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Hey man, thank you all for being here this morning. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
We're gonna get started with song number 49 as you find your seats.
Song number 49 there in your hymnals.
Meet me there.
Song number 49.
Meet me there as you find your seats.
Let's all stand together for our first song.
Song number 49.
Seat on that first.
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Amen, wonderful singing. Let's start our service with a word of prayer.
Dear God, Heavenly Father, how would you thank you so much, Lord God, for allowing us to be here in your house this morning, Lord God.
We thank you so much for bringing everyone here safely, Lord God.
Families and children, Lord God, ready to hear your word being preached.
I do pray that you please just bless every aspect of the service.
Please bless the singing unto you.
Lord, and most of all, please bless the preaching of your word.
I pray that you would please fill pasture with your Holy Spirit.
That you would please guide him, Lord God, as he preaches unto us.
And that you would also just be with us, Lord God, in the congregation.
That we would be listening to your word being preached unto us.
That we might leave here changed today.
I pray now these things in Jesus' name, Amen.
You may be seated.
If you take your song seats, this world is not my home.
If you did not get a song sheet, please raise your hand and the ushers will pass one out to you.
Keep your hand raised.
This is an awesome song right here.
And just a reminder that this world is not our home, Amen.
Keep your hands raised.
If you do not have a song sheet,
keep them raised high.
Amen. We'll see it on that first.
This world is not my home.
I'm just a passing fool.
My treasures are laid off somewhere beyond the blue.
My angels forgive me from heaven's old rule.
And I don't feel at home in this world anymore.
Oh, Lord, you know I have no friend like you.
If heaven's not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?
The angels forgive me from heaven's old rule.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
They're all expecting me, and that's one thing I know.
My Savior's pardoned me, and now my heart will go.
I know He'll take me through, though I am weak and full.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
Oh, Lord, you know I have no friend like you.
If heaven's not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?
The angels forgive me from heaven's old rule.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
I have a loving Savior up in Gloryland.
I don't expect to stop until I can understand.
He's waiting out for me in heaven's old rule.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
Oh, Lord, you know I have no friend like you.
If heaven's not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven's old rule.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
Just love and glory land will help me turn anew.
The saints on every hand are shouting victory.
Then songs of sweetest praise drift back from heaven's shore.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
Oh, Lord, you know I have no friend like you.
If heaven's not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven's old rule.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
All right, great singing. Thank you so much for being here this morning.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand
and one of the ushers can get one for you.
The next song will be 227 Saved by the Blood
if you want to get that ready in your songbooks.
Two hundred and twenty seven.
Some important information on here for the bulletin.
Our Sunday morning service is at ten thirty.
Sunday evening is at five p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at seven o'clock.
And we are currently going through the Book of Ecclesiastes.
So hope to see you there on Thursday at seven.
You see the so many times and teams,
the list of expecting mothers and the important reminders.
Please make sure that you are supervising your children in the building.
No children should be in the mother baby room alone without their parents.
Keep that in mind and no men allowed in the mother baby room as well.
And then some of the upcoming events are taking place.
Actually today we're celebrating the June birthday.
So whose birthday is in June?
We got some June birthdays.
Nobody's birthday is in June? All right.
So all right. We got one over here.
One right here.
One right there.
One right here.
Anybody else?
That's it.
So just this half right here.
Who are you pointing at?
Oh, Miss Vanessa.
Oh yeah.
She didn't raise her hand.
Can you raise your cello please?
No, I'm just kidding.
Anybody else?
All right.
Let's sing happy birthday.
Here we go.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, God bless you.
Happy birthday to you.
Hope you enjoyed the breakfast this morning.
Sunday, June 20th is the most important day of the year.
And that is Father's Day on June.
Why are you laughing?
It's true.
Amen.
I'm just kidding.
Sunday, June 20th, Father's Day.
We're going to have a special gift for all the dads on that day.
So make sure you invite your dad or invite someone's father on that day.
And the service would be geared towards dads as well.
Friday, June 25th is the Ladies Prayer Night.
June 27th, we're going to be having a baby shower for Miss Stevie.
And that'll be after the service around 1230.
And typically when there's a baby shower, we don't meet for Sony.
Just dismiss right away or around that time.
And so keep that in mind.
Who are we seeing for more information about that?
Miss DJ?
Okay, so if you have any questions, please see Miss DJ
regarding Miss Stevie's baby shower.
And then Sunday, July 4th, we have the birthday breakfast.
And we're also going to do some special after Sunday night service.
July 15th through the 18th Red Hot Preaching Conference is coming up.
Hope you can make it to that.
And then you see the quiet time is today from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
in the main auditorium in the mother baby room.
No food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee.
I do want to say this tonight.
I'm going to be preaching a sermon tonight.
And it's not for the faint of heart, okay?
So if you are offended easily, if you're a bit squeamish,
if you get your feelings hurt kind of easy,
I would encourage you don't come to church tonight, okay?
If you're like, yeah, I like this church.
Is it certain stances that the church takes?
You know, I'm just, I don't know, I agree with that.
Then stay home tonight, okay?
Listen to some old IFP preacher or something like that.
Of course we're in the month of June, amen?
And so I love June.
I think June is great because of the fact that, you know,
I'm never lacking material in the month of June.
Like typically I'm like, what should I preach on?
You know, I don't know what to preach on.
Well, I never have to think that in the month of June.
So if you're a faint of heart, and I'm not kidding,
if you are a faint of heart, if you feel like you would easily get offended,
if there are certain things that I have said that have offended you
or you think I'm a little too rough on, don't come tonight.
I'm warning you, I warned you, I'm warning you, don't come tonight.
Now I think everyone should be here tonight, obviously.
And I think you'll benefit from the sermon greatly.
But, you know, if you're easily offended,
you might just be bitter against me like the entire week or something.
And so miss tonight, miss tonight.
So either we're going to have the skeleton crew tonight,
in other words, probably like a couple of people in my family
are probably going to be here, a couple of guys,
or it's going to be like we're going to double attendance tonight.
So I don't know.
I'm just saying, I warned you ahead of time, okay?
So just keep that in mind.
Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching
so as to not be a distraction during the service.
And that's pretty much it for our announcements.
227, Saved by the Blood, song number 227 in your songbooks.
Song number 227, Saved by the Blood, song number 227.
Sing it on that first.
Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Now as he comes in and a new word be done,
Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son,
Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
Saved by the blood, save, save,
I'll save your heart with my mildness on the hand,
Saved, saved.
Saved by the blood of the crucified one,
We angels, rejoice, Because it is that
The charge of our fathers who hair broke the sun,
the sun, saved by the blood of the crucified.
Save, save, my sins all part and my feelings all gone.
Save, save, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified.
Saved by the blood of the crucified.
Save, save, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified.
Saved by the blood of the crucified.
Save, save, my sins all part and my feelings all gone.
Save, save, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified.
I'm saved by the blood of the crucified.
Saved by the blood of the crucified.
All hail to the Father, all hail to the Son,
all hail to the Spirit, the Great Being One.
Saved by the blood of the crucified.
Save, save, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified.
Amen. Wonderful singing.
At this time, our ushers will be receiving the offering,
and you can turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6.
Ephesians 6
Ephesians chapter 6, the Bible reads,
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise.
It may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long on the earth.
And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath,
or bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ.
Not with eye service, as men-pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
with good will, doing service as to the Lord, and not to men,
knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth,
the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening,
knowing that your master also is in heaven,
neither is there respect of Persians with him.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might,
but on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,
for we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,
and having on the breastplate of righteousness,
and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,
above all, taking the shield of faith,
for with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked,
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God,
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me,
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in bonds,
that therein I might speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do,
take a kiss, a beloved brethren, faithful minister in the Lord,
shall make known to you all things,
whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose,
that ye might know our affairs, and that ye might comfort your hearts.
Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith,
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, I just thank you for this opportunity to gather for the preaching of your word.
I just ask that you be with our pastor now.
Please strengthen him, fill him with your Holy Spirit.
Please bless the preaching, and continue to bless our church.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Okay, we're in Ephesians chapter number 6.
Look down at your Bibles at verse number 10.
It says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
And the title of my sermon this morning is
Satanic Strategies Against Our Church.
And I want you to notice there in verse number 11
that it says that we need to stand against the wiles of the devil.
And when it talks about wiles, it's referring to that, the strategies.
It's referring to the devices, the rues,
the stratagems that Satan puts forth in order to bring our church down.
And make no mistake about it, Satan is constantly on the opposition
when it comes to attacking Bible-believing churches
who are doing something for God.
If you are winning souls to Christ,
people are getting right with God,
they're cleaning up their life, they're repenting of their sin,
they are fixing their marriages,
they are leading their homes,
they are raising their children for God,
they are living godly lives, Satan is not happy with that.
You say, why is that?
Well, because that means that there's going to be another light in a different city
that is actually putting forth the Word of God.
They're putting forth the Bible and the doctrines of the Word of God.
And he knows that Christians can have a global influence upon others because of that.
And so what is he going to do?
Well, he's going to develop strategies,
devices against that local body of believers
in hopes that he can bring a stop to that.
And make no mistake about it,
Satan, even since we've started about three years ago,
going on four in August, amen,
he has attempted to stop our church
because he knows the potential
that First Works Baptist Church has.
And let me just remind you,
this is that although Satan attacks,
although he brings these devices against us
as individuals or as a church,
the Bible tells us that no weapon formed against
he shall prosper.
So it doesn't matter how hard he attacks,
no matter what he throws,
no matter what darts he tries to throw at us,
the Bible tells us that those weapons cannot prosper,
the weapons that are formed against us cannot prosper,
they shall not succeed.
Because if God be for us, who can be against us?
But I want you to know this,
and what I'm preaching on tonight,
I typically say this,
I often say we're going to have family time.
I'll say we're going to have family time,
and what that means is we're going to get a little personal this morning.
Typically we get personal at night,
but I have another sermon that I want to get personal about tonight.
And so I have some things I need to get off my chest tonight.
But this morning,
I want to remind you that
just because we went through a battle,
we came out of a battle at the beginning of the year,
the war's not over.
And in fact, if you remember in the beginning of Jesus' ministry,
he was tempted by Satan for 40 days,
and what happened at the end of that?
Well, he resisted Satan,
Satan fled for him for what?
For a season.
What does that mean?
It means he's going to come back again to fight against the Lord,
he's going to come back and fight against you.
There are seasons when Satan attacks,
we resist the devil, he flees from us,
we draw nine to God,
he draws nine to us,
we know the wiles of Satan,
he gives up, he goes away, but only for a season.
And what happens after that?
He comes right back.
Are you saying the sodomites are going to come back?
I mean, that might be the case.
But that's not the only strategy that he uses.
And he says there
that we need to stand against the wiles of the devil,
we need to put on the whole armor of God.
I'm going to give you three strategies
that Satan will use to try to bring our church down.
And let me just say this,
obviously we know, according to the Bible,
that the only people that can destroy us is us.
The only person who can destroy me is not Satan.
He can destroy my body,
he can cause people to persecute me,
he can cause people to threaten my life,
and at the end of the day, God is protecting me,
God is protecting us,
and at the end of the day, we're the only ones
that really can destroy ourselves.
Why is Satan attacking them if he knows that?
Because he knows that
if he puts the pressure on some people,
they can throw in the towel.
If he puts the pressure of persecution on certain people,
they can throw in the towel.
He can throw a device out there
that makes you think it's hopeless,
that makes you think it's from God,
that makes you think, well, you know,
nothing else to do but to throw out my hands
and then, you know, renders you
basically inefficient, okay?
And I'm gonna give you three strategies
that he uses today.
Go to Matthew chapter 26, if you would.
Matthew chapter 26, what are Satan's strategies
against our church?
And it's not just against our church, obviously.
This is what he uses against all churches
who are doing something for God.
Folks, hey, and look, don't get scared,
don't be scared!
If Satan is attacking you,
or attacking our church, what is that?
That is validating the fact that we're doing
something for God.
It's showing you, hey, this church is
winning souls to Christ, they're discipling
the converts, the churches are growing,
people are having babies,
people are getting married,
people are getting right with God,
this is a good thing.
Well, I just wanted to be in the Christian life
and have nothing bad happen, doesn't work that way.
The Christian life is not a bed of roses.
It's gonna come with opposition.
It's gonna come with Satan.
And the Bible tells us when there's a great
and effectual door opened unto us,
there are many adversaries on the other side.
So we need to expect the adversaries,
we need to expect Satan to fight us,
and you know what, if Satan's not fighting you,
it kind of shows you
you're probably not doing anything for God.
I don't know about that.
It's true, it's a fact.
Strategy number one, what does he use?
Number one, smite the shepherd.
Smite the shepherd.
Strategy number one
to try to take down a local
New Testament church is this,
smite the shepherd.
You say, who's the shepherd? Me.
Now obviously we know that Jesus Christ
is the chief shepherd,
but humanly speaking, I am the shepherd
of this church.
Jesus Christ is the head of the church,
but the person who's basically governing
the physical part of the church, the people,
is myself.
When Satan knows if he can smite the shepherd,
what happens? The sheep shall be scattered.
Look at Matthew 26, verse 30.
And when they had sung of him, they went out
into the Mount of Olives.
Then said Jesus unto them,
All ye shall be offended because of me this night.
For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock
shall be scattered abroad.
But after I am risen again, I will go before
you into Galilee. Peter answered
and said unto him, Though all men should be offended
because of thee, yet will I never
be offended. Jesus said unto him,
Verily I say unto thee, that
this night before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me
thrice. Go to Revelation chapter number
two. So what do we see here? We see
the evening before Jesus Christ is delivered
to be crucified. He delivers
this message to his disciples and says,
hey look, I just want to let you know
they're going to smite the shepherd and you guys
are going to be scattered. You guys are going to be offended.
Why? Because of the fact that the leader
brings security to
the flock. When the leader
is confident, when the leader
is where he needs to be, when he's fulfilling
his duties as a leader, it
instills confidence and boldness
in the flock, right? But hold on
a second, what if the shepherd is smitten?
What if he's taken out of position?
What if he's discouraged? What if he
falls to some sin? Well at that
point, the shepherd is
smitten and the flock shall be scattered.
And this is one of Satan's strategies
right here, is to go after
yours truly. Ah, you're
putting too much importance on yourself.
Folks, all pastors who are doing something for God
have a target on their back.
Satan knows the value of a leader
who's leading
a church. Satan knows the
value of a pastor who's preaching God's word
and he knows if I can just remove that
guy, if I can just get him to
fall, if I can get him discouraged,
if I can get people to attack him, if I
can get him to fold under the pressure of
persecution, the sheep shall be scattered.
And then there is no more work at First Works.
You know?
There is no more First Works Baptist Church as long
as we can get that guy.
So yeah, you know what? The reality is this.
I'm a target.
I'm a target. Satan
will try to take me down and you
know what? He's tried to do it for the last three years.
It still hasn't worked because no weapon
for and against me shall prosper.
But that doesn't mean it's not a possibility.
Okay?
Now in Revelation chapter 2
is 2 and 3 are the seven
letters, excuse me, the letters that
are written to the seven churches which are in
Asia. And every time
he addresses one of the churches
he says to the angel
of the church of and then he says the church.
And I believe this is actually referring to
not an angelic being, I believe
this is actually referring to the pastor of that church.
Okay? The person who's
sent forth to proclaim God's word
that's who it's referring to here.
And so when we look at what Jesus
is telling these churches
obviously we can look at them and say well he's
speaking to the church as a whole and that's absolutely
true but in context
who is he talking to? He's talking to the pastor
who's leading that church. Why? Because everything
rises and falls on leadership.
Look at Revelation 2 verse 8
and unto the angel of the church at Smyrna write
these things saith the first and the last
which was dead and is alive.
I know thy works and
thy tribulation and poverty
but thou art rich and I know the
blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not
but are of the synagogue of Satan.
Fear none of those things which thou
shalt suffer behold the devil shall
cast some of you into prison
that ye may be tried
and ye shall have tribulation ten days
be thou faithful unto death
and I will give thee a crown of life.
What is Jesus saying to
the pastor here at Smyrna?
He's saying this, hey Satan
is going to send his minions, his principalities
his powers to put you
into prison. Why? To try you.
To cause you to go through tribulation for ten
days in hopes that that pastor will throw
in the towel. And you know what?
There's plenty of pastors out there who have
done just that. When the
pressure hits, when the stuff
hits the fan, when Satan
begins to attack, they
throw in the towel, they can't take it.
But you know what I've learned through experience
is that the more pressure, the better.
The more pressure you receive
the more you come out like a diamond.
You know, and I've learned
through my leaders and
pastors before me that you don't
throw in the towel, you just be
faithful unto death.
If it takes your life, let it take your life
but you know what? I'd rather die a bold
man than quit as a coward.
But this is one manner in which Satan
will seek to try to take down our church
is by smiting the
shepherd, smiting the pastor.
Go to 1 Peter chapter number 5 if you would,
1 Peter chapter number 5.
We're talking about strategies,
satanic strategies against our
church. Now look folks, we are all
on the same plane, the same
level as far as essence
and importance.
Not one person in here is more
important than the other.
But the position of a pastor is essential
though.
And it's for this reason
and let me just have a heart to heart
conversation with you. You know I want to
encourage you to pray for me.
I hope you pray for me. I hope you pray for
my wife. I hope you pray
for my children. I hope
you pray for my walk with God.
I hope you pray that God
places a hedge of protection about me.
Why? Not just for my sake, for yours.
Because I'm leading
this ship and
if the shepherd is smitten
and is no longer
able to go forth to battle,
then that's not good for you.
Look at 1 Peter
chapter 5 in verse number 1.
This is Peter writing
to these churches in Cappadocia,
Bithynia, Pontius,
etc. And he says in verse
number 1, the elders which are among
you I exhort. Now when the Bible uses the
term elders, it's not referring to those
weird Mormons out there
who can't seem to afford a long
sleeve college shirt or something.
Or, you know,
some bicyclist out there.
You know.
Elder is simply a
pastor. Because it's referring to someone
who's spiritually mature and in
context it's referring to a pastor.
A person who, a bishop so to speak.
The elders which are among you I
exhort. So this is who he's addressing.
Who I'm also an elder. He's saying he is
also a pastor. And a witness
of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed. So this
is the instruction that he gives. He says,
feed the flock of God which is among you
taking the oversight thereof. Not by
constraint but willingly. Not for
filthy lucre but of a ready mind.
Neither is being lords over God's heritage
but being examples to the
flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory
that fadeth not away.
So he's basically saying, look, you as a pastor
you need to make sure you feed the flock of God, the
word of God. You need to preach the word of God.
Be in season, out of season.
Take the oversight. Don't do it
just because you feel like you have to. Do it
willingly with a good attitude.
Don't do it for filthy lucre's sake.
You need to do it of a ready mind.
You need to be ready to lead as a
pastor. Ready to preach the word of God.
Ready to solve problems. You need to be
ready for these things.
Don't be a lord over God's heritage. Don't think that
you're the lord of this church.
Okay.
You need to be an example to the flock, etc.
So he's addressing the elders.
He's addressing the pastors. Look at verse
number six. Still in context.
Humble yourselves therefore into the mighty hand
of God that he may exalt you in due time.
Casting all your care upon him
for he careth for you. Look what it says.
Be sober, be vigilant
because what? Your adversary
the devil
as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may
devour. Now folks, in context
it's talking about the elders.
Now we can apply this to everyone.
But in context,
who is Satan looking to devour?
The shepherd.
Who is Satan seeking to devour
and to destroy? The elder.
Who does Satan want to
take out of the picture? The pastor.
Whom resists steadfast
in the faith knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world.
Okay.
And folks, so what we see
here is that Satan
whatever it may be, this is
a reality folks.
Now how
does he smite the shepherd? Well he does it by
attacking my wife.
That's how he does it.
Why? Because if he can render my wife
ineffective then he can render me ineffective as well.
Because my ministry
is my family.
It's important that my wife is taken care of.
To me it's important
that my wife is taken care of in order for
me to carry out the responsibilities that God
has given to me. Now make no
mistake about it, I'm a man of God before
I'm a pastor, before
I am a husband
or a father, I'm a man of God
first.
But here's the thing, if my wife
doesn't respect me,
if my wife
you know, starts getting off kilter
and doesn't follow me, I can no longer
be a pastor.
Well let me say this, if she doesn't respect me
and doesn't
respect my authority
and I don't fix that, I can no longer be a pastor.
Okay.
Or how about this, if my wife
falls to some physical
sickness
where all of my efforts are being
put into helping her to get better
and I can't fulfill the duties of a pastor,
I can't be a pastor.
Pretty complex sometimes.
What's complex is having to stand.
The instruction
to stand is simple, but it gets
difficult when you're actually standing there being bombarded
by Satan and his attacks.
You just have to stand,
resist the devil, and he
will flee from you.
Well I feel like I'm at the end of my rope.
Oh good, that means it's almost over.
Well I feel like
I'm just almost done, I'm not going to be able to make it.
That's great, that means it's almost done.
Strategy number one, smite the shepherd.
Strategy number two,
hinder the work
in the church.
Look at Nehemiah chapter number six.
Let me read to you from 1 Thessalonians
chapter two verse 14, it says,
For ye brethren became followers of the churches
of God which are in Judea,
which in Judea are in Christ Jesus
for ye also have suffered like things of your own
countrymen, even as they have of the
Jews, who both killed the
Lord Jesus and their own prophets
and have persecuted us and they
please not God and are contrary to
all men forbidding us to speak
to the Gentiles that they might be
saved, to fill up
their sin always for the wrath
has come upon them to the uttermost
but we brethren being taken
from you for a short time in presence
not in heart endeavor the more abundantly
to see your face with great desire
wherefore we would have
come to you even I Paul
once and again but Satan
hindered
us.
You know how Satan can stop us or can hinder
us, can slow us down from getting the work done?
It can happen.
And here we see
that in context he's talking about the Jews.
He's saying forbidding us to speak
to the Gentiles that they might be saved and then he says
later on Satan hindered
us. So you can see how those are
kind of tied in together there.
But what do we see here?
We see that sometimes wicked
and unreasonable men will seek to
stop us from doing the work of God.
They won't be able to stop us but they can't hinder
us. You know when we got
bombed and when we were getting protested
all our energies and all our efforts
went into going to war with those people.
With the sodomites.
It was well invested
though. It was
energy well invested into that
war and into that battle but you know we were
hindered on other fronts.
Yeah we won
some souls to Christ but you know what?
Not as much as if we didn't have that battle.
And this is what
we would refer to as the attacks from without.
The attacks from without
is when Satan sends
wicked and unreasonable men
to try to hinder us from the work of God.
How does he do that? Through infiltrators.
People who try
to infiltrate our church, teach false
doctrine, cause all kinds of strife
and divisions, heretics,
people who want to teach false
doctrine, that can hinder a church.
And we've got to throw people out for
being that.
But attacks from without, the sodomites
attacking us from without, it doesn't cause us
to disband, right?
It doesn't cause us to tuck our tails and run
between our legs and run. It doesn't cause
us to be afraid. You know what it does? It unifies
us is what it does.
Their agenda was
well let's attack them, attack
their church, let's bomb them,
let's protest them, you know let's cause
them to be afraid, let's make them
scared so that they don't preach the
word of God anymore. You failed!
I got a call from the chief of police last night
of Omani.
He texted me
and he said,
can you give me a call as soon as you can?
I'm like, did they bomb the building again?
Dumb, we're not even
there anymore.
I call him back
and he's like, hey
I'm getting all kinds of calls
from the LGBTQ
HIV.
He's like, I'm getting all kinds of calls
from them saying that you're still meeting
at the building, you're still having
church services at the building.
I'm like, in Omani? He's like, yeah.
He's like, but you're not there though, right?
I'm like, how can I
be? It's completely blocked off.
They blew it up.
He's like, well that's what I told
them. I said,
how can they meet there?
He said, because we saw them on YouTube preaching
still.
Well duh, didn't I tell you that before
all this took place? If you move
me, it's not going to change anything.
I don't need a location
in Omani to preach against the sodomites.
All
I need is a Bible
and that's it.
So they're shocked, they're like
I don't understand. We blew
him up, we protested, we threatened his life
and he's still preaching God's word. Yeah,
I told you that was going to happen.
Joke's on you.
Okay,
he's just like, I'm not trying to
you know me, I'm just trying
not to be involved in that.
You do whatever you got to do and that's your thing.
You know, I just, he's like, but are
you in the city though?
I said, no, I'm not
in the city.
Okay, because many people are like
and he said that he told them, it's a
different building, look where he's preaching, it's different.
But they're
so paranoid
and they can't believe
that they invested so much time into
their little glitter bomb
and it didn't stop us.
Why?
Why? Because attacks from without
don't do anything but strengthen us.
It grows us.
Makes me angrier.
There it is.
Wicked
and unreasonable men who sought
to stop us only caused
us to go a little further in our work.
And in fact,
you know, so far, even the old
IFB is like,
so far, even the old IFB
is listening to what we're doing.
I had an old IFB preacher
yesterday tell me, you know, we're
talking, he was a mentor of mine, haven't spoken
to him in a long time, and he was
just kind of asking me about the events and you know
all these, you know, the bomb and everything.
And I said, yeah, but it worked out together for me.
He's like, did you lose anybody? I'm like,
no, we actually gained more people
because of it. We grew because of it.
And I told him, I got to preach the gospel to like
thousands of people.
He's like, really? I'm like, yeah,
I was on Infowars, and he's like, oh yeah,
I saw that.
Oh, you did, did you?
I saw, I saw that.
We're good.
Look at Nehemiah 6, verse 1,
Now it came to pass when
Sanballin and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian
and the rest of our enemies
heard that I had builded the wall
and that there was no breach left therein,
though at the time I had not set up the doors
upon the gates, that Sanballin
and Geshem sent unto me, saying,
come, let us meet together in
some one of the villages
in the plain of Ono, by the way,
that's a no-no.
If it's an oh-no.
Oh-no!
But they thought to do me
mischief.
This reminds me when the city
manager wanted to meet with me
in the chief of police.
Hey, we want to meet with you, you know.
But what was it, there's mischief
behind that because they wanted me to apologize
for my preaching.
And I sent messengers up to them saying
I'm doing a great work
so that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease
whilst I leave it and come down to you?
Yet they sent them to me four times
after this sort and I answered them
after the same manner.
So what is Sanballin,
Sabaian and Geshe are trying to do?
They're trying to hinder the work
of God.
These outside forces
trying to come in, hinder
the work of God.
And what did Nehemiah say?
I'm doing a great work.
I can't come down to your level.
Because that's where you're
going. Any time
you go at it with
these people, any time you give them the
time of day, you're going down to their level.
Come down to you.
That's why we don't go and protest
Omani.
That's why I'm not protesting
keep Omani friendly and these other
queerbaits. Why? Because I'm not
trying to come down.
Down.
To their level.
Because I'm saved and I can't go to hell.
And they're so down
that they're in the center of the earth.
They're twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
That's not nearly as offensive
as it's going to be tonight, I promise you.
If that offended you,
then for sure don't come.
I warned you.
Then sent
Sanballat his servant unto me
in like manner the fifth time with an
open letter in his hand wherein was written.
It is reported among the heathen that
Gashmu saith that thou and the
Jews think to rebel.
For which cause thou buildest a wall
that thou mayest be their king according to these words.
And thou hast also appointed
prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem
saying, there was a king in Judah
and now shall it be reported to the king according to
these words. Come now therefore and let us
take counsel together.
So what do we see here? We see that they're
gaslighting the community, right?
They're spreading these lies
saying that Nehemiah is trying to make himself a king.
Is that what he's doing? No.
But these are the kind of attacks
that wicked and unreasonable men
will bring to the table in order
to recruit more people
in opposition against the work.
He says in verse 8, then I
sent them to him saying, there are no such things
done as thou sayest, but thou faintest
them out of thy own heart.
For they all made us afraid
saying, their hands shall be weakened
from the work that it be not
done. Now therefore, O God,
strengthen our hands.
So what's another
way that Satan's
strategies against our
church to hinder the work of God?
To weaken you. How? By causing you to be
afraid. Trying to get you
to stop coming to church.
Trying to get you to stop preaching God's word and
taking a stand. And look folks, when those
attacks came to us in the beginning of January,
I wasn't the only one that was being attacked.
Many of our church members were attacked as well.
Many of our church members were threatened
with death threats.
Marcos got a death threat yesterday.
Still
getting death threats. Why?
Cause they're trying to make you afraid.
So you can
stop doing the work
of God.
What do we do? Go to chapter 4
of Nehemiah, chapter 4.
Look what it says in verse 16, and it came to pass
from that time forth that the half of my servants
wrought in the work, and the other half of them
held both the spears, the shields, and the bows
and the Hibergians, and the rulers were
behind all the house of Judah.
They which build it on the
wall, and they that bear burdens
with those that laid it, everyone
with one of his hands wrought
in the work, and the other
held, excuse me, with the other
hand, held a weapon.
So what are we just doing? They're like putting the
concrete on the wall and they got a sword in the other hand.
Slab concrete,
slay an enemy.
They're just, they're doing both.
So how do we apply that spiritually?
We got to build the work,
go soul winning, preach the word of
God, and fight against the enemies of God
as well. We do both.
Okay.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
1 Corinthians
chapter 3. I'm going to read to you
from 2 Corinthians 11, 23.
It says, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a
fool. I am more, and labors more
abundant, and stripes above measure, and prisons
more frequent, and deaths off.
Of the Jews, five times
received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned, thrice I
suffered shipwreck,
a night and a day I have been in the deep,
and journeys often,
and perils of water, and perils
of robbers, and perils of mine
countrymen, and perils by the
heathen, and perils in the city
of Omani, and perils in the
wilderness, and perils in the sea,
and perils among false brethren,
and weariness, and painfulness,
and watchings often, and hunger, and thirst,
and fastings often,
and cold, and nakedness,
beside all those things that are without,
that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of all the churches. Could you say that maybe
Paul was a little stressed out from time to time?
He has all these
things coming from without, and then on top
of that he has the care of all the churches
because he was planting churches all over
the known world at that time, right?
He's doing a great work, but yet
he has all of these things that are
on his plate. And
why are these things happening to him on the
outside? Because they're trying to hinder
Paul from working because Paul's getting a lot
done.
Folks, this is why I was
almost jumped doing the
Omani mega marathon over in Santa Ana.
When they came to me
and tried to jump, hit them in the little
fag buddies, tried to come to me and
jump me in front of my wife and kids.
You
coward.
You little coward.
Folks, even people in the
hood know you never hit up another gang
if they have their wife and kids with them.
They get what's called a free pass.
Yet these
these disgusting, filthy,
cowardly people
hit me up
and I'm not even a gang member.
Before my wife
and three, my pregnant wife
and three children.
He said, why do they do that?
To try to get me to, oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean it against you guys.
This is all just a misunderstanding.
I'm sorry for the things that I've said.
I was immature and stupid in those days.
They wanted
me to Jeff Owens them.
They thought they could intimidate
me and
get me to just stand down. You said, what did you do?
I stood up.
What do you believe about gay people? I told him, you know what I believe
about gay people. I said, you know who I am.
You can't preach.
I'll preach wherever I want.
And you're not going to stop me, I told him.
In front of him and his buddies, you're not going to stop me.
I'll preach wherever I want.
He said, well, you can't preach or hate here.
Too late.
I said, there's 50 of us already out here
preaching God's word. You can't stop us.
So you got a problem with that?
Go call the police. Why do you got to get the police
involved? I'm not getting the police
involved. I'm telling you, you should go call the police if you think
what I'm doing is illegal.
And then this is what he did.
Started filming
me.
You like how I'm dressed or something?
What's up?
You need some views for your YouTube channel or what?
And that's what they did, is just try to intimidate
me, to try to get me to stop preaching,
apologize. No apologies.
He said, what did you say?
This is what I said.
I can say whatever I want.
I can preach whatever I want, whenever
I want, and no one's going to stop me.
I said,
come children.
Put them behind me, and we walked
away. And that was it.
He said, what was
Sam Ballot and Sabiah trying to do?
Trying to hinder the work of God?
Trying to tell me to calm down?
Strategy number three, and this is very important.
Cause we're talking about how
Satan has tried
and will continue to try to
attack our church. How will he do it?
By smiting the shepherd.
How will he do it by trying to hinder
the work of God? Through the reprobates.
Through wicked and unreasonable men.
Strategy number three
is actually a
strategy that is quite effective,
and I'll explain
to you why.
You see, when the shepherd is being
smitten, you guys
can see it.
You guys will run to my aid.
Right? I hope so, right?
Right?
I mean,
when we were going through that whole thing,
they were trying to smite the shepherd, and the men
stood up and defended him.
Right?
If the shepherd is smitten,
because the congregation loves the
pastor, and they know that the pastor loves
them, they're going to come to the aid of the
pastor. Something that can be visibly seen.
Hey,
when there's attacks from without,
that's easy to kind of fight against, because it's
very visible, we know what's going on.
Right.
But this last one is very
effective because of the fact that
church members do not see
this. This is like a blind
spot.
If you're driving in a vehicle,
and there's a massive
18-wheeler on your left hand side
behind you, like pretty far
behind you, you can see it. It's like, okay,
he's coming up. You can see whatever's in
front of you, but it's that little blind spot
where you can,
where you typically can't see.
If there's like a motorcycle there, a
small vehicle, if they can get into
that blind spot,
you're not going to be able to see it coming.
So what's strategy number
three? Carnal stripes and
divisions in the church.
It's when you
begin to fight
others in the church.
No.
What?
Me?
I'm not fighting with anybody in church. I'm just
bitter at someone in the church.
I don't have
problems with anybody in church. I just have a
problem with that person right there.
I don't have a problem with Jordan, okay.
He was just
at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Carnal
stripes and divisions.
And this is really the main reason why I wanted to preach
this sermon, because we're having family time right now.
Okay.
Let me say this, our church is great at
taking care of the pastor. And thank you for
that. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you
for taking care of my wife and my kids.
Thank you for defending me. Thank you for
standing up for me. Thank you
for fighting with me.
Our church is great standing up against
the reprobates.
I mean,
it's kind of fun.
We not only stand against the reprobates,
we do it with style.
We do it with savage glasses.
I mean, epically, just epically
doing it.
But here's one area you need to
work on.
Strives and divisions in the church.
Ephesians 4
1 says this,
you're in 1 Corinthians, stay there.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another,
and love, endeavoring to keep the
unity of the Spirit and the bond
of peace.
What does that mean?
You need to work on
keeping unity in the church.
Now let me just
disclaimer here. I'm not referring to
the new IFB right now.
Okay? Because look, this is what happens
sometimes when a pastor says this and it only pertains
to our church, or to our church,
they'll cut that little part. Oh, I agree
Pastor Mejia. All
kinds of division and strife's going on
and people don't seem to recognize it.
No, I'm not talking about, you know, Pastor Fritz
and all that stuff that's going on. And let me just say
this, let me just tell you where I stand in that regard.
I stand with Pastor Thompson,
I stand with Pastor Shelley, and I stand with Pastor
Jimenez and Pastor Anderson, and all my
Westside buddies, okay?
I stand with them.
Pastor Fritz was a great friend of mine,
but he's wrong.
The guy's wrong. He needs to apologize.
People need to take down those posts,
humble themselves, and get right, and stop
acting like that.
They get mad when they get called out and, you know,
they're throwing sucker punches for an entire
year, even against yours truly.
I don't fight
back. I let them say whatever they
want and all of a sudden, you know, they get
hit and now they're
freaking out or something.
It's like last Red Hot
Preaching Conference when I preached against the pastor
and the pastor called me and said,
yeah, I slapped you, but you body
slapped me.
I'm like, well, I mean,
you just admitted that you slapped me first.
The difference is, I don't slap
by double leg.
So, I mean,
and let me just say this, if you
don't, if you can't take it, then don't
dish it out.
If you can't take scrutiny,
then don't dish it out.
If you can't take the criticism, then don't
give it out.
So, I'm not referring to that strive
for division, okay.
You know, I stand with my friends
because I believe that they're wrong.
I believe that Pastor
Fritz is wrong on that, and he's
wrong. And you may differ
with me on that, and that's okay if you do.
I'm just telling you, the guy's wrong.
I mean, it's been clearly laid out, what was
said on Facebook, it's been
clearly laid out, what he said on YouTube
multiple times. People have
sent me videos of times when people
believe that he was criticizing yours truly.
You know what, a
year ago, a pastor friend said, hey,
he's like, it looks like he's criticizing you on this video.
And I'm like, no, he's not, and
I listen to him, I'm like, oh man, it kind of does sound like that.
You say, what did you do, did you just let it go?
I called him right then and there.
Cause that's the way I do it.
I say, hey, are you talking crap about me on this sermon?
That's literally what I said.
Hey, what's up? Hey,
quick question, are you talking crap about me on this sermon?
No.
He said, no, no, no, I was talking about
the people in my church.
I was like, are you sure?
He's like, yeah, I was like, alright, cause it kind of sounds like you're talking crap about me.
But if you say you're not, then I'll just believe you.
And I told my friend, I was like, I guess he's not.
But then you see that same pattern
over and over again taking place.
Anyways,
it's not the sermon.
But I want to say that because people,
oh yeah, you got these
bleeding hearts
who will hop on my channel,
my comments section and say,
oh yeah, pastor, I agree
100% about that point.
Visions and strives that are taking place.
It's ridiculous.
And let me just say this folks,
let me just get on this real quick.
You know it's a good way to see
who's side is the right side
sometimes. It sounds
almost foolish, but it's true.
Who are the kind of people that are
liking the post?
Right?
When you have like Joe Major
liking the post, oh snap, this is the
wrong side. Unlike,
unlike.
When you have these guys
who are like the enemies of the new
IP liking the post,
that should show you, look this is what you do.
You look at the post and say, where does this person stand?
Just click on the likes
so it drops down that list
and scroll through that.
If you start seeing
you know,
Joe Major, if you see Manly Perry,
you see Boyle on there,
you see Adam Fannin.
Just know this.
Oh man, this is not where I need to be.
Okay, so this is a wrong
you said you really judge it based on
yeah, because why do you think they're liking your post?
Cause it's
fomenting their agenda as well.
Cause they think you stand
where they stand. Well I don't stand where they stand.
Yeah, but what you're saying is perceived
as though it is.
I'm saying from all appearance of evil.
That's right.
I love the new IFB
folks. I love the new IFB
movement. I am a new IFB
pastor, unashamed
and no, it's not a movement filled with idiots
who don't have brain
cells and have no
compassion and love. That's a false statement
that's a false accusation.
I got a lot of love.
I'm very compassionate.
Right, I do.
Anyways,
carnal
strifes and divisions.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3 verse 1
and I brethren could not speak unto you as into spiritual
but as into carnal even as into babes
and Christ. I have fed you with
milk and not with me for hitherto you were not
able to bear it, neither yet now are you
able for ye are yet carnal
for whereas there is among you envying
and strife and division
excuse me are you
not carnal and walk as men?
What is Paul
dealing with here? He's dealing with carnal
Christians inside of a church who seem to
be fighting amongst each other.
Now look folks,
there's no way to avoid conflict
in a church. Why? Because
people are people and
personalities conflict
people say things that are offensive to one
another. It's going to happen.
Conflict resolution
is what's important.
Not avoiding
conflict resolution
going towards conflict resolution.
And let me just show you
how I deal with conflict.
If I hear that John is saying
something bad about me I don't go
to this guy
Maury and say hey I think John's
saying something bad about me. What I do
I go to John and say John are you talking crap about
me?
I heard you were saying this
is this true?
Why? Because that's the way it's supposed to be done.
And you know what if he says
yes I was because you were saying
stuff about my ties and stuff.
You were
saying that I wear ties from like the 70s
and 80s and I
tell him well it's true though.
And you know what
we hash it out
we apologize and we move on.
Now let me
explain something here okay.
And the reason I'm saying this is because within
recent weeks
things like this have been coming up a
lot.
A lot.
And at first I was just like oh it's just normal
but you know I started realizing oh wait we're still
in this cycle.
Smythe the shepherd last year.
Wicked and unreasonable
men the beginning of this year.
That's died down.
Divisions and stripes in the church.
Oh he's back at it again.
This one's easy to
pinpoint. And guys
don't you remember at the beginning of the year
I said hey just because the sodomites are not fighting
doesn't mean he's not going to attack. How many
remember me saying that? I said the battles are coming.
Yeah that's right
that's right yeah for sure yeah
glory to God.
And then it's just like then it comes
and no one notices it.
This is one fight
that Christians don't notice in the church
sometimes.
Why? Because it's in their blind spot.
You say well how
can I see it? Well I'm showing you right now.
I'm that little annoying
little sound in your Tesla
or whatever or new car
that's telling you that someone's in your blind spot.
I'm telling you
right now this is
a satanic attack on our church
trying to cause divisions and stripes in
our church to disband us
to cause disunity and thereby
hinder the work of God.
No but my point is valid though.
Yeah everyone's offense is valid.
You're not the exception to the rule folks.
Don't walk as men.
Walk as
spiritual.
Yeah but this person
keeps offending me. Well I'm sorry
I never read a verse in the Bible that says
that if you get offended
seven times seventy
then that's not valid.
No in fact it says that if a brother
offends you seventy times seventy you're supposed to forgive
him seven times seventy over
and over and over again and the last time I
checked when someone asks for forgiveness
then they get right with you.
You know what you're supposed to do? Let them live it
down.
I mean don't we have that standard for people who get thrown out
of the church and they come back
and they repent. They said I'm not
going to be a drunkard anymore. I'm not going to be a
fornicator. I'm not going to be an adulterer.
What do we do? Do we just keep bringing it up
over and over again?
If we forgive them
do we just say hey how's it going?
Are you still an adulterer? Remember that time you were an adulterer?
Remember the time you cheated
on your wife? Remember that time you fornicated?
You know I still haven't really gotten over that.
That's wicked folks.
Amen.
And let me make something
very clear okay.
Let me make something very very clear.
If the contention between you and the brother is so sharp
that you feel like you just cannot
even look at the person
talk to the person
you're angry with that person you're bitter against that person
and you feel like you can't move on
here is my counsel to you
my friend. You need to go find another church.
You say what? Why?
I just don't get along with that one person.
That one person is part of this church.
And that one person has done everything they could
to apologize to get it right
and if that's not good enough for you
then guess what this church is not good enough for you
you need to go somewhere else.
Because we're not going to sacrifice
our church as a whole
because of your bitterness
that can spoil a lot of people.
Folks Christians in our church should not be bitter
one against another.
There should be no bitter envying or strife
in our church. That will
destroy our church.
I promise you. You think it would be bad if the sodomites
were to infiltrate? It's worse
folks it would be worse
if our church began to fight each other.
Because then we don't have a leg to stand on.
There's no unity.
We can only win battles when there's unity.
And one of the most
painful things for me as a pastor
is to see Christians
not realize who the true enemy is.
It's painful for me to see that.
No it's this person. No it's Satan.
Who's making you think
it's this person. This person is your brother in Christ.
This person is going to be in heaven with you forever.
Satan is going to split hell wide open.
This person
is not your enemy.
You need to forgive
forget and let them
live it down.
And I mean
folks didn't I say
haven't I
said numerous times
in sermons haven't I told
you hey someone in our church
is going to offend you.
Didn't I say it?
You think I was joking
when I said that? You think I'm just saying it because I'm just
trying to fill up sermon content or something?
I've said
that so many times.
And when it happens it's just like
I can't believe this is happening.
I was like I told you
this is going to happen. What do you mean?
I tried to prepare you for this.
And if they offend you
forgive them let them live it down
move on
because this is the Christian way to do it.
And folks
don't judge people
based upon what you think
that they're thinking.
I mean do we have
thought polices in here or something?
Where
people are just like oh man I think
this person has this motive. You don't know that.
Folks
none
of you are psychics in here.
None of you are
Jedis.
None of you are eight
balls. The little
thing where you used to shake.
None of you.
No one is able to
determine what someone's motive is or what
their agenda might be.
All we know is what people say.
Well I think he's insincere.
I mean what tone do you want
to say it in?
It gets to a point of ridiculousness folks.
And
this is what we will not have in our church.
Listen to me very carefully. This is what
we will not have in our church. We will not
have such disunity
when now there's cliques in our church.
That happens at liberal
churches right? Where they literally
will have little cliques in the church
gossiping about one another.
Talking smack about one
another. Kind of having
their little powwow with one another.
Because this group of people can't
stand this wife.
These group of ladies can't stand this sister
in the church. These group of men can't stand
this guy in the church. So they have their little cliques
and their little powwows. That's called
causing division.
Listen to me.
I have no problem throwing
not just one, but even an entire clique
out of the church.
I have zero issue
taking a band of five, six men
who are cliquing up together
like a bunch of little ladies
gossiping
about another
individual who's already gotten that right. I will
throw you out.
Yeah, but don't you want the church to grow?
Nope.
Not at that expense.
Liberal churches,
they allow themselves to grow and have
gossiping people all the time.
Not here.
You say,
no cliques? Okay, one clique.
First works Baptist Church.
And that's it.
It's the only clique that exists here.
Let me say this.
When someone gets right
with you and they ask you to
forgive them and they get right,
and you go around
and continue to talk about it,
that's not you forgiving them.
Gossiping,
bringing it up and other conversations
with other people, that's called
tail bearing and being a gossiper.
Go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 12.
This is a strategy, folks.
If I'm talking to you this morning,
if you know that I'm talking to you,
I'm not mad at you.
I'm not upset at you.
You're not my enemy.
I'm trying to preserve
the church here.
But enough is enough, folks.
Enough is enough.
And let me just say this.
This is my last warning.
My last warning.
Because if I start seeing
cliques and people attacking and
devouring one another in our church,
you're out of here.
Well, then I'll start a YouTube channel
and I'll start...
Go for it. Promote my stuff.
Do it. I don't care.
Here in 1 Corinthians,
James chapter 3 says this,
Who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge
Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envying and strife
in your hearts, glory
not, and lie not
against the truth.
Did you get that?
If you have bitter envying and strife
in your hearts, don't glory
as if you're justified by having that.
The Bible says you're lying
against the truth.
This wisdom descendeth not from above
to this earthly, sensual, devilish
for envying and strife is
listen to this, there is confusion
and every
evil work.
You say, I was involved in that.
Was I involved in evil work?
Yeah.
I was involved in confusion? Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, that's what it says.
Pastor, you're offending me with this sermon.
How about that?
Cast me outside, how about that?
You're offending me with this sermon,
how about that? Well, here's the thing
I'm not offending you, the Bible is
because I'm reading from the Bible.
And they that sin
rebuke before all, the others may fear.
Look at 1 Corinthians 12, 14
For the body is not one
member, but many.
If the foot shall say, because I am not
the hand, I am not of the body, is it
therefore not of the body? Did you know you would
never say, hey ear, hey
hand, hey foot.
This thing
offends me every time. It doesn't throw
right, it doesn't right correctly.
You can't do that because it's all part
of the same body.
Well, I'm going to get along with my left hand,
I'm going to get along with my left
ear, my right ear, my right foot, I'm
getting along with the entire body. It's just that
hand,
just that one hand, I don't like that one hand.
It doesn't work that way.
Yeah, try chopping off your hand
and see how that works
off for you, right? All the members
are needed.
And if the ear shall say, because I am not
the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? If the whole body were an
eye, where were the hearing? If the
whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
But now have God sent the members,
every one of them in the body, as it had pleased
them, and if they were not,
and if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now
are they many members, yet but
one body. The eye
cannot say unto the hand, I have no need
of thee, nor again the head to the
feet, I have no need of you.
Nay, much more those members of the body,
which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.
And those members of the body which we
think to be less honorable, upon these we
bestow more abundant honor, and our
comely parts have more abundant
comeliness, for our comely parts have
no need, but God has tempered the body
together, having given more abundant
honor to that part, which lack.
Look what it says, that there be, that there
should be no schism
in the
body,
but that the members should have the same care
one for another.
What's a schism division?
God looks down at a local
church and says there should be no schism in this
body. No division.
Why?
Because everyone should have care
one for another.
Well, I like
him, I love him, I just don't like
him.
Well, that works
at some like
you know, secular realm or something
like that, but this is church.
Right?
Well, but aren't we supposed to live
peaceably with all men, as much
as lies within us? Yeah, people outside of our
church,
we expect you to automatically live peaceably
with those in your church, because
you came to this church because
the church is made up of people who believe
just like you. It's called
unity.
Right?
You're here because you like my
preaching, you agree with my preaching,
but not just that, you like
each other.
And if you feel like you can't like each
other, then you need to go
somewhere else.
After the service, you need
to come to me and say, Pastor
Mejia, I appreciate that sermon,
but I don't agree with it, I'm going to go ahead and head
somewhere else, and
I appreciate it forever. And look, if you came to me and
said that, if you literally came to me and said, hey
Pastor Mejia, you know, I
know what you're saying, and I appreciate your love for
the flock, I just don't agree with that, I'm
going to head out, I'm going to go to a different church.
I would not blast you for it, I would not
say, how dare you?
You know what I'll say?
Hey, thanks for coming,
I love you, I hope everything goes well for you,
and I'm thankful that you have the maturity to do
that. Because it's actually immature
for you to still feel
bitter towards other people in our church and remain in
our church.
It's wicked.
It's better for you to say,
you know what, I can't, I
still have this bitterness in my heart,
I need to go somewhere else.
I would say, brother, I hope you're
able to overcome that, I hope you
get that right in your heart, and you
know what, you might be right in your heart, but
being here around that individual
probably doesn't help that, so yeah, maybe you do have to go somewhere else.
I'll pray for you, I hope you succeed in your
Christian life, I love you,
we'll see you. I would
have more respect for that than for you to say,
well yeah, I get along with 99%
of the people in this church except for that 1%.
Not
respectable, not right.
Cause this is a local church where
people are supposed to have care for one another
and there should be no schism in
the body.
Last verse, Matthew chapter 12.
Matthew chapter 12.
I know I'm long winded today,
I know.
That's why we put the clock in the back,
so you can't see it.
Chris, why are you looking at the clock, Chris?
I'm almost done.
I'm confronting Chris.
I preach this out of love for you.
I am.
I'm not preaching this because it just
it sounds good, I'm preaching it because
of the fact that it burdens me as a pastor.
That there would be division
and strife in the church that people just can't
resolve.
We should be able to resolve these things.
And folks, let me just say this.
If you don't resolve this now,
you're going to be the demise of our church
for future battles.
You're going to be the demise of our church
for future battles.
We will not be able to effectively
battle the reprobates,
effectively battle the
attacks from without, if we're not
able to resolve the conflicts that are within.
It will
not happen.
Look, I would hope that at the end of the sermon
you think to yourself, I'm going to go
get right with someone right now then.
I'm going to go say, hey, I've been bitter
but I want to say that I forgive you for that
and I hope you would forgive me for being bitter
towards you and I want to be friends again
and put this behind me because there's a greater battle.
There's bigger fish to fry!
Stop focusing on
the little anchovies.
Go get a swordfish!
Why are you trying to catch the anchovies?
What's a big fish?
Okay, Moby Dick.
A whale?
Dang.
I regret asking Jacob that.
A whale!
Isn't a whale a mammal?
A whale's not a fish, right?
Is there a marine
biologist in here, in the house?
Sharks are the biggest. Sharks are actual fish.
A whale shark. That's what he meant, right?
The whale shark.
Good save.
Folks, forget the anchovies.
Go for the whale shark.
Why are you busy fighting
the little anchovies in the Christian life
when you can be going after something so much bigger?
Right?
Why are you fighting each other
when there's an actual enemy
that is actually devising
that strife and division
in your life? Think about that.
Have you ever thought about that Satan
has gotten one up on you?
That he's gotten in your blind spot?
Hey,
he that standeth take heed lest he
fall. It might be that you thought,
oh, we're taking a stand for God,
we're just standing, we're confident, and then
Satan goes, okay, you're not going to see this one coming.
That's the
strategy number three.
And look what it says in Matthew 12, verse 25.
Jesus knew their thoughts
and said unto them, every kingdom
divided against itself
is brought to desolation.
And every city
or house divided against
itself shall not stand.
If you're divided against
one another, we will not stand.
If this house is divided against
itself, we will not stand.
If this house is divided against itself,
it will not stand.
Not only will it not stand, it will be brought
to desolation.
So I'm preaching
this sermon just to let you know
either you fixed
the problem or I'm going to be forced to step
in and fix the problem
and you're not going to like the solution that I bring to the
table. Because I will not permit
for you to forgive someone
and continue
just not letting them live it
down, reminding them
gossiping, tale bearing, I will
put that to an end immediately.
Because there's more at
stake.
The church is at stake.
Don't be ignorant
of Satan's devices, folks.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for a great church, Lord.
And we're thankful for
great people and
Lord, I know even in my personal
life, I've been
gravely offended in times past
of people that wrong
me, but in order for
me to move forward in my Christian life, I
needed to let them live it down, to forgive
them, to not be bitter towards them
because there are bigger fish to fry.
There's bigger things to be done.
And I pray, God, that you would
touch the hearts of the people in our church, Lord,
through this sermon, that they would take it to heart
and not take it lightly.
This is something that can destroy our
church. Smiting the shepherd can
destroy the church. Yeah, attacks from
without can destroy it if
allowed to prosper.
But more than anything, it's the division within.
It's the implosion
that can really bring down the church.
And I pray, God, that you'd help us
to be understanding of that,
to humble ourselves before
you, Lord, to recognize
our faults, our sins,
and to let others live it down because
one day we're going to offend someone
and we're going to hope that they
show that same mercy that we expect
that we gave to others. And I pray that you'd
help us to do so. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Song number 19, there is a
fountain. Song number
19 there in your hymnals.
Song number 19.
That's our last song, song number 19.
Sing it on that first.
There is a fountain
filled with blood
drawn from
a man whose face
and
sinners clutch
beneath
that blood
lose all
their guilty
stains
lose all
their guilty
stains
lose all
their guilty
stains
and sinners
clutch beneath
that blood lose
all their guilty
stains
the dying
thief rejoices
to see
that fountain
in his
name
and there
may I
though
as he
wash all
my sins
away
wash all
my sins
away
wash all
my sins
away
and there
may I
wash all
my sins
away
dear dying
left
thy precious
blood shall
never lose
it
till all
the
ransomed church
of God be
saved to sin no more
be
saved to sin no
more
till all
the ransomed
church of God
be saved
to sin no
more
ere sins by faith
I saw
the stream
thy flowing roots
supply
redeeming
love has
been my
thief and shall be
till I die
and
shall be till
I die
and shall
be till I
die
redeeming
love has
been my thief
and shall be
till I die
then
in an
over sweeter
song I'll
sing thy power
to save
when this
poor little stream
stammering
top lies
silent in the
grave
lies silent
in the grave
lies
silent in the
grave
when this
poor little stream
stammering
top lies silent
in the grave
Amen. Let's sing
song number 24 as we wait for our baptisms.
Song number 24 and
can it be
song number 24
and can it be that I should gain an interest
in the Savior's blood
and we'll sing it on that first
on that first
sing it out
and can it
be
that I
should gain
an
interest
in the
Savior's
blood
who died
he for me
who
caused his
pain
for me
who hid
him till
death
pursued
amazing
love
how can
it be
that
thou
my God
should
die for me
amazing
love
how
can it
be
that
thou
my God
should die
for me
Alright we have a baptism
here. Brother Eric if you can play it lightly over
there tell us your name. David. David
have you trusted Jesus as your Savior? Yes I have.
Ok upon your public profession I'm going to
baptize you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
going to cross your arms over your chest
buried in the likeness of his death
raised to newness of life.
Congratulations.
Right here
right here.
Alright let's pray
and we'll be dismissed. Father we thank you so much
for a great day Lord we're thankful
for church and thankful
for great people and of course the baptism
I pray God that you bless us as we go
on our way Lord help us to give heed to the things
which we have heard lest at any time
we should let them slip Lord and I pray God that
you bless the remainder of our evening
our afternoon and evening and keep us
safe as we come back to church in Jesus
name we pray. Amen you are dismissed.