Welcome to our services tonight here at Faith Ward Baptist Church. It's a joy to see you all here on this Sunday night service.
Can you all hear me? Can you hear me? A little bit? No? Okay.
Good evening, let's all take our seats please as we take our, there we go, song books and let's turn to hymn number 246.
We'll begin tonight with number 246, Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It.
Number 246, let's really proclaim it on that first verse, hymn number 246. Sing it out.
Redeemed how I love to proclaim it Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed through His infinite mercy His child and forever I am
Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am
Redeemed and so happy in Jesus No language my rapture can tell
I know that the light of His presence Will feed and continue it well
Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am
I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long
I sing for I cannot be silent His love is the theme of my song
Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am
I know I shall see in His beauty The King in His law I delight
Who lovingly guarded my footsteps And given me songs in the night
Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am
Amen, Brother Veron, if you would open this up in a word of prayer please
All in Heaven, thank you for this church and I pray that you please bless your children that are here and bless your children elsewhere
and please bless all aspects of this service today in Jesus' name I pray. Amen
Amen, up to hymn number 397
Little is much when God is in it, hymn number 397
Singing on that first verse, hymn number 397
In the harvest field thou ripen, 397
There's a work for all to do, 397
Mark the voice of God is calling, 397
To the harvest calling you, 397
Little is much when God is in it, 397
Later on for wealth or fame, 397
There's a crown that you can win in, 397
If you'll go in Jesus' name, 397
Does the place you're called to labor, 397
Sing so small and little known, 397
It is great if God is in it, 397
And if you'll not forget your soul, 397
Little is much when God is in it, 397
Labor not for wealth or fame, 397
There's a crown that you can win in, 397
If you'll go in Jesus' name, 397
Are you paid aside for service, 397
Body worn from toilet care, 397
You can still be in the battle, 397
In the sacred place of prayer, 397
Little is much when God is in it, 397
Labor not for wealth or fame, 397
There's a crown that you can win in, 397
If you'll go in Jesus' name, 397
When the conflict here is ended, 397
And the race on earth is run, 397
He will say to all the faithful, 397
Welcome home, my child well done, 397
Little is much when God is in it, 397
Labor not for wealth or fame, 397
There's a crown that you can win in, 397
If you'll go in Jesus' name, 397
Make good singing.
We'll go through our announcements together.
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 6, Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week will be in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, the last chapter, just finishing up that book.
We've got the soul winning times listed below as well as salvations and baptisms.
And then tonight after church we're going to have Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
So hang around for that, get some ice cream.
Now disclaimer, I don't support all of the left wing and libtard stances that Ben & Jerry's have taken over the past few years.
However, this week they were being blasted in the media for boycotting Israel.
And really all they did was they weren't going to sell their ice cream in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories.
And many even called this an act of terrorism.
Because Ben & Jerry's is denying ice cream to these Israelis living in the settlements.
And so, you know, terrorism never tasted as good as it's going to taste tonight. Amen?
And so we're having Ben & Jerry's ice cream, so it's just kind of a fun thing that we're doing.
The boycott Israel ice cream social. Only at, well not only at Faithful Word, because I'm pretty sure a couple of our friends are doing the same thing.
But anyway, so that's going to be just free ice cream after the service.
Who cares why, amen? And then you had me at ice cream.
And then we've got donuts before the service on Sunday, August 1st at 10am.
If you're celebrating a birthday or an anniversary that month, we're celebrating you, but of course the donuts are for everybody.
The first of our monthly day trips to Nogales is going to begin on Monday, August 2nd.
Talk to Brother Segura for more details on that.
But Mexico Mondays will just be taking day trips down there to do soul winning in Nogales.
And then there's a camping trip coming up on Riggs Lake, Mt. Graham.
And that's from September 23rd to 25th. Sign up, because space is limited.
And you're going to see Brother Raymond for details on that.
Just a reminder not to park in the covered spots, because our agreement with the other church here in the parking lot is that we take all the speckled, spotted, and ring-streaked.
And basically they get the covered spots, and then we get everything else in this whole place.
So please don't park in the covered spots, because they are technically reserved by other tenants.
And also that other church uses them on Sunday mornings, and I think they have evening services as well, I'm not sure.
And then on the back, there's a baby shower for Gabriela Jeffrey on Saturday, August 14th from 2 to 4.30.
Right here all ladies and teen girls are invited to attend.
Light refreshments will be served, and RSVP to Suzanne Forte.
And so that is for everybody. Don't be shy, even if you don't know Gabriela.
Just show up anyway. There's no requirement to bring a gift or anything.
Just show up. Everybody's invited. There's no pressure for anything.
And even if you don't RSVP, you can always show up to these things as well.
And then below that is a list of ladies that are expecting, so be praying for them to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Other upcoming events listed below. We've got a bunch of small town soul winning trips coming up.
And then the ladies retreat in Oracle later in August. That's about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning just from the past few days going back to Thursday. Anything from Thursday?
All right. Anything else from Thursday? Okay. Anything from Friday? Okay. Gotcha.
Okay. And then Saturday? Okay. How many is that? Okay. Gotcha.
Three on the pacing trip. All right. Very good. Anything else from Saturday? How about today? Sunday?
Sunday. Brother Scott? Okay. Brother Tilson? Gotcha. Got it. Got it.
Anything else from today? All right. Very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning. With that, come sing our next song. Come lead us.
All right. We're going to sing He is Mine. You should find the insert in the cover of your hymnals there.
If you don't have one, please raise your hand. Sing it on that first verse. Long before the fall of man, God designed a master plan.
He is mine. Sing it on this verse. Long before the fall of man, God designed a master plan.
He is mine. He is mine.
Jesus left his throne on high, came to earth to bleed and die.
He said, Father, not my will, but thine be done.
He is mine. He is mine.
I am blessed beyond all measure. He is mine.
I have bought it full and free. Through the blood He shed for me.
Saved forever I shall be. He is mine.
Through God's mercy and His grace, He's prepared for us someplace. Words cannot describe the matchless beauty there.
Jesus will praise the perfect Lamb. King of kings, the great I AM. He has made the joys of heaven ours to share.
He is mine. He is mine.
I am blessed beyond all measure. He is mine.
I have bought it full and free. Through the blood He shed for me.
Saved forever I shall be. He is mine.
Amen. In your hymnals, please turn to hymn number 298. More like the master, hymn number 298.
More like the master I would ever be.
Sing it on this verse together, number 298.
Sing the parts if you know them.
More like the master I would ever be. More like His weakness, more humility.
More sin to labor, more courage to be true. More consecration, more work he pays me through.
Take thou my wine, my good, me thine alone. Take thou my wine, and make it all thine own.
Burn me from sin, O Lord, like now and hour. Watch me, O King, be thine forevermore.
More like the master is my daily prayer. More strength to carry causes I must bear.
More earnest effort to wrestle souls from sin. More of it's keeping the wanderer to win.
Take thou my wine, my good, me thine alone. Take thou my wine, and make it all thine own.
Burn me from sin, O Lord, like now and hour. Watch me, O King, be thine forevermore.
More like the master I will live and love. More of his love to others I would show.
More self-denial, like his and Galilee. More like the master I long to remember me.
Take thou my wine, my good, me thine alone. Take thou my wine, and make it all thine own.
Burn me from sin, O Lord, like now and hour. Watch me, O King, be thine forevermore.
All right, this time we will pass the offering plates around, and as the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
One more announcement that I failed to make during the announcements is that Brother Gary Jenkins in our church is working on a little documentary film project, and he wants to interview church members.
Basically, he's making a video just about a lot of the good things about our church. It's going to be called The Real Faithful Word Baptist Church from the members' perspective.
So he's just making a film about the church, and he wants to interview people that would want to do an interview like that, just about why they're here or why they like the church, things like that.
So there's a sign-up sheet if anybody's interested in participating in that. We only want people to do it if they want to, so there's no pressure or anything, because obviously we have hundreds of people, so he's only going to be able to feature a certain amount of people in something like this.
So anyway, sign up for that over here on the sign-up sheet, or you can talk to Brother Jenkins about it next time you see him and get more details about his video project.
So that's it for that, 1 Timothy chapter 6. Let's go ahead and read it together. You can follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads.
In 1 Timothy chapter 6 the Bible reads,
Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. Let the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren, but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit.
These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,
he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,
and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebucable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only potent, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath the mortality,
dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God,
who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science, falsely so called,
which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
Dear Father in Heaven, please fill the path of your spirit and please give us all wisdom from this sermon. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Man, the title of my sermon tonight is, Gain is Not Godliness. Gain is not godliness.
The Bible says there in 1 Timothy 6-5, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
Now what do I mean by gain is not godliness? Or what does the Bible mean by saying that these people think that gain is godliness?
Well, a lot of people, they would look at financial prosperity or financial gain and they would look at that and say that it's the evidence of blessing from the Lord.
You know, if somebody's prospering financially, then they're being blessed by God.
So that if you saw, for example, television preachers and evangelists and the Joel Osteen types and the Rick Warrens with their multi-million dollar homes and fancy suits,
and they'd say, see, this is the blessing of God. They're being blessed by the Lord.
And obviously we would know that that's complete nonsense because the context of this passage is that the love of money is the root of all evil and that gain is not godliness.
We brought nothing into this world. It's certain that we can carry nothing out.
Everything that we can see is temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal.
So are these really the true riches? Are these the true blessings from God when we look at cars and houses and fancy clothes?
You know, we wouldn't look at that and say that that's the real blessings from God.
Now, obviously, many times God will bless his people with financial prosperity.
You know, we look in the book of Genesis and see that Isaiah, or excuse me, Isaac sowed and then he reaped a hundredfold.
There's a verse in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 22 that says,
The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Okay, but notice, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Whereas there are a lot of people that have riches, but they're not necessarily godly.
And the Bible says that God has set them in slippery places and eventually they are going to suffer greatly.
And so their prosperity is short-lived, whereas God's blessings endure.
So sure, God could bless his people to do well financially, but this is not a two-way street.
Yeah, God will bless his people and take care of them, but just because somebody is doing well financially,
that does not mean that they are being blessed by the Lord.
Now specifically what I want to tie this in with tonight is the subject that I've been preaching about the past few services,
which is the subject of unbelieving Israel.
And you know, we've got to tie it in with the ice cream somehow.
So here's what I want to point out.
And if you would flip over to Genesis chapter 12, is that supposedly, according to the Zionists,
according to those who teach that the children of Israel are still God's chosen people today,
even if they don't believe in Jesus Christ, that we're supposed to bless the nation state of Israel in the Middle East,
whether they believe in Christ or not, whether they're saved or not,
they're still God's chosen people according to this false doctrine that I debunked last Sunday night in my sermon on replacement theology.
But they will point to, especially Genesis chapter 12, and they will take this scripture and apply it to the nation of Israel.
And let me tell you something, if I had a nickel for every time this scripture were brought up about the nation of Israel,
I would be a wealthy man, okay?
Because this is the big one that they constantly bring up and say,
if you bless Israel, God will bless you, and if you curse Israel, God will curse you.
We've all heard it a million times, okay? It's a big talking point for them.
Let's examine the scripture quickly in Genesis chapter 12 verse 1, the Bible reads,
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee,
and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.
And thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that cursed thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Now they will take this promise that was made to Abraham and say that this applies to Christ rejecting Israel,
unbelieving Israel, unregenerate Israel.
Now go if you would to Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians chapter number 3, and then I'm going to ask you the great big million dollar question about this doctrine.
Look at Galatians chapter 3 verse 6, I'll start reading while you get there.
It says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
So according to the Bible, we're children of Abraham by faith.
Remember John the Baptist said, Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father,
for I say unto you that God has abled these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid under the root of the tree,
every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Look what the Bible says, they that are of faith the same are the children of Abraham.
Now look at verse 8, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Now what did we see in Genesis 12 verse 3?
In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
This is repeated in Genesis 15, Genesis 22, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Galatians says that what was on God's mind when he said that was that he would justify the heathen through faith.
Foreseeing, in verse 8, that God would justify the heathen through faith,
he preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
So who receives this blessing with Abraham?
It's everybody who's saved from all nations.
All nations are blessed if they have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
whereas Israel is not blessed because they don't have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It doesn't matter that they're called Israel, that they have this name Israel,
or that they claim to be Israel, or that they claim to be the people of God.
No, if they don't have faith, they're not the children of Abraham, that's what the Bible teaches.
Jesus told them you're of your father the devil when they didn't believe.
And he said well I know you're Abraham's seed, but he said if you were the children of Abraham,
you would do the works of Abraham.
You do the deeds of your father, your father is the devil, not Abraham.
But today's Jews, today's nation of Israel are somehow different apparently.
They're somehow special.
The Jews at the time of Christ, I guess they hadn't become the chosen people yet.
Listening to people like John the Baptist and Jesus didn't sound like they were.
It didn't sound like they respected that.
But yet today supposedly you can reject Christ, you can even hate the Lord Jesus Christ
and still be blessed and chosen.
It's a nonsensical doctrine.
I'm not going to re-preach my sermon from last Sunday night, but that's just a quick review as it were.
Look down at verse 16.
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He saith not to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ.
Jump down to verse 29.
And if you be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
That's a million dollar question for tonight.
Who's right here?
Is Pastor Anderson right getting up and saying that the blessing upon Abraham applies to Christians,
applies to believers, that God will bless those who bless us and curse those who curse us?
And in Christ all nations of the earth will be blessed and the followers of Christ,
in them all nations of the earth will be blessed.
Because if we're in Christ then we're Abraham's seed.
And so we're the chosen nation, we're the peculiar people.
Or are the Zionists right to say that no, if we bless the nation of Israel we will be blessed
and if we curse the nation of Israel we will be cursed?
Because folks, 99% of independent Baptists tonight would teach that if we curse the nation of Israel we would be cursed.
I mean they probably think we're cursed just for purchasing this Ben and Jerry's ice cream at such a time as this.
You know, in an act of sheer terrorism.
Okay.
And they think that they'll be blessed for supporting Israel.
Folks, I can't even count how many times I've heard this taught that America better be careful
because if we stop supporting Israel we're going to lose the blessings of God.
Put up your hand if you've heard that in church, if we stop supporting Israel we'll lose the blessings of God.
It's more than half of the building coming from all backgrounds and most of you don't even have an independent Baptist background
but you've heard it in just evangelical churches all over America.
It's a huge doctrine.
So here's the big question.
Why has God not blessed America when we have consistently supported Israel big time since the 1960's?
That's my question.
In the 1960's the US began to heavily support the state of Israel so shouldn't we have received the blessings by now?
I mean are they going to show up or what?
I mean they talk this big talk, man if we support Israel we'll be blessed.
And sometimes they'll even say the reason America has been blessed is because we have supported Israel.
I've heard it that way many times.
We've been blessed in America because we've supported Israel.
But let me remind you, gain isn't godliness.
Because if I were to ask you, well how has America been blessed since the 1960's where we weren't blessed before that?
In 1948 when Israel first became a nation, the United States was not a huge supporter of Israel.
We basically had a policy of sympathy and moral support but we weren't a big time supporter in the beginning.
We were just kind of okay with it and yeah we feel bad for you guys and we kind of support you.
Go team, alright.
But the heavy support for Israel didn't start until the 1960's.
Okay, so the question is has god blessed all the support, all the billions of dollars that we've given to Israel and all the support we've given militarily and otherwise.
Has god blessed it? Can someone point me to that blessing? I've heard about it my whole life how we've been blessed because we've supported Israel.
The only thing you could really point to is financial prosperity in the United States and say well look how good we're doing financially.
I mean look how good we have it. Look at the economy. Look at the standard of living.
But hold on a second, is gain godliness? Because I would think that the blessing of the Lord would involve something a little bit more spiritual than that too.
So let's think about this. Have we been blessed? Let me give you just some, here's just some basic info from Wikipedia on the relationship between the US and Israel.
Just to give you a real basic because I don't want to go too deep on this because we want to get to the meat of the sermon.
But Wikipedia says that since the 1960s the United States has been a very strong supporter of Israel.
Since 1985 the United States has provided nearly 3 billion dollars annually in annual grants to Israel which has been the largest recipient of annual American aid from 1976 to 2004.
And then it talks about how you know initially it was just a policy of sympathy and support.
Because the big supporter of Israel in the beginning was the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union was a huge supporter of Israel. They started out as a socialist state and they were supported by the Soviet Union.
But then the relationship soured in the 1950s and eventually the Soviet Union stopped supporting them and then the US kind of stepped in and became their biggest ally after that.
Okay well let's look at the evidence here. What has happened since the United States started supporting Israel in the 1960s?
Well in 1962 prayer was removed from public schools. What a blessing!
In 1969 no fault divorce was introduced in California and shortly thereafter spread to the whole rest of the nation to where now every state has no fault divorce.
And you know what no fault divorce is my friend? It's basically people can just get divorced for whatever reason they want.
They can just say we just aren't compatible or we just don't love each other anymore. We're just bored or whatever.
Now you might think well of course no fault divorce. I mean of course people can just get divorced if they want to.
I mean why should they have to be in a loveless relationship?
We just take this thing of no fault divorce for granted but do you understand that this was illegal before 1969?
Do you understand that when you got married in the United States before 1969 you could not divorce your spouse unless you could prove that they had done something terrible?
There was no no fault divorce. Like you had to point to something and say like you know she committed adultery or he committed adultery or you know he's a drunk or whatever.
You had to point out something. There had to be some person who was declared by a judge at fault. Some kind of a reason why.
You couldn't just be like I don't want to be married anymore so I'm just getting divorced just because.
And of course the divorce rates used to be way lower. After this no fault divorce was introduced divorce rates just skyrocketed.
How about 1973? That's when the blessings really began to kick in with Roe versus Wade making abortion legal in the entire United States.
And by the way there have now since 1973 been 62 million abortions in the United States. 62 million murdered.
How about 2003 when being a homo was made legal in all 50 states? Before that it was still illegal in some states to even be a homo.
Of course if you go back to around the time we started supporting Israel being a homo was illegal in every state.
But then we started supporting Israel, started getting the serious blessings from God and now being a homo has been made legal in all states.
Well according to the Pew Research Center the share of U.S. children living with an unmarried parent has more than doubled since 1968.
What a blessing. It jumped from 13% to 32% in 2017. This is the Pew Research Center.
That trend has been accompanied by a drop in the share of children living with two married parents down from 85% in 1968 down to 65%.
How about this article from the Pew Research Center November 6, 2019? Marriage and cohabitation in the U.S.
The share of adults who have lived with a romantic partner is now higher than the share who have ever been married.
More people are shacking up than getting married now in the United States. What a blessing.
Married adults are more satisfied with their relationships and more trusting of their partners.
You know that's not why we believe in marriage. We believe in marriage because thus saith the Lord.
Because God said flee fornication. He said marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
But as an icing on the cake, married adults are more satisfied with their relationships and more trusting of their not partners.
I don't like that word. Cross that out. More trusting of their spouse. How about that?
I don't have a partner. Sounds like some fag buddy or something. I have a wife. Right?
We deal in husbands and wives here, not my partner.
What in the world? I mean unless you're going to business with somebody, don't be talking about a partner.
If you talk about a partner, you better be forming an LLC, buddy.
Or a soul winning partner. There you go. That's okay too. Alright.
Yeah, the only partners we have are soul winning partners or business partners.
He's like, oh, me and my partner.
Alright, so listen to this. This is from the Pew Research Center as well.
Amid changes in marriage and cohabitation, wide acceptance of cohabitation even as many Americans see societal benefits in marriage.
Listen to this. The percentage today of adults saying that it's acceptable for an unmarried couple to live together.
So the question is, is it okay for a man and a woman who are not married to live together? Is it okay?
14% of people in America say it's never okay. That's us. But that's only 14% that believe that.
16% say, well, it's okay as long as they plan on getting married.
What kind of a compromised, stupid group of people is this 16%?
I mean I have more respect for the 69% that just say it's okay even if they don't plan on getting married.
Because you know what? If there's no standard in the word of God and you're just going to make your own standard,
what gives you the right to make this rule that says, well, you can sleep together and fornicate and live together as long as you plan on getting married?
Really, according to who? What God said that?
What God told you that? What scripture told you that? Are you God?
I mean at least the 69% are at least honest enough to admit that they don't care what God says, they don't care what the Bible says.
They're just going to shack up and just do what they want and they don't care what the Lord thinks about it.
You know what? The Bible has a standard that says marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled and that whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
If you're going to call yourself a Christian, then why don't you make God's standard your standard?
You can't just make some arbitrary say, well, I mean as long as they're planning on getting married.
Really, can you give me chapter and verse on that?
You have a chapter and verse on that where you can sleep together as long as you're going to get married down the road?
Is that what the Bible says?
And then it's like, oh, I changed my mind, we're not getting married.
So can somebody tell me what the difference that is between any other kind of fornication?
People in America today, they claim the name of Christ, they make their own standards for right and wrong instead of following the Bible's standards.
Now, some people would probably hear this sermon and say, well, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson.
You know, you're talking about all these bad things and abortion and divorce and sodomy and all these different trends and removing prayer from the schools.
Obviously, that's just the heathen being the heathen.
The heathen, you know, that's what they're going to do and whatever.
But hold on a second.
If we support Israel, if we bless Israel, if we give them billions of dollars and we're their greatest ally, we're supposed to be getting blessed by God.
And you say, well, you know, it's the Christians supporting Israel because it's really the churches that have spearheaded the support for Israel and the evangelical churches have pushed this more than anybody.
I mean, the politicians support Israel because they know they'll get that evangelical Christian vote if they support Israel.
I mean, when they send out voter guides, it's like, supports Israel, check.
Because they want to reach the Christian voters, the Baptist voters.
But stop and think about this, my friend.
If only 14% of America is saying it's never okay to be shacking up with your girlfriend that you're not married to.
If only 14% of America is saying it, you know what that means?
A whole lot of people who are claiming the name of Christ are okay with fornication now.
Because does only 14% of America claim the name of Christ?
No, more than half of America claims the name of Christ.
I'm not saying that they're saved, but they claim the name of Christ and we go door to door soul winning and knock doors and the vast majority of people, if you ask them, are you a Christian, are going to say yes.
Today, even Christians have just completely gone downhill spiritually.
That's not the blessing of the Lord.
You know, I don't have this in my timeline, but here's another little timeline for you.
How about 1973, the release of the New International Version of the New Testament.
1984, right? The most famous edition of the NIV full Bible, which became the best selling Bible in America.
And then in 2010, the NIV came out with their more gender neutral version.
The biggest difference between the 2010 NIV or 2011 maybe and the 2000 or in the 1984 edition is that they, they, they made it more gender neutral.
They got rid of a lot of the masculine pronouns, make it a little bit more neutral.
They, using they for singular like a bunch of sodomites or something where they use they for singular.
Okay.
What about that? Is that a blessing from God?
Have churches gotten better since the 60s?
Have they gotten more fundamental, more zealous of soul winning?
I mean, obviously some of us have, but I'm talking about the nation.
I'm talking about the majority.
I'm talking about the trend.
It's been downhill spiritually big time.
Okay, my dad grew up in the 1960s in Los Angeles, California in the 60s.
Right around the time when the US started to really support Israel big time.
And in, not in the Bible Belt, but in Los Angeles, California, a stone throw from Hollywood.
He actually grew up around like Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, that area.
And in his school, they, they, you know, they basically had a, a week where they canceled classes and they called it spiritual emphasis week.
They canceled the classes for a week and everybody went to vacation Bible school at their own church.
So if you're a Baptist, you went to your Baptist church and did vacation Bible school.
If you're a Methodist, you went to the Methodist.
The Catholics went down to St. Timothy's and the Presbyterians went to their church.
And they literally shut down the public school and had everybody go to church all day so that they could go there and emphasize the things of God for a week.
Can you even imagine that in 2021?
Can you even imagine, or how about the fact that even in public school in the 1960s in Los Angeles, California, my dad had to have short hair.
Your hair couldn't be touching your ears or your collar.
And the girls had to wear skirts that went down to their knees.
Knee length or longer skirts.
No pants on women.
Boys had to have short hair.
I mean, these were the rules. Can you imagine that in 2021, America?
And think about that.
I mean, that's what 50 years of supporting Israel will do for you.
And you say, well, these things have nothing to do with one another.
There's nothing to do with anything.
Okay, but where's the blessing?
I mean, is this blessing mean anything or not?
If he says, I will bless those that bless you.
What does that look like?
When our country has gone downhill spiritually, no matter what metric you look at.
You can look at, uh, how about this church membership?
Here's a Gallup poll on church membership.
Americans membership in houses of worship, this is a current article from this year.
Americans membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year,
dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's eight decade trend.
So for the first time in eight decades,
the amount of people who are members of a church,
not even if they attend, just who are members of a church,
just dropped below 50% for the first time in America.
In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belong to a church, synagogue or mosque.
I mean, this isn't even just Christian church.
This is just anyone who belongs to a church or synagogue or mosque.
It's now 47% of Americans.
Down from 50% in 2018, 70% in 1999.
I mean, think about it. From 1999 to now, we're from 70% to 47%.
Just in that short amount of time.
So it's like you can look at whatever metric you want.
You can look at the metric of the family.
You can look at marriage.
You can look at children being raised by their biological parents.
You can look at a metric of church attendance.
You can look at church membership.
You can look at the laws and you can look at abortion.
You can look at sodomy.
You can look at crime statistics.
When was the worst crime in the United States?
The 1970s.
I mean, it's not in my notes, but my understanding is that the 1970s was probably the peak of crime in America.
You can go through and look at any metric you want,
and you're hard-pressed to find anything that you could construe as,
oh, this is the blessing that we got because we've supported Israel.
The only thing that you could possibly point to is one thing.
And what's that one thing that you could possibly point to and say,
hey, we're blessed by God.
Money. That's it.
That's the only thing you could just point to gain.
Look at the stock market.
Look at money.
Look at financial prosperity.
Is that the blessing from God?
Fertility rates, down.
Marriage rates, down.
Church attendance, down.
Church membership, down.
Sodomy, up.
Abortion, up.
Crime, up.
Wickedness, up.
Pornography, up.
Everything, up.
Drug use, up.
All of it.
Negative.
Spiritually.
100%.
But then it's like, oh, but look at the financial prosperity.
Folks, if this promise in Genesis chapter 12 is for a nation that supports Israel,
where the blessing is and can we get a refund on all that money that we've been
sending to Israel since we didn't get the blessings?
I mean, think about that.
And then stop and ask yourself this.
What about the old IFB?
The old IFB is real big on supporting Israel.
I don't see their churches really just thriving and doing great right now.
Many of their churches are on the decline.
And if they have been blessed, it's in spite of supporting Israel.
But then you have the new IFB come along.
Our churches are growing and thriving and winning tons of people to the Lord and lives
are being changed, churches are growing.
Starting churches from scratch and having them thrive and get big.
You know, all while not supporting Israel at all.
Even pulling shenanigans like this.
And yet here we are, you know, being blessed by God.
You know, I haven't supported Israel in the last 15 years of pastoring and I feel
very blessed by God.
You say, well, let me take a look at your portfolio.
Folks, gain isn't godliness.
You know, spiritual blessings are what matter.
Okay, and so this attitude that says, well, I'm not going to be blessed by God.
These other nations, you know, they're not supporting Israel.
And look how they don't have as much money.
This is a carnal way of looking at the world.
This is an unbiblical view that gain is godliness.
And the Bible condemns this viewpoint.
That we should not judge whether a nation is being blessed by God.
That we should not judge whether a nation is being blessed by how financially prosperous they are.
Now flip over if you win your Bible to the book of Job chapter 21.
Job chapter number 21.
And, you know, obviously we could go to many places in the book of Job and find this same teaching,
but I think Job chapter 21 is probably the clearest and best teaching on this subject
that kind of sums up one of the major arguments in the book of Job.
Job 21 is probably the best place to look at this.
It says in verse 7,
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea are mighty in power?
And here's the question I would ask.
Is it because they're blessed by God?
Is that why?
Why do the wicked live, become old, yea are mighty in power?
Is it because they're blessed by God?
Is that why?
Okay, so then let me ask you this.
Why does America, why does America live and become old and be mighty in power?
Is it because America is blessed by God?
Because to me, you know, if I wanted to judge is this the blessing of God
on my life or on someone else's life or on a nation,
you know, the first question I would ask is, well, is this a godly person?
Is this a godly nation?
Are we doing godly things?
And then I would look for actual spiritual blessings,
not just a financial blessing, but I would look for people loving the Lord,
serving God.
You know, I wouldn't look for what we see in America today,
which is, I don't think anyone would make the argument that America is doing well spiritually
or improving spiritually since the 60s.
I mean, think about it.
And in fact, I think if I were to ask the average person,
when do you think America really went down the toilet morally?
What do you think people would point to?
They'd point to the 60s.
They'd say like, when do you think was the biggest shift?
You know, okay, it's heading down.
When do you think things just really took a turn?
They'd probably say the late 60s.
They'd say, you know, it was around the late 60s, early 70s that it just went to hell in a handbasket.
Most people would just point to a decade and say it's the 60s,
which coincidentally is when the United States started supporting Israel.
But I'm supposed to believe that America, at the same time they became super ungodly,
started supporting Israel big time, at the exact same time,
all the phony Bibles are coming out and then they start supporting Israel
and it's just like, blessings.
Abortion, homos, you know, breakdown of the family.
It doesn't make any sense.
Wherefore did the wicked live, become old, ye are mighty in power.
Their seed is established in their sight with them and their offspring before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Their bowl jendereth and faileth not, their cow caveth and casteth not her calf.
They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance.
They take the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave.
Therefore they say unto God, depart from us.
Do you want prayer in the public schools?
Depart from us.
We're not going to be a member of church.
Depart from us.
We don't need to take a week and emphasize the things of God with our young people.
Depart from us.
We desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the almighty that we should serve him?
I mean we might as well just serve the big spaghetti monster.
Isn't that what they say?
I mean what's the difference between serving God and serving the great spaghetti monster?
What's the difference between God and, you know, Zeus and Apollo and all these ancient Greek gods?
What's the difference?
Well, you know, here's the difference.
God created the heaven and the earth.
The ancient Greek gods, none of them even claimed to create the heaven and the earth.
I mean if you actually knew anything about paganism and if you knew anything about Greek and Roman gods and goddesses,
you know what, you'd know that they don't even deserve to be called gods.
They are nothing like the god of the Bible.
Let me tell you about Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.
They didn't create the world.
They've not been around forever.
They're not eternal.
They didn't create the world.
They're not all-powerful.
They're all-knowing.
I mean think about it.
If I were to ask you what does it mean to be God, what would you say?
What is God?
What would you say?
You'd say like creator, transcendent, outside of, you know, things.
You'd say all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent.
And then you'd also say benevolent, good, righteous, loving, all-knowing.
Here's the thing about, the Greek gods are stupid, immature, vindictive, ornery, spoiled.
They're not loving.
They don't give a rip about human beings.
They just hurt human beings for fun.
Seriously, I mean if anybody's read any mythology, they know that I'm telling the truth right
now, that the Greek gods and the Roman gods, they hurt people for fun.
They don't know everything.
They're not omnipresent.
They're not all-powerful.
They bicker and fight with each other like they're in junior high or high school.
They're less mature than like a 20-year-old.
Okay.
Supposedly they've been around for hundreds of years and thousands of years and yet they
have the mentality of like a punk teenager or something.
Okay.
They're evil.
They're hateful.
They're vindictive.
They're just basically like the worst kind of people that you would ever know in your
life.
That's what they're like.
And I've read Greek and Roman literature.
I know what I'm talking about.
And anybody who's read it knows that what I'm saying is the truth.
So to say, what's the difference between that and the Christian God?
Here's the difference.
The Greek gods and the Roman gods are demons.
They are demons.
You know, the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, he said the things which the Gentiles offer
unto idols, they offer unto devils.
He said when they're worshipping Zeus and all these, they are worshipping Satan.
They're worshipping the devil.
And it makes sense that they're worshipping demons.
When you look at the demonic behavior of these gods and goddesses who literally, they're
going, I mean not to be graphic, but I mean they're going around just raping, murdering,
just totally just not caring about anyone that they hurt.
I mean, what's the difference?
I mean, who's the Almighty?
Who's God?
Let me tell you something.
God is unique.
The God of the Bible is unique.
The Bible is unique.
There is no other God like unto him.
There is no other book like unto the Bible.
Every other religious text is a joke next to the Bible, especially the most boring,
lamest religious text in the history of mankind, the Quran.
Anybody who's tried to read it knows what pain and boredom they know the meaning of
those words.
I mean, it's like, you know, it's the worst.
But I mean, what's the almighty that we should serve him?
Who's God?
What's the difference?
This is what atheists say.
They say, well, you're an atheist concerning all these other gods.
They just believe in one less god than you.
You don't believe in these.
Folks, there is only one God.
There's only one.
There'd be many that are called gods and called lords, but guess what they are?
They're demons.
And in fact, if you study your Bible, you'll find that when you have God, lowercase G in
the Bible, I'll tell you what I believe from my study of the Bible, and I've extensively
studied this, when you have lowercase gods in the Bible, it's always referring to demons
is what it's referring to.
Because it's always a false god.
There's only one god.
If there's gods plural, we're talking about false gods, and according to Scripture, false
gods are demons.
Molech and Ashtaroth and you name, you know, all these different gods and Baal, they're
devils is what they are, okay?
There's one true god, but these people say, well, what is the almighty that we should
serve him, and what profit should we have if we pray unto him?
Lo, their good is not in their hand.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out, and how oft cometh their destruction upon
them?
God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
Now let me tell you something.
This is where America's at.
You know, America is prospering financially.
America seems on the outside to be doing well and thriving, but what is America saying
today?
They're telling God to depart from us.
I mean, when church membership drops by 20 percent in 20 years, what are they saying?
Depart from us.
Who's the almighty?
What's the almighty?
What is this AD?
2021 AD.
Now it's 2021 CE.
They don't say BC anymore.
Now it's BCE.
CE.
The current era.
Instead of Anno Domini in the year of our Lord, 2021.
2021 what?
What does 2021 even mean?
2021 years is the birth of Christ.
The most significant event in the history of mankind is the Lord Jesus Christ coming
to this earth, and so it's 2021 years since that glorious time when the Lord Jesus Christ,
when God was manifest in the flesh and dwelt among us.
Every single atheist every day acknowledges Christ without knowing it.
Every time they write a check, they're saying, yep, 2021 years since Jesus.
Every single time, right?
No, it's the current era.
So what kicked off this current era?
You know, when they say, or the common era, or they'll say BCE before the common era.
What does that even mean, the common era?
What does that mean, common?
Well, you know, the one we talked the most about, you know, the common era.
You know, I've heard people say it as the current era or before the current era,
but I think the official term is common era and before the common era.
So what kicks off this common era?
What is it that kicks off this current era?
What are we talking about?
You're talking about the birth of Christ, so why are you in denial about it?
Why are you pretending that the birth of Christ didn't happen?
Like there's just this magical time that we just picked to start our calendar?
No, it starts with Jesus.
But in America, we don't want to even retain God in our country's knowledge as a nation.
And so our country now is getting away from even, it's like they don't even want to say 2021 AD
because what are they doing?
They don't even want to retain God in their knowledge.
That's what our nation is now.
Wouldn't you say that we as a nation, I'm not talking about us personally,
but wouldn't you say that we as a nation have said, depart from us to God?
In 1962, kicking out prayer, and by just forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, forsaking church,
they were saying, depart from us God.
And then America has downgraded God and said, oh God is just one of many.
There's all kinds of gods and religions.
You know Jesus, Christianity, God, that's just one religion.
There's all these other religions.
We're not a Christian nation because, you know, there's all these other religions.
You know, when in reality, the Lord Jesus Christ stands alone.
There's no one else like him.
No one can be compared unto him.
He's in a different class of his own.
But they want to sit there and say that, oh, he's just one of many.
And by the way, let me just go off on a tangent too and just kind of just take a rabbit trail.
You know, that's why they want to do this thing of instead of calling him the Lord like the Bible calls him,
you know what they want to call him now? Yahweh.
You know why they want to call God Yahweh now and they're changing it from the Lord to Yahweh
is because of the fact that they want to use some word that nobody's ever heard of,
some new word that nobody's familiar with, that nobody has traditionally called God for thousands of years,
some weird made up academic word based on somebody guessing what they think God's name might have been pronounced like 3,000 years ago.
Because you know what? It makes God sound like he's some weird tribal God.
The Hebrews worship their tribal God Yahweh.
You know, their God Yahweh like the storm God Baal.
You know, like they're just trying to act like it's some tribal obscure guy.
You know why they like the word Yahweh? Because it just sounds weird.
I mean, it's just like, like if you just said that to your, Yahweh, it's just like, what?
You know what it sounds like? It sounds like you're just naming some false God that nobody's ever,
oh, these people worship a God called, you know, whatever.
And it'd be like, you know, some obscure God that nobody's ever heard of.
I mean, it's like the Hindu gods, right?
What are some of the names of the Hindu gods like Shiva and what is it?
Krishna and Vishnu and Ram.
It's like literally the word Yahweh has about as much meaning to a 2021 American or European as if you just said Ram or Vishnu or Shiva.
It's just this weird word that nobody's ever heard of. Yahweh.
So that's his real name. Really, can you prove that?
And by the way, isn't it interesting that the New Testament never contains that word one time?
Now last time I checked, we're living in the New Testament.
So if we're living in the New Testament, isn't the New Testament where we should get the name of God?
Am I right?
Okay, so here's the thing. Yahweh is a guess on what they think the tetragrammaton might have been pronounced like 3,000 years ago.
It's never been used, totally unknown, never used in the New Testament because Hebrew doesn't have vowels.
So it's four consonants.
Okay, so basically this is where we get our word Jehovah comes from Yehova. Yehova.
But then scholars come around and say, it's not really Yehova, it's actually Yahweh.
A scholar is going to tell us that 3,000 years later. Do you have a tape recording of them saying that?
There's no evidence for that. No one knows how it was pronounced. No one knows.
Okay, Yehova is how the vowels are actually written in the Hebrew Bible.
Later they got vowels. After the time of Christ, vowels were later written in by scribes and they put in vowel points.
And if you pronounce it the way it's written on the page right now, it's Yehova.
So that's where we get in English I-E-H-O-V-A-H in our 1611 King James Bible.
That capital I evolved into a J and now it's Jehovah.
Just like I-E-S-U-S is Jesus. Okay, and now we have the letter J which is just a stylized I.
So the point is that historically, traditionally, the tetragrammaton has been pronounced Yehova or Jehovah or Hehova.
But still, that is not the name that we use to refer to God in the New Testament anyway.
We call him the Lord. Why? Why do we do this thing?
Because Jesus called him the Lord and the apostles called him the Lord 100% of the time!
And never, never used the tetragrammaton one time in the entire New Testament, not even once.
So if Jesus and the apostles never used the tetragrammaton one single time in the New Testament
and every time they quoted the Old Testament, they translated the tetragrammaton as the Lord every time 100% of the time.
Why don't we do the same thing? Well guess what? That's what the King James Bible does.
Every time it comes to the tetragrammaton and it translates it into English, translates it exactly like Jesus did and the apostles did.
The Lord. The Lord.
So in our King James Bible, over 7,000 times in the Old Testament, we have this term, the Lord.
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. Over 7,000 times in the Old Testament.
Why? Because of the fact that they're following the example of Jesus and the apostles.
But then today we have these scholar geeks come along and say,
actually Jesus and the apostles didn't know this but we know it's actually Yahweh.
I mean why didn't Jesus say Yahweh then?
Huh? Did somebody explain that? Why didn't Jesus say Yahweh?
Why didn't Peter say Yahweh? Why didn't John say Yahweh?
And folks, here's the thing, even if Yahweh were a real word, which there's no evidence that that's a real word,
because we have no clue how a language was pronounced 3,000 years ago that contains no vowels.
I mean, how are you going to look at four consonants and say Yahweh?
Yod-hay-vav-hay. Yahweh.
And look, I've read a lot of Hebrew and in my opinion that is absurd
to even get Yahweh out of those four letters anyway to get two syllables out of that in light of all the others.
But none of that even matters because even if Yahweh supposedly were legitimate,
why are we doing things different than the Apostles and Jesus did?
Why? And why does John MacArthur's new Bible version, the Legacy Bible,
what exactly is it called? Is it the Legacy Standard Version? Is that what it's called?
The Legacy Standard Version.
It plugs in this foreign, unknown word that no one has been worshipping God by for hundreds of years.
It's never been pronounced in the history of mankind until recently, is my opinion.
Now, if you were to look up in this Legacy Standard Version from John MacArthur,
you flip through the Book of Psalms, it's just Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh. Yahweh is my shepherd. Yahweh, Yahweh.
Yahweh, Yahweh. You know what they're trying to do with that agenda, my friend,
is they're trying to make God sound like he's just some tribal god that nobody's ever heard of.
You know, I mean, what's the difference between, you know, Yahweh and Jupiter, you know?
I mean, it's just, because it's like people, they just sound like names of obscure gods that we don't know much about.
But how about, you know what I like about, you know what I like about the Lord? I like the the in it.
You know what I mean? I like, my favorite part is the the. The Lord. I like that. Sounds good.
Because he's not just a Lord. You know, this little backwater group of people, the ancient Israelites,
you know, they had their mountain god, Yahweh.
And you know what, that's what people were saying back then in the Bible.
They're like, well their god's a god of the mountains, you know, and our god's a god of the valleys.
So then God had to like defeat them in battle in the valleys to show that he's not just some mountain god.
He's the valley god too. He's the god of the dry land and the sea.
Right? He's not like, well he's just a cloud god. He's a sky, a sky, this ancient sky deity, Yahweh.
But you know what? The people who came up with Yahweh, guess what? They're unbelievers.
They're a bunch of academics who are studying the Bible as a mental exercise, not because they actually believe in Christ.
And then it filters down to people who are actually religious people claiming to be Christian and Baptist and preaching and caring about truth.
And they're like, well shucks, it turns out his name's Yahweh. We've all been worshipping the wrong name all this time.
You know, as the Holy Spirit, isn't it funny how the Holy Spirit never led anybody in the 1700s to preach about Yahweh?
Isn't it interesting how the Holy Spirit wasn't leading people in the 1800s to talk about Yahweh?
Isn't it interesting how in the 1900s the Holy Spirit was coming upon preacher after preacher after preacher to say,
Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. Isn't it interesting how God allowed every single Bible translation on this planet to leave out Yahweh?
Until now that the German scholars have given us Yahweh.
But this is all part of the blessing of God on America for supporting Israel.
May I present to you replacing the Lord with Yahweh.
Just to further confuse God's people and to just further alienate God's people from the word of God and alienate us from trying to evangelize.
I mean, you think I'm going to knock on somebody's door and say, hey, let me tell you the good news about Yahweh?
Think about it. To me, if I said that, it sounds like I'm promoting some god from Africa or something.
I mean, if somebody said, if I'd never heard that word, let's say I'd never heard that word.
Let's say I just grew up in church, grew up in a Christian home in America, because I never heard that word until I was an adult.
Because it's new. It's a new thing.
I mean, if somebody would have come to the door and said, I want to tell you about my god Yahweh, I would expect them to pull out something that looked kind of like a voodoo doll and say like, this is Yahweh.
That's what I would, I'm just being honest with you, that's what I would expect.
I would expect like some kind of a Polynesian looking pagan god to come out of the pocket.
Because it's just a weird word.
Folks, and you say, I don't know man, I don't know if you should be saying that about that word.
That word is not in the Bible.
Is anybody home? Last time I checked, this was our final authority for all matters of faith and practice.
And not only do we believe that the New Testament is our final authority and that the New Testament supersedes anything in the Old Testament, amen?
The New Testament is our final authority for all matters of faith and practice.
Not only that, but I actually believe that it's been providentially preserved and delivered to us in our own language in the English Bible.
And that God in his providence has allowed us to have a perfect Bible in English. Who believes that tonight?
Okay, so if I have a perfect Bible in English and there's no Yahweh, why would I embrace that term made up by some scholar, this meaningless word,
that it doesn't jive with modern Hebrew pronunciation?
And there's no vowels. It's just, well, we think that this is probably how it could have been.
How do you even, there's not enough data.
Folks, how can you possibly just, you have all these options for what you can do with those four syllables.
I mean, you could do a lot with those four letters.
You have all these options, but then you just like, it's just like, what do they do? Just maybe put all the options on a big wheel and just spin it and it landed on Yahweh?
It's absurd.
What's the almighty that we should serve him?
He's the God of the universe. He's the only true God. He created heaven and earth and is nobody like him in any other religion.
The gods of Hinduism are a lot more like the gods of Greek and Roman mythology than they are the God of the Bible. I'll tell you that right now.
It's the same Indo-European pagan garbage.
The God of the Bible is the truth. I'm running out of time because of that rabbit trail, but I have no regrets about it.
And I want to say tonight that gains not godliness. I'm not buying this Israel doctrine for two reasons.
If I were to make a pie chart of why I'm not buying the Israel doctrine, that Israel are God's chosen people today.
The pie chart would be in its typical Pac-Man format, but Pac-Man's mouth would barely be open at all.
And the bulk of Pac-Man would be because it's so ridiculous in light of scripture because scripture flat out tells us in Galatians 3 that it's about Jesus, not the physical nation.
That's the great big Pac-Man.
But then that little open mouth of the Pac-Man in the pie chart would be because the blessings for supporting Israel have not materialized.
How about that?
Because we have been blessing Israel big time in churches, the preaching, the Baptist churches, the Evangelical churches, and the government.
Just throwing money at Israel, billions and billions of dollars, and yet that has corresponded with a decline spiritually by every possible metric.
And the only possible metric you could possibly say that there's been any kind of a good news is financially.
But even then, you could make the case that people were better off financially in America in the 50s and 60s anyway.
I mean, if you ask my dad, that's what he would tell you.
So is that even legit? Are people even doing better financially today?
You know, that's debatable. But that's the only thing you could even begin to point to because every other metric has been downhill.
And we are so spiritually in the toilet tonight as a nation morally and even our churches to the point now where not only have they taken away our Bible from us and given us the NIV and the ESV and the vast majority of churches tonight, they don't even have the right Bible.
They don't even have the King James Bible. They have these goofed up ESV, NIV.
Now it's not enough for the devil to take the Bible out of the churches. Now we can't even have the name of God.
Now it's like, oh Jesus, it's not Jesus anymore. It's not the Lord anymore. It's Yahweh and Yeshua.
And again, just to further alienate the culture from our Christian roots because the root of this country is like worshipping the Lord and Jesus.
And now it's like just to basically alienate that, it's like Yahweh, Yeshua, just these foreign words that nobody, and you know, it's not hell anymore by the way.
It's Sheol and Hades. Right? I mean this is where we're at. Nothing is sacred anymore.
And so I will not support Israel. I do not support Israel. I, you know, and by the way, I have no fear of preaching against the wicked nation of Israel.
Because I know for a fact that Genesis 12, when it says I'll curse those who curse you, is not talking about Israel. It's talking about Christians.
It's talking about people that are in Christ. And when it says I'll bless those that bless you, he's going to bless those who bless Christians.
A nation that blesses Christians will be blessed, but not the state of Israel. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the fact that we are not second-class citizens, Lord, but that as Gentile believers, we are full-fledged, born-again children of God, and that all of the blessings are available to us, Lord.
And Lord God, we know that our country is in decline spiritually, Lord, but Lord, we thank you so much that we as a church are not in decline spiritually, Lord.
Thank you for our individual families and lives and churches, Lord, where you are doing great works, Lord.
And thank you that even if our nation becomes an Egypt, we live in our own little Goshen.
And thank you so much, Lord, for blessing our church, blessing me, blessing my family, Lord. Thank you for all the blessings to all the families that are here.
And Lord, help us to understand that just because we live in a nation that's going downhill spiritually, it doesn't mean that we can't stand and shine the light brighter than it's ever been shown in the past, Lord.
Bless this food to our bodies tonight, Lord, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen. Let's take our hymnals, please, and turn to 109. Savior, like a shepherd, lead us, number 109.
Singing all these first verses together, hymn number 109.
Savior, like a shepherd, lead us, but sweet in thy tender care.
In thy pleasant pastures meet us, for our gifts thy folks prepare.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us thine, we are.
We honor thine and thou befriend us, be the guardian of our way.
Keep thy foster safe within us, seek us when we go astray.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear, O hear us when we pray.
Thou hast promised to receive us, for as sinful though we be,
grace must first be to relieve us, grace to cleanse and cleanse us free.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear, O hear, let us turn to thee.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, early let us turn to thee.
Early let us seek thy favor, early let us do thy will.
Blessed Lord and Holy Savior, with thy love our blessed will.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast loved us, loved us still.
Amen. Great singing tonight. You are dismissed.
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