I actually know the math.
I just looked up, and I figured that way.
I don't know.
I just know that.
I don't know.
It's like a real collage of a whole bunch of people.
I can't even get to my file.
I can still write.
I can't even finish it, but it's just
a snapshot of what I've got.
And I can get to my end.
I can't even finish it.
I don't know.
I can't even get to my own file.
But I'm going to work hard to do it on the computer.
I've got files here.
I can't even do it.
You should try that because if you can't get that well, you're just messing it as well as it is.
You actually stick it as well. It's great.
Yeah, you do it.
Thank you so much.
You as well.
Bye.
Thank you.
Bye.
Hi.
Thank you.
So play the first note. I just want to make sure we're on the sixth note.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your song books.
Let's turn our song books to 259 Jesus Saves.
259 Jesus Saves.
Song 259 Jesus Saves.
We have heard the joyful
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Send His lightings all around
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Bear the news to every land
Find the steeps and cross the waves
Alert is our Lord's command
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Waft it on the rolling tide
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Tell to sinners far and wide
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Sing ye islands of the sea
And go back ye ocean gates
Earth shall keep her jubilee
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Sing above the battle strife
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
By His death and endless life
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Sing it softly through the gloom
In the heart for mercy praise
Sing in triumph for the tomb
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Give the winds a mighty voice
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Shout salvation full in dreams
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Shout salvation full and free
Highest hills and deepest caves
This our song of victory
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
Alright, let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this evening and the opportunity
to be gathered together in church tonight. I pray that you bless this service and help us all
to pay attention to the message that's going to be preached and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
For our second song, just a page to the right
260, He is Able to Deliver Thee
Song 260, He is Able to Deliver Thee
Song 260
Tis the grandest
theme through the ages run
Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue
Tis the grandest theme that the world
our son, our God is able to deliver
Thee. He is able to
deliver Thee. He is able
to deliver Thee. Though my sin
oppressed go to Him for rest our God
is able to deliver Thee. Tis the
grandest theme in the earth for me
Tis the grandest theme for a mortal
strain. Tis the grandest theme tell the world
again our God is able to
deliver Thee. He is able
to deliver Thee. He is able
to deliver Thee. Though my sin
oppressed go to Him for rest our God
is able to deliver Thee. Tis
the grandest theme let the tidings roll
to the guilty heart, to the sinful
soul. Look to God in faith He will make
people. Our God is able to
deliver Thee. He is able
to deliver Thee. He is able
to deliver Thee. Though my sin
oppressed go to Him for rest our
God is able to deliver Thee.
Good evening, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist
Church. If you didn't already get a bullet in and you'd like one, just lift your hand nice and high
and one of our ushers can come by and get you a bullet in. On the front we have our Bible memory passage
verse number six, any child 18 or under that can quote
this can receive either ice cream or some pieces of candy. Just quote this
to an usher or myself or brother Dylan. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times
and our regional soul winning times. I'm going to get a count from any soul winning
to report for the last few days. Anything from Monday by chance?
One for Monday, what about Tuesday?
Anything from Tuesday?
Three for Tuesday, what about tonight? Was there anything for tonight by chance?
One, alright. Keep up the good work on our
soul winning. On the right we have our list of several expecting ladies.
Please keep all of them in your prayers. We also have several
prayer requests. We have the Negara family, if you'd please be in prayer for
their whole family for health. Miss Lucy, her mother's tumors,
brother Cameron Hall, his leg healing from
surgery. Verity Baptist Manila, continue to pray for their
just health and they could end their lockdowns.
Also in Australia with Pastor Kevin Sepulveda. Miss
Eva Garcia has a final doctor's appointment October
19th. She would like us to be in prayer for Miss Ginger Kenyon
and continue to remember her and her family. Brother Malcolm
Holden's friend Jonathan with cancer.
Miss Nexus Cooper with health. Lana's cousins
Megan Childers, she's praying for her health
and salvation. Also the Spurgeon family
was praying for some home utility issue.
And then Alicia Naim's dad Mark is in the hospital
or was recently diagnosed with COVID so she's just praying for his health as well.
So a lot of health concerns and some other issues there
so if we continue to pray for all of them, I'll say a quick word of prayer for our church
family now. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us this evening to come and
sing praises, to hear the word of God being preached. I pray that you would
bless all the expecting ladies, that you would bless their pregnancies and give
them a timely birth. I pray that you would also bless all of our other church
family that's either here or not here with various health concerns.
That you could give them favor, you could give them wisdom, if possible you just
help give them full recovery and I pray that you would also just bless the rest of our
church members with their various concerns. Please just help
to give us freedom in the world to preach the gospel in places like the Philippines
and places like Australia and just throughout the whole world I pray that you
just give us free course to preach the gospel so that we can do great things for you and
we do all this in the honor of your son in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
On the back we have a couple events mentioned there. We have music ministry practice
every Sunday at 4 and if you'd like
to participate even just to sing that'd be great. We'll try to incorporate a few of those
songs in our music the next few weeks that way we can all
be belting it out, alright, whenever we have the conference.
And then September 25th we have Peer Words, Soul Wounding Marathon,
False Bible Burning, October 2nd we have the Fall Swap, October
6th through the 10th we have the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship
that Sunday evening if you'd be able
to bring a dessert we're going to have a dessert potluck provided by our church.
We have a kid's spelling bee and we also have a singles
event. I probably need to get a spelling bee sign up sheet but who again
is planning on having their kids participate in the kid's spelling bee just so I have some kind of an idea.
Alright, great. I think we're going to
have a really good turnout and it's going to be tough competition, alright?
That's what I'm expecting. And then also November 13th
we have the Oklahoma City Soul Wounding Marathon. So a lot of Soul Wounding
Marathons. I think I'm going to probably also try and do
a trip in December, I'll get you the date, but to Madame Morris
down there in Mexico and Brownsville. So it's
kind of like we've been going to Renosa and
what's the
McCallen? I was trying to think of the American side.
McCallen and Renosa have been going over there and it's really great there but Brownsville
is just a little bit more south and I think we should
hug that area one time and see what it's like. So
if people want to participate you don't even have to have a passport because you could stay
on stateside the whole time. And even if you don't speak Spanish
they'll probably still be plenty of opportunity to give the gospel. But if you
speak Spanish it's a great trip because even when you're that close
to the border a lot of people only speak Spanish. Once you cross the border
they only speak Spanish. But we'll try to get down there again.
Obviously if something crazy happens
I don't know if we'll reschedule it but I really want to try and make a trip down there
and do some more Soul Wounding because it's some of the most receptive Soul Wounding you'll ever do
in your entire life. And then maybe next year we can go back
to Shreveport because it worked out really well and was really receptive.
So lots of Soul Wounding events to be on the lookout for.
That's pretty much all I have for announcements at the time. Let's go to our third song
for this evening. 343
Revive Us Again.
Give that song 343. Revive
Us Again. 343. Revive Us Again.
We praise Thee O God
For Thy Spirit online
Who hath shown us
Our Savior and spatter our night
Alleluia, bind the glory
Alleluia, Amen
Alleluia, bind the glory
All glory and praise
To the Lamb that was slain
Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain
Alleluia, bind the glory
Alleluia, Amen
Alleluia, bind the glory
Revive us again
Alleluia, bind the glory
Alleluia, Amen
Alleluia, bind the glory
Revive us again
While the offering
plates are being passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 28.
It's Genesis chapter 28.
Genesis 28 the Bible reads
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him,
Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
Arise, go to Paedanarum, to the house of Bethuel,
thy mother's father, and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban,
thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make
thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people.
And give thee the blessing of Abraham to thee, and
to thy seed with thee, that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger,
which God gave unto Abraham. And Isaac sent
away Jacob, and he went to Paedanarum, unto Laban, son of Bethuel
the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's
mother. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob,
and sent him away to Paedanarum, to take him a wife from thence, and
that as he blessed him, he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife
of the daughters of Canaan, and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother,
and was gone to Paedanarum. And Esau, seeing that the daughters
of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father, then went Esau unto Ishmael,
and took unto the wives which he had, Mahalath
the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth,
to be his wife. And Jacob went out from Beersheba,
and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and
tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took of the stones
of that place, and put them for his pillows, and laid down in that place
to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth,
and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God
ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood
above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father,
and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it,
and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,
and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north,
and to the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the
earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee
in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land,
for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and said, Surely the Lord is in this place,
and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said,
How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God,
and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning,
and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar,
and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place
Bethel, but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep
me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to
put on, so that I come again to my Father's house in peace, then
shall the Lord be my God. And this stone which I have set for a pillar
shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth
unto thee. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for Genesis
chapter 28. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit,
and help him to expound this chapter to us. I also pray that you would
help us to listen and learn so that we can
understand this chapter better. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Amen. We're in Genesis chapter 28, and in chapter
27, Jacob had taken the blessing and the birthright that
was entitled to Esau, and we're going to now really focus in
on Jacob as we go through Genesis to the next few chapters, and then
his family, and go to Joseph. But the Bible says here in verse number 1,
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged
him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife
of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram,
to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take thee a wife
from thin to the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother. And God Almighty
bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be
a multitude of people, and give thee the blessing of Abraham,
to thee, and to thy seed with thee, that thou mayest inherit the land,
wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave
unto Abraham. Now, what I believe is significant about this
opening of this chapter is we kind of see this proverbial
torch being handed off from man to man to man.
We kind of have the torch of the blessing of Abraham going from Abraham
unto Isaac. And now we have Isaac handing off
the proverbial torch unto Jacob, which is symbolic of
the fact that Jacob has now taken the birth right. And that
the seed is going to come through Jacob. And again, we're focusing on
individuals here because Jesus Christ has a very specific
lineage that's traced throughout the Bible, and it's going to
come through Jacob. It's going to come through Isaac. It's going to come through Abraham.
And it's going to be fulfilled in a very literal sense where Jesus
Christ is a literal son of Abraham, of Isaac,
of Jacob, okay? And then we know he's going to come
through Judah, specifically one of the twelve of Jacob.
Now, again, that promise is really to the seed, though,
and that seed we know as Christ. In Galatians chapter number three,
the Bible makes it clear that it's not seeds plural, it's seed
and it's specifically to Christ. Because at this point we already have
a lot of seeds of Abraham, Isaac,
that have no account of this blessing. Esau, he's just
as much seed physically from Isaac
as Jacob is, but notice that Esau isn't getting this blessing.
Notice the birth right was taken from him and now it's given to Jacob
because we're tracing a very specific lineage to a seed, which is
Christ. It's not about this physical descendantry
which we're going to have, you know, the so-called Jews today say, well, I'm
a descendant of Abraham physically, or I'm a descendant of Jacob physically,
you know, I'm a child of Israel. That doesn't matter. There's no significance
to that. The significance of all this physical lineage was to get to Christ.
And at that point, no longer does physical descendants even
matter. The Bible says to avoid genealogies. So the only genealogy
that really matters in the Bible is the one giving us Christ, going
to Christ and going back all the way to Adam and
nothing else matters. We don't see any of the lineages or genealogies really in the New Testament
of anybody else. We don't know what the genealogy is
of Matthew or James or John or Paul.
Nobody cares because it does not matter. And even the apostle Paul
himself, he was of that physical descendant in the fact
that he was of Benjamin, you know, and of Benjamin is going to be of Jacob.
But he doesn't care because it doesn't matter. The only descendant that mattered was Christ
and this torch being handed off is really
a reference to the blessing of Abraham that's going to be through Christ.
Look at verse number 5.
He blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan-iram to take him a wife from
thence and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge saying thou should not
take a wife of the daughters of Canaan and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother
and was gone to Padan-iram and he saw seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father
then when Esau unto Ishmael and took unto the wives which he had
Maalath the daughter of Ishmael Abram's son the sister
of Nebaijoth to be his wife and Jacob went out from Beersheba
and went toward Haran. So we basically have Jacob
is being commanded by his father to go and seek a wife.
He wants him to get a very specific wife. He wants him to get a wife of Laban
which would be in the family and again from a
carnal perspective it's a little weird because they would be like cousins or something
but the significance is really symbolic of a spiritual
importance that you're supposed to be married to someone that's saved. You're supposed to seek someone
of the same family in a sense because think about it
we're not supposed to seek the same family carnally but we are supposed to seek the same
family spiritually. You're supposed to marry a sister or brother in Christ
meaning that you're kind of seeking that family and so just like him seeking someone
in the family physically we're supposed to seek someone in the family spiritually.
Now Esau notices this and he realizes that
his parents are not pleased with
his wives and that's going to be grieving unto a person.
You want your parents to like your spouse. You want your parents to
appreciate your spouse or to look positively towards
your spouse and that's not always going to be the case but he
notices that they don't like these girls and so he's like well I'll
get other wives but notice that Esau still doesn't get it.
He doesn't actually then end up going and getting the right kind of wife he goes
to Ishmael and gets another wife that's not right
again and it just goes to show how from a spiritual
perspective what would this look like? It's like this. Christians
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament and they got saved and they're supposed
to provoke the Jews unto jealousy to want to end up getting
saved but instead of actually still getting saved they just continue to seek
through their own works and their own methods God's favor and
God's blessing but they're never going to get it because you either do it God's way
and you have the blessing the favor or you do it your own way and you're never going to get
the favor. You're never going to get the blessing. He could have married any wife
that was not of the same lineage and it would have been displeasing
unto Isaac. So
Esau is basically trying to figure out things his own way and do it
his own way but here's the thing. We need to
be willing to submit ourselves to our parents as much as humanly possible
you know and look obviously if your parents aren't even saved
or they're not giving you advice that's from the Bible you know we ought to obey God rather
than man but generally speaking I believe that you should follow
your parents instruction to the best of your ability everything they tell you
to do you should try to follow it exactly like they say
only in cases where the Bible is clearly showing something
different you know and a lot of times even if a parent's not saved
they still have your best interest in mind and they're going to be able to identify
certain characteristics especially when it comes to marriage who you might
end up getting married to and so I think it's really important
that you get parental approval as much as possible. Now obviously
if you're going to marry the proverbial woman okay and your parents are just like
no you marry the proverbial woman okay you know if you find the godly woman
you marry her right I'm not saying that at the end of the day you don't
marry a godly spouse but what I am saying is if your parents are thinking like this person
is weird or something off about them you should take
that to heart you know you should consider that I even still believe
that you should ask parental permission for someone's hand in marriage
you know when I got married to my wife I asked both of her parents I took
them to lunch and I asked their permission if I could marry their daughter
and you know what I like that custom I like that tradition I think it makes sense
and if someone wants to marry my daughters you better believe in that doctrine
you know it's like hey I asked your daughter to marry
her and she said yes and I'm like did I say yes
that's the more important question you know
and again I'm not trying to say that kids
shouldn't have their own choice or choosing in who they marry but I think it's important
that parents play a big role in this and that they're willing to approve
of a person's spouse and why would you want to get married
notice he didn't seek approval the first time and it was a disaster
so now he's going again but he doesn't follow his parents advice
you know if you just asked mom and dad hey who should I marry they would have
said go to Laban and maybe you would have married Leah you know I don't know or Rachel
who knows I mean Esau had his whole life set up for him
and he just ruined it all because you know why he never did what his parents
actually wanted him to do he didn't follow their instruction he didn't hearken unto his parents
he didn't care what the Bible had to say and here's the thing we could be
the same way God gives us free will we can go do whatever we want
we can marry whoever we want not marry do whatever
whatever action you want to do you can do it but if you want
to be blessed by God if you want his favor it's going to come through
doing what he said it's going to come through following his commandments you want to have a blessed
marriage marry someone to save that loves the Lord and you know there's
a lot of people that can testify hey I didn't do that Pastor Shelley and
I wish I had you know I wish I had have thought about these things I wish I had
got parental approval I wish I had sought to their counsel and their
advice and you say well Pastor Shelley's really picking on me instead of
feeling like you're getting picked on just embrace that truth and then
teach it to your children and teach you to the young people and encourage them to
find the right kind of a spouse and to seek someone from the right
crop as it were okay verse number 11 the Bible says
and he lighted upon a certain place so Jacob's now going he's
seeking the right wife according to his father's instruction and he
lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set and he took of the stones
of that place and put them for his pillows and laid down in
that place to sleep now this is really interesting to me because a rock sounds
really uncomfortable like I've always read this and I was just like
this is weird but I thought about it and I'm going to give you
a carnal explanation and then I'm going to give you a spiritual explanation okay
first of all just because he used the rock as his pillow does not
mean that his head was touching the rock directly he could have
just found a nice normal rock and still put his coat or
put some kind of a garment over it and laid on it and just having that extra little
bit of elevation would have made it more comfortable to lay on it that makes sense to me
because you know I like to have a pillow or I like to have something you know so the elevation changes
and if I were to lay on a rock I'd probably put you know my coat or put
something down on it so that I'm not just like directly on the rock because that would be
pretty uncomfortable so that kind of helps me understand the carnal aspect but what
about the spiritual aspect here laying on a rock well
go over to Matthew chapter 11 for a moment keep your finger here go to Matthew chapter number
11 but what does a pillow do you know what's the
purpose of a pillow isn't it comfort
isn't it to give you you know better rest as
it were well look at Matthew chapter 11 and look at verse 28
come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you
rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and
ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light now why do I take you this verse well here's the thing the Bible teaches
that Jesus Christ is the rock so if Jesus Christ
is the rock what ends up giving you rest laying on
him leaning on him so just like you lean on the rock for rest
you lean on Jesus Christ for the same kind of
rest that's what gives you comfort and ultimately what's the end goal
it's sleep right and sleep is gonna make you feel
more refreshed it's peaceful go to Proverbs
chapter number 3 for a moment go to Proverbs chapter number 3 for a second I'll show you another
verse here you know there's that guy out there
saying my pillow you know my pillow needs to be the rock of Jesus Christ
when it comes to spiritual things and you know
when it comes to rest in the Bible this can picture a few different things first of all it can picture
salvation okay and when you're leaning on Jesus
when you're letting Jesus be the rock for salvation
you can rest easy because you realize all of the
work for salvation's already been done it's already been completed
so you can just rest when it comes to salvation you know salvation is pictured
as resting cause I just rest on him that's why it's also pictured with the
Sabbath cause Sabbath is a day when you would do no works and it's just a full day of
rest that's why Jesus is our Sabbath because we've entered into
his rest when it comes to salvation we've seized from our own works
we don't have to do anything to get saved except for resting on Christ
and if you're not resting on Christ you're not saved
you're not going to sleep now think about this word sleep
in other places in the Bible how about people that go to hell what does the Bible
say they have no rest day or night
meaning that they have no rest so it's like you're either resting on Jesus
the pillow and you have perfect sleep perfect rest
and if you're not you have no rest and here's the thing someone that believes
salvation is anything other than faith in Christ they have no rest on their daily life
because they think salvation is a daily act and you talk to people I'm working
on every day I'm trying brother you know it's hard and it would be
hard what's easy is sleeping what's easy is taking
a rest is just resting on the Lord Jesus Christ so from a salvation
perspective this is great I mean this is really easy
it burdens life isn't it? Proverbs chapter 3 look at verse number
19 the Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth
by understanding hath he established the heavens by his knowledge the depths are broken up
and the clouds drop down the dew my son let not them
depart from thine eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion so shall thy
they be life unto thy soul and grace thy neck then shalt thou walk in thy way
safely and thy foot shall not stumble when thou liest down thou shalt
not be afraid gay thou shalt lie down and thy sleep
shall be sweet you're not afraid of sudden fear neither the desolation of the wicked
when it cometh for the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep
thy foot from being taken so not only does the Bible
teach that when it comes to Jesus Christ giving you rest
in the context of salvation it's even just daily rest in the
sense that when you're just serving the Lord and you're doing that which is right
you don't have to worry about the desolation of the wicked
you don't have to worry about all the evils that are going on you can just go to sleep like
I like to say baby but that doesn't ever seem to make any sense when you actually have babies
but you'll go to sleep like someone is dead
okay you know they just really you know you go to sleep like
a Biden voter okay man they are just out
cold you know and at the end of the day you know if you have trouble
going to sleep at night sometimes you have to ask yourself are you
laying your head on the rock of Jesus Christ when you go to bed
or are you sitting there worrying about the future
worrying about money worrying about your kids worrying about your
life and when it comes to your kids you know you never
know how they're going to turn out until you get there
and once you get there it's too late
once they're past the age of child rearing I mean once you get to the
latter end of the teenage years and the young adult years I mean they're pretty
much settled as to who they are and a lot of the things that they've been taught
are going to stick with them forever and so you say well I don't know if my kids are
going to turn out good well here's the thing whenever you're teaching them the word of God
when you're training them according to the scriptures you can actually
rest assured that they're not going to depart from those things when they're older
you know I'm not saying that God couldn't perform a miracle in a teenager's life because I've
seen it but what I am saying is this that if you're serving the
Lord and you're taking your kids to church and raising them to serve the Lord you can rest easy
at night thinking they're going to be godly children train of a child the way he should go
and when he is old he will not depart from it I can go to sleep resting at night
not wondering if they're going to become some kind of a criminal or a pedophile
or Ted Bundy or some kind of a wicked evil person but you know what if I was
dropping little Johnny off at the public school every single week well I'm not
going to sleep very easy you know in the state of Texas
and I'm not joking I'm not going to exaggerate at all literally
in the state of Texas there was a school board meeting recently where parents got up
and they showed a book called like Lawn Boy or something like that
who's heard about this anybody hear about this there's a book that they have in the
public library of these schools it's called Lawn Boy
it is literally teaching fourth graders how to commit
sodomite acts in the book with graphic language
telling them what to do and it's all in the guise of church
literally it's like we went to church and then me and so
and so did all these sodomite acts with each other in graphic
horrific language that I would never repeat
I mean in a public setting like this I mean just
horrible filth I'm just like why would you want to send your kid there
and just roll the dice on how they're going to turn out
you know that's not going to make me go to sleep very well at night if I'm dropping my kid
off at this school to learn about all this filth and this nonsense
and they're trying to encourage kids to experiment in the worst things ever
in the worst things imaginable just constantly
the state of Texas my friend gross
you know what I can go to sleep and sleep like Joe Biden voters
every night knowing my wife is teaching them the Bible
my wife's teaching them Leviticus 2013 my wife is teaching
them all of the scriptures and she's teaching them how to read
and how to write that math isn't racist and
she's teaching them how communism is wicked as hell and she's teaching them
all manner of good subjects and I can just rest
and I can think man I'm just going to sleep just so easy
you can say man I'm really nervous at night I'm really having all these problems
are you leaning on Jesus though are you using Jesus as your
pillow as your rock you know I don't have to worry and wonder if my
kids are going to turn out right if we're serving the Lord I know they will
I can know that I can have the confidence I can put my trust in the Lord that's going to happen
go to Psalms 4 for a second I keep meaning to tell you to turn there
so then when I'm ready you're ready but go to Psalms 4 for a moment
I want to show you another verse here and look at verse number 8
the Bible says Psalm 4 verse 8
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep
for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety
notice who does not make you lie down in safety, Donald Trump
notice who does not make you lay down in safety
curse PD
notice who doesn't make you lay down safe at night
the United States military
you know I get so sick and tired of everybody pandering to the military
as if they're the only reason I'm safe
oh you guys the only reason you can end up in church is the military
the only reason you have a country is the military
look the military is needed we need a military
every country needs a military I'm all for having troops the Bible says the horse
is prepared against the day of battle but the Bible says safety is of the Lord
and I don't care how great a military you have
when you don't have God on your side you're not safe you can have
every troop lined up every black hawk helicopter you can have
every warhead you can have everything you want on the planet
and if I have God on my side you're going down
if God be for us who can be against us and so at the end of the day there's so many people
they're more worried about national security they're more worried about the
US military they're more worried about local PD they're more worried about all of these
things rather than if they're right with God
they say well I can sleep safe tonight if I have the police
fully funded and I have all these other institutions fully funded
and I have everything that I need I have all the gates and the locks
God could just come in your bedroom with a brain aneurysm and kill you
come in there with a little virus
sneak in there asymptomatic viruses
God can do whatever he wants he can find you in Amos
the Bible even says you go and hide in your house and you know what you lean on upon the wall
and a serpent will come out and just bite your hand you know
and you live in Texas things can come out of the walls okay I mean man
don't go to Houston okay I'm just kidding go back to Genesis chapter 28
go back to Genesis chapter 28 scorpions and all kinds of stuff
look in Phoenix I mean we lived in a really nice area me and my wife in a nice little
neighborhood and it was real clean and she kept the house really clean
scorpions get in there you know I found a couple
just one little sting and you're just gone man
you never know that's why I would rather be right with God
than worried about everything that could possibly kill me because that's trillions of things
that could possibly kill me look at verse 12 the Bible says
and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top
of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending
on it now I just want to make one more point before I move on think about this
okay you're so worried about all the stuff that could kill you what about in the middle
of just the wilderness Jacob's just laying down going to sleep on a rock
a lot of things have killed him too but he's just sleeping like that Joe Biden
voter okay because he's letting God take care
of it okay now he sees this interesting vision
he's dreaming and he sees a ladder it's set up on the earth
and the top of it reached to heaven and it says behold the angels
of God ascending and descending upon it now
this is really interesting thing because the word ladder is only found in the Bible once
it's right here so you can't really necessarily look at
another place where the word ladder is used but this makes me
think of a story keep your finger and go to John chapter 1 for more go to John chapter 4
what does a ladder do doesn't a ladder
give you access to something okay now typically
a ladder is not only giving you access but it's giving you access to
something that's out of your reach isn't it I mean the whole purpose
of having a ladder is there something you want but it's higher
than where you are so you're trying to get access to something that you can't
reach to you can't get to on your own you need the ladder
in order to get access to whatever it is that you're trying to
obtain John chapter 1 look at verse 51 this is
Jesus speaking he said he sayeth unto him verily verily I say unto you
hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the son of man notice
if you go to Genesis 28 there's a ladder angels are ascending and descending upon it going
up from heaven and earth and then in John chapter 1 Jesus says hey you can
have the exact same thing but it's me that they're ascending and descending upon
that's because I believe that the ladder is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ and how that's our access into heaven
something that's out of our reach we couldn't get to on our own
not by works of righteousness which we have done but by his mercy saved us
we have access into heaven only by Jesus Christ that's why he said
I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father
but by me so it's just like in this
terrible or this dream as it were the only way to get into heaven is through this ladder
that's how it is with Jesus Christ the only way to get into heaven is through Jesus
that's it we have a lot of cool pictures here
go back to Genesis chapter 28
and I think this chapter is just all about Jesus as pretty much every
chapter is but I mean it's just constantly giving us all these different
aspects of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and parts of salvation
it says in verse number 13
I believe that God when he gives these promises to Abraham
Isaac and Jacob and he's bringing up the word seed
there are times and I'll grant it that it is talking in a
carnal sense there are times when it's obviously
spelling out that they're going to literally have a physical descendants that are going to
dwell in this land and they're going to have this they're going to inhabit this area
but then it also has a dual fulfillment in that it's a spiritual picture
too that the fact that the most important
application of this prophecy is that we are the seed because we believe in
Jesus Christ we're the real seed and that we are going to literally dwell
in this land with Christ in the millennial reign of Christ
so just because these verses could be applied
to an initial fulfillment with the children of Israel
returning to the promised land entering the promised land and living in the promised land
it's kind of hard to really like just get so excited about that
because think about this they never really fully took the promised land
they like always had remnants of the heathen among them
or they had sections where they didn't really conquer it to the fullest
they never really took it over in a pure triumph manner
I mean through the book of Joshua it's a lot of success but even at the end
he's like wow we still have a lot of ways to go we still have all these other areas to inhabit
and you see certain tribes just like completely failing not
really taking on that promised land so it would be weird to just point to this
to that and say oh look that's the real fulfillment and I'm sure modern day
Jews are like we got to really fulfill it they're actually trying to do that right now
they want all that land and they don't want just that land they want the whole earth
they're like pinky in the brain they're trying to take over the whole earth
but the real fulfillment of this is going to be in the millennial reign of Christ
when God's people the true seed end up taking on that promised land
and I love it as does all the families of the earth be blessed because again
he's not if you look at that verse how could you then say this is about
the physical Jews why am I so blessed
that physical Jews get to live in the promised land
you know and this is what's bizarre but modern Christianity actually believes this
they think man if we just bless that Jew and we bomb the Muslims
and we just let the Jews have that promised land God will somehow just
extend favor to us you know and it's like no no no you got it wrong
all the favor was coming through the gospel of Jesus Christ and that's how
all the families of the earth are blessed and why is it saying every family well when you look
in Revelation the Bible says that of every tongue and every kindred
there's going to be people in heaven praising God so truly every
single family at least someone in that family got
saved got the blessing of Abraham got the blessing of Christ
is going to be in heaven so it's really fulfilled in that it's not
fulfilled in us giving money to Israel it's not fulfilled
in us being a military ally to the modern day Israel
today that's not the fulfillment it's not that your 401ks lighten
up because you gave money to the Temple Mount Foundation or something like that
no the real fulfillment is when you go out and you preach the gospel
someone get them saved that's the real fulfillment of this verse look at verse 15
and behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places
where thou goest and will bring thee again in this land for I will not leave thee
until I have done that which I have spoken to the of
and Jacob wakened out of his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place
and I knew it not and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place this is none other but
the house of God and this is the gate of heaven so
when Jacob wakes up he ends up making a really interesting statement he says something
about the place he's saying that it's dreadful and it's the house
of God now in the New Testament what do we call
the house of God we call it the church right the church is known as
the house of God but in the Old Testament the house of God
was more in reference to the temple it's really in reference to where
the children of Israel were they're going to set up a temple where the Lord
is going to actually dwell among them and the parts where they're
wandering the wilderness is pictured through the tabernacle where they have
this mobile house of God that they're kind of dragging
with them through the wilderness they're going around and God's dwelling with them
God's among them it's eventually set up with
King Solomon he builds the temple that's where God's dwelling
ends up getting destroyed and then they rebuild it again they have
the temple and it's kind of picturing his house and we kind of I talked about
that on Sunday morning a little bit how Solomon even dedicated the house and they
make a big deal about praying to his house in the New Testament it
says that the house of God the church is supposed to be a place of
prayer for all nations so again church
congregation the house of God a lot of these are kind of synonymous terms we have a more
we have a little bit different idea of that in the New Testament but at this
point in time he's saying right now that this is the house of God and think about
in the future in the future Christ will literally rule and reign from
you know Mount Zion where it's going to be the house of God
on a permanent basis it's going to literally be
his house now it's interesting
because think about what he was laying on a rock so you can kind of see this
picture of how his house that foundation is
a rock isn't it right look at verse 18 and Jacob rose up early
in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set
it up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it
so we have him saying it's the house of God
then he takes the rock and he makes it a pillar
for this house of God and then he pours oil on
top of this rock now again a lot of
New Testament verses just flood the mind when you start thinking about this symbolism we go to 1 Timothy
chapter number 3 go to 1 Timothy chapter number 3
what is the pillar of the church what is the pillar
of the house of God none other than the Lord Jesus Christ
you know and the Bible even says in the Old Testament in reference to the
Old Testament in 1 Corinthians it says in that rock that followed them was Christ
so in 1 Corinthians chapter number 4 it tells us specifically that the rock
is Jesus Christ and we see the picture of the rock all throughout the Bible
you know the rock splits you know it's a picture of Christ ok how he
was going to be smitten for us and comes out gushing what water
right and it's a picture of the living water that comes through Jesus Christ's sacrifice
and so we have a lot of pictures of the rock all throughout the Old Testament and this
is none other than the exact same in fact that it's a picture of Jesus
Christ and how he is that pillar of the church now look at 1 Timothy
chapter number 3 look at verse number 14
these things write unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly but if I
tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself notice this
in the house of God which is the church of the living
God the pillar and ground of the truth
so again the pillar of what the truth now Jesus
Christ is what the truth and what does a pillar really
do a pillar is a support structure and it
is to elevate something it's to lift something up it's supposed to give
you know support unto something so notice the rock is giving support
to the truth and what is the church supposed to do the church is supposed
to give what support to the truth it's the only real
institution that's been authorized in the Bible to
be the main arbiter of truth when it comes to
the truth in general you know it's the church you know and a lot of people
they want to set up their truth ministries you know they want
to have our ministries dedicated to the truth or our organizations
about truth or we're here to discover the truth or we're the
true news or we're the true radio or we're the true
whatever and here's the thing there's one institution that's supposed to be about truth
there's one institution authorized by God as
truth and it's the church church is that organization
church is that group in which truth is supposed to be
emanating and pouring out of it's the one place where if you want to find truth
you're supposed to find it from church not a fake
not a fraud not some cheap
imitation but rather the real thing the genuine thing is the church of the living God
okay now go to Matthew chapter number 16 I think it's really
important that that's in that chapter because what was that chapter about
a chapter is about the qualifications of a pastor and a deacon
do you think it's interesting
that the qualifications of a pastor and a deacon are in the same chapter
when he said I want to give you some really important instructions
about how the church is the pillar and ground of the truth
why because when you don't have legitimate
pastors and deacons and you're not you know living up to the qualifications
and you're not emphasizing the importance of having the right kind of leadership
you know what ends up happening the truth gets bent
it gets perverted it gets corrupted it gets sold to the highest bidder
you end up having hirelings it just gets tampered with
that's why the qualifications are so important because it's really
one of the most important aspects to maintaining truth and maintaining
a pure truth and maintaining the integrity of the gospel
the integrity of the word of God and you know someone's got to
basically be the person where the buck stops with them when it comes to truth
obviously we understand that the Bible is our final authority
and I'm not going to ever take away from that but someone has to get up and tell
everybody what that is someone has to make it plain someone
has to actually teach what the Bible is saying someone has to be in charge of
things that's why it's important that you have the right kind of leadership
and you know what Jesus Christ understood this boy look at Matthew chapter 16
and let's look at verse 13 for a moment here
the Bible says therefore speak I
to them in parables because they sing see not and hear not
neither they understand
I'm sorry I'm reading chapter 13 look at the wrong page
verse 13 alright that was a good test to see who was reading their Bible
verse 13 when Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi he asked the disciples saying whom do men say
that I the son of man am and they said some say that thou art John the Baptist
some Elias and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets
he sayeth unto them but whom say ye that I am and Simon Peter
answered and said thou art the Christ the son of the
living God and Jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou
Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee
but my father which is in heaven and I say also
unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and I will
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loose in heaven
we have a really really famous portion of scripture here and
I think the whole context is important what is the rock in
our picture of Genesis chapter 28 the pillars
the foundation who is that rock it's Jesus Christ now when it comes
to having the right kind of church what's one of the most important central
truths that the church needs to be established and founded on
it's the fact that Jesus Christ is the son of God and look
institutions that attack the fact that Jesus Christ is the son of God
are a fake false institution it's a cult
it's false religion it's an anti-Christ type of religion
and ultimately that's what's coming in the future is an institution
that's going to deny that Jesus is the son of God it's going to be an imposter
saying that he's the son of God okay so when it comes to the ultimate truth I mean
I can show you scores of verses that say that you have to believe that Jesus
is the son of God to be saved that that's what even determines if someone is saved
that they say that Jesus is the Christ that they believe he's the Christ
we go through the book of Acts what are they confessing that Jesus is the son of God I mean when he's
asking to get baptized what does he say in order to basically prove
that he's saved you know I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God
you know so it's really important that we
realize that's like the most foundational truth when it comes to
one of these aspects so Jesus Christ is really driving in this major point
okay but then he makes
an interesting statement because he's not only asking who he is he's asking who
Peter is okay but notice in verse 17 he said blessed art thou
Simon Bar-Jonah now that's just his name that's like what he
was raised with Bar means son of
so he's Simon the son of Jonah okay so that means his dad's
son of Jonah that's how they would usually name people so like Barabbas
is the son of Rabbis which Rabbis is kind of like Rabbi
so I've heard somebody say oh did you realize that Barabbas is like really the
son of God and I'm like what do you mean and it's because
his name literally translated to be son of the father okay
but you know what he's not the son of God and I don't know that he believed in Jesus Christ
he probably wasn't even saved okay but that's just what his name is
Simon Bar-Jonah, Simon Bar-Jonah if you were raised with Simon you knew
him as Simon okay it's Jesus that's giving him other names and calling
him different other names that's important to realize look what he says
in the next verse and I say also
unto thee that thou art Peter so he's saying hey Simon
I'm calling you Peter okay and upon
this rock will I will build my church and the gates of hell should not prevail
against him now I believe that anybody that would read this verse
is being honest with themselves would say that it sounds like he's talking
to Peter right I mean he's saying thou art Peter
and upon this rock will I build my church and I believe that's because
he's talking to Peter okay now I'm going to explain this to you in a moment
I believe that this can be interpreted in two different ways that are both true
but the primary application is that he's talking to Peter
and he's calling him the rock now I'm going to prove this from a couple
different places but keep your finger here and go to John chapter 1 for a moment go to John chapter 1
now why would I say that he's talking to Peter
here and why would he be calling him a rock potentially
well you have to understand there's another place where Jesus Christ
is calling Peter or something else it's in
John chapter number 1 look at verse 42 and he brought
him to Jesus and when Jesus build him he said thou art Simon the son of Jonah
so notice Bar Jonah son of Jonah right thou shall be called
Cephas which is by interpretation a stone
so we have another place where the Bible is just crystal clear he's calling him
another name for a reason because he's trying to call him a stone isn't he
I mean would you not believe that right here I mean the English Bible is really
clear he's saying he's calling him a stone well in other
languages sometimes the Bible is a little bit more obvious
and I can prove what I'm going to teach you just from the King James Bible alone but I just
want to make this point that if you were to read this in a
Greek New Testament which I have in my office I can even show it to you if you want to see it
but if you read that verse John 1 42
in the Greek New Testament he calls him Cephas and he says
with being interpreted and then the name is Petros
Petros now the verse that we read
in Matthew chapter 16 when he's saying thou art Peter
you know what Peter is in Greek there? Petros
so it's the exact same word the exact same name
and that's because I believe there's no difference between a stone and a rock
in the context of the Bible and I'm going to show you other places where I can prove that
if you go to like Wikipedia and you type in the name Peter
this is what this says Peter is a common masculine given
name it is derived from Greek Petros
it's a masculine form of the Greek word Petra
the word for rock or stone which itself was
translation of Aramaic Kepha which is stone or rock
the nickname Jesus gave to the apostle Simon Bar-Jonah
an old English variant is here
so I'm only saying this
because sometimes in another languages it's really obvious
a particular interpretation whereas in another language it may not be as as obvious
that doesn't mean you can't get the same you do get the same interpretation it's just a little more obvious
so if you were to come up with a goofy interpretation people that believe in
another foreign language are like how in the world did you come up with that when it's literally
the exact same word whereas in English we have a little variation here of
stone and rock or whatever but here's the thing in Greek again
whenever you read it thou art Peter and upon this rock it's Petros
and Petra so it's the exact same word just masculine form
eminent form okay and I say that to say this
why would he call him a rock though well go if you would to Ephesians
chapter number two and let me prove to you why from the King James Bible I believe
he's saying this but here's the thing what were the what was the whole point of
first Timothy chapter number three before the whole institution of the pillar and ground of truth the qualification
of a bishop right and the importance of the right kind of leader
Peter is going to be the leadership to get
the church kicked off humanly speaking from a human
perspective who is the person that gets the church kicked off it's
Peter okay Jesus ascends back up into heaven
read Acts chapter number two read Acts chapter number one I mean Jesus goes back to heaven
it's like you guys wait around and then what happens then the Holy Ghost comes
upon them then they start preaching the gospel then after they start preaching
the gospel the Bible says that God's adding to the church daily then all of a sudden we have a
transition in the New Testament where it's church, church, church, church, church
and we have people like Paul coming alongside of the other apostles
and establishing church is because you kind of start off with the church
in Jerusalem that's the first church then you have other
churches spawning you have then Antioch and then you have
him going out from Antioch and you have other churches going out in all of
Asia and all of Greece and all the other areas of
the world where they're bringing forth after their own kind but
if you're going to say where is the church going to be built is it not built in Jerusalem with
Peter is that not where it starts off and then it multiplies from there
obviously that's what happened Ephesians chapter two though
let me prove to you again we already know and I can show in lots of places that Jesus
is the rock is anybody going to deny that Jesus is the rock okay but
some people say there's a huge differentiation between a rock and a stone
and maybe in a carnal sense I don't know I don't really care but from a biblical perspective
it uses these words interchangeably Ephesians chapter two
look at verse number 19 now therefore you're no more strangers and
foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and
upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets Jesus Christ
himself being the chief cornerstone so if Jesus
Christ is the rock he's also known as what the chief cornerstone
now if he's the chief cornerstone what does that mean he's the first
he's the most important and he's the he's the one that's
going to be laid initially okay that's what it means by chief meaning the first
or the most important and he's the corner which is where you start
any building project but he's not the only foundation
in this context the bible does say in other contexts that no
foundation can any man lay but that which is lay which is Christ Jesus okay and I
understand that but in this context it says that there's other people involved in the foundation
notice in verse 20 and are built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets now let me help you out Peter is
what you would call an apostle so guess what
Peter is part of what the foundation of our faith
and what do you build on you build on a foundation
you build on a rock that's the pillar okay in a sense
of what's going to give the support structure upon you build your house
upon a rock and we build the house of God on a rock
and of course that rocks Jesus Christ but notice another foundation is being mentioned here
which is the apostles and the prophets and they're the ones that went out
and helped build a church and establish a church and notice from Peter to now
has the church ceased to exist no because you're sitting in one right now
and the importance of having the right guys
go out and build that foundation that's why he sat there and he taught
them and he trained them and he discipled them and he proved
them and he tested them and after they were found faithful then
he gave them what the keys and in Matthew
chapter number 16 isn't he bringing up a lot about the keys who has the key
to heaven it's the church the key
is the what is the key into heaven the gospel of Jesus Christ who has the gospel of Jesus Christ
the church and look that's how people get saved is the church
of the New Testament the church of Jesus Christ and
obviously we understand from an individualistic perspective it's a soul winner
that opens up their Bible and preaches the gospel but here's the thing without church
there wouldn't be soul winners you know and some people say
well I'm a lone wolf and look praise God
for anybody that will open their gospel and preach to anybody for any reason whether
they're going to church or not you know I was not going to a
good church and I ended up going out and going soul winning on my own at one point in my life
you know why I went because I was watching online videos from a church
showing me how to go soul winning and you'd be hard pressed to
find me even these lone ranger soul winners that said
you know what I was just reading my Bible on my own one day and I decided to be a soul winner
you know what I bet they'd say I watched a video online from a church
of how to go soul winning or I went to a church and learned how to
go soul winning or I had a church send me out to go soul winning why
because it's the church that has the keys of the kingdom of heaven
and it's us that are opening the doors and helping getting people saved
and that's why it's the most important institution on the planet
is the church we emphasize the church it's the most important
institution we could ever have go to first Peter chapter number two I want to prove this a little bit further
to you so why
is he saying you're a rock or why is he saying you're a stone because here's the thing
Peter is a stone now the Catholics will take this verse to a
weird extreme they'll say oh that means that he's
the first pope now he didn't say hey papa
upon this daddy will I build my church
he said Peter which is a rock he said Peter which is a stone
okay and he said upon this rock will I build my church okay
he didn't also say that Peter's the only one that he was going to build it upon
did he he didn't say exclusively thou art Peter and only
on you will I build my church he just said you're part of the
foundation well didn't Ephesians chapter two already tell us that other people were part of that foundation
too hey isn't Paul part of that foundation he's an apostle and
guess who also is a part of that foundation obviously Jesus because he's the
apostle he's an apostle according to the bible as well
so is Jesus the rock yeah Jesus is the rock
hey our whole foundation is built upon Jesus Christ you know who's also part of that foundation
the apostles and the prophets and who was really instrumental in that Peter
and isn't it Peter that's getting up amongst the multitude and he's
leading the charge and he's preaching to the disciples and
you know it's Peter and John that are standing before the early
persecution the Pharisees and the council and they're saying
you know we obey God rather than man you know and he's like
we're not going to listen to you guys we're going to keep preaching and he really gets the church
off the ground he's really instrumental in establishing that first
church in Jerusalem and it'd be foolish to
take that away from Peter or pretend like it doesn't exist because you know what
that would do it would make church not that important
it'd make leadership not that important it would take away a lot of
things that you know Jesus has established to us and then you get these ideas of
oh God wants me to set up my own truth ministry
what no God wants you to get plugged into your local church
that's the pillar and ground of the truth is the local church going
to church you're not supposed to go out and start your own stupid ministry
that you dreamed up that you decided that you're qualified for that you
decided that you wanted to do and look I'm not saying don't go share the gospel
I'm not saying don't make videos or
publications or you know do whatever you want but what I am saying is that
I'm not going to set up some organization or ministry to replace the church
I believe that's wrong I believe it's sinful because
you're basically taking away from what God has instituted
you're saying church isn't that important no we should put all of our effort and energy into the local
church and we also are these stones look at 1 Peter chapter 2
verse number 4 to whom coming
has unto a lively stone disallowed indeed of men chosen of God and precious
so who's he talking about Jesus and notice Jesus again is the stone
because he's a stone and the rock verse 5 he also as
lively stones are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ so notice according to the Bible we're
also rocks we're also the stones it's not just Peter
we are the ones that build the church of God we are the church
of God Ephesians chapter 2 made it clear that we're the habitation of God
through the spirit it's not the building God dwells in us
when we come together God's dwelling in our hearts where two or three are
gathered together in my name there am I in the midst Jesus Christ is with us tonight
we have Jesus Christ in our hand when we have the King James Bible
not the wicked versions ok that's a different Jesus we have the real Jesus the word of
God the King James Bible you have to realize that you are that stone as well
verse 6 wherefore also is contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion
a chief cornerstone elect precious and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is
precious but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed
the same is made the head of the corner and a stone
of stumbling and notice this word rock
of offense do you really think the Bible's telling you that stone and rock are different
here are different words no obviously he's using these words as synonyms
in a sense isn't he and a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being
disobedient where into also they were appointed
you're a chosen generation a royal priesthood and holy nation
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light which in time past were not a
people but are now the people of God which did not obtain mercy
but now have obtained mercy so again
I could prove to you this a lot of different other places but isn't the Bible starting
to make a lot of sense here and getting really clear that what Jesus is clearly
the rock Jesus is also the stone but guess who also
is a stone Peter guess who's also a rock
Peter guess who's also a stone all the apostles and prophets
and guess who's also stones you and I we're lively stones
we're living stones and we are to set up the pillar of the
church of God and we want to make sure that God's institution the house of God the
church is running the best that it possibly can
go to Hebrews chapter 1 for a moment go to Hebrews chapter 1 what is something that
Jacob did he set up this pillar he called it the house of God
and then he poured oil on it and this is another
picture of what God is going to do with the New Testament church
you know it's interesting because the Bible tells us that all these things are written for our admonition
you know they're written for our example and you know these stories are to give
us encouragement and to try and help us realize things that we need to be
doing prophecies of the future and to me it just continually
confirms everything we're doing how can you sit here and say that church isn't a great
institution when you have it mentioned in Genesis chapter 28 already
God was already planning on setting up the church the church of Jesus Christ
was always the plan but the law hasn't even been given and
God's already telling us everything about the church and Gentiles getting saved
and it's all been about the gospel going out into the Gentiles and
the light going out into the Gentiles I mean that's what the Bible's all about
the law has its whole place and it has its moment in time
you know what the church is you know been mentioned from the very beginning
Hebrews chapter 1 I'm going to prove to you what the oil is verse 8
but unto the son he saith thy throne of God is forever and ever and a scepter of righteousness and a scepter of thy kingdom
thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity
therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the
oil of gladness above thy fellows so the Bible says that Jesus
had the oil of gladness now in John chapter 3 when you compare
the Bible says that God did not give the spirit by measure unto him
showing a difference between Jesus and everybody else so if he's not giving the spirit by
measure and he's giving the oil of gladness above his fellows that's because
the oil pictures none other than the Holy Ghost
and how the Holy Ghost is going to be poured out on the New Testament church go to Acts chapter
number 2 go to Acts chapter number 2 for a moment
that's why you should never get sucked into
all of these stupid parachurch ministries and there I
said it you say what parachurch ministries all of them
and you say yeah but what about this guy he's a really good guy I don't care who it is
I'm not interested I'm not going to get sucked in
I'm not going to give all my money to it I'm not going to give all my time effort and energy
I'm not going to promote it you know what I want to promote the church
the church because that's the institution that God gave
and not only God give it not only the pillar and ground he also gave a special blessing by
pouring out his spirit onto the church he didn't pour it out onto
the bank that's a different spirit he didn't pour it out onto the bar
he didn't pour it out on the public school he didn't pour it out
on the government that's for sure he didn't pour it out on all these other institutions and
establishments no he poured it out on the church
where well Acts chapter 2 look at verse 16 but this is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God
I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men
shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my handmaidens
I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy
now what's cool about this verse is he's
saying it's everyone it's not limited to the pastor or
to the leader or the deacon or the evangelist it's every single
child of God in the house of God God saying I'm going to
pour out my spirit on them and they're going to preach and they're going to preach the
gospel and Acts chapter 2 is one of the greatest chapters
in showing the whole emphasis of the church to preach the gospel and give people safety
I mean they're meeting together they have their time the
spirit comes on them and then they go out and they preach the gospel
and not in just one language all the languages to show that the gospel is not for one
group of people it's for all people and we're added unto them three thousand
souls in one day also illustrating that people get saved on a day
think about it oh salvation's
a lifestyle then how do people get saved on the one day
then how come everybody that got saved in the Bible was a moment in time it was never a lifestyle
I don't remember the lifestyle salvation I read in the Bible I remember
people getting saved in just a moment of time it's like join thyself into this chariot
he ran and then he was gone he's like saved baptized gone
saved right you walk into a town saved gone
walk into another town saved gone you walk to a woman at the well
she gets saved in a moment then she goes to the town she preaches she gets
people saved in a moment then they come out now yeah look some people it takes a day or two
right the thick headed one but at the end of the day it's capable
people are capable of getting saved like that in the Bible and notice
they're getting saved like that they're getting saved in one day's time in a
moments time if your plan of salvation takes more than a day then it's the
wrong type of salvation you're not doing what the Bible said
you know people are going to get saved on a daily basis on a regular
basis quickly and so that's why it's important to realize
that the church is that institution where we go out and we
preach the gospel and that's the main emphasis go back to Genesis
chapter 28 you say well I want something more cool I want to
I want to expose the conspiracy theory of who Herod
married next you know how he's unlawfully married to his brother and all of his
incestual relationships and I want to expose all the conspiracies with
Alexander the Great from Greece and you know John
Kennedy's assassination or whatever it's like that's not the pillar and ground of the truth
did they go out and talk about all the conspiracy
theories that exist in their day but you notice the Bible is chock full of conspiracy theories
it's not like you really think there wasn't any conspiracy theories
in the days of Rome in the days of Greece
there wasn't other things they could talk about and share and videos
and all this other stuff you don't think they had their issues of the day of course
they did but what are they supposed to do go out and preach the gospel you know what some people just
aren't interested in that and so then what I want to
do they want to suck you into something else they want to suck you
into the issues of the day you don't think they had issues of the day
that's why you know I made it such a big deal on this other Sunday morning about you know
everybody's freaking out about the forced vaccine and look
it's not that I'm not upset about it it's not that I don't think it's wicked as hell
it's not that it doesn't make me mad too okay it's not that I don't think you should resist
what I'm saying is this the devil just wants you to get upset about these things
that you have no control over
that you can't really do anything about necessarily instead of getting mad
about things that you do have control over instead of getting mad about
the things that really matter because at the end of the day if I could press a button
right now and every single person in my church was fully
vaccinated and continued to go soul winning or my other option
was no one in my church would go soul winning I would press that button
you're giving us this disease
or whatever it's like look
there's more important things now you say that and they're like
well enjoy infertility and it's like look I'm not getting it
don't worry I'm not going to get it my kids aren't going to get it but I'm
just saying why would I hyperventilate over here about all the issues of
the day when I can't even do anything about it what do you want me to do about it
if I got it and I said it's the mark of the beast
never get it nothing in my life will change because I'm still not getting it
okay so I'm still not getting it I'm still providing the vaccination
exemption form for every single person I'm still preaching against it that it's stupid
and wicked as hell you know it's a fake it's a fraud I get it
you know I'm not into that thing you know what I'm not into lots
of things you know what I want to be into the gospel of Jesus
Christ but there's lots of people they don't want to go out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ
you know what I noticed the people that freak out the most about the issues of the day
aren't the people going out and preaching the gospel
you show me the guy that's going soul winning three times a week that's so concerned
with everything on the news you know what the guy that's so concerned
with all the things on the news I'll show you a non-soul winner
someone that's not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ why because he doesn't think that the church
is the most important institution he's not concerned about the pillar and ground of the truth
he doesn't care if God's giving him the Holy Ghost and look the Holy Ghost
doesn't care because I'm pretty sure if you read the end of Mark
if you just read it you know what God told his apostles
hey if you drink any deadly thing it won't harm you so was God really concerned
if they went out and drank something deadly
he didn't care he was just like I don't care
I'll just make sure it doesn't harm you and you know what
I believe this if the government came to my house and they held me down
they were giving me a noogie and they start injecting me with stuff God could just make sure
nothing bad happens to me anyways
oh no what if they inject me what if they force me what if they hold me down
well then you know what so be it I'll just pray that God
will just make sure that you know my eyes glow a little bit redder or something
you know I walk around I can be like
I mean who cares people get so
concerned with the stupidest stuff and look I'm not
saying that vaccination is something you shouldn't be concerned with what I am saying is people
hyperventilate about the issues of the day rather than the gospel
of Jesus Christ and look this isn't the only issue of the day tomorrow there's going to be a new
issue of the day for them and then the next day and then the next day and the next day and the next day
and the next day and the next day and the next day and they think that the vaccinated
soul winners of this world are worse than them when they don't even go soul winning
which I say every vaccinated soul winner
is better than any non-soul winner all of them
because the whole emphasis is the gospel my friend is preaching
the truth and you say well that seems repetitive get used to it
I love to tell the story the old old story
you know of Jesus and his love you know that's what we're supposed to go out he's like man
you're always talking about soul winning welcome to the Bible
welcome to the New Testament you know why do we do a Bible study in
Genesis chapter 28 because it reminds us that it's important to preach the gospel it reminds us the importance
of church it tells us the most important institution look at verse 20
or let's back at verse 19 just to make sure we cover every verse
and he called the name of that place Bethel but the name of that city was called Luzza the first
Jacob vowed about saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way
that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on
so that I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God
and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house
and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth
unto thee so again he has
the stone he sets up as a pillar that's what you know the
God's house the house of God and at the very end he says you know what
you give me this you take care of me and I
will give you a tenth now it sounds a little weird the way
he words it just to me personally because it kind of sounds like if you do good
to me then I'll do good back to you or whatever but at the end of the day
if you understand tithing and I had
a lot to say about that but I'm not even going to say it because I'm out of time
the word tithe and tenth are basically synonyms tithe means tenth
and I can prove this in all different places in the Bible but
in order to tithe you have to have increase
because tithing according to the Bible is giving money
on your increase so you go out you make money
and then you tithe ten percent on whatever that increase is
that's the doctrine of tithing so to some degree
you kind of need God to then give you something give you some kind of a favor
bless you increase you multiply you or whatever in some
form or fashion and then from that increase
then you give your ten percent so I believe
and you know I teach this is for another sermon that
New Testament Christians should give a ten percent of all their increase
and you say oh you're trying to bring us into the law this is Genesis 28
I don't know what Bible you're reading
and in fact Genesis chapter 14 we already read it
it was the priest of Melchizedek that Abraham gave tithes to
and the Bible tells us that there was a change of the law and a change of the priesthood
and now Jesus Christ is that different priest
he's not of Aaron he's of Melchizedek
so if they were supposed to give tithes to Melchizedek in Genesis
why would then fast forward I have Melchizedek as my priest I would not
give tithes to him that's weird I would think I would follow the exact same
example that Abraham did and that Jacob did
I believe that now look I don't go around and like
pass the massacre and be like are you tithing have you tithed I don't care
from a personal level like I don't care I don't know who does
I think that our church honestly probably tithes better than almost
every other church on the planet because most every church
I always get up and say that only like 10 or 20% of their church tithes
and I know for a fact that way higher percentage
of our church tithes but I don't know I don't care it doesn't matter
to me I would have to like I'm not going to go around and be like show me your W2 and your tax returns
I want to make sure it was 10% buddy
I don't care I don't know it doesn't matter to me
and some people give even above their tithe any money that I believe you give above 10%
is not a tithe it's a free will offering offering
and some people say I give 5% well then you're just short 5% of your tithe
you're not giving according to the Bible the tithe is just returning what's the Lord's anyways
it's all the Lord's whatever he gives you you know when you entered into this world you were naked
naked came into this world everything you have was a gift from God
and according to the Bible we're supposed to give back 10% in honor
to him and notice what's the whole purpose it's so that God's
God's house would be blessed it's so that that institution
that we just talked about that was so important would be thriving
and look that's the whole point of tithing is so that the church thrives
and some people they get really mad about this they're all like oh man
the church is spending all kinds of money and they're doing all kinds of good stuff
and it's like why would you not want the church to be thriving
do you want us to like look really poor or something
do you want us to be giving your money and it just be like oh man I should just barely
get by and you know let's only turn on half the lights tonight
okay we don't want to run up the electricity or anything like that
we can't have any nice chairs you know we're going to do a soul wedding marathon
everybody bring a PB&J sandwich you know
I mean what do you want to me I would want the church to be thriving
I would want it to be running over and have
you know everything that it needs I don't want to limit the gospel of Jesus Christ
in any way shape or form and look I don't believe that we even have a problem in this
area at all I think we've been so beyond blessed
financially but obviously we want to continue to preach this
so that people realize it's important
and you know when you give a tithe to a person in real life Jesus receives that up in Heaven
it's not like you're giving your tithe to Dylan
or something okay Dylan might take it to the bank but it doesn't
change his paycheck you know he still gets the same paycheck regardless
of how much money he deposits or whatever goes on you know and you're not
tithing to me or to Dylan you're tithing to the church
it's not my money it's not Dylan's money it's not your money
it's God's money and you know what we should look at
it that way and we should treat it with respect we should treat it with integrity
but you know even if hypothetically man does something
wrong in an area with God's money it's not like God's
giving you less rewards for your tithing or something or less rewards for your sacrificial
giving you know because you're out of control of that
God just look when the widow the poor widow gives their two mites
into the treasury who was in charge at that time
and let me explain where some of that money went
some of that money went into Judas's hand to kill
Jesus they're like what if they use the money for something
wicked how about like slaying Jesus can you get any more
wicked than that but you know what she was still considered greatly blessed
and Jesus is saying she gave more than they all and she's going to have a greater reward
in heaven it's not like Jesus is imputing that trespass
of what the church officials did with the money under them
so some people might freak out and they're like I don't want to give money to the church because what if the
pastor is bad or what if the pastor does something weird with it or what if the
pastor buys something that I don't approve of you know I want green chairs
you're missing the point the point
was giving the money back to God so that God's house can flourish if God's
house is not flourishing because of poor leadership that's the leadership's fault
the leadership is going to have to answer that one and whenever he tried to give the money back
Judas they're like I don't want that money so at the end of the day
you know we need to realize the most important institution on the planet
is the church and if that's the most important institution why would you not want
to give you know willingly
and freely and to be cheerful about it you know the Bible says God loveth the cheerful
giver you know and we should want these things to
thrive and succeed and praise God you know what church is
really cheap because you can go out and preach the gospel for free and do all these things
but you know what having the tithe come in is a
big blessing because me and Dylan can work full time
and you know people will scrutinize
ministers daily actions but you know what me and Dylan have the right to
have a family and to have kids and to go
eat wherever we want whenever we want he can buy as much
coffee and ranch and tea
and beans with chili in it as he wants
okay and I won't you know personally
except from the pulpit you know criticize him for that okay
I can't say that maybe I will alright but at the end of the day he can do it
I'm not going to withhold his paycheck I'm going to be like you bought ranch with those
dollars you know you bought tea you put beans with chili I'm taking
out some of that paycheck or whatever that's stupid okay but you know what you see
people coming up with these arguments they get mad at their pastor they get mad at their
church they make all these videos and they try to criticize tithing you know
what that tells me they hate the gospel and they hate
Jesus the pillar and ground of the truth if someone hates tithing let me tell you
who they really hate is Jesus and they hate the gospel they have a misplaced
hatred for God's minister and look I would be mad at a minister
misusing church funds don't get me wrong that should be dealt with
but it's not going to make me say well I should stop tithing then
I was just going to make sure and look the majority of my life
I tied to a really bad church but God's always blessed me and I
think because I was doing it in ignorance and because I was a child for the most of my life
going to that church I think that God was still able to you know
potentially impute the fact that I'm trying to do that which
is right even though I didn't now again I'm not going to take that to extreme and say
give money to the Catholic church and it's good but I am saying this
don't always analyze everything from a carnal picture you have to look at it through
spiritual eyes and realize that the church is a spiritual
institution not just a carnal institution and the things that we do here have
spiritual impact and eternal value and that's why we need to give preeminence
to the church in all things that we do let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father
for giving us the church which was purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ
I pray that we never take the church lightly we wouldn't take
the leadership of the church lightly we wouldn't take the instructions of the church lightly we wouldn't
take the first works of the church lightly we wouldn't take the responsibilities
of returning back the blessings that you've given us
so that your church could thrive I pray that you know this church would
thrive in all areas financially
with health that you would bless it with children
that you would bless it with spiritual children that you would bless us as we go out and preach the gospel
that you would bless our upcoming soul winning events and that we could continue to be a bright and shining light
and that those that try to detract from the church take away from the church
that try to harass the church or its members
that you would just shut their mouths that you would just destroy them or get rid of them
or just cause them to just perish if need be
in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Alright, for our final song tonight we'll turn to
472, This Is My Father's World
Oh let me never forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet
This is my Father's will
The battle is not done
Jesus who died shall be satisfied
Can earth and heaven be one
God is the ruler yet
The battle is not done
Jesus who died shall be satisfied
Can earth and heaven be one