Now, Mark chapter 14 is a pretty long chapter, you know, there's no way that I'm going to
be able to cover all of this in one sermon tonight.
I'm just going to have to hit some of the highlights here in Mark 14, it has 72 verses
in it.
But at the beginning of verse number 1, the Bible reads,
After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread.
And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft and put him
to death.
But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a
woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious.
And she braked the box and poured it on his head, and there were some that had indignation
within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to
the poor.
And they murmured against her.
And Jesus said, Let her alone, why trouble ye her?
She hath wrought a good work on me, for ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever
ye will you may do them good, but me ye have not always.
She hath done what she could, she has come a forehand to anoint my body to the burying.
Now if we read all four Gospels and we get the different angles of this story, we understand
that it was Judas Iscariot who was the one who was really piping up and getting the other
people to say that this was a waste of the ointment by anointing Jesus' head, which is
what the woman did.
Now when Jesus is done rebuking that mentality of saying, Oh, let's not do it for Jesus,
you know, let's give that to the poor instead, it says in verse 10, And Judas Iscariot, one
of the twelve, went unto the chief priests to betray him unto them.
So notice, Judas going to betray Jesus is a direct result of this interaction over the
ointment.
Okay?
Because if we read it in other Gospels, we get different details and kind of put it all
together and see that that was something that made Judas angry.
Now the Bible says that Judas brought this up not because he cared for the poor, but
because he was a thief and he had the bag and he had the power over what was put there
in and so he wanted that money to be something that he could get his hands on and he would
get some of it to the poor, but a lot of it would just end up in his own pockets.
Now this mentality exists today and I'll hear things like this all the time.
When you try to preach God's word and you try to go out and knock a lot of doors and
just give people the gospel of Jesus Christ is getting them the plan of salvation, how
to go to heaven, you know, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
And a lot of people will say, you know, that we need to be out feeding the poor.
You know, what are you doing preaching the Bible and giving the gospel and doing all
this?
What you really ought to be doing is, you know, fixing the community of Tempe by feeding
the poor and, you know, don't preach against fornication, you know, instead you need to
just open up a hotline and a help center for every single mom and, you know, don't preach
on the homos, just open up an AIDS clinic, you know, is what they'll say.
You need to basically just do all this social good and today there are many churches that
believe in what's called a social gospel.
Instead of a gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, it's a gospel of just
do good, just help people, just feed the poor, just, you know, heal the sick and that's it.
But is that really what the Bible teaches that our primary objective is as the church
to just better society, to just feed people?
Now look, of course we believe in helping the poor and the Bible says here that Jesus
told them, you know, whenever you want to, you can do good unto the poor.
And the Bible does teach that if we help the poor, we're lending unto the Lord and that
which we have paid, you know, we will receive again and so forth.
Yet we know that it is good to help people and help our community and help society but
at the same time, that is not our primary mission as a church.
Our church's primary objective is to go ye therefore into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Christ commanded us, not just certain
parts but all things that are commanded in the Bible, we're supposed to teach those things.
So we're supposed to win people to Christ, baptize them and then teach them all things
that Christ taught, all of them.
Now that is our mission as a church but a lot of people will say, well, what good is
that going to do?
But you know who's saying that?
A bunch of atheists and unbelievers today because they can't see the spiritual kingdom.
They don't believe in heaven and hell.
All they believe in is the here and now.
So they sit there and think, well, what good is that going to do somebody to give them
the gospel?
You know, you need to feed and clothe and house and mentor and everything else.
But the bottom line is, we look at their social gospel and say, what good are you doing spooning
moto meal into that kid's mouth unless you're going to tell him about the death, burial
and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Because what is he profit if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
Now we as Christians should be good people and benevolent and we should be helpful to
people and we should help those that we know that are in need.
First of all, the Bible tells us that we should do good unto all men, especially those that
are of the household of faith.
So we should always give preference to first helping our brothers and sisters in Christ
that are in need.
I mean, if I had brothers and sisters in Christ that were in need and then I saw people outside
of the faith that are in need, I would help my brothers and sisters in Christ first.
You know, whether you like that or not, that's what the Bible teaches, that we should first
do it for the household of faith, you know, first do it for those that are in Jesus Christ.
But our job and our goal as a church is a spiritual goal, not just a carnal goal of
doing social good.
Now first of all, in the United States of America, 2014, there is no need for us to
open up a food pantry and a soup kitchen and all these different things because we're already
having huge amounts of money extorted by Judas Iscariot, also known as our government, who's
going to take our money away and give it to the poor for us.
Isn't it true?
But here's the thing that our government and Judas Iscariot have in common.
They have the bag, they bear what is put there in, and they take a little bit for themselves.
Okay, they take a lot for themselves.
You know, these charitable organizations today, a lot of them don't get very much of the money
that you donate to the actual need in question.
For example, Bono, the lead singer of U2.
And by the way, a lot of people will try to identify Bono as a Christian.
Bono is not a saved Christian.
If you believe that he is, listen to my sermon that I preached a while back called The Gospel
According to Bono.
And I show you how he does not believe the gospel, he doesn't believe the Bible.
But Bono is one of the big voices that you hear for this social gospel.
Okay, another big one is the United Methodist Church.
You know, this is what the United Methodists are all about.
If you talk to people who go to these United Methodist churches, a lot of them don't even
believe the Bible whatsoever.
They don't even believe Jesus really even rose again from the dead.
They don't believe he's born of a virgin.
They are just there for the social gospel of just, we're going to help the community
and on and on.
But they're not really believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But Bono has a charitable organization that he runs called The One Foundation.
And it was found out in the news that 96% of what's donated to The One Foundation doesn't
make it to Africa.
You know, where he's supposedly helping with AIDS and whatever else in Africa.
And by the way, brother Tyler Baker reminded me of this, I'd heard this a long time ago.
AIDS did not used to be called AIDS.
It used to be called GRID.
When it first came out it was called GRID.
And if you look up any of the history of AIDS, it was called GRID, Gay Related Immune Disease.
Then after a while they changed the name to AIDS to make it more politically correct.
In July of 1982 they coined that new term AIDS.
But before that it was called GRID.
And why am I saying that?
Well because I'm still in the news almost every day about this and getting all the phone
calls and the hate mail and the emails about this.
So I'm just kind of throwing that as a little commercial break tonight.
But anyway, you know, this One Foundation of Bono, you know, 4% of what's donated even
gets there.
The rest of it's just all there, just administrative costs.
Basically a fat paycheck for everybody involved.
And a lot of times you've got to be careful not to just donate to whatever charity.
You don't really know where that money's going.
A lot of times you could be paying to some foundation or some charitable organization
that supposedly is helping in Africa or something when in reality they're sterilizing people
in Africa or, you know, doing other things that you wouldn't really agree with.
So what I'm saying is that there are a lot of people who will pay lip service to loving
the poor but the Bible says they don't really care about the poor.
Judas was the ringleader of these people but there were other people who chimed in with
Judas and say, yeah, why don't we give it to the poor?
And they want to take it for themselves and today our government talks about how much
they love and care about the poor but they steal so much from us every week.
They take so much out of our paycheck and very little of that money goes to help poor
people.
Very little.
Because everything they do is extremely inefficient.
There's a ton of waste and they put it in a bag with holes in it and it barely even
gets to the people that actually need the help.
But all that being said, because they take such mass amounts from us, honestly, any poor
person in Phoenix, Arizona today is not going to starve to death because there are already
all kinds of government programs and food stamps and wick and pantries and soup kitchens
and there are so many government-run programs.
Now it ought to be that the church would take care of that.
But honestly, our church is not going to spend any time on that because every one of
our church members is actually already going out and working and paying taxes out the wazoo
to pay for this stuff anyway.
So we're already doing all of our forced charitable giving for the poor.
I'm not going to sit here and open up some redundant soup kitchen here.
I'm going to go out and preach the kingdom of God.
I'm going to preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That's what our church's resources are going to be used for.
Now look, our church has truly helped out people in need, people who go to our church.
We will help them out when they're in need.
And we've bought groceries for people or helped people pay this bill or whatever when they
were in a bind.
But honestly, it's not something that we're constantly doing.
It's not a big part of our budget because honestly, in America, it's the land of opportunity
and people can go to work and pay for themselves.
There's a day laborer place in this parking lot you could go to.
There are all kinds of government programs that are already extorting money from people
and giving just a tiny bit, but it's enough to keep people going and so forth.
So I'm not going to sit there and spend my time and effort furthering this social gospel
of let's fix Tempe.
First of all, you're never going to fix Tempe.
Tempe is doomed and damned, okay?
Just quit trying to, you're wasting your time.
But you know what we can do is we can get somebody saved.
We can preach the truth.
And by the way, the United Methodist Church, who is doing so much to help the poor and
the needy and the downtrodden, know they're not because sin brings a curse on any town
or any state or any country and what you do to do more to help an area is to preach against
sin and get people living a righteous life.
Because it's the most unrighteous, ungodly places in this world where there's the most
curse and the most hunger and the most poverty and suffering and pain and violence is in
places that are ungodly and that are filled with sin.
You know, if we would follow the law of God, we would do no ill to our neighbor and we
wouldn't have all these problems and issues.
But the godless United Methodist Church, and let me tell you something, the United Methodist
Church is one of the most wicked religions in America today, period.
50% of their clergy is female.
When the Bible clearly says, I suffer not a woman to teach, nor do you serve authority
over the man, but to be at silence, let the women keep silence in the churches.
That just means nothing to them.
So they have 50% female clergy, 50% male clergy, 10% open homosexual.
And right here in Tempe, they have the rainbow flag on the United Methodist Church in Tempe.
And elsewhere in the city, you'll see the same thing.
So these churches have this social gospel, oh, and by the way, one day, they're going
to brag to Jesus and they're going to brag and say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name and in thy name of cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And he will tell them, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
Because when you're preaching a false gospel, when you don't believe in the death, burial
and resurrection, it doesn't matter how many people you feed and clothe while you disobey
all the commandments of God and disregard everything that Jesus taught and you just
latch onto a few statements here and there that you parrot.
You know what?
Though God doesn't accept that work.
That's the fruits and vegetables of cane that you're bringing to God when you bring those
works instead of bringing the blood of the lamb.
Look, our religion is a spiritual religion.
Our works are spiritual works.
The outcome of the works that we do is not all seen in this lifetime.
Much of it will be seen when we get to heaven.
You know, we go out and win somebody to Christ, there may not be a tangible result that we
could see, but the results will resound for eternity and that when that person is in heaven
as a result of hearing the gospel, that is more valuable than anything else.
And so we need to stay focused on the spiritual mission and not get diverted onto this social
gospel of, well, you know, we just need to make sure and feed the hungry and if we can
just get all the hungry fed, then when we're done feeding the hungry, we'll start preaching
the gospel.
Well, here's the problem with that.
The poor you have with you always.
So you're never going to fix it.
You're never going to eradicate poverty, okay?
And not only that, but there are evil people who want to make sure and keep Africa poor,
for example.
There's no reason for Africa to be poor today.
Africa is filled with natural resources.
They've got all kinds of diamonds.
They've got all kinds of oil and great mineral and soil resources.
There is no reason in the world for sub-Saharan Africa to be in the condition it's in except
that evil people are keeping it in that condition because they want to just take all the diamonds
and take all the resources and become, you know, uber wealthy and let those people starve
and suffer and they want them to starve and suffer because it's all part of their plan
to become wealthy at their expense.
And not only that, the other problem with Africa is a sin problem amongst the people
of Africa.
So you've got evil leaders that are abusing them, but then you also just have a sin problem
amongst much of Africa where there's a lot of sodomy and there's a lot of promiscuity
and a lot of fornication and, you know, God judges that sin.
So there are a lot of problems over there, but, you know, the answer is not to just keep
sending money to Bono and keep sending money to spoon malto meal and vaccinate and sterilize
everybody over there.
You know, there's a deeper problem to it.
You know, and if we preach the Bible, we could cut, cut down the tree at the root and not
just keep fighting the symptoms of the social problems in Tempe or Africa or anywhere else.
Okay.
Now, what is it that the ointment was used for?
To anoint Jesus' body for the burial, which is a reference to one of the key events of
the Gospel, the death, burial and resurrection.
And then not only that, it says in verse 9, verily I say unto you, wheresoever this
Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall
be spoken for a memorial of her.
So according to the Bible, this story is something that's going to be heard around the world.
You know, she got her 300 penny worth of that ointment.
If that story is used to teach and preach for centuries to follow.
And of course, being anointed for his burial, you know, he's fulfilling prophecy.
There's all kinds of symbolism here.
This story is exalting the central theme of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, which is what it's all about.
Now it says in verse 10, Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, one of the chief priests to
betray him unto them and when they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money
and he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
And the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the Passover, his disciples said
unto him, where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover?
I'm just going to skip down for sake of time because there's so much to talk about in this
passage but they go to this upper room that's made ready where the Passover is going to
be served and it says in verse number 18, and as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, verily
I say unto you, one of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
And they began to be sorrowful and to say unto him one by one, is it I?
And another said, is it I?
And he answered and said unto them, it is one of the twelve that dippeth with me in
the dish.
The son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him but woe to that man by whom the son
of man is betrayed.
Good were it for that man if he had never been born.
Now the most amazing part about this passage is that the disciples did not readily suspect
Judas.
They didn't say, is it Judas?
You know they, he said one of you shall betray me, it wasn't like, you know, it was like
is it I?
Now think about that.
They suspected him so little, they suspect themselves more than him.
Could it be me?
Is it I?
Am I going to do it?
No one believed it.
And then if we read this in Matthew and in John we get more details and it talks about
the fact that John leans over to Jesus and asks him, who is it Lord?
And he says it's the one that I give the sop to after I've dipped it.
He dips the sop, hands it to Judas and says, that thou doest do quickly.
Judas gets up and walks out of the room.
At this point you think, okay, everybody knows it's him or at least John and Peter, the ones
who asked the question, would know.
But no one knew.
They all thought, even when it was just right in front of them, they thought, oh, he's just
buying something for the feast.
He must just be sending him to pick up dessert, you know, and go get something else to eat.
What in the world?
But that's because Judas was so slick that you never would have suspected him.
No one would have suspected him.
Now think about this, they'd been soul winning with Judas.
They were sent out two by two.
You know, I want to know who was Judas Iscariot's soul winning partner, you know, when they
went out two by two.
You know, maybe they all rotated through, you know, with Judas.
But he went out soul winning, he talked the talk, he, you know, looked like he was walking
the walk.
All along he was stealing from the pot.
Now first of all, the fact that Jesus put Judas in charge of the money shows that money
was not a theme of Jesus' ministry.
Think about how many preachers today make money a central theme.
Where they're always raising money and fundraisers and money, money, money and preaching on money
all the time.
Look, there's a time to preach on money, but when you see it as a central theme, that's
nothing like Christ's ministry.
He said, okay, I'm going to give everybody a job.
You'd think if he knows that Judas is the traitor, he's going to give him a least important
job.
And I think God purposely put the money with Judas just to show us this is not what it's
about.
Yeah, he's stealing the money, but you know what, I'm not really even that worried about
it because it's really not that important.
If Jesus really cared about the money, he wouldn't have given the money to the traitor
to take care of.
But he's trying to show us that it's not the central part of his ministry.
Now the Bible promises us, and flip over if you would to 2 Peter chapter 2.
The Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, but there were false prophets also among
the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you.
Does it say that there might be?
It says, there shall be false teachers among you who privately shall bring in damnable
heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction
and many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be
evil spoken of and through covetousness.
Now what did Judas do?
He stole.
He coveted that money.
Through covetousness shall they with fainted words make merchandise of you whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not.
Go back to Mark 14.
You know we could read the whole chapter of 2 Peter 2, also the book of Jude.
He says these are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves
without fear.
So that means that when we get together as a church and eat a meal together, when we
have food after the service, when we have a barbecue, the Bible says people like Judas,
people that are false prophets, people that are evil, wicked adulterers, people who defile
the flesh as Sodom it says in Jude verse 7, people who bring in heresies and false doctrine,
they will certainly be eating among us and he didn't say they might.
They will be there.
There will always be a Judas Iscariot among us and if there's not one among us now there
will be one tomorrow.
You know that constantly there are infiltrators and bad people.
This is why you should not just implicitly trust everyone because they come to church
here and a lot of people they just think oh you're from church and they'll trust them
financially and people will lose thousands of dollars because they just assume that everybody
from church is trustworthy and they make that mistake.
But not only that, but people will trust other people with something much more valuable than
their money which is their children and just drop their kids off with someone to babysit
because they're from church.
I've gone to churches where they wanted us to go on some overnight couples retreat, okay,
for our marriage and betterment of our marriage and they wanted us to drop our kids off with
people to babysit them overnight and I didn't even know who these people are, I'd never
even laid eyes on these people, never even met them and people were just like oh no don't
worry about it, they're from church.
Oh okay, in that case, I mean think about how crazy that is in the day that we live
in, in the world that we live, to drop off your little kids at someone that you've never
even met because they go to church.
You know we live in perilous times and we need to guard our children and not let them
out of our sight and not sit there and allow our children to just be babysat by any person
that just is from church.
You know we need to use some discernment and not, I don't let anybody from church watch
my kids when I'm not around, you know we don't just turn them over to people, spend the night
at so-and-so's house, look there are way too many people getting abused and molested to
just take that kind of a chance and plus churches often attract predators because they like
the trusting atmosphere where they can be trusted.
Also people will come here and try to commit fraud business-wise because they think you
know I can find some suckers down at the church that are just going to trust everybody because
we're all Christians and as long as I say praise the Lord and hallelujah they're going
to sign on the dotted line and think everything is fine.
And there are all kinds of stories about finance, there was a financial advisor that was a deacon
from First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana under Jack Skop and Jack Skop was teaching
all this voodoo squirrely financial stuff and he sent his deacon around as an apostle
of you know financial freedom and wealth and laying up treasures on earth.
He sent around this deacon Thomas Kimmel as an apostle of Skop's financial program and
it turned out this guy was going around and telling people to take their retirement and
take their money and to put it into this wonderful investment and this wonderful investment
is going to return you know 10 or 12 percent a year and it's totally safe investment.
Does that sound legit?
No way.
Turned out it was a used car dealership that they were investing in but they gave it some
fancy name to make it sound like it was some you know legitimate investment and it was
some car dealership that was just totally underwater financially, totally messed up
and this guy would go around and say you know what before you make a decision like
this you should talk to the man of God you know get godly counsel from the man of God
talk to your pastor and if he tells you not to do it then don't do it.
You know but if he says that it's a good idea if he looks at it and thinks it's good then
go ahead and do it.
Turned out he was giving the pastors commission.
Think about the conflict of interest of getting up and acting like you're just a new troll.
He would act like he was preaching a Bible sermon on finances.
It was a Bible based financial thing and then he'd just throw in oh by the way I know these
good investments you know ask your pastor, ask the man of God, get godly counsel.
The pastor is getting commission.
So you think he thinks it's a good idea?
Yeah it's a great investment.
Yeah.
Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.
Okay these are the type of things that people go and by the way now that deacon is going
to prison because he defrauded people of about 4 million dollars I think it was, huge
amount of money.
People lost 4 million dollars investing in this fraud and now he's going to prison but
he says well I thought it was a good investment you know, liar.
And paying off the pastors and everything that's all highly illegal by the way but these
kind of people are out there.
They are predators and by the way the guy who did that I've met the guy, I've shook
in his hand and talked to him, the deacon that did that and I didn't think there was
anything wrong with him.
You know I thought he seemed like a nice guy to me but he's stealing from people, he's
lying to people.
There are a lot of bad people that you never would suspect and a lot of the people that
have turned out to be evil infiltrators of this church, I was blown away and I'm like
what in the world?
You've got to be kidding.
I never would have suspected but hindsight's 20-20.
You know you've got to be careful.
Now my motto is this, suspect no one, trust no one.
I'm not saying go around suspecting everybody but you know just, but don't go trusting people
either you know.
And here's the thing, if you're going to have a financial dealing with someone in the church
which is usually a bad idea but if you're going to have, just anytime you loan something
to somebody, be ready to kiss it goodbye and don't ever trust anybody for more money
than you're willing to lose.
You know and I'm not willing to lose my children so I'm not going to trust you with my children.
I mean it's amazing how people are just so flippant with who they drop their kids off
with.
I mean I would, would you drop off a suitcase of a million dollars with people?
Would you put a suitcase of a million bucks on the bus?
Okay bus driver take care of this, take it to school for me but that's what people do
with their little kid which is worth more than a million dollars and just as defenseless
as that million dollar suitcase, little tiny five year old or six year old or seven year
old or whatever.
We got to be careful, we're living in peril this time.
They said is it I?
They did not suspect Judas we see here and of course Jesus is talking about woe unto
Judas it would be better for that man if he'd never been born okay.
It says in verse 22 as they did eat Jesus took bread and blessed and break and gave
to them and said take eat this is my body and he took the cup and when he had given
thanks he gave it to them and they all drank of it and he said unto them this is my blood
of the New Testament which is shed for many.
Verily I say unto you I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that
I drink it new in the kingdom of God and when they had sung in him they went out into the
Mount of Hollis.
You know I love how they got together and sang in him and you know this is something
where if I could have been there it would be a cool thing just to hear Jesus and the
disciples sing in him wouldn't that have been neat?
And you know I just love getting together in a group of God's people and singing the
hymns it's you know it's so much more enjoyable than just watching someone perform.
You know notice what it doesn't say Peter stood up and sang a special and they all listened
in.
You know it says when they had eaten it says when they had sung in him they went into the
Mount of Hollis.
So they all sang.
Now the Bible says teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.
The Bible says also in the midst of the congregation I will sing praise unto thee and I think that
it's far more scriptural to sing praises to God than to just listen to praises of God.
Show me scripture on listening to praises of God.
I don't see it.
I'll show you hundreds of scriptures commanding you sing unto the Lord praise the Lord lift
up your voices and sing.
I mean just in the book of Psalms alone and in fact if you take the entire Bible the command
that is given more than any other command the imperative verb that you'll find over
and over again is praise.
Just hundreds of times he's telling you sing to the Lord praise the Lord lift up your voice.
You say well I'm doing it in my heart but he says to open your mouth to lift up your
voice and sing.
And so never let the congregational singing when we come together as a church and sing
never let that become a time where you just go through the motions of just praise the
Lord praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord.
You should sing it out with a loud voice you know make a joyful noise unto the Lord and
really sing it out and praise the Lord but not just at church there is a teaching of
singing in the midst of the congregation.
But you know what?
It will change your life if you start just singing the hymns throughout the week.
It's life changing and I'm not just saying that to be dramatic.
I've had many days where I was discouraged I was upset I was just going through a hard
time spiritually and I just started singing the hymns and it'll change your attitude like
that.
I mean I can't even count how many times I was so upset or angry or down and I started
singing the hymns and just immediately immediately it changed my attitude.
You know it's hard to be depressed when you're singing out loud to God be the glory and blessed
assurance and on Christ the solid rock I stand and that's why the Bible says be filled with
the Spirit speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing making
melody in your heart to the Lord.
That will help you to be Spirit filled when you sing the hymns and praises unto the Lord.
It will really change your life.
Now some people say you know I have an awful singing voice but honestly God just wants
to hear you sing even if you sing poorly it's kind of like sometimes you'll hear your children
sing and they get all the words wrong and they get the tune wrong don't you still love
it anyway?
You like to just hear their sweet little voices singing but that's how God feels about his
children and so do you when you're singing badly he just looks down and says isn't that
sweet you know.
Now let me tell you something musical talent is virtually a myth.
A lot of people think oh it's such a musical talent.
You know what it doesn't really even exist.
I would say that music and I'm a musician I know a lot about music I've studied I've
read science books about music big thick books and I've been into music my whole life I've
been playing piano and singing ever since I was a small child I know about music and
I'll tell you something music is about 10 percent talent and about 90 percent hard work.
Now a lot of people you say well that's not true because I've seen people who work and
work and work and work and they can never get good at music that's true you're right
but it's because they're starting too late in life that's why and then you say well other
people it just comes naturally it's just easy they just pick up an instrument start playing
it that is simply because that person started very young and put a lot of time and effort
and work into it that's what the talent is I guarantee you my friend I've studied it
I've looked at scientific studies on I've read books about it I've lived it and I can
tell you right now that what is mistaken often for talent is hard work or it's just taking
an interest in it at a young age you know some kids at a young age are going to walk
around the house singing and they're going to play on the piano other kids have no interest
now let me tell you something there are a lot of people in our church who you know are
not proficient enough to sing to the point where they could come up and lead the singing
because of the fact that they didn't grow up in church okay thank God our church isn't
just filled with people who grew up in church I'm glad we were reaching people that did
not grow up in church that means we're winning souls but let me tell you something kids who
grow up in church sing better than kids who don't grow up in church and let me tell you
why kids who grew up in church are getting together three times a week and what are they
doing singing congregationally now kids in the liberal church where they just sit and
watch the band and sit and watch the performances all the time they're not getting as much training
as kids in a fundamental Baptist church where we sing four songs three or four stanzas eat
so they're getting practice a lot if they come three times a week in music just by singing the
hymns and you'll notice that kids who grow up in church can carry a tune and a lot of people who
didn't grow up in church or didn't grow up singing congregational singing can't carry a tune because
it's learned it's through practice and you know it's never too late but yeah sometimes it is kind
too late there are certain cutoffs psychologically where you know age seven is one cutoff but then
there's another major cutoff at age 30 I mean if you're a person who never touches a musical
instrument and never learns how to sing and you're 30 and you're like okay I'm gonna start learning
how to sing I'm gonna start learning how to play piano I'm gonna start learning how to play guitar
no you're not you know I mean you're gonna try and you can get a little ways with it especially
with musical instruments but singing you know you may have missed the boat at 30 because there's a
major you know cutoff at 30 for your brain learning new things that's why it's been proven that people
don't they don't accept new music after 30 that's why what do people listen to their whole lives
whatever was popular when they were in their teens and 20s right and you know you find people
in their 50s and 60s what's always going to be their favorite music you know the stuff from
back in the 60s and the 70s and they're just stuck on that and they'll never get out that's
they might pretend to like new music but that's what they really like the most because it's what
they were into before they were 30 because what you know there are certain neural pathways that
just kind of close when you're 30 unless you've already been you know for example I've always
hated jazz music I don't who likes jazz music and the old yeah I've never liked it always hated it
had zero interest in it here's the thing I'm 33 years old I will go to the grave hating jazz of
all kinds it's too late not that I want to like jazz but I'm just saying it's too late to change
it because it's just you get locked in you say pastor understand why are in the world are you
taking the time to talk about this what is this relevant to my life I'll tell you what the
relevance is the relevance is that when you bring your kids to faithful word Baptist Church or
another church like it another old-fashioned Baptist Church your kids are learning how to
sing and they're also being programmed at a young age to love this kind of music of the hymns okay
now go ahead and program them to love all the hard rock and all the rap music and all the country
western all the things that you know the lyrics are teaching them all the wrong things and getting
them down all the wrong paths at least bringing your kids to church they're learning how to sing
hymns hymns is what I'm talking about today what did Jesus sing a hymn what do we sing at church a
hymn okay and when we sing the hymns we're praising and glorifying God and also we're
helping our children grow up with a talent that they could use for the Lord of you know singing
playing the piano etc and we're also ingraining in them the right kind of music and not all the
wrong kinds of music not this effeminate sissy liberal music of the church down the street but
actually teaching them the the God honoring Bible-based hymns of you know of many generations
and so you know that's just another great reason to be in church and to be singing songs but look
sing them seven days a week and look if you do not own a hymnal take one of the hymnals that we
have we buy extra hymnals because we want people to take it home who does not own a hymnal today
you do not have one of these hymnals in you know you need to take one of these home with you today
and you need to take it home and get it out during the week I remember when my son Solomon
was first born he would love it if I would sing to him I would sit with him and just turn the page
of the hymnal and just sing through the entire hymnal with him just sing to him sing to him sing
to him and you know here he is what playing the organ now why is he musical oh that's his talent
he got struck by the lightning of talent no the reason that he has talent is and he has more
than I ever thought of having is because of the fact that when he was a baby I sang to him for
hours my wife sang to him for hours he went to church three times a week and say from the time
he was a toddler he's singing and hearing it and learning it and growing it look we need to do the
same for our children and bring them up with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that they
might spiritually benefit thereby and you know we need to sing every day for our own benefit I'm
talking about driving down the road in the shower around the house I can honestly say that I sing
hymns pretty much I mean juja do I sing hymns all the time I mean virtually all the time and you
know what by the way you know my son Boaz just a tiny little infant he will when he's really upset
he will only accept two songs and it's it's awful because it's really boring to sing those two songs
over and over and over now if he's in a little better of a mood you can start going through the
hymnal and that's a lot more fun to actually just sing different songs sing through the hymnal and
you know Stephen he always baby Stephen always accepted a multitude of songs Boaz it will only
accept two songs if he's in any kind of discomfort whatsoever he must have Jesus loves me and Jesus
loves the little children and that's it so I was I've been trying it's it's just like these two
songs and I've just sung them hundreds and hundreds and I told my wife last night because he was really
fussing and upset last night and so my wife was dealing for the while so I told my wife I said
honey I'll deal with him for a little while you know so you can get some stuff done and I sat
down and just sang over and over and over and over Jesus loves me then I switched to Jesus loves
little children for a while and I told my wife when I walked out of that room I said you know
what there's one thing that he's never gonna doubt that Jesus loves I mean there's one thing
there's one thought that's never gonna cross his mind it's that Jesus doesn't love him I mean he's
just heard it just over and over and over and over again so you know these things are going into
that your children's mind they will never forget them the power of music to just ingrained I mean
I could sing worldly songs that I hadn't even thought about in a decade or two decades I could
sing every word for you today because it just ingrained it in you so you got to think about
what kind of things you're singing to your kids or you say well I'm not singing to them at all
well you know what you're missing an opportunity to really ingrain in them biblical truth and to
sing those things in and just to help your own attitude so you know follow the example here
where they sang in him and then they went into the Mount of Olives it says in verse 27 Jesus
saith unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I will smite
the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered but after the I am arisen I will go before you
into Galilee but Peter said unto him although all shall be offended yet will not I and Jesus
saith unto him verily I say unto thee that this day even in this night before the cock crow twice
thou shalt deny me thrice and he spake the more vehemently if I should die with thee I will not
deny thee in any wise likewise also said they all so Peter is the most vehement but you know what
the other disciples chime in and say yeah we won't betray you either of course we know what's
gonna happen in verse 66 jump down to verse 66 this is after Peter sees Jesus get arrested and
what happens in verse 65 some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to buffet him and
to sand him prophesy and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands now Peter right
after you know Jesus is arrested beaten spat on it says in verse 66 and as Peter was beneath in
the palace there come one of the maids of the high priest now doesn't that sound pretty scary
a maid I mean it doesn't say some big bad dude with a big weapon no one of the maids comes up
to him and says says she saw Peter warming himself she looked upon him and said and thou also was
with Jesus of Nazareth but he denied saying I know not neither understand I what thou sayest and he
went out into the ports and the car crew so he says you know no I wasn't and I don't know what
you're talking about and he leaves right he goes outside he leaves the building and he and it says
and a maid saw him again so these are some really formidable opponents that he's dealing with a maid
saw him again and began to say to them that stood by this is one of them she's saying it to them he
denied it again and a little after they that stood by said again to Peter surely thou art one of them
and to swear saying I know not the man of whom ye speak and the second time the cock crew and Peter
called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me
thrice and when he thought thereon he wept so this is Peter denying the Lord Jesus after so
vehemently saying I'm willing to die for you I'm gonna go anywhere with you I will never deny you
let me tell you something there are people today who give lip service to how they're willing to
die for Jesus they'll take a stand for anything and you know what this is what will really happen
when any opposition comes their way and we ought it you know we ought to take a lesson from this
that that you know what when it comes down theoretical kind of way you know like when it's
someone else or something you can think like oh yeah if I was him you know it'd be easy I'd be
taking a stand I would I would I'd go through the persecution and I could handle it but you know
what when it's you though it's harder than you think because I don't think Peter was just lying
when he said oh yeah I'll die for you he meant that he actually meant that but he didn't understand
and he underestimated how hard it is to stand you know when your life is in danger or when you're
in danger of getting arrested and beaten or when you're you know not sure about your safety or when
you're confronted in an environment where everybody's against you even them just even
though it's a few maids and a few guys standing around you know you just think to yourself you
know everybody here disagrees with me everybody's against me and human nature is to deny that you
know him you know it's just to deny that you believe the Bible or deny that you know Jesus
I've known people who were devout serious Bible believing Christians who somebody said to them you
know well you're not a Christian are you no no and they were but they were just ashamed
and didn't want to even be identified because the people that they were with were mocking
Christians and they said well are you a Christian no I'm not but they really were I mean isn't that
sad and you know what they felt bad about it too you know because obviously Peter here he
wept bitterly about that and let me tell you something the independent fundamental Baptist
preachers of America today yeah this is this is like most of them they're like scared of their
own shadow and scared of a maid yeah I mean they'll stop preaching something if a woman
in their church comes up and tells them that I didn't appreciate that I mean they're maids
are literally shutting the mouths of America's preachers today you know it's you know what's
funny because obviously I'm going through some persecution right now and it you know the
persecution that I'm going through is it is a light persecution okay but you know I am being
persecuted and attacked right now and hated of all men and execrated and threatened and everything
else and and you know everybody's trying to do everything that they can and their power to try
to harm me or fight against me because of my sermon that I did a week and a half ago and you
know here's the thing this isn't my first rodeo I mean I've already been through this repeatedly
and you know tribulation work of patience and patience experience and I've got experience with
this you know I've been through this repeatedly and it gets easier and easier to deal with because
you've already been through it so many times it's like all right here we go again you know but you
know what's funny is that right now you know I'm being attacked and hated and persecuted I mean we
had all these protesters showing up and I'm getting all kinds of horrible things in the mail
and I'm getting all kinds of phone calls and emails and and you know even my own neighbors
and stuff now some of my neighbors have been extra nice to me this week I think they liked
what I said because I you know I had some people be extra friendly with me too but you know because
there are a lot more people out there that agree with me on this than you think it's the silent
majority you know that believes in in this stuff but you know what's funny is that you know I got
it I got an email from a pastor today that said you know you need can you please take me off of
your directory of independent fundamental Baptist churches on your website because he said because
you know I I love your church and I really appreciate you and what you do but you know I
just don't want to be associated with this controversy at all because he said I got a
call and this guy by the way is pastoring three hours from here three hours away I got a call
from somebody in Phoenix that asked me if I agreed with you on this so this is I mean I need to get
me off that directory so you know it's fun so and here's what he said oh I don't believe in the old
Mosaic law of capital punishment you know what I guarantee you I'd be willing to bet a thousand
dollars right now that that guy believes in capital punishment for murderers I've never met
an independent Baptist pastor in my entire life who didn't believe in the death penalty and I'd
be willing to bet a thousand dollars right now that he believes in it so where did he get that
from that old Mosaic law you know but oh you know I and he said I'm work he said I'm a mild
dispensationalist no you're just mild you're just mild period and and and this church is extra
spicy hot because God said he wants us to be cold or hot not mild and you know what I don't eat mild
salsa okay you know what's the point but here's the thing it doesn't taste like anything right
but anyway I was just blown away by the fact that this guy just he's just I mean look that
guy's already known when I believed all these years he's been on that directory for years
he already knew what we believe he's always been oh god bless and blah blah blah but oh no he got
a phone call from somebody in Phoenix they wanted to know if he agreed but these weakling spineless
cowards won't stand on anything yeah well they just don't yeah they don't agree with the doctrine
conveniently because they don't want to get persecuted so this is what they hide behind
instead of just saying oh we're weaklings we're cowards we don't want to be persecuted so we're
just not gonna die here's they say well I just don't agree with pastor I just don't agree with
pastor answer no you don't agree with God it's in the Bible I didn't write it I mean it's just
not these people are insane and isn't it so funny that they want to just distance themselves from
this controversy you know what you want to do you want to get along with everybody you little
compromiser you wimp you can't even stand up and look you can't even stand up to the and he said
well and he said well I'm not into tolerance what yes you are yes you are into tolerance if you
think that we should just live in this AIDS infected filthy society where sodomites just
run rampant and just molest everybody and just turn everything to filth and that we should just
go to the store with our kids and see men and dresses and men and drag and that we should all
just use the same restroom you know because nobody knows what gender they are and everything I mean
if you think that they should just be allowed to just take over and then just once a year we're
gonna get behind the pulpit and say oh by the way homosexuality still a sin you know and you know
what's so stupid about that is that I don't go to church to hear people state the obvious to me
why would I put money gas money in my car and and drive down to a building and sit in a chair to
have some pastor stand up and tell me that homosexuality is a sin anyone who doesn't know
that is a complete idiot anyone who doesn't know that is just a complete unbeliever there's no saved
person on the planet that thinks homosexuality is not a sin everyone who believes that homosexuality
is not a sin is going to hell because they don't even believe the Bible at all but these guys are
like yeah I'm willing to take a stand and tell you that homosexuality still sin amen yeah it's
nothing it's worthless you're not preaching what the Bible says about it and then they have the
goal to start talking about gay marriage that's never mentioned in the Bible quit talking about
it talk about what the Bible talks about what does the Bible say about it you know what the Bible
says about it exactly what I preached about it because I preached exactly what the Bible said
and these guys are all and you know what it's not enough to just be willing to stand for the gospel
Jesus preached he said don't be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and filthy generation
and you know what all of the words of Christ and you did you know that Christ wrote the Old
Testament did you know that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word
was God and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us I mean Jesus Christ he is the word you
know a lot of people say well just go by the red letters in the Bible you know what the whole Bible
should be in red letters I mean if it says the words of our Lord Jesus Christ are printed in
red that should be the whole book think about that is there something in this book that Jesus
didn't say since he is the word made flesh and so it's just ridiculous to sit there and say
that you know oh I just don't believe the doctrine and so I'm just gonna disagree with you on this I
just don't believe in capital punishment you liar every independent Baptist please go you know why
they believe in it for murder but not the other stuff that God said it was for because it's
socially acceptable to believe in it for murder and it's not socially acceptable to believe in it
for homosexuality or for adultery or for rape or anything else they don't believe in it because
it's not popular so they adjust their but you know the proof is this the New Testament we've
been living in the New Testament for about 2,000 years now right so why did this dispensational
doctrine conveniently not come around until the mid 1800s how come in how come in the 1400s 1500
1600 1700s everybody believed that those verses still applied everybody thought yeah this stuff
still applies I mean this stuff is still Bible why all of a sudden I'll tell you why because of
the fact that social pressure and society has changed their view on this subject look I promise
you I've got a bunch of old preaching tapes at my house the sermon that I preached a week and a half
ago you could have preached that in any independent Baptist Church virtually in 1990 and it would have
been fine in the year 1990 you could have preached that sermon in any I could pull out tapes for you
of people saying all the same things everything I said in that sermon from the 90s but it's just
ever since about the year 2000 in 1999 the year 2000 they've just been really pushing this and
these pastors are scared but you know I bet they I bet they're all willing to die for the Lord
I bet they're all willing to die for what they believe right they're all willing to die for the
Lord Jesus but why won't they take a stand on even this they might get a phone call about it
somebody might somebody might think that you know I mean it's so ridiculous it's so sad it's an
embarrassment it's ridiculous so you know it's easy to talk big I'll stand up to the persecution
yeah when you're not going through any ever because whenever you get in the hot seat with
some maiden in your church you're done preaching on women's clothing or as soon as you get in the
hot seat with some maiden in your church all of a sudden you know you're never gonna preach about
you know the you know committing fornication or about whatever because it's just anything that
offends look you get up and preach hey you know don't let fornication take place in your house I
had somebody quit the church over that because they had their child living at home with them
with their boyfriend and they left the church and got angry over that oh well you know I'm not gonna
tell you what to do just long as you're not the one doing the fornication let your kids do it in
your home just as long as you're not doing it no it shouldn't even be allowed to go on in your home
because that's for me in my house we will serve the Lord you know and you preached up and it
offends people and if you can't stand up and do that how are you gonna do it when your life is
on the line how are you gonna do it when you're being actually persecuted and beaten and attacked
and arrested it's not gonna happen now let me just point out one last thing I don't have enough time
to do everything in this chapter but I want to point out something that has been brought out as
one of the contradictions of the Bible you know the atheists they love to come after the Bible
and say oh it's filled with contradictions and I always say to them name one you know name a
contradiction for me and usually they're just like oh well you know there's just a lot of them oh
okay well if there's a lot you shouldn't have any trouble naming one but they usually can't but
sometimes they will name something and one of the things they'll name and it's it's it's really
ridiculous they'll they'll name this they'll say well in Mark it says you know before you before
the cock crows twice you'll deny me thrice and then elsewhere it says before the cock crow you'll
deny me thrice so and in this one if you read it a cock crows after the first denial right because
if you read in verse 66 as Peter was beneath in the palace there cometh one of the maids of the
high priest and when she saw Peter warned himself you know verse 68 he denied and when he went out
into the porch and the cock crew so you have the cock crowing after the first denial and so they'll
say okay well if Jesus said in the other one before the cock crow you'll deny me thrice here's
a cock crowing and he only denied once so that's a contradiction in the Bible has anybody ever been
confronted with that one have you heard this one brought out a few people but basically anyone who
who is mixed up on this has probably just never owned a rooster because if you actually own a
rooster let me explain something to you roosters crow at the weirdest times they don't just like
as you think of it as soon as the Sun breaks above the horizon right now who's ever had
a rooster it does it do that when the Sun goes no midnight 1 a.m. 2 a.m. 3 a.m. 4 a.m. 5 you know
just the crazy middle of the daytime just all the time so I don't even know where this idea
maybe there's another breed of rooster or something that does it that way that's real
consistent with it but from my experience with having a rooster it just crows when it wants to
for no reason okay now I think the mistake that people are making here is that they're
assuming like that there's one rooster in the whole world you know the cock you know and before
the cock crow twice or once and it's a contradiction if it happens in between I believe that what Jesus
was saying when he says before the cock crow twice that's other than I me thrice or before
the cock crow this very night thou shalt deny me it's just that he's gonna deny him that night
he's not being specific about a certain rooster that is just this you know angelic rooster there
to just give this message to Peter you know I believe that it's just a figure of speech that
he's using of just saying hey before the cock crow twice you're gonna deny me thrice meaning
you know before the cock crow twice as in you know giving some time to go by of the night to
wear on okay now the reason I say that is because obviously the Bible does talk about a rooster
crowing after the first denial and then another rooster crows after the third denial now when
when Peter hears the rooster crowing after he denies him the third time he remembers the words
that the Lord had told him how he was gonna deny him and then he goes out and wept bitterly so
God allowed him to hear that rooster just as something to trigger his memory that he had you
know blown it and that he had fulfilled Jesus prophecy that he was gonna deny him that very
night but I don't think that God was trying to just be that specific and I think that there
were multiple roosters crowing I mean why in the you're in a big city and back then people had
chickens and roosters I mean even in Phoenix a lot of people have chickens and roosters and
I mean I live in a very residential area I don't I don't live on a farm you know I live in a in a
little neighborhood with a small backyard and we have a lot of chickens and a rooster and a lot of
other people have the same thing you know and so he's not trying to just sit there and say this one
rooster obviously there are just a lot of roosters in Jerusalem and they're all crowing at various
times throughout the night and the only thing that is significant is just that that's the
rooster that Peter heard that Peter happened to hear and the Bible just tells us about the
rooster crowing previously just because of the fact that he did say before the cock crow twice
that's what I mean right now that doesn't mean that there was no cock in the whole city that
crowed twice until the last denial came out of his mouth you know people are just grasping at
straws to just try to pick it apart at that point and get real nitpicky about it just to try to find
a contradiction in the Bible you know and if that is gonna destroy your faith in the Bible you know
this whole rooster thing you know you need to go buy a rooster for a while and see how sporadic and
how often they crow and then how many there are and then you know just kind of get over it
but anyway hopefully that helps you think about that passage and interpret that case anybody hits
you with that contradiction just tell me there's multiple roosters it's just a figure of speech
hey before the cock crow twice that's what denied me thrice and the only reason it mentions a
literal rooster crowing is because that was something that Peter heard and so it was jogging
his memory of the Lord's words let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so
much for your word Lord and we thank you for the hymns Lord and we thank you for the example that
you set when you and the disciples sang a hymn during your hour of need we know that that was a
rough night for you Lord when you were praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and we see that you
sung a hymn at that time Lord help us to sing hymns when we go through hard times in our life
that will help us to have a good spirit and and to be filled with your spirit and Lord help us to
take a stand not just when it's easy and popular and everybody loves us but Lord help us to preach
the unpopular portions of scripture and to take a stand and not just jump on the trendy convenient
comfortable doctrine wagon just to give us an excuse for not standing up to the evil of this
world just so we can go hide somewhere when the battle is raging Lord help us to actually stand
and in the evil day having done all to stand and in Jesus' name we pray amen
all right let's sing a song all right we broke the record tonight how many people we have
100 first time we've ever hit 100 on a Wednesday night
and so we're gonna have ice cream for everybody after the service
let's sing one song and then stick around for ice cream