Not have I gotten, but what I received? Sing it out now.
Not have I gotten, but what I received.
Grace and holiness my almighty.
Oh, sing to them by thy grace.
Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story, to God be the glory.
I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
Once I was a legend sinned, rolled my heart.
Causing the steps of God to depart.
Jesus, you're gonna be happy by grace.
I held out a sinner saved by grace.
Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story, to God be the glory.
I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
Here's a living in the paradise.
Mercy and safety are outside the sky.
Sin had a lucky fear in God's face.
But now I'm a sinner saved by grace.
Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story, to God be the glory.
I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
Not for a sinner whose heart overflows.
But in a sinner to tell what he knows.
Once more to tell him, would I embrace.
I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story, to God be the glory.
I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
Heber, Arizona is about 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix.
Payson is probably only about 10 or 15 degrees cooler,
but sometimes that's all you need is that 10 or 15 degrees
to make it pleasant to be outside.
And so you can do some important soul winning
while also just enjoying some time outdoors
and away from the super intense heat of Phoenix, Arizona here.
And then below that the music emphasis night is September 2nd
and there's a camping trip at Riggs Lake Mount Graham.
That's September 23rd through 25th.
Spots are limited on that, so you'll need to sign up.
Again, there's no cost to that.
All right, let's go ahead and count up the soul winning
from the past few days going back to Thursday.
Anything from Thursday?
All right.
Okay, gotcha.
Anything else from Thursday?
What about Friday?
Okay.
Anything else from Friday?
How about Saturday?
Okay.
Three for the Payson trip.
All right.
Another one over here.
Okay, anything else from Saturday?
How about today, Sunday?
Brother Scott?
Four for the main group with Brother Scott.
Anything outside of that?
All right.
Three over here.
Okay.
Gotcha.
Okay.
Anything else?
Yep, gotcha.
Anything else from today?
All right, very good.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right, we're going to sing Psalm 126.
You should find the insert there in your hymnal.
If you don't have one, please raise your hand.
Sing it out.
When the Lord turned again, the giftivity is high.
We were like them that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.
Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them,
the Lord had done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them,
the Lord had done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
We that go before them reap with very precious seed,
shall doubtless come again, shall doubtless come again,
with rejoicing, bringing his sheeps with him.
Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them,
the Lord had done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
Amen, your hymnals now, turn to hymn number 314.
More love to thee, number 314.
More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee, hymn number 314, sing it out with me.
More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee,
hear thou the prayer I make on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea, more love, O Christ, more love to thee, more love to thee.
Once earth in joy I bring, sought peace and rest.
Now be alone, my sweet, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be, Lord of all Christ to thee, more love to thee, more love to thee.
Let's all come to this word, stand brief and pay.
Sweet are thy messengers, sweet their refrain.
When they can sing with me, more love, O Christ, to thee, more love to thee.
More love to thee.
Then shall my latest breath whisper thy praise.
This be the parting bride my heart shall raise.
Then still its prayer shall be, more love, O Christ, to thee, more love to thee, more love to thee.
Amen, good singing tonight.
We'll pass the offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 2.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, starting in verse number 1.
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the Bible reads,
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him,
that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first,
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped,
so that he as God, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.
Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders,
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.
Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
Dear Father in heaven, please fill the passage with your spirit and please bless us all, receive wisdom from this sermon we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Man, the title of my sermon tonight is Why the Devil Exists. Why the devil exists.
The Bible reads in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9,
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned to believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
So here we're talking about the end times, the antichrist, and the Bible says that the antichrist's coming is after the working of Satan.
So we're reading the book of Revelation chapter 13 and it talks about the beast, the antichrist, and it says the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority.
So the devil gives him that power and authority and here the Bible says that his coming is after the working of Satan or according to the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.
Now you might get this wrong idea that somehow God and the devil are these opposites,
like they're these two opposites fighting against each other and you know God's winning and the devil's winning and they're going back and forth.
This is absurd. God is the creator of the universe. God has all power, all knowledge.
He even transcends the universe and so to put the devil on his same level in any way is completely wrong.
If you wanted to come up with an opposite of the devil, maybe you could come up with like Michael the Archangel or something, you know, as far as being a similar being or being on a similar level,
but certainly not the Lord because the Lord has complete power over the devil.
And in fact, the Lord allows the devil to exist in order for his ultimate purpose and his ultimate will to be carried out.
Now the Bible says here that the Antichrist is going to come according to the working of Satan with all the power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness and unrighteousness.
But what does the Bible say in verse 11?
For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
Why would God do that?
Why would God send strong delusion for people to believe a lie?
That they all might be damned who believe not the truth but at pleasure and unrighteousness.
And so God is actually at work in the end times even allowing things like the devil and the Antichrist to work their deceit and their wickedness.
It ultimately ends up playing into God's ultimate plan for this world.
Now go if you would to Revelation chapter 20 because the Bible is very clear on this in Revelation chapter 20 where we see Satan being bound for a thousand years and cast into hell.
Now let me ask you this.
Couldn't God just bind the devil and put him into hell right now if he wanted to?
I mean what would stop God today from just putting the devil in hell and locking him up?
I mean why not just lock him up as soon as the Garden of Eden plays out?
You know he tempts Eve and whatever.
Okay.
Lock him up.
How about locking him up before that?
God allows the devil to exist.
The devil has no power except the power that God gives him.
Now look what the Bible says in Revelation chapter 20 verse 1.
And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years.
Notice that God doesn't even do this himself.
This is not even a big enough or important enough job for him to personally do it.
It's just like he just sends an angel, hey go throw the devil into hell.
He uses someone else to do it because it's not even a big enough job.
This other angel that he sends lays hold on the dragon, cast him into hell for a thousand years.
Verse 3, cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him
that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.
And watch this last phrase.
And after that he must be loosed a little season.
It's necessary for him to be loosed for a little season.
Why?
Why not just leave him in hell?
It's not like, oh you know God's fighting the devil and he finally gets him just where he wants him
and he puts him into hell and then the devil escapes from hell
for the final struggle.
No, he doesn't escape from hell.
God lets him out after a thousand years.
He must be released after a thousand years.
Why must he be released?
Well look at verse 7.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison
and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth,
Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea,
and they went up on the breadth of the earth, encompassed the camp of the saints about in the beloved city,
and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them,
and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
So we see that the devil is purposely let out of hell to fulfill this function of deceiving the nations
and gathering them to this great battle of Gog and Magog
so that fire can come down from God out of heaven and devour them.
So if you look at it this way in Revelation 20, the devil is functioning as a trash collector.
He's the great trash man.
And not only is he going to be the trash man in Revelation 20, he's a trash man right now.
And he will be a trash man during the tribulation.
He's the ultimate garbage collector.
Think about it.
Because God is out to destroy these people.
The devil gathers them all together so that he can destroy them.
Now something similar takes place back in Revelation chapter number 16.
You know, the Bible says in verse number 13 of chapter 16,
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,
and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
For they are the spirits of devils working miracles,
which go forth under the kings of the earth and of the whole world,
to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
So you notice that these three unclean spirits in chapter 16
are pretty much fulfilling the same function that the devil fills
a little over a thousand years later in Revelation chapter 20.
To gather them.
Here it's to be gathered under the battle of Armageddon.
The Bible says in verse number 15,
Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments,
lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
So here they're being gathered to Armageddon.
A little over a thousand years later they're gathered to the battle of Gog and Magog.
But either way it is the devil or unclean spirits, Satan, the Antichrist, whatever,
that is gathering these people together to be destroyed by God.
You think about the great parable of the tares sown among the wheat.
And God says, Let both grow together until the time.
And it says, And in the time of the harvest I will say unto the reapers,
Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them,
but gather the wheat into my barn.
And what we see in the end times is that
wicked people are multiple times gathered together for destruction.
You know the Bible says in Psalm chapter 2
that the kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed,
saying, Let us break their bands of sun or cast away their cords from us.
Think about in the book of Revelation,
it talks about in chapter 17,
how basically God gives one mind unto those ten kings
so that they would all give all their power unto the beast, right?
And so this is ultimately fulfilling God's plan
that these ten kings all come together
and they all give their power unto the Antichrist.
Why are they coming together?
Because they're being bound in a bundle to be burned.
You know, they think that they are, you know, carrying out this plan against the Lord.
We're going to fight the Lord in Armageddon.
We're going to fight the Lord in Gog and Magog.
We're going to gather together against the Lord and against his anointed.
And what does it say in Psalm 2
when they gather themselves against the Lord and against the anointed?
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.
The Lord shall have them in derision.
You know, the Bible says,
you know, lest he perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little bit.
I mean, God is a consuming fire.
God is all powerful.
Resistance against him is futile.
Fighting against him is futile.
But God allows these delusions to come upon these people
that they would unite and gather in order to be destroyed.
So notice that the devil exists as a deceiver.
The Bible talks about him as he that deceives the whole world.
In Revelation chapter 12, he's described that way.
Here, it talks about him deceiving the nations no more until the thousand years are fulfilled.
So he existed as a deceiver after the millennium, before the millennium,
chapter 16 of Revelation, Psalm 2.
But you know what? Even right now, what is the devil doing right now?
What does he do in 2021? What is his function?
He is a deceiver.
He is deceiving people and he uses false religion to do that.
He could use educational institutions to do that.
He could use missionaries of false religions.
He could use the media to do that.
He could use the news to do that.
He could use social media to do that.
He is a deceiver and his minions are out to deceive.
Why does God allow him to exist?
Well, the same reason why he pulled him out of hell after a thousand years of the millennium.
He allows him to exist to fulfill this role as the great deceiver.
And he said, well, why in the world would God want this or would God allow this to happen?
Now, go if you were to Deuteronomy chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter number 30.
What you have to understand is that part of free will is that there has to be a temptation that exists
in order for us to have free will. There has to be a real choice given unto us.
Now, we are not like unto machines.
Now, you know, people talk about artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence is gaining ground rapidly.
It's advancing quickly in the next five to 10 years.
I think you're going to see major advances on that front.
And who knows what we'll see in our lifetime as far as the incredible advances of machine learning
and artificial intelligence and all these different things that are coming down the pike.
But the one thing that separates us from any artificial intelligence that maybe can compute figures much faster than we can,
and it can do math and do calculations much faster than we can, it could beat the greatest chess master at chess.
That's been demonstrated where AI has defeated chess masters.
But the thing is, the AI can only do what it's programmed to do.
It has no desire. It has no will. It has no free will that it can exercise. It can only do what it's programmed.
You could program it to do random things.
And that's probably one of the ways that they will simulate free will in artificial intelligence in the future
is by programming in some element of randomness so that the thing would seem to have a mind of its own
or seem to want to do things on its own.
But you and I both know that at the end of the day, it's just going to be a bunch of flashing lights and worrying and buzzing.
And it's just a machine at the end of the day. It doesn't really feel anything.
It could put on a show. It could make a sad face and say, ow, you hurt me, you know, but it doesn't really feel anything.
Okay.
We as human beings have free will.
In fact, the Bible even uses the word free will, I believe 17 times in the Old Testament.
It talks a lot about the free will offering.
And it talks about offering and offering unto the Lord, offering it of your own free will.
And so we have choices today. Look at Deuteronomy 30 verse 19.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.
Therefore choose life.
God says you have both options.
Choose life that both thou and thy seed may live.
That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and thou mayest cleave unto him.
And on and on.
So the point is, God wants us to love him.
God wants us to choose him.
And he wants that choice to be real.
God's not just doing some kind of a simulation or a game where he's just like playing army men or something.
And he's actually just kind of controlling both sides.
And, you know, he's like it like a child would do with cowboys and Indians.
You know, we used to have these little plastic cowboy and Indian figures or plastic little soldiers that have like a little flat oval attached to their feet so that they can be set up right.
And, you know, you set them up and they're battling and they're shooting each other.
You know, this is not how God runs the universe where he's just kind of just controlling everybody like some kind of a puppet master.
No, the choices that we make are real.
When God says I'm setting before you this day life and death, choose life, he's not just blowing smoke at you.
Oh, just kidding.
I already decided for you.
He's actually being sincere when he says whosoever will may come.
He's being sincere.
And we really do have a choice.
We really do have free will.
And this gives more glory unto God as the creator because if we don't have free will, then God is nothing more than a computer programmer.
You know, and these people are right who said we're living in a simulation.
If God's just up there just pulling all the strings and controlling everyone.
No, no, no.
The amazing thing about God's creation is that he could create beings that actually think for themselves and make their own decisions.
And this makes it real.
I mean, think about it.
If I forced someone to love me, would that love really mean anything?
No, I mean, don't we want the people in our lives to love us because they want to?
Wouldn't you want your spouse to love you because they want to?
Or your kids to love you because they want to?
I mean, how would you feel if your spouse said to you?
How about you wives?
How would you feel if your husband said to you, well, you know what?
I love you because God has commanded me to love you and I have to and God's making me love you.
So, yeah, of course I love you.
I mean, of course I love you.
The Bible says I have to.
What am I supposed to do?
What choice do I have?
How would that make you feel?
Like, oh, man, that's so great.
Thank you so much.
It makes me feel so secure knowing that you'll always love me no matter what because God has commanded you.
You know, you want your husband to love you because he wants to, right?
And this is why we don't do arranged marriages and things like some other cultures and countries do.
And, you know, obviously there are pros and cons to both ways of doing it.
But you know what?
We strongly believe and the Bible teaches that you get to pick your spouse, that women get to pick their husband,
husbands get to pick their wives.
It shouldn't be something that is imposed on you because you want to choose someone because it feels good to have someone choose you, right?
My wife chose to marry me.
She wants to be with me.
She loves me.
Nobody made her choose that and I chose to be with my wife and I love her and I made that choice and it's a free will thing.
Now, obviously once we're married, we're locked in.
It's not like, I choose you every day and I'm going to keep on choosing you.
I saw something like that.
It's like, man, I hope you don't wake up every morning and decide whether you're going to stay married.
You know, I saw this so-called inspirational fridge magnet like that about how they're just going to keep on choosing.
And it's like, man, I hope this doesn't go wrong one day.
You know, you just keep choosing.
No, you choose once, okay?
But here's the thing, you know, we don't want love from our children to just be like forced or they have to or from our spouse or, you know, if someone were forced to be our friend, that's not really a real friendship, is it?
So God desires for us to love him.
He wants us to choose him.
He wants us to love him.
But that's not all.
The Bible also teaches that without faith, it is impossible to please him.
Without faith, it's impossible to please him.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Now, we as human beings, we understand the fact that we want to be chosen.
We want to be loved.
We want people to choose to hang out with us or choose to marry us or choose to spend time with us.
That makes sense to us, right?
This part maybe is something that we wouldn't understand as much because it's possible to please us without faith because we're just people.
We're not God.
We're not looking for people to believe in us or worship us or anything like that.
But God demands faith, right?
So this is something that's different than us as human beings.
You know, I don't demand that people believe that I exist because I'm just here I am, you know, but God demands that you believe that he exists.
This is the way it is, my friend.
Without faith, it's impossible to please him.
I mean, what is the requirement for salvation?
Faith.
The Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith.
It says we walk by faith, not by sight.
And if we see, we don't really need faith if it was all just right in the open.
So stop and think about this.
God wants us to choose him.
God wants us to love him.
But, importantly, he wants us to believe in him.
Okay, so, if God wants us to believe in him and we have a choice of whether we're going to believe in him or not, you know what, there has to be, in order for that choice to be real, there has to be another alternative to believe it.
Because if there's no alternative, then there's no choice.
It's like these countries where, you know, they keep voting to put their communist dictator in power.
He's the only guy on the ballot.
You know, and if you don't check the box, you're busted.
You got 98% of the vote or 99%.
The other 1% are dead.
Okay.
It's different here.
There you die after you vote.
Here you die and then you vote Democrat from the grave.
But the point is that, you know, in order to have a choice that's real, there has to be something else to believe in.
There has to be the devil there to offer you this alternative to give you a real choice because God wants you to make that right choice.
Now this is why in the Garden of Eden, God placed that tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
I mean, why not just leave that tree out?
Because then there's no commandment.
There's no choice.
God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
He said, of all the trees of the garden, thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, thou mayest not eat thereof.
From the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
So there's a real choice there of are we going to obey God and eat all the other choices or are we going to go to the one tree that's off limits and eat it?
And who is it that kind of gets the ball rolling on them making the wrong choice?
It's the devil.
The serpent comes and tempts Eve and tells her all the reasons why she should do it wrong.
Well guess what? In our lives we're going through the same thing where the devil is going to come to us and give us all the reasons why we should not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
or why we should not serve Christ, why we should not go to church, why we should not go soul winning, why we should indulge in sin.
Isn't that what the devil's out there doing in the media telling us to indulge in sin, in the school system telling young people there is no God and everything came from nothing,
and it's been proven by science that, you know, that God is not necessary?
Then all of these things, that stuff all has to be the way it is.
It has to be there. It has to exist.
Because if God wanted to, he could just snap his fingers and his mighty angel would just grab hold of Satan, throw him into hell for a thousand years,
and you wouldn't have the level of deception that you have right now.
Folks, the world is filled with deception.
Many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an anti-Christ.
Little children is the last time.
And as you've heard that anti-Christ shall come, even now are there many anti-Christs whereby we know that it is the last time.
And so when we study Bible prophecy, sometimes it can seem kind of removed.
You know, we're studying about the tribulation and the anti-Christ and all these different judgments and things.
We might think like, you know, this might not even be relevant for me because I might not even be alive when it happens.
This might happen a hundred years from now when we're all gone.
What's the point in studying it?
Well, obviously it could happen in our lifetime and then we would dead sure want to be studied up on things.
But even if it doesn't happen in our lifetime, it's always happening in a sense because of the fact that there are many anti-Christs.
Even though we may not be here for the big tribulation, we're here for trials and tribulations all the time.
There are persecutions that are always going to be happening.
There are going to be anti-Christs.
There are many deceivers that are entered into the world.
There's the big false prophet in Revelation 13, but are there not many false prophets right now?
And so these things are playing out on a smaller scale all the time.
One day it's going to culminate in the grand finale, but even today in 2021, these things are playing out.
Now, we might think to ourselves that the devil shouldn't exist and we wish he would just go to hell and leave us alone.
And we wish that the schools and the churches and the government and the media would just quit lying to everybody.
And you know, it's possible to get really frustrated about this.
And people today sometimes, this drives them nuts.
They get really mad, they get upset, they can't sleep at night, they get worked up, they get addicted to Fox News and right-wing talk radio.
Right? Because they get all pumped up on these things.
Now, we need to learn the truth about this so that we can have peace.
And this is why I'm preaching this because I want you to have peace in your heart.
You know, everybody's got their strengths and weaknesses and, you know, I, like you, have sin in my life and am not a perfect person.
And I have areas that I need to grow in. You have areas that you need to grow in.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses. But I can say this, honestly, that one of my strengths is that I have peace.
This is one area that I have excelled at. Okay?
And it's because of the fact that God has, you know, allowed me to go through a bunch of rough things and just, you know, this is just something that I've worked on in my life.
And this is something that I have peace in my life. Thank God. Now, I have a lot of other faults and imperfections and issues.
But, you know, I excel at just being peaceful and the world could be coming down around me and I have peace in my heart.
And I want you to have peace too because it's a blessing to have peace.
It's nice to have peace, not to be upset all the time and scared, worried, you know, panicking or even just angry.
You know, anger can consume you if you're just angry. You know, the Bible tells us don't be friends with an angry man unless you learn his ways.
The Bible says, let not the sun go down on your wrath, the wrath of man working not the righteousness of God.
There's a time for anger. The Bible says be angry. But it says be ye angry and sin not.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. And, you know, I am not an angry person.
Now I get up and foam at the mouth behind the pulpit because that's what needs to happen.
Hard preaching needs to happen so that God's people can be edified and so that people can be warned about what's out there.
And so, you know, I preach hard and I do get angry while I'm preaching hard against sin or against false religion.
And I feel that way. But at the same time, I go home and I sleep like a baby every night.
And I'll tell you why. Because I have peace about it because I know that all these wicked people that I'm so mad at and all of these evil things that are going on out of the world, all the lies and deception,
I ultimately know that they all have to exist and that they're serving a purpose and that it's part of God's plan to allow these things to happen.
And so that gives me peace. That gives me peace. You know, people have lied about me and attacked me and criticized me.
And, you know, when people are just out there lying about you and slandering you and saying all these things, you know, it can really bother you on a human level.
Obviously, in our flesh, when people are slandering us and lying about us, it bothers us.
It's just something that we just bristle at by nature. It bothers us, right?
And obviously, in my human understanding, I think about enemies that I've had over the years and people that have lied about me and criticized me and attacked me and just been an enemy of our church, an enemy of our ministry, an enemy of our family.
You know, it's easy to think to yourself, man, I would love to see God just, you know, wipe these people out.
Wouldn't it be great to see, you know, they're so wicked, they're so evil, they're so rotten. Why does God even let these people just do this and just run their mouths and work all this wickedness or whatever?
You know, I mean, that's a pretty natural thought to have and it's a pretty normal thought to have.
And, you know, there's some legitimacy to that thought. But stop and think about it, though.
If all of the haters of Faithful Word Baptist Church, and there are many, if they all cease to exist, would the world be a better place?
You know, don't answer too quickly.
You know, I mean, listen, and there are people out there, literally, they just exist to attack not only me, but other pastors and preachers that are faithful to the Lord.
It's like that's their purpose. That's why they get up in the morning.
I mean, and what kind of a loser exists just to hate on another preacher?
Look, it's one thing to call out the false prophets and I've called out the false prophets with the best of them.
But hold on a second. You really made 200 videos about Pastor Anderson, literally?
I mean, you literally are just existing as just a reaction to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
And there are a lot of people that literally they just it's like everything.
They exist as a reaction to Faithful Word Baptist Church, either when they're not copying my sermons, when they're not duplicating the material that I'm doing, they're attacking me.
And they're just it's like they don't even they don't even have their own existence.
It's like they just they're just these losers who just exist to attack us and to hate on us and to react to us.
And, you know, there are some people out there who just tell the wildest lies about me and attack our church.
And and and they're just they literally I mean, it's like they create social media handles that are just like Stephen Anderson is a whatever.
You know, that's like that's their name. It's what they're naming themselves.
You know, fwbc is blah, blah, blah, Stephen Anderson, blah, blah.
I mean, I see these people with a screen name like that and it's just like, what?
This is just who you are online, just the the enemy.
And you know, you think to yourself, wouldn't wouldn't it be great if all of these people out there,
all these haters and and disgruntled ex members of Faithful Word and and wash ups from the new IFB,
you know, you just wish that they would all just disappear.
But hold on a second. Not so fast.
Not so fast because they exist for a reason. They must exist.
This is why I don't worry about it or just sit around, see they boy, I just wish that these they have to exist because they are the trash collectors.
And here's the thing. Without the trash man, the trash accumulates.
I mean, what if the trash man stopped coming to your house?
I have nine children living at home, two parents, nine children. You think we've produced some trash?
Yeah, we produce trash. And, you know, we all first it's like we move into a neighborhood.
The first thing we have to do is like, OK, this little standard trash can you're providing us with.
That's not going to cut it. I'll take three of them.
You know, we have to get bonus trash cans because we produce some trash at our house.
Just just by sheer volume of how many people live there and kids end up trash and stuff sometimes more than adults.
So what if the trash man just stopped coming to my house?
You know, it's the place would start to stink as the bags and bags of trash accumulated.
And then what if I said, OK, well, I'm going to get rid of this trash myself.
You know, the trash man is not coming. I'm going to do it myself.
And then it's like, where do I take it if there's no trash dump?
There's got to be a dumpster. There's got to be a landfill.
There's got to be a place for the trash to go. And there's got to be a person to get there.
Now, here's the thing. Who likes having someone else come pick up your trash?
Who likes that? You know, my brother moved to South Carolina and he was talking about how our cousins out there.
They don't have a trash collection service in their neighborhood because they live rural.
And so they have to gather up their trash every week and they take it themselves to the dump.
Now, look, no big deal. You know, you're enjoying the rural life, whatever.
That's just, you know, one of the tradeoffs of living rural.
But here's the thing. I like the fact that I just take it out like, and it's a big job, right, taking out the trash.
You know, you got to walk like 30 feet with it or whatever and put it in a barrel. It's hard work.
I don't want to go further than that. I don't want to have to drive it somewhere, you know.
So here's the thing. You know, it's nice having someone else pick up the trash so I don't have to do all the trash myself.
And it's also nice having a place for the trash to go.
Well, here's the thing. These haters, they function as a trash can.
It's a place for the trash to accumulate. It's like a trash magnet that sucks all the trash toward these YouTube channels and Facebook pages and these churches that exist to hate on us.
They serve as a receptacle for the trash. And the devil and his minions, the false prophets, they serve as trash collectors.
So honestly, even though part of me in a lesser understanding would think to myself, man, I'd love to see these haters just crash and burn.
Another part of me knows, no, no, no, no, no. Keep them around. Don't pull up the tares. Let both grow together.
I mean, remember the servant's like, hey, master, should we go pull up all the tares? He says, no, no, no, no.
Let both grow together until the time of harvest.
So we have to understand that the haters, the liars, the frauds in our personal life, like I think of my own personal haters, they must exist.
And so if they live to be 70, 80, 90 years old, just hating me with their last breath, so much the better.
You know what I mean? It's like, hey, if God feels that they've fulfilled their function and that they've gathered enough trash, then he can take them out whenever he wants.
You know, it's not, it's none of my business. And so in a way it's good that these haters, yeah, but they're deceiving people. They're lying to people.
But here's what I figured out over the years. People who actually love you, people who are actually your friends, when somebody comes to them and tells them lies about you, they don't just believe those lies and just turn their back on you.
Those people were never your friends in the first place. And so let's say, you know, these liars come out and bring a bunch of false accusations like they have in the past.
And then let's say people leave the church. I'm just like, bye.
And in fact, I think of every church split that we've had, we've never really had a split. We've only had splinters.
Okay, because we've, it's always been like less than 10% of the church whenever, even when there was a big fight over something.
The biggest splinter was when we got rid of the heretics who denied the Trinity. And, you know, does anybody want them here?
The modalist heretics denying the Trinity? Well, see you suckas, we don't want you.
Now, I look back over different times when there's been splinters or controversies that led to people leaving the church.
And here's the thing I think to myself is, you know what, if people have left the church because they're not standing up for what's right or they're not loyal to the word of God or to the leadership of the church that's watching for their souls.
And they're just ready to just turn on a dime and follow these deceivers off the cliff and then follow lies and they're not going to follow biblical commands and biblical principles.
You know, you just have to ask yourself, do these people really belong at our church in the first place?
And look, don't get me wrong, there have been people who left and then came back. And that's great. And people are always welcome to come back and it's great.
You know, a lot of times people can leave and change their mind. No issue. Great. Amen. I'm not saying everybody who leaves is bad.
A lot of people leave on good terms or they maybe they leave and they change their mind and come back or maybe they just leave because they live too far away and they got tired of, you know, putting so much gas in their tank or whatever.
There's no hard feelings about people who leave, but obviously there are the people who leave and they rage leave, you know, and they just become this hater and they just get bitter and disgruntled and whatever.
But here's the thing about that. Is it bad for us in the end? Because my Bible says all things work together for good to them that love God and them who are the called according to his purpose.
So if all things work together for good, you know, I really take that verse literally. I literally think that everything ends up working together for good to those who love God.
So even the devil and his minions, ultimately that all ends up working together for my good, even though the devil's my enemy, even though he hates me, even though the devil is called our adversary and he's working against us.
In the end though, it all ultimately works out to our good. I believe that. Now here's the thing about that. You know, we have a great church and our church is filled with great people.
And here's the thing. Let's say some big fight happened tomorrow. You know, let's say for example that the sodomites decide, you know, we're going to protest and we're going to stop faithful word.
And let's say the city councilman and the rulers take counsel together. We're going to get Pastor Anderson kicked out of Tempe and we're going to fight him and we're going to surround the building and we're going to have all our perverts show up on Sunday morning holding signs and everything like that.
Let's say that that happened tomorrow. I firmly believe that if we got embroiled in some big fight like that and it became some big ugly controversy and, and, and things got ugly like they've gotten at some of our friends churches lately.
You know, I firmly believe that our church would just sail through it like without losing hardly anybody. I don't believe that, you know, half the church would be like, I can't take this. I'm out of here.
I think, I think we've got a group of people that would just keep coming and keep standing up for what's right and pay the price and make the sacrifices and, and stay with it.
But imagine if we had a church filled with yahoos and bozos and people that are disloyal and, and secretly harboring all this bitterness and grudges and envy and then a kind of fight like that happens.
You know, that's their opportunity to cause problems and to strike. And imagine, imagine if let's say, you know, the media is coming after us and the sodomites are coming after us and then half the church quits.
Can you imagine how demoralizing that would be? And then the world would rejoice and the media would rejoice and talk about, oh look, he's losing all of his parishioners and, you know, look at how everybody's bailing out, even they realize it.
And you know, and then even the people who were loyal would be looking around like, whoa, half the people are gone and they, you know, they might even second guess themselves and wonder like, where's everybody going?
Why is everybody jumping ship? What's going on? It'd be discouraging. I mean, what do you think is going to encourage me more during a big fight to show up and the house is packed and everybody's saying amen or to show up and half the church is gone?
And it's like, where is everybody? And there's more people out there holding signs than there are in here, you know, worshiping the Lord. Do you see how that could be demoralizing?
So wouldn't it be better to get rid of all those bozos before the fight and let them kind of just be sucked in by the trash collectors and sucked in by all of the weirdos and haters online?
You know, hey, then we can have a stronger church because we can be purged so that we can bring forth more fruit.
So, you know, if God needs to purge us, God can purge us. We can bring forth more fruit and it's no big deal. I mean, I mean, think about that.
When the fight comes, you don't want to be surrounded by a bunch of people who don't know where they stand. Okay.
Think about in the book of Judges, you know, they were told with Gideon, hey, if you're scared, go home.
In the book of Numbers, God commanded them to do that every time they went into a fight because they said, we don't want scared people making other people scared.
So if you're scared, go home. Just get those people out of the way before the fight even starts.
Now, I don't believe we're going to have a fight like that.
Part of the reason is because of the fact that back in 2015, because we used to have protesters and media attacking us, we used to be embroiled in these kind of fights from time to time.
But back in 2015, the media and the local politicians had a press conference where they canceled all the protests that were planned because they were planning on doing a big protest against us in early 2015.
And they called the media and the politicians, they canceled everything. And they said, we are not ever going to talk about this guy again.
I thought it was hilarious to have a press conference about how we're not going to talk about him.
It's like, you're talking about me right now. You know, it's like, we're not going to give this guy any attention. That's why we have a press conference about him.
Because we're not giving him any attention. Starting now. Starting tomorrow.
So basically, they had this big press conference where they said, no more protests, no more media, total media blackout on Faithful Word.
Because we used to be in the news like every few months for something.
But it's just like, nope, total blackout. And so for the last, think about how long ago that was. That's six years ago.
For the last six years, we've had no one protesting our church. We've had the media locally has not covered our church whatsoever. We've been covered in other countries and other languages and stuff.
But the local media here doesn't cover our church at all. And there's no protesters. And here's the thing, I think it's great.
I like it because then we can just peacefully serve God without the distraction of the weird. You know, we can just focus on serving God.
We just go soul winning. We preach the gospel and just not worry about. I think it's great.
But here's the thing. If they did protest us and cover us in the media, I would think that was great, too, because then I think, oh, great.
More people are finding out about our church. But then on the other hand, it's actually great to just not have those bozos and weirdos outside our church with all the ruckus.
Because then it could become distracting. And we don't want our kids to have to look at all that junk anyway on the way.
So, you know, we like it the way it is. But but at the end of the day, you know how I feel is just like, hey, whatever God wants to do.
I'm just along for the ride. Amen. It all works together for good to those that love God.
So I'm not worried about it. You know, whether we're protests or whether we're not. I like the fact that we've had peace for the last six years.
But, you know, if they want to fire it up tomorrow, it's like, come at me, bro. You know, let's do it.
But here's the thing. You know, some of our friends right now, their local media and politician cabal has not made this pronouncement.
So you've got guys like Pastor Bruce Mejia, Pastor Jonathan Shelley, Pastor Aaron Thompson, Pastor Dave Burzins.
You know, we could go down the list naming off the pastors. You know, obviously there are a lot more than that.
But, you know, you think about lately Pastor Shelley has been just having just his building surrounded by transvestites and homos and freaks.
And they threw a brick through his window. Of course, in the case of Pastor Bruce Mejia, they literally put a bomb in his church in the middle of the night and blew out all the windows and made the building completely structurally unsound to where it could not be.
And basically, you know, the city council and officials of the city of El Monte where First Works Baptist Church was located there in the city of El Monte, they made it clear like they don't want that church to be in El Monte.
You know, they wanted the church to go somewhere else. They want them in another town. Be somebody else's problem.
And, you know, now they are in another town. But guess what? Now, they'd already done all the soul winning right around their area. Anyway, now they just, you know, God put them in a different town.
I believe they're in Anaheim now. And, you know, now they're reaching that area with the gospel. So what?
But you see them being assaulted, bombed, brick through the window, all these different things. And it's easy to get mad, isn't it?
Go if you would to Proverbs chapter 22. It's easy to get angry and get mad and just be like, you know, why haven't the police caught the people who did that bombing?
Do they even want to catch the people that do that?
And you see news articles where the news media literally says, oh, it's his own fault that the sodomites bombed his building.
I mean, the sodomites literally came to his house and stole his personal minivan on camera.
You could look at it and tell that it's a homo on camera stealing his van because it's on a surveillance camera.
And so, you know, they're stealing his van, you know, and the media says, well, that's what you get, you know, for preaching hate.
He's preaching the Bible. Preach what the Bible said. Everything he preached was biblical. My name is Stephen Anderson. I approve his message.
Okay. What he preached was correct. It's biblical. But they say it's his own fault. You're wicked.
I mean, Pastor Shelley is out in Dallas, Texas, and he's preaching the Word of God.
And he literally has so-called Christians coming to the building and giving water to the protesters and telling him, you're wicked and these protesters are wonderful.
And they're literal transvestites. And they're telling Pastor Shelley that he's bad and that the transvestites are wonderful people.
That's the world we're living in. And it's just like, why? But it has to be the way it is.
There has to be the trash. There has to be the trash collector. These things have to exist.
And, you know, I always think of the verse that it says in Matthew 24 when he talks about all the bad things that are going to happen in the end of time.
He says all these things must come to pass. All these things must come to pass. Now look, some of these things are painful to us.
We go through fights and battles and trials and tribulations. And, you know, I'm talking about church stuff because I'm a pastor.
But, you know, you've got your own stuff in your life, right? You've got your trials and tribulations that maybe aren't church-related.
You've got trials, tribulations, maybe physical things that you're going through, people at work that you're dealing with, family that you're dealing with, neighbors that you're dealing with.
You have to understand that these things exist for a reason. When we live on this earth, we're here, we're being tested, we want to choose the Lord, love him, believe in him.
So then we're surrounded by people lying to us, telling us that the Bible's not true. We're surrounded by people trying to tempt us to commit sin.
We're surrounded by false religion providing an alternative to the true salvation and the true word of God.
You've got this fight that's constantly going on. The fight exists ultimately to make us a better person.
You know, ultimately it's all part of the plan. It's all part of our personal journey in life.
And so don't get frustrated about it, don't get angry, be at peace about it, and understand that when you see some wicked person living to be 90 or something,
it's just because they were just doing a real good job collecting trash. And so he allowed them to continue that job.
I gotta hurry up for sake of time, but Proverbs chapter, let's start actually in 23. Look at Proverbs 23 verse 27.
Proverbs 23, 27. It says,
For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
Now look at chapter 22 verse 14. Proverbs 22 verse 14 says this,
The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit. Watch this.
He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.
Now, obviously God doesn't want women being the strange woman. He doesn't want women being promiscuous and whorish and wicked.
I mean, is that God's will for their life? No. But do those kind of women exist? Are they lying in wait at every corner?
Are they a dime a dozen out there in this world? Yes, they do exist. Why are they allowed to exist? I'll tell you why.
So that he that is abhorred of the Lord can fall into that trap. You know what abhor means? Abhor means hate.
The one who the Lord hates will fall into that trap. They'll fall into that deep ditch, that deep pit.
So the deep pit ultimately is serving a function for the Lord to swallow up his victims.
Think about that. Turn if you would to First Kings chapter 22. First Kings chapter 22.
I mean, and we could we could go on about this all night because there's so much in the Bible on this subject.
And we just talk about life. And there's just so many things like this in life.
But ultimately it all comes back to Romans 8 28 that all things work together for good to them that love God.
And that even the devil, our enemy, our adversary, he's full of wickedness. He's a liar.
He's the father of lies. Ultimately, he exists for a purpose. He has to be there.
He must be released from hell after that thousand years. He must fulfill his function as deceiver.
We don't like him. We don't want him around. And all of his minions, we don't like them. We don't want them around.
We would love for them to slip on a banana peel and for it to just be over.
But they have to exist. And we need to have peace about that and just realize, you know what?
Everything is proceeding as planned. Let the heathen rage. Let the wicked of this world do what they're going to do.
Ultimately, they fulfill God's plan. Now, I don't believe that everything is predetermined.
Don't get me wrong. I do believe that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
I don't believe that the steps of wicked people are ordered by the Lord, though.
Okay, but God allows wicked people to do the wicked things that he would never do.
You know, God's not going to lie to you. God cannot lie.
But you know what God will do? God will sit back and allow someone else to lie to you. Will he not?
In fact, he might even open the door for them and just make it real easy for them to lie to you.
Because it ultimately fulfills his purpose and his will. He's never going to lie.
But he allows the greatest liar ever to exist when he could just snap his fingers and get rid of him.
And he will get rid of him for a thousand years. Look at the Bible says in 1 Kings 22 verse 19.
And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord.
I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?
I want Ahab to go make a stupid decision and die. Who's going to persuade him to do that?
And there came forth a spirit. Well, it says, you know, one said on this man or another said on that matter.
So, you know, different spirits are coming up with ideas. Here's the winning idea.
Verse 21. There came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I'll persuade him.
And the Lord said in him, wherewith? And he said, I will go forth and I'll be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
And he said, Thou shall persuade him and prevail. He says, basically, that's going to work.
That'll convince him he's that stupid. So go do that. Go forth and do so.
Now, here's a lot of people would would get mad at me for preaching this or say that I'm preaching something weird or that, you know, but hold on a second.
Didn't we just read the Bible? Everybody got the Bible in front of you? That's what the Bible says.
You know, I had a preacher, you know, criticizing me on this exact doctrine that I'm preaching tonight several months ago.
You know, how dare you say that God, you know, will allow these deceptions to be out.
What about all the poor people who fall for them? And it's like it's the it's it's reality.
God sends people strong delusion so that they'll believe a lie and God sits back and just allows this lying spirit who tells them this is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go lie to him. And he's just like, go do that.
You know what I mean? He allows this unclean spirit, this lying spirit to go lie so that Ahab will be destroyed.
And you know what? Here's the thing. It's not that God doesn't want people to be saved because let me make no bones about this.
I want to be very clear tonight that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
I am not a Calvinist. I do not believe that God determines who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
I believe that God is very sincere when he says whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.
I don't believe he was lying when he said, I said before you this day, life and death choose life.
Just kidding. I already chose for you. That's nonsense. Not a Calvinist.
God is not willing to disperse. I believe that it is God's will for all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Okay, that's God's perfect will. That's his perfect plan.
You know, and one of the verses about that is, you know, God said, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
He's saying, I'd rather I'm paraphrasing, but he basically says, I'd rather that he turned from his wickedness.
It's not that I just want to kill people now, but here's the thing, though.
On the other hand, you do see God laughing at people and wiping them out and mocking in the day of their calamity and sending them to hell and rejoicing.
Yeah, they deserve this. You know, they've shed the blood of saints and prophets and you've given them blood to drink.
They're worthy. They deserve it. They deserve this. Praise God.
People rejoicing. I mean, look, in the book of Revelation, when God's wiping things out, the angels and the saints are cheering.
Okay, how do you balance these things? Because what you have to understand is that every single person, God is not willing that they should perish.
God wants them to be saved until, until he gets the point where he's done and he gives them over and says, I'm done now.
I mean, look, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
I mean, he died for everybody. He loved everybody. He wanted everybody to be saved.
But then the Bible talks about there's people that God hates.
There's people that God, you know, sends them a delusion so that they would believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness.
So God can get to a point where he's done with somebody and he's done with them and the Bible says they can't believe because God has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.
That's in John chapter 12, by the way. Here's your homework assignment if you don't know what I'm talking about.
John chapter 12 verses 39 and 40 and the surrounding scripture makes that clear.
The point is that it's not that God just decided, I've just got it in for this guy Ahab and I'm just going to wipe this guy out.
So I'm going to, you know, send this lying spirit or whatever to go and do what lying spirits do.
Obviously God would have preferred that Ahab just be a righteous king in the first place and do what he's supposed to do in the first place.
Ahab brought this animosity from the Lord upon himself through his own free will.
Ahab could have done the right thing. He could have done the wrong thing. He chose to do the wrong thing.
God knew that choice even before he made it and so God is just carrying out his judgments upon him.
And so we see here that there's a lying spirit that's out there. And look, the Roman Catholic Church is filled with lies today.
Islam is a lie. Hinduism is a lie. Buddhism is a lie. And yet we have a billion Hindus and 1.6 billion Muslims.
And think about the children that grow up in these homes and they're brainwashed with this junk their whole life.
And then you got American kids going to school and being told there's no God. Everything came from nothing.
It's just a big bang and we don't even know why we're here. It's a cosmic accident. You're just chemicals.
Everything you feel is just a chemical reaction. It doesn't even mean anything. I mean that's what they're being taught.
And then you've got all the false religions and cults and everything. Why does God allow it to exist?
Because in order to be saved, you have to believe in him and you have to overcome that.
The Bible says, Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God.
That's how you overcome the world. There has to be a world to overcome. There has to be Hinduism to overcome.
There has to be Islam to overcome. I mean, you know, brother Varen's here. He was raised. Weren't you raised Hindu?
He's raised Hindu. He's raised with all that junk but here he is. He's here believing in Christ tonight.
Other Hindus are going to continue on that path of Hinduism all the way to damnation but many Hindus will be saved and it's up to them.
And so, you know, what if we could snap our fingers and make Hinduism cease to exist? You know, I would love for Hinduism to be destroyed.
You know, I'll tell you the one that really gets me mad because it's close to home. The one that gets me mad are the Latter Day Saints.
I would love to see Mormonism destroyed. I mean, wouldn't it be great to just watch Mormonism just go out of business?
And you know what? With the advent of the internet, they should have gone out of business.
Now that all the information's out there, it's so easy to debunk. You know, I mean, wouldn't you love to see Mormonism literally cease to exist in our lifetime?
But you know what? It has to be there. God allows it to exist. You know, man, I read this book about Genghis Khan and, you know,
and you read about his descendants and the Mongolian Empire and how the Mongolian Empire just was kicking Islam's backside.
And you're reading the story and you're reading about all these battles and the history as it takes place and it's like the Mongolian Empire is like so close to just wiping out Islam.
The lowest point of Islam since its founding was when the Mongolians and that empire and Genghis Khan's descendants and them, you know, when they almost wiped out Islam.
And as you're reading it, you're just like, FINISH HIM! You just want it to be, right?
But yet God has allowed these things to exist. He allows false religion to exist. He allows the devil to exist. He allows our enemies to exist.
He allows the whorish woman to exist. He allows these things to exist because they serve a purpose of deceiving the world and providing an alternative to the truth.
Because he wants us to believe so there has to be something else to believe in.
He wants us to love him so there have to be other things to try to get our affections off of the Lord and get our affections on the things of this world and other things to enamor us and entice us.
And so at the end of the day, this is how we can have peace, I believe, is by realizing that God has everything in his hands and that he is allowing these things to exist.
And my worst enemy that is just, you know, lying about me or slandering me or constantly attacking me, you know, I can just look at him and just say, you know,
I'm okay with you being here. You have a function. You have a purpose. You will ultimately get what's coming to you. But you know what?
Stick around for a little while because you're like a merry maid for Faithful Word Baptist Church to help clean up the joint.
You know, keep it clean, keep it fresh so that when we get in a real battle, you know what? We've got the real members and we're not just filled to capacity.
I mean, what if our church was just twice as big but it was just people who didn't really believe like us or, you know, weren't really serious about serving God or people who are just like so scared that if any persecution comes, they're gone.
It's probably better that it, you know, that it just be the way it is. And so I hope that that helps you tonight. I hope that something that I said tonight maybe resonates with you and you can kind of think about maybe some of your own personal enemies and think about some of the things that really just make you mad and think about the stuff in the media that gets you mad.
And for some people, you know, it's all the Democrats and, you know, there are, you know, oh man, the vaccine companies, big pharma, big tech with their censorship, Mark Zuckerberg, the homos.
You know, whatever it is that gets you mad, just just realize like, hey, everything has to be the way it is.
And if God wants to, he could snuff out the life of anyone he wants to. Every single one of us, he holds our breath in his hand.
He could end any of our life today or tomorrow or whenever he sees fit.
And so when you see some wicked congressman, I was going to say like, who's that pervert in Congress? But I figured there's too many right answers to that question.
You know, it's too many choices. What's that one guy, though? Barney Franks or something?
He's just like, how can God even allow this guy to exist? He's such an abomination in our government, in the Senate.
He's helping ruin our country. He's running our country. He's ruining it. But it's like, you know what?
God has allowed him to be in that position for some reason, you know, because it's what we deserve as a nation or to punish us or whatever.
You know, the senators and congressmen, they're there for a reason.
You know, and so and I don't feel like I have to right every wrong in the world because God allows wrong to exist.
So I don't have to right every wrong. And you know what? All I need to do is just focus on the task that God has laid before.
We need to run with patience the race that is set before us, not try to run other people's race.
Or, you know, all I know is that here I am. I'm in Arizona. I can win souls. I can preach the Bible.
I can be a good husband. I can be a good father. I can be a good pastor. I can read my Bible. I can pray.
I can win somebody to Christ. I can teach the word of God. You know what? I don't need to worry about anything else.
I'm not worried about it. I'm just going to just fight my own battle and you do the same thing, you know.
And don't get too stressed out about the enemies because the tears are there for a reason.
At the harvest time, God will bind them in bundles to burn them and he will use his trash collectors to do that.
Let's pray a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for giving us these insights from your word, Lord.
And I don't want to thank you for the devil, Lord, because obviously he's our enemies, our adversary.
He's so evil and wicked, Lord. But I will say this, Lord. Thank you.
Thank you for taking the devil's devices and turning them around and using them for your glory, Lord.
And thank you that as Joseph said, they intended it for evil, but God meant it for good, Lord.
Help us to have that same attitude and realize that other people might mean things for evil, but you ultimately mean them for good.
Even if they're painful, even if they're hard, Lord. Help us to have that peace, Lord.
Thank you for giving me peace over the years, Lord. I appreciate the gift of your peace, Lord.
And I pray that other people would have the same level of peace when things get ugly or things get rough in their lives.
And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Amen. Take your hymnals now and turn to hymn number 441.
Great is thy faithfulness, hymn number 441.
Sing these words thoughtfully and purposely, number 441 on this first verse all together now.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Cloud changes scatter from ashes filled up,
As now has given, and forever will be.
Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
Summer and winter and springs I have harnessed,
Sun, moon, and stars and air forces above,
Join with all danger in men and old with this,
Great is thy faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
Morning for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine of dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all my words and vows to Thee, Son.
Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
And it's going to work in three different ways.
One is that it's going to make friends.
The other one is that it's going to work in the morning.
It's going to help people.
And here we go.
We're going to walk out.
It's going to help people.
.