(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, the title of the sermon tonight is Why We Are Independent Baptists, Why We Are Independent Baptists. Now people often ask us whether we're part of a denomination where we're out sowing, like, yeah, what denomination are you in? And we have to kind of explain to them, well, we're Baptists, but we're not part of a denomination or independent Baptist. And so, which of course, you know, we're not part of a denomination. We are independent Baptists. So what does that mean? Well, how this church was started was as a church plant of Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California. And of course, a lot of you were here when that first started. And we were a church plant. So we were not independent until I was ordained as the pastor. And then of course, Verity stopped paying all of our bills and we started paying all of our own bills and we were independent from someone else being over the top. So Pastor Mez was the pastor of this church. And then he is now not the pastor of this church, but is he still friends with us? Yes, he is. But we're not tied to his church, whereas like, say like, all of a sudden, he believes we're salvation or something, which of course, that's not going to happen. But I'm just saying, if one of us go bad, it doesn't affect the other ones. So that's why it's important to be an independent Baptist. But again, we weren't independent until July in 2018. At that moment, this church became an independent Baptist church apart from Verity Baptist Church. Now we, a lot of times people say, you know, new IFB. Well, what does that mean exactly? And that's, it means nothing. It just means kind of what our belief system is, you know. If someone says, are you new IFB? Well, that doesn't mean we're some part of some denomination. So like Faith Ward Baptist Church obviously kind of basically started off the new IFB, Pastor Jimenez, and then all these churches spring forth out of those churches, basically. And so, but we're like, I don't have to call Pastor Anderson before I preach a sermon and check in with him and make sure that what I'm preaching is okay with him. And so, and vice versa and so on and so forth. We don't have to do that because we're independent. So I'm the pastor of this church, Pastor Anderson is the pastor of his church, Pastor, I mean, you guys understand that, I'm pretty sure. But who's the head of this church? The head of this church is Jesus Christ. Turn to Colossians chapter one, verse 18. And we are gonna be, so keep your finger in Revelation two, because we're gonna be going back and forth to there. But I want to show you in Colossians one, 18. Who's the head of this church? It's not some denominational Pope someplace else. It's not Paul Chapel. It's not, thank God it's not Paul Chapel. It's not Doug Fisher or any of these independent Baptist Popes. It's not Pastor Anderson. There's only one head of this church. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Colossians one, 18, it says, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Talking, of course, about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the head of the body. Now, is there just one body or are there multiple bodies? Because the reason why I picked Revelation chapter two is because it talks about church, the church at Ephesus. And then it'll say the church is, what the Spirit saith unto the church is. So a lot of people think there's like a universal church, like one church and we're all part of this one, all believers are part of this one church. The problem with that is that a lot of these churches believe different things. So, and in my sermon this morning I talked about how it's important that we're in one accord, of one mind. You know, we fellowship together. And so Benny Hinn has nothing to do with this church, okay? You know, that Paul, what's that guy's name? Paul from the TBN channel, that's Paul, anyway. But all these people on TBN, you know, to say that they're the church and so are we, I mean, they're Looney Tunes. They're whipping each other with coats and leading each other around with leashes and just all kinds of crazy stuff. There's only one head of this church, there's only one, this is a church in Vancouver, Washington. So, but Jesus Christ is the head of every church in all places. So turn to Ephesians 5, 23. So I just want to show you a couple things before we get into the message. Ephesians 5, 23. There's no doubt that Christ is the head of the church and how do we know what he wants from us? Well, it comes from what's called the Bible, right? The Bible. You know, remember that Irish radio show that Pastor Harrison did and they're all like, the Bible. But it's the Bible. The Bible is what's important. The Bible are the words of Christ and the words of God. And so Ephesians 5, 23 says, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. So there's no doubt Christ is the head. Now turn one more verse to Matthew chapter 16, verse 18. But every church has to have a human leadership aspect to it too. As the pastor of the church, I'm accountable to God. I'm accountable to Christ for how I lead the church and he expects me to lead it how he wants it to be done. Now obviously, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes, but there's no such thing as a perfect church. There's no such thing as a perfect pastor. Look at Matthew chapter 16, verse 18, it says, and I say unto thee, that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now I know that that's a controversial verse with some people, but it's not controversial to me. The rock is Christ. That's who I believe the rock is and this rock is Jesus, right? So he's gonna build the church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it, but one of the ways that that is possible is because you're an independent church. Because if one church goes bad, then if it was a denominational headquarters, then if one church went bad, then all the churches could go bad. But because we're supposed to be autonomous, then that helps us to not, all the churches don't have to fall just because one church falls. Does that make sense? Okay, so I have four points tonight to show why we're independent and they're coming straight from Revelation chapter two. And so it's kind of a little bit different of a place to show these things, but I just was reading through it and I thought it just made a lot of good sense. So hopefully it makes sense to you. Number one tonight, each church is a different individual church. And I'm gonna show you through Revelation chapter two verse one. Look at verse one. Back in our text it says, unto the angel of what? The church of Ephesus. So the church of Ephesus is a different individual church from the other seven churches that it's talking about in Revelation chapter two. So there's seven churches, seven letters written to the churches to the angels of the churches, but each church is a different individual church. Now it says to the church of Ephesus, right, these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Now what is the seven golden candlesticks? Well, it's good that God just defines things for us in the Bible. If you skip down to verse number 20, or actually, excuse me, turn to Revelation 1 20. Just keep your finger in Revelation chapter two. Look at verse number 20. It says the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou saw are the seven churches. So it reveals the mystery to us. The seven candlesticks are seven churches. Not one church, seven churches. And the church at Ephesus is one of those seven churches. So they're not one big universal church. He identifies them as seven different churches, doesn't he? And then he individualizes them by saying the church at Ephesus. So I know there's a lot of people that believe in this universal church garbage. It's not true. It's not found in Scripture. Now they'll say, well, Jesus is the head of the church. Yes, he is. He's the head of the church in Vancouver. He's the head of the church in Tempe. You know, wherever there's a biblical church, Christ is the head of that church. And if he's not, then it's not a biblical church, right? So you have, for instance, the church at Corinth, the church at Ephesus, the church at Thessalonica, et cetera. And then you have the churches in Galatia. So in the book of Galatians, there's multiple churches he's talking about. So he says to the churches at Galatia, that letter was written to the multiple different churches in the region of Galatia. So turn to Galatians chapter one, Galatians chapter one. In Galatians chapter one, verse one says, 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 unto the churches of Galatia. You see that? So God identifies what he's saying. The Bible identifies who it's talking to, and it's the difference between singular and plural, isn't it? So plural, churches, means there's different ones, right? And singular, obviously, it's addressing one specific church, not a universal church where all those fall under the umbrella of one church. Does that make sense? So the caveat to this, though, is something I wanna explain real quick, as well, it's not gonna be real quick, it's gonna be a major part of this point, but I wanna say that every biblical church is considered a church, okay? However, in a case where you are starting a church plant or a satellite plant church, that church is not independent. So it is a church, it's just not independent. So like we were a church, satellite of Verity, we were not independent. So it's a church, but it's attached to the sending church until that umbilical cord is severed. So just like a mom has a child, the baby is still attached to the mom, right, until the umbilical cord is cut. So same thing with the church, if the church is dependent on another church to support it financially or in any other way to where they're not on their own doing things, then it is not an independent church, but it is still a church, okay? So people get kinda confused about that, so I just kinda wanna explain that because our model of satellite churches gets attacked, okay? So we have a church over in the UK. Now I'm the spiritual leader of that church, even though I've never been there before, all right? You're like, well, that shouldn't be, that's not the case, really? Well, why did Paul go to all these different places? He was sent out from Antioch and he started all these different churches. So who was in charge of those churches? The church at Antioch. So who was accountable to Antioch? Paul, right? So they're not independent until what happens? Someone gets ordained to be the leader of that church and I'll prove that to you. So turn to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter number 13. So if a church is still dependent upon ascending church, it is a church, but it's just not independent because of the fact that it still relies on the parent, so to speak, that planted that church. So Acts chapter 13, verse one says, now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manuen which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. So two of those people that you should recognize, Barnabas and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. So they were separated to do what? To do work. Church planting is work. Going out and starting churches and getting people saved, it's work. And it says, and when they had fasted and prayed and what laid their hands on them, they sent them away. That doesn't mean they beat them up. That means that they laid their hands upon them and ordained them to go do that work. So Paul and Barnabas, now here's the thing, Paul was an apostle. So he had authority outside of this scope that doesn't exist right now. So the apostles were trained by Jesus Christ and he sent them out to start churches, right? And so Paul had a certain kind of authority but he still put himself under the authority of the local church that he was sent under. You see that? So when they laid their hands on him and sent him away, didn't God already tell Paul that he was an apostle? Yeah? Didn't he already get sent out and chosen by God as an apostle? Yeah, but he still put himself under a local church, worked there for a year, he preached, he taught, and then God said separate them and send them out to do the work. So that's what they did. And what did Paul do? What did Paul do? He went and started church after church after church after church. Now, if he was sent out under that authority of that, didn't he get sent out under the authority of the church at Antioch? Right, Antioch Baptist, right? So, well, it doesn't say Antioch Baptist, okay. But they're Baptists in practice, okay? Anyway, they baptized people, didn't they? All right, anyway, they believed salvation by faith alone. They believed in soul winning, amen. So they're just like us. Anyway, so turn over to Acts chapter 14, verse 23. Acts chapter 14, verse 23. And I know that, you know, you guys probably already know all this stuff but it's good to be put in remembrance of things so you understand kind of how things work. Acts 14, 23, look at what it says. It says, and when they had ordained them elders in what? Every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. Now, who's the they? Paul, right? Paul and Barnabas, they ordained elders. So now was Paul a pastor? No, Paul was not a pastor. Paul was an apostle and he was also sent out to start these churches. He was a church planter, evangelist, whatever you wanna call him. He wore many hats, right? But he ordained elders. So what does that tell you? That he had the authority to ordain pastors, all right? He might not have been a pastor himself but he did have the authority as an apostle to ordain pastors. It says when they ordained them elders in every church, they prayed with fasting. They commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. Now that word commended, it can mean a few different things but I just kinda looked it up in the dictionary for three different definitions, okay? And they kind of all fit here. Number one, entrust someone or something, excuse me, entrust someone or something to something. So to entrust someone. So they commended them to the Lord, they entrusted them with what? What were they entrusting them with? Well, they ordained elders in every church. What were they doing? They were ordaining these elders and entrusting them with the handling and the day-to-day business and the leadership of that individual church. Now, the number two definition is present as suitable for approval or acceptance. So that's another thing that happened. So when I got ordained here, pastor men has asked you, all the congregation, they said if they agree with this, it's kinda like one of those things at the wedding if you have something to say, stand up and say it now. And so everybody said that they were good with it and so that's part of that ordination process but they commended, so they commended them to the Lord. And so another definition is to praise formally or officially. So to recommend for approval or acceptance. So when they commended them to the Lord, it's like, hey, we ordained them, now we're commending them, we're recommending them to be the pastor, the leader of that church. So I believe that that verse right there proves that once they get ordained, that that's when the umbilical cord severed. So Antioch was the one that planted that church. Antioch Baptist. Paul, the apostle and his friends and travelers started those churches, they got people saved, they trained people, they got someone in leadership and then when they got someone that was biblically qualified then he came back around and ordained them to be the leader of that church and then they became their own independent church, okay? But until that time, they were not independent. So Paul was sent from Antioch, he was the church planter, he was the evangelist but also an apostle with special authority to ordain. And so we don't have that now, we don't have apostles. Now we have pastors that ordained other pastors. But look at verse number 24 in Acts chapter 14, it says, and after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia and then sailed to Antioch from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they did what? They fulfilled. So their work was fulfilled, they were sent out from what church? Antioch. So where do they sail back to? Antioch, to be accountable to who they were sent out for. Paul wasn't just this free for all, do whatever I want. No, that's why people, a missionary should be accountable today for the things that they do also. I'm not just gonna support some fly-by-night missionary that isn't sent out of a local church, that is just out on their own doing whatever they want. I'm not gonna support that because they should be accountable for someone. I'm not gonna just dump money into some guy that isn't accountable to anybody. And I'm not saying that I'm the lead, like I'm just saying if someone's a missionary, don't you think that they should have some kind of report? If you're supporting them, don't you think that they are accountable to at least tell you what they're doing? That's why I like Brother Stuckey and the work that he's doing there because he always gives updates and tells us what he's doing. 210 saved this week, amen. And I don't have the slightest bit regret at all giving any money to Brother Stuckey because I know he's using every dime of it in a positive way. So he went back to Antioch to be held accountable for recommend to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. So he fulfilled what he said he was gonna do and says when they come, they gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that had been done with them and how he had opened the door of faith under the Gentiles. And there they abode a long time with the disciples. So he came back and was held responsible for what he did and gave a report of all the wonderful things. Guess what, I started 15 churches or however many it was. I don't know how many churches he started, I haven't actually sat down and counted, but he started a lot of churches. So Antioch Baptist Church has a lot of rewards in heaven for sending out the apostle Paul. But turn to Titus chapter one, verse five. The reason I'm explaining this is because people just don't understand how church planting works, okay? We have four church plants right now. I realize that's a lot. You don't have to deal with it, I do, so don't worry about it. But, heh, heh, heh, heh. But, you know, I try to get the best people I can in there to do the best job. And you know, things don't always work out. But you know what, still work, you know, the gates of hell will not prevail against our church. And so nothing's gonna stop us from going forward, nothing's gonna stop the work of God. We're gonna keep going and doing things. And I just want you to understand that I'm trying to do it the most biblical way that I know how to do. So, like people would say something about me starting that church in England. Well you've never, you didn't even go there. So? Do you think the pastor at Antioch Baptist went to every single church plant that Paul started and just went there and preached at every service or something? That's not how it was. That would be impossible. Like he's gotta take care of business where he's at too, where the church is that started all those churches. So, I mean, I just don't understand how people can't see that church plant model. But like, it's probably gonna be harder in the times to come to physically be in a lot of locations. Like they're already starting to weird out about the passport, vaccine passport and all that stuff with these other countries. I mean, it might not ever come to pass here. Maybe it will. They're talking about the Walmart worker's gonna ask me for my personal medical information or something. But, hey, can I see your vaccine? No, get away from me, you weirdo. Go brush your teeth. Anyway, brush your teeth. Go dye your hair back to the normal color, please. Anyway, but it's just, you know, we gotta be innovative. You know, we gotta stay ahead with technology and I don't think there's anything wrong. I mean, Ian is accountable to me, Brother Ian. Over on the, every week he messages me. By the way, they had 56 people in church this Sunday morning and 52 in the evening, they had 11 salvations. So, that's a report. He reports back to me what's going on, how the church is going, what's the financial situation. So, it's not like they're just like off doing whatever they want. They're still accountable to the home church, right? But is that Sure Foundation Baptist UK, is that a church over there? It is a church. It is a church. It's just not an independent church. So, it's still dependent to a certain amount on the spiritual leadership here. So, I just want you to understand that. So, same thing with Hawaii, same thing with Canada, all these different places that we have church plants, but people act like you have to do it just like the old IFB did everything or how other churches do. I'm just looking at the Bible and seeing what they did and then trying to act accordingly. Titus chapter one verse five says, For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting. Well, what are the things that you think we're wanting? Well, he tells us and ordain elders in every city. You know what's lacking in this world? You know what's lacking? Why our church plants are still not independent because we don't have pastors to be ordained in them. And then once they get, I'm not trying to start a denomination. I get accused of that. I'm trying to, you're trying to start Sure Foundation Baptist denomination. It's not a denomination. They're not independent. That's what it is. And once they become independent, then they're gonna just be our friends. Hopefully, they stay our friends. But I'm just trying to start churches wherever I can and trying to fulfill the great commission. And that church over in England's the only game in town across the pond. So that church is gonna get big. You watch. And they're trying to get a building right now that's like 7,000 square feet. So they'll have a lot of room to grow. It'll be bigger than our building. They've only been around for like three months. But they're doing a great job over there. And like, there'd be people that say, that's not biblical for what you're doing, Pastor John. So you should be able to look right in their eyeballs. Well, I can. It's called Skype. You know, if I wanted to, I could look right in his eyeballs every day if I wanted to. I can see his picture, you know. It's just weird how people think. It's like nobody can think outside the box. I mean, not everybody has four church plants, but you know, not everybody was like Antioch that had like 25 church plants going at the same time. And so, are you gonna say that that was wrong the way they did that? Was Paul at every single location all the time? No, he was always writing letters saying, I wanna come, I wanna come see you. But for some reason I can't. I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna try to get there, but he can't make any promises. But does that mean they're not a real church plant because you can't look eye to eye at the pastor every single Sunday? Stupid. Anyway, so we're supposed to ordain elders in every city, in every church. And it says, as I had appointed thee. So Paul had the authority to tell Titus, hey, you need to ordain people in these places where the things are lacking. And I don't know if that meant he needed to train some people up or if they were already ready to go. But Crete isn't exactly the biggest place in the world. And it sounds like there was several places where he was trying to put pastors. So God wants there to be elders in every city. There's a lot of cities in Washington, isn't there? So we got our work cut out for us. There's a lot of cities in the UK. There's a lot of cities in Hawaii. There's a lot of cities in Oregon. There's a lot of cities all over the world. And hey, we gotta fill the gaps. Look, I'm not trying to make my life more difficult, but it hurts me to see places where there's 20, 30, 40 soul winners gathered and no church there. And nobody's willing to help them out. So I mean, if you wanna fault me for being too helpful, then go ahead and fault me for that. But I'm just gonna keep doing what I do. And I guess when I get too many irons in the fire, then I'll know, which is right now. But anyway, so number two tonight, the Lord deals with each church separately. He deals with each church separately. So our church is not like what we do, the sins that are committed in this church, they're dealt with separately than somebody else's church. Wouldn't it be weird if like, Brother Shawn was doing some wicked sin and then God punished all the other churches, because of their one universal church, because Shawn had leaven in the church. Shawn Harrington, leaven. Now all the other churches have leaven. You see how that doesn't make sense? And God doesn't deal with people like that. He doesn't deal with the churches like that. Imagine if God punished us for things that took place at Faithful Baptist Church or Verity Baptist Church, that'd be weird. Because each church is held accountable, that pastor's held accountable and those church people are held accountable for what they do in their own church. The Bible says a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. A little evan, leaveneth the whole lump. If we were all one universal church, then every church would be punished for what the Pope was doing in secret. But it's not one universal church and the Pope is a heretic who's gonna burn in hell. He's a pedophile freak. You know, oh yeah, he's part of the church. The Catholic Church is where the term universal comes from. They think that everybody really is Catholic when it all boils down to it. In the book, their catechism book, it basically says that everybody's Catholic, they just don't know it. So, you know, we'll have a chance to repent. It's kind of like what the Mormons believe. You know, at some point we'll have a chance to repent in purgatory and accept the Pope and all of his lies or we go to burn in hell for all eternity. So what some Presbyterian bishop is bringing into their church, some freak show faggot, that doesn't affect this church. You know why? Because we're not part of that church. This is our local New Testament church and what some other church does doesn't affect us in that way. So we're held responsible for what we do and that's part of the reason for sending these letters to these churches. Why did the Lord send these letters to these churches? Why did John have to write these letters and send them to seven individual churches? Well, because they had different individual messages for each church, right? And so he's gonna deal with each church individually. God addresses each local church and he tells them what they're doing well and then also what they need to do to fix it and then the consequences for failing to fix those issues. There's some pretty big issues in these churches, isn't there? But the fact that he's sending them to churches tells you that God still holds that those churches are legit churches. Even the church where Jezebel, a woman is teaching to commit fornication and he still says, I'm giving her space to repent but if she doesn't, then she's gonna have a bad day, right? So, but if one of these churches fail, they don't all have to fail. So that's why it's so important to be independent because if we're independent from another church, then that means that if another church fails, that's no skin off my nose. If another pastor starts a cult in San Antonio, Texas, then I don't have to worry about that. They take all their sermons offline and start saying that Jesus didn't go to hell and nobody roasts in hell. You know what I'm talking about, Manly Perry, right? Nobody roasts in hell. Are you kidding me? How can you say that? Nobody roasts in hell? You might say, you know, you roast like a hot dog but you know, it makes for good preaching. No, it makes for the truth. They are roasting like a hot dog. What are you talking about? And then, you know, just one bad doctrine comes after another. To where he's talking on his podcast about how Bob Gray, the pedophile down in Jacksonville, Florida has a lot of good fruit and that's why he got a pass from the old IFB. I mean, good night. You don't have any good fruit because you're not a good tree and a good tree is gonna be cast in the fire. I mean, a bad tree is gonna be cast in the fire. You know, I just don't understand that. But see, you know, we were friends with Old Path Baptist Church and Pastor Perry at one time. But you know what? When he went full blown heresy, then I distanced myself from him. He has nothing to do with our church. In fact, I would tell you, don't even visit that church if you have a chance to go down there because it's a cult. You know, if they're locking up all the secret things that he's preaching in a vault where nobody can hear it, there's a reason why he's doing that. He doesn't want, first of all, he doesn't want Pastor Shelley to get a hold of the rest of his sermons so they can make him look even dumber. But, you know, I mean, if you have to hide your sermons like that, then you got a problem. And it's called being a cult, all right? Look back at Revelation chapter two, verse number two. It says, so remember, the Lord deals with each church separately. So if one of them goes bad, then all of them don't fall. Look at what it says, I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience. What is thy, is that singular or plural? Singular. And how thou, is that singular or plural? Singular. 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 namesake hast labored, and hast not fainted. So he's telling them the good things that they're doing. And those are some good things, right? I mean, this church is doing some good things. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. See, all those good things can get canceled out by one really bad thing. What's our first love? Our first love is supposed to be the Lord. And so God addresses what they do well, but I would submit to you that most churches do something well. Most real legit churches, they do something well. They probably do a lot of things well. But again, there is no perfect church, and God has things against every church. He'd probably have something against our church. And if I find out what that is, I'll try to fix it. So, because I'm responsible, I'm accountable. But as I preached two Thursdays ago, God is holding the pastor to a lot more responsibility to rule the church well. So if there's things that I'm doing wrong, and he brings my attention to that, then I'm gonna try my best to fix that. But isn't that what he's doing in these letters? He's writing these letters to churches, but who's he addressing them to? He's addressing them to the angel, isn't he? We'll get to that here in just a minute, but let's look at number three tonight. Number three, each church is commended or disciplined based on their own works. They're disciplined based on their own works. So he holds them responsible for, he holds each individual church responsible for what they do but he also disciplines them based on what they do. So he's not gonna discipline another church for something that somebody in our church is doing. Why? Because each church has issues. But if a church gets to the point of failing, they don't take the rest down with it. So, I mean, that's very important. That's a very important reason why we're independent. We don't want to get into a position where we get into some kind of denomination, which of course we're never gonna do. But look at the Southern Baptist churches. They probably didn't feel like they were gonna get in the mess that they're in now, but over half of them are now Calvinists and their leader, Greer or whatever his name is, says, you know, you have to love homos and let them come into your house. No, excuse me, that's not happening. They're not coming to my house. They're not coming to this house, ever. So look at verse five, it says, remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works. So how do you fix the issue of losing your first love? Well, you repent and do the first works. That means soul winning. The first works that we do are supposed to be, we're supposed to become fishers of men, right? It says, or else I will come unto thee quickly and I'll remove thy candlestick. Now, what was the candlestick again? The candlestick is the church. I will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. You know, there's a lot of churches out there today that says church on the outside of their building, such and such Baptist church, Pastor Martha Washington, you know? Pastor and Mrs. Washington, you know? The women aren't the pastor of the church. But in Portland, Oregon, there's a lot of them. Portland, Oregon, they got homo flags flying off the sides of their church. You're telling me I'm supposed to be at one universal church with that church? Uh-uh, no, that's not happening. See, but God will remove a church from being as an existence as a church. If they stop soul winning or whatever it is that he deems that you're doing so badly, he's gonna just say that's no longer a church. So it might say church on the outside. There might be people on the inside. There might be somebody at the pulpit. But God doesn't consider that a church. Because he will remove the candlestick, he'll remove the spirit of God from that church to where they're no longer considered a church again. Accept thou, repent. God gives us time to get it right. But you know, one of the things I like to point out is that the church at Ephesus doesn't exist anymore. It's not still going strong after 2,000 years. Why is that? Because apparently they didn't get this right. So God will discipline each church based upon what they're doing. That's why we can never let the light go out here at this church. We gotta put God first and we gotta put people second. People's souls second. And we gotta stick with that and continue to go soul winning because if we don't, if we don't repent, if we just start becoming a country club and we just say, well, let's just put flyers on people's door. That's the first thing, that's the first step down to the descent of having your candlestick removed. There's a church up here in Hazel Dell Avenue that I used to go to. I preached a sermon just like this and said, hey, if we don't start going soul winning, God's gonna remove this candlestick away. Two weeks later, that church burnt to the ground and I didn't do it. But here's the challenge that I gave to the congregation. I said, hey, if we don't do that, and I said, hey, I encourage people, hey, let's go soul winning at 10 o'clock on Saturday morning. If you don't know how, I'll teach you. We're just trying to get this soul winning movement going there and you know how many people showed up? Nobody. No adult in that church showed up, it was just the teens. And we still went soul winning, but you know, I think about that time and they have a brand new building. It's all shiny and new, it's nice, you know. But I believe that God removed their candlestick because you know what, they still don't go soul winning. So if they don't go soul winning, does that show that they love God? No. So it's basically a country club. Right. They show up, he preaches, if you can consider it that, out of the Bible, goes back to the geek all the time and fumbles and flutters those words around. He doesn't even know how they're pronounced and he just sounds like an idiot. But that pastor, we showed up to go soul winning, he would send us out and say, yeah, go. But he never went himself. And one of the last sermon I was there, he said, you know, people are trying to get me to go soul winning. And he said, if you don't like the way I do things, then you can just take your ball and bounce. I was like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That one never gets old. But it's true. And that church is not a legit church. Why? Because they're not going soul winning. But see, God's gonna hold each church accountable. And so they don't even realize that they think they're a church still. They're an independent, fundamental Baptist church that has no candlestick in it. The Spirit of God has left them, it's Ichabod. They're done. Now, obviously, somebody else would come in and revive things and it could become a real church again. But until they get that do nothing pastor out of there and get somebody in there with some gravel in their guts and spit in their eye, then, and some hair on his legs, they're gonna just continue to not be a functioning church. So God will remove the candlestick if we don't repent. Now, it says in verse six, but this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaiadans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. See, that church is. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. So there's an autonomy of the local church. That's one of the core beliefs that we believe at this church. And you're like, what does autonomy mean? Well, it means the condition of being self governing. Self governing or the right to self government, okay? So this church is self governing. We don't depend on other people to govern this church. That's why we're independent, all right? So when someone says the autonomy of the local church, we believe in the autonomy of the local church. That means we believe in the self government of our own individual church. Number four tonight, this is the last point. Each independent church has one director or leader in charge. Each independent church has one director or leader in charge, the pastor. And he is the dictator. He's not just the director, he's the dictator, all right? You're like, you're a dictator? Yeah, I am. So I dictate what goes on in this church based upon what the Bible says, all right? I'm not a dictator since I'm like Omar Gaddafi or something. All right, so it's not like that. I dictate based upon what the Bible says, not upon what I think or what my opinion is. So a director is a person who's in charge of an activity, department, or organization. So we're a church or organization, we do activities, and I'm the person that's in charge of that. A dictator is a ruler with total power. Now, but the thing is that Jesus Christ is the head of the church, so I answer to him. So ultimately, I'm not the real dictator here, it's God. All right, so I hope you don't take that the wrong way. Let's look back at verse number one in our text. It says, unto the angel of the church at Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Now notice it says, unto the angel of the church, okay? Now, a lot of people get this confused and they think that this is talking about an actual angel. And I know that that interpretation exists, but have you guys ever had to answer to the angel of this church? Is there like an angel flying above the top of our church that we talk to or that we send letters to? Or, I mean, that doesn't make sense. Where in the Bible does it say that we're supposed to write letters to angelic beings and that they rule over our church in some way, shape, or form? That doesn't make sense, does it? Because angel means messenger. And sometimes these angels are legit angels of God, but sometimes they're also men. So in this instance, I believe it's talking about men. And I personally believe that. Why do I believe that? Well, because the underlying Greek here is also translated as messenger in the Bible. I'm not trying to go back to the Greek. I'm just telling you that the underlying Greek word is the same for angel as it is for messenger. And so is there other messengers in the Bible? Of course there is. Matthew chapter 11, verse 10. Let's just look at one instance here. So I'm not trying to go all manly pair and go G5055 in the Strongs. G32, G5057, you know. I'm just telling you that the Greek underlying word here means it's translated the same thing. So they're used to translate the word messenger and also angel. So what it says in Matthew 11, 10. For this is he of whom is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. And it's talking about, of course, John the Baptist, the same underlying word is used for messenger there as it is done to the angel at the Church of Ephesus. So anyway, again, not going back to the Greek. I'm not saying I know Greek. I'm just saying that that word is the same word and in the same spot, okay? So definitely not trying to correct the translators or anything like that. Anyway, Revelation 1, verse 20. Let's look at what it says there. Revelation 1, verse 20. Revelation 1, 20 says, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou saw are the seven churches. So the interpretation here is that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Now, nowhere else in the New Testament is it gonna tell you that we have, I mean, obviously we have guardian angels, but why would he say to write a letter to these seven churches and to these angels, do angels read the scriptures to us? Do angels preach to the church? No, they don't. We don't really have any interaction with angels. Has anybody seen an angel lately? Don't answer me if, you know. Don't raise your hand if you have, okay? But all I'm trying to say is that this is written to somebody that's accountable for something. So is the angel, is an angel like an angelic being? Are they accountable for the things that go on here or is it the pastor of the church? Pastor of the church, right? So, and that's the interpretation that I get out of that, that they're just the messengers that preach the Bible to them. So why do I believe they're men? Well, number one, the Bible is written to them by letters from John. So if they're heavenly angels, God could just directly communicate with them, right? Why would he need to write letters to them? You know, aren't the angels in heaven? And he could just say things. I mean, you see lots of for instances in the Bible where God talks to angels and tells them things and sends them to tell people things. But number two, men that are pastors would need the Bible to tell them what God wants. Men that are pastors would need the Bible to tell them what God wants. So how do I give you messages from here? From the Bible. So that's what he's asking John to do. He's asking him to write letters to the churches and those angels are supposed to be the ones, those messengers are the ones that are supposed to tell the people what they're supposed to do. Because aren't they telling them things? Isn't Jesus telling them things that they're doing wrong, things that they need to fix? So has there any, at any time, an angel come and told you what you need to fix? No. So that's, I mean, I'm just logic-ing it here a little bit. Number three, only apostles wrote scripture in the New Testament, for the most part. You might be able to argue a couple passages, but for the most part, the apostles are the ones that wrote the Bible, right? So it's not like angels wrote the Bible, did they? No. So the angels are not gonna get messages to read in front of churches, right? So in the fact that John the Baptist is called a messenger and an angel, and messenger, excuse me, mean the same thing, these two words are synonyms that mean the same thing. Now of course angel, angelic beings are different than human messengers, but human beings can be messengers too. There's instances where it says a man came and you're not really sure whether it's a man or an angel. You know, there's just different, lots of different instances where I think that men are actually being sent to tell people things and it's not necessarily an angelic being. So Revelation chapter one, verse 11. Revelation chapter one, verse 11. It says, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. So he says to write it in the book, what you've seen, write it in a book, and it's supposed to be sent to these people. So also the last time I checked, angels from heaven don't run the church, they don't read the word of God, they're not part of the congregation. I mean, those are just the basic reasons why I believe that they're not, it's not talking about angelic beings, but, and I think I'm right, I think most pastors kinda have that interpretation, but I just kinda wanna go over some of those things with you. But what do you see in the Old Testament? Moses, undisputed leader of the children of Israel. Joshua, undisputed leader of the children of Israel. In the Judges, they had Samson, Gidea, Jephthah, Barak, all these different people. In the book of Kings, you have David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Asa, Josiah, of course they're kings. But God has already always had a structured leadership where one person is in the power, right? One person is the leader. And obviously at this church, we could get so big that we could have seven pastors at the church, but those are probably more like deacons. I know that there's a church that I've been to that had seven different pastors, but there was one pastor that's the head of that church still. It's not all the pastors have like some voting deal that they have going on. There's still one pastor that was in charge of that church that I knew of. So in the New Testament, what do you see? The apostles that were ordained by Christ. So they were the ones that were in charge. And then what did they do? Well, they ordained other people. Look at Acts 16, verse number four. Acts 16, verse number four. Hey, Alex, you turn that down a little bit? Thank you, brother. Appreciate it. Feel like a marshmallow up here roasting. All right, Acts 16, verse four says, and as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily. So these different churches were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith. So there's another proof text right there for having that a church is not independent until they're ordained by an apostle or an elder. And of course we don't have apostles anymore. So the churches were established in the faith. That's how the churches got started in the beginning. That's how they should be now, independent of each other, but yet accountable to the Lord. So anyway, turn to 1 Timothy, chapter three, verse 15. See, churches beget churches. Somewhere Ephesus probably tried to, they started other churches. We know Antioch did, but like the reason why there's churches still in the world now because some church beget that church. Some church beget that church. I believe that churches beget churches, pastors beget pastors, right? That's the system that God's always had. 1 Timothy 3.15 says, but if I tarry along, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Why is it so important for us to be independent? Well, because this is the house of God. And if it gets corrupted, then we get the corruption out. And we don't start denominations, why? Because if we start denominations, then if the head of that denomination goes bad, then all the rest of the churches are gonna go bad. So we need to be the pillar and ground of the truth and stand for the truth, and we have to be an autonomous, local, independent church. So the Southern Baptist Convention is a perfect example. Like I said earlier, of churches that just turn into a denomination. Now look at them, they're all corrupt. Look at the Catholic Church, they're all pedophiles. Look at the Presbyterian Church, they all let the homos in, you know? I mean, they're just, denominations corrupt. And so that's why we need to be independent. Now hanging out with people with like fellowship is fine. You know, I'll be friends with pastors that, you know, they don't have to believe everything I believe. They don't have to do everything I do. But as long as we're based, we agree on the fundamentals, then we can have fellowship. But again, if that, I don't have authority over somebody else's church, you know? I don't have authority of what somebody else does in their church, so if they go bad, then I can just say, you know what, I don't wanna be part of that anymore. I don't want our church fellowshiping with that church anymore. I don't want our church fellowshiping with that pastor anymore. So obviously you can do whatever you want. You can watch whoever sermons you want to, but there's certain people that have been friends with us, and I wouldn't listen to their sermons anymore. And I would warn you to not listen to them anymore. I would warn you not to follow that person because of how they're acting. So, you know, there's a point where I can refuse to fellowship with someone, and I do. There's lots of people I don't wanna fellowship with anymore. And there's no reason to call every single person out that just because you don't agree with them on everything, that you can just walk and part ways and not have to deal with them anymore. But I might even still like them, but it doesn't mean I have to fellowship with them, and it doesn't mean I have to promote their church or send people to their ministry. So I already covered that church plants are not independent unless they're no longer under the authority of a local church. But here's the thing, you know your Baptist when what? You know your Baptist when the Bible is your boss, salvation is by faith alone, eternal security of the believer, baptism by immersion, autonomy of the local church, soul winning, and here's another one that people leave out a lot, sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So I think our church would go in a bad way if I started putting faggy CCM music in our church with some little thing that pulls down and we're all doing the shout to the Lord and CJ's up here with his electric guitar and drums, with his drummer gloves on, Justin's doing solos and sliding down, look, we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna turn faggy CCM, where people are like. That's garbage, man. We're Baptist, and so we're gonna stick with the old hymns and the psalms. The Bible specifically commands us to sing psalms and hymns. Doesn't say have rock concerts in a 15 minute sermon. So we need to stick with the old path, not Old Path Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, but I mean the old path that it shows in the Bible. I've heard a pastor talking about how independent he was recently and how he hated all the drama of the new IFB and smack talking how ungodly it is. Then in the same sermon talks crap about pastors that I love and care about, talks about, hey, if you wanna go to Verity Baptist Church, then you might have to do a 14 day quarantine before you go there. Just talk, I mean, that's an indirect shot at my pastor. It pisses me off. My pastor friends don't need me to stick up for him, but you know what, I'm gonna do it anyway. And it really irritates me. And then this same pastor who's going on and on the sermon he preached is called Independent Baptist, same kind of sermon I'm preaching. But most of the sermon is him ranting and raving about how all the things that he doesn't like about the new IFB. Well, I thought it wasn't a denomination. Why are you so worried about it then? So, and he didn't even see the hypocrisy about how he's trashing other pastors, he's trashing other pastors' church members publicly on YouTube for doing what people have told people to do. Hey, if you have a question about somebody's doctor, why don't you ask him about it? Because not everybody lives in an area where they have a good church to go to. And if someone has a question about what a pastor believes about something, people call me all the time and ask me questions. People email me all the time and ask me questions. You know what I do? I answer their questions. And if they don't like what I believe, we'll go someplace else. It's no skin off my nose. Like I'm saying, I don't care. But this guy is trashing church members of pastors that are in different places in the country while he's saying, who cares what's going on 3,000 miles away at another church? Well, why are you preaching about it then? Why do you care about it then? And don't you see the hypocrisy about how they're trashing other people's church members? You're talking crap about other pastors in your so-called independent Baptist sermon. And how people need to mind their own business and don't worry about other churches, what other pastors are doing 3,000 miles away while you mention pastors that you supposedly are friends with, supposedly. And then claims this, the new IFB lacks mercy and grace and brains and common sense. The new IFB lacks mercy and look, he's trying to lump us in as a denomination because of, you know, basically because, like if we say we're Baptist, now that really doesn't mean as much as it used to mean. Because it could be Baptist NIV only or it could be Baptist, what do you call it, when they believe they can lose their salvation, I forgot what the, they have a denomination of Baptists over in the south that actually believe they could lose their salvation. But anyway, or Southern Baptists, you know, when we say new IFB, we're just trying to let you know basically what that means, that we believe in a pre-Trib, post-Trib pre-Rath rapture, we don't believe that Israel is still God's chosen people, we believe that we're Israel, and you know, there's just different variances that we believe, but we still believe all the essential salvations by faith alone, the Bible's your boss, eternal security of the believer, baptism by immersion, autonomy of local church, all that good stuff. So, isn't that the opposite of independent, if you're gonna sit there and preach a sermon about how you're independent, and then you're gonna sit there and talk crap, and look, I'm not saying that I'm not gonna talk crap about other people, because I will, especially if they piss me off, like this guy pissed me off, and it's Grace and Fritz, and yeah, I'm gonna call his name out, because I'm sick of hearing his trash talk about pastor friends of mine, and you know, I didn't really wanna have to do that, but like, I just get so sick and tired of watching him just preach behind our backs all the time, and everybody just turns the other way, because he had this battle with the Sodomites where he got fired, whatever, but he's no friend of ours, and look, I'm not saying he's not saved, not saying that, so don't put words in my mouth that I'm reprobating him, okay, I'm not reprobating him, just saying that he's a weasel, you know, he's talking crap behind people's backs, you know, talking crap about Pastor Anderson who ordained him, you know, what a slap in the face. Do you think I'd ever just sit here and talk crap about Pastor Jimenez? Could you ever imagine me doing that? Saying he's stupid? He called, he said, do I think Pastor Anderson does stupid things? Yes! You know, he thinks if he just yells like Yosemite Sam that that's gonna make everything better, but look, you talk about a pastor that laid hands on you and made you legit, because people were saying, well, what's the difference between his ordination and somebody else's? What's the difference between Doka's and his, or whatever? You know, and so Pastor Anderson went over there, preached at his church, laid hands on him after the sermon, and then he sits there and talks crap about him? That's a weasel. Because you know what, you wouldn't have a church if it wasn't for Pastor Anderson, you little jerk. Anyway, he talks about crap about Pastor Shelley too. You know, and I just, they don't need me to defend them, I get that, but I just wanted to let you know that I don't wanna be friends with them. Why would I be? When he's talking about my pastor, talking about my friends, talking about my friends from church members, from church people that I care about and love. Now, I'll just say this, I like a lot of Pastor Fritz's church members, but you know, he's basically kinda just holding them hostage, beating them down with the new IFB stuff, you know what? You know why they're in your church and so I want him because of Pastor Anderson, because of the new IFB teachings. I mean, come on, and you're just gonna sit there, now that you've got what you want, you're just gonna just discard everything? Well, that's fine, well, I don't wanna be friends with you either. So if you're scheduled to preach at some of the things that we're scheduled to preach and then, oh, he just got an excuse for why he can't show up to them. Well, that's fine, but you know what, I'll say this, he says that the new IFB doesn't have grace, the new IFB doesn't have mercy, we don't have brains or common sense, but how many of those pastors out there, they know what he's saying about them and still don't preach against them. And it's taken me a year to finally say something, but I'm just sick of it, sick of watching that little weasel slither around in our circles, and look, I'm not saying you can't listen to his sermons or whatever, but here's what I'm saying. I'm saying, I believe he's saved, I'm not saying he's a reprobate, I'm just saying that I don't like him because he's talking crap about my friends and he's talking crap about, I mean, basically, if you're talking crap about the new IFB, he's talking crap about all you. He said, here's the other thing, he said, I just heard him say this and I hadn't heard this before, but he said that the old IFB has better children than all, 99% of the new IFB people, better children. I mean, the ones that walk away as soon as they can, the ones that walk away as soon as they're 18, they're out the door, oh yeah, they're a lot better. That's just stupid, but he's joined up with Josh Gander, I don't know if he's friends with Josh Gander, but Patrick Boyle, Joe Major Disappointment, all these guys that have left, Wesley Tom, I'm not saying he's with Wesley Tomlinson, but he kicked McCraney to the curb, but then he's just as much of a weasel as he is. And Justin LeBlanc, the guy with the Yeti pulpit or whatever, I don't know, you guys all know what I'm talking the guy that teaches you can go to hell for 1,000 years and whoever else, but like I said, Pastor Fritz has gotten a pass because we're not merciful, because we're not graceful. Well, I mean, I guess I'm the one that didn't give him a pass, but I'm just tired of it, I'm tired of just pretending like he's one of us when he's really not, so, and I'm not saying he's not saved, again, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying I don't like him because I think he's a weasel, just like I think Patrick Boyle's a weasel. And yeah, I said it, so what? Because you know what, I'm independent. I'm not a, this church is not a denomination. So, you know, and they've made it very obvious that they don't wanna be friends with us, so you know what, then I don't wanna be friends with you either, good luck with your ministry that was built by Pastor Anderson who you called stupid. So anyway, I believe he's saved, I still love him in Christ. I love a lot of his church members that I know. And I'm sorry, I'm not trying to upset people, but how long can people talk crap before you just finally call them out and pull their card? So, I think he's backstabbing, crap-talking weasel, just like his buddies that he's palin' around with. So, there I said it, there's my independent Baptist sermon, okay? So, I think we should be independent, and look, I'll be friends with who I wanna be friends with, too, so, and you know what I'm gonna choose? The friends that have been by my side and fought with me in battles, and they're supporting us as friends, they don't go around talkin' crap about us, and if you talk crap about my pastor, I am gonna stand up for him. You talk crap about Pastor Mendez's church, yeah, I know you're in Tennessee where they, the virus doesn't exist, and masks never helped anything and whatever, but all these people just turn against us all of a sudden, for what, over a stupid mask. So, that's their reason for biblical separation, brother, the masks. Stupid, but anyway, I had to get that off my chest, so. Well, I'm done, well, it's five o'clock, let's go, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for a wonderful day in church, and for all the people that got saved last week, and Lord, I just pray you'd protect all those that are traveling home, and Lord, if people didn't know who I was talkin' about tonight, that's fine, they don't have to know, but Lord, I just want you to bless our church continuously, Lord, as you've been doing. Help us to grow, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.