🎵Music🎵
Good evening everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could please find your seats and grab your song books.
We're going to start out with song number 30, Nothing But The Blood.
Song 30, Nothing But The Blood.
🎵Music🎵
Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for our church and thank you for the free gift of salvation and for your son's death, burial, and resurrection.
Pray that you bless the service tonight. We love you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, for our second song, let's go to 165, O Worship The King.
165, O Worship The King. Song 165.
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🎵O Worship The King🎵
🎵A Lord Elshaba🎵
🎵And gratefully sing🎵
🎵His wonderful love🎵
🎵Our shield and He vendor🎵
🎵The ancient of days🎵
🎵A million in splendor🎵
🎵And girded with praise🎵
🎵O tell of His light🎵
🎵And sing of His grace🎵
🎵Whose role is the light🎵
🎵Whose care of His ways🎵
🎵His chariots of wrath🎵
🎵Beneath the earth as warm🎵
🎵And our kids live down on the wings of the storm🎵
🎵Thy bountiful care🎵
🎵What love can recite🎵
🎵It breathes in the air🎵
🎵It shines in the light🎵
🎵It streams from the hills🎵
🎵It descends through the plain🎵
🎵And sweetly distills in the blue and the rain🎵
🎵Frail children of God🎵
🎵And people as well🎵
🎵In Thee do we trust🎵
🎵Or find Thee to fail🎵
🎵Thy mercies how tender🎵
🎵How firm to the end🎵
🎵Our maker, defender🎵
🎵Receiver and friend🎵
This is an old one, sorry.
But I think we're on verse, what, 27?
This one says 24, so.
All right.
Thank you.
And, again, I made an announcement.
Hopefully I'll have something you can look at.
But we've ordered some really nice drink flasks,
pretty drink flasks.
I don't know what you call it.
Tumblr, Tumblr, sorry.
Whatever that means.
And they're really nice and they're monogrammed with the name Steadfast on them
so you know that they're legit, all right?
And so I'm just putting it out there to encourage you as a reminder.
There will be other prizes as well.
So that's just to say to encourage you to get it out there.
Service time, soul winning are there.
Church stats, please make sure you're turning that in to your soul winning captains.
We have on the right a list of several expecting ladies.
Please help us in prayer for them.
Also upcoming events.
We have the Cedar Hill Soul Winning Marathon.
And if you can only participate in just the morning or evening,
please still just do it.
So we'd love to have you out there.
We should have some donuts in the morning.
And we'll also have some lunch.
So pretty much all you have to do is just show up and go soul winning and eat some food.
I mean, it's really a win-win-win.
So I highly encourage you to do it.
Also, it's a great time to try and invite people to church.
People are a little bit more prone to want to visit an Easter service or something like that.
In fact, there's some people that are Easter only Christians.
And you know what?
We'll preach their socks off if they come here, all right?
We won't change anything about their desire to come to church anymore often.
But it'll just be a blessing to have some visitors.
Also, preaching class, April 6th.
April 9th through 10th is the Verity Youth Rally.
April 13th, Shreveport, Louisiana Soul Winning Marathon.
We've got a sign-up sheet for that as well.
I highly encourage you to participate in that event if you can.
Just because it's a really receptive area.
And it's been a lot of fun every time we've been out there.
So I highly encourage you if you can make it.
May 5th is a spring swap.
It's items of value that you no longer want yourself.
Just as a friendly reminder, if you are planning on donating any large items
or you would like to use this as an opportunity to get rid of some kind of a large item,
especially furniture or anything heavy,
normally we don't even allow it at all.
But this is what I'm going to allow.
You can put it in one of our groups and say,
hey, I want to bring this to the spring swap.
And if you have someone say, I will pick that up or I will take it that day,
then you can bring that item.
But only bring the item if you have an already agreed upon person that wants to take it
because otherwise we won't have an easy way to get rid of any unwanted larger items.
And so other than that, if you just bring small stuff,
we have people that are willing to take that and kind of get rid of it.
But larger items, if you do have any plans for something like that,
please just put it in the group right before or pretty close to
and make sure you have someone lined up that would like to take that for that particular day.
The back has our prayer list. Please be in prayer for our church family.
That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned.
We're going to sing Holy, Holy, Holy, our third song.
All right, let's sing together Holy, Holy, Holy.
Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy
holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy
holy, holy, holy, holy
holy, holy, holy
god almighty all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea
as the offering plates being passed around please turn to Colossians chapter 4 Colossians chapter 4
so
the bible reads masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal knowing that ye also have a master in heaven continue in prayer and watching the same with thanksgiving with all praying also for us that god would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of christ
for which i am also in bonds that i may make it manifest as i ought to speak walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer every man all my state shall declare unto you who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the lord whom i have sent unto you for the same purpose
that he might know your estate and comfort your hearts with Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you they shall make known unto you all the things which are done here Aristarchus my fellow prisoner saluteth you and Marcus sister's son to Barnabas touching whom ye received commandments if he come unto you receive him and jesus who is called justice who are of the circumcision they only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of god which have been a comfort unto me
Epaphras who is one of you a servant of christ saluteth you always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of god for i bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you and them that are in Laodicea and them in Hierapolis
Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nemphis and the church which is in his house and when this epistle is read among you cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea and say to Archippus take heed to the ministry which thou has received in the lord that thou fulfill it
the salutation by my hand by the hand of me Paul remember my bonds grace be with you amen
let's pray dear heavenly father thank you for the precious blood of christ and for salvation i ask you to open our understanding now to your word and please help pastor Shelley as he preaches it in jesus name amen
i want to look at verse 17 in this chapter and say to Archippus take heed to the ministry which thou has received in the lord that thou fulfill it
this is a pretty simple verse at the end of this epistle but i felt like it's a very profound truth
and he's really trying to talk to a specific brother in Christ Archippus and he's telling him you've received a specific ministry you need to take heed make sure that you actually do your job
make sure that you finish your job make sure that you're doing the ministry that you have received
and i think so many of us we don't necessarily take seriously the ministry that has been given to us
you know Archippus is not a main character in the bible he's not someone that's mentioned very much in the scriptures
maybe some people think well i'm not the apostle Paul well you know who's also not the apostle Paul Archippus
oh i'm not a pastor well i don't know that Archippus is well i'm not full time staff member at this church or something
okay we don't know if Archippus is necessarily but you know what all of us have received a ministry all of us have been given the opportunity to preach the gospel
and we're part of the ministry of reconciliation and we need to make sure that we take heed to whatever ministry we have received and that we fulfill it
you know whether that be playing the piano whether that be song leading whether that be soul winning being a soul winning captain
whether that be a soul winning lieutenant whether that be just a soul winner whether that be a husband a wife any of the things that we have
we need to make sure the things that we received of God that we take them seriously and we finish the course
now i'm emphasizing this because this is what we should do but here's the problem many people are not going to do what is being instructed
and what i want to preach about this evening is this christian cancel culture christian cancel culture
and unfortunately there's so many christians that participate in cancel culture
and they don't fulfill the ministry that they've been given and by not fulfilling the ministry they've been given they actually affect other people greatly
we need to be careful about the ministries we've been given because what we do affects other people
now go view into john chapter six i want to prove this from a lot of places in the bible this evening but
i kind of have three reasons why christians go down this dark path there's kind of three different categories i see
when we talk about different people participating in this cancel culture and what is cancel culture
well there's a lot of ideas out there you could look at things online essentially it's just pressure to cancel someone or cancel something
cancel culture is the idea of to shut something down or to cause something to diminish in some way
and many times people are participating in cancel culture albeit that may not be their direct response
they may not say like i want to shut this down or i want this to stop but their attitude or their actions help foster a christian cancel culture
and probably the number one way in which christians participate in cancel culture is by quitting
and think about it when the world tries to exercise cancel culture what is their main goal
their main goal is to find someone or find a ministry or find a business and say stop going there
unsubscribe don't follow them don't listen to them they're basically trying to get you to quit on them
that's what they're trying to do that is their goal that is what cancel culture is all about is to get people to quit on a particular individual
or perhaps a business or you could really put anything in there in that category
but a lot of people in the bible were active participants in christian cancel culture
they were part of the problem and one of the main things that happens is christians quit and when they quit it's causing a cancel culture
and we need to make sure that we are not those kind of people we want to be like archippus and take heed and not be a quitter
now john chapter 6 look at verse 60
now verse 62 he's saying like what if you saw me go back to heaven
that's important for the context of this chapter because john chapter 6 jesus makes it abundantly clear he came down from heaven
and he calls himself the bread of life and he says that this is the bread that came down from heaven
so he's commenting on his sermon specifically or on his teachings saying well what if i literally went up there would you still be offended
he's saying you're offended at the idea of me telling you i came down from heaven
what if you literally saw me go up to heaven or come down from heaven like what if you literally even saw it would that also offend you
now he's wondering if they're offended ok and by saying in verse 62 and 63 what he says he's just doubling down
he's not like oh this offends you i'll stop talking about that i'll stop preaching about that
he just he just adds to it he's like well what if you just saw me go back up to heaven then
you know not only did i say that i could i could just go up to heaven like he's not he's digging into his doctrine
you know the right response when people are offended with the word of god is not to say like oh i'm sorry i'm not going to talk about the bible anymore
say hey this is this is what the bible says why are you offended at the bible what if you know i did even more
kind of like david's attitude when he's telling his wife like hey i'm going to dance and be even more vile in the future
like i'm not going to stop dancing for the lord i'm not going to stop praising god just because you don't like it
hey if your wife doesn't like you praising god well praise god anyways i mean that's what the bible says
hey you don't like this preaching well i'm going to preach that way anyways
now he says in verse 64 but there are some of you that believe not
from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him
that is cancel culture many many of the disciples of jesus christ literally quit on him after preaching one of the most powerful sermons ever
i mean jesus christ is making it abundantly clear that he's the bread which came down from heaven
that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him
i mean john chapter number six is an amazing section of scripture that jesus christ preached to them audibly
and i guarantee there is so much more to this sermon than just what's even read on this page
i mean jesus christ said many things that we don't even have written and they literally quit on him
and here's what i know if people are going to get up after the sermon and leave after jesus preaches one of the best sermons ever
why would i ever think that people won't quit my church after i preach sermons
i'll never preach a sermon as good as the one that jesus preached in john chapter six
it'll never be that good and even the greatest sermon i could ever deliver whatever that was and however you would ever quantify that
let's just say you could objectively say this sermon was the best sermon ever for some reason
it wouldn't even surprise me if people literally quit the church because of that sermon
you know what you shouldn't be surprised when people walk away from god or the things of god or church
if they walked away from jesus like if they're literally leaving the word manifested
and think about this i don't give y'all free food like he does we're not in the middle of the wilderness and i'm just giving you free bread
i can't even heal any of you unless god by a miracle allows my prayers to come and intercede
but like i can't just lay hands on you and recover like jesus was i've never gotten a guy that was blind and gave him sight
i mean think about they're walking away from jesus christ folks if they're walking away from jesus christ
don't be surprised when people walk away from church today from pastors today
i don't care what pastor is it's like oh well if this is a good pastor then they wouldn't walk away
no people walk away from jesus like it you shouldn't be surprised that people are going to quit when it comes to christianity
in fact the longer you stay around the more you should never be surprised
i mean if you've been in a church for a long period of time you see it change all the time
people coming and going people coming and going and look it's not to say that these people are bad
i'm not trying to be down on these people i just don't want you to have unrealistic expectations
and think that this is shocking or surprising that people are coming and going you should expect it
you should anticipate it and you need to expect it because if you don't it could affect you in a really negative way
because when people quit it affects other people
you want to know why many left because some started leaving and then just once you get a few people going it's just lots of people start going
lots of people are going to be affected by a quitter
go to john chapter 21 go to john chapter 21
you know this is what jesus said will you also go away
hey after everybody left he looked at his 12 disciples hey are you going to quit too
i mean what if literally 90% of the church just stood up and left
right now you would feel pretty awkward like am i supposed to leave
like you'd think like what do they know that i don't know
but then here's the question it's like are you going to go away if 90% of the people or 98% of the people quit serving jesus christ
are you going to go away also and what did peter say
lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life
it's like why would i give up on church
i mean where else am i going to go like go to the cowboys game
go watch march madness
go start reading the book of the quran
no one's going to do that
just out of the sheer boredom i mean the thing is just complete trash
no king james bible believing christian could ever read the book of quran without trying really hard
like that is more difficult than virtually any other task
it's just so boring i mean what are you going to do
you could make more money you could go have some fun you could go sleep or whatever
but it's like that's all vain
oh will everybody else quit ok we'll let them quit
peter's like hey where would we go that doesn't even make any sense
thou hast the words of eternal life
you know what church is the institution that jesus christ died for
why would i walk away from church no matter how many people quit
no matter how many people walked away
and because we're a smaller church because we're a newer church
we've definitely grown a lot every year
i mean if you just look at the sheer number or just the quantity of people
is actually seeing growth almost every year
but i don't want you to think that that's always normal or always natural
that a church is always going to be growing
many times churches kind of ebb and flow
and they could go through any stage at any period of time
and it's not even necessarily indicative of how well the church is going
because of the fact that let's look at many churches that are growing like a weed
you know why they're growing because they're literally a weed
and then sometimes a lawn needs to be cut
and you know what it looks better after it's been cut
and sometimes the lawn needs to grow and it looks better after it grows
let's not sit here and wonder
hey am i going to go to church because it's growing or shrinking or anything
no no no no
just go to church because that's the right thing to do
hey the ministry that God's given you that you've received
make sure you fulfill it
it doesn't matter what anybody
i mean none of us are going to probably ever have to go through what Jeremiah did
where he's literally just by himself serving God
and just a complete reprobate nation
please God let us not turn into Jeremiah
you know i don't want to be tested in that way
i sure hope there's a lot more Christians that stay faithful to church
and look there's thousands in this country
it's not like we're even close to that
but even if it happened you should say
you know what i'm going to fulfill the ministry that God's given me
i'm going to stick it out no matter what
but when you quit it affects other people
it hurts other people look at john chapter 21
look at verse 3
Simon Peter saith unto them
i go fishing
they say unto him
we also go with thee
notice after the death burial and resurrection
well i guess in his mind you know he's
you know not necessarily sure about all this but
he at the same time
you know the death burial and resurrection
Peter kind of
he faltered
he stumbled he got backslidden in a sense
like he thought he was willing to die with Christ
he said though none go with thee
he's like i'm going to die with you
i mean that was Peter's attitude
and then he denies Christ multiple times
so he just gets super ashamed
and i think just because of that sin or because of that issue
he's just well
i'm not going to serve God anymore
so he just kind of quits and just
now he's i'm going to go i'm going to just make money
and i think that that's
how it works for a lot of people
i think that a lot of people it's not like they're just necessarily
or just a bad person or whatever
maybe they just get backslidden or they commit a sin
or they do something embarrassing
or they make a mistake or they have an issue
and instead of just trying to like work on that issue
or fix it
or just embrace the mercy and grace offered to them
they just decide to quit because they find that easier
and then they just
what's the one thing to focus on
if you're not going to focus on church just making money right
just go back to business just make money
but you know when God's giving you a ministry to fulfill Peter
it's not going to go that well
i mean look what it says in verse 3
they went forth and entered into a ship immediately
and that night they caught nothing
oh you're going to make money Peter?
have fun
this makes me think of like
some of us preachers that have gotten a lot of hate online
it's like
it'd be funny if it's like okay
now I'm just going to quit church and quit pastoring
I'm just going to try and make a lot of money
and be popular with the world
I've already ruined that
like they're not going to like me
they're going to be like weren't you that hate preacher?
yeah we're not, bye
you know
it's like I could
I have way more chance of doing well
making money while staying serving God
than if I just quit and just like
hey I'm just going to focus on making money
and catch nothing literally
now again most people
that go to our church or whatever they don't care at all
I'm just saying like
that's kind of funny, it's Peter
it's not just like a random person
or a random disciple of Jesus
this was Peter
the guy that literally cut off a Roman's ear
this guy can't go back to the world
hey you've been given a ministry Peter
do that ministry
do the work that God has given you
be faithful
no one forced you to be Peter
but continue being Peter
you decided to leave your father's business
then leave it
you know you made that decision
get all the way in
and focus on the ministry
make sure that you're keeping the ministry the focus
go to Numbers chapter 32
and notice when Peter quit
other people quit too
this is what you don't understand
people will never understand
is how you personally affect other people
when you quit
it affects other people
I saw this video
and it was a dad
and he was just saying
this is the reason why I work so hard
and then he's like
he's in his car
and he's driving home
and he gets to his garage
his garage is going up
his daughter is already standing in the garage waiting for him
and he said every single day
I come home
she's waiting for me
she's like 8 or 9 years old
just a normal little girl
and she's like hey daddy I'm glad you're home
and he said the reason why I don't give up on life
and the reason why I keep working hard
is for that person right there
and you know what
why would I want to give up on life
or get blackpilled on life
there's so many people looking up to you
and even if you didn't even have children
just everybody
has so many people in their lives
that are looking to you
and they like you and they're encouraged by you
even young single guys in this room
I guarantee that there's other
young single guys in this room that look to you
and like your example
like your zeal and you're motivating other people
people are excited to go to church
and go soul winning and read the Bible
because you're reading the Bible
people are zealous
they like the fact that you're steadfast
they like that you have courage
they like that you're in the fight
and you know when you quit
other people are discouraged
and it affects them greatly
I guarantee all of you
don't realize the impact you have
on other people
you may think a little bit
but I guarantee there's so many more people
that are impacted by you and your presence
than you give credit for
and often
myself
I think of tons of people
that I don't see
like when I go to church and I'm thinking
I want to see this person
and then I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't get to see them
or that I haven't seen them
or that they don't get to participate
or that they're not there
I'm always missing people
and I wish I could see them
now look at Numbers 32
now the children of Reuben
the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle
and when they saw the land of Jezer
and the land of Gilead
that behold the place was a place for cattle
the children of Gad and the children of Reuben
came and spake unto Moses
and to Eleazar the priest
and unto the princes of the congregation saying
Adoroth and Diabeneh and Jezer and Nimra
and Heshbon and Eleali
and Shemban and Nebo and Beon
even the country which the Lord
smote before the congregation of Israel
is a land for cattle
and thy servants have cattle
oh it's just a perfect fit
this is for cattle, we got cattle, hey
wherefore said they, if we have found grace in thy sight
let this land be given unto thy servants
for a possession
and bring us not over Jordan
and Moses said unto the children of Gad
and to the children of Reuben
shall your brethren go to war
and shall ye sit here
and wherefore discourage ye the heart
of the children of Israel
from going over into the land
which the Lord have given them
the word wherefore in the Bible
means why
why are you discouraging
the heart of your brethren
we're just going to go homesteading
for a while
we're just going to go and build a farm
and just have fun and just relax
you guys go fight the battle
you guys go do the work of the Lord
we are just going to build wealth
and just enjoy and just have fun
you know what, this is not the life
this is the life to build and enjoy
and to have fun
this is the life to work
and to work for the Lord
and do the ministry of the Lord
and to not discourage our brethren
because if I just say
you know what, nuts to Steadfast Baptist Church
I could make more money
putting more effort and energy to making money
which again
apart from God just like cursing me
or not giving me favor
I absolutely could make way more money
if I put all my effort and energy
into just making money
I know how to make money
I know how Jews and money and gold
and real estate work
I could make tons
I know how business works
I know how to make money
other people know how to make money
hey, that is not my goal in life
your goal in life should not be
to just see how wealthy you can possibly get
now look, when I clock on at work
when I have the work hat on
maximize revenue
there is nothing wrong with trying to earn as much as you can
and do a great job
but here is the thing, I take that hat off
and I make sure
that that is not the primary hat
that I wear and I am putting on
the ministry hat
and I am putting on the thing that God has given me
and I am making sure I am taking care of that
as my main priority
and we need to make sure
that what we do
is not discouraging the heart
of the brethren
this is a selfish attitude
so many Christians are just selfish
they only think about themselves
they only think what is good for them
they are not willing to be burdened for other people
and you know what, sometimes you have to think about this
going to church
reading the Bible, going soul winning
praying for people
it is not about you, it is about other people
and you know what, going into the promised land
to fight the enemies
was not necessarily always about you
because you are not going to inherit all of it
you are going to inherit a small portion of it
but you know what, you are going to conquer
tons of it
for other people
and you know what, church
is a blessing to other people
do not think about
serving God as what you are going to only get out of it
because then you just have that selfish bug
and eventually you just find yourself
on the other side of Jordan
I am pretty sure cattle
did fine in the promised land
considering the fact that
they were literally offering
thousands and thousands of bullocks
with Solomon
I think that cattle did fine
it was just an excuse
it was just that they are lazy
it was just that they were selfish
and they were a quitter
why do people quit on Jesus?
because they are selfish
they quit and they give up
and what is the response?
well, look at verse 8
when I sent them
from Kadesh Barnea
to see the land
for when they went up under the valley of Eshkol
and saw the land, they discouraged the heart
of the children of Israel
that they should not go into the land
which the Lord had given them
and the Lord's anger was kindled the same time
and he swear
saying, surely
none of the men that came up
out of Egypt
from 20 years old and upward
shall see the land
which I swear unto Abraham
unto Isaac and Jacob
because they have not wholly followed me
God got super mad
at the children of Israel
and he swear
but not the swearing that everybody else is thinking
hey, notice that the Lord swared
you know what swearing means?
making a promise
not using four letter words
folks, sorry, that's a different
kind of anger that you were thinking about
God swear that these people
aren't going to enter in the promised land
the only swearing the Bible talks about
is promises
now, look at verse 13
and the Lord's anger
was kindled against Israel
if we read the whole context
and the whole chapter
it's just God's super angry, super mad
super frustrated
God gets angry at people when they quit
God gets mad at people for quitting
why? because of how it affects
other individuals
when they want to quit, it affects other people
when the spies went in the land
and said nah, let's quit, let's not go in the promised land
God got mad at them
God gets mad when people
are giving up, God is not pleased
with Peter for giving up
and not going out and catching
I mean, Peter's an expert fisherman
for him to not catch any fish
it was an obvious sign from God saying like
no, I'm not going to let you succeed
when you're a quitter, I'm mad at you
just like God didn't let the children of Israel
enter the promised land and enjoy what?
the blessing of the Lord
and the prosperity of the land
they had to wander in the wilderness
it's the same when the fisherman gives up
well, now God's not going to let you catch fish
the way that you caught fish in the past
but you know what?
when you're doing the Lord's will, he'll bring in the promised land
and you'll succeed in both areas of life
you know, it's silly, it's like
I want to succeed financially
well, giving up on God is not the way
I want to succeed financially
look, the people that are succeeding financially
are ungodly
they are super wicked people
they're not like
backslidden Christians
I never run into these
backslidden Christians
who are just like, man, I'm killing it
you know, I
I decided to give up on church
and then I found it at Amazon
you know, it's like, no
that's not how it works
okay, and look
I'm sure that there could be some temporary success
I'm sure maybe they have some
a little bit of pleasure and everything like that
but you know, many times
people are going to thrive just as much
or even better when they stay faithful to God
don't think that like
well I have to forsake God to succeed
financially or in this world
you don't have to, there's plenty of people in the Bible
that succeeded just as financially
as anybody ever
Solomon, Job
Abraham
they didn't give up on God
and then God made them the wealthiest men to ever live
okay
and God can give you great wealth
God's not afraid to give wealth
unto good people
but you know what, those people were faithful to God
and even Job
he lost all of it and then he got it all back
God may cause your finances to come and go
the Apostle Paul talked about how
he went through different times where he had a lot
and then he didn't have very much
different seasons of life
but you know what, no matter what happens to us financially
it shouldn't matter
because our goal is to fulfill the ministry
that we've been given
and praise God, when I die
my net worth doesn't come with me
it's given my children
and you know what, if I give my children
a whole bunch of money or not any money
it doesn't really matter
it really doesn't matter
and in fact, many times when parents give
tons of money to their kids
their kids end up being horrible people
and I'm not against
giving wealth to your children
don't hear me wrong
but we should be careful because giving money to your children
can sometimes ruin them
it would almost be better that they get it later in life
after having worked really hard
than giving them when they're really young
or they haven't done anything
or they haven't accomplished anything
you know, I feel like I was very foolish
as a young person
if I had been given multimillion dollar trust
at age 20
or 22, I guarantee
I would have made some really bad decisions
at that age
even now, I'm not even saying that I'm wise enough
to handle that kind of money today
you know, probably better just get rid of most of it
because
money can corrupt people's minds and hearts
and attitudes
you know, what do I need money for?
I already, we live in Texas
we eat like kings
like, the brisket's not gonna taste any better
the steak isn't gonna taste any better, folks
the steak isn't gonna taste any better
I mean, I love ribs
I feel like, when I make the ribs that I make
I'm like, they're not gonna get any better, folks
like, I've figured it out
okay, my wife's rolls
she's figured it out
you give me millions and millions of dollars
the rolls aren't gonna get any better
the brisket and the ribs
I mean, it's not gonna get any better
yeah, could I have a bigger house?
sure, but you know what?
clean it now
I don't wanna mow the lawn now
yeah, you could, you could do
I could do a few more things, I could maybe go on a few more trips
but it's like, if you gave me endless amounts of wealth
I mean
nothing really needs to change
I don't really need anymore
that's why you look at these rich people and they have like, 40 cars
it's like, what's the point?
you just look at 39 of them
I can go online and look at any car right now
I can just go to the car dealership
and I can just look at it too
oh wow, that's a cool car
you know, and they think like, I don't wanna drive it
because then it'll bring the value down
and I can wreck it
you know, you live in Dallas
it's not even that fun anyways, because traffic is terrible
okay
imagine you have this fancy sports car
and then you have to go drive in traffic
it's like, that's extra frustrating
at least when you have a V4
you don't even care
you're just like, whatever, I'm slamming the gas
go fast, you know
go over to 2 Timothy chapter 4
you know, quitting on God
doesn't solve any problems for you
it's just a selfish attitude
and it's gonna make things worse
in the long run, for sure
and we as Christians
we need to be careful that we're not participating
in this cancel culture because
here's the problem, when you quit
not only are you hurting yourself
you're gonna hurt other people in the long run
we need to be careful
what we do, because it affects
a ton of people
and this is found all over the Bible
I'm just kind of focusing on some verses
that talk about people giving up
look what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10
for Demas hath forsaken me
having loved this present world
and has departed on the Thessalonica
Cretans, Galatia, Titus, and Dalmatia
here's some great guys
there are probably some of the greatest Christians at the time
that they were faithful
there are probably people that you're thinking like
this guy is really dedicated to the ministry
but then
he gave up
it's sad
it's sad, but you know what
don't let it affect you if Demas forsakes you
don't let it affect you
when other people quit
when other people give up
in fact, look at the Apostle Paul in verse 16
at my first answer
no man stood with me
but all men forsook me
hey, there could be times when literally
no one's on your side
now again, I don't think that we'll ever get to that extreme
but we should anticipate
if the Apostle Paul is being forsaken
by every single person
you know what, we should anticipate
that there could be people that may quit
or forsake us, but you know what
let us fulfill our ministry
don't be the person that just says
well, if everybody else is going to quit
I guess I'll quit too
if everybody else gives up, then I'll give up
no, no, no, you stay steadfast
no, you fulfill the ministry that you've been given
no, you don't go down that road
look at chapter 1
2nd Timothy chapter 1
look at verse 15
the Bible says
this thou knowest
that all they which are in Asia
be turned away from me
of whom are fight jealous and homogeneous
it's so crazy
to think about how the Apostle Paul
is literally single-handedly
founding Christianity all over the world
and then towards the end of his ministry
tons of people have
turned against him
I mean, tons of churches that he
founded personally
he's like got these people saved
ministered to them, and loved them
and done good unto them
and they've turned away from him
he's saying like a whole section, like a whole part of the country
has turned away from him
you know, it
if it wasn't in the Bible
it'd be hard to understand how it works sometimes
but here's a practical application
it's like Pastor Anderson
has like single-handedly built people's churches
and then the whole church has turned away from him
it's like
all of Florida is turned away from Pastor Anderson
yet he like single-handedly
almost built all these churches
got people saved, got them plugged in
got them zealous, got them into a specific church
and then now
they've turned against him and they don't even like
they wouldn't even welcome him in the church
they wouldn't even let him preach at the church
and it's like he single-handedly
was responsible for getting them to the place that they're at
now again
all the time people are ministered
to multiple people, it's not like just one person individually
I'm sure that
every one of us and everybody in Florida
and everybody in all these other places
that they've had multiple people that have ministered to them
and affected them positively
but I'm just saying like
many times there's a single person
that had the biggest influence or was the kickstart
or a major impact
and it's so weird
how people could literally turn against that individual
but you see it
but here's the thing
that discourage you
just because they quit on Paul
doesn't mean you have to quit on Paul
doesn't mean you have to dislike Paul
doesn't mean that you have to have the same
cancel culture and canceling Paul
I mean it's like they're trying to cancel Paul
Paul's the only reason
they're even in church
like the only reason
you're saved and in church is because of Paul
and then you're trying to cancel Paul now
that's Christian cancel culture for you
it's like Jesus Christ is the only reason
that you're a disciple
and doing these things and knowing all this
and then they quit on Jesus
they quit on Paul
and look if they quit on Jesus and Paul
you better believe people are going to quit on us
because we're not
either of those men
we're not even close
look at verse number 8
be not therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord
nor of me as prisoner
but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God
hey, you don't be ashamed of the apostle Paul
that's what he's saying
hey Timothy, other people are ashamed of me
but you don't be that way
look at verse 16
so he's saying hey, when I went to jail
this whole section of the world
just turned on me and wants nothing to do with me
but onosiferous it wasn't
hey, God bless onosiferous
God bless onosiferous
God bless the one guy that didn't quit
hey everybody quit, but onosiferous didn't
you be the guy
that refreshes the apostle Paul
that's not ashamed
you be like the Timothy and say like hey
be a partaker of the affliction
don't be a quitter
don't turn off
and many people will quit
but then others
here's the next group
they won't necessarily quit, they just go soft
so a lot of these people
you could say they didn't really quit
I mean they're still in church
they're still going to this Asia church
you know there's still people going to church in Florida
they didn't quit
but they went soft
and by going soft
they're participating in cancel culture
go to 2 Corinthians chapter 12
you know we need to be careful that we also don't go soft
and I think the reason why
a lot of churches go soft
the reason why I believe a lot of churches go soft
it's because the pastor
cannot handle
his church
shrinking
the pastor cannot
handle his church shrinking
so what happens psychologically
is the pastor says I need to
tone down the preaching
he thinks that he's preaching too hard
or offending too many people
and that's why people are leaving
so he changes the preaching to try and build
up his congregation
bring in more people
but what he does is he comes soft
and then by the preaching getting soft
and the pastor getting soft
the congregation gets soft
and then they start
getting you know
canceling the hard preaching
they can't handle the hard preaching
they can't handle the hard preachers
anymore
and again what is the difference between hard and soft
hard is saying everything
even the uncomfortable stuff
soft is saying I only like the good
I only like the comfortable
many churches
they believe all the Bible
but they will only preach the comfortable parts
of the Bible
they'll also only preach things that won't
really make you guys
upset that much
like that would upset the world
that would upset a lot of people that aren't in church
but they're like I don't really want to upset you guys for any reason
the hard preacher
says I'm going to upset you
like my goal
of the nice sermon I'm not going to make any
fags mad this evening
I'm not going to make the atheists mad this evening
I want to make you mad
this evening okay
that's what a hard preacher and again it's not like his
goal is just to make people mad just to make them mad
he's saying you guys need this
like I see something in the Bible
I'm going to preach it
yeah some people might not like that
I'm going to preach anyways
I'm just going to say what the Bible says anyways
now here's another reason
here's a reason why people get soft as well
not only do they get soft
because the preacher gets soft
but sometimes it can also
happen in another way where the
leadership does too much
the leadership does too much
and I want to show you this
2nd Corinthians chapter 12 look at verse 13
for what is it wherein you are inferior
to other churches except it be
that I myself was not
burdensome to you
forgive me this wrong
and this is interesting language
the apostle Paul is trying to say to this church
hey I did something
that's kind of harmful to you guys
and you know what was harmful to them
he wasn't burdensome
that sounds confusing
he's thinking what do you mean
he's saying like I didn't let you guys help me
financially I didn't let
I wasn't a burden to any of you
I was just basically giving everything for free
and just only being a blessing
and only doing good unto you
and somehow I wronged you
now he says in verse
13
I'm sorry verse 14
behold the third time I am ready to come to you
and I will not be burdensome to you
for I seek not yours but you
for the children ought not to lay up for the parents
but the parents for the children
and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you
though the more abundantly I love you
the less I be loved
so here's what can happen
is sometimes you love somebody so much
or you do good unto somebody so much
that you actually cause them to be soft
you cause them to be soft
because you're doing so much
that they end up getting weak
imagine if I went to the gym
and I'm trying to help
maybe my son's a teenager
he's older I'm trying to help him lift weights
and I give him some weight
and he can't lift it or he struggles lifting it
and so I just lift it for him
or imagine hey you're going out to work out of the gym
and you want to do some bench press
and you say hey can you spot me
and the spotter is just lifting the weight for you
well here's the thing
over time you're going to get weaker
you're going to atrophy
because you need to actually be pushed a little bit
and do the work so that you get stronger
and so sometimes if you do too much
of someone else's job for them
the more you love on them
the weaker and the softer that they get
and this can even be a weird thing
in like marriage or in relationships
that if you're doing too much
for your spouse
that they could actually grow a little bit of contempt for you
like if men
don't make their wives
serve them
their wives will actually not love them as much
like you need to make sure
that your wife is still serving you
now again I'm all for husbands
crossing the aisle on certain occasions
and doing good
hey help with the dishes some
help with dinner some
help clean some help with the kids some
you know what do not take over her job
do not take over her tasks
and make sure that she's still doing her job
because somehow for some reason
it actually causes her to love you more
and if you do too much
she could get so soft
or just get so used to it
or so relaxed that now all of a sudden
it's like she doesn't look at you the same
and it's just this weird relationship
this is what the red pill community
talks about
cause they always say like why do girls
like the bad boy
or like bad guys
and here's one reason why that phenomenon
sometimes exists is the fact that the guys
treat them like trash and don't do anything
for them and it causes them
those women psychologically
to feel like I have to do more
to try and gain their attention
or to win them over
cause the guy that's literally spoon feeding them
they have contempt towards them
because they're thinking like
I don't even do anything
and you're just so over the top
and again is that the right attitude
no should you treat women like trash
no that is not what I'm saying
am I saying it's wrong to love people
no but here's the thing
sometimes you need to love people with tough love
and sometimes you need to make sure
that you're still making them do things
hey your children
don't do everything for them
make them work hard
make them put in effort
don't just go over the top
these parents I mean think about
these celebrities and people they're like
carrying their dogs around in purses and stuff
the dog is going to forget how to walk
it's not even
going to be a dog anymore
it's like hey if you want
a wife make sure your wife is being
a wife because if you take away
the wife away from her then she'll stop being a wife
and if you want your children
to work hard and be strong and be manly
don't be so
easy on them
don't do everything for them
make sure that you are
giving them proper
opportunity to serve
your wife and children
are there to serve you
you need to make them do labor
and I worry sometimes even
with church
that if you baby the congregation too much
and you do too much for them sometimes
they go to resent it too
and this is the worry I have a little bit with the new IFB
is I sometimes worry that
our style church or our church
specifically we almost give so much
stuff away for free
like we give people so much stuff
for free and free events
and we bless
people with a social life
even if they don't have one
and then people start to resent all of it
and they don't even
appreciate it anymore
whereas other churches they're making
their people pay for everything
and work so hard for it and do all this labor
and then sometimes they like it more
and it's just like we need to be
careful
that we as a congregation
don't start to resent people for loving us too much
again
it's not to say that the right
attitude is like you're loving me too much
so I can be a spoiled brat
no we need to be careful that when people are doing
good unto us that we don't become spoiled brats
that we still appreciate the things that
we've been given and we don't take
them for granted
the apostle Paul, taking him for
granted, it's crazy
go to 3rd John
you know John Mark was traveling
with the apostle Paul
and then he ended up quitting
now I don't know why he quit
maybe he just got a little soft
I mean it's probably not a coincidence
and then all of a sudden the apostle Paul
just rips into
Simon the sorcerer
I'm sorry not Simon the sorcerer
Eliamus
and he just like
curses him in the name of the lord and then all of a sudden
John Mark just departs
it's like oh John Mark you can't handle the reprobate doctrine bro
oh did you not like
Romans 1 there
John Mark you got a little soft buddy
now again I don't know why he quit
maybe it was completely unrelated
but it seems like it's plausible and
likely that maybe he just couldn't
handle the harsh sermon
the mean sermon
and look isn't that a lot of people
they come to the church and they like the soul winning
and then they hear the hard sermon and they're just like bye
well I know it's in the Bible
but I just don't like what he said
I don't like how he said it
it's just mean
they're just mean spirited
the apostle Paul was so mean spirited
he called him a child of the devil
he literally said to Eliamus
thou child of the devil
thou enemy of all righteousness
and then he curses
him in the name of the lord and he blinds him literally
that was not a nice sermon
that was not
an experience where you're going to walk away and be like
I think he likes this guy
but you know what
that was in the Bible
you know people didn't like it when Jesus was
rebuking the Pharisees they got nervous
they're like hey you're offending them
you're offending the lawyers you're offending us
yeah you know Jesus
wasn't YouTube safe
okay
why?
because he preached against the Jews
that's the number one offense okay
Jesus was a Jew
well not the way you think
now
we want to make sure that we don't go soft
you know I've always thought this
I don't want to look back at church
like five years from now and think
man the sermons were really hard back then
oh wow I could never
say that now in church
like that would be embarrassing
that would be kind of a shame if we ever got to that point
you know I don't
I don't want to grow just for the sake of growing
I'm all for the church growing
but you know what I would be more pleased
if I look back in time and I say hey we used to
be a little bigger
but hey the sermons haven't gone soft at all
than saying hey we got giant
but I could never preach that
I could never say that
that is not my goal with this church
it will never be my goal with this church
and if someone ever threatened me
like hey I'm going to leave this church because of this sermon
or what you said I'll just preach it again
because apparently it needs to be preached
you know what we should care about the truth
not anything else
third John
look at verse 9
I wrote unto the church but the atropies
who love it to have the preeminence among them
receiveth us not
wherefore if I come I will remember his deeds
which he did with parading against us with malicious words
and not contenteth with
neither did he himself receive the brethren
and forbideth them that would and cast them
out of the church look there are churches today
that will not receive
other Christians think about that
like there are
fundamental baptists that
would not let other fundamental
baptists go to their church
like they agree on salvation
they agree on baptism
they agree on the King James Bible
they agree on eternal security
they agree on virtually almost every
core doctrine oh but they're not
pre-trebor
oh but they don't think a bunch of
anti-Christ Jews are God's chosen people
like literally
I was speaking to somebody
and I was talking about
you know other churches and he said
yeah they'll probably never want to work with you
or talk with you because of your different views
and I'm like that's silly
you know it's not like
I have to go into their church
and preach the synagogue of Satan
or something
now they need that preached
but at the end of the day
you know it's not like
this is so funny about it
it's not like they're preaching their version of that verse
it's like you're so mad at me
for preaching about that okay
why don't you give us the really nice sugar coated
version of the synagogue of Satan
explain to us how we're wrong on that
right?
I mean if we're so wrong on these doctrines
then why don't you point to all the verses
that we're bringing up and give them as in good context
well
they're just
they're soft
that's the reason
and because they're soft they won't receive other Christians
there are churches out there that will cancel you
because they're soft
other churches today
they'll cancel
their pastors won't hang out with you
they won't talk positively about you
they won't even mention you
because they're so soft
we should never be soft
because churches won't preach hard
they can never let another person
come in and preach hard
because they're afraid of being outshined
in their own church
and let's just be real
if I bring in another preacher
and he preaches way better than me
whatever that means
or you resonate with his sermon way more
or you like his preaching style more
what is something that's likely
an outcome of that?
maybe you listen to another one of his sermons, right?
I mean isn't it realistic to say
if I brought in someone you've never heard
and he preaches an amazing sermon that you really resonate with
and you say wow I really like that
you might listen to another one of his sermons
you might go online and check him out
and then you might even visit his church
and in fact if he's such a great preacher
some of you might even just move to his church
eventually in the future
that's a reality
that's how real life works
so you know what these people are terrified of?
Pastor Steven Anderson
coming in their church
and preaching a sermon way better than they've ever preached before
and then people are like
I liked that sermon, I'm going to listen to another one
and then they listen to another one
and they say wow I really like that one too
and then eventually
life changes, circumstances
they say I need to move
I might move to Phoenix
and those preachers, they're so terrified
of losing their congregation
and they're so soft
they can't let a better preacher
come into their church
so that's why they have all these failing traveling evangelists
come in and preach garbage sermons
you know what I've never
I've never had the traveling evangelists come in and think
wow that's way better than my pastor
it's like here's their regurgitated
Kent Hovind presentation on how to get saved
how to get saved
it's like dude we're all saved
or reprobate
that's it
like you're not going to get the reprobate saved in here
okay
with your just little powerpoint presentation
and they just preach the exact same sermon
over and over
and look the pastor's not threatened by them
because number one their church doesn't even exist
they're on deportation
on deputation
it's like
these people
they're just doing nothing
hibernation
you're not going to follow the traveling evangelist
to the next church he goes
and hear the exact same sermon again
I mean think about it
the traveling evangelist preaches the exact same sermon
150 times
you're not going to go follow him
and literally listen to the exact same sermon
150 times
so there's zero threat to them
so that's why they love these guys coming in
because number one they don't even care about preaching
they don't even want to preach because they're soft
let me say something
I'm a pastor so I'm going to preach
I'm not going to give up my pulpit
two or three times a week
to a traveling evangelist
it's not going to happen
that's weird
it's weird when pastors don't want to preach
why?
because they've gone soft
because they're afraid of the Bible
and they're afraid of other preachers
who are willing to preach the Bible
why?
because the Bible has power
and they're afraid of that power
and they're afraid of losing their influence
and they become deotrophies
and they just love the preeminence
they just want to say oh look
I have 500 people in my church
oh yeah? well if you start letting them listen to another preacher
you might lose them
and they're terrified of that
they're scared
and they're scared of the fact that they teach false doctrine
they're afraid that they've gone soft
they're afraid when they see somebody that preaches hard
and is pro-soul winning
that it's going to cause them to lose
power, influence, fame, and money
and there's so many preachers that just care about money today
they care about notoriety
you know what?
nuts to me
if I refuse to have a preacher
preach in my pulpit because he's better than me
in fact
in fact, this is my philosophy
I have the exact opposite philosophy
I constantly think like
who is the absolute best preacher that I could possibly get
to come preach for us?
why wouldn't I?
that makes no sense
and you know if half my church says we're going to all follow that guy
because he's better and he's doing more for God
praise God
he must increase but I must decrease
my goal in life
is not to see how many people follow me
but to see how many people follow Christ
and if there's a preacher out there that's better than me
and you're going to be more blessed by him
who am I to stand in your way?
who am I to stand in the way of truth?
who am I to stand in the way of
somebody getting their marriage right
or getting soul winning right
or getting on fire for God
to literally get so envious
of other preachers
to say like I'm going to cancel you
you know why they're canceling other preachers?
because they're afraid of them
and because they're soft
stop being soft and be hard
hey if you're not a good preacher
become a better preacher
don't cancel the good preachers
you're hurting your congregation
hey we got the apostle Paul
and Peter and John in the audience
but we're not going to let them preach
look if you had apostle Paul
bring him in the pulpit
I'll sit down and shut up
like who am I
to get here
it's just it's ridiculous
go if you went to Judges chapter 15
not only that
they've gotten so soft
that these preachers
they literally rejoice
when anything negative happens
to good preachers
you lose a YouTube channel
and they're like giddy about it
they're like excited
oh I'm so glad that
Pastor Jason got bad at YouTube
or the Baptist bias is gone
I'm going to make a video celebrating
what's wrong with you
like you're so soft
and why are you so excited to participate
in Christian cancel culture
you're such an envious dork
you know why you're not canceled
on YouTube because you're a dork
because literally no one watches your sermons
no one can even find them
like the reason why your channel can't get deleted
is because no one can even find it
to find you
you're a dork
and the reason why you can't get deleted
is because no one can even find it to delete it
I mean
the algorithm is so hard
now to find any content
I mean your one view
wasn't affecting anybody
and it's like
I'm just so glad that they've been taken off
well look I could start a YouTube channel tomorrow
and tell no one and get more views still
but then it would eventually get deleted
and you'd be so excited again
but you know what
I'm being such an envious dork
why would I want to be a Christian
that just my whole life is just being envious
of other Christians
and there's certain Christians out there
there's certain pastors out there
there are pastors out there
that they have YouTube channels
dedicated just to mocking the new IFB
it's like really
of all the problems in the world
the new IFB is the worst
like why in the world
would you just be hyper focused
like I'm talking about Christian pastors
that believe the same on us
they believe salvation by faith
they believe in eternal security
they believe in King James Bible
they're just dedicated and making videos attacking us
and then this is the vast majority of their videos
oh these people are constantly attacking people
we need that meme
where this guy's like looking with his eyes
like what do you mean
that's all you're doing
you're constantly attacking Christians
you're attacking them constantly
to prove how I'm not like that
you're a giant hypocrite
and a dork
and you're just envious
but why does he do it
he's literally trying to cancel
he wants you to not follow
not subscribe, not get plugged in
you know what, that's silly
if there's a pastor out there
that I didn't like personally
but he's saved and people are following him
and being blessed by his ministry
he cursed him
why should I want
you know, it's like
I don't want that for people
there's been preachers that I've felt like I need to separate from
or I've even called out at times
but I've noticed, hey look, they have the right gospel
they're reaching people
I want them to be successful
and there's people in all kinds of parts of this country
in this world that I'm not going to reach personally
why would I want them to not reach them
it's silly
it's not like I personally have to get everybody saved
or doesn't count
or you're a church or something
it's just such a bad attitude
to participate in this Christian
cancel culture
and here's the third
group, number one group
is quitters, number two group is the soft people
and here's the third group is the cowards
there are a lot of cowards out there
today that are participating in cancel culture
look at Judges chapter 15
and look at verse number 8
and he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter
and he went down and dwelt in the top of
the rock Edom
so this is Samson
he just wins a great battle against the Philistines
who are the Lord's enemies
verse 9, then the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah
and spread themselves in Lehi
and the men of Judah said, why are you come up against us
and they answered, to bind Samson are we come up
to do to him as he had done to us
then three thousand men of Judah
went to the top of the rock Edom
and said to Samson
knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us
what is this that thou has done unto us
and he said unto them
as they did unto me
so have I done unto them
and they said unto them
we are come down to bind thee
that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines
and Samson said unto them
swear unto me that you will not fall upon me yourselves
and they spake unto them saying no
but we will bind thee fast
and deliver thee into their hand but surely we will not kill thee
and they bound him with two new cords
and brought him up from the rock
this is so sad
Samson is their greatest hero
Samson is their number one hero
he's fighting their enemies
he wins a great battle against their enemies
and then three thousand of them come
and tie them up and give them over to the enemies
don't you know that the Jews are our rulers?
oh I'm sorry Philistines
oh what happens?
you preach a great sermon against the Jews
that's biblical
and then oh the Jews are going to come after your church
if you invite this guy to preach for you
so they'll just bind you up
and deliver you over to them
and say hey don't you know the Jews are the rulers over us?
yeah
but they're my enemy
they're the enemy of the Lord
why didn't they say Samson
they're coming for us
join us
we're going to fight them
we're going to lead the charge
why didn't they say
I mean he's unstoppable
Samson is literally unstoppable
he's going to kill a thousand people
with a jawbone and ass right after this
just think if all three thousand of them joined him
they could have just defeated all the Philistines
but instead they participate in cancer culture
and they say hey I know this is the greatest Christian we have
this is the greatest warrior we have
this is the greatest fire we have
but you know what?
we're too much of a coward to fight
that's the enemy
that is the type of Christianity
that we have in the world
and look I wish it didn't exist
but let me tell you something
it exists
our country is filled with quitters
it's filled with soft people
and it's filled with cowards today
and you know what?
we need some real men
some real steadfast Christians
who are not going to succumb
to the pressures of this world
and they're going to say you know what?
I'm not going to quit
I'm not going to go soft
and you know what?
I'm willing to fight the Lord's enemies
because it's so frustrating
how virtually no church will do anything
with Steadfast Baptist Church
it's so frustrating
that churches will say yeah
we'll hang out with you
yeah you can come participate with us
you can do stuff with us
and then you make a video saying
oh sorry no
we can't really do that anymore
oh no we don't want to hang out with you anymore
I've scheduled and booked preachers
and pastors to come preach for us
they're all fine
they're great
then I make a public video about it
oh I can't come preach for you now
all the time
it's ridiculous
not only that then they'll slander you too
so many Christians
they'll just slander you
and they'll say evil things about you
and they'll attack you
and let me tell you something
if you're serving God
don't think that you won't get slandered
don't think that people won't just come out of the woodwork
and betray
I mean this is betrayal from his closest friends
his closest kindred
his brethren, his friends
I mean 3,000 of them come out of the woodwork
to literally tie him up and hand him over to the enemy
Christians that would literally tie you up
and hand you over to the enemy
if they feel threatened
I
I hate to say this
but I guarantee
that if
literally sodomites came
and destroyed our church
there would be many Baptists that would say
well they deserved it
I mean
they were fighting with them
they deserve
or if they said hey
you know what
we're going to have to take away your building
you're going to have to go through lawsuits
we're going to have protesters
come and protest your church
or you can sign this document
and we'll put everybody in steadfast
in jail
I wonder how many churches would sign that document
I wonder how many churches
would be willing to have some protesters
and look that's what they're afraid of
oh why won't you do anything with steadfast
they're afraid that protesters might show up
they're afraid that maybe they could get a lawsuit
they're afraid of what
persecution and they're a coward
and they won't fight the Philistines
and so you know what if they won't fight
then no one gets to fight
well you know what nuts to you because I'm going to still fight
and even if you bind me
and tie me up and say you can't do it
well you know what I'll find another way to fight
I'll just get the jawbone of an ass
because you know what I'm a steadfast
Bible believing Christian and I'm not going to quit
because you quit
I'm not going to give up because you got soft
and you know what I'm not going to quit because you quit
well no one's going soul winning
well nuts to you I'm going to go soul winning
well we're not going to use the KJ's Bible anymore
well we're going to use it
well my wife's going to put on pants
my wife isn't
well I make all the meals for my wife
well my wife's making meals for me
well all my kids wear lavender
well my kids aren't
it's Easter
ok go for it buddy
you know what we need to stop being so soft
and stop being so effeminate
and stop being so cowardly
and stop just quitting on everything
and quitting on everyone
hey Archippus you need to take heed
to the ministry that you've received and
thou fulfill it
do the job that you've been given
well I'm not the pastor neither is Archippus
ok but you know what
you need to take seriously the job that you've been given
the ministry that you've been given
I'm so sick and tired of Christian
cancel culture
you know what makes me more mad
than YouTube cancelling my channel
or deleting it is when Christians cancel on us
when pastors cancel on us
when Christians quit
you know what
it didn't even hurt my heart at all
when YouTube deleted my channel
in comparison to when someone decides not
to go to church anymore
you know what I pastor
a New Testament local church
I'm not in it to just make an online ministry
now I do some of the extras because I want to try and reach people
and bring more people in
and I'm all for going to the world and contending for the faith
but you know what if I lost all the internet
I'm still going to pastor this church
I'm still going to go and knock on these doors
I'm still going to try and love the people in this room
and you know what the more I love
sometimes the less I'm loved
but you know what my goal
is not to see how much
of a popularity contest I can win
I've already lost okay
I'm not in it for that
go to Luke chapter 6
but let's make sure that we don't have this attitude
when others quit we don't quit
we encourage them to come back
hey John Mark get back in the fight
and you know what sometimes it works
sometimes John Marks get back in the fight
and you know what there's no
there's no shame in coming back
the only shame is in staying quitting
no one is mad at you for coming back
people are mad at you for not coming back
and you know what
get harder
hey you got a little soft
start working out
start doing some work
start putting in some effort
get tough again
say like hey I didn't like that sermon
but I needed it
and don't be a coward
cowards accomplish nothing
cowards accomplish
nothing
nothing has ever been built or successfully
sustained through cowardice
oh well
I'm trying to preserve my life
you know what there's a reason why pre-defense
does not win in football games
there's a bunch of cowards
you know it's like they're trying to
lose the game on purpose and they usually do
it's like hey in Christianity
let's not play pre-vent defense
sorry if you don't know football
it's basically where they stop playing real defense
and they just like stand way back
and they even let the other team
catch the ball on purpose
and they're just hoping that maybe they'll tackle them
and they just won't score
but usually by being so soft on defense
and not really playing and just trying to back
off a little bit it actually
makes it way easier for them to really score
sometimes a good defense is a good offense
and when it comes to Christianity
we should never get off the pedal
we need to keep fighting
keep pressing
keep pushing
and I don't want you to ever have this attitude
I hate this attitude
God hates this attitude
hoping that people that we personally don't like
get canceled
we need to stop
Christian cancel culture
we should be willing to like
other Christians that we don't like
how does that make sense
well you know what
this is what the Bible says
rejoice not when thine enemy falleth
and let not thine heart be glad when he stumble
you know woe to the Christians who are excited
when we lose a YouTube channel
God doesn't like that
you know if I heard that a church
that I don't like or a pastor I don't like
like they lost members
I'm not like of course
he deserves that
I'm thinking like man that's sad
I hope that those people come back
or you know I hope that person stays encouraged
and keeps fighting the good fight of faith
like I don't want bad things to happen
to Christians just because
they make a mistake or do something wrong
you know we should have a charitable attitude
we should pray that God will be merciful and gracious to Christians
when they sin or do wrong
not hope that bad happens to them
not just say like well he was a jerk
so I guess he deserves it
it's a wrong attitude
we should always hope for good
even for our enemies
Jesus literally said to love your enemies
how in the world are Christians loving their enemies
when they're canceling their own brethren
they're binding up their own brethren
but you know if it happens to us
you shouldn't be surprised
no one in this room has an excuse of being surprised
you should recognize
people will quit
five years from now this room
if it happens to that
it's probably more likely
it'll be somewhere else
wherever we find ourselves
it'll look different
people are gonna come and go
people that you think are steadfast
won't be that steadfast
people that you didn't think were steadfast
will be steadfast
sometimes you're thinking like you're still here
I thought you were gonna quit during the sermon
like I can't believe you're still here
like how are you doing this
there have been people that have greatly surprised me
in every category
there are people that are still going to church
and I'm thinking like wow
I thought you were gonna be the first to go
and then there was people that I'm thinking
like wow
I never thought that would happen
you know
people are gonna surprise you
demon surprises you
you're just like okay
Judas surprises people
there's gonna be all kinds of different surprises
you know what, we shouldn't be surprised
think it not strange
okay
but look at this, Luke chapter 6 verse 22
we're gonna finish here
blessed are ye when men shall hate you
and when they shall separate you from their company
and shall approach you
and cast out your name as evil
for the son of man's sake
you know what, here's the positive news about the cancel culture
you're blessed
but we should not be the ones
participating in it
let us not be the ones who cancel
let us not be the ones who quit
on other Christians
let us not be the ones who go soft
on the doctrines of the Bible
let us not be
the ones to rejoice when our enemy
stumbles and to be such a coward
to not fight
for Christianity
to not fight for the Bible, to not fight for truth
and to fight for freedom
we're losing so much freedom in this country
we're turning into a communist hellhole
how in the world are you helping
anything by piling
on to Christian cancel culture
it's insane
let us never be like that
this has always been my philosophy
let them walk away from you
but don't walk away from them
always, we should always be reaching out
and trying, you know again
there are principles where we separate
there are times when we exercise church discipline
there are some of these things
but most of the time it's us trying to say
look, I want to be there, I want to be with you
I want to hang out, you've got to make a change though
change this
but it's not like
hey I'm just going to walk away from you
hey I'm just going to ban you, hey I'm going to quit on you
hey I want you to cancel, hey I hope bad happens to you
you know what, that's an
ungodly attitude
and let us not be that way
let us be the Christians that are steadfast
you know what the opposite of soft is?
steadfast
unmovable
always abounding in the work of the Lord
let it be said of us
5 years, 10 years, 50 years
when we're in eternity in heaven
10,000 years from now
hey, that guy never quit
that guy never got soft
that guy
was never a coward
let us close in prayer
thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us the word of God
for giving us such a great example
I pray that we wouldn't have
people get offended
by people who get soft or quit
or who just are a coward
I pray that
people that do these things
people that do quit
or give up on church
or give up reading the Bible
or give up soul wedding
that we could encourage them
that we could come alongside them
and bless them
and get them to come back to the service of the Lord
I pray that people who get soft
through the word of God
and through good preaching
to become more zealous
and steadfast
and I pray that people who are cowardly
or kind of afraid
that we get emboldened in them
and help them realize that you're on our side
there's no reason to be afraid
there's no reason to quiver
there's no reason to not fight
but rather we can encourage them to fight
and I pray that when people are falling by
beside us
I pray that these attributes that wouldn't
affect us, that we would dig in
closer to the Lord, we'd encourage ourselves in the Lord
and we would keep battling
in Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Alright, for our final song, let's turn to 143
Blessed Assurance
143
Blessed Assurance
Song 143
Blessed Assurance
Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine
Heir of salvation
purges of God
Born of His Spirit
washed in His blood
This is my
glory
This is my
glory
This is my
song
Praising my Savior
all the day long
This is my
glory
This is my
song
Praising my Savior
all the day long
Perfect
salvation
Perfect
visions of
rapture
the first of my sight
angels
who send me
away from above
echoes
of mercy
with prayers of love
This is my
glory
This is my
song
Praising my Savior
all the day long
This is my
glory
This is my
song
Praising my Savior
all the day
long
Perfect
salvation
all is at rest
I am my
Savior
and happy and blessed
watching and waiting
will be the
blood
filled with His
goodness
lost in His love
This is my
glory
This is my song
Praising my
Savior
all the day long
This is my
glory
This is my song
Praising my
Savior
all the day long
This is my
glory
This is my
glory
This is my
glory
This is my
glory
This is my
glory
This is my
glory
This is my
glory