you
Jesus
you
the first page you will see our service times listed there sunday morning at
1030 sunday evening again at 5 p.m. we have another church service tonight it
is not a duplicate of this morning it is a separate church service with a
different sermon be preached this evening and then wednesday night we have
our bible study so we'll be in psalm 63 this week we've got the soul winning
opportunities listed there as well as the salvations and the baptisms for the
month of july as well as for the year with the offering totals then down there
at the bottom of the page prayer requests we have a lot of people to pray
for we've added some more people to the list and if you have submitted a prayer
question it's not on here let me know and I apologize for that but um there
I've been there's been a lot that I've been trying to follow up with and keep
up to date here mrs. Johnson seems to be very very near to her delivery time so
just just keep praying for her and you know we have an estimated due date here
of the 22nd but it seems like the way things have been progressing they'll
probably be before that so just pray for them and then let's see mrs. Taylor do
you have a an estimated delivery date for for your December 15th thank you and
then how about mrs. Weatherby February 10th all right thank you for that I just
like having this up to date here let's see who update on Harvey sadly I said
before I think it was on Sunday last that he hasn't been doing very well at
all and he just recently had a had a fall at home so just not not doing very
well at all so please please continue to pray for him and and his wife of course
and then let's see I'd have been heard any current updates on John Rodari John
Rodari is he's well he's he's older than two weeks old now I'm not gonna keep
update the prayer list with with how old he is but we added him he's about two
weeks old a little baby with with kind of a rare form of leukemia he was born
with and I don't know all the updated details I know it wasn't looking good at
all originally but but things there the outlook looks a little bit better which
is which is really good but I think they have to do like bone marrow train like
like all kinds of procedures to help this baby to survive so this is a family
that that goes a Verity Baptist Church real faithful member I think it's one of
the staff members they're their family and it's their first child so please
pray for their family Pastor Bogart his experiences legal issues in South Africa
and then my mother-in-law Patti Kemnitz has been diagnosed with cancer and
they're trying to schedule her surgery so please pray for that and pray for my
wife also she'll have to go out there and she'll be taking care of her mom
whenever we know that that's going to happen so yes sir
yes
yeah there's a GoFundMe for the Redari family for their child if you're
interested in that you I'm sure you could find on social media if you need
further assistance I could help you find that so yeah pray for my mother-in-law
and for Leslie who's going to be going out there to help with her and with that
treatment my understanding is a stage two so so it looks like they've they
found it early enough and hasn't spread anywhere according to the imaging
results that she's received so that is some good news but they do want to do
surgery right away so so they're trying to get an oncologist to do that and then
miss Jessica's cousin had a stroke Adeline Santos so please pray for her
she hasn't had any paralysis except maybe a part of her face right as was
affected by the stroke but she's as she's still in the in the hospital and
so pray for her and then Veronica Parris brother Jared's mom is
living with them and is recovering from a surgery and requires a lot of help and
attention so please pray for their family and for her as well I added your
foundation Baptist Church pastor Aaron Thompson to our churches and pastors that
we praying for this week is there any other updates for anyone who is listed
on the prayer requests you don't have anything new to update all right please
please praise a lot a lot of serious issues going on with many people here so
please pray for them I added a lot of events to our to our bulletin just for
your own information there's a lot of things that aren't sponsored necessarily
by our church but they're friends of ours that are putting on events that I
figured I'll let you all know about in case you didn't already know about them
and you wanted to go and and travel and be part of these events so the one at
the top I think most of you know brother Rob brother Rob and his wife Mary Ann
have been visiting with us a lot especially frequently they've been here
quite a bit and they're organizing a soul-winning event in Toronto from
August 2nd to the 6th so there's a lot of different things going on I know he's
got different activities planned from a baseball game to theme parks and other
things with soul-winning all intermixed in between all of the fun things that
are going on and then there's going to be Deacon Russell from Faith Ward
Baptist Church and Pastor Thompson from Sure Foundation Baptist Church will be
preaching on August 4th so if you want more details about that where to meet
you want to go out and be a part of that then contact either brother Rob or Deacon
Russell for more information and again if you need that contact info I'll be
happy to pass that along to you next men's preaching class is scheduled for
August 12th 10 30 a.m. right here we had a great turnout yesterday I think it was
like 18 people showed up which is awesome for our preaching class there's
a lot of people a lot of preachers everyone did a really good job and it's
exciting to see men that have an interest in preaching the Word of God so
it's very encouraging and if you have if you're a man you haven't made it out to
one of our preaching classes I encourage you to come and see what it's all about
and you are not required to preach or anything like that if you do attend you
could come and observe or you can you can decide to put together a sermon and
get a little experience doing that as well and we'll help you and guide you
along the way so that next one is scheduled for August 12th Bible memory
passage so we're on the last week here of our Bible memory for Hebrews chapter
eight one verse if you're able to quote the entire passage out loud all 13
verses without making any errors before the end of the week before well before
next Sunday at midnight is really the deadline then you will earn a prize for
being able to do that we've got the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries
listed there as well as down at the bottom of the page the upcoming event so
there's a red hot preaching conference coming up that I'll be preaching at on
the Sunday the 23rd and that's in Sacramento California there's gonna be a
lot of preachers there it's a great event it's always a really good time if
you can make it out for that I encourage you to to check it out we've got our
soul winning marathon scheduled I don't have the location determined just yet
but that's September 2nd it's Labor Day weekend it's a Saturday so our normal
routine for that will be meeting up here in the morning or or on closer to the
site depending on where we go we'll be meeting up in the morning we'll have
some breakfast we'll go out and knock some doors we'll come meet up for lunch
and then go back out again and knock some more doors for the rest of the
afternoon and then meet up for dinner so we'll feed you well if you want to come
out and labor for the Lord that Labor Day weekend that's September 2nd and
then there's a missions trip to st. Lucia scheduled through faith for Baptist
Church September 17 through the 23rd fire-breathing Baptist Fellowship is put
on by steadfast Baptist Church October 12th through the 15th I will be
preaching at that conference also so that's in Dallas Fort Worth if you have
any interest in going out there it's also a really cool time it's a really
good event put on by steadfast and then there's a missions conference at faith
for Baptist Church November 8th through the 12th so those are all just various
things that are coming up for the rest of the year I know many people like to
go out and travel and make trips out to these events so I figured I'd just throw
the things that I'm aware of out there for you to decide if you want to go
along so that's about it for our announcements this morning and I'm
going to turn the service back over brother Peter
so for 266 honey-in-the-rock
there's a little bit of a newer song but it's exciting to let's say new songs
isn't it song 266
Oh
my church on the last
Oh
one of my favorite passages Ecclesiastes chapter 3 once again that's Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 the Bible reads to everything there is a season and a time to every
purpose under the heaven a time to be born and a time to die a time to plant
any time to pluck up that which is planted a time to kill and a time to
heal a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep and a time to
laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance a time to cast away stones at a
time to gather stones together a time to embrace and a time to refrain from
embracing a time to get and a time to lose a time to keep and a time to cast
away a time to run and a time to sew a time to keep silent and a time to speak
a time to love and a time to hate a time of war and a time of peace what profit
have he that worketh in that wherein he laborer I have seen the travail which
God have given to the sons of men to be exercised in it he has made everything
beautiful in his time also he has set the world in their heart so that no man
can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end I know
that there is no good in them before a man to rejoice and to do good in his
life and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his
labor it is the gift of God I know that whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever
nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it and God doeth it that men
should fear before him that which have been is now and that which is to be have
already been and God requires that which is past and moreover I saw under the Sun
the place of judgment that wickedness was there and the place of righteousness
that iniquity was there I said in mine heart God shall judge the righteous and
the wicked for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work I said
in mine heart concerning the state of the sons of men that God might manifest
them and that they might see that they themselves are beasts for that which
befall the sons of men befall of beasts even one thing befall of them as the one
dieth so dieth the other yay they all have one breath so that a man have no
preeminence above a beast for all his vanity and go on to one place all are of
the dust and all turn to dust again who knows the spirit of man that goeth
upward and the spirit of the beast that go downward to the earth wherefore I
perceive that there is nothing better than that a man shall rejoice in his own
works for that is his portion but who shall bring him to see what shall be
after him let's pray father God we thank you for your word we thank you for this
passage we also thank you for pastor birds in this church allow for him to
speak with boldness and allow for him to speak whatever is needed for us to hear
allow for us to be attentive and allow for our ears to be open to hear what they
say of the Lord we praise you and thank you in Jesus name amen
all right so this morning we're gonna be closing out the series I started quite
a while ago on Ecclesiastes chapter 3 obviously it's a real famous passage
especially that first portion and that's where I started the series it's a it's a
time to series where that whole series of verses there the first what is it
eight verses that have all these various times to do different things we preach
through every single one of those different subjects so if you're
interested in any of that if there's something that was listed here that you
go oh you know I'm curious what you what you had to teach about that you could go
back and find them on our YouTube channel but we're closing out with that
last phrase there in verse number eight where Bible says a time to love a time
to hate I re preached on that this is a time of war and a time of peace and all
of these things and you know just draw your attention everything that's that's
listed here there is a time and a place for everything that's mentioned here and
some may seem like you know they're vilified so much that people get too
extreme of thinking there's never a time you know like there's never a time for
war no there is a time for war you know obviously we know there's a time for
peace I think that's pretty evident self-evident as a Christian same thing
with love right there's always a time to love you know there's a time to hate too
and we saw that earlier I preached on that previously so there's a lot of
different things here the Bible is talking about we're gonna focus in on a
time of war and a time of peace and I like to start off just covering what I
consider to be the more obvious of the two which would be in this case a time
of peace and you know we know that Christ is the prince of peace we know
that we're called to live as much as possible at peace with with those around
us I'm gonna start with just the peace of the gospel the gospel is literally
something that brings us peace and you think about the difference between peace
and war you know the reason why the gospel brings peace is because as a
sinner we're at enmity with the Lord we have a problem with God as a sinner
when we've broken his commandments we've broken his laws broken his statutes so
we've got an issue with God that has to be dealt with it has to be straightened
out needs to be cleared up it needs to be rectified and the only way to do
that through the gospel of Jesus Christ is by putting your faith and trust our
Lord Savior Jesus Christ because he paid for your sins he paid that ultimate
punishment which is why then that gospel brings in peace so you could be at peace
with the Heavenly Father because you're no longer estranged from him through the
gospel you could have that atonement made for you so I'll read some verses
that just reference the gospel of peace a real famous passage Romans chapter 10
verse 15 the Bible says and how shall they preach except they be sent as is
written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and
bring glad tidings of good things this is a good news right this is what this
is really what Christianity is all about the good news the gospel bringing forth
that message of peace it is good Ephesians 2 15 the Bible says having
abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in
ordinances for to make it himself of twain one new man so making peace and
then verse 17 says and came and preached peace to you which were far off and to
them that were nigh the gospel message the message of the Bible is overarching
a message of peace and love right those are good things Colossians 1 verse 20
the Bible says and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to
reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or
things in heaven and then John 6 33 bounces these things I've spoken unto
you that in me he might have peace in the world you shall tribulation but be
of good cheer I've overcome the world so there is peace to be found in the Lord
there's peace in the gospel the fruit of the Spirit the Bible says one of the
fruits of the Spirit is peace about it in Galatians chapter 5 the fruit of the
Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith and when you
have the Holy Spirit of course when you're saved you're indwelled by the
Holy Spirit of God and that's one of the fruits is peace the Bible says in Romans
8 6 for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace and there's just that that that big difference of the the two ends of
the spectrum you've got the flesh you've got the spirit the flesh is gonna bring
death and destruction and misery and the spirits gonna bring the life in the joy
and the peace Romans 14 19 the Bible says let us therefore follow after the
things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another we are
called to live in peace this is a good thing again a good thing and I know this
isn't something like passive versions can you just tell me something I don't
already know right like this is pretty common knowledge that we are called to
live in peace and peace is a good thing and we shouldn't be seeking war now look
I'm gonna be speaking mostly spiritually but even carnally you know we shouldn't
be so ready to just go to war and you know there's a lot of war hawks
especially in the government you know there's there's some some groups of
people that just man they just are ready to fight wars for just about anything it
seems like right to the observer it seems like there's some people out there
they're just like bent on having war you know we should we should be going to war
it's more of like a last result not as a first option now there is a time for
war there is a time for warm but you know the the primary function the
primary focus should be that of peace we should always be seeking and ensuing
peace as much as possible but I'll tell you what it's not peace at all costs
there are lines that need to be drawn and whether that be you know physically
like as a nation or whether it be spiritually speaking as well in the
spiritual fight that is going on the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 13 verse
11 finally brethren farewell be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live
in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you Ephesians 4 3
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace mark 950 the
Bible says salt is good but the solid loss of saltness wherewith shall you
seize will you season it have salt in yourselves and have peace one with
another Hebrews 12 14 follow peace with all men and holiness without which no
man shall see the Lord now turn if you would to Psalm 120 Psalm 120 lots of
admonitions to peace right and I said that that is I know I'm not spending
very much time of my sermon on this subject on the peace aspect of the
sermon because that should be the default that should just be what we're
interested in that should be the goals just let's try to have peace as much as
lieth in you you know to live peaceably with all men that is what we should be
striving for but that's not always going to be the case so which is why I want to
focus on the time of war a little bit more and kind of go into that because we
we want to be well balanced and at the same time we want to deal with this
appropriately too and know well when is that time of war if we should be
striving to live at peace as much as possible well when is it proper when is
it appropriate to get in the war mindset and and to consider ourselves as being
in a war Psalm 120 verse number six is a very good summary of a truth that
exists in the Christian life in general this was I believe a psalm of David but
it's the Word of God and is very applicable to us nonetheless verse number
six the Bible says my soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace I am
for peace but when I speak they are for war and there are going to be people
that hey you you want peace right I know I'm not looking for trouble I'm not
trying to cause trouble we're not trying to start a war or start a fight but you
know what there is this thing called the Word of God there's this thing called
the Bible right and we're commanded to not hide the glorious light of the
gospel we're not supposed to censor the Word of God we are supposed to preach
the truth now look the Word of God in its entirety the Bible is the truth
every verse every line every chapter you know we're Christians here we believe
this to be the Word of God if it's the Word of God it's the truth God cannot
lie and we need to be spreading this truth but you know what happens when you
spread the truth though we speak we speak out of love we speak because we
care for people we speak because we want people to know the truth we want to
enlighten people we want to help people and guide them with the Word of God but
you know what when we speak oftentimes other people they're for war like the
Bible says why do the heathen rage there's a lot of people and it's not
everybody but there's definitely some people out there that when they even
hear the Word of God go into a rage and they're ready to go into attack mode
and they're ready to go into war and what first of all we have to be aware
of that which I think most people probably are you see it you see people
flip out over this stuff but to then how do you deal with that and when is it
appropriate to engage in that the Bible says in Luke chapter 12 turn if you
would Ephesians chapter 6 Luke chapter 12 verse 51 Jesus Christ speaking this
while he's on the earth he says suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth
I tell you nay those are the words of Jesus Christ himself the Prince of peace
right he's saying do you think that I came to just bring peace on earth now he
did come with the gospel right he came to be that he is the gospel or he is
he's offered himself up a sacrifice for a sin since Jesus Christ came in love
and he loves the lost and he gave his own life for the whole world yet this
same man the Son of God said do you think that I came to give peace on earth
I tell you no nay but rather division because he knows the truth and he knows
that the truth divides and he knows just as much as the light is divided from the
day that there's gonna be children of light and children of darkness and
they're gonna oppose themselves and once you bring in the truth people are gonna
fall on either one side or the other of it you're gonna accept the truth you're
gonna love the truth they're gonna hate the truth and reject the truth and and
that is that will happen and you know tying into my Calvinism series because
people have free will because people could choose for themselves what they
want to believe and some people don't like to hear the truth and in fact you
know a lot of people don't like to hear the truth if the truth is some way
negative about them and that's part of our sinful human nature to not want to
hear something that's negative about us and if the Bible is telling if God's
telling us hey you're a sinner hey you're not supposed to be doing what you
did what you did is wrong what you did is worthy of a punishment in hell a lot
of people don't like to hear that now if you like the truth you'd be willing to
just accept the truth as it is good or bad doesn't matter hey I just want to
know what's right I want to know what's true and I will conform to the truth I
will conform to the Word of God not try to make a God after my own image or make
a God in my own mind of some idol some fake God that doesn't even exist but you
know what people do that it's very common Jesus himself said hey I didn't
come to bring peace I tell you neighbor rather division says for from henceforth
there shall be five in one house divided three against two and two against three
the father shall be divided against the son the son against the father the
mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother the mother
in law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother
in law and these are some of the closest relationships that will be
divided he's mentioning family members right so it's not just a division
between two strangers right this type of division cuts so close and it cuts so
deep that it will divide literal family members that for any other purpose yeah
you would be right close-knit tight together tight family but you know what
the things of God when it comes to the truth of the Holy Bible that is enough
to divide between even brothers even mother and daughter even father and son
the Word of God will do that
Ephesians chapter 6 now we're gonna we're gonna start looking at more of the
verses that talk about the war side of things the time of peace absolutely but
because of this division because of the power of the Word of God and just
because of the truth and people's reaction to it there's going to be times
of war and we need to be prepared for it now the Bible uses a lot of different
illustrations to help us understand things and a lot of different ways of
describing things in a sense of like just just to give us a good a good
understanding one of the ways is by referencing or talking about soldiers
and war they'll be a good soldier for Jesus Christ we're gonna look at those
passages because part of the Christian life is engaged in a battle and is
engaged in a war part of the Christian life is going to be involved in
ministering serving one another right so we're gonna see a lot of we'll see a
lot of references to that of being a servant and and serve people and serve
man as you would serve Jesus Christ and and you know there's many different
areas of our life where it's giving us different examples of hey this is how
you should be here this is how you should be here it's not just that
Christianity isn't just single faceted it's not just one face it's not just
like you know some people like to say well there's God is love and that's it
there's nothing else and and that's all you need to know about God well no God
is multifaceted we have we have a complex God not just a super simple
just one thing only now is God love absolutely does God love tremendously
yes is he long-suffering yes is he merciful yes but does God have wrath
yes I mean if God didn't have wrath hell wouldn't exist but there is a heaven and
a hell and they were both created by the Lord and and to try to reject the side
that you don't like is folly it's foolishness we should want to know the
truth for the truth's sake if he's in chapter 6 we're gonna read about the
the armor of God the Bible is instructing believers hey you need to be
geared up in armor now why else would you need armor unless you're going out
to battle right if everything's just fine and you're safe and there's no war
going on you don't need to wear armor right well people have a target on them
you know the the Secret Service or whoever your political leaders when they
go out I'm sure many of them have like bulletproof vests on and they're wearing
their own armor but the same guys that you know when they're on the job when
they're going out the better I mean just even soldiers themselves right you're
going out to fight in a war you better believe they're gonna have the helmet on
you're gonna have all the gear on bulletproof vests and all that when
you're gone but when they come back home and they're done and they've served
their tour and they're going on vacation with their family they're probably not
gonna be all geared up with all that stuff right it's not appropriate it
doesn't make sense well the Christian life isn't just some
big vacation here on earth we are engaged in a battle Ephesians 6 verse
number 10 the Bible reads finally my brother and be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood
but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the
darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places and this is a
great passage that explains what is our battle right so it's our battle a
physical battle that we need to take up arms and go out and fight the evil doers
and the wicked people and and get our guns and go out and just start
destroying wickedness from off the earth no no that's not the battle so when
we're talking about time of war and a time of peace here you know spiritually
speaking our spiritual battle a spiritual war is not a physical one it's
important to understand that too and you know I try to be as clear about this as
possible because I don't want some people who are just mentally unhinged
you know the hearing some preaching from the Word of God and going off and just
taking matters in their own hands thinking that they have all authority to
go out and just and kill a bunch of people because you don't you know God
has placed institutions specifically the government in charge of being
responsible for the punishment of evildoers and and they have that power
to enforce laws and things like that so we hear preaching you know I'm gonna
preach through the whole Word of God and I'm gonna teach on the morality and the
laws that God has ordained and what God would say is appropriate and what God's
justice would be in a just society and we go through we'll look back and we do
I've done this in the past where we look at Old Testament laws that were
righteous judgment and God gave them laws to say hey this is how you ought to
run things in a godly society where God is the king and those things haven't
changed as far as God is concerned on what's right and what's not right what's
a righteous judgment what is justice according to God in God's eyes and a
righteous society would be seeking what does God think is just not just what
does man think is justice what where does justice even come from it's gonna
come from God so if we want to know what is just what is appropriate what
should be the right punishment for somebody we ought to be looking to the
Word of God for that but it doesn't mean that you just go off now and say well
I'm gonna enforce all of God's laws no that's not our battle that's not our
fight right for example the Bible teaches that a rape is someone who
forces another person forces a woman they ought to be put to death now our
justice system our injustice system doesn't think so they have a different
penalty for the rapist okay but that's out of line with the Word of God now I
don't think God is happy with the penalty that people are putting on
criminals that don't line up with God's justice with God's penalties and I think
that goes both ways so whether someone governs being too strict and and and too
harsh on people or being too lenient on people and the Bible says over and over
again especially when it comes to capital crimes death penalty crimes he's
saying look don't take any satisfaction for those people you need to put them to
death and what that means is don't make any deals don't be accepting any other
type of payment for their crime they must be put to death but that's not the
society we live in so let's just go ahead and get all of our guns together
and start killing people no no no that's not our battle it's not a fight preach
about those things important to know those things we ought to know the mind
of God we ought to know what's right and what's wrong and know what proper
justice is in the eyes of God but it's not our job to go out and and and take
the physical fight that's not it at all because why because the Bible says here
we don't wrestle against flesh and blood it's not a literal physical fight it's
not this physical battle that we're engaging in but it's against
principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world
against spiritual wickedness in high places there are evil forces at work
there are evil people at work but but what we're doing is we're fighting the
principalities we're fighting the powers we're fighting all the propaganda and
the sin culture that's trying to get crammed down everybody's throats and we
need to fight against that and there's a battle against that going on I mean open
up your eyes if you haven't seen it already it's enough to make you vomit if
you're paying attention to what's going on children are being targeted they've
been targeted for a long time it's just becoming more and more and more obvious
there's a lot of predators out there there's a lot of evil people a lot of
wicked people that are trying to normalize the most perverted behavior
vile disgusting acts are trying to be forced into being not just tolerated
accepted which they never should be anyways but now also promoted and
exalted you better celebrate perversion or else that's what's happening in our
country and that's what's happening in many places around the world not even
just here but it's a result primarily of the wicked influences in this country
but it's it's spiritual wickedness and high places people have a lot of power a
lot of pedophile weirdo devil-worshipping people in in positions
of power that are promoting this garbage that's our fight that's the battle but
how do we fight against it well we're fighting against principalities and
powers we're gonna fight against it with the Word of God and the Bible tells us
though how should we arm ourselves for this battle how do we get prepared for
this battle say okay well there's a battle going on there's a spiritual war
going on I want to be a part of it well good because you don't really have a
choice anyways you're a child of God you are in this you've been conscripted to
fight in this battle you've got the Holy Spirit of God residing inside of you you
are a spiritual being you're part of the spiritual war anyways you want to be
prepared because you know what the enemy doesn't care if you're fighting or not
obviously they don't want you fighting but the enemy wants all the people who
stand for the truth destroyed and you know what that day is coming when the
Antichrist comes into power and the mark of the beast is put forward into law
where everyone's gonna be required to take the mark of the beast those that
don't take the mark are gonna be put to death you know who's not gonna be taking
the mark believers in Jesus Christ why because you have to worship and serve
the Antichrist and in the beast like no I'm not gonna be imprinted with the name
of the beast I'm a child of God right and those that don't take it are gonna
be ordered and put to death so that day is coming and we know that day is coming
but we don't just throw up our hands and say oh well there's nothing we could do
about it anyways no we fight we stand on the Word of God we stand for the truth
why because there's a lot of people that still will be influenced by your efforts
and by your fight and they're still good that could be done and many people
have still be saved from from health so let's see what the Bible says on how we
should equip ourselves verse 13 wherefore take unto you the whole armor
of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to
stand stand therefore having your loin and men I wish more believers would just
stand instead of lay down and cower and buckle under the pressure and go my
lose my job if I say something if I take a stand I might lose my job well
did the Bible say take a stand unless it's gonna actually cause some
discomfort unless it means you're gonna lose your job is that is that the
caveat hey soldier take a stand well I mean unless you might you know take some
bullet or something then then don't take a stand is that is that what we tell
soldiers that go off into war all right we're standing against the enemy there's
the enemy over there we need to defeat the enemy but you know I mean if they
really come aggressively at you and scare you then just yeah it's better
just to hide that's not a soldier that's a coward we have a lot of spiritual
cowards that don't seem to really love the Word of God or the truth because
when the rubber meets the road and it's time to you're in a position where you
ought to be standing on the Word of God and standing for what's right you lay
down you close your mouth you don't say anything because you're worried you're
scared hey be a soldier so how are you gonna stand how about you get equipped
with the whole armor of God stand there for verse 14 having your loins girt
about with truth you need to know the truth if you want to stand for what's
right you need to know the truth how you know the truth well you need to get in
the Word of God for yourself okay stop relying on what other people are telling
you the Bible says and get in it for yourself know the truth for yourself so
you can stand on the truth loins girt about with the truth and having on the
breastplate of righteousness why don't you start living right get the sin out
of your life right have that defense of not just being called out as a stinking
hypocrite oh you believe the Bible but you do this this this this this yeah
you're gonna be real effective that way right no have have the powerful
testimony that says look I believe this and I'm also putting it into practice
it's not just a thought a philosophy it's it's reality and look we know
nobody's perfect and everybody knows that nobody's perfect but there's a far
cry between being not perfect and living and drunkenness and fornication and
wicked you know in all manner of sin those are you don't have to be like that
okay no one's gonna want to listen to you if you're living if you're living
that wickedly verse 15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace hey be a soul winner that's how you're gonna be able to stand you've
got your you got you've got the truth right you've got righteousness hey get
your feet shot and why is it your feet shot because we're supposed to go and
preach the gospel not wait for the gut for for the loss to come to you that
would be then maybe getting your rear end padded so you could sit down and
wait for people to come to you no that's not what the Bible says hey get your
feet ready to go out and reach the people with the gospel of peace verse
16 above all most important thing above all take the the shield of faith right
we trust in God's Word don't don't waver especially when things get heated when
the battle is getting hot and fiery and the the the tribulation or the
persecution is coming against you really hot keep that shield of faith you know
you're on the right side you know you're serving a God that is almighty and
all-powerful anyway so no matter what fear tactic the enemy might try to use
against you trust in God seriously if you if if you were to be threatened with
your very life for a stand on the Word of God are you gonna be more afraid of
what a person can do to you than just the God that can actually defend you
right I mean trust in the Lord who is the defense you think God can't take
care of that evil person that wants to do you harm the the Bible is full of
stories where God is defending his people from the aggressor from the the
evildoer it's full of those stories so have that faith have that shield of
faith so that you can stand so you don't buckle so you don't back down keep that
faith in the Lord taking the shield of faith wherewith you may you shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked why because they're shooting
at you they're gonna want to hurt you and destroy you spiritually this is
this is what's going on there's the people who stand for wickedness don't
like us very much you know we're called the hate group and I don't know if
you're visiting maybe didn't know that we're called a hate group and it's true
okay we're called a hate group and I know you probably sensed all the hate
oozing out of all the people here when you walked in but wicked people call us
the haters and you know what though I'll say guilty is charged in this sense I do
hate okay I hate the things that the Bible tells me so a lot of people don't
like that though because they want you to be accepting of everything but I say
no I'm gonna I am going to do my best to hate the things that God tells me to
hate and love the things that God tells me love so yeah I don't think it's even
possible to love everything because the same people that say they love all and
they accept all and they're all inclusive they don't want to include me
they don't want anything to do with me they want me out so we're inclusive
except for you and they're just being hypocrites right why don't you just come
out and say I hate you and say I don't love everybody because you don't nobody
loves everybody let's see you raise a hand how many people are just love
Adolf Hitler Mao Zedong you know all these these despots and people who have
just put tons of people to death and had some really really really wicked bad
ideas who loves you know Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy and
just loves these people and just thinks it's they're just great people nobody
nobody be honest
verse 17 more of the spiritual armor and then the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God so we have all these defensive armor
of course armor is defensive to help protect you you need the helmet of
salvation trusting in the Word of God obviously protecting your main asset
your head with being saved with with your faith in the Lord and then the
sword of the Spirit so that so our weapon here again just further
illustrating physical battle he's not like and and the the war of the the
sword being your your ar-15 that's not your sword right the sword being the
ak-47 no the sword is the Word of God it's the Word of God that's that's our
battle weapon that's that's what we use to engage in battle it's it's the truth
it's it's God's Word this is the fight that we're fighting praying always with
all prayer and supplication in spirit and watching there unto with all
perseverance and supplication for all Saints and for me that utterance may be
given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the
gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as
I ought to speak even the Apostle Paul while he's in prison he's saying I am an
ambassador in bonds like I've already been a resident in prison for doing this
very thing hey pray for my boldness too I need some boldness in this area and
think about that like that makes more sense of needing boldness when you are
literally being afflicted by like being tossed into prison that makes a lot of
sense you know what doesn't make sense to me Christians who get like like in
the United States of America you are not being rounded up and beaten out in the
streets and whipped and thrown into prisons for telling people about Jesus
Christ yet they are way more cowardly and way less bold than the Apostle Paul
was who was going through all of those things a lot of people will pray for
revival you don't like what you're seeing but then you're not actually
being a part of what it would take for things to turn around you have to put
yourself out there you have to yield yourself to the will of God meaning hey
I don't care what man's gonna do to me I'm gonna stand for the truth turning
forward to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10
reaffirming Ephesians chapter 6 here with the battle being not against flesh
and blood against principalities and powers 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 the
Bible says this in verse number 3 for though we walk in the flesh we do not
war after the flesh look like we yes we are physically in bodies like we have a
fleshly body but we don't war after the flesh our battle is not a battle of a
fleshly battle verse 4 says for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
it's not a fleshly battle it's and that's not our weapon but mighty look
our weapons aren't carnal but they're mighty we do have very powerful weapons
it's not a nuke it's not it's not a RPG it's not it's not it's not these you
know bazookas it's not a carnal weapon that you might think is very mighty it's
actually more powerful than those but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds right the strongholds that are put in place by the wicked
people those are the powers and principalities that are set up that we
are trying to tear down and destroy verse 5 casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ it's this is the
spiritual battle it's it's a battle of words and of the mind and of these
principalities of powers that that we need to get out there the truth that
needs to get to go out there the obedience to the Word of God to Christ
to sink in and pierce the hearts of people at large that's what we need
that's what's gonna bring real change real change doesn't happen through
politics you're not gonna vote real change in our morality in this country
sorry not gonna happen I mean I think it's a fool's errand to go and try to
fix our political system as opposed to being engaged in the spiritual problem
that we have going on in this country the politics will work itself out and
you know what God will make sure if you if God has a people that are willing to
call the Lord their God God will put in place who he wants to put in place
regardless of your elections God will raise up and put into power people who
he thinks he wants to have ruling and reigning in that place read the Bible
about that one so no matter if it you know if people are living wickedly and
just completely turn their back on the Lord I don't care if it's the best
political leader even for our value system and everything else were to get
elected God will still judge the people if everyone's doing wickedly right now
you may have a little bit of time of respite but God's still gonna gonna hold
the people responsible the people the heart of the people need to change and
the only way to do that is by bringing the Word of God and and letting the Word
of God transform lives I came to this realization a long time ago I used to
there's a time was a 2007 when I was considering getting involved politically
it actually started getting involved politically I started became a precinct
committee man I was getting involved locally I was going to my local
Republican you know office and and and trying to get involved and do
campaigning and do all that other stuff I actually did I started getting
involved but very quickly I realized hey first of all they didn't really like me
there they like the way things were they like status quo they like their good old
boy club and the people that already knew each other and they're gonna put in
their time and they're gonna get promoted and you know they like the way
things were I didn't like the way things were I wanted things to be a lot
different but then I you know after getting a little bit more wisdom
especially from the Word of God I realized you know what the true change
that needs to happen isn't gonna happen through politics not gonna debate
somebody on foreign policy or on our immigration policy or on you know like
like these other policies that the government's gonna have to win over
their heart and their mind right you need the Word of God to bring that
change and like I said if that happens the the D and the our thing will work
itself out it really will when people could get the mindset of hey I'm
bringing all my thoughts into obedience of Christ now you're gonna start
thinking even in politics political terms and well what would God say is
right regardless of which party it's all about anything like hey let's just try
to get things biblical then I don't have to persuade them about jumping ship
from one party to another who cares you get you know they care about something
much more important and much higher much deeper the truth the things of God then
then it's done its job 1st Timothy chapter 1 next place I want to turn to
you first Timothy chapter 1 again we're looking at time to war primarily we're
looking at the time to war we know that the time that peace is just in general
like how we ought to be living our day-to-day life peaceably seeking peace
and you know what we're bringing peace by the gospel but bringing the gospel
also brings war so while we're trying to bring peace we're actually going to be
attacked and be part of a war it's it's it's the same thing doing the same thing
brings both results it's interesting it's kind of a paradoxical 1st Timothy
chapter 1 verse number 18 the Bible reads this charge I commit unto thee son
Timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by
them mightest war a good warfare so the apostle Paul's charging Timothy here he
says I'm committing this charge unto you okay I want you to know this and he says
according to the prophecies which went before on thee so he's already received
these prophecies he's received the preaching of the Word of God Timothy has
been instructed in those ways he says that thou by them by what by the
prophecies by the teachings by the preaching that that by them you might
war good warfare so you need to use the teachings use these prophecies to engage
in the battle engage in the fight Gert being girt about with the truth and he's
saying now you're now hey soldier this is your charge go out and fight that
good fight holding faith in a good conscience which some having put away
concerning faith have made shipwreck of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I
have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme and he's
identifying some of the enemies here at Hymenaeus and Alexander is like look
they need to be delivered unto Satan why it's a spiritual battle did he say I'm
gonna go and you know cut their throats and just stop that problem I'm gonna
sigh I'm gonna sigh no he's like no Satan's gonna deal with them right I
don't have to physically do anything to them they've been causing a lot of
problems but you know what they're just delivered unto Satan let let let that
work itself out and you know just like the Bible says we're not called on to
vengeance you know that that the Lord will revenge he's the one that
ultimately will make sure that if the government's not even doing their job of
holding responsible to evildoers God will at the end of the day justice is
always served always turn if you would to let's see turn to Jude I'm gonna
close on Jude there's a few other passages I want to reference real quick
here 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 the Bible says thou therefore endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ no man that warreth entanglement
himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who had chosen
him to be a soldier and if a man also strive for masteries yet is he not
crowned except he strive lawfully saying look you know endure hardness things are
gonna be hard but hey you're a soldier right you're soldier of Christ there's a
time of war and you know what a soldier needs to be hard you can't just be some
softy and you can't get entangled with the things of this life and get
distracted with all of the other things you could be distracted with this in
this life you've got a battle going on right it's important to keep focus keep
focus on the truth keep focus on the Word of God keep focus on the things of
God so that you can stay in the fight don't let the cares of this world and
the riches and all the money and toys and all the other distractions and
pleasures and things that you could have here you know the pleasures of sin for a
season Moses he rejected the pleasures of sin for the short time that he was
gonna be on this earth he recognized that you know what it's not really all
it's cracked up to be anyways I want to do something really matters you know
what that's gonna bring hardness because then he was rejected from Pharaoh's
household that he grew up in and had Pharaoh against him and he was just like
you know what though I'm gonna do what's right that's fine I'm not gonna be
distracted and and look at what he did look at the I mean he led the children
of Israel out of captivity and was used of God tremendously why because he
allowed himself to endure hardness and he stuck with it and he stayed with it
all the way through he was a soldier he was a spiritual soldier he had lots of
people coming out against him and threatening him and everything else
threatening him with his life even some of his own people were were were
threatening against him but he stayed the course and you know what God was
able to protect him from all no matter where any threat might be coming from
God protected him through all of it he kept that shield of faith through the
whole way and and was able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked story
after story we have people in the Bible that that are able to do that and you
know what God will equip you for the battle as well we saw the armor of God
those are the things we want to focus on to make sure we're well creepy you know
what God will equip you in the Psalms you don't have to turn there but the
Bible says you know David refers to this in Psalm 18 he says it is God that
girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect God gives me the strength to
fight God's the one who who is strengthening me for this battle he
maketh my feet like hinds feet and said to me upon my high places he teaches my
hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms he said God's the
one now obviously a bow of steel these things a physical battle yeah he faced a
lot of physical battles but you know what he was trusting in the Lord for all
those things and he said and he's giving God all the credit because God's the one
who kept him safe God's the one who led him he sought God and all of his battles
and said hey God should I go up against these people should I not go up against
even what should I do Lord he was a king he had to deal with wars he had to deal
with battles but every time he was seeking the right thing to do by seeking
God first so we apply those physical battles spiritually still do we seek the
Lord say hey God what is right what is the right thing for me to do and stand
and do it the right way and God will strengthen you and God will teach your
hands to war as it were you know in his word the time to warm now I mentioned a
lot of different things cultural things wickedness that's that's out there in
high places but you know what there's even a battle within the ranks and it's
also a battle that needs to be fought now by and large I think there's a lot
of things that people can disagree on it shouldn't be that big of a deal now of
course the Word of God everything is important in in the sense that it's a
word of God right everything everything has weight in value and importance and
we should strive to understand everything in Scripture as much as
possible but that we know that there's gonna be areas that not everyone's gonna
agree on right there's there's some things that we just don't fully
understand and there's some things that someone might be convinced one way or
some people nothing but those are not the most important things and we should
be able to look past a lot of that you know I've said this many times the thing
every single thing that I preach from the pulpit you don't have to agree with
everything that comes out of my mouth to be a member of our church or something
like that that's crazy right this isn't a cult and there's gonna be people that
are believers and are saved they have difference of opinion on many things but
when it comes to the gospel that is a hard line that is a hard line and that
is a fight that is definitely worth fighting for and that is something you
should never back down from is when it comes to the gospel I've had people try
to yoke up and join up see we're not ecumenical here we don't I don't believe
we don't believe in just joining up with every organization that wants to call
themselves Christian and just group together and see those are the people
that have this more of a peace at all costs mindset as I mentioned the very
beginning it's not peace at all costs okay there's things you have to be able
to stand on and you know there's things that you have to be agreed on to walk
side by side and join together now I have plenty of churches where we are
very friendly with I mentioned the announcements other activities going on
and hey go to this activity go that activity and you know what some of them
they might teach some different things and we do in different areas fine it
doesn't matter you know why though because they are born-again believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ they are absolutely 100% right on their doctrine
when it comes to salvation which is the most important thing in the world because
if you're wrong on salvation you're literally gonna be damning people to
hell and if you're wrong on salvation you're not a child of God you're not my
brother or sister in Christ so yeah that's a hard line that's a hard stand
that we need to take in Jude the book of Jude verse number three the Bible says
beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints now contend
means to fight right I mean there's a you think of a contention a contention
would be a strive for a fight now we are not to be contentious people like always
looking to get in a fight but there is a time to contend and here it says
earnestly content I mean you need to be like really into this with earnest hey
I'm gonna fight this fight I'm gonna fight this battle and that look we're
you know we're being exhorted to earnestly contend for the faith which
was once delivered unto the Saints and he says why why is it such a big deal
verse 4 for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old
ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ there are
people who try to creep in and get in behind the lines so to speak the wolves
in sheep's clothing that will try to get in and and bring in heresies and
bring in false Gospels and this is something man if you don't know what I'm
talking about read the New Testament this happens over and over and over
again read the book of Galatians what is the big deal the Apostle Paul he wrote
in time I mean the entire book of Galatians is basically now there's
other content in there but but it's really the whole point was hey you've
got people in there trying to teach you another gospel and he's saying I don't
care if it's me or an angel from heaven teaches any other gospel and she says
let that person be accursed let him be accursed Galatians chapter 1 so that
that guy needs to be cursed out and I don't care who the sources if it's any
other gospel than that which you have received let him be accursed and that is
a lion in the sand and that's a fight and they were coming in trying to say oh
you need to be circumcised if faith isn't enough you have to be circumcised
just like there's people today well faith isn't enough you have to also be
baptized well faith isn't enough you have to go to church you have to follow
the commandments you have to do this you do that no look it's faith alone for
salvation and I will fight on that and I will fight till the day I die and I
don't care you know someone tries to bring in a false gospel here you're
ready for a fight and there's people you know I teach people all the time that
don't come to our church or live somewhere else they go to other churches
hey if they've got the right gospel great you know there's a lot of things
you might disagree with them on but just suck it up don't cause problems be a
blessing to that church your brother and sister in Christ but you know what if a
church starts teaching a false gospel and some damnable heresies then fight
for that and get out then because that's that's not right that's a stand that's a
line in the Santa you need to have drawn because there are wicked people out
there they're lying in wait and trying to beguile simple souls and people who
don't know better and trying to send people to hell that's a real thing and
I'm not gonna join up with those people we got I'm fighting against those people
I'm not gonna join up with the Jehovah's Witnesses on something I'm fighting
against them they go out and knock on doors damning people to hell I'm not
gonna I don't care what their stance is on abortion I'm not gonna yoke up with
them
there's a time of war and a time of peace and these two as I mentioned before
they're linked they're linked like you cannot separate them in one sense
because if you are for peace and you're preaching the gospel of peace there will
be war coming your way you need to be ready for that war it's appropriate it's
proper to fight in these spiritual battles as the Bible lays out as
scripture is laid out and given us enough information to discern well when
is it appropriate to stand when is appropriate to speak up well when when
if the Word of God is being trashed you know are you gonna defend it or not
think about it this way think about this way you have a son or a daughter
right and they're out and they're there among their friends or whatever and
someone just starts trashing you and saying all kinds of wicked bad things
about you that are not true and your own child just goes along with it or doesn't
correct them or doesn't stand up for you doesn't offend you that's gonna probably
hurt a little bit right I'm not talking about some little kid who you know
really just doesn't doesn't know anything but the ones that grow up and a
little bit stronger and they should they should know better they should be able
to stick up and stand up for you well I mean we're children of God and you know
we're sitting around people who are gonna be trashing and bad-mouthing the
Lord and his word and stuff we ought to be able to stand up and and say no you
know what that's my Heavenly Father like don't don't you don't talk that way
about about the Word of God that's the truth at the very least tell them you're
wrong you're an error because that is a loving thing to do is to tell somebody
where they're where they're not right especially about important things
instead of pretending like oh no I'm just gonna pretend like you're right
that doesn't help that person at all so no matter how you slice it you're gonna
have to get involved if you care about people you gotta get involved because you
need to tell them the truth you care about someone you're not gonna lie to
them don't don't think that lying helps anything so you got to tell them the
truth well what's the truth well the truth might offend you know what the
truth will offend the truth will divide Jesus already said that so now it's back
on you what are you gonna do stand for the truth you're gonna sit idly by and
just let the world go to hell in a handbasket join us join us this
afternoon join us for for preaching the gospel if you've never done that before
come out and be a part of it we'll show you how to do it you don't have to do
anything just show up you come along we'll pair you up you could be a silent
partner you go side by side with one of our church members that goes and opens
up our Bible and preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ to people preaches in the
truth we love people we don't want them to go to hell this is what we're all
about this is what we do now it may be a little uncomfortable for you it was
really uncomfortable for me when the first time I did first year or two that
I did it was really uncomfortable for me it took a while before I finally got
comfortable with it but you know we are soldiers I don't think you know I'm
pretty sure now I've never been in combat and I've never been in the
military but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of anxiety when a soldier is about
to go into battle I don't know I mean maybe I can't have an opinion about that
because I wasn't a soldier but I'm pretty sure there's probably 100% of the
soldiers just about would have a lot of anxiety unless they're really hardened
veterans that have done it over and over and over again well we're not telling
you to go out and pick up guns and shoot someone's brains out in fact we're doing
the exact opposite we're telling you to go out with the sword which is the Word
of God and and show people how they could have peace peace with God peace in
their life everlasting peace and comfort we've got a good message we've got a
good good news but it's incumbent upon us to go out and do that and you know
what it is a spiritual battle or engage in the battle but but have the boldness
and have the faith and the courage to just to stand up for what's right let's
bow our heads have a prayer dear Lord we love you thank you so much for all that
you can teach us from your word thank you for saving us and thank you for the
gift of salvation that you paid the whole way for us and that the only thing
you ask of us to for our own salvation is just to put our trust in you to
believe that that you really did pay and make the sacrifice for all of our sins
God we thank you for that we thank you for eternal life God please help us in
bold in us as Apostle Paul was was requesting prayers for his boldness
through his own circumstances Lord help us here even though we may not be facing
as as hard of a time Lord and still nonetheless help us to be emboldened to
stand up for what's right and to not dwell on on threats and things that the
enemy might try to to say or do to cause us to not stand for you Lord but that we
would be strengthened in your word and that we would just stand strong with a
with a shield of faith to defend us all the way through Lord we love you it's in
Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna sing one last song before we are
dismissed brother Peter will you please lead us
church
Oh
song 409 the fight is on
Oh