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Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your songbooks and turn to song 124. Song 124 in your songbooks. We'll sing, God Will Take Care of You, if you would stand. We'll sing song 124. Be not dismayed, whatever be tined, God will take care of you. Beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you, God will take care of you. Through days of toil when heart doth fail, God will take care of you. When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you, God will take care of you. All you may need he will provide, God will take care of you. Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you, God will take care of you. No matter what may be the task, God will take care of you. Mean weary one upon his breast, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you, God will take care of you. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father Lord, we just want to thank you God for this beautiful day to meet in your house and to hear your word preached. And I pray, Lord, that you'd be with our pastor, fill him with your power and spirit for it's in Jesus' name we ask all of it, amen. All right, you may be seated. And turn in your song books to song 259. Song 259 in your song books, we'll sing Jesus Saves, song 259. We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spread the tidings all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Bear the news to every land, climb the steeps and cross the waves. Onward tis our Lord's command, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Wafted on the rolling tide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Tell to sinners far and wide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing ye islands of the sea, echo back ye ocean caves. Earth shall keep her jubilee, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing above the battle strife, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. By his death and endless life, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing it softly through the gloom, when the heart for mercy craves. Sing in triumph over tomb, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Give the winds a mighty voice, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Let the nations now rejoice, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Shout salvation full and free, highest hills and deepest caves. This our song of victory, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. First of all, in prayer for all those that aren't feeling well. My kids had fevers, kind of, you know, how it goes down the line. They don't at the moment as far as I know, but we're kind of being cautious on keeping them back and everything so we don't get everybody sick. But that being said, others may be dealing with that as well, so be in prayer for them. And so still it is the season for the sicknesses and all that stuff. So just be on the lookout for that or just be in prayer for that as far as health is concerned. And then all our service times here are normal. So today we'll have our normal service time obviously right now. We'll have our soul winning time at 1 p.m. and then we'll have our afternoon service at 4 p.m. So nothing out of the ordinary today. And then soul winning times for the week, I think we'll be back on schedule for our regional soul winning times. So that should be normal. So brother Charles will be leading up that Monday time. Brother Richie will be leading up the Wednesday time and just want to congratulate obviously our mission, all those that went out on the missions trip to St. Thomas. So it was 138 total, 138 salvations in one week. And so definitely great stories. We were kind of hearing some of that on the men's prayer meeting. But they said that Belize is actually more receptive, but they just hit so many doors because of everything being so kind of close together with government housing and all that stuff. They just found the people. So they combed the area, but just great work there. Exceeded expectations. I know we were trying to hit 100, which I thought was a high mark honestly for a week with that many, just four talkers to go out there. But excited for that. So we'll be putting that on the salvations list this week, so that's why you don't see it there. We're waiting obviously to see the final numbers and all that. So the week after, when you see like 100 and some salvations on the last week's salvations, you know, obviously we're not going to hit that mark every single week. But excited about that, that was a great success. So just being a prayer for our missions trips as we do them throughout the year, we're planning on doing basically two a year essentially. And we're going to be planning one this summer. And it really just depends on what's open and available. We're planning on going somewhere to either Cypress or Greece and kind of test out that old Greek, you know, and all that. So that being said, it really just depends on what's open, what's available. But each year we're going to be planning on doing two missions trips, one in the winter, one in the summer essentially, something like that. And then be in prayer for all the soul winning marathons too that we're going to be trying to do this year as well. And then Bible memory, we have Colossians 1 still on the list here, but that's going to be Colossians 2 once we get into March. So and if you notice that our memory verse today is in Colossians 1 and my sermon is based off this memory verse in Colossians 1, it's because I just memorized Colossians 1 and it's on my mind. So you're just going to have to just get over it. So, you know, throughout this you're going to be like in March, in March you're going to be like, man, Colossians 2 is really on pastors mind for some reason. And then down the line. That being said, you still have time though if you're still in Colossians 1, you're still trying to memorize it, Colossians 1 is the biggest chapter in Colossians and February is the shortest month in the year. So it's not exactly the best month to have the biggest chapter. So just know that you have time in March to catch up with Colossians 1 to get into Colossians 2. I do recommend finishing Colossians 1 though before you go into Colossians 2. So Colossians 1.28, it says, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So that's our memory verse for the week. And if you're memorizing Colossians, then it's just in that list. And then upcoming events, we have the women's prayer meeting coming up this Saturday. And so, ladies, if you could make it out to that, be in your places there. And that will obviously be here at the church building. And we are going to, we've been talking about it and I think we're just going to try to find a Saturday that would be a good day to do it. It's a chili cook-off. So this is what we talked about in the men's prayer meeting, but somehow the chili, like having chili or something like that was mentioned. It will be a competition. So just so you know, okay, we're going to have some taste testers and all that. And I may be one of those. And I just want you to know how I feel about beans, okay. I don't like them. All right, now, I don't mind some, but when it comes to this whole controversy between beans and chili, I side with Texas on this one, okay. I'm more of a carnivore than a vegan. And if you want to be a vegan and come to this chili cook-off, you're not going to win. So, no, I'm just kidding. Anyway, I'm not really kidding, but you can do what you want. This is a free country. You have liberty and Jesus to make whatever chili you want here when you come here. But that being said, it is going to be kind of a competition where we're going to do. So what we'll probably do is when we bring it in, we won't label whose it is, okay. So that's the whole idea is that it won't be labeled whose it is and no one will really know. And so we're going to have to figure out how we're going to do that, right, because whoever is the taste testers have to not know whose it is. And so we'll figure that out. But we're going to figure out a day that we're going to do that in March that makes sense and everything. So we'll get that on the schedule. Birthdays, so we have, I always have to look at my calendar to make sure I'm not missing, especially when you get to the end of the month here. So we have Lydia, but she's not here today. So we'll make sure we get her next time, Lydia Ford. And then Jennifer is not until next week. So yeah, so we have one this week, but we'll make sure we catch her next time. And then anniversaries, that's, we don't have any this week, but we do have some coming up here in March. And then pregnancies being a prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list. And then also being a prayer for all the ladies that just had babies and, you know, all that with the newborns. And so I think that's about all I got for announcements or have or whatever the correct grammar is on that. Who's reading this morning, Brother Jason? So Brother Jason's going to sing another song. Brother Jason's going to be reading Colossians chapter one for us this morning, and we'll get into the preaching. All right, take your song books and turn to song 271. Song 271, we'll sing Lord I'm Coming Home, song 271. I've wandered far away from God, now I'm coming home, the paths of sin too long. I've trod, Lord I'm coming home, coming home, coming home, nevermore to roam. Open wide thine arms of love, Lord I'm coming home. I've wasted many precious years, now I'm coming home. I now repent with bitter tears, Lord I'm coming home, coming home, coming home, nevermore to roam. Open wide thine arms of love, Lord I'm coming home. I'm tired of sin and straining, Lord, now I'm coming home. I'll trust thy love, believe thy word, Lord I'm coming home, coming home, coming home, nevermore to roam. Open wide thine arms of love, Lord I'm coming home. My soul is sick, my heart is sore, now I'm coming home. My strength renewed, my hope restored, Lord I'm coming home. Coming home, coming home, nevermore to roam. Open wide thine arms of love, Lord I'm coming home. All right, take your Bibles and turn to Colossians, chapter number one. Colossians, chapter number one, we'll have brother Jason come and read that for us. All right, Colossians chapter one, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae, the grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, where have ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which has come unto you as it is in all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth as ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant who is for you a faithful minister of Christ who also declared unto us your love in the spirit for this cause we also since the day we heard it heard it do not cease to pray for you into the desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins who is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him he and he is before all things and by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable in the unreprovable in his sight if you continue if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard in which was preached to you every creature which is under heaven where of I Paul and made a minister who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill and fill up that which is behind of the afflict afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church where where have I am made minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of the myth of the mystery among the gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus where into I also labor also labor striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily let's pray your heavenly father thank you for your word lord thank you for this time that we have to come and hear your word preached I just pray that you fill pastor Robinson with your holy spirit and give him the words to speak to us today in Jesus name I pray amen amen so you're there in colossians chapter one and uh I want you to look down at the bottom of the chapter there and I'm going to preach a sermon called the purpose of preaching the purpose of preaching so what is the purpose of preaching in general and I believe this verse or this passage here at the end of colossians really gives us the key purpose of why we preach okay or why I preach or what's the point of hearing preaching in colossians 1 26 it says here it says even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations but now is made manifest to his saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach so when it says whom we preach we're talking about Christ you know Jesus Christ that's whom we preach and obviously talking about the gospel and preaching the gospel but it says whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus where into I also labor striving together striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily so the thing that I see here is there's two things when it comes to preaching that we're trying to get across okay or what we're doing so two things that we're trying to do as preachers is warn and teach warn and teach and then what's the ultimate reason for warning and teaching is that we may present the people that were warning and teaching perfect in Christ Jesus okay so that's the idea as far as warning and preaching and when it comes to this you know colossians is kind of dealing with that when it says you know if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard and it's and it basically saying which was preached under every creature and basically the idea there is that if you if you continue in the faith and you're grounded and settled then you're going to be unblameable and unreproveable in his sight and the idea there is that when you get saved the ultimate goal is to basically be perfected holistically okay and this gets into the idea of that he may preserve you into his kingdom body soul and spirit now spiritually speaking when you get saved you are perfected soul and spirit and i preached a whole sermon on that dealing with dividing soul and spirit and the fact that the soul and spirit are different but essentially both are made perfect both are completely cleansed and purified and have no sin when you get saved the flesh is different the flesh has sin it says you know in my flesh dwells no good thing and it says that it's no longer i to do it but sin that dwells in me going into that idea of the the sinful flesh so there's actually a two-pronged thing to think about when it comes to preaching and the one i want to hit on first or it kind of hit on real quick here is preaching the gospel okay so this does apply when it comes to preaching the gospel is warning and teaching go to jude jude and go down to verse 22 so the book of jude at the end of the bible there right before revelation you have the book of jude and so i've heard people say you know we go soul winning which is a biblical term because it talks about you know through the righteous is a tree of life and he that win his souls is wise so it's definitely a biblical term to say we're winning souls for christ or or it even talks about how the the wives may win you know win their husbands it says basically that they may be won by the conversations of the wives right and so talking about winning your husband if you will and so that's a biblical term to basically say you won someone to christ or you're going soul winning but i've heard another term used is soul warning okay because even if you don't win someone to christ you've still warned them right if you you give someone the gospel or give them the opportunity to hear the gospel you know what you're still doing what you're doing as far as warning them as far as the wrath to come and the consequence that they don't believe on christ and so um notice what it says here in jude in verse 22 it says enough some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh now we're talking about soul winning here but the idea here is that you know some people you really have to and do that fear of god that hey you know what there's a hell that you deserve hell and obviously we need to always be hitting on that right the condemnation because we talked about how what's the point of the law the law is for the knowledge of sin that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may become guilty before god the idea of the law is to show that you're a sinner and that you need a savior and so that's warning somebody right you you're you've sinned you've broken god's commandments now the wages of sin is death and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns the fire and brimstone which is the second death you know what that is that's a warning that's a warning now in turn a warning does have teaching involved in there right because you are teaching them something by warning them but when we go out soul winning we're warning people about what will happen if they don't get saved okay or if anybody doesn't get saved now when it comes to uh you know the idea that obviously if you're saving some with fear okay then there's an act an attribute of warning there right you're warning them and you're using the you know the fear of hell and the fear of god's uh condemnation to get them saved uh go to uh go to matthew chapter 28 but i'm going to read to you mark 16 15 says and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature so you'll probably hear this like preaching the gospel preaching the gospel and that's used a lot but you know in some places it'll use teach okay and within preaching it says whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man okay and i think within when you think about preaching the gospel you're doing both of those or you should be doing both of those right you don't get just go out there and just like warn somebody and then don't teach them how to get saved right or you know you're not if you're warning somebody the whole point is to teach them about it and teach them how to get saved right we don't go out to someone's door and be like you know what you're a sinner you're on your way to hell see you later you know like that would be that wouldn't be uh you know very christian like as far as to do that um and we always kind of joke with people when i show them that at the door because i'm always trying to kind of lighten the mood because obviously when you when you show somebody hey you're a sinner the punishment for that is hell that's not light and that's that can be very heavy on somebody as far as i i want them to realize they're a sinner and that they need a savior but i don't want to just scare them out of their wits or get them kind of just like to the point where they don't even want to talk to you because you just like came to the door and you're like scaring daylights out of them right so what i usually say is you know you know i yeah i didn't come to your door just to tell you that you're on your way to hell goodbye i'll see you later because the whole point of going through that is saying hey does god want you to go there though does god want you to go to hell and the answer that most every single person ever gives me is no he doesn't want me to go there and that's true because the bible says that god's not willing that any should perish that all should come to repentance he'll have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth so it's kind of that segue there but in the beginning you're really warning them saying hey this is what's going to happen if you don't get saved this is what's going to happen if you don't believe on christ or if you don't get this if you don't figure out what's going on here okay and matthew chapter 28 notice what it says here and this is what we call the great commission this is this is what jesus told his disciples to do when he was ascended up into heaven it says in verse 19 go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son of the holy ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i commanded you and lo i'm with you always even unto the end of the world amen now when we see we're preaching the gospel of every creature now saying teach all nations well it's not it's not negating preaching the gospel it's just that teaching them the gospel is a part of that okay that's you know whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man now what's interesting about the great commission is that teaching is mentioned twice right you have teaching at the beginning you know you get someone saved and then they're supposed to get baptized and baptism doesn't save anybody but that is you know the first step of obedience is what we're supposed to do after we get saved but then after we get baptized we're supposed to basically be taught in all things and learn all things and be perfected in christ okay so this is where it gets into this two-fold kind of what's the purpose of preaching well first to get saved okay that's the purpose i want to show you one more place to kind of show you a warning that's given to those that need to get saved go to mark chapter 9 i'm going to show you jesus warning here and actually i believe jesus warning in the bible about salvation is probably the the harshest warning that you're going to see in the bible and when it comes to soul winning jesus is always the best person to go to when it comes to how to be the best soul winner or the approach as far as that that's concerned now when he's preaching the sermon on the mount you know he brings this up as well and what you have to understand is that he's talking to saved people but then he's also talking to unsaved people and he's kind of hitting two crowds at once when he does that so sometimes he's talking to save people saying hey you know what if your brother sinned against you or you know whatever you shouldn't be angry with your brother without a cause and he's kind of going through things that christians would deal with as saved people but then they'll kind of hit on things that are dealing with you know unsaved people and this case right here i believe he's giving a warning about the severity of hell okay notice what it says in mark chapter 9 and verse 43 it says and if if thy hand offend thee cut it off it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell into into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched and if thy foot offending cut it off it is better for thee to enter halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire, where their wormed eye is not and the fire is not quenched." Now I would say that's a warning. Would you not say that that's a warning? Now the question is, who's he talking to and what's he talking about, right? Is he talking to Christians and saying, you know, you as believers, you know, if your eyes gonna offend you, you better pluck that thing out or you're going to hell. Well, we know that salvation is by grace through faith and we know that it's eternal life and we know that it's not by works, okay? But if you're gonna try to get across to somebody that believes it's by works, what would you say to them? Okay? Which in the world today, most people believe that you have to be a good person, keep the commandments in order to go to heaven, right? I mean, because, you know, a lot of people say, well, how do you go soul wanting? How do you deal with all these different aspects? All you need to know is everybody thinks you have to be a good person and do good works, go to heaven, and just work off that. I mean, that's essentially every single person. You talk to a Hindu, what do they think? Well, there's multiple gods, but you have to be a good person in order to get to Nirvana or whatever they're trying to do, right? You talk to a Buddhist, same thing. You talk to a Muslim, same thing. You talk to, you know, whatever religion that you're gonna run into, it's you got to be a good person and you got to keep the law and you can't just do whatever you want and it's some kind of belief in something with working in something, right? So, what Jesus is doing here is meeting somebody that thinks they have to be a good person, right? Okay? And what he's stating here is that, okay, you know, I think about the rich man. When he talks to the rich man and he says, you know, he says to the rich man, he says, to inherit an eternal life or to obtain an eternal life and he says, why cause thou me good? There's none good but one that is God. Now, he's not saying that he's not good because he is God, okay? So, one, he's teaching them, like, hey, I'm God, you should recognize that. Second of all, he's saying there's none good. So, then he says, keep the commandment, you know, basically, and I'm paraphrasing here, but he's basically saying, you know, keep down, you know, basically, he quotes off some of the law and he says, keep the commandments and thou shalt live and he says, what does the young man say? I have kept them all from my youth up and then he says, okay, well, if you're perfect, okay, which obviously no one is, if you're perfect then, you know what, sell everything you have and you'll have rewards in heaven and he's not saying sell everything you have so that you'll go to heaven, he's saying, so you'll have rewards in heaven and he went away sorrowful but the thing that Jesus is getting there is that someone has to realize that they, that they can't make it that way, right? The first thing we tell people, I think the first verse that most all of us go to is Romans 3 23 which it says, for all of sin it comes short of the glory of God. Now, when Jesus is preaching this, think about this, if you were perfect and you never sinned, let's say you were, there was some person like that in this world right now, Jesus is saying, if your hand or your foot or your eye would cause you to offend, you're better off to pluck it out and cut it off than going to hell. Why does he say that? Well, in James chapter 2 it says this in verse 10, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offended one point, he's guilty of all. So here's the warning shot to all those that want to be a good person to go to heaven, even if you were to say to that person, listen, okay, let's say you're sinless right now, let's say you've never sinned, which is ridiculous, but let's say you've never sinned, if you, if you were to, you better cut off your hand if you're going to sin, you better cut off your foot if you're going to sin, you better pluck your eye out if you're going to sin, because it's better for you to cut off your members than to go to hell. That's a warning shot, isn't it? That's what he's stating there and, you know, there's many verses on this but, you know, obviously James 2 I think is a great one where it says if you, if you keep the whole law and yet offended one point, you're guilty of all. So it doesn't matter what law you break, you're guilty of the law and you're not going to, you're not going to make it if you're going to be trusting in the law if you've broken one point. The Bible also says, for as many as of the works of law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is every man that continueth, or everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So unless you keep it all, then you're not making it. But if you keep it all, okay, then Jesus is basically stating here that if you're about to offend, if you're going to offend at any point, you better cut off your limbs. You're better to cut off your limbs, pluck out your eye, than to sin and then go to hell. Does that make sense? So obviously he's dealing with the fact that this is an impossible case anyway, right? And that's where, when the rich man leaves away sorrowful and he says, you know, it's easier for a rich man to go, or for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle than a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven, because the rich man is trusting in his riches. And his disciples are confused, they're like, well how can anybody be saved then, right? You're saying, you know, keep all the commandments, do all this, and he says, with men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Why? Because all things are possible to him that believe it, because who sort of believe it in him should not perish, but have eternal life. That's the case that we're dealing here, and that's the warning. So when we go out sowing, we're obviously teaching, but we're warning, right? We're warning people about hell, we're warning people about the condemnation, and Jesus warned those about the condemnation to come, about hell, and about the condemnation of hell. He wasn't teaching that they had to be a good person to go to heaven, he was teaching the severity of hell, and the fact that it's so bad that you're better off cutting off a member in this life, you're better off being maimed, halt, or having one eye going through this life, than going to hell when you die, okay? Now obviously he's giving this extreme example, but it also should show you that someone should look at that and be like, there's got to be a better way, right? That's not possible then, right? I mean if I'm gonna offend it all, if I'm gonna sin, I'm better off to cut off my hand, then who's gonna make it? No one's gonna make it, and that's where you get into there's none good but one that is God. There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth good, no not one, and once you realize that, then you realize, okay, well that's not the route to go. The route to go is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that your sins be covered and forgiven by him, and he'll impute his righteousness unto you. Now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18, 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18, and I'm getting to the point of preaching, right? The purpose of preaching is to warn them to teach, but preaching in itself, and I'm using the Bible's terms, is foolish, okay? Meaning this is that as a human being, for me to get up here and to just preach and get on a soapbox, if you will, or a pulpit, and start preaching to you, in turn, you know, would seem to go against what the Bible says a lot of times as far as let your word be few, and not basically getting up here and just talking a lot, okay? But notice what the Bible says about this, okay? Because the world would look at this, and the world looks at this as if it's foolish, right? Me getting up here preaching, you listening, and learning from preaching, right? The world looks at that as being foolish, and notice what it says in verse 18, it says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God. Notice what it says, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? But after that, in wisdom, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now notice what it says here in verse 27, it says, but God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God had chosen the weak things of the world to confound things which are mighty. See, the world looks at preaching as if it's foolishness. Going out and preaching the gospel, they'll look at me, that's foolishness, you know, that's something that doesn't seem to be wise to do it that way, but God has chosen that. He's chosen the weak things, the base things, the foolish things of this world, what the world would consider to be foolishness, God is using that to confound the wise, okay? And when it comes to preaching the gospel, when it even comes to preaching in front of a congregation, the world would consider this foolish. And when you think about this, go to Proverbs chapter 17. Proverbs chapter 17, the Bible is constantly telling us to basically not talk that much, essentially. Proverbs 17 verse 27 here, Proverbs 17 verse 27 it says, he that hath knowledge spareth his words, and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. You ever run into that person that just never says anything, they're really shy, and you're like, that person kind of seems, they just kind of seem wise because they don't say anything. But someone that that's just talking all the time, that person ends up looking foolish because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, and you know what, eventually you're gonna say something stupid. Now Ecclesiastes says something similar to this, and Ecclesiastes 5 2 it says, be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty that or anything before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few. Now what I what I mean by this is that generally speaking we want to try to keep what we say to a minimum, right? It says be swift to hear, slow to speak, and these are things that the Bible teaches, but when it comes to preaching, you know, I'm speaking for like an hour and a half or something, though sometimes, but you know we have a sermon that's like 45 minutes, no, 50, an hour, no, but when you're preaching, let's do a long sermon, right? That's a lot of talking. Well here's how, here's how it works with God. You use his word, because the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and when it comes to preaching the gospel, you know what you should be doing? Obviously you're gonna be using your words too, but you should be using the Word of God because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, so you're gonna use a lot of God's Word. When you're preaching a sermon, you should be using a lot of God's Word. You know what, you know why you should do that? So it's not your words that are being brought forward, okay, and that you're not gonna be looked at as a fool, because the more I speak of what I think and what I'm, you know, what's going on in my mind, the more chance that there's gonna be something foolish that's gonna be said, but if I'm just saying, well this is what the Bible says, you know, the Bible says this, I believe this, and here's why it says this, and here's what it says over here, this matches up perfectly, there's nothing foolish about that. I'm safe at that point in my preaching, and it baffles me to when preachers will go rogue and they just will use one verse and go off and just start chattering about something, because at that point you're basically just opening yourself up to look foolish. So the safe route when it comes to preaching, you say, well you use the Bible as a crutch, you bet I do, you bet I do. I mean the Bible, I'm gonna, every point that I'm gonna make, I'm gonna have verses based off those points, and if I don't, then I'm just opening myself up to look foolish and opening up myself to basically eat crow. Now go to Nehemiah chapter 8, Nehemiah chapter 8. So I talked about, you know, on the one side you have preaching of the cross, right, to get people saved. You know, the Bible talks about, you know, for whosoever shall call upon him the Lord shall be saved, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach except to be sent, as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. There's a progression there when it comes to preaching, and the preachers are preaching the gospel to get people saved, and when you're doing that, you're warning and you're teaching. You say, well, are you bringing them perfect before Christ? Spiritually speaking, yes. When someone gets saved, their soul and their spirit is made perfect in Christ, and they are completely renewed. They're a new creature. They're sinless. They're a child of God. The moment they put their faith in Christ, when you preach them the gospel and they believe it, okay. But then you get into, okay, the aspect of Christians perfecting themselves, right, because you say, what is that talking about? Well, now we have another element there, which is our body, our flesh, okay, that we have to bring into subjection, and we're trying to perfect that, okay. Nehemiah chapter 8 is a great passage here dealing with congregational preaching. Now, when it comes to preaching the gospel, anybody can do that. Any saved person can do this, man, woman, and child. If you're saved, you can preach the gospel and you can be preachers, okay, and you can go out and warn every man and teach every man. You have the authority to do that. When it comes to congregational preaching, that is where the Bible teaches that I suffer not a woman to teach nor to serve authority over the man, and it talks about that they are not permitted to speak in church, and that's talking about congregational preaching, okay. And so Nehemiah chapter 8 is a great passage here to show us about congregational preaching. Now, in verse 1 here, it says, and all the people gathered themselves together as one man in the street that was before the Watergate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. So when it says together as one man, that's another way of saying a congregation. And what's another word for congregation? Church. I don't have time to prove that to you, but you know, in Hebrews it'll say that in the midst of the church I was saying praise unto thee, and then in Psalms it says in the midst of the congregation, okay. Church means congregation. Church is not this building. The building we were in before, that is not a church. We were using that building for our church. The church are the people. If we went out to the pavilion right now, that's where church would be. Wherever we are at as a congregation, that's the church, and it's teaching here that both men and women are in this congregation, okay. So this does not teach that women are not allowed to hear preaching or that they're not allowed to be in church or anything like that. And when it says all they that could hear with understanding, this is where people say, well, you know, this is why you shouldn't have children in church. Well, I'm gonna get to what it means by that, but let me ask you a question here. If the men and women are in the congregation, who's watching the kids, right? I mean, talk about a free-for-all. You're like, well, you know, there was one lady that took all those kids, you know, it's like, that's the nursery. Doesn't say that. When it's talking, and I'm gonna get to what it's talking about, all those that can hear with understanding, we're gonna get into who are supposed to be in a church, you know, when it comes to who's being preached to, okay. Now, keep reading there. It says, and he read therein to the Book of Law. They read therein before the street. That was before the Watergate from the morning until midday. So they're not even in a building. Do you see that? This congregation is meeting. They're not in a building. They're in the street, okay. They're like, that's street preaching in the Bible, okay. The difference here is that these people are saved, and these people are not getting preached the gospel. They're getting preached the Word of God. They're getting preached a basically sermon from the Word of God, and they could understand, okay. And I'm gonna get to that point here. Before the men and women and those that could understand, and the ears of all people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattaniah and Shammah and Anniah and Urijah and Hilkiah and Maasiah on his right hand, and on his left hand Padiah and Meshiel and Melchiah and Hashabendana, Zechariah and Mesholam. Okay, so sorry I didn't read these names before I did this sermon, okay. Should have practiced that a little bit. Anyway, verse 5 here says, Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and when he opened it all the people stood up. Now when it comes to this, we're dealing with a congregation of people, and it says a pulpit of wood. Now a pulpit of wood is something you stand on. Now the reason a lot of times we call this a pulpit is because back in the day they would make a pulpit of wood would basically be the platform and the podium itself, like everything kind of in itself, right. So it'd be like if this thing was attached to this platform, you know, this is all the pulpit, if you will, that he's standing upon. If you want me to stand on this, I would try, but I would hit my head right here. So, but that being said is that, you know, that's where we get that term pulpit, but it's just something you're standing on to basically so people could see you, okay. Now keep reading there. It says, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua and Bani and Shabiah and Jaman and Achaab, Shabithi, you know these names, okay. So just for sake of argument here, there was a lot of people here that were listening to this. It says it caused the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place. So the law, they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading, okay. So when it comes to preaching, well, you need to have the book of law there, right, because if you're not preaching out of the Word of God, what are you doing? Because you're supposed to be warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom. And if you're gonna have all wisdom, then you better have the Word of God there when you're preaching it. And it says here that they read that they read the book of the law of God distinctly, okay. So what does distinctly mean? It means clearly, without that, without doubt, or unmistakably. Basically, they read it clearly, right. They weren't paraphrasing it. They were reading exactly what it said. And you say, well, you know, why do you read a whole chapter when you start a sermon? First of all, I would say this, why not, right, it's the Word of God, so why not have a whole chapter read at the beginning, but also when it comes to this, you know what, if there's a passage that's reflecting the sermon, right, don't you want to hear what the Word of God says before anything even starts? Don't you want to have some context about what's being said before it even starts and say, okay, well, we read this whole chapter, now let's see what he's going to talk about here. And that being said is that you want to read it distinctly, and notice what it says, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. What's the point of preaching? So that you, so that it makes sense, right, so that you understand what you're reading. Now, when it comes to, you know, reading, you know, the Bible and all that, I'm going to be getting to is that you as Christians can understand everything in the Bible that I can understand. It's not like I'm some like special creature up here that can somehow get better, more revelation and understand more about the Bible than you, and I'm going to show you some verses on that, but when it comes to this, that's the point of preaching is so that it makes sense and that you understand what you're reading. Hey, why do you come to church? You know, obviously we come to church so that we can be sent out to go out soul winning and do the Great Commission, right? That's kind of the point and the operation of the church, but what's the point of the preaching of the church? What's the point of hearing sermon, and as the Bible would say, prophesying, right? Prophesying to the churches, edifying to the church, is the idea is that you learn what the Bible says. You would learn what it means and what it's teaching, and go to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 because the first thing I want to hit here is that it kept saying that he would preach to those that could understand. Now, people that want to say that children shouldn't be in church, they'll say, well, they can't understand. That's hogwash, okay? First of all, first of all, kids that aren't even able to understand the gospel still pick up and understand certain things that are being said because they're innocent, right? They're innocent children. Even if they can't understand, you know, the gospel yet, they're still picking up what you're saying and understanding more than you know. The second of all, if a child is saved, then they can understand. They can understand the Bible, and children can get saved at a young age. So if you're talking about infants not being, you know what? You know what Jesus said? He said, suffer the little children that come unto me, and forbid them not. And in those cases where he said that, he not only had children, it said he had infants and sucklings, right? I mean, so yes, children are welcome in the church. Obviously we have a mother-baby room because if children are just wailing, it's gonna be hard for people to hear and understand. But at the same time, we have a lot of children in here, and we have children here that may not even be ready to get saved yet or understand the gospel. But you know what? That's not what it's talking about. You know what it's talking about? Unsaved people. Now, are unsaved people welcome to come into our church, you know, and they were to come visit our church? Sure, you know, we're not here to like just be like, are you saved or can't come in here until you're saved? No, but here's what's gonna happen. If someone that comes into church is a visitor, we're gonna talk to them about the gospel, and hopefully they get saved. And if they leave unsaved and they come back, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna talk to them about the gospel again when they come back in. And hopefully eventually they get saved, and you know what? Now, but here's the thing. When it comes to congregational preaching, I'm preaching to save people, not lost people. So when you come into church, you're like, oh, you didn't preach on salvation today. Well, do you need to hear it again? Because a lot of churches will go to where it's just like salvation every single Sunday. And listen, who here knows how to get saved? Who here knows salvation? You know, everybody in here should be under that premise that you're saved and you're on your way to heaven, you know salvation. Now obviously, you know, we'll ask people that come in and we'll make sure people understand it and all that stuff that if they're visitors and we don't know who they are and stuff like that. But ultimately, the congregation is for believers. Unbelievers, the Bible says, notice what it says, go to 1st Corinthians chapter 2, 1st Corinthians chapter 2, and say, well, don't you want unsaved people to come to church to get saved? Listen, I'm all for that, but you know what I'm for more is what God told us to do, which is to go out into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You know what the Bible says? To go. It says that your feet may be shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace because you're supposed to go out door-to-door, two-by-two, out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. We're not waiting for the lost to just like have this idea of like I need to be in church and I need to get you know going to church and then we, you know, that's how we're gonna get people saved. I'm all for that and it's happened. You know, I've won people to Christ coming and visiting in the church and that's great. I'm all for that. It's great. It's easier for me, right? But that is not how we're, that's not the ultimate way of going soul-winning. If you go soul-winning and you win someone to Christ pumping gas, that's great, but that's not our main form of soul-winning. Our main form of soul-winning is going out and knocking every door and going two-by-two and reaching people out where they're at, okay? But when it comes to church, I'm not going to tailor my sermons to unsaved people. I'm going to tailor it to saved people. Notice what it says here in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 1. It says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So what he's stating here is that when he came to Corinth, he's basically saying, I didn't come to you basically with all this like great wisdom and trying to show you all this stuff about the Bible. I came to you and the only thing that I was really trying to get across to you, you know, basically I determined not to know anything else besides Jesus Christ and Him crucified, which is the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. So when you're talking about talking or preaching to unsaved people, you know what that goal should be? The gospel. Right? If someone's like, well, what about the 144,000 over here? Let's talk about that later. Let's get back to the gospel and then we'll talk about that later, okay? And here's why. And notice what it says in verse 6 here. So you're in the second chapter of 1st Corinthians. It says, verse 6, How be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. So we're talking about saved people that have been perfected in Christ as far as their soul and spirits, been made a new creature. Then he's saying, we'll speak wisdom to them, but to those that are unsaved, we're only determined to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You know, they need to get saved. That's the foundation. It says, yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world that come to naught, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God hath ordained before the world unto our glory. Meaning this is that there's a lot of hidden wisdom and just nuggets of truth in the Bible and just a lot of things you can learn from the Bible, but he's saying, when I first came to you, it was not to show you all that. It was to show you that you need to get saved, essentially. You know, the gospel, that's what I determined, but we do speak wisdom to them that are perfect, okay? Now verse 12 here explains why this is the case, okay? Why do we not go to unsaved people and just start expounding like all this like deep things of God? Because they can't understand it. And that's where it gets into Nehemiah where he's basically saying, he spoke to those that could understand, okay? He wasn't street preaching to a bunch of unsaved people. People were congregated there that were saved that could understand the Bible, okay? And in verse 12 here, it says, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things and spiritual. Notice this, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So what's it say? A natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. So when it's talking about, you know, he spoke to those men and women that could understand, he's basically saying, I'm speaking to those that are not natural men, right? They're spiritual, meaning they're saved. Because when it comes to knowing the Bible, you need to be saved to understand the Bible. You don't need to be saved to understand the gospel, but you do need a preacher. So even with the gospel, with the preaching the gospel, it says, how shall they hear without a preacher? And it says, you know, that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. And it also says, you know, when someone that was reading the Bible, the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, and Philip says, understandest what thou readest, he says, how can I except some man should guide me? So even with the gospel, you need someone to explain it to you, but that's the one thing that an unsaved person can understand when you explain it to him, is the gospel. That's why, you know what, we shouldn't just go, I'm not gonna go into deep things of God with an unsaved person, because it's not gonna be profitable. But a saved person, they can understand all things, because notice what it says, it says, but he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For whom, or I'm sorry, for who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him, but we had the mind of Christ, because we had the Word of God. And we have our spirit, our soul is a new creature, we have the Holy Ghost inside of us, go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2. So I'm making a preface here to preaching to a congregation. So when you're dealing with, what's the purpose of preaching? Well, when it comes to unsaved people is to get them saved. It's to warn them and teach them to get them saved, to get them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the goal. But then preaching, once that person's saved, shifts into congregational preaching. And notice that I keep saying congregational preaching, because I'm not going to come to your house and preach to you. I'm not coming to your house and telling you what to do, and preaching down your throat on an individual basis. I'm going to preach to a congregation, you can take it or leave it. Okay? But I'm not one of these people that's just going to point out people and just start preaching to them directly as far, unless there's like some sin that they need to be kicked out of a church for, okay? Like 1 Corinthians 5. But at the same time, like when you're dealing with preaching and you're like, well I know a lot of people struggle with this, and I start pointing out people, naming them by name. No, congregational preaching is supposed to be basically over everybody. It's a specific preaching, but I'm not here to just come down on any single person. I'm coming to warn everybody and teach everybody, okay? Now in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 20, I want you to know this, that if you're saved, you have the Holy Ghost inside of you, and you don't technically need me to know the Bible, okay? Notice what it says here in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 20. It says, but you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. So he's not saying that he's talking to unsaved people. He's saying you have an unction from the Holy One, you know all things, and unction is talking about an anointing. Notice what it says in verse 27, but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him. So as a saved person, you can understand everything in this Bible just as much as I can, okay? You know what separates real Christianity from cults? Is that right there. You don't need me to understand the Bible, but let's not take out the purpose of preaching in the church, okay? You don't technically need me, but does that mean I can't help you understand some things about the Bible? Does that make sense? Go to Titus chapter 1, Titus chapter 1, meaning this is that there are people that know more than you about the Bible that are saved, and that's why a pastor is not supposed to be a novice, someone that's supposed to be holding fast the faithful word that he may, you know, that basically he can exhort and convince the gainsayers, that basically he knows the Word of God, he can preach you the Word of God, and teach you things that maybe took him years to know or months to know or whatever the case may be, right? And listen, I listen to preaching too. You know, before I ever started preaching, I listen to preaching, I still listen to preaching because I'm not above learning from somebody, okay? But when it comes to hearing preaching, what you need to do is say, does that match what the Bible says? You don't take what I say as just being fact without any type of checking when it comes to that. When it talks about, he's a spiritual, judgeth all things, so when it comes to when you hear preaching, you know what you should be doing? You're looking at the mind of Christ here and you're saying, does that match? Does that fit? And hopefully you're in a church where most of the time it's fitting, right? You're like, yeah, that fits, that fits, that fits, but there may be a time even in this church where you're like, hmm, I see where he's coming from, but I don't necessarily agree with that. That's fine. And I, listen, there is no one that I know, I'm telling you no one, not my wife, not my best friend, no one that I know that we agree on everything when it comes to the Bible, okay? Now my wife, my friends, best friends, like everybody that I would, that I would say we all agree on salvation though. We all agree on the King James Bible, we all agree on certain things, right? But we're not gonna agree on every little thing. Titus chapter 1 and verse 1, it says, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life is God that cannot lie, promised before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word, what? Through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior. Now that is definitely true when it comes to soul winning, right? That he's manifested his word through preaching, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God, obviously it's manifested to the unsaved by preaching because how shall they hear without a preacher, but this also I believe applies to when it comes to congregational preaching, when it comes to preaching to saved people. Meaning this is that, yes, you can know everything in that Bible and you can read that Bible every single year and read it scores of times and learn it all yourself, but I, you know what can help too, is if someone preaches you a sermon on a subject that's already done the study and they give you what it should mean and then you take that and say and now you have, okay, here's what the thought process is, here's what they're saying this says, does it match? And if it does, you just saved yourself tons of time to learn that one doctrine. That make sense? So preaching can be very profitable if you have good preaching. Now it can be it can be unprofitable if the preacher doesn't know what he's talking about and the preacher is just going rogue and he's not using the Bible and and then you're just sitting there like why am I even listening to this and there's a lot of churches like that where you're at a church and you're just like I was better off just reading my Bible. I should have just stayed home and read my Bible, right? And hopefully, you know, most hopefully my goal is that you don't go home thinking that. Like hopefully you never go home thinking that. I hope that there's some sermons where you're like, man, I really got a lot out of that and I but I hope at least at least you go walk away saying, you know what, that reaffirms something I already believed, right? Like I believed that, he's preaching on that and it's, you know, sometimes you need to be refreshed on something or something, you know, so maybe you're not always learning something new every single Sunday or every single service but you should at least be saying, you know what, that's a good teaching in the Bible, you need to hear that again, you know what, it's good to hear it again, you know what, and hopefully I'm bringing out some maybe some other verses that bolster it and you're like, oh, I never knew that verse kind of fits with that and all that. So that being said, when it comes to preaching, it is profitable. So yes, you can know everything by yourself and reading through the Bible but it's a good tool to have as far as preaching is concerned. Now when it comes to preaching, it's also warning when it comes to the congregation. Go to Ezekiel chapter 3, Ezekiel chapter 3, and I just want to make two points here when it comes to preaching to the congregation which is warning and teaching, okay? Salvation or when you're winning people to Christ, I think that was pretty easy to know that a warning shot is being called to people when you're saying, if you don't believe this you're going to hell. I would say that's a warning but then, you know, when you're warning, what are you warning saved people about, right? Because saved people can't go to hell, they're eternally secure, they're once saved, always saved, and we're always, you know, being accused, well if you teach that then why don't everybody just go out and do whatever they want? And my answer to that is why am I not doing that then? You told me that everybody's gonna do that, what are you all doing here? Why are you at church? What are you reading your Bible for? Oh, you do it because you love God, well that's interesting because that's actually what the Bible teaches. The Bible actually teaches if you love me keep my commandments. He actually says that love is the fulfilling of the law, that the law is fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That actually fits with what the Bible says instead of, you know, well I keep the law because I don't want to go to hell. That actually goes against what the Bible says. Now in Ezekiel chapter 3 and verse 16, this this passage is usually taken out of context because they think it's talking to unbelievers, but if you know that he's talking to the house of Israel which would represent the children of God, obviously we know that not everybody in Israel was saved. The New Testament states that, you know, their number was at the sand of the sea but a remnant was saved. We understand that but what it represents though is saved people. It says in verse 16, And it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. So what's he telling Ezekiel to do? He's like, I made you a watchman and I'm telling you to warn them from me. Basically, I have a warning to them but you're gonna give it to them, okay? It says, When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou giveth him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because thou hast not given him warning, and he shall die in his sins, and his righteousness, which he had done, shall not be remembered, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned also that has delivered thy soul. So I want you to get this picture here. My job is to warn you. I can't force you to either stay righteous or to go from wicked to righteous. Does that make sense? My job is to warn you. Notice that I'm warning both people that are doing what they should be doing and people that are doing what they shouldn't be doing. Notice that that warning shot is going to both sides of that spectrum, right? Because you say, well, a warning, that only applies if we're not doing what we should be doing. No, that warning applies to you that are righteous so that you don't do what you shouldn't be doing, and the warning shot is going to those that are doing what they shouldn't be doing because there's consequences of that, and if you don't get it right, you're going to suffer those consequences, okay? But as a preacher, I believe that the Lord obviously is telling me to be sober, be vigilant. You know what that means? I'm a watchman for this church. That means I'm going to warn and I'm going to teach you, and warning, a lot of times, you know, I'll say it's a precautionary sermon because I, you know, I'll be preaching on something and be like, I don't think anybody's involved in this. I don't know, but it's precautionary, and you know what? That's a warning sermon because let's say no one is involved in that certain sin that I'm preaching on. You know what? The Bible says that if I don't warn you and then you go into that sin, that your blood is on my hands. So, you know, you say, well, I want to be a preacher one day. I want to be a pastor one day. Well, with being a pastor and being a preacher comes great responsibility, meaning that I have a whole congregation that's looking to my thoughts on a subject and my, you know, either warning or my acceptance with something, and that affects a lot of people. That's why it says, be not many masters, for in many things you offend all. Meaning, being someone that's ahead of a group or something, that all comes back on them, and when it comes to this, if you say, well, you know, why do you keep warning about this subject? Well, one, I care about you, okay? So, I warn you because I don't want to see bad things happen to you. I don't want to see, you know, God coming down on you or chastening you because of certain sins, but two, you know what? I'm gonna warn you because I don't want it to be on my hands. When it comes to soul winning, you know why we're gonna preach the gospel to every preacher? Because, you know what Paul said, I am innocent from the blood of your, basically he's saying to the Jews, I've washed my hands of your blood. Why? Because he's warned everybody. Actually, probably more than once, and he's like, I'm done. He says that a million times, then he's like, all right, I'm gonna go back and talk to him again. But the idea there is that, hey, if you warn them, you've done your job. So when you go out soul winning and someone gets upset with you, or if you're preaching to a congregation and someone gets upset with you because you're warning them about something, you know what? It is what it is, and I'm going to do it anyway because that's what the Bible teaches that preaching is. Preaching is warning, and it is teaching. The Bible says in Isaiah 58, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression in the house of Israel and the house of Jacob their sins. That's, hard preaching is going to get loud, it's going to hit hard, and it's going to be about things that aren't going to be comfortable. And, you know, that's, and listen, most people here like hard preaching. You know, I'm preaching to the choir, so I'm not here to like, hey, you need to get on board with hard preaching. Most everybody here is like for hard preaching, and they like hard preaching. Why? Because it's profitable. Because preaching that's warning and teaching is a very profitable preaching because it's going to keep you in line with what the Bible teaches, and by the way, you know, me preaching and warning things, I'm warning and preaching to myself as well. I have to study these things. I'm looking at these things. I'm like getting grossed in whatever I'm preaching. It helps me too, but I also like to hear preaching on subjects just to keep, you know, remind me of things that need to be warned about. 2 Timothy chapter 4, 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1, it says this, it says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead it is appearing in his kingdom. Verse 2, preach the word be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. And he's saying, you know, preach the word in season out of season. That means when it's good or, you know, in a good season or a bad season, right, when it comes to whether people like it or they don't like it, you need to preach it. A lot of things seem to be out of season these days, but it still needs to be preached. And reprove, rebuke are two negative things. I don't think anybody would say, you know, I got reproved today and they're excited about it. Or I got rebuked today and I'm really excited about it. Now exhortation a lot of times is a good thing, you exhort somebody. And you know what that's teaching me? You can think of those two ways. You can either say them that your sermons in general will be two-thirds of a rebuke or reprove as far as like, oh this sermon that you had last Sunday, that was a reprove. Your sermon the next Sunday was a rebuke. And then this Sunday you had an exhortation. Or you can think that in every sermon, two-thirds of that sermon is a reprove and a rebuke, and the other portion is an exhortation. Because if you just, if you didn't need any reprove or rebuke or anything like that, then you've arrived and why are you here? That make sense? None of us have arrived. None of us have attained. If Paul the Apostle isn't perfect and hasn't attained, then we haven't either. And last but certainly I'm going to show you here in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, dealing with teaching. So hopefully you understand preaching. What's the point? To warn, to teach. And when it comes to come to church, I believe that a sermon should be highly on warning you about something that you shouldn't get into or something that's going on, or it should be highly on doctrine. Learning doctrine, learning teachings about what the Bible teaches. And there's going to be a mix in there, you know. I'm not saying like every sermon is going to be just one or the other. But in verse 7 here it says, "'But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore,' he saith, when he ascended on up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it that he also descended first unto the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers what for? For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." So what's the point of the pastor or the teacher? It's for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Keep reading there. It says, "'Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ." What was our memory verse this morning? "'Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man that we may present every man," what? Perfect in Christ Jesus. You know what my goal is with our congregation? Is that you're perfected. That your faith is perfected. That you're perfected in all doctrine. That you're perfected in all knowledge. That, you know what, that we grow into the perfect stature of Christ. And verse 14, it says, "'Henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.'" I'm just going to end on this. When it comes to preaching, preaching sound doctrine is so important. And the reason why is because in the world that we live in, it's so easy to fall into all these, every wind of doctrine that's out there. Especially with YouTube and social media, you know, you'll get on there and you'll become a flat earther. That's not really biblical, but it goes against biblical Christianity. But then you get on there and now you're getting into all this weird stuff. All the rapture doesn't exist. Or you get into weird stuff about dispensationalism. Or you'll get into Calvinism. Or you'll get into Arminianism. Or you get into all these different things. Or you'll get into modalism and deny the Trinity. You know the point of good doctrine and a good church that preaches doctrine is it keeps you from going to and fro into every wind of doctrine. And if you came in and be like, you know what, I heard this doctrine out there. It could be nipped in the bud from the very beginning and say, you know what, that's wicked as hell and it goes against all these verses in the Bible. When I first started the church, I never knew that modalism or oneness Pentecostalism, which denies the Trinity, would be this big epic fight in a Baptist realm. I knew it existed. I knew of it. But I didn't know that it was gonna be this big fight. And that's why church is important because I saw good people getting swayed and be like, well, you know, it does say this over here and it says this over here. And they'll start getting swayed into this stuff. And you know what, you need somebody to know something about the Bible and say, you know what, that's wicked. That's wrong. And here's all the verses why that's wrong and just showing it the way it is, okay? And I'm not saying those people couldn't figure that out, but why not be in a church that's rooted and grounded in the truth, that's the pillar and ground of the truth, that's teaching sound doctrine at all times to where when you're in that church, you know what, when that doctrine comes up you're gonna reject it out of hand and say that's wicked, that's wrong. You know why? Because I already know what the Bible teaches on the Trinity and you're out to lunch. The problem is when you don't know a bunch of sound doctrine, you don't know the doctrines like you should, when that comes along you don't have that to compare it to. So my job is to warn you, but it's also to teach you sound doctrine to keep you from being tossed to and fro with everyone to doctrine. And you know, so when I write sermons that's kind of the point. That's what I'm thinking of anyway. And when it comes to preaching, you need to keep it simple, okay? And when it comes, anybody that wants to be a preacher one day or wants to be a pastor or even if you just want to preach a sermon, here's the simple truth. Your sermon should either warn or teach or both. And the whole point is for the perfecting of the person that you're preaching it to. The point of me preaching up here is not to look smart, it's not for accolades, it's not to look good. If that was the case I would have failed a long time ago. The whole point is to warn and teach you. And if it doesn't make sense to you and if it's not something that you understand what you're reading when we're reading this, then I'm failing as a teacher, I'm failing as a pastor. So that's the whole point and that's what I try to do, okay? And so I just kind of want to preach a sermon on that. I kind of touched on that from here here and there when I talk about, you know, the point of preaching is so that it makes sense. The point of preaching is that you're teaching doctrine and that you understand what's being said. I kind of wanted to hit a whole sermon on that. So, and I'm going through Colossians and that verse just stuck out, so that's where that came from. But let's end with a word prayer. Father, we thank you for today and thank you for your word. Pray you be with us for the rest of the day as we go out soul winning and just help us to warn and teach those that we run into about salvation, about damnation, and then teaching about how you saved us from that. And Lord, just pray that you be with us throughout the rest of this Sunday, and Lord, we love you and pray also in Jesus Christ's name, Amen. So Brother Abe, we'll come and sing one more song and it will be dismissed. All right, take your song books and turn to song 138. Song 138, we'll sing the Haven of Rest. If you would stand, we'll sing song 138. My soul in sad exile was out on life's sea, so burdened with sin and distress, till I heard a sweet voice saying, make me your choice, and I entered the haven of rest. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the way.