 Amen. So keep your place there in 1 Corinthians 14. We're going to focus there on the last verse of the chapter. So 1 Corinthians 14, I have a lot of notes in my Bible on 1 Corinthians 14, but there's a lot of chaos and confusion going on in this church that Paul is trying to solve here. And he's trying to tell them, they must be speaking in different languages and having somebody get up and pray in Latin or some other language. And he's trying to just solve all that confusion. He's saying there shouldn't be confusion in the church. Things should be done decently and in order. But anyway, we're going to look at that in just a minute. But this morning I'm going to preach a different type of sermon. I preach a sermon like this once a year. I always, in December, I always kind of review back and just kind of think back on the year. And when I look back on this year for this church, we've doubled in size this year as far as a church. I mean, what a great blessing that is. What a great, I mean, just praise God for that. This is a different type of sermon. This isn't a great sermon for a bunch of visitors that would walk in here to hear. And if you've been at this church for years and years, you've heard all of this before. But I just want to make sure that people that are new here that have been here just come this year hear all these things myself. I've been thinking as I review this year that there's a lot of things I just haven't said to a lot of people as far as how this church runs and why things are done the way they are. You know, the thing is about this church and churches like ours. I was talking to Jacob about this this morning. You know, it's not going to Jacob this morning as we were driving to church. And I said to him, I was like, are you excited for church today? And I've said this before, but I often ask my kids that. I often ask my kids, you know, Sunday nights, how was your day? You know, I always am kind of gauging. And I used to do this more when the kids were smaller. But it's super important that I still do it now. I want to make sure that my kids are enjoying coming to church. If there comes a point where my kids stop enjoying coming to church, something's wrong there. You know, when I look at the kids that come into the church, most of the kids come into this church. They're, I see the kids come in the door, you know, two or three minutes before their parents. They just blast right through the door and they're excited to get here. They're excited to be at this church. I've preached about why that is many times before, but that is an important thing. But what I want to get at this morning, that does not happen on accidents. When I was growing up, and this is what I told Jacob this morning, when I was growing up, I did not like going to church. Church, to me, when I was a child, Jacob's age and much younger, when we didn't have to go to church, I was like, yeah, we don't have to go to church today. And that, you know, that's a problem if that happens. But the point is that a church that produces that type of feeling in children, spiritual, Bible, following church, it doesn't happen on accident. So I want to preach a sermon this morning on specific church culture and the church culture that we have here. Because here's another thing, and I was talking to my wife about this. If these kids, think about this, our kids for a minute, if our kids grow up, this is the problem with Christianity today, with Christianity today, is these kids, they may go to a church where they hear Bible things. They may go to a church that tells them what the Bible says and their parents teach them Bible things and want them to do Bible things. But if they aren't surrounded by people, by a church, a pastor that are actually doing these things, this is where Christianity is gone all wrong today. This is the problem. You know, you can say things to your kids. You can say things to your kids and tell them all the right things. But then if you're sending them to a youth group, if you're sending them to, you know, campus crusades, or if you're sending them to, I mean, even public school where they're not being surrounded by anyone that is doing those things, it's not going to work. And that's why Christian parents are just, they're like, I don't understand what went wrong. I said all the right things, but then they surrounded them by people that were doing none of those things. The kids didn't have a chance. It wasn't even close. I mean, so many things are normal today. When I say normal, I mean, just accepted in society today, so many things from just fornication and alcohol and drugs even now are just normal things today. But not here. Not here. It's important that the kids are not only told things, which they will be told things here, but they are surrounded by people that are doing those things. I was telling Jacob on that, it was a good conversation for this sermon on the way to church this morning, but we drove by an elementary school and I was like, you know, you take for granted that you've never had to go there. I told him, he's like, I know, I'm like, no, you don't know. You take it for granted. You take it for granted that you've never been surrounded by that. But what I, you know, don't ever take that kids that understand what I'm saying, don't ever take that for granted that you haven't been surrounded by that. Instead, you're being surrounded by this. So I want to preach a sermon on church culture this morning. This is going to be a different type of sermon. And many of you are going to think this morning, who's he talking about? The answer is no one. I'm not talking about anyone this morning. I'm talking about church culture, the way I like things personally as the pastor, the way I don't like things personally. I'm not talking about anyone this morning. As a matter of fact, for those of you that are new here, that haven't been here for a long time, I kind of have a philosophy that I've mentioned many times. If there's a problem with one person in the church, I'm not going to preach a sermon on it. I'm going to talk to that one person. If there is something that I do preach from the pulpit, it means that, you know, either it's a sermon like this, or there's multiple people. There is multiple people that have the issue in the church. But the point is this. There are no problems that I know. But it's sermons like this that kind of draw those lines. I want to show you where the lines are and why we are different here. Why we are different, how we are different. And really, I'm going to give you just three points on church culture this morning. All right. Turn to it. You're going to keep your place in Hebrews, you're going to keep your place in 1 Corinthians 14, and you're going to go to Hebrews chapter 13. I'm going to give you some, you know, the newer people especially that have come this year, you know, you're going to get a clue of some of the types of problems, by the way, that fundamental Bible churches have had. And you're going to see that in this sermon. All right. Look, there's no problems here, but I don't want problems here. Nobody wants problems here. All right. Look at Hebrews chapter 13. The first point on church culture is this church and look, this will be a major difference for some people. If you're coming from a similar type of church, this will not be a difference. But if you're coming from, you know, you just got saved and you've come to this church this year, this will be a difference for you if this is, you know, a different church for you and you haven't been in a fundamental, you know, Bible preaching Baptist church before. And the first point is this. This is a pastor led church. Look at Hebrews chapter 13. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 and look at verse number 17. I'm going to explain to you why that is. Look at verse number 17. It says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. Now look, a lot of pastors that I've been in church as they preached this and there's like, see, you have to listen to everything that I say. What I look at personally when I see this verse, the words that are underlined in the Bible and the words that pop out to me are those words that say, as that they that must give account. The way I read that and what that is telling me is the pastor of this church is I am the one responsible for what happens here. So I am the one that will stand before Jesus Christ one day and explain what happened here, what didn't happen here, what was right here and what was wrong here. It's only me and that's why this is a pastor led church. There's no deacon committee here. Okay, there is no board of elders here that is voting on what I preach on or you know whatever you know in 1 Corinthians 1440 at the end of the chapter it says, let all things be done decently and in order. That is my responsibility to make sure that that happens. And look, I take that seriously. I take that very seriously. Now look, there is there is two trustees of this church. And twice a year there's a financial meeting that I present the financials of the church and that's just to make sure all the T's are crossed and the eyes are dotted and everything is done what decently and in order in that area of the church. But that being said, nothing here is done on accident. As a matter of fact, when we visited Verity Baptist Church, I am very close to the culture of Pastor Jimenez, by the way. And that's not an accident that didn't happen on accident. One of the first things that I remember noticing about Verity Baptist Church, we visited during the very first Red Hot Preaching Conference and the very first church service that I went to at Verity Baptist Church that I had ever been to in my whole life. The first thing that I noticed is how orderly and and just put together that place was. How the ushers were doing things a certain way, how everything was handled, everybody was taken care of. Things were just managed very well. And I like that and look, that's one of the reasons I chose to move to Verity. So look, anything in this church, anything that that this church does is on purpose. So you just need to know that. All right. If you want to help out in some way, if you want to, you know, that is great. And when we do need things at this church, we ask, you know, if we need volunteers for, for cleaning, or we need, you know, special projects done on the church when we moved into this building is a good example, we will ask for things. But what you have to understand is that nothing that you see here, including even the furniture is done on accident. So if you have ideas, if you want to bring things to the church, I'm going to give you some examples. You just need to ask. That's all I'm saying. You just need to ask. I mean, some examples. I used to work at a Christian school and have all these books, and I'm going to bring them to the church and you can just have them all. Like those are the type of things that, you know, those need to be cleared by, you know, the pastor. And one of my main jobs I'm convinced is to say no to things. So there are many things that I will, you know, say no to, you know, hey, I would like to have a special Bible study for the children after a church service. And I would like to start that next Sunday, you know, they just thank you for asking, but no. It's going to be the answer to many of these types of things. You know, even to the point of like, hey, I've got an extra couch and we could put it in the entryway. You know, I mean, just make sure you don't just bring the couch. Just ask first. Okay, that's all I'm saying. And just realize that the answer might be no. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter four. So I'm really kind of giving you some thoughts on how I quantify decently and in order this morning. We talked to you a little bit about the preaching here. All right, the preaching. So nobody's telling me what to preach. There's no committee saying we need you to preach on this or this. It's, you know, I am trying to read the Bible. You know, I'm reading the Bible every single day. That is the only way possible, by the way, I could preach 150 sermons every single year. So I read the Bible. And look, I try to be interesting. I try not to preach the same things, you know, weekend, week out. You poor people, I understand that you have to listen to me preach three times a week for, you know, every single week, you know, year in and year out. I get that. And I also understand that I am not by any means the best preacher that I've ever stood behind a wood pulpit. I get that. But look at 2nd Corinthians or 2nd Timothy chapter four in verse number two. The Bible says, preach the word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with what? With all long suffering and doctrine. Well, I am doing my best. I am reading the Bible. I am writing sermons. I am trying to feed you with milk and meat. I'm trying to teach you the Bible. I am doing that. You have to remember that it is all about the doctrine. It is not about you being entertained. Look, I am not trying to be boring and I am not trying to be, you know, the, you know, this person that puts you to sleep, but it's not my job to entertain you. So it kind of have to, you kind of have to understand, you know, that not every sermon is going to be, you know, like a red hot preaching conference sermon. You know, not every sermon is going to be just like the best sermon that you've ever heard in your life. I mean, that's kind of a high bar to set somebody to. Okay? It's really all about the doctrine is what it's all about. And, you know, a lot of people will ask me, and look, it was the hardest thing. To me, you know, at the very beginning, it was the hardest thing was to write those, that many sermons week in and week out. It was very difficult. It's still not easy. But the only way you can do that is by reading the Bible, reading the Bible, reading the Bible, because that's where the sermons come from. There's no way I could just come up with all these just ideas on my own. I'm thankful that the Bible is an infinite book. And if you read the Bible, you will come up with sermon ideas. So that's how you get your men's preaching ideas, sermons. Just, just randomly open the Bible and just read two chapters and you'll have a sermon. I guarantee it. All right? Just read one chapter and you'll have a sermon. So it's all about the doctrine. It's not about me making you feel good, me entertaining you, or even me keeping you awake. Okay? It's there may be a chance and this is really what I'm getting at here is there may be a chance where I say something in that hundred and fifty hours that you don't like. I mean the chance maybe is likely that I say something in that hundred and fifty hours that you don't like. But if you have questions about a sermon, if you don't like a sermon, or maybe look, maybe I express an opinion that you don't hold. Because I mean I do give opinions up here and I try to, I try to say when I do give an opinion that this is my opinion and you know even other pastors might not hold my opinion when I say this is my opinion. Look there may be times when I express an opinion that you don't hold. But in those cases you have two choices. Your first choice is this you can just say nothing. You know a lot of people like forget that they have that choice in their life. That you know you don't have to say something all the time. You know if you don't like something or you don't agree with something that was said you can say nothing. That is always a choice. Look whenever you are living your life saying nothing is always a choice. And that's one that a lot of people just they don't even count that they have that choice. But the second choice is this. You can ask me. You can ask me. Many people do this. If you have like just a question about the sermon you can ask me or ladies you can ask my wife. It happens all the time. People ask questions and I have told you this but this has always been kind of something that bothered me about churches that I grew up in and all these things. I am very adamant about making sure that when I am asked a question I answer the question. And I want to make sure in many times many times what will happen is you will ask me a question about a doctrine or a sermon and I will answer the question to you and then three days later I will give you a much bigger answer because I've been thinking about and thinking about it I went and I studied it out and I want to make sure that I completely answer any question that's asked. So that's okay. All right. That's okay to ask questions. But look folks the doctrines preached here are straight from the Bible. The doctrine the doctrines that I preach in my sermons are straight from the Bible. The standards that I preach here are built from those doctrines. Now look if you have and people's standards may differ. Romans 14 says people may have different standards you know in your homes. I'm not following anybody home. You may have different standards in your home that I have in my home but I hope from the pulpit I can at least explain to you where I got my standards from. And as an example I can tell you look this is why I do things this way because of this doctrine. So ideally in a church ideally we wouldn't have a church with all these different standards. But you know if somebody doesn't celebrate Christmas or something they're like Jesus wasn't born on December 25th that offends me. You know that's not something that is going to be made a big deal out of because it's a standard. Okay now if somebody came to me that why do you celebrate Christmas and why do you think it's okay to have a Christmas tree or whatever I will explain all those things and that's not an issue. And look folks we don't even have to believe this might shock you me saying this. We don't even have to all believe in this church. The same doctrines. I'm talking about like small things. Like take for example like the pre-trib doctrine. You know I wouldn't have any problem if somebody that believed the pre-trib rapture came to church here. That would bother me zero. Like not at all. Like it wouldn't bother me at all. But what you know I mean obviously the gospel is pretty important. I mean that's an important doctrine. And you know there but there are lots of doctrines in the Bible that you know like the pre-trib rapture and look those can be turned into bad things if they're followed down roads and you know predestination and all these different things. I get that. But if somebody just believes something a little bit different a lot of people have hang-ups because of how they grew up. Churches they were in. If somebody's hung up on something like that. It's really not a big deal. But where a small thing could be turned into a big deal is if somebody came in here and like they had they believed the pre-trib rapture. And I knew that and that was fine but then they started going around the church trying to teach everybody else to follow that. And be like oh you know the the clues of milestone sermon series that's wrong and all this kind of stuff. That's a problem. That's how a small thing can turn into like a big thing. All right so there's just there's just ways that small things can turn into big things. And that's one of those ways. Even if you just like I don't like the way pastor worded that. No two men would word things the same way. And I like the way he you know raised his voice on that end of that sentence that one time or whatever. I mean like I said it's fine if you think that but then if you just start going around and like you know pastor's wrong about that and this and that look. I mean this has happened here. This has happened here small things what they turn into big things. And this is just something that we need to be careful about. All right so I'm not up here tell me you better believe everything that I say you better every standard that I have in my family you better follow it or you're taking away your salvation or whatever that's not what I'm talking about. All right. Ben and church is like that too. Proverbs chapter 18 go to Proverbs chapter 18. So first of all there's a pastor led church. It's my responsibility for what happens here. So that's why in this church in this house that Jesus Christ is in charge of since I have to answer to him. This is why I keep tight control what happens here and what doesn't happen here. Okay. I'm not getting in my car and I'm not following you home but what happens here is my responsibility. That's very simple. Okay. Look at Proverbs chapter 18. Look at verse number 24. This is a very simple verse and I've read this many times before but this is another this is point number two and this is super important to me. This is super important to me. We are a friendly church. This is super, super, super important to me as the pastor. That we are a friendly church and I'm going to quantify that for you. This is going to be the main part of the sermon right here. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 24 says a man that has friends must show himself friendly and there's a friend that sticketh closest to a brother. What this means is that if you want to be a friendly church we must do certain things. We must act a certain way and not act a certain way. And I want to talk about the friendly culture in three different areas. I want to talk about the friendly culture this morning for visitors and this is why it would be weird if a visitor was here this morning. For visitors I want to talk about the friendly culture with soul winning and I want to talk about the friendly culture with your brothers and sisters in the church. Okay. So there's some very specific things that I like and that I don't like and I want everyone to know those things. This is how I quantify French showing friendliness. Okay. Visitors. Visitors. First of all we have and I know I haven't explained this to everyone but we have a what's called a personal workers ministry here. So when a visitor comes into the church we do not want them approached by anyone as they come into the church. I'm talking about before church. We do not want them accosted by people trying to find out if they're saved asking them for you know salvation testimonies finding out where they came from who they are. I mean we don't want them interrogated. Okay. We just want people to be friendly. We have a personal workers ministry here that identifies and the ushers are in touch with this. The personal workers are you know in the ushers ministry as well and we also have you know ladies that do personal worker ministries for visiting ladies. So what does this mean? What this means is after church service anyone who is a visitor here that we don't know that we haven't seen before will be approached by a personal worker and this personal worker will offer to give them the gospel just as if they're at a door as they're knocking a door. And this is why you will see many times with visitors you will see you know brother Trevor or my wife sitting down next to a visitor and what they're doing many times is giving them the gospel in those cases. So what we need from the church at that point is to just kind of remove distractions from that situation. It is always right after church so if there is a visitor don't go up to the visitor until the personal worker is done talking to them. And if the personal worker is done right away then you know be friendly go up and introduce yourself all these types of things but we do have that covered. And the reason we do it in this organized manner is because many times you will have certain people sometimes where they bring someone to church and they don't want them approached with the gospel. Maybe this is someone they've tried a family member that they've been trying to convince to come to church many times that they know will be offended if somebody tries to open a bible to them so we just want them to come to church enjoy church and then we'll work that as it goes on. But so there are cases like that so if somebody knows about someone they're going to bring to church I will say would you like us to give them the gospel? And if the answer is yes I mean if a visitor comes that we don't know automatically they get the gospel. But if somebody is bringing a visitor I will always ask do you want them to someone to give them the gospel? And if the answer is yes one of the personal workers will give them the gospel. So that is covered. So what we need from the church members and this is where we must show friendliness what we need from the church members you're like I'm not part of the personal workers ministry. Fine we still need you to be friendly we still need you to be friendly. So let the personal work but then after that's going on be friendly go up and introduce yourself get out of your chair like I like hanging out with my friends and talking to the the same six people that I always talk to but to be a friendly church you must remove yourself from that comfort zone and go and introduce yourself and ask questions about that person and just you know ask people about themselves you know are you from the area you know light nice things just just keep it light we've got the gospel covered but get out of your comfort zone you have to remember don't ever forget how intimidating was the first time you walked into a new church because a lot of people forget that we're comfortable here we're comfortable with our friends and it's just you know ladies we don't ever want a visitor sitting by themselves and we always want people to be talking to them asking them you know and then look if they come back you just take it easy on people you know we don't want to go around like you know tell me your testimony you know after they've been here like twice you know I mean just take it easy on people be light with people we don't want to chase these people off we just want to be friendly we want people leaving here you know hopefully they got saved here but even if they didn't want to hear the gospel we still want them leaving here thinking like man those people were really friendly I really felt welcome there I really felt comfortable there now that leads me into soul winning door to door what's our culture like there and I got three points on this one okay because look there's a very specific soul winning culture that I want to have here and it's it's underneath this friendly category okay the first thing is this we are not never have been and never will be foot in the door soul winners what do I mean by that I mean people that are just like they put their foot in the door and they will just accept not they will not accept no for an answer and they're just going to somebody's not interested and they're just going to just want to just shove the gospel down there as well this will just take a second and I'm just going to give you a 45 second gospel presentation and try to get you to pray with me now this is I mean it seems ridiculous to everyone in this room but again it has happened at churches okay and we don't ever want happening here if people don't want to hear that's it you know just be friendly have a nice day God bless you move on to the next door okay and that leads into the second point which is this we don't argue we don't argue with people as a culture now look get it it happens from time to time okay somebody may trap you or whatever it is just try to just get out of it as fast as you can I mean look if you find yourself like on a regular basis getting in arguments and debates with people there's a problem okay we've all run into people that like trick you or whatever they like say they want to hear and then you get halfway through this is the most difficult ones you get halfway through the gospel presentation they sound like they're interested and all of a sudden they just start like giving you all these like you know they've been gaslighting you or whatever right you'll you'll run into that as soon as you realize that just politely get out of there because here's the thing if it worked I'd be for it it's kind of fun at times but especially since you know we know the bible we're correct they're not I get all that but it doesn't work and it is a huge waste of time I mean that's it I mean I don't you know if you get some false profit I'm not really even concerned about offending a false profit and we'll get to that one in just a second but it just doesn't work it's a waste of time there's somebody two doors three doors down that we're not going to get to if we just waste our time with everyone that wants to debate and you know it's the bible says one or two verses that's it and then just get out all right here's the next soul winning point turn to axe chapter 13 I want to demonstrate this one from the bible look at axe chapter 13 and look at verse number six I preached a whole sermon on this called a tale of two sorcerers but there's two sorcerers in the bible and in the book of axe one in axe chapter 13 and one in axe chapter 8 and I don't think it's an accident that God gave us two sorcerers in the book of axe he wants to show us something here look at axe chapter 13 it says when they had gone through the isle into pathos they found a certain sorcerer a false prophet a jew whose name was bar jesus which was the deputy of the country which was with the deputy of the country surges paulus a prudent man who called for barnabas and saul a desire to hear the word of God but alimus this is bar jesus the sorcerer for so was his name by interpretation was stood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith then saul who was called paul filled with the holy ghost set his eyes on him and said oh all full of subtlety and mischief thou child of the devil thou enemy of all righteousness will thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the lord so here he had a sorcerer and paul just rebukes him calls him a child of the devil but the important thing to know here is that there was a man that was with him that wanted to hear the gospel there was a man that paul and barnabas were preaching the gospel to and this man was trying to stop the gospel from being preached so that is a huge difference now go to acts chapter 8 and the bible even says he was a false prophet he was a false prophet look at acts chapter 8 and we see another sorcerer look at verse number 9 the bible here says but there was a certain man called simon which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of samaria giving out that himself was some great one to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying this man is the great power of god and to him they had regard because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries but they believed philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of god and the name of jesus christ they were baptized both men and women then simon himself believed also here this sorcerer gets saved he gets saved and when he was baptized he continued with philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done and if you continue reading the story i believe that the real sorcery that this guy was after he was a trickster just making money he was a trickster trying to he was doing magic tricks and trying to fool people into thinking he had a lot of power so he could make money because he thought that this new power of the holy ghost could make him some money too he was greedy and it's interesting by the way that he gets saved and all of his like his greed problems don't just magically go away that's another sermon in itself but the point is he wasn't a false prophet he wasn't a false prophet he was just somebody that was doing the wrong thing following the wrong things didn't take sorcery seriously probably so that's my third point my third point is this most people in false religions aren't false prophets and we really need to keep that in mind out soul winning we really need to remember that because look there's this saying there's this saying when all you have is a hammer everything starts to look like a nail and here's the thing the bible is not a hammer so we don't want to just like treat the bible as this hammer and every single person that believes false doctrine is a false prophet and we're just gonna like beat them because the vast majority of people are not false prophets and look when you get a little when you get mature as a soul winner you will be able to recognize this you'll be able to recognize the difference between false prophets and then the vast majority of people that are just confused they just grew up in false religions they just look most people are just deceived I mean that's that was me they're just deceived they're just confused I mean this is Catholics Muslims Buddhists Jews same most people are just deceived they're just following a false religion that's it and they need to hear the gospel now the Jews is kind of a special case because I've preached a lot of sermons on you know how we are Israel and the bible is very clear about this this is what like you know people will call replacement theology but it's really just bible theology so but here's the thing you know that you have to kind of be more than a one-dimensional person to understand what I'm about to say while we believe that we are Israel we are not Zionists at this church so you know what does that mean that means that we don't believe that the Jews have this God given right to this promised land you don't even need the New Testament for that the promise for the land always had conditions on following the bible God was always like you can stay in this land if you follow my word if not you're out but then the New Testament just makes it super clear that Abraham's seed that the true Israel is spiritual it is not of the flesh it is not of genealogies and it's all those who are in Christ it is a super clear doctrine in the bible so we are not Zionists and there's two extremes of this there's two extremes where this is taken the first one is if you're not Zionist then you are anti-Semitic and that is false that is false we are not anti-Semitic we do not hate everyone that is in Israel or that calls themselves a Jew today that is not what Christians are to do they are just people following a false religion just like Catholics, Muslims Jehovah's Witnesses Mormons whatever else whatever else but on the other hand on the other hand I do want to point out they're like you know the other extreme is that people that just blame Jews for everything that's the other extreme of that and we are not those people either that is not Christian that just I mean people that like just blame the Jews for all the world's problems you know that that just makes you a fool and that that is not us and we do not want that here look we need to there is really there is a lot of danger in that type of thinking and the reason is is that if you stop loving people that are deceived even in one category you're you know it's just like Matthew 24 says the love of many can wax cold you do not want one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a Christian is that their heart wax wax is cold to someone that's in a false religion and look you'll meet people that that maybe are just like they have their pet false religions maybe they grew up in that false religion and they have their pet false religions maybe for some it's Catholics maybe for some it's Lutherans maybe for some it's all Protestants you know some it's people that are Jewish today and you know look you don't want your heart to wax cold because that threatens your Christian life as a soul winner because what you need as a soul winner is you need to have a heart for the lost because yeah you'll keep if you lose the heart for the lost you may keep soul winning for a while just from the mechanics and the training of it and just the head knowledge that you want to keep doing it and you're supposed to do it from the Bible but eventually you will stop eventually you'll stop if your heart like you always have to do heart checks so look all that to say this 99% of people out there that you know are in some false religion they're just deceived they just grew up in that false religion that is why that is why they just need the gospel and it doesn't matter what false religion they all need Jesus anybody that is not saved it doesn't matter what religion they came from they're going to go to the same hell if they don't get saved and look can you say that yes there's a spectrum is it harder for someone who follows the Jewish religion to get saved than someone who follows the Catholic religion yes I believe so but it's just because of what that religion has taught them about Jesus I mean that is you know that if somebody has to you know come from a long ways away to trust on Jesus that's obviously going to be harder for them than somebody that pretty much believes everything about Jesus that's correct except you know they just have to get rid of the workspace salvation part that's going to be easier for that person to get saved but they all need to be saved all the same okay now so we've covered we've covered visitors friendliness we covered soul winning friendliness we need to always keep and what you should do heart check on yourself all the time you should be doing a heart check on yourself regularly like when you're going out soul winning like do I really like when you're out soul winning you're walking down the street and you're just starting soul winning are you excited to talk to somebody that day that's a that's a heart check right there you're going out soul winning be like I can't wait to get in a conversation with somebody today and then you leave soul winning you're like I didn't get to talk to anybody today see that's where your heart should be you know we didn't like we don't really get to I didn't get to talk to anybody yesterday soul winning I didn't get to talk to me oh I at least I like to have a conversation with people where I can plant some seeds and things like that like I didn't get to talk to anybody yesterday like just just me personally and look that's disappointing to me because I want to talk to people about the gospel you should want to be you should be excited to share God's word with somebody that wants that's an exciting thing when you get somebody that wants to hear it and you want to share it that's like a perfect thing right there it's a beautiful thing so be checking yourself be checking yourself but we always want to be friendly we want to be we want people to leave our door leave their door we're uninvited guests at their door they didn't call us can you come over with a bible we're uninvited guests and we want them no matter what to say you know what that was a nice person you know those were nice people all right now we covered everything now let's cover your brothers and sisters in the church friendships between your brothers and sisters in the church you say you say what isn't that just like no problem nor this is my biggest warning to you right here my biggest warning to you this morning is going to be amongst friends in the church now look turn to turn to Proverbs chapter 25 I want to give you some things first that I like and that I don't like and why I do things and why I don't do things in the church okay I don't control nor what I want to control who you hang out with outside of the church but the problem is that people think that in a church no one will ever do anything wrong and this is something that you need to kind of get out of your head and you need to be careful about some things that could affect your church life turn to Proverbs chapter 25 the first thing is this I don't like clicks that's a personal thing for me I don't like clicks like I said I'm not telling you who to hang out with and who to hang you know this is why I do things and I don't do things a certain way here we don't have a you know a separate service here we don't have a contemporary I mean this is a joke to this crew I get it but you know this is a problem with a church that has a contemporary service and then a traditional service is they basically have two different churches and it's basically a quick but even so much there we're not we're never going to have small groups here we're never going to I've been in churches where there was a young married's group we will you know there was a young married's couple Bible study we are never going to have that here we will never have formal small groups we're never going to have soul winning small groups anytime that there is soul winning that is where this church is sending out soul winners there will be formal times where people meet at the church anyone can come and they will all be sent out together why you say why is that because I'm not I'm trying not to separate people into boxes that's why now for yourself look at Proverbs chapter 25 verse number 17 for yourself here's my so that's why I do things and I don't do things in the church from the church now what you do outside the church that's up to you and I get that certain people get along better and they have more in common I get that I get that you know people are going to hang out together outside the church and look as far as I know there's nobody that doesn't like each other here but I mean as the church grows you will start to see certain people like to hang out more with certain people and all this and I would like those barriers to be as small and short as possible as the pastor so all I can do is just give you warnings on these types of things and then you take and do with those what you want but these are serious warnings and you will have problems in your life with this and I'm going to explain to you why look at Proverbs chapter 25 verse number 17 the bible says this it says withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee so all this is saying is that you can spend too much time together you can literally spend so much time with someone where they get sick of you and the bible is saying just don't you know get to that point where you're spending too much time with somebody turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 13 there is a point folks when you can get too close with friends look at 2nd Samuel chapter 13 and I'll give you one example in the bible and then I'll explain to you you know just the dangers of this but look at 2nd Samuel chapter 13 very famous story here you have David's son Amnon and he's got a friend Jonah Dab and he gets some very bad advice from this friend look at verse number one of 2nd Samuel chapter 13 the bible says and I gotta hurry up I'm getting long winded here and it came to pass after this that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister whose name was taken and Amnon the son of David loved her so right away he's got this desire in his flesh that is wrong it is sinful and Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister Tamar for she was a virgin and Amnon thought it was hard it was hard for him to do anything to her but Amnon had a friend that's where it is right there whose name was Jonah Dab the son of Shamiah David's brother and Jonah Dab was a very subtle man and he said unto him why art thou being the king's son lean from day to day this reminds me of Jezebel's advice to her husband by the way just like don't you know you're the king you can do whatever you want just encouraging him in sin so right away he's a bad man we can see being the king's son lean from day to day will thou not tell me and Amnon said to him I love Tamar my brother Absalom's sister and Jonah Dab said unto him lay thee down on the bed and make thyself sick and when thy father come at the sea thee say unto him I pray thee let my sister Tamar come and give me meat and dress the meat in my sight that I may see it and eat at her hand so he encourages him to trick and trap his half sister into a terrible situation where he actually does do this and he forces himself upon her but he encourages him to do this and obviously Amnon was you know he was no saint but Jonah Dab and Amnon had this friendship where clearly they were comfortable encouraging each other in sin I mean it wasn't this wasn't their first rodeo obviously these two turn to Proverbs chapter 17 now this is less of a risk I will say that this is a less of a risk for married guys I'm going to just single out the single people especially the single men here all right if you hope that doesn't offend you but married men have you know this is kind of like 1st Timothy 513 where you know the young ladies why did they get in trouble they were busy bodies they were wandering from house to house they didn't have anything to do and what were they doing they were speaking things that they ought not because they didn't have anything to do look this applies to young men today young men that you know they're not doing anything they don't have anyone to take care of well you know especially if they're not working what are they doing they're just they're hanging out on the internet they're getting in trouble they're doing what they're doing and saying things that they ought not so there's danger there for single people much more than married people married people married guy like you know I hate to just give the married guys more credit here but you know they're they're they're busy working for their family they're busy taking care of their wife they're busy taking care of their children they got stuff going on they don't have time for a lot of garbage they don't have time for a lot of silly things so you'll see people you know get more in more trouble that are single in this case so that's that's a that's a warning are you in Proverbs chapter 17 so you need to just be careful that you aren't so close with friends that you are completely comfortable encouraging one another in sin as Jonah Dab and Amnon were that you're encouraging that you're that you're comfortable sewing strife together because this clearly wasn't Amnon and Jonah Dab's first venture into sin it's not like two friends like this get together and say hey want to rob a bank when they just met no they they they know each other they know what each other are capable of and these things grow in Proverbs 17 14 demonstrates this look what it says it says the beginning of strife is is as one letteth out is as when one letteth out water therefore leave off contention before it be meddled with it's saying it's like a dam breaking it's saying somebody that you know that that beginning of sewing strife is like a dam breaking and once it opens up and breaks it's just like it just becomes quickly uncontrollable and this is like by the time Amnon and Jonah Dab are in this conversation in 2nd Samuel 13 the dam is broke at this point so the trick is to stop it before the water even comes out so you need to ask yourself look in Proverbs 25 23 I'll just read for you it says the north wind driving away rain so does an angry countenance of backbiting tongue meaning you need to make it known right away when that first thing comes in that first soul of strife comes in make it known make it known that I am not one that is willing to play this game with you I mean this sounds crazy for a church where like every we have harmony but this stuff has happened at many good churches across this country you will listen to me young man you will run across and married men and everyone you will run across Jonah Dabs in your life I had a work example many years ago just you will run across this in your job I had a work example in the past where a guy got fired a guy got fired for good reason he was doing illegal things he's doing illegal things he got fired and then this is just a secular example of a Jonah Dab and then he wanted to meet with me for lunch and I'm just like you know because I knew at that point I knew he was going around to people trying to get information to like sue you know somebody or whatever and it's like I didn't want to put myself in a situation where I'm sitting across from a Jonah Dab I'm sitting across from somebody because the minute that I sit down and start listening to that that's the damn breaking right there I had this situation at church I had this situation when I was a member of a good bible preaching church I knew someone left the church and they called me and they said hey would you like to get together for lunch and they weren't kicked out of the church but I didn't know what was going on so what did I do I called the pastor I called the pastor and I said hey this guy called me and I don't know why he left or what happened there I have no knowledge of that and he wants to go to lunch with me he's like well he's going around everybody in the church trying to get everyone to leave the church oh okay no thanks I mean it's very simple but you can't put yourself in a situation where you start to let that water creep out if you don't but because Jonah Dabs are going to come for you you will deal with one at some point whether in your church life in your work life a good test is this a good test is if you're with friends or you're with a friend or whatever just be like hey could everyone hear this conversation right now that we're having could everyone be part of this conversation you know you're like well what if your friend is asking you some personal things and all that but a lot of times what Jonah Dabs will do and in that case yeah that's it's a private thing I understand that but what Jonah Dabs will do in many cases well they will say well brother I'm having problems with you know John over here you know so and so and I just really need some counsel you know and I've really been offended by him and at that point you just need to have the Bible knowledge to know like hey whoa whoa whoa why are you telling me this let's go talk to John you just need to have that Bible knowledge that basic Bible knowledge and not let yourself get sucked into that type of thing because if that happens look it is devastating for the Christian life for somebody to get dragged into that type of thing I'm saying devastating for people Amnon died I mean he deserved to die I get it but he died because of what Jonah Dab led him into to do and he's responsible for it I get that but I mean it's so bad that I mean you need to know that if you're ever in a you get caught in you ever have a Jonah Dab that catches you and you get caught in a secret meeting where you're trashing the church you're trashing the pastor you're trashing the pastor's family look you are automatically kicked out of this church if you get yourself in a situation like that that's why I'm warning you and look I know this sounds mean and harsh and everything but it's devastating to people that get dragged in by Jonah Dab Jonah Dab's will wreck your life so I'm begging you not to let that water out of the dam is all I'm saying we're a biblical church this isn't fake happy clappy Christian land here this is a real biblical church and and yes we will follow you know the bible and yes all of these things have happened here and it doesn't make me proud to say that and look nobody wants that to happen again I dare I can speak for everyone in this church no one wants that kind of stuff to happen again all right turn to Nehemiah chapter eight so we're friendly we're friendly we're friendly to visitors you see the personal workers ministry we're friendly soul winning you can see that we're friendly to our brothers and sisters but we must be appropriate to our brothers and sisters and we must have appropriate friendships in this church and I can't guarantee that every single I can't guarantee that Jonah Dab's not going to sneak in here I'll do everything I can to stop bad people from being here but ultimately you know sometimes I just don't know sometimes I just don't know you know you know what people's motives really are all right look at Nehemiah chapter eight the last part of this sermon and I'm going to go through this really quickly is family integration family integration why why are we family integrated you know why are we a family integrated church and once I read this to you in the Bible you're going to start asking your question why aren't all churches family integrated because we're family integrated because that's what the Bible says is that we should be family integrated look at Nehemiah chapter one I'm sorry chapter eight verse number one the Bible says all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the Watergate and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses bring the Bible which the Lord had commanded to Israel and Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding you see that upon the first day of the seventh month and he read there in before the street that was before the Watergate from the morning until midday before again what the men and women and those that could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law turn to Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse number 12 and keep your place in Ezra or Nehemiah right there but turn to Deuteronomy chapter 31 look at verse number 12 Deuteronomy chapter 31 look at verse number 12 so God tells Moses this he says in verse number 12 of Deuteronomy 31 gather the people together men and women and children and thy stranger that is in thy gates that they may hear that they may learn and they may fear the Lord your God to observe all the words of this law so why are we family integrated why do we want the kids all the kids that are able to understand in the church so they may hear that they may learn and they may fear the Lord that's what the bible says the bible says that the kids that can understand should be there back in verse number 4 of Nehemiah 8 the bible continues it says in Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood that's why I'm standing here behind a wood pulpit by the way that's why you'll see that in Baptist churches which they had made for the purpose in verse number skip down to verse number 6 and Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered amen this is why the men say amen in church in a Baptist church because amen means amen means you know truth or I agree with that I think that's true that's what amen means so feel free and then in 1 Corinthians 34 it says let your women we saw this let your women keep silent in the churches this is why only the men amen and not the women you're like I don't like that well that's what the bible says so that's why we do it here so it doesn't really matter if it offends somebody because the bible offends people that's just another thing you just need to accept we're coming to church here all right but the point is that we are family integrated because the bible teaches that the kids that can understand need to start hearing the word of God as soon as they can understand as soon as possible which makes perfect sense makes perfect sense when we see everything about the bible and what it teaches about training and bringing up children it just they should hear and start to understand as soon as possible look now this is my quantification of that right here I believe that children that are you know three four years old should be starting to sit in church and starting to listen in church many people will come here by the way and they will see kids that are three four years old sitting in church and listening to what I'm saying they will they will be like I can't believe that those kids sit and listen to that you know right I can't believe that he's sitting right there and he's listening to me right you listening I can't believe it it's it's shocking right but there is there's value there we follow what the bible says all right so there is responsibility that comes with being a family integrated church just like I've said many times that you know homeschooling homeschooling is total freedom but that means total responsibility you can raise a bunch of uneducated morons being a homeschooler we've all met them I mean kids that can barely read it just says their mom just did nothing total freedom means total responsibility that's kind of where the family integrated church is at where you know in order to get kids three four years old to sit through an hour long sermon you know there's going to have to be some discipline there there's going to have to be some proper bible you know parenting that happens there which I preach on extensively and I'm not going to preach on here but the point is we do have the mother baby room but the mother baby room just on on that the mother baby room is there for moms who are nursing for privacy for for small babies small children and it's there to train them to watch it's there when you know if they need training they need a spanking or whatever the mother baby room mother dad daddy baby room are good for that but if that mother baby room and daddy baby room just turns into play time they're never going to learn to sit in church so that's what those things are not for now parents and kids culture here let me just talk about that because we got I mean we got a specific kind of culture that I want here with parents and kids culture discipline your own kids that's your wheelhouse look just because you're in a family integrated church where you know we're going to follow Bible rules we're not going to let perverts in here all this type of thing that doesn't mean you don't need to keep track of your kids that doesn't mean that you need don't need to watch your kids but discipline your own kids there's not a ton of rules here for the kids as more kids come here there will be more the need for more rules and I'm we have great kids here and there's no issues with any kids here but the point is your kids are your responsibility in this church others people other people's kids are not your responsibility so kind of a culture here just kind of hands off you know other people's kids don't you know go you know telling other people's kids what to do don't go if there's something that's like the ushers are a little bit of an exception here where they are allowed to tell you know like my son and kids are like okay it's time to clean up for church they are you know able to step in if there's a safety issue obviously anybody if say they see a kid running in the street I mean let's use our heads here but the ushers kind of have a little bit more authority in this area but in general remain in your wheelhouse is kind of the culture at this church all right so family integrated means responsibility that's what it means okay now let's just wrap this thing up here turn to mark turn to mark chapter number 10 and let's wrap things up but here's the issue here's the point of this whole sermon if you have questions just ask don't just do that's that's the thing if you don't know like I lean towards more order just because that's who I am but I am straightforward if if you ask I will tell you I am a very straightforward person as a matter of fact many people don't ask me things because they know I will tell them they know I will tell them and if they they know what I'm you know it's it's not a mystery what I think about most things up here but you may not always like the way every single thing that I do because no two men are the same there are different ways to quantify biblical doctrines I get that and it you know no two men will have every opinion the same on everything I mean I am under no fantasy about that but look if you have to do it your way get ordained and do it your way is is really what it comes down to otherwise you know get on board get on board look every Christian and this is such a great saying I don't know if pastor he meant is coined it but every Christian every single Christian should either be a pastor or be helping serve you know under a pastor or be supporting you know I am whole heartedly against going to a church even an old IFB church I am so against this people will come to me and they will visit sometimes and they will tell me how bad their old IFB church is and how they're trying to change their pastor into being you know post-trib pre-rath and they're trying to you know get a I am so against all of that and people don't realize I am I am against it they just just get a get to a pastor you can support get to a church this is America this isn't you know some place where you can't move anywhere you want get to a pastor that you can support because people will ruin themselves they go to church to church to church and they gotta change something about this because guess what you're gonna find stuff wrong here too this is full of people that aren't perfect it's full of a pastor or it's not full of a pastor but it's got a pastor that's not perfect it's got it's just get to a place that you can support the pastor and serve turn to mark chapter 10 look at mark chapter 10 look down to verse number 42 serve and then and then you know work and then you know what if you want to go into the ministry I'm serious about that I'm serious about that look the best leaders you know you ever heard the saying that the best leaders you know they have all been faithful servants the reason for that is I hate to to burst the bubble of somebody that wants to be a leader here but look at what mark chapter 10 verse 42 says it says but Jesus called to them and say it to them you know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them this is like the kings of the Gentiles the Roman Caesars the Roman Centurions they were just like exercise all this authority dude I say ah you know just because they had that power but look at verse number 43 but so shall it not be among you because whosoever will be great among you shall be your what your minister this is why the greatest leaders have all been faithful servants because being a leader is being a servant guess who fixed the toilets around here I do I mean I've cleaned up so much throw up in so many messes as a as an usher of you know other churches that I can't even tell you but I'm still the Palmer at this place and I'd ashamed to say that because being a leader is being a servant it's just it's my responsibility of the administration of what happens here and that's why we have a very specific culture here it's not just to dominate and control all that it's because I'm really not in charge here Jesus Christ is and that's why and look I think that more men should go into the ministry because that's what we're lacking I mean there's no there's there's no other reason that we wouldn't be planting more churches in every single church that that I am friends with other than the fact that there's just not the men to do it so I think that a lot of you know I think that we need more men to go into the ministry but you need to learn to servants serve faithfully first or you'd never be a successful leader all right so that's why we do things the way we do things here I didn't cover everything but if you have any questions just ask and everything will be joyful and great as it is now let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer