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You you you you you you you you you you you you you you You steadfast Baptist church, you can find your seats and grab a song book and turn in your hymnals to song 169 come now bounce song 169 come now bounce Song 169 come now found Come now Come now found Come now found of every blessing Come now found of every blessing Come now found of every blessing To my heart to sing my praise To my heart to sing my praise Streams of mercy never ceasing Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me son the Lord you son one hundred and sixty nine on the second here I raise my and I know Oh Good singing. Let's have a word of prayer Lord Thank you so much for this day and the opportunity to be in church Thank you for all of our members and visitors Pray that you bless every person here and that you bless the service and in Jesus name we pray. Amen All right for a second song. You should have a handout in your bulletin. You should have two handouts We're gonna sing I'd rather have Jesus The new song I'd rather have Jesus, you know, it's sing it out If you don't have one go ahead and raise your hand us. We'll bring you one And we run out share with the neighbor whatever works I'd rather have Jesus I'd rather be I Rather I Jesus He's fair He's sweeter than money All that my I Today Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist Church If you did not already get a bulletin You can slip of your hand nice and high and one of the ushers can come by get you a bulletin on the front We have our Bible memory passage Psalm 148 verse 7 any child that's 18 or under that can quote the verse this week Will receive a special prize. I think I think verse 7 is actually different than this one So you might double check on that one Also on the inside. We have our service times are so winning times also our church stats on the right we have the list of expecting ladies and Then also we have a prayer list that if you'd like to send any requests in you can email us steadfast Baptist kjv at gmail.com Our upcoming events we have music practice for our conference at 4 p.m On Sundays if you'd like to participate you can even just show up and help sing Some of the newer songs and just help the musicians get used to their timing also September 25th pure words Baptist Church is going to be disposing of all the trash That is the NIV HIV, you know kind of viable versions that are out there. And so if you'd like to donate You can donate any false version that you would like and we typically try to gate Gather these throughout the year as we go soul winning and we run into people we try to offer them our placement here's a King James Bible for what you have and will help dispose of that and So every year we try to have a special commemoration of why we use the King James Bible and we dispose of all of these wicked lies that people claim are a Bible on October 2nd, we have our fall swap. It's gonna be 9 a.m. To 3 p.m So if you have any items of value you can come by even if you don't have any items But you're just want to just show up There's gonna be a lot of stuff that you can just look at and anything that's left over is gonna be donated charity anyways, so you might as well just swing by just see if there's something of interest and I think even the church might have a few things that they want to donate some some furniture and stuff So if you are interested just come by check it out. October 6th of the 10th We have our conference and so we're really excited about this It's gonna be a lot of fun A lot of guest preachers are coming in and so I'd really encourage you to participate in as much as possible I already made a video. I made a video of details, but is that on our other channel? I don't know, but we'll make sure to put it back up there if it's not I think it was on our original channel that got removed on YouTube So we might upload that again just so you can look at the whole list of details Also, November 13th. We have our Oklahoma City Marathon so we have a lot of soul-winning marathons Pure words in Houston, Oklahoma City on the November 13th, and then hopefully a couple other maybe even at the end of the year Just to give you a quick rundown of the schedule that way even if you're not online or something, you know Wednesday We're gonna meet for church at 7 the exact same normal time. So 7 o'clock Wednesday night pastor Aaron Thompson is gonna be here preaching for us and we're gonna have ice cream after the service So if you want to participate in soul-winning that day We're gonna instead of leaving around 515 530 we're gonna leave at 5 So if you can make it for soul-winning We're gonna have so many at 5 just so we can get back in time have plenty of time for preparation for the service Thursday Thursday morning We're gonna have ice skating from 10 to noon so from 10 to noon and then from 2 to 4 We're gonna have afternoon soul-winning We'll also have our church service that evening at 6 p.m. So that's gonna be pastor Bruce me And we're trying to move it a little bit earlier So people can just kind of show up right after work or something and then maybe go out to dinner afterwards There will be a pastor's dinner That we're gonna have right after the service So we're gonna try and gather all the pastors out and take them to dinner So then you guys can leave and go to dinner too. All right, and then also Friday we're having in the morning a lady's coffee hour For it's actually like a couple hours and so and just time of fellowship. It's gonna be nurselings only preferred But we don't want any lady to not show up because they have to bring their kids it's just if possible its nursing is only preferred and All the ladies of our church are invited to participate. It's gonna be a lot of fun I'm not gonna be there but I heard it's gonna be fun. Okay, that's why it's gonna be fun Right now I'm sitting and then from 2 to 4 so winning again church service is gonna be 6 on Friday as well and We're having on Thursdays pastor Bruce Mejia from first works Baptist Church Friday evening at 6 It's gonna be pastor David Berson's from stronghold Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and then we're gonna have pizza in between Right a following after the service and we're gonna have a second preaching service with pastor Roger Menes from Verde Baptist Church in Sacramento California and so that way you don't have to go anywhere You can just show up church service have pizza and then have another service. Hopefully that break will help With the fact we're gonna be packed in here. So that'll be a lot of fun, right and then Saturday morning We have our kids spelling bee So this is gonna be the first year that we have a kid spelling bee for all ages of between 5 and 17 So if you have a chilled children of that age and you'd like for them to participate You just can show up There is a sign-up sheet just we have an idea But even if you didn't sign up if you show up and you meet the requirements age-wise Then you can participate if you want to do well There is a list that I have already put online where you can see all the words that are gonna be used But they all should be found in your King James Bible So the goal is to have a Bible spelling bee where we're actually spelling words from the Bible and getting more familiar with Bible words And so you can check that out online We'll have a singles event from About 11 to 1 it's like a lunchtime thing and then we'll have afternoon soul winning again on Saturday I'll preach both services on Sunday. We have a guest preacher for our Spanish service pastor Enrique Reyes in Houston, Texas He's a pastor at Spring Creek Baptist Church Spring Crest Spring Crest Baptist Church and in Houston And then we're gonna have a dessert fellowship after the the Sunday evening service So I'm just asking the church family just bring your best dessert and we'll just have a potluck a dessert I'm not gonna be a Baptist Fellowship if you don't have a potluck dessert Alright, so I mean we got to bring that in and so pretty much that's the only thing, you know I really ask if you can help us with bringing a dessert if you can that Sunday evening service And that's pretty much all I have for Announcements this morning. Let's go ahead and go to our third song Song 43 Song 43 marching to Zion 43 marching to Zion 43 marching to Zion Song number 43. We're marching to Zion We're marching to Zion We're marching to Zion Beautiful Beautiful Zion We're marching to Zion We're marching to Zion A beautiful city of God Let those green He who's to sing Who never knew Are God The children of the heavenly king The children of the heavenly king The children of the heavenly king Thanks be to God As offering plates are being passed around please turn your Bibles to Galatians chapter 1 Galatians chapter 1 Galatians 1 the Bible reads Paul an apostle not of men neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren which are with me under the churches of Galatia grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father to whom be glory forever and ever amen I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ but I certify you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ we have heard of my conversation and time passed in the Jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither when I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me but I went into Arabia and returned again under Damascus then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode within 15 days but other of the apostles saw why none save James the Lord's brother now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lie not afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by face under the churches of Judea which were in Christ but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preach it the faith which once he destroyed and they glorified God in me let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father we thank you for steadfast Baptist Church in the morning service that we have here the opportunity to gather in your name and listen to the word of God being preached I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and just help him to preach a sermon boldly and also Lord that you would help us to pay attention so that we can apply the lessons from this sermon into our Christian lives in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. I wanted to focus at the beginning part of the Galatians here where it says in verse number six I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ and so the Apostle Paul is making abundantly clear in Galatians chapter number one that we as Christians are not allowed to tolerate a false gospel that basically someone teaching another gospel or preaching another version of the gospel or perverting the gospel is not something that's supposed to be tolerated it's not something that you would put up with look at chapter 2 for a second and look at verse number three neither Titus who is with me being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised and that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in privately to spy out our Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus they might bring us into bondage whom he gave place by subjection know not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you notice the Apostle Paul's attitude is he's not willing to submit himself is not willing to subject himself to someone teaching a false doctrine regarding salvation I mean if someone's teaching a false doctrine on salvation he's gonna pipe up he's not gonna be able to handle it he's not gonna listen to it he's not interested in being submissive to someone teaching such an offensive false doctrine when it's in regards to the gospel of Jesus Christ and I bring this up because the title of my sermon this morning is this what church you should go to what church you should go to and point number one this morning is this if they believe salvation is by faith alone I mean I think that's probably the number one but I'm gonna give you four non-negotiables this morning I have seven points but I have four non-negotiables when it comes to going to church or what type of church you should go to but this first point here as evidenced in Galatians chapter 1 & 2 is if they're preaching another gospel that's not something that you can just decide well I know they're wrong in the gospel but I really like the building well I know they're wrong in the gospel but I really like the pipe organ I really like all the murals or I really like the name of the church I really like how close it is to my house you know it doesn't matter any of the other factors if they're wrong on the gospel you're not allowed to tolerate it you shouldn't subject yourself to it you shouldn't submit to a false gospel that is the most primary foundational doctrine that we have is getting saved and is by faith alone okay now go if you would to Psalms chapter 89 Psalms chapter 89 I want to show you a few more verses here but the Bible makes it clear that church is for the safe therefore I need to have the right gospel because I need to have fellowship and unity with other people that believe the same thing in regards to going to heaven in regards to being saved and the Bible uses all kinds of different ways to indicate to us or to describe for us the fact that church is for the safe I'm gonna just read for you but in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 the Bible says under the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours so whenever the Apostle Paul's writing to the church at Corinth he says very clearly to them that are sanctified now that's a description of someone that's saved meaning when he's talking to the church he's anticipating all of the people in that church to be sanctified because they're all saved okay so that's why it's important to realize that church is for the safe it's supposed to be the safe gathering together it's not the institution to try and get people saved it's where we're basically coming together as already being saved the Bible makes a delineation or soul winning is where we go out and we preach the gospel to the lost we go out and we teach all nations but when we come together the purpose is to gather all those that are already saved to come together to be edified to sing together to have an assembly to have a congregation and basically praise the Lord and it would make no sense to gather a whole bunch of unsaved people together to worship God because the Bible says that without faith it's impossible to please him okay and it says they so they that are in the flesh cannot please God is what the Bible says so meaning unsaved people can't please the Lord I don't care what Hillsong song they're singing this morning I don't care what notion that they make I don't care if they have a Bible in their hand I don't care how they're dressed if they're not saved them coming to church to worship God is not pleasing him what pleases them is them getting saved what pleases them is being saved and what gives honor and glory to Jesus Christ is the saved singing praises to his name the saved doing the works of God the saved gathering together for the church look at Psalms 89 and look at verse number five the Bible says and the heaven shall praise thy wonders o Lord thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the Saints so notice the Bible says hey here's a congregation but notice of who the Saints meaning a group of saved people coming together that's why it's important that we have the same doctrine of salvation if we don't have the right doctrine of salvation is the church or you're going to a church that doesn't believe salvation is by faith now you're a congregation of people that are not all saints now you have a congregation of a whole bunch of unsaved mixed people and that's weird now obviously if an unsafe person wants to visit your church let them come in you know we want people to come into church we want to try and give them the gospel afterwards we want to try and get them saved there's nothing wrong with having visitors but you know what the majority of your church people that are members of your church need to be saved and that's why it's so importantly you have the right gospel as far as what church that you're going to look at verse 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him so notice God is supposed to be feared in the assembly of who the Saints again picturing the safe go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 14 now go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 14 I just wanted to show you those two verses because the Old Testament while it doesn't necessarily emphasize the word church it uses the word congregation or assembly oftentimes and in the New Testament the word church is often used but they're synonyms congregation church what is a church is a congregation of believers what is a congregation of believers it's a church and we even have a congregation and the Old Testament known as the church in the wilderness with those that were going out with Moses the children of Israel and so while it may look a little bit different we don't have a moving tabernacle out in the wilderness you know we have a building that we're meeting in this morning it's still essentially got the same most important elements save people the Word of God we're singing the Word of God we're preaching the Word of God so in that essence it's going to be very similar and eventually we'll go to the church in heaven that's going to be a great church service we're all gathered together and guess what we're gonna do sing praises hear the Lord speak and I'm sure it's gonna be a great time of fellowship as well now 1st Corinthians chapter 14 if you understand the context of this chapter it's talking about what's allowed in a church service and specifically what kind of preaching and the preaching is supposed to be done in the language in which people understand you know it doesn't make sense for me to get up and preach in Mandarin this morning or to preach in some foreign language that nobody understands that wouldn't be very edifying to the congregation or more importantly in the past church services for the Catholic Church will be held in Latin even though people in that area wouldn't even speak Latin they don't even know Latin but they would get up and they would pray in Latin and they'd sing in Latin and the preaching would be in Latin and everybody just sitting there just like a dumb sheep you know they have no idea what's being communicated how can they even say amen at the preaching when or the prayer when they don't even know it was spoken and so it's making fun of the idea or basically proving how silly it would be for me to get up and preach in a foreign language when you just don't even understand that language that wouldn't be any benefit that wouldn't be any benefit to God's people it only be benefiting the person that actually understands that language okay but in this chapter he also explains what's the purpose of preaching anyways what's the point of even speaking anyways what's the point of showing up it says in verse number three but he that prophesyeth speak of them into edification and exhortation and comfort okay so the whole purpose of preaching is to edify exhort and comfort though now the word edify you know it means to build up or it means to you know basically construct or to add to a foundation you know we're basically building people up spiritually is what you're supposed to do in the church but here's the thing if you don't even have the gospel right there's nothing for me to build on so it doesn't even make sense you know just like you're not going to start building a house when no foundation has been laid you don't want to build a spiritual house when no foundation has been laid okay and if the church doesn't even have the foundation right why would I then want to allow them to try and build anything else on top of me you know and the structures that people build on something that has a bad foundation are not the same structure that you want built on the right foundation meaning I'm not going to go to a church that has the wrong gospel because they're not going to be equipped to then edify me to exhort me or to comfort me with the scriptures when they themselves don't even know the scriptures go to first Timothy turn to the right first Timothy and look at chapter number four it's you've got first and second Timothy Titus by Lehman in Hebrew so we get to Hebrews you went too far first Timothy chapter 4 look at verse 13 till I come give attendance to reading to exhortation the doctrine again the purpose of church is to be exhorted with the Word of God is for the doctrines which here's a synonym for the word doctrine beliefs the beliefs of the church to be made known under the congregation for us to all have unity around the Word of God to understand the Word of God but here's the thing if we don't have the same foundational doctrine of salvation by faith then it's not going to make sense to have any of the other doctrines to be taught to you and the other exhortation to be preached unto you you have to all start at a commonplace which is the doctrine of salvation being by faith alone in Jesus Christ go if you would to second Corinthians chapter number 10 now go to second Corinthians chapter number 10 you say well why do we meet at church for doctrine to find out what the Bible says to know what the Bible says if I miss the most important basic truth of the Bible then what's the point of being at a church you know if I can't even teach you how to get saved from the Bible or if they're preaching a false gospel how is anybody going to learn anything else so then every other point of the church is completely destroyed when you don't have salvation by faith this whole point was doctrine if it wasn't for doctrine you know people meet together for all other kinds of reasons you know they meet together because they all want to have coffee or they all meet together because they read some kind of other book that's not the Bible you know about a coffee club or a book club or maybe they meet together to play a sport maybe they meet together to play an instrument or maybe they meet together to speak a foreign language or maybe they meet together for all manner of other reasons maybe just to watch a football game you know don't people do that don't be able to gather together on a Sunday to watch a football game and see here's the thing I've even been to churches where Sunday night instead of having church service they all gather together to watch football but he's think that's not church even though it's in the building that's a church and even though there was a bunch of saved people there it wasn't church that's just having fun that's just having fellowship or whatever that's just enjoying one another's company you know what church has a different purpose urge is for people to come together and to hear the word of God being preached for doctrine to be established and settled and if so we're not going to have the most foundational doctrine of salvation by faith clearly preached from the pulpit there's no point never going to that church don't show up at that church that's not even a real church okay it's a fake church it's a false church if they have a false gospel and it's a dangerous building if you walked into this building this morning and I said look there's no foundation under this floor it's just quicksand okay you might be nervous to be in that building that it could fall or crumble or be destroyed or whatever and especially if there was a storm coming you would be like I'm not going to go into that building because that building is not really a secure building to be in these things going into a church where they have the wrong gospel that's a dangerous building it could collapse on you and kill you or destroy you it's a hazard to your health it's a hazard to you in a spiritual way it's only going to cause damage to you it's only in a cause some kind of discomfort or evil that could possibly come upon you that's why I'm not going to show up at a church if I know they have a false gospel it's just not on the table it's never acceptable it's not even church you can call it church you can say it's a church but it's not a church unless it's saved people with the right gospel of Jesus Christ now second Corinthians is going to emphasize again the point here of the purpose of preaching in church it says in second Corinthians chapter 10 verse 8 for though I should boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord has given us for edification and not for your destruction I should not be ashamed to notice the doctrine has to be something very specific it has to build you up not destroy you but here's the problem if you have a false gospel that can't build you up it can only destroy you so by preaching a false gospel by preaching a gospel that's going to lead people to hell that can only destroy people and so if the church is there preaching a false gospel it's not there for edification it's there for destruction and so you'd leave it run away from it have nothing to do with it whatsoever you know we get people saved out soul winning and they told you before I go to St. Mary's I go to St. Thomas's I go to St. whatever it's a Catholic Church okay you should tell them very plainly after getting them saved do not go back to that church they have a false gospel they don't even believe salvation by faith and so it's only going to destroy you hurt you and harm you by going back to those services back to hear them preach and look I'm sure plenty people do it I'm sure many in fact I've been with people going so winning and it almost seemed like they didn't give any indication to the person that the Catholic Church was bad you know because they'll knock on the door and they'll say hey where do you go to church and they'll say I go to St. Mary's like well I don't want to take you from a good church and I'm thinking like what why would you say that we don't want to take you from a good church but can I show you what the Bible says about salvation like hey you don't have to be mean okay I'm not saying like I go to St. Mary's well they're wicked as hell you know like that's two extremes okay don't do either of those options okay but if you were gonna pick one say that it's wicked as hell I mean I'll be less offended if you screamed about how horrible the church is then you would say well I don't want to take you from a good church okay so you want to make it abundantly clear to people especially when you're going out and preaching the gospel don't go to a church that has the wrong gospel and look I do this I will show them I'll show them like 1st John chapter number 4 verse 1 it says beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are going on in the world and I'll say look the majority of churches are false and they have a false prophet they have a false teacher preaching a false gospel and you should never go there and the church that you said you're going to the Catholic Church teaches differently than what the Bible says I even told them that already because before I pray with them I make it clear I say look what I just showed you is different than what your church teaches you believe the Bible or your church and if they say the Bible then I pray with them and try to get them saved then I say now that you realize that your church is teaching something different don't go there it's a false gospel it's a false doctrine you shouldn't have any fellowship with these people you shouldn't be yoking up with them you know we want to make sure that people after they get saved have an opportunity to realize what church they should be going to which is one that believes the gospel of Jesus Christ okay and they don't have to come to my church to be right with God you know what going to the Catholic Church is evil it's wrong it's wicked there's nothing good about it and look I'll put every other Christian Church in that bucket if they have the false gospel too it's not like oh just the Catholics are bad look there's plenty of Christians so-called there's plenty of non-denominational churches virtually every Protestant Church whether that be Presbyterian whether that be Episcopalian whether it be Church of Christ I don't care what they call themselves Church of God I mean we read in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 the Church of God you know what the Church of God in 1st Corinthians is way different than the Church of God down the street because the Church of God down the street is a bunch of tongue-talking Pentecostals who either faking it or possessed with the devil let me make it abundantly clear how I feel this morning and you know why I know that what they're doing is fake or of the devil because they have a false gospel that's why because when you don't have the right gospel you're built on a wrong foundation and so no longer you edifying the congregation you're destroying the congregation and notice the doctrines that they teach they teach that you can lose your salvation that's destructive they teach a false gospel that's destructive they use modern Bible versions that's destructive then they get up and say hey speak gibberish when you're praying to God instead of actually making your prayer known to you and another person I mean you really think that God is pleased when the same person sits here and says God shukla kalalalala kandalabukalala that's not gonna help anybody that's destroying your mind that's not gonna help you with your dictation or your speech or your understanding it just you just look like an idiot let's be honest and they'll be like oh I'm gonna be an idiot for Christ no you're just an idiot you're an idiot for false doctrine say okay and you know what everything in the house of God is supposed to be decently and in order this morning and that's why having salvation by faith having that is your core basic principle your foundational principle is a must-have not negotiable the Apostle Paul isn't saying like well I know that no church is perfect so I guess we'll just tolerate a false gospel he says not even for an hour he would walk out of the service or yell or something he wasn't he's not gonna sit there and listen to a false gospel being preached and obviously back in those days if we showed up at a church they probably don't have a website okay they probably don't have a sign outside that says Baptist or whatever so you might actually show up at a church back then and not even know like what's going on you think it's safe but as soon as they start preaching salvation by works you're just like I'm not gonna sit here and tolerate that I'm gonna leave now praise the Lord today you can pretty much figure out what a church believes before even walking through the door and if they won't tell you what they believe you already know what they believe and you say what do you mean well don't you have to go there to figure out what they teach no let me tell you something if they don't tell you what they believe on the website you won't learn what they believe when you go to the church service either the church service is gonna be the exact same you have no idea what they believe because they just say everything in vague nondescript term analogy so as to not offend anyone or to turn anybody away and basically if you come into the pastor and say this is what I believe he'll say great I can see why you believe that me too and then someone will come a contract review yep me too yep because he just believes everything everything's good every valid every opinion is valid look I've even had ministers tell me this they say look I went to Bible College and they were teaching us how to understand that every viewpoint is valid now everybody has their own interpretation everybody has their own way of looking at things and you know we have to all learn how to appreciate other people's viewpoints and other people's interpretations and everybody's walk of life and it's like no we go to hear the truth of God's Word and I don't care what your opinion is that's what a church is supposed to be like and if you believe salvation by anything other than faith you're not saved you will split hell wide open and you know what it's not building upon any foundation whenever you go to a church that has the wrong gospel look at verse 10 of chapter 13 it might be on the same page or flip a page chapter 13 verse 10 therefore I write these things being absent less being present I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord have given me to edification and not destruction now he says look I can use sharpness now what is sharpness it's being precise it's saying things that are real clear like the Catholic Church is unsaved like saying Pentecostals are unsaved like saying the Church of Christ has a false gospel you know instead of getting up and say there's these churches out there somewhere they exist and they have a name some of them have a name and some of them teach work salvation look I grew up in a church like that I grew up in a church where they said there's some people out there that believe in work salvation and they're not safe and I'm just thinking like who you know who are these people like what are the church like what's the name I like wanting to know what's actually going on and if you actually want to have precision I mean what if you were building a project you know whatever you're building the stage up here and I said I need a piece of wood and they're like okay what kind what size what shape you know wouldn't that be important questions oh don't worry about it just bring some wood you're gonna have a really weird-looking stage you want to have it's precise hey bring me that two by four over there cut it to six in six inches or six feet exactly I mean that's using sharpness why because that's going to be good construction good edifying using precision using sharpness today you know it's not destructive to get up and warn people about the wicked Church of the Catholics to warn about the Pope and to warn about the Pentecostals that's not going to hurt you you know sticks and stones may break my bones but words still never hurt me right when do we can we go back to that we go back to the idea that words don't hurt that words didn't do anything to you and in fact when you're hearing the word of God being preached it doesn't hurt at all it only helps it only benefits it's edifying you it's making you a better person okay go go to Psalms chapter 12 for a moment go to Psalms chapter 12 now I want to make something clear this morning I'm primarily preaching to a audience that would be in the United States of America today because if you live in the United States of America you pretty much are not going to have any excuse as to why you can't go to church because I believe you're gonna be able to find a church that meets all the bare requirements for a church okay if you live in the United States of America you can find a church where they have salvation by faith now it might be two hours away it might be an hour and a half away it might be you know 30 minutes away it might be 15 minutes away I know that's far for some people but I mean it might be a little bit of a drive but you know what if you're looking for a church that has salvation by faith you can find one pretty much in the United States of America you can get one other parts of the world you may not you know or maybe you you'd violate some of these other principles I'm going to teach you in a second but you have to understand that's the same even in the Bible right isn't there times when godly people or Christian people can't go to a good church I mean how about when the Apostle Paul's thrown in prison you think he's going to church when he's shack in shackles how about just the Apostle Paul in general when he shows up and to a new area he goes to Athens okay and he's there to preach the gospel to someone that's never even heard the gospel before you think there's a good independent fundamental Baptist Church already established that he can go show up at so obviously if I'm going to reach the loss if I'm going to reach people that are unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ it's very likely there may not be a good church yet and the whole purpose is try and get people saved and start gathering together to start forming a church so they can actually have a church to go to that's the whole point and you know what if you live in the United States though you don't have that excuse but there's going to be people in this world that don't have a good church they can go to it's not reasonable for them to travel to in a single day or to get to and you know I would this is my opinion if I was that person I would do everything in my power to move to where I could go to a good church or start trying to get as many people saved as possible so that a church could be formed in my area but I don't think it's okay if you're saved and you have no good church option and you're doing nothing about it you say I'm not even seeking to find a church and I'm not even trying to get people saved so that a church could be formed then I don't believe you're right with God now again I'm not gonna say you're not right with God for not showing up at church if you were in prison or you're in one of these weird hypothetical situations but if you're in the United States of America and you're just not going to church you're just not right with God it's that clear it's that simple the Bible makes it clear in Hebrews chapter number 10 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the man or some is but so much the more as you see the day approaching so we're supposed to not forsake going to church we're supposed to seek to go to church as much as humanly possible it says in Psalms chapter 12 though here's my second point of what churches you go to as the King James only Church Psalms chapter 12 look at verse 6 the words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in the furnace of earth purified seven times thou shalt keep them o Lord thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever you know I like verse 6 so much a church should be named after that probably right why because isn't the whole emphasis of going to church here the Word of God being preached and if you're going to hear the Word of God being preached don't you want to be pure I mean think about water what is like the pretty much the main characteristic or the main quality that everybody's seeking when it comes to water isn't it that it's pure I mean what have you said hey I have a glass of water you really want it it's just defiled a little bit it's 98% pure wouldn't you be like what do you mean by 98% what does the 2% mean you know like what else is in it right what if it was 99% water and 1% arsenic oh it's pure isn't it that's why look it's so important to have a Bible that we believe is pure that we believe is God's Word as intended you know in English obviously God didn't come down from heaven and speak to Moses in English okay Jesus wasn't going around in 1611 English speaking you know what God's Word can be translated in any language and notice that the translation process according to the Bible is not dependent upon man look what the Bible says in verse number seven thou shalt keep them now who is he talking to God Oh Lord he says thou shalt keep them Oh Lord it's super clear thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever what sense would it make it that the God of the universe could preserve mankind the earth and food but oops I lost my word oops I mean nobody has it and then on top of that when the Bible clearly says that he was going to preserve it that would make God a liar if you didn't have it and you say well you're making up a strawman argument because every Christian believes he's preserved his word it's just that it's not as accurate in the translation you have to look it up and study it and you have to try and find anywhere but here's the thing people that don't believe that the King James Bibles the Word of God preserved they don't believe anything's preserved in oh it's preserved in the originals okay well let's see how much preservation God claims is gonna be in the Bible go to Isaiah chapter 59 for a second good Isaiah chapter 59 because you know what I don't care what they say I don't care what man's gonna tell me I care what the Bible says and you know what God said in the flesh you know what Jesus Christ said when confronted with the devil he said it is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God now how riddle me this how is that true if the every word of God doesn't exist I mean that would be kind of silly hey you need every single word Oh Lord please give it to me sorry fresh out sorry it was it was lost in translation sorry it was lost in Egypt sorry it's somewhere and I'm buried under the earth in the Dead Sea Scrolls we got to go bury unbury it we got to go find it somewhere look my God is not in the ground did you know that Jesus Christ rose from the grave so what kind of silliness did it say that the Word of God is buried in the ground no he lives he lives Christ Jesus lives today and you say where right here in my hand the King James Bible that's where he lives and you know what I'm not going to use another version I'm not gonna kowtow to the modern contemporary movement oh we need to get something easier let's get a picture book every picture book has Jesus along hair which is already false doctrine you know picture books never seem to have salvation by faith wrong foundation again ok but let's again I want to show you from the Bible not just my personal opinion the Bible saying to what degree God is going to preserve his work look at Isaiah chapter 59 and look at verse 21 as for me this is my covenant with them is the Lord speaking say it the Lord ok my spirit that is upon me and my word which I have put in my mouth to not depart out of my mouth nor out of the mountain I seed nor out of the mountains I seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever notice how God says it hey everything I told you you're going to preach it and then the next generation is going to preach it and then your grandkids are going to preach it and then your great-grandkids are going to preach it and then you know what pastor shell is going to preach it and the people in this room are going to preach it because he's going to keep his word forever not going to part of their mouth and you say so does that mean that we have to speak Hebrew no because you know what God's word can be translated any language it doesn't matter for speaking Hebrew Greek or English you know what this is what God said this is the word of God and in fact even when Jesus was crucified didn't they have it in three different languages mounted right above his head and you know what they all said the same thing go to Proverbs chapter 30 go to Proverbs chapter 30 backwards just a hair Proverbs chapter 30 and look at verse number five you say well I think we should you know add or move to the Bible a little bit yeah who would think that well you know if you actually open up an NIV and you just read the preface just open it up and just read exactly what they said you know what they'll say they'll say this is not an exact translation this is what we think it says like this is our words that's why they have a copyright on it you really you can't get a copyright for anything if Dylan writes a song and then I copy exactly what he did I can't then go get a copyright on that because it's not my work it's his work ok here's the thing you can't get a copyright on a work that's already been completed or constructed that's why when it comes to the King James Bible which is already passed any kind of a copyright theoretically from the UK you know what if I were to write my own version of the King James Bible I can't put a copyright on that and have exclusive rights to sell it you know what every one of these modern versions has a copyright on it and you can't even use it without the permission and in fact if you watch the popular preachers of today just do this just go look watch Joel Osteen, PD Jakes, Kenneth Copeland, just look on the screen every time a Bible verse pops up, you know what pops up right below that? the copyright for that version because if they don't use that copyright for that version on the screen the publisher might sue them for having used their work the NIV or the New King James or whatever and I'm not talking about the footnotes I'm not talking about the extras that they added in the Bible I'm talking about the words they claim to be God's words they're saying nope those are our words and nobody else has those words the NIV is ours and the New King James is ours and the ESV is ours it's sick and that's why you even have the motive for people to constantly make new versions not because they're rediscovering the Word of God or they really found it or they want to have integrity to the doctrine it's so that they can have their own version to sell you'll notice you go to the Dollar Tree and you know you'll find on the shelves a King James Bible you can buy a King James Bible for a dollar at the Dollar Tree I bought lots of them now it's not necessarily the best public it's not necessarily the best paper okay it's not the best binding or whatever but you know what you can't buy there an ESV you know what you can't buy there the HIV and everything else you can't get it why because of the copyright issue again tell me the motive there the love of money is the root of all evils what the Bible actually says and you know what we shouldn't be seeking to try and add and and remove or try to put the Bible in our own words we're supposed to keep exactly what he said let me show this to you Proverbs chapter 30 look at verse 5 every word of God is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar notice we're not supposed to do anything with God's Word we're not supposed to tamper it we're not supposed to beef it up we're not supposed to subtract from it we're supposed to just give it verbatim we're just supposed to give it like Jesus wants every word of God untainted just raw just exactly like he said it go to Revelation chapter 22 go to Revelation chapter 22 and look I'm not so as ignorant to understand the fact that the King James Bible is a translation it's not that it's not a translation but the reason why I use it is because I believe it's a perfectly accurate translation of the Word of God it's exactly what God said so if it's what God said in my native tongue then that's what I should use now I don't speak English okay and again this is for people that are not in the United States primarily but if I don't speak English or if I'm in another area and they've got salvation by faith and they're using a different version as long as it's the same as the King James Bible or the underlying Greek okay as far as textual integrity then use it in fact you should use a Bible that you understand the best whatever Bible you understand the best as far as language goes you should use that but we're not going to see what what book is the easiest you know should we get the Dr. Seuss version of the King James Bible or should we get what God actually said in English okay obviously I'm not saying get a picture book or let's get a dumbed down version or let's get the easy to read version look it's not easy to read it's easy to hear heresy that's what it is it's easy to take people to hell okay that's what that version does but at the end of the day we need to have exactly what God said in our language now some languages of the world I will grant you don't have that and then guess what that's always been the case when God gave the Word to Moses it was you know in Hebrew okay every other language the Elamites and the Parthians and the Canaanites and whatever they didn't have the Word of God in their language okay so if they wanted the Word of God they would have to seek unto the Hebrews to get the Word of God okay and obviously at the time of Jesus you know and the the New Testament being written it's in Greek so if you want the Word of God you gotta learn Greek or you gotta go figure out Greek as it were okay and today's world today you know what the the linga franca or the most popular language in the world is English so if you really want God's Word it may be that you have to learn another language such as English now I don't think that everyone has to learn English necessarily you know there's other good translations we have a Spanish Bible that we help you know print copies of the reign of Alire Gomez 2010 I don't I wouldn't put my stamp and say that every single verse is exactly perfect or dialed in as much as King James is but for the most part I mean it's really it's really good I would say it's more accurate than the Bishops Bible was in English and the Bishops Bible I don't have a problem with it was a work in progress they're trying to get the Bible the difference between the Bishop Bible and NIV is night and day though my friend and look I'm working on a documentary expose that I want to show how when you actually look at the English versions the translation process and how they change and then you look at the NIV it's radically different in fact I read for you John 3 16 if you don't have that memorized if I read in the Bishops Bible you might not even realize I wasn't reading the Bible okay as I mean it's not just John 3 16 John 3 like the whole chapter I mean you start reading it's like the exact same and a lot of times the changes are just word order you know like deciding how you're going to put things and everything like that and just kind of trying to make it sound better more poetic more accurate having more integrity and a lot of those other elements but you know what other languages that are working through the kinks are trying to get to that level that's great that's fine if you have a Bible in that language read the word of God in that language but you know if I if you wanted to be a student of the Bible you know you probably should learn English you should probably learn you know even potentially Greek or Hebrew if you wanted to understand other things if you already speak Greek maybe reading the Bible and Greek would be fine I don't have a problem with that I'm not Peter Ruckman up here saying you have to learn English okay I'm not saying that's the only way to get to understand the Lord or to understand the way to read his word but I am saying that it's superior than virtually every other translation okay and it's obviously the translation that God has used to spread the word I mean show me the on fire godly people of this world using a different language translation right I mean who's spreading the gospel in the world is it Mexico I mean is it the I mean look I'm not against the Spanish Bibles okay don't hear me wrong what I'm saying is is it really the Spanish Baptist that are going around the world preaching the gospel is it the Hindus is it a Hindi language is it Aramaic I mean is it the Muslims that are spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ I mean is it somebody from Russia no offense it I mean is it is it people from Africa mean what who's really doing the work of God because let me tell you something the Word of God has power and so if it's the real Word of God you're gonna see fruit from it and so at the end of the day if you don't have any fruit from any of these other languages or translations I don't know maybe it's not being preached maybe we need to go in there and fix the gospel first but I'm telling you this this is an evidence of the fact this is the Word of God it's the most popular book in human history the King James Bible most popular book the most sold the most read most praised it's the greatest literature ever written my friend okay it's testifying on the fact that it's the Word of God I mean even unsaved people can look at this and understand how great it is we don't want to sit here and tamper with it and alter it and go to a church where they don't have it I mean if you have the greatest book ever and you're all gathered together to worship the God of the universe which is the Word of God and then they show up with an NIV what a disgrace what a shame I mean you know what I don't want to come to you in part today I want to come to you in whole you know I don't want someone to snip off my fingers my elbow and my kneecap and walk up here and preach you I want to have all those parts and so why would I want to sit here and start snipping the Word of God cutting it up dicing it up moving it around I don't have my hand on my face and you know an elbow coming out of here whatever and look like a freak no I want to be normal and whole and in part that's what I want to have my Bible too is in whole and part and look there's a curse of God upon people that have tampered with His Word look what it says in Revelation chapter 22 verse 18 for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book that's a strong curse He said look you tamper with my word you take away from what I said and I'll take your part out of the book of life meaning these people are damned meaning these people are not going to go to heaven these people are wicked people why would I want a bunch of unsaved people that have already damned themselves to hell to then tell me what God said that sounds pretty scary that sounds like that's not going to be for my edification sounds like it's going to be for my destruction and let me tell you what I can show you all kinds of damnable heresies brought into these modern versions that's a different sermon that I'll preach at a different time but go over to second John chapter one I want to make it clear though I have some non-negotiables when it comes to church number one salvation by faith number two King James Bible and that's real specific but you know what the word of God is real specific and so hey they're saved no King James no hey they're King James but not saved no I'm not going to go and have fellowship I'm not going to go and hear what they have to say you gotta get both of those dialed in okay here's number three and then my first four again I'll mind you are non-negotiable now I'm not going to go through some of these in depth as I went through the other but I do want to explain a couple of things I believe are non-negotiables number three is the Trinity and why I say the Trinity is because if you got the Trinity right then you're going to have all the persons right you're going to have who the Father is right you're going to have who the Son is right and you're going to have who the Holy Ghost is right so basically you gotta have God right you gotta be worshiping the same God here you know you could theoretically have a King James Bible say salvation is by faith but you have a wrong God and I'll tell you who this is, it's the Mormons I've ran into Mormons and I've talked to the Mormons at link I've sat them down, I've bought them lunch, they've been my co-workers and I said the Bible says salvation is by faith and he says yes I said it's not of works, he's like yes, which is weird because most of them will say it's by work okay this guy's telling me salvation is by faith, he's telling me whatever you know Mormons carry a King James Bible in their backpack he's got a King James Bible, now he would violate this because he adds the Book of Mormon to it but then additionally he has a wrong God though, he has a wrong Jesus and look there are groups, there are people that are King James only they'll say salvation is by faith but they're messing with who God is and I want nothing to do with them, they're a cult, I would never go to their church for any reason, you have to have the Trinity right and let me make it clear what the word Trinity means, three persons one God three persons one God, that's what the word Trinity even means if you look it up in a dictionary, you look it up online everybody will say that, I've already preached a whole sermon on the Trinity and I proved beyond a shadow of a doubt Baptist believe Trinity is three persons one God, if I walk into church and they say I reject three persons one God, I'm gonna say see ya bye, why? well look at second John chapter one verse nine whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God, he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son notice you have to have the right doctrine of Christ in order to have both and guess what the word both implies, two okay, why? because there's really a father and there's really a son and the most important verse in the Bible John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son those are two real people with real emotion and if God the Father didn't have a son to give that verse is completely destroyed, think about it how could you see the love that someone asked for you if they said hey I just wanna let you know I love you so much I'm willing to sacrifice my son for you oh really you have a son? no I'm just kidding I don't really have a son that would make that sentence so meaningless, it would make it so void it doesn't make sense all of a sudden, now you're blaspheming who the Son of God is, you deny the existence of the Son of God and look there are people that will deny the existence of the Son of God a lot of them are known as modalists or oneness Pentecostals but there's even other cults and weird groups that will deny the deity of Jesus Christ or they'll deny the distinct personages of God and then it's just destroyed, how can you have an advocate if there's no three persons? how can you have a mediator if there's no three persons? go to Hebrews chapter 1 for a moment, go to Hebrews chapter 1 look Jesus is not a phase that the Father is going through okay Jesus is not a character that the Father plays it's not like he puts on his Batman costume and plays Batman it's not like he puts on his Jesus suit and plays Jesus no, Jesus Christ is a real person okay and God the Father is a real person and you know what the Father loves the Son look at Hebrews chapter number 1 and look at verse number 8 but unto the Son he saith, thy throne oh God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows look you have to believe Jesus is a separate person or you don't have the right Jesus but Jesus is a real person Jesus has his own self and you know when God looks at him he doesn't just look at him as a son notice how God the Father talks to him thy throne oh God is forever and ever notice Jesus Christ is God and you know what he's not like a lesser God or something like that when God the Father looks at Jesus he calls him God oh God and notice it says in verse number 9 therefore God even thy God so notice God has a God somehow you say well how does that make sense does that mean that there's multiple gods no we can show other places in the Bible that make it abundantly clear there's one God so the only way to reconcile this doctrine is through the doctrine of the Trinity which teaches that there's three persons that are one God there's one God manifested as three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost these three are all God yet they're distinct persons they're not each other they have their own selves let me prove that go to John chapter 17 for a moment go to John chapter 17 this is an important doctrine I think one of the best ways to illustrate this is using time you got past present future everybody would agree that the past is time everyone would agree that the future is time but you know what the past and future are different from one another people understand this concept as well there's only one time it's made of a past present future there's not a fourth option though there's not like a Batman sequence or something or there's not like some other word that you could use to describe another instance you have past present future that's it you know what they all make up time together okay there's only one time yet they're all three time and you say well that's weird I can't understand it well then guess what you need to learn something okay you need to get a little smarter okay get a stopwatch or something get a wristwatch that works or look at a cake I used a tri-layer cake this is a great illustration of the Trinity how a tri-layer cake has three different layers that are all the exact same cake you would say the middle layer is cake the bottom layer is cake the top layer is cake yet when they're put together it's one cake it's just one cake and you have the cohesiveness just like God you have one God who's the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and they all share the same attributes the same character I mean imagine if someone popped out and they looked exactly like me they're standing right next to me identical you could not tell a single difference between our physical characteristics the voice was the same all the memories were the same we have all the same attributes all the same characteristics everything about us is exactly the same it's like an identical clone theoretically okay how would you know which one's which number one and number two how many Jonathan Shelleys would there be though there's only one Jonathan Shelley because there's no distinction in characteristics there's no distinction in you know what we look like there's no distinction in anything that can be identified but there could be two instances of me right so when it comes to God you know the Bible describes Jesus Christ as the express image of his person meaning he looks exactly like the Father and look when they're both the truth when they're both the Almighty when they both have all the same characteristics it's like how could you say that there's more than one God there's only one God it's Jehovah okay but at the end of the day there is three persons there's the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and if you don't have this doctrine right I don't want to go to your church I don't want you to come to my church John chapter 17 look at verse 5 and now oh father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was ah you think that there's different selves according to God yeah because I read the Bible that's what he says with thine own self what sense would it make if Jesus was talking to himself here you know you have a schizophrenic Jesus okay I have the God of the universe on my side go to John chapter 6 I want to show you one more not only do they have their own selves they have own wills okay maybe I don't know you could cut me in half right you could cut me in half and half of my body could look at the other half and say thine own self and mine own self right but here's the thing you wouldn't have two wills though right because your center of consciousness is going to remain in one I'd be dead if you cut me in half okay I'm just saying like if you could theoretically have part of your body over here and another part over here you could say oh that's what Jesus is doing look no there's really two different selves and very important distinction two different wills okay look what it says in John chapter 6 verse 38 for I came down from heaven now who was in heaven was there a person with physical flesh in heaven no because that's why Jesus had to be born of Mary was made of a woman so before he was made of a woman he's up in heaven now he could have you know a glorified type of flesh or something else but he didn't have the type of flesh that you and I have he didn't have a he wasn't made in likenesses in the flesh yet this is just God up in heaven this is the Lord in heaven this is just Jesus Christ in heaven and he says I came down from heaven not to do mine own will so notice he has his own will but then he says this but the will of him that sent me meaning there's two wills in heaven the will that sent him and his own will and he says it wasn't my will I didn't say I'm coming down from heaven who is it that decided Jesus was coming down from heaven the father which is why John 3 16 even makes sense when it says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son because it was God's will that he was sent down his son it's the father that loved the world so much it's the father that wants us to be reunited with him and Jesus Christ being an obedient submissive and subjective unto the father did the father's will and he laid down his life which Jesus said no man you know can have any greater love than a man who would lay down his life for his friends we have the perfect love of a father sacrificing his son we have the perfect love of a son being obedient to his father and sacrificing himself so that we could be restored into heaven and we have all the different aspects when it comes to who God is go to Hebrews chapter 6 like I'm not going to church if they don't have the trinity right you're attacking who God is it's the wrong God we're not worshiping the same God together then at that point if you have a different God then you know what you can stand before him at judgment day but here's the problem he doesn't exist you're going to stand before my God which is the real God and you know what he's going to judge you and you're not going to edify me by teaching me about a false God I come to church to learn about the real God God that's in heaven and look I understand that when it comes to the trinity it's such a deep doctrine and there's so much revelation that could be understood about it then not everybody's going to have it dialed in but if you tell me on the surface I reject free persons when God I'm going to say bye see ya and someone doesn't understand all the inner workings of the trinity you know they need to sit down and learn but at the end of the day you know the teacher better understand the man of God better understand the church better have that doctrine right here's my fourth non-negotiable and it's baptism by immersion now let me prove why therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on into perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment go to Ephesians 4 notice he said this is the principles meaning this is the foundation this is just the basic baby doctrine and he says let's go on into perfection because the book of Hebrew is going to get to chapter number six he's mad at them from chapter five for having not been able to handle strong meat not knowing all the doctrines not understanding all the Bible that's been taught so he's saying let's go on to perfection let's learn more of these doctrines and he says one of those foundational baby just most simple doctrines is baptism so if you don't even have one of the most basic simple foundational doctrines right why would I then want to learn anything else you have to say that doesn't make any sense okay and notice that we're a baptist church what does that imply that you baptize by immersion like I don't know of maybe it exists I don't know of a baptist church that doesn't believe in baptism by immersion and look I'm not going to fellowship with a bunch of baby sprinkling child dunking heretics I don't care what they do you know and look not only baptism by immersion but save people that are baptized by immersion because I have seen like I can't remember it was an Orthodox church I think they literally do baptized by immersion because in Greek you can't translate the word baptize other than immersion or whatever so the Greek Orthodox know that it's immersed but they'll still do babies so they grab a full baby and they just literally are dunking it in water they're just like can you imagine right after you have a baby I'm like bring the baby to me and I'm just like in the name of the father in the name of the son in the name of the Holy Ghost and the baby's just screaming the whole time that is literally what people are doing you can watch it isn't that psycho I mean it's like that's not edification that's destruction you're trying to harm that baby that's weird that's crazy so we baptize adults and I tell them to hold their nose so if you got some water in your nose it's your fault but Ephesians chapter number four it's talking about the unity of the church and it says that we're supposed to endeavor to keep that unity look at verse three endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace there's one body and one spirit even as you're called in the hope and one hope of your calling one Lord one faith notice this one baptism hey there's some things we can vary on there's some things that we can disagree upon there's things that we don't have to have all settled exactly the same you know what there's one baptism there's one plan of salvation there's one King James Bible okay there's one trinity there's one baptism if you're wrong on any four of those I'm not going to your church those are non-negotiables for me and I believe that you should make those your non-negotiables as well I want to go into another one that's very important go if you would to Revelation chapter two for a moment here's point number five is that your church should be soul winning now I will say this if I have multiple churches that meet the first four okay if I live in an area where I have multiple churches that have the first four then my next non-negotiable is going to be five okay it was just soul winning now if I lived in an area though where there's no church that's soul winning but they meet those other four criteria I will still go to that church and I think that you should go to that church now I think you can prove that even from the Bible because you have churches in the New Testament that are called churches that are not doing the first works the church at Ephesus now obviously they're in danger of losing their church obviously it could be a dead church obviously it could be a church that has a name that it lives but is dead obviously it could be like Sardis Baptist Church where he's basically like everyone there is just like really screwed up a lot of unsaved people but at least there's still some saved people in that church so there could be some really stinky churches out there spiritually speaking there could be some really screwed up churches spiritually speaking but if that's all you got I think you should still go you should still drag yourself out of the house show up to all the church services that they have and you know what? Start the soul winning program or you go soul winning or encourage the soul winning as long as they're not basically stifling you from going soul winning then you should go and show up and look I've been to independent Baptist churches where they had salvation by faith they were King James only they had the right Trinity they had the right baptism but there was no soul winning you know what? there was no other church in my area that had soul winning and I believe it was right to go to that church and you know what? I still went soul winning I still drug people out soul winning with me from that church they even still had tracts that looked exactly like ours that I could use for soul winning it's just they didn't do it as a church they just didn't have an official program I even asked the pastor about it he's like yeah we'll start one again at some point or whatever and I'm just like why go here you know? I asked my whole Sunday school class I go soul winning on Saturdays at 10 if anyone wants to go with me here's my number if that time doesn't work let me know and I'll go with you any other time you know? but at the end of the day I'm not going to say well I can't go to church because they don't have soul winning well then do something about it start the soul winning right? and be respectful I wasn't in there making my pastor feel bad or trying to make him look you know like he's doing something wrong I'm just saying I want to do this can I help? I didn't walk in like where's your soul winning program? have you ever watched Pastor Anderson? eh? you're not right with God have you ever read Revelation chapter 2? I said you know what I did? I walked in I said I love this church it's been a blessing to me I'm really interested in going out preaching the gospel you know do y'all have an official program? I've been trying to go on Saturdays are you okay with that? I wasn't sitting in there rebuking an elder or talking negative about the church or giving them a hard time I'm just trying to be a solution and you know what? when you go to a church you should try to be a solution not a problem Revelation chapter 2 look at verse 1 unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and thou that canst not bear them which are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and hast found them liars and hast borne and hast patience and for my name's sake hast labored and hast not pained nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou art pit So notice there's a strong warning on a church that's not soul winning and I'm not excusing that church for not soul winning but what I am saying is that's not an excuse for you to not show up now if I have a choice between the churches they have to meet the first four thresholds after they met that number one is soul winning every other doctrine is on a back burner if I like the church I like every doctrine they have but they're not soul winning and then there's another church I don't like any of the doctrines they have but they have soul winning I'm picking the soul winning church it's that important it's that much of a major doctrine and look there's other churches in this chapter think about this okay other churches in this chapter that are being rebuked for having false doctrine this church is saying they have good doctrine it's saying hey I'm glad that you're not tolerating false doctrine but let me warn you if you're not soul winning I'm going to remove your candlestick whereas the churches that have the false doctrine while they're in trouble and God's mad at them they're not in threat of losing their candlestick and that tells me that soul winning is more important than secondary doctrinal issues and it also tells me this you can go to a church that has doctrinal issues and still serve God and you know I'll say one thing go to Habakkuk chapter no go to 2 Timothy 4 I'm going to kind of just speed up to finish my sermon I don't have time to preach everything I wanted but I'll say this look there's been some people that were you know in this what's called butterfly of bee so called or whatever and they sometimes end up not being exactly the right flavor okay instead of being Coca Cola they're like Diet Coke and it's like eh but you know what at the end of the day if they've got the first four right and they're going soul winning it's still a viable church and it's probably the best church in that area because even if I could find a church that maybe they're a little bit better on another particular doctrine if they're not emphasizing the soul winning I'm not going to go there that's why you know just because someone's not my friend personally or doesn't like me personally doesn't mean you can't go to that church doesn't mean you couldn't serve God there doesn't mean you couldn't be friends or whatever at the end of the day obviously if someone doesn't want to be my friend I'm probably not going to be their friend or whatever I get that not everybody has to be friends not even in this church you know some people don't want to be friends with other people in this church so be it you know you don't have to be friends with everyone you can't be friends with everyone you're going to really have when you're like hey I'm going to invite everybody for dinner from church you've made me a lot of food I mean don't do Himes because it's expensive you know if you're going to invite everybody and everybody's going to show up in fact a lot of extra people are going to show up when you have Himes but at the end of the day we shouldn't sit here and pick every church apart that isn't exactly like us exactly like you think or you want or whatever hey if they've got the first four they're a church and if they're doing soul winning that's an even greater bonus on top of that all the other issues they've got hey they're pre-trib or they're Zionist or whatever look I'm not saying I'm going to that church I'm not saying I believe their doctrine what I am saying is you can serve God in that church you can still do things for God God can still be pleased with you and we don't want to look down upon people that have to go to a church like that either or make them feel like they're inferior or whatever there's plenty of people that go to a church that's not as doctrinally right and they're going to be greatly rewarded more greatly rewarded than people that are going to churches that are doctrinally right you know just showing up here doesn't get you a bunch of extra rewards serving God does and you know what you can serve God in the same capacity at a church like ours or another church that you may find doctrinally inferior or if you find our church doctrinally inferior to another church you say you know what I don't like this church that I'm not going to I just tolerate steadfast or whatever look you can still serve God to your max capacity if you don't like every doctrine that's fine you know what church you should go to is the one that I've already mentioned those first four and so on and once you already get that on the list you realize there's not very many options on the table already okay so a lot of you are just like why go to steadfast cause I mean you know there's not a lot of options that's fine you know I can be the not many options church okay it's like I don't really like pastors preaching but you know he's got the right foundation you know not so winning and everything like that preaches for so long but we can just fix that go to second Timothy you don't have anything better to do Sunday second Timothy chapter number four look at verse two preach the word for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust shall they heed to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables here's my sixth thing that I'm looking for a church and I want to make it clear what I'm saying because I can go to a church that's not meeting this criterion and still serve God but if I'm looking and I have options this is something I'm looking for is hard preaching hard preaching number six okay now what is hard preaching it's biblical, corrective and specific but it's possible to go to another church that has a sweet spirit and still serve God okay but that's not the church I'm looking for that's not the church that I want I want the church that's going to preach the hard truths of the Bible that's not going to sweetly lie to me and sweetly skip over the inconvenient truths and skip over naming the names and skip over you know some people are like oh I really like this pastor he's such a sweet spirit he never names the names he just vaguely talks about people well you know what you're not going to like this chapter of the Bible look at verse 10 for Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world you know not only did the apostle Paul call out heretics he called out save people think about that he didn't just call them out he called them out by name ah I want to go to sweet spirit don't go to any of the churches that Paul set up which was like I don't know all of them I mean what church are you going to go to in the New Testament that wasn't established by Paul right? oh I want to find a sweet spirit church well it sounds like a bad church sounds like a false church to me yeah look churches should preach the hard truths of the Bible and you know what even if I go to a church and they preach me the gospel every single week but they're right on the first morning going still winning I'm still showing up but if I get a choice I want to hear some of the hard truths of the Bible I like hearing the hard preaching I like hearing the specific preaching I like getting my toes stepped on I like hearing what I can improve on I like hearing what I got going wrong I like hearing long sermons I like all of it because I don't show up at church like ah it's just a thing I do I show up to get better and I want to get better and I want to hear how I get better I want to see how I can draw closer to God I want my spirit to be filled with the word of God I want to hear a lot of verses I don't want to show up at church where they preach just a couple verses I want a lot of Bible and I want to be comparing spirit with spiritual and I want everything to be proven to me and I want it to be real specific I don't want to walk away and think like I wonder what the pastor really thinks about that subject I wonder what he really thinks about Leviticus 23 that's why I say that I really mean it whenever I say something really hard just to make it clear this is what I mean, this is what I'm saying this is the person, let's identify it I want to make it as specific as humanly possible and you know what the Bible says make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it what's the point of me getting up and teaching you something if you don't understand it and you can't do it you should just walk away and be like well I know what pastor Shelley means because he said it like a hundred times he just keeps reiterating it and keeps emphasizing it and saying it over and over and over again the seventh bonus point you live in the Dallas-Ford area so honestly you'd probably have a lot of options especially when it comes to the first four and when it comes to the first four there's a lot of independent fundamental Baptist churches in this area that are saved by faith the right Bible, they got the trinity they got baptismed by immersion and in fact, even if you just add soul winning you just tag soul winning on there you'd probably have dozens I don't have an exact count but I'm just saying you'd probably have dozens that would meet that criterion even and then beyond that you'd probably maybe even have options in hard preaching because not all hard preaching is the exact same but I'm sure a lot of these guys are getting up they name names they call out sin they make a lot of things ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 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