Alright, we're here in Psalm chapter 46, Psalm chapter 46, and we're going to start at verse
number one.
And the name of the sermon is, Natural Disasters Declare the Glory of God.
Natural disasters declare the glory of God.
And the context in this chapter is a lot about natural disasters.
Now, if we end up having a major flood tonight or something like that, it's going to make
it a very memorable sermon, since that's kind of what I'm preaching about.
But notice what it says in verse number one, God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble.
And when you're looking at verbs, you generally think of three tenses, past, present,
and future.
And it says here, God is our refuge and strength.
That is not past tense.
It is not future tense.
It's present tense.
Then he says a very present help in trouble.
And what he's saying is that in the present, he is a help in times of trouble.
So it's not saying that, well, once you get in trouble, then all of a sudden in the
future, God can help you if you need help.
Like for example, you know, and I'm not taking any side on the Ukrainian and Russian
war, but when Russia attacks Ukraine, Ukraine's like, well, we need to find help.
You see, the Bible says spiritually, God can be our refuge.
God can be our strength.
And when you're right with God, it's not that, well, he can help me one day.
No, he is a very present help in time of trouble.
You can call on him.
He's there for you.
Of course, the key being that you're right with God, but it says God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble.
You know, people cry out for help when they're in fear, but see, the Bible says you
don't have to cry out because God is already helping you if you're right with
God.
Then it says, therefore, will not we fear?
Therefore, will not we fear?
And so a lot of fearful situations can come upon you in life where you're like,
man, I need help.
Like, for example, somebody comes to try to attack you and you don't have any
weapon or defense.
You can be afraid until you get a weapon or something to defend yourself.
But see, the Bible's saying when these times come, you already have a help.
You already have a strength.
You already have a refuge.
And so you don't have to fear.
And what is true for everybody who's saved is that when you're right with God, you
do not have a lot of fear of things on the outside.
Is that not true?
I mean, you get a very dangerous situations where logically you should be afraid and
you're just thinking, I'm just not that afraid.
Then on the contrary, when you're not right with God, it's like the smallest
little thing, you're afraid of everything, right?
I mean, there's a lot of people that are saved that they live their lives
completely in fear of what might take place.
This could happen.
Yeah, you know what?
A lot of things could happen in our lives, but if you allow all those things
to defeat you, then what's the purpose of even living, right?
I mean, you have to realize that God is your refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble.
Point number one, let us talk about the power of God.
The power of God, because what the Bible is going to do is list a lot of
situations that are very fearful and very scary.
I mean, we're talking about natural disasters where logically you should be
afraid.
Logically, this was taking place around you.
It's like, man, who would not fear?
And yet the Bible is saying you can live your life not being afraid in those
situations when you're right with him.
Bible says, therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though
the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.
I mean, if the earth is removed, that would be a pretty scary thing.
If you're seeing natural disasters, I mean, sometimes you see natural
disasters, they just carry houses away with the flood and things such as that.
That would be a very fearful sight.
But I was saying in the midst of those sorts of things, therefore will not we fear.
We are not going to be afraid though everything is going crazy
worldwide and there's all these scary things.
And yet you can live your life without fear in those situations.
I'm not saying it's easy.
I'm not saying I never have any fear because obviously I'm a human and we're
humans and we're sinners.
But the Bible does say perfect love casted out fear.
And so if you are perfectly right with God, you wouldn't be afraid of all these
things that are taking place.
Now, none of us are going to reach that point because we're not 100 percent
perfect like God.
But the more right you are with God, the less you are afraid.
And everybody knows it's the case.
Think about times in your life when you have something, you know, some sin in
your life or you're not fully right with God and then you're really afraid
like, man, I'm afraid what God's going to do to me.
I'm afraid of what could happen.
But when you're right with God, you're not really afraid of what might take place.
Bible says the earth be removed and then the mountains be carried into the
midst of the sea.
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled.
So we're saying the waters are roaring.
You're thinking of tsunamis and typhoons and hurricanes and floods, right?
You're thinking of major natural disasters.
And the Bible says the waters are roaring and they're troubled.
And in the midst of this, you're not afraid.
Let me give you some examples throughout history.
It says here from this article, it was 2004, the day after Christmas, and
thousands of European and American tourists had flocked to the beaches of
Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia to escape the winter chill and a
tropical paradise.
At 7.59 a.m., so this is eight hours after the end of Christmas, a 9.1
magnitude earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, ripped through an
undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a massive column of water
toward unsuspecting shores.
The Boxing Day tsunami would be the deadliest in recorded history, taking a
staggering 230,000 lives in a matter of hours.
Two hundred and thirty thousand.
Now, I really didn't know in terms of the metrics of earthquakes and how
they measure them.
And I read there's different things to measure, but essentially a 9.0
earthquake is going to be 10 times as powerful as an 8.0.
And then an 8.0 is 10 times as powerful as a 7.0.
From my understanding, once an earthquake hits 6.0, it's kind of worth mentioning.
Below that is kind of like, whatever, I felt a very slight little rumble, but
nothing major.
6.0 is kind of like, well, it might cause a little bit of damage, right?
Well, 7.0 would be 10 times 6.0, meaning 8.0 would be 100 times 6.0, because 10
times 10, and a 9.0, because this is a 9.1, would be 1,000 times as strong as a
6.0 earthquake.
And another thing they measure is the amount of energy involved, and I guess
it's 32 to 33 times as strong per one amount.
So basically, it's like 33,000 times as much energy as a 6.0, like a 9.0.
And that's hard to even understand, because a 7.0 earthquake can certainly cause
damage.
And then a 9.0 earthquake is 100 times as strong.
It's like, man, it's not surprising that 230,000 people died like that.
Now, look, if that was taking place all around you, I mean, you would be
afraid, naturally speaking.
I mean, all over, I mean, I've never been around a major earthquake like that,
but I'd imagine everywhere is chaos.
You can hear things, people are screaming.
But the Bible is saying in the midst of that, you cannot be afraid during
that time period.
In fact, given how many people are affected by that, I am sure there are
people that were right with God that were nearby that probably just weren't
that afraid.
You say, why?
Because when you're right with God, even though a 9.1 earthquake is coming
through, therefore, will not we fear.
Now, I'm not saying that, hey, I would be perfect, I would never have any fear,
because you have days like Elijah in 1 Kings 18, you have days like
Elijah in 1 Kings 19.
You have the boldest man in the Bible, and then you have a man who's afraid of
one woman when he was bold against hundreds of false prophets.
And we have our ups and our downs, and I get that, but I promise you,
there's people around that area that there's a lot of dangerous stuff,
because, you know, there's aftershocks of earthquakes.
They probably weren't that afraid, though, because they were right with God.
And the Bible's saying it is possible to go through situations like that and
not be afraid.
Then it says, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, salah.
So the mountain shaking, you're thinking of an earthquake, right?
In the 2010 Haitian earthquake, by the way, in Haiti, it's a country,
there's a couple of phrases, some people say Haiti is a country that's
Catholic by morning and voodoo by night.
They say it's 70% Catholic, 30% Protestant, and 100% voodoo.
Now, of course, that's not true because there's obviously safe people there that
don't worship the devil, right?
But I would imagine it's over 95% are practicing voodoo,
which there's no more satanic religion that I'm aware of.
I mean, it might be more satanic than Satanism, to be honest.
I mean, they're literally worshipping the devil.
Have you ever seen videos?
They got skulls, they got a snake, it's black, they're doing sorcery.
And they think it's a good thing.
They claim they don't practice black magic, like we practice white magic.
It's like, I mean, I see blood sacrifices, I see snakes.
I mean, what is black magic if that's not black magic, right?
But obviously, that'd be a country that'd be cursed by God,
because natural disasters are sent by God.
And so when you're worshipping the devil, obviously God's gonna be upset.
In 2010, there were just under 10 million people living in Haiti,
9 to 10 million people.
And it says, by January 24th, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or
greater had been recorded.
An estimated 3 million people were affected by the quake.
So over 30% of the country was affected, meaning they lost their home,
they lost their job, or something like that.
Death toll estimates range from 100,000 to about 160,000.
The Haitian government figures from 220,000 to 316,000,
although these latter figures are a matter of some dispute.
I've heard it's 400 to 500,000, so I guess that they really don't know.
I mean, maybe they have trouble tracking that stuff there, I'm not really sure.
But at the lowest measure, it's like you've got 100 to 200,000 people dead.
I worked at an office in Maryland with a couple hundred employees.
Imagine going to work the next day and five of the employees are dead.
From the earthquake.
But then again, you wouldn't be going to work the next day,
because the building would be gone, right?
I mean, we're talking about a natural disaster that by percentage,
killed such a large part of a country.
You say, what is that, Brother Sucky?
It is the judgment of God.
And see, natural disasters, they declare the glory and the power of God.
Now look, nobody wants to live in a country where a natural disaster
takes place, right?
I'm sure that when Mount Pinatubo was taking place a long time ago,
I'm sure people weren't very happy as it was going on.
But see, when an event like that takes place,
which is literally hell being poured out on earth,
the wrath of God being poured out on earth, I mean,
that is declaring the God of the Bible.
That's declaring the power and the judgment and the glory of God, right?
And when natural disasters take place, we ought to take notice.
And if it happens where you live, you ought to say,
God, help us get right with you.
Forgive us.
Tell people to, hey, cleanse yourself from your sin, right?
I mean, because that is what is taking place.
It's God's judgment.
So if you want God to be appeased,
you've got to get rid of the sin in your life.
Number one, the power of God.
Number two, the preservation of God.
The preservation of God.
Notice what it says in verse four.
There is a river.
The streams of earth shall make glad the city of God.
The holy place of the tabernacles of the most high.
God is in the midst of her.
She shall not be moved.
God shall help her in that right early.
And the Bible's speaking about a city that would not be moved in the midst of
this sort of trouble.
But you can also make the application to us in a symbolic sense.
Where basically, though troubles come, you are not moved.
Now, I mean, literally, if an earthquake takes place,
you're gonna probably shake a little bit, right?
But in a symbolic sense for us as believers, what it's saying is,
when troubles come and the earthquakes and the finance problems and
the relatives are mad at you because of your religious beliefs and
the persecution, you don't have to be moved in those situations.
Because what takes place when a natural disaster occurs?
Everybody runs for cover, right?
You're gonna move somewhere.
And of course, logically, that's what you do with the Bible saying, hey,
in a situation of turmoil and problems and persecution, have the attitude,
I'm not gonna be moved.
What do we mean by that?
It means you still go to church, you still read the Bible,
you still pray to God, and you still thank God for
the blessings you do have, like Job.
Now, yeah, there's a lot of things that were not going well in Job's life,
but he still said, hey, you know what?
Blessed be the Lord God, right?
And there are all these things that we could thank God about.
Now look, all of us, including myself and my family, we get tired,
we get stressed, we get mad, there's things going on in our lives.
But if you had the worst life here on Earth, and you die and
go to heaven, that is better than 99% of people in this world.
And our time on Earth is very short.
Now, if you live with an earthly perspective,
then it's gonna go straight over your head.
But if you live with a heavenly perspective, you could say, you know what?
I have a lot to be thankful for.
Number one, I'm saved.
Number two, I got a great church.
Number three, I got great friends at this church.
People to fellowship with, that love God together,
I mean, it's like there's a lot of blessings.
I mean, I can look at my life and say, hey,
things are not perfect, but I live a blessed life.
God has really blessed me in a multitude of ways.
And look, like the vast majority of us in this room,
most of us did not grow up with the right faith.
I grew up Protestant.
I'm very thankful that I heard the gospel at a young enough age
where I wasn't stubborn, I wasn't hard-hearted.
I mean, maybe things were working in my life at the right time,
and I accepted the message.
Cuz I still remember when I heard the gospel, I was kind of resistant.
I was thinking about it.
Some people, we get saved, they're kind of on the offense.
They're like a gripper.
And you're like, come on, please,
just go over to the other side and believe it, right?
But many people get close, and then they choose not to.
So I can look at my life and be thankful
for the blessings that I do have.
And when difficulties come, I should have the attitude,
you know what, God has done so much for me,
I should live for Him and not be worried
about the things of this earth,
and I'm not gonna be moved away from the truth.
I'm still gonna go to church
no matter what's taking place in my life.
I'm still gonna read the Bible.
I'm still gonna pray.
I'm still gonna thank God for everything He has given me,
even if I have difficulties and problems in my life.
Go to Psalm 62.
Psalm 62.
Now once again, this is easier to preach than to do,
and that's usually the way it is with preaching.
I'm saying what is definitely true,
but obviously once you're in those situations,
it kind of reveals,
because remember Peter said,
it's like they're all meant for safety.
I'm not going to.
And then all of a sudden,
he ends up denying Jesus three times.
So here's the thing,
obviously it's easy for any of us to say,
but see, this is why preaching like this is good,
because before you get into the situations
that could shake you out and move you from the truth
and what you need to be doing,
you get this attitude in your head.
I don't care what takes place.
I'm gonna finish my course.
I'm gonna fight to go to fight a faith to the end,
because if you don't have that attitude,
you will be moved,
because the earthquakes are gonna come in your life.
The tsunamis are gonna come in your life.
The typhoons, the floods, the hurricanes, the volcanoes,
they're going to come in your life,
and if you don't have the attitude,
I shall not be moved, you will be moved.
Psalm 62 verse one,
truly my soul weighs upon God,
from him cometh my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved.
How long will you imagine mischief against a man?
He shall be slain all of you
as a bowing wall shall ye be,
and as a tottering fence.
They only consult to cast him down from his excellency.
They delight in lies, they bless with their mouth,
but they curse inwardly.
Selah, my soul wait thou only upon God,
for my expectation is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense.
I shall not be moved.
In God is my salvation, my glory,
the rock of my strength,
and my refuge is in God.
And as the Bible says, he's a present help,
he's our strength, he's our refuge.
And we gotta have that attitude,
I'm not gonna be moved even when difficulties come.
Go to Psalm 66.
Psalm 66.
Psalm 66 verse 9.
Which holdeth our soul in life,
and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
There's this thing,
this principle taught throughout the Bible
about not being moved.
The Bible speaks about being rooted
and grounded in church
and grounded in the things of God.
And if you don't get your roots
dug deep into the ground,
you're gonna be yanked up
when something takes place, right?
The Bible speaks about how you've got two people
at the end of the Sermon on the Mount,
those that basically set their foundation upon a rock,
and those that just set it upon the sand.
And what takes place?
If it's not set upon a rock,
if you don't have a strong foundation,
when something takes place,
you're just gonna tumble over, right?
Turn to Colossians chapter one.
Colossians one.
Many years ago when I was in Sacramento,
there was a young man,
and I'm not gonna mention his name,
just, you know, no need to.
Plus also he has the same name
as somebody at this church.
So after the service,
you know, maybe I'll tell you.
But yeah, he was at the church,
and you know, he's very zealous
and excited for the things of God.
He was there for several months.
And then all of a sudden he called me one day,
and he just said,
I can't do it anymore.
He's like, you know, I'm quitting the church.
And you're like, here's the reality.
Oftentimes when situations like this take place,
they don't call the pastor, right?
Basically they go to,
because they feel kind of embarrassed.
So instead he talked to me
because he knew, well, I'm gonna tell Pastor Menes.
And of course I'm like, man, what's going on?
Can I help you?
I say, can I go over there and talk to you?
You know, because this is someone
who started coming so early.
He's excited, he's zealous, he's young,
just getting into it.
And I get it, you first get into it,
and there's a lot of things that can take place.
You know, your family rejects you.
I mean, it's more difficult
than you think to live for God.
And there's a big lifestyle change.
You feel guilty because of these sins
that you're trying to get rid of.
And I get it, it's tough at the beginning.
It's never easy,
but it's really tough at the beginning
when you first decide to live for God.
And so I was trying to talk to him and say,
hey, can I help you?
And I said, hey, you know what?
And I tried to convince him.
I said, hey, you know what?
Just come back to church on Sunday,
just do me this one favor.
Come to church this last time,
trying to help motivate him to just give it some time,
trying to do whatever I could.
He never came back.
And you know, he's a nice guy.
I mean, he was going soul winning.
He's gonna get some rewards in heaven.
I mean, I have no idea what's going on in his life now.
But here's the thing,
when you first get excited about the things of God,
the problem is a lot of people
don't have this mentality,
I'm not gonna be moved no matter what takes place.
And so it's exciting.
It's fun.
But then all of a sudden the persecution comes.
And it's like, oh man, it's not worth it.
You must have this mentality
that no matter what takes place,
I'm not gonna be moved.
You have to have that attitude.
You say, why?
Because if you live your life on emotion,
you're gonna destroy your life.
You must live with the attitude.
And you know what?
This is right.
I'm gonna stick with it no matter what.
Now I have this attitude.
Well, you know what?
I'm gonna serve God as long as things are going well.
Yeah, but what about when they stop going well?
And look, in this room,
I don't know what everyone's going through.
Obviously we have our monthly prayer.
We're friends together with this church,
so I know certain things.
But there might be things in your life right now.
And here's the thing,
regardless of what takes place in that situation,
you must have the attitude, I'm not gonna be moved.
Now look, everybody in this room
has had situations take place
where you just wanna quit, right?
You have situations of maybe tragedies or difficulties,
financial problems, persecution,
and you're just like, man, I wanna quit.
Now here's the thing.
Quitting's not gonna help your life.
It's only gonna make it worse.
But when you're going through emotions and you're down,
it's very easy to get swept away with those emotions
and not think clearly, right?
But you must have the attitude
that no matter what flood comes,
I don't care, the water might take away other people,
I'm not gonna be moved.
Now of course, Peter had that attitude
and it didn't end up taking place.
So obviously, you know what, it's difficult.
And obviously we need to make sure
that we're really grounded.
Not just I have this attitude,
but I'm never reading the Bible
and never praying to God.
Well, you might think you're grounded, but you're not.
You gotta have the attitude
and be doing the things on a daily basis, right?
Go to Colossians chapter one, Colossians one.
Colossians one, verse 23.
If he continue in the faith,
ground didn't settle and be not moved away
from the hope of the gospel, which he have heard
and which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven.
Where have I, Paul, and made him minister?
He says here in Colossians one, verse 23,
be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.
Now he's not saying here,
well, you know what, make sure
that you still believe on Christ
to the end of your life.
What he's saying is you're not moved away
from this attitude that my life is centered
around the hope of the gospel.
Where basically you realize what you believe,
why you believe it, and you're gonna live for it
and preach the gospel to other people
and you're not moved away from that.
When I first got saved, I immediately started
to think about lost relatives
that could be on their way to hell.
And then of course, for those of us in this room,
we're soul winners, we're a soul winning church,
you start soul winning and you have the attitude
my life is about helping other people get saved.
Don't be moved away from that.
No matter what takes place in your life,
realize, hey, it's about the gospel,
it's about Jesus Christ and what he did for me.
Don't be moved away from that.
Don't allow small things in your life
or big things in your life to move you away
from what you should do.
Look, we only live 70, 80 years in general.
And we're so focused sometimes on things of this earth,
they're gonna be gone for all eternity.
And the only thing that's gonna matter is
what did you do for Christ?
Turn to your Bible to Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11, Hebrews chapter 11.
Now, here's the thing,
we should not allow fearful situations
to move us away from what's right.
Obviously, you see the great people in the Bible
and most of them have those moments.
So all of us are gonna have those moments.
And look, I understand all of us have had times
in our life, I think of an example
when I was living in West Virginia
and I get home, I leave church
and on that day, went to church in the morning,
helped kids in the church on the bus route,
went soul winning in the afternoon,
went to evening church
and I lived over an hour from church.
So I know what it's like to drive a long distance, okay?
And I'm on the way home and you know what?
It's kind of a scary area to drive home at night
because there's like this five mile stretch of fog
that sometimes can make you pretty afraid
where you can't really see the road.
It can be pretty, but God always protected me.
I remember one time I was going home
and then all of a sudden, my tire just blows
and my car almost flips.
I think I talked about this recently.
Some people can look at a situation like that
and be like, man, I'm gonna quit going to church.
Right, I mean, isn't that what people do?
They start having little problems
and then it's like, man, I mean,
if I quit the church,
maybe I'm not gonna have these problems.
I mean, is something like a flat tire
gonna move you away from serving God?
And yeah, it was pretty scary.
I mean, something could have happened,
but it didn't because God is refuge and strength.
He's a very present help in time of trouble.
Now, here's the thing.
If I was not right with God, who knows?
But I was right with God,
so I'm not gonna say, wow, you know,
I had a problem take place.
You know, I'm gonna quit church.
And look, this is the way people live their lives.
They don't realize this, but it's true.
When things go badly, you assume,
well, it must be because of the church I'm at, right?
And this is the way people live their lives.
Or they'll go to a church like Joe Lowstein's church,
a mega church.
Man, I just joined this church and I got a promotion.
This must be the right church.
That's not the way to look at things
because you can be right with God
and have problems in your life.
And there's a lot of really wicked
and evil people out there.
And they've got nice jobs.
They got a lot of nice, they got nice money.
I mean, they go to nice restaurants.
They have nice clothes.
And they're wicked people under God's judgment.
You can't just look at present circumstances to determine.
I mean, you think of David and Bathsheba.
I mean, a long time went by
before the judgment came to David.
We're talking about a year because a baby was born.
Now, here's the thing.
During that time period,
David might think my life is going really well.
I must be right with God.
But was he right with God during that time period?
Absolutely not.
And the judgment didn't come till a long time later.
So you can't just look at what's going on now
to determine if God's happy with you or not.
I mean, you could be in big sin and get right with God.
And two months later, you have all these problems
because of what took place before you got right with God.
Right?
So you can't just look at, well, wait a minute.
I started coming back to church
and now I got all these problems.
I'm going to go back to being a drunk.
But that's literally how people look at their lives sometimes.
This is why people go to these mega churches
and these health, wealth, and prosperity gospel churches.
But that is not the determination
of whether or not you're right with God.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
how do I know if I'm right with God then?
Did you read the Bible today?
Did you pray to God today?
Right?
I mean, fear God and keep His commandments.
Are you keeping His commandments?
Now, of course, we're not perfect,
but there's a difference between not being perfect,
but trying versus just living in major sin.
Right?
It's like, well, I'm a drug dealer.
I don't know.
I mean, maybe I'm right with God.
No, you're not.
I don't think we have any drug dealers here.
Right?
But anyways, go to Hebrews 11.
We should have a fear, though, of God.
We should have a fear of God.
Hebrews 11, verse six.
Without faith it is impossible to please and free
that he that cometh to God must believe that he is
and that he's a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him.
By faith, Noah being warned of God
of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his house
by the which he condemned the world
and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Now, here's the thing.
Noah is not afraid of,
wait a minute, there's gonna be a flood.
Am I gonna be okay?
But it's the judgment of God that is moving him.
And see, when the judgment of God,
when natural disasters take place,
we ought to be moved with fear also,
meaning realizing that God's wrath
can be poured out like that,
we better get people saved before they die,
before they pass away.
Go to Jude 1, Jude chapter 1.
Jude 1.
It's true with all natural disasters,
but I think a volcano is the easiest one to relate to
because it's literally,
I mean, hell is lawa nang apoy.
So a volcano, it's literally hell exploding on earth.
Right?
So that one's, I mean, when Mount Pinatubo took place,
for those that were saved people
that were right with God,
it probably would have been very easy to relate
to what was going on.
And realize, man, if you see hell exploding
and that doesn't motivate you, right?
You know, sometimes I watch volcano videos on YouTube
and seeing them explode, it's like,
man, I need to go soul winning.
I need to do more for God.
Because, you know, it's an amazing sight
when you see natural disasters.
You know, it's, obviously we don't enjoy people
dying, but I'm saying it's a spectacular sight
seeing guys, you know, I've been, you know,
in North Carolina before they had a major hurricane
coming through and the waves were so strong.
I mean, we were safe.
My wife was with me there.
We vacationed with our family before we moved here,
but the waves were crashing really hard.
And it's like, man, God is powerful.
Right?
That's what we were thinking in our heads.
One of the biggest hurricanes they've had in a while
in that area.
But notice what it says in Jude 1, verse 22.
And of some have compassion making a difference.
Brother Stuckey, why is it that I should go soul winning?
Because you ought to have some compassion
and love in your heart.
You ought to be compassionate and realize,
hey, I also was once lost.
I also didn't know the gospel.
I also was trusting in my works to get to heaven
and have compassion on the unsaved.
Right, you see people walking out of the Catholic church
and you shouldn't look down on them saying,
look at those people.
They don't know what they're talking about.
You should have the attitude.
Man, there's a lot of people that walk in that church
and leave that church
and they think that they're doing what's right.
And they don't know any better.
And have compassion and say,
hey, I need to try to get those people saved.
I need to try to make a difference.
But if that does not motivate you,
the Bible says in the next verse,
And others save with fear,
pulling them out of the fire,
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Noah was moved with fear.
Now, was Noah afraid for himself?
I mean, he was going to be on the ark.
He was perfectly fine.
But he was moved with fear
to try to tell people about the truth.
Now, here's the thing.
Think about if somebody's in a burning building,
but they do not realize it's burning.
Imagine you knock on someone's door, right?
You see a fire in your next door neighbor's house.
And then you run over and say,
hey, is there anybody in there?
And somebody opens the door.
What's going on?
Why are you yelling?
I'm playing Mobile Legends.
I'm busy.
I'm playing a lot of latte right now.
Couldn't you hear?
I'm playing latte.
So your house is on fire.
You need to get out of there.
And it's like, what are you talking about?
And then, you know, and here's the thing.
If that person didn't realize their house was on fire
and is clearly on fire, what would you do?
You'd yank them out of there, right?
Here's the thing.
When we knock on doors and preach the gospel,
most people don't realize that their house is on fire.
They don't realize that they are gonna die and go to hell.
They don't get it.
Are they afraid?
Not really.
They should be.
They're usually not.
But we ought to be moved with fear.
Pulling them out of the fire.
Saying, man, I don't wanna see this person die
and go to hell.
I wanna do everything I can to get them saved.
We ought to be moved with fear.
You say, why?
Because there's coming a time when it's too late.
When people die, it's too late for them.
When you die, it's too late for you.
You don't have any more time.
You say, brother, it's like, man,
it's so hot as we go out snowing.
Yeah, allow that heat to motivate you,
realizing it's a lot hotter down there than out here.
No, look, obviously we need to be safe with this stuff.
Make sure you drink lots of water, get rest.
We get all those things,
but we ought to always live with this idea
of being moved with fear.
Instead of being afraid of everything that could go wrong
in all these situations,
be moved with fear at the understanding
of the wrath of God that is gonna be poured out
on this world and a wrath of God
that abides in the people in hell forever.
Forever.
Turn in your Bible to Ecclesiastes 12.
Ecclesiastes chapter 12.
I mean, fear's gonna motivate you
in one way or another.
Depends on what you're afraid of.
Oh, brother, I don't think that you should preach.
I don't believe in a fearful God
that we ought to be afraid of.
Isn't that what they say in a lot of religions?
I don't believe in a God that we should be afraid of.
Really?
I mean, the God that created this world,
the God that will pour out natural disasters
when it's wrath.
I mean, the God that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
The God that sends over 90% of people to hell forever.
Now look, if you're saved, obviously you're a child of God.
But here's the thing.
At the same time, children should have a healthy respect
and fear of their parents and be afraid of doing bad.
Look, my kids love me, and I love my kids.
But I'll tell you what,
they're not gonna just intentionally do something
bad in front of me.
You say, why?
Because they know what's coming if they do that.
Now, kids try to get away with stuff.
But it's like, they're not gonna do it in front of me.
Right?
And you know, obviously there's exceptions.
Right after the service, I'm sure my kids
are gonna do something terrible right in front of me.
You know, whatever, it happens sometimes.
But you know what I'm saying that, you know what?
Yeah, we have a loving God, but at the same time,
as a child of a father or a child of a mother,
you ought to fear your parents.
Right?
And the Bible says that we ought to fear God.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13,
let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
Brother Stuckey, what am I supposed to do with my life?
Fear God and keep His commandments?
I mean, there's like 600 commandments
or whatever in the Bible.
I've never counted it up, but I've heard people that have.
And it's like, if God says something, do this, do it.
If God says, don't do it, you don't do it.
So if God says, read the Bible every day,
read the Bible every day.
That's the whole duty of man.
God says to pray every day without ceasing,
pray every day.
God says, don't do this, don't do this.
God says, don't drink alcohol, don't drink alcohol.
God says, don't listen to worldly music,
don't listen to worldly music.
Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
Go in your Bible to Psalm 46, Psalm 46.
I was still waiting at Astor Park one time,
and I was talking to this guy,
and it was kind of earlier in the days of COVID,
so he had a mask on,
and I'm like 99%, especially after I started,
the guy was baklava,
but I didn't know that at the beginning,
and I started talking to him,
and giving the benefit of the doubt,
you're trying to talk to everybody in the area,
and so I was talking to him,
and I'm explaining the beginning parts of the gospel,
and what he told me when I was showing him Revelation 20,
because I said, do you believe in hell?
He's like, no.
I was like, you said you're Catholic.
I mean, Catholics believe in hell.
You don't believe in it?
He's like, no.
And what he told me is, he's like,
my God is too loving to send anybody to hell.
You know what the problem is with that statement?
It's like we don't get to determine what God is like.
He's right.
His God, his imaginary God that he's made up in his mind
is too loving to ever punish anyone.
Now, that doesn't make any sense
because of the fact when people do harm
and they don't get punished, that's not love.
You can't say, well, you know,
it's like if you love the flowers,
you gotta hate the weeds.
If you love children, you gotta hate pedophiles.
That's the way it works.
That's common sense.
But here's the thing, this attitude,
well, my God is too loving.
Here's the problem.
Your God doesn't exist.
You can try to explain God away
or try to just philosophically argue
or think in your head what seems right,
but there's a way which seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
And I'll tell you what, not just one death,
the second death as well, my friend, for the unsaved.
Dying, going to hell for all eternity.
Point one, we saw the power of God.
Point two, we see the preservation of God.
Point three, we see the proclamation of God,
the proclamation of God.
The heat enraged.
The kingdoms were moved.
He uttered his voice.
He's making a proclamation.
He utters his voice, and as he utters his voice,
the earth melted.
When you think of the earth melting,
what natural disaster are you thinking about?
You're thinking about a volcano, right?
The earth melted.
When Mount Pinatubo took place,
it's like, what took place?
Well, he opened his mouth and the earth melted.
That's what took place.
Now look, obviously, in the world we live in,
as the earth is getting older,
there's gonna be more problems just in general
with more natural disasters,
and part of it is because there's more sin,
so there's gonna be more natural disasters sin.
But there's a difference between a very small volcano
and then like a massive one that destroys the world.
By measurements, Mount Pinatubo was said to be
the second strongest volcano of the 20th century,
depending on what metric you're looking at.
But what I read is it cooled off the temperature
of the earth by about one degree Fahrenheit
or a half degree Celsius for a year.
Not just in the Philippines, worldwide.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
why would a volcano cool off the earth?
And you add, the first time I heard that,
that was my initial reaction.
Wouldn't the volcano heat up the earth?
But what takes place is there's so much smoke
that it blocks the sun from heating the earth.
And so what's common in major volcanoes,
they can be volcanic winters that take place.
So very unusual weather patterns take place
after major volcanoes in those areas.
And small changes in our atmosphere
just change everything, right?
And so the Bible says he uttered his voice
and the earth melted.
Now we don't always know why natural disasters are sent.
My opinion with Mount Pinatubo
is it's probably due to Magdarame.
That is my opinion.
Obviously in Pampanga and the surrounding areas,
they're very zealous for Catholicism.
And so I believe it was a punishment by God
for that specific reason.
When there was the earthquake in Haiti,
it's pretty obvious why they're being punished by God.
Sometimes you might not know,
but usually when you really look at it,
it takes place in certain cultures
where there's a lot of sin and wickedness
and God is sending his judgment as a punishment.
Verse number seven,
the Lord of Hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob is our refuge, Selah.
Come behold random works by mother nature.
Is that what it says?
Come behold the works of the Lord.
What desolations He hath made in the earth.
See, natural disasters are declaring the judgment
and the glory of God.
Go to Joshua 2.
Joshua 2.
Now some people have this attitude,
but Brother Stuckey, we can't tell this to anybody.
You know, you can't talk about God's wrath and judgment
because it's gonna turn people away from Christianity.
Right, we gotta reach them with love.
We gotta reach them with patience and long suffering
and gentleness and meekness.
And look, obviously there's a place
for all of those things,
but no, you must reach them
by explaining the judgment of God.
I mean, look, people that die unsaved go where forever?
It's like, they go to a bad place.
Now just say the reality,
they go to hell for all eternity.
People need to hear that.
You say, are you saying
we ought to scare people into getting saved?
Yes, of course.
Look, why did I get saved?
I was afraid to go to hell.
I was scared of hell.
It's like, yeah, we ought to talk to people
about the reality of hell.
And when a natural disaster takes place,
I'm not gonna be shy and say,
well, what, I can't tell people it's God's judgment
because that might turn people away from God
because they're gonna think He's too mean.
Wait a minute, how can you turn people away from God
by speaking about who He actually is?
That doesn't make sense.
Now here's the thing,
if they have an imaginary God in their head
and they wanna reject the true God,
yeah, maybe they're turned away
from the truth about God,
but they're not accepting that God anyway.
I mean, the true God sends people to hell for all eternity.
The true God pours out His wrath.
So by speaking the truth about God,
it doesn't turn people away from the truth.
And I get it, I've brought people to church before
when I was at old churches,
and then the pastor gets up
and preaches a really hard sermon,
and I'm thinking, oh,
why couldn't it have gotten light today?
Why couldn't it have just slowly warmed up the water
for my visitor,
rather than day one,
he's like hammering the pulpit and you're thinking, man!
But in reality, that doesn't actually turn people away.
It really doesn't.
You think it does because you've been brainwashed
and in your own flesh you're thinking that,
but it doesn't turn people away.
And here's the thing,
if people turn away and say, man, I don't like that church
they would have never liked it anyway.
That's the reality.
They wouldn't have liked it anyway.
Now look, I preach all things,
and actually, coming up in several months,
we're gonna have a long series
on the alphabet of characteristics, A to Z,
and there's gonna be a lot of nice characteristics
in there, a mix of everything, right?
And there are, you can find one for every letter.
I already checked it out because it was an idea,
and yes, it does work, right?
But here's the thing, there's a mix.
There's the love, there's the patience,
but there's also the wrath.
There's also things like bitterness and envy and anger.
I mean, there's the good and the bad,
that's the way it is.
And yeah, we speak the love about God
that he died on the cross and paid for our sins.
We also have to speak about the fact
that there is a literal hell that we deserve to go to.
As we preach the gospel, we preach good news,
but it's good news because people get spared
from the wrath of God if they believe.
But you can't just avoid talking about the wrath of God.
I'm just gonna talk to people about love and patience,
and it's like, then they're gonna end up
loving our church.
No, that's not true.
Right, you have to speak the truth.
Now obviously, I'm not saying we offend people,
but what I'm saying is, it's like,
the truth, if that turns people away,
they were gonna be turned away anyway.
That's the reality.
I'm gonna give you proof here in Joshua chapter two.
Notice what it says, Joshua two verse three.
Joshua two verse three.
And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab,
saying, Bring forth the men that have come to thee,
which are entered into thy house,
for they be come to search out all the country.
And the woman took the two men and hid them,
and said, Thus, there came in unto me,
but I wish not whence they were.
And it came to pass about the time of the shutting
of the gate, when it was dark,
the men went out, whither the men went, I want not.
Pursue after them quickly, for you shall overtake them.
But she had brought them up to the roof of the house
and hid them with the stalks of flax,
which she had laid in order upon the roof.
And the men pursued after them,
the way to Jordan, under the fords.
And as soon as they which pursued after them
were gone out, they shut the gate.
And before they were laid down,
she came up onto them upon the roof.
Why would a woman risk her life
for men that she had never met before?
And she said, onto the men,
I know that the Lord hath given you the land,
and that your terror is fallen upon us,
and that all the inhabitants of the land
faint because of you.
For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water
of the Red Sea for you, when you came up out of Egypt.
It's like, man, why can't we just tell the story
about how they crossed the Red Sea,
but why do we have to explain the part
about how all the Egyptians drowned?
Because that actually shows people,
I mean, you see the love of God,
but you also see the wrath of God.
Right, I mean, yeah, the great miracle,
they crossed the Red Sea.
And what happened?
The Egyptians went after them,
and then killed like that.
That's the truth.
It says, and what ye did
unto the two kings of the Amorites
that were on the other side Jordan,
Sihon and Og, whom he utterly destroyed.
Are we seeing the love of God?
Now, we actually are seeing the love of God
because the destruction of the Egyptians
actually preserved and helped those
that were true believers and those that loved God.
Because the love of them meant,
hey, the destruction of the Egyptians.
So we're actually seeing both.
But this idea of just love, love, love,
love, love, love, no matter what,
it's like, it's madness.
It doesn't make any sense.
I mean, if you could get rid of all the sin
in the world, then yeah,
I wouldn't have to preach against anything.
But we'd already be in heaven at that point.
Right?
I mean, there's a lot of problems in our world.
I mean, it's like every day
there's some bizarre thing that's taking place.
I remember like four or five years ago,
it was like, it was crazy to me
that for the Miss Universe Pageant,
and I'm not for the Miss Universe Pageant,
I don't believe in beauty pageants,
but in the Miss Universe Pageant,
that the woman representing Spain was actually a man.
A man who, I don't know if they had been
through the gender change or not,
and I thought, man, how embarrassing
when the most attractive woman in your country is a guy.
Right?
But then I saw this morning, Netherlands,
this time is gonna be represented by a guy.
I'm like, what?
It's like, Brother Stuckey,
I just want to visit Europe more than any other place.
Well, maybe I'd pick a different destination.
I mean, and to me, this is insane.
But no, actually, it's normal.
It's just the world we live in today.
It's not normal.
It's common.
But to people, like, it's normal.
It's like, what?
I mean, you know, sometimes I think this is all like a dream
and I'm gonna like wake up
and I'm still in high school or something like that.
Right?
Because, I mean, the way the world's gone
the last 20 years, I'm like, what?
Is this reality?
I mean, is that,
because I can always tell when I'm dreaming,
but maybe not this time.
I don't know.
It's insane to me.
But it's the world we live in today.
And when you've got a world like that
that's taking place, right?
Or how I mentioned recently how I read in Ireland
they made prayer illegal in parts of the country.
It's like, we live in a very wicked world in 2023.
And the most righteous country,
whichever that country is,
which is certainly not here, by the way,
is a wicked country in many, many ways.
But whatever the most righteous country in the world is,
they're by no means righteous.
This world is a wicked and evil place.
Now, we have to be thankful that we live in a place
where we can preach the gospel freely
and serve God freely.
But this is a wicked, wicked world.
And when God's wrath gets poured out in this world
because of how wicked and evil and disturbing it is
in 2023.
And she says in verse 11,
and as soon as we heard these things,
our hearts did melt.
Neither did there remain any more courage
than any man because of you.
For the Lord your God,
He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath.
And obviously, Rahab heard the gospel and got saved.
But what made her really believe this is a true God?
The judgment of God.
And I'll tell you what,
to normal people in this world,
the judgment of God in a world like this makes sense.
It's like, yeah, you know what?
God does need to judge this world for how wicked it is.
So does it turn away people
that are like pro-LGBT, pro-abortion,
and yeah, maybe it does,
but they're never gonna believe in the true God anyway.
Look, you can't tell me
that the majority of people here in Pampanga
would ever like this church.
They're never gonna like this church.
Not with the preaching of this church.
Not with the songs of this church.
Not for the way we operate.
I mean, most people would not like this church.
We bring them along really slowly.
Look, we don't live seven million years.
I mean, 70 years is not enough time for these people.
It's like, you know what?
They're either gonna believe what the Bible says or not.
Here's the truth.
And go back to Psalm 46.
We'll close up.
What is the reaction of people
when they read the Bible
for the first time cover to cover?
The reaction of pretty much everybody is,
man, God is a lot more wrathful than I thought He was.
Is that not true?
One reason why people think this
is because they never hear this kind of preaching.
So to them, it's like,
man, I've never heard that about God.
Another reason why is because people just get brainwashed
by TV and all these things and whatever,
but it's like the first time you read through the Bible,
I mean, it's like, wow.
I mean, for people to think God is just love, love, love
and it's like, have you ever read the Old Testament?
Or for people that think the Old Testament's so mean,
but God's just so loving in the New Testament,
it's like, they tried to kill Jesus many times.
John the Baptist's head was cut off,
I mean, because of the preaching.
That's the reason why, right?
Psalm 46, verse nine,
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth.
You say, wait a second,
I'm so worried about this war that's taking place,
but God can make it to cease or to stop like this.
He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear and sunder,
He burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still.
What does that mean?
Don't be moved.
Isn't that what we're talking about?
The context is still the same here.
Don't be moved.
Though you have natural disasters,
though you have wars,
don't be moved.
And in your life, when you have persecution,
when you get mocked,
when you go through problems in your life,
when you go through tragedies in your life,
don't be moved away from the truth.
Everybody goes through difficult times.
And I'm not saying everybody goes
through the exact same thing.
I'm not saying I've experienced the same things
that other people have,
but everybody has highs and lows.
And when you go through lows, don't be moved.
Stick with it.
Keep serving God.
Keep doing right.
Be still.
Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah.
What do we see today in this sermon?
Natural disasters declare God's glory.
Point one, the power of God.
Point two, the preservation of God.
Point three, the proclamation of God.
And I just want to end with this idea and this thought
that you know what, here's the thing.
When you are right with God,
you don't live your life being afraid
of everything taking place.
When you're right with God,
the only thing you really live in fear of is God
and the judgment of God and the wrath of God
and making God happy.
And yeah, we serve a God that is a fearful God.
It's a fearful thing to fall in the hands
of the living God, the Bible says.
When you go through problems,
don't be moved away from the truth.
Keep doing what's right.
Let's close in word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us
to be here today and I ask you to help us
to apply this sermon to our lives,
including myself and my family,
that when we do go through difficult times,
God help us to be confident,
help us to pray to you and not be afraid
of everything that could go wrong, God,
but realize that you're there to help us
and protect us, God.
We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, take out your hymnal to number six.
I shall not be moved, number six.
I shall not be moved.
Number six in your hymnal, I shall not be moved,
number six.
On the first.
Jesus is my Savior, I shall not be moved.
In his love and favor, I shall not be moved,
just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved,
just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
In my Christ abiding, I shall not be moved.
In his love I'm hiding, I shall not be moved,
just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved,
just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
If I trust him ever, I shall not be moved.
He will fail me never.
I shall not be moved, just like a tree
that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved,
just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
On his word I'm feeding, I shall not be moved.
He's the one that's leading,
I shall not be moved, just like a tree
that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved.
I shall not be, I shall not be moved,
just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord.
I shall not be moved.
All right, let's end in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today
and ask you to help us apply this sermon to our lives,
including myself and my family.
Help us to stick with everything,
no matter how hard it gets, God.
Keep serving you, keep doing right,
and not to be moved away from serving you
and being involved in church, God,
and the things that are correct and holy and righteous.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.