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

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, everybody. If you guys could find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to song number 424. We're going to be singing Send the Light and welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church. If you guys could find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 424. We're going to be singing Send the Light. Song 424, Send the Light. Let's sing it together on that first verse. There's a call come ringing o'er the restless waves. Send the light, send the light. There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save. Send the light, send the light. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine from shore to shore. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine forevermore. We have heard the Macedonian call today. Send the light, send the light. And a golden offering at the cross we lay. Send the light, send the light. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine from shore to shore. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine forevermore. Let us pray that grace may everywhere abound. Send the light, send the light. And a Christ-like spirit everywhere be found. Send the light, send the light. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine from shore to shore. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine forevermore. Let us not grow weary in the work of love. Send the light, send the light. Let us gather jewels for a crown above. Send the light, send the light. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine from shore to shore. Send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine forevermore. Father Ramon, could you help us up in a word of prayer? Amen, our second song will be song number 370, Count Your Blessings. Song number 370, Count Your Blessings. Song number 370, let's sing it together on that first verse. When upon lice 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 a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy? You are called to bear. Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly. And 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 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. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church. And this is going to be my first service officially as the pastor. So I just wanted to welcome everybody and thank you for coming. We got a decent sized crowd here this morning. A good sized crowd actually. And so I'm your pastor, Pastor Thompson. And I'm the pastor also of Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington. And so I'm taking over for a time until we can get a man that can be ordained to permanently take over as the pastor for this church. So I'm kind of just helping out for now. And of course, if there's anything that I can do for you or if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer those questions for you. Let's go ahead and take our bulletins and look through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, just lift up your hand and one of the ushers can bring you a bulletin. And if you didn't get a communication card, we have some communication cards. And basically these are just to gather information so we have, if you have any questions or if you have a prayer request, or if you just want to give your information to be put in the bulletin so we can put birthdays and anniversaries in there. If you want to fill that out here, we're going to be a regular tenor of this church. And you want to have your, make sure your kid's birthday is recorded in here and you and yourself and your anniversary and things like that. Just fill this out. And when the ushers come by during the offering time, you can just put that in the offering. And if you, there's a part on here, if you have a prayer request and you can write that request and mark it private and I won't share that, you know, with other people. So if there's just something private that you want me to pray about, you put it on here. And on Wednesdays, we're trying to come up with a little plan to do, well, I think you always do prayer requests anyway, but we're trying to figure out a way where we can just streamline it a little bit. So be patient with us as we start to change things up a little bit. We're, we're putting some organization on things and so it might take a little time. I messed up on the bulletin too, so forgive me for that. But on the front cover of the bulletin, we have our verse of the week. It says Psalm, it's Psalm chapter 67 verse 4 says, Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. Selah. So that's a great scripture there. The Lord is faithful to us. Amen. And it's where I messed up is on that first page says thank you for joining Sure Foundation Baptist Church. This is Bible Believers Baptist Church. So we have a church plant in Seattle that's kind of sharing the same format and I didn't catch that. So I'm sorry about that. But welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church and our prayers that you'll be blessed with music and the preaching of God's word. And if you're a first time guest, like I said, fill out the guest, the communication card, drop it in the offering plate when it goes by. We can be of service to you. Please don't hesitate to ask. And Bible Believers Baptist Church is an independent Baptist Church. And we believe we're King James only. We're a soul winning church. We believe in salvation by faith alone. And we are family integrated. And I will set aside time after the service to answer any questions or spiritual matters. So feel free to come and talk to me. And we're going to be using a WhatsApp group to coordinate our soul winning locations and any bulletins that people need to know throughout the week. Technology can be used for good. So we already have a Bible Believers WhatsApp group. And I think that if you're if you go to this church, raise your hand if you are not in that group. OK, so you need to download the WhatsApp app on your phone, on your smartphone. Just type it in at the Google Play Store and then you can download it there. And once you download that app, then we can add you to the group. So you'll be caught up on everything that's going on also. And then, you know, wherever the soul winning locations are can be posted in there. The maps and things like that. So our service times are Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. And our service times in the evening are 3 30 p.m. And we'll have soul winning in between somewhere around 115, 130. I think we'll try to get that ironed out. And then on Wednesdays, the services, the Bible studies are going to be at 6 p.m. And so I'll be here. Brother Josh Taps can be preaching this Wednesday at 6 p.m. So hopefully everybody I just one thing I want to stress is if you can be here, please be here for the services. It's really encouraging for the people that are preaching. And, you know, for us to turn the page here, we're going to need to and like rebuild this church. We're going to have to have people be faithful to the services. So I'd appreciate it if you can make it to the Wednesday night services and all services. Please be here and show up. And it's encouraging to other people around you. And I'll cover that later on in the sermon today. But 6 p.m. is a prayer service and Bible study. So there is going to be Bible preaching on Wednesday nights. And we're a family integrated church. That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. We do have a mother baby room that's available for your convenience. And it's up those stairs and to the left where the fellowship room is there. There's a little room right there. And you can take your children there. And we're trying to make sure that nobody, no child above three years old is up in that room. But obviously sometimes you got a lot of kids. And, you know, just please don't let them go crazy in there. It's a small room. So we definitely, it's a training room. It's meant to take children out so that they're not disrupting the services. But also, you know, you can nurse your children and change their diapers and correct them or whatever you need to do. Right now we don't have any sound pump pumped in there. But if you have a smartphone, you can watch the sermon online on our YouTube page. And you can just pull it up on your smartphone. So if you're going back there, just be, just understand that right now we don't have anything in there. But we're going to get that taken care of as soon as possible. So, also please reserve the back roads for families with young children. The rockers are for pregnant or nursing mothers or elders only. And please help us keep the building the way we found it after we're done with the services. If there's anything that needs to be tossed in the trash or anything like that, we'd appreciate you doing that for us. And just leave it the way you found it type of thing. And if you would, please silence your cell phones at this time or place them on airplane mode. And we do have some ushers here. And they're the guys that have the pin on their vest or jacket that says Usher on it. And they're here to help. So if there's some assistance that you need, please don't hesitate to ask them. We do have coffee brewed up there, just so you know, after the service. And we have a lot of leftover Panda Express. So nobody has to really leave for lunch. You can just kind of heat up a plate or eat it cold. Just however you want to do it. But there's a lot left over from yesterday. So please don't hesitate to do that. But then again, let's please make sure we clean up our mess. We don't want to leave a disaster. We don't want to leave Hurricane Katrina for the people that clean the church to have to do. So anyway, we're going to have online donations coming soon. But we haven't quite got all that ironed out yet either. So the way you can give, if you want to give to the church, then you can just give through the ushering system. Or when we bring the plates around. So anyway, so let's see. You can see the stats on the other page there. The tithes and offerings that have come in so far or came in for last month. I believe that's the whole last month. I'm not 100% sure about that. But on the right, you can see where the salvation is. We haven't had any baptisms, I don't think, this year. But if you want to be baptized and you've never been baptized before, we've got a baptismal right here. It's got hot water that shoots right into it. We can fill it up at the end of the service and baptize you if you want to get baptized. Just please come to me. Or you can go to one of the ushers during the middle of the service and say I want to be baptized. And I don't even know if we have towels or anything. I've got to get some stuff together here. So forgive me for that. But we'll get all this stuff sorted out. But if you want to get baptized, I'll send someone down to Wal-Mart where we can get you something, some towels and things like that. And we'll get it done. So this is a Baptist church so you should expect to see baptism sometimes, right? So anyway, I know this is a long announcement here. But it's the first one so I just wanted to make sure that everything is covered here. We've had 47 salvations. We had eight salvations this week. We had six salvations yesterday. And it was pretty hot out there. But well done everybody. It wasn't exactly the most receptive area. But I mean for two hours, I mean we basically went for about two hours and it was like a hundred degrees or something. Or somewhere close to that. It felt like it anyway. And six salvations, that's pretty good. So let's pray for those people that got saved and hopefully they'll come to church and get baptized. So just because they didn't come to church, that doesn't mean that they didn't get saved. Anyway, if you look at the upcoming events, of course today is I'm preaching both services. And normally I'll be here on Wednesdays. So we're going to have people that are kind of filling the pulpit on the Sundays because I can't be here during all services. So some other upcoming announcements we have in Spokane. We have Pastor Steven Anderson preaching at Sure Foundation Baptist in Spokane, Washington at 6.30 p.m. And he's also preaching at our church, our home church in Vancouver, Washington at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday, July 20th. The Red Hot Preaching Conference, if you don't know what that is, well it's the best conference of the year usually in churches that we're friends with. And it really means what it says. It's hot there in Sacramento and it's also hot preaching. So it's designed to fire people up and the pastors that preach there are preaching something that is going to be challenging but also not something that you're going to hear on a regular Sunday normally. And then Pastor Jimenez will be preaching for us in Vancouver, Washington at 7 p.m. on July 28th. That's a Friday evening because that's our church's, Sure Foundation Baptist Church's five-year anniversary. And so we're going to have some cool stuff going on down there that weekend. We're going to have like a bounce house and a bull riding thing on Saturday. A mechanical bull, not a real bull. But the mechanical bull does some damage too. So just be careful. And we're going to have a barbecue that day. We're going to have some soul winning on that Saturday, the 29th, and then I believe the 30th we'll have. I'll be preaching there. And then Brother Wynn Fisher, he's an evangelist for our church in Surrey, B.C., will be preaching the evening service. So got a lot of stuff going on. There's a Toronto soul winning trip. If anybody's interested in going on that, you can get with me for the details. And if you look on the back, see how it says that birthdays and anniversaries are blank right there. But Brother CJ, that goes to our church, his anniversary is on the 6th. And me and my wife are celebrating our 23rd anniversary this coming week. So happy anniversary, honey. I love you. And I forgot to put our anniversary on there. At our other church, Rylan forgot to put my anniversary on there and I had to add it in. So it's added on at our home church. So anyway, but if you look at the upcoming preaching schedule, we got the preaching schedule covered all the way through the end of the month. And but on the 23rd, it's actually going to be Sean Conlon and then Robert Larson will be preaching on the 30th. So we had to switch that up, too. So and if it's your first time here, we're very thankful that you're here. And please let us know how we can be of service to you. If you're not if you're not 100 percent sure that you're going to heaven when you die, you're just you know, maybe you you believe in God, but you're just not sure that you're 100 percent you're not 100 percent sure that you're saved. Please come and speak with me or one of the ushers. I'm happy to show you how to how to know for sure that you're going to heaven. So don't leave here without knowing that because it's really important to know. I mean, it's probably the most it is the most important thing that you can know because it's it's either heaven or hell. And and so when we die, our chances are over to be saved. So it's important to know now and today whether you're going to heaven. So and again, if you need to be baptized, please come see me or the ushers. And that's all I have for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing another song and then we'll receive the offering. All right, going to turn your Bibles to Psalm 126. If you got your Bibles, flip to the middle of it, more likely turn to the Book of Psalms. We're going to be in Psalms 126. Psalm 126 When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them. The Lord had done great things for us. Where are we are glad? Turn again the captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. And they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them. The Lord had done great things for us. Where are we are glad? He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again. Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them. The Lord had done great things for us. Where are we are glad? All right, great singing this time. We'll do the offering. I just want to come forward. And Brother Cody, you want to bless the offering? Father, we just pray that you please bless the offering and the offeror, Lord. And we pray that you bless the soul winning and bless everybody that showed up. And we pray that you just keep your hand on this church and keep growing it, Lord. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, everybody. Could you please turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter five, please? Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five says, Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them, for ye are sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Alright, we are in Ephesians chapter number 5, and the title of the sermon this morning is The Needs of Bible Believers Baptist Church. The needs of Bible Believers Baptist Church. I thought I'd start off my first sermon for the church this morning, and just kind of go through some things that this church needs, and I did kind of pinpoint 11 things, but don't worry. If I need to, I can skip through some things, and I tried to just be light on scripture in every point, except for the first point, and I think this is a really important point. The first point is that at Bible Believers Baptist Church, we need men to step into the leadership roles that they've been assigned to by God, and that ladies do their God-given roles, and in reality, we just all need to obey our God-given authorities, because obviously the man is the head of the wife, and both the man and the wife are heads over their children, and so it's important for children to obey their parents, but everybody is underneath God. The man is under Christ, and Christ is under God according to the scriptures here. So let's look at verse number 1 where the Bible reads, Be therefore followers of God as dear children. So really the important part of this whole chapter, what Paul's trying to explain to people is that we need to be followers of God, and when we're following the authorities in our life, we are following the structure that God set up for our lives, and really in this world now, it's so topsy-turvy, so weird that people are just kind of doing what's right in their own eyes, but as God's people and as Christians, we should show people what God expects from us, and we should be able to show forth our life. When we all walked in here, everybody looked fairly normal, but when you go out into the world, you're not going to see so much normal things anymore. I'm so glad that Pride Month is over. We're going to celebrate freedom here today, freedom from Pride Month anyway, but look at verse 22 where the Bible says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. So what is the Bible? I mean, if you believe the Bible is true, these should not ruffle your feathers, ladies. This is what God wants from you, and we should do what God wants, right? You know, just as we're supposed to, we are supposed to follow the government as long as they're not telling us to sin. So if they say have an abortion, don't have an abortion, but if they're saying, hey, go murder someone, it's okay to murder, it's not okay to murder. So we're supposed to follow God, but he put us under a government, and obviously our government is not perfect by a long shot. We're led by someone supposedly led by this person who can't even put a full sentence structure together. So, you know, we're in deep trouble in this country, and we're the laughing stock of the world right now, and yet we're paying everybody's bills in the world too at the same time. It's kind of a weird thing, right? So, but God expects us to follow him and the structures that he's put forth in our life, and it says here in verse 22, wives submit yourselves to your own husbands. Now notice how it says your own husbands. Let's see, in this world that we live in, people want to say that marriages are 50-50. That's not what God says. He says that wives are supposed to submit to their husbands. What does that mean? He's the boss. You do what he says. And now obviously if your husband's telling you to sin, you don't have to do that. If your husband's saying don't go to church, you don't have to obey that, because you're supposed to obey God first, and then of course then your husband is your head there. But see how it says, as unto the Lord? So however you're following the Lord, you're going to show forth how much you're following the Lord in your marriage relationship. If you're not following your husband, that just shows how much disdain you probably have for God also in certain areas. So we need to get these things right in the church and have normal God-fearing church families in this church where the wife isn't hen-pecking her husband before every church service and yelling at him in the car, and you know, whatever. I mean it happens, but it's been known to happen, I'm sure. But this is not what God wants. We had a meeting here a couple weeks ago and someone said, well do you just think that men are better than women? I don't think that at all. I just think that God has a system designed to make things work the best. And it actually does go back to the curse, and we'll go there in just a few minutes, but look what it says for the husband. It says for the husband is the head of the wife. Even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. So Christ is the head of the church, but he's also the head of the man. And so the man's responsibility is to make sure that his house is run properly. And so it says in verse 24, therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. And you're like, well you're just focusing on the wives right now. Well I mean God's focusing on them right now, isn't he? In this chapter here. So it says, so let the wives be to their own husbands in some things. Does it say some things? Whenever you feel like it, unless you disagree. No, it says in all things, in everything, right? And that's not a popular message today. People get upset about this kind of stuff, but that's what the Bible says. So like it or lump it, you're in Bible believers Baptist church. So I hope that you actually believe what the Bible says today. I'm going to have fun with that. So anyway, it says in verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. So we are supposed to love our wives and give our very lives for our wives if it was necessary. And Christ, didn't he give his life for all of us so that we could be saved? And he did, so we're supposed to give our lives to our wives also. And you know, so that's, you know, we don't just get to get off the hook. What does loving our wives entail? It means really loving them, not just saying I love you, but actually showing them that you love them. And obviously we're imperfect, right? Men and women are imperfect, we're sinful, and we're not always going to get it right. But when you're getting it wrong and you know you've gotten it wrong, that's when it's time to apologize and make things right. Either one, right? And so we are to be subject unto the powers. Look at 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. 1 Corinthians 11, verse number 1. So in Romans chapter 13, it tells us to be subject unto the powers. It's because those powers are from God. I'm not going to go there, but we are supposed to obey the government, you know, to a certain extent, right? Unless it's telling us to sin. So look what it says in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. So people say, well, you're just following a man. Well, isn't this the apostle Paul? Did he say be followers of me? So is Paul a man? Yeah, so he says, even as I also am of Christ. So he's saying, if I'm following Christ, then don't be afraid to follow me because I'm following, you know, the one that I'm supposed to. So there is God-given leadership in churches, and the apostle Paul is saying, hey, don't be afraid to follow me. You know, and the apostle Paul wrote these letters to correct people, to help people, to exhort people, to rebuke people sometimes, to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. And the apostle Paul wrote over half the New Testament, and God allowed him to do that for a reason because he was a great man of God. But here he is saying, be followers of me, even as I am of Christ. So the pastor, we live in a pastor-led church, and so that was a problem for some people that were going here. But this isn't, you know, God bless America Baptist Church. This is the local New Testament church, and we're going to go by the authority structure that God put in place, not the authority structure that America put in place. Okay, this is not American flag Baptist Church. Now, I'm not saying, you know, spit on the flag or burn the flag or anything like that, but, you know, it's really hard for God to bless America when all these demonic things are going on in our country. We lead the world in STDs. We lead the world in wickedness in all multiple types of categories. This country is a far cry from what it used to be. And so it's hard for me to want to, you know, put a flag in the corner of this church when that flag represents something that's not good. Now, I'm not saying don't obey the speed limit or don't obey, you know, the laws of the land, but, you know, there's so many laws that there's no possible way you could ever possibly even follow every single one. Do you know every law, every federal law, every state law, every local ordinance? You probably don't, but, you know, and a lot of those things are stupid anyway, but, you know, we're supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but we're actually bogged down by a whole bunch of laws and rules that are just, some of them are just plain ridiculous. And then when you have police that don't even want to enforce the law, you know, which is what's been going on for the last few years now, it's really hard to respect, you know, a nation that's letting, you know, these freaks take over our country, letting all these different protests take place, you know, fining churches millions of dollars for having services during COVID, and then letting people rampage the streets of Portland, Oregon for 100 and something days straight and throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers and stuff. It's just really hard, but, you know, I mean, I kind of just went off on that a little bit just because it's, you know, it's tough to follow something that is so wicked, but where we can follow the rule of law, we should follow the rule of law. Now look at verse 13 in the same passage that I had you turn to. It says, but I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. See, that's the structure for the family. That's what we should be following, but when it comes to the pastor of the church, the pastor is the head, not the head, but the under shepherd under Christ that is supposed to rule the church and the word rule when it comes to talking like Hebrews chapter 13 talks about the person that rules the church three different times in that chapter. Now, I'm a benevolent dictator, okay. I'm not here to just be Omar Gaddafi or, you know, some dictator that just, you know, some warlord dictator or something. A benevolent dictator is just someone who's the boss, but also cares about the people and benevolence is helping and loving and all that stuff. So, but there also has to be someone that says no. You know, something's going on in the church that it's not supposed to be going on. I have the right to say no, we're not doing that anymore or no, you're not going to preach that. No, you're not going to teach that to other people. No, you're not going to dress like that. No, you're not going to, you know, there's just certain things that me as the pastor, I'm supposed to enforce what the Bible says. And so, if the Bible says it, that's what we're trying to do here, you know, and obviously I'm not going to be perfect either and I'm going to make mistakes up here while I'm preaching. I'm going to make mistakes in judgment from time to time, but that doesn't mean that everybody has the rule in the church because when the mob rules, we see what happens out in the world when the mob rules. They're throwing things at cops. They're burning buildings down. That's not what we want. Tell me in the Bible where Moses asked the people for permission to do something. No, God spoke to Moses. Moses spoke the words to the people. And whenever the people just like said, well, we're just going to rebel, what happened? Well, God would curse them. God would send snakes to bite them or, you know, He would kill them sometimes. And so, I'm just saying, you know, I'm not saying, hey, do what I say or God's going to kill you. I'm just saying that there's an authority structure in this church for a reason. And I'm not here to just downplay women and just men are the only people that are important, but there's a certain structure in this church that's going to take place. And God, He assigned men to be leaders of the home, but He also assigned men to be leaders in the church. And so, you know, I think that ladies can do plenty of things in the church, but getting up and preaching isn't one of them. You know, being leaders in the home, that's not one of them. So, we have to go by what the Bible says. Now, look at Genesis chapter 3 verse 16. Genesis chapter 3 verse 16. And this is kind of where it all went down. Hill. And it wasn't very far into the Bible. Genesis, in case you didn't know, is the first book of the Bible. And in the third chapter, they've already gone bad, right? They've already chosen to do, the one thing that God asked them not to do, that's what they did. They ate from the tree of the fruit, or the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's the only thing He said not to do. And that's what they did. That's just how we are, isn't it? Don't touch that. What? What? That? I mean, it's just how we are, you know? You tell a kid, don't touch that light socket, they're going to go like, right for it, you know? It's just how people are. But obviously, they were not sinful at that time, but Satan beguiled Eve. Now, it says in Genesis 3 verse 16, this is the most hated feminist verse right here, unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow, thou shall bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. What did God declare from the very beginning? Because of what Eve did, that is what the natural order of things is from that time on. So it says that thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. What does that mean? That he's the boss, right? Now look what it says in verse 17. Adam didn't get to get out of it, because you know, Adam knew better and still aided anyway. And I don't know if he just did that because he knew his wife, you know, was going to suffer a punishment that, you know, sometimes men just do dumb things because it's things that their wives do. So this is a good lesson for us here, but it says, and unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, see, he did what she said, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face, thou shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it thou wast thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. So what is the curse of the man? That he's going to go out and work, and it's going to be hard, and it's going to be sweaty. And it says, but from the sweat of thy face. So what is man's responsibility in the home? Well, he's supposed to go out and work and bring home the money. And for the wives, they're supposed to be at home and guide the house and raise the children. And that's what the Bible teaches, folks. Look at 1 Timothy, chapter 5, verse 14. You're like, well, I've never heard this before. Well, welcome to a Baptist church. I mean, I know a lot of people in here have heard this before, so it shouldn't be a big surprise. But what does Bible believers, Baptist church need? Well, we need families that are going to be in the right structure. We need to understand that we are under God and we are supposed to obey Him and we're supposed to obey our spiritual and carnal authorities as well. Look at 1 Timothy, chapter 5, verse 14. It says, I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some have already turned aside after Satan. So what does God want from the women? He wants them to marry and bear children and guide the house. And here's the thing. That's not some slight against women. You have a great responsibility. I'm going to preach about this later on today in more detail, but you have a responsibility that God has placed upon you that is the best job that you could possibly do because God wants your children to be saved. And if you send them off to the devil's babysitter, you send them off to public school where they're teaching children as early as kindergarten that you might be a woman if they're a little boy. You might be a woman. Hey, and being gay is this. Why are we teaching that to our kids in school? Why is that happening? Why is that being allowed? Because this world is wicked and the devil wants to put our children's mind at a very early age to defy God and to give up on God and to not believe in God. I mean, what's the first thing that they, the first books you learn about dinosaurs, what's it say? 65 million years ago. Right then from the very start, they're telling you that the world is older than it really is, that dinosaurs didn't live when man did, and yes, they did. They find footprints were in the same, you know, strata where man is walking next to dinosaurs. How do you explain that? Well, they're going to try to explain it. Look, dinosaurs were just big lizards that lived with Adam and Eve and then when they all went on, you know, they, yeah, they went on the ark. But are there still dragons today? Are there still what we consider dinosaurs today? Well, have you seen a saltwater crocodile before? I mean, they're pretty gruesome looking, aren't they? And they're man eaters, they're really scary creatures. But how about a Komodo dragon? Yeah, are there still dragons around today? That's what the Bible calls them as dragons. But from the very get-go, you're going to be lied to. Look, Komodo dragons, they're scary too. Like, I was just watching some videos about them last week and I was just like, man, those things are vicious. If they bite you, they poison you. And then as you slowly die from the poison, then they just come and eat you while you're still alive. I mean, and they can eat like whole big animals. They just kind of gulp them down their throats. And, you know, so are there still dragons in the earth today? Yes, there are. But all the big ones are gone. Man hunted them to extinction. They probably didn't get as big after Noah's Ark, after the flood and all that stuff, so I don't have time to get into that. But, I mean, just from the very get-go, we're lied to in books, in public school, and now they're letting all this queer stuff into our church. I mean, well, people are letting it into their church too, which is really weird. But they're also, you know, they're letting it into schools. You know, these TikTok videos make me sick where I see these freaks that are like, I'm a lesbian and I taught my four-year-olds in my preschool class that I was a lesbian and that they could be on too. It's just like, what in the world are you talking about? Like, how is this going on in America? And people are just putting up with it. And people are going to their school boards and they're like, we don't want you to do this anymore. How about you just take your kid out of public school? So, you know, we have a big battle on our hands. We're fighting the world. We're fighting the system. We're fighting, you know, we're fighting the government in some ways. And we're fighting, like, we can't go anywhere without being bombarded by satanic things and things that just influence our minds. I mean, even commercials. You know, what are they designed to do? They're designed to grab your attention so you'll want to buy something. And a lot of the things that they're selling today are not stuff that you should want to buy. Let me move on to number two because that was the longest point, though. I promise. But anyway, so what do we need at Bible Believers Baptist Church? Well, we need families to be normal Christian families. We also need men to learn to preach the word of God. This is something that we need at this church because, again, I can't be here at every service. So if you're a man, then you can preach. I mean, it's just that simple. You're like, well, I don't think so. Well, let's look at Numbers chapter 11, 25. Let's see what the Bible says about that. Paul said covet to prophesy. That's the biggest thing that we can do is covet to prophesy. You know, people, we're supposed to have, you know, people talk about their gifts. And the gift of preaching is never, it never seems to be the one that people want. It's always the discernment of spirits or something. Yeah, well, I discerned this was going on. It's like, well, I have the gift of tongues, and then they're rolling on the floor and barking like a dog. That's not the gift of tongues, folks. But anyway, that's another sermon. So leading each other around on leashes, and people walk into churches and see that kind of stuff going on. They're probably just like, what in the world is this? You know, it's just insane. But anyway, Numbers 11, 25, the Bible says, And the Lord came down in a cloud and spake unto him and took of the spirit that was upon him and gave it unto the seventy elders. And it came to pass that when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. So these seventy elders that Moses had to help him, you know, with the daily chores and tasks of things, God put the spirit, part of Moses' spirit upon them. They prophesied and they didn't stop preaching. So prophesy doesn't mean that they're telling the future. Prophesy just means to preach. It can mean telling the future, but mainly what it's saying is they preached. And there remained two of the men in the camp and the name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other was Medad. And the spirit rested upon them and they were of them that were written, but went not out to the tabernacle and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man and told Moses, said Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My Lord Moses forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Envious thou for my sake, would God that all the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would put his spirit upon them. So what's Moses saying? Don't be envious about these guys. They're preaching the word of God. Like why are you trying to get me to stop them? And so my point to you would be, well if God's will is for everybody to be a prophet and to everybody have the spirit of God upon them. Well guess what? If you're a Christian today, in the New Testament, everybody has the spirit of God upon them. And yes, women can preach too, but just not in the pulpit. They can preach at the door. They can preach to other family members. They can preach in different situations, but that is not something that is going to be happening at church. So there's other verses that talk about that. I just don't have time to get into it. But men, we need men that are willing to step up and learn how to preach and fill in where necessary. Number three, serve the church in the carnal things. We need people at Bible Believers Baptist Church to be willing to serve church in the carnal things. And they're like, well, you know, what do you mean by that? Well, I mean cleaning. I mean yard care. I mean, you know, cleaning the bathrooms. I mean straightening up the pews. I mean, you know, just the carnal things, the things that need to be done. Because if people walk in here and it looks like, like I said, like Hurricane Katrina hit, then people are going to be like, you know, first impression, have you ever heard this term, the first impression is everything? Well, when people walk into this church, I want them to see that everything's done decently in order, everything's clean, everything's tidy, and that it looks nice. And so we need people that are going to be willing to step up and do these carnal things, these tasks that need to be done, the dusting, the washing, the cleaning, the cleaning the cups, whatever it needs to be done. And so we need some people that are willing to serve in those things. Well, yeah, it's not preaching. Yeah, it's not the things that people would think that God finds value in, but you know what, God finds value in that. He looks down and maybe you don't, maybe someone isn't patting you on the back every time you do something around here, but you know who he is? God. He's like, good job. Is that a fellow? Yeah, good boy. Good girl or whatever. He cares. You know, when we do things for him, he knows that we're doing it for him. So don't do things around here to be seen of men and to get the praises of men upon you. Do it because we're working for the Lord Jesus Christ and he values what we do. So, and if I don't thank you about everything you do, you know, sometimes I forget. Sometimes you forget to thank me for stuff, but it doesn't matter. Who are we doing things for? We're doing it for God. So we need people that will be willing to step up, and the Bible says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. So let's do things, you know, if we know who we're working for, let's do it with all that we got. Look at Colossians 3.23. Colossians 3.23. And the Bible teaches this concept that, you know, yeah, you might be doing things, you think you're doing it for the pastor, you think you're doing it for somebody else in the church, but in reality, you're doing these things for the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Colossians 3.23, it says, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. See how it says not unto men? Who are you doing it for? You're doing it for the Lord. It says, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. So are you going to get rewards for cleaning the church? Yes, you will. It says, for ye serve the Lord Christ. And people pull up to this church and it's all in disarray, and you know, sometimes it's going to be in between services and things like that. I get that. Where there is no ox, the stall is clean, right? You know, we got a lot of ox working in here, and we got a lot of, you know, this is a working church. So yeah, things are going to get messed up from time to time. They're going to get messed up all the time. And I'll just say, well, I just cleaned the church last week. It needs to be cleaned every day, every week. Every week is a necessary thing for the church to be clean. And you know, because we got a lot of oxen in here, working and doing things for the Lord. Now don't be offended I called you oxen. It's just a figure of speech, okay? It's just a power animal that shows it's a working type of animal, right? We're not animals. We're human beings. But we also are supposed to be workers for the Lord. It says, when we do things, do it hardly. Do it with all your heart, and do it as unto the Lord and not unto men. Now number four, we need ushers that are professional and on time and helpful. So let's look at Psalm chapter 84 verse 10. Psalm chapter 84 verse 10. I realize we're going to a lot of verses, but welcome to, once again, Bible believers Baptist church. We base on everything that we believe on the Bible. So I'm not getting up here telling you poems and sad stories and trying to make you cry and come up to the altar that we took out of here. I'm not trying to do that. I'm trying to help you to just apply the word of God in your heart and in your life. The Holy Spirit is the one that, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of God is in his words. So if you're feeling bad about things that I say, it's not me making you feel bad. That's God making you feel bad. So fix whatever he's working on you on. Don't get mad, because you're not getting mad at me. You're getting mad at God. So which is just kind of weird, you know? But people take things out on me all the time. Well, you're preaching this stuff. I'm preaching what the Bible says. Everything's controversial in the Bible now. Pretty much everything I've brought up is controversial, isn't it? Well, you're telling me that I should just work in the church? Yeah, work in the church. Work is controversial today. I mean, we put a fence, you know, so people can't go in our, you know, these hobos can't go in our back area and just live underneath our stuff and shoot drugs and leave their garbage all over the place. And you know what's magically taking place? It's not magic, but you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I should just quit saying that word. But you know what's happened? They're too lazy to climb the fence to go back there to do what they were doing before. So they just found someplace else to go. I mean, that's just how it works. And so it worked. I didn't have to put barbed wire or electricity up or anything. Anyway, so Psalm chapter 84 verse 10, the Bible says, For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. So, and I don't think being a doorkeeper in the house of God is a bad thing at all. I mean, I think it's pretty cool. You get to greet people. You get to get to know people. And you get to serve God, you know, helping serve other people, loving other people, and caring about other people. And, you know, being an usher isn't, you know, you're like, well, where's usher at in the Bible? Well, you know, doorkeeper's in the Bible, isn't it? Well, if you want to be called doorkeeper, we can change the buttons. I'll try to get some custom ones made. But essentially, that's what that is, though. A doorkeeper is someone that keeps the door, makes sure that the good people come in and the bad people stay out. And you're greeting, you're welcoming people. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8, because this is something that we should be doing. We should be hospitable. We should be, people that come to this church should be greeted with a smile and a handshake or a fist bump or whatever, if a cold, the COVID's going around or whatever. But, you know, we should be, you know, nice to people when they come to our church. I don't want cliques forming in this church where, you know, some people are sitting over here, some people are sitting over here. You know, we're one big team here, and I want everybody to get along as best as we possibly can. Even if you don't like someone at this church, you don't have to be their best friend, but at least can you shake their hand and smile and say hi? I mean, that's just what we should be like. Anyway, look at 1 Peter 4, 8 says, And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves. Now, charity is a word that means love. It's like, you know, brotherly love or whatever. And have fervent charity. That means you should love people with like a passion. You know, like, hey brother, how's it going? Like, you really mean what you're saying. You really care about those people. Because look, we're people with problems. Everybody in this room has a problem today. And I'm sure everybody has a burden today in some area of their life. You know, we're supposed to share our burdens with each other. We're supposed to help one another. We're supposed to pray for one another. We're supposed to help out people even monetarily if we can when they're down and out. And look what it says in verse 9. Use hospitality. Oh, excuse me, I didn't finish the verse there. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves. For charity shall cover a multitude of sins. And you're like, well, you're saying that love covers a multitude of sins? Well, didn't Jesus' love for us cover all of our sins? But when we are charitable towards others, you know, maybe God's going to say, well, you know, I know you screwed up on this thing. I'm going to give you some mercy. I'm going to give you some long suffering. And I'm going to, you know, I'm going to cover those sins. You know, and God covers all of our sins. So, but what I'm saying is that if we are good to other people, you know, charity is going out and loving our brothers and, you know, loving people in the neighborhood and loving people in the area and sharing the gospel with them even though they're total strangers. And people say, well, you're just saying I can just go sin all week and then go soul winning and then God just covers all my sins? Well, it says that charity shall cover a multitude of sins. I mean, I'm not saying that you should do that. I'm just saying that God does give us mercy when we're loving towards other people. You know, and God's going to give us mercy when we love other people. That's just how it is. So, look at verse 9. It says, use hospitality one to another without grudging. So, when you're greeting people at the door, doorkeepers or ushers or whatever you want to be called, then when it says we're using hospitality, we're treating people good. Hey, the coffee pot's up there. The mother baby room's over there. And, you know, one usher can show a new family around the church and show them kind of the ropes and how things work and take the time, spend some time. How did you hear about our church? And this is how I want the ushers to be. I want them to be professional, dress professional. And you're like, well, what do you mean? Like, we just shouldn't, you know, what about my Hawaiian shirt and my flip-flops and my shorts? Well, that's just, you know, is that professional or is that like you're on vacation? And I'm not against those things. I'm just against them for church because what do I want people to see when they walk in? I want people to see a well-organized, well-maintained church with a professional usher ministry. So, number 5 is soul winners. This church needs soul winners. Soul winners. Bible Believers Baptist Church needs people to go out once a week and care for the lost. Now, look at Romans chapter 10 verse 13. Romans chapter 10 verse 13. And, you know, God didn't make this church to become a country club, a social club. And even though being social with each other is a good thing, that's fine. You know, we love the fellowship of this church and, you know, that's a good thing. That's what God wants us to fellowship and care about each other. But He also wants us to care about other people. Look at Romans 10 verse 13. It says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So, whosoever means anyone. So, when we go out, there's going to be a time where we're going to have people to get saved. We go knock doors. Look, we went and knocked doors yesterday. People got saved. The gospel's not lost its power. This is how God designed four churches to grow. He wants us to go out and reach the lost and get people saved. Now, are all those people, are any of those six people here today that got saved yesterday? No. Like, well, it doesn't really work then. If they didn't come to church, they're not really saved. That's not true. That's not true. Jesus had, at the end when Jesus went back up to heaven, there was only like 126 people in church service that next Sunday. Out of the thousands, you know, would you say that Jesus got thousands of people saved while he was on this earth? Of course he did. And there's only 126 in church. Well, I should just tell you that not everybody that gets saved goes to church. Or maybe their families, they tell their family members, hey, I got saved. And they're like, well, hey, come to our church. And then they go to some other church. You know, those things happen. And if it's a kid, do you think that they're just going to, you know, find a way to hitchhike a ride to the church or something? Like, their parents are probably like, no, we're not going to that church. But that person's still saved. That kid's still saved. Those people are still saved. And so we need to go out. If you want this church to grow, if you want this church to be a great church, soul-willing is the main thing that we promote at this church. Look at what it says. So, again, it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So, people are going to get saved if we go out and preach the gospel. It says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him who they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? How are they going to hear? And it's not this preacher. You know, a lot of churches are designed to say, hey, go invite someone to church this week. And then the pastor, every 11 o'clock service, preaches a gospel message. Well, everybody in here pretty much is saved already. So, do you need to hear a salvation message every single Sunday at 11 o'clock? No, but that's what these churches are doing. That's what independent Baptist churches are doing for the most part. This is a church for saved people. And obviously, we want unsafe people to come here. We want them to hear the gospel and get saved. But our main focus of being a church is to edify the brethren, to teach and preach the Bible. And if people get saved as a result, that's great. But our mission to go out and reach the lost is to go outside of our church, go outside of our homes, and how are we going to reach people? Well, we got to go to their house. And people get upset about that. But God has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise. And people don't like door-to-door salesmen. We're not salesmen. We're giving people something for free. We're not soliciting. We're giving something for free. It's the best gift that you could ever give someone, and that's the gift of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. But how are they going to hear if nobody's preaching? So, just think about this. If you're here today and you haven't, you're not going sowing on a regular basis, then you're minimizing our ability to get other people saved. So, I'm not saying go to every single time that we have, necessarily, but I think only right now we have our in-between service on Sunday. And then do you guys go sowing on a different time, Brother Cody? Yeah. No, not lately. Okay. But as we continue to grow our sowing program here, there's going to be other opportunities. Maybe you can't go Sunday between services, but can you go on a different day if we have sowing? And so, we want to get the sowing program going and just going strong. And even if it's just once a week that you go, hey, at least you're going once a week. And you're loving people, and what are you teaching? Well, you're teaching your children that you love other people. Your children also are learning lessons on how to not be. Your family is different than this family, and it shows that as a Christian you have a better life than some people do have out there. It teaches your children to love people, because some of the people that we go to aren't exactly living right, and some people are living really wrong. And they get saved and praise God. But it says, And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. So, God thinks your feet are beautiful. I don't think they are, but God does. And He says your feet are beautiful. When? When you go and preach the gospel. When you go and love other people. And again, what is the concept here? It's not bring them here. Why is He talking about feet? Because your feet have to walk to go from place to place. And that's how He wants us to do it daily and in every house. They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Those are the early apostles. Look at what it says in verse 16, But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But if they never hear the word of God, they're not going to get saved. Do you think that they're just by, you know, they're going to turn on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and get saved by one of those bozos? It's not going to happen. They don't have salvation. These TV preachers and these radio preachers are preaching a false gospel, a false works gospel. We have the true message. The true message is what? Salvation is by faith alone. Once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then He saves you. And how long has He saved you for? For all eternity. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever, that means anyone, believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The gospel is simple. Being saved is easy. Yes, we believe in easy believism. You know, mark it down, write it in a calendar, take a picture of it, take some video. Yeah, we believe that. We believe in easy believism because that's all it takes to be saved is simple faith, childlike faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what saves us. And the Bible says, He that win his souls is wise. You want to be wise? Well, go out and win some souls. And you know what? You have eternal rewards. And the greatest thing of all is that when we get to heaven, those people that we led to Christ are going to be very happy that we got them there. And it's going to be a great reunion when we're all together in heaven someday and, you know, we've had multiple people saved. But if you're a Christian today, you've never got someone saved, well, you know what? We have a training program. We'll implement this training program to teach you how to go soul winning. And we're not going to use raid comfort gimmicks, you know, and then he never gets anybody saved and all this other stuff. You know, we don't believe in lordship salvation here. We don't believe in repent of your sins. That kind of stuff is garbage. Raid comfort's a devil. And we're not going to use some kind of gimmick to try to get people saved. It's just the pure, clean water of the gospel. It's crystal clear. But if you start throwing works in it and all this other stuff, it muddies it up, doesn't it? And we're not muddying up the gospel. We're going to be very clear about it. And it's important for us to go out soul winning. What does Bible Believers Baptist Church need? We need some soul winners. We need some people that will be trained and go out. And yeah, it's hot. And yeah, it's cold in the winter time. I mean, so when's your perfect time there, cupcake? You know, when's your perfect time, buttercup? Put on some gloves, put on a warm coat, and get out there. And, you know, if it's summertime, which it is now, I mean, it's only going to be 90 today. Well, it's not as hot as it was yesterday. So get out there. And you're not going to melt snowflake. You'll be fine. You know, just drink some water, drink some Gatorade or whatever. And you'll be fine. And you'll live. So, but God needs us to get out there, and it's not easy. Soul winning's not easy. You know, sometimes the fish are jumping in the boat, and it's nice and easy, but it's not always like that. It can be hard. It can be difficult. So, and it can be heartbreaking. When people don't get saved, it can be heartbreaking. And you're like, you just got them right there, and they don't want to pray. You got them right there. They're in some kind of cult. You know, people are going around trying to say, I'm trying to say we're a cult all over this town right now. But I'm just like, how culty is it to believe in salvation by faith alone? Is that culty? I'm not saying believe in me. I'm not Jesus. That's what cult leaders do. They eventually say they're Jesus. And hey, you know, just divorce, you know, wives divorce your husbands, and then I'm their new husband, and I have all these wives or whatever. That's what David Koresh did. And people will allow them to marry their teenage daughters and stuff. That's a cult. This is not a cult. You can leave any time you want. And in fact, if you're causing problems, get out. Go cause problems someplace else. That's not what cult leaders do. They're like, no, stay, drink the Kool-Aid. You know, that's what cults do. Our mission is mission Jesus. Our mission is to, you know, commit, you know, fulfill the great commission that Jesus Christ has committed to us. We're supposed to go out and preach the gospel. We're supposed to get people saved. We're supposed to bring them into church and baptize them and to teach them the Bible. Oh, it's so culty. That's what the Bible says, folks. If you want to call that a cult, well, you're calling Jesus a cult leader then. But that's what we believe. And you're like, well, it's because you preach hard against the homosexuals. It's like, yeah, they're weird. Do you want to be around them? Do you want them around your children? What's so culty about that? Look, you open the door to the closet and they came out. And now look what they're doing. Why is it that when they have a parade, it has to be them dressed in leather garb and these weird things, you know, gyrating and pulsating and all this weird stuff that they're doing and then people are bringing their kids and making them watch this stuff. It's like, how is that? You're telling me I'm a cult member because I believe that that's weird? No, you're weird. You're brainwashed. You're a brainwashed idiot if you believe that. Quit letting television and the news rule your brain because you know what they're saying on the news? They're not saying all the truth on the news. You know how you know that someone on the news is lying? They open their mouth. You know how you know the newspaper is lying? They write something in a column. They're not being honest with you. They never have been. I mean, the former president was lied about and look, I'm not sticking up for him but all that stuff was just not true. The whole Russia, Russia, Russia and all that stuff. Not true. And is Hillary Clinton in jail for that? No. I mean, look, we're seeing a dog and pony show. They're showing us a play. It's like a never-ending Shakespeare play going on where the people are just weird. People are so focused. Christians are so focused on all that stuff that they're not focused on this stuff. And that's what we need to focus on. If someone calls you a cult member for going to this church because you go out and preach the gospel or because you believe the Bible is true then that's just bizarre. Who cares what they say? And if they say that we're a cult member because we don't like homos or whatever it's like, nobody likes them. They have to pass laws for people to like them. Literally, nobody likes them. And you're like, well, I've got a cousin. Who cares? Your cousin is a weirdo. Your cousin is a reprobate. Well, I've got a sister. Look, Jesus said that if you love father or mother more than me, you're not worthy of me. So father or mother are about the closest things you can get to and your brothers and sisters. But if one of them turns out to be some kind of weirdo, I mean, I don't think you should have anything to do with them. Well, now I know you're a cult leader. Why? Because you don't want your kids to be molested by I don't want your kids to be molested by one of your family members. I mean, do you think that family members molest kids? Does it happen? I'm sure there's people in a room this size that know people or were in some way, shape, or form by family members. Just because they're a family member doesn't mean that you have all loyalty to them. You know who we should have loyalty to? God. You know who we should have loyalty to? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's who we should have loyalty to. And you know what? If our families hate us because we want to follow and serve Christ, then Jesus said I didn't come to bring peace but a sword. And what he means by that is he came to cause division between family members. And it's not like he wants you to hate your family members or your family members to hate you. It's a natural process that ends up happening. You start going to church, you clean up your life, you know, you get saved or whatever, and you're going to church, you're walking to church, wearing normal clothes, acting normal, talking normal, your family's normal, even your dog's normal, and everything is just changing in your life. Because I mean think back when you first got saved what your life was like before that. And now think to what your life is like now. Is it perfect? Maybe not. But you know it's a lot better than it used to be. And then your family members see that and they're like, you're in a cult. You know, you were on drugs and you were drinking and you know doing all this stuff before but I preferred you when you were drunk. I preferred you when you were doing drugs. It's like, no you didn't. You were heartbroken because your children were going the wrong way or whatever. And it's just like I don't, but that's the difference. That's the separation between the world and between Christians. It just naturally happens and you don't want to. And some people, I'm not saying get rid of your family members but they're going to get rid of you. Eventually they're going to say, you're in a cult, you're this, you're that because you're choosing to serve Christ with your life. I mean, God wrote a big book for us so that we could know what he wants from us, right? And then you start doing it and they're like, you're in a cult. It's like, no, I love God. I don't love drinking anymore and waking up hungover after I was at the bar all night and let somebody babysit my kids that I don't even know. You know what I mean? It's just like people just have a weird way of thinking about things. And it's so funny because even in my own family, it's like my own family prefers certain people that are still doing drugs, still living wrong and they'll dote on that person and love that person more than they love the person that used to be really bad and now has changed their lives and God's changed their lives and they're like, well, yeah, you're just, you're extreme. It's like, they just don't care. It's just, it's strange to me. But anyway, I got to move on here. So getting people saved is important. So look at, let's see, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 6. 2 Corinthians 9, 6. So what does Bible Believers Baptist Church need? We need givers. We need givers. And you're like, yeah, I knew it. I knew it was coming, the tithing part. You cheapskate. Put your wine in. I'd tithe. You know, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. But I'm not just talking about givers of money. I'm talking about givers of talents. Now God doesn't just want your money. He wants your time and He wants your talent. So look at 2 Corinthians 9, 6. It says, But as I say, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. What's he saying? He's saying if you're a giving person, then more is going to be given back to you. Alright, that's the reaping and sowing principle there. But it says, Every man according as he purposeeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Now in the context of this, it's not talking about tithing. It's talking about just helping people out, giving to the saints, giving to people that are less fortunate than you. And it says, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. So he's trying to help us here and just say, Quit being a cheapskate. Help people out. Be nice to other people. You know, if you have to give to help somebody out, that's a good thing. And you're like, Well, that person turned out to be bad. Well, so what? You didn't give it to them because you thought they were good. You gave it to them because you were trying to help somebody out. And if they end up being bad, well, that's just, you know, you think God's just going to take away your reward. Well, you gave to someone who's bad. You should have really checked them out before. That's just not how it works. It says, Look at verse 9. This is a really powerful verse. It says, As it is written, he hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. When you are a giving person, that righteousness remains forever. That's a reward that you get that's not going to be taken away from you. So people say, Well, your rewards can be taken away from you. When it's talking about that reward being taken away from you, what it's talking about is the reward that you could have gotten had you been serving in that capacity. No one's ever, if you get somebody saved, that, you know, it's not going to be like, Well, you know, you smoked last week and so I'm taking away that reward out of your account. It's like, No, that person's saved forever. How are you going to take away something that lasts forever? And when it's talking about here, this is talking about just money or things or helping people that that righteousness remaineth forever. So when you help people, it's like, Well, yeah, you know, it's really hurting my pocketbook this month or whatever, but you know where it's going up and exponentially is in heaven. So, and we don't know how he, you know, comes up with all these formulas for us getting rewards there, but we do know that they're going to happen. We're going to get rewarded for the things that we do in this life and that's why it's so important to serve God now. So it says, Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. So it's going to increase the fruits of your righteousness. So you're going to be getting more rewards. Look at Matthew 25 verse 14. Now, I don't have time to get into this whole parable, but you know, the Bible talks about this concept of talent and God gave in this parable, he gives these talents to different people. He gives more talents to some than others and one person ends up with one talent. He buries it in the ground and God is angry about it. So it says, and this is a parable, it says, For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country. Didn't Jesus leave and go up to heaven? Who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents to another two, to another one, to every man according to his several ability and straightway took his journey. So God is going to give us talents in our lives and some people have more talent than others, and some people have more ability than others, but to take that talent and hide that talent and not use that talent for God, whatever that talent is, maybe you have a talent for talking to people, maybe you have a talent, maybe God has given you more than he's given other people riches wise and when people are greedy with those riches, then God is angry about those types of things. So he wants us to use the talents that we have and not to hide those talents and dig them, put them underneath the earth because in this parable, God gets really angry with the person that hides his talent and doesn't use it for his kingdom. So God doesn't just want your tithing, he wants you to tithe. Tithing is 10% of what God's allowed you to have and earn and then you give that back to the Lord. And what does that do? It keeps the lights on, it keeps the fans moving, it keeps the air conditioner going, it keeps the materials in our hands to go soloing, it pays for food that we have during certain services, it pays for the internet service that we use to stream, it pays for the ink in the printer, it pays for the things that we need to do to continue to work and put forth effort in God's kingdom. I mean, look, if people stop tithing or if people aren't tithing and something goes fritzy with the air conditioner, well, you want to sit in here when it's 97 degrees outside? You probably don't with no air conditioner but these are luxuries that we have and that's what the tithe is used to do is to help further the kingdom of God and it's like, well, God doesn't need my money. Well, you know, he doesn't need it. He'll find somebody else to fulfill that but you're losing out on a blessing because the Bible says you're cursed with a curse and he's going to put holes in your bags. You can be the biggest Scrooge McDuck that you want to and just hoard all your stuff, hoard all your money and be the world's biggest hoarder on earth but you're going to have all this stuff and then you're going to die someday and whose stuff is it then once you die? You know, your kids fight over it, your family fights over it and in heaven, you know, you were such a greedy person that you don't have much laid up there. So, I mean, we got to be thinking about the future, why God wants the things that he wants from us now. Don't hide your talent. Use your time wisely and, you know, give your time to the Lord. You know, if you're just here one time, you're here right before the door closes and right after it closes, you're gone and that's, you know, I spent time with God this week. I mean, yeah, you did but can you do more? Can you spend more time with him? You probably can. Number seven, what this church needs is a positive attitude and I think that this is really important. A positive attitude. Turn to Philippians chapter 4, 8. While you're turning to Philippians 4, 8, I'm going to read from Proverbs chapter 17, verse 22. Proverbs 17, 22 says, A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. So when your heart is merry, when you have good thoughts and you're a positive person, that's like a medicine to you and what does medicine do? It makes you better. It makes your body better. But if you're always negative and it says, but a broken spirit dryeth the bones. So the more positive you are, the better your health is going to be because if you're always stressed out, you're always negative, something bad is going to happen, then you're just carrying that around and, you know, stress, you ever heard that term stress kills? It really does. It like literally messes with your physical ability to do things and people die from stress and from worry all the time. But Philippians 4, 8 says, Philippians 4, 8 says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. This microphone is driving me crazy, sorry. Okay, well now you can't hear me. Right there? Good? Okay. So it says, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue if there be any praise, think on these things. So what is the Apostle Paul telling us to do? He's saying, have a positive mindset. He's saying, think about things that are positive. If it's a good report, if there's any praise, if there's any virtue, you know, and a lot of times we as Christians or just as human beings in general, we can get into a negative mindset where everything you're always talking about is negative. You know, let's have a positive mindset. You know, I think that will go a long way with this church positive going, well all this stuff is changing and you know, it's just bothering me and it's like, why don't you give it a chance? Why don't you give it a chance and let's see if these changes are positive because I believe they will be. You know, there's nothing, you know, the only thing constant in this life is change. In reality, things change. You get older, you get uglier, you get, you know, I mean, you get fatter, whatever. You know, things change in life, don't they? Your money changes, your cars change, everything changes, but we're always so resistant to changing and the older we get, the worse we are about it. But I think it's just a tragedy when, you know, some of the people that were going to this church just left before they even gave it a chance. But you know what, I mean, if what they want is some repent of your sins, you know, ruck-tardation, then there's plenty of churches around here that will feed their needs. You know, ruck-tardation is like people that follow Peter Ruckman and they believe in these multiple dispensations and dispensational salvation and all this other stuff. It's just like, you know, that's not what this church needs. We need a positive attitude and saying, hey, yeah, things are changing, but hey, let's be positive about it. Let's see if it works. Let's see if God is going to reach this next generation through this church here in Yakima, Washington, or Union Gap, or whatever you want. They seem to be connected. But anyway, I don't see how they're different. But anyway, it's a pride thing. But look at Philippians 4-13. It says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. That's a good verse to remember. That's a good verse to know by heart. It's the first scripture I ever memorized is I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. You know why? Because we get to saying, well, I don't know if I can really do this. I don't think this can happen. You know, it's like we can do all things through Christ. Christ is the one that gives us strength. Christ is the one that gives us our power. The Holy Spirit leads us in the way that we should go and we're like, oh, I don't know if I can do this. We shouldn't be down in the dumps. We shouldn't be negative about things. We should be positive about how things are going. I'll just read Hebrews 13-5. Go ahead and turn to Ephesians 5 again. I'm going to read Hebrews 13-5. It says, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So there's no reason to worry about all these things. You know, be positive about things. You're like, well, I'm about to lose my house. Be positive. God knows what you need. He's going to lead you. He's going to help you. He's going to protect you. He's going to take care of you. Things are going to work out. Don't worry about that stuff. God is going to take care of you. He's got you. And you can do all things through Christ. And I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Remember those words. If you're serving God, you know, this is what people like to do too. It's like something bad happens in life. People are like, God, I'm just mad at God. Don't be mad at God. God loves you. He's got you. And things happen that are bad in this life, but you know what? He's never going to leave you nor forsake you. You're like, you know, Paul, Paul stood basically alone in the end. But you know, Jesus came to him and kind of put his hand on his shoulder so that I'm not going to let anything come upon thee to hurt thee. And so, you know, Paul, even though he was alone at times in his life, he felt alone. He said, Demas hath forsaken me and only Luke is with me and all these people have left me, but you know who's never going to leave you? Jesus. He's never going to leave you. He's never going to forsake you. So I just turned to Ephesians 5 back where we started, but we need to have a circumspect wisdom at this church. And that kind of goes off of what I was just kind of talking about, but a circumspect wisdom is when you see things around you. You don't just have tunnel vision. You know, you're not just thinking about yourself and maybe it's thinking about the decisions you make, what are the ramifications for the decisions I make today? If I quit going to church, if I quit taking my kids to church, what's going to happen later on down the line for that? You're going to be really sad when your children don't serve God. You're going to be really sad and upset at yourself when you took your children out of church and stopped teaching them the Bible because you wanted to live your little club life or whatever. You wanted to live your life. You wanted to party or whatever. And as a Christian, obviously you shouldn't be like that anyway, but people do get backslidden and people do, you know, they make stupid mistakes and you know what, their kids have to pay for them. And then you're going to pay for them with the distraught heart that you have when you know your children are no longer serving God. And it hurts. Look at Ephesians 5, 14, it says, Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. Hey, if you're dead in your Christian life, hey, awake if you're sleeping, Christ is going to give you that light. It says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. If you're walking circumspectly and you're thinking about the decisions you make, how those are going to affect your future and how they're going to affect the future and the lives of those people around you, fools do that. Fools just walk around. They don't care what happens, any ramifications of the decisions they made. But we need to walk in a circumspect wisdom redeeming the time because the days are evil. So what does that mean? Well, if you get saved in a later age, there's a lot of time to make up for. Redeem that time. The only way you can do that is by serving Christ. We have a guy named Alex in our church and he got saved later in life and some of the things that, there's some things he wishes that he could change. But you know what he's doing right now? He's redeeming the time. He's at every soul-wanting time. He's at every church service. He's preaching sermons in his 60s and he wants to redeem the time because he knows that the days are evil. He could go at any time because you know that when you get 70s basically kind of like the time stamp for most people. You know, sometimes people live older and that's great, but sometimes people don't live older. And so he's trying to get as much soul-wanting and preaching and Bible reading and all the things that he can so that he can redeem the time. It says, Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. God wants us to look at things with circumspect wisdom. And so, look, if this church was just to guide into the, you know, just coast into the future where there's no children, there's no younger people in the church anymore, what's going to happen? Well, to look at things circumspectly, you're like, well, what do we need to do? Well, we need to reach the next generation. We need to get some new blood in here. And we need to quit being old fuddy duddies and be like, well, I don't care if the whole thing crashes and burns as long as I can still have all the things in the church, you know, on the walls that I wanted to have before. It's like, who cares about that stuff? Like, you know, most of the missionaries that were on the wall here probably aren't even alive anymore. And you weren't supporting them. So what's the point? Let's put new missionaries on the wall. Let's put missionaries on the wall that are getting 11,000 people a year saved. How about that? How about we put missionaries on the wall that are actually still doing it? And we know what they believe. You know, let's launch off into the future and have a circumspect wisdom and, you know, look at this crowd today. Just look around. There's older people, there's middle-aged people, there's young people, there's children, there's babies here today. And isn't that a healthy church? All skin colors are represented pretty much in here. You know, because we don't believe in racism at this church. We're all one blood. That's what the Bible says. Track it back and we go all the way back to Adam and Eve. So, like, to be racist is the stupidest, most retardedist thing that you could actually and retardedist, I don't even think that's a word, so I'm retarded for saying the retardedist, but anyway, you know what I'm saying? Like, look, a healthy church is a well-balanced church and all age brackets are represented. But you know what I see when I go to a lot of old IFB churches? Only people with gray hair. You know what's happening to those churches? They're dying. And people are just like, well, you know, we just need to get the bus ministry restarted and that's not what God said to do, though, folks. Those heydays are gone. People aren't just going to let you just take their kids anymore. You know, with all these scandals that have happened, it's like, look, that's not what God said to do. Bring your family to church. Let them listen to the Bible. The kids in here know the Bible. That's why we're family integrated. So we need to look at things with our circumspect wisdom and say, we can't just keep doing things the way they are because it's going downhill. We need to turn, you know, we need to repent and figure this thing out. Right? And look at things in a circumspect wisdom and say, hey, how is this church going to move on to the next generation and reach these people? And I, you know, the devil's been fighting against this church for a long time. And the reason why I believe that's happening is because this area is so receptive to the gospel that the devil doesn't want a church like this to exist here. Because if a church like this exists here, then people are going to get saved and that's why the devil opposes churches like this because he knows that people are going to get saved and the other church is around. I mean, there's a church in town called Bible, what is it? Bible Baptist Yakima? Yakima Bible Baptist. They told somebody that was going to their church, they can't preach easy believism because salvation is not easy. They teach a repent of your sins gospel and they're an independent fundamental Baptist church. They're teaching and sowing, don't teach easy believism. Well, then you're not getting people saved because salvation is easy folks. And that's why the devil hates this church. That's why the devil has tried to destroy this church for many years now. But you know what? We're still kicking. We're still doing it. And we're going to keep doing it. And I don't believe God's going to allow this church to shut down, but you know what? We're going to have some opposition here. We've already had it. I mean, I had to throw people out of here, you know, a couple of years ago that we're trying to overthrow this church. You know, the three bozos left this church won't give back the church keys. And it's just like, what's going on here? Why do you want the church keys? Well, we're changing the alarm suckers. So, as soon as you walk in the door with those keys, guess what's going to happen? The police are going to show up and they're going to take you to jail. And yes, I want to I want them prosecuted to the fullest extent of law. If you have stuff that you want, come and get it. We'll set up a time to meet with you, but we're tired of playing games with this stuff. You don't need those church keys if you don't come to this church. So, we want this church to go into a great direction, a new you know, a new direction. And you know, things have already been doing well, but we just want them to get better. That's it. So, we need to have a circumspect wisdom and we need, number nine, we need God to rebuild this church. We need God to rebuild this church. The Bible says in Psalm 127 verse 1, it says, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I'm not an idiot. I know that God's the one that's going to have to do the things here. But we need to do what God says and then when we're doing what God says and we're running the church the way God wants it run, then he's going to bless this church and he's going to grow it. This church is going to grow. This church is going to grow and yeah, maybe it's, you know, there's more people that were here than last week, isn't there? Was there more people here this week or last week? Well, it seems like it's growing. Anyway, so, we also, you know, that's all I got time for. I know I'm over my time but, you know, we need to be plants in God's house too and we need to reach that next generation. So, those are my last two points but I don't have time to get into them. But hey, be in church. Those will be planted in the house the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. And you know what? When you put a plant somewhere and you water it, what happens? It grows. It grows and it gets roots and it gets strong. So, and when the sun shines on it, it helps it, right? So, we need the son of God to shine his light on this church and we need God to build this church because he's the only one that can do it. But we just need to obey God and love him and serve in every capacity that we can and God's going to do great things here at Bible Believers Baptist Church. And if there's people that have left this church that aren't blaspheming and and saying all kinds of wicked, ill things about our church members, then you'd be welcome back. But these people are going around railing in our areas and going to people's jobs and trying to get people fired from their jobs, getting people kicked out of their homes. Shame on you! You're wicked! And God's going to deal with you. We don't even have to deal with you. God's going to deal with you. You think you're just going to just do whatever you want and talk bad about people and lie about people behind their back and God's not going to judge you? You're wrong about that. And if you're hearing this and you're listening because I know that these little weasel trolls probably are, then, you know, you better just wait and buckle your seatbelt every time you go someplace. That's all I got to say about that. Anyway, let's end on a positive note. I'm thankful for everybody here today. Thank you so much for coming. And I pray that everybody here kind of just you know, sticks in it and stick and stay and make it pay. And that you, you know, love this church. And you know, the devil's going to come at you. But you know, we need to just resist the devil and stand with the whole armor of God on. And he's going to take care of us. He's going to take care of you. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this great church and Lord, I pray that many great things will be done here in the future. And Lord, even though we're experiencing some opposition, I just pray that you would still bless people and help them to take heart in the things that they're going through, the persecution that they're going through because of people that are wicked that left this church and they're going around spreading lies and talking badly about people and trying to get them kicked out of their homes and fired from their jobs. Lord, it just shows that the devil's angry that this church is here and it's still going. And Lord, we ask for your protection, a hedge of protection about us. And Lord, each person that's going through trials in this church that Lord, you would help them and help them to take heart and have faith in you. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Song number 124, Lead Me to Calvary. Song number 124, Lead Me to Calvary. Let's sing it together on that first. King of my life I crown thee now thine shall the glory be Lest I forget thy thorn-crown brow lead me to Calvary Lest I forget Gethsemane Lest I forget thy nagony Lest I forget thy love for me lead me to Calvary Wield me the tomb where thou was laid tenderly mourned and wept angels in robes of light array guarded thee whilst thou slept Lest I forget Gethsemane Lest I forget thy nagony Lest I forget thy love for me lead me to Calvary Let me like Mary through the gloom come with a gift to thee show to me now the empty tomb lead me to Calvary Lest I forget Gethsemane Lest I forget thy nagony Lest I forget thy love for me lead me to Calvary May I be willing Lord to bear daily my cross for thee Even thy cup of grief to share thou hast borne all for me Lest I forget Gethsemane Lest I forget thy nagony Lest I forget thy love for me lead me to Calvary