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

I think myself happy and so if you're gonna go through life down and and and gloomy it's really no one's fault but your own because the Bible says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice this is the day which the Lord made we will rejoice and be glad in it that's a choice that you make it's not just oh I'm happy because everything's going great today and I got a raise and and you know I got a check in the mail and and you know all my family's in a good mood and everybody's happy and and the church attendance was great and now you've got to learn to be happy when you're based and when you bound Paul and Silas were in the prison singing praises to God they were rejoicing and the Bible says I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually in my mouth that's through the good times and the bad and so Paul was a man who thought himself happy he said in verse 3 especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently said you know I'm glad to be talking to somebody who understands the Bible because you're gonna understand everything that I preached to you right now because you're an expert in the Old Testament he says in verse 4 my manner of life from my youth which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem know all the Jews which knew me from the beginning if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee now he lived a very strict religion the Pharisee the word Pharisee means the separated ones and he lived after the most straightest sect basically out of all the Pharisees he was in the strictest group but wait a minute was he on his way to heaven no before he got saved before he believed on Jesus Christ if he would have died he would have gone to hell he was on his way to hell even though he did a lot of good things even though he followed the law of the Old Testament blameless but guess what nobody's totally blameless he was still a sinner and he was not saved it doesn't matter how strict you are of your religion it's not gonna get you saved and he lived after the most straightest sect of Pharisee and says in verse 6 now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come for which hopes sake king Agrippa I am accused of the Jews basically talking about the resurrection of the dead why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead now I love that statement because think about it if God can create the whole world why would it be incredible that he could raise the dead and this is what blows me away about people who try to attack the miracles of the Bible they used to have a TV show when I was a teenager mysteries of the Bible and they shouldn't have been called mysteries of the Bible it should have been called how to debunk the Bible and the whole show was just to try to debunk the miracles of the Bible and it showed how they didn't cross the Red Sea they crossed the Reed Sea and ankle deep or knee deep water and you know I don't know how Pharaoh drowned in the knee deep water you know it must have been doing a handstand okay and then they said that you know there was a cool spot in the fiery furnace I mean they have this computer generated picture of the fiery furnace showing how there would have been a cool spot except the Bible says they didn't even smell like smoke the Bible says the ropes were burned off of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's hand the Bible says that it was so hot that the guys who threw them into the furnace they died so I guess they weren't in the cool spot and so it's ridiculous and then they try to attack and Brother Garrett was telling me that when he was in seminary at Fuller Seminary they said this professor taught that Jesus was when he walked on water he wasn't really walking he's walking on an underwater Ridge okay now wait a minute basically they're calling him a deceiver and a liar but wait a minute these people they don't even believe that God exists period because if they really believed in God if they believe that God spoke the whole world into existence if they believe that God just said let there be light in the firmament of the heaven I mean they just spoke that one word and all of a sudden the Sun Moon and stars these massive bodies came into existence because he spoke it he's the one who formed the first man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul how ridiculous is it to say well I don't know if he could really walk on water though he created water you know I don't know if he could really heal a blind man you know really it was when he spit into the dirt and made that clay they put on it was certain chemicals in the clay there that healed this man's eyesight it's ridiculous and what it shows is that they don't really believe that Jesus Christ really was the Son of God they basically just believed that Jesus Christ was a man and he had a lot of parlor tricks and he did a lot of tricks and walked on it yeah an underwater ridge to trick the disciples and basically they're calling him a liar and a deceiver and so Paul is exposing that saying why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead he's omnipotent all power is given unto him he created everything by him all things were made that were made and so that's a great question in verse 8 there either you believe in an all-powerful God that can that can do all these miraculous things because he created everything or what kind of a God do you believe in it doesn't even make sense and so it says in verse 9 I barely thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth so he's saying I started out thinking that I need to fight against Jesus of Nazareth which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints did I shut up in prison talking about believers on Jesus Christ having received authority from the chief priests and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them and I punished them often every synagogue and compelled them or forced them he's saying to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even under strange cities he's saying I went all the way to Damascus you know to try to bring them in a foreign city whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and Commission from the chief priests at midday Oh King I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the Sun shining round about me and then which journeyed with me and when we were all falling to the earth I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks and I said who art thou Lord and he said I'm Jesus whom thou persecute of course that's the story that we already saw in chapter 9 where Paul's on the road to Damascus he's going to persecute God's people the light comes knocks them all down on the ground and he hears that voice that he didn't get saved at that time but he was basically given an instruction to go unto Damascus to find a man named Ananias Ananias was the one who basically preached the gospel unto him he called upon the name of the Lord with Ananias he got saved immediately got baptized after that and so forth but let's keep reading because here it gives a little bit more of what God said to him in this vision than we've gotten in previous accounts but rise and stand upon my feet for I've appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou has seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee delivering me from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me now a lot of people look at this and say wait a minute this is different than what was said unto him back in chapter 9 you know it's a contradiction here why is the story keep changing well first of all Paul's telling the story years later but I believe that this is 100% accurate and what's going on here is that Paul is just giving more detail than what the Bible gave us earlier because some of the statements are the same and then there's just some additional statements that God gives us now a lot of times when you're reading Matthew Mark Luke and John you'll get sermons that are pretty much the same sermon but then you'll look at it and one of them will have totally different statements in it or saying things in a slightly different way and so some people will look at that and they'll say well you know the Bible has given us kind of roughly a vague idea of what Jesus said that's why it's a little different in Matthew a little different in Mark a little different in Luke no that's not what's going on because think about it the Sermon on the mouth for example really famous sermon chapters five six and seven of Matthew how long would it take you to read those chapters those three chapters out loud probably about 15 minutes okay does that sound about right so I mean if Jesus Christ if that's all he preached on the mouth that day the Sermon on the mouth do you really think he only preached for 15 minutes and when you stop and look at it there were all kinds of times when Jesus preached and he preached for hours and he preached all day and he preached for days on end remember that after three days he fed the five thousand after three days of preaching to them so what you have to understand that for three and a half years Jesus was preaching and speaking God's Word all day every day and so a tiny tiny percentage of that is what we have written in the Bible right because we only have 15 minutes of that sermon so when you see something different in Mark and different in Luke and different in Matthew it's not that they're wrong guess what it's two different statements he said both I mean if you were to take my preaching over the last five and a half years that I've passed through faith for Baptist Church you're gonna find themes that I've repeated now most of my you know each sermon is different than the last you know I preach 800 some sermons they're all different they're all dramatically different point of but there are going to be certain portions of each sermon and certain things that are repetitious they're in every sermon there are going to be new things and old things and so over the course of five years you could take parts of this sermon and parts this or and compare and find a lot of the same statements the same things may be worded just a little bit differently and that's what you see here so don't be disturbed when you see a difference it's two different sermons or it's two different parts of the same sermon different parts of a let's say a three hour sermon boiled down to 15 minutes or something you're gonna come up with different parts and the Bible God in his infinite wisdom was emphasizing a different part in the book of Matthew emphasizing a different part in the book of Luke emphasizing a part of the book of John now people will say well is there more scripture a lot of people say you know that there's this Gospel of Thomas and there's this other gospel of Bartholomew you know these missing books about no I don't believe in that there's a lot of fraudulent stuff out there a lot of you know imposters that would try to seem like God's Word we have the four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John that's all we need that's all God has given to us that's all there is that's all that exists these other books are fraudulent and it's amazing whenever you look at these other books you know the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Bartholomew they totally contradict the rest of the Bible they contain heresy because they're people that are trying to add to God's Word now you say well wait a minute Pastor Anderson Jesus Christ lived on this earth for 33 years didn't he say a lot of things that are not written in the book here didn't he do a lot of things that are not written yes the book of John says that if everything were written down the world itself couldn't contain all the books of what Jesus said and did but you got to remember that Jesus Christ was both God in the flesh and he was a human being right he was 100% God we're not taking away from his deity at all he was in the beginning with God he was God he existed before this world ever began he became flesh in Bethlehem's manger or even before that when he was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of Mary but he had already existed long before that we know that he's co-equal with God he is God in the flesh but he was also human member he wrote he took upon himself the form of a man he even said that he didn't know the time of the second coming because in his human form he took upon himself limitations of man and so everything that came out of Jesus Christ's mouth was not necessarily God's word some of it was just him speaking as a man you know it's you know perhaps sitting at the table you know past the past the bread or something you know what I mean and that's not in the Bible okay so he preached he spoke as man and he also spoke God's Word of course the Bible said of Jesus Christ for he whom God had said speaking of Jesus speaketh the words of God and God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him so he was the perfect man tempted at all points like as we are yet without sin totally filled with the Holy Spirit totally sinless totally walking you know in perfection but he was man he was God and he was man and so just because Jesus said things that aren't in the Bible don't make that bother you that there's some other God's Word some other book that we need or or it's up in heaven we'll read it when we get there or something this is I believe this is the whole thing right here don't add to God's Word and so back to where we were here we see that we get a little more detail of what Jesus Christ is telling Paul and he's telling them right away that he's going to be going to the Gentiles he's going to be spending most of his life not preaching to the Jews but preaching the general you see God's plan was for Paul to preach to the Gentiles and for Peter and a lot of the other Apostles to preach unto the Jews but you see the problem with Paul is that what got him into this whole mess that he's in where he got arrested is he decided to leave preach to the Gentiles and he just really wanted to go preach to the Jews he just really wanted to go back to Jerusalem and God told him don't go to Jerusalem you're going to get arrested you're going to get thrown in jail you're going to be and he just said I don't want you to do it and he sent him different prophets to tell him that but he in his own will just wanted to go there and you know what lesson we should take from that it really doesn't matter what group we're bringing the gospel to Paul was so fixated upon giving the gospel to the Jews but in reality the Gentiles are just as important as the Jews you know if God told Paul to preach unto the Gentiles and we see that here that that's God's plan for his life spelled out to him I'm going to take you far from hence far away to preach to the Gentiles that's your life's work that should have been good enough for me should have just stuck with that instead of thing why I want to give it to this specific group of you you know what we need to just give the gospel to everybody and given the gospel to a Gentile is no less than giving it to a Jew given the gospel to a black man is no less important than give it to a white man or you know a Navajo versus white man but some people they want to just focus on a specific group instead of just preaching the gospel to everybody and Paul should have just said okay I'll go far from hence like you told me I'll give the gospel to the Jew I'll give it to the Gentile anyone I'll testify both to Jews and Greeks as what it says later in the chapter I'm gonna preach to everybody but instead he had this fixation where he just wanted to risk everything and disobey God just because he wanted so badly to preach in Jerusalem to the Jews when those were the least receptive people nobody we don't see anybody getting saved in that scenario where he went back and did that thing in the temple I didn't see anybody get saved they just screamed at him and arrested them and all that and so we shouldn't put one group of people and value them higher than another you know I think it's more important to reach this group than the other group let's just get the gospel to everybody and God has made all nations of the earth of one blood and they're all just as important unto him so he says in verse number 18 to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me so faith in Jesus Christ is what gets us forgiveness of sins according that verse faith in Jesus Christ is what gets us an inheritance among them that are sanctified the Bible says that we have an inheritance in heaven that faded not away that's incorruptible and that comes through faith in Christ we're saved by faith the Bible says in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins being saved means having your sins forgiven it means that you believe on Jesus Christ look at verse 19 whereupon O King Agrippa I was not disobedient under the heavenly vision but showed first unto them at Damascus and Jerusalem and throughout all the coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance for these causes the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me now a lot of people take verse 20 and twist it from what it actually says now look at it because that you know the people who try to say that believing our Christ is not enough but that you also have to repent of your sins to be saved and if you don't do works you're not saved well the Bible is clear that there's no works involved at all with salvation except the work that Jesus Christ already did on the cross the Bible says but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness and you know we could go on and on but the verse that I always like to point out to people whenever I'm out soul winning and people are struggling with this concept well you got to do more than believe you know where I always come back to is John 3 16 and the reason why I come back to that is because where it says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and I say to them if there's one person on this whole earth who believes on Jesus Christ and then they perish well then that verse is lying you know and you could go to other verses too that say that whosoever believeth in him you know he that believeth on me as everlasting life if any man hear my word you know and believe on him that sent me whosoever heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life if there's one guy who hears his word and believes on him that sent me and doesn't have everlasting life then it wasn't really whosoever and that means that God lied and God cannot lie and so you gotta understand that if there's one person in the whole world who believes on Jesus Christ their Savior and they're somehow not saved because they didn't repent of their sins or because they didn't get baptized or because they didn't join a church or wherever then that would make God's promise a lie and I've even heard these preachers I've heard independent fundamental baptists say well you know this guy believed but it wasn't enough because he didn't repent of his sins well then John 3 16 lied John 3 15 lied in fact John 3 18 lied in fact John 3 36 lied that's just one chapter and we could go all through the Bible and show how many places that show that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and so they'll try to bring this in and sometimes they'll say this well but the people who believe they're automatically gonna have the works you know anybody who really believes gonna have the works then why does the Bible say faith without works is dead if faith is always accompanied by works I was at a funeral with you brother Secchi remember and the pastor got up and said you know faith is always accompanied by works and works is always coming you know you can't separate the two they go hand in glove you can't have the one without the other well guess what there are a lot of people have works without faith and guess what faith without works is dead which means that there are people who have faith without works okay and so to sit there and say well faith always is a coming then why does it say but to him that worketh not but believeth so you can believe and still not have works you know and the Bible says his faith is counted for righteousness even as David also described the blesses of the man who God imputed righteousness without works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin and that's without works so with all that in mind you've already got all that in mind look what it says in verse 20 because this is their big proof text you know to show you that you have to repent ever says but it says this that he preached in all these different places that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance okay now let me ask you something should people repent and turn to God should they do works of course should I do good works okay should I be baptized should I read my Bible every day should I pray should I keep God's commandments should I live a good life should I give to the poor should I help my neighbor should I love my neighbor as myself should I honor my father and mother should I love my wife should I love my children should I go to work but what must I do to be saved believe there's a lot of things that I should do but there's only one thing I must do to be saved believe now after I believed in Christ there are a lot of things I should do that's why it says in the peace to a net for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works but say man suppose for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus on two good works which God had before ordained that we should walk in them so he says salvation is by faith without works but he says there are works that we should be doing we should do works he says they should repent and turn to God first of all that's not repenting of your sins that the repentance there the turning there is to turn to God from idols to turn from idols and false gods to the living and true God we've seen that throughout the book of Acts we see on 1st Thessalonians 110 and then the other thing is that they should do works meet for repentance now what is meat for repentance me well you remember when God created Adam and Eve first he created Adam and then he had Adam naming all the animals and then Adam was trying to find a help that was meat for him God wanted a help and a companion for Adam because it's not good for the man to be alone I will make and help meet for him okay what does meet me it basically means suitable for him or fitting to him or appropriate for him okay does that make sense basically you know a lion was not an appropriate companion for Adam that was not an appropriate helper you know if that's getting you know and people have pets you know they've got their dog and so but they don't have the same bond with an animal you know you can't you know you sit there you know you try to have a conversation with your dog and say yeah it's gonna get it's kind of a one-way conversation real fast what do you think about that so you say you know I need a help that's meat for him so basically go to go to Titus chapter 2 keep your finger here in Acts but just quickly go to Titus 2 it says in verse number 9 this is Titus 2 9 it says exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them well in all things not answering again that means like not talking back not purloining purloining means stealing but showing all good fidelity watch this that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men what brings us salvation the grace of God the Bible says by grace are you saved through faith grace is something that we don't deserve right God's grace brings us salvation through faith teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we what should not must in order to be saved but we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world okay so go back to Acts 26 God's saying that salvation is by grace salvation is by faith but there are other things that we should do to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things as an adornment okay the Bible says we should have good works the Bible says you know let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven and so good works are something that adorns the gospel good works are something that is I mean okay meet do works meet for repentance for what for the repentance of turning to God okay works that are appropriate to that for example if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior I should go to church I should get baptized I should read my Bible those are the things that are meet for a Christian to be doing that are appropriate for a Christian to be doing that fit how a Christian should live their life now worldly unsaved people are gonna live according to this world and that fits them okay it fits for an unsaved ungodly person to go hang out at the bar I mean they fit in there you know they fit right in but see for a person who's a believer in Jesus Christ they shouldn't fit in there they don't belong in that world anymore they are more suited or appropriate or fitting to be at church you know to be around other believers to be out soul winning than to be out drinking at a bar now are there saved Christians who go out drinking at bars absolutely but it's not the right place for them to be they're a child of God they're a child of the king they should not be over there you know with the world with the unsaved palling around being a friend of the world you see there are works that are meet for repentance John the Baptist said the same thing bring forth works meet for repentance okay bring forth works that would be suitable for a Christian to do for a believer in Christ to do so don't mix this up and say well it's required for salvation that's not what it says the Bible says what my one time what must I do to be saved believe earlier in this book acts 2 30 days and men and brethren what shall we do not what must we do just what shall we do and he tells them repent be baptized they of course we should be baptized of course we should do works of course we should live a good life but guess what nobody's gonna do all the works perfectly there's none right just know not one and so what must we do to be saved God made it easy for us his belief so don't let people whenever people try to show you a verse like this stop or read what the verse is actually saying hey they should repent does it say that they have to to be saved does even mention anything about being saved in that verse does even say this is how to be saved this is salvation no it's just saying that they should do works and they should and we should for these causes the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me because he went around and preaching the gospel to all these Gentiles and also preaching that they should do works see Paul didn't preach just salvation and then go to the next town he would preach the gospel he would get people saved but then he would spend maybe a year and a half as in I believe Ephesus spend months here weeks there confirming the souls and preaching to them the works that they should do just like when you come to church on Sunday and Wednesday you're not just hearing salvation every time you're hearing about all the works we should be doing look what it says in verse number 22 having therefore obtained help of God I continue unto this day witnessing both to small and great saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come okay what did Moses and the prophets say should come see that colon he's gonna tell us now what Moses and the prophets said should come that Christ should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles that means you can find that stuff in the Old Testament all the things listed there that's taught both in the Pentateuch the first five books of Moses and all the prophets that's why it said in Acts 10 43 to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believe it in him shall receive remission of sense keep reading it says in verse 24 and as he thus spake for himself so he's in the middle of preaching Festus said with a loud voice so here's the governor of the whole country Agrippa has said to Paul not Festus Agrippa said to Paul okay Paul you can answer for yourself so Festus and Agrippa are sitting back and listening to Paul preach about all the things we just read all of a sudden Festus just blurts out I mean that kind of weird he just blurts out Paul thou art beside thyself much learning does make thee mad now basically what he's saying is Paul you're crazy you've lost your mind that would be putting in today's vernacular because he's because thou art beside thyself basically means like you're you're you're you're off you know you're crazy you're out of your mind right now and he's basically saying that he's much learning has made him insane like you but he could tell he was very educated but he said all of your education has driven you to insanity we were out soul winning I can't remember who I was with I think I was with Joshua we're out soul winning about a month ago and we ran this guy and he said you know I heard that if you if you read the whole Bible cover to cover it's gonna drive you insane I said I've heard of people going insane from reading the Bible who's ever heard that before you heard that more I guess this is still around like 2,000 people saying this if you read the Bible too much you're gonna go nuts I told him I said well I must have gone nuts a long time ago then because I've read it cover to cover many many many times I said I think I've completely lost my mind and I said actually I look around and I feel like this world has lost their mind because they didn't read the Bible but that's what they accuse him of they say like you're insane you're crazy did he say anything that was that weird what did he say I mean all he said was that Jesus you know died and rose again and he's gonna preach that to the Gentiles and all of a sudden Festus starts yelling that he's insane now watch what happens next but he said I am NOT mad and he didn't mean mad like angry this is mad like nuts like crazy like a madman but he said I'm not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the words of truth and soberness for the king knoweth of these things so now he points to a grip on says he knows that what I'm telling is the truth for the king knows of these things before whom also I speak freely for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him for this thing was not done in a corner King Agrippa believeth out of the prophets I know that thou believeth so he's pinning down Agrippa now he's saying Agrippa tell me right now do you believe the Bible or not do you believe the prophets and he said I know you believe it I know that believeth now look think put yourself in Agrippa's place here Agrippa is sitting next to the Roman governor that's in charge of the whole province the Roman governor just said that you're insane you're out of your mind you're crazy this is stupid and now Paul's pinning him down so whose side are you on Agrippa do you think I'm insane too or do you believe the Bible so Agrippa here I mean because a lot of people will say you know because he said almost you know and obviously almost isn't enough to get you to have it is it but really Agrippa is really stepping out on a limb here because this you know his boss or his guy right here just pretty much said that everything is being said is insanity so even for him to say almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian that's just probably looked at my huh are you serious and so he says almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian I don't know did King Agrippa get saved later I hope so but almost isn't gonna get you there unfortunately the Bible says if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and so he wasn't quite there but he was close I hope he got saved hopefully we'll see him in heaven we don't know but Festus probably not so much he probably didn't ever get saved because he pretty much just blew it off and so he said Agrippa believeth thou the prophets I know that thou believeth now here's what else I see going on here people will often criticize a soul winner who really tries hard to get somebody saved say oh you're confrontational soul winning you're you know this aggressive soul winning good amen praise God for confrontational aggressive soul winning I mean this is aggressive here where he says believeth thou the prophets he didn't just stop there he said I know that thou believeth he's trying to persuade him to be saved because did you notice what he said almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian so what's Paul doing he's trying to persuade him now let me give you a perfect example of this what when we out so winning two days ago to my hair three days it was a Saturday we're also winning on Saturday brother Garrett and I and we knock on this guy's door and you know I give him the gospel it was Saturday Sunday I don't know it all blends in after a while but I think it was Saturday we knock on this guys to get this guy's door and I give him the gospel and I asked him if he believed it you know do you believe this you believe what I've preached unto you for the last 15 minutes or whatever and he said you know he said I'm not sure I don't know and then I explained to him I said well you know what I said you know you got to believe something you know some something's out there and I and I explained to him out you know God created this world and and I basically said this to him I said you know what I said God here is commanding you to believe the gospel you know and I said you have a choice right now you can be saved right now you know right now you're saying I'm not sure I said that's not enough to get you to heaven you've got to believe you got to put all your faith on Christ but I said you can do that right now I said are you and I you know I said a bunch of other things to him to persuade him and then I basically said to him are you willing to take that step right now and just step out in faith and put all of your faith on Jesus right now are you willing to just believe the Bible and believe what it says and he said yes I will do that and I said okay let's pray right now I'm gonna help you call upon Jesus Christ right now to save you and that's what he did and I've been out solely with somebody one time that just happened on Saturday and then and the guy truly got saved I mean he truly believed it he was on the fence about it but then I persuaded him and I wasn't just trying to get him to pray I was trying to persuade him to believe I'm not trying to persuade him to pray a prayer with me because just saying words with me isn't gonna get him saved he's gonna believe with all his heart but I tried to persuade him to believe and I succeeded at persuading him to believe on Christ but let me tell you story going back years I'm out soul winning with somebody and this person was kind of a critical person of soul winning and this person standing next to me while I give the gospel to somebody and I go through the whole thing and you know pretty much the same thing the guy just said I don't know I don't I don't necessarily believe that so I preached to him and said you know what if you don't believe it you're gonna go to hell you know and I explained to him how all the other religions of this world are a fraud and how God created the world and you've got to put your faith on Jesus Christ and I preached him for another like 10 minutes and I said are you willing to step out in faith right now and place all of your faith on Jesus Christ and and just forget everything else and just put all your faith and believe the Bible and believe what says and he said yes I will be saved yes I'm gonna get saved right now okay and basically I bowed my head with them he prayed and and received Christ his Savior he called upon the name of Lord and you know what that person later went around bad-bouthing me saying this this guy said he didn't believe and then pastor Anderson just said pray with me anyway now that's a lie I spent another 10 minutes preaching to him and telling him oh you don't believe well then change what you believe or go to hell change what you believe so that you could be saved and go to heaven and it's just the stupid Calvinist mentality where it's like if I don't show up at the door and you just already believe it you know after the first time through and you just oh yeah I totally believe that okay well then probably you know if they don't believe it they need to change what they believe and so I'm not gonna sit there and just say oh you know oh you don't believe it okay well see now a lot of times that's how it's gonna end up right it's you know most people when you get there if they don't believe it and they say I don't believe the Bible most people are not gonna change on that right but does that mean we shouldn't even try to change them does that mean we should just walk away and just say oh well too bad you know you know if somebody's open to it you know try to persuade them and I'm not ashamed of that tonight I'm not gonna sit here and say well I just want to just show up and just you know find the one that's ready-made you know the guy who is already 99% there you know he already believes a lot of it he's heard a lot of it but he just hasn't ever put it all together and been saved he's just missing a few pieces of the puzzle I'm just gonna go and just reap that harvest that's already been sown that's already been what you know what sometimes you go and you work a little harder and you convince somebody to get saved because guess what salvation is it's a person changing what they believe so why can't that change take place as you're preaching to somebody as you're talking to somebody you see what I'm saying and so to sit there and say well you know well he said he didn't believe it and then you just talked him into it yeah I talked him into believing on Christ because that's my job that's the whole point of soul winning it's the whole point but people don't get it it's because they're not a real soul winner anyway that's why they don't get it turned out later that person wasn't even saved and later I later I got them saved literally I'm not kidding a few months later I won that person to Christ that critic of soul because it turned out they weren't even saved they were they were trusting and work salvation and I prayed with them after I changed what they believed but you know the critics of soul winning are always gonna attack you for being too aggressive and being confrontational and you know we ought to be really nice and I'm always nice I try to be nice and kind with you I wasn't rude or anything but I just I'm just lovingly trying to beg people to get saved you know I've said it before I'll get on my knees and beg somebody to be saved but I won't get on my knees and bake somebody to come to church because I you know that's their problem if they don't want to come to church but you know what when it comes to being saved man I'll beg people to get saved I'll plead with them to be saved I won't beg anybody if somebody doesn't want to come to church I'd say all right see ya but you know what I'll beg somebody to get saved I'll persuade them to get saved let's keep going whoa just about done with the sermon here let's just blow through these last few verses Paul said I would to God that not only thou but also all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these bonds you know he said I wish you were totally like me except that you weren't chained up like I'm chained up I think he's just kind of kidding they're throwing that in at the end you know that'd be great if you were just in my exact position except that you weren't in jail like I am and when he had thus spoken the king rose up and the governor and Bernice II and they that sat with them and when they were gone aside they talked between themselves saying this man do it nothing worthy of death or bonds so even Festus even though Festus thinks he's crazy he still said well it's not against the law to be crazy though you know so it's not like he's done anything worthy of death or of bonds then said Agrippa and the Festus this man might have been said of Liberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar of course he didn't know the story that if he hadn't have appealed unto Caesar he would have been jumped on his way back to Jerusalem and killed he might have been killed if he didn't appeal unto Caesar let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word tonight interesting chapter dear God and help us to be a soul winner dear God help us to be like the Apostle Paul and to try to persuade people to be saved to preach the with power like Paul did and have the results that he had and father I just thank you for your chance to look within your word bless us now as we go our separate ways and in Jesus name we pray amen