Amen, I apologize right away if I do a lot of sniffing and snorting tonight, but I'm
assuming it's allergies are really getting the best of me.
I kind of resemble, you know, this first verse there where it says the son of Jeroboam
fell sick.
So, Corbin, the son of John, is falling a little sick tonight, so.
But this is a great chapter, this is a chapter I really, always jumps out at me whenever
I read it, and it's one I really appreciate, especially this prophet Ahijah, there's
just some, you know, as a preacher he's somebody I kind of look to, and, you know, I can really
admire just for the fact that, you know, even in his old age here, we see him just still
standing strong, preaching a hard message, and telling it like it is, you know, and
that's something that we really need today.
We need men of God who are just going to get up and preach the whole counsel of God
that aren't going to shy away, that they're not going to pull punches when it comes
to the scripture, they're not going to avoid certain passages, that they're just
going to tell it like it is, and, you know, not spare people's feelings, but just say
what needs to be said.
You know, that's something that's a real dearth in our land today, you know, preachers
like that are getting fewer and far between, unfortunately.
And even here in the time of 1 Kings, you can see it's kind of a similar situation.
If you remember 1 Kings 12 and 13, we're seeing, you know, this is kind of the beginning
of the end for Israel and Judah as they're going to continue to go farther and farther down
into idolatry, and until eventually they're going to be taken captive, you know, but it's
a similar situation where you have, you know, they're setting up these idols just
so where it's convenient, you know, he's putting a calf, you know, in one part of
Israel and another just so nobody has to go back to Jerusalem, and just saying, oh,
just worship here, you know, we'll have our own religion, you know, you don't have
to go so far, you know, it's that same parallel that we see today is where people
just want things to be convenient, and they just want, you know, they only care about
the man of God, they only care about God's house, you know, when they need something,
you know, when their life is a wreck, you know, when someone falls sick, you know,
proverbially, kind of to speak here, when they, you know, when something happens in
their life, then all of a sudden it's, oh, and forget the idols, let's actually
go and talk to the man of God, I'll hide you, let's see what's actually going,
see if we can get some help here, and that's what you see taking place in the beginning
of the chapter there, it says, and at that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell
sick, and Jeroboam said to his wife, I rise, I pray thee, disguise thyself,
that thou be not known to thy wife, to be the wife of Jeroboam, and get thee to Shiloh,
behold, there is a hyge of the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people,
so you can see already that Jeroboam knows full well that, you know, he's worthy
of the judgment of God, it's because of the fact that, you know, he's telling
his wife to go and disguise herself, that, you know, don't let him know you're
my wife, you know, just go and seek him, because he already knows that these,
you know, caused Israel to sin, and he's already back sinned, he's already
taken over of it, as we preached a few weeks back, so he's sending her there,
and notice it says in verse 3, take with you ten loaves and crackles, now I don't
know what a crackle is, but I'm sure it's something good, right? So we're taking ten loaves
and a cruise of honey, so he's already thinking, you know, I know what
this Abijah's like, I know what kind of a preacher he is, you know, he'll
tear your coat up like he did mine, you know, he'll talk about rending the kingdom,
he'll preach a hard message, so, you know, take the honey with him, maybe you can sweeten
him, but maybe you can get him to get a little soft in his old age, right? And he says,
and go to him, and he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. So the girl
born and his wife did so, and she rose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Abijah,
and Abijah could not see,
so old, we've got so long in years, that, you know, he's just stuck
in his house, and he's blind, he can't see, his eyes are set by reason of age.
And this is what I really love about Abijah, as I mentioned, the fact that in his old age,
you know, he doesn't compromise, he keeps just preaching it, and telling him for so long,
and going at it for so long, that they've taken their stands, they've taken
their shots on the chin, they've already, you know, done the things that they need to do,
maybe the temptation in their old age to say, well, you know, I fought that battle for so long,
that can soften up a little bit in my old age. You know, that is a possibility, that's something
I'm always reminding myself, you know, hey, if I want to stay at this thing, if I want to be
in the ministry and stick with it all the way to the end of my life, that means I can't get soft
in my old age. You know, and I can't be, obviously, you can never be soft at any point, but,
you know, the tendency is, I think the danger is, is that
we as a people, as preachers, as God's people,
as we get older, we can start to let our standards slip. You know, the
grandparents, you know, aren't as hard on the grandchildren as they were their own kids.
You know, say, oh, it's all right, you don't have to worry about them dressing that way, or
watching this, or listening to that. You know, that's the tendency of
human nature, that as we get older, you know, we want to just take it easy, back
off, and just kind of let things go, and say, well, I already did my part.
You know, not a Hijjah. You know, Hijjah, even in his old age, where he's blind,
is still just going to tell it like it is, and I just really admire
him for that. Now it says there in verse 5, and the Lord said unto Hijjah,
Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing for thee, for her son, for he is
sick. Thus and thus shalt thou say unto her, Where it shall be when she cometh in,
that she shall feign herself to be another woman. And it was so when Hijjah heard
the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in,
thou wife of Jeroboam, why feignest thou thyself to be another? For I am
sent to thee with heavy tidings. You know, he doesn't, that's, that, how would you
like to get that greeting when you go to somebody's house? Oh, I'm so glad you're here, I got
some really bad news for you. Oh, I'm glad you can make it,
let me just go ahead and, you know, break your heart. Let me go ahead and just put some heavy tidings
on you. Right? You know, and this is what,
you know, sometimes, I mean, how would you like to come to church and hear that? Oh,
hi, welcome, visitor, you don't even get on the door. Hey, I got some really bad news for you.
I got a really hard message to deliver you. Right? Look, most people aren't
going to want to do that. You know, you get the visitors in church, and it's like, you know,
the temptation is, well, I guess maybe I can pull back, maybe I shouldn't say that.
Maybe you'll have a message prepared, you know, the Lord will speak your heart
and say, say thus and thus, and then you're like, oh yeah, my people are going to love this, and then
that new face shows up, and you're like, well, you know, I don't know if I should teach that.
I mean, I've had to deal with this. I remember I had one message where I was
talking about, you know, ladies' dress standards or something like that, you know,
and I thought, well, you know, all the ladies here are on board, it's going to be pretty easy, and I said, well,
I'm going to go off on makeup, too. I'm going to talk about Jezebel and painting up her face and how,
you know, she made herself to look like a whore and everything else and just really let it rip,
you know, and then the visitors walk in, right, and they just got
it caked on, you know, the thick mascara, they got
the short dress and everything, and I was just like, well, thus and thus, you know,
that's what I wrote before they walked in, you know, hey, I'm glad you made it, I'm glad you're
here, I got some heavy tidings for you. You know what, and they never came back.
You know what, and I'm not surprised, okay? You know, but that's the
temptation, isn't it, to not preach the heavy tidings, to not preach, you know,
the hard message, because the truth is, when you preach the heavy, you know,
the heavy tidings, when you preach the hard message, people just, I'm not going back
there, and they don't, they don't come back, and the temptation
is, you know, if you're not in the ministry for the right reasons, that you'll soften up.
You know, and honestly, you know, being in the ministry, being a preacher,
it causes you to do a lot of self-introspection,
you know, at least when it comes to, you know, obviously, I'm the one that's trying to, like,
lead this thing, you know, so you ask yourself, well, why is it that you would want a bigger
church? You know, why is it? You know, and I'm not against the big
church. I'm not against running hundreds, thousands of people. I think that's great.
You know, if it's the right kind of crowd, if you're still about the right
message, you know, if you can still do it without being a compromiser or being a coward,
you know, if it's not going to cause you to pull back and not say what
needs to be said, and preach the hard things out of the word of God, not just all
the sweetness and light. You know, I'm not against that. You ask yourself, well, why
is it that you would want a bigger church? Why would you want to run a hundred,
two hundred, three hundred? Is it for your own self and
grandisement? You know, is it so you can feel approved by men?
And so that you can say, hey, maybe you can get, you know, other preacher friends to look at you and say
what a success you are because you're running such a big church? And again, I'm not against
big church. I'm not. You know, but you have to ask yourself, what's the point?
Why get the big church? Why try to run a hundred? Why try to run?
Well, you know, if the motive is to preach God's word, to see lives change,
and to reach the city with the gospel of Jesus Christ, then by all means, let's get as
big as we can. You know, if people are going to show up and love the word
of God, and love the preaching the word of God, and not just all the easy stuff
in it, but the hard things too, all the gnarly bits that are in there too, if they're going to show
up and say, I love that, I want to do that, I want to live my life that way, I want to take
this on, I want to do the work that God has given us to do, then let's get as big as we can.
You know, but if me having to grow a big church means I have to pull
back, and not preach the word of God, and compromise,
and not turn to the harder things in the word of God, you know what, then I don't want it.
Then I don't want it. You know, I would rather drag a dozen people
out, you know, to church, out soul winning, week in and week out for the
rest of my life, if they're the right kind of people, than to pack this place out
with 200 people that don't really care about the things of God.
You know, that are just there for a show. And look, if all you're looking for in church is a show,
I know where to send you. I mean, I can tell you where to go, specifically.
And you can go there, and it'll be King James Bible, and the
preaching will still be good, because you know what the problem is, a lot of these churches, it's not what they say,
it's what they don't say. It's the things that are not preaching. That's the problem.
They say a lot of good things. They say a lot of the same things I want to say.
It's a lot of the same things I have said, and we'll say it again. You know what the problem is, is the things
that they don't want to say. Because they've been around so long, and they've gotten
so big, and they've gotten so comfortable, and they got the purple lights, and they got
the big show, and I'm not joking about the purple lights, I'm talking literally, purple lights.
They got the big show, and they don't want to risk anything.
You know, they've gotten comfortable in their old age,
as they've gotten, you know, more and more settled in to their program.
You know, you can go watch the show, and I'm telling you,
it's 45 minutes of a song service. You think our song service is long?
You know, I'm not against song servicing. You want to have a longer, I'm just saying
this, if you're going to have a 45 minute song service of duets,
and solos, and everything else, get the choir
up there, you're going to do all that, you know, that better be one good sermon
when it's done. That better be the best sermon I've ever heard in my life.
You know, I've got to sit through 45 minutes of this borderline
CCM, you know, music, and it's out there,
and it's King James, you know, and look, if that's what you're interested in, I can tell you where to go.
But if you, you know, what I would rather have, rather than just trying to
put on a show and entertain everybody, is to fill this place up
with people that love God's word, that want to go out and win solos to Christ.
And pull people out of the fire. Say, why do you guys go on and on
soul winning so much? Why is it the first, when I walk in the door, the first thing I see is
that map with the red eye and all the soul winning maps next to it. Why is it that you guys are so
geared toward soul winning? Because people are dying and going to hell.
Constantly. In this city, people are dying and going to hell.
Dying and going to hell. Dying and going to hell. You know, and I have to just keep harping on it
and dragging people out and pushing people and motivating people to go out and win solos
because that's what we're here to do. That's the mission. Not to just come here
and have, you know, entertainment. And look, we have fun. We have
fun along the way. You know, there's ping pong here. You know, we get a
little bigger. Maybe I'll throw the foosball table in. You know, we have
our events and things like that, but that's not the point. You know, the
point in this church is the preaching of God's word in the pulpit and
out on the street. You know, and a Hijjah
here is somebody who gets it. You know, he's saying, thus and thus saith
the Lord. He said, well, that's what I'm going to say then. You know, and that's, this is somebody
that I admire because that's a philosophy that I try to have. You know, I'm reading through
1 Kings, whatever, or whatever book I'm in, whatever passage I turn to
say, well, that's what it says. You know, and if it's something that's going to
you know, hair lip every dog in the county, I don't care. If it's
going to make people mad and cause them to not come back, you know, so be it.
Because I'll get to the end of my life like a Hijjah, you know, and I might not be the
big shot in Shiloh. You know, I might, I might, you know, people might not be clamoring
to come hear me speak, but I'll be right with God. But I'll be right
with God, and I'll be able to say like, Paul, I finished my course. I kept the faith.
I didn't compromise. I didn't pull back. I might not have been
the most popular guy. I might not have some of the biggest numbers, but you know what, as long as I'm doing
it for the Lord, as long as I'm faithful to Him, that's all I care about. And if, you know, people
want to come along with me and get on this train, let's do it.
But that's not going to, you know, I'm not going to try to win a popularity
contest, especially at the price of compromising in God's
Word. I want to be like a Hijjah who's just true all the way to the end.
And it says there, you know, he says, come in,
you know, I'm sent to thee with heavy tidings. He said, and let's hear
his hard message. Now, I've preached, I like to think I've preached a few sermons
that have some teeth in it. I like to think I've gotten up and preached a few hard
messages here and there. But I've never preached anything, I've never had to say anything like this to anybody.
He said, go tell Jeroboam, that's saying the Lord God of Israel.
You know, he's saying, oh, you want to know what's going to happen, Jeroboam?
You're interested in what God has for you? Well, let me tell you. For as much
as I exalted thee from among the people and made thee prince over my people Israel,
rent away the kingdom, excuse me, rent the
kingdom away from the house of David and gave it thee, and yet thou hast not been as my servant David,
who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, to do only that which is right in my eyes,
but has done evil above all that were before thee.
For thou hast gone and made the other gods and molten images to provoke me
to anger and has cast me behind thy back.
So, you know, this is making God, you can see why God's upset here. You know, because God's
going to get, he's about to get pretty, pretty rough here in chapter, in verse 10.
He says, therefore, don't forget that therefore.
Remember what Jeroboam's done in this past, what we've seen him do.
I mean, he's casting off God. He's making, you know, false gods, molten
images. He's causing Israel to sin. He says, therefore, I will
bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam him that
pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel
and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam as a man
taketh away dung till it all be gone. Now,
I've gotten up and I've said some hard things to people. I think I've preached
pretty hard, but you know what? That's a pretty hard message, isn't it?
Especially for a first time visitor, right?
It's the first time, and she shows up there, you know, Jeroboam's wife,
at the, you know, at the Hijam's church, and he's saying, oh yeah,
you're going to be carried away like dung. And I love, I love
the terminology here. I love the words that God uses. And you know what?
We're living in a time where even Baptist preachers would be ashamed to just read those
words from pulpit. They'll say, oh, you know,
this is just an old way of talking, and it's like, well, every word of God is pure.
Or they'll get mad at some preacher because he says piss.
You know, they get all mad when the preacher gets up and uses biblical words
like hell, whore, bastard, piss,
dung. They get all upset about that, but you know what?
They're like a whole lot plainer than that at home on their television, don't they?
Those hypocrites. But then they'll turn around and watch some filthy movie
with people cussing and everything else, and then they'll come and criticize some man
of God for saying, oh, I can't believe he said hell.
I can't believe he said whore, bastard. I can't believe he said a Bible word.
Oh, man, how crass. How crass of, you know, this prophet
here, Abijah, to use words like piss and dung.
Yeah, you know, it is crass, isn't it?
You know, that's not exactly how I don't really talk like that
in every situation. You know, that's not the kind of
talk I just, you know, in passing conversation I'll use at home with my wife
to start throwing out words like piss and dung and everything else. You know, you try to have
a little tack, but you know what? There's a time and place for it, isn't there?
You know, when you got the wife of the man who's led your nation
into hell and turned it against God, you know, words like
piss and dung are probably pretty mild, to be honest.
You know, maybe it's not the talk you would use just on a lazy Sunday
afternoon at home, but you know, there's a time and place to get a little crass
because you know what this is expressing? This is expressing how the Lord feels, isn't it?
This is what the Lord said. Hey, you know what? I'm going to cut off him that pisses against
the wall, and they're going to carry you away like dung.
You know, for us that, you know, have small children or have had small children, we can relate
to this dung metaphor, can't we? You know, that diaper gets filled
you know, it's not a pleasant experience. You carry it a
certain way, don't you? You know, you don't keep it close.
You're doing this, right? I mean, you can see why God is using this
expression because he's trying to get across. This is what I think of you,
Israel. This is what I think about you, Jerobo, and this is what I think about the nation.
You know what, you remind me of that filled diaper. You remind me of dung.
And I can barely, I have to keep you at harm's length and I can't get to the can fast enough
to get rid of you. You know, then I got to get the bag out of here.
That's how, this is why he's using this language. You know, and people want to
blush at that and go, and clutch their pearls over, you know,
these words in the Bible. You know, well, there's a purpose behind it.
It's expressing how God feels about these people.
You know, and I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, but it makes me wonder today,
do you think maybe God might feel this way about our country and our world today?
There might be some people where he feels like, man, you guys are like dung to me.
You smell, you stink, I can't get rid of you fast enough.
Of course there is. You know, I'm getting ahead of myself, but
this is how the Lord expresses himself. This is how he feels about these people.
You know, and that's something that he uses,
the expression that he uses, you know, often in Scripture.
Now if you would, go to Matthew chapter 3, Matthew chapter number 3.
He said in Malachi chapter 2, behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung
upon your faces. I mean, that's worse than this when you think about it.
I mean, it's one thing to say, hey, I'm going to carry you away like a dirty diaper.
And it's another thing to say, hey, I'm going to take what's in that diaper and smear it on your face.
But that's what God said, isn't it?
Well, I don't think you should talk like that from the pulpit. Well, you know,
the Malachi is a book that's in the Bible. That was a prophet
of God that said that, speaking in the spirit of God,
who said, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces.
You know, and this is what I'm saying.
This is what's lacking today, is the hard sayings.
There's a lot of churches out there, they're saying a lot of the right things.
It's the things they're not saying. I mean, this is
mild into my book compared to some of the other things that we find in Scripture.
I mean, yeah, it's a very crass illustration, but it has a point.
And yet so many today would just shrink away
from talking like this or even, you know, expressing any kind
of a sediment like this, that God is disgusted with some people.
That sometimes God is just thoroughly disgusted with what He sees going on in this earth, in this country.
And even in His own house.
Zephaniah chapter 1, he says in verse 17,
And I will bring distress upon men, they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord.
And their blood shall be poured out like as dust, and their flesh
as dung. You know, what did He say to Jezebel?
That she won't be buried, right? That she would be spread in the field as dung.
Because the dogs would eat her flesh. I mean, these are the things that God
says and does in Scripture. To express how He feels.
So who am I, who am I as a preacher to get up and say,
well, God, I think He went a little too far there. You know, I don't think we should talk like that
to the people. I mean, you know who I'm not?
Is I'm not a Elijah at that point. Excuse me, I'm not a Hijjah at that point.
I'm not a true prophet of God if I'm saying, well, I know that's how
God feels, but, you know, let me soften the message.
You know, the Lord said, thus and thus, thou shalt say.
Well, you know what, I'm trying, Lord, you don't understand, you know, I've got a
lifestyle to maintain here. I've got a program I'm trying to build.
I've got this church that I'm trying to build.
You know, I don't want to upset anybody. You know, I've got money bags in the church.
And, you know, if I preach that, if I say that about, you know,
whatever the subject, you know, there's a good chance that they won't come anymore.
You know, that's not what you see from a real man of God.
They'll get up and say the mean things. They'll get up and say the hard things.
The nasty things that need to be said.
You know, a Hijjah, when you think about it, is seeker and sensitive.
I mean, think about the story. Jeroboam's wife is showing up
in a Hijjah, you know, she's seeking help, right? And isn't that like a big thing
in churches today, to be seeker sensitive? And that's the thing a lot of churches will say
is, oh, we're very seeker sensitive here. We're a seeker sensitive church.
And when you hear that, you can usually count on a few things.
You know, they're going to have very liberal music that probably not can use the King James Bible, because that's too hard to understand.
Because people today are just too stupid to figure out what the and thou.
They're too dumb to pull out a dictionary and figure out what a word means.
You know, even though it's in their pocket 24-7 on a phone.
You know, but when you hear that term seeker sensitive, you know, there's a few things you can bank on.
You know, that it's going to be, you know, it's going to be a real emotional message all the time.
Look, I'm not against the emotional message, but that's all it's ever going to be.
Just the real motivation. There's not going to be any doctrine.
You know, it's just going to be real motivational stuff all the time.
They're not going to say anything hard. You know, they're going to spend weeks, you know, on the love of God.
And look, let's preach the love of God. We preach the love of God.
But there's more in the Bible than just the love of God. There's the wrath of God.
You know, and everything else in between.
You know, so that's what you hear in these seeker sensitive churches.
You know what seeker sensitive churches are?
They're just churches that are just trying to see how big they can get.
For that purpose alone.
They want to get as big as they can get, just so they can see how big they can get.
If they don't want to get big so that they can get accomplished more for Christ.
So they can knock more doors and get more saved and get more people on their way to heaven and out of hell.
That's not what they want. They just want to get big.
So, for the sake of getting big.
You know, what's the point?
So they want to just bring everybody and everybody they can in.
So they're going to be seeker sensitive.
Right?
You know, they're going to soften the message.
They're going to bring in the music.
Well, what kind of music are you guys into around here?
You know, maybe we should take a poll of all the Tucsonians around here.
I'd probably have to get, you know, like a tuba and a mariachi band up here.
Right? And we could bring in a crowd, right?
You know, we'll start playing the hip hop.
We'll get the Christian wrap up going up here.
Get some Christian hip hop.
That'll bring the people in, right?
Oh, look, don't you think that would work?
Sure it would.
Of course it would. It works.
Give people what they want and they'll show up for it.
You know, I'll start, you know, I'll dress down.
I'll get a graphic tee.
You know, and I'll get some jeans that are ripped up a little bit.
Stonewashed jeans or whatever the style is and put some holes in them.
And I'll get rid of this old wood pulpit.
Get a nice little plexiglass thing and we'll get the sign down.
We'll just, you know what, we'll just put the words up on a screen
with a little bouncy ball. You don't even have to open a book.
You know, we'll get rid of those old hymns.
And I'll illustrate all my sermons with PG-13 and R-rated movies
that you recognize.
Because then I'll be, but it's all because I'm secret sensitive.
You know, well, you know what, when I read this story,
I come and walk away from saying,
Well, you know what, Hijjah is not a very secret sensitive person.
I mean, he's got a person who's seeking, right?
Coming to his door and even bringing gifts.
You know, looking for help.
They've got family issues.
They've got problems.
And, you know, that jerk, Hijjah, just lets her have it.
And says, you know what, your husband's wicked, you're wicked,
and God's going to take you guys all the way like dung.
Now, join us again next week.
You know, come back next week,
and I'll continue the series on why you're like dung.
No, they're not going to come back for that.
You know, they're never going to darken the door again.
You know, but here's the thing.
Is secret sensitive really going to help people?
If you come to church and all I ever did was just,
you know, never told you that anything was wrong,
you know, that sin is bad, try not to do it,
but never got specific, never preached hard,
never preached on the hard passage of the Word of God,
would that really help you?
You know, it would build the church.
We could all come here and feel like we're just
this huge success because we just have all these people.
You know, and then we could all just go out
and live wicked lives, backslidden lives that God looks at
just and says you stink like dung.
And that's what we could do.
But how are we doing any people any favors that?
Really and spiritually,
how are we doing anybody a favor at that point?
Here's the thing.
You know, you can't coddle people
if you expect them to get right.
That's what I've learned as a teacher.
You know, and even then, you know, you can't,
even then when you just finally say, you know what?
I'm just going to let it rip.
I'm just going to say it.
You know, even then people still won't get right.
So what's the point of coddling them to begin with?
You know, save the coddling for the children at home, you know.
Save it for your elderly, you know, grandmother or whatever.
But you know, God's people can't,
you know, shouldn't expect to be coddled by the man of God.
You want people to get right
and get the sin out of their life
and start doing what they need to do to serve God
so they don't smell like dung in front of God.
You know, you can't coddle them.
When they show up at your door,
you can't just be, oh, come in and sit down.
I know your life's full of idolatry
and I know you're wicked,
but you know, I'm just here to just tell you
everything's going to be okay
when it's not going to be okay.
You know, a hydra had the right message.
Right? Hey, it's judgment,
it's chastening, it's gloom,
it's doom because of your actions.
That's not coddling people.
And that's not how you're going to help people.
Okay? You can't coddle them.
He said in verse 11, I'll just read to you, it says,
him that dieth of Jeroboam,
because, you know, you think, man,
taking away his dung, verse 10,
I mean, what else could you say?
How much harder could this message get?
Oh, it gets harder.
Him that dieth of Jeroboam
in the city shall the dogs eat.
Oh, yeah, you know, your husband's kids
are all going to be eaten by dogs.
You know, and dogs aren't very nice about it, are they?
You know, dogs don't tuck in, you know,
and put a little napkin in and get the knife and fork out.
I mean, it's like you're going to be torn to shreds bit by bit.
Let me fill in between the lines here for you a little bit
so you can get the picture of what he's saying.
He's saying, hey, you know what?
The sons of Jeroboam are going to be eaten by dogs.
But that's not very sensitive.
And him that dieth in the field
shall the fowls of the air eat.
For the Lord hath spoken it.
He's saying, don't get mad at me.
God said that.
Arise, therefore, get thee to thine own house.
And you would think at this point,
like, he's kind of like, man,
Elijah, lay off, man, you're really
calling, saying, you know, they're going to
be taken away like dung.
All the men, those that piss against the wall
are going to be taken away, they're going to be eaten by dogs.
In the city, they're going to be eaten
by the birds of the air.
They're going to have a dishonorable death.
No one's going to remember them in their death.
They're not going to have a funeral.
That's what he's saying.
They're going to be forgotten.
No marker.
They're just going to be fodder for the beasts
and the fowls of the earth.
I think you let her have it, Elijah.
Can you back off a little bit?
Nope, it's not done.
Arise, therefore, get thee to thine own house.
The child shall die.
That's a tough message, isn't it?
You know, and I look at a guy
like a hygienist and say, wow,
I hope I have that
level of integrity.
I mean, I'm not looking for opportunity to
tell somebody that their child's going to die or
deliver them heavy tidings.
I'm not looking to, you know, give people
bad news.
You know, if the Bible says thus and thus
sayeth the Lord, I hope I have enough
authority to say thus and thus sayeth the Lord.
Even in my old age.
Even when it's not going to profit
me anything
to preach to people like that.
You know, that's what I get
out of that story.
And he's saying, look, the child's going to die.
That's a tough message.
He's saying, well, this is just an isolated
incidence in scripture, you know.
I know Elijah's not being very sensitive here.
You know, that's really not the model that Jesus
set for us.
That's not the model Jesus set for us.
That's the Old Testament God.
We're in the New Testament now.
This is all about love.
And Jesus never calls anybody names.
Look, that's what people say.
You'll get up, some man of God will get up,
preach God's word and start calling people out
and rightly so and telling it like this and
calling people names.
Calling them for what they are.
Calling them to be heretics, liars,
or whatever.
You'll just call them out and call them names.
That's not the spirit of Christ.
We can take you out.
You're there in Matthew 3, right?
Verse 7.
This is John the Baptist,
you know, the forerunner to Christ.
The one who was sent to prepare
the way before him to make straight his paths.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees come to his Baptist
and he said unto them, oh, I'm so glad you're here.
I'm so glad you could make it this Sunday.
I'm so glad you're here.
It's wonderful to have so many great visitors out here
for our baptism Sunday.
Oh, it's so wonderful.
It's fake.
Is that what he did?
Oh, I'm just so glad you're here
because we're seeker sensitive here.
It doesn't matter if you're a false prophet
or whatever.
We're just glad you're here.
Glad you could join us.
No, what's he say?
But he said unto them, oh, generation of vipers
who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come.
Bring forth fruits therefore and meat for repentance.
He's like, oh, you're here?
You better prove that you belong here.
Right, you vipers.
Well, that's not very seeker sensitive.
What does he think he is?
Go to Matthew 23.
Well, that was John the Baptist.
Jesus wouldn't ever say anything like that.
He'd never call anybody a viper.
Look, there's a lot of things you can call people
and in order to
make them feel welcome, vipers are usually not it.
Unless you're trying to make some
heavy metal rocker
feel welcome.
Hey, you're a viper, man.
You don't sweet talk your wife like that.
You viper.
You venomous
reptile.
You creature
that's despised by a man
that people want to kill as soon as they see it.
You animal
that God cursed
in the beginning.
You know, this isn't a love language
he's speaking here.
Jesus said in Matthew 12, oh, generation
of vipers.
How can ye, being evil, speak good things?
I mean, he's really letting them have it.
You can't even say anything good, you vipers.
Because you're so evil, because you're so wicked.
Does this sound
very seeker sensitive to me?
Matthew 23 verse 37,
Woe unto you, scribes,
Pharisees, hypocrites.
You are like unto whited sepulchers,
which indeed appear beautiful outward
but are within full of dead men's
bones and of all uncleanness.
Verse 33, ye serpents, generation
of vipers, how can ye escape
the damnation of hell?
Saying you're all lost,
you're damned, you can't do anything about it.
That's not a, and you say,
well, you know, that's Jesus preaching
to the Jews, and I understand that.
And look, I'm not saying
that, you know, every preacher's
got to get up and say these words
and tell them, you're all going to hell,
you're all damned, you vipers, ah.
This is a pretty extreme circumstance,
isn't it?
But what the problem is, is that today we have
preachers who can't even get up and say,
you know, fornication's wicked.
Being a drunk's wicked.
You know, they can't even
call out the tiniest little sin.
Because they don't want to offend anybody.
Because they're just, they're just so
like Jesus.
They're friendlier than Jesus.
They're more seeker sensitive than the Lord.
They know better than him.
Go to 1 Timothy 4.
2 Timothy 4.
That's the problem.
You know, the Hijas
are few and far between.
I mean, I could probably
count the ones I know on both.
I wouldn't have to take my shoes off.
I hope there's others out there.
But to me, I look around,
I look at some of these other Baptist churches
and I'm just thinking,
it's great what you're saying, but
there's so much more that needs to be said
that it seems like you just never say it.
It just seems like you're avoiding
a hard topic here.
You know, you just want to turn a blind eye
and pretend that, you know,
this country isn't turning
into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.
You say, boy, you sure
talk about that a lot.
Yeah, because they talk about it a lot.
Hey, I don't know how you
get up and claim to be a man of God and a preacher
of God's word and not address that issue
of the Sodomites.
Just year in, year out,
year in, year out, never
talk about it. Never bring it up
directly. Oh, you might
just kind of, you know,
people will go, did he just make a mess?
Was he referring to the homos?
You know, but leave yourself enough space to say,
oh, I wasn't talking about that.
I wouldn't want to offend you because
you got a gay nephew or whatever.
I want to offend you because
your kids are turning out that way.
You know, but the irony
is that's exactly why we are
where we are. That's the irony.
You know why
Jeroboam's family is being destroyed?
Because there aren't enough Ahijus
saying, you smell like dung! Fix it!
That's what we need today.
More Ahijus who, you know, that would
spare the, you know, the Abijas
of this world
and having them to have to die and be
destroyed, families destroyed.
If more creatures were like
Ahija and would just say, hey,
you stink!
The sin in this country stinks!
Instead of just every
Sunday,
this big fake smile
because all they're really interested
in is just having a crowd
and just putting on
a show and
impressing other people.
They're in 2 Timothy, chapter number 4.
I mean, that's where we're at today.
You know, and this is what
these preachers are like.
You know, they don't want to use
these hard words. They don't want to say
the hard things of the word of God, like
piss.
And yet,
today, you know,
Satan's pissing on our shoes
and the false prophet's going to get up
and say, oh, it's raining!
That's not sin!
That's not Satan
pissing on your shoes!
It's raining!
Praise the Lord, it's showers
of blessing!
That's where we're at.
Because they don't want to
preach the hard things. They don't want to get up and talk about
the hard things today. They'll never
get a strike on their YouTube channel.
They'll never have their channels
taken down within 24 hours
and just have to keep repeatedly making them.
Google's not trying to censor them.
Facebook isn't trying to censor them.
You know why they're not, oh, it's because
we're just so great. No, it's because you're not a threat.
That's why.
Because they already know this guy's
soft, washed up, and weak.
He's no a Hijjah.
Say, well, I just don't know.
Does a preacher really have to preach like that?
Well, 2 Timothy chapter number 4.
Verse 1.
I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's a pretty serious charge, isn't it?
You know, if someone
comes and says, hey, God is witness.
I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Timothy is a preacher.
You know, he's Paul's protege.
And he's saying, look,
keep something in mind, Timothy.
Everything I'm telling you,
you want to be right with God.
Not right with your Bible college.
Not right with the circle you run in.
You want to be right with God?
You want to be right with the Lord Jesus Christ?
You got to keep this charge right here.
We shall judge the quick and the dead
at his appearing in his kingdom.
Preach the word.
Now, that sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?
Just preach the word.
You know what?
If you do that, if you just preach the word,
and you preach all of it,
the whole counsel of God,
if you don't hold anything back
and you declare the entire counsel of God,
you just do what you've been charged to do
as a preacher and preach the counsel of God,
you're going to make people mad.
Without even trying.
You know, it's not like
you sit at home and say, well,
who can I piss off today at church?
All you've got to do is just get up
and preach this log enough,
and eventually it's going to make people mad.
I mean,
I went to church,
and I sat out in the pew for
a long time.
It was 20 years.
And I had plenty of message
around the pike at me,
and I was thinking, man,
was the preacher following me this week?
How did he know?
Does he have a spy?
I'm driving like that.
Is he spying on me?
Is he following me?
No, that's called the Holy Spirit.
That's called just preaching the word.
You just preach the word,
because no one's perfect,
you're bound to get on somebody's sin.
You know, if you just preach the word,
you're going to land in Genesis 19.
You're going to land in Judges 19
if you preach the word.
You're going to land in
Leviticus 20.
You're going to land in Romans 1.
You're going to land in 2 Peter.
You're going to land in the book of Jude
at some point if you're a preacher
who's preaching the word.
And at that point, you're going to have to decide
are you going to keep this charge or not?
And look, that's just one example
of one sin,
a combination before God
that makes a nation smell like dung
in the sight.
These instant insees
and outsees reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine.
That doesn't sound very sensitive though, Paul.
Can't we just
exhort?
Can't we just stay with exhorting?
Because exhorting is easy.
The encouraging, uplifting sermons,
you know, why can't every sermon
just be a Mother's Day sermon?
You know, why can't we just preach that?
Every sermon is the Easter Sunday sermon.
Every sermon is Christmas Eve sermon.
Every sermon
is just about
the love of God
and how you can do it
and everything else. Just all the exhortation.
Because
that's not the charge that we've been given
as preachers.
That wasn't what Hijjah was told to say.
Hijjah, here's what I would like you to say.
You know, you figure out,
you have a better idea of what needs to be said to Hijjah.
You put it in your own words.
If you don't want to say tisith and dung,
then, you know,
and if you want to leave out that part about
her child dying as soon as her feet
enter the city, you know, that's up to you.
That's at your discretion. No, it's a charge from God
to preach the Word. All of it.
Not just the parts that you like.
The parts that you don't like.
Because newsflash, you know,
it's not always a pleasure cruise
for me either to get up and preach the Word of God.
You know, I'm not some kind of
sicko up here, just like,
oh, man, I can't wait to just get up there
and make people feel like dirt.
That's not me.
You know, never seek, never set out to do that.
But you know what?
That's the charge.
Why? Verse 3. Well, why?
Why does it gotta be that way? Why do you gotta charge him
to preach like that, Paul?
Just soften up and back off a little bit.
I know you're kind of cantankerous,
but you know, this is
the next generation. It's a new age.
It's different now. It's Timothy.
It's the next generation coming up.
You don't need to be preached at like that.
You gotta reach in where they're at.
You gotta be more sensitive.
You gotta use this voice, Paul.
I hate that voice.
I hate it when a preacher...
I hate it when preachers preach like this.
I can't stand it.
When you get up, you get that soft,
sweet little voice.
He pulled your little hands.
That's that hokey
Christianity that turned me off
for so long.
Why do you gotta preach like this, verse 3?
For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine.
But after their own lust shall they heed to themselves
teachers having itching ears.
Just say, Jeroboam, just set up those calves
and we'll just worship there.
And we don't have to hear about the Lord
anymore. We don't have to
get all bloody with those sacrifices
and we don't have to listen to all those
commandments and we can just do away with the law
and you know what, we'll just do things our own way
and Jeroboam, you just preach all the sweetness and
light and what. That's what we want.
We've got itching ears.
It's the same thing. There's nothing new under the sun.
It's the same problem in Paul's day.
It's the same problem today.
People today just have itching ears.
That's why those churches
are full of people and these ones are.
Because they're over there just,
Oh, you want your ear itched?
Don't get both hands involved.
You want to just heed to yourself teachers
having itching ears and they shall turn their
ears away from the truth.
You don't need to hear that part. Let me turn to
another part. Let me find something.
Oh yeah, we're just going to skip that passage.
We're just going to go over that in the Bible.
You don't need to hear that.
They shall be turned unto fables.
But watch thou in all things and
notice this, endure afflictions.
You know, preaching the word and enduring
afflictions don't end there like this.
Because if you're going to preach the word,
people aren't going to like it.
And you're going to have to endure some afflictions.
That's why a lot of guys just don't want to get in
the ministry because they know that's true.
And we know it's true because we see it happen
all the time.
We see this pastor over here getting up,
keeping the charge that he's been charged before God,
preaching the word,
reproving, rebuking, exhorting
with all long suffering and doctrine,
using the words the Bible uses,
saying it like it is, and you know what?
He has to endure afflictions.
We see it happen here, we see it happen over there,
we see it happen here, and then some guys just go,
Look, I'm not saying you're a bad person if that's you.
It's good to think soberly.
You know what? God has not given us a spirit of fear.
The power and the love and the sound mind.
You know, and we need more people
to just preach the word of God.
More men of God, not less.
More.
You know, we're not a seeker-sensitive church here
if you haven't noticed already.
We're not.
You guys are a bunch of jerks over there
with that Faith the Word Tucson.
And you guys are a bunch of jerks.
That preacher, he's a jerk.
You know, I'm not the most polished guy,
I'm not the most, the best,
I'm not the most goodest speaker.
You know what I try to be?
Is faithful the word of God.
That's it.
I don't know what else to do.
Because I just preach the word of God
and win souls.
Who's gonna build this church?
I don't know.
I'm just gonna have faith.
And that's what Peter did.
Whom do ye say that I am?
Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.
And he said, Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church.
Build this church on what?
On faith.
On the declaration that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That's what I'm just gonna declare like Peter
and let God do the rest.
I'm just gonna declare his word.
We're gonna go declare his word.
We're gonna go out there
and just preach the faith of the Son of God
and just let God take care of the rest.
And if he says, you know what?
I'll build that church.
He'll find people,
lead them here, put them in there.
Great.
And if he says, you know what?
That 40 to 50 people you got,
that's all you're getting.
Great.
It'll just take longer.
We'll just get the work done.
Hey, more souls for us.
More for us.
More rewards for us.
That's how I'm looking at it.
And I'm not gonna, you know,
try to color coordinate my tie and everything else
and make sure I have the perfect this
and the sensitive message that
and start some show up here
just to build a crowd full of people who smell like dung.
We aren't seeker sensitive.
Let me repeat that in case you haven't.
I'll tell you what we are sensitive to.
Seeking.
We're seeking sensitive here.
You know, we might not be seeker sensitive
but we're seeking sensitive.
You know, my goal as a preacher
isn't to just preach people down an aisle
to make some, you know, get saved.
And look, God bless them
if that's what you want to do.
If they're preaching the gospel
and people are getting saved,
however you think you need to do it,
go ahead and do that.
But here we're seeking sensitive.
We're not gonna sit here
and just hope some sinner walks in the door
and then I'm gonna preach the gospel
for the hundredth time
to, you know, everybody else
that's already saving them
just to get one person
to come down the aisle.
Well, I can't believe
you wouldn't do that.
Yeah, but you know what?
You know where you'll find us
on Sunday afternoon?
You know where you'll find us
on Tuesday afternoon?
You know where you'll find us
on Thursday afternoon?
You know where you'll find us
on Saturday morning?
Triple digits or not?
Out there seeking.
Cause that's what we're sensitive to here.
To seeking.
To actually, you know,
putting the G.O.
to actually, you know,
putting the G.O.
in the gospel.
We go here.
We actually go out
and do the work.
And that's what just bother-
and that's what's so frustrating
when you see these other churches
that are running hundreds of people.
It's like how have you not
knocked every door in the city
twice over?
Why is it that, you know,
we gotta send one of our guys down here
to do the job that you should have done
decades ago?
Well, we just have a different approach.
Your approach isn't working.
Have you noticed
your approach isn't working?
That we aren't smelling any less
like dung in this country today?
That's what's frustrating about it.
You know, Hijjah
was not seeker sensitive.
We're not either,
but we're seeking sensitive.
We'll go when and where they are.
We'll go out just like he said.
Go out into the highways
and the hedges.
The highways and the byways.
That's where we'll go find them.
Instead of just trying to
build some edifice in here.
Instead of just trying to
build some edifice in here.
And just lure people in with the flesh.
Because you know what?
What you're winning with
is what you're keeping with.
What you're winning with
is what you're keeping with.
That's why I'm not just gonna try
to win a bunch of people in here
with, you know,
all the seeker sensitive methods.
Because that's not an act
I care to keep up.
Because, you know,
I like to think I have
more integrity than that.
Because I actually do want to
preach the whole counsel of God.
If that has to make people
get mad and leave,
then so be it.
You know, a hydra warned
the wicked, didn't he?
That's what this story is about.
He's like, look,
it's gonna happen.
Go back there, verse 13.
I know I'm going along tonight,
but I gotta get something
off my chest.
And he said in verse 13,
And all Israel shall mourn
for him, you know,
the child that's gonna die
when she enters back in,
that child that had fallen
sick at the beginning.
And all Israel shall mourn
for him and bury him,
for he only of Jeroboam
shall come to the grave.
Oh yeah, all Israel shall
remember, they're all gonna
be eaten out in the field
and in the city by the animals.
But you know this child
that you're worried about?
He will come to the grave.
Because in him, that child,
there is found some good
thing toward the Lord God
of Israel in the house
of Jeroboam.
You know, God,
this is a great passage
about, you know,
how God is, you know,
all knowing.
He's omniscient.
He knows, you say,
why is God so quick
to just judge people like that?
Why is God so quick
to judge people like that?
Why is God so quick
to judge people like that?
Why is God so quick
to judge people like that?
Why is God so quick
to judge people like that?
Why is God so quick
to judge people like that?
Because he already knows
how wicked they are
and how wicked
they're gonna be.
But he knows about this child
that there was some
good thing in him.
So you know what?
Instead of letting him
be eaten by an animal,
he actually gave him
an honorable death.
So you know what?
You will bury him.
There will be a mourning
and lamenting people
who will remember him.
He's still gonna die.
You know, this is
the mercy of God.
But you know what?
He's gonna die,
but he's not gonna
be eaten by dogs.
You know, that's
an interesting passage.
But verse 14.
Moreover, the Lord shall
raise him up a king
over Israel who shall
cut off the house
of Jeroboam that day.
But what, even now?
The Lord shall smite Israel
as a reed is shaken
in the water,
and he shall root up
Israel out of his good
land, which he gave
to their fathers,
and shall scatter them
beyond the river,
because they have made
their groves,
provoking the Lord
to anger.
Look, I'm not gonna
sit here and belabor
the point about all
the times that God
has sent his prophets
to Israel and just
preached.
Judgment.
I mean, it's the
whole Bible, folks.
Anyone that's read
their Bibles knows
what I'm saying is true.
Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, I mean,
just right on down
the list, major,
minor prophets,
you just go down the
list.
It's just judgment,
judgment, judgment.
And then it's like,
if you listen to these
other guys today, it's
like, where's the
talk of judgment?
Where is the wrath of
God?
Where is the judgment
of God?
How is it, you know,
and then they'll allude
to it with the
spirit of judgment.
And then they'll allude
to it with a smile
on their face.
It's like you don't
even mean it.
That's not God's
best for you.
How about that God thinks
he'll smell like
dung?
U.S. and the
United States?
I can't let you say
something about the,
you know, you know,
the old, the old
God bless America.
I can't even say
that about America,
the old U.S. of A.
Look, the United States
smells like dung
in front of God.
It's true.
How can it?
It's a modern,
it's Sodom and Gomorrah
today.
You know, I'm not going
to be one of these
prophets that gets up
and doesn't warn
the wicked.
You know, we saw the
charge that Timothy got.
You know, Ezekiel
received a similar charge
saying, Son of Man,
I set thee a watchman
to warn the wicked.
And if you don't warn
them, their blood's
on your hands.
I mean, there's just so
many, Isaiah,
saying, look,
go prophesy.
Go write it in a table
and note in a book
that it may be for the
time to come for
whenever that this is
a rebellious people,
lying children,
children that will not
hear the law of the Lord.
I mean, isn't that an
exact parallel to what
we see in our country today?
People do not want to
hear the law of the Lord.
Am I out to lunch here?
Am I taking crazy pills?
Am I the only one
that sees this?
It just seems to me
like we're living in a
country where people
don't want to hear
the law of the Lord
anymore.
They want to take
any mention of God.
They took him out of
the public school
decades ago.
They don't want the
Ten Commandments up
anywhere.
They want to sandblast
it all down.
They want to cancel it
and everything else.
They don't want them
in the schools.
They don't want them
in the public square.
They're like, you just
keep them in your
little church house and
we'll all get along
just fine.
But you know what?
They do, aren't they?
You know, you got all
these churches waving
their rainbow flag
flags out there.
Just right along
with them.
You know why?
Because they don't want
to hear the law of the
Lord.
Because the law of the
Lord condemns that filthy
lifestyle for the
abomination that it is.
And I'm, you know what?
I'm sorry I had to
keep bringing that up
and keep kicking that
dog, but that's,
you know, pun not
intended.
That is the dog that
needs kick today.
That's what sodomites
are for in scripture.
Dogs.
That's the bell that
needs to be rung.
Because we're living in
a country like Isaiah
where they're rebellious,
they're liars.
Oh, everything's fine.
Children that will not
hear the law of the
Lord.
Which say to the seers,
the prophets, right,
the preachers, see not.
And to the prophets,
prophesy not unto us
right things, but speak
unto us smooth things.
Prophesied deceits.
We have itching ears.
Give us the teachers
that we can heed to
ourselves that are gonna
just prophesy deceits
to us.
That's where we're at.
That is an exact
parallel to our country.
Even in Baptist churches
today, it's gotten so
lukewarm and watered down
that preachers are
getting so soft and
effeminate behind the
pulpits, it's disgusting.
You say, well, why is it?
Because my people love
to have it so.
They love it.
They don't wanna hear
the law of the Lord
anymore.
They don't wanna hear
the preaching against
fornication and adultery
and divorce and everything
else that comes along
with the word of God.
They don't wanna hear
all that.
Said Jeremiah, a wonderful
and horrible thing is
committed in the land.
The prophets prophesy
falsely and the
priests bear rule by their
means.
But is that really that
wonderful of a thing?
Is that really that
horrible?
I mean, it's a horrible
thing.
It's something that
leaves you in wonder.
Like, you see it, you're
just like, I can't believe
it.
Your jaw drops, right?
And he's saying, look, a
wonderful thing and
horrible is committed in
the land.
The prophets prophesy
falsely and the
priests bear rule by
their means.
They're getting out and
prophesying lies.
Is that really the
wonderful thing?
Is that really the
horrible thing?
You know what's really
amazing?
Is that my people love
to have it so.
My people, he said,
love to have it so.
They love to be lied
to.
They love to have people
just speak to them
smooth things and
prophesy deceits and
lie to them.
And look, we could
build a big church like
that if we all just
wanted to compromise on
the word of God, drop
the standards, not
preach the hard things
and just start prophesying
deceits.
We could just be like
any one of these other
churches.
Fill this place up.
You know, maybe you'd
have to get somebody to
lie to you.
You know, maybe you'd
have to get somebody to
lie to you.
You know, maybe you'd
have to get somebody to
lie to you.
You know, maybe you'd
have to get somebody a
little bit more eloquent
than me.
I don't know.
But we could do it.
It can be done.
That's not an offer,
though.
That's not a suggestion.
I'm just making a point.
You know, I got to
close.
I know I'm going long.
You know, and I don't
want to just, you know,
I know I'm kind of
getting after the
people, but, you know,
you notice this passage,
if you go back there,
it's leadership that's
held responsible.
It kind of ends
his message here after
he telling him,
oh, you know, you guys
smell like dung.
All the men are going
to be dead, eaten of
dogs.
Your child's going to die.
You're all going to be
carried off and destroyed.
And he shall give up
Israel.
Israel up, verse 16,
because of the sins of
Jeroboam.
I mean, who's
ultimately responsible?
It's leadership.
Because of the sins
of Jeroboam,
who did sin
and made Israel
to sin.
I mean, leadership's
the one to blame.
You know, and that's
why I'm kind of taking
a little bit of time
tonight and not getting
through this whole passage
and kind of parking it
and getting after these
preachers who aren't
prophesying all the
counsel of the word of
God, that aren't saying
everything that needs
to be said.
They are the ones
that are responsible.
And I'm so sick
of this accusation.
Oh, it's preachers
like you.
You're the reason why
people are turning
for Christianity.
You know, maybe there's
a grain of truth to that.
You know, if me
getting up and preaching
the word of God the
way it's written and
telling it like it is,
is making people
go away, so be it.
But you know what I can
say about a lot of
those other preachers?
They are the reasons why
these bags are out in
the open like they are.
They're the reason why,
you know, the devil is
just having a heyday
in this culture.
It's honey.
It's just, you know,
we all kind of live
in our little bubble here.
But if we were to
go back to some of that,
I mean, it's bad.
I mean, the sodomy is
just, it's just so
in your face now.
The queerness, right?
They declare their
sin a Sodom.
That's where we're at.
And who's responsible?
The Jeroboam's of
this world.
The leaders.
The ones who should
have been the one to
put their foot down and
say, thus saith the
Lord.
It's not a Hijjah.
Hijjah's the last man
of God that they had
left in that, in that
wicked country.
Who stood by his stuff
all the way to his
old age.
And he said,
and the prophet of
nothing, he still said,
you know what?
And when that seeker
came in looking for a
solution to their
problems, he just said,
well, here's your real
problem.
You know, no things
aren't going to, you
know, peace, peace when
there is no peace.
There is no peace.
It's going to be
destruction and gloom.
You know, I'd like to
say, I'd like to get
up and say, oh, you
know, America is just
blessed with God and,
and we're all just, you
know, it's just a matter
of time until we're all
just, there's going to
be a great big revival
and America's just, God's
going to keep blessing
it.
No.
That good land, which
was given to our fathers,
has been desecrated with
innocent blood and
oppression and lies and
deceit and
covetousness and
idolatry.
No different than
Old Testament Israel.
It's over.
Put a fork in the
United States.
Okay?
And the point of the
sermon is this, though, is
that I am not endeavoring
as a preacher to get up
and be one of these
people that's going to
sugar coat that.
I'm not going to be a
Jeroboam.
You know, I want to be
the Hijjah, and hopefully
you do too.
And hopefully, you know,
you're the type of
people that want to get
alongside of a Hijjah-like
preacher.
Because this is what you
got in Tucson.
There's, you got other
options.
I'm not saying there
aren't other, you can
go to another Baptist
church.
It's probably a good
church.
You can be blessed to the
Lord and serve God there
to whatever degree they
will make it possible for
you to serve God and
raise your family.
But you know what?
It might come at a price
if they're the type of
preacher that's not
willing to get up and
say, thus and thus,
sayeth the Lord.
So we might not be the
most popular game in town,
but that's really not
the point.
That's not the point
of the ministry.
Let's try to just build
some giant thing for the
sake of being big.
So we can all just pat
ourselves on the
shoulder and go, look how
big we are.
I'm more impressed with
that map.
This keeps getting redder
and redder.
More and more gets shade
in.
Week in, week out.
It's only been three
years, folks.
So that's my message
tonight.
Ultimately, you know,
what are we in this for?
What are we about here?
It's not about being
sensitive to bring it in
a crowd.
It's about being sensitive,
about going out and finding
people that are preaching
the gospel and preaching
thus sayeth the Lord to
those that are here.
Go ahead and pray.