Help us to be attentive and apply that which we hear to our lives, Lord,
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 343, Revive Us Again.
Everyone all together, nice and strong.
We praise thee, O God, for the Son of thy love,
for Jesus, who died and is now gone above.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again.
We praise thee, O God, for thy Spirit of light,
who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again.
All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,
who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again.
Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love.
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again.
All right, great singing. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song,
which will be 365, Break Thou the Bread of Life.
365, if you want to get that ready in your songbooks.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand,
and one of the ushers can get one for you.
Important information on there.
Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m.,
and then our Thursday night Bible study, of course, is at 7 o'clock.
We are currently going through the book of Matthew,
so good to have you here tonight.
We are a family integrated church,
and so infants and children are always welcome in the service for your convenience.
We do have a mother-baby room located in the back of the building,
should your child need some diversion.
And dads, if you're on, you know, I want to say diaper duty,
but maybe that is appropriate. Diaper duty.
There is a restroom right here by the kitchen where you can use to change diapers.
And if you need to take out your child during the service,
then you can utilize the foyer.
There's a speaker and screen there available as well.
And so just keep that in mind.
You see there the sowing times and teams and the list of expecting mothers,
the important reminders.
I won't go over those tonight.
Some of the upcoming church events.
We have the Hold Fast Sowing marathon this Saturday, August 12th,
meeting at the building, this building at 5 a.m.
So if you want to go up there, you can see Brother Glenn for more details about that.
But he's going to be taking the church van up there meeting here at 5 a.m. though.
So just make sure you coordinate with him.
And the goal, of course, is to be there approximately by 10 o'clock,
which is when Pastor Thompson is going to be preaching.
And then we'll dismiss for sowing thereafter.
Of course, they're celebrating their anniversary.
So hope to see you there.
And then the Ladies Prayer Breakfast is on Saturday, August 12th,
meeting at the building at 10 a.m.
If you have any questions about that, you can see Miss Janelle Gonzalez for more details.
She heads that up.
The TJ Soul Winning is on Monday, September 11th.
We had a fantastic time.
On Monday, we went to TJ, Brother Ulysses and I, Brother Ruben and Brother Connor.
When Ulysses almost didn't make it back.
No, I'm just kidding.
No, he was fine.
But I will say this, though.
If you're planning to come, which I encourage you to come,
we got 18 people saved on Monday.
And that was in a matter of about three hours or so.
And so the people were very receptive.
We went to a park called Friendship Park.
And all we did was just go around and talk to just random people there at the park.
There's a lot of people.
And they're very receptive.
And so if you want to participate in that, you can come.
But we only want Spanish speakers to come just to kind of get more work done.
And then also you need a passport.
And so the next time we're going to be going is September 11th.
And then we'll probably go every other month after that.
But we're planning to also hold a summoning marathon there in the coming months.
But the next time we go is September 11th.
So we want to encourage you to be there for that.
If you have any questions, you can see Brother Ulysses for that.
And then Sunday, September 17th is our six-year anniversary.
And we'll give you more details on what we're going to do for that particular service.
But we're looking forward to completing our sixth year going into our seventh.
You see there at the bottom, no food or drink allowed in a main auditorium except for water
and coffee.
Please make sure you're not loitering in the fellowship hall or in the foyer during the
preaching service unless you're out there with your children, dads.
And then please silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during the service.
Go ahead and pull out your prayer sheet there.
We're going to go over that just briefly.
And then Brother Cody is going to come up and pray over the needs.
Of course, you see the needs corporately there.
Pray for our sowning, of course, for TJ that we get more people saved there.
But in particular, if you could pray for November when we go out to Belize once again, we're
planning to have a preaching service in Belize.
And we've been keeping in contact with the converts that we've won over the last year
or so.
And so many of them have committed to come to the first the preaching service.
I want to say the first church service, but I don't want to say that because we don't
it might just be first works people who go.
I don't know, but a lot of people have committed to come.
And so if all goes well, we'll see what the Lord does and see if we find an open door
there.
Pray for that.
And then as far as the church families are concerned, if you can please keep continue
to keep Miss Olivia in prayer and the baby, the baby, she did perform a C-section on her
and the baby is two pounds.
Everything else is fine.
And they say the baby is still healthy, but obviously it's cause for concern if the baby
is two pounds.
So if you could just please pray for the baby and Miss Olivia, uh, that she would have a
safe recovery.
And of course the baby would, um, gain weight and there'd be no other complications from
here on out.
Please keep her in prayer.
And if you have any additional prayer requests you'd like to be mentioned or placed on the
bulletin, you can put that at the bottom there and tear that off, put into the offering plate
and we'll make sure that it gets on there for the following week.
All right.
And that is it.
Brother Cody, why don't you come on up and pray over these needs.
Let's bow our heads in word of prayer.
Dear Lord God, we first thank you for our salvation Lord.
And it's just thank you for making it just a free gift Lord and that it's so simple and
easy Lord to just believe on the son Lord.
And so we just thank you for salvation and we just pray that you continue to light a
fire under us Lord that we might go and preach that same gospel into others Lord and just
help us to never forget the first works and just pray for the soul winning efforts of
our church Lord and the, uh, each and individual member of our church Lord that you just continue
to help us to, um, have a love for the lost Lord and to continue to go soul winning as
our church grows Lord.
And that we just pray for the soul winning that's taking place at our church Lord, uh,
the same places we've been going to Lord, but also new, uh, areas and locations we've
been going to Lord to just pray for, uh, uh, TJ Lord that that continues to be a fruitful
area to go, uh, preach the gospel Lord and to soften the hearts of all the areas of the
people of the areas that we go preach to Lord.
And, uh, I also pray for Belize Lord that, uh, uh, when we go Lord that, uh, it's a fruitful
event Lord.
And I just, I just pray for, uh, uh, Belize and the people there who have been, uh, reached
Lord that they, uh, would come and, uh, just, uh, get plugged in Lord.
And I just pray that your, your hand is over that Lord and Belize and Lord, we pray for,
um, our, uh, church family Lord.
I just pray that you strengthen the families in our church Lord, the marriages Lord, and
just help, uh, each and every one of us to, um, uh, forgive one another and to, uh, uh,
just, uh, grow closer together Lord.
And just, uh, each and every member here at church Lord, I just pray that we continue
to be a good brothers and sisters in Christ to each other Lord, and just, uh, be over
our church family Lord.
Lord, I pray for, um, I just pray for the, uh, the health of, uh, uh, brother Jonathan
and Ms. Olivia's baby Lord.
I just pray that you are over them Lord and that you're comforting them right now Lord.
And I just pray that you're over the baby Lord.
And I just pray that you, uh, give the doctors, uh, wisdom Lord.
And I just pray that you are over them and, and, uh, just, uh, comfort them at this time
Lord.
And just pray that everything goes well with that Lord.
And I also pray for brother Sean, Ms. Eva Lord, that, uh, uh, their baby is also with
their, with the complications there.
I just pray that you also have a hand of healing over that Lord and that you, uh, comfort them
at this time Lord.
And Lord, I just pray for, uh, uh, uh, all these general requests that we have Lord,
salvations for, uh, family and friends of our church Lord, and just for general requests
and other requests Lord, you know, uh, everyone's wants and needs Lord.
And I just pray that you could answer those according to your will Lord.
And again, you just pray that you bless this service Lord, uh, feel pastored to be here
with your Holy spirit Lord, as he preaches onto us, uh, bless the music and bless this
whole service, every aspect of it, Lord.
And, uh, just pray, uh, uh, uh, that you, uh, keep us safe on our way back home.
Lord, we pray this all in Jesus name.
Amen.
Song number 365, break thou the bread of life.
Song 365, break thou the bread of life.
Everyone all together, nice and strong on that first verse.
Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord to me,
as thou didst break the loaves beside the sea.
Beyond the sacred page, I seek thee Lord, my spirit pants for thee o living word.
Bless thou the truth dear Lord, to me, to me,
as thou didst bless the bread by Galilee.
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall,
and I shall find my peace, my all in all.
Thou art the bread of life, O Lord to me.
Thy holy word, the truth that savith me,
give me to eat and live with thee above.
Teach me to love thy truth for thou art.
Love, O send thy spirit Lord, now unto me,
that he may touch my eyes and make me see.
Show me the truth concealed within thy word,
and in thy book revealed I see the Lord.
Amen. This time the ushers will collect the offering.
Tonight will be in Matthew chapter 16.
Thank you.
Good evening. We're in the book of Matthew chapter 16.
And the Bible reads, the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came and tempting
desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven.
He answered and said unto them, when it is evening he say it will be fair weather
for the sky is red, and in the morning it will be foul
weather today for the sky is red and lowering.
O ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, but can you not discern the
signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of
the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed, and when
his disciples were come to the other side they had forgotten to
take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves
saying, it is because we have taken no bread,
which when Jesus perceived he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason
you among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
Do you not yet understand neither remember the five loaves of the five
thousand, and how many baskets he took up, neither
the seven loaves of the four thousand, how many baskets he took up?
How is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning
bread, that you should beware the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
They understood they how that he bade them not to beware of the leaven of
bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
When Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say
that I the Son of Man am? And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some
Elias and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in
heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged to his disciples that they
should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
That time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go on to
Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the
third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke
him saying, be it far from thee Lord, this shall not
be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter,
get thee behind me Satan thou art on a fence unto me,
for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that
be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me, for whosoever will save his life shall
lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul? But the son of man shall come in the
glory of his father and with his angels, and then he shall reward every man
according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some
standing here which shall not taste of death,
till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Let's pray.
We thank you heavenly father for the King James Bible dear God and everywhere
therein and we thank you for this wonderful church you have given us your
God and every precious soul in it and we
thank you for our pastor dear Lord and we ask that you please bless him with
your Holy Spirit this evening as he preaches your word onto us in
Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay we're in Matthew chapter 16
and I'm going to go over chapter 16 in just a bit but let me just cover a
little bit of the latter end of Matthew chapter 15. On
Sunday night I preached through the first half of
Matthew 15 but I didn't cover the second half of it and I'm only going
to go over one particular story in Matthew chapter 15 because
the feeding of the 4,000 is almost identical to what we saw in Matthew
chapter 14 which is the feeding of the 5,000 and so the principles are
basically the same I'm not going to rehash
uh that particular story but look at verse 21 of chapter 15 and then we'll go
into chapter 16 in just a bit it says in verse 21 then Jesus went
thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon
and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast
and cried into him saying have mercy on me O Lord thou son of David
my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil but he answered her not a word
and his disciples came and besought him saying send her away for she crieth
after us but he answered and said I am not sent
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel
then came she and worshipped him saying Lord help me
but he answered and said it is not me to take the children's bread
and cast it to the dogs and she said truth Lord
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table
then Jesus answered and said unto her woman O woman great is thy faith
be it unto thee even as thou wilt and her daughter was made whole from that
very hour so let me just briefly explain this particular story here
and one thing that I want to talk about is the fact that
many claim or believe that Jesus is literally calling this woman a dog and a
lot of people have kind of problems with this they're just
like man he's so rough why is he calling her a dog you know and
let me just give you some explanations as to why or what why I believe
this is being stated here now one of the answers that people typically give
and one of the answers that I thought in times
past was the fact that the reason he's kind
of referring to her as a dog is because Israel in general had a
prejudice against those who were outside of the nation of Israel
okay you know they viewed other nations that were not of Israel
as being unclean and it's one of those things where
they kind of took a doctrine a little too far because in the old testament
obviously we see this principles that God's people should never really you
know they shouldn't be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers and so God would command his people
not to marry those of four nations not because of their ethnicity
but rather because of their beliefs right you know if they married a heathen
or a pagan who worshipped a false god that can turn their heart away from the
Lord and then they would worship false gods
and then of course God would have to chastise them thereafter
but here's the thing is that God didn't care what their ethnicity was as long as
they were worshipping the true God because there are many within Israel in
the old testament who were not born of Israel but became
Israelites they partook of that covenant you know
because of the fact that they believed in the Lord even if they weren't
necessarily Israelites ethnically okay so it's not
like you know God had something against the ethnicities of this world per se but
rather what they believed in the fact that they worshipped false gods
and even here you know in the new testament
Jews kind of took that and kind of ran with it to an extreme case where it's
just like they didn't really matter if they're
worshipping the true God it's like well they're of a different nation therefore
we're against them and they're unclean and a good example of this is here in
this particular case where you have a Canaanite a Syrophoenician by nation
the bible says and the disciples are like to utter go
away you know they're just kind of to have that attitude
and even a little even in the book of acts for example some of these apostles
were still having problems with that because if you remember the
apostle peter in act chapter 10 he had this trance that he went into and
the Lord basically gave him a vision of a great
sheet and then at the four corners with all types of unclean animals right
and you know the sheet you know goes down it's it's it's like you know
Lucille's right it's just there's all these
delicious beasts right that are coming down on a sheet and
you know they come down on the sheet and then the Lord tells peter
why is killing eat
i would have just been like where's the where's the barbecue sauce you know just
say less you know but you know and what peter responds with is not so Lord
because nothing common or unclean hath entered into my mouth i might be
getting that verse a little wrong but he's basically saying like i can't eat
this because it's unclean and the vision had to repeat itself a
couple times until peter realized that the reason god was giving him this
vision is because he was viewing the surrounding nations
the people of these nations as unclean the way he would view these animals
okay and then ultimately the reason he's really giving him this vision is because
he would have to go and preach the gospel to cornelius
who was not of israel okay and of course the Lord responds by saying
you know what god hath cleansed that call not thou common or unclean
now what is he saying when he says cleanse it basically means who the Lord
hath bought with his own blood don't call common or unclean that
doesn't mean that you know everyone is saved because jesus christ
died for everyone when he says cleanse he's just referring to the fact that
jesus died for the sins of the whole world
okay so people can be saved you understand these these surrounding
nations and so you could obviously see that this
is a mindset that jews had and israelites had where it didn't really
matter what they believed or that they were looking for the truth
because cornelius was looking for the truth
you know he feared god he was making doing alms before
the Lord but he wasn't saved you know it's obviously they had some
sort of prejudice against their surrounding nations
so people often say well this is the reason why jesus is calling
her dog you know because you know jews in general had this view
regarding other nations but i don't really believe that because of the fact
that i don't think jesus cared about that
okay so how do you know well because he had
one of the one of the apostles was a Canaanite you know he wasn't of
israel so obviously he didn't care about those things he cared more about
what the person believed but not only that think about this
if he's calling her a dog then he's basically contradicting himself in
matthew chapter 7 when he says give not that which is holy unto the dogs
right and so you know he's not contradicting himself
this is obviously a special case and i'm explaining to you what this
particularly means here and by the way you know he's going into
the coast of tyre and sidon which obviously the vast majority of
the occupants in that region are not necessarily israelites which is why you
have this syro-phoenician woman who's uh of
Canaan approaching him during that time right
so i don't think the lord cares who it is as long as they believe in the lord
doesn't matter what ethnicity they're there
they are obviously he's going to receive them
if they're looking for the truth right and there's many examples of people who
were not of israel who you know wanted to know the truth the centurion being
one of them who came to the lord and in fact jesus said of that centurion
that he had more faith he didn't find faith so great faith no
not in israel he said so this guy had more faith
than most of the israelites of that time even though he wasn't of israel
okay so what is he referring to here well let's look at the story
he says you know of course she comes to him and her daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil she's possessed with the devil
and she approaches him asking for help and he just doesn't answer her okay the
bible says there in verse 23 that he doesn't answer her word he just
basically ignores her and then his disciples come and they're
just like telling her go away you know she's like
she's like annoying us because she's crying after us
and verse 24 he responds by saying i am not sent
but unto the lost sheep of the house of israel
now this doesn't mean that he wasn't sent for anybody else
right you know because obviously there's people out there that have that
belief that jesus was only sent to the lost sheep of
the house of israel and that the gentiles are just like a
plan b okay but obviously that's not the case because
earlier in the book of matthew we see that he tells the disciples
go not into the way of the gentiles and into the way of the samaritans enter ye
not but go into the rather into the lost
sheep of the house of israel but then he said you know obviously eventually
they're going to make their way into these gentile nations
so what we see in the gospels is the fact that
the gospel obviously was to go to the israelites first
to the jew first and then also to the greek right basically the the tactic
there is to work their way out gospel goes to the israelites first
unto them were committed to the oracles of god and then they essentially move
their way out which is why he ends up giving the
great commission in matthew 28 to teach all nations he says in mark 16
to preach the gospel to every creature and then in acts 1a he says go to
jerusalem judaea samaria and then the uttermost parts of the
earth okay so what he's saying here is basically i
believe what he's referring to here is just priority
okay he's going first to the lost sheep of the house of israel
i think what the reason he's saying this is twofold one he's teaching priority
but two he's going to test her faith that's really what he's doing here is
testing the faith of this woman verse 25 says then came she and
worshipped him saying lord help me but he answered and said it is
not me to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs now i don't
think he's literally referring to as a dog
he's kind of comparing her to a dog metaphorically
to convey priority right it's just like kids eat first
and then the dogs and basically saying the gospel goes to the israelites first
and then everyone thereafter and he she has a great answer to that
says in verse 27 she said truth lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from their master's table basically saying well if that's the case
i still want some of the crumbs now what does this show on her behalf it shows
that she's practicing importunity which is an
important doctrine in the bible what is
importunity it's persistence in prayer right it's coming to the lord being
persistent even when it seems as though the lord's
insulting you or something using this metaphor she's just like if
that's the metaphor you want to use that's fine i still need the crumbs
and this is a great concept here that many christians need to learn
in prayer is how to be persistent and the reason i say this because sometimes
christians just give up on prayer and the reason they give up is because
they don't get the answer on their timeline you understand when
they want it you know because we always give god a
deadline when we pray right it's just like lord i need this at this time
and if you don't give it on this day at this time then i'm just gonna stop
praying for it but really what we should do is just
keep asking until those doors close you understand and there's many examples
of this where in the book of luke particularly
when it talks about being importuned be importuned about something that you're
praying that it's according to god's will
you need to make sure that you're persistent in prayer and you know
be the type of person that you know the bible says men are always to pray
and not to faint what does that mean not to faint means don't just give up on
prayer well it didn't happen so i'm just gonna
assume god doesn't want it well for me it's just like until it's
like abundantly clear that this door is completely closed why
not just keep praying for it right you know some of you might have a
family member who at this moment is close to the gospel
maybe you just need to keep praying for them okay and i'm all for giving them
the gospel but you and i both know that sometimes it's hard to give our
family the gospel because you know they changed our diaper
or whatever it may be you know and sometimes we just need to get them to
church so that someone else can preach the gospel to them
but maybe they're just even close to that well just pray that god gives them
a a soft and you know a tender heart right
and you're like yeah but you don't know my family member okay then go ahead stop
praying then stop being importuned in prayer
but i still believe that it's important to be persistent in prayer
for a specific need if you're praying according to god's will and you know
sometimes it takes decades for certain prayers to be answered
right and so this is a great example here of a woman
who obviously knows about the lord and is coming to him and even though when
he's not answering a word because isn't it doesn't prayer feel
like that sometimes it's like you pray and you don't get the answer you don't
get the word you want and what did she do this she'd be like
all right forget it he's not listening you know back to back home dealing with
my possessed daughter or whatever no she just kept she just kept at it
and in fact the second thing she does is worships the lord so she asks
doesn't answer her and then she just worships god
she's worshiping and then he and then he gives her an answer that kind of seems
like it's not in her favor
you know when the circumstances change and they don't seem to be in your favor
what do you do well you don't give up
says there in verse 25 lord help me basically i know the circumstances are
not in my favor but lord help me right and
then he he hits her with like the dog metaphor there
at which point she still humbles herself and just says well i still need the
crumbs from the master's table and then of course he honors her by
saying in verse 28 oh woman great is thy faith
be it unto thee even as thou would i'm sure she's glad that she just persisted
in asking right you know a lot of people don't grow in
their faith because of the fact that they don't persist in prayer
if you persist persist in prayer and you get the answer to your prayer in the
coming years that increases your faith and it helps
you to realize you know what i can't i can't just give up on prayer just
because it doesn't come at the moment that i wanted it to right
we can't expect god to operate like a drive-through
like uh you know uh like a starbucks mobile app or something where you just
expect it to have it right as soon as you come
you know as we can't expect godford to operate like a microwave
it's like everything is beautiful in his time and
what god requires of us is just to be persistent and keep praying
until those doors close or until one opens that you have faith that you know
this is what god wants to do it okay so a great great story there let's
go to chapter 16 now
i'm not going to go over the feeding of the 4000 because it's essentially the
same principles that we talked about with the feeding of the 5000
the difference being one was five one was four
and so it's pretty much the same principles there look at chapter 16 in
verse one it says the pharisees also with the sadducees came
and tempting desiring him that he would show them a sign from heaven
and he answered and say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the
morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and lowering
oh you hypocrites you can discern the face of the sky but you cannot discern
the signs of the times now what's going on here
well the pharisees and the sadducees are doing what they do best which is being
sensual right fleshly sensual devilish
it's not enough for them that jesus christ is there in the flesh
they want another sign apart from that and it's very similar to what we see in
first corinthian chapter one that the bible talks about
you know that the jews require a sign and the and the the greek seek after
wisdom and of course jesus christ the preaching
of the cross to the jews is a stumbling block right
so even if jesus christ is right there the word of god made flesh they're not
going to believe it unless they see a sign and jesus doesn't give
them a sign he's not like catering to the jews
saying all right well pick and choose what would you like you know
you want me to move the degrees of the sundial back or forward
you want to do with giddy he doesn't give him a sign he says the only sign
you're going to get is the sign of the prophet jonas and he doesn't even expound
what that is because obviously he's talking to the
pharisees and sadducees they should know what that is since they
are masters of law right but he gives them this little uh rebuke
here and he basically says you know when the
when the when the sky is fair weather or it's it's red it's
just like okay you know it's it's not going to rain
no storms are coming however when when it's
foul or excuse me when it's red and lowering lowering could be basically
mean like overcast you basically know that it's going to
be foul weather it's probably going to rain there's going to be a storm
and he's saying you can discern what type of weather is going to spring up
based upon the face of the sky he goes but you can't seem to discern
the signs of the times what is he saying you know how to discern the weather
but you can't even tell salvation based upon the face that you're looking at
which is jesus you don't even know what salvation is
and it's standing right in front of you you can discern the face of the sky but
you can't discern the face of god which is jesus christ is basically what
he's saying right and why is that well because they're
blind they're not saved they've already rejected the truth
okay many of these pharisees were already twice dead plucked up by the
roots you know they don't want the truth they
want to cause they want to crucify the lord they hate
the lord many of these people are you know the the the motive is in verse
one to tempt him right to trip him up to tempt him it's not
because they're looking for the truth they hate the lord now when i think of
this particular passage i think of a lot of people out there in
the world who maybe claim to be christians
online and you know social media that they're really good at discerning
the face of the sky what am i talking about you know they're
really good at discerning all the evils of this world
right like they're really good they can tell you
who was on epstein's island they can give you the entire list
they can tell you about all of the conspiracies and everyone who's behind
it but they can't tell you how to be saved
and look that there's a lot of them out there that are like that obviously
there's people out there that know both okay we're not talking about them we're
talking about the population or the christians out there they could
discern the face of the sky they know all the evils of this world
they can tell you you know all the illegal stuff that
biden is doing they can tell you about everything but
they can't discern how to be saved why because the natural
matter see if not the things of the spirit of god
neither can they know them for they are spiritually discerned right
and it's important for us as christians that
we major on the important things of the bible
and not just frivolous information out there that's causing you to be anxious
and fearful and angry that's important i think that's a major temptation for a
lot of christians today where they just like to dig into all the
evil information of this world because they want justice but you know
it's a fool's errand it's a bottomless pit of information
it's only going to make you more upset right
and we never want to be a church that we can discern the face of the sky of this
world all the news that's going on but you
don't know any bible right you don't know how to preach the
gospel you don't go soul winning you don't read god's word you're not
really involved in the spiritual matters the most
important matters of this world but you definitely are wise unto evil
whereas the bible says be wise concerning good and simple concerning
evil you understand and so you know a lot of
people out there and the reason i say that is because
i am on social media quite a bit because i'm always putting out content
particularly on instagram and i get people like this all the time
they're constantly sending me videos about project blue beam
i'm like what is project blue beam you know they're just sending me videos
about aliens and you know the list on eppstein's i
don't care about those things honestly it doesn't improve me as a christian you
know and they're just like look at all this fraud and
and all these things that are going on with the biden administration is just
like i don't really need videos on that i
know that that guy's crooked i know that guy's the devil i don't
really need to know those things and it's not really improving and then
but these same people will send me videos
like like because they want to bounce it out you know what i mean they'll send me
like biblical videos but it's like esv niv
with like a bunch of false doctrine on there it's just like you can discern the
face of the sky but you can't discern the signs of the
times you can't discern which one's the right bible to use
you can't discern what that what's the right church to go to
you can't even discern the right jesus because they send me things and it's just
like the long hair jesus or whatever chosen looking jesus
and it's just like man you you major on the truths of this world
but the reality is this is the world by wisdom new not god
and so it's important for us to have the wisdom of god
even if it's not esteemed in the eyes of the world
or the truthers of this world who have rejected the truth the true truth
which is jesus christ right
now obviously in my opinion if you major on the bible
and you grow in your discernment you can discern the face of the sky
based upon that as well and here's the thing
we don't need to be i don't i don't even know what they're called meteorologists
what are the what are the weather people called
what's the proper term is that correct all right you don't need to be a
meteorologist i thought those were people who studied meteors or whatever
i can't discern that but you don't need to be a meteorologist to know whether
it's going to rain or not you'll be fooled sometimes i mean we're
in the summer here in southern california
and it's rained like it rained today and yesterday
that's just weird that's just unheard of it's like humid outside you faithful
word people you guys have no idea what we're talking about or maybe
did it rain where you guys were at yeah i mean
we have experience and you just never see that
and some people are just like happy we're like wow we're getting rain in
the summer it's like this is not good for the summer
this creates humidity okay and i didn't need to go to school for that to know
that but you could look at the sky and you
know essentially determine what the weather's
going to be like why because you just have a basic
understanding of it you just common sense right
you see a bunch of clouds and look dark it's like it's probably going to rain
right well you know what if you have if you major on the word of god
you don't have to go out and dig into evil because once you have god's word
you can discern just at a surface level this is wicked
this is bad this is not good you don't need to dig in and get all the details
all the gory details or whatever and and know of all the
iniquity and sin and all the stuff that people are involved in to know that it's
bad you can have simple spiritual biblical
discernment you have your senses exercised to
discern both good and evil and discern the face of the sky of this
world right you know you don't need to go be a part of some
non-denom church to know that it's not a good church
you don't have enough of bible to just look at the outside or just look at a
clip of the pastor you're like oh this church is gay you
know what i mean this guy is not looking like a biblical pastor
in fact you can put them on mute most of these you could just pop
you know turn on the video put the pastor on mute and just automatically
know this is not a good church he's like moving like this or whatever
you know his wrists are flimsy and and you know
he has the tight um polo with uh the the ripped jeans
but he's like balding and he's like 60 you don't need to listen to anything it's
just like my eyes have already has have judged already you know
i be an absent have judged already it's like i don't even listen to this guy i
just got to watch how he his mannerisms and it's a
dead giveaway
you can discern the face of this guy okay who he is based upon that and so
the pharisees were not able to do that because they were a wicked and
adulterous generation who weren't really looking for the truth
they were looking for a sign okay and so let's move on here look at
verse number five it says when the disciples were come
to the other side they had forgotten to take bread
then jesus said unto them take heed and beware of the leaven of the pharisees
and of the sadducees and they reasoned among themselves saying is it because we
have taken no bread now i always chuckle at this verse
because it's just like how do you get that
i mean was there a time when the pharisees and the sadducees gave you
like a bundle of like a basket of bread or something like
that like what would make you think that that's what he's referring to
because he's saying like hey beware of the leaven of the of the of the
pharisees and the sadducees and they're like oh man it's because we've taken no
bread so maybe the pharisees and sadducees
are selling bread don't buy it from them or something like that
it's just like they're lacking discernment
they're being too literal about what jesus is saying
okay and verse eight says which when jesus perceived he said unto them oh ye
of little faith why reason ye among yourselves because
ye have brought no bread now why is he saying this well verse 9
says do you not yet understand neither remember
the five lows and the five thousand and how many baskets you took up and of
course he talks about the seven lows and the four thousand
so he's basically saying you know you're so caught up
in the physical necessities that you're kind of undermining the
spiritual necessities right and this is a temptation for
christians sometimes is that when they're in a time of need
they have a tendency to overemphasize the physical needs
which we're not saying are not important but they kind of they kind of
overemphasize the physical needs and underemphasize
the spiritual needs okay you know you're going through a tough time
maybe you're out of work maybe you're struggling financially
you know and then you just start you know when you when the bills are being
paid it's easy to have faith it's just like
have faith brother you know bills are being paid and
everything's going hunky dory there's no problems and you're
telling everyone to have faith because it's easy to do that it's just
like yeah brother hey just god's on the throne and god will
provide for you and you know when everything's on top
side you know but it's different when you
have to say it when everything's not going the way it goes planned right when
maybe you're struggling a little bit financially
and things aren't going really well at your job
and you're falling behind in your bills maybe you're going into debt a little
bit but here's the thing folks is that even
in that case we still need to emphasize the spiritual
over the physical okay and recognize seek ye first the kingdom of god and his
righteousness and these things shall be added unto
you realize that these are the things that the gentiles seek after
okay and it requires some discipline i'll just be honest with you
that when you're going through a tough time to still place a considerable amount
of emphasis and effort into the spiritual
not just the physical okay because a lot of times a lot of these
physical needs that we have if you're not careful
can pull you away from the spiritual even to the point where you just you
just get out of church people start making excuses of why they
got to pay the bills then they start missing church on sunday
because they got to work overtime or something
start missing church during the midweek service and they start
you know maybe they don't go soul winning as much or they stop reading
i mean it's just like a snowball effect where they begin to make excuses
as to why they need to miss spiritual disciplines
for the physical needs that they have and they're just like well i don't want
to be worse than an infidel you know but but you know to say that is
to imply that god is giving us duties that will conflict you understand
what i'm saying to say that it's the claim that god is
giving us duties the conflict and the duties that god
gives us never conflict it should never conflict
you know you can still provide for your family and still be in church
and in fact i would say it's almost impossible to provide for your family
if you're not in church because of the fact that going to church and taking
care of the spiritual is more important to god and situates
you in a position to be blessed of god
so you're in church you're serving the lord you're putting the righteous things
first you're seeking after righteousness and the righteous one
well then god adds the necessities to your life
he provides those things miraculously you know he supernaturally provides for
you and then what you get your needs provided
and you also get your faith increased as well you understand
but in my experience i've just seen too many christians
they kind of say no you know i need a i need to provide
and so therefore i'm not in church i'm gonna go once a month or something
but once a month turns into once every other month
and then that turns into once every four months and then before you know it
you're not even in church and here's the common excuse
that i hear sometimes well i'm still watching online
right but you know what online is not church though
okay you know uh are you taking up an offering
while you're at home are you is there a reading of the scriptures there
are you uh do you have a chair and a hymnal you know are you fellowshipping
with other brethren or something like that
you know obviously the bible says to forsake not the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is and so you know
that's not enough and i know people alleviate their conscience by thinking
why i just heard good preaching so i'm still good to go
but no part of coming to church is not just the preaching of god's word
we need to exhort one another daily you know you need to partake of the
fellowship not just the preaching but you know get
exhorted by other brethren and you know church kind of levels you
out mentally and spiritually especially if you got some weird ideas
and you're planning to make some bad decisions right
why are you guys laughing is there someone who did recently you know you're
planning to make some bad decisions or something
it's important for you to be in church so that the older brethren
can tell you hey that's a stupid decision you shouldn't do that
because i'm just telling you when people get out of church they make a lot of
stupid decisions fact i've seen this over and over and
over again and it doesn't even take that many
services to miss to start making really stupid decisions
they just revert back to their old ways old ways of thinking
old things of doing and it's just like and then they begin to justify
whether it's sin or just a bad idea and no one's there to correct them on it
so it's important to be in church because when you're in church
you develop key relationships with people that are more spiritually
mature than you are and you know you tell them like hey i'm
planning to like uh move to a state for a job where
there's no church but i can still watch online
and then the older brother can say well that's a stupid idea
why why in the world would you want to do something like that
well they pay really good i can tithe like a lot of money and give to the work
of the lord and i'll still do soul winning
bad idea stupid idea really you think that's a stupid idea
yes it's a really dumb idea you know don't do it and so it's important
for us to be in church because then we'll learn the truth through other
brethren right kind of helps us and then you realize
oh yeah i guess that was a stupid idea actually
i would have destroyed my life if i did something like that
how did i get off from that what what were we talking about here
yeah i know we're talking about church for sure
fellowship oh yeah disciple okay yeah yeah disciples taking things too
literally but why was i even on that oh oh i remember now i remember now what
it was that basically they were emphasizing the physical over the
spiritual you understand and how christians have a
tendency to do that and it again it requires some discipline
that we're going when you're going through a hard time you're still reading
your bible when you're in a state of depression
in a state of anxiety in a state of need and want
you're still waking up every day and you're opening the bible and you're
reading it you're praying you're in fellowship with the lord
i mean that requires a lot of discipline to do that okay
and so jesus is trying to convey a very important truth to the disciples
and all they can think about is like the physical bread what they're actually
going to eat and then he has to remind them like
hey didn't i just provide for five thousand
in one instance and for four thousand in another instance it's like
so that's another thing that we can learn is that when we're in a time of
need in order to kind of lower your anxiety
a little bit you got to remember what god did for you in times past
like well god came through years ago when i had this particular need
he can come through again god did it before he can do it again
it doesn't matter how hopeless my situation is
nothing's impossible with the lord he owns all the cattle he owns the cattle
of thousand hill all the silver and gold he can provide for us therefore i need
to keep reading my bible i need to keep going to church i need to
keep sowing i need to keep leading my family in the ways of the lord
because i know god provided in times past he can provide again
he's multiplied the loaves and the fish in times past he can multiply it again
okay so it's a great truth there look at verse 9 says
or verse 10 sorry verse 11 how is it that you do not understand that i spake
it not to you concerning bread that you
should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees then
understood they how that he bade them not be aware of
the leaven of the bread but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and
of the Sadducees now when i think of this particular
part of this passage i think of the fact that sometimes
people come to church listen to this people come to church maybe they have a
specific hurt or they're going through a specific
trial and they only want to hear sermons about
that right like how to overcome they want every
sermon to be how to overcome depression or something
or like how to fix my marriage and you know those sermons are good
and they're needed but did you know that we also have to talk about doctrine
of just other subjects and topics sometimes we got to talk about how
believing in aliens is stupid
every sermon can't be about how to raise your children
every sermon can't be about how to fix your marriage every sermon can't be
about how to overcome depression i'm not saying
that there's not sermons like that because there has to be
you know because those are needful but folks we got to preach the entire bible
and there's a danger in churches when they only want to when they emphasize
one aspect of the bible and just kind of ignore everything else
it's like they just want you know a church where they emphasize child
rearing they emphasize the family and only
preach on the family or they only emphasize a particular doctrine
we need to be balanced and just preach everything right
now obviously in our church we have you know one time out of the year
aside from other sermons but just one time out of the year where we emphasize
the family it's family nights and we preach on the family and then you
know throughout the year something comes up i'll preach on the
family but in general i have the responsibility to just preach
everything and so i can't just cater to your
hobby horse of a doctrine and just say well can you only preach on reprobates
or just you know some people just only want to hear about it in times
or they only want to be here about reprobates or they only want to hear
about i don't know jews not that that would be
in this particular room you know in our church here there would never be
someone like that only wants to hear about jews
there are people like that here okay let's just be honest okay
but sorry every sermon can't be about exposing the jews
now that's one of my favorite doctrines obviously like replacement theology is
just an awesome doctrine it's one of my favorite
and i can just shoot from the hip and talk all about that for hours on end if
i wanted to but the reality is this is that we got
to talk about matthew 16 i talked about matthew 15 okay
and so he's telling them here like hey i'm talking about beware of the leaven
of the pharisees and of the sadducees this is what's important right here hey
sometimes we have to talk about false prophets
and you know there's certain people in our church especially on a sunday
morning that i'll preach on false prophets or
one of these topics and it just completely goes over their head
they're not really interested in it they're just like
you know what they don't really care for it
but that doesn't mean we can't preach it because we need to talk about all of
these topics and then if we flip that around there's
certain people that when i preach on the family
people in our church just tune out because they're just like well i'm not
married you know i'm i don't have kids or you know this
isn't really applied to me so they're just like eh
but you know what we need to be able to steam all the topics
and all the subjects and all the doctrines because they're all important
and if you're not married or you don't have kids and i'm preaching on the
family then take notes and save it for later
so that in 10 years you're not meeting with me like hey how come you never talk
about this i'm like i did talk about it you just were not interested in the
sermon you know so he's telling them beware of the leaven
of the pharisees and of the sadducees in other words he's like
you need to be careful with their doctrine because obviously they're false
prophets and they're they're trying to infiltrate
and spread their doctrine and so beware of that
look at verse 13 let me get my water here
verse 13 says when jesus came into the coast of cicero philippi
he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that i am
excuse me that i the son of man am they say some say
that thou art john the baptist some elias
and others jeremiah's or one of the prophets
verse 15 he saith unto him but whom say ye that i am and simon peter answered
and said thou art the christ the son of the living god
and jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou simon barjona for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee by my father which is in heaven
and i say also unto thee that thou art peter and upon this rock i will build my
church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it
so let me talk a little bit about this particular passage here
that the catholic church will try to use to teach
that peter was the first pope even though there's no mention of pope here
there's no mention of him being a father or anything of that this is not
the ordination of the apostle peter what is he referring to now i do believe
that when he says upon this rock i will build my church
that he is talking about peter and i think sometimes christians will have a
knee-jerk reaction at that because of the fact that that's a verse
and an interpretation that catholics will use
to prop up their false doctrine that he's the first pope okay
but the reason i believe that it says there that it's stating that
he is that rock upon which he will build his church
it's because of the fact that peter also known as a stone which is what his
his name means i think what jesus is saying here
is thou art peter upon this rock i will build my church
he's saying upon believers i'm going to build my church
because it's all based upon the fact that he says thou art the christ the son
of the living god and then of course he responds whether
with you know flesh and blood does not reveal the sense of thee but my father
which is in heaven i say unto thee thou art peter and upon
this rock i will build my church now that's not a far-fetched idea
because of the fact that when you look at different portions of scripture
especially throughout the new testament you clearly see that christians are
often described as being stones and in fact
go to first peter if you would ironically enough first peter i wonder
where he got this particular passage from
look at first peter chapter two first peter chapter two
it says it will start in verse number one it says wherefore laying aside all
mouths and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that you may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the lord is gracious to
whom coming as unto a lively stone excuse me a living
stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of god and precious
that's referring to jesus and then he says in verse 5 ye also
as lively stones are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god
by jesus christ and so you know christians are referred
to lively stones because of the fact that we
live unto god we're saved we're believers and the spiritual house which
is what a church is supposed to be is made up of
all believers it's not made up of unbelievers
it's not made up of people just of different beliefs
and cultures or excuse me religious cultures
it's made up of christians people who are saved
and when you look for example when john the baptist is preaching is rebuking
the pharisees and the sadducees he says god is able of these stones
to raise up children unto abraham and when you look at galatians we see that
believers are spiritual children of abraham
so i believe what he's saying here is upon this rock i will build my church
he's basically saying upon believers those who confess christ as
being the savior is that which is going to build the
church okay it's made up of call out assembly of
baptized believers is what he's saying there go back to
matthew chapter 15
and so he calls them stones he calls them lively stones
and obviously peter is an apostle that ephesians chapter 2 says like
essentially was like the catalyst of the start of the churches
because he's out there preaching the gospel they're starting churches along
with paul and others but obviously those churches
are made up of believers okay he says the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it now when you think about this you know a lot of these
verses in the old testament really makes sense for example
in leviticus chapter 14 you have some instructions given to the nation of
israel as to what to do when there's leprosy in the house okay
you know the priest was supposed to go inside the house
and assess the house for the leprosy and if the leprosy had spread to the walls
for example they were supposed to take the stone
because it actually uses that term take the stones and then cast them into
an unclean place okay and then it also says then you get a
new stone to replace that old stone that was
covered with leprosy and i think that's a great principle in
the new testament when it comes to churches and church
discipline which is why in ecclesiastes 3 the bible
says there's a time to cast away stones
and a time to gather stones in other words you know in church
according to first corinthians chapter 5 you have you know people who are
involved in sin and they're unrepentant well it's time
to cast away that stone and not say well let's just disciple
them let's work with them folks if someone's committing adultery
in the church right they're committing adultery and
they are unrepentant of it then it's time to give them the boot
this is not a place for them to be and let me say this when when we say
repent we mean like you're not like in that
relationship anymore it's not like yeah i'm really sorry but
then you're continuing in that relationship
i know this is silly but i mean i've heard of churches who do this
or it's just like oh they repented but then they're like still sitting in
church together it's it's it's wild the bible says we're
going to cast that stone away and then you have people to say yeah
but if you do that how are you going to reach people
you're going to chase people away how are you going to reach people i'll tell
you how by putting in a new stone where that
old stone was
people the church folks our church over the last six years we've lost a lot of
people people have come and gone a lot of people
have come and gone whether because of they're kicked out because of sin
they're heretics or they just go somewhere else
they leave on good terms you're like how's the church still growing
because we're still adding new stones to the building
so the goal is to keep the church pure by exercising church discipline
but not just leave it at that we need to go out and reach more people
you know through sowing or when new people come to the church
they get saved we encourage them to bring their friends family members
co-workers and that happens very regularly at our church
where you know families you know there's families in our church that invite
old friends and they come and then they invite their friends
that's how the church works my friends is by replacing the unclean stones
with clean stones okay and so he says there upon this rock i
will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it look at
verse 19 and david actually asked me about this
on sunday because he was hit with this verse out
so when he says in verse 19 and i will give unto thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven now the catholics will say this is proof
that peter was the first pope because he's giving him this
incredible authority to bind things on earth and god's like oh
pope peter said it say less we're binding in heaven as well
and obviously he is talking to peter right because he says thou
he says thee he says thou which is what singular
talking to one specific person which in context is peter
so yes peter does have that ability but not just peter
because go to chapter 18 if you would chapter 18 talking about church
discipline look at verse 17 it says if he shall
neglect to hear them tell it unto the church but if he
shall neglect to hear the church let him be unto thee as a heathen man
and as a publican verse 18 barely i say unto you whatsoever ye
shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever
ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven the same exact thing in
matthew 15 matthew 16 excuse me the difference
being what ye referring to multiple people plural
so it's not just peter he's given this authority to he's given it to peter
because he's a believer he's a safe person but
he's also given it to the individuals in a local church as
noted by the fact that it says ye thee in matthew 16
ye and matthew 18 peter's not the first pope
that's just basically what i mean okay if he's a pope i'm a pope
and so are you except for you women okay i don't know what what the the
antithesis is to pope for a woman but you know
pope that was good go back to matthew 16 then charged he is
disciples in verse 20 then charged he is disciples that they
should tell no man that he was jesus the christ verse 21 from that time
from that time forth began jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go
into jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders
and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day
then peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be afar from the lord
this shall not be unto thee but he turned and said unto peter
get thee behind me satan thou art an offense unto me for thou savourest not
the things that be of god but those that be of men now this is a
very funny passage to me because of the fact that on the first day
on the job he screws it up as pope
like literally like seconds after he's ordained as the pope
he's like rebuking jesus and then seconds after jesus is calling him satan
you know because they have this doctrine of like the infallibility of the pope
where they say like well he's not sinless but everything that he says is
authoritative well really because he's saying that
jesus is not going to die which is contradicting the scriptures
so his first infallible statement that he makes
is that jesus is not going to die it's like dude all
everything in the bible is like about this one moment when jesus christ dies
and he resurrects and that's the first thing he just like
he botches so if peter is their first pope
he sucks because he's already making all kinds of mistakes he's like rebuking
jesus he's saying he's not going to die and
then the lord is just calling him satan i mean like you had one job peter
if he was a pope but obviously peter's not the first pope
and i think i believe that this story clearly shows that okay
and it's so funny because catholics have this tendency to like
teach doctrines that are just obviously contradicted in the bible
like you know you know sometimes newer christians
you know they they hear about these cults and and these
sects of christianity and and some of their beliefs require some study to be
able to answer but it's really good because there's
like a novice level that you can enter in at
and just go after the catholics first because it's such easy money
with that right it's just like here's your entry-level cult that you can go
after it's really simple because a lot of
their stuff they're just clearly contradicts the bible
you know because other other cults they'll pull out verses that you kind of
have to look at and read it in its context to be able to
debunk or refute because they're more sly about it catholics
are just like i feel like catholics just looked at the bible and say
whatever the bible says let's just do the exact opposite
and there's our false religion there's one mediator between god and man they're
just like mary
the mediatrix
it's just like it's so easy to debunk them because it's like they just go for
the clear statements of the bible and just do the exact opposite
so some of you babes in christ you know here's like uh
it's like shooting fish in a barrel you can just go for the catholics because
they're so easy to debunk but anyways i'm going to stop right
there and i'll finish this uh maybe next week when we go over
chapter 17 what is the main thing the takeaways from
chapter 16 well you know don't forget the fact that
obviously from chapter 15 be important in prayer
but also don't major on discerning the face of the sky
of the times and news and the evils of this world
major on discerning the word of god okay don't major on being a babe in christ
but knowing all the evils of this world you know you should major on you know
being a grown adult spiritually speaking that's
not in need of milk but you can handle the strong meat
because you have your senses exercised to discern both good and evil
and then of course recognize that when you go through a difficult time in your
life which is going to happen it's going to happen
this week it's going to happen this month it's going to happen this year
just kind of be like daniel and purpose in your heart you're still going to
emphasize that which is spiritual and realize this is that no trial lasts
forever so if you can just handle that little
season of difficulty as you're reading the bible as you're
praying as you're in church you know you're going to come out
stronger in the long run thereafter and so
we'll stop right there let's pray father we thank you so much for your word we're
so thankful for matthew 16 and all the great doctrines that it
that it gives us lord i pray that you'd help us as your people
to sift through the difficult times that we experience and
none of these last forever and so help us to
just endure through the adversities that we experience lord and still emphasize
the spiritual to major on the spiritual more than on
the physical and i pray you bless us as we go on
already give us a great weekend lord bless the sony on saturday with hold
fast i pray you help us to see a great harvest of souls
may you soften the hearts of those we're going to speak to lord
and may you bless all there is lord we love you so much and we thank you pray
these things in jesus name amen
all right we have one last song song 260
he is able to deliver thee
song 260 he is able to deliver thee
everyone all together nice and strong tis
the grandest thing through the ages wrong
tis the grandest thing for a mortal son seems the grandest thing that the world
there sung our god is able to deliver thee
he is able to deliver thee he is able to deliver thee
though by sin oppressed go to him for rest our god is able to deliver thee
tis the grandest theme in the earth or main
tis the grandest theme for a mortal strain
tis the grandest theme tell the world again our god is
able to deliver thee he is able to deliver thee
he is able to deliver thee though by sin oppressed go to him
for rest our god is able to deliver thee
tis the grandest theme let the tidings roll
to the guilty heart to the sinful soul look to god in faith he will make
thee whole our god is able to deliver thee
he is able to deliver thee he is able to deliver thee
though by sin oppressed go to him for rest our god is
able to deliver thee amen wonderful singing you are dismissed