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[0:00] One thing I like about being out on the West Coast is I can speak a lot faster being from the East Coast. Amen. Everybody drives fast. Everybody moves fast here. It's absolutely amazing. Right.

[0:10] But I'm glad to be here. If you have your Bible, turn to Acts chapter two, Acts chapter two. I preach very short. I have a policy 30 minutes or less or your money back. Amen.

[0:21] So, but Acts chapter two and we'll begin at verse 42. But I do appreciate the opportunity to be here. I was here. If I'm not mistaken, I think it was a pastor Gilbert that was here years ago.

[0:35] And I came through as a missionary. I went worked up the cycle here, the circuit, Andrus and then Pastor Kim and then others as well. Some that are no longer in the ministry today, but it was a blessing being here years ago.

[0:50] And I hope and pray that God uses me tonight to be a help to your church. Verse 42, Acts chapter two, verse 42. Now, I am dispensational, so relax. But I do believe that we can get some practical stuff out of here.

[1:04] And what I'm talking about is the early church. And I mean, this church, this early church was a powerful church, unlike churches today. And church is so different today. And I've been in over 200 churches.

[1:14] I don't claim to know it all. But I can say some churches are dead. Some are legalistic. Some are liberal. And I don't know about you, but I would like to be a part of a church that we're going to read about tonight. And I want to be in a church where God is moving and God is that and God's doing something right.

[1:30] And in verse 42, and they continue steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul.

[1:40] And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and and part of them to all men as every man had need.

[1:54] And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house that eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

[2:05] And the Lord adds to the church daily such as should be saved. Now, church doesn't seem to be very important to a lot of people today. You'll meet a lot of people that say, well, I used to go to church.

[2:16] And then other churches are swinging as the opposite liberal like and it's all about programs and all about praise and it's no longer any preaching. And that's bad as well. But I got asking some questions in my own mind.

[2:27] Why are some churches growing? Why are some churches dying? Why are some churches that is standstill? Why are the churches today in our King James Bible, even pre-millennial, independent, fundamental Baptist church?

[2:38] How to give that whole thing in one breath. Were you impressed? And why is it that our churches today are so far from being what they ought to be for God? And I think we have forgotten the importance of the Holy Spirit.

[2:54] I was raised a Roman Catholic, born and raised in Philadelphia, Italian background. And we got this mentality in our KJV crowd where it's God, the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

[3:08] Right. A lot of people preach that. A lot of people act like that. The Holy Spirit is just as important as God is and Jesus is. All three are one. And what we got is we got churches today.

[3:20] They're so straight doctrinally and they got all their ducks in a row, but they have no power with God. The presence of God does not fall down. They know exactly when to shout during a certain song.

[3:30] They know exactly when to throw the hymnal. They know exactly when to go to the altar. They know exactly how to make people cry. But there's no power of God. So what is it that the church is lacking?

[3:44] And what can we learn from this passage of scripture and how you can apply it to your church tonight? I want to preach to you a message titled, What a Church Ought to Be. What a Church Ought to Be. Let's pray.

[3:55] Father, I cannot do this without you. I ask you to cleanse me with your precious blood. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit. God, help me to be a blessing to this church. I don't know what's going on.

[4:05] Lord, Pastor Wolski hasn't given me a list of what to preach against or for or whatever. Lord, I'm just trying to be sensitive to you. And I'm asking you to use me for your glory and speak to everyone's hearts. And I do pray.

[4:16] Would you please show up? Would you please allow your presence to be felt in an extraordinary way on a Wednesday night? Lord, unlike any other.

[4:26] Lord, without you, I can do nothing. So I'm pleading the blood of Jesus Christ over me. Forgive me for all my sins, Lord God. And I pray that you get all the glory and honor for what's said and done.

[4:38] And I do pray that this church tonight, Lord, would be changed. And you would get all the glory for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So what a church ought to be.

[4:49] First of all, first thing I want to say is in verse 42, if you notice there, it says in prayers. In prayers. So number one, first thing I noticed about the earlier New Testament church was that they were focused.

[4:59] They were focused. What I mean by focus is that they were focused on God. And a praying church is a church that's focused on God. A focused church is also a church that has faith in God. They had faith in God.

[5:10] They trusted God. They believed that God was able to answer prayer. These new Christians, they knew how to get a hold of God in prayer. I don't know about you, but are you a praying church tonight? Do you know how to get a hold of God?

[5:21] Does a God show up when you pray on Wednesday nights in prayer meeting? It's what we need to get back in our churches today. We need more prayer time spent at the prayer meeting. I'm not trying to knock churches.

[5:32] I don't know what you do here. But if it's a prayer meeting, it ought to be praying. You ought to be praying. You ought to be getting a hold of God and all that. Otherwise, it's just a plain Bible study and all that. This church was given the prayer as a church.

[5:44] And you could be short on some things in church, right? Announcements and songs and so forth. But never be short on prayer. And defeat awaits a non-praying church. But success is going to follow a church that's given to prayer.

[5:59] Prayer was not a strange thing to this church. I'm going to ask you tonight, is your church a praying church? In chapter 1, you know what it was? It was both men and women praying in the upper room.

[6:11] And in chapter 2, the Pentecostal power, right? The Holy Ghost came down. And every church ought to be able to pray in such a way where the Holy Spirit of God comes down upon it every single service.

[6:25] I don't know about you, but I get tired of being in a rut. I get tired of being in a routine, right? I don't want to go through the same motions and all that. When I show up, I want God to show up. I want to feel God's presence. I want to feel His power.

[6:35] I am so tired of our crowd going, stop with all the feelings. God gave us feelings. Okay, and I don't want to be in a dead church. I don't think you want to be in a dead church either. Amen? And I've learned that a focused and faithful church has something else that they do.

[6:49] A faithful church and a focused church is a fasting church. Do you as a church fast? Do you ever pray and fast as a church? One of the things I had was I got to lead a Navajo girl to the Lord in our church when I was pastoring in Texas and all that.

[7:04] And she would say, hey, pastor, I'm praying and fasting today. Do you want to join me? And then she would send it to the group text of the church. She didn't know. She was a young Christian. She wasn't bragging and all that. But man, what a blessing it is to have people in the church say, I'm praying for you.

[7:17] And I'm fasting for you. And a church that fast is a church that has faith in God when they pray and is focused on God in their worship to Him. And I believe that God can do greater things in this church if all of you would not only be focused on God and have faith in God, but you actually start at the fast.

[7:33] You guys ever have church fast day? You ever fast and pray for your pastor? You ever fast and pray for one another? You ever fast and pray for souls to be saved? You ever fast and pray for people to get baptized and join the church and for people to be sent out?

[7:45] Do you fast and pray? I know. It's like I'm cursing up here, right? Fasting, right? Talking, we got some snacks in the back, baby, right? Make this quick, man, or you'll be fast out of here.

[7:56] I understand, right? I understand who I'm talking about, but we can skip a few meals in Jesus' name. Amen? We're not going to die, right, if we skip a fast, right? But do you as a church want to be a focused church, a faithful church, and a fasting church like the first church was?

[8:13] It's important that you as a church here are a focused church, that you have faith in God, and that you fast as well. Number two, verse 46.

[8:24] You know what it also says in verse 46? With one accord in the temple. They were one accord in the temple. You know what that means? They weren't fighting each other.

[8:36] Yeah, right? I am so sick and tired of all the little fractions in our KJV crowd. Who do you follow? Do you follow this person?

[8:47] Do you follow that person? Do you do this? Do you believe that? Man, it's like when I learned as an evangelist, never tell them where you came from and never tell them where you're going next, right? Because somebody hates the other brother.

[8:59] I say hate, right? You know what Paul says? Some preach Christ of contention and strife and some preach Christ out of love. But I would. He said, I'd rather rejoice, right? Not a big deal. But we've got to be in agreement on some things, right?

[9:11] As a member of this church, you ought to be in agreement on the King James Bible. There is no other Bible, right? You've got to be in agreement on the pre-tribulation rapture. There's no pre-wrath. Get away from the YouTube Steve Anderson and all that stuff, right?

[9:24] You've got to be in agreement that God is not done with Israel, right? But there are some things that you're going to differ with one another here that are not major doctrinal issues.

[9:36] And some of the brethren, man, oh, they've got these certain pet convictions. And if you say, well, I wonder who he's talking about. It's probably you. You're the weirdo, right?

[9:47] I wonder who he's talking about. And your wife's even looking at you. It's talking about you. Listen. Listen, right? Some of the brethren have really weird convictions. And they like to push these non-scriptural convictions on you.

[9:59] And they're really Pharisees. And I'm telling you, these Pharisees are everywhere lurking in our Bible-believing churches today, right? Do you have a TV? Do you not have a TV? What does your wife wear?

[10:10] What does she wear to bed? None of your business. You know what I mean? You say, people ask that? Yeah. That's why I have a very small select group that I preach for now, right?

[10:23] But people are weird. But these Pharisees, they love to add to the Word of God with their traditions. And they love to make the Scriptures fit to something they believe. And they cause more division than they actually promote unity.

[10:37] Exactly one of the reasons why the Lord was so hard on the Pharisees. Remember in Mark chapter 7? You can just write it down. In verse 8, For laying aside the commandment of God, he holds the tradition of men as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things you do.

[10:49] So some of the brethren can only agree on disagreeing. And I don't agree with everybody about their little conviction and all that. But I can get along with others. Some of the brethren can't. You know, does a woman wear pants? Does she wear makeup?

[11:00] Does she wear jewelry? It's like whatever the case may be, right? Does she dye her hair? Does she not dye her hair? Whatever, man. I don't know why I'm saying all this. It's not even in my notes. But some people really, really got this attitude.

[11:12] And it just stinks, man. And I don't know if it's from the East Coast where I'm from Philadelphia. I'm like, talk to the hand, man. I got no time for you, man. You know what I mean? I want to be like the penguin on Madagascar.

[11:23] Just get it together. You know, skip out. You know? It's like, I don't want to argue with people. But there's always somebody. You're like, you're carnal. Okay. All right. Hollywood rubbed off.

[11:34] I don't know. But the point is this, right? If you've got an ax to grind, grind it somewhere else. You've got an agenda, a motive, an issue, or a problem.

[11:45] Like, leave people alone. You are not the Holy Spirit of God. It's not your job to go around and check the length of people's skirts and whether they wear nail polish. It's not your job to do that. Amen.

[11:56] Amen. I grew a beard out, believe it or not. It was like really long. And I had a guy, and my hair was like really short like Josiah. And I walked up, and the guy even seen me in like 15 years as an evangelist, right?

[12:08] And he sees me, and he goes, oh, you look Muslim. And I said, Asamu Alaikum, you know? I just kept on moving. I was like, that's why I don't like to go to camp meetings.

[12:20] The majority of them are a bunch of peacocks, you know, proud, strutting their stuff and all that. I ain't got time for that, man. Amen? Amen. But some of these brethren, they know how to belittle the other brethren instead of building them up.

[12:30] And I'm all for scriptural standards. But it ought never to cause trouble in this local church. Well, you know, what I think about Pastor Wolski is my... No, no, nobody asks you.

[12:41] Nobody needs to know. A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man will keep it until afterwards. Amen? And you ought to stand together as a church and not stand against one another. You know, there's weakness in division. You do understand there's a thing called the World Economic Forum of Klaus Schwab.

[12:55] And you do want... You say, well, who is he? Check him out later. The one who talks like Darth Vader. That's Klaus Schwab, right? Anyway, I'll stop. I'll stop. But listen, there's strength in unity, right?

[13:07] The United Nations knows this, right? The who knows this. All this conspiracy stuff is coming to light. They don't even hide it anymore, right? And they're all gathering together. And yet our crowd can't gather together for nothing, man, without fighting one another.

[13:22] But I'm not talking about you had to be a clone and all that. You guys probably do that out here in California. But anyway, but like-minded, right? We are all to have the mind of Christ. And since we have the mind of Christ, we're not to hinder the work of Christ through the church.

[13:34] We're commanded to be like-minded on the same page as believers. Philippians chapter 2. I'll just read these verses to you in verse 2. That ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

[13:47] Romans chapter 15, verses 5 and 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus, that ye with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father or Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:00] 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 11. Be perfect. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 8. Finally, be of one mind, having compassion one of another.

[14:13] Love his brethren. Be pitiful. Be courteous. Just put your petty differences to the side, man. I was at a church one time. This guy gets up at this camp meeting.

[14:25] And everybody's wearing white shirts except me. I'm against white shirts. I don't know. Whatever. I guess. I'm not against. I have a little name tag. Anyway. But the point is, right? Some of you get that later on, right?

[14:37] But anyway. So I'm like, and this guy gets up and he sees me and my buddy with the only colored shirts to be wearing there. Right? We're like obvious among all these people that dress like penguins, black tie, white shirt, whatever.

[14:49] Right? So I'm like, okay, man. And he gets up and he goes, do you know why I wear white shirts? Because it's a picture of the fine linen of the righteousness of the saints. So my friend is like from Philadelphia as well.

[15:03] And he's really deaf like I am. I can't hear well and all that. Right? But so we're sitting there. I said, man, you hear that guy, man? And he goes, that was stupid. Right? And I'm like, he was like sitting behind us.

[15:18] That was one of those awkward moments. Right? Needless to say, neither one of us were allowed to get up and preach at that meeting. Right? But as a church, you need to fight the devil.

[15:31] Amen? But not each other. And it's important for you to fight alongside each other. Get your pastors back. Stand with your pastor. When he says, look, I think the church needs to go this way.

[15:41] Don't, why? Why? Why? Right? Just follow the leader. Amen? Number three. Third thing I want to say is, you're like, really? You preach short. Absolutely. Number three.

[15:53] Verse 46. Notice what it says. Did eat their meat with gladness. Right? You know what that means? They weren't frustrated.

[16:05] You ever meet some of the King James Bible even crowd? God, they're just a mean, nasty group sometimes, ain't they? Amen? Just mean.

[16:16] Like, ready to fight. Like, ready to contend, man. Ready to get an attitude sometimes, man. A bad attitude. You know, you tell them, man, it's a beautiful weather today. Yeah, it's going to rain tomorrow. You know, God's good.

[16:28] Yeah, but you know what? You better be prepared for the future tribute. We're going to go through some. Some Christians come to church with a bad attitude. They never smile. They snarl. Right? I've seen people where you come to church.

[16:40] I mean, literally, I remember one time. I'll never forget. I was at my Bible at the end of a pew. Not here. Relax. Okay? But I had it at the end of a pew. And I went to the bathroom, came back. And I literally saw that my Bible was thrown.

[16:53] Not pushed. Thrown. And it was, like, fanned out like a deck of cards, right? Down the other end. And I'm looking. I'm like, is that my Bible? And I asked them. I said, did I sit in your seat?

[17:05] They were members. I was a visitor. Do you understand what kind of impression that would have made on me if I was a visitor locally? I wouldn't ever want to come back to your church. You know, there are people like that where you're sitting in their seat.

[17:19] I've been to some church like that. And they will stand looking at you. Till you move. And then I just act like I don't see them. Nah, I'm just joking. You know, we as Christians need to come to church with not a bad attitude, but a blessed attitude.

[17:36] And I know that we're human. I know that we all have our struggles. And we have our rough days. And I know that we could be in a bad mood sometimes. But it's important that when you and I come to church, we ought to bring a good attitude.

[17:48] A blessed attitude. And yeah, we can bear one another's burdens and all that. And we ought to do that. And all that help each other through our struggles. We'll be honest and open and bare our hearts, right? But at the same time, don't always complain.

[18:00] I pastored for years. And I can tell you, boy, have I learned a lot about being a pastor. That really helped me now with evangelism and so forth, right? But let me say this to you really quickly.

[18:10] I hope you're not one of those people that eat up your pastor's time all the time, complaining and griping. There was a guy. I'll give you an example, right? Somebody's already crying. Now, anyway, I'm just joking.

[18:22] There you go. No, I'm just joking. No, it's okay. But no, so this guy, and I love him in Jesus' name. And I love them in Christ, right? But every time, every service, every break, he'd be there, like, on me, right?

[18:35] Talking to me about all these things, right? I could never talk to anybody else. I could never talk to the visitors. It was a constant monopoly of my time. And all he did was ever complain. Folks, I got news for you.

[18:46] The world doesn't revolve around you. And there are people that have it way worse than you and will have it worse than you, and they're not complaining. You say, but doesn't anybody care? Maybe a little bit.

[18:59] Playing the violin for you, right? Maybe a little bit. I'll tell you right now, you've got to get to a point in your Christian life where you don't monopolize all the pastor's time and everybody else's time with all the same practice.

[19:10] And here's what I've learned about people that do that, right? They will always come to you asking the same thing over and over and over and over or saying the same thing over and over and over again, and you keep telling them the same thing over and over and over again. They're not listening.

[19:23] Right? They're like that old labyrinth movie, you know, with the sketsis where they come and they just suck the life essence out of you, right? You're like, right? Right? Right? Are you mindful of what kind of spirit you put off when you come into a church?

[19:48] I'm not charismatic, folks. I grew up in a very, very bad, bad, bad, bad childhood background. And my wife calls it my spidey senses. And I can walk into an atmosphere and just feel it totally change.

[20:02] And everybody's smiling like Joel Osteen. Right? You put off a vibe. Every one of you put off a vibe when you walk into a church.

[20:15] Right? Are you mindful of what kind of spirit you put off when you come in through the doors of this church? You know, we as preachers, and I'm not trying to be rude, we can usually sense it. We can usually feel it.

[20:26] We're like, oh, I'm not going to look at that person today. I'm going to look right over them. It's bad sometimes. And it's draining. You've dealt with draining people, haven't you?

[20:37] Where everything you say is never good enough, and they just, it's just, man, you know? I've seen from personal experience that one person can change the whole atmosphere of a church.

[20:49] One person. Now, you guys got a good spirit, but let me tell you right now, you know what can happen? One person. One person. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good. Ecclesiastes 9.17.

[21:02] One person can change the whole atmosphere of a church. One disgruntled song leader, one disgruntled deacon, one disgruntled pianist, one disgruntled whoever it may be, can change the whole. Yeah, you guys, right?

[21:14] You guys. One was pointing at the other. You should have saw what I see. Yeah, there you go. He's like, all right, brother. Hallelujah. That's me. You call. No. But seriously, one person can destroy a church.

[21:28] There was years ago a guy that told me they were running over 100 people, and he put up with this one woman for five years in the name of grace, which is plainly enabling him with sin, to be honest. He should have kicked her out the first month. That's probably why I'm not a pastor, right?

[21:42] But what she would do is she would meet people in the parking lot and discourage visitors from coming in and do everything she can, and it dwindled his church down to less than 30 people. And he looked at me.

[21:52] I didn't say a word. I just listened to him. I listened to him. I listened. That's what I do. I listen to preachers. I listen, right? And all of a sudden, he's like, I should have probably kicked her out. I'm thinking, you should have? Tell me where she lives.

[22:02] I'll take her out. You didn't hear anything. You don't know nothing, all right? But we need to make sure that when we come to church, we bring a right spirit.

[22:14] It is so important for you, because that morning, if you come in with a bad attitude. Now, I know none of you ever fight with your wife on the way to church. None of you ever fight with your husband. None of you ever fight with your children.

[22:24] None of you ever fight with your parents. But for those who should have been here, share that with them. But when you're fighting with your wife, and listen, there's times I had to go preach, and I'm driving with my wife, and I'm telling her she's wrong, and I knew she was wrong, right?

[22:38] Amen. I was wrong. You ever get right in a parking lot? You're all quiet, amen? You're like, I had to do it tonight, right?

[22:49] Right? But you know what? Just say, God, forgive me, Lord. If things ain't so good, you know? Fighting with your friends, fighting with your family, fighting with other people, and all that. It brings a bad spirit. But I've learned that where there is gladness in a church, there's also friendliness.

[23:02] A glad church makes others glad to be in it. I mean, a church that is happy and not frustrated is a church that will make others to be glad to be a part of it. A church must always be a church that makes people feel welcomed and loved.

[23:14] Does your church like that make everybody feel welcome? Now, let me tell you something. And maybe I'm going to step on some toes here. But people that come in that have spacers and tattoos should feel welcomed and loved.

[23:30] Amen. Where are they going to go? You think they're going to go home and wash it off? It's not one of those stickers. It doesn't mean God's done with those people.

[23:41] Amen? Amen. Just because they may look dirty on the outside. Remember, you're dirty on the inside. Pride is just as wicked. Right? You know?

[23:53] I've learned that a church where there is gladness in a church and not a frustrated church, not only are they friendly. And let me tell you something. Go out of your way to make people feel welcome. Say hello to them. Even though you're like, I wonder where they... Let me just talk.

[24:04] Hi, how are you doing? Glad you're here. Right? I'll tell you, a church that's glad and not frustrated is a church where there's forgiveness. Some of you need to let go of some things. You may need to forgive your pastor.

[24:17] I don't know. You may need to forgive one another here. Some of you got an axe to grind. You're just mad and upset. You don't understand. Listen, in case you haven't known this, you hurt people in the past.

[24:30] You've done people wrong. I want you to think about that. Where there's no forgiveness, there's no gladness. And where there are grudges, there is no gladness to be found.

[24:41] Let me give you an example. Years ago, I was in a church in the Midwest. I won't name it and all that. But I was preaching. I preached on bitterness. And the pastor just felt leveled the invitation. He says, it was all done.

[24:52] He goes, does anybody have anything they want to say? I had no idea what was about to happen, right? And his sister got up and said, yeah, preacher, I wanted you to know I've been talking about you, running my mouth about you, and I'm sorry, I've been bitter at you.

[25:07] And I'm like, wow. This is no joke. I know you're going to think I'm crazy or charismatic. That's okay, man. Then another person got up and said, yeah, I didn't like you, sister. And another says, I don't like you either.

[25:18] And they start making things right. This is no joke. 20 minutes, this stuff went on. And I'm like, wow. I was like, wow. I was like, whoa, this is really cool, man. Right? And all of a sudden, I'm not trying to sound crazy.

[25:31] Some of you may think I'm crazy, but it was almost like misty, if that makes any sense. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Some of you don't. It was like a mist in the air. It just seemed really wild. Like the Holy Spirit was there. And we had an awesome meeting.

[25:43] It was awesome. I wonder tonight, how many of you got some issues with one another? And if you've got a problem with someone in the church tonight, it's best to go to that person one-on-one and make it right.

[25:54] Matthew 18, you know, Jesus says this in verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and on Facebook. Right? Right?

[26:06] Instagram. Right? WhatsApp. Whatever you use. Right? And him alone, if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. What I just read to you was what Jesus taught the early church. And it's still important to do it today.

[26:18] But you don't understand, preacher. I can't stand this brother in here. I can't stand this sister in here. Okay, well, you ever think maybe you irritate God? You ever think you get on God's nerves?

[26:32] Amen? And if you don't forgive, you will not have a good spirit. You're commanded to forgive. Now, here's what I've heard before. I'm just, I hate when I hear this. I'm just having a hard time forgiving.

[26:44] Is God like that with you? What are you commanded to do when someone repents? I didn't say just confess. They what? Repent. Now, if someone says to you all, I'm sorry that I cheated on you the past ten times, honey.

[26:55] No, it's, no. No, that's not right. Right? They've got to repent. What are you to do? You're commanded to do what? Forgive them.

[27:06] Well, I have to pray about it. You don't have to pray about what God says to do. Did you know that? I hate when you're praying. Oh, I just need to pray about it. No, you don't. You just need to forgive. A frustrated church or an unforgiving spirit, right, will not bring a friendly spirit in the church.

[27:21] So, once again, it's important that you don't bring a frustrated spirit into the church. Number four. Some of you are wondering, how many more points? Fifteen more to go. I'm just joking. Number four. Notice verse 47.

[27:32] Notice verse 47. I appreciate you being here, and I appreciate the good spirit. Verse 47. Number four. Praise God. Praise God, right?

[27:43] So, what were they? They were fiery, right? You know, I know that it mentions here in Acts chapter 2, there were tongues like as fire, right? And I'm not getting into the whole tongues thing. Your pastor can teach all that stuff and everything.

[27:54] I know there's an earthly language. I'm not going to get up here and gobble like a turkey. I understand that. But we can't overlook this very quickly. The church began with Holy Ghost power like fire.

[28:10] So, what happened to the church today? I mean, where is the fire? How is it that our churches today become so dead? I like being in a church that's alive. I like being in a church that's exciting.

[28:21] Have you ever gone to a hockey game or a football game or a baseball game? What would you do if they said the only rule we have here during this game is everyone has to be completely quiet? Do you ever see that at a game?

[28:35] I mean, but you know what happens when little Johnny's running down the football field with the football, their kid, their grandkid? Go, go, go, go, yeah! You go to church, you preach on the rapture.

[28:48] You preach about the blood of Jesus. You preach holy, holy, holy, right? Sing a song. Why is that?

[29:00] Why is it that you see people on TV at a sports event, worshiping their gods, no shirt on. It could literally be snowing. It could literally be raining, right? Their body is painted, right? And all that. They get up. They shout.

[29:10] They get excited. They root for the team. And then you preach about Jesus Christ. And everybody's like, Something's not right. Hey, we got salvation tonight, right?

[29:22] That should make you want to shout. We got a mansion in heaven. That should make you want to shout. Hey, we're forgiven by the blood of Jesus, God's son. Cleanses us from all sin, all right?

[29:33] And God forgiving you for all you've ever done should make you want to shout. Now, I know the charismatic church is not doctrinally straight. I know it's not doctrinally right. Have you ever been around a charismatic? They don't know a bunch of doctrine, but it's happy in Jesus.

[29:46] Oh, you're going liberal. I'm not going liberal, right? I've been around charismatic. Man, my church is great. Yeah, I know they're worshiping maybe off and off, but they're happy to be in church, right? They invite people to their church, right?

[29:58] They're excited about the things of God. And at least they recognize the Holy Spirit. Amen? We got the right doctrine as Baptists, right? Well, I'm King James and dispensational.

[30:10] I've read all of Clarence Lark and stuff and all. Yeah, you're dry as cracker juice, man. You got no life, no power, man. No joy. Right?

[30:20] Why would anybody want to go to your church where you look like a Mennonite every time you go to work? Right? There's nothing wrong with saying amen. I go to some Baptist churches and somebody will get excited and they'll do this.

[30:37] This is what Baptists do. Watch, watch. They'll do this, right? They'll do this. Right? They start getting excited, right? Then they kind of move their arms, right? And they're getting into the music and the singing and they're getting excited.

[30:51] They can't meet. You're all looking to be kind of funny, right? You know what I'm talking about, right? And then you get some Baptists. They're like, yeah, that's good, man. Praise the Lord. Yeah, that's good. Praise the Lord, right? Then after a while, they're like, yeah.

[31:03] Yeah. Then they do the seek help. Praise the Lord. Okay, relax. I'm not a Nazi, okay? Seek out, right? Right? But what I'm trying to say is like I was watching this thing and it was funny what the guy was saying, but it's really cool when you see somebody do this.

[31:21] We all nervous, right? We would never do that in our church, man. Okay, let me give you a verse. You all King James Bible believers? You believe the Bible to be a final authority? All right, you ready for a verse?

[31:33] Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. Let's try it, right? Let's see. For those of you, can you do it?

[31:44] All right, so what do you think is going to happen at the rapture? What are you going to do? Right? Look, Mom, I can fly, right? Right? But maybe if you get excited in the church, the visitors will come back.

[31:59] They'll say, man, God's doing something there. You know what I learned? That people are curious about excitement, right? What's going on? Did you hear about what's going on? People will stop and slow down on the opposite side of the road where the accident was.

[32:12] Just to see what's happening, right? When we get spiritually stirred up about the things of God, then God will bring such joy and excitement in a church, right? Doesn't he inhabit the praises of men?

[32:25] You know what? I'll tell you. God's not showing up in a lot of our churches. And I'm telling you, I've been in some churches, to be honest with you, that are Bible churches and other churches and all that.

[32:38] I have not yet. I have not yet compromised my doctrine. Just relax, okay? But man, some of them are excited, man. They're excited. I like being around exciting people, right?

[32:51] I've got more excitement out of some cemeteries I went to than some Baptist churches, right? Amen. But our churches today, you know what? They're voided the presence of God.

[33:02] We need God's spirit to be present in our churches. And I really do believe that God can bring revival. I don't believe nationwide. That's just my take on that. I'm not here to argue with you. You can argue with your pastor about that. I'm just here blowing in, blowing up, and blowing out, okay?

[33:19] Well, let me tell you tonight. He says, if any man will open the door. And I wonder if you're the one tonight that has to come to the altar and just open the door. And say, God, I want you to pour out your Holy Spirit. I want you to manifest yourself in a mighty way.

[33:31] I want to see some visitors, first-time visitors this Sunday. We want to see some people get saved. You know, it's important that the church be a fiery church. And last of all, and I'm done. Look at verse 47.

[33:43] Last of all, it says, added. Added, right? See that? Added to the church. Last of all, they were a fruitful church. A fruitful church. Now, of course, we must give God the glory and say, you know, so then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth.

[33:57] But what? God that giveth the increase. 1 Corinthians 3, 6. But you know what that means? You have to have to do something for God to give the increase, right? This church was not active once in a while.

[34:09] So as a result of them being a fruitful church, they became a functioning church. Look at verse 46. And they continuing daily. You know what? You may be a member of this church, and I'm not trying to knock you.

[34:21] And I know a majority of the people are faithful on Wednesday night. You're committed to cream of the crop. But I'm going to ask you, are you active? Every preacher needs help. Every preacher needs more people to volunteer.

[34:33] Every preacher needs some more people to step it up, right? Pastor Randy, right? Every preacher needs that to happen. And you can go to your pastor tonight after the service and say, what can I do to help?

[34:44] How can I serve? You know, whatever it may be. And you know what? He's got a list of things that you can do. Sisters, you can get involved. Talk to his wife. There is a list of things to do in a church to keep it running.

[34:56] But if you as a member choose to not be active for the Lord, let me tell you right now, no one will be at it. Now, let me tell you how you can double the size of your church this year. And I mean this with all my heart. It's very easy to follow.

[35:07] And I mean this. I'm not trying to be sarcastic or funny. Lead one soul to Christ this year. Bring them to church. Disciple them. And you can have this church double by Christmas. You say, well, no.

[35:18] It's God that gives the increase. But what must you do? Plant. And sow. Right? And there are churches where no one has joined in years. There are churches where no one is being saved. There are churches where no one is being called to preach.

[35:29] There are churches where I went in the nursery at Cobwebs. They haven't used the nursery in years. The Sunday school room in years and all that. No one is being trained. No one is being sent out. No youth. No longer any young families.

[35:42] I'm going to ask you tonight. Look at your church as a whole. Look at it. Are you content with where you're at? Listen, I understand sometimes that some churches don't see souls get saved in a while and baptized. But is that your norm?

[35:53] Are you content with that? Do you want to see people walk in the aisle? Let me tell you something about our church. I give God the glory. We have seen 30 souls saved and baptized this year at our church in Amarillo that I'm a member of.

[36:06] God's moving in our church. It's phenomenal. It's awesome. God's doing a great work. But we got a small group of people that turned out from three people to five people to 20 some people that are soul winning now.

[36:18] And it's growing. Wouldn't it be great if you saw some people get saved every week here? Can God still save souls in California? Amen?

[36:29] He can. He can. But what I'm seeing is that some churches are letting go of some workers now because they don't have enough participators. I want to encourage you tonight to be an active member in your church.

[36:43] Do what you can for your church. Do what you can for your pastor. Do what you can for each other in this church. Because if you want to be a fruitful church, you've got to be a functioning church member. And the way a church member can be a fruitful church member is by each of you yielding to the Holy Spirit of God.

[36:59] Being led by the Spirit of God. Living in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit. Right? And what happens is that you will bring forth more of the fruit of the Spirit. And as a result, when you're a fruitful church member, the church cannot help but become a fruitful church.

[37:14] Every one of you ought to be reading your Bible every day. Every one of you ought to be praying. Every one of you ought to be passing out tracts. And let me say something right now. If you have organized soul winning, I don't know if you do or not.

[37:25] You are not that busy. You can't come at least once a month to support the pastor in the church. I'm sure some of you could do that once a month. Come out and do something like that.

[37:37] Now, do you want this church to be a fruitful church and a functioning church that brings glory to God? Or do you want this church one day to close down or be torn down and build a condo or whatever here?

[37:48] It's happening, folks. You do understand that churches are dying. And you need to pray that your church doesn't die. It can happen. It could become a coffee shop.

[37:59] This is the reality. So I'm going to close with this question tonight. Is your church what it should be for the Lord? Is your church tonight what it should be for the Lord? If you'd bow your head, every one of you bow your head, please close your eyes.

[38:11] There's no one looking around. I don't have an axe to grind. I'm not mad at any of you tonight. I'm just trying to be a help to you. I really, really am. But they were a focused church. They were a faithful church. They were a fasting church.

[38:23] A focused and faithful church believes in the power of prayer, believes in the power of God, believes in the promises of God. They weren't fighting each other. They were fighting alongside each other kind of church with one accord in the temple.

[38:35] They weren't frustrated or a fickle church. They did eat their meat with gladness. They were fiery. They were praising God. Some of you need to cut a little loose. Some of you are like, oh, I don't ever yell.

[38:47] Man, you yell on the highway when someone cuts you off. You may yell at your dog or whatever. You may, listen, be honest. Praise God tonight. Worship God tonight in spirit and truth. Give him the glory.

[38:58] Lift up your hands. Shout in church. Get excited to be in church. Praise the Lord in church. He's worthy. They were fruitful. They were fruitful.

[39:09] They added to the church. Maybe some of you need to step it up a little. Some of you are already maxed out. I'm not saying, look, I'm not trying to shame anybody here at all. I'm not. But tonight, no one looking around as the pianist plays.

[39:21] And I just want to encourage any of you tonight. If God spoke to you tonight, maybe you need to come forward and pray for the power of the spirit of God upon the pulpit, upon the preacher, upon the church. Maybe you need to say, Lord, it's me.

[39:32] I've been fighting with somebody else in this church. Or maybe you're fighting with your spouse or fighting with your kids. Or maybe you need to grab someone by the shoulder tonight and say, God, Lord, I'll go over there and I'll talk to them.

[39:42] And just come to the altar. Say, listen, I'm sorry. Maybe some of you have been coming with a frustrated spirit, an angry spirit, a bitter spirit. Did eat their meat with gladness. Some of you need to get on fire for God. I'm going to encourage you.

[39:53] Listen, whoever it is tonight, just come. Come. Don't hold back. Men, women, children. It doesn't matter. You can pray. They pray in the upper room, both men and women. Man, I would love to hear a report.

[40:06] I know some of you don't know me, but you know Jesus and you know his word. And I'm standing in Christ's stead. And I'm begging God tonight that I'll hear some good news from this meeting tonight, this service tonight.

[40:21] And last of all, let me ask you this and I'm done. No one looking around. Just give me about 30 more seconds. Is there anybody here tonight that's not 100% sure they're saved? You don't know where you're going to go when you die?

[40:32] See, I didn't care about church till I got saved. I didn't want to go to church till I got saved. And then after I got saved, I love church. I love hearing preaching. I like the music. I like to praise the Lord.

[40:44] I like God speaking to my heart. Is there anybody here tonight that say, preacher, I'm not 100% sure that if I die today, I would go to heaven. Anybody at all? Just raise your hand. Say, pray for me. Anybody at all? I won't point you out.

[40:55]  I'm not going to grab you by the arm, but just raise your hand up quickly. Just raise it up high and say, preacher, pray for me. Anybody at all?ậpent Cenobus The foncyon