Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
I sing hallelujah that Jesus is coming, And, oh, what a raising of life from the name!
The graves bursting open to give up God's children, Those bodies long older in praise God's deep bed,
Caught up to greet Him together, together, Caught up to Jesus and never too far,
Changed in a moment to be with my Savior, Caught up together and never too far,
We wait for the coming of Jesus our Savior, Expecting the rapture caught up in the clouds,
The world has His sorrows, we'll leave Him so gladly, We'll wipe all our tears when the trumpet calls loud,
Caught up to greet Him together, together, Caught up with Jesus and never too far,
Changed in a moment to be with my Savior, Caught up together and never too far,
We'll rise incorruptible when sound starts trumpeting, Oh, great, where the victory longed you have known,
All changed in the living and all go together, And, oh, what a gathering to Christ of His own,
Caught up to greet Him together, together, Caught up with Jesus and never too far,
Changed in a moment to be with my Savior, Caught up together and never too far,
Come up, all ye saints of the past, to that meeting, From Abel to Moses, from David to Paul,
Come up, all ye martyrs, soulwinners, Christ lovers, All under the blood of our Savior come all,
Caught up to greet Him together, together, Caught up with Jesus and never too far,
Changed in a moment to be with my Savior, Caught up together and never too far,
Chapter 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved,
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve,
after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part
remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep, after that he was seen of James,
then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, that have not meet to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.
And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they
all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they,
so we preach, and so ye believed. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead,
how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised
up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
But if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ
are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's
at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God,
even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet.
But when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted,
which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him,
then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him,
that God may be all in all. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead,
if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?
And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing,
which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,
what advantageeth it me if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not.
For some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
But some man will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain.
It may chance of wheat, or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body, as it hath pleased him,
and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh.
But there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes,
and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial.
But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.
For one star differth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonor,
it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul,
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly,
such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.
For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Amen. Great to be here tonight. For a very special occasion, the ordination of the new pastor,
Pastor Jonathan Shelley. And so we're excited to be able to have that now come, if you would,
at this time, Brother Shelley. And obviously, most of you are very familiar with Pastor Shelley.
It's pretty easy to get familiar with him, because he's already been preaching in Phoenix,
Arizona for years. He preached in Houston, Texas for the last five or so months. And he's been
covering all of his core beliefs. And you can learn a lot about him that way. And now he's
here. Amen. So you can talk to him yourself. Give him a big hand. Now, the Bible says,
lay hands suddenly on no man. But I've known this man for several years. All right. And he's not a
wild card, because I've already known him for years. He's already been tested and proven. And
I'm the one that's going to be laying hands on him. All right. And I'm not doing it suddenly.
All right. Because, you know, because I know him well, he meets the qualifications. I'm very
pleased to ordain him as the next pastor of Steadfast Baptist Church here in Fort Worth.
And all of God's people said, Amen. Let's pray a special blessing on Pastor Shelley. I've already
laid hands on him once, but he's going to need even more of an anointing now as he goes forward
with the new challenges that he's going to be facing as the pastor of this church. Let's pray
together. Dear Lord, we just thank you so much for providing Pastor Jonathan Shelley for such a time
as this. Lord God, we just pray that you would fill him with your spirit, Lord. He's just a man.
He's flesh and blood. But Lord God, we pray that you would fill him with your spirit and anoint him
and enable him to do great works through the power of your spirit, Lord God. There's a need
in this congregation. There are many needs and a spirit-filled pastor is going to be required to
get the job done. And so we pray, Lord, that he would have a double portion of the anointing that
he has had thus far and that you would use him in a mighty way for many years to come. And in Jesus'
name we pray, Amen. Amen. All right, this is your new pastor. I just want to say thank y'all very
much. I feel very honored to have the privilege to serve here and to work with y'all. And obviously
it's very trying times, so it's very important that we stick on what's most important, which is
the King James Bible. Stick on a rock that we lean upon Christ in this time and that we stay
together. I've always been as straightforward and as honest as I possibly could in this situation,
and that's the best I can promise you. I will always be straightforward and honest with every
single person. Every single conversation that I've had up to this point is public record. I'm not
trying to hide anything from anybody. And I'm, you know, obviously if everybody tried to call
me at the same time I probably wouldn't be able to answer, right? But I don't know of a single
person yet that's contacted me that I wanted to talk to that I haven't yet. So, you know,
I'll do my best. Obviously this is a big congregation. My church in Houston, we have maybe
about 50 people that come on our church on a regular basis, and so obviously this is a big
task. And I think the most important thing is for any pastor in this situation is to lean upon the
existing leadership. And I've seen a lot of great men step up in a time of need when it's really
drastic and be steadfast. And so it's important with a church this size, with the magnitude of
the situation, that we lean upon a lot of resources. But throughout this process we're gonna have to
make sure that we have integrity, that we're upright, that we have accountability, that we put
things in place to make sure that everybody is protected from this type of a situation. So, you
know, I'll give you a little bit of information about me and my family. I was actually born in New
York, okay? I'll just say that right now. I know. All right. New York City? All right. So we got all
the bad news out of the way, all right? When I was two years old, my family moved to Keller. So I'm
sure most of y'all probably know where Keller is. I grew up here until about the second grade. Then
we moved to Amarillo, Texas, which is the northern panhandle. So it's maybe six hours away from here.
And I grew up there for the majority of my life. Then a few years ago, in 2016, is when we moved to
Faithful Word Baptist Church. And the interesting thing is, I have been to Steadfast Baptist Church
one time, but it wasn't this building. It was your, like, tri-layer building that's, like, down the
street over here. And guess who was preaching? Pastor Stephen L. Anderson. It's the first time
that I ever got to meet him, so kind of a deja vu coming back to Steadfast Baptist Church, hearing
him sing and everything like that. But, so I served at Faithful Word Baptist Church for a couple years.
And, you know, when I came to Pastor Anderson, I said, you know, my goal is to meet the qualifications
in two years and to be sent out. And he said, where do you want to go? And I said, Houston, Texas. I
wanted to go to Houston from day one. That was my desire. That was my heart. That's, you know,
what I wanted to do. And that's what I thought I was going to do. That's what I was planning on
doing. But, you know, by happenstance, I just found out about this information on Monday. And
on Wednesday, I just called Pastor Anderson because I just kept thinking in my mind, I don't know
what's going to happen here. I don't know what kind of plan they have in place. And I talked to
him and there, you know, there wasn't a lot of great options. Obviously, it's a stressful time.
And the last thing I wanted to say was, hey, I'll go be the pastor. Not because I didn't want to come
up here, but rather I loved my church. I love the people in Pure Words Baptist Church. And, you know,
I'm still their pastor and I still love those people. But I saw the great need for someone to
come in and take, you know, care of this situation as best they could to help serve and to help keep
unity in the brethren. And so I knew in the back of my mind, if it came to the worst, I would do
it. And so I said, you know what, Pastor Anderson, I would do it. I would go up there and I would
help serve, even though that's not necessarily what I really wanted in the back of my mind.
But look, I'm 100% committed to being to this church. I'm 100% committed to helping this church
grow. I'm 100% committed to Oklahoma City and I'm 100% committed to Florida and I'm 100% committed
to Houston. I'm committed to all of it. That's a lot of work. And so in this time we need other
men to rise up and decide that they want to help, you know, be steadfast with us, okay. My wife,
she's here with me. Her name's Carrie. She is native Texas, okay. So you can, she's gonna redeem
me from that, all right. My wife's gonna save me on that. She was born in Texas. She's a Texas girl.
You know, it's funny because she told me she would never leave Texas. So just going to Faithful Word
for a couple years was hard enough. But we got back to Texas as soon as we could. I have three
children. My oldest is Clayton. He's four years old. He'll turn five in May. And then my second
oldest is Jackson. He's two. He's going to turn three in the 17th. So pretty soon. And then I have
my little girl Abby. She's about 15 months. And then we're actually expecting our fourth child.
So that's a little bit about us. I just wanted to kind of give you just a little bit of information.
If you have any questions about something like doctrine or what I believe, every sermon that
I've preached is still up on Pure Words Baptist Church. And guess what? I still believe everything
I said. On top of that, I have a doctrinal statement that still exists on that website.
I also have been going through a series where I'm preaching through that doctrinal statement
and proving everything that I believe and I said. So if you say, hey, I really want to know where
he stands on any of those issues, you can take my word. That's where I stand. That's what I believe.
If you want to talk to me, you can always talk to me. But that's an easy way for a lot of people
to get the same information from the same source. So at this time, let's just go ahead and continue
with the regular services. Amen. Now, I just love getting to hear the Bible read, even though it's
a really long chapter, because sometimes you just get a verse and it just really picks up on your
ear. Look at verse 22. The Bible says, for as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. What does that saying? It's saying that the flesh profiteth nothing. The flesh is not
powerful. We shouldn't trust in man. We shouldn't trust in ourselves. We should always trust in
Christ. That was just bonus. All right. Let's look at verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know
that your labor is not in vain. And I love in season sermons. I love it when, you know,
you get to preach a sermon and it really applies. And there's something unique about this time,
because Steadfast Baptist Church has a unique opportunity to set a lot of precedence,
a lot of precedence of what happens when there's a failure in leadership. How should a church
respond to a failure in leadership? You have a precedent of how should a church respond to new
leadership? And not only that, how is a church defined by the word steadfast? How can a church
truly be steadfast? Well, I have four points this evening. Go to Joshua chapter number one,
if you would. Joshua chapter number one. My first point, in order to be steadfast, you must have
strong leadership. It must exist. Now, unsaved carnal people, when you say strong leadership,
they think you're talking in carnal means, like being really buff and really strong in the flesh.
Now look, as a man, you should be strong. That's a good attribute of a man. But when it's talking
about strong leadership, it's not talking about fleshly things. That's not what the Bible's
emphasizing. Look at Joshua chapter one, verse one. Now after the death of Moses, the servant
of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister,
saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, rise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this
people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that
the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the
wilderness and this Lebanon, even under the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the
Hittites and under the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall
not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I be
will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage,
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their
fathers to give them. Joshua is a transition book. Joshua chapter one is a transition from Moses
into Joshua, and the Lord is telling Joshua, if you're going to succeed, Joshua, you have to be
strong. You have to be courageous. That is the only way you're going to get through this situation.
That's the only way you're going to get to the promised land is with strong leadership.
So the question is, what's strong leadership? Go to Proverbs chapter number 28. Proverbs chapter 28.
The Bible says in Proverbs 14, in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children
shall have a place of refuge. The Bible says, if you want to be strong, you have to fear the Lord.
Strength comes from fearing the Bible, fearing God's commandments, fearing what God can do to
you. And guess what? There's strength in that. There's strength because you're founded on the
rock because you can rest in the promises of God. Look at Proverbs 28 verse one. The wicked flee
when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. You know where you get strength from
being righteous, from doing that which is right. Look, when you're right, you're not worried about
the situation. You can just proceed forward. You can be strong, but when you're doing something
wrong, when you got something to hide, when you're wicked, it's going to be really hard to
have courage. It's going to be really hard to be bold. They're afraid of their own shadow,
whenever you're going to put the pressure on. But when you're right, you can just keep on charging.
You can just press the enemy to their end. Go to first Peter chapter number three.
So how do you get strength? By doing that which is right. You will always have strength by doing
that which is right. The Bible says in Proverbs 15 verse 29, the Lord is far from the wicked,
but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. So it's saying there's two different people,
and if they're both to pray, one is going to get his prayers answered more often.
Why? Because the one is righteous. Because the one's doing that right, that sounds like strength
to me. Hey, my prayers actually get answered from God. That sounds like a lot of strength when God
is answering your prayers. The Bible says in James chapter five verse 16,
confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. A righteous man has a lot of strength because the
Bible says God wants to answer that guy's prayers. God wants to be on his side. God wants to show
himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him, is what the Bible says.
Look at first Peter chapter three verse 12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
So the Bible says, look, if you want to have strength, if you want to be strong,
you have to do it by God's way. You have to do it through following his commandments.
That's how you'll have strength. It's not about how strong you are. It's not about how big a
muscle you got, how big an army you got. I don't care what you got in the flesh. You got to have
God on your side if you're going to be winning. Go to Psalms chapter 33. Strength. So when the
Lord is talking to Joshua and he's saying be strong, it's not a physical strength that he's
asking him to have. He's talking about spiritual strength. Look at Psalms 33 verse 16. There is no
king saved by the multitude of an host. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength, and horse
is a vain thing for safety. Neither shall he be delivered any by his great strength. Behold,
the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their
soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. So he contrasts it by saying, look, this guy
that's strong, he's not going to win because the strength is not physical that God's saying. He's
saying it's a spiritual strength that comes by resting in Christ, by letting him be the one that
fights for you. Joshua goes into the promised land not by his own might because the Lord leads
him in there, because the Lord is the one that fights for him. The Lord is the one that takes
it over. He said they were more mighty than them anyways. The children of Israel said they were,
you know, were grasshoppers in their sight. But see, the Lord went in and drove them out before
them because they were resting in Christ. Go if you went to Proverbs chapter number eight now.
Proverbs chapter eight. Not only that, he said that he would keep you alive in famine. Now,
famine's tough. Famine's a tough situation, but you're kept alive. That sounds like strength.
Someone that can go through a famine, that sounds like strength. Why? Because they're trusting in
God and God preserved them. So we get our strength from this book. That's how you can get strength.
That's how you can be strong. You want to be like Joshua? You want to go in the promised land? You
want to do great things? It's through God's word. And you know what? You're going to be strong when
you're right, when you're truthful, when you're honest. We have nothing to hide. The Bible says,
a wise man is strong, yea, a man of knowledge increases strength. So the Bible says, look,
wisdom is strength. And the Bible says, how do you get wisdom? The fear of the Lord is wisdom,
is it not? So hey, how do I get wisdom? Trusting God. How do I get strength? Trusting God. Look,
it's always about trusting God. This is a book of faith. The righteous walk by faith,
the just walk by faith. Look, that's what we're supposed to do is walk by faith, not by sight.
Look at Proverbs eight verse five. O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools, be of an
understanding heart. Here for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips
shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my
lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing forward or
perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth and right to them that find
knowledge. Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than Swiss gold. For wisdom
is better than rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the
Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate.
Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding. I have strength. So how did he
get strength? By trusting in wisdom, by gaining a knowledge of God's word. You're not going to
be strong by being ignorant. You're not going to be strong by being simple. You're going to
be strong by having knowledge, by having wisdom, by having understanding. And look, he contrasts
that with another person, this forward and perverse mouth. Go to Psalms chapter 101.
Psalms chapter 101. Forwardness in a mouth is disgusting. It's wicked. It's evil. What is
forwardness? It's when you don't want to get along. It's when you're just trying to make
every situation bad. It's when you're trying to sow discord. When you're full of dissension.
When you just say something bad to say a bad thing. You say, should you hang out with those
people? Should you tolerate it? Oh man, we should just bow down to the forward mouth.
Let's see what Psalms 101 says. Look at verse number four. A forward heart shall depart from me.
I will not know a wicked person who so privily slandered this neighbor. Him will I cut off.
Him that has a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eye shall be upon the faithful
of the land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He
that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in
my sight is what the Bible says. You say, oh man, Pastor Shelley, you're trying to sow discord in
the church because you didn't want to take on this guy named Adam Fanon. And obviously there's
a lot of things at play here. There's obviously the grievous sins of the former pastor. There's
a lot of hurting people. There's a lot of work of the Lord that needs to go on. There's multiple
church plants. There's my church plant at home. You know what? I got to try and deal with all of
it. And I'm not going to deal with a forward heart. Period. That's what the Bible says.
You say, forwardness, where are you coming up? You're just railing. You're railing, Pastor Shelley.
Well, I'm pretty sure this guy named Adam Fanon said that this church was splitting.
I don't see a split anywhere except for this aisle. I mean, that's what he's talking about.
You have the left side and the right side, but whose side are they on? The Lord's side.
That's a bold-faced lie. You know what I call that person? A liar. You know what he's trying to do?
Sow discord amongst the brethren. Oh, I thought the verse said that God hated that.
That person's being forward. Not only that, he says there's a conspiracy against him plotted
by Pastor Steven L. Anderson. If that is not slander and railing, I don't know what is.
What does the Bible say in 1 Corinthians 5 about a railer? Is he supposed to be in the church?
Throw it out of the church. So how much respect could you have for me coming in here
and saying, you know what? I'm going to tolerate railers and liars and forward mouths.
That's like the best part of it. It gets a lot worse. How about when you call a guy
in a desperate, horrible situation and you say, hey, how's it going? What can I do to help you?
What do you think your first thought would be? What do you think you'd ask somebody coming in
to try to help you? Well, you know, Pastor Matt promised me a raise.
A $10,000 raise. How many of y'all are worried about a $10,000 raise when the situation happened
on Wednesday? You say, oh, you're lying, Pastor Shirley. That's not what he said. You're right.
This is what he said. It was $800 a week that he's paid. And he says, I was supposed to get a
$10,000. Let me help you with the math. $200 a week times 52 is $10,400. Air go, hey, I want
a $10,000 raise, buddy. What in the world? Guess what? I forgave that. I just kept moving on,
but I didn't forget it. Good night. I'm the one supposedly that told Adam Fanon the grievousness
of the situation. Now, when I told my wife the grievousness of the situation, which we knew for
two days, just that Pastor Romero was going to step down. That's all we knew. And then when we
found out the grievousness, you know what her first thought was? Poor Leslie. She was grieved.
You know, I tell this guy, he's calm as a cucumber. What do you think about breastfeeding?
What about me being ordained in six months?
How am I supposed to handle that kind of information coming at me?
Look, if you just told me that Pastor Steven Anderson had done all these things,
I would be like, what's going on?
My whole world would be shaken up. I don't even know if I could speak. I couldn't believe,
I would just keep saying, I can't believe it. I don't believe you. It's probably my first
reaction, honestly. I'd be like, I need to hear from somebody else. I don't, I don't know. Like,
just, okay, yeah, that kind of makes sense. What do you think about breastfeeding?
I said, I said, Look, I don't care. You know, I don't agree with you at all. But look, I'm not
coming in there to shake things up. You do, you know, if you have a system going or whatever,
I'm not. This is a devastating time. Why do I care about such a carnal, stupid, pedantic thing?
Are you kidding me? Your pastor is caught in grievous sin. And that's your first thoughts.
That's what's coming out of your heart. The Bible says that the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. And you know what, I'm going to trust what the Bible says.
In times of crisis, you really see what people are like. And you know, I can't disregard that
information. I can't just turn a blind eye to what I'm hearing and listening to. Okay.
Not only that, this guy wants to say that, oh, we're looking for something better.
Okay, well, to my face, he never one time said he wanted anything different. He's just saying,
hey, I'll work with you, you know, whatever. Obviously, he was disagreeing with lots of things,
but he was never saying to me, I don't want to work with you. I don't like you. There's
something about, if he had said that, I would just try to figure something else out. I mean,
I'm not trying to force people to get on my team. I just want to help. But you know what,
he sought counsel behind my back, not telling me from a guy named Pastor Jimenez. Pastor Jimenez
calls me. He says, hey, you know, in this situation, we just want to help. I don't want to,
you know, make an enemy out of you. I said, Pastor Jimenez, I don't care what you do,
you can't make an enemy out of me. Look, this is a drastic situation. He said, well, look,
I just want to see if I can help take on Florida. And I said, you know what, if that's something
you really want to do, can I just at least ask why? You know, he didn't want to discuss
whatever conversation you had with Adam. He just said, well, it's not going to work.
There's no other option. News to me, because whenever I talked to Adam Fanon, the first words
out of his mouth were, hey, I'll be the evangelist for 10 years. I don't even care if I'm ever
pastor. It's just a title. Liar. Now, here's the thing I said to Pastor Jimenez, I said, look,
if that's what you feel like is the best move, I'll support you and go for it. I approved it.
Here's the question. I mean, if I'm not good enough, apparently, okay, whatever. I don't
care. Pastor Jimenez isn't good enough either. I mean, when I call, so I call Adam Fanon and I
say, hey, what's going on? Everybody's calling me saying you don't want to work with me.
You know, what's going on? Oh, well, you know, let's, you know, we're just weighing some options
and stuff. I say, hey, Pastor Jimenez said he'd go for it. So, you know, if that's what you really
want to do. Now, if that's what you really want to do, and I just told you is okay,
wouldn't you just take it? I'm looking for something better. Okay, Pastor Jimenez is
offering and it's been approved. He didn't take it. Where's that better? Where's the better?
I mean, he's six. He doesn't want Pastor Anderson's advice. He doesn't want Pastor
Jimenez's advice. He doesn't want my advice. Where's this better advice that he's looking for?
It's ridiculous. It's a joke. He said, okay, you know what? My number one option is this,
Pastor Shelley. He says, why don't you just take us on, but I don't want you to change
any of the culture and in six months you ordain me. That's my number one option.
Now, I don't remember when evangelists told the pastor what the options were, first of all.
Second of all, if he's telling me when he's going to be ordained, who is doing the ordination?
That sounds like self-ordination to me, doesn't it? How do you know? What in the world?
And then I say, hey, this guy's trying to self-ordain himself. Oh, he's a liar and a
railer and a slanderer. Okay. I just put two and two together. It's not that hard to take a leap.
That's the only thing. That's the thing. Oh, Pastor Shelley's lying. He said that I was
trying to self-ordain. Yeah, you are. It's pretty clear. It's pretty obvious.
If we have him caught lying so many times, it's ridiculous. Anybody that's on his team is an
idiot. Or a devil. Or maybe both. Probably just both. That's ridiculous. What's forward?
Difficult to deal with. Contrary. Let me go to Proverbs chapter number six.
Not only that, the Bible says out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established. So if you want to find out about somebody, when you just ask people in the church
what they think about them, okay, let's just ask all the soul-winning leaders what they think about
their full-time evangelist. I had multiple people all say the exact same story that a full-time
paid evangelist in Jacksonville, Florida goes soul-winning once a week and does not even lead
that time. Let me make it really clear. You will never be on my payroll as a full-time evangelist
going out soul-winning once a week. Period. That is retarded. That shows where the heart is, isn't it?
If I didn't already have enough to go on, this is ridiculous. He's looking for an ally. Well,
let me tell you what you're going to get, ally. You're going to get a ten thousand dollar ransom.
You're going to get a guy that doesn't want to go soul-winning and is going to lie
behind your back constantly. He never told me one time to my face,
hey, I don't want to work with you. I want to find another solution. I had to confront him about it
before he'd even kind of admit it. And look, after all that, okay, what could a person say to me that
I could believe? You'd say, you're an idiot, Pastor Shelley. And look, when you strip away
all of somebody's options, they'll say whatever will come out of their mouth.
Yeah, I did it. I confess. Don't waterboard me anymore. Don't put me in the electric chair
anymore. I did it. I confess. It's ridiculous. The Jacksonville church, I'll just be honest with you,
I knew that it was going to be a disaster when they had their meeting on Friday,
but I was going to let it be a disaster so he could just hang himself more.
And the reality is I've been in a lot of situations like this in the past,
and whenever there's this sympathetic seducer, he's always going to get the ear of the people.
And from the word on the street, most people were probably ready to kind of throw in the towel on
Adam Fanon, but when he gets there and starts crying and telling his sob story, tides turn.
So they called me and they said, hey, what's going on? I said, hey, I just confirm every
words I had in my video. I'm not changing. You know, I'm not working with this guy. He's
constantly lying about me. You know, here's the lies that he said specifically. And then
Adam Fanon just starts, the first words come out of his mouth, like Pastor Shelley's a liar.
And you know, he's saying all this false things about me. He's like, why would you, what biblical
scripture do you have to fire me? I said, how about first Timothy 5, 1, where it says rebuke
not an elder. You're going around calling me Rehoboam. I'm pretty sure that's a grievous sin,
but I don't need any biblical reason to fire anybody. Period. I said, look, the first words
that should have come out of your mouth is I'm sorry. And you know what, if the Bible says a
soft answer turn of the way wrath. I was playing strong, but look, if this guy had a humble heart,
it would have came forward and I would have tried to restore everything. It's ridiculous. This guy's
digging in. This guy's a false brethren. I don't want anything to do with him. Every single thing
he said to me is a lie. I can never believe him. Period. I'm not going to touch it with a 10 foot
pole and anybody that does is going to be a partaker of his wicked deeds. Look at Proverbs
chapter 6 verse 12. That was a little commercial break. A naughty person, a wicked man, walking
with a forward mouth. He winketh with his eyes. He speaketh with his feet. He teaches with his
fingers. Forwardness is in his heart. He deviseth mischief continually. He saweth discord. Therefore
shall his calamity come suddenly. Suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things
doth the Lord hate. Yea seven are abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue and hands
that shed innocent blood and heart that devises wicked imaginations. Feet that be swift and running
to mischief. A false witness that speaketh lies and he that saweth discord among brethren.
Is what the bible says. Look forwardness is not strength. We're still on point one I understand.
Forwardness is not strength, honesty, integrity, standing for what the bible says. When you can't
figure out what's going on in a situation rest on whatever this says. Hey this guy's being forward.
This guy's speaking out of both sides of his mouth. This guy's constantly lying.
I know what's going on because the bible already told me how many examples do you have in the bible
Good night. That's why my second point is never compromise on the bible. Go to Joshua chapter
number one again. Never compromise on the bible. What is this guy trying to get me to do?
Compromise. Hey just come in rubber stamp me say it's okay.
After six months I'll meet the qualifications I already decided.
Please please come and stamp my endorsement pastor Shelley. That's not a red flag.
Look at verse seven. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according
to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to
the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart
into thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according
to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have
good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid. Neither be
thou dismayed for the Lord that God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Then Joshua commanded
the officers of the people. So we see God saying look you've got to stick to the plan which is what
all of it. He didn't say compromise a little bit buddy. Do some of it. He says you better do all of
it. That's how you have success. You know how you have success in the Christian life? By following
all God's commandments. You know how you have success as a church? By following all of God's
commandments. You know how you do success in anything is by following all of God's commandments.
The Bible says be therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect. God demands
perfection. But you know what? Our God is long suffering and merciful. That's how he balances it.
We're supposed to strive for perfection and when we fail because we will his grace and mercy is
there to cover a multitude of sins. But you know what? That doesn't downplay the fact that we should
be striving for perfection. We should be striving to do everything perfect. Go to Jeremiah chapter
number one. What happens when you compromise though? Is there any consequences to compromising
on the word of God deciding that all of his commandments are important?
Look at Jeremiah 1 verse five. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before thou
came us forth out of the womb I sanctified thee I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then
said I oh Lord God behold I cannot speak for I'm a child but the Lord said unto me say not I am a
child for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt
speak be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee sayeth the Lord. So you're
saying look I'm going to be with you. I'm going to give you the words. I'm going to tell you what to
say. You say hey what do I say in a situation? It's right here. Hey I need the words from God. Oh
it's right here. You want to know what to say in any situation? It's right here. God's already
given you the words to say. God will be with your mouth. You just got to read them and let the Holy
Ghost bring to remembrance that which Christ has you know already spoken to you. Look at verse 17
though. What happens when you compromise? Bow therefore gird up thy loins and arise and speak
unto them all that I command thee be not dismayed of their faces lest I can sound thee before them.
You know the guy that decides to compromise? God says you know what you're going to compromise.
I'm going to make you look stupid. I'm going to make you look like a fool when you compromise
on my word. You got to do everything that I said. Go to first Timothy chapter five.
First Timothy chapter number five.
Look at verse number 19. The Bible says against an elder received not an accusation but before
two or three witnesses. You know if someone in this room comes up to me and starts calling a
pastor Ray of Boam, I'm going to rebuke you. Unless you have witnesses and evidence. Look
you don't just lightly go around calling pastors whatever you want. You shouldn't do it to any
person. But the Bible makes a special significance to a pastor to an elder that is not tolerated.
Look at verse 20. Then that sin rebuked before all that others also made fear. Oh why'd you make
a public video Pastor Shelley? Because I actually like the Bible. Because I actually follow what God
said. It's too bad I'm making you uncomfortable with the Bible. It's too bad you don't like all
of God's word. Look at verse 21. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the
elect angels that now observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by
partiality. You know what I'm supposed to like every commandment of God's word. Not just the
ones that sound cool. Not the ones that Joel Osteen preaches. All of them. Every single one.
And let's get this really good verse in context. Lay hands suddenly on no man. Isn't that his
like it's like his champion verse. It's like oh you're going to redeem Pastor Shelley in three
days. You lay suddenly. Look the whole spirit the whole context is the fact that the guy that lays
hands on him knows him. Has confidence in the guy. Feels assured that he can entrust the gospel
into this minister. The fact that he's a humble servant. The fact that he's seen him and proved
him and tested him. That's why you have first Timothy chapter number three. That's why you
have Titus chapter number one. He's telling the pastors this is so important. You've got to test
these guys. You've got to prove these guys. You've got to know them before you're going to put some
hands on them. That's the whole spirit. Now Pastor Anderson has already done that with me. Okay.
Pastor Anderson do you know me better or worse than the first time you laid hands on me?
Lay hands suddenly on no man. Sounds like somebody has a stupid interpretation.
Oh wait what did he want? He wanted me to ordain him in six months in a crisis when I could
probably go to Jacksonville very little to get to know him and then do what? Lay hands suddenly
on a man that I don't know but let's read the rest of the verse. So it says,
neither of you are taker of other men's sins. Now in this situation where the sending pastor
did he have any sins? Maybe I should be a little bit suspect of the person that he sent out that
he hasn't really been testing him and trying him and proving him. Good night. I'm supposed to just
rubber stamp this guy? The Bible says keep thyself pure. You know what I started a church called
Pure Words Baptist Church. Why? Because I like the Bible and I'm going to keep any church that's
under my leadership as pure as I can. So I'm not going to take it lightly to put my hands on
somebody and when someone's asking me to compromise I'm going to say no every time. I'm not a respected
person. He says this in my conversation with him. He says it sounds like Pastor Shelley you're just
fixated on one word. I said what word? Riot. Because the Bible says having faithful children
not accused of riot unruly. You know what the Bible says? That man does not live by bread alone
but by every word of God. I like all the words. It's a red flag to me when someone says I don't
like that word in the Bible. I mean basically you're fixating on this word. Yeah I am fixating
on that word because it's important. And look who in here has a non riotous six-month-old baby?
That's stupid. That's ridiculous. Look every baby is just a baby. I'm not going to look at a baby
and say one's riotous and another one's not. They're all babies. That's stupid. Come on.
I actually like what the Bible says. So go if you would back to chapter number four.
Look at verse 11. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an
example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity.
Till I come, give attendance to readings, exhortation to doctrine, neglect not the gift
that is in thee which is given thee by prophecy. With the laying on of the hands of the presbyty,
meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them that thy profiting may prove to all,
take heed unto thyself and in the doctrine continue in them. For in doing this thyself
shall say thyself and them that hear thee. You know what he says to Timothy? He says hey you
want to make it? You want to survive? Don't compromise. Continue. Be steadfast,
unmovable in the doctrines of God. But notice what he says in verse number 14. The laying on
of the hands of the sheep, of the layman, of the just we found some guy up the street that says he
wants me to be his pastor. Oh yeah and then I'm gonna go into the tribe of Dan and let's see how
that works out. Oh it didn't work out did it? Presbytery means elders by the way. So it says
the laying on of the heads of elders that's when you got power and you know what? Everything
breathing forth after its own kind. Apple trees bring forth apples. Hey you want to be a really
good pastor? How'd you get a really good pastor to bring you forth? You say I don't like you pastor
Shelley. Well then find a good one. I'm not the only pastor in the world. You know what? When
there's only one pastor in the world that's helping you, trying to help you, why are you
biting the hand that feeds? Actually backbiting the hand that feeds. Go back to Joshua chapter 1.
I'll just read for you from John chapter 15. The Bible says I am the true vine and my father is the
husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth
fruit he purges of but it may bring forth more fruit. Now you're clean through the word which
I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except
abide in the vine. No more can you accept you abide in me. I am the vine you're the branches
he that abided than me and I'm him. The same bring it forth much fruit for without me you can do
nothing. We can do nothing without the word of God. We can do nothing without Christ. That's why
we should never compromise period. That's why you also need every word of God Bible
like the King James Bible. So my third point if we want our church to be steadfast
what do we need to do? Well we have to have strong leadership. We can't compromise
but not only that we must embrace the leadership. Look at verse number 16 and they answered Joshua
saying all that thou commandest us we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go
according as we hearken unto Moses in all things so we hearken unto thee only the Lord that God
be with thee as he was with Moses. So he's saying look there's a transition and you did good with
Moses because you're doing what he was saying and now you're going to do good with Joshua
doing what he's saying. You got to embrace the leadership to be steadfast. Why? Because that's
how you're going to abound in the work of the Lord. Go to Numbers chapter number 20. Numbers
chapter number 20 and the reality is transition is always going to happen.
It's inevitable. Man is dust. Man will die. Man will grow old. Accidents happen. People fail.
People are dishonest. People it just happens and so the question is well what happens when you know
there's a change in the leadership and you know what this church has a great opportunity to respond
to a change in leadership. Look at Numbers 20 verse 25. Take Aaron and Eleazar son and bring
them up on Mount Hor and strip Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eleazar son and Aaron
shall be gathered in his people and shall die there and Moses did as the Lord commanded and
they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation and Moses stripped Aaron of his
garments and put them upon Eleazar his son and Aaron died there in the top of the mount and
Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount and when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead
they mourned for Aaron 30 days even all the house of Israel. So what happens here? Well Aaron dies.
I mean your leadership's gone. It's not like another option. It's not like reviving it okay
and they just put it right on Eleazar. That sounds like a pretty quick transition doesn't it?
I mean let's just get the clothes off dead. All right well now we got Eleazar.
The question is how do you respond in that situation? Well we see in verse 29 that they
mourned for Aaron 30 days and whenever you have loss the right response is grief.
It's okay to be sad when there's loss. It's okay to mourn. It's okay to grieve. It's okay to go
all kinds of emotions, rage, all kinds of things. It's not well what do you think about breastfeeding?
I don't remember that emotion. Sounds like somebody's cold-hearted to me.
Bible says in Psalms 30 for his anger endureth but a moment in his favor his life weeping may
endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning. So look there's going to be sadness in our lives.
There's going to be loss. I'm sure everyone in this room's probably experienced some kind of loss.
Probably multiple losses you know and it's proper to have grieving but at the end of the day you're
still alive. You got to move on at the same time don't you? There's got to be a time to decide to
move on. So let's keep reading. Let's go to Numbers 21. Look at verse 1. And the king Arad
the Canaanite which dwelt in the south heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies then he
fought against Israel and took some of the prisoners and Israel vowed a vow to the lord and
said if thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand then I will utterly destroy their cities
and lord hark into the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites and they utterly
destroyed them in their cities and he called the name of the place Hormah. Now here's the double
dip to being grieved and having loss is your enemies didn't stop. Your enemies could care less
that you lost. Actually they like it because they look at you and you think they think you're
vulnerable. The enemies just come out of the woodwork. The wolf comes out and he says look
at that weak sheep. I'm ready to pounce. It's leaving the flock and it tries to come in and so
honestly you gotta respond quickly. You got Eliezer. It was a quick transition. Watch
you just move forward with Eliezer. Once you get behind the man that God said put the clothes on
go with him. You gotta embrace the new leadership if you're gonna be steadfast.
And look Aaron he did a lot of good and bad. I mean Aaron's kind of a mixed bag of all kinds
of stuff. I mean he leads the children of Israel out of the wilderness with Moses.
He had the ten plagues. That was pretty cool. I mean that's pretty amazing right?
He's a pretty great speaker according to the Bible. Then he makes a golden calf and starts
worshiping false gods and causing people to commit fornication. That's pretty wicked.
But then he comes back out of it. He gets the Urim and the Thummim on his heart and he has to
go into the holy place and make petition for all the children of Israel. Sounds like he's
doing good again. I mean this guy's got a lot of good and he's got a lot of bad.
He's pretty bad and pretty good. Not only that there's a point in the time when they're back
biting Moses and Aaron and God's going to kill them all and Aaron stands in the gap saving many
people. So see Aaron's a pretty mixed bag but then he ends his life in ruin. I mean he goes
over the mountain he doesn't come back. And look you know Aaron stood in the gap in the past and
you know what you can look at the good of Aaron or you look at the bad but a lot of times in the
Psalms when it talks about Aaron it's actually good. It talks about Aaron's beard. It's pretty
long. I mean so look you can still look at the good in somebody even though they ended their life
in ruin. Can't you? But that doesn't discount the ruin either. We need to learn from the examples of
the ruin. But the most important thing is to embrace the new leadership. Embrace the liaison.
Go if you go to Joshua chapter 19. Let's see if the children of Israel embraced the liaison.
Because what's the book of Joshua about? Inheriting the promised land. The great battles. And look
there's going to be battles in the Christian life. There's going to be wars and the enemies
are coming and God wants to lead us through the battle and bring us through the charge. And let's
see if they embraced Eliezer. Look at Joshua 19 verse 51. These are the inheritances which Eliezer
the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children
of Israel divided for inheritance by Lot and Shiloh before the Lord. So that's interesting.
We see Eliezer steps in and then we flash forward to the end. He's still there and they won all
battles. Sounds like they must have embraced the leadership of Eliezer. So how do you be steadfast?
How are you successful? You've got to embrace leadership. It's never going to work when you have
10 chiefs. You have 50 chiefs when everybody's doing their own thing. You got to have one
accord. You got to be unified and we can be rallied on this. We rallied in Christ.
Go if you would back to Joshua chapter number one.
And my last point.
I'm not even looking at time so I don't know where we're at but I'm going to finish this sermon.
Joshua chapter one look at verse 18. Whosoever be that doth rebel against thy commandment
and will not hearken unto the words thy words and all that thou commandest him he shall be put to
death only be strong and of a good courage. Do you think Joshua tolerated dissent?
Look for a church to be steadfast it can't tolerate dissent period. And in this dire
circumstance I am not going to tolerate dissent period. You know what the honest person,
the truthful person likes that. He wants that. You know truth doesn't fear investigation
and if you got something to hide just get out. And I'll be honest I don't charity believe with
all things that's great but in this time I'm going to trust in what the Bible says.
And the Bible says to trust you not in a friend. You don't even say trust in your spouse.
And look what's going to be healthy for this church is accountability,
visibility, honesty, and integrity. And that's going to be the policy to get us through this
situation. Go to first Samuel chapter number 10. First Samuel chapter number 10. The Bible says a
double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. The Bible says can two walk together except they
be agreed. But you can't you can't do anything when there's not unity. When there's not unity
you're not moving forward you're moving backward. If someone doesn't want to get on on board
talk and just throw them out. I don't care. Look at first Samuel chapter 10 verse 24. And Samuel
said to all the people see him whom the Lord hath chosen but there is none like him among all the
people and all the people shouted and said God save the king. They're excited. Then Samuel told
the people the manner of the kingdom and wrote in a book and laid it up before the Lord and
Samuel sent all the people away every man in his house and Saul also went home to Gibeah
and there went with them a band of men whose hearts God had touched. Man that's great. They
get this new king it's a great people are rejoicing it's so exciting it's great and
then there's another verse. Look at verse 27. But the children of Belial said house of this man
save us and they despised him and brought him no presence but he held his peace. You know what when
there's a change in leadership the sons of Belial always like to speak out. Now you can spot a son
of Belial they don't like a change in leadership. Especially a strong leader. Especially a guy that
looks like he's been coming cracking heads. They're like wow I don't want this guy coming in.
How's this lady gonna save us? He's gonna destroy me. Look at second Samuel. Go to second Samuel now.
Like this happens over and over and over. The sons of Belial they always like to sow discord.
They don't want unity. They're always a detractor. They're always trying to bring things down.
They're not trying to steam other better than themselves. They only care about me. Me me me I
I. Look at second Samuel 19. And behold all the men of Israel came to the king and said unto the king
why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away and have brought the king and his household
and all David's men with them over Jordan? And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel
because the king is near of kin to us. Wherefore then be angry for this matter? Have we eaten at
all of the king's cost or have he given us any gift? And the men of Israel answered the men of
Judah and said we have 10 parts in the king and we have also more white and David than ye.
Why then did you despise us that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?
And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. So they're
fighting. They're fighting over the leadership. Well we got more parts. No we got this interest
or we should have a say so. Who said that you could you could decide just because he's near
of kin just because he's closer to you what makes it right for you to make the decision?
Well let's look at verse or chapter 20 verse 1 and there happened to be there a man of Belial
whose name was Sheba the son of Bichrai a Benjaminite and he blew a trumpet
and said we have no power in David neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his
ten so Israel so every man of Israel went up from after David and followed Sheba the son of Bichrai
but the men of Judah clave under their king from Jordan even to Jerusalem. This sounds really
familiar. This story it's like there's these people they say why are you making the decisions?
Why are you trying to bring this guy in? Why do we have to just submit to his leadership? We have
no part in him. We're independent. You know we're an independent Baptist church you know even though
we share the same bank account sounds pretty independent to me doesn't it? No.
Go to chapter or go to verse 6 and David said to Abishai now shall Sheba the son of Bichrai do us
more harm than did Absalom take thou thy lord's servants and pursue after him lest he get him
fence cities and escape us. Now this verse is hard to believe. David just said this is going to be
worse than Absalom. What does Absalom do? I mean this guy came in stole the hearts of the people.
Oh see all thy matters are good and right and he gives them a kiss and tells them how special they
are and I wish I could preside over you and oh David's David's far away you know come and brace
me you know like Adam Fanon buying people computers with church money. Oh you're so you're so you're
such a good preacher can I buy you a computer make you feel a special and give you a kiss
and tell you how great you are. Oh Adam Fanon there's nothing wrong with him he's helped me
so much and told me how special I am. So did Absalom. He says Sheba's even worse.
This guy he's like Sheba mixed together with Absalom. They had a bastard child together
called Adam Fanon.
Look at verse 15.
And they came and besieged him and Abel of Bethmecca and they cast up a bank against the
city and it stood in the trench and all the people that were the Joab battered the wall
to throw it down then cried a wise woman out of the city here here I say I pray you unto Joab
come near hither that I may speak with thee and when he was come near under the woman said art thou
Joab and he answered I am he then she said unto him hear the words of thine handmaid and he
answered I do hear then she spake saying they were wont to speak in old times saying they shall
surely ask counsel at Abel and so they ended the matter I am one of them that are peaceable and
faithful in Israel thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel why would thou swallow up
the inheritance of the Lord and Joab answered and said far be it far be it from me that I should
swallow up or destroy the matter is not so but a man of Mount Ephraim Sheba the son of Bichrai by
name hath lifted up his hand against the king even against David deliver him only and I will depart
from the city and the woman said unto Joab behold his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall
then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom and they cut off the head of Sheba the son
of Bichrai and cast it out to Joab and he blew a trumpet and they retired from the city every
man to his tent and Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king he said hey how could they rectify
in Jacksonville I don't know how they could rectify it hey was Joab there to destroy the city
no he said I don't want to destroy the city but there's a guy in there it's over for him yeah
he's done yeah give me his head you know what when people the bible says when a ruler harken
to lies all the servants are wicked I like it they post their pictures so we can just see all
the Judas you know scary it's with them all the Korah's and Dathan's and Bairam's who's on the
lord's side convince me of sin Adam Fanon show my error I told every person you can quote me on
anything why because I'm just trying to help but you know what when Sheba comes in here his head's
going to get cut off when we expose Absalom for who he is done yeah it's ridiculous go to 1st
Corinthians chapter 16 I'm not going to tolerate dissension some people call me pastor Shelly
what could what could Adam do to rectify the situation
could you have any respect for me just just take for granted just say hypothetically everything I
said is true if it's all true could you have any respect for me if I believe a word out of that
guy's mouth that's ridiculous look at verse 16 verse 9 for a great door and effectual is open
unto me and there are many adversaries have you ever seen the sanderson 16 11 youtube comments
trolls galore man you read that thing makes you want to vomit every second it's it's destroyed
all the every adversary they all come out and look when every single troll and oneness and devil
and person thrown under the church is siding with you you're wrong period every single time
go to Romans chapter number five the Bible says for the trumpet give an uncertain sound who's
to prepare himself to the battle that's what's going on in Daxville there's an uncertain sound
out there that's why he doesn't have any unity you think if this guy was honest had integrity
was leading the people was guiding his his people and look there's this interesting thing
you go to independent fundamental baptist churches they all have a little bit of difference
they all have their preferences okay and the thing is everybody in that church agrees with
their pastor it's this weird thing and then they move to another church and they agree with that
pastor and you go to another church and they group that pastor because a good pastor is just going to
be pretty convincing you know what and the petty things who cares who cares but strong leadership
is actually going to provide a way for us to go and they usually follow you know what a bad leader
does he can't get anybody following dissension in the race Bible says fight the good fight of faith
I'm ready to fight I'll be honest I was done grieving on Thursday I woke up you know on Friday
maybe it was Friday I don't know I woke up with a good head on my shoulders and I was like I'm
ready to fight it's ridiculous I'm not gonna take this crap and we need somebody to fight now
how you gonna be steadfast you gotta have some fight in you I like fighting when I'm fighting
for the truth when I'm fighting for God's word when I'm fighting what the Bible says
oh I'm gonna produce a 27-minute video my name's Adam Fannin and I'm not gonna quote one verse
hmm I guess if you don't have any Bible in your heart it can't come up in it yeah Romans chapter
5 verse 1 therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
by whom also we have access by faith and in this race when we stand and rejoice and hope for the
glory of God and not only so but with grand tribulations also knowing that tribulation
work with patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed look
when you go through great tribulation you can gain something experience you know you can also gain
hope and you know what we're gonna get some great gold some precious gold tried by fire and this
church but not only this church especially in Jacksonville think of the turmoil those people
been through when they can go through the Tyler Baker finasco and they can get through this Adam
fan finasco they're gonna be some great Christians they're gonna be really steadfast they are the real
steadfast let's go to Psalms 78 I like this verse these two verses go Psalms 78 let's see who's
steadfast and who's not steadfast because isn't there a contrary it sounds like there's two
steadfasts in for in Florida right now right which one's the real one Psalm 78 look at verse 36
nevertheless they did flatter them with their mouth and they lied unto them with their tongues
for their heart was not right with them neither were they steadfast you know what the liars are
not the steadfast the flatterers are not the steadfast it's those that are standing on the
word of God even in a really difficult situation you know what I'm glad we're going to give you a
group of gold and we're going to throw out the trash we're going to let the trash man
take the trash out for us we're going to let Zimra burn the house down on himself and then
we'll rebuild yeah I know your heart you don't want to leave these people stranded
that's why I'm not going to leave them stranded we're going to help them we're going to fight for
them we're going to be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord
go view it the first peter chapter four what does it kill steadfast
only makes steadfast baptist church stronger we have a great opportunity to be very strong
bible says brethren I count on myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God and Christ Jesus you know what's going to be
important for us to do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth those things
are before but anytime there's a crisis anytime there's devastation anytime there's something
very serious and severe I believe the most important thing to do is to get to the very
bottom of the depths of satan first just do it right away let's just let's just figure out
exactly where we are that's why monday morning we're having a forensic auditor come in and we're
going to make sure everything is steadfast taken care of we're going to see the depths of satan
we're going to find the bottom of the barrel so then we can just heal sometimes people when they
find out about about a bad situation it's like you find out a little bit more and more and more
over a long period of time and I tend to feel that that's not a good thing it's better to just
go ahead and see how bad is it and then you can just heal because that there's no more
bad information coming you just continue heal and heal but if you keep ripping off the band-aid
oh next month it's even worse and the next month is even worse and the next month is even worse
I mean you lose your pastor the new pastor comes in and then fires the evangelist after two months
that's going to be another you know heartbreak let me devastate him I don't want to do that
I'm a friend I'm honest hey you want to hire me to be your pastor he's gone
and everybody's like whoa what's going on this guy is crazy
maybe I don't know the bible talks about look at first peter chapter four verse 12
beloved think of that strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some
strange thing happened unto you but rejoice it is meant to your partakers of christ's sufferings
that when his glory shall be revealed he may be glad also with exceeding joy you know what if you
actually serve god with your life these things are going to happen there's going to be persecution
and tribulation there's going to be struggle if you stay steadfast in church this is not going
to be the first it's not going to be the last devastation it's not going to be the last false
brethren if the last 24 months hasn't told me anything or taught me anything man false
brethren abound it's ridiculous I was in pastor Anderson's preaching class he's like ripping face
he's like there's a Judas Iscariot in here right now and I was like I don't believe that there's
no way and there's five sitting in there five and most likely there's a Judas here yeah I don't
know where you're at but when I find you you're gonna get called out and cast out of the church
so if you don't want that just get out yeah I'm not naive anymore I've been through the wringer
you know and I had to deal in a business dealing one time where I was working on independent
contracting and this guy I bid a job it's like twenty thousand dollars for independent contract
work and this guy's trying to sell it for sixty thousand dollars behind my back you know what
they're all the same to your face it's like yes sir yeah I want to do it yeah behind your back lies
deception and I said I am never going to do that again so when that ugly snake rears its head I'm
just gonna crush it like it is I'm not gonna tolerate it I don't want to deal with it anymore
you know what Adam Fannick can have his building and guess what comes to that his lease
that's gonna hurt
I wouldn't want to touch that buddy nevertheless this snake he had to sign over me the contract
and I took over and kicked him out I'm not gonna deal with it I'm not gonna tolerate it
go to Esther chapter number four last place we'll look
see why am I in this church this church is crazy
hey don't think it's strange the bible already told you he's like he's telling you he put that
verse for a reason these things are gonna happen don't get discouraged believe your bible more
these type of things actually make me believe the bible more you know when I go soul winning
and every sinking sodomite never wants to get saved it just makes me believe Romans one a
little bit more it's this interesting phenomenon I mean faggots never want to get saved it's weird
it's almost like the bible's true yeah good Esther chapter four verse 14
for if thou together holdest thy peace at this time then now then shall their enlargement and
deliverance arise to the Jews from another place but thou my father's house shall be destroyed
and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this maybe God's
put you here for a reason I think so I think God put every single person in this room for a reason
there's a lot of things that have happened in the last six days that only I believe God's hand could
be upon yeah crazy things awesome things strength and unity among brethren I've grown a lot closer
to pastor Stephen Anderson than I ever thought I would to this situation I think that's great
I think that's awesome I'm excited about that I'm excited that we you have somebody that comes in
here so selfless his wife and children haven't even been in their house for like five weeks
they're constantly moving he's got a huge church of his own he's got his own evangelist
he comes in here how much y'all paying him again
oh conspiracy yeah this guy's this guy's wicked this guy's evil trying to come in here and help
you and the hardest time this church has ever faced you better love that man you better
appreciate that man you better give double honor you know what I think we're all here for a reason
and that reason is to be ye steadfast closing prayer thank you father so much for your word
thank you so much for every single person in this room I pray that you would just please give me
wisdom and guidance so that I can serve this great people so I can help in this situation I pray that
strong men that actually love your word that you would raise them up
great men that could be used for your kingdom you'd raise up great preachers
you'd raise up great evangelists great leaders great men and women great soul winners
that we could raise our children to serve you that we could continually be steadfast in this church
that you would guide us and direct us that you would just root out all the the devils
and the judices and the wicked people you just help us just destroy them in Jesus name I pray
you know the bible is really clear on salvation it's not based on how good you are a lot of people
think they're pretty good you know and yeah they're gonna get to heaven because they're
pretty good but the bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god
the bible says that is written there is none righteous no not one I'm not righteous you're
not righteous and if it were our goodness that would get us into heaven none of us would be going