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Great singing everybody. Let's open up the service with a word of prayer. Lord we love you and we just thank you again for Steadfast Baptist Church. Thank you for allowing us to gather here and sing unto you Lord. We just ask you to fill this church with your spirit and bless this church and it's in Jesus name. Amen.
All right for our next song let's go to song number 113.
Song number 113, Wonderful Peace.
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Song number 113.
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Chapter number two.
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In Jeremiah chapter two, the Bible reads,
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A lot of times we see this when it comes to building something, you have someone go out and survey the land or someone's plotting and basically planning the construction project.
They go out and they may mark the dirt or mark the construction site and get it prepared for the building project.
And so this is obviously symbolic, this isn't actually happening, but it's symbolic of what God's trying to tell them, that God's getting ready to set up and to build and to reconstruct the city of Jerusalem, which lay desolate for 70 years during the Babylonian captivity.
And so we're getting this specific prophecy about it being measured, about it being built.
Verse number three,
And behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.
For I say the Lord will be under her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her.
Now again, if we remember the general context or the broad context of where we find ourselves in the book of Zechariah, the children of Israel have already returned.
And the construction project of the Lord, the temple in Jerusalem has already kind of started, but it's been ceased through the hands of wicked men and they basically got it to where it was stopped.
And there hasn't been some edict from the government that's overturned that.
They kind of are holding a contradictory position here where Cyrus is telling them, yes, you can build this city, you can build the temple of the Lord.
And we kind of have on his tail or following him are the Xerxes saying, no, you can't build.
And they had stopped it by force previously.
And through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, we had read how they strengthened the hands of the Jews and they caused them to start building again anyways.
Even though there was no such commandment given as far as politically, legally, the law enforcement of that day, they're simply obeying God rather than men.
They're simply being encouraged to rebuild the temple, not based on some political ideology or some political authority, but rather from the authority of God.
And that's important to think about is when the Bible brings up in Romans chapter 13 that we have to obey the higher powers, that there is a power above the state of Texas.
There's a power above the United States, which is supposed to be the Constitution.
I don't even know if it really exists anymore, but there's even a power above the Constitution and that's Almighty God.
And he's really in charge.
And of course, even within God, you kind of have the Lord Jesus Christ and then you have the Father and the Father has given all of his power and authority unto Jesus Christ.
And it even says that specifically in Matthew chapter number 28 that all power has been given unto Jesus Christ.
And so whatever Jesus Christ tells us to do, we are given the authority and the right to do it regardless of what the law of the land is.
And you say, what is that?
To go ye into all the world and preach the gospel of every creature, to teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
So we have that authority has been given to us and it's never been revoked.
It's never been said you can't do this.
No, Jesus has already given us the authority to teach all nations, to baptize them.
And here's a really important one, teaching them all things whatsoever commanded you.
He didn't say just the nice parts or just the gospel.
I see sometimes I try to do something or I go out in the world or I contend for the faith and it's not directly the gospel.
This is always the criticism I get.
Why don't you just preach the gospel?
And it's like, OK, well, if I had that viewpoint of only preaching the gospel, would I ever baptize anybody?
It's like, hey, we have a baptism set up.
Well, why are you baptizing people?
Why don't you just preach the gospel?
It's like, that's silly.
It's like, hey, we're having a church service this evening and I guarantee everybody in here that's going to get saved is probably saved already.
You probably don't need me to give you the gospel again.
If you really need me to give you the gospel again, let's go out soul winning before the service and I'll show you exactly how to be saved.
OK, but when we come to church, we want to focus on that third part of the Great Commission,
which is teaching all things whatsoever Christ commanded at every single aspect of the Bible.
You know what? Jesus Christ praised both Old and New Testament.
So it's not just even the red letters of the Bible that we believe.
We believe every single word from Genesis all the way to Revelation.
And we believe it's a timeless truth, timeless commandments that God has given us.
And he is the one that's given us this authority.
And I like that this instruction given to this angel to talk with Zechariah here,
he notices the first word he says is run, run.
When you have a message of the Lord, it should be important.
You know, sometimes people would criticize fundamental Baptists, their preaching style as being, quote, bombastic.
And, you know, that word is kind of a strange word. It's not something you necessarily hear.
But to be bombastic is essentially it's where you're trying to emphasize something
or be very dramatic about something that perhaps maybe isn't dramatic
or isn't necessarily that important.
It kind of makes me think of a personality, Alex Jones, okay,
where every broadcast is the most important.
It's like this is an emergency broadcast.
This is the most important message I've ever delivered.
And so sometimes he could be accused of being, quote, bombastic.
Now here's the thing.
I do believe that that applies to Alex Jones at times,
where he's probably using a little bit of hyperbole.
He may be a little bit too dramatic about certain things.
But when it comes to the Bible, I think it's a silly idea to think that any message could ever be bombastic.
Because there's not such a thing as a message that's overemphasizing
how much importance there really is from the Word of God.
The Word of God truly is so important, and the message is really just timeless,
that we should never have this attitude like,
oh, I think the preacher's making too big a deal about that passage in the Bible.
You know, every passage of the Bible, every message, every sermon,
in fact, it should be preached with zeal.
It should be preached with excitement.
It should be preached with energy and effort.
And I like this attitude of just, hey, run.
You know, let's put some effort, let's put some energy,
let's put some urgency to the message, to the Word of God.
Hey, let's get it to them as fast as we can.
It's an important message.
This is something that impacts people's lives.
And when it comes to the Word of God, we need to run with the Word of God.
What does that mean?
We need to take the preaching of God seriously
and have a sense of urgency to the message.
When we go out soul winning, we should have a sense of urgency
of getting the Gospel out there because, frankly speaking,
there's eight million plus people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
And people are dying every single day.
People are dying every single day.
And some of them are even people that would have maybe been receptive
or younger and had a potential to get saved.
And if we don't have a sense of urgency,
if we're not trying and pressing hard to get people saved,
some people may miss out on their opportunity to get saved.
And they may miss out on a good opportunity.
I think that we've all had opportunities.
I think every person gets opportunities,
but not everybody gets all the same opportunities.
Not everybody gets great opportunities to be saved.
And I know the soul winners in this church give people a great opportunity to be saved.
And so when we're going out there giving people a great opportunity,
we should run with a sense of urgency.
We should take the job that we have as serious.
It is important.
People's lives are being changed by the Word of God
and by the preaching of God's Word.
And they're also being changed by not hearing the Word of God.
That's why it's important to run.
Because time is of the essence.
The Bible talks about redeeming the time because the days are evil.
We need to take Christianity seriously today.
But so many people, they just don't really care.
They get jaded, they get burnt out.
I think one aspect of running that's also pretty important to think about
when it comes to the Christian life
is the Bible says to run with patience.
Because when we talk about running,
all of us can run a certain distance before we get tired.
Now for some of us it's a very short distance.
Some of us it's a little bit longer distance, right?
But there's a certain distance.
I don't know what that is. It's different for every single person.
But you know, if I were to go out jogging or running,
I could probably run for maybe 10, 20 seconds
before I'm going to really feel like uncomfortable.
But pretty soon you just start feeling really uncomfortable while running.
And if you kind of push through the pain,
you can maybe go a little bit further, go a little bit longer.
But then eventually it's inevitable you're going to start slowing down.
Eventually you could even get to the point where you collapse
or start walking or whatever.
You can't necessarily sprint at the same pace forever.
But people that run marathons or run seriously,
they understand these things and so they don't run necessarily at a pace
that they're going to have to slow down in 20 or 30 seconds.
And in fact some people that are marathon runners,
they can run for two hours.
Now it's not necessarily at a sprint pace,
but they are running for an hour, hour and a half, two hours.
And so they're running at a pace in which they know
they're going to be continually running.
And they're not going to backpedal.
They're not going to have to slow down.
They're not going to have to quit.
They're not going to have to give up.
And unfortunately sometimes you see people in the Christian life,
they are sprinters.
They essentially, they get there and then they just start sprinting
and then all of a sudden they don't realize how hard it is to do that
for a long period of time and then they just quit.
Or they give up.
Or they start walking.
Or they injure themselves.
You know they just, they weren't really prepared for the marathon of life
and instead of actually running at a pace that they could run at,
they were exerting too much effort,
too much energy and so they end up kind of destroying themselves by doing so.
And so it's important to make sure that you're running at a pace
that you can maintain, a pace that you can keep up,
a pace that's realistic for your lifestyle.
And that's why it's important to try and identify a pattern of life
that you feel comfortable, that you're going to keep up
and then doing that.
Because here's what happens.
And this is, it sounds weird I think to some of us like,
oh man, Pastor Joe, you want people to slow down
or you want people to not run as hard as they can?
That is not what I'm saying.
But the reality is this is what some people do.
They start sprinting and so what does that look like?
I'm reading my Bible three hours a day.
And I'm going soul winning four times a week.
And you know I live three hours away from the church
but I'm always there for every service.
And that's great.
But here's what happens.
That lifestyle becomes impossible for a long period of time.
And then eventually what ends up happening is they fall off.
But you know they don't just fall off like slowly,
it's a quick collapse.
And then all of a sudden now it's like,
well I went from reading the Bible three hours a day
and going soul winning four times a week
and driving three hours from church
and now I'm never going to church,
never reading my Bible and not doing any of this.
And what happens is psychologically
they don't even want to do anything for the Lord.
They don't want to serve God.
They don't want to get back in the race
because they remember them running at a certain pace
and they don't want to run at a slower pace.
So they end up just doing nothing.
It's like, well you know I just,
I couldn't maintain that
so I just don't even want to try anymore.
I just don't want to even do anything
and they basically just give up.
So it's important to set realistic goals
that you know you're not going to give up,
that you're not going to walk back,
that you're going to maintain.
And then also that way when you do fall short
you can say hey I need to get back on the horse.
Right because if you're just not reading the Bible at all
that's just not good.
You should say like I should be leading
at least 15 minutes
or I should be reading you know 30 minutes a day
or you know some kind of a realistic minimum goal.
Hey if I'm not going,
I haven't been going so many weeks
I need to be going at least once a week out soul winning
and you know challenge yourself
to spend maybe one hour a week going out soul winning.
You know making sure you're at least
going to church.
You know you want to have a certain threshold
you say hey this is a marathon
and I need to pace myself
and I also need to set boundaries
and say what's more important
is that I never drop behind my threshold
rather than being able to sprint all the time.
And so it's not that we're not running
we're running at a pace that we can run
for the rest of our lives.
Because Christianity,
let me explain something to you,
it's really important that you run for a long time.
When we talk about producing fruit
the Bible uses trees as an example.
Let me explain something,
trees do not produce fruit in a day
or a week.
It takes a long time for that tree
to end up producing the fruit
and for it to come.
And so with Christianity a lot of times
it takes a lot of time
in order to see fruit
and to have a great benefit out of it.
It's not something that's like a microwave meal.
Christianity is not a microwave religion
where you can simply just
I haven't been doing it much Christianity
but I just want to pop it in like 30 seconds
like on high blast
and just kind of fix my life real quick.
That's not how Christianity works.
That's not how God works.
God works with planting seasons.
You reap what you sow.
And so you can't just be
neglecting God for weeks
and then just pop in like
okay this one day I'll dedicate
and then I'm gonna go back
to three weeks of neglecting him again.
It's like no, no, no.
Serving God is something
where you have to actually
just do it slow and steady
and putting in the effort
and just doing it right.
You're just never going
to really reap anything of benefit
when you're not taking Christianity seriously.
God wanted people in the Old Testament
to gather the manna daily
even if it was just a little bit.
Why?
Because Christianity is supposed to be a daily religion
not a once a week
or when I feel like it
or an Easter religion.
It's a daily religion
and the people that reap
the best results from Christianity
are people that are making it
a daily religion.
Not the people that are making it
a whenever I feel like it
or however I want to.
Plus you're gonna say
why would you come to church
on a Wednesday night?
Well here's the thing
you reap what you sow.
Why wouldn't I want to sow
three times a week
as opposed to once a week?
Because you know what?
You will reap great things,
spiritual blessings
when you're sowing that much more
into Christianity.
And you say, well what am I gonna reap?
I don't know.
How much is an obedient child worth?
How much is a godly child worth?
How much is an obedient wife worth?
You can't even buy that.
How much is a hardworking husband
or a loving husband?
How much is a marriage worth?
Ask the voice lawyers about that.
I mean how much is
the crown in heaven worth?
I mean there's all these things on the table
and you say well going to church
this time of the week isn't
you know I don't have to do that.
You don't technically have to
but you know what you reap what you sow.
And if you're just putting in a little bit
hey maybe you'll reap some of those
but you know what I want to reap
as many rewards as I can.
And when it comes to the field of life
you know my dad
I love that my dad did a lot of gardening
because it taught me a lot of things
but I loved it when you'd plan
a lot of different things
because he pretty much would mostly
focus on tomatoes
and I just don't really care about that at all.
Okay so I would like it when you'd also
plant like cucumbers
or different like watermelon is the best
but it can't really grow
in the Amarillo area
but he used to plant watermelon here.
Watermelon can actually grow here
and I really love watermelon
I love the cucumbers
some of the peppers
some of the other things
so it's nice to get a great variety.
You know the only way to reap those
products is to have sown them.
When it comes to church
you know we kind of have a
Sunday morning and Sunday night
and Wednesday night
they're all a little bit different
there's some variety there.
Hey with Zechariah
that's a completely different pepper
that we're we're sowing
on Wednesday nights
but you know I guarantee
there's going to be a special
fruit or reward that comes out of
that particular sowing
that you wouldn't necessarily get.
And so we have to look at Christianity
as a marathon
that we need to constantly be running at
and taking seriously
not taking the breaks
not just giving up
not quitting
you know Christianity is
never been more important than today.
Churches are declining
in attendance
in doctrine
they're declining in manliness
they're declining in almost every way
in soul winning
and you know our church isn't
our church has been pretty much
the exact opposite
our church is actually getting better
in almost all of these categories.
But at the same time
you know why
it's because people are deciding
hey I want to run
I'm taking this seriously
but as soon as everyone quits
as soon as everybody gives up
you know we can be just like anybody else
you know our church
isn't special
in the sense that like
the same problems that affect every church
don't affect ours or something
people can still get complacent
people can still get carnal
people can still be high minded
people can get burnt out
all of the different problems
that people experience
happen to every single church
and we have to
be humble
and have the right mindset
not be high minded
but considering ourselves
lest we also stumble or fall
lest we also fall victim
of the same problems that happen
to a lot of other people
and to a lot of other churches
and I could see a lot of people
in our style of church
of trying to run a little too hard
and trying to do a little bit too much in their lives
as opposed to pacing themselves appropriately
you know think really hard
about what your minimums are
and try to make sure
that you're maintaining a pace above that
all the time
just all the time
you're just maintaining a pace
and if you see
hey I've been wanting to read my Bible an hour every day
but lately I haven't even been reading it all
because I just look at it
I'm like I don't have an hour
okay well just read it for five minutes then
but you know start picking up the pace again
to where you're at least running
it doesn't have to be sprinting
but at least get back in there
and start running the race
and get in there
because it's so important
and you don't want to get to the point
where you realize you've actually quit
or you're walking backwards
or you're doing something even worse than that
we need to make sure
that we're taking the Christian life seriously
and I like that when this angel comes
to speak to this other angel
he's like hey run
speak to this young man
now it says in verse number four
that they're going to be a town without walls
for the multitude of men and cattle there
it's basically saying that the population
is going to extend so far
beyond its actual city borders
that also sounds like the Dallas-Fort Worth area
where boy man we are just exploding with people
and they are really just everywhere
in fact outside of the city
and I mean it's just really just tons and tons of people
it's basically just trying to describe that
that this is going to be a lively city
that they're going to have so many people
and cattle and everything
it's going to extend beyond
their physical city boundaries
and city limits
they're going to have a lot of people
living in the countryside
and outside of these particular walls
and he says in verse five
for I say the Lord
will be under her a wall of fire round about
and will be the glory in the midst of her
so God's saying I'm going to be a wall unto you
that's a good thing
you know walls are good things
and in fact if you don't like walls
you're not going to like the new heaven and the new earth
because it literally has walls
and I don't even know why it has walls entirely
because in theory there's no one even bad there
but maybe it's symbolic
I don't know
but simply put
walls are a good thing
God likes walls
okay
now not every wall is a good thing
but walls can be good things
and generally are good things
I want to go to another place
go to Proverbs chapter 25 for a moment
Trump would endorse this part of my sermon
okay
Trump likes walls
okay
and
you know what's funny about it
is what we're talking about though
is not even actually a real wall
because God said that he would be a wall of fire
he's basically just saying like in a spiritual sense
he's going to protect them
and be some kind of a boundary
some kind of a border
now what's the point of a wall?
it's to keep some things in
and it's to keep some things out
right
I mean that's what walls are
why do you have walls on your house?
so some things don't come in
and so some things don't go out
you don't want the bugs
and critters
and criminals coming in
and you don't want the little toddlers
and babies going out
do you?
so it's nice to have walls
plus
you know there's another thing you don't want coming in
heat
and you don't want another thing going out
you're air conditioning
okay
so you have walls
to keep
the air conditioning in
and you have walls to keep the heat from coming in
right
so the wall
is basically just providing you a boundary
a protection
it's keeping some things in
it's keeping some things out
there's nothing wrong with that
it makes sense
it's practical
it's reasonable
and the Bible even likens walls here in a spiritual sense
Proverbs 25 look at verse 28 last verse
he that hath no rule
over his own spirit
is like a city
that is broken down
and without walls
so he likens a city without walls to something
what would be a city without walls
it's someone that has no rule over his own spirit
what is someone that has no rule over his own spirit
he's wild
uncontrollable
and what's the problem with someone being wild or uncontrollable
they could
they're in danger
they could harm themselves
they could maybe pick a fight with the wrong individual
they can basically be taken advantage of
in fact
we were talking with brother Jornell
and he was saying hey in a fight
what you don't want to do is you don't want to get mad
you don't want to let the person
take over and get under your skin
and kind of get
you know
control of your emotions
because they can use that manipulation to take advantage of you
and to hurt you and to destroy you
so someone that doesn't have rule over their own spirit
is in danger
just like a city without walls
is in danger
because if a threat comes
if an enemy comes
there's no protection
there's no border
just like you have locks on your doors
so that if a criminal or bad person comes
you can keep them out
you have some layer of protection
that is the whole point
so there's nothing wrong with walls biblically
biblically it makes perfect sense
most of the cities have walls
in fact Jerusalem had big walls
that's what kept them intact for such a long period of time
kings would come and besiege them
but not be able to breach the wall
and of course with a wall in a military situation
what you can do is you have the high ground
because you can get to the top part of your wall
and with the high ground you can shoot arrows
you can throw rocks
you can pour down oil
and burn them with fire
there's a lot of strategic advantages
in a military battle when you have the high ground
in fact that's typically just always the case
that whoever is in the high spot
almost always wins
whether that's a perch
whether that's what we talk about in modern warfare
aircraft
whoever owns the skies
is going to basically win the battle
is going to overcome the enemy
and so that's what you get afforded to
with the particular wall
plus with the wall
they're going to have to come and breach it
they're going to have to try and put ladders
or break it down
or do something
and while they're trying to do that
you have a chance to attack them
while they're more defenseless
so the wall provides a certain advantage
when it comes to a military situation
God is saying
even though your city is extended beyond the actual physical walls
I will be a wall of fire unto you
and you know when you look at America today
and you say man we have a border crisis
if you don't really recognize we have a border crisis
your head is in the sand
because according to the statistics
it's like somewhere over 8 million
maybe even 10 million
people have crossed our border illegally
since Joe Biden's presidency
and again you can look up these numbers
I don't even know how you even know that exactly
because I don't think they necessarily have the ticker
like the attendance ticker
and they're like
I don't know how they know
what those numbers are
but it certainly seems like millions
it's very likely that it's millions
you'd think if they're so good at getting the number
they could stop it
but you know that's a different conversation
and of course what do our politicians think
well first of all the brain dead Democrats don't think
so we don't really know what they think
when it comes to Republicans
you know it's kind of led by Donald Trump primarily
he specifically wants to rebuild his border wall
or essentially increase his border wall
and you say is that the solution
do you need a physical wall
well what about in this situation that is bringing up
a city where the city's literally extended beyond its walls
that's a problem because you literally can't even fit it
and if you think about our country
I mean to go all the way from Texas
all the way to California with a physical wall
all you need is one breach and people can get through
all you need is like some tunnel
all you need is just some paid off guy at the border crossing
and you can still have people just coming and going at will
people can come on boats
people are traveling to Miami and they have been for a long time
and that's how they're entering into the country
people come in through all kinds of other places
you know is it really going to be that effective
I'm sure it wouldn't hurt
I'm sure it could reduce things
I'm sure it would eliminate some of that
but you know what America really needs
is they need a wall of fire that comes from God
to protect them
and you say how do you get this wall of fire
because I'll tell you right now
America could have this exact same situation
where we have a literal wall of fire
where God is protecting our nation
and we would never need the physical wall
but you may not like the wall that I'm going to describe to you
let me describe to you what the wall is that we need to build in America
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
if you build those four pillars into our country
and you have the law of the land
literally being Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
we would never need a physical wall
if you said hey
if you are in our country and you are a murderer
we will put you to death
if you're a rapist we will put you to death
if you're an adulterer we will put you to death
you know those celebrities always say
if Donald Trump was elected they would leave America
we don't need to elect Donald Trump
let's just bring in Leviticus, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
because they're all guilty of that stuff
for sure
I mean every guy in Hollywood would have to leave
because they're all faggots
and frankly speaking you know the Bible makes it clear
in Leviticus 2013 that they should be put to death
you know because we've literally rejected God as our firewall
as a software term there for you
and we basically imported the virus of the demon rats
or the Democrats
at this point you know we have so much malware
we have so much spyware
we have just so much virus in and cancer in our country
it's literally destroying itself
and you know it's so funny to me
our country is literally being destroyed
it's just obvious
our inflation is out of control
every government official is bribed and controlled
Hollywood is literally worshipping Satan
I mean they're openly worshipping Satan
there's so much tran, freak, nasty things going on in our country
and then I'll get up and say hey the solution is Leviticus 2013
and they'll say you're the problem with America
like they'll be mad at me
they'll be mad at our church
they'll be mad at the documentaries we've made
or things I preach and they'll think like
I'm the problem with America
or I'm the one ruining America and I'm thinking like
what are you thinking?
like I'm not causing the inflation
and hollyweird
and all the pedophilia
and the human trafficking
I mean who do you think is doing that?
it's like I already know
and I already have the solution
you just don't like the solution
which really means that you don't really even care about pedophilia
which really means you don't care about human trafficking
which really means you don't care about the border
or inflation or any of these issues
because if you really wanted to solve them
we could solve them tomorrow by implementing
the right criminal justice system
the biblical Christian situation here
and again that would be a wall of fire
all we would need is those laws
and to enforce them
and you know what? I guarantee there would be a lot of men
in our country that would be excited to enforce biblical laws
you know being a police officer
to me the biggest downside
is the fact that you have to enforce
unbiblical laws
you know
I have no problem with the idea of enforcing laws
or someone being in the police department
but I think a lot of people get jaded
because of the hypocrisy
the bureaucracy
the fact that they'll literally arrest criminals
and then the DA will
not prosecute
or not give them any kind of justice
but I think that a lot of men
get satisfaction out of catching criminals
and then being brought to justice
the problem with our justice system
is it's not catching criminals
and it's not putting them to justice
it's arresting people for going to the Capitol
to protest an illegal election
that's what it's doing
in fact now they want to
make it illegal
for individuals
to say something anti-Semitic
who wants to enforce that?
who wants to be
the soldier that has to do that
kind of a request
you know it makes me think of Saul's army
when they're saying like hey slay the priest
and they're just like I don't want to do that
and then you have to find the reprobate doeg
doeg will do it
there's always some rep somewhere that'll do it
you know in the 50s
and the 60s and the 70s
back in the 1990s
lots of parts of this country
no one locked their doors
you know even when
I grew up
which wasn't that long in the 90s
when I'm a kid at our house
in Canyon, Texas
my parents never locked the door
and I was thinking about this the other day
because it kind of baffled me
because I'm so used to locking doors now too
is I was like
when I was growing up
how did I key to our house
and I was thinking like how did I ever get in
and then I remembered
we never locked our doors
and in fact in times past
nobody even locked their car doors
in fact I still
even have that bad habit sometimes in my truck
I would notice especially in Texas
I wouldn't lock my doors and stuff
California breaks that habit real fast
I went to California
in broad daylight
and they just smashed through the windows
and stole my bag right out of the car
in fact it's so bad over there some people
literally just leave the doors open
with nothing in just so we won't smash
their windows
because the crime has gotten just so bad
why?
because they don't have a wall
of fire that's coming from God
why were they allowed
like think about this
isn't it seem insane today
a little bit to think of people literally
not locking anything
just having everything open
all the doors open
the kids are playing in the street
kids are playing everywhere
nobody really cares and it's not because they're
negligent parents at the apartment complex
it's just everyone's doing that
because it's not even a big deal
how could you have such peace and safety
it's because you have
a righteous society with more biblical
laws and they're being enforced
and when you have that you could literally
have a city without walls
you have the wall of God
a wall of fire surrounding your city
and you don't have to
worry about every single person
over their shoulder or every single person
what they might do because
all the bad people have already been caught and dealt with
and they do get caught and dealt with
but we got relaxed
and then you started having
serial killers and it was easy for them
to get away because everybody was so trusting back then
because nobody was bad
then you slowly
changed the demographics of America
kept bringing more people in
drugs, the hippie movement
the boomer generation
and all of a sudden
now because we've forgotten
God and we said God doesn't need
to be a wall of fire
to us anymore now everybody
has to lock every single door
and everything's in danger
our country is just in shambles
and you know
I'd love to fix our country but
you know I don't have a lot of control
over that I can preach what's right
I can tell people how they can fix it
but you know this church should be the same way
many churches today
are being attacked and having all kinds of
issues and problems but you know what
keeps our church strong is having
not these physical walls is having
a wall of God of fire
and you say how do you get that
how about preach 1 Corinthians chapter number 5
and you know what
then you don't have to worry about all the drunkenness
and all the fornication
and all the idolatry
and all the covetousness being drug into church today
you know actually
if you preach Leviticus 2013
you'll never have to deal with sodomites
coming in here trying to hang out
with the children
I talked to some young fellows and they were telling
me about their church they're not from here they're just visiting
and they said they literally have
a
like a child molester
section of their church
like
people that have been caught
and on the registry
you know what they have a certain
section of the church that they sit
and I said
do you know what section he said no the congregation
doesn't know only they know where they're supposed to go
and I'm like I
would want to know where that section is
in fact I'm sure I could probably figure it out
yeah
but can you imagine
can you imagine you're saying like
hey I just want to already know there's a certain section
here you know
where some people are on the child registry
but
I don't want to tell you where that's at just because we don't want
to shame those people what do you mean
you don't want to shame those people
it's like get the hell out of my church
yeah
it's like what are you talking about
it's because they won't preach the reprobate doctrine
they won't even preach biblical topics
and so they literally are a city without walls
and that's a dangerous place
to bring your children
and you know the same kind of churches they don't have
all their services where all the kids are here all the time
they literally have nursery and children's programs
and all this stuff
boy I'm just telling you that's just
messing with fire folks
there's churches
today like Andy Stanley
who will literally let open homosexuals
work in the children's departments
there are sometimes
the youth ministers
I mean that is just
so unbiblical and so ungodly
I mean they're literally in the fire
let alone having a wall of fire around them
people get mad at me
but you know what
I like having the wall of God around our church
and we've had a lot of people
try to attack us and do stuff
but you know what I think God is constantly protecting our church
and he's going to continually
protect our church as long as we do what
preach Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy
and stay strong in the doctrine of God
you know how about in your own house
in your own family
don't you want there to be a wall of fire
around your daughter
we need biblical dads
to be present in their daughter's lives
there's so many daughters
who don't have that and it's just so sad
let the Lord be a wall in your life
go to Job 1 I want to go one more place here
before we go back to our chapter
because this is an important point
and honestly from this chapter
this is the main point that I felt like
really applied to us is
we need to have the Lord
be a wall in our lives
and he will
you know we read this story
and it sounds great
but it's not only available to them
it's available to us
God can be a wall to your house
to your family, to your church
to your state and to your country
and we need to take that
as a promise of God
and apply it to ourselves
in every area that we have that control
in every area that we have that opportunity
and in fact I would even argue
that while our city isn't that great
just us being godly
we actually protect it anyways
just like Lot
being in Sodom
protected it until the bitter end
in fact the angels
even said like we can't destroy this place
until you get out of here
they were so excited to destroy it
they literally drug Lot out there
so they could get started you know what I mean
I never thought of it that way but it kind of seems like
they were just like get out of here
we're sick and tired of looking at these disgusting queers
okay
we want to burn this place already to the ground
and you're making us delay
you know just get out of the way Job
right and so they're like
because the Bible says that Job was Terry
I don't know if you remember this
it's like he's kept tearing and he's like
just like grabs them and he's like get out of here
okay
and as soon as they got out
fire and brimstone was raining down from the Lord
of heaven and just burned them up
and destroyed them
except for Lot's wife you know
she left her heart in San Francisco and so
she was turned into salt
but you know what Jesus said remember Lot's wife
we need to
remember these things
and look at Job chapter 1 verse 9
the Bible says then Satan answered the Lord
and said does Job fear God for not
hast thou not made an
hedge about him
and about his house and about all that he
hath on every side
thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substance
is increased in the land
notice Job was a godly man
and so what God had done is he literally
had put a hedge around Job
and not just Job
every single thing that Job had
now we understand
in this story that Job
temporarily allowed like God temporarily
takes us away from Job to test him
and to try him
but he still had a hedge
because you know what God
never allowed Satan to kill
Job
he left that
one boundary and he said I'll let all these
other horrible things happen just to see what he's like
but you can't kill him
and then when he restored
him I guarantee God put that hedge
just back on him just like it was before
but what this does prove is that
there are hedges out there that God can
put in your life where Satan can't
mess with you
resist the devil and he'll flee from you
and you know we need
I need the hedge
of God in our lives
so that the devil can't just
run roughshod all over us
but you know what
you don't get that by not going to church
and not reading your Bible and not caring what it says
you know Job
was a righteous man that
look at verse 1
there was a man in the land of us whose name was Job
that man was perfect and upright
and one that feared God, notice this
an eschewed evil
he hated evil
he wasn't one of these people, oh he sounds like a
hateful person, well you know what
God likes him
this is one of the guys that eschewed evil
you can see a consistent theme in the Bible
that the people that God likes are the people
that hate evil and stand against it and preach
against evil, not to be able to acquiesce
and tolerate and compromise
God doesn't like
compromisers
go back to Zechariah chapter 2
God will protect you
and you know if you're a
compromiser why do you need to protect it anyways
compromisers
don't need to be protected because they'll
just do whatever the devil tells them
to do anyways, they're a compromiser
you know the person that needs to be protected
is the person that won't compromise
that's the person that needs to be protected
because the devil's thinking like I need to get him
because he just won't shut up
and he just keeps preaching
and he just keeps standing on the word of God
he just keeps soul winning
and it's like the devil just wants to get him but he's like
God has to protect that person
and you know what in our country, in our world
the people that are preaching the hardest
those are the ones that need the most protection
because of the fact
that the devil would love to shut them up
God doesn't need to
protect the compromisers, they're a compromiser
they're not doing anything
for God, but you know the reason
why someone can preach with boldness is because
they have faith in God and they believe
and this wall of fire, they believe
like Elijah where he says hey there's more
with us than there are with them
but you know what, you can only see that
with spiritual eyes, can't see
that with carnal eyes
and Zechariah here has spiritual eyes where he's seeing this vision
and God's telling him
hey I'm going to be a wall of fire
unto you and
Jerusalem, have the confidence
to build
you know what, our church has gone through some tough times
but we should have the confidence
that we're still in a building phase
God's going to still allow us to build
and he's still going to be a wall of fire
unto us and we don't need to say like
oh we need to scale down because of the persecution
no we're going to ramp things up
no we're going to do even more, we're going to keep building
because you know what, God is going to be a wall
of fire unto us and it's going to extend
even beyond physical walls
more important than my gun
or walls is the wall of God
and he does this literally in the book of Exodus
he's a wall of fire to the children
of Israel as they leave Egypt
and you know what, God can do that to us as well
in this life, look at verse 6
ho ho, come forth
and flee from the land of the
north sayeth the Lord
for I have spread you abroad as the four winds
of the heavens sayeth the Lord
deliver thyself O Zion that dwells with the daughter of Babylon
for thus sayeth the Lord of hosts
after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations
which spoiled you
for he that toucheth you
toucheth the apple of his eye
so he's calling
for the children of Israel to return
from all parts of the world
they've been scattered all four winds
and so they're being brought back
you know here's another way
how about the four corners of the earth
sorry flat earthers, it's still a sphere
okay
you know what those four corners are?
north, south, east and west
just like the bible talks about the corners of your head
I don't know if anybody has a flat disc head
okay
maybe flat earthers do
but you know what
you can have corners to a sphere
it's the topmost, the bottommost, the eastmost
and the westmost and that's the four winds
that are being described as well
and so what he's talking about here
specifically is
how they've been scattered into all the earth
into all the different parts of the world
and they're supposed to come back
and he's calling those
people that come back
the apple of his eye
the children of Israel physically
here are the apple
of his eye
and this really happened
now this is what happens
unfortunately, is people will read this verse
and then they'll apply it to 1948
Israel
okay, well first of all
we have to understand that this verse definitely
applied to the
context of which it was written
at the time of Zechariah
some had returned to land, but not everybody
so he's making another general call like
hey, it's safe, come here
I know that Artaxerxes made this decree
but hey, we're gonna build, we need more workers
the laborers
the laborers are few
we need more people to get in here and build the house of God
and you know, it's 90 different than today
how the laborers be few
even though the harvest is plenteous
and when we're building the house of God
we're not building the physical Jerusalem
we're building the heavenly Jerusalem
which is made up of saved Christians
and we need more Christians
to get into the fight
to get into the right kind of church
to get into a soul winning church
if you're not going to a soul winning church
hear the cry of God
ho ho, come forth
get into a soul winning Baptist church
and start building
the house of God again
oh, well there's all this danger
oh, what about these decrees
oh, I can't go to steadfast Baptist churches, they're anti-Semitic
I don't care if they are or not
go to the most anti-Semitic, soul winning church
but don't go to a church that's not soul winning
and I'm not even anti-Semitic, honestly
according to their definition I am
but everyone is, according to their definition
according to the real definition I'm not
but even if I was
I would rather go to the most anti-Semitic
I'd rather go to Jacob Baptist Church
and go soul winning
I would rather go to the most
racist church ever and go soul winning
than to not go to a church that goes soul winning
that's not an option
it's not an option for me to go to the
Calvinist church down the street
that's never going to reach anybody with a gospel
but boy, they just love all nations
oh, I'm going to go to this
Zionist Baptist church
where we're going to literally send all of our tithe dollars
to Israel
we're not going to send it to a missionary in the Philippines
we're not going to send it to
do some local
missions trips
we're not going to actually go out ourselves and knock the local doors
no, we're going to send all of our money to rebuild a temple
a physical temple in Jerusalem
as opposed to building the spiritual temple
the people of God
that is insane
we need Christians to wake up
and recognize
that we are a spiritual people
built on spiritual promises
and we are the children of Israel
we are the apple of God's eye
not a bunch of physical people
back then, there was a combination
where, yes, back then
the physical children of Israel were also
the spiritual children of Israel
but at the end of the day, they weren't true children of Israel
unless they actually believed too
now I want to prove these things
to you real quick, we're going to just go through a lot of scripture
and we'll pretty much be finished this evening
but go to Psalm 105
go to Psalm 105
because this apple of your eye is something
that they all love to point out
oh, this is also talking about the future
it is talking about the future
but you know what, it's not talking about 1948
it's talking about the thousand year reign of Christ
when the children of Israel are going to return
back to the land with the Lord
now look at Psalm 105
verse 10
the Bible says
and confirm
the same unto Jacob for a law
and to Israel for an everlasting covenant
saying unto thee
will I give the land of Canaan
a lot of your inheritance
when they were but a few men in number
yea, very few and strangers in it
when they went from one nation
to another, from one kingdom to another people
he suffered no man
to do them wrong, yea
he reproved kings for their
sakes saying touch not mine anointed
and do my prophets no harm
this is important because it's kind of the
same principle, isn't it?
when it's saying touch not mine anointed
and specifically
it said you don't want to touch the apple
of his eye
and when it came to the children of Israel
when they left Egypt
and they wandered through the wilderness
God was not allowing Balaam
to curse the children of Israel
he wasn't allowing the king of
Og and Bashan
all these wicked kings to destroy the children of Israel
rather they lost
he didn't allow the Canaanites
to destroy them, they conquered the promised land
but is this an eternal decree?
because let me ask you this
what about Nebuchadnezzar?
did he touch them?
did Nebuchadnezzar destroy them?
did Nebuchadnezzar
have the ability to do anything to them?
yes he did
so this was obviously talking about
this specific period of time
with this group of people, why?
because they were beloved of God
they were the spiritual
group of people and he allowed them
to do something
he wasn't going to allow these prophets to suffer harm
now of course the prophets suffer harm in their own people
but not of
foreign nations
and the same is applied to the context here
where
it's a spiritual thing
for us to recognize
that we are the children of God
and we shouldn't allow
people to think that
we can be touched and God won't be mad about it
God is going to be mad
when people mess with his people
but the children of Israel physically were not
always his people
that's where you see this contradiction
but the New Testament explains it
in Galatians 4
so how is it like
God is saying don't touch my people
but then we see all these examples where
foreign kings and foreign nations are destroying them
it's because
they're not always
really the people of God
even though they were physically
that didn't change
you have to understand that there is a difference between
a physical person of Israel
and a spiritual person of Israel
now the book of Galatians
is an analogy or a metaphor
or an allegory
for this
look at Galatians chapter 4 verse 22
for it is written that Abraham had two sons
the one by a bondman and the other by a free woman
but he who is of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh
but he of the free woman was by promise
which things are an allegory
for these are the two covenants
the one from the Mount Sinai which genderth the bondage
which is Agar
for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia
Jerusalem which now is
and is in bondage with her children
but Jerusalem which is above is free
which is the mother of us all
so he's saying the children of Israel that are in
Jerusalem today
when the book of Galatians is written
the physical seed of Abraham
they are Agar
they are Sinai
they are in bondage
but he's saying us
we are free, we're of the heavenly Jerusalem
so we're citizens of Israel
but of the spiritual and the heavenly Jerusalem
not of the physical Jerusalem
and in times past
people were both
people were the physical nation of Israel
and they were the spiritual nation of Israel
but there was always a mixed multitude
not all of them were of Israel
keep your finger here
go back to Romans
we're just going to go to Ephesians in a minute
so I just want to go back to Romans for a second
go to Romans chapter number 9 for a second
and
while you're turning there
Romans 2 says this
so the apostle Paul
describing to the Romans saying
being a Jew isn't a physical thing
it's a spiritual thing
and so when God was wanting to make
a covenant with his people
Abraham specifically
that he called them in uncircumcision
to allow people to understand
that being of the children of Abraham
or the children of Israel
was not a physical thing, it was a spiritual thing
and then he got circumcision afterwards
so that he was the father of both
but most specifically he is the father
of the spiritual children
and we are his spiritual children
so you have a contradiction
with the Jews
at the time of Christ
because many of them did not believe in Jesus
and they didn't get saved
and they were physical Israel
but they weren't spiritual Israel
and then you had some physical Israel actually believe
and they got saved
apostle Paul is one of those
and he says in chapter 9 verse 1
So he's saying that my brethren physically
not my brethren spiritually
who are Israelites
to pertain to the adoption and the glory
and the covenants and the giving of the law
and the service of God and the promises
whose are the fathers and of whom
as concerning the flesh
Christ came. Notice this
concerning the flesh Christ
came unto them
you know some people say like oh the Jews have their covenant
with God the father
and you know we have our covenant
with Jesus
Jesus came to the Jews
he came unto
his own
and his own received him not
how would that verse
how would John 1 12 even make
sense if Jesus was never supposed
to come to the Jews
or if the Jews weren't supposed to receive Jesus
the reason why that's an important verse
is because the Jews were supposed to receive Jesus
don't believe John Hagee
the liar who said
the Jews were never promised a Messiah
in defense of Israel
you know he's like how can they
reject their Messiah when they were never promised a Messiah
and then he has
some stupid book where he talks about
how the Jews didn't reject Jesus because
they weren't promised to Jesus
you're a liar John Hagee
that is false doctrine
Jesus was for the Jews
and he came unto the Jews
according to the flesh
and he came unto his own
and he received him not
but as many as received him
to them gave you power to become the sons of God
even in them that believe on his name
so the few that did believe him
Peter, John, the apostle Paul
they are the ones that are the sons of God
the children of Abraham, the true Jews
they are the anointed
they are the people that when you touch
you're touching the apple of God's eye
that's who we're talking about
but it's not just limited to them
if we keep reading here
it says in verse 5
so he's saying not everybody that's physical Israel
is spiritual Israel
verse 7
these are the seed of Abraham
are they all children but in Isaac
shall thy seed be called
so Isaac is the one that's the child
and he's a child of promise
go back to Galatians chapter number 4
where we were
and you'll notice
in verse 26 we read
which is the mother of us all
now we brethren
as Isaac was
are the children of promise
you see that connection from Romans
chapter number 9
we are the children of promise of Isaac
we are the Israel
we are the apple of God's eye
but what does it say in the next verse
in verse number 29
but as then
that was born after the flesh
persecuted him
that was born after the spirit
even so it is now
so it's saying physical Jews persecute spiritual Jews
boy I wonder if that happens today
verse 30
nevertheless what saith the scripture
cast out the bond woman and her son
for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir
to the son of the free one
go back to Romans
I probably had you turn away
but if you stuck in Romans
this is what it said in verse 8
that is they which are the children of flesh
these are not the children of God
oh
oh no no no
you don't understand pastor Shelley
the people in Israel
they're the children of God
wait a minute what does Romans say
Romans says
these are not the children of God
oh they're the apple of God's eye
how dare you touch the apple of God's eye
they're not the children of God
folks
that's not who we're talking about
he said
but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed
we are the children
of God
go to Ephesians 2
I don't like this kind of a message
you just don't like the Bible
what do you mean?
in fact I love this message
because it means that God is not a respecter of persons
and he doesn't just say
oh your physical parents were Jews
you're magically the children of God
you got that Jude lottery ticket
but you know
what's important is not how
what your physical structure is
it's not important that you have a big nose or something
what's important
is that you believe in Christ
that's what's important
Ephesians 2
look at verse 19
now therefore you're no more strangers
and foreigners
but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God
if you believe in Christ
you are a citizen
of Israel
you are Israel
you are a Jew
you are the children of God
that is what it's talking about
it's a spiritual nation
of believers
I want to show you a few more verses here
go to 1st Corinthians chapter 10
this is an important point
because Christianity is screwed up
on this point
you want to know why it's so screwed up?
because Christianity is filled with unsaved people
and these unsaved people
can only think with the carnal mind
and the carnal mind tries to elevate
carnal things
being carnally a Jew
but that's not important
what's important is being spiritually a Jew
believing in Jesus Christ and being saved
1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 18
the Bible says behold Israel after the flesh
that's an important phrase
I'm not really going to the context
I just wanted to show you that phrase because it's pretty unique
notice that there is an Israel
that is after the flesh
that tells me there must be another kind of Israel
the spiritual Israel
that's what it means in Romans 9
they're not all Israel which are of Israel
it's talking about they're not all
spiritual Israel which are physical Israel
that's what it's saying
go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11
2nd Corinthians chapter 11
yet we have today so many people puffing out their chest
and thinking they're wonderful or special
because they're a physical Jew
it doesn't make them special
and what they really need to hear is a message like this
to say you need to believe in Jesus if you want to be
spiritually Israel
if you want to be the true Israel
you need to believe in Jesus Christ
and not trust in your works
not trust in your false religion
you need to become a Christian
you need to become a fundamental Baptist
and not this stupid messianic Christian or whatever
no just become a Christian
you know
or I'm sorry messianic Jew
that's what they call it right
I'm a messianic Jew
well messianic Jews can still go to hell
because they didn't put all their faith in Jesus
and in fact
I would say all Jews are messianic
it's just their Messiah is the Antichrist
okay
this
Judaizer that I debated the other day
he was saying that Jesus will be the Messiah
and I'm thinking like what does that mean
will be Jesus won't will be
he is
Christ is the Messiah
he came already too
I don't know what Antichrist doctrine that is
2nd Corinthians chapter 11 look at verse 18
the Bible says
seeing that many glory after the flesh
I will glory also
so the apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 11
he's making fun of false prophets
and false teachers
and false doctrine
and so he goes on this tirade
of talking like they do
so this is him making fun of
and mocking and ridiculing
false teachers
you know some people say this is an anti-Christian attitude
like how dare you
make fun of people
how dare you mimic them
or talk like them in a
making fun of manner
sorry that's what
that's what Paul did
Paul the apostle Paul
is making fun of people
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11
he's saying hey
since you guys love carnality so much
since you love people in the flesh
let me sound like an idiot
like the preachers you've been listening to
let me tell you what an idiot sounds like
and that's the context
just to give you a quick rundown
verse 19
for you suffer fools gladly
seeing you selves are wise
he's saying you guys
are idiots
and since you think you're so smart
let me sound like a flat earther
just so you understand
how stupid that is
because apparently you're so smart
and you acquiesce to these idiots
that's what he's saying
this encourages me to say that it's okay to be mean sometimes
verse 21
I speak as concerning your approach
as though we had been weak
how be it
whereinsoever any is bold
and then notice this
I speak foolishly
did you see that in parenthesis
I speak foolishly
that's the apostle Paul trying to give you a hint
everything I'm about to say is dumb to say
it's stupid to say
it has no relevance
no one should ever speak like this
this is what the apostle Paul is trying to say
I'm going to sound like an idiot right now
so when he's sounding like an idiot
what does he say
I am bold also
verse 22
are they Hebrews? so am I
are they Israelites? so am I
are they the seed of Abraham? so am I
you know the apostle Paul just said
it is stupid to tell people that you're a Jew
did you read the Bible?
I'm just telling you what the Bible said
the apostle Paul is saying
when people brag
about being a physical Jew
it is stupid
it is foolish
it is meaningless
it is meaningless to brag
or pontificate
about being a physical Jew
but there's so many churches today
they'll bring in a Jew behind the pulpit
to teach us the Bible because he's a Jew
that's stupid
and the apostle Paul is saying
hey you guys suffer these idiots
so much because you're so smart
you think you're so smart to get a Jew
to tell you what the Bible means
well you know what you're actually an idiot
because it's stupid to think that that matters
you know what matters? it's someone that's filled
with the spirit of God
it's someone that believes the Bible
it's someone that's willing to preach the word of God
and reject all of those
Judaizing things that the apostle Paul
counted as dung
literally
you know what you do with dung?
you flush it down the toilet
oh I think
being a physical Jew is important
well you know what? you're an idiot
that's what the apostle Paul said
I was just telling you what he said
don't get mad at me
go back to Zechariah
when are we going back to Zechariah?
hey it's important to understand
because I hear it twisted so much
don't get me started
there's so much more New Testament on this issue
it is super clear that the physical
nation of Israel is not the apple
of God's eye
it is the spiritual Israel
but at the time
then
the spiritual Israel was physical Israel
so of course God
was blessing those people and bringing them back
and wanting to protect them and doing good under them
because they were both
just like I think that God has blessed America
for a long time not because we're America
not because of
anything about us or our country or our land
it's because that's where the saved people were
that's why
and as soon as there stops being saved people in America
did you notice how it's not blessed anymore?
and if you want to find the worst
country in the world, find
the least amount of saved people
how about North Korea?
how about China?
how about parts of the Middle East?
where Islam is prevalent
those are the worst places to ever live
because there's no saved people there
what are the best places to live?
where there's the most saved people
you want to know why Texas is better than some of these other places?
because there's a lot more saved people here
than there are in other places
have you ever noticed that?
there's a lot more Christianity going on down here
than there is in other places
and a lot of these other places
wherever Christianity is thriving
is going to be the safest and the best place to live
and
you know, it may not always be
the most receptive because everybody's already saved
it's funny
I was talking to somebody that was moving here
and we were saying, the best place to go soloing
is like the worst place to live
and usually the worst place to go soloing
is the best place to live
but, a lot of times when you go in those areas
a lot of people are saved in those areas, aren't they?
they've already been reached, they already kind of know
and what we have to understand is
that God is going to be a hedge
is going to be a wall
around those who are spiritually saved
not physically Jews
ok, he's not the Iron Dome
there is no guarantee
that he's going to protect those individuals
just because of who their parents are
he only has that supernatural wall around the saved
now, we finish this chapter
it says in verse 9
for behold, I will shake my hand upon them
and they shall be a spoil to their servants
and you should know that the Lord of hosts has sent me
sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion
for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee
saith the Lord
and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day
and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee
and thou shalt know
that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto thee
and the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion
in the Holy Land and shall choose Jerusalem again
be silent
O all flesh before the Lord
for he is raised up
out of his holy habitation
so it's saying that God is going to dwell with his people
that's going to happen in the millennial reign
Jesus Christ is going to literally come
and I want to
point out one last thing
and this is what I think is kind of interesting
notice
what it had said in verse 8
in the first part of it
for thus saith the Lord of hosts
so who's the person speaking?
God
right?
did you notice that?
God speaking this
so everything from verses 8 to 13
is the Lord of hosts speaking
but did you notice this in verse number 9
that it says at the very end
ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent
what's this word?
me
so it's saying the Lord of hosts
is saying that the Lord of hosts
sent me
did you notice that?
in verse number 11 it says
in many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day
and shall be my people
and I will dwell in the midst
of thee and thou shalt know
that the Lord of hosts hath sent
me unto thee
so how in the world can you have the Lord
of hosts dwelling with them
and then saying the Lord of hosts sent me
you know why?
because we're talking about the Father and the Son
and we even see that
clear trinity distinction
of the Father and the Son and the Lord Jesus Christ
talking about when he's going to dwell
in the midst of the people in the millennial
reign and then they're going to know
they're going to know that the Father
sent Jesus Christ
no one's going to have any kind of doubt
oh I don't know who sent Jesus or
the trinity or all this no no it'll be made
manifest
there'll be no more guessing at that point
go to Revelation 11 I'll show you one verse here
and we'll finish Revelation chapter number 11
the
the trinity is an esoteric doctrine
no you're just an idiot
the Bible teaches the trinity everywhere
Old Testament and New Testament
yeah when the disciples
had Jesus Christ there
think about this
they kept
when Jesus is asking Peter like who art thou
he's like saying thou art the Christ
thou art the Son of God
why would Peter
just immediately tell him that he was the
Son of God if they believed in a monotheistic
like only one person
style view of God
he already understood that there's the Son of God
he was just saying you are
that person he already believed in the
Son of God he was just connecting the dots
of the Son of God is you you are the Son
of God you are that person in the trinity
they were connecting him with that specific
individual of the trinity it wasn't that
they were confused and thinking like
well who's this father and who's this son
what are you talking about no no no they
already there's no point
where Jesus is like basically trying to explain
the finer points of the trinity to him they
already accept and agree with the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit now again there's some people
that weren't educated on the Holy Ghost
and some parts of the Bible and we get that
and of course the trinity was more revealed
in the New Testament
and I'm sure only the saved were the ones
that really got a lot of that doctrine
but I believe the disciples were already saved before Jesus
showed up folks they were just
recognizing the Messiah and of course
when it talks about them believing in him
a lot of that is more of the fact that they're
recognizing the facts
of who Jesus like they're connecting the dots
that the person they believed in is that particular
person okay it's not necessarily
the moment that they got saved or something
like that I don't think that Jesus got
picked twelve
disciples that were unsaved
he picked one disciples unsaved was Judas
and he was a devil from the beginning
think about this only
one was a devil from the beginning if they
were all unsaved then they would all have
issues at the beginning only one was a
devil from the beginning and that was Judas okay
now Revelation chapter 11 look at verse 15
and the seventh angel sounded and there were
great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord
notice this and
of his Christ and he
shall reign forever and ever so notice we have
the Lord and his
Christ so we have the Father
and we have the
Son specifically verse 16
and the four and twenty elders which sat before
God on their seats fell upon their faces and
worshiped God saying we give thee thanks O Lord
God Almighty which art and was and
art to come because
thou hast taken to thee that great power
and hast reign so the Bible tells us that
Jesus Christ is going to come and literally and
physically rule and reign
on the earth
and that's what it means in
Romans chapter number 9
Romans chapter 11
when it says
that all Israel shall be saved
okay because it's saying that
at that time when Christ is ruling and
reigning in Jerusalem
all of the saved are going to be gathered
from the four winds and we're going to all come
and we're going to be in Jerusalem
and we're going to be ruling and reigning with
Christ and all of physical
Israel will be spiritual
Israel once again
and again it never was perfect
at any time then times past
but in the future there will be a
one for one those who are the physical
Israel will be the spiritual Israel
at that time and we'll have this
basically renew it and you say
well I'm not physical Israel how's that going to happen
you're getting a new body
you're going to be resurrected
and we're going to be made in his
image after his likeness
and we're going to be the sons of God
and we are going to be physical Israel
and we're going to be spiritual Israel
okay this old man has already
died he's already been crucified I'm
getting rid of him we're going to shed him
okay and
we've been adopted into the family
and we're going to be that
physical and spiritual seed
of Abraham and it's
going to be father Abraham he's going to be
literally our father in that
sense okay
but at that time of course
you know we have a lot of foreshadowings here
but still get confused on who the true Israel is
if you're saved you're Israel
and as Israel
we have to submit to the Lord's will
and if we do he will be a
wall of fire in our lives
and we need that wall of protection more than ever
it's a dangerous world that we live in
let us be
that Israel that God wants us to be
so that he is a willing participant
in putting a hedge of protection around us
let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father so much
for this book
Zechariah chapter 2 thank you so much for
being willing to protect us
when we take bold stands for your word
I pray that we could see through
spiritual eyes the wall of fire
that you would like to put around us
the angels that you send into our lives to protect us
I pray that we would
recognize that we are the true apple of your eye
and that it's important
that we run the
race with patience
that we dedicate our lives to serving Christ
and I pray that
you would just help us to all be motivated
to think with spiritual understanding
and not with carnal understanding in Jesus' name we pray Amen
All right
In closing let's go to song number
236
Song number
236
No
Not One
Song number
236
Everybody singing out together on the first
236
There's not a
friend like the Lord
Jesus
No not one
None else
could heal all our souls
diseases
No not one
Jesus
knows all about
our struggles
He will
guide till the day is
done
There's not a friend like
the lowly Jesus
No not one
No friend like him
is so high and
holy
No not one
And yes a friend
is so weak and
lowly
No not one
Jesus
knows all about
our struggles
He will guide
till the day is done
There's not
a friend like the
lowly Jesus
No not one
There's not
an hour that
is not near us
No not one
No
night so dark but his
love can cheer us
No not one
Jesus
knows all about
our struggles
He will
guide till the day
is done
There's not a friend
like the lowly
Jesus
No not one
Did ever
say find this friend
forsake him
No not one
Or sin or
find that he would
not take him
No not one
Jesus
knows all about
our struggles
He will guide
till the day is
done There's
not a friend like the
lowly Jesus
No not one
No not
one
Was there a gift like
the Savior
No not
one
No not one
Will he refuse
us a home in
heaven
No not one
Jesus
knows all about
our struggles
He will guide
till the day is
done There's
no friend like the lowly
Jesus
No not one
No not
one
Great singing everybody, you were all
dismissed
you