Thank you.
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
It's awesome to see everybody here tonight.
If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will get started.
And once we've found a seat, grab a hymnal.
And for our first song tonight, we'll go to song number 180.
Song number 180, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful?
number 180. Let's all sing that out together. Is it the love of Jesus, something wonderful?
Thank you for watching!
Oh Jesus, something wonderful, wonderful, wonderful
Oh is the love of Jesus, something wonderful, wonderful
It is to me
Great singing everybody, let's open up the service now
What a word of prayer
Lord, we love you so much and we just thank you for everybody here
just take part in such a great opportunity to serve you. We just ask
that you help us sing out unto you and fill us with your spirit and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right for our next song let's go to song number 112.
Song number 112 follow me as we sing it out be still my soul
Thank you for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you didn't already get a bulletin,
and if you'd like one, just lift up your hand nice and high.
On the front, we have our Bible memory passage,
Jude 1, verse 18.
Any kiddos that can quote that, 18 and under,
can get an ice cream treat immediately following our service.
On the inside is our service in soul-winning times,
as well as church stats.
On the right is a list of expecting ladies.
And then we have the announcement
about Rashid Jones and Linda Kabulan on...
They're wedding August 23rd. The address is there. It's at 3pm. They have an RSVP. There's the URL listed if you'd like to attend.
We have set up tonight for an anticipation of our upcoming conference, our welcome center here in the fellowship area.
And you can go ahead and pre-register for our conference and go ahead and get some of the goodies if you'd like.
So thank you to those who helped out with our welcome center.
And thanks for coming here this evening.
It's only a week away and so it'll be a lot of fun next week.
Thanks to all of our volunteers, everybody that's...
planning. We have all kinds of people helping out so much for this, our cleaning crews,
those who are doing a decorating crews, those who are helping with security, valet,
our music ministry, our ushers teams, and our sound crew team. And so we're really excited
about this. And I know a lot of people are helping behind the scenes. Just make sure next week that
Try to be really friendly, try to talk to people, new people that are here,
and try to be, you know, really gracious, really great example.
And I'm really looking forward to next week's conference.
Again, it's going to be a little different, so not 7 o'clock next Wednesday.
We're not going to have service at 7. It's going to be at 6, so it's going to be one hour earlier.
It's actually going to be that way for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Saturday is different.
It's not going to be at 6.
It's going to be at 5.
On Saturday, the service time will be at 5.
Sunday is going to be normal service times.
There is obviously a lot of other activities
and things going on.
We'll have bulletins that have that description
of all the events.
You can go to our website,
and you can go to the sbsckjv.com
and then look at our events,
and it has a tentative schedule there
to give you an idea as well.
If you have any questions about that,
but really looking forward to our conference,
just pray that everything would go smoothly.
that will have a lot of fun and we can get a lot of people saved and fellowship and have
a lot of good preaching.
So I'm really looking forward to that.
Down below we also have the missions or trip Mexico City September 8th through the 12th really looking forward to seeing and hearing about the results of that on the below on down below with Tyler Texas so on a marathon September 27th
There's a soul winning seminar at church October 4th brother Marcel is going to be leading that missions trip to Nassau Bahamas October 6th through the 11th just be in prayer for that on the back is
Our prayer list, if you'd be in prayer for the Carlson's,
for both their parents, for their health,
please continue to pray for Miss Miller's friend,
her mother's cancer.
We've been praying for Brother Horace and Miss Grace
for both of their health and also Miss Olivia
if you'd pray for Brother Garcia's health.
Also, we're praying for the Foley's dad
who has kidney disease.
Continue to pray for the Abanix for their grandmother,
who's in the ICU.
And if you'd pray for one of their friends who's recovering from heart surgery,
also Brother Goodwin is asking for prayer for his brother-in-law who is also recovering from
surgery, and then Brother Gabe is asking prayer for his mother who has a chronic issue with their
foot. Also if you'd pray for Miss Ginger's cousin who is diagnosed with breast cancer, and that's
something that will be in prayer for Miss Majrange is also asking prayer for a couple people here,
Vana's health, and then if you'd pray for their friend,
Miss Martha's breast cancer.
Brother Sue had a praise report.
He said his mother's back home
and doing well after their surgery,
so that's great to hear.
And then if you'd pray for the weather's family,
so that's pretty much all I have as far as our bulletin.
We'll just say a quick word of prayer as a church family.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for all of our
Expecting ladies and all those who are pregnant. I pray that you please be with them during their pregnancies
I pray that you'd please help them with their delivery to be a timely delivery
I pray that you would just to help those that have recently given birth that they would just have a smooth recovery
and that you would help them with their children.
I pray that you would please help those issues
that we've talked about, these chronic issues with cancers
and various kidney diseases and other illnesses.
I pray that you would please help them to have recovery,
that you'd be gracious unto them,
that you would give them favor.
Those of our friends and those of the extended family,
I pray that you would just please be with them,
give them an opportunity to hear the gospel
if they're not saved.
Give us the boldness and the opportunity
to preach unto them.
I pray that you would be with our church family
that needs grace and help with their jobs
or with their work situations.
I pray that you continue to be with our evangelists
and the Philippines.
I pray that you would be with those
that have recently been injured,
that you would give them a speedy recovery.
I pray that you would bless Pastor Reyes
and help him with his recovery.
And I thank you for all that you've given us
in Jesus' name, pray amen.
It's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We're gonna go ahead and go to our third song of the evening
It's gonna be Psalm 146 Psalm 146. It's in our special Psalm hymns and binders
All right those Psalm 146
Psalm 146 it's all singing out together Psalm 146
I see the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
The Lord, amen at the eyes of the blind.
The Lord, raise it then that far down the Lord.
Love it, the righteous, the Lord.
Praise be to the Lord
Now as the offering plates are being passed out, go ahead and open your bibles to the book of Second John.
That's the book of Second John.
Second John the
The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not I only,
but also all they that have known the truth.
For the truth's sake which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever.
Grace be with you, mercy and peace, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment
from the Father.
but that which we had from the beginning
that we love one another.
And this is love that we walk after his commandments.
This is the commandment that as you have heard
from the beginning, you should walk in it.
For many deceivers are entered into the world
who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Look to yourselves that we lose not those things
which you have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son.
If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God's speed. For he that bideth him God's speed is a partaker of his evil deeds.
Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink,
but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
Let us pray Heavenly Father Lord. Thank you for this book of the Bible. Thank you for this church
Thank you for best Shelley pray that you fill in with your Holy Spirit Lord bless him help him to preach unto us your word help us to
Receive your message apply it in our hearts Lord make applicable changes to become better Christians, and I pray this in Jesus name amen
Amen
Last week we went through 1st John and I was hoping to just kind of do 2nd John, 3rd John, and Jude,
just to kind of do a little package here, and then our Bible study will probably go to somewhere in the Old Testament.
Somebody was like, do Deuteronomy? I don't know, but we'll probably do something in the Old Testament,
but what I like about 2nd John is it's a little bit unique epistle,
and when we think about the audience upon which is addressed here in this particular epistle,
are written to a man, if you think about it.
They're written to Theophilus,
or they're written to the elder of the church,
or they're written to Timothy,
or they're written to Titus,
or they're written about Philemon,
or they're, you know, it just kind of seems
like it's a little bit male-oriented for the most part.
Some books of the Bible are written about women.
You don't really see a lot of epistles
written to women directly,
but this is an epistle that's written to women directly.
And so, you know, for you ladies,
note of is this particular passage of scripture and thinking about second John
because notice it says the elder unto the elect lady and her children so it's
addressed to a woman and her children. Now we don't know exactly what the
situation is, we don't know exactly why he's writing it to this woman, I would
assume or it's safe to assume in my opinion that it's it's possible she's a
widow.
And just based on the context,
because he's writing to this woman and her children,
you kind of wonder where is her husband.
He's not really addressed in this particular epistle.
We don't know.
But I would say that for sure,
this would be great advice to widows specifically.
And if we think about...
Women who are a widow it's typically that they're a little bit more vulnerable, right?
They don't have their husband and so it's now just the lady and her children specifically that's being addressed
Also, we notice that the pastor cares about the women in his church and he wants to relate messages unto her
Notice it says the elder
We believe this is in reference to a bishop or a pastor.
The Bible uses this in many different passages
to kind of allude to someone that's the leader of the church,
is considered the elder.
He's not an 18 year old riding on a bike,
that's a Mormon, okay, that's not the elder.
We believe that the elder should at least meet
some qualifications such as being married, having children,
not being young in the faith,
but having actually been matured in the faith in some ways.
And so the elder should be someone that meets the biblical qualifications.
Now, that does not mean, though, that he's actually older than this particular lady.
You know, when we talk about Timothy,
The Bible says, let no man despise thy youth.
When he's specifically addressed in 1 Timothy,
chapter number five, he says the older women
that he's supposed to treat them as mothers,
implying that there'll be a lot of women in his church
that are even older than him could potentially be
his mother as far as age difference
or could even be his grandmother in age difference.
And yes, it's okay to get advice from people
that are younger than you or much younger than you
or arguably even grandchildren younger than you.
And yet the pastor, the elder, he cares for the elect lady.
Notice the election there is referencing the idea of someone being saved.
Election is being chosen.
Why is someone chosen according to the Bible?
We're chosen by our faith.
When we put faith in Lord Jesus Christ,
that's what makes us elect.
She's not elect because of Calvinism.
No one is predetermined to go to heaven or hell.
That is based on our choice of our faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Also, no one is elect by race.
We are elect by grace, and grace is unmerited favor
extended to us through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So it's not talking about her ethnicity,
it's not talking about her being predetermined
based on nothing.
The only predetermination is that God knows
the end from the beginning, so he knows those
who would believe in him.
And so of course God could look at her
and know that she's elect,
but this is clearly someone that's saved.
The epistles are written to the woman and her children.
whom I love in the truth says and not only I or not I only, but also all they that have
known the truth.
So we notice that this love is a brotherly love.
In fact, let's just go to 1st to 25 for a second, keep your finger here, go to 1st to
25 and we'll notice this, that this is not some kind of a romantic love, but this is
rather a brotherly love what you would have toward a sister.
We, as brothers and sisters in Christ, should have a sibling love, a spiritual sibling love
towards one another.
And the Bible even says in 1 Timothy chapter number 5, look at verse 1,
rebuke not an elder but then treat him as a father and the younger men as brethren.
The elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity.
So there should be a sense of love for your brothers and sisters in Christ in the church.
And those who are much older, you would treat her as you would treat your mother.
And those who are younger, you would treat them just as you would a sister.
And so we should have a love for one another.
And he's saying I love you and not only do I love you, everyone who is of the truth would love you
because at the end of the day, whether you like your brothers and sisters in Christ,
you will spend eternity with them and so we might as well get used to each other
and we might as well like each other now and we might as well love each other now
because we're stuck with each other. You may not be stuck with your flesh and blood brothers
and sisters, you may not even have to live with them, but you're going to have to live with us
and you're stuck with us,
and so we might as well have an attitude of,
hey, I'm stuck with you, you're my brother,
you're my sister, and we ought to just love one another.
Go if you would back to that particular passage.
Second John chapter one.
And he says, all they that have known the truth,
because it's the truth that gets us saved.
It's the truth that makes us part of the family.
And he says in verse two, for the truth's sake,
which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever.
Notice that we have a permanency.
to our salvation. When we are saved once we have been saved we have that truth and that truth will
be with us forever and we will be with our brothers and sisters in Christ forever. First Thessalonians
chapter number four says that those who are not saved they mourn because they'll never see each
other again but we don't mourn like they do which have no hope but rather we mourn realizing that
one day we will be reunited with our brothers and sisters in Christ. David was done mourning after
because he knew that he would see him again.
He says, I'll go unto him, but he can't return unto me.
And so he didn't have the same sadness
as someone who will never see their loved one again
or will go to hell or is not saved.
Those of us that are saved, we have a different mindset,
a different hope, a different energy.
And we can realize that we have the truth
and that truth's gonna be with us forever.
And our brothers and sisters are gonna be with us forever
because we have an eternal gospel.
We believe in the eternal security of the believer.
Boy, what a terrible religion to live in
when you don't believe that you're saved and it lasts.
I mean, that would be a scary religion.
It would be a scary place to be in.
You know, praise God as a Baptist.
We can know that we're saved
and we can know that we're saved forever.
Now,
If we go with this context, and I think that the context seems reasonable to believe that this woman could likely be a widow,
the Bible brings up widows in a few different contexts.
I want to first go to James chapter number one, go to James chapter number one,
and we see that the leadership, the pastors, they care for the widows,
but it's not just the pastors, it should be all of us.
We should all care about widows and the vulnerable.
And the Bible brings us up in James 1, look at verse 27.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction
and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
So the Bible doesn't bring up religion hardly at all,
but then it does bring it up here,
and notice what pure religion is.
Notice that it has a qualifier.
Pure religion because the Bible also brings up like the Jews religion or there could be like a false religion
The Bible could allude to Hinduism or something. That's religion. You know what? That's not pure religion. That's not real religion
It's fake religion and a lot of people today though even in Christianity. They kind of say religions bad
Religion is a neutral word.
It can be good, it can be bad, it depends on how it's applied.
But the Bible says there is such thing as a pure religion,
meaning there's a good religion.
And what does the Bible explicitly say is pure religion,
it's to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction.
doesn't that seem to apply what we see here in second John where the elder is
talking to under the elect lady and her children it almost gives that impression
to me of someone visiting the widow visiting the children caring for them
loving them I'm not gonna go back there cuz I want to go to another place go to
Matthew 23 but at the end of second John
He says that he has a lot of things he wants to write,
but he's not gonna write everything
because he wants to see her face to face.
So we know in the epistle,
he's not content only writing to her,
but also wanting to see her in the flesh
and talk to her in the flesh.
And that would be what?
Visiting the widows and the fatherless
in their affliction
and keeping himself unspotted from the world.
This is what good religion looks like.
Helping people that are helpless,
that are defenseless, that are in need,
keeping God's commandments.
This is what real religion looks like,
and it's a good thing.
People say, oh, I'm not about religion,
I'm about a relationship, right?
Who's heard this?
Who's heard this idea of like,
I'm not about religion, I'm about a relationship?
Look, it's not even just like I hear this online
or I hear this on the internet.
I've heard people tell me this.
I've heard people say these things.
You knock on the door and people say it's about relationship.
Okay, but here's the thing.
You can't have a face-to-face relationship with God,
because God is in heaven and no man can see his face and live.
Not only that, you haven't seen Jesus either,
because Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father
and he hasn't returned yet.
If you think he's returned yet, you're crazy.
So I can't have a physical...
Face-to-face relationship with God.
Now, of course, we can have a relationship with God
through the Word of God, through the Bible,
through Scripture, and we can have some relationship with Him,
and we have a major relationship with Him through faith.
One day it'll become face-to-face.
It'll no longer be faith.
But here's the thing, you can have a face-to-face relationship
with saved people right now.
And if you really love God,
and if you really think it's about relationship,
you know what, you'll have a relationship with people
that are here right now.
And you know what, there are real people with real problems, with real lives, with real issues, with real things,
and the people that are of God will actually go and they'll have real relationship with real Christians,
and that's the person that is pure religion.
The person that's not willing to see people face to face or go and actually help their
brother in need, they don't really love God.
And we learned that in 1 John.
1 John really hammered that point that if a man says he loves God and he loves not his
brother, or if he doesn't help his brother when he has a need, then the love of God is
not really dwelling in him.
How can you say the love of God is dwelling in you when you see your brother have need
and he shutteth up your bowels of compassion from you?
You know, that's not the real love of God.
The real love of God goes and actually helps people and goes to church
because frankly speaking, the Bible says that some are going to forsake the assembling of themselves together
as the main or some, you know, are.
And at the end of the day, it's like we're supposed to provoke unto love and to good works.
What's one of the loves?
Going to church to see people face-to-face and to visit with them
That's part of what it means to love and that's what a part of pure religion
Oh, I don't want to go to church because it's about relationship. Okay, but you know what church is relationship and
The way you have a relationship with God is by having a relationship with God's people
And so, if you truly think that salvation – or I'm not salvation – if you really think
Christianity is about relationship, then, okay, show us all the people that you're relating
to.
And again, I'm not – I'm not really using that word because it's not found in the Bible,
but you know, could it be applied biblically?
Yes, I think it could.
But here's the thing, usually when people use that word.
They're contradicting themselves by their actions.
They say it's about relationship, but then they don't go to church.
They say it's about relationship, but they're not visiting the widows.
They say it's about relationship, but they're not helping the fatherless.
They say it's about relationship, but they never preach the gospel.
They say it's about relationship, and they don't read the Bible.
They say it's about, it's not about religion.
Why? Because they just don't want to keep God's commandments.
But at the end of the day, if you actually love God and you love His people,
then you would keep the commandments.
So again, a lot of people give lip service to meaningless platitudes.
It's about relationship.
But then, okay, are you reading your Bible?
Are you going to church?
Are you helping people?
Are you going soul-winning?
No, no, no, no.
Well, then they're just giving lip service.
They're not actually having a real relationship with God, with His people.
And, of course, evil people, wicked people, they realize who's weak in this world.
And they will visit them.
But you know what?
They're not visiting them because they want to help them.
They want to visit them because they want to take advantage of them.
And why is this epistle being written
under this elect lady and her children?
Well, I think, you know, obviously women
in this situation, especially if she is a real widow,
that she's gonna be more vulnerable to attacks.
People are gonna prey on them more than likely.
People wanna take advantage of them.
And honestly, it's a sick, depraved,
reprobate world that we live in in a lot of ways.
There's so many evil people, sick people, disgusting people, evil people and they want
to take advantage of women and of children in this world.
And you almost can't be too careful.
Now what is it says in Matthew 23?
And this is about the scribes and the Pharisees.
Verse 14, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees.
Hypocrites, feed devour widows' houses,
and for a pretense make long prayer,
therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Notice that who is the target, who is the victim,
who is the person that the scribes and the Pharisees
really hone in on and try to hurt the most?
It's widows.
And notice it's widow's houses.
You know, we often think of that as being
arguably maybe just their goods,
but it could also be their children, couldn't it?
Because when we read in Acts chapter number 16,
30 and 31, when we talk about
thy and thy house,
who are we thinking the house applies to?
Family members so if it's devouring widows houses couldn't that also be not only their goods and their physical possessions?
Couldn't also be their children couldn't also be those who are entrusted unto them and
Look evil wicked people want to do this and will do this kind of stuff
Go if you went to 2nd Peter chapter number two go to 2nd Peter chapter number two
Why why write this because you know a woman that doesn't have her husband or something
is more easily preyed on,
taken advantage of, manipulated, lied to.
You know, there's sick people that will try to...
be with women just simply to get access to their children and their liars, their scumbags,
their flatterers, and of course for many women they may think like oh this guy is interested
in me and they just want someone to be interested in them so they're willing to believe lies
about this individual, they're willing to kind of let down their guard just because
Your pastor and your brothers and sisters in Christ love you and if they're saying hey stay away from this guy
You know you might need to take heed to that
You know and it's like oh, they don't really love me this this random biker, dude
You know this guy he really loves me and he tells me I'm so pretty and whatever and it's like you know
We don't know that and I know he goes to the Church of Christ, but he really likes me
You know, I know he's a Jew, but he really you know, he's got a lot of money or whatever
You know, and unfortunately for some people, they don't want to believe that someone's
interested in them for bad reasons.
But what does the Bible say, 2 Peter 2 verse 14, having eyes full of adultery, this is
talking about evil people, and that cannot cease from sin, notice this, beguiling unstable
souls.
What is beguiling, tricking, deceiving, manipulating, taking advantage of?
What is an unstable soul?
This could apply to a lot of people, but arguably I think widows and children are going to be those people.
That, hey, they are in a bad situation, that makes them unstable.
Not having the husband, not having leadership, makes them more...
you know, susceptible to problems, makes them a little bit more unstable.
Children that are fatherless are going to be more unstable.
Why is it that we see in the black community higher rates of incarceration
and gangs and problems in their society?
Is it just because systemic racism?
Is it just because their skin color is dark and it makes them do that?
No, it's neither of those.
It's that when you don't have a father in the home,
you become more unstable and it causes problems.
And it's like instead of addressing the real problem,
people are just making stuff up and saying dumb things
and it's just a lot of racism.
Whether it's racism against white people or black people,
neither of those is the real solution.
We need to get fathers back in the home.
And we need to get people saved and we need to get people into church and we need to disciple them
You know that is gonna help with society that's gonna help with people's problems not just some racist ideology to try and fix these problems
And, you know, these might be uncomfortable truths, but the reality is, hey, women are
susceptible to wolves and disgusting people out there and they want to prey on them and
take advantage of them and hurt them.
And that's why it's important for strong men, godly men, who to come alongside and be a
brother and say, hey, you know, I'll be there to help you, you know, help protect against
the wolves, against the disgusting freaks, the weirdos, the bad people.
A lot of women, they don't want that.
They don't want the brotherly love.
You know what they want to do?
They want to go to the non-denominational fund center where they don't have any brothers
and sisters in Christ and get involved in their singles ministry where a bunch of divorce
aides are going to prey on them.
And you know what, you shouldn't, oh, well there's no problem.
You know, Steffas, they won't let me just date around,
you know, with all these divorced people
and have all these random, you know,
hookups with these random people
because they'll throw you out for fornication and stuff.
They're so mean, unloving,
they don't understand my situation.
I'm gonna go over here to Gateway
where they have their little singles ministry
and I'm gonna go to Watermark
where they have their little singles ministry
and it's gonna be great and I'm gonna meet new people.
But they don't realize that they're walking into a den
of wolves.
They don't realize that often time they're going from the frying pan into the literal fire and
Yeah, I'm not saying that you know being in these situations is good or the best
But at the end of the day, you know when you get away from God's people and you get away from God's truth when you get away from
Church, hey, there's a lot of bad people out there that want to take advantage of you hurt you harm you
Why are these verses in the Bible?
because they're evil wicked people beguiling unstable souls.
And let me tell you something, televangelists are some of the worst, most scummiest people ever,
and they're constantly devouring widow's houses and lying to people, people like Mike Murdoch,
people like Kenneth Copeland, people like T.D. Jakes, people like Jan and Paul Crouch,
all these little televangelists going online and just lying to people,
trying to get them to send all their money and all their goods and telling them not to go to church
You know what? They are of the devil, and they are going to have a greater damnation.
These evil people. You know, the television preacher doesn't love you.
Why? He's not willing to visit you. We read in 2 John.
Go back if you would. Go back to 2 John. What's the pure religion?
Look at verse 12 having many things to write on you
I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come under you and speak face to face
That our joy may be full
You know what don't just listen to these random people that you don't know that don't know you that would never visit you
You know what that is not the person to get advice from
You go to your local church with the people that know you and love you and care about you
And you should take their advice all day long over the people that you don't know
Online these televangelists these TV preachers
You know what they give generic advice, and it's usually unbiblical and wrong and they're beguiling
Unstable souls because people are just looking for an answer and you know what don't always just look for the answer
You want look for whatever is true
Try to hear what's right
Try to hear from the person that actually cares about you. You know these are some clear admonitions in the Bible
Look at verse 3 the Bible says grace be with you mercy and peace from God the father and from the Lord Jesus Christ
The son of the father and truth and love now, of course in this epistle the main context
We've already kind of uncovered a little bit. I'm gonna hammer it again here in a minute
But there's some other cool little nuggets here.
You know, I love this verse so much because it just makes it abundantly clear who Jesus is.
There's no question who Jesus is. Who is Jesus?
He is the Son of the Father.
He's not the Father. He's the Son of the Father.
And I've used that verse a lot of times to just show how oneness, heretics, are idiots.
And it's like they just can't figure out how to wrap their mind around this verse.
Why? Because they're wrong.
I mean, the Bible is crystal clear that the Father is not Jesus, Jesus Christ, our Lord
Jesus Christ is the Son of the Father.
And of course, you know, when we talk to anybody, our attitude, especially a saved person,
should always be that of what?
Wanting grace, mercy, and peace to be unto them, that we're wishing well unto them, that
we're hoping for good for them, that we're wanting God to give them grace.
What is grace?
Unmerited favor.
What is mercy?
What is peace, something you need in conflict?
What does the Christian life look like?
You're a sinner that's going to be in constant conflict.
And you know what you always need?
You need grace, mercy, and you need some peace.
You know people think like oh well if you just live the Christian life
You'll have just constant peace and everything's gonna go good for you and everything's gonna be right and you won't send anymore
No, no, no, you know you need you need grace
You need mercy and you need peace why because you don't have you're not perfect
You are screwing up and you need God's grace
You need mercy because you're not getting it right and you need peace because you have conflict and difficulty and tribulation in your life
Why would he wish these things if you already had them?
He's wishing these things because we constantly need these.
These are daily things that we need.
God is constantly trying to give us or wanting us to have more grace and more mercy and more peace
because you know what?
We're going to have tribulation in the world as the Bible says.
Tribulation is going to be constantly happening, constant fight, constant struggle, constant
difficulty.
We're going to constantly screw up.
The just man falls seven times, but rises up again.
And of course we live by God's grace.
And you know, we can read a lot about the Bible about how, what is a just punishment.
You know, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
The Bible's really clear about these things.
But you know, God obviously gives a lot of grace to people.
People do horrible things in the Bible,
and God still gives grace unto them and uses them, doesn't He?
I mean, we could look at Moses who committed murder at one point in his life,
and then yet God greatly uses Moses.
We could see David who commits adultery and then murder.
And yet, God's not done with him, and God still has a plan for his life, and God still
uses him.
We see in the book of Revelation, Jezebel is teaching false doctrine, teaching people
to commit fornication.
Not only that, the Bible says that there's people that are committing adultery with her.
And what did the Bible say?
He gave her space to repent of her fornication.
meaning if she had quit, if she had repented, if she gave it up,
he wasn't going to destroy her.
But if she didn't, if she stayed on that path of destruction,
he would destroy her.
But yet, what is the Old Testament law?
You commit adultery, you're put to death.
What that tells me is that men,
there's people that commit bad sins and do bad things,
and if God gave you the grace and the mercy to still be here,
then you know what, use that opportunity to serve God.
If God wanted to get you out of here, he's capable.
Ananias and Zvaira lied, they're gone.
People commit worse sins and they're still here why God's grace God's mercy the Apostle Paul felt like at one point
He was the chief of sinners. I don't even I think it's hyperbole personally. I don't think he was as bad as Judas
I don't think he was as bad as
Nabal I don't think he's as bad as the Old Testament Jezebel
But you know that's how he felt because he had persecuted the church of God
But he said hey, you know what God showed me mercy God showed me grace
And so then I'm gonna spend the rest of my life serving him
And you know what, this is what I say,
as long as you have breath in your lungs,
God wants you to keep serving him.
We should always keep serving him
and trying to do the best that we can.
No one's perfect.
God always has a plan B, C, D, E for your life
and we have to keep serving him.
This is a great verse though, on the Trinity, at least explaining that there's the Father
and the Son, and there's a couple more in this particular epistle that I really like
to use.
It says in verse 4, I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth
as we have received a commandment from the Father.
So we should realize that the greatest joy that a parent is typically going to have of
I mean at the end of the day all of you kids, all of your mom and dad just want you to do
is just to be a good kid.
And ultimately what is being a good kid?
Loving Jesus and trying to be a good Christian.
You know when it comes to expectations, you know there can be a lot of pressure on children.
But, you know, for the most part, parents, they really just want one thing and one thing's going to make them happy.
That you get saved and you just want to be a good Christian, you want to go to church.
You know, when it comes to your occupation, when it comes to, you know, where you live and all these things,
that's not nearly as important to parents.
Parents just want their kids to be saved and love Jesus and go to church and serve God.
That's the most important thing.
You know, it's not about what college education, it's not about the grades, it's not about
how much money you make, it's not about all those other things that are superfluous.
It's just, hey, we just want you to be saved and go into church and love in God.
You know, and if I could just say, hey, what's the most important thing to you about your
kids being a professional athlete?
No.
Making lots of money?
No.
Who they marry?
No.
How many kids they have?
No.
What job they have?
No.
I just want them to want to go to church and I want them to want to read their Bible.
And of course a good church.
I'm not saying like T.D.
Jake's or something.
That doesn't count.
I'm saying I want them to go to a good church that's King James only, they got a King James
Bible in their hand and they just love Jesus and they want to pursue Him.
That's the only thing that matters.
And you know what?
We should teach our children that and we should explain that to our children so they realize
And you know what? Being a kid, you know what? You should try to be a good kid.
No one will be perfect, but you know what? Walking in truth.
And at the end of the day, we care a lot less about how many mistakes our kids made in their past
and more about where they're at in their present.
You know, you don't really care about where your kids were.
You care about where your kids are.
And I think a lot of these apply to us as Christians to God.
We're His children. We're the sons of God.
You know, God cares a lot less about where you were and He cares a lot more about where you are.
Hey, you're in church God's really pleased with you. You know the Bible talks about in Ezekiel the guy that did a bunch of horrible things
But all of a sudden you were appended and changed and God's really pleased with them
And they talked about another guy that did a lot of great things and then now he screwed up and now God's really mad at him
Because God cares so much more about the present than he does the past
And you know instead of worrying about your past you should worry about your present. Where are you right now?
Are you reading Bible? Are you in church? Are you going soul-winning? Are you walking in truth basically?
And to me, it's more about just like what's your attitude about life?
Are you just trying to serve God or are you not?
No one's perfect, we're all going to screw up, we all have our sins,
we all get backslidden here and there, we all can be carnal,
we can all be prideful, we can all have problems,
but at the end of the day, are you trying to serve God?
Are you trying to have a heart-seeking after Him?
Are you wanting to improve as a person?
Because you know what, that's when God's pleased with you and say,
hey, I like this guy because he's walking in truth.
Not because he's been perfect in the past, not because of whatever is going on,
but because he's walking in truth now.
That's why God is pleased with us,
and that's why parents are going to be pleased with their children.
You know, people talk about Father's Day and Mother's Day,
and it's like, what's more important?
That your kids, a godly Christian, serve in the Lord,
or that he sends you a card on Mother's Day.
And look, I'm not saying don't send a card to your mom on Mother's Day.
I'm not saying don't call her, but let me tell you something.
Your parents care way more about you just being a good kid
and loving Jesus than giving them a call just on Mother's Day from jail.
Giving them a call and, you know,
telling them that your life's a train wreck or something.
You know, just being a good child is what's the most important thing
and is going to motivate them to be pleased with you as much as possible.
Parents really just love their kids.
It's a very natural thing.
They want what's best for them.
They can overlook a lot of things.
They just want you to try to walk in the best path
and do what you can.
And this is what he's saying.
He's saying, hey, I will grace jointly
that I found of thy children walking in truth
as we have received a commandment from the Father.
You know, we can look at this from a spiritual perspective.
Those that you get saved, what would make you so happy?
that your convert actually gets to church and becomes a soul winner.
That will make you the most happy, you know, and at the end of the day, like,
we want them to get their life right, we want them to clean up sin,
and I'm not saying we don't, but think about it. Are you, when someone comes
starts coming to church,
so you go out, you get somebody saved from them, from the ghetto,
alright?
Well, just use my dad's name, not if anybody.
Trey Lamar, okay?
Someone told me he had a black name.
He's not black, but I told my dad that.
I said, someone says you had the blackest name ever.
And he's like, well, black is beautiful, baby.
That's what he always says.
You go out into the ghetto, you get Trey Lamar saved, right?
And he comes to church.
What is more important to you?
Is it more important that he starts reading his King James Bible
and that he's coming to church faithfully and goes soul-winning?
Or is it more important that he sends a little bit less?
He gets a little less backslip.
It's like, you don't really even care that much about that.
You're wanting him to get in church and start reading his Bible and start going so on.
You want to just start walking in truth.
And arguably, for most people, they're probably not even going to clean their lives up until
they have a real motivation.
And getting into church and being around godly people and going soul-winning often gives
you the motivation to actually want to clean up your life.
And at the end of the day, you know, no one's going to clean it up perfectly,
but let me tell you something, it's really hard to just clean it up for no reason.
When you're not going to church, not reading your Bible, not going to soul winning,
I'll show you someone that's not cleaning up their life.
I'll show you people that think salvation's by works, and they're not cleaning up their life.
And then I'll show you something that thinks it's completely free
and you don't have to do anything, but they're going to church anyway,
but they're reading the Bible anyway, but they're going slow anyway,
and I'll show you this guy's actually making changes in his life too.
Why? Because it's more important to just start trying to walk in truth
than to just worry so much about some checklist or cleaning things up, because
when you start walking in truth
you forget about, you don't have time to send. You're like, oh man, I forgot,
You know, I would have gone to the bar with my friends, but I was at church.
I missed it.
You know?
I mean, if you get busy serving God, maybe you'll forget to sin.
You know?
You'll forget to do bad things because you're just so focused on doing that, which is right.
You know?
People are always wondering, like, how to sin less.
It's like, how about you just try to love Jesus more?
What does loving Jesus look like?
I don't know.
How about visit some widows?
Visit the fatherless?
How about go with us in the ghetto and preach the gospel to somebody?
How about show up to church three times a week?
How about show up to church on Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night,
and twice on Sunday?
I mean you might sin a little bit less that week, you know?
You might hear some fire-breathing preaching that might scare you from sinning a little
bit too.
Don't go to church where they're telling you out. It doesn't matter if you sin. No problem. God's not mad at you
Nothing matters. We all get the same reward
That that'll never help anybody. Yeah, let's see the fruit of that kind of preaching
Let's see what kind of disciples turn out from that style of preaching and then we'll see what turns out from the hard
Preaching of the word of God. What are people like? You know a tree is known by its fruit, isn't it?
At the end of the day, we will see the evidence of things, but, you know, I also think what's important about verse 4 is this.
You know, he rejoiced greatly that the children walked in truth because it's not a guarantee.
It's not a guarantee. You can get someone saved. You know, it's not guaranteed that they'll dedicate their life to serving God and becoming a disciple.
You can raise godly children. It's not guaranteed they're going to walk in that truth.
You can marry someone that loves the Lord.
It's not guaranteed they're going to keep being that way forever.
You know, there is no guarantees in life.
And so why is it so joyous when this happens?
Because it's not guaranteed.
It's not automatic.
You're excited that this person chose with their free will
to walk in truth and to make the right decisions anyways.
You know, that's what makes it special.
You know, that's what even makes marriage special in the first place
is that someone agrees to marry you.
It's special for women that someone wants to marry you and it's special for men that someone said yes
That's what's special about it. If it was just hey mom and dad said you're marrying this random person tomorrow
It's less special isn't it?
Because it just feels automatic or it feels like it's forced or doesn't you kind of wonder does this person love me or not?
You know if you're super rich you could always wonder is this person marrying me because they actually love me or not
And at the end of the day, God is testing us to see,
hey, do you really love me or not?
How do we know if you love God or are you walking in truth?
And what does that cause?
That causes the Father, that causes God to rejoice greatly
when he sees us walking in truth,
just like it would be our children.
Verse five, and now I beseech thee, lady,
not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee,
but that which we had from the beginning
that we love one another.
Again, he's reminding her, hey, we need to love one another.
I'm beseeching you, I'm asking you, I'm telling you,
hey, this is the most important thing,
that we love one another.
And what is love?
And this is love that we walk after His commandments.
This is the commandment that, as you have heard from the beginning,
ye should walk in it.
He's saying, hey, we need to walk in God's commandments.
This is what real love looks like.
And I think that's important because, again,
if we understand that true love, brotherly love,
Then we would realize those who are not keeping God's commandments. What?
Don't have the love of God are not of God
Look at the next verse for many deceivers are entered in the world
You know how many of these tell evangelists you don't even you don't even have to do much research their divorce three times
They've been caught committing adultery. They're in and out of jail. I mean, I'm not even saying like these things are speculation
I'm saying they're just known facts about these people and then they want to get up and say they have the love of God
They don't have the love of God because love of God is keep his commandments
And these people are obviously not keeping God's commandments don't really love God and here's the thing
They just don't even love at all and
If some person wants to be with you by breaking God's commandments, they don't love you
Oh, well, you know what?
I know that what I want to do is commit adultery with you, but it's because I love you.
No one wants to commit adultery with you because they love you.
Don't deceive yourself.
Don't allow someone to think, oh, I know that, you know, God said we shouldn't get divorced
when we're married, but you know what, I just love you so much.
It's a lie. They don't love you. They're not keeping God's command. I know the Bible says this, but you know what?
I drink for Jesus, you know, I just drink alcohol for Jesus. I do drugs for Jesus. God made everything, right?
He made, he made the ground, he made the, all the stuff. Yeah, he also made poison. Does that mean I should consume poison?
He made rocks. Should I eat rocks? I mean
You know people come up with this half-baked ideas all the time. Well, God made literally everything
So therefore it's fine to consume and to digest. No, the Bible says there's certain one that you shouldn't even look at
when it
Fertilizes or not fertilizes, sorry
Firmance, thank you
Someone was getting nervous on me on that.
It ferments and it moves itself right, as the Bible says,
and it starts to change the color in the cup.
It's saying, hey, this is not a good beverage.
This is a poisonous beverage.
This is something you shouldn't eat.
You know, when Brad turns moldy,
it's not like now it's time to eat it.
You know, oh, God made mold.
Yeah, that doesn't mean you should eat it.
Okay? And yeah, just because God created this person doesn't even mean it's a good person.
There are some bad people out there.
Look, for many deceivers are entered in the world.
Many deceivers. There are many deceivers.
How many good preachers? Few.
How many saved people? Few.
How many disciples? Few.
How many bad people? Many deceivers.
Many false prophets.
I mean, did you look at 1st John 4?
It's probably on the same page, look at verse 1.
Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits where they have got
because many false prophets are going out in the world.
Do you notice the theme that when the Bible brings up bad people,
it's many, many, many.
And when it talks about good people, it's few, few, few.
In fact, it's so few that God even brings up
how at one point he was looking for one man
and he couldn't even find it.
God was going to destroy the entire world with a flood and he found one man that he didn't destroy
one person
Not a lot one. Hey, there's four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal
But then there's just one man of God
Hey, all the prophets of prophets saying all the same unto you, but Micaiah, there's just one guy
There's just one prophet besides that he's not gonna say the thing
You know people will be like you guys think that you know, there's very few people that have the truth. Well, it's just the Bible
There is few disciples
There's few preachers in the Bible. I mean there's never been a time in history
Show me in the Bible at the time in history where there's just thousands and thousands of great preachers
Show me that time
So I mean even even when there's just one guy he's still kind of screwed up
He even has problems, he even has issues.
I mean it's just, it's just not a reality
that there's gonna be just like thousands and thousands
of awesome, great people.
It's just not reality because humans just kinda suck.
Let's just be honest.
And the temptations are strong and very few
are gonna be someone that's trustworthy.
But you know what, there is a plethora,
there is many deceivers, there's many bad people.
And, of course, second, John is bringing up a specific category.
It says for many deceivers who enter the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh, this is a deceiver and an antichrist.
You know, verse seven, I'll just be honest, growing up, it was really hard for me to even
believe this verse, only from the fact that I just thought like, who in the world would
say that Jesus didn't even come?
But as I've grown older, I've heard it and seen it many times now
how there's this like revisionist history where people will literally say that Jesus never even came wasn't a real person.
It's all made up. It's all fiction, and it's really bizarre, and I'm not talking about just atheists.
I'm talking about people claim to be Christian or claim, you know, we've just misinterpreted the Bible and that we didn't.
We misunderstood history or say it's a Catholic deception or it's a Jewish deception or it's whatever and look the Jews lie about a lot of stuff
I get it. Let me tell you something. Jesus really came and the Jews are not the ones trying to convince us that Jesus came
Okay
That's it's not 5d chess or something. All right. It's not 6 million d chess. All right
Jesus really showed up and the Jews really hate him and they're anti-Christ
But you know that there's lots of people who deny that Jesus is the Christ that he came in the flesh
These are anti-Christ. These are bad wicked evil people and you know what a lot of them are rabbis and
It's crazy how many of these televangelists will put rabbis on their show
Rabbi Jonathan Kahn
the Kahn man himself
Believe what they tell you okay
The guy is a con artist.
When they're calling themselves rabbi, don't listen.
When they don't believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, don't listen.
This messianic Christianity is usually not even about Christ at all.
It's about keeping the commandments of the Old Testament that have been done away with.
And it's not keeping any of the other commandments.
It's like, you know, it's funny.
All these people say like, oh man, we need to keep all the Old Testament commandments.
And you're like, like Leviticus 2013?
And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
We need to put on a special hat and blow it so far.
And you're like, no, first of all,
that's not even mentioned in the Bible, okay.
Where does it say wear a funny hat?
Show me hat in the Old Testament.
Right they bring up all these customs and these rituals. Well, you gotta understand back then this is what they did
No, no, no, no show me in the Bible
But it's like I can show you literal verses in the Bible and you don't like them
You don't want to do them. Why because they're hypocrites. They're liars. They're deceivers
Notice this is a deceiver and antichrist if they don't believe Jesus Christ came in the flesh you stay far far away from this person
Who would be someone like this? How about Jim Jones of the famous Jim Jones cult that?
just said all kinds of horrible, blasphemous stuff.
You know, I don't really know much about it.
I'm very limited information about Jim Jones,
but I have listened to some of his most popular preachings.
Like, just YouTube has a few different sermon clips
or something, and I was listening to him.
Just because I was just, I just, I heard someone was like,
oh, Jim Jones sounds exactly like the new I.B.
And I was like, okay, whatever.
So I was just listening to a little bit
of what Jim Jones was saying.
And the guy was advocating for social justice
and racial equality.
He was basically like what you would think
of as a hardcore leftist communist.
Like everything that he was saying
was just like the most extreme leftism,
communism about just the homosexuals
being persecuted against and taking advantage of.
And I'm just thinking like,
this guy is the exact antithesis.
of what new IP preaching sounds like, okay?
Like, he's like AOC or some communist leftist Democrat.
Like, that's what he sounded like.
Nothing about the Bible, the guy said he was Jesus, the guy didn't believe anything in the Bible, nothing.
This was a pure anti-Christ saying Jesus Christ is not coming to flesh, calling himself Christ, denying all the Bible.
But then a lot of women, a lot of black women specifically, clung to his teachings and they moved with him into Guyana.
warrior attitude, this communist ideology and it took a lot of people that were poor,
widows, taken advantage of and he moved them down in the Guyana and caused them to perish.
And you know what? There's a lot of people that are just looking for someone to tell them something they want to hear and you know
these deceivers and antichrists will destroy them.
Look at verse 8, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward.
You know we should be careful with the decisions that we make now
I want to make something clear you know some people will twist this passage I think and teach that you can like lose rewards in heaven I
Don't I don't believe that at all, and I don't believe that's what this is saying at all
Notice it doesn't say that you're gonna lose a reward
It says that you're not going to but we receive a full reward meaning you would lose out on what a full reward
Okay
So the way I interpret this or look at this is it's kind of like you're competing in an event and you quit halfway through.
You know, if you're running a race, you could receive a reward when you finish the race.
But if you decide to just quit the race, it doesn't matter how long you ran, you just lose out on the reward.
You don't get the reward. There's no reward for just not completing it.
So you might as well complete it.
If you're going to college to get a degree,
In your pursuit of getting a college degree, you often have to earn credits, and each
course is a particular number of credits.
They could be one, two, three, I think even more potentially.
Typically, a lot of college courses are three credits.
Some college degrees are 127 credits for you to earn that degree.
I'm just using random numbers, but they're pretty accurate for a lot of situations, pretty
general understanding.
Well, hey, if you go to college and you do a couple years, you might have 60, 70 credits.
You can't lose those credits.
Those are your credits.
They count towards your degree, but here's the thing.
You won't get the degree if you don't go ahead
and finish the entire college course,
the entire college degree plan
so that you get the full reward.
What's the full reward?
You actually get the diploma and you graduate
and now you have that degree, right?
You have your bachelor's degree
or your master's degree or whatever.
I got a bachelor's degree.
Because I completed the entire program, but then I started taking master's courses
I did good in them, but I just didn't like it and so I quit I still have those credits in my master's
Degree, but I don't have a master's degree
I didn't get that full reward because I quit I stopped going I saw no value in it for me personally
Not saying there's anything wrong with a master's degree. I'm just simply saying for me
I just decided at the time not to do it and the same way I think it comes into Christian life you go out
and you go soul winning, and you get someone saved.
Let me tell you something.
No one can take that away from you.
You got those credits, and you know what?
You should keep going and keep getting those credits,
and keep getting those credits.
But you know what, there's a special reward
to completing your degree plan.
And what is your degree plan?
It's your entire life.
Go over to 2 Timothy, chapter number four.
Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number four.
You know, the Bible says if you give a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple,
the Bible says he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Those are the red letters of Jesus Christ.
And look, if you have a doctrine that stands in direct opposition to the red letters in
your Bible, you should rethink your doctrine.
I've heard people, I had someone come up to me, a young single guy, and he said, hey,
And he's like, what do you think about that?
And I said, well, I think you're wrong.
And he's like, why?
And I'm like, I just start showing him all these verses.
I'm just like, okay, here's the verse saying,
he can know why he loses his reward.
And I just keep showing him like verse after verse.
And then he's just like, yeah, but in Ezekiel.
The Bible says that, you know, none of your righteousness will be remembered whenever you commit a trespass or something.
I was like, that has nothing to do with rewards.
That is not what's brought up in the passage.
I mean, if you're going to contradict what Jesus said in red letters where it said,
he shall know why he's lost his reward with some passes that doesn't bring up rewards,
is not in context of rewards, has nothing to do with it.
Look, you're wrong.
And here's another thing that irritates the fire out of me.
I explained to him how he was wrong very clearly,
and then he just gets up and preaches it anyways.
And I thought like, why did you even ask my opinion?
Like what could I have said that would have actually
deterred you from preaching the sermon?
Because I made it as clear as I could.
Like, don't do this.
Don't be a person who asks for advice,
and then when they give you the advice you don't want,
you just do it anyways.
Like what's the point of asking the advice then?
You know and you know what don't be a rubber stamp person either if someone comes and asks you something that's stupid
Just say hey, it's wrong
You know tell people hey, this isn't right. Don't do this. This isn't a good idea
And you know what I don't believe that I believe that's false doctrine now
Of course that person turned out to be kind of a rotten person in the future
She's not a shock to me, but at the end of the day, you know hey, and if you're asking your pastor
You're asking people that are in leadership at the church, and they give you an opinion
You know you should take it seriously
even if you kind of think they're wrong,
maybe you should realize you could still be wrong,
you know, take it seriously.
But look at what the Apostle Paul says,
he says in verse number seven,
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord of the righteous judge shall give me
at that day and not to me only,
but unto all them also that love his appearing.
So notice there's this special reward
that the Apostle Paul is describing,
he's gonna get why?
Because he finished the course.
because he finished the course, and again, this course typically, I think of when I hear course,
I think of like an education course, a college course, a high school course,
but it's more in the context of thinking about like a race course.
And you're traveling down that path and you're running that race course and you know what why he won
Why he's gonna get the crown is because he finished his race course and that could again apply
Like I said in a college degree plan you finished all of those courses you finished that plan and now you get that degree
You get that particular reward.
You get your high school diploma.
You get your college diploma.
You get your training schools' diploma.
You get some degree.
You get some certificate, whatever it is.
I believe that's the same how it works in Christianity.
And you know what, you can earn credits all day long,
but you know what's the best thing is to finish the course.
I'm glad that you're serving God right now,
but I want you to serve God until you can't serve God anymore.
We should serve God to the end and there's a special award for those.
Look, people are going to stumble, people are going to backslide.
I mean even Peter walked away from Jesus at one point, but then he came back and I believe
that Peter is going to get a full reward.
So you know, don't get discouraged, don't get down, allow yourself to just keep saying
on the path, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Why? Because we know that we're not doing things in vain. We're doing things that have eternal value, and so we should keep doing them.
Go back to 2nd John.
We should though look to ourselves because think about it. Why would I want to run
three-quarters of a marathon and then quit?
Why would I want to go through all the turmoil? Why do I want to get a hundred and twenty
six credits and be one shy and just not get the degree? It's like just finish the degree.
And he's just saying, hey, we're on the right course.
We're walking in truth.
We're close to the finish line.
We just need to finish so that we get that full reward.
Just keep going.
It's just someone pushing you, motivating you,
trying to get you all the way to the end.
You say, why are you so bombastic, pastors?
Why do you yell and scream?
And why do you act like these things are important?
Because they are important.
Just think of me as that annoying personal trainer
at the gym that's just like two more.
Just keep going.
And then as soon as you get the two, it's like, all right,
Who's ever had that your workout buddy is like just one more and like okay two more you're like
You just said one more like one more ago, you know
And it's like they're not they don't hate you. They're just trying to push you and they're trying to get you to get a bigger game
Okay, I'm just that irritating personal trainer. All right
You can do it
Do more
2nd John, look at verse 9.
Whosoever transgressed in the bite of not in the doctrine of Christ,
hath not God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ,
he hath both the Father and the Son.
If there come any unto you,
and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not in your house,
neither bid him God's speed.
For he that bid of them God's speed
is partaker of his evil deeds.
So again, we're kind of hammering the same point over and over,
but...
A couple of points I want to make before I get to this main context.
Notice that it talks about the father and the son, it says he has both the father and
the son.
Now,
We use the reign of the Larragomas 2010 and I love that version, but I'll be honest
I think there's a minor issue in it because it doesn't really imply the word both the same as it does in the King James
I kind of wish that it did that's like one of the few things that I've noticed
That's maybe a little bit different
But I remember going to Mexico and trying to convince somebody of the Trinity and I turned to this verse because I think it's such a great
Verse is a powerful verse. It's like hey, there's both the father and the son. We're talking about two here not one
And it just wasn't really there in the text the same way.
But again, I love the King James Bible.
I believe that it's perfect without error.
And I think all translations, look, every word matters.
Because you go, I go there and I don't really have that emboss.
I don't really have like something like just to really point to and say, hey.
It's both, and that's the word I was looking for.
I was looking for the word both specifically, and I didn't notice it in the text, and I
thought, like, man, you know, I was really kind of hoping to point to that, because you
know what?
Every word of God counts, and every word of God matters, and we should not be content
with a close so, maybe so.
We want a exact translation of the Holy Scriptures and of the English tongue, and I believe it's
the King James Bible.
Now again, does that mean that that's a bad translation?
I think it's a great translation.
But at the end of the day, you know,
why did we go from the Matthews and the Coverdale
and why do we go from even the bishops
under the King James?
Because we wanted to get it dialed in.
And you know what, that's what I believe we have is a dialed in exact translation of the Holy Scriptures
and why we love the King James Bible and of course we love both the Father and the Son.
Of course without a Father you don't have a son, without a son you don't have a father
and this is the doctrine of Christ.
People who don't have this doctrine, what does the Bible say?
Don't let them in your house.
And I mean this, I believe this is literal.
If Jehovah's Witnesses come knocking on your door, don't let them in.
Don't give them water, don't even be nice to them.
I don't I don't I'm not nice to them. I say go away from me
I might even say it more emphatically than that. All right. I might use them let go brand and technology, you know
Words or phrasing or whatever. I'm just I'm just saying like I would rather air in that side than being nice to them
Because what does the Bible say if you're nice to them just by bidding them Godspeed just by saying God bless you
Just by saying thank you just by saying anything nice. You're a partaker of their evil deeds
That's what the Bible says. I say why don't you get the hell out of my neighborhood?
False profit, that's mean.
No, you know what's mean?
Damning people's souls to hell
or encouraging them to keep doing that
or thinking that they're welcome.
You know what?
I mean to those people.
How dare you be mean to people?
Well, how dare you help people commit evil deeds?
You know, oh, well, I just tried.
I'm just one of those people.
I'm just nice to everybody.
Okay, well, then you know what?
You're a partaker of evil deeds.
You can't have it both ways if you are nice to everybody then you know what?
You are a partaker of evil deeds because there's good and bad people and so if you're nice to everybody
You're nice to bad people and you know what? God's mad at you for that
There are some people you should not be nice to
Let's look at, let's go through some verses on this, go to Matthew 7.
Why is this being iterated to the woman?
Because I think, again, women by nature don't want to be confrontational, women by nature
don't want to have to say something mean, and so they're more easily going to say God
bless you or be nice to someone when they shouldn't.
And you know what, sometimes you need to be like jail and you need to just drive a spike
through their head.
Sometimes you have to be the mom of bear and just give somebody an earful and get them out of your
Situation get them away from you. You know, you don't have to be nice to everybody
You know praise God my mom was mean to people
From time to time not now she was a very nice lady
extremely gracious and she would give people, you know, the benefit of the doubt.
Boy, when it crossed a certain line, she was ready to go to bat
and she was ready to defend her family. You know what? We need women
who are willing to defend themselves against predators and defend their
children
and not allow people to take advantage of them. Matthew 7.
Look what it says in verse 6 give not that which is holy under the dogs
Neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you look being nice
To the swine helping the swine causes you and your family to be destroyed
Don't be nice to the swine. Don't give good things into the swine
Don't invite sodomites and faggots and reprobates into your house
You know what drive them out of your house
Romans chapter 16, go to Romans chapter 16.
Well, this just sounds mean, good.
The Bible, you know, there's no verse in the Bible
that says thou should not be mean.
I would argue that the Bible teaches that you should be mean
in certain contexts of certain people.
It's certainly saying you shouldn't be nice.
Don't bid them Godspeed.
And you know what, we live in Texas, some southern hospitality, it's been waning because
of all you California and immigrants and stuff coming in here, but it used to be the, you
know, drive the Texas way, the friendly way, right?
People don't drive friendly anymore, you know, boy, they'll give you all kinds of one finger
salutes and stuff, you know, down here.
People are not as friendly and hospitable and you know, I think we should be in a hospital
I think we should be nice the Bible says to salute the brethren the Bible says to be kind and gracious and courteous
But you know what with evil people with bad people with people not bringing the doctrine of Christ. We should not be nice
Should not be kind to them
What does it say in Romans 16 verse 17 I beseech you brethren mark them which cause the visions and offenses
Contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not a Lord Jesus Christ
But their own belly and by good words and fair speeches notice this to see the hearts of the simple
elect lady don't be simple
Your children are counting on you.
You might be their last chance of defense.
You know, don't let people come over
and preach smooth things unto you
and lie to you and deceive you and trick you.
You know, if they don't have the right doctrine,
don't bid them Godspeed, stay far away from them.
Go over to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
I'll just, you know, reference a couple of other places.
Galatians 1 tells us if anybody's preaching in another gospel,
let them be accursed.
The Bible says in Galatians 5 later,
he says, those that are troubling you,
I wish they were cut off.
Meaning having nothing to do with them avoiding them staying away from them not bidding them God speed not being kind to them
Not being courteous with them the Mormons stay away from Jova's witnesses stay away from people that false doctrine and false
Gospels do not invite them into your house now look
I'm not saying that if someone's unsaved you can't have them in your house
We're talking about people bringing a false gospel to you.
We're talking about people actively trying to convert you into their false religion.
You know what, if you want to bring an unsafe person in
and be nice to them and try to preach them the gospel, you do that.
But if someone bringing you a false gospel coming to you,
approaching you, initiating false religion,
you are not to be nice to them.
In fact, in the Old Testament, you drag them out of the city and stone them to death.
And the New Testament is just saying, hey, be mean to them, get them out of your house,
have nothing to do with them, stay away from them, mark them, and do not wish them well.
Why?
Well, because they're trying to prey on weak people, beguiling unstable souls.
And I want to look at verse number six,
for of this sorter they which creep into houses
and lead captive, silly women,
laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.
You know, what is he telling the woman to do?
He was telling, he was really giving this admonition,
keep the commandments.
What is this woman doing? She's laden with sins. She's not trying to keep the commandments. She's silly
She's not sober. She's not thinking about the Bible. She's not thinking about doctrine
And so she's easily taken advantage of you know what when you're backslid in and you're not thinking about doctrine
You put yourself in a very vulnerable position where people can take advantage of you lie to you see view notice
What it says they creep into houses
and lead captive, silly women.
So they're not clear about their intentions.
They're going to lie to you, they're going to deceive you,
they're going to take advantage of you.
And notice when they do, it says lead captive.
They can literally manipulate your mind and emotions
and everything to where you're just forced.
They can just really just take advantage of people and they're totally their captives.
They're like their slaves mentally and, you know, this is a dangerous, dangerous thing.
That's why it's important to read your Bible, go to church, be around like-minded brethren.
And of course, who's being targeted here?
As it said, lead captive, silly young single men.
Lead captive, you know, old dudes.
What does it say?
It says, lead, capt, the silly women.
You know, the women are, according to the Bible,
the weaker vessel, and because of that,
the enemy prays on them first.
Who did the snake, who did the serpent come and beguile?
I mean, go to 1 Timothy 2.
Who is it that got tricked?
Who is it that the devil targeted?
He targeted the woman.
Look at it says in verse 12 but I suffer not a woman to teach nor usurp authority over the man
But to be in silence for Adam was first formed then Eve and Adam was not deceived
But the woman being deceived was in the transgression
Notwithstanding she should be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness or sobriety
You keep serving God you can be protected from the wiles of the devil
But you know what when you're just backslidden and you're not thinking about doctrine
The devil wants to attack you first and let me tell you something
You know women I believe are under more spiritual and satanic attack than men
And in a lot of ways, it's harder for them to want to go to a good church than it is for us.
You know, you got to be constant, all this pressure about how you dress.
And it's so silly. It's like, we're not asking you to wear like a ninja tent,
like the Muslims or something like that.
You know, it's like, oh, wear a dress or a skirt, so oppressive.
You know, it's it's really not oppressive. Okay, but again, is that counter-cultural in America in 2025? Yeah, it is
It's like we're not emphasizing, you know putting on tons of makeup and dolling yourself up and trying to flaunt yourself and be
Immodest we're saying hey, you should try to just obey your husband. Is that counter-cultural? Absolutely
The world's telling you, you don't need no man.
You don't have some man telling you what to do.
You know, you're so oppressed, honey.
You should just go out there and work a subway
where it's not oppressed.
You know, it's like, good night.
That's where the oppression ceases, a subway, right?
Go out there and be a nanny for somebody.
Go out there and be a slave for corporate America.
Look, it's not like there's freedom on the table.
It's funny. It's like they're offering them liberty while they themselves are captives
Okay, there's no such thing as this liberty option. It just doesn't exist
There is a man that every woman answers to and even at the top of the food chain
It's a bunch of little Jews that they're answering to okay. There is no such thing. There's no such thing as a woman run country
A woman-run government, there's no such thing as any woman in charge of anything.
There is a man behind every woman telling her what to do and she has to obey.
And you do get to choose, I guess, from a free will perspective, which man you want to listen
to the most.
Let me tell you something.
Your husband, I guarantee, is going to give you the best advice.
There are husband dies there a widow or whatever the younger widows remarry the older widows that has served God
You know what you're good, but at the end of the day like hey realize you're a little bit more susceptible
Realize more people might target you and be careful about that go to second John will finish
It says in verse 12,
having many things to write into you,
I would not write with paper and ink,
but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face
that are joy may be full.
You know, there's nothing quite as fun
as seeing someone in person.
And look, I love technology, I'm pro-technology,
I like text messages, I like phone calls,
I like FaceTime, I like all these different inventions,
but let me tell you something,
there's nothing like just being in person with someone.
Hey, I'm pro putting sermons on the Internet, I'm pro listening to church, I'm pro if you're
sick or have extenuating circumstances, just listen to sermons online.
But you know what?
There's nothing like being in church and somehow the preaching is just even different.
You ever like you experience a sermon, it's way different than if you just listen to it
online.
And, you know, when you're listening online, you just click off halfway through anyways.
Or you tune out, or you do something else, you're more distracted or whatever.
But you know, when you're in person, it's just a different experience.
And you know, there's a different experience to being around people, being with people.
You know, when it comes to every relationship you have, it's important to have that face-to-face
relationship.
You know, especially in marriage.
You know, you husbands, don't cheap out, give your wife some face-to-face time.
You know, your children, give them some face to face time.
We need to have that real relationship.
You know, when you go out to dinner, instead of being on Facebook, have face to face time.
When you have dinner as a family, sit at the table and just put the phone over somewhere
else and have face to face time.
Have some face-to-face time with your family and look, I'm not saying don't have a phone
I'm not saying don't communicate with people. I love it
I love that I can talk to tons of people and have a relationship with lots more people than just face-to-face
Because I'm busy you're busy and hey, I like these things. I like memes memes are fun. They're they're a big part of my life, okay?
I make a lot of memes alright some are funny, but at the end of the day, you know what? We don't want to get rid of our face-to-face
Why are we having a fire-breathing Baptist Fellowship because there's something special about coming together with a bunch of people and seeing them face-to-face?
Hey, you know what you need a friendships or you see them face-to-face
Hey, you need to help people and be their face-to-face. You know, what is pure religion is to visit people face-to-face?
Says the children of thy elect sister
greet thee
Amen, and so we see also hey other children and her sister. Hey, they they have
Relationship with other people. Everybody cares about you
And you know what?
You know, go to a church where people actually care about you.
They want to visit you.
They want to be with you face to face.
They know you.
It's really important.
You know, church is really important.
We need relationships.
And if you're a little bit of an introvert, you know, challenge yourself to try to talk
to more people, be more friendly.
You know, if you want to have a lot of friends, you got to be friendly yourself.
But don't be this person that thinks, I don't need friendship.
I don't need people.
You know, we all need people.
We all need people, we all need friendships,
you know, we all need big brothers.
And even if you don't have a big brother,
even if you're an only child, hey, you know what,
you got some spiritual big brothers in here.
And you know what, if you're a man,
be somebody's spiritual big brother.
We need some big brothers in in our lives to help the elect sisters and to help the children and to help the fatherless and
To help the widows and to help those that go through difficult situations and to help to warn off all the freaks and the weirdos
You know there's often that common saying like hey you got four older brothers and the younger sister
It's like man. They're gonna scare off all those bad boyfriends, right?
But we should do that spiritually we need to scare off all the bad people that are gonna take a friend advantage of
those that are in this room, those that come to our church,
and we need to help them, and we need to love them.
And you know what, as husbands, we need to protect our wives
because they're our sister.
Protect them from those evil, wicked people.
And look, if there's bad people out there,
don't wish them Godspeed.
Just tell them to go to hell, all right?
School's in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the word of God.
Thank you for this.
This interesting chapter.
Thank you for all of our sisters in Christ.
Thank you for all the little children.
I pray that you would help us to have a big brother attitude,
that we would look after them, that we have a big sister attitude,
that we would love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I pray that you would help the women to realize that doctrine is important,
that they need to learn doctrine,
that they need to take seriously Christianity,
that they need to take seriously their faith.
they need to realize that there's a real enemy and there's really bad people out there that
want to hurt them, harm them, and take advantage of them. I pray that you give us wisdom that you
would help us to identify wolves and and to reduce whatever damage they try to cause.
And I pray that you would help us to realize that it's important to walk in truth so you
can be pleased with us. In Jesus' name we pray amen. All right for our last song let's all go to
Song number 119 until the storm passes by.
Song number 119.
Song number 119, let's all sing that out together.