We are in Matthew chapter number seven this morning.
Look down at your Bibles at verse number 24. It says,
therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do with them,
I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain
descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it
fell not for it was founded upon a rock and everyone that heareth these sayings
of mine and do with them not shall be likened into a foolish man which built
this house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the
winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.
And the title of my sermon this morning is the blessing of being persecuted,
the blessings of being persecuted.
Now I want you to notice here that in Matthew chapter seven,
God basically highlights two types of people.
One individual is that individual that builds his house, his spiritual life,
everything that he does for Christ upon a rock, right? Which is Jesus Christ.
And what he's telling us here is that, you know,
there's going to come a time when floods will come.
There's going to come a time when the storm rages, floods come,
and they're going to beat upon that house. They're going to smash it.
They're going to do whatever it takes to just destroy that household.
They're going to throw a bomb in there and try to blow it up.
They're going to tag all over it.
They're going to do whatever it takes to just completely destroy the house.
But you know what the Bible says? It fell not, it fell not.
Now was there structural damage? Probably. You know,
did they do some structural damage to the spiritual house? Yeah, maybe.
You know, did they cause a little inconvenience for a time? Yeah, probably.
But you know what? It fell not. It didn't fall to the ground. Why?
Was it because the person, you know, who's in the building,
he's just a great individual because they're just spear filled. No,
it's because it's built upon the rock. That's why. You see,
anytime you build anything upon the rock, doesn't matter how flimsy it may be.
It doesn't matter how imperfect you may be. It doesn't matter.
It will never fall because of the fact that its foundation is Jesus Christ.
And you know what? First works Baptist church is built upon the rock.
It's built upon the word of God.
And so that's why we have all these people here today.
You think blowing up a building is going to just stop us?
You think just because you just blow up the building and you just try to scare
us and try to intimidate us and you mess up the structural, you know,
integrity of the building is just going to completely fall apart and we're just
going to disband. We're never going to become Christians again.
I'm never going to preach this again. Wrong. We don't fall.
Not because we're great people, but because we're built upon the rock folks.
That's why, you know,
obviously I'm preaching this because of the fact that our church was,
was blown up this weekend and you know, people try to, the, the,
the sodomites try are trying to intimidate right now by tagging all over our
building and blowing it up and trying to get us out of El Monte. By the way,
most of these people come from outside of El Monte.
Most of these people are just a bunch of terrorists who just want to cause fear
in the hearts of God's people to not meet together. Well,
no one's fearing here. And you know what? If the city would have said, Hey,
you can still meet here.
You just got to clean up a little bit and maybe do something.
We would meet there, but it's red tape so we can't meet there. Okay. You know,
this is, I don't see anyone staying home from this and saying, Oh man,
I'm just not going to do, I'm just not going to live for God anymore.
I'm not going to read my Bible anymore.
I'm not going to do this anymore because I'm scared. No. In fact,
we have people who literally flew out, who have literally flown out.
They've driven from different States to support,
to show their support for what's going on. And they know what's happening.
Their house is built upon a rock. You cannot move us. We shall not be moved.
You know, some, some guy commented and say, Oh, you said, you know,
get ready for war and to bring it on. They blew up the building.
It's exactly what you asked for folks. I'm not blown up.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm blowing up on the media right now.
So I'm blowing up like I thought I would. I'm just kidding. You know,
I'm blowing up like it's, it's all over the media and you know,
the stories all over the media. People,
these people are being exposed for the wicked people that they are, you know,
and they can, they can threaten, they can say whatever they want.
They're not going to be able to stop the message of God.
They're not going to be able to stop the preaching of God's word. And look,
even if they come and take my life, someone else is going to take my place.
See, you guys ever heard of the immortals, the Persian immortals? Well,
this is the real immortals right here. Because once you get rid of me,
someone else is going to take my place. You get rid of that person.
Someone else is going to take his place because there's always a person who's
going to stand in the gap.
There's always an individual who's being used by God to preach God's message.
And at the end of the day, you're not fighting against me.
You're fighting against God. And guess what? God always wins. God always wins.
But I want to, I want to be an encouragement to you today. Okay.
And the encouragement is this, Hey, let's see the blessings in persecution.
Right.
Now you said, what in the world? I mean, like they're doing this to your,
to your church. And how can you even like say that? And what do you mean?
The blessing? I thought nothing was going to happen and all these things.
Folks, this is the best thing that could ever happen to our church.
This is literally the best thing that could ever happen. You said, why is that?
I'm going to share with you why. And first of all, let me just say this.
Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
I want to hear an old IFB preacher preach on that now. You know what I mean?
You know, they shall suffer persecution. We see it in the Bible.
We see it in the old Testament. We see it in the new Testament.
Nothing's changed. This is, this is the dispensation of grace, isn't it?
We're not in the dispensation of grace where it's just like, well, you know,
we don't have to, you know,
preach like that and we just got to win souls and that's it. Folks,
we got to preach the entire council of God, you know,
and sometimes when we preach all these doctrines and the council of God,
it's going to offend someone. It's going to incite the demons out of hell,
all these devils that Satan is sending towards us to try to stop us,
but it's not going to happen. There are blessings in persecution.
So let me say this number one, go to go with me.
If you would to first Peter chapter one, first Peter chapter number one.
Hey, don't be surprised that when you start building for God,
that the floods are going to come.
Don't be surprised when you build something for God on the right foundation.
Don't be surprised when the winds blow and the floods come and the enemies of
God just beat upon that house and they threatened.
They do whatever it takes to stop you.
Don't be surprised of that because when you're building something for God,
you're going to get the attention of the enemies of God.
When you build something for God,
you're going to get Satan's attention to try to stop you.
Be not surprised. What should be a surprise to us is when we see people fall
like, oh man, I guess he didn't build his house upon a rock. Oh man,
I guess they didn't build their house upon a rock because the reality is, you know,
a just man follows seven times, but rises up again. Hey,
if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
And I want to encourage everyone in here, endure this, endure,
put up with it, endure it, stand, don't move. Keep reading your Bibles.
Keep praying. Hey, let's keep winning souls to Christ. I'm going to keep preaching.
You know, the news being here asking me like, Hey, you know,
are you going to keep preaching to them? I'm like, yeah, why not? Sorry.
It's too late now. It's too late. Like, you know,
why would I stop?
Why in the world would I stop preaching God's word just because a building got
blown up? And obviously these people think we're attached to a building.
That's not my favorite building. You know, this,
it's not my favorite building. The building, sometimes it's a burden.
You know what I mean? And you know, I, the variety is the spice of life folks.
You know, we here on a Sunday, on a Thursday,
out or whatever, you know.
So anyways, you know,
we need to make sure that we recognize the blessings of persecution.
Okay. Number one, what are the blessings?
It puts the integrity of the building to the test.
That's what it does, right? It puts it to the test. So what do blessings do?
It really shows you what you're made of.
It really exposes what you're really made of when it comes to being a
Christian. Okay. It really shows if you're really walking with God,
if you're reading the Bible, if you're praying, it shows the integrity.
And you know what, if the integrity falls apart or, you know,
there's some structural damage, spiritually speaking, okay,
then get back in your Bible. Start memorizing scripture.
Start getting sin out of your life. Start getting right with God.
Take things more serious. Hey,
now's not a time to kind of be in and out of church.
Now's not a time to be in and out of serving God right now, more than ever,
you need to be committed. Okay. But it puts it to the test.
Look at first Peter one verse six says,
wearing you greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be,
you're in heaviness through manifold temptations that the trial of your
faith being much more precious than of gold that parishes,
though it be tried with fire might be found into praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ.
We like a job want to say I came forth as gold.
We want to come forth as gold to this entire ordeal. And look folks,
what this does is it really shows you what you are made of. You know,
it really shows you what you lack and what you need. And I guarantee you,
there's a bunch of people in here that says, you know what?
My prayer life increased after this whole ordeal. I've been praying a lot more.
I've been memorizing more scripture. I've been reading more Bible.
I got sin out of my life because I don't want to be an Aiken.
I don't want to partake of the accursed thing and cause my camp to lose a battle
because of my sin. It causes you to examine yourself. I know I examined myself,
because I want to make sure that I'm a vessel and to honor me for the master's
use and prepared them to every good work.
So allow this to cause you to examine yourself. You know,
this is not a church where you can just come in and just kind of, yeah,
we'll be whatever about the Christian life, especially not now.
Yeah.
You know, anybody who visits our church from here on out, it's just like,
you got guts, buddy. You know,
we're going to see what you're really made out of. Okay.
But you know what I see today on Sunday morning,
I see a bunch of people with a strong foundation and strong structures.
Okay. I see a people with a lot of integrity.
I don't see people who are being intimidated by these people.
I don't see anybody who's fearing because of this.
I don't think anybody lost sleep last time. I didn't,
right.
You know, sometimes I sleep too deep. Hey, he giveth his beloved sleep. Amen.
I see people who are laughing, smiling, drinking coffee,
fellowshipping. I mean, we're happy. So it shows that, you know,
you guys who are building your, your, your, your structure,
your spiritual structure, so to speak, you're building it upon the rock,
but it's also, you're strong. And this is what we need to remain.
We need to remain strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
Don't take a break from church right now. Well,
I just want to wait until the dust settles a little bit. Well,
it already settled like at two o'clock in the morning.
So you're already cleaned it up, you know,
literal the literal dust of the bomb already settled. Well, I just want to,
I don't want to be here during the, all the controversy and stuff. Well then,
you know what? Then go home then go home. Hey, if you're afraid, then go home.
If you're scared, go home. But you know what I recommend for you to take ice
cubes advice that if you're scared, go to church
and get some boldness, allow yourself to be exhorted by your brethren.
That's the only good advice ice cube ever gave.
If you're scared,
go to church and read your Bible and allow yourself to be emboldened by your
brethren. And look folks, just let you know,
there's thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people in this country that
are 100% behind them. Thousands,
thousands of people have reached out to me. Thousands of people,
people are not even Christians. Sometimes they're 100% behind.
There's just 7,000 prophets who have not bowed the knee to bail.
So fear not.
Go to Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13.
We want to come forth as gold. Our faith is being tried right now.
It's going through the fire because God is pruning us. He's preparing us.
Let me just remind you, you think this is bad? You think this is bad?
Folks, don't we believe in the posture of pre-wrath rapture?
Don't we believe that if it so comes in our lifetime that we're going to go
through the tribulation? That's way worse.
People actually died during that time.
I mean, right now we got, you know,
people 100% behind us and people who are like not even Christians.
In those days, no one's going to be behind us. And in fact,
they are going to be behind us,
or they're going to be chasing us is what they're going to be doing.
Tribulation was a lot worse.
So take this as an opportunity to test your faith, to get strong,
get serious about the things of God and recognize I'm building some strength and
some endurance right now. Because if the rapture so comes in my lifetime,
I want to be able to be ready and not be offended. Look at Matthew 13, verse 18.
It says, Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
When a man heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not,
then come at the wicked one and catch it the way that which was sown in his
heart. This sea, which received seed by the wayside,
but he that received the seed in stony places,
the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it yet hath he
not root in himself, but dureth. In other words,
he endures for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises,
because of the word by and by he is offended.
So this is the individual who gets saved, gets in the church,
starts reading the Bible, maybe, you know, starts praying. But here's the thing.
He's not rooted. He's not getting his roots down deep into the dirt.
He's not like the Palm tree that's going down deep.
He's just kind of a superficial type of a Christian.
He's not really taking things serious. And you know what?
He's able to fool a lot of people in the short term.
But in the long term when persecution arises because of what the word,
yep.
Because of what's being preached because of the fact that people don't like what
you say. When persecution arises because of the word by and by,
in other words, immediately he is offended. He falls by the wayside.
He gets out of church. He starts, he stops serving God. Don't be this Christian.
We're not offended. We got our roots down deep.
We want to make sure that we're deeply rooted in Christ,
that we are strengthened in the inner man, that we're not going to be turned.
We're not going to be moved. We recognize, Hey, we want to be able to endure.
And look, by the way, it says he endured for a little while. Think about that.
We're in the beginning stages of it. We're in the little while.
You want to be able to go beyond that. Okay. And look,
folks, you say, I don't know if I can handle all that.
There is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful who will not tempt you above that you're able,
but also will with that temptation,
make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.
God knows how much we can handle. He knows how much we can handle.
He knows when to open the door of the furnace to get out. He knows.
And so sometimes, you know,
people give the enemies of God a little too much credit and not got enough
credit. God is the one who opens the door.
He's the one who, who opens the door, which no man can shut.
He can close doors, which no man can open. He has the keys of David.
He's the one who is sovereign in this situation.
His providential care is running throughout this whole situation. We don't,
we don't need to worry about this.
But this person has no root in himself. And look folks, I guarantee you,
you thought the old IFB didn't preach against the sodomites before.
Whatever hope we had that they would one day do. So just, just, Hey,
just blew up with that building. Okay. It's gone.
Right now. They're just like, I'm really not going to preach again.
But you know what? There's still 7,000 in the will. There's 7,000 in the will.
And you know what? God does more with 300 than with 10,000.
Cause then at that point he gets all the glory.
Amen.
But we have an intention to build a tower,
but we need to count the costs and see if we have sufficient to finish it.
And I believe we do.
And the tower that's being referred to in the book of Luke verse chapter 14
is this tower of the Christian life.
We want to be able to finish and finish strong.
Go with me. If you would to, uh, go to Exodus chapter one,
Exodus chapter one. What are the blessings of being persecuted?
Well, it puts the integrity of the building to the test, not our church building.
That's not the church. We're the church.
And like I told the media, Hey, they can burn down a church building,
but they'll never be able to burn down my convictions.
They'll never be able to burn down on my beliefs. Cause it's spiritual.
It puts the integrity of the building to the test. Not only that,
but let me say this, it embeds what you believe even deeper.
It just in everything that we believe, everything that we preach,
everything that we, that we talk about now, it's going even deeper.
Cause here's the thing they want, you know, the blowing up of the building.
They want that to say, to make us think, well, man,
I'm not going to preach this anymore.
Well, now it's impossible for you to do that.
You actually just had the opposite effect on us. It's not going to cause us to be
like, well, I'm not going to say anything. Why?
Because we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard and you
reinforce what we already believe.
All the filth and the perversion and the garbage and the violence that you're
doing, you're proving that we're right. So you know what that does?
I'm going to believe this even more. I'm going to believe that we're right.
I'm going to believe this more. I'm going to preach it more.
It's not going to change what I believe.
You've actually caused me to get those convictions and dig them down deeper and
deeper and deeper into my heart. And you know what happens when that takes place?
I'm digging them down deeper into your hearts as well. I mean,
we're getting a, they,
they want to get me media exposure and try to expose us and stuff,
but they're actually helping us. They're like,
get them on Fox news and MSNBC and all these things.
And then it's just like, cool. I've been trying to get on there forever.
This is hard, you know? And then they just do the work for us.
And they're like, are you willing to get it? I'm like, they're interviewing me.
And then they always put the best parts of the sermon.
I'm like, can I hire you guys to make clips for me on my YouTube channel?
You guys do great. It doesn't affect us at all.
Or should I say it doesn't affect us in a negative way at all.
It's always positive. All things work together for good to them to love God.
But allow this.
One of the blessings of persecution is that it just digs it down even deeper
into our hearts. Because now when you read the Bible,
the things that you would kind of bypass and just read over,
now you stop and say, Whoa, I know exactly how that feels.
And I know exactly what that means. And this is 100% true.
You pause a little more. You reflect a little more.
It goes deeper and deeper into your heart a little more.
Look what the Bible says in Exodus chapter one, verse 11.
Therefore did they set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their
burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure, treasure cities,
Python and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them,
the more they multiplied and grew and they were agreed because of the children
of Israel. So they're thinking,
you know,
just afflict them and destroy their building and their property and threaten
them. But here's the thing. It's like Christianity,
Christians can be like Hulk. There's no Hulk.
Like the more they afflict Hulk, doesn't he get stronger?
Does he get more mad? He's just like,
the more they shoot him and shoot missiles at him,
the more angrier he gets in the stronger he actually becomes.
They got that from here
because the more you afflict Christians, the more we grow personally,
our network grows.
You actually get us more converts and it actually has an opposite
effect of what they originally want because they want people to see that and be
like, Oh man, I'm still done with Christianity.
Whereas there's actually people out there like, well,
that's actually pretty cool. This pastor is Savage.
I didn't know, you know, churches were like this manly.
I thought they were for like women and stuff. This is cool.
There's people who literally visit our church and it's like,
I just can't cause I saw you in the news. I think that's great.
And you know what? There's people all across the country that are,
there are being won over folks. I'm not,
I don't want to say it on camera cause I don't want to get people in trouble.
There's people in high places that are listening to us.
They're just like, we agree with you 100%.
They actually started listening to me because of this whole situation.
So you're just helping me. So don't see affliction as a bad thing.
It's never a bad thing for the Christian. And again,
sometimes we don't give God enough credit and to understand how powerful he
really is. He uses the affliction to grow us.
He uses the affliction to expand the message. And at the end of the day,
folks, let's just be honest. It's not even about me.
It's not about my friends. It's not about our churches. It's about the Lord.
And you know what?
If God wants to sacrifice our building so that we can get the message out there
even further, then so be it. Hey,
if God wants to sacrifice me and my family and my persons and my safety,
but it's going to further the gospel, then so be it.
Cause at the end of the day, it's not about me. It's about the message.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I might learn nice statutes.
And I guarantee you as you read the word of God now more and more,
you're going to read it and it's going to be more applicable to you than ever.
I mean, we just, we're about to finish the book of acts.
We're living the book of acts right now.
Folks were at the protest and the police are literally escorting me because the
mob is trying to get me. They're escorting me to my vehicle. I'm like, I'm like,
I'm like Paul with Claudius.
These
unbelievers are helping us and they're just like, they're for us.
And I'm reading this, I'm like, Whoa, this is crazy. By the way,
it's exciting too. Let's just be honest. This is exciting.
You know, everyone thinks we're like, Oh man,
we're just kind of like this kind of cool.
You don't want to live a boring life. We want buildings to blow up.
We want us to be threatened.
We want all that stuff because there's only one life to live.
There's only one life to live. Folks might as well go out in a blaze of glory
because there's only one life to live,
but it embeds what you believe even deeper. And that, that's a,
that's a great price folks. Cause you know, sometimes Christians struggle,
they struggle to read their Bible, they struggle to take a stand.
They struggle to, to, to just have faith,
but this causes them to increase their faith in the Bible even more. It helps.
Okay. Go with me if you would to Philippians chapter one,
Philippians chapter one, the Bible tells us in Ephesians six, verse 14 says,
stand there for having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breast
plate of righteousness. So it says that we got to gird our loins with, with,
with truth. It's like a belt, right? Well, here's the thing. Think about this.
In Hebrews chapter 12 it says we need to lay aside the weight and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, right?
The weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us so we can run with
patience. Well, what happens when you physically lose weight?
You can tighten it up, tighten the belt up a little bit, a little more, right?
Cause you start losing the, uh, the gut a little bit. And then, you know,
it's before it was just like one, one little hole,
but now you can go to the second hole, you know,
you can go to the third hole cause you're laying aside the weight. Well,
you know what, in the Christian life it's the same thing.
When you're being persecuted,
you lay aside the weight and the sin which doth so easily beset you.
And then you can gird that truth a little tighter.
You tighten it up a little more around your, your, your spiritual way,
so to speak.
Your core beliefs become stronger because you're able to tighten it up a little
more. Sometimes people, they get a little loose. They get a little, you know,
they, they, they, um, their heart is as fat as grease,
you know, the spiritually fat, so to speak. So they can't gird their,
their waste with truth.
Number three, what are the blessings of being persecuted?
It emboldens others to take a stand.
We inspire other people. It becomes an inspiration to others.
People hear about what's going on and they think to themselves, man, this is,
this is amazing. And let me just share with you a personal testimony of mine.
How many of you remember the BBC documentary from pastor Anderson?
This is actually before pastor Anderson and I had gotten together about starting
the church. I saw that documentary and a little fire under me.
And I remember watching that and I remember the very last thing that he said in
that, in that documentary was, you know, I want to do something big with my life.
And I remember hearing that and there's, I had tears cause I was thinking to
myself, I want to do something big with my life too. God,
I want to be you too.
And I remember watching that and you know what it did? It emboldened me.
And I said, if this man can do it, so can I, if he can take a stand, so will I.
And look where we're at today. Well, you know what?
There's going to be someone else watching this and they're going to see them.
They're going to say, I want to do something for God too. I want to serve the Lord.
I want to win souls to Christ. I want to preach God's word.
It's going to light a fire under someone guaranteed. It always does.
And by the way, it's biblical. Look at Philippians chapter one, verse 12.
But I would, you should know, you should understand brethren,
that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the
furtherance of the gospel. He's saying, look,
all this is for the furtherance of the gospel so people could get saved.
So that by my bonds, you know, he's in prison.
By my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all the places.
And many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds
are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Amazing.
He said, people are looking at me in prison and they're just like, man,
I want to be like the apostle Paul.
I'm going to be more bold to preach the word of God.
I'm not going to be afraid of the enemies of God. I'm going to be more bold.
I'm going to take a stand. I'm going to preach the word of God,
because if he can do it, so can I.
And that's one of the blessings of being persecuted folks is that the limelight
is on you. And you know what? The people who are looking at your reaction,
how you're taking a stand, they see that and they say,
I want to do the same exact thing. I want to be a pastor.
I want to be a preacher. I want to stand for truth. I want to be a soul winner.
I want to be associated with God's people.
I want to suffer the afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. It always happens. Always.
He said, I thought you said there's going to be people who are not,
I'm talking about like the people who are not going to be doing this are those,
are those who are already pastors. The ones who are just like, you know,
they're just, they're, they're already done. The spirit of the Lord, you know,
has left them and they wish not. These are the people who are not taking a stand.
They're just, they're just kind of cruise control Christianity kind of thing.
I'm talking about the younger generation that's rising up.
They're going to see this entire ordeal.
They're going to see everything that's going on.
They're going to look at your reaction, your response, your stand,
and they're going to say, we want to do the same too.
It always happens. Go to second Corinthians chapter one,
the Bible says in first Peter chapter five, by the way,
don't feel like you're alone. Now, as far as I know, I don't,
I think I'm like the first independent fundamental Baptist who have ever had
their church blown up. I could be wrong.
If I'm wrong, then just tell me after the service who else there was,
who was IFE pastor who had their church blown up. Okay. But I guarantee you,
I guarantee you there's some pastor somewhere out there who's had that happen
and worse, of course, because there's nothing new under the sun.
First Peter five, eight says be sober,
be vigilant because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walk at the bow,
seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world. He said, look, the same thing you're going through.
Someone else is going through that same exact thing somewhere in the world.
Guaranteed.
The only difference is they're probably not getting into media coverage.
There's people out there that are suffering persecution for righteousness sake
that we just don't know about somewhere in the jungles of Africa or something
like that. Or, you know, somewhere deep in the jungle, there's some,
there's some Bible believing Christians preaching against the heathenism or
whatever, and they're suffering persecution. They had their church burned down.
They had their pastor this, or they threatened this and that.
It's happening all around the world. And you know what he says,
resist steadfast in the faith. Why?
What's one of the things that will motivate us to resist the devil during this
time? Well, just know this. You're not the only one who's this has happened to.
Cause sometimes people can feel alone. I felt like that sometimes. It was just like,
man, I feel like, like,
are we like the only ones going through something like this?
We've never had this happen before, but then I'm reminded of this verse.
And I'm reminded of the fact that there's some pastor out there who went through
the same exact thing.
There's a church out there is going through the same exact thing.
There's no temptation taking it, but such as it's common to man.
Look what it says in second Corinthians one verse three, blessed be God,
even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforted us in all our
tribulation that we may be able to comfort them,
which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of
God for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us.
Sore consolation abounded by Christ. Oh, this is great.
What God is saying here is that when you suffer for righteousness sake,
God always gives you a greater measure of consolation.
Yeah. Cause then we're up brother leases and I were up early in the morning.
We're at the building. The FBI is there forensics is there.
And I told him, I was just like,
I feel like I should be losing my mind right now, but I'm not,
I feel like I should be like at a breaking point or something where I'm just
like, you know, just kind of freaking out. I say, but I,
I'm actually at peace right now.
We're like joking around in the back of the cop car and
and you know, they're, they're interviewing us. They're, the FBI is there.
By the way, let me just say this. When the FBI gets involved, you're done.
Let me just let you know that. Okay.
When the FBI comes in and says, we're taking over this investigation,
you're done. Okay.
You know, these are the people that specialize in finding aliens.
Okay. No, I'm just kidding.
But I was thinking to myself, like, I even told my wife, like, I feel like I got a,
two, a little two together right now. Like, why am I not losing my mind?
But it's because of the fact that there's a peace of God,
the pass of understanding.
It's because of the fact that when afflictions come,
God kind of increases your tolerance for pain.
It increases the sound mind increases the peace. So it's like,
he'll never give you more than you can handle.
And if he does give you more than he can handle,
he just fills up your gas tank. He fills up your emotional gas tank.
And then you're just like, wow, I'm actually feel pretty fine.
Actually I'm not tripping out.
Let's go get some breakfast sandwiches. I guess that's what we do. We went,
we got breakfast sandwiches. We're just hanging out,
but that's what the Bible says. Not the breakfast sandwich bar,
but I'm saying like the consolation part, it abounds,
it abounds. Look what it goes on to say. And whether we be afflicted,
it is for your consolation and salvation,
which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings,
which we also suffer or whether we be comforted is for your consolation and
salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast,
knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings,
so shall you be also of the consolation.
What is the consolation that he's giving these people? He's saying, look,
because when you talk about salvation,
he's not talking about their salvation of their soul.
How about the salvation of their body? He's saying, look, God saved me.
He delivered me. So be comforted in the fact that when you take a stand,
he will also deliver you. He's going to deliver you.
So what is the comfort that we have?
We the comfort that we have is the fact that we know that God will deliver us no
matter what. Oh, we'll just come and take your life then. Then you just,
you facilitate that deliverance even more. Cause then I just go to heaven.
Amen. And then you make our message even that much more famous.
It doesn't change anything. But what he's telling them is this, look,
I was delivered, you know, I was delivered, God delivered me.
So let it be a consolation to you that if you take a stand,
you will also be delivered. Don't worry about it. And look, folks,
sometimes we just gotta be reminded, you know, we're children of God, right?
Right. Aside from that, we're God's servants.
And let me just remind you what God says, do no harm to my prophets.
So it's not like God's looking at us like, well, yeah,
you got to take care of that on your own.
I didn't tell you to say those things or whatever, you know? Yeah. Well,
I told you to say those things, but you know, you just, you guys,
you're gonna have to deal with the repercussions of that.
It doesn't work that way. Folks.
How much do you protect your children? And we, we are sinful beings.
How much more God who is perfect in his righteousness and his justice and his
loving kindness and his mercies and his grace.
How much more do you think you'll protect us?
Let that be a consolation to you. And I guarantee you,
it's a consolation to thousands out there.
Go to first Peter chapter three,
first Peter chapter three.
What are the blessings of being persecuted? Well,
it gives us access to God's power. It gives us access to God's power. You know,
you can be gifted, you can be talented, but at the end of the day, if you have,
if you don't have God's power, you don't have anything.
Look at first Peter three verse 12 for the eyes of the Lord are over the
righteous and his ears are open into their prayers. By the way,
I like this next part, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Amen. And who is he?
They will harm you if you'd be followers of that, which is good, but,
and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy,
are you be not afraid of their terror? You know, these terrorists,
you'll be afraid of these terrorists, right? Neither be troubled,
but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as
evildoers,
that they may be ashamed that falsely accused your good conversation in Christ.
Go to chapter four, go to chapter four.
It's funny. He says, he says,
who is he that will harm you if you would be followers of that, which is good.
What is he saying? If you don't do good, I'll harm you.
That's the only person we should fear, right? Is God.
Fear not him which can kill the body, but afterwards can do nothing,
but fear him which can kill both soul and body and health.
Right?
God has an, I'm obviously he's not going to send his children to hell,
but you know what? He can destroy our lives here.
And we should never listen to me.
We should never fear any human being more than we fear God.
Let me explain to you just a logical reason as to why,
no matter how wicked and evil people are, listen to me.
Every human being has a limitation.
Every human being cannot cross a specific boundary. Right?
Every human being, the young men shall fail. They will be tired.
People can devise any type of evil against you, but at the end of the day,
every single person has a limitation, a limitation that they cannot surpass.
God is limitless. He can't,
he will not allow people to harm us.
He will not allow people to destroy us if it doesn't work according to his plan.
Think about that. Like what if something happens to you? Well, here's the thing.
If it's, if it's not in accordance to God's plan,
he's not going to allow it to happen. Pointing simple.
Look at chapter four, verse 12.
Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you,
a fiery bombing trial as though some strange thing happened to you.
I promise you we woke up and I did not think it was strange that that happened.
My wife and I were actually laughing while we were laying down.
We're laughing. We're like, this is funny.
One of the reasons we're laughing is because of my employees,
but when all this is happening, I told them, I said, look,
don't send me any more comments of what people are saying and messages.
I want to see that stuff. I said,
I'm gonna take my family out for a couple of days. Don't bother me. I said,
unless someone blows up the church, this is literally before all this happened.
I said, let someone blows up the church or burns it down.
I don't want to know about it. He said, got it. Okay.
Get a call in the morning. Uh, pastor,
you said not to call you unless someone blows up the church. Um,
so someone blew up the church.
So that's why I'm calling.
I feel like I should have said like, don't call me. Someone's,
unless someone's going to give us like a million dollars or something,
maybe that would have worked out better.
Thinking not strange. This should not be a surprise to you.
Don't let it shock you.
You hear that the church got blown up or someone's lighting it on fire.
Joke's on you. I already knew that something like this was going to happen.
You're not catching me by surprise. I don't think it's strange. Well,
why not? Because we're living for God.
So obviously things like this are going to happen. This is what happens. Right?
We don't think it's strange. He goes on to say, but rejoice.
And as much as you're partakers of Christ suffering,
that when his glory shall be revealed,
ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
You see folks at the second coming of price,
there's going to be people who are ashamed because they're going to see us
coming. They're going to be like, dang, it's too late to do anything else.
At that point, every old IFP preacher is going to preach against us on them.
For two seconds.
But the people who have been serving God,
the people who have been partakers of Christ suffering,
we're going to welcome his coming with exceeding joy.
I mean, doesn't this make you think about eternity so much more?
I know I've been thinking about heaven a lot. Now, obviously, you know,
there's times throughout the week when I feel like, man, eternity is so far away.
Like I just, I know it's real. I know, I know God says it's true,
but it just seems so far away from me. Sometimes it seems that way.
But here's the thing. Once we're in eternity, once we're already there,
this is going to seem very far away.
This is actually going to seem further away than what eternity seems to us now.
We're going to be a thousand years into the millennial reign laughing about
this. You know, kind of disappointed that they didn't,
they just blow up the entire thing or something. You know, just
he says, if ye be reproached for the name of Christ,
happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God rested upon you.
On their part he was spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. What do you say?
What is he saying? Hey, let this be a confirmation that you have God's power.
God's power rests upon you. Go to Revelation chapter three,
Revelation chapter three. The blessings of persecution is this, Hey,
it reminds us of our inevitable reward. Think about that.
The reward is now it's inevitable. We will get the reward now.
It's done for, I mean, we have it.
Every time someone has reviled about this people,
I'm not the only one being persecuted here. My church is being persecuted.
People calling their jobs, harassing them, you know,
saying that they're going to do all manner of evil against them.
We had a church member,
someone say that they're going to go burn down his house.
Everyone's being persecuted here and look, you know what it does? It's like,
more rewards.
It's solidifying and cementing the reality that we will be rewarded.
It's inevitable now. That's why it says rejoice for great is your reward in heaven.
So when I, when you know, if there's times when I get down in the dumps,
I read this and I'm like, whoa,
I actually, that means they're like, all right, bring,
bring the rewards right here. You know, he just earned himself another reward,
you know? And right now it's like a train of rewards because this is like,
nonstop for us, you know,
so this is just bringing in the rewards and it's just cementing that for us.
It's inevitable for us to receive rewards now. And by the way,
this is not going to make me think, well, I got my reward,
so I'm not going to preach hard anymore. No,
I want more.
Our faith is increased.
Revelation three verse seven says into the angel of the church in Philadelphia,
right? These things say, if he that is Holy, he that is true,
he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shut it and shut it.
And no man openeth. I know that works. Behold,
I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it,
but thou has a little strength and has kept my word and is not denied my name.
It's powerful. He says,
behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan,
which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold,
I will make them to know to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I
have loved thee because I was kept the word of my patience.
I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell on the earth.
By the way, this is referencing because you wonder, it's like,
why is the door being mentioned and all these things?
What is that a reference to?
It's reference to Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego going to the fiery furnace.
They had little strength. They didn't deny his name.
They threw him into that fiery furnace. And let me just say this.
If I get thrown into a fiery furnace, I'm like, okay,
so God's planning for me to be a martyr. I'm going to die.
They get thrown in there. Jesus Christ shows up.
Not a hair of their head is singed. Folks, when they came out of that furnace,
don't you think that their faith was increased just a little bit?
If I would have came out, I would be like, dude, not even fire.
Did you just see what happened? I'm sure they're,
they're thankful that they took that stand.
Because taking that stand caused them to go through the fire, literally
caused them to see Jesus Christ, the son of man, walking through them,
walking through that fire with them and come out and their faith is just that
much more increased. And the kingdom was changed because of that.
It's amazing. So folks stick it out,
endure because it's going to increase your faith promise.
It's a promise from God. It will increase your faith.
A great thing will come out of this. It always does.
All things work together for good to them, to love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. It's going to happen.
And look, try to imagine the greatest thing that could come out of this.
I guarantee you it's far exceeding greater than that.
Cause he's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask for
things. You guys might have a good imagination, but not as good as God's.
You guys might have good plans,
but I guarantee you God's plans are far more exceeding than that.
I know the thoughts that I think of think of you,
thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.
That's what the Bible says.
It increases our faith.
Go to Philippians chapter, or actually you're in a revelation,
same revelation. I'm going to read to you from Philippians. Here's my last point.
And really this is the most important.
I've already hit on this a little bit,
but this is probably the most important thing out of all this.
We're talking about the blessings of persecution. Okay.
What's one of the best blessings, the greatest blessings of persecution.
When we're persecuted,
that's actually when we can experience deep fellowship with Jesus.
Cause obviously when we read the Bible, we're communion with God, you know,
we're in communion with God. When we keep sitting in our lives,
we're communion with God when we pray,
but it's only when you actually go through persecution,
do you experience actually a deep communion with God. And in fact,
let me read to you from Philippians three verse 10. It says that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering
being made conformable unto his death.
If by any means I might attain into the resurrection of the dead,
Paul said, I want to know the fellowship of his suffering.
Isn't your heart in it with people who have gone through the same thing that
you've gone through? It's like a special tie there.
There's a special like relationship that you have with people when they've
experienced like the same exact heartache and pain that you felt. Well,
Jesus says the same thing. When people are, uh,
reproached, reviled, reviled and hated,
afflicted and persecuted for Christ's sake,
that person holds a special place in the heart of Jesus.
It's called the fellowship of his suffering. Let me prove it to you.
Look at Revelation three verse 20.
I've often used this in the wrong way and many practices have used this in the
wrong way. They've often used this verse to basically show,
it's almost like a soul winning verse, like a salvation verse.
Look what it says in verse 20. Behold, Jesus speaking,
I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door,
I will come into him and sup with him. And he, with me,
what is he talking about? Well,
he just spent chapter two and three going through the seven churches,
which are in Asia and explaining all the sufferings and the afflictions and the
persecutions that they were experiencing. Some failed at it. Some didn't.
Some came out passing with flying colors. I mean, they did some,
did exceeding great works, you know, and the last church,
Laodicea, he's telling them, Hey, I counsel thee to buy me gold,
try it in the fire. You guys are lukewarm.
You guys should go through some persecution.
You guys should go through some affliction to kind of get you back on course.
And then at the end of the chapter, he says, look, behold,
I stand at your door and knock.
So he gives you all these examples of these seven churches.
And then he goes to First World Baptist Church.
He goes to Faithful Word Baptist Church. He goes to Verity Baptist Church.
He goes to any church that's preaching the Bible, the right way of salvation.
He says, Hey, I'm knocking at your door too.
And he's not knocking to see if like, you know, you're going to preach his word.
No, he's standing at the door to see if you're willing to suffer for his name.
Cause what did he say? I will suffer for you. What is that?
Is that worship? Right.
So here's the thing. Jesus is going to all these churches
and knocking on the door and saying,
does anyone willing to suffer for my name's sake?
Is anybody willing to suffer to approach for me? And here's the sad thing.
You know, a lot of churches, they don't open that door.
Out of fear. They don't open it. They're like,
I don't know if I can handle that. And Jesus is still outside.
He said, what happened this week? We opened the door.
Come on in.
We will sup with you, Lord. We will fellowship with you.
We will suffer for your name's sake.
We will suffer the reproach and the reviolence for you.
Cause we want to fellowship with you.
And that is the greatest blessing that any one of us could ever receive.
Amen.
Did you know now, First Works Baptist Church holds a special place in the heart of Jesus.
Hey, look at the silver. There's only a, there's a silver lining.
Everything's silver in the middle of this whole situation.
Everything's great. Everything's great. Are there inconveniences? Of course,
but that's just the way life is.
There would be inconveniences if we weren't serving God.
And he could be, it's obvious that God's against us.
There's always going to be problems. Hey, you only have one life to live.
Use it to suffer for his name's sake,
to suffer reproach and recognize the blessings that come with persecution,
which is exactly what we're going through right now. Amen.
Spire heads and I have a word of prayer. Father,
we thank you so much that you would count as worthy to suffer for your name's
sake, Lord.
And I pray God that you would show yourself strong on our behalf,
that you would increase our faith. Please confound our enemies, Lord,
confound them, dismay them,
let them fall by their own devices that they've set against us, Lord. We know,
Lord, we're not going to take vengeance upon them. It's not our way.
We're not going to go out there and be violent towards them.
We're not going to go and try to hurt them or bomb them or shoot them.
That's not our way. You said, Lord, vengeance is mine. Say the Lord,
I will repay. And we leave that up to you.
We have faith that you will one day execute that vengeance upon them.
We know that you'll deliver us. We know that you'll bless us,
help us to remain strong and to stand,
to have the power of God upon our lives and Lord made this be for your honor,
for your glory. May you be glorified in all of this.
May people see me on the news and say, this has to be God.
Cause who's this guy? He doesn't preach well.
He doesn't know what he's talking about. This has to be God on this church.
Because obviously the human instruments are not up to par.
They're not what we expect them to be.
I pray that you would receive all the glory, all of the honor,
that the message would spread so much further out there, Lord,
that more people would be saved.
More people would be emboldened to preach the word of God without fear.
And Lord, when we look back at this thousands of years into the future,
when we're in the, whether in the millennial rain, the new heaven, new earth,
this is going to be a light affliction in comparison to that glory.
And God, may you bless us. Continue to give us wisdom, protection, power, Lord.
We love you so much and we thank you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.