🎵Piano Music🎵
Good morning and welcome, let's find our seats, take our songbooks, turn to song 412, song number 412.
🎵Piano Music🎵
Onward Christian soldiers, 412. Let's sing it out on the first.
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus, going on before.
Christ the royal master, leads against the foe.
Forward into battle, sea is better go.
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus, going on before.
At the sign of triumph, Satan's host a flea.
Onward Christian soldiers, on to victory.
Hell's foundations quiver, at the shout of praise.
Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus, going on before.
Like a mighty army, moves the church of God.
Brothers we are treading, where the saints have trod.
We are not divided, all one body we.
One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus, going on.
Good, on the last.
Onward then ye people, join our happy throng.
Blend with ours your voices, in the triumph song.
Glory loud and honour, unto Christ the King.
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus, going on before.
Amen, and we want to welcome you of course to Verity Baptist Church this morning.
We're so glad that you are with us.
We'd like to begin the service with a word of prayer and let's go ahead and bow our heads together.
Heavenly Father, Lord we do love you.
We thank you for allowing us to gather together today.
Lord we pray that you'd bless the offering, the preaching, the singing, the fellowship,
everything that's done today Lord that it would bring honour and glory to your name.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Turn to song 327.
Song number 327.
327 on the first.
I'm pressing on the upward way.
New heights I'm gaining every day.
Still praying as I'm onward bound.
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
Lord lift me up and let me stand.
My faith on heaven's stable land.
A higher plane than I have found.
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
My heart has no desire to stay.
Where doubts arise and fears dismay.
Though some may dwell where these abound.
My prayer, my aim is higher ground.
Lord lift me up and let me stand.
My faith on heaven's stable land.
A higher plane than I have found.
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
I want to live above the world.
Though Satan's darts at me are hurled.
For faith has sought the joyful sound.
The song of Satan's on higher ground.
Lord lift me up and let me stand.
My faith on heaven's stable land.
A higher plane.
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
You're singing well. Sing it out on the last.
I want to scale the utmost height.
And catch a gleam of glory bright.
But still I'll pray till heaven I've found.
Lord lead me on to higher ground.
Lord lift me up and let me stand.
My faith on heaven's stable land.
A higher plane than I have found.
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
Good singing.
Amen. All right well let's take our bulletins this morning.
We'll look at some announcements real quickly. If you do not have a bulletin just raise your hand
and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin just put your hand up
and we'll get one for you. The verse this week, Colossians 3.14
and above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness.
And that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin you'll see our service times
Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. We're glad of course that you're with us on Sunday
morning on the Lord's day for church. We do invite you to be back tonight for the evening
service. The evening service is different than the morning service. Different songs that are sung.
Different sermon that's preached. Just one more opportunity to be in God's house
with God's people under the preaching of the word of God. And we're not
in the midst of any sermon series or Bible studies right now on Sundays
so both this morning and this evening service will just be
special sermons that I'll be preaching this weekend and I encourage you to be with us
for of course we're glad you're here this morning and encourage
you to be with us tonight. Our Wednesday evening Bible study is at 7 p.m. and we
are studying through the book of Hebrews. We're in the last chapter of Hebrews and we encourage
you to be with us as we continue to move through the last
chapter and we finish up that Bible study here soon. If you look at our Soloning Times
our main Soloning Time is on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and then we have additional
Soloning Times on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
and we'd love for you to join us of course for Soloning if you'd like to go Soloning this afternoon
there will be an opportunity for you to be able to do that. If you're a first time
guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church we're glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building this morning if you go out
our main entrance there you'll see a table set up and on that table
you will see these little gift bags. Please grab one on your way out
as a gift from us to you for being our guest this morning. There are several
resources in this bag that we'd like you to have but the one I'd like to highlight is this
documentary that our church made. It's called Being Baptists. It's very well made, very interesting
we think you'll like it and we want to give this to you as a gift so please make sure you don't leave here this morning without
grabbing one of these gift bags on your way out and if you are a guest we'd ask that you please take a moment
to fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin
and if you need a pen you can just raise your hand and one of our ushers will bring you by
a Verity Baptist Church pen. You're welcome to keep the pen of course as a gift from us as well
and we would love to have a record of your attendance. We actually would like to send you a little gift
but we need your information to do that. So please take a moment to fill the card out.
When we're done with the announcements we're going to sing a song. When we're done singing we're going to receive the offering
and as the offering plate goes by you can drop this card in the offering plate. If you'll notice
there of course we are a family integrated church. What that means is that children and infants
are always welcome in the service. We do not separate children from their parents for any reason.
We do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience. All the rooms have comfortable seating.
We have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it. So if you have a child that's been distracting
during the service, if you need some privacy we encourage you to use those rooms as needed.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events of course
we just want you to be aware that we have our Safety is of the Lord service
coming up on Sunday. That's this coming Sunday, July 14th
for the evening service at 6pm and if you've never been with us for a
week or so, you're welcome to go to the Safety is of the Lord service. This is something we do every once in a while
and we just take a Sunday night service and
I give a thought from the word of God but we spend most of the evening
going over just emergency procedures. We like to do this
like we like to do it once a year. I think we end up doing it more like every other year
but it's just good every once in a while to
go over things in case of a fire or an earthquake or power outage
and that way you can be aware of those things and we'll have pizza after the service on
Sunday night as well so we do want you to be aware of that. Let me just
tell you up front, okay, because you would think that I wouldn't have to say these things but
this is not the service to bring your grandmother that you've been praying for
you know. It seems like we'll have a Safety is of the Lord service and someone's like
my daughter or my uncle that I've been praying for 12 years
I got them to come to the Safety is of the Lord. It's going to be just
we'll have a quick challenge from the word of God and then we're going to talk about
stop, drop, and roll, alright, and we're going to talk about what to do in case
so just please use some sentence there and that's not
the service to be inviting a guest to. If you invite a guest to we'll be nice
to them but I'm just we're telling you up front it's just kind of
something we do every year just to help us just to make sure that you know what to do in case of an
emergency. We'll have pizza afterwards as well so just be aware
of that. And then of course we have a baby shower
coming up. All the ladies are invited to a baby shower for Miss Ariel
Sheboygan on Saturday July 20th at 3pm and
Miss Ariel's having a girl. She's registered on Amazon. It is a potluck so if you can
please bring a dish to share and make sure you sign up on your communication
card so we know you're coming and then we have the Ladies Weight Loss Accountability Group if you'd like to be a part of that
they meet on Wednesdays at 6.15 and that is something my wife
leads and they meet in her office. Upcoming cleaning crew you can check for your name there. Please don't
forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction
to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of July
today July 7th is Miss Blanca Beale's birthday
also Eurete de Dios has a birthday today and Miss Jacqueline de Dios
has a birthday today as well and Brother Montel and Miss Lindsey Johnson have an anniversary
today and then later this week we have Khaleesi's birthday on July 8th
Miss Amy Cortez's birthday July 10th, Miss Courtney Usher's birthday
July 12th and Brother Matt and Miss Kim Borrello have an anniversary on July 12th
as well. Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those
things are there for you to look at and I think that's it for all of the
announcements. We're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week which is the insert
in your bulletin and we're going to sing I Know Who Holds
Tomorrow as we prepare to receive the offering this morning
sing it out on the first. I don't know
about tomorrow
I just live from day to day
I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to gray
I don't worry or
the future for I know
what Jesus said and today
I'll walk beside Him
Who knows what is ahead
Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know
Who holds tomorrow and I know
Who holds my hand, good, sing it out on
the second. I don't know
about tomorrow
May bring me poverty
But the one who leaves the sparrow
Is the one who stands by me
And the path that is my
portion may be through the
flame or flood but His presence
goes before me and I'm
covered with His blood
Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know
Who holds tomorrow and I know
Who holds my hand
Amen, good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time
and let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to worship through
giving, Lord. We pray that you'd bless the gift and the giver. We pray that you'd meet with us as we open up your word
instead of the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 10.
2 Kings chapter 10. If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand
and Anasher will bring you one.
2 Kings chapter 10. We will read the entire chapter as our custom.
2 Kings chapter 10. Just keep your hands up and Anasher will bring you a Bible.
2 Kings chapter 10 the Bible reads
And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria
and two wrote letters and sent to Samaria unto the rulers of Jezreel
to the elders and to them that brought up Ahab's children
saying, Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's
sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses
a fenced city also and armor, look even out among the best
and meatiest of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne
and fight for your master's house. But they were exceedingly afraid
and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him, how
then shall we stand? And he that was over the house, and he that was
over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children
sent to Jehu saying, We are thy servants, and will
do all that thou shall bid us. We will not make any king do
thou which is good in thine eyes. Then he wrote a letter the second time to them
saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my
voice, take ye the heads of your men, your master's sons, and come
to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king's
sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city
which brought them up. And it came to pass when the letter came to them
that they took the king's sons and slew seventy persons
and put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jezreel. And there
came a messenger and told him saying, They have brought the heads of the
king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering
end of the gate until the morning. And it came to pass in the morning that
he went out and stood and said to all the people, Ye be righteous,
behold, I conspired against my master and slew him.
But who slew all these? Know now that there shall fall
unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab.
For the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.
So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab and Jezreel and
all his great men and his kinfolks and his priests until he left
him none remaining. And he arose and departed and came
to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way, Jehu
met with the brethren of Azaziah the king of Judah and said, Who are
ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Azaziah and we
go down to salute the children of the king and children of the queen. And he said,
Take them alive. And they took them alive and slew them at the pit
of the shearing house, even two and forty men. Neither left he any
of them. And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jonadab
the son of Rakab coming to meet him. And he saluted him and said to him,
Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?
And Jonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thy
hand. And he gave him his hand and he took him up to him into the
chariot. And he said, Come with me and see my zeal
for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. And when he came to Samaria,
he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria till he had
destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah.
And Jehu gathered all the people together and said unto them,
Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much.
Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his
servants, and all his priests. Let none be wanting, for I have a
great sacrifice to do to Baal. Whosoever shall be
wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtly
to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. And Jehu
said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they
proclaimed it. And Jehu sent through all Israel. And all the worshippers
of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not.
And they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was full from one end
to another. And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth
vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.
And Jehu went, and Jananadeb the son of Rekab,
into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal,
Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord,
but the worshippers of Baal only. And when they went in to offer sacrifices
and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed four score men without,
and said, If any of the men who I have brought unto your hands escape,
he that letteth them go, his life shall be for the life of him.
And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering,
that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and
slay them. Let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword.
And the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of
the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal,
and burned them. And they break down the image of Baal, and break down the house of Baal,
and made it a draught house unto this day. Thus Jehu destroyed
Baal out of Israel. Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
who made Israel the sin, Jehu departed not from after them,
to wit the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that
were in Dan. And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done
well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto
the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the
fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. But Jehu
took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for
he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel the sin.
In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short, and Heziel smote
them in all the coasts of Israel. From Jordan eastward, all the
land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassehites,
or even is by the river Arnon,
even Gilead and Bashan. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu,
and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the books
of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehu slept with his fathers,
and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehu, as his son, reigned
in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was
twenty and eight years. Let's pray. Father God, thank you
for this day. Thank you for allowing us to gather together. Please bless
Pastor. Please bless his sermon. Please let it bring glory and honor to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
Amen. Alright, we're there in 2 Kings chapter
number 10, and I'd like you to turn back, if you would, to 2 Kings
chapter number 9. You're in chapter 10, but flip back to chapter 9, if you
would, just real quickly. And before we get into the
sermon, let me just give a little bit of an explanation of this morning's
sermon. I think it was maybe last year that
we made, I made an offer, and we set
up a little bit of a system here in our church, and the offer was
this, because somebody asked for this, and we
thought, well, if we do it for one, we maybe should open it up for
everyone. I think it was Miss Cricket who had asked for this, and
we opened it up for everyone, and the offer was this, that if you have been a member of
our church for 10 years or more, if you have been a
member of our church for 10 years or more, or I should say once you are a member of
our church for 10 years or more, if your birthday falls
on a Sunday or on a Wednesday, then I'll preach
whatever sermon you'd like me
to preach that, if you'd like me to preach, if there's a sermon that I preached in the past that you
liked or that's your favorite, then I would do that.
And of course I did that last year, and that's what I'm doing today.
And Brother Salvador has been part of our church for
well over 10 years, and his birthday was actually last Sunday. My wife
and I were away for our 20-year wedding anniversary,
but he made a request, and I'm preaching that sermon
today, and let me just give it another
disclaimer in regards to this. First of all, I'll only preach sermons
I preached, alright, so don't ask me to preach some sermon Pastor Anderson preached
or something like that, but the sermon
I'm preaching this morning is a sermon I preached, originally
preached in 2022 at the Red Hot
Preaching Conference, and I'm going to go and preach the sermon, and I've worked on it,
I'm not just regurgitating, I just print the notes, I've redone it
and gone through it, but let me just give a disclaimer, because I think a lot of you
have brought up to me that when your birthday
falls on a Sunday or Wednesday, and you've been here for 10 years, you've got this sermon or that sermon,
let me just give a disclaimer about the sermons about the Red Hot Preaching Conference. I'll preach them,
but don't expect for them to be the same,
you know, and I just think that I don't want to set the right expectation,
you know, I'll preach a sermon from the Red Hot Preaching Conference, and you'll be like, oh, I didn't feel the same.
Well, the Red Hot Preaching Conference sermons are a little different, you know, when you're preaching
a sermon with a thousand protesters outside, chanting for your death or something,
it's going to feel a little different than preaching it on a Sunday morning when half of you
are asleep anyway, so just be aware
of that, there's some expectations there, it might not feel
exactly the same, but this morning I'm preaching on the subject of the life
of Jehu, and I'd like to begin by giving a brief explanation
as quickly as I can on the life of Jehu, if you look there in 2 Kings
chapter 9, and look down at verse number 6, I want you to notice that Jehu was anointed
king by God, and Jehu was anointed king
to enact judgment against the house of Ahab, and what's happening
is that Ahab, who was a wicked king,
has now died, but God promised that he would take the kingdom
away from Ahab, and God is giving it from Ahab to Jehu,
but God is actually using Jehu to bring
judgment upon the house of Ahab, 2 Kings 9,
look at verse 6, the Bible says this, and the he here is referring
to one of the sons of the prophets that was sent by Elisha, arose
and went into the house, and he poured oil on his head,
and again, we're jumping in the middle of a text here for the sake of time, but
his head there is referring to Jehu, and said unto him,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed the king over the
people of the Lord, even over Israel, and thou
this is referring to Jehu, shall smite the house
of Ahab thy master, now keep in mind Ahab is already
dead, the house of Ahab here is referring to the household, or the family
of Ahab, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets,
and the blood of all thy servants of the Lord at the hand of
Jezebel, so of course you have the wicked king Ahab, you have Jezebel
who was persecuting the prophets, killing the prophets, of course
she also, if you remember, killed Naboth, lied about Naboth,
had him killed so that she could take his vineyard and give it to Ahab, so
we see that Jehu is anointed king by God to enact judgment
against the house of Ahab, and Jehu
carries out this judgment, now the interesting thing about Jehu
is that there's a lot of action in his story, he does a lot of
things, he ends up being a wicked king and not being right
with God, but here at the beginning there's a lot of movement
a lot of action that takes place in regards to carrying
out this judgment, notice there in 2 Kings 9 and verse 14
we see that Jehu, the first thing he does is he kills Joram
who's the son of Ahab, who's the king of the northern
kingdom of Israel, 2 Kings 9 and 14, so Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi
conspired against Joram, and again you see the word conspired
there, he is moving to remove the current
king off his throne, now this is ordained by God, God has ordained
it, but he is conspiring against Joram, look down at verse 16
2 Kings 9 and 16, so Jehu rode in a chariot
and went to Jezreel for Joram lay there
and again Joram is the son of Ahab, the current king of the northern
kingdom of Israel, and verse 16 Ahaziah
king of Judah was come down to see Joram, so you have
Joram who's the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, who's the son of Ahab
who Jehu is replacing, but you also have Ahaziah
excuse me, who's the king of the southern kingdom of Judah and they're
both hanging out together and Jehu is on his way to bring judgement
upon Joram and the house of Ahab, look at verse 24, same chapter 2 Kings
9 and 24, and Jehu drew a bow with his full strength and
smote Jehoram between his arms and the arrow went out
at his heart and he sunk down in his chariot, so I want you
to notice that Jehu kills Joram, the king of the northern
kingdom of Israel, that's what he set out to do, but
then the Bible tells us that Jehu also kills Ahaziah
king of the southern kingdom of Judah, who's the friend of Joram, he didn't
really set out to do that, but Ahaziah is also wicked and
not right with God, he happens to be there, verse 27, 2 Kings
9 and 27, and when Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way
of the garden house, and Jehu followed after him and said smite him also
in the chariot, and they did so as the going up of Gur
which is by Abilim, and he fled to Megiddo and died
there, so I want you to notice that Jehu kills Joram, the king of the northern kingdom of Israel
he kills Ahaziah, the king of the southern kingdom of Israel
and I'm not preaching on this, but just a little by the way
there's a lesson there, that Ahaziah ended up
being killed, though Jehu did not set out to kill Ahaziah
Ahaziah ended up being killed because of the fact that he was at the wrong
place, at the wrong time, with the wrong person, and this
should be a lesson to all of us, especially young people
that your friends will determine the quality and direction of your life
and the people you hang out with, you say well I'm not doing what they're doing
I'm bad, but they're really bad, but being in the wrong place
at the wrong time with the wrong person might find you meeting
the judgment of God with those individuals, so we see
that Jehu kills Joram, we see that Jehu kills Ahaziah
but we also see that Jehu kills Jezebel, the wife
of Ahab, look at verse number 30, 2 Kings chapter 9 and verse 30
and when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard
of it and she painted her face and tired her head
and looked out at a window, look at verse 33 just for sake of time
we're skipping some verses, but look at verse 33
Jehu said, throw her down, so they threw her down and some of her blood
was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses and he
Jehu trode her underfoot, so notice
he kills Jezebel, he kills Joram
he kills Ahaziah, not only that but he kills
the 70 sons of Ahab, 2 Kings 10, look at verse 1
you're there in chapter 9, go back to chapter 10 where we started this morning
verse 1, now I want you to notice
this and all of this is by way of introduction as we're kind of building up to
a specific verse, verse number 9 and a specific statement in that verse
right at the end but I want you to understand what's going on here, Jehu is conspiring
against his master Ahab, he has killed the son of Ahab
Joram, he has killed Ahaziah as well
these are 2 Kings, sitting Kings, he has killed Jezebel
who's a queen, who's the mother of the current king and
was the wife of the former king
and now Jehu sets his sights on the rest
of the sons of Ahab, Ahab has 70 sons, notice 2 Kings
chapter 10, look at verse 1, and Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria
and Jehu wrote letters and sent to Samaria unto
I want you to notice who he writes the letters to, he writes these letters
and he sends them to certain groups of people, the sons of
Ahab are in Samaria and he sends these letters to certain groups
look at it, the first group, the rulers of Jezreel
to, the Bible says there that he sent, and Jehu wrote letters
and sent to, sent Samaria unto the rulers of
Jezreel to the elders and to them that brought
up Ahab's children saying, now let me just pause
there, I want you to notice the groups here, the rulers of Jezreel
the elders of Jezreel, and to them that brought
up Ahab's children, so Ahab's children are being brought up, they've got
some sort of a nurse or a schoolmaster that is
in charge of raising them, they're all being raised in Samaria
in this city Jezreel, and Jehu writes to the people that are
running the city, the rulers, to the elders
like a council of leaders, and to the individuals that are
raising these children, and here's what he says
to them, look down at verse number 3, he says, look even out the best and
medias, the word medias there means the most fit or more
suitable, of your master's sons and set him on his
father's throne and fight for your master's house
but they, these are the men that are
raising Ahab's children, were exceedingly afraid and said behold
two kings stood not before him, how then shall we stand?
So he says look, I've killed your king, I've killed the king
of the southern kingdom of Israel, you've got the sons of Ahab
figure out which one is the best choice, which one is the most
fit or suitable to be king, place him on the throne, and we're going to fight
and I'm going to kill him as well and I'm going to take over the kingdom
and the masters are saying if he's already killed
two kings, what are we going to do? How then shall we stand?
Look at verse 5, and notice the groups
because the word that's used throughout this passage about this story is
conspire or conspiracy
and the groups that are being brought together here to conspire against the house of Ahab
now all of that sounds negative and generally we use those terms negatively
keep in mind that this is being wrought by the Lord, this is the judgment of God
upon the house of Ahab, look at the groups that are conspiring now
with Jehu, verse 5, and he that was
over the house, that's the guy that ran the house where the sons of Ahab
were raised, and he that was over the city
we would call that the mayor, and the elders also
we would call that the city council, and the bringers up
of the children, we would call that the teachers or
the supervisors, or maybe even the nannies
sent to Jehu saying, now notice what all these groups
are saying, he that was over the house, he that was over the city
the elders, and those that are bringing up, they said we
and when they say we, they really mean we, because it's pretty much
everyone in authority in that city, everyone who has authority over the sons
of Ahab, they said we are thy servants and
we, they're saying, will do all that thou
shall bid us, we will not make any king, do thou
that which is good in thine eyes, then he
wrote a letter the second time, so they said we'll do whatever you want, we don't want
to set up a king, just tell us what to do, now he writes a second letter, a second time
to them saying, and here's what he says, if ye be mine, and if ye will
hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men of your master's
son, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow
this time, now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great
men of the city, which brought them up, so do you understand what he's asking?
He says, okay, if you're on my side, and if you don't want to fight against me, you want
to be on my side, then here's what I want you to do, I want you to take the heads
of the men of your master's son, I want you to take the seventy sons of Ahab
and I want you to cut off their heads, I want you to kill them, and cut off their heads
and I want you to bring me the heads, and that'll show me that you're on
my side, and that will pretty much desolate the house of Ahab, and confirm
the kingdom in the hands of Jehu, look at verse seven, and it came to pass, when the letter came
to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons
and put their heads in baskets, and sent him, Jehu
them to Jezreel, so they take seventy
souls, seventy decapitated heads, they put them
in baskets, they send them to Jezreel, to Jehu, verse eight
and there came a messenger and told him, saying, they have brought the heads of the king's
sons, and he said, lay them in two heaps
or in two piles at the entering in of the gate until
the morning, he said, I want you to display these heads in two piles
at the entering in of the gate, look at verse nine
and here's where I'd really like us to focus, all of that has been introduction just to lead us
to this point, second Kings ten, verse nine, and it came to pass
in the morning that he went out, and stood and said to all the people
ye be righteous, behold
I conspired against my master and slew him
now Jehu is standing before the people, he's now killed
all the sons of Ahab, he's killed the current king, he's killed the queen
and he's even killed the king of the southern kingdom of Israel, later in the chapter he kills all
the brothers of the southern kingdom of Israel, of Judah as well
and he is now speaking to the people
and he says, I conspired against my master and slew him
and he is dealing with an issue because though
it was Elisha who sent the son of the prophet to anoint him and though
it was the word of the Lord that is using Jehu, although Jehu is a wicked
man, God often uses wicked people to bring judgment upon
other wicked people, and even wicked nations to bring judgment upon
other wicked nations, Jehu is dealing with a problem because they might say
Jehu did this on his own, Jehu
is just working by himself, he's conspired against Ahab
and he's doing this all on his own, just him and his few men
and his few soldiers, so Jehu brings these seventy
think about how thematic and how dramatic it would be to be
standing there in front of the people in the gate, the gate of the city is where the
work of the city and where the leadership of the city would meet
to make decisions and where commerce would be done and here's where
the men would be present with these seventy skulls and Jehu
says, I conspired, yes it's true, I conspired against my master
and slew him, and then he asks this question, he says, but who
slew all these?
He says, but who slew all these?
It's a powerful question because
of the fact that Jehu understood something, and I want to
highlight what Jehu understood because though it's being done
in a way that we might think is wicked and wrong
and to some extent it was wicked and wrong though it was ordained by God and it's a judgment
of God, the principle behind the question is true still
the principle behind this question, but who slew all these
shows us that Jehu understood something, Jehu understood
this, that when he and a few other people
were bringing vengeance against the house of Ahab, there might be those
who would discredit them by saying, oh it's just one guy
oh it's just one group, oh it's just a small group of people
but when 70 sons of Ahab were decapitated
by not Jehu and his men, but all
the great men of the city, remember
the mayor and the city council and the teachers and all
the great men of the city, they're the ones that killed
the 70 sons, they're the ones that took off their heads, then no one
could say that Jehu was doing this
alone or with just a handful of followers
and what we learn is this, and whether it's right or wrong
whether it's the appropriate way to think of things or the inappropriate
way to think of things, it's true either way, do you understand that sometimes
even when we think well people shouldn't think that way
if it's the reality of the world that we live in, then we just have to deal with reality
and the reality is this
that when you've got more people with you
it gives you more credibility
Do you understand what I'm saying to you? When there are more, when it's just one
guy on his own, maybe preaching hard
sermons, taking hard stands, when it's just one guy
meeting in a living room with a handful of people
preaching sermons against the sodomites and against drugs
and alcohol, it's easy for people, I'm not saying it's right
I'm just saying it's the reality of life, it's easy to
discredit that, do you understand what I'm saying to you? 14 years ago
my wife and I started Verity Baptist Church in our living room, I think, I don't know
18 or 19 years ago, Pastor Anderson and his wife started
Faithful Word Baptist Church in their living room, and when a couple of
25 year olds stood up in a living room preaching behind the counter of
their kitchen with two or three
people in the living room and began to preach hard
sermons against sin and hard sermons about doctrine
and righteousness and judgment, it was easy for people to discredit that
when we moved into a storefront building, an 800 square foot building
it was easy for people to discredit that, it was easy for
people to mock that, it was easy for people to say, well yeah but
it's just one guy, it's just a couple of guys, it's just a handful of people
but when you've got 400 plus people show up to a red hot preaching conference
in a 400 seat auditorium on a 4 acre property
it's a little more difficult to discredit that
now whether you think that's right or wrong is not the point, the point is this
that there's a lesson here
about the importance and the value of
growth, church growth and involvement, now please don't misunderstand
what I'm saying, and I want to be clear about this, I believe that the
greatness of a church is not measured in its size but in its
likeness to Christ, I don't think that it matters
as far as the Lord Jesus Christ is concerned how big a church is, how nice
their facilities are, how big their property is, how many people they have
in the services, I think the value of a church is not
measured in its size but in its likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ
however with that said, do you understand that the bigger a church
is, the easier it is to accomplish ministry
the easier it is to get attention, the easier it is to get
more done
like I said, 14 years ago, here in September
family friendly in September in a few months we'll be celebrating 14 years of ministry
we'll be celebrating 14 years of the existence of Verity Baptist Church, we'll also be celebrating
14 years of me being a pastor, my wife being a pastor's wife
this is the only church we've ever pastored, my wife and I started
Verity Baptist Church with just a handful of people in our living room
but today our church averages, I was looking at our status report
that Brother Shaw makes for me every week
and our average, and this isn't every service, some services are higher, some services
are lower, but our average Sunday morning attendance in 2024
up to this point is 260 people
and that may sound like a lot, or may not sound like a lot to you
the point is this though, when we started 14 years ago, our average Sunday morning attendance was
6 people, 7 people
when we started it was just a handful of people in our living room, today
it's 260 people in church on Sunday morning and
204 people in church on Wednesday night and
close to 200 people in church on Sunday night
and like Jehu who asked, he said yes I killed Joram and yes I killed Jezebel
and yes I killed Isaiah and yes
I killed those individuals but who slew all these?
The question that I would say is yes, my wife and I started in a living room with our children
and with some of our family and with a handful of people
we started out early in those days in just a small group of people
but today our church has 260 and sometimes 280 people in church
on a Sunday morning and I would ask the question, where did all these people come from?
Who are all these?
How about soul winning? When we came here 14 years ago
there was zero soul winning going on in this area
no soul winning going on
as far as I know in the city of Sacramento
there were other independent fundamental Baptist churches in the area
of Sacramento that did some door knocking, very limited door knocking but none of them did it
within the city limits of Sacramento, they were all outside
Orangeville and different citrus sites, different suburbs
of Sacramento, no soul winning being done
today we knock on doors and people
say you've knocked on my door 4, 5, 6 different times
over the years, I mean I've seen signs where it says
no Mormons, no Jehovah's Witnesses, no Verity Baptist Church
and
you know when we started out, it was just me and my wife
going out soul winning, I remember in those early days we had a goal
and we had little children and we couldn't go
and didn't know how to go soul winning at the same time or whatever
I would go alone by myself a lot and
she would go out every week and I remember we'd find apartment complexes that had little playgrounds
and I would stay with the kids at the playground and keep an eye on her as she went out
and knocked doors throughout the apartment and back in those early days we had a goal
and we often missed it of handing out 1,000 invitations
a month and somebody had told me that on average
if you pass out 1,000 invitations you can expect one
visiting unit, you can expect one visitor
or one family visiting church as a result, so we had a goal of handing out
1,000 invitations a month and often times
we got busy with life and missed it, maybe had 800 invitations
or 900 invitations, today our church averages
117 soul winners a week and we pass out
100 invitations a week
and like Jehu who would say, yes I killed this person, yes I killed that person
but who slew all these? I would ask the question, yes
my wife and I began
this church by knocking doors and inviting people to church and preaching the gospel
and following up on people and offering rides
but who knocked all these doors? How about our giving?
Our first vision offering, our first vision offering
at Verity Baptist Church, I had this audacious goal
of raising $3,000
in one vision offering, I remember a little old lady who was coming to the church
at that time, she no longer comes to our church, but I remember after we
had the vision offering and we accomplished the $3,000 goal, she said
Pastor I got to tell you, I didn't think you were going to hit that, I thought you were crazy
I didn't think this handful of people would be able to give
$3,000 in one vision offering
my wife and I alone last year gave $3,000 to the vision offering
in last year's vision offering, but we gave
$3,000 in last year's vision offering and many of you gave that and above that
you know that our church last year for our vision offering, the first vision offering
at Verity Baptist Church, we raised $3,000 to buy a 15 year old
church van, so that my wife would have to
stop having to go pick up all the visitors
you know that last year our church raised $184,759
in an 11th sentence
and like Jehu who asked the question, yes I killed Joram and yes I killed
Aziah and yes I killed Jezebel, but who slew all these
I would ask the question, yes we have given to the vision offering
through the years my wife and I and our family and our home and yes last year we gave $3,000
to the vision offering, but we raised almost $200,000
and I'd ask the question, who gave all this money?
How about our homeschool group?
My wife and I have been blessed with six children, our children have been homeschooled their entire lives
my wife has homeschooled our six children, our youngest just
graduated kindergarten and our oldest is going into his senior year
we have six children, when we started Verity Baptist Church we had six children
we were homeschooling and those were the only children that were in our church and there wasn't even six of them
at the time, when we started there was only two
I remember in those early days praying Lord would you send us a family with other kids
so that our kids could have some kids
to play with and not be the only kids
you know my wife has homeschooled six children
you know that last year the Verity Baptist Church homeschool roster
the roster that details the official members
of our homeschool group which we have to use for homeschool field trips and things of that nature
last year the Verity Baptist Church homeschool roster had 102
children, not adults, not their parents
children's names on it
obviously we're family integrated so we have younger siblings and things of that nature
we only raised six
my wife only homeschooled six but yet last year at the Verity Baptist Church
homeschool roster had 102 children's names on it and like Jehu
I would ask the question Jehu said yes I killed Isaiah, yes I killed
Jorah, yes I killed Jezebel, who schooled all these? I would say yes we
raised and my wife has homeschooled six children but who's homeschooled
all these? How about church plants
we started a church in our living room but in the last 14 years
our church has started six other churches
those churches have started other churches
we planted this church but who planted all these? And all I'm
saying to you whether you like it or not whether you want to acknowledge it or not whether you think
it's right or not I don't necessarily think it's right I think that the value of a
church the greatness of a church is measured in its likeness to Christ
not in its size because there's lots of churches that are big and they're worldly
and they're bad churches
Joel Osteen's church is not great just because it's large and by the way I'm not impressed with
Joel Osteen's crowd
rock concerts bring in tens of thousands of people
the guy's not preaching the word of God
I'm impressed with somebody who preaches the King James Bible preaches the word of God doesn't
water it down doesn't compromise and still gathers a crowd
the point that I'm making is this
that there is a value to church growth there is a
value to your involvement there is a value to
our increase and our growth why? Because it gives
us credibility because 14 years later
it was still a handful of people meeting in a living room it was still
15-20 people meeting in a little
800 square foot building it was still a handful of just young children again I'm not
minimizing that I realize there are some churches that are small and look there are some churches that are
small and they're just going to be small and I don't
mean that in any sort of rude way it's just they're not going to grow and there's reasons for that
and I won't go into those details and it doesn't make them bad churches
but what I am telling you is that the answer
to the question but who slew all these
highlights the fact that Jehu understood something about
human nature that the more people you have with you the more
people you have involved with you the more people the bigger your crowd
the bigger the credibility so I'd like to give
you this morning I know I've already been preaching for 30 minutes and I won't go long Lord willing
but I'd like to give you just real quickly 3 thoughts this morning 3 lessons
3 applications from this phrase but who slew all these
number 1 if you're writing down and maybe you can jot this down if you'd like who slew
all these when there is many of us it increases
our influence when there's many of us it increases
our influence I wish that people just did right just because it was
right to do I wish that people just
I wish that people just went to church just because it was the right thing to do
whether there was 3 people there or 300 people there
I wish people just went soul winning because it was the right thing to do
whether there was 10 people there or 100 people there
I wish people just did what was right to do
and I realize that some people have different character and whatever my wife and I
for years went to a church where 4 people showed up for soul winning
you said that discouraged you it didn't discourage me I wasn't doing it for them
I'd like to send more soul winners there but I knew soul winning was the right thing to do
but I realize that most people
are not that way most people
as the numbers increase the influence increases and do you know that some people
need to be discouraged from doing wrong
they need to be discouraged from helping the enemy you're there in 2 Kings 9
look at verse 17 look at our story remember when go back to 2 Kings chapter 9 you're there in chapter 10
go back to chapter 9 remember when Jihu was going to kill Joram and Azariah
I didn't read these verses to you but let's read them now
verse 17 and there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel and he spied
the company of Jihu as he came and said I see a company
and Joram said take an horseman and send to meet them and let him say
is it peace so Joram and Azar they send
somebody to go ask because they see Jihu coming and they ask the question
is it peace let him say is it peace verse 18 so there went
one on horseback here's writer number 1 to meet him Jihu
and said thus ate the king is it peace and Jihu said I love this
response from Jihu he says what has thou to do with peace
turn thee behind me and the watchman told
saying so the guy telling Joram the messenger came to them
did the messenger get to him yeah he got to him what happened
he cometh not again he came
to him but he cometh not again look at verse 19 and he sent out a second
on horseback here's writer number 2 which came to them and said thus ate the king
is it peace and Jihu answered what has thou to do with peace turn thee
behind me and the watchman told them saying he came even unto them and cometh
not again and the driving is like the driving of Jihu
the son of Nimshi for he driveth furiously
that's the life verse of some of you
led foot drivers I want you to notice that these horsemen they were on the wrong
side but when they came to contact with Jihu
and with his men and with his movement and what he was doing they were
encouraged to get on the right side or they were discouraged to get
off the wrong side not only do some people need to be
discouraged from helping the enemy some people need to be encouraged to fight the enemy
look at second Kings 9 and verse 32 remember when Jihu gets to Jezebel
Jihu 9 32 and he Jihu lifted up his face to the window
this is when he goes to kill Jezebel and said remember she looks out a window
she painted her face and tied her hair she looks out a window and she says
things about conspiracy and the fact that he's a traitor
and the Bible says here and he lifted up his face to the window and said
notice what he says he says who is on my side who
and there looked out to him two or three eunuchs
and he said throw her down so they threw her down
and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses and he
trode her underfoot look at second Kings chapter 10
look at verse 15 second Kings chapter 10 and verse number 15
some people need to be encouraged
the Bible says this and when he was departed this is Jihu then
he lighted on Jonadab he came across Jonadab the son of Rechab
coming to meet him and he saluted him and said unto him notice what he says unto him
he says is thine heart right as my heart is with thy heart
and Jonadab answered it is if it be
give me thine hand and he gave him his hand and he
took him up to him into the chariot and he said
come with me and see my zeal for the Lord so they made him right
and his chariot look I'm just saying to you
whether it's right or wrong it's human nature when there are many of us
it increases our influence when there are many
of us it increases our influence it allows us
to understand that the bigger the more soul winners we have going
soul winning the easier it is to get people to go soul winning
you understand that my wife and I were started our
church and we homeschooling our children
we had families come and they obviously weren't homeschooling their children
and we try to talk to them or they ask us questions and we talk to them about
why we homeschool and why they should homeschool and I preach sermons about why you should
if you can help it I realize not everybody can help it but if you can help it you should not allow
your children to be given over to the government for seven hours
a day five days a week for seven or eight months of the year
you know it's a lot easier to preach that now
with 102 kids in our homeschool group than when it was just this crazy
24, 25, 26 year old and his crazy wife and their little children
the bigger we get
the more of us there are it increases our
influence when we used to have two or three soul winners
it wasn't as exciting when you show up on Saturday morning and there's 117 people here
it increases our influence
and by the way this is why you should get involved
this is why you should be involved in the things of God this is why you should be present
this is why during the preaching man you ought to say amen
you ought to say amen and you ladies you ought to nod your head
because when I'm up here preaching something crazy
something about Joe Locey something about homosexuals something about whatever and some new
visitor or new conference kind of looking around and it's just
crickets this guy's out
in left field I'm preaching about the
transvestites and about the wickedness of our nation and men are saying
Amen! Praise God! Yeah that's right!
People look around and they're like oh maybe he's not so crazy after all
when there is many of us it increases our
influence so why don't you join us
why don't you be a part of it why don't you get involved
I said number one this morning when there are many of us it increases our influence we're talking about
the application of who's who all these but number two this morning let me say this
when there are many of us it compounds our crowd
it's easier to grow let's get out of the story of
Jehu for a minute and let me show you another story real quickly go to first chronicles chapter number
eleven first chronicles chapter eleven you're there in second kings go to first chronicles
first chronicles chapter number eleven
I realize it's warm but if you act like it's not
warm everyone else will just think it's normal alright that's how it works
second kings first chronicles excuse me chapter eleven
maybe I'm just warm first chronicles eleven look at verse nine
so David waxed greater and greater for the Lord
the Lord of hosts was with him I want you to notice this and this is
interesting it's just human nature I'm not saying it's right it's just the reality of life
when you're growing it's easier to keep growing
it's called momentum it begins to work in your favor
David waxed greater and greater look at first kings
eleven verse ten these also are the chief of the
mighty men whom David had who strengthened themselves with him and
in his kingdom and with all Israel to make him king
remember David when he was running away from Saul the Bible
says as he ran away from Saul, Saul was trying to kill him
the Bible says that all the men that were in debt
and all the men that were distressed and all the men that were
discontented they followed him out four hundred men
and remember David turned those men into the elite fighting
force of the ancient world he trained them and turned them into what became known
in the Bible as David's mighty men and later on we find
that David's mighty men goes from four hundred to six hundred and here
we see that his army keeps growing go to first chronicles twelve and verse one
first chronicles twelve and verse one now these are they that came to David
to Ziklag he already has his mighty men but now he has a group that comes to him
to Ziklag while he kept himself close
because of Saul the son of Kish and they were among the mighty men
helpers of the war these weren't the mighty men they were among the mighty
men helpers of the war so group one mighty men group two
the ones that came to him in Ziklag group three look at verse eight
and of the Gadites now there's another group the Gadites
they're separating themselves unto David into the hold of the wilderness men of
might and men of war fit for the battle
look at verse sixteen here's another group and there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah
to the hold unto David look at verse eighteen
and the spirit came upon Amasi who was chief of the captains
and he said thine are we David and on thy side thou son
of Jesse peace peace be unto thee and peace be to thine helpers
for thy God helpeth thee then David received them and made them captains
of the bands notice there's a fifth group in verse nineteen and there fell some
of Manasseh to David notice that David's
army keeps getting bigger and bigger it keeps growing
and look you say well why is this and look again I'm not telling you
it's right I'm just telling you it's the reality
people want to be part of a winning team
it's how it works and it's not
necessarily wrong have you ever wondered why in the parable of the talents
the master gave five talents to one
two talents to another one talent to another the one with the five
was a hard worker and industrious and he went out and multiplied it into ten
the one with the two talents was a hard worker and industrious and he multiplied it
into four and the one with the one talent was lazy and slothful
did nothing with it when the master returned he only had the one talent and what does
the master do in the story he takes the one talent from the lazy
person that doesn't surprise us but then he gives it to the one with ten
that's a little surprising to me
cause to me I'm thinking to myself well he's already got ten
why don't you give it to the one that has four I mean the guy that has four only has four
this guy has ten he gives it to the one that has ten why does he give it to the one that has ten
because the one that has ten has proven himself that he's going to do something with it
it's how it works
sometimes people will leave our church and go to other churches and sometimes that's just them being
backslidden or maybe it's the will of God whatever
sometimes I've noticed God brings us people
and I think to myself well God takes people from a smaller church
and instead of giving them to a smaller church he gives them to a bigger church but maybe it's because he knows if he
gets them plugged in here we'll incorporate them in that 117 soul winners
we'll teach them to live separated lives
people do something with it God is an investor and he wants to invest in those
that are doing something with their talents
and I'm just here to tell you that people want to be part of a winning team
so when David's winning
they're coming and look at what it says there in 1 Chronicles 12 and verse 22
for at that time day by day there came
to David to help him until it was a great host
like the host of God. What's interesting to me
is that that verse reminds me of a verse in the New Testament you don't have to turn there
about the church Acts 2 47 praising God and having favor with all
the people and the Lord added to the church daily
such as should be saved. We need to be adding to
our army. Why? Because when there's many of us
it compounds our crowd
and by the way that's why you need to
if you're already about to search your home if you call me your pastor if you call my wife
your pastor's wife you need to be involved in helping us
and being faithful to the church services and being here
you say what? Here's why. Because crowds attract crowds
it's just the reality. You say I don't think that's right
doesn't matter if you think it's right it's just the reality of it
That's why I think you should be in church. You should be faithful to church. Why? Because it's more exciting
when you're here. By the way let me just say this
that's why I think you should be on time to church and look
there's never a right time to preach on being tardy because every service there's somebody that's tardy
and I bring it up now and those of you that were late today are like I think the pastor's
preaching about me. Well if you think that you can listen to my sermon from the Red Hot Preaching Conference
if you think the sermon's about you. It's not about you
Maybe it is. Because here's the truth. I realize that all of us
are going to be late from time to time. I get that. All of us are going to be late
you're not going to be able to help it. It's just you're going to get a flat tire or whatever. I'm not talking about
if you were late today you're never late. I'm not talking to you. Look if you were late today I don't even know
if you were late. I don't know. I didn't see you. I'm not looking. You're not that important
But you know the truth is here's what I am talking to you
I'm talking to those of you who are just chronically late every service
And what's so silly to me about this
is that I've been doing this for almost 14 years and you know what's interesting because you begin to notice
things. You know that notice people that are chronically late they always come at the same time
They're just not on time
They show up at the second Psalm every time
They show up during the bulletin announcements every time
They show up during the scripture reading every time. Like people who are chronically late
They're chronically they're just like their minds are like skewed for just like that
15 minutes. Now here's the beautiful thing about that. If you're always
5 minutes late every Sunday here's how you solve it
Just start getting ready 5 minutes earlier
It's really not that complicated. There's a clock and we're all on it. We like synchronize our watches
And we all live on the same time. It's not that hard
So I'm chronically 15 minutes late to church every Sunday
Then start getting ready 15 minutes early
Get in your car 15 minutes early. It's really not that complicated. Say, pastor, why do you care?
You know why I care? Because it hurts us when you're not here
And look, it's not just that it hurts us
It hurts the church. Do you understand that you
being chronically late hurts the church? Look, I'm going to use this example
Somebody's going to email me and say, I don't think you're going to say that. Somebody's going to get mad at me and listen to my sermon from Red Hot
You know when we started the service this morning, we started with 207 people in church
207. You know how many we have in church right now?
242
From the moment the service began, 30 plus people
walked in the door late. I'm not mad at you. If you're a guest, it's your first time here
You were late. I get that. No problem. You don't want to come in
You want to make an entrance. Whatever. I'm not mad at you
I'm just trying to tell you, do you think it would have been more exciting to start with 250 people?
As opposed to 200 people? You say, well you ended up with
almost 250 people anyway. Yeah, but when the first time guest was here
and there was only 200 people and nobody was greeting them and nobody was talking to them
and it wasn't that exciting. Look, I'm just saying, we need your help!
Because Pastor Jimenez wants to be able to get up and say
But who slew all these? And we need you to be involved. And we need you to be a part of it
We need you to be on time. We need you to make it exciting. We need you to be part of the group
So why don't you just set your clock five minutes early
and help us! Who slew all these?
When there are many of us, it increases our influence
And when there are many of us, it compounds our crowd. And look, I'm here to tell you
The Wednesday night service is the most encouraging service of the week
But it will be more encouraging with you in it
Sunday night service, and I hope you come back tonight. I'm preaching a very special sermon tonight
Not something that was requested. I requested it. It's my request
I'm preaching a very special, specific sermon tonight. I hope you'll come
Sunday night is the most exciting service of the week. But it will be more exciting with you in it
And with you on time. With you involved
Because when there's many of us, it increases our influence. When there's many of us, it compounds our crowd
It's easier to grow when you are a growing church
And I'm not down on small churches. I used to pastor a small church for a long time
Some people would say, I still pastor a small church. It's all in the eye of the beholder
What I would say is this. When a church is small, you gotta work hard
At creating momentum. But when a church starts having some momentum
You know, you gotta work hard at maintaining that momentum
Who slew all these? When there's many of us, it increases our influence
Who slew all these? When there's many of us, it compounds our crowd
Who slew all these? When there's many of us, it expands our encouragement
It expands our encouragement
So what do you mean? Go to 1 Kings chapter 19
You know the famous story of Elijah
We've been talking about Elijah the prophet
Remember Elijah had a great victory
And then he got discouraged. You know why Elijah got discouraged? He got discouraged
Because he felt that there was those who were unwilling to stand with him
1 Kings 19, look at verse 9
1 Kings 19, 9
And then notice what Elijah says, he says
And I, even I only, am left
And they seek my life to take it away
You know the devil's always gonna try to make you feel like it's just you
Like you're just alone
Elijah was discouraged by those unwilling to stand with him, but you know the Bible tells us that Elijah was in courage
When he was reminded that he was not alone
It's interesting to me that Elijah says
And I, even I only, am left
And God doesn't coddle him and say oh no you're fine
You know what God does? God says okay Elijah, if you think you're so alone, I want you to rise up
And I want you to go and anoint Hazael to be king of Syria
I want you to anoint Jehu to be king of Israel
And I want you to anoint Elisha to be prophet of the world
I want you to help you, go get some people around you
Go get some people to serve with you
And then God said this to Elijah, 1 Kings 19 and verse 18
God reminds Elijah, yet I have left
Me seven thousand in Israel
All the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth
Which hath not kissed him
Elijah was encouraged when he was reminded that he was not alone
He was reminded that there were left, he says yet I have left
Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal
And look in this world today it's easy for us to feel, even in a church like this
With 250, 260 people in it, it's easy for us to feel alone
And to think well everybody else, listen to me, there are seven thousand
More than seven thousand in this country who have not bowed their knee to this transvestite
LGBT garbage
There's believers out there that believe everything we believe
There's people out there that believe everything we stand for
And we should be encouraged to know that we're not alone
Now even if we were alone, if God be for us
Who can be against us? And me and God makes a majority
Because of God
The truth is this, that there are seven thousand who have not bowed their knee to Baal
Pastor Jimenez, what do you see as the future of Verity Baptist Church?
And the growth of this church?
My job is to work hard and my job is to try to lead the charge
As far as work and reaching people with the gospel, the Bible says that the Lord
Added daily to the church such as should be saved, Jesus said I will build my church
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, we moved into this
200, 225 in a building that comfortably sat 200
We're packed out over there and we moved into this building and we've only been
Here not even a year and we've been running 250 and 260 and I think it's very possible
That in the next year or so our church could be running 300 and
320, I think it's very possible that our church could run 400 or 500
Look I'm only 38 years old, my wife and I have only been doing this for 14 years
If we do this for another 16 years, if we do this for another 20 years
Or 25 years, I think it's possible that our church could have a thousand people in it
I'm not saying we will, I'm just saying it's possible
I think it's possible, it's definitely possible that our church could have 500 people in it
600 people in it, 700 people in it, a thousand people in it, I think that it's possible
That our Sunday night crowd could one day be 300 and 500 and 600
I think it's possible that we could show up on a Saturday morning for a Saturday morning soul winning
One day and have 200, 250 regular soul winners
Army of soul winners going out preaching the Gospel
But you know what will encourage us to get there
Is if you show up on Saturday morning
If you show up on Sunday night, if you show up on Wednesday night
If you show up on time and you help and get involved
And find somewhere to serve and find somewhere to help
Because Jehu understood something about human nature
He understood that getting up and saying I've got a zeal for the Lord and I've got a message from God
And I'm doing something for God, that could take him so far
But there was a powerful message when he could stand up and say yes I killed Joram
Yes I killed Isaiah, yes I killed Jezebel
But who slew all these?
My wife and I could stand up and say yes
We've tried to live forgotten, yes we've been soul winners and we've done our best
To raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
We've done our best to work hard and be faithful ministers in this church
But it's a more powerful testimony when we can say
But who slew all these?
But who slew all these? Would you help us?
Would you get involved? Would you say I come to Sunday morning services only
Then come back to Wednesday night
Show up for soul winning, find somewhere to serve, find somewhere to get involved
But who slew all these?
This Bible has another word of prayer, Heavenly Father
Lord we do love you, Lord I do thank you
I realize that our church is not, I hope that no one would
Take this sermon today thinking that I think that we've arrived
I know we've not arrived, I know I can say like the apostle Paul
And I will always say like the apostle Paul that we have not yet attained
I do thank you for where we are and what you've helped us to accomplish
But I believe that the best years are ahead of us
I believe we can do much more, accomplish much more
But we need help, crowds gather crowds
The more of us there are it'll increase our influence
It'll compound our congregation, it'll encourage, it'll expand our encouragement
Lord I pray that people will stand up and say
Yeah I'll show up Sunday night, I'll show up Wednesday night, I'll show up Saturday morning
I'll be on time, I'll find somewhere to serve, I'll pay attention, I'll say amen
I'll serve
Because we understand the credibility that comes with saying
But who slew all these? We love you
In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray, Amen
Alright we're going to have brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song, just want to remind you
Of a couple of things, first of all I want to remind you to be back tonight
6pm for the evening service, I want to encourage you to be here
And I'm going to be preaching a sermon that
I would say, I don't generally do stuff like this but it's going to be a very
Specific, very pointed sermon on a very specific
Subject and I want to encourage you to be here tonight at 6pm
This is the most exciting service of the week, we have the orchestra that plays on Sunday nights
We take favorites and you can raise your hand and tell us what your favorite song is
And we'll sing a stanza from it and we'll have of course the preaching of the word of God
We'd love for you to join us tonight at 6pm, if there's anything we can do for you please let us know
We'll have brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song
I think if Jehu had a favorite song it would be 406
So let's go ahead and turn there, 406
Who is on the Lord's side, 406
Let's sing it out on the first
Who is on the Lord's side
Who will serve the King
Who will be his helpers
Other lives to bring
Who will leave the world side
Who will face the foe
Who is on the Lord's side
For him will come
By thy call of mercy
By thy grace divine
We are on the Lord's side
Savior we are not
Not for weight of glory
Not for crown and palm
Enter we the army
Raise a warrior's song
But for love that claimeth
Lies for whom he died
He whom Jesus nameth
Must be on his side
By thy love constraining
By thy grace divine
We are on the Lord's side
Savior we are not
On the third
Jesus thou hast bought us
Not with gold or gem
But with thine own life blood
For thy diadem
With thy blessing filling
Each who comes to thee
Thou hast made us willing
Thou hast made us free
By thy grand redemption
By thy grace divine
We are on the Lord's side
On the Lord's side
Savior we are not
On the last
Fierce may be the conflict
Strong may be the foe
But the king's own army
None can overthrow
Ground is standard ranging
Victory is secure
For his truth unchanging
Makes the triumph sure
Joyfully enlisting
By thy grace divine
We are on the Lord's side
Savior we are thine
Amen. Good singing before we leave. If anybody has questions about salvation,
church membership, or baptism, pastor will be at the door.
He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who is trained to talk to you about that.
Brother Joel Usher, would you close in prayer for us?
Amen.
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