(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Amen All right, we conclude this evening the book of Colossians and it's been a great book a lot a lot of practical teaching a lot of good doctrine and Chapter 4 from verses 7 all the way to verses 18. It's basically like a shout-out chapter Okay, so we're not gonna spend a whole lot of time verse through from verse 7 through 18 though It makes up the majority of the chapter simply because he's just giving honor or honors do he's calling out the names in a good way amen, and He's basically giving them honor for the things that they've done the work the labor in which they have the ministry that they've been involved In etc, but we won't get too much into that. We might later on in the in the chapter But let's start in verse number one It says masters given to your servants that which is just an equal knowing that you also have a master in heaven now I hope you notice that throughout even every book that we've gone through such as James and even as we go through the book of Colossians that the chapter breaks doesn't Mean that the flop finishes at the end of one chapters Typically the next chapter is a continuing thought right that we see in the previous chapter And this is no exception here because you see in chapter 4 that he addresses the Masters But in chapter 3 verse 17 to 25 he basically talks about the wives the husbands the children fathers Servants and he basically admonishes them to fulfill their role Then he goes into the Masters in chapter number 4 go back to chapter 3 and verse 17 He's given some practical instructions for different roles and look what it says and what sort of you do in word or deed Do all in the name of our Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him wives Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them children obey your parents and all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord Fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh not with eyes service as men pleasers But in singleness of heart fearing God So the instruction to these roles is based upon verse 17 the whatsoever we do in word or deed We should do in the name of Jesus Christ, so when a wife submits to her husband She's doing it in the name of Jesus Christ, right? When a husband loves his wife, he's doing it in the name of Jesus Christ when a child obeys their parents fathers They're not provoking their children servants. They obey in all things their masters They're doing it because they're doing it because of Jesus right look what it goes on to say verse 23 and whatsoever you do Do it heartily as? To the Lord and not unto men so when these people fulfill their roles When a wife submits to her husband do it heartily. Amen Amen when a husband loves his wife do it heartily When a child obeys their parents do it heartily When a father is not to provoke his children to wrath he does it heartily when a servant obeys in all things their masters They're supposed to do it heartily What does it mean to do it heartily with passion with zeal Why is that because of the fact that we're not doing it for their sake we're doing it because God told us to do it We're doing it as unto the Lord and obviously we're gonna have moms and dads Servants we're gonna have bosses. We're gonna have husbands and wives that are not necessary They don't reach our expectations, but when that happens we do it as unto the Lord who meets all our expectations Therefore when we do it for them we can do it heartily we can do it with zeal we can do with passion We can do it whole heartily. Okay, and then he goes into chapter number four He gives his instructions and they're there the basis is that there's whatever they do in word or do they all do it in The name of Jesus whatsoever. They do they can do it heartily as unto the Lord not unto men and then verse number one He says masters now when it talks about master. He's not talking about like a slave owner Okay, that's how people typically view it as today. But when the Bible talks about masters is basically talk about your boss Okay an employer and when it talks about a servant it's talking about someone who is an employee That's what it's referring to. So this isn't it's speaking about the realm of a job. Okay, and it's telling the masters Hey give unto your servants that which is just an equal Knowing that ye also have a master in heaven so this is important right here because typically the vast majority of verses that we see in the Bible in regards to jobs and Employment address the servant don't think that the servants supposed to obey the master Making sure that even if they're forward that we obey them that we honor them, right? Whereas here we see that now God is beginning to address the master the boss Okay. Now there may not be many bosses in here. I know we got a couple people who own a business This is for you a man. It says to give them to the masters that which is just an equal don't Jip your employees That's the that's the Bruce version right you don't Jip your employees You don't treat them wrongly you give them that which they are worth in the work that they put in Now go to Ephesians chapter number six if you would Ephesians chapter number six Now one thing about Ephesians and Colossians that you'll notice is that they're parallel passages They're parallel chapters and they deal with a lot of the same subjects In fact, the Apostle Paul words things in Ephesians exactly how I words them in Colossians with the variation Okay of wording and how he addresses it, but you could basically see a lot of similarities in them Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse number 5. It says servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as Unto Christ not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the hearts What is this talking about? Well, we mentioned I think it was last week that this is referring to the person who only does right when the boss is looking Right when the boss is present when the boss is there when the boss is, you know front and center They're always gonna do their job But God expects the Christian God expects the person who is saved then when they work They do right even in the absence of their authority And in fact in Philippians chapter 2 it tells us that those who were those in Philippi They obeyed so much more in the absence of Paul. What does that show that shows that they have a fear of God That shows that they understand hey though I'm working for this earthly boss Really at the end of the day. I'm working for God and God is always present, you know Good example of this is Joseph in the Old Testament Right when he was tempted to sin and to fornicate or to commit adultery with Potiphar's wife. What did he say? How can I do this great wickedness in thine sight? How can I do this great wickedness in the sight of Potiphar? No, he says how can I do this great wickedness before God? He understood that what he did his actions the repercussions that he was gonna face we're gonna come from God Okay that he was affecting his relationship with the Lord there Look what it goes on to say it says with goodwill doing service as to the Lord not to men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free and He masters do the same things unto them for bearing threatening knowing that your master Also is in heaven neither is there respect a person's with him So before the bosses get all high and mighty and say yeah, that's right serving, you know to do whatever I tell you to do There's instructions for the master as well. He says don't threaten your employees Don't treat them wrongly give them that which is just an equal wife because I'm your master You know, I'm your master and I'm gonna recompense you for the work that you do therefore You know Make sure you you always gonna reap what you sow and make sure you're sowing good seeds within your employees so that I can bless You okay Don't be froward and the way you deal with your employees now Obviously, this is not referring to unsaved bosses and I'm sure everyone in here for the most part has had an unsaved wicked boss Some in some bosses who are not who are saved and they're still wicked Okay, I'm gonna test that I've known some bosses who are King James only they're they're they're they're bosses But man, they're as wicked as the day is long when it comes to being a boss Okay because they think for some reason that the realm of Church is Should be dealt with differently than the secular realm of how someone gets paid or how they're treated. No, this is for all masters This is for all employment. This is all across the board Obviously if you work at a church the standards should be a lot higher Obviously if you work at a church the realm is a little different regards to the fact that you're dealing with spiritual things But guess what all the other principles in regards to employment are still set in place Okay Now go with me if you would to go to Proverbs chapter number 11 Proverbs chapter number 11 I'm gonna reach you from Proverbs chapter 20 verse 23 says diverse weights are an Abomination unto the Lord and a false balance is Not good when it talks about a balance you think of that which you know a little balancing scale and then you put you know A measure of wheat and then you put the money that is owed right there It's supposed to balance out in a sense, right? and that's how they would use to measure how much certain things cost and what he's saying right here is a False balance when you basically manipulate the balance to go a certain way so that you gain more than the person you're giving it That's a false balance that's an abomination You're being dishonest is what that's referring to look at Proverbs 11 verse 1 a false balance is Abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight go to Proverbs chapter 28 So the principle that's being taught there is this God hates dishonesty So if your employees work a certain amount of hours pay him For those hours if you say you're gonna pay him on this day pay him on that day You say well, that's that's like duh, you know, obviously, well, you know what? There's a lot of employees that don't do that They I've known people who literally They will literally withhold payments from their employees even though they've worked for them for an entire month That's wicked They will literally make them work They'll make them work to make them put in their hours and they will not pay them I used to know a guy at back of my old church who worked for another man Doing you know manual labor and he didn't pay him for three months And the guy came to me. He's like man. This guy hasn't paid me for three months. What should I do? I said quit Go to another job That's wicked Well, he's a Christian you should be able to do yeah, but here's the thing he has a wife and kids who he has to provide for and He has a wife and kids that he has to put food on the table. He has to pay the rent He has to pay the lights. He's responsible for other lives So for this person to you know Get that person to work for them to make them money and then you not give that money. That's wicked Okay Look at Proverbs 28 verse 8 He that by usury and unjust gain increases his substance He shall gather it for him that will pity the poor you see God does not look on unjust gain lightly You know when you make someone work for you for free when you try to jip them when you try not to give him Raises you try to get them to work more than what they're worth or you try to get them to work more But you're trying to get are you trying to pay them less? That's not right Now that's notorious out in the secular world, but it's very much notorious even in the church world as well okay, where you have pastors who will hire employees in the church and Literally pay them below minimum wage, right? And what will they do? Well, they give more responsibilities upon more responsibilities upon more responsibilities And keep paying them the exact same now Look one thing that we believe in our church and we believe because it's in the Bible The Bible teaches us this is the man is supposed to be the breadwinner. Amen The man is supposed to be the breadwinner. He's supposed to be the one providing for the household I understand it in today in the day and age in which we live there are situations where a woman She does not have a husband for whatever reason. Maybe she got involved in fornication. Maybe she's divorced whatever it is You know, I understand there's situations like that But biblically the way it's supposed to be is that a man's supposed to work Put food on the table pay for the rent and the woman stays at home And look the Bible says it that a woman's supposed to keep be a keeper of the house Right to bear children the Bible says in first Timothy chapter number five. Okay gives the instructions to a woman But here's the thing. What if that person is working for a church and the pastor is just like well, you know This is as much as you're gonna make but here's some more responsibilities and look Here's something they'll do. Well, if you want to get paid more then you got to get your wife to come work for us, too So they will literally violate scripture Violate the Bible just so they can penny pinch and Pay them as less as as the minimum as possible and try to get two people to work for them for less than minimum wage It's out there You know, this is wicked And here's the thing to that pastor to that boss. I say what about your master? What about your master You know masters like that bosses like that don't take into consideration That they also have a master in heaven and it is it any coincidence that a lot of these churches are going under the water Financially, they're going into debt. They have all kinds of crazy debt They they have all kinds of campaigns and fundraisers, but they can't seem to make enough money Why is that because they're not doing it biblically? That's why? You know, hey better a dinner of herbs that have stalled oxen strife there with Better to just eat beans and rice, but at least you're doing it, right You know at the end of the day the Bible way the biblical role the biblical model the way we're supposed to do This is correct Doesn't matter how what modern society says doesn't matter what they try to propagate through the television Television to the radio to the movies. This is always right But you have bosses out there like that, you know, that's called unjust gain Okay, and it's wicked go to Ecclesiastes chapter number two You know an example of this is Laban who you guys remember Laban in the book of Genesis Where he changed the wages of his son-in-law ten times He did him dirty ten times Just to get gain off of him. That's wrong That's wrong is it any wonder that God continued to bless his son-in-law and not him Okay Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 24 There's nothing better for a man than that He should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor And by the way guys, this is just another reminder Another public service announcement get a job labor If you're an able-bodied if you if you got two legs that work You're like, well, you know, I got you know, I got some issues then go work a desk job With one of those inflatable, you know bottom things that you can put on your chair But go do something Because that is the will of God for every single man It's to get a job and live. Yeah, but I'm not getting paid enough, but you know what get paid something Go work go do something You know be responsible to provide for your own family You know when I first got married, I didn't make a whole lot, but you know what? We didn't have a whole lot. But you know what we did have was food. I paid the rent and I paid for diapers And you know what we did we potty trained early Okay, it's just like we got to get this boy off of diapers All right, that we call them Pampers no matter what no matter what brand they are, you know, those things are expensive You know Bruce you need to learn how to go and you know potty, right? But you know what? Hey, at least I was providing for my family At least I was working at least I was paying the rent You know what I mean, and we still went out, you know to eat at Costco. Okay? Get pizza and ice cream and then you get the the free samples. I'm just kidding Hey, don't knock the free samples. Those are good. Okay? Yeah, Costco pizza is good. Amen. Okay Where was I at? Okay, he should make it. So enjoy the good in his labor This also I saw that it was from the hand of God So it's from the hand of God for a man to work and provide for his family and to enjoy Enjoy the good of his labor, you know when and a meal tastes really good is when you paid for it And you work for it When a meal tastes good when your wife cooks and you put that meal no matter how you know What if it's just beans and rice or whatever maybe hey at least you paid for that thing Okay Verse 25 for who can eat or who else can hasten the cure unto more than I for God giveth to a man That is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy But to the sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up that he may give to him that is good before God this also is vanity and vexation of Spirit so we see here that you know a man is supposed to enjoy The good of his labor right the fruit of his labor But you know that that that also takes a boss to be able to give him according to his labor as well To not be unjust and look if you're ever given the privilege to become a boss always take this into consideration. Okay now Go with me if you would go back to Ephesians chapter number five Because this is an interesting segue between Colossians chapter 3 and Colossians chapter 4 where he give he says, you know do it heartily as unto the Lord He goes through the different roles the wives the husbands the children servants and masters Why does the Bible exhort the people within these roles to fulfill these positions in this manner? Well, if you really think about it, you know, I think what God is trying to do here is basically When you fulfill these roles in your life your God-given roles, you're basically fulfilling a beautiful picture of you in the Lord Because it says in Ephesians 5 22 wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord So for a wife when she submits herself unto her husband, it's a beautiful picture of the Christian submitting unto the Lord Right submitting unto the Lord, you know doing what the master wants giving heat to what he desires our Lord Exactly verse 23 for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church And he is the Savior of the body therefore as the church is subject unto Christ So let the wise be to their own husbands and everything Amen look this isn't this message right here is not this verse verse 24 of chapter 5 is not a popular verse Verse 22 not a popular verse. This is something that modern churches would love to just omit out of the Bible Okay, and if it's not omitted out of there, you know, NIV ESV HIV Bibles, you know what? They just don't cover it at all Because it's contrary to modern culture. It's contrary to the feminist movement of our day Whereas the Bible tells us and look we're not the church is like woman Submit Ephesians 5 That's foolish This machismo Mentality, you know, look by the way, if you're the boss if you're really the boss, you don't have to say that you're the boss You Know I joke around my wife, but at the end of the day, I don't have to really say anything. It's just known Because of the fact that we are following the Bible And we're not doing it to puff up our ego. We want to do it because we want God's blessing on our life Okay, and wife if you want God's blessing on your life you give heed to this, you know Lean not into thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths He will help you understand that the blessing in your life comes as you subject yourself unto your husband in all things You obey in all things. Okay. Well, you don't know my husband. Yeah, but I know the Lord You know and the Bible says as unto the Lord, okay And look even in first Peter talks about when you have a fraud husband or his husband that maybe he's not meets your expectations as unto the Lord Because you're obviously you're suffering because you have a husband who maybe doesn't meet your expectations or treat you wrongly Well, you know what? You're still doing it as unto the Lord and the Bible says you still receive a recompense God sure changes no man. Amen Look at verse 25 husbands. Love your wives What is that a picture of even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it? So what does that show us it shows us that Jesus Christ sacrificed himself obviously for the whole world. He shed his blood for us Therefore we as husbands should not just give lip service to our wives and say that we love them But we're willing to even sacrifice ourselves for them our time talents and treasures day even our own lives if need be You know, we live in a society today where men are so effeminate. They're so scared. They can't even back up and defend their own wives You know where the wives are better fighters than the men That's sad You know, we should have a culture in our church say hey, we don't need to say it But you know what? We're men who are willing to defend our wives. Yay, even unto death Okay, why because we're to love our wives even as Christ loved the church and that's not just in the physical realm of defending our wives But just putting our self ambitions our desires aside and putting that the the benefit of our wife at the forefront, right? You know, that's that's overlooking maybe some of the things that you don't like about your wife Okay Some things that bother you about your wife you look past them because you love your wife as Christ loved the church because think about this You're not perfect. So when when Christ looks at you, you think he just sees like a perfect Christian with no flaws Nothing to work on absolutely not, you know, he's merciful to us. He shows us a lot of grace. He's long-suffering He's forbearing. So in like manner we ought to do the same with our wives, right? It says verse 26 that he may sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkled or any such thing But they should be holding without blemish go to chapter 6 and verse number 1 Look what it says here children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right You said what is that a picture of well the Bible says that when we believe on Jesus Christ But as many as receive them to them give you power to become the sons of God So when we get saved guess what we're now we're children of God Amen, and the Bible tells us be there for followers of God as dear children So just as a child, you know, my son doesn't question whether I'm gonna provide for him He kind of expects me to provide for him There's no doubt in his mind that there's always gonna be a meal on the table that I'm gonna close him that I'm gonna love Him that I'm there for him. It's just obvious that that's that's what's taking place. Okay. Well in like manner We should have that same faith with God, should we? Not even question like I was God gonna provide for me. Of course. He is. He's my Heavenly Father Now as long as I obey his word, I'm living in obedience to him. I'm Pleasing him. I know that he's gonna provide for my needs because I want to follow him as dear children Ephesians 6 verse 5 look at verse 5 servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh With fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ. What's the picture there? Well, just as a servant the employee is supposed to fear his boss we should fear God and no I'm not talking about reverence I'm talking about be afraid of that We shouldn't be how you gonna teach people to be afraid of God because God is a consuming fire The Bible says that God is a terrible God and God can take my life at any moment and he'd be just in doing it So, you know what that does in my life that causes me to have the fear of God and the fear of the Lord is The beginning of wisdom it's the beginning of knowledge, you know, when we fear God, what do we begin to do hate evil? because we don't want to fall into the pits of sin of disobedience that would cause God to strike us and chastise us and Judge us and have the wrath of God on our lives. We're obviously not talking about hell We've already been saved from that but that doesn't mean we can't be punished on this earth So in like manner as servants because we're serving Christ. We should do it with fear and Trembling You know serve Christ with fear and trembling Verse 9 and he masters do the same unto them for bearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven Neither is there respect of persons with him? You know who it's also said of that God The Bible says that God is no respecter of people right? Therefore. This is a picture of God with us because of the fact that Just as a master is supposed to give a due recompense, right? He's supposed to reward or supposed to give according to the labor of his of his employees. God is gonna do the same for us You know at the millennial reign at the excuse me at the second coming of Christ He's bringing his reward and at the millennial reign were able to reign over ten cities. He's given us a reward, right? He's given us according to our labor. So look you don't want God to jip you at the millennial reign Right You don't want God to jip you on your glorified body You know when you've labored and it's just like hey, you know, we just ran out of stock On glorified bodies. This is all we got left, you know little potbelly or whatever and I'm joking but you know It's just not no we understand that God's gonna give us a hundredfold if we live for him If we serve him if we win people to Christ We can understand we know full well that he will give us a full recompense For the labor that we do well in like manner Hey bosses treat your employees the same way Just as you would want your master in heaven to reward you abundantly recompense you abundantly You should also recompense your employees abundantly as well go back to Colossians Turn on the AC, please So that's verse number one Alright verse number two So now we're gonna look at praying for needs and also for the furtherance of the gospel Look at verse two is his continuing prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving With all praying also for us that God would open up unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ For which I am also in bonds that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak So here we see that in verse two, he tells them he exhorts them Hey continue in prayer and watch and watch in the same with Thanksgiving This is just a basic instruction to just pray and the word prayer simply means to ask Okay, so when we pray we're asking God for specific things whether it's spiritual needs its physical needs You know, that's what we're doing, but we're doing it with Thanksgiving, right now Unfortunately, a lot of Christians just do verse 2 Okay, they just pray for their own needs and they pray for you know They thank God and that's their prayer life, but you know what verse 3 says with all praying also for us For what that God would open unto us a door of utterance. What is that referring to? He says that God would give us more opportunities to preach the gospel So here we see a dual thing a dual instruction pray for your needs Be thankful but pray for opportunities to prosper and succeed in preaching the gospel as well You see we don't want to just like hoard all the blessings right where you just pray and just get my needs met pay the rent Good health be with my children and good health and everything's just good and dandy, you know, we want these prayers Back so that we can do work for God You know, we want God to take care of these things so we don't have to think about these and worry about these things What do we worry about getting the gospel? And you know that a door of utterance would be open to speak the mystery of Christ it says So what what is how do we apply that practically in our lives? Hey, I hope you're praying for Compton. Amen Hope you're praying for the surrounding cities that God will give us more opportunities to preach the gospel to see more people saved That should pre that should be the prayer of our lives as well So a practical way for you to apply this is hey add on your prayer list for souls to be saved Add on your prayer list one of the cities Right that we highlighted Add on your prayer list that God would give us an opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission in a great way You know, he's like, oh, but we're just a church of a hundred. How can we even make a difference? You know never have that minimal thinking like that That's small thinking where you just don't feel like oh, it's only a hundred people. What difference can we make? we don't God use 300 and God can use anyone as long as we're dependent upon him and we're praying to God give us an opportunity to do this Give us an opportunity to see people saved use us mightily verse 4 that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak Now another thing is this is that you know We need to pray for the people in our church who are so shy that they don't have boldness to preach the Word of God You know, some of you are just talkers naturally Okay, some of you that you know, you don't need to pray for boldness to you speak you just It just comes naturally to you a little too natural. We need to pray to you be quiet. I'm just Some of you talk too much amen, I'm just kidding sort of But there's certain people in our church right there's so shy it actually it's like it's a challenge Not just to speak. I mean, it's a challenge to speak to people in our church People you see every week Let alone some lost person who's never heard of the gospel and to tell them that they're sinners that they're going to hell But that Jesus Christ died go through the gospel. That's like very difficult for them You know, so those of you who it comes easy to you. You need to pray That God would open up a door of utterance and give boldness to those who are shy Okay. Now look you say well, I just don't understand that. Well think about the first time you went with your sweaty palms You're stuttering self, you know, and you you you you you basically stumbled and fell and you messed up. That's how they feel all the time without even giving the gospel You know, we want to make sure that we help everyone in our church whether a social butterfly or a very shy person for all of them to be confident and bold in Preaching the gospel. Why is that? Well because of the fact that you know, it's all a responsibility to preach the gospel Whether you're shy or not, okay, we all have the response. What's the ministries? Do you got here? So winning? Well, what can I get involved in so winning Well, what kind of what kind of like, you know, what kind of uh, What are those called? Life circles or what do they call them life groups or something? Liberal judges that always have these weird names for like Sunday school classes. Come on someone throw it out there You guys don't want to talk about Connection groups. I knew it Don't believe you're right the wife that thou gave us me he's like Connection grooves, this is the connection group the Ministry of Reconciliation Somebody and That's the responsibility of everyone, right? But we need to pray for our people that they would get the boldness to do that Go to 2nd Thessalonians. Hold your place here in Colossians. Go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter number three But Hey look even with the lat within the last two years And the Sony's been good here It's been delicious You know my meetings to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work Hey that meats been pretty good here Okay, we've seen a lot of people save I know that there's weeks when I'm sorry that a hundred thousand people don't get saved Okay, people, you know start memory. Oh, we only got one. Hey, that's one For the most part we see a lot of people saved over the last two years we've seen over 2,700 people saved that's very fruitful a Great door has been opened unto us And we want to make sure that these doors continue to open Look at 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse 1. It says finally brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have Free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from Unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith, but the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil So he's saying there Hey pray that we would that the word of the Lord would have free course and then he couples that were verse number two That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. So you often read in the ministry of the Apostle Paul He'll often say this, you know, I purpose to come unto you but Satan hath hindered me How does he do it through wicked and unreasonable men? You know one thing that will that will slow down the momentum of our church in regards to sowing unreasonable and wicked men infiltrators Division all these things they come into the church, you know We need to pray that God would deliver us from such wicked people and that he would make manifest the folly of the infiltrators So that the word of the Lord can continue to have free course Okay, so we need to focus on that and because look it's going good, but we don't want anything to hinder that You know go with me if you would to first Corinthians chapter 16 First Corinthians chapter 16 I Hope that every city we go to It's just an open door like man. This is good here. You know, I can't wait till we start going to Watts You know Compton's good, but Watts is like, I don't know I can't say if it was better than Compton But it was pretty good And I hope all the cities around here are the same way look at first Corinthians 16 verse 8 But I will Terry at Ephesus until Pentecost for a great door and effectuals open unto me and there are many adversaries You know what we see in the Bible is that whenever there's an open door whenever there's an opportunity. There's always enemies Adversaries why because Satan does not like what's going on How can we've had so many infiltrators come through our church because we're doing something for God You know Hunk, you know, we've thrown out like how many people three people at this year? Yeah, because this is the work of the Lord is being done here. That's why So, you know the gospel light attract some weird bugs You Know attract some weird bugs they come and they try to hinder the work of the Lord here Okay, whether it be by criticizing yours truly or trying to pull other members with them You know, they try to sow seeds of discord in order to hinder the work of God You know, so we need to pray go to first go to chapter 15. You're in chapter 16 go to chapter 15 It Says in verse 32 if after the manner of men I fought with the beast at Ephesus What advantages it mean if the dead rise not let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die now just to let you know He's not talking about like he's fighting with like wolves and like, you know lions and bears when he's talking about beasts at Ephesus He's referring to the unreasonable and wicked men He says I fought with beasts at Ephesus Now why was the Apostle Paul so successful, why did he have so many people say why was he able to do such a great work Well because of the fact that I believe that people prayed that that free course that the word of the Lord would have free course That he would that he would go through the doors and fight the adversaries and battle against them and look This is you know throwing out infiltrators and all this and the light it's not gonna stop It's not like oh we go independent now we just got into our first phase and no more infiltrators and everything is just dandy It's probably gonna like pick up a little more as the years go by That's something you got to get used to if you want to continue to do the work of the Lord Now you can be like one of these churches that don't do anything They don't do any soul winning. They don't preach the gospel at all. They don't even preach the Bible They'll show a movie or something, you know, they'll do a play instead instead of giving the Word of God You think that threatens Satan if they play Superman? At church and let's look at the biblical application of this movie and how we could apply it for Jesus and Superman You know, you think Satan's like, oh man, we really got to stop this church You know, don't let them see part two or whatever, you know Cuz then they're really gonna be bomb Christians after that No Satan's not worried about that. You know who Satan's concerned about? He's concerned about churches like this. They actually had the members Out there preaching the gospel seeing people saved So look it's exciting to be a part of a church where people are getting saved But understand this there are also many adversaries There's a lot of beasts out there at second Peter chapter 2 says made to be taken and destroyed Let's talk about reprobates. Okay, go back to Colossians chapter number four So we should pray man pray for your own needs, of course But along with that that God would allow us to preach the gospel and the regions beyond Then an open door would be opened unto us That we would be he would make manifest the folly of the infiltrators that we see a lot of people saved That he would give us boldness that he would give the people in our church who are shy boldness to preach the gospel Look at verse number five Now along with the gospel he starts talking here about our attitude towards the lost It says in verse number five walk in wisdom toward them that are without Redeeming the time let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt that you may know how to eat ought to answer Every man now turn with you if you would to Titus chapter number three This is a great verse. He says here walk in wisdom to them that are without Now you can apply that many different ways but in context this is talking about so many Because the previous verses we're talking about the utterance of the gospel the mysteries of the gospel It's talking about us preaching and having that door of utterance, etc So then he says walk in wisdom towards them that are without Redeeming the time. What is he saying when you go so winning don't waste your time Redeem your time How do you do that? Walk in wisdom toward them that are without so let me give you some practical things here How you can walk in wisdom when you go out so winning when you preach the gospel number one don't debate When you walk in wisdom the way you can redeem the time is by not debating What does that mean? You know when you get to a door because you know, you know like all the Bible stuff, you know You know all the doctrines and then someone brings up that doctrine. That's not a time To start arguing with them and get into this verbal MMA match Just so you can walk away and I shut that guy up You know But you didn't get him saved and in fact you wasted so much time You could have knocked five other doors of people who actually want to hear the gospel You're not walking in wisdom to them that are without you're not redeeming the time you're wasting time Okay, look at Titus 3 10 says a man that is in heretic after the first and second admonition reject Knowing that he that is such a subverted incentive being condemned of himself So this is what you do when you talk to a person and they're just and look you got to know the difference When there's a person who's just like you can kind of tell that they're just being arrogant and prideful They just want to argue you give them two verses First and second admonition you do the first one and if they reject that first one you're giving them the benefit of the doubt The second one is to say hey, this is what the Bible says and if they say no It's by repenting of your sins to be saved. It's okay. Well, see ya. Have a good day There's the invite if you ever have a question and move on No, no, it's not by repenting of your sin you just get into this verbal argument with them You're not redeeming the time You're boosting up your ego is what you're doing you know, you're just kind of creating the story so you can come back and talk about how you told off so-and-so and Man, you're such a warrior for God because you you just got into this Calvinistic debate. The only thing you were lacking was the bell And the reward at the end, you know, that's not redeeming the time Walking wisdom because when we're out there we're seeking to save that which is lost Not to debate Leaving the base to the Calvinists Let them think that they're doing something for God by debating people and and making people feel so stupid when they're out there How you know they give them their stupid little illustrations and you know They just condemn them to as the day is long. They don't get them saved. They just make them feel like trash Like dirt, you know, we want people to know that they're sinners But we don't we're not trying to condemn them to the point that they just feel like a worthless worm And then we just walk away like I'm better than you No, we try and tell them that they're sinners So they understand that there's a penalty for their sin so that we can tell them that Jesus Christ can save them So we can win them to Christ so we can gain a brother in Christ. Amen Go to Acts chapter 17 Acts chapter 17 now look I'm all for reasoning though, and there's a difference between debating and reasoning You see we are to reason with people you will run into people out solely They're not trying to debate you. They just have questions They're not trying to debate you. They're just trying to understand and They have to do what the Bible says in first John chapter 5 overcome You know, they've been taught a lot of false Doctrine false ideologies and they've been taught that their whole lives. They're not being difficult They're actually just trying to understand and lo and behold They have a Bible believing Christian with the Bible in hand seems to know what they're talking about They're trying to go to you for answers don't get mad at them don't grow frustrated with them just teach them what the Bible says Discern have wisdom towards them redeem the time but understand look if they're just trying to understand give them the time of day, man But they're just like look like they're being argumentative That's the you know dust off your feet and move on Look at Acts 17 verse 2 and Paul as his manner was went in unto them in three days Sabbath Days reason with them out of the scriptures the Calvinists like to say see he debated verse 3 Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preached unto you is Christ that doesn't sound like a debate He's declaring the gospel unto them is what he's doing. So when we reason with someone what are we doing? We are persuading them knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men We try to persuade them to believe what the Bible actually says. Okay, go to Matthew chapter 7 if you wouldn't So look don't get into debates and look it's always a temptation, isn't it? You just want to shut someone down You just want to tell like it is you're like man. I've gotten so much training I can just like run circles around you, but that's not the agenda when we go out the agenda is to see people safe and If we're to walk in wisdom to towards them that are without if we're gonna redeem the time we can't debate But not only that don't waste your time with people who aren't interested You know when you try to just coax them into just listening to you even though they don't want to listen to you It's like I gotta go and then you just roll into the gospel And then you actually annoy them Don't be annoying Don't be annoying if they don't want it if they're not interested just move on Look what it says in Matthew 7 verse 6 give not that which is holy unto the dogs. It's not talking about like real dogs Neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under you their feet and turn again and rend you now dogs in the Bible is referring to reprobates and Sometimes you will run into reprobates people who hate God and at that point discern and then walk away Walk away, but what about just people who are just unsaved and they're just not interested because they're cooking in there, you know They're like, hey, I got something on the stove. It's gonna burn. Well, I'm only gonna take 20 minutes I'm only gonna take 10 minutes. It's like they just told you They don't want to talk And look someone else is gonna knock that door again So just move on. Well, I just want to like persuade them. Yeah, me too But I also want our church to have a good reputation Not be the annoying church Like man, those guys will not go away. I tried to like I was trying to be nice to them I was trying to tell him hey, you know, I'm not interested I got my own church and they just kept going on and on and then the guy even just gave me the message that he Wanted to get he ended up keeping me there for 15 minutes That happens Don't waste your time with people like that you said why because if I was says redeeming the time Now look if you give the gospel to someone they said they don't have time then this is what you do You said well, can I leave it was one verse to think about and they say sure and you give them that verse you read them and Often you can tell based upon their demeanor. I think they're actually interested in what I just said and If you if you see that then you just say are you sure you don't got a couple minutes? Do it with a smile on your face You sure you want to listen to this? Show your teeth Say you got a couple minutes You know typically they'll be like, okay fine And I've been with people who have done it that way and the people are like sure and they actually end up getting saved I've been with people who like, you know, they're persuasive in a good way or they're just like they give a first and go Are you sure you don't got a couple minutes and they're just like, okay and then I'm getting saved Why because that person used wisdom to them toward there without they were redeeming the time They were trying they're not trying to waste their time. But if someone's like no, I'm good, you know, just say okay Well, I'll just leave this in by here if they're like, no, we don't want to okay Have a good day walk away and just forget about it Okay Go back to Colossians chapter 3 Here's another way you could redeem the time and walk and wisdom towards them that are without don't be offensive and Give correct answers. Okay, don't offend people were here out there Okay, number one in a practical way have a breath mint Don't have garlic before you go sowing Chew gum Prior to it or get Banakka that's that's really old IFP right there Banakka how many know what I'm talking about? But when Banakka is okay all the old I appears, okay You know, don't be offensive. But also just don't be offensive if they reject you Like seriously, you don't wanna listen. So you want to go to hell? Is that what you're saying? All right You don't have to offend them You know the natural man receive it's not the things of the Spirit of God Neither can you know him for they're spiritually discerned. So don't try to guilt-trip them into like having them. Listen to you Like oh man, I feel kind of bad I didn't get that, you know, he seemed like he was like really upset or something. You want to just be very kind smile Just be a kind person while you're out there Okay, look at verse 5 walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time let your speech be always with grace Be gracious When you talk to people Look, hey sometimes Sometimes you just you know, you know, it helps a lot. Just I know this is really practical just a smile Be a happy person at all times, but especially when you're out there knocking on doors Smile, I mean aren't you having a good time out so winning or is this like a drudgery? Just want to invite you to church Go anywhere, you know, it's You know smile I Don't have a good smile. Well, they don't know that you just think you don't have a good smile But if you genuinely smile at people they obviously think wow, this person is a pretty happy person. I wonder what they have to say Let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt they may know how you ought to answer every man So be gracious when you speak be kind don't yell Don't get mad. Don't raise your voice at them. You say you're raising your voice now. Yeah, but I'm preaching And when preaching is done here, I rip face rip on the side of my it's the reprobates all across the board But when we're preaching out there, it's a different story You know, we preach the love of God in here, but we're we preach it more out there than we do in here actually How can that be because we're given the gospel and the gospel is the love of God How many times that we quote quote John 3 16 in Romans 5 8 well, we're out there preaching the gospel That's a whole lot of loving But here, you know, there's only so much we can talk about that We have 66 other books that we need to cover that they cover an array of subjects So be gracious to them go to Proverbs chapter 15. We're almost done. We're not gonna go through 7 through the end of the chapter That's the shout out chapter. You can read that on your own It just goes to a lot of names and the things that they've done I think a lot of there's more practical teaching right here that we can cover. Look at Proverbs 15 verse 28 Now look if you're prone if you're that type of person who's a little rude If you have a tendency to be a little rude Okay, and if you're like, I don't know if that's me then ask those closest to you if that's you Go to someone in the church and say hey am I rude sometimes That takes humility right there to go to someone and say hey am I rude? You know when I go out sowing it and say be honest with me Okay, and if that's you look at verse 28 the heart of the righteous Studiest to answer but the mouth of the wicked pour without evil things. So that's you this is what you do You need to do some studying Study what? Well, first of all study to be quiet as the Bible says, right? But then also study to answer. So in other words when I go talk to people, what is it that I'm going to say? How should I word it? Well, I'm just spirit-led and you know, yeah, but part of being spirit-led is being prepared Because the Bible which the Word of God Proverbs 15 28 which the Holy Ghost wrote right through Holy Man of God Said that you should still study to answer So that means be prepared have an introduction learn what you're gonna say look at chapter 16 You Verse 23 it says the heart of the wise teaches his mouth and Addeth learning to his lips. So the Bible says here that you know, if you're wise you're gonna teach your own mouth What to say, you know what I mean? Go to 1st Peter chapter 3 1st Peter chapter 3 So be gracious be kind You know and then also Learn how to give an answer 1st 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 asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear So here it says that we should be ready Now look, here's the thing is in our church Bare minimum what you should learn as a soul winner is the Romans Road So If you're trying to learn how to do so winning step number one go so winning with us Get on the team or let me back it up step number one get on a team Step number two go so winning with that team on Sunday step number three memorize the Romans Road Okay now Here's the thing is that's bare minimum, but after a while you should start learning some other subjects some other topics And that's why when a new soul when it comes to our church or they're trying to learn how to go so winning We immediately place them on a team and they are a silent partner for a couple months What's the silent partner? It's a partner who stay silent. I Just flipped it around for you. Okay, you're just quiet at the door So what that what that means is that when you go so winning you have a speaker and then you have a silent partner That silent partner says nothing Okay, you're not tag-team preaching This is Bruce and I'm you know, and he's just like we're from favorite Baptist Church You stay quiet Okay, you don't even say yeah. Yeah, that's right. Amen. Hey, man, that's right. You know, I haven't been anywhere I'm just kind of throwing it out there. Okay, you just stay silent you pray and you observe You observe the season soul winner give the gospel and you take mental notes Okay, and you don't interrupt Also, sir By the way, there's also another verse in the Bible and you just kind of interrupt silent partners just silent You know for the entire time and you just observe Okay, I Don't even know how I got into that. Oh, and by the way, so as you grow as a soul winner There's an array of subjects Do you have to learn that you're gonna give an answer for because you will find yourself sometimes when someone asks you a question You're just like I Don't know how to answer that actually like I don't know You know, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's why on-the-job training when it comes to so many is very important The longer you go the more questions you get the more it's gonna cause you to go home and study out So that you can have an answer the next time you go out. Okay, so That's basically it right there. Go to go to Luke chapter 9 Luke chapter number 9 Now Another thing is this is that when we go out sowning don't see everyone out there as your enemy I will tell you who are our enemies obviously, it's the reprobates But the problem is is that they don't wear a sign that says I'm a reprobate So we don't know who that is, you know, our enemies are the Jehovah's Witnesses Our enemies are the Mormons You know our enemies are these people who are preaching a false gospel Who are teaching people who are being paid full-time to send people to hell that's my enemy That's those are the enemies of God. They're not deceived. They're doing the deceiving You understand that but the rest of the population they're not our enemies So we're to treat everyone equally until they're proven innocent Look at Luke chapter 9 verse 54 says and when his disciples James and John saw this they said Lord Without that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did now think about this for a second, okay? James and John They're so dumb Because They saw disciples who are preaching the Word of God and they wanted to kill them and then he what did he do he used Elias as An example he goes just says he lies it. Well, let me ask you did it Elias Send down fire on actual prophets No, he sent fire on false prophets worshippers of Baal So this is a bad example that they're using It says in verse 55 But he turned to rebuke them and said he know not what manner of spirit you're off For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them and they went to another Village is like you guys don't even know what you're talking about We're supposed to save men's lives not destroy them Destroy the Mormons. Yes Destroy the Jehovah's Witnesses. Yes But regular people who are just out there save them So what about the guy who's tatted from like head to toe and he has like piercings Like he fell on a tackle box or something face first save them What about like, you know, the the guy who just smells like like a sewer save him What about the guy who's just looks effeminate, you know, but he's probably not a homo save him We're supposed to save them Don't call fire down on them And by the way, even if he tried you probably wouldn't get that prayer answer buddy, okay You know save them. He lies didn't call fire down on Righteous people save people he called fire down on wicked people So, you know, we got to understand that when we go out there we're out there to save men's lives Save them from from, you know, the general damnation and look you are the one doing the saving. Amen You know you get credit for that. Yes. Jesus Christ is the one saving them But he's also using you to save them as well pulling them out of the fire Talked to Damian today and he's like, hey you saved me a year ago Got him the gospel. He got saved over a year ago Got him the gospel he got saved over a year ago You know what? That's what you're doing when you go out there and preach the gospel. You're actually saving them Okay by going out there and giving them that gospel so what's the message tonight, you know A lot of it had to do with practicality and soul winning But take this if you don't get anything get this is that walking wisdom towards them that are without What does wisdom do it causes you to think before you talk? We save ourselves a lot of trouble If we just put into if we just start thinking Before we open our mouths Okay, especially when it comes to the gospel Because you know we have this this treasure and earthen vessels the bible says And we want to make sure that we're good stewards of that treasure. Amen Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word I pray god that you continue to open doors for us as as a church Thank you for this great opportunity. I feel like we just came at the perfect time This church opened up at the perfect time where the hearts are just ready for the gospel you know the the cities Roundabout are not reprobates as many would like to think that california is but they're not there's a lot of Just unsafe people who are very receptive towards the gospel And I pray god that god that you'd help us to walk in wisdom towards them that are without Help us to redeem the time help us not to waste our time help us to um You know teach our mouths teach our lips That the righteous may study to answer and I pray god that you'd help us to be bonafide soul winners and become better as The years go by help us to see a lot of people saved And though we want to help people physically with their physical needs lord You've said within your word what shall have profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul And we're trying to give him the bread of life the water so they can never thirst again Help us to continue to be that church in jesus name we pray. Amen So