We thank you for giving us another day that we can come here to your house, hear the preaching
of your word.
Thank you for everything that we have here, every soul that's in the building this morning
Lord.
We ask that you please bless the service, please bless the singing that will be pleasing
to your ears Lord, that will prepare our hearts for the preaching.
Most importantly, please fill Pasadena with your spirit as he preaches unto us, and give
us ready ears in the congregation Lord, that we may leave here changed.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated, please turn your song books to song number 424, just one page over, song
number 424, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, song number 424, all together nice and strong on
that first verse, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, singing just a few announcements here, welcome
to First Works Baptist, if you did not get a bulletin go ahead and raise your hand, one
of the ushers can get one for you, some important information on there, of course welcome you
to come back to our Sunday evening service at 5pm and then our Thursday night Bible study
at 7 o'clock, we are a family integrated church and so infants and children stay with their
parents in the service, but for your convenience we do have mother baby rooms located throughout
the building should your child need some diversion of course changing tables, speakers and screens
are available there as well so you can still tune into the preaching and come back in at
your discretion if you want to know the location of those rooms you can ask one of our ushers
and they'll lead you to one, you see the so many times in teams listed there in the middle
the list of expecting mothers continue to pray for them and then we have the stats there
for salvations and baptisms great month in November of course as I mentioned we've already
hit our 2,000 goal for the year I think we got over 2,300 salvations for the year so
praise God for that finishing off the year strong on the right hand side is the upcoming
church events we switched our services so originally we're going to do Wednesday this
week to bring in the new year let's just go to bed early and start off church on January
1st in Bible study amen and so we're going to be doing the Bible study on Thursday January
1st and of course that's when we have our Thursday service open no more partying amen
you know now it's time to go to bed and lock in for the new year man's prayer night is
on Friday January 2nd meeting at 7 p.m. at the building and we will have dinner for all
the men who come craft meetup is on Sunday January 18th after the evening service and
then we have music training on Saturday January 24th please make sure you silence your phones
during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service at this time I'm going
to hand out some of the certificates for the Bible completion brother Alex maybe you can
play some background music there if I can get two ushers to come to the front help me
out with this let's go ahead and hold our applause until the end after giving out all
the certificates Natalia Bautista where she has she here Natalia Bautista okay how about
Violet Carrie Violet Carrie I know the Carries are right there go ahead and hand her that
Catherine Carrie brother Geo why don't you grab this one too same family there I think
they're not here Kyla Mejia these are the completion for successfully reading through
the New Testament in a year this is for the kids Lupe Sandoval I think she's not here
okay they're not here Bruce Mejia this is for the kids go ahead and hand that out in
the back there raise your hand nice and high come on brother Adrian run up run up run up
certificate for successfully reading through the Bible cover to cover my wife Sarah Mejia
Lucas is in Hawaii suffering for the Lord there Haleine Grossman right here Moongtav
Macian she's in the orchestra Miguel Miss Ashley Hauk is she here right there oh wait
wait wait and brother Cody Hauk of course you guys get a certificate and a gift card
brother Rick Caputo Sarah Franciaschini John Michael brother Connor Paye come on brother
Adrian come on come on he's over there he's over there raise your hand nice and
high brother cut let everyone know who you are
Christa Rosa Nicholas McEwen Nicholas McEwen there he is
Andres Rosa Andres he's over there a third guy let's get a third brother Paul
won't you come over real quick get your own certificates you all right
Joseph Rivas Leilani also suffering with Lucas in Hawaii for the Lord
Kelly Franciaschini Peyton Miller Kevin Gonzalez he's not here we got some more
here that's for the New Testament in a year and cover to cover in a year and
this is for successfully reading the Bible cover to cover twice in 2025
Christian Grossman JC Adriana Ochoa Marco Sanchez
Tornado not here for the Kofi for the Maury Lemons for the Gio Franciaschini
for this because it's actually for the Pauls for the Alex Brash here but not
least for the Paul let's get everyone a round of applause good job everyone
reading through the Bible through the New Testament reading through the Bible
once in a year and then twice keep playing for the Alex because we're gonna
hand out the Bible reading schedules for this year I want to challenge you more
than anything else you know the goal that you should have as a Christian is
to read through the Bible give attendance to reading to exhortation to
doctrine so the first thing we're gonna do is hand out the New Testament in a
year for the kids so kids raise your hand nice and high who has the New
Testaments or I'm sorry yeah the New Testament a year for the Geo go ahead and
hand those out there raise your hand if you want a Bible reading schedule for
reading the Bible cover to cover once cover to cover once raise your hand
adults if you want cover to cover once who has the once cover to cover once
brother Adrian the Ulysses why don't you help out brother Adrian there hand
those out cool sticker and a pen cover to cover in a year brother Ulysses is
going to be handing that out as well as brother Adrian not read Testament in a
year so this we have three levels we have the beginners intermediate and
advanced beginners New Testament intermediate is cover to cover in one
year and then the advance is two times in a year for the Mario cover to cover
in a year cover to cover in a year if you have not read the Bible cover to
cover in a year do it this year 2026 may that be your goal to do so make it a
habit of at least reading through the Bible once every year cover to cover in
a year this is cover to cover in a year okay who wants to do it two times in a
year two times in a year raise your hand oh come on this is going to help out
brother Cody for the twice in a year keep your hands nice and high if you
want twice in a year song leader brother John needs one right here brother Cody
forget the devotionals forget the commentaries definitely forget the Jewish
encyclopedias just read the Bible anybody else want the New Testament children
this is mainly for the children by the way an adult you need to get a cover to
cover once or twice any other children want the New Testament in a year their
new theme our new theme is advanced furthering the gospel building the
church advancing your Bible reading advancing your soul winning and your
church attendance advanced our or a farming is that that correct here
anybody else not get a schedule need one anybody else going once twice thrice
okay happy new year to you all is going to see our next song 433 away in a
manger number 433 strong on that first verse exodus chapter 14 it is chapter
number 14 exodus chapter number 14 exodus chapter 14 read the entire chapter
together as is our custom beginning in verse number one the Bible reads the
Lord spake unto Moses saying be good to the children of Israel that they turn in
a camp before Piah high roof between Migdal and the sea over against Baal
Ziphon before it shall ye encamp by the sea Pharaoh will save the children of
Israel they are entangled in the land the wilderness has shut them in that will
harden Pharaoh's heart that you shall follow after them and I'll be honored
upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the Egyptians may know that I am the
Lord and they did so and it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled and
the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people and they
said why have we done this we have let Israel go from serving us he made
ready his chariot and took his people with him he took 600 chosen chariots and
all the chariots of Egypt and captains over every one of them and the Lord
hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued after the children
of Israel and the children of Israel went out with an high hand but the
Egyptians pursued after them all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his
horsemen in his army and overtook them and camping by the sea beside Piah
Hiroth before Baal-Ziphon and when Pharaoh drew nigh the children of Israel
lifted up their eyes and behold the Egyptians marched after them and they
were sore afraid and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord and they
said unto Moses because there were no graves in Egypt has thou taken us away
to die in the wilderness wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us
forth out of Egypt is that is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt
saying let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians for it had been better for
us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness and Moses
said unto the people fear ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord
which he will show to you this day for the Egyptians whom you have seen today
you shall see them again no more forever the Lord shall fight for you and ye
shall hold your peace and the Lord said unto Moses wherefore cryest thou unto me
speaking to the children of Israel that they go forward lift thou up thy rod and
stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it and the children of Israel
shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea and I behold I will harden
the hearts of the Egyptians and they shall follow after them and I'll get me
honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts upon his chariots and upon his
horsemen and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten me
honor upon Pharaoh and upon his chariots and upon his horsemen an angel of God
which went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them and the
pillar of the cloud went before them went before their face and stood behind
them and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel and it
was a cloud and darkness to them but it gave light by night to these so that the
one came not near the other all the night and Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all
that night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided and the children
of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground and the waters were
a wall unto them on the right hand and on their left and the Egyptians pursued
and went in after them to the midst of the sea even all pharaohs,
horses, his chariots, and his horsemen and came to pass that in the morning
watch the Lord looked under the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of the
fire and of the cloud and troubled the host of the Egyptians and took off their
chariot wheels that they drove them heavily so the Egyptians said let us
flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fighteth for them against the
Egyptians and the Lord said unto Moses stretch out that hand over the sea that
the waters may come again upon the Egyptians upon their chariots and upon
their horsemen and Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea and the sea
returned to his strength in the morning appeared and the Egyptians fled against
it and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea and the waters
returning covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh
that came into the sea after them that remained not so much as one of them but
the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea and the
waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and on their left thus the
Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the
Egyptians dead upon the seashore and Israel saw that great work which the
Lord did upon the Egyptians and the people feared the Lord and believed the
Lord and his servant Moses. Let's pray dear Lord God thank you again for all
that you blessed us with and which I said you would fill a past from here with
your Holy Spirit now as he preaches and in Jesus name we pray amen. Amen. Okay we're in
Exodus chapter 14 this morning. The time of my sermon today is the Exodus of the
year the Exodus of the year Exodus 14 and verse 15 says and the Lord said
unto Moses wherefore cryest thou unto me speaking to the children of Israel that
they go for that they go forward this morning I want to preach through the
literal Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt and as we ourselves Exodus
out of 2025 and going to 2026 I want to share some of the principles that we can
learn from Exodus 14 that we can apply going into the new year of course at
this point the children of Israel have been in Egypt for 430 years they cry
into the Lord to be delivered out of the hand of Pharaoh and God delivers them by
a strong hand right he performs many miracles in fact after the tenth plague
we see that Pharaoh finally decides to release the children of Israel but then
God hardens his heart and Pharaoh decides to pursue them into the
wilderness to kill them and this is essentially the final blow that God
applies to Pharaoh in his army to show himself strong on the behalf of the
children of Israel and this morning i just want to go through some of the
principles that we can learn from this particular chapter
from the exodus the crossing of the red sea and how we can apply to ourselves
today going into the new year first and foremost let me start by saying that
dead ends doesn't mean it's the end dead ends
doesn't mean that it's the end look at verse 1 of exodus 14
it says the lord speaking to moses saying speaking to the children of israel
that they turn and encamp before pyah high wrath between migdal in the sea
over against baal zephan before it shall ye camp by the sea
for pharaoh will say of the children of israel they are entangled in the land
and i want you to notice this the wilderness had shut
them in and of course pharaoh is basically saying
there's nowhere to go they've hit a dead end there's nowhere else for them to run
we're going to be able to catch them we're going to be able to destroy them
we're going to be able to kill them because of the fact that they are
essentially right before the red sea they can't cross over
they're essentially done with we can capture them we can destroy them
and one thing that we can learn from this particular point here is the fact
that the children of israel did reach a dead end
they can't cross over the red sea except for by supernatural means right
and the point that i want to make here is that you know you might have
experienced a dead end in 2025 maybe in your
marriage you think to yourself man there's only so much i can do in my
marriage i feel like it's not improving it's not getting better i've reached a
dead end i've reached a dead end with my child
rearing maybe in homeschooling it's become a dead end to me
you know at your job i'm at a dead end with my relationships
i'm at a dead end spiritual disciplines i'm at a dead end i feel like i can't
overcome this particular sin i've reached a dead end but let me just
remind you just like with the children of israel
dead ends doesn't necessarily mean it's the end it means that god wants to show
himself strong on your behalf he wants to make up the difference and
god is going to work something great in your life of course
assuming that you're staying in church you're reading the bible
you're obeying the lord you are keeping god's commandments
god will show himself strong on your behalf in the new year
and you know maybe you've experienced some failures in this past year right
and when we say failures what do we mean you know maybe you got involved in sin
you got involved in the sin of fornication maybe you got involved in the
sin of drunkenness maybe you just got involved in any type of
sin that would take you out of church get you out of the will of god cause
god to be against you and you think to yourself i feel like i
hit a dead end you know when it comes to my spiritual life my spiritual walk
or how about this maybe you hit a dead end because of the fact that you've
committed a sin of omission you know there's the sin of commission
and then there's the sin of omission what is the sin of commission when you
commit sin when you commit fornication you commit
drunkenness you commit railing you commit uh you know whatever sin the
bible talks about the transgressions of the law
but then you have the sins of omission meaning you committed a sin by omitting
spiritual disciplines in your life you you haven't been in church as much as
you should be that's a sin of omission right you haven't read your bible as
much as you should have that's called the sin of omission when
you omit spiritual disciplines from your life
that's considered sin as well because the bible tells us he that knoweth to do
good and doeth it not to him and his sin the bible says
and so it's not enough that we keep sin out of our lives we need to make sure
that we also apply spiritual disciplines as well now obviously there's instances
within the year where you know you're
projectile vomiting don't come to church you know what i mean
do us a favor and stay home amen you know maybe you
are carrying some sort of bacterial disease that will be infectious to us
all and will get us all out of church for
about four to six weeks you know don't come to church you know that
that's the principle that you got to learn for the new year okay you know if
you project out vomiting if you're running 105 fever do us a favor
stay home you know i want to be able to preach all
every single sunday every single thursday you know i want my kids to be
able to be in church as well point that i'm making here is that maybe
you feel like you hit a dead end you know maybe you're new here and you're
like i feel like i did it i hit a dead end when it comes to my church
i haven't really grown in my church and i'm not talking about this church
i'm talking about maybe you were attending a different church and you
feel like you hit a dead end doctrinally spiritually you're not
really learning much you're not really being challenged you
haven't really improved as a christian you think to yourself i've hit a dead
end well no you haven't because now you have this church
okay you know oh man i feel like i just have nowhere else to go
i haven't grown in my spiritual walk i haven't learned anything new
i hit a dead end when it comes to my christian life a dead end doesn't always
mean a dead end it means that god's going to show himself strong
on your behalf you know the bible tells us there is no temptation taking you
but such as is common to man and it goes on to say but god is faithful
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with
the temptation also make a way to escape you think
to yourself oh man i've just been so entangled with this
specific sin and i struggle with it every single year
i feel like this year is going to be the same exact thing you know i'm going to
be entangled again with this particular vice
with this particular sin well the bible says that there is no temptation taking
you but such as is common to man god will make a way to escape so that
you can bear it the bible says and quite frankly you know here here's
some advice for you for the new year when it comes to
combating sin first and foremost in 2026 get yourself out of the presence of that
sin you know if you struggle with drinking alcohol maybe you shouldn't go
to the bar right if you struggle with smoking weed
maybe you should get away from people who smoke weed if you struggle
with fornication here's an idea stop spending so much time alone with the
opposite sex and maybe that will help you and aid you
to live in sanctification and honor to keep your vessel and not get to abstain
from fornication and to do that which is pleasing unto
the lord a lot of times we struggle with certain sins and bad
habits because we place ourselves in that presence of that temptation
every single time folks you know if i struggle with ho-hos
you know if i struggle with with with cupcakes and ho-hos
and i do you know what i remove that temptation
from my household why because of the fact that the bible
strictly commands me not to be in the presence of that particular sin and
temptation you're more likely to give into that
when you're in the presence of you say well i don't have that in my home
but you know what i do struggle with is on my way to
home from work you know i always pass by that specific restaurant
all right well take a different route amen the point that i'm making here
is that if you're struggling if you struggle committing these sins
in 2025 you know work at keeping yourself away from that temptation maybe
how about this how about memorizing some scripture in the new year
right regarding that particular sin you know the the bible tells us shall we
continue in sin that grace may abound god forbid how shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein and so the bible
explicitly tells us that we need to put the scriptures in our hearts
to meditate upon these things or you know you're like well you know i
haven't really struggled with sin but i have struggled
to keep spiritual disciplines though like i don't really read my bible
okay how about this delete your social media for a while because you scroll
enough to read the whole bible you spend enough time on social media to
read through the bible twice you can receive one of these certificates
at the end of the year if you do that you know you want you read enough x
posts to read through the bible three or four times if you could
you know you how about this just go to bed on time amen
instead of doom scrolling and bed rotting just watching reels and watching
this that and the other why don't you actually invest some time into getting
some sleep so that when you wake up in the morning
your mind is fresh and you can read the word of god you can walk in the spirit
and now fulfill the lust of the flesh these are practical things my friends you
know sometimes it's not a dead end it's just that you just develop bad
habits okay i just don't have the energy though to
maintain these spiritual disciplines okay hit the gym you know get some
vitamin some vitamins in your system get some
meat in your system we got a gym here you can hit every single
sunday if you want and thursday or if you have your own gym membership
get your rear end to the gym start working out get yourself some more
energy so you can have the sufficient desire and energy to
read the word of god when you have to we want to be able to approach the new
year approaching our bibles with a clear mind
strengthen our hearts focus on our minds focusing on our spiritual disciplines
sometimes it's not a matter of hitting a dead end sometimes it's just a matter
of bad habits right doom scrolling spending too much time
on social media having the wrong people around you
you know he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools
shall be destroyed the bible says you know what let me challenge you this year
as christians to make some new friends right
you know sometimes your success is based upon just the people you're around
and you know a lot of times the people you're around if they're not in church
they're not reading the bible they're not doing that which is pleasing in the
eyes of the lord guess what you're not going to either
that's just a that's just the honest truth and so dead end doesn't really
mean dead end it means that god has to show himself
strong on your behalf and quite frankly the reason
the children of israel met a dead end in the wilderness before the crossing of
the red sea is that so that no flesh should glory in
his presence so they can seek after the lord
and god can show himself strong on our behalf the bible says for a great and
effectual door is open unto me and there are many adversaries just
because there is a block just because there's a door doesn't
mean it's not going to open and just because it opens doesn't mean
there's not going to be any challenges on the other side we have to recognize
that just life is filled with challenges the bible says in psalm 66
and verse 10 for thou oh god has proved us
thou has tried us as silver is tried thou brought us us into the net thou
latest afflictions upon our loins thou has caused men to ride over our
heads we went through fire and through water
but thou brought us us out into a wealthy place we see the children of
israel reaching the end of the wilderness
prior to the red sea and they've reached the dead end look at
verse number four the next point that i want to make here is
that god allows us to succeed to fulfill a greater purpose okay
obviously god wants to deliver the children of israel right
he wants to save them he wants to deliver them but let me just be real
honest with you he also wants to destroy pharaoh in his in his army
okay you know let me just be real frank with you
you know god is all about killing two birds with one stone
he's going to save the children of israel but he also wants to destroy
pharaoh in his army and he wants to do it in the most epic way
okay so that people the surrounding nations
hear about it and they fear god because of it look at verse four he says and i
will harden pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them and i
will be honored upon pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the egyptians may
know that i am the lord and they did so so we see that the
children of israel leave egypt and god begins to harden the
heart of pharaoh and he says there i'm hardening his heart so
that he'll follow after you guys and he'll die
that's what he's talking about okay and he says i will be honored
upon pharaoh so obviously pharaoh is abstaining from
honoring god well god's just going to take honor from him
in one way or another right look at verse five and it was told the king
of egypt that the people fled in the heart of pharaoh
and of his servants was turned against the people and they said why have we
done this we have let israel go from serving us
and he made ready his chariot took his people with him
and he took 600 chosen chariots and all the chariots of egypt
and the captains over every one of them and the lord hardened the heart of pharaoh
king of egypt and he pursued after the children of
israel and the children of israel went out with a high hand
but the egyptians pursued after them all the horses and chariots of pharaoh
and his horsemen and his army and overtook them in camping by the sea and
so forth what do we see here we see that yes god
wants to deliver the children of israel but he also wants to destroy
pharaoh how do we what principle can we extrapolate from this
you know maybe you actually had a good year in 2025
right maybe you're not the person who failed
maybe you read through your bible maybe you got sin out of your life you found
a good church you succeeded spiritually you know
you're not the main character let me just remind you about that you
know you're like oh man i've seen god bless me so much
great but you know what he's doing it for a greater purpose though and let me
just be real frank with you you're just a small part
in the overall picture a lot of times christians have this main character
syndrome mentality where they think they're like in a movie
and they think they're the the main star of the movie it's all about them and
their success and what they're doing no i hate to break it to you no i don't
hate to break it to you you know at the end of the day jesus christ
is the main character and we are all side characters
in this movie right we are all extras in the movie we all have a role to
play and we are not the main character christianity
today is all about making you the main character
it's all about oh man it's all about you it's all about how god can make you
happy how he can bless you but what they
don't realize is the fact that if god blesses us
if he allows us to be successful it's so that we can bless others
it's so that we can be apt to preach the gospel to other people
you know if god brought you to this church it's not just so you can learn a
lot of bible it's so you can expound a lot of bible too
you know if god brought you to this church it's because he wants you to learn
how to preach the gospel he wants you to learn the bible he wants
you to learn to live a godly life because the bible says that god
wants you to be sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared
into every good work now look folks if you've learned the bible
but you're not working the bible you know you're kind of useless as a
christian can i just be frank with you if you've just learned the bible you
know the gospel you know the right doctrine but you're not doing anything
with it you're useless according to the word of god
why because god blesses us financially he blesses us spiritually he blesses us
physically not so we just consume it upon our own lust
but rather so we can be a blessing to others and let me just remind you the
greatest way for you to bless someone else
is by preaching the gospel to every creature learning
how to get other people saved that is let me just say this
a lost art in churches today that's not something that's emphasized
it's something that's talked about on a surface level oh we got to preach to
the gospel yeah but show me how to do it what does that mean exactly
well it means just living a godly life letting your light so shine wrong
answer the right answer is to open your mouth
boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel this is what the bible says
right the answer is you have to learn how to systematically
present the gospel to other people so that they in faith call upon the name of
the lord and get saved that's what the bible says right
and so you know have you succeeded this year spiritually
great thumbs up here's your certificate now go and do something with it
now go bring people to church or go with your soul winning team in our church to
go and preach the gospel to complete strangers
learn how to communicate the gospel so that you can win strangers to christ you
can win your family to christ you can win your friends to christ you can win
your neighbors to christ you can preach the gospel at any given
moment success in our lives is given to us with the intent
for us to fulfill a greater purpose and let me just remind you
you know one day we're all going to die and we will be forgotten here
but you know one thing that will always continue to go forward is christ and the
work of god so just do your part don't try to be the main
character don't try to be this person who it's just all about you it's all
about your success it's all about your gains it's all about
your aura you know it's all about the aura of christ amen
he's the most important person we need to exalt christ
and we need to make sure that we recognize that whatever success we
experience this year is for christ to enable us to do
greater works in 2026 and let me just remind you some
of the things that we've done this year i mean 2300 salvations is fantastic
okay and you know you have a lot of people out there who say oh man you guys
count salvations what you don't how do you not count salvations when
the bible counted salvations you know acts chapter 2 3000 salvations
you know later on 5000 salvations how do you
how do you succeed without measuring success you know it's great
you know one of my pastor friends got up this morning and preached about
some of the great exploits that the churches have done and collectively the
churches that we associate with got about 30 000 salvations this year
with missions work soul winning in the states soul winning abroad
getting the work done 30 000 salvations
and here's what the critics will say yeah but where are they though
i don't know at their home you know sleeping i would
we don't we don't you put a tracking device on them or something like that
you know it's just like yeah but what about
discipling them well it's their job to get into a bible believing church
right we can't coddle people into coming to church
they need to make the effort to come into church and learn the word of god
themselves right i don't remember jesus just
doing this extensive follower program to the people he led to christ
he told them follow me people have to make a conservative effort
to get into church to learn the bible and then we'll invest in them
then we will teach them the bible then we will train them
but they need to make the effort to come into church and you know what
no smoke or purple lights needed like oh we need to make this visitor
friendly sorry you know we got this orange light here but that's as far as
we'll go right there you know what i mean
you know we're not going to get the purple lights we're not going to get the
background singers we're not going to get the drums we're not going to get the
worldly music we're not going to get all the screens or whatever because what
you do to get them you got to do to keep them
you know what we need to do to get people is preach the word of god that's
what we got to do we got to preach the unfiltered word of
god tell people what the bible actually says
and help people to develop an appetite for actual preaching
for the truth right and so it's important for us to realize that
hey you know we got 30 000 salvations collectively with all the churches that
we associate with we've seen ton of baptisms this year
we're going to have some baptisms today and you know
our services have increased in attendance people have been led into
righteousness they've got right with god they've repented of their
sins how about this new soul winners have been raised up in our
church meaning that people who just got saved
they got baptized they took a couple months to learn how to do soul winning
and now they're reaching people for christ they've gone to the mission field
to reach people for christ i mean this is great amen look folks let me
just say this as well is that if you're in our church you should
always be progressing okay now i'm not saying you have to progress
leaps and bounds some people do some people just like they don't test the
waters with their toes they just jump right in
and they they experience success three to six months into their christian life
here at first works baptist church you know other people take a little
longer right and there's nothing wrong with that
you got to pace yourself you got to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our
lord and savior jesus christ but here's the main point you need to progress
somehow though and here's the problem is if you regress
that becomes an issue there's nothing wrong with being patient with people who
progress little by little whether progress maybe a
little slower than others maybe they're pacing themselves in their
spiritual walk but there is a major problem when people
begin to regress what does that mean they don't come to church as much they
don't read their bible anymore or how about this at one time you were a
preacher of the gospel you no longer are you know that's a problem that's showing
regression in your christian life and you know what if you're adopting some
sort of philosophy where you feel like you don't need to do those things
show me show me from the bible because that's called regression and in fact
from a biblical perspective that's called being backslidden right now again
obviously there's seasons where we have to put it in the first gear we can't
keep it in fourth gear we can't go as sowning as much as we
we we used to but maybe you can go every once in a while maybe you could go once
a week maybe you could go bi-weekly maybe you could go bi-monthly
maybe you don't go sowning as much but do something right
don't regress in your christian life be like are you preaching against me i'm
preaching against all of you because i'm trying to challenge you to
experience success in 2026 and it won't happen by me coddling you
and telling you god's okay with that he's fine with you
regressing you know no one's perfect we know that
no one's perfect but you could be not perfect and still progress okay and
look this is what i like about the new year
i think the new year is great i think new year's resolutions are great why
because it kind of gives you an opportunity to hit a reset button
you know maybe it gives you a reset button to come sunday night maybe gives
you a reset button to start coming on thursday
for genesis because we're starting genesis on thursdays
maybe you need a reset button to say you know i just need to be in church
i haven't really been in church i haven't church hasn't been really a big
thing for me as a christian i want to start coming to church or
maybe you just need a reset button of just
going out so many on a regular basis and there's nothing wrong
with you coming to one of us and say you know what i have regressed in that area
i need help getting back on track or maybe you just
you're just blowing through all those spiritual disciplines but you gained a
little weight over a christmas you know season and you're like you know what i
think i need to go on a cut pastor i need to go on a deficit i need to
start hitting the gym let's do it let's go on a deficit let's start
hitting the gym let's start making lifting part and i'm preaching to
myself too by the way i never stopped i never stopped i just you know put it in
first gear right but now it's time to put it in fourth gear
okay you know i i want you to succeed spiritually but i also want you to do
well physically too though okay why because they're kind of intertwined
all right brother at least you need to turn off the ac you know they're kind of
intertwined they have one to do with another and if
you don't prosper physically you're going to be a lazy christian you're not
going to have the desire to read the bible
to go sewing to to fulfill your spiritual disciplines
and look here we make it as easy as possible i mean you can literally just
go lift after our sunny morning service go do a couple reps you could do some
squats some deadlifts we got dumbbells everything you need is right there
the only thing we don't have is a treadmill because the wicked flee with
no man pursuit with amen i'm just kidding for those of you who
were offended at that point that i'm making here is that
god will allow you to succeed but it's always for a greater purpose i want our
church to succeed but obviously know that it's for a greater purpose
it's not about first works baptist church it's not about pastor mehia it's
not about you it's about glorifying the lord jesus christ
okay all things work together for good to them that love god to them who are
the called according to his purpose and you need
to have this mentality that whatever success or failure you experienced this
last year it's with the purpose to give you
experience to give you hope it's to teach you something you know
what experience is great but not everyone actually learns
experience from their failures let's just be honest
some people have to go through the same trials over and over again they have to
experience the same failures over and over again
because they're not learning from the experience
okay we need to make sure we do so look at exodus chapter 14
here's my next point uh don't exaggerate when it seems all is lost
if you had a bad year don't exaggerate what i mean look at verse 10 it says when
pharaoh drew nigh the children of israel lifted up their eyes
and behold the egyptians marched after them and they were sore afraid
and the children of israel cried out unto the lord and they said unto moses
because there was no graves in egypt has thou taken us away to die in the
wilderness wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us
to carry us forth out of egypt is not this the word that we did
tell thee in egypt saying let us alone that we may serve the egyptians for it
had been better for us to serve the egyptians
than we should die in the wilderness what are they doing
exaggerating they literally just got finishing all the miracles
10 plagues the tenth one being the most craziest of all
god literally performed all these supernatural feats and miracles
and all of a sudden it's just like we should have just died in egypt
why did you bring us out here why are you why are you trying to kill us
it would have been better for us to just serve in egypt stop exaggerating when
you hit a challenge let me just tell you you will have some
challenges in the new year don't exaggerate don't just quit on god
if that faint in the day of adversity that strength is small
just because someone offends you just because the preaching
offends you just because you know you lose your job
just because you know you can't pay the bills just because
you're going through a small trial i'm not trying to downplay what you're
going through but don't exaggerate though you know why because at the end
of the day god's on your side god's on your side you know we need a
little bit of pressure in our lives we need a little stress in our lives some
people can't handle stress to get a little trial oh i gotta get out of
church i can't do this anymore what do you mean you need church that
much the more you go through a little trial a little difficulty a little
financial woe all of a sudden you stop reading your bible why
folks don't exaggerate when you're going through a hard time
press through that hard time go through it read the bible
stay in church walk with god make sure you live like a christian while you're
going through that trial don't exaggerate don't be like the children of
israel oh man we're just gonna die out here i
can't believe you brought us out to just die out here we should have just
been in egypt serve pharaoh we should have just
don't exaggerate your trials we're not downplaying you're going through a hard
time but you know what you exaggerating your
trials is going to cause you to want to quit to throw in the towel
okay and look this generation more than anyone
needs to hear that because this younger generation is weak
they're so weak they're so sensitive they're so touchy
you know you can't make any kind of racist jokes you can't take any type of
hard preaching you can't hear about any type of sin
you just you're just a little safe space you you can't experience any pressure
whatsoever you can't experience any criticism at
the slight moment of criticism it's just like oh he just doesn't love me anymore
what are you talking about open rebuke is better than secret love
we need to learn how to be tough emotionally
spiritually yes and even physically as well you know you're going to be
experiencing some pressures this coming year
and you know if you're a weakling of a christian let me just be frank with you
you will get out of church trials in our life are meant to strengthen us
pain is good for us you know a little hurt a little pain
never did anyone any wrong it's important for us to feel
you know a little depression never hurt anybody okay you know we live in a world
like oh i'm depressed i need to get medicated
oh i'm feeling a little discouraged i got a little anxiety i need some
you know something to take off the edge or something like that now how about how
about you pray and by the way you know if you experience
just a season of depression instead of going to alcohol instead of
fornicating instead of bed rotting why don't you
read the bible why don't you control take that opportunity
to rule over your own spirit take it as a window of opportunity
to become better and look we live in a society where you know the society is
just like all depression is wrong not according to the bible it isn't
sometimes we need to get a little depressed we need to mourn a little bit
why because god is nine to those who are of a contrite spirit that's what the
bible says you say do you ever get depressed of
course who doesn't life's depressing sometimes let's just be honest
right can i get a witness life is a little depressing
but i'm not going to suck my thumb and just sleep in all day
or play video games because i don't own any video games and just better on or
whatever you know what i'm going to do i'm going to read the bible i'm going to
read the psalms i'm going to lift and i'm going to continue
to conduct business as usual why because this soon shall pass this
soon shall pass life is just you experience seasons like
that oh you're discouraged you know what tough just get over it who
doesn't get discouraged every once in a while you know what the bible says
encourage yourself in the lord like god is still good i have salvation
i have the bible i have church i got people that love me
i got love in my heart for people life is good encourage yourself in the lord
ask the lord for the joy of your salvation amen
point that i'm making here is that when you go through a difficult time don't
exaggerate and you know we all have the right to
have a bad day every once in a while right whereas
just like you're just having a bad day maybe you end up kicking your dog or
something like that and you yell at your kids or something
you know whatever you know you complain about
dinner you know you just have a bad day but you know what don't wear emotions on
your sleeve the entire week though because at the end of the day we got the
spirit of God dwelling within us we need to learn how to handle stress
pain discouragement depression we need to be an example
and at the end of the day you know our worst day here
is still a lost person's best day don't exaggerate when it seems all is lost
it's important for us to recognize how good God has been to us
and you know the children of Israel are fearing right they're afraid
they're afraid of what's going to happen you know the Bible says the fear of the
Lord bringeth the snare don't be afraid of this new year don't
be afraid of new challenges if you lose your job don't be afraid
you'll get a new one if you get an injury don't be afraid you'll recover
if you fail don't be afraid you'll succeed later on don't fear
why because it brings the snare it can cause you it can impede you from trusting
the Lord in the future look at verse 13 it says
that Moses said unto the people fear ye not stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord which he will show you today for the
Egyptians whom you have seen today he shall see them again no more forever
and I want you to notice this the Lord shall fight for you
and ye shall hold your peace so they're complaining they're exaggerating
they're afraid and what does God say I'm going to
make up the difference I'm going to fight for you
right and it says ye shall hold your peace now what does that mean it means
you'll shut up hold your peace is just the old way of
saying you'll shut up okay because you know and God's like I'm
going to like show myself strong on your behalf
and then you're going to shut up after that okay now God is very gracious to
the children of Israel he's being very merciful to them
you know because even though they're complaining he's still going to deliver
them how about we just don't murmur and
complain let God show himself strong on our behalf
without murmuring and complaining right he says he
will fight for you that means that God makes up the difference
when we go through a tough time when we put in the effort to obey God
he ends up making up the difference so here's the thing here's some advice you
know if you lose your job or maybe you've lost your job
go look for a new job go look for five new jobs
and you're like oh man I just haven't found anything if you go look
God will make up the difference and he'll show himself strong on your behalf
you know I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging bread that's
what David said like how am I going to pay the bills
through God just as long as you're not playing Xbox for the first
eight hours of the day you're actually looking for a job you know God will show
him so strong on your behalf don't say you're you're like oh man
God's not going to show himself strong on my behalf
I haven't seen anything yeah but you're not looking for a job until like one
o'clock in the afternoon though you're waking up late and playing
video games for a couple hours and then you're looking for a job
that's not you obeying the lord that's not you seeking after
the hand of god that's called laziness and slothfulness
god makes up the difference but we obviously have to do our part and one
thing you'll notice is that when he shows when he shows himself strong on
our behalf we end up holding our peace like oh well
you shut me up god ended up paying my bills he ended up
helping me recover this year i ended up doing better and now i'm
embarrassed that i complained so much at the beginning
he says the lord verse 15 said into moses wherefore quiet silent to me
speak unto the children of israel that they go forward so you know the lord's
kind of frustrated with moses he's like why are you talking to me for
tell the children of israel to go forward tell them to stop complaining
and go forward don't murmur to me instruct them to go forward
he says but lift out up thy rod stretch out thine hand over the sea
and divide it and the children of israel shall go on dry ground
through the midst of the sea so obviously god performs
a very supernatural miracle here by parting the sea
and i want you to notice that it says that they go on dry ground what does
this mean it means that god makes the way plain
when we obey him right you know a lot of times this year maybe there's people
who think to themselves man this year was so complicated for me
i was just confused i didn't really know what to do
i've had all these relationship problems i've had church issues
i've just been confused about doctrine i've been confused about what's right
and what's wrong but one thing you'll notice is that when
you actually obey the lord you obey the instructions of moses what
happens god makes the way plain for you there's
no longer confusion now let's let's hit this at the most basic
level you know there's people out there that are confused about salvation
right it's just like oh there's so much on the internet out there
about salvation how do we know who's right well let me help you out
catholics orthodox automatically out the window that was easy
yeah but they got the most followers oh hold on a second broad is the way to
lead it to destruction and many there be which go in their app
you know there's gonna be more people in hell than they're gonna be people in
heaven that's what the bible says so if you're
confused about salvation let me let me help you out first
let's just cut off that false section of christianity called
catholicism and orthodoxy and now you you you'll lessen your
confusion about salvation okay now let's just go to what the bible
says because that's that's what's really important
what does the bible actually say what's what saved the scripture
that's what's important right because you know for a lot of people all they
see is just a sea of different doctrines they're tossed to
and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the sleight of men cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to
deceive and they don't really know what to think
right but when the rod of god hits the ground
you know what happens salvation is clearly explained parting of the red sea
people the way of salvation is made plain and
what is the rod the lord jesus christ the bible says he that believeth on the
sun hath everlasting life he that believeth not the sun
shall not see life but the wrath of god abideth on him that's
i mean my five-year-old can understand that verse my five-year-old can
understand a concept about salvation that those
who have two thousand years worth of church history can't even understand
just believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved the death bearer
and resurrection of jesus christ is sufficient to save you
and let me just remind you salvation cannot be lost
oh what if you murder well here's the thing he that keep it the whole law i
get offended one point he's guilty of all
so even though you've just lied but you've never murdered according
according to god's standard if you've lied you might as well have
just broken all the commandments because any sin will take you to hell
therefore the sacrifice of jesus christ is needed
to take care of all sins past present and future
and let me remind you that jesus said i give into them eternal life
and they shall never perish neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand yeah but you can leave it any man
yeah but you can give the gift back any man no
not not a single person can remove you from salvation not even yourself
and quite frankly i've never met someone who says i don't want salvation anymore
that's like a weird concept yeah but you can give salvation back who would want
to give salvation back i'll sell the bill of goods you don't want to refund
i've never met anybody who got saved and said i wish i just wasn't saved
that's a made-up concept by people who are not saved right
it doesn't exist it's such an absurd hypothetical because i've
i've been in the ministry for close to 18 years and i've never met a single
saved person that says man this sucks being saved but i'm sealed
i try to give it back you know i try to go apostate but i just can't or
something you know it just won't happen it doesn't exist for
by grace are you saved and that not of yourselves it is the
gift of god not of works that any man should boast
you what about two thousand years worth of church history whoever wrote the two
thousand years worth of church history and and spoke out against eternal
security they're in hell right now yeah but when did your church start eight
years ago and yet i seem to know more bible than two thousand years worth of
church history who contradicts the bible that's why
it's important for us to have the bible as our final authority
not some dead dude who people can just misconstrue what they say
you know what i'm saying here oh man that's kind of disrespectful
well you're disrespecting south you're disrespecting the lord jesus christ
by teaching a perverse way of salvation one thing i've noticed is that you know
when people come to a church like this where salvation is clearly explained
the red c parts people are they see it plainly like oh
it's by faith folks the philippian jailers said what must i do to be saved
and what do the apostles respond gotta keep the commandments gotta get
baptized gotta make sure you stay in the way if not you'll lose it
is that what they said no believe it's like the the one time the one thing
it's just like if you could summarize salvation in one sentence
what would it be and the apostle said believe on the lord Jesus Christ and thou
shall be saved so he said funny how he didn't mention
repenting of your sin if that was necessary for salvation
so according to today's standards of these false prophets the apostle paul
is a heretic it's a false prophet because he didn't mention repentance of
sins you know why he didn't mention it because
repentance of sins is not necessary for salvation
because sin is the transgression of the law and the bible says that we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law
there's your faith alone by the way faith alone because we don't
it's only by faith and not by anything else god always makes up the difference
you know and if you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved you
better get saved today don't walk out these doors without first
securing your salvation by believing on the lord jesus christ
and once you place your faith in jesus christ you know what god commands you to
do to call upon the name of the lord and
ask him to save you ours is that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the lord jesus and believe in thine heart that god has raised him from
the dead thou shalt be saved and let me just
make something very clear because i'm trying to part the red sea here
to make it very plain for you right if you believe you can lose your salvation
according to the bible you're not saved why because salvation is eternal so if
you believe that salvation can be lost you're
basically saying that jesus christ is insufficient to save you that you have
to somehow participate in your own salvation so you can say
you believe on jesus christ for salvation and believe that you're safe
but if you believe you can lose it according to biblical standards you're
not safe but here's the great news though you can get saved today oh i just
think i've always been saved you really want to roll the dice on that though
just humble yourself and get saved today look folks we all
had to come to a realization that we were wrong at one point when it comes to
salvation and we have to get saved call upon the name of the lord oh i don't
believe in the sinner's prayer oh that's funny
whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved how would you
be against the sinner's prayer when the bible explicitly says that's what
you're supposed to do to be saved we're not talking about people who pray
that and they don't believe in their hearts
we're talking about people who pray that in light of what they believe
in their hearts they're asking god to save them right
if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is to save them to be given me to
drink that would have asked of him and he would have given the living water
the bible says the bible commands us to ask for salvation
ask jesus christ for salvation and if you're visiting with us today
someone's going to approach you after the service and ask you about that okay
and just be honest be honest we're not doing it to flex on you
no one's trying to ore a farm here no one's just trying to like you know
assert dominance we genuinely care for your salvation
just be just be honest like you think you're saved no i don't think i am saved
what he said there based upon what he said based on what the word of god says
i don't think i am all right let's settle it right now let's just get saved
right and by the way after you get saved you got to get baptized
not for salvation but because it's the first commandment
that god gives you after salvation to identify with the lord in believers
baptism right don't worry the water's warm point
that i'm making here is that you know the way needs to be made
plain and thankfully we're not the only churches
many churches who make the way plain and you know what if you think to yourself
well there's certain there's i have a lot of questions
ask them ask away well i've been to churches where i can't even talk to the
pastor this is not one of them and here's another thing you know if i
can't answer your question because i'm talking to someone else i
i guarantee there's someone else in our church who can't answer that question
because everyone is equipped to give an answer to every man to ask it
of the faith that is in them with meekness and fear move on here we see
that god makes up the difference we see also look at verse 18 the
egyptians shall know that i am the lord when i have gotten me honor upon pharaoh
upon his chariots and upon his horsemen and the angel of god which went before
the camp of israel let me actually stop right there
because i forgot one more point regarding making the way plain you know
not just about salvation how about the bible which one is the
right bible right bible is the king james bible
you know oh which one is you know i have so many questions about the
jews you know are they god well that's easy
i mean if you're here it's because of that if you're new it's probably because
you've seen my stuff on the jews so i don't think i don't i don't think that
way is is i don't think there's nothing
obstructing that question there right but you know you may have some
questions you might be like well what's their position and end times or
you know what do i say to this you know we'll make the the path plain here
and just tell you plainly we're not going to be like these churches that
just tiptoe around the tulips beat around the bush and say well
yeah you know they're not god's chosen people
but they kind of are you know i don't really know i guess we'll see in the end
or something like that it'll all pan out in the end just tell them
plainly no they're the synagogue of satan
that's it we need plain answers not like oh i don't i'm afraid i'm going to
offend this person if i say x y and z let them get offended
if they get offended because they don't love the truth when someone tells me
like oh man that was offensive you know in my mind i'm thinking well
change or there's plenty of other churches out there
that bow to jews in israel you can attend plain and simple
we try to make the path plain here and tell you what the bible explicitly says
you know and there's there's a lot of people online that say right things
about the jews but they're also wrong about the jews as well
they say a lot of wrong things about the jews they say a lot of
things that confuse people about the jews you know they'll say well jesus
wasn't a jew you know they'll take the position of
replacement theology but then they'll say well jesus is not really a jew
wrong he was a jew you can be against the jews and zionism in israel
and still believe that jesus was a jew and still be based
why because we're based upon the bible our beliefs are based upon the word of
god okay you don't need to go to nick flintes
to learn your doctrine why because he's a catholic
and on top of that he's an incel that means he doesn't want to get married
now i know incel is just like involuntary celibate bro's not involuntary
celibate he's famous enough that he could probably find himself a chick
but he refuses to yeah sounds gay to me i just like what he says about black
people you say it why do you need neck frances
to say it i just like what he says about you know all these guys following these
these these incels online that are not grounded in the bible they can't give
you biblical answers they just say these really wild controversial
things just very you know exotic statements provocative statements
what is the bible not enough for you the bible should be sufficient
and how embarrassing it is for a christian a baptist to be following a
catholic come on you when you have the truth the natural
man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god
neither can he know them for their foolishness unto him neither can he know
them for their spiritually discerned you know you criticize you criticize
pastors for going to jews to learn the bible what about the fact
that you go to catholics to learn the bible that's shameful my friends
you know oh so you're against nick fun of course i'm against all catholicism
is the is the path plain enough for you there no i just think you know
catholicism they're they're kind of good i don't know if
they're saved no they're not saved how about that let me just make it plain for
you they're not safe if they believe that mary is the
mediatrix if they believe she's the co-redemptrix
if they have to pray into mary to be saved they're not saved that's called
idolatry i thought this was a christian yeah it is
a christian church that's what this is what you're supposed to hear
in a christian church supposed to tell you orthodox they're not saved
you know and by the way just because orthodoxy has a semblance of masculinity
because they grow out their beards doesn't mean it's masculine
why because they're celibate too you know did god just like
from what i remember in the beginning god created a
male and female right god made eve for adam and he sanctioned the
institution of marriage he exalts the institution of marriage
it is not good that man should be alone that's what the bible says
what about the apostle paul well the apostle paul yeah
he was called to singleness and let me just say this it's a very few
group of people who are called to that not just a bunch of priests in the roman
catholic church there's no spiritual position of leadership
in the bible that commands people to be celibate and not get married in fact
according to the bible it's a doctrine of devils
forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats
that's a doctrine of devils according to the bible
i'm making the way plain for you okay salvation is by grace through faith use
the king james bible don't use these modern versions of the
bible to remove verses to add verses that prepare people for the new world
order okay use the king james get into a bible
believing church where you're going to hear the truth
where the pastor is not afraid to offend you he'll give you the plain answers
about salvation about the bible about the jews
about end times about the culture that's what you need to hear
you need the rod that will split the red sea
that way you can walk plainly in the way all right now let's get into the next
point that's for that that was for those of you nick
fuentes lovers out there because i see what you like on instagram
oh man that's so good he said the n-word
grow up grow up learn how to be a mature christian
learn how to be someone who loves the lord loves the bible
who loves souls don't allow your world view to be molded by social media
this should mold your world view that what they call base is not based it's
just based on lies this is what we believe is based upon
the truth all right the egyptians verse 18 shall know
that i am the lord when i've gotten me honor upon pharaoh upon his chariots
and upon his horsemen the angel of god which went before the camp of israel
removed and went behind them and the pillar of the cloud went from
before their face and stood behind them and it came to it
came between the camp of the egyptians and the camp of israel and it was a
cloud and darkness to them but it gave light by night to these so
that the one came not near the other all the night so we
have this supernatural occurrence where a pillar of cloud and fire
is essentially between god's people and the egyptians
and the point that i want to make with this is that you know in 2026 we need to
stay between the pillars and the bible says in the new testament
that the church is the pillar and ground of truth
if you want god to show himself strong on your behalf stay in church the pillar
of course represents the lord jesus christ
but it also represents the church because jesus is the way the truth
and the life the church is the pillar and ground
of truth if you want to succeed spiritually it's always attached to a
local new testament church stay between the pillars stay in
church make church a priority in your lives in 2026 okay
not only that but you know in the new testament the church is not the only
thing that's referred to as the pillar and ground of
truth but you know believers are also referred to as pillars
we see john and peter being referred to as pillars in the book of galatians
revelations 312 says him that overcometh referred to those who are saved
will i make a pillar in the temple of my god
showing us that spiritual success is largely tied to the church that we go to
and the people that we're around exhorting us to continue in the faith
right exhorting us to stay on the deficit
exhorting us to read the bible exhorting us to memorize scripture
exhorting us to go out soul winning exhorting us
to go to church to live a life that's pleasing unto the lord
we need these pillars in our lives in order to succeed
spiritually okay let me skip some points here because i'm almost done
go to uh go to hebrew chapter 3 if you would hebrew chapter 3
i'll also say this is that uh the world always hates the truth
you know we we see in exodus 14 26 that the lord
looks at the egyptians through the pillar and that the egyptians are
are afraid of what they're seeing right they see the lord through the pillar
and one thing that we can learn from that is that
you know don't try to fit in with unsafe people
don't try to just fit why because they can't understand the things of god
we have too many christians who compromise the message
just so they can hang out with their unsafe buddies you're better than that
you know it should be our goal and our agenda to win our friends to christ
and and you know what you should be the leader of your pack
if you have a group of friends that you're around and you're always doing
what they want you to do which is things that are not
godly things that are unchristian things that are unbiblical
it's time for you to either number one find some new friends
or number two get them to come to church you know be like hey
sunday can't go going to church why don't you guys come with me and they say
no we don't go to church and be like okay we can't be friends then why would
christians want to be friends with people who don't prioritize god can we be
friends with people who don't prioritize the lord jesus christ
our main you know purpose in life is to please god
to serve the lord jesus christ therefore we should associate with people who have
that same priority unsafe people can't understand the things
of god and you know what unless you get them saved they'll never understand the
things of god don't be ashamed to call yourself a christian in front of your
friends don't be ashamed to share the gospel with them
don't be ashamed to share some videos you know some of you are not ashamed of
that because uh you know i've heard of that you
know don't be ashamed of sharing biblical truths
now i will say this you know i'm all for you sharing my content
i'm all for it but if you want them to come to our church
i don't know if sharing the most hottest part will actually like help with that
you know what i mean now i'm all for it you know i just had to be done like
yeah you know they don't want to come to church i shared this thing about homos
that you had and they just after that they just never wanted to come to
church you're just like that's probably why you know which i'm
all for it by the way i'm not going to tell you not to do it i'm just saying
you know let them hear about it when they come here you know let them run
screaming in the opposite direction once they get here
okay oh by the way that's another position that you need to maybe be clear
is our position on homos a lot of pastors don't say nothing about that
right why you call them homos homos show for homosexual that's like me being
nice by the way okay i use a lot of other choice words
regarding fags and stuff and queers oh there you go that's offensive well you
know what the homosexual community offends me
the fact that they molest children and push
their perversion down our throats on a weekly basis
that offends me the fact that they mock the lord jesus christ that's offensive
to me so why don't you take up an offense for me
why don't you take up an offense for christianity with their perversion
for all the stuff that they push you know we need pastors to get up and
actually talk about this stuff and let me just be very clear because we got
some visitors today returning visitors and they might not return after this
you know no sodomites are allowed in our church they're not allowed to visit our
church they're not allowed to attend our church
plain and simple and you know what you know if you want to reach them that's
your business but don't bring them here because i don't allow pedophiles and
predators to come to our church why because we got children here oh and
that means you don't have a ministry do you
what do you mean i don't have a ministry do you have a ministry to
homosexuals yeah if you did you wouldn't say it huh because it's embarrassing
if you did you know so many people condemn me for my position on sodomites
they don't do anything for sodomites they just like condemning righteous people
for preaching the truth you know what i know all of us god
this homosexual cousin and uncle or we know someone
but i'm just telling you what the bible actually says my friends don't get
offended at the message don't get offended at the messenger just
accept what the bible actually says you know if you want to know what god
says about homosexuals go to genesis 19 yeah oh we should evangelize the
homosexuals well did god evangelize the homosexuals in genesis 19
top quiz what did god do to the homosexuals in genesis 19 he burned it
down with fire and brimstone you want you're going to condemn him
why don't you criticize god because instead of reaching the entire city
he reached them all right with fire and brimstone that's what he did
so before you get on me from my position on sodomites
why don't you go ahead and do a little lgbtq history
and go read genesis 19 and see what god thinks about sodomy i'll tell you what
he thinks about he just burned it all down
and he just saved law who wasn't a homosexual from sodom and gamora
and his family his wife looked back to what was turning into a pillar of salt
why because she missed sodom you're not going to get this truth from
some liberal church fun center out there because they're afraid they might offend
you might not come back but you know what i'm not afraid that i'm
going to offend you i'm afraid that you're not going to learn the truth
that's what i fear about you i fear that you're not going to hear
the the unadulterated hard truths and you're going to be deceived by this
culture into thinking that that stuff is appropriate
and it's time for pastors to stop taking such a weak stance
on this stuff you know if pastors actually got up and preach how i preach
we wouldn't have you know transvestites walking around
shamelessly trying to teach kids and all this nonsense and perversion
we wouldn't have gay pride month think about it folks
if pastors actually got up and said what i said you wouldn't have this nonsense
taking place i would even be preaching on this right
now but you know i have to say because pastors don't have the gall they don't
have the guts to actually get up and preach what the bible actually says
you know what genesis 19 is not an isolated chapter you could read judges
19 god put them like that on purpose identical stories where god basically
just wiped them out explain that to me you know oh man it's just so
unloving so was god unloving for doing that i'm just making the way plain for
you and i know this is your first time here and you probably never heard this
before because i'm quite frankly a lot again a lot of pastors don't want to
talk about it but at least you're hearing it now
and you know what if you never come back at least you know there is a prophet
among you you'll never forget this message
you'll never forget me even if you never come back here you might hate me
you might just not like me but you'll never forget me
i'll always be right here the egyptians hated the truth
don't be an egyptian be acting like an egyptian love the truth
no matter how hard it is and this is not an exhaustive sermon on sodomites maybe
i should do one soon just so you'd know what the bible says about it i'm due for
one actually point that i'm making here is that the
egyptian saw the lord through the pillar and they weren't accepting they were
afraid right whereas when we see the lord you know
we see the judgment of the lord we rejoice at it
we rejoice at the precepts of god we rejoice at the judgments of the lord
you know great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend
them all right here's the last point that wasn't in my notes but it was
necessary making the way plain here's the last
point regarding the exodus of the year you know god part of the red sea they
were able to go on dry ground god delivered them right
just a great miracle a supernatural occurrence
awesome they sing on the other side miriam sings her song they rejoice they
celebrate everything's great but then it's the
wilderness but that wasn't god's intent god wanted
them to go to the promised land right but they ended up spending 40 years
wandering in the wilderness so here's my last point for you
and that is this you know whether you had a good year or a bad year
now that we're crossing over into the new year you have a choice whether to go
to the wilderness or to go to the promised land it's
really your choice you can wander in the wilderness in 2026
and not read your bible not go to church not go soul winning
not obey the lord or you could go to the promised land and be blessed with the
lord it's really your choice but you know what there's plenty of
people who go to church they all they do is wander in the wilderness
they don't serve god they don't do they're just kind of just kind of going
through the motions and they never really quite reach the
promised land of god's will all right my challenge to you is to go to the
promised land by serving the lord look at hebrew chapter 3
in verse 15 it says while it is said today if you would hear his voice
harden not your hearts as it as in the provocation
for some when they had heard did provoke how be it not all that came out of egypt
by moses but with whom was he grieved 40 years was
it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness and to
whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest
but to them that believe not so we see that certain people died in the
wilderness i don't want you to die in the wilderness
dying outside the will of god not serving the lord
not soul winning not reading your bible i want you
to serve god i want you to do what god commanded you to do
you know a lot of us haven't reached our full potential and you never will if
you decide to go into the wilderness in 2026
advance go forward come better improve your marriage improve your
child rearing improve your family improve yourself don't
regress progress you know if you had a horrible year you're just a lukewarm
apathetic christian in 2025 change that in 2026
stop quit it already just get serious lock in
into the things of god you know forget what happened this year press forward to
those things which are before reach forward to the prize that god
has for you in 2026 serve the lord what are some principles
that we learn here well if you get anything from this sermon
aside from the homo stuff you know that you'll never forget
get this you know you're leaving 2025 just leave it behind
leave it behind don't bring it up if you failed it's okay
just forget about it it's over with if you had a bad year it's over with
just move forward you know go into the promised land
don't wander in the wilderness for the next 365 days
get yourself a bible reading calendar get yourself
a soul winning team be in church make church
a priority let's pray father we thank you so much for your word
thank you so much for the exodus story lord that we can learn principles from
help us to love the truth regardless of how harsh it is
lord i pray that you would bless us in this new year that we'd see far more
many more salvations more baptisms more increase in attendance lord
and i pray that more people would be led to righteousness because of it we love
you we thank you pray this things in jesus name amen
let's turn your song song number 426 song number 426 i heard the bells on
christmas day song number 426 all together nice and
strong in that first verse as your savior is you in the name of
your chest let's pray we'll be dismissed father we
thank you so much for this day thank you for the baptism lord
so thankful that mike decided to follow you and believe his baptism
pray that you'd help us not soon forget the message we heard today
help us to make the necessary changes for the new year lord
i pray father god that you bless us as we go on our way we love you we thank you
pray this thing's in jesus name amen you are dismissed