For Thee, here to the heart of God,
The wonder of sunset at evening,
The wonder at sunrise I see.
But the wonder of wonders that grills my soul
Is the wonder that God loves me.
Oh, the wonder of it all,
The wonder of it all,
Just to think that God loves me.
Oh, the wonder of it all,
The wonder of it all,
Just to think that God loves me.
There's the wonder of springtime and harvest,
The sky, the stars, the sun.
But the wonder of wonders that grills my soul
Is the wonder that's only begun.
Sing it out!
Oh, the wonder of it all,
The wonder of it all,
Just to think that God loves me.
Oh, the wonder of it all,
The wonder of it all,
Just to think that God loves me.
On torn and stormy plains I stand and cast a wishful light,
In pain and fear and happy land where my possessions lie.
I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land.
Oh, he will come and go with me,
I am bound for the promised land.
All o'er those fires stand in place,
Shines one eternal day.
There God the Son forever reigns
And scatters right away.
I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land.
Oh, he will come and go with me,
I am bound for the promised land.
No chilling things or noises,
Heaven brings that helpful shore.
Sickness and sorrow made,
And then heartfelt and near the Lord.
I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land.
Oh, he will come and go with me,
I am bound for the promised land.
When shall I reach that happy place
And be forever blessed?
When shall I see my Father's face
And in his words a prayer?
I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land.
Oh, he will come and go with me,
I am bound for the promised land.
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me!
For me it was in the garden,
He prayed not my will but mine,
He had new tears for his eye,
Praise the Son, God so glad for nigh!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me!
In peace the angels be held,
Mending through the world of mine,
To comfort him in the sorrows.
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me!
He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them his very own,
Before the curtains he held,
And suffered and died alone.
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me!
When with the ransom and glory,
His face I last shall see,
Will be my joy through the ages,
To see God is love for me!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me!
We have heard the joyful sound,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Strength and tightness all around,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
There the midst in every land,
Climb the speeds and cross the bays,
Onward tis of those who have been,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Walked it on the rolling tide,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Tilting sinners far and wide,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Sing the islands of the sea,
Echo back the ocean fates,
Perish the fever to welling,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Sing above the battle-strire,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
By His death and endless life,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Singing softly through the gloom,
When the heart for mercy prays,
Sing in triumph o'er the tomb,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Give the winds a mighty voice,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Let the nations now rejoice,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
Shout to a nation full and free,
Highest hills and deepest caves,
Lives the song of victory,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves!
I know not why God's wondrous praise
To be the act they know,
Nor why unworthy Christ in love
We need before He is born,
But I know I have believed Him,
I have persuaded that He is able
To keep paths which are forbidden,
But to live against that pain.
I know not how this saving faith
To be hidden part,
Nor how believing in His Word
God leads within my heart,
But I know I have believed Him,
I have persuaded that He is able
To keep paths which are forbidden,
But to live against that pain.
I know not how this saving faith
to be hidden part,
But to live against that pain.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Thank you all for coming.
We're going to go ahead and get our service started.
If you could go ahead and find a seat.
Once you've found a seat, go ahead and grab a hymnal.
We're going to start in song number 68 this morning,
Remembering in Heaven.
It's a little bit of a newer one for our church.
So if you know it, sing it out nice and loud.
Song number 68.
Song number 68, Remembering in Heaven.
On the first.
Should I up in heaven
Remember the heartache
All the pain and the cross
All the shame and the loss
The reproach of the Savior I'd bore
In earth's conflicts in heaven
I'd laugh at the cost
Jesus' blood paid my ransom
And I'm bound for heaven
But what will I think
When remembering in heaven
Song number 68 on the second.
Or if on the gold streets
I think of earth treasures
Of the things I had bought
Of the fame dearly sought
I'd smile in my mansion
My gem-studded mansion in heaven
I'd smile they are not
Jesus' blood paid my ransom
And I'm bound for heaven
But what will I think
When remembering in heaven
Should I in the glory
Remember a loved one
Walked by my side
But is lost and outside
If I'd never begged to
Trust in the Savior in heaven
I'd sit down and cry
Jesus' blood paid my ransom
And I'm bound for heaven
But what will I think
When remembering in heaven
On the last.
Oh then spread the message
The work He has given
Never mind the world's place
Your possession's been craved
But hope for the Savior
Bring souls into heaven
And joy through eternity's day
Jesus' blood paid my ransom
And I'm bound for heaven
But what will I think
When remembering in heaven
Great singing everybody.
Let's go ahead and bow our heads
for a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you
for this church.
We thank you for everyone
that's gathered here today.
We ask that you fill Pastor
Shelley with your Holy Spirit
so that he can preach
an edifying sermon unto us.
We can walk out better
Christians than we came in.
And we can honor and glorify
you in everything that we do.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, next up we have
song number 335.
If Jesus goes with me.
Song number 335.
If Jesus goes with me.
Song number 335.
On the first.
It may be in the valley
Where countless dangers hide
It may be in the sunshine
That I in peace abide
But this one thing I know
If it be dark or fair
If Jesus is with me
I'll go anywhere
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
Tis heaven to me
Where I may be
If he is there
I count in a crippled cheer
His cross to bear
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
And maybe I must carry
The blessed word of life
Across the burning deserts
Search to those in sinful strife
And though it be my lot
To bear my colors there
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
Tis heaven to me
Where I may be
If he is there
I count in a crippled cheer
His cross to bear
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
But if it be my portion
To bear my cross at home
While others bear their burdens
Beyond the billows' home
I'll prove my faith in him
Confess his judgment there
And if he stays with me
I'll go anywhere
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
Tis heaven to me
Where I may be
If he is there
I count in a crippled cheer
His cross to bear
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
On the last
But it isn't time to question
The judgments of my Lord
It is but mine to follow
The meanings of his word
But if to go or stay
Or whether here or there
I'll be with my Savior
Content anywhere
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
Tis heaven to me
Where I may be
If he is there
I count in a crippled cheer
His cross to bear
If Jesus goes with me
I'll go anywhere
On Jonah chapter 2 verse 10 is our grace week
And so if you can quote the entire book of
I'm sorry the chapter of Jonah 2
You can receive a special prize
And we'll try to get those doled out next week
And then also if you can quote this verse again
At the midweek service
Our children can get an ice cream treat
Inside we have our service times
Our soul winning times
And our church stats
A note, yesterday we had a soul winning marathon
In Miami, Florida
We were actually doing it on Friday too
So we had a part, we had a half day Friday
We did like an afternoon time with some people
And then Saturday morning and then Saturday afternoon
We weren't actually in Miami proper
We were more kind of doing the Fort Lauderdale area
And on Friday we'd done some in West Palm
And we had about, on Saturday
We had about 30 people come out for soul winning
And then we had 48 salvations
For both Friday and Saturday
And so thank you so much to everybody who prayed
Great work that was done over there
Generally speaking
I don't know that I can say that it's honestly
Any more receptive than another big city
In fact I kind of think that the DFW area
Is probably actually more receptive
But it was kind of a small sample size
So you never know
It's definitely from my experience
And you could ask other people that are on the trip
There's a lot of diversity in Miami specifically
There was people from Haiti
All kinds of Haitians
And I met, I talked to a Brazilian
Obviously people from a lot of Caribbean areas
And then you kind of have people all over
I met a German
And so I think it's just kind of a hub
Of just like anything and everything that's down there
The beaches are beautiful
So I have to admit that the weather was amazing
And the beaches are beautiful
They told me that November is kind of like the prime time
To go to that part of the country
And so they said the summer though is very hot
And very humid
But I really enjoyed it
It was really beautiful
And it was fun to be out there
But you know for me personally
It wasn't as receptive
It could be because I'm white
I don't know
I don't think I had the white privilege
Or something over there
But I gave the gospel about six times
And I only got one person to say personally
So that's not as typical for me
But maybe next time when we go out there
You know we can maybe find some different spots too
But it was a lot of fun
And we really had a good time as well
And so if you're ever in that part of the country
You know I highly encourage you to go
Check out the beaches
And of course there's some good soul winning opportunities still as well
But that was just a little testimony
Make sure to ask some of the other guys
That went with us on our trip
What they
What their experiences were as well
On the right we have a list of expecting ladies
And then we also have our prayer list down below
And on the back
We have a couple notes
Some good things though
One good thing is that we actually
Met some people again
That we had been friends with
From Jacksonville Church
And it was great to see them again
I got to meet some new people out there
That were soul winning
It's good to know that there's still a few names
Out there that have not defiled their garments
And are still doing the soul winning
And we gave them a ton of our material
So we're going to have them help pass out all that material
Sodomite deception tickets
And preserved Bible tickets
And some of our Spanish New Testaments
And all that kind of stuff
And so hopefully they'll stay encouraged out there
And keep preaching the gospel
Because I think Miami is like six million people
Like that metro area
Like it's a very large area
Definitely a lot of work would need to be done over there
On the back we have a note about a turkey bowl
This is going to be hosted by brother Marcel
He's helped leading this
It's going to be on the seventh
From one to three
And we're kind of doing like a kid's younger game first
And then we're going to have like a teen and adult game later
So of course everyone's welcome to just come out and hang out
But we are going to be playing some football
Alright so I'm excited
Also ladies Christmas party
There should be a sign up sheet
That we have out here in the hallway
If you could please sign up for that
The details are listed down here below
It's from six to nine
Dinner is going to be catered and provided
Plus they've historically always had like a little gift exchange
If you want to know anything about this
Or if you have any questions
You can ask my wife about it
Also it's nurselings only
And that announcement is for you guys
Okay so please please if you can
Help you know watch the kids
One night you know you got the one night
I always say you can throw peanuts at them
Okay just put them to bed early
I don't know you just do something
Play football
You have a lot of options here
But just try to help them
So that all the ladies can participate
And be a part of this fun night
And we do have an RSVP
To just help us to make sure that we order
Enough food for everybody
But if you'd like to attend
And of course if you any ladies
You want to bring you know your sister
Your mom or anybody
Especially since the holiday season
Of course you're welcome to invite them
To participate in the event as well
Just make sure to sign up
And have them included
Also down below
Other events
November 24th
So that's next week
We're going to have the ordination service
For brother Oz
Who's going to be starting Anchor Baptist Church
And so very excited for them
And great work that they're going to be doing up there
And you know brother Oz
Has been a great blessing to our church
He's been very loyal to us
Through a lot of persecution
And a lot of affliction
He showed himself to be very steadfast
And so even though he may change his name
We're going to still understand
That he's steadfast alright
He's going to be steadfast in his heart and his mind
And then hopefully in their works up there
Preaching the gospel
And Oklahoma's a great place to live
And preach the gospel
And everything like that
And so we're looking forward to
What the Lord will do up there
And bless their church
Please just pray for us
Even if you're not able to attend
I think a lot of people are planning on attending
Who's planning on attending tomorrow
Or next Sunday
So I have some idea
Okay
Yeah so we're going to have a lot of people
Don't think that like
The preacher rapture happened
And you got left behind next Sunday
Or something like that
If you don't end up going up there
So that would always be a joke in my family
Whenever somebody was missing
We were like did we miss the rapture or something
But sorry that's for pre-tribbers sorry
We're post-trib so
They're like it's post-trib
Just kidding
You can still get left behind
Okay
It just means you're not saved
Alright
December 7th is the Turkey Bowl
And then December 9th is the Christmas caroling
That'll be fun
We'll meet here
I don't know that we'll meet at the building or not
We might actually just meet on location
I think last year we just met on location
So we'll update you on that
December 25th
Christmas cookie bake-off
And that's a lot of fun
When we get closer
I'll give the announcements for that
January 1st is men's preaching night
So a lot of fun activities
For the end of the season
People have been asking me though
Even though I gave you
Five or six different events
People are still asking me
What's gonna happen after this
I don't know
Okay
But I do have some plans
And some things that we're working on
We just don't have dates
And things like that
But whenever I know
You'll know
Alright
So that's pretty much all I have
As far as announcements
Go ahead and sing our third song
150
Psalm 150
We're gonna sing it out nice and loud
It helps if you use your handouts
And it's got a little extra coda there
But you can, of course, use your Bible
Alright, that's Psalm 150
Sing it out nice and loud
On the first
Praise be the Lord
Praise God in his sanctuary
Praise him in love
Praise be the Lord
Praise God in his sanctuary
Praise him in love
Praise him in the firmament of his power
Praise him for his mighty acts
Praise him according to his excellent greatness
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet
Praise him with the psaltery and harp
Praise him with the timbrel and dance
Praise him with stringed instruments and organs
Praise him upon the loud cymbals
Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals
Let everything that have breath
Praise the Lord
Praise be the Lord
Praise God the Father
Praise God the Son
Praise God the Holy Ghost
Praise God in three persons
Great, sing it everybody
As the offering plates are going around
Would you please turn your Bibles to Isaiah chapter number 7
Isaiah chapter number 7
Isaiah chapter 7
Isaiah chapter 7 the Bible says
And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham
the son of Uzziah king of Judah
that Rezin the king of Syria
and Pekah the son of Ramaliah king of Israel
went up toward Jerusalem to war against it
but could not prevail against it
and it was told the house of David saying
Syria is confederate with Ephraim
and his heart was moved and the heart of his people
as the trees of the water moved with the wind
then said the Lord unto Isaiah
Go forth now to Ahaz thou and Shear Jashub thy son
at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field
and say unto him take heed and be quiet
fear not neither be faint hearted for the two tales of these smoking firebrands
for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria and of the son of Ramaliah
because Syria, Ephraim and the son of Ramaliah
have taken evil counsel against thee
saying let us go up against Judah and vex it
and let us make a breach therein for us
and set a king in the midst of it even the son of Tabeel
thus saith the Lord God it shall not stand
neither shall it come to pass
for the head of Syria is Damascus
and the head of Damascus is Rezin
and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken
that it be not a people
and the head of Ephraim is Samaria
and the head of Samaria is Ramaliah's son
if ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established
moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz
saying ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God
ask it either in the depth or in the height above
but Ahaz said I will not ask
neither will I tempt the Lord
and he said hear ye now O house of David
is it a small thing for you to weary men
but will ye weary my God also
therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign
behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son
and shall call his name Emmanuel
butter and honey shall he eat
that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good
for before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good
the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings
the Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people
and upon thy father's house
days that have not come
from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah
even the king of Assyria
and it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss
for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt
and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria
and they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys
and in the holes of the rocks
and upon all thorns and upon all bushes
in the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor
that is hired namely by them beyond the river
by the king of Assyria the head and the hair of the feet
and it shall also consume the beard
and it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow
and two sheep
and it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk
that they shall give he shall eat butter
for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land
and it shall come to pass in that day that every place shall be
where there were a thousand vines and a thousand silverlings
it shall be even for briars and thorns
with arrows and with bows shall men come thither
because all the land shall become briars and thorns
and on all hills that shall be digged with the matic
there shall not come hither the fear of briars and thorns
but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen
and for the treading of lesser cattle
let us pray
Dear Heavenly Father thank you for the word of God
I thank you for this day
I thank you for the souls that were won this weekend
I pray that you would please bless Pastor Shelley
and help him to preach the word in boldness
and please give us attention in Jesus' name, Amen
Amen
Isaiah chapter 7 is identifying a particular geopolitical situation
when it is addressing kind of the southern kingdom of Judah
and how they have this foe that's kind of confederate with another foe
and how it's a danger unto Judah specifically
now it says in verse 2 and it was told the house of David
saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim
and his heart was moved and the heart of his people
as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind
then said the Lord unto Isaiah
go forth now to meet Ahaz thou and Shirehashua
thy son at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the foolish field
and saying to them take heed and be quiet
fear not
neither be faint hearted for the two tales of the smoking firebrands
for the fierce anger of reason with Syria and the son of Remaliah
now you kind of have these confederacies
where you have Syria and Ephraim
Ephraim is often just kind of a euphemistic way of identifying the northern kingdom of Israel
just because Ephraim is such a large geographic section of the northern kingdom of Israel
and it's very populated
so it's just kind of like loosely identified as Ephraim
even though we're talking about the northern kingdom of Israel
just because they're the most predominant tribe
just like we know it as the southern kingdom of Judah
but you know Benjamin lives there
so it's not just Judah, it's just that Judah is the main character
so that's who we think of and associate with
and then additionally in the same vein
Ephraim is just kind of also identified as the northern kingdom of Israel
they're confederate with Syria
now that's also kind of coming from the heels of the Assyrian kingdom
they came down
so you kind of have like these two giant forces
these two giant kingdoms
that are confederate
and they're saying we're going to come and attack Judah
and specifically it even says
verse 5
so they're not only saying we're going to destroy you
they've already picked out their next leader
they already know what they're going to do, their plan
and they're trying to scare and intimidate Judah
and trying to put them in this great strait of just being nervous
maybe just surrendering automatically
many times in warfare
there's at first a psychological element
where they try to intimidate their opponent
they try to get their opponent to just quit or surrender
without them even having to fight
and so they're trying to get Judah to just give up
just feel weak
and even if they're not going to actually want them to surrender
they just want them to be psychologically defeated already
so that when they go to battle
they're going to be very victorious
because when the enemy is psyched out
when the enemy is already mentally defeated
when the enemy walks into the ring
and they look like an old man that can't even move
well, it just doesn't seem like a fair fight at that point
and yes, Mike Tyson fight was fake, okay, sorry
sorry to burst your bubble or whatever
but he didn't even look like he wanted to fight, okay
and here's the thing
that's what they want
they want to intimidate their opponent
they want to scare their opponent
they want them to be afraid
and Isaiah is getting a word from the Lord saying
don't be afraid
you will be delivered
and in fact, specifically, the whole passage is basically saying
pretty soon, these two guys are going to be nothing anyways
they're going to be destroyed
you don't even have to worry about it
and he kind of tells them like
hey, why don't you ask me a sign?
and they're like, I don't know, I can't ask for a sign
and then God kind of makes this interesting thing in verse 13
he says, and he said
hear ye now, O house of David
is it a small thing for you to weary men
but will you weary my God also?
he's like, man, you ask people for stuff all the time
and you're wearying like your boss
and you're wearying all kinds of different people
and you're weary
all these individuals saying, asking for stuff
constantly needing things
and he's like, are you really going to weary me
by asking me for something?
but he's like, hey, ask me a sign
and then God says, hey, I'll give you a sign
verse 14, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign
so God says, you know what?
even if you don't even ask for a sign
I'm going to give it to you anyways
here's your sign
a virgin's going to conceive
and bear a son
and his name is going to be called Immanuel
now, in chapter 8
look at verse 1
I'm just going to give you my interpretation
of what's going on
in this period of time
I believe what it's trying to say is like
Isaiah must have either had a fiance
or maybe a wife
that just somehow hadn't consummated
and so she's a virgin
but then he knows his wife
he knows the prophetess
and then she conceives and bears a son
but what's interesting is the way that God words this
it's true
it's not that it's not true
but then it can be a euphemism
or a metaphor
or a foreshadowing
of what's going to come with the Lord Jesus Christ
and how in this sense
this wasn't necessarily a miracle
this was not a virgin conception
but that there will literally be
a virgin conception in the future with Mary
who she has the Holy Ghost come upon her
and then she bears a son
and his name is Jesus
and so we have this future prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ
so in the moment
he's saying no, no
there's a virgin that's going to conceive
and she's going to bear a son
that's most likely, again in my opinion
Isaiah having this child
and this is a foreshadowing
and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
now why is he giving him this child?
he's saying
well this child
think about a timeline
if you haven't even conceived yet
then we're saying at least
nine months out from it being born
and that's why he's bringing these things up
he's saying look
you've got at least nine months
then you've got another timeline
it says in verse 15
butter and honey shall eat
that he may know to refuse the evil
and choose the good
verse 16
for before the child
shall know
to refuse the evil and choose the good
the land that thou abhorrest
shall be forsaken of both her kings
so he's saying
you're going to have nine months
then you have this other timeline
where the child hasn't really figured out
this idea of eating good and refusing evil
and before all that happens
these two guys that are threatening you
and intimidating you
they're going to already be destroyed
and you don't have to worry about it
now I can't give you an exact timeline
of what that means
but I'm guessing it's probably
it could be as young as like one
maybe two
probably certainly well before three or four
okay
that you're kind of getting this idea
of what's being described here
in verse number 16
and really
I wanted to kind of explain this
from a bigger picture
first
but then I want to kind of
focus on the details for a moment
what is kind of the the big picture
God is saying
hey you have these enemy forces
coming to attack you
they want to destroy you
but I'm going to deliver you
and I'm going to give you a sign
what is that sign?
a child
and this child is going to be a sign of what?
deliverance
and why is that significant?
because it's the same
from a spiritual perspective
of how we have an enemy
the devil
who wants us to feel intimidated
and that we're going to be destroyed
but you know what?
God gave us a sign of deliverance
and that was through the Lord Jesus Christ
and of course as we enter into the Christmas season
we understand that the birth of Jesus Christ
is what gave hope into the world
that the virgin conceived
and she bear a son
and his name is Jesus
and it's good will towards men
and this sign
is a sign of the deliverance that was to come
this child being born
was a sign of the deliverance to come
his birth did not give the deliverance
in this chapter
it did not give deliverance
he was going to have to still grow older
but before
he ended up understanding the good and the evil
then they would get the deliverance
in the same way
the Lord Jesus Christ when he was born
that did not give us the deliverance
but it was the sign of the hope
that the deliverance would come
and his deliverance came through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ
and now salvation is by faith
not by works
also think about this message
this is a message of deliverance given under the king of Judah
not of
hey you need to work
in order to deliver yourself
hey you need to worry about what you have to do
no you simply just have to trust in the Lord
and trust in his sign
and trust in this child
as the hope for your redemption
for your salvation
in the same way that we trust in the holy child Jesus Christ
that we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation
we don't have to earn our salvation
we don't have to work for our salvation
we simply receive it by faith
and it's the Lord that fights for us
it's the Lord that delivers us
it's the Lord that gets all the honor and the glory for our salvation
so there's so many great messages from this particular passage
but I want to then focus now on verse 15
I gave you that just so you could kind of understand the context
we now understand the context
now this is what stuck out in me
I was reading this chapter
and this verse just really stuck out in me
this verse 15 says butter and honey shall eat
and I just I don't know why
but it's really stuck out to me
and so the title of my sermon this morning is this butter and honey
alright
so we're going to talk about butter and honey
now I kind of just spoiled you with a little bit of butter and honey
if you even know what butter and honey really is
because here's the thing
where do you get butter?
from milk
okay what is milk?
spiritually speaking it's the word of God
it's the Bible
and now the Bible says the simple doctrines
the easy to be understood doctrines
those are milk
how do you get butter?
you have to churn the milk
and we'll look at a few verses on this
because I want to prove these points in a minute
but you churn that milk into butter
so it takes time
so here's the thing
when you meditate on the word of God
and when you allow that to churn
you can turn milk into butter
and then not only do you get these surface understandings
but then you see the prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ
then you get to see all these wonderful things
that are also the hidden wisdoms that are found in the Bible
and the Bible is likened unto honey
it's likened unto milk
it's likened unto butter
and when we think about the Lord Jesus Christ
himself
he also consumed butter and honey from a spiritual perspective
meaning he's consuming the word of God
and then he's also delivering the word of God unto us
but here's what's important
anytime we want to understand anything in the Bible
we have to understand that there's always a carnal truth
mixed in with the spiritual truth
and that God helps us to understand spiritual truths
through the realities of the world
and through the realities of his creation
and that God created everything to give honor and glory
to the Lord Jesus Christ
and the physical realities that exist in this world
give glory and testimony to the truths of God's word
God does not use carnal examples
that do not fit the spiritual example
and so that's why it's so important
to understand the carnal truths of the Bible
so that you can understand the revelations
and the spiritual wisdom that comes from the scripture
and we must understand both
in order to get a lot of the deep and the full meanings of the scripture
and here's the thing
this is not just saying a spiritual truth
this is a carnal truth
this child is going to literally eat butter
and going to literally eat honey
and notice it says that he may know
to refuse the evil and choose the good
let me explain something to you
butter is good
honey is good
are you trying to say something like
there's this metaphor
are you trying to say something spiritual, Pastor Shelley?
no, I'm saying literal butter is good
and I'm saying literal honey is good
and there's an attack on butter and honey all the time
it's called margarine, you know what I mean?
it's all these substitutes
all of these NIV ESV versions of butter
and I'm telling you there is not anything wrong with butter biblically
now I want to give a quick caveat for some people
there is some people that are lactose intolerant
and there's even, especially if you understand
parts of the world that are kind of in Asia
some of them have some lactose intolerant things
and maybe it could be harmful for them to digest certain dairy products
so I want to give that exception
but just in general, dairy products are good
biblically speaking, dairy products are considered to be praised
and they're healthy and they're good for us to consume
and most of us in America, you know what?
it's part of our diet and it's a good thing
there's nothing wrong with these substances
now I want to prove this with a lot of verses
go to Genesis chapter 18
I've given you a lot of truthful statements
but let's prove them a little bit further in the Bible
let's let the Bible tell us what these things are like
and this is important
because the child is supposed to know to eat the good and refuse the evil
what is the good?
good is steak
good is salt
good is butter
good is water
good are the things that the Bible says
what would be evil? what would be bad?
batteries
poison
you know, animal feces
all these different things
I mean, liquor
drugs
all this different stuff
but here's the thing
you and I both know, if you actually have had kids
a little baby or a little toddler
they don't know what is good and what is evil
they put every single thing in their mouth
who can testify to this?
your toddlers and babies will put literally anything in their mouth
they will put poison in their mouth
because they have no idea
what is good and what is evil
and here's the thing
it takes time for them to figure out
what's good and what's evil
it's like no no no
you eat butter
you eat honey
you eat milk
you eat these things
now of course
a little baby can't digest
or handle every single substance immediately
they can't have steak
and they can't necessarily even have some of these animal products right away
so I'm not trying to say
give your six week old baby
these type of foods
of course we want to be reasonable and understand the nutritional aspects here
but what I'm saying
is they don't understand what's food and what's not food
they don't understand what's good food
and what's not good food
okay
and that's something that we have to learn over time as well
but generally speaking food is good
and that's kind of the essence
food is good
some things are not good though
okay
and these children
have no idea when they come out of the womb
they don't just instantly know what's food, what's good, what's not, what's right
they literally think everything's food
and they're literally trying to chew on and consume everything
and this is an important carnal truth
that we have to understand
we'll make some spiritual applications here as we go through the sermon
but
look at Genesis chapter 18 verse 8
the Bible says
and he took butter
this is talking about Abraham
and milk
and the calf
which he had dressed and set it before them
and he stood by them under the tree and they did eat
now you know this is
this is the Lord and the two angels that appeared with him
before they nuked Sodom and Gomorrah
so here's the thing
go home
have a nice steak dinner
and then watch Sodomite deception
and then you can be like Genesis 18 and 19
okay
but notice
I mean here's the thing
this is Jesus Christ
appearing
the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ
appearing
and
he obviously has flesh in some way
I don't know that's a miracle
I don't know how to explain that entirely
but he's obviously eating
he's obviously consuming
things
he's eating milk
he's eating
meat
he's eating
butter
specifically
and the calf
so yes
beef
is consumed
by
the Lord
in fact
maybe you can correct me
but I think this is the first mention
of Jesus eating
and he's eating steak
alright
okay
actually veal I guess
if you want to be technical or something like that
but
he's eating the calf
he's eating
steak
butter
and milk
and you know what
people put butter on their steak
if you go to like a nice steak restaurant
they'll put some butter on there
and so Abraham's giving him a nice delicacy
he's not eating some
low
humble meal
he's not eating some just
rice or beans
it's not Indian food
it's a steak with butter
okay folks
I'm just messing with people
I'm sure that they ruin steak
by putting Indian spices on it or something
no I'm just kidding
I just like to make y'all feel uncomfortable
so
there you go
go to Deuteronomy chapter 32
Deuteronomy 32
you got to understand that most people
like in general
especially across the world
we all pretty much have the same
ingredients to start with
we kind of all have the same resources
it's just how you prepare it
you know
what kind of techniques
what kind of spices
what kind of seasonings
and stuff like that
and
of course American seasonings
and spices are always the best
and so
that's my personal opinion part of the sermon
alright
but I'm just saying in general
you know
we can't sit here and then say that the
resources that God has given us
the raw ingredients that God has given us
they're bad or something
God basically is teaching us like
throughout the scripture
that the natural resources
that the things that he's given us are good
the meat that he's given us is good
and the plants and the vegetables
and the seasonings and the spices
like all of this stuff is good
and specifically butter is good
butter is good
milk is good
and steak is good
and let me tell you something
there is an attack
on butter
and milk
and steak
in this world
it's usually coming from
the Democratic party
okay
and I'm just going to throw it out there
veganism and all kinds of stuff
and look
there's nothing wrong
with not eating this stuff
you don't have to eat milk
you don't have to
drink milk
you don't have to eat butter
you don't have to eat steak
like
there's nothing wrong
you're not wrong with God
because you don't eat these things
but you know what
it's wrong to condemn people
to eat these things
or act like they're bad or something
because biblically speaking
they're the best
biblically speaking
these are the cream of the crop
literally
butter is the cream of the crop
literally
when it comes to food
it's considered a delicacy
it's considered a luxury
it's considered a blessing
but the thing is
there's nothing wrong
with consuming it
the Bible says
in Deuteronomy
I had you turn
look at verse 9
we'll read a little bit here
chapter 32 verse 9
for the Lord's portion is his people
Jacob is a lot of his inheritance
he found him in a desert land
and in the waste howling wilderness
he led him about
he instructed him
he kept him as the apple of his eye
as an eagle stirs up her nest
fluttereth over her young
spreadeth abroad
her wings taketh them
bear them on her wings
so the Lord alone
did lead him
and there was no strange God with him
he made him ride
on the high places of the earth
that he might eat
the increase of the fields
and he made him to suck honey
out of the rock
and oil
out of the flinty rock
butter of kind
and milk of sheep
with fat of lambs
and rams of the breed of beysham
and goats
with the fat of kidneys of wheat
and thou didst drink
the pure blood of the grape
now what is the Bible saying?
God is saying
I delivered you
I took you on my wings
I brought you here
to do something specifically
what is it that God wants the children of Israel to do?
God wants the children of Israel
to suck honey out of the rock
God wants the children of Israel
to have the oil out of the flinty rock
God wants them to have the butter of kind
the word kind is a word for cattle
it's another word for just cows in general
or that basic idea of classification of animal
milk of sheep
fat of lambs
rams of the breed of beysham
goats
the fat of kidneys of wheat
and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape
that is what we think of as juice
and it's basically just saying
God wants people to be eating
the steak and the lamb
and having milk
and having butter
and having juice
and having breads
and having pancakes
and having all
basically all the stuff that's great
He's saying
I brought you here to do this
where did God take the children of Israel?
To the land flowing with milk and honey
Wouldn't it be weird
if God says
hey I've taken you to the land of milk and honey
don't eat any milk or honey
That's weird
God wants them to live
in the land of milk and honey
and here's the thing
when you follow God's commandments
when you put God as the God of your nation
when you put God as the God of your state
when you put God as the God of your home
and of your business
and of your activities
God wants to bless you
and when you follow biblical principles
you know what
you will be blessed
and the blessing of God comes with
these particular blessings
and God wants you to have them
and God wants you to enjoy them
but what can happen is
often when we get a lot of blessing
it can cause us to
go down the wrong path
What does it say in verse 15?
But Jeshua wrecks fat
and kicked
thou art waxen fat
thou art grown thick
thou art covered with fatness
He's really hammering this point
Then he forsook God
which made him
and lightly esteemed the rock of salvation
So here's the thing
You can have too much of a good thing
But that doesn't mean the thing's bad
It's just saying
Hey, we want to have this
with some self-control
We want to have the blessing of God
but not forget God
We want to do the right thing
but then we also need to balance ourselves
with some level of exercise or discipline
So again, is there something wrong with butter?
No
But we shouldn't necessarily
go beyond what God has given us
and have too much of a thing
because that could ruin us
I want to go to Proverbs for a moment
and I want to look at a specific verse
Let's look at a few verses here
Let's go to Proverbs 24 to start
So of course, there's nothing wrong with butter
There's nothing wrong with milk
There's nothing wrong with steak
There's nothing wrong with all these different foods
but we also have to balance them a little bit
Now
Proverbs chapter 24
I want to look at verse 13
The Bible says
My son, eat thou honey
because it is good
What does the Bible say?
Eat honey
Did the Bible say don't eat honey?
Or does it literally just say eat honey?
I mean the Bible says eat honey
Why?
Because it is good
And the honeycomb
which is sweet to thy taste
So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul
when thou is founded
Then there shall be a reward
and thy expectation shall not be cut off
Of course, there's two meanings
Number one, eat honey because it's good
And then what's the other aspect of honey?
The word of God
And when we eat the word of God
it's sweet under our taste
and additionally it gives us wisdom
and it gives us knowledge
and it helps us in our lives
And God is using this metaphor
of the fact that honey is good
in the same way that the word of God is good
and that we understand that
So here's the thing
To say honey isn't good
is to say the word of God isn't good
To say milk isn't good
is to say the Bible isn't good
To say butter isn't good
is to say the Bible isn't good
These things are good
and we want to make sure
that we realize how good they are
But look at chapter 25 verse 16
Here's another thing you have to understand though
Just because the Bible uses a metaphor
or uses a picture or a carnal example
does not mean that that carnal example is locked in
with that meaning in every context
Sometimes you have the same object
being positive and negatively mentioned
Like leaven
Leaven is a picture of sin
in some parts of the Bible
A little leaven, leaven at the whole lump
in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5
is talking about a little bit of sin
could corrupt the whole church
But then the Bible also uses leaven
in a picture of how the gospel going out
in a small little picture
could spread the gospel all over the world
Because leaven is just a carnal truth
that you put a little bit of leaven in the bread
and all the bread is going to get the leaven
Now that could be applied in a positive and a negative way
Same way, honey, milk, these things
Sometimes they have positive and negative mentions
Sometimes they mean different things
Most of the time
honey, milk, and stuff like that
refers to the Word of God
refers to the Bible
But let's also get some balancing verses here
and think about them
Proverbs 25 verse 16 the Bible says
Hast thou found honey?
Eat so much as is sufficient for thee,
lest thou be filled therewith and vomited
Here's the thing
This verse though
I'm not going to go so as far as to say
Well, honey is always the Bible
Because I don't personally believe
you could read too much Bible
Okay, so
But at the same time
The Bible still gives us just general wisdom
in the sense that like, hey
Don't have too much honey
And that is reality
Look at it says in verse 27
Let's keep going
It is not good to eat much honey
For so men to search their own glory
Is not glory
So here
This isn't talking about honey being the Word of God
Honey here
Is in reference to
Basically understanding how great you are
Or the
The joy or the pleasures that come from
Recognizing your own achievements
Okay
So it's saying, hey
It's okay
Notice it doesn't even say there though
It's not good to eat honey
It says it's not good to eat much honey
So of course there's a little bit of
We can't necessarily just completely
abstract ourselves from the concept
of the works that we do
Of the accomplishments that we have
Who we are and what we've done
But it's basically saying
We don't want to spend all of our time
Constantly just
Praising ourselves
Glorifying ourselves
Thinking about all the things that we've done
We want to make sure that we're not really
Focused in on that
Just like
Just because honey's good
We don't want to literally only eat honey
We want to make sure that we're balancing honey
With things like
Bread
And milk
And meat
And vegetables
We want to have a balanced diet in life
And though the Bible always gives us balance
In a lot of these areas
Honey and milk and butter is also a balance
I'm not going to literally only eat butter and honey
That would be gross
Butter is great
On bread
Honey is great
On bread
In fact, it's great on a biscuit
I love
Honey and biscuits
Okay
That is delicious
You know, I pretty much never just grab like a spoon
And I'm just like
Alright honey jar
You're going down
It's just kind of
It's just not really good
Okay
You want to sprinkle in a little bit of honey
You know
Sometimes I drink a hot water with honey
When my throat hurts
And that kind of helps it a little bit
But I'm not going to just drink honey
I'm going to basically put some honey
And mix it with some hot water
And then I drink that
But you know
I've had sometimes where I had a really bad sore throat
And I had like two or three of those
And then I kind of started to feel even sick
Because I'm like
I've had too much sugar
I've had too much honey
And it didn't really feel that good
And so we want to make sure
Even from a carnal perspective
That we're not having too much butter
Too much honey
Because that can also be damaging
That can also be bad
But generally speaking
Honey is good
Eat honey
Eat as much as is sufficient unto thee
Right?
But we don't want to overindulge
We don't want to have too much honey
Physically speaking
Now
Again I'm trying to focus mostly on
The carnal aspects here
I want to make sure
Yeah
So here's an application that I want to make
And then I'm going to talk about some spiritual things
There is this ideology
There is this belief system out there
That has affected a lot of false religion
But even Christianity as well
And it's the idea of asceticism
Now who knows what asceticism is?
Okay
A lot of people
I'm just going to read for you
Some dictionary definitions
Just because it's not a word that we
Often use that much
But asceticism is characterized by this
It's a lifestyle
Characterized by absence
Or abstinence
From worldly pleasures
Often for the purpose of pursuing
Spiritual goals
Ascetics may withdraw from the world
For their practices
Or continue to be part of their society
But typically
Adopt a frugal lifestyle
Characterized by the renunciation
Of material possessions
And physical pleasures
And also spend time fasting
While concentrating on the practice of religion
Prayer or meditation
Here's a simple definition of being ascetic
So the word ascetic is often used
And it's like an adjective
Being ascetic is practicing strict self-denial
As a measure of personal
And especially spiritual discipline
It also is identified as being austere
Austere is an appearance or manner or attitude
That is reserved
Or strict or played down
Austere is giving little or no scope for pleasure
Little or no scope for pleasure
What could this look like?
This could look like saying
I'm never going to have butter
I'm never going to have milk
I'm never going to have honey
Because they're practicing a form of asceticism
Now I want to look at some verses on this
A lot of verses
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 4
I want to say that first of all
I don't think that I could argue or say that for sure
Asceticism or being ascetic is sinful
I mean if someone says
I don't want to eat butter
I don't want to eat honey
Or whatever
There's technically nothing wrong with that
I mean you can't really say that it's violating anything in the Bible
You get to choose whatever you're going to do
But this is typically what happens though
Is that these types of individuals
They're not just ascetic for themselves
They're trying to be ascetic for everybody
And they're saying like
Oh everybody should not eat milk
Everybody should not eat butter
And then they try to turn the religion
That they're practicing
Or their spiritual practices
Into a view that everybody that's truly following this religion
Is going to be like me
So like if you're a Buddhist
You're going to really do a lot of self-denial
Like Gandhi or other individuals with Hinduism, Buddhism
All of these different individuals of the past
Have kind of practiced this extreme version of asceticism
Another individual that practices this is Mother Teresa
So it's also crept into Christianity as well
Where you have individuals trying to act like
Christianity teaches asceticism
That Christianity promotes asceticism
And I want to say that I believe the opposite
I believe the Bible promotes what I've been reading
And what I've been showing you
Now again, if someone practices asceticism
There's nothing wrong with it
I'm not saying that they're not being spiritual
I'm not saying they're not being Christian
I'm saying that forcing asceticism or teaching asceticism
Is unbiblical
What's the verse on that?
Well, look what it says in 1 Timothy 4
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly
That in the latter times some should depart from the faith
Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils
Speaking lies and hypocrisy
Having their conscience seared with a hot iron
Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats
Which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
Of them which believe and know the truth
For every creature of God is good
And nothing to be refused
If it be received with thanksgiving
This is what the Bible teaches
Hey, eat the good stuff
Eat every animal
Here's the exception
But you better be thankful for it
Be thankful for it
Now, Mother Teresa
I'm just going to give you a little bit of a rundown
Of what she was like according to
I think this is like an AI
AI is pretty accurate on some of these things
As far as just what the world believes
Mother Teresa is a Catholic nun and saint
I would say she's not a saint
Alright, there we go
She was known for extreme asceticism
Now, I want to make this clear too
Even though I'm using Mother Teresa as an example
She's an extreme version of this
You don't have to be at this extreme to still be an ascetic
I'm just going to an extreme
What does this look like?
And then we'll talk about how many people fall into this trap anyways
She says this was a hallmark of her spiritual life and missionary work
Here are some key aspects of her ascetic practices
Renunciation of material possessions
You know who also wants you to renunciate all of your material possessions?
Communism
I'm just throwing that out there
Mother Teresa renounced all material possessions
Living a simple and austere life
With her sisters and the missionaries of charity congregation
They only shared a few basic belongings
And relied on donations for their needs
Well, you know, if everybody renunciates everything
How is anybody going to get done or paid for?
I guess she needs the people that didn't renunciate everything
To still pay all of her bills and give her all the stuff that she needs
Interesting how asceticism only works for the few
Severe fasting and abstinence
Go if you would to Matthew 6 for a moment
Mother Teresa practiced severe fasting and abstinence
From meat and other pleasures
She believed that self-denial was essential for spiritual growth
Let me read this to you again
She believed that self-denial was essential for spiritual growth
You know what she's teaching?
To abstaining from meats to be more spiritual
What does the Bible say in 1 Timothy 4?
That's a doctrine of devils
And it's no shock that she's a Catholic
And it's like, what do Catholics believe?
Hey, don't get married, be a nun, be a monk
If you're a priest, don't get married
And then they command to abstain from meats
Like having fish Fridays
Like having all of these different events where they can't eat meat
I've been around, and it's not just Catholics, Orthodox is the same way
I've been around some of these people
And they're saying if you do all the fastings that our church teaches
You basically can't eat beef like half the year or less
You can't even eat all these different things
I mean, they're just living this extreme version of asceticism
And I'm just going to say it
Seafood is worse than beef
Seafood sucks
Sorry, there I said it, okay?
Now, if you like seafood, I'm not mad at you
But you know what? It's not as good as beef
It's not as good
In fact, God is not even going to have the sea and the ocean
And the new heaven and the new earth, folks
But we're going to have lots of land, all right?
For land animals, okay?
Now, I don't know if we get to eat meat or not
That's maybe my flesh, but it likes it, okay?
And that carnal truth is true
Other people, PETA, protecting animals, doctrine of devil
Indians, and I'm not talking about Native Americans, not
I'm talking about the people in India
The 7-Eleven workers, okay?
And you say I'm lying
I went to 7-Eleven in Miami
And it was like, do you have a membership card?
I didn't choose that
I didn't force that person to work there
They literally worked there, okay?
And let me explain something
That religion of India is a satanic devil religion that
Worship cows, they bathe in their dung and then their feces
And they don't know to eat the good and refuse the evil
Instead of eating the steak, they bathe in the dung of cows
And look, I'm not against Indian people
There's plenty of wonderful Indian people that are Christians
But the Indians that are practicing the religion of Hinduism
Or Buddhism, or in fact in some cases they even practice Islam
You know what? Those religions are the religions of the devil
And many people in India are worshipping cows
And you know what? The Bible says that the devil, his face looks like a calf
That's not a coincidence
And they're often even making feasts
And giving them to idols and false gods
And they're even raising up false gods in our country
And let me explain something
I'm not trying to make you mad, you're probably already mad
Based on the previous points I made
Let me explain something
There's people making Indian false gods, Indian churches, and whatever
And let me explain something
In order for that idol to be raised up
Someone's got to pay for it
I wonder how they pay for it
Well maybe they open an Indian restaurant
And they need people to go in and they buy and give them money
So they can make a bunch of money and build up these false gods
Sorry if you didn't understand that point
I'm gonna eat cow, okay?
I'm gonna eat butter and I'm gonna eat milk
Now if you make stuff at your home
I'm not judging you, okay?
If you go into a restaurant
Not after it was sacrificed to an idol for conscience sake, okay?
So the Bible does teach
But I'm just saying
In some ways these false demonic religions
They destroy everything around them
And you know what?
Catholicism is a wicked false religion
That Mother Teresa is a part of
And she's saying it's essential
It's essential to being spiritual
No, no, no
You know what's essential to being spiritual?
Butter and honey
Which is the word of God
It's the Bible
Consuming that
And look, you don't have to consume literal butter
And literal honey
To be spiritual
But you know what?
You have to consume the spiritual butter
And the spiritual honey
In order to be spiritual
And you know, Mother Teresa didn't do that
She doesn't know what verse Timothy Chapman before says
She doesn't believe that verse
And a lot of times what these ascetics do
Is they're not content being ascetic and private
They have to be
It's a public show
It's for attention
It makes me think of Matthew chapter 6 verse 1
Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them
What is Mother Teresa known for?
Giving her alms to the poor
And talking about helping the poor
Here's other things that Mother Teresa did
What a wonderful person
Mother Teresa subjected herself to physical hardships
Such as sleeping on the floor
Wearing simple and worn out clothing
And going without proper medical care or comforts
This was meant to demonstrate
Her solidarity with the poor
And to cultivate humanity and attachment
You know what's better
Than sleeping on the floor
To stand with poor people
Is working and buying them a bed
Like what weirdness
Like instead of
You know it's funny to me
Because I worked with this homeless
And addiction recovery center
And this one guy's like
I want to go on the streets and act homeless
Just to get a better empathy for them
And I'm thinking like why?
I'm pretty sure it's a terrible lifestyle
I don't think you need to
I don't think you need to lay on the floor
To realize that it's not cool
There's a reason why someone invented a bed
There's a reason why someone makes beds
There's a reason why people sell beds
Because they're great
Because they're wonderful
I mean the Bible says the marriage bed is undefiled
It didn't say the marriage floor
Okay
I mean this is just weird
I even saw
It was like the Olympics
They were trying to make these like terrible beds
For the Olympic athletes to sleep on
And I'm not going to go down that rabbit trail
But I'm just saying like that's just weird
Sleeping on the floor
To prove how spiritual you are
Extreme poverty
Mother Teresa chose to live in extreme poverty
Often goes without basic necessities
Like food
Shelter or healthcare
The Bible says
The Bible says when you don't have food or clothing
You don't even have to be content biblically speaking
I mean the Bible is basically saying
If you have food and clothing
Then you're supposed to be content
But if you don't have food and clothing
The Bible is saying don't be content
Pray and ask God
God give us this day our daily bread
That's the Lord's Prayer
And it's so weird
When people want to go to this ascetic viewpoint of lifestyle
And saying like we should not eat and not sleep
And not have any pleasure
And just live this life of misery and woe
To prove how spiritual they are
You're not spiritual
You're under the influence of demons that want you to suffer folks
God does not want us to live on this earth just to suffer
Yes he brings persecutions and he brings afflictions
Along with blessings
Along with joys
To help keep us humble
To help test us
To help prove us
To help make us better people
To help give us a better heart
But he does not want us to just live this life of misery and woe
He doesn't want us to live Job the entire life
In fact if you understand Job
It's like greatest life ever
A few weeks of the worst life ever
And then the greatest life ever again
But in the grand scope of things Job's life was 99% great
Yeah it had 1% back
But Mother Teresa wants us to live 99% horrible
You know what this is not biblical
And you know there's so many people out there
That want to condemn you or make you feel bad
Or act like you're not spiritual
Because you're eating butter and milk
Oh you eat nice meals
Yeah I do
Why would I not?
Oh but you know what you have to eat bad meals in order to be spiritual
No you sound like, that sounds like a doctrine of devils
Look I know what to eat and I know what not to eat
I eat steak
I eat butter
I eat milk
I don't eat drugs
I don't eat prescription meds
I don't eat all of this junk
And look if you need prescription meds for a legitimate reason
Okay but there's a lot of people that are constantly on medication that they don't need
Adderall
They're always suffering
And they're always in depressed states
And they're always having all these issues
And I'm thinking have you tried butter?
Have you tried steak?
Have you tried being married?
Have you tried liking your spouse?
You know, yeah God gave us certain things that are really pleasurable
Do them
Don't go and say like my life's miserable so I'm gonna have drugs to fix that
Because often you know what the drugs are doing?
They're releasing the insane endorphins in your brain
That happen when you eat great meals
And when you're performing the duty of marriage
But you know what?
You know what?
People today they're filling themselves with birth control
And birth control runs all the hormones in a woman
To where now she doesn't even want that anymore
In many cases
And then they have to have more drugs
To basically get all of the endorphins that would be released
From not being on birth control
And actually wanting what God created
And then people are not eating the right kind of meals
They're eating these weird soy burgers
And they're eating vegan things and vegetarian things
This is what's funny to me
I don't think there's anything wrong with eating vegetarian or vegan meals
But why do they always have to look like a burger or a steak or whatever
It's like
It's like I'm gonna eat carrots then eat carrots
I'm gonna eat celery, eat celery
But it's like this is a burger out of carrots and celery
And you're like no it's not
It's like if you want to have a vegetarian meal go for it
I'm all for you
But don't try to
Like why are they always trying to
You know we never see us being like this is a salad
And it's like steak and brisket and barbecue
This is my barbecue salad
It's like you know
We're not trying to take meat and make it look like vegetables
We all know what they're trying to do
They're trying to convince you that it's meat
Why are they trying to convince you that it's meat
Because meat is delicious
Why is it that on the margarine thing it says
I cannot believe it's not butter
Because butter's great
They're trying to make it like butter
But it's not
And look if you eat margarine I'm not mad at you
But you know what
Let's just be honest
There's probably more chemicals
That are more harmful to your body
Than the supposed fat
You know
Everybody wants to act like you're so bad for getting the fats
Of butter and milk and meat
And look these are just haters
These are just people that don't understand the biblical truths of the Bible
Look you know what God wants us to eat
Butter and milk and steak
And all these wonderful things
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 3
Butter and honey are good
They're blessings
Here's another thing
Butter takes time
That's why it's a luxury in a sense
Because you not only have to have milk
Which is a luxury
You also have to then churn it
And in fact many times
I didn't go to this verse
But in Job
The Bible says that you basically have to have an abundance of milk
To have butter
Because if you only have milk
You're probably just gonna drink milk
If you don't have like extra
If you don't have enough
But if you have plenty of milk
More than you could drink
Then you start doing other things with it
Making cheeses and making butter
And making all kinds of other delicacies
And you know what God is saying like
I want to bless that
The Bible says that Job is walking on butter
Why would God give him butter to like walk on
If it's so bad
God wants us to enjoy our lives folks
Now again we could get over the top
And think like
Joel Osteen style Christianity
Of like God wants you to have your blessed life now
And you know basically
He's gonna open the windows of heaven
To where you're gonna be a billionaire
Or something like this
That's taking it a little too far
But we don't want to go on the other side of the equation
And act like Mother Teresa
You know
There's Mother Teresa
And then there's the billionaire
Kenneth Copeland or something
Okay
Obviously both of these extremes are not biblical
But in general
I don't even think it's necessarily directly in the middle
I think it leans in the side of blessing
The Bible literally says
Give me neither riches nor poverty
Feed me with food convenient for me
The Bible is saying like
Don't try to be poor
And of course we don't want to necessarily labor to be rich
But there's technically nothing wrong with even being rich
I mean if there was something wrong with being rich
Wouldn't it say in 1 Timothy chapter number 6
When it's talking about charge them that are rich in this world
Wouldn't it say charge them that are rich in this world
To not be rich
Charge them that are rich in this world
To just end their life
Because they're a terrible person for being rich
No
It's saying like
Charge them that are rich in this world
To be
To not trust in their riches
To not be high minded
To be ready to distribute
Willing to communicate
And boy
Isn't it nice that there's some rich people
That actually help
Buy all the stuff that we use and need
You know
It's like
When I started Pure Words Baptist Church
I had a nice rich friend
That makes lots of money
That none of you all even know
That bought all of our chairs
And boy
It was nice when I came into church to be able to sit down
Boy it was really nice
That that person helped me out
And was kind and loving
And look
Lots of times in a church
We get to enjoy nice things
Because of the rich people
We get to enjoy
The conferences
We get to enjoy
The building
We get to enjoy all of these things
And then people like
I just hate people that actually work hard
Or make money or something
It's like
Yeah because you're lazy
God is not sitting up in heaven like
I hope that they have a miserable day today
Lay on the floor
No butter for you
Cancer causing margarine or nothing
You better eat
Boxed food that costs
Ramen, noodle or nothing
I mean
Do you really think that's what God wants?
But make sure you're buying
Plenty of lottery tickets
Doing drugs
And alcohol
And wasting
Thousands of dollars
To go watch Mike Tyson
Not fight anybody
Right
Because I don't spend
Thousands of dollars
On vanity
And stupid things
And garbage
Then people are like
Oh
But you spend money on good food
Yeah I do
Oh you buy organic
Yeah I do
Oh you eat butter
Yeah I do
Because God is telling us
Hey
Eat butter eat it
It's good
There's nothing wrong with this
What does it say in
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 22
Wherefore I perceive that
There is nothing better
Than that a man should rejoice
In his own works
For that is his portion
For he shall bring him to see
What shall be after him
Hey this is your one time to eat it up
Eat it up bro
Look at chapter 4 verse 22
I'm sorry I meant 3 42
But look at 5 18
Behold that which I have seen
It is good and comely for one
To eat
And to drink
And to enjoy
The good of all his labor
That he taketh unto the sun
All the days of his life
Which God giveth him
For it is his portion
What does he say
It's good
It's good to work hard
And then eat good food
And eat good drink
That's what the Bible says
What does chapter 6 verse 1 say
There is an evil
Which I have seen unto the sun
And is common among men
A man whom God hath given riches
Wealth and honor
This is where a lot of people
Just stop reading
Oh having stuff is bad
No
What is the evil
He gives it to them
So that he wanted nothing
For his soul
Of all that he desireth
Yet
God giveth them not power
To eat thereof
He is saying look
You know what is bad
When you actually work hard
Make money
Have good stuff
And then you don't get to enjoy it
Saying the bad thing
Is not enjoying it
The good thing
Is enjoying it
That's what the Bible says
Look what it says in chapter 8 verse 15
Then I commended mirth
Mirth is joy
Because a man hath no better thing
Under the sun
Than to eat
And to drink
And to be merry
You know what merry is
Happy
But you know what
When you're eating
And you're drinking
And you're happy
The sons of Belial
Come and beset the house round about
Because they hate the fact
That you're happy
The devil comes out of the woodwork
And then tries to make you feel bad
For actually enjoying
The blessings of God
But you know what
Nuts to the haters
They're just envious
And they're just mad
That they're not having fun
But the Bible says
There's nothing wrong with it
Says for that shall abide with him
Of his labor
The days of his life
Which God giveth him
Under the sun
I mean how many verses
Do I have to show you
Go to Proverbs chapter 5
Go to Proverbs chapter number 5
Now
Again the Bible is clear
Labor not to be rich
The Bible is abundantly clear
That when we talk about
The sower sowing the word
That the cares of this world
The deceitfulness of riches
Enter in
Choking the word
Lesser be and fruitful
Obviously
We don't want to have too much honey
Obviously we want to eat
What's sufficient unto us
Obviously we don't live on this earth
Only to eat food folks
But we have to understand
That these are good things
And if you want to have a healthy life
If you want to have a sustained life
Hey
Eat the good
Enjoy your life
Enjoy your wife
Enjoy the things that God has given you
Because without pleasure
You'll probably burn out
You know when we go on
When we go on mission strips
I'll just be honest with you
We have a great time
And when I say great
I mean excellent
I mean awesome
I mean I'm trying to make it
As fun as possible
You know why?
Because we're not going to do
One mission strip folk
We go on mission strip
And go and small town so many times
We go do these things all the time
And what I don't want people to do
Is like
Hey we had to sleep on the floor
And eat ant covered
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Because then less people are going to come
Because nobody wants to be Mother Teresa
But they're like
Man we had so much fun
We saw the beach
We ate good meals
We stayed in nice lodging
They had beds
God forbid
That they actually
They didn't even have to sleep on the floor
Why?
So then it was like
I can't wait to go on the next mission strip
So then it was like
I can't wait to go on the next one
And you say why?
Because we got 48 people saved in Miami
And how many churches
Out there
Are going to get 48 people saved all year
Someone's got to do the work
And you know what?
You could be here and say like
Well John the Baptist
He lived an austere lifestyle
Yeah but then they called him a devil
I'm not going to read the verse for the sake of time
Jesus Christ is being ridiculed
For being a wine bibber and a glutton
And then he's like
He's like hey
You call him a devil
You say that I'm wicked
You know I'm a wine bibber and a glutton
For how I live
He's like basically
You're just going to hate me no matter what
Because I'm doing the work of God
If I went out
And we did soul winning
In the most austere way possible
People would criticize us
And say that we're crazy
And lunatic and weirdos
And then if we go have a great time
They're going to say
Ah you're a wine bibber and a glutton
Just because they're mad
That they're not having fun
But you know what
I'm going to have fun and serve God
And here's the thing
You know how I know that I'm not
Like crossing some of these balancing verses
Because I'm not forsaking
Soul winning church
Reading the Bible and praying
To go live it up
I'm serving God and living it up
Why not?
Now again I'm not living it up
By having fentanyl and cocaine
And going to gentleman's clubs
And going out and living the life of this world
And we're not going out
And hanging out with wicked people
And going to the bar and doing whatever
Hey we're going to churches
And going soul winning
And preaching the gospel and having fun
You know hey yeah we did go to the Bahamas
And we had a great time
And there was a day that we went
And we rode jet skis
You know what
People are getting saved on the beach
While we were swimming
People are getting baptized
When we were out there on the jet skis
And I didn't even try
I was trying to have fun
I was trying to just enjoy myself
And then people are coming up to me
This guy is coming up to me like
Hey tell me about baptism
I'm like fine
I'm like Jonah over here
I'll get my Bible out
I don't want a whale to come get me or something
Showing this guy
He's not even saved
So I had to preach him the gospel
And then he's like
I'm like let's get baptized
Brother Marcel got someone saved
And he's like he's here too
And they're just baptized
And they're just baptizing people
But this is what the naysayers
Nuts to you
I don't have to live like Mother Teresa
You go live with her in the monastery somewhere
Except for she won't let you
Because she's taking a vow of celibacy
Or whatever
You know these people are weird
Did I have you turn somewhere?
Proverbs 5 right?
Proverbs 5 verse 15
Hey be blessed
And rejoice with your wife
You know we should not withhold
The pleasures that God gives us within marriage
Because everybody else is seeking
The pleasures outside of marriage
And it's wrong and it's wicked
And it causes problems
We should enjoy marriage
And what God has blessed us with
You know there's these weird ideas out there
Where people are literally having marriage
And they're not taking the benefits
And the blessings of marriage
There is this weirdo guy
I can't remember my wife could probably tell me better
This weird guy saying like
Talking about him and his wife
Saying how it's like wrong
To perform the duty of marriage
And this guy saying like whenever I'm tempted
To lose all desire
And I'm like what a weirdo
What a freak
I'm like you're just double
Destroying yourself in your mind
You're gonna hate potatoes
You know and sometimes when I'm alone with my wife
Or just having fun I'm just saying like
I feel like I need a raw potato
It's just a joke folks
Don't eat raw potatoes
Have butter and milk and steak
Because that is your life
Because that is your portion
That is what God has given you
Choose the good and not the evil
And look our world is not screwed up
Because we're eating too much butter and steak
It's because people are on drugs
And alcohol and drinking poison
And not only carnally
Spiritually
You know what's wrong with our country
It's not that they're reading too much of the King James Bible
It's that they're listening to too much junk
The lies that are coming from Mother Teresa
The false doctrine that's coming from the Catholic Church
The lies of Hinduism
The lies of all kinds of ungodly
Wicked unsaved people
There's so many fad diets
And fad ideas
And there's so many people that want to criticize you
And make you feel bad
For having fun while serving God
But you know what serving God is fun
We don't have to live this ascetic lifestyle
And deny ourselves of all pleasure
And all fun
Look if you want to do that
I'm not going to fight you
But you better not try to make me do it
You better not try to make everybody else do it
I can't say that it's biblically wrong
To be a very strict, austere person
But you know what
That's just not my ministry
And that's not what I'm trying to do
Now if you want to do that
Show us up
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3
But you know this is what I know
Serving God is already hard enough
I don't need to make it harder than it already is
And there's not a lot of people
That are going to want to join you
Gandhi
There's not a lot of people
That are going to want to join you in those efforts
But you know what
When you can at least make Christianity fun
A lot more people are going to get on board
And what's more important
Me just showing you how much better I am
By being austere
And doing it by myself
That later works because more people are involved
What's more important
Me going on missions trips
And showing you how I can literally sleep on the floor
Because I'll just be honest with you
I work so hard
That I can probably sleep standing up
I've literally
When I was talking to my wife
I'm just sitting on the couch having a conversation
I fell asleep in the middle of my own sentence
I can sleep on the floor
I can eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
I can do a lot of these grueling things
But I don't have to and I don't want to
But you know what
It wouldn't be that cool
I mean look
When we went to the men's conference the first time
I called it prison camp
Because it kind of was
And look a lot of people were saying
I didn't want to go because the bed sucks so bad
And they were beds
They weren't even concrete floor
And I'm just thinking I had a great time
It was fun
But you know not everybody can go as hard as you
Not everybody is as amazing as you
And you can't drag and show off
To just try and get extra brownie points
You know what's better
Encouraging other people
Condescending the men of low estate
Encouraging the brethren
Helping the weaker brother
Blessing other people
And you know what spiritually speaking
Is the same way
That we don't necessarily have to prove how hard we can go
Sometimes we can try to come alongside other people
And just ease them along
Win them over
Show them the good and the fun aspects of Christianity
There's some fun parts of Christianity
There's some fun sermons
There's some fun
There's some good music
There's some good things to do
And you know we don't always have to prove to other people
How hardcore we are in Christianity
Let us show them the good parts of Christianity
And we need to constantly be eating the right things
I had you go to 2 Timothy chapter number 3
Look at what it says in verse number 5
It says
Having a form of godliness
Talking about wicked people
For of this sort are they which creep into houses
And lead captive silly women laden with sins
Led away with divers lust
There is so many losers
False prophets
Heretics and evil people
That want to destroy
And hurt
And they're trying to hurt women
And they're hurting them with messages
There are so many people
Like Jesse Duplantis
Like Mike Murdock
These televangelists
That go online
And they creep into women's houses through the television
Through the internet
And they convince women to give them money
And to be ascetic
In fact they had convinced my mom
To be this way at one point
To the point where she sold all of her jewelry
Even her own engagement ring
Just to give it to people like this
And give it to bad churches
And you know what
It's just sad
How many people
I mean there's people living paycheck to paycheck
Having no money
Old people, old grandmas
All kinds of people that are listening to these kinds of things
And thinking like oh I just give them $58
Sow a seed
And then God will bless me
Or I'll have whatever
And they don't even realize they're being taken advantage of
And ripped off
They don't know to eat the good and to refuse the evil
And they're being led astray and taken advantage of
And you know what we need to come alongside those people
And help them realize butter's good
Milk is good
These people are bad
These people are wicked
These people are evil
And we need spiritual understanding
There's so many messages out there
There's so many false prophets
There's so many lies out there today
And we need to read the Bible
We need to meditate on God's word
So that we can know
What's good and what is evil
We need to know who is of God
And who is not of God
We need to understand the people that got people saved
We need to understand the people that destroy churches
And hurt churches
And attack churches
And cause strife and unnecessary division
And they just preach messages that are heresy
And lies
And you know what they're of the devil folks
Whether they're literally of the devil
Or being influenced by the devil
It doesn't matter to me
Because it's the same enemy
It's the same tactics
It's the same destruction
The thief cometh not but for to steal, kill and destroy
And you know what the devil doesn't want you to have fun
Enjoy the good
Enjoy the butter
Enjoy the milk
Enjoy the kind
Enjoy the cattle
And you know what we need to enjoy those things spiritually
Hey I love the word of God
And you know what where does the milk come from
Where does milk come from
Cattle
Right
What are cattle in the Bible
Pastors
And you know what
When people hate pastors
It's wicked
How can you say you like milk and you like butter
When you hate pastors
Because you can't have one without the other
Where do you get great preaching from
Great pastors
Where do you get great milk and great butter from
Great pastors
But then there's people they just hate good pastors
They hate good preaching
They hate big movements of God
And you know what it's weird to despise pastors
It's weird to attack pastors
We should realize that milk and honey are good
There are so many enemies in the world
We should not be attacking saved godly pastors
It is bizarre
It is a tool of the devil
Look Joel Osteen kick him
I don't care
Kenneth Copeland go after him
But you know what saved brethren
We should not be on a war campaign to take them down
Because you know what
Milk and butter and honey are good
And we should love them and we should embrace them
And we should want more of it not less
We should live in a society that you know what actually loves pastors
And you know what when people don't love pastors
It's weird to me
It's weird when they just want to take away all their authority
When the Bible says to esteem them very highly
And love
To esteem them very highly in love
That's what the Bible says
But I just see there's a lot of disrespect
There's a lot of hatred
Why? Because you know what
When you stand on the word of God and when you preach the Bible
There's going to be opposition
And we need to realize that we're going to love the good
Hey if you eat butter and you eat milk
You're going to get opposition
From PETA, from the Catholics
From those that are envious
That you're having a good time
But you know what you just have to say nut to the haters
Nuts to you guys
That's why you literally have to eat nuts
I'm going to eat the good stuff
I'm going to have fun
I'm not trying to start a John the Baptist ministry
Where I go out in a Canadian tuxedo
It's an animal skin leather skin suit
Out in the middle of nowhere
You know what I'm going to be in a building
With linen
And I'm going to have air conditioning
And you know what we're going to have fun
Now we might be a little bit out
They were out in the wilderness
But you don't have to be John the Baptist
You know Jesus Christ wasn't
And other men of God weren't
And you don't have to be
You know just because John the Baptist is a great leader of God
Doesn't mean other people weren't
And you know the Apostle Paul at times was greatly blessed
And had a lot
And then other times he didn't have a lot
But I don't have time for this
But there's a disease out there
It's called the poverty mindset
And you know what it's affecting a lot of people
Because they almost think that having poverty
Is somehow being spiritual
And being rich is being spiritual
Both of those are wrong
You can be super poor and super godly
You can be super rich and be super godly
You know what you can be super poor and really ungodly
And you can be super rich and be very ungodly
It's not about that
It's about you know where your heart is
And serving God
And you know what why in the world
How would you feel
If you made this great meal
You spent all this time cooking a brisket or steak
All this food
And you gave it to someone you love
And they literally just threw it on the ground
And said this is trash
That would be disrespectful right
Wouldn't that be rude
In fact it's actually rude to ask for A1 sauce
When you get a steak
I'm just throwing it out there
Especially in Texas
If you go to a nice restaurant
Just be prepared that if you ask for A1
They will take it as an insult literally
Okay
But when it comes to
This analogy that I'm using
God is literally offering you
These good meals
God is offering you these things
And when we say that's bad
It's wrong and refuse it
We're kind of like spitting in the face of God
Kind of saying
No I don't want that
I don't want the blessings that you're giving me
Give them to someone else
And you know what
He might just give them to someone else then
Let us receive everything with thanksgiving
Nothing to be refused
If it be received with thanksgiving
Because you're not thankful
But you know what
I am thankful for the things that God's giving me
And I'm going to praise God every time I get to eat these things
Because communism might take them away eventually anyways
And then we don't have that choice
But as long as we have it
Let's embrace it and love it
And let's fight Chick-fil-A
And say I'm not saving the cows
I'm eating the cows
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for your word
Thank you so much for the butter and the honey
That comes from the word of God
Thank you for literal butter
Thank you for allowing us to live in a literal land of flowing with milk and honey
I pray that we would just rejoice and be happy
And enjoy the mirth of all the blessings that you've given us
All the prosperity and all the joy
I pray that we wouldn't look at those things as bad or negative
But rather we would just give thanks unto you
That we would praise God for them
That we would be thankful for them
And of course that we wouldn't live our lives only for the carnal pleasures
But rather we would use them to motivate us to serve you spiritually as well
And I pray that you would help us to have a good balance
So that we could have a lifetime of serving God
And not just a quick moment
In Jesus' name we pray, amen
Alright, amen
For our last song we're going to go to song number 194
Since Jesus came into my heart
Song number 194
Song 194, let's sing it out
What a wonderful change in my life has been brought
Since Jesus came into my heart
I have lied in my soul for which long I have sought
Since Jesus came into my heart
Flows of joy on my soul like the sea billows roll
Since Jesus came into my heart
I have sneezed from my wandering and going astray
Since Jesus came into my heart
And my sins which were many are all washed away
Since Jesus came into my heart
Flows of joy on my soul like the sea billows roll
Since Jesus came into my heart
I'm possessed of a hope that is steadfast and sure
Since Jesus came into my heart
And no clouds of death or pathway obscure
Since Jesus came into my heart
Flows of joy on my soul like the sea billows roll
Since Jesus came into my heart
There's a light in the valley of death now forming
Since Jesus came into my heart
In the gates of the city beyond I can see
Since Jesus came into my heart
Flows of joy on my soul like the sea billows roll
Since Jesus came into my heart
I shall go there to dwell in that city I know
Since Jesus came into my heart
And I'm happy, so happy as onward I go
Since Jesus came into my heart
Flows of joy on my soul like the sea billows roll
Since Jesus came into my heart
What a great song for that sermon.
Everybody, you are all dismissed. Thank you so much for coming.