🎵Piano music plays🎵
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Good evening, thank you for coming.
Let's all find a seat and grab a song book.
Let's all open that song book up to song number 167.
All hail the power of Jesus' name.
Let's all stand together for this first song.
Song number 167.
All hail the power of Jesus' name.
All together nice and loud on that first verse.
All hail the power of Jesus' name.
Let angels' broad strength fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Him Lord of all.
The chosen see of Israel's grace
be ransomed from the fall.
Hail Him who saved you by His grace
and crown Him Lord of all.
Hail Him who saved you by His grace
and crown Him Lord of all.
Let every king dread every triumph
on this terrestrial bond.
To Him all majesty a strength
and crown Him Lord of all.
To Him all majesty a strength
and crown Him Lord of all.
For that with yonder sacred ground
He at His feet may fall
We'll join the everlasting song
and crown Him Lord of all.
We'll join the everlasting song
and crown Him Lord of all.
Let's open our service with a word of prayer.
Father, thank you God for allowing us God
to be here tonight Lord this evening
and hear your word preached unto us God.
Pray Lord that you would bless the service God.
Fill pasture with your Holy Spirit God
as He preaches to us Lord.
For also God that you would be with us
in the congregation Lord
that you would help us to be attentive Lord
and edified and leave here differently
than when we came in God.
We love you Lord and it's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Song number 15 lead me to Calvary.
Altogether nice and loud on that first verse.
King of my life I crown Thee now
Thine shall the glory be
Lest I forget Thy throne crown crown
Lead me to Calvary
Lest I forget Thy throne crown crown
Lead me to Calvary
Lest I forget Thy throne crown crown
Lead me to Calvary
Lest I forget Thy throne crown crown
Lead me to Calvary
Show me the tomb where Thou was slain
Ten by one and one
Angels of protest, light of rain
Far in the West I'll stand
Lest I forget this heavenly
Lest I forget Thy agony
Lest I forget Thy love worthy
Lead me to Calvary
Let me, like vermin, prove the way
I pray forgive to Thee
Show to me now the empty tomb
Lead me to Calvary
Lest I forget this heavenly
Lest I forget Thy agony
Lest I forget Thy love for me
Lead me to Calvary
May I be willing, Lord, to bear
They lead my cross for Thee
Even Thy cup of winter's share
Thou hast borne all for me
Lest I forget this heavenly
Lest I forget Thy agony
Lest I forget Thy love for me
Lead me to Calvary
Alright, great singing. Thank you so much for being here this evening.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements before we sing our next song, which will be song number 29.
If you want to get that ready in your song books, at the cross, song number 29 in your song books.
If you do not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you.
The services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 10.30. Sunday evening is at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock.
And we are currently going through the book of Ecclesiastes.
It will be in chapter 8 tonight. You see the so many times and teams, the list of expecting mothers.
If you want to pray for them, you see their important reminders and some of the upcoming church events.
Tomorrow is the men's prayer meeting at Brother Huyck's house.
And that will be at 6.30. So men, we want to encourage you to come, bring your sons with you.
And we are going to have dinner for everyone. We will do a little bit of fellowshipping and having dinner.
And then we will pray together. So we want to encourage you to be there for that.
If you do not have the address, you can see Brother Huyck after the service for that.
That will be tomorrow at 6.30 at Brother Huyck's house.
On Sunday, June 6, we have the June birthday breakfast.
And then on the 20th of June, we are going to be celebrating Father's Day on Sunday.
And we will have a gift for all the dads who come on that day.
And so I want to encourage you to bring a visitor on that day.
Bring your father or someone's dad on that day so we can honor them.
The service will be geared towards dads on that Sunday.
And then on July 4, we will have a July birthday breakfast.
And we are also going to do some special 4th of July on that Sunday as well.
And then July 15th through the 18th, we have the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
I hope a lot of you can make it to that.
Of course, that is a special conference that Verity Baptist Church,
Pastor Roger Jimenez, holds every single year.
And so we are looking forward to that.
I hope you can make it.
And then every Wednesday, and this is obviously something I have not really announced very frequently,
but every Wednesday, Brother Ulysses has a PE class for the little ones.
And so it has been going really well.
They do cross training and dead lifts and stuff like that.
I am joking. They do not do any of that.
They get their blood flowing and they have a good time.
And of course they do a little project afterwards.
And so if you are interested in that, you can see my wife for more details.
Or you can see Brother Ulysses for more details about that.
And you see the announcements there below.
The quiet time resumes every Sunday here in the main auditorium.
And the mother and baby room from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
No food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee.
So make sure you please honor that.
And then also please silence your phones during the service
so as to not be a distraction during the preaching.
And let me say this.
Everyone has done a fantastic job with that particular announcement right there.
I remember in times past, I am not going to say who it was
because I do not remember exactly who.
Actually I do remember exactly who.
Phones would be going off.
And so very distracting, but great job everyone.
Either you are silencing your phones, you put it on airplane mode,
or no one cares about you during this hour when the preaching is going on.
So no one contacts you.
But either way it is all good.
Amen.
Pull out your prayer sheet there.
And then we are going to go over there.
And Brother Maury is going to come on up and pray over that in just a bit.
Please continue to pray as a church corporately for the needs there,
God's favor, for the sowning, missions, protection.
Pray for more labors and for new people.
And pray for the leadership.
And one thing that is not on here that I would like for you to pray for
if you have time with your family is just pray for the future of our church
as far as the location is concerned.
And you know, we are not going to be here forever
because if we are a growing church, obviously we are not going to fit here forever.
You understand?
Within the next year I think we are going to grow beyond what we have now.
And of course on Sunday morning it gets very packed.
And so there is a couple of ideas that I have to expand in this particular place here.
If we grow to a certain capacity where we can no longer fit in here,
that wall is probably going to come down.
And the only thing is that that wall is a retaining wall.
And if you know anything about construction, you don't just take down a retaining wall.
You have to put a beam and do all these things or whatever.
So we might have to expand that way.
And so we just added a new section and then we filled that up on Sunday.
And so by summertime if we continue to grow, that wall is going to come down.
And if we grow beyond that, well we will just cross that bridge when we get there.
And so pray about that.
Pray that we would have, obviously we understand that God will always provide for our needs.
And so we will want to use wisdom and ingenuity as we continue to grow as a church.
So please keep that in prayer.
And then pray for, if you can pray for me and my family,
pray for my wife as we're nearing the end of her pregnancy.
So in the next couple of weeks if you could pray for her that all would go well with that.
And then you see the church families there, family salvation, families to grow.
And just a couple of the needs there.
And then of course the church of the month is Shield of Faith Baptist Church, Pastor Joe Jones.
Pray for him and his family for the soul and protection and success of his church.
He's a great friend of ours.
And I was up there preaching a couple of months ago.
And so he's a great guy, great man, man of God.
And he's doing a great work there.
So pray that God's hand will be on him and we'll use him greatly there in Boise, Idaho.
If you have any additional prayer requests that you'd like to be mentioned,
write that down at the bottom of the sheet there.
Tear that off.
Put it into the offering plate when it comes by.
And we'll make sure that it gets on the bulletin for the following week, all right?
And that's pretty much it.
At this time, brother, Maury Lemmons is going to come on up and pray over these needs.
All right, please bow your heads.
Dear Lord, thank you for giving us another day.
Thank you for allowing us to be able to come to church.
And Lord, we pray that we can set aside our distractions so that we can listen to your word,
listen to our pastor preach your word, Lord.
And we pray that we can grow and get closer to you and have our hearts changed today.
Lord, we also want to, we just want to pray for your favor on our church.
We want to pray that you bless our church with our soul winning efforts
and every aspect of ministry that we have and preaching, Lord.
And Lord, we just pray that we serve you with all of our hearts, soul minds and strength, Lord.
Lord, we also want to pray for a missions trip.
We want to pray that we can reach other countries with the gospel
so that people can know what the Bible says it takes for someone to get to heaven, Lord.
And we just want to pray that you allow us to be able to have those opportunities
and open those doors up for us, Lord.
Lord, we also want to pray for protection.
We want to keep our church safe, keep our family safe as we go to home and work
and home and church, Lord.
We just pray that you protect us and you keep us safe, Lord.
And then, Lord, we also want to pray for spiritual and numerical growth.
We pray that our church is growing spiritually, that we're learning more about you,
we're praying, we're reading, we're memorizing, Lord.
We just pray that we're growing closer to you every day, Lord.
And then, Lord, we also want to pray for numerical growth.
We want our efforts to show and, Lord, we just want to pray that more people are coming into the church
and ultimately we're having more people go soul winning
and so that more people can hear the gospel or have the opportunity to reach other people.
Lord, we also want to pray for those in authority.
We pray that we just, for our government to just leave us alone, allow us to just have peaceable lives
and to serve you with all of our hearts, Lord.
Lord, we want to pray for the barren women.
Lord, we want to pray for these women that, Lord, we just pray that you work in the lies, open their womb, Lord.
And, Lord, we just pray that ultimately they draw closer to you every day.
Lord, we also want to pray for the expecting moms and the newborns and the new mothers, Lord.
We just want to pray that you work in their hearts and have a healthy delivery and healthy upbringing, Lord.
And, Lord, we just pray that you bless them in this new aspect of life here, Lord.
And, Lord, we want to pray for our Church of the Month, Lord.
We want to pray for Shield of Faith Baptist Church, Pastor Joe Jones, Lord.
We just pray that you continue working in this man's life and allowing him to grow his ministry,
doing great work over there.
And, Lord, we just pray that you pray for protection and success for his ministry.
We pray for his church members, that they're growing and they're learning and they're seeking to walk with you, Lord.
And, Lord, we also want to pray for their soul-winning efforts, Lord.
We just pray that you bless Pastor Joe Jones and the Shield of Faith Baptist Church and all their efforts over there, Lord.
We pray this in the humble name, amen.
All right, please turn your hymnals to song number 29, At the Cross.
Brother Paul's going to come up and lead the next song.
Song 29, At the Cross.
Song number 29, At the Cross.
All together nice and loud on that first verse.
Alas, and did my Savior plead,
And did my Sovereign die,
Would He devote that sacred head,
For such a worm as I.
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burning of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day.
Was it for crimes that I had done,
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree.
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burning of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day.
Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shine His glories in,
When Christ the mighty maker doth form,
And the creature sinned.
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burning of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day.
The cross of grief can ne'er repay,
Again I'll grow my own.
Dear Lord, I give myself away,
Tis all that I can do.
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burning of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day.
And then at this time the ushers will collect the offering,
And we'll be in Ecclesiastes chapter number 8.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Ecclesiastes chapter number 8, the Bible reads,
Who is as the wise man?
And who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine,
And the boldness of his face shall be changed.
I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment,
And that in regard of the oath of God,
Be not hasty to go out of his sight,
Stand not in an evil thing,
For it doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
Where the word of a king is, there is power,
And who may say unto him, What doest thou?
Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing,
And a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment,
Because to every purpose there is time and judgment,
Therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
For he knoweth not that which shall be,
For who can tell him when it shall be?
There is no man that hath power over the spirit,
To retain the spirit,
Neither hath he power in the day of death,
And there is no discharge in that war,
Neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
All this have I seen,
And applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun.
There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another,
To his own hurt.
And so I saw the wicked buried,
Who had come and gone from the place of the holy,
And there were forgotten in the city where they had so done.
This is also vanity,
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily,
Therefore the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil.
Though a sinner do evil an hundred times,
And his days be prolonged,
Yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God,
Which fear before him.
But it shall not be well with the wicked,
Neither shall he prolong his days,
Which are as a shadow,
Because he fearth not before God.
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth,
That there be just man,
Unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked,
Again there be wicked man,
To whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous.
I say that this also is vanity.
Then I commended mirth,
Because a man hath no better thing under the sun,
Than to eat and to drink and to be merry,
For that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life,
Which God giveth him under the sun.
When I applied mine heart to know wisdom,
And to see the business that is done upon the earth,
For also there is that,
That neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes.
Then I beheld all the work of God,
That a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun,
Because though a man labour to seek it out,
Yet shall he not find it.
Yea, further, though a wise man think to know it,
Yet shall he not be able to find it.
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for the King James Bible.
We thank you for our wonderful church, dear God, for dear brothers and sisters.
And we thank you for our pastor.
We ask that you please fill in with your Holy Spirit as he preaches tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we continue this evening with Ecclesiastes chapter number 8.
Look down at your Bibles at verse number 1.
It says,
Who is as the wise man,
And who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine,
And the boldness of his face shall be changed.
Now the first couple of verses, from verses 1 through 8,
We're going to look at our attitude towards government.
And the reason I say that is because of the fact that the vast majority of the verses,
Initially from verses 1 through 8,
Is talking about our attitude towards a king.
Now obviously today, we don't operate under a system of a monarch.
We don't have a king.
And no, the President of the United States is not a king, okay?
You know, he is simply a part of the executive branch.
He's the commander in chief, but he's not a king.
But you know, you can look at principles that are directed towards us
In regards to our attitude towards either, you know,
Earthly authority, whether that be our parents,
Whether that be, you know, your spouse, your husband,
Or even the government, and or a king, for example,
And still apply it to everywhere else in life.
So even though we don't have a king today, per se,
We can still apply those principles to today,
And how our attitude should be towards the government.
The first thing we see before we actually get into that,
Is the benefits of wisdom.
So he starts off with wisdom,
And it almost seems as though verse 1 is kind of out of context.
Like it's just kind of talking about wisdom,
And the importance of wisdom,
And then he gets into these admonishments about our attitude towards
The king or the government, but it does actually apply.
Verse 1 says,
Who is as the wise man,
And who knoweth the interpretation of the thing,
A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine,
And the boldness of his face shall be changed.
So first and foremost, we see the benefits of wisdom.
And obviously this is a common theme that we see,
Not only throughout the book of Proverbs,
Written by Solomon, but even in the book of Ecclesiastes.
And before Solomon gets into the instruction on how to view the government,
He begins with the importance of wisdom,
And the effect that it has on our life.
Now, he says there that it's able to make our face to shine,
And that the boldness of our face shall be changed.
Now what does that mean?
Well, when you look up that phrase there,
Make, you know, the face to shine,
It's often in reference to God favoring us.
You know, you hear about David in the book of Psalms saying,
You know, make your face to shine upon us.
And what that means is he's basically asking God for his favor.
He's saying, look favorably upon us,
Favor us, bless us, look kindly upon us.
That's what that means there.
And so, when it says here that wisdom makes our face to shine,
It's basically referring to our facial expression,
Obviously our countenance.
And our countenance, our facial expression,
Is often determined by our reaction to something.
Okay?
You know, you get some bad news in the news,
Or you get some bad news in your family,
Something evil has come upon you,
That will often determine your countenance.
Okay?
But here's the thing, if you have wisdom,
And more specifically the wisdom of God,
You actually have a different outlook on life.
You understand?
So you actually respond to the trials and tribulations of this life,
A lot differently than people who don't have the wisdom of God.
Okay?
Because of the fact that people who don't have the wisdom of God,
They kind of take things as they come,
They allow the trials of this life to kind of derail them,
And cause them to go into depression,
And be discouraged,
And be disillusioned,
Whereas if you have the wisdom of God,
You know the end of that matter.
You understand?
You know what happens at the end of that trial,
The end of that evil that has come upon your life,
If you have the wisdom of God.
And that changes the way your countenance is.
Right?
You know, if you see someone with a long face,
And they're sad, and they're moping,
And they're angry, and they're sad,
You know, obviously it's showing that there's something wrong in their heart.
Doesn't mean they have sin in their heart,
But there's something heavy that's in them.
You know, something that they're going through.
Okay?
Because they have a mopey face,
Or maybe they're just upset about something.
Whereas, you know, God tells us that there's times that
We can go through a trial or difficulty,
But because we have joy, we have the wisdom of God,
We can still have a cheerful countenance.
Right?
Now, so this is alluding to the fact that wisdom
Can change our outlook on life.
And Solomon is basically saying that the individual that possesses wisdom
Will have a different outlook.
And along with that, we see that wisdom helps us to interpret a matter.
Okay?
You think about Daniel, who was given the wisdom of God,
And he was given that wisdom to interpret dreams and visions,
Because he had the wisdom of God on his life.
Well, in like manner, you know, that same wisdom is available to us,
Not to interpret dreams, okay?
Not to interpret so-called visions,
But to interpret the events of this life.
When you see what's going on in our country,
When you see, you know, when you have something evil come upon you,
Or another individual, if you have the wisdom of God,
You're able to interpret that situation, you understand?
And that's a blessing, okay?
Because a lot of people, you know, they go through a trial,
And they can't even see past tomorrow.
You know, they just see the evil that's there,
It's never going to change, it's never going to go away,
This is how it's always going to be.
Whereas the person who has the wisdom of God
Is able to decipher the trial, interpret it,
And recognize what is God doing here, you understand?
Which is a great blessing, okay?
It's a great blessing, yeah, we may not be able to foresee the future,
But we can foresee the outcome of a matter
Based upon the principles found in God's Word.
If you have wisdom, you understand?
And so, wisdom allows us to interpret a thing,
That's what he says, who is the wise man,
And who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?
Wisdom provides an explanation to life's situations, okay?
And that's why it's important that, you know,
Every single day you pray for wisdom.
You ask God, Lord, give me wisdom.
Help me to have wisdom and prudence,
Help me to be knowledgeable about the things of God,
You know, as the events take place in my life,
And the life of those around me,
Help me to decipher it using God's Word,
Not using my emotions, not using, you know,
The news as an interpreter,
Not using, you know, Fox or whatever is out there
To interpret the events of this life,
Let me look at everything through the lens of the Bible,
You understand?
Using wisdom.
And so he starts off by saying the importance of having wisdom,
Someone who has wisdom, their face shall shine,
You know, and these are the people that,
The world can be falling apart,
And they're just like happy about everything, you know,
Like nothing's bothering them, right?
They're just happy-go-lucky, they're having a good time,
And look, this is basically showing me that a lot of people today lack wisdom.
They lack the wisdom of God.
Because there's a lot of nonsense that has taken place over the last 365 days, right?
In our country, and with leaders, and politicians, and laws,
And so-called mandates, and all these wicked things that are happening,
And you can really distinguish the people who have the wisdom of God from the people who don't.
You say, how do you know? Well, if they're freaking out,
If they're just losing their minds,
If they're just, you know, the world is just falling apart around them,
They probably don't have the wisdom of God.
Whereas the individual who has wisdom, who knows what the Bible says,
They're just like 10,000 can fall on my right and on my left,
And they shall come nigh unto me.
They're just like, this world can go to hell in a handbasket,
It means nothing to me.
I'm serving God.
I'm serving Jesus. I'm winning souls to Christ.
I'm reading the Bible. I'm praying.
I'm doing the will of God, and therefore I can smile.
And I'm not talking about this superficial type of joy.
I'm talking about joy that comes from serving God.
Where you do have a good time.
There is a little bit of myrrh in your life, myrrh in your life, excuse me,
That allows you to really interpret the trials of this life,
And recognize that there's a silver lining in everything.
Hardships are going to come upon you, tribulations, you're going to experience them,
But if you have the wisdom of God, you can interpret that as recognizing
All things work together for good to them that love God,
To them who are the called according to His purpose.
And look, I know I've mentioned this a lot,
But it needs to be mentioned over and over again,
Because I want us as a church to be a church that interprets the trials of this life correctly.
So that you're not falling by the wayside,
Because persecution arises because of the word,
Or you go through some difficulty,
And you allow that to derail you in your Christian life.
You should be able to look at those things,
And decipher and recognize everything is going to work together for good.
Even though I don't see light at the end of the tunnel, obviously the light is still there.
If I don't see light at the end of the tunnel, it's because I still have a little further to travel.
That's what it means. It doesn't mean there's no light.
It means you just got to walk a little more.
You understand?
Further into the tunnel until you reach the end.
And so he talks about wisdom there,
And he starts off with that.
And the reason he's really introducing the reader by using or talking about wisdom,
Is because of the fact that he's going to get into this matter of
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Okay?
And in like manner, why do good things happen to bad people?
Because in this world we see both.
We see bad things happening to righteous people.
People who we would say don't deserve it.
They're going through a difficult time, but they're righteous people.
But in like manner, you see good things happening to the wicked.
To people who might hate the Lord, or they're just kind of going about their own way.
They don't care about the things of God.
And if you're not careful, if you're not deciphering that situation through the lens of God's Word,
You're going to be like, what's going on here?
Why is this happening?
Well, use some wisdom.
Get God's wisdom on this situation, and it'll help you to discern this.
Now, the first thing he brings up is this matter of authority.
And wisdom helps us to discern when to obey authority, and when not to.
Look at verse number 2, it says,
I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
Be not hasty to go out of his sight.
Stand not in the evil thing, for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
Where the word of a king is, there is power.
And who may say unto him, what doest thou?
Now again, this is talking about a king.
It's talking about a monarch.
So it's obviously a different system than what we have today.
But the principle is still there.
And so he's giving the counsel of wisdom, and he's telling them,
Hey, the default setting for a Christian is to be a law abiding citizen.
You understand?
We should be law abiding citizens.
Not because we're Americans, but because we're Christians.
Because as a Christian, we know it's wrong to murder.
As a Christian, we know it's wrong to steal, to lie, to harm a different person.
We're supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves.
And that way we fulfill the law.
And you know what?
When we fulfill God's law of loving our neighbor as ourselves,
we become law abiding citizens.
No, because you guys say the homosexuals should be put to death.
The sodomites should be put to death.
Yeah, but we don't put up to death.
And I can still be a law abiding citizen and still preach Leviticus 2013.
And in fact, I'm more of a law abiding citizen because I preach that.
Because I'm abiding according to the laws of God, which tells me to preach that.
To preach the whole counsel of God.
And so, he's saying here, hey, I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment.
What is that?
Have a default setting that you're going to obey authority.
And surely there's someone out there saying, are you saying just obey him?
Obviously I'm not saying obey just everything.
Because obviously there's some decrees, there's some mandates out there
that are ungodly, that are sinful, that go against scripture completely.
At that point, you know, they can jump in the lake.
We're going to obey God rather than man.
But the default setting should be, I don't want to be a rebel.
I don't want to be some sort of anarchist because the Bible, which is God's word,
tells me that my default setting is to obey authority.
You understand?
He says, be not hasty to go out of his sight.
Stand not in an evil thing, for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
So it's never right to do wrong to do right.
Don't stand in an evil thing.
If you have wicked rulers, it's never right to do wrong to do right.
If you have a wicked ruler that's doing wrong unto you, let me give you an example.
You know, it wouldn't be right for me to go find those sodomites and bomb them.
Right?
That wouldn't be right.
Why?
Because of the fact that I'm a Christian.
And it's never right to do wrong to do right.
And by the way, Jesus said, vengeance belongeth unto me, saith the Lord, I will repay.
So he's going to take care of that.
But you know, there's people out there that will take vengeance.
You know, they'll take vengeance and they'll do wrong in order to, you know,
avenge themselves.
And that's not right.
You understand?
So he's saying, hey, don't stand in an evil thing.
Just know this, is that you need to obey the king's commandment
up until the point that that commandment begins to overreach into something that is sinful,
something that is wicked at that point.
We don't partake of those things.
But the default setting should be to obey authority.
Okay?
And that's important because it's not just for the government.
It's for church as well.
It's for your family as well.
You understand?
It's clear what King Solomon is saying here.
He's encouraging the reader to submit to the higher powers.
Now, go with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 2.
Hold your place there.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 2.
And this is a common commandment that we see throughout the Bible.
And I know this is a sensitive subject for a lot of people, especially today,
because they're so anti-government, they're so mad at everything that's going on,
they just throw the baby out with the bathwater and they just think that, well,
we should just be complete anarchists, which is wrong.
You understand?
It's not biblical.
It's not right.
We need to obey authority as much as possible.
And we approach earthly authority with an attitude of submission and respect
because that's what God has commanded us to do.
Let me read to you from Romans chapter 13 in verse number 1.
The Bible reads here,
Now shall have praise of the same, for he is a minister of God to thee for good.
But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain,
for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
So here we specifically see that God has ordained government to punish evildoers.
They commit murder.
The government's job is to put them to death.
They commit a crime worthy of death.
That's their job to execute righteousness upon that individual and to reward us for doing good.
There should be a reward system for so many.
There should be a reward system for preaching God's word.
The government should look at that and say, we need to reward First Works Baptist Church
because they're doing good.
They're creating a better society because they're propagating God's law,
which makes law abiding citizens in this world and is making our city a better place.
You understand?
And they should punish the evildoers.
That's their job.
He says in verse 5, wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake.
For for this cause pay ye tribute also for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing.
So obviously, you know, we should be for minimal government.
And what we have today is not exactly what the Bible's highlighting.
But here's the thing, we can't say, well, what God is saying here is not what we see today
and therefore I'm not going to obey any government whatsoever.
Because that's a wrong way of thinking.
It's never right to do wrong to do right.
I don't agree with that.
Well, think about this.
And I don't want to get ahead of myself here.
But think about this.
Our government is really bad, obviously.
OK.
But you know, the government that Jesus was in was really bad, too.
In fact, it was worse than what we have today.
A lot worse.
You think you didn't have you think you don't have freedoms today or your freedoms are being taken away.
I mean, think about them back then.
They were they were held accountable for carrying something for two miles if a Roman soldier came up to him and told him to do so.
Now, you tell me this.
When in the gospels do you see Jesus Christ becoming this social injustice activist, encouraging his disciples to buck authority and don't obey the Romans?
Did he even care for those things?
No.
He didn't care less about that.
And you know why he could care less about that?
I'll tell you why.
Because in his mind, he's like, I'm going to rule this whole thing anyways one day.
This is all going to be mine anyways.
I got bigger fish to fry.
You understand?
And that should be our attitude.
You say, well, so you're not into politics.
No, I'm into politics.
It's just not that the politics in 2021.
I'm into the politics of the millennial reign.
That's when I'm that's when I hope I become a mayor or something like that or governor.
That's what I'm striving for right there.
But right now, I could care less about those things.
I don't care for those things because of the fact that right now I'm winning souls to Christ.
I'm preaching God's word.
I'm propagating the kingdom of God is what I want to do.
But you don't see Jesus becoming this social injustice activist holding, you know, what are those called?
Protests, you know, with signs and combating all these social injustices of the government and expose.
Why? Because he didn't care for those things.
You know, and there's a lot of people who get caught up in that stuff.
And I'm not saying it's not important, but it's a it's a it's a losing battle.
Let me just be quite honest with you.
It's a losing battle.
You will never win that battle this side of eternity.
It's not going to happen because God is not ordained for you to succeed in that area as a Christian.
This side of eternity.
And in fact, you will become a very disillusioned Christian if that's what you give your life to.
You become disillusioned.
Well, I believe that voting works.
Yeah, we'll see how that turns out for you.
Because if voting works, why is it that God has prophesied that the antichrist will take over and rule the entire world?
Obviously, voting does not work for Christians.
Right? Doesn't work.
Well, I just think we need a we need a protest and our voice needs to be heard.
Well, you know, I'm not interested in making my voice heard.
I'm interested in making God's voice heard.
Right? Because more important than my voice or my opinion is God's word, which is God's voice proclaiming his word and telling you what he said.
I want to know what you think, though.
Well, I'm telling you what I think. I think what God thinks.
I got the mind of Christ.
And I'm so sick and tired.
Oh, yeah, but that's your opinion.
That's your opinion. Tell me.
Or that's that's what God says. Tell me what you believe.
What I believe is the Bible.
I believe the Bible, and therefore that's what I'm preaching.
I'm not interested in getting my voice heard.
Now, if my voice is carrying the word of God forth, and at that point I'm going to take care of my voice to make sure it does that.
That's why we upload sermons. We upload content because we're preaching God's word.
You understand?
Yeah, but there's so much injustice today and, man, it's just going crazy.
Yeah, you need some wisdom.
You know, and you know, when I go to sleep at night, I sleep like a king.
I sleep like a king.
I'm not worried about any of these things because I'm concerning myself with the kingdom of God because that's what matters right now.
You understand?
Look at First Peter chapter two, verse 13.
It says, Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme.
Look, a lot of these conservative people who hate the government, they hate this verse.
They hate it because it just goes against the grain of what they believe.
Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them to do well,
for so is the will of God that with well-doing he may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
No, I'm a freedom fighter, brother.
I'm about preserving my freedom.
Verse 16, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as a servant of God.
Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
So I'm not a freedom fighter because I already got freedom.
The only freedom that I'm fighting for for others is to free them from the clutches of their sin, right?
Free them from the clutches of hell by pulling them out of the fire by giving them the gospel.
That's the freedom that I'm concerned with, okay?
And people want to fight for their American freedoms and all these freedoms.
You know what? They're well-meaning, but it's a losing battle, okay?
And the most liberating person there ever was is Jesus Christ, and yet he himself made himself subject unto his own creation, right?
Because he was made a servant for our sake, you understand?
And he was obedient even unto death, right?
The Bible says that he was obedient.
No, you need to rebel. Jesus was obedient even unto death.
That's what the Bible says.
I know that's not popular, but it is Bible though.
You know, that Jesus Christ actually forfeited his own freedom and allowed himself to die to set others free, you understand?
And look, this is a common thing in the Bible that, you know, we obviously need to fight for our freedom
in the sense of we just need to preach God's word and preach what God tells us to preach regardless of what anybody says.
But I'm not going to hold a protest to, you know, fight for my right to preach the Bible.
I'm just going to keep preaching the Bible, right?
I'm just going to keep preaching God's word, and when they tell me to stop, I'm just going to keep doing it
until they either arrest me, throw me in jail, firing squad, they stone me to death, they burn me at the stake.
Just, that's what I do. That's my way of fighting for freedom, is I'm just going to keep doing it.
But I'm not going to hold some protest in front of Congress,
Let us preach the Bible! Let us preach the Bible!
We said, what are we going to do? We're just going to have church.
I'm just going to preach here. Why waste my time doing that when I can just preach here? You understand?
But there is this concept in the Bible that we are actually, in a sense, are supposed to give up our freedom for the sake of someone else.
Now listen very carefully, because a lot of people, they have a knee-jerk reaction when they hear something like that.
You're giving up your freedom? You know what, if I go preach the Gospel, and someone is receptive but they want me to wear a mask,
I will wear a mask. If it means getting that person safe.
If they're like, I need a triple mask, and I listen to you, I will wear a triple stupid mask. I will look as stupid as possible.
If they want me to wear a shield over my face, because that will make them comfortable so I can give them the Gospel,
I will wear that Power Ranger looking, whatever, SpaceX uniform.
I will give up that freedom for the sake of winning that person in Christ, if that's what it takes.
And then after I win them, I'll take it off and say, this is really stupid.
And now I need to liberate you from this, from stupidity, and give you common sense.
But you know, prior to that, I'll do whatever it takes to win a soul to Christ, if that's what they want me to do.
I don't know about that.
1 Corinthians 9.19 says this, for though I be free from all men, aren't we free here today?
In fact, we're more free than any human being in this world.
If you're saved, you're more free than anybody in this world.
Hey, the person who's in prison who's saved is more free than the person who's actually outside of prison and not saved.
The individual who's locked up for life and is saved is actually far more free than the individual who's outside of those walls and not saved at all.
Because they're still in bondage to the consequences of their sin. They're still going to hell.
We're free. Doesn't matter what laws they institute or they mandate, I will always be free.
My freedom, no one's able to take the freedom that I have in Christ. It's never going to happen.
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more.
It's a powerful statement.
Paul said, hey, I'm free. But you know what? I'm going to go ahead and make myself a servant so I can gain more people.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew. I mean, folks, talk about going the extra mile.
He's like, I will become a Jew. It's like, what? Yeah, so I can gain the Jew.
That I might gain the Jews to them that are under the law is under the law.
To those who are under CDC guidelines, as under CDC guidelines.
That I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law is without law.
But look what it says, be not without law to God, but under the law to Christ.
That I might gain them that are without law.
So he says, look, I will put myself under the law, but obviously if the law is saying that you have to do some wicked act or sinful act that's clearly laid out in the Bible,
Yeah, I'm not going to do those things. But here's the thing, folks, a mask?
No one in the Bible is going to say, thou shall not wear a mask.
So you know, I'll make myself look stupid and wear the mask if that's what it takes to win someone to Christ.
I'll make my servant. You say, but you're going to make yourself like, you're just going to like abase yourself like that?
Well didn't Jesus Christ put on the form of sinful flesh?
He who was rich made himself poor that we through him might become rich? Isn't that what the Bible says?
Didn't he make himself a servant so that he may win us unto the Lord to reconcile us to God?
That's what he did. They disrespected him, they spit in his face.
He suffered shame. Couldn't you suffer a little shame wearing a mask?
I know that it's just like martyrdom to do that.
I mean, they parted his garments, they beat him. The king of kings, this is what he went through.
Now look folks, I'm not saying that when you go out there and knock on doors, just purposely wear a mask or something.
Obviously, I'm not for the masks at all. Like that's, it's a really stupid thing. It makes no sense whatsoever.
The trust is science. The science is always changing with these people. It's constantly changing.
And now, you know, the CDC came out and said, oh yeah, don't wear the masks.
You know, if you're vaccinated, don't wear the mask.
And the people who claim to be for the CDC and abide by the CDC guidelines, they're like, well we're going to wear the mask anyways.
Because I don't want to be confused for some conservative Republican. Idiots. Stupid.
Can we all agree that this is just stupid? It's foolish.
But here's the thing, if there's an individual who walks to our church and they have a triple mask on, I'm not going to look down on that person.
I'm not going to say take that mask off, what's wrong with you, and don't you know we're a maskless church?
Let me see your face. I don't care for those things. If that's what they want to do, let them do it.
Hey, I thought we believed in freedom here. Right? Let them do it. Freedom is this, you do whatever you want.
If that's your prerogative, you do whatever you want. It's not sinful.
Now, you're not free to come into our church, you know, with a pedophile. You're not free to come into our church with a bottle of wine.
At that point, you've relinquished your rights here at this church. You understand?
And so, make yourself a servant unto all that you may gain the more.
And there's times when we have to give up some of our rights. Yeah, you heard right.
Some of our rights and liberties that God has given to us in order to win someone else to Christ. You understand?
And obviously, that's not going to come up very often. It's not going to come up very often.
But if it does, you should. Why not? We have the prime example of Jesus Christ doing that.
And don't become this self-righteous, right-wing conservative that you're just not willing to do those things.
Even if it means you winning someone to Christ, you will not do it. That's wicked, folks.
Because the principles are clearly laid out in the Bible. Verse 22 says,
It looks to me that Paul's priority was spiritual things.
The Bible tells us in Galatians 5, 13,
Ye have been called unto liberty. Amen?
Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
And don't, please do not take me out of context. Don't try to misconstrue what I'm saying.
I'm not saying obey the government because they're telling...
Look, if the government says you have to take this vaccine, I'm going to say no. No!
Because there's guidelines in the Bible that tell me not to do that.
And so, obviously, there is a line that you can cross there. At that point, we say no.
That's when we're along to Christ, where we say, Sorry, that goes against my religious beliefs.
These are our core values that I have. It goes against what the Bible says, and therefore, I cannot partake of that.
But you know what? You're never going to get someone to tell you, I will let you preach the gospel unto me if you take this vaccine.
And if they do say something like that, you say, Are you telling me that I can't tell you that Jesus Christ died?
And just give them the gospel right there.
Before they know it, it's done. It's too late. But it's not going to happen.
Go back to Ecclesiastes. So don't get mad at me. Get mad at Solomon. He's the one who's saying it.
He's like, Hey, obey the king. Okay? I'm not for obeying kings. Then you're going to have a hard time in the millennial reign.
Because our King of Kings, Lord of Lords, is going to rule with a rod of iron.
You think governments today are strict? You think you ain't seen nothing yet?
You think the quarantine was really strict? You think the mandates that they're issuing out are strict?
Folks, when Jesus Christ rules and reigns on this earth, he will be the sovereign.
He's going to rule. When it says a rod of iron means zero tolerance. Rod of iron means zero tolerance.
Can we just be a little gay? No. Won't exist. Can we just have a little alcohol?
It's like no alcohol. None of this. It's like whatever the law says, that's what you're doing.
And it's either his way or the highway. Or hell way. Okay?
And so, whenever you feel tempted to complain about what's going on, just know that Jesus Christ is far more strict.
In fact, he's so strict that if you don't keep all the commandments perfectly, you're actually damned to hell.
Now fortunately, he's gracious and he's given us the gift of eternal life that's free.
But the law says that you actually should suffer forever in a place called hell.
Because you did not keep God's commandments perfectly. That's called being strict.
He's not, well, you know, you kind of kept some of them, so you know. No, zero tolerance.
And obviously, we have the gift of God and that's why he needed to provide that for us because we could not keep the law.
Look at verse number five. Let me get off that for a little bit. And then I'll get back on later on.
We're going to see the result of wisdom. Verse five.
Whoso keepeth the commandments shall feel no evil thing.
And wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment, because to every purpose there is time and judgment.
Therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
Now, what he's saying here is this. If you obey God's commandments, if you keep God's commandments, you're not going to feel evil things.
And you're not going to have, you're not going to suffer the consequences of an oppressing individual.
Because if you're obeying God, wherever God is, wherever you're serving, that's where God's blessing is.
You understand?
This is why Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, this is why Daniel was able to succeed in Babylon, which is a foreign nation outside of their home.
Even though they had a pagan worship, I mean, you think Governor Newsom is bad and he is bad.
Guys, evil. Okay? Nebuchadnezzar is like, I'm about to make your house a dunghill. Right?
If you don't bow down and worship the image, you're dead. I'm throwing you into a fiery furnace.
But you know what? Because they kept the commandment to not obey false gods, God blessed them.
Used them greatly, and they succeeded. They were promoted in the kingdom.
So while everyone else from Israel was bowing down to the image, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, they did it.
And you know what? They were blessed because of it. What does that show us?
It shows us that when we keep the commandment, we shall feel no evil thing.
And here's a modern day example of this, okay? When all that COVID stuff was happening and there were like, you know, you couldn't meet indoors and all this, we still met.
And here's the thing, when we were being protested, you know one of the things I kept thinking about?
Oh, they're going to get us on, you know, they're going to call the health department on us.
Because cameras are going to be there, they're telling people, I mean we had tons of people in our little building there.
We're crammed in there. People, we're not social distancing. They're going to call the CDC.
The health department on this, we're done, you know? But here's the thing, we weren't done.
And it's either because the dogs are just too stupid and they don't know what to do, or you know, or God just kind of make everyone turn a blind eye to it.
And it's probably both. It is both.
Okay? But you know why everyone else, like Jack Treiber, they're getting fined and they're doing all these things.
And you know, he's making like three videos pleading with Governor Newsom, please let us be in the building.
By the way, this is the same guy who would have, you know, honor the police department, bring him on stage, the mayor, all these people,
kissing rear end for years on end, and they turned on him. Turned on him.
Folks, I preached a sermon called Police in the Light of the Bible High, I said the police should not exist.
And they're the ones who are the most for us during the whole protest. They said, we have your back.
And in fact, we even won some of the police to the Lord. They came up to Ulysses after the bombing and said, hey I like your pastor, I've been listening to him.
Hey, the stuff he says is good. I mean, he gave the kind of answer that most people give.
He says a little mean when he says it, but what he's saying is true.
And literally, we had the detective come up to us and say, we are for you, we have your backs, we're against them.
I preached against the police. I said they should not exist, and yet, they had our backs.
You say, why? Well, because of the fact that we're serving God, that's why.
So I think, I believe that God providentially protected us throughout that time.
We kept the commandment of preaching against the sodomites, not holding back, winning souls to Christ, not standing down.
And what happened? We felt no evil thing.
And so, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighted in his way.
And the lesson we need to learn there is that, hey folks, it doesn't matter how bad it gets, just keep serving God.
Keep serving God, because whenever you serve God, you're in Goshen.
And Goshen is that one place in Egypt that was not touched by the plagues.
Egypt is just completely being decimated by God's wrath and his judgment, but Goshen was A-OK.
And you know what? We're in Goshen. We're in Goshen here, we're in Goshen in Omani, because no evil thing came upon us.
Well, didn't you say your building got blown up? Yeah, the evil came upon the building, not upon us.
The evil came upon our possessions, but not on us.
Hashtag still winning.
So no matter how oppressive the government may become, just remember this is that they can't touch your soul.
Right? Fear not that much can kill the body, but afterwards can do nothing, but fear him that can kill both soul and body in hell.
That's what the Bible says.
And there's going to come a time when Christians are martyred, OK?
We see that in the Bible in Revelation chapter 6.
But even if they do martyr us, they can't touch our soul.
And you know what the sad thing is, is that out there in social media, you have so-called Christians who think that the government actually has that power.
That they can actually, oh man, but this COVID vaccine, it has 666, and you know, it's like the Mark of the Beast actually, you know, mess up your DNA and damn your soul somehow.
It's like, what? No, dude, just get saved.
Just believe on Jesus Christ and you're good to go.
And folks, most of these people who are like freaking out about the vaccine have already had a bunch of vaccines even when they were kids.
How many were vaccinated when you were kids? Be honest, I see that hand.
I was.
Obviously, you know, if I had it my way, I wouldn't have gotten vaccinated.
If I knew then what I knew now when I was like a little kid, I would say, Mom, no, don't do it.
But you know, my mom didn't know any better. My family didn't know any better.
They thought vaccines were good.
Okay.
But, you know, even if they destroy our body, even if they destroy our body via the vaccines or they destroy our body via killing us, you know, they can't touch our soul.
It's not going to happen. Okay.
Go back to Ecclesiastes, look at verse 7.
For he knoweth not that which shall be, for who can tell him when it shall be?
There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit.
Newsom does not have power over your spirit.
Neither hath he power in the day of death.
He can't even keep himself from dying.
Biden cannot keep himself from dying and he looks like he's, we're about to see that soon or something.
The Bible says that they don't have power in the day of death. That guy doesn't even have power in life.
Not only in death, but even in life, folks.
And there is no discharge in that war.
Neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
What is he saying? He's saying this, you know, the wicked shall have their day, folks.
The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what man can do unto me.
And you know what? If they come and take away your rights, if they come and just oppress you,
then you know what? You get to suffer for righteousness sake.
And you're heavily rewarded for that.
But won't the person who fights and fights and fights, even to the point where they delve into that which is evil,
in order to protect that which is good, and they lose out on that reward.
Let me read to you from 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 17.
For it is better if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evildoing.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
Folks, it was wrong for them to kill Jesus. He's a righteous man. He's the most perfect man ever.
He's God.
But yet, he didn't deserve to die for us. Right? God died for us.
Let that sink in a little bit. He didn't have to do that.
It was an unrighteous thing, because he's a perfect man, innocent, righteous, 100%,
but yet he did it in order to reconcile us back to God.
And that's what he's saying here. He's saying it is better for you to suffer for the will of God.
It's better.
You know, in the world's eyes, we came out losing on that whole bombing issue.
We were mocked. We were ridiculed.
Ah, they bombed you. That's what you get. What was all that stuff you were saying then?
Oh, what now? That's what you get for going against the gay mafia.
I mean, we were ridiculed and reviled greatly.
For me, I just saw I was suffering for well-doing.
And guess what? I get the last laugh.
I still get the last laugh later on. And you know what? God actually gets the last laugh.
But God actually sees that as a good thing when we suffer for the will of God,
when we are reviled, when we're put to shame for righteousness' sake.
Not for your freedom's sake, for righteousness' sake.
Look at verse 9. We're going to look at the operation of a wicked ruler.
Verse 9 says,
All this have I seen and applied my heart unto every good work that is done on the sun.
There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy,
and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done.
This is also vanity. What is he saying?
You know, part of the operation of the wicked ruler is to not recognize the righteous.
In other words, to not honor the righteous.
In fact, today we live in a day and age where the righteous are evil spoken of.
We look like a bunch of weird zealots and we're a cult because of what we preach.
Good is called evil and evil good.
I mean, folks, yesterday we were filming for the landmarks episode.
And we're at Joshua Tree.
And we're at the jumble rocks and I find this location.
It's a nice little location, not too much wind.
And, you know, we're just trying to serve God.
We just want to make this film.
We're talking about the tribulation.
We're talking about how we're being reviled and all these things.
And these three dykes show up in the desert.
And here's the funny thing. No joke. No joke.
Prior to going in there, there's a sign that says that we're going to see dykes.
That's a name for some rock formation under the ground or something like that.
I have the picture. I took a picture and I was like,
this is funny, we're going to see dykes. And we literally saw dykes.
They come and they're like,
Hail Satan! Hail Satan! Jesus is a homosexual!
I mean, as we're talking about being reviled, persecuted, literally, right?
As we're talking about that, you have these three people come up.
These animals walk up, reviling us.
And, you know, I might have had something to do with that.
I had my shirt yesterday, my straight pride shirt.
I'm like, why are they doing this to us?
Why are you saying this? Did you see it?
And even as we're walking away, we're going back to the vehicle,
and I guess a couple walk by and they see my shirt.
And look, for me, my default setting is always just be kind to everyone.
And I'm just like, hey, how's it going?
And then they walk by and they're like, did you see his shirt?
It said straight pride. So stupid.
It's stupid to wear a shirt that says straight pride,
but it's a-okay for you to wear a shirt that says gay pride.
Uplifting this abominable abomination known as sodomy.
What kind of world do we live in?
We live in a place where evil is called good and good evil.
Where the righteous are not recognized,
or they're not recognized for their righteousness.
They're seen as evil people.
And I told those guys, I was like, you suck as a representation of Satan,
if that's what you're doing, because they're like,
Hail Satan!
I'm like, you're Satan?
I'm looking at them narrow-eyedly.
This is it?
This is what Satan brings is some sickly, AIDS-filled dyke.
June's coming, folks.
The operation of the wicked rulers, the lack of recognition for the righteous,
but also their lack of punishment for evildoers.
Look at verse 11, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily,
and therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully setting them to do evil.
When wicked people are not punished immediately,
it emboldens them to continue to be wicked.
That's what the Bible teaches.
That's why in the Old Testament, as soon as the crime was committed,
and they were found guilty, they didn't wait 20 years to put someone to death.
A lot of these serial killers like Richard Ramirez,
that guy was on death row for like 20 years or something.
He didn't even get to make it to the, you know, whatever they call it,
the electric chair or the injection chair or whatever.
He just died of like cancer or something.
Why wait 20 years to put a murderer to death?
I mean, what are they waiting for?
Is there like a long list of people?
I mean, are they putting that many criminals to death or something?
Like, why should you wait for that long?
It should be done immediately, right?
And when it's not executed speedily,
then wicked people are emboldened to become exceeding wicked
and carry out their crimes and their wickedness and their violation of people.
Folks, as soon as a crime is committed and someone is punished,
everyone fears because of that.
Understand?
I guarantee you, the person, the people who bombed our church,
that's not the first rodeo.
And you know what? It's not going to be their last either
because they're not being punished.
It says in verse 12,
Though a sinner do evil a hundred times,
because, you know, you read something like that,
I'm like, oh, man, this is so grieving.
It's grievous that this happens.
Oh, hold on a second.
Though a sinner do evil a hundred times and his days be prolonged,
yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God,
which fear before him.
But it shall not be well with the wicked,
neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow,
because he feareth not before God.
So even though the people of this world,
the governments of this world are not executing righteousness speedily,
punishment speedily, God says, don't worry, I'm going to take care of you.
And in fact, some of these people,
God actually punishes them so severely, so bad,
the Bible says that their punishment is so swift,
that he views them as though they're already in hell.
The Bible says in 2 Peter 2, 1,
But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you,
who privately shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Think about this, think about this swift destruction.
The punishment is so fast,
it's almost as if he snatches their soul out of their body
so quickly that he just sees them as twice dead,
plucked up by the roots.
Right?
Because there's certain people in this world that are reprobates that,
there's no hope for them, like they're not going to be saved,
they're not going to be saved.
They've been blotted out of the book of life,
that's how fast he punished them.
And a lot of these people, that's exactly how they're going to end up.
God swiftly punishes them so quickly that he removes their ability to believe,
he snatches their soul in the sense that,
to God, it's like they're already in hell.
It's already too late for them, they're just like the walking dead.
But even if that doesn't happen,
God will punish them one day.
And so, yeah, it can be grievous sometimes,
and people often ask me like, do those people get caught?
And I tell them, no, they haven't gotten caught.
They haven't gotten caught.
As far as I know, they haven't gotten caught.
I mean, you know, there's people in our church that like,
found them like easily.
I mean, we have like detectives in our church who've never went to school for that,
yet they found, they got their faces,
I mean, they did all the research, turned it into the authorities,
like, oh, yeah, we can't find them.
Are you even looking?
And that can be grievous, right?
But you know, it's not really grievous to me,
because I don't really care,
because I know at the end of that, I have wisdom.
There's wisdom.
And wisdom says that God will one day punish them.
And our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
it really pales in comparison to the glory that shall be revealed in us,
and the destruction that they shall receive.
Look at verse 14.
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth,
that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked.
Again, there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous.
I said that this also is vanity.
What is he saying?
He's like, man, this one thing that's just grievous
is when you see good people suffering,
and you see bad people prospering.
You see just the most wicked, vile people succeeding in life.
They're prospering.
They're just going forward.
And this can be vanity.
But here's the thing.
It all comes to an end.
It will all come to an end.
Your trial will come to an end.
Your difficulty, there's an end to it.
It doesn't seem like there's an end when you're in it,
when you're in the thick of it, but there is an end to it.
There is an end to it.
There's always an end to it.
There is always an end to your trial.
There's always an end to your tribulation.
It's going to end one day.
Don't ask me for the date because I don't know.
I just know this.
It will come to an end.
And you know what?
When you reach the end of that trial, you will see,
actually, that wasn't that bad.
Or if it was that bad, I felt like it went by quickly.
That's how it always is.
But the wicked, they prosper.
They succeed.
They go forward.
They live their lives in sin and just doing wickedness,
and it seems as though they're not punished.
Yeah, but think about this.
When they die and go to hell,
you think they're even going to reminisce on those days?
Think about all the movie stars and singers who have died.
They perished.
They're in hell.
You think they care about their Emmy award?
Their Grammy, or what is that called?
Their granny?
That stupid little award?
You think they care about their basketball rings?
You think they care about how many championships they won
if they died without Christ?
They can care less about those things
because they're burning in hell.
And so that's all they think about
is the fact that they're burning.
Whereas us, on the other hand,
when we are in eternity,
our trials actually seem like a drop in the bucket
in comparison to eternity.
See how it just works out great for us?
That's why I'm not interested in doing protests.
I'm not interested in being an activist.
I got bigger fish to fry.
Verse 16 says,
When I applied my heart to know wisdom
and to see the business that is done upon the earth,
for also there is that neither day nor night
seeth sleep with his eyes.
Then I beheld all the work of God,
that a man cannot find out the work
that is done under the sun,
because though a man labored to seek it out,
yet he shall not find it,
yea, father,
though a wise man think to know it,
yet shall he not be able to find it.
And he's basically saying the more wisdom you get,
the more you realize you just don't know.
There's so much more to do.
And so what's the main theme of this?
The main theme of this is obey authority,
and if you're oppressed,
just take it like a man,
suffer for righteousness sake,
because great is your reward in heaven.
If they try to stop you,
and let me say this,
our righteous Christians will never be fully taken away.
So how do you know that?
Well, because in the end times,
people are still preaching the gospel.
I mean, we're talking about New World Order stuff here.
You know, robots chasing you and killing people,
and people got the mark of the beast and all this stuff,
and people are hunting,
but we're still able to preach the gospel during that time.
How can that be?
How is it that people are still preaching the gospel,
they're preaching God's word,
they're doing great works,
even though there's a One World Order,
even though Satan is making war with the saints,
the work of God is still being done.
I'll tell you why,
because our freedoms are never fully taken away,
and we don't get our freedom from the government.
We're born free.
We're born again free.
Let's pray our heads in our word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word,
and thank you for the freedom that we have in Christ,
and I'm thankful for your example, Lord,
how even when it came to taxes,
you submitted yourself to the government,
not because you didn't want to fight for our rights
to earn money and to do all these things.
You had a far greater agenda,
which is the salvation of the world,
which is far greater, far better,
and help us as your people to have that same mentality
that we seek for a better country.
Lord, I pray that you help us to be heavenly minded,
to be eternally minded,
so that we can be successful here on this earth,
fighting the right battles, submitting to authority,
and still fulfilling the work of God.
I pray, Lord, that you'd bless us.
We love you so much, and we thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Song number 13,
must Jesus bear the cross alone?
Song number 13 for our last song,
must Jesus bear the cross alone?
Everyone nice and loud all together on that first verse.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone
and all the world go free?
Know there's a cross for everyone
and there's a cross for me.
The consecrated cross I'll bear
till death shall set me free.
And then go hold my crown to wear
for there's a crown for me.
Upon the crystal pavement down
at Jesus' piercing feet,
joyful I'll cast my golden crown
and His dear name revealed.
O precious cross, O glorious crown,
O resurrection day,
ye angels from the stars come down
and bear my soul away.
Amen. Wonderful singing.
You are dismissed.
.