Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
2 Corinthians chapter 4, while you're turning there,
I'll read for you from 2 Timothy 3.
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch,
at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured,
but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
It's going to get worse.
The wicked are going to get worse and worse.
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned,
and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them,
and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation,
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
not just the parts you like, all of it.
And all scripture is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works.
You've got to preach the whole Bible, my friend.
That's what the Bible teaches us, the entire Bible.
And that includes Leviticus.
That includes parts that are maybe unpalatable
to our sin-sick society.
It still needs to be taught.
Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse eight.
We're troubled on every side, yet not distressed.
We're perplexed, but not in despair, executed,
but not forsaken, but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body, for we which live are always delivered
unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
Go to Acts chapter eight.
My friend, it's just a building, it's a building.
And I'm not trying to downplay the evil.
I'm not trying to downplay the wickedness.
I'm not trying to downplay how dangerous that is
to start blowing things up and setting things on fire,
and how harmful it is,
and how godless and wicked these people are.
But I will say this,
I would rather have my building blown to smithereens
than for my children to have to look
at a bunch of drag queens.
'Cause it's just a building.
My children's souls are eternal.
I'm eternal, I'm gonna live forever, I'm saved.
This building's not gonna last forever.
I'd rather see a building destroyed
than to see minds destroyed, hearts destroyed,
people defiled.
And so these filthy, disgusting perverts,
you know, the real damage
is just when they walk down the street in drag.
I mean, what can they do?
I mean, they can blow up the building.
They can even kill the body.
But the Bible says, "Fear not them which kill the body,
"but are not able to kill the soul,
"rather fear him which is able to destroy
"both soul and body in hell."
That's what the Bible says.
Where did I have you turn?
Acts chapter eight, look at verse one.
And I wanna show you how all things work together
for good to them that love God.
All things work together for good to them that love God.
Look at Acts chapter eight, verse one.
And Saul was consenting unto his death,
and at that time there was a great persecution
against the church as it was at Jerusalem.
And they were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles.
And devout men carried Stephen to his burial
and made great lamentation over him.
And as for Saul, he made havoc of the church,
entering into every house and hailing men and women,
committed them to prison.
And this is the key right here, verse four.
"Therefore, they that were scattered abroad
went everywhere preaching the word.
All things work together for good to them that love God."
This great persecution upon the church at Jerusalem,
you know what it ended up doing?
It ended up actually causing the gospel to go further.
Because instead of it all being concentrated at Jerusalem,
which was never God's plan,
Jesus told them only to wait at Jerusalem
until they were endued with power from on high.
Once they were endued with power from on high,
once the day of Pentecost came
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
they were supposed to go teach all nations.
They were supposed to go into all the world
and preach the gospel.
They didn't do that.
Most of them ended up staying behind.
But this persecution that arose about Stephen
ended up causing them to be scattered abroad.
And it just caused the gospel to go further
because they went everywhere preaching the word.
They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
And just like Joseph's brethren meant it for evil,
God meant it for good.
Here the Jews meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
The Sodomites meant it for evil, God meant it for good.
Because you know what, now people all over the world
are gonna tune in and listen to Pastor Mejia preach.
Even if it's just out of a morbid curiosity.
Well, let's hear what this guy has to say.
Let's get some of this in context.
Even if they might want to just listen to it at first to laugh at it or to hate on it,
you know what?
The word of God's powerful.
It's sharper than any two-edged sword.
And I can't even count how many people, they started listening to my preaching just because
they were mad at it, or they hated it, or they wanted to laugh at it.
But then after they started listening to it, the word of God, and then they start saying,
"Hey, actually what he's preaching is biblical," and then it starts to get through to them.
And look, what if just one person gets saved?
What if two people get saved?
What if five people get saved?
What if a hundred people get saved?
And here's the way I look at it.
Let's say a million people read these articles, and let's say 99% of them are just so brainwashed
to just take what the media is telling them at face value, and only 1% says, "You know
what?
Actually, let me see what this guy's saying.
Actually it's biblical.
Actually this guy's right."
Even if, let's say it's just 1%.
Well what's 1% of a million?
Hey, sounds great to me if 10,000 people are getting the Word of God even if 99, hey nuts
to the 99%.
They were already bozos yesterday and they can be bozos tomorrow.
That's not the point.
I only care about the individual.
It's about reaching that one person or that 10,000 people that actually hear the preaching
and can hear God's Word and be edified.
Maybe they're already saved and then they can hear Brother Mejia's preaching.
Look, if a saved person listens to Brother Mejia's preaching, they're going to get edified.
They're going to become closer to God.
They're going to learn more about the Bible.
They're going to walk with Christ more closely and do more works for him if they listen to
that preaching.
And if they're unsaved and they listen to it, they're likely to get saved because he
preaches a lot of clear salvation messages.
And so God is going to use all this for good.
It's going to be good for the church members.
This is an experience that they can go through and grow through and become stronger.
It's going to be a good experience for Pastor Mehe himself to go through this and gain this
experience.
And people can see this and find out about his church and hear the preaching.
And you know, in our lives, we are not the main character.
We're not the main event.
You know, I am not the main character of the story of Faith Forward Baptist Church or any
other story.
Jesus is the main character, okay?
He's the emphasis.
So here's the thing.
You look at a guy like Stephen, and you say, "Well, that, you know, that was short-lived."
You know, Stephen got stoned.
We just read, you know, reflecting back on it there in Acts chapter 8.
And they've made a great lamentation because Stephen was such a great guy, and he got killed
so early in the book of Acts.
You know, you kind of wish you could see this guy go for the next 20 years, 30 years.
But here's the thing, he's not the main character.
Stephen isn't the other.
This isn't the book of Stephen.
You know, it's about Christ.
And when Stephen dies, Christ's work goes forward.
And in many ways, Christ's work went forward better with Stephen being martyred.
So Stephen being martyred propelled the work of Christ forward.
Now, I didn't do much for Stephen's career, but Stephen's career isn't the issue.
I'm not the issue.
Pastor Me, he is not the issue.
First Works Baptist Church isn't the issue, and certainly their building isn't the issue.
And so when you make an omelet, you end up breaking some eggs.
And so, you know, buildings perish, people perish.
But you know what, I love what the Apostle Paul said.
He said, "Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy
and rejoice with you all."
I mean, the Apostle Paul said, you know what, I'm willing to be a sacrificial ram.
I'm willing to be sacrificed.
If it will cause the work of Christ to go forward, if it will cause people to be edified,
the Bible commands us to be faithful unto death.
And so we need to be willing to be sacrificed so that God's work can go forward.
I mean, it's a lot to ask, but you know, it's also a lot to ask to carry the cross up to
Calvary.
It's a lot to ask to die on the cross and descend into hell and raise again three days
later.
That's a lot to ask, too.
But if that's what Christ did for us, then it's our reasonable service to present our
bodies a living sacrifice to God.
And so we need to understand that we are not the issue.
We're not the main character in this drama, okay?
Christ is the main character.
It's his story.
We are playing a side role.
It's like John the Baptist said.
He said, "Look, he's the bridegroom.
I'm just the friend of the bridegroom."
You know, and on the wedding day, it's not all about the best man, is it?
It's all about the groom.
It's all about the bride.
And John the Baptist said, "You know, the friend of the bridegroom standeth and rejoiceth
because of the bridegroom's voice.
This, therefore, my joy is fulfilled.
He must increase.
I must decrease."
And so that's the attitude that we need to have.