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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Alright everyone, welcome to Shota Faith Baptist Church Wednesday evening prayer and Bible study. If you want to please grab a seat and grab a song book. And when you grab a song book, turn to song 44. Song number 44 will work until Jesus comes. Song number 44 will work until Jesus comes. 🎵Music🎵 On the first. Oh land of rest for thee I sigh When will the moment come When I shall lay my armor by and dwell In peace at home We'll work till Jesus comes We'll work till Jesus comes We'll work till Jesus comes And we'll be gathered home To Jesus Christ I fled for rest He bade me cease to roam And lead for succor on his breast Till he conduct me whole We'll work till Jesus comes We'll work till Jesus comes We'll work till Jesus comes And we'll be gathered home I sought at once my Savior's side No more my steps shall roam With him our brave death's chilling tight And reached my heavenly home We'll work till Jesus comes We'll work till Jesus comes We'll work till Jesus comes We'll be gathered home Amen. Brother Mo, would you open us with a word of prayer please? Thank you Lord for allowing us to gather here to save people today. Pray that with us and to be seen praise unto you. Give us all parts to receive the message. Here's to receive the message and parts to apply it. Amen. Now go forward towards the back of your songbooks to 375. 375. 375. Work for the night is coming. Song number 375, Work for the Night is Coming. Work for the night is coming Work through the morning hours Work while the dew is sparkling Work mid-sprinkling flowers Work when the day grows brighter Work in the glowing sun Work for the night is coming When man's work is done Work for the night is coming Work through the sunny noon Work through the hours with labor Rest come sure and serve Give every fine minute Something to keep in store Work for the night is coming When man works no more Work for the night is coming Work while their bright tints are glowing Work for daylight flies Work till the last beam fadeth Fadeth to shine no more Work while the night is darkening When man's work is o'er All right, good evening and welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. If you don't have a bulletin or you need a pen or something, just raise your hand and we'll have somebody get you one. Let's see here, front page of the bulletin weekly church service times. We've got Sunday mornings at 1030, Sunday evenings at 6, and Wednesdays at 7pm. Underneath there's a list of our soul-winning times. We've got Saturday mornings at 1030, meaning right here. Sundays at 2 with Brother David. Mondays at 630 with Brother Mauser. Wednesdays at 11 with Brother Briley. And Thursdays at 630. Again, if you want to go Thursdays, don't forget to text 208-391-5323. Praise report for June. So it's four, I heard. One from Monday, right? So praise God for that. That's 54 year to date. And let's see here, attendances. So not last Sunday, but the Sunday before we had 33 in the morning service. 19 in the evening, and Wednesday there was 24. Let's see, back page, announcements, and upcoming events. So this Sunday night we'll be in 2 Samuel, chapter number 3. Don't forget to come join us on Father's Day, June 20th. There will be a gift for all the fathers in attendance and a barbecue following the evening service. So we're going to have hot dogs, hamburgers, and stuff like that, so please bring a dish to share. Let's see here, what is next, anniversaries. So we've got Jeff and Patty today. Today is the 9th, right? Oh, happy anniversary. Patty's not here to spank you, so we'll just have to wait on that. Let's see here, look ahead, come join us on, to celebrate July 4th with us after the Sunday evening service. Is it on Sunday this year? It is. Oh yeah, that's right, they weren't going to give me the day off. So July 4th, after the evening service again, we're going to have another barbecue potluck deal, and also this Sunday we're going to have baptisms. I've got a dunk tank. It's a Rubbermaid deal that's going to fit everybody in here. I may have to crunch some of you down, but that's alright. So I'm going to let it marinate out here in the parking lot Saturday night. And we can do it all day, so if you can't come until the evening, you've got something going on, whatever, just show up and we'll have everything ready for you, the towels, we have the robes and stuff back there. So we're going to do the baptisms on this Sunday. And if you do need to be baptized, could you just let me know just so I can kind of get an idea of how many, because I know it's been a while since... Yeah, like half the church. Yeah, since we kicked everybody out. Alright, so we're going to have a Dunk Fest on Sunday, so praise God. Alright, let's see what's next here. Birthdays and anniversaries, so we already took care of Jeff and Patty, and on the 10th is Joe Boo's birthday. Little Joey, alright, well let's get him up here and spank him or something. Come on, who's doing the spanking? Solomon. Get up here, boy. Come on, man. See, he's ready. See, he knows. Alright, and then on the 14th, we have Moses' birthday. That's what I get, huh? And then on the 27th is Joanne and Robert's anniversaries. A lot of anniversaries this month. Praise God for that. This week's memory verse is Proverbs 19, verse 15, which says, And an idle soul shall suffer hunger. We are a family-integrated church. That means children and infants are always welcome in the service. The mother baby room is right across the hallway here. Daddy baby room is right over here. All set up, ready to go for you. We'll have the updated offerings here on the next bulletin. Don't forget to turn your phones off or place them on silence so they're not a distraction. And the bottom line says, Alright, so the next song is going to be out of this handout here. So if you don't have one, raise your hand, keep it up, and I will come bring you one. Alright, our next song will be our chorus of the month. Rejoice in the Lord. If you don't have one of them, just keep your hand open. Pastor, we'll grab you one. Rejoice in the Lord. Starting there on the first. God never moves without purpose or plan when trying his servant and molding a man. Give thanks to the Lord though your testing seems long. In darkness he giveth a song. Rejoice in the Lord he makes no mistake. He knoweth the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified I shall come forth as gold. I could not see through the shadows ahead. So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead. I bowed to the will of the Master that day. Then peace came and tears fled away. Rejoice in the Lord he makes no mistake. He knoweth the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified I shall come forth as gold. Now I can see testing comes from above. God strengthens his children and purges in love. My Father knows best and I trust in his care. Through purging more fruit I will bear. Rejoice in the Lord he makes no mistake. He knoweth the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified I shall come forth as gold. Alright well let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much Lord for allowing us to be able to meet here this evening Lord. I just pray that you continue to bless our church. Help us to minimize distractions and be with our tithes and offerings Lord. And thank you for all that you do for us in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Alright well turn your Bibles please to 1 Timothy chapter number 1. 1 Timothy chapter number 1. 1 Timothy chapter number 1. When you get there starting in verse number 1 the Bible reads Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ which is our hope unto Timothy my own son in the faith grace mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of pure heart and of good conscience and of faith unfeigned from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling desiring to be teachers of the law understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm but we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profane for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers for manslayers for whoremongers for them that defile themselves with mankind for men stealers for liars for perjured persons and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting now unto the king eternal immortal invisible the only wise God the honor and glory forever and ever amen this charge I commit unto thee son Timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good warfare holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrecked of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme brother Briley would you pray for us please hear your word preach the Lord pray that you just help open our hearts and receive his message that he laid on the cross for the heart and that he will in the spirit as he comes forth to preach his message Lord thank you for every view of the Lord we love you all right amen so we are continuing on studying about different topics regarding and surrounding soul winning so if you remember the first series that we did or the first part of the series was about soul winning and we talked about the biblical examples and the commands to the local New Testament church for Christians to actually go out and do soul winning to go out and preach the gospel and we just explained that we're not copying other people we're not copying the Jehovah Witnesses we're not copying the Mormons it's a biblical mandate it's what we're called to do the second sermon we talked about soul warning you know whether we go out and nobody wants to listen it's not like we did it in vain it's still a warning to the community it still serves a purpose and it's a good thing and we should never let that discourage us and the third one was about the importance of preparation about having our feet having our beings just clothed with the preparation of the gospel remember if you're saved you have the gospel of peace but that doesn't mean that you have shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace and so we talked about that last week we talked about the importance of getting to the point when the person understands the point we move on why because we want to save time and there's always trouble coming it seems like no matter what there's always somebody waiting in the wings to just stop that conversation it seems like anymore it's rare that you can get through the gospel without a problem without somebody who's just on their way whether you just get done praying with somebody and someone comes home like what are you doing are you getting kicked out or it's in the middle of the conversation but it just seems like more often than not now trouble is definitely coming so we want to get to the point as quickly as possible but we want to make sure that they understand the point now so what we're going to begin talking about now and for a couple weeks are hindrances to people for getting saved so different hang ups different things that people are just confused about and obviously the biggest one that's out there is works that's one that people are the most mixed up on and so we're going to talk about that but before we get into that we're going to have to lay a foundation now the title of the sermon this evening is works without faith are dead works without faith are dead okay and we're going to get into why I've titled the sermon that here probably in a little bit now you're there in 1 Timothy chapter number 1 I want you to look down at verse number 3 so Paul tells Timothy this he says as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so do now turn to chapter number 6 same book 1 Timothy chapter number 6 so Paul warns Timothy here not to get mixed up not to get roped into these questions which the Bible would also say are stupid about fables about things that don't matter about genealogies right many of you have heard me tell the story about Storm this guy who came in here waited for everybody to leave and wanted to start arguing with me about genealogies well these guys are missing from here and there he wasn't asking that because he wanted to learn something he was asking that because he's a fool and he thought he was smart enough to translate the Bible into a language that he doesn't even speak and he's a pedophile and that was just a smokescreen for that but whole another topic you get the point okay but I want to start this sermon off just basically talking about a couple of things and the first one being questions we need to make sure that we understand the purpose of questions which questions we should listen to and which questions that we should ignore because you know the old saying oh there's no such thing as a dumb question yes there is that is a lie your school teacher lied to you when they said there's no such there's no dumb questions here yes there are there are some seriously stupid questions and if they're about endless genealogies or about fables you know what about Lilith oh isn't that out of force shut up shut your mouth that's the answer to that question oh aren't you gonna answer yeah I did shut up shut your mouth that's how you answer that question alright so first Timothy chapter 6 look at verse number 4 so talking about these people that ask these questions look what he says he says he is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmisings turn to 2 Timothy chapter number 2 so people that ask these questions when you're talking with them you're gonna get this sense of pride just oozing from their pores and the Bible says that they don't know anything which is why they're doing it they're foolish but it says strifes of words that's something that a lot of Christians do today you'll go and you try to give them the gospel and they'll want to start breaking out the Greek you understand they do that all the time what does that mean that means that they're foolish they just want to argue about words and all that does is cause strife if they're asking you a question because they really don't know or because they've been misled that's one thing but if they're doing it with that tone that's like hey I'm just asking because I just really want to know but you can tell they don't it's time to move on shut that person down hey maybe you're just not ready now maybe there's something else going on here I'm not sure but I'm not gonna allow you to waste my time or God's time because it's precious we don't have time for that 2 Timothy chapter 2 look at verse 23 but foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strife Paul tells Titus the same thing in chapter number 3 foolish and unlearned questions so things surrounding endless genealogies fables, strifes of words will that word in the original languages blah blah blah that's a foolish question if they're trying to tell you that in the form of a question you're dealing with a fool and so here's the whole point of why we're going over this remember this foolish questions lead to foolish conversations learned questions lead to learning in conversations that's the whole point of questions why do we ask questions? to gain clarification and when we're giving the gospel we want to discern whether or not their question is foolish or whether it's learned something that they learned somewhere else or something that they're learning from you but they're confused on you have to be able to discern these things in order to be productive in order to be profitable as a soul winner and you know another thing that I want to mention here is that a lot of time not a lot of times sometimes the reason why people don't get saved is because no one has the answers to their questions how many times have you gone to someone's door and a real big hang up for them is why does God allow pedophiles and you give them the answer and they're like wow I never knew that I just figured Christianity didn't have the answer to that and when you show them Romans chapter 1 you show them Leviticus chapter 23 that hey when God instituted a nation and he was ruling that nation with a rod of iron he put those types of people to death so it's not God's fault it's the United States government's fault it's your politician it's the person that you voted for it's fault that's who's fault it is and they're like woah woah I had no idea you know then all of a sudden you have removed that snare and now it's time to work and unravel the web of lies that they have been taught this is why we train so hard in doctrine this is why we labor in the word in doctrine so that we can straighten people out but so that you know and also so that we can grow now you're still there in chapter number 2 of 2 Timothy look at verse 24 it says this and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach and patient I'm sorry impatient now what I want to do now is I want to talk about another hindrance for people getting saved and it's actually their rejection of God in which to where God has given them over to a reprobate mind or you know they've just decided you know what I'm done I don't want anything to do with it okay that's oftentimes a hindrance and they're being nice and maybe they're going to listen to you and you're not getting anywhere we're going to talk about that here in a second so look at verse 25 it says this in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves now look at the rest of this verse here it says if God paradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that word paradventure there means perhaps so this is very important here okay it's important that we understand this so that we don't just you know get insane out there solely you need to understand there are some people that God just hasn't given them the repentance because they have rejected him they've crossed that line they've crossed a certain line they've just you know been snared and they're just not going to get it okay now turn over to second Timothy chapter number three real quick second Timothy chapter number three and so he says this if God paradventure that is a condition right everybody understand that right so if God decides you know with some people hey you know I'm going to allow this person to get saved and they can get saved why is that in there if it's you know possible or okay let me just say it this way why is this in the bible if God paradventure will give them repentance if everybody can get saved any given moment on their deathbed no matter what they've done no matter what horrible crimes so you're telling me a serious you know these pedophiles and people that do this extreme unnatural things can be saved no right no obviously the answer is no and you know what there are a lot of people out there in the world that want to hear that because they instinctively know inside that that is the truth they know that only a monster could do something like that that's not normal that's not normal and you know what those types of people it's not an if if God paradventure will give them repentance they've been gone they've been given over to a reprobate mind but you know what it's important we understand this for several reasons because people are hurt in the community by these people people I talk to people all the time and they're like you know what I had a friend or I had a sibling or I had a relative who was hurt by somebody in this church whatever you know they'll name the church or the denomination or the organization but yet they're not completely closed off to receiving the gospel and when you have the answer to that question it can you know maybe they won't get saved right and we're gonna explain that here in a second but you know you may be opening up the doorway to plant a lot of seeds into that person's life because they want justice that's what they want they're after justice and you know what the bible provides that justice God is going to provide that justice and provide us with the answers to help these people out but if you look at verse number 8 in 2 Timothy chapter 3 it says this now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith and the hardest part about this you know really aside from being a queer you don't really know if somebody's reprobate concerning the faith I mean we can we can take a pretty good guess we can study you know Pharaoh and Janus and Jambres and the acts they did you know so it seems like it seems like you know okay when God's made his truth abundantly clear to somebody but yet they still reject it you might be dealing with somebody who's reprobate concerning the faith okay and then anything's possible after that I mean this is why you you meet people one year and they're just like you know what I just don't believe that I don't believe the bible is true you know I believe there's something up there they've made a choice in their heart to reject it you see them ten years later and all of a sudden they've got pink hair and all they can talk about is the same gender okay there's only a certain amount of letters that they want to talk about in the alphabet okay that's all they understand they just try to form every conversation and every doctrine every every word based off of those letters here but aside from that you know it's really hard to tell right and so we got to be careful with this because we don't want to be like oh they didn't want to listen to the gospel today they're reprobate you know you don't really know until you see them lusting after the same sex you know then then it's like okay go back to second Timothy chapter number two second Timothy chapter number two so again look at verse number 25 one more time so it says in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God paradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and again because some people have gotten themselves you know so far removed from God to where he's like I know they're never gonna believe so I'm just gonna tell that person I'm just gonna make that person not interested so we don't waste your time okay sometimes I believe that happens but look at verse number 26 so that's the first thing God has to give them the repentance they have to be in a position to where they can believe the gospel is what I'm trying to say verse 26 so after they are in that position verse 26 says and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will so this is the hard task this is what we're up against so you go knock on somebody's door you're in a conversation with somebody and they're not reprobate concerning the faith they're not giving over to a reprobate mind they're just confused they don't know what you have to understand is that now you have the task of really helping them unravel themselves from the snare that the devil has taken them by and I you know I've got a little illustration here okay so I found this guy let me just show this to you here all right so here's the snare okay this is what the devil does he gets this little snare and he wants you to go through it this guy this unfortunate guy here he got caught so it's kind of flashy right these are all the promises and lights of Hollywood and the world and career and success and money and lots of you know things to lust after this guy decided you know what this looks pretty cool I'm gonna begin to go through here and bam he got caught in the devil's snare so what do we have to do well the first thing is you know did god pair adventure give them repentance yes okay so now we've got that part done but notice he's still snared right this is what worries his ears caught his legs caught and before that you know before that let's say he's still kind of hung up on the snare right so here's the truth over here okay here's the soul winner with the bible saying hey you know salvation's a free gift it's not by works and he's like oh I just I can't get over there I can't get over there you know there's something wrong I just can't believe it right I just I don't know I understand what you're telling me I understand I don't have to work for it well maybe at that point you know when it's still tied up that's maybe you're dealing with somebody where god hasn't given that repentance because they have rejected he just he's trying right I just can't I just can't believe it you know who's ever talked to somebody like that yeah almost everybody in here I'm not saying that every single time that's the case but a lot of times that is maybe they're on the verge and god's like you know you've rejected me one too many times and you just can't but you know somebody who can now the devil now this is what we're doing here we're having to unravel help this guy recover himself out of the snare of the devil and so here now you're working on the bible being god's word they get that they believe that okay and then you got your verses here and each verse you give them is an unraveling and okay well what about works I heard you gotta repent of your sins right now you gotta undo that one okay that's cool but what if I quit believing right now you gotta undo that one you know get the left ear done okay and just commit suicide okay now you gotta give him a verse to unravel that one right and then eventually if you're trained enough you can get all the snare off of this guy and all the you know whatever make sure that guy is safe for me if you would right salvation check him out to the all right so look at the verse again and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will okay this is what we're up against we're out there we're just asking everybody are you sure that you're saved and we're trying to make sure that they can receive the truth and our job is to help them recover themselves out of the snare of the devil by preaching the truth by asking the right questions at the right time and discerning whether or not they're even listening to us even paying attention okay now we're done with that portion here um I'm gonna have you guys turn to Hebrews chapter number 11 Hebrews chapter number 11 Hebrews chapter number 11 so I would say probably the biggest hindrance that I have seen in the treasure valley if not in my time soloing is works definitely some form of works okay now a lot of Christians especially if they're new they'll get caught up in like okay well I got to make sure I learn what the Jehovah Witnesses teach what the Mormons teach what the Buddhists teach what you know what the Nazarenes teach what the southern bet you know and it'll just go on down the list you don't have to learn any of that you're gonna learn it naturally through talking to people out in the community what you really need to understand is there's two doctrines in the world there's probation and there's salvation you don't have to explain it to them like that that's just how I like to explain it okay because the definition of probation is this the release of an offender from detention subject to a period of good behavior under supervision so for example I went to court and was put on probation okay so think about this statement here the release of an offender so I used to go to this Calvary Church a lot of you probably have been to some sort of a Calvary Church well what they would do when you walked in is they would literally put you on a probation you tell the pastor hey you know I've come to saving faith whatever the hell that means I've come to saving faith I've you know I've given my life to Christ I've heard what you've said I want to get baptized well one of the things that they'll do is they'll say well we need to make sure that you're really truly a convert and they will literally observe you you have to be a certain age and the church we went to you had to be at least 17 and no joke you had to prove your rap sheet you had to prove the amount of sins that you've turned from and it had to be something worth talking about to these guys so you couldn't be 13 years old believe the gospel no no that wasn't good enough for them they wanted the long laundry list of stuff that you turned from they literally put you on probation you are an offender in their eyes now and they are going to watch you they are going to watch you they are going to supervise you and you are going to report to your pastor i.e. your parole officer on a weekly basis to make sure that you have not lied make sure you have not stolen make sure you haven't had an impure thought and all of these things ok so this is what we need to understand as a work salvationist you need to realize these people are literally on probation and I just like to explain you know explain that to them because I think that they can relate to that in a lot of ways today you know because everybody has heard of people who have had to go to prison or to jail and they have gotten out and they have ok you have a 90 day probation right well I will be starting a new job soon you know I am going to be on a 90 day probationary period what does that mean it means they are going to watch me to make sure that I am worth keeping around right that is not the message of the bible the bible teaches salvation that your being saved is a free gift Christ did all the hard work all you have to do is believe and to trust that that's salvation that's the message of the bible everything outside of that is what I like to call probation you report to your organization they watch you and hopefully at the end of your life the good outweighs the bad and you make it into heaven you know and they will say oh no we don't believe that it is not by works yeah that is exactly what you believe because they say well as long as I don't do this this this and this well as long as I don't you know as long as I give my life to Christ you know and I am consistently trying and what do they say every time I ask them this question it is a lot of work and they are like oh yeah every time we have a 100% success rate with this 100% of the time when I say you know oh you just got to have a relationship with Christ it is a lot of work huh marriages relationships any relationship it takes work oh yeah that is right it sure does well I got good news for you we are not saved by works well I didn't mean that really you know words mean things yeah so now you are lying to me I mean you are just really digging yourself into a deeper ditch that you need to get out of they are literally tying themselves up with that snare of the devil I mean they are volunteering their right leg oh let me put a tourniquet on this leg you know let me put a clove hitch on this leg let me put a square knot on my shoulder here let me just duct tape my mouth shut there is all sorts of crap like that it is disgusting and this is why I hate New Evangelical Christianity because they are the ones that are sowing and setting up these snares for people all over the world all over the world yeah I get it the Jehovah when it is the Catholics and stuff like that you know I have had way more success with Catholics than I have with the New Evangelicals far more success the Mormons no not happening Nope it ain't happening not for me anyways not unless they are like what they call Jack Mormons where they went for a little while they got mad at the church and then they left now we love those types those are the ones that were out there you know Mr. you know bright smile collab loving guy you know I have done my missions trip you know hide the collab whatever that garbage is no no no no not happening not happening so that is what I like to say to people in regards to that I said this to someone recently too it was somebody who went to another Calvary Church and you know oh you are going to give your life cries listen to that and the other thing I am like oh so you are a Catholic no I am not a Catholic yeah you are you are a Catholic no I am not I was in the best of moods that is why I was just laughing alright I was having a bad day yeah you are a Catholic that is what you are you report to a priest right no no no oh okay well you do the same thing you tell them you got to confess your sins on a daily basis in order to stay saved yeah he is like well yeah that is what the Catholics believe that is very similar to Catholic doctrine see it is really the same thing it is just a little bit different so in the Catholic Church you go to a pedophile in a box at the new evangelical church you just go amongst a bunch of people that have no idea why they are there what they are doing or even if they are even saved that is right alright alright I got to figure out what I am talking about here oh yeah you know what keep your place there what did I tell you to go to Hebrews keep your place there because we are going to come right back to it but go to James chapter 2 James chapter number 2 because this is where they all want to quote from and you know the good thing about this though about James 2 is that most people they don't even know what they are saying is in James 2 right it is just faith without works is dead right it is so funny because they have all heard it like a thousand times and you ask them well can you you know are you saved by works no but faith without works is dead so if you are saved you are going to have the works what if you don't have the works then you are not saved so you are saved by works no what that you know what that is that is the snare of the devil he has walked through that hula hoop and got himself all tangled up and now we got to sort that stuff out but let's just take a look here at a few verses out of James chapter 2 because you know this is one we got to know we are not going to take the whole chapter apart but you have got to know some things about James chapter 2 right off the bat first of all know that that is where it is taught faith without works is dead the first thing I want you to understand is that James was written to the brethren it was written to Christians people who are already saved you got to know that you got to tell them that right off the bat because what are we doing now we are starting to disarm what they have been taught ok and they have just been taught faith without works is dead and their pastor will get up there I am not 100% sure what this means or how much works you got to have or how good those works got to be but you know if you are saved you are going to have some works you are going to be down with a malt meal to the kids in Africa you are going to be sending those ham sandwiches to the kids downtown you know whatever the case is you are going to have some amount of works ok and we know that is not true because James was written to the brethren James is a book of conduct or a book of fellowship if you want to maintain good conduct if you want to maintain good fellowship with Christ then obviously you are going to put the faith that you have to work by walking in the new man ok the second thing you need to understand and this is what we are going to learn is James chapter 2 is not talking about heaven and hell because again people misuse words they don't realize you know words mean things you know faith every time you see the word faith in the bible doesn't mean it is talking about faith in Christ so you don't go to hell ok they don't get that they don't mean that you have to know that you have to be able to explain that to them because a lot of people they have just never thought about that they just hear faith that works is dead and they feel guilty they are like you know what man I am not doing enough they know they are not doing enough you know your little zoom church that you are watching with your mask you know that is just not you know that is not the same that is not cutting it so let's start this thing off here look at verse 14 it says this what doth it profit my brethren though he man say he have faith and have not works can faith save him that is not a form of that they will usually quote the NIV or the ESV something like that but they will loosely quote that the question that I have and the question that you need to ask them now is what kind of faith just say what kind of faith faith that works say what do you mean by that what kind of faith make them tell you and they say oh well the faith we are talking about the faith of going to heaven and hell say well really that can't be the case let's look at verse 15 if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be ye warm and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit wait a second does that sound like we are talking about heaven and hell does that sound like we are talking about being born again or being converted not at all what are we talking about here we are talking about faith that we have being profitable this is a chapter of profitability so if I say to one of you guys who has a need let's say you need a jacket and I've got two one is going to fit you and I'm like I know it's 20 degrees out December and you want to go solo hey be warm stay warm I've got the faith God is just going to make you warm but I don't give you a coat and have faith you are going to put it on and actually use it have I profited you no I'm basically relying on magic at that point right I'm just like well God is just going to beam you a coat I just have the faith he will do that that's an abuse that's an abuse is what that is that is not profitable to your brother to your sister that's what he is talking about here verse 17 even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone so what is dead in this verse here it's faith what is dead here it's faith and you make them answer that make them answer the question and then say so you agree there is a condition called faith that's dead there is something called dead faith ok here is another thing you can do go back to Hebrews chapter 6 and say you know since you brought up faith without works is dead in James I'm assuming that you've read the book before it which is called Hebrews and ask them that I mean don't do it like I'm upset right now alright don't have that attitude but just try to be polite you know have you ever read the book leading up to this and if not you know and you're having a good conversation you know hopefully that's going to tell them ok I'm really over my head I don't know what I'm talking about that's what we want we want them to know I've been taught a lie I've been taught a lie but you have the answer you know where to go you know how to explain these things let's take a look at this so you said faith without works is dead I get that but look at Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 1 it says this therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God so say see you know what works without faith are dead but are they still works and ask them that if I go feed the kids in Africa right now the multi-meal that's a work but if I do it and I'm not saved it's a filthy rag it's dead it's still a work but it's dead and I bet you they're going to understand that I bet you they're going to understand that just to get a little bit more context look at verse number 13 so he says this for everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe at best this is what you're dealing with maybe you're talking to somebody who's just maybe they got saved but they kind of gave you an answer and you're not even really quite sure this is what they need to understand you know what you're not going to church you're not reading your Bible I'm just trying to help you understand these things okay look at verse 14 but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil this is why we love to preach the Bible at this church so that you can use these things and develop discernment that's the point so that you don't waste time you can get to the point you can do all the things that we're talking about but he says for that reason in verse 6 it's verse 1 of chapter 6 he says therefore so for that reason so for the reason that you just read that we need to use strong meat appropriately he says therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection so what are we talking about now? we're talking about being complete as a Christian because guess what after you're saved after you've had repentance from dead works meaning you've gotten saved you've realized oh I've changed my mind my works don't save me it's not my works plus Christ it's not my works plus anything it's Christ paid everything for me once you realize that you don't stay at that level you move on from that right he says therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works of faith toward God then he goes on to talk about the doctrine of baptisms and all these different things which we're going to get into at a later time now go to Hebrews chapter 11 where I had you go earlier so you know there you have it repentance from dead works so if you don't if you have not been born again all the works you've done are for naught they're vain they're not going to profit you they will not follow you into eternity because you will not make it to heaven you're going to go to eternity alright but it's not going to be to the good one it's not going to be to heaven so let them know hey you know what works without faith are dead right so of course faith without works is dead you know if I have we have faith if we're saved we should work it out you know we should make it profitable which by the way you can tell them which is why we knocked on your door in the first place which is why I'm sharing these things with you because I am trying to profit you I'm trying to help you understand that you can have peace that you don't have to sit here and worry whether or not you're going to make it to heaven like you really are worried because you know in your heart you're not doing enough because you can't do enough it's impossible so let's answer this question that we've been talking about what is faith is every time you see the word faith in the bible just about heaven and hell well no we just clearly looked at that in jm chapter 2 but let's get the definition here in hebrew chapter 11 look at verse number 1 it says this now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen well that's interesting look at it again now faith is the substance of what things that's plural if faith was just believing on christ heaven and hell and that's it why does it say things well because guess what faith can mean more than just heaven and hell your decision to be saved you see what I'm talking about here in james chapter 2 we're talking about profiting the brethren profiting the local church profiting each other but obviously we could take that a step further and go and profit the community by teaching them truth providing comfort and preaching them the gospel that's a profit that's a work right that is a work and we do our works in faith because works without faith are dead right and when you can explain this to them and tell them hey well no faith is the substance of things hoped for you know do you hope that you're gonna you know wake up tomorrow well guess what that's a thing that's faith it's like that has nothing to do with you being saved but yet it's still faith and so let them know it's just like repentance every time they see the word repentance they just of your sins of your sins just like baptism every time they see the word baptism of in water in water right and they'll take you to all these verses see you gotta be baptized no you don't get it words mean things especially in our language you need to understand the context surrounding that word it is very very important now look at verse number two this is for by it the elders obtained a what they obtained and maintained their salvation does it say that if it does you got the wrong bible for by it what's the it faith and what's faith the substance of what things hoped for the evidence of things not seen so for by it the elders the old testament sayings what did they obtain a good report and isn't that what we want to obtain a good report isn't that what's going on in James chapter two is that not what he's teaching us how to obtain a good report that's the idea that's the goal not to stay safe not to be saved that's ridiculous look at verse three through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which do appear so it's like this I look outside you see these overgrown weeds that I need to pull up this weekend so I can get that baptist tank out there guess what you know we should have enough smarts to look at that and say you know what somebody created that I can look at this building and realize somebody put this thing together there was a designer now I can't see who it was I don't know who constructed this building but the fact that it exists proves that somebody built it and for the atheist that wants to argue and oh you know the big bang here's what you need to tell them say hey look okay I get it I need a new car or I need a new truck I need a new SUV so here's what we're gonna do we're gonna go down to the nearest junkyard I'm going to obtain a bunch of dynamite and what we're gonna do is we're gonna talk to the owner we're gonna grab about four cars and we're gonna blow them up and say why the heck would you do that because I need a new car I need a new truck and you say well that's stupid it's not as stupid as what you believe that this whole thing just came into existence from some big bang get out of here you can't even make one car in a junkyard blowing it up a billion times you oh man all right turn to Romans chapter 12 you know here's another example okay the Roman centurion that came up to Jesus and wanted his servant healed what did Jesus tell him according to thy faith you know so be it right was he talking about faith in Christ to go to heaven no he's talking he's basically saying hey this guy's faith is tremendous he actually believes that I will heal his servant by not even going to his house so every time you see the word faith in the Bible it doesn't mean faith in Christ to go to heaven versus hell you know you'd be surprised how many people they just don't get it they just don't understand that they don't realize that but you know what we need to make them understand that okay Romans chapter 12 look at verse number 3 it says this for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith let's just stop right there you need to understand that God has dealt to every man a measure of faith does that mean that every man is automatically saved no that's what some people believe though I'm not kidding I've talked to Mormons well everybody's eventually gonna go to someplace good there's no burning there's no hell some Christians are even hinting towards that because that's gonna be the message of the coming religion of the world but what does this say here God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter number 3 so the question becomes okay because God's given us all a measure of faith does that mean that we're all automatically saved no we have to make something the object of our faith what are we going to do with that faith what most people sadly do with that faith is they either tuck it away you know I'm just not sure I'm just gonna kind of wait and see what happens or worse yet they put it all on an idol or they put it on Jesus plus the work something we're trying to get them to place that faith on the son of God that's what we are trying to do okay 2 Thessalonians chapter number 3 look at verse number 2 it says this in that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith you see that but wait a minute God gave every man a measure of faith yeah because some of them take it and they chuck it they're done with it they say I don't need that I don't want that I'm not gonna use it I'm just trusting in myself well you know what you don't have faith and that's why when you talk to some people out there all they can do is stay in the physical and they just can't get the message and so I'm just bringing this up because we need to have a deep understanding of what faith is if we're gonna help people overcome these snares and these hindrances out there that have been sown by the devil and his churches okay so you can let's see here I'm gonna have you turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 1 1 Thessalonians chapter number 1 here's just another example of faith in the Bible that's not talking about heaven and hell 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 look at verse 3 I mean you can take any number of these you don't have to write this down necessarily you just need to be able to explain to people and pick some places in the Bible to show them if they're hung up on what faith is what it means they're like no but it says faith that works is dead and they're just not getting it you can show them some examples in the Bible of the word faith where it's not talking about heaven and hell and hell and hell and hell and hell and not talking about heaven and hell hopefully that will help them open up to the idea here of what's really going on in James chapter 2 when it says faith that works is dead it's not talking about you being saved if you're really saved you're gonna have the works no that's not what it's talking about the closest you could even come to something like that is Romans chapter 7 where Paul said I delight in the law after the inward man which is true if you're saved and you have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost you know you have the new creation inside you that new creation what you don't talk about is you got the old nature too and there's this wrestling match that takes place every single day you know and you need to be able to explain that to them as well so just remember here we need to teach the people what these words mean and one of the biggest hang-ups is they don't understand faith they don't understand what it means they don't understand they just say oh faith you gotta have works and you just associate faith works faith works faith works faith works and that's just like a broken record faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works faith works turn to Hebrews chapter number 11 again, one more time Hebrews chapter number 11 we're going to look at verse number 39 Hebrews 11 it says this so he goes through the long list he goes through Noah, Abraham, you know a lot of these Old Testament saints and then it comes to this conclusion here it says this verse 39 all having obtained a good report because that's the goal by exercising your faith to obtain a good report through faith receive not the promise wait a second does that mean they went to hell? oh, they went to Abraham's bosom, right? and had to get prayed out? no that's what he's talking about they didn't receive the promise of the kingdom yet because it's not time there's all sorts of stuff like that they didn't see the Messiah because they were Old Testament saints they didn't see these things but they still believe them they still obtained a good report through exercising faith you gonna tell me Noah wasn't saved? you gonna tell me that Abraham wasn't saved? you know, because they'll pull that out of James 2 and they'll say oh no, but Abraham was justified when he almost killed his son yeah, he was justified in the sight of men but he was saved many, many years before that Pastor Menes preached a great sermon about that like two or three years ago, I think you know, when Abraham got saved I mean, go read Genesis chapter 12 he was saved by faith first and then what? then he obtained a good report by exercising that faith in his daily life that is the goal that is James chapter number 2 we need to understand these things so that we can explain them to people right? and often times people want to know the truth right? and when you have the answers you gain what? trust when you gain their trust hopefully you can have them get saved and which is the goal so let's move on here go to Ephesians chapter number 2 then we're gonna go to 1 Peter and a couple more places and we're getting very close to being done so we're gonna wrap this thing up here in a minute but I wanted to talk about works real quick because you can't have a you can't preach a series on soloing without at least bringing it up and we all get this in here but you know what? I'll be honest with you just like the faith subject understanding works and where to go in the Bible to explain what this means and how this applies to us can mean the difference to somebody because they don't know they've been lied to right? the tighter the snare the more knots in that thing the more verses you gotta have to pull that thing apart and yank them out of there so Ephesians you know 2, 8, 9 we use it all the time out soloing right? we always use those verses and then we get accused of ignoring verse 10 they'll say oh they never want to talk about verse 10 so let's talk about verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in now or we go to hell oh does your version say that? I don't even think the false ones do but that's what people believe because you know what? there's a difference between should and a must what must I do to be saved? believe on the Lord Jesus Christ this is very simple right? belief in Christ is a must your faith in Christ is a must works are a should works are a should what's the definition of should? it's something you should do right? they know what that means you don't have to break out the Cambridge and all the Webster to explain that to somebody they know it's something you should do there's a lot of stuff I shouldn't do or shouldn't shouldn't do that we shouldn't shouldn't do okay? if it was a requirement if it was automatic this verse wouldn't read like that what is Paul telling the Ephesians? hey we're saved by grace through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast so it's not of works but you should do works because that's what God created that's why God has preserved us to do works to do the James 2 to edify each other right? to make our faith profitable to each other and to the community to expand the kingdom of God to help people overcome these hindrances to being saved which the number one around here anyways in most places is works go to 1 Peter chapter number 2 so I agree we should do works and it's so funny when these people are like well you gotta have the works blah blah blah really when was the last time you went to church? 3 or 4 weeks ago? okay well you just took an L there getting a big F you failed when was the last time you preached the gospel to somebody? knowing that they can't because they're not day but oh you know it was a couple weeks ago when I went to the gas station and I said God bless no I don't think so buddy that's not a work 1 Peter chapter 2 look at verse number 1 says this wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and impocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the work that you may grow thereby again it's not automatic you have to desire well how do you desire it? well you have to understand how it's profitable to you for one okay you have to understand the benefit once you understand the benefit to your life and to what it can do for you you're gonna desire that milk and you're gonna move on to the strong meat but I want you to notice everything in verse 1 everything in verse 2 that we're reading about here is what? it's a work you know it's a work to read the Bible every single day you know the Bible says that much study is a weariness of the flesh it's a work it's a work but you know what's not a work is being saved you know what's not a work is being born physically right I didn't have to do no work I just got fed some milk and you know I got a blanket I grew up I didn't have to design my hair I didn't have to pick my eye color I didn't pick you don't have to pick how much muscle tissue my body can genetically grow but I do have to exercise my body I do have to use it in order to be profitable right? it's the same thing spiritually being saved is free being born again is free it's simple it's easy you put your trust in Christ you're born again but now comes the should now comes the growth which guess what requires work and works without faith are dead verse 3 if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious verse 5 ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy priesthood notice this to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ you know what that is do you know what those are what's a spiritual sacrifice it's a work you know coming to church is a work because there's other things that you'd want to do you know reading your Bible is a work going out soul winning is a work but you know what else they are they're spiritual sacrifices keep that in mind look at verse 10 jump down to verse 10 says this which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy verse 11 dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims a stain from fleshly lust which war against the soul so again what are we talking about we're talking about works spiritual sacrifices offerings verse 12 having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation hold that thought and go to Hebrews chapter 10 like I said we're getting very close to being done very close to being done so what am I talking about here works are offerings remember that works are offerings we are not saved by works but when somebody thinks that works play any kind of role in salvation no matter how big or small they communicate that to you you need to read this you need to read this verse to them Hebrews 10 verse 18 says this now where remission of these is talking about sins where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin you understand what he's saying there he's saying if you're saying that your works contribute to salvation that his work on the cross wasn't enough and you're blaspheming you're literally blaspheming God by saying that well if you're saved you have the works blaspheming you're saying that you have to have offerings and the Bible says there's no more offering for sin because he paid it all unless you go to Manly Parish Church then maybe he didn't pay it all I don't know because apparently the Strong's Concordance says something different I don't know I'm just throwing that out there you want to have strifes about words guess what it's not profitable and that's wicked as hell now where remission of these is what does remission mean it means cancellation that's what that means so where cancellation of these are so where you're saved Hebrews 10 18 if you're saved you're born again guess what he doesn't impute those sins to your account you're forgiven for your past sins your present sins and your future sins go read Romans chapter 4 it is very very clear so when someone says no it's still by works okay you're blaspheming now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin so what you're saying is that you're doing offerings you think you're an Old Testament Hebrew apparently why don't you go get a calf or go get a goat you know a sheep go all the way with it go big with it oh they don't do animal sacrifices no more well you're doing the same thing by saying that you're malt-o-meal mailing and your shoes to the kids in Africa are getting you to heaven or your ability to follow the commandments or because I'm just not as bad as Hitler well I haven't killed nobody I'm not you know I haven't you know broken windows out or stolen anything which is a lie especially if you're a young boy don't tell me that real quickly go to the book of Jonah Jonah chapter 3 so I'm gonna leave you with three verses here that hopefully you already know but maybe you don't know to help people with this idea of works okay when you're out soloing a lot of you know this already but I think it's important that everybody has this truth has this mark down in their Bible because you know I've used these a lot of times out soloing in seeing the light bulb just go off they're just like whoa okay I get it right because people haven't they have a real it's a real stronghold for them to separate faith and works well now you know how to do that if they bring up the James 2 to you you get how to do that okay but you need to understand what the Bible what God defines as works and I think Jonah 3 10 is a perfect example of that Jonah 3 10 says and God saw their works you know the story Jonah's preaching to the Ninevites in verse 5 they believe what he says verse 10 it says and God saw their works right that they turned from their evil way so the Bible clearly defines turning from sins turning from your evil ways as works we are not saved by doing that but yet that is profitable if you're saved okay and God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not and they're going to question that wait a minute God doesn't have sin so why does he repent no he doesn't have sin because repent means to change your mind turn to Matthew chapter number 21 here's another one you should have written down just just know it's there no you can go to this if they if they're just still not quite they're like okay I get the works thing but what does that repent mean there how does God repent well he changes his mind let me show you what that means here Matthew chapter 21 verse 32 like I said highlight this write this down make sure this is part of your tool bag it's very important look at what Jesus tells these guys here he says this for John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the publicans and the harlots believed him and ye when ye had seen it repented not afterward that ye might believe him so what is repentance it's a change of mind so God was going to destroy the Ninevites if they didn't stop doing the wicked things that they were doing right he's basically telling Jonah hey these people they're doing these things because they just don't know they don't get it they're they're wicked but they don't understand they're not reprobate they're just wicked they get it they're like oh okay I understand they stop doing it God repented meaning he changed his mind okay now I'm not going to destroy I'm going to see what they do I'm going to see how this plays out and you know go from there same thing here Jesus is telling these wicked people here he's saying hey John came and was preaching righteous he was preaching salvation he was preaching the free gift of righteousness that it comes from God you have to believe the Messiah who's coming after me that is what he is teaching here and Jesus says you believe or not he didn't say you you didn't you know you didn't believe and you didn't work because if works were required for salvation we would be reading that in this verse if turning from sins was required or attached you would be reading that in this verse but you don't he says and ye believed him not but the publicans and harlots believe because they're like yeah we know we're jacked up you know the publican you know the the Pharisees and the Sadducees the scribes you know they thought they were holy because of their garments and stuff and they were just like we're righteous what are you talking about right but the harlots are like yeah you got us and they were much glad to receive that truth like wait it's just by belief I just have to believe and trust you and you're going to forgive me right you're actually going to forgive me for what I've done and he says yes and of course they receive that and what do the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees do ah there's still it's all about the sin they just can't let it go oh it's all about sin you're a harlot once a harlot always a harlot once a publican always a publican that was their attitude right go to Acts chapter 19 and we're almost done Acts chapter 19 so again Acts chapter 19 is another place to go when people question because you may have somebody who's been to a dispensational church like Sam Gipps which is about 15 minutes from here and say wait wait wait you know but I was told that the baptism of John the gospel of John the Baptist that was for a different era that was for a different dispensation that was just for them then why does Paul say what he says in verse 4 which is this Acts 19 verse 4 then said Paul John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance and then he's going to explain what that means saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus so again changing your mind from what you're believing in to believing on Christ that's repentance it can mean all sorts of things my favorite is I was headed to Albertsons to get grape juice and then I was informed that it was $4 cheaper at Fred Meyer so I repented and went to Fred Meyer that is a right use of that word but I'm not talking about sins I'm talking about grape juice and it really is $4 cheaper for that organic just grape at Fred Meyer than it is Albertsons crazy Mormons man I'll tell you they're greedy that's what it is the Mormons are greedy and I'm not down on you if you go to Albertsons whatever that's on you you're rich no problem so we're done right here just a quick recap okay questions important why do we ask them why do we receive questions we receive questions because people want to learn because we've discerned that people want to learn if they're foolish if they're about fables genealogies they're they're just dumb we just move on we just reject we reject those questions and we need to understand several things here right we need to understand that faith can be used in different ways throughout the Bible that it can be used in conjunction with works to profit or walk with God but it's not required for salvation we understand that works without faith are dead and we know how to get people out of the snare of works by going to Jonah 3 10 you can go to Matthew and there's several verses I mean Galatians talks about there's there's just a plethora of them you know it's hard I'm not gonna get up here and say you have to write these down or you're not a good soul I don't know you know if you don't have anything you could just use these three verses to help somebody understand what repentance means and that works is turning from sin that's one of the definitions it's turning from sin but works can also be a labor of love reading the Bible it's very broad okay which is why when people are trusting in their works they're scared to death because they know it's broad and they don't know whether or not they've done enough works but when you're saved now you can understand the Bible you can understand what works are what they are to be used for and now you can say okay now I can gauge my own progress I can gauge my own Christianity by these things and do works okay and so when you you deepen your understanding of these words in the Bible it's gonna help you in conversation with people you're not gonna preach as long as I have about this you know and put them to sleep but you're gonna have some tools the better you understand these things the more the Bible is gonna come alive for you and the more you're gonna be able to grab these verses in a way that you like to explain them and be able to give it to them you know and really this stuff boils down to two things either they're on probation or they're on the program of salvation at the end of the day the better you can help them understand that the quicker they're gonna get the points and hopefully get saved so let's stop right there and bow our heads and have a word of prayer thank you so much Lord for just being with us and giving us these understandings in the Bible pray that you help us to use these things that we learned tonight Lord out soul winning and to help recover people out of the snare of the devil and we just pray you bless your soul winning this week keep us safe bless the fellowship after the service in Jesus name I pray Amen Alright grab your song books one more time and turn to song 43 43 we're marching to Zion On the first come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known join in a song with sweet accord join in a song with sweet accord and thus around the throne and thus around the throne we're marching to Zion beautiful beautiful Zion we're marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God let those refuse to sing who never knew our God but children of the heavenly king but children of the heavenly king may speak their joys abroad may speak their joys abroad we're marching to Zion beautiful beautiful Zion we're marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets or walk the golden streets we're marching to Zion beautiful beautiful Zion we're marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God let let our songs abound and every tear be dry we're marching through Emmanuel's ground we're marching through Emmanuel's ground to fairer worlds on high to fairer worlds on high we're marching to Zion beautiful beautiful Zion we're marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God Amen Brother Jeff would you close us all in a word of prayer please we love you Jesus