for this time that we have to sing praises unto you together together as a church the service at
this time lord is to pay attention to the words that if you would our hymnals to hymn number 200
he's a wonderful savior to me hymn number 200
your hand bring you one we are getting close towards the end of genesis bible memory chapter
number this week we still have a couple inside we have our service times listed sunday morning at
10 30 sunday evening at 4 30 and our wednesday bible study through romans at seven below that
we have all of our soul winning times listed there make sure to pay attention to the signal
group for the location on saturdays we had a great day this saturday we had five salvations
with two groups out soul winning so it's definitely very receptive we do have our
upcoming events we're really excited for our first soul winning marathon of the year which
is going to be in Lawton Oklahoma and we're going to meet at a apartment or wherever our
soul winning location is going to be right at noon and we're just going to go soul winning all the
way through from noon to 4 pm and you can take breaks on your own if you need snacks for the
kids or anything like that but we're just going to do a four hour straight period of soul winning
and then meet somewhere and have a dinner together afterward. February 1st the day after will be our
next men's preaching night followed by potluck and just fellowship game night together. February 13th
the sweetheart's banquet for married couples will be at six o'clock pm and that is on a
friday that's always a really fun event so please do join us for that and then our next soul winning
marathon after that will be on march 7th and that is tulsa oklahoma soul winning marathon
then we have let's see here on the right we have our prayer list i had mentioned brother anthony
yefimov's father is in the icu up in washington and then i think that's the only new one i think my
brother's slated to come back like the 28th of january so keep that in prayer and looking forward
to him being back to his family then there is the online visitor card there which you could could
be used for visitors here at church and also for people out soul winning to sign them up for our
email list and subscribe to our youtube channel and then also we have a qr code there below for
online giving if you prefer to give that way that's going to be it for announcements this morning
let's go and go to our third song together all right for our third song if you would take your
hymnals and turn to hymn number 140 we have an anchor hymn number 140 make sure to sing this one
nice and loud
are being patterned in your bibles to chapter number 17 chapter number 17 chapter 17 then said
he unto the disciples it is impossible but that offenses will come but woe unto him through whom
they come it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the
sea than that he should offend one of these little ones take heed to yourselves if thy
brother trespass against thee rebuke him if he repent forgive him and if he trespass against
the seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying i repent thou shalt
forgive him and then the apostles said unto the lord increase our faith lord said if he had faith
as a grain of mustard seed you might say under this sycamine tree be thou plucked up by the root
be thou planted in the sea and it should obey you but which of you having a servant plowing
in or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he has come from the field go and sit down
to me and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith i may sup and gird thyself and serve me
till i have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat shalt thou shalt eat and drink doth he
thank that servant because he did the things that he were commanded him i tro not likewise so
likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are
unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do and it came to pass as he went to
Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee and as he entered into a
certain village there met him ten men that were lepers which stood far off and they lifted up their
voices and said Jesus master have mercy on us and when he saw them he said unto them go show
yourselves unto the priests and it came to pass that as they went they were cleansed and one of
them when he saw that he was cleansed turned back and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down
on his face and at his feet giving him thanks and he was a samaritan Jesus answering said were there
not ten cleansed but where are the nine there are not found that return to give glory to God save
this stranger and he said unto him arise go thy way thy faith hath made me whole and when he was
and when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come he answered them and
said the kingdom of God cometh not with observation neither shall they say lo here or lo there or
behold the kingdom of God is within you and he said unto his disciples the days will come when
you shall desire to see one of the days of the son of man and you shall not see it and they shall
say to you see here or see there go not after them nor follow them for as the lightning that
that lighteth out of the one part of under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven so shall
also the son of man be in this day in his day but first must he suffer many things and be rejected
of this generation and as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the days of the son
of man they did eat they drank they married wives and were given in marriage until the day that Noah
entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all likewise also as it was in
the days of lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they built it
but the same day that the lord went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and
destroyed them all even thus shall it be in the day when the son of man is revealed in that day
he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house let him not come down to take it away
he that is in the field let him likewise not return back remember lots why whosoever shall
seek to save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it i tell you
in that night there shall be two men in one bed and one shall be taken and the other shall be left
two women shall be grinding together the one shall be taken and the other left two men shall be in the
field the one shall be taken and the other left and they answered and said unto him where lord
and he said unto them where soever the body is dither where the will the eagles be gathered
together let's pray we're going to thank you for a wonderful day in your house pray that you'd
help us to set aside the cares of the week help us to focus on the preaching of your word and to
apply it to ourselves in jesus name amen amen so we're in luke chapter number 17 let's start
reading in verse number 11 the bible says and it came to pass as he went to jerusalem that he passed
through the midst of samaria and galilee and as he entered into a certain village there met him
10 men that were lepers which stood afar off they lifted up their voices and said jesus master
have mercy on us and when he saw them he said unto them go show yourselves unto the priest
and it came to pass that as they went they were cleansed and one of them when he saw that he was
healed turned back and with a loud voice glorified god and fell down on his feet on his face at his
feet giving him thanks and he was a samaritan and jesus answering said were there not 10 cleansed
but where are the nine there are not found that returned to give glory to god save this stranger
and he said unto him arise go thy way thy faith hath made thee whole so here we have a great story
where 10 men came to jesus who had leprosy and just to kind of get us to understand the severity
of this illness i mean what is leprosy how how big of a change just happened in these people's lives
where they went from having leprosy to being healed from this let me just give you a definition
of leprosy it is a chronic infectious disease caused by the slow growing bacteria myobacterium
leprae it affects the skin peripheral nerves the upper respiratory tract and eyes so this just sounds
like an absolute nightmare i mean imagine just having this chronic condition that you're just
dealing with day in day out i'm sure these people their entire life is just consumed with the fact
that they have this disease and you know i've never had leprosy you probably never had leprosy but
you've probably had some sort of ailment in your life or illness that when you have it it just
affects everything about your life it's all you could think about it affects your mood it affects
your service for god it affects your family like it affects everything and just imagine how these
men went from having leprosy to all of a sudden being completely healthy, you would think
that these people would just drop everything in their life to thank Jesus, to give him
glory and just say like, "Hey, this man just healed me of leprosy.
I'm just going to follow this guy.
I'm just going to do whatever this guy wants me to do for the rest of my life."
Yet we see only one person came back.
Only one person came back, not even just to serve him, not even to follow him.
One person came back even to say thank you, even to glorify God.
Everyone else, they just went about their day.
They just went about their life, you know, even though this huge thing happened.
And of course, there's some great pictures in this story.
Of course, they see Jesus, they cry out to him.
Why?
Because they believe that Jesus can heal them, right?
And because they believe, what do they do?
They call upon him, they cry out to him and ask him, and through their faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, they are healed.
So we see that in this story, only one comes back, and that leads to a question, where's
the rest, right?
Where are they all?
That's the title of my sermon this morning is this, where are they all?
Because a lot of people would look at the works of our church and other churches, and
they'll see the big salvation numbers, right?
But they'll be like, well, where is everyone?
How come there was only this number of baptisms?
How come there's only this number of people in your church?
You know, is there something wrong with Anchor Baptist Church?
Oh, is there something wrong with the new IFB?
It's like, well, was there something wrong with Jesus' ministry?
Because He doeth all things well, the Bible says.
His ministry is perfect.
He healed these 10 men and only one came back and gave glory.
Where are they all?
I want to spend this sermon giving you three responses to this question.
Where are they all?
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
Number one, I want to say this.
It doesn't matter where they are as long as they're saved.
That's my first response to that.
Where are they all?
How come they're not all in church?
How come they all didn't get baptized?
You know, last year we had 2,261 salvations.
Praise God for that.
Where are they all, right?
How come only nine people got baptized?
One of my responses to that is I don't care where they are as long as they're saved.
Obviously I say that wishing people would come to church, wishing people would get baptized,
but the most important thing is that they are now saved.
And it's like these people didn't come back and thank Jesus.
They didn't come back and spend their entire life following Him.
But aren't we glad that they got healed?
I mean, are we still happy that these people no longer are suffering with their leprosy?
Look at 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3.
It says, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake.
Let me explain to you why we go soul winning.
In fact, let me explain to you first why we do not go soul winning, okay?
We do not go soul winning so that we could fill this building with warm bodies.
Our goal in going out soul winning is not let's go around to the nearest zip code of
our church so that people can actually go to the most convenient church in their area.
Let's try to, you know, cater our programs, cater our preaching, cater everything in our
church about just getting human beings in these seats.
That's not why we go soul winning.
Now we want people to come, right?
But our goal is not to build a palace.
It's not to get as many people inside of a building.
It's not to raise as much money as possible.
We go soul winning for one reason primarily, and that is so that people would get saved.
Because if our Gospels hid, it is hid to those that are lost.
Why do we go soul winning?
Because there is a real place called hell that is eternal.
That when people die, if they're not saved, they will spend eternity in conscious torment,
suffering for their sins, suffering for all of eternity.
That's why we go soul winning.
And you know what?
It's like, it's not like Jesus healed these men because he was hoping that they would
start paying him money and giving him tithes.
You know, he just loved people.
He just sees people suffering.
They call out to him and he just heals them.
And it's like, look, we're going out into the community preaching the gospel.
Yesterday we went all the way over to Midwest City, right?
Midwest City.
Those people are not coming to Anchor Baptist Church, folks.
And in fact, all the time when we go out these really far away places, they'll say, oh yeah,
where's your church?
And we tell them, they're just like, oh, oh, they're like shocked.
It's like, yeah, we're not here for you to come to church.
Now if someone comes from Midwest City, praise God.
From Dell City, praise the Lord.
We want them.
But that's not why we went to their door yesterday.
We went to their door yesterday because they are on a bobsled to hell.
And if we don't go and reach them, they will burn for all of eternity.
That's why we go.
Go to, if you would, Luke chapter number 19.
Here's another reason why we do go soul winning is to please the Lord.
Mark 16, 15 says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature.
Right?
So, hey, we want to get people saved and we just want to obey Jesus Christ.
And quite honestly, when Jesus gives us a command, when the Bible tells us to do something,
we shouldn't be sitting here analyzing, well, what's the effect?
What's going to be the result of obeying God?
Is it going to meet my agenda by obeying God?
No, who cares about our agenda?
Right?
Even if soul winning never brought people into church,
even if soul winning wasn't effective, like some people say,
which of course it is effective in getting people safe,
but even if it wasn't, if Jesus told us to do something,
we should just do it.
And we shouldn't sit here and be like,
well, does going soul winning build us a big church?
Does it get us lots of tithe money?
Does it get us the big wig members of the community?
We shouldn't be thinking about anything like that.
If Jesus said to do it, we should just do it, period.
Why? 'Cause we want to please him.
Look what it says in Luke chapter number 19,
verse one, it says, "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and
he was rich.
And he sought to see Jesus who he was, and could not for the press, because he was little
of stature.
And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, 'Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house.'
And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully.
And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest with a man
that is a sinner.
And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, if the half of my goods I give
to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore
him fourfold.'
And Jesus said unto him, 'This day is salvation come to this house, for as much as he also
is a son of Abraham, for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.'
Right?
So we see Jesus coming to the house of a man named Zacchaeus, and what was the purpose
of him going there?
Was it so that he could get just an extra disciple?
Was it because this man was rich?
Because the Bible says this man was rich.
Did he go to him so that he could get some sort of reward of Zacchaeus or make him one
of his most prestigious disciples or something like that?
No, he says this day is salvation come to this house, for the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost.
That was Jesus' goal.
That was Jesus' mission statement was coming to people to seek and to save that which was
lost.
And look, that is our goal as well.
And we take this for granted in the new IFP.
You take this for granted at Anchor Baptist Church, but let me tell you something, not
all churches have this as their goal.
Even churches that go soul winning, even churches that go and leave a door hanger, even churches
that have a bus ministry, look there's lots of churches like that that are trying to get
people saved, but there's also a lot of churches where it's all about getting riches into their
church and getting more members into their church and just hitting only their local areas
and only focusing on those things and people will criticize us saying, how dare you go
to Enid, how dare you go to Broken Bow, how dare you go to the Bahamas, how dare you go
to the Philippines and just get all these people saved and then what are you going to
do for them after that, are you going to disciple them, are they going to have a church that
they could go to, you know, oh it's like giving birth to a baby and just leaving the baby
in the garbage can, can, that's insane folks, no, Jesus just came to people, salvation's
come to this house and you know what, Jesus didn't stay around with Zacchaeus for the
rest of his ministry, you know what he did, he just went on his way, look what it says
in verse number 26, saying to you that unto every one which hath, which hath shall be
given and from him that hath not even that which he hath shall be taken away from him,
but those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither
and slay them before me, notice verse 28 is the key, and when he had thus spoken, he went
before sending up to Jerusalem.
So what did Jesus do here, right?
He showed up to a town, he found Zacchaeus, hey salvation has come to this house, he's
preaching the gospel to people, he's preaching a face ripping sermon and then he's out of
there, he's gone, and it's like where are they all, where are all of his disciples,
you know, anchor baptist church, where are all the people that you got saved, well they're
in Enid, that's where they are, they're in the Bahamas, they're in the Philippines, they're
in Anadarko, very few of them, but there are some believe it or not, in Anadarko, right,
they're in Moore, they're in Durant, they're in Del City, that's where they are, oh why
aren't they here?
Here's the thing about that, is honestly I don't care as long as they're saved, and
I do want them to go to church, but in comparison of the stakes that they were facing of their
eternity, it's like if we just went into their town and just got them saved, praise God.
Where are they all?
You know that's a question from do nothings, that's a question from lazy people that are
envious by the works of other churches.
Even envious, even people who have bigger ministries, go to bigger churches, have more
money, have more facilities, you know those people can be envious too, because those people
can have the wrong priorities where they're only focused on building the palace, making
more money, getting more people in the building.
You know what's the most important thing, is getting people saved, and it's funny because
this model that we see here where Jesus, he just shows up at a town, he preaches the gospel,
he preaches a face ripping sermon, and then he leaves.
It's like this is exactly what we do in the Bahamas, right?
We go, we preach the gospel, we're saying hey, come on Friday night, meet us at this
hotel conference room, we're gonna have a church service, come to church, there'll be
free pizza, we get tons of people saved, we get lots of people baptized, and then Pastor
Shelley preaches a face ripping sermon, and then we're just whisked away back to America.
It's like, what are all those people gonna do?
Well, it's like, hey, it's not my fault that there's not a great church in every area,
okay?
It's not my fault that Baptists in these towns that we go to suck at being evangelists.
You know, it's amazing to me, we go to small towns, and sometimes I'll knock on the door
of Baptist pastors, and there's kind of shock that we're there from a different town, and
it's like, why is your whole town unsaved?
It's like, why are we showing up and just showing up in Enid, and it's like we're just
like scooping fruit off the ground.
It's like the easiest soul-winning ever, and it's like, look folks, if we were in Enid,
we'd be getting a lot of people saved.
It's like, why aren't you Baptists doing it?
That's not our fault.
Don't come criticizing us saying, you know, Anchor Baptist Church, Faithful Word Baptist
Church, Steadfast Baptist Church, like we have to be responsible for every single town.
Look, we're doing the best we can.
But you know, people need to stop criticizing and go out and do the work and go out and
help a church that's doing that work.
Not have this ridiculous criticizing attitude.
Go to Mark chapter number one, Mark chapter number one, Mark chapter number one, look
at verse 32 and it even when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased
and them that were possessed with devils and all the city was gathered together at the
door and he healed many that were sick of diverse diseases and cast out many devils
and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him and in the morning rising up
a great while before day he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed and
Simon and they that were with him followed after him and when they had found him they
said unto him all men seek for thee and he said unto them let us go into the next towns
that I may preach there also for therefore came I forth and he preached in their synagogues
throughout all Galilee and cast out devils notice his disciple came up to him and just
said specifically hey everyone is seeking for you all men seek for you and a lot of
people would think like well of course I mean Jesus will just stop everything he's doing
then if people are wanting you know to see him and he'll just stop his program and he'll
spend all his time with him he goes no let's leave let's go let's go to the next towns
and a lot of people they just can't like wrap their mind around this but why would Jesus
have this attitude because you know what the most important thing is getting people saved
and it's like there has to come a point where a person has to through their own will decide
hey I want to follow Jesus it's not hey Jesus come to me and spend your whole life ministering
to me at my house people who wanted to serve Jesus they followed him it's like they drove
to church they showed up to the soul-winning time they watched the sermons online and look
it's never been easier to get discipled today in 2025 I mean we show up at people's door
we have a QR code we have them scan it it takes them right to our YouTube channel they
don't even have to leave their stinking house to listen to all of our sermons now they should
leave their house they should come to church but it's like they could get so much Bible
preaching just from the comfort of their own home don't come at us where are they all they're
being lazy as where they are they're at their apartment is what they're doing go to first
Corinthians chapter number two first Corinthians chapter number two but you know I like this
Jesus is like hey let's just go to the next house let's just keep going let's just keep
preaching the gospel you know that's the verse that we have over there on our map of Oklahoma
because we don't want to be just content with the souls here we want to try to reach the
entire state we want to reach everyone with the gospel verse number one of first Corinthians
two and I brethren when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom
declaring unto you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified hey when we go soul winning we are there with one mission
and that is to talk about Jesus Christ and Him crucified that's it it's like oh well
how are they gonna learn about the post-trib rapture how are they gonna learn about how
the Jews are not God's chosen people how are they gonna learn what a biblical marriage
looks like they come to church that's how but guess what when we're going soul winning
we're bringing salvation to them everything else is up to them that is the right program
go to first Corinthians chapter number one first Corinthians chapter number one you say
what about baptisms because that's that's one thing that people would specifically criticize
they'll be like oh you know how does anchor have over 2,000 salvations but only nine baptisms
right and I really think this is coming from a person who just doesn't have the right priorities
because again what matters most salvations matter most and it's like why don't they all get baptized
you know I want people to get baptized but quite honestly in comparison of going to hell
I don't really care as long as they're saved that's how I feel about it 1st Corinthians 1 verse 14
I thank God that I baptize none of you but Crispus and Gaius see that's a weird statement from the
from these people that criticize us from their perspective it's like why is a minister getting
up saying like I thank God that I baptize none of you save Crispus and Gaius right they would
criticize Paul verse 15 lest any should say that I baptized in my own name and I baptized also the
household of Stefanus besides I know not whether I baptized any other so notice he's not even
quite certain in his mind how many people he has baptized why because this is obviously not at the
forefront of his mind he is not waking up every single day just being like I need to make sure
that every single person that I talk to is getting baptized it's like he wants people to get baptized
we want people to get baptized we've got the water we're ready to baptize you but you know what it's
just not what he's overall thinking about because in comparison of going to hell it's just like
getting saved is way more important than getting baptized and look at what verse 17 says for christ
sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of christ
should be made of none effect right when he says that christ sent him not to baptize obviously we
know that the great commission does say to go out and all the world to preach the gospel to every
creature baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost and teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever i've commanded you right so there's kind of three
aspects of that preaching the gospel getting a baptize teaching them all things so did christ
command us to baptize yes but when he says christ sent me not to baptize i think what he's saying
is like this is not the number one priority this is not my main focus of my ministry this is not
what gets me up in the morning is thinking about baptizing people christ primarily sent us to
preach the gospel and that's a great thing because look man woman boy and girl can go out and preach
the gospel verse 18 for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us
which are saved it is the power of god so to the unsaved preaching the gospel is foolish the
preaching of the cross is foolish and even to a lot of carnal christians i think when they think
about what a good outreach program looks like and if we just told them here's our outreach program
we show up we ask them if they're 100 sure that if they die today they'd go to heaven
we ascertain whether they're saved based on their answers we offer to preach them the gospel we
preach them the gospel get them saved hey we give them some materials tell them about our church and
then we just leave a lot of churches would say that's foolish that's foolishness you need to get
their contact information and get them on a bus you need to make sure that you're trying to pick
them up every single day and look if you want to do that on your own volition that's great they
would say you need to make sure you're sending out mailers to all these people and look i'm not
against mailers but what i'm saying to you is that the most important thing is preaching the gospel
there's nothing wrong with someone following up but don't come at our program saying oh that's
foolish that you don't necessarily follow up no what would be foolish is hanging a door hanger
and not even seeing if someone's saved that's foolish what's foolish is getting people in a
building getting people into the house of god and them leaving the house of god not even hearing
the gospel that's foolish that's absolutely insane here's another thing that's foolish
spending every single time that a pastor gets behind the pulpit just to preach the gospel
to the saved just because there might be unsafe people here that's foolish as well
no preaching of the cross out to people soul winning is not foolish verse 18 or verse 19
bird is written i will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world have
not god made foolish the wisdom of this world for after that in the wisdom of god the world by
wisdom knew not god it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe
right that's how god chose for people to get saved is through the foolishness of preaching
and hey christ sent us not to baptize meaning you know what i'm not super focused when i go out
preaching the gospel to someone just overly consumed with them getting baptized hey i want
them to get baptized i want them to come to church if you come to church and you want to get baptized
we will baptize you we're not the ones preventing people from getting baptized but what i'm saying
to you is like where are they all well you know what as long as they're saved i don't really care
to be honest with you go to if you would jude epistle of jude but you know the carnal mind would
look at a group of christians and say oh this church would meet at this church meets at a strip mall
this church has this number of people this church doesn't have all the bells and whistles
this church doesn't have all the money you know what kind of a difference could a small church
like this really be making okay well look at the difference jude 1 verse 22 says and if some have
compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even
the garment spotted by the flesh you know what when we get someone saved we have made a difference
and not just a difference i mean folks we kind of just made like the biggest difference that
could possibly exist in the world the difference between hell and heaven like you just made the
greatest difference and it's like some people are saved and they're just like struggling with finding
meaning and purpose in your life and those people are called non-soul winners because soul winners
don't have to wonder what their purpose is in life you know soul winners don't wake up thinking
you know is my what is my life worthless am i living a meaningless life no if you go out and
have compassion if you go out and pull people out of the fire you have made a difference it's like
jesus heals 10 people of leprosy there's a difference there folks that's a big difference
and this attitude of just like well you know you got them saved but did you disciple them did you
make sure they got baptized did you make sure that they went to church you know it's like it's like a
firefighter pulling a child out of a burning building and people being like so you're gonna
pay for that kid's college so where's that kid gonna go to college what type of career is that
kid gonna have huh did you make sure you bought him christmas presents next year that he had the
best christmas presents that exist when he turned 16 are you gonna buy him a vehicle it's like hey
idiot this child was about to burn alive and the firefighter pulled them out of the building
that's a big difference and it's like hey we're spiritual first responders here we literally got
our swat team okay our sole winning action team and you know in the carnal world you know a cop
goes out and catches a bad guy supposing that there's not a da that's going to immediately let
him out that would make a difference right and if a firefighter pulls a baby out of a burning
building that makes a difference and if an emt gives someone cpr and saves their life that makes
a difference regardless of where they go to college in the future regardless of how much money that
person makes in the future you know what we're primarily focused about getting people saved go
to matthew seven matthew chapter seven and you know what's even what's even worse about that
analogy i just gave you is like well you know where are they going to go to college here's the
thing we're we're offering free bible college three times a week like not only are we pulling
you out of the fire not only are we saving your life but also come get free education free bible
college three times a week and not only free education and free bible college but you know
what if you're married you can come to the sweetheart's banquet and we'll just buy super
awesome food for you and you know we'll just randomly just take the church out and go eat
and we'll just go do fun events and we'll hang out and we'll have a great time together it's
like what more do you want from us i'll tell you why you criticize because you do nothing
because you're lazy you're just a hater is all you are and you know what i don't accept judgment
from those types of people why because the matthew seven look at verse number one judge not that you
be not judged see you better not be judging people in areas that you yourself don't want to be judged
don't sit here and criticize us oh what's gonna happen all these people got saved hey buddy we're
offering the free education don't sit here and judge us in that area for with what judgment ye
judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again okay you
want to judge our small church for the way we do things let's turn it around on you let me ask you
why do you have such a big church full of people that don't go soul winning why do you have such a
big church full of people that aren't even saved why do you have such a big bank account that you
don't use to go preach the gospel to every creature why do you have so much resources
and you don't go on a missions trip why do you have so much resources and you don't have a map
trying to reach your whole state why is it we go talk to people in your church they're not interested
in becoming a soul winner and the people that are part of the outreach program are teenagers that
you're forcing to that go and hang a door hanger on the door like you really want to turn this around
okay careful what you judge and why behold is now the mote that is in thy brother's eye but consider
us not the beam that is in thine own eye you know what's the mote oh you know you guys actually have
to fill up the baptistry you know how come you don't just have it ready right away for every
single person we have to actually fill up the baptistry okay you know that's our mote but you
know here's my question for you is like why don't you go soul winning there's the beam in your eye
right okay yeah it takes us a little longer to fill up the baptistry and you've got a really
nice baptistry that's great but how come you don't go soul winning how come your church doesn't
go soul winning and obviously you know this theoretical church i'm talking about i'm not
talking about churches that do go soul winning right because that they're not judging hypocritically
in that area or how would thou say to thy brother let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and
behold a beam is in thine own eye thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye you know my my
mentality is that i will not accept criticism or advice for our ministry here from anyone who
is not a soul winner and you know i i welcome criticism and i welcome wisdom from other pastors
and other churches that are soul winners but quite frankly i don't care how old you are i don't care
how much money you have i don't care how big building of a building that you have if you are
not soul winning then i don't care what you have to say because you've got too big of a beam in
your eye to be worrying about the moat in ours so where are they all number one well i don't really
care as long as they're saved number two where are they all most people will not serve god that's
just the reality go to philippians chapter number two philippians chapter number two the reality is
is that even among people that get saved most people will not serve god does that mean they
didn't get saved well how many lepers were cleansed 10 right how many came back to thank jesus one
philippians chapter number two look at verse 21 it says for all seek their own not the things
which are jesus christ's that's a sad verse in your bible right there but you know what god has
given man free will and the unsaved have free will and the saved have free will and you know what
just because someone gets saved does not mean that someone is just going to automatically
become a soul winner go to church get baptized read the bible keep the commandments why because
you know what most people just seek their own most people just want to live life for themselves go
to psalm chapter 12 let's look at another verse on this psalm chapter number 12 look at psalm 12
verse 1 the bible says help lord for the godly man ceaseth for the faithful fail from among the
children of men they speak vanity everyone with his neighbor with flattering lips and with a
double heart do they speak this psalmist is crying out like saying god help the godly man ceaseth
the faithful fail from among the children of men you know the the harvest plenius but the laborers
are few right it's not that there's a lack of opportunity in our church in oklahoma in this
world to serve god it's just that most people are too busy speaking vanity with their neighbor
you know most people it's like where are they you know they're hanging out with their neighbor
this morning watching football that's what they're doing that's where they are does that mean that
they're not saved does that mean that they didn't get cleansed no it just means that they're seeking
their own rather than the things of jesus christ go to matthew 4 i want to read a few proverbs for
you proverb 20 verse 6 says most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness but a faithful man who
could find if you are a soul winner you know how true that is because you ask people and they tell
you i'm a good person i love god i'm spiritual but it's like but a faithful man who could find
who's actually gonna come even of the people who tell you i'm going to come to church 99
of the time they don't come right and it's just like how why well because most people will proclaim
their own goodness but a faithful man who can find right i was i told this story about how my
daughter learned this lesson recently because she goes out soul hunting with me every single week
and she just asked she's like why do people keep telling us that they're gonna come to church but
they just keep lying they just keep saying they're gonna come but they don't come it's like honey
because most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness but a faithful man who can find go to
Matthew 4 like I said Proverbs 18 1 says through desire a man having separated himself seeketh and
intermedaleth with all wisdom see to serve God to find wisdom you actually have to from your own
free will from your own desire seek after him seek after the Lord it's like where are they all well
they just don't care they just don't care about the things of God they don't want to reopen their
Bible they don't want to have to wake up in the morning on Sunday get dressed go to church you
know who actually follows Jesus those who desire to follow Jesus he didn't force anyone to do it
God's not a puppet master forcing people to follow him no it's through desire that you
follow Christ notice what it says in Matthew 4 verse 17 from that time Jesus began to preach
and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is that hand and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee
saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea for they
were fishers and he saith unto them follow me and I will make you fishers of men and they straightway
left their nets and followed him what's the difference between these two men here and the
people that we get saved all the time out soul winning it's desire because for some people you
could tell them hey come to church we've got a big barbecue this sunday you know we'll feed you come
to church do you need a ride i'll pick you up here's our youtube channel here's our email list
here's a free bible you know we're just giving these people all this opportunity to serve god
to come to church and they still don't do it then there's other people where all jesus has to do is
look at them and say follow me and they do it jesus didn't say follow me and i will give you riches
health and wealth follow me and i'll make sure that you're taking care for the rest of your life
he just says follow me and i'll make you fishers of men and straightway they just left their nets
forsook their nets and follow jesus what's the difference between these two people desire that's
it it's not that one was offered more than the other and it's just like it's crazy sometimes
how much you offer to help someone how much you're willing to just carry people along i mean i feel
like sometimes we're just willing to just carry people on our shoulders and drag them to church
and they just still won't do it and it's like why because they're lazy that's why because they
don't want to that's why other people you could tell them hey you know the son of man has not a
place where to lay his head and they just follow jesus some people hear like all right it's going
to be in a strip mall and all right you know there's sometimes going to be heating and air
problems oh there's protesters great oh there's problems there's news articles great because i
just want to serve jesus and some people are just willing to forsake all and follow him
other people doesn't matter what you offer them they just won't do it so this idea of just beating
our heads against the wall following up with people just incessantly just let me drag you to
church let me do this look go ahead and do that if you want to but i'm just saying i'm looking
for the people where you just say hey we have a church service this time and they're just like
i'll be there those are the people that are really going to stick and stay because people that you
just have to grab and drag and wine and dine and give all these stuff to well as soon as that stuff
ends they're out because they're not interested in serving god they're interested in being served
they're interested in getting something from the church which is why churches like life church
thrive because you show up to life church and it's like we'll we'll feed you and let you watch a
movie you don't have to hear a guy scream and yell you don't ever have to hear any hard preaching
we'll just literally play a movie for you and you know you can make all your business connections
in the community and you'll end up becoming richer as a result of coming to our church
look that's why a lot of people go to those type of churches why are those type of churches filled
because parents want a place to drop off their children and not have to deal with them it's just
like hey it's just a free daycare drop off the kids at church and a lot of times parents will
just ditch and do something else like they won't even go to church just drop off the kids it's
like why would we try to be the exact same type of church this world this city needs something
different we need a church that's actually hardcore we need a church that actually is here to serve god
where it's just not some sort of front for a money making program okay we need to be something
different where are they all where is everyone they're out making money today they're out getting
drunk today they're out watching nfl football today where are they all they're out fishing today
where are they all they're out camping they're out having a family barbecue they're out on a hike
they're out spending time with their friends that's where they all are folks whose fault is
that that's their fault we've we've offered to them hey follow jesus christ come to church follow him
go to luke chapter 14 luke chapter number 14 luke chapter number 14 verse 28 when you get there
for which of you intending to build a tower siteth not down first and counteth the cost
whether he have sufficient to finish it lest happily after he hath laid the foundation
and is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him saying this man began to build
and was not able to finish or what king going to make war against another king siteth not down
first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with
twenty thousand or else while the other is yet a great way off he sendeth embassage a passage
and desireth conditions of peace so likewise notice this whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath he cannot be my disciple right that is a high calling to follow jesus christ
and look praise god getting saved is not like this praise god getting saved is not forsake all
that you have and thou shalt be saved no it's believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shalt
be saved and you know we should rejoice for that and you know i am so happy that untold millions
of people who never have darkened the door of a church who have never read their bible who have
never gone soul winning who have never gone and been a disciple of jesus are going to be in heaven
someday because of that free gift but look you know just for me personally and i think the same
thing for you if you're here in a church like this you want to be more than just a guy or a girl that's
saved you want to be a disciple of jesus christ and we got to stop having this idea of just modeling
our types of churches after the world only caring about how many people we have how much money we
have how many baptisms we have how many converts we get in the door you know what we are here to be
disciples of jesus christ and we need to be willing to forsake all that we have to follow him that's
a high calling but that's what he said go to luke chapter number 11 luke chapter number 11 where is
everyone well you know what as long as they're saved i don't really care to be honest with you
number two where is everyone well you know what they're being selfish they're out living their
own life they're out making money they're out just doing their own thing why because most people
will not serve god where are they all number three most people will get offended by the
preaching that's the reality it's like where are they all well most people hey as long as
they're saved i'm just happy that they're saved where are they all they're in enid
they're in the bahamas that's where they are okay where are they all in oklahoma city well
they're out watching football they're out being lazy they're out sleeping in they don't want to
serve god where are they all well they came to church one time and they heard the hard preaching
and they left and they never came back they came to church a few times and you know we start
preaching against the jews and they leave mid-service where are they all you preach on
dispensationalism and they leave you a little angry note in the pew in the pew and they leave
and they never come back that's where they are oh that must mean there's something wrong with you
guys that must mean there's something wrong with anchor baptist church okay well let's see if that's
our fault look at what jesus said in luke 11 verse 42 here's his really sweet message
but woe unto you pharisees see that's not life church preaching that's not community church rock
and roll church evangelical him you know screaming out woe unto you it's always like skinny jeans
plexiglass pulpit beloved it's so good to see you all this morning you know that's not how jesus
talks right just put woe unto you pharisees for ye tithe mint and rue of all manner of herbs
and pass over judgment and the love of god these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other
undone he's like okay you know you're following this little letter of the law here uh you're
tithing of your mint and ruin all manner of herbs but you know what you don't even know how to judge
you have no judgment and he said you passed over not only judgment he said you passed over the love
of god he gets up when he's preaching a sermon and says hey you guys don't even love god you guys
don't even know how to judge these ought to have done and not leave the other undone that's not a
type of a sermon you would hear at a lot of these preach these churches right you know oh i know you
all love god i know you all know how to judge that's the type of things that you would hear
right instead of the preacher getting up and screaming you don't even love god you don't even
know how to judge he says woe unto you Pharisees for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues
and greetings in the markets he's just calling them out for what's in their heart he says hey i
know that you guys are just prideful jerks you guys just want to be seen of men you want to have
the chief seats you want prestige you want wealth you want power you want to be called certain
titles you know you don't love god you love yourself is what jesus is saying woe unto you
scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye are as graves which appear not and the men that walk
over them are not aware of them right so they have this outward appearance that's deceiving
just like how you're walking through the woods or whatever and all of a sudden there's this unmarked
open grave that you didn't see and you fall into and you're hurt that's what a lot of churches
are like it doesn't look like it's anything dangerous in fact it might look like beautiful
on the outside but all of a sudden you walk in and you're falling into that pit a lot of times
you're going into the pit of hell because they're preaching a false gospel other times you're falling
into the pit of sin because they're not preaching hard against sin notice the response verse 45
then answered one of the lawyers and said unto him master thus saying thou reproaches us also
right saying hey whoa whoa jesus you know it's fine if you're preaching against them but hold
up a second now you're reproaching us too right and so is jesus here supposed to say oh i'm sorry
i'm gonna apologize let me change my ministry let me change my preaching style let me be more
seeker sensitive no and he said woe unto you also ye lawyers for ye laid men with burdens
grievous to be born and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers was he saying
hey you're a hypocrite too just like these people are wicked self-seeking you yourself are a
hypocrite as well you're giving all these rules to people to follow that you're not even touching
with one of your fingers so notice when he was reproached for his preaching when his sermons
were criticized for being offensive he didn't get up and change and apologize or water down the
message he just doubled down he doubled down woe unto you for ye build the sepulchres of the
prophets and your fathers killed them truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your
fathers for they indeed killed them and ye build their sepulchres therefore also said the wisdom
of god i will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute
that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be
required of this generation from the blood of abel unto the blood of zacharias which perished
between the altar and the temple verily i say unto you it shall be required of this generation
woe unto you lawyers for you have taken away the key of knowledge ye entered not in yourselves
and them that were entering in ye hindered this is some good preaching right here right when people
tried to shut him down criticize his preaching tell him hey you're offending us also he's like
let me just shift gears and i'm just gonna hone in on you for a little bit you know he's holding
the lawyers here responsible for the death of all the prophets before them and he's saying i'm gonna
require it of this generation woe unto you lawyers go to john chapter number six john chapter number
six so you know if you're gonna have this attitude well if you offend people then you're not being
christ-like if you offend people that's a bad sermon if you offend people that's a bad ministry
well you're gonna have to say that about jesus's ministry then because jesus is just preaching hard
and notice he's calling people out by name he's calling out specific groups he's calling them
names he's not being nice to them folks he is ripping face on them and then when he's called
to the carpet on it he just doubles down so you know you can't look at a church like ours and say
that's not christ like no it's just that you don't know jesus it's just that you haven't read the
bible obviously john chapter 6 verse 53 then jesus said unto them verily verily i say unto you
except he eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you who so
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and i will raise him up at the last day for
my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood dwelleth in me and i in him as the living father hath sent me and i live by the father so he
that eateth me even he shall live by me this is that bread which came down from heaven not as your
fathers did eat manna and are dead he that eateth of this bread shall live forever these things said
he in the synagogue as he taught in copernum many therefore of his disciples when they had heard
this said this is an hard saying who can hear it so once again we see another example of jesus's
preaching and people surprisingly just have the audacity to just kind of call him out on it it's
like this is a hard saying this is offensive this is hurting our feelings who can hear it who could
bear with this type of preaching who can listen to this kind of stuff is what they're saying
notice verse number 61 when jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it he said unto
them doth this offend you what and if ye shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before
it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that i speak unto you they are
spirit and they are life so not only does he call out the pharisees not only does he call out the
lawyers but even of his own disciples at times his own disciples get offended saying who can
hear this who could put up with this type of of preaching and did he say oh i'm so sorry let me
change let me clarify let me be pastor 1000 caveats no he just says oh does this offend you well what
about if you see the son of man to stand up where he was before he just doubles down he doesn't
apologize he just keeps preaching hard and he says you know what the words that i speak unto you
they are spirit and they are life what's one good interpretation of this of course there's many
but one is hey the things that jesus are saying are right right hey the words that i speak unto
you they are spirit and they are life there's nothing wrong with jesus is preaching he doesn't
have a bad spirit he's not filled with pride he's not filled with unrighteous anger he's not
preaching false doctrine anything that he says is right and in the same way when a preacher gets
up and preaches the word of god the king james bible is just preaching straight what the bible
says you know what those words from the bible are spirit and life and you know what if you're
offended at it you're the problem you're the one that's wrong and it's not like this you know
debate culture where we sit here and say you know maybe we're wrong and maybe you're right no no the
bible is just right and whenever the bible is being preached you know what it's right and if you're
offended you're wrong and when preachers are preaching the truth of god's word when you get
up out soul winning and you're preaching the word of god you know you should not waver in your
preaching you should not sit here and wonder you know maybe they have a point maybe they're right
no no if we're preaching what the bible says we need to be strong and firm on that as a church
and you know what if people get offended if people come to anchor baptist church and get offended by
the preaching of God's word that's their problem not ours look at verse 64 but there are some of you
that believe not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should
betray him and he said therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given
unto him of my father from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him
what is this this is like a modern day church split right and I'm sure that these people went
on and murmured about Jesus and talked about he was mean his preaching was mean he offended us oh he
was preaching about us right and they split from him they left from him and it's like why do people
get this idea that if Jesus is going to have people walk away from him because of his preaching
that people won't do the same thing for us and you know if people walk away from us when we're
preaching sound doctrine when we're preaching the truth we should not sit here and think maybe we
should change our ways no we should double down on God's word always verse number 67 then said
Jesus unto the 12th will ye also go away he wasn't even begging and pleading for Peter to stay he
just he wants to know hey are you going to also go away are you going to leave as well then Simon
Peter answered him I love this Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life and we
believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the son of the living God again what's the difference
between these two groups of people they were both disciples of Christ what's the difference
between the disciples of Christ that got offended that quit versus Peter who said hey Lord to whom
shall we go and even Peter later in his life had a huge lapse of faith where he did deny the Lord
Jesus Christ but he did end up making it back he did end up going forth and preaching but what was
the difference between these two is that one heard Jesus is preaching and said that's mean
that's offensive that hurts my feelings I don't like that the other person says thou has the
words of eternal life the other person says hey forget my own personal feelings forget my personal
opinions what you're speaking is the truth so to where are we going to go the truth doesn't change
because you like it or don't like it right hey just whatever the truth is we need to be willing
to believe that we need to be willing to stick with that regardless of whatever preconceived
opinions notions ideas that you have go to Matthew 15 hey where are they all they came to church one
time and then they got offended they said oh thus speaking thou reproaches me also and they went
away and they left that's where they all are you know where are they all you know they they heard
that the bible says to spank your kids and they left right where are they all you know they heard
that the bible says that wives are to submit to their husbands and they left where are they all
they heard that you know sodomites should be put to death and they left that's where they are they
got offended by the preaching Matthew 15 verse 11 not that which goeth into the man defileth a man
but that which cometh out of the mouth this defileth a man then came his disciples and said unto him
knowest thou not that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying but he answered and
said every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up let them alone they
be blind leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch oh
don't you know these people were offended he's like yep i know they're offended they're blind
let them alone let them be right not oh let's let's chase after let's change our programs let's
change our culture let's water down the preaching so that the Pharisees could feel comfortable
look there are a million churches in America that are designed to make the adulterer feel comfortable
to make the whore feel comfortable to make the lazy deadbeat father not providing for his family
feel comfortable we need to offer something different look the market is already saturated
in Oklahoma City with churches that'll just tell you everything you want to hear that of churches
that never will offend you we should be different and you know what part of that is counting the
cost and saying hey you know what that means that means a lot of people are going to walk through
this door one time one time or a handful of times you know that means that in the future
people are going to get backslidden people are going to get carnal people are going to have
their mind filled with the philosophies of this world and they're going to hear the preaching from
Jesus Christ of his word and they're going to say that's offensive i'm out but you know what
i've counted that cost and i'm okay with that and i would rather have here's the thing i don't want
to just pastor a church full of people necessarily i want to pastor people that want to be disciples
i want to pastor a hardcore church why because there's already too many of the other types of
churches and you know what the backslidden christian that just goes to a watered down
church every once in a while look i praise god that at least he's he's showing up to a church
once in a while let those churches exist that's fine but you know what we're not going to change
we need to be the real deal we need to be the spiritual special forces and hey let there be
other types of christians let there be other types of pastors but we want to strive to be hardcore
go to ezekiel chapter number two ezekiel chapter number two you know it just seems like with the
way our country is and with the way that churches have been with the new evangelical movement that
has just blown up in the last 30 years and to just see the results that it's had in america how so
many people are just watered down feminist don't care about what the bible says not aggressive
and soul-winning afraid to preach hard you know you would think people would start to wake up and
say hey maybe we need something different maybe we need a different method here because a lot
of people are diagnosing the problem of the results a lot of people are saying man so many
christians are watered down man there's so many christians that are whores before they're married
man how come so many christians are getting divorced man how come there's so many problems
in christianity but they keep going to life church they keep going to rock and roll purple lights
smoke show baptist church they keep going to calvinist let's drink alcohol church it's like
here's an idea why don't you actually go to a church that's going to preach hard against sin
and when you get offended we're not going to change our program for you we're going to tell
you accept it and get right or leave we don't care we're here to please god we're not here to
please the visitors and you know when the visitors come sometimes i may throw some extra salvation
verses in my sermon for that person but you know what i'm never going to cut out the meat of the
message ever and you know if that sermon was about a certain topic i'm not going to all of a sudden
just not say that because the visitors here you know bring your grandma at your own risk you know
we need your grandma here we need your mom here we need your family and friends here and look part
of being in a church like this is like okay you really want to be a disciple well then why would
you even be ashamed of being a disciple why would you be ashamed of being in a church like this why
would you be ashamed to invite your friends and family and your grandma here you know what they
need this type of preaching that's what they need you're like yeah but they're liberal and watered
down okay so how's that going to get fixed by them continuing to go watch movies at life church no
bring them into a church like this don't be ashamed to do so you're there in ezekiel 2 i want you to
keep your place there because when we come back to it it'll be the last place we turn to ezekiel
chapter number two notice what it says in verse three and he said unto me god to ezekiel son of
man i send thee to the children of israel to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me
they and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day for they are impudent
children and stiff-hearted i do send thee unto them and thou shalt say unto them thus saith the
lord god so that's a real fun mission right is that god says all right you're going to go preach
to the house of israel let me tell you a little bit about them they're rebellious they're stiff
neck they're hard-hearted they're impudent children they're this way their fathers have always been
this way but go up to them and say thus saith the lord right so this is not really exciting this is
like when we went to preach at the city council meetings in arlington if you saw videos of that
when we had a huge group of people from steadfast baptist church on one side and we had a huge group
of angry sodomites on the other side and we were basically rebuking the city council for proclaiming
pride month in the city of arlington and you know what let me just tell you there was not a receptive
crowd when we're talking when we're preaching there's literal hissing coming from the little
faggot demons over there literal just hissing and sneering and snickering and of course from
the city council wasn't any better really there's a few old grandmas who backed us up praise god
so see you know the grandmas need god's word too they they oftentimes are more conservative
than you think but you know what that was kind of i felt kind of like ezekiel in that moment
where it's like all right i'm just here to preach god's word but i already know these people are
stiff neck they're not going to receive it they are going to rebel verse five and they whether
they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious house yet shall know that
there have been a prophet among them he said hey don't sit here and worry about the results don't
sit here and worry about well what am i going to preach well i want to make sure i preach something
that they'll hear that they'll receive that they will like no he just says hey whatever their
responses whether they will hear or whether they will forbear hey yet they shall know that a prophet
hath been among them what does that mean just stand on the message of god's word period go out
soloing and don't sit here and think will this person receive me will they not just offer that
person the gospel just preach that person the gospel you get up to preach a sermon don't sit
here and think oh will this offend the trolls will this offend people will this offend the
first time listener just preach god's word verse six and now son of man notice this be not afraid
of them neither be afraid of their words jesus showed a good example of that right though buyers
and thorns be with thee and thou doth dwell among scorpions be not afraid of their words
nor be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house you know you've you as a
soul winner have seen this i'm sure preaching the gospel you know what the gospel offends people
the gospel is one of the most offensive things to preach in this whole world believe it or not now
not to us in this room but you have seen it you've gone and you've preached the gospel and you've
told them that they're wrong you've told them that their church is preaching something wrong
you've shown them from the bible and you know what often you see is you see their face change
you see their countenance change of them getting upset them getting angry and you know we should
not be afraid of people's faces we should not be afraid of people's words we should not be
not willing to tell someone what they need to hear just because they'll give us an angry look
just because they'll give us you know an angry word or so and you know what for those of you
that get up here and preach behind the pulpit or if you ever have a desire to be a pastor someday
you have to have this mentality that you have to be willing to make people upset sometimes
and you know sometimes it sucks because it's like you want to be friends with everyone you want to
be nice to everyone but it's like the most friendly thing you could do is preach the truth of God's
word and if that ever causes someone to be upset at the preacher the preacher should still be
willing to preach it because he cares about that person and look sometimes you do see you see the
countenance change you often can perceive you know what people are thinking when you're preaching
god's word but you know what don't let that stop you don't let that make you not say what you need
to say go to luke 17 and like i said keep your place in our luke chapter 10 i mean and keep your
place in ezekiel luke chapter number 10 luke 10 look at verse number one it says and after these
things the lord appointed other 70 also and sent them two and two before his face into every city
in place whither he himself would come therefore said he unto them the harvest truly is great but
the laborers are few pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers
into his harvest have you heard of this statement before this kind of saying before that you you
keep people with what you win them to right it's a great saying and it's very very true here's the
thing when it comes to church when it comes to ministry or people following jesus of course we
welcome any person any christian who is starting their spiritual journey following christ at any
stage that they're at of course we want to help people grow if they just got saved yesterday
of course we want that but i'll just tell you you know primarily what i want to win people to
is i want to win people to labor i want to win people to becoming a soul winner that is my most
like the happiest day for me as a pastor is when someone becomes a soul winner when someone
preaches the gospel when when a child preaches their first you know gospel presentation like
that to me is the best it cannot be topped right a first time visitor coming and just listening
to a sermon that's cool praise the lord for that but it doesn't even come close to someone who
becomes a soul winner and here's the thing i don't want to just win people to our church
just to be a warm body that sits in the pew why because the the harvest is plenious what's the
problem but the laborers are few that's why he says pray therefore the lord of the harvest that
he would send forth laborers into his harvest look i'm not just praying that our church grows
with people with tithers with bodies i'm praying that god sends us laborers i'm praying that god
sends us people that have a tender heart that when they hear christ command to go forth and preach
the gospel to every creature that they would have the courage and boldness to make that step and do
it that's who i'm praying for because that's how we're going to make the biggest difference as a
church you do not make the biggest difference as the church by having the most amount of bodies in
the pew it's by doing the most soul winning that's how you make the biggest difference
the church whoever church this is in the world it's probably faithful word baptist church let's be
honest that is doing the most soul winning is the church that is making the biggest difference in
the world that's what is making the difference today and you know what you keep people with what
you win them to and you know if we win people to hard preaching we'll keep them with hard preaching
we win people in 2026 to soul winning we'll keep them with soul winning if we win them with you
know clown shows and free food all the time and all these different things going on you know then
we got to keep them with that stuff and you know church is not about the special events you know
i love special events but church is not about the special events it's about making disciples
to become soul winners that's what it's about it's about teaching all things whatsoever christ has
commanded you and look if you love hard preaching if you love the king james bible if you love
soul winning if you love the things of god you will love anchor baptist church and we want to
keep it that way you know but if you are just looking for a free babysitting service if you're
looking for a hollywood movie if you're looking for just endless you know fun shows and plays and
you know fireworks from the stage and the pastor is going to come up from the stage and jump up
you know like that gong nam style guy or whatever you know and they're they're on the the zip lines
and the dancing girls like this is not the place for you folks that's in tulsa and you know what
your life will be destroyed for going to a place like that you need heart preaching you need anchor
baptist church luke 17 luke chapter 17 let's remind ourselves of our sermon text here luke 17
verse 12 and as he entered into a certain village there met him 10 men that were lepers which stood
afar off they lifted up their voices and said jesus master have mercy on us when he saw them he said
unto them go show yourselves unto the priest and it came to pass that as they went they were cleansed
and one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back and with a loud voice glorified god
and fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks and he was a samaritan and jesus answering
said were there not 10 cleansed but where are the nine hey where are they all well you know what
first of all as long as they got cleansed of their leprosy i don't really care as long as that baby
got pulled out of the burning house i don't really care where they go to college i don't care what
kind of car they drive i don't care how much money they make in the future i'm just glad that they
didn't get burned alive and if someone gets saved from the fires of hell you know what i want them
in church i want them to live a blessed life i want all sorts of good for them but if they're
not going to hell then i don't really care about the rest as much okay where are they all well you
know what as long as they're saved i don't care as much where are they all most people are not going
to serve god most people have free will most people are going to choose to be selfish to be
lazy to just live for themselves where are they all they came once and got offended they came twice
and got offended and you know what you should expect to see that cycle continue but you know
who we're praying for we're praying for that one of the ten that are cleansed that actually wants
to come give glory to god we're praying for that one that actually wants to become a laborer and
you know what would excite me way more like if we just had randomly like 10 new people to start
coming to our church but you know what they didn't like the hard preaching they didn't want to go
out soul winning they weren't really about our culture you know that would not excite me even
close to as much as if just one person came here who wanted to become a soul winner hey one person
comes here that wants to be a soul winner i'm going to be doing backflips spiritually okay i
can't do one really really but that's how excited i'm going to be i'm going to be jumping for joy
for soul winners that come here for people that want to serve god go back to ezekiel 2 like i said
last place we'll read here ezekiel chapter number two and think about this mission that ezekiel was
given hey you're going to go preach to these hard-hearted people they're not going to listen
to you but notice in verse seven ezekiel 2 and thou shalt speak my words unto them whether they
will hear or whether they will forbear for they are most rebellious but thou son of man hear what
i say unto thee be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house open thy mouth and eat that i
give thee hey ezekiel you're going to go preach to people who are rebellious who are hard-hearted
who are not going to listen to what you have to say which is what god has to say but here's the
thing ezekiel you don't be like them you don't be rebellious like that rebellious house you ezekiel
you open your mouth and you eat what i'm giving you right and it's like hey that's the application
for us today is that yeah where are they all well only one came back nine went away and didn't care
but you know what for you though is you be that one though you be that one that goes back and
gives glory to god you be that one that is thankful for your salvation that doesn't just
take the grace and run for the rest of your life living for yourself you be that one hey you open
your mouth and you take that king james bible sermon and you let someone shovel it in there
and you say thank you can i have another that's the attitude you should have you actually get
saved and say you know what hey praise god i'm saved from the burning fire but you know what
i'm going to go out and be a laborer i'm going to go out and pull other people out of the fire
i'm not going to be this type of person that just wants to seek things that are my own don't be
rebellious like the other nine just because most people won't serve god doesn't mean that you have
to fall into that same trap just because most churches don't go soul winning doesn't mean that
we can't go soul winning just because most churches aren't going to preach hard on sin
doesn't mean that we have to be that way no we need to not be rebellious we need to be the
exception to the rule and you know what in 2026 let's just not not pray that just bodies start
filling this church let's pray for laborers that's what one of the things jesus specifically told us
to pray for is pray for laborers pray for soul winners pray for people that would be receptive
to become a soul winner let's pray lord thank you so much for your word and thank you for this great
story thank you lord that as you healed the lepers you've also healed us of our sin of our
punishment for sin you've saved us from hell help us not to just walk away from you and not even
care that you've done that for us and just live for ourselves help us to come back to you to be
thankful to give glory to you and to spend the rest of our lives serving you lord help us to
love your word help us not to get offended by your word help us to encourage others to serve
you lord and lord i pray that in 2026 you would just send more laborers for the harvest here in
oklahoma city to anchor baptist church we love you and jesus name we pray amen we'll go ahead
and sing one last song to conclude the service if you would take your hymnals and turn to hymn
number 75 on jordan's stormy banks hymn number 75