.
If you don't, please find your seats now and get a hymnal. Go to hymn 127. We'll begin tonight. Hymn 127.
127, it tastes so sweet to trust in Jesus. Hymn 127. Once you find your place, we'll sing it out together on that first now. Hymn 127.
Hymn 127. Sing it out together.
Hymn 127.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him. How I proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Hope for praise to trust Him more.
Yes, it's sweet to trust in Jesus. Just from sin and self to cease. Just from Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him. How I proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Hope for praise to trust Him more.
I'm so glad I learned to trust Him. Precious Jesus, Savior friend. And I know that Thou art with me, will be with me to the end.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him. How I proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Hope for praise to trust Him more.
Amen. Good start to our singing tonight. We want to go to the Lord's Prayer for this service. So I've asked for the p'dalah and p'dalah and p'dalah to be with us.
Father in heaven, we thank you for your son Jesus, this beautiful Sunday evening, Lord. We thank you for this beautiful hymn, oh Lord, that we all can sing with one mind and one accord, Lord.
We ask you to fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit, Lord, and let his message edify us all. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Hymn number 138. 138, the Haven of Rest. Hymn number 138. We'll sing it out together in that verse.
My soul in that exile was out on life's sea. Hymn number 138.
So burdened with sin and distress, Hymn number 138.
Till I heard a sweet voice saying, make me your choice. Hymn number 138.
Till I heard a sweet voice saying, make me your choice. And I entered the Haven of Rest.
And I entered the Haven of Rest. I've angered my soul in the Haven of Rest.
I'll sail the wide seas no more.
The tempest may sleep for a while. So I'll be deep in Jesus. I'm safe evermore.
I yielded myself to his tender embrace. And they, taking hold of the Word,
My fetters fell on and they anchored my soul. The Haven of Rest is my Lord.
I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest. I'll sail the wide seas no more.
The tempest may sleep for a while. So I'll be deep in Jesus. I'm safe evermore.
The song of my soul says the Lord made me whole. Has been the old story so glad.
I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest. I'll sail the wide seas no more.
I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sleep for a while. So I'll be deep in Jesus. I'm safe evermore.
Oh, come to the Savior. He patiently waits to save my life's power divine.
Come anchor your soul in the Haven of Rest and save my delight in His might.
I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest. I'll sail the wide seas no more.
The tempest may sleep for a while. So I'll be deep in Jesus. I'm safe evermore.
Sunday nights at six. Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study. This week we will be in Second Chronicles chapter number 11.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvation and baptisms. Father's Day is next Sunday.
We will have special root beer floats after the service. They're going to be high quality root beer floats.
So you're not going to want to miss that. We've got exciting news about Greenville, South Carolina.
Pastor Dave Berzins of Stronghold Baptist Church is planting a church up there.
And this church is going to be great. I know there are already a ton of people that are planning on going.
There's a lot of demand for this church. A lot of people have even been commuting to Pastor Berzins Church from South Carolina.
And there are just a lot of people in that area that are interested in getting involved in this kind of a church.
And so please pray for that. That it would be a big success.
Also spread the word to anyone you know in that part of the country.
I'm going to be preaching out there on Friday night, July 5th at seven o'clock.
Then there's going to be a soul winning marathon the next day. And then the church is going to have a grand opening on the morning of Sunday, July 7th.
So spread the word about that and be praying for success.
Below that, of course, we have some people soul winning in Nigeria. So pray for their safety and effectiveness over there.
On the back we've got the note about the trip soul winning on the Navajo reservation on Friday, June 28th.
Also Saturday, June 29th. This also includes a trip to the Grand Canyon.
So you can speak to Brother Raymond Cooper for more details when he gets back.
We have sign up and schedule for that over here to my right.
Keep praying for all the pregnant ladies. And that is about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days.
So going back to Thursday. Is there anything from Thursday?
Okay. What number? Is that four? Okay.
All right. Okay. Gotcha.
All right. Anything else from Thursday? How about Friday?
Okay. Got it.
Count. Okay.
All right. How about Saturday?
Got it.
Okay. And then how about today?
Brother Scott? Two for the group with Brother Scott.
For the week for North Phoenix. All right.
Got one here. Any other groups from today?
All right. Very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning with that.
Let's sing our next song. Come lead us.
All right. Let's go in your hymnals to hymn number 105.
Hymn number 105.
All that thrills my soul is Jesus. Hymn number 105.
Let's sing it out on that first verse now.
Hymn number 105. Who can cheer the heart like Jesus?
Sing it out now.
Hymn number 105. Who can cheer the heart like Jesus?
Hymn number 105.
Hymn number 115.
Who can cheer the hearts like Jesus?
Hymn number 115. Who can cheer the heart like Jesus?
Hymn number 115.
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus.
I would tell you how he changed my life completely.
He did something that no other friend could do.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
There's no other friend so kind as he.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.
Oh, how much he cared for me.
All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me.
All my heart was full of misery and bone.
Jesus' place is strong and loving arms allow me.
And he led me in the way I ought to go.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
There's no other friend so kind as me.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.
Oh, how much he cared for me.
Every day he comes to me with new assurance.
For and for I understand his words of love.
But I'll never know just why he came to save me.
Till someday I see his blessing face above.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
There's no other friend so kind as he.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.
Oh, how much he cared for me.
Hey, man, good singing tonight.
All right, this time we'll quickly pass our offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians, chapter number 16.
1 Corinthians, chapter number 16.
As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads 1 Corinthians 16, starting in verse number 1.
1 Corinthians 16, the Bible reads,
Now concerning the collections for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
And when I come, whosoever you shall approve by your letters, then will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.
And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.
Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia, for I do pass through Macedonia.
And it may be that I will abide, yea, in winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go.
For I will not see you now by the way, but I trust to tarry awhile with you, if the Lord permit.
But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
Now if Timotheus comes, see that he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.
Let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me, for I look for him with the brethren.
As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren.
But his will was not at all to come at this time, but he will come when he shall have convenient time.
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong, let all your things be done with charity.
I beseech you brethren, ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaea, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.
That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth.
I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achikas, for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied.
For they have refreshed my spirit and yours, therefore acknowledge ye them that are such.
The churches of Asia salute you, Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house.
All the brethren greet you, greet you one another with a holy kiss, the salutation of me, Paul, with mine own hand.
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema marinatha, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The first epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi by Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achikas and Timotheus.
Father in heaven, I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson with the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit as he preaches your word.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Amen. This evening I'm continuing the series on Paul's third missionary journey.
And I want to point out here in 1 Corinthians 16, the statement beginning in verse number 8 where the Bible reads,
But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost for a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries.
And as we've been looking at the third missionary journey over the last couple of weeks, we've seen that Paul just had a tremendous amount of success there, right?
Lots of people were getting saved and huge amounts of people were converting to Christianity away from their pagan idolatry.
And the Apostle Paul is saying here there's a great door open and effectual.
That's why I'm staying in Ephesus. I want to keep doing the work that God has for me here.
But he says, look, at the same time there are many adversaries.
So whenever we are doing a great work for God and having big successes, the devil's not just going to take that lying down.
There's always going to be opposition, persecution, battles associated with great success.
You show me a church that has no battles, no strife, no persecution, no problems, and I'll show you a church that probably just isn't doing much of anything.
Because if you have a great door open and effectual, there are going to be a lot of adversaries.
There are going to be a lot of people that fight against the work that you're doing.
Now if you would go over to Acts, chapter number 19, and we're going to get back into the story here of the Apostle Paul at Ephesus.
And he's going through that great effectual door. He is dealing with the many adversaries in this story in Acts chapter 19.
If you remember last time we talked about this, people were burning the books that were witchcraft books,
and just a huge amount of books were burned that had to do with the occult because people were getting saved and they were getting away from that garbage and so forth.
So that's in verse 19 of chapter 19. The Bible says in the next verse, verse 20,
So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
And after these things were ended, Paul purposed in the Spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem,
saying, After I've been there, I must also see Rome.
And he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
And the same time there arose no small stir about that way, for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith,
which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsman.
Now if you remember just a few verses before, so mightily the word of God is growing and prevailing
that people burned this huge amount of literature that had to do with witchcraft and the occult.
Well, now what we see is another group of people with a different kind of merchandise.
Instead of selling books about the occult or witchcraft, these people are selling idolatry.
And so the people who are making these little shrines to Diana, they actually are afraid that they're going to go out of business.
You know, if people start getting rid of these idols, then they're going to go out of business because such a significant number of people are being saved.
Now let me first of all say this. In the King James Bible, for some reason, consistently throughout the New Testament, always the Roman names of the false gods are used.
I'm not really 100% sure why they did that. Probably because of the fact that at the time that the King James Bible was translated in 1611, people were a lot more familiar with Latin literature and Roman mythology.
So probably just culturally, especially among scholars or clergy and people like that, they were probably just a lot more familiar with Latin literature and Latin mythology.
So for some reason, it uses all the Roman names for the gods. But of course, the New Testament was written in what language?
The New Testament is written in Greek. So if you're actually reading this in the Greek New Testament, of course, all the names are going to be the Greek names of these gods and goddesses.
So for example, when the Book of Acts talks about Zeus, you know, in our King James Bible, it's going to say Jupiter, right?
Or if it says Diana, that's the Roman goddess, but we're actually talking about the Greek goddess Artemis. But these are just, you know, changing names from one language to another.
So some people would try to say that the King James Bible is wrong. It's not that it's wrong. It's just saying Esteban instead of Stephen.
It's just using different names, you know, based on where people are at culturally.
You know, I think nowadays in 2024 America, people are probably more familiar with the names of Greek gods than Roman gods.
But in England in 1611, it was probably the other way around. And so they're probably just trying to make it easy to understand for people so that they would be familiar with it.
But I'm just saying that so we'll understand that the Temple of Diana, as it's called here in the King James Bible, if you're reading a history book or something, it's always going to be referred to as Artemis.
Because that's the Greek name and it's obviously a Greek city, Greek place, Greek goddess, whatever. Same thing with Jupiter, Zeus, etc.
Okay, so it says here in verse number 24, a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain under the craftsman, whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation.
So they're having a little labor union here, right? A union meeting. And they get together in the union hall and said, Sirs, you know that by this craft, we have our wealth.
Moreover, you see in here that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul had persuaded and turned away much people saying that they be no gods which are made with hands.
So this is just talking about the tremendous amount of success that Paul is having and just the multitudes and multitudes of people that are getting saved.
It's really making an impact in the community to the point where they're afraid that they're going to go out of business.
And as we go on here, they're going to mention that they're afraid that people are going to just completely stop worshipping their false pagan goddess altogether.
And guess what? That's where we're at right now in two thousand twenty four, because if we went to Greece right now, nobody's worshipping.
You know, Diana of the Ephesians, obviously we're talking about Ephesus being in Turkey.
But if we go to Turkey, they're not worse from there either. Right.
But in Greece, they're not worshipping pagan Greek gods in Turkey, Asia Minor.
They're not worshipping Greek gods. These religions have completely died.
They don't exist. I'm sure there's some geek somewhere in his basement.
You know that when he's not playing Dungeons and Dragons, he's you know, he's into Greek gods and goddesses.
But in general, these religions have literally ceased to exist.
And so these people are saying, man, Christianity is spreading so much.
We're afraid people are just going to totally stop worshipping idols because they're going to figure out that they be no gods that are made with hands.
And that is exactly what happened in the long run.
So whatever these people are afraid of, they should be very afraid because that's exactly what's happening.
And so they say, man, the apostle Paul is not even just doing this in Ephesus.
I mean, the whole Roman province of Asia, the whole Asia Minor is turning to Christianity or at least ditching idolatry.
And so we got to do something about this.
It says in verse twenty seven, not only this, our craft is in danger to be said it not.
Said it not means, you know, to become nothing, to become a thing of not.
But also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.
You know, I would say that really they're probably just mainly worried about the money.
But then he's like, well, you know, it's not just that we're going to lose a bunch of money.
It's also that, you know, this magnificent goddess is gay.
It's like, come on, man, you're making these stupid things and selling them.
You know, that's not a God because you know that you made it with your hands.
But he tries to put a little religious spin on it, like, oh, you know, her magnificence, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.
Right. So apparently people supposedly came from all over the world to worship at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus.
And it says in verse 28, when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath and cried out saying, greatest Diana of the Ephesians.
And the whole city was filled with confusion.
Right. Because these guys march out of the Union Hall and they're screaming about how great Diana of the Ephesians is.
And they don't necessarily understand why people are confused.
And it says, having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel.
They rushed with one accord into the theater.
And when Paul would have entered in under the people, the disciples suffered him not.
So the Apostle Paul, when there's this big crowd and uprising and people are yelling and they're dragging a few of his buddies into the theater.
He wants to go in there and say something and talk and try to talk sense into people, try to preach.
But the other Christians are not letting him do that because they feel like this is too dangerous and we don't want Paul going into this angry.
He's ready to just go in there and just start preaching.
But they're afraid that he's going to physically be harmed by this angry mob.
So they restrain Paul.
And it says in verse 31, certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring that he would not adventure himself into the theater.
They're saying, look, don't gamble with this. Don't take that chance.
It's not safe. Stay out of there. You're going to get hurt.
Some therefore cried one thing and some another for the assembly was confused and the more part knew not wherefore they were coming together.
I mean, most people don't even know why they're there.
There's just a crowd of people and they just kind of showed up and they just kind of went with the flow and they just get involved.
And, you know, the Apostle Paul is trying to bring some reason.
He wants to talk to people. He wants to explain things and preach to people.
But other people are holding him back because they're worried about his safety.
So as a consequence, nobody even knows what's going on.
People are screaming. People are yelling. Nobody really even knows why they're assembled or whatever.
It says in verse 33, they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward.
And Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense unto the people.
Because these two guys that are dragged in there, you know, they're in danger.
I mean, an angry mob has dragged them into the theater.
They could easily be beaten to death or killed by this violent mob.
And so he wants to talk and basically say something probably similar to what Paul would have said.
You know, Paul wants to come in and talk sense into them.
So instead, Alexander, he wants to talk and defend himself so that he doesn't get hurt by these people.
But when they knew that he was a Jew, you know, they just didn't want to hear anything that he had to say.
Because they're caught up in this sort of patriotic fervor, us against them.
It's Ephesus versus these outsiders, these foreigners.
You know, we're Greeks. This is our Greek religion.
You know, this foreign religion, get this out of here, whatever.
You know, we don't want to hear from a Jew.
And so they all, once they knew that he was a Jew, they just, by the space of two hours,
cried out, great is Diana the Ephesian.
So they just start chanting and just screaming over and over again, great is Diana of the Ephesians.
They're just chanting that and just going on for hours and not, you know, they're just, they won't let them talk.
They're just, but they won't let them talk.
And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, you men of Ephesus,
what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana
and of the image which fell down from Jupiter.
So, you know, finally this government official comes in and gets them to shut up and quit chanting
and calms people down and he starts to talk sense into them, not from the Christian perspective,
but from a pagan perspective, just saying, hey, you know what?
Hey, I'm with you guys. I agree with you.
Yeah, Diana is great, but you don't have to sit here screaming that for two hours.
Let's all just calm down and chill out and relax and so forth.
Now here's the thing about this.
We see this same phenomenon a lot even today in our own missionary journeys where we'll go somewhere
and as soon as we start having success, then there'll be opposition from local false prophets
and false teachers and false religion.
You know, for example, we had a few guys go into India and they were soul winning in Nagaland
and they were having a bunch of success.
We had a group of Christians over there winning souls from our church.
And what happened? Of course, the local false teaching apostate evangelical churches
started banding together and attacking our people, getting them arrested,
you know, lying about the doctrine, lying about what we were teaching and so forth
because they felt threatened.
And here's the thing about that is that the truth is powerful.
And so the reason why liars and false teachers and false prophets and false religions
feel threatened by the truth is because the truth does threaten their false religion
and it threatens their very existence because of the fact that we see here
a false religion that literally ceased to exist because of the truth
and it just completely died because it's man made
and every tree that God the Father has not planted is ultimately going to be plucked up anyway.
And so the idea here is that the truth is so powerful that the powers that be many times
and especially false prophets and false teachers, they want to do everything they can to censor the truth
so that people don't find out what's really going on.
And this is why our church is banned from YouTube.
Okay, if I were just an idiot and the stuff I'm saying is so stupid and so crazy and so wild,
you know what, then I wouldn't need to be banned from YouTube.
Everybody could just laugh at me and mock me and say how wrong I am.
But the problem is that I'm backing up everything with the Bible
and anybody who has a Bible at home can look and check and see that things I'm preaching are right
and you know what, it's not me but it's this book that has power.
And the problem is there are portions of this book that no one's turning to,
that no one's preaching, that no one's speaking about.
So if somebody gets up and starts preaching those sections that fly in the face of the agenda of our world
and of, you know, America in the month of June with their fag pride month or whatever,
well then all of a sudden we got to shut this guy up because he's speaking the truth,
he's got the Word of God.
And you know what, back when we did have a free hand on YouTube,
yeah, we were reaching millions of people.
Millions of people were watching our videos and the majority of them, the vast majority, loved it.
Why? Because the truth is powerful.
You know, why can't they just complete compete in the marketplace of ideas?
And you know, it's one thing if people are sharing lies and disinfo
because that's what they do to justify the censorship.
They say, well, people are, you know, giving fake news or they're lying or giving disinformation.
But here's the thing, I get that.
I get it if they want to say, hey, we don't want people going on and lying and, you know,
claiming that 10 people were murdered when they really weren't murdered or something
and just making things up or something.
I could see the point why they would want to rein that in or have some kind of a control on that or something.
But at the end of the day, though, they are censoring us because of our opinions about society
that are coming directly from the Word of God.
You know, and I really doubt that they have a bunch of theologians down at YouTube
that are sitting down and examining my biblical arguments and saying,
you know, I just don't think that he's applying these verses correctly.
And here's why, you know, he needs to cross reference over here with this passage.
And, you know, I'm sure they have a bunch of scholars with the Greek New Testament open
and they're, you know, they got the Hebrew Masoretic text open
and they're just down there just really digging in to the doctrine.
No, my friend, it's just the biblical viewpoint just isn't allowed.
They don't care if it's what the Bible says.
They don't care if it's what Christians have believed for thousands of years.
They don't care if it was mainstream 50 years ago, everything that I'm preaching.
No, it's just, oh, this offends homos, you're out.
Oh, you know, you're too negative toward Islam or whatever, you're out.
It doesn't matter what the truth is to these people.
Folks, it's not about this info because I could literally cite all my sources.
I could literally get up there and cite websites that end in .gov and .edu,
all of the trusted sources that they would tell us are legitimate sources of information like cdc.gov.
I mean, look, I went on a YouTube video of a talk that happened at a university, right,
which is supposed to be like a place where ideas are exchanged and so forth,
and this woman at the university said something that was false,
and I posted a comment on YouTube where I said, you are wrong at this and that minute.
Here are the facts from cdc.gov and cited my source with a legitimate government website source,
and what did I get?
Deleted and blocked for posting the government's own data.
Is that disinfo? Is that fake news? No.
That just is something that they don't like because it's about curbing freedom of speech.
It is about destroying freedom of religion.
It is about stopping the truth from getting out because the truth's too powerful.
You know what? Go ahead and ban us from YouTube.
Go ahead and ban us from every social media that you want because you know what?
We will never stop preaching the truth, and you know what?
Our message is still getting out.
I've been banned from YouTube for years and years now.
I mean, how long has it been? Does anybody know?
I mean, it's been a few years, right?
Does anybody remember when it happened?
Did it really happen in 2020?
It's been like four years, and you know what?
Yet in the last four years, we are reaching new people every day through the Internet,
even in the last four years.
I have people walking up to me constantly saying,
oh, I just found your sermons six months ago, eight months ago, a year ago, year and a half ago.
Why? Because the truth's too powerful.
You know, you try to ban it and label it and hide it.
You know what? It's going to get out, and you know what?
They can ban me, but then somebody else is just going to get up and say the same stuff.
Somebody else is going to preach the same stuff.
You know, you ban Steven Anderson.
Oh, that's going to fix everything.
Guess what? The truth was being preached before I was born,
and the truth is going to be preached after I'm gone.
Banning me, I'm one person.
What about all the other people?
What about all the other millions of people who have not bowed the knee to Baal?
Okay, so you can't stop the truth.
Trying to censor God's word, censoring the Bible, censoring Christianity,
censoring the truth is a fool's errand.
It's impossible, and these people ultimately lose.
They lose!
You say, well, how do you know they lost?
Well, let's go to Ephesus right now and see how many people are worshipping Diana.
Because I'll tell you how many. Zero.
Not one, zero.
We could literally go to Turkey right now, and nah.
And you know what? All these statues, and I've never, well, I have been to Turkey briefly.
I went to Istanbul.
I didn't go to Ephesus or anything,
but I also went to the part of the island of Cyprus that's also owned by Turkey.
So I've been to the Turkish part of Cyprus, and I've been to Istanbul.
And here's the thing.
You go to these ancient ruins of the Greek gods and goddesses,
and what you'll find is that all of their heads have been chopped off,
and all of their genitals have been chopped off.
So you have all these statues of gods, but they have no head.
And also, they're missing some other things as well.
You know, that's the judgment of God on false religion.
And literally nobody's worshipping those false gods anymore.
Okay.
You see, trying to stop the truth from going forward, you know, the Bible says in Exodus chapter 1,
when the Egyptians are trying to stop the Israelites from multiplying it,
it says the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.
And you know, when the early church is persecuted hard, early in the book of Acts,
they that are scattered abroad because of that persecution,
they went everywhere preaching the gospel.
The more they got scattered, they just turned it into foreign missions.
You know, you put us in prison, we'll turn it into a prison ministry.
If you kill God's people, then you make them martyrs for the cause of Christ,
and other people are even more inspired to keep preaching the gospel.
I mean, look at England in the 16th century, right?
In the period leading up to the translation of the King James Bible,
in the days of men like William Tyndale and so forth.
You know, what about all those people that were burned at the stake by Roman Catholics
for wanting to put the Word of God into people's hands in the English language?
You know, did that work?
Like, yeah, we'll just burn all these people at the stake,
and then England's going to stay Catholic,
and we're going to keep people away from having the Bible in English.
Didn't work, did it?
Because what ultimately happened was the Bible ended up getting translated into English,
and it got to where, of course, the Roman Catholics were kicked out of England,
and they switched over to the Church of England.
The country switched over to being Protestant,
and then you started having all these Bibles being printed.
In fact, so many Bibles were printed in England,
finally the Roman Catholics realized,
we can't stop people from having the Bible in English.
It's going to happen.
There's nothing we can do about it, so if you can't beat them, join them.
So then the Roman Catholics came out with their own English translation,
even after they're saying, hey, we don't need to translate it into English.
Let the priest explain it to you.
The priest will read it.
He'll explain it to you.
They're trying to keep the Bible in Latin.
But then finally, when everybody's reading the English Bible,
they said, well, okay, if people are going to read an English Bible anyway,
let's make sure it's our Bible.
So then instead of going back to the original Hebrew text that's preserved by God
and the original Greek text that's preserved by God,
which is what went into the King James Bible,
they translated their Latin Vulgate into their own English Douay-Rheims version.
They came out with it just a few years before the King James Bible,
trying to kind of beat the King James Bible to the punch
and trying to get their Bible in there.
And of course, you know, their Bible is not popular.
You know, it's only used by Roman Catholics and evangelicals
and Protestants and Baptists are, of course, all using the King James
for hundreds of years.
Now, of course, a bunch of people are using a bunch of stupid modern versions.
Some of us are still on the King James.
In fact, a lot of us are still on the King James.
In fact, did you know that if you go on Amazon.com
and you just look at some of the bestsellers,
you know what the bestsellers are?
King James. Bestsellers are King James.
Next bestsellers are King James.
And look, all of the devil's push to get everybody on these modern versions
that are twisted and corrupted in so many places,
all of the money of advertising that's gone into these modern versions
and still you go on Amazon, what's the bestseller?
The KJV.
It's funny, you go on Amazon and the first bunch of results are all ESV,
but it all says sponsored.
Sponsored result, ESV.
Bestseller, KJV.
The KJV remains the most read version in America.
Today, if people got up and read their Bible this morning,
if people are going to get up tomorrow morning, Monday morning,
and read their Bible, chances are it's going to be a King James
in the United States of America,
even though all these big liberal churches are all using the modern versions.
Look, obviously a lot of churches have modern versions,
but most of those people don't really read their Bible.
You know, the people who are actually serious about reading the Bible
tend to read a King James.
That's what Pew research polls have shown.
And I've got the data on that from secular non-biased sources
to back that up, too, in case truth actually matters to people.
You know, I can back that up with the sources.
Go on Amazon.
Look at the bestsellers.
Look at what, you know, people want the King James.
Look at the trending search on Google.
When people are searching a scripture on Google,
hey, when we type in a scripture on Google,
we type in KJV afterward.
We type in YouTube.
Hey, I want to listen to the Bible.
You know, I want to listen to 2 Chronicles 11, KJV.
Okay, it's a suggested search term.
They're like, you looking for KJV?
And you're like, yep, tab.
I'll take it.
King James.
So ultimately, attempts to suppress the word of God,
to silence preachers of God's word,
to ban preachers and ban preaching, it's futile.
It's a fool's errand.
I mean, I was banned from South Africa.
Then I went on our website and looked at the statistics.
We're getting three times as many sermons downloaded
after getting banned from South Africa.
I mean, that's better than a visit to South Africa.
I don't even have to go.
You know, I get to stay home.
I don't even have to go adventure myself into that theater.
You know, this total, you know, crap hole of a country.
Sorry if you like South Africa.
But hey, you know, the bottom line is,
we can still reach people with the gospel.
You can't stop us.
The bottom line is that when people try to censor God's word
and persecute God's people,
the word of God just goes even further.
It just prevails even more.
Even more people get saved.
Even more people hear about it.
It's stupid, but they keep trying it, don't they?
Because they're scared.
Because they know they're losing.
But it doesn't work.
But you know, even just to stop for a moment
and forget about the spiritual aspect of this story.
Forget about the spiritual aspect of this story for a minute.
Obviously, these people are promoting idolatry
and Christ is actually the way, the truth, and the life.
And he's actually the true God and the creator,
the true God and eternal life.
That aside, in general,
when things in this world are changing
and people are just hell-bent on keeping them the same,
it's always a fool's errand anyway, right?
There are certain movements that are just forces of nature
and you can't stop them.
You know what this kind of makes me think of
when I think about these idol makers going out of business?
It makes me think of people who freaked out
when machines were first invented or something.
You know, and it's like,
oh man, this guy, he's made shoes his whole life
and now he's being put out of business
because now shoes are being made by a machine.
And so we got to boycott the machines
and we have to smash up all the machines.
You know, there were people who used to go in
and literally break machines and sabotage machines
and destroy property
because they said these machines are evil
because they're taking away jobs.
And you know, I might step on some toes right now,
but these are like the same people
who hate the self-checkout or something.
You know what I mean?
Like, they kind of just freak out
about the self-checkout and everything, you know.
And let me tell you when I get irritated by the self-checkout.
I get irritated when I have to wait in line for the self-checkout.
But if I have the choice between waiting in some big line
to deal with a person and just going to the self-checkout
and just taking care of it,
hey, if the self-checkout's saving time and money,
let's do it.
I'm for it, okay.
I don't hate the self-checkout.
I don't hate technology.
I don't hate driverless cars.
You know, I don't hate any of that stuff.
And here's the thing.
Let's say you do hate the self-checkout.
Let's say you do hate driverless cars.
Let's say that you do hate these,
guess what, it doesn't matter
because they're happening anyway.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Like, you can be a Luddite
and hate technology and resist technology,
but at the end of the day, the technology's happening.
I remember a pastor getting up and preaching.
19 years ago, he said,
our church is running a thousand
and we don't have a website.
Websites are stupid.
This is like 19, 20 years ago.
He said, websites are stupid
and these little churches have a website.
Who do they think they're kidding?
Little church, I got a website.
We're running a thousand.
We don't have a website.
We don't need a website.
Websites are stupid.
You know what?
That guy's got a website.
He got a website like less than five years
after saying that.
I'm not going to say who it was
because I don't want to make fun of the guy.
He's a good guy.
But he was acting like websites are so stupid.
It's like, come on, man, get real.
The internet is here to stay.
If you're not on the internet,
you might as well not exist as far as being a church.
I'm not saying as a person.
If you're a person that's not on the internet,
you still matter and exist.
But I'm saying if our church were not on the internet at all,
you know, to the young people,
we might as well not even exist.
They don't drive down the road saying,
oh, where's the Baptist church?
Here, let's get, ah, ah,
would you hand me the phone book, Sonny?
Let me see if I can find a Baptist church.
Let's face it,
literally everyone is looking for a church on the internet.
Right?
If you don't have a website,
I mean, look, if I'm interested in looking for a church in a certain area,
let's say I'm on a missions trip
or I'm visiting somewhere
or I'm, you know, helping somebody out who's traveling or something,
and I go to look for a church
and I find a church listed somewhere
and that church has no website,
I'm thinking this church may not exist.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
And you're like, I don't know if they're real.
I don't know if they exist.
I'm not even going to take my chances.
I'm going to keep looking until I find one that actually has a website.
You know, if it's not coming up on Google Maps
and there's no website,
I'm thinking this church might have died a long time ago.
I don't even know if it's real.
I don't even know if it's there.
But yet you literally had a pastor who's running a thousand
20 years ago
getting up and saying,
websites are stupid.
Our church doesn't need a website.
Why would we have a website?
You know, that didn't age well.
Because obviously he realized within a few years,
what am I saying? This is stupid. I need a website.
But that's how it is with everything.
Things change.
Life changes. The world changes.
Now here's the thing. Some things don't change.
The Word of God doesn't change.
The doctrines of scripture don't change.
So we're not changing with the times
when it comes to our doctrine.
When it comes to what the Bible says.
The Gospel doesn't change. Soul winning doesn't change.
Preaching doesn't change.
But technology changes.
Culture changes.
Our lives change and we've got to change with it.
And I'll tell you what kind of person
can handle change is a lifelong learner.
The lifelong learner
who's constantly using his brain
and constantly doing new things,
learning new things, accepting new ideas.
This person can change.
But then you've got these people
who go to school and they get their high school diploma
and they think they're just done learning.
And then they're just stuck.
And then 20, 30 years go by
and they've forgotten how to learn
and their brains literally as they get older
lose the ability to learn.
And look, I've talked to some people that are older people
that it's like all they can do
is just repeat back the same things to me.
They have like 200 pre-recorded statements
that just keep coming out of their mouth
and they can't process anything new.
You know, you hear about people
who they worked at this factory,
the factory closes down
and then they just remain unemployed
for the rest of their lives
because the factory closed down.
Well, listen to me, my friend.
If the factory that you work at closes down,
you need to find a new job.
You need to find a new skill.
You might have to learn something new.
And here's the thing.
Everything is ultimately temporary.
Whatever gig you have,
you might have some business or some occupation.
You never know when it's going to go away,
when the demand's going to be gone
and you might have to do something different.
Well, that's why you got to be open to change
and you got to be flexible.
And so these guys, what they should have done is said,
hey, wait a minute,
nobody's buying our stupid idols anymore
because they realize that they're a false god,
that they didn't create the world
because they're literally just a piece of metal.
They're sick of bowing down to a piece of metal.
It doesn't make any sense.
Then they should have said,
okay, what else can we make out of metal?
Right?
Innovate.
Adapt.
Make something different.
You know, just realize,
hey, we are not going to be able to do this forever.
Because what are they saying?
They're saying our livelihood is in danger here.
Right?
Our livelihood, our craft, it says in verse 27,
is in danger to be said it not.
Well, here's the thing.
Many, many crafts throughout history have been said it not.
Think about jobs that don't exist anymore.
Let's name some jobs that don't exist anymore
besides the shoemaker.
And I'm sure you can find some guy somewhere
that's still making shoes from scratch.
But in general, it's gone.
What did you say?
Whaling for oil.
Oh, yeah.
That's right.
Killing whales in order to get their oil.
I mean, that used to be huge.
That used to be a big thing.
You know, they would kill these gigantic whales
that are bigger than school buses and get oil from them.
And people are lighting their houses with it.
Whaling doesn't exist anymore.
What?
A wheelwright.
Yeah, like somebody who's sitting there making wheels.
What?
Taxis.
Yeah, the taxicab has been replaced by Uber and Waymo,
which Waymo is driverless.
No human driver.
That way he's not going to talk your ear off.
You know, I love it.
Sometimes you just want to be in peace, amen?
But here's the thing about that,
is that there are literally places in Germany,
when I was there, where Uber was illegal
because they're trying to protect the taxicabs or something.
You want to defend Germany?
Is that what this is?
It still is that way?
Yeah.
There's places in Germany where,
oh, it's illegal because you're putting the taxicabs out of business.
Well, you know what?
Sorry, taxi drivers, you need to go out of business
because something better has come along.
You know, I used to travel for business all the time.
I hated using taxicabs.
It was always a big pain in the neck.
I didn't like anything about the experience of using taxis.
When Uber came out, I absolutely loved it.
I found it to be superior in every way, okay?
But then it's going to get even better.
Something else is going to replace Uber.
So if you just think, you know, okay, I'm 25 now.
I'm going to do Uber for the next 50 years.
You're probably not going to do Uber for the next 50 years.
So you know what?
You should always have other skills that you're cultivating,
other knowledge that you're acquiring.
Look, I'm just trying to help.
I'm not trying to hurt your feelings.
I'm trying to help you out.
I'm giving you good advice right now, and here's why.
Because if you're this person who's just like,
well, I'm going to live my life exactly the way
I'm living it right now for the next 50 years,
you know, it's going to be your loss when 10, 20, 30 years from now,
you're struggling to live your life because, you know,
nothing's the same anymore.
You've got to adapt and change with the times.
And look, I'm not talking about morality.
Morality stays the same.
There's nothing new under the sun.
The same morality from Bible times is the same morality today.
Don't fornicate.
Don't commit adultery.
It's not like, well, you know, now we fornicate now.
The culture has changed, so now adultery is good.
Drunkenness is good.
No, drunkenness is always going to be wrong.
We're always going to be sober.
We're always going to be faithful to our wives.
We're always going to abstain from all appearance of evil.
But let me say this.
There are a lot of things about our lives that are going to change
in the next 30, 40, 50 years.
And you know what?
People who are lifelong learners are going to be able to adapt,
and they're going to be able to adjust,
and they're going to be able to keep on going and thriving.
They're not just going to become this sad, over-the-hill, washed-up person
who's, oh, man, things used to be so much better,
you know, never since the factory closed down 30 years ago.
Move on.
You know, this whole thing of, like, oh, machines are taking away jobs.
People have literally been saying that for, like, 150 years.
You think that's new?
Oh, machines are taking away.
Machines have always taken away people's jobs, and they always will.
But ultimately, they make our lives better.
We live an easier, better life today than people lived 100 years ago.
I'm sorry, but you can whine and complain about it,
but we could put you in a time machine
and send you back to the 1920s or something,
and you're not going to like it.
You're going to wish you were in the 2020s
so that you can enjoy all the things that we enjoy.
Instead of whining about it, just be thankful for the abundance.
Be thankful for the blessings.
Look, 90-some percent of people used to be farmers.
Now 5% of people are farmers.
You know what that means?
That means that 5% of people are producing food for everyone else
so everyone else can do other things,
like produce airplanes and trains and cars and clothes
and books and electronics,
and so we now have a lot more potential to do things,
and it could be used for good.
Of course it could be used for evil, but it could also be used for good.
You think that our church would have evangelized as many people
without technology as we have with technology?
I mean, look, we just stuck like 30-some people,
I think between us and the church in Australia.
How many people were on that mission trip?
So 57 people, I think about half of them are from the U.S.,
about half of them from Australia.
57 people hop on airplanes, go to Fiji,
and just do missions in a super receptive place.
They're just getting hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people saved
in the matter of just a few weeks
because they can just hop on a plane and do that.
Folks, how would you do that 100 years ago?
Get on a ship, get all seasick, get all puking over the railing,
get there, get a bunch of diseases, you don't even know the language,
you don't even know, you don't have the right money,
you don't know how to book a hotel.
Folks, the technology is amazing.
We evangelize places that are five hours away by car.
If we didn't have a car, we wouldn't be able to do that, right?
Okay, what about the people in our church
that have lately been evangelizing using the video chat stuff, right?
They're going on and literally on video chat evangelizing people
through these video platforms.
I was in Georgia and I was talking to my cousin and some other people
who were literally, you know, going online
and literally soul winning through video chat.
So, I mean, they're face to face looking at people
and talking to people and winning people to Christ.
And you say like, I don't know about that.
It's like, well, you know, that's the way people live now.
They live online.
Now look, it's never going to replace, obviously,
the assembling of ourselves together, right?
We're not going to do church virtually.
You know, we need to physically assemble together as God's people.
That's one of those things that just never changes.
But here's the thing, just because we physically
attend church together and assemble together,
does that mean that we don't also interact
outside of church using electronic media, right?
You know, I guarantee you that there are people in our church
who are texting one another throughout the week, right?
Why? It's fellowship.
They're staying in touch.
They're encouraging each other.
I guarantee you there are people in our church who text somebody a Bible verse,
text somebody a Bible question, text somebody a sermon that they like,
and they stay connected and have fellowship.
You know, there are people in other parts of the world
that basically they have a church that they go to,
but maybe their church is really small.
They don't have a lot of friends there.
There's not a lot of fellowship.
You know, so they have another network of believers
that they're communicating with online.
You know, and so technology can be good.
It can be helpful. It can be a blessing.
Obviously, we could focus on all the negative things about it,
but here's the thing.
You could focus on the positive or you can focus on the negative,
but either way, it is inevitable.
So you can whine about it or you can rejoice about it.
Either way, it's not going to change.
You say, well, maybe we should be like the Amish, you know, and just go by.
Even the Amish people that I run into are flying on airplanes, driving cars.
They're selling their Amish quilts on the Internet.
They got a website for their quilts.
You know, we bought Amish mattresses on the Internet.
How did we in Arizona buy Amish mattresses?
You think we sent a pigeon over there with the money?
No.
And sometimes they'll have someone else do their dirty work for them.
Here, process these people's credit card for me so I can stay pure from technology.
It's a bunch of stupidity and hypocrisy.
Some video popped up, you know, that somebody sent me the other day
that was like, this man has no legal existence or whatever.
This man is totally off the grid or whatever.
And then like in the course of interviewing the guy, the guy is like,
oh, well, yeah, actually I do have a birth certificate.
Actually I do have social security, but, you know, I got rid of it
because I'm like Ken Hovind.
I'm a sovereign citizen or whatever.
You know, he thinks you can like get rid of your social security number.
Newsflash, you could tear up your social security number.
That's still your social security number.
And so that guy still has a legal existence.
He just doesn't pay taxes because he's living like Huckleberry Finn, okay,
by himself, you know, whatever.
And you know what?
Hey, God bless him.
I'm not hating on the guy.
I'm sure he's a nice person, but at the end of the day, let's face it,
even that guy is using technology.
If I went through his house right now and I said, hey, you know,
I got a warrant to look for technology.
I'm finding it.
I guarantee you that bro is using technology
because everybody's using technology, even Amish people.
So instead of whining about things changing,
you've got to change with the times.
And I'm not talking about spiritual issues here, my friend.
I'm just talking about life, okay?
You know, I'm sorry, but you're just not going to live that lifestyle
that you lived 40 years ago.
It's just not a thing anymore.
And we can all sit around and reminisce about the old days.
But you know, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes that if you sit around
inquiring about why the former days were better than these days,
that's not a wise inquiry, you know?
And by the way, I'm sick of hearing about how, you know,
back in the olden days, churches were better or preaching was better.
You know what? Hang that garbage.
I like churches in 2024.
You know what I mean? Like, oh, man, back in the 60s,
back in the 70s, back in the 80s.
Nuts to that. How about now?
There's great preaching happening now.
There's great soul winning happening now.
There are great mission trips happening right now.
And look, I understand that America has serious problems.
America's biggest problems are spiritual problems and moral problems.
But you know what? We are living in a greater level of prosperity
than any generation that has ever existed.
I'm sorry, but that's a fact.
And young people whine about how, oh, you know, we don't have the prosperity of our parents.
Sorry, we were there.
You do have the prosperity and more, okay?
You know what? The bottom line is, look at all the old houses in Phoenix.
You know what they all have in common? They're all small.
Think about it. Go to a neighborhood that was built in the 50s,
and you know what? Most of them have been added on to.
But if you actually look at the original floor plan
of those houses that were built in 1952 and 1959, the heyday,
they are like 900 square feet.
Fact. No garage, 900 square feet. Okay?
And then today, people are like, oh, man, you know, it's so expensive to buy this
2,500 square foot house with a pool in the backyard
and have my two vehicles in the driveway and internet and cell phone.
You know, I've got to have the iPhone, the iPad, the iWatch.
I've got to have this subscription and that subscription, right?
All my expensive clothes and everything.
It's like, oh, man, it's so hard to get by.
Folks, you know what? If you wanted to live like someone from the 50s,
you could, and you would save a lot of money.
You think people in the 50s, oh, the economy is so bad.
Isn't that funny how all the restaurants are just packed with people?
Shopping malls packed with people.
Casinos packed with people.
Businesses just packed. Business is booming.
Why? Because people have a lot of money.
That's why they're just whining.
And I know this is not a popular subject,
but I am speaking the truth right now,
and I know I'm on a little bit of a rabbit trail right now,
but I am speaking the truth right now.
You know, you drive down the road and you just see mansion after mansion
after mansion after mansion after mansion, okay?
The richest people 100 years ago did not live in houses like that, okay?
Not even close.
So we basically are just a little bit spoiled.
We want to eat out at every meal and then talk about how we don't have any money.
You know, look at what people were eating 75, 80 years ago.
You know what? They were eating cheaper food.
They were eating humble, homemade meals.
And, you know, you could save a ton of money on food, too,
by eating things like rice and beans and tortillas
and eating less meat and everything like that.
Look, and I'm not telling you to eat less meat.
I'm for you, you bunch of carnivores and whatever.
I'm not trying to fight you on it,
but I'm just telling you, carnivore diet wasn't a thing in the 1950s, okay?
People ate meat a few times a week.
They weren't just eating just breakfast meat, lunch meat, dinner meat.
You know why people are able to eat all that meat?
It's because they have money to eat all that meat, okay?
And so, you know, there are people today that are living in poverty
in other parts of the world,
men alive, in the United States of America.
You know, we have it pretty good.
Obviously, the economy has its ups and downs,
but in general, let me tell you something,
people are making a lot more money than they were making when I was a teenager.
You know, when I was just fighting over little $5.15 an hour jobs when I was a teenager,
you know, now they're getting paid 18 bucks to work at In-N-Out Burger, okay?
So, yeah, things are more expensive.
People are also making three times as much money as they were.
And so it's easy to complain and whine about things,
but did you know that now, just look at the data, look at the numbers,
and you will find that across this entire planet,
this entire planet is more financially prosperous than they were 20 years ago.
Two things have happened in the last 30, 40 years.
Number one, the gap between rich and poor has gotten bigger.
There's a bigger gap. Oh, no, it's so true.
But, you know, people want to focus on that, but here's what they don't focus on.
Both rich and poor have way more money than they used to.
Everybody has more than they used to.
Across the board, every country virtually on this planet in general
has more money than they used to.
Universally, there is more prosperity in this world than ever,
but there's a bigger inequality.
Well, you know what? Who cares?
I don't care how much some other person has.
I just want to have more than I did 20 years ago.
Some other guy's super rich or something? Well, whatever.
He can take it to hell with him if he's not saved.
And he can't take it to heaven with him if he is saved.
So, whatever. That's not what life's about.
But the bottom line is, there's a lot to be thankful for
because technology has, in general, brought up the level of prosperity.
We could all whine about how hard our lives were,
but then we could also look back 100 years ago,
people working 6, 12-hour days,
and they don't have an iPhone to show for it at the end of the day.
Right?
And so the bottom line is that when things change,
when technology changes, when society changes,
when culture changes, when the job market changes,
you've got to change with, instead of just being stuck and complaining,
oh, man, we can't make these little silver shrines anymore,
you know, you need to adapt and say, you know what,
I need to make something else out of metal.
Or, you know what, maybe, I mean, you know,
maybe these people could have invented some new technologies.
Right? I mean, human beings are smart.
You know, human beings have been innovating forever,
ever since we were created by God.
So, instead of complaining about, oh, we can't sell idolatry
because Christianity's on the rise, you know, find a new job, idiot.
Find a new job, bozo, because you're not going to stop Christianity
because the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
And that gospel train just wasn't going to stop.
And the whole world is going to be evangelized,
and it's going to be evangelized again,
and it's going to be evangelized again.
And you know what, if that's going to put some churches out of business, good.
Put the pagans out of business.
Put the Hindus out of business.
Put the Buddhists out of business.
And you know what?
All throughout history, religions have been eliminated.
Like, for example, you know, think about India.
You know, there used to be a lot more Buddhists in India.
Right?
I mean, you know, Buddha himself was an Indian guy.
You know, or Nepal or whatever, same thing, right?
But the bottom line is that there used to be a huge amount of Buddhism in India.
Now, it's not really a big thing there.
Okay?
It's mainly other countries that are into that.
You know, Norse paganism is gone.
Greek paganism is gone.
You know, the indigenous religions of the Native Americans are pretty much gone,
and then there's people who just want to hang onto it.
Hey, we got to keep on, you know, letting them do their little ghost dance or whatever.
Nah, man.
Let it die.
It's over.
Move on.
And you know, while I'm making people mad,
I might as well just unload the whole truck.
You know what?
The Indian reservation system is a horrible system.
It's really sad, the conditions that people are living in on Indian reservations.
And you know what?
I say that as someone who's been to all 21 of them in Arizona personally,
and I didn't just go there and buy jewelry and eat a Navajo taco.
I mean, I went there, and I went in the homes.
I've talked to the people.
I've literally personally been at the homes of thousands of Indians myself personally.
On all 21 reservations, I've knocked doors.
I've spent hundreds and hundreds of hours doing it.
I even learned a substantial amount of the Navajo language
and would converse with Navajos in the language.
Okay?
So don't tell me, you know, about Indians.
Okay?
I've been there, and you know what?
You hear on the rez is just, oh, this person committed suicide.
This person died in a drunk driving accident.
This person's murdered.
My nephew was shot.
My nephew's stabbed.
My son just jumped off a cliff.
We don't know if he was just drunk or if he was committing suicide.
And you know, how many times have you, Faithful Word Church members,
stood at the doors of Indians and they broke down in tears,
crying, telling you about the tragedy of their lives?
I mean so many times that I can't even count.
Okay?
Why?
Because what are they trying to do?
They're trying to hang on to something that's over.
It's over.
Okay?
It's America.
It's Christianity.
It's Western civilization.
Time to move on.
Hey, let's keep eating the Navajo tacos.
Let's keep wearing the turquoise.
You know, hey, I'm all for speaking the language.
I think the language is cool.
But at the end of the day, you're not going to go very far in America
without speaking English if you're a Navajo.
Let's face it.
You know, it's cool to keep the language up,
be able to talk to the elders and so forth
and talk to grandparents and stuff like that.
But at the end of the day, you know, English is the future in Arizona.
It's not Navajo.
And there's so many people that are just trying to fight this losing battle
to try to keep the Indians from becoming Christians
and to try to keep the Indians from becoming American,
to try to keep them distinct, their own sovereign nation.
But you know what?
It's just a fool's errand.
It's over.
And you know what?
If the general public actually knew how bad it was on these reservations,
they would be shut down immediately.
People don't really know what they're actually like.
And look, don't say that I'm racist.
I love the Indians.
I love spending time there.
I've spent hundreds of hours there.
I enjoy the language.
I enjoy the people.
I enjoy the good things that their culture have to offer.
But their Native American religion is satanic.
It's that simple.
Let it go.
Let it go the way of Zeus.
Let it go the way of Thor.
Let it go the way of all these other false religions that have died.
Wouldn't you love to see Mormonism die in our lifetime?
Wouldn't you love to see Jehovah's Witnesses just stop existing as a religion
and just have to just shut down and close up shop?
Wouldn't you love it?
Well, you know what?
In the long run, every tree that God the Father hasn't planted
is going to get plucked up.
Even massive false religions like Islam
are eventually going to be destroyed off the face of the earth.
Islam will ultimately be gone.
You think in the millennium it's going to be a bunch of Islam happening?
It's going to be over, man.
It's going to be toast.
Hinduism is going to be toast.
Buddhism is going to be toast.
They're going to go the way of the gods of Canaan, Baal.
Who's worshipping Baal today?
Nobody.
They're worshipping Beelzebub.
Beelzebub, you're close.
But the point is that at the end of the day,
the world's changing, life's changing,
and ultimately, especially when that change is Christianity coming in,
Christian culture, the Bible, the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
man, get out of the way of that train or you're just going to get run over.
And these people are trying to censor God's Word,
trying to shut the mouths of a guy like Alexander,
shut the mouth of the Apostle Paul,
you know, bid them to depart from their city.
You know, isn't it amazing how many cities Paul gets kicked out of
and how many times Paul goes to prison,
but he still ends up pretty much evangelizing
the whole stinking Roman Empire practically?
You know what I mean?
Boy, they really did a good job of stopping him, huh?
You can't stop him because God's on his side.
Well, you know what? God's on our side too,
and so you're not going to stop us either.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the Apostle Paul,
and Lord God, we thank you so much for this story about,
about people who just weren't willing to accept the fact that they were defeated,
that they were losing, that the world was changing,
that things were changing.
Lord God, help us, first of all,
to evangelize the pagans of this world with the Gospel of Christ,
and whatever remaining idolaters and pagans and sorcerers that are out there, Lord,
help us to put them out of business with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Lord.
But not only that, even just in our personal lives,
help us not to have this silversmith mentality that says,
you know, the world has to stay the same,
and I have to do this same job no matter what.
Lord, help us to be flexible and constantly be growing
and constantly learning as people so that we can continue to live and thrive
all of our days on this earth, Lord, and continue to serve you effectively
and to use technology to serve you, Lord,
and we'll give you all of the honor and praise for whatever we're able to achieve,
and it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Amen. Let's take our hymnals, please. Go to Hymn 261.
Hymn 261, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Hymn number 261.
Sing it out together on that first, Oh Soul, Are You Eerie and Troubled?
Hymn number 261. Sing it out now.
Oh Soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see.
There's life more of a look at the Savior
than life more abundant and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things on earth will grow strangely near
in the light of His glory and praise.
Through death into life everlasting,
He pass and we follow Him there.
Over us sin no more at dominion,
for more than walkers we are.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things on earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and praise.
His Word shall not fail you, He promised.
Believe Him and all will be well.
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things on earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and praise.
And the things on earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and praise.
Thank you for watching.