of God's Word to worship the Lord and to Pray and also to be built up in Christ So my conclusion is this is that Seattle is not getting the second-class preacher they're getting a man that his duty is to perfect the Saints by preaching teaching and training and leading by example Like I said pastors not better than evangelists. It's just a different position Brother Shawn has some specific strengths That I that I listed here. He has a great work ethic and he's from scratch Been very successful in the business world already and at his job. He's reliable He's faithful He's loyal He's a fearless preacher when it comes, and he knows when to preach things and when not to preach things but he's also fearless and We need that he's organized He's a proven leader and so wanting having led our Sunday so winning time for years now and That's the hardest time slot we have because it's when we have the most people here So we're definitely gonna miss you in that area You know, but he's trained other people to to lead in that area He loves Seattle in the area He has a vision to reach that whole area his wife and his children are willing to follow him They are in subjection and and he has read the Bible many times he read the Bible What was it? How many hours did it take you to read the Bible that one time? Yeah Eleven he read the whole New Testament in 11 hours. So that was just one time though. Oh You did it twice. Okay, well Shut my mind. I was good That's really good. I mean that's hard to do so but You know, he's read the Bible plenty of times he knows the Bible and I'm gonna have brother Shawn come on up here and I'm gonna ordain him to lead in the church in Seattle here All right, let's go ahead I'm gonna pray for you Dear Lord, we commend brother Shawn to the ministry as an evangelist to our church in Seattle I pray that Lord that you'd bless his life. You'd give him a special Anointing of the Holy Spirit that you would empower him to lead to preach to teach and to edify The body of Christ up there Lord, but also to preach the whole counsel of God I pray you'd help him to train people to to reach the people up there in Seattle Lord. It's such a Huge area such a huge task I pray you'd help him encourage him and that you'd encourage his wife and his children and Lord I pray that you'd help the people in Seattle to get around him rally around him and that you would rally Good men and good families around him and help him to do the work of an evangelist and help him as he Continues to do the ministry up there Pray Lord that you'd bless them in a very special way and Jesus name we pray. Amen All right, you're evangelist to Seattle brother Shawn Collin With that we'll close with a word of prayer, I don't think the pizza has gotten here yet, so we'll just mingle while we wait and then The other Jeremy can get those pictures going and such But let's pray order. Thank you so much for Brother Shawn Conlon and the fact that he would Be willing to go up to Seattle in such a hard place that nobody really wants to be sent up to and I just thank you Lord for answering my prayers about that that I've wanted someone to want to be there and Lead up there for a long time. I pray that you bless them in all The ways that you can Lord and help them encourage him keep him and pray that you just bless the rest of our day together the food the the soul wanting if we can get out there and The service to follow in Jesus name we pray. Amen Oh I don't know if you want the notes, but you can have them if you want Whoa, you got it done nice Let's uh Huh Do you need a dolly Let's put it We can put it Let's put it let's put it back there. Yeah, is it heavy? No Let's put that in the back room No, just in the storage area Hello I You And brace there's holy tide of Christmas all others doth he face Oh Tidings of comfort and joy comfort and joy Oh Tidings of comfort and joy. Amen. Good to see you brother bill. You want to close your prayer? You