The mighty men around us falling, courage almost gone.
Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will.
See the glorious banner waving, hear the trumpet blow.
In our leader's name we'll triumph over every foe.
Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will.
Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near.
Onward comes our great commander, cheer, my comrades cheer.
Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will.
How about the 27th?
Over the cross?
We're too slow?
It'll be OK, I think.
I like it.
Over the cross.
Everyone there, you ready?
Here we go.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame.
And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best,
for a world of hot sinners was slain.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange this one day for a crown.
Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
has a wondrous subtraction for me.
For the dear old rugged cross, I'll
exchange this one day for a crown.
I'll exchange this one day for a crown.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange this one day for a crown.
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
a wondrous beauty I see.
For the dawn that old cross, Jesus suffered and died,
to pardon and sanctify me.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange this one day for a crown.
To the old rugged cross, I will ever
be true, in shame and reproach gladly there.
Then he'll call me someday to my home far away,
where his glory forever I'll share.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange this one day for a crown.
All right, good evening Proverbs, chapter number 18.
Proverbs 18, the Bible reads,
through desire a man having separated himself,
seeketh and intermetalleth with all wisdom.
A fool hath no delight in understanding,
but that his heart may discover itself.
When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt,
and with ignominy reproach.
The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters,
and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
It is not good to accept the person of the wicked,
to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
A fool's lips enter into contention,
and his mouth calleth for strokes.
A fool's mouth is his destruction,
and his lips are the snare of his soul.
The words of a tale bearer are as wounds.
They go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
He also that is slothful in his work
is brother to him that is a great waster.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
The righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
The rich man's wealth is his strong city,
and has an high wall in his own conceit.
Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty,
and before honor is humility.
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it
is folly, it is folly and shame unto him.
The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity,
but a wounded spirit who can bear.
The heart of the prudent geteth knowledge,
and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
A man's gift maketh room for him,
and bringeth him before great men.
He that is first in his own cause seemeth just,
but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him.
The lot causeth contentions to cease,
and parteth between the mighty.
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city,
and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth,
and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing,
and obtaineth favor of the Lord.
The poor useth entreaties, but the rich answereth roughly.
A man that hath friends must show himself friendly,
and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in Heaven, we thank you for this day,
and we thank you for the Mighty Men's Conference,
and we just ask that you would please fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit,
and help us as your servants to gain wisdom from the sermon,
and help us all to have safe travels.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Well, it's great to be here with you guys,
and I want to preach a sermon about something that I think is an important concept,
you know, especially at an event like this,
and caring for beyond an event like this,
and that is about friendship,
and I want to preach a sermon called Be a Good Friend.
Be a Good Friend,
and I think, unfortunately, in our world,
many people are just not very good friends anymore,
and they struggle at what being a good friend really looks like in the Bible,
and so I want to talk about three concepts,
but we see here in this passage in verse 24,
the Bible says,
a man that hath friends must show himself friendly,
and there is a friend that's to get closer than a brother.
Friends can be an important aspect of our world and our lives,
and specifically for David,
he had a friend that was closer than a brother.
His own brethren really didn't like him.
He didn't really have a close relationship with his physical brethren,
or those that were from his mother,
but Jonathan, who was not of the same family,
ended up being a very close friend with David,
and he even exceeded that relationship,
exceeded that which was even of women.
I want you to go to 1 Samuel chapter 18.
I want to talk about that,
but if you want to have friends,
you kind of have to show yourself friendly first,
and you know, a lot of what I want to preach tonight
is kind of you taking the initiative to being that good friend first,
and thinking about how to be good friends,
and you know, it's not always reciprocated.
Sometimes you are a good friend to someone,
and they're not really a good friend to you,
or perhaps you want to be a really good friend with someone,
or you want to be close with someone,
but they maybe don't feel exactly the same
or want to be as close to you,
but that's okay because the reality is
you can be a good friend to someone
even if they're not really a great friend to you,
and who's our best example?
This is Jesus Christ,
who is a great friend to all of us,
even though in many cases,
we're not that great of a friend towards Jesus,
and in fact, there's many people that are saved
who are not friends at all towards Jesus Christ,
and yet Jesus is constantly trying to be a great friend
and a good friend unto them,
and so we can be good friends to people
even if they end up not being a good friend towards us,
and we want to kind of learn what it means
and what it looks like to be a good friend,
and point number one,
and this is probably the most important point
that I want to make this evening,
is in order to be a good friend,
you kind of have to humble yourself
and you have to lift up your brother.
You have to lift up your brother,
and again, this comes from a place
of not only caring about yourself,
but actually genuinely caring about other individuals,
and in this part of 1 Samuel,
it's really kind of incredible the spirit and attitude
that Jonathan had towards David,
and I think this is why.
You say like, why is Jonathan and David such good friends?
I think this is why.
We're about to read why we can see
that they were such good friends
and they had such great love towards one another
that lasted their entire lifetime,
and I believe they're still friends in heaven,
but this is one of the reasons.
Look at this in verse one.
And it came to pass
when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul
that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David
and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
In order to be a good friend,
you have to genuinely love someone else.
Jonathan genuinely loves David
and he wants to be a friend of David,
and as an application of that, what does he do?
It says in verse two,
and Saul took him that day
and would let him go no more home to his father's house,
and Jonathan and David made a covenant
because he loved him as his own soul,
and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe
that was upon him and gave it to David
and his garments, even to his sword
and to his bow and to his girdle.
So Jonathan is the son's, I'm sorry, the king's son.
He's the son of a king.
He, in a lot of ways,
you would think is the next heir to the kingdom.
He's supposed to take over in his father's footsteps,
but it's just become abundantly clear
that David is going to be the next person
and that David is the one that God wants
to be the next person,
and we see Jonathan humbling himself
and actually embracing David.
Now, just for a quick side note,
this is replacement theology
because the Bible's all through replacement theology.
Saul rejects David, which is the old,
and then the new, Jonathan,
he embraces David and likes him,
and that's a picture of how Israel rejected Jesus Christ,
and the church, which is represented by Jonathan,
I like that name.
It's a good name.
He ends up accepting David and loving David,
and so we can see that the church
is replacing Israel even right here.
Okay, so there's just so much great
replacement theology all over the Bible, right?
But notice that Jonathan, he, in a sense,
is supposed to be the king,
but yet he recognizes, you know,
David is really the better man.
David is the person that should be in this position,
and there's nothing wrong with David.
Why can't Jonathan simply say,
you know what, I'm gonna strip myself of this position.
I'm gonna hand it over to David,
and I'm gonna allow David to be the one to be king,
and I'm gonna be supportive of him.
This shows that Jonathan is willing
to lift up his brethren,
and he's willing to humble himself.
Now, in order to physically lift something that's heavy,
what do you typically have to do?
I mean, if you were gonna lift something really heavy,
some furniture, you have to stoop down,
and you have to get in a position,
and then you can lift it up, right?
You literally physically have to humble yourself.
You have to lower yourself to then lift that object up,
and so we kind of see this with Jonathan
where he's literally stripping himself.
He's, in a sense, lowering himself and humbling himself
so that he can then what?
Lift someone else up.
Now, what does that mean, practically speaking?
Because we can say this all day long, like humble yourself,
but what does that really mean?
It's genuinely just thinking about someone else.
He's not thinking about me being the king
and me wearing this robe and me wearing this attire.
He's thinking about David being the king,
David needing to be wearing this clothing,
David's the guy I need to support,
and that's what it looks like to actually humble yourself
is that you're just genuinely thinking
about someone else's success, not your own.
And I think, unfortunately,
we live in such a narcissistic society
and a culture that really praises self
and thinks about self continually
that we don't take very much time
to just think about someone else
and just pick someone else and just say,
like, I wanna see if you can be successful
or I wanna help you succeed
or I want something good to happen to you
and so we actually try to help that person.
Now, for all of us, we have this
as a goal in our lives in many capacities, right?
Maybe we are constantly trying to lift up our children.
But in many cases,
people are actually investing in their children selfishly.
They're actually investing in their children for them
because they want themselves to look good
or they're investing in their employees
because they need their company to succeed.
But a friend is doing it
because they just genuinely like the person.
They don't have to.
It's not their family member.
It's not necessarily gonna make them look better.
It's not gonna make them money.
It's not their company growing.
It's just they genuinely look at someone
and just say, I like you
and I just want you to succeed as a person.
And that's what it really means to be a good friend.
Yet so many people today
just are not doing this on any level.
They're not genuinely investing in any other person
or hoping that another person succeeds
or thinking about someone else's life
and wanting them to be successful.
They're just mostly concerned with self.
Go ahead to Philippians chapter number two.
Go to Philippians chapter number two
and we'll see a reminder here,
a familiar reminder of the idea
that we should not always just be focused on self.
We should be focused on others.
And if you genuinely say,
I want to have friends
and I don't even wanna have friends.
I wanna have really good friends.
Well, let me ask you this question.
How often are you thinking about them and their success
and humbling yourself
and trying to praise them
and not just with lip service,
but genuinely doing things to help them succeed?
You know, building something for them,
helping them achieve some goal,
encouraging them to whatever they're doing in their lives.
You know, when you get into a conversation with somebody,
are you constantly talking about what you do
and what you're achieving
and what you want?
Or are you asking them about their lives
and asking about their job
and asking about what they're trying to do?
And you're trying to encourage them
and thinking about them.
This is why someone wants to be your friend.
And to have genuine good friends,
they actually care about you,
not just themselves
or what they're getting out of the relationship.
They actually care about what someone else thinks
and they wanna hear them talk.
You know, some people,
and you've probably been around this person,
when you're communicating with them or talking to them,
all they're doing while you're talking
is thinking about the next thing they're gonna say.
They can't wait to just say something else
and you'll bring something up
and then they just change topic
and they don't even necessarily comment on what you said.
Now, of course, you know,
our brains are sometimes scattered
and we don't always necessarily think in a cohesive manner.
But you know what I'm talking about.
The certain individuals
that they don't really wanna hear you talk,
they're just waiting,
they're taking a breath for them to get the next monologue in.
And you know what,
that's just genuinely not someone you like to hang out with.
You generally wanna hang out with people
that are actually interacting what you have to say,
they're thinking about you,
they care about your thoughts and ideas.
And so, you know, if you struggle to have friends,
you should think about what people are saying.
And if you say like,
I've never even thought about this stuff,
you probably do need to think about this.
Hey, when I'm talking with somebody,
if I wanna be a friend,
I need to think about what they're saying,
think about their lives,
think about their interests
and what they have to say
and not necessarily only concerned about me.
Philippians chapter two, verse three of the Bible says,
let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind,
let each esteem other better than themselves.
Now, this I think is a very tall task.
You know, Philippians two is a very high goal.
It's not something that's very easy to do,
but it's really personified in Jonathan
who genuinely thought David is actually better than me
and I want him to succeed and be a positive king.
And it's not gonna be successful for the kingdom.
It's not gonna be successful for Israel
if there's a controversy over who's king.
And we literally see this in David's life after Jonathan,
where we have another son of Saul
who's actually fighting David for the kingdom
and think about how many countless men died
in a civil war that made no sense
because that son couldn't humble himself
and recognize, hey, David is the guy
that God wants to lead the nation of Israel.
And if he had just gotten behind,
he himself wouldn't have died
and he himself wouldn't necessarily cause innocent bloodshed
to ruin their nation because he was just too prideful.
And the reality is most people are just not good friends
because they're just too prideful.
And you know why they're too prideful?
Because they have to be number one.
And there's just so many individuals out there,
they just have to be the top, they have to be the big shot,
they have to be number one,
and as soon as someone bucks at their position,
then they can't be friendly toward that person anymore.
They can't be friends with that individual
and it's only by pride cometh contention.
And it's really embarrassing, honestly, to me,
and it's kind of shameful to me,
that as a movement, the new IFB,
we kind of get all these different labels,
but one of them is kind of this idea
of being this divisive, cult-like group
where you have to just join as a church or as a pastor,
you have to be lockstep with anything
that Pastor Anderson says or something like that
in order to be a part of this group.
And if you kind of just step out of line,
then they'll just crucify you or attack you
or something like that.
But the reality is it's like the exact opposite.
The reality is that Pastor Anderson
is one of the friendliest people I know
and he's actually very easy to get along with.
He's someone that is really willing to accept
and overlook a lot of faults, a lot of differences,
a lot of problems, but then what happens
is a prideful individual who can't stand the fact
that someone else is better than them in any category
just decides to just start picking a fight
through pride and envy and strife
and then acting like now I have to separate.
Well, here's the reality.
That person's not a good friend
because they just can't handle the fact
that they're not number one.
And it's like, first of all, it's not even a competition.
We're all striving to be faithful servants of Jesus Christ.
We're all followers of Jesus Christ.
We're all Christians.
We're not Andersonites.
Weird that you preach that sermon.
Weird that you labor with yourself that
and then you say that we're the cult, right?
But then these individuals, they just get this mindset
like, well, I just can't be a part of this group
or I can't continue being friends with these individuals.
Why?
It's because they can't be number one.
That's the reason.
It's because they have to be number one.
They have to be at the top.
They have to be someone that everyone's looking to
and as soon as they can't, well,
I'm just gonna keep breaking fellowship
with all these other individuals
so I can continue being the cult leader of my little camp,
so I can continue being the head honcho
and the individual that everybody's looking to
and I can't stand it if my church members
listen to another preacher or another pastor
or to another church and it's because of pride.
It's the same pride as Saul's son
and it's the same pride that destroys and hurts people
that don't need to be destroyed
and causes all this division, causes a civil war literally
amongst Christians, amongst brethren
that is completely unnecessary
and the reality is it's just that person
is not a good friend.
It's not like Pastor Anderson is just going around
just trying to like ruin churches or hurt people.
In fact, I guarantee he's bringing more people into church
than virtually any other pastor in the world.
I mean, if you were to just say,
why are you here to every person that's in church?
You know, people that have been added to churches
in the last 10 years, I guarantee
he's probably one of the top people on the list
of saying I'm here because of Pastor Steven Anderson.
And that's just the reality.
Are we gonna sit here and not just,
I'm not saying his church, I'm saying other churches.
It's funny how the guy that's destroying
other people's churches is single-handedly
the number one reason why people are coming to the church.
And if you think about this, who are the people
that are the worst that I'm talking about?
It's the people who almost 100% of their church
was built on Pastor Anderson and Pastor Jimenez
and their movement, isn't it?
Isn't that so funny that they literally
brought all these people together for them
and then now they attack them and they have to hate on them
and really it just goes to show that they weren't good friends.
Why?
Because they weren't thinking about others,
they were thinking about themselves.
And you know, we need to never have this attitude.
Go to Proverbs chapter 27, go to Proverbs chapter 27.
You know, when I was starting a church,
I thought about this idea, I said,
you know, I might just be at Pure Words Baptist Church
because that's where I started in Houston,
I might just be a warming pod for other great churches.
I thought, you know, I might just rally people together,
we go soul winning and they hear some preaching,
but then they find out, you know,
or they realize there's other great preaching
or there's other churches where there's even more people
or there's other opportunities
and they just get more and more into the Bible
and they say, I'm going to move to faithful word
or I'm going to move to Verde Baptist Church.
And I just thought, like, what's wrong with that?
You know, I've personally been blessed by
Pastor Anderson's preaching and Pastor Minna's preaching
and other men's preaching, like they've blessed me
and they've made me a better person.
And you know what I know?
They didn't just make me a better person,
they would make a lot of people better people
if they would listen to their sermons.
And I know it's not just, it's not really them,
it's the fact that they're just using the Bible.
It's the Bible that makes people better people.
But what I know is they're really good at using that sword.
Okay, they're just a really good servant of Jesus Christ
and they're really good at wielding that sword
and I'm thinking, like, why would I want to keep someone
away from an individual that'll actually make them better?
Like, imagine your friend struggling in some area,
whether it's like needing to work out or dieting or health.
I mean, imagine you got cured of cancer
and your friend comes up to you and says, I have cancer.
It's like, well, I don't want to tell you
about this hospital that helped me out.
You know, that would be weird to not want to tell them
about something that actually helped them
or blessed them in some way.
I would be like, hey, I want to tell you about my friend.
I want to tell you about, even if I was a doctor,
even if I had my own hospital, if I said,
well, this hospital is actually a little better.
It'd be like, I would want my friend
to go to the best hospital.
I want my friend to go to the best physician
or the best thing for them specifically, right?
And, of course, there's lots of factors.
Affordability, where they're at in their life,
what's going to be good for their family.
But I'm just saying, in general,
you should want whatever's best for them,
even if it hurts you a little bit,
even if you have to strip yourself a little bit,
even if you have to lower yourself down a little bit,
even if you have to lift someone else up a little bit.
I mean, have John the Baptist's attitude of saying,
he must increase, but I must decrease.
Because, you know, at the end of the day,
it's all about Jesus anyways.
So there shouldn't be any room for pride anywhere.
There shouldn't be any room for pride anyways,
because everybody should be following Jesus
and not you anyways, cult leader.
I mean, if you're just so worried
about a man following somebody else,
you already have the wrong mentality already.
The goal of Christianity is to get people
to follow Jesus Christ and to read the Bible.
You're not smart, you're not wise,
the Bible's smart, and the Bible's wise.
It's not your ideas, it's the Bible's ideas.
You know, I have my personal opinions,
but they pale in comparison to the word of God.
This is the program that we're trying to get individuals on.
And when it comes to being a good friend,
we should always want what's best for our friend,
not ourselves.
Whatever recommendation, or you give to someone,
or counsel, or when you're around someone,
you should always want what's best for them.
You know, it could even be saying goodbye to a friend.
Jonathan and David had to say goodbye
to each other at one point.
That was what was best for David.
Because if David had stayed at Saul's table,
he would have kept throwing javelins,
he would have kept trying to kill and slay David,
and so David had to flee, and so they had to say goodbye.
And Jonathan had a hard time with that.
He didn't want to admit the truth,
he didn't want to admit reality,
he didn't want to accept the fact of how his dad,
I mean, he was basically an old IFB Christian
who just didn't want to reject Zionism.
But finally, the truth smacked him in the face
when his own dad is trying to kill him,
and he's just like, that's what the Bible teaches, you know?
Israel hates David.
And it's like, how can someone not see
that Jews today hate Jesus Christ?
It's like, just wake up and realize that's the reality.
But the reason is, they don't want to join us
out in the wilderness, but the point that I'm trying to make
in this dialogue is the fact that David had to say goodbye.
What if you had a friend that you personally enjoy
and you like in your life, but maybe they need
to make a decision that would draw them away from you?
They literally move, or they're doing something different.
Maybe they work with you, but they have a better opportunity
to work somewhere else, or maybe they're gonna go
to another church or do something.
You know, you should always want what's best for them.
Here's something, maybe you're a single guy,
and you like this other single guy,
but what would be better for them is to get married
and not hang out with you anymore.
And maybe you just, what's better for them is to say, bye.
But you don't like that.
You don't necessarily want that.
But you know, we should always consider what's better
for them, not what's better.
Well, who's gonna help pay my rent?
Or who's gonna help play Dungeons and Dragons
with me or something?
Just throw that game in the trash and get a girl, okay?
It's a, you know, you like all these role-playing games,
playing husbands way too much,
you like all these role-playing games,
playing husbands way more fun, okay?
It's way better than any of these games you've ever played.
I promise.
And there's way more drama.
I promise you that as well, okay?
Proverbs chapter 27, look at verse 17.
The Bible says, iron sharpened with iron,
so a man sharpened it the countenance of his friend.
You know, notice what one of these verses
is really describing here is that you're sharpening
the countenance, what's a countenance?
It's his face.
It's meaning that when you show up,
this person literally smiles or their face changes
to being happy just because you're around them.
You know, is that what you do when you show up
around other people or are they kind of like,
or are they excited that you're coming around?
Do they enjoy talking to you?
Do they enjoy being in your presence?
You know, we should strive to cause people
to actually want to be around us.
Why?
Because we're building them up.
We're thinking about them.
Go over to Exodus chapter 17.
I want to go to another verse here.
There's a lot of Bible on this subject
that we could really talk about,
but we need to be careful to think about other men.
And you know, I think at a conference like this
where we're surrounded with friends,
very few people are even related,
that you can be challenged
to actually think about other people.
Because most of the time we're thinking about our job,
we're thinking about our wives,
we're thinking about our kids,
we're thinking about church,
we're thinking about all these different things
that are going on,
we're thinking about us,
that this could be a time to also think about friends.
And you know, events like this
is a good time to make friends.
It's a good time to build relationships
and to draw close to other people
and to genuinely care about other people.
And you know, sometimes we should even make decisions
that are just better for other people.
Like, I don't wanna go here,
I don't wanna do this,
but I'm gonna do it for you
because I know you enjoy it
and you like having a companion
and I'd just like to be there with you.
And sometimes it's even difficult,
sometimes we go through difficulties or problems
and we have to be there to literally assist our friends.
We have a story here at Exodus 17, look at verse 10.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him
and fought with Amalek and Moses, Aaron and Hur
went up to the top of the hill
and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand,
Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand,
Amalek prevailed.
But Moses hands were heavy
and they took a stone and put it under him
and he sat there on and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands,
the one on the one side and the other on the other side
and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Now, this doesn't have anything to do with the sermon
but this passage is just kind of an incredible passage
when you think about the gospel message
because notice the symbolic nature of this passage
is off the charts if you think about what happened.
Number one, they're gonna go to the top of the hill,
okay, did you notice?
And who goes?
Moses, Aaron and Hur.
Notice that there's three men
that are going to the top of the hill,
which pictures what?
Jesus Christ and the two thieves
that are gonna be crucified with him
that are going up to the top of the hill.
Then specifically Joshua is going down
and he's fighting with Amalek
where Joshua kind of symbolizes salvation and victory.
That's kind of what his name even means
and represents that the Lord saves
and that's what he's picturing.
And of course we get victory from the gospel.
We get our victory over sin,
we get our victory over death from Jesus Christ
and what he did for us.
Then specifically it says Moses hands were heavy
and they took a stone and put it under him
and this is again picturing
how Jesus Christ was crucified on Mount Calvary.
He was crucified on the rock.
Then additionally his hands were heavy
and we literally have one guy
staying up his hand on one side
and another guy staying up his hand on the other
picturing of course the cross.
And think about this, his hands are up not willingly.
They're forced to be up in that position
just like the cross would do with our Lord Jesus Christ
where his hands literally could not hold themselves
but they're being forced up
and that's what literally gives the victory
is the crucifixion and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We literally get the victory through the cross
of what he did.
So we have this great picture and symbolism
and then of course it even says
his hands were steady until the going down of the sun
and we know of course that the Lord Jesus Christ
died at even which is a picture of when Jesus Christ died
and that's how long his hands were stayed
then he was taken off the cross and buried.
So really I mean this passage you could study it
and look at all the symbolism it's just off the charts.
But if you think about this also Aaron
and I'm sorry yeah Aaron and her
they have to help him accomplish this particular task.
Moses can't accomplish this task on his own
but you know what if Aaron just said like
what if I just hang out my hands?
You know that's not how it works.
You get the victory from holding up Moses' hands.
But here's the thing.
Moses couldn't got the victory by himself.
He needed someone else to literally hold up his hands
in order to get the victory
and this is how it works in a lot of situations
where you know when it comes to a leadership position
a leader can only do so much.
In some cases he needs people to literally hold up his hands.
And you know when it comes to church
and it comes to the success of the body of Christ
you know the head is not successful
if the body doesn't hold it up.
The head in some ways is the most important
it's where the authority comes from
it makes the decisions
and some people might even look at it as being the most important
but generally speaking a head by itself is worthless.
It can't do anything.
It can only do something because it's propped up.
It's lifted up.
But in order for the head to be at the top
everything else has to be down below it, doesn't it?
And so we see the actual the humility of the rest of our body.
We see the humility of the chest
and the legs and ultimately the feet
which are there at the bottom.
But in order for the head to be lifted up
the feet have to be at the bottom.
You know that doesn't mean the feet aren't important
because if you don't have feet
you're not going to be very successful.
You're not going to be able to go out there in war
and be the body of Christ.
And when it comes to a church
we need people that are going to be the chest
the knees and the feet
and they have to lower themselves
so that the head can be lifted up
and that the head can be greatly used.
You know we're starting the process of a transition
for some of our church plants in Houston
and as well as Oklahoma City.
You know God willing we're going to ordain
Brother Salvador Alvarez September 1st
to be the pastor of Pure Word Baptist Church.
Brother Oz has recently moved to Oklahoma
and God willing you know things going smoothly
in a few months he'll be ordained.
And we won't have those church plants.
But this is what I know.
Brother Oz and Brother Salvador
they can't do all the work necessary by themselves.
And they need some people to help lift up their hands.
You know even a soul winning captain
or a soul winning lieutenant in our churches
some of our tribe leaders
they can't lead the soul winning effort by themselves
they need other people to come in and assist
lead soul winning times take in that effort.
You know in order for us to be successful
we sometimes just have to lift other people up
and we just have to be a good friend to other people
for what? For the cause of Christ.
Aaron is a good friend unto Moses
but ultimately he's a good friend
also to accomplish the work of Christ.
And you know we need people to be good friends today.
I mean we go soul winning in twos.
And in many cases the silent partner
is even necessary for salvation.
Sometimes they help assist in keeping distractions
at a minimum or just being less awkward.
Sometimes when you go at a door and you're by yourself
the person finds it a little more awkward
than if there's two guys that are together
they can assist, they can help
sometimes individuals kind of get stuck
and they can even rely on their soul winning partner.
And you know two are better than one.
And if we can't be friends with each other
well then who are we going to be friends with anyways?
I mean if you can't be friends with other Christians
with other fundamental Baptists
you're too separated.
You're way too separated.
You know we need to be willing to be friends with Christians
and especially Baptists
and even especially fundamentalist Baptists
and even more especially new IFB fundamental Baptists
and then the ones that showed up here at the conference.
I mean man you're talking about layers
upon layers upon layers.
I mean these should be people
that you should be willing to be friendly towards.
And what a shame and embarrassment it would be
if people here couldn't be friends
or couldn't get along.
But you know even in fundamental Baptist churches today
people struggle to be friendly.
And let's just be honest for a moment
because you know we're here to be honest.
You know who struggles with this the most?
Women.
Women are so much more likely to not be friends
and not be friendly.
But here's the thing you can't force your wife
to be friends with anyone.
I know that all right.
We all know that.
You know what I do know?
You set an example.
And I think that if you want your wife to be more friendly
then you need to be more friendly.
And you know what we need in churches
is more people to be just friendly towards each other
because what really makes me upset as a pastor
and what I see often
and I know it's not just my church it's everywhere
is how many people hold animosity towards one another
in their church
or they don't like each other in their church
and it's often what it's pride.
And why do sometimes people
why are people just not friendly towards others?
It's a lot of times it's just they're envious
of who that person's friends are.
It's like I want to be friends with brother Rich
but Rich wants to be friends with Cameron.
And because of that then I can't be friendly
towards Rich or something.
And it's like that's just silly.
You know I can just be friends towards Rich
even if he's not wanting to be my best friend.
If he wants to be best friends with Cameron
and they really like each other
why can't they be best friends?
Why can't they hang out?
And why can't I just hang out when I get an opportunity
and I'll just be their nice friend?
And you know if Cameron starts getting selfish
and I continually caring about Rich
maybe Rich will kind of warm up to me
and be like you know I kind of like hanging out
with brother Shelley a little bit more.
He's just being a little bit more of a good friend for me
and then that relationship changes in the future.
But you know what I'm not gonna sit here
and be like I just can't be friendly to this person
or like this person because of who their friends are
or what they're doing.
You know we need to just be willing
to be friendly towards people and help people
because you know we should be the body of Christ
and the body of Christ needs to work together
and we need to be friendly towards one another
and you know what to be a good friend
you just have to lift other people up.
You can't sit here and be like well I don't like the elbow
so I'm no longer gonna be a knee anymore.
Well you know the knee and the elbow
are never gonna be close friends.
And if they were close friends it'd be kind of awkward.
You know like but you know what
the knee should still be friendly towards the elbow.
And you know in this church you probably won't
necessarily be best friends with every single body part.
You may not even be close to the head.
You know some people can't stand being in a church
where they're not the neck.
You know they have to be that pain in the neck church member
because they have to be close to the head.
They have to be close to the pastor
or they have to be best friends with the pastor
or the pastor's wife or whatever.
You know what just get over yourself and be the foot.
Just get over yourself and be the ass okay.
You're just don't be the neck all right
because you're just not that person.
You know what we like about our necks
is when they're not being a pain.
They're just there they just exist.
You know they're not trying to do anything special
and really that's a lot of times I find like the head
that's the kind of people they like to be around
is low maintenance people that are just supportive.
You know the people that are really high maintenance
and they need a lot of attention.
It's like we're just trying to like stay away
from those individuals okay.
But you know we need everyone
and we can't all be best friends
but you know we can all be friends
and we can all be good friends to one another
and we can all support one another
and we can all be excited when someone else
does something good or is gonna be greatly used
and we should just recognize hey the head should be the head.
We don't want to put the head and make it the kneecap.
The head needs to be the head
and you know if it's David it's David.
You know if brother Oz ends up becoming the pastor
well just get excited that he's the pastor.
Don't sit here and try to be the pastor.
If you're not the soul winning captain
just don't be the soul winning captain.
You know whoever's whatever just support them
and be excited for them and encourage them
and just be a good friend to them and help them to succeed.
You know that is what Christianity should really be about.
Just be Aaron or her and just sit there
and just hold up the hands of Moses
and just say hey we're on the winning team.
We're on the winning side.
It doesn't matter who I am or how I'm being used.
I'm gonna be a good friend to this person
because you know what they're a Christian
and it's just so frustrating how so many Christians a day
you know they can't be friends.
You know just it makes me mad.
It makes me mad that Fundamental Baptist won't be my friend
because I'm willing to be friends with these people.
I'm willing to be friends like I don't even care
that they're weird and have bad doctrine
and aren't even a very good preacher.
I'm willing to be their friend
but then they won't be my friend
because I like good preachers
and I'm thinking like why am I a bad person
because I like good preachers
or why am I a friend because I sincerely disagree with you
on a certain doctrine and I want us to you know
talk it out or have a conversation
or I'll preach my opinion of preachers
but then they just get so upset like
oh you better believe what I believe
or you better not ever preach about what I preach
you know saying that I said something dumb.
It's like well have you said something dumb?
You know like shouldn't we love truth more than you?
Shouldn't we love truth more than your personality?
Shouldn't we care about the body of Christ
more than your church?
Shouldn't we care about what's real
and what's right and what's good for other people
rather than what's good for you?
We should be willing to be good friends
and you know what I'm not saying
that I want to be best friends with everybody
don't hear me wrong but we should be willing
to try to be friendly towards all kinds of people
in fact even loving our own enemies sometimes.
Now if it's an enemy of Christ you know
I'm willing to pray for that person as well
the reprobate prayer but people that are not
obviously the enemies of God
we should give them the benefit of the doubt
and we should be friendly towards them
and we should be kind to them
and we should think well of them
and we should want them to succeed.
You know you don't want to be Absalom
who just can't stand the fact that David's judging
and he's just like I wish I was the judge.
I wish I was an individual.
You know when we have those thoughts
we need to take them captive and cast them down
and replace them with the right kind of thoughts
and say you know what but I'm not that person
and this person is good at their job
they should be that position
so I should just be excited about that
and encourage that person
and you know maybe I should pray for their good
and pray that God will use them
and pray that God will help them
instead of like hoping they make a mistake
or hoping that they fail
or hoping that they don't do good
help you know pray that they do do good
and actually don't even just pray
help them be good
just literally lift up their hand
don't sit here and be like
God will you please hold Moses's hand up
just get over there and pick his arm up
and hold it up
that's what a good friend does
and you know I'm all for praying for people
but you know sometimes we need to just do stuff
well I'll pray for you brother
just do something
now look I'm not saying don't pray
I'm just saying don't be this guy
that's just like I'll pray for you
you know James chapter 2
it's like be warmed and filled
just make him a bowl of soup
or make a mistake
or you know go out there
and give him some nice clothes
don't you know maybe there's somebody at church
like I can't stand the way this guy dresses
buy him a nice tie
buy him a nice shirt
buy him some nice shoes
and just say like wear these
but it's like well then I can't make fun of him anymore
yeah okay
well just we'll just make fun of him from the past
remember when you dressed terrible
okay
but you know the person that genuinely likes you
would help you wouldn't you
and that's kind of my second point
go to Proverbs 27
it's sometimes not only we need to lift up our brethren
we need to offer some helpful correction
so point one of being a good friend
is that you're lifting them up
and you genuinely care about them
now here's the thing
if you have showed yourself a pattern
of genuinely caring about someone
you're there for them
you talk to them
you've been a good friend unto them
then I think you at some point
earn this privilege and earn this right
to sometimes give them criticism
and that's kind of the caveat I want to give you
and I think we need to make sure
that we're using discretion
when giving and offering criticism
because I don't want our movement
or any movement or Christians in general
to just have this attitude
of just what can I fix about you
like hey I give
here's 20 things that you need to fix right now
and it's like we don't even hang out
I've never invited them over
I've never made them a meal
I've never complimented them
but I have offered him 20 things
that he needs to fix right now
you know that's not the right balance
hey I've had you over
I've prayed for you
we've taken you meals
when your wife had a baby
we've loved on you
but you have this thing you need to fix
hey that's a moment where maybe
you've kind of earned the right
to give and offer some criticism
and you know what a good friend
will not only care about you
to do good unto you
but every once in a while he'll say
you need to fix this
you need to do
you need to change something here
and they're not doing it out of a
they're not trying to just make fun of you
just to make fun of you
they're not trying to lift themselves up
they're not necessarily trying to just tear you down
they just genuinely care about you
and want you to succeed
and they're gonna say
hey this is a problem in your life
you need to fix this
Proverbs 27 says in verse number 6
faithful are the wounds of a friend
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful
you know often we might kind of just focus in on the wounds
I mean like oh we're criticizing them
but I like this word faithful
faithful are the wounds of a friend
I think that we have to think about like criticism
that's being offered
should be something that the person can fix
and it should be with a sincerity
that you actually think this person will be better off
if they made this change
because we could criticize people
and we could tell people things that are terrible about them
that they can't fix
like your face is ugly
I mean look unless you're a Jew gonna get a nose job
I mean there's not much you can do about that
okay
but at the end of the day like
you know we should offer criticisms to people
hey you're short
what are you gonna do about that
you know
I'm not really into making fun of people
or criticizing people about things that they can't change
because there really isn't much profit in that
but you know we should be willing to offer criticisms
and correction and reproof and rebuke to things
that people can change
and to their behavior
you know I'm not mad at the Jew for being born a Jew
I'm mad at the Jew for worshipping Satan
and so you know we have a lot of hatred in our world
that they hate Jews because they were born a Jew
as opposed to what they worship in their religion
and you know it's the wrong kind of criticism
it's the wrong type of rebuke
and we need to be careful that when we're offering criticism to someone
that we think about is this something that could change
you know
what if you said like
I don't like your wife you should have never married her
well I never believe
I believe you should never divorce
so I would never offer that kind of a criticism
because like
how are they gonna fix
they can't fix that
you know that's not really a good thing to say
you know you could say like
hey I think your wife's struggling in this area
here's something maybe you could try to fix
you know
but I'm just in general
I'm trying not to offer criticism that someone can't necessarily fix
now what's something you could fix
well maybe you just dress bad
you just don't dress well
and your friend
a good friend could say like
you need to dress better
or you look weird
or you look awkward
or you look like a dork
and you know
school public school used to actually help us with this
because you would be made fun of if you dressed like a geek
if you dressed weird
if you dressed stupid
and you know
I'm for that
personally
like I don't even think that's a bad part of society
I kind of hate the society of like
everybody has their own truth
and everybody's special
and unique in their own way
and everything's good
and everything's tolerated
no if your friend dresses like a faggot
you should say you look queer
like being effeminate is a sin
and it's like hey
stop
like I would never
want to hang out with someone that's dressing like a queer effeminate
faggoty looking dude
and you know as a church that preaches
hard on that issue
and we pass out the sodomite deception DVD
and we have the sodomite deception t-shirt
you know don't dress like a queer
don't even sound like a queer
don't even hold your wrist down
don't sit like a woman
you know like
these are legitimate criticisms that are just
genuinely being a good friend in some cases
and just saying like hey
like if you notice somebody that you've
hung out with you've been around
and they just have some issue
instead of making fun of them
or talking bad about them and their friends
why don't you confront that person privately
and say hey
maybe you shouldn't do this
because it just looks a little queer
it looks kind of gay
and they'll probably be so embarrassed
they might just fix it
and then you don't have to worry
you know that's being a good friend
not being like
not being like have you noticed this person
that's kind of acting a little weird
or did this or dressed weird
you know did this awkward thing
you know they have a bright pink bow tie on
it's like
just never burn that
you know
and here's the thing
if the person's getting genuine criticism
on that several times in the area
then maybe it's like what's wrong with the person
you know
and actually to catch infiltrators
if we would actually offer
loving criticism more regularly
we would catch infiltrators a lot easier
because you'd recognize
they don't actually fix a lot of problems
in fact often criticism makes them go wild and crazy
and just sporadic in many cases
it's the fact that people aren't criticizing them
people are holding their tongue
and gossiping and railing
and they're not actually being a genuine friend
if you'd actually love people
and be a genuine friend
often it fixes issues
and the people that weren't gonna get fixed
well you weren't gonna fix them anyways
go to Galatians chapter 6 if you would
but you know
if you know you're out of shape
a good friend might say
hey do you want to go to the gym with me
hey I work out on Tuesday mornings
do you want to go with me
you know
that's being a good friend
is actually helping people
and actually offering them criticism
you know every once in a while being like
dude you're fat
like let's go to the gym
but you know
couple that with
let's go to the gym
right
couple that with
you know like here's a cupcake
you know like
it's like
dude you're fat
I'll eat your cupcake for you
you know that's being a good friend
okay
you know if you're kind of dumb
if you're lazy
you know
if your friend struggles with alcohol
you know being a good friend might say
hey you should stop drinking
and you know
hopefully no one in this room is struggling with that
but you know you got a co-worker
you got other people in your lives
you know
and here's the thing point two
it's easier to criticize people
than it was to lift them up
and I think
people will hear this criticism better
if you do step one first
so if you actually care about somebody
that's struggling in one of these areas
and you want to help them fix it
start with step one
and get there for a while
and then offer them step two
because you know we read in Proverbs
chapter 18
a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city
and sometimes by just
showing up
you have no
nothing to this person's life
you don't talk to them
you're not hanging out with them
you're never offering them anything good
but then you're just like
dude you're a loser
you're a drunk or whatever
it doesn't resonate the same
then if you're loving on that person
trying to be kind to that person
and again
obviously there's certain sins in the Bible
that we're supposed to just completely avoid
and not necessarily be around
but at the same time
it doesn't mean you can't try to love them from afar
and still encourage them
and try to just at least
you know do what you can
even from afar
to help that criticism be meaningful to that individual
if you genuinely want them to make a change
in their life
being a good friend to them
and not
not always necessarily even being like
I told you so
or of course you have this issue
because a lot of times we find out about
the problems in our friends' lives
when something bad happens
and you know the Bible says in Galatians
chapter 6 verse 1
brethren of a man be overtaken in default
ye which are spiritual
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness
considering thyself lest thou also be tempted
bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ
you know
if this person struggles with alcohol
and you don't
don't necessarily be high and mighty
like well I would never struggle with this
you know
approach the person with some meekness
and just say look
I struggle with things too
or I've struggled in this area in the past
or I have problems
and I totally get it man
here's what's helped me
let me help you
let me be accountability for you
let me you know do this
provide some kind of a solution
to your correction
and try to actually genuinely help
your brother
and be a good friend unto them
you know
and if you are somebody that
someone's giving you this advice
you know
you should consider it
go to Proverbs chapter number 9
go to Proverbs chapter 9
you know
being a good friend is helping one another's burdens
it's not like
hey I'm going to the steakhouse
who wants dinners on me
who wants to show up
it's like that's not being a friend
that's being a freeloader
okay
a friend is like
hey I've got all this work
that I got to do
and I can't do it myself
who can help me
move a bunch of furniture
it's like what are you paying me
nothing
it's like well that person's helped
bearing a burden
or hey my car broke down
can someone help
give me a ride
or can someone bring me
a new tire
or can someone
take me over here
you know that's what it means to be a friend
is you're bearing burdens
and
emphasis on this word
burden
you know
some people think that Christianity is all about me
and what do I get out of it
but genuine Christianity is what kind of burdens can I help with
it's showing up and saying like
what can I do
how can I help
and
this is not always helpful
it's just
hey what can I do
it's like I don't know
I mean what if you had to literally think
about everything that your body is doing right now
would that be fun
if you had to think about every heartbeat
if you had to think about every breath
if you had to think about every
like when you move
many parts of your body are just moving seamlessly
you're not even thinking
it's just moving
it's just kind of as anticipating
looking
paying attention
you know it's just
hey the heart's probably like
I probably need to beat again
you know
it's an involuntary response
and you know what
and you know what's a really good friend
and what's a really good help
is someone that just recognizes
this just needs to be done
it's really obvious
so I'm just gonna do it
instead of the heart being like
I took a beat
what do you want me to do next
brain
it's like
beat again
you know
and then again
right
instead of just being like
what do I do here
how do I help
it's like
you know sometimes
you just need to figure out how to help
or come up with a solution
this would help you at your job
just showing up to your boss
and just saying
here here's all this stuff that I want to do
I've noticed here's some things
I want to do this
can I do this
and it's like yeah
or just obvious things
like there's trash on the ground
I'm just gonna pick it up
and throw it away
because it's just obvious
that someone needs to throw away the trash
right
I mean sometimes
there's just obvious things
that you should just be doing
and you know what
that's being a good friend
good employee
just a good person in general
but at the same time
we need to make sure
that
when something happens
that when something needs to be corrected
something needs to be addressed
that we take that appropriately
that we don't allow
you know our own pride
to get in the way of criticism
and we live in a society that's very soft
I mean you can't hardly disagree with anyone
or offer any kind of criticism
without a lot of
feedback
without a lot of consequence
and so it's caused people to stop offering criticism
you know amongst us
we should be different
we should be people that like criticism
and offer criticism
and take criticism well
the bible says in proverbs 9 verse 8
we're proven not a scorner
lest he hate thee
rebuke a wise man
and he will love thee
and you know at the end of the day
I want to have wise friends
and I want to have good friends myself
so if I can't even offer a mild criticism to someone
without them blowing up
or getting offended
it's probably not the friendship I wanted anyways
so you know
love on someone
be good to them
and correct them
and if they respond well to it
you may have gained a brother
you may have gained a friend
you may have gained someone that
you know you can really get a close to
and have a good relationship with
you know sometimes
we enjoy people that build us up
but sometimes we also need people to help
correct us
go to Matthew chapter 18
I think of King David as well
in this situation
he had a good friend
and Nathan the prophet
who had to tell him a little story
he kind of loved on him
he gave him a little Bible
and then David got mad rightfully so
and then he's like
thou art the man
and you know he handled it with discretion
he handled it with care
he thought really hard about
how he was going to present this information to David
but you know David didn't hate on Nathan
he's like
I've sinned
and you know it's humbling
faithful are the wounds of a friend
you know when you cry
faithful are the wounds of a friend
you know when you correct somebody
you know it's going to hurt
now online people say like I'm gay
or I'm a fag or all this stuff
and they're just lying
and it means nothing to me
but you know if I was actually wearing
some kind of effeminate clothing
and someone was like you look gay
that would hurt
but at the end of the day
I would be like
I'm glad that person called me out
so that I don't have to
deal with that ever again
but you know especially on something
that taboo
I would hope that the person
would come to me privately
you know what I mean
I would hope that they didn't necessarily
scream that from a housetop
or even necessarily put that online
where it can live forever
you know and again
that's where we have to use a little bit of discretion
Matthew chapter 18
it says in verse 15
moreover if thy brethren
shall trespass against thee
go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone
this is just genuinely
always the best advice
and it's actually surprising to me
how almost no one ever does this
like you you'd be surprised
as a pastor
how many people come up to me
and they say
so and so did this
and I'm like okay well what happened
when you when you went to them
and you said like they did this
and like why didn't talk to them yet
it's like okay
let's go to step one
why don't you just go talk to that person
it's like well this person
said this about me
this person did this to me
this person blah blah blah blah blah
and I'm like okay
well what happened
when you went up to them
and you asked them about that
why didn't do that
why didn't address it with them
it's like that's what you do
if you have an issue
you talk to the person
but what happens
is people don't deal with issues
they don't talk to the person
and they harbor bitterness
because if you don't forgive someone
it turns into bitterness
and then that bitterness
can just build and build
and then it can turn into hatred
it can get even worse
anger
and you can be frustrated
over little things
why?
because you didn't resolve conflict
and you know we should always
resolve conflict
early and often
and going to the source
often is the best way
to resolve conflicts
you know of course
there's an escalation process
here for issues
and sometimes that's necessary
but most issues
and most problems
could be resolved
if individuals would just go
straight to the person
and try to offer
hey this is the issue
this is the problem
and you know that's what
a good friend would do
a good friend isn't going around
telling everybody
about what somebody did
that was bad
hey did you hear this horrible
thing that Rich did?
it's like no
hey I didn't like this
and you're like yeah that's right
I didn't please
you know I don't
it'd be embarrassing
if other people found out
about that
how would I feel
if then I said
oh well by the way
I already told everyone
that's kind of frustrating
isn't it?
it'd be better
if it's like
well I didn't know
that was going to be their
response
I didn't know
they would be embarrassed
by that
you know a good friend
would go to them in private
and be like hey dude
your zipper's down
pull it up
as opposed to
I have a public announcement
you know
right
when someone's got
something weird
someone's awkward
they got a problem
you know sometimes
you need to call it out
and be like
thou art the man
you know
and let's
let's address one issue
you know
that constantly complain
about how hard it is
to get a wife
you're the problem
and I only say that
because I genuinely
care about you
it's
and you know
genuinely like
crying about it
and whining about it
is the
is the worst thing
you can do about
getting married
like
if you want a wife
never complain
about it ever again
and just
realize
you need to make
the change
like I think
this is what
single guys want
is they want
the world to change
and make it easier
to get a wife
but it's like
the world's not changing
you have to change
you know
how could you change
I don't know
do some push-ups
you know women like
muscles
in fact
I saw this article
I don't
I don't remember how
I just
maybe it's like
a social media post
or something
it was just like
the number one
most attractive part
of the male body
and I was like
I don't know what this is
number one
was forearms
and honestly
like
I kind of
did some sampling
discreetly
and I found out
it's actually pretty true
okay
just asking people
and you know
if you even pay attention
to movies and things like that
you know
women find a guy attractive
when he rolls up
his sleeves a little bit
you know why
okay so they can see the forearms
and you know why forearms
are there because
you can see forearms
in a short sleeve shirt
you can see forearms
and you know what
a guy that has
muscular forearms
is just attractive to women
because it's
a little bit unique
second is biceps
and look
you don't even have
to do leg day yet
I mean
you're just
I mean
you're just basically
you know
there's just something
instinctual
to a woman
that she just likes
that because she wants
to be protected
she wants to be safe
she wants the guy
to be strong
and it's just like
for every criticism
you have about how
terrible women are
in a push up
and then pretty soon
you'll just be married
and you'll be like
wow how did that
how did that happen
you know
or
I mean let's just be honest
that fixes some issues
you know
just work hard
because if you make
good money
I mean
it doesn't even matter
how ugly you are
I mean look at Jews
they're married
and they're some of the
ugliest creatures
we've ever seen
inbreeding at its worst
I mean if they can get
you know
attractive wives
and attractive girlfriends
then it's like
I know that you guys can
and you guys are already
better than most
of the guys out there
but you know
instead of complaining
about it
you know
just put effort
and energy into it
you know
maybe you're just weird
and someone needs
to just say
you're just
you're just kind of weird
you need to work on that
and maybe you're weird
because you're hanging out
with other weirdos
there's like this
compounding factor
where all the single guys
are just only hanging out
and they're getting
like weirder together
they're like
let's watch this
really weird documentary
on YouTube
and then they watch
another weird one
and they're just
then they're doing weird
pretty soon
they're larping
in the park
and it's like
dude
no
you know
the best way
to get married
is to hang out
with girls
not dudes
and here's
another tip
don't get dating advice
from single guys
and look
all the married guys
are like
amen
because when they hear
they hear single guys
opening their mouth
and talking
it's like a flat earth
or explaining the shape
of the earth
I'm just thinking like
you have no idea
what you're saying
right now
like
you talk to people
that are successful
okay
but of course
you know
I'm not saying
you single guys
but maybe
you should branch out
a little bit
and this is what I've noticed
single guys
that make friends
with married men
end up getting married
usually
and they become
a little bit more
you know why
because they
become more mature
they're more focused
on the things
that actually matter
they're listening to someone
that's already been there
and done that
whereas you kind of
you kind of hanging out
with other people
it's like
you know
other single guys
it kind of goes downhill
you know
if you're just too weak
you know
maybe you need to be called out
maybe you're just too poor
and look
there's nothing wrong
with being poor
it doesn't make you
a bad person
but maybe you're just poor
because you're lazy
like in America
even in Kamala Harris
America
you know
you could still have
a lot of good things
a lot of nice things
we're not a hundred percent
communists yet
and so
you know
a lot of times
the reason why
people don't have
is just because
they're not working
they're not working hard
and sometimes
you need a friend
to just be like
dude
quit playing video games
and go work
you know
like
hey do you want to do this
I don't have time
go to work
get a job
learn something
do something
you know
sometimes we just need
or you know
maybe
it's like
hey dude
stop working at McDonald's
like
you know
invest in your future
a little bit
and you know
that might hurt a little bit
but it's like
dude
you know
if your friend
has bad habits
you know
telling them
if he's annoying
please please
for my sake
tell them they're annoying
so I don't have to tell all of you
that you're annoying
okay
it will just help me
as a pastor
when you still
help correct
all of your other friends
like dude
you're just being annoyed
stop it
right
I mean
you know what's gonna make us
a better group of people
if we're just willing to be
good friends
and offering genuine
and sincere
and you know
that criticism actually is meaningful
when you hung out
and you had fellowship
and you worked together
and you did things together
and you ate meals together
and you actually love one another
and then you're just like
dude
quit being weird
good
dude
quit being annoying
quit saying that
quit talking about that
we get it
the Jews are bad
okay
is there any other topic
we can talk about
we get it
there's a lot of feminism
can we talk about
anything else
it's like you're just weird
and look
this is just
anybody
I mean
maybe it's just like
dude
I'm sick of hearing
about football
let's talk about something
you know what
old IAB needs
they need some people
to get in there
like
let's talk about the Bible
it's like
it's so frustrating
when you go
to some of these churches
and it's like
they're not interested
in the Bible
they're not interested
but
you need to go
soul winning
we need to think about
the Bible
we need to think about
the things of God
and things of Christ
I like that
or hey
I don't want to talk about that
subject
you know sometimes guys
you know
locker room talk
I mean
what Donald Trump said
maybe we don't want to go
down that road
and talk about all those things
maybe we need to be
a little bit more
spirit minded
and thinking about
the right things
and you know
we're just helping each other
give criticisms
you know
maybe your friends
is a little immature
it's like
stop wearing
the Pokemon Go shirt
you know
it's like
it's over
you've already
caught them all
okay
and even if you didn't
you know
it's like
when I became a man
I put away
childish things
and you know
when you get married
she does it for you
okay
when I got married
I lost everything
but a box
okay
and then pretty soon
but you know
in hindsight
my wife's a good friend
and she helped me
to be a better person
and to realize that
all of the trash
that I collected
up to that point in my life
was trash
and she helped me get
nice plates
nice cups
and nice bowls
and you know
better things
that I could actually enjoy
nice furniture
I didn't know what that was
I had a futon from Walmart
that was broken
that was our
that was our chair
and it's like
that wasn't very comfortable
you know
having a
you know
a normal couch
you know
a wife can make
a house a home
and you know
the reality is
we're talking about
brethren companionship
but you know
your wife can also
be a good friend
and you know
you need to be
a good friend
to your wife
by what
lifting her up
I think in the new
IFB we sometimes
have a tendency
to almost
overcompensate
for all the
feminism out there
and thinking like
we're in charge
we don't think about
how we should lift up
our wives too
and we're all
we're all about step two
hey you need to
make better sandwiches
don't burn the cookies
you need to be happy
when I show up
hey the kids
aren't acting right
hey you need to
it's just like
basically we're just
walking around
just telling them
everything they need
to fix and
everything they need
to do but it's like
wait a minute
did you do step one
with your wife
did you lift up
your wife
are you loving
and making it clear
to her that she's important
I mean when it comes
to your children's future
she's gonna most likely
have a bigger role
in their outcome
than you are
because she spends
more time with them
she's teaching them more
and you know what
her job is important
her role is important
and we need to lift up
our wives
and praise them
for the things
that are necessary
and help them realize
that their opinions
are still important
you know your wife
in many cases
is what's gonna help you
stop looking weird
and dressing weird
and acting weird
and being annoying
like all of these
problems that you have
she'll probably
make you better
but you know
if you just
suppress your wife
and tell her
she's wrong and bad
well maybe she'll
stop offering you
any good criticisms too
and so it's important
to say
you know what
I want to have
a healthy relationship
where we and my wife
are both friends
and we both genuinely
love each other
and we can both
correct each other
and we're both
giving ourselves
the opportunity
to be a good person
and being really
good friends
so if you would
to Psalm 119
we'll just read
the entire chapter
real quick
Psalm 119
I want to look at
verse 71
it's kind of right
there in the middle
you know
if someone offers
you a criticism
you should really
just take it
as a blessing
because most of
the time
you're not gonna
believe that
you're gonna
believe that
you're gonna
believe that
you're gonna
believe that
because most of
the time
people only
even offer
criticisms
when they like
you
it's actually
a sign of
friendship
in many cases
now again
I'm not saying
like they're
attacking you
attacks aren't
from friendship
genuine
sincere
corrections
and and
criticism
that you can
actually improve
on
that's someone
that's actually
your friend
and so you
you know
sometimes we
just need some
correction
you just need
to be provoked
to do something
better
and you know
you should
take church
that way
that you should
hope that you
go to church
and get some
criticisms
and the best
pastors are
the ones that
are gonna be
your friend
and they're
gonna correct
you sometimes
and they're
gonna say
things that
in fact
church makes
you normal
when I meet
people that
don't go to
church
that are
Christian
they're weird
these online
churches
and these
online
Christian
movements
are filled
with the
weirdest
people I've
ever met
they're so
much weirder
than even
just like
the unsaved
because it's
just like
they're
and they're
just like
I'm this
Torah observing
Sabbath
person
you know
and you're
just like
what is
wrong with
you
and they
don't have
any friends
if you
actually knew
this person
these people
online
you know why
they're
online going
to an online
church
because they
have no
friends
you know why
they don't
want to be
challenged on
their ideas
they're just
like well I
think they're
just flat
and you know
what's
interesting about
these flat
earthers is
they all have
their own
unique flat
earth
there's not
even a
consensus
between them
one's on
a turtle's
back
one's on
pillars
one's you
know just
in a glass
come hear
me roar
you know
as a flat
hard
but that's
what will
happen when
you push
away criticism
and you push
away good
friends
when someone
offers you
criticism say
hey this
person might
want to be
my friend
I should
embrace that
and you know
what I
should be a
good friend
to other
people and
also offer
a good
friend
church makes
you normal
well I don't
go to church
very much
well you're
not very
normal
the more you
interact and
the more you
go to church
and the more
you get
plugged in
the more
normal you
are the
more nice
those people
are you'll
notice the
people that
are plugged
in going
soul winning
supporting
they've got
some issues
get plugged
in and start
being a good
friend here's
the last point
I want to
make go to
John chapter
13 is we
need to love
our brother
so point one
is this we
need to lift
up our brother
number two we
need to correct
our brother
and lastly we
need to love
our brother
now if I was
pastor of
Menes I
would have figured
out a way to
turn correct
but you know
what you need
to lift up
your brother
you need to
correct your
brother and
you need to
love your
brother because
this is the
way to be a
good friend
and in John
chapter 13
this is kind
of a
challenge to
me especially
as a pastor
is I don't
want necessarily
our church to
only be known
for soul winning
or only be
known that
we hate fags
or only be
known for
the documentaries
that we make
you know
one of the
reasons I
want to be
known is
the fact that
our church
is genuinely
has a
group of
people that
love each
other and
that's what
the Bible
says in
John chapter
13 verse
35 by
this shall
all men know
that you're
my disciples
if we have
loved one
to another
our church
by noticing
how much the
members love
each other
and how
that how
well they get
along that's
where the
spirit of Christ
really is and
that's where
the real
disciples are
you know being
a disciples
it's saved
say salvation
is free
salvation is
you didn't do
anything it's
just like the
free birth
discipleship
is the ones
that actually
care about the
people that
are really
actually doing
the Bible
that group is
going to be a
loving group so
when you go to
a church you
say they're not
very friendly
they're a bunch
of clicks there's
a bunch of gossip
there's a bunch
of hatred there's
a bunch of envy
that's a bunch
of people that
are not disciples
of Jesus Christ
and if we were
really to evaluate
our church what
we'd want to
see one of the
most important
factors would
just be how well
people are going
soul winning like
you might think
like what about
the soul winning
and what about
these metrics
and what about
these statistics
well here's the
thing all of that
is definitely on
track if that
group really
loves each other
and you'll notice
the churches that
are not so winning
they're filled with
gossip and sin
and fornication
and envy and
strife and all
these other issues
why because the
ultimate goal is
just love and
when people are
going soul winning
and you have that
right mentality and
you're filled with
people that care
about others you
can feel it you
can experience it
you know that's
what I love about
steadfast Baptist
Church that's what
I love about pure
words Baptist Church
that's what I love
about going to OKC
is how friendly
people really seem
but I think that we
can all still improve
and I think we
should all still
strive to improve
you know that's
what I love about
visiting any new
IV church is when
they show up it
just it seems like
you're hanging out
and actually it just
there's just a
different feeling and
that you know what
that is it's the
spirit of Christ it's
that discipleship
it's that true love
because you know
people might hate
our churches from
afar but one thing
they can't deny is
that it's filled with
a lot of loving
people and it's
usually coming from
people that have
never visited because
when you visit these
churches whether you
love or hate the
pastor you have to
say like man but
there's a lot of
great people there
there's a lot of
people that will help
you when you're
hurting there's a lot
of people that will
pray for you when
you're sick there's a
lot of people there
that will help you go
soul winning there's a
lot of people there
that will help teach
things in the Bible
there's people out
there that will buy
you lunch there's
people out there that
will just you know
show up at your house
when you need
something there's
people there that you
can just genuinely say
I'm struggling in this
area and they'll
actually listen to you
and actually give you
biblical advice there's
people there that will
go do all kinds of events and they'll go to conferences
and they'll buy you stuff.
I mean, and this is what our church should look like,
it's what it should feel like.
And you know, it would be a shame
if we went to a conference like this and we left
and people were mad at each other, upset with each other.
They caused fights, they caused conflict.
You know, we should leave closer friends when we leave
as opposed to getting further apart.
And that would be a tell of the success
of a conference like this is that we became closer,
not driven further apart.
But it only comes if we can be good friends,
if we can love one another.
Go over to Proverbs 17.
You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13,
about charity or sincere love is that it believeth all things.
Instead of looking at someone that comes to the church
or is new to the church and saying,
I don't think this person's gonna last.
I don't think this person's very spiritual.
I don't know about this person.
Why don't you go up to that person and help them last,
help them be spiritual and be a good friend of them
and do something to help them
be the best version of themselves.
Because let's be honest,
not everybody is gonna be a great disciple.
Not everybody is gonna go to church three times a week.
Not everybody is gonna be a faithful soul winner.
Not everybody is gonna be a great husband
or be a great father.
But you know what?
What you maybe could do is you could just help them
just a little bit, just be a little bit better father.
Or to go soul winning just maybe one more time
than they would have without you.
Or just maybe go to church one more time
than they would have.
Or maybe just last in church
a little longer than they would.
Because at the end of the day,
you can't really affect anybody
in a sense of just making them do stuff.
You can only influence them a little bit.
But why can't we just take the opportunities we have
and say, I just wanna help this person
be a little bit better than they are right now
and be the best version of themselves.
They may not be the smartest, they may not be the brightest,
they may not be the greatest used of God.
But you know what?
I just wanna come alongside them
and I just wanna make them just a little better.
Here's one area that would be great
is if we just help all of ourselves be better soul winners.
And instead of thinking like that,
that person, I don't really like what they did
in their soul winning presentation
and then telling other people about it.
Why don't you tell them?
Hey, I think you could say this a little bit differently.
Hey, I think you could do this a little bit better.
And especially when it comes to new people.
A lot of people are very experienced soul winners.
But you know what?
When you take new people,
give them an opportunity at the door.
Give them an opportunity to talk.
Help give them a little bit of a tip.
Help give them some advice.
Help them be less awkward at the door.
Because some people are just awkward at the door.
And instead of just being like that one person,
I'm gonna be like, hey, you seemed a little awkward there.
Maybe you should just say something simple like,
hi, we're from Verity Baptist Church.
You know, that's nice.
Instead of just being like, hey,
or you know what,
or like, who's in there?
You know?
Or like, I don't know, people just do weird things.
You know what I'm talking about, okay?
People say weird things, do weird things,
they act weird.
Or maybe they're just like, they're walking up to the door.
Yeah, I think all fags should be shot in the head
and I hate Jews.
Hey, we're from, they're like, who's there?
We're from a Baptist church.
And they're like, not interested.
You know?
It's like, maybe you're like, hey bro,
I love this conversation.
Let's wait, you know, till we're at the sidewalk
or something, you know?
Like when we get closer to the door,
maybe let's not scream about how we hate fags so much
or whatever.
Or be like, man, my favorite part of Dylan's sermon
is you're like, let's line them up against the wall
and put a bullet in the back of their head.
You know?
It's like, you know, look, hey, I love that scene
of that sermon, okay?
I put it in my movie, The Preserved Bible, folks, okay?
But you know, at the end of the day,
I don't necessarily wanna scream that right at the door
because somebody might hear it.
And you know, if I make a mistake,
if I do something weird and someone's like,
hey, I think they might have heard you,
it'd be like, oh, sorry, I probably shouldn't say that.
Right, I mean, let's just help each other be better
and let's just love on one another.
And instead of just thinking this person's weird or bad,
let's just believe all things and think
that this person's sincere, let's help them.
And not try to catch all the reprobates
and all the infiltrators and just be worried
about every person like, I just think this person's
not gonna last.
Well, you know, help them stay as long as they can.
Help them, you know, if they believe,
if they say something weird instead of telling everybody
else like, they think that, you know,
the moon isn't even real.
It's like, just tell them they're an idiot
and the moon's real, you know, just help that person
with that stupid belief that they have.
Proverbs chapter 17, verse 17,
should be a pretty easy one to remember.
A friend loveth at all times
and the brother is born for adversity.
You know, a friend is going to love you all the time,
he's not gonna be selfish, he's not thinking about himself.
You know, we see this really pictured
with Jonathan and David.
Jonathan just constantly loved David,
only did good unto him.
And you know, it'd be nice if we could just have a church
and we could have people where you say, you know what,
I know this person's just gonna only do good to me.
And even if I do something stupid,
even if I make a mistake, even if this person
does something I disagree with, I can still love him.
Psalm 133 is the last place I want you to go.
I mean, wouldn't it have been nice
if some of our, quote, pastor friends had been like that?
Like, you know what the last thing we need is?
Less fundamental Baptists in this world.
And less fundamental Baptist church.
And wouldn't it be nice if the old IFB
could even be our friends?
I mean, think about this.
From the old IFB's perspective,
we're wrong on a few issues, right?
If you were to put yourself in their mindset,
I'm sure a lot of them sincerely think
that we're wrong on a few issues.
But why wouldn't they come alongside of us
and do step one, which is what?
Lifting other people's heads.
Hey, I really like how you're reaching new people.
Hey, I really appreciate that this visitor
came and visited our church,
that you got saved from your online documentary.
Hey, I'm really appreciative that this person
came to our church to get baptized,
and you're helping them get baptized.
But we think that you're wrong on this particular issue.
Let us explain to you how Israel
is still God's chosen people.
But you know why they don't wanna do that?
Well, number one, they're wrong.
But number two is because they're just not
being a good friend.
And they're not a disciple.
Because the disciple is gonna be a good friend.
And you know what?
I have actual friends that are Zionists.
I have actual friends that think
that God's chosen people are Israel.
You know who that person is?
Dr. Bill Stringer.
And he's gonna come preach for us.
And you know what?
I love Dr. Stringer.
And he can like me.
And you know what?
He's a good friend to me,
even if we disagree on these issues.
And why can't the old IFB and the new IFB
be friends and just disagree on stuff?
Look, you can be wrong all day long,
and I'll still like you.
Why can't you like us?
Why can't you be a good friend?
You know what?
Friends can disagree.
Friends can be wrong.
And we need to stop having this mindset
like this person's not like us.
Well, what did Jesus say?
If he's not against us, then he's for us.
You know what?
We should be more pro the Christians
that aren't attacking us,
and not be what they're like,
and just being like, we can't be your friend
because you're a little different,
or you do things wrong,
or you have some bad issues.
You know, why don't we just lift them up
and say, hey, I appreciate that you guys
are standing and being conservative church,
and still speaking to him,
still using the King James,
and you still preach the right gospel,
and I really appreciate that.
Get rid of the Zionism, bro.
You know, I don't hate you.
I love you.
I just want you to stop being weird.
I want you to stop waving the Israel flag in your church.
You know?
And I don't hate those people.
I love those people.
I wish those churches were better.
You know, I don't wanna like take all their sheep.
They're like, you're a sheep dealer.
Hey, I want you to have them.
Just quit teaching them lies.
Be better.
Be the best version of the old IV that you can be, right?
And you know what'll make our nation better
is if we could have more people
that are rallied around the love of Christ,
and the love of each other,
and just being good friends.
Our country is failing
because people aren't good friends anymore,
and people aren't even trying to be a good friend,
and we need to set the example
of what being a good friend looks like.
Not only in here, but even out there,
that we need to show what it's like to be a friend,
where we lift up our brother,
where we correct our brother,
and where we love our brother.
And even if he's wrong about things,
well, we still like him anyways,
and we wish him good anyways.
Hey, and you know, if you get an opportunity to preach,
and you're gonna bring up some of these issues,
here's the question I want you to ask yourself this first.
Have I done step one for this person?
You know, again, if it's a false prophet,
I don't, go after them.
You know, preach hard and rip on them.
But you know, when it's somebody that's saved
or doing the work of God,
do you, are you wishing any good to them?
Have you been a good friend towards them?
Are you trying to help them?
You know, there's not really a point to just attack people,
just to attack people.
Are you offering even criticism that they can change?
And you know, we need to really think about other people.
You know, in the men's preaching class,
I love a lot of these sermons,
but you know, I don't really love just attacking brethren,
when it doesn't seem like you actually love them.
You know, a loving criticism is an important place.
But you know, we need to make sure that we're,
you know, attacking the right people
and we're offering loving criticism to the right people.
And that we're being good friends.
Because you know, I want to have friends.
A man that has friends must show himself friendly.
I don't want to be a cult.
I want to have as many friends as we can.
I don't want the New York Beat
to just be a one church show.
I want it to be as many friends as we can have.
And to keep, you know, I wish we could have this mentality
of like, even if we disagree on things, we're still friends.
Because some people like, they even like try to be like,
you know, Pastor Anderson and Pastor Vince disagree
on this one little tiny thing that nobody cares about.
It's like, no, because I didn't care about it.
They can still be friends.
And I can still be friends with them.
Yeah, they're wrong, but I'm still their friend.
Obviously, okay.
Psalm 133, look at verse one.
Behold how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity.
You know what?
Our movement should be a unifying movement.
Not because we agree on everything.
Not because we like everything about one another.
You know why?
Because we love one another.
Because we're lifting each other up.
And we're saying, you know, if another church succeeds,
we're not like, oh, I wish that was me.
We're like, we're excited for that church.
We're excited for that pastor.
We're excited for that church.
Hey, that church did a great work soul-willing.
We're excited for them.
We're gonna encourage them.
And we're gonna be a good friend unto them.
And it doesn't matter if they're even
in our circle of friends, if there's some other church
and they do a great work for God, well, praise God.
You know, let us be an example of people
that just genuinely love others
and that we want to be a good friend.
And you know, offer a criticism
when you've loved the person first.
Be careful how we use our tongues
because we often just curse men and we bless God.
But you know what really blesses God?
When we bless other people.
You know, the first commandment is love the Lord thy God,
but the second commandment is love thy neighbor thyself.
And we really, I think, and it knew I'd be emphasized
point one, we love God.
But you know, really loving God looks like
loving your neighbor.
And you can really tell the churches that love God
when they love each other.
I've been in church services and I've been to churches,
even the new IP and in times when
there was not a lot of love in the room.
And it's disappointing because you know,
they're carnal, they're prideful, they're sin issues.
And you know, there's not a lot of disciples in that room.
And you really should, we should check ourselves
and say, you know, am I being a good friend to others?
And you know, think about other people.
When you prepare a sermon Saturday,
think about other people for that sermon.
When you're hanging out with people this week,
think about other people.
And think about, you know, your brethren,
when we go out of this camp, think about
when you go back to church, who can I be a brother to?
Who could I help?
When you go home and you've had a vacation and fun
and your wife's been with all these screaming kids,
you know, maybe don't talk all about you.
Talk about her and lift her up and help her
instead of just coming home.
Well, Alice is a wreck.
What have you been doing the last few days?
How about you like give her a back massage
and take care of the baby and change the diaper
and clean some stuff up and make dinner
and then say, hey, it was a little messy over here.
Or just don't even say it because it doesn't matter.
Instead of saying it, just fix it.
And be like, hey, I'm gonna lift up that hand.
Just gonna lift it up and I'm just gonna help.
And you know what, that's gonna make my life
a little smoother because I'm just gonna be
a good friend to my wife.
Don't just be a husband, be a friend.
And you know what, don't just be,
I know that guy at church, be a friend.
And don't just be like, that's my pastor, be a friend.
And don't just be a coworker, be a friend.
And don't just be a friend, be a good friend.
Let's go to prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much
for all these men in this room
and thank you so much for the friendship
that Jesus Christ showed unto us.
We didn't deserve his goodness,
we didn't deserve his kindness.
We didn't deserve him to lay down his life
and to ultimately show us the ultimate humility
of the cross, but I pray that that could help motivate us
to lift other people up and to follow and like example
and to just genuinely love other people.
I pray that you could help just unify our hearts
towards the saved and towards the brethren
and that we would do a better job with our tongues
and with our hearts and with our minds
to just look at other people and love them
and care for them.
And when we offer criticisms that we'd be careful
and use discretion and we'd do it in a loving manner,
we wouldn't be afraid to criticize
but we would do it when it's necessary
and that we would just love other people at all times,
even in their faults and in their weaknesses
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Thank you.
All right, so the last one, we're gonna do 449,
dwelling in a beautiful land.
So, 449, dwelling in a beautiful land.
All the birds.
All the way the voice of Christ
upon my ear is calling.
Then I know the sins of earth
be set on every hand.
Doubt and fear and things of earth
in vain to me are calling.
None of these shall move me
from you, the land.
I'm living on the mountain
underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God!
I'm drinking at the fountain
that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the meadow
from a mountain full supply
for I am dwelling
in you, the land.
Far below the storm of doubt
upon the world is beating.
Sons of men in battle on
the enemy whiskers.
Safe am I within
the castle of God's word retreating.
Nothing then can reach me
this beautiful land.
I'm living on the mountain
underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God!
I'm drinking at the fountain
that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the meadow
from a mountain full supply
for I am dwelling
in you, the land.
Let the stormy breezes blow
their frightened eye alarm me.
I am safely sheltered here,
protected by God's hand.
Here the sun is always shining,
here there's not can harm be.
I am safe forever
in you, the land.
I'm living on the mountain
underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God!
I'm drinking at the fountain
that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the meadow
from a mountain full supply
for I am dwelling
in you, the land.
Viewing here the words of God
I see in contemplation.
Hearing now his blessed voice
I see the way he planned.
Dwelling in the spirit here
I learn of full salvation.
Laughing will I tarry
in you, the land.
I'm living on the mountain
underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God!
I'm drinking at the fountain
that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the meadow
from a mountain full supply
for I am dwelling
in you, the land.
I love the singing of this event.