We thank you for this day, for the opportunity that you've granted to us to freely gather together to sing praises to your name and learn from your work.
We pray that you'd be with us for the service, that everything would be done decently and in order.
We just thank you also for the Naim family that they're able to be up here.
And I pray that you'd fill Brother Ben with your spirit. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, for our next hymn, 236. No, not 1. Hymn number 236. 236, not 1.
We'll sing there right on the 1st.
The most famous chapter because people start reading their Bible and often end it there to memorize.
And just for a show of hands, do I have a count for people who have quoted Galatians 1?
Okay, great. So we're going to have those prizes for this evening. Great job to you guys for doing that.
We do have a special guest this morning, Brother Ben Naim and his family from Steadfast.
Very thankful that they came up and looking forward to hearing the sermons this morning.
Me and Ben have been great friends for years, spent a lot of time together at Steadfast.
So it's definitely great to have them again.
And on the inside of our bulletins, we do have there the service times listed.
Sunday morning at 10.30, Sunday evening at 4.30, and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock.
We have our soul winning times listed there. All of those meet here at the church building.
And just to note, this afternoon we're going to be doing our SWAT team soul winning,
which for those of you who may not know, our SWAT team is our soul winning action team.
And that is when there's a tragedy in our community, such as a homicide or fire or something like that.
We like to send soul winners to that neighborhood shortly after the event
and preach the gospel to the surrounding area, to people who may have been affected by that tragedy.
And it's been very receptive. It's been a good program.
People often, if they're involved in that kind of stuff, are thinking about death more,
and so they could be more receptive to the gospel.
And so today we have three maps, two neighborhoods where homicides occurred,
and one where an apartment burned down.
So we're going to go to those areas, looking forward to that.
Also, you'll see our Saturday time is highlighted in gold there.
That's our Saturday rally. We meet at 10 o'clock.
We have a short soul-winning sermon, and we sing a hymn,
and then we go out soul-winning in very receptive areas.
That's been great.
Below that, we have our year-to-date statistics and awesome news.
We passed 1,000 salvations for the year in June,
so praise God for that. Really excited.
Our soul-winners in the Philippines have been doing really, really well,
and also just the soul-winning here locally has been
beating previous year's numbers as well,
so God is definitely blessing, and it's a great time to be soul-winning.
We do have our upcoming events.
Man, yesterday we had the Tinker Air Show, and I had a great time.
I grew up going to air shows every year of my life,
and this was probably the best air show I've been to in over a decade.
It might be one of the best ever. It was fantastic.
If you didn't go this year, I highly recommend you mark your schedule
and try to go with us next year, because I'd like to make this a yearly thing.
It was super fun hanging out with everyone, just having a good time.
And, you know, I don't feel super bad about doing that.
When we have a thousand salvations for the year, it's okay to have some fun, too.
So you guys are working hard and really faithful soul-winners,
so I'm honored to pastor a church of people that care about that.
We do have the upcoming events.
July 27th is the next men's preaching night, followed by a potluck.
August 2nd, we're going to be doing a soul-winning marathon in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
And that is the small town closest to OKC,
like within an hour of OKC that has the highest Native American population.
So that's why I chose this area.
And so we're going to go preach the gospel there, have a soul-winning marathon.
There'll be more details to come.
If you follow us on Facebook, I already kind of gave a rough itinerary
for what that day is going to look like.
And I'll have a sign-up sheet coming up shortly.
But I'm looking forward to preaching to that population.
We do have August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast.
Highly recommend. Go and check that out.
We do have October 6th through 11th, also the Bahamas Mission Trip hosted by Steadfast Baptist Church.
One other thing I wanted to let you guys know of is that July 1st is coming right up.
And so we're already six months through the year.
I made this Bible reading plan a few years ago.
This is just the personal plan that I really like that works for me.
It gets you through the Bible cover to cover twice in a year.
And the reason I like this plan is because it keeps you in the Old Testament and the New Testament throughout the year.
You know, some people, if you like to read Genesis to Revelation, great.
You know, whatever people are reading the Bible, you know, I'm happy for that.
But for me, this program gets you basically like three days in the Old Testament, one in the New.
Three days in the Old, one in the New, and it keeps that throughout the year.
So it keeps you in both parts of the Bible often.
And for me as a preacher, I really like that because I want to be balanced in the Bible I'm consuming.
I don't want to just be like in the Old Testament for six months and all you guys are hearing is Old Testament sermons for six months.
I like to keep that balanced.
So if you start this on July 1st, you'll finish it December 31st.
It'll get you through the Bible again in half a year.
So I do have those plans printed out.
You're more than welcome to take those and use them.
We do also have on the right our prayer list.
Make sure you're keeping these requests in prayer.
If you have any updates or requests, please email the church and I'd be happy to add those for you.
If you're a first time visitor this morning, I'd appreciate it if you scan that QR code.
And that is a visitor card that just gives us a record of your visit.
your email address to keep you updated with events and sermons and stuff like that in the future.
Also, if you are interested in giving to our church, there's another QR code below there
for online giving. That's going to be it for announcements. We'll go ahead and go to our third
song. All right, our third song this morning, number 212, "Oh Happy Day." Number 212, 212, "Oh
Happy Day." 212. We'll sing there starting on the 1st. "Oh Happy Day." "I've fixed my joys."
To Genesis chapter 28. "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him,
Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughter of Canaan, arise, go to Badanaram, to the house of
Bethuel, my mother's father, and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, my mother's
brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest
be a multitude of people, and give thee the blessing of Abraham to thee, and to thy seed with thee,
that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.
And Isaac sent away Jacob, and he went to Badanaram, unto Laban son of Bethuel the Syrian,
the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob,
sent him away to Badanaram, take him a wife from Benz, and that as he blessed him,
he gave him charge, saying thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,
that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Badanaram. And Esau,
seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father, then went Esau unto Ishmael,
and took unto thee the wives which he had, which he had, Mehaleth, the daughter of Ishmael,
Abraham's son, the sister of Nebuchadne to be his wife. And Jacob went from Beersheba,
and went toward Haran. And he lied upon a certain place, and tarried there all night,
because the sun was set. And he took the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows,
and laid down at that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth,
and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father,
and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west,
and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee, and in thy seed, shall all
the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places,
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again unto this land. For I will not leave thee until I
have done that which I have spoken to thee of." And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said,
"Durley, the Lord is in this place," and I knew it not. And he was afraid and said,
"How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of
heaven." Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows,
and set it up for a pillar, poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place
Bethel, but the name of the city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob bowed a vow, saying,
"If God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat
and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be
my God. In this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house, and of all that
thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, thank
you so much for our church. Thank you, Lord, for you, for your dad, as well as J. Thank you, Lord,
for brother Dan. Thank you, Lord, for your practice to a minimum and the piety of everything to our
hearts. Amen. I want to open by thanking Pastor Oz for the invitation to be here. It's a great
honor to be invited to preach for you guys and to be here at Anchor Baptist Church. Yes, this is
what I look like when I have a sunburn, so apparently just staring into the sun at the
air show for a few hours will do this to me, so you'll have to excuse the burnt look. We're there
in Genesis chapter 28. I really do, again, I just want to express my gratitude for the invite and
also for Pastor Oz's hospitality as well, him and his family. Very hospitable and, you know,
I really appreciate the chance to be here. So Genesis 28, we'll start in verse number 16,
and notice what the Bible read there, and Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said,
"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." And he was afraid and said,
"How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
So here in Genesis 28, this is after Jacob fled from Esau. Esau was deceived and it is a picture
of replacement theology with Jacob picturing the spiritual Israel, Esau picturing unbelieving Israel.
And he's on his way to Haran to find a wife from his mother's family. He stops for the night,
though, in a certain place which is later identified as Bethel. And he dreams about
a ladder going to heaven, Jacob's dream, a famous portion of scripture. Now this would seem on the
onset, from a surface level reading of the scripture, a little confusing, this sort of
interlude here in Genesis 28, in the sense that we have Esau getting deceived, then we have this
chapter where some mysterious things are happening in a place called Bethel, and then we move on with
Jacob's narrative in his life and finding a wife and etc., all these things that happen later on,
but I think the reason why this chapter is in our Bible is because there are some very important
lessons that we can derive from this portion of scripture about the house of God, and the title
of my sermon this morning is "This is none other but the house of God," and we see that in verse
17 there, that's why I'm getting the title of the sermon. "This is none other but the house of God,"
and the point of the message is really simple. When you boil it down, this is all I want you
to do this morning. I want you to love your church that much more. I want you to value
your church that much more. You say, "I already love my church. I already value my church." Well,
great. I want you to increase that emotion that you have toward this place. I want you to love
this place that much more. And we're going to look at lessons from Genesis chapter 28 that I think
will serve as motivation for you to do just that. Look at verse 18. The Bible says, "And Jacob rose
up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a
pillar and poured oil upon the top of it." Now, there's so much to dissect in this chapter that
you'll notice I'll probably be reading the same verses multiple times and talking about
different aspects of it as we go through. But we see that he uses a stone for a pillow. Doesn't
seem for me like the most comfortable pillow, but some people, they really like their pillow to be
super, super firm that it's practically a stone. So if that's you this morning, you could probably
relate to this. Look at verse 19, "And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of
that city was called Luz at the first." Now this is an important part of the chapter because we see
that this place, kind of mysterious at first, is referred to as Bethel. Now that name in it of itself
tells us what this is right here. It gives us actually the significance of the setting of this
chapter. I don't speak Hebrew but I do speak a little bit of Arabic. I think I have a rudimentary
knowledge of that language and Arabic derived from Hebrew of course. And so for me when I see this
word Bethel it makes a lot of sense because of the fact that if we break down the word we have those
first three letters B-E-T which is not black entertainment. This is different right here.
It's B-E-T and again it makes sense to me because the Arabic word for house is beth
and B-E-T is there beth is the first you know three letters here of this word Bethel.
And then of course L a reference to God, Allah. So that makes perfect sense to me that we're
talking about the house of God. So that's a long way of just explaining that Bethel is in reference
to is talking about and means the house of God. So this place is the house of God. That's where it
once dwelt. Now look at verse 22. "And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house
and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." So the stone, he used
it as a pillow. The stone is set for a pillar. The stone shall be God's house. Now the question
you might ask is why in the world would a stone be used to symbolize God's house? Well that leads
me to my first point which is this. Hey this is none other but the house of God and it's built
on Jesus Christ. The house of God is built on Jesus Christ and we know according to Scripture
that Jesus Christ is likened unto a stone. Let's look at 1st Peter chapter 2 in the New Testament,
1st Peter chapter 2. And while you flip over there I'll read from Colossians 1. 1st Peter chapter 2
is where I had you turn but the Bible tells us in Colossians 1 and he is the head of the body,
the church. Jesus is the head of the body. Jesus Christ is the head of the church who was the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Talking about his resurrection that in all things he
might have the preeminence. Jesus comes first. He should be at the top of every one of our priority
lists and make no mistake about it when it comes to the New Testament church. Yes, there's an
under shepherd. Yes, there's a pastor, but that pastor ought to submit to the leadership of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the head of the body. He is the head of the church. And given that Jesus
is the head of this place right here that we're all inside right now, the reason why you should
be here isn't to impress anybody else. It shouldn't be for any of these vain reasons to show off, to
show people how spiritual you are. Yes, we should let our light shine. Don't make no mistake about
that. I understand that. I get that. But those should be secondary reasons. And for sure there
shouldn't be any vain reasons that you're here. You shouldn't be here because you're just a fake
person and you want to look spiritual. You shouldn't be here for any of these meaningless
reasons. The reason why, the number one reason why we should go to church is simply because of
Jesus. It's all about Jesus. That's why we're here to serve Jesus Christ and if people would
actually remember that, it might actually prevent them from getting so disgruntled with their church.
If they realize the main reason I'm here is to serve Christ, then maybe they would stop taking
their church for granted. I was talking to somebody and I asked him, "Hey, big church,
small church, what do you prefer?" And he said, "You know what? It doesn't really make a huge
difference to me because no matter what I'm gonna go about my business and I'm just gonna serve
Christ." And you know what? That's how it should be. Whether you're in a big church, whether there's
300 people here or whether there's 100 people here or whether there's 30 people here, no matter
what the numbers are, serve Christ. No matter what the numbers are, put Christ first. No matter what
the numbers are, remember the reason you're here, Jesus. It's all about Jesus. He is the foundation
on which this church is built, and 1st Peter chapter 2, I believe, teaches us that when it says
in verse number 6, "Wherefore also what is contained in the scripture," verse number 6, "behold,
I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. Jesus likened unto a stone, elect, precious, and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded." Jesus Christ is that chief cornerstone that the Bible
is talking about in 1 Peter chapter 2, on which our faith is built. The Bible tells us for "other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid," which is Jesus Christ. Jesus is not just a stone,
though. We know he's the foundation. We know he's the stone. But he's also the Word. Jesus, John
chapter 1, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And it
goes on to tell us that the Word was made flesh. And you'll have to excuse me. I don't know why my
voice is giving out. So I'm going to try to be as loud as possible here. You'll have to bear with
me. Turn, if you would, to Matthew 7, Matthew chapter 7. So Jesus is the stone. He is the
foundation on which this church is built. He's also the Word of God. So how do we apply that?
Well, I have the Word of God with me this morning. This is the Word of God. And I want to make a
statement here. It's going to sound jarring at first, but I believe it. And Positive Pastor
Oz does as well. Folks, let me introduce you to Jesus. The Word was God. Now, I'm not talking
about the binding. I'm not talking about the physical components of this book. I'm talking
about the words. This is Jesus Christ right here. If you want to draw closer to Jesus, you do it
with this book. It's that simple. And given that we know Jesus is the head of the church,
what that means practically is that this is the head of the church. This is what the church
is built on. Why? Because it is strong, because it is unmovable, because it is settled. And folks,
I'm talking about the King James Bible. I'm talking about the perfectly preserved word of
God, which is unchanging, which is unmovable, which is settled, which we can have confidence
in, because there will not be updates. It's done. It's finished. It's perfect. Look at verse 24,
Matthew chapter 7 verse 24. This is a King James only church. Verse 24, it says, Matthew 7 24,
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do with them, I will liken them unto a wise
man," notice, "which built his house upon a rock." Jesus is a stone. The stone is the word of God.
And if you build your house on a rock, which is the word of God, Jesus Christ, expect to be
persistent through the trials of life. Look at verse 25, "And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not." Why? "For it was founded upon a
rock." Now this can apply to individuals, but this can apply also to a church. And it applies to this
church right here. The reason why, even if there are rains, and floods, and winds that beat upon
anchor Baptist church, the reason why it'll sustain itself is because it's built on the rock of the
Word of God. This is a house that has been built on a rock. And again, it is an unchanging rock
known as the King James Bible. We don't have to worry about them, you know, these the textural
critics of our day coming up with any updates for our Bible, but that's not the case for a lot of
churches. Look at verse 26. "And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not
shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand." So someone who's
disobeying Christ metaphorically has built their house upon the sand. "And the rain descended and
the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of
it." A disobedient person to Christ's commands have basically built their house on sand.
But what I wanted to do is really focus on the rock versus the sand in this analog right here
in this passage and say this, "It is my belief that the reason why so many Christians are
disobedient, the reason why so many..." You know there's a question of what came first,
the chicken or the egg. But in my mind, the reason why so many churches have departed from
the doctrines of Christ is because of the Bible they are using. They are not built on rock,
they're built on sand. And the problem with sand is that it shifts. It's moveable. It's not firm,
like a rock would be. So why is it that churches fail then? Why is it that churches end up not
doing anything for the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, they've either departed from this or they're not
even using this. They're using a counterfeit. And what happens when they use a counterfeit?
What happens when they use these modern versions of the Bible? What happens is, well, it's no
coincidence they end up having an antipathy for hard preaching. You don't really hear hard preaching
from these NIV churches, do you? No. You see purple lights. You see a smoke show. You see a
flimsy glass pulpit. You see a pastor, a fake pastor in skinny jeans. That's what you see.
And you know what? I think when you boil it down, it comes down to the Bible that they're reading.
You know, these churches are not doers of the word. They're hearers only. But how can they do
the word when they don't have the word? How can they do the word when their Bible is constantly
being updated? You say, what are you talking about? Obviously, the underlying text of the
King James Bible is known as the received text of scripture, and it is settled. There will not be
any updates to the Greek and the Hebrew that underlines this book right here. The Masoretic
text of the Old Testament, the Old Testament Hebrew, the received text in Greek will not
change. But when it comes to these modern Bible versions, do you realize the Greek underlying
the modern versions is called the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, is on its 28th edition.
It's 28th edition. That means there were 27 other ones. And guess what? In 2029, I believe
they're coming out with the 29th edition of their Greek New Testament and there will be more changes
they make to the text. And you'll see modern Bible versions come out with updates reflecting
the changes made to the underlying Greek of their Bibles. That's what's going to happen.
The textual critics of our day, now they're coming up with new ways to cast doubt on the Word of God.
They talk about their method, their new method of text criticism, the coherence-based genealogical
method, where they use a computer to filter through parchments and manuscripts and cast
even more doubt on the Bible. So far they've done it on James through Jude. They're going to apply
it to the Gospels and I think in the future there's going to be more passages of Scripture
that they tell us shouldn't be in our Bible. And they already do that today. They tell us the woman
taken in adultery shouldn't be in our Bible. They tell us the 1st John 5-7, fancy theological
term for it. You could just say 1st John 5-7. 1st John 5-7, not supposed to be in our Bible
according to these people. There's so many different elements of Scripture they want to
take out they say is a spurious addition and folks that list will continue to grow and grow and grow
as these Bible changers come up with updates to their text but one thing we never have to worry
about in our churches one thing we have never have to worry about if you go to a church that's built
on the rock of the King James Bible you'll never have to worry about this ever changing you'll
never have to worry about an update being made to this text because this is a rock it's not sand
and so as a result you can be confident in building your life on this because we are
certain of what the word of God is and it is the foundation on which this church is built let's go
back to Genesis 28 Genesis chapter 28 you know it was Jesus who said thou art Peter and upon this
rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it that's a promise do
you believe it or not so what does that tell me it just assures in Matthew 7 it talked about those
who do the word even when the storms of life hit they will be able to sustain that here Jesus
makes a promise the gates of hell shall not prevail against the new testament church that's
been built on the rock that has the rock as a foundation so here's what that tells me we are
on the winning side because Jesus is the head of the church we are on the winning side it doesn't
matter how many articles they write to try to smear and besmirch anchor baptist church the
gates of hell will not prevail against it it's that easy it's that simple it's not hard to
understand it doesn't matter how many filthy disgusting pedophile faggots get offended at
the preaching of God's word the gates of hell shall not prevail against this place why because
it's built on the rock no matter what happens whether protests are in your future and i know
there were some tiny ones here in the past an animal showed up a while ago i understand that
maybe there's more of that coming in the future potentially but it doesn't matter it doesn't
matter because the gates of hell shall not prevail against it this place right here it doesn't matter
what the opposition does our attitude should always be bring it on we're just going to keep
preaching we're not afraid of you we have christ on our side we're not afraid of you bring it on
look at genesis chapter 28 in verse 10 and jacob went out from biersheba and went toward heyran
and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set and he
took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep
so as jacob journeys to heyran he takes of the stones and i talked about the stone being used
as a pillow i talked about how it is the word of god jesus christ on which this church is built
but what you'll notice in the text is stones plural multiple stones in the vicinity why is
that because the house of god is built with stones we are those stones my second point is this this
is none other but the house of god and it's made up of believers it's made up of believers let's
head back to where we were in second peter chapter two and talk a little about this the house of god
is made up of believers we know jesus is at the head i've already talked about that but in verse
five in second peter chapter two we see that believers are also likened under stones and it
says in verse five ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ so in the old testament there was a
physical house of god a temple in which the high priest would go and offer sacrifices well in the
same way in the new testament we have the local church in which believers show up we make up the
church and we offer spiritual sacrifices to god so what are these these are praying to god praising
god and we offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice the bible says but my point is this
church is not a building i don't know you've heard it so many times but it's a truth that i
think needs to be reiterated church is not a building it's the people and it's for the saved
and this is my problem with old ifb churches let me preface by saying old ifb churches that have
the gospel right and are preaching hard and going soul winning i love them i'm not trying to cast
shade this is all i'm saying the mentality that says we need to preach the gospel in the sermon
and that's all we're going to preach to get people saved is wrong because the church is supposed to
be for people who are already saved now if an unsaved person walks in of course we give them
the gospel on a one-on-one basis no question about that but when it comes to the preaching of god's
word if you attend this church with regularity you'll notice that the messages are geared toward
people who are already christian who are already saved and the messages are geared to provoke you
to serve christ better to add works to the faith you already have because the church is supposed to
be made up of believers those who are already saved and because of that because all this is
spiritual because the church is a group of people it's not about carnal things it's a it's a group
of people because of that you have to understand this the enemy will try to attack this place
carnally thinking they can destroy it that way not understanding since they're not saved that this is
a spiritual place and it is not built physically it's built with people now look we have to you
have to have a place to meet and i understand that but this is all i'm trying to to say is that even
if hypothetically god forbid this would ever happen but even if you lose a building even if you lose
finances even if you lose these material things they can't take you now of course they could
potentially take our lives i get that then we would just go to heaven so it's kind of a win win
anyway but this is what i'm trying to say it doesn't matter where you meet hey hypothetically
you can meet in a parking lot but if there's a man of god getting up with the word of god in
his hand that's church because it's made up of believers let's go back to genesis 28 genesis
chapter 28 you know at steadfast baptist church there was a time period where we were going
through super intense persecution and the devil through his minions tried to do everything possible
to stop us they tried to take our building they tried to take our finances they tried to
discourage us they tried to threaten us they did everything that they can to try to stop us but
you know what we just went from hotel room to hotel room we just what we met it didn't matter
where it was i'll give you another example first works baptist church bombed by faggots you know
what happened afterward they went and they met in a literal tent somewhere because it's not about
the building or materialistic items it's about the people you make up the church genesis 28 look at
verse 18 you say i don't like the words you're using well i'm leaving afterwards so don't worry
about it you can complain if you don't like it but you know he uses the same words so i'm not sure
he's going to be sympathetic genesis 28 look at verse 18 genesis 28 look at verse 18 and jacob
rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for
a pillar and again i know i'm reading the same verses but we're looking at different aspects of
it look notice the end portion here and poured oil upon the top of it he poured oil upon the top of
it what does this tell us well there's so many layers here but this picture is the holy spirit
my third point is this is none other but the house of god and it has the spirit of god the spirit of
god is in here the spirit of god is in here turn if you would to exodus 25 exodus 25 jacob pours oil
on the stone picturing the fact that the house of god contains the spirit of god and make no mistake
the spirit of god is here this morning he's in you you're sealed with the holy spirit of god
you can be filled with the spirit if you do works if you actually walk in the new man your revived
spirit but i want to make a point first of all though i want to show you something in exodus 25
that is relevant and will undergird the application i'm about to make let's look at verse 31 exodus
25 and verse 31 and thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold of beaten work shall the candlestick
be made his shaft that is branches his bowls his knaps at his flowers shall be of the same so the
tabernacle the mobile tabernacle it required a candlestick to be made and jesus himself in
the book of revelation draws a parallel between the candlestick and the church there is a parallel
there the candlestick contained six total branches six total branches stemming from that middle stick
now let's skip down to verse 33 verse 33 the bible says three bowls made like unto almonds
with an op and a flower in one branch and three bowls made like there's that word again
almonds in the other branch with an op and a flower so in the six branches that come out of
the candlestick so each branch contains bowls made like unto almonds now this is significant
and i'll tell you why let's look at exodus 27 now exodus chapter 27 we have a candlestick it has
that middle portion there the stick six branches coming out of it we see almonds also involved in
the building of this candlestick or in its components what it's supposed to be made of the
bowls made like unto almonds and i don't believe that anything in the scripture is incidental or
coincidental or accidental i think there's a lesson that we can learn from even passages like this
that sometimes christians will gloss over and not really think about but when you look a little
deeper there's something very interesting here look at verse 20 exodus 27 and verse 20 and now
shout command the children of israel that they bring the pure oil now remember in genesis 28
what is it that jacob poured on the stone it was oil oil is brought up again in exodus 27
pure oil olive beaten for the light so the oil is for the light but pay attention to this
to cause to cause the lamp to burn always the oil is what causes it is the catalyst for the light
that's what the scripture saying so what is it that empowers the lamp to burn always the oil well
here's the thing what is it that empowers the new testament church to emit light oil aka the holy
spirit of god the holy spirit of god oil representing the spirit so just as that
candlestick produced light it's the holy spirit of god that enables the church to produce light
to produce truth to produce true doctrine why can you come here and hear true doctrine why is it that
you come here and it's a doctrinally sound church i would say the holy spirit of god it is that oil
causing the lamp to burn to bright excuse me to burn brightly in a in a dark world that's getting
darker and darker seemingly the holy spirit is what empowers a church to be guided into all truth
and by the way remember how i mentioned almonds well it's those almonds that remind us that the
spirit of truth produces fruit you know in number 17 when there was a dispute about who was in charge
and god wanted to make it clear he had erin's rod bud with almonds he added bud in other words with
fruit which is a lesson for us to understand that we can identify that which is legitimate through
fruit we can identify that which is legitimate and validate it with fruit because the fruit tells us
the spirit of god is there and that's why i think almonds are included in that candlestick to to show
us that and give us that lesson but here's the thing you know there's a reason why random people
will walk up to us and ask us are you with steadfast baptist church as has already been
mentioned hey that happened yesterday i thought it was a hater at first i was preparing my you know
debate responses here like how am i gonna debunk this person but they actually turned out to be a
fan we're getting ready to leave the air show and she comes up to us and asks us are you with
steadfast baptist church hey brings up pastor mehia pastor anderson and pastor shelley how's that
possible we're just uh you know comparatively speaking to some of these mega churches steadfast
is small compared to those other churches probably on the bigger side compared to other ifb churches
i would say you know this church in cedar hill texas is known by a random lady in oklahoma how's
that possible well i would argue because steadfast baptist church is filled with the spirit of god
how is it that people know about pastor mahiya and pastor anderson and these other great men
of god it's because they themselves are filled with the spirit of god and it's because their
churches are filled with the spirit of god and it's so funny to me because people will try so
hard to discredit the work being done here and in places like this one they'll try so hard to do it
and they'll go as far as to say this oh yeah i know they get like you know thousands of people
saved a year but they're still wicked oh you know yeah yeah you know that church yeah they're doing
mission trips all over the world and they're getting thousands saved locally and they're
preaching a gospel every day and they're doing soul winning and they're getting many people saved
and they're getting people baptized and all that yeah yeah i get that but you know what the the
pastor is still this wicked evil person who shouldn't be pastoring um excuse that that's
this isn't computing in my head you want to know why it's not computing here because it's not
biblical have you ever read john 15 hey the bible makes it clear fruit is what actually helps you
to validate whether a church is authentic so you sit there oh it doesn't matter how many people
they get saved they're still wicked uh excuse me do you just like reject the bible i think the
answer is yes they don't care what the scripture says you know fruit is what makes a church
authentic fruit is proof that yes this place is filled with the spirit of god and that's why
there are enemies on in a constant mode of attack because this place is filled with the spirit of
god unfortunately bad people bad people will be attracted to truth why not because they believe
in it not because they want anything even to do with it it's because they know no matter how small
or big a church is if it's preaching truth it's a threat to them because people have to understand
this let's go back to genesis 28 genesis chapter 28 the church that's producing fruit is a church
that's filled with the spirit of god period and it's a church i love look at verse 10 genesis
28 and verse 10 and jacob went out from birshiba and went toward hayran and he lighted upon verse
11 and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set and he took
of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep i
already made reference earlier to jacob using stones for a pillow why well my fourth point is
this hey this is none other but the house of god and it's where we are comforted by the scriptures
it's where we are comforted by the scriptures yes we've already rested in christ for salvation
but i do believe that the scripture can act as a means for us to be comforted in a world
that has you know that will often give us tribulation and hardship this is a place where
you can be comforted by the scriptures notice what the bible says in romans 15 let's go there
romans chapter 15 we rest on jesus positionally but we can rest on impractically in our lives as
well romans chapter 15 is where i had you turn let's look at verse four romans 15 and verse four
for whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures there's that pillow whenever we're comforted for by the
scriptures it's like we're jacob and we're we're resting on this right here figuratively hey the
scriptures produce for us what patience endurance steadfastness but also comfort encouragement
consolation during during hard times and you know reading the bible will give you that and and we
should have a personal bible reading time of course we need to be reading the bible every single day
as christians but you know what when we come to this church when you go to other like-minded
churches that are preaching the word of god it's where you can also be comforted by that preaching
you could be comforted by that preaching because it's based on this you could be
comforted by the scriptures and i'm talking about stories like abraham's faith you know i'm talking
about hey daniel's deliverance that you can hear about if you go to a church that's actually
preaching the word of god his deliverance from the lion's den david's deliverance from the many
battles that he waged against the heathen it all gives us hope it all gives us comfort it all
reminds us that hey we're on that winning side like i've already talked about it it gives us hope
and it reminds us of the fact that there's nothing too hard for the lord you know as the
news rages on the news cycle continues to churn and it's one thing after another a few years ago
is you know covid and then and then recently it's oh you know world war three we're on the precipice
of world war three and it's just constant paranoia and constant anxiety and they want you to be scared
and they want you to be just you know losing your mind about what may happen and you know this
politician said something and you know this other one he's talking about going to war and all that
and look i get being concerned and things like that but you know we need to be careful not to
be so you know paranoid and we need to be careful not to let the news turn us into a bunch of
terrified christians acting like we have no hope because at the end of the day it doesn't matter
what's what's going on out there when we come here we can be comforted by the fact that the bible
tells us hey i have been young and now i'm old yet have i not seen the righteous forsaken nor his
seed begging bread so live like it and if you struggle with that increase your church attendance
so you can hear sermons reminding you of scriptures like that one reminding you of what the bible says
on these issues let's go back to genesis 28 now look church is also a place where you're not going
to hear just positive you're going to hear negative too and i'll get into that later but it's both look
at verse 11 when you get back to genesis 28 and feel free to put something there if you don't
maybe a finger or whatever some object to save your place because we're going back and forth
genesis 28 verse 11 and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun
was set and he took the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and laid down in that
place to sleep and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to
heaven and behold the angels of god ascending and descending on it so he sets up pillows he
sleeps and dreams about a ladder going up to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it
and this is the antithesis of the tower of babel which pictures work salvation man's failed attempt
at working their way up to heaven which doesn't work they get scattered but here we have salvation
by faith pictured jesus that ladder and angels of god messengers ascending and descending on it
we've placed our faith in jesus christ but we're also a messenger to a lost and dying world to get
them saved as well to get them onto the ladder of christ rather than the tower of babel figuratively
my fifth point is this this is none other but the house of god and it provides access to heaven
it provides access to heaven it's a gate through which people can gain access to heaven what am
i talking about i'm talking about the fact that it's the local church that provides access to
heaven through soul winning making known the mystery of the gospel going out into a lost and
dying world and helping them understand that salvation is by grace through faith alone
on the lord jesus christ and look at verse 16 in genesis 28 it says and jacob awaked out of
his sleep and he said surely the lord is in this place and i knew it not and he was afraid and said
how dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of god and this is the gate of heaven
it is the gate of heaven it provides access to heaven meaning that it preaches the gospel of
christ helping people understand how to get to heaven that's what i mean by that now this makes
sense you know john one says you don't have to turn there hereafter ye shall see heaven open and
the angels of god ascending and descending upon the son of man jesus is that ladder by which souls
go to heaven it's by christ not their own effort not their own works not some other false god it's
only through jesus christ and in romans 10 it tells us and how shall they preach except they be sent
where are they going to get sent from here where are they going to get sent from a church like this
one a soul winning baptist church those are the churches that are sending people out so the next
time you feel a little disgruntled or you start to take this place for granted or maybe familiarity
begins to breed content why don't you remind yourself hey this this city needs the gospel if
it's not going to be anchor baptist church the question is who's going to do it at the scale
that this place is who's going to emphasize soul winning if it's not being emphasized here who's
going to preach the gospel with clarity if it's not going to happen here and look i get it there's
other good churches i'm not talking about them but the reality is most churches are not preaching
the gospel most churches don't care that souls are going to hell it's embarrassing say why is
church so important why should you value it well how about this it's not just a place for you to
be exhorted to clean up your life it's a place for you to be exhorted to pull other people out of the
fire and oklahoma city needs a group of people who are willing and who are ready and who are able
to go to places that are in total darkness and give them the light of the gospel sometimes places
where there was a a recent tragedy that's why there's a swat soul winning you know brand that
has been established here where you go to a place where they maybe there was a natural disaster that
happened or a murder or something like that and you go and you give them the light of the gospel of
christ to give them some hope look at verse 16 it says and jacob awaked out of his sleep and
said surely the lord is in this place and i knew it not hey he felt that hey this is where the
presence of god is and you know what the presence of god is here as well and this is why preaching
is powerful is because of the presence of god i already talked about the holy spirit but we also
know that preaching compelling us to go out and reach the lost compelling us to go soul winning
is is extremely powerful and it changes lives and it turns them into a soul winner and it helps
christians understand the reason why they're even on this earth to begin with and this is the gate
of heaven not just sending people out but exhorting people also to go out themselves look at verse 17
and he was afraid and said how dreadful you notice that word right there how dreadful is this place
this is none other but the house of god and this is the gate of heaven places described as dreadful
now i told you that it was a place where yeah we're comforted by the scriptures no question
there's positive things as well but my sixth point is this is none other but the house of god
it'll make you fear god it'll make you fear god look at ecclesiastes 12 ecclesiastes chapter 12
you come here you're comforted maybe you're going through a hard time you hear a sermon
reminding you of scriptures that make you feel a little bit better you come here you're exhorted
to go soul winning but you know what else when you come here you're also provoked to fear god
you're provoked to fear god to have a healthy fear of god and this is what we should do look
at verse 13 ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear god
fear god what is it that some people don't understand about this fear god and keep his
commandments for this is the whole duty of man your responsibility as a christian is to fear god
you say why the chastisement of god whom the lord loveth he chasteneth and scourges every son whom
he receiveth yeah we're saved i get that hell's off the table i get that but that doesn't mean
that god couldn't ruin our lives if he wanted to if we decided to turn back into the world
and and and embrace sin yeah he can wreck us all right and here's what i like is that for a lot of
pastors one of their goals yes it's to get you to serve christ better but here's the means by which
they do that one of their goals is to get their con is to let me put it to you this way it's to
put the fear of god in every single one of their church members through the preaching of his word
warning you so that you think twice before you commit fornication so that you think twice before
you choose the alcohol bottle you go out and drink and do that which has been preached against
behind this pulpit so that you think twice before you go around railing and backbiting and acting
like an ungrateful brat so you think twice about that before you descend into that nonsense you
think twice about it because the preaching of god's word that you heard from the pulpit telling you
hey you need to fear god if that's the decision you choose to make for your life god can and will
wreck you so you think twice before you go down the the downward spiral of sin make no mistake
about it the pastor who loves you wants you to fear god so you think twice before you backslide
so you think twice before you make horrible decisions in your life that will destroy you
they will destroy you and i've seen it happen so many times with people where they just go in the
complete opposite direction from what they've been taught and they become a person that they
used to dislike that they used to that they used to actually warn against they become that person
they become the railer they become the backbiter they become the nasty horrible person that they
once stood against why they discarded the preaching of the word of god and they went
down a downward spiral of sin well it's important for us to fear the lord and this is the place
where that will happen where you're warned against choosing that path so you make better
decisions for your life and that's why people who come with regularity you'll notice change
if they apply the if they actually apply the preaching obviously if they're showing up to
take a nap you might not notice very much change but if they're here taking it seriously
getting plugged in applying the preaching to their life you'll notice change you'll notice
change and it's because of hard preaching which by the way is corrective so don't get offended by it
yeah maybe maybe your toes are stepped on every once in a while my toes have been stepped on
courtesy of preaching my toes have been stomped i love it give me more i need it let's look at
genesis 28 again why is church important it's where we're provoked to fear god and you know
what you know what pisses me off i'm just going to say it people who claim the name of christ
and have no fear of god people who claim the name of jesus christ and have zero fear of god
you are a hypocrite how could you claim to believe this text and act in a way where you
demonstrate zero fear of god somebody who claims to believe the bible and then they're donating
to ryan's skin you know one in a trillion skin fundraiser disease fundraiser don't you believe
the bible you're gonna donate to some apostate reprobate who stole money from steadfast you know
you have no fear of god zero fear of god how could you know how could a supposed preacher of god's
word get up and lie intentionally conflating practical and positional sanctification on purpose
to tell other christians you don't have to follow the commandments at all to be right with the lord
how how do you just lie intentionally like that joe jones how do you just lie to your people like
that because you have no fear of god that's how you can just lie indiscriminately about what the
bible says how could you claim christianity you know i'm just gonna say it it's okay you know
i'm sure he's all right with this how could you claim christianity you put on a shirt that says
john 3 16 you put on you know these scriptural t-shirts and then you pick up your phone and you
prank call adult areas adult establishments and make some of the most filthy disgusting
reprobate jokes imaginable cassidy campbell stay away from that youtube channel let me tell you why
no fear of god no fear of god what he could do to you for representing him in the worst way
imaginable the worst way imaginable that is disgusting that is filthy that is abominable
and if you're an actual bible believing christian with the spirit of god in you and you're filled
with the spirit of god how in the world could you act like that and not be embarrassed for the way
that you are representing christ use your head bud i guess you don't have a brain and given the
content that you produce that is obvious let's go back to genesis 28 i think i already told
you to do that look at verse 22 and this stone which i have set for a pillar shall be god's
house and of all that thou shalt give me i will surely give the tenth unto thee so the stone is
set for a pillar which by the way it sustains it holds weight it is a foundation this is the new
testament church it is a pillar look at first timothy chapter three first timothy chapter
number three my seventh point is this this is none other but the house of god and it is the pillar
and ground of the truth it is the pillar and ground of the truth i had you turn to first
timothy three where we can prove that from the bible but notice well you could just listen to
this the quote that i have for you from isaiah 59 it says for truth has fallen in the street
and equity cannot enter it is amazing to me how we live in a world that blatantly denies reality
why truth has fallen in the street and so it denies reality this world does you have riots
going up and down the streets burning cities down by degenerates and what does the media say
peaceful protest why truth has fallen in the streets you have christ hating christ rejecting
jews labeled as god's people why truth has fallen in the streets i mean it is so bad
i saw this video of greg lock like clothing himself in in like an israeli garb and celebrating the
destruction of al-aqsa the the mosque and he's just so excited for that mosque getting blown up and
the anti-christ temple getting built he's just like so excited for it he's so happy he can't wait
and this guy is just like worshiping israel he's he's got a shofar blowing and they're like they're
practically and they're not literally doing this but they're basically bowing down to israel they're
bowing down to jews how how are there churches like this that even exist because truth
has fallen in the street that's why and it's just so frustrating and especially recently like i've
noticed that there's so many people and and it's become mainstream which is good news to you know
critique israel and be against israel and i understand that but there's still a lot of
churches where they're just completely obsessed with israel they're just completely obsessed with
jews it's just jew jew jew all day that's all they care about it's like israel first and jew
first and just jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew that's all it's just jews everywhere jews
to the left jews to the right jews in the sky jews on the ground jew all over the place worshiping
jews bowing down to jews israel first jew first love the jew have to love the jew god's chosen
people jew jew jew jew jew jew jew can you focus on anything else and then there's like the other
side that are like the the jew hatersers where it's just look and of course i hate the religion of
judaism no question about that and the reprobate jews i hate as well but my point is is like then
there's people where it's just all they want to talk about is hating jews all day long no can we
be more balanced here let's look at first timothy 3 that didn't have a lot to do with what i was
preaching on so let's get back on track it says in verse 15 but if i tarry long that thou mayest
know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of god which is the church of the living god
the pillar and ground of the truth here's another reason why you should love your church it's a
beacon of light a beacon of truth this is a beacon of truth ladies and gentlemen it is a
beacon of truth in a dark world and the pillar of and ground of the truth this is where you can go
to actually you know hear the truth on different subjects that are going on in this world through
the lenses of scripture current events through the lenses of scripture how we should as christians
react to things that are happening through the lenses of scripture let's look at genesis 28
again you know i like those sermons that are about something that occurred in the news in light of
the bible so you can get a christian perspective because there's so many other perspectives out
there that you can get from fox news and from conservative talk radio that don't reflect what
the bible says now in genesis 28 we're in verse 16 and jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said
surely the lord is in this place and i knew it not let's skip down to verse 22 and this stone
which i have set for a pillar shall be god's house and of all that thou shalt give me i will surely
give the tenth unto thee so this is hey this is the house of god where tithing takes place
where you give a tenth of what you have we know that it's dreadful it's where god's presence
dwelt it's the gate of heaven it's it provides access to heaven church is vital for your walk and
exhorting you to fear god but my last point is this this is none other but the house of god
and it should not be forsaken hey jacob i think he demonstrates for us the value that he places
in the house of god it's consecrated with a with a pillar we have oil represented as well he refers
to it as dreadful we see just how much value he places there in bethel and we should mirror that
exact you know behavior there and value this place we should value this place with everything
we've got and and so given that hey the house of god is built on jesus christ it's made up of
believers it's where we're comforted by the scriptures it provides access to heaven by way
of soul winning it'll make you fear god it has the spirit of god it's the pillar and ground
of the truth given that all these things describe the church and describe this one specifically why
in the world would you forsake it just help me understand that why would you do that it just
doesn't make sense why would you ever take it for granted do you realize how special it is
to be here do you realize how special it is to not have to worry about hearing lies from behind the
pulpit and false doctrine you realize how special that is to have a place that emboldens you to go
out and preach the gospel you don't have to turn there i'll quote it not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more
as you see the day approaching we need to be going to church more not less as we inch closer
and closer to the end times but the bible is clear don't forsake the assembly don't quit don't get
weary and stop coming and here's what you have to keep in mind god picked bethell that's a place
it was later the mobile tabernacle it was shiloh it was the physical temple it's the physical
nation of israel if you want to serve the lord to the fullest where do you go you physically in the
old testament immigrate to israel and that's where you serve god and people became jews the
bible says that was possible well in the new testament where do you physically go to serve
god it's right here it's church you go to church you don't watch it online you don't watch it on
youtube you don't watch it on rumble with their horrible ads which are all scams you don't that
no it's not online it's here physically in the presence of the man of god and let me tell you
something he's encouraged by your presence you know what he wants you here he wants you dialed
in he wants you to hear the preaching that he's prepared for you so show up don't forsake this
place don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but so much the
more oh i could just watch on youtube nope there weren't no youtube in the old testament they had
to physically be there and you know what you have to physically be here you say i'm sick okay you
can stay home come back when you're better i get that but you're able-bodied you're able to come
you need to show up physically in the house of god the bible says feed the church of god which
he hath purchased with his own blood jesus christ purchased the church with his blood and then people
they let familiarity breed contempt anyway you know what you're telling me you don't value what
christ did for this church you don't value what christ did for the new testament church in general
when you do that when you become that person do not forsake this place love it more love your
day because i love god and i love his people and i love his his prophets i love the man of god love your church more today than you did yesterday value your church more today than you did yesterday cherish it respect it contribute to it get plugged into it and you know what be grateful for it that's the whole point of this sermon just be grateful for this place be grateful for your pastor be grateful for his family and the sacrifices that he's making for you you know
when he's preparing when he's working hard to prepare sermons and deliver them for you and
and teach you and exhort you and and try to goad you to do that which is right that is a
selfless service for you be grateful for him for that and you know what don't ever forsake this
place don't ever forsake it don't allow familiarity to breed contempt don't get bitter don't listen to
the haters who want to poison your mind you tell that person to get lost remember folks this is
none other but the house of God and I talked about all of its attributes this is none other but the
house of God was the title of my sermon so here's what I would want you to do and what I want to
exhort you to do and what I hope that you would do after you leave here thank God for it realize
what you have and you thank God for anchor Baptist Church let's buy our heads for a word of prayer
Father in heaven we thank you for this church and help us to understand hey this is none other but
the house of God help us to value this place help us to cherish it and to love it and to truly get
plugged into it and and Lord I just pray that if there's anyone here who maybe is struggling in
this area that they would decide you know what I'm gonna show up three times a week I'm gonna
never forsake this place I'm gonna love it and and Lord I pray that those who maybe are a little
lukewarm that they would choose to get red hot for you and we love you in Jesus name I pray Amen
morning will be in number 42 him number 42 my latest son is sinking fast him number 42 42 my
latest son is sinking fast we'll sing there right on the first