All right, it is great to be here.
I'm excited to be at this conference.
And let me just put all the parent's mind at ease
right off the bat.
I didn't bring any props tonight, so you're good to go.
Everyone can stay here, you'll be fine.
I'm not hiding anything, you're good to go.
Let me just start off by saying that.
Secondly, let me just also say that I love preaching
at Steadfast Baptist Church, because when I come here,
I get to visit all types of parts of Texas.
I get to, because you guys are always meeting
in a new place, and so I get to travel
and see different areas of Texas,
and really do a lot of traveling,
and you guys keep things new here,
so I'm excited where you guys are gonna be next year.
This is very like the countryside,
so I really enjoyed the drive over here.
You just kind of keep it exciting and new,
and so I'm learning a lot about Texas
coming over here on a yearly basis.
And so thank you, Pastor Shelley.
I do wanna thank Pastor Shelley and his wife
in Steadfast Baptist Church for a couple things.
Of course, for the invitation to come here and preach,
but also for your stance, and for the fact
that you live out the name Steadfast, right?
You're steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding
in the work of the Lord, and as a pastor friend
to another pastor, I just wanna say
that your labor's not in vain.
You obviously see the fruit of your work,
but you encourage us as pastors,
you encourage a lot of Christians,
and you encourage my church members
to continue to go forward in the midst of suffering,
and that there's always light at the end of the tunnel.
The fact that you're here is a testament to that,
and so I really love the building here.
It's a great area, good signage outside, too,
you know, all types of signage outside
that you didn't have to pay for,
they put Steadfast out there.
I mean, you have people even advertising for you.
I mean, I can't do that over there, that's great.
So it's exciting, and so it's a blessing to be here.
We're in Genesis chapter 26, and I also wanna thank
Pastor Jimenez for the sermon tonight.
That was an incredible sermon of building and battling,
and even though I've been a Christian for 16 years,
it's like things that I need to be reminded of as well,
and never think that, oh, you know,
we're not in a season of battling right now,
and so we can just freely build
without any distraction or hindrances.
No, we gotta do both, and so I'm very thankful
for that sermon.
Genesis chapter 26, in verse 17,
the Bible reads here,
And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent
in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
And Isaac digged again the wells of water,
which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father,
for the Philistines had stopped him
after the death of Abraham.
And he called their names after the names
by which his father had called them.
And the time of my sermon this evening
is digging again the wells of water,
digging again the wells of water.
Here in Genesis chapter 26,
this is a fairly familiar story here with Isaac,
and it starts off with Isaac experiencing
what his father experienced in his day,
experiencing a famine in the land.
And although Isaac is his son,
some of the mistakes that he makes are common,
or should I say, some of the mistakes that he makes
are the same mistakes that his father made,
but there are others that he didn't make
that his father made,
one of them being the fact that
he didn't go down into Egypt, right?
It says in verse number one,
And there was a famine in the land,
beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham.
And Isaac went into Abimelech,
king of the Philistines and to Gerar.
And the Lord appeared unto him and said,
Go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land,
which I shall tell thee of.
And of course, Isaac obeys him,
and the Lord is saying,
basically, don't be like your father
who did go down into Egypt.
He's sojourned in Egypt.
And of course, we know all of the drama that came with that.
He took law, and he brought back Agar,
and all of the drama that took place with that.
But Isaac actually chose to obey the word of the Lord.
He stayed, and God ended up blessing him
tremendously for it,
even though they were in a time of famine.
And one of the things that I think about
when I read this story,
is the importance of just remaining where you are,
in God's will, even though you're in a famine, right?
When you're going through a difficult time,
you're going through a financial woe,
you're going through a health crisis,
you're going through tribulation.
It's important that you just stick it out
wherever you're at, right?
And we're talking about spiritually speaking.
Stay in church, stay in your Bible,
keep sowing, even during a time of famine,
be like Isaac, obey the word of the Lord.
And the reality is this,
is that God blessed Isaac for staying there.
Even though people all around him
were suffering from the famine,
he was able to be blessed of God
because he obeyed the word of the Lord.
So he dwells in Gerar, verse number six,
and it says in verse number seven,
the men of the place asked him of his wife,
and he said, she is my sister.
So this is the aspect where he did
follow in his father's footsteps,
and he basically said that his wife was his sister
because he's being somewhat of a coward here.
And he said, for he feared to say she is my wife,
lest, said he, the men of the place
should kill me for Rebekah,
because she was fair to look upon.
And of course, we know the story here.
Abimelech ends up catching him, sporting with his wife,
and he comes to the conclusion
that Isaac and Rebekah are married, they're together,
and he somewhat rebukes him for that,
and he charges everyone in the land,
don't mess with Isaac, don't mess with his stuff.
You know, he says in verse 11,
Abimelech charged all his people, saying,
he that touches this man or his wife
shall surely be put to death.
So what happens?
Well, Isaac ends up staying in the land,
and he sows in that land.
He's sowing in the land, and the Bible tells us
that he ends up becoming very great in the land.
He ends up acquiring a lot of possessions of flocks,
verse 14, possessions of herds,
and a great store of servants.
So even in the midst of a famine,
God is blessing Isaac
because of his obedience to God's word.
Now, when God begins to bless Isaac,
just like when God begins to bless you,
people become envious of that.
Start getting upset.
They don't like the fact that you're being blessed,
and they don't have those resources.
They don't have that following.
They don't have those church members.
They don't have those resources to pull from.
And what happens here?
It says there, and the Philistines envied him,
for all the wells which his father's servants
had digged in the days of Abraham his father,
the Philistines had stopped them
and filled them with earth.
So aside from all the resources that he had,
because God was blessing him,
he also had the blessing of the fact
that his father dug some wells back in the day
that he could essentially enjoy for him and his family.
And because the Philistines were envious of him,
they basically filled it with earth.
They started putting dirt in the wells
so that no one can receive from the water of those wells.
They did it out of spite, out of envy.
And we find ourselves in this story here
where he wants to acquire the water from these wells,
but they're filled with earth because of the enemies here,
the Philistines who are envious of him.
Now, I'm gonna get into the story in just a bit,
but let's talk a little bit about the well,
because when you look at the story
and other stories regarding wells in the Bible,
there's obviously a symbolic nature behind it, right?
And if we were to think right off the bat
what a well represents,
it represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because of the fact that the Bible tells us,
you don't have to turn there in John chapter seven
and verse 37, it says,
In the last day, the great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.
That's exactly what you do at a well.
You go to the well and you receive water,
and of course we know that we go to the Lord Jesus Christ
to receive that water where no man will ever thirst, right?
And so we know that Jesus Christ is that spiritual well
wherewith all of humanity can come to him
and drink of the water freely and have everlasting life.
Now what role do we play as Christians
in respect to that well?
Well, obviously, number one is that
we need to be drinking from that well, right?
Right off the bat, obviously,
we need to drink of the well for salvation,
but even thereafter, the Bible says,
Blessed is he, blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
And so in times of distress, in times of anguish,
in times of spiritual dryness,
we're to go to the word of God,
not only to be fed spiritually,
but that our thirst may be quenched,
our thirst for righteousness may be quenched, right?
The Bible says, you don't have to turn there
in Psalm 63, verse one,
O God, thou art my God.
Early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee,
my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land
where no water is.
And so we see that our responsibility
in respect to the well is that we as Christians
obviously should be drinking from that well, right?
But not only that, if you think about it,
we also need to remove the stone from the well.
Because in the Bible, you often have a stone
being placed on the mouth of a well for various reasons,
could be so that others don't steal water from that well,
so that it's protected from the elements
and things don't get into the well and corrupt the water.
But if you think about it,
you know, if you think of the story of Jacob,
when he comes and he goes to Rachel
and he's trying to give her water to drink,
he dead lifts that stone, right, off the well's mouth
and he takes it off and he's able to remove it
so that Rachel and the flocks can drink of the water
there freely, right?
Well, you know, in like manner,
that's our responsibility as Christians
if you think about it.
You say, what do you mean?
Well, us as Christians, it's our responsibility
to remove all obstructions from the well
so that people can drink of the water of life freely.
You know, when we go sowing,
we go sowing and we know what we're doing.
It's not like, hey, I think I'm saved
and I wanna show you how you can know you can be saved
and maybe we can work together
and figure out how to be saved.
No, we remove the stone, remove all obstructions,
we're there to give clear and make interpretations,
clear explanations and dissolve doubts.
We remove the stone from the well
so that people can draw water out of that well
and have salvation and know about Jesus Christ.
But if you think about it also, you know, Jacob,
as I mentioned, he dead lifted that.
He did that strong man dead lift of that stone off that well
and it required for him to be fit.
You have to be pretty strong
to lift that stone off that well's mouth.
Well, in like manner, you know, Jesus said,
no man putting his hands to the plow and looking back
is fit for the kingdom of God.
It's important that we as Christians
are spiritually strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might,
that we understand what the word of God says,
that we can point to the right scriptures
and when we knock on doors
and people asks us plainly about salvation,
we can go to all the pertinent verses dealing with salvation
and not leave them wondering or in doubt about eternal life.
And so we are there to remove that stone
from the well's mouth in order to remove obstructions,
dissolve doubts, make interpretations
and we need to be fit in order to do so, right?
We need to be vessels unto honor, sanctified
and meet for the master's use,
prepared unto every good work.
The Bible says that all scriptures
given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine,
for proof, for correction, instruction and righteousness
but then it says this,
that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished into all good works.
So it's important for us to be spiritually strong
to lift off all the excuses,
to remove all the obstructions, all the doubts
so that people can come to the well
and drink of it freely and know who Jesus Christ is,
what is salvation, what does the word of God say?
But then another responsibility that we have as Christians
in respect to the well is that sometimes
that well gets filled up with the dirt of this world, right?
It gets filled up with the earth.
Someone, some uncircumcised Philistine comes
and he fills it with earth and he's trying to keep people
from drinking of the water of life freely.
He's like the Sadducees that take away
the key of knowledge, right?
He's not going in himself and in like manner,
these Philistines are filling up the wells
with dirt and earth and it's our responsibility
to dig up those wells once again
and revive those sources of water for people to drink of.
Now here's a couple things I want to mention here
by way of introduction is that in regards to this story
here in Genesis 26, look at verse 17.
The first thing I want to mention is that
these aren't new wells, right?
They didn't just pop up in the days of Isaac.
Abraham dug them, right?
He says in verse 18, and Isaac digged again
the wells of water which they had digged
in the days of Abraham his father.
You know, his father's the one who put in a lot of work
to create those wells and so by default in a sense,
Isaac is responsible to kind of maintain those wells
to make sure that there's no dirt inside,
there's no earth inside so that people
can drink of it freely.
But not only that, we see that in verse 18, excuse me,
it says, and Isaac digged again the wells of water
which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father
for the Philistines had stopped them
after the death of Abraham.
As I mentioned, there's going to be people today in 2023
that are going to try to stop the wells of God's word
and they don't want people, the population and the world
to hear about what the Bible actually has to say
about certain subjects, right?
They'll twist it, they will fill those wells
with dirt and earth because they don't really want to know,
they don't really want people to know
what the truth is about the Sodomites.
They don't want people to know what the Bible says
about the Jews.
They don't want people to know what the word of God says
about these controversial topics today so what do they do?
They fill that well up with a lot of dirt and filth
and earth so that the common man can't access that well.
So our job is to dig them up again
so that people can drink of it freely.
Look at verse 19.
It says, and Isaac's servants digged in the valley
and found there a well of springing water
and the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen
saying the water is ours and he called the name
of the well Isaac because they strove with him.
Now it's very similar to what Pastor Jimenez said tonight
that when you are seeking to dig out the dirt
so that people can be exposed to the word of God
and what the Bible says regarding various topics,
there's going to be a Philistine there,
there's going to be a herdman of Gerar there
trying to stop you, striving with you,
putting dirt in as you're getting dirt out.
Putting dirt on your name as you're taking dirt out
and this is something that we have to expect as Christians
is that as we're building, as we're digging,
we're also going to be fighting as well.
And obviously this isn't just one well,
these are multiple wells that he's dealing with here.
So you can imagine how frustrating that is, right?
When you're digging up one well
and you make all types of progress,
you take out all the dirt and then you're like,
all right, on to the next one
and there here come the herdmen of Gerar
and they're filling up that previous well with dirt.
You know, it's kind of like starting a channel
and you put all this work, you make all these shorts,
you take all the time to edit those shorts
and the hashtags and try to do your due diligence
to get those shorts out and it reaches
a certain amount of views and people's lives
are being affected by it and then all of a sudden,
here come the herdmen of Gerar and just shut it down.
They just fill it again with earth.
And let me say this, the greatest modern day Isaac
is Pastor Anderson, I'll just be honest with you.
Because it seems as though every week,
Pastor Mendez and I, we basically gave up on YouTube.
We're just like, this is not working, I'm done.
Pastor Anderson is just every week,
it's like faithful and true, true and faithful.
And you know, he's like running out of verses
in the Bible to use for all of these channels
that he's starting, why?
Well because of the fact that he's digging up these wells
to try to get the word of God, the exposure that it deserves
and then it gets filled up again with the earth
by the herdmen of Gerar who are striving
with Isaac's herdmen, right?
But this is how life is, my friends.
And it's important that we don't focus on the defeats
but rather on the progress that we made
when we took the dirt out of the well.
You see, in my opinion, when I look at my beloved channel
that once existed, you know, I could keep thinking
about that and I do from time to time.
But you know, I'm thankful for the impact that it made
because we literally have people in our church right now
who were reached through that channel.
And in fact, there's a guy in our church
who he found our church through the YouTube Shorts
and he said he was going to a church and he's like,
man, I need to start going to this church.
And you know, his pastor started preaching some weird stuff
and he realized that it was weird because of the videos
that he was watching on our channel
and then finally he just made a decision,
I'm gonna see where this church is at
and he ends up finding out it's like super close
to his house.
By the way, if you're watching online, you know,
if you're super close, look up the address to this church.
Sometimes there's people who just watch online,
they don't realize how close that church is to their house.
You know, he really is like, whoa, this is like down
the street from me or this is like super close to me.
And so he ended up, he comes to the church, excuse me,
and he brings his family, his family gets saved,
his cousins get saved, his sisters get saved,
he's getting his family members the gospel
and they're getting saved because they're coming
to our church.
And then literally two weeks after he comes,
channel shut down.
And he tells me, he's like, I'm so thankful
for your channel and I'm so thankful I decided to come
when I did because what if your channel would have been
deleted, I just never would have found this church.
So he was thankful for the channel but now he's so much
more grateful just to be in our church.
And so I say that to say that, you know,
even though we're digging up some wells and taking out
the dirt and it may seem in vain sometimes,
the labor's not in vain, you know.
We need to focus on the progress that we're making,
the people are still being reached,
that people are still coming to church, right,
because of the efforts of God's people,
the servants who are digging out the well.
And so just recognize though that there's always
gonna be an E-sec, which is what, opposition.
People are gonna strive with you.
And so don't become frustrated when you're digging up
these wells of doctrine, you're trying to fix your family
and you're trying to fix your marriage,
you're trying to fix your kids and it just seems like
it's a losing battle, it's never really a losing battle
if you're doing it for the Lord, okay.
You're gonna have an E-sec.
Not only that but look at verse 21,
and they digged another well and strove for that also
and he called the name of it, Sitna, verse 22,
and he removed from thence and digged another well,
and for that they strove not.
So it got to a point where they got kind of tired
of fighting with Isaac and his servants.
They're digging a well, then they come and put dirt in it.
They go to another well and they dig that up
and they put dirt in it once again.
But it got to a point where, you know,
there's like this well in the middle of nowhere
on a street called Texas, right?
Texas and what's the other street named, Baptist?
Church.
You know, you get E-sec, you get Sitna,
but after a while you get Rehoboth.
Because it says, and he removed from thence
and digged another well and for that they strove not,
and he called the name of it, Rehoboth,
and he said, for now the Lord hath made room for us
and we shall be fruitful in the land.
This verse reminds me of Step Past Baptist Church.
Because, you know, Pastor Shelley's just digging up wells,
he's digging up wells, they're like shutting them down,
they're kicking them out, they're just closing down
the churches there, the church building,
and he's going from building to building to building,
from well to well to well, all because he's just trying
to get the living word out.
And they just keep striving with him
and striving with him and striving with him.
E-sec, E-sec, E-sec, well after a while,
you know, they're just like, screw it,
I'm not fighting against this guy anymore,
maybe we'll send this guy right here.
He seems like he can make a sign.
Yeah, Rehoboth over here.
But you know what, steadfast, the Lord has now made room
for you, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
You know, I'm looking at the crowd right now,
I took a picture of the crowd earlier,
and Pastor Thompson's just like, yeah, look how much
the new IP's just dead.
This is such a dead movement.
Look at all this, just dead.
No, this is Rehoboth.
The Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful
in the land, but it required Pastor Shelley
and the church to keep digging wells.
You know, keep digging and keep digging,
even when it seems like it's a losing battle.
And I guarantee you, Pastor Shelley went through some times
where he's just like, what's even the point anymore?
You know what I mean?
What's even the point, it's just like we get one building,
and you get a landlord, and he seems to be greedy
or filthy lucre, it's like you're in.
And then he even turns on you and evicts you,
and he's just like, what's even the point?
But you know what, because he was steadfast,
because he stuck it out, because he has the virtue
of endurance, now you have Rehoboth.
The Lord has made room for you.
And it looks like you're already out of room,
which is always a good problem to have, amen?
And you shall be fruitful in the land,
and you have been fruitful in the land.
He says in verse 23, and he went up from thence to Beersheba,
and the Lord appeared unto him in the same night and said,
I am the God of Abraham, thy father, fear not,
for I am with thee and will bless thee
and multiply thy seed from my servant Abraham's sake.
You notice here in verse 24 is the fact
that God is confirming that he was with Isaac
the entire time, even when the servants of Gerar
are filling up the wells, and it seems like
it's a losing battle, God was always there.
And sometimes we have a tendency,
and I'm preaching to myself here,
to think that maybe God is a little absent
when the blessings are absent, but the reality is this,
is that God's still working in the background.
And he's with Isaac, he's still blessing him,
his promises are still gonna be applied.
Don't allow the circumstances of life
to determine God's character and his promises, amen.
We need to realize that God will never leave us
nor forsake us, we just need to keep digging these wells.
Go to Jeremiah chapter two, if you would.
Jeremiah chapter two, the title of the sermon
is Digging Again the Wells of Water.
And of course, as I mentioned, the water there
can be likened unto Jesus Christ,
it can be likened unto the word of God,
and it can be likened to spiritual disciplines
and convictions and standards as well.
And I wanna give you some personal applications to this,
and then I'm gonna get into some secondary applications
later on, but let me just say this,
is that first and foremost, as Christians,
you need to dig up the wells of scripture once again.
As Christians, we can become apathetic
towards our Bibles sometimes, where we just don't
read our Bible as much as we should.
Maybe you're not consistent in your daily walk with God,
and maybe the things of this world
has filled up that well with dirt and earth,
and it's caused it to close up
where you're no longer feeding and drinking from that well.
Hey, dig up that well again.
Hey, get fired up about reading the Bible once again.
Hey, turn off the podcast, turn on Baptist Bias, obviously,
but all the other podcasts, you know,
I would say Rod of Iron, but I don't know
where that thing is right now, don't ask me.
Turn off all the other podcasts,
turn off the YouTube channels,
and start getting into the word of God.
Start digging up the wells of your Bible reading once again,
so that you can drink of the water of life freely
to be replenished, to be refreshed in the word of God.
You know, sometimes Christians,
no matter how zealous they were,
sometimes they can become apathetic
towards the things of God.
They can even become apathetic towards the Bible,
where they're not as excited about reading the Bible
as they used to be, and it's only because
you have the lust of other things entering in,
the cares of this world, covetousness,
different sins that are choking the word,
and it's becoming unfruitful in your life.
It's filling up that well with dirt.
Well, we need to be like Ehud, the left-handed man
who goes to Eglon, the very fat man,
and he puts in that dagger into his belly,
and the dirt comes out, amen?
And that always reminds me, spiritually speaking,
of what the word of God does to us,
that when the word of God goes in, the dirt comes out.
You know, you're accumulating all types of worldliness
and dirt and sin and things that are not pleasing to God.
You gotta put the sword in so the dirt can come out.
It's time to start digging up those wells of scripture,
and these are all S's, by the way, Pastor Jimenez.
Scripture, Bible reading, right?
This is all under scripture, by the way,
because I know Bible's not something, you know.
Bible reading, studying the Bible,
memorizing the word of God.
How about hearing the word of God?
You know, instead of going into your car
on your way to work and turning on country music,
I'm assuming that's what you guys like out here,
about your barbecue stain and your white T-shirt
and your dog died and all that,
hey, put on Alexander Scorby
and listen to a couple chapters of the Bible
on the way to work and on the way back.
Oh, that's my only time where I get to wind down
a little bit and get some nice music in and,
you know what, you need to dig up that well again.
And I'm telling you right now is that
the longer you put that off,
the more dirt is gonna accumulate in that well
and the harder it is to be able to dig it out
to reach that source of water.
It's important for us to make sure
that we are digging up the wells of scripture
on a daily basis.
Not only that, but how about this,
we talked about scripture, supplication,
referring to what, prayer, right?
Digging up the wells of prayer once again.
You know, sometimes Christians,
yeah, they can become apathetic towards Bible reading,
but they can also become apathetic towards prayer.
Why is that?
Well, because of the fact that maybe they lose faith
that it even works anymore.
Maybe you have something that you've been praying for
for years on end and God just hasn't answered that prayer.
After a while, you just start letting dirt in
and you're not visiting that well of prayer anymore.
You're not praying for the salvation
of your lost loved one anymore.
You're not praying for that wayward son
to come back anymore.
You're not praying for that wayward family member
to come back anymore because you lost hope.
But you know the Bible talks about importunity in prayer.
To be persistent in prayer, it's time to dig up that well
of prayer in your life once again
and start believing that it actually works because it does.
You know, God is not a drive-through God, by the way.
He's not a microwave God.
Everything's beautiful in His time, the Bible tells us.
And sometimes what we need is endurance in prayer.
We need to be able to withstand in the evil day
and pray through a situation, pray through a need,
even when the answer to the prayer doesn't come
when we want it to.
It's like, God, you know, give me patience now.
Right?
Dig up that well again.
Maybe you need to remove certain activities from your life
to make room for prayer in your life.
Maybe if you drive for 30 minutes to an hour a day to work,
maybe 30 minutes should be spent
listening to the Bible, the other 30, praying.
Digging up the well of scripture,
digging up the well of supplication.
How about this?
Digging up the well once again of service
in your local New Testament church.
I know this, that sometimes Christians
can become apathetic towards scripture.
They become apathetic towards supplication, prayer.
But they also become apathetic
towards the service of God as well.
Why?
Because of the fact that you can grow weary in well-doing.
If you didn't, the Bible wouldn't command us
not to be weary in well-doing.
Preach the gospel, go sowing with your church family.
Hey, I see some new instruments here, that's great.
You took away one of my points
because I was gonna get on you
if you weren't playing a specific instrument,
but that's great, amen.
But you know what, let me say this.
I know there's someone else here
who can play another instrument, though.
There's always a closet musician in the church.
It's true.
There's someone in here right now
under the sound of my voice.
You can play the piano.
You can play these things.
You have a talent, but you're being hush-hush about it.
Hey, how about digging up that well of service once again?
And start using your talents for the Lord, amen.
You buy them the spoons or you play the jug or something.
What do you guys do out here in Texas?
I don't know, whatever it is.
Dig up that well of service.
Be now weary in well-doing for in due season
we shall reap if we faint not, the Bible tells us.
You say, man, this is a lot.
Yeah, Isaac had a lot of wells to dig.
And you know one thing I have learned personally in my life
is that when I'm digging up one well of scripture,
another well is getting filled up with earth.
So then I gotta go to that well of service
and start digging that up, but then the supplication well
is starting filling up with earth.
Then I gotta go there and dig up that well.
You're like, what's the point?
The point is that's what God wants us to do.
Sometimes the Christian life is just a balancing act.
Digging up one well and you're like,
man, I'm making so much progress,
but what about your prayer life though?
Oh, man, I gotta fix my prayer life.
Okay, now you got your prayer life going.
You got some prayers answered.
But what about your service?
You know how to play that one instrument.
You can play the spoons.
Now play the clarinet.
You know that there's a need in your church.
Start serving the Lord in that aspect there.
And then you start doing that,
and then another area suffers.
That's how life is.
It's like the wells before Isaac.
All of them need to be dug up simultaneously.
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
and the other most parts of the earth, right?
And of course, there's a well of just separation, right?
Christians, if they're not careful,
can implement all these things
and use all those things as an excuse to be worldly,
to allow sin in their lives to become worldly.
But you know what?
We need to keep digging up that well as well,
and remove the dirt and the filth from our life,
and seek to live a life of sanctification,
a life that's actually pleasing unto the Lord.
And here's the thing with that well,
it's just like that work is just never done,
because we'll never be perfect this side of eternity,
but we need to keep working that well,
removing that dirt, getting right with God.
You're in Jeremiah chapter two.
That was all introduction.
Let me give you some main applications here
of the stuff that I really want to talk about.
I'm all for you doing all that stuff, so that's good.
Do it.
Let me speak to you as a church, to our churches,
and let's talk about these wells
that we need to keep digging up over and over again.
And of course, probably one of the most obvious ones
is the well of doctrines, right?
Look at Jeremiah chapter two, verse 11.
It says, hath the nation changed their gods,
which are yet no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for that which doth not profit.
Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this,
and be horribly afraid.
Be very desolate, saith the Lord.
For my people have committed two evils.
They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters.
Right, they've forsaken that well.
And what do they do?
And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,
that can hold no water, the Bible says.
Now, what is this reference?
It's referring to the fact that instead of going
to the God of the Bible for what the Bible says,
instead of going to the Lord,
they're starting to worship these false gods, right?
They're going to these false gods,
what the Bible refers to as hewn out cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can't hold any water.
Not strong enough to bear the burden
of carrying that water and feeding many.
And he's saying there, you've forsaken
the fountain of living water, you've forsaken the Lord,
and you're depending on something else.
And when I think about this in context
of what we're talking about this evening,
in context of doctrine, there's a lot
of false doctrine that has infiltrated
independent fundamental Baptist churches.
And what I find interesting is that when
churches like ours preach a specific doctrine,
people want to credit us for digging up that well, right?
Like, oh, you guys believe that Jesus went to hell?
You guys just dug up that new well.
That well's been around for a long time.
Long before the new IFB existed,
people have been drinking out of that well for a long time.
Okay, go to Galatians chapter three, if you would,
Galatians chapter three, and that's why
it's important, my friends, listen to me,
it's important that we as churches,
and your pastor does it, Pastor Jimenez does it,
Pastor Anderson does it, we're constantly repeating
the same exact doctrines over and over and over again.
Why, because it's important to drink out of that well
over and over and over again.
A well that is being used is a well
that's not gonna have earth in it.
There's always someone there drinking out of that well.
The Bible says you're in, what did I have in turn,
Galatians three, I'm gonna read to you
from Philippians three verse one,
finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord
to write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Hey, if Pastor Shelley wants to get up here
and just preach on the same well over and over again,
you'd be happy with that.
Because he's keeping that well alive.
He's making sure you can drink out of that same well,
making sure that that well stays alive,
and well, that people are drinking from it,
that people don't forget how it tastes,
so that no earth gets into it.
Now there's a lot of ways we can really apply this,
right, when it comes to doctrine.
There's a lot of doctrines we can talk about.
But I'm gonna talk about one in particular
that's really popular right now,
or should I say it's not popular,
and that is replacement theology.
Because everything that's going on right now
in the Middle East, and all of these
neo-evangelical conservatives are just losing their minds,
because it seems as though Christians
are kind of waking up to the Jews.
You know, these bunch of people are hypocrites,
you know that?
Because I'm obviously against what those in Palestine
have done, and the murder of children.
Obviously we're not for that.
And you have Christians up in arms about that,
and they should be, but why aren't they up in arms
when the Jews do it to the Palestinians?
It's called hypocrisy, my friends.
And now, when you're on social media,
all you see right now is people,
oh, you know, you got these Christians criticizing the Jews,
stop hating the Jews, you need to pray for Israel,
pray for the peace of Israel,
you guys are coming up with this new doctrine,
this new well, hey, Abraham built that well
a long time ago, buddy.
Isaac is just kind of inheriting that well.
This well has been here long before we came onto the scene,
and let me just say this, I said Abraham,
but I made a mistake, it's actually God
is the first one to dig that well.
You say, well, how do you know?
Because back in Exodus,
he was gonna replace the entire nation.
That sign out there quoting Pastor Shelley,
it's gangster, but let me just say this,
it's like nothing compared to what God told Moses,
because God told Moses, let me just like,
destroy all these people,
and I'll just start brand new with you, Moses.
Now, if I was Moses, and this is probably why I'm not Moses,
right, I would say come again.
Not my will, but thine be done, Lord.
God was the first one to dig that well.
You have Christians losing their minds over the Jews today,
but at the end of the day,
God is the one who first came up with the idea
to replace them in the first place.
People think it's heretical,
because the Philistines have filled up
the well with dirt, though.
You have the Philistines and the servants of Gerar,
which is called dispensationalism and Zionism,
constantly creeping into churches via C.I. Schofield,
Peter Ruckman, and John Nelson Darby,
and all of these other rucktards
that are constantly infiltrating churches,
just preaching this false doctrine
that the Jews are God's chosen people,
and what do they do?
Go to Genesis chapter 12, right?
It's like their text verse.
Well, Genesis 12 says we gotta bless them,
and we gotta make sure we don't curse them,
and it's just, look, folks,
people say that Hitler said if you say a lie
loud enough and long enough,
the people will believe that it actually wasn't Hitler.
He was actually quoting a Jew when he said that.
News flash.
They've muddied up doctrine, my friends,
and caused people to think that this is the biblical stance
for the last 2,000 years.
Folks, it's a fraud.
Now, let me read to you from Genesis chapter 12,
because we love Genesis 12, amen?
Genesis 12 verse one says,
Now the Lord had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will show thee,
and I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great,
and thou shalt be a blessing.
So obviously, thank God that we have a King James Bible
that lets us know who this is referring to
because of the term thee.
It's obviously referring to Abraham, right?
And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse them that curse thee,
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Therefore, pay to make thee third temple come out,
and make sure you pray for Israel even,
and rejoice at the death of the Palestinians.
Because, you know, Genesis 12.
And here's what I have to say.
Well, let me go to Galatians three.
Let's go to Galatians three first.
And this is very familiar to us.
Galatians three, 16.
When talking about Genesis chapter 12,
kind of giving us a little more revelation,
we know that the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed
the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.
So in order for us to have a plenary understanding
of these doctrines, we need to compare
both Old and New Testament.
And not just go to Genesis chapter 12,
we need to go to the pertinent scriptures
in the New Testament that describe
what's taking place there.
And it says in verse 16,
now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made,
he saith not, and to seeds as of many,
but as of one and to thy seed, which is Christ.
Verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female,
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise.
So this isn't talking, Genesis 12 is not referring
to the physical descendants of Israel,
it's referring to Christ and those who are
spiritually descended from Christ, believers.
Now here's what's really funny
about the Genesis 12 interpretation.
Let me tell you a really funny thing about that,
that interpretation.
Because again, it's like you gotta bless Israel
if you wanna be blessed, and if you curse Israel,
you're gonna be cursed.
It's this superstitious view, right?
Say make sure you don't say anything against the Jews,
because if you do, oh man, you're gonna be cursed.
Well first of all, I thought America's been blessing Israel
for how long, and look at the mess that we're in,
first and foremost.
But secondly, what they're essentially saying
by that statement is that Jesus is cursed.
Because Jesus is notorious in the New Testament
for cursing the Jews.
John 8 44 says, ye are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father will you do.
He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not into truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own,
for he is a liar and the father of it.
That's called a curse.
And that was in response to them saying
that they were of Abraham.
He's like, no you're not, you're of your father the devil.
Revelation 2 nine and Revelation 3 nine,
he says they which call themselves Jews are not,
but are of the what?
Synagogue of Satan.
That's called a curse.
Matthew chapter 23, when he's preaching against the Pharisees
who are the leaders of Judaism,
he tells them, won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites,
for you can pass land and sea to make one proselyte,
and when he is made, you make him twofold more
a child of hell than yourselves.
That's called a curse.
In fact, all of 23 is an entire sermon cursing the Jews.
Well, he's cursing the Pharisees.
Yeah, but at the end of 23, he says Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
because those in Jerusalem are advocates
and adherence to the religion of the Pharisees,
which is Judaism.
So, you know, you better be careful quoting Genesis 12
in that manner and say, well, if you physically,
if you just curse the nation of Israel,
you're gonna be cursed,
because basically what you're saying is that Jesus is cursed
because he led the way.
He led by example, amen.
Go to First Thessalonians chapter two,
First Thessalonians chapter two.
Hey, we need to dig up this well again
of replacement theology,
because of the fact that it's an old well
that was dug long ago even in Exodus
throughout the Old Testament,
and even more specifically and abundantly
in the New Testament.
That's a well that was dug by Jesus Christ
and his disciples, by the Apostle Paul,
the Apostle Peter, who, by the way,
the Apostle Paul is also apparently guilty
of cursing the Jews as well.
Multiple times in the New Testament,
he's cursing the Jews.
Give me an example.
All right, look at First Thessalonians chapter two.
Verse 14, for ye bread and became followers
of the churches of God,
which in Judea are in Christ Jesus,
for ye also have suffered like things
of your own countrymen,
even as they have of the Jews.
Oh, whoa, Paul, you better be careful there.
You're delving into that Genesis 12 round, brother,
who both killed the Lord Jesus
and their own prophets,
and have persecuted us,
and they pleased not God,
and are contrary to all men.
Sounds like he has a bone to pick.
Sounds like a curse to me.
By the way, I love verse 15.
He's like they killed the Lord Jesus
and their own prophets,
and have persecuted us,
and they don't please God,
and they're just contrary to all men.
Forbidding, why?
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles
that they might be saved,
to fill up their sins always,
for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
That's called a curse.
He's saying, that nation is cursed unto the uttermost.
That's a powerful statement right there.
But we, brethren, being taken from you
for a short time in presence,
not in heart, endeavor the more abundantly
to see your face with great desire.
I like how he's able to just transition into that, right?
He's like going off,
and then he's just like, I miss you guys.
Now, keep in mind who he's referring to here, okay?
Because he says that the Jews were responsible
for forbidding them,
forbidding the Gentiles to hear the gospel,
that they might be saved.
He says they're the ones responsible,
because the greatest adversary
of the New Testament was the Jew.
Fact.
They're the ones who crucified Jesus Christ,
and even after his ascension,
they're the ones who are following the Apostle Paul
all around Cappadocia, Bithynia, and Galatia.
They're going to Greece.
They're just trying to stop him from doing ministry.
They are the greatest adversary of the New Testament.
They are literally Satan's pawn in the New Testament,
used by Satan to try to hinder the gospel of Jesus Christ
from starting churches and so forth.
So that's what he's saying.
He says, forbidding us to speak.
He's referring to the Jews here.
Look at verse 18.
Wherefore we would have come unto you,
even I Paul once and again,
but Satan hindered us.
Now, let me just explain something to you here.
This isn't saying like Satan came out with a pitchfork.
He's like, eh, and he's trying to stop him.
In context, what is this talking about?
He's referring to the pawns of Satan,
the ones responsible for physically trying to stop him
from preaching the gospel.
Whoa, Paul.
You better watch those words, man.
You're going to get your Twitter deleted.
You're going to get banned on YouTube for saying that.
Wait till the ADL finds out what you just said, Paul.
But you know, the funny thing is,
is that these Zionist Christians
always want to point to Paul as being the one, right?
Rabbi Paul, he's like their poster boy or whatever.
Romans 11, because Romans 11 to the Zionist
is what James chapter two, or excuse me,
Matthew chapter seven is to the Pentecostal.
Or even the non-denon person who just says,
judge not lest you be judged, right?
Well, Romans 11, the very first part,
that's like their favorite part for the Zionist
because, you know, had God cast away his people,
which he, you know, which he did foreknow, God forbid.
And then he'd just ignore the entire chapter thereafter.
Well, you know, if you want to compare
what Paul wrote in Romans 11,
you got to compare it to what he's saying right here as well.
And what he's saying right here is it's Satan.
Satan, you say, well, how do you know
he's talking about the Jews?
Is it because he's just filled with the Holy Spirit?
Because he's writing these things
under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost
and it coincides with Revelation 2, nine,
Revelation three, nine is saying?
That they're of the synagogue of Satan?
So Jesus was cursed according to the Zionists.
They say Genesis 12, okay, you better be careful with that
because now you're saying that Jesus is cursed
because we have ironclad proof of statements made by Jesus
against the Jews multiple times, there you go.
And here's the thing, folks,
I'm looking at a church right now
that has been cursing the physical nation of Israel
and the Jews for many years
and they look pretty blessed to me.
I'm looking at churches who have been preaching
against the Jews for years on end
and they just keep getting blessed.
So there's something wrong with the equation here
if that's what you think Genesis chapter 12
is referring to, okay?
But we need to make sure as God's people
that we're constantly digging up that well
and not allow the narrative to be changed here
and say, oh, the new IFB,
they're just a bunch of Hitler-loving Jew haters.
They're a bunch of Nazis because they're so anti-Semitic
with their rhetoric against the Jews.
They just hate the Jews.
Folks, we love Jews.
I love Jews.
Don't Jew love Jews?
I love Jews.
I had a guy criticize me the other day,
he said, you're so anti-Semitic
and I'm thinking to myself,
you've probably never witnessed to a Jew
in your entire life.
You stinking hypocrite.
I've witnessed to Jews who are literally,
oh man, I passed my time.
Let's pray, no, I'm just kidding.
No.
Dang, this is only point number one, too.
I don't read in military time either,
so I don't know what that means right there.
I witnessed to a Jew who literally had
the Jerry Curls sideburns.
You know, he had the little thing on his head.
He even gave me one because he wanted to talk to me
and he's like, I can't talk to you unless you wear this.
And I just put it in my pocket.
And you know, he didn't get saved,
but you know, I've witnessed to many Jews,
we've had Jews come to our church.
We have a former Jew as a convert
and member of our church.
Would you look at that?
Now, I will say this, though.
He told me, he said, you know,
it took everything he had in him
to muster up the courage to come to our church.
He's heard so much preaching, he's like,
I don't know what they're gonna think.
And then he finally came, he's like,
oh man, you guys do love people here, you know?
Well, he's a member of our church,
but folks, I guarantee you these people
on social media and Instagram and Facebook,
they're a bunch of phony Christians
who don't even preach the gospel.
And even if they go out and preach something
that's not the real gospel,
they preach some zionistic gospel
and they're damning more Jews
with their gospel than we are.
Oh, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
You haven't witnessed either one of them.
I've literally been in a situation
where I witnessed to a Jew
and then I witnessed to a Greek afterwards.
I knocked on the door and a Greek literally opened the door.
I'm like, this is great.
I'm gonna use this in a sermon one day.
But folks, we need to keep digging up that well.
And don't allow the public to try to shame you
and try to, you know, try to isolate you
and think, oh, you guys are just a bunch of crazies
and you believe false doctrine
and I can't believe you're saying about the Jews.
And look, sometimes it's not even worth talking
to these people either.
Because you can show them all types of verses,
all types of scriptures.
You can literally quote Jesus
and they're just like, yeah, but pray for Israel though.
And it's just like, well, Jeremiah chapter seven
says pray not for this people.
I got one for that too.
Three times in the book of Jeremiah
it says pray not for this people.
That's a different dispensation though.
Yeah, but okay, let's play that game though.
It was a different dispensation.
It was a dispensation when the children of Israel
had forsaken the God of the Bible
and began to serve false gods and then rejected the Lord
and therefore God says don't pray for them.
Oh, it looks like we repeated that dispensation today.
Because that's the same exact situation
that they're in today.
And you know what, pray not for this people.
I'm not praying for Israel to win any war.
I'm not for war, period.
But I'm not praying for them to win any war.
And you know why I'm against Israel
inhabiting that physical land?
Because they're interfering with God's chastisement
on their lives.
They're interfering with God disciplining them as a nation
for rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know what, these Christians out there
who want to pray for Israel and back them up
in spite of the fact that they hate the Lord Jesus Christ,
they're interfering with God's discipline on that nation.
If they truly love the Jews,
they would allow God to chastise them
and discipline them so they can get right with God.
Not enable them by helping them to build a third temple,
by sending them money, by supporting them openly.
It's like when people get kicked out of the church.
You know the worst kind of Christian is the Christian
who stays in contact with the person
who's been disciplined from church.
Where they're supposed to be cast out
for the destruction of the flesh,
but yet you have Christians that still keep in contact
with them, they still text them,
I still love you brother, we'll stay in contact,
we'll talk every once in a while.
Folks, you're wicked for doing that.
If that's you, you're wicked.
You're no better than these Zionist Christians
who keep praying for the nation of Israel
and interfering with God's discipline on their lives.
If you really want, if you really love that nation,
you would allow the discipline to take its course
for God to work on them and discipline them
so that they can get right with God
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeah, but they believe in God the Father.
They don't believe in God the Father
because they don't have the Son.
Stop saying that.
I like digging that well.
We keep that well, we keep dirt out of that well
at our church.
I know you keep dirt, I know you keep dirt out of that.
I know that you keep dirt out of that well, Pastor Shelley.
That's the first thing I saw when I came here.
The guy was standing there,
and I literally stopped in front of him.
I mad-dogged him for a little bit,
and I looked at the sign, and I'm like,
Pastor Shelley.
You know, you drive by, and it's just like,
you don't even need steadfast Baptist Church.
I just need that sign.
I'm like, I'm in the right place.
This is the church I'm preaching at tonight, for sure.
Dig up that well.
Many doctrines we can talk about, but you know what?
We need to dig up the well of replacement theology.
We need to dig up the well
of fervent, fundamental Baptist preaching,
and keep fiery preaching alive.
Thank God for Pastor Jimenez.
Thank God for Pastor Anderson.
Thank God for Pastor Shelley, who preach hard,
and Pastor Thompson, who are constantly preaching hard,
week in, week out, why they're keeping that alive.
No, but you guys, that's a new well.
That's a new well.
The way you guys preach is a new well.
No, there's a guy by the name of Jack Hyles, you know.
Brother Hyles of First Baptist Church of Hammon,
and I love going back to that.
I love listening to Brother Hyles,
because we have the same spirit.
Oh, that's idolatry, that's idol worship.
We have the Holy Spirit.
There's a guy who messaged me a couple weeks ago,
and he's like, why do you worship Jack Hyles?
And I said, what do you mean?
He's like, you worship him.
I'm like, give me an example of how I worship him.
Give me an example of how I worship him.
Well, you said that you have the spirit of Hyles.
That's what you said.
And I don't know whether there's a verse in the Bible
that says that that's idolatry or something.
And I shot him 2 Kings 2-9.
Let me read it to you.
It says, and it came to pass, when they were gone over,
that Elijah said unto Elisha, ask what I shall do for thee
before I be taken away from thee.
And Elisha said, I pray thee,
let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
And he said this, well said.
But you still worship him.
Can't win with these folks, my friend.
But you know what?
You say, why do you like to listen to those preachers
of times past who have already died and gone to heaven
and they're not doing anything more?
You know what, because I like to revisit those wells.
And I like to think that the well that I'm drinking from
is the same well that that man drunk from.
And that he experienced the same battles
and the same fights and went through the same trials
and had enemies of God fighting him as well.
And yeah, we do have the spirit of Hiles.
What's wrong with that?
He had the Holy Spirit.
And you know what, some Christians can use
the spirit of Hiles in their churches too.
Coming over here with their foreign spirit,
devilish spirit of effeminacy
and being a little queer sissy.
You know, we were doing the podcast earlier
and we were defiling our eyes with these pastors
of these non-denom churches
and it was hard to pay attention to what they were saying
because they looked so faggoty.
And they're all against the King James Bible
and it's just like, eh, you know.
And it's just like, dude, this guy has a queer spirit.
It made me a believer in queer spirits.
I mean, let's just be honest,
if that guy were in the Old Testament,
he probably wouldn't be allowed into the house of God
because the high priest would have thought
that his stoles were cut off or something.
He would have heard him say one word and say,
you can't come in.
We need to keep fiery preaching.
We need to dig up that well and keep preaching hard.
Well, you know, but that gets a little old.
Well then, stop being apathetic towards the things of God
and it won't get old to you.
Get fired up.
Get fervent in the spirit.
You get so excited about your political stuff.
You get excited about your football game,
your baseball game and your soccer.
I don't even know if anybody
is excited about soccer here.
You get excited about your sports or whatever.
You know, get excited about hot preaching, amen.
Keep that well alive.
Keep digging out that well and you know what?
Yeah, we're not on YouTube but I guarantee you,
you can type in Pastor Jimenez on Google
and his sermons will come up.
You can type in Pastor Anderson, his sermons will come up.
You can type in Pastor Thompson, Pastor Shelley.
Their sermons are gonna come up
and that's a good way, my friends,
to keep digging out that dirt from that well
and keeping that fire alive for hot preaching.
I'm not saying every sermon has to be at a 10
where you're just constantly screaming, but you know what?
I'm sick and tired of this generation being so soft.
They can't handle a little volume.
So much soy in these young people today,
so much tofu in the young people today,
they can't handle the strong meat of the word.
They can't handle an F bomb every once in a while.
I can't handle that too sometimes, I'll be honest with you.
When Pastor Jimenez did that, I was like.
I was like, he scared me.
And then I was just like,
well if he said it, I'm gonna say it too.
Watch out.
You know, Jeremiah says, I'm gonna get me to the great men.
I'm gonna go to the old paths.
And here's the thing, folks, is that we have a lot of men
of God today that are preaching hard, but it is a remnant.
I'll just be honest with you, okay?
And even some of the hardest preachers out there
that people claim to be hard preaching,
I mean, it's not that hard, I'll just be honest with you.
It's kinda rubbery, you know what I mean?
Because once you listen to Pastor Jimenez,
once you listen to Pastor Shelley,
it's kinda hard to find really hard preaching.
And you're like, oh, that was good, you know?
But you know what, one thing you can do
is revisit the old wells, though.
I mean, I have some old wells on audio from J. Frank Norris.
And that man would bring the roof down.
And it's funny, because he's from the 1920s.
And I'm listening to a sermon,
and he's preaching against women wearing pants
and against men with long hair.
I'm like, I thought this was from 1920.
And he's preaching against worldliness.
He's preaching against the Catholics.
He's preaching about hard preaching.
And I'm like, oh, I know what it is.
It's the same well.
That's what it is.
Because when you take all the dirt out
and you drink from that same well,
you realize this is the same water that he drank from.
Because we read the same Bible.
We have the same God.
We have the same spirit.
And so, I love Brother Howes.
I just want to say that.
Love the preachers of yesteryear
who set an example for us.
And you know what, you want to call,
you want to say, oh, you're just copying Brother Howes?
Yes.
Oh, you're just copying Pastor Steven A. Anderson?
Yes.
You're just copying Pastor Jimenez?
Yep, that's what I'm doing.
Associate me with those guys.
The problem that I would have,
is if you tell me I'm copying like Joe Olsien or something.
Dem's is fighting words at that point.
You say, well, what's wrong with those kind of pastors?
Well, the Bible says that these are wells without water.
That's what Second Peter chapter two says.
You know, this well right here, that well, that well,
it's filled with water.
It's filled with the Holy Spirit.
These other wells that people are putting out today,
those are wells without water.
Yeah, they look all nice.
They got their little stones.
Boy, they don't have stones.
But you know, they got whatever to make that well.
But when you actually look inside and dig into that well,
there's no water there.
Clouds without water.
Wells without water.
False prophets.
Keep those wells alive and well.
Keep digging the dirt out of those wells of hard preaching.
How about just traditional fundamental families
and church services, amen?
That's a good well to keep up.
Why, because the Philistines have filled up those wells
of the family unit and the church with dirt,
with worldliness, ungodliness.
You know what I'm looking at here right now?
I'm looking at a church,
I'm looking at a well filled with children.
Which means that the pastor believes in preaching
and he probably preaches a lot on having a bunch of kids.
And I think he has a bunch of kids, too.
We need to keep that well alive and not have this 2.3.
Family philosophy.
Keep the well alive of having fundamental families
and church services.
You know, I don't see any purple smoke
or purple lights and smoke and mirrors here.
It looks like this is a traditional fundamental
Baptist church service.
It's a good old fashioned pulpit.
Got the kids sitting on the floor right here,
I'm spitting all over them, sorry kiddos.
Got a piano here, we got traditional music.
We got the old fashioned hymns.
We got the old fashioned King James Bible.
Got ladies wearing skirts.
Men look like men, women look like women.
I mean, this is the well that we need to keep
digging up from.
And make sure the world doesn't get into that well.
Keep that alive.
Keep your faggoty CCM.
Keep your purple pink lights.
We call them the LGBT lights.
Keep your vapors and your smokers to yourself.
We're doing just fine like this in 2023.
We don't need all that smoke and mirrors.
Because the substance is in the preaching, my friends.
But you know what it requires for us as Christians,
and not just Pastor Shelley, not just Pastor Jimenez,
not just me, not just Pastor Thompson or Pastor Anderson,
it requires the church members as well
to dig out that dirt.
You know, keep up with your church.
You better change and grow spiritually with your church.
Don't allow your church to just grow
and your pastor's just growing by leaps and bounds,
and you're just kinda hanging back still.
You better be changing for the best, too.
You better be getting dirt out of your well as well.
To keep up with this well.
Go with me if you would to 2 Corinthians, chapter five.
2 Corinthians, chapter five.
I'm way past my time.
Sorry, Pastor Shelley, but you know,
it's not my church, so I'm just kidding.
Hey, you know, how about the well of your marriage?
You know, a good marriage doesn't just happen by osmosis.
You gotta take the dirt out and stop looking for new wells.
Hey, drink water out of thine own wells, the Bible says.
Right?
Be happy with the water that's coming from your well.
Stop looking to someone else's well.
Why don't you just take the dirt out of your well
and improve your marriage like that?
Here's a good way to do it, take your wife out on a date.
On a weekly basis.
Love your wife as Christ also loved the church.
Reverence your husband.
Yeah, but we need some more philosophical.
No, that well has existed for a long time,
and it has quenched the thirst of marriage
for generations, it works.
But let me say this by conclusion,
because I'm way, way, way out of time here,
is that as Christians, we need to go back to the old wells,
but let me say this, we need to dig some new wells as well.
Okay, dig some new wells, because you know,
the well is Jesus Christ, the well is God's word,
but really the well is essentially the funnel
by which we come to the water.
And a well can be also symbolically
representing a Christian.
People believe through us.
People get to Jesus through us, right?
We're not Calvinists here.
You're in 2 Corinthians chapter five,
I'm in 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse five,
it says, who then is Paul, who then is Apollos,
but ministers by whom he believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man?
I have planted Apollos' water, but God gave the increase.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse 17.
It says, 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.
To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing the trespasses unto them,
and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation, the Bible says.
You know, I love, and I joke and everything
about coming here and the fact that you guys move around,
but one thing I really love about coming
to Steadfast Baptist Church is I always see new faces.
New wells.
New people that are being reached.
So yeah, visit the old wells,
but let's not rest on our laurels
and just look at the old wells.
We need to get some converts in, amen?
Hey, I hope that you would love your church so much
that you would bring a visitor to your church.
Like who, how about your family?
Like, well, they hate me.
Well, your neighbor, they hate me too.
Well, find someone that doesn't know you.
Get the gas station attendant or something.
But you know what you should do as a Christian?
Let me tell you how you can be a blessing to your pastor.
One of the greatest things you can do
to be a blessing to your pastor,
listen to me, one of the greatest ways
you can honor your pastor is bringing visitors to church
to hear his preaching.
Because it kind of shows him like,
okay, they're not ashamed of it.
They want other people to hear this as well.
And don't be afraid of what he's going to preach
on that day or whatever.
Well, I got to time it right, you know what I mean?
Like, he preached on the reprobates this week,
so he might not do it next week or something.
Just bring them.
And if they don't come back, go find yourself another well.
Go dig some more wells, amen.
Dig deep.
Go find some other wells.
Bring some other wells to church.
Create more converts so that people can access
the living water through them as well.
I mean, people are doing it through you,
but you know what, we need to find new people
that can also operate in that way
where God can use them as a well to access the living water
to be saved, to learn the word of God.
That's God's will for our lives, amen.
Dig again the wells of water.
Let's pray, Father, we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for the conference, Lord.
We thank you for the sermon that I heard,
Pastor Jimenez, and the areas in my life
that that spoke to me in, Lord,
and I pray that you would help us as your people
to give heed to the messages tonight.
And maybe there's an area in our lives, Lord,
that we need to fix up.
We need to get the dirt out.
There's a particular well in our life, in our marriage,
with our children, in our personal walk with God,
in our spiritual disciplines that's maybe lacking.
The dirt is building up, and we need to dig that up again
so the waters can run freely.
And I pray that you help us to do so,
and I bless the remainder of the conference, Lord,
and all the speakers that are coming.
May you fill them with your spirit and your power,
and use them in a great way, Lord.
We love you, we thank you, pray these things
in Jesus' name, amen.