All right, folks, welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church.
We're going to go ahead and get started this evening.
If you would, go ahead and grab your hymnals and turn to hymn number 55.
Hymn number 55, when the roll is called up yonder.
Let's sing.
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more.
And the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair.
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore.
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder.
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise.
And the glory of his resurrection share.
When his chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies.
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder.
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
Let us labor for the master from the dawn till setting sun.
Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done.
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder.
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
Amen.
Let's open with a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we just thank you for this evening and for the ability to come together and worship
in your name.
Lord, I just pray that you would be with those that we had seeds planted with this evening,
that you would just give that increase and you would lead them to that truth, Lord, if
they are in fact seeking it.
I just pray that you would be with all those that have prayer requests, whether they be
spoken or unspoken this midweek service, Lord, and please just fill Pastor Shelley with your
spirit and soften our hearts and ease the distractions so that we can pay attention
and learn from your word, God.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
All right, not too far for the next hymn.
Let's do number 56, hymn number 56, when we all get to heaven.
I see a theme here, but you know, the Bible says we can know for sure that we have eternal
life, right?
So when we all get to heaven, number 56, when we all get to heaven, 56, when we all get
to heaven, let's sing.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing his mercy and his grace.
When the mansion's bright and blessed, he'll prepare for us a place.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.
While we walk the pilgrim pathway, clouds will overspread the sky.
But when traveling days are over, not a shadow, not a sign.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.
Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day.
Just one glimpse of him in glory will the tours of life repay.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.
Onward to the prize be he for us, soon his beauty we'll behold.
When the pearly gates will open, we shall tread the streets of gold.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.
Good evening, thank you so much for coming to Purest Baptist Church.
If you don't have a bulletin, you can have, Brother Sampson can get you one over here.
Slip your hand real high.
On the front we have June 20th, we have the rainbow there, which is actually something
that God created, okay?
I know a lot of you would desecrate this thing today, but hey, it's what God gave us as a
promise that he wouldn't destroy us with water.
And we look on the inside, we have our service and soul winning times as well as our totals.
And then we have our Bible memory passage on Romans chapter number eight, verse 15.
And there's a lot of verses here, so you can definitely still be working on that.
Was there any soul winning report outside of this evening, was there anything this week
so far?
All right.
Keep up the good work on soul winning on the right, we have a list of expecting ladies,
please keep them in your prayers.
Baytown Bash soul winning marathon is coming up this Saturday, June 26th, we're meeting
in the Baytown area, the address is listed below.
If you have any questions, if you're just listening online, you can always email us
and we'll send you that information.
Also we have breakfast there from nine to 10, a couple hours of soul winning lunch back
at the same park.
And I heard we're getting some of those famous Darnell hot dogs, and so that'll be a lot
of fun and all the fixes, I guess, or how does that work?
All right, cool.
So that'll be great.
And then also we go back out for another couple hours of soul winning.
And so really encourage you to go out there and participate.
We have a coming event, the fire breathing Baptist fellowship.
And on Father's Day, we handed out some of those new shirts, those sodomite deception
shirts.
Anybody that's a father not get one already?
Okay, then you see guys see me right after the service and I'll make sure and try to
get one right after the service.
And so also, and I forgot to remind you, finally got our sodomite section DVDs.
And so I have several boxes in my truck, so make sure to help me bring those in after
the service.
And so you can handle these things out liberally.
What's cool is there's also a QR code back here on the back.
And so you know, some people don't even have a DVD player, I guess.
So you know, I would just say, Hey, we have a DVD.
If you do, you know, one watch this, you can watch on YouTube, and they can just take a
picture.
You don't even have to give it out.
If you're like, Hey, would you watch this on DVD?
And they're like, not really.
It's like, well, would you watch it on YouTube or something?
And they could just take a snap a pic of that or go to the website.
And right on the website, just the YouTube video.
And it's better to go there than a YouTube video, because they'll just take YouTube videos
down like that.
I know a little bit about that, but so that's pretty cool.
They come out, they came out really nice.
And so make sure to grab lots of those and we'll try to get them put in our cabin and
everything like that.
But we should get 500 of those Spanish New Testaments tomorrow.
And then I'll kind of redistribute I think they're like a little behind so it might take
another week or so but I did order like 5000 of those things.
So hopefully, once they get all that in, we can have several down here and we can use
those resources as well.
When trying to reach the Spanish community, it's nice to give them something especially
since there's not a lot of information in this area in Spanish, unfortunately, you know,
but hopefully as time goes on, and we are church grows and everything, we could have
even more of a Spanish reach for this community because man, it is like one out of 20 or some
sorry, it's like one out of five, about 20% of the population in Houston, it seems like
to me only speaks Spanish.
Obviously there's a large percentage that speak Spanish in addition to English, but
I'm saying like only Spanish seems like a lot of the soul winning that we've been even
doing recently.
And we're running into tons of people that speak no English, it's just complete Spanish.
And so it's a great opportunity to reach those people.
If you already speak Spanish, you know, you're a valuable asset to the kingdom of God.
And you know, maybe God has put you in this town for that reason.
You know, there's a lot of places in this world where you could live where your Spanish
wouldn't be profitable at all, it wouldn't necessarily be benefiting you.
And when you live in a city where there's so many people that can only reach the Spanish,
it's a great opportunity.
And in fact, I feel like I get more people saved in Spanish in Houston than I do in English.
You know, when I go out and my Spanish is very elementary, I mean, I can pretty much
give the gospel at a bare minimum.
But people, you know, seem to receive it pretty well.
And today, I was able to preach the gospel to some lady in Spanish, and it was great
at the end, I whipped out this DVD.
And I said, now, there's some people that are sons of the devil.
And I said, these are los medicones, and she was like, yeah, that's right.
I didn't have to show, she already agreed with me.
And I was like, yeah, these people are bad, and you don't want your children to be around
them.
And she was, she was real excited.
She said she speaks English a little and I was like, well, you need to watch this DVD
with your kids.
Okay.
So and a lot of kids speak English.
So get them believe in this doctrine early, early and often.
But that's pretty much all I had for announcements at this time.
During August, I'm gonna have a bunch of guest preachers try to come and we'll have a couple
local guys preaching on Thursdays just so I can be with my wife when she gives birth
and everything like that.
But then everything should kick back into normal order.
We're having brother Corbin Russell, and brother, I think, I think both Segura and Russell are
coming.
Let me, let me double check.
I think we got both of them coming.
And Pastor Thompson and I were talking.
He's gonna come down here and preach for you guys right before the Firebreathing Baptist
Fellowship.
So he's gonna try and come down here and preach for you guys.
And so you're gonna get, if you come to the Firebreathing Baptist Fellowship, you get
a double dip.
Okay, which is even better.
And so he's really excited to come back down here again and see you guys and he definitely
asked about Pure Words a lot.
And so there's lots of people that care about you guys and so that's real exciting.
Let's go to our third song.
Brother Cameron's gonna lead for us.
Let's do, let's do song 100.
How about that?
Day by Day.
That was the opening act or whatever I'm messing with.
Song number 100, Day by Day.
Let's sing.
Day by day, and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials of fear.
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He who's hard is kind beyond all measure, gives unto each day what he deems best.
Lovingly, it's part of pain and pleasure, being made toil with peace and rest.
Every day the Lord himself is near me, with us fair to show mercy for each hour.
All my cares he make them fair and cheer me, he who's clear is counselor and power.
The protection of this child and treasure, his love he laid.
As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure, this the pledge to me he made.
Help me then in every tribulation, so to trust thy promises, O Lord, that I lose the
face of consolation offered me within thy holy word.
Help me, Lord, with joy thy trouble meeting, dare you take us from a father's hand.
One by one, the days the moment's fleeting, till I reach the promised land.
Amen.
Good singing.
While the offering plate's being passed around, turn if you would to Acts chapter number 14.
Acts chapter number 14.
We'll read that whole chapter as is our custom.
Brother Brandon, if you'd report.
All right, Acts chapter 14.
And it came to pass in Niconium that they went both together into the synagogues of
the Jews, so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and the Greeks believed.
But the believing Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against
the brethren.
Though long time therefore abode, they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto
the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
But the multitude of the city was divided, in part held with the Jews, in part with the
apostles.
And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles and also the Jews with their
rulers to use them despitefully and to stone them, there were of it that fled unto Lystra,
Derbe, cities of Lyconia, unto the regions of Lyath around about.
And there they preached the gospel.
And there sat a certain man at Lystra impotent in his feet, being a crippled from his mother's
womb, who never had walked.
The same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith
to be healed.
Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet, and leap and walk.
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted but their voices, saying in the
speech of Lyconia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercuria, because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priests of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto
the gate, and would have done the sacrifice with the people, which when the apostles of
Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran in among the people, crying
out, saying, Sirs, why do ye these things?
We also are the men of passion with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these
manities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things
that are in.
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, nevertheless he left
not himself without witness, and that he did good and gave us the rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
And with these things scarce restrained they the people, and they had not done sacrifice
unto them.
And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and
having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Howbeit, as the disciples stood around about him, he arose up and came into the city, and
the next day he departed from Barnabas to Gerbi.
And when they had preached the gospel to the city, and had taught many, they returned again
to Lystra, and to Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting
them to continue in the faith, that we must through much tribulation enter in the kingdom
of God.
Then when they had ordained them elders in every church, they had prayed with fasting
and commanded them to the Lord, to whom they believed.
And after they had passed through Hasidah, they came to Pamphylia, and when they had
preached the word of Perga, and went into Natalia, and then sailed to Antioch, from
whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.
And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that
God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles, and there
they abode long time to the disciples.
Can I have a quick prayer?
God, thank you for everyone here, Lord, and thank you for the great gain that you have
given to us.
We pray for you, and we pray for you.
I don't have to tell you that the Holy Spirit is the only spirit in this place other than
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
We're here in Acts, chapter number 14, and we're kind of continuing the first journey,
missionary journey of the Apostle Paul and Barnabas.
They had been sent out, and we had been going through a lot of different things in Acts,
chapter number 13.
They had gone through a lot of different places, and what you have to understand is that while
in the Bible we may read a few verses, and it's very quickly, a lot of times it can be
compassing a couple of years, or a very long period of time.
And so, while it's easy for us to just kind of skip through and read through this, this
is actually taking place over years, and this is a lot of events that are taking place that
are being kind of summarized and just highlighted, just a few events that are happening.
And it says in verse number 1, it says,
And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews,
and so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also the Greeks, believed.
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against
the brethren.
Long time, therefore, abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony in
the word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
But the multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the Jews, and part with
the apostles.
Now, what's interesting is when you kind of study what's going on here, you know, when
it comes to the gospel, when it comes to the work of the Lord, it's a lot of just rinse
and repeat in the sense that whenever they're going into a city, they're not really doing
anything novel, or they're not doing anything new, they're doing the exact same thing.
They go to one city, they preach the gospel.
And then once it's kind of saturated, or it gets to a point where they no longer are able
to freely preach the gospel, they just go to the next city.
And then once that area gets saturated, so they're just kind of doing the exact same
thing over and over and over again, and there's this repetition.
But what makes it different is the response of the adherents, the response of the city
and the response of the people.
And we have to understand about us is, you know, in the New Testament, and when it comes
to Christianity, we're not really coming up with new things or new ideas.
Really, we're just going on to do the same thing.
You know, when you go out soul winning, you shouldn't be thinking like, what's a new way
I can do this.
You're really doing the same thing.
You're telling that old, old story.
We just go to the door to door to door.
And what makes it exciting or what makes it different is the response of the people.
That's what really makes it exciting or makes it a little bit different.
And so some people, you know, I think that they try to reinvent the wheel or they try
to come up with new ways to reach people.
According to the Bible, it's the same thing.
You just go and you just preach the gospel and preach the gospel.
And the excitement comes by continually doing the work because you're going to run into
all kinds of various scenarios, situations, people.
And when you preach the gospel to a lot of different people, and especially to different
cities or even different states or different countries, you'll realize that you have to
emphasize different things when preaching the gospel.
So there will be some difference there.
Yet, it's the same gospel.
It's the same message that you're going forth and delivering.
However, how certain people groups or how certain areas are going to receive that may
vary a little bit.
But one thing is consistent in the book of Acts is that the Jews never really want to
hear the gospel.
They don't like the gospel.
They're not fond of Paul and Barnabas.
And the Gentiles are actually very receptive to the gospel.
And so I think whenever we're going out and preaching the gospel, we need to help ourselves
by identifying those who are more receptive than others, by saying, you know what, there's
a certain group of people that are more receptive than others and try to target those people.
Now, we actually do do this.
And we've thought about this as a church.
And it's very evident.
What would be an unreceptive group?
How about the rich?
Right?
Isn't that a pretty unreceptive group?
I mean, what's a pretty receptive group?
The poor, right?
Or sometimes we like to go to apartments as opposed to like a really nice neighborhood.
Why?
We've identified that some of these people are more receptive than others.
And, look, we could go to the Jewish neighborhood that's not far from here and have no success,
like virtually zero success preaching the gospel.
And we could go to, you know, the ghetto over here or we could go to one of these like slum
type apartments and have a lot of success.
And the reality is it's not that we're doing anything different.
It's the audience is a little bit different, isn't it?
But there's always going to be a division on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There's always going to be a division when it comes to the word of God being preached.
And that division should not be coming from us preaching different things.
It comes from the fact that different audiences are going to respond differently to the word
of God.
But God has always ordained it that there's going to be division.
A lot of people have this idea of the word of God brings unity or the word of God brings
everybody together.
But really it's the exact opposite when you read the scriptures, when you study, even
from Genesis chapter number one, the word of God brings division into a scenario or
into an area especially when it has not been preached.
Go over to Luke chapter 12 for a moment.
Go to Luke chapter 12.
But just think about how the beginning of the world is formed, is how it's created.
It was dark.
Darkness was upon the face of the deep is what the Bible says.
And God said, let there be light.
And he divided the light from the dark.
And you have the evening and the morning.
And so God is a God of division and God's word specifically divides.
I mean, right at the very beginning of the Bible, it's division.
And all the way throughout the Bible, you always have a division over the word of God
and what's being preached.
And sometimes you don't realize the division is there until the word of God comes into play.
You're going to have a family.
You're going to have some kind of a dynamic where everybody's in unity.
But when the word of God is illuminated, it's going to be kind of a drawing a line in the
hand and some people are going to respond to that and some people are not.
Some people are going to embrace that.
Some people are going to end up rejecting that.
Look what it says in Luke chapter 12 verse 51.
The Bible says, suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth.
I tell you nay, but rather division.
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided.
Three against two and two against three.
The father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father.
The mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother.
The mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
So notice Jesus Christ is saying, do you really think that I'm going to come here and bring peace?
No, the answer is that he gives division.
And at the very beginning, like I said, of creation, he's bringing division into the world.
He's separating the light from the dark and the word of God separates the good from the evil.
It separates the sheep from the goats.
It separates the saved from the unsaved.
It separates everything from essentially those who believe in him and those who don't.
Those who trust in his word and those who are not going to trust in his word.
And I think that some people, especially our church, has reached a lot of first generation Christians.
Where essentially that their household was not saved already.
Their household is not coming from a Christian background.
A lot of people didn't grow up independent fundamental Baptist.
And what you have to understand is that your family in the past may have had this unity.
It may have had this kind of just everybody got along.
Everybody was kind of the same.
Everybody liked all the same things.
Everybody kind of hung out.
Y'all went together and did things together.
But then there was a moment when the word of God kind of entered into that family dynamic.
And what happened?
Division took place.
And now all of a sudden now you have two against three.
And now you have three against two.
Now you have a father against a son.
Or now you have a mother against her daughter.
I mean you already have the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law.
I get that.
But I mean there was some other divisions that needed to take.
That was an easy separation.
But you know in some cases hey Ruth and Naomi they're close.
You got the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law.
And some people do have a good relationship with their in-laws.
I don't know them but I'm just saying theoretically they do.
But the word of God brings in division into these family dynamics.
And so what could happen is the division comes and you could think that you're doing something wrong.
Look I'm there right there with you.
Go to John chapter number seven if you would.
Go to John chapter seven for a second.
But you know when division happens in my family or in any area of my life.
I kind of tend to try and be a peacemaker.
That's kind of my personality is that I try to just.
You know I'm kind of typically you may not believe this or not.
But I typically am the type of person that will just let everything go.
And I don't hold any grudges.
And just like you can walk all over me and I'll just still be your buddy and your pal.
And it doesn't really bother me.
And I can just you know just keep going on.
Because to me it's like what's the point in fighting and arguing and having all these problems and contentions.
It actually is difficult for me to want to you know wrestle and fight and contend over things.
And really make kind of a concerted effort to bring people to this you know a varying opinion.
And you wouldn't think that necessarily from maybe some of my preaching or some of the videos I've made.
But I'm just saying naturally that's who I am.
And I know in my family there's lots of times there's a lot of division.
A lot of people are upset with one another.
And I would always try to like reach out to both sides and be like come on let's just hang out.
I'm like who cares just get over it.
And they're like but they said this.
And I'm just like who cares you know get over it.
But it was really just strife over strife.
It wasn't like because of the word of God.
But then kind of you know at some point in my family you know the word of God started being the root cause of a lot of the strife.
And now all of a sudden me being kind of in the middle man and just kind of like bringing everybody together.
All of a sudden everybody doesn't like me anymore.
I'm not really the peacemaker. They're all united against me.
You know it's like now all of a sudden I'm the guy that's the problem or causing issue.
And it's really it was really hard for me.
Because for me I'm like I want to have as close a relationship with the family as possible.
I want to have unity.
I don't want to be fighting or arguing.
Like that is not the type of personality I am.
That's not what I desire at all.
But the reality is that the word of God is going to make this division.
And so you ultimately have to decide.
Okay well am I going to stick with what the Bible says and continue having division.
Or am I just going to forsake the word of God.
Ignore the word of God.
And basically unify and rally with my family against the Bible.
But just because there's division in your household.
There's division with family members does not mean you're doing something wrong.
Okay so you can't just it could be.
Obviously there could be division that you're just causing a problem.
You know if you're just a jerk or if you're just rude or you're being mean to your family members.
Yeah that's a problem.
You know you need to work on that.
But if the reason why they don't want to hang out with you is for godly reasons.
Because you're trying to serve Christ.
Because you want to go to church.
Because you want to read your Bible.
Because you don't want to smoke.
You don't want to chew.
You're not going to go with girls that do.
You know you're not going to do all these things.
Then guess what that's a right to stand.
And you should feel, you should feel exonerated.
You should feel right when you're doing that which the Bible says regardless of what relationships may break.
Or what situations may end up unfolding.
And the Bible even says that you're supposed to even hate yourself.
You're supposed to hate father, mother, children, wife, even your own self.
And you're supposed to take up your cross daily.
And you're supposed to walk with Christ.
And you know what some people do.
Some people literally, every relationship is severed.
Or some people have a very close relationship that gets severed specifically because of the word of God.
And while it should never be our goal to separate these relationships.
We should always strive to have the best relationship we can with all these people.
You know if push comes to shove you got to just choose Christ.
And you know that's the reality that there's going to be a division amongst the people.
Look at what it says in John chapter 7 verse 40.
Many of the people therefore when they heard this saying said of the truth this is the prophet.
Others said this is the Christ.
Some said so Christ come out of Galilee.
Have not the scripture said that Christ come into the seed of David.
And out of the town of Bethlehem where David was.
So there was a division among the people.
Notice this because of him.
So notice because of who Christ is.
And really this is like doctrine.
They're arguing doctrinally about who Jesus Christ is.
Some are accepting that he's Christ.
Some are saying no it's not possible this is Christ because he's not of the right town.
Or he's not of the right origin.
And so there's a lot of people arguing and divided about who Christ is.
You know this makes me think of all the denominations that exist in Christianity today aren't there?
Where they all have their own varying degree of idea of who Jesus is.
What he did. What the gospel is.
And some people think like well that can't be an evidence of the truth.
You know if the word of God is true and the Bible is true then why do we see all of this division?
Well it's because of him.
The division is because of him because some people just don't believe the Bible.
That's the reality.
It's not like the Bible is confusing.
It's just some people just don't believe it.
And because they don't believe it they make up things.
They trust in their traditions. They trust in what's convenient for them.
And they create their own Bible versions.
They create their own Bible translations.
They just ignore the scripture frankly speaking.
Or they cherry pick only the parts that benefit them and those are the only ones that they preach.
That's why it's important that you go to a church where they preach the whole Bible.
Where we preach every single verse.
Because if you're only cherry picking certain parts of the Bible you can come up with false doctrine.
You can emphasize something that's not supposed to be emphasized.
And you can be missing out on things that you need to be doing.
That's why it's important.
You know they say, why come on a Thursday night to Bible study?
Well because we need a full picture of who Christ is.
And you say, well what's causing division in my life?
Well you know what, sometimes Christ wants there to be a division in your life.
He wants there to be some kind of a separation.
And that separation is literally because of him as the Bible says.
Let's read a few more verses here.
It says, and some of them would have taken him but no man laid hands on him.
Then came the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees and they said on them, why have you not brought him?
The officers answered, never a man spake like this man.
You know it's like why do you go to church?
Because I've never heard anything like the Bible.
Why do you read the Bible?
Because I've never heard a book like this book.
You know why do you think that you're right?
Because never a man spake like this man.
The Quran is not even close to this thing.
I don't care what religion, the book of Moron is not like the Bible, like the word of God.
It's like why do you use the King James?
Because the NIV is not like this.
Never a man spake like this.
You know the NIV, I hear people say stupid stuff all the time like the NIV and the ESV.
I mean they make up all kinds of weird junk in those versions, in those Bibles.
I mean the Bible talks about the man that hath friends must show himself friendly.
Then IV says a man that has many friends or a man of many companions will come to ruin.
It's like what? What are you talking about?
That doesn't even make sense.
It's like the exact opposite.
These things are just foolish, they don't even make any kind of sense.
Go if you would to Romans chapter number 16, Romans chapter number 16.
Now when we talk about division, we want to make sure that we're putting everything in the proper context.
Not all division is good.
I'm not saying that division in general is just always good, but what I am saying is this.
The word of God should cause a division between the saved and the unsaved.
Now when it comes to the saved, there should be no division.
Hypothetically speaking, there should be absolutely zero division amongst all saved people.
And so you'd have to ask this question, then why does the vision arise amongst saved people?
And again, it's the same root problem as the unsaved.
It's because some people don't believe the Bible.
So what happens when people don't believe the Bible?
Well, heresy creeps in.
Now look at Romans chapter 16 and look at verse number 17.
Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which caused a visions and a visions 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 deceive the hearts of the simple.
Now some people say is this unsaved or saved people? Frankly it doesn't matter.
Someone that's causing a division should just literally be cast out, should be marked and avoided and you don't want to have anything to do with them.
I don't care if the guy is saved or not.
If someone's saved and they're causing all kinds of division and they're teaching doctrine that's against what the church believes, we should sever that person from our fellowship and not want to have anything to do with them.
So again, you're going to have another division here.
But that person that's creating the vision, that was not a good division.
So you could bring in a bad division.
The right division is correct doctrine.
The bad division is false doctrine or heresies.
So we evaluate division on the content of what's being discussed or why, basically the character of the content or the source of the content.
What is the root cause of the division?
Is the root cause my personal preferences?
Is it because someone's feelings?
Or is it because of what the scripture just plainly states?
And whenever it's just pure scripture, we need to always side with the Bible.
When it's anything outside the Bible, we should do as much as possible to have unity.
You know, as much as possible to live peacefully with all men.
And we should be willing to comfort the feeble minded.
We should, you know, not necessarily judge and argue with our brother about every doubtful disputation is what the Bible says.
So there's going to be a lot of things that you may not necessarily agree on or like, but we shouldn't allow that to divide us.
The only things that we should allow to divide us are what the Bible is clearly teaching, pure, clear doctrine.
That should be the dividing lines that we have when it comes to the word.
We've got to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
Just look to the right and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
So what divides people?
Doctrine.
False doctrine or good doctrine.
Good doctrine should separate you from the false people.
And then when you notice someone trying to invade your sanctuary of good doctrine with false doctrine, again, you want to get that person out.
A lot of times it's probably an unsaved person, but even saved people can get mixed up or they can get confused or maybe they just start parroting a lot of bad junk.
And if they're not willing to fix that, then you want to get rid of them too.
You want to have nothing to do with them and you want to cut them off and not allow them to come and infect the church.
And we see in 1 Corinthians, this church had some people in there that are bringing in a bad division.
They're bringing in a wrong division.
Look what it says in verse number 17.
Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together not for the better, but for the worse.
For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe it.
For there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
So it's impossible saying, hey, I heard there's a bunch of division in your church.
Well, you know what I know? If that's true, because he's saying, I think it is.
He's basically saying, I've heard that there's heresy, I believe it's probably true.
And he's saying, well, if there's heresy, then there's something that has to exist.
I'm sorry, if there's division, I'm saying it wrong.
If there's division, then heresy has to exist in the church.
Because that's what's really bringing in the division.
That's what's really dividing people.
And so when you see church go through splits, when you see churches having a lot of turmoil and conflict amongst them,
you can usually find people in there that are teaching false doctrine.
People that are bringing in some kind of a division or some kind of an offense.
I actually went through this where a small faction of the church was attacking our pastor
and was attacking our church in the belief of the Trinity.
And they were bringing in a false doctrine about the Trinity.
And it literally had to sever and cut off a lot of people who denied the Trinity.
Who said, oh, that's polytheistic and that's a false god.
And they're saying all kinds of weird blasphemy.
And essentially their doctrine is denying that the Son of God even exists.
Because they're teaching that the Father became the Son
and that the Father is just pretending to be a son through the veil of human flesh or whatever.
And that the Son of God is just a title for God in flesh or whatever.
And this is just really attacking everything about who Jesus is.
Attacking the fact that there's a Father.
I mean, how can you be the Father of yourself?
I mean, it's just weird, it's satanic, it's evil.
And so that was a good division.
So sometimes a church split can be good.
You know, if our church gets infected with a cancer,
with a bunch of evil, wicked, false people or false brethren or false doctrine,
we want the church to split.
We want the church to decrease.
It's like, oh man, a church split is terrible.
It's actually great if you get all the cancer out.
It's great if you get all the false doctrine out.
And even in your life, if you're surrounded with people that don't love Christ,
that are going to drag you down,
it's great when the gospel and the word of God comes and shines a light
and reveals to you that these people really aren't people that you want to hang out with.
They're not really people that are going to be a good relationship for you to have anyways.
So it helps you sever those relationships that were toxic anyways.
You just didn't know that it was there.
You just weren't aware of the toxic relationship you had.
And when they're going into these cities,
what's the toxic relationship that they didn't realize was there all along?
The Jews.
The Jews are a toxic people.
And so they don't even realize that they're literally in this arena.
They're coming to the synagogue and listening to a bunch of people that hate God,
that don't believe the Bible,
that are teaching false doctrine.
And I think for a lot of people this is hard because they grow up Catholic.
Or they grow up, you know, some type of former Christian, so called.
And they don't even realize that the people in the room with them don't even believe the Bible.
They don't even care about the scriptures.
And what happens is when the word of God shines,
then you start seeing the division taking place.
And division can be good, division can be bad.
But how do we decide what's right and wrong division?
Doctrine.
We evaluate the source and the root of the division
and we want to make sure that we're on the right side of that doctrine.
Go back to Acts chapter number 14.
And so don't get confused when division's brought up.
When division can be brought up in a positive or negative context,
we just have to allow ourselves to understand what the purpose of the division is,
what's the root cause of the division,
and that's how we evaluate which side of that division we want to be on.
I want to be on the side of the Lord.
You know, and we see this all throughout the scripture
where people are like literally drawing a line in the sand and saying,
who's on the Lord's side?
You know, and you have to decide right then and there which side you're going to get on.
And so when Christ comes and calls his disciples, you know, it's like now or never.
You know, and in fact some people it seems like whenever they get a chance to hear the gospel,
it might have been their one time to like choose now.
You know, choose you this day whom you will serve.
You know, choose life.
I've sat before you life and death.
Choose life.
You know, and you're supposed to seek while you may be found.
You know, now is the day of salvation what the Bible says.
It doesn't even say today.
It says now.
You know, and so we have to realize that sometimes
you have to make split decisions.
You have to make quick decisions.
And that's why it's important to know the Bible.
That's why it's important to believe the Bible
so that you're always finding yourself on the right side of the vision.
No matter how many times you get divided, you want to be with that 300 with Gideon.
You know, it's like oh 30,000 are gone.
Well, at least I'm here with Gideon.
You know, at least I'm on the side with the sword of the Lord and the sword of Gideon.
Look what it says in verse number five.
And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles and also the Jews with their rulers
to use them despitefully and to stone them,
they were aware of it and fled in the Lystra and Derbe cities of Lyconia
and in the region that lieth round about.
Now, one thing I would note is this.
Once you realize that someone wants you dead, that's a good indication to move on.
Like when someone's plotting your death for preaching the gospel,
you know, there's no glory in than just walking into your own death.
If you have the opportunity to just go and preach to the next person, right?
It's not like you knock on a door and the person's like,
if you quote me a Bible verse, I'm going to put a bullet in your head.
And you're like, well, I'm going to quote him a Bible verse.
Pastor Shelley said, leave them a verse at the door.
You know, it's like walk to the next door.
You know, there's no glory in just trying to march onto your own death, right?
And when they're aware of the fact that, hey, we've preached in here,
the people that got it, they got it.
The other people, they want to kill us.
And if we stick around, they're going to kill us.
So they're like, moving on.
There's no shame in moving on.
Now, obviously there's some place in the Bible where people take a stand
and people, you know, are going to basically not move from the position that they're in.
But, you know, when you're going out and evangelizing,
when you're trying to reach the whole world,
there's no shame in just shaking the dust off your feet,
moving onto the next door.
If you feel like your life is threatened in any way, leave.
You know, I try to teach people this because if you realize that we knock every door,
then you should have a couple other realizations.
Do you realize our city is filled with faggots
and it's filled with child molesters and rapists and murderers
and just drug dealers and people that are literally psychotic,
people that are filled with demons?
I mean, like, you're going to run into these people.
Me and Samson ran into a woman.
We opened the door and she's just like, I'm a prostitute,
and just slams the door, and we're just like, okay.
You know?
She could have gotten saved, but she didn't want to.
And look, when someone's not interested in the gospel, you know what I do?
I leave.
I see people, they're just trying to like, no, no, wait.
They're like trying to shove their foot through the door,
and they're like, let me give you a Bible verse.
Hey, are you sure?
And it's just like, no.
That person might want to murder you.
If they're not interested, I'm not interested.
And you know, you have to take some advice from the greatest evangelist ever.
I mean, you could really be like, oh, Paul's not very brave.
What are you talking about?
He's not brave.
This guy got stoned multiple times and beaten with rods,
and I mean, this guy's not afraid of persecution.
He's not afraid of getting physically injured for the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he's also not an idiot.
He's also not just going to walk into the chopping block.
He's not just going to walk into the grinder on purpose.
If he realizes there's danger, he's going to move on.
And so we, too, need to realize, hey, if you're in a situation
and it's feeling awkward, leave.
If someone says like, you need to get out of here, get out of there.
If they're like, I'm not interested, see ya.
It's not even like, no, wait, no, watch the video.
Watch the video.
Or don't be like, hey, have you seen this?
It's like, if they're not interested, you know,
this is probably not your best starting point, okay?
And I'm just trying to give you that advice because I just don't want someone
to, you know, basically fight the wrong person or get entangled.
You know, the Bible makes it clear, cast ye not your pros before swine.
Lest they turn again and rend you.
Why would God say that if it was not even a possibility?
It's a literal possibility that they may attack you, hurt you,
or do some kind of damage.
And to me, yeah, I'll still support you and I'll still, you know, be like, that's great.
But sometimes if you're begging for it, it's kind of like,
it kind of sours the fact that you're persecuted for Christ.
You know, it's better when you just were all completely upright.
You're not antagonizing anyone.
You're not trying to push people around or force your doctrine down your throat.
You're just being innocent.
I know a couple guys at our church in Fort Worth recently.
They were going soul winning with me at my time.
And they're literally preaching the gospel to these people.
And this woman and some guys approach and they're kind of giving a hard time.
Eventually they just kind of leave.
And just as they're walking away, literally the guys come behind them
and sucker punch them from behind as they are walking away.
And then they just kind of ran off.
And I'm like, there's no shame in that.
They weren't antagonizing them.
They weren't trying to ask for it.
They're walking away and they get sucker punched.
And I was like, well, you got more rewarded than all the rest of us.
So you're lucky.
That's what you should really look at.
You should rejoice and be exceeding joyful.
God counted you worthy enough to get sucker punched for the cause of Christ.
But, you know, if you're getting in someone's face, you're like, hit me, hit me, hit me.
And then they punch you.
I'm going to be like, yeah, you probably shouldn't have done that.
But if you run into someone that becomes antagonistic and you walk away
and then they still attack you, hey, that's, you know, that's Christ's sufferings right there.
You know, when Jesus is being questioned by the Pharisees, you know what they did?
They would just sucker punch him.
And then they would say, prophesy who hit you.
So you think about it.
They literally got to suffer exactly like Jesus.
That's pretty special when you think about it.
That's pretty cool to suffer exactly like Jesus Christ did.
And so, count it joy when you suffer like Christ did.
You know what Christ didn't do?
He wasn't sitting here like, hit me.
I dare you.
You know.
No, he's just saying, I'm Jesus Christ.
You know, they're like, art thou the son of the blessed?
He's like, I am.
And then they're smiting him.
Then they're hitting him.
He's not doing anything wrong.
He's not begging for it.
He's not asking for it.
And you don't see the men of God in the Bible begging and asking to be persecuted.
Begging and asking to be killed.
You know, they're going to take the stand on the word of God when push comes to shove.
Yet, they're going to preserve themselves when appropriate.
And you know, as we go out and preach the gospel, there's so many people in this city
that need the gospel.
Let's not waste it on every door that's so unreceptive.
Okay.
Verse number seven.
And there they preached the gospel.
So, they fled.
They went out of Lystra and Derby and they came into another region and they're preaching
the gospel there.
And it says in verse number eight.
And there sat a man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's
womb, who never had walked.
The same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith
to be healed, said of the loud voice, stand upright on thy feet.
And he leaped and walked.
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the
speech of Lyconia, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands under
the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Which, when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran
in among the people, crying out and saying, sirs, why do ye these things?
We also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that ye should turn from
these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all
things that are therein, who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own
ways.
Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain
from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness and with
these things scarce restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice in them.
So, interestingly enough, they leave and they go into Lystra, they go into Derby and
here they heal some man and because they heal this man, all the heathen, they think that
they're a literal god.
And this is so fascinating to me how this is all playing out.
Because think about how they're describing these men.
They're describing Paul and Barnabas as gods come down as a man.
And it's like, there is someone that did that.
It's Jesus Christ.
And it's funny how they're so quick to accept the fact that Jupiter and Mercurius or Mercury,
the god of Mercury or the god of Jupiter, did that.
But yet they're not going to receive the fact that Christ is the one who really did that.
They're so quick to, you know, kind of embrace this false god or this false religion.
And they attributed that to Paul and Barnabas and when they hear that, they're like nervous.
Because they understand that God is not going to appreciate the fact that them doing a miracle
by the power of God, they're getting recognition as god.
They're getting recognition as especially a false god.
And that would be a form of blasphemy.
And so, essentially, according to the Bible, they're renting their clothes.
They're like, no.
And I like this saying that they say, we also are men of like passions.
Meaning what?
That they're just like you and me.
And not only just you and me, I mean, they're saying they're just like Gentiles.
You know, when you think about Paul, Paul is a Hebrew.
He's a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
He's of the tribe of Benjamin.
You know, from the Jewish perspective, they look down upon the Gentile like they're goyim, they're dogs, they're whatever.
You know, they don't look at them as being equally human.
And so the fact that he's saying we're like you guys shows his humility
and shows the fact that there was nothing special about Paul and Barnabas from a carnal perspective.
And some people think like, well, I could never be an apostle.
Or, you know, they might look at the miracles these people do and they're like, that's like a special person.
But what Paul's trying to communicate is like, there's no difference between you and me.
The difference is the power of God.
The difference is the word of God.
The difference is that God is moving through us.
I couldn't even do this if it wasn't for God.
Okay.
So he's trying to give all of the honor, all of the glory to God.
And I believe that's why God picked, you know, the apostles.
That's why he picked these men to do these kind of works.
Because he knew that they were not going to selfishly take the glory away from God.
They weren't going to sit here, because it would be easy for a lot of other people that are not apostles
if they could start doing miracles by the power of God to just instantly start talking about how they're God.
I mean, look at your televangelists today.
They're not even doing real miracles and they're already taking special privilege
and acting like they're special and there's something about them that's wonderful.
And, you know, this Steven Furtick loser, he like recently said he's literally God Almighty.
It's like, what in the world?
Like he's preaching, he's like, it's God that's in you.
And he's like, I am God Almighty.
And you're just like, what in the world?
He doesn't correct himself, he doesn't change.
I've never even seen him giving an apology about it.
I'm just thinking like, I mean, best case scenario, or like worst case, you'd think he'd come out and say like,
it was a slip of the tongue.
I didn't mean to say that.
That's not what I meant.
I'm obviously not God.
I haven't even seen that.
Maybe it's out there.
I see a lot of people attacking it because talk about the ultimate blasphemy to call yourself God.
But notice, whenever they're being attributed as being God, what do they do?
They rip their clothes and they're screaming out and they're like, no, no, we're not God.
Don't give us that recognition.
You know, we'd seen earlier how Herod was basically, you know,
they're talking about he has the voice of a God.
You know, it's like, oh, this guy's so great.
And then he was immediately eaten of worms because he gave not God the glory.
And so we have to be careful that if we do some kind of a special work,
we do something great in the name of the Lord, that we don't take credit for it.
We don't take credit where credit's not due and where we essentially attribute that power and that wonder to the Lord.
You know, if our church were to grow or we get a lot of people saved or we do anything,
we want to be careful that we're not trying to elevate ourself and really we're always giving that glory back to God.
And we're always pointing to him and saying, well, it's by his might, it's by his strength, it's by what he does.
Now, Samson wasn't strong because of him because as soon as the Lord departs from him, he's an easy target.
He's taken captive. He can't kill any of the Philistines.
But with the Lord, I mean, he's unstoppable.
I mean, this guy kills everyone.
This guy's like, you know, basically a superhero in a sense.
I mean, he just has super strength and he's able to slay a thousand Philistines with a jawbone of an ass.
He's like heaps upon heaps. Why? Because of the God spirit.
And so we have to realize, we too are just men of like passion.
But when the spirit of God comes upon you, you can do great works through his might, through his power, through his strength.
And so stop worrying about the carnal and start worrying about the spiritual.
See, I want to be greatly used by God.
Well, it's not about the carnal. It's all about the spiritual.
It's all about being filled with the spirit of God and studying the word of God and resting and relying upon his strength and his power and his might.
And even if you do get some kind of recognition, you always want to point that back to the Lord and point that back to God where that power came from.
You know, even when we do things that we might think are carnal by nature, you know, the Bible says he's even the one that gives us the power to make wealth.
So even if you're like, oh man, I got all this money because I'm so smart and so strong and I work so hard or whatever.
Hey, you might have worked hard and obviously God blesses you for working hard.
But at the end of the day, he's the one that even gave you the ability to have that position, have the strength, have the body, have the mind, have all the things you have.
Because God could take it away like that.
God could take away your health, your mentality, your strength. He could take anything away at any moment's notice.
And so we have to constantly go back and give him the glory and give him the honor in our life.
And we don't want to let things get to our head.
And I think that's also why God's allowing the apostles to suffer great persecution because it's humbling.
And it helps them realize, like, I can't just go out and just keep doing miracles unless I'm constantly going back and giving God the glory.
And in order to even get that, I have to literally get beat up to do it.
So it's like constantly reminding them that they need to trust in the Lord and to be humble.
And so sometimes maybe God might make you really work hard for the victories you have in your life so as to keep you humble.
So as to not allow things to go to your head and make you think that you're better than you are.
You know, the apostle Paul later is going to be given a thorn in the flesh lest he, you know, be lifted up with pride for the abundance of revelations that he had.
So sometimes God makes us suffer, go through difficult things in our life to keep us humble.
You know, I think of myself in high school, if I had been taller, you know, a little bit taller and a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger,
and had been like, you know, a great football player, a great basketball player or, you know, even a better golfer than I had been or something,
I know for a fact I would have been very prideful, like more prideful than I already was.
You know, I would have been, I would have gone down all the same roads, all the same paths, you know, as all these guys.
What do they want? Then they just want the fame and the glory and the women and the money and whatever.
And if you were so good that you were going to make it in the NFL or something, I would be just as prideful as those guys.
You know, if I was as good at basketball as LeBron James, I'm sure I would be a prideful jerk too.
You know, it's not like, you know, well I would be humble though.
It's like, no you wouldn't. You'd probably be a prideful, arrogant jerk just like the rest of them.
And so sometimes you should count a blessing that you're not LeBron James.
You counted a blessing that you're not, you know, the greatest basketball player, baseball player, football player or whatever,
because those people have a hard time serving God.
Those people have a lot of money, people that have a lot of fame, they're really physically attractive or anything like that.
Any of the blessings and talents they get, a lot of times are actually a curse unto them because it prevents them from wanting to serve God.
They're not a humble person. They're not a person that's willing to lay down their life, lay down the successes and things they have.
And God uses the poor who are rich in faith.
You know, He uses people that are humble and just want Him to get all the honor and Him to get all the glory.
I mean, imagine if the greatest church was filled with LeBron James and Tiger Woods and Wayne Gretzky and Tom Brady and Donald Trump.
I mean, what if that was Justin Bieber?
I don't know. Who are people that actually have real talent? I don't know.
Alicia Keys. Isn't she like legitimately talented probably?
Stevie Wonder. I don't know. Who are the people that have great talent?
I mean, if that's who it was, then you would think, well, I could never do something great for God because I'm not that talented.
I'm not as awesome as these people are. I don't have all the, I don't possess all the skills or the abilities, the natural talents they have.
Yet, God can use a poor, humble fisherman. God can use just anybody to do His work and to serve Him.
And the only thing keeping you back from serving God is often times your own pride.
You thinking too highly of yourself or just really just not laying things down in your life and putting Christ first in your life and allowing the Lord to mightily use you.
And some people may be mightily used by God and nobody even knows about it.
And that takes a lot of faith. It takes a lot of faith to serve God for your whole life, thinking like nobody's going to even know that I was some great person for God.
But guess what? An eternity we'll all know and it'll be super obvious and you don't have to worry about it.
And most of the people that you think are going to be greatly rewarded probably won't even be that greatly rewarded because they're held to a higher standard anyways.
And a lot of things that are, you know, good in the sight of men are abomination in the sight of God.
Now, let's go back to our passage and look at a couple other things here.
One thing that's interesting at the end of this section that I read is he had said in verse number 17,
Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness.
Now, he's saying that God had allowed other nations and other people groups or whatever to basically do their own thing.
You know, it says later in the Bible at times of this ignorance God winked at.
And wink means to kind of just ignore or just kind of tolerate in a sense.
And so the Bible's just saying like God's just kind of allowed the heathen to just kind of be the heathen.
And he's not just bringing like extra judgment on them.
He's not like holding them to a higher standard necessarily than they should be.
He's giving them a lot of grace, a lot of long suffering, a lot of mercy.
And he's saying that these people have a witness, okay, of God.
And one of those witnesses is specifically the fact that he does them good in verse 17 and that he did good.
He says, what's the witness? That God is good.
And you've got to think about it.
People in this world, okay, let's take other nations.
Let's ignore America for a second.
What are some nations that exist that are not very godly?
I don't know, like China.
How about like pretty much all of Europe?
Pretty much every country in this world is not loving God, is not worshiping God as a whole.
I mean even our nation is not. I understand that.
But I'm just saying like the heathen are not really worshiping God, serving God.
But yet isn't he still giving them rain?
Aren't they still getting food?
Aren't they still getting the sunshine?
Aren't they still have ability to build things and to grow and to multiply?
And they're having children?
I mean last I checked, unsaved people still have lots of kids.
I mean the Mormons are pumping kids out left and right.
Look at all the things that God's allowing people to have and all the goodness that God is giving to people.
And I even run into unsaved people and they're going so many and they're like, oh God's been so good to me.
That's true.
And like, oh God's blessed me in so many ways and God's done so much good for me and he's been gracious to me.
That's true.
He's been gracious to all of us.
And really it's magnified or exaggerated through the heathen in the sense that they don't even care about God.
Yet the sun keeps rising for them and they keep getting rain and they keep getting food and they get to enjoy all kinds of things.
They get to enjoy milk and water and steak.
And some of these people are destined to hell.
In fact the vast majority of them are.
Think about how long God gives these people a chance to accept him.
And in their continual disobedience and their consistent rebellion.
They're committing all kinds of horrible atrocities.
I mean murderers are going to wake up tomorrow and get to eat a steak dinner.
You'd say, how does that make sense?
How does that seem right?
It's only right because God is so good.
Because God is so merciful.
Because God is not without witness.
He's giving them a witness.
What is one of those witnesses?
He's giving them rain.
He's giving them fruit with seasons.
And he's filling our hearts with food and gladness.
He's saying, hey God is doing all these good things unto us.
And what that should do is motivate you to believe in him.
Go to Romans chapter 2.
It makes you think of this passage here in Romans.
Chapter number 2.
And people will try to say, oh I don't believe God exists.
Or if God exists wouldn't this be true?
And X, Y, and Z.
But here's the thing.
He has shown through his goodness.
If God doesn't exist, you know goodness doesn't exist.
Like what, I mean if you really think about it.
There's no God, right?
What's preventing the sun from just not rising then?
Or just complete and total crop failure on the earth?
Or total and complete just eradication of a particular animal?
I mean cows could be eradicated from an atheist viewpoint
and you'd never have beef again.
Talk about a sad day.
I mean bacon could just be wiped off the face of the map.
Just like that.
I mean a people group.
That's where they freak out about, you know, pandemics.
They're like, oh man we could just have a virus come and wipe us all out.
Obviously from a Christian perspective we were like God would never allow that to happen.
But from their perspective, there's nothing stopping all the good that's happening to us
from being completely eradicated tomorrow.
And if you really thought about it logically,
you'd realize from an atheistic world view, from an evolutionary viewpoint, good wouldn't.
Eventually something bad would happen.
We'd all just die and be nuked and everything would be bad.
I mean there's nothing stopping from our genetics from an evolutionary perspective
from just turning off and no more reproduction ever again.
Everyone's just sterile.
What's to stop that from an evolution?
There's nothing stopping that.
There's nothing stopping, I mean from their perspective,
there's nothing stopping a lion from turning into a fire breathing dragon
and destroying all mankind or developing, you know, or like X-Men.
You know, you watch these movies and a lot of people love these type of movies,
but in X-Men, I mean when they're fighting, they're just like throwing buildings
and like throwing stadiums and stuff like that.
Do you realize like millions of people are dying?
Like in these X-Men movies and Superman movies and whatever,
like everybody's just dying, like the whole human population.
And if that was even, if evolution was true, eventually some humans
would eventually become these like X-Men type superpower mutant type humans
and they would destroy everybody because, you know, China's trying.
They're trying to basically create a half man, half robot thing or whatever
that's not going to have a conscience, that's not going to have any kind of morality
that you're going to basically just say slay and they're just going to be like,
okay, they're just going to obey that order and go and try and slay.
And right now they're trying to control them with helmets that explode.
So in China, they put their helmets on the soldiers that are connected to their brain
and their commanding officer, if they disobey them, they can hit a button
and it will literally nuke their head.
So it's like, obey, and you're just like, okay.
I mean think about that kind of control.
And I think the soldier even has the nuke switch on him just in case he gets captured.
So talking, I mean they're just trying to breed like reprobate armies
and do all kinds of weird sick things.
But, you know, even all that evil and all the fact that Hillary's death list
just keeps getting bigger magically.
You know what, I bet she's going to have a good dinner tomorrow night.
And you say, where's that goodness coming from?
How does good just keep happening to all these people?
It's coming from God.
And look what it says in Romans chapter number 2 verse 3.
And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them with do such things and do as the same,
and thou shalt escape the judgment of God, or despises thou the riches of his goodness
and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up in thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
What the Bible's telling us is that you can't escape God's judgment.
But, because God forbears, forbear means to basically forgo.
Meaning that he's not doing something.
Instead of God judging people immediately, he gives them a second chance.
He gives them this longsuffering grace period to essentially get things right.
And if they don't get things right, what's going to happen?
Well, they're treasuring up even more wrath against the day of judgment.
But because of God's goodness, it should encourage people to actually believe in him.
A witness of God is the fact that good constantly happens in this world.
And you say, yeah, but evil happens too.
Yeah, that's because of the simpleness of man.
But all the good that's happening in this world is constantly coming from God.
And it's constantly a witness unto people to believe in him and to accept him.
And I believe there's lots of people that I've gotten saved because specifically of the goodness of God.
They tell me, like, God's been good to me and God's been blessing me and I know that I have not gotten what I deserve.
They actually have a humble attitude and because they recognize the goodness of God, it ends up softening their heart to where when I preach them the gospel they end up believing.
But, obviously the unsaved, just continually rejecting the goodness of God and having nothing to do with the goodness of God, they are going to treasure unto themselves wrath.
Go back to Acts, chapter number 14.
So, what's funny is this.
Paul and Barnabas walk into a town, they heal somebody, they immediately think that they're a god from heaven.
Okay? Immediately.
And then almost immediately again, look what it says in verse number 19.
And there came thither Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people in having stoned Paul drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead.
So, immediately they're worshiping as a god.
And then the next second they're going to stone them.
I mean, just like that they flip on you.
And let me tell you what, easy come easy go.
People that are your best friend five minutes from now, they will be your worst enemy five minutes from now.
Don't think, don't get confused and start thinking that people can just come out of nowhere and they're your best buddy and they love you.
If someone's falling down and worshiping you after five seconds of knowing you, that's not a real relationship.
Okay?
That's why it's bad advice to get married to somebody like five minutes after knowing them.
You know?
I've known people they like got married the day they met and it's just like, whoa.
Like, that's scary.
You know, usually happens is they end up getting divorced the next day.
You know?
Or, why?
Because easy come, easy go.
And so, you know, lasting relationships are typically going to be formed slowly.
You get to know someone, you form a bond, you form a relationship.
That's why it's also weird.
Even when someone's a bad person and you find out that they're bad, it's weird when people flip on them like a dime.
They immediately think that they're bad, they immediately think that they're evil, they're ready to jump on them.
You know, it's more normal for people to kind of have a slow transition away from a relationship that they form.
Like, if you used to be this person's friend, it's weird to just instantly think that they're a bad person the next day.
You know?
It usually should have a normal kind of cool off period before you're finally ready to be like, whoa.
Now, someone that's unbiased, they can flip a switch really easy on someone just because they don't have that relationship or that bond.
But people that do flip a switch, mark it down.
That's not a very sincere, that's not like a real person.
You know?
And for me, an example of this would be like Tyler Baker.
I was really good friends with him at Faith Award.
And when I found out all the evil that he was into, I didn't believe it at first.
I was kind of thinking like, I don't, there's probably just a miscommunication or there's some kind of misunderstanding or whatever.
I wasn't ready to just throw him in the trash and, you know, basically be like, see you buddy or whatever.
It took me a little while and he kind of made a video like I think a few days later.
And after seeing him do, like say those things out of his own mouth, I was just kind of like, wow, I guess it's true.
But, you know, it's weird to just want to just throw people in the trash right away.
That just shows how these people are not very sincere.
They're flattering.
They're not a genuine person.
They're vain and light and treacherous persons.
And so, you know, realize easy come, easy go.
You know, some people will throw through the door, I love everything about you.
I love, you're my best friend.
Let's hang out.
And then the next week they're gone.
And it's like that's kind of, you can see the writing on the wall there.
Whereas somebody you get to know, you fellowship with, you spend time with, those relationships are going to be harder to break and they make more sense.
Look at verse 20.
Howbeit his disciples stood round about him.
He rose up and came into the city.
So, that's pretty cool.
He gets stoned.
They think they kill him and he just gets up.
And he's just like, all right, next town.
And the next day he departed with Barnabas the Derby.
And when they had preached the gospel of acidity and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and Diconium and Antioch.
Now, I think just reading this, it's just so easy to just kind of read it.
But think about what we just said.
Okay.
Paul comes to Lystra.
They think he's a god.
And then they stone him and kill him.
He went back.
Like, think about that.
You know, you would kind of be like, I put a one star review on them.
I'm not going back.
You know, you walk into a restaurant and they stone you.
You're probably not going to go back to that restaurant.
You know, when you think about it.
Think about the boldness.
Think about the courage that Paul had.
I mean, you probably wouldn't want to just go right back when they just killed you and drug you out of the city and thought you were dead.
They're going to be like, didn't we kill you last week?
Like, what's going on here?
You know, this is kind of weird.
What's going on?
Who are you?
And it might freak them.
It might be kind of fun to kind of freak some of them out, too.
Be like, haha.
I'm just kidding.
But, you know, it's easy to kind of read over these verses not really thinking about what's being said.
But think about it.
I mean, that's some boldness to go back to the place that killed you.
Literally.
In a sense.
Obviously, they didn't complete the task, but that was their goal.
They thought they did.
They had thought that they had killed them.
And he's just walking.
He's waltzing right back in.
And what's the purpose, though?
The purpose is to revisit the Christian.
Revisit those who are saved.
Those who actually believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they're going to confirm them.
He walks back and he says, confirming the souls of the disciples in verse 22.
And exhorting them to continue in the faith.
And that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
Now, wouldn't that be a pretty big exit?
I mean, imagine if the police walked in and they just dragged James out.
And they just stoned him to death.
And then he's just gone.
And then, like, two weeks later he comes back and he's like, hey, I got a word of expectation.
Let's keep going, guys.
I mean, that's pretty incredible when you think about it.
I mean, and you could really be like, wow, this guy's a great guy to encourage us and exhort us.
And I guess if he's saying we're going through tribulation, we're going through some tribulation.
I mean, that's some intense persecution.
He was just ripped out and stoned.
And he's coming back in.
And he's saying, look, Christianity is not, you know, your best life now.
It's you're getting killed now.
You know, I mean, you're getting persecuted right now.
Great tribulation.
He says much tribulation.
And he even says we.
Verse 23.
And when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord and on whom they believed.
And after they had passed through Cydia, they came to Pamphylia.
And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Athaliah.
And then sailed the Antioch from whence they had been recommended the grace of God, the work which they fulfilled.
When they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how they had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
And there they abode long time with the disciples.
Now, can you imagine a Sunday night church service, Paul and Barnabas walk in and they're like, hey guys, we want to tell you what we just went through.
Wouldn't that have been like the coolest story time ever?
I mean, Paul's telling you like they were throwing rocks at me and they drug me out of the city and they thought I was dead.
But I got back up and I just kept walking.
I mean, think about people like, that'll preach.
You know, they're like, amen, preacher.
I mean, that would have been a cool experience to see.
And here's the reality.
You know, if you serve God long enough, you're going to have special nights where people come through the door and they get to tell you some of the coolest stories they ever had.
Some of the coolest experiences they had serving God, being persecuted.
And you know what, a lot of people have been persecuted in really crazy ways.
And you know what, they're going to get special rewards in heaven.
And it just comes through what?
Just keep going to church.
You know, they didn't know if they were going to see Paul and Barnabas again necessarily.
They don't have the Bible to read and be like, oh, they're coming back, guys.
They're going to tell us all about it.
You know, they're living it.
And so, you know, we don't know what works are going to happen.
We don't know what the Lord's going to accomplish.
And I'm telling you, there's going to be people that serve the Lord in mighty ways and it's going to be cool to see that.
But if you go ahead and leave, well, you're going to miss that Sunday night service when Paul comes back.
You're going to miss the church growth.
You're going to miss all the church plans.
You're going to miss all the souls being saved.
You're going to miss all the persecution.
You're just going to miss all of it.
And so that's why it's important to just stick with God.
To just be steadfast and faithful in church and realize, hey, we're going to go through much tribulation.
You know what? It's going to be pretty cool.
It's going to be pretty fun to actually talk about it and experience it and to see it.
And, you know, some people get really mad at me or my church or what we preach because they'll be like,
well, why don't you guys just focus on the gospel?
But we do focus on the gospel, but we do preach the whole Bible.
And you have to understand that a lot of the tribulation that comes for the men of God are not for preaching the gospel.
Okay? I'll show you this. Go to Mark chapter 6 for a moment. Go to Mark chapter number 6.
But the Bible says that, yea, in all that will live godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution.
That's not just a tie to preaching the gospel only.
Yeah, of course you may be persecuted for preaching the gospel.
And it seems like some people have this idea that the only legitimate persecution or tribulation is if you are preaching the gospel to somebody.
And look, that is a legitimate form of persecution or tribulation.
But don't just get this weird idea that, hey, preaching other parts of the Bible, if you get persecuted for that, well, that's your fault.
No. No, no, no, no.
When the apostle Paul's talking about how we're going to through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God, it's not for just preaching the gospel.
It's also for preaching the whole Bible.
And welcome to the New Testament. I'm pretty sure in Matthew 28, Jesus Christ, the great commission, he didn't say only preach the gospel.
He said teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you.
He didn't say, oh, just the gospel.
No, he said all things, which includes books like Romans 1, which includes Jude 1, which includes 2 Peter.
You know, there's lots of people that would look down upon our church, would look down upon me, and they'd say, well, I know that's in the Bible, but why do you have to preach it?
Because Christ told me to teach all things?
Because Christ is telling me to preach the whole Bible?
Oh, well, if Jesus and the disciples and all them, they weren't getting in trouble for preaching, you know, the law or preaching Leviticus or preaching those things.
Okay, well, let's ask the Bible. Let's see if that's true then.
Okay, Mark chapter 6, let's look at verse number 16.
Let's see why some of the greatest people in the Bible were persecuted or killed.
Verse 16, but when Herod heard thereof, he said, it is John whom I beheaded.
He has risen from the dead.
For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her.
For John had said unto Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.
Now, you know what's cool about my Bible is that right next to that verse, there's this little reference.
And you know what it says right next to it? Leviticus 18. Leviticus 18, verse 16. Now, go to Leviticus 18, verse 16.
Oh, well, why are you getting in trouble for preaching, you know, why are you getting in trouble for preaching the law?
I'm just trying to be like John the Baptist, not John the non-denominational, not John the Catholic, not John the Methodist, not John the Pentecostal.
No, John the Baptist, and you say, why is he a Baptist? Because he's preaching the law.
Because he's preaching the word of God.
And you say, well, the law was written for the Jews.
Well, I got some news flash, Herod's not a Jew.
So, riddle me that.
Why, if we're going to make examples of people in the Bible that we're supposed to fall after, how about John the Baptist?
And you know what, John the Baptist got his head taken off from him for what? For preaching the law to Gentiles.
So, if I get my head taken off from me for preaching the law to Gentiles, you know, I'm like John the Baptist.
Don't get mad at me for preaching the word of God.
You should get mad at me when I'm not preaching the Bible.
Now, look what it says in Leviticus 18, verse 16.
Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife.
It is thy brother's nakedness.
So, where did John get this? From the Bible.
Oh, John, why aren't you just focusing on the gospel?
I mean, think about it, he's the one that's preparing the way for the Lord, Jesus is there in the flash.
I mean, isn't that a good time to emphasize the gospel?
But then John just decides to open his mouth and also preach a couple other things like Leviticus.
And then what happens? He dies.
Yet, you'd have a lot of Christians today being like, well, he deserved it.
He shouldn't be preaching that.
Why does he have a bumper sticker with Leviticus on it?
Why does he have a shirt with Leviticus on it?
Why is he making documentaries, you know, about Leviticus or whatever?
Aren't we supposed to be focusing on the gospel, John?
Well, I remember when Jesus said there's not a man born among women that's greater than John the Baptist.
And he didn't do any miracle, you Pentecostal.
Nope, you know what? He was preaching the Word of God.
He was preaching the Bible.
And you know what's also in Leviticus chapter 18?
Well, look at verse 22.
Thou should not lie with mankind as with womankind.
It is abomination.
So, when you look at Justin Trudeau, which one of these verses is going to apply more?
Oh, yeah, 22.
So, looking at Justin Trudeau and calling him a filthy, disgusting faggot is what John the Baptist would do today.
And you know what? If it cost John the Baptist his head, then so be it.
But you know what? I'm not going to sit here and criticize any man of God for preaching any part of the Bible.
Because you know what you're really criticizing is God whenever you do that.
And Christ said to preach the whole Bible.
And look, we can't just get on this side of, well, I'll support people that are persecuted for preaching the gospel.
Well, that's it.
No, I'm going to be on the side, I'm going to be on the division of the Word of God, period.
Wherever there's a man of God preaching the Word of God, I'm on his team.
I'm not going to side with the filthy faggots and disgusting God-hating atheists today against the man of God preaching the law.
What kind of ridiculousness?
Yet there's so many Christians today that they'll stand up and they'll get mad at me, they'll get mad at my church,
they'll get mad at my friends for preaching the Bible, for preaching Leviticus, for preaching Romans chapter 1.
And you know what I say? You're pathetic. You're a loser.
And you know what? God's ashamed of you.
We should stand behind the men of God.
And you know what? We're going to enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation.
And you say, are you asking for it, Pastor Shelley?
No, but I am going to preach the Word of God.
I already told you we shouldn't be going around casting our pearls over our swine.
And I'm not interested in just walking into a shopping block.
You know what? I am going to preach the Word of God to God's people.
And I'm not going to be ashamed of it. I'm not going to be scared of it.
And if Herod asks me, if Trudeau asks me, if one of these disgusting filthy faggots asks me,
you know what? I'm going to tell them what the Bible says, that they're an abomination.
That they're worthy of death.
And that they should be put to death.
And I want all of them put to death.
And people are like, oh, you're celebrating murder.
Look, it's not murder to put someone to death that's worthy of death.
That's just called capital punishment.
That's called executing the law.
Murder is when you take someone's life that is not worthy of death.
That's innocent. That's done nothing wrong.
That would be murder.
Slaying someone that's guilty of wicked abomination, that's just executing the law.
Now, go to Matthew 23 for a moment.
They're like, oh, well, what about Jesus?
Look, Jesus was not only in trouble for preaching the death, burial, and resurrection.
You know why people got really mad at him?
You know why the Pharisees really, really wanted to kill him?
Well, let's see what he said about them.
Matthew 23, look at verse 13.
But woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men,
for you neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer.
Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you compass sea and land to make one proselyte,
and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
I wonder why they wanted to kill him.
It's probably for that loving gospel that he was preaching, right?
Or do you think it was because of that?
I think it was because of that.
I mean, look, the men of God were calling out the leaders of their day,
rebuking them, telling them that they were going to be destroyed,
telling them that God was going to judge them,
telling them all the evil that was going to happen to them.
I mean, Stephen, in the book of Acts that we already read,
he's saying ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised and ears and heart.
I mean, he's just basically rebuking them.
He's saying, you kill...
Let's go there. I'm getting it confused.
Go to Acts 7 for a second. I want to make sure I get it right.
Acts 7, look at the very end of Acts 7.
He says in verse number 51,
ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised and heart and ears,
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do ye,
which of the prophets have your fathers persecuted,
have not your fathers persecuted,
and have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just one,
of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.
I mean, Stephen's like, you're a murderer. You're a betrayer.
You reject the word of God. You won't listen to the Holy Ghost.
You're just like all the other wicked people that you preach against.
I mean, he's not sitting here just, you know, God loves you.
God bless you. You know, mercy and grace.
I mean, these guys are ripping face, and they're calling them murderers.
They're calling them filthy perverts for marrying the wrong person.
I mean, Jesus Christ is calling them children of hell.
I mean, he's saying you're just, you're ripping widows off.
I mean, nobody is going to be like thinking you're a good person
when you're ripping widows off.
They're all going to think you're a complete, you know, derelict loser.
You're a total scumbag. If you're ripping a widow off,
you're taking advantage of widows.
So, don't get mad at me for preaching the word of God.
Don't get mad at another man of God for preaching the word of God.
We need to be on the right side of that division.
Hey, you know what? There's going to be a division amongst the people,
but you know what? I'd rather be on the side with the man of God every single day.
I don't care what verse he's preaching, as long as it's in the Bible.
Because remember when we decided, what's the right division?
Was the right division, is it my family? No.
Was the right division, well, are they saved? No.
The right division is the source of the doctrine.
What is the doctrine? Is the doctrine right?
Then I'm going to be on that side of the division.
I don't want to be on the wrong side.
And you're going to have to enter in tribulation,
and that tribulation arises because of the word.
It's for the word's sake. It's for Jesus Christ's sake.
You know, and I want to be persecuted for Christ's sake,
not for my own faults, not for what I'm doing that's wrong,
but rather for taking a bold stand on the word of God.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us this example
through what the Apostle Paul did and the miracles
that you performed through him.
I pray that we could have such boldness as him
to go into all kinds of different areas
and to preach the word of God,
and that we would identify those who are receptive
and that we would seek to be on the right side of the division
when it comes to doctrine,
when it comes to the preaching of the word of God,
and that we would not be persuaded by relationships
or by peer pressure or by society,
but rather we would just go ahead and side with the Lord
no matter who's against us,
and that we'd realize that that tribulation
just allows us to be a partaker of Christ's sufferings.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, for our last song this evening,
our last hymn this evening,
we're actually going to do Psalm 148.
Now, on the back table...
Oh, that's also good.
On the back table I have little handouts.
Here's the thing. They're not perfect.
Pastor has made that very clear.
We're just giving him a hard time.
Basically, it's a little rough looking, okay?
I get it.
But the words are in the right order,
and the notes and the melody is technically correct.
So you can follow on there Psalm 148.
Psalm 148.
And we will sing...
Mmm.
Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord
from the heavens, praise him in the heights.
Praise ye him, all his angels praise him,
all his hosts praise him.
Sun and moon praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him ye heavens of heavens,
and he waters that be above.
The heavens let them praise the name of the Lord.
For he commanded and they were created,
he hath also established them forever and ever.
He hath made a decree which shall not pass,
praise the Lord from the earth.
He, dragons and all whose fire and hail,
snow and vapor stormy when the filling is full.
The tents and all hills fruitful trees,
and all cedars peace.
And all cattle creeping things and flying fowl,
beings of the earth and all people,
princes and all judges of the earth,
both young men and maidens, old men, children,
we let them praise the name of the Lord.
For his name alone is excellent,
his glory is above the earth.
In heaven he also exalted the horn,
his people the praise of all his saints,
even of the children of Israel,
the people they are calling to him,
praise he the Lord.
Amen. It's easy as that.
And with that you folks are dismissed.
Have a good night.
.