First Baptist Church, let's all make our way inside and find a seat.
Find a song book and open that song book up to song number 43, we're marching to Zion.
Let's find our seats and grab a song book.
If you are able, let's all stand together for this first song.
Song number 43, we're marching to Zion.
Everyone nice and strong, all together on this first verse.
Come we that love the Lord, and let our joys be known.
Join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord.
And thus around the throne, and thus around the throne,
we're marching to Zion.
Beautiful, beautiful Zion, we're marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful sea of God.
Let those refused to sing, who never do, our God,
the children of the heavenly King, the children of the heavenly King,
may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion,
we're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
The hill of Zion built a thousand sacred suites,
before we reach the heavenly front, before we reach the heavenly front.
For walk the golden streets, we're marching to Zion,
beautiful, beautiful Zion, we're marching upward to Zion,
the sea of God.
Then let our songs abound, and every tear we try,
we're marching through Emmanuel's throne, we're marching through Emmanuel's throne.
There, world on high, we're marching to Zion,
beautiful, beautiful Zion, we're marching upward to Zion,
the sea of God.
Amen. That's all from our service, the word of prayer.
Father, thank you, God, Lord, for this evening, God, that you gave us tonight, God.
I pray, Lord, that you would bless the evening, Lord.
Thank you for allowing us to hear your word preached unto us, God.
I pray, Lord, that you would bless Pastor Mihir with your Holy Spirit, Lord,
as he preaches to us, God, and help us, God, to be attentive to the preaching tonight, Lord,
and that these songs would prepare our hearts and our minds to receive your word, Lord,
and that we would leave here edified and 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 sixty-five, just over in the glory land.
One altogether.
I've a home prepared where the saints abide, just over in the glory land.
And I long to be by my Savior's side, just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band, just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, there with the mighty host I'll stand, just over in the glory land.
I am on my way to the mansion square, just over in the glory land.
There to sing God's praise and his glory share, just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band.
Just over in the glory land, there with the mighty host I'll stand, just over in the glory land.
What a joyful cloth that my Lord I'll sing. Amen.
And with kindred saved, there forever be, just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band.
Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land.
There with the mighty host I'll stand, just over in the glory land.
With the blood washed wrong, I will shout and sing, just over in the glory land.
God will send us to Christ the Lord and King, just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band.
Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land.
There with the mighty host I'll stand, just over in the glory land.
All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be song number one,
Jesus I, My Cross Have Taken, song number one in your song books if you want to get that ready.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you.
We have important information on there as well as the prayer sheet.
Brother Gio is going to be praying over that tonight.
Our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
Then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock.
We are currently going through the book of Matthew, so good to have you here tonight.
Then you see there the First Works family night summer schedule is coming to a conclusion.
Tomorrow night is the church, or tomorrow, not necessarily tomorrow night,
going into tomorrow night as well is the church bonfire.
If you look inside of the bulletin there, you can scan that little QR code for the location.
It will take you there.
Dinner will be provided at 6 p.m.
You can show up at whatever time you would like because of the fact that there is going to be there.
There is going to be someone there as early as I think like 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning
because we have to reserve the bonfires there.
Brother Jose is going to be there carrying the boats.
He is carrying the load for the church by reserving the location there.
People are going to be taking different shifts throughout the day.
We don't want a repeat of last year, so we have someone there throughout the day.
We are looking forward to it.
You can show up at whatever time, but 6 p.m. is dinner time.
Also, we want to make that announcement to just be careful if you are planning to go swim.
The waves are pretty crazy there. People got hurt last year.
Please make sure that you are careful, use discretion, and please watch your children as well.
If you have any questions about that, you can see Brother Ulises.
We are looking forward to a great bonfire to conclude our family nights.
It is going to be exciting.
The Holdfast Sewing Marathon is next Saturday, not this Saturday, but the following Saturday.
There is actually going to be a wedding on Friday and then the Sewing Marathon on Saturday.
Then they celebrate their church anniversary on Sunday.
The van will be leaving on Saturday morning.
We are looking to be there at 10 a.m. because Pastor Thompson is going to be preaching at 10 a.m.
Then they are going to be dismissed for sewing.
If you have any questions about that, you can see Brother Ulises.
Ladies Prayer Breakfast is coming up on Saturday, August 12.
You can see Ms. Janelle Gonzalez for more details about that.
One announcement that is not on here is Monday.
We are not going to be going to bars, so we are going to go to TJ.
We are going to go to Tijuana.
We are going to leave here at about 9 a.m.
We are calling out all Spanish speakers.
I know we have a lot of gringos in our church who don't speak Spanish.
If you do speak Spanish and you can preach the gospel in Spanish, we want to invite you to come to that.
We are going to be leaving promptly at 9 a.m.
Then we are going to have lunch out there and go sewing for a couple of hours.
Then possibly have dinner and then come back.
Brother Glenn went out there with the team and they got a lot of people saved out there.
Hopefully we would have the same success there.
If it goes well, we are going to plan to go there every other week or so.
We are going to Barstow every other week, but the sewing hasn't been as good in Barstow.
We are going to switch to TJ because it is actually not that far.
It is only a little over two hours away.
Pray that we get a lot of people saved there.
Bring your passports, which means if you are illegal, you can't come.
It will be a one-way trip for you.
Maybe that is the mission field God has called you to.
We don't have any illegals here as far as I know.
Pray over the TJ trip. We are looking forward to them.
Also, there are other two sewing times that are starting in our church.
We have one on Tuesday at 4 p.m. and then another one on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
If you would like to participate in those, you can see Brother Elise's for that.
On Tuesday, we typically go close by in Anaheim, Santa Ana area.
On Wednesday, we go to Ontario.
Hope to see you there for those sewing times.
You see there at the bottom, no food or drink allowed in the maid auditorium except for water and coffee.
Please make sure you are not loitering in the four-year fellowship hall during the preaching service.
Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching and even during the scripture reading.
So as to not be a distraction during the service, we don't want to hear your favorite ringtone as we are reading the scriptures.
Your 90's ringtone.
Please keep that in mind.
We are going to pull out the prayer sheet there.
We are going to go over that briefly.
Continue to pray for our church corporately and for the church families.
Good news, from what I've heard, Pastor Anderson is doing a lot better.
I think he preached on Wednesday night at his church.
Thank you for praying for him.
Good to see him back in church and doing well.
The main thing I want to highlight is just the soul winning in the summer.
Of course, pray for the marathon at Holdfast and then pray for the soul winning in TJ and the new soul winning times that are starting.
You want to ramp up the soul winning a little bit here to get a little more salvation.
So if you can pray that God will continue to use our church in a great way to do so, that would be a blessing.
If you have any additional prayer requests you'd like to be mentioned, you can put that at the bottom and tear that off.
Put it into the offering plate. We'll make sure that it gets on there for the following week.
That is it for the GEO. Why don't you come on up and pray over these needs.
All right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, Lord, and thank you for keeping us safe as we came here today.
We also thank you for the King James Bible, Lord, and just this church that we have here.
We just pray that you continue to bless our church, continue to use us in a great way,
and see a lot of people saved, Lord, and a lot of new people that are coming in.
We also just pray for the soul-winning, that we continue to see a lot of people saved,
and that the soul-winning teams continue to grow, and the team leaders as well continue to guide the new people as they get plugged in,
and they help teach them to become soul-winners themselves, Lord.
We also want to pray for the mission strips and just a soul-winning marathon that we have coming up here next weekend at Hold Fast Baptist Church.
We just pray it's very receptive, and it's a great time and a great turnout with a lot of soul-winners, Lord,
and we just pray that everybody travels there safely, and we can just see a great work done for you, Lord.
And we also want to pray for TJ Mexico as we've been going there, and we're starting that up,
so we just pray that it also remains receptive, and we can see a lot of people saved over there, Lord, as well.
And we also just pray for Belize as we're going there in November.
We just pray that the people that we've already met and that we've got saved, Lord,
that we just pray that they're waiting for us over there, and we can have a great turnout for you over there at that church service, Lord,
and we also just pray that as we're out there, we can also see more people saved.
We also want to pray for the protection of our church and the church families, Lord,
that you continue to protect us and keep us safe while we're out here, Lord, as we go soul-winning,
and as we go our day-to-day lives, we just pray that you keep your protection on us and on our church, Lord.
We also just want to pray for the salvation of our unsafe friends and unsafe family, Lord.
Obviously, a lot of us, the people that we know in our day-to-day lives that are not saved,
we just pray that you just soften their heart. Whatever it is that causes them to not be saved,
if they're stuck on pride or maybe they just haven't heard the Gospel clearly, Lord,
we just pray that you soften their heart and you give boldness to us to go preach to them, Lord,
or just they can find the truth, Lord.
We also want to pray for our barren women and just newborns and new moms, Lord.
We just pray that you're just with them and that you strengthen them, Lord, during this new time of their lives.
Lord, I also want to pray for Miss Olivia and Brother Jonathan.
We know that they're going through a tough time right now, so we just pray that you're with both of them,
you strengthen them, Lord, and that you're also with Miss Olivia,
and that we just pray that everything goes well and that the doctors have wisdom to do what they have to do, Lord,
and that everything just happens greatly, Lord, and everybody turns out okay.
And we just pray now that you fill Pastor Mijia with your spirit and give us ears to hear the preaching tonight, Lord,
and we just pray that we just have a great service.
We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.
You can turn to the third song, song number one, Jesus, I, My Cross Have Taken.
All right, song number one, Jesus, I, My Cross Have Taken.
Everyone all together nice and strong.
Jesus, I, My Cross Have Taken.
Fall to leave and follow Thee.
Test it to despise forsaken.
Now from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition.
All life sought and hoped and known.
Yet how rich is my condition.
God and heaven are still my own.
Let the world despise and leave me.
They have left my Savior too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me.
Thou art not like man untrue.
And while thou shalt smile upon me.
God of wisdom, love and might.
Foes may hate and friends may shun me.
Show thy face and all is bright.
Man may trouble and distress me.
Will but drive me to thy breast.
Life with trials or may press me.
Then will bring me sweet arrest.
Both is not in grief to harm me.
While thy love is left to me.
Both were not in joy to charm me.
Were that joy on mixed with thee.
Hasty on from grace to glory.
Armed by faith and winged by prayer.
Heav'n eternal days before me.
God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission.
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days.
Hope shall change to glad fruition.
Faith to sight and prayer to praise.
Amen.
This time the ushers will collect the offering.
Tonight will be in Matthew chapter 14.
This time the ushers will collect the offering.
.
Good evening, we're in Matthew chapter 14.
And the chapter reads,
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants,
This is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works to show forth themselves in him.
For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet.
But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod,
whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head and a charger.
And the king was sorry nevertheless for the oath's sake.
And then which sat with him at meet, he commanded it to be given her.
And he sent and beheaded John into prison.
And his head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.
And the disciples came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
When Jesus heard of it, he departed them by ship into a desert place apart.
And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place,
and the time is now past, and the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vittles.
But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart, give ye them to eat.
And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes.
And he said, Bring them hither to me.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass.
And he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looked up to heaven.
He blessed them break, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
And they did all eat, and were filled, and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
And they that had eaten were about five thousand men beside women and children.
And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship,
and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.
And when the evening was come, he was there alone.
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary.
And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went on to them walking on the sea.
And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is the Spirit.
And they cried out for fear.
And straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.
And Peter answered them, and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased.
Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all the country round about,
and brought unto him all that were diseased, and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment,
and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
Let's pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father. We thank you for this wonderful church you have given us.
We thank you for the Bible you have given us. Thank you for our pastor, dear God, that you have given us.
And please bless him as he preaches your word unto us this evening. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. All right, we're in Matthew chapter 14 this evening.
And here in Matthew chapter 14, John the Baptist has already died.
He has been, of course, he was imprisoned by Herod, but he's also beheaded.
And so by this time, he's already been dead.
And the reason I'm bringing that up is because of the fact that we see that Herod hears about the fame of Jesus Christ,
and automatically thinks John had been risen from the dead.
Obviously, that means that John was already dead.
And we'll talk about John's ministry in just a bit.
But let me just talk a little bit about Herod, the Tetrarch, and who he is.
Because a lot of times people get confused with all the Herods in the Bible, in the Gospels, and of course in the Book of Acts,
and why he's referred to as the Tetrarch.
Tetrarch was essentially a person who had a position under the Roman Empire,
who was essentially in charge of a fourth part of a particular province.
And let me just talk about the family, the Herods, and who they were, the dynasty, and how they played a role here in the Gospels.
Of course, his family is pretty wicked.
When you look at the history throughout the Gospels, they were a family who was very antagonistic towards Christians,
from the start of Jesus Christ all the way up until the Gospels.
And the first Herod that we hear about is the one who's present when Jesus Christ was born.
And this guy is exceedingly wicked to the point where he essentially sends out his soldiers to go slay all the children from two years old and under
in hopes that he can kill baby Jesus, because he's essentially threatened by the prophecy that Jesus was going to be the Christ, he's going to be the king.
And so, of course, Jesus or his parents go off into Egypt, and then Herod, that Herod passes away, he dies.
But then his son takes over after him, and this son is there, and when Joseph comes back, he hears about the fact that his son is there,
and so he decides to go into Nazareth instead of into Bethlehem because of the fact that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
So that Herod is just as bad as his father.
And history basically tells us that that Herod, you know, basically dies about ten years into his reign, approximately ten years into his reign,
which is why Pontius Pilate is ruling over Judea.
So during this particular time, this era, you have Herod, who's the governor over Judea, in place of that particular Herod that was there after he dies.
And so you have that Herod there, but then you also have this Herod, who historically is known as Herod Antipas.
And this Herod is mostly known for killing John the Baptist.
He's known for essentially being the one that Jesus says of him, you know, calling him a fox, essentially calling him a dog, right?
And he's also the one, ironically, who wants to meet Jesus Christ prior to his crucifixion when they're delivering him up to Pontius Pilate.
Pontius Pilate sends him to Herod because he was part of that jurisdiction, and he's the tetrarch of Galilee.
So you have Herod, who's the tetrarch of Galilee, and then his brother Philip, who's also Herod, okay?
He's the tetrarch of Iturea and Trichinitis.
And then after these guys, you have the grandson of the first Herod, who we read about in the book of Acts, okay?
And that Herod is the one who's responsible for killing James, if you remember that.
He kills James, and then he imprisons Peter, the apostle Peter.
Of course, Peter escapes from prison, but he's also the one who, when he's giving a speech, people credit him for being a god, right?
Because of the way he's talking, and he doesn't give glory to God, so God strikes him dead, and then he's eaten of worms, okay?
And then the last Herod is actually known as Agrippa, King Agrippa, who is most notably known for the statement,
thou almost persuadest me to be a Christian when the apostle Paul is preaching to him.
So in total, there's about six Herods in the Bible, and out of those six, five of them were really wicked.
I mean, you can see how they're essentially adversarial towards Jesus Christ, towards his disciples, even after John the Baptist.
Of course, they're killing James, they're imprisoning Peter.
And then the last one, we don't necessarily know a whole lot about him from the scriptures per se,
but all he says is, you almost persuaded me to be a Christian, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's a good guy.
It just means that, you know, he didn't get saved at that time.
And so, the Herods, the Herodians were pretty wicked, and here we see in verse number one, it says,
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus.
Now this is a big deal because of the fact that Jesus told people not to talk about the works that are being done.
But obviously, people cannot but speak the things which they have seen and heard.
So they're talking about the miracles, they're talking about the word of God that's being preached,
and it says in verse two,
Which is interesting because initially, John the Baptist is being mistaken for being the Christ, right?
But now, Jesus is being mistaken for being John the Baptist by Herod.
And it says,
Now I think the reason Herod is saying this is because he's actually scared.
He obviously feels guilty for killing, beheading John the Baptist because initially he didn't want to.
He does it for Herodias' sake because of her daughter who's, you know, belly dancing or whatever before Herod and his birthday.
And we'll get into that story in just a bit.
But, you know, he's scared, he feels like John the Baptist is coming back from the dead, coming back for whatever reason.
But obviously we know that it's Jesus Christ.
And he says in verse three,
For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
Here's the reason in verse number four,
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
So why was John cast into prison?
Because he was calling out the ruler for being an adulterer, right?
And this preaching, calling him out, gets him persecuted and thrown into prison and of course eventually beheaded.
Now what does this tell us?
Well, you know, this shows us that John the Baptist, like every Christian should be, should not be a respecter of people.
Everyone gets it, amen?
Whether it's a church member, it's a congregant, it's a believer, it's an unbeliever,
it's a ruler under the Roman Empire.
No one is safe from the preaching of God's word.
It's not a respecter of people.
Everyone gets it, amen?
And John the Baptist is not afraid of the rulers.
He's not afraid of the magistrates.
And at the end of the day, if they're committing a wicked, abominable sin,
if they're committing a sin worthy of death according to the Bible,
they deserve to get preached against, especially if they are a ruler.
Especially if they're a tetrarch, they're under the Roman government.
If they are a ruler of any sort of magistrate, they deserve to be called out
because of the fact that they're held to a higher standard, right?
And so he calls them out for this and he gets persecuted because of it.
Now this is important because of the fact that, you know, people today will look at our church,
churches like ours, and they get really upset when we're talking about Christians.
They get really upset when we preach against sin, when we call particular people out,
when we preach against sodomy and that which is abominable in the land.
And every once in a while, you'll get a Christian who says this,
Just preach the gospel, brother.
You know, you're calling too much attention, Cheers.
You brought that upon yourself.
That's what people told me when our church got bombed.
They told me this, you brought that upon yourself.
And you know what? They're right.
You know why? Because when we preach God's word, we should expect to get persecuted, right?
And John brought that upon himself.
But you know what? God commanded him to preach the word of God and that's what he did.
And he suffered the consequences because of it.
But obviously, he's greatly honored by God and I'm sure he's greatly rewarded.
And I'm sure if you were to ask John the Baptist in heaven today, do you regret making that decision?
He would say absolutely not.
You know, you receive a martyr's crown.
He is honored not just by God but even all believers throughout history for going down.
And by the way, we love John because he's the Baptist, amen?
And so we like to relate to people like this, amen?
One of the greatest prophets in the Bible was a Baptist.
And he's not the baptizer either, okay?
He's not John the baptizer as the chosen likes to call him.
He's John the Baptist.
But we see here that, you know, I'm sorry, going back to my previous statement,
a lot of people say, just preach the gospel.
And somehow in their mind, they think preaching the gospel is like your mark safe from persecution.
Like if you just preach the gospel, it's not going to incur any type of persecution whatsoever.
But this is really stupid because even in the book of Acts,
you have the apostles and the disciples just preaching the gospel and it still gets them in trouble.
You know, they're out there going door to door preaching Jesus, talking about the crucifixion,
talking about the fact that Jesus Christ is God and preaching salvation and they're getting beaten for their faith.
They're getting cast out of the synagogue, they're being chased, all for preaching the gospel.
So when people say that, one of two things, either they're not preaching the gospel,
because if they were to preach the gospel, they would get some sort of persecution.
And let me say this, you know, there is no doctrine in the Bible that is safe from persecution.
There is no doctrine in the Bible that is safe, marked safe from persecution.
You know that Facebook little post, mark safe from persecution if you just preach the gospel.
It doesn't exist because there's always going to be someone in this world who is against something that you're saying as a Christian.
There's always someone in this world.
You can preach the most basic doctrine of the Bible and I guarantee you there's going to be someone in this world
who not only disagrees with you but probably will hate you for it.
I can literally make a video about salvation being by grace through faith
and I will get a lot of people who are completely against that and will rail on me and call me a heretic and a false prophet and all manner of evil.
Why? Because at the end of the day, all doctrines are against this world's philosophy
and there's going to be people who completely hate whatever doctrine there is.
And when we look at the example of John the Baptist, he preached the gospel and he got persecuted by the Pharisees.
He preached against adultery and he gets persecuted by Herod.
So at the end of the day, we just need to follow what the Bible says which is to preach the entire counsel of God.
Now obviously that's more applicable to a pastor, someone who holds a position of preaching the word of God on a weekly basis.
But it's obviously applicable to Christians as well because even though you're not preaching behind the pulpit every single week,
these are things that you believe. And this is a stance that we take as a church and it's a stance that you should take as a believer
that when someone brings up the subject of sodomy or adultery or fornication or drunkenness or railing,
you speak up about that and say well that's wicked according to the Bible. This is what the Bible says about that.
Even if you're not a pastor. And at the end of the day, the Bible says,
So even if you don't really preach anything on a weekly basis, your life in general is going to get you persecuted if you live godly.
That's just the way it works. So John the Baptist is calling out Herod for his adultery.
He's taking his brother Philip's wife. I mean this is like sick. What kind of brother is that?
He gets called out for it and he's cast into prison for that.
And so the people who say just preach the gospel, they obviously don't know what they're talking about
because at the end of the day the Bible says preach the word, be instant in season out of season,
reprove, rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
When the Bible says preach the word, that's everything that's in the Bible.
And obviously we need to make direct application to whatever's going on today.
So when people are like all you guys talk about is sodomites, well that's because it's constantly being pushed in our face.
So we're like the conscience of the nation so we have to constantly tell this nation that this is wicked, this is vile, this is disgusting.
We need to make sure we put before the minds of the nation and believers what the standard of God is.
And John the Baptist is no different than any other prophet in the Bible of what he preached.
Because you look throughout the Old Testament, I mean you have Isaiah preaching against nations.
You have Jeremiah who preached against his own country and was accused of being a traitor
because he's preaching against the abominations of his own nation.
Jesus Christ preached against the surrounding cities who rejected the gospels.
I mean good night, you have Ezekiel who's preaching against the trees.
He's preaching against the mountains. Nothing is safe from the Bible, right?
And obviously the reason he's doing that is because of the idolatry that's taking place there.
And so Ezekiel is a great example of someone that we should follow that we should preach against everything.
And so John the Baptist here is in prison for that.
Now I'm not going to get into why God allowed him to die, why God allowed him to be martyred.
It's in my personal opinion that my interpretation is based upon all of the verses dealing with martyrdom,
all of the verses dealing with persecution and people who have died like John the Baptist and Stephen
that they allow themselves to be martyred.
Because I believe that the Bible conclusively teaches that any believer who is going through persecution
even to the point of death can be delivered from that if they want to.
That God always offers deliverance from persecution that could potentially lead to death
and there's always an open door if they want to take it.
But there are certain individuals according to Hebrews chapter 11 that refuse deliverance that they may have a better resurrection.
And so I personally think that John the Baptist just chose martyrdom.
He allowed himself to be killed maybe because he wanted a better resurrection.
We don't know exactly based upon the story that's given but I think based upon all the scriptures that we look at
I think that's pretty correct.
So he is preaching against his adultery, look at verse 5 it says
And when he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet.
So Herod is actually afraid of not necessarily John but he's afraid of the multitudes, right?
Because they esteem him as being a great man of God and he doesn't want to lose the admiration of the public
and so he doesn't kill him for that reason.
Verse 6 says
He commanded it to be given her and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
So you know all because of a woman, that's what it was.
And you know when you look at the story of John the Baptist it's very similar to like Elijah if you think about it.
And obviously we know that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah
but you know Herod can be compared to like Ahab and then Herodias can be compared to who? Jezebel.
The only difference is that Jezebel did not succeed in killing Elijah even though she wanted to
and unfortunately Herodias did succeed in getting John the Baptist beheaded.
And so you know this is a great story to just remind us how offensive the word of God is to this world.
Even as something as simple as adultery can get a person killed for preaching that
and you know you can see why sometimes there are pastors in churches that would rather not talk about these things.
Now today no one is going to kill you for preaching against adultery right?
But you know you might get some, you might lose church members for preaching against adultery.
You might lose church members for preaching against fornication not in this particular church
but in other churches you know where that's not necessarily emphasized.
The pastor is not accustomed to preaching to get specific sins.
He might call out sin in general and say don't sin but he's not going to go over 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
He's not going to talk about the specifics of fornication, adultery, idolatry, extortion, railing, being a heretic,
you know a false prophet, being covetous and greedy and things of that nature.
Why? Because the pastor probably has a lot of people in his church who do those things
and it's more important for him to keep those tithing members than to honor God by preaching the entire council of God
and who cares who you lose right?
And you know sometimes pastors have transitioned from being a pastor to becoming a politician
where they're more interested in pleasing the crowd and trying to please everyone doctrinally
and not going overboard on specific sins or whatever because they don't want to lose people
but then you have a church that just becomes a cesspool of sin.
It becomes a den of iniquity.
It becomes a place where the leaven of sin is just permeating throughout church
because he's making all these exceptions to people who are fornicating,
people who are committing all these wicked sins of fornication,
people who are coming in who drink on weekends or whatever
and then it gets to a point where they just embrace or accept the abominable
such as sodomites and stuff and that's definitely a real thing
because then they start thinking, you know if you don't have a pastor who preaches on specific sins
and the gravity of each of those sins then you have a pastor who basically puts all sins on the same playing field
so they look at a sodomite and say well you know adultery is really bad too
and we're all sinners or whatever and it's just like this is what happens when you don't emphasize the standard of God
and when you don't make a distinction between particular sins
and I'm not saying that obviously all sin is equal, excuse me, all sin is not equal
but all sin is equal in the sense that all sin will take you to hell
because the Bible says whosoever keepeth the whole law, yet offended one point, he is guilty of all
but we're not talking about that, we're talking about sins that in a particular church can get you kicked out
or criminal sins or sins that are considered criminal that can get you in jail
for example like murder, things of that nature, that's obviously a distinction that we need to make in church
because then Christians don't really understand, they think to themselves
well you know adultery in the heart is just as bad as physical adultery
well they're both wicked but they're not the same
and then you have churches who don't know the difference between fornication and adultery
they think it's the same thing, well it's all sexual sin, yeah but here's the thing
adultery is a lot worse and it merits death though according to the Bible
so that kind of shows you that God has a higher standard for that than even fornication
and so it's important to call out these specific sins and keep them on the forefront of the church
and explain to them what God expects and how much he hates particular sins
so that the church doesn't forget that
that's why I'm always getting up every couple of months and preaching against divorce
because we live in a society where it's just like people get divorced like they get a new puppy or something
it's just like a normal thing and it's not necessarily condemned by churches
so like pastors like myself and others like-minded churches have to get up and just condemn divorce
so that no one gets any ideas around here that it's okay to do, you understand?
it's like I got to preach about it, I remember thinking to myself when I was like a younger Christian
like man my father-in-law always talks about divorce, he's always preaching on divorce
he's always hitting on this, you know it's kind of like he's beating this horse, this dead horse a lot
but now I know why, I'm like oh that's why because people no matter how much you preach on it
some people still consider it
so it's important that we keep this on the forefront of the church, not just divorce but all sins
and we talk about specific sins and how God views those particular sins so that no one gets any ideas
any bright ideas or should we say dark ideas of saying well these are permissible or something like that
and people always want to talk about the sins of the heart
and obviously we need to talk about the sins of the heart, covetousness, greed, lust, things of that nature
but you know what I think we also need to talk about these physical sins as well
because when was the last time a church ever exercised church discipline for someone who is covetous?
probably not very much, you know why? because they don't know how to identify a person who is covetous
because they don't talk about covetousness
they don't talk about greed in the churches, they don't talk about gluttony in the churches
and so if you don't talk about that, the churches don't know how to identify those particular sins in an individual
they go under the radar, it permeates throughout the church and then it's history after that
so all that to say that John the Baptist did well, amen?
he not only was able to preach the word of God in the sense of preaching the gospel
and behold the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world
he led many to Jesus Christ, got a lot of people saved
but he also preached against sin, he turned people to righteousness
and this is what people fail to realize, oh just preach the gospel brother
yeah but after people get saved they need to be turned to righteousness and righteous living
it's like oh he preached the gospel brother, well sorry, you know the gospel
although it's a major part of the Bible, there's other aspects of the Bible that God wants us to adhere to as well
he wants people to live holy and righteous lives, he wants people's minds to be transformed and renewed
so they won't become carnal and it's disrespectful for people to say only preach the gospel
it's like then why did God spend so much time writing this entire book
are you saying that none of this is important, that that's the only thing that's important
and then their minds are just like well that's the only non-offensive thing
but the gospel is offensive, any time we go sowing we offend people
we're telling them they're going to hell, that's pretty offensive
it's just like we just go to a complete stranger, we tell them that they're sinners
most of us tell them like you've lied before right
and then we show them we're like and you deserve to go to hell
and we want them to admit that too, right
we're like would you agree that you deserve hell, it's like and we just met that person
and then we were essentially telling them that what they previously believed was wrong
so it takes a little bit of skill to just meet someone right off the bat to be able to do so
and obviously the vast majority of what plays a role into that is the fact that you're spirit filled
and God's working in that person's heart
but what I'm saying is the gospel is offensive, it's not roses and daisies
I mean obviously the gift is a wonderful message, the gospel in and of itself, eternal life is a wonderful message
but there's a lot of ugliness in it as well
people always tell me how do you witness to a Buddhist, it's like the same way I witness to anybody
it's like yeah but don't you approach them differently, no the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth
so even if someone tells me they're a Buddhist I still try to give them the gospel
even if they tell me they don't believe in heaven, they don't believe in hell
I just assume that they do believe in heaven and hell, they just don't want to admit it
because everyone believes in eternal judgment
and people can become delusional and act like there is no eternal judgment
or say they don't believe in eternal judgment but at the end of the day everyone believes in some form of judgment
we're just telling them of the biblical judgment
so I just tell them well can I take a couple minutes to show you what the Bible says
and if they say they don't believe the Bible I just try to leave verses and however much they get me I'll take
but I don't leave out hell or I leave out being a sinner or something like that
just give it to them all
what I'm saying is that at the end of the day no matter who you talk to the gospel is going to be offensive to someone
and what we're looking for are those who don't stumble at the stumbling block
who recognize, who are humble enough to realize yeah I do, I am a sinner, I do deserve hell and I need a savior
and so on and so you know there is no doctrine that is marked safe from persecution or offense
all of it's offensive
we've all been offended by God's word at one time or another
all of us, myself included
and so don't make exceptions for that
John the Baptist, he gets beheaded, he's killed for his faith
but you know John is in heaven right now and he's not regretting one single thing
and you know we're honoring him in this sermon, amen
because this is not just a person, this is not some fairytale
this is a real man who lived at one point who fulfilled this ministry and we're honoring him by talking about him
and he deserves that honor because he fulfilled that ministry and you know it may be said of us as well
that you know we ran our course, we fought the good fight of faith
and that was just pleasing unto the Lord, we lasted all the way until the end
even if we were beheaded at the very end
now look at verse 13 it says
now obviously Jesus Christ even though he's God, he's still touched by the infirmities that we experience
and so obviously Jesus feels sorrow because this is his cousin
it's his forerunner and he hears about the death of John the Baptist
and so he's trying to get some time apart but you know the ministry is always calling
and so people are following him, they want to be healed by him
and so he doesn't clock out, verse 14 says
send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vittles
so he's like you know what it's getting late we need to make sure that we cut this sermon short
because people need to go home and they're hungry
you know kind of like some of you in here right now you know
we need to send them away so they have enough time to go get vittles
vittles is referring to food and he's just like let's clock out
and Jesus says in verse 16
so this is not in this particular account but in the book of John
because this particular story about the loaves and the fishes being multiplied is actually in all the gospels
but in the book of John we know that the meal that's brought forth
the five loaves and the two fishes is actually provided by a lad
this is his lunch and this young lad is coming to hear about Jesus
and his mom sends him with some lunch to go eat along the way
and we know that he offers his lunch to the disciples and to Jesus to feed the five thousand
okay now obviously there's more than five thousand people here
because it's five thousand men but the number that's not included in there is the women and children
so approximately what fifteen to twenty thousand maybe
depending on how large the families are we don't know
so there's a lot of people to feed and the faith of the child to say well you can have my five loaves and two fishes
you know but obviously this shows you the faith of the adults because they're like what is this among so many though
the faith of the child is just like oh problem solved I got lunch
here you go the disciples are just like this isn't enough
okay it says in verse 17
he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude
so we see here that the five loaves and the two fishes are multiplied in the hands of God
and obviously this is a great illustration and the reason this story is here is to increase our faith in God
right to show that you know when it comes to our necessities when it comes to the ministry
you can apply this all across the board that essentially when we feel that we have an insufficient amount of resources
or we are insufficient in and of ourselves whether it's our talents our gifts or even insufficient as a church
God makes up the difference okay and we need to have faith like the lad
and say well I have five loaves and two fishes and recognize God can multiply that
okay you know obviously the most immediate application that we can get from this is our resources
sometimes we feel like we don't have enough to pay the rent to pay the mortgage for groceries
and all these bills and everything you have to do what we need to do is just bring what you can
and God always makes up the difference okay God always gives listen to this exceedingly
abundantly above all that we can ask or think because even after he multiplies it everyone eats to their full
it's not like you know he's just giving them a small portion they're eating as much as they need to eat
until they're satisfied and then 12 baskets are filled with the excess of fish and loaves
okay and we don't know if like the 12 disciples were able to partake of that because it's 12 baskets 12 disciples
kind of wonder maybe that each of them got a basket okay because the laborer is worthy of his hire right
but we see that you know it's not God never he never just gives you just enough sometimes there are instances
where he gives just enough to increase our faith but more often than not he gives more than we need
he gives us an abundance right he came to give life and to give life more abundantly
he loads us daily with benefits the Bible says but it requires us kind of putting our resources
or whatever we have into his hand and just have faith that he can multiply it supernaturally in some way
now I think a great way to apply this story as well is soul winning you know you think of our church for example
and our church has the responsibility listen to this our church our particular church First Works Baptist Church
we literally have the responsibility to reach the entire world because the great commission is given to us
you know I thought it was given to all churches it is but we need to take responsibility for that particular command as well
so we should never have the attitude of like well someone else can do it there are other churches that can do it
there are other churches that can no it's our responsibility the great commission is for us
and obviously someone's going to come up and say but what are we among so many though
you know our church is so small or whatever you know there's so little amount of soul winners
what are we among so many well if we just put in the effort and put ourselves in God's hands
you know he can multiply the effort and get a lot of people saved still
and you know my wife reminded me of an example you know I think of my father-in-law for example
my father-in-law got saved when he was a hippie he was like a long-haired hippie
and someone a soul winner knocked on his door and got him saved when he was when he was young
he was like I don't remember if he was like a teenager or like he was in his 20s or something
but he doesn't remember his name I don't know who that guy is he's just like a Philip who's just like whisked away
Philip the evangelist he just got him saved and then he just kind of disappeared
I'm not saying he's like an angel or something like that I'm just saying like he didn't get any information on him
but you know what thereafter my father-in-law was used to reach thousands and thousands and thousands of people
even before he started the church because he had a burden for the Cambodian community
and got he got a lot of Cambodian saved in Chicago and then later on in Long Beach
and then of course he ended up starting the church there and through those efforts
raised soul winners there the church ended up growing to like a thousand three hundred
and people were soul winning every single week getting a lot of people saved
all because of that one little loaf that one little fish and that guy probably doesn't even know
who knows if he's still even alive we don't know it was just some guy who said you know what
I mean I got five loaves and two fishes here I'm gonna go and the guy was like by himself
he was out knocking doors by himself preaching the gospel he ended up getting my father-in-law saved
who ended up becoming a pastor a fundamental Baptist pastor making a major difference
in the lives of many hundreds and thousands of people okay and of course you know he ended up discipling me
and then you know I got I got saved he discipled me thereafter and you know through the efforts of our church here
we've gotten a lot of people saved so you just never know the impact those five loaves and those two fishes can make
so never minimize oh yeah but we're such a small church oh ye of little faith
oh ye of little faith we should never have that kind of talk in our church amen
we're just like yeah but who am I yeah you're a fish and you're a loaf okay
now go feed someone because God can multiply that in a great way now I will say this is that
you know in order for the multitudes to be saved you needed that lad but you also needed the disciples to disperse the meal
okay because it was given to the Jesus didn't go out and give it to everyone he gave it to the disciples to give to everyone
right and the disciples in faith had to like disperse the food and basically believe that there was enough in that basket
to give to their little section there one like manner you know we're not Calvinists here folks
you know the gospel has power but it's powerless without us because we're the instruments that God uses to get people saved
okay so it requires for us to go out there and preach the gospel and disperse that spiritual meal to those you know
who are close and abroad in order to get them saved it requires us we are the ones that get people saved we save people
so he says bring them hither commanded the multitude to sit down in the grass and took the five loaves and two fishes verse 19
and looking up to heaven he blessed them breaking gave the loaves to his disciples and disciples to the multitude
and they did all eat and were filled and they took up of the fragments that remained 12 baskets full
and they that had eaten were about 5,000 men beside women and children what a great story
you know it kind of shows you that at the end of the day it really doesn't matter how much you have how many talents you possess
how many gifts you possess how much money you have how many possessions you have what you have how many are in your church
at the end of the day God just expects for you to give whatever you have and he can multiply that greatly
it's basically what God told Moses what is in thine hand right just use the staff in your hand and God can supernaturally do something great with that
and you know what that's been my philosophy I mean I think of the lady who reached me for example you know the lady who invited me to church
she didn't give me the gospel but she was instrumental in inviting me to church I was her supervisor at this company
and you know she overheard me talking about the fact that I was looking for a church and I didn't know how to articulate what it is that I was looking for
I was looking for salvation and she came and she gave me an invitation and said you should come to my church I go to a Baptist church
and she was a white lady she was a blonde white lady and I thought to myself what is a blonde white lady doing at a Baptist church
because in my mind I thought Baptists were only black people I never heard of like fundamental Baptists
you know I always thought Baptist churches were for the ha you know that kind of church you know what's the phrase I used to say
something about to happen those types of churches that's what I thought you know but those are the missionary Baptist churches
and she was just like oh yeah I'm a Baptist she's like my pastor is Italian I was like an Italian Baptist pastor this is weird
and referring to my father-in-law I was like oh I gotta see this you know and of course I ended up going there and getting saved
and here I am 16 years later just completing 16 years this month of being saved and you know still soul winning still preaching the word of God
and you know I believe more zealous today than I was when I first got saved but thank God that that woman stepped out
and you know gave of her little five loaves and two fishes and I'm sure she's gonna be greatly rewarded for that in heaven
she doesn't know any of you she doesn't know all the works that have been done but she will one day when she gets to heaven
and so don't you know underestimate your efforts in the ministry you don't know what type of impact you're gonna make in someone's life
and you may think to yourself well I can't go as soul winning as much as possible or as much as I would like to
yeah but you know you can teach your kids though you can raise your kids for the Lord you can teach them the gospel
you can teach them the word of God and you just don't know what kind of impact your kids are gonna make in this world as well
you know the Bible talks about our children being like arrows in the hand of a man who has a bow and arrow
you know they go further than we do when you launch an arrow they basically go a lot further than what we can go
and moms you have the privilege and the responsibility and the potential to raise these mighty arrows for the Lord
that can go a lot further than you or your husband or your family has gone
and so it's important for us to think that way and not just underestimate the five loaves and the two fishes
and think well you know it's not that much I can feed a couple people with this or whatever
no you can feed a lot you can do a lot of things
and you know what our church has only been here been around for six years
we're about to celebrate our sixth year anniversary in September going into our seventh year
and our church has been able to do a lot of great works get a lot of people saved
but we're only scratching the surface
and you know I believe in my heart that this church is gonna continue to grow even numerically in the years to come
and so if you like the small church feel you know enjoy it for now because I think it's gonna continue to grow
some people are like well I like the cozy church feel everyone knows each other and everything
good I'm glad you like it but you know it's not always gonna be that way
and don't be the party pooper who says you know oh man this church is growing too much
you know it's not as intimate or something you know as we used to be or something
you know what we need to have the bigger picture in mind and recognize there's a multitude to feed
and you know what I've learned is that whenever a Christian feels that way
it's because they're not involved as they need to be
they're not necessarily investing in other people because when you invest in other people by sowing by discipling
you see the value in growth you realize how important that is
and so great story here and you know what's interesting last thing I'm gonna say about this
what's interesting is that this you know this shows us how fickle the disciples are
and the disciples is just like well I would be a lot different if I was with Jesus you know
wouldn't you be just like them because the disciples are just like us
so how do you know they literally saw the miracle the feeding of the 5,000
Jesus literally corrects them on the issue the next chapter it happens again
and they're like how are we gonna feed all these people it's like dude you're joking right
you're being sarcastic right it's like were you paying attention
it's like it's like this it's like sometimes I'll preach a sermon
the very next week someone will literally ask me about that subject that I just preached on
and then just say you ever think about preaching on this I'm just like you're joking right
how many know what I'm talking about some of you have been present when something like that has happened
it's just like you're joking right you know I literally just got finished talking about that
well it's just like chapter 15 comes around and it happens again
now the difference is instead of 5,000 it's 4,000 but still a great miracle
but you still have the disciples who are just like how are we gonna do this
it's like did you pay attention in class did you not see you ate the you took the basket home
Jesus gave you one of the baskets you helped pass everything out
what do you think we're like limited to one miracle like there's no rollover miracles or something or what
like what's how do you not believe how do you ask that again
but you know what that's how Christians are sometimes
and so you know they soon forget the great works that God had accomplished in their life
even if it's like a recent miracle that God provided in your life
it's just like you know God provides a supernatural miracle in your life
there's something great and a couple months down the road you're just like faithless again
it's like what am I gonna do it's just like don't you remember what God did for you like
like last week like earlier this year but you know what if we're not walking in the spirit
if we're not reading the Word of God if we're not constantly adding to our faith virtue
to virtue knowledge if we're not constantly growing we forget
this is why I'm always preaching on the same things because it's important to stir up your pure minds
by way of remembrance all right let's move on here look at verse 22
in a straight way Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship
and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away
and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray
and when the evening was come he was there alone
but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary
so I really like this because of the fact that even though Jesus Christ is God
he still understood the necessity of prayer you know great work was accomplished
the fish and the loaves were multiplied the 5,000 was fed but even after that
he got alone with the Lord to pray and you know never forget the importance
of just spending time with the Lord alone praying unto the Lord
worshipping him on your own time praying to God petitioning and you know
having that fellowship with the Lord in prayer
it says in verse 24 but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves
for the wind was contrary and the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them
walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea
they were troubled saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear
but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is I be not afraid
and Peter answered him and said Lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water
and he said come now we people get on Peter a lot myself included
this guy's always putting his foot in his mouth but let's just be honest though
there's only two people in history that have ever walked on the water
and Peter was one of them nobody else has ever done such a thing
Jesus Christ and Peter yeah okay he sank
but none of us have been able to take even one step in the water without sinking
he at least took a couple steps and he sank which is one question I want to
bring up to him like how did it feel walking on water or something he might
be like it's like walking on a waterbed or something I don't know you know
that's the way I would imagine it or something but you know that's pretty
awesome if you think about it even though he's saying and he put his foot
in his mouth many times and you know I'm gonna get on him just a little bit in
the next couple minutes at the end of the day he was the only one who came up
with this bright idea like well let me come on to you let me let me go to you
let me walk on the water and I love that because of the fact that you know that
kind of shows the fact that you know as Christians sometimes we just need to
step out in faith and just do or attempt what generally is considered impossible
to do right so Peter here is teaching us to just step out in faith and to
attempt something that in general most Christians would think is impossible to
accomplish because with God nothing is impossible okay all right now let's get
on Peter for a little bit verse 29 says and he said come and when Peter was come
down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus but when he saw the
wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried saying Lord
save me immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said
unto him O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt now when I think
of the story I feel like this particular story with Peter regarding the water him
walking on the water and the winds being boisterous is very similar to his
spiritual life you say why is that well you know the Bible talks about being
tossed through and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine right and the
Bible also talks about asking in faith nothing wavering for he that waver it is
like the wind is like the waves tossed of the sea it says a double minded man
is unstable in all his ways let not that man think that he shall receive anything
of the Lord and this is very much similar to Peter's life because he's
always like tossed to and fro and carried about between two opinions right
because in one instance he's like gun hole for God and then another instance
he's sinking you think of the other disciples like man I wish I had the guts
like Peter to just step out of the boat but then you know Peter's like you know
bid me come and then he goes on he sinks later on we see he's like I'm gonna go
with you to death and then he like denies the Lord he's like tossed to and
fro I think Peter lacked resolve very zealous very excited about the things of
God but one specific factor that he lacked was resolved okay what does that
mean you know the determination to just stick with the decision right because he
steps out of the boat and he's walking after he took a couple steps you should
have been like you know what I don't even know what's the problem here I'm
just gonna run or you know sprint or something like that but then the the
the surrounding circumstances caused him to doubt and then he went back on his
faith basically right and this is basically how he lived up until after
the crucifixion of Christ and the end in his resurrection he was kind of just
going back and forth and this is one of the greatest weaknesses of Christians
sometimes is they go back and forth between a decision okay and I'm
referring to spiritual decisions sometimes people have this resolve and
say you know what I'm gonna be faithful to church I'm gonna be faithful to my
Bible reading I'm gonna be faithful to sowing I'm gonna be faithful to these
things but then they're so adamant and zealous about that decision but they're
not they don't have that resolve that determination to just stick it out and
what happens they sink you know Peter's just like I'll die with you and then
he's just like I know not the man I mean like the exact opposite the extreme
opposite he's like cursing people he's like I don't know the man he's warming
himself by the fire he's going fishing I mean the exact opposite of what he
claimed he was gonna do why cuz he lacks resolve there's nothing wrong with being
zealous for the things of God but let me say this you know you need to count the
cost though and see if you have sufficient to finish before opening your
mouth amen and verbally either to yourself or to others proclaiming your
resolve you know make sure it is a resolve that you know what I'm gonna
stick this I'm gonna stick this out until the very end and you know
throughout my Christian life as a leader and even as a pastor I met many people
who are zealous for the things of God and they and what I've learned from
experience and from the experience of other pastors is that typically those
who are very open about you know their their determination to to to serve the
Lord to be faithful often they're the ones who end up falling by the wayside
the fastest it's often those who are just very quiet about serving the Lord
and just kind of week by week taking it at going at their own pace just learning
these are the ones who often stick around for the long haul I've learned
that those who are just like our big mouths about serving God are typically
the ones who fall out the fastest because they don't really have that
resolve and so you know it's important for us as Christians to have the
determination to serve God and go at your own pace don't bite off more than
you can chew and don't make any crazy oaths like I'm gonna till death and then
all of a sudden you're like denying the Lord you're just like you know the next
week you're at a bar or something like that the next week you're just not even
in church like I'm gonna be in church every single summer be there I've had a
lot of people tell me that on social media I'm gonna be there I'm gonna be
faithful and then I love new happy preachers where they have maybe he
maybe there's another first works sites are not even there it's often the ones
who just don't really say much and they just come they're the ones who end up
sticking it out to the very end you know don't be like Peter where you just toss
to and fro that the the ocean or the the the waves kind of resemble the spiritual
life okay and you know they're they're just gun hole about Bible reading and
then they they you know they read their Bible for an entire week straight 10
chapters a day 20 chapters a day and then like for three months straight they
don't read their Bible at all right it's like I'm determined to read the Bible in
one month you know and they bite off more than they can chew and then they
get discouraged and then they don't even it's just like their Bible sitting on
because they don't read it because they haven't read in months because they just
bit off more than they can chew okay go at your own pace practice resolve in
your Christian life practice stability you know Bible says unstable as water
thou shalt not excel okay practice stability practice determination practice
you know counting the costs just being faithful little by little soul winning
to the church services to your Bible reading to the spiritual disciplines
lest you should sink and let me say this if you're in here and you're just like
wow yeah that's kind of I'm like Peter I sink okay then you know say Lord save me
then you're like help me out of this situation help me out of the water help
me get back on my feet again to try again okay he says in verse 32 when the
they were come into the ship that when cease then they that were in the ship
came and worshiped him saying of a truth art the Son of God and when they were
gone over they came into the land of Guinness arete when the men of that
place had knowledge of him they sent out and to all the country round about and
brought it to him all that were diseased and besought him that they might only
touch the hem of his garment and as many as touch were made perfectly whole so
the ministry continues here and this kind of shows us the example of Jesus
Christ that you know even if you're not working full time for a church you know
the Christian the ministry for a Christian never stops always something
else to do each and every week new issues arise more people need help and
this is essentially the Christian life here and that's pretty much it let's
pray father we thank you so much for chapter 14 so many great principles
there Lord help us not to forget that yay all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution and may we have the resolve of John the Baptist
obviously it's a contrast between Peter at that time and John the Baptist John
the Baptist was resolved he knew what he was getting into and he determined to do
so and obviously did not go back on what he preached he stayed faithful even
unto death whereas Peter there was instances where his faith waned and he
got out of the will of God for a little bit I pray that you'd help us to be like
John the Baptist Lord and of course help us to remember that what little we have
can be multiplied in your hands help us to always remember that that you can
multiply our efforts multiplying our church members multiply our resources
and help us never to underestimate what can be done with the five loaves and the
two fishes that we possess in Jesus name we pray amen
one last song song number 13 must Jesus bear the cross alone
song 13 must Jesus bear the cross alone everyone all together nice and strong
song 13 must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free
the angels from the stars come down and bear my soul away