Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to Steadfast Baptist
Church.
So great to see everybody here this afternoon.
If we can go ahead and find our seats,
we will get started with the service.
So we've all found a seat.
Let's grab a hymnal for our first song tonight.
We'll go to song number 53.
53, so much for this church, so much for what you're doing here
with us to come here and sing unto you
and hear your preaching, Lord.
And we just ask you to bless this service.
Bless everything that we do.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, for our next song, let's go to song number 131.
This church, if you didn't already get a bulletin, if you need one to lift your hand up nice and
high, ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin.
On the front, we have our Bible memory passage.
We're in verse 12 of Jude.
And then on the inside, we have our service time, soul winning times.
Please make sure to keep up on the soul winning reporting, just put it in our soul winning
group chats.
And then on the right, we have a list of expecting ladies, several to be in prayer for.
Also, we had a soul winning marathon in Springdale, Arkansas and we had a small group, how many
soul winners did we have go out there?
14 soul winners and they did an incredible job, 180 salvations for both days.
And so also just, I guess really confirms that the Marshallese people are very receptive
to the gospel.
And so that's definitely really encouraging to see those kinds of numbers and those kinds
of results.
Thank you to everybody who went out there and participated.
I know a lot of families drove out there was about five and a half hours, about a five
and a half hour drive.
So, and there was a specific event, I believe, where a lot more people are kind of gathered
together.
Marshallese people are gathered for this specific event.
So but maybe in the future, we'll have some other similar type of events that we'll let
you know about down below upcoming events.
This Sunday night, we're going to have a our semi annual business meeting.
And that's just a regularly scheduled event.
Soul wedding marathon, Lancaster, Texas.
So if you're looking for one of our soul wedding events, it's going to be July 19, it's going
to meet here at the building.
And then we'll just go out Lancaster is really not that far from us.
It's probably about 2025 minutes.
So it's really pretty close.
So we'll meet here in the morning around 9am, go out about 10.
And we'll do some soul wedding in Lancaster.
We got a couple teen events still we got one for July and August, bowling night, July 29.
And then Adventure Park, the ninth, there should be a sign up sheet for that.
And we'll make sure to contact all the families about where we're meeting at what time men's
retreat August 14 through the 16th.
And we're going to be going back to the same place we normally have FBVF conference is
going to be August 27 through the 31st.
So that's going to be a little bit different than some of our other schedules, we're going
to have it every night from Wednesday to Sunday.
So we'll have Wednesday night, Pastor Corbin Russell is going to come and preach for us
can kind of kick off the conference on that Wednesday night, Thursday morning, we're going
to have activities, family fun activities, we'll have soul winning, then we'll have another
preacher Thursday night, it'll be Pastor Aaron Thompson, Friday nights, Pastor Dylan Oz,
Saturday nights, Pastor Stephen Anderson, Sunday morning for our Spanish services, we're
going to have Pastor Rican Reyes and he's going to preach for us in Spanish, all preach
the morning sermon and then Pastor Rican Reyes is going to preach in English for our evening
service.
And so we got a lot of preaching, a lot of events, we have a men's kind of a special
event that's going to happen in the middle of the week.
Plus there's like a pickleball tournament, a bunch of people are losing their minds over,
I don't know why.
It's just pickleball folks, okay?
No, I'm just kidding.
And then I think we had some other, we have the annual kids spelling bee as well and I
put the kids spelling bee list on our website.
Somebody will ask about rules and stuff.
We just follow like pretty much just normal spelling bee rules.
You can look those up or you can, they're going to be the same as every year.
You basically just have to spell the word right.
You know, that's kind of how it works.
And then missions trip, Mexico City, September 8th through the 12th, Brother Diego is helping
lead this for us.
If you're interested, please let us know or email us.
And then also we have the Bahamas missions trip in October 6th through the 11th.
In order to sign up for the Bahamas, you have to send an itinerary of your scheduled flight
already.
Coming and telling me doesn't do anything, sending me an email saying you want to do
it doesn't do anything, sending me the flight itinerary is what does something.
So that's what triggers it, just FYI.
We have a pretty big group going out there, so pretty excited about that.
On the back is our prayer list.
We're continuing to pray for the Carlson's, both their parents' health.
And then we're praying for the Miller's friends' moms' cancer treatments.
Praying for the Scott's parents, Brother Oris and Miss Grace, and then also Miss Olivia's
health.
We continue to pray for them.
We're praying for Brother Tony's health.
We've been praying for Brother Brad.
His father, I believe I have an update on that surgery.
I need to remind myself on that one, but I think that already went through and it was
successful.
The sister's health, and then personal and work, praying for him.
Praying for Brother Diego's friend, Miss Sheila Morris.
Also Miss Cindy had prayer for her friend and mother.
Brother Jared, we were praying for his coworker Josh.
And then Miss Marinette, we're praying for her dad who's kidney disease.
If you continue to pray for Brother Perez, his son Elijah, who enlisted.
Pray for Brother Gabe's mother's friend, Agnes for health.
And then we've been praying for the urbanics grandmother and another friend who's been
recovering from heart surgery.
Please pray for Brother Billy's friend, Colton, and then Brother Goodwin we've been praying
for and then Brother Illy we've been praying for his dad who has some kidney stones and
so that's what I have as far as our prayer list.
We'll just say a quick word of prayer as a church family.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for our church, thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church,
thank you for all these ladies who are expecting.
Please be with them during their pregnancies, please help their children's development.
I pray that you give them a smooth and easy delivery.
Please also bless those that have recently given birth that you would just help them
with their children's development.
I pray that you would also just bless our church family that is struggling with these
health issues or these complications.
Also those that are our friends and family members and coworkers, that you help them
with their health issues.
If possible, I pray for just a miracle that you could just give them a full recovery.
If not, I pray that you would just give them patience during their difficulty.
And I pray that you would also just help use our church to get many people saved, that
you would bless our upcoming conferences and our soul-wanting events, and that we could
continue to do all this in the honor and glory of your son's name, in Jesus name we pray,
amen.
So we'll go ahead and sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 58, Psalm 58.
It's in our special Psalm hymns and binders.
So Psalm 58, if you get that out.
So Psalm 58, Psalm chapter 58 in your binder, Psalm 58.
Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 28, that's Matthew chapter number 28.
Chapter 28, the Bible says in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first
day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
And behold, there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow.
And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men.
And the angel answered and said unto the women, "Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus
which was crucified.
He is not here, for he is risen as he said.
Come see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.
And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee.
There shall ye see him, lo, I have told you."
And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring
his disciples' word.
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "All hail!"
And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.
Then said Jesus unto them, "Be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee,
and there shall they see me."
Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city and showed unto
the chief priests all the things that were done.
And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money
unto the soldiers, saying, "Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we
slept.
And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you."
So they took the money and did as they were taught.
And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Then the eleven went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And when they saw him, they worshiped him.
But some doubted.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you.
And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Amen."
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this chapter of the Bible.
I thank you that all power is delivered to Jesus Christ.
Please bless Steadfast Baptist Church and help us to do great works for you.
Bless Pastor Shelley now as he preaches your word, in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
We're here in the final chapter of Matthew, and the Bible says in the very beginning here,
verse 1, "And the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher."
And there's another woman that's with them as well, Joanna by name.
It's reasonable there's even other people that are with them but they're mentioned specifically.
Mary Magdalene is the woman in whom Jesus Christ had cast out many demons and she'd
be demon possessed in the past.
Now what's interesting I think about this particular verse and it's mentioned in the
other gospels is how Jesus Christ rose again on the first day of the week.
Prior to this, for the most part when people would travel and they would go to the synagogue
or something they were going on the Sabbath day and a lot of the worship of the Lord is
done on what we know as Saturday.
But here we have Jesus Christ rising on the first day of the week and the disciples also
meet on the first day of the week and we kind of make this transition to where in New Testament
Christianity we have church services on the first day of the week known as Sunday.
And you'll keep your finger here, let's go to all the gospels real quick, go to Mark
chapter 16 and we'll notice the same thing that the Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ
rose again on the first day of the week, that would be Sunday and we celebrate the resurrection
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday and that's what we know it as, the
Bible says this in all the gospels in Mark chapter 16, look at verse 1, it says, "And
when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Siloam had
bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint them, and very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came under the sepulcher at the rising of the sun."
And so they're coming kind of like, you know, right before 6 a.m., somewhere in that early
morning period.
Look at verse 9, "Now when Jesus was risen early, the first day of the week," the Bible
just explicitly tells us that Jesus Christ rose again on the first day of the week and
so that would be some time between, you know, 12 a.m. and probably somewhere around 5 a.m.
It says very early, so it's probably 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning that day He rose
again from the dead.
Luke chapter 24 also says this and confirms this, Luke 24 verse number 1, "I've made an
entire chart about the timing of the Passover," and you know, it's kind of important to understand
that Jesus Christ rose again on Sunday, so you get those three days and three nights
that He was in the heart of the earth, and that Sunday morning is still part of that
calculation.
Luke 24 verse 1, the Bible says, "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the
morning they came into the sepulcher bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain
others with them."
Now, again, it's just going to go into that elaboration.
In Luke 24, though, we later through that day, in that same day, we have what's known
as the Walk of Emmaus, or what's kind of referred to as the Walk of Emmaus, and kind of as they're
describing this, they make an interesting statement here that you can kind of calculate
the timeline.
It says, let's skip down, let me see if I can find that verse, I don't have it in my
notes.
Yeah, verse 21.
So it says, "Let's do verse 20, and how the chief priests and the rulers delivered him
to be condemned to death and have crucified him, but we trusted that it had been he which
should have redeemed Israel, and beside all this today is the third day since these things
were done."
So if the day is the third day, then you have Sunday, you have Saturday, and you have Friday,
which is the days since this happened and they crucified him on that Thursday.
And so that's how you can kind of calculate backwards to that.
Of course we have the first day he was risen, which was mentioned in Mark chapter 16 verse
9.
If we go to John 20, which interestingly enough, I believe verse 9 is where the NIV stops.
So the NIV literally gets rid of verses like 9 through 20 something, and the NIV they just
say the earliest manuscripts don't have these particular verses.
Some will even have a break, some NIVs will just have a break, some will just have a footnote.
But it's interesting they try to get rid of the verse that literally says Jesus Christ
rose again on the first day of the week and make Mark virtually a passage of scripture
that isn't a gospel because the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And if you take out the resurrection, well then you have an incomplete gospel.
John chapter number 20 verse 1 says the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early
when it was yet dark under the sepulcher and see the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
So if you kind of get the setting on Sunday Jesus Christ rises from the dead sometime
very early on that day right before the setting of the sun or sometime early before dawn these
ladies have shown up and then we have it tells us in Matthew 28 that there was a great earthquake
it says in verse 2 and behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord
descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon
it and his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow and for fear
of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men so the angel of the Lord comes he
rolls back the stone and I think it's kind of interesting that the timing of this it's
almost like God was waiting for them to show up so they could be eye witnesses of the fact
that the stone was sealed or the tomb was sealed with the stone they watched it get
rolled away and then they saw that Jesus wasn't in there because of course in this chapter
the Jews try to make up some lie that people had came and stolen the body and then made
up some lie about him rising again from the dead but the angel rolls it away and shows
he's not there to make it abundantly clear that this is not some normal thing this isn't
some by human means reasonable explanation this is a real thing of God he's really not
here he must have risen from the dead something must have happened and of course they have
the angel telling them clearly what happened that Jesus Christ had risen again from the
dead it says in verse five and the angel answered and said on the women fear not ye for I know
that ye seek Jesus which was crucified he is not here for he is risen as he said come
see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tells disciples that he's risen from the
dead and behold he goeth before you into Galilee there shall you see him lo I have told you
so angel rolls away the stone the women come inside they get to see where the body was
laid and they had actually studied that prior to because the Bible says that they went to
see where he was laying and then they went and bought spices before the Sabbath then
they prepared them probably in the morning of the first day of the week and then they
brought them with them to anoint the body they hadn't had time yet because on Thursday
it was dawning on that special high day that Sabbath feast day that was going to be Friday
all of Friday you could do no work and then all of Saturday you could do no work again.
So this is the first time the women have had an opportunity to go and anoint the body of
Jesus Christ and upon their arrival of daylight they realize he's not there.
Obviously they cared very much for the Lord Jesus Christ and they're still trying to
minister to him so I think that's probably why you can see God used them to be the first
witnesses of his resurrection you know they're the ones that sought him first and then he
showed himself unto them first and there's a key just idea in the Bible that those who
seek the Lord he reveals himself unto them.
Draw nigh unto me and I'll draw nigh unto you the Bible says and of course if you seek
me early you shall find me these are passages brought up often in the Bible and so you
know if you want God to draw nigh unto you you can't sit around and wait for it to happen
you have to actually seek after him and this is how it works in every area of our life
you know one of the most notable is you young single guys if you want a wife you have to
go and seek and find her you can't just be hoping that she's gonna fall into your lap
even the benjamites had to go find some girl dancing and she had to go and you had to go
grab one of them right hey you want a really good job you gotta go seek and find for that
really good job you want anything in this world you pretty much have to seek for it
you have to find it you want knowledge you have to seek and find after that knowledge
you want the truth you have to seek and find after that truth and of course God rewards
those who seek for the truth seek for knowledge seek for a wife seek for the things of God
seek the Lord while he is near and that he may be found of you and of course these women
are seeking after the Lord and he reveals himself unto them I think it's also noteworthy you
know because there's a lot of women hating in this world that God's not a respecter
of persons these women that sought after the Lord Jesus Christ get the special blessing
of seeing Jesus Christ and it's not like God thinks women are lesser value or lesser
importance to the things of God he revealed himself unto them first and of course women
are great at testifying of the things which they've seen all right they're really good
he was like man I need to get this message out fast and he's like I know I'll tell some
women right and then it's going to spread everywhere but you know God gave women a special
gift of communication use that to preach the gospel right use that to tell about Jesus
and to tell about his resurrection and you know women are just as effective in sharing
the gospel as men are in fact in many cases they seem just as good or better I've seen
plenty of women that are excellent soul winners and do a fantastic job and get a lot of people
saved and so and frankly speaking they probably are even more likely in some ways to get people
saved because men might just want to talk to you because you're a lady ladies might
want to talk to you because you're a lady and if we're one of these big ugly men it's
kind of like we're scary and intimidating or whatever we look like ice agents or something
like that or Mormons or whatever but you know you having a little bit more of a softer approach
or softer appeal you might be able to get more people saved and so use that to your
advantage use that to get more people saved and don't think like oh I'm just a woman you
know I'm I don't have as much importance to the things of God yet Jesus Christ reveals
himself unto women first here in the Bible and that's what we're gonna read about it
says and they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy and did run to bring
his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold Jesus met them saying
all hail and they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him then said Jesus unto
them be not afraid go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they
see me.
It says that I want to stop there for a second so a couple things notice the angel tells
them verse five fear not ye we notice that Jesus says in verse ten the first thing be
not afraid a couple things of course when you if you ever encounter Jesus or an angel
in a glorified state it's a terrifying experience it's one where the unsaved here the the watch
they literally just fall down as dead men the Bible says they just became as dead men
they just fell straight down dead it's kind of a terrifying experience to be around these
type of things so when people describe you know all these like oh I saw Jesus or I saw
an angel and we're just hanging out just talking chat it's like false it's like whenever somebody
encounters an angel or God or something like this they always pretty much just falling
down dead and then sometimes God even has to like revive them or stand them up or pick
them up just so they can commune with them for a temporary space but it is a terrifying
and extreme experience it's one where people are falling down dead additionally you know
we should realize that because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ we too will be resurrected
and so therefore we have nothing to fear in this world God doesn't want to give us fear
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power of love and of a sound mind.
You know, God is constantly trying to tell us to not fear, not be afraid, and fear not
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but fear him which is rather,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Which of course, once you're saved, you can't be destroyed in hell, so then you have nothing
to fear.
Of course, excluding we fear God.
We always fear God, but apart from fearing God, we have nothing to fear.
We shouldn't be afraid of this world, we shouldn't be afraid of the Jews, we shouldn't be afraid
of mankind, and you know what, it's nothing new under the sun that in the times past,
two thousand years ago, men were afraid of Jews, and today, the same thing, men are afraid
of Jews, like Donald Trump, who's afraid of Jews and just does their bidding no matter
what.
Hey, we have the Epstein client list, no, now it's gone, why are we talking about it
still?
I mean, it's just, it's the same thing, and you know what, these women are told, hey,
you don't be afraid either.
And you know what, we live in such a time of fearfulness, and people are just cowards,
and people are just not willing to just stand up for what's right or the truth or say things
that are right.
And you know what, we need to be people that are not afraid.
We need to take this recommendation from Jesus Christ and be not afraid.
Hey, we shouldn't be afraid of the resurrection.
We shouldn't be afraid of what that means.
We shouldn't be afraid of who's going to get mad about it.
You know what, we should just rejoice, and we should just serve the God, serve the God
of the Bible, serve the God of the universe.
He's on our side.
If God be for us, who can be against us?
Why are we so afraid?
I mean, the God of the universe that spake everything into existence is on our side.
I mean, you look at the end of this chapter, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
We're not supposed to be afraid, and any time you're afraid of anything other than God,
it is unbiblical.
It is a sin.
I mean, think about one of the verses we use when we go soul winning.
But the fearful and unbelieving.
The first thing mentioned in Revelation 21-8 is the fearful, being afraid of the things
of this world, being afraid of the future, being afraid of old age, being afraid of losing
money or time or possessions or wealth or whatever it is that you're so fond of.
Of course, some people in the Bible were tempted with their losing their firstborn son, losing
their life, losing their family, all the things out there that the devil wants to put in front
of you and cause you to stop serving God and you become fearful.
Look, coming to our church, you can't be fearful and last, and it's crazy because you read
about the churches in the New Testament and it's like they would have been way harder
to go to than our church.
Way more persecution, way more difficulty, way more stigma.
I mean, the church, I mean, they're just drawing people out of the house church and just beating
them to death, you know, just constantly persecuting them, Jews attacking them, lewd fellows of
the baser sword attacking them, and you know, today we have cops and we have CCTV and we
have GoPros and what is the ring doorbells and all this kind of stuff.
So evil a lot of times is afraid to even do stuff, whereas back then they didn't have
all the ring doorbells, they just knew if they punched you and no one was looking, you're
not going to get caught.
I mean, the persecution level is a lot higher, and yet today people are afraid to come to
a church that's going to preach the Bible.
They're afraid to come to a church that might actually read every single verse out loud.
They're afraid to actually get protested or be attacked or be ridiculed or be mocked
or someone say something negative to them or someone say something, you know, poor about
them because of them serving Jesus Christ.
But you know what Jesus is saying, be not afraid.
Just preach the gospel.
Don't be afraid of what's going to happen.
Don't be afraid of me.
Don't be afraid of the things of God.
Don't be afraid of the Bible.
Love the Bible.
And you know what?
Perfect love casts without all fear anyways.
If you really love Jesus, then you won't be afraid of the consequences of loving Jesus
and the consequences of loving in general.
Some people that lose things can get jaded, you know, like Job, and wish, like Job at
one point in his life just wishes that he had never been born.
And he kind of is upset because of all the stuff he's lost and all the heartache that
he's gone through.
But, you know, in my view, you know, from a biblical perspective, I think that, you
know, you can look at God example that it's still better to love things and lose them
than to just not love at all.
And one of those clear examples is the fact that God loved every single person.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.
I mean, God loved every single person.
The young rich ruler, when he came unto Jesus Christ, the Bible says Jesus, looking on him,
loved him.
He loved that guy, even though it seems like he probably never even got saved.
Jesus Christ said on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
But not every single one of those people got saved.
The Bible says that He tasted death for every man.
The Bible says that He gave His life a ransom for all.
The Bible says that He didn't die for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world.
And so Jesus Christ has loved every single person.
The Bible says that He reigned on the just and on the unjust.
He's done good on every single person, and yet they didn't reciprocate.
And you know what?
It's better for us to just love what we have when we have it, because you know what?
The Lord gave and the Lord took away, but blessed be the name of the Lord.
We should never get so jaded because we've lost something that we stop loving, or that
we stop doing right.
I mean, the Bible says, "When they smite you on the cheek, turn to them the other also."
You know, the idea of a Christian is that you just keep loving no matter what the circumstances
are.
You keep preaching the gospel.
You don't get afraid, "Well, you're telling me, Pastor Shelley, if I turn the other cheek,
they might actually hit me on the other cheek."
Right.
Turn the other cheek.
"Well, Pastor Shelley, if I forgive my brother who has trespassed, he might trespass against
me again.
And then if he asks for forgiveness, I have to forgive him again."
Yeah.
Seventy times seven.
You know, the Christian life is one where there's going to be heartaches, there's going
to be woes, there's going to be downtimes, you're going to lose things.
And you know what?
You could just live your whole life afraid of losing everything, not realizing you're
going to lose it anyways.
You're going to lose it all anyways.
You know, even that precious little wife of yours, you know, once you get into heaven,
the Bible says it'll be as if you were never married.
Those that were married is as if they were never married.
You know, you can sit here and sing all your little Celine Dion songs and I'll love you
forever and whatever, but you know what, we'll be bro and sis in heaven.
And the people that were never married, it doesn't matter.
It was the same anyways.
Those that were eunuchs, whatever.
Those that had lots of kids, whatever.
Those that were, you know, of one nation or a country, I mean, it doesn't really matter
at the end of the day because God's not a respecter of persons.
You're going to lose that house, you're going to lose that car, you're going to lose Babylon.
Babylon's gone, baby.
It's smoke, man.
You might as well already forget about it.
You know, the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11, the people of God, it says they thought
they were just sojourners here.
That was their mindset.
Hey, I'm just a passing through.
This is not my home.
Heaven is my home.
And you know, we got to get that renter's mentality.
And you know what I mean.
You know, when you're renting a car, you drive it differently than when you own it.
When you own a house, you clean it differently than when you're renting the house.
Or it's kind of like that job.
It's like that job that you know you're going to leave in a few weeks, sometimes you treat
it a little different than that job you think you're going to have forever.
And there's definitely a different mindset, isn't there, when you're a renter versus
an owner?
And you know, I'm not saying treat the stuff you have poorly.
I'm not saying don't be a good steward of the things that you have, because we should
realize that we should always be a good steward and everything is lent unto us.
But at the end of the day, realize you're going to lose it and believe in replacement
theology.
You're going to get something better.
You're going to get something different.
And the way you treat things now is how God is going to bless you in the future.
But you know what?
If you're elevating carnal things, you're going to lose all those and you're not going
to get reciprocated with any reward.
You have to be faithful in the spiritual things.
Those are the things that really matter.
And why should we be so afraid of all the carnal things when they don't matter?
We shouldn't.
We shouldn't be afraid.
Just go and tell people about Jesus.
I mean, isn't that kind of the message?
He doesn't say, "Hey, don't worry about..."
He's like, "Hey, make sure to worry about your mortgage.
Worry to make sure about your car.
Hey, your makeup doesn't look very good this morning.
Your hair, your clothes, all the things."
No, no, no.
Don't fear any of this.
Just tell people about Jesus.
That's why we're here.
That's what our life is about is telling people about Jesus.
You're going to lose it all eventually.
It doesn't really matter anyways.
Any of vanities say it, the preacher, all is vanity.
Just don't be afraid and just preach the gospel.
But you know what that takes?
It takes faith, doesn't it?
Now, I like that these women had faith and they went and told about Jesus.
To give you kind of a simple timeline of what's kind of happening here, because Matthew 28
doesn't go into all the details.
You look at some of the other passages, it kind of gives us an idea, a detail, but this
day Christ rises early in the morning, the Marys arrive, the angel appears, rolls away
the stone, then Christ appears unto Mary and the other women here, shows himself unto them,
tells them to go tell the disciples.
They run off to go and tell these disciples.
When they do tell the disciples, John and Peter's first response is to run to the sepulcher,
and then the Bible tells us in the book of John that John did outrun that other disciple.
And so we get a little bit of sneak preview, John's pretty fast, huh?
They run out there and they are trying to see.
Then at some point we have this walk to Emmaus where Jesus essentially is kind of like withholding
from the eyes of a couple people that they're walking, and then Jesus appears onto all those
disciples at some point and then kind of vanishes away.
That's kind of like a loose timeline of what's happening on this day, so a lot of things
are happening.
But Thomas wasn't there whenever Jesus appeared and showed himself under them, so he didn't
get to see it, but a lot of them did get to see Jesus on this day.
Now if we keep reading, there's kind of an anecdote here in verse 11.
It says, "Now when they were going, the old some of the watch came into the city and showed
under the chief priests all the things that were done.
And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money
unto the soldiers, saying, 'Say ye as disciples came by night and stole him away while we
slept, and if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you.'"
So they took the money and did as they were taught.
And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
So the watch here is referring to the soldiers.
Some soldiers went to secure.
The Jews were already afraid of this happening.
That's why they had sent this watch.
That's why they had sealed the tomb to try and make this not happen.
Look at verse 64 of chapter 27, "Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the
third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people
he is risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the first.
Pilate said unto them, You have a watch, go your way and make it as sure as you can.
So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch."
So humanly speaking, they've done everything possible to make it where if he rose from
the dead, it would be a miracle.
It couldn't happen by natural means.
The soldiers see the angel roll away the stone, at least in some way, or they were there when
it happened.
They fall down like they're dead.
They go and they tell what happened.
They said, "Hey, we were there.
This angel came.
The stone's rolled away.
We fell down dead, and he was not there."
So then what do they say?
They say in verse 13, "Okay, well, we're going to give you a lot of money."
Why?
So that when someone asks you, you say this, "His disciples came by night and stole him
away while we slept."
Meaning that's not what happened.
Because if that did happen, they wouldn't have to give them money.
They're giving them money because that didn't happen.
So they're being paid to lie, and they're being paid to lie about what?
About the resurrection.
They're being paid to lie about the gospel.
And you know what?
There's a lot of people today that would rather take a paycheck than to tell about the gospel,
than just tell the facts of the gospel, than just to seek the truth, to tell the truth
today.
And you know what?
We have a lot of false prophets today who are lying about the gospel for a paycheck,
aren't they?
Pretty much the same thing as these people.
These people came to watch for a paycheck, and then of course, then they end up telling
lies for a paycheck, and they're just simply a hireling.
They're a hireling, and this is a common thing in the Bible.
Go through to 1 John chapter 2.
Now where did this lie come from?
Well, it came from Jews.
And Jews are, according to the Bible, the synagogue of Satan, and they do the bidding
of their father, which is the devil.
And the Bible tells us in the Gospel of John that the devil is the father of lies.
So the devil creates a lie that Jesus didn't rise again.
He gives it to his ministers, the Jews, who then pay the Romans to preach their antichrist
devil-worshipping lie that Jesus Christ didn't rise again from the dead.
And you know what?
The religion of Judaism today is a religion of antichrist that denies the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Now, if you ask a Jew today about this specific thing that's brought up, like hey, did some
disciples steal the body of Jesus, they probably won't even know what you're talking about.
It's not necessarily as commonly held of you today.
The Jews back then would have had to, though, because everybody knew that Jesus existed.
There wasn't any real squabble about Jesus existing.
He was the main talk of the town.
Everybody started, in fact, on the walk to Emmaus, they're kind of like weirded out.
They're like, "How do you not know about what just happened?"
Everybody knows about Jesus.
Everybody knows he was crucified.
Everybody knows he said he was going to rise again from the dead.
So it's a major event that happened.
It'd be like, "Epstein?
Why are we still talking about Epstein?"
It's like, "Well, look, you're talking about it, okay?"
It's a main event that everybody's kind of experienced, everybody heard about, everybody
kind of knows about, generally speaking, except for this is even more famous than the Epstein
thing.
This is a main thing, and people are widely known about it.
So they had to have some excuse, like, "Well, what happened?"
Because the tomb's obviously been raided, something happened, the body's not there,
where's the body?
And so they have to have some excuse, so they're saying, "Oh, somebody stole the body.
Some people came and they took the body from us."
Well, where's the client list, right?
Where's the disciple list or whatever, you know?
Wouldn't you think they'd have a disciple list or something?
I mean, hey, if they stole the body, aren't they searching for it?
You know, it's this interesting lie that they come up with.
Now, at the same time, if you ask a Jew about this, they kind of range from a couple of
different things.
Number one, some Jews would just basically say like everything about Jesus is just kind
of made up.
It's not true.
A lot of Jews would say, "Hey, we killed a guy.
What's that?
What's to that?"
You know?
They're just like, "Hey, we killed somebody.
Why does it matter?"
And then others would kind of say, "Yeah, we killed a rebel."
You know, they kind of say like, "Hey, Jesus was just this rebel."
If you look at the Talmud, they blaspheme Jesus, they call him like a spell caster or
a magician, which is obviously satanic, he never did something like that.
They'll call him the son of Pantera in some of their writings, which is a name of a Roman
soldier and they say he was a bastard child.
So there's a wide array of teachings and understandings of Jews.
But they all believe one thing, that Jesus is not the son of God and that he did not
rise again from the dead.
None of them believe that.
They all deny that.
And the Bible tells us, you know, that they're liars.
What does it say in 1 John chapter number 2, look at verse 21, "I have not written unto
you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledges the
Son hath the Father also.
What does this mean Pastor Shelley?
Are you saying the people in Israel that don't believe in Jesus Christ that they don't have
God?
Ding ding ding, you're a winner.
The people in Israel have not the Father, they have not God, they are liars, they are
antichrist is what the Bible says.
And they don't have the spirit of truth.
There is a battle in the Bible, there's a battle of all humanity and it is the spirit
of truth versus the spirit of error.
And the spirit of truth hinges on the most crucial statement that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God.
This is the most foundational truth in the world, in the universe, that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God.
That's why a whole religion is dedicated to attacking this called Islam, where they deny
that God has a son.
It's one of their core tenets of their faith because it's a satanic, God-hating religion
and they don't have the father either.
Islam doesn't have the father, Judaism does not have the father.
It is an antichrist religion, it is a false religion and Jews are liars.
And look, when you don't believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, even though that's
a lie that we're talking about, it's the most important lie that we're talking about, it
also goes to the spirit of the person and we realize that that same person is also going
to just struggle with truth by and large.
Because when you reject this fundamental truth, you just start rejecting all truth, just any
kind of truth, like a man's a man, like a woman is a woman, that women submit unto men.
And you'll look at Jews and they'll brag, they'll brag about bringing in feminism into
the world.
Why?
Because they reject the truth that the man is to be the head of the household and the
wife is to submit unto her husband.
You look at Jews and they'll brag about being the champions of the LGBT community.
Why?
Because they hate God and they reject the truth and they want to change the truth of
God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the creator who's blessed forever.
Amen.
Why?
Because they just hate truth, they're allergic to truth, they don't have the spirit of truth,
they have the spirit of error.
And then they pay people to lie for them.
In this context it's the Roman Centurion.
Today it's Donald Trump.
Today it's Pam Bondi.
Today it's the media.
Today it's all kinds of Jew sympathizers.
It's Ted Cruz.
Ted Cruz, who's not even really a rhino, the guy is so fake, I mean, there's nothing Republican
in this guy.
This guy is just evil, he's of Satan, he is the biggest sympathizer for Jews today.
He does not care about Texas, he does not care about the truth, he's not saved.
His child, I think his daughter's like a lesbian or something like that.
Ted Cruz is a fake and a disgrace to humanity.
And why?
Because he's a liar.
He's just like this Roman centurion that's taking large money to lie for people.
You know, he condemned the country of Uganda and wanted to sanction the country of Uganda
for just wanting there to be a penalty or a punishment for homosexuality.
And he said it was so disgusting and so evil.
No, he's disgusting and he's evil.
Covering for pedophiles.
Interesting, our government constantly covers for pedophiles.
You want to know why?
Because Jews are pedophiles, that's why.
Jews they perform all kinds of satanic rituals where they perform pedophilic acts on babies
in New York City and want that to be the law. They do all kinds of gross and disgusting things
in this world and you know what people are afraid of the Jews but you know what I'm not
afraid of Jews. Oh you might lose your bank account. I already did. You can't use Airbnb.
I know. I still try. Okay. You can't do this. Okay yeah but you know what I can still stand
up and I can preach the truth and I can go out and preach the gospel can't I? And you
know what what's more important? Me having more money or more friends online or something
like that and I can use Bank of America which should really be called Bank of Israel if
you ask me or or or just get more people saved. You know people say like oh you're gonna get
less people saved by doing this. Well that's funny have you seen our bulletin? I mean if
you look at our bulletin I mean we have so far this year 3,216 people saved. Did you
notice that? That's more than we've had any other year. It's interesting how I keep preaching
radical sermons against the Jews and fags and whatever. And it's just like we get more
people saved. I mean if we were getting less than half of the people we got saved after
that radical sermon or something or after the sodomite. Maybe you'd have a point right?
Maybe you could say like look you're doing less work. You know what the more they afflict
us the more we grow isn't it? The more they persecute us. And you know what I've noticed
that people that like the truth like the truth. People that like the gospel you know what
they also like they like Leviticus 2013. And I've noticed people that are really offended
by Leviticus 2013 don't want to be soul winners either. They're not real zealous about soul
winning. Maybe there's an exception maybe there's someone that's new to the faith and
they get offended a little easier and maybe hey they can grow in that. But I'm just saying
the people that I know that are really zealous about soul winning they just want to hear
the truth no matter what it is. And the people that hate soul winning they don't want to
hear any truth. They don't want to hear anything you have to say. You knock on a Jews door
today and they don't even want you to take the card out of your hand. They don't want
to know anything that you have to say. They're not interested in hearing anything about the
truth most of the time. Why? Because it's a spirit. It is a spiritual war of truth versus
lies. And of course many people are willing to be paid off to just repeat lies. Look at
chapter four here. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits with the of God
because many false prophets are going out in the world. Hereby know you the spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And
every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is that spirit of antichrist where have you heard that it should come. And even
now already is it in the world. Year of God little children have overcome them because
greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world therefore
speak they of the world and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth
us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the
spirit of error. The Bible says those that are of God they hear us and they like us because
we have the spirit of truth and because we hold the truth and we are not holding it in
unrighteousness but you know what we are holding it in the righteousness of God which is by
faith of Jesus Christ. And because we have the righteousness which is of God we speak
the truth with power and with might and people that are of God love it and the people that
are not of God they don't like it because they are of the world. There is a real battle
of the spirit of truth and the spirit of error in this world today. Go to 2 Peter chapter
2. Of course the Jews want to pay people to spread their lies, to spread their propaganda,
to destroy people. It always amazes me when I see people, street preachers going up and
being the most obnoxious weirdos I've ever seen in my life. Nothing happens to them.
Black Hebrew Israelites, some of the most obnoxious humans on the planet. I was at the
Lincoln Memorial this week and there was dozens of black Hebrew Israelites all lined up in
front with loudspeakers just proclaiming their work salvation to everyone. Just screaming
it to everyone. And it was just disgusting, they're weird. They get up and just scream
the Bible but they have no idea what they're saying. You know, desiring to be teachers
of the law understanding neither what they say nor wherever they affirm, is what the
Bible says. I screamed at them and told they were false prophets and racists. They didn't
like it. But at the end of the day, I was thinking, I'm like, man, I bet if, you know,
an actual God fearing, gospel preaching person showed up, someone would probably attack them,
harass them. Someone would probably actually say, you can't do that here. It's funny how
false religion just seems to go unchecked. Why? Because they're all on the devil's team
and the devil isn't going to sit here and get mad at the black Hebrew Israelites. The
Jews are laughing at them about how stupid they are and how foolish they are and how
weird they are. They're not going to get mad at that. Why is it that you can be a flat
earther and have a YouTube channel? It's because it's lies today. Look, anything that's the
truth is going to get censored and exposed and attacked and knocked down, whereas foolishness,
nonsense and lies will thrive. Why is it that Mormons allowed to do their weird, janky crap?
It's because they're liars. It's because they're of the devil. Why is it that the Mormons and
the Catholics and the Jehovah's Witness and the Jew and the Muslim can all get along behind
closed doors? Because they all worship the same God and that's Satan. And of course they
have to outwardly fight and attack each other a little bit, but that's just for control.
They're really behind closed doors buddies, they're friends, they don't really care at
all. Why? Because they're all false prophets. Now it says in 2 Peter chapter 2, look at
verse 1, "But they were false prophets also among the people, even as this will be false
teachers among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord
that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their
pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through
covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now
a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." What I want to point out
here is what I find interesting is it says, "They shall with feigned words make merchandise
of you." Look, these Roman centurions saw the angel of the Lord. They saw the angel
of the Lord roll away the stone. They know that Jesus had said He was going to rise again
on the third day. The angels said that He rose again from the third day. It's not that
they don't know the truth. The truth was right before them, but they were still willing to
just take money to lie about it. And let me tell you something. There are people today
that know the Gospel. They can articulate the Gospel. They can explain the Gospel. But
with feigned words, make merchandise of you. With feigned words. What is that? Fake. Means
they don't really believe it. They're not sincere. And they make merchandise of you.
They take advantage of you. Money from you. I think one of these examples would just
be loser bums that just come into our churches and they tell you they love Jesus and they
love the Gospel just to get money from you. And they sucker you into just giving them
all kinds of money and goods and doing whatever. I mean you look at Jude and it says spots
they are in your Feast of Charity and it says feeding themselves without fear. I mean hey
when they feast with you they're feeding themselves without fear. They're in your charity. You're
doing good under them. You're trying to bless them. You're like Jesus washing Judas' feet
and yet he's a devil isn't he? Now this should not discourage you from being charitable.
We should always be charitable. We obviously want to have some boundaries. The Bible says
if a man would not work neither should he eat. We obviously want to take that into consideration.
But it's okay. Every once in a while you're going to wash Judas' feet. Every once in a
while you're going to feed Judas. Every once in a while you're going to do good under him.
But here's the one thing. Realize there's going to be Judas's among us just like there
were centurions among the women when they saw the sepulcher open. Just like Judas was
along the ride with the disciples with Jesus Christ. Just like there were false prophets
that went out from Egypt with them into the wilderness and they were not saved. You have
your Korahs, Abirums, Dathums, you've got Balaams, you've got all kinds of people. You've
got Cain. It's not that they don't know the Lord, it's that they do know him and they
don't like him. You know, some people just can't understand this concept that someone
could understand the gospel and not like it. And look, there are Jews today that understand
the gospel and don't like it and are not going to be saved. It doesn't mean every Jew. And
when we say Jews, I'm mostly talking about the religion of Judaism. Obviously an ethnic
Jew can get saved just the same way as I did, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. But those
of the religion of Judaism have a special spirit of error and they are enemies of the gospel,
as the Bible describes them. You know, if you think about the people at the time of Jesus Christ,
you had the Sadducees. They don't even believe in resurrections. Obviously that group of Jews
was never going to believe. They're kind of like the secular Jews of today. They're like your Adam
Sandler's. They're like everyone in Hollywood, Weinstein and Goldberg and whoever. I mean,
they're just so abstracted from truth. They don't even believe anything of the Bible.
Then you kind of have the Pharisees, which were the overly religious Jews. They actually believe
in the resurrection, but they were legalistic and they believe in a hardcore works-based salvation.
And so they're not, they're striving to be perfect by the law, not by the faith of Jesus Christ.
But you know what? Today exists the same thing. You have all kinds of people that just, they don't
believe anything in the Bible. They don't want to get saved. That's a certain spirit of error. Then
you have people that are just really mixed up on the gospel, but they're also not saved. But look,
between both of these groups, you can have people that do know the right answer and don't believe
it. I've met atheists that have nothing to do with church, not religious at all, that can give you all
the right answers and just say, "I don't believe it." And then I've met people that are active in
church, really zealous for a religion of sorts, and they can say, "Well, y'all believe this."
And it's like, "But I believe it works." And it's just like, "Yeah." So look, people can have the
right answers, whether they're religious or not, and they're just damned because they don't believe
the truth. And look, if someone already has the right answers, what am I going to do for them?
There's not really anything else that I can do for them. Go to Romans chapter one, go to Romans
chapter number one. You know, my goal is to expose everybody to the truth. Your goal should be to
expose everyone to the truth. When somebody already has the truth and rejects it, well,
that's a dangerous place for them to be in. Now, some people, you can give them the truth and it
just doesn't click. They just haven't quite figured it out yet. And so you keep giving it to them,
you keep giving it to them, and hopefully one day it'll click. But it's a dangerous time when it
clicks for somebody and they don't want it. It's a dangerous time when they see the light. It's a
dangerous time for someone when they see the angel roll away the stone and see Jesus isn't there,
and then they take money, and then they take a payment. Wow, that's a real dangerous place
to be in. Romans chapter 1, verse 18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that
which may be known of God has manifested them, for God has showed it unto them, for the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even as eternal power and guidance, so they're without excuse. The Bible is saying,
"Look, it's not like these people don't know God, it's that they do know God, and they didn't accept
it. They didn't like it. They didn't want it." Go to Proverbs chapter 8. This is an important
point here. So many people are going to have the truth exposed to them, and they just don't want it,
and they don't like it. And of course, is seeing the stone rolled away enough to get you saved?
Not necessarily. Maybe they still need someone to kind of explain a few things, explain, "Hey,
you got to believe in Jesus. You got to do this." But that was a lot of truth. That was a lot of
light that was given to those people. And when they reject that light, why is God going to give
them anymore? No, now it's the wrath of God upon them, because they changed the truth of God into
a lie, didn't they? They took the truth of what happened there, and they literally got paid to lie
about it. Why do they even get any more than they already got? And you know what? Whatever light you
give, if you reject that, many times you're not going to get anything else. God is going to seal
your fate. Proverbs chapter 8, look at verse 17, "I love them that love me, and those that seek me
early shall find me." Now this is talking about wisdom, but it's kind of personified about Jesus
in the same way. You seek wisdom early and you'll get wisdom. You seek Jesus early and you'll get
Jesus. Look at, skip down if you would though, to verse 35, "For whoso findeth me findeth life,
and shall obtain favor of the Lord." Isn't that true? If you find Jesus, you end up getting life.
You know you get eternal life, don't you? When you find Jesus, you believe in Him, you get eternal
life. "But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death." So we
see this diametrically opposed position. Those that are seeking Jesus find Him. Those that don't
want him, well, they end up loving death and they end up being destroyed because there's
this dichotomy here.
How do you respond to these things?
Go over to John chapter 20, go to John chapter 20, and I know I'm bouncing around, but it's
important for you to realize that when you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, you need
to get saved.
You don't want to delay.
And not only that, you should be seeking anyways.
You should be seeking the truth.
You should be seeking how to be saved.
You should be seeking the God that created you.
John chapter 20 says in verse 26, "And after eight days again his disciples were within,
and Thomas with them.
Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace be unto
you.'
Then saith he to Thomas, 'Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither
thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing.'
And Thomas answered and said unto him, 'My Lord and my God.'
Jesus saith unto him, 'Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.
Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.'"
Look, some people saw Jesus.
We're talking about the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh.
They saw Jesus Christ.
They saw the miracles and they didn't believe Him.
These Roman centurions saw the stone rolled away.
They saw Jesus not in the tomb and they know no one else went in and they didn't believe.
How could we then, you know, believe?
Well, you know, because salvation is by faith, it's not by sight.
And some people think, "Well, if I saw, then I would believe."
Look, these people saw and they didn't believe.
Look, salvation is by faith, it's not by sight.
And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
It's when you hear the Word of God and you believe in it, that's how you get saved.
That's the saving mechanism.
It's not sight, it's not a gimmick, it's not some special, you know, other thing.
It's just simply putting your faith in the Word of God.
We show up to somebody, humble, with a Bible at hand.
Can I show you what the Bible says and will you believe it?
When someone's a little skeptical, that's all I even offer to them.
I say hey, the Bible has the truth, the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by
the Word of God.
If I can show you that this is the truth, would you be willing to believe it?
And if they say yeah, then I try to give them the gospel.
But if people are like, no, I'm not interested, I mean I can still offer a verse or not, but
if they, you know, it's not going to go so far, you have to at least be willing.
Isn't that seeking a little bit?
Hey, if I heard the truth, I'd be willing to believe it.
But if you can't, if you can't even say hey, if I heard the truth, I wouldn't even believe
in it.
Well, you know, hey, try that with a Koran.
It'll take you about one verse to realize it's trash.
It'll take you about one verse to realize that an illiterate pedophile wrote that.
I mean, he didn't really write it, he just said some garbage with a demon taking over
his body and somebody else transcribed it for him.
But look, yeah, oh, if you read the Koran, you'd be a believer.
I believe it's false religion after reading it.
Yeah, the Book of Moron, I mean, oh, so Mormon, it does have the land of Moron, you know,
moron in it or whatever.
I think that's where they're all from, basically.
Yeah, I can read this other literature and realize instantly it's not the truth.
Why?
Because I have the spirit of truth.
And you know what?
Inside of all of us, I believe we can all pretty much recognize truth, but some people
just don't believe it.
Some people want to resist the truth.
They hate the truth.
Go if you would to 2 Thessalonians, chapter number two.
2 Thessalonians, chapter two.
Now obviously when we get born into this world, we don't know anything, we have to start growing
in knowledge and wisdom and then eventually we'll be exposed to the truth.
But how you respond to the truth, well that's gonna ultimately determine your destiny, it's
gonna determine your fate, it's gonna determine how you spend eternities, how you responded
to truth.
Praise God it's not solely dependent on how many sins you committed, otherwise a lot of
us would be in real big trouble.
Isn't it nice that you could have sinned a lot and that's not gonna be held against you
in eternity?
I mean think about it, like you could have sinned a little bit and it's not gonna be
held against you, you could have sinned a lot and it's not gonna be held against you
from eternity.
You still have the potential to do as much for God as possible.
That's amazing.
That's incredible.
But you know what, how you respond to truth, that's gonna really determine how you spend
eternity.
Number one, getting saved, but number two, then what did you do with the other truths
and the other knowledge that God gave you, and how did you respond to that?
But why are people going to hell?
Because they didn't respond to the truth that God gave them, because they didn't like truth.
This is what the Bible teaches, look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 8, "And then
shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after the
working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth."
Why?
That they might be saved.
Why is it that people die and go to hell?
It's because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
They didn't receive the love of the truth.
Look, the truth is love today.
It's loving to tell people that they're a sinner.
It's loving to tell people that they're on their way to hell.
It's loving to tell them that they're not good, that they're not righteous, that only
Jesus Christ is righteous.
It's loving to tell them that Jesus died on the cross and went to hell and rose again
for them, and it's loving to tell them your works will never save you.
It's by grace through faith only.
It's by His shed blood only that saves you.
It's loving to tell them Catholics are not saved.
It's loving to say those who practice Islam are not saved, Muslims are not saved, Hindus
are not saved, most Protestants are not saved, whether that be Episcopalian, whether that
be Methodists, especially United Methodists, they're really not saved, Church of Christ,
Jehovah's Witness, Mormons, unreligious, not saved, the guy in the jungle, not saved, his
little tiki religion, not saved, any of these weird religions out there, not saved.
And look, there's very few religions, honestly, in this world that have a major adherent following,
very, very few, and they're all not saved.
And it's the love of the truth that says, "Hey, you have to believe in Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.
That's what saves you."
But they didn't love it.
Why?
Well, let's keep reading.
It says, "And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Why is it that people hate the truth?
It's because they have pleasure in unrighteousness.
John 3, John chapter 3, and it gives us the same idea here.
John chapter 3, they don't love the truth, they love the pleasure of unrighteousness.
They love sin and they love wickedness.
Now here's the thing, you don't have to stop sinning to get saved.
And I've even heard some preachers say this, they're like, "You can't hold on to your sin
and get saved," or something.
Which usually to me sounds like they're teaching some kind of "repent your sins" or some kind
of a false gospel.
But obviously there's always a little bit of truth sometimes in these lies, and the
little bit of truth is that sometimes people, they don't want to know the truth because
they're enjoying their sin.
And it's not like they had to give it up to get saved, but look, you know, if your house
is gross, when the lights are off, you don't really notice it.
When you flip on the lights, well now it's kind of like, "Ugh."
And it's kind of like if you go to the bar, well hopefully you don't, I've heard, okay.
You go to the bar, they have the lights down low so that she looks a little more attractive.
And some people, they don't want the lights to come on because then you're like, "Wow,
that's a little bit different than I thought."
Okay.
They don't want the light to come on because they don't want to see how ugly things are.
They don't want to see how bad things are.
And this is what the Bible teaches in John chapter 3.
Look what it says in verse 19, "And this is the condemnation that light has come into
the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that
they are rotting God."
Now this is right after the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3.16, that all you have
to do is believe in Jesus Christ to be saved.
But it says why in the world are people not getting saved?
It's because they hate the light, because their deeds were evil, because they have pleasure
and unrighteousness.
Just like the Romans and Jurians who literally saw the angel of the Lord, saw the light of
the Gospel, saw that Jesus wasn't there.
But you know what?
They loved money more than the truth of the Gospel.
And instead of going and seeking out a disciple of Jesus and asking about how to get saved,
they sought to the Jews to get paid so that they could lie, because they loved money more
than the Gospel.
And you know what?
There's a lot of people that love money more than the Gospel, and they're not going to
get saved because of money.
They love their family, they love their false religion, they love their status, they love
whatever it is, whatever pleasure of sin, and because of that they're not even willing
to hear about the Gospel, they're not even willing to hear what's going on, because they're
just too afraid of realizing that they've been living a lie.
Their life's a lie.
Oh, you mean this Catholic church I've been going to, my whole life's a lie?
Yeah.
You mean all the hocus pocus that I did is a lie?
You mean all those confessions I made to this pedophile priest are a lie?
Yep.
You mean this Southern Baptist church that I've been going in my whole life that teaches
repenting your sins?
That's not true?
Not true.
You mean this Calvinist church that I've been going to?
I was told I didn't have a choice.
Well, that's wrong because you do.
You can leave.
Hey Calvinist, you can quit Calvinism.
You're not stuck in Calvinism.
You know what?
Realize you're elect and reject Calvinism.
The true elect reject Calvinism and they embrace the free will of choosing to believe in Jesus
Christ to be saved and accepting the free gift that's offered to them.
The gift is not the faith.
The gift is eternal life.
The gift of eternal life is acquired through your faith.
You say what can dead men do?
They can believe in Jesus Christ and get saved.
But these men that fell down as dead, instead of believing and getting saved, they went
and got paid.
They went and got money.
And you know there's a lot of people that are getting paid today to lie.
They're getting paid to lie about the gospel.
I want to go to Matthew chapter four real quick.
Go to Matthew chapter number four for another point.
Hey we need to find Jesus Christ and he was telling them to go into Galilee.
Now look at Matthew chapter number four verse fourteen.
The Bible says that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying
the land of Zabulon in the name of the land of Nathalim by the way of the sea beyond Jordan
Galilee of the Gentiles the people which sat in darkness saw great light and to them which
sat in the region in shadow of death light is sprung up.
So you have this group of people they're in darkness but a great light sprung up so what
should they have done?
They should have come to the light but many of them didn't come to the light less what?
Their deeds should be approved and so you know it's not that light isn't springing
up in this world today it is is that people don't want to come to the light so they don't
have the spirit of truth they have the spirit of error and so they don't want to hear the
truth they hate the truth and they're willing to even be paid to tell lies and of course
that's why you know Jude makes it clear you know that we should earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints because there's certain men crept
in unawares and they're ungodly they're turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness I
mean they're just they're denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ I mean
these people they're ordained to this condemnation but frankly speaking you know we have to go
out and preach the gospel because if we don't no one's going to we have to be that bright
and shining light now it's up to them how they respond to that light but we're going
to be held accountable if we don't go out and spread that light go back to Matthew 28
says in verse 16 then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where
Jesus had appointed them and when they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted that's
of course I think a reference to Thomas and maybe others but Thomas did doubt until he
saw Jesus later verse 18 and Jesus came and spake of them saying all powers given unto
me in heaven and earth go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you all the way even unto the end of
the world amen.
So we have a commission from the Lord Jesus Christ at the end right before his ascension
this is what he gives us the instruction until when?
The end of the world and why the end of the world?
Well he already taught us in Matthew 24 and 25 that that's when he's going to return.
He's going to return at the end of the world so he's given us instructions from now until
he returns and he's like a long journeyman that's gone on a long journey and he's going
to come back and of course that's where we're at in human history.
We are in between of Jesus Christ's ascension telling us to do something to teach all nations,
to baptize them and to teach them all things whatsoever Christ commanded.
Now what does this look like?
This is called the Great Commission.
This is what we refer to.
Someone says the Great Commission kids, it's Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20 so that's
what it's called.
This is known as you should probably memorize these few verses in the Bible.
A couple of things that are really important.
Number one is that all power is given in Jesus Christ.
By who?
The Father.
The Father gave the Son all power.
That means that we have the authority to preach the gospel everywhere in this world period.
Now I think the Bible does teach discretion and obviously we should go to the receptive
areas first.
If there's an area where we're being forbidden or it's dangerous maybe it makes sense to
use discretion, you know, conceal ourselves.
Not everybody's even worthy of hearing the gospel.
So we should be careful in how we approach that, but we technically have the authority
to go wherever we want, whenever we want.
And while we have billions of people on this planet, I think it makes sense to go to the
people I can go to for free and easy and legal until I start worrying about the people that
are illegal and not receptive and not wanting it.
Especially considering the fact that God punishes certain countries under the third and fourth
generation of them that hate him.
You know when you think about that it's like hey, here's an area that had the gospel light,
rejected it, hates it, wants nothing to do with it, made it illegal, and will murder
you and your whole family for going there.
I don't really think like hey, let's send a bunch of missionaries there.
Who wants to be a missionary there?
You know it's like probably not the coolest trip.
It's like or you could go to the Bahamas where it's beautiful, they're a Christian nation,
they love us, it's a close flight, you're very unlikely to be killed.
Unlikely, okay.
I can't say you won't, but I mean I think that sounds way better don't you?
Go to Shreveport, and yeah look we go in some neighborhoods and people are like do you know
where you're at?
And it's like yeah, they're like it's dangerous, right, that's why we're here, you know.
So you know what kind of demographics here?
It's why we're here, you know the people that sat in great darkness have seen a great light,
you know.
I'm just kidding.
It's like hey, yeah we got to go in these dark areas and preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Amen.
Right.
Sometimes they're really receptive to the gospel.
Now what is the great commission?
Number one to teach all nations.
What is that?
That's the gospel.
And notice that the gospel is not to some people, it's to all people, it's to all nations.
Number two you baptize them and number three teach them everything that's church.
So that's what we do.
We go soul winning, we baptize people and we have church.
And of course this layering, the widest net is the gospel.
The most receptive will at least receive the gospel.
Then the people that are a little bit serious, they'll at least get baptized.
And then the people that are really serious, they want to hear everything, they'll come
Wednesday night because they want to hear everything that Christ had to say.
Not just the fun popular sermon or the cool sermon or just a Sunday morning or Easter
only Christian.
No, they want to hear all the things that Christ has for them.
And that's what I'm commanded to do, is to teach you the whole Bible.
Isn't it a shame how many churches they just won't teach parts of the Bible?
I mean the Bible is saying to teach literally everything.
We should teach everything and everything is Jesus Christ.
I don't want to hold back Jesus from you.
I want you to know everything about Him, all the parts that we like and the parts that
are more difficult for us to like.
But the Bible does say the gospel is to all nations.
Go over to Genesis chapter 12 for a moment because of course while we're talking about
Jews we might as well also remind everyone that they're not God's chosen people.
And there is no verse in the Bible that says just bless physical descendants of Jews for
all of eternity.
Number one, we're probably all physical descendants of Jews.
If you understand genetics.
Number two, how would you even know that?
We can't even really know that.
So you'd almost just say, "Well, I'm just going to bless everybody then."
Then if there's a doubt, plus if we're supposed to bless children of Abraham, isn't Ishmael
the son of Abraham?
So does that mean all of Islam is also supposed to be blessed?
What is their logic?
They're like, "Oh, it's only the lineage of Isaac."
Well, here's your problem is that Isaac was not the promised seed.
But I also want to look at Genesis chapter 12, because this is where a lot of Zionists
today will take you to say, "This means bless Bibi Netanyahu."
You know, you got to bless little Bibi out there, okay?
Well, what does it say?
Verse 1, "Now the Lord has said unto Abram, 'Get thee out of thy country and from thy
kindred and from thy father's house into a land that I will show thee, and I will make
of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be
a blessing.
And I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curseeth thee, and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed."
Notice in Genesis chapter 12 verse 3 it says "all families."
In Matthew 28 it said "all nations," because God is not a respecter of persons.
And you know what?
The gospel blesses those who believe in Jesus Christ, not a certain ethnicity, not a certain
race of people.
Look, there's no such thing as race of people anyways according to the Bible.
Look at chapter 13 verse 15.
"Here's a promise made to him, for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give
it and to thy seed forever."
Okay?
Now, go to Galatians chapter number 3, go to Galatians chapter number 3.
He said he's going to give the land to his seed forever.
Okay?
Well, then who am I to stand in the way of just giving the Jews all that land?
Well, wait a minute.
Maybe it's Galatians chapter 3.
What does Galatians chapter 3 verse 15 say?
"Brethren, I speak after the man of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet hath it be
confirmed, no man disannulth or addeth thereto.
Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made, he saith not, and the seed's as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.
So who is the land given to forever?
It was Jesus Christ.
Why would I give it to a bunch of antichrists then?
And look, it doesn't matter if we're talking about Islam, Islam doesn't deserve that land
either.
Jews don't deserve that land either.
But frankly speaking, I'm not going to fight over it, nor should we be fighting over it.
It's really Christ's land.
It says in verse 17, "And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should make
the promise of none effect.
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham
by promise."
Look, the Jews do not get the land by the law.
So if you go to the law and show me all the delineations of all the tribes and all the
land and all the places where they get, that can't stop the fact that it was already given
to Jesus.
It's already Jesus' land.
Their contract is in no effect.
No effect.
It is Christ's land.
And the gospel is given to those who are in Christ.
The inheritance is given to those who are in Christ.
Look what it says a little bit further in this particular chapter.
Look at verse 22.
"But the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe."
Look at verse 26.
"For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."
Look at verse 28.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female.
For ye are all one in Christ Jesus and if ye be Christ then are ye Abraham's seed and
heirs according to the promise."
So through Christ we are the heirs of that land and that promise and we are the ones
that are supposed to go out and teach all nations.
That promise in Genesis chapter number 12, you know what it is?
It's the gospel.
It's the gospel that is going to bless all families of the earth.
And we go out and we preach Genesis 12 verse 3, whereas the boomers today, they're preaching,
"Give money to the antichrist."
No, that's like the Roman centurion believing lies and all kinds of money and giving money
to lies.
And of course these people propagating this message, they're being paid by Jews to propagate
this lie.
You know what?
This is the real Genesis 12 verse 3 which is the gospel of Jesus Christ and we're supposed
to teach, notice, all nations.
God was not only about the Jews, He's never only about the Jews, He's always about every
single person and He wanted them to all be saved.
So we've concluded the book of Matthew.
I want to look at three more places just to finish, just to conclude Matthew.
So what's the conclusion of Matthew?
Well look at Matthew chapter 1 again, Matthew chapter 1.
This is the first gospel in the New Testament, very important first puzzle piece to understanding
the truth of the New Testament.
But number one, we're introduced to a new character, that is Jesus Christ, it says in
verse 21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he
shall save his people from their sins."
Now, on the surface it seems like you're saying the Jews, but you know what, we're really
talking about spiritual Jews.
We're actually talking about those that are going to be of Abraham's seed, which are
those who believe in Jesus Christ, and we are going to be saved from our sins.
We are God's people, we are the children of God, and we're supposed to teach all nations
and all families of the earth are blessed through that promised seed, which is Jesus
Christ.
The seed of the woman in Genesis chapter number three, against the seed of the serpent,
which are the Jews, the synagogue of Satan.
Now there's enmity between these two seeds.
The spirit of truth and the spirit of error today.
The ultimate battles between truth and lies.
Between God the father, which is the truth, Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the
life and then the father of lies, which is the devil and his seed, propagating lies and
us propagating the truth.
And of course, Jesus came as that promised seed to save us from our sins.
Chapter 2 verse 2 makes it clear, saying, "Where is he that is born, king of the Jews?"
Jesus Christ is the king of the Jews.
Go through it to chapter 27, and that's reiterated throughout the rest of Matthew, that Jesus
Christ came to save us from sins.
He is the king of the Jews.
He said he was the king of the Jews.
They realized he was the king of the Jews.
They even wrote the inscription, "This is the king of the Jews."
And what was he doing in Matthew 27?
He was dying for the sins of mankind because he was that innocent blood.
He had no sin.
They had no reason to put him on the cross.
They said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children."
It says in verse number 29, "And when they had plated a crown of thorns, they put it
upon his head and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked
him saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews.'"
Verse 37, "And they set up over his head his accusation written, 'This is Jesus, the king
of the Jews.'"
And I want to go one more place, go to Matthew chapter 8, go to Matthew chapter 8.
We have the king of the Jews coming to save his people from their sins.
Who are these Jews?
Who are these people?
It's those who believe, including the Gentiles.
And we see in Matthew chapter 8, one of the first people that he reforms a miracle for
and heals is a Roman centurion.
We start out with a Roman centurion believing.
Matthew chapter 8, look at verse 13, "And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way,
and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee."
Hey, as you believe, it's by your faith that you're saved.
We believe in the King of the Jews, we believe in Jesus Christ, and that's what save us.
We don't want to be the Roman centurion that takes the bribe and takes the money and takes
the pleasure of unrighteousness.
We want to be like the Roman centurion who believed in Jesus Christ and took the gospel
freely.
We teach all nations that same gospel.
We baptize them and we drag them to church so they can learn everything that Christ has
commanded.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us the gospel of Matthew.
Thank you for giving us the gift of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for giving us the love of the truth that we're sinners deserving of hell.
Thank you for allowing your Son Jesus to die on the cross for all of our sins but rising
again victorious.
Thank you for taking your power and giving it to us so that we could go out and preach
the most important truth ever, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I pray that we would not be afraid but we would realize that you're always with us even
into the end of the world.
You're with us right now.
You're with us as we go.
And I pray that we would go out with great power and with great boldness to preach the
gospel and get people baptized and to preach the entire Bible and that we give all the
honor and glory to your Son in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
In closing, let's go to song number 146, song number 146, a shelter in the time of storm.
Song number 146.