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Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right, everybody. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Welcome to the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. Glad you could all make it here tonight. We're going to start with the hymnals. You should have one in front of your seat there. And we'll turn to song 247, Saved Saved. Again, that's song number 247. Make sure everybody sings nice and loud. Song 247, Saved Saved. I found a friend who is all to me. His love is ever true. I love to tell how he lived in me. And what his grace can do for you. Saved, but it's not divine. Saved through life's sublime. Like now there's speed and my joy is something more. Saved, saved, saved. He saves me from every sin and harm. Secures my soul each day. I'm leaning strong. What is my key on? I know it'll guide me all the way. Saved, but it's not divine. Saved through life's sublime. Like now there's speed and my joy is something more. Saved, saved, saved. And more in me and all alone. In love he said to me. Come unto me and I'll lead you home. To live with me eternally. Saved, but it's not divine. Saved through life's sublime. Like now there's speed and my joy is something more. I'm saved, saved, saved. Amen. Great singing. Let's bow out this word of prayer. Dear Father, we just thank you that we could be gathered together tonight to hear the preaching of your word. Thank you for this conference. And I just pray you would bless Pastor Magia, that you'd fill him with your Holy Spirit, help him to edify the people here, and continue to bless everybody throughout the conference, that we could all learn and be strengthened by your word, and you bless all the soul-wanting that's going to go out throughout this week. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Next is going to be, God is so good, you should have a handout in your bulletin. If you don't have one, you can raise up your hand nice and high, and the usher will try and bring one to you. Hopefully we have enough. If not, try to share it with your neighbor. It's a pretty simple song, though, so you might be able to just memorize it. God is so good. Again, that's going to be in your white handout in your bulletin. Sing it all together on the first. God is so good. God is so good. God is so good. He's so good to me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He's so good to me. I love Him so. I love Him so. I love Him so. He's so good to me. I praise His name. I praise His name. I praise His name. He's so good to me. Wow, that sounded really good. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you didn't already get a bulletin, you can slip with your hand nice and high and one of the ushers would love to come by and give you a bulletin. And on the front we have our Bible memory passage. We have on the inside our church and soul winning times and our church stats. Also we have a little handout that should be in there that's got our conference schedule. This evening I'm just going to quickly go over some of our conference schedule. So if you missed out last night, you really missed out, Pastor Aaron Thompson preached a really good sermon. And we really thank him for coming out here. He's a great friend of ours and so we really appreciate that. And you know, after that sermon it was pretty easy to say we know where he stands on a lot of issues, alright? So, not afraid to name the names. Also, today we had some ice skating, which is kind of, it kind of reminds me of the preaching conference because it's a little terrifying, but it's fun at the same time. And you kind of get hurt every once in a while, alright? So it kind of works out, but we had a lot of fun and the soul winning, I'm going to get count for that now. Just so if people aren't here for every single day, we make sure we get a count. What numbers do we have to report from this afternoon's soul winning? Alright, it looks like we had 21 for the afternoon, so praise the Lord on that. It went really well, yeah, we can clap for that. So it's great that we can have fun and get people saved on the same day. And then Pastor Mejia can make us all feel a little nervous the whole time, right? No, I'm just kidding. And so we're really excited for this evening. Pastor Bruce Mejia from First Works Baptist Church, he's a good friend of ours. He's preached for Steadfast several times, but never at this location, so we're hoping he doesn't blow up the building this time or anything like that. But, that joke's never going to get old for me, alright? No, he's a great guy and we really support them out there. They're an example unto us, you know, on the front lines and having to go through a lot of difficulty and battle. And seeing them stand strong and go through that difficulty helps us when we have to go through difficulty and tribulation. And so it means a lot to us to see bold Christians and courageous men of faith that want to go out there and preach the gospel and not care what the world has to say. And he's really famous in Omani, so we're excited to have him out here. And everybody knows Pastor Mejia, so it's really a great honor to have him out here. We are having a pastor's dinner this evening for all the pastors that have already shown up. And we're going to try and leave right away. So please let the pastors, you know, you can shake their hand or something, but please let them escape. And so I know you have a thousand questions for them, but come Friday we'll have pizza and you can ask them anything you want. And I think all the pastors are staying until Saturday anyways, so you should be able to have an opportunity to talk to them and get a picture with them and ask them a lot of questions. All right? So that's for tonight. Tomorrow morning we have a ladies' coffee and pastor's fellowship at 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and we want all ladies to attend. It is nursing's only preferred, but again we don't want to turn any lady away for any reason, so if you need to bring the kids please bring them. We're going to have some coffee baristas here to make some specialty coffees and we'll have some pastries. I think there's going to be hot chocolates is what my wife said as well. And so it's going to be a great time of fellowship. Encourage all the ladies to participate. Also we have soul winning again from 2 to 4. Just meet here at the building. And then Friday night we have a double feature. So we have pastor David Berzins who just arrived. He's with us tonight. And his son Jonathan. And then also we're going to have pizza in between. And then we're going to have pastor Roger Menes from Verity Baptist Church. And so this place is going to, we're going to fill it up. Alright. And I'm really excited about that. Saturday we have a kid's spelling bee 9 to 11. And we have a sign up sheet for that. So please make sure to sign up. Your children, just so we have an idea and we can anticipate and make sure everything is prepared appropriately. We'd really encourage you to participate. We do have a trophy for first and second place for all age groups. As well as first place gets a $100 Amazon gift card. So second place gets a $25 gift card. And you know some of you teenagers need to get in that race. Because I think there's only like maybe two that are entered. So they're already guaranteed victory unless somebody else signs up. You know. They're just, they're just going to fight it out for that $100 gift card. But some of you need to you know get some bravery. Alright. It's just spelling. Alright. Okay. Now also we have a singles event. And we have a sign up sheet. So if you're single and able to get married, sign up. If you're sitting next to someone that's single, sign them up. If you're friends with someone that's single, sign them up. Okay. And encourage them to get out there. And you know the best way to find someone to marry is to talk to people. Okay. Like if you're a guy, talk to girls. If you're a girl, if a guy comes up, say hi. Talk to him and everything like that. So we really try and encourage that. I think the singles event is going to be a lot of fun. So at least for me to watch you all squirm. But I think you should show up. And you know even if you don't talk to someone that you're going to marry, you know talking to someone doesn't mean you're going to get married. It just helps develop normal social skills and learn how to talk to the opposite gender. And so you know I really encourage you to participate. And also we have soul winning again from 2 to 4 on Saturday. Sunday is going to be kind of a regular service schedule timing. I'll preach both services for English. And then our Spanish service, we have Pastor Enrique Reyes from Spring Crest Baptist Church in Houston. He's going to be coming and preaching for us all natural. So you know that'll be a lot of fun. He's a good Spanish speaker. He's a good friend of ours. And then we're going to have a dessert potluck after our Sunday evening fellowship. And so I'm really looking forward to the other events that we have scheduled. If you have any questions or concerns, you can always email us or try to grab one of the ushers. If you need something, they'd be more than happy to oblige you. Let's go ahead and sing our third song for the evening. Two hundred and fifteen, heaven came down and glory filled my soul. So in your hymnals, song two hundred and fifteen, heaven came down and glory filled my soul. One other note I want to make, and I should have made this yesterday, but if you've not been scripturally baptized, we always have our baptismal ready, and we have change of clothes ready to go both for men and women. We have a robe for ladies. We also have shorts and shirts for men, and we have towels and everything like that. So if you haven't been scripturally baptized, when they're passing the offering plate, just let one of the ushers know that you'd like to be baptized, and we can schedule that and organize that right after the service, okay? So let's go to our third song, two hundred and fifteen. Two hundred and fifteen, heaven came down and glory filled my soul. All together on the first. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day, day I will never forget. After I wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Savior I led. Oh, what a tender, compassionate friend, He met the need of my heart. Shadows dispelling the joy I'm telling, He made all the darkness impart. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole, my sins were washed away, and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Born of the Spirit with life from above, into God's family divine, justified fully through Calvary's love. Oh, what a standing is mine, and the transaction so quickly was made, when at the sinner I came, took of the offer of grace he did cover, he saved me, oh, praise is their name. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole, my sins were washed away, and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Now I hope that we'll surely endure, after the passing of time. I have a future in heaven for sure, there in those nations so blind, and it's because of that wonderful day, when at the cross I believe, rich is eternal and blessed is the fertile world, this precious hand I receive. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole, my sins were washed away, and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. As offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. The Bible reads, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily be set up, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children my son. Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chastenseth not? But if ye be without chastisement, or of all our partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chasten us, after their own pleasure, be he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard and treated that the word should not be spoken to them any more, for they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with the dark. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. For ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more, signified the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for this conference. Thank you for our church. Please, Lord, at this time, bless past and may heal with your spirit. Allow him to preach boldly. Help us pay attention that we may apply the message to our lives to better honor and glorify the Lord. In his name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, it's great to be here. I want to thank Pastor Shelley, of course, for the invitation, and I love your pastor. I was telling some of the church members yesterday that a couple years ago, we've pretty much been friends with Pastor Shelley for quite some time, but I've never really been as close to him as I have been over this last year or so. And I've always respected him as a pastor and just as a man of God. But within the recent year, you know, just certain things have happened. We've just kind of drawn closer to each other as friends, and I really appreciate him. I love him. I love his family, and I love his church. I think he's doing a fantastic job. I do want to say this, and there's something else that I mentioned too. I was talking to Brother Ben about this, and just to encourage the church here... By the way, the church looks like it's doing awesome. And that's important because in my experience with Independent Fundamental Baptist churches, whenever there's a moral failure, okay, they would consider it a moral failure, typically a church never recovers from that. And I've known a lot of churches that have had pastors that, you know, got involved in some sin, some sexual sin, or regardless of whether they're a reprobate or not, but they got involved in some wickedness, and, you know, that pastor leaves, and other leadership takes over, and that church never really recovers. And, you know, they kind of go forward, but it's always like on a decline. And it never does really well thereafter. And I was telling Brother Ben, I said, you know, this is actually a rare thing to see here because of the fact that typically churches don't recover from that. And obviously it's a testament to the leadership of Pastor Jonathan Shelley, who just came in and just chopped off a bunch of heads, which is exactly what you're supposed to do when something like that comes up. And, you know, unfortunately a lot of pastors when there's a moral failure or there's some sort of sin involved, you know, they become these politicians and they don't want to take care of the cancer. You know, they don't want to offend people. They don't want to get rid of the bad people in the church because they're afraid that, you know, whatever may happen, the church might not grow. But I'm thankful for a leader like Pastor Shelley who didn't care really much what people thought. He just wanted to do that which is right. And this is the fruit of it. And, you know, I preached here with the previous leadership and I'm looking at it now and I'm thinking to myself, wow, the church is doing so much better. You know, souls are being won. The people's spirit is just great. The services are great. People look happy at the church here, you know. And so that's obviously a testament to his leadership. And so I just want to tell you that to let you know you got a good thing going on here. Appreciate your pastor. Thank him. Pray for him. Pray for his family. And that's pretty much it. That's what I want to say. I do want to say one last thing before I get into the sermon. He made some incorrect statements. I'll just be honest with you, Pastor Shelley. He said that, you know, the church might get blown up because I'm preaching. But let me just be honest with you. I'm not the reason why my church got blown up. It's that guy right there. Pastor Dave Berzins. Yeah, everyone look at Pastor Dave Berzins right now. He's the one who got my church blown up. Because he preached that Thursday. He preached a sermon called, Fags and Speedos Go Home. And the church was blown up on Saturday. So I'm not the one, okay. It's that man right there. So if this church gets blown up on Saturday, don't look at me. That guy right over there, okay. He's the reason why. But it's great to be here at the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. Looking forward to fellowshipping with everyone here after. It's going to be great. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse number 1. The Bible reads, Wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about what so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be wearied and faint in your minds. The title of the sermon this evening is The Contradiction of Sinners. The contradiction of sinners. A contradiction can be defined as a combination of statements that actually oppose one another. These are assertions made by individuals that are incongruent, they're inconsistent, but it could also mean that someone is contradicting you in the sense that they're opposing you. They're providing some sort of statement that's opposing you. They're against you. That's what that's talking about there. And here in verse number 3 the Bible says that we need to consider Jesus Christ, who endured such contradiction of sinners lest we grow weary and faint in our minds. And let me just say this is that before anybody gets out of church, before they backslide and go into alcohol and drugs and whatever may be out there, let me just say this is they fainted in their minds first. That's where it starts. They lose the battle in the mind. You know, before they backslide and go out there, they actually backslide in here first. Their heart turns back into Egypt. They get away from God in their mind. They grow weary in their mind and they faint. He says, so what's the solution to that? Well, the solution is this. We need to consider the Lord who endured such contradictions against himself. Now, turn with me if you would. Go to Psalm 27 if you will. We're going to come back to Hebrews chapter 12 in just a bit. Go to Psalm 27 and of course the context that we're looking at in Hebrews chapter 12 is telling us that Jesus Christ suffered the contradiction of wicked people who were witnessing against him. They were reviling him. They were persecuting him. He didn't give in. He maintained his stance. He maintained the truth. He endured those contradictions. You know, he is the truth, but he maintained that and we're supposed to look at that as an example. I'm going to read to you from Matthew chapter 5 some familiar verses here. The Bible says in verse number 11, blessed are ye when men shall revile you, not speak well of you. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you. It looks like steadfast Baptist church is blessed because of the fact that you have a multitude of people reviling you, right? It says blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you truthfully. No, falsely. So the concept here is that when we're reviled, when we're persecuted, the result of that is that we're blessed because they're doing it falsely. They're contradicting us, but they're doing it falsely. It says for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Hey, you're in good company, hey man. They persecuted the prophets of old the way they're persecuting Pastor Shelley, the way they're persecuting Pastor Thompson, the way they're persecuting Pastor Burzins. You know, the way they're persecuting men of God today is the same way they've done it throughout all ages. We're in good company. Matthew 10 24 says this, the disciples not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they had called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? He's saying, look, if they call Jesus a devil, you know, like the Talmud does, you know, if they call Jesus the devil, they say he's working sorcery and witchcraft and saying all men are evil against him, how much more are they going to do to you if you claim the name of Christ as well, okay? The Bible says in John 15 18, if the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before hated you. You say, why go over these verses Pastor Mejia? Well, I'm giving you these verses because of the fact that persecution should never come as a surprise to you, okay? It should never be a reason why you get out of the will of God. Persecution is an indication that you're doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord. In fact, if you're not being persecuted, there's a problem. If you're not being reviled, there's a problem. If you're not being spoken evil against falsely for the name of Christ, then you got a problem. If everyone's speaking well of you and they're not contradicting you and they're not saying all men are evil against you, then you got a problem on your hands. Look at Psalm 27 and verse number 11 here. It says, teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Look at verse 12, deliver me not over into the will of mine enemies for false witnesses are risen up against me and such as breathe out cruelty. I have fainted. What is he saying? All these threatenings, all these persecutions, all of these false witnesses, you know what it can do to a person? It can wear them down. It can cause them to grow weary and tired and discouraged. It can cause people to lose momentum in their spiritual walk. It can cause them to doubt. It can cause them to slow down. It can cause them to faint. And in fact, what is he saying in verse 13? I have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord and be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait I say on the Lord. So Hebrews 12 tells us, you know, these contradictions of sinners that came to Jesus are going to come to you and if you're not careful, if you don't consider that, you will be weary and faint in your minds as well. Because no one's the exception to the rule. We should never have this attitude of, well, that's for that person but not for me. I'm not going to grow weary. I'm not going to grow tired. I'll never be discouraged. I'll never fall into some deep depression. I'm always going to be here. You know, I'm always going to back up to pastor. Well you need to consider the Lord first. And make sure that that resolve that you have is based upon you considering the Lord and the contradictions of sinners that he faced. Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Go to Mark chapter 14 if you would. Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. I'm going to read to you from Psalm 54. It says in verse number 1, Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God, give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God before them, Selah. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies. Cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it is good. Look at Mark 14 and verse 53. Talk about the contradiction of sinners here. Look at verse 53. It says, And they led Jesus away to the high priest, and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. And Peter followed him afar off, even into the place of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warned himself with the fire. And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death and found none. You know why? Because Jesus is perfect. Amen? It's perfect. They're not going to find any flaw in the Lord. So what's their next best thing? Well, let's just lie about him. Right? Verse 56. For many bear false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. No matter how much they conspired together and got with each other and say, hey, you've got to get your story straight. This is what I'm going to say, and I want you to say this, and we're going to make sure that our witnesses agree. It's not going to agree because you can do nothing against the truth before the truth. Iowa says that their witness agreed not together, and there arose certain and bear false witness against them, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands, but neither so did their witness agree together. By the way, folks, this is a good verse to take into account. When you are being lied about, reviled, and railed against, just know this. It doesn't matter how many conspirators there are. Because they're liars, their witness will never agree together. There's always going to be blotches and details missing because they're lying. This is something that's going to happen time and time again. The Bible tells us to consider Jesus Christ for it. And you know what? We as Christians, not just as pastors, but even as Christians, we're going to be lied about all the time if we're serving the Lord. Obviously earlier this year, we got bombed, and it was a stressful time. It was a very stressful time. And I remember all types of railing and lying, things that were said about us, and all this nonsense that was coming out. But then the LA Times, which is a big news article, they wrote an article about us. And this is the title of the article. I'm going to read you some of the article here. It says, how long will hate have to go unanswered after explosion at rabidly anti-gay church? So just keep in mind, we're the ones who got bombed. They blew up our building. They were violent towards us. And this is the title. How long will hate have to go unanswered? What are you trying to say? Because you didn't blow us up personally? It's like, hey, we didn't get them. So how long will hate go unanswered? Oh, this guy's a faggot. Just let you know that. Three years ago, Bruce Mejia arrived in Omani to open First Works Baptist Church, and ostensibly proclaimed the word of God. Instead, the formerly registered security guard had stuck to spewing dunder-hearted damnations, dunder-headed damnations. Women who wear tights, hoochie mamas. Amen. The city where he preaches, ghetto, uh, yeah. Vaccines, unclean, yeah. He's even hated on Día de los Muertos. Ah, the guy watched my documentary. But Mejia eventually made a name for himself among hate-watched groups for anti-gay rhetoric of the vilest kind imaginable. At national conferences, Mejia has ripped apart the LGBTQ Pride flags and openly wished for the American government to execute facts. Well, let me just say this. I didn't wish for it, I prayed for it. I don't do wishful thinking. He has proudly described himself from the pulpit as homo-hatin', and called one critic a stinking, filthy sodomite, and another a wicked dyke. This is some good journalism here. Dang. On social media, the father of three tells critics to hang yourself. He not only shared on Twitter last year a picture captioned West Hollywood 2022 with his face superimposed on an Islamic state fighter who was about to throw a pedophile off a roof, but also wrote, I love it. I mean, it's near and dear to my heart. I appreciate the fine arts. Mejia somehow, listen to this, somehow kept a quiet presence locally until the beginning of 2020. Yeah, because I don't go around blowing up churches. Somehow, he just stayed quiet the whole time. Yeah, because I don't go around burning churches or blowing them up, or even blowing up fag organizations or whatever. We don't do that. Mejia somehow kept a quiet presence locally until the beginning of 2021 when activists launched an offensive against the reprobate. So talk about a contradiction. So obviously, he's listened to enough of my sermons to know that I used the word reprobate against the sodomites, and now he's calling me the reprobate. You know, it's like Paul, where he said, though we be as reprobates, right? He said the activists launched an offensive against the reprobate. They submitted a petition with more than 15,000 signatures. By the way, I'm pretty sure it's gone up like 20,000 or so. To Omani mayor Jessica Acona, which we like to call Jessica Anaconda, asking her to help shut down First Works. Next came a raucous protest on January 17th outside the storefront ministry during morning and evening services that featured a car caravan dancing bullhorns and the chant, we're here, we're queer, we don't want Bruce Mejia here. He made a song for me. This past Sunday was supposed to be the biggest action yet, a rally outside the city hall with a drag show, a march to Mejia's church and prizes for the best dress. Instead, First Works sat empty. No, it didn't. What are you talking about? The building was empty. We still had church. And I still preached against the facts. Its squat building was red tagged. The day before someone set off a bomb, someone set off a bomb that shattered its windows and damaged its framing. The FBI, which is investigating the crime, says there are no suspects right now. What do you mean there's no suspects? I could list a whole ton of them. They're outside our church. The Omani police chief stressed to my colleague Alex, whatever on Saturday, it wouldn't be fair in any way, shape or form to link the explosion and demonstrators. So who do you think did it? You think this is just like an isolated situation? It wouldn't be fair. No, it would not only be fair, it would be accurate. What do police have to do to become police nowadays? I thought you had to be like someone smart or something. But that hasn't stopped First Works supporters from around the world from condemning Keep Omani Friendly, the main group behind the anti-Mejia movement. Three members, and he names them, met me in a park Sunday morning while First Works held its services from an undisclosed location. The trio's nerves were frayed from the hundreds of threats sent to them and other members. And they were upset on multiple levels, upset that anyone might think their group was responsible for the bombing. I mean, why would people think that they're the ones responsible for it? I'll tell you why, because they did it! Hate versus hate never wins. We never give them a reason to confirm what they think of us. Upset at the attack itself. What if it went off during the services when we'd be outside? Imagine all the people inside and all of us outside, so many injuries and maybe even deaths, and it makes me sick. Well, the answer is easy, just don't press the button. That's what one of my church members told me. They'd say, that's easy, you know, you're over here talking about you're worried if the bomb goes off, just don't push the button because you're the one holding the controller. And upset that Mejia is now playing the martyr, and that their activism against a proud hate monger needs to lay low for a while. It hinders us. As San Francisco State undergrad, we had momentum. Mejia didn't return multiple requests for comment, but First Works live streamed his Sunday sermon on YouTube. After denouncing the terrorists and sodomites whom he claimed blasted his church, Mejia giddily cited multiple biblical verses about the glories of persecution. Amen! Congregants laughed and proclaimed, Amen! when he described as exciting the events of the previous 36 hours. Everyone thinks we're like, Mejia said as he cut himself off and pretended to cower. He then straightened up and snickered, we're just going to be like, this is kind of cool. We don't want a boring life. We want buildings to blow up. Because there's only one life to live. There's only one life to live, folks, he repeated. Might as well go out in a blaze of glory. Then he named these fags and never imagined that someone like Mejia might bring such open anti-LGBTQ hostility to their hometown. I've led a good life as an openly gay man, said this faggot, who identifies as a trans male. Said there was never a direct attack on me when I attended this high school. At the same time, however, both felt there was an underbelly of hate that they could never quite put a finger on. Yeah, it's because normal people are disgusted by faggotry. I just can't quite place my finger on it. Just feel like you grab the finger and you point it to yourself. You're the source of why people hate you. Call it the Omani way. That's what they say. Vancouver Valley's city has a surprisingly long history of outsiders moving in to set up their bigotry business. So this article is obviously a complete contradiction, calling me a reprobate and I'm some sort of evil person because I brought hate to Omani and all this nonsense. It's a complete contradiction of sinners against a man of God and a church that's winning souls to Christ and turning people to righteousness. And these people are filled with contradictions. I mean, they have these signs, love is love. Well, you know, AIDS is AIDS too. What's your point? HIV is HIV. Faggotry is faggotry. So, I mean, next point. Go to Luke 23, if you would. Luke chapter 23. The complete contradiction. You know what, when things like this happen initially, it kind of bothers me. It's like, man, they're lying about us. They're making all these railing accusations. They're trying to inspire others to come and cause us harm. You know, they stole my vehicle and they did all this manner of evil. But then sitting back thinking about it, I thought to myself, well, you know, Jesus Christ suffered such contradictions of sinners against himself and he endured that and I need to make sure that I consider that lest I grow weary and faint in my mind. You know, because it can frustrate a Christian. It can frustrate a man of God. It can frustrate any person who's being lied about and say, man, I can't believe these people are getting away with this. I can't believe that they're saying these things. They're just lying through their teeth and it seems as though the media has taken their side. Why is it like this? I'll tell you why. Because it's the contradiction of sinners. This is the way it's supposed to be. And we are to endure this contradiction of sinners so that we're not weary in our minds and we faint and we get out of the fight and we get out of the battle. And I want to encourage you tonight, don't get out of the battle. You're like, every week there's always these fags and sodomites protesting. Don't go weary. Don't get tired. Stay in the fight. Embrace the fight. Laugh about it. Joke about it. Pray about it. But don't get out of the fight. You will always face the contradiction of sinners no matter what happens if you continuously serve the Lord and you're standing for the truth of God's word. It's going to happen to you. It's going to happen to your family. It's going to happen to your church. It's going to happen to your pastor. This is the contradiction of sinners. We have to endure it so that we don't get out of the fight. And you know what? People are watching us. There's people who are still on the fence of whether to come to steadfast Baptist church. And the last thing they need to see is a Christian quit. Because they're afraid. Because they're scared. Because they're a little wheezed about it. Stand strong. You're like, well I am a little scared. Then get around some men in the church who are not scared. You know, I'm scared. I just don't know what's going to happen to me and my family. Or if you're saved and you die, you go to heaven. Next question. Well I just, you know, I don't know what's going to happen to me if I keep coming to this church. Well you know what? Stand with your pastor. Get around some men of God that will exhort you to stand for the truth and not back down and don't quit. And just say, you know what? This is the contradiction of sinners. This should be expected. This affirms and confirms that we are doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord. Jesus suffered the contradiction of sinners. What did they do? Well they contradicted his integrity. Here in Luke 23, I'm going to read to you from Acts 17 verse 5. It says, But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. When they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, whom Jason hath received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. That's a contradiction. Jesus never taught them to say that. They never said it first and foremost, but Jesus Christ never taught them to do that. Look at Luke 23 verse 1. And the whole multitude of them arose and led him unto Pilate, and began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the king. And Pilate asked them, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? He answered and said, Thou sayest it. Go to chapter 20. So we see here that they're accusing him of perverting the nation to rebel against Caesar, to cause some sort of insurrection and rebellion against their king to say, I'm your king, forsake Caesar. But that's not what's taking place. That's a complete contradiction. Look at Luke 20 verse 19. He says, And the chief priests and scribes of the same hour sought to lay hands on him, and they feared the people, for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. And they watched them and sent forth spies which should feign themselves just men. By the way, just know this. Throughout your ministry, you're going to have people come into this church who feign themselves to be just men. They'll look like you, they'll talk like you, they'll go along for a while, but some of them are just bonies, fakes, okay? He says there, feign themselves to be just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. And they ask them, say, Master, we know that thou sayest and teaches rightly, what is that called, flattery? Neither acceptsest thou the person of any, but teaches the way of God truly. I mean, good night. This is flattery being caked on here, right? Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar or no? But he perceived their craftiness and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Show me a penny, whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. He said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's, and they could not take hold of his words before the people, and they marveled at his answer, and they held their peace. What do we see? We see a complete contradiction. So in order for them to try to condemn Jesus Christ, to have ought against him, to try to find fault, they have to lie about Jesus. They have to mix in something of what he taught regarding Caesar and twist and pervert it in order to condemn him to cause him basically to be guilty. Obviously, we know he wasn't guilty. They were seeking to contradict his integrity. But in reality, what were they really doing, the Pharisees? I'll tell you what they were doing. They were projecting who they really were. Let me just say this. Whenever you have an onslaught by some idiot on YouTube in the comments section who's just constantly bombarding you with a specific thing, an accusation, just know this. They're projecting. It's probably something that they're guilty of. It's probably something that they're doing. You know, I don't know. Can we think of an example today? Wasn't there a guy named Ryan Gallagher? You know, Ryan Gallagher and that other idiot. What's the other failed evangelist's name? Chaz. Chaz. Trying to accuse Pastor Thompson, right? Accuse him of stealing money and all these things. What were they really doing? Projecting who they really are. Because that's in their heart, folks. And look, if anybody now just still is like on the fence about that, we just need to go to you and just kick you off that fence to the other side. Because you're an idiot. Yeah, I said it. You are a complete idiot if you still think that Ryan Gallagher and Chaz and Seth Bookout are righteous and just in their cause. They attack the man of God trying to question his integrity, trying to put the question in his integrity, trying to contradict what he's doing in his ministry, which is completely legal. Everything is fine. He's not doing anything illegally. But they're doing that why? Because they're projecting what they would do. They're projecting what they would do if they had the money and they were in charge because they're wicked people. Easter egg. Wicked people. And let me just give you a spoiler alert for the end of those fools. It's called hell. Spoiler alert, they're going to split hell wide open. Right? But this is a common thing. Whenever you have someone attacking Pastor Shelley, just constantly going at him and constantly focusing on this one thing, just know this, it's probably something that they're guilty of. It's probably something that's in their heart that they want to accuse them of to get the attention off of themselves. Ryan Gallagher and Chad Argonne and Seth Bookout, these guys are walking contradictions. I mean you got one who claims not to believe in the flat earth and you have one who does believe in the flat earth. I mean how in the world do you guys talk? By the way, Ryan, where's upon the circle of the earth? Where's that documentary, buddy? Everyone's been asking. Where's it at? You flew everywhere. You bragged about it. You talked about it. Where is it? I know he's watching. You know he's watching. You know you're watching. You failed evangelists. Why are all these guys like failed evangelists too? Like Adam Fannin, he's a failed evangelist. Right? Chad Argonne failed evangelists. You know, Ryan Gallagher failed evangelists. It's like evangelism doesn't work. You're like, oh man, we got to turn on the leader now because we look really bad. Because they suck as evangelists. They suck as leaders. Use my face as a thumbnail for your stupid video too. And put a link to the sermon. You know the Pharisees were saying this of Jesus because in their heart they were covetous. They loved money. Jesus said, no servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one to despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. The Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him and cut them to the heart. Why? Because they were guilty of that sin. They were guilty of that wickedness. Jesus said in Matthew 23 verse 14, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. I can't believe Pastor Thompson will buy an iced coffee with the church money. By the way, if you're giving Pastor Thompson a hard time for buying an iced coffee because he's doing the work of the Lord, you're an idiot. Who would be against their pastor buying a coffee? Isn't that weird? Who do you think you are? Was it Grande or was it Aventi? You better have gotten a towel. What kind of nonsense is that? I don't really think about that. Yeah, you know if you have people who strain it and swallow a camel, you got yourself a Pharisee. He bought an iced coffee, can you believe what he did? Yeah, if he's working and he needs some caffeine in his system, sounds about right. Next question. Holier than thou fools. Go to Matthew chapter 12. This is the contradiction of sinners. So they're contradicting Pastor Thompson, getting on him for, how much is a Grande iced coffee, like three bucks? While they're over here stealing like hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nothing to see here, iced coffee, iced coffee. They want you to focus on the iced coffee. Keep talking about that iced coffee. Three dollars. Tens of thousands of dollars. What does that tell you? It tells you that they are projecting who they really are. The reason they're questioning his integrity is because they have none. And they don't want you to know that. And look, Pastor Thompson, there's one thing I didn't agree with you on in your sermon, okay. But I will say this, you're a lot more merciful than I am. Because you know Pastor Thompson, he's concerned for the people to get carried away with some of these people. For me it's just like, see ya. Bye. Because once you have all the evidence and you still look at it and say, yeah but three dollars for a coffee, they have a point though. And it's just like, bye. Why would I want something like that in my church? Pastor Thompson is the way we're merciful. He is. I need to work on that. You're in Matthew chapter 12. They're questioning his integrity because of the fact that just like the Pharisees, just like these holier than now false prophets, they're guilty of a far greater crime. And buying an ice coffee is not a crime, first and foremost. But they're guilty of something far greater. So they have to try to nitpick at the man of God to get the attention off of them onto someone else. So that's Jesus. Next, you know what they also contradicted? His spirit. Look at Matthew chapter 12. I'm going to read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 4. The apostle Paul said this, And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, the Bible says. Paul said, you know what? I didn't use Bible college words. I didn't use seminary words. I had the spirit of God and I demonstrated it with power. I bet you a bunch of people in here can say Pastor Shelley's preaching is a demonstration of power. It's of the spirit and it's of power. Any righteous person, any saved individual can listen to that preaching and say that's God right there. Not Pastor Shelley, but that's God in Pastor Shelley. That's God's word being proclaimed there. That's the spirit of God being put forth there. That's a demonstration of the spirit and power of God's word there. Look at Matthew 12, 22, it says, Then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David? So they're looking at these works and saying this has to be the son of God. This has to be the Messiah. Look what he's doing. The works are great. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. What is he saying? You're contradicting yourself. Because if I had a devil in me, Satan would be destroying Satan. It's a house divided. It's a complete contradiction. So the only plausible answer here is that he's using the Spirit of God. He has the Spirit of God upon his life. He said, Why bring that up? Well, you know, a lot of people will look at our type of preaching, our type of churches, and say, You guys are too mean-spirited. You guys got like a bad spirit. Pastor Shelley, you just got, you know, loud mouth, stubborn women, and... Like, it just sounds like you just got a bad spirit. Well, no, we don't. Because we have the Spirit of God living within us. A bad spirit is like an evil spirit. But I'm saved. So how can I have an evil spirit in me if I'm a saved individual? We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, amen? In whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed that you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. That's what the Bible says. That we are indwelt by the Holy Ghost at the moment of salvation. The most holy spirit that dwells within us is the Holy Spirit. It's not a mean spirit. When people say, oh, you got a mean spirit, I tell them, well, no, because God's not an average God. Mean means average. Like mean, medium, and mode. And the Bible says, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. That's actually not correct at all. I don't have a mean spirit. I have a great spirit because I have a great God. You know, I like, you guys see a lot of people saved. I will say that. You guys get people saved and, you know, you guys seeing the right hymns and all these things. It's just a bad spirit though. So are you saying that the Holy Spirit that dwells within me produces this? Or are you saying it's some evil spirit that's producing this? Which one's producing it? You're contradicting yourself. What they're mad at is the fact that you're not following in the footsteps of Paul Chappell. And his little weenie sermons that doesn't inspire anybody, doesn't get sin out of anyone's life. It just brings him a paycheck. Why can't you, you know, you just got to be nice, you know. And look, I'm all for being nice, but there's times when we got to, you know, lift up our voice like a trumpet cry aloud and spare not. You know, look, I get you. I completely understand. Sometimes if this kind of preaching is new to you, I mean, you feel like you're going to have a heart attack. It's just like... It's just like too much. But just give it some time. Give it some time and it'll grow on you. And then after a while you're like, I kind of like this. I've had people literally say this. They're like, they clicked on one of my clips and they'll say, this is so stupid. I can't believe this guy. He's such a mean spirited person. And then it comes back up. And he's like, let's see what this idiot has to say. And then you watch it. Oh man, I click out of it. Unbelievable, this guy. Who does he think he is? The same faggot and all this stuff. That's bad. And then it comes up again. Let's see what he's going to say right now. And then they do one of these. Right? And then you give it some more time and after a while it's like, oh man, he got a new one on. And then they end up liking the preaching. Because what it is, is this folks, is that people have been so desensitized by lame preaching. You know, they're being fed tofu preaching. It's not real meat. It's fake. It's jack in the box tacos. I said it. Jack in the box tacos, brother Ulysses. It's fake meat. And they're so content with that fake meat, when you actually put a steak, some picanha on there. Oh, this is just too much. But you haven't enough time. It's like, yeah, I like this. Got some fat on there. Got some seasoning on there. It's a little red. Oh yeah, I like this. And then they build up an appetite for it. But the problem is, you know, you have these people who are just like, oh, Pastor Shelley and Pastor Thompson, Pastor Burt, you guys just have a bad spirit. No, they have a holy spirit. And compare their spirit, how about this, to the spirit of Elijah. I mean, doesn't the Bible say that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elias? So what you do is you go to the Old Testament and see what kind of sermons Elijah preached. You see what kind of stuff he said. And you know, Elijah was like, you think Pastor Shelley's funny. You think Pastor Thompson's funny. Elijah was like the first one to start ragging on the false prophets and stuff. In front of everyone, just making them a public example. We do that and they're like, oh, that's not appropriate. That's just, you just be mean. That's uncalled for. I'm sure there was prophets in those days that were saying the same thing about Elijah. I wasn't called for. I don't think he should have said that about their God or whatever. That's just not right. Well, you know what? Here's the thing. This is, in my opinion, I believe that the pastors in the New IFB, they're a little rough around the edges sometimes. They're a little unfiltered. They're a little rude sometimes. But you know what that causes you to do? Give glory to God. This is just like, if God's blessing this, it has to be. That's God. It's just like, oh, man. He got away with saying that and God's blessing him and the people are getting saved. People are being reached through the preaching. Pastor Anderson hopping on pulpits and stuff. And he's still reaching a bunch of people. That has to be God. Yeah. Amen. Because the prophets of the Old Testament were probably just like us. Probably rude. Leather-lunged. Just not very considerate. And I'm sure the people in those days were like, that has to be of God. Because this guy's way too mean. Way too aggressive. He says that F word all the time. Fag. I don't have an average spirit. I have the Holy Spirit. But you know, every once in a while you'll get someone who, like Nicodemus, will say, no man can do these miracles except God be with him. And I'm sure there's people who have looked at Pastor Shelley, Pastor Berzins, and other pastors in our movement who look at the works and say, well, no man can do these things except God be with him. Obviously, it's the Spirit of God upon that person's life. They have the power of God on their life. And amen to that. Go to 1 Corinthians 1. The Israelites had the greatest preacher of all time. All time, present there with him. Jesus Christ. The greatest preacher of all time. I mean, every prophet wanted to copy Jesus Christ. He's the ultimate prophet, but yet the religious leaders of that day, they're like, no, you have the Spirit of Beelzebub. You're a pawn of Satan. The devil's working through you. It obviously shows you they don't know what a man of God looks like. Because they couldn't even recognize the Son of God. Look at 1 Corinthians 1, 26. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God had chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Hey, you want to call me foolish for the things that I say? That's fine. That just means God's going to use me to confound the wise. And God had chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things that are mighty. You want to call my ministry weak? You want to call us weak and you guys aren't strong? That's fine. God's going to use us to confound the things which are mighty then. And base things of this world and things which are despised. I don't know any movement that's despised more than the new IFP. I'll just be honest with you. It is a despised movement. But you know what? The Bible says, the things which are despised had God chosen. Yea, things which are not to bring to naught the things that are. Why? That no flesh should glory in his presence. Instead of trying to refine yourself and be a Paul Chapel and be a Jack Treiber and be a, you know, these false prophets and try to be like them. Why don't you just get rough like John the Baptist? Why don't you get rough like Elijah? Why don't you get rough like Jeremiah? Why don't you get rough like Micaiah? Why don't you get rough like these pastors here that are in this building, right? That no flesh should glory in his presence. Shouldn't our goal be to glorify God? It's not about us. It's not about our ministry. It's not about our church. It's about the Lord. But they contradicted Jesus Christ saying that he had a different spirit. Go to John chapter 9. Out of the sermon is the contradiction of sinners. Contradicting his integrity, contradicting his spirit, contradicting the Bible. Look at John chapter 9. I'm going to read to you from Matthew 23. Of course the Pharisees claimed to have believed the Bible. They claimed to believe the Bible. They claimed to follow Moses, right? Look at John chapter 9 verse 24. Then again called they, the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or not, I know not. One thing I know, that where I was blind, now I see. Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear. Wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples? The man that reviled them and said, There aren't his disciples, but we are Moses' disciples. In other words, yeah, you can follow this guy, but we're Bible believers. We believe the Bible. Yeah, you can say that about the homosexual community, but we're just going to go ahead and believe the Bible. And what the Bible says. We hear hurts and stuff like that. Yeah, you can say that all you want, but I'm just going to go ahead and just believe the Bible. As if, like, what we're preaching is not the Bible or something. Even though we're not even halfway through the sermon, we're not halfway through the sermon. We're not halfway through the sermon. And we've used a ton of verses already, right? We be Moses' disciples. We know that God's speaking to Moses as for this follower. We know not from whence he came or whence he's from. Go to John chapter 5, if you would, John chapter 5. These are these fake Christians who claim to believe in the Bible as they're contradicting the Bible. Haven't you guys had some fake Christians out there standing with these freaks claiming to believe the Bible? They claim that they're Christians, they believe the Bible, and they bring their little faggoty NIV with them. They're faggot-loving ESV, right? We're Bible-believing Christians and Christianity never teaches what that hate-monger is saying in that building. Look at John chapter 5, verse 45. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? Jesus said, that's funny you stand with Moses, he wrote of me. What you got now? You want to be Moses' disciple, but you don't want to be my disciple, well guess what? Moses is my disciple. Moses wrote of me. I was the theme to Moses' writings, what he's saying. Right? So it's like you claim to believe the Bible, you claim to believe in Jesus, yet you're preaching everything that Jesus would not preach. You claim to believe the Word of God, but yet you stand in contrast to what the Word of God actually teaches. My Jesus would never do that. I know, because you have like a different Jesus. You believe in the Jesus, the long haired faggoty looking Jesus, that the Catholics made up. Right? The one who's wearing a dress, he doesn't seem to have seen the sun. If he'd be any whiter, he'd be clear. For all my white folks out there. It's not Jesus. My Jesus would never do that. You know the Bible actually talks about another Jesus? That's the Jesus they believe in. Who has a different gospel, different teaching, he loves fags, but it's not the Jesus of the Bible. My Jesus would never do that. I know you got a lame faggoty Jesus. I got you, I understand. Yeah, sounds about right. 2 Corinthians 11, 4 says, For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if he receive another spirit, which he have not received, or another gospel, which he have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. He's like, you guys are so wishy-washy, you go back and forth, that if someone comes with a different Jesus, a different spirit, a different teaching, you might actually put up with that. I'm thankful that Steadfast Baptist Church does not put up with that nonsense. It doesn't tolerate these fake Christians out there who stand with a bunch of reprobates, haters of God. And by the way, since I'm on the topic, this faggot-loving pastor of Michael Johnson, him and Temple Bastard Church, isn't right with God. I said it. Why? Because this idiot, I'm about to make him famous right now, this idiot stood against me and stood with the fags when they blew up our church. This is a pastor who claimed to believe the Bible. This is a pastor who preached against fags. This is a pastor who preached the reprobate doctrine. Yet he has the gall to stand up and criticize me and say that God is punishing me because of X, Y, and Z, and this is why the sodomites are just blowing up his church and all this persecution. Yeah, I guess God punished me with a bigger building. Dang, you know, he punished me with more souls getting saved. He punished me with a bigger congregation. What a punishment. But he's a faggot-loving idiot. If I see him in the street, I won't punch him, but I'll tell him straight to his face, you're a faggot-loving idiot, don't touch me, you love AIDS. He claims to believe the word of God. We'd be, oh, I just believe the Bible, brother. I just believe the Bible. But they're all over the place. These are people who contradict themselves. They put up this smokescreen of believing the Bible when actually contradicting the Bible. And unfortunately, this guy claimed to be a new IFB pastor, he associated with us, he flattered the pastors, he flattered me, he tried to be our friend, and then he turns against everyone, and he stands with homo. I got zero respect for any pastor who stands with facts against the pastor. Zero respect. Don't talk to me. Congratulations, Michael Johnson, you played yourself. Because look, folks, I had pastors contact me who actually don't like me. In the sense of, like, they don't like how I preach, and they say, they took it too far, we stand with you. And these are, like, pastors who are not, you know, this is like, they might, like, adhere to, like, Paul Chappell and stuff. These are pastors, they probably don't preach, like, any hard sermons at all. But they email me and say, we stand with you against them, it was wrong what they did, it was disgusting, and we're praying for you and we stand with you. But Michael Faggot Loving Johnson wants to publicly stand with the Sodomites against me. A Christian. Go to John chapter 8. I don't know what time I started, so. Oh, I'm going to preach. I wasn't asking for permission or anything. I was just saying, I don't know what time I started. I'm just kidding. Hey, don't stand, don't associate with these people who claim to believe the Bible, but they're against your pastor. Hey, you know, we have our disagreements, but, you know, I believe the Bible, I just don't really like Pastor Shelley, I don't agree with them. And they probably don't even believe the Bible then. Because Pastor Shelley's preaching isn't deficient of God's word. You understand? I've heard Pastor Shelley's preaching, I've heard what he said about the fags, and I love it. I think it's great. It lines up with God's word, folks. You're in John chapter 8. They contradicted him in his doctrine, they contradicted him when it came to the word of God. They claimed to be Moses' disciple when in actuality they were completely against the Son of God. Hey, look, folks, let me just say this, just because someone says they're a Christian, that doesn't mean anything nowadays. Just because someone says they believe the Bible or that they're a Christian means nothing until you actually dig deep into what they actually believe. I mean, we should know that just from soul winning, right? Like, oh, I'm a Christian. Okay, are you 100% sure if you die today you go to heaven? I told you I was a Christian. I mean, you've heard something like that. I already told you my dad's a pastor. You know, they can say whatever they want. It's just like, it's meaningless until we find out what you actually believe about salvation. Right? Meaningless. Now, if they say, you know, well, I believe that salvation is by grace through faith, you can't lose your salvation. Once I'm saved, I'm always saved. I believe that. And at that point, it's like, okay, yeah, then they're a legitimate Christian. Look at John chapter 8 verse 31. Here's another way that the Pharisees contradicted Jesus. It says in verse 31, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Skip down to verse 37. I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said then to him, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham, ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication, we have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your father, ye would love me. I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech, even because ye cannot hear my word? They're contradicting themselves. They're saying, Well, we're of Abraham. He's like, Then why don't you love me? We are of Abraham's seed. Then why are you trying to kill me? Oh, we believe in God, and we believe in the Bible. Then why are you standing out there with homos against the man of God? Simple question. We believe in the Bible. Then why are you making it your agenda to try to shut down this church, which will never happen, by the way. Why? I'll tell you why, because they're contradicting themselves. They don't even stand with Abraham. That's why. They said there, Ye are of your father. Jesus says some pretty anti-Semitic stuff. I'll just be honest. People get mad at us for preaching against the Jews and preaching against Zionism. What we say doesn't hold a candle to John 8.44 and Revelation 2 and 3, where she's like, You're of your father the devil. Your dad, your father is Satan. Your synagogue is of Satan. Now, what does this remind me of? Well, this kind of reminds me of old IFB claiming that they're like the great men of God of the past. They're just like, Oh, man, we love Jack Hyles. We love J. Frank Norris. We love the hard preachers of the past because we're just like them. No, you're not. You claim to stand with Abraham, but you hate us. You hate this ministry. You hate this preaching. Even though it's basically like the preaching of the past for men of God like Jack Hyles. They would rip face. He told homos to put a bullet in their head. I mean, this is a church of, I don't know, what was it, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 or something? And he's like on a Sunday morning saying this stuff. Yeah, you have old IFB preachers who hate it when we say it, but they still want to honor Jack Hyles. It's like, buddy, Jack Hyles, we have the spirit of Jack Hyles, which is the spirit of God. Go to Matthew 23, Matthew 23. The Pharisees are criticizing Jesus Christ for the things that he's saying, for his preaching, for his ministry, for all these things, right? And look what it says in Matthew 23, verse 28. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ye build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Oh, man, if we were back in those days with Jack Hyles and all these hard preachers, we would be right there with him. We would be preaching against the same things. Well, guess what? You don't need to go all the way back there. You can do it now. But you're not doing it now. So if you're not doing it now, when it's unpopular, you probably wouldn't have done it then when it was popular. Right? Look at verse 31. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which kill the prophets. Because they're like, if we were in the days of our fathers, the fathers that they're referring to are the fathers that kill the prophets. He's like, oh, so you're basically admitting that you're descendants of these generation of vipers who kill the prophets. You're witnesses unto yourselves. That ye are the children of them which kill the prophets, fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? He's like, yeah, you're the exact descendants of these people. You are the descendants of people who criticize the pastors of the past, who preach hard in their day. You are the descendants of those generation of vipers who hated the man of God, who hate the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the camp that you belong to. You don't belong to our camp. And you know what, I used to think to myself, you know, man, I can't wait till like every state in America has a new IFP church. It's not really a desire, and I hope it does happen one day, but you know what, it might not. You know why? Because there's not many people willing to stand in the hedge to make up the gap. And sometimes it's good to have just a couple of pastors just saying it. Because that's probably as many as you're going to get. Now you know what my prayer is, is these men here, some of you men who are preparing to preach, preparing to be pastors, you follow the lead of your pastor. You follow the example of your pastor, you train, you prepare, and you get up and you preach the word of God as well, and you take the baton when it's ready for you to take it. But you know, I'll be honest with you, not a lot of people are willing to do that. Because there's a circle of people, even who listen to our sermons, who, you know, they're closet listeners. They just kind of listen every once in a while, or they listen a lot, but they're not very public about it. You know, they like the preaching, but that's as far as they're going to go. Then you have those who have the guts to just say, you know, I'm just going to go to Steadfast Baptist Church. I'm just going to go. I'm going to go to the service, and boom, they come. That's great, amen? But the reality is this, not many people are willing to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, preach the word of God. Sometimes it's not going to happen. Go to John chapter 2, if you would. John chapter 2. They contradicted Jesus when it came to his spirit. They contradicted him when it came to the men that he basically stood with in the past, the men who represented Jesus Christ. But they also contradicted his agenda. Look at John chapter 2. I'm going to read to you from, all right, let's go to John chapter 2, verse 17. It says in his disciples, remember that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said to him, what signs showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, forty and six years was this temple and building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. So what is he saying? He's saying, destroy this temple, referring to his own body. And I will raise it up, right? They took it as, oh, you're just trying to come here and destroy our physical temple. Oh, you're trying to come here and destroy our way of life, our religion, our customs. But no, he came to destroy himself for our sake. Go to Acts 24. You see, what was Jesus' agenda when he was here in this world? Well, the Bible says he came to seek and to save that which is lost. He came to fulfill prophetic statements about himself that he was going to come and physically die on the cross. That he himself would bear the sins of the world and his own body on the tree. That he himself was going to pay for the sins of the whole world and that he was going to resurrect the third day. That he was going to be forsaken of God the Father. He was going to fulfill this. This was his agenda, was to save the world. But the religious leaders of that day, oh no, he's trying to destroy our temple. He didn't care about your temple. He's trying to save you. He came here to save you. No, he's trying to usurp Caesar and he's trying to be, you know, usurp Caesar's authority and change our customs and teach perversion and destroy what we got going on here. No, he's trying to save you. He came to save your life. He came to save your soul. But if you want to think that, that's fine because we're not Calvinists. God doesn't force anyone to believe. And if you want to die and pay for your own sins, have at it. Have at it if that's what you want. But Jesus' agenda was to save you. His agenda was to give you eternal life. That was his purpose. Look at Acts 24 verse 1. And after five days, Ananias the high priest descended with the elders and with a certain orator named Tertulus who informed the governor against Paul. And when he was called forth, Tertulus began to accuse him saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, we accept it always as in all places most noble Felix with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding that I be not further tedious unto thee. This guy is talking like a straight politician here. Can you just get to the point? He says, Notwithstanding that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldst hear us of thy clemency a few words. Alright, I get it. What do you want? For we have found this man, referring to Paul, a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, who also hath gone about to profane the temple, whom we took and would have judged according to our law. Now, what was Paul actually doing? He was winning people to Christ. He was turning people to righteousness. He was turning the world upside down. Now, it was upside down according to the world, but it's actually right side up. That's what he was doing. Hey, when we're preaching, we're not turning the world upside down. We're turning this upside down right side up. We're telling you, hey, it's not weird to hate faggots. It's actually normal to hate fags. This is a normal feeling. Let me teach you how to be normal. That's what we're doing. We're not destroying the temple. We're not trying to get people to disobey customs and laws in this world. We're trying to save people's lives. We're trying to save people's way of thinking. We're trying to renew people's minds to get them to see it the biblical way. Folks, that's why they kicked me out of Omani. They kicked me out of Omani not because I'm toting guns and I'm shooting people. I'm like beating up fags or something. We got campaigns against faggots. We're just gay bashing all over the place. We're doing a gay bashing marathon or something like that. It's not what we're doing. What were you doing for three years? Getting Omani saved. Making converts in Omani. Yeah, but do you teach them to hate? Yeah, of course. Because he that love the Lord hate evil. What kind of pastor would I be if I didn't teach you how to hate? And I got to be an example of hatred towards the wicked things of this world. And what I do in moderation, my church members are doing excess for the good things. But you know what? Even if whatever I do in excess, sometimes the church members will do in moderation. So I got to make sure my hatred is like really high. If I'm at a ten, you know, the church members, their hatred is going to be like at a seven. I just got to make sure I keep bumping up those numbers. You understand? We're trying to convert Omani and renew their minds to get them to love righteousness. You know, you can call me a hate preacher, but just call me a preacher of righteousness because that's exactly what it is. It's righteous statutes and judgments proclaiming God's word unashamedly. That's what it is. And you know what? We have a bunch of congress in Omani now. People who live in Omani, who still listen to my preaching, who go to my church, people who we won in Omani still go there. I mean, we literally had, the day we were moving out our stuff, I had this old Mexican guy. He came up and he was, you know, we're moving, he comes up, and this is all in Spanish. He said, you guys are moving? I'm like, well, yeah, we have to go meet somewhere. And he's like, everyone who did this is going to hell. Yeah. And he's like, the Pope's a faggot. He walks away. He comes back. He's like, Obama's a faggot, too. I'm like, my convert. Let me lay hands on you real quick, you know what I mean? I mean, there's literally people who work at the gas stations over there, because his brother Elisa still lives there. He's still living in behind enemy lines. And after this sermon, he might have to move. But he goes to this gas station, there's like a person, this lady who works there, and she's like, you go to First Works behind the church? He's like, yeah? He's like, I love that church. Those sermons are so good. And then he'll come back like some other week or whatever, and she's like, oh man, that Rod of Iron podcast. That was such a good episode. When's the next landmarks coming out? Looks like we still got conference there. Oh no, but you know what the mayor said? No, he's a pestilent fellow. Pastor Shelley is such a pestilent. Why can't you just apologize, Pastor Shelley? Why can't you just kowtow to all the fags, Pastor Shelley? Why do you have to be such a pestilent fellow? We're not a pestilent. Pestilence is disease. Like AIDS is a pestilence. Right? Pastor Shelley is the cure. Because he's the doctor that's bringing in the cure to save the next generation from this filth and wickedness. No, he's a mover of sedition among all these Christians throughout Texas, throughout Hearst. And he's a rain leader of this church called Steadfast Baptist Church. No, he's the pastor who preaches fire. He's on fire. He is fired. But he's going about to profane the temple. No, he's not. Hearst, Texas is so much better because this church exists. How do you know that God's hand is on Hearst, Texas because Steadfast Baptist Church exists? You guys gotta understand something. God placed this church here. And it's a sign of God's blessing. When a fundamental, fiery, I gotta stop saying fiery, sorry. A fundamental Bible-believing, fire-breathing pastor is preaching the truth of God's word, that means God is sending a prophet to you. He's like, I'm gonna gift Hearst, Texas with a prophet to preach the word of God. That's a sign of God's blessing. Don't take it for granted because he can take Pastor Shelley out and remove the church somewhere else. It can happen. It happened to us. Where God said, okay, you filthy sodomites of El Mani, you know, okay El Mani, you don't want to stand with the man of God, I'll just remove the blessing from you. Move them somewhere else where they deserve it. I'll take this light out of El Monte and put it somewhere else. This church is a blessing, folks. Don't take it for granted. Do you know what that means? Show it to all the services. Like Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, what are you guys, Wednesday or Thursday? Wednesday, you should be here. Because God has blessed you with the church. Hey, if you are a Sunday morning glory only, you better take advantage of this blessing. Because what if one day it moves and you're like, man, now they're moving like 40 minutes away. I had the chance to go to that church so many more times and I didn't do it. Do not take the blessing for granted. Go back to Hebrews 12 and we're done. I'll land the plane. Pastor Thompson. Pastor Thompson preached some great sermons last night, though. I enjoyed all four of those sermons. I thought they were awesome. I made so many decisions. I've lost track of them. They were great. He preached a series. He said, why give all these examples? The reason I'm giving you these examples is to show you that sinners will contradict you. Enemies of God are going to contradict you and it can frustrate you. It can cause you to be weary and well doing. He said, so what do I do? Consider the Lord. Consider the fact that he was contradicted of sinners against himself. Lest ye be weary and faint in your minds. Look what it says in verse number one. Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. You know what the joy that you're going to experience is the fact that your children grow up in a great church. They're going to love the Lord. They're going to win souls to Christ. That's the joy. So that should be an incentive to you to not quit. So when you're tired, you're weary, just say this. There's joy at the end of this tunnel. And the joy is that my children are going to live for the Lord. The joy is that I'm going to win a bunch of more souls to Christ. The joy is that I get to be a part of history here. Folks, the vaccine stuff, that's not history in the making. This is real history in the making. This is something that God will remember. This is something that will affect all of eternity here. Now who's president? Now what's going on in politics? That's going to be forgotten. Not this. For the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. You will be contradicted by sinners. Endure it for the joy that is set before you. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. For the example of Jesus Christ. He endured such contradictions. He endured the worst contradictions. Things that would probably cause us to just stumble and fall and get out of the will of God. He was able to endure it because he's perfect. And Lord, we're thankful that we have a perfect God dwelling in us. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us who can empower us and strengthen us and help us to be bold. And I pray that Lord you'd help us and remind us, Lord, when we grow weary in our mind. When we feel discouraged or we feel like we can't take it anymore. So many frustrating things that are taking place. Does this have an end? Well, the things concerning Jesus, the Bible says, had an end. And the things concerning us have an end as well. Help us to consider him. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you for the sermon. Pastor Mejia, let's go ahead and sing one more song for you in the service tonight. Go ahead and take out your hymnal. 217. He included me. This is a great hymn because this weeds out all the Calvinists. He included me. This includes everybody. You'll know because they don't sing this song. So that's how we weed them out. 217. He included me. I am so happy if Christ's name that I go singing along my way. Yes, I'm so happy to know and say Jesus included me too. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. Gladly I read whosoever may come to the fountain of life today. But when I read it, I always say, Jesus included me too. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. And her God Spirit is saying, Come, hear the bride say, No longer moan. But I am sure while they're calling home, Jesus included me too. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. Freely come drink words of soul to thrill. Oh, with a joy my heart doth fill. For when he said, Whosoever will, Jesus included me too. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. Jesus included me. Yes, he included me. When the Lord said, Whosoever, he included me. 162. We'll go and sing another one, 162, while we're waiting for the baptisms. Turn there myself. 162. To God be the glory. To God be the glory, great things we have done. So loved be the world that he gave us his Son. New year liveth life when God's open for sin. And open the life gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. For come to the Father through Jesus the Son. And give him the glory, great things he hath done. The perfect redemption, the purchase of blood. To every believer, the promise of God. The modest offender who truly believes. That moment from Jesus the pardon receives. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. For come to the Father through Jesus the Son. And give him the glory, great things he hath done. This evening we have Sister Kelly coming for baptism. Sister Kelly, have you trusted Christ as your Savior? And I baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. We also have Brother Luca coming for baptism. Brother Luca, have you trusted Christ as your Savior? And I baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Congratulations to our baptism. And I just want to make a quick announcement, a great sermon. It was definitely worthy of blowing up the building, okay? So there you go, alright? So yesterday we had 235 in our services and I just wanted to give a stat. So two years ago in November when we had the first Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship, we had 202 on Wednesday, so we exceeded by like 33. Last year for Thursday's service we had 242, tonight we had 249. So praise the Lord on that. And then Friday last year we had 263, so I'm expecting you to bring all your friends, alright? And we're going to have pizza tomorrow night, so I'm really looking forward to it. Make sure to congratulate our baptisms and you are dismissed. God bless. Thank you. Thank you.