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All right, we're there in Luke chapter 17, and you say, Brother Stuckey, on Wednesdays we're going through Revelation, another end times prophecy sermon. No, this is not about end times prophecy. That's the other part of the chapter. But go to verse number 11, Luke chapter 17, Luke 17 verse 11. And the Bible reads, and it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria in Galilee. This is referring to Jesus Christ. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers which stood afar off. Now obviously we know Jesus Christ, he got plenty of people saved, he healed a lot of people, and he had a pretty big following. People wanted to listen to him preach and things like that. And there's these ten lepers which the Bible says come to meet him. Now you have to realize that leprosy was a very dangerous disease in the Bible, okay? There's a lot of debate about whether the modern day leprosy that we call it is the same as in the Bible, but there's no question in the Bible that the leprosy being spoken of is very contagious, it's very dangerous, and people that were lepers were not supposed to live amongst everybody else. They would live in leper colonies away from everybody else because nobody wanted this disease to spread onto them, okay? So these ten lepers, they hear about Jesus, they hear people are gonna be healed, but notice this, which stood afar off. You say, why did they stand afar off according to verse 12? Well, because they had a very dangerous disease, right? Now I understand 2020's been kind of a crazy year, but think back to 2019. If you were sick, you wouldn't be that close to people. You wouldn't shake hands. You know, if you did come to church and say, oh, I'm sick, you know, I apologize. You wouldn't try to be around other people because you don't wanna pass that on to other people, right? And so these lepers, they stand afar off from everybody else. They're not close to Jesus. They're standing afar off, okay? Verse 13, and they lifted up their voices and said, well, they're coming from a long distance away. I mean, they have to lift up their voices to be heard, right? This is not a conversation from a couple feet away, okay? They lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. What they're basically saying, what they mean in their hearts is we wanna be healed of leprosy. Please heal us of this disease because they've been living in leper colonies away from everybody else. Nobody wants to do that. They wanna be able to be around everybody else and they don't wanna be isolated. So they're saying, have mercy on us. Verse 14, and when he saw them, he said unto them, go show yourselves onto the priests. Now, why does Jesus say show yourselves onto the priests? Because there was a pattern in the Bible, right? In those boring chapters in the Mosaic Law, there was a set pattern if you got healed of a disease. You had to show yourself to the priest. He had to confirm that you were completely healed and then once they did that and they had a clean bill of health, then they were allowed to be amongst everybody else. So Jesus says, hey, go show yourselves onto the priests. What he's basically telling them is, you know, you're cleansed, you're free of this leprosy. But notice this, and it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. When Jesus spoke the words, go show yourselves onto the priests, were they clear of leprosy at that moment? No, they weren't. They got healed as they went, the Bible says. Every word is very important. You must realize these 10 lepers, they were taking by faith what Jesus Christ said, that if we show ourselves onto the priests, we will be healed before we get there. Because they're not healed immediately. They start going. They listen to the voice of Jesus. They obeyed what Jesus says, and as they went, they were cleansed. Now look, we don't know how far they got before they were cleansed. We don't know if it was 10 minutes. We don't know if it was 20 minutes. We don't know if it was 30 minutes. I'll tell you what though, they weren't just driving in a car like a relaxing, you know, whatever. I mean, they're either jogging or walking, probably out in the sun. I mean, they're going a bit of a distance and along the way at some point, they're walking it's like, man, I'm no longer a leper. As they went, the 10 of them were cleansed along the way. Okay, verse 15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God. Now look, if we just quickly read over this story, you might assume that Jesus spoke the words, go show yourselves on the priests, immediately they're cleansed. But realize this, if they start walking and they make it like five seconds and all of a sudden I'm healed, every one of them would have turned around and glorified God. Every single one of them would have thanked Jesus, right? Obviously it was more than five seconds. Obviously it was more than 30 seconds. We don't know the exact time, but my guess would be 30 minutes or something like that. I believe some time actually went by where you know what, it would have taken some effort to turn around and go back to Jesus. It wasn't just a simple thank you. No, I mean, they actually were going on their way some distance and they no longer saw Jesus. I mean, it's not like they were far away and they could wave or anything. No, they've gone a bit of a distance and they're cleansed along the way and one of them looks down and says, you know what, before I go show myself onto the priests so I can rejoin society, I need to thank this man who healed me, okay? Verse number 16, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks and he was a Samaritan. Now, this man which stood a far off several verses earlier, he goes right before Jesus Christ and falls at his feet. Why? He's cleansed. He no longer has this dangerous contagious disease, okay? And Jesus answering said, were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? Right, he's asking this guy, I mean, weren't there 10 of you? Because I only see one person. I remember 10 people screaming, have mercy on us, and now all I see is this one Samaritan in front of me. Where are the nine? Now, is there any question that they were healed? No question whatsoever. The Bible's very clear about that. They got healed, Jesus says they got healed, but only one of them comes back to actually thank Jesus, okay? Verse 18, there are not found that return to give glory to God save this stranger. And he said unto them, arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now, why does he say his faith made him whole? Because of the fact they were not cleansed immediately. All 10 of them had faith that once they went, they would get healed along the way. Not just this one man had faith, all 10 of them. Why? Because it wasn't something that was visibly seen immediately. They went on their way, and you know what? All 10 of them got healed. So it's not that this man has faith because he comes back to Jesus. No, all 10 of them, they walked to show themselves unto the priest, or they jogged, or whatever, and along the way they got healed, because by faith they went to show themselves unto the priest, even though they're not healed yet. All 10 of them had faith. But Jesus is specifically talking to this one person, okay? They all had faith, and that's why they got healed, because they went and they were healed. But what Jesus said was this, where are the nine? The point of this, the name of the sermon is where are the nine? And what I'm preaching on to you today is this. We go soul winning, we get many people saved, and yet most of them we never see again. And all these other Baptist churches say, well, where are they all? I mean, 3,000 salvations in 2020? I mean, you oughta be a megachurch. Where are they all? I mean, you say you got 12 saved in the passage yesterday. Where are they? I mean, I don't believe it if I don't see them. I mean, you say you got eight saved in Mootenlooper. Where are they? You got seven saved in Makati. Where are they? Few people saved on Thursday. Where are they? People saved on Wednesday. Where are they? I mean, if you're getting all these people saved, then surely they come to church. And people say things like that to criticize soul winning, to try to tear down soul winning, and yet Jesus Christ said all 10 of these people were healed. All 10 of them, and only one came to thank God. And the reality is that most people we get saved will never see again until we go to heaven. That's reality. Most people that get saved, they don't come back to thank us. They don't come to visit this church. Does that mean they didn't get healed? Because I remember only one out of 10 people thanking Jesus Christ, and all 10 of them were cleansed. That's why Jesus asked, where are the nine? And people criticize us with a very similar question. Where are they? Where are all these people that you supposedly get saved? And they try to make us feel bad about soul winning. They try to discourage us from soul winning. In fact, many of you at your old churches, they criticized you. Like, hey, I got somebody saved on Friday. Oh, then why isn't he at church? Right, you said you got somebody saved. Well, why aren't they here? I mean, I don't believe it. They're not here. They must not have gotten saved, right? Because seeing is believing, right? I mean, that's the sort of stuff they're gonna tell you. But yet, in this story, and look, I believe this is the main purpose of this story. I believe this is a story meant for us as soul winners to show people, hey, you know what? 10 people by faith got healed along the way, and yet only one came back to thank Jesus. And most people we get saved, you know what? We're not gonna see them. And guess what? The purpose of soul winning is not to build a church. You know what the purpose of soul winning is? To win souls, right? I mean, if you told me, Brother Stockie, your soul winning ministry, for over the next 10 years, and look, this is not gonna be the case, but let's say this was. If we knew that over the next 10 years, we'll go soul winning for 5,000 hours and nobody will show up, we will go soul winning every single week, just as zealously. You say, why? Because we believe these people are getting healed. When we explain the gospel to them, and they say they believe it, because look, man looketh on the outward appearance. And when somebody tells us, hey, I believe it's a free gift, I believe it's eternal, it's only in Jesus Christ, I believe you cannot lose it. Look, I'm gonna go off what they say and believe that they mean it, and believe they understand it. Now, are there false converts and some Judases along the way? Yes. Did John the Baptist baptize some unsaved people? Yes. Are we gonna make mistakes and pray with people that didn't really get it? Of course. But yet, we see, according to this story, the majority of people that get cleansed, they're not actually gonna come back to thank us. Why is that? Well, I'm gonna give you five reasons why most people we get saved, we will never see again until we go to heaven. Most people we get saved are not gonna start coming to church, okay? Now, turn in your Bible to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. Now look, apart from the five reasons I'm gonna give you here today, a lot of people that we get saved can't even come to church, right? I mean, if you get a 14-year-old saved, his parents might say no, right? We're Catholics. It's like, no, you're not going to a Baptist church. We get, and look, a lot of people we get saved are young people who might not even be allowed to come to church. And realistically, if you're getting somebody saved in Mounalupa, you know, praise the Lord for that, but it's gonna be very tough. It's gonna be very tough to convince them to come to church, okay? They're like, there's a Baptist church right here in Mounalupa, right? It's gonna be hard to get them to come a long distance when they've never heard this preaching and everything like that. So even outside of the reasons given, logically, of course a lot of people aren't gonna come to church. Of course the majority of people getting saved in Mounalupa probably aren't gonna come to church on Sunday, okay? But let me give you five reasons why people we get saved don't come to church. One reason they don't come to church is quite simply they're selfish or self-centered. You know, a lot of people we get saved are selfish people. And praise the Lord for every selfish person who gets saved. I don't wanna see people go to hell, but a lot of people we get saved, they're just quite simply selfish. They care about themselves, not about other people. Notice what it says in Acts 2, verse 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, okay? In Acts 2, verse 41, the Bible tells us that those that gladly receive his word get baptized, okay? But you know, a lot of people receive the word of Jesus Christ and receive the gospel, but they didn't do it gladly, okay? In the Bible, when it's talking about with joy or gladness, it's indicating they not only received it and got saved, but there's actually works afterwards, okay? But look, there's plenty of people that can receive the word without gladness. You say, does that get you saved? As many as received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. It doesn't say as many as gladly received him. But the reason why the Bible's saying gladly received here in Acts 2 is it's giving you extra indication. It wasn't just that they got saved, but there was actually something afterwards, okay? They gladly received his word, and what's the proof they were really glad about it? They got baptized. And look, during this time period, there's some persecution to the believers. Getting baptized, a public thing that you're showing, guess what? You're risking your own life. You're risking your own health. And so it showed they were actually very thankful and glad. They were glad and they got baptized, okay? But guess what? A lot of people got saved and they just weren't that glad. They weren't that thankful. Why? Because they're selfish. They care about themselves. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added onto them about 3,000 souls. And they continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Look, this is our goal when we get so many, to get people saved, to get them in church, to get them baptized, joining the fellowship, and teach them to observe all things as the Bible says. But the reality is, there are many people that are willing to listen to the gospel and get saved, but they're not gonna come to our church. And you could beg and beg and beg and beg, and look, they're not coming unless you pay them, right? Now look, there's plenty of people that will come to church, but there are people that will listen to the gospel, but they're not gonna come to our church. Why, because they're selfish, right? Turn to Matthew 18, Matthew 18. Matthew chapter 18. One misconception we make as believers, we tend to think that if something happened in our lives, it's gonna be the same for everybody. You say, Brother Stuckey, when I got saved, I started going to church. So therefore, if somebody gets saved, they're gonna start going to church. That doesn't mean that. All that means is when you got saved, you started going to church. It doesn't mean everybody's gonna do that. Look, some people, when they get saved, they cry. I didn't cry when I got saved. Well, I guess I'm not saved, because I didn't have any tears, right? When I heard the gospel, I went home and thought about it. I didn't get saved in front of the person who got me saved. I thought about it, and an hour later, I got back to my apartment in college and everything. My roommate was gone. And just naturally, I just went on my knees, and I asked God to save me. What if I asked God to save me, believing in my heart without going on my knees? What if I said, Jesus, please save me? It's like, well, you're not on your knees begging, right? I wanna see more contrition and sorrow in your, no. I mean, just because I went on my knees, that doesn't mean that you had to pray. I mean, you're going soul-winding, door to door. And then somebody at the door, you say, hey, do you believe this? And then all of a sudden, they just go down on their knees. That's not gonna happen. Just because I did that, it doesn't mean other people are gonna do that. And look, some people, they get saved, and you know what, they're very emotional. And I was pretty emotional when I got saved because I went down on my knees, and I didn't think I had to. It just kind of naturally happened. But you know, there's people that get saved, they don't necessarily show a lot of emotion, but then they start living for God, right? Just because you have a certain experience doesn't mean that's everybody. You say, Brother Stuckey, I love this kind of preaching. Yeah, but you know, there's saved people that don't like this preaching. Just because you love it doesn't mean that everybody does. Now look, I don't understand why people don't like this kind of preaching because I've liked this kind of church. I like to learn, I like to grow, I wanna serve God. But the reality is, I know plenty of saved people that just have no interest in living for God. I don't know why they don't, but they don't. Just because I do and just because you do, that doesn't mean that it's everybody, okay? Now, Matthew chapter 18, Matthew 18, verse 23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. Now in the Bible, I don't have time to go into this, but you can sell yourself into servanthood. In the Bible, if you have a big debt and you can't pay it, basically you work it off by manual labor and you can be in debt for years trying to pay that off. And this man has a debt of 10,000 talents and he's being told that him, his wife and his children are gonna be sold as servants, okay? Now your natural reaction is to beg for mercy and that's what this guy does. Verse 26, the servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. So this man actually forgives him the debt that he owes. He says, you know, I'll forgive you of this debt. Verse 28, but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him 100 pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest. I mean, can you imagine somebody grabbing you by the throat? Because here's the thing, you know, we should try to avoid fights in life as best we can, but if somebody grabs you by the throat, it's like, okay, it's time to go to war, right? It's like, you're grabbing me by the throat, okay? And that's what this guy does. He's forgiven of this big debt and you would think he'd have compassion in his heart, wouldn't you? You would think he'd forgive somebody else, but he doesn't do that, he grabs him by the throat. Verse 29, and his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt. We have been forgiven a great debt by Jesus Christ. The natural reaction would be to try to help other people get their debt forgiven, but you know what? Most people don't go soul winning. You say, why is it that somebody could be forgiven a great amount and then not try to spread that to other people, they're selfish. That's why most people don't serve God, they're selfish. They care about themselves, okay? Turn your Bible to Proverbs six, Proverbs six. You say, what do you mean, brother Stuckey? Well, Sunday's my only day off from work. It's like, man, I'd serve God, but I'm so busy and everything, I don't have time to go to church. I don't have time to hear God's word. I don't have time to pray. I don't have time to read my Bible. Yeah, you're selfish, that's what you're saying. I'm too busy to serve God. Yeah, you're selfish. You care more about yourself than you do about God. That's what you're saying. It's like people have this attitude in today's world. Man, I need to be able to spend three hours on Facebook, three hours on Twitter every day, watch all these TV shows. I mean, season 11 of this show I haven't watched yet. It's like, man, it's my only couple days off from work. I'm just gonna sit around and eat popcorn and everything and chips and just all day watch these shows. People are selfish. They care about their personal desires, okay? Because here's the reality. When we go soul winning, we are showing we care more about other people than ourselves. Look, there's plenty of times when we're tired on Sunday afternoons. We don't feel like going soul winning all the time. And look, if you're selfish, you know what you do? You just don't go. But if you care about other people, guess what you do? You lay down your own personal desires and say I'm gonna serve God because I care about other people more than myself, okay? But the reality is many people get saved and they're just not that thankful. They're willing to listen to the gospel but they're not willing to spend a couple hours on a Sunday even coming to church, right? That's the world we live in. Look, most people we get saved, they're too selfish to come to church. That's reality. Another reason why people don't come to church, some people are selfish, other people are just slothful, just lazy, too lazy. Proverbs 6 verse six. Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler provided her meat in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? And look, this is the case for a lot of people on Sundays. It's just like, I mean, it's too early. I mean, 10 in the morning. I can't wake up before 10. So that's way too early to go to church, right? I mean, yeah, you're lazy. I mean, 10 in the morning, that's not that early. I mean, in the Bible, they're waking up once the sun's up. And look, catch me if I'm wrong, but I think it was before six in the morning the sun was up this morning. You say, how do you know that, brother? It's like, I was already awake because I'm not gonna sit around and do nothing all day, okay? And it's like, a lot of people we get saved, they're just too slothful, right? They don't have the energy to just walk to church five minutes from here. Literally, people we get saved that are a couple minutes away. Oh, it's so far. Right, I mean, sometimes we go so many. We send people 15 minutes walk away. Oh, that's so far away. It's like, I can't come. It's such a distance, right? It's like 15 minutes. It's like, are you kidding me? Especially when you have people at our church that come an hour and a half, two hours. I mean, you wanna laugh at those excuses, like, too far away. Like, what are you talking about? You say, why is it they can't come to church? They're lazy. They don't wanna spend a day at church. It used to be around the world, all of the Christian countries, you know what? They would have a day devoted for church. And they would work six days a week, and their day off was coming to church. They're busy. But nowadays, people have to have all this free time, because life's so hard. Life is so easy compared to what it used to be. This is like the easiest time. I mean, I get it. It's tough in today's world compared to a year ago. But you know, it's really easy compared to 100 years ago. It's really easy compared to 200 years ago. It's really easy compared to 300 years ago. Yeah, I get it. This year's been tough. It's still a lot easier than our grandparents' lives growing up. It's actually not that difficult right now. And people say, man, it's just too tough to come to church. So much energy, so much effort. Yeah, you're lazy. You're selfish, you're slothful. Go to James 4, James 4, James chapter 4. I mean, because life is so easy, we've developed this attitude that we deserve to have a couple hours of entertainment in our lives every day. And when I say entertainment, that means just time to goof off. I'm not saying you spend time with your family and you have a Bible say, I'm saying you get to spend a couple hours playing video games. I mean, man, I gotta have a couple free hours to play video games because my job is so tough and everything like that. It's like, no, in the Bible, they work from sunup to sundown. You know why they stopped working at sundown? Because there's no more light to work outside. They probably would have worked another couple hours. Our lives are not that difficult in today's world, but many people we get saved, they're not gonna come to church because Sundays they're one day off. They're too busy. I got more important things to do. Yeah, you're either selfish or you're slothful. That's what you're telling us. James 4 verse 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Now James 4 verse 17, it says that if you know there's something that you should do and you don't do it, it's a sin. Okay? Obviously we know, hey, if you were to do drugs, that would be a sin. But what this verse is saying is if there's something you should do, not something that you shouldn't do, right? So if you should read the Bible and you don't, it's a sin. If you should come to church and you don't, it's a sin. If you should pray and you don't, it's a sin. If you know something is right to do and you don't do it, it's a sin. Okay? But what's the context of verse 17? Verse 13. James 4 verse 13. Let's see what the context is because a lot of people have this attitude. No, no, no. I'm gonna go to church, but I just can't do it right now in my life. My life is too busy. One day I'll go to church. One day I'll read the Bible. One day I'll serve God. What does it say in verse 13? Go to now. Don't tell me one day. Go to now. You say, brother, suck you. I don't read the Bible every day. Go to now. Start reading the Bible every day. Don't say, well, I'm gonna wait till January. We're gonna do our New Testament challenge. Look, the people that are gonna say I'm gonna wait till January, you're not gonna read the Bible in January either. If you're not doing it now, you're not gonna do it when we have a special competition. You're gonna do it for two days in January and you're gonna quit. That's reality. If you're not finding time to serve God now, you're not gonna do it in January. You're not gonna do it in February. You're not gonna do it in March. Go to now is what the Bible says. Don't say, well, one day I'm gonna serve God. Serve God now. Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain, whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. These people that we get saved, 25 years old, they're gonna wake up one day and say, man, I'm 50 years old, I've never been to church. I intended to go. I was just trying to save up money, get my life together, and then one day I'd serve God. Yeah, it's never gonna happen. If you don't do it now, it is never going to happen. You need to serve God whether your life is great or whether it's tough. And trust in God to bless you. But if you say, I'm gonna do it one day, it's never gonna happen. Go to now is the context of verse 17. Look at verse number seven. Point one, some people do not come to church because they're selfish. Some people are slothful. And some people are scared of persecution. They don't come to our church because they're scared of persecution. James four, verse seven. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Now, does it say in verse seven, resist the devil and he might flee from you? Resist the devil and it's possible he's gonna flee. No, it says he will flee from you. The Bible says if you resist the devil, he's going to flee. You say, why? The devil's not omnipresent. The devil's not everywhere, right? We have this idea that the devil cares so much about us that he's gonna devote all of our energy to attacking us. This is the reason why I'm a drunk. This is the reason why I committed adultery because the devil's just always attacking me. No, that's your own sinful heart, my friend. It's like the devil's not gonna, I mean, the devil attacks people like Job. And if you're someone who's just a drunk and a drug addict, you're probably not the person the devil's attacking because your own sinful flesh is taking that over yourself, okay? No, you know what? The devil is not omnipresent. And see, if you resist the devil, the devil's gonna quit wasting his time with you. Why? It's not gonna be effective. If you have this attitude, I'm gonna read the Bible and go to church no matter what happens in my life, you know what the devil's gonna do? He's gonna try to stop you. And then after a couple of weeks, I'm gonna quit wasting my time. Why? Brother so-and-so's gonna read the Bible no matter how bad the day's going. Brother so-and-so's gonna come to church no matter what's going on, right? If you resist the devil, he will flee from you. But look, we know a lot of saved people that have been saved for a long time, and they don't really resist the devil. And the devil keeps attacking. Why is the devil always attacking me? Well, because you're not resisting him. I mean, think of a fight. I mean, if you're in a boxing match and the guy just has you in the corner just throwing a bunch of punches, eventually he's gonna be tired. Even the most athletic and shape people in the world, they can't punch nonstop, full power for minute after minute. No, it usually lasts 15 seconds. Fight through that 15 seconds, fight through the flurry of punches, and guess what, it's done. Same thing in the spiritual life. When you're going through a rough time, fight through it, and then it's gonna be over. But here's the thing. If people that have been saved for a long time have trouble fighting through it, what about someone who just got saved? See, there are people we get saved at the door, and they do wanna come to church at that moment. They say, yeah, you know what, I'd like to come to church. But they're not willing to resist the devil. And when Sunday rolls around, it's like, oh, man, I went to bed late last night, right? You call them and invite them, hey, did you still wanna come to church? Oh, I'm so tired. Next Sunday, next Sunday, I promise, man, I was up late, next Sunday. You call the next Sunday. Oh, man, I forgot about it. Next Sunday, I'll come. You come the next Sunday, your number's already blocked. They've already blocked your phone number at that point. There are people we get saved, and you know what? They do actually wanna come to church. They just don't want it bad enough. They're not willing to resist the devil. And many of the people we get saved, a large reason why is because we get Catholic saved, and they're afraid of the persecution of their family. Turn in your Bible to Luke 12, Luke 12, Luke 12. I mean, we get Catholic saved all the time, and I promise you, some of them think, man, I really should go to church, but how can I go to church without my mom finding out? How can I go to church without my dad finding out? It's like, man, you know, I wanna go to that church. I learned something. I don't want anybody to know that I'm not Catholic anymore. I mean, this is reality. There are people, there are Baptists nearby us love our church, they love me, they love our preaching. They wanna come to our church, and they don't come to our church. And these are people that have been listening to preaching for years. Why? Because they're afraid of persecution from their friends and family. I mean, don't you know Brother Stuckey's a hate preacher? I mean, that guy's so hateful. He's always just preaching against things. He's always being mean, right? I mean, there are Baptist churches that persecute people. Look, there are many people in this room that say that's what happened to me. And look, here's the reality. I get it, for many people that are here, part of our church, it was a leap of faith to start coming to our church. It was difficult for many reasons. One, when there's a new church, you don't know if it's gonna last or not. I mean, a new church starts, what if the church started and after a couple months I said, man, I hate the Philippines. I'm going back to the US, and you've already left your church. It's like the point of no return. So yeah, when you serve God, you are taking a bit of a leap of faith, right? And so I get it, it's tough for people. And look, there are people now, and look, there are people that I pray for that, you know what, I hope they start coming to our church. They like our church. They like all my statuses online, right? Sometimes they share the sermons. It's like, you know, you could actually just come inside of the church and listen in person, but they don't. But here's the thing, those are people that have heard years of preaching and it's tough for them. What about someone who just got saved? Do you realize that persecution might be way too much for them to deal with? And they're very afraid. What is their family gonna think? It's like, okay, I got saved, and it's like, man, I believe this, but man, I'm afraid to link up with this church because what will my family and friends and coworkers think? Luke 12, verse 51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division. Oh, that Baptist church is so divisive. Oh, it's just all this division from that Baptist church. Yeah, I mean, this is about Jesus Christ. He was a divisive preacher. Yeah, and he didn't come to bring peace. He came to bring division. Now inside of a church, we need peace. But look, the reality is most of us, our family, our relatives, our friends, when you started serving God, you know what, they just didn't like you as much. They liked the old you that was worldly. They liked the old you that was sinful. And then once you start serving God, they don't like the new you, okay? And look, Jesus said, I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring division because the word of God divides. The word of God divides between those that love God and those that don't love God. See, if I just preach generic sermons, just really generic sermons about how we need to have a relationship with Jesus, and I don't say anything wrong. I don't say anything that's unbiblical. I just don't say much. Because you know, the problem in most churches, it's not what they're saying is wrong. They're just not saying anything. Look, most non-denominational preachers, if you listen to an hour of preaching, you might walk away and say, he didn't say anything wrong. He didn't say anything, right? I mean, most non, I mean, literally, you can listen to Joel Osteen for 30 minutes on TV, and there's definitely a good chance you wouldn't hear anything wrong, but you wouldn't hear anything, right? I mean, unless you tuned into Kanye singing before the service, because Kanye likes to perform for Joel Osteen now, right? But look, you just wouldn't hear anything, okay? Here's the thing. If I preach sermons that were very generic and not very clear, you know what? People from CCF and Born Again and Victory and all those churches, they would say, pretty similar to my church. They wouldn't get offended. But then when you're really specific, thus saith the Lord, you know what, that divides. Say, well, I don't know, brother, say, if Jesus was around today, you know, everybody would love him. Oh, they crucified him, didn't they? I mean, didn't John the Baptist get his head cut off? Did everybody love Jesus? No, you know, what happened is, there were a lot of people that loved Jesus, and there were even 50 times more that listened to Jesus, because here's the thing, this kind of preaching is interesting to people, because they're like, man, he's using Bible and explaining stuff and everything like that. And look, some people like 90% of the sermons, or 90% of one sermon, and they're like, amen, amen. Then I get to that one point. It's like, and then they hate me, right? It's like off with his head, right? That's reality. And look, Jesus Christ, he came not to bring peace. Man, all we need is world peace to be happy. Yeah, you know, we're gonna have world peace when we live under Jesus Christ's rules in the millennial reign of Christ. But how can we have peace when there's pedophiles and murderers and everybody walking these streets and nothing is happening to them? Luke 12, verse 52. For from henceforth, there shall be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And look, you know, we get people saved in the household, sometimes, you might get the husband saved of a family. And then on Sunday morning, he's gonna start coming to church and his wife's like, where are you going? I'm just going to the market. Oh, can you pick up some mangoes? Then he comes back with mangoes, right? Never comes to church, right? Because the Bible's saying here, dividing even inside of a house. And look, the reality is people are afraid of what their family's gonna think. This is one of the biggest reason why people do not serve God because of what their family thinks, okay? Turn to John 19, John 19, John 19. The sad thing is if you really cared about your family, you would try to reach them. And people pretend not to be Christians their whole life. They're not open about what they believe and they never reach their family. Here's the thing about this, you could actually be honest about what you believe and you would actually have a chance to get your family saved. And look, I've seen family get saved before and you know what, it took several years and there was a lot of division caused. There's a lot of arguments, okay? But I'll tell you what, I eventually reached them. Now you can pretend not to be a Christian all your life and just, you're never gonna reach your family. That is reality. Or you can just decide I'm gonna serve God and let the chips fall where they may, you know? John 19, verse 38. And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly. This is a saved guy, he's a good guy, he loves Jesus, believes in Jesus, loves his preaching, but secretly, right? Inside of his heart, he loves God. He's never gonna show it outside though. Why, he's afraid. Say, why do you say he's afraid? But secretly for fear of the Jews, right? Because in the Bible, there's no question the Jews are the ones that are persecuting Jesus Christ. It's the Jews that killed Jesus Christ. Oh, it's the Romans. Well, why does the Bible say it was the Jews? The Jews are the ones that provoked the Romans to do it. The Jews are mainly responsible. The person that delivered you to me had the greater sin. That's what Jesus Christ said, right? And so here's the thing. The people that were really guilty were the Jews, and a lot of people were afraid to serve God. Can you imagine living 500 years ago? They say that during the Protestant Reformation, the persecution toward the Anabaptists, the saved Baptist brethren in the past, was worse than, you know, in the early first century, second century. You know, getting baptized might mean off with your head. The Protestants and the Catholics were killing a lot of people for being open about what they believe, and people got saved, and what's the first step of obedience to God after you get saved? Baptism. What is baptism? It is a public show of what you believe, right? It's something where you're showing the world, I'm not afraid to say I believe in Jesus Christ. I'm not afraid to say that I believe Jesus Christ was buried and that he rose again. You go down in the water, you come up. Here's the thing though, 500 years ago, you do that publicly, you might get killed. Many people got killed for that. Now, in today's world, what is there to be afraid of? People are afraid to come to a church that they should come to. What are you afraid of? Is the Catholic church gonna kill you? Nobody's gonna kill you. You're gonna get made fun of. Big deal. Getting made fun of, you're gonna stop serving God. Turn your Bible to 2 Kings 5, 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5. Here's the reality though. I mean, Peter, when he was made fun of, he gave up on serving God for a little while, right? People really care what other people think. That's reality, okay? And a lot of people when we get saved, they might be afraid to come to our church because they're afraid of what other people think, okay? They're afraid of the persecution. Now, let me say this. I believe that there are many Catholics we get saved. Many Catholics that we get saved, that quite honestly, they will still keep going to the Catholic church. See, I don't know about that, Brother Stuckey. If they really got saved, they wouldn't go to that church. Well, what does the Bible say? Everything we believe, we prove with the Bible. 2 Kings 5, verse 17. 2 Kings 5, verse 17. And Naaman said, "'Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules burdened of earth? For thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.' Naaman sang in verse 17, I believe." Not gonna worship to another god. I believe in the true God. And here's a man who was very thankful. I mean, he says, I'll give you whatever you need. Any amount of money, what do you need? He's so thankful for being healed from being a leper that he says, I'll give you whatever. I'll give you lots of gold. I'll give you lots of silver. Anything you want, he was very, very thankful. But then, verse 18. In this thing, the Lord pardoned thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Reman to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Reman, when I bow down myself in the house of Reman, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. I believe in the true God, but forgive me when I look like I'm worshiping a false god. That's what Naaman says. Forgive me when I walk inside a Hindu temple and bow down before Shiva. In my heart, I don't believe it, but I have a job. I don't want to lose my job. I don't want to get persecuted for what I believe. You say, Brother Stuckey, do people really do that? There are saved people that every single All Saints Day, they go to the graves and drop off food to dead relatives. Why? Well, that's what their Catholic relatives are doing. It's like, no, I have to spend time with my Catholic relatives. And as they're putting food in the graves to attract all these rats and EPs and everything, it's like, I've got to go there too, because man, my mom's going to be mad at me if I don't. My grandma's going to be mad. I mean, I don't believe in it, but isn't that true? That many, in fact, some of you maybe, right? Some of you are like, this is the first year you didn't go to the graves on All Saints Day, right? It's like, some of you have been to the graves on All Saints Day and you didn't believe it. Why did you do it? Because you were afraid of persecution from your Catholic relatives, right? And look, in this story, here's a man who believes, but he says, you know what? I'm going to keep looking like I'm worshiping this roman because my boss, this is what he's doing, so I've got to kind of pretend, right? I mean, I'm not a Hindu, but I'm going to still have a red dot on my head. Inside, it's the blood, the red blood of Jesus Christ. On the outside, it's the red blood of, you know, whatever tradition, right, of Hinduism. Look, there are Catholics, we get saved, that, you know what, they still go to Catholic church because, you know what, quite frankly, they're worried about what their family's going to think. They go to church every week, and if I stop going this week, they're going to ask me, why didn't you go to church? Oh, you know, I have a headache. You can't say you have a headache every week for month after month after month, right? And the excuses are going to run out, and then guess what? You're going to start going back to Catholic church, okay? There are saved people that we had saved that, you know what, they still go to Catholic church. Turn in your Bible to Mark 5, Mark 5. Now, they don't believe in the Catholic church, but they're like Naaman. They go because they're afraid of the persecution, okay? Here's the thing, in today's world, with most churches aren't very clear about what they believe, I mean, people can get saved and stay in those churches, and they're not really hearing that much that's wrong, so they don't feel that guilty. It's not like every single week, because the Catholic church used to say there's no salvation outside of the Catholic church, right? Isn't that what they said? Walan kalik tasan salabasan Catholic church. They don't say that now, though. Nowadays, I mean, even atheists go to heaven. It's like, wow, that's a big change. So here's the thing, if you were going to a church and every week you're hearing heresy after heresy, you're going to be pierced and feel guilty week after week and vex your righteous soul, and eventually there's a good chance it will get you to the point where you say, man, I'm out of here, I can't take this anymore. But unfortunately, these churches aren't open about what they believe, so you can sit in that church for years and you don't really feel guilty, because most churches aren't really clear about what they believe, okay? One reason people don't come to church is they're selfish. Another reason is they're slothful. Another reason is they're scared of persecution. But you know another reason why people don't come to church? They're shy. It's not that they're sinful people. It's not that they're bad people. They're just shy and afraid to come to church. Mark 5, verse 25. And a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing better but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his garment. There's this big multitude of people, Jesus in the midst of them, and this woman touches the clothing of Jesus. She believes she will be healed if she touches his clothing. Verse 28, for she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. Verse 29, and straightway, which means immediately, okay? And immediately, straightway, the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately, knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, who touched my clothes? And so immediately when this woman is healed, Jesus knows and he says, who touched my clothes? Now, when he says this, people think like he's mad, okay? Who touched my clothes? He's not mad though. It's kinda like, have you ever seen these videos of the Pope? Everybody's thronging him, and then somebody will try to touch his hand. And then, you know, cause the Pope tries to act nice. But then every once in a while, that devil inside of him just comes out and he starts like cursing out like some old woman or something because somebody touched him, right? And that's kinda what they think of Jesus like, oh, because it's considered rude to touch someone in a crowd like that, right? And so they think he's mad. Who touched my clothes? He's not mad though, okay? Notice what it says in verse 31. And his disciples said unto him, thou seest the multitude thronging thee and sayest thou, who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. Notice the reaction of this woman, but the woman fearing and trembling, right? She believed that Jesus would heal her when she touched those clothes and she got healed. But then she's kind of shy or afraid about this interaction. I mean, everybody's looking at her and everything. And this is how people feel when they come to church. It's like, hey, the new person's here at church and everyone's like, who's that person, right? You got 30 people, there's a new person nobody knows and everyone's kinda looking over at that person. Let's just check out this person during the service, make sure, you know, that they're on the level or whatever. And it's just like, that's what this woman is, right? She comes and you know, all eyes are on her and you know what, she's afraid, she's shy. And the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace and be whole of thy plague. We get a lot of people saved, they're not selfish, they're not slothful, they're not scared of persecution, but they're shy of just being around people they don't know. It's a different atmosphere and they just don't know what to expect. Go to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy 3. Now here's the thing, people that are selfish, they're not gonna come to church. People that are slothful, they're not gonna come to church. People that are scared of persecution, they might, depends, but most likely no. People that are shy are good people to follow up on. There are people that get saved that are good people to follow up on, but they will not come to our church unless we do follow up on them. Because they're just too shy, that's reality. And it's like they're just uncomfortable for coming for the first time. You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't know if I believe that. Okay, well let me tell you a story. There's somebody I got saved in Sacramento, California, his name was Toby. This guy was, you know, real nice guy and everything, he came to the church for a long time, but the first time I met him, I knock on his door, real friendly, he invites me inside of his house, I preach the gospel, and his wife was also there. Now, this lady ended up really liking me, but she really did not like me this day. Eventually she ended up really liking me and everything like that, but here's the thing, she came like 15 minutes into the gospel presentation. She's busy cleaning and everything, then she starts hearing me preach the gospel, so I'm at the part of saying, hey, even if you became a drug dealer, even if you murdered someone, I mean, if you were saved, even if you, I mean, would you still go to heaven? And she's looking like in horror, like who is this person? Because look, to understand the gospel, you gotta hear all of it. It builds on it. You can't just pop into the end and then just pray the prayer. No, you gotta hear the whole thing. And she just kind of comes to the end and she just was very mad at me. And you know, I was trying to be polite, but I was a little bit blunt to tell her, hey, you know what, your husband's a one-on-one to hear this, you know, not you, because she kept trying to interrupt and I didn't want to lose that salvation. And so then she was mad, but she stopped talking. She's like, ah, really angry. Now, look, this was a nice lady. I got to know her. She was very nice. Just this day, we had a bit of a problem, okay? This guy gets saved. And so, you know, after he got saved, I asked him, hey, would you like to come to church sometime? And he seemed interested. So I followed up on Saturday. I brought him cookies and everything. And he said, yeah, I'm gonna come to church tomorrow. And I tried to tell him, you know, we can pick you up for church, but he says, no, I have a ride, I'm okay. And so Sunday morning rolls around. And I was like, many of you are sometimes. You're waiting to see, is my convert gonna come to church? You're excited. You're telling people, hey, I got somebody saved. They're gonna come to church. Then all of a sudden, it's like, it's 10.30. They're Filipino time, it's okay, right? 10.40, 10, maybe the second service they're gonna come. And then they never show up. Does that not happen to us as soul winners? You're excited. You put your energy and effort. You pray for this person. They don't come to church though, right? So here's the thing. I didn't give up immediately though. I followed up the next week on him. I visited and everything and said hello. I said, hey, we missed you at church. We'd love to have you and everything. He's like, yeah, I'm sorry I missed church. He's like, you know what? I'm gonna come this Sunday. So Sunday morning, and I visited him on Saturday. So on Sunday, I'm waiting for him and everything, waiting to see if he comes. He said, he's gonna come this week. I'm waiting. And it's like, at Verity in Sacramento, they start at 10.30. It's like, all right, 10.28, 10.29, 10.30, 10.31, 12 o'clock. Didn't come, right? So I decided, you know what, I guess he's not gonna come. I just decided I wasn't gonna follow up again. Well anyways, the next week or the week after that, I was in this apartment complex, which is where he lived, which is where I was following up. But I wasn't there to see him. There was somebody from our church that I was picking up and dropping off, who still goes to Verity, Brother Mauricio. And I went to pick him up, and as I'm driving out, I'm driving by and then Toby went to get the mail and he's walking back to his house. So I stopped the car, said, hey Toby, how are you doing? He said, oh, I'm doing all right. And I said, man, you know, and I talked to him just for a couple minutes and everything. I said, man, we'd love to have you at church. He's like, I went to church on Sunday. I was thinking, you went to church? He said, I went to church and I was outside and I wasn't sure if it was the right location and I got nervous and drove away. I mean, he was literally, and look, if I was outside, he would have seen me and come to church. I mean, he literally wanted to come to church and then he was too shy. Now, the next week, he ended up getting connected on the bus route. He came for like a year after that. He ended up having a lot of health problems, so he stopped coming to church. But honestly, he wanted to come to church, but he was just a little bit shy for that first step. It took a little bit of effort to get him to come. And look, I do believe follow-up works. Now, you need to make sure you're following up on the right people because if they're not interested at all, they're not gonna come. But there are people like Toby that are just too shy. And you know what I found? Is some of the shyest people make the greatest soul-winners and make the greatest Christians in the world. It's not people with this just eloquent gift when they're born. No, actually, a lot of people that are very shy end up really serving God, okay? And he ended up coming to our church and being a member. This guy was there for a year and of course, I talked to him about baptism and stuff. This guy wanted to get baptized. He never got baptized. He would walk over to the baptistry sometimes on Sunday after church and just kinda look at it. And I mean, he did this like time after time and everything. And I invited him to get baptized several times and everything, and he wanted to. I mean, he would look at it. He'd ask questions about how it worked. He never got baptized. I mean, praise the Lord that even shy people can get saved. They just believe on Jesus. And even if they're too shy to get baptized, even if they're too shy to come to church, they still got saved because they believed. And there are people like that. The reason they don't come to church, it's not that they're bad people. They're just shy. And look, if I went to a new church, let me just be honest with you. Even if I went to like a like-minded church where even though some people might even know who I was, if I visited a like-minded church in the US, I would still be a little bit shy because I don't know everybody. I would still be a little bit shy. Am I allowed to sit in this seat or is this reserved for somebody? I'd be a little bit shy that, you know, you don't know the customs of that church. Look, people we get saved, they might be nervous. They might just be a little bit shy and they're just not sure how everything works, right? And look, these are the people that we wanna follow up on because they could make great church members, okay? One reason people don't come to church is they're selfish. Another reason is they're slothful or lazy. Another reason is they're scared of persecution. Another reason is they're shy. And the last reason is because they're simple. You say, what do you mean by that? In the Bible, simple is the word for ignorant. Basically, without knowledge. Basically, a little Bobo, right? That's what the word simple means in the Bible, without knowledge, okay? You say, what are you saying by they're simple? What I'm saying is this, they don't understand what they're missing. They're too simple to understand that. They don't have the knowledge of the Bible. They just got saved and look, most people out there, their whole goal in life is to get saved. They wanna have eternal life. They seek for eternal life. They think that's the end. No, that's the beginning. You don't get eternal life at the end of your life. You get it the moment you believe, but people out there, their whole life, they've been searching and seeking for eternal life and then they get it. It's like, man, now I'm in retirement. I mean, salvation's the beginning, but here's the thing. They are too simple to understand that. And I'm not saying that in a rude way because when I got saved, I was too simple of the Bible. I didn't understand the importance of church. And we get people saved and they don't realize, hey, if I start coming to church, this will fix my marriage. They don't realize that if they start coming to church, it's gonna make them good parents. They don't realize it's gonna help them at their jobs. They don't realize it's gonna help them with their character. They don't realize it's gonna help them with the problems in their life. They just think, man, I got saved, that's great. They don't realize the depth of the Bible, okay? And look, this is something none of us really realize until we start hearing this preaching and reading the Bible. Then we really believe, man, the Bible really does give the answers of life for all topics. But people we get saved at the door, they don't realize that. And none of us realize that when we got saved, okay? Here's the thing, when people first get saved, the reason they're probably gonna come to church is if it seems like it's gonna be fun and entertaining and they're gonna fit in and have friends and stuff like that. Now, eventually we want them to change the point where what really matters to them is the doctrine they believe and the things we stand for. Because if you go to a new church, you're gonna ask that church, what do you believe about salvation? What do you believe about repentance? What do you believe about Calvinism? Those are the questions you're gonna ask. But somebody who just got saved, what's Calvinism? They don't know what that is. What's repentance? They might not even know that, right? They don't know all those questions. They're just trying to find a church family, people that care about them, okay? And so look, people that first get saved, they are too simple to realize that. First Timothy three, verse 15. First Timothy three, verse 15. But if I tarry long, First Timothy chapter three, verse 15. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. When you go to church, you hear the truth from God's word and even things outside of the Bible. You look at situations going on in the world and by God's word, you can understand what the truth of those situations is. You can understand these things. But here's the thing. People don't realize that when they first get saved. They don't understand that they need to come to church. They think, man, I'm saved and that's good enough. It's not good enough, but they don't realize that. They don't realize that church can actually fix their problems. Go to one last place, Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32. They're simple in the fact that they don't understand what they're missing, but they're also simple to the fact that they don't understand the difference between our church and other churches. I mean, here's the thing. You get a Catholic person saved, because here's the thing, most people think there's three religions in the Philippines, Catholic, Christian, and cults. Maybe that there's, you guys that want to do an illiterate sermon, how do I do it? There you go. Catholics, Christians, and we'll cut the audio when we talk about the cults, okay? Catholics, Christians, and cults, okay? And so look, if you get a Catholic person saved, this is what they think. Man, I should start going to victory with my coworker who's been inviting me, because I realize Christianity's true, not Catholicism. We get people saved, and in these big non-denominational churches, they're the ones that reap the benefits sometimes. That's the truth. You get a Catholic person saved, you're like, okay, it's not Catholicism, it's Christianity, and they're gonna start going to a Christian church, okay? Because they just don't understand the difference between all these churches. Deuteronomy 32, verse 31. For their rock is not as our rock. For their rock is not as our rock. And you know what, quite literally, this is true. Because what's the rock of Catholicism? Peter. What's the rock for us? The Lord Jesus Christ. Literally, their rock's not as our rock, okay? But look, people just don't get this, because look, when they say, okay, it's not the rock of Peter, then they think, oh, it's just Christianity, right? They go to the rock music of the Christian church. They go to that rock. They went to the wrong rock. It's like, no, not that type of rock. It's not the rock music, okay? It's like, they literally, they leave the Catholic church, they leave their other, and you know what, they go to another church that's not good either. But they don't understand the difference. And it's not because they're bad people, they're just simple to understand that, okay? When I first got saved, the only thing I cared about was salvation. When I was gonna look for a church, when I started going to church, the church I started going to was not a King James only church. They had contemporary music. You say, Brother Stuckey, why'd you start going to that church? Because I was 19 years old, and I didn't know all these things. I was looking for a church that taught eternal security and salvation by grace through faith. I didn't realize, man, that church had, and look, after I was there for a year and started reading the Bible and everything, eventually I figured that out. Okay, this is not the sort of church either. I realized I was an independent, fundamental Baptist, okay? But look, people that first get saved, they don't understand all these other religions and why they're wrong. They just figure, oh, I need to be at a Christian church. And some of them, they go to church, they just don't come to our church. They say, oh, okay, I get it, man. I'm so thankful for that Baptist church getting me saved, I'm just gonna go to this Bible Baptist church right by my church, right? I mean, that's reality. They get saved by a Baptist, they might start going to a Baptist church, just not our type of Baptist, right? And so look, when people first get saved, they just might not have this knowledge yet to realize that the church they're at isn't the right one. Okay? So I want you to understand a few things. Number one, if you're someone who runs into a lot of your converts and they're not saved over and over and over again, well, then you need to look in the mirror and figure out what am I doing wrong? Because the gospel works. And if you're constantly getting false converts, you need to find out why am I getting a false convert? What am I not explaining? Okay? Because there's some part of your gospel that just isn't clear enough. And so look, if you're getting a lot of false converts, obviously you need to figure out what am I doing wrong? But here's the thing. We get lots of people saved and that doesn't mean they're gonna start coming to church. That doesn't mean that they didn't get saved. Because I'll tell you what, I run into people all the time here that are saved that give the right answers on salvation. And guess what? That didn't happen a year and a half ago. You say why? Because our church is getting people saved. And we preach the gospel to people. And literally, some of those people have told me that they're Catholic and then they're right on with salvation. Because they're just too simple to realize at this point, this is completely different, okay? But they might still be going to Catholic church with their family or whatever, I don't know. But they're right about salvation. They understand salvation by grace through faith. You can't lose it. It's not of works, not repentance of sins. They understand salvation, but that doesn't mean they're gonna start coming to our church. And I'll tell you what, don't let anybody attack our soul winning or your soul winning and make you feel bad. I mean, well, you're getting all these people saved. You're spending hours on Saturday in your free time. But where are they? I mean, if they're really getting saved, they're really getting saved, they come to church. I mean, isn't this what most Baptist churches here say? They have this attitude, hey, I mean, you say you got somebody saved, where are they? Well, I'll tell you what, Jesus healed 10 people. And we know that because that's what the Bible teaches us. And only one came back to actually give them thanks. And so you know what, I believe our numbers, and look, we know that our numbers are not 100% perfect. Obviously, we have a number of 2956 salvations. Yeah, I mean, maybe it's 2955, right? But I'll tell you what, when I heard the gospel, my friend gave me the gospel, okay? Someone I'm friends with today, he gave me the gospel in college. I argued, I argued, I argued. And an hour later after I went home, I got saved. I tried to tell him the next day that I got saved, he didn't believe me. Because I had been arguing with him. It's like, whatever, whatever, Stuckey. It's like, you know, I don't believe you. It's like, it took, and then he told me like a week later, he's like, yeah, he's like, you really did get saved, right? Because I was arguing with him. I said, you don't know what you're talking about and everything, what am I trying to say? Here's what I'm saying. We preach the gospel to some people that are not ready to get saved immediately. Maybe an hour later, they do get saved. Because you know, sometimes people say, people don't get saved, the Bible says, because they don't understand the word. Sometimes people need to hear it and think about it. And they're just not ready to make a quick decision. See, some people make quick decisions. Some people like to really think about it. And that's what I did. I thought about it, I believed it. I said, makes sense, right? So are there people that we count that didn't actually get saved? Absolutely. And look, if we run into someone that's a false convert, I'm not just gonna be like, oh man, we're giving up on so many. Because you know what, we know we get plenty of people saved. And some people we don't even realize we get saved, get saved. But just think about this for one second. Let's say our numbers are just way off. Let's say for a second, and this is not true, but let's say that only 1% of the people we think we are getting saved are getting saved. Let's say the number was 29.56. Somebody was 56% saved, okay? 29 salvations, someone's 56% of the way there, okay? Let's say we're at 29 or 30 salvations. Wouldn't it still be worth going soul winning? I mean, even if, I mean, if I get to heaven and God says, you know what, you thought you had 2,000 salvations, you actually had 25. Well, praise the Lord, 25 people aren't going to hell. It doesn't mean that soul winning doesn't have value. Even if it's less than we think, praise the Lord for all the souls that are getting saved. And I wanna give you this example. I forgot to look this up. I should have done this, I was planning to and everything. But if you were to look at the charts of NBA players with the most missed field goals ever, you know who's gonna be at the top of the list? Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You say, man, I thought all those guys were great players. Yeah, you know what? They have more makes and more misses. And I'll tell you what, I promise you, yeah, I probably do have more false conversions than most of these Baptists out there. And you do too, you know why? Because you have more true conversions. Yeah, so maybe we are wrong from time to time, but you know what, you're still getting people saved. The Bible shows us soul-winning works, and we see a story that is meant to teach us. You know what, a lot of people get healed, but you know what, there's many reasons they don't come to church. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today in church and getting to hear your word. And help us as a church to always be zealous for soul-winning and not to get discouraged if our converts don't come to church. Help us to do everything we can to bring them in church, but at the end of the day, we trust in you to build our church, God. And we ask you to just continue to bless our church, God, and help us reach this community. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.