And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said,
"Behold, I make all things new."
And he said unto me, "Write,
"for these words are true and faithful."
And he said unto me, "It is done.
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
"I will give unto him that is a thirst
"of the fountain of the water of life freely.
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things.
"And I will be his God and he shall be my son.
"But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable
"and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers
"and idolaters and all liars shall have their part
"in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone,
"which is the second death.
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels
"which had the seven vials full of seven last plagues
"and talked with me, saying,
"Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife.
"And he carried me away in the spirit
"to a great and high mountain
"and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem,
"descending out of heaven from God,
"having the glory of God.
"And her light was like unto a stone most precious,
"even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal,
"and had a wall great and high and had 12 gates
"and the gates 12 angels and the names written thereon,
"which are the names of the 12 tribes
"of the children of Israel.
"On the east three gates, on the north three gates,
"on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
"And the wall of the city had 12 foundations
"and in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
"And he that talked with me had a golden reed
"to measure the city and the gates thereof
"and the wall thereof.
"And the city lieth four square
"and the length is as large as the breadth.
"And he measured the city with the reed 12,000 furlongs.
"The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
"And he measured the wall thereof in 140 and four cubits,
"according to the measure of man, that is, of the angel.
"And the building of the wall of it was of jasper,
"and the city was pure gold, like under clear glass.
"And the foundations of the wall of the city
"were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
"The first foundation was jasper, the second, sapphire,
"the third, a chalcedony, the fourth, an emerald,
"the fifth, sardonyx, the sixth, sardis,
"the seventh, crystallite, the eighth, beryl,
"the ninth, topaz, the 10th, acrysoprasis,
"the 11th, a jason, the 12th, an amethyst.
"And the 12 gates were 12 pearls.
"Every several gate was of one pearl,
"and the street of the city was pure gold,
"and it were transparent glass.
"And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty
"and the Lamb are the temple of it.
"And the city had no need of the sun,
"neither of the moon, to shine in it,
"for the glory of God did lighten it,
"and the Lamb is the light thereof.
"And the nations of them which are saved
"shall walk in the light of it.
"And the kings of the earth do bring
"their glory and honor into it.
"And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day,
"for there shall be no night there,
"and they shall bring the glory and honor
"of the nations into it,
"and there shall in no wise enter in any thing
"that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
"or maketh a lie,
"but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."
Brother Eli, will you pray for us?
- Well, grateful to be here today to preach for you guys.
I thank you for Pastor Thompson.
He gives us many opportunity to do that,
so we always wanna give thanks to him for that.
He's over in Oklahoma with Pastor Oz.
So celebrating, I think their anniversary, I believe,
but I'm not 100% on that,
but he's just spending some time with them,
preaching for them.
We're there in Revelation 21.
I want you to look at verse eight,
and I'm not gonna read the whole verse here,
but it says, "But the fearful and unbelieving,"
and I'm gonna stop there
because the title of my sermon is "The Unbelieving,"
and with that, I'm gonna pray real quick.
Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you, Lord,
for this opportunity to preach in your house.
I just pray that you would fill me with your spirit.
Help me to preach the message that you put in my heart.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So the unbelieving,
and I'm not talking about unbelieving
as in like you don't believe
and then you're gonna go to hell, right?
Every one of these sins on this list
is a sin that a Christian can still commit, right?
We all could still fall into being fearful.
We can do things that are abominable to God, right?
Unfortunately, you look at King David,
there's people that can still be a murderer.
So there's all these sins are still sins
that we have to be careful
that we don't commit ourselves.
And really the unbelieving is a lot more important.
I believe and that's why it's right there towards the top.
You know, being fearful is not good.
We should fear God, right?
We shouldn't fear like the things
that have can possibly happen to us in this world
or just what a crazy place that we're living in,
just how dark things are getting.
We have to trust God.
And it was a perfect him I thought that we started with,
right, I know whom I have believed
and then persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day.
Great him to start with,
because it is talking about belief there.
We still continue to believe, right?
They call us believers, they call us the faithful.
And often, you know, this is a verse
we use out soul winning, right?
We use it probably every time we preach the gospel.
And it's because unbelieving is really
probably the most important thing that you preach.
That's the thing that people struggle with the most
is understanding what does it mean to believe, right?
And so, you know, we wanna make sure that we don't,
we use this list and it is a good list.
Turn to Romans chapter four.
It can be so destructive to be fearful, to be unbelieving,
but unbelieving obviously has the biggest consequence
when you're unbelieving in regards to salvation, right?
The New Testament highlights this difference very well,
perfectly actually with Abraham.
Look at verse one in Romans four.
It says, "What shall we say then that Abraham,
"Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh hath found?
"For if Abraham were justified by works,
"he hath whereof the glory, but not before God.
"For what sayeth the scripture?
"Abraham believed to God,
"and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
Now turn to James chapter two.
And just keep in mind,
the unbelieving shows a lack of faith too, right?
We know that this chapter is misused,
but James chapter two, verse 20 says,
"But wilt thou know, O vain man,
"that faith without works is dead?
"Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works,
"when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
"Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,
"and by works was faith made perfect,
"and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith,
"Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him
"for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."
You see then how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith only.
Now turn to John chapter 15.
Be having you turn to a lot of verses today,
probably have too many notes,
but it's just so much Bible on this topic,
because faith again, when we preach the gospel,
we have a hard time getting them to understand that.
It doesn't just meaning believing Christ is real.
It's trusting him.
It's putting all your faith in him.
They're used as a synonym in the Bible, right?
But you see that unsaved people,
they can't understand these verses,
and they need somebody to preach it to them
and explain it to them,
just like the Ethiopian eunuch did, right?
But this is the same man was justified not by his works,
but just by believing in the context of salvation.
In the other example, he was justified by his works,
and his faith was made perfect, his belief, his trust, right?
And that's how God becomes your friend, right?
And that should be a goal of us
that we would be a friend of God, right?
But this explains how that happens.
John 15, look at verse 14.
Jesus said, "Ye are my friends,
"if ye do whatsoever I command you."
So there's a way that we become the friend of God,
and that's by doing the things he asked us to do, right?
See, Abraham, turn to Hebrews chapter two.
Abraham was definitely able to do
whatever God asked him to do, right?
He was willing to sacrifice his son
because he believed that God would raise his son up, right?
But still, that would still be a difficult leap of faith.
I don't know that I could just take a knife to my child.
Or I mean, can you imagine being put to that sort of a test?
But you know, God does prove us.
Maybe not in such a, man, such a crazy way as that.
But there's other things that will happen in your life
where God is testing.
How much do you believe Him?
Are you unbelieving in your faith, right?
Hebrews chapter two, look at verse 11.
It says, "For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one,
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
saying, 'I will declare my name unto my brethren
in the midst of the church.
Will I sing praise unto thee?"
See, and we just sang praises unto God, right?
And you know, it's a shame if you come to church
and you don't sing.
I know it's hard for many people to do,
but it is something important to God
to be done in the midst of the church.
It does bring praise to him.
It brings glory to him.
I think it increases your faith.
And you know, we are gathered in his name
in the midst of the church,
and praises are sung unto him there in the church.
And you know, church, it's a much more special place
than I think people hold to in today's day and age.
Look at verse 13 in Hebrews chapter two.
It says, "And again, I will put my trust in him.
And again, behold, I and the children
which God hath given me."
Turn to Ephesians chapter one.
See trust and belief, faith, those all are the same thing.
And we could start to lose trust.
We could start to lose faith.
We can become a little bit unbelieving
when it comes to the promises of God.
What God has in store for us in our lives.
And really, God forbid that would happen
to us as a church, Ephesians, in the Bahamas.
The thing, I think I brought this up in the testimony,
you have to spend the most time on belief.
They understand all the other points.
They know they're sin or they know they deserve hell, right?
It was just that eternal security, right?
Which is what it means to believe.
You're putting all of your faith and trust in Jesus,
none in yourself, right?
And it's tough for people to do that.
Again, the Bible uses believe, faith, trust
to mean the same thing.
And Paul said he was writing to the faithful
in Christ Jesus in this chapter here.
Chapter one, that's how he starts it out,
to the faithful, that's full of faith.
That means they're showing their faith by their works,
according to James, right?
But they're doing things for God.
And that's what God has ordained for us to do.
Verse 12, it says that we should be
to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ,
in whom he also trusted after, that he had heard.
See, and again, you heard it.
It has to be preached to you.
You're not just picking up a track, saving yourself,
or sending a Bible to somebody, and then they get saved.
Otherwise, everyone in the Bahamas would have been saved,
really, because they know their Bible to an incredible level.
When they're reciting everything that you're saying,
you know, with you, it's a people that loves the Bible.
They love God.
And I think that's why God gives them great,
because it gave them so much grace, because really,
there's a lot of people preaching a false gospel over there,
because they all believe you need to repent of your sins.
They all believe that they don't believe in eternal security,
but they're very low hanging fruit,
because I think they give reverence to the word of God.
They love God, so they believe it,
but they do need it explained to them, right?
Finishing of that verse, it says the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed,
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
And this is where, you know, you could take somebody too,
to just show that, hey, it's trust, it's belief.
These all are the same thing to God
in regards to your salvation.
And of course, again, you have to preach it to them though.
Some people don't understand the word of God.
That's why the Bible says,
"How shall they hear without a preacher?"
Skip to verse 22 in Ephesians chapter one, it says,
"And it put all things under his feet,
and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him
that filleth all in all."
It's the fullness that filleth him all in all.
Church is a very important place.
Turn to 1 Peter chapter four.
You know, we have dealt with attacks, you know,
within our church, within the new IFB in general, right?
I really don't think we've dealt with as rough of attacks
as some of the other churches really, you know,
but maybe that's just me.
But we've still taken some lumps, you know?
We've lost people, and you know,
I think it's the faith of some,
I think it's the belief of some, you know?
And that is what gets attacked the most.
It's your faith, it's your belief.
Like how much are you trusting God?
How much are you trusting the word of God
and what it says versus what somebody else says, right?
1 Peter chapter four, look at verse 12, it says,
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
"which is to try you as though some strange thing
"happened unto you."
See, in a fiery trial, I've talked about this before,
but it doesn't mean anything to do with hell.
You know, it's just a hot trial.
It's going through difficulties as a Christian,
and we're all gonna go through them
continually until Christ returns.
It's never going to go away.
We're always gonna deal with drama.
There's so much drama in the Bible.
We're gonna deal with people forsaking us,
people forsaking God, because that's what's most important,
is that you're a friend of God.
You know, it's good to have friends at church,
but you know, it's important to be a friend of God too,
right?
So here though, and just to prove this point a little further,
I'm gonna read Deuteronomy chapter 33, or 33-2.
This is where Moses is giving his final blessing
to Israel, and it says, "And he said the Lord came from Sinai
and rose up from Seir unto them.
He shined forth from Mount Peran,
and he came with 10,000 of his saints.
From his right hand went a fiery law from them."
Actually, keep your place there in 1 Peter,
but turn to Zephaniah, Zephaniah chapter one.
Minor prophet, fourth to the last of the Old Testament,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.
Look at verse 18.
It says, "Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
in the days of the Lord's wrath.
But the whole land shall be devoured
by the fire of his jealousy.
And he shall make even a speedy riddance
of all them that dwell in the land."
You know, God uses...
Fire is used a lot in the Bible
when it's talking directly about God, right?
The burning bush, God's called a consuming fire, right?
So we always look at the Bible in context
to what it's saying.
Like when he had fiery indignation
about people who skipped church, fiery indignation,
it's just like the fire of zeal, right?
Or a burning indignation.
God is very upset with that.
And why?
It's his fullness.
The church is the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
It's an important place to God.
So that symbolizes God's judgment, right?
'Cause God will judge the things
that we do too on this earth.
I mean, thankfully we don't have to worry
about going to hell if we're saved.
But you know what?
We can deal with things on this earth.
You know, God is very long suffering
and he suffers us sometimes.
But you know, he will eventually punish us
for the things that we do that are a sin.
And unbelieving is a sin.
Hebrews talks a lot about church
and why church is important.
We're told to minister one another in Hebrews chapter six.
Actually turn to Hebrews chapter six.
We minister to one another.
So many of the apostles are talking directly
to the church, people in the church.
Revelation finishes off with God saying things
to the church, right?
Telling them what they're doing wrong.
Hebrews chapter six verse 11 says,
"And we desire that every one of you
do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
unto the end, that you be not slothful,
but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises."
Be not slothful.
Be not lazy.
Be not somebody who, you know, is asleep at the wheel, okay?
We should be a people that is different.
It's different than the world.
That's what set apart means.
Turn back to 1 Peter chapter four, if you will.
But there is a lot of slothful Christians.
And, you know, I don't know if it's unbelief
because, you know, when we're at church,
Christ is in the midst of us, right?
When we're here, Christ is in the midst of us.
So he's here.
He's here when we're preaching in his name.
Something I believe is important to God
and special to God when there's preaching of the word
in a church, even more so than people
that just think they could just, you know,
preach in their house or, you know,
churches wherever you want to gather.
You could, you know, even if the people aren't ordained
and there's no elders and then they just,
they don't believe the right thing, right?
They're unbelieving about the things that the Bible says,
specifically even about the church.
First Peter chapter four, we're at verse 13.
Says, "But rejoice in as much as ye are partakers
of Christ's sufferings,
that when his glory shall be revealed,
ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."
See, we're partakers of Christ's sufferings.
We are going to suffer as Christians.
We are gonna go through difficulties and challenges
and it's gonna be pretty tough.
You know, there's gonna be times,
I think that people just are like,
God, why don't you just send me home?
You know, because this life can be difficult
but there's also a lot of blessings and we're needed.
We're needed on this earth to do the things
that God needs us to do.
It says, if you be reproached for the name of Christ,
happy are ye for the spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon you.
On their part, he is evil spoken of
but on your part, he is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer
or as a thief or as an evildoer
or as a busy body in other men's matters, right?
And that's an important one because it's amazing
that people would leave a church, right?
Because they're worried about other men's matters, right?
They're a busy body in other men's matters,
things that they could know nothing about.
You know, they don't know all the details, right?
But then they'll leave and forsake a church,
but they're just looking for a reason to do that anyway.
Right, they were looking for a reason
to do that to begin with.
'Cause the Bible says, if you go on,
yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed,
but let him glorify God on this behalf.
For the time has come that judgment must begin
at the house of God.
That's the church.
And if it first begin at us,
what shall the end be of them
that obey not the gospel of God?
So judgment is in the house of God,
but it's gonna be even worse for the people
that don't get saved, right?
That aren't part of the house of God.
But believing God after you get saved
means believing the rest of the Bible too.
You know, false prophets are teaching, you know,
some really bad things about this Bible, right?
And you know, they'll make the Bible contradictory,
like the verses I read in the beginning,
where they'll use James to say,
"Oh, see, you gotta have works with your faith."
You know, you have to believe the right thing.
They'll preach a false gospel and they'll believe that.
And they're leading people to hell.
Turn to Hebrews chapter three.
'Cause since believers can commit all the same sins
as an unsaved person,
unless they're a reprobate, of course,
I'm talking to you today about
when believers show themselves to be unbelieving.
Hebrews chapter three, look at verse one.
"Wherefore, holy brethren,
"partakers of the heavenly calling,
"consider the apostle and high priest of our profession,
"Christ Jesus, who is faithful."
And pay attention to how much faithful is used.
That's full of faith.
"Your belief is strong in the word of God
"and in the things of God.
"To him that appointed him,
"as also Moses was faithful in all his house."
Which means he's full of faith.
That's not unbelieving as a Christian, right?
It'd be the opposite of that.
"For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
"and as much as he who hath builded the house
"hath more honor than the house.
"For every house is builded by some man,
"but he that built all things is God.
"And Moses verily was faithful in all his house
"as a servant for a testimony of those things
"which were to be spoken after."
And remember, we're all servants.
Whether you like that title or not, we're servants of God.
It says, "But Christ as a son over his own house,
"whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence
"in the rejoicing of the hope, firm and to the end."
Right?
And that's if we hold fast,
because the church is the gathering of the believers.
If people stop gathering, it's no longer a church, right?
So you do have to hold that confidence
and that hope firm and to the end.
It says, "Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost sayeth today,
"if ye will hear his voice, pardon not your hearts,
"as in the provocation, in the day of temptation,
"in the wilderness."
You know, I think of when I first came to this church,
we were just so amazed at the zeal.
We were amazed at like, everybody went soul winning.
People came right up to us and talked to us.
They invited, one of the first things they did
was invite us to go soul winning.
And it was amazing.
The zeal reminded me of the zeal
that I had to go to the Bahamas to see
in a group that were gathering over there
to preach the gospel to the lost in the Bahamas.
And that saddens me because there was a time
when that zeal was just as strong
right in the church here in Vancouver.
And I feel like some of that has been lost a little bit.
And that's why I wanted to preach this message
because we don't want to just get hardened
to the things of God and to the things
that God sees are important
because it is an evil heart of unbelief.
I'm gonna get to that verse in a minute,
but that's an important verse.
It is evil because it's wicked evil,
but it's also evil and that evil
also means it can do harm.
And it does harm to people
if you're not out preaching the gospel.
It does harm to people
when you get hardened to the things of God.
That's why verse eight says,
"Harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation in the day of temptation
in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me,
proved me and saw my works 40 years."
See, we saw that camaraderie,
we saw that God moving through us,
and it was a joyful time.
And we don't wanna let the cares of the world,
any drama, being a busy body in other men's matters.
Hey, if judgment is in the house of God,
then the people that go to a different church,
the judgment would be happening in that house of God.
We judge the things that go on in the house of God here.
Verse 10, "Wherefore I was grieved with that generation,
and said they do always err in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.
So I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest."
And this next verse is the most important
in regards to the context of this sermon.
It says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief, and departing from the living God."
It's so important that we don't develop
an evil heart of unbelief.
And obviously that can happen,
or it wouldn't be in this chapter here, right?
It's talking about us, it's brethren.
He's talking about brethren.
And verse 13, it says, "But exhort one another daily."
Hey, I fail here.
I fail at exhorting my fellow brothers and sisters
in Christ daily.
I mean, my wife, you should always--
within your house, you should be doing that at the very least.
But I do that for my wife.
But as far as my other brothers and sisters in Christ,
sometimes life gets busy.
I don't bother checking in, seeing how somebody's doing.
I think about them.
I pray for them.
But you know what?
They don't know that.
Exhort one another daily while it's called today,
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin.
So maybe not checking in could make somebody
if you just feel alone on an island,
and then they start to get their heart hardened.
Maybe they start backsliding,
and then the deceitfulness of sin steps in.
Says in verse 14, for we are made partakers of Christ,
when if we hold the beginning of our confidence,
steadfast into the end.
See, it's not a sprint.
It is a marathon type of a thing here.
But you do have to hold the beginning of your confidence
in the things of God, in the church of God,
in the house of God, in the work of God,
steadfast to the end, right?
That first day of coming to this church,
I remember it like it was yesterday.
And holding that confidence, that zeal, right?
The zeal for the things of God is important.
Verse 15 says, "While it is said today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."
It says it twice.
That's when God is making a point.
Harden not your heart.
Your heart can get hard to the things of God
where you just don't see them as important, right?
You come to church whenever you feel like it, right?
And it's sad.
Harden not your hearts.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke,
how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses,
but with whom was he grieved 40 years?
Was it not with them that had sinned,
whose carcasses fell in the wilderness,
and to whom swear he not?
To whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest,
but to them that believed not?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
And it's sad how much people
have lost their zeal for the church.
Skip to chapter four.
Look, Christ died for the church.
He shed his blood for the church.
It washes us by the preaching of the word,
according to the Bible,
to present himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle.
And he's the head and foundation of the church.
Yeah, he doesn't care how often you go.
He doesn't care if you just slip in once in a while.
That's an evil heart of unbelief.
Hebrews 4, look at verse 14.
"Seeing then that we have a great high priest
"that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of God,
"let us hold fast our profession.
"For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched
"with the feelings of our infirmities,
"but was in all points tempted
"like as we are yet without sin."
God became a man.
God knows how we feel.
God knows it's difficult to get your family ready
and go to church or, you know,
to deal with the challenges of life, you know,
and still do the things of God.
He understands, but Christ, when he was here,
he worked harder than everybody.
I mean, he didn't even sleep, he was working so hard.
And God doesn't mean to go so much more
as we see the day approaching, right?
I mean, God doesn't mean something different by that.
You know, he means to go so much more
as you see the day approaching.
It would be silly to say he doesn't care if you go at all,
or just even once in a while.
Yeah, God doesn't care about that.
And that's just somebody that's not full of faith.
See, if you're full of faith,
you're not going to be a selfish person, right?
You're a selfish person if you don't think it matters
that you go to church,
because you encourage people by being here.
You exhort people that are dealing
with the challenges of life,
and yet still finding a way to be here in the house of God,
and doing the things of God.
Turn to Revelation chapter two.
So it is harmful to people.
It is an evil heart of unbelief.
Ultimately, it's your faith,
the belief that was tested, is tested.
It's what's tested in the book of Revelation.
But it's amazing that God, you know,
Paul called them the church faithful, right?
That's what we're called the faithful.
When we come to church and we're solid, right?
We're coming when the doors are open.
We're going to the events.
We're going soul winning.
We're doing the work as our leader is prescribing for us.
That's why God ordained there to be an elder.
So he could direct us in what needs to be done, right?
Verse two says, "I know thy works, and thy labor,
and thy patience."
And your patience is definitely tied
to how much faith you're going to have and exhibit
because some people just don't have much patience.
They don't have much patience to deal
with the challenges of life.
They don't have patience to deal with, you know,
one another or just when relationships get difficult,
you know, they don't have the patience.
But you know what?
God's very patient with us.
We should have patience for one another.
We should have patience for things even in difficult times.
And it says, "And how thou canst not bear them
which are evil, and thou hast tried them
which say they're apostles and are not,
and has found them liars."
See, it's okay that they tried people
that were saying they were apostles
and they found them liars.
Hey, leave that to the pastors.
They tried people that maybe even say they're disciples
and found out they're not.
You know, what happened to a lot of the people
that left our church or left because they were just,
you know, being busy bodies in other men's matters?
A lot of times you see that their life is going downhill.
They're not in a good church.
They're not soul winning.
You know, they're doing things
that just are just all part of the world.
I think God has made it very clear
whose side he's on in specific situations,
but I'm not here to talk about that.
But it just, hey, it says that we should have,
we should have patience.
We should try things.
We should try the spirits, the Bible says, right?
You should try, you know, situations,
but that judgment happens within your own church
for the people you're specifically interacting with.
Forget what I was here, but I might reread some of this.
It says, and for my name's sake has labored.
See, we're here to labor.
When we get sent out to labor from church,
and you know what, the harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are definitely few, right?
It says, and has not fainted.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast lost thy first love.
Turn to Acts chapter 20.
I mean, you see how these churches, I mean,
it's surprising when you come into a church
that has a ton of zeal,
then you start to see that zeal go away.
'Cause I used to think, like, how do these churches,
how did Christ himself speak directly to these churches?
And then none of them exist.
But it's because people start to have hardened hearts.
People start to have an evil heart of unbelief.
Paul warned the elders in Acts chapter 20.
Look at verse 28.
Says, "Take heed therefore unto other people's matters."
No, "Yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock.
Also, of your own self shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after
them."
You know, there is a lot of Bible perverts out there.
They're preaching like either a false gospel, but even some that are, you know, they seem
like they're preaching a good gospel, but they're perverting the Word of God.
They're making the things that God sees important, not important, like going to church, like
soul winning, like, you know, some of the things that, you know, are the first love.
The first love, I believe, just like I think a lot of you do, that that first love is talking
about soul winning.
And it was the first love that I had when I was looking for a church.
It was the first love that attracted me to coming here when we were just kind of looking
at it from a different perspective because we were two hours and 15 minutes away.
But that first service said, "No way, this is our church."
But it was that zeal.
It was that love for the things of God.
It was, you know, seeing Brother Sean get Kevin saved.
I still remember his name.
He got a man named Kevin saved and I watched it and I was just blown away.
And I said, "I'm coming to this, we're coming to this church."
Right?
That zeal, you don't want that zeal to go away.
Go away.
It says, "Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to
warn every one of you, night and day with tears."
See, I could see why he warned with tears because it is sad when you're watching, which
we all should be watching.
When you're watching and you're seeing these things start to slip and the room's empty
or whatever.
There used to be like 70 people or something like crazy number like that going soul winning
on a Sunday.
And yeah, I know we've spread out a lot.
Pastors started a lot of churches in other areas and that's a blessing, that's a good
thing.
So we lose people that way too and that's a good way to lose people.
But you know what?
We also lose people that just all of a sudden don't think it's important anymore.
And I could see that why he was warning them to watch, remember, remember what it was like
when you didn't have a place to go to church.
Remember what is like that feeling of seeing somebody get saved for the first time or when
you got somebody saved for the first time, right?
Turn to Hebrews chapter 11.
It's the great faith chapter and chapter, a chapter on belief in the word of God and
the promises of God.
Faith again, faith is belief too.
It's belief also.
I love the book of Hebrews, there's just so much in there.
I mean you just get so much from the book of Hebrews just reading it over and over again.
This verse six is one that we go to a lot, it says, "But without faith it is impossible
to please him for he that cometh to God must first believe that he is and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
We seek God and you're going to do it a lot more, you know, often if you come to church
a lot, right?
If you're around the people of God a lot, if you're not just, you know, more focused
on the world than you are on the things of God, right?
Skip to verse 24, it says, "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."
A lot of people don't want to suffer, though.
They don't want to suffer with the people of God, and the thing is, we need one another.
When we're suffering, you know, the other's suffering with them.
You know, when Brother Alex was going through that, I was suffering with him.
I mean, we're not feeling the same things he's feeling, but, you know, he's an important
member of our church.
It's like, you're just like, "God, please protect him, you know, help him, help him
to heal."
And we suffer with one another in any afflictions that we go through.
Verse 26, it says, "It's esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward."
Do you consider the reproach of Christ greater riches than what you're going to get from
this world?
Because you should.
You know, or is this world more important to you than church is to you?
Turn to Matthew chapter 13.
You know, God is long-suffering, but don't expect things to go well when you just stop
believing that the things of God are important.
Some people will get to such a hardened heart that they never come back to the things of
God.
Never.
Their whole rest of their life.
But if you're somebody that still loves God, you still want to be that friend of God, you
still care about the things of God, a sermon or preaching of the Word of God is going
to exhort you onto good works.
It's going to encourage you back to doing the things of God, and that's what it should
do.
And you don't want to stop believing that the things of God are important, or let the
haters of God or just the haters in general affect you.
Matthew chapter 13, look at verse 57, "And they were offended in him, but Jesus said
unto them, 'A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house.'"
And he did not many mighty works there.
Why?
Because of their unbelief, the unbelieving, right?
God's not going to do all these things in your life if you're showing yourself to be
unbelieving even about the things of God.
Now God is merciful.
He's long-suffering.
You know, sometimes people like to be willfully ignorant, not know their Bible so that maybe
they can get off with, you know, beaten with fewer stripes.
But that's not how you should be.
That's not how you become a friend of God, you know?
And really it's true.
A prophet is not without honor saving his own country, right?
That's why we have so much success when we go to a country that has people that are hungry
for the Word of God.
They love God.
They love the Bible.
They're quick to believe because they have a reverence for the Word of God.
Listen to Mark chapter four, Mark chapter four, because you can get your heart hardened
to the point where you just stop believing certain things, right?
We saw that.
You see that happen with a lot of men in the Bible, mighty men in the Bible.
And God doesn't want our belief or our faith to be tested to the point where we actually
stop believing.
We stop believing certain things.
And again, I've seen examples of this where people that used to come to a church like
this, now they're out, you know, just going to rock concerts or kids are dressed inappropriately.
I mean, and yeah, it's like, I'm not trying to seek that stuff out, but it's still you
do see that once you get to a certain point, it's very difficult to come back.
It's very difficult to come back to the things of God, although he'll always take you back.
Look at the prodigal son.
He wants you back.
If you're somebody that is spending more time in the world than you're doing, spending it
the things of God, look at verse 38 of Mark chapter four says, and he was in the hinder
part of the ship asleep on a pillow, and they awake him and say, "And a master, carest thou
not that we perish?"
And he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, "Peace, be still."
And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
And he said unto them, "Why are ye so fearful?
And how is it that ye have no faith?"
See, they didn't believe that God could save them, right?
They didn't have any faith in that God was going to be able to protect them.
And we could lose faith in certain things, too, where we might not see the end like God
does.
But he just wants us to, he's proving us.
He wants us to be able to stay faithful.
Skip to chapter 17 of Matthew.
Chapter 17.
I guess we were in March, sorry.
But yeah, go to Matthew chapter 17.
Because I don't believe these haters that say that people, like, in church, in new IP
churches are just, like, serving God because they're just so, they're so sinful that that's
how they, you know, are able to quench the fact that they're sinful is by doing the things
of God. That's so absurd. I mean, and really that would be somebody who doesn't believe their Bible
anyway. If that's how you are, you should get your heart right with God because you're not a friend
of God when you're not, when you're not obeying his commandments. So if you're just doing stuff
for the sake of what, looking good for other people, then you're just doing things for the wrong
reason. And I think that's a railing accusation anyways. I don't think that people are like that
in our churches. And you know what? Only God knows people's hearts. So I don't know that, but I just
don't believe that that's true. Verse 14 of Matthew 17 says, "And when they were come to the multitude,
there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, 'Lord, have mercy on my son,
for he is a lunatic and sore vexed. For oft times he falls into the fire and oft into the water,
and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him.' Then Jesus answered and said, 'Oh,
faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring
him hither to me.' It's a pretty strong way to respond to that from the God of the universe.
And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour.
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, 'Why could not we cast them out?' And Jesus said
unto them, 'Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, you shall stay unto this mountain. Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove,
and nothing shall be impossible unto you.'" Turn to Mark chapter 9. I loved that verse as a kid.
My dad told me about that verse, and I remember being in the backyard. I know I've told this
before a long, long time ago, but I was trying to pray that a tree would move in my yard,
because he said, "Hey, if you had faith, you could move a mountain. So if I have enough faith,
maybe I could move this tree from here to here. It's kind of in my way. That's where I like to
play." And I was just like, I didn't know how to do it. I'm just like, "Faith!" And that opened my
eyes and it was still there. I'm like, "Man, I just don't have enough faith yet." You know,
but obviously that's not what it means. God could just move mountains in your life.
God can heal and restore relationships that have gone sour. God can just bring you back to him
like the prodigal son. I mean, look where his life was. He was eaten with the pigs. And then,
you know, he came back. He came back and got things right. But God, knowing that God doesn't
like a lack of faith though, is very clear in the Bible because it says it's impossible to please
him, right? And look at verse 19, Mark chapter 9 verse 19. "He answers him and saith, 'O faithless
generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me.'
Jesus said unto him, 'If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.'
And straightway the father of child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief.' And I think that that's what we need to be telling God sometimes. Help me where I'm not
believing right. Help me in my unbelief. I believe, but help thou mine unbelief, because it is a sin
to be unbelieving. That's why it's right there at the top of the list there. Fearful, unbelieving.
We need to be telling God that. Turn to Luke chapter 12. I saw a reel that, you know, I know
that's one of those vain things that you just kind of get stuck doing, but it was a reel of a man who
said, "Hey, if I offered you 10 million dollars, would you accept that?" He's like, "Yeah, absolutely."
And he said, "Well, what if the catch was you didn't wake up tomorrow?" He's like, "No, heck no."
And he's like, "See, your life is more important than 10 million dollars." And it's like, I thought
that was pretty deep in a way because I'm like, he's just out on the street talking to somebody
and everybody would agree with that. No way I would take 10 million dollars, right?
And then if I wasn't going to wake up tomorrow. So your life is very important. It's very important
to God because we're the ones that are here serving him and doing his work and doing his will.
Luke chapter 12, look at verse 15, it says, "And he said unto them, 'Take heed and beware of
covetousness.'" Because see covetousness is what can get us off track, where we covet the things of
this world more than we covet the things of God. "For a man's life consisted not in the abundance
of the things which he possesseth. And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, 'The ground of a
certain rich man brought forth plentifully.' And he saw within himself saying, 'What shall I do?
Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits.'" Wrong fruits. "And he said, 'This will I do. I
will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said unto him, 'Thou fool! This night thy soul shall be
required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided?' So is he that layeth
up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. What does it mean to be rich toward God?
The Bible gives us a lot of things that show us how we could be rich towards God.
It's in serving him. Jesus said, 'If you love me, you'll obey my commandments.' But people will do
this through their whole life. Go back to Matthew chapter 10. They'll do this their whole life just
being more worried about, you know, the new house, the new car, you know, paying the bills. Hey,
paying the bills is important. You are supposed to take care of your household. I totally understand
that. And sometimes, you know, there's seasons in your life where that can be a difficult thing and
you have to make some sacrifices, but be careful when you're sacrificing the things of God and,
you know, for the things of the world. Matthew 10 verse 29, it says, "Are not two sparrows sold
for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. But the very hairs
of your head are all numbered. For ye not therefore, fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than
many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my
father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before
my father which is in heaven." And I think that God can deny certain things and certain pleasures
and certain things we're seeking in this life in the world when we're denying our father which is
in heaven. When we're not doing the things of God like we know we should, you know. I'm going to
read James chapter four. You don't have to turn there. It says, "Whereas ye know not what shall
be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and
then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, 'If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.'
But now ye rejoice in your boasting. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." And that's one of those verses where it just shows
it's pretty easy to sin. And you might not even know you're doing it because if you had the thought
then you probably didn't think it was foolish. But you know who did? God did. So we got to be
careful with how we live our lives because this is in the context too of just like, hey, knowing
that your life is short. This is the the book of James where people are, you know, saying it's
showing how you can have a faith that's alive. It's by your works, right? Turn to Ecclesiastes
chapter two, Ecclesiastes chapter two. That verse there I read says funny how it's telling us how
short life is. And then it also just shows you the example of how easy it is to to sin just by the
thought of foolishness. It's why we need church. We need to be encouraged to do the things of God
within our church. And then then it's up to us to do them. But like, that's that's part of it.
Otherwise, you're like that person looking in the mirror forgets who he is. You got to do the things
that you hear. And you got to look look at how the wisest man who ever lived viewed viewed labor.
218 it says, "Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun because I should leave it
under the man that shall be after me." See if somebody else is going to get all your stuff
anyways. "And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? Yet shall ye have rule over
all my labor wherein I have labored and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun? This is also
vanity. Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the
sun. For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity. Yet to a man that
hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil."
And it's evil because when you focus too much on the things of the world there are going to be
consequences that harm other people. People that you could be preaching the gospel to. People you
could be encouraging as opposed to discouraging to doing the things of God. Because it seems like
there's a lot of people in the world trying to discourage you from doing the things of God.
Right? That's why there's all these things about drama that doesn't even belong to us. And people
just trying to get, their whole goal, the people that hate the new IFB, their whole goal is to get
people out of our churches. I mean, they've even stated that. And it's sad that some wicked person
can be successful at that, but it seems to be successful sometimes. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews chapter 13. And again, like I said, Hebrews is just a great chapter of the Bible,
great book of the Bible, I should say. Look at verse one. This is why church is important.
"Let brotherly love continue. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Help one another. Serve
one another." Skip to verse three. "Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them,
and then with suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body." We're part of the body of
Christ. We're there to suffer adversity with one another. Look at verse five. "Let your conversation,
the way you live your life, be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have.
For he has said, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'" See, Christ is never going to
leave you nor forsake you. Don't be covetous. All that stuff isn't going to matter. God has
something in heaven that's way greater for you if you put your investment into that. That's what
your conversation should be. "So that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me.' Remember them which have the rule over you and who have spoken unto
you the word of God." Like our pastor, right? He rules over our church. He's the one that's here to
direct our path, right? It says, "Whose faith follow." So if he's telling you the things that
we should be doing, that's who you should be listening to. If he's scheduling these times
for us to go to these things, that's what you should be going to, right? If he has a service
where he's taking the time to feed the church of God like he's supposed to do because he's going
to have to give account, you should be here. It's not really rocket science really, but people can
have an evil heart of unbelief about the things of God. It says, "Considering the end of their
conversation." Considering the end of the life that you're living, the way that you're living
your life. Because remember, it's not just the beginning, it is the end. We do want to make sure
we maintain to the end. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Be not carried
away with diverse and strange doctrines. And there's a lot of those going around right now
from people that were used to be close to our church. Diverse and strange doctrines to say the
least. Skip to verse 13. "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually." That is,
the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Because it is a sacrifice, but it is our reasonable
sacrifice, right? And we do go to them without the camp. We go to people and preach the gospel
to them, right? So we can bring them into the camp, right? But to do good and to communicate,
forget not. "For with such sacrifices God is well pleased." That's what we want to say about good
and faithful servant. We want God to be well pleased with the things that we've done on this earth.
And then it says, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch
for your souls, as they that must give account." Hey, take heed to the things that the leader of
your church, like Pastor Thompson in this case, is saying. The things he's preaching, the things
he's scheduling for people, the things he's telling you to do. He's watching for your soul. And it
says that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you, right?
We should want our pastor not to be stressed, right? And I know he's pretty stressed. He deals
with so much more than he lets on. And he does take these things to heart. When people start to
lose faith or have that bit of unbelief start creeping in, where it seems like your heart is
getting a little bit hardened, it can make him... I mean, I would feel the same way. If I feel that
way and I'm not even, you know, I'm just a layman in the church, then imagine how he feels. That's
why you want to make sure that he's doing this with joy, not with grief, because it is unprofitable
for you. Hebrews 18, it says, "Pray for us," because that's what we could do. We could pray.
We could pray for our pastor. We should be praying for him every day, because he gets the most fiery
darts thrown his way, right? "For we trust we have a good conscience in all things, willing to live
honestly." Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, and I'm going to read, we're going to finish there, I'm going to
read James 2 18. It says, "Yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith
without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." That is the attitude people should
have. People don't like to maybe look at the James chapter 2, because it's quoted so incorrectly by
false prophets, but we should be the type of man that's saying, "Hey, I'm going to show you my faith
by how I live my life, and I want the end of my conversation to be the same as the beginning.
I want to have that zeal that I had in the beginning the same as the end." Because your
life is just a vapor anyways, and you know our faith is what is under attack. You know, we hate
the false prophets that abuse this verse, but it is an important verse to live your life as a Christian
who is seeking to be a friend of God. And your faith is under attack. Your faith is under attack
everywhere. Everywhere you look, the media, the reels, even the stupid, you know, the things that
you'd waste your time on, right? It's everywhere. Your faith is under attack. The house of God should
be a refuge. It should be a place where we come and we hear the word of God because there's a
special thing I think that happens when the word of God is preached in the house of God because
we're his body. Everyone is just as important. We're all important to one another to be here
and let us not be a church that God has somewhat against. Like the churches in Revelation that
don't exist anymore. They went from some of them being faithful, described as faithful,
to no longer here. And you could see how that could happen quickly, right? Let us not be
faithless and unbelieving. Hebrews 10 23. Look at 10 23. It just says, "Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised." See, God is faithful. And you know,
He wants us to have a lot of faith. It's how we please Him. He doesn't want us to get hardened
in our heart and have an evil heart of unbelief, because there's souls that are on the line.
We need to be out there doing the work of God, preaching the gospel, supporting our pastor,
doing it so that He could do it with joy and not with grief, because that's what's profitable
unto all of you, and to me too. So let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you, Lord,
for the church. I thank you that you died for it. I thank you that we have a church that does want
to do the work of God, and I pray that would always be the case, that our hearts wouldn't
get hardened, that we wouldn't ever get an evil heart of unbelief. And I just thank you, Lord,
for all that you do for us. I pray you continue to bless and protect us. In Jesus' name, amen.