Good morning. So we will get to lunch. So with your indulgence, Pastor. So I met Brother Paul. I've been praying for a handle on my emotions all morning. So I met Brother Paul. last night for the first time. And we've been connected on Facebook, social media for I don't know how long, some time. And we like each other's posts, which means we're as close as brothers. We like each other's posts. But I met him in person for the first time. We spent a few minutes in prayer and a little fellowship. And then Brother Paul takes to the pulpit with just a little bit of fire, just a tiny bit. And he tells you all that he was warned about me. That's right. And then he shared what he thought about that. And that blessed me. Praise the Lord. That blessed me. warned you about what? So for the first time in six years, I'm gonna tell you what he warned you about, or what he was warned about. For six years now, my church, my pastor, me and my family, have been reviled by a group of wolves who named the name of Christ, who call themselves Christians, who would even probably dare to have the word churchmen come out of their mouth, but they are chameleons. They're cowards. To a man and to a woman, they're cowards. They have publicly excoriated me and my church and my pastor, all under the auspices of the love of Christ and the love for the church, while doing everything in their limited power and limited reach to try to destroy one of Christ's churches. But what these people have intended for evil God has used for such great good. Amen. The evil that would call my daughter here in California at work, never having met my daughter, knowing nothing about my daughter, knowing nothing about her own spiritual condition or walk with Christ, knowing nothing about her relationship to her father, and would call her at work and say, your dad's involved in a cult. The evil that after I was arrested the second time outside an abortuary in Iowa and in desperate need of legal representation, the evil that would track down who my attorney was, share videos and blog posts and articles with him and convince that attorney to drop me as a client. For the glory of Christ, of course. Right? For the love of the church, of course. They will know we are Christians by our love for one another. Right? the evil that would take my own wife's testimony as to how she came to faith in Christ and twist it and make it something it wasn't on a podcast and in other conversations. and trample underfoot the blood of Christ at the expense of my bride's testimony. The evil that would be handing out tracts at a Fourth of July parade and see a lady who's a member of my church and accuse her of being a member of a cult and warning people up and down the parade path that don't take their tracts, they're a cult, seeing me across the street but lacking the spine to come across and talk to me. The evil that would abandon the so-called brother-in-arms. You know, a fellow soldier out there on the streets. And abandon him and not say a word to him for six years. Out of fear, I'm sure for some, of getting a little bit of the mud on them. That kind of evil. That kind of evil that Brother Paul got a glimpse of briefly. God has used. convincing me all the more of the evangelist's biblical responsibility to the local church. So that was the little elephant in the room, and I'm not gonna spend any more time talking about it. I hope and pray that some of those wolves, some of those revilers, some of those men and women who named the name of Christ while hating segments of his bride and some of his people. I hope they'll hear this message today. I'm sure they will, because they troll my pages. They contact every church that asks me to preach, and discourage the pastor for daring to ask me to come, sending them videos and blogs and podcasts. Pastor Max has experienced that. Brother Paul has experienced that. Other churches have experienced that. All that kind of evil, God has used for good. And part of that good was to remove me, in many ways, from this so-called community of open air preachers. a band of nomads who may or may not have some tacit connection to the local church or no connection at all. God has set me free from so much. And he's used these last six years under the love and care and shepherding of my pastors and my church family to show me sin in my own life. Show me how much I sinned. That's a street preacher. So what I'm about to present to you is far less a sermon than it is a testimony. And I hope it ministers to someone. I hope it ministers to churchmen. I hope it ministers to those who think they're churchmen and are not. And I hope it ministers to those who flat out say, I'm not a churchman and I don't need any. I hope it ministers to all. Now, considering the topic I've been assigned, the evangelist's responsibility to the church, a topic I've addressed many times in different formats, I thought the best service I can bring to you today, if you see yourself as an evangelist, is to consider almost two decades of mistakes that I've made. and encourage you not to make them. I want to help you with love for you. With love for those who have aviled me and my church and my family. I want to help you avoid telling yourself and others the lies I told myself and others for years. So allow me to cut to the chase. Forgive me. If you are not a churchman, you are not an evangelist in any biblical sense of the term. If you are not a churchman, you are not doing the work of an evangelist, you might be engaged in evangelism, but you are not an evangelist. You have a responsibility to the local church. If you are not called and sent out by the local church, if you are not serving the local church, then you are not an evangelist. Here I stand. unless there be any confusion. Giving yourself the title evangelist does not make you an evangelist. No more than calling yourself pastor, or reverend, or doctor, or officer, or firefighter, or president, or any other self-assigned title makes you what the title describes. Just as a man calling himself a woman doesn't make him one, you calling yourself an evangelist doesn't make you one. And that's okay. Really, it's okay not to be an evangelist. You can have a wonderfully biblical evangelistic life without ever carrying the title evangelist. So who or what is an evangelist? An evangelist is a man raised up, called, and sent by the local church to do the work of an evangelist. The word evangelist appears only three times in the New Testament, and I love how God's providence works. Pastor, Brother Paul and I did not spend any time going over each other's notes. That we're going to say some very similar things is all in God's providence. Amen. The word evangelist appears only three times in the New Testament. Paul includes the evangelist in the functions or roles in the local church in Ephesians 4. And in 2 Timothy 4-5, Paul exhorts Timothy to do the work of an evangelist. However, only one man in all the New Testament is described as an evangelist, a man by the name of Philip, who served as a deacon. And we see this in Acts 21-8. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea. And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. Of course, we see several people in the New Testament engaged in evangelism. Jesus, of course, Peter, John, Paul, Barnabas, Stephen, and others. But again, only one man carried the title, and that man was Philip. Now, I think there is something to be said about a title given so rarely in the Word of God. Could it be that it is used too freely, too commonly, too inappropriately today? I think so. Could it be that people, men and women, are wrong to give it to themselves? I believe so. So to set the stage for my testimony, I'm going to ask for your patience yet again as I briefly share with you my resume. And believe it or not, I'm not going to share it in some tacky attempt at self-promotion. I ask you to think of my resume as I often do now, as a confession of sin. I've been in full-time ministry in one capacity or another for almost 22 years. The Lord has allowed me to evangelize lost people in 23 states, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries. I've preached in numerous churches, memorial service, weddings, civic events, and conferences. In God's providence, as part of a 20-year career in law enforcement, I was allowed the privilege serve as a chaplain here for the largest sheriff's department in the world, the LA County Sheriff's Department. I served in that capacity in addition to serving as a deputy for some eight years. And I had the opportunity to minister to my law enforcement brethren around the world. I once had the honor and privilege of proclaiming the gospel not too far from here to thousands of uniformed officers from around the country who gathered to mourn the loss of a deputy sheriff killed in the line of duty. For over four years, I had the privilege of working alongside Evangelist Ray Comfort and the wonderful team of Christians at Living Waters. It was my responsibility to develop and lead and train and build this apparatus that resulted in the evangelistic training of almost 1,000 men and women from 49 states. We never could find anyone from Rhode Island. I don't know why. From 49 states and several foreign countries. I was tasked with developing and leading massive one-day projects that resulted each time in the distribution of more than 100,000 books on more than 100 college and university campuses around the country all in one day. I've hosted, co-hosted several evangelistic programs on traditional radio and online. My gospel-related content on YouTube, this will make you laugh. has to date more than three million views. I know that's nothing compared to a 45-second video of kittens singing Joy, Joy, Joy that's racked up over 20 million views, so I have no delusions of grandeur, but there it is. I've placed gospel tracts in the hands of tens of thousands of people and on thousands of cars. And as a result of open-air preaching and one-to-one conversations, I've communicated the gospel in part or in whole to tens of thousands of people. Now, if the above list of accomplishments doesn't impress you, don't worry, it actually now doesn't impress me either. Oh, it used to impress me. I assure you that it impressed me, but not anymore. While I'm impressed by what God has done and what he has allowed me to do, I'm not impressed with anything I've done. And I can now actually say that and mean it. I also have it on very good authority, the best in fact, that God isn't impressed with me either. Luke 17, 7 to 10, but which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, go and sit down to eat meat? And will not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thyself and serve me? till I have eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt even drink. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I shall not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do. So God's not impressed with me either. Regardless of how my evangelistic resume is seen by others, whether praised or found wanting, in the end, a lot of it, eternally speaking, as it pertains to rewards, might not be worth the paper it's written on. A lot of it might very well burn up. I will never know this side of heaven how many people God, the God of means, saved while using me to proclaim the gospel. Quite frankly, it would do me no good whatsoever spiritually thinking to know that information today. It would be harmful to me, knowing me, it would be harmful to me to know any of that. I am confident that the Lord has used me over the last two decades At the same time, I'm confident the Lord has done amazing things in spite of me. In spite of me. I am confident that some of the gospel work I have done over the years will, in the end, burn up. 1 Corinthians 3, 12-15, Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, very man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. If you ask me how much of my gospel work I've done over the last two decades, seen by God as gold, silver, and precious stones, or A, wood, and stubble, I can't say. I don't know the mind of the Lord, and I don't offer him any counsel. If anyone thinks he can answer such a question with any level of accuracy, he likely lacks spiritual sobriety and thinks more highly of himself than he ought. a sin that I committed over and over and over again for years on the streets doing evangelism, thinking more highly of myself than I ought. If you ask me, I'm sorry, but I'm soberly and mournfully confident in this, an unknown amount of my gospel work over the last two decades, particularly over the first dozen years of full-time street evangelism ministry again will likely burn up. The reason so much of what I've done has been my ministry. While I've been part of a local church my entire Christian life, too many local churches for that matter, but that's a testimony for another day. Almost all my evangelistic ministry has not been a ministry of the local church. It has been Tony's ministry. my desires. I went wherever I wanted to go. I did whatever I wanted to do. I answered to no one, not in any real appreciable way. So I formed advisory boards, groups of well-intended Christian men who had no real actual authority over my life or over the ministries they advised. I had to make it at least look like I had some accountability. Now, to their credit, these men were not yes men. They were not those kind of men. Most of them were pastors and elders, but they weren't my pastors or elders. They could give me advice, but I could simply take it or leave it. But I had an advisory board. And as I went about establishing, building, and maintaining my ministry, I knew all of the following statements were true. I knew these were true. There are no parachurch ministries in the Bible. Not one. There are no boards of directors in the Bible. There are no advisory boards in the Bible. There is the local church and only the local church. There are pastors and elders who shepherd local churches. There are those who are called and sent by local churches to serve as evangelists. Missionaries are sent too, by the way. Right. I even preach these truths in churches and at conferences, and I've written about them in numerous blogs and articles It is true that since 2004, I have been called and or affirmed as a street evangelist in each church of which I have been a member. I've taken to the streets with the ecclesiastic support and the confidence of my pastors and my elders. But again, the street ministry in which I engaged was mine. Up to just short of six years ago, I raised all the necessary financial support myself. I kept the books. I handled all the promotion, mostly self-promotion. I established my own schedule, telling my pastors what I was doing and where I was going as a courtesy, and more often than not, as an afterthought. I accepted and declined invitations to speak at churches and conferences. I did all of that on my own. So much of the ministry I was doing was predicated on keeping the ministry alive. Yes, I wanted to serve the Lord as an evangelist. Yes, I wanted to see people, every person with whom I spoke, or to whom I handed a tract, or to whom I preached, I wanted to see everyone come to genuine repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. However, often in the back of my mind, and sometimes in the fore, I was thinking things like this. Maybe if I preach at this church, they will support the ministry. Maybe if I speak at this conference, more people will follow the ministry. If I work with this person or that person, maybe that will open doors for me. If this person endorses my book, I wonder how many views this conversation or open air sermon will get on YouTube. This post or blog article or tweet ought to fire up some people. This is how much I still have to raise this month to pay the bills. If you asked me back then if these things mattered to me when I was doing the work of the ministry, I likely would have denied it. I had to. I couldn't bear the thought that my motives weren't pure, that I had ulterior motives at times when I hit the streets or posted a blog or a video. Am I suggesting that I no longer ever think in these ways? Have I arrived? Am I all over that? No. just as my theology is reformed and reforming, just as my philosophy and ministry has matured and is maturing, so too has my thinking been renewed and is being renewed day by day, and I have to be very, very careful all the time. This has been a process, an ongoing process. I've been the last five or six years, and it is only now that I think I am far enough along in the process that I can speak honestly about who I was and about how the Lord is conforming me to the image of his son. So what's changed? In December of 2016, my family and I moved from Southern California to Davenport, Iowa. The reason for our move was to join Grace Fellowship Church there in Davenport, Iowa. and how the Lord brought this all about is too long a story to share now. It has been suggested by some that I move my family to Iowa because I was promised by the leadership of the church that I would be called to serve as an elder. Not true. Yes, I expressed to the pastors before moving to Iowa, and I still express this desire to my elders that I aspire to serve as an elder according to 1 Timothy 3.1. However, there was no quid pro quo. And it's worth noting that now five years into my time at Grace Fellowship Church, I am still not an elder, not because of broken promises or a lack of desire on my part, but because no such promise was ever made. In fact, I would hazard a guess that the promise made to me by the pastors of Grace Fellowship Church would attract very few, if any, of those who today call themselves street evangelists. So what was the promise? I was promised, a promise that has been upheld. I was promised that my family and I would be shepherded as members of Grace Fellowship Church. And it was made very clear to me that I was not an evangelistic iron gun anymore. Yes, the pastors would send me out to serve the church as an evangelist, but it was also made clear that if the need ever arose, they would pull me off the streets. If the pastors ever determined that it was best for me or my family that I did not serve as an evangelist, they would not hesitate to make that call. See how many nomadic street preachers rushed to that church today. In a very real sense, my pastors didn't care about whether or not I had an evangelistic ministry. Yes, evangelism is important to them. It is part of the DNA of our small church. All three of my pastors, when duty and time permits, are there on the streets, along with other members of our church family. Evangelism is part of who we are. Yes, they wanted me to continue the evangelistic work, under the authority and shepherding of the elders. However, they cared more about me and my family and our individual and collective walks with Christ than whether or not Tony's ministry continued to exist. And this was all communicated to me before we moved. This is why. So before I moved my family to Grace Fellowship Church in Downport, Iowa, I knew my ministry would change. I knew my travel would be curtailed to trips where the local church in the area to which I traveled would be directly involved in my work whenever possible. That's the only reason why I'm here. Because my pastors have sent me here and have entrusted me to the care and shepherding of Pastor Max Gray. That's the only reason why I'm here. Because there is an agreement between the pastors of these two churches that Tony is going to serve in this way. Otherwise, I would not be here. Gone would be the days of evangelistic guerrilla incursions in other parts of the world with no real attachment or accountability to local churches in the area. Never again would I spend up to a third of the year traveling around the country and around the world with only a hair-thin theoretical umbilical attaching me to my local church. Now soon after our arrival in Iowa, I learned that cleaning the church, preparing meals for the church family, the giving and receiving of hospitality, something my family had grown accustomed to avoiding, and service to the church family in other ways was every bit as important to my church family as me taking to the streets to proclaim the gospel. I had for a long time said to myself and those close to me that this was what I wanted for me and my family. I had often pontificated from pulpits and conference platforms with words to the effect that if an evangelist wasn't willing to clean the toilets in the church, he shouldn't be on the streets. Now, I finally had the close shepherding I said I wanted in both my life and my ministry. I finally had many of the things that I said I wanted in a church and from pastors. It was no longer theoretical, but a reality. And I found myself grappling with whether or not I really wanted it. Pontification had now become sanctification, and it took some getting used to. My pastors and I also knew that there would be a transitional period of an undetermined length to bring about some of these changes. It wasn't going to just happen overnight. Change isn't an announcement. For instance, it took some time to relieve me of the responsibility of generating and accounting for the financial support given by those outside the immediate church family. That took a little time. That was accomplished a few years ago. People still give to the work that I do on the streets. I'm thankful for that, but they no longer give to me. They give to my church. they give to the local church that has called me and sent me out to do the work, and they determine how those funds are going to be used. I have absolutely nothing to do with that whatsoever. I'm free. The goal, our goal, my pastors and I, is that Cross Encounters Ministry would cease to exist. And presently it exists in name only. and a website we soon hope to phase out as well, integrating the massive amount of material into the church's website. That's taking some time. We don't have any techies in our church. In a sense, the goal has been and is to this day that I would no longer have a ministry. I praise God that I can testify to you today that I don't have a ministry. I'm thankful. It's not about me. I can actually say that now with a straight face most of the time. It's not about me. Can I say that every minute of every day with a straight face? No. However, I think I've matured enough to know when to say it and when to just keep my mouth shut and repent. For years, I fought, manipulated, shield, begged, and compromised to have a ministry. And I prayed. Today, I can honestly say that I fight and I pray not to have a ministry, at least not one of my own. I don't want one. I don't want one. I am an evangelist in and of the local church. The ministry is not mine. The ministry is the church's ministry. The church belongs to the Lord. Therefore, the ministry ultimately is His. And I am so very thankful for that. Some may hear this, and some will hear this, and some will hear this and with sincerity, zeal, and determination argue, I have a ministry. It's not a ministry of the local church, but it's the Lord's. My elders won't recognize my ministry. I can't find a church that will support what I do, but I know God has called me to be an evangelist, to be an abortion abolitionist. So with or without the local church, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing because I know I'm doing the Lord's work. If this is you, please know that I love you and I understand maybe more than you know. And what I'm about to say to you, I have had to say to myself, you are self-deceiving. Yes, you have a ministry. You have a ministry because in a sense you might have named it and claimed it. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but there's no getting around it. You have a ministry because you decided to have a ministry. Tony had a ministry because Tony decided to have a ministry. To say that God has called you to do what you are doing, apart from the call from the local church, is to assert that you have received a new revelation from God. To say God called me with no affirmation, confirmation, and sending from the elders of the local church is no different than saying God told me. I had an evangelist tell me this just the other day outside of our local library when 35, 40 of us from our church gathered outside the library to proclaim the gospel as they were holding a drag queen, drag king event for children. to which parents were not allowed to attend inside the library. I had an evangelist tell me that very thing, God told me. God didn't tell him anything. God doesn't give people new revelation today. If I would believe you, if I wouldn't believe you if you said God told me, then why would I believe you if you said without the biblical calling and sending of the local church, God called me? Oh, by the way, the affirmation of other street evangelists and nomads and parachurch groups don't count as a biblical affirmation of a call to ministry. Your likes on Facebook, your viewers on YouTube is not a biblical call to ministry. And just in case I haven't upset someone already, let me drive this point even further. Every man, or dare I say woman, who believes God has called him to serve as a street evangelist, open-air preacher, and based on his belief that he has heard from God the Holy Spirit, calls himself to the ministry, is by definition a charismatic. I don't care how deep your Reformed theology is. The self-called evangelist gives his senses, feelings, impressions, thoughts, and decisions the weight of Scripture. And he alone, or with the help of others who believe they too hear extra-biblical revelation from the Lord, whether or not they admit it, is determining if his senses, feelings, impressions, thoughts, and decisions are valid. He's determining that himself. Becoming a law unto himself, he is taking authority he has given to himself and assigning it to the Holy Spirit. That's what he's doing. Welcome to charismania, friends. If a man calls himself to serve as a street evangelist, open air preacher, apart from the affirmation and call of the elders of the local church, then he believes God talks to him, that God communicates to him directly, apart from his word, which is a notion that contradicts the very Bible the self-called street preacher insists that he believes. We read in 1 Timothy 2.5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Every street preacher I know would affirm that. There is one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ. No one is getting to God, but through faith in Jesus Christ. No one is communicating to God, but through Jesus Christ. They're not going through the priest. in some little dark closet. They're not talking to some sinner in a black robe who needs forgiveness for himself. God does not hear the prayers of the unconverted. He's not listening. He despises the prayers of the wicked. We need that mediator between God and man, do we not? How come street preachers like Tony and others forget the fact that we can only hear from God through Jesus Christ? If God doesn't hear us but through Jesus Christ, how then do we hear from God apart from Jesus Christ? Hebrews chapter one. First four verses. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers and by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. God does not speak to his people through prophets today, because he has spoken to us through his Son. His Son, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, the author and perfecter of our faith, the author of every jot and tittle of the entire Word of God from Genesis 1-1 to the end of Revelation 22. That is how Jesus speaks to his people. So yes, God speaks to His people through Jesus Christ. It's not through your feelings. It's not through your desires. It's not through your wants. It's not through your premonition. It's not because you had too much mustard on your falafel and you went to bed too early and you're having dreams and visions. He speaks through His Word. He speaks to us through His Word. So then by what standard then should I believe you, the street evangelist? By what standard should I believe you are called by God to serve as a street evangelist, if not here in the word of God, which says that evangelists are sent by the local church? Well, look at the fruit, you might exclaim. Look at the fruit. So what? I can point to lots of fruit during my years of full-time evangelistic ministry, but again, I fear much of it will burn up in the end. While my salvation is intact because God has caused me to be born again and guards my salvation in heaven, I believe if He took me home today, my rewards would be few. That the ministry you created appears to produce fruit doesn't mean your ministry belongs to the Lord. It doesn't mean God has called you to form your own ministry. The ends do not justify the means. If the fruit is genuine, God could be causing that fruit in spite of what you are doing, not because of what you are doing, in spite of your ministry, not because of your ministry. God made an ass talk. Go home. If you don't have a church home, find one. Stop being charismatic about your calling. Submit to whatever process your elders have for qualifying and sending a man to do ministry. And if they don't have a process, then wait patiently for them to develop one. Be content if they never develop one. Be content if they develop a process, but never call and send you. Because you don't have to be an evangelist to obey the Great Commission. You don't have to be a street preacher to fulfill the Great Commission. In the meantime, engage in evangelism as God commands all believers to engage. You don't need your own ministry to do that. You don't need a website, a blog, or a YouTube channel to do that. You don't need a podcast. You don't need a following. You don't need fans. You don't need a title, a self-given, self-assertive, need you. Amen. And he most certainly doesn't need me either. In the meantime, be a churchman. A good churchman. Serve the church. Love the church. Love the Lord by serving and loving the church. I'm here to testify to you that I am now a free man. The Lord set me free from sin and death more than 33 years ago. Jesus answered them very verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth forever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8, 34-36. Romans 8, 1-4, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. More recently, he has graciously set me free from having a ministry, and I am thankful that the evangelistic ministry in which I engage is no longer mine, but again, that of the local church. Today I'm free to serve the Lord and the church without the trappings of, without being hamstrung by, building and maintaining an extra-biblical ministry of my own creation. I'm free from that. Now I can stand in a pulpit or on the corner of Harrison and Locust in Davenport, Iowa, free to do my work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men, rather than for this man. I am free to distribute gospel tracts, engage people in gospel conversations, stand on corners with my Stop and Talk cross and otherwise, and if I am equipped, my church family to engage in evangelism in the context of the life where God has them without worrying about keeping A self-made, self-built, self-maintained, evangelistic house originally built on sand from slipping away. I'm free from all of that. I'm free. And it fills my heart with joy. You can be free too. Those who never experienced freedom from sin love their sin more than they love Christ. They are slaves to sin. Like me, if you are in Christ, you have been set free. Praise God and always be thankful. Similarly, those who never experienced freedom from their ministries likely love their ministries more than they love Christ. They are, in effect, slaves to their ministries. They must minister to keep the ministry alive. But I don't want to be set free from my ministry. I don't need to be set free from my ministry, you might say. I understand. Believe me, I do. I understand, and again, probably more than you know. When I lived here in Southern California, our running joke went like this. We don't trust air we can't see. It was how we dealt with our daily exposure to smog. I grew up in the Pomona Walnut Valley. Forty years ago, it was considered the worst air quality in the nation. I would come home from baseball or football practice and I would literally lie in front of the air conditioner in the wall and just sucked in the air coming out of the air conditioner so I can clear my lungs and actually breathe again. Some of you are nodding your heads and old enough to remember things like that. Yeah. We didn't know what it was like to breathe clean air. We had no real hope of ever living in a clean air environment. So we joked to make ourselves feel better about inhaling dirt. To convince ourselves of what we knew was a lie, dirty air was somehow better for us than clean air. Brethren, stop lying to yourself. This is no joke. Stop lying to yourself to make yourself feel better about what you're doing, about the ministry you created. You can live in an environment where the air is clean, but you're going to have to move away from the smog, telling yourself that the smog won't help you and it won't change reality, you're going to have to move. In your case, the move is to your local church. It's a move that might mean abandoning your ministry. It might mean giving up what was always yours, what was only yours and never Christ's to begin with. Scared? I understand that too. I've been there. Whether you trust me or not, Whether you believe me or not, I assure you, freedom is better. Fresh air is better. Life is better. I didn't say easier. Life is better inside the local church. And ministry, especially evangelistic ministry, is better when the ministry is not yours. So what will keep you from heeding my counsel? Pride. The arrogant belief that God somehow needs or even wants your ministry. The delusion that God is directly speaking to you. A denial of the truth. Maybe something even more serious. Maybe an unconverted heart. I don't presume to know. But I'm confident you do. Whoever's hearing this, wherever you are, I'm confident you know. Once you get over yourself, once you come to realize that God hasn't called you to create your ministry, then and only then might you be ready to consider your responsibility to the local church. Over the years, I've asked Christians, those who serve as street evangelists and those who don't, to whom do they answer? Meaning, to whom are they accountable in their lives? Sadly, the answer I sometimes receive comes with a quick and even angry retort, well, I don't answer to you. I answer to God, they say. They are correct on both counts. But yet at the same time, their response reveals something troubling. Yes, it is true, people with whom I speak do not answer to me. And yes, it is true that they answer to God, but their answer, I believe, indicates they see themselves as responsible to answer to no one but God. They see themselves as accountable to no one but God. Yes, the Christian, and every person for that matter, is ultimately accountable to God. Every human being will stand before God and give an account for their lives. Of this scripture leaves no doubt. Listen to what the Word of God says. Matthew 12, 36 and 37, but I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account. Therefore, in the day of judgment, For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Romans 3.19 Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Romans 14.10-12 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God, so that every one of us shall give account of himself to God. 1 Peter 4, 4 and 5, wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead? And lastly, Revelation 20, 11, 15. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it. From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man, according to their works. and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Yes, everyone is accountable to God, but Christians are accountable to other people as well, both inside and outside the church. Matthew 18, 15 to 17. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault. Between thee and him alone, if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. This is the role of the local church. It is not the role of podcasts. It is not the place of the nomad to exercise authority over the local church. Hebrews 13, 7, remember them which have the rule over you, yes, the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, consider the end of their conversation. Hebrews 13, 17, obey them that have the rule over you, speaking of elders again, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. 1 Thessalonians 5, 12-13, And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord, yes, over you in the Lord. and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake and be at peace among yourselves. Christians are not accountable to other people in human institutions instead of God or before God. Christians are accountable to other people in human institutions by the word and will of God and in obedience to God. So while the argument is valid that ultimately authority in the Christian's life is God, the argument becomes fallacious when the argument is used to defend the unbiblical position that the Christian need not submit to earthly authority, either inside or outside the church, authorities which are instituted by God in his word. Any Christian who insists they answer to God and to God alone is not living by the parameters they've set for themselves. For if they truly see themselves as submitting to God's authority in their life, and if they see themselves as answering to God and as one who is actively obeying Him, then they would willingly submit to earthly authority God has placed in their life, whether inside or outside the church, certainly inside the church. The Christian's accountability before God includes biblical accountability to secular governing authorities, the leadership of the local church. Yes, there is one lawgiver and judge. There is only one who can save and destroy, and that is God. That being said, the judgment of Almighty God will include how Christians respond and submit to the earthly authority God has placed in their lives. Those with whom I have spoken who have insisted that they only answer to God and who could rightly be categorized as a Christian nomad, tend to be the same people who typically never see themselves as doing anything wrong or as ever being wrong about what they believe. And the ramifications for such a mindset are frightening. All you have to do is look at the tapestry of the street evangelism community to see this born out. If you find yourself in the category of the nomadic the streets. No, the body of Christ, which is segmented into local assemblies, is not perfect. My church is not perfect because they've brought me into membership. You need to look no further than that my church has accepted me as a member to know that my church is imperfect. My church is imperfect in many other ways, but you could start with me. There are no perfect churches. But the local church is the only model for biblical leadership and accountability the Christian has. There is no other. The local church isn't perfect, but Christ's model and plan for the local church is perfect. It is the only one we have. Any other attempt to create some kind of sphere of authority outside of the local church for the Christian is to establish something that has no authority whatsoever, except the person who's created it for themselves. They're a law unto themselves. They are their own authority. Submit to the authority of the local church and their leadership. If you see yourself as one who only answers to God in this life, you are wrong. You are wrong in the sense that God has made provisions for the accountability of his people through the biblical leadership of the local church, not through kangaroo courts on podcasts. Not through kangaroo courts on blog articles and YouTube channels. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, Ephesians 5.21 says. Refusing to submit to godly biblical leadership is systematic of pride, arrogance, and quite possibly evidence that you yourself are unregenerate. Yes. You may be suffering from the very same deadly spiritual condition of which you might be so very quick to accuse other Christians of suffering, and that being false conversion. Yes. Six years ago, the Lord began a work in me that I know he will be faithful to complete. He set me free from being an evangelist for hire. He set me free from writing and preaching and posting with a view of what might this do for me, my ministry, and my family. He set me free from the anger some Christians, including me, wanted to see from an in-street preacher. After all, confrontation sells. You get more YouTube views and subscribers that way. The simple proclamation of the gospel in the open air will get far less views than wrestling with a police officer. He set me free from being a nomad within the local church. He set me free from my ministry. And the Lord did all of this and more through the ministry of the local church in my life. My church. The Lord has not yet completed the work he has begun in me. Every day in my life, I have to be mindful of the sin from which he set me free. It is always crouching at the door, just waiting for an opportunity to drag me back into slavery again, as part of the street evangelism community. My church, my pastors, and my church family are mindful too. They are aware of the sins that can so easily entangle me. How are they aware of these things? Because my connection to the local church is no longer tacit, superficial, or symbolic. My church family really, truly knows me. They know who I am when social media isn't looking. Any time I'm tempted to say or think my ministry, I know I'm straying from where I am supposed to be. And neither Christ nor my church is fooled when I slap phrases like the Lord's ministry or the Lord's work on work I am doing for me in my own glory. So I praise God for the freedom he has given me, freedom which for me has been found only in Christ through the ministry of the local church. To my fellow evangelists and those who slap the title before their names, I hope you too, if you haven't already, find freedom as I have found it the freedom from having a ministry of my own. And to you nomads who call yourself evangelists, if you think you are as free as a bird because you do what you want, when you want, where you want, and how you want, know this, you are not free. Oh, you're a bird, all right. You're a canary in a cage being sent down into the mine of your own arrogance. It's a one-way ticket to suffocation on the noxious fumes of your own sinful pride. Repent. If you are an evangelist in the true sense of the word, then you are responsible to the local church. So go home, street evangelist, go home. If you don't have a home, find a home. You being a member of the local church is far more important in your life than you being on the streets. So if you need to forsake once and for all this ministry you call yours, so that you could be a member of a biblical, God-glorifying, Christ-proclaiming church, then do that for the glory of God and for the sake of your own life. And if you hear all of this, and there will be those who are going to tear this apart, they're gonna shred this sermon. If you learn nothing from this, If you learn nothing from my own experience, if you learn nothing from the Word of God as we have talked about at this hour, then you ought to examine yourself and test yourself to see if you are even in the faith. You may have created a Jesus in your own imagination, one who you actually believe needs you and can't do the work without you. So if that's you, turn to Christ and live what God's given you to do. Father, thank you. Thank you for your grace and your mercy in my own life. Thank you for the testimony that ultimately is yours, to the extent that it brings you glory. I know I said so much about myself this hour, and I pray, Father, that you would use it. Father, that you would use the sin that I've committed for so many years against you, in having my own ministry and the repentance you've granted me, that you would use it somehow in some way in the lives of street evangelists who know not, love not, are not a part of the local church. I pray for those who would revile me for this message. Father, be gracious and merciful to them and help me to love them more