Why Melbourne Needs Soulwinning Baptist Church

Sermon Transcript

It is great to be here at Soulwinning Baptist Church Melbourne. Let me just start by thanking Brother Christian and his family for the hospitality. When you put on church events, they take a lot of time and a lot of effort. They are stressful and tiring, and things never go 100% smoothly — that is just the nature of things. So I am very appreciative of them for all the work they are doing, not just for this event but for the start of this church. And really everyone has gotten involved not just for this event but for the start of this church.

We decided to start this church and brother Christian talked to me and said, hey, could we possibly start earlier? I said yeah, if you are ready, let us just do it on Sunday — let us just get started immediately. I wanted to come down here early at the start of this church just so people realise this is legit, this is real. This is a bonafide church. We are not testing things out. When I make a decision to do something, I do it. This church is going to be around for years and years and years, and you know what they are going to be doing? Soul-winning and getting people saved. That is what we are about.

Now, in case anybody does not know who I am — I am the pastor of this church. I am actually an American that is a missionary in the Philippines. My wife is a Filipino. And so we started this church. As an American, this is kind of a dream country to visit — one of the top items on the bucket list. And every American wants to see a kangaroo. I was very happy this morning. The soul-winning was tougher, but I did get to see a kangaroo, which was very exciting.

Now the question is — why does Melbourne need Soulwinning Baptist Church? Because according to what I saw, there are 230 to 250 Baptist churches in the Melbourne metro area. So the question is, why are we adding another one? Why not just all of you go to one of those other Baptist churches? What is the difference between this church and in my opinion every single other church in Melbourne, Australia?

Point 1: A Clear Gospel

It starts with having a clear gospel.

Galatians 1:6–9: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

What Paul is saying is there is a real gospel, a legitimate gospel, and then there is another gospel — not another way to heaven, but a false gospel that people are actually following. He says how are you just turned aside to this other gospel? And when he says let him be accursed — you know what he is saying? Let him be damned. Let him go to hell. When someone is preaching a false gospel according to Paul the Apostle, let him die and go to hell. You say, pastor, what do you think about the Jehovah's Witnesses out there preaching? You know what? Let them die and go to hell according to the Bible. Now look, the unsaved Jehovah's Witnesses — we go out, we try to get them saved, we try to share the gospel. But the ones that are damning others to hell, let them be accursed. The Bible says — whether it be the Jehovah's Witnesses, whether it be the Mormons, whether it be the Catholics, or whether it be Baptists. I am not talking about the average Baptist church member, but I am talking about Baptist pastors. If there is a Baptist pastor preaching a false gospel, he is a damnable heretic. According to Paul the Apostle — and these are not my words being extreme — let him be accursed. Let him go to hell. Let him be damned. Those are pretty harsh words. You say, pastor, you are pretty intense. Paul is a million times more intense than me. And if you are out there preaching the gospel, does it not make you angry when you see other people preaching a false gospel? What really makes me mad is when churches put Baptist on their name and they are nothing like a Baptist church is supposed to be. Baptist churches should have a clear gospel.

Go to 1 John 5.

This is not a complicated thing we are talking about — a clear gospel. I am not saying a church has to be right on every single doctrine and teach everything that I believe or everything you believe. But a clear gospel. If you do not have the right gospel, if you are telling people the wrong way to heaven, you are a bad church. I wish you did not exist.

1 John 5:13: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." The Bible says you can know that you have eternal life. I am preaching in a room of people that would say they know they are going to heaven. They know they are saved. They know they believe on Christ. Salvation is forever. It cannot be lost. You know that. But think about when you first got saved, before you knew that. The reason why you did not know for sure you were going to heaven is because you were looking at your life and thinking, I have done good, I have done bad, I hope I have done enough good. I was 18 years old and I thought, I am not drinking, I am not partying, I am not doing what other people are doing — I am 80% sure. But can you really be 100% sure you are on your way to heaven if you are trusting in yourself? No, because you do not know whether or not it is good enough. And of course the Bible teaches it is not good enough. The Bible says you can know for sure you are going to heaven, and it is based on believing according to verse 13.

But it also gives us more information on exactly what you have to believe in the previous three verses. Verse 10: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself" — referring to the Holy Spirit of God. "He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." The Bible says that if you do not believe the record, if you do not believe what is written about Jesus Christ, you are making God a liar. It is like this — if I told you I was born in Africa and you said I do not believe you, you would be calling me a liar. I was born in America. So if you do not believe what God said, you are calling God a liar according to the Bible.

Verse 11: "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." This verse at first glance does not seem like a big deal — okay, you know, eternal life in Jesus. But what is the Bible actually saying? You must believe these three things in verse 11 or you are not saved. One — life is in his Son. If you do not believe salvation is only in Jesus Christ, you are unsaved and on your way to hell. You must believe Jesus is the only way to heaven. Two — God hath given to us eternal life. What does it mean that God is giving us eternal life? It means salvation is a gift. You have got to believe that. Three — it says it is eternal. Meaning you must believe salvation is forever. Because if you think you can lose your salvation, what you are basically saying is you have got to live a certain lifestyle to keep it.

So if a church is not teaching salvation is only in Jesus, it is a bad church. If a church is not teaching salvation is a gift, it is a bad church. And if it is not teaching salvation is eternal, it is a bad church, and the person preaching is a false prophet. Unfortunately many Baptists are not teaching this. They say they believe it but they do not really believe it.

Go to Romans chapter 4.

Let us look at eternal security. Once saved, always saved — that once you get saved, you can never lose it for any reason. Here is what “Hellsong” says. They view salvation as something that requires ongoing perseverance rather than an unchangeable permanent status. Let me ask the soul winners here today — have you ever run into someone from “Hellsong” that is actually saved? I am not saying it is impossible. I am just saying it is incredibly unlikely. The most famous church in Australia. And what do they say? You know what, you have got to keep persevering and living a good life to keep your salvation. But wait a minute, the Bible called it eternal life. Eternal means it never ends. That is not complicated.

Romans 4:4–5: "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." You say, pastor, what if somebody believes on Christ and does not live a very good life and does not have any works? Yeah. No works. Are they going to be saved? To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Yes, if you believe on Christ and you have no works at all, you go to heaven. That is how simple it is. It is not based on what we do.

We ran into someone door to door yesterday, me and brother Daniel, and we got this guy saved. All of a sudden somebody starts arguing and talking in Romanian to Daniel. I had no idea what was being said. And apparently he might have thought I was Romanian or something. I was like I have no idea what is happening right now. And apparently he knows some of you — the ones that left the Romanian Pentecostal church. It was really bizarre.

———Heckler interrupts “I’m here, it was me”

Oh, there you are. Well, I'm talking about you. I'm glad you're here.

And this is the disagreement we had. He was like, well, what if somebody believes on Christ and they do not live a very good life? Well, what does the Bible say? If you believe and you do not have works, according to Romans 4 and 5, you are saved. That is how simple it is. You believe and you do not have works, you are still saved. And there are so many examples in the Bible of people that believed and did not live a great life and they are still saved. One of the great examples is King David who committed adultery and murder. And when he recounts that story in Psalm 51, he said, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." He did not say I need to get saved again. He said I lost my joy. Because when you believe, your old man is still there. You still have the sinful flesh and you have that battle between the flesh and the spirit. Every day you make that choice — are you going to walk in the new man or the old man? And the Bible says if you believe and you do not have works, still saved.

Go to 1 Samuel 28.

Now look, obviously this is not primarily a Catholic country. Where I live in the Philippines, 75 to 80% of people are Catholic. But even the non-Catholics believe that if a person commits suicide it is a straight ticket to hell. Before I was saved, I did not grow up Catholic but I believed that too — if you commit suicide it is unforgivable, you do not have time to ask for forgiveness, and you have no hope of going to heaven. But the question is not what do we think. The question is what does the Bible say?

1 Samuel 28:15–19: "And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?... Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me."

When Saul talks to Samuel, Samuel says — tomorrow you and your sons are going to be with me. Well, what ends up happening the next day to Saul?

Go to chapter 31.

Verse 3–5: "And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it."

What Saul is saying is I am worried about the Philistines — they are a very wicked, ungodly culture. He says I do not want to be abused by the Philistines. Now if you look up the word abuse every time in the Bible, what you see in a lot of clear references is something sexual and perverted. And the Philistines were perverted. In my opinion what it is saying is he is worried about being sexually defiled by this wicked evil people that are worshipping a false god. As a man, if you knew that was going to happen to you, you would probably just kill yourself, would you not? The only other possibility is that he was saying I am going to be tortured to death by the Philistines. Either way, abuse in the Bible is a very serious word — not one to throw around loosely.

So King Saul was trying to kill David over and over again, acting like a maniac. He realises what he is doing, he is sorry, he makes up with David. Then he does it again. And again. In reality, he got rejected from being king. He could have just said, okay, I am going to be a normal citizen and serve God and be a good person — that would have been perfectly fine. But he wants the throne. He keeps trying to kill David. He tries to get guidance, he tries to get help, and then he goes to a witch. And God allows him to actually talk to Samuel who is already dead and in heaven. And Samuel prophesies — tomorrow you and your sons are going to be with me. Basically, you have no hope. God is not talking to you anymore. He is not answering you. How does he die? He takes his sword and falls upon it. He commits suicide. And where does he go? He goes to heaven.

This is a guy that if you could lose your salvation, he would have lost it — and not even at the suicide. He would have lost it when he tried to kill David over and over again. But "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish" is God's promise.

Go to Matthew 10.

And by the way — suicide kills the body. That is the definition of suicide. Does our body have eternal life? No. Our soul has eternal life. Yes, it is possible to kill your body, but you did not kill your soul. People will say in the Philippines, okay with suicide you lose your salvation. You say why? Because it is a gift God gave you and you took your life. But is suicide really the worst sin you can think of? Do not get me wrong, suicide is wrong, it is a sin. But do you really think suicide is worse than murder? You are murdering and harming somebody else — that is worse than suicide. Trying to kill David over and over again is worse than committing suicide. But either way, a person who commits suicide killed their body. They did not kill their soul. Their soul has eternal life.

Matthew 10:26–28: "Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." You do not have to fear man because all they can do is kill your body. Who does it say can actually destroy body and soul in hell? God. Only God has the power to send somebody to hell. Only God has the power to destroy your soul. So no, it is not possible for any human to kill anybody's soul or even their own soul, because all you can do is kill the body. And our bodies do not have everlasting life — it is our soul.

Go to 1 John chapter 3.

I have something here from the Romanian Christian Pentecostal Church of Philadelphia, where some of you used to go. It is translated from Romanian to English, so apologies if it is not word for word perfect. But here is what they say about salvation being a gift. According to their church — those who are born of God do not continue to sin, citing 1 John 3:9. And those who sin are not born again. Do we not all sin after we get saved? Every single person sins. Nobody is perfect. The Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin. All of us think foolish thoughts sometimes. All of us are covetous sometimes. All of us are prideful sometimes. There is nobody who is perfect.

Here is what it says in 1 John 3:9: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Now usually when people interpret this verse, they say — well, those that are really born of God do not have a lifestyle practice of sin. They do not sin that much. But wait a minute, the Bible says doth not commit sin — meaning no sins. Now very few people believe in sinless perfection. If you do, you are a heretic. None of us are perfect. I ran into someone soul-winning, and he said he got saved and then said once you do you are going to change. I asked him, haven't you sinned? Haven't you told a lie? He said not in the last 18 years. I said, have a nice day, sir. I do not have a goal to argue with people when I am soul-winning. Obviously all of us sin.

Is this verse referring to the flesh? No, it is not referring to the old man. It is referring to the new man. You cannot lose your salvation because you are indwelt with a perfect spiritual man. And the spiritual man wants what is correct, wants what is right. So yes, the new man does not sin. The new man does not want to do wrong. The new man wants to serve God. But we have a sinful flesh that does not want to serve God.

And then they also cited verse 10 on their website: "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." Now is this a comparison between children of God and unsaved people, or between children of God and children of the devil? The Bible is comparing saved people to someone who is a child of the devil. Are most unsaved people children of the devil? No. There is a very small percentage of people that are reprobates — the evil, twisted people, the pedophiles, the serial killers, the wicked evil people. That is a small percentage of the population. The Bible is saying if you were to compare a child of God with a child of the devil, their works are going to be majorly different. And the reason he brings up this example is because bad people will often use church for their benefit. They are there to take your money, take advantage of you, prey on little kids. The Bible is saying in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. But they are saying if you are really saved, those who sin are not born again. But we all sin. How can that be the interpretation if we are all sinners? Earlier in 1 John the Bible says: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So how could it be saying two chapters earlier that if you say you do not sin the truth is not in you, and then two chapters later if you are really saved you do not sin? It does not make any sense. The Bible is making a comparison between saved people and children of the devil. It is not making a comparison between children of God and normal unsaved people. You will not find that works tell you the difference between a child of God and a normal unsaved person.

When somebody gets saved there is not some magical life-changing experience. Now I understand some of you used to be Pentecostal, so maybe when you got your born again experience you had those feelings — but that was when you had the wrong gospel. You do not start speaking in tongues when you get saved. You do not start seeing a vision. When I got saved, there was nothing magical that I noticed. I knew I believed. I knew I was on my way to heaven and I still had the same sinful desires I had 30 minutes before I got saved. I have made a lot of changes in my life over 20 years, but that was a slow and steady process of reading the Bible, going to church, trying to do better. And I still sin every day and I am still struggling on a lot of things. That is just me being honest. But these people that get up and say well, I do not sin now that I am saved — you are just a liar. Everybody sins.

———Heckler interrupts “nobody believes that”

Don't interrupt the sermon. I'm glad to have you here, but don't interrupt the sermon.

———Heckler leaves

Go to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:8–9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." The Bible says here salvation is a gift. It is not of works. You do not boast about it. It is a gift. And the Bible says when people preach a false gospel, let them be damned, let them be accursed. You know what this proves? Melbourne needs Soulwinning Baptist Church. That is all that has been proven in the last ten minutes. This church is needed.

You say, well, why? 20 people got saved yesterday — 15 people at the mall, five people door to door. And you know what? That was a lot of hours and a lot of hard work. Do not ever think to yourself, man, when you see the results in the Philippines — I got one salvation here and I am very happy, I wanted to get at least one person saved. Praise God for that. Obviously in the Philippines it is a million times easier than Australia. But what we learned in the last 24 hours is that soul-winning works in Australia. We have gotten people saved here. And you have to realise that if you are from this area, God has placed you here for a specific purpose. He has placed you here to spread the gospel and get people saved in Australia.

And rewards are not simply based on how many people you got saved. They are based on the effort and work you do. You labour for God here in Australia — 20 salvations yesterday. You add it up, five salvations one week, eight another week, nine another week. You get to the end of the year and you have got a lot of salvations. And Melbourne needs a church like this. There is not a church like this in Melbourne, Australia. If there were a church like this in Melbourne, we would not have started. I do not have a goal as a pastor in the Philippines to start churches in other countries. I am in a country far poorer than Poland — the last church we started overseas — or Australia. But there is a need. It is needed. We need a church here of people that love God and want to serve God. And when people love God, they deserve a great church. You deserve Soulwinning Baptist Church if you love God.

And the stories I have heard before this church started — you were going to a church just trying to fit in and do what is right, you get kicked out for not believing in Zionism, you are trying to go soul-winning at a church and then the church is mad at you for preaching the gospel. You had to build up boldness and courage to go out and preach the gospel, you do it, and then the church attacks you. Or things seem to be going well at a church, the pastor is preaching solid messages, he talks about soul-winning and reaching people, they seem right on the gospel — and then when you talk to them they add in works. That is the reality of what is taking place here in Melbourne, Australia.

Ephesians 2:8–9 again: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." This is not complicated, folks. These are pretty famous verses. Salvation is a gift. It is not of works. If it was of works, we could boast and brag about our salvation. You know why I am going to heaven? Not because of my works, but because I believe. Not because of how good I am, but because I believe.

And verse 10 says: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." If you are really saved, you are automatically going to do those works. Is that what your Bible says? What my Bible says is which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Is it automatic? No. And I wish it was automatic. Do you not wish you never desired to do wrong? Do you not wish that every day you just wanted to read the Bible and serve God and do what is right? But it is not automatic. It is hard. And there is no guarantee simply because you believe that you are going to walk the walk and live a good life and do what is right.

Go to Jonah chapter 3.

What is the problem with a lot of Baptist churches? How they explain repentance. They say you have got to turn from your sins to be saved, you have got to quit drinking to be saved, you have got to quit smoking to be saved. And then if you keep sinning after you are saved, well, you never really got saved. If you are not going to church every week after you got saved, you might want to check your salvation. How is that different from non-Baptist churches that say something very similar? What the guys told me about the Pentecostal church — if you have not spoken in tongues in two years, you probably lost your salvation. How is that different from saying if you are not reading the Bible every day, you were never saved? You lost your salvation. You were never saved. What is the real difference? At the end of the day it results in an unsaved person. But the Bible says if you believe and do not do good works, you are saved and on your way to heaven.

Here is what Crossway Baptist says. Apparently this is one of the biggest Baptist churches in Melbourne. On their website it says to be reunited with God it is necessary for us to turn away from our sins. That is what they say about salvation. The two verses they reference are Acts 2:38 and Hebrews 6:1. Acts 2:38. Are you Crossway Pentecostal? Because the Pentecostals say Acts 2:38. Not John 3:16, not Acts 16, not Ephesians 2:8–9. How do you know about salvation? Acts 2:38. How are you a Baptist church when you are saying the same thing as the Pentecostal churches?

Jonah 3:9: "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" You say, well, repentance means to turn from your sins. Is God a sinner? Here it says if God will turn and repent. So if repentance means every time turning from your sins, why is God repenting? I thought God was perfect. What repentance means is to change or to turn. And the context is going to tell you what you are turning from.

You say, pastor, did you repent when you got saved? I did. I repented and changed from what I believed to believe on Christ. But I did not repent of my sins. You say, oh, you are saying you did not repent of your sins? I still sin. I am not perfect. What are you talking about? Nobody has repented of their sins. We all still sin. We all do wrong. What repentance is, is changing. And the context will tell us what he is changing from.

Verse 10: "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." The Bible says the Ninevites turned from their evil way. But notice the beginning of verse 10 — and God saw their works. Turning from their evil way — and the Bible calls that their works. Turning from your sins and changing your life is work. If you had to turn from your sins to be saved, that is works salvation. And this is what most Baptist churches in Melbourne, Australia are teaching. They say you must turn from your sins. Well, if you are really saved you are going to start changing your actions and walking the walk. It is all about works. But salvation is based on believing according to the word of God. It has nothing to do with changing your lifestyle. You say, pastor, are you saying that somebody can be a drunkard until the day they die and go to heaven? Absolutely. Because salvation is whosoever believeth in him — including the drunkard, including the thief on the cross that did nothing good his entire life. He believed on Christ and he was saved.

Go to John chapter 14.

Here is a quote from the Planet Shakers website. I was over at Brother Christian's house and Sister Gwyn mentioned the Planet Shakers. I thought I misunderstood her and figured I would find out later. Then I am looking at big churches in Melbourne — Hillsong and the Planet Shakers. I watched a video online. They are really trying to shake that planet, are they not? They were moving around. Great dancing, great music routine, and everything. And I am thinking, this is church? Where is this idea that we expect God to conform to us? No, my friend, we have got to conform to what God wants. We do not expect God to become what we want. We become what God wants. And for all of us that means we need to change. We have got things in our lives we have got to correct. Why? Because God is up here and we are way down here. We do not expect God to change. Our church will not conform in order to try to reach new people. I do not care what the attendance is. You can do more for God with 20 dedicated people than 500 people that do not care about God.

Here is what the Planet Shakers say about salvation. All that we need to do — believe. That is a good start. Let us just stop there. Do not say anything else. It is kind of like when you go soul-winning and you ask what do you have to do to be saved, they say well you have got to believe, and you are thinking stop, do not say anything else. But then all these other things come out. All we have to do is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, repent for our sins, express that we are sorry and turn away from living our lives in that way, and receive him as our Lord, authority, and Saviour.

Now, I do not really have a problem with saying receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour because he is the Lord. But 99% of the time when people say that, what they mean is that you live a good life, that you repent of all your sins. Of course you have to believe Jesus is the Lord to be saved — he is the Lord and Saviour. But when people say well, you do not just believe on him as Saviour, you have got to believe on him as Lord also — what they mean is you have got to do everything he says, otherwise you are not saved.

I had a church I attended 20 plus years ago and we left over the repentance of sins and Calvinism topics. And we heard the pastor kind of preaching against us as we left. He preached a sermon about Acts 16 and he said, it says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said but in Acts 16 it says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ — emphasising Lord. I mean, what can you do except start laughing? It says believe. Like what are you talking about? Yeah, it is believe. That is all it says we have to do.

John 14:6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." That one is pretty simple. You have got to believe Jesus is the only way to heaven. I would hope most Christians would say that, but not all of them. Joel Osteen on TV will tell you how Hindus can go to heaven and how Muslims can go to heaven. He says they have a love for God. I have seen it myself — they have a love for something. It is not for the God of the Bible. It is not true Christianity. You have got to believe Jesus is the only way to heaven.

I bet if you were to talk to the leaders of Hillsong and Planet Shakers, they would probably avoid answering that question — is Jesus the only way to heaven? Because they would be worried about offending people. But that is not complicated. Jesus is the way to heaven.

By the way, this is only point number one. It is one sermon, so I have got to go long. In the Philippines I preach four sermons on Sunday — two in Manila, then two in Pampanga. There is about a 10-minute break and I am constrained on time. But here I have no time limit.

So as soul winners, we go through the gospel and explain these things. And what do we do at the very end? We get them to call on the name of the Lord.

John 4:10: "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." Jesus says if you knew what the gift is — eternal life — and who is telling you about it — Jesus Christ — you would have asked for it. So the Bible is saying if you truly believe, then you will ask. And of course we talk to people that do not want to call on the Lord. We give the gospel to them and they do not want to call on the Lord. Well, they do not really believe it. You have got to be able to put your trust on Jesus Christ here, and if you are not willing to do that, you do not really believe it.

Verse 14: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." He is saying if you get this water I am talking about, you do not need to get it over and over again. And she says, sir, give me this water so I do not get thirsty and so I do not have to draw the water anymore. Obviously she does not understand what Jesus is saying, but she is pretty much asking for the gift.

Can people hear the gospel and not fully understand it and still pray? Absolutely. Do they get saved if they do not understand what they are doing and just say certain words? Absolutely not. We watched some videos from yesterday of gospel presentations from Kenneth Copeland's group — a 30-second gospel presentation. I have heard stories where basically you trick the person into praying. You are praying for them, you put your hand on their shoulder, and then you say, all right, Bill, we are going to call on the name of the Lord now, just say these words. What in the world? It means nothing if they do not believe it.

But why is it important that they actually call on the Lord? When we were going soul-winning yesterday, me and brother Daniel, we got a 77-year-old man saved. For those that go out soul-winning, you know it is very rare for older people to get saved. This guy was a hardworking man and he was trying to put appliances into the back of his truck. So brother Daniel walked over and started helping, and I started talking to him and asked if I could show him what the Bible said about going to heaven. He said, no worries, mate. And I was thinking — is that a yes or a no? And then Daniel translated — he wants to listen.

This guy had a lot of stories and wanted to talk about a lot of stuff, but he ended up listening. It was a long conversation and he got saved. He called on the Lord. Praise God, he got saved. And then we had that other guy who started arguing with us in Romanian right there.

Then later on we knocked another door. This guy answers and listens. I am giving him the gospel and at the beginning he said he was not sure if he believed it — he had not read the Bible much, did not know for himself. We go through it and at the end I was kind of wondering — does he believe it or not? I asked him. He kind of hesitated. He was not quite sure. I said, do you believe this? I am not trying to force you to say words if you do not believe this. Do you still have doubts about it? He said he still had doubts. Someone might just try to force him into saying words, but the thing is, he did not believe it. He was close, but he said he still needed time. Well, he is not saved. He has got to believe on the Lord with his whole heart.

So yes, when we get done with our gospel presentations we are not just trying to get crazy numbers. We give the gospel and then we try to get them to call on the name of the Lord. If they do not want to do it, it is because they are not really believing it, they are not putting their full trust on Jesus. Then they are not saved.

Point 2: Zealous for Soul-Winning

Go to Matthew 28.

One thing we wonder sometimes — why is it that so many Baptist churches are not very zealous to go soul-winning? It is not a secret. Baptist churches do not do a lot of soul-winning. We did more soul-winning yesterday than a lot of Baptist churches are going to do for the entire year in Melbourne, Australia. I wish that were not the case. I am not trying to be the only show in town. I wish there were other churches doing the work, but they are not.

One reason why is this. When you fully understand salvation, you realise there is a much lower percentage of people saved than you first think. I remember when I got saved and was thinking, man, I did not know this before, I have got to make sure other people know this. And I heard the Bible says narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. I was thinking maybe only like 15% of the world is going to heaven. And then of course you start learning more and realising — oh, wait a minute, it is less than 15%. It is less than 10%. Once you start understanding what the Bible says about salvation, you realise very few people believe this. Very few people are saved. Just from my experience soul-winning the last two days, I do not know that I ran into anyone who was saved. You do not run into a lot of saved people. It is a small percentage of people that are actually saved in this world. When you realise how small it is, you realise I have got to go out there and do something.

See, if half of people at these Christian churches were actually saved, you would not really feel the necessity to go out and preach the gospel — they have already heard it anyway. But if you realise no, wait a minute, they got a false gospel, that is not good enough. And at most Baptist churches it is repentance of sins — they are not hearing a clear presentation of the gospel. You realise, man, I have got to go out there and do the work. And one of the problems with these churches is they are not clear on the gospel.

At our churches in the Philippines, I have baptised most of our members. And when you ask them when did you get saved, a lot of them say I do not know if I got saved when I was at the Baptist church before, or when I started listening to online preaching. They do not know because they had a moment where they supposedly got saved, but they say I do not really know if I believed it because the gospel was just confusing. It was kind of faith alone, but then they would say but you have got to have the works too — otherwise, James 2, you are not really saved unless you have the works. So they do not know when they got saved. These churches are not clear on salvation, so they are not very zealous.

What about our church? Are we clear on salvation? Absolutely. So you feel a necessity to go out and preach the gospel because you realise — if not me, if not us, who is going to do it? I got more people saved yesterday out soul-winning than 99% of Christians in Melbourne will in their entire lives. Is that not sad? One person saved is more than most people do in their entire lives. That is crazy.

Matthew 28:18–20: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." What does Jesus say? Go ye therefore and teach all nations, including Australia. Go out and preach the gospel. Go out and get people saved. You know, when you see the final words of someone, they are pretty important. What do you see his final words in the Gospels and in Acts 1? Preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Pastor, why did you name your church Soulwinning Baptist Church? Because that is what we are about. Soul-winning. And I want it to always be about soul-winning.

Go to Mark 16.

Let us say you had the secret cure for cancer — just one pill that you could take one time that would instantly cure it 100%. And you were the only one that knew it. Nobody else knew. And then you have a brother with cancer and you do not even bother to tell him that if he takes this one pill it is going to cure it. What is wrong with you? But see, our lives on earth are short. What is far more important is eternity. If you know how to get to heaven and you realise the vast majority of people we meet do not know they are going to heaven, and you do not tell anybody about it — what is wrong with you?

I felt an obligation when I first got saved. I got to tell other people about it. I called my dad the next day and tried to tell him how to go to heaven. I had no idea how to answer anything. I was so far off explaining eternal security. I did not know what I was talking about, but I cared. And praise God, my dad passed away a couple of years ago. My dad is in heaven now. I did not know what to do when I first got saved, but eventually I learned and kept working. Eventually he believed it. How little love you have in your heart if you do not even care to tell people about it. What is wrong with you? And these Baptist churches — I can see based on your works, you do not really have a lot of love for people.

It is funny because I would be considered a hate preacher. People do not walk out of church services at other Baptist churches very often. I am considered a hate preacher. Really? I have been here since yesterday morning at 5 a.m. I have been out soul-winning three different times for hours and hours. Is that hate? It is not like I am doing it for myself. We care about people. We want to get people saved. When you go soul-winning, you are not doing it for yourself. You are not trying to work your own way to heaven. You are already saved. You are doing it because you care about the lost. And these other Baptist churches that could not care less about preaching the gospel — what is wrong with you?

And you can say whatever you want about how I am a hate preacher, I am a bad person, blah blah blah, whatever. Okay, well, let us see your salvations. Let us see the work that you are doing. You want to criticise everything. Well, where are these people you got saved? You do not even claim to get anybody saved. Even if we were not doing it right, at least we are trying something and they are not doing anything. It is a joke.

You try to motivate these dead churches. It just never really works. But when you have a church of people that love God and want to reach the lost and get people saved, you motivate each other to go out and win the lost.

Now look, I know people in this room do not really know me that well. Let me say this — I am not always zealous. I do not always want to go soul-winning. I go soul-winning every single week. You know why? It is not because every week I want to go soul-winning. It is because I am around people that want to go soul-winning every single week. I am around churches and people where my wife loves soul-winning and our church members love soul-winning. That is what we do. Even if I do not feel like doing it, I do it. Why? Because that is what we do. That is what we are about. We need other people in order to be successful. You will never see anybody in the Bible that is just a solo person doing awesome things. They are always with other people. Even John the Baptist had disciples underneath him doing great works with him. Elijah — when he is by himself, he says I cannot take it anymore, I want to die. Then he meets Elisha and he is on fire again for God. We need other people to motivate us.

Mark 16:15–16: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

For the Pentecostal crowd — one of the biggest verses for those that believe in baptismal regeneration. Notice it does not say he that is not baptised shall be damned. It says he that believeth not shall be damned. The key word is believe. I want you to realise — if the Bible said believe and go out and eat lunch and read the Bible an hour every day and you will be saved, that is a true statement because the only thing you have to do is believe. It does not mean baptism is also part of the gospel. Paul said Christ sent me not to baptise but to preach the gospel. So baptism is not part of the gospel. But why does he bring up baptism here? Because he is reminding his soul winners — get people saved and try to get them baptised, because you want them to become like you. He is not speaking to unsaved people trying to get them saved here. He is speaking to saved people. And one thing as soul winners we need to be reminded of is to try to get people not only saved but also in church. It is great when the attendance at this church is 25 people and we are doing great works, but would it not be better to have 50 people, 75 people — people just like you? Of course. Instead of people trying to stay in a dead church to try to revive it, why not just go to a church that loves God and is doing the work and join in with what is being done?

Go to Acts chapter 1.

You can ask brother Christian and sister Gwyn about our churches in the Philippines — do we have a lot of activities? It is pretty much just soul-winning activities. Every holiday is a soul-winning marathon. In Pampanga we are preaching at schools all the time. That is just what we do. Because what happens with churches is they start to grow, they have all these activities — and I am not saying activities are bad — but then activities become the most important thing and then there is no soul-winning actually being done. Our mission, the first thing Jesus said, is go out and preach the gospel.

Acts 1:8: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Right before he goes to heaven, what does he say? Go out and preach the gospel everywhere. Get churches started everywhere. This really shows the pattern of church planting — you start in your local area and then spread off to other areas.

Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

Now, how do you fulfil Acts 1:8? Obviously you are not going to be able to start churches everywhere. But one thing you can do is have missions trips to get a lot of people saved. Some of the people here are part of the Fiji missions trip just two weeks ago — over 4,000 saved, primarily from Aussies going out to Fiji and preaching the gospel. That is amazing. And obviously you are in an area that is a little bit harder to preach the gospel. I will be honest though — my experience soul-winning has been better than I expected. I expected people to be rude because in America people are often rude. I did not really have anybody that was rude to me. I am not saying it never happens, but honestly it was a lot easier than I expected. People were a lot more friendly. The worst thing that happened to me in the last two days? Nothing. Nobody was rude to me. Not a single person. There is really no excuse not to go soul-winning. What is going to happen? It is not like you are going to get hurt or attacked. All they are going to do is say I am not interested. That is it.

Are you going to get as many people saved as in the Philippines? Probably not. But another thing you can look at is that a country like this that is very successful financially — you can do missions trips to places like Fiji. And as your church grows, who knows? Supporting missionaries in other countries, new churches being started. Of course that is just the icing on the cake on top of you going out and preaching the gospel every single week. But the work you are doing here in Melbourne is vital. It is needful. It is necessary. Why? Because if you do not do it, I do not believe there is a single Baptist church in Melbourne that is going to fill in and get people saved. You are the only hope for Melbourne. That might sound arrogant to some people, but for those of you that are soul winners, you know this is true. You have been at these Baptist churches. You are the hope for Melbourne, Australia.

I hope 20 years from now there are a lot of great churches in Australia. Melbourne is over 5 million people. You could use more than one good church for sure. But right now, as far as I know, you are the only hope. And here is the thing — if some Baptist church hears this and says, well, that is not true, we are zealous soul winners — okay, come join our church for soul-winning. Brother Christian will give you the time. Join us. I would love it if there are more churches doing the work. In Manila we have people from other Baptist churches that join our soul-winning every Saturday — their church does not go soul-winning, so they come to us and we pay for everyone's lunch. Join up. If you say you love God, join up. We need to get people saved. There are so many lost people and so few people doing the work.

2 Corinthians 5:17–18: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."

You know, 2 Corinthians 5:17 is kind of a litmus test on whether people understand salvation very well. Because almost every church will interpret this as — if you are really saved you are going to change. Whether it is Pentecostal, Baptist, non-denominational, Planet Shakers, Hillsong — they all say the same thing. If you are really saved, you are going to change because all things are become new. Do you know what the definition of the word all is? Because it does not say some things are new. It does not say you are going to live a better life. It says all things. Are we perfect after we get saved? Absolutely not. But here is the thing about this. When it says all things are become new, the Bible is saying you get the new man. But not only that — what does it say right after verse 17?

Verse 18: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." And then in verse 20: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ." What is the Bible saying? You get saved, and the new man has new responsibilities. And what is the first thing it mentions? He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That is the first thing mentioned. If a new church starts, they had better be doing soul-winning. That is the first thing the Bible says.

And look, if this church was not going to be a soul-winning church, what would be the point of starting it? There are already 230 Baptist churches in Melbourne. There are already 230 social clubs in Melbourne. We do not need another one. What would be the point if you are not out there preaching the gospel and doing something right?

And for churches that say you are hateful and doing it wrong — okay, show me how to do it. Come soul-winning with us and show us then. Because we are out there spending the hours and the time preaching the gospel. Why are you not? You do not have much love in your heart. Whether you are saved or lost, you do not have a lot of love in your heart. If you are the pastor or leader of a church, you have to lead the charge. That is part of the responsibility. Your job is not only to send people out — your job is to do the work and rally people together, motivate everybody, teach them the word of God, and motivate us to do something great for God. And these pastors that are living nice and comfortable lives but never out preaching the gospel — what a shame. I think saved people ought to leave those churches and go to a great church. Because what are you doing at a social club?

Point 3: Hard Preaching

Go to Isaiah 58.

Here is the thing about this. Even these churches that do not agree with what I am saying technically agree with what I am saying. Because what they would say is that we are too hateful and not loving. But they would agree that there are people that want exactly this. So Melbourne needs this church because there are people that want it. There are plenty of people here that want this church. Melbourne needs Soulwinning Baptist Church because we are obviously different from other Baptist churches. They can hate us and say we are evil, whatever — but they agree we are different.

When I go soul-winning and get people saved, I will often say to them afterwards, hey, visit our church, check it out one time. You might love it, you might hate it, but you will agree it is different from any church you have ever been to. Is that not true? We are different. Do we appeal to most saved people? Absolutely not. We will never be as big as the Planet Shakers. We will not be as big as Crossway Baptist Church either. Most people do not really want to serve God. But there are some that love God. And I hope there are certain people that are kind of on the fence about this church who will cross over and realise this is the real deal. This is legit. There is no other Baptist church like this in the area. If they do not, it is what it is, because we are not changing. We are not going away. We are not moving. We are here to stay whether people like it or not. And Melbourne needs this church because we are different from the other churches.

People might think that my preaching is extreme, and I have not even preached on anything controversial — I was just talking about salvation and people were already out the door. I was not even down to repentance yet. But you know, have you read the Bible? Have you read the prophets in the Old Testament? They are pretty hardcore.

So point number one — this church is needed because we have a clear gospel. Point number two — it is needed because we are zealous for soul-winning. Point number three — it is needed because you need hard preaching. You need preaching to change your life.

A lot of people would say, well, if you are really saved you are automatically going to change. That is not true. I got saved, and I still had the same desires I had before I was saved. You know what happened? Hard preaching made me afraid to disobey God. I vividly remember being in my living room in college and listening to a sermon online. I had been saved for a couple of years and the pastor was ripping on ungodly music and worldly music. I paused the sermon and I took all my CDs, put them in the trash can, bundled it up and said, I have got to make sure I put it outside because there is no way I am going to crawl back and get it once it is in the dumpster. And I threw those away. Do you think I would have made that change without the hard preaching? No. You need hard preaching to change. If nobody rebukes you, why would you change from what you are doing?

Isaiah 58:1: "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." I am sure there are Baptist churches that lift up their voice like a trumpet. But do you show the people their transgressions? Do you actually point out the sins that people need to change? Because it is very easy to get up and scream sin is bad, do not sin. Salvation is good, sin is bad. You think somebody walks out of a sermon from that? Absolutely not. They walk out of a sermon when they get offended with what you are saying. Because preaching needs to be clear and direct to what you are talking about. I am not trying to make everybody happy. This church is just not going to be for everybody. The Bible says show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. And so when a culture has a major sin or problem, it needs to be pointed out and preached against. In the Philippines, what needs to be preached against a lot is the LGBT because there are crossdressers everywhere. I preach against the LGBT a lot in the Philippines because I see it every single day. Whatever the big sins are in Melbourne, in Australia — which usually are pretty much the same sins as everywhere else — they need to be preached against.

Go to Acts 20.

Look, if there is a church in Melbourne that I find out about that is clear on the gospel, zealous for soul-winning, and hard preaching, I will recommend that church to people. That is another church you could go to. If you do not like this church, there is another great church. I hope there are some churches like that. But from talking to people, it does not really sound like that. It sounds like most of the pastors here are not clear on salvation, not clear on repentance, not saying faith alone. Churches are not zealous for soul-winning. The most zealous soul winners are here right now. You have been in a lot of these churches trying to motivate them and they say they believe in soul-winning but they do not do it.

Or they have the technique at the end of the sermon — everybody close your eyes and bow your heads. Let me ask you a question, do you know for sure you are going to heaven? Please raise your hand. I am not going to embarrass you, I just want to pray for you. And they find out people are unsaved. And what do they do? They let them walk right by outside and nobody gives them the gospel. What in the world? Somebody literally said I do not know if I am going to heaven and I want to know — and then they do not even give them the gospel. In Acts 16, what must I do to be saved? I will pray for you. What in the world?

Acts 20:26–27: "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." It is not just declaring the gospel. It is all the counsel of God. Every single word, every single thing in the Bible.

When I got saved, I knew nothing about the Bible. I could not have quoted John 3:16. I was in college. I was worldly like everybody else. I went to church the first year after I got saved wearing soccer pants, soccer shoes, and a soccer shirt. At least I was in church. Praise God when you come to church. I am just saying it is not like I have always been like this. I did not know how to tie a tie when I got saved. I was not really a major churchgoer before I got saved. Do you think I had the same exact beliefs I have now when I first got saved? Absolutely not. There are a lot of things I had to change on, a lot of standards I had to change on. How did you change on that? Hard preaching. You feel guilty, you hear the sermon, it hits you at your heart. You think, man, I have got to change. And reading the Bible too — you read it and all of a sudden you say, whoa, I did not know the Bible said that. And you have got to change. There are a lot of things I have changed on since I have been saved. Why? Because I read the Bible and I heard a sermon.

If the pastor is not showing you anything that you need to change on, why would you change? It is crazy. They have this concept — I do not want to say anything controversial and just let God reach them over time. That is not how people change. How do we get people saved? By explaining and then they change. How do people change on anything they believe? By hearing something against what they believe, and then they change. You say but people might get offended and leave the church. Yeah, that is what happens. It has happened several times during this service already. That is what happens. And look, as a pastor I want my churches to grow. You want new people to stick around. But the reality is this church is just not going to be for everybody. You do not judge the success of a church based on how many people are there. It is based on whether or not you are soul-winning, whether you have a clear gospel, whether or not you are preaching hard.

Go to Hebrews chapter 4.

This church is necessary in Melbourne. This church is needed. I believe God put everything together in a certain way — he wanted our church in the Philippines to plant this church. Obviously we have known Brother Christian and Sister Gwyn for a long time, but also I have gotten to meet the Manderson family that has been at our church many times in Manila. Just getting to meet various people and God put it on my heart.

Let me give you a little backstory of how this church got started. Brother Christian expressed to me his desire to go into the ministry when he was in Pampanga. That is always exciting to hear as a pastor. But of course he was there for a certain amount of time before he moved to Australia. I kind of told him, we will see. I did not say it was going to happen. You are leaving, so it was kind of like probably not going to happen. But then he is in Australia and he is getting opportunities to preach, and I told him — write a sermon every week for practice, and I will review those sermons. And then all of a sudden the visa came through and he was gone. I was thinking, okay, I guess it was not going to happen.

I remember we had a Dropbox account where he would place his sermons every week. I had not looked at it for months after he left. And when I looked at it — he had still been writing one sermon every week, month after month after month. I said, whoa, I was not expecting that. I told him, I did not guarantee we were going to start a church, but I said I will try to help train you from afar. Not saying we will start the church, but maybe it could help you if somebody else started a church someday or at least you get practice.

Then things kind of came together. I remember saying very vividly, I am not going to have two churches in different countries because we already had a church in Poland — I ordained the pastor there in May. And then I was thinking about it, and honestly hearing all the disaster stories about Baptist churches here came together at the same time, and I was just like, you know what, let us start the church. And those things might have seemed like a bad thing at the time, but I was just thinking — if people do not really have a great Baptist church to grow at, it is not like we are going to be in a better place six months down the road. If you have a great church you get trained, you are learning, you are growing. If you do not have a great church, is it really going to be a better situation three months from now? No. So why not just dive in and do it?

We decided to start the church. I remember booking my flight. This is like the worst season of the year, the coldest time to come, but I was just trying to book something quickly to get down here toward the start of the church. And I was already in my head thinking I am okay with the church starting even before I get here. Brother Christian asked me and I said yeah, let us go for it, let us just start. But it was not like, well, we are kind of testing it out — no, no, no. The decision was already made. The church is started. No doubt about that.

I am happy to be down here in the early days of the church, but the church has started. It is legit. You say, how do we know it is legit? 20 people got saved yesterday. And yeah, we had a lot of soul winners here, but most of the soul winners are from Melbourne. It is not like most of the soul winners just came in for one event. No, most of the soul winners are from Melbourne. Sounds like the church is legit. We have a lot of visitors here and praise God for that. Even the ones that heckle you — hey, praise God, it makes it entertaining. Most of the people that are here are from Melbourne. Seems legit. Seems real. Seems like people believe in this. No, we are not as big as all the Baptist churches. That is fine. We are doing more soul-winning though. We are preaching harder. We are actually saying what the Bible tells us to say.

Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

I am not looking to have the biggest church in the world. Our church in the Philippines is not the biggest church in the world. There are plenty of Baptist churches bigger than us. But as far as I know, they are not doing more soul-winning than we are doing. That is what matters.

You know, people that want to criticise the King James Bible — I have heard James White, the famous King James critic, go to this verse and say quick and powerful, who understands that? My Bible is not moving around, my Bible is not lifting things. What does it mean by quick and powerful? I was like, I thought you had a high IQ. Who does not understand the word powerful? You hear something and you say, oh, that was a powerful sermon. Everybody knows what you mean. You are not saying it is lifting weight. And quick is an older way to say alive — like the quick and the dead. The Bible is saying the word of God is quick and powerful. It is alive and powerful.

What this verse is getting at in the thoughts and intents of the heart is that the word of God has the ability to go somewhere where nothing else can — something a human sword could never do. I have referred to sermons before as spiritual surgery. A physical surgeon has a sharp object they put inside your body to correct something. And a sermon — you have a more powerful and sharper sword that hits at a spot that a human sword could never hit.

Have you ever noticed when you are preaching the gospel to some people? People are polite in this country, but if you have given the gospel to enough people you are going to have people that get mad at you for what you say. Most people were very polite yesterday, but there was that heckler. Not every conversation was great. But the word of God hits you and causes a reaction, whether positive or negative. When the word of God comes in, it causes a reaction — good or bad. It is not something we can logically explain because this is not a human sword. The word of God is a way to get to your heart like nothing else can do. And you need hard preaching that hits at your heart and motivates you to change.

Now what some people do is reject it. As saved people, they hear a sermon, it hits them, they know they are guilty, but they do not want to admit it. What do they do? They lie to themselves. The Bible talks about lying against the truth. People literally lie to themselves to justify their actions because they do not want to feel guilty. They make an excuse because they just do not want that sword hitting them. I get it — I have been in church and heard sermons that really hit me hard and I knew I was guilty. There is a part of you that wants to make an excuse and kind of be mad about it. But why would I want to lie to myself? I want my life to be better. I want to correct the things I need to correct. And if it is what the Bible says, it is what the Bible says.

And the thing is, you like this church. Why? Because you want to know what the Bible says. You do not want to be lied to. The Bible says the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. You deserve to hear the truth when you are at church. You deserve having someone come up and preach the truth to you. The men that come up behind this pulpit will stand up and preach the truth to you. And the truth can be ugly and it can hurt, but it is still the truth.

And the reason why Melbourne needs Soulwinning Baptist Church is because we are clear on the gospel — and I am not saying there is no Baptist church in Melbourne that is clear on the gospel, but most are not. I would say most Baptist churches probably have the wrong gospel. Number two, even if they have the right gospel, are they doing a lot of soul-winning? Not from what I have heard. And if they are doing soul-winning, are they preaching hard against sin? Are they actually saying what the Bible tells them to say on every topic, even where it could offend somebody? Because that is what we need to hear. We need the hard preaching. We need the soul-winning. We need the clear gospel.

Let me tell you something — Melbourne, Australia needs Soulwinning Baptist Church.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see your word, God. Thank you for all the people that are involved in this church and this amazing weekend, and all the souls that have gotten saved, and the work and effort from everybody involved. God, I ask you to bless this church. I ask you to help it continue to grow. Help us to continue to be zealous in soul-winning and hard preaching and to reach people here in Melbourne, Australia. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.