Now in Acts 28 I want to focus on one verse then we are going to turn to some other passages in the Bible
But I want to focus on this part in verse number 22 but before I do let me go ahead and just give you the background of the story
Of course Paul was arrested for doing what? Just preaching the Bible, just preaching the Gospel, preaching God's word
And he went to Jerusalem to bring alms from the people that had gathered in Greece and Macedonia
He was bringing their alms into Jerusalem and of course he was in the temple and there was a whole story there that I'm not going to go into
But they arrest him, they lay hands on him and he's put in jail, they find out he's a Roman citizen
So now they have to give him his rights, they have to be careful how they treat him, they can't just lock him up without a trial or beat him or anything like that
Because he had rights as a Roman citizen
Well there were some men of Israel who laid a vow upon themselves and they said we're not going to eat or drink until we killed him
And there were a lot of other people who were plotting and planning to kill him
And so therefore instead of agreeing to go back to Jerusalem to be judged for his so called crimes of just preaching
He appealed unto Caesar and they said well if he would have just went back to Jerusalem he would have been set at liberty
But now he's appealed to Caesar he has to go to Rome
But the reason he did that he knew that when he went to Jerusalem they were going to kill him
And so that wasn't going to help him the fact that he might get acquitted
So basically he's on a ship, he's on this ship with the sign of Castor and Pollux and he's heading toward Rome
He makes a few stops along the way
Well basically he's shipwrecked, he's on an island, all these different things happen
Well when he gets to Rome he seeks out or they really come to see him
He calls for them, he sends people and says I want to speak to the children of Israel that are living in Rome, the Jews
So they all come to hear him
And he's talking to them and he's saying look here's what happened to me I've been arrested and so forth
And they said well we'd like to hear what you have to say Paul
Because we've heard a little bit about this but we want to hear what it actually is
And here's the part that I want to preach on in verse 22 it says
But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest
For as concerning this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against
Then he goes on to preach them the gospel, some of them believed, some of them got saved
Many did not get saved and Paul of course is very frustrated with the ones that did not get saved
And said this is why I've been preaching to the Gentiles
Because they will receive the truth unlike you
But I want to preach a sermon tonight called this
Everywhere spoken against
Isn't it interesting that the Christianity of the first century
I mean we're talking about the apostles who ate and fellowshiped with Jesus Christ in the flesh while he was on this earth
Isn't it amazing how their ministry and Paul's ministry because it wasn't just Paul
They said this sect
You know we're talking Peter, James, John, the whole religion of Christianity
They said we don't even know what it is, we don't know what being saved is
We don't know what your doctrine is
There's only one thing that we know
Is that this religion is spoken against everywhere
But I'm sure today it's changed
And yet today we think that we can preach God's word faithfully
And preach God's word as it's written in this book and that people are going to like us
When back then it was always spoken against
And I guarantee you today that if you preach the truth you will be spoken against
Everywhere
Look if you would in Luke chapter 6
Luke chapter number 6
You're in Acts, just go back a few books toward the beginning of the Bible
Luke chapter number 6
Here's going back several decades to Jesus Christ's ministry on this earth
Here's what he preached in the Sermon on the Mount
He said in verse 22
Blessed are ye when men shall hate you
And when they shall separate you from their company
And shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil
For the son of man's sake
Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy
For behold your reward is great in heaven
For in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets
So basically all the way back in the days of the prophets
Preachers were reproached
Preachers were hated
Preachers had their name cast out as evil
Jesus said that's what they did to the prophets
He said that's what they're doing to me right now
He said blessed are you if you fall into that category right now
And then decades later in the book of Acts
Paul is confronted with people and they say we don't know anything about Christianity
Except that it's spoken against everywhere
That's all we know about it
I don't believe it's changed
It was that way in the Old Testament
It was that way in the time of Christ
It was that way in the time of the book of Acts
And it's that way today
You will be spoken against if you preach the truth
And the preacher who is not spoken against is not preaching the truth
I'll prove it to you
Look at verse 26
I'll prove it to you
Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you
For so did their fathers to the false prophets
He said if all men speak well of you
Just you're a false prophet
That's why
Cause if you were a real prophet of God
You'd be spoken against everywhere
That's what the Bible says
Look at Proverbs 22
Proverbs chapter 22
Because I like to give both sides of everything that I preach
Because I like to prove what I preach from the Bible
I'm not just going to get up here and give my opinion
I'm proving it from the Bible
Like I just showed you some very clear scriptures that prove the thesis of my sermon
But I like to give the other argument
You know the other side of what they'll try to say
And show you how they misuse scripture
Look at Proverbs 22
This is a verse that you've probably heard many times
And here's kind of what somebody will say
Wait a minute Pastor Anderson
It says in Proverbs 22 verse 1
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches
And loving favor rather than silver and gold
So the Bible there is teaching that you should want to have a good name
It's better than gold
It's better than silver
Listen to this
This is Ecclesiastes 7.1
A good name is better than precious ointment
And the day of death than the day of one's birth
Now there's something to be said for your reputation
For example if you run a business
You want to have a good reputation
Because you're going to get most of your business through word of mouth
Through referrals
I don't do any advertising in my business
No advertising
Everything I do is through referrals and word of mouth
So I want to have a good name
I want to have a good name in the fire alarm business
I want to have a good reputation
But let me ask you something
In a world that's wicked and ungodly
Do you really want to have a good reputation with someone who's evil
You know with someone who's ungodly
And wait a minute
Yes a good name is rather to be chosen than gold and silver
But you know what's rather to be chosen than gold, silver or a good name
Being right with God
It's better than gold, silver, precious ointment or having a good name
And you see you're not going to have a good name among wicked people
If you're righteous
And the reason why is because the Bible says in Proverbs
That a righteous man is an abomination to the wicked
And the wicked are an abomination to the just
And so your name is going to be a good name up in heaven
When you're doing the right thing
It's going to be a good name in the Bible
Look at Jeremiah chapter 28
Jeremiah chapter 28
Toward the end of the Old Testament you have these three great big books
Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel
The three of the major prophets there
So they're pretty easy to find
Jeremiah chapter 28
You see Jeremiah I'd say has a pretty good name
Because his name is on the longest book in the Bible
Number one
It depends on how you look at it
Psalms has more chapters
Psalms has more verses
But Jeremiah has more words
Jeremiah is a long book
And if you go by words it's the longest book in the Bible
It's right there tied with Psalms for length
Okay
Jeremiah has got a pretty good name today
But in his day among the world
Among the unbelievers
Among the ungodly
He was one of the most hated preachers of the Old Testament
He was
I mean if you read all the different prophets
He was the most hated
He was the one that they hated the most
Remember when Jesus Christ came on the scene and he said
Whom do men say that I am?
He said some people say that you're Jeremiah
You remember that?
They said some say that you're Elias
Some say that you're John the Baptist
You know
Some say that you're Jeremiah
What kind of preacher was Jesus?
Yeah he preached hard
And a lot of people didn't like him
They always sought to kill him
And he always had to flee away and hide
Because it was not yet his time to go
But in Jeremiah 28
Let me show you the difference
Between the true prophet of God
The preacher who is faithfully preaching God's word
And the false prophet
I'm going to show you the difference in Jeremiah 28
As it's vividly shown here
In verse number 1 it says
And it came to pass the same year
In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah
In the fourth year and in the fifth month
That Hananiah
This is a false prophet by the way
Hananiah
The son of Azar the prophet which was of Gibeon
Spake unto me in the house of the Lord
The me there is Jeremiah
Jeremiah is narrating the book
In the presence of the priests and all the people saying
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts
The God of Israel saying
I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon
Within two full years will I bring again into this place
All the vessels of the Lord's house
That Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
Took away from this place
And carried them to Babylon
And I will bring again to this place
Jeconiah the son of Joachim king of Judah
With all the captains of Judah
That went into Babylon
Sayeth the Lord for I will break the yoke
Of the king of Babylon
Now that's a very positive message
Of course God had said that they would go into captivity
For seventy years
This guy is saying well two years from now
Everything is going to be great
Everybody is going to come home
And everybody is going to be happy
And everything is going to be perfect
Now the people of Israel had not repented
Of any of their evil
Any of their wickedness
Any of the sins that caused them to go into captivity yet
And this guy is just preaching
That everything is going to be fine
They are all going to come home
Jeremiah is preaching no
It's going to be seventy years
And later on they reject the word of the Lord again
But here is what happens in verse number five
Five it says
Then the prophet Jeremiah
Said unto the prophet Hananiah
This is Jeremiah's response to this false prophet
In the presence of the priests
And in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord
Even the prophet Jeremiah said
Amen
The Lord do so
The Lord perform thy words
Which thou hast prophesied
To bring again the vessels of the Lord's house
And all that is carried away captive
From Babylon into this place
Amen
That sounds great he is saying
I hope that's what happens
Sounds great
Nevertheless
Verse seven
Hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears
In the ears of all the people
The prophets that have been before me
And before thee
He is talking to this phony preacher Hananiah
Of old
Prophesied both against
Many countries
And against great kingdoms
Of war and of evil
And of pestilence
The prophet which prophesied the peace
When the word of the prophet shall come to pass
Then shall the prophet be known
That the Lord hath truly sent him
He's saying well you know if this happens
Then I'll believe you
But pretty much every other pastor
And every preacher I've ever known who was preaching right
Was preaching on to negative things
It wasn't this positive only message
That you're preaching Hananiah
I'll believe when I see it
Then Hananiah
The prophet verse 10
Took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck
And break it because Jeremiah had a yoke
On his neck
A literal yoke that he was using as an object lesson
About the yoke that God was putting on him
Putting him into servitude
He was wearing this as an object lesson
And it's kind of weird I know
But he was a very dynamic preacher
And it says
In verse number 10
The prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck
And break it
And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people saying
Thus saith the Lord
Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon from the neck of all nations
Within the space of two full years
So he's continuing his false prediction
Basically he just made this up
God didn't tell him to say
He's just completely dreaming this up
Because it's positive because people like it
Because he's popular
Because he's saying all these happy smiley things
It says in verse number 12
Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet
After that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke
From off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah
Saying go and tell Hananiah
This is God's word
Thus saith the Lord thou has broken the yokes of wood
But thou
Thou shalt make for them
Yokes of iron
Notice he's blaming the phony preacher
Saying you are making it worse
On God's people
They're going to be judged worse
Worse
They had a yoke of wood that was going to be upon them
He said now it's going to be a yoke of iron
Because of phony preachers like you
Telling everybody it's going to be fine
Even though they spit in God's eye
And disobey his laws
Everything's going to be fine, it's going to be great
Peace, peace when there is no peace
Look what he says next
For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel
I put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations
That they may serve Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon
And they shall serve him
And I have given him the beast of the field also
Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet
Hear now Hananiah
The Lord have not sent thee
But thou makest this people
To trust in a lie
Therefore thus saith the Lord
Behold I will cast thee from off the face of the earth
This year
Thou shalt die
Because thou has taught
Rebellion against the Lord
So Hananiah the prophet died the same year
In the seventh month
Look at the last phrase there at the end of chapter
Or verse 16 it says
Because thou has taught rebellion against the Lord
Let me tell you something
The preacher who preaches
That there's no consequences for your sins
Is teaching rebellion against the Lord
Now we preach easy salvation
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
And thou shalt be saved
Jesus did the hard part
When he died on the cross, shed his blood
Was buried and broken
That was the hard part
But our part is simply receiving
The gift of eternal life
But as many as received him
To them gave he power to become the sons of God
Even to them that believe on his name
Jesus paid it all
And so we have the easy part of just believing on Jesus Christ
And so our sins are washed away
Gone as far as the east is from the west
We're on our way to heaven
We're forgiven
We're redeemed
We're justified freely by his grace
Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
But there are consequences
To your actions in this world
You will reap what you've sown
Even as a Christian
You're going to heaven
You'll never see the fires of hell
But be not deceived
God is not mocked
For whatsoever a man soweth
That shall he also reap
Saved, unsaved
You will reap what you sow in this life
Whether you're saved or not saved
Period
God preaches otherwise
Is teaching rebellion against the Lord
When he teaches you
Sin, commit wickedness, commit adultery
Steal, murder
Drunk, drunkenness, covetousness, whatever
And everything will be great
You'll be okay
God's the God of the 525th chance
And you'll be okay
He's teaching a lie
He's prophesying a lie
The preacher who tells you that God's going to
Send revival to America
The preacher that tells you
America is going to be spared from the judgment of God
He's a liar
It's impossible, I've proved it from the Bible
When you shed innocent blood
It can only be cleansed by shedding the blood of those who shed it
And there's so many people with innocent blood on their hands
In this country
From abortion, from many other things
I'm not going to go into that in this sermon
God's judgment is coming
The preacher who tells you about it is the one telling the truth
And the preacher who tells you that it's all going to be fine
And that America is going to be spared
He's a liar
Our country has become so wicked and vile
In the sight of God
His judgment will come
Be not deceived
God is not mocked
And whatsoever America has shown
America will reap
And I'm going to tell you the truth about it
And the other people who try to say
It's all going to be forgiven
I was speaking to a young guy today
And he was a really nice guy
And he said
I'm saved, I'm born again
It's his faith, it's his belief
That's it
And we were talking about some other issues
Talking about the Bible
And he said
Isn't that kind of a hellfire and damnation view of God?
What about the other view of God
That he's loving and forgiving?
I said I only have one view of God
There's only one God
He's both
I said God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish
But I've ever last time
It's a loving God
But I said you still cross a line where you enter into God's wrath
And every single human being in this world
Who rejects Jesus Christ
Does not believe on Jesus Christ
Their savior
Is going to taste of the wrath of God for all eternity in hell
And that's a reality
Hell's a real place
And so that's who God is
God's the God of heaven but he's the God of hell
And so that's who God is
My view of God is all love and kindness
My view is not all hellfire and brimstone
I just believe the whole Bible
I believe the parts that I like and the parts I don't like
The good part and the good, the bad and the ugly
Whatever the Bible says I believe it
And I'm going to preach it
And so you're teaching rebellion against the Lord
When you teach people that no matter what they do
The outcome will be good
There will always be a happy ending
But in real life there's not always a happy ending
I know on TV and the movies you watch
Everything ends up great at the end
But you know what? Sometimes there's not a happy ending
In people's lives
And the preacher who loves you will preach that to you
So that you'll get right with God
And at least stop
Sowing the way
You're still probably going to reap the bad stuff that you've done
But at least you can stop, start sowing some good things
And maybe reap those down the road
But it's going to take time
Look at Isaiah chapter 56
Let me show you a little more about this same subject
Isaiah chapter 56
Again he's talking about preachers who
Will not warn people
They will not preach what needs to be preached
They want to preach a positive only message
They want to preach what people like
Look at Isaiah 56 verse 10
He says his watchman
Of course the watchman is a metaphor
That he constantly uses in the book of Ezekiel and elsewhere
About a preacher
About a prophet
Someone who is watching and warning of the danger
Think about what a watchman is
He sits on the wall
He stays up all night long
And he sees the enemy coming in business
He sounds the trumpet
He warns of impending danger
God likens his prophets
Unto a watchman
He likens them here unto a watchman
And also unto a watchdog
He says in Isaiah 56 verse 10
His watchmen are blind
Can you imagine a blind watchman
When your whole job is to watch for somebody
And you're blind
You need to pick a new job
It reminds me of when I was in Oregon
And you know in Oregon you can't pump your own gas
Who knows what I'm talking about
And Oregon and New Jersey
Those are the two states where it's illegal to pump your own gas
So they have a guy there
Or a girl to pump the gas for you
So Scott and I pull into a gas station in Oregon
And this girl pumps our gas
And we pull out five minutes later
The check engine light comes off
And I say to Scott
She didn't put the gas cap on right
At first we were like oh man what's wrong with the engine
Do we need to pull over, do we need to do something
And I said no you know what
She didn't put the gas cap on
Now it's pretty sad when that's your whole job
All you do all day is just
Undo the
Whatever you call it
Undo the gas cap
Pump the gas
Hand the receipt
Close it up
I was thinking to myself we need to get back in California
Put your own gas, put the lid on right
But if you're a watchman and you're blind
You're in the wrong line of work
He's saying his watchmen are blind
And if you're a preacher who's spiritually blind
You need to get another job
If you can't see the bad things coming
If you can't see negative consequences
To people's actions
Then you're in the wrong line of work
But he says here that these watchmen are blind
They're all ignorant
And that's even worse
An ignorant preacher
You better learn and learn
And learn and study to show
Thyself approved unto God
A workman that needed not to be ashamed
Rightly dividing the word of truth
Because if you don't know the Bible you have to be ashamed of yourself
You're going to get up and call yourself a preacher
Know the Bible
Know what you're talking about
We have too many preachers who don't know what they're talking about
You need to read and read and read
Before you learn how to preach
The most important thing is to know what to preach
That's more important
Because you can be dynamic and swing from the chandeliers
But you've got to know that what you're saying is right
And so you've got to learn the Bible
You don't want to be blind
And you don't want to be ignorant
And then he says this
They're all dumb dogs
Dumb meaning unable to speak
He says they're all dumb dogs
They cannot bark
Sleeping, they're lazy he says
Lying down, loving to slumber
Yea they're greedy dogs
It's all about money
It's all about money, it's all about the paycheck
Which can never have enough
And they are shepherds
Of course the word pastor means shepherd
That's what it means
It comes to the same root word as the word pasture
And they are shepherds that cannot understand
They all look to their own way
Everyone for his gain from his quarter
And here's what they'll tell you
Come ye say they all fetch wine
And we will fill ourselves with strong drink
And tomorrow shall be as this day
And much more abundant
Everything's fine
Let's eat, drink and be merry
And tomorrow everything's going to be fine
Have a beer with me after the service
Everything's going to be fine
Lighten up a little
All this doom and gloom
Like God's wrath
And God's judgment
That turns people off
It turns people off
Especially the young people
They don't like it
They like something a little more uplifting
A little more positive
And so let's have a beer with them
Let's reach them where they're at
Let's sit down with them
And just kind of rap a little bit
Let's just talk
And in fact we're going to get rid of the pulpit and replace it with a barstool
And I'm going to sit up on a barstool
And just kind of
In fact we need two pastors
One pastor
So we'll get like two of us up here
And maybe I'm on a barstool here
Brother Dave's on a barstool
We've got to format it
We've got to format it out like a radio talk show
You know there's like two hosts
And they kind of
So Dave, what do you think this passage means
Brother Dave
And he'll be like well you know
A lot of people, a lot of good scholars
Say that if you go back to the Greek
And we can just kind of analyze it
And go back and forth with it and everything like that
But you see
The dumb dog baptist church
Okay
He was asleep at the wheel
He's not warning
He loves money
He's ignorant
And he wants you to think that everything's
Going to be fine next year
It's going to be just like this year
And hey it might even be better
You know what I mean?
Tomorrow shall be as this day
And hey why not?
Much more abundant
Why not?
Well I'm lying to you
We ought to be warning
Of sin
We ought to be standing up
As preachers, as Christians
And warning and sometimes it's a negative message
That people don't want to hear
And that's why it's always spoken against
I mean think about it
If all that we preach was sweetness and light
Who would speak against it?
I don't think that there's anybody in this world
Who's against loving your neighbor as yourself
Have you ever read somebody and said I don't agree with that
You know what I mean?
If you go to the Mormons and the Catholics
And the Muslims and the Buddhists
They'd all agree with that
Do you really think the Mormons don't agree with that?
Love your neighbor as yourself
Is a good idea
Do you think the Buddhists have a problem with that?
Do you think the Hindus have a problem with that?
Does the Navajo traditional
Religion have a problem with that?
Probably sounds good
Everybody likes that
But when you start preaching
The rest of the Bible
Most people when we go out
Solving don't even really have a problem
With the gospel message
Of just Jesus died for our sins
He rose again
But then you start saying well he's the only way to heaven
You know
Then they start having a problem
You say well if you don't believe you go to hell
Now we're losing people
You know what I mean?
Think about it
All other religions are false
Because Jesus said
I am the door
And he said this
He said I'm the good shepherd
All that came before me are thieves and robbers
But I'm the good shepherd
I'm the savior of the world
That's what he said
He said everybody else who has claimed to be a savior or a messiah
Has been a liar
If he were today
Saying the same type of thing as what he was saying
He'd basically be saying Buddha was a liar
He'd be saying
Joseph Smith was a liar
He'd tell you that Mohammed was a liar
And he shouldn't have been married to a nine year old girl
The pervert
He would tell you
He's a pervert and a pedophile
And a polygamist
And anything else that starts with a P
That's weird
You know Joseph Smith was like that
Mohammed was like that
And they'd tell you the truth about it
And that's where you start making people mad
I mean I used to preach in two nursing homes
When we started this church
On Sunday afternoon
And I preached there for about six months each
And I got thrown out of both of them after about six months
And it was for the same thing
And I preached a lot of radical sermons in there
But you know what got me thrown out?
Just preaching that Jesus was the only way to heaven
Literally
I mean out of all the radical stuff I preach
You know I'm expecting them to say it was this
It was this, it was this, it was this
It's just no
Any other way you know
And any other way is wrong
They said it's too exclusive
You know it's got to be an inclusive message
And I said you know I can't preach an inclusive message
It's just not true
You know I got thrown out
I think I'm going to cry about it
You know but that's life
And I just decided
You know it was really sad
Because the people in the nursing home they loved it
The harder I preached the more they liked it
They said man we love you
They said faithful Word Baptist Church is our church
You're our pastor
And they would come, they'd dress up and come and they loved it
But the staff
What happened was
One of them, the wife of the manager
Happened to be there on a Sunday
And
Oh wow
I don't know
And they said oh you know it's offending some people
And I'm thinking to myself well the Catholic mass you guys offer
Probably offends some people too
It offends me
The priest needs to wear pants
It offends me that he doesn't wear pants
Dress like a man
Don't wear a skirt
I'm sure people are offended by the non-denominational service
Even though their desire is to never offend
I'm offended by the NIV
I'm offended by a lot of things about it
But the point is
That the truth is going to offend people
The truth causes division
Because when the truth is preached
Some believe it's in Acts 28
And some believe not
But when nothing is preached
Everybody just nods their head and smiles
And says oh great
Even Jeremiah is saying amen
To the phony liberal preacher
Nobody disagrees with him
Even Jeremiah said this sounds good
And I've said it before
If you and I went to most liberal churches
If we visited one of these liberal churches
We'd probably agree with 99% of what's said
But there's just not much being said
Because it's just a lot of generic
General things and it's not what they say
It's what they don't say that's the problem
That's the problem
The false prophet doesn't tell you the truth
He only tells you the positive stuff
Which a lot of it's good stuff
But that's all he tells you
And he's leaving you in the dark on the rest of it
You see, Christianity
That's a true Bible Christianity
Is going to be spoken against
Now let me ask you something
Do you believe that you will live a godly
Christian life
And everyone in your extended family
Is going to love you
You know what I mean?
Because even Jesus' own brethren mocked him
There was even division in his own family
And you're going to come to a point
In your life where you have to decide
Between being popular
And doing the right thing
Because what's right is never popular
And what's popular is never right
And you're going to have to choose
Before you know
You get with your friends in high school
And maybe you're in the public school system
Maybe that's where you're at
You know, my children are homeschooled
Thank God, because I don't want them to be exposed
To the public school system
And I don't want them to be programmed
And made into a disciple of the government
But
I teach my own children, my wife teaches them
But let's say you're in the public school system
You know, I graduated from public school
Let's say you're in that system
You will not
Fit in and be popular in that system
Unless you compromise what's in this book
It's the only way to fit in
It's the only way to be popular
It's the only way people are going to like you
It's the only way you're going to be cool
It's the only way you're going to be the prom king
Or the prom queen
It's the only way you're going to be the most loved
And lifted up and in the yearbook
The most this, the most that
It's only if you compromise what that book says
That's the only way
Because if you're a soul winner, if you're righteous
If you're godly, you're going to bear reproach
For the name of Jesus Christ in that school
It's the truth, I've been there
I've been to public school
And I brought my Bible to school
I set it on my books
I stood up for what was right
I stood up in the class
And proclaimed the truth in many classes
To the chagrin of many that were there
They didn't like it, they got angry
They were upset, people got mad
I preached against Roman Catholicism
I preached against evolution
All the things that were being taught to me
I stood up for what was right
And people didn't like it
And people still don't like it and people will never like it
Go to public school
And stand up for what's right
You say, oh if I wear a skirt
People are going to make fun of me
Now first of all, I see people wearing skirts
I see girls wearing skirts all the time that aren't even Christians
Don't you?
I mean I've seen girls that are
Atheists
Wearing a long, modest skirt
Who's ever seen something like that before?
Of course
You know, I sometimes
I'll see a girl that's just very modestly dressed
You think, oh I wonder if this is a
Christian young lady, she's dressed so modest
You know, and then based on
A few minutes later after you've heard some things out of her mouth
You're thinking, you know
No, she's not
You know
She's like, you know, into Satan or something
But the point is
The point is that, first of all
You're not
I'm not preaching that you should dress like
You're Amish or something
I'm not preaching to
Dress like you live in Tehran or something
But what I am preaching
Is that you should follow God's guidelines
For clothing
And I'm not going to preach the whole sermon on clothing right now
But there are plenty of guidelines in this book
That tell girls not to dress immodestly
That tell them to dress like
Ladies and dress feminine and not to dress in men's clothing
Not to go in the tight fitting
And the halter top
And the short shorts
And all the different things
That girls wear to school
That are not right
That's how you'll dress if you want to fit in though
Here's a sermon on how to fit in
Dress like you're sleazy
Dress like you're for sale
And by the way, if you're not for sale
Then take down the for sale side
And so, you know, dress like you're for sale
Dress like the world
Dress like Britney Spears
Dress like Madonna
Dress like the whores and whore markers of Hollywood
And if you're a guy and you want to fit in
Wear your little tight fitting pants
And your lowrider pants
And wear Abercrombie and Fitch
And have your hair all shaggy
Like you're the fifth Beatle or something
Hey, why don't you decide
That I'm going to dress and act and talk
And walk like a Christian
And I'm going to be made fun of
And I'm going to be an adult
And it's going to be the same battle that you face
Whether you want to fit in or do the right thing
Hey, when I was a teenager
I was worldly, I wasn't perfect
I was definitely not as grown as I am now
Thank God
Because I'm still growing
And so back then I was a lot more immature
On my spiritual walk
But maybe standing up in the public school
On the things that I did stand up on
Maybe that helped me to grow the backbone
That I have today
Do you think I just grew a backbone overnight?
Do you think overnight
I just went from being Mr. Nambi Pambi
And let everybody push me around
And I gave them all my lunch money
And gave them my food
And they picked me up on my ankles
And shook out all my money
And beat me up
Do you think I just went from
I've got to fit in
I've got to do everything the way I'm told
Do you think I just went from that
And then one day I just went
And by the way that's my favorite word
No
And if you're a preacher you better know that word
No
That's a word that you need
When you preach
Let's switch into the preaching class for a minute
How to preach one on one
With Pastor Anderson
Who in here would like to preach some day
Put up your hand if you want to preach some day
Stand up and yell the word
No
Alright good I like it
That's how you preach
You say no
Now it's easy to say no to me brother Dave
It's saying no to her that's hard
That woman in the audience
Who doesn't like you preaching
You know what I mean
Or him, you know, Mr. Moneybags
Mr. Big Spending Deacon
You know
Or you know
Nobody's going to tell me what to do
You know
Say no to her for a while
Then I'll call you a man of God
Then I'll call you a preacher
When you stand up and you do what was said of Jeremiah
Look at Jeremiah chapter 1
Jeremiah is a great book by the way
And by the way it's got some parts that are a little bit heavy plowing
I'm not going to lie to you
It's one of the more difficult books
But chapter 28 was pretty interesting right?
There's about seven chapters like that in Jeremiah
That are just really cool chapters
That are just really easy to read
Really interesting stories
But then the other 45
Those are the tough ones
But you know if you read through the other 45
You'll get to the seven great chapters
That'll actually teach you young guys how to be a man
Right? How to be a real preacher
How to be like Jeremiah
A great man of God
That Jesus was compared to
You know that's good
Look at Jeremiah chapter 1
Here's one of those seven good ones
You read it, you love it
But it's all good
Great preaching in Jeremiah
I mean you can preach the book of Jeremiah for the rest of our lives
There's so much great preaching
In the book of Jeremiah, I love it
But look what he says here
In Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 4
Sorry about that
Then the word of the Lord came unto me saying
Before I formed thee in the belly
I knew thee
He's saying before you even were conceived
Before you even existed
I mean before the world was even created
He's saying I knew you
In fact he's saying I created you
Specifically
With a certain purpose for your life and mine
He says I knew thee
Before I formed thee in the belly
And by the way God's the one who forms babies in their mother's belly
They don't just
I don't know why but the cells just start multiplying and nobody knows why
Nobody knows why
Seriously
The professor at ASU doesn't know why
The cells start to multiply
When the seed and the egg come together
But they do because God begins to form and fashion
And begins to mold you
And you say I don't like the way I look
I'm too short, too tall
God made you the way that you are
He formed you the way that you are
If you're a man, be glad you're a man
If you're tall, be glad you're tall
If you're short, be glad you're short
God formed you
Who you are
Everybody's going to dye their hair
And they've got to do all this stuff
To alter their appearance
Just be who you are
Just be the way God made you
That's what I think
But it says in verse number 5
Before I formed thee in the belly
I knew thee
I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet of the nation
Then said I, all Lord God
Behold, I cannot speak
He's a humble man
He says, for I am a child
He's a young man, we don't know how old he was
But the Lord said unto me, say not I am a child
For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee
And whatsoever I command thee
Thou shalt speak
Look at verse 8, here's the key
Be not afraid of their faces
And people will make faces at you when you preach
But you can't let it bother you
He says, for I am with thee to deliver thee
Sayeth the Lord
Then the Lord put forth his hand
And touched my mouth
And the Lord said unto me, behold
I have put my words in thy mouth
See, I have set thee over the nations
This day set thee over the nations
And over the kingdoms
To root out and to pull down
And to destroy and to throw down
To build and to plant
That's Joel Osteen's life verse
In fact, Joel Osteen's coming out with a new book
Remember Your Best Life Now?
Remember that best seller?
New York Times best seller?
What was the other one that he came out with?
I've seen it in the airport like 5 million times
But I can't remember the name of it
Your Best Life Now
And then
I saw the Spanish version
Su mejor vida la
And then there was some other
Here's a book that he came out
It's kind of the same gist
Here's a new book for Joel Osteen
I think this should be his next book
Root Out, Pull Down, Destroy, Throw Down
You think that's a catchy title?
Like just picture him smiling
Throw Down, Pull Down, Root Out, Destroy
By Joel Osteen
No, because that's not the kind of preacher that he is
Because God didn't call him
Because when God calls you, that's what he tells you to do
That's what he does
Now there's building and planting that takes place
But it's hard to build something
Until you tear down what used to be there
Until you demolish the old building
You can't really build the new
Because you can't put new wine into old bottles
You can't put new cloth onto an old garment
Sometimes you've got to start over with people
You know, you've got to start over with things
I thank God I started a church
Because I didn't want to take over some messed up
Corrupted church and try to straighten it out
You know what I mean?
Start churches in America
Instead of trying to resuscitate that dead church
And keep on trying to breathe life into it
It's dead
Start a new one
But he says here
He says, I've set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms
To root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down
To build and to plant
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying
Jeremiah, what seest thou?
And he said, I see a rod of an almond tree
Then said the Lord unto me, Thou is well seen
For I will hasten my word to perform it
And he goes on and gives him this great prophecy
This great preaching that he does
But you see Jeremiah was spoken against
He's hated
People didn't like him
They said bad things about him
People will lie about you when you do what's right
Do right on the job, be honest
There will be times when people lie about you
It's true
They'll cast out your name as evil
They'll reproach you
There will be times when you've done everything right
But somebody will make you the fall guy
For what they've done wrong
There will be times when you do everything right
By your boss, but your boss just doesn't like you
Because you're a Christian
I've been there
You know, thank God
Some of my bosses have been Christians
They looked upon me
And had no problem with my religion
But other times I've had bosses
That purposely tried to hold me back
Because they knew I was a Christian
They did not like it
It was affecting my job
Because it wasn't affecting my performance
It's just that there are some people who hate Christianity
That hate Christians
They want to persecute Christians
They want to make their life miserable
They want to take away your rights
They can't stand it
It's like Haman in the book of Esther
Boy, I love the book of Esther
Great book in the Bible
It's like Haman
They can't stand it that somebody's not bowing down to them
You remember how everybody had to bow down and worship Haman every time he walked by?
It was Mordecai who refused to bow down to man
Because he said
I bow down to one person that's God Almighty
That's the only person I bow to that's God Almighty
He said I will not bow down to a man
I will not worship a man
And everybody else is bowing down
Even a lot of the Jews
They're supposedly of the same religion as he was
They're all bowing down
Because it's the law
Right?
You've got to obey the law, right?
So they're bowing down
And he's the only one who said no
No
He said I won't even move for him
He said I'm not even going to tip my hat to him
I'm not even going to say hi
He said he moved not for him
He said he wouldn't even move
He just stood there unmovable
Everybody else bowing down
Oh, Haman
And Haman was promoted
He was the second in command of the whole kingdom
He had wealth
He had ten children
He had the wherewithal to support them
And to live a lavish lifestyle
He was the most powerful man in the kingdom
Besides King Ahasuerus himself
But he said
All of this availeth mean nothing
So long as I see Mordecai the Jew
Standing
When everybody else is bowing down
So that tells me something
There are people in this world
Who have a desire to make the Christian bow
Even if it has nothing to do with money
Has nothing to do with their own power
Has nothing to do with anything that they gain from it
Except for the satisfaction
Of making the Christian bow down
Against his religion
Think about this now
That's what the Bible Pizza is, the book of Esther
I remember when I was at Round Table Pizza
I had coworkers literally offer me
$200
They pulled out one time in particular
$200 cash
And held it in front of me
Back then $200 is a lot of money
When you're a teenager
Working at Round Table
I had just turned 18
And I'm 18, I'm working at Round Table
And somebody is putting $200 in front of me
Saying
Come with us to the gentleman's club
Come with us to the strip club
I'll give you $200 cash right now
A couple people had pooled the money
Conspired
To give me $200
To try to get me to go
To that strip club
Because I was 18 so now I'm allowed to go there
Uncle Sam will let me go there
Because that's really our God today
Is the government
People don't believe in God anymore, they don't believe in God's rules
So now the government is their God
And the laws of the land are their religion
If it's legal it must be okay
No
Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's okay
And that becomes their moral compass
The law
And so they say, oh you're 18
You're 13, now you can go watch these wicked movies
That are PG-13
G-rated
Somebody said the Disney movies are G-rated
The G stands for gay
Are those Disney movies?
It's true
Did you know that
I think 40% of Disney staff
Is homosexual openly
40% were Disney
The highest in the entertainment industry
Walt Disney
Look it up on the internet, look at the statistics
And I believe in anything
Just based upon the stuff that they put out
So the PG is pretty gay
The 13
Is how old you have to be before you're exposed
And then
The R-rated
You can go if you're
Over 13
Because you've got to be with somebody who's
An adult
You've got to be with a parent or guardian
If you're under 17
You can go 17 by yourself
To the R-rated video
Just to give you a year
To learn all the filthy stuff you're going to do
When you turn 18
They give you one year just to see all the movies
Maybe one per week
And you can see about 52 wicked
Smutty movies
That are R-rated
You can see some R-rated movies before that
When you're 13
As long as you've got your parent you can go watch all the filth
And then the NC-17
You've got to be 17 for the porno
And so you can go watch that stuff
And then when you turn 18
Now you're allowed to go to the strip club
You still can't drink
Don't drink
No, no
But you can go to a strip club
Because you're 18 now
You can gamble, you can go to the strip club
You've got to wait three more years
Before you can start drinking
Because first you've got to mess up your life
For three years
Before you're miserable enough
Then you have to drink
And by the way, you know who drinks more than anybody?
Poor people and rich people
You ever run into rich people
What are they obsessed with?
It's one word
Wine
You got it
Wine
Come on, everybody I've known who's rich
Is really into wine
They love it
Wine, wine, wine, wine
And what about really poor people?
Beer, beer, beer, beer
Why? Because you know
Most rich people are miserable, that's why
Because they can get everything they want
It's just like all the Hollywood people
They're all committing suicide
They have everything and they realize it's not that great
It's not what it's cracked up to be
They get depressed, they just get drunk all the time
They call it, you know, wolf wine
It's not beer, it's not getting drunk
It's just wine
You know
Oh, well wine is so much more civilized
Even though it's twice as much alcohol
As a brewski
And then, you know, poor people
They're miserable, they don't like their life
Or they're lazy, whatever
So they drink themselves to oblivion
It's true
What does that have to do with the sermon?
Somebody help me out
Please
Where am I at in the sermon?
Somebody help me get my
Is anybody listening to this?
No
See, here's the thing
When I lose my place in my sermon, I just yell the word
No
What was I talking about?
Somebody help me out
Yeah, there we go
They want Christians to bow
Other people offer me money to drink
Same thing
Trying to get you to fall
It's just like Eve when she wants to give the fruit to Adam
And say, you know, eat it with me Adam
Sin with me because misery loves company
And they want you to fall
And today our government is the United States of Haman
Yes
You know, it's like they want you to participate in bad things
That you don't believe in
And they want you to pay for it
And they want you to put your kids in it
You know, I just wish I could just live my own Christian life
Without Haman forcing me
To violate my convictions as a Christian
And you're going to have
You young guys that are growing up
And young ladies
Listen to me now
Young teenage girls
That are in the public school system
That are in this room listening to me preach right now
How are you going to stand for God ten years from now?
If you can't stand for God right now
I mean
If you can't stand for God
If you can't stand for God at school
Because somebody laughed at you
Because you had the Bible with you
Or the New Testament with you
If you can't stand up for God like that now
How are you going to stand up for God
When some policeman is saying, you know
Put your kids in this wicked school or else
Or you know
You must bow down in this area
Or that area
Or it's illegal to go to church
Or you can't go to that kind of church
Because they don't have a permit
We're like an undocumented church
We're like an undocumented worker
We're like
A spiritual version of
An illegal immigrant or something
We're an undocumented church
That's what they'll classify one day
They'll pull our permit
They'll pull our license to be here
And then again we don't have one
But anyway
You say, I'll stand for God then
If somebody says to deny Jesus Christ
I'll take that stand
I'll go to jail
Like Peter said, I'll die with you
To Jesus
But wait a minute
Are you standing for him now?
You better start now
Kids
You better start taking the stands now children
And young men
And everybody in this room better say, you know
I'm going to stand up in the area where it's easy
And then one day when it becomes hard
I'll be like Daniel
I'll be like Shadrach
And when the king wants me to bow down
To the golden image that he set up in the plane of Dura
Everyone will be on their faces
But three men will be standing
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
Who basically what they were saying
With their actions was, I'd rather burn
Than bow
But how'd they get like that?
They started out in Daniel chapter 1
With a much easier trial
Where in Daniel chapter 1 it was just about
The food that they ate
They took a stand against alcohol in Daniel chapter 1
They took a stand against meat
That was sacrificed unto idols in chapter 1
That was a lot easier when they were in high school
And they said no to alcohol
When they were in high school and they said no
To fitting in and eating the king's meat
That was the proving ground
For one day when they would be
Faced with Nebuchadnezzar
Themselves and a burning
Fiery furnace saying, bow down
He said, I'm going to give you one more chance
You remember this?
When that music will begin to play
And when that music plays you will fall down
And worship the image I've set up
And they said, we don't need another chance
He offered them another chance
But he said, no
We're not careful
To answer thee concerning this matter
He said, we're not
Trying to walk on eggs here
Or be careful what we say
He said, we're not careful to answer thee
He said, we believe
Our God is able to deliver us
From the fiery furnace
This is my favorite part
They didn't know for sure
God is going to do a miracle
They said, God could do it
God is able to do it
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king
That we will not bow down
To thy image
We won't do it
Throw us in
And he got angry
His visage was changed
He was gracious at first
They said, heat it up
And they said, it's not supposed to go that hot
They said, this is the rating on it
He said, I want it
He said, I want it to go
Seven times hotter than that
And they're like, what?
So they were like, whatever
So they cranked that thing up
So hot that the people who were operating it
Died
Why do you think that's funny?
They made it really hot
So that even those who threw them
Into the furnace
Died
That's how hot it was
But they were thrown in
And they stood up
And the ropes burned off their hands
From the heat
But their bodies were untouched
And remember Nebuchadnezzar looked in the fire
And said, wait a minute
Didn't we cast three men into the fire?
And he said, yes
True, O king
He said, Lo, I see four men
And the form of the fourth
Is like the son of God
Now if you're reading one of these new
NIV bottles, it says
A son of the gods
You know, that's a little different
It says, a son of the gods
But in the Bible it says
The form of the fourth is like the son of God
Nebuchadnezzar is
Scared to death
He yells out to them himself
He jumps out of the throne
He goes down there himself
And he called them to them
And brought them out
And they didn't even smell like smoke
And not even one hair of their head was stitched
God protected them
But God didn't protect everybody in the Bible
He didn't protect
James, the brother of John
The son of Zebedee
When he was slain with the sword by Herod
He didn't protect John the Baptist from being beheaded
But let me tell you something
Those men are forever
They are forever enshrined in the word of God
And they are rejoicing right now with Jesus in heaven
They live in heaven today
God is not the God of the dead but of the living
John the Baptist is in heaven
And these men are in heaven
They are alive and well
And they are glad that they were faithful unto death
And received the crown of life
Ask yourself this question
Will I be able to stand
In the swelling of Jordan
When I can't even stand now
If you can't
If you can't run with the
I'm paraphrasing with a scripture in Isaiah
If you can't run with the folkmen
How are you ever going to run with the horses?
How are you going to stand one day
When the stakes are like a burning fiery furnace
If you can't stand
When it's some metro sexual
Geek at school
Snickering at you
You know what I mean?
And that's what these bunch of guys are anyway
This little bird feather
Their hairdos like a tweety bird feather
Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
You know the little tweety bird hairdo?
And the little tight little pants
You know some metro little queer
Is going to snicker at you because you read the Holy Bible
Read it! Be a man!
And if you're a girl
Then be there and read it
And stand for what's right
Maybe some godly young man will see that
And you can hang around with the right kind of crowd
Instead of hanging around with a bunch of weirdos anyway
Hey, this world is not my home
I'm just passing through
And we ought not fit in with it
We ought not be spoken well of
We ought to say, you know what?
I'm going to do what's right and as much as in me is
As much as possible
I'm going to seek to live at peace with all men
I'm not out looking for a fight
I want to get along, I want to be happy
I want to be friendly, I want to be nice to people
But
If I'm a Christian I'm going to be spoken against
Everywhere
School
Work
America, Germany
The guy that was here this morning
The reporter from Germany
He said, you know a lot of people aren't going to like you in Germany
When they read the start of the book
I started crying
I said, can't you
Can't you soften it up a little
You're writing the article
He's like, no
He's like, a lot of people aren't going to like you
And he said, I think almost everybody's not going to like you
But you know what?
I didn't need him to tell me that
Seriously
Because I read it in Acts 28, 22
And when he said everywhere I pretty much figured
That could be America, Germany, whatever
You know what I mean? It doesn't matter where
But you know what? There's one place where we're not spoken against
In heaven
Right? In heaven
In heaven we'll be popular
You know what I mean?
If we did the right thing, if we took the stand
But you're never going to be popular in this world
If you do what's right
And so don't think of any strange thing concerning the fiery trial
Which is to
I almost said to fry you
But the fiery trial
Which is to try you
No, it's not that hot of a trial
The fiery trial
Which is to try you
When your auntie starts getting on you
Telling you that you're too radical
Just realize that that's part of the game
That's part of being a Christian
Don't let it say
Oh man, am I too radical?
Am I going too far here?
Knocking doors
You know?
Don't let it get to you
When people criticize you
Because you know what? I don't care who you are
I know you're tough and I'm tough
But you know what? It does start to get to you after a while
When you're constantly criticized
I know from experience. I've been criticized a lot
And sometimes it starts to wear you down
You know, your flesh just doesn't like it
And it'll start to wear you down
It'll start to wear you down
You've got to just realize
There's no ultimate yes
But just do right
Do right
Your name is a good name written in heaven
That should be enough
And just live for God
Stand up for what's right
Carry the Bible with you to school
Carry it in the lunch pail at work
Get out your Bible at lunch or read it on the job
Adults
You know, you love to get on the teenagers
But how about the adults?
Pull the Bible out of the lunch box and read it
There will be people who won't like it
Other people may like it
But it doesn't really matter
Just do it
And you know what? It might even be the opportunity to give somebody the gospel
When they see you reading that Bible
A lot of opportunities
Sometimes I'll just open the Bible on the plane
And you get an opportunity to give the gospel right there
My license plate gave me an opportunity to give the gospel
When you're open about what you believe
When you just let your light shine
You can have the chance to give people the gospel
And I bet you teenagers
If you didn't bring the Bible to school
You'd have a chance to give the gospel
You know, if that's where you're at or at work or whatever
And so take those opportunities
To stand up for what's right
You're going to be spoken against
That's life
But stand strong
And do what's right
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
Father, please just help us to be like Jeremiah
Dear God, I pray that Jeremiah would be our hero
I pray that every man in this room
Every young man, every older man
Every single man in this room would say
You know what, I think Jeremiah is going to be my hero
I'm going to study the book of Jeremiah
I'm going to read those 52 chapters and see what made him so great
I wish that the Bible characters would be our heroes
That we would love
We would love to be like a Mordecai
We'd love to be like an Isaiah or a Jeremiah
Instead of picking a bunch of sports heroes
Dear God, help us to have heroes
That are heroes of the faith
Dear God
And help us to love them
And to use them, to take them
As you said in James 5
For an example of suffering, affliction of patience
Help us to take their example
And help us to be like them
And to understand that
We're going to be evil spoken against
Dear God, but help us to stay with it
And in Jesus' name we pray