(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) About soul winning the title my sermon is advancing as a soul winner if you're sitting here, and you're like well I haven't gone soul winning yet, or I don't go so many You know well this still applies to you you can advance by starting to go So don't sit there and think oh, it's not for me. You know don't worry This is for everyone and what we just read there in Daniel chapter 12 is interesting It says you know the wicked shall do wickedly and there's nothing further from the truth And we saw that yesterday, and if you're confused on what I'm talking about. I'll explain it here as we go on but Look you know We got what what's today's date the seventh you know we got like two weeks until the mega soul winning marathon You know and so I've had it in my mind to be preaching about subjects related to so like repentance and You know and actually You know Boise, but not only Boise, but Ada County and You know it's just kind of funny with all these threats and these complaints that we got yesterday soul winning bit that this is so It says and at the time Michael shall stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even To that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be In the book and so it starts off here right off the bat giving us a sense of They're written in God's book and there are people that are not that have been blotted out now look at verse number two It says in many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall wait Some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting attempt, so there's two kinds of people in the wall, right? There's the quick and the dead and the question is which one are you you know and that's why we go out into the community Because we want to sway the numbers as close to the first part of that verse there, right? We want as many people as possible to wake up to everlasting life. That's why we go out and knock on people doors That's why we build the invitation on people doors So in hopes that we could get in contact with them so that we keep get them saying now look at verse number three It says and they that be wise Shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever Hopefully that there is a little bit of motivation for you The Bible says that they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament when you look up into the sky at night You see the brightness of those stars You know that is a picture of how we will become those of us who are saved in it says and they that turn many to Righteousness now you may be sitting there Well is how bright someone going to shine the dust go soul winning that say versus somebody who does I don't know I don't have the answer to that Nonetheless why ask that question why not just shoot high and go for the last part of this verse here Which says and they that turn many to righteousness as stars forever and ever And we've talked about this word righteousness a lot for the last few weeks, right? What is it? It's obviously the Bible says as it is written. There is none right to know not one None of us are righteous of our own report. How do we get that righteous view? Remember Romans chapter 4 it gets imputed unto you by God by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a free gift, right? That's what we're doing We're going out into the community and we're trying to turn people to righteousness and then as verse 2 says some receive Some do not now you guys turn to Matthew chapter 5. I'm gonna read for you out of 2nd John 2nd John chapter 1 verse 8 He says look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought But that we receive a full reward so he's in there and say let's make it a goal ask Christian people To not lose the rewards that we rock and we work for right we want to receive a full reward So I want to edify I want to exhort you this morning to continue in the mission for Christ So that you can receive a full reward and you might be sitting here again this one example I don't know so many animals winning all the time. Look I'm not mad at you. I'm just preaching what the Bible says I'm trying to help you. I want to see you excel. I want to see you exceed I want to see us win the victory. So you're there in Matthew chapter 5 Let's talk about this here because what you're gonna see is that so many is a commandment It is an expectation here now look at verse so you're there Matthew chapter 5 look at verse 13 Says you're the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its saviour wherewith shall it be salted It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men So Jesus is saying there. Hey you who are saved you that have that righteousness You are that bright shining light unto this world, you know, and that's going to continue once you get up to heaven But he's saying here while you're on this earth if the salt has lost its saviour It's good for nothing, you know, and that's so true You know if we're not reaching people for the goth, you know for the cause of Christ then you know What what good are we doing? We're not doing anything. We're just basically Gonna get trodden under the foot of men We're gonna get taken captive by the people of this world and it's so true Look at verse 14 Ye are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel But on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house Right again referring to us who are saved as a light that is a commandment That is an expectation that God has for every single person in here now Look at verse 16 says let your lights So shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven And that's what we do when we're out reaching the community, right? We're trying to let our good works shine before me so that people will listen to the gospel So what we see here is we see that it is a commandment. It is an expectation It's something that Christ expects of us to do now turn to Acts chapter 5 we'll turn to Acts chapter 5 because Doing this going out and preaching the gospel and reaching the community for Christ, you know from time to time We're going to get persecuted right there are going to be people that are not happy at all with What we're teaching the community so if you're there in Acts chapter 5 look at verse number 28, we'll take a look at this All right, it does come with a price. So to Acts chapter 5. We'll see look here at verse 28. It says That you back up to verse 27 says and they are I'm sorry and when they had brought them They set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying did we not? Or did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name and behold he had filled Jerusalem with your doctrine And intended to bring this man's blood upon us so typical scenario You know the priests the Pharisees the Sadducees the religious people right the ones that are they're saying you know I'm a Christian. You know I'm God's child these people are flipping out on soul winners. That's what you have here That's what's going on here. They're flipping out. You know they're putting these guys into prison. They're hailing them They're just making their lives living. You know they're trying to make a life like a nightmare, right? They're saying do we not strictly command you not to teach and preach Jesus Christ not to teach in his name You're trying to make this guilty right. That's the same attitude that we're dealing with as a church right now That's the same attitude that all of our churches ago, so winning of light faith right that's that's what they're dealing with now look at verse 29 He says that Peter and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than men now That's the attitude that we need to have so I'll just stop right there Yesterday what happened is we had What we had we had four ladies and three three men go out knocking doors, okay? We went solar Saturday morning, and we went to this uh this apartment complex. It wasn't very big It was like I don't know maybe like two three. I think somebody said for a little little deals I think the guys we had what at least two people in support right we had a total of 82 people very friendly people In the rest of the doors we just left invitations on now the ladies I don't know how many I can't remember how many people they had answered probably just a few and so about that I'll make about half hours about 11 o'clock to get this phone call from this lady And she's like this is she on the faith Baptist church, and I'm like yeah It is so when you left the trash all over my property. I'm like well. Where do you live you know something? I'm like great. I drop a water bottle. Maybe I drop a wall You know don't drop my phone Do we drop a whole stack of invites because I definitely want to go back and get them right because those things aren't cheap and she And she's like no you're in your little road sure the church is trash your trash She starts railing on me right you know I'm like I'm like listening for this and you can ask brother David and most they hurt They were they were knocking on the door and they could hear this woman yelling at me You know and she's you know just complaining and I can't I wouldn't even Repeat what she said right, but basically the end of the conversation. She's like don't you ever come back to this street? Don't you ever come back here? I said don't tell me what to do have a nice day That was it. Yes, I was rude. Yes, I was firm and Anybody in here would have been and so actually some of you guys would have said a lot more And you know that's true So I'm proud of myself now. Shouldn't I have been rude like that? Probably. I don't know. Probably not. Okay, I'm not perfect. We're all sinners in here. You know and I'm confessing a fault for you But I was just like don't tell them what to do, but you see these people these snowflakes They're so used to people caving and bending over and just oh, I'm sorry I offended you. That's the response she expected when she called me. She didn't realize what kind of Baptist Church she called, right? And so that set off a whole firestorm of events. People are private messaging. Hey, I'm gonna come to your church I'm gonna do XYT and it's like Whatever. No, you're not. You know, I look at these people that are making these threats. Most of them don't even live in Idaho All right, they live like in Washington California or on the East Coast, you know because most people here the vast majority of people here are very nice Unlike anywhere else I've ever been soul winning in my entire life I mean, you know We've been kicked out of like two or three different complexes over the last few months and it's like people are not I'm sorry. I have to do this to you guys They're usually apologizing while they're trying to shoo us out What that tells me is people are calling It's not persecution I wouldn't call what we went through yesterday as persecution maybe just a little bit of light resistance, you know They're saying hey, did we strictly command you in Jesus name not to teach a preacher, you know They're worried about us filling Idaho with their doctrine which we will do we will continue to do Despite little snowflake crybaby little you know, soy milk sipping little mama boys, you know Get out of here with all that you're weak. You're pathetic. And yes, I said that get you know There's just a bunch of reprobates a bunch of god-hating fools. That's where they are And you know what this is where the strength is right here Fools they're retarded. They're idiots. Let's continue here So he says verse number 30 the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom he slew and hang on a tree Him have got exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repents to Israel and forgiveness of sins Oh, I'm sorry that I knocked on your door and woke you up and try to save you from hell Come on give me a break here, you know Let me look at verse 32 says and we are his witnesses of these things And so it and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that Verse 33 when they heard that they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them Right and see when I told that lady yesterday don't tell me what to do Don't tell our church where we can go and where we can now what you need to understand is everybody should already know this If you don't want me at your door, I will run away I don't want to come there if you want to put our invitation on your door and say shield of faith stay away Which they're doing and they've sent us pictures. Praise God. That's a blessing I don't want to talk to you, right? I don't want to waste my time talking to people that don't believe the Bible and of course We're gonna get into that further but nonetheless they were cut to the heart just by a little invitation It's so funny how people are fearing and trembling over our church And we've been shield of faith now for just a little bit over a month. The people are scared to death Two Thursdays ago. We got a Mormon lady safe, right and then like, I don't know what was it ten minutes later? We went knocked on this Episcopal minister's door, right? You probably guessed where that conversation went And this guy here I mean he was literally cut to the heart just by brother David knocking on his door and asking if he was on his way to Have it. Brother David's trying to be real polite. He's like, well, what do you what do you teach? What do you think you have to do to go to heaven? And this guy's got an invitation, right? And he's like, he kind of turns to the side. He's literally shaking just like this. Not exactly. Ask Brother David. He's shaking, right? And he's like probably something different than you, you know I'm just scared. This is just different, you know It will just differ, you know, good luck with all that, you know Good luck being stolen, good luck being King James only, good luck being fundamental. And I've said this before, if you're not fundamental, you're useless, you're weak, you're nothing, right? Look, I know that hurts people's feelings, but it's the truth, right? Did you go to your jobs and not be fundamental to the things that pertain to your job? You would get fired You're a loser if that's how you are, right? When you go to work, you have to follow their procedures You have to follow their protocols, right? That's an example of being fundamental We want to do the same thing with God's holy word and that's what we do But nonetheless people take counsel together when we just show it to their doors I mean most of the time these people don't even answer the door. Look, this lady was complaining It's like we were hanging out under the cardboard because it was raining for like 10 minutes They could have come out and yelled at us face-to-face, but no, like I said You know, they get on that Facebook and blow you out, you know, because that's where their strength is. They're foolish. They're weak And by the way, you would have to be a fool to come to a church like this and decide you're going to come Oh, yeah, you know, I mean this isn't some kind of soy boy church, right? We got people in here that are heavily armed and know how to scrap So if you want to come down here, look I'm not asking for trouble. You come down here Well, you're gonna get what you asked for and be careful what you ask for because you just might get it So keep that in mind to whoever's listening to this And we are his witnesses of these things So the Holy Ghost He says then stirred up one of the council a Pharisee named Gamaliel a doctor of the law Had a reputation among all the people and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space So here's a guy that's got a little bit of sense. He's got some comments He's like, you know what if what they're doing is of God, it's gonna come to fruition If it's not then just leave them alone, you know And that's what some of the people on Facebook were saying they're like, why are you so upset? Just throw it in the garbage, you know, why are you going through all these these these these people's inboxes of private messaging? It's like look if what we're doing is not of God then it's gonna come to not and that's what Gamaliel is saying here Just jump down to verse 38 He says and now I say unto you Refrain from these men and let them alone for if this council or this work be of men it will come to not But if it be of God you cannot overthrow it less happily You'd be found even to fight against God and that is what these people are going to find that they are fighting against God God sent us here. God raised you all up to come here, right? Something pricked your heart to come here You're all safe. You understand that and when we go out and do his works, God will protect us now Does that mean that persecution won't come? No, it doesn't does that mean that some you know that we're not going to go through hard times No, of course not. God lets us go through hard times to prove us so that he can show himself Mighty among his people and that's what you're going to see here in action And then look at verse 40 says and to him they agreed and when they had called the Apostles and beat them They commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go So like okay, we're just gonna give you guys a beating and let you go now Look at their response and they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name now look I'm pretty I guess I'd like to say I'm pretty sure but if somebody starts beating on me I don't you know, it would be really hard for me to get to this point here Well, I'm like rejoicing and I'd probably be a little angry but nonetheless. These are mighty man of God and this is my goal I hope this is your goal too, you know, now if somebody wants to slap you or whatever or slap you You know for preaching gospel, they're not really trying to kill you or hurt you. It's more of an insult, right? Yeah, and don't get the wrong idea here I'm not preaching and we shouldn't defend ourselves, but we do have to have discernment. We do have to have You know some common sense, right? We don't want any time somebody comes in here just to just to pounce on them We don't want any violence, you know And that's really a subject for another time the subject of self-defense but nonetheless These guys here got beat for the cause of Christ and they just say praise God that he counted us worthy to work for him No, he would let us go through this and let's let that be our attitude. Okay, as hard as it is Let's let that be our attitude, you know But with in mind and we should be able to protect ourselves from from harm Like somebody wants to come in here and harm our children or harm us, you know, we're gonna deal with that We're gonna cast them out. We're gonna protect ourselves But nonetheless looking verse 42 he says and daily in and in the temple and in every house They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ, right? So they didn't let real persecution slow them down, right? We're not gonna let some snowflake little girls on face Now if you want to put a sign in front of your door that says no religious people When they have that sign that says no religion no No, not the words say I'm out we're looking for people that are interested plain and simple, right? Well, you know when I said, you know Don't tell me what to do that didn't mean that I'm gonna go back to your door If I knew where she led, I would never go there again, you know until she moved out, of course But like I said, we're gonna get into that now turn to Acts chapter 8. Yeah, you turn to Acts chapter 8 There's nothing worse than trying to speak to a fool right somebody who just doesn't want to hear it. There's no point. It's not productive So you turn to Acts chapter 8 I'm ready for you 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 12 It says yay, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution So just remember that right when you make the decision in your heart that you're gonna live godly for Christ You're gonna get some persecution. You're gonna get some resistance. You will get pushed back. It's just a part of the Christian ministry It's just a part of life. All right, don't let that discourage you Look if the Apostles can go through beatings and still go out house to house in my course We can do the same thing Even if in the future we do get beaten, you know, the laws were different back then obviously the people who did the beatings They didn't get arrested, you know people today that want to do that stuff. They're gonna go to jail, right? We should let the authorities handle that stuff, you know as much as possible. So you're there in Acts chapter 8 We're gonna take a look again here a little bit of persecution. So look at Acts chapter 8 verse 4 It says therefore They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the world So the context leading up to this is you remember Jesus Christ said hey go you tell all the world to preach the Gospels Well the gospel will the disciples ain't they got comfortable in Jerusalem, right? So God sends persecution because he's trying to drive his word out there, you know And then so we pick up here in verse 4 says therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word So let's let's let that be s Verse 5 it says then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preach Christ unto them Again, what you're gonna see in the book of Acts persecution beatings trouble and then the very next breath They went to preach the gospel You know just rock solid mighty men of valor these people were First it and the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which which Philip spake Hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with loud voice Came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with Palsies and that were lame were healed and there was great joy in that city and you know That's what we want to see right now Somebody saved it makes great joy and not just for you But for the person who got saved, you know, and that should be your driving force, right? We got somebody saying that on Thursday, you know And she was like almost in tears because she finally realized hey I could cease from my words I can cease from my worry people that aren't saying that Believe the Bible that are they do have a desire for the things of God when you get them saved It's such a relief to them because they enter into rest and you can see that in their eyes You can see that in their face and there's no other feeling like that in the world and that should be our Desire our motivation. So preaching the word, you know, we need to keep doing that and remember the gospel is good news And that's what we're bringing to people now. Let's go ahead and continue on here So we're going to jump down to verse number 26 We're going to continue on here with some lessons about Philip Many of you know this passages here this regarding Philip and the Ethiopian unit look at verse 26 says and the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip saying Arise and go toward the south into the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert So right off the bat we see obedience right Philip gets called He gets told to go somewhere and he goes he goes right away It says just go it down to Jerusalem and to Gaza, which is desert So the angel of the Lord speaks to Philip and tells him to go He doesn't yet quite know why but he doesn't he goes and that is what you know We need to pull from this verse here is that hey when soulings at these times are in this area We need to just go because we don't know what God has in store for us look at verse 27 and he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Candace Queen of the Ethiopians who had charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship now I want you to notice there that the eunuch was a man of great authority under Candace Queen. This is a guy that You know would live over a bogus basin maybe on the mountain because he had a pretty high up job He was a eunuch and nobody in here wants to be a eunuch But nonetheless, he was he was a person of great authority He was a person that we would maybe look to on the outside and say I bet that guy's not gonna get saved He's got you know, he's got money. He's got a high job He's real close to the Queen but none nonetheless this guy is interested in the things of God now look at verse 28 He says was returning and sitting in his chariot read Isaiah's the prophet right so right off the bat We need to understand that is a clue that is a situation that we need to always be on the lookout for He read his Bible and Philip notices that right people that believe the Bible, you know They're the ones that we really want to go up that I'd say that's like the low-hanging fruit You know because when somebody's like yeah, I read the Bible I believe the Bible and you knock on the door a lot of times they wind up getting saved You know They're the one they have an interest in the things of God and you have to make the choice to believe the Word of God In order to get saved in the first place So look at verse 29 that says then the Spirit said unto Philip go near and join thyself unto this chariot In verse 30 and Philip ran thither to him He did not waste time that is zeal that is motivation That is the attitude that we should all have these things were written for admonition now I've got three points from you or for you today And they all come from this verse and point number one is advancing as a soul when it requires you to possess zeal and motivation But not only does it require you to possess zeal and motivation it requires you to maintain it and keep it So we we understand that he says if Philip ran thither to him Right when you see that somebody is receptive Somebody wants to hear the gospel have that attitude that Philip had and run to them get to them quickly Don't let it pass by and let me just also say this We've all been in situations before where we decided not to preach the gospel to somebody whether it be at work Whether it be you know out in the community. I've been there you've been there We've all been there But let's you know the title of the sermon is advancing as a soul owner, so let's let's advance together Let's make sure that we improve on those things and get that running mentality that Philip had so turn to um Turn to Colossians chapter 4 and while you're turning there. We're going to talk about the subject of zeal here Because what is zeal? Zeal is motivation and we've talked about this a little bit before But there's a very important factor that we all need to understand in regards to zeal and that is found in Romans chapter 10 verse 2 It says for I've made them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge So Paul was talking to Romans about the Jews. He's like hey, they're zealous for the things of God, but not according to knowledge They're doing it the wrong way You know it's been said that the devil doesn't try to get you to do the wrong thing He tries to get you to do the right thing in a wrong way And that is so true and that is what you'll see here as you read throughout the New Testament And so there is a right way according to God and how we should do business How we should go solely how we should conduct ourselves when we are amongst people and the answer is the most important thing is according to knowledge Now second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 2 says for I know the forwardness of your mind for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia that IKEA was ready over a year ago and your zeal hath provoked very many when you have a zeal according to knowledge it Influences people it provokes them to want to do more And I think we've seen that in this church just in the short time that we've been an independent church So when you say knowledge what you might pass jump we talking about knowledge here after the seal according knowledge well first of all Do you even care about souls first of all? I mean, that's the question we all need to ask for so you need to develop some care It's a love for people that where you would make a spiritual sacrifice And actually go out and knock on some doors and give them the bathroom you say well I've never done that before that's fine. We need silent partners We need more people to go out there and help and number two would be proper etiquette right zeal according to knowledge We got to have the right way of doing business right. There's right manners that we should have and the right protocol, right? There's there's there's things that people do sometimes in this shit. You know I look at I'm saying that's just not right That's not a good way to go about doing business, but you're there in Colossians chapter 4 look at verse 12 Regarding zeal says Apophis who is one of you a servant of Christ salute you always laboring fervently For you in prayers that she may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God now Apophis was somebody full of zeal full of zeal according to knowledge. He had the right protocol right he's praying for his converts He's praying for these people on a daily basis That is something that we need to do when you give the gospel to somebody whether they get saved or not You should write that down or stamp it into your mind so that later on you can pray for that person Because you don't know the spiritual battle right if we read out of Daniel chapter 12 If you were to read all the way up to that you would get a clear picture of the demonic battles that go on Outside that we can't see that we won't even be privy to until we get to heaven But just remember that prayer changes things it really does now we get verse 13 He says when I bear him record that he has a great zeal for you And them that are going to see it and them and here Opeles, right? Let's have a great zeal for the people in Ada County, but not just here, but everywhere now go back to Acts chapter 8 So point number one is that we need to have a great deal, but we need to have zeal according to knowledge What does that mean for example when someone's not interested in hearing the gospel walk away? Don't argue with them right here's an example you knock on someone's door right, and they're like hey How you doing? You know I'm from children off the church. Just want to invite you to church And they're like oh, yeah, okay, okay great. Okay great right in your life. You're like. Oh, wait. Are you hungry? You know it's like come on. You know we need to start getting To the the mode of picking up on cues right when they're not interested the doors closing on you You know there's a good chance I'm not going to listen to you right and so we want to be privy to that we want to capture that so that we Don't waste our time. We don't waste their time, and we don't waste God's time So when I was we need to have a zeal according to knowledge now point number two look at Acts chapter 8 verse 30 So we just read and Philip ran thither to him he had the right seal he had the right motivation you're going to see that he had knowledge and Look at this next part says and heard him read the prophet these eyes So point number two is advancing as a soul winner requires you to develop Perception it requires you to constantly and continually develop perception. What is perception? Perception is the ability to see Here or become aware of something right you need to get to the point your soul winning when someone's not interested You can pick up on that because why like I've already said we don't want to waste their time And I'm not afraid of these people that are there. You know chirping at us, and oh, we're not interested Go away. No soliciting means go away look. I've gotten people say before that no soliciting time the door I'm sure other people in here have as well right so that doesn't scare me. I don't care I understand that repercussions that come with that if you don't feel comfortable knocking on a door that has no soliciting Don't that's fine. I don't want you know don't ever make fun of somebody that has that because you know it's okay because typically I'll be honest with you most people do have that sign up because they don't want you at the door for any reason at all And so just remember that you know and furthermore if somebody has a big sign on the yard that says no Trespassing do really take it a big chance when you go inside there because that is binding right when you go beyond that boundary you Are trespassing on their property and look like I said we want to have perception We want to be able to perceive People that are interested in the things of God so that we can get the most bang for a buck right we want to do the most for Christ According to the time that he's given us in a big part of that is perception Perceiving if somebody is interested first of all and second of all are the understanding what you're saying if you're having to ask this person Like multiple times do you understand this and they're just like yeah? I understand you have to repent of your sins to be safe It's like okay. You know what keep the invite. You know maybe come visit us sometime and just go don't argue with people because it's counterproductive It doesn't do any good It's not going to get them say that people want to get saved you're going to have to have some of the attributes that the Ethiopian unit has here that we're reading about so advancing as a soul owner requires us all to to Develop perception. It's something that I need to work on it's something that we all need to work on Let's talk about etiquette at the door again You know when you see that door shut right and they're like okay Thank you, thank you, thank you right don't put your foot in the door and nobody's done that here But you know let's not verbally put her foot in the door either. Well. Just hold on for a second You know I do admire that seal though. I gotta admit. I do admire the seal but Most I mean come on. Let's let's face it. They're not interested They're not going to listen and there are a lot of people out there especially in this town That are so nuts that they will listen to you, and they have they don't believe the Bible Okay, and we want to avoid praying with somebody and getting somebody to Confess that they're saved in vain right we don't want somebody to just go through the motions So just remember that as you're out there So when you develop perception become aware of your surroundings right and that also brings you to another point that I forgot to write down Here is that is going into someone's house now. I will go into people's houses. You know if they invite me in Especially for you ladies if you don't feel comfortable then don't do it. I wouldn't recommend it But if you feel the desire to go and decide somebody's house Your selling partner or you needs to text me or text somebody where you're at and that you're in a house so that we can Stop what we're doing and wait for you, and so that you can be ready to go inside there Just be careful develop perception right because there are some bad people There's some bad apples out there, and you need to be aware of our surroundings, so He says we've heard and read the prophet Isaiah So point number two is advancing as a soul winner requires us to continuously develop perception and just think about that Becoming aware right think about what you're doing out solely and just strive to always become more and more aware of what you're doing What's going on? So Point number three Requires you to exercise Discernment now you can I you know Discernment is a synonym of what we just talked about right perception I understand that but it does slightly be different the definition of discernment is the ability to judge well turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 So what we just read there acts 830 right and Philip ran through them That's a picture of zeal and he heard him read the prophet Isaiah. He picked up on that He was aware of what was going on ok this guy's interested about the things of God He's reading the Bible. I need to get over there fast right perception, and then he says Understandest thou what thou is right so now we get into the questions here We get into the question portion of discerning what the person is like do you understand? What you're reading discernment is the ability to judge well how to how do we judge we do it one way by by obviously? Attitating knowledge so we can have a standard to measure to but we also do it by asking questions So that we can gauge where someone's at that's what Philip does here He says understandest thou what thou readings, and that's a good question Do you understand the Bible because he Philip knows the Bible? He knows the things of God and he understands if he doesn't understand what he's reading He's not saying you have to be saved understand spiritual things, so you're there in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 Look at verse number 15. We read this on Wednesday Well, let's read it again for the person that private message me that I was a heretic for teaching this But we all speak English here verse 15 that says by he that is spiritual judges all things Yet he himself is judged of no man. You see my conscience is clear right? Yeah, I didn't do anything wrong I wasn't in sin yesterday when that lady called and she's the one that made a judgment call on us in our church your church Pounding on my door really I was there It's not really pounding, you know That is not what happened. You know, I mean you can ask Jessica, you know and Miss Rachel They didn't hear it pounding on the doors, right? We knocked on the doors, but nonetheless what we just read here But he that is spiritual judges all things a spiritual person judges all things if am I wrong Look if you think I'm wrong raise your hand. I mean, I mean, what does it say? But he that is spiritual judge it all things. We have to be judgmental that goes Counter-dictory to everything that is taught down at Boise State University where these people go in every college in this country, right? That's the there's an agenda being pushed. It's been pushed since day one, you know, don't judge coaches I can't believe you said judge me. I read this comment on there and this lady sent me a message I can't believe you teach your people to judge Look man, what are they teaching you in this college? Do you even speak English? What does it say here? But he that is spiritual judges all things Young man You know you have got to be on crack To not understand this it says but he that is spiritual judges all things. Look we need to have discernment You Virtual and if you want to be spiritual you have to judge all things right You have to be able when you're at someone's door to judge whether or not they're interested in the things of God because if they're Not you will spin your wheels. You will go nowhere Turn to Hebrews chapter 5 Say okay, I believe you I speak English I understand but he that is spiritual judges all things Look you have to be saved to understand the Bible and first Corinthians chapter 2 teaches that Well, look you Even people that aren't saved should be able to understand but he that is spiritual does all things those nine words I Just don't get it. Okay. Look at Hebrews chapter 5 look at verse 9, so we understand what we're talking about, right? We need to be spiritual. We need to be judgmental. We need to have discernment That's why folks that understand us without read us now What we're going to read about here is an example in Hebrews about how we need to have our senses exercised, right? Our senses are discernment exercise. Look at verse number 9 Talking about Christ says in being made perfect He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek Verse 11 of whom we have many things to say and hard hard to be uttered seeing your dull hearing Right. We don't want to be dull hearing keep reading first Well for when for the time he ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again Which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not strong meat so in order to gain Discernment in order to gain judgment. We need to get off the milk We need to get on to the harder things of God and that is a goal Look if you're new in Christ, you're doing here. You're new to the Bible. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that You've got to have your milk But look keep drinking that mouth because you'll grow stronger and stronger and stronger looking if you're on the milk here tonight You're stronger than 99% of the Christians are in this county. I promise you that right at least beyond milk I mean come on look at verse 13 He says for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is vague So you might be unskillful in teaching the things of God. He says if you're on the milk, you know, you're unskillful You can't teach the rest. So you might be sitting here saying I understand I'm saved I know it's one saved always saved. It's a free gift I get that that doesn't mean that you could communicate the gospel clearly to somebody you have to keep drinking milk Until you can be weaned off that and go on a strong meet and when you memorize the verses that we all use for soul winning and by the way, if you haven't done that yet, or You need to back up a little bit pastor Mena's did come here what back in November? I think it was and he put on a soul winning seminar and you can get that for you off YouTube We have some of those resources here So if you're lacking that just come see me and we'll make sure that you get that But nonetheless you're looking verse 13 again says for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness So if you're still on the milk, you know You need to be careful about talking to other people about spiritual things because there are people out there that sharpen their tongue Like an adder and they will roll you you have got to be careful There are people that are that are smart out there. So just be honest with yourself. It's okay I'm not skillful yet enough to go preach righteousness to someone else So I'm gonna go be a silent partner so that I can learn how to do that God's way and when you do that, you're going to get better you're going to gain experience You're going to gain discernment. You're going to be able to get off of that milk and on to the strong me Look at verse 14 It says but strong meat belong to them that are a full age even those who by reason of use Have their senses exercise to discern both good and evil Right these people that are harassing us and sending me stupid messages. They haven't had their senses Exercise to discern good and evil and so obvious by the comments that they make though I'm a Christian bleep you bet, you know, all these cuss words, you know, it's like What planet are you know, are you from co-op? I mean what's going on here, you know, you did this is just ridiculous That's why I keep bringing up this method because I know that it's a popular thing in the Northwest And I'm not knocking this place is popular in Washington where we're from and I just can't help but think that a lot of these People there that are saying the stuff or just poked out of their minds whether on meth or heroin or something, right? What do we just read here that we want to get to the point to where we're using strong me So we can have our extras our senses exercise to discern both good and evil And you'll get that out by so many because when you go as a silent partner and you're still enough You're hearing that gospel over and over and over again. And usually the conversation is about so many in between doors, right? It's a great way to learn It's a great way to see what's going on and have your senses exercise that you can judge right because we want you to be Spiritual so you see the advantage of being a silent partner, you know Because I think a lot of times people get this idea Well, you know, I'm not going to be of any good use if I'm a song partner There's nothing for me, but you know what you're gonna get your senses exercise You're gonna see a lot of different attitudes. You're gonna see a lot of different responses You're gonna see a lot of different Bible verses. I mean, it's like going to church like all the time You know, it's the gospel over and over again, especially here in Idaho I mean, I preach the gospel more here than I have anywhere else I mean just I mean getting people say that almost every time I was holding and it's you know, it's been great So you come with us you're gonna see some stuff You're gonna be able to exercise your senses so that you can get that godly judgment Because what does the Bible say in second or first Corinthians chapter 2? And if you want to be spiritually we've got to judge all things that's one. So go back to Acts chapter 8 back to Acts chapter 8 look at verse 31 It says he said, how can I accept some man should guide me and he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him So remember, we're just rolling off that question understand the style of what thou readeth, right? That's what Philip asked Right. Hey, do you understand what you're reading? Are you 100% sure you're on your way to heaven? Something to that effect And then he says he said how can I accept some man should guide me. So this guy's at least honest with himself I like the Ethiopian eunuch. He's like, I don't know. He's like, you know, you know that somebody's got to teach this stuff Nobody could just understand the Bible and look at the next verse verse 32 The place of the scripture which he read was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb Before his shearer so open he not his mouth verse 33 in his humiliation His judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth Now this is where he read and the Holy Ghost is telling us here Hey, he's perplexed about this passage of Scripture, right? And if you're not saying even if you are standing here on the milk, it's gonna be hard for you to understand Well, look at verse 34 He says in the eunuch answered Philip and said I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or of some other man You see this is where you've got to have the discernment to know and the perception to be aware that hey This guy's interested in the things of God this guy wants to hear the gospel He's asking questions pick up on those things. You know, when somebody says yeah, I go to a Pentecostal Church You should know right away work salvation, right? If somebody says I used to come from the job witness, right? You need to make it a point to tell them you know Jesus is God that he is the third person of the Trinity to be able to have Verses for that you also need to understand they're gonna have a problem with heaven You need to be able to begin at those scriptures at those places where their minds at and take them through the Bible See you need strong meat. That's not something that you can do right off the bat You've got to get off that milk. You've got to exercise those senses so that you can have discernment So verse 34 again says in the unit dancer Philip It said I pray thee whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or some other man now brings us into point number four Which is advancing as a soul winner takes practice Proverbs 27 17 says iron sharpness iron So a man sharpness accountants of his friend when you go out solely two by two or a group of three You know, you're sharpening each other, right? I've done so many people that are doing I learned something every time I like that was a good way Yes, I question that was a good way. They put that you know, I'm learning I've learned since I come here I have adopted some of the things that you guys say, you know, and hopefully you will adopt some of the things I say It will just keep sharpening each other. It will become a powerhouse just steamrolling this community It will happen but part of that is also practice right advancing as a soul winner takes practice It takes you hearing the gospel. It takes you going over the verses. It takes you highlighting your Bible It takes you practicing, you know, I was in Japan and you could just give out this church They would have time like I want to say was every Sunday night where they went that fast would prepare you up With somebody and you would practice giving the gospel back and forth, you know And you know, that's not a church that we would maybe subscribe to today But that pastor was Ellis for souls and he was a man of God and he did make me a better soul You know, we can learn from each other And so I would say if you have a desire and I hope you do to reach the last Let's get some practice going. You know, if you want to practice what you can call me. I'll practice with you There's no shame. There's no shame because sometimes you know what we go through dry spells where work We're not gonna doors always interested. Nobody to keep practicing. So advancing as a solar takes practice. It takes work, right? You don't just get to a certain level and then you just automatically stay that way it takes maintenance Just like your car does just like anything else in life doesn't take me So practice Obviously a man full of zeal full of perception full of discernment full of knowledge Able to pick up where that guy left out. That's when you know, you made it We want to get to the point when somebody has a question. We're able to take them from that question and Redirect the conversation right back to the gospel, right? We don't want people's time. I don't want to get off About their dogs about the sodomites about whatever, you know when somebody brings up these things are outside of the scope of the gospel Try to steer it right back on to Jesus Christ and get right back on to that plan Because there are people out there that are wanting to waste your time. I see it all the time. They will just wait you want You know what? That's what a sermon in that perception is going to come in handy for you. You need to be able to pick up on somebody who's wasting your time and just cut off saying, you know what, I see you're busy, I understand you've got a lot of questions. I think it would be better that maybe you just come visit us at church sometime where we can sit down and just go over all these questions you have. That would be a tactful, better response than just playing their game because when you play someone else's game you're going to get a role, right? What happens when a boxer tries to play a wrestler's game? He gets rolled. You guys know this, right? It's the same thing at the door when you play their stupid games you're going to get taken. First Peter chapter 3 verse 15 says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Be humble and be fearful. Understand that God has given you a great, tremendous responsibility with this Holy Word to be able to take that out. God gave you health, He gave you a mind, He gave you your physical attributes for His glory so that you could go out there and do His work and do it in meekness and in fear because at any moment God can take that away from you. God does not play around especially with His children. You are His children if you're saved today and God will chase you. He will take you down if you go against what He teaches in the Bible. So let's keep that in remembrance. Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. Now let's move on here real quick. We're going to take just a quick look here at the rest of these verses which are teaching on baptism. So let's say you get somebody saved. I think I said this in the beginning of the sermon. This sermon assumes that you've already watched Pastor Matt as this basic, you know, this sowing seminar. And like I said, I just want to reiterate, if you need help with that, if you need verses, you need help, don't be afraid to come over and ask. Ask somebody to go sowing. We will help you get a plan that you can practice, that you can implement, and that you can use. But let's say, okay, I got somebody saved. The next step is baptism. So let's talk about that here real quick. Verse 36. It says, and as they went on their way, they came up to a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? Now, you know, this is a question that a lot of people ask you. Well, what about baptism, right? The lady on Thursday asks us that. She's like, okay, I get everything you're saying, I believe that, but what about baptism? See, I have a feeling she was taught that you had to be baptized in water to be saved. We didn't confirm that with her, but nonetheless, we had the verses and we were able to explain that to her. And she's like, oh, I can perfectly understand it. Remember, baptism needs to be placed into water, and you come out as a picture of the resurrection. Right? And so the verses I told her to say, like, you have to be baptized and such. It's talking, you have to be placed into Christ. So when you get saved, you get born again. And you guys know the story. I just preached this, you know, a few weeks ago. But nonetheless, you need to understand what baptism is. And this is a good passage here to show somebody if you get stuck. Look at verse 37. It says, and Philip said, if thou believeth, with all my heart thou mayest, and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So that you need to understand and show people, hey, you have to be saved before you can be baptized. Right? The Ethiopian eunuch, you know, he's curious about baptism. He has these questions, Philip answered them. And he says, you know, if thou believeth, with all my heart, thou mayest. So if somebody says, well, I was baptized when I was a baby, or I was baptized at my community church last week. And you just got saved, bring them right here and show them, okay, but you just got saved today. And you see how the Ethiopian eunuch got baptized after he got saved because it is a requirement that you have the free gift of salvation in order to be baptized. And that's what you're going to see here. Now, most people don't know that because if you have an NIV Bible, this verse is completely gone. Isn't that amazing? This verse is completely gone. Oh, the latest Christian scripture didn't have that verse. What a coincidence, right? What a coincidence, it's your modern stupid Bible version that is missing the gospel. I mean, look at what it says. If thou believeth, with all my heart. All right, Romans 10, 9, and 10. Thou mayest, he says, and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And so what does he remember to be baptized? Salvation. The guy said, and so look at verse 38. And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both filled up in the eunuch, and he baptized him. And notice that they both went into the water. He didn't grab that garden sprinkler, right, and just powerbomb him, you know, with water, and just sprinkle him, they went into the water and they baptized him. Verse 39, and when they were to come up out of the water, not when they came out of the shower, not when they came out from underneath the coffee mug with water in it. The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. Remember that joy we talked about over there? That's what you're seeing here. Verse 40, but Philip was found at Azotus and passing through, he preached in all the cities that he came to Cassiopeia. And I keep saying this, don't get complacent. When you get a victory, you get a salvation, don't just give up there, right? Let the Spirit of the Lord catch you away onto another part of the neighborhood, somewhere else, and just continue on. So, again, turn to Exodus chapter 4. I just wanted you to see that. Just remember, if you need a little quick explanation about baptism, the last part of Acts chapter 8 is a great example of that. You can show somebody that, hey, you gotta be saved before you can get baptized. You can also know, like I said, to explain to them what it's for. That it's a picture of salvation, right? And if they have these questions, well, what about a mark where it says if you're not baptized, you know, and it's like, okay, do you know the definition of baptized? Remember last week how we talked about context? It's not just important for the word repent. It's important for the word baptized. It's important for every word in the Bible. Context. Having your senses exercised, getting onto that strong meat. So, let's talk real quick. We're gonna totally shift gears here, because we're talking about advancing as a soul owner. So let's get into roles of the silent partner here. We're gonna use Exodus 4 here to kind of set the stage. So look at verse number 10. Exodus 4 verse 10, it says, In Moses' sentence of the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither have you for it, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. And I feel like that myself all the time, especially up here. I start getting my brain fogged sometimes. You know, but what Moses is saying here is making excuses. He's saying, I'm not eloquent. And that might be an excuse that you have. I'm not eloquent. I don't know how to explain these things. But look at verse 11. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seen, or the blind, have not I the Lord? You need to understand that God is giving you your voice. God is giving you your mind. God can make you eloquent. God can make you a spiritual person if you will let Him. Look at verse 12. Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. So God's telling Moses, because it says be, thy, right? And he said, now therefore go. Quit making excuses. Get your butt out there. He says, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. God will teach you what you should say. I can't tell you how many times I've been up here preaching and a verse comes to my mind and I'm like, man, I didn't have that memorized. I haven't had that memorized for a long time. And of course there's other times where I do have them memorized and I can't quote them, but that's just for me. There's times when you'll be at the door giving someone the Gospel and they'll have a question and all of a sudden the answer will just come right to you. And that's the Holy Ghost. That's God in that thing. He's giving you that. He's with your mouth. He's with your mind. Now look at verse 13 again. It says, and he said, O my Lord, send. I pray thee by the hand of him, but thou wilt send. So again, Moses is starting to get the Lord angry. God says, go, I'll be with you. Trust me, believe me. And Moses is like, oh, I can't. Now look at verse 14. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, is not errand to Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well and also behold, he cometh forth to meet thee and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. So God's like, okay, fine. You know, he's starting to get angry. He's like, fine, I'll have your brother do it then. Verse 15. And thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do. So now God's saying, hey, look, I'm still going to be with your mouth. Even though you don't trust me, even though you don't believe me, I will be with your mouth. Look, if you're willing to go, so when in God will be with your mouth, he's going to help you. You need to understand that. Verse 16. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth. And thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thy hand where with thou shalt do signs. You know, we have the rod, the word of God today and we will do signs and we have done signs like this. You know, when you preach the gospel, that is a sign to that person. That is a very powerful thing. The Bible says the gospel word will cut you to your heart. Now turn to Matthew chapter 21. And while you're turning there, I just want to show you the result, because at the end of the end of Moses's life, he was an eloquent man. He was well spoken. He was full of power. Moses was the meekest man on the earth. And, you know, in Acts chapter 7 verse 22, Stephen's giving an account of the Old Testament and he says, And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in days. So the end game, the result, the result of Moses saying, OK, even though he's making excuses, he still goes and he does God's will. He goes to Pharaoh. He does the works. And the result was, in the end, that Moses was a mighty man in wisdom and words. Because that's what Stephen says. Well, the Holy Ghost said Stephen was under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and said that Moses was mighty in words and deeds. So he started off his career not being eloquent, making excuses, just saying, I can't do anything for you, God. I'm not a mighty man. But he finished his life as a man, mighty in word and deed. And that is you. That is everybody in here today that's sitting in here. When you take that leap and you go so and you become that silent partner, you know, your end result, if you stick with it, is that you will be mighty in word and in deed. So you're there in Matthew chapter 21. I just want to talk really fast about the roles of a silent partner. You keep hearing me say that. What is a silent partner for? And every now and then it's just good to reiterate what the silent partner is good for. You might say, well, I talk. Well, that's cool because on the next door you're going to be a silent partner. Everybody in here is a silent partner. And I think sometimes we slip these things and we forget what we're really there for. Number one is prayer. Your number one goal as a silent partner is prayer. You need to be praying for the situation in your heart and you need to be praying that God's word will stick in that person so that they will get saved. Now look at Matthew 21 verse 21. What he's teaching here is, hey, don't doubt God. When you pray and you ask something from God, believe that he will give it to you. Look at verse 22. I think, Brother Dave, you said this, or Anne Stephen said that you guys had been praying on Thursday, right? When we went soul winning and that lady got saved. You said that's exactly what I was praying for. See, these men, they came soul winning, they prayed for that situation and it happened. They believed, they trusted God, and we saw a woman in a community get set free, get the free gift of salvation, and enter into rest. And what a great thing. You know what? I believe that that wasn't just me. That was God giving the increase, first of all. And second of all is because these men decided to come and they decided to take time out of their day and pray for the situation. That is your job as a silent partner, to pray for the situation. Don't neglect that. There is power in prayer. For example, James chapter 5 verse 16 says, Look, a saved, born again child of God that is at someone's door while the gospel is being given, that prays, that is steadfast in his prayers, that avails a lot, that reads a lot, that produces results. So number one, the role of a silent partner is prayer. You are there to pray, that's what I was saying. Hey look, that's okay if you don't know how to get the gospel, but at least you can come and pray, right? You can come and just pray for us and help us, and that is a big part of the team. So number two, stay with your partners or your partner. Don't run off by yourself. You guys turn to Mark chapter 6. I'm going to read for you out of Ecclesiastes chapter 4 real quick. Look, when we send people out soloing, we send them out two by two or at least in a group of three. Don't run away from your partners or go off by yourself. It's a bad thing. And look, I don't know who's doing this, but it's not good, right? We can stop people from going soloing. It is a dangerous thing when you go off by yourself and we don't know where you're at, and we're getting phone calls about this and that. Look, if somebody gets mad at you and they say you did something and you're off by yourself, look, what leg do I have to stand on? Because there's not two witnesses, right? It's a dangerous thing, so just remember that. We send people out two by two for a reason. Ecclesiastes 4 and 9 says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he follow. For he hath not another to help him up. Keep that in mind. There is a reason we send people out two by two. Look, this isn't a Rambo-style church. And look, let me just disclaim this right off the bat. I'm not saying that you can't go off by yourself and get somebody saved. What was at work the other day, but I couldn't give the gospel to this guy that wanted to hear it because I was by myself. That's not what I'm saying, right? Somebody comes, you see somebody, you're by yourself, you can give them the gospel. But when we're soloing as a church, when you're sent out by this church and you're sent out with your partner, stay with your partner. Okay? It's very important. Mark chapter 6, look at verse 7. And he called unto him the twelve and began to send them forth by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirits. Look, there is power that God gives when there is two people, right? You're going to find out a lot in the Bible. Two are better than one. God, Jesus Christ, he sent the disciples out two by two. Why? Because obviously he's God. That is a wise thing to do. So stay with your partners. 1 Thessalonians 5-11 says this, wherefore come for yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do. There is edification that takes place when you go out two by two because you guys are talking about different things and like I already said, your iron sharpens iron. So just remember that. Stay with your partners, talk about the things of God and just sharpen one another. Luke chapter 16 verse 10 says this, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is also unjust in much. You know, I'm going to say this, hopefully it doesn't get anybody mad, but people that have a problem with authority, look, there's something bigger going on. There really is. Because in Luke 16 he says, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. And you know that where there's smoke, there's fire. I used to go solely with this guy. His name was Steve McKenzie. And this guy is a loser. He would run away. So he would be with you until you knocked on the door. So there's a guy who opened the door with a pop of smoke grenade and he'd be gone, man. It was crazy. He would just run away every single time. And I'd be like, where'd you go? And he'd be like, oh, I thought I saw somebody down there I could give the gospel to. No, you didn't. You're lying. First of all, that's not wise. You're there as a silent partner to help, to pray, to do the things that we've already talked about. And it turned out this guy was a Calvinist. He called Pastor Thompson later on. We had this big issue, you know, because, like I said, where there's smoke, there's fire. And he told him, he said, I'm actually a Calvinist. I'm a five point Calvinist. This guy was from a Presbyterian church. And we spent like a couple of months, you know, going solely with this guy. We would sometimes talk like, man, something's off with this guy. We just came with our finger on it. Look, he turned out to be a lying, unsaved heretic. And I did one time watch him give the gospel to somebody and it was terrible. I had to send, I didn't send him, but I told Pastor Thompson and some other guys. I think they went back and actually really got the guy saved. But, you know, that's just something, there's something about people that don't listen. There's something about people that run away and have weird soloing presentations that they usually wind up being heretics. I don't know what it is. They use, there's something wrong with them. And it makes sense, right? They just creep into churches and they try to recalculate. And again, I don't want to get too far off on that. We've got to be done here in a few moments. But nonetheless, that's a story for another day. Just understand that we send people out two by two for safety, for education, you know, to provoke you to zeal, right? And for several reasons. There's a reason why we do this. There's a reason why Jesus sent them out two by two. There's a reason why Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said the two are better than one. Look, just stay with your partner. It's better for all of us, right? Because we want to keep you safe. Point number three. We need to, your role as a silent partner is to minimize distractions and protect the ongoing gospel presentation. Dogs, right? Dogs. The little chihuahua wants to come up and bite your leg, you know. He never bites the silent partner's leg. He's going to go for the guy giving the gospel almost every single time. Look, as a silent partner, don't forget, it's not only your role to pray, but to protect that conversation, right? If the dog comes up and it's not a pit bull, and I've got a story about a pit bull. I'll tell you what, Kate and I both do. But nonetheless, if it's a dog, you know, if you can play with the dog, right? Somehow distract that dog from distracting the situation, you're aiding and you're really helping the cause of Christ here. Number two, little kids, right? If the little kids are around, you know, and they're like, just scream, maybe if you could just distract them and just play with them, just enough time, you know. Don't take them off by themselves, but just try to maybe just get a little bit of space and just play with them or talk to them. Try to engage them so your solely partner who's getting the gospel can effectively do that. I mean, you have no idea how tremendous that is. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've gotten to the point where they're understanding it, they're getting it, and all of a sudden Satan shows up, all of a sudden the screaming baby comes out. We love babies, but, you know, it's like, why do they come up now? You know, why is that all the time? Or all of a sudden the neighbor dog, the neighbor black lab wants to come over and just bark and play, you know, he's got his toy, and then the person you're giving the gospel to is like, oh, you're probably, you know, you need to, as a silent partner, be mindful of these things and just try to neutralize that situation, right? Hostile friends and family, right? You'll be giving the gospel to somebody and someone's going to come up and they're going to be like, just bump right in and be like, oh, what about science? What about this? You silent partner, you need to somehow get that guy away from that conversation. Protect it. It's valuable. It's precious. It's a precious thing. There's too many times where our silent partners just stand by and we're just like, I've seen it, you know? They're just, you know, somebody comes up with challenges and they're just like, oh, I'm a silent partner, I better just come over here and just hang out. Like, don't do that. You know, if somebody comes up with a challenge, try to, I mean, try tactfully, right? Try to get them away from that because if this conversation's going well, that person might be saved as a result of you neutralizing that person. Even if you're not good at what they're talking about, even if you could just get his attention and just get him hooked and just get him away from there, man. That's the point of the silent partner. Minimize distractions and protect the ongoing gospel presentation. And remember, we want this motto in our church, no soul winners left behind, right? When you don't do that, when we don't help our partner out who's giving the gospel, we're leaving that soul winner behind, right? When we run off and we're sent out two by two, we're leaving that soul winner behind. And that's not okay. That's not what we want to do. So I'm going to stop there because it's been over an hour, but hopefully this was edifying. You know, this is a subject that's got to get preached from time to time, you know, often because we are a soul winning church. We are a zealous church and I want to help you. And I hope that some of these points help you. Just remember zeal, right? Perception, discernment, your roles as a silent partner. Keep these things in mind, especially in the coming days leading up to the marathon and after that. You know what? I'm not going to stop. You know, next month we're going to go soul winning. We're going to do a marathon somewhere else, you know? And we're just going to keep on going despite what the naysayers say or do. You know, don't be afraid of anybody. Just keep continuing on. Well, as far as I'm aware, Lord, thank you for this opportunity to preach. Thank you for this church. And thank you for the souls that have been saved, Lord. And thank you for protecting us. I just pray you would keep us fully sealed, Lord, according to knowledge. And thank you very much, Lord, for your word. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.