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Music Music Good morning everyone and welcome to our services this morning here at Faith Ward Baptist Church. If you would all please find your seats as we begin with our singing this morning. We'll start with hymn number 429 in your song books. Number 429, Heart the Herald, Angels Sing, number 429. And we'll start on that first verse together, number 429. From the sky above the skies, when the gallant hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Heart the Herald, Angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time, behold Him come, offering the emergent smoosh. Veiled in flesh, like God at sea, Veiled incarnate Deities, Pleased as men with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Heart the Herald, Angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Hail the hampered Prince of Peace, Hail the Son of Righteousness, Light and light to all He brings, Prison healing in His peace. While He reigns His glory by, Born that man, O Lord, may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give the second birth. Heart the Herald, Angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Come, desire of nations, come, Face in us thy humble home. Rise, the warmest concrete sea, Pretend us the serpent's head. Adam's likeness now in vain, Stamp thy image in his place. Second Adam from above, Reinstall us in thy love. Heart the Herald, Angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Amen. Father in heaven, thank you for the gathering of believers here. I pray that you please bless all aspects of this sermon today morning and please bless Pastor Anderson as he preaches your word as well. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen, number 428. It came upon the midnight clear, number 428. Singing that first verse together, number 428. It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels begging near the earth, To touch their hearts of gold. Peace on the earth, goodwill to them, From them, all gracious be. The world in song was still enslaved, To hear the angels sing. Still through the golden skies they come, With peaceful wings unfurled, And still their heavenly music flows, For all the weary world. Above them sad and boldly play, They bend on comfort wing, And ever o'er its babbled sound, The blessed angels sing. And ye believe what Christ she loved, Whose forms are standing low, They ride along the blinding waves, With painful steps and slow. But now for glad and golden hours, Come swiftly up a wheel, Or rest beside the weary road, And hear the angels sing. For lo, the days are hasting on, By profit bars were sold, When with the ever circling years, Comes round the age of born. When peace shall over all the earth, Its ancient splendor's gleam, And the whole world give back a song, Which now the angels sing. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service times. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Ezekiel chapter 19. We've got the so many times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. And then congratulations to the Meyer family on the birth of baby Eli Obadiah. Born Monday, December 13th at 3 17 p.m. 7 pounds 14 ounces, 20 and a half inches long. Be sure to congratulate them. And then below that, the annual Christmas caroling is this Tuesday. It's only two days away. This Tuesday evening at 5 30 p.m. Just meet here at 5 30. We are going to be leaving by 6 o'clock sharp, but we need that time to get organized, break into groups, go over everything. And so don't be shy about this if you've never been Christmas caroling, because we're going to break into groups of about 30 people each. So if you're not a big singer, no problem. You can just kind of fade to the back of the group and still be out there, have fun, enjoy the experience without necessarily having to lead the pack when it comes to the music. And so we'll make sure that we have some strong singers leading each group and we'll go out there. It'll be a lot of fun. Hopefully it'll be a blessing to some people. And then we'll come back here after an hour of caroling for cookies and hot cocoa. And then below that, speaking of cookies, we also have the cookie bake off next Sunday at 4 30 p.m. So you can perfect those recipes throughout the week and bring your Christmas cookies on this coming Sunday at 4 30 p.m. There will be nine prizes awarded for the categories listed there. Also, the 2021 yearbooks are here. Are we ready to hand these out or are we just going to have them grabbed at the back? Okay, yeah, just grab these at the back. These are stacked up at the back. So on your way out, be sure to grab a church yearbook. Limit yourself to one per household, please, but be sure to grab one of our yearbooks on your way out. And then on the back, the Faithful Word Baptist Church Christmas CDs are available on the shelves located near the rear of the auditorium and distribute these liberally out soul winning. Also, there are some nicer ones that are thicker that you could use for a gift for like, you know, you could stick it in a stocking stuffer, put it with a present that you send to a loved one or something. So if you want to give out one that's a little nicer, that's the one in the little digipack. And then the little thin cardboard ones, you can just give those out like crazy out soul winning. Even leave them on the door if people aren't even home. Well, we don't mind just giving those out liberally. And then below that, there's a field trip coming up for the homeschoolers on Friday, January 7th to Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm. And so be sure to follow the rules and make sure you're on time because anyone arriving late will not be permitted as part of the group. And then below that, some other upcoming events. We got a Mexico Monday coming up at the beginning of January, as always. And then we've got a small town soul winning trip to Globe on January 8th. And then, of course, the big mission strip to Virgin Islands is January 16th or 22nd. So be thinking about that if you want to go. And that's about it for announcements. So let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, you should find the insert of the two songs in your hymnals. If you don't have them, please raise your hand. We'll start with Good Christian Men Rejoice. Good Christian Men Rejoice When heart and soul has voice Bringing heed to what we say News, news, Jesus Christ is born today Ox and ass before him, bow and heed In the major now, Christ is born today Christ is born today Good Christian Men Rejoice When heart and soul have voice Now ye hear of endless bliss Joy, joy, Jesus Christ was born for this He has opened heaven's door And man is blest forever born Christ was born for this Christ was born for this Good Christian Men Rejoice When heart and soul have voice Now ye hear not hear the grave News, news, Jesus Christ was born today Falls to one and falls to all He gave his everlasting all Christ was born to save Christ was born to save Amen. If we flip that sheet over, we'll sing Within the Chorid, My Savior Lay. Between each verse, there's a pause of a few measures, so we'll sing that out. Within the Chorid, My Savior Lay. Within I pray, my Savior lay A wooden manger filled with hay Our gown for love on Christmas day All glory be to Jesus Upon a cross, my Savior died To ransom sinners crucified His loving arms still open wide All glory be to Jesus A victor's crown, my Savior won His work of love and courtesy done The Father's die, ascended Son All glory be to Jesus Alright, this time we'll quickly pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Exodus, chapter number 7, Second book in the Bible is Exodus, Exodus, chapter number 7. As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with Brother Raymond as he reads. Exodus, chapter 7, starting in verse 1. Exodus, chapter 7 and verse 1, the Bible reads, And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you that I may lay my hands upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they. And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old when they spake unto Pharaoh. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a miracle for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went into and unto Pharaoh, and they did as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning, lo, he goeth out unto the water, and thou shalt stand by the river's brink, against he come. And the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. And thou shalt say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath set me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. And behold, hitherto thou wouldst not hear. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall loath to drink of the water of the river. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood, and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded. And he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died, and the river stank. And the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Neither did he hearken unto them, as the Lord had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither did he set his heart to this also. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the river. And seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smitten the river. Brother Fidel, will you pray for us? Father in heaven, we love you. Thank you for sending Jesus, as it says in Matthew 18-20, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Thank you, Father. We love you. So in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Serving God in the Wilderness. Serving God in the Wilderness. I want to focus in on verse 16 there where it says, Thou shalt say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness, and behold, hitherto, thou wouldst not hear. So the Bible says, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. Now when we think about the children of Israel being in bondage in Egypt, and later, of course, being led out of Egypt by Moses, what we're thinking about is a picture of salvation, because of the fact that when they're in Egypt, they're enslaved, they're in bondage, and then they get liberated, they get set free, they get released from that, which is a picture of salvation. You know, we're dead in trespasses and sins, we're in bondage. Our whole lifetime we're subject to bondage because of the fear of death. And once we get saved, we are set free by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, You shall know the truth, the truth shall make you free. And so getting saved is a great picture of leaving Egypt when they get out of Egypt. And remember, the Passover is what is the final straw that causes Pharaoh to let them leave Egypt. And the Passover is a great picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, because they're killing a lamb, and they're shedding its blood, and they're putting the blood on the doorpost, and everybody in the house is saved. And that's a picture, of course, of the fact that Jesus Christ's blood is what saves us. It's not based on how good we are. It's just if you've got the blood on the doorpost, you're saved. And so the Passover pictures the Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Leaving Egypt pictures salvation. And then when they leave Egypt, they cross the Red Sea. And crossing the Red Sea pictures baptism, because the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that the children of Israel were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, because they had the cloudy pillar, and they had the water on both sides. When they cross the Red Sea, the Bible says there's a wall of water on both sides. So the water was in heaps on either side of them. So they're in that sense surrounded by water. So it's a picture of immersion under water, a picture of baptism. So it's like you get saved, you're baptized, then you're out in the wilderness, right? And the point that I want to make from this verse is that it says, Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. You see, when we get saved, it's not just that we get saved so that we can just continue living the exact same life that we lived before. Everything stays the same except now we're going to heaven. Part of the purpose of us being saved is so that we will now serve God with our lives. We'll serve Christ with our lives. You know, let my people go, yeah, so that they can not be slaves anymore. Yes, that they're not in bondage anymore. Yes, that their lives are not bitter with cruel bondage. Yes, they don't have these taskmasters over them afflicting them, but also so that they may serve me in the wilderness. So yes, when we got saved, we're delivered from hell, we're saved from our sins, we're passed from death unto life, but there's another purpose also of salvation that we are saved so that we can serve God in the wilderness. Now what does it mean to serve God in the wilderness? Flip over to chapter 8 verse 27, we see the same idea. Exodus chapter 8 verse 27, we will go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command us. So we notice the three days journey into the wilderness represents a little bit of space or distance between us and this world. Being different, being set apart, separate from the world, and making sacrifices unto the Lord. You see, the Christian life is a life where we serve God by making sacrifices, meaning that we can't have everything, can we? And what does it mean to make a sacrifice? We use that word all the time just in our everyday speech in 2021. And if we said, hey, you're going to have to make a sacrifice here, what does that mean? It means you're not going to get everything that you want. You might have to give up something that's precious unto you, that's valuable unto you, something that you like, something that belongs to you, and you give that up, that's making a sacrifice, isn't it? And so we're talking about sacrificing unto the Lord, giving some things up that God doesn't want us to have. And serving God in the wilderness represents the fact that you have to be separate from certain people and go out into the wilderness where you're by yourself in that sense, okay? Now if you would flip over to Ephesians chapter 2 in the New Testament. Ephesians chapter 2. Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness, Exodus said. We'll go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command us. So the sacrifices that we make in the Christian life are not arbitrary sacrifices where we just decide we're going to give up something. No, no, no. We sacrifice as the Lord commands us. So we don't need to make sacrifices that God doesn't tell us to make. We need to make the sacrifices that the Lord commands us to make. God has rules, God has a bunch of thou-shouts and thou-shout-nots. In the New Testament, the Bible tells us we should be living clean lives, holy lives, following Christ's commandments. And so those are the sacrifices that we need to make, the ones that involve following Christ, keeping his commandments, doing what the Bible tells us to do. Now Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 is one of the most powerful passages in the New Testament on the fact that salvation is not based on our works. We don't earn our way to heaven by doing deeds or works, whether they be good works or what the Bible calls the works of the law, which if you study Galatians, the works of the law, that means keeping God's commandments. So we don't get saved by keeping God's commandments. We don't get saved by doing good things. We don't get saved by not doing bad things. We get saved by grace through faith alone. So let's look at this important passage that we all know. It says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The Scripture couldn't be any clearer that salvation is by faith, and that it's not by works. Now some people will try to say, well, the two go hand in hand. Well, that's not what this verse is teaching. Well, you can't have the one without the other. That's not what this verse says. This verse clearly says you're saved by this one and you're not saved by this one. So they're not just so interlinked you can't even separate them. Well, they're separated pretty well in this verse, aren't they? One of them saves you. The other has nothing to do with your salvation. The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith. Through faith means by means of faith. Faith is how it gets done. That's the instrument that saves us, okay? We're saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So you are not saved by yourselves. You don't save yourself. You're saved by God. God does the saving. You are saved by grace through faith, and the Bible says it's the gift of God. So Jesus paid for it on the cross with his blood, his death, burial, and resurrection. It's offered to us for free. All we have to do is just receive that gift. It's the gift of God, and then it says, not of works that any man should boast. So what that's saying is that if salvation were by works, people would be able to boast about how they're going to heaven because of all their works. You know, we were just out soul winning recently, and I knocked on a lady's door, and I kid you not, this is not an exaggeration. My two soul winning partners can both testify that this is what was said verbatim, exactly what was said. This woman told us, she said, I'm a really good person, I do no wrong, and I feel that I have earned my way into heaven. That was the exact sentence. Was it you, Brother Dan, that was with me? Can I get a witness? Yeah, so see, you know, that was verbatim. One sentence. I'm a really good person. And you know, when people say, I do no wrong, I'm a really good person, I'm always embarrassed for them, because whenever people brag around me, it embarrasses me. You know what I mean? It's something you expect a toddler to do or something. Like toddlers will walk up and tell you, I'm really good at keeping my diaper dry or whatever, but it's like, you know, you don't really expect a grown adult to come up to you and just start bragging, yeah, I'm really good at basketball, I'm really good at whatever. It's just like, what, you're embarrassing yourself. Let another man praise thee, not thine own mouth. Strangers, not thine own lips. It's weird when people brag, but to sit there and say, I'm a really good person, and I can't even count how many times I've had people just look me in the eyes at the door, and they're not kidding. Oh, I'm a really good person. So yeah, I'm not worried about it at all. I know I'm going to heaven, because look at all the animals I've rescued or whatever. And so if salvation were by works, this could induce boasting on the part of man. But the Bible says no flesh will glory in his presence. You know, real men of God in the Bible, when they came in the presence of God, they didn't start bragging about how great they are and telling them they're a really good person. Now, the narrator of the Bible tells us that Job was the greatest person on the earth. Now, I don't think this woman whose door we knocked was the greatest person on earth. I don't believe her. I don't believe that she does no wrong. But the Bible tells us that Job really was the most righteous man on the whole planet and that there was none like him in all the earth. He was just that great of a guy. And yet when he comes into contact with the Lord, you know what he does? He basically says, I abhor myself. I abhor myself in dust and ashes. Like, I'm nothing. Like, you know, he's not boasting to God. And none of us that are actually saved would ever boast of our deeds and works to God because we know that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God. And so this teaching that says you're saved by your works or saved by your deeds or saved because you cleaned up your life, you know what? You could clean up a filthy rag. It's still a filthy rag, though, isn't it? It can only get so clean. You know, you get some garage rag and clean it up. It's never going to be suitable to use in the bathtub or something as a washcloth. You're not going to move it to the kitchen and say, oh, honey, I know you said you wanted some new kitchen washcloths, but, you know, I've got some stuff in the garage that I don't need anymore. You know, you'd say no. It's a filthy rag. Your righteousnesses are as a filthy rag in the sight of a holy God. So are mine. And so salvation by works is absurd. It's as embarrassing as when somebody just brags to you and you're embarrassed for them because they're making such an idiot of themselves by bragging in your presence. But we know verses 8 and 9 well. It's still nice to talk about them over and over again because we're so happy that we're saved by faith and not by works. But let's look at verse 10 because verse 10 is a great verse that ties in with verses 8 and 9. So verses 8 and 9 make it crystal clear that we are not saved by works whatsoever. It says, For we are his workmanship, you know, he did the work, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So we're saved 100% by faith, not by works, but we're created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So God wants us to do works after we're saved. He wants us to live a clean life. He wants us to turn from our own wicked ways and live a righteous and godly life and do good works and do the works that he has ordained for us to do. So it's not that we're against doing works. I mean, you know, we all strive to be a good person and to follow the Bible and to do good works. The difference is that we know that that has nothing to do with our salvation. And if we don't do it, we're still saved. If we do it, we earn rewards, we're fulfilling God's will, we're showing our love to him, but it is not involved in getting us saved. Okay? We're created in Christ Jesus unto good works. So which comes first? We get created in Christ Jesus and then God has works that he's foreordained that we should walk in them. You know, God has a plan for my life. God has a plan for your life. He has work laid out for us and a vision that says, here's what Stephen Anderson could do. Here's what you could do. And do we always fulfill that? Of course not, because we're human, we sin, but God has a plan of what he wants us to do. He has works foreordained for us that we should walk in. So we're not saved by works, but we're saved unto works. So here's what we want to watch out for. We want to watch out for number one, the idea that says that works are part of salvation, that works somehow gets you saved. Another wrong idea that we want to watch out for is this idea that says that works are automatic after you're saved. You know, everybody who's saved will do the works. The saves are automatic, the works are automatic. That's not what the Bible's saying here. The Bible's saying you're saved so that you can, yes, be saved, but also so that you can work for him because now you're going to serve God in the wilderness with your life. But what it's not saying is everyone who's saved will automatically do works. This is another foolish doctrine because the Bible says in Romans 4-5, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So according to Romans 4-5, it's possible to work not, but yet believe. And in 1 Corinthians 3, we see people getting to the judgment seat of Christ and all of their works are wood, hay, and stubble and all their works are burned up. But then it says, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. So it's possible to get to heaven and not do works either before or after you're saved. But the goal when Christ saves us is also that we would walk in his ways, that we would walk in his works. So yes, we're immediately saved from hell, we're passed from death unto life, we shall not come into condemnation, and we are eternally secure, there's nothing we could do to lose our salvation, but God wants us to clean up our lives and live a good Christian life. But here's the thing, not everybody who's saved is going to do that. And if every single person who were saved automatically did the work, then all of the work of Christ would be getting done so fast. It'd be great, wouldn't it? I mean, if we all just got saved and just automatically did the works, explain this to me. Why do 99% of Christians do almost nothing for God? I'm talking about the ones that are saved. I'm saying 99% of Christians that are actually saved, you don't see them out knocking doors evangelizing, you don't see them in the highways and hedges preaching the word of God and getting people saved. You know, you see that literally less than 1% of saved Christians are doing the evangelizing, and really far less than that. Okay, so this idea that if you're saved, you're automatically going to do the works is a wrong idea. Every single one of us in here that's saved, which hopefully is 99% of the people in here, all of us who are saved, we know that tomorrow morning when we wake up, living the Christian life's not going to be automatic, is it? Is reading our Bible just going to be automatic? Is abstaining from sin going to be automatic? Is prayer going to be automatic? Is treating everyone around us the way that Christ would have us to treat them going to be automatic? Is loving God and loving our neighbor, is our self going to be automatic? No, every day we deny self, we take up the cross and follow him and it's work. And guess what? People who are saved and don't do that, you know what they do? They get backslidden. And they start living a sinful life. Doesn't mean they're not saved, it just means that they're backslidden. It means that they're not serving God. You know, a lot of people went out in the wilderness that weren't necessarily spiritual giants with Moses. You think everybody who left Egypt was a spiritual giant? In fact, there were really only a handful of people in that group with Moses that were actually great people. I mean, you send the 12 spies into the land and 10 of them are bozos. Two of them end up being good, okay? You know, you end up where God finally gets so sick of the bad behavior of the Israelites in the wilderness that he basically says, Everybody is going to die who was 40 years old and upward. Everybody's going to die before we go into the Promised Land except two guys, Joshua and Caleb. Why didn't he say, here's a list of 3,000 guys that are awesome? You know, here's the list. I mean, the bottom line is that there are, first of all, there's a minority that's saved that's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. And then among those that are saved, among those that leave Egypt and cross the Red Sea and are in the wilderness, it's only a minority that is really a zealous servant of God, okay? But that's who we want to be, amen? We want to be that group that not only fulfills our destiny of, you know, being saved and going to heaven, but we want to fulfill the destiny of doing the works that God has before ordained that we should walk in them. I want to serve God in the wilderness. I don't want to just leave Egypt. I don't want to just cross the Red Sea. I want to serve God in the wilderness so I can be allowed to enter the Promised Land, which represents the victorious Christian life, the victorious Christian life. Now go to Hebrews chapter 13, if you would, Hebrews chapter 13. Serving God in the wilderness. What does it mean to serve God in the wilderness? It means to make sacrifices. You know, you might have to get some things out of your life that are displeasing to God, clean up your life, make some sacrifices. How about sacrificing some time to come to church on Sunday morning? Sacrificing some time to come to church Sunday night, Wednesday night. Sacrificing some time in the morning to read your Bible. Sacrificing some time so that you can pray. See, those aren't sacrifices. Yeah, they are. The Bible says that we offer sacrifices to God, even just praising Him. It's the fruit of our lips is a sacrifice to God. You know, singing a hymn instead of singing a worldly song. Coming to church instead of being out doing what you want to do on a Sunday in the flesh. Just, you know, going out and just having fun for yourself. No, no, no. Being in church is a sacrifice of time, energy, gas, money to get down here, to be a part of the congregation that God wants us to be a part of. Okay, it's a sacrifice when we're tempted to drink or smoke or take drugs or commit fornication or steal or whatever. And we say, I'm not going to do that because God said no. And we sacrifice that and say, no, I'm not going to enjoy that pleasure of sin for a season. I'm going to sacrifice to God in the wilderness. I'm going to be different than this world around me. Be a peculiar people. What does it mean to serve God in the wilderness? Okay, well the Bible says God has ordained that we should walk in certain works. Right, it has to do with serving him after we're saved. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse 12, it says, Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Without the gate means outside the gate. So Jesus suffered outside of the gate of Jerusalem. So he's not in the city proper, he's just outside the city of Jerusalem. Suffering without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, again without meaning outside of the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. What does that mean, let's go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach? The camp represents what's cool, what's popular, what's in style, what the world does, what it is to be a normal American in 2021. You know what, we are to be different. And so that might mean that you're not in the cool group at school, you're not the big man on campus, you're not necessarily the coolest person around the water cooler, or everybody's favorite person at work. Now you ought to be the boss's favorite person because you're so good at doing your job. But you know you're not necessarily the guy that we want to party with on the weekend because you don't party. Because you don't drink and you don't do drugs and you don't want to look at porno or whatever else these wicked people are into. And so the point is that we need to go forth unto Christ without the camp, outside of the mainstream, and be willing to be different. And what does that phrase mean, bearing his reproach? You know what reproach is? Reproach is when someone makes fun of you or talks bad about you. If they reproach you, you're basically being attacked in some way or criticized or maybe people are looking at you and thinking, oh yeah, he's one of these Christians, he's one of these fundamentalist Baptists, or he's one of these really conservative, straight-laced kind of Christians. People are going to reproach you with that. That's what that word means, reproach, okay? And Jesus Christ, when he was on the cross, suffering outside the gate of Jerusalem, what did people do? They wagged their head at him, shot out the lip, made fun of him. Oh, thou that destroys the temple in three days and builds it again. You know, why don't you save yourself? If you're the son of God, why don't you come down from the cross? And they're making fun of him. And guess what? As Christians, there are going to be times when people are going to make fun of us because we don't run to the same excess of riot that they run to. We don't join in to the drunkenness and the chambering and wantonness that they're into. Because we live a clean life or because we are faithful to our spouse or because we don't want to party with them and get drunk and have wild times on the weekend that are contrary to God's plan for our life, they will make fun of us sometimes or make fun of us for believing the Bible and tell us that we're believing some Stone Age book or Bronze Age or whatever Iron Age they want to put on it and claim that we are, you know, somehow an idiot or stupid. And let me tell you something. It doesn't matter how smart you are. If you believe the Bible is the word of God, eventually somebody's going to call you an idiot or tell you that you're dumb or uneducated. You could have so much education that's coming out of your ears, but they could still say, oh, you're uneducated, right? And it doesn't matter how fun of a person you are and how friendly you are and how much you know how to have a good time. If it's only good, clean fun, you're going to get accused by people of, well, you don't know how to have fun. You don't know how to party, you know. You know, it's just, you know, some of us know how to party within the confines of God's rules and God's word, you know. I didn't have this in my notes, but back in Exodus, not only did he say, let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. Not only did he say, let them go three days journey so they can sacrifice unto me in the wilderness. Another place that says, hey, let my people go, they can hold a feast to me in the wilderness. You know, we hold some feasts unto the Lord in the Christian life. We have fun. We enjoy life. We have joy unspeakable and full of glory. In fact, the world can't even comprehend the level of joy that we experience in the Christian life. So we're not just suffering and sacrificing. Hey, we're feasting in the wilderness. But it's a different kind of feast than the world's kind of feast. You know, it's funny, you know, my wife is from Germany and so the word for party in German is fest, right. And it's related to our English word feast, right. A feast is a party where you eat a lot of good food and have a good time. And you know what, we as Christians, we know how to feast. But we're feasting in the wilderness. We're partying in the wilderness, if you will. But you know what, we're not partying with the golden calf. We're not going to, you know, sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play and lose our clothes and lose our dignity and lose our modesty and lose our religion. You know, no, we are going to have a feast in the wilderness but it's going to be a godly feast. You know, we're going to have fun with good clean fun. And the world's fun brings pain in the long run anyway, brings suffering. The joy that God gives, no man taketh your joy from you. You know, at Christ's right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Whereas the world can only offer you the pleasures of sin for a season and then years of pain looking back on all the mistakes that you've made and your so-called partying times. And so we want to go forth on them without the camp bearing his reproach. You know, don't feel bad because some worldly person makes fun of the way that you dress or the way that you act or the fact that you love the Bible or the fact that you bring your Bible to work and read it on the lunch break or bring your Bible to school and read it between classes. You know, if somebody makes fun of you with that, happier you. You should be happy and rejoiced and say, Hey, thank God someone is reproaching me for the name of Christ. You know, here I have a Bible in my hand, somebody's making fun of me, it's like cha-ching, rewards. Great. You know, if we're out soul winning and someone, you know, yells at us and criticizes us, amen, it's a blessing. It's rewards in heaven for doing what's right and being reproached for the name of Christ. You know, that's good. Don't be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ and this evil and adulterous generation. You say like, Oh, so embarrassing, you know, having to dress like a modest lady. Everybody else has shorts and a tank top or whatever. You know, yeah, you go out there in this world and you know what the girls are wearing? They're wearing shorts and a tank top. And yes, I know it's December, they're still wearing shorts and a tank top because it's Arizona, all right? They're going to be wearing it in February. But the point is, you know, you say, Oh, look, I just want to dress like everybody. Folks, you know what's going on in our world right now is kind of an embarrassment. If you look at our nation today and all the weird gender bending and just bizarre relationships of just adultery and fornication and people having an open marriage and just all these weird alternative lifestyles that are out there, okay? You know, you're embarrassed to be a conservative Christian? Shouldn't it be more embarrassing for some faggot or lesbian? Shouldn't they be the ones that are embarrassed? Because they're so disgusting, a walking AIDS dispenser. Oh, whoops, did I just say that? You know, shouldn't they be embarrassed about that? Like, why would I get embarrassed about the Lord Jesus Christ and the most perfect law that's ever been written in the history of mankind? Oh, how love I thy law, it's my meditation night and day and you think I'm going to be embarrassed of the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in front of this evil and adulterous generation? Hey, they ought to be embarrassed. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Why would I be embarrassed? You say, oh man, my parents had me wearing long skirts and dresses. First of all, number one, atheists wear long skirts and dresses too. Nobody's telling you to put on some weird outfit that doesn't fit our culture or something. Because look, I don't believe that we should just dress weird and put on just prairie dresses and get some special beer with no mustache and suspenders and a white shirt with no tie and, you know, like some kind of an Amish paradise or something, you know. I'm not saying we should dress weird. Look, hey, I believe that when in Rome you do as the Romans do. You know, Paul said, you know, when I went to the barbarians, I became as a barbarian. To the Greeks, I became as a Greek. To those that are under the law, I became as one under the law. To those that are without the law, he said I was as one outside the law. But he said, but I wasn't without law to Christ. You know, I still follow Christ's laws. But look, hey, it's okay to fit in with this world. The Apostle Paul said, hey, I'm going to become all things to all men so that I might by all means save some. So yeah, I'm for fitting in so that we can get people saved. But you know what, we need to follow the laws of God though. So if fitting in means getting half naked and drinking and fornicating and doing drugs, then count me out. You know, if fitting in means I have to sin, then forget it. But let me tell you something, you know, there are atheists and agnostics out there that are out there wearing an ankle-length skirt right now. Am I right? Go to the college campuses of America, right, which are not exactly right-wing bastions of conservative Christianity, are they? But you know what you're going to see there? Obviously you'll see all the shorts and the tank tops and the short shorts and the bun huggers and everything else. But you know what else you're going to see? You're also going to see skirts down to the ankles, skirts down to the knee. You're going to see modest, femininely dressed women with a skirt down knee. And you know what, I'll bet you a lot of them aren't even Christians. They're just wearing it because it looks cool, because it's the style or whatever. You know, when I was a teenager in high school, you know, guess what? Sometimes girls wear skirts and dresses just as a fashion statement, because it just looks classy, it just looks good, it just looks feminine. Imagine that. Yeah, but what if, I mean, what if they realize that that's all I wear, you know? What if they realize that I always dress this way? I don't know, what if they realize you're not a lesbian? What if they realize that you're actually part of a nuclear family? What if they realize that you're a born again Christian? Oh no, what if they realize that you only think there's two genders? So what, why are you ashamed of that? You've got to be ashamed of yourself if you can fit in with these weirdos. And like I said, we should try to live peaceably with all men, but you know what? If somebody, at least nobody's going to confuse us for transvestites. Nobody's going to confuse us for pan-whatever. Pan, cis, trans, whatever weird thing comes out next week, okay? I don't want to be confused for that. You know, I want somebody to see me walking down the street and just say, well there goes a normal, straight, hair-legged man. And then just not give it a second thought. Not trying to stand out or look weird, I just want to be a normal person. This world's abnormal. And if you want to be the coolest kid on campus, you're going to have to become abnormal in the sight of God and in the sight of every normal person. So why don't you just decide to stand and be counted as one of God's people? Instead of saying, well I want to be as Egyptian as I possibly can. No, let's go out in the wilderness and serve the Lord. Let's bear his reproach. Hey, if somebody's making fun of Christians, say, you know what? Count me in because I'm one of them. Oh, you guys are making fun of Christians? Well, just so you know, I'm a Christian. Oh, you're making fun of people who believe the Bible? Well, guess what? I believe the Bible. That'll shut them up. And it says in verse 14, for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. So verse 13, it said, let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. This life is temporary. And you young people, you may think life is just super long, but you know, your parents are starting to realize it's shorter than they think. And your grandparents are like, yeah, it's real short. Life speeds up. When you're a kid, every month just goes on and on and on. Life speeds up. And by the end, it's just like, the clock's just like, it's true. All right. Life speeds up. And this life is like a vapor, the Bible says, that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. We don't have a continuing city here. You know, if you invest in, you know, how popular you can be here, how successful you can be here, how great you can be in Phoenix, Arizona, it's all going to be gone someday. The continuing city is in heaven. The continuing city is the New Jerusalem. And if we lay up our treasures in heaven, that's permanent. So we need to be less interested in being cool and accepted in this world and be more interested in being cool and accepted in the sight of God, where God looks down and says, thou art my cool and accepted son, and I'm well pleased in you. Not the world being pleased with you, but God being pleased. I want to please God, not this world. What's that called? It's called being without the camp, outside the mainstream, outside the cool group, outside. And by the way, as a preacher, this is the choice that I've made with my life. You know, for 16 years, I've gotten up and preached. And you know what? If I wanted to, I could have just preached what everybody wanted to hear, and I could have been kind of a Fox News Baptist, kind of just towing the conservative line, whatever is kind of the hot conservative thing, just say it and just fall in lockstep with whatever is the most popular thing among evangelical Christians. And you know what? I could have done that route, and I could have some big giant church, and I could be up there with a little mic on my ear, and you know, and be so cool and whatever. But you know what? I don't care. You know what? I started out this church back in the end of 2005, and by the middle of 2006, I'd already made all the independent fundamental Baptists mad. And I am an independent fundamental Baptist, because I decided, you know what? I don't care. I'm here to preach the Bible, and people can like it a little bit. And you know what? And I never, I never set out to just, you know, be different for the sake of being different. I just got up and started preaching the Bible, and all of a sudden everybody started, you know, getting mad about it, because I was hitting on passages that they'd been avoiding, apparently. You know, certain verses that they didn't like to talk about. So here's the thing, you know, every preacher has the same choice. You know, am I going to be in the camp? And it might not even be trying to fit in with the world. Sometimes in the camp could be trying to fit in with just the mainstream Baptist position. Even fitting in with other saved Baptists. But you know what? Guess what? A lot of saved Baptists are not without the camp. They're in the camp. They're not bearing his reproach. They're not serving God in the wilderness. They want to serve God in the land of Egypt. I want to serve God in the wilderness, okay. Now here's one of my favorite verses from the book of Exodus. If you would, you turn over to 2 Timothy 1, but I'm going to read for you what I consider one of the key verses in the book of Exodus, which is Exodus 33.7. I think Exodus 33.7 is a powerful verse, a key verse in the book of Exodus. It's kind of a thematic verse that you don't want to miss it. Exodus 33.7 says, And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp. He takes the tabernacle and he moves it outside the camp of the Israelites, afar off from the camp. It's not even close to the camp. He says he takes the tabernacle and he moves it outside the camp and he moves it far from the camp. And he called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And remember that congregation is the Old Testament word for what we say in the New Testament as church. Psalm 22 says, In the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee? That verse is quoted in Hebrews 2 as, In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee? So Moses called it the tabernacle of the congregation and it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out under the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. So Moses, I guess, you know, is sick of too many bozos at the tabernacle. And so he said, alright, let's put the tabernacle outside the camp, far off from the camp, let's call it the tabernacle of the congregation, and how about this, everybody who actually seeks the Lord will come to us and they'll come out to this tabernacle of the congregation, which is without the camp. You know what that tells me is that church is supposed to be outside the camp. This is why our church is not set up to just fill with unsaved people, have a rock concert filled with unsaved people, and then tell them about Jesus so they can be saved. That is not what the church is supposed to be. Hey, I'm all for telling unsaved people how to be saved, but that's not what church is for. That's why, look, I touched on salvation in my sermon this morning, but you know what? This sermon is not geared to get people saved. Why? Because raise your hand if you know for sure you're saved. Raise your hand if you're saved this morning. Okay, do you see why I'm not preaching on salvation now? Because we're virtually all saved here. We still want to hammer that doctrine, shore it up, tighten it up, keep it tightened up so that everybody is solid on the doctrine. But at the end of the day, I do not preach to unsaved people when I'm behind the pulpit on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, because guess what? It's a congregation of saved people. And let me tell you something, there are plenty of people today going to church this morning and hearing a salvation sermon, and guess what they heard last Sunday at their church? A salvation sermon. Guess what they're going to hear next Sunday? Oh, you're never going to believe what the pastor's preaching on? Salvation. There are churches that every, look, I've had a lot of people come to our church and say, I left my other church because they just preach on salvation every Sunday morning and I'm not being fed. I'm not growing. I'm not learning. It's just salvation every week. Folks, that's not the purpose of church. Okay, the purpose of church is to edify the body of Christ. It's to edify the saints. It's to equip the saints. And it's supposed to be an oasis from this world. From all the junk that's going on in the camp, we go outside the camp, we get a breath of fresh air because we walk into the tabernacle of the congregation and it's a reprieve from all of the junk that's out there. It's an oasis. You know, I go to church so that I can get around people that are like-minded. You know, do you think I would want to go to church and a bunch of people don't believe the Trinity, a bunch of people believe salvation is by works, a bunch of people don't even believe the Bible is the Word of God, and then you've got people over here that just think that Jesus is just a good teacher and he's not even the Son of God, or over here we've got people denying the deity of Christ and saying that he's a created being. You know, well we can evangelize these people. Folks, I have a whole world to do that. You want to talk about getting people saved? It's out there. It's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, it's your neighborhood, it's our town, it's the small town soul-winning trips, it's missions trips, it's knocking doors in the city here, it's witnessing to your coworker, that's where we get people saved. And then once they're saved, then hey, let's bring them to church. Now look, if you bring an unsaved person to church, great, but don't expect me to gear the sermon toward them. You want to bring an unsaved person to church? Great. I'm all for you bringing an unsaved person to church so that we can win them to Christ before or after the service, one on one, and not do it in front of the whole congregation. Why? Because you know what, the rest of the congregation, you know what, they need to hear, they need to hear some preaching against sin, they need some doctrine, and so the church is supposed to be without the camp. You know, it's not supposed to be a place where we welcome sodomites, transvestites, atheists, and just say, hey, this is for everybody, and we all hold hands and worship together. Wrong. It's a called out assembly of born again baptized believers, that's what it is. Okay? And it's outside the camp, it's outside the mainstream, it's not the cool church. I think there's a church in Tucson that's literally called the cool church. Our church should have a warning church, warning, this church is not cool. This is not the cool church. The cool church is down the street. And you know what, they might even preach a sermon about how hell is cold. You know, it's actually a cold place, it turns out. Folks, we are preaching a hot hell and an evil sin, and we're going to get up and stick with what the Bible says, and we don't care if it's cool. You know, I know clothing styles have changed, you know, but at the end of the day, I'm still wearing the same thing I was wearing in 2005, because I don't really care, because I don't have any fashion magazines to look at to figure out what I'm supposed to be wearing. My friend, I'm not interested in a Christianity that just wants to be cool and popular and fit in. Folks, at the end of the day, the church is outside the camp, separated, it's a place that's an oasis from this world. So we come here, we get around people that are like-minded, we learn the word of God, we fellowship and worship with people that are also saved Christians, then we go out there and bring the gospel to the lost. That's church in a nutshell. So, our church is not seeker sensitive, it's not, we don't send out a questionnaire saying, hey, what kind of music do you want? Just to worldly, unsafe people. What would it take to get you to come to church? There are literally questionnaires being sent out today asking atheists, what would it take to get you to come? You know what, I would say to an atheist is like, what do I have to do to get you to stay away from my church? If you, I mean if you're an atheist, I mean what's an atheist? An atheist is someone who's anti-God, anti-religion, usually they hate God. You know, if somebody's anti-God, I'm not saying somebody who just doesn't know if there's a God, I'm saying people who are actively anti-God, atheist, they're enemies of the Lord. I would just say like, please don't come. I don't want you at church. Because I want to go to church so I can be with people that actually believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what's it going to take the Muslims to come in? I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm not doing it. Why would I want to fill the church with Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus? No, I want to go out there and win Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus to the Lord. But I want everybody to seek the Lord to come to the tabernacle of the congregation and they're going to have to take the step to come down here, outside the camp. And by the way, that's why I'm not going to bring church to them. I'm not going to do some in-home Bible study for three months with somebody who won't come to church. It's like, no, you come here. You get your rear end down here. We're here. Well, it's far. It's supposed to be far. Get over here. Alright, 2 Timothy chapter 1, I've got to hurry up, verse 7. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God, who had saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So notice that God did not save us according to our works, did he? But not only did he save us. He called us with a holy calling. He not only saved us, but he ordained works for us to do after we're saved. He not only brought us out of Egypt, but he wants us to serve him in the wilderness. And so it says here that he saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who had abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter number 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. While you're turning there, I'll read verse 18. I want to focus on 19 and 20, but here's 1 Corinthians 6, 18. Flee fornication. What does that mean? Run away from it. Run screaming in the other direction from fornication. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. And again, this is our preposition of the day. It means outside the body in our modern vernacular. So every sin that a man doeth is outside the body. It's without the body. But he that comitteth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? And here's the key. Ye are not your own. You are not your own. Don't go through life just thinking, well, you know what? It's my life. I can do whatever I want. And, you know, God just needs to leave me alone and just let me live my life. That's not what the Bible says. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. So when we're brought out of Egypt, we no longer have these bitter, cruel taskmasters inflicting us. We're no longer in slavery and in bondage. But it's not like, okay, everybody, we've left Egypt. Now it's time to go to Hawaii and just live out your life there in pleasure and fun. I mean, why didn't the Lord just, you know, part the Atlantic Ocean and just bring, you know, forget Canaan. Let's just go west. Let's get to Morocco. Let's part the Atlantic Ocean and let's go to the Florida Keys on dry land. And we could live out our lives and then sacrifice to the Lord over there. You know, sacrifice the Lord in Key West or maybe keep going and go all the way to Hawaii or whatever. You know, folks, you got out of Egypt so that you could serve God in the wilderness, not so that you could just go live in pleasure for the rest of your life. Now, of course, serving God is a pleasure. But our life is not just about ourselves. And you know what? There are far too many saved Christians, even fundamental Baptists, who are living their life for themselves. It's just about how much money can I make, how nice of things can I own, how much fun can I have. It's just about me enjoying. You know what? I want you to enjoy life. I want you to have a nice house and enjoy your life. But, you know, is that really what our life's about? Isn't life more than meat? Isn't the body more than raiment? We ought to be serving God with our lives. You know, hey, I want to eat the manna too. I want to eat, I want to drink from the water from the rock too. I want to be in the land of milk and honey where the grapes of Eshkol grow. But you know what? I'm going to do the work that God has called me to do so that I can enjoy those things, okay? Because the Bible says you're not your own. You are bought with a price. So God owns you. You say, well, you know, so I went from one owner to another? Yeah, you did. Wait, so I went from being owned by the devil to being owned by, yeah. But I just want to be my own. No, it doesn't, you can't do your own. It doesn't work that way. But guess what? The Lord is a wonderful master to have, you know. He's a wonderful person to serve. He's a great Lord to have. Whereas the master that you have when you're not saved is a master that hates you, now you have a master who loves you. But you're a servant either way. Like you were a servant of sin. You were serving the devil. You were serving the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Hey, that's who you were serving, a master who hated you and wanted you dead because the devil hates everybody. Whereas now you're serving a master who loves you. Now look, if you're going to be a servant anyway, like think about human terms. If you knew you were going to be a servant for the rest of your life, you want to have a servant who loves you or a servant who hates you. You go, I want to be the boss. Sorry, you know, that job's already taken. There's only room for one boss. It's the Lord, you know. And unless you want to go populate your own planet with the Mormons or something, you know, that job is taken. The most high is taken. And so you're going to be a servant. You serve God or serve yourself. But that means you're actually serving the devil and serving the flesh and a slave to sin. That's not freedom. People think that's freedom. Oh, I have to do whatever I want. That's not freedom because you'll be whoever committed sin is the servant of sin. Be a servant of Christ. Be a servant of Christ. You're bought with a price. Therefore, because you're bought with a price, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Your body belongs to God. Your spirit belongs to God. Use them to do something for God. I mean, you think you're going to get to heaven someday and just be like, okay, guess what, God? I didn't drink. I didn't smoke. I didn't chew. I didn't go with girls who do, so I'm ready for my reward now. I mean, isn't he going to look at that and say, okay, great, but did you serve me with your life? I'm glad you live a clean life, but did you serve me? Did you do anything for me? I mean, did you actually preach the gospel to anybody? Did you give anybody the plan of salvation or witness to people? Did you contribute in any way to the work of the Lord, whether at home or abroad? I mean, what did you do for Christ? You're bought with a price. I mean, what if I had an employee that showed up for work every day, he's in uniform, shirt tucked in, clocks in on time every day, he's got the name tag polished up and ready for the day, never violates any of the company's rules, never calls in sick, but he just never does the work. And we say, you're fired. He's like, what are you talking about? Was I late? I looked at the company rule book. I didn't break any of the rules. You need a urine sample right now because I'm not on drugs. Why am I getting fired? Because you didn't do any work. So we as Christians, you know, we're bought with a price. We need to serve God. Yes, live a clean life, but also serve God. Do something for God. Now look, when I was a teenager, I heard a bunch of sermons like this sermon that I'm preaching to you right now. This sermon that I'm preaching to you right now, I heard a ton of sermons like this and I was in kind of liberal churches, but even liberal churches will, okay, it wasn't exactly like this, but you know what I mean. But they'll preach sermons along these lines. You're bought with a price. You're not your own. You're saved on two good works, you know. And I would hear all this as a teenager and I remember being so frustrated as a teenager because I was just sitting there like, I'm ready. What do I do? Like, point me to the work. It was almost like going to a job where they don't have any work for you to do. And you're clocked in. You're like, all right, what do I do? Oh, sorry, we don't really have anything. Just kind of, you're just kind of on call or something. It's like, well, what? And that's how I felt as a child and as a teenager sometimes. I kept getting motivated to serve God. All right, let's go. Let's do it. It's like, what do I do? I don't know what to do. But you know what? At Faithful Word Baptist Church, let it never be said that you don't know what to do. Because Faithful Word Baptist Church has opportunity for everybody to jump in and serve God. Super easy. You don't have to even sign up for anything. All you have to do is just open the bulletin and you got a whole list of soul winning times. Church wide soul winning, you just show up. You show up, that's it. They'll pair you up with somebody. You don't even have to do any talking. You can just be a silent partner. We'll pair you up with somebody, send you out there to go preach the gospel to every creature. Well, that's not really the work I had in mind, you know. Sharing the gospel is not really what I had in mind. Well, it's what God had in mind. It's called the Great Commission. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You know, that's the main work that our church is doing. You know, if this were a shoe factory, our main work is making shoes. Right? Now here's the thing. You know, at a shoe factory, yeah, there's somebody cleans the toilets. Somebody washes the windows. Somebody makes the coffee. Somebody, you know, runs paperwork around and fills out time cards. And somebody does the landscaping and everything like that. But you know, what do most people do who work at that shoe factory? You know, probably something to do with making shoes. Well, the church is a soul winning factory. The church is an evangelizing factory. The church is organized to evangelize the community and to evangelize the world. And so yeah, you know, you could vacuum the carpet or pick up trash or wipe down a window. But you know what? There are only so many of those jobs to go around. And guess what? The people who do those things here, they also do the main thing, which is out soul winning. Okay. None of us just says, well, I'm too specialized. I don't do any soul winning. I'm the pastor. I mean, I'm up here laying down doctrine three times a week. You know? I'm not going to go. No, I'm going to go out there and do the work of an evangelist myself too. I'm going to get out there and be soul winning every week as well because of the fact that all of us should be involved in that. You know, all of us should be involved in witnessing and getting people saved and giving the gospel. And you know, we make it easy here. We're not just telling you, hey, go figure it out. Do it on your own. Go figure it out. We're, we're here to train you. We're here to, we're here to put you in the game. And, uh, you know, let me just ask for a quick raise of hands. We'll do it quick so that nobody does, so that nobody notices if somebody doesn't raise their hand. We'll do it real quick. Who here has ever been out soul winning before? All right. Real quick. All right. That was almost every hand in the building. Okay. So, you know, this is soul winning church par excellence. All right. This church is a church where we emphasize soul winning, we do a lot of soul winning. So hey, don't ever say, I'm confused. I don't know how to serve God. I want to serve God. I just don't know what to do. Hey folks, we make it easy for you. You know, we'll put the Bible in your hand. We'll show you how to do it. You can go out as a silent partner and see how it's done. But you know, when I get to heaven, you know, I want to get some rewards and I'm going to heaven no matter what. I could walk out that door right now and never come back and never set foot in a church again for the rest of my life and never opened my Bible again. I will still be in heaven. You'll see me there because I'm saved by the blood of Christ and nothing can change that. But you know what? I want to serve God all the way to the end because God didn't just save me to sit. He saved me to serve and he saved me to serve him in the wilderness to get outside the camp, outside the mainstream, outside my comfort zone, outside what other people think is the normal way to live in 2021 America and get out there and do something for God, win people to Christ, earn some rewards. And so yes, he saved us, but he saved us so that we could serve him in the wilderness. Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for saving us, Lord, and thank you so much that we're going to heaven and that none of our sins will ever be mentioned to us when we get to heaven, but it's all forgiven and forgotten as far as you're concerned, Lord. And thank you for just all the wonderful blessings that you give us even now in this current life, let alone the blessings that we're going to receive when we get to heaven. Lord, help us not to just live for ourselves, but rather to realize that we've been liberated so that we can serve a new master, so that we can serve you in the wilderness. Lord, I pray that every single person here would get involved in your work and not just live for self, but to live for you and for others, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, let's go in our song books to number 434. Hymn number 434, O little town of Bethlehem, number 434. On this first verse all together, number 434. O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars don't bide Yet in thy dark streets shine in the everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight For Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above While mortal sleep the angels speak their watch of wandering love O morning stars together proclaim the holy birth And praises sing to God the King and peace to men on earth How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his hand Though the air may hear his coming, but in this world of sin Where meat souls will receive their snow, but here Christ enters in O holy child of Bethlehem, be sent to us we pray Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings spell O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel Ain't that great singing this morning, Archimedes? O holy child of Bethlehem, be sent to us we pray Cast out our sin and enter into us today