Yeah, you got some giant headphones there.
Oh, sorry, bro.
What's up?
You're zooming out.
You can hear it.
Don't you want to zoom in?
Huh?
All right.
You want to zoom this side and I'll do that side.
All right.
All right, everybody.
If you guys could find your seats and turn your song into a song of 404, we're going to be singing The Fight Is On.
Welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church.
If you guys could find your seats and grab your songbook and turn it to page number 404.
We're going to be singing The Fight Is On.
Song number 404, The Fight Is On. Let's sing it together on the first.
The fight is on, the trumpet sound is ringing out, the cry to arms is heard afar and near.
The Lord of hosts is marching on to victory, the triumph of the Christ will soon appear.
The fight is on, oh Christian soldiers, and face to face in stern array.
With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today.
The fight is on but be not weary, be strong and in his might hold fast.
If God be for us, his banner o'er us, we'll sing the victor's song at last.
The fight is on, oh rowsy soldiers brave and true, Jehovah leads and victory will assure.
Go buckle on the armor God has given you and in his strength forever we'll endure.
The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face in stern array.
With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today.
The fight is on but be not weary, be strong and in his might hold fast.
If God be for us, his banner o'er us, we'll sing the victor's song at last.
Everyone sing great tonight, sing it out, keep it up on the third.
The Lord is leading on to certain victory, the bow of promise spans the eastern sky.
His glorious name in every land shall honored be the morn will break, the dawn of peace is nigh.
The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face in stern array.
With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today.
The fight is on but be not weary, be strong and in his might hold fast.
If God be for us, his banner o'er us, we'll sing the victor's song at last.
Amen, good scene. Brother Paul, would you have us over the water prayer?
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your kindness to the guys and the brothers around the stage here.
They are hard to be open to message tonight and to cherish in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen, our second song is number 498, When We All Get To Heaven.
Song number 498, When We All Get To Heaven.
Song 498, and I'm sure everybody knows you got to shout on the shout or we just keep repeating the verse until it's loud enough.
Song 498, let's sing it out together on the first.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing his mercy and his grace.
In the mansions bright and blessed, he'll prepare for us a place.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory, amen.
On the second, while we walk the pilgrim pathway, clouds will overspread the sky.
But when traveling days are over, not a shadow, not a sigh.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory, amen.
I got to get you guys panned more often on the third.
Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day.
Just one glimpse of him and glory will the tolls of life repay.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.
On the last, onward to the prize before us, soon his beauty will be hold.
Soon the pearly gates will open, we shall tread the streets of gold.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory, amen.
Great singing. At this time, we'll have our announcements.
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church.
Thanks for coming tonight for our special service.
I'm going to go through some announcements really quickly.
Like I said, thank you so much for being here. We have a special service tonight.
We have Deacon Russell from Faithful Word Baptist Church here to preach for us tonight.
He's been with us all the time, so he thought he might as well just join us again.
We're always having a great time up here.
He was really sad to find out that there's a special restaurant that closed
before he could get a chance to get back here, the Sea Galley.
Peppermint Sticks is still around, so he came for that.
Other than that, no, I'm just kidding.
It's great to have him here.
Make sure you say thank you for having him come preach for us.
It's a great sacrifice for him to come up here, I'm sure.
He's got his own responsibilities and his own things going on.
Anyway, let's go through some announcements really quickly.
On our front cover, we have our verse of the week.
Oh, if you need a bulletin, would you lift up your hand?
One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin.
Just keep your hand up.
If you're a kid, put your hand down.
All right.
The verse of the week is John 15-5.
It says, I am the vine, you're the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit,
for without me, ye can do nothing.
And so that's a very fitting verse,
because we had 29 salvations today during the sowing.
So great job, everybody.
Brother Ramon, you sent me a message that said you got two more.
Was that included in that?
Did you let Brother Robert know?
Okay, cool.
Yeah, so 29.
So that's good for like three hours' worth of sowing.
A lot of people out there, but we'll have even more tomorrow.
There's still people that are coming.
And anyway, so let me move on here with the announcements.
We have our service times there on the inside left page,
and that is 1030 a.m. for the Sunday service.
Remy's going to be preaching both services this Sunday.
And so then we'll have, there's a sowing time in between the services also,
and then there's a 4 p.m. sowing time on Wednesdays,
also before services are 6 o'clock on Wednesdays.
So we have 1030 a.m. Sunday, 3.30 p.m. Sunday evening,
and then that makes sure everybody can try to get home.
And I just want to say thank you for everybody that traveled
from our Church of Vancouver and also from Spokane.
Anybody else traveled from it?
Yeah, some other people traveled from different places.
So thank you so much for being here tonight,
and I really hope that we see a great harvest tomorrow.
I think we will.
We're going to go to some pretty good spots.
So today was some pretty good sowing areas.
So I heard the fish were just jumping in the boat, so that's great.
We are a family-integrated church.
That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services.
Please use the mother-baby room if you want.
I'm sorry for the temperature in here.
The furnace went out today, so that's why you're getting
the epileptic seizure machines up on the top there.
And if we open up the doors, the bugs will come flying in,
and then we'll have a fan going with bugs flying everywhere,
and then it'll be really bad.
So you might just have to endure.
If the fans get too much for you, then go find a safe space somewhere.
There isn't one.
But anyway, I'm kidding.
But there is a mother-baby room, so if you need to take the children back there,
it might be a little cramped with all the kids here,
but you're more than welcome to take them back there.
And don't forget to silence your cell phones.
And if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask us for one of the ushers.
We have a couple of ushers here tonight if you need something.
And as far as checking into the hotel, who has not checked into their hotel yet?
Okay, so just make sure that you know you check in at the right type of room.
So if you have a bunch of kids, you're probably in a suite.
And then if you have a lot of kids and you haven't checked in yet,
then make sure you get the double queen suite,
because there's one that's a king suite,
and that's just not going to be enough for multiple children.
So if you only have like three or four, that's fine.
But if you have like more than that, which some people do here,
you're definitely going to want the double queen.
So anyway, breakfast is there in the morning.
It's free. They have good breakfast.
You can get your omelettes cooked however you want.
And there's sausage and waffles.
And it's one of the best hotel breakfasts at a chain hotel that I've ever had.
So make sure you eat some breakfast.
If you normally eat breakfast, the time to do that is before 10 o'clock.
And we're trying to meet up on location.
Who would rather meet up on location?
Anybody want to just – because we can just bring all the supplies
and we can divide the groups up,
but the problem is is me remembering who all is here.
So that's the only problem.
Brother Robert, do you have a solution to that problem?
No? So we should just meet here?
Yeah.
Okay.
So let's meet here at the church at 10 o'clock,
and then we'll pair up real quick.
We'll just have one side with one captain, one side with another,
because we have two locations.
We have the town of Harrah, which we'll probably get done in about two hours.
And then we have a housing place that's near Harrah.
It's called the Adams – Mount Adams – Adams View is what it's called.
So we're going to divide the group in two groups.
After that, at 1 o'clock, we're going to head to Chipotle,
which is about a 25-minute drive from those locations.
So when we're done, head to Chipotle, stand in line, ask for your food.
Water is all you're getting.
But you can get whatever food you can get, so just be reasonable.
And then water, and if you want your own drink, that's, you know, pay for yourself on the –
if you're getting sodas and stuff like that.
So we're just paying for the food, and that's it.
But after that, we got some maps we're going to do in Yakima area
that are – we're trying to go to the most ghetto places we can.
So that worked out pretty well today.
So that's kind of the plan.
And we'll regroup at halftime, and the people that kind of drop off,
sometimes people will have to take their kids back or whatever, and that's fine.
But we'll regroup at Chipotle.
We'll go back out slowly for a couple more hours.
We'll be done at 4 o'clock.
So 1 o'clock is lunch, and then 2 o'clock – so 1 to 2 is lunch at Chipotle.
Then we'll go back out for a couple more hours.
So – and then, again, tonight we have the deacon from Faith Award Baptist Church,
Corbin Russell, here preaching for us tonight.
So make sure you give him a warm welcome.
And a lot of us already know him and everything.
So if you want to, you can look at the schedule.
You can see the attendance, the salvations we've had.
I think the salvations need to be updated.
But other than that, we're good.
The upcoming trips – of course, this is the trip that we're taking part in this weekend.
But Faith Award Baptist Church message conference is coming up.
I'm going to be preaching there, and I'm going to be preaching about the subject of what we've done in Yakima so far.
And it's been a cool three years, and now there's a church here.
So, I mean, that's just awesome.
We've just had someone else find the church just from online listening.
And so we're happy about that.
We're happy to see this church grow, and we just need people to be faithful and show up.
And everybody can build this church together with – of course, God is the one that builds the church.
But, you know, us being here and doing what he says is why he'll bless this church and make it a great church.
It's already a great church, but it can be better.
So, anyway, I think that's all I have for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing another song.
Let me come on up, and we'll sing another song, and we'll take the offering after that.
All right, our next song is song number 530, the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Song number 530, the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Song number 530, let's sing it together on the first.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He hath loosed the faithful lightning of his terrible swift sword.
His truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah.
His truth is marching on.
I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps.
They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps.
I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps.
His day is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah.
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat.
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment see.
Oh be swift my soul to answer him.
Be jubilant my feet.
Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah.
His truth is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea.
With the glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me.
As he died to make men holy let us die to make men free.
While God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah.
His truth is marching on.
Amen. Great scene. Brother Robert, would you bless the offering for us?
Glory, glory, hallelujah.
Glory, glory.
Music playing.
Alright, go ahead and open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
1 Thessalonians 4, if you don't have a Bible raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you one.
1 Thessalonians 4.
1 Thessalonians 4 the Bible reads,
2 For then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
3 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
4 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.
5 And not in the lusts of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles, which know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
6 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
7 He therefore despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.
8 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another, and indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia.
9 But we beseech you brethren, that ye increase more and more, and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
10 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
11 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
12 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
13 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
14 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.
Is my mic on? I thought I had it on the whole time. Is it on now? Can you hear me now? All right, should I start over? All right, let's start over.
Right, and so, yeah, the green grass and the trees and everything is great. Nice to get out of the desert. I was hoping to get a little bit further out of the heat, but, you know, I'll take what I can get at this point.
Still has triple digits down there. It's kind of, I'm trying to bite my tongue every time someone's been mentioning the heat here tonight. This is actually really nice to me.
I'm scratching my head wondering what the problem is, but it's great to be here, and, you know, I was talking to Pastor Thompson.
It's great to see this church, everything that's happened so far with this church.
You know, we started the Yakima Solewning, or the Yakima Solewning, the reservation down there about three years ago.
It's a rarity. It's not something you have everywhere.
And to think that little old Yakima has got a new IFB church, that's really something that really is.
I can tell you about so many people that reach out to pay for every single...
So that tells you that, you know, it's still possible even today that the gospel has the apostles' power.
It's okay.
Okay. It's on now.
All right. We're good to go. All right. No worries. That's fine.
I know we've got to get this out to the masses out there, right? How are we going to take over the world if they can't hear me?
But as I was saying, you know, Christians today have just become so, you know, just lazy.
I don't know what a better word to describe them.
You know, when it comes to living the Christian life, you know, people are wishy-washy.
They're in and out of church, and it's like people get saved so often.
And then they just want to sit back and kind of close through life as if nothing's changed, as if nothing's happened.
And there's several realities that we're going to look at around the resurrection today.
And let me just start out by telling you that everything has changed.
You know, if you're saved, you're a new creature in Christ.
And this life, there's so much more beyond even this life.
There's this reality that you're going to step into the moment that you die or if the Lord should return and we're here for His coming.
You know, there's this powerful reality that you're going to be a part of whether you like it or not.
So what I'm trying to do tonight is get that reality in front of you.
Because I really think if people would dwell on this and think about these things,
that it really would shake them and maybe bring them out of their slumber and cause them to serve God fervently.
And to do things for Christ and not to treat the Christian life like it's something that, you know, we'll get around to when it's convenient.
So I want to look at a few things regarding the realities of the resurrection.
The first thing I want to look at, if you would, keep something where you are and 1 Thessalonians will come back.
But go to 1 Corinthians 15.
Of course, 1 Corinthians 15 is a very powerful passage, a very long passage.
But it deals with the resurrection a lot, one of these powerful realities of the resurrection.
The first thing I want to look at is who's responsible for the resurrection.
You know, what does the resurrection mean to us?
What is one of the realities that we can learn about the resurrection tonight?
Well, the resurrection, you know, is going to be when Christ returns.
There's going to be a resurrection of the saints when Christ returns to this earth.
I mean, just think about that fact alone.
That when Christ, you know, the fact that Christ's returning to this earth.
That's a powerful reality that we should always be thinking about.
That we should always be keeping in front of us that Christ will return.
That he's going to come back and we're going to be caught up together with him.
Or if we've died and gone to be with the Lord, our body is going to be resurrected in that day.
You know, Jesus is the one that's responsible for the resurrection.
He said, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
That's a powerful reality of the resurrection, you know.
If you're saved, if you've believed on Christ, though you die, you're going to live.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
If you die, your soul is going to go to heaven.
Have we let that really sink in on us?
Have we really dwelt on that? Have we really let that make an impact on our lives?
Again, that's not a new truth, but it's a powerful one.
And it's one that we have to keep in front of ourselves.
He said, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
And I love how he ends this sentence.
He says, believeth thou this? Believeth thou this?
You know, sometimes I want to just grab Christians and say, do you even believe in the resurrection?
Do you believe this? And of course, even Christians, obviously they believe that Christ is the resurrection.
But sometimes you look at their lives and you just say, do you even believe what's in this book?
Do you even believe the reality of the resurrection? Is that even something you've come to terms with?
Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
You know, in this world, death is something they're just trying to stave off as long as they can.
You know, they're going to great lengths.
And I'm not against some of the things that people do to live long lives.
Obviously, we should do that.
And we could probably all do a better job of that.
You know, they're so afraid to die, they don't know what's coming afterwards.
They're so uncertain, they have all these different ideas.
But we as God's people, we believe that if we believed on Christ, though we die, we shall live.
That's what we believe as Christians. That's what the Bible says.
That's a powerful reality regarding the resurrection.
But sometimes you look at the way Christians live their lives and you ask yourself, believeth thou this?
Do you believe that? You can't get to church. You don't have a burden for the lost.
You don't want to read your Bible. You don't pray to the Lord.
You know, it seems like you want nothing to do with the things of God.
You're just all about the things of this world.
Sometimes I just wonder, believeth thou this?
Look at 1 Corinthians, chapter number 15.
One of the first powerful realities regarding the resurrection is that Jesus is responsible for it.
Look at 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming.
What a powerful truth regarding the resurrection, that we are patterned after Christ's resurrection,
just as he is risen from the dead, so we also will be risen from the dead one day.
We're going to partake in that.
Who is the resurrection for? Well, you know, obviously it's for Jesus. He's the firstfruits.
But it's also for all believers. If you would, go to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4.
Keep something in 1 Corinthians 15, but go back to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4.
The resurrection is for, you know, obviously, you know, it's for all believers.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy, it is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.
If we be dead with him. You know, if our old man is crucified in Christ, you know, we shall live with him.
Paul said for me to die is gain and to live is Christ. He said I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. But Christ will live within me.
In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
That's a powerful truth. We need to let these things sink down into our ears and into our hearts.
That we are partakers of this powerful thing called the resurrection.
If you look there in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, we read it, verse 13.
But I have not you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep.
You know, when the Christian dies, he's not dead, he's just asleep. He's taking the dirt nap, right?
God's going to wake him up one day. You're saved, that's you.
You have some loved one that was in Christ that has died, you know, their souls in glory,
their bodies in the grave, they're asleep, God's going to wake them up one day.
He's saying concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not, not even as others which have no hope.
Look, the people in this world, they have no hope. Their loved ones die, they don't know where they went,
they can't explain any of it, they are hopeless. Imagine being in their shoes.
Every single one of us was in their shoes at one point. Every single one of us, whether we realize it or not,
you know, we were destined the same, you know, destiny that they had that we were going to die and go to hell.
We were hopeless. We had no hope in this world and we're without Christ.
But now, you know, we have a reason to not sorrow. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him. We have that hope.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain of the coming of the Lord
shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And we've heard that so many times and we've read that so many times
and we know this passage but we have to understand this powerful reality that we are part of.
That's us. We're reading about ourselves. One day that's going to be us.
If we are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord, what a powerful moment that's going to be.
Look at verse 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Comfort one another.
Obviously in the immediate context, you know, the comfort is, hey, you know, your loved one has died in Christ
but don't worry, you still have hope to see them again. They're in heaven. There's going to be the resurrection.
You yourself are going to be resurrected. When Christ comes, we are all going to be reunited with Christ
and with our loved ones that have gone on before us. That's the immediate comfort you can get out of this passage.
You know, another sense of using, of comfort there, the Bible says that, you know,
he that prophesieth, you know, speaketh on demand to education, right, and to comfort.
What I'm trying to do is try to, I want to comfort you in a different way tonight.
Not say, oh, you know, it's okay, your loved ones have gone forth. Look, if you need that, by all means, be comforted.
But the sense of comfort that I want to give you is the edification. I want to speak unto you
unto edification and comfort and say, hey, you should comfort yourself in the fact that
you are going to be part of the resurrection and you need to live as if that's reality.
Live as if this is something that's going to happen to you because it is.
This isn't some Baptist fairy tale. This isn't something we dreamed up. This is what the Bible says.
So the resurrection, one of the great realities is that it's for the believers, but of course,
one of the other powerful realities is that it's for all of humanity.
Every single person is going to take part in a resurrection. Of course, we understand there are two different resurrections.
We'll get to that. If you would, go over to Philippians chapter number two very quickly.
Philippians chapter number two. Again, if you still got something, 1 Corinthians 15. We'll be back in a minute.
The Bible says in Romans 14, so every one of us shall give a count of himself to God.
You know, that's a very short verse in Romans 14, verse 12. That's a very powerful verse, isn't it?
Every one of us shall give a count of himself to God. And of course, Paul speaking to the Romans,
that goes for even Christians. We will give an account for how we have conducted our lives here on earth.
And you say, well, you know, yeah, I get it. You know, I'll get over that, whatever.
You know, some people just haven't let this reality sink in. I mean, imagine standing before the Lord God Almighty,
standing before Jesus Christ in his presence, because that's the reality we're all going to face.
And him saying, give an account. Let's review your life. Obviously, we know that God's not going to bring up
all of our sins and all the, you know, bad things that we've done, all the sinful things. I understand that.
But there is still going to be a given account as stewards. What have you done with the talents I've given you?
What have you done with the time? What have you done with that life that I redeemed?
What have you done with it? Well, you know, I spent it just, you know, living for the pleasures of this world.
I just spent it living for the cares of this life. I just spent it, you know, I spent every Sunday watching
some stupid football game. Watching a bunch of guys, you know, in tights, chase a ball around the field
playing a child's game. Look, are you against football? Not really, but you know, if it's taking place at church, yeah.
I'm against anything that, you know, is going to rob you of your reward in heaven. I'm against anything that
you're going to put in the place of service to God. And look, there's plenty of Christians out there that say,
well, you know, my favorite team's playing today. And meanwhile, the church house is empty.
And they're living like a heathen. That's all they got to live for. They're down at the sports bar, you know,
you know, slurping up the beer and, you know, choking on the chicken wings, screaming like a bunch of madmen
for a bunch of, you know, idiots. A bunch of prima donnas. A bunch of walking sketchbooks.
That's what they are. These are the people that they lift up to have their children idolized. Some sports guy.
Some long haired guy with a bunch of tattoos all over his body. Look, if you got a tattoo tonight, don't get mad.
I'm preaching to people that haven't done that yet. Tattoos are wicked. The Bible says you shouldn't print any marks
on your body. But, you know, that's even who God's own people, they want to spend more time, you know,
just, you know, looking at those people, you know, cheering for those people. Meanwhile, the house of God
goes empty. They'd rather just, you know, watch the world and entertain themselves with the world than be
in the house of God where the word of God's being preached. Where a man of God has spent hours throughout
his week, you know, thinking about what he's going to preach, preparing his sermon, praying. Any of you guys
out there that have written sermons, you know, to try to fill this pulpit, you know what that's like.
You know, take hours out of your day, hours out of your week. You know, then you got some pastor out there
who's doing that three times a week. And you can't get people to drag their lazy carcass away from some
television screen and get their butts in church. And I'm just like, I'm just saying, believe a style this?
Do you believe in the resurrection? Do you believe as the Bible says that every one of us will give an account
of ourselves to God? You know, God's going to say, give an account? What did you do? Well, I was too busy
out on the fishing boat. I was too busy working. I was too busy this and I was too busy that to be in the house of God.
I was too busy to read my Bible. I was too busy to participate in the program. I was too busy to preach the gospel
to somebody who would have gotten saved if I had done it. You say, why are you guys so big on the soul winning?
Why are you guys always preaching about that? Why are you always, you know, why did you come all the way up here
to Yakima and get a bunch of people and spend a bunch of money on food and make a bunch of maps to send people out there
to, you know, preach the gospel? Because if we go and preach it, people will get saved. It will happen.
You know, that's a reality. You know, and they'll have, there's going to be people in this world that are going to have
that same reality as us, that resurrection. The first one, the one we all want. Where do I have to go, Philippians?
Look at 2 verse 9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth.
You know, every single knee is going to bow. And every tongue, it says in verse 11, is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
All we're trying to do is get people to do that here. And not, you know, at the end of the millennium when Christ's reign is over
and we have the resurrection of the dam, when he sets up that great right throne and he brings people out of hell
and gives them a moment's reprieve from the eternity of hell and then they're going to bow and say, Jesus is Lord.
And he's going to say, that's right, now into the lake of fire. And the Bible says that the angels are going to take them
and cast them into the lake of fire. It sounds like, oh, the lake of fire, is that where I'm supposed to go?
Oh, excuse me, let me get out of here. They're going to be kicking and screaming, no, no, no, don't send me!
And the angels are going to have to send them into the lake of fire. That's the reality of the resurrection, folks.
It's a powerful reality, the resurrection. We're just trying to get people to bow the knee here. Bow the knee today.
And confess Jesus on this side of that resurrection. But you know, that's not going to happen if we don't let this reality set in on us.
You know, if we think that soul winning is for other people. Or we're going to let the fear of man stop us.
Or we're going to let our flesh get in the way. You know, it would be a real shameful thing, and I'm not saying this is going to happen,
you know, just to motivate people. Imagine if Jesus, while we're watching people being cast in the lake of fire,
screaming and just in terror of what's about to happen to them, after having spent all that time in hell.
If while we're watching that, Jesus is going, you could have got that one. Hey, you could have gotten that one.
Maybe that's the account we'll give. Maybe he'll say, hey, why don't you, hey, Saint, why don't you come up here and stand next to me?
You see that one that I died for? That one was the one you could have gotten. Yeah, but you know, the game was on.
But you know, church was an hour away. It's just too far. You know, people complain that church is just too far away.
It's hard to make it. No, it's 20 minutes away. I'm from Northern Michigan originally. Everything's 30 or 45 minutes away when you get out of these rural areas.
You get around these city folks, you guys were 20 minutes away. It's like, yeah, so?
But what a shameful thing when God's own people would say, well, I would have gone to church, but it's just too far.
Oh, excuse me. Let's just forget about what Jesus, how far he went. I mean, have you left the throne of glory and come all the way down to earth?
To me, it just seems like Jesus went a whole lot further for any of us than we could ever go for him. Maybe that's the account we'll give.
You know, the Bible says it is a point unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. It's a powerful ballad regarding the resurrection.
Let's move on to another, perhaps more comfortable reality. Talk about the redemption. If you would, go to Ephesians chapter number one. Ephesians chapter number one.
I'll begin reading in verse 11. It says, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance. Talking about Christ, you know, we've obtained an inheritance in Christ.
We need to think about that inheritance. What it is that we've really gotten in Christ. Because a lot of times, all we think about is, oh, I got saved and I'm not going to hell.
And amen. We're not going to hell. But that's not all that you got in Jesus. It's like, but wait, there's more. It's the guy who's trying to sell you something.
There's more to your Christian life. There's more to this reality than just the fact that you got saved from hell. That you're not going to be one of those people that's cast headlong into hell.
That you're going to be, you know, you've been saved from that. You know, we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things together after the counsel of His own will.
Verse 12, that we should be the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom also, excuse me, in whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of His glory.
You know, we have an inheritance. We've been sealed with the Holy Spirit. We have that earnest, right, that down payment of our inheritance. It's been paid. It's called the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
That's part of the inheritance that you have, but it's not all of it. That's the part of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.
The Bible says ye are not your own. You've been bought with the price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, in your members.
You know, the life, you don't get to say, well, it's my life. No, you've been bought. Well, it's my body. No, it's not. That's what the Bible says.
You've been purchased. You've been redeemed. You're His what? Purchased possession. You know, if I paid good money for something and then somebody, you know, if I went out and bought a car and put down good money on a good car, and then some other guy jumped in it and started driving around, I'd say, I got, you're a thief. You're stealing.
Right? But that's exactly what a lot of us do with this vehicle, right? This vessel that we have. We get saved and say, well, I know Jesus died for my sins, and He's saving my sins.
And, you know, but I get to do whatever I want with this body while I'm here. And you know what? You can. But the fact is, you are Christ's. He owns you. He owns you.
Now, that doesn't sound very nice. Look, I want to be owned by Jesus. Have it all, Lord. Take it. What am I going to do with it? I know what I'd do with it. Nothing good. Paul said, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing.
I already know what my flesh gets me. I already, you know, I've already lived under people who've been living for their flesh. You know, I was raised by people who live for the flesh.
You know, no knock on them. I'm just saying, I know what the flesh brings. No good thing. The Lord wants to possess me. I say, take it. He says, I can make some use out of that life.
I've purchased that. That's my possession. I could do something. I say, well, praise God. Do whatever you want with it. You know, we're a purchased possession on the praise of His glory.
Look at 1 Corinthians, chapter number 15. You know, He owns this body. And the best thing about it is that He's going to give us a new body.
He's going to say that, you know that rotten old carcass of yours that I redeemed? Let's trade it in. Let's get a new one.
1 Corinthians, chapter 15. It's a great chapter. It's hard to know what not to preach out of here. Look at verse 35.
But some man will say, how are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?
So people, you know, would question, you know, what about this resurrection? With what body do they come? I love Paul's reaction.
Well, let me explain to you, beloved. It says, Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quicked and excepted die.
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or some other grain.
He's saying, if you put something in the ground, you know, you take that seed or that rotten fruit, whatever that is that dies, you plant that in the ground.
You know, it's going to bring forth something else. You know, you put a little acorn in the ground or whatever.
It's not like another acorn sprouts up, right? It's a tree. So you put an acorn in the ground, it's a giant acorn comes out, right?
No, it's a totally different plant. You know, we put this body in the ground, it's this totally different thing that's going to be resurrected.
That's what he's explaining here. He goes on and says, all flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial. You know, there's celestial bodies in the heavens and there's terrestrial bodies.
But the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars.
For one star is different from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption.
This rotten stinking old flesh is going to go into the ground. This corrupt flesh and its lust is going to go into the ground and something completely different is going to come out.
Something incorruptible. Something without sin. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
It is sown in a natural body. It is raised in a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
It's what he's saying. It's like, look, you're going to be resurrected and it's going to be a completely different thing.
That's one of the powerful realities of our resurrection is the redemption of our body.
This is something they've understood for a very long time. Job said,
For I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God.
That's a powerful reality that Job understood. That even if I go into the ground and a bunch of bugs and worms eat this flesh, I'm still going to stand and see God.
Whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reigns be consumed within me.
Once all my organs are rotten, once I'm just a bag of bones in some box, I'm still going to see God with mine own eyes.
That's a powerful reality that our body is going to be redeemed. David said,
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
When God wakes us out of that sleep, our body brings it out of the dirt.
We know our soul is in heaven immediately when we die. We don't believe in soul sleep.
But, you know, when he wakes that body up, when he brings it up and makes it new, you know, that's when David's saying,
That's when I'll be satisfied. When I awake with thy likeness. Meaning, whatever that body is, it's like his body, his glorious body.
That's what he said. That's when I'll be satisfied. And look, you can live the rest of this life acting like your body is your own
and your time is your own and you can spend your life however you want it. The fact is, it isn't.
And you can chase after all the things in this world and you can try to just distract yourself with all the things in this world.
It will never satisfy. You can sit there and tell yourself, Oh, I'm satisfied.
I've got all this money. I've got all these things. I've got all this stuff. I'm satisfied. No, you aren't.
Well, I've got this great hobby. I've got this great pastime. I'm satisfied. No, you won't.
You won't be satisfied. The Bible says that, you know, he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing. All the things, all the vain pleasures of this life, they'll never satisfy.
But when we are, you know, when we're raised again, when we go through that resurrection and we have that glorious body,
when we've been redeemed, we'll say, Well, I'm pretty satisfied now. What are you going to add to that?
Oh, this body is great, Lord, but, you know, it would have been better if...
What else are you going to add to whatever God gives us in that glorious body? What are we going to put on top of that?
You can't add anything to it. I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
You know, go to 1 John chapter number three, 1 John chapter number three.
You know, people understand this, that we're going to have a body like Christ's resurrected body.
And then they like to speculate. Well, what's that going to be like? Are we going to be able to do all the things that Jesus did?
Remember after the resurrection, you know, he's just showing up in the rooms with locked doors, his disciples.
You know, he ascends out of the Mount of Olives. You know, he's just talking to disciples and then just he starts to sending up to them to kind of emphasize the point.
Someone starts levitating in front of you. You pay attention. Sometimes I wish I could levitate as a preacher, snap some people out of it,
you know, get them to wake up, pay attention. So we say, well, we're going to be able to do that. Well, I don't know.
And the Bible does say that, you know, some of us will be over 10 cities and others over five cities.
So maybe it would kind of make sense that we'd have to do the whole, you know, transportation thing or the transport thing.
You know, what's the word I'm looking for? I don't know. The teleport. Thank you.
I was up at three thirty this morning. OK, I slept for about five hours. I could have used some teleportation today.
And instead of driving an hour and a half, two hours up to Phoenix from Tucson and then hopping on a plane and going to Seattle,
although there's some nice restaurants in that airport in Seattle, I still would have preferred to just pop over there and then just pop over here.
So, you know, that might make sense in the millennium if we have that body that there's a real practical use to that.
So there's something going on down there in Yakima. I'll be right back. You know, you're down here like, all right, where the sodomites at?
You know, what happened? You know, what do we got to deal with? Courts in session.
You know, you deal with it. It's like, well, back to glory and you're just gone.
I mean, that's that very well could be a reality of the resurrection, folks. That's powerful.
You say, well, I can't wait. I can't wait to have that kind of authority. I can't wait to have that kind of power.
Well, you know, maybe not everybody gets it. Maybe that's not for everybody.
Maybe some people get more. You know, in fact, I believe that's exactly what the Bible teaches, that some people get more privileges than others.
We'll all be in heaven. We'll all have a new body. But, you know, we're not all going to have the same level of authority.
Look at 1 John, where you are, chapter 3, verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
Therefore, the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. And yet you see Christians just tripping all over themselves to know the world.
Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him.
Well, Deacon, I don't really know we're going to get a body like Christ. When he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
You know, you'll actually need that glorified body to be able to hold the glory of God. To stand in his presence. He can't have sin in his presence.
He's got to get rid of that old flesh. He's got to give you that new body so that you can even stand in front of him and be in his presence.
For we shall see him as he is. We need that body that's going to be like him. That's a powerful reality regarding the resurrection.
The redemption of our body. And it's not just God pulling it up out of the grave and dusting off a little dirt and saying, ah, that'll do.
It's a whole new thing. It's this perfect body with these, you know, very likely with some pretty interesting capabilities.
Look at verse 3. And every man that hath this hope. What hope? The hope of the resurrection.
The hope of the new creature in Christ being made complete in that new body.
Every man that hath this hope in him doeth what? Whatever he wants. No, he purifieth himself.
You know, if we understood that that's our destiny anyway. That our destiny is this sinless, perfect body.
To have the mind of Christ, the Bible says. If we understood the reality, that powerful reality, that aspect of the resurrection, you know what we'd start doing?
Well, we'd start cleaning it up right now. We'd say, you know what? I'm already headed to a perfect, sinless body.
I might as well just try doing that right now. And I understand we'll never be perfect, we'll never be sinless in this life here on this earth.
But we could at least try. We could at least try. The Bible says every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure.
We might as well start trying. You know, maybe we need to get that sin out of our life once and for all.
Whatever it is. You say, what sin? Whatever sin you just jumped into your head when I said that.
I gotta get up here and name everybody's sins. Every possible sin it is that somebody out there might have that you gotta get rid of.
And then if I miss one, the guy that's doing that sin goes, well you didn't name mine. It must be good.
You know what it is. And you know, instead of trying to think of cute little ways where we can just kinda scoot out from conviction
and just keep living in some sinful condition and just keep some sinful habit and just keep doing wicked things
and just keep being lazy and just apathetic towards the things of God.
You know, if we really let this reality, the resurrection, set in that we're gonna have a body like Christ that we're gonna be as He is,
you know, maybe we would say, I might as well go ahead and just start purifying myself now.
I think I'll just go ahead and start cleaning up my life now. You know, and obviously I'm not gonna get all the way.
I'm not gonna get all the nooks and crannies of sin cleaned up in my life.
But at least then when I stand before Him, as every single one of us shall, I'll be able to say, well Lord I tried.
God's not gonna get up there and say, well you weren't perfect. You didn't do everything exactly the way.
He's gonna say, well at least you tried. At least you made an effort. At least you tried to purify yourself.
At least you had this hope in you and it was before you and you understand the reality of the resurrection
and you gave it your best rather than the guy who just stayed in the slop of sin.
What did you do with your time here on earth, with that body that I redeemed?
Well I just wallowed in the mire. I just wallowed in the mire of the world.
I just went out there and just lived a life of sin because I figured, you know, I'm saved anyway.
I'm gonna go to heaven anyway. Isn't that what we always get accused of? Oh, you're saying people can live however they want.
That's right. You know what we also say is that they shouldn't.
It's not like we're saying, oh yeah, go ahead, just live however you want.
Just do whatever you want. God doesn't care. That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says if you had this hope in you, you'd purify yourself.
If you really let that sit in and you really believe these things, you'd say, you know what, I'm gonna start cleaning up my life right now.
I'm gonna be in church. I'm gonna read my Bible. I'm gonna pray.
And when the preacher preaches the word of God, he puts his finger on something, I'm gonna do something about it.
When I'm reading my Bible and I get a conviction, you know, I'm gonna put that to practice in my life.
When the Bible says thou shalt and thou shalt not, I'm gonna apply that to me.
You know, not to, oh, so and so needed that one. It's too bad so and so is skipping out church.
They really need to hear this sermon tonight. What about you? What about me? What about all of us?
You know, this is something, you say, why are you preaching this? Because this is a reality that, you know,
preachers, you know, that have a burden for God's people are always trying to get in front of them.
We want to be able to give an account with joy and not with grief.
When we, you know, when we are, you know, giving account for the flock that we're responsible of,
the people that are in the sound of our voice, we want to be able to say, yeah, you know, this person started doing right.
This person got in church and they cleaned it up. You know, unfortunately, there's gonna be some people that just,
that's not gonna be the case for them. There's gonna be some grief when we give that account.
I just don't want that to be anybody in this room because it doesn't have to be.
Look, I don't care how sinful your life has been. I don't care what your past is like.
I don't care what your parents were like. I don't care if it's just been generation of sinful,
sinners after sinner after sinner after sinner all the way down to you. It's never too late for you to turn it around
and start a new branch, a new spiritual branch in that family tree.
You know, well, daddy was a drunk, grandpa was a drunk, mommy was an adulterer, grandma was an adulterer.
You know, it's just what we do. That's stupid. You know, I'd understand that from some lost sinner
who can't help it, who doesn't even have, you know, who's just taken, you know, by the flesh.
The devil, you know, the sin just plays with them like a cat with a mouse.
They're just taken captive by him at his will. But, you know, for God's people, you know,
you have an opportunity to start something brand new, to break that cycle of sin,
to raise up a godly generation, raise up, you know, your children.
You know, they could even turn out more godlier than you.
It's possible if you bring up a child to nurture an admonition of the Lord.
Go to 2 Corinthians 4. I'm pretty much just abandoning my notes at this point.
I had a feeling this was going to happen. Let's just turn to some scripture and see what happens.
Say, well, you know, that sounds hard. Well, yeah, it is hard.
You know, welcome to the Christian life.
You want to know one of the most frustrating things as a pastor, as a preacher,
is when you have people that you've been preaching to and you see them do things
and make decisions and just do sinful things.
And you wonder, you know, did I not preach hard enough? Did I not explain it clearly enough?
And then it dawns on you, you're not the problem.
Now, you can get up as a preacher and you can preach till you're blue in the face
and people are still going to go out there and do stupid things.
You can get up and preach about adultery and drunkenness and fornication.
You can preach against all the pot and the pornography that's out there.
And you can just preach it, preach it, and there's still going to be people that go out there and do that.
You say, well, that must be a relief to you to know that you're not the problem.
It's actually more frustrating when you think about it.
You mean you're telling me if I, no matter how hard I preach, they're still going to do it?
That's frustrating as a preacher.
Well, you know, it's just so hard. It's just so hard to give up this sin and give up that sin.
It's just so hard to live the Christian life.
But look at 2 Corinthians 4. This is the Apostle Paul speaking.
If you think you had a hard go of it in the Christian life, why don't you go home and read the book of Acts
and come back and tell me how much you've suffered for God?
And we're going through the book of Acts on Thursday night down in Tucson,
and it's just like Paul's getting, you know, just stoned, not the stone you're thinking of.
He's getting rocked to death. He's getting beat.
The Jews are chasing them everywhere.
You know, the Romans are having come to save, you know, they're coming to save him, take him in the castle,
and the Jews are trying to pull him apart in Jerusalem.
The next day, the chief captain sets up an inquiry and has all the Jews come,
and then Paul says, hey, I'm a Pharisee, and he pits the Jews against one another,
and then they start pulling on Paul. He's on our side. No, he's on our side.
It's like everywhere Paul goes, you know, he's just getting beat up by the Jews.
He's suffering.
And then you read 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, you're kind of like, what?
For our light affliction.
Wait a minute, Paul. You're telling me you're being shipwrecked?
You're being afloat in the sea? Are you telling me that, you know, being on some deserted island,
being bitten by some, you know, venomous snake,
you know, being imprisoned for years at a time?
You're telling me that, you know, having the Jews chase you from city to city
and attempt to kill you multiple times is a light affliction?
Well, that's what he said.
That's what Paul said. He said, well, that's a light affliction.
Yeah, but, you know, Paul didn't have to struggle with the things I have to struggle with.
Paul didn't have to go through, you know, Paul didn't, you know,
he didn't have all the access to the things that we have access to today.
He didn't really, he doesn't understand the temptations that are available to us in the 21st century.
There's no new thing under the sun.
There were drunks. There were bars. There were brothels.
There were, you know, idolatrous temples.
There was a bunch of people sitting around and just talking,
you know, on Mars Hill, the Stoics and the Epicureans.
They're just sitting around philosophizing.
You know, he had his YouTube, too, where he could just go on and just listen to people talk.
You know, he could just listen to Jordan Peterson and listen to Andrew Tate,
and he could just listen to a bunch of people just run their mouths and try to sound smart.
But there's no light in them because they don't have God.
You know, he had his YouTube. He had his podcast he could have wasted his time on.
He had all his distractions.
And look, I'm not saying every single thing you listen to is wicked, but you know what?
People waste a lot of time listening to a bunch of stupid people talk, don't they?
You know, he could have gone to the Coliseum, watched a bunch of gladiators,
you know, beat each other up and stab each other.
He had his UFC.
You know, he had all the same distractions. He had all the same trials.
You know, and he's went through a whole lot harder things than any of us have ever gone through and likely ever will.
And yet he gets there and he reads the second news before he's like, it's a light affliction.
What possesses a man like Paul to call it a light affliction?
I mean, he could have bragged. He could have boasted. He could have said, well, you know, for you, it's a light affliction.
But for me, man, I went through it. I paid my dues.
But he called it a light affliction, which is for but a moment.
See, the reason Paul was able to go through all this because he had the right perspective.
The reality of the resurrection is something that had set in on Paul.
It was something that was before his eyes every single day of his life.
I'm going to see Jesus. I'm going to see Jesus. I'm going to have that new body.
I'm going to be like Job. I'm going to be holding with my own eyes.
I'm going to stand in his presence. I'm going to give an account.
But it's just a moment.
And he goes on and says, it worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
You know, the things that we suffer for Christ, the things that we go through, the things that, you know,
the sins that we struggle against, that we pray and ask God to help us to get over these things
and to crucify the flesh and to mortify the members and mortify the old man and to die daily as Paul did.
The more we do that, it's just racking up rewards. It's just racking them up.
It works a far more exceeding weight of glory, Paul said.
But look at verse 18. Well, how did he do it? While we look not at the things which are seen.
We don't look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
You know, we need to get the reality of the resurrection in front of us.
We need to start seeing the things that are eternal in this life.
So why is it some Christians just don't get on board with the program?
Because they're just looking at temporal things. That's how they spend their life.
And look, this is such an important message, especially in the day and age that we're living in.
Because we're living in just the lap of luxury. We're living in the most decadent society that has ever lived.
You know, the poorest of us eat better than kings.
You know, oh, I don't make much money as you're driving around in like some air-conditioned, you know, climate-controlled vehicle.
It's so hard to go to church. Oh, I got to get on the freeway and use the cruise control.
Oh, you poor baby. You know, and then I got to go to an air-conditioned room.
And I got to, well, not tonight.
Oh, yeah. Just think of the exceeding weight of glory you're earning right now.
You're just like, oh, man, the rewards are just racking up.
Paul says, man, I look at the things that are eternal. Why is it some Christians, they just can't get over it?
Because there's just so many things in this world that they're just looking at.
They're just fixated on this hobby. They're just fixated on this pastime.
They're just fixated on this and this possession, this thing.
Look, Christians will quit good churches and move their families based on something as vain and temporal as the weather.
Let's say, well, if I go live there, then, you know, I can, you know, I can be part of this hobby.
I could do more skiing. Imagine giving that count before God.
Oh, and what did you do for me? Well, with that body that I redeemed, I went skiing.
I put sticks on my feet and slid down a slippery, snowy slope.
Oh, enter down to the joy of thy Lord.
You better get in while you can, because there's no snow in heaven. Right?
It's 68 and sunny. You know, snow don't form at 68, folks.
You know, that's what Christians do all the time. You see it all the time.
They just lower their gaze on the things that are temporal.
And it's such a dangerous thing to do here in America because there's just so many.
I mean, think about all the screens that are in our in our lives.
Sometimes I just sit there when I'm working at home in my home office, like I have a monitor,
then I have a laptop and then I have a cell phone and then I have a smart watch.
You know, it's like I have I have screens and all these different sides all just facing me.
Right. And then you get your card. What? There's another screen.
There's just all these things that can distract us. Look, there's nothing inherently evil in those things.
But we all know what a distraction those things can be.
You know, that's why I choose not to have a television in my home.
Look, I'm not against people that have TV. I understand it comes. It has an off button.
You can control it. But, you know, I grew up watching a lot of TV.
Like I've had I've had I've watched enough TV for two lifetimes.
You know, so I just elect not to have one. You know, you say, well, what about your kids?
What do they do? What's called books? You come into my house and it's just like I've got like bookshelves.
I've got bookshelves of so many books, like the shelves are breaking.
You know, like I'm worried I'm going to come out one day and when my kids is going to be buried under a pile of books.
You know, I have my kids all love to read, you know, and they're always telling me things, you know.
I don't know where I'm going with this, but I'm telling you what, man, there's just so many things to distract us today.
There's so many things that are just going to cause us to focus on that which is temporal.
And if we do that, we won't look at things that are eternal. We won't let the reality of the resurrection set in on us.
And then when we go to give that account, it's going to be a sad, shameful day.
And look, I understand that God doesn't hang things over our head through all of eternity,
but I absolutely believe there will be a moment that will have if we if we waste our time on this earth,
that we will hang our head in shame before the Lord.
It's true that we might not be ashamed before him at his coming.
You know, we need to live our lives so that we might not be ashamed before him.
I don't want to be like, you know, the chief captains and the mighty men when Jesus comes back.
You know, where's the rocks? You know, give me to the Denver airport. Let me get one of those tunnels.
You know, get me. Hide me in the Rockies. You know, hide me from the face of the land for the great day of his wrath has come.
You know, I get that's what's going to happen to all those wicked people.
But, you know, there's going to be some Christians that probably have a similar feeling.
You know, they're going to be going, oh, the Lord's here. You know, God showed up.
The land's come up. You know, what should I do?
It's going to be hiding. You know, but those of us that look beyond the temple, look at the eternal, say the Lord's here.
Let me hear it, Lord. Let me hear it. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
What a day that will be. Say, why do you do the things that you do?
Why do you go to church? Why do you read your Bible? Why do you do all the soul-wetting?
Why do you even go into the ministry so that I can hear those words?
Say, what do you want out of this life to hear those words?
If I manage to hear that at the end of my life, praise God. It's all worth it.
That's what I'm living for. You say, what motivates you? Those words coming out of my Lord's mouth.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. To be approved. To not have to hang my head in shame before Him.
Well, how are you going to do that? Well, you've got to be like Paul. Stop looking at these temporal things.
We don't want to be robbed of our reward. I've got to wrap up. I've got to close. Just go to Mark 4. Mark chapter 4.
The Bible says in Colossians 2, let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility.
Now, I understand in Colossians 2, he's referring to the Judaizers of his day.
You know, they want to bring in the Sabbaths and the new moons, the holy days.
They want to bring them back under the bondage of the law. And he's saying, let no man beguile you of reward.
But it just shows us that it's possible for God's people to be beguiled or tricked out of their reward.
You know, God has a reward. He said, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his works.
You know, God has a reward for you. It's there. You have eternal weight of glory. Are you going to get beguiled out of it?
Is the world going to trick you out of your reward? Is the devil going to trick you out of your, steal your reward?
You know, are you not going to hear those words that day? Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
I mean, imagine standing there and just seeing, like, it's like going to be a line, you know.
And it's just, we're all going to be walking up and you got, you know, a line of people in front of you and just this guy walks up,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. Then you walk up, you know, and it's like, just go in.
You know, just just get out of my sight and get into heaven. Next.
I mean, that might be it for some people. In fact, I believe it will be. Obviously, it might not be exactly like that.
Maybe that's not what the Lord's going to say those exact words, but, you know,
it might be that same kind of, you know, situation where he's just like, next.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Next. You know, I hate to be the guy that just gets brushed aside.
You know, you go you go set up your mansion. I prepared a place for you. It's as far away from me as possible in the New Jerusalem.
You know, I believe there's going to be some people that are closer to the Lord than others.
Those that come out of great tribulation, you know, they're in the temple with the Lord night and day.
The sun doesn't light upon them. They're there in the presence of God night and day. The four and 20 elders are at his throne.
It's not like it's not a musical chairs where you get to, you know, try to try to get a spot.
You know, God is predestined. You know, he chooses who gets that. And Jerusalem is a big city.
You know, it's thousands of miles long, just packed with mansions.
And yes, I believe in literal mansions. And I believe God is going to say to some people,
you know what, I got a mansion for you and it's way over there.
And you'd be like, well, can I transport? He said, well, that's reserved for other people.
Can I teleport? Right. Like, man, I need that teleportation.
Lord, he's like, well, enjoy the scenery, you know, and take it take it in right now,
because this is as close to me as you're ever going to get. Is that a possibility?
You think maybe heaven might be like that? That some people will be closer to God and others will be farther away.
Look, we'll all be glad to be there. We'll all be glad.
Even if we got one of those big, you know, stupid, you know, binoculars, put the quarter in.
There's Jesus. I see him. Oh, he's way over there, man.
You know, and then you see some other brother like, you know, who's that?
Oh, that's that goody two shoe Christian who was always at church three times a week.
That was that guy that was always reading his Bible and going soloing and memorizing scripture,
you know, trying to get me to do the same and telling me to clean up my life.
Oh, that's that preacher that got up and preached against all my sin. Oh, he's right there.
He's right up there next to Jesus. And that, you know, and if that's me, that's exactly what I'll do.
Hi, told you so. Told you. And then the quarter runs out, right?
The blinders come on and the next guy throws you out of the way. My turn, you know, let me get a look at him.
I mean, we'll all be glad that we're in heaven. We'll all be glad that we're there.
But, you know, I'd like to get as close to Jesus as I can.
So I don't know if it's really going to be like that. Well, wasn't it like that on earth when he was here?
Right in the 70 apostles. Then you had the 12, the inner circle.
They had Peter, James and John, the inner circle, and then he had John, the disciple whom Jesus loved,
who leaned upon Jesus breast at the Last Supper. You say, well, God doesn't play favorites.
Kind of seems like he does. Just being honest. I mean, I'm sure he loves all of us.
I know that. I mean, for God so loved the world, we understand.
But it just seems like God rewards people for the effort that they put into the Christian life.
So why do some people get to be closer? Because they did something.
Because they stopped looking at things that are temporal and looked at things that are eternal.
They let the reality of the resurrection set in on them.
And they said, you know, all the trials, all the persecution, all the difficulties, all the struggles,
they just said, light affliction. They just thought of the eternal weight of glory.
So don't let the world beguile you of a reward.
He said in 2 John chapter 1, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought,
but that we receive a full reward. Look at Mark 4 verse 18.
We all know this. The parable of the sower. And they which are sown among thorns
are such as hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
and the lust of other things entering in, choke the word that it becometh unfruitful.
This seed is sown on thorny ground. You know what the problem with the thorny ground is?
It's not the ground. The ground is more than capable of supporting life. It's supporting thorns.
It's just the problem when the seed is sown, it grows up with those same thorns.
It represents people who get saved and never get the sin out of their life.
Never make the changes they never make. Never go into there and uproot all those thorns.
And get those things out so that that soil can just nurture that seed that's been sown in their hearts.
That seed of salvation. The seed is there. It germinates, but it never brings any fruit to perfection.
Why? Because all the thorns that are there choke it out. It can't bring anything perfection.
It represents the Christian who just gets saved and never makes any changes in their life.
You know, they get saved. And look, we do this, you see these people all the time.
Twenty-nine people got saved today? Was that the number? It's up there.
You know, probably almost none of them are probably going to come to church.
Just being honest. But newsflash, that's not why we do what we do.
We're not out there recruiting people for church. We're out there getting people saved from hell.
You know, and if they just continue to live their lives with a bunch of thorns in their life
and they never bring any fruit, well at least they're on their way to heaven.
At least we didn't just let them go to hell. Well, they're not going to be very good church members.
So let them go to hell? Well, you know, those people would never come out and join the church
and be, you know, be good faithful so we should just let them go to hell.
You know, but that's, who would say that? You know, that's the attitude of a lot of Baptists today.
They're willing to just let them go to hell and say, well, you know, if they really want it, they can come to church.
You know, we'll put out a seeker-sensitive message and if they take the time out of their day to come down to church,
then I'll preach an evangelistic sermon and if they're willing to stand up in front of a room full of strangers
and wander down an aisle and kneel down at a so-called altar and stick their butt up in the air in front of everybody,
you know, then maybe we'll pray with them and teach them to take them through the Roman's road.
That's the vast majority of Baptist churches. So newsflash, that's, you know, thank God this ain't that kind of church.
Praise God you got a church here in Yakima, Washington that's going to go out there and knock every door.
Praise, where'd that map go? Here it is. Look at this nice, new, clean, fresh map.
Man, I get excited about this kind of stuff. When I see this, I'm like, man, that's a church that means something.
That's a church that's not looking at temporal things. They look at this map and they think, let's just fill this thing in,
let's knock all these doors, you know, let's paint this map red or whatever color you're going to use.
I recommend red. You know, we're out there preaching the blood of Christ.
You know, that's, you know how many churches do that? Not many.
You know, at best they'll put up a little picture of their zip code.
And then they'll go out there and they'll just, you know, hand out flyers.
They'll just, you know, they'll go put a door hanger, run away. Not bother, knock the door.
Praise God for this church. If you live here, you need to get your butt in this church and start serving God.
Get your eyes off that which is temporal. Let the reality, the resurrection set in.
Get the, you know, stop worrying about the cares of this world. Stop being deceived by the riches of this world.
Stop getting choked out. It's like the devil's got you in a headlock.
You know, and you're spiritually like passed out. You know, the Holy Spirit's the referee and he's like lifting up the arm.
This is you spiritually. You know, he's out. You know, but the bell's not going to ring until the end of your life.
You know, is that how you want to live the rest of your life? Just in a chokehold with the Satan?
You know, just, you know, turning blue spiritually. Passed out.
Getting choked out by the cares of this life, the cares of this world, the riches of this world.
You know, if that's what you want, go ahead. Enjoy it.
But just remember, every one of us will give an account of the things that we've done in this life for God.
We'll give an account of the things that we didn't do for God.
You know, I'm just trying to get this in front of us this evening.
The reality of the resurrection, the reality of our redemption that's been given to us,
brought to us through Christ, through his sacrifice.
The reality of the redemption of our body, that new man that's waiting for us.
The reality of the resurrection in that we're going to have an eternal reward in heaven if we're willing to labor here.
That's what I want people to see tonight. And not just tonight.
Tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.
Did I preach anything new tonight?
I preached, you know, just the same old plain doctrine of the resurrection that you've probably heard before.
No one's here, oh, the resurrection? I've never heard of that before.
You know, and maybe you haven't. Maybe you haven't heard everything about the resurrection.
I know there's more. It's a deep doctrine. I understand.
But, you know, you understand if you're saved that one day, when you die, your soul's going to be with the Lord.
You know, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
And you understand that that resurrection day is coming and you're going to be with the Lord.
You understand that. Nothing new.
But this is, if we let this thing, I'm telling you, this will shake people out of their slumber.
That's all I'm trying to do. Just wake people up.
Spiritually just grab people and go, pshh.
Wake up! Life's not a joke. All you have is one shot at this in the Christian life.
It is appointed unto man once to die, after this the judgment.
Yeah, all those wicked sinners are going to get it. Oh, no, no, no. Yeah, I understand.
But you're going to get judged, too. We're all going to give an account.
You know, and let's make sure that when we give that account, you know, when we get done giving an account,
the Lord doesn't just go, pshh. What? You did what?
Did you do anything that I told you to do? No.
You know, and sulk off like some scolded child.
Oh, sorry. The Lord's not going to cut it.
You know, when I give that account, again, I want to be able to hold my head high.
I'm not saying I'm going to be perfect. I'm sure God's going to say, well, you know, I know you did this and this,
but there was also this, and I'm sure we're all going to have some negative things.
It's unavoidable. But let's not that be the defining characteristic of our Christian life.
Failure. You know, perfect isn't possible. Failure is.
You know, failure and just a wasted life is very much a possibility.
Don't let that be said of you. Let the reality of the resurrection sit on you.
And serve God while you can. Let's go ahead and close the Word of Prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for, Lord, thank you for this church.
Thank you for the people that have come out on a mid, you know, on a Friday night, Lord.
So many people are out there just living for the flesh right now, just living for their Friday night.
And Lord, thank you for a group of people that have come up to this little town to go to preach to people that,
by and large, the world just doesn't really care about.
Lord, we understand that there's eternal souls in the balance everywhere we look.
Thank you for people that have a burden for the loss in this area, this community.
Lord, I pray you make this church, Lord, a spiritual lighthouse here in Yakima,
that you would use it to reach all the unsaved in this world and that you would use it, Lord,
to bring in your people, Lord, and put them to work.
Give them an opportunity to earn awards, Lord.
There's so many places in this world where Christians who want to serve can't even find a place like this to do it.
Lord, I pray you help people to understand the great privilege that they have to be a part of a church like this,
and to be able to go out and to preach your gospel, to preach the good news, the glad tidings of salvation by grace through faith, Lord.
Lord, thank you for the great reward that awaits all of us that will labor on your behalf.
We pray you just bless us as we go, Lord, and bless the soul in you tomorrow.
Bless the souls that were saved today. We ask in Christ's name, Amen.
Before we go, I just had a couple instructions for tomorrow so that people aren't texting me at 6 o'clock in the morning going,
Pastor Thompson, where were we supposed to meet again?
Before I go over that, I just want to say thank you, Brother Corbin, for the great message.
I've listened to a lot of Brother Corbin's sermons, and I think that's probably my new favorite.
I haven't listened to all of his sermons, though, so there could be one that's better than that one,
but I thought that was my favorite sermon I've ever heard him preach,
and I'm not just saying that because he's here and I'm trying to suck up or anything.
I actually really love that sermon. I thought it was great.
It's very powerful, and if at any time you spaced off and thought about something else,
and the sermons are recorded, go back and listen to it because if there's something you missed,
there's a lot of distractions before and after and during the sermon for some people.
So if you get a chance and you didn't catch that whole sermon or you're just off in la-la land like we do sometimes,
as preachers, we think that everybody's just hanging on every word that we say, but it's not really true.
Some of you were thinking about what you were going to eat afterwards
or how much the panda made you feel gross inside or whatever,
but that was a great sermon, very powerful, and just exactly what everybody needed.
And we do have to understand that we are bought with a price,
and we are supposed to serve the Lord with our bodies.
Just look up the term serve the Lord or serve God, and you're going to find it hundreds and hundreds of times in the Bible.
Anyway, so final instructions before we do our last song.
Tomorrow meet here, 10 a.m.
If you're staying at the Best Western Hotel that we're all staying at, that most people are staying at,
it's five minutes from here.
So I don't want to hear any excuses about how far it was.
Okay, it's literally five minutes from here.
So be here, 10 o'clock, we'll pair up, we'll group up, and try to figure out.
And it's like herding cats, so if we could get everybody just once we start trying to separate groups and stuff,
we're going to have two different big groups that will go to two different locations,
and then I'll post all the whole itinerary for tomorrow in our group.
Who's not in a WhatsApp group for Bible Believers Baptist Church?
Raise your hand.
All right, I need your phone numbers.
I know your phone number, but I don't know if I have your phone number, Brother Shane,
but everybody else is in the group or has some contact in the group, so there's no excuses.
Look at your phone and look at the addresses, all right?
We're going to serve God tomorrow, right?
And we don't want to waste a lot of time, so it is hard to group up this many people.
It's harder than you might think, and we just need your cooperation to get that done.
We'll get all the materials, we'll head out, and then we're going to go to Chipotle for lunch, 1 o'clock, all right?
So 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock, it takes about 25 minutes to drive to Harrah.
So it takes about 25 minutes to drive to the location.
So when you figure that it's 25 minutes to get to Chipotle, we don't have a lot of time to mess around.
So as soon as we get our groups going, we'll go, and we'll have a great day.
Afterwards, we're going to hit some stuff, some more stuff in Yakima, and then we'll call it a day.
Make sure you're telling your group leaders your salvation numbers at the end of each session.
And if you have any questions, just don't hesitate to ask me after the service for as long as I'm here.
10 o'clock tomorrow, right here, all right?
And let's sing another song, and we'll close off the service, all right?
Thanks, everybody, for being here.
All right, our last song is going to be song number 375, I Gave My Life for Thee.
Song number 375, I Gave My Life for Thee.
Song 375, let's sing it together on the first.
I gave my life for thee, my precious blood I shed,
That thou mightst ransom be, and quicken from the dead.
I gave, I gave my life for thee, what hast thou given for me?
My father's house of light, my glory circled throne,
I left for earthly night for wandering sad and lone.
I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for me?
I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell,
Of Beatrice's agony, to rescue thee from hell.
I borne, I borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for me?
And I have brought to thee, down from my home above,
Salvation full and free, my pardon and my love.
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
How are you?
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?
I bring, I bring, I bring, rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to me?