Thank you.
All right.
Welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church.
It's good to see everyone here.
If you would, turn in your hymnals to song number 145.
Give everybody time to get situated.
Song number 145.
It is well with my soul.
And as usual, we're going to have the women sing the first
it is well in the chorus and then the men are going to sing
the second it is well, the lower one.
So we'll start out there on the first.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should call,
let this blessed assurance control.
The price has regarded my helpless estate
and has shed his own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought.
My sin, not in part, but the whole
is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be signed.
The clouds be rolled back as the scroll,
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend.
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Amen, good singing.
Do you mind praying with us?
Amen, all right.
So the second one we're going to sing is going to be song 310.
Song 310, The Footprints of Jesus.
Start out there on the first.
Sweetly, Lord, have we heard me calling, come follow me.
And we see where thy footprints falling lead us to be.
The footprints of Jesus that make the pathway go.
We will follow the steps of Jesus where there they go.
Though they lead o'er the cool, dark mountains seeking his sheep,
or along by Siloam's fountains helping the weak.
The footprints of Jesus that make the pathway go.
We will follow the steps of Jesus where there they go.
If they lead through the temple only preaching the word,
or in homes of the poor and lowly serving the Lord.
The footprints of Jesus that make the pathway go.
We will follow the steps of Jesus where there they go.
Then at last when Almighty sees us our journey done,
we will rest where the steps of Jesus end at his throne.
The footprints of Jesus that make the pathway go.
We will follow the steps of Jesus where there they go.
All right, go ahead and pull out your bulletins.
So there on the front we have Isaiah 55, 9 the first of the week.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Our service times are there Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m.,
Sunday evening 5 30 p.m., Thursday evenings at 7 o'clock p.m.
In our church wide soul winning times and respectful leaders there,
and also we have our pure word that with salvation we have one today, right?
We definitely said one. We have one.
It's all worth it for that one, right?
All right, and upcoming guest preaching, we have Brother David Keefer here with us.
Thanks again for coming down for us.
Make sure to thank him if you haven't.
We also have July 24th Brother Duncan Urvanic.
And also keeping prayers expecting Mother Christian Rogers that everything goes well
and the baby is healthy and the birth goes well.
And also upcoming events be on August 18th to the 20th,
which is coming up pretty quick, the Mighty Men's Conference.
Our prayer request there is to keep all these people in here for prayer
and give you something to pray about and those who are in need and needing some prayer.
And also some church minors. Again, just keep your eye on your kids
and just try to keep everything nice and tidy.
With that, we'll go to our next song, song number 15,
Lead Me to Calvary, brother Moses, come lead for us.
It wasn't on the paper, but we're actually going to song 230.
Yeah, song 230, Heavenly Sunlight.
All right, song 230, Heavenly Sunlight.
On the first.
Walking in sunlight, all of my journey,
Over the mountains, through deepest veil,
Jesus has said, I'll never forsake thee,
Promise divine that never can fail.
Heavenly Sunlight, Heavenly Sunlight,
Loading my soul with glory divine.
Hallelujah, I am rejoicing,
Singing his praises, Jesus is mine.
Shadows around me, shadows above me,
Never conceal my Savior and God.
He is the light and Him is no darkness,
Never unwalking close by His side.
Heavenly Sunlight, Heavenly Sunlight,
Loading my soul with glory divine.
Hallelujah, I am rejoicing,
Singing His praises, Jesus is mine.
In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing,
Pressing my way to mansions above,
Singing His praises, loudly I'm walking,
Walking in sunlight, sunlight of love.
Heavenly Sunlight, Heavenly Sunlight,
Loading my soul with glory divine.
Hallelujah, I am rejoicing,
Singing His praises, Jesus is mine.
All right, great singing.
Now if you would turn in your Bibles
to Genesis chapter number 12.
We'll pass the offering plate
and have Brother Jeffrey read for us.
Okay, so you're there in Genesis chapter number 12.
The Bible reads in Genesis chapter number 12 verse 1.
Now the Lord has said unto Abraham,
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 I will make thy name great.
And thou shalt be a blessing,
and I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee,
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him,
and Lot went with him, and Abraham was seventy and five years old,
and he departed out of Haran.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son,
and all their substance that they had gathered,
and the souls that they had got in Haran,
and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,
and into the land of Canaan they came.
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Chikom,
unto the place of Moreh, and the Canaanite was then in the land.
And the Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said,
Unto thy seed will I give this land.
And there buildeth he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel,
and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ty on the east,
and there he buildeth an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
And there was a famine in the land,
and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there,
for the famine was grievous in the land.
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,
that he said unto Sarai his wife,
Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.
Therefore it shall come to pass when the Egyptians thou see thee,
that they shall say, This is his wife, and they will kill me,
but they will save thee alive.
Say, I pray thee, Thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake.
My soul shall live because of thee.
It came to pass, that when Abram was come into Egypt,
the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
So the princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh,
and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
And he entreated Abram well for her sake.
He had sheep and oxen, and heasteth, and menservant,
and maidservant, and sheasteth and camels.
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai,
Abram's wife.
The Pharaoh called Abram and said,
What is this that thou hast done unto me?
Why didst thou now tell me that she was thy wife?
Why saidst thou, She is my sister?
So I might have taken her to me to wife.
Now therefore, behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
The Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away,
and his wife, and all that he had.
Okay, let's all bow our heads real quick for the prayer.
Dear Lord, just please bless again,
Father David Keeper, to preach a truthful, accurate sermon from the King James Bible.
Thank you for the souls that were saved today, Lord.
Thank you for the time of fellowship and for the safe journey
that Brother Keeper was able to come over here with.
Just please bless him and protect him as he goes back home.
And just help us to receive this message that he's about to preach with gladness and sincerity
and to apply it to our day-to-day lives to be better Christians, Lord.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
All right, welcome back everybody to the second service of Your Words Baptist Church.
Thanks for having me again.
I got to stop thanking you guys for having me because I'm basically here all the time now.
But I do want to make a special, like I said, prayer request like I did earlier for Brother Duncan on his way here.
And this sermon is actually a little bit in light of him coming here to evangelize.
I love this message this evening as Pilgrim Sojourners and Vagabonds.
So, you know, Brother Duncan will be here as your guys' evangelist,
and he's going to help run and guide the church, and he's taking a journey to do so.
And I've noticed in the time that I've been here, a lot of you guys
take a lot of journeying to get here, some as far as two hours away,
I think even further than that with some cases.
Correct me if I'm wrong. Is anyone past two hours from here?
You're past two hours?
He's three hours. That's right, three hours away.
Talk about dedication to being a faithful member to Pure Words Baptist Church.
You know, some people I remember when I was in the church in Hawaii,
they could have traveled 20 minutes to get to church.
It's too far away. Ah, man, I can't get there.
It's just, I got too much going on, man.
20 minutes on the road. You know what else is 20 minutes away?
The beach, and that what was more important to them.
You guys are traveling three, two, an hour away, three times a week,
twice a week, or twice on Sundays, and that's a great blessing
that you guys are willing to see the service of God of utmost importance.
And so did the men in the Bible, people like Abraham.
At this point, he's known as Abram.
And look down, if you would, at verse one.
It 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.
Now remember, the title is Pilgrim, Sojourners, and Vagabonds.
There is a difference between these three terms.
There's obviously a similarity in all these things, but there is a difference.
And a lot of people will couple Pilgrim and Sojourner together
because the Bible couples those terms together a lot,
but there's even a difference between those two, and we can see them in context.
But the first thing I want to mention is the vagabond.
Raise your hand if this is the very first time you've ever heard that term, vagabond.
There you go, some of the kids. There you go.
Right on. Well, vagabond is a unique word.
We don't use that word all the time.
An example I kind of show people is what are called nomads.
You know, people who are living off the land or they're just kind of going to and fro.
A dictionary definition for a vagabond is a person who wanders from place to place
without a home or job having no settled home, also known as down and out,
a drifter or someone who is a fly-by-night type of person.
These are people who are vagabonds.
And turn if you would to Genesis chapter four.
Genesis chapter four is the very first example that we see of someone being known as a vagabond.
Another definition is an idol or shiftless person, one who wanders from place to place,
having no fixed dwelling or not abiding in it, and usually without the means of honest living,
a vagrant, a hobo.
The definition of a vagabond is a nomad or person without a permanent home who drifts from place to place.
So basically the same thing.
But notice they're also known as hobos or they are people with dishonest living.
Now, spoiler alert, my ancestors were vagabonds.
My ancestors were gypsies from Europe who were traveling around Europe and doing all sorts of craziness.
Now, some of you have never even heard of that term, what a gypsy is.
Well, I guess nowadays, or back when I was younger, we'd call them hippies and then they turn into hipsters.
But it's basically people who would, Romanians that mixed with Europeans,
and then over time they ended up going around becoming what are known as circus folk.
And growing up in the island of Hawaii, a lot of people pride themselves in their ethnicities,
which we don't as Christians. It's irrelevant what we are ethnically.
God doesn't care if you're black, yellow, green, white, purple, whatever color you are, God made you that way.
And that's a blessing. But understand this.
Some people pride themselves in their people groups where they're from.
I've always been told my whole life, I am half Native American because my dad said he was Native American.
So is everyone apparently who grew up in America, right?
And everyone has a great-grandparent who is a Native American princess, right?
Everyone has that same story? Well, that was a story that was fed me as a kid.
And if I saw a picture of my dad, he's very tan, he has long black hair, and he said it, so it must be true.
Well, it wasn't until later on in my life as I grew up, my mother's like,
yeah, your dad's not Native American, my biological dad.
I was like, what do you mean? That's what we've been told our whole lives.
Yeah, he just told people that because he wanted to be Native American.
It's actually Italian. No, that's why I talk with my hands a lot. I'm Italian.
And my ancestors, you know people who do that DNA, that ancestry DNA thing,
I've never done it, I've never looked into it, but anytime anyone ever asks me,
what are you, ethnically, I would just say a European mutt.
A person of Europe, and my ancestors have basically slept around with everyone.
So every and anything in Europe, I'm probably it.
And it's not necessarily a good testimony to be called a gypsy or called a hippie or called a hipster,
but understand this, the fact of reality is that the byproduct of what you see in front of you today
is that of gypsies or that of vagabonds.
People that were wandering around in the world doing dishonest living.
That's not to say I have to do that, that's not to say you have to do that,
that's not to say any one of us at any time has to or needs to live that obscured lifestyle.
But I understood the truth of the matter that that's just a fact of life.
But the very first example we see of a vagabond in the Bible is Cain himself.
Look down, if you would, at verse one. The Bible reads,
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
So first things first, is there anything wrong with being a tiller of the ground?
It's fine, it's an honest living being a farmer.
I mean, at this point in his life, there's really no issue, right?
Keep going on and reading.
So we can see the parallel contrast between Abel's offering and Cain's offering.
Cain represents someone who is trying to work their way into heaven, that he is trying to offer his works to be saved.
Whereas Abel offered the lamb, the animal that was already provided.
That represents the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
So really, that's what the world boils down to of the two different religions that there are.
Abel's religion and Cain's religion.
So whatever comes next is associated to Cain himself.
Go on to read.
And Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass that when they were in the field,
that Cain, what did he do?
Rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him.
Why? Because his works were not acceptable in the sight of God.
And it says in verse 9,
What has thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.
A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid.
And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me.
So he's nervous at this point because at this point because he killed his brother Abel,
God says because of this, you are out of here. You are done.
Now he kicks him out and he becomes a fugitive and a vagabond and the ground,
he's cursing the ground for Cain's sake. You won't be able to produce.
I'm going to make sure you rude the day that you did this.
Now at this point, this is the very first murder that occurred on the earth.
So there are going to be people that see this and want to now murder Cain because that's just, right?
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. That's the law of God.
But God did not allow that to happen. He wanted to make sure that people realized what he had done
and that he was known as a fugitive and a vagabond and put a mark upon him so that no one would try to kill him.
And it goes on to read in verse 15,
So it doesn't say exactly like his final resting place but he basically hung around the land of Nod
and he was on the east of Jordan or Eden.
So like I was mentioning, vagabond is not a good term in reference to someone who is a drifter,
someone who is a hobo, someone who does not have a permanent dwelling place,
someone who is just going through life, meandering through, figuring things out.
I mean, for crying out loud today in our modern world, there are a lot of people who are doing the van life, right?
You guys ever heard of the van life? People who convert their vans into these pretty epic living quarters
and they make them very nice and very air-circulated and very nice.
But you know what? Although that's nice and dandy, it is true that there's something within us
that we like to be stable and stationary. And we'll go into that more as the sermon progresses.
But the other example that we see of a vagabond in the Bible is found in the book of Acts.
You can turn, if you would, to Acts chapter 19.
Acts chapter 19 verse 11. I'll go ahead and start reading as you get there.
Acts chapter 19 verse 11.
And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul,
so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons,
and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits,
the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjourn you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them and overcame them
and prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
So here's a group of Jewish priests that are vagabonds. They're a moving circus.
They're going around doing these shows, doing exorcists, casting out demons out of people, supposedly.
At least I believe that this is not a legitimate type of exorcist, but they're just kind of creating a show.
Think about necromancers and wizards and sorcerers. Think about Simon the sorcerer in Acts chapter 8.
He is one that's just kind of bewitching the people. He's showing through sleight of hands magic.
And I don't doubt that maybe some of them have some form of real magic.
And even these guys, maybe they were casting out devils to some extent,
and especially because they use the name of Christ, these devils started realizing,
like, wait a second, we know Jesus and we know Paul, but who do you think you are?
And you've got to realize, for once again, like I was mentioning earlier today,
there are Christian pastors and people that try to attack Satan or bring the offense to Satan
or I'm going to take Satan on myself and his demons. Not wise, not a good idea.
You've got to realize that there are truly demons that roam around in this earth that do actually possess people.
And we don't need to be taking it upon ourselves to have the power of Christ compel them to pull demons out.
It's not what we're called to do. What we're called to do is preach the gospel.
And even when Jesus Christ sees the man with the legion of demons, right,
he casts out the demons and immediately preaches to him the gospel.
That is our job as Christians. Elsewhere in the Bible, it talks about some people were trying to cast out a demon out of this person,
and the disciples weren't able to do it. Why? Why could they not do this?
Jesus said, because this kind can only be cast out through prayer and fasting.
If you know someone who is demon-possessed, a personal loved one, someone who's drug-induced,
or someone who has psychological issues, pray for them. Fast.
Maybe if the Lord be willing, he'll cast the demon out of them. Go and run to that person and give them the gospel.
That's the goal. So these vagabond Jews are taking it upon themselves to create a show, and because of that, they were made a fool.
The vagabonds do not have a good reputation in the Bible. We don't tentatively use that word today a lot, right?
Oh, there's a vagabond driving around the road in his Winnebago or in his tiny home or whatever.
But we all know that derelict on the side of the road who pitches a tent off the freeway,
you would call that a hobo, you would call that a vagabond. That's what that is.
Now, there's no mark on them, for crying out loud, but maybe we should mark them and avoid them.
But at the end of the day, look, even homeless people that are truly down and out, we can try to help them through,
once again, preaching the gospel, offering alms unto those who are needing of it, not for those who are not willing to work.
If a man doesn't work, neither shall he eat. And these people usually are gaining their income through dishonest gains,
whether it be through selling drugs, whether it be through gambling, whether it be through fill in the blank, right?
So let us realize that at the end of the day, we need to avoid the subject and even being termed by anyone as a vagabond.
But what are terms that are positive that are associated to us? Someone who goes around and does and goes to a lot of places.
Well, the Bible uses the term pilgrim or sojourner. I'm going to go into first a pilgrim, okay?
And I'm not talking about, you know, that supposed Puritan with a buckle on his hat and just kind of walking around on Thanksgiving,
although that is a pilgrim. That is truly what it means to be a pilgrim.
Now, I'm going to give you a dictionary definition of the word pilgrim.
A person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons.
So, you know, obviously you can see how that the people coming to America back then were not necessarily coming to a religious place,
but they are coming to a place to spread religion, right?
And a lot of times when you hear the term pilgrims, it's usually associated to Muslims,
because they make a pilgrimage to Mecca to do their annual worship to the GameCube or whatever.
And that's something they legitimately do. They make a religious custom to go do that.
You have to pray towards Mecca so many times in a day and so on and so forth.
But that's not what we do as legitimate Bible believing pilgrims, right?
Another definition is one who journeys in foreign lands, wayfarer.
One who travels to a shrine or holy place as a devotee.
One of the English colonists settled in Plymouth in 1620.
I'll just give you an example that they are legitimately pilgrims. Why?
Why would they be called this? They're not going to a church.
They're not going to a holy place.
They're going to a place to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So that is a religious purpose for them to be going to where they're going.
A pilgrimage tends to be more permanent.
You know, it's not always permanent, but it tends to be more permanent.
For instance, I just moved to Arizona, right? I lived in Arizona in 2016 to 19.
And then I made a trip back to Hawaii.
And then I just got back to Arizona almost a year ago now.
And as of right now, according to not planning too far ahead in the future,
I plan to live in Arizona for a long time.
I'm not trying to leave Arizona if I don't have to.
I have made a pilgrimage to Arizona.
Now, I am not necessarily thinking I'm going to stay there forever.
But if I do, then that's where I'm going to live.
And a lot of people, like I said, come from a lot of different places.
And it is unique to our 21st century America culture
that now with the invention of airplanes, people are traveling a lot.
We as a society and we as humans like to travel, live here for a little, there a little.
I mean, you know, our world pushes college.
Some kids go off to college and live there for a little.
Or they like do, I don't know, Red Cross work across the planet.
And they do all these different kind of things.
And they'll live here for five years, there for five years, here for ten years,
there for two years, where it wasn't always like that before.
I mean, pre-industrial revolution, a lot of cases, a lot of people were stationary.
You lived in Texas, you were a Texan.
Your great grandpappy was a Texan.
He was part of the Alamo and he did all them shootouts that they went through.
And in Hawaii, it's the same thing.
You know, my great, great, great grandma was the owner of this property.
And they can find their lineage all the way to the royalty of the Hawaiian monarchy.
I'm sure in Arizona you can find people who are locals to Arizona
and you can find their relatives all the way to the time of tombstones in the Wild West.
I'm sure of it.
And a lot of people who in yesterday's world used to stay stationary,
the family estate, you know, it's becoming less and less common
where you go to someone's house and they've lived there for generations.
I think it would be a great blessing to be stationary.
Like you inherited a home from your great, great, great grandma or grandpa or family or whatever
because if I had that opportunity to inherit either property or house, I would have.
Nevertheless, you know, once I got saved in 2015, I realized what was most important
is going out into all the world and preaching the gospel.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost
and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded.
That is a commandment of Jesus Christ to us as disciples
is to go out and do these pilgrimages.
To go out and preach the gospel to a different nation, to a different people,
to establish ourselves in a different region.
They're supposed to be lights unto the Gentiles.
You know, basically people don't realize that this is not just like a New Testament teaching.
We see Abraham right here being a pilgrim and leaving where his family's from
to go start another nation.
It says in another example from the Latin term for the word pilgrim
is a traveler, literally one who comes from afar who is a journeyer to a holy place.
A pilgrimage is a devotional practice consisted of a prolonged journey.
A prolonged journey.
Often undertaken on foot or horseback toward a specific destination in significance.
But when we go to these places, right?
Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
When we go somewhere, we need to assimilate to the people there.
Let me say that again.
When we go somewhere and do a pilgrimage, we need to assimilate to the culture there.
We need to assimilate ourselves.
Because as it says right here in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 19,
the apostle Paul, who mind you did a lot of journeying,
showed us an example of what it is that God expects from us.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 19, the Bible reads,
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all,
that I might gain the more.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews.
To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law.
To them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,
that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak.
I have made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
So we need to take it upon ourselves that when we move somewhere,
I mean for crying out loud, I live in Arizona now, right?
Guess how much Hawaiian I'm speaking around my friends out there.
Just mahalos and alohas and one-liners, that's about it, that's all I got.
But, you know, Spanish language is a big part of the culture in Arizona and here in Texas.
I mean, I know I was saying it when I first got here,
but I told my wife that when we came here to visit the very first time
and knowing that I'm going to be here more often,
I wanted to make sure to buy me a cowboy hat and to get a six-shooter too.
I was like, man, give me a six-shooter, a cowboy hat, some spurs on my boots,
and every time, no, I'm not going to do that.
But, you know, some guy's like, poser, you're not a real Texan.
Like, I'm okay with that, but I do want to get me a cowboy hat one of these days soon.
A cowboy hat from Texas, I don't know, it just means more, right?
It means more.
And, you know, obviously I don't live here, but I make a journey here as often as I can.
And I need to make sure I assimilate to Texas culture.
I need to assimilate to Arizona culture.
People who came to Hawaii wanted to assimilate to Hawaiian culture.
And that's a big thing in Hawaii is that you got tourists from all around the world, right,
visiting, vacationing, doing all their business or, you know, pleasures or all these things.
And they want to learn about the culture there, which is good.
But if people are doing that for a worldly reason,
why not how much more we would do it for the kingdom of God, so to say.
But as we assimilate, you got to think about it in Jeremiah 29, verse 28, right?
For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon saying, this captivity is long,
build ye houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them.
So God's telling them that you're about to be taken away from your land and brought into Babylon.
Do it, go there, build houses, build vineyards.
I want you to assimilate with the Babylonians for 70 years and I'll bring you back.
They're doing a pilgrimage.
Now, turn back if you would.
I should have had you keep a finger in Genesis chapter 1.
I'm sorry, Genesis chapter 12.
But I want to show you an example of a, you know,
because we like to interpret the Old Testament with the lens of the New Testament, right?
And we saw through a glass darkly back then, but now we see clearly.
So we can draw spiritual parallels between the story of Abraham and this mention of him
in reference to someone who is trying to maybe go somewhere and start a church.
And what is the first thing that we got to realize that a man of God needs to do
when they're going to a far country, land, or place to start a church?
Well, number one, you need to be under God's blessing.
Notice what it says in verse 1.
Now the Lord had said unto Abraham,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house
unto a land that I will show thee.
So right off the bat, Abraham is doing this under the will of God.
If we're going to translate that into the New Testament,
you've got to be ordained to be sent out to start a church.
You need to have hands laid on you by the elders, by the pastors.
You need to be a part of a local Baptist church to be sent out by that church to go start a church.
The church begets the church.
As much as only a saved person can get another person saved,
it's the same thing with the church.
Now you can call yourself a church and you can get in a group of people and start preaching sermons.
That doesn't make you a church.
What makes you a church is that you're under the will of God.
Everything must be done decently and in order.
The word church obviously means congregation.
We are the church, not this wall, not the light, and not this pulpit.
We the people here, right?
But we are under a leadership.
Pastor Shelley, he is the ordained minister of this church,
sent out by my pastor of my church to start a church.
Now he's originally from here, right, in Houston?
Or is he originally from somewhere else here in Texas?
I'm not too sure.
Amarillo? Okay, well, how far is that from here?
Far enough to not be from here.
So basically he decided to start his church here and that's a great blessing.
You know what I'm saying?
And you need to be under God's blessing, number one.
Abraham had the blessing of God to be sent out to go do this.
And it says in verse two, you need to be able to drop everything and do it all right now potentially.
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.
And I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
I'm going to pause here really quickly and just point out the elephant in the room.
So many Zionists like to point to this passage to now say that the current nation of Israel are under the blessing of God,
although they reject the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which just boggles the mind.
How the hell did you draw that from that one verse?
Well, obviously, if you bless them, then God will bless you.
No, no, God's talking to Abraham, him, Abraham.
Those that bless you, I will bless.
And obviously, we know, as it says in the book of Galatians, he's not saying as unto seeds as of many,
but he's saying as unto one and that seed is Jesus Christ.
Why would God bless a nation of people that do not believe on his son whom he has sent?
So many people point to that passage and say, hey, see, the nation of Israel, we are to bless them.
Even though they are, you know, promoting just the worst type of filth
and the worst type of blasphemy of our Lord and Savior.
And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee,
and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him.
And Abraham was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haram.
And Abraham took Sarah his wife or Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son or his nephew
and all their substance that they had gathered and the souls that they had gotten in Haram
and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan and into the land of Canaan they came.
Pause. Another aspect to what it means to be sent out is obviously you need to take your family with you.
Abraham brought Sarai his wife.
I keep saying Abraham, obviously we all know who I'm talking about, but at this point he's Abram.
It's like, I don't know, how often do we call Paul Saul?
No one ever is like, oh, Saul of the New Testament.
We always just say Paul. I just always say Abraham.
And simply, and even Sarai, I don't say Sarai once, I say Sarah said, you know, because same person.
But we need to take our family.
Now, I'm not saying take your in-laws and take your cousins and take everyone in your family,
but I am saying you need to take your immediate family.
And in this situation Lot goes with him, his nephew, which it's like David, you just said immediate family.
Lot's not immediate, but obviously in this situation for some reason his dad is not in the picture
or his mom's not in the picture and Abraham has taken responsibility of Lot.
To some form he's adopted him or has him under his wing.
So we need to, number one, if you're going to start a church, you need to have God's blessing on you.
You need to be ordained and sent out by a local Baptist church.
Number two, you need to drop everything.
I mean, Abraham was in his old age when he did this, right?
And was willing to take his family with him.
But let's keep reading and it says in verse six,
And Abraham, Abram, passed through the land unto the place of Shechem,
unto the plain of Moreh.
And the Canaanites was then in the land.
And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto thy seed will I give this land.
And there build he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel
and pitched his tent having Bethel on the west and Haai on the east.
And there he builded an altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Bethel is a word that basically means the house of God.
Now, once again, we are the church. We are the assembly.
We are believers in Christ.
The house of God could be representative of this building.
The place where we assimilate.
So obviously, if you're going to go start a church,
you need to have a place for them to meet.
Whether that be your house, whether that be a barn in your backyard,
whether that be a local park with a 20 by 20 tent,
whether it be a building like this where they see four walls and a roof.
We just need to take it upon ourselves and count the cost of what it means
to get a place for everyone to come together to do the work of God.
To send people out, to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
I mean, I'm looking at your map and I went soloing with you guys today
and it's like you guys are already making moves.
They're looking like a cancer sore and they're growing in different spots on your map.
And you need to have a place where you can get together
and have Bibles to give out, water to give out, invites and all these different things.
You need a strong house.
You need a place where we can get together and Abraham did that.
He built an altar under the Lord.
Now, I understand that an altar is different than that of the temple or the tabernacle,
but once again, this is a spiritual representation of what it means in the New Testament
for someone to go out and start a church.
Well, let me start off by saying this.
There is a difference between a pilgrimage and occupation.
Raise your hand if you've ever heard that term occupation in reference to a foreign invading army
or a foreign people occupying someone else.
For crying out loud, our southern border currently is wide open for sale
and everyone's funneling through.
In a sense, we are being occupied by another nation.
And you've got to realize that we as America, as the world leading empire,
are occupying a lot of different places.
It sits near and dear to me because in Hawaii, there is a current sovereign monarchy
that has not dissipated or disappeared.
It's still there.
The United States of America took over Hawaii and now it is a state, right?
It has gained statehood.
But that does not mean it's not occupying an already existing monarchy that's there.
And basically, think about Palestine in the Middle East.
They are occupying Israel and vice versa.
And there are so many examples of a people group going somewhere
and not necessarily pilgrimaging there.
They're not going there for spiritual purposes.
They're not going there to spread their faith or to do something for God
or what they believe to be doing something for God.
They're going there so that they can basically take over that country over time.
An example of this is, for instance, occupation may be defined
as the effective control of a foreign territory by hostile armed forces.
This definition devises from Article 42 of the Q Regulations of 1907,
which states that territory is considered occupied
when it is accurately placed under the authority of a hostile army.
And when a country is occupied, it's been invaded and taken over by foreign power.
This last meeting was first used during World War II,
referring to German occupation of France.
The United States currently, today, occupies about 750 bases
over the course of 80 different countries.
So tell me not that we're the leading empire of the world.
Don't tell me we're not.
We're obviously currently and have our hands and webs
and all these different places for foreign invasion to take over.
Now, just because our government's doing that, that does not mean we do that.
And I believe strongly, I can't necessarily prove this,
but I think logic would say that the evil governing body
that decided to start this America used the pilgrims and evangelists
as a way into these different places.
Because you need to, I guess, first, when you go somewhere, build culture.
And obviously, Native Americans weren't happy when pilgrims were coming in.
Now, I'm not going to go into that subject
because that's going to be its own message at another time.
But basically, people who are fleeing religious persecution of Europe,
playing the Roman Catholic Church, decided to come to these states
and start a new life here and evangelize the people of these American continents,
whether it be the people of the United States or the Canadians
or the people in Central America.
We're just evangelizing to everybody.
But over time, with us occupying them, we took over and now it's its own government.
And I know it's maybe a hard pill to swallow and people don't like hearing that,
but at the end of the day, that's what conquest is.
That's what imperialism really is.
They're going over to places and they're conquering them.
I mean, like I said earlier, they're known as colonists.
But realize that when Christians are going to do that,
people with evil intentions are going to backpack into that
and be like, yeah, we're with the Christians, but we want to know who your leaders are
and we're going to kind of take over in the process.
So we don't need to participate in that.
But number two, we're going to go into sojourners.
Sojourners.
Turn to your Bible, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 11.
What is a sojourner?
Okay, we get it, David.
A vagabond is someone who travels around, not necessarily for a good reason or for a good cause.
There's someone who's traveling around, being a derelict, living a degenerate lifestyle,
and not necessarily contributing to society.
What's a pilgrim?
A pilgrim is someone who goes around and for a faith reason, they go around and evangelize a region.
Now, a sojourner, a dictionary definition of a sojourner is a person who resides temporarily in a place.
The definition of sojourner in the dictionary is a temporary stay.
Another definition of sojourner is the stay or resident temporarily.
The Hebrew term and its translation conveys the basic idea that a person or group
is resigning either temporarily in a community and place that is not primarily their own
and is dependent on the goodwill of that community for their existence, basically.
And I'll give you a sentence definition.
My sojourn in the youth hostel was thankfully short.
After a brief sojourn in Holland to study Sanskrit, he moved to India.
We had been planning this little sojourn for several months.
He took his annual summer sojourn with his cousin, Catherine.
So think about a vacation.
That could be considered a sojourn.
You're going somewhere for a short period of time just to hang out.
You're not there to live there.
You're not there to permanently resign there.
You're not necessarily going to be there for over, I don't know, two plus years.
You're just there for a moment of time.
I think of like a college student, potentially a sojourning, if they're going to go study abroad
or they're going to go to a different college in a far distant land.
Or someone who's, I don't know, like I had mentioned earlier, doing humanitarian work
in like a third world country.
They're going to be there for two or three years helping with all kinds of diseases and stuff like that.
That would be a sojourner.
The Bible says in Psalms 39, 12,
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry.
Hold not Thy peace at my tears, for I am a sojourner with Thee
and a sojourner as all my fathers were.
And that's an example of what it means to just, you're there for a temporary time.
2 Corinthians, where I had you turn in chapter 11, verse 22.
Did I have you turn to chapter 11?
Chapter 11, verse 22, the Bible reads,
Are they Hebrews? So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they in the seed of Abraham? So am I.
Are they ministers of Christ? They speak as a fool.
I am more.
In laborings, more abundant. In stripes above measure.
In prison, more frequent. In deaths, off. Pause.
The Apostle Paul is trying to show an example that though people try to point to his ethnicity to be something of great,
he's basically saying he counts all those things, but dumb.
It's irrelevant where he's from or what he is ethnically.
And people don't realize that when you sojourn to different places,
sometimes people like, let's, I don't know, say someone from Mexico wants to come here.
Or someone who's Mexican here wants to go back to Mexico for a vacation.
It shouldn't matter that you're Mexican.
I believe that if you know where your family's from and you decide to take a journey there,
I think it'd be great to just kind of see what it's like.
But that doesn't mean you have to live there.
That doesn't mean you have to, like, so much ignorant Americans are like,
y'all be from Mexico, go back down there, live in Mexico.
It's like, hello, partner, like, whoa, this is the land of the free.
You know, we're wanting all peoples to come here and, you know, to share in our cultures.
Some people maybe want to, like, I don't know, visit where their ancestors are from.
I just think that's weird. I guess that's weird because I'm from Hawaii.
Once again, I'm a European. I don't ever see myself going to Europe.
I'm not interested in going to Europe.
Like, oh, I want to make a sojourn to Europe and see white people living a normal,
seeing crumpet life. I don't know.
Like, what do people in Europe really do? Not my thing.
But the Apostle Paul was a sojourner.
He was one that went to some 24 different regions.
I can read to you a list of some places he's been to.
Rome, Berea, Thessalonica, Corinth, Athens, Philippi, Troas, Ephesians, or Ephesus,
Antioch, Theodosia, Colossae, Iconium, Derbe, Cyprus, Tarsus, Damascus,
Samaria, Jerusalem. This guy's been around.
And what was he going around for? To preach the gospel.
This is why God was pleased with Paul.
Remember earlier I was saying, if we had a vision, as billionaires do,
for gaining their wealth on this earth, I believe the Apostle Paul did the same thing.
He was diversifying his assets.
He was trying to go around as Jesus Christ has commanded, preach the gospel to all people.
He said he labored more than they all abundantly.
So we can look at the Apostle Paul as a character who truly was a sojourner.
Now I'm sure he also lived in some places a little longer than others. I'm sure of it.
But that doesn't necessarily mean he was a pilgrim.
I would call him a sojourner because it's always temporary.
Now he ends up staying in Rome. That's his final destination.
So I guess you could say he pilgrim to Rome, but then again, he lived in Rome for a long time.
But let's keep going on and reading in verse 24.
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once was I stoned.
Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in the deep.
In journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers,
in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren,
in weariness and painfulness, in watchings oft, in hunger and thirst,
in fasting oft, in cold and nakedness.
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches, who is weak and I am not weak?
Who is offended and I burn not?
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forevermore, knoweth that I lie not.
So the Apostle Paul, in going around in his sojourning, was truly persecuted.
And you may in your life, as you potentially decide to take these sojourns,
I mean, I think what's so great about our movement is we have so many different churches
in so many different places, right?
And we were just talking about the Red Hot Preaching Conference,
which is coming up next week, brought to you in part by Red Hot Preaching Conference.
But truly, that's coming up here in a week.
And I've never been to one. I always want to go to one.
And everyone keeps talking about how great it is and how fun it is
and great preaching, men of God proclaiming the truth of the gospel
and all these great things. But I've never actually been to one.
And, you know, before I ever came here, I've never been to Texas.
So now I get to see Texas because of preaching the gospel.
We're going around and preaching. I think that's a blessing.
And people in our movement use vacations to go preach other places.
They use vacations to go preach the gospel.
I mean, think about if you want to go to an exotic destination like, I don't know,
the Bahamas or the Caribbean or Jamaica or Hawaii or New Zealand or all these places.
The people in this church and the people in churches like ours
realize that, like, hey, it's great to go to those places
after I've preached the gospel to the people there.
Then we'll have some fun.
And I think that's the greatest way to have a true, good, wholesome time with your family.
I mean, I've been to Spokane. Some people call it Spokane.
I've been to Spokane. I've been to Utah.
I obviously am from Hawaii. I've been to Arizona. I've been to Tucson.
And now Texas. All. Why?
Because God realized what was in my heart to go out and preach the gospel to the lost.
And Lord willing, if I have other opportunities, I'm going to take them.
And I encourage all of you to do the same.
To take sojourns, to take family vacations to the Red Hot Preaching Conference
or the Mighty Men Conference down in Steadpass.
And I was invited to it. I probably won't make it, but I'd like to go.
I don't know if any of you guys are going to go. It sounds fun.
But either way, I think it's important that we realize that there is a difference between pilgrim, sojourn, and vagabonds.
But at the end of the day, we are of the kingdom of heaven.
That is where our citizenship lies.
It's not in America. It's not in Hawaii. It's not necessarily even in Texas.
It's not in China, India, Japan, wherever we're talking about.
We are citizens with the saints in heaven.
Turn if you would to Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11, the great faith chapter.
We're talking about Abraham earlier, going into a far country.
And we're going to finish up his story in Hebrews chapter 11 from the lens of the New Testament in verse 8.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive, foreign inheritance, obeyed.
And he went out, not knowing whither he went.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
and heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed,
and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one, and of him as good as dead.
So many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sands which by the seashore are innumerable.
And the Bible is just clearly pointing out that Abraham saw this far off.
He knew that heaven was coming. He knew that what God said would come to fruition.
You will have children of the sands of the sea and stars of the sky, and you will inherit this kingdom.
He says, okay, I don't know where I'm going, how I'm going to get there, what it's going to be, but I'm going to do what you tell me.
You want me to go to Canaan? I'll go to Canaan.
And it goes on to read in verse 14,
For they that saw such things declared plainly that they seek a country,
and truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out,
they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country that is in heavenly.
Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.
And we're a part of that city.
Turn if you would to Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2 teaches the exact same thing.
I heard my pastor, Pastor Anderson, go to a border patrol checkpoint and quote this verse, this chapter, to the border patrol agents.
It was really funny because they keep asking people, give me your papers, where are you a citizen of?
And he goes, well, I'm a citizen of Israel.
And they're just like, what? Go to secondary.
And then he says, show me your papers, how do we know?
And he reads this passage right here.
And it says in verse 8, Ephesians 2a, For by grace are ye saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, and not of works, that any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands,
that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
Kids, that's not aliens like extraterrestrial with green eyes.
That's alien like a foreigner, just so you know.
And strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,
but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us,
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, containing ordinances,
for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace,
in that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
We are made citizens with the saints through the blood of Jesus Christ.
We are pilgrims and sojourners on this earth.
Currently, this is not our kingdom. This is not where our permanent destination will be.
We'll be with the Lamb in heaven when we die.
Now, yes, after the millennial reign, he's going to establish his kingdom on this earth,
but I've heard Pastor Thompson once mention this, that where we go and evangelize,
he believes that that's where you will inherit, like, you know, thrones and dominions.
If you invested in the people of Texas, then Jesus will make you rule and reign in Texas.
If you invest in the people of Arizona, you're going to rule and reign with the people of Arizona.
But what about someone like Paul who went to all these different places?
Now, you know, I can't dogmatically say that that's what's going to happen,
but I would not be shocked if that's how God decided to play out his, you know,
giving of gifts in the millennial reign, that where you decided to labor in,
there is where you will rule and reign.
And I just think it's very important for us to realize that this is not our permanent home.
To be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 2, 9,
that ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts,
which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles,
that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation.
The title of this message this evening is Pilgrim, Sojourners, and Vagabonds.
Fire heads and have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for allowing us this time,
allowing us the opportunity to be here to realize the importance of this world being but a brief moment
and that we're only pilgrims and sojourners while we're here.
Help us in our day and week and month to just always bring you honor and glory
and please just help us to just be pleasing in your sight.
In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.
Alright, turn to your last song, song number 467.
Song number 467, The B-I-B-L-E.
The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me,
I stand alone on the word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me,
I stand alone on the word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E.
Alright, great singing, you're all dismissed.
Thank you.