Hey, how you doing?
How you doing?
Hey, how you doing?
How you doing?
Hey, how you doing?
Pray for the Lord of Ireland,
Pray for the Lord of all.
Pray for the Lord of Ireland,
Pray for the Lord of all.
Hail Him who saved you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Hail Him who saved you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Wherever we live, wherever we try,
All is your rest, your all.
To give all majesty,
As one can crown Him
Lord of all.
To give all majesty,
As one can crown Him
Lord of all.
To give all majesty,
As one can crown Him
Lord of all.
We'll join Thee in our last incentive,
And crown Him Lord of all.
We'll join Thee in our last incentive,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Let's go ahead and bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity we have to gather here on this Wednesday night.
We pray, Lord, that you please bless the singing and help us to be in tune to the music.
We thank you for your word, fill our pastor with your spirit as he preaches and help us
to receive what he would have for us tonight and have everything that's said and done tonight
bring honor and glory to your son Jesus Christ, for it's in his name we pray, Amen.
Back to 96.
Hymn number 96, God Leads Us Along, number 96.
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the flood,
Some through the great sorrow that gives us all,
In the night season and all the day long,
Sometimes we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet,
At least we're children of God.
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the flood,
Some through the great sorrow that gives us all,
In the night season and all the day long,
Sometimes we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet,
At least we're children of God.
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the flood,
Some through the great sorrow that gives us all,
In the night season and all the day long,
Sometimes we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet,
At least we're children of God.
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the flood,
Sometimes we'll have heard the sound of the quiet,
At least we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet,
At least we'll have heard the sounds of the definite,
But we'll always be the voice of depression and brain arrest,
And tears of sorrow that gives us all,
In the night season and all the day long,
The wink of the gyre of fate for the plain,
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one on the inside.
We have our service time Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at six, Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study and tonight we will
be in Ezekiel chapter 27.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms.
And then across the page is the congratulations for the Serret family on baby Penelope Joy
born Thursday, February 10th at 4 44 PM.
And so be sure to congratulate them.
We've got the soul winning day trip planned for the U.S. side of Nogales tomorrow, leaving
here at seven a.m. and getting back by 11 at night, including a stop off at the Tucson
Church Service.
And then below that, the weekly singing class has temporarily been postponed and will resume
on Sunday, March 6th.
And then on the back, we got the movie night down in Tucson on Friday, March 4th at seven
p.m. They're watching being Baptist and then a missions trip to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin
Islands on May 15th or 21st.
We could go to Raymond for more details.
Keep praying for those pregnant ladies, and that's about it for announcements.
So let's go and count up the soul winning for the past few days.
So we said we had four for the church van today.
I'm going to put that down.
But going back to Monday, all right.
Gotcha.
Okay.
Anything else from Monday?
And then how about Tuesday?
Okay.
And then anything from today outside of the four in the church van?
Is that a one?
All right.
Anything else from today?
All right.
Very good.
Keep up the great work on soul winning.
And with that, let's sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right.
We're going to sing our next song, books to him, number 260.
260, he is able to deliver the number 260.
Begins, tis the grandest theme through the ages rung, number 260 on his first verse all
together now.
He is the grandest thing for me to see,
He is the grandest thing for all of us.
He is the grandest thing that the world can see.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is able to deliver thee.
Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less,
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is the grandest thing that the earth can see,
He is the grandest thing for all of us.
He is the grandest thing that the world can see,
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is able to deliver thee.
Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less,
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is the grandest thing that the tide can see,
He is able to deliver thee.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less,
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is able to deliver thee.
Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less,
Our God is able to deliver thee.
Amen.
Up to him, number 406.
Who is on the Lord's side? Number 406.
Who will serve the King? Number 406. Let's sing it out
on this first verse all together now.
Who reigns on the Lord's side?
Who will serve that King?
Who will feed his helpers
other than to fear?
Who will lead the world's eye?
Who will face the throne?
Who is on the Lord's side?
Who forgive the poor?
I, my God, have mercy.
I, my grace, divine.
We are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine.
From the way of glory
die for foul and wrong.
Enter me the army
praise the Lord your Son.
But for love I claim
and rise for him be thine.
He who teaches me him
must be on his side.
I, my God, have mercy.
I, my grace, divine.
We are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine.
Jesus, thou hast bought us.
God with old fortune.
God with mine own blind blood.
Lord, I die again.
With thy blessing fill me.
Each who comes to me.
Thou hast made us guilty.
Thou hast made us free.
I, my grace,
divine.
I, my grace,
divine.
We are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine.
We are on the Lord's side.
I, my grace,
divine.
We are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine.
All right, this time we'll pass the offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 27.
Ezekiel chapter 27, as we always do,
read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Hester
as he reads Ezekiel 27, starting in verse number 1.
Ezekiel chapter
27, the Bible reads,
The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Now thou son of man,
take up a lamentation for Tyrus, and say unto
Tyrus, O thou that art situated at the entry of the sea,
which art a merchant of the people for many isles. Thus saith the Lord God,
O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of
perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas,
thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy shipboards
of fir trees of cenar. They have taken cedars from Lebanon to make
mass for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made
thine oars. The company of the Asherites have made thy
benches of ivory brought out of the isles of Kidom.
Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth
to be thy sail. Blue and purple from the isles of Elisha was that
which covered thee. The inhabitants of Zidane and
Arvid were thy mariners. Thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee
were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebel and
the wise men thereof were in thee thy cockers. All the ships of the
sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army.
Thy men of war, they hang the shield and helmet in thee. They set forth thy
comeliness. The men of Arvid with thine army were upon
thy walls round about, and the Gamadims were in thy towers.
They hang their shields upon thy walls round about. They have made thy beauty
perfect. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude
of all kinds of riches with silver, iron, tin, and lead.
They traded in thy fairs. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech,
they were thy merchants. They traded the persons of men and vessels of brass
in thy market. They of the house of Togarmah
traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.
The men of Dedan were thy merchants. Many isles were the merchandise
of thine hand. They brought thee for a present horns of ivory
and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude
of the wares of thy making. They occupied in thy fairs with emeralds,
purple, embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
Judah and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants. They traded in
thy market wheat of minnith and panag and honey and
oil and balm. Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares
of thy making for the multitude of all riches in the wine of Helben
and white wool. Dan also and Javan going to
and fro occupied in thy fairs bright iron, cassia, and calamus
were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes
for chariots. Arabia and all the princes of Keter,
they occupied with thee in lambs and rams and goats, and these
were they thy merchants. The merchants of Sheba and Ramah, they were
thy merchants. They occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and
with all precious stones and gold. Haran and
Canna and Eden and the merchants of Sheba, Asher, and
Kilmid were thy merchants. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things,
in blue clothes, embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound
with cords and made of cedar among thy merchandise.
The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market, and thou
was replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters. The east wind
hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. Thy riches and thy
fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, thy pilots, thy
caulkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and thy men of war
that are in thee, and all thy company which is in the midst of these shall fall
into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots,
and all that handle thee o'er, the mariners and all the pilots of the sea,
shall come down from their ships, and they shall stand upon the land,
and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly,
and shall cast up dust upon their heads. They shall wallow themselves
in the ashes, and they shall make themselves utterly bald
for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness
of heart and bitter wailing, and in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation
for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus,
like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? When thy wares went
forth out of the seas, thou fillet'st many people, thou didst
enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths
of the waters, thy merchandise, and all thy company
in the midst of these shall fall. All the inhabitants of the isle
shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid.
They shall be troubled in their countenance. The merchants among
the people shall hiss at thee. Thou shalt be a terror, and
never shalt be any more.
Dear Father, heaven, please fill the path through your spirit, and just all ears to hear.
Receive wisdom from the servant in this night. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Tonight we are finish, or not finishing, but continuing this trilogy
of chapters talking about the judgment upon
Tyre. And it started in chapter 26. Last week we went
over that basic part. And then it's going to culminate in chapter 28. And chapter
28 is one of the most interesting chapters in the book of Ezekiel.
And it has to do with Satan. And so we'll be talking about
that next week. So we're still sort of building up to that. But just to
remind you, Tyre is this city. It's often associated
with Zidon. You'll often hear it in one breath in the Bible.
Tyre and Zidon. And these are two cities on the coast
just north of Israel. So north of the tribe of Dan.
And these are cities of the Phoenicians. And so
they're a seafaring people. And God is
talking about how their destruction is going to come upon them. Because
they took the opportunity to kick
Judah while they were down. And kick Jerusalem while they were down.
God's going to bring judgment upon them as well. So it says in verse number
1 of chapter 27, The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
Now thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus.
And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry
of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many
miles. Thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou
hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
So we see that the downfall of Tyre is being
prideful and arrogant because of her wealth and
because of her beauty. And this is going to play into the same thing that we're going to see
in chapter 28 about Satan being lifted up because
of his beauty. Because in chapter 28, the Lord is going to compare
the king of Tyre unto the devil himself, Satan,
who was in the Garden of Eden, tempting Eve and all that.
Very interesting. But here we see that the downfall is
being lifted up and saying, I am of perfect beauty.
That's a lesson to anyone today who would become
prideful or full of themselves or vain
because they happen to be blessed with beauty
or handsomeness in men or beauty in women.
This is not something to become prideful or arrogant about. It's really meaningless.
Okay. The Bible says favor
is deceitful and beauty is vain. Vain means
it's empty. It doesn't matter. It's meaningless.
And so thinking that you're so great because you're beautiful
or maybe looking down on other people who are a little bit
homely in this world's eyes is a wicked attitude
that God is rebuking in this chapter. We don't want to get caught up in our appearances.
Far too many young ladies are
spending too many hours primping and preening
and worrying about their appearance when really what's inside is
what matters the most. Are you spending as much time on what's
inside as you're spending on the outside? Because
that's what's really important. If you spend that time reading your Bible
and praying and studying to show
yourself to be approved unto God, that's a lot more important than the way
you look. And I'm not saying not to take care of the way that you look, but
don't let that be the emphasis. Don't let that be who you are.
The Bible says in the New Testament that women should adorn themselves
in modest apparel, not embroidered
hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but
as professeth women professing godliness with good works.
And so the modest apparel there, often we would use that
scripture to say, hey, dress modestly so therefore
don't have the low-cut tops and the short skirts and things like that.
But that's not really the primary meaning of modest there. The primary
meaning of modest there has to do with not being too fancy.
Now obviously showing all this flesh is not what God wants you
to do either. That's also immodest because whether you're wearing flashy
expensive clothing or whether you're dressing promiscuously,
you are still drawing attention to yourself. You're saying, hey,
look at me with your appearance, which is immodest. Because
modesty is when you don't brag or you don't boast or you don't
show off. And wearing fancy clothes
and having a fancy hairdo and all these expensive things is
just a way to show off. Hey, everybody, look at me just drawing
attention to yourself, lifting up and exalting yourself.
We need to be humble and meek and unselfish people
that are not wrapped up in ourselves. And you know, if you think about it, spending a lot of time on your
appearance is really kind of a selfish activity where you're kind of just
in the mirror looking at yourself, focusing on yourself,
working on yourself, get more of a focus on other people
and quit worrying so much about your appearance
because it's vain. It doesn't really matter. And by the way, let's say
you are one who is young and beautiful. Guess what? You're not always
going to look that way. You know, the older that you get, your beauty will
fade. Now, you know, you may age really well. I hope you age really
well. But let's face it. Eventually, there's going to come a time
when you're just not as beautiful as you once were.
Now, think about how sad your life would be if it's wrapped up in something
that's always declining. I mean, think about that.
If your life is just wrapped up in your appearance, you know, that's
going to get sad for you when your appearance starts to fade. But if your life
is wrapped up in serving God, you know what? You can do that
all the way to the end. You can still love God and
commune with God and serve God. And you could actually keep
abounding in that and growing in that. Think about how sad it would be if your
life was just wrapped up in sports and it's a sport
where people peak when they're 25 or when they're 30 or something. Okay, what about when you're
in your 30s and 40s and 50s? What are you going to live for? You better find something else
that's worth living for than vain, empty things
about just, you know, appearance or sports. And again,
I'm not against looking good. I'm not against playing sports, but these things
ought not be the focus of our lives. They should be
side things and the Lord should be number one and other more
serious pursuits of life. Our job, our
family, things like that should take precedence to these kind of vain, empty
things that people get so caught up in. And really, if you read this whole chapter,
which we just did before the sermon, oh, I'm of perfect
beauty. And then we go through all this merchandise
and it talks about all the fancy things that they have from so many
places, right? And it explains where everything
comes from. Like, for example, in verse six, it says, of the oaks of
Bashan have they made thine oars. The company of the Asherites
have made thy benches of ivory brought out of the isles
of Kitim. Fine linen with broidered
work. Oh, and it's from Egypt was that which thou spreadest
forth to thy sail, blue and purple from the
isles of Elisha. So notice all these
place names where things are from. Basically, it's sort of like the
Italian suit and the Cuban cigar
and the champagne from France. You know, it's just
importing the German automobile and, you know,
bringing in the Swedish furniture from Ikea. No, I'm just
kidding. That's not it. That's not a thing. But anyway, you know, just having
all these fancy things from all these fancy places
and remember, what's Chapter 28 going to be all about? It's going to be all
about Satan. And let me tell you something.
The reason why the subject of Satan comes up in Chapter 28
is because what we see in Chapter 27 with all the emphasis
on physical beauty, fancy things, fancy
furniture, fancy clothes, import this from
there, import that from there, the best that the world has to
offer, lifestyles of the rich and famous, because guess what?
That is exactly what the devil wants you to spend your life on.
The devil wants you to become obsessed
with this kind of stuff. He wants your life to be all about
getting that certain vehicle, that certain clothing,
getting that certain jewelry, and just having nice things
and expensive things. And let me just remind you that the love of money
is the root of all evil.
So if the love of money is the root
of all evil, it shouldn't really surprise us that this chapter
here that's all about merchants and merchandise
and buying and selling things from all over the world and
the blues and the purples and the fancy things from
everywhere around the globe leads into a discussion about Satan.
Because of the pride and arrogance
behind that kind of conspicuous consumption of goods.
And I guarantee you that there are young people right now
who are growing up, they're teenagers and maybe
younger or maybe into their 20s, I guarantee you there are young people
growing up and they sit around and they just fantasize about all
the things they're going to buy someday. And they're fantasizing
about the mansions and the vehicles
and the clothing and the accessories and all these different
things. But let me tell you something, that mentality can lead you
down a dark path. Because the love of money is the root of all evil.
So don't get that mentality. Don't
become materialistic where it's just all about
desiring all of these goods. This is what Tyre was
all about. Tyre is not a place that's known for worshiping the Lord.
It's not a place that's known for spiritual greatness. No, it's a place that's
known for importing fancy stuff from all over the world
and man do they look good. What good does that do
them in the day that the Lord visits them. It doesn't do them any
good at all and they get punished. And so that's the idea here
with all this merchandise that's being listed. So at the end of verse 3,
O Tyre, as thou said of perfect beauty,
says thy borders are in the midst of the seas. Now what does that
mean? That's saying that the border of Tyre
isn't just up to the water but that they dominate the seas
themselves. So if you were drawing the borders of Tyre, you'd include
a big section of water that Tyre
dominates this region or this area.
Today we have international waters and sometimes you'll see
maps where a country, there will be a little line
showing like well this part of the water belongs to this country
and you can kind of see where it stops being the United States because it's not
like if I go to the beach in California and I swim out a few hundred feet it's like
I'm not in America anymore. I'm still in the United States, right?
But if I go far enough out then now I'm in international waters.
So the Bible's just saying that Tyre has a dominance in the sea
where their border is way out in the middle of the sea because
they control all that as part of their territory even though it's water.
Thy builders have perfected thy
beauty. They've made all thy shipboards of
fir trees and then this is where we get into this from this place
and that from that place and all the embroidered things
and not only do they have fancy items
and goods from all over the world but they've also imported people from all over the world.
So it says in verse number 9
the ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof
were in thee thy calkers. All the ships of the sea
with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
They of Persia and of Lud and of Futt were in thine army
thy men of war. They hanged the shield and helmet
in thee. They set forth thy comeliness the men of Arvad with thine army.
So now it's going through a list of people, these people
from this place, basically the experts, the people who are the best at everything
from every place have come and they've imported
all the best labor. So they've got all the experts and specialists
from different parts of the world. So this is a very cosmopolitan city.
It's a world renowned city that attracts some of the best
talent from all over the world. I mean they've got it together.
Right? But you know when you read this it really reminds us of the United States
of America. Right? I mean we import all the fancy stuff
from all over the world. We import all the food and drink.
We import all the furnishings and the clothing from all over the world. I guarantee you
there's not a country in this world that isn't exporting
stuff to a lot of places where a lot of it isn't ending up in the United States.
I guarantee you we're the recipient of the most
exports from other countries. We are just like
Tyre in so many ways. Now as we're reading this
chapter and when we get to the end of the chapter
your mind probably, if you've read the book of Revelation a lot,
your mind probably went to Revelation 18 because Revelation 18
is very similar to the end of this passage if you're familiar
with that great Babylon chapter in Revelation 18. Because look what
the Bible says if you want to jump down to verse number
29. It says, and all that handled
the ore, the mariners and all the pilots of the sea
shall come down from their ships. They shall stand upon the land
and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee and shall cry bitterly
and they shall cast up dust upon their heads.
They shall wallow themselves in the ashes. So
exactly like in Revelation 18 all of the seafaring men
are going to be standing on the shore weeping
and wailing at the destruction of Tyre. And they're going to be
putting dust on their heads and wallowing in the ashes. It says in verse 31
they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee and
gird them with sackcloth and they shall weep for thee with bitterness
of heart and bitter wailing and in their wailing they shall
take up a lamentation for thee. And this is where it starts to sound exactly like Revelation 18.
Saying, what city is
like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?
What does it say in Revelation 18? What city is like great Babylon?
Babylon the great is fallen.
And then it says, when thy wares went forth
out of the seas, thou fillet'st many people, thou didst
enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
Now keep your finger there and go to Revelation 18. And I want to just show you
how striking the similarity is. Obviously Revelation
18 is echoing what we find here in
Ezekiel 27. So it says in
Revelation chapter 18
verse number, let's start in verse number 8. It says
therefore shall her plagues be in one day, death and mourning and famine
and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and live
deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when
they see the smoke of her burning standing afar off for the fear
of her torment. So just like in chapter 27 of Ezekiel, they're standing
off to the side on the shore, they're lamenting, they're wailing
and saying, alas, alas, that great city Babylon
that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants
of the earth shall weep and mourn over her for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore.
So just as Tyre is the one
who is a merchant, lots of merchandise,
lots of things coming in, Babylon in chapter 18 of Revelation is the same way.
Keep your finger in Revelation 18, go back to Ezekiel 27.
It says when thy wares went
forth out of the seas, thou fillest many people,
thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and
of thy merchandise. Just like in Revelation 18, it mentioned the kings of the earth
lamenting because of the riches and so forth. And it says
in the time when thou shalt be broken by the sea in the depths of the waters,
thy merchandise, again mentioned, and all thy company
in the midst of thee shall fall and all the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished
at thee and their kings shall be sore afraid. They shall be troubled in
their countenance. Go back to Revelation 18. And in Revelation 18, it says
that when Babylon is destroyed, they will weep because no man buyeth
their merchandise anymore. And then it goes through this litany of merchandise,
the merchandise of gold, verse 12, and precious stones and of pearls
and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and all thine wood
and all manner vessels of ivory and all manner vessels
of most precious wood and of brass and iron marble. You know, this reads
just like the long list in Ezekiel 27. Now in Ezekiel
27, the list is longer of items, but it's the same type
of luxury goods that we see here because these items that
are listed here, they're not just merchandise, but they're expensive
merchandise, fancy things that rich people would have, just
like the stuff that was explained in chapter 27 of Ezekiel,
except just without all the place names of where it came from. It's abbreviated
here. Verse 13, and cinnamon and odors
and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil
and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses
and chariots and slaves and souls of men
and the fruits that thy soul lusted after are
departed from thee, right? And this is what I was talking about, covetousness,
lusting after things that you don't have
or can't afford, fantasizing about the fancy house
and the fancy cars and the fancy clothes, coveting those things.
The Bible says thou shalt not covet, lusting after these things
and thinking about these things. It says in verse 14, the fruits that thy
soul lust after are departed from thee. So if you live your
life the way Satan wants you to live your life, where your God
is mammon, your God is money, your God is
fancy things, fancy clothes, expensive stuff, wining and dining,
you know, if you live your life that way, you're not going to succeed.
Those things will be taken away from you. You're going to lose those things someday. Even if you
ever achieve them in the first place, they don't last.
They're temporary. They're here today, gone tomorrow.
And so here when God judges, he says the fruits
that thy soul lust after are departed from thee and all things which were dainty and goodly
are departed from thee and thou shalt find them no more at all,
and so on and so forth. Verse 17, for in one
hour so great riches is come
to naught. And every ship master and all the company and ships and sailors
and as many as trade by the sea stood afar off and cried
when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, and tell me if this sounds like Ezekiel
27, what city is like under this great city? So I mean
there are some exact parallels here. A lot of the same merchandise,
the same type of merchandise, the same standing afar
off and throwing dirt and ashes. What city
is like this city? Some of it's worded almost exactly the
same. What do we make of this? What we make of this is that
there's not just one place like this. It's not just Tyre.
It's not just Babylon. It's also New York.
It's also Los Angeles. It's also Paris
or Berlin. Any city can be
like Tyre or like Babylon in the sense
that they're just full of themselves, arrogant by reason of their
wealth and costliness and fancy architecture and where the people
live their lives not thinking about spiritual things but thinking
about money and clothes and jewelry and
their image and the car and all of these carnal
worldly type things. We as Christians need to be
content with such things as we have. You need to be happy living
a modest life. I'm not saying to live in poverty.
I'm not saying to live in unsanitary conditions or
cramped spaces or anything like that. But you know what? You should live a modest life
meaning that nothing you ever buy should be about impressing other people.
If you're buying a certain vehicle because you want other people to look at that and
think that you're cool or think how great you are
or just to show everybody, hey guys, look what I can afford. Look how successful
I am at my job. I can afford this ride.
Look at the clothes I can wear. What is the point
of wearing suits that cost thousands of dollars? What's the point
of wearing a dress that costs thousands of dollars? You can look good in just
a normal priced outfit.
And by the way, if you're ugly, it doesn't matter what you wear,
you're still going to be ugly. Let's just be real for a second.
If you're ugly, you're ugly.
And clothes aren't going to fix it.
And someone who's good looking, you can put them in a bad
outfit, they're still going to look good. You know what I mean?
If you put a beautiful woman or a handsome man in poor
clothing, they're still going to be good looking. And ugly people are still going to be ugly
and beautiful people are still going to be beautiful.
Let me just explain that real quick for those of you who don't understand that.
But you say, well what are you trying to say about
ugly people? Here's the thing, is that
number one, looks aren't what's important anyway.
So let's say you haven't really been blessed with good looks and you're not exactly
the one that people would say, wow he's such a handsome man
or oh what a beautiful lady. You know what, who cares?
Because that's not what life's about.
Your life is about your character and who you are on the inside and what you
do for God. It's about your soul and your spirit, not your physical body.
And you know what, those that are super beautiful naturally, guess what, it's only
temporary anyway. It's not going to last.
And so, by the way, don't be so foolish as to pick your spouse based on
looks. You know, don't be a guy that just will only
think about dating the most beautiful girls. Because you know what?
You are making a big mistake if that's what you emphasize.
You ought to be looking for quality on the inside. That's what the Bible
teaches. You know, the verse favors deceitful
and beauty is vain, but a woman in the spirit of the Lord, she shall be praised, is a mother giving advice
to her son about what kind of woman he needs to look for in a
wife. Okay? And you know, in fact, let's
compare a wife to a car for a second.
Right? You know, there are some cars that look
pretty cool going down the road, but they're not necessarily the most
practical vehicle. Have you ever ridden in the back seat of one of these
sports cars? You know, you're all jammed in, you're all
uncomfortable. They're not built for comfort. They're built for two people.
Well, let me tell you something. There are some wives out there that are built for
two people. You know, meaning that they're not necessarily
going to be a great mother. They're not necessarily going to do
well to raise your family. I mean, think about it. Your wife is raising your kids
while you're at work. Do you really want to have a wife
that is just going to fail in that area or you want to have
a wife that's going to have some character and she's actually going to be a good
influence on the children and teach the children and care for the children or
you want a wife that's just going to kind of just stick them in front of a video game
or stick them in front of a TV and just kind of abandon them somewhere
so that she can go get her, you know, manicure
and facial and pedicure and just spend hours and hours
at the salon while they're dropped off at day care.
You know, she drops the kids off at day care so she can
go have her salon day and pilates and whatever.
Well, here's the thing about that is that you want a more
practical wife than that. Just like you want a practical vehicle.
You know, these fancy sports cars,
what happens when something breaks? It's expensive
to fix it, right? You know, when something broke on my Hyundai
Sonata, it was like a
$7.00 part or something and it was easy to fix.
But when something breaks on your Lamborghini,
it might not be that simple when something breaks on your German import or whatever.
Now, my wife is a German import, okay, but that's another
story. But she's low maintenance, amen?
You know, you don't want
to emphasize the wrong things because
eventually you're going to have to drive that car to work. You're going to have to drive that car
across country. You're going to drive that car places and you're going to want it to be practical.
You're going to think about the gas mileage.
Oh, this car is so cool. It's not going to be cool when you go to gas the thing up.
It's not going to be cool when you need to fix something. It's not
going to be cool when you want to put people in the back seat. It's not going to be cool when you're
trying to put a car seat into the back of that Testarossa or
whatever. You know, it's just not going to work. And it's the same
thing with a wife. You know, you have to be practical about these things.
Now, I'm not saying to marry someone that you're not attracted to.
Obviously, you should be attracted to your wife, okay?
But, if that's the big concern that you're worried about,
you're immature and stupid. There, I said it. Okay?
You need to think about more what's on the inside.
Okay? And not just thinking about, oh, you know,
what's the most beautiful woman I could find? Or comparing the looks of women
to a bunch of fake pictures and videos that aren't even real.
Because they're airbrushed and photoshopped and tricks of lighting
and tricks of camera and things, where the women,
the whores and whoremongers of Hollywood, you know, they look really good on the
screen, but a lot of that's not even real anyway. And, by the way, those people,
if you got to know them in real life, would be a total pain in the neck. Because they're often
scummy people. Just because they play some character
on a movie or something that's so caring, that's not
real. That's not them. They're an actor. It's an actress.
Okay? Don't think that that's real. And so I could give the same advice to the
ladies on the flip side of this. It's not just men who are dumb in this area.
You know, girls could be the same way, where they're just looking for the most
handsome man and they're just, all they care about is how tall
he is or what kind of muscles he has or what kind of car he drives
or how cool he is. You know what? You know that really
cool dude? You better make sure that that guy actually
knows how to make money. Okay? And
that he's not just going to become this cool dude that lives off you
and sends you to work while he just kind of stays home and be
cool. If that's even a word. But anyway,
you want to make sure that you are actually marrying
a godly man who cares about you and is
going to take care of you. And, by the way, there are men out there. You're not going to
believe this, ladies. There are men out there
that they make money at their job, right, and the money comes into the family bank account
and you know what they do with that money is they go out and spend it on themselves.
You think this exists, ladies? I guarantee
you there are guys who are taking the family's money and you know what they're using most
of the family's money on is toys for themselves.
Right? Recreational type, you know,
vehicles and, you know, they're putting all the money, you know,
oh, he's so cool. He's so dreamy, you know, with his fancy
clothes and his fancy car. Okay, but how about when
you're married to him and you're on a super tight
budget for groceries and toiletries and household
furnishings because, you know, his 4x4 budget
is where the money's going. You know, I mean, he's got to keep his
sports car in tip-top condition and he's got all the
fancy clothing and the fancy vehicles, you know,
something's got to give at some point. There's only so much money to go around.
So if you're enamored by,
you know, this dude who's kind of a tire kind of dude or a Babylon
kind of dude where he's got the looks and he's perfect
with all the clothing and the brands and the fancy car,
okay, well, is he going to want to keep living that lifestyle because once you
get married or, you know what, he might just tell you, no, we're not having kids because
I just need to spend more money on myself because
if we have kids, how am I going to buy designer clothes? If we have kids, how am I
going to pay for my Porsche? How am I going to pay for
more accessories for my 4x4 if we have kids?
So guess what? You're going to take birth control pills and, you know,
mess up your hormones and grow a beard and, you know,
whatever.
You see where this eventually leads? You end up at home with a beard
and he's out driving a 4x4 without you
with some other chick. Yeah, that's what happens,
folks. True story.
You end up, or no, then
you get cancer from all the birth control pills that you've been
taking, right, and then also,
you know, your husband totally loses interest in you
because you're not as cool as he is anymore. You used to be cool,
but he made you uncool by spending all the money
on his partying and leaving you at home
and abandoning you and putting you on a super tight budget because
he's a selfish guy. Let me tell you something. Selfish guys
aren't going to spend all their money on you. They're going to spend it on themselves.
They're not going to spend time with you. They're going to spend it all
on what they want to do, right?
And you know what? Same thing is true too with the ladies. You know, some selfish,
self-absorbed, preening woman who preens in front of the mirror
for three hours, boy does she look good after working on herself
for three hours, but you know what? What about when you want her to do something
for you when you're married and it's like, she can't be cooking.
She's too busy doing stuff for herself. She can't rear the children.
She's too busy doing stuff for herself, right? She doesn't want
to spend time with you. She wants to spend time doing things for herself.
You see how when you marry a selfish person, it can really backfire?
And what if I told you that people that stare at themselves in the mirror for hours a day
are probably selfish people?
Think about it. And so don't
be sucked in by the, you know, the devil would love for you to
think that the successful people of this world are the people in the fanciest
clothes, the people on TV, the people reading the weather
on TV, and the people on the little morning
show where they just talk about nothing all day and just blah blah blah
around some little coffee table in the morning.
Morning shows have to be the stupidest form of entertainment on this planet.
Morning shows are all trash.
Just like talking about nothing, just blah blah blah.
But you know, you look at them and they're all dolled up,
all these airheads, these airheaded dudes and
airheaded women, and they're all fancied up sitting around the coffee table.
Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah. Oh, sports
and blah blah. Oh, fashion. Oh, did you hear about this? Celebrity and
blah blah blah. Bunch of brain dead idiots
but you look at them and think like, this is the successful people.
You know who I would look at? I would look at successful
Christians. You know, I would look at men and women
who are living a Christian life, they're raising their families
for God, they're going out soul winning, they're faithful to church.
I mean, you know, that's success.
And I don't care how much money they're making. I don't care if all their clothes are coming
from the thrift store. If so, then they and I have something in common.
You know, hey, if all the clothes are coming from the thrift store
and they're driving beat up vehicles, they're driving used worn out
vehicles, so what? It still gets you from point A to point B.
And you know what? I'd rather be serving God with my life. I'd rather wake up every morning
and actually have a meaning, actually have a purpose
and wake up and read my Bible instead of blabbering
about nonsense and just blah blah blah-ing
with a bunch of face painted Jezebel
weirdos and a bunch of effeminate dudes
sitting around a coffee table. You know, they have nothing to talk about that matters.
Every single day I have something to talk about that matters
because I read my Bible every day. So I can actually talk about stuff that matters.
You know, and I actually have meaning in my life
because I serve Christ. And so I've got the Lord
in my life. I've got Jesus Christ in me, the hope of glory. I've got the Holy Spirit.
My life matters. I don't care if I have to walk
everywhere. I don't care if I'm riding a bike. I don't care if I'm driving the most
beat up piece of trash that, you know, barely, I have to pray for
three hours to get it to pass smog or something.
You know, and I'm begging God, I'm pleading with God, praying through
to get the thing through smog. Hey, that's success
if I love the Lord. Some dolled up whatever
is meaningless to me. And you know, you young people are, you know,
you might still be deceived by this because the devil's a deceiver
and this is Satan's plan for your life. Satan's plan for your life is
make the most money that you can make, buy the most expensive
things and then flaunt it in front of everybody and be prideful
and arrogant and try to make other people feel bad who don't drive as nice a car as you,
who don't have as nice a clothes. You know, go out in public and snicker about
people who are ugly or they don't have nice clothes or they drive a stupid
vehicle. That's what the devil wants you to do. He wants that to become your religion.
Worshipping mammon. But you know, a godly person
doesn't look down on other people because they're not dressed in nice
clothes. A godly person doesn't look at someone and say, oh, they're
homely, they're ugly. I don't want to be around them. You know, you're ugly. I don't want to be your friend.
It's like, what? What kind of a stupid, shallow, idiotic
mentality is that? Looks don't matter.
Appearance don't matter. And by the way, the more you get to know
quality people, the better they look.
And the more you get to know rotten people, they just get uglier and uglier.
You know, because beauty is from the inside and
beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And so if you
marry someone because of their appearance
and they're not a quality person, you know,
you're going to have a rough life. You've got a long life ahead of you, buddy.
And let me tell you something. If you actually
pass over, you know, that young lady because
she's just not some super gorgeous whatever in
the world's opinion or whatever, you know, you might be missing out on a really quality
individual there. Or if you pass over that dude because he's not tall
enough or he doesn't have big enough muscles or whatever, you know, you
might be passing over a really quality godly Christian
because you're emphasizing all the wrong things, because you have this tire
mentality, this Babylon mentality that says it's all about
the gold and all about jewelry and the clothes and the fancy things.
You know, it isn't right to emphasize those things.
And that's why as a church, we don't emphasize those things because we're
trying to teach you that. So, you know, we don't want to get up and say,
hey everybody, it's not about appearance, it's not about looks,
it's not about money. And then meanwhile, we're in some palace of a church
building with super expensive stained glass windows
and super expensive things. I mean, look where we're meeting right now.
Look around a little bit. Look around. I mean, is this, this is an
adequate facility. Am I right? Is there anything wrong with it?
Everybody comfortable? I mean, the temperature's right.
The chairs are comfortable. We've got plenty of space.
We've got the restrooms, some other baby rooms,
a little bit of artwork here, just so that it's not
too clinical in here. I mean, you know,
is the ceiling high enough? Is anybody bumping your head or anything?
Anybody hitting your head on these fire sprinklers?
I mean, it's fine. How about the parking lot? I mean, I know it's got some potholes in it.
It's a little rough, but I mean, was everybody able to park okay?
Anybody have trouble finding parking out there? Everybody okay?
Okay. I mean, the carpet is doing what
carpet does. You know, I mean, it's getting that job
done. But you know, yes?
There's a Wendy's across the street. Yeah, okay.
I don't approve of Wendy's.
But the thing is, you know, we have
what we need here. This facility is adequate.
But you know, many people would literally scoff at this facility and
go, oh, you know, where are you going to get a real church?
This is a real church, because a church means assembly.
Church means congregation. Church is the people that are assembled here.
It's not the building. But I remember, even someone that I
respected, this is not a relative of mine. This is a
non-relative, spiritual advisor of mine in the past
that I respected. You know, oh, so you're still meeting in this strip mall?
Still meeting in office space? And I'm just like, yeah?
Oh, man. And you know what?
I'm not kidding when I say this. I want to
meet in an office space until Jesus comes. And you know what
they say about us? In the media, they'll say things like,
oh, yeah, this tiny church meets in an office space.
You know, they're trying to make it sound like we're like crammed into a little 10 by 10 office
or something. You know. They're not mentioning the fact
that we run over 300 on Sunday mornings.
Often we're around 350 and higher.
And so, you know, they're not mentioning the fact that we're in like an
11,000 square foot office space. You know. But here's the thing
about that, though, is let them think that. Let them
think, yeah, this tiny church in an office space. Oh, yeah.
Laugh it up, buddy.
Because you know what? This is a church of people who actually care about the things of God.
Actually reading their Bibles. Actually going out and evangelizing.
So you know what? Yeah, it meets in an office complex.
And you know what? I hope, I pray to God
that 20 years from now we're just meeting in a bigger
office space. And you know, I want to rent until Jesus comes.
That's what I want to do. And here's the thing. You know, you can just keep renting
bigger spaces. And people are like, well, eventually, I've had people tell me
like, well, eventually you're going to grow to the point where, you know, you're no longer
going to be able to do that. I'm like, what are you talking about? Because look at all the stores that go out a bit.
Barnes and Noble goes out of business. That's a big building.
Right? Staples.
Yeah, I mean, 48th Street and Broadway, there's a Staples
that went out of business. That's a huge building. What about Whole Foods
went out of business, or they didn't go out of business, but they moved. That Whole Foods
on Rural and, what is it, Baseline?
And I mean, boom, that's Faith Ford's, you know, location someday.
I mean, you could rent like a grocery store
or a department store or anything. I mean, you could just keep
renting a bigger building. They say, oh, you want to get something a little
nicer? No! Why?
This does the job. And you know what this says? You know what this says?
This building that we have here, it says, you know, business.
Not show.
Not facade.
Not impress you, but just, we mean business.
And you say, oh, it's a business. Well, last time I checked, Jesus said, I must be
about my father's business.
Business is only a bad word if you're a communist, okay?
Business is good. I must be about my father's business. And you know what?
When I look at a building like this, I say, this church means business.
You know what this place is? It's a factory, is what it is.
Right? It's a soul winning factory.
It's not some kind of a fancy museum of
stained glass, long hair Jesus artwork.
Who are we trying to impress? You know, there are churches in Arizona
that are good churches. Soul winning, independent fundamental Baptist
churches. There are churches that are considerably smaller than ours
when it comes to how many people show up, but have a much bigger
fancier building than us. I mean, there are churches that are like maybe
two thirds of our size that have the giant, huge
vaulted ceilings and the fancy platform and the
video screens and all the bells and
whistles and super fancy, super nice.
But you know what? What's the point? Does that really, if that's
what's important, then why are you here? You should be at that cool building church.
Because they've got a cool building. But I suspect
that the first time you walk in, that building's super cool, and the
second time it's super cool, and the fifth time it's super cool. But I suspect that after
you've been to that church 20 to 30 times, you're probably not really thinking about the building
as much, and you're probably just thinking about the preaching. And you're probably just
thinking about the soul winning program, and you're probably just thinking about the
fellowship. You know what I'm saying?
And you're thinking about who you're fellowshipping with,
and what your children are learning, and what the church is doing
for God. You're probably not just like, oh man,
this building, I just never get over it.
I just never get over how cool this building is. But you know, if you really want the
coolest building, you should probably just go be a Roman Catholic.
Or East Orthodox, or whatever, right? I mean,
I'm sure some mainline Protestants have some pretty cool buildings too.
But if you mean business,
well, here we are. And you know, I hope that
our building sends a message that
we want to do that, which is practical,
not to try to impress people.
I remember the first time I really got into a really good
red-hot, soul winning, independent Baptist church.
And this church was in Sacramento, California,
and it had no air conditioning. And it was summertime.
They had all the doors open, a couple big fans blowing,
and metal chairs with the words
stenciled on the back of the chair, nuestra casa.
And I don't know why they said that. They got it from some
Mexican business, or Mexican restaurant, or I don't know. They got it from
you know, it was like really cheap chairs, and they're stenciled
on the back. And this is not a Spanish speaking church. There's no Spanish at this church.
Because I walked in, all the chairs said nuestra casa,
and I'm like, is this like a Spanish ministry? There's no Spanish.
Bunch of metal folding chairs, fans blowing,
doors open. And I remember, I'd been going to the church for like three weeks.
I was brand new to the church, and the pastor was sick, and he couldn't
preach, and so one of the staff was up there preaching.
And this guy's just ripping face about soul winning.
And I'm 17 years old,
sitting on a metal folding chair, just sweating profusely.
And I just remember thinking,
this is so awesome. Like this is the best church
I've ever been in my life. I love it. I love this place.
This is awesome. And you know what? There were like
150 other people in there with me at that service that felt the same way.
You know, everybody was loving it. Everybody's shouting amen.
Everybody's listening to the red hot sermon on soul winning,
and nobody cared that there was no air conditioning. Nobody cared that we were in a metal folding chair.
Nobody cared it was some weird like, it was one of those like temporary
type buildings or something. I mean, who cares?
I didn't care. And you know what? If you would have gone back in time
about a month earlier, we were going to a church with a super fancy
building, and the preaching was super boring.
And it was this fancy building, and nobody's being
saved, and the preaching is lame.
Who cares? It's about the work.
Well now, you understand that that's our philosophy of Faithful Word Baptist Church.
We don't emphasize money. We don't do
building programs to have fancy things and whatever. You know, we
have what's adequate. Now take that same philosophy and bring that over to your personal life.
And look, there's nothing ugly about our church building.
It looks fine. You know, take
this over to your personal life, and you know, you don't necessarily have to just be
super duper impressive with your house, and super duper impressive with your car.
Why not just have a good solid vehicle that gets you from A to B
and a good house where your family
can worship the Lord, and just live a normal
humble middle class life, and not have to
show everybody, look how cool I am. And you know what?
When people have to do that, they're overcompensating anyway.
The churches that have to show you, ooh, look how fancy we are, it's because there's nothing
there. You can almost graph it. You can almost make a graph
showing the relationship between how fancy the building is
and how bad the preaching is. How lame it is. How
dead the preaching is and how fancy the facility is. You know, and
there'd be a correlation there. Okay.
So why in your personal life do you feel like you need all this merchandise?
The fancy clothes, fancy cars,
fancy house, fancy things. You know, it's
vain. It's meaningless. And again, I'm not saying not to look
good. I'm not saying not to dress nice. You know, just like we would want our building to look as nice
as we can. And we want the chairs to be comfortable, and we want
to have some nice artwork and some things to make it look a little nicer.
But at the end of the day, that's not what it's about. So we're not going to put that much
effort into it. We're going to put more effort into the Spirit
and the Word of God. Well, now take that same philosophy and bring that into your personal
life. And not just about spiritual things, but what about your
relationship with your spouse? What about your children,
your family? What are you emphasizing?
You know, when it comes to my kids, here's what I'm not emphasizing. Impressing other
people. So I'm not putting
expectations on my kids of, hey, you need to go into the ministry.
You need to be a pastor. You need to be a missionary. You need to marry
a pastor. And there are pastors out there where they're raising their daughters to only
marry a pastor, and they're raising their sons to be in the ministry and so forth.
But you know what? That's not what I'm doing because it's not about
me living through them. And then, you know, there are other parents, it's like
they want their kid to go to the Olympics. And who's
ever known people like this, where they're just hell-bent on their kid going to the Olympics?
And so they're just pushing their kid and hiring them all
the trainers. It's like they're not really doing that for their kid.
They're trying to live vicariously through their kid, and they're really trying to
impress other people. Hey, look at me. My kid is
in the Olympics or something like that. You know, I don't want my kids to go to the Olympics.
Do I want them to be physically fit and have a good time
exercising and playing sports? Sure.
Yeah, as a fun thing, but not as the focus
of their life. You know, I'd rather see my kids get up early in the morning and read
their Bible than to see them get up early in the morning so they can go
figure skating for eight hours a day or something with their Russian trainer
brought in to teach them how to do some
triple axle whatever. They can go to the Olympics
and compete against everybody else who's also taking drugs and whatever.
I mean, I wonder how many people at the Olympics have never
used any performance enhancing drugs in their entire life.
Nowadays. That's what I'd like to know.
They've never used any steroids
or EPO or whatever in their entire life.
But you know what?
There are people who want their kids to impress everybody.
Or how about their wife? You know, they want to have the trophy wife.
Hey, look at my wife. Look how my wife...
When you want other dudes to look at your wife, you have something wrong with your head.
There's something wrong with you. Normal men,
they don't want other dudes lusting after their wife because they wouldn't encourage their wife
to go out dressed promiscuously. Who's she trying to impress?
If she wants to look that way for you at home, that would actually make sense.
But sending her out of the house scantily clad,
you have something wrong in your head. A normal man
doesn't want that because he wants her only
for himself. That's his wife. That's her husband.
But again, what's this Tyre and Babylon mentality? It's about
pressing other people, showing off, showing off,
oh look, my kid's in the Olympics. Oh look, my kids
are all in the ministry. Oh look, you know, the fancy clothes,
the fancy cars and whatever. You know, we need to be careful
that we don't get sucked into this American materialistic
kind of Babylon, Tyre and Zion. Because look, Tyre
and Babylon, you could pretty much just sub in the word America
into these chapters. Substitute America for Babylon and substitute
America for Tyre. And it would fit like a glove.
But let us be different. Our citizenship
is primarily in heaven. And so
don't get caught up in the wrong things. Emphasize the right things in your life.
Father, we thank you so much for giving us meaning and purpose to our
lives beyond just fabric and textiles and
furniture. And Lord, I feel sorry for people
whose greatest joy in life is showing off their house to people
and showing off their cars and clothes and so forth.
Lord, thank you for giving us a more meaningful purpose in our
lives where we actually have a reason to get up in the morning
to worship you and to love you and serve you, Lord.
Help know young people, Lord, to get sucked into thinking
that success equals fame, success equals money,
success equals winning the Olympics, Lord. Help none of us to get
sucked into that mentality but to just live
humble lives serving you, loving our families,
loving you, loving the brotherhood at church,
and the brotherhood of Christians all over this world, Lord.
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen. Take your song books, please, and go to hymn number 327.
327, Higher Ground,
number 327 begins
I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day,
number 327.
I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining
every day, new heights I'm gaining every day,
more than my feet on higher ground,
more than the earth can let me stand,
I think of heaven's stable land,
higher plains than I have found,
more than my feet on higher ground,
my heart has no choice but to stay,
where God's blessing is his name,
I pray well for he's around,
I pray my faith is higher ground,
more than the earth can let me stand,
I think of heaven's stable land,
higher plains than I have found,
more than my feet on higher ground,
I want to live above the world,
your faith has come to join us now,
the song of saints on higher ground,
more than the earth can let me stand,
I think of heaven's stable land,
higher plains than I have found,
more than my feet on higher ground,
I want to sail the utmost high,
but still I pray that I have found,
more than the earth can let me stand,
I think of heaven's stable land,
higher plains than I have found,
more than my feet on higher ground.
More than my feet on higher ground.