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Let's look back at verse number 53 where the Bible read, And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James and Joses, and Simon and Judas, and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him, but Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. And the title of my sermon this evening is, A Prophet is Not Without Honor. A prophet is not without honor. Now go to Mark chapter number 6. Go to Mark chapter number 6. Let's look at the parallel passage here. What did we just read? Jesus was not accepted of those that were of his own country, of his own house, of those that were closest to him. They did not believe in him. They did not think of him as being some great person. Basically destroys lifestyle evangelism. Jesus Christ is literally the greatest person ever lived, period. He's God manifest in the flesh. He only speaks the truth. And people didn't think, Oh man, this guy's so great. He's so righteous. He always speaks the truth. They didn't believe in him. They didn't think this guy was someone special. They didn't think he was anybody to put any faith in or any trust in. They were like, You're the Messiah. I mean, you're the chosen one. Look how righteous you are. They didn't have anything, they didn't want anything to do with him. Mark chapter number 6, look at verse number 1. And he went out from thence and came into his own country and his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter? Haven't you always heard Jesus is, you know, he's that carpenter dude, that's where they get this, okay? But is that really what made Jesus special, the fact that he did carpentry work? Let's keep reading. The son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and of Judah and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him, but Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. So Jesus Christ says, hey, a prophet, he's going to have honor. People are going to look up to this person. People want to hear what Jesus has to say, but did he have it in his own country, in his own land? No. Did he have it among his kin? No. Did he have it among his own house? No. Did he go away from those people in order to have the honor? It says in verse number five, and he could do, and he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief, and he went round about the villages teaching. Now I love what it says here in verse number five, there he could do no mighty work, but it's implied that if he goes somewhere else, he can do a mighty work. And guess what? The works of Jesus Christ were mighty, but it wasn't mighty where he was from. It wasn't mighty among his own kin. It wasn't mighty among his own house. It was mighty when he left those, and he went somewhere else. That's when they were the mightiest. In verse number six, it tells us he went somewhere else. Oh, I'm going to go to the villages then. I'm going to go there. That's where I'm going to do my majority of my miracles and healings and preachings. Now when I relate this scripture to modern day life, there's no new thing under the sun. It's exactly the same. When I go and I knock on someone's door today and I say, hey, I'm from Texas, cool. We all live in Texas. Nobody really cares. But you know, when you go to Mexico and you say, hey, we're from Texas, they're like, that's cool. I want to hear what you have to say. When you go to Jamaica and you say, hey, I'm from Texas, they're like, wow, that's cool. Hey, when you go to the Bahamas and you say, hey, I'm from Texas, they actually want to hear, they're actually more interested in what you have to say. Isn't that even true of yourself? If someone came and knocked on your door and they say, hey, I'm from Dallas, you're like, get out of here. No, I'm just kidding. Isn't that how Fort Worth feels? I don't get it, but you know, whatever. Or from Dallas, they're like, we're from Fort Worth, we'll get out of here, you know. But you say, hey, I'm from Dallas from another part of the country, they're like, that's cool. Did you have a horse over here? You know. Did you have your six shooter? I mean, what's going on? People like someone from afar and even though it happened to us, if someone came to us and they're from a foreign country, we'd be more interested in talking to them and hearing what they have to say. Just liking their accent. Some people just like a British accent or they like an Australian accent, you know, mighty. You know, good day, mate. I want to deliver you the gospel. They're like, I'm ready to hear, all of a sudden. There's nothing special about them, it's just the fact they have the accent. You know. And it's real, okay. Go to John chapter number four, John chapter number four. But it works when you go out soul winning. And in fact, sometimes you can even have more boldness. Now, me and brother Nick Connolly, we went down to the Bahamas on Monday and it was really fun going with brother Nick because he's just, he has a lot of boldness. I mean, he's just going up to people and just immediately trying to talk to them. Just immediately giving them a card and giving them the gospel. And they were very receptive. And look, when you have a lot of confidence, when you have a lot of boldness, it makes a difference in soul winning. Let me tell you what, if you're timid, if you're shy, if you're not really certain about what you're saying, they're not as interested. When you have the truth in your hand, when you know you're about to show them how to go to heaven, when you know their life and soul is at stake and you're confident about it, they're interested in hearing. They want to know what you have to say. And look, confidence and boldness works. And whenever you're from afar, people, they're ready. They're ready for you to do a mighty work because hey, you're right there to give them the gospel. And in fact, a lot of people today that we look at is not wanting to talk to about the gospel. I mean, it felt like brother Nick was taking every opportunity. I mean, it's like taxi cab driver, saved. You know, our waiter, our waitress, saved. You know, the security guard, I mean, getting him saved. Then he gets one of the security guards saved at the pool and we weren't supposed to be swimming. He pulled clothes at 8 p.m. I was like, what? So we're swimming at like 9 or 10. As soon as we get done, he goes and he talks to the security guard, gets him saved. And then the next day, the security guard takes us to another security guard where brother Nick's getting that person saved too. Why? Because you can do a mighty work somewhere else. You go try to give the security guards in this area the gospel. They'll throw you in jail. The police officers, you know, whoever it is, the security, they're not as interested. I'm from Texas. They don't care. They're not really into it, okay? Look, the same was with Jesus. If Jesus doesn't get any special recognition among his own country and land, why do you think you're going to get it? You're not. There's no new thing. But look, there's something different about going out where people you're not from and trying to give them the gospel. Look at John chapter 4. We're going to look at some examples here. Look at verse 38. John chapter 4 verse 38. This is Jesus speaking. I sent you to reap that wherein you bestowed no labor. Other men labored and you're entered into their labors. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified. He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto them, they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves. And know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. And after two days he departed thence and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Then when he was coming to Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came again into Canaan of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea unto Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. Now this is an important part of scripture. What's happening? In John chapter number four, Jesus is talking to the woman at the well. Now she's a Samaritan. She's not from his country. She's not of the lost tribes of the children of Israel. She's more kind of like a heathen, okay? But Jesus Christ, when talking to her, he gives her the gospel. He forgoes lunch and gives her the gospel. And then what happens with her? She goes off and gets other people to come and hear Jesus Christ, and then a whole bunch of Samaritans come. They hear Jesus Christ. They're all getting saved. Many people are believing on him. But then he goes back home to Galilee, and they won't believe unless they hear or see some mighty sign and wonder. Why is that? Well, because he can do a mighty work among the Samaritans. But of his own country, he cannot do the same work. And look, let me tell you what. If I spend the exact same amount of hours soul winning in Dallas-Fort Worth as I do in Jamaica or the Bahamas or Mexico, I'm not going to see as many people say, I'm not going to be able to do as mighty a work in this area. So think about that. Why would Jesus Christ tell us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature if he didn't really mean it? You know what he wants us to do? He wants us to get out from our own country and from our own kin and actually teach all nations like he said, then you can do a mighty work. You say, hey, Pastor Shelley, I don't want to do any mighty works, okay? We'll never leave. Never leave among your own country and your own kin and your own land. Look, the more you leave, the better results you're going to have. Now here's the reality. The people that go soul winning here, they're going to go soul winning there too. And we ought not forsake our own vineyard. We ought not forsake our own land and our own country, but let me tell you what. When you leave your area, you can do a mightier work there. Even Jesus Christ, we see himself doing the same thing. And he says in verse number 48, the Galileans, they have to see a special sign or wonder, otherwise they're not going to believe. Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I'm going to actually prove to you what I'm saying, that I'm not just making it up. But the Bible teaches us that being a foreigner can have a benefit. Now most of the time we think of foreigners as it's all negative, there's nothing positive about it, but the Bible teaches that there is some kind of benefit. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, look at verse number 21, and the law is written, with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. So God was saying, hey, I'm going to try and get the gospel to my own people, even from other countries and other tongues. And he said, even after all that, they still are going to reject me. Meaning what? That this is a greater work than having your own neighbor. It seems kind of important when someone's willing to travel thousands of miles just to come give you the gospel, that sounds pretty important. That sounds like something worth listening to. That's why it's also important, hey, we go to the door. We're not just waiting for them to come into church. We actually go to their door and want to present them the gospel. I gave the gospel to a young man, it was in Spanish this afternoon, and he was just saying, hey, no one has ever just come up to me with a Bible in hand and just tried to give me the gospel. It's just sad today that people aren't willing to go and just show the gospel, but when you do that, it's going to be mighty. Look at verse 22, wherefore, he's going to explain why is it that that was mighty, wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. But prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. And 1 Corinthians 14 is explaining a very important principle. Foreign languages has their place. What is the benefit of speaking a foreign language? It's a sign to get people saved. Whenever I learn a foreign language that I don't already speak and I go and I try to give the gospel to this person, it's a sign unto them that this is important. It's a sign unto them that this is something they should take heed to and they want to listen more than if I had already spoken that language, than if I was already from their own country, than if I was just their own relative. The Bible says that tongues are for a sign. Obviously, in Acts chapter number 2, what do we have? We have the apostles and the early disciples there gathered together. They go out and the power of the Holy Ghost comes upon them and they speak with other tongues. What does it say? Let's flip over there. Go to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, look at verse number 4. Look at verse number 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So according to the Bible, the Holy Ghost actually is the one that gave them the utterance. Gave them the words of another language in order to preach. Verse 5. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how here we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia and Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia and Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Crete and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. It says in verse 12, And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? So when someone was coming to them and giving them the gospel and another language, what did they think? This is amazing. What kind of works is this? I mean, are these not all Galileans? They must not thought highly of the Galileans. Like, are these not all Texans? How do they know how to speak Spanish? You know, Texas? You know, how do they know to speak foreign language? You know, are these not all Texans? You know, look, whenever you can do it, it's amazing. And if you can learn a foreign language and you can give the gospel to other people in another language, I'm telling you, the Bible tells you it's a mighty sign. You can do mighty works for the Lord when you use that gifting. And I meet so many people, they're bilingual. You have a gift. You have a gift, and God wants to use those gifts to do mighty works for his kingdom. The goal is to get the gospel to all the world. You're already double more important than everybody that speaks one language. You have two whole areas of the world that you can give the gospel to. And we ought to emphasize those gifts. That's why we're going to Mexico, to help people. And look, Mexico's very receptive to the gospel, too. I mean, any time I go somewhere foreign, it's like they all want to hear the gospel. Now, I'm sure if I went to, like, North Korea, it might be different. I don't know. Or if I went to Iraq. But why not go to the places that are receptive anyways? And you know, when you go to Mexico, they're more religious than America. You go to the Bahamas, they call themselves a Christian nation. They say, we're Christian. We don't like homos. I say, amen. You know. Great. Jamaica, they're a Christian nation. They have Bible verses on their walls, in their schools. Let me give you another testimony. We just walk up to a school, haven't been there, and say, hey, we're from Texas. Can we talk to your students? And they wanted to set up an appointment because it was like their testing day. But in a normal circumstance, especially in Jamaica, they're like, sure. We would love for you to come talk to our students. Now, you try that at the dumb institutions down here. The public fool system. You go try that. You go walk. We're from Texas. Can we talk to your students? They'll arrest you and throw you out. You can't even walk anywhere else. We were just walking around the campus wherever we went. Try that in America. Why? Because we're from a foreign country. Because we're here as ambassadors for Christ. Because we want to deliver the gospel. They'll just let you walk around on the campus. And in fact, we were going to leave, but brother Nick's just like, I'm going to give that security guard the gospel. And I was like, go for it. He likes the hard cases, all right? I was going for the softer, you know, the cafeteria workers, all right? So I was like, all right, I'll help these cafeteria workers just take some of their food up. And I start talking to them. And very receptive. You go try walking around on public schools today. It doesn't happen. Why? Because you know what? A prophet is not without honor, save in his own land. Save in his own kin. All right? Go if you would to Jonah chapter number three, Jonah chapter number three. The Bible says, but he came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Look, he came unto his own, his own weren't that interested, move on. Go somewhere else. Jonah is another prophet where he sent to go somewhere else to preach the gospel. And let's look at chapter three, verse number four, the Bible reads, and Jonah began to enter into the city of days journey and he cried and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. That's not a long sermon. You're like, man, Pastor Shelley, I was hoping for that kind of a sermon. Sunday evening, you know, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. All right, let's go. He says, so the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast. Can you preach some one word phrase and people are just on board? No, but this traveler, this foreigner coming in, preaching the word of God with power, with might. He gave respect unto Jonah's message and he did a mighty work. He saved the entire city of hundreds of thousands of people. I mean, it tells us at the end of the book, it says in verse 11 of chapter four, and should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein there are more than six or a thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattle. Look, there's a city out there of a hundred plus thousand people that need God's word and if Jonah didn't go, what was going to happen? God was going to destroy it, but because Jonah was faithful to God's word, faithful to what God told him to do, he went and he preached, he didn't have to preach that much. And look, sometimes when you go in these foreign places, you don't have to explain parts of the gospel that much. They get it. I mean, we asked everybody on the Trinity. I mean, it's virtually just everybody agreed to the Trinity, except for this weird Mormon guy. That's a different story. But everybody agrees with the Trinity. Everybody knows John 3.16. You know, the hardest part is just helping them understand that believe means believe. That faith means faith, you know. But eternal security? Got it. Sin, hell, the gospel, the Trinity, I mean, you're entering into other men's labors. You don't even have to do as much work as you would have to in other circumstances. But how can I, except some man should guide me, like what Brother Nick said this morning. They need someone to just show them, hey, that verse you quoted, John 3.16, what did that say? Just slow down and repeat it to me one more time. Whosoever believeth. And it's like a light bulb. They're like, that said believe, didn't it? That didn't say whoever is perfect and faithful and never has unforgiveness in their heart. I mean, one lady I was talking to, she thought she was not going to go to heaven because she says, sometimes I struggle with forgiveness. Who doesn't struggle with forgiveness? I mean, think about the false prophets there, terrifying the people, putting so much fear into them. And one of the greatest things is when you ask somebody, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? They say, no. You don't even have to fight the pride. You don't have to fight the fact that I was already believing that. Who loves that? Who loves it when someone says, I already believe that? You know, it doesn't happen. They admit, hey, I changed my mind. Hey, you're right. This is different than what I was believing for. They're more humble of a people. They're a lot different. So it's great when you go one of these foreign countries and you're talking to people. Go if you would to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. You know, the Bible says in Isaiah 28, with stammering lips and another tongue will I speak unto this people. You know, we have to realize that God wants us to get a little bit out of our comfort zone and go to some other places that, you know, man, it's just so uncomfortable going where it's sandy beaches, 60, I mean, the weather's just perfect constantly. I mean, palm trees, just perfect weather. The palm trees, no homos. I'm ready to move. I had to get out of my comfort zone. You know, I was looking it up. To fly to the Bahamas, you could get a Southwest flight and fly there for like 400 bucks. That sounds terrible. I mean, man, I don't know about it, Pastor Shelley. I'm trying to encourage you, okay? Where are we turning? Acts chapter number 13, okay? We need to realize that you have a great ability to get a lot of people saved. An untapped market, oil reserves in another country that's just ready for you to get in there and just, you had to barely hit the hammer and it's just going to be oil spewing out of the ground. Acts chapter 13, look at verse number 16. Acts chapter 13, look at verse number 16, then Paul stood up and beckoning with his hand said, men of Israel and ye that fear God, give audience. Now, I'm not going to for the sake of time preach very much about this, but if you've read the book of Acts, you'll notice that the apostles and the apostle Paul specifically, they're pretty much banging their head against the wall with the Jews. They're constantly trying to get the Jews saved. It's not that they're not preaching good sermons. It's not that they're not good at explaining how Jesus Christ is the savior. It's that they're not receptive. Guess what? They're of their own country, of their own land. Even the apostle Paul, when he travels, he only talks to the Americans. He only talks to the Jews. I'm printing a modern vernacular for you, okay? You know, when me and brother Nick went to the Bahamas, I never talked to an American about the gospel. I never talked to any of those people because I already knew. I've already been there. When I go to the rich neighborhoods, they're not interested in the gospel. The people that are drinking and doing all that, they're not interested in the gospel, but you know who is? All the workers there. The apostle Paul, he keeps beating his head against the wall trying to preach to the Jews even when he's traveling. Right here, he's preaching to the Jews, but they were not interested. Look at verse 45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing you have put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Paul finally gets it, and you know what? He's now going to get so many people saved, it's incredible. He's been constantly focused on just preaching to Jews, getting very few people saved, having very little success, and then he says, hey, I'm going to turn to the Gentiles. Wow, oil field over here. The Gentiles are receptive. The Gentiles are ready to hear the gospel. It would be great if missionaries today would stop trying to go to Morocco and South Korea and just go to the countries that are already super receptive. These missionaries today, they'll go to a foreign country. They don't even speak the language. They have to go in hiding to try and give them the gospel. When they're an English speaker, they could go to the Jamaica. They could go to the Bahamas, and they could get the whole nation saved. They could turn that whole nation towards God. They could plant church after church after church. Look, so many of the people we're talking to, they're like, where are we going to church? When are you starting a church? I want to learn the rest of the Bible. One guy that we were talking to at the restaurant, and we got him saved, you know, the sad thing is he says, hey, my dad's a Baptist pastor. How come you're not saved? But he said, I just have a lot of questions. He's like, who did Cain marry? He just wanted to know who Cain married. He wanted to know, hey, when we die, what kind of body do we get or how are we resurrected? Hey, what about aliens, you know, our aliens? He just wanted to learn the Bible. He just had all these questions. He was so interested in learning. They're so hungry. Brother Nick, he got one of our cab drivers saved. His name was Callie, and Callie, he was real receptive to the gospel. Then he just starts befriending the guy, discipling the guy, teaching him other doctrines, teaching him how it's important not to, you know, consult with familiar spirits and devils and demons and the sorceries that are out there and trying to help him understand what to do next and the importance of baptism. And this guy, he says, hey, I want to take you guys to my girlfriend. Would you just let us take you to your girlfriend? We're like, sure, let's do it. So we made time. We took the time to talk to his girlfriend, and I ended up giving her the gospel. She was not saved, but she was very humble. She received the gospel, and she got saved. You know, praise the Lord. And she said, hey, you guys need to get married. I'll come down and give you all a marriage. You know, it looked like a young daughter was very sweet. Look, these people need a good church. They need a prophet to go down there and give them the gospel, and sometimes we look at ourselves and want to be selfish. We want to grow our church, or we want to grow things just for us. Look, there's a whole world out there that needs the gospel. There's a whole world out there that's ready to hear the word of God. We ought not be respecters of persons and say, well, I only want the Jews to get saved. Well, sometimes you need to turn to the Gentiles. Sometimes you need to realize the oil fields that are out there and go start preaching to them. Go, if you would, to Genesis chapter 37, Genesis chapter 37. And a prophet is not without honor. If you go to one of these foreign countries, they'll have great respect for you. They'll want to listen to you, but they weren't that interested in Jesus. Ah, we already know this guy. He's a punk, young punk. We know his brother and his sister and his mom. He's just the carpenter. He's the carpenter's son. How does this guy know what to say? Who cares what he has to say? Could be the same with you. You show up at the door. I'm not a pastor. I'm just a carpenter. I go to steadfast Baptist church. Well, I'm not interested. Well, you know what? Carpenters are welcome and the mamas to preach them the gospel, to teach them the word of God. I mean, I bet brother Nick didn't realize how much discipleship he was going to be doing right after soul winning and the mamas. He's teaching them the whole Bible, and look, you know a lot of Bible. The purpose of coming to church and learning all the Bible is not just for selfish reasons. It's so you can teach other people. What was the great commission? Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teaching them whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always, even at the end of the world. Amen. We're not supposed to just get them saved, get them baptized, teach them the doctrines, instruct them in the ways of the Lord. But you're going to have a lot of problems in your own country, in your own land. Sometimes you're not going to do as mighty a work. You can do a mightier work when you get out of your comfort zone, when you go somewhere else. Now, there's other times of persecution that you're going to receive or people that are not interested, and that's your own kin. If I were to ask everybody in this room, how many of you have a brother, sister, a parent, they think you're in a cult, they think you're a joke? In fact, they despise the fact that you even go to church, you serve the Lord. You pull out a Bible and you want to show them all the doctrine, you want to show them everything that God has for them. They mock you, they ridicule you, they're not interested. But when Jesus was asked, he said, hey, your mother and your brother are outside, they desire to talk to you. He said, who is my mother and who is my brother? But they that hear the word of God and do it. Are you such a respecter of persons that you can't show someone else's brother the word of God? I mean, as much as you want to get your family to hear the Bible, and look, I'm all for it, sometimes you're beating your head against the wall. But you know what? You have the ability to instruct many other people and the ways of the Lord. There's a mighty guy in the Bible named Joseph. Joseph, was he respected among his own kin? Let's see what the Bible says. Look at verse number 3, chapter 37, verse 3. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it, his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. They didn't like Joseph's dream. They didn't believe in Joseph. They had no respect unto Joseph. You know what? There's a lot of people that want to hear Joseph's dream all about it. You know who they are? Egyptians. The Egyptians are going to be really interested in everything that Joseph has to say and everything that Joseph wants to teach them, but if you say, hey, I'm only going to talk to my brethren, you're going to miss out on the opportunities that God has for you. What does Joseph go on to do? He goes on, he's thrown in prison in Egypt. Another time to get discouraged, but he stays faithful. Pharaoh brings him before him and he interprets his dream. His brethren didn't like his dream, but you know who liked his dream? Pharaoh. And Pharaoh put him over the entire nation and he saved a huge nation of people. What? From being faithful unto God's word, by going out, by showing other people, and you might not get all your family to like what you have to say. In fact, my family's not here this evening. You know nobody that's related to me comes to my church? They're not interested. What if I said, I'm only going to preach if my family comes to church, but isn't there other people that might want to hear what I have to say? Isn't there other people that want to learn the Bible? Should I really just say, oh, I'm only going to stick to them? Look, there's other people that you can give the gospel to and not just the gospel, you can teach them all kinds of doctrines. You know, after I get someone saved, a lot of times I'll try to show them, hey, we're King James only, hey, baptism, hey, there's a lot of great doctrine that you can still teach people. Even if I meet someone that's saved, I start to say, hey, are you using a King James Bible? What do you think about these doctrines? Here's psychopath reprobates, you know? That's a great way to just start a conversation. But start teaching them the doctrine. You can do a mighty work, but a lot of times it's not going to be among your own kin. Even Jesus himself had this problem. Now go to 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 17, Jesus, the Bible says that his own brethren didn't believe in him. Even his own brethren didn't want to get on Jesus' side, Jesus' team. They didn't believe in him, they didn't think he was a prophet. And look, if you're looking for your brother and sister to think you're a great person, a great man of God, you're looking in the wrong place. Not the right place to look for it. Jesus wasn't going to get it from his brethren, but he got it from the Gentiles. Think about all the Gentiles that come. I mean, the Gentiles come and they're like, this guy's, you know, Jesus didn't even see greater faith than on the Gentiles. The centurion, the Roman centurion, just saying, hey, just say the word, I know that my servant's going to be healed. You know, the woman from Samaria that comes and just says, you know, even the dogs get the crumbs and he saves her daughter from the devils, from the demons. We have to realize that a lot of people want to hear what you have to say, but they're probably not your brethren. But are you going to get stuck on that? Or are you going to say, hey, there's a lot of other brethren out there that I can go preach the gospel to, that I can teach the word of God to. They're just out there waiting. They just need some man to guide them. Who's going to do that? You know, 1 Samuel chapter 17, another great man, David. Look at verse 26, verse 26, and David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, what shall be done to the man that killeth his Philistine, and taketh away their approach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner, saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth him. So when David comes down to the camp and there's this great Philistine, there's this great battle, he just asks the other people, and they tell him, hey, you get to be honored by the king, and you get to marry his daughter, and you're going to have great riches. They're telling him all these things. What happens when David asks his own brother, his own brethren? Look at verse number, the next verse, verse 28, and Eliab, his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, why cameest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? And he turned from them toward another, and spake after the same manner, and the people answered him again after the former manner. And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul, and he sent for him. So everybody's interested in what David has to say, except for who, Eliab, his brother. And David, he's coming to give Eliab resources. He's trying to refresh him. He's trying to do good under his brother, and his brother doesn't believe in him. Think about that. Oh, well, my family, I just try to do good under them, and they just always fight with me and contend with me. It's called the Bible. Did you know that Abel was killed? Say who killed Abel? Cain, his brother. Look, if you're looking for respect and honor from your brethren, good luck. Now the exception proves the rule. Maybe, God willing, you have a brother or sister that believes in you and believes like you. The Bible's chock full of great men of God that their brethren didn't. And because your brethren don't believe in you, don't let that discourage you. Don't let that stop you from being a mighty person in God. What if David had said, well, Eliab's not interested, I'm just going to go back home. Well, Eliab doesn't believe in me. You know, a lot of people look up to their oldest brother. Your older brother could be a great influence in your life. If Eliab doesn't believe in me, well, then who am I? You know, what can I do? Look, you're looking in the wrong place. Don't look to your brethren. Your brethren might kill you. Read Matthew 24. Okay, we're not going to read that for the sake of time. Go to Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter number 11. I want to drive in this point of, hey, if you want to be a prophet, you can have honor, but not in your own land. Not among your brethren and not among your house. And Moses, he goes to the ringer, all right? He's in all sides of this. He's in hot water, okay? Nobody wants to get on Moses' side. And look, the guys that do the mightiest works, they're not looking for the respect in their own country. They're not looking amongst their brethren. They're not looking amongst their own house. They're just following God's commandments faithfully. And you will receive due honor when you go and you do the works of God. But it's not going to be amongst your own. Numbers chapter number 11. Look at verse 1. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So what happens? I mean, Moses, he literally delivers the children of Israel from the hardest bondage known to man in Egypt. He parts the Red Sea. They walk on dry ground. He's performing constant miracle after miracle by the hand of God. Ah, this is Moses. Ah, Moses. I'm thirsty. Get me a drink. His own people still have no respect for him. How can you not have respect for the man Moses who comes in there and rescues you when you have no other savior, no other hope, nobody's trying to do anything for you. He's just following God's commandments. It's not of his own will. If it's not of his own volition. He's just walking in there, picks them all up, on his shoulders, at the commandments of God. He drags them through the wilderness while they, oh, this is Moses, eh. Look, his own people didn't even respect him. They still complained against him. They still didn't believe in him. They still hardened their hearts against what he said. Even his own people. That's frustrating. It's frustrating when you bend over backwards to help people. You do everything for them, you help them all the way, and then they just complain about everything. And you know, it happens to all kinds of people today even. You know, pastors will go out of their way to help bend over backwards to help people and all they want to do is complain the whole way. Well, I don't remember another Moses coming down to save you, do I? Why don't you pay attention to what's already been done and be careful because when you're complaining against Moses here, you're not complaining against Moses. You're complaining against the Lord, the one that rescued you and the one that saved you. Look at chapter 12, verse number 1, and Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. You would think his own brother, you would think Miriam's own sister would be on Team Moses. They're speaking against him. They're going against him. They don't have respect for their own brother. Hey, your brother's Moses. Let's speak against him, you know. Let's go against Moses. If you're looking for the honor and respect of your own family, I'm going to tell you, you're not going to get it. You're not going to get the respect and honor in those ways. Why would Jesus say what he said if he didn't mean it? Hey, a prophet's not without honor. Save. And his own land and his own kin and his own house. We see Moses, he didn't have the respect, but what if Moses had let that discourage him? Well, the people don't want to do what I say, and Miriam and Aaron are on my side. I'm just done. I give up. That wouldn't have turned out very good, would it, if Moses just gave up? No, but Moses stayed strong, and he's still going to lead his people, and he's still going to follow God's commandments. He's not going to let that get him down. And in fact, go to Exodus chapter number 4, go back. Moses, like I said, he gets the trifecta, even his own house. He didn't have the respect. Moses didn't get any of that respect. Exodus chapter number 4, look at verse number 20. And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand, and the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand, but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn, and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou art fused to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass by the way in the end that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. Moses, he doesn't even have his wife respect him. Moses' wife doesn't respect him. His brother and sister doesn't respect him. His own people don't respect him. You know what? God respects him. And Moses did a mighty work for the Lord. One of the greatest men in the Bible. Look, you say, I'm not getting all the respect of my own. Well, go somewhere else and you'll have lots of respect. Lots of honor. A prophet is not without honor, save him what? His own land, his own kin, and his own house. Now, let me backtrack for a moment, because I was in preparation to going to the Bahamas. I had texted somebody I knew that lived there, and his name was Kenton Knowles. Does anybody know who Kenton Knowles is? He's a really young guy. He's real faithful to the Lord. He goes on a lot of missions trips. I believe he's been in the Philippines for a while. He's been in Canada. He's been in other places, just giving the gospel. He's gotten so many people saved. I mean, maybe thousands. I don't know. He's a constant soul winner. He's constantly getting people saved. He texts me, and he was giving me lots of great instruction about where to go on the island and places that are going to be receptive, which is just circle the island, all right? No, I'm just kidding. But he says, hey, will you go talk to my brother? My brother's not saved. And he said, he's real humble. He's a real humble guy. I think that he'll get it. But would you talk to him? So it was the last day. We tried to meet up with him. It wasn't working. But we were going to leave on Thursday, and we had just enough time to kind of squeeze it in. We go to the convention center. I finally meet his brother. His brother's Ken. I don't know how they know the difference to Kent and Ken. I talked to Ken, and I asked him, what do you have to do to be saved? He's like, you've got to follow the right path. You've got to follow the light. You've got to be a good leader. You've got to do these things. Clearly not saved. But I showed him the gospel, very receptive, very easy, and he got saved. And then I texted Kent, and I said, hey, your brother. He accepted the Lord. He's saved. I gave him tons of information. I got him a bunch of DVDs and CDs and cards, and I was like, you need to preach to your wife. You need to preach to your children. You need to show them these videos. And I texted that to Kent, and he's like, best news I've heard all year. But you know, every person who gets saved has a brother and a sister and a mom and not everybody. You know what I mean. Everybody has brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles, and someone out there maybe wants them to get saved, and you're their answer to prayer if you just go out and open your mouth boldly and make known the mystery of the gospel and get them saved. But sometimes your brethren won't hear it. I even have testimony. There's family members of mine. They say, I don't want to talk to you if it's about the Bible. What do you do? You pray that somebody else will go and talk to them about the Bible. And you know what? If I can't get my brethren saved, I'm going to get as many other people's brethren saved as I possibly can. That's a soft spot for me to say, hey, I want you to give the gospel to my family, to my relatives, to my kin, and even though, hey, my brethren didn't want to hear what I had to say, maybe they want to hear what you have to say, and vice versa. It's so important. Now even Moses, even his own wife wasn't that interested. And that gives to me hope for some people because while I preached this morning, you need to try and be equally yoked with your spouse as much as humanly possible. Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes it's never going to happen. You know what? You can still do mighty things for God. God is still looking down on you. God still has an important job for you. God can use you. You don't ever think that, well, God's done with me, you know, the only point in my life was marriage. Look, there is no marriage in heaven. You won't even remember the former. The former things will be passed away, and you can still do mighty things for God. How about Moses, for an example? How about the apostle Paul? Those are some pretty decent guys. You know, they did all their great works without a great marriage. Obviously, Paul wasn't married, okay? But even Moses, his wife doesn't even want to dwell with him. The father-in-law has to drag her back and deliver him back into Moses at some point. Moses! You would think he would be the guy that you want to live with, but they didn't want to. Go to 2 Samuel, chapter number 6. 2 Samuel, chapter number 6. You know, and I don't know if Callie, the taxi cab driver that we got saved, if he would have been successful in preaching to his wife the gospel since he was so newly saved, but he wanted us to come and preach to the gospel, and praise God, she got saved, too. You know, those were two of the salvations I really was, you know, hoping in my heart and praying that these people would get saved, because it was such a special, you know, person that we're going on purpose to see this person. It's like Cornelius. It's like a real-life accident. You're going to Cornelius to try and get this guy saved, and you're just following the Spirit of the Lord and finding these people. You know what? You're never going to find that Callie and that Tia and that Ken just sitting on your rear, doing nothing, going nowhere, going to a lame church, not going to church, watching the football game, listening to the music, and how many people could have been saved if we would have just gotten to the work of the Lord sooner? But hey, there's no bad time to start serving God. 2 Samuel, chapter number 6, look at verse number 20. Then David returned to bless his household and Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, how glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. And David said to Michal, it was before the Lord who chose me before thy father and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel, therefore will I play before the Lord, and I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be based on my own sight, and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor. Therefore Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child unto the day of her death. Notice that even David, he said, well, at least they're going to respect me. At least they're going to have honor unto me. Now David, he's returning the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Tabernacle. He's returning with it, and he's rejoicing, and he's excited, and he's dancing, and he's praying, you know, he's so excited to come back and restore the joy of the Lord, and his wife has to be a downer. You're just doing that because you want all the girls to like you. You want all the handmaids to think you're so handsome and so special, and he's like, well, God chose me before your dad. Burn. And guess what? I'm going to dance even more vile, you know, and the handmaidens will still like it. He's saying, no matter how bad I dance, no matter how weird I look, you know, the handmaidens, they're going to like it. He's saying, how come I get honor from the handmaidens and not my own wife? Oh yeah, let's see, David, no respect from his wife. Moses, no respect from his wife, yet some of the greatest men of the Bible. David, the man after God's own heart. And look, I'm not trying to tell you why you're off the hook, all right. You need to love your husband, and husbands, you're not off the hook. You ought to love your spouse. You ought to be the best spouse on the planet. The only person stopping you from being the best spouse on the planet is you, not your spouse. You say, I would be a great spouse if she was better. Nope, you can just be the best spouse, period. I'd be the best wife if he was a good husband and provided a better. Nope, you can just be the best wife, period. And we ought to strive for that, but the reality is you're probably not going to get the honor and the respect from your own household. They don't look at you like, oh, you know, my wife, when I come home, she's like, Pastor Shelley. And look, she's very respectful. She loves me. She thinks that I'm great, but I'm just telling you, you know, it's not a worship service when I come home, all right. Nor would I expect that. Nor should you expect that, but you know what, there's a lot of people out there that want to hear what you have to say, that you can do mighty works for, that are not in your house. Where are they at? They're somewhere else. They're in Bahamas. They're in Jamaica. They're in Mexico. They're in other places. You know, when I was in Phoenix, I was going out soul winning, and it was kind of dark and I didn't have any success. I finally knocked on the door on his young kid. I think he was maybe 10, 12, I don't remember exactly. I didn't ask. And I started giving the gospel, wasn't saved, going to Christian church, and his whole family was right there. They were listening, and his parents were there, and I could tell his parents were really kind of paying attention, and sometimes that's good or bad, you know, you don't really know. But kind of in the middle point, they kind of gave me a sign or said something that indicated that they really wanted me to give him the gospel. They weren't displeased that I was talking to their son. They liked it. Maybe like, hey, he needs this, or hey, yeah, preach him, or whatever. And he gets saved, and then as soon as he gets saved, the parents, they walk out, they're like, can I give you water? Thank you so much. We want our kid to be saved. I'm so glad you came and you gave the gospel to our son. You know, I go out soul winning for an hour and a half and I see nothing, and it's like, why am I out here? And then these parents, they're thanking me. Why? You know, sometimes your own family is not that interested, but a stranger comes along and he can get them saved. And I bet there's some people in this room that think, I wish my kid was saved. I wish my kid knew the Bible. I wish my kid was interested in the things of God. And we ought to have respect on what God's word says and just go out and realize we're going to make a big difference. When we don't get so focused on our world, it's not all about you. Think about other people. Think about other people's brethren and children and fathers and mothers and sisters. They're all out there and they can become your brothers and your sisters and your father and your mother. You know, and don't be thinking about all the times, you know, when you hear these kind of messages, you know, don't be just sitting there like nudging your spouse, you know. It's like, not without honor. You know, no, we need to realize that, hey, God has put us on the planet for a reason and Jesus Christ himself gave us the perfect model that, hey, he's not going to have the same respect, he's not going to have the same honor among his own house, he's not going to have it among his own kin, he's not going to have it among his own country. You know what, when you get out of that comfort zone, you can have a great work done. Whenever I went to Jamaica, you know, I got to preach in two schools. One school I got to preach to over 700 students at one time. Let me tell you what, I'll probably never have that opportunity in America. Another school I got to preach to hundreds of young girls. Preach them a sermon and preach them the gospel. Probably never going to happen in America. And you know, some of you young men, you say you want to be a preacher, you know what, you could preach to hundreds if you decide to get out of your comfort zone. You could be a mighty preacher, you say, I don't want to be a pastor one day. Okay. What about just preaching a sermon to hundreds of kids? How about going out and preaching the gospel to hundreds and dozens of kids and getting them saved? In the Bahamas, we're talking with schools, I'm sure we're going to get some appointments. I'm sure there's going to be public areas that we can go to and talk to these people. Not only that, you know, just the soul winning alone. If we had just stayed at the university, when we went to the university, there's kids everywhere. And you could talk to three and four at a time. And not all of them would get saved, but two or three would get saved out of the group. You could just get handfuls and handfuls of people saved and saved. I mean, we could have our whole church at that campus and just get people saved every minute, every hour, just day in, day out. But who's going to go? Who's going to say, you know what, I'm that person. Here am I, send me, Lord. I want to actually go out. When we read the Great Commission, you think, well, that's for somebody somewhere else. When I grew up, I never wanted to be a missionary. I never wanted to go to Africa. I was like, I don't want to just live in the tent and sleep on the floor. Have you seen the spiders? Have you seen, you know, the weird stuff that's over there? And I was nervous about the food. Look, we're going to have a missions trip to the Bahamas. It's not like that at all. It's win, win, win, win, win. It's just all win. But I want you to put it on your heart. Say, you know, if you can't go to the Bahamas, you can't go to Africa, okay? I don't know. You're not going to go to the harder places. We're taking the baby steps, all right? And I think this is a great opportunity. You could be in prayer for it, but I haven't put the exact date, but I'm thinking the end of April or the beginning of May, we need to go there and give these people the gospel more. And, you know, maybe somebody's heart would be turned and say, maybe I could go there and help start a church one day. Maybe I could, you know, turn this whole nation, you know, upside down with the gospel. I don't have to deal with sodomites. I have perfect weather. You probably grow a church there a lot easier. You know, the 0.00001% of people that come after soul winning, I bet it's higher in those nations. I bet it's higher in those countries because everybody goes to church. It's just where. And whenever you get them saved and you have a good place to go, I wouldn't be surprised if they want to go. What do we read in Acts? I mean, they can't hardly get anything off the ground with the Jews, but then they start preaching to the Gentiles, their churches are growing by the thousands. They're getting people saved left and right. Why would I think that it's any different today? Why would I think that we can't go to one of these places and get people saved by the thousands and get them turned toward the Lord? And look, God's not a respecter of persons. God doesn't love us more than them. God doesn't think that we're more special. You know what? You are special in the fact that you have an opportunity to get a lot of people saved in your life. There's a lot of young people in this room. What are you going to do with your life? And if you want to do a mighty work, it's probably not going to be in your own land. It's probably not going to be amongst your own kin, and it's probably not going to be in your own house. You can have a lot of honor and a lot of respect and do a mighty work when you go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for this great opportunity that we have before us. I pray that as we make plans and visions according to your word, that we have faith in your word, that you would just bless them. I pray that the hearts of people in the Bahamas would be receptive to the gospel, that you would just prepare a way for us, that you'd go out before us and come in after us. And I pray that you would just turn some hearts today toward souls, that we would not be respecters of persons, and that we would realize that we're not going to get the respect that we deserve or need or want from those that are closest to us. But I pray that we just wouldn't desire that at all. We'd just humble ourselves and just be faithful unto thy commandments, and that you'd bless us as we'd go out and preach the gospel. And we wouldn't just neglect the foreign countries, we would get the whole world the gospel. We'd go here, we would go there, we'd go everywhere preaching the gospel, and you'd just use this church as a great light to light the entire world up with the gospel. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.