Music
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you could please find your seats and grab your song books. We're going to start out with song 110,
All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
110, All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
Song 110. Let's sing it out.
All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy?
Who, through life, has been my guide?
Heavenly peace, divine discomfort,
Hear my faith in Him to dwell.
For I know what e'er He called me,
Jesus, doeth all things well.
For I know what e'er He called me,
Jesus, doeth all things well.
All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
Cheers, entwining, path I tread.
Gives me praise for every trial.
Feeds me with a living friend.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul abhors may be,
Gushing from the rock before me,
Lo, what spring of joy I see!
Gushing from the rock before me,
Lo, what spring of joy I see!
All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
All the fullness of His love
Curved with rose to be His promise
In my Father's house above.
When my spirit from immortal
Wings its flight to realms of day,
This my soul through endless ages,
Jesus, lend me all the way.
This my soul through endless ages,
Jesus, lend me all the way.
Good singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you that you have led our church over these years.
I pray that you would continue to lead us
and just help us to be thankful for all that you've done in our lives.
I pray that you bless this service.
Help us to sing out tonight with love in our hearts for you.
We love you, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Alright, for our next song, let's go to 114, The Great Physician.
One hundred and fourteen.
One, one, four.
The Great Physician now is here,
The sympathizing Jesus.
He speaks the drooping heart to cheer,
O hear the voice of Jesus.
Sweetest loud and seraph song,
Sweetest name of mortal tongue,
Sweetest care O ever sought,
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
Your many sins are all forgiven,
O hear the voice of Jesus.
Go on your way in peace to heaven,
And wear a crown with Jesus.
Sweetest loud and seraph song,
Sweetest name of mortal tongue,
Sweetest care O ever sought,
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
All glory to the dying land,
I now believe in Jesus.
I love the blessed Savior's name,
I love the name of Jesus.
Sweetest loud and seraph song,
Sweetest name of mortal tongue,
Sweetest care O ever sought,
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
And when to that bright world above,
We rise to be with Jesus,
We'll sing around the throne above,
His name, the name of Jesus.
Sweetest loud and seraph song,
Sweetest name of mortal tongue,
Sweetest care O ever sought,
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
Please make sure you're turning that into your soul winning captains on the right, a list of several expecting ladies.
Please be in prayer for those that are mentioned here.
Special note, please make sure you're praying for our trial on June 3rd.
Upcoming events, there is a wedding on June 8th for Joshua Garcia
and Cynthia Navajo at 3 p.m. June 21st to the 23rd
is a Friends Conference, the Red Hot Preaching Conference at Verde Baptist Church
in Sacramento, California. A note for
the Chicago Soul Winning Marathon, they had 80 Salvations yesterday
but for the whole Friday and Saturday they had 102.
Definitely it was a great soul winning trip
and really was encouraged to see a lot of like-minded brethren
out there and to hang out with some of them. There was over 60 soul winners.
A lot of people from our church went there. I know the Brooks drove up there.
Brother Robertson drove up there. We had a lot of people with us. Brother Diego,
Brother Oz, Brother Rich, Brother Alex, his fiance.
I'm probably forgetting somebody but there was
Brother Malton came out there with us and I got to see some people from
Faith Ward, from Stronghold, I'm not Stronghold, Shur Foundation
and then both their main church and a lot of people
from their plant so it was a great, great trip.
Also we had the congratulations to Sophia Bunch this morning for graduation
and I think we even have a couple more for next week.
Also the congratulations to the Vias family on the birth of
Sloane Capri. She was born on the 25th at 4.12 am
9 pounds 12 ounces and 21 and a half inches long.
Congratulations to them.
That's really all I have
as far as announcements. Go ahead and sing our psalm of the week
Psalm 149.
Alright let's sing it out together
Psalm 149
Let is
rejoice in him that made him
Let the children of Zion be
joyful in their King
Let them praise his name in the dance
Let them sing praises
unto him with the timbrel
and heart for the Lord
taketh pleasure in his
people he will beautify the
meek salvation
Let the saints be joyful in
glory Let them sing
aloud upon their beds
Let the high praises of God
be in their mouth and
love to legends born in their hands
to execute
vengeance upon the
Eden and punishments upon
the people to
bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with
measures of iron
to execute upon them the
judgment printed
this honor have all his saints
praise he the Lord
As the offering plates are being passed around please turn to Daniel chapter 4.
Daniel chapter number 4.
Daniel chapter 4.
The Bible reads,
Nebuchadnezzar the king unto all people nations and languages that dwell
in all the earth peace be multiplied unto you I thought
it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought
toward me how great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders
his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion
is from generation to generation I Nebuchadnezzar was
at rest in mine house and flourishing in my palace I saw
a dream which made me afraid and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions
of my head troubled me therefore made I a decree
to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me that they might
make known unto me the interpretation of the dream then came in
the magicians the astrologers the Chaldeans and the soothsayers
and I told the dream before them but they did not make known unto me the
interpretation thereof but at the last Daniel came in before
me whose name was Belteshazzar according to the name of my God
and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods and before him I told
the dream saying oh Belteshazzar master of the magicians
because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee and no
secret trouble at thee tell me the visions of my dream that I have
seen in the interpretation thereof thus were the visions of mine head
in my bed I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth
and the height thereof was great the tree grew and was
strong and the height thereof reached unto heaven and the sight thereof
to the end of all the earth the leaves thereof were fair and the fruit thereof
much and in it was meat for all the beasts of the field had
shadow under it and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the bows thereof and all
flesh was fed of it I saw in the visions of my head upon my
bed and behold a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven
he cried aloud and said thus hew down the tree and cut off
his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit let the
beasts get away from under it and the fowls from his branches
nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth even
with a band of iron and brass and the tender grass of the field
and let it be wet with the dew of heaven and let his portion be with
the beasts and the grass of the earth let his heart be changed from
man's and let a beast's heart be given unto him and let seven
times pass over him this matter is by the decree
of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent
that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men
and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up
over it the basest of men this dream I king
Nebuchadnezzar hath seen now thou o'bel to Shazzar
and declare the interpretation thereof for as much as all the wise men of my kingdom are not
able to make known unto me the interpretation but thou art able
for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee then Daniel
whose name was Belteshazzar was astonished for one hour and his
thoughts troubled him the king spake and said Belteshazzar
let not the dream or the interpretation thereof trouble thee
Belteshazzar answered and said my lord the dream be to them that
they hate thee and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies the tree
that thou sawest which grew and was strong whose height reached unto the heaven
and the sight thereof to all the earth whose leaves were fair and the fruit
thereof much and in it was meat for all under which the beasts
of the field dwelt and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their
habitation it is thou o king that art grown
and become strong for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven
my dominion to the end of the earth and whereas the king saw a watcher
and an holy one coming down from heaven and saying cue the tree
down and destroy it yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth
even with a band of iron and brass and the tender grass of the field
and let it be wet with the dew of heaven and let his portion be with the beasts
of the field till seven times pass over him this is the
interpretation o king and this is the decree of the most high which
shall come upon my lord the king that they shall drive thee from
men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field and they shall make
thee to eat grass as oxen and they shall wet thee with the dew
of heaven and seven times shall pass over thee till thou know that the
most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will
and whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots
thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee after that thou shalt have known
that the heavens do rule wherefore o king let my council
be acceptable unto thee and break off thy sins by righteousness and
thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor if it may be a lengthening
of thy tranquility all this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar
at the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the
kingdom of Babylon the king spake and said is not
this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might
of my power and for the honor of my majesty while the word was
in the king's mouth there fell a voice from heaven saying o king Nebuchadnezzar
to thee it is spoken the kingdom is departed from
thee and they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be
with the beasts of the field they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen
and seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the most
high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will
the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar and he was
driven from men and did eat grass as oxen and his body was wet
with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagles feathers
and his nails like birds claws at the end of the days
I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding
returned unto me and I blessed the most high and I praised and
honored him that liveth forever whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation and all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto
him what doest thou at the same time my reason returned unto me
and for the glory of my kingdom mine honor and brightness returned unto
me and my counselors and my lord sought unto me and I was established
in my kingdom an excellent majesty was added unto me now
I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the king of heaven
all whose works are truth and his ways judgment
and those that walk in pride he is able to abase
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven I pray that you
fill Pastor Shelley with the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit now
as he preaches your word to us and I pray Lord that you would
enable us to be attentive to the preaching of your words so that
we may make necessary changes in our lives and serve you better
Help us to glorify you in everything we do. We love you and in Jesus name
I pray. Amen. Amen. I want to look back at verse 17
the Bible says this matter is by the decree of the
watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones
to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth
in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever
he will and seteth up over it the
basest of men and
really this chapter is just emphasizing one main point
and that is how Nebuchadnezzar has been lifted up
in his heart and is very prideful about his status
about his power about his wealth and
he attributes that to himself you can kind of see
in verse 30 says this the king spake and said
is not this great Babylon that I have built for the
house of the kingdom by the might of my power
and for the honor of my majesty so we see
how he's lifted up about himself he believes that all
of the possessions that he has all the fame and the fortune
and the power and the might that he has is a result of him
but what does the Bible say in the verse that we just read it says specifically
that the God is giving it to whomsoever he will
and in some cases he's even setting up over it
the basest of men so from God's perspective
he's saying sometimes I give the worst men
the scummiest individuals the least deserving
people the most popularity that there is
and what I want to talk about this evening is just the idea of
popularity popularity because
unfortunately many people falsely
attribute popularity to their own self worth
or thinking that they're somehow a great person due to
popularity whereas God is actually
calling out here and saying sometimes he will make the most
popular person from the worst of our society
like the most scummy individual or the worst of our society
is sometimes the most popular individual in the world
well this is not hard for us to understand today when we have people like
Joe Biden running our country okay and it's not like
Joe Biden is some great individual from our society
but rather is one of the basis of men in many different ways
but notice the emphasis here verse 25 says again
and I'm just this is a long verse look towards the end of it
it says till thou know that the most high ruleth in the
kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will so he punishes
Nebuchadnezzar and causes him to be an outcast and
be like a physical animal in many senses
shame him and embarrass him and notice it's until he knows
until he recognizes you did not put yourself in this
position I put you in this position so God is
humbling him lowering him so he would recognize
that it is God that gives popularity to whom he
ever determines is worthy of that for whatever reason
even in verse 32 you see it again mentioned here
that the seven times shall pass over thee until thou know
that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men
and giveth it to whomsoever he will so God sets
up people and puts people down however he decides
and sometimes he puts people in positions of popularity and
positions of power and authority that do not deserve it and in fact are some
of the most evil and wicked and scummiest people on the planet
so we should not allow popularity to be
our determining factor on judging someone's character
on determining if they are a person of value now sometimes
it can be a great person that's very popular sometimes it's a very scummy
person that's popular but popularity in and of itself we have
to understand this is a gift from God that he gives it to whom
ever he desires to have popularity in that moment
now go to Deuteronomy chapter number 8 go to Deuteronomy chapter number 8
what is popularity
well generally speaking and you know looking at a dictionary
one definition that I like is just that you're commonly liked
you're commonly liked and popularity in and of itself
is very contextual in the sense that you can
have popularity in all kinds of different spheres of your life
when you're young especially if you went to public school
there was a realm of popularity that's associated with being in public school
being one of the popular kids in school but you could be popular
in school and literally no one knows who you are outside of school it's only in that
sphere it's only in that realm that you're considered quote popular
you could be popular in church you could be popular in your family
you could be popular among your friends you could be popular at work
you could be popular in your city, state, country, yay
even the world and popularity is very relative
it's relative to all manner of spheres
of influence or circumstances and many people
are popular within certain realms
sometimes people they're popular online or they're popular in
their chess club or they're popular at school or they're popular
at church and sometimes people are popular in one environment
and not popular in another environment where they're popular
when they do cosplay but they're not popular in the world
they're not popular in normal society and so
realms of popularity they're very very relative and I think a lot
of people experience forms of popularity
most people are never going to be popular from a world perspective
it's a very small number of people but we can all experience and see
people that are popular in all kinds of different spheres of life and that's
what I'm talking about I'm not talking about just only being the king of the world
obviously Nebuchadnezzar is arguably the most popular person in
all of the world at that time the most recognized the most known
and not everybody is going to be that person it's only a few people that are ever going to be
that person but we can all experience realms of
popularity and when we do experience that if you do experience a sense where
people like you or you're commonly liked we should
not allow ourselves to be lifted up because of that the Bible says in
Deuteronomy chapter number 8 look at verse 11 beware that thou
forget not the Lord thy God and keeping his commandments and his judgments and
his statutes which I command thee this day lest when thou has eaten
and art full and has built goodly houses and dwelt therein
and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied
and all that thou has is multiplied then thy heart be lifted up
and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out
of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage so notice by
getting money wealth having goods it could cause you
to end up forgetting God and I would liken popularity in the
same way that sometimes getting popularity which is usually
directly tied to these financial successes will
cause you to forget God or to not think about God and God
is trying to warn you just because you have success just because you may get
popularity just because you might have wealth just because you might have goods
don't forget the Lord thy God and his statutes
now he specifically drugged them through the wilderness it says here in verse number
15 who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness
wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and
drought where there was no water who brought thee forth
water out of the rock of flint who fed thee in the wilderness with
manna which thy fathers knew not that he might humble
thee and that he might prove thee to do thee
good at thy latter end sometimes God will also bring you through
rough spots in your life to humble you to help
you recognize that it is God that gives us everything that we have
including our food our clothing our environment
our country everything and he drugged them through the wilderness to prove them
to see what will you be like when you don't have goods
when you're not popular when you don't have money when you don't have wealth
how will you treat yourself will you still seek God
so God's dragging them through but yet at the same time
he's also giving them the promised land and they're going to have great wealth and he's afraid that
what they'll do is in verse number 17 and thou shalt say in thine heart my power
and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth when you have all the
prosperity and all the success it's so easy to take credit
for it it's so easy to think I'm special
and of course with success often comes
popularity and people will sometimes think it's about them
it feeds the narcissist inside every one of us
and you know we often hear this word being thrown out there like this person's a
narcissist and really that's just such a bad idea
to try and identify some people as narcissists
and others as not because everyone's a narcissist to some
degree what is being a narcissist being self-involved
thinking about yourself everyone does this everyone's
a little selfish everyone is a little self-absorbed
I mean what do people do do people go online and create accounts
for other people or do they create their own personal profile
with their own personal pictures and there's an about me
section that's narcissism okay
albeit that doesn't mean that everybody is a quote narcissist
but what I'm saying is that everyone experiences the temptation
of being a little bit narcissistic and being self-absorbed
and thinking about themselves and
whenever we become popular it's easy to attribute that to you
and think it's about you and praising yourself and thinking how
wonderful you are and we live in a society that is
obsessed with self obsessed
with popularity obsessed with how many followers
they have how many likes they have how many
shares they get how much interaction they
get and it almost even determines people's mood
just based on their popularity alone
and we live in a unique generation where we're playing out a
weird social experiment where everybody has their own
online profiles and their own online persona
and their followed and liked and shared and how many
friends they have and it's all about numbers and statistics
and metrics and just it's about general popularity
and if we were to be honest with ourselves a vast majority
a vast percentage of our population is a
little bit obsessed with how many people follow them or their friends
how many people like their posts just their personal influence in the world
and they're obsessed with popularity but the reality is
we have to understand that God gives popularity
to whom he chooses however and whenever and we shouldn't allow
popularity to dictate who we are
we shouldn't allow popularity to dictate who we think is a good person
we should allow the Bible to keep us grounded
to keep us humble and if we get popularity
to make sure that it doesn't change us for the worst
to not allow it to cause us for our hearts to be lifted up
because at any moment God could make any person in this room popular
if he wanted to. He could make you super star
super popular get a lot of attention and he could also take a lot of popular people
and he could knock them down to nothing overnight just like that
as well and it does not determine based
on that person just being a great person or not it's just how it works
you know if Hollywood and the mainstream media and the
powers that be just want to make someone popular they can make
anyone popular it does not matter
who the person is what they look like because here's the thing
everybody is a little bit interesting
humanity is interesting people are cool in general
and even people that are weird it's just people like to just observe
weird people being weird I mean
there are people out there that are very popular and they're just a weird person
and here's another thing people like to see people doing cool things
well because Hollywood and the media
and everything like that whenever they want to make someone popular what they do is
they just take that person and they give them really cool things to do
and they put them around other cool people and they'll even have people
write really cool things for them to say and they just basically
are building this person up and lifting this person up and they can basically
make or break anybody that they want at any time
and sometimes people think like oh it's because I'm so talented and so wonderful
there are plenty of popular people that are not very talented not
very special there's nothing great about them they're just
part of the machine and what happens though
is those individuals forget why they're even there and they start getting
lifted up and they get puffed up and they start thinking they're somehow better than
other people we should allow popularity to allow us to think
that we're better than other people and the children of Israel
they got puffed up and lifted up and they thought they were better than the Gentiles
because of what God gave them and because of who God made
them and they look down upon the Gentiles they call them goyim they look
at them as cattle they look at them as subhuman because of what
because of popularity that they have Govee Wood to
1 Corinthians 4 you know you shouldn't think that you're
special just because you're an American American
exceptionalism people think because I mean being an American
is a certain level of popularity that you don't even realize
if I take you I don't care who it is in this room
if I take you to Africa you will be a superstar
if I take you to foreign countries and foreign nations everyone
will want to talk to you and hang out with you and think that you're super cool because you're an American
that's it literally that is it it has nothing to do with
you actually being an interesting or cool person and
it's just crazy but people will think that they're special or they're
better because they're American and Americans do believe this
Americans by and large just look at other nations
and just look down upon them and look at them with scorn and just say we're
smarter than you guys we're better than you guys
we're stronger than you guys we're wiser than
you guys and they don't recognize the fact that the reason why
they have the things that they have it has nothing to do with them
it has everything to do with the fact that they were put in that
situation you were just born by your parents
you didn't get to choose that there was nothing special
about you being born of your parents and of course the
liberals take this way way too far way out of context
but they talk about white privilege okay but here's
the reality there's some truth to that there is some truth
to the fact because here's the reality it's not so much that being
born white gives you any level of privilege because being white is not
better than being any other color of skin but here's the reality the vast
majority of Christians in our current world are
white and America was founded upon Christian principles
and being a Christian and having a Christian nation affords you all
kinds of things like wealth and prosperity and intelligence and wisdom
just all kinds of blessings come with being Christian so they're
really if they were going to be honest they're talking about Christian privilege
not white privilege because there's a lot of poor atheist children
born in this world that are white that do not have any privilege
they're trailer trash okay the trailer trash in our society are not having
privilege but the reason that was different is mostly those parents were not
Christian and had no Christian values in their life the people that were born in
Christian homes with Christian values they often are set up in life as having
a lot extra privilege because they're gifted all kinds of wisdom
and intelligence and money and because of that
they're often more popular who was popular in high school
the rich kids how many of those kids went out and worked
and earned a dollar that they had in their pockets none
of it it was because of their parents it was their parents that gave
them all of that wealth but what happens because of their popularity
in school they think that they're a better person than poor kids in school
than other kids than people in other parts of the world
they think because of the fact of who they are and their popularity
that somehow determines their character when in fact many of the most
popular kids in high school were some of the scummiest and basest of the people
in our high school and it could even happen in
Christianity or in churches where people think that they're so
much better than other people because of the status or the situation
they find themselves in the Apostle Paul has addressed this in 1 Corinthians 4
look at verse 6
and what has thou that thou didst not receive
now if thou didst receive it why
dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it
he's saying why in the world would you go around
bragging about who you are when the reason why you
are who you are is you just got a gift and what
is the gift that we're mostly talking about in this context of the gospel
he's saying don't think that you guys are better than people
who don't have the wisdom of the Bible because they haven't
literally received it and you some are better because you've received it
the reason why you're saved and the reason why you're a Christian and the reason why you're making good decisions
now in your life is because I the Apostle Paul showed up on your door
and gave you the gospel you got a gift of the gospel
you didn't earn the gospel you didn't earn salvation
you didn't make yourself a new man no Jesus Christ
caused you to be born again and gave you a new birth and you became
a new man as a free gift so then why would you think of yourself
as a better person than an unsaved individual
because you got the free gift of salvation
whereas the worst religion in this context to me is Calvinism
because Calvinism literally is the most puffed
up ideology in this case and they think that they're so much better
than other people and that's the reason why they're even saved
because they look at their life and they think of course I'm saved look at how much I've
cleaned up my life and I've turned from
the reprobate nature into irresistible grace
but the reality is many of them aren't even saved
and the things that the Calvinists have they receive them from Presbyterian parents
from Reformed parents
and it wasn't because they're somehow special it wasn't like they did any
kind of work but rather they were just
given this opportunity and in a sense their ideology
of they didn't even do anything it was chosen upon them
hey you can't necessarily choose if you're a Calvinist raised that way as a child
you know what you can choose to reject Calvinism
and you know what you can reject false religion and you can believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you can get saved but there's nothing to glory in that you did
the only thing to glory in is what Christ did the free gift that he's offering
to all of us I can't take credit for being able to breathe oxygen
because we all get to breathe oxygen it's free
and the reality is there's rich kids today they're taking pride in the fact
that they have a nice car that mommy and daddy bought for them
and it's like what did you do to earn this car? Nothing
and we as God's people sometimes we might think that we're better than
other individuals because we live in such a great nation
in the state of Texas we have the King James Bible
we might look down at other nations and other groups and think you guys aren't
as good as us but wait a minute why are you so good because someone gave
you a King James Bible and gave you the gospel and
gave you a church and gave you the country that you even live in
you didn't build this nation you didn't build any of these
roads out here you didn't build your car you didn't build all these things that you have
other people built it for you and you have so many gifts in your life that you've received
why do you think you're so much better? And we as Americans
we've inherited a great nation still arguably the greatest
place to live on this earth and we did nothing to get it but then
we looked down at other nations and think that there's so much worse than us
it's like why? Because we're puffed up and we're prideful based on
our own popularity we think oh well everybody loves America we must
be special there's nothing special about you being American
you're not special because you're American you know what
there's some of the worst people in the world are American
you know what makes someone a great person?
Someone that's believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and is saved and the reason why they're great is because of
what Christ did for them. Someone that's humble
and little in their own sight and actually serves Christ that's going to be a
great person but often times they don't get the popularity
don't look at popularity as something to achieve in fact look
what the apostle Paul says in verse 8 now you're full now
you're rich you've reigned as kings without us and I would to God you did
reign that we also might reign with you for I think that God has set forth
us the apostles last as it were appointed to death
for we're made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men
we are fools for Christ's sake but you're wise in Christ
we are weak but you're strong you're honorable but we are
despised so the apostle Paul says at that time the apostles
were hated of the world nobody liked them
they didn't have popularity they had infamy but those
in this church they still had popularity and wealth
and they had good things and he's saying in relation
to Christ if we take reality here
who is objectively better the people in this church or the apostle Paul
the apostle Paul is better but you know what who's popular
that church and the people in the church so is the popularity determining who's
the best here no it wasn't popularity and in fact he's saying
I think God made us apostles last probably to what to keep them
humble because if the apostles are going out and they're just super popular
then people might get the wrong idea and think that popularity is what we should strive for
rather than being godly and look there's nothing wrong with
popularity and in fact the apostle Paul is saying hey I'm glad that you guys are popular
I wish you were popular and that we could hang out with you guys and do all these great things
but I think God just decided to make us last so that he could build you up
and of course the apostles are popular now but they weren't popular
then and many times the great people of history
weren't popular in their lives they were popular
afterwards they were the ones that were resisting they were the ones that
had infamy they were the ones that were going against the grain in their time they had to suffer
the persecution and the evil of their life but then they
live on as heroes of the faith they live on as heroes afterwards
and we shouldn't be striving for popularity we should strive to do that
which is right go to Psalm 75
being popular is vain
being popular does not determine right or wrong
don't think that you're so much better than another Christian
just because you receive things we could look at other churches and we could look at
other people in those churches and think that we're better than them
but is it really fair if no one's given them the same doctrine
you know it's like some people in the quote new IFB
they have a lot of good doctrine but they haven't even read the Bible cover to cover
they didn't read the Bible unless they were
they didn't read the Bible and learn that they were literally spoon fed
that by some of the greatest preachers to live in our generation
they literally just watched Pastor Anderson and he literally just handed them some of the greatest
doctrines ever that he took hours and lifetime and
decades to study and to get to and he just hands it to you for free
and then you somehow think you're better than other Christians that haven't been handed that yet
it's like why are you so much better than that individual
cause the vast majority of every congregation is not
researching and studying on their own they're just simply mirrors
of their pastor and whatever they're spoon fed and it doesn't make them worse
of a person just because they haven't been gifted all the things you've been gifted
you shouldn't be looking down at other people and saying I'm better
than them because look at all the stuff I've been given
Psalm 75 look at verse number 4
I said unto the fools deal not foolishly
and to the wicked lift not up the horn
lift not up your horn on high speak not with a stiff neck for
promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west
nor from the south but God is the judge
he putteth down one and setteth up another
you notice what the Bible says God is the one that promotes people
God is the one that lifts one up and puts one down
and when it comes to popularity stop worrying about what you're doing
be right with God and he'll give you popularity if he wants you to have it or not
sometimes he does sometimes he doesn't
go if you would to John chapter 3
go to John chapter 3 you know the Bible says in Proverbs 31
favor is deceitful and beauty is vain
you know what makes women popular they're
physically attractive but did you realize that the vast majority
of a woman's physical attractiveness is just how she was born
and her genetics it has nothing to do with her
like she can't control that obviously there's a little bit of control women
have over obviously just being healthy or in shape or things like that
but just generally speaking you know young women they don't even have to
worry about that yet many of them have such a high metabolism they don't even have to
necessarily worry about those things too much I mean there's so many women today that are super
popular and they've done literally nothing to get that popularity
they just have a pretty face and having a pretty face
will take you really far as far as popularity but you know what does that
make that woman a good person in fact many women
that are very attractive are some of the most rotten people on the planet
most of the Hollywood whores in our society
and it's not that they aren't attractive they are attractive but that's their downfall
that's their problem you know women
want to be attractive but sometimes being attractive is a trap
because it causes you to have popularity
and it causes you to be prideful and think that you have more value than you really do
and to think that you're somehow better than you really are
that's why it says favor is deceitful
there's something deceitful about popularity and it is
because it makes you think that you're somehow special you've done something you've accomplished
something when many times you even haven't now of course
popularity can be as a direct result of working very hard being
diligent doing good and sometimes even popularity
can be for the right reason you know it's really popular in the Bible
and there was nothing wrong with it how about John the Baptist
you know the Bible says that all Jerusalem came out to see John the Baptist
that's what you call popularity they all went into the wilderness
to find him even you know there was nothing wrong with John the Baptist being
popular in fact that was a good thing but let me tell you something
John the Baptist didn't go out into the wilderness eating wild
locusts and honey or locusts and wild honey and wearing the Canadian
tuxedo to become popular he didn't even preach the
messages that he was preaching to become popular the reason why
John the Baptist was popular is because God lifts up one and sets down another
in fact John the Baptist didn't even do any miracles
who in the how is John the Baptist popular
you want to know why John the Baptist was probably popular there was only one guy in the whole area that was willing
to preach the Bible I mean think about it the Pharisees and the Sadducees
they're not preaching the Bible and so if you want to hear someone preach
the Bible if you want to hear someone preach the truth preach what God is actually saying
you had to go driveway out into the wilderness and hear some crazy guy
preach the Bible some hairy dude
wearing camel skins I mean that's I mean it's kind of
weird you're thinking like why would anybody do this because he was the
one guy the voice crying out in the wilderness
sometimes you kind of wonder like why in the world did anybody come to this church
I don't know but I know this it's not me
it's probably just this book because if people were preaching
the exact same way I was a lot closer to her house you'd probably just go there
let's just be honest right it's not about me
and we should never think that it's about us we should recognize
it's always about Christ the truth is popular
John chapter 3 look at verse 26
you know what they're trying to do they're trying to get John the Baptist to be
envious of Jesus Christ's popularity
hey John you're losing some popularity bro hey your church
is shrinking bro hey you were the baptizer
you're the Baptist there's a second Baptist in town you were the first
Baptist church he's the second Baptist church what do you think about that
and what is John the Baptist's response here
look at verse 27 John answered and said a man could receive nothing
except to be given him from heaven hey I like that attitude
hey you know why I was popular because God gave me popularity
you know why I had followers because God gave me followers
you want to know why I had a message because God gave me a message
that's why you yourselves bear witness that I said I am not
the Christ but that I am sent before him he that at the bride
is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth in here with him rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice this my joy therefore
is fulfilled he must increase but I
must decrease notice John recognized that his
popularity needed to diminish so that Jesus Christ could have
the fullest of the popularity because at the end of the day if you're a minister of Christ
if you're a servant of Christ it's not about you it's about Christ
and when it comes to popularity popularity may come and go
but at the end of the day we need to make sure that our actions are striving for
the cause of Christ and not ourselves not like
Nebuchadnezzar that's look at what I've built and it's about me no no it's about Christ
and it's about what he built you know I really like we went
to visit a pastor in Chicago
and apparently a lot of pastors called him
and told him not to allow our group to use his building
something like of all the problems we have in America trying to
make sure that we don't use someone else's building is probably number one on the list right
of all the activities that pastors need to be concerned with and bothered with
is probably calling other Baptist pastors and trying to get them to
stop allowing soul winning events at their church I mean think about
that think of the absurdity like you're a Baptist pastor of all the tasks
you have on your list for that week like make sure that this soul winning group
can't use someone else's church why is that
on your list of priorities you know why it's because they're afraid
of their ministry being diminished
they're afraid that they would decrease even though Christ
would literally increase even though people might get saved
they don't want people to get saved they want to make sure that their church
doesn't lose any members to the new IFB you know why they're afraid
of losing members to the new IFB because we're cooler than you guys are
but you know what makes us cool
this book is what's making us cool we're not
popular because we're actually cooler than you we're only popular because of
this book we're only cool because Christ is
cool the only thing that makes us great is the truth of God's word
and if they would just get on Christ's program they could stop worrying about
popularity they could stop worrying about losing church members
it is a fool's attitude that says why can't
I associate with the new IFB because I'm afraid of Pastor Anderson
well let me give you a news check not everybody's going to move to Tempe Arizona
not everybody's going to leave and go somewhere else
some people actually hate the heat now I like the heat
some people want to live where it's cold and it snows and it gets 50 below zero
you guys are insane
I hate hell but I don't hate it so much to live in 50 degree below weather
okay I mean and
here's the reality lots of people aren't going to just move to one person's church
Pastor Anderson doesn't even encourage people to move to his church he tells them to go to their church
in their area and they're so afraid of listening to this guy but you know why
they're so afraid because they're afraid of being diminished and decreasing
nuts to that you know what if everybody just wants to move to some
other church that's way better God bless you if you
think there's a better church for you and your family who am I to stand in your way
you know God forbid anybody from wanting
to serve God or do a work for God and I'm there standing in
their way for what for popularity
what do I need nuts to me if I'm a minister of God
and I care more about popularity than the cause of Christ
or think that I'm somehow special because of popularity well what if
my church shrinks well you know what being a great pastor is not
about how many people come to your church stop having that
bad attitude well my church runs a thousand oh wow amazing
that doesn't make you a great pastor because let me ask you
this question are those thousand people people that you personally brought into that building
and the answer is no oh you
you got that church from someone else that's interesting
oh your church that's running fifteen hundred on Sunday morning used to run
seven thousand and then you want to tell me how great you are
I think a lot of people could take a church of seven thousand
and run it into the ground to fifteen hundred
and you're afraid of losing that fifteen hundred now huh
afraid of losing your bible college so you're going to go and call other pastors
and harass them it's not good enough to say no and to not
allow it yourself you have to call and harass other people and tell them no too
because that's what you're trying to do you're trying to build a ministry of what
for popularity it's sick
it's the wrong attitude why can't you have John the Baptist attitude that says
he must increase but I must decrease
and it's not about us being more popular who nuts to us it's not about us
it's about the cause of Christ and woe unto us if we ever had the
attitude of trying to shut someone else down because they're cooler than us
or they're more popular than us or they make better movies than us
hey if there's a fundamental Baptist out there that makes a better movie than us let's watch it
let's have a movie premiere
it's like hey we made a movie about Zionism I want to watch it
we made a movie that's better than Sodomite Inception I can't wait to watch it
I'll make tickets and I'll pass them out
it's like I'm on Christ's team if you're doing
better than me let's put you up to bat
let's move me out of that position and put me in a different position you know stop having this
attitude of well I have to be the most popular
narcissist go over to Proverbs 13
the Bible says in Romans 12 be of the same mind one toward another
mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate be not wise
in your own conceits popularity will
cause you to think that you're smarter than you are popularity will make you
think that you're better than you are popularity will poison the mind
and it's a conceit of the mind don't be wise in your own
conceits why can't you condescend to men of low estate
mind not high things don't worry about popularity you know they're afraid of
popularity and you say like why would fundamental Baptist don't care about
popularity oh they do boy let me tell you it's called
the sword of the Lord conference it's called guest
preachers it's called them getting invited to conferences and being
part of fellowships and being a part of publishers and being a part of all these
little clubs oh boy let me tell you popularity is alive
and well about having the most popular Bible college and being invited to their
Bible college and being brought to all these conferences and paraded around
getting the big paychecks is the guest speaker nuts
to that I don't care if I'm never invited hey I'm on
Christ team here I can't
work with these people because they're not popular why can't you condescend to men of low estate
if we're so low why can't you condescend to us
and help us along if we're so weak and we're so
pathetic and we we're just not very godly why can't you
come over here and show us how to be godly then
why can't you love on us
because that's not what it's about they're envious
they don't have the right attitude they've allowed
popularity to poison their mind and
our culture is just I mean everybody
obsessed with TikTok Instagram and YouTube
just obsessed with being popular and let me tell you something the most popular people on these
platforms are the scummiest people how about number one on YouTube
the Mr. Beast the dude's like second
in command is an open tranny
like he came out as like a Christian I think Mr. Beast like was saying
he was a Christian or whatever and even like one of his main people that works with
him also saying he was a Christian one of the main people that worked with him was a Christian
he was married had children had the set for life
and now he's divorced his wife and come out as a chick
and
Mr. Beast hasn't separated from that because I guarantee he'd lose his platform
he'd lose all of his popularity so he just keeps parading this tranny
around with him in videos
scummy people you want to be popular on Instagram on YouTube be a
complete compromiser have no soul no
conviction just do whatever but let me tell you something even these people
that have sold their soul to the devil literally
it will not last TikTok won't last
Instagram won't last YouTube popularity won't last you think of these people that are popular
YouTubers and stuff like that anybody's going to care in 20 years from now
and a lot of them have a
steady stream of gravy coming in but what does the Bible say
Proverbs chapter 13 verse 11 wealth gotten by
vanity shall be diminished but he that
gathers by labor shall increase these people that are going out and making
dumb videos of themselves making fools of themselves
online their wealth will be diminished it will not last forever
you have to actually work hard now again
it's not to say that there are legitimate entertainment businesses out there there's people that
make entertainment and they're going to continue making entertainment you know
but let's be honest a lot of these TikTok videos are just completely stupid
like PewDiePie I mean is that going to
last forever I mean there's people on Twitch
that are just playing video games and make tons of money people watching
someone else play video games I remember when I was
young I would have hangouts I would always have people come to my
house and we'd have like eight nine kids come over to our house but back when
I was you know a kid you could only have like two or three people playing video games
at a time maybe four we'd play like Goldeneye
and you know what was terrible watching the other people
play what was the coolest thing is when they
finally came out with Halo and you could have LAN parties
so we would have multiple people bring their Xboxes and we would all get to play
but boy when it was you were just watching your friends play video games it was so
boring it wasn't fun at all
and the reality is video games come and go the person that's super popular
pretty soon that video game will become outdated not cool anymore
nobody will want to watch it anymore and it's just wealth gotten by vanity
and they think because they're popular right now that they're somehow special
but you know what it's vain it's not real
and it can change like that go to Acts chapter number fourteen I want to show you an example
of that
quit chasing popularity and if you
ever get popularity don't allow that to change your course of action
if you are saying hard truths of God's word keep saying
the hard truths of God's word
you know what I like about Jack Hyles is even
at the bitter end his sermons were fire
if you listen to some of the sermons from Pastor Hyles like towards the end of his life
I feel like he was preaching harder then than he had even in the past
and what's crazy to me to think about is how much he preached against his own Bible calls in his
own church at times and it goes to show
that even someone that's the pastor of a large church can lose control of his
own church can lose control of his own institutions
because of what's going on it also just shows you the fact that
when you have that many people and that many things going on
you know think about Moses I mean Moses couldn't control his group
and you know popularity sometimes is the
worst enemy oh the church is really successful and we have a lot of money
well when you have a lot of money you have a lot of money to lose
when you have a lot of popularity you have a lot of popularity to lose
when you have a big building you have a lot of big building to lose
and sometimes it will cause you to not make the right decisions
so you have to constantly try to stay humble and be willing to lose it all
whether you have a lot or whether you have a little
we've stood against a lot of persecution but would to God
even if we had a lot of money even if we had a big congregation
and not only when it's just the stakes are a lot smaller
but let me tell you something sometimes you go into an area
and people like you that like instantly just like you and you have a lot of popularity and it can change
like this let me show you an example this is a funny one to me Acts chapter 14 verse 8
and there's not a certain man at Lystra's impotent in his feet being a cripple
from his mother's womb who never had walked
and the same heard Paul speak who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed
said with a loud voice stand upright on thy feet and he leaped and walked
and when the people saw what Paul had done they lifted up their voices saying in the speech of Lyconia
the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men
and they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius
because he was the chief speaker
sounds like they understood that Mercury was closer to the sun than Jupiter
thank you geocentrists
verse 13 then the priest of Jupiter which was before their city
brought oxen and garlands under the gates and would have done sacrifice
with the people which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul
heard of they rent their clothes and ran in among the people crying out
and saying sirs why do you do these things we also are men of like
passions with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these
manatees unto the living god which made heaven and earth
and the sea and all things that are therein who in time past suffered
all nations to walk in their own ways nevertheless he left not himself without
witness and that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling
our hearts with food and gladness and with these sayings scarce
restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice in them
so the apostle Paul is coming to an area and they perform a miracle and
everybody's worshipping them as a literal god
and even when they say don't do it they can't even stop them they're still trying
to literally worship them as gods this is what you call popularity
okay but what's so
funny is that was verse 18 verse 19
and there came thither certain Jews from Antioch
and Iconium who persuaded the people and having stoned Paul drew them out of the city
and that turned quickly and we have all these verses explaining how popular
they are and then in just the next verse the Jews came and then
just you're not popular anymore in fact we want to kill you
wow isn't that the same with Jesus how Jesus is coming into the city
in the triumphal entry and they're singing Hosanna
I mean they're literally crying out Hosanna
blessed is he that cometh the name of the lord and then just moments later they're screaming
crucify him wow that was a quick switch wasn't it
and it makes me think of and I'm going to attribute this to
someone that's not necessarily godly but it's just funny because it happened in popular culture recently
but there's this guy named Harrison Butker
he's a popular football player from the Kansas City Chiefs
and he made a graduation speech recently who knows what I'm talking about
okay a lot of people actually have heard what I'm talking about so there's a Catholic
college and there's this football player who went to give
a commencement at their graduation his name's Harrison Butker
he's a kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs who recently won the Super Bowl
so he has a lot of notoriety but he came and gave a
speech to this Catholic school and he's Catholic so you know
it makes sense but apparently he's gotten a lot of attention
from the Jews FYI but I just want
to read a little bit of this okay so this is I'm
just reading his speech that he gave to this college I'm not reading all of them
I'm just reading some excerpts while COVID might have played
a large role throughout your formative years it is not unique
bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted
major life issues things like abortion IVF
surrogacy euthanasia as well as growing support
for degenerate cultural values and media all steam
or stem from the pervasiveness of disorder
well that's not going to make you popular with the news media
he said our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly
proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time
is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a
pro-abortion rally he has been so vocal in his
report for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure to many
people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice
that's some spicy words okay
I just put it out there okay says he is not alone
from the man behind the COVID lockdowns to the people pushing
dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America they all
have a glaring thing in common they are Catholic well that's
it all right
this is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut
it these are the sort of things we are told
in polite society to not bring up you know the difficult and unpleasant
things but if we are going to be men and women for this time in history
we need to stop pretending that the quote Church of Nice
end quote is a winning proposition we must
always speak and act in charity but never mistake charity for
cowardice it is safe to say that over the past
three years I have gained quite the reputation for speaking
my mind I never envisioned myself nor wanted to have this sort of a
platform but God has given it to me so I have no other
choice but to embrace it and preach more hard truths
about accepting your lane and staying in it
now I can keep reading here's the thing he's a
Catholic who believes in being a Catholic and you know what's sad
how many Baptists wouldn't even say what he said
you know what's embarrassing is when Catholics recognize they have a platform and they should use it
to promote Catholicism now of course in this speech he literally
preaches work salvation he says that his wife and him hope
to obtain salvation through their marriage which that is not how you go to heaven
folks the honeymoon was great but it's not heaven
after that no I'm just kidding it's a joke because my
relationship is getting better every day
it's all of you I have a permanent honeymoon
go over to Luke chapter 6
but the reality is how is this guy
who's gotten the popularity to get the opportunity to speak to the whole nation
and look all the liberals and the leftists are freaking out and pulling their hair out and screaming
and gnashing at their teeth because of what this guy said and of course
he preaches against feminism in this saying like generally speaking
my wife's greatest accomplishment is being a homemaker which is like
amen and amen to my wife being a homemaker
because she's the greatest at it no one could be better at that than her
she's an expert at that she was a great math teacher but she's a way better homemaker
way better homemaker there is not a woman
out there that wouldn't be better suited as a homemaker
now obviously you can't necessarily choose how that works out
there's always exceptions to that rule but generally speaking that is what God has called
most women to be as a homemaker and if they're given that opportunity
God bless them for embracing that role in their life
and you know I like a lot of this guy's speech I don't like his work salvation
I don't like being a catholic but you know what wouldn't it God there'd be some Baptist that have
a backbone and have some position in this world and when they get that position
they actually preach the hard truths of the Bible and they don't have
cowardice I like what he said hey charity is not an excuse to be a coward
and we have so many fundamental Baptist in this country today
that are hiding behind the idea of charity but they're a coward in reality
and they're afraid of losing popularity but you know what nuts the popularity
cause you know what this guy has had his job threatened
has had his life threatened many of his teammates thought he was going to get fired
he had cheerleaders coming out saying he should get fired and I think
they fired her well I don't know read about it if you want
cheerleaders y'all are expendable sorry
don't think that you're more important than the players okay wow
talk about pride I guess that popularity got to her head
but here's the problem pretty soon you're going to get old
and let me explain something the old chicks aren't the cheerleaders okay
that's just the reality you're not a
veteran cheerleader for very long
what does the Bible say in Luke chapter 6
verse 26 I mean the reality I like this guy's attitude
because he kind of says like nuts to it I don't care if I'm popular God's
given me this platform I have an opportunity to speak some truth and at least his mind and so he's going to
say it and look a lot of things he said were true look what it says in verse 26
woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false
prophets you know generally speaking if everyone likes you you're doing something
wrong that doesn't mean God can't give you popularity
because the reality is not everybody liked John the Baptist
in fact the king killed him literally not everybody
liked Jesus but at the end of the day they still were popular
and they still got some popularity and you know what you can still get some popularity
in this world and when you're given popularity say the hard truths
of the Bible don't allow it to go to your head and think you're special
and try to hold onto it like Nebuchadnezzar because God says hey
I can abase you whenever I want and maybe you've come to the kingdom
for such a time as this Esther if you're
not going to use your platform if you're not going to use the popularity if you're not going to
give take the influence that God has given you and use it for good well he might just
take that away from you
you know what causes you to be lifted up? Humility
go to 1 Peter chapter number 5 1 Peter chapter 5 and when you have
popularity and your family and your school and your church and your
friends and your work and your city and your state you better use that
for a cause of Christ and stop worrying about
staying popular nuts to that
1 Peter chapter number 5 look at verse number 6
humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God
that he may exalt you in due time
hey if you really want popularity be humble
work hard be diligent in fact let's go to one more verse go to Proverbs 22
I'll show you one more verse and then we'll finish
you know what I appreciate that there's some people that have a backbone but it's pretty pathetic
when it's Catholics it's pretty pathetic when that's the only people
and let me explain something to you because I don't want you to get the wrong idea
there's a lot of Catholics that dislike what's going on in Catholicism
they dislike what's going on and I think a lot of them
could be won over to the truth
members of the Catholic church are not my enemy
Catholic doctrine is my enemy
priests of that religion are my enemy
Harrison Bucker is not my enemy but you know what he does need to get saved or he's going to split hell wide open
and I like a lot of parts of his speech and I like that he's not a coward
wouldn't it God we could get that guy saved so he could preach Baptist truths
I guarantee there's some Baptists out there that are in the NFL
I guarantee there's some Baptists out there that are in professional sports
I guarantee there's some Baptists out there that are in high positions of power and authority
what did God if they get a platform if they get an opportunity that they would preach
the word of God but when they can't even see it behind the pulpit
how are they going to be emboldened to preach it on their platforms
you know what you need to take the opportunities
you have to preach the truth and to not be a coward and not to stand behind it
and not worry about popularity but rather say hey I'm going to be little in my own sight
and humble myself and if God uses me well then you know what
I'm going to use it for his glory and not my own
but there can be a way to get a platform humble yourself
work hard look what it says in Proverbs 22 verse 29
see is thou a man diligent in his business
he shall stand before kings he shall not stand
before mean men mean there is not like
na na boo boo talking about average for people that actually understand math
sorry Flat Earthers have no idea what I'm saying mean means
average average you're not going to stand before
average men you're going to stand before kings by doing what
by being diligent by being hard working by humbling yourself
by lowering yourself being a Joseph oh he became popular
being a Daniel oh he became popular
why because they were humble and they worked hard and when they got their
opportunity when they got their limelight they gave all their glory to God
and would to God you know I believe that the next generation
the young people that are listening to our sermons there could be one of you that
sometime God gives a platform there could be one of you that God
decides to lift up at some point in time and I hope that you don't allow that
popularity to go to your head don't allow the
platform to go to your head and don't think I got to keep this by compromising
but rather say God's given me this opportunity to stand for
him hey Esther maybe you've come to
the kingdom for such a time as this and this is your time to preach your
opportunity hey you get an opportunity your family stand on the truth of the Bible
you get an opportunity your friends stand on the truth of the Bible and don't allow yourself
to worry about popularity it comes and goes like the wind
nuts to that but let us use it for God's glory
and not our own let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us
the word of God thank you for giving us an opportunity
to preach the word of God by being Americans by being Texans by being
part of this church I pray that we wouldn't let whatever influence
whatever wealth whatever popularity we have to go to our heads but rather we'd use
everything we have as a platform to give you honor and glory I pray that we would not be
a church that seeks to elevate itself but rather to elevate
the gospel and to elevate the cause of Christ
and I pray that we would all be motivated that when we get opportunity to speak
that we'd speak what is right and not what will keep us popular
in Jesus' name we pray Amen
All right for our final song let's go to 363
Wonderful Words of Life
song 363
Singing them
over again to me Wonderful
words of life Let
me pour out their beauty See
Wonderful words of life
Words of life and beauty
Teach me faith and beauty
Beautiful words
Wonderful words Wonderful words
of life Beautiful words
Wonderful words Wonderful words
of life Christ
the blessed one gives to all
Wonderful words of life
Sinner gives to the loving call
Wonderful words of life
All so freely given
Moving us to heaven
Beautiful words
Wonderful words Wonderful words
of life Beautiful words
Wonderful words Wonderful words
of life Sweetly
echo the gospel call Wonderful
words of life
Offer heart and peace to all
Wonderful words of life
Jesus only Savior
Sanctified forever
Beautiful words
Wonderful words Wonderful words
of life Beautiful words
Wonderful words Wonderful
words of life Thank you all for coming
God bless you are dismissed