HeartCry Conference 2006 Q&A - Paul Washer, Bob Jennings, Mack Tomlinson, Jeff Noblit, Bill McLeod

[Music] the question is in regards to how sin affects prayer when you know the scripture verse it says if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me does it simply refer to if we refuse to humble ourselves and deal with it or if we have dealt with it but we have yet to carry it out source we've surrendered it to the Lord what effect does sin have in regards to prayer role model makes it very clear that if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me so then it's useless praying if you have unconfessed sin in your heart you're aware of that I think that's made very plain in different parts of the Bible even praying for sick people as in James chapter five it goes on to say after saying the elders the prayer faith will save the sick and then says and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him but sins are not forgiven if they're not confess so in other words the elders have to find out that the talk to the person they're playing for to find out if there is perhaps sin in their life and the sickness may be because of sin it is noise but sometimes it is and that's way it goes so sin in the heart God doesn't listen I think that one thing is very very important is the one to whom the Lord looks as a contrite spirit trembles at his word there is so much I am so dull in my heart so many times and do not know a secret false in many many ways until I come into may be the spirit revives me or in the word or brother rebukes me and I think one of the things that is so very important is this idea of a continual brokenness before the Lord blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted there is a sense in which you know it's very dangerous when a person looks at their life and say well you know I don't have any and they walk around pretty arrogant you know until something walks them over the head but I think that there is a constant state of brokenness and humility before the Lord that even when we have confessed all that we have confessed there's still this reality of such Grace and that when he does speak to us and answer us it is a work of tremendous grace in this part well in that passage is in the key word regarding isn't there a difference between regarding sin and committing sin it is just it is a recognition and holding on to you know the thought occurred to me that if I'm praying with known unconfessed sin I'm in effect praying to an idol not God an idol that I'm making him out to be because known sin in my own life is against him and against not just his law but his very character in nature so why would I talk to him anyway if I'm against him so just I don't know it just came to my mind then actually any prayer effort with unconfessed sin that's known would have to be prayer to your own idol not to the true God that you know your sinning again we talked about confessing our sins right each night I try to confess my sin but I find sometimes it's hard to recognize a particular sin I know that I fall short of God's glory every day but how do most of time when you have a sin if it's you know you have a conviction you could pass your sin right there but at the end of the day when you look back an extra day in there's no you can't pinpoint your capacity and you know how do you draw that out in order to become to have a closer walk you know where do you draw the line you know how can you make sure you confess every sin that you ever commit and where does grace fit into that and well sometimes if I'm correct sometimes the idea is you can you feel like at the end of the day you need to confess sin but you don't really know if you've got you don't really know any specific sin and you're just wondering what you should do about that the one scripture that comes to my mind made that may relate is search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting it's obviously not a legalistic work that we have to remember everything and then confess it what the Holy Spirit brings to mind we need to quickly agree with the father about and then we know that we don't know her own horse and so an open honest heart to the father that's his father search me cleanse me that's sufficient in lot of that question I think I could add something here perhaps from the book of Joel it runs like this it says he never takes his eyes off the righteous but with kings are they in the throne he establishes them forever and they are exalted and then comes and if and if they bound in fetters and held in cords of affliction with that then he shows them their word and their transgressions which they have exceeded and he opens their ear to discipline and he commands that they return from iniquity so sometimes people they they said I prayed and asked God he didn't show me anything yet I know there's something there wait a minute God said it says there so clearly in job he shows them their work he shows us our transgression what it really means is we're not listening maybe we don't want to hear there's one thing that and I totally agree with everything that's been said one thing that bothers me sometimes is you know the Holy Spirit in his work he can fix us of sin he convicts us of righteousness also and I sometimes think that believers also if if I'm renewing my mind with the word of God according to Roman's to 12 verse 2 if I'm seeking to follow hard after Christ you know I trust and I'm asking God to search me I and really dealing with that I trust that the Holy Spirit will search me he will tell me and sometimes he may even use other people to come and rebuke me and so many things but at the same time I'm always worried that I don't hear a lot of believers rejoicing in in godliness rejoicing and righteousness being convicted I feel like a lot of times believers are just many times under the accusation of the devil that even if even if after they pray and ask God to search them and they're really you know desiring to be pure and to walk with God even if they don't hear something and and there's no apparent sin they still almost walk under this guilt and this condemnation and and sometimes I know you can get off balance with this but sometimes I'm happy in the Lord because I know he's done a work in me and is doing a work in me and and yes overcoming so I don't think that believers need to assume I mean we know that we sin we know that the Holy Spirit points that out we know that there's sometimes secret sins it may be lay there until a greater work is done or God shows us more clearly but at the same time I think we have to be very carefully just walking in this assumed condemnation that we were always in rebellion because that's not true Paul said that he exercised himself to have a conscience void of offense before God men so he exercised him say search is hard and but then it says you know and John if our heart does not condemn us we have confidence before God we know when our heart is clean conscience is clear yes I don't know how thoroughly you can answer this question but I know that I sometimes have an inclination or I feel that God may be leading me to do something maybe witness to somebody or sometimes like you said some crazy things I was just wondering is there a way to discern between what is God's will if he's leading you to do it or if it's your own thoughts or if it's maybe evil let me just say first of all that people get in a really bad trap in this they're not really renewing their mind in the Word of God as a practice and then they come to a crossroads where they need to discern the will of God and so they go to the Bible as though a magic book to find the answer for God's will and that is not really how God has set it up in Romans 12:2 we go back to that the idea of renewing your mind to know what the will of God is so before a situation ever comes into place where I have to discern is God leading or not one of the things I need to be surra is that as a life practice I am constantly renewing my mind in the Word of God because that holds promise secondly if I believe knowing that and checking my life there if I believe God's leading me to do something clearly we know this if it contradicts a direct command of Scripture or biblical principles we know it's not the Holy Spirit leading us but let's say that that I'm renewing my mind in the Word of God it does not contradict commands or principles or to do it doesn't contradict other things then one of the things that I will do of course I pray but I'll also seek godly counsel I can recall several times in my when I've gone to men that I greatly respected and authorities over me and asked them to pray about in opinions and usually by renewing my mind in the Word of God searching the Scriptures praying you know and checking out my motives you know am I am i seeking first the kingdom of God going to godly godly men to pray with me and to pray for me very rarely have I have I tripped up that way well of course it has to be what is what you're hearing or feeling has to be totally consistent with the Word of God and one of the problems today is this at the average Christian knows very little of the Word of God I remember one time this only taught a Sunday School class and local church and he heard me preach and he said you quoted a verse and I I just couldn't locate it and I know my Bible very well he says I know the New Testament off my heart he said but that verse I said what was the verse when he said the verse was a how should we escape we neglect so great salvation he said well where is that and I said in the book of Hebrews all he said I knew it had to be in the Old Testament I know the New Testament AHA you know there's a lot of that kind of stuff going people don't know the Bible so there they're open to a satanic deception constantly and if they don't pray you have to get alone with God and wait on God you know the big trouble today in the church or among Christians is this I'm in a hurry and God isn't when the Bible says wait on the Lord it means exactly that and you have to spend time with God maybe some hours at times even not be not make hasty decisions on some impression we have or some impression somebody else gives to us to piggyback on his question can we get to the point to where we are so concerned with following God's will that we're just we we miss the point Oh God do you want me to have cereal this morning or waffles you know my wife always makes those decisions what one thing I tell college students and this is very important college students are famous for this or infamous for this they wear themselves out emotionally physically and spiritually trying to figure out God's will for their life they're going to graduate they don't they're going to marry this girl this and this and back and forth and always tell them a very childlike thing that I've worked just in my own life and it's this I just keep doing exactly what I'm doing and following the Lord and his commands the best that I can and and I do not worry about a deviation from that until God makes it so clear to me that I know I need to do something else that I know that if I don't do it I'm in disobedience and to that point I don't put a lot of just I don't waste a lot of energy trying to work through that let me just say you know bloom where you're planted as a pastor I often have energetic enthusiastic sometimes young Christians how do I know the will of God and then I'll check and they're not real faithful in Sunday school I'll check and they don't come to our outreach visitation program they're not in an accountability group with another believer to sharpen themselves and so the basic things that we should be doing we're not doing we're going to give us a special direction for some spectacular thing over here make sure you're faithful where you are and exhaust yourself in the commitments you have where you are and I'm just convinced you're not going to miss God's will if you're faithful in the small things let's say are the everyday things of your local church family so many of the decisions we make you know it's surprising how many decisions we make without you know without a prayer meeting or without having to have a Bible verse or something like that you know it's like first Thessalonians three Paul says when when he could endure it no longer we thought it best to be left behind is it Athens alone and he says we thought it best you know and so here's a Christian he has a renewed mind and he's to that level of spirituality and and so you know it seems best this seems like the right thing to do you know it seemed like the right thing to do to put my shoes on in the morning and a lot of things like that and so sometimes we just don't have a striking revelation and I mean even on a thing like that like Paul was talking about he says I thought it best we left behind at a saloon we sent Timothy and so some things are like that please my heart are we heard that our badge churches have a lot of lost people and I'm going to think they are saved they're least attending the Sunday morning services and I've heard it said a lot and it's very greedy I just wondering how you feel about that first of all it's true you do and it's not just confined to Baptist it's confined it's not confirmed it's rampant and evangelicalism today and the reason for it is first of all the gospel that is preached is no gospel at all it's a gospel reduced from Christ the god man going to a tree and dying under the wrath of his father and rising again from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father and calling all men commanding all men to repent and believe and that the proof of saving faith is the continued fruit in their life we've reduced all that down to five things God wants you to know our four spiritual laws and if you jump through each one of those and say yes and then pray the little prayer in the back some evangelists who should spend less time preaching and more time studying as Bible declares you saved I'm very opinionated with regard to this that that's just the point so our gospel second of all there's the it seems to me that when I look at I don't consider the Catholic Church to ever have been a church but when I look at the Catholic Church when I look at anglicanism and what was going on in England when I look at what was going on in in New England and what goes on today it seems to me that always the devil works it out so that the great assumption is they're saved the least amount of time it seems eventually is given to discerning what is the gospel and whether a person is truly saved if they just walk up front and they pray that prayer we declare them safe and start disciple them minh with this person for months that they come to a biblical assurance and so our churches are filled with lost people and it's by and large because the superficiality of pastors and most of them have gone to church growth schemes and turn their church into six flags over Jesus and they no more are preaching the gospel than a man on the moon it's that's not a it's not just a contemporary know it problem was I read this week were aw pink I mean he could he got pretty discouraged at times and could be seen like he could be harsh but in his day in the 1930s and 40s he made the statement that he wondered if 2 percent of Protestantism were born-again at all in America well even the great one of the greatest most well-known evangelist in America today has said that if even 5 percent of all the people that have been converted in his meetings or Christian he would be happy and another thing about is so important is the idea of a compassionate loving church discipline I find it very strange that people do not practice church discipline because they love their congregation more than Jesus does Jesus commanded them to practice church discipline not upon sinful people we're all so but upon rebels who show no fruit and will not turn and see in the thing that's really bad is we have just come out of liberalism there was a move among many denominations specially in Southern Baptist Convention seeing that liberalism is out we're going right it hasn't taken us not even a decade to go right back into neoliberalism which in in my opinion the new liberalism is basically the church growth movement where everything is done on on marketing strategies and finding the you know tell us what kind of church you want that's what we'll give you instead asking God what kind of bride he desires I have a daughter named Joanna and she professed to be saved was baptized joined the church and seemed to be a very genuine Christian when she went to school she always had a Bible on top of her schoolbooks the principal of school told us he said we sure like having your daughter in our school nicer wine he said if there's any hanky-panky going on and your daughter finds out she blows the lid off this place he server we're so glad she's there then during the revival she came to me one night and said daddy I'd like to be saved I said what you mean you're backslidden she said daddy I've never known the Lord I knew the language I got the language from you and mom but I never known the Lord and so I led her to Christ and then before the revival I had an assistant pastor great song leader and great teaching children but he was with us of six or eight months and the Deacons and I felt he's not producing and we talked with him and finally we had to ask him to leave and he did during the revival he phoned me one night long distance and he said last night I was praying and God showed me that I've never been born again can I come down to Saskatoon and you could spend some time they said certainly so we came down we got some pastors together and he knelt we all know and we counsel with him and he prayed no never for death he suddenly cried god is real God is real what a transformation a man so there's likely lots of people like that to know the language they've heard it from others and but they don't know the Lord this must have men burdened for the Lord Jesus too because one time it struck me that almost all if not all of the parables that the Lord spoke had to do with this matter of true and false profession I mean the two builders the sore in the soils wheat and the tares share the sheep and the goats and just almost all of the parables have to do with this very thing being else presence greatest mission field today is the church are what scones are you know I've been thinking a lot about especially men and maybe men in prominent positions maybe like you know brother Jeff and he's a pastor here First Baptist and when you get to places like even you guys are and even myself where you're pastoring and you're a lot of people come to hear you preach and speak we are always convicted to confess our sins to the Lord and go before him in prayer but how important is it no matter where you are who you are to confess those sins to other men and to other believers and how important is it to always do that what would be the difference in would there be a time where you would just confess to go there is a time where the Lord may lead us may even see the dictate in Scripture to confess our sins to others you have to use a tremendous amount of wisdom in doing that because most people and I mean most people are not trustworthy most most people are gossips and they will hurt you for me if I felt like I needed to go and speak with someone I would go to the elders of my church I would entrust myself to those men there are friends that I will there are some things that I am trust with everyone if you noticed while I was preaching here tonight I made quite clear some of my failings in my needs especially with regard to spirituality I feel very comfortable sharing that there are some things that I can share with other brothers who are closer to me maybe certain needs and weaknesses I have that I wouldn't share with the entire community and then there may be other things that I would want to go directly to my elders those who are elders in the church and deal with them are very very close friends I know I've had a lot of pastor friends that I've worked with in the past they like to have friends out of town maybe not in their own church is there wisdom in that boy is that biblical you know that scares me you've got a fellowship of believers that you're supposed to be tied to more than just dotting by own face the earth your your local fellowship of faith if I have to go out of town to find someone that I can trust I need to get to be a part of a different fellowship I mean you know I I mean that's that's there my family I mean there you know and another thing you know this is very important I had a young man this may help some young men here and he would he called me up one day and he was having he was just newly married he was having he was battling with his thought life you know he walked down the street battle with the awkward glance and things like that and and he was confessing every battle with his thought life to his wife in order to be sincere or to be and I said young man I said you're killing her you're going to kill her I said you may be soothing your conscience you may be calming your conscience but you're killing this woman and he pulled out a bunch of verses the context and just railed on me and went away I would imagine he's probably divorced or either has a wife that's totally destroyed and so be very careful a lot of times we're wanting to confess something to get it off of our chest but we keep it on the head of another person and you know I want to go back to church leadership there is a reason for elders and there's a reason why you choose where certain men are chosen and it's a comfort when you have men who are seeking to be biblical broken they're trustworthy it's such a comfort because that's what God is established we've got another question here I would love to hear you brother Jeff speak a little bit about our accountability system and the way it works here in this church I think it would be worth these folks hearing how we how we structure that to help answer what rep Nathan was asking talking specifically about cavity groups for and having that one-on-one accountability partner well we begin 20 plus years ago actually with the students just having an accountability partner for what I like to say to keep the lazy streak in check you know being accountable being accountable and quoting your verses for the week and having a daily quiet time and sharing the gospel regularly you can do that like a mechanical robot we all know that but if you love God the power of shame is good brothers can help each other and so that's been a very I think beneficial thing in the body here for four years switching back to the original question brother Nate posed and I know he's going to be a pastor has pastored and has that heart I've been here 26 years and I have an incredible blessings confessing weaknesses and struggles with brothers I have also shared weaknesses and struggles with brothers who used it to try to destroy me this church doesn't need me but it does need God's called pastor and so there's a sense in which you protect yourself and your reputation to the end of the good of the body of Christ and so I would say be very careful and wise careful about that and perhaps maybe young ministers I guess thinking about percept we probably overdo that we probably err by trying to be too transparent too humble perhaps had an older gentleman in my church six or so years ago said pastor would you quit telling us how you week you are now you stroke on all these areas so people don't like you and they're using it you know so and that was wise that was not good I think my motives were good but I was unwise and immature the second question is not related but the second question is in the early church the somewhere on a minimum of three years of preparation before baptism and even in some moves even before communion how much time should be invested in supposed new converts before baptism before entry into communion I just like to hear some feedback on that you know each person is so different as churches we want to develop a system and when somebody through a machine and that's not an that's inward you know organization it's not an organism and I in my mind is that you know a person come to a biblical assurance a biblical assurance and and you know that's through counseling that's through loving it's talking to them and waiting in some people you know there's going to be is going to come quicker than others so the idea of biblical assurance is working with each individual taking them through scripture and seeing you know but a lot of times during well Wednesday nights I mean brother Jeff is back and that's it's all that he's doing is meeting with person after person and it's not just one time it spends times they meet with other people and it's just discern it's not to try to make you know you've got to reach some certain level to be in this club it's just that if you if you're a pastor and you really love people the thing you're going to work hardest on is that they if they have if they're not really saved that false assurance is destroyed and if they are really saved that they have biblical the shirts on the baptism question you look in the New Testament I mean the book of action oh you see immediate baptisms upon confession I mean almost immediate and Peter I mean Philip said to the Ethiopian eunuch in if you believe with all your heart you may be baptized for what I don't know that it's any consolation but you find Peter baptized Simon falsely so even he did that but it does seem like there's a some scripture for being careful on certain categories of people like the Pharisees you know John the Baptist said let's see some fruit and I think that would apply to children too I mean just so often they just they don't understand enough and so there's I think maybe there's some scriptural notes for being cautious on those that are likely to make more likely to make a false professional one of the basis of the New Covenant says they shall all be taught of God the least of them the greatest of them they shall all be taught of God and they'll have a having a knowledge of their iniquities being removed taken away again dropping the ball theologically taking you know when you know I how many pastors have I heard say you know to a person who is doubting their salvation well have you ever asked was there a point time in your life when you ask Jesus come in your heart if they said yes they'd say well were you sincere and if the person said well I think so they said we are saved and that's the devil bothering you that's the extent of what it's come to another thing that's a big problem and I hate to keep harping on this but God does not have a plan B or he told us how to deal with his church and one of the great problems is this again a biblical compassionate church discipline is not practiced because when if you're baptizing people just all kinds of people and even no matter how careful you are even if you're Peter you're going to baptize someone who's a sorcerer alright and they're in the church and they stay there why because church discipline isn't practice so a big part of this is not the problem with discerning baptism it's the fact that once someone's in the church they can run rampant and ungodliness and no one does anything and so that's a big problem let me throw in this that we've experienced here we started with church discipline before we had a healthy understanding of conversion and to beyond I was converted at age 19 had no church background at all now it's real troubled with the typical Southern Baptists easy believe ISM didn't know what to call college easy believe is amad the time and but yet I bought into some of it and we had something of a paradox going on we have discipline over here we believe conversion really changes you but all the known people say do this quick fix hoop jump conversion thing and it was a mess but because of church discipline I was forced to deal with the doctrine of conversion because as having a discipline so many not my goodness are just baptized this person a month ago and they're already a discipline case in the church and it's as if God somebody said one time they've got it was spoken to you know it was louder than that you know God said you don't know what conversion is and I don't know thousands of hours I spent studying the doctrine of conversion I mean immersing myself church history our Baptist's theologians and others and just the book of Ephesians particularly because I was preaching through that book and I mean it was a wrestle a fight a struggle am i crazy am I going too far to where now I'm at peace I'm not saying I've arrived but I'm at peace with how we're dealing with seekers now and following up on what Bob said I think acts does appear to give the impression that folks are baptized immediately but if we ever been in a Pentecostal type work of the Spirit you got to take that in context Jonathan Edwards I think is so light when he says in an unusual genuine move of the Spirit you may know in 30 minutes if a man is truly converted but usually that's not possible and there's a reason why Paul told Timothy do the work of an ax Angeles and when the first time I read that verse that I can remember I thought about the van just on then I thought what work is this so ever 15 sermons 20 minute message well done out good what there's no work and then when I begin to understand what conversion biblically should look like and now I'm counseling with people I sometimes leave here at night at 10 o'clock on the day I set aside to counsel with people about baptism I'm absolutely exhausted it's a joyous exhaustion but it's work it's the work of laboring with fear before God about this person's soul and even more so the health of the Bride of Christ and brothers those of you that are going to Pastor here's the issue do you love God and it has brought that important to you it is it is that important you know to make you rethink and examine and reformulate everything you're doing in that area and it's just been a long pilgrimage and a struggle and suffering and people misunderstanding and leaving and persecution but if you're on that pilgrimage keep going keep seeking God nothing is what can be more important than the doctrine of conversion I mean in in it's not for spiritual laws or walk down the aisle and pray this prayer it's massive I don't anybody preaching to my daughters that's just this little thing that little thing I want them to care for their souls and so the quite honest I've had to repent of a thousand and one other things you can do in a large Church that's a well organizing well structure like we are which can be idols to a pastor like myself who's gifted to do that and get myself back to poring over preaching and counseling those that spirit is moving in and realizing that is my work and you know it's amazing if that gets right I don't mean perfect that that gets right everything else starts to work pretty good so fight that fight in that area it's great question how does the pastor begin to lead his church men to hold him accountable what would be the process for me to have men that would rise up in my church to hold me accountable especially in the sense of seeing how many ministers are falling these days I know that I'm susceptible to falling myself and as far as accountability one of the things that really hurt pastors hurts a pastor or anyone that God's starts to use is you begin to think somehow you're different from everyone else in the congregation that you're special that there are rules that everyone else needs to go by that maybe you don't personally I'm just telling you what I've heard a lot of men who have fallen say was their catch they thought somehow it was like there they were God's oil brought and breath and could get away with anything and to one thing I was bothered about when I was praying before coming out to preach was that when you're I remember saying to the Lord Lord I'm more gifted than I am godly that's a terrible thing to think about your giftedness can get you in a whole lot of trouble because a lot of people will equate giftedness with godliness and that that's not true and so to know that another thing is is I feel like in my church and in the ministry here that I have brothers and colleagues that it's not me here and everybody else down here but I have this fellowship of people who hold me accountable they love me they respect my gifts but they don't trust the arm of the flesh even if it's attached to me or anyone else and so when when you're separated like you're the big deal it's very dangerous but when you have elders around you again it's the idea of elders working together as brothers and holding one another accountable first I just I ought to let you know terrified to ask this because I know when I ask it I'm going to be held accountable for the answer and but hopefully I'm not alone I share Paul's heart on on the problem that's happening in the church this cheap easy believe ISM I was a product of it I was saved when I was 12 I walked the aisle Baptist Church said the prayer got baptized and and at 33 years old I started looking at my life and somebody through Hebrews 10:26 at me if we deliberately continue in sin after receiving a knowledge of the truth you know the rest of it and I couldn't believe that was in the Bible and then I started digging in the Bible myself and I said man there's no evidence that the Holy Spirit is in me and it's like it's almost as if God said are you ready to start doing it my way now and at that point I had to totally turn away from my old life and and I never looked back after that now praise God I know I'm safe and I so appreciated your wife's testimony to Gennaro's testimony and but what would you say what kind of advice would you give to someone who has just a burning passion to see the church come alive again I mean I don't have the heart of a pastor but I preach and I have the heart of an evangelist and I for where I come from in Chicago there are tons of churches who don't have pastors because they're failing and falling and pulpits are empty and they need people to come and speak and I got such a strong burden to go and guard the good deposit and part of that is preaching the truth and you always say it's terrifying thing to preach while it's not really a terrifying thing to preach it's a terrifying thing to preach the truth in front of people who don't want to hear it and if I preach I know I have to do that I don't have a choice but I know I have this overwhelming burden on my heart I'd love to just pack everything up and go to every pulpit I could and just preach the church and try and share my passion with them to see them come alive but I just I don't even know where to start I I saw I guess I'm just looking for some wisdom what would you say to somebody who knows that there's a burden on their heart for that and God's gifted them I mean what do I as an evangelist eat Church okay there are two evangelists right over here that I can hardly recommend then when they go to a church they preach the truth and I might answer your question but what you need to do is just after this service you just need to get over here and talk to these men because that's their burden and that's what they do it's you know they fight that fight they do the work of the Evangelist and things like that one thing I want to say and this is also for the young guys here you know like I'm well known for my shocking messages he never got asked back you know and you know it's yeah and and but here's a problem when people come in and they'll hear me preach or like teach on Wednesday night here or some radio interviews I've done they get real disappointed because they I thought you were this flame-throwing but you know and sometimes God lays it on your heart and you must preach like that and it causes things to get all shook up but also at the same time you walk into a church and you're looking at this you just don't want to tell them they're wrong you want to look at these people some of them belong to God you know I I was saved when I was 21 and didn't believe hardly any of the truths I believe now and you know I could have been crushed by me you know and the thing is is you want to go in these churches and I'm all for men called to be evangelists but when you go in you need to look and say alright how can I bring these people how can I reach them it's not just about telling them what's true and showing them how wrong they are even though that's part of it it's loving those people and and for most part you know one of the things I always tell young guys if you feel like God's given you a real message of truth make sure your knees are bleeding make sure that you're crying for the souls of these people that you have to preach harshly to sometimes and but I really would recommend brother you go over there and talk to I'll introduce you here in a little while we got two evangelists here who who do that work if there's if you don't find receptivity in the churches you might consider the streets you know Paul said low we turn to the Gentiles okay good yeah and that's what Whitfield did and Wesley did and and remarkably Charles Spurgeon spent more time in the street than I was aware of I learned yesterday so that's a thing to do here many people Paul want to know why you moved from Southern Illinois down here it's because you finally found a church that did ask you to come back yeah yeah I'm still I'm out on that one I'm wondered why no the reason why I came this is a really good thing to understand and I can say this in the presence of the elders here is password it was a humbling thing for me to come here and I want to say this so that young guys will understand some things it was God's will for me to come here I know it I love being here I love the people here I love the teaching that my children are getting the preaching from the pulpit I love it what I'm trying to say is if I had gone to a place that was you know the Church of a hundred a little humble building which was where I've always been you know it would have raised no eyebrows we came here and it's a big church it's got a lot of people they got a lot of things and it's a lot of things different than what I have been and in coming here you know it didn't fit it didn't fit what I was what I thought I was or what I thought I needed to be a lot of different things and it just showed me it was such a rebuke to me that is some people boast in being a part of a really big church with a lot of stuff other people boast of not being in a big church and not having a lot of stuff and everybody's just boasting and and the thing about it is is you know I looked over at my wife one day when brother Jeff was preaching and and just almost here is coming down her face just so happy to be hearing the word and in Menna that just sold me because I just like the word I just want to be preached to and then then came here and you know I'm just happy I am so happy I've been so strengthened God moved us here and this church has a we never wanted to put money into buildings and we were all in a room about 15 by 18 hit hard car literally all of us in this room with a bunch of computers and working with John Green in a room is it's difficult in other words and and here we were able to to you know that this church has done everything I mean they have given us a place to be just you can't you can't have something go on that there's not just I don't know countless people saying just what can I do just tell me which and I've loved it and it's been a rebuke to me you know I but it just shows you how god is it's such working and I wouldn't want to be any other place in the world because I know I'm right in the middle of God's will my family's here in the Word of God the other people who came with us Matt and Amanda and John and Gabby and others that have come it's all the same we're hearing the word and there are people here God's really done a work they desire I want to say one thing I'm going to try to get it produced tomorrow I don't know I'm I would really love for all of you that could especially the pastors to get some CDs that a DVD that we want to put out that's that's of the baptisms I wish you could see some of these people getting baptized you 14 year old girl standing up there and you just think that she just read from Jonathan Edwards she'll tell you you know I made a converted I made a profession of faith when I was 8 years old there was no conviction of sin no conviction of the righteousness of God no fear of Hell I just made a decision I sat in church I've done everything but then one day brother Jeff said one thing and the spirit of and you'll hear this kids say this the spirit of God began to work on the heart he regenerated me and I'm a new creature and I'm going man that's what I want to hear my five year old my 3 year old and my wife's pregnant I want to hear all of them say that one day so that's why we're here my question is can turn concerning a mentorship and I would like to hear your advice to a young guy who seems to have looked quite sometime in the area in which he lives and not saying that there's not godly men in the area but not really godly men who have the time to invest in young guys so what would be your advice to a young guy who truly longs to have a godly mentor in his life and to teach him into ensuring the ways of God that seems to Kant can't really find it let me say something real quick that that is so important when 18 years ago when we had our first church discipline case I could not find one Southern Baptist Church at the discipline I had to fly to California and see John MacArthur and his staff that is a that's a shame and one of the things that burns in my heart is that other pastors don't need to have to do that and so that is so valuable it's not where you go to school it's to study under so keep that heart we don't know who that is for you but that is the issue at hand is is being mentored by someone like Ajanta you know John MacArthur wouldn't personally available to me that often I didn't mean that but his staff was and you know more than anything the Spirit of God will tell you the truth but I just maybe you're like me maybe I'm just weak I don't know but I just need somebody to me I'm not crazy you know everything we did hear from as God's been reforming us you know I went through this thing of self-doubt and introspection you just need guys to say no that's your own track that's that's okay and let me sharpen and help you with your thinking so I believe that's the the thing God is going to do as I believe there's an awakening going on particularly young young young men joining the ministry and I think they're going to need to be equipped differently than the institutionalized maybe Greek system of seminary though it's there's much good there and I don't mean to say don't go to seminary but if you're not trained in the real-life laboratory and figure speeds of the local church under a man of God I think you've missed a lot there are several men in this congregation right here that I've never lived closer than six hours to and yet my life has been just totally influenced by them so don't here's the thing for pastors they need to hear this you might have a contact with a young man for 45 minutes and 45 minutes God use that to totally change log slowly so you don't have to have a program now to be mentored you know we want to turn everything into a program second of all there are men here right now that have mentored more that are pastors that have mentored more young guys around brother Mike morals here from Kentucky and you know they've got all kinds of young guys at his church that they're learning to preach by just watching a preacher and listening to a preacher and then teaching them another thing to the pastors that are here if there are any pastors just look at what we're doing pastors we're not we're not marketing strategists we're not go first we're not movers and shakers we're not planners and we're not only we are to be men of God and we're to take the young men all the men we're to train them were to pour our lives into them just you know let me also say this a lot of you that may be here Southern Baptists and you don't have to you know Southern Baptist need to realize something you know live in the Southern Baptists like a spiritual get up got all the money in the world you got all the biggest buildings in Nashville and everything else but you don't realize it too many other groups you're nothing more than a laughing stock laugh at you this little boys playing Church instead of men of God in the presence of God preaching the Word of God and and you're seeing two things that are happening at least in the Southern Baptist domination you're seeing men who are basically going for these models of how to make a church big and there and basically everything they see is just going to burn on the day of judgment and you're seeing men who are saying no I'm going to preach God's Word I'm going to find out what God wants in a church and that's what we're going to have even if no one shows up we're going to just seek to do that and part of that is is that Timothy is mentoring that Timothy and pastors you know we're all about it just seems like we've either got we either got nothing or we got to have this big Bible Institute God brings a couple of young guys under you and you don't do anything with them because you don't have an institute well maybe you don't need an institute those three guys that God's given you is it it you know like the zerubabbel should we despise the day of small things I mean my goodness you pour your life into those three young men God by use them to turn the world around we're just missing the forest for the trees we're just not seeing what's in front of us to pour our lives into these young God but pastors the young guys God's raised up they don't want to learn strategies and they don't want to learn how to be a youth minister they want to learn theology they want to learn what the Bible says about God they want you to open up your mouth and teach them about the sovereignty of God the Justice of God Christ dying under the wrath of God you know the things that are the real gospel you've got to have it to give it I think your question is so important not just for young guys but young ladies younger women with older women across the board I know when the Lord saved me I was 19 and I had gotten out of church completely and I didn't know anything anyway before that but I knew nothing and to Christians put two books in my hand and I said well this is good you know I didn't know where Romans was or anything but one book somebody put in my hands was Satan is alive and well on planet Earth I read that I was a new Christian I read it and my heart said this is rubbish not that they're you know Satan's not is alive but the other book that was put in my hand was a dipping sovereignty of God I was a 19 year old brand-new Christian I read that and I said this is great this is true and what I saw God do right after I was converted after work I would take my paper back living Bible to the park and I would read it till it was too dark to read I had nobody and I asked God to teach me and I asked God even then to bring into my life those who could influence me in the right way that's the place of again the men that would mentor others may not be right for you ask God to bring those and what I began to see was whether through books or relationships or men of God that I would hear preach I just kind of became what I call a spiritual leech I dropped to hear him I'd call him on the phone I would bug them in a respectful way I'd ask questions and God graciously just gave me so many men that that I loved and that God used all of them there are mentors in different ways you know that God brings into our lives I know I have a I have a co elder in my church who he thinks that I've mentored him but his walk and example and blamelessness have mentored my life far more than I think I have his life and so just ask God to bring those you know and as the scripture says he who walks with the wise will become wise so you hang those who you see and hear the voice of truth from them hang around them in God of birth relationships so one other thing that one of the biggest mentors in my life has our dead guys I know it sounds spooky but George George Mueller said tremendous impact Hudson Taylor had a tremendous impact on my life James L Fraser Mountain rain tremendous impact on my life Charles Spurgeon tremendous impact Leonard Ravenhill even though I was able to meet him twice it tremendous and another thing but let me let me say this look for more than theological correctness theological correctness is necessary but look for more than that because I know a lot of guys are theologically correct that are dead and adorning it's a man of God a man Leonard Ravenhill for example theological aeon unsung things we would differ Leonard Ravenhill was a man of God he knew God God knew him look for that fell don't don't look for the friend of mine up in Detroit a while back he actually bumped into a minister of a very very large church there in Detroit and said well what do you do and he said I'm the minister of marketing he was actually the minister of marketing in the church don't get a guy like that to disciple you you're a minister of God to disappear it's the way I have a thing called the Shepherd's College and I meet with the five six eight men every Saturday morning for two and a half hours and then for any who they don't all feel calling the full-time ministry but any who do they come Saturday mornings and then I have another at least one night a week that I spend two or three hours with those who feel called into the ministry and to date I think four have gone into full-time work and are doing well in churches one in Humboldt Nebraska and the others up in Canada and so I'm not pastoring now I did many years before the revival in 71 so I'm doing what I can and I just pray for God to send men to me it only does that I don't advertise anything but we've been having some great times with some of these men one of the young men that we trained he went into ministry about five years ago I guess he was funding me the other day and he says they're going to happen larger church buildings so many are being saved you know and really great things I think is quite close to revival where he is and thank God for that my daughter used to drive 30 miles to work and I told her get some good CDs right there's your Bible school I got a letter in 1979 it had two sentences and they were short Mac and Linda I've moved to lyndale Texas I've started a prayer meeting on Friday nights come Leonard Ravenhill and those in our church at that time were so hungry that we drove starting that month it started several years of driving two hours one way Friday after work to be in the prayer meeting with Keith grain and Leonard Ravenhill for years and if you're hungry don't let anything rob you of getting under the the men and women of God that God wants you under I could add something here to mine in my church when I did pastor there was a man called Gordon Bailey and he was a cattle inspector with the Saskatchewan government he only had great education and he meant my church six years before the revival started he was always in church and prayer meeting Sunday morning Sunday evening the whole bit but he told me he'd never ever spoken to a soul about Christ he was afraid of that he said he used to sit in the congregation in mortal fear that you might call on me to lead in perdón something like that he said that happened to drop through the floor well I spent a lot of time with him before the revival you spoke to his farm he had heard of Black Angus cattle and talked with him and top of them and I gave him the New Testament on on tape because I was a county inspector he travelled a lot so he listened to these tapes by the hour then during the revival one Sunday morning he walked to the front stood by the community table and said something like this I've been sitting in the back row for two years because I'm backslidden and I hate some of you people not been shooting arrows at the backs of your head I want to be forgiven can you forgive me this I want to walk with God so they forgave him I asked my deacons to take him into my office and pray with him they did and he went home then he did something listen carefully he sent out four chairs three children and his wife and he sat in chair here facing them and asked each one to forgive for being such a poor Christian such a poor daddy such a poor husband he said pastor it was the hardest thing I ever did in all my life but you know what happened that very night he was working in the barn with his Angus cattle and I'll tell you what I heard him say in meetings where I gave his testimony here's what he said suddenly God filled me with the Holy Ghost from top to toe he didn't speak in tongues or anything like that all he knew was that God had filled him he started so he led 30 people to Christ and all 9 months just in his job he went to an Indian reserve and led 35 Indians to price and got a permanent work established on the reserve then churches began asked them to give their testimony and finally in one year only on weekends he preached 105 times in there nobody worried about the Queen's English being tortured sometimes they missed all of that this man the power of God is on his life in a marvelous way you know he had meetings where the entire congregation would come to the altar at the end of his message you know I asked him one day and I'll just share this I said do you ever have any trouble getting messages well no no he said I've got to know the New Testament very well I have trouble another airing I said what is it he said if I have a fight with my wife I don't make it up and I go out to preach nothing happens I got a phone home make things right with my wife and then the power of God comes on me again I know that it seems like the call of God gets thrown around church a lot and I understand the idea that we're supposed to boom where we're planted as you said pastor but I was just wondering what you guys thought about foreign missions whether or not that has a special calling or if that's just implied for everybody in the Great Commission well the Great Commission is for one it is there's no question about that everyone with the same dedication ought to embrace the challenge of the Great Commission the only question is this are you called to go down in the well or are you called to hold the Rope for those who go down so but both of them with the same dedication ought to hold onto the rope and they ought to have scars on their hands now here's an interesting thing I hear a lot of people who will say and Keith Greene used to say this if you're not called to stay you need to go and what's amazing is for the people who really are called when they say that it's true sometimes I have seen God let me put this way I've seen God people say well if you're not if you're not called to stay you need to go and they go but that's the way God called them and other people you know you need to realize that you have to be sensitive to the will of God in this sense if God tells you to be a janitor in Nebraska and pray in your prayer closet there after you get your work done to pray for four hours a day and intercede but you go off to Namibia and start twenty-five churches you're out of God's will and you're doing a whole bunch of damage so you need to know you know it's not just knowing the will of God when to speak it's knowing the will of God when to be silent not just to go but stay and if you will follow hard a book I can hardly recommend with regard to the will of God his from henry black will be experiencing god and just follow hard after him after knowing him and he will lead he will lead you I pray to God he leads you to the foreign field because there's so much opportunity there so many doors that have been thrown open it's absolutely phenomenal limit let me add this to what Paul said go to your church elders I think God has ordained the elders of your church will have the wisdom to see you need more maturity you need more training or you're missing God on this and I don't know I absolutely seem to have had quite a few young men over the 26 years that have come and more or less said the elders I know what God's calling me to do are you gonna get in line you know and sort of an independent proud spirit and I know I know that when I see it because I've had it myself far too often and so trust the security and the guidance of the men that God's put because if you don't the mission field you ought to be sent out by church and those elders should be able to discern and help guide you and there's times when we had a family that said God called us mission field we're ready to go well we happen to know that this family had filed bankruptcy and owed a lot of people in town in the church it was very hard to start raising money for someone who hadn't paid their bills already and so we said you know you need to address these things and we'll pray about this well they got mad and left and so you know you want to you want to use the god ordained Authority to give you clarity and guidance and and happy to continue to mature in those areas and that's when I say bloom where you're planted that's what I'm saying if you haven't proven yourself in the local church you're in please don't go the mission field and like we say here if you can't lead a small group at our church and God bless that how you going to plant churches on the farm field and so I just feel strongly about that having watched the young men who've got blessed and who've gone out and really hurt the cause of Christ here's what they sort of fear and if you just keep praying if that burden is there and it's lasting God will get you exactly where he wants you to be and that's what's so exciting he can you know and everyone is so different you know we have this mentality this cookie cutter thing of what you're called then you need to do this and you need to do this you need to do this we really don't know what you need to do except you need to grow in maturity as we all do you need to follow heart after God you need to have men Jew that can be very very godly and can give you wisdom and God will work it for you really well anything else brothers for probably maybe the next question okay how would you guys respond to antinomian x' who say that you guys are preaching a works gospel mean what i mean by that is that they say well you say you need to repent you're preaching works and what scripture verses would you specifically use i love that question you see here's here's the fundamental error or here's the fundamental error just take a zekiel 36 verses 22 to 24 and what it comes to what they don't understand is this man is radically depraved he cannot because he will not believe his will is in bondage because nature is wicked he hates God all right why is repentance and faith not works because those are graces those are fruit of regeneration you see in all the Creed's all the strong Creed's that have been held to regeneration precedes repentance and faith repentance and faith are the fruit of regeneration it is not a work because God is the one who's done it he has literally changed your heart and that is why also that when you believe that men are radically depraved then you don't turn your church into a Six Flags Over Jesus to get people saved you realize that the only thing that's going to get them saved is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit and that occurs when a man faithfully preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ and someone needs to add to that I can go on partly I'm sorry no go ahead I think that somewhat of a simple answer about that to some extent is simply to say John the Baptist came preaching repent Jesus came preaching repent the Apostle Peter the day of Pentecost when they asked him men and brethren what must we do he preached repentance Paul acts 17 God's commanded all men everywhere to repent so if their antinomian x' that i'll be glad to be one I mean that's the Apostolic message and method and there is no other way I think we have to remember too that John the Baptist in preaching he not only told to repent but to bring forth works answerable to amendment of life and Paul did the same thing he preached to people they should turn to God and do works sit for repentance and then we have the cretians are always liars evil creatures lazy gluttons rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith they profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable disobedient of every good work of no judgment and then we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works and Paul wrote to Tyson he said for those who have believed in God tell them to be careful to maintain good words I mean the Bible is full of that and if I'm a born-again believer I better adorn the doctrine of God my saved where I'm supposed to do that and the word of doing there the Greek word comes we get the English word cosmetic from that word of dawn so we're to make the gospel look good by the kind of life we live it helps but I have a bunch of people living in sin you're preaching the gospel as soon as going to walk away let me add this to the young guys thinking about the ministry scripture memory can be very helpful let me add this in my own pilgrimage of coming out of easy believe ISM and again it's kind of amazing I was converted at age 19 with no church background but I was troubled by the first time I saw it the first invitation I saw in a church I was saved outside the church and so I started attending church and I'm just looking at this and I'm thinking this isn't right so it's trouble but I went along with it does that make sense to you guys and really what I mean just nailed the nails in the coffin lid if you will was the glory of God is your motive in evangelism not the need of man that's the issue you have to be passionate that this God deserves great glory he's chosen to get glory by showing the magnificence of His grace in converting unworthy to praise sinners and showing how powerful he is to bring them to repentance and faith and nothing else can do that it's an absolute miracle and if I've got these little men centered the need of men as my goal I'm finding things you can do in your flesh to make you look like something's happen I've dishonored God not brought in glory so for me that's just the powerful issue and by the way it's just very biblical Ephesians chapter one to the praise of the glorious grace to the praise of the glorious grace the end of salvation is the glory of God not the need of man being met back to the question about faith and works here's one thing that's helpful faith by definition excludes works I mean faith is a self despairing look in Christ and so by definition works are excluded you're given up on yourself you're given up on works when you put your trust in Christ another question hey I just want to give God the glory for getting us here safely and for this time I'm so thankful for it my question has to do with biblical courtship I've listened to a couple of messages by you brother Paul about the biblical courtship and I know that like my scenario I'm in college right now and you had said the correct thing to do would be to go to the elders of the church and have them basically define what would be all the constitute correct biblical behavior and the number-one rule was never be alone and my question is when you say never be alone does that that mean never be alone without other Christians present to help keep you accountable or does it mean just never be alone by yourselves because I know two things I know that the world is never going to keep us accountable you know they wouldn't care what we do but I also know that in regards to dating and relationships that a lot of it comes down to are we going to see God I mean that's just what it comes down to are we going to be held responsible to God so I want to know basically what you would have to say let me say this first Paul needs to respond to this I think but I have three daughters and so I say you should never be alone with them without their father credible I guarantee if I'm there it's going to be fine now let me back up and say this that's what your father I mean your earthly human father now he may not be a believer in that and that can be complicated but something that well we want to keep growing and maturing in this area but I've just watched our men mature so that they're just doing a much better job today of overseeing the courtship of their children and there's no lump there is not a lot of rules and you can't do this and that it's just general maturity that goes back to good will just the right kind of preaching and teaching in the church that God uses his word to mature the body and these things start you said you guys are asking these specific questions they're part of a whole they're part of a healthy body courtship it in courtship it's a part of a healthy church body and we have a lot of things here that God's bless and please don't misunderstand we want to keep we got a long way to go in a lot of areas and people say well how does that happen and I will say well so far it's taken 26 years and I mean that and a lot of blunders and a lot of mistakes and for you young preachers I want to say this because no one was saying it to me enough you're going to suffer I could choke John MacArthur because I followed his ministry and he's see these successes and these blessings and successes and then one time on some sermon he just threw out this comment that his host staff rebelled on him one time and split the church and it's such a difficult thing I was going to shake why didn't you tell me that 20 years ago I thought I was messing up because I've been through three big splits here and so you know to develop the maturity to where these things are part of the body naturally supernaturally naturally takes some time some seasons some suffering or go out and plant your own church to make your own mess yeah it's it's easier to give birth than to resurrect the dead yeah the here let me say something about courtship I really am afraid sometimes use it use that terminology excuse me and the reason is this there's a lot of really wacko stuff being done in courtship and I mean messing up a lot of people and this super authoritarianism and a lot of things very dangerous you know I was before I became a father I read John MacArthur's book on successful Christian parenting he said three he said these are the three things he said you know you've got these parents that are debating on whether or not their kids should watch the Disney Channel or this or that he goes let me just give you three things love your children unconditionally teach them the Word of God and discipline them consistently you stay in those lines you can do better than probably 98% of people in the world it is same way with courtship you know the Bible does not regard what anybody says it does not teach a lot about courtship and a lot of people have put a lot of human rules and messed up children amen alright but here are some of the things what is it first of all we know not to trust ourselves don't we we know that we're told to flee youthful lusts we're told to wrestle with the devil but when it comes to youthful lust we're told to run from it so what does that mean you need to realize that if you are alone with a girl extended period of time sooner or later something's going to happen it shouldn't happen and you need to find a way to build parameters about that also you know this God has put authorities in your now I'm really in disagreement with you know it seems we just go to extremes parents have no authority or parents can tell a 40 year old man who hasn't married yet what he ought to be doing I mean there's these extremes everywhere the fact is you need to go to your parents you need to present yourself you need if they want to drop the ball then go to your elders you know and say look help me hear counsel me some good parameters things like that if the elders drop the ball leave the church but the about being alone first of all you know there's there are some rules you just don't break but at the same time they're of some young man that I would tell don't even be alone unless there's 600 people in the room with the girl because you're so immature other people they have more maturity more trust given to them but but at the same time I will tell you this you know if you stay alone enough unchaperoned in a place where things can't happen they will happen now take that with wisdom and work through it and and that's the best way that I think I can I could help you here we just know that I heard a guy one time I was wonderful he was mentioning about talking to his son and and you know building some parameters around the relationship he had with a young girl and this lady goes what's the matter don't you trust your son and he goes why no I don't trust my son and it's he goes how can you not trust yourself while he trusts his dad and the point that he's making is you know what would happen if you saw me in some lady's house single lady in her 40s and I'm baking cookies with her you'd run in there and say brother Paul were you out of your mind all right I got a lot more loot to lose and falling than you do so if I would be out of my mind to put myself in that position for a few minutes as a young man you'd be certainly more out of your mind to do the same you know what was it Paul told Timothy to the young men to treat the young ladies like sisters they could be a lot of good practical principles you could develop out an F this is my sister and I want her to be pure and I want her to be have a good reputation how would how would I spend time with her you know it's not hard it's not rocket surgery as the guy said for the bomb and just to add on to what's been said there is one option to courtship and that is don't do it just trust God to engineer things to where you can know that that other person you can know her character may not know her personality so well but you can know her character her walk with God her response and her trials or her position doctrinally and so on trust God engineer that the greatest sin of pastor can ever commit is to use the church to fulfill his vision and what I'm saying is you can get very frustrated because the sheep that are there let's say they are sheep they are Christians older and they're not thinking about maybe shaking the world up like you are don't become angry with them they belong if they are sheep they belong to Christ and they're to be loved and they're to be cared for and as long as they don't prohibit you going out winning people to Christ now another thing that you've got to realize are you Southern Baptist or there's hope for you then look let me share something what is a success I mean what is a success it is a man who holds true to God as he's revealed himself in Scripture you know I it comes down what John MacArthur said about children raising children there are some parents that have done a terrible unbiblical ungodly job and yet their children are or parents that have done terrible job and yet their children are missionaries in Siberia and they think that that they're going to stand before God and be blessed they're not they're going to be judged and their parents who have tried to be biblical and if their parent their children were never converted yet when they stand before God they will be the success and it's the same way with the church your only your only responsibility is to obey Him to obey Him that's yet you know I'm reminded of Ezekiel and he tells these false prophets who are prophesying peace and all these things he said that wall you're building it's going to fall and when it falls everyone's to ask you where's your wall that's going to happen in most district listen most church grow because they're entertaining carnal people and they got to keep finding new ways to keep them entertained alright if you start in that game you're going to play that game the rest of your life you know if you sell yourself to that you're going to have to do it if you sell yourself to the fear of men and you have to do the rest of your life or you sit there and go okay I am going to get up in this pulpit after having studied and prayed hard and I'm going to preach another thing I'd recommend is a young minister is this a lot of young ministers will attempt to solve all his problems in the church behind the pulpit don't do that Spurgeon said that was for cowards you preach the word just saturate that congregation in the word and prayer and love them and go seek the loss and after three years if you're totally wore out doing all the right things well you're in a very very good club I can mention several Noah Jeremiah need I go on you see just obey the Lord and I'm sure those those pastors here could give a bit more information than I could on that you know prayer is this such a key to that we've been in quite a few years of decline here because of our convictions we've had recent surges of growth which has been very encouraging quite honestly but I was convicted that I didn't pray believing that the gospel it's the power of God unto salvation I kind of prayed hoping God would and you know God uses the most unique things Spurgeon had a man come to him one day and he said I'm not seeing conversions in my ministry in Spurgeon said you expect God to convert somebody every time you preach he said well no he said that's why you're not seeing him well that convicted me and I pray boldly that this gospel of God is going to glorify himself by changing lives not my merit or my ability or my preaching style or all of our gizmos and structures but this gospel the foolishness of preaching this gospel in the midst of error God's going to show himself strong and glorifying set by vindicating his truth pray believing and get back with me to me you may if you're already doing that praise the Lord and you may be like Isaiah Jeremiah woo you know people look at the church this size in this area that well it's real successful we've been declining a lot we've had declining years tough years discouraging and that's part of the process and I don't want to do it again but I needed to do it and the other thing is isn't it true that God rebukes us and humbles us and brings us into seasons of repentance during the difficult season it has been so true for me these people have a much better preaching pastor today because of the years of decline and struggle when my ego was crushed and God had to do those things and I'm fearful he's not through you know you're not you're not alone you know and what I mean by that is here we ever seen one of the kids just like to pick up stragglers everywhere brings every kind of dog home you can imagine you ever seen a kid like that that's kind of way we are your straggling out there we would love to be your brothers in Christ and we would love to pray with you and help you in any you call on the phone to do that because there's a lot of young guys like you and I believe God's going to use them mightily and they don't need to get discouraged and sell their birthright their preachers and their men that stand before God and they need to stay that way listen son the only thing that matters the only thing you have is the truth and the only thing you need to do with it is obey don't pack you know these guys telling today well it's the same truth we just packaged it a different way that is a live straight up to the hell you package it a different way it's not same turian and so you learn to preach the truth we can give you a truckload of good books and introduce you to a lot of ganon and but you know suddenly the only thing matters is on that day and it's revealed by fire yeah it's revealed by fire you know the largest church in saskatoon time the revival was the Alliance Church and they couldn't understand how God made a mistake starting revival in the Baptist Church instead of an alliance Kurt prior to that the pastor of this big church he his attitude was but a small church want you closed down come on in with us you're wasting your time and your money you know and that was Addington had journey revival God broke him about that he publicly apologized for the feeling he had towards these small churches he did a good job he really repented with attitude he'd had before right now in a town called Salford Manto's 12,000 people quit most want to pay and some people came in and talked to all the small churches and advised the closed down we're going to move in here make one big Church you won't happen the Baptist sudden old couldn't forgive the Baptist other churches went along with the idea you know but was a church I started years ago maybe they'd have something doing I don't know anything else brothers we appreciate the patience of everyone or weren't you coming tomorrow man have you been edified tonight by this wonderful time man please one of the things I really want to encourage you to do is please get it there are some people here that around here I've known for years the fellowship just there they're men out here sitting that aren't up here and yet they forgotten more about God than I'll ever know there are people who just enjoy the fellowship really enjoy the fellowship especially there's a guy running around here looks just like Charles Spurgeon if you can grab ahold of him he knows a lot about God all you young preachers need to talk to him Mike morrow I don't know where he's at I'd like to ask brother Mike to lead us in prayer to close us out [Music] Oh [Music] you you

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 52,704

Rating: 4.8703403 out of 5

Keywords: HeartCry, Christ, Conference, 200, Paul, Washer, Bob, Jennings, Mack, Tomlinson, Jeff, Noblit, Bill, McLeod

Id: siFhI6DQIKs

Length: 93min 18sec (5598 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2010