Now, in Psalm 29, the Bible starts out in verse number 1 saying,
Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.
Look at the last verse of the chapter, verse 11, it says,
The Lord will give strength unto his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace.
So, basically in verse number 1 he says, he's talking to the mighty.
He says, Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
You see, God should get the glory for any might that we have,
because any of our might that's worth anything, it's not something of ourselves.
The Lord gave us that might, he gave us the strength, it says in verse number 11.
God gives strength to his people, and we ought to give him the glory.
We ought to give him the glory, it says in verse number 2, due unto his name.
We ought to have the respect and reverence for God that we should,
as our creator, as the one who gave us everything that we have.
You know, the only reason we're saved is because of him.
And when we talk about our salvation, we should be talking about it in the sense that he gave it to us.
It's him that gets the glory.
Not, let me tell you what a sinner I was, and I gave it up, and I gave this up, and I gave that.
You know, it's Jesus. It's not you, it's not me, it's not what we've done.
It's not by works of righteousness would we have done,
but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
We are saved because of him.
Everything that we have, he gave us.
Okay? If you have a wife, he gave you that wife.
If you have a husband, he gave you that husband.
If you have a job, he gave you that job.
If you have food today, he gave you that food.
Honestly, every gift, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness and has a shadow of turning.
Every good thing comes from God.
He gave you everything you have.
Any strength or might or power that you have came from God.
Therefore, we should not boast about any talents that we have, any abilities that we have,
or any strengths that we have, because they were given to us by God.
Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord,
because he is the source of anything that's worth anything in any of our lives.
And so the Bible says, give unto the Lord, O ye mighty.
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
The sad thing is that those that are mighty are usually the ones who don't give God the glory.
That's why God, in many cases, has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.
You see your calling, brother.
He says, not many wise, not many mighty.
He doesn't often pick the most talented or best-looking people
because of the fact that man would get the glory.
So he sometimes picks people that other people would look at and say,
this person's not going to succeed, this person's not talented, they don't have what it takes,
because then he gets all the glory when he uses someone who's weak to do a mighty act.
And so those that are mighty, maybe you do have some talents and abilities,
maybe you are good-looking, give God the glory.
It's not anything that you've done to be where you are.
God is the one who brought you to the point where you are.
It says in verse number two, give unto the Lord the glory, do unto his name.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Now, according to the Bible, holiness is a beautiful thing.
And today we think of beauty.
In many cases, if we were to sit down with someone and ask them,
what comes to your mind when you think of beauty,
they'd probably name some filthy actress.
You know what I mean?
Some filthy supermodel, and I use the word filthy for a reason.
You know, I'm talking about her personal life.
I'm talking about her character.
I'm talking about her morality or lack thereof when I say that.
That's not beautiful to God.
Somebody help me out. I don't know where this verse is.
I need to just memorize this verse because it's such a great verse.
I always want to preach it and I don't have it memorized.
The one about...
You know what I'm talking about?
The jewel?
The jewel and the pig snout?
Find it for me. Help me out.
And I'm going to commit that to memory before I go to bed tonight.
Because it's such a great scripture.
It just describes so beautifully what I'm trying to say here.
But holiness is a beautiful thing.
Ladies, if you want to be beautiful,
and spend less time in the medicine cabinet,
and spend some more time in the prayer closet,
that's going to be giving you the beauty that comes from the inside.
Knowing the Bible. Loving God's Word.
Being clean and pure and holy and righteous.
It's beautiful when you're dressed modestly.
You know, it's a beautiful thing.
To a Christian man, nothing is more beautiful than a woman who's dressed modestly.
It's true.
And so you have to ask yourself, young ladies,
what kind of a man are you trying to attract with the way that you look?
I'm talking a young unmarried girl.
You know, what kind of a guy are you trying to end up with?
When you dress like the world, you're going to attract the world.
When you dress in a way that's godly and modest and feminine and righteous,
a man who loves God, a Christian man, will see that and think that it's beautiful.
Because it is beautiful.
A man whose mind hasn't been warped by this world into what beautiful is
will see a godly, dignified, holy-earth woman as beautiful.
Holiness is a beautiful thing.
God's name is a beautiful name.
God's Word is a beautiful book.
And the Bible says, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Did you find that verse for me, Brother Dave?
The book of Proverbs is a big book, so we're probably not going to find it.
Proverbs 11, 22.
You got it? Proverbs 11, 22. Thank you.
Let me turn there.
I found it in my iPhone.
Thank praise the Lord for the iPhone.
It substitutes for a word of knowledge.
This is a really profound verse.
You have to just let this verse sink in.
I always think of this verse. I don't know why I haven't memorized it.
Because whenever I see the magazine cover,
and all of us men are constantly bombarded.
The devil wants so bad to tempt us to get our minds in the wrong place.
So he puts it in front of us everywhere we go,
both in the flesh and in images and billboards.
This scripture is one that I think of often.
And it's a great scripture. I'm going to memorize this.
It says, as a jewel of gold in a swine's snout,
so is a fair woman which is without discretion.
That's a great verse.
It's talking about a beautiful woman who doesn't have discretion.
Basically, she's indiscreet.
It means she's immodest.
She's promiscuous would be the word that we would probably think of.
It says, when you look at that beauty,
all it is is just an ornament on something that's dirty, that's filthy.
It's like a jewel of gold in a swine's snout.
Think about that.
And you know what else this verse comes to mind?
Sometimes I'll see these kind of girls.
They're a little bit sleazy and they'll have a nose jewel.
You know what I mean?
It's like a double whammy with this person.
And it's just, you think about it, if you were to take a swine,
and I've always heard about this my whole life,
and I'm a total city slicker.
I don't know anything about living on a farm or living in the country.
I've lived in the city my entire life.
But I remember we went and visited this ranch in New Mexico one time.
And I understood what everybody was talking about,
the sow wallowing in the mire.
Because if you get around pigs in their natural life,
they are truly filthy animals.
And I had never really thought too much about it,
but I saw this pig just wallowing in its own filth one time in New Mexico,
and it just really made an impression on me.
You imagine just putting a jewel on its nose.
It's not going to really make it look any better, is it?
You know what I mean?
And God's saying, don't be deceived by that jewel of outward beauty,
because what's on the inside is what's important.
And you young guys, I was talking to the ladies about how to dress,
but young guys that are dating,
don't be fooled by the outward appearance.
Don't just be sucked in by the outward beauty.
The Bible says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain.
But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Don't be like the world where it's just all a physical outward thing.
You should be looking for a woman that has inward beauty of holiness,
righteousness, godliness.
That should be the first priority, not the physical outward appearance.
And so man looketh on the outward appearance,
but God looketh on the heart, the Bible says.
And so I love what it says in that verse.
Proverbs 11, 22, I'm going to learn that.
And next time I preach, I will spout it off without even thinking,
because I'll have a committed memory.
But anyway, Psalm 29 says,
Worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness.
Verse number 3.
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters.
The God of glory thundereth.
The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful.
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
And this whole chapter is about the voice of the Lord.
It goes on and on and describes its awesome power.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars.
These are very large, strong trees.
Scott and I got to drive through the,
who's ever been to the drive-through tree where you drive through the tree?
The one up in Northern California?
Isn't it amazing?
It's an unbelievable tree.
And not only because you can drive your car through the bottom of it,
but it's still alive.
And it's thriving and it has all this lush green foliage.
And I mean, if you stand at the bottom of this thing and just look up at it,
it's an amazing sight.
I mean, it's a beautiful tree.
Just each branch of the thing is like bigger than any tree you've ever seen.
This tree is amazing.
And you know, you drive your car through the bottom of the tree and everything like that.
That's the type of tree that God's talking about.
I know that's a redwood and this is cedar,
but we're talking about just massive, strong trees.
They're immovable.
I mean, the bottom of this thing is carved out,
and the thing is still alive, still thriving.
And I believe, how old, do you remember how old they said it was?
A maximum of 2,400.
About 2,400 years old is what they thought it was.
And so, I'm glad it wasn't millions and millions of years ago.
2,400 years.
Thank you, Scott.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars.
Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
That's a place that is known for its massive cedar trees.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf.
Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn.
Now, Syrian is mentioned in one of the places in the Bible.
You say, what's Syrian?
Mount Hermon is mentioned throughout the Bible.
Psalm 131, I believe, is one place that's mentioned.
It's mentioned in Deuteronomy.
And in one of the places in Deuteronomy, it says parenthesis, which is also called Syrian.
So that's basically a great mountain, Mount Hermon, known also as Syria.
Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn.
Now, you say, haha, Pastor Anderson, a unicorn?
Come on.
Now, hold on a second.
I do a lot of stuff impromptu while I preach, you know.
I just pull out, because I kind of know how this game works.
I pretty much just pull out stuff.
Here, look up in these phony Bibles, would you?
Psalm 29.
It's not going to be there, is it?
Look it up.
I've never checked it, but I'm pretty sure it's not there.
Let's see what they say.
Boy, you want to talk about these modern Bible versions.
The NIV, the HIV, the STD, the NAS, the IUD.
I mean, there's a lot of bad versions out there.
And one thing about these versions, the NIC, KEY, MOUSC,
there's a lot of bad versions out there, but I'll tell you what,
they really butcher Psalms and Proverbs more than anything, believe it or not.
What do you got there, Brother Dave?
I see you shaking your head.
You can't even find it.
It's probably not even there.
You'll probably remove the whole chapter.
You got it?
It's an ox.
An ox?
It's a cow.
It's like a calf, Syrian, like a young wild ox.
Let's see if we can find any other animals.
Let me pass out some more of these phony bottles real quick.
Did somebody steal my new King James?
Somebody probably took it home to study.
They're backslidden.
Let's look up a couple more.
Let's see if we can get any other animals besides a cow.
Come on.
We can do better than that.
Anyway, you say, oh, a unicorn.
The King James Bible is wrong.
Here's what I find so unbelievable.
Everybody tries to attack this.
I've had a lot of people attack this.
And they say, come on, unicorns are mythological creatures, this and that.
But hold on a second.
Somebody tell me, what is the mythological creature of a unicorn?
What is it?
Somebody describe it to me in a few words.
A horse.
Oh, wow.
That's really hard to believe, isn't it?
Now, I've been to all kinds of zoos.
Going to zoos and botanical gardens is one of my favorite things to do.
I've visited zoos all over the place.
And I've also been to a lot of taxidermy museums.
And I've seen all kinds of animals.
Typically, when you go to a zoo, they have the classic animals.
You know, lion, tiger, bear.
But at different zoos, there are different animals.
Because let me tell you something.
There are so many species of animals in this world that you've never even seen or heard of.
Mammals.
You know, just when you think you've seen it all, you can go to one of these museums or one of these zoos and see animals that you've never even heard of or thought about.
It's true.
And you go, wow, I've never even known that there was such an animal.
Now, I've never seen a unicorn.
And today, in today's world, there is no such thing as a horn, a one-horned horse.
But I've seen all kinds of animals that were very similar to this.
I mean, I've seen a lot of animals with protrusions.
Pardon me?
Elk.
Elk?
I've seen a lot of animals with different protrusions and horse-like creatures.
I mean, I've seen a lot of animals that are similar to this, that have a lot of cartilage and bone structures and so forth.
I believe that this animal existed and is extinct, which is why it's in so many stories, which is why it's talked about in so much folklore and everything.
I don't think people just made it up out of nowhere.
There probably was an animal.
Now, I'd say that if it says unicorn, it's not an ox, I'll tell you right now.
Because the first three letters of that word unicorn are uni, like a unicycle, like Uno.
So it's some kind of a one-horned creature, I'll promise you that.
And if you look up the Bible and study all the different references, I believe it's probably what you think of, the classic unicorn.
And it's probably just an animal that's become extinct.
And I don't see what's shocking or hard to believe about that.
A horse with a horn coming out of its head.
Unbelievable.
What else have we got in these other versions?
Did you guys find them?
No, they just took it out.
What version do you have there?
The Living Bible.
They even skip and form like young calves.
They just combined it all?
Just took out the...
Okay, so it's all just calves.
What do you got there?
I don't know what version this is, but it's the Gideon Bible.
Did you zone out? It's the New King James.
Okay, well it just says a wild rhombus, young wild rhombus.
Isn't it amazing how the New King James is so much more similar to the NIV, the New American Standard, and the Living Bible than the King James version?
Because this says unicorn, they're home to a cow.
Because an ox is really a cow.
And there's nothing uni about a cow.
Cows have two horns.
So I believe that it's a unicorn and it's extinct.
There are a lot of animals that are extinct.
So I don't see what the problem is with that.
But it says in the next verse, the voice of the Lord divided the flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness.
The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forest.
Why are you still reading out of the Living Bible? No, I'm just kidding.
They're not either. They put it away.
The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forest.
And in his temple doth everyone speak of his glory.
Now, the voice of the Lord. What is the obvious reference here?
I mean, think about it. Have you ever audibly heard the voice of the Lord?
Anybody in this room? No.
But obviously, when we're talking about the voice of the Lord, we're talking about God's Word.
That's what we're talking about.
We're talking about the Bible. We're talking about God's Word.
Because none of us have ever heard God's voice.
And let me tell you something. King David wasn't listening to God's voice either.
God spoke to him through the Bible, through prophets, through men that spoke to him.
He wasn't listening to God's audible voice. That's not what he was talking about.
He's talking about the Word of God.
Now, turn to John chapter 10. John chapter number 10.
John chapter number 10.
Now, here's another interesting scripture about the voice of the Lord.
Jesus Christ, of course, is called throughout the Bible, the Lord.
And many times throughout the New Testament.
And it says in verse number 1 of John 10.
And by the way, I love the book of John.
And the Bible is talking about how powerful the voice of the Lord is.
What a powerful book.
I mean, every time I read the book of John, I'm moved by it. It's a powerful book.
It says in verse 1 of chapter 10,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber,
but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out,
and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them,
and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him,
for they know not the voice of strangers.
Let's go down a little bit in the chapter to verse number 14.
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep,
and other sheep I have which are not of this fold.
Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father.
You see, the Bible says here that the sheep will hear the voice of the shepherd.
Here's another scripture. You don't have to turn there.
He that is of God heareth God's words.
Ye therefore hear them not, because you're not of God.
Now doesn't that fit in exactly with what we just read in John 10?
He said those who are the sheep, those who are saved,
can recognize the voice of the shepherd.
If they hear the voice of a stranger, they'll say,
wait a minute, that's not the voice of the shepherd.
That is a stranger. That's somebody else.
My children recognize my voice.
You remember when Jacob and Esau were going to get the blessings from their father,
and Jacob went and disguised?
He said, you know, the voice is the voice of Jacob.
He said you feel like Esau, but your voice is the voice.
You can recognize people's voice.
And those that are saved can recognize God's voice versus the voice of an imposter.
And that's what we're talking about here, an imposter.
Because when he talks about the stranger, look what he says in verse 7.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers.
But the sheep did not hear them.
Do you see that? He said, I am the door.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.
The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.
I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life to the sheep.
Remember what it said in Matthew 24, that during the tribulation, false Christs will arrive?
He said deceiving the very elect, if it were possible.
Because it's not possible. Because the sheep do not hear the imposter.
They can tell the difference. They know the difference. Why?
Because the Holy Spirit is living inside of them.
It's a big part of why they have the discernment to be able to tell what is the voice of the Lord and what is not.
Now, what I'm going to say right now is controversial, but it doesn't matter to me because it's as true as the day is long.
In Psalm 29, it says in verse 4, the voice of the Lord is powerful.
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. That tells me that if something is not powerful, it's not the voice of the Lord.
And if something is not majestic, it's not the voice of the Lord.
Because this book is a powerful book. And this book is a majestic book.
This book has the fingerprint of God all over it.
You can look at it and say it's written not by man, but by God.
It's an amazing book. It's God's Word. It's inspired by God.
It's infallible. It's preserved to every generation.
But you see, many have come to me and they'll say to me things like this,
and they'll ask this question a lot and people get really upset about this, but that's life.
And they say this, they say, well, you know, you think the people who use the NIV aren't saved.
They'll say it. You know, you've had people say so.
You know, you think people who use the NIV aren't saved? Is that what you're trying to say?
Now hold on a second. I'm not saying that everybody who has an NIV is not saved.
Okay? Because of the fact that most people who have the NIV don't even read it anyway.
You know what I mean? So it doesn't matter what voice it is. They're just carrying it around.
It's true. But let me tell you something.
If somebody gets up every morning and opens that NIV and reads it and thinks it's the voice of the shepherd,
that person's not saved. Because they'd say, wait a minute, this isn't the voice of the shepherd.
There's something not right here. I was a child when I was exposed to the NIV.
And I got saved in a Baptist church and I was born and raised on the King James Bible.
When I got to be, let's see, I was exposed to the NIV a few times as a kid,
but when I was about 12, we started going to a church that preached from the NIV.
And I still had the King James with me. And I'm going to tell you something.
Nobody had ever taught me this issue. I didn't know anything about this issue.
I didn't know anything about it. But I sat there and heard the NIV and just said,
yeah, something's not right about this. I mean, this is a 12-year-old. I was 13, 14, 15, 16.
I was there for five years in these type of churches that were preaching to the NIV.
I had the King James. I'm looking down at the King James. I'm listening to the NIV saying,
that's not the voice of the shepherd. And I had people come to me and try to give me the switch to the NIV.
And I said, I'm sticking with the King James. They said, why? And I didn't even know why.
I'd give them all these reasons that didn't really make sense. I'd say, look, I like it. Okay? I like it.
And it's true. That's all there was to it. I just liked it. You know why? Because it's the voice of Jesus.
Because it was written by God. Because it was powerful. Because it was majestic. And the other was not.
I mean, let's face it. Even from a literary standpoint, the NIV is weak. It's lame. It's a poor excuse for literature.
It's not even quality literature. It's not even a beautiful writing style. It's terrible. It's awful.
I mean, you listen to it and it's just weak. It's pathetic. You listen to the King James Bible. Powerful.
And even in the Christian bookstore, where they're trying to push these other versions that they make more money on,
and they promote these newer versions, it'll even say, oh, if you're looking for the majestic, powerful splendor,
that's the King James. But if you're looking for accuracy and scholarship, something more readable,
readable and accurate, the NIV. I just saw one. It was advertised like that. It was a parallel Bible.
King James on one side, NIV on the other side. They were selling this.
And it said, this book combines the majestic splendor of the King James with the readable accuracy of the NIV.
They're not even going to try to say it's majestic. They're not even going to try to say it's powerful.
It should be called the awkward, clumsy version. That's what it sounds like. It's weak.
Not only that, it's filled with heresy. It's filled with lies. It calls Joseph Jesus' father.
It removes hell completely from the Old Testament. The word hell does not occur until, I believe, Matthew 9.
Get that. Matthew 9. I mean, you read 80% of the Bible before you find the word hell.
It takes out, and you say, oh, it doesn't affect doctrine. That's pretty serious doctrine.
Is the deity of Christ important doctrine? Because the NIV says that Jesus had an origin in Micah 5.2.
It says that he's a creation in the New Testament. I forget which verse exactly. Takes out the blood in Colossians 1.14.
Removes, adds to, removes 15 complete verses from the New Testament, and the numbering even goes 35, 36, 38.
You know, or 3, 5, 6. Okay. And so on. It's really a masterpiece of scholarship. Much more accurate.
But the bottom line is, and I'll stand by this, and people might be offended by this. Well, then be offended by it.
But let me tell you something. Anybody who can't see the difference, it's because they're not saved. Period.
Now, I know there's a lot of people who have the NIV who are saved, but they're not reading it.
Because if somebody's doing a lot of reading in that NIV and thinks it's God's word, something's wrong.
Something's wrong. I mean, if they can just sit and listen to it and just think.
And when somebody comes to me and says, you know, I used to read the King James, but now I like the NIV better.
I'm just thinking to myself, you've got a different shepherd than I do. Different voice.
You're following some other voice. And you know whose voice it is? Satan.
Because that's who's the author of all this confusion. That's the one who's the author of all these lies.
And let me tell you something. It's a lie. If you say, thus saith the Lord, and it's something that he didn't say, it's a lie.
The devil is a liar and the father of it.
And so I'll stand by that statement that those who cannot discern the voice of the Lord are unsaved.
Because those who are saved, they know not the voice of strangers. They're not going to go become a devout Mormon.
They know what's true and what's false.
And they can tell the difference between somebody who's telling them the truth and someone who's preaching a lie
because the Holy Spirit is living inside of them, giving them that discernment.
Now the unsaved man loves the NIV and these other counterfeit Bibles because he is a man, so he can understand a book that's written by man.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
For there are foolishness unto them, neither can ye know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
And so the unsaved man comes to the King James and says, I can't understand it.
And it's not the grammar, it's not the wording, because there are some big, gnarly words in the NIV too.
And there are some very strange grammatical constructions in the NIV that I can't even understand.
I'm a pretty educated person.
The King James Bible is not understood by the heathen because they're not saved.
So that's why they can't comprehend it.
So that's why they want something that's brought down to their level, which is the NIV at a third grade reading level.
But that's not even why they can understand it.
They can understand it because it's written by man.
And man can understand man's word, but it takes a Christian with the Holy Spirit living inside of him to understand God's word.
You have to be saved to understand God's word. It's a Bible doctrine.
1 Corinthians 2 is clear on that.
But back to Psalm 29, now that I've said that, I just want to make that clear because people who are...
Pastors who preach the NIV, I don't believe they're saved for one second.
I said that pastors who preach the NIV aren't saved.
Put it in your pipe and smoke it.
You say, oh, I can't believe you said it. I said it.
I'll say it again. They're not saved.
And by the way, it's not that they're not saved because I said they're not saved.
It's not like I'm sending them to hell.
They're already going to hell whether I say it or not. I'm just telling you about it.
You know what I mean? People get mad. How can you do that?
Like I'm the one who decides or something.
Who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. I'm just stating the fact of it.
But the Bible says in Psalm 29, it says, let's get back to where we were.
The voice of the Lord is powerful. And what more powerful book than the Bible?
It's powerful. I mean, it's amazing. It's unlike any other book.
And I've read a lot of books, and I continue to read a lot of books.
Nothing could hold a candle to the Bible.
I've read some of my favorite books as many as five times, six times.
But you know, on that fifth or sixth time, it's getting old.
This book, you read it scores of times, and it gets better and better and better and better.
It's a powerful book. It's unbelievable. It's God's word.
It says that the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars.
Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
Yea, make him also to skip like a calf.
Lebanon and Syria, like a young cow. No, a young unicorn.
Verse 7. It would really be redundant if it's an ox.
Again, because isn't a calf pretty much a baby ox?
They're basically just having him repeat the same thing when he's really talking about two different animals.
But he says in verse 7, the voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.
And let me tell you something. God's word always causes division.
There's a lot of important meanings in this.
We're going to get to in the next few verses here.
First of all, God's word divides according to verse 7.
It says the voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.
Genesis chapter 1, the first chapter in the Bible, says four times, God divided.
Four times in the first chapter.
God divided.
Jesus said this, think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but division.
He said, I've come to bring division.
He said, I've come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother,
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and the man exposed shall be day of his own household.
That's not popular, but that's what Jesus said.
His word divided. I like when Jesus preached and it said, then there was a division among the people because of him.
Because division. Because the truth always brings division.
God's word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the what?
Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
God's word divides. It brings division.
When God's word is preached, some believe and some believe not, and there's a division between them.
And there ought to be a division. We ought to put a division between what's right and what's not right.
And we ought to use God's word to be the dividing line in any area of life.
If you want to know what's right and what's not right, get the Bible and let it divide.
Take the Bible to the DVD case and put the Bible in the middle.
And put everything on this side of the Bible that's right and everything on this side of the Bible that's wrong in that DVD case.
And let the Bible tell you which one's right and wrong.
Let the Bible divide your music. Let the Bible divide your reading materials.
Let the Bible divide your doctrine. You divide your philosophy.
The Bible should be the one that tells you what is right and what is wrong.
Who is saved, who is not saved. Who is serving the Lord, who is not serving the Lord.
That should all come from the Bible. The Bible should be making those distinctions for us.
The Bible should be creating those boundaries and delineations for us.
But look at verse 8.
The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness.
The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve and discovereth the forests.
Here we see, number 1 in verse 7 we saw that God's word divides.
In verse 9 we see that God's word brings new life.
Because it says the voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve.
God's word causes new life to come about.
That's why if somebody is born again, the Bible says being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God.
That liveth and abideth forever.
We're born again by the word of God.
Because God's word not only makes the physical animal the hind to calve,
it also brings salvation.
God's word is able to save us, the Bible says.
Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.
Of his own will begat ye us with the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
That from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith,
which is in Christ Jesus.
God's word brings new life into being.
And not only in the animal kingdom, but also in the spiritual world of someone getting saved.
It's through God's word.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forest,
and in his temple doth everyone speak of his glory.
Now, that should be said of Faithful Word Baptist Church, wouldn't you say?
Now, in the Old Testament, the house of God was the physical temple.
Today, the Bible says the house of God is the church of the living God.
He said your body is the temple.
Does everyone in Faithful Word Baptist Church speak of God's glory?
Or do we just get out of church, and the whistle blows,
and all right, God bless you, see you later, you know,
we play the last song, we sing the last word,
and we walk out, and it's just sports.
Or, you know, and everybody says amen to that,
but, you know, or maybe other subjects,
that maybe more people in our church are, you know, guns.
You know, we just come to church, and we just talk about guns.
And, you know, there's nothing wrong with talking about, you know,
playing a sport, talking about guns.
There's nothing wrong with talking about politics,
or talking about your job,
or talking about all these different manner of things.
But, you know what, we ought to be a church that's,
that's known for just talking about the Bible,
you know, before and after the service, right?
Because that should be the most important thing.
And other conversations take place,
but really the main thing we should be talking about is God.
And not just in his temple, not just in the house of God,
but really just in our daily lives.
Really just day in and day out, this should be our focus.
And again, I'm not against having other interests
and other conversations,
and I have all kinds of other conversations,
but I want my primary focus of every conversation that I have,
and especially when I'm at church,
I want my emphasis to be God's word.
I want to be speaking of God's glory before and after the service
more than just the mundane things of life.
And so talk about the Bible.
Talk to your friends about the Bible, you know,
talk about something that matters.
And he says,
The Lord will give strength unto his people.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Now, there's so many promises in the Bible,
and we're living in perilous times,
a lot of people are nervous,
a lot of people are worried right now
about a lot of just really weird developments
that are going on throughout our world and throughout our nation.
There's really just a lot going on right now.
I mean, it's really been an eventful week,
and the last few weeks have been really eventful,
just on a lot of different levels.
Many things are happening.
Many people are uncertain about the future.
But, you know, God is going to give us the strength
to be able to go through whatever trials and tribulations lay ahead.
God's going to strengthen us.
He's going to build us up.
We will be able to withstand in the evil day
if we put on the whole armor of God.
You see, we ought to be preparing ourselves spiritually
because we don't know what's going to happen.
We don't know what we're going to face.
We don't know what's going to happen.
So the best thing you could be doing right now
is strengthening yourself.
I'm not talking about the weight bench.
You know, I'm talking about God strengthening you
through his word, okay?
I'm talking about through preaching,
through the Holy Spirit, you being strengthened,
because you're going to need strength
to be able to withstand in that evil day.
I mean, you're going to need to be able to have the character,
and you're going to need to be founded upon a rock
when the winds and the waves and the storm blow upon your life
because we don't know what's going to happen.
You say, oh, are you worried, Pastor Anderson?
Are you stockpiling food and ammunition?
You know, the thing is, honestly,
I just believe that God is my protector.
I believe that God has said that the angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them to fear.
I believe that whatever happens to me,
God will be leading me, and whatever happens to you.
You know, and I'm not saying nothing bad
is going to happen to me or you.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that anything that does happen,
when you're walking in God's will,
it's because God allowed it to happen.
Now, if you're outside of God's will
and you're just out living your own life,
doing your own thing,
well, you know, you're just taking your chances, buddy.
But when you're living for God
and when you're following His word
and when you're in the house of God
and you're winning souls to Jesus Christ,
God will guide and direct you and protect you
and guide your paths,
and you don't have to worry about tomorrow.
Amen.
God will give you the strength that you're going to need
to go through whatever trials He asks for.
You say, you know what?
I'm going to go to bed tonight and sleep like a baby.
I'm not going to sit there and toss and turn
about all the things in this world that are going haywire.
I'm going to try to stand up for what's right
and try to do the best I can to fight for what's right.
But at the end of the day, I just leave it in God's hands
because I know that no matter what happens to others,
that God is going to take care of me.
I believe that.
And you can have that same assurance too.
Just say, hey, God's going to strengthen me.
God's going to give me peace.
God's going to protect me.
God's going to put a wall around me and a hedge around me.
And anything that happens to me,
it's going to be because God allowed it.
Even Joe, who suffered more than anyone.
I mean, he suffered more than anyone.
Extreme physical tormentuous pain all over his body
from sores and boils.
Financial catastrophe.
His friends looking down upon him,
thinking of him as a wicked person.
His own wife just telling him, curse God and die.
His 10 children, all dead.
I mean, what more could happen to the guy?
And yet, he said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him.
And right throughout that whole thing, God was with him.
God was allowing Satan to do everything that Satan did,
and he put certain limitations on Satan.
First he said he couldn't touch his body.
Then Satan upped the ante.
He said, okay, you can touch his body, but you can't kill him.
You see how God was in control in that situation?
God was allowing him to take place,
and God gave Joe the strength to withstand,
and the latter end of Joe,
God blessed the latter end of Joe better than the former.
He ended up better off.
After he went through that trial, he had 10 more children.
He had twice as much financial prosperity.
And I guess his wife started being a nice person.
I don't know, I'm just reading between the lines.
They had 10 more kids, you know?
I guess they worked things out.
You got to kind of fill in the blanks, I guess.
But the bottom line is, let that verse sink down, verse 11.
And you know what? This is just one of thousands.
Listen to me now.
Thousands of places in the Bible where God promises to feed you,
to clothe you, to protect you,
to be with you, to strengthen you,
to hold you up.
How could you be worried?
How could you be fearful unless maybe you're just not reading it?
Or you just not believe it?
I mean, it's so clear that God will never forsake you.
And if you're like Joseph in a prison cell,
he's with you.
The Bible says the Lord was with Joseph in the prison.
And so sometimes God will take you to some places that you don't want to be,
but he will be with you.
And so if something happens, you just say,
the Lord gave, the Lord taken away,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
And I could preach all night.
We could just turn every page in the Bible.
A promise of God to protect you, to give you peace,
to feed you, to clothe you.
He's going to take care of you.
He's going to be with you.
He's going to stand up for you.
I mean, we could go on and on.
But here's just one.
The Lord will give strength unto his people.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
It doesn't say he might do it.
He will do it.
And I'm not preaching a prosperity gospel,
but he'll give you strength and peace in the midst of the storm.
He'll shelter you and hide you from the storms and the waves and the wind,
and your house will still be standing if it's found upon the rock.
Let's praise him and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you for this great chapter in your Word, dear God.
Every chapter in the Bible is majestic and powerful, as you've said.
And Father, thank you for letting us be indwelled by the Holy Spirit
and giving us that discernment and wisdom and enlightenment
that comes from having the Holy Spirit, dear God.
What a blessing it is to have the gift of the Holy Spirit.
To be able to hear your Word and to know that it's true.
To know that it's your Word.
To know that which is false and which is the voice of a stranger to God.
Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to comfort us, to strengthen us.
And we pray that you'd please just help us to have peace in our hearts
and continue to serve you even in the midst of perilous times and uncertain times.
Help us to remember that we are found upon the rock
and that your angels literally camp around those that fear you, according to Psalm 34.
We love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.