SSMS - January 17th 2021 (Date: 01/03/2021)

It's not just because we've run our testimony and we don't want to repent to show the gospel. We think we have to be super Christians to show God's grace, when it's actually the very opposite. The most powerful things we can ever show the world is our wounds, not what we're against.

Evangelism as Communication of the Gospel

We will only be a couple of those verses. What we're talking about today is what I told you we would be addressing in the first four to five weeks of this new year. Sound people, make these do better.

Guys, it's evangelism. Now, I really love this congregation. Does anyone need a piece of, or the notes? Hold your hands up high. I could have, but I'm not going to. I was, I didn't want to embarrass Elena ever when I said, hold your hands high.

It was like, it felt like a little hobbit back there. But I promised her I wouldn't call her out. This February will be 16 years since I was the pastor of this church. Man, I am so blessed to be a part of this church.

It's amazing the transformations I've seen God do. Not just in the corporate body, but in the individual lives that we have. We have done some things that have been very good. Very, very good. We've done some things that have been very good.

Education. I remember about 12 years ago. I was getting so tired of dealing with the rank and file that were here. They didn't want to learn anything doctrinal. I remember preaching on sanctification.

And I actually had a long standing member of this church, who's no longer here, come and say to me, Pastor, can you start preaching from Scripture and stop using those big, fancy words? When I pointed out that sanctification is a word in Scripture, they became confused and frustrated.

And at that point, I decided I'm done with the age 40 adults. Done with them. I'm done. If you want to continue to wear your suits and ties, give the lot a move, and be as dull as you were last week as you are this week, that's up to you.

And so I got the staff and I got everybody focused on the youth, the college, and the kids, and started training them in systematic theology and doctrine. And we have harvested a great result from them.

We really have. I mean, if you look at the average age of our church, it's 27. That's our average age, 27. Now, some people, most churches today, especially in the Southern Baptist Convention, in Memphis today, the average age is 59.

That'll show you the difference. But that doesn't necessarily mean that's good. Because I'll tell you, one of the hard things about having a young believer is if you're going, you can't smoke that. You can't say that.

You can't dress like that. And I need some older folks to come along with me to help me maybe raise some of these maybe Christians up in true discipleship. But one of the things that I feel like we've left, one of the things that I blame this totally on me, is we've left evangelism.

Now, we have done tent revivals. We have done revivals. We have literally, and we can document this, knocked on every door, is it four or five miles? Five miles. We have knocked on every door in a five-mile radius over the last 15 years.

Literally. Hi, we're from Wayman Baptist Church. We'd like to take a moment to tell you about Jesus Christ. We've done it. We've given him flyers. Man, we've held block parties. We have a food bank. We are active in evangelism.

Corporately. But I'll tell you where we've failed. Is we have failed to push individual, peer evangelism. See, we can do discipleship very well. I love Christian Torres. Where's the reporter? Ah, there he is.

Oh, you're security today, too. I love little Christian Torres. He invests. In fact, there's one of his disciples sitting right next to him. Who is that, Carlos? Red hair? I can't tell. But yeah, it looks like Carlos.

Guys, we need to continue to do that discipleship. But guys, we have got to do evangelism. But here's the first problem. Is most people don't even know what evangelism is. What is evangelism? What is it?

And let's go back to this side of the room right now. What is evangelism? One of you young people tell me. Look at Joey. He's like, I'll tell you preacher. It's evangelism. He's preaching. What is it in your own words?

Carissa, where are you? Oh, there you are. You went to Christian college for a while. What is evangelism? Yeah. Pensacola Christian College, man. Get that independent Baptist in there. What's evangelism?

Arkansas. What's evangelism? Spread the word of God. All right. Eddie, you got a definition for evangelism? You don't know? What about you? You went to a Christian school. Both of y 'all did. Are you embarrassed?

I'm calling you out in front of everybody. Guys, here's what evangelism is. It is nothing more than communication. What is communication? What is communication? Oh, right. Good Lord. I've only preached this for 15 years.

Communication is defined by one word. One word. One word only. Comprehension. It's not talking. This is a great husband-wife marital counseling feat for you. If you think communication is talking, you do not know your husband very well, because he is hearing Charlie Brown when you talk.

He'll walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. Communication is comprehension. If I say to you, you don't care, you don't know what this woman's got to do, I just talked. Is there comprehension?

No, because you don't understand Greek. The idea that comprehension is the essence of communication is extremely important. If I did this to Adam, and I'm not going to extend a finger, I didn't have to say a word.

I could walk up to you and go, what's up? Right? I don't have to say anything. It's communication. But here's the most important part. Evangelism just isn't communication. It's communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the essence of what evangelism is. Now, you can go knock on doors. You can do it like we've done. We can do a salt ministry and teach you how to punch someone's teeth out in the name of Jesus.

For the purpose of sharing the gospel. Having the message delivered, the crux of it has got to be communicating the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. We'll get to that more in a second. But here are some problems that we as individuals, maybe we not corporately, but we as individuals have with evangelism.

Andrew and the Problem of Inconsistent Witness

We're going to look at Andrew. Who's Andrew in the Bible? Give me one characteristic of the Bible. Go. Peter's brother. The Louisiana Coon guy. Peter's brother. Not many people know who Andrew is. They know who Peter is, but they don't know who Andrew is.

Andrew was Peter's brother. He was one of the first two disciples that Jesus called and said, let's go to war. Now, Peter, who was going to be the rock star in a few years, he was doing his own thing.

Jesus called Andrew. It says here in chapter one of John. What? Work with me here. John chapter one. It says this. It says. Sorry. Verse 40. It's on little pieces of paper. Verse 40. It says. It says Andrew Simon.

Peter's brother was one of the two who had heard John and followed him. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means the anointed one. And he brought Simon to Jesus.

How many of y 'all grew up in church and heard this term? Lead someone to Jesus. Lead someone to Jesus. That is where that entire subculture of theology comes from. Leading people to Jesus. Let me explain something to you.

You can share Jesus Christ with someone. You can invite someone to. But if that person makes a declaration of faith, it is at the behest of the Holy Spirit of the living God. Not you or a church. That's really important for you to understand.

Don't be so arrogant as to think you save anybody's soul. It is the Holy Spirit of God that reveals truth to someone. Your job is just simply to hold it up. But we'll go into that more in a second. One of the things we have a problem with with pure evangelism is this.

It's not consistent. Now look who Andrew's first target was in sharing the message of Jesus. It was his family. Man, that's tough. Listen, I've spoken to a crowd of 40 ,000 rednecks. I have spoken to hundreds and thousands of people.

It's easy. People, you're concerned. Well, I can't talk in front of people. It's stupid easy if you don't know it. But here's where it gets hard with evangelism. Is when you go and try to share the gospel with someone who you already know.

You know why it's so hard? Because they know you're full of it and you are a hypocrite. Oh my gosh. How many of y 'all wish you could start over at your jobs? In other words, you've let your testimony slide.

In other words, you've said the word of dirts. You know, you maybe have told the joke about the blonde in the bar. You know, you've done those things. And now you feel like you've lost your testimony and lost your ability to be real.

And so you just keep silent and you don't say anything. And you go through the motions. Because you don't want to be labeled as a hypocrite. Two things. Number one, you already are a hypocrite. Unless you're perfect, you already are.

Now maybe not in a very cynical definition. But in reality, your hypocrisy lives. How many of you got up this morning and had a quiet time with Jesus? Two. The rest of y 'all are going to hell. Do you not know that you're supposed to read the Psalms and the Proverbs every morning?

And have your little devotion book with a pencil that says, Smile, Jesus loves you. With the little fluffy thing that you got at Lifeway. Don't you know you're supposed to do that? That's the essence of Christian discipleship.

Lifeway's close, yeah. Not really a big loss. But anyways, here's the thing, guys. Here's the reality. The reality is, we have this idea of a standard that's been needed out by religion rather than the standard of the Word of God.

Here's what happens when you fail.

Come here real quick, I'm going to tell you. It's called repentance.

Okay? It's the essence of who we are as Christians. You want to show Jesus to someone? Show them your repentance. Don't show them your King James Bible. Don't show them your free pea soup. Don't show them your stupid church attendance record.

Show them the repentance of a broken heart before the grace of Almighty God. But we don't want to do that. Because then we'll be hypocrites. Dummy, that is the essence of the message that you're trying to give.

You have an exhaust fan in your bathroom. You stink. Stop playing church. Stop looking for that upper crust, white, middle class social club. And get down in the dirt with the reality of who and what you are before a holy and righteous God.

You are a totally depraved, godless, heathen human being saved by the grace of Almighty God. If the world needs to see anything today, they don't need to see signs that says God hates fags. They don't need to say, here, I say, well, adultery is bad.

Bad Walt Disney again.

What they need to see is the reality and the truth of the grace of Almighty God and how it impacts a life. So this morning, I want you to think about those people who are in that sphere of influence in your life.

Those people who you are closest to. Do they know that you're a believer? Now, if you live in Atoka or some parts of North Mississippi, everybody's a Christian. Everybody believes in God. As they heat up the glass pipe to smoke another rock.

Everybody believes in God. I'm talking about a real Christian, though. I'm not talking about because you were in VBS one time and you walked down the aisle and said, Jesus Christ is hard. I ain't talking about that garbage.

Because you're going to strike the hell out of me. I'm talking about a real, separated, sanctified, dedicated life of someone who has been changed by the grace of Almighty God. Do they know that? Well, I invited them to the Friendsgiving.

I invited them to the big breakfast. I invited them to our Easter program. This is a mocking clap. That is the height of your sacrifice to Almighty God. You invite them to hear a fat, bald-capped preach.

Wow. How disappointing for them. Let's share with them the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. But, let us not just share with them the words. Look at that verse that I have written on your paper.

And I think I wrote it down here, too. I did. And I don't know why. Can you all see that even? You can? Okay. Listen to what Paul is telling the Corinthian church. Let's take Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 -3.

Oh, I'm just going to make you back this matter. Watch this. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or, do we need like some letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter.

Written on our hearts. Recognized and read by everyone. It is clear that you are Christ's letter. Produced by us. Not written with ink. But with the spirit of the living God. Not on stone tablets. But on the tablets that are hearts of flesh.

Do you know there is a tradition. I didn't say scripture. I said tradition. Let me say that one more time. There is a man-made tradition. That if I leave Witten Baptist Church. I can go join First Baptist Church of Bucksnort.

And the only thing I need to join the First Baptist Church of Bucksnort. Is a letter of recommendation from my previous church. Now, most of you guys in here have no idea what I'm talking about. But some of you people have been around a lot.

You understand what a letter is, don't you? Here's the phrase. I moved my letter. Pastor, I didn't like your preaching, so I'm going to move my letter. Well, go on, move it. Go on. I actually had a lady.

I can't remember her name. But she hired a lawyer to sue this church for her letter. She actually thought she kept demanding a letter from us. And I'm like, to whom? Who do you want? Well, just know I need my letter.

She actually thought there was a file cabinet with people's names and letters. In there that said, well, you know, this person is a really cool guy. And he's a really good born-again Christian. She wanted her letter.

God, it's amazing to me. How many people I talk to. And I say, hey man, are you a believer in the son of God? Are you a believer in the son of God? Are you a born-again Christian? And this is what they say to me.

I am a member of. The B. Well, that's cool, man. That would get back to my question. You see, their ideas, membership in a church is synonymous.

Arkansas people, that means the same thing.

Synonymous with being a Christian. Do you know how many people in church buildings today are dying and going to hell? A bunch of them. In this room. You think because you've got to go to church. Well, my life's a wreck.

I need to get back in the church. Getting back in the church will not fix your life. Surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ will. I want my letter. Guys, Paul is mocking this. Right here. This very thing.

He goes, do I really need to have a letter? Or is what I do, how I spend, what I have done in the past, does it not speak better and louder than a recommendation from a church? How loud is your life around the people that you reach?

Your little friends. You know the ones I'm talking about. Girls. Oh, man, I can see something right now. I'm not going to look. I'm going to start fussing at something. On Sunday mornings. You learned it from your parents.

God bless you. I pray for you. My friend, you're a drama queen. And you're emotionally moved for nothing more than self-centeredness and the attention that it brings you. Because when you leave here and you go out somewhere else, this is what you're doing with your marriage.

Making sure. That dump truck look okay to take out down the street. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Was that too much true for you? I'm sorry. In other words, when you come here on Sunday morning, you play a little game.

But when you go out there, you want to look just enough like a hoe that you can get the attention your daddy never gave you. Amen.

What are you all stirring around for?

Like I'm saying something ain't true. Y 'all heard me wrong. Listen, you can if you want. The only problem is I've got 8 ,000 years of human history on my side. What do you got? Your hard feelings? Your codependent rationales?

Give me a break, you codependent little jerk. You need to repent before Almighty God. Not because of the tight breeches you're wearing, but because of the hardness of your heart that you will not repent to obey Almighty God.

And here's what's going to happen. You're going to get a buyer for that advertisement. And then you're going to end up on marriage number two with three rebellious kids because you have a God in your life and it's the one you see in the mirror every day.

You see, I don't need 11. I don't need Whitney Baptist Church to validate who and what I am. Now, this is going to sound braggadocious, okay? But I'm sorry, it's the truth. When you see me at Bass Pro Shots, when you see me at the shooting range, when you see me at Texas Day Brazil, hopefully, when you see me anywhere else, the guy you see up here on the pulpit is the guy you see out there.

I'm just telling you the way it is. No, I'm telling you the fact. What you hear from me on Sunday morning is really what I live out the rest of the week. You see, I'm one of them crazy right wing zealot guys.

I actually believe. Like, I really do. Like, I'm actually concerned about what's on my Facebook page. I'm actually concerned about how the world and the people around me view me. Because I'm not looking at the title of pastor to validate who Jesus Christ is.

I'm looking at what does my life say. What about you? Yes, I am your parent. Imitate me for I imitate Christ. That's kind of what a Christian is supposed to do. I'm asking you. How many dirty words are you going to say today?

Because your husband's driving you crazy. Huh? How many husbands? How many times are you going to ignore your wife because football is on again? Huh? Now, Monday night, that's something totally different.

More law because it's a national championship. But I'll do that. I mean, it's not too bad. Tennessee, I can handle it. But, never mind. Here are the other two reasons. And I'll do this quickly. It's not just because we've run our testimony.

Repentance, Hypocrisy, and the Need for a Real Christian Life

And we don't want to repent to show the gospel. We think we have to be super Christian to show God's grace. When it's actually very obvious. Most powerful things we can ever show the world is our wounds.

Not what we're against. But here's the other thing. Here are the number one and two things that drive me up the wall when it comes to mansion. I used to take people out every Saturday. Every Tuesday and every Saturday.

We would go street racing. Man. Oh, I loved it. It was hilarious. Especially because I would teach other people how to do it. I would teach other people how to witness. To me, it's like commonplace. Like, what's up?

How you doing, baby? I'm doing good. How you doing? I'm doing good, yeah. How you doing, Jesus? I had no problem doing that. Of course, I'm a six-foot-one, 300-pound man. So, I'm not really worried about that.

But, what you smiling back there for, Jeff? Come on, man. I just saw you back there. How you doing, brother? You doing all right? Good. Jeff, I used to go to school with Jeff. He knows when I was in high school, I was like the top Christian dude in high school.

Yeah. He's a boy. Howdy. Guys. Andrew, again. He brought his brother to Jesus. But here's what else. In John chapter 6, Jesus is feeding the 5 ,000, right? By the way, that happened two different times.

But, Jesus is feeding the 5 ,000. And, he's feeding them. He sits there and he looks at his disciples and he said, hey, man. Y 'all see all them people there? Y 'all didn't go home and feed them. Y 'all feed them.

The disciples are like, huh, yeah, huh, yeah, huh, huh.

We don't have much money, Jesus. Here's what Andrew did. Andrew brings a kid. Andrew brings a kid over.

And, he brings the kid to Jesus. I love this. Here's one of the things churches do to kill themselves. They overlook that which is insignificant in their brains because they don't have a kingdom mindset of what God can do to fish in five clubs.

I love this church. I mean, where's Rebecca? Rebecca. There you are. Hey, baby. Y 'all, that's Rebecca Dillon. Okay? She is our finance secretary. Rebecca, where did you take, no, I'm the one who's being sorry.

Just don't have to be embarrassed. Where did you go to college, baby? Where did you get your master's degree? Where did you get your bachelor's?

So, you freeze your white trash. And, that's where y 'all elected to do your finances. Look at, oh, there she is.

Look at our church administrator. Well, her husband's kind of large, so we'll be gentle with this one. Look at her.

Look, look. She's got tattoos on her arm.

That's your church administrator. Guys, you hire an intellectual giant as your pastor and then get him a support staff of audience. Yeah, that was before me. That was before me. Guys, you know what's sweet I love about this place?

I don't care where you are. I don't care where you've been. I don't care what you look like. I don't care how jacked up your life is. I don't want you to be a member of this church. I want you to be a member of the kingdom of God.

That's what I want. That's what I want with all my heart. I don't want your stupid money. I don't want to fill chairs and pews up. I don't care about writing the next book or getting the next radio program or being the toughest kid in the seminary break room.

Really, they're just all losers. Guys, what I want is for you to have what I've got. When I lay down on the pillow every night, I have these. I know that if I die before I finish this next sentence, I'm going a bunch of years longer than I've got that.

Oh, I know you're members. I got it. I know you have faith in your heart. I get it. I know your mom will pat you on the head, brush your little hair as you lay in her lap on a Sunday morning in that old country church.

But none of that's going to save you. It's not going to save you. People get offended by the style of preaching I do. Be offended. But here's the real offense that you're not doing it. You're not coming to a face-to-face understanding of who Jesus Christ is.

It's your religion that's offended. It's your style of standard in which you think is right and wrong. You've got your ethics and morals as your God rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, Andrew, he brought a little boy to a big boy problem.

Do you know the number one age demographic in witnessing today? I put the little charts on your paper. You ready for this? You ready? You ready? The number one age demographic in witnessing in many Protestant or evangelical churches is millennials.

Yeah, those guys. The little snowflake sissies. They're the number one age. Everyone else is going down. Everyone else is going down. Now, I'm going to explain. And I disagree with George Bono on this particular one.

Usually, he's right on the money. But I'm going to explain why that works. And you have to understand that this was six years ago, these stats. Or seven years ago, these stats. Do you know what they're getting confused with?

Black lives matter. Excuse me. Black lives. There was an uncomfortable pause there, wasn't there? Oh, my God. Pastor's mother. Some of y 'all are embarrassed. You're actually looking at the ground like, oh, God, what is he going to say now?

Come on, y 'all. Let's just be truthful. Black lives matter is considered the gospel. Wait a minute. I just thought of that thing on snowballs. What he said? Yeah. Guys, feeding the poor is considered preaching the gospel.

In other words, the social justice movement is preaching the gospel. Back in John 1, it opens up with this. John was sitting there and he said this. Behold the name of Jesus. Behold the name of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Here's the problem. It's not that the churches are not just sharing Jesus. The problem is they're sharing something other than Jesus. And I don't mean Jesus plus social justice. Because, guys, if you don't think social justice has any place in the Christian life, you have missed the entire minor prophets of the Old Testament.

God hammered Israel for ignoring the social ills of their time. It has a place. But if social justice is in replacement of Jesus Christ as Lord, you are not preaching the gospel. I don't care how many times.

You know one of the coolest things to be labeled today as an advocate? No, not an advocate. What are they called? Activists. Oh, my gosh. Everyone under the age of 30 is an activist now. Keyboard warriors.

Let's go march for whatever.

Whales are asexual. Some other stupid thing like that. But people are saying that is preaching truth and love and peace. That is not the gospel. Those are the effects of the gospel. You need me to say that to you again?

You see, love, harmony, peace, joy are effects of the causality of a person or nation surrendering to the sovereignty of Almighty God. See, you're looking for the effects. I'm talking about the causality.

Lifting Up Jesus and Repenting Before God

Last thing is y 'all are fidgeting. Maybe he crowds me. War out. So last thing. Last thing, I'm done. It's not just the insignificant that we bypass. Flip over to John chapter 12. And it's written up there for you if you're lazy.

But John chapter 12. Here again is Andrew. We first saw him bringing his brother. Then we saw him bringing the little boy. And the last thing is this. We see Andrew here. Now, I'll be honest with you.

This is one of the last passages to speak of Andrew. Jesus is preaching. And Andrew is sitting there. And a bunch of Greeks show up and said, we want to see Jesus. Andrew goes, okay, come on. And so Andrew goes to another guy and he says, hey, man, these guys want to see Jesus.

He said, okay. And so these two disciples bring these Greeks to Jesus. Now, how Jesus responds is hilarious, but we'll get to that in a second. Now, why is that so weird that Andrew brought Greeks to Jesus?

You've got to understand this. I know this is going to seem weird. But back in those times, people were separated by their ethnicity. No, it's crazy. It's not like the homogenous universe that we have today.

They would not allow Filipinos and white people to be in the same room together. They would not allow Puerto Ricans. Well, no one allows Puerto Ricans. But they would not allow a Jew could not touch or be near a Gentile.

A good Jew could not talk to a Gentile, especially a woman. That's why John chapter 4 is so powerful. That's why the woman says, why is it you, Jesus, and you are speaking to me, a Samaritan woman? Because that was like unheard of.

14 years ago, 14 years ago, I found a deed to Whitten Memorial Baptist Church. Oh, it was great. You saw a copy of it, don't you? It's in charge safe right now. And it's really cool. Mr. Whitten, the guy who owned all this land, that's what this road, this road is named for, right?

He gave this parcel of land to this church with two rules, two stipulations. He said, number one, this church has always got to be named in memorial to him. I just threw up a little bit in my mouth, sorry.

Number two, only white people can come here. Eddie, you got to go. Because Eddie, he's like a real African. Like, where are you from again? Tanzania. Right? I mean, he's got spears and chow hives. He's like, zoom!

Only white people can come. Now, I'll be honest with you, that's why I refuse, like when my church name says Whitten Baptist Church, I refuse to my dying breath that I cast the sulfur pit of hell from my stomach on the name Whitten Memorial Baptist Church.

Because if you people ever name a building Jeff Shipley, then I will come back to the grave and strike you dead. Guys, we have come to a place where we hold up and herald. We hold up these standards that are not God's.

Go to chapter 12, verse 32. The text that we're in. What did Jesus say? Somebody read it, please. Then when Mary was come, when Jesus was. Chapter 12. Chapter 12, verse 32. All Baptist. All what? Baptist?

All white people. People. All white people. Peoples. Watch this. There are churches, and we got to be careful with this, because watch this. Then there are churches, because I've been told this. I've been told, Pastor, your church will never be what God's called it to be because it's too white.

Okay. Watch this. Watch this. You ready? Let's just not worry about the demographics. By the way, how many races are there? One. There's only one race. You can be a Dalmatian or a Puma, but you still don't.

Okay? Listen to me. Scientifically, that's a fact. Why are some of you looking around, clasping your hands, like, oh, God. Listen. Listen to me. Let's, this be our strategy. Okay? Let's not worry about how many of this ethnic demographic did we.

I grant it. We got redneck, white trash in here mourning things. Got it. Okay? We got pickup trucks, four-wheel drives, and shotguns in the back window of every truck out there. I get it. But I don't care about that.

Here is Pastor Jeff's mentality, and here's what we're going to be hammering for the next four weeks. Let's focus on lifting Jesus Christ up and let God take care of the rest. Amen. That's all we need to be worrying about.

How about that? Instead of learning the Romans Road or EE or something, you want me to tell you what the best evangelism program that works? Watch this. Put God in the middle of it, and don't worry about it.

Nothing will work without Jesus Christ, without the Holy Spirit bidding people to come and know evangelism program. We're not going to do evangelism program. We're going to look at our own selves, find out where we need to repent, and then we're going to do that.

That's going to be our program. I'm not going to name it anything. Like, actually, when I started writing these about four months ago, I had invest, invite, or something like that. And I just got rid of all that.

First of all, it sounded healthy. Number one. Number two, it's not. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at our own lives individually, and I'm asking this question now. Come on up wherever you are.

It's just funny. Listen to me. Where are you being disobedient to the call of Jesus Christ in evangelism? Have you talked to your family? People closest to you. Have you? Have you talked to them? Have you lived out your life in truth with them?

When you're at the fire hall, leeching money out of us hardworking citizens. When you're in the police department. When you're at school. When you're at FedEx. When you're at all these different places.

It's who and what you are validated by your church membership or by the life you live. If it's not by the life you live, you need to repent today. Don't put it off. You need to repent today and do it publicly.

Have accountability of it. Sitting there grasping the back of the chairs. Everyone sings, thinking about who needs to come down and get saved. You're the idiot God's speaking to. You're the one who needs to repent.

Stop being so arrogant and get your life turned back around. Number two. Maybe you are one of those people that have been lulled to sleep by the poison of religion. And you actually think your soul is safe in the hands of Almighty God because you've walked down an aisle.

Let me tell you something. Hell is hot. Judgment is real. And grace is still waiting for you to repent. Without repentance, you do not understand the forgiveness of sins. You don't get it. Well, pastor, I'm confused.

Well, that's why God made churches. Okay? This is not the church. Find someone in this room. There's going to be pastors and counselors down here while we sing. If you're not 100 sure right now that you would go to heaven, do not walk out them doors.

Don't walk out them doors. You can come forward. Do you need someone to kick you in the rear spiritually? That's why God made churches. Come down here and go, I need to be a member of church. I don't care about your sticky leg.

I need help with my spiritual life. We'll help. Maybe you need to get baptized. Guys, come down here. Whatever it is, here's what I'd like y 'all to do this morning. Please don't stand there and look at that stupid screen, mouthing some words and thinking about what's for lunch.

Instead of having church, let's actually be the church. Find someone in this room that you can receive ministry from, i .e. you have problems, or better yet, if you truly are a Christian, find someone you can minister to.

Let evangelism start right now. I know there are lost people in this room. I know. I mean, I'm not guessing. I'm not going to look, but I know of six lost people in this room right now. Personally, I know it because I've witnessed it and they still aren't saved yet.

So, man, I need some help. The pastors don't know who they are. Go find out. Don't sing three verses and let's go home. Let's actually be the church. So I'm going to ask you people to stand. If God has spoken to you today at all, if God has a message for you in any of this of obedience or repentance or salvation, as pastors and counselors come forward, as we sing, you obey God this morning, you come as He leads.