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I would follow, follow one, Walking in his footsteps till the crown be one, Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus, Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow one, Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus, Everywhere he leads me I would follow one, Down in the valley with my Savior I would go, Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow, With his hand to lead me I will never, never fear, Danger cannot frighten me if my Lord is near, Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus, Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow one, Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus, Everywhere he leads me I would follow one, Down in the valley or upon the mountain steep, Close beside my Savior would my soul ever keep, He will lead me safely in the path that he has trod, Up to where they gather on the hills of God, Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus, Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow one, Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus, Everywhere he leads me I would follow one, Good singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this church. Thank you for the opportunity to be gathered together and to sing praises to you. I pray that you would just bless this service, be with all of those in our church that couldn't make it tonight for sickness or other reasons, Lord, and just pray that you would bless the remainder of this week. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, for our second song, we'll go to song number 22, Are You Washed in the Blood? Song 22, Are You Washed in the Blood? Song 22, Are You Washed in the Blood? Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you walking daily by the Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright, and be washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin. There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean. Oh be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? How's it going everyone? Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. It is November the 16th, 2022. Thanks for coming to our midweek service. Pastor Shelley is out of town tonight, and so we have Brother Dylan Oz filling in, and I'm really excited to hear what the Lord has laid on his heart. If you're new here or you don't know Brother Dylan, he's on staff, and he's a very talented preacher, and so let's all give him our full attention and follow along in our Bibles tonight and listen very closely to what he has to say. If you don't have a bulletin, then raise your hands, and one of our ushers would be delighted to give one to you. You'll notice there on the front our Bible memory passage, John chapter 1. We're in the midst of a grace week, which means this is the last service for you to quote this because it expires on Saturday, and so this is the last church service, but the last day that you can quote John chapter 1 to a non-relative church member will be on Saturday. Again, if you can quote this entire chapter, John chapter 1 to a non-relative church member, then you will receive a special prize. John 1 verse 51. Also, if any child 18 or younger can quote this verse, they'll get ice cream, and what I want to do now, just so that the staff can understand or know how many prizes they need to order, who has completed fully quoted John chapter 1 word perfect to a non-relative church member? Who has done that? I want to get a count now and keep your hands nice and high for me because I struggle with numbers, all right? So you have to bear with me. Here we go. We got one there, two, three, and keep them up for me. Anybody else going once, going twice? All right, I guess I should. Okay, so that's the count that I have. I'll feed that to our two brother Dylan, and they will get ready for some of those prizes, which I'm sure are going to be great. And if you haven't participated in this before, if you haven't memorized a chapter of the Bible and you think, I can't do that, you're wrong. You can, all right? If you just take the time, you chip away at it, you can memorize the Word of God, and I would highly encourage you to do so. If you missed out on this one, that's okay. Go for the next one, and you'll be surprised at what you're capable of doing. On the inside of the bulletin, you'll see our soul winning and service times, and on the bottom, our church stats. On the right, a reminder to please pray for our expecting ladies, and you see the list there. We also have a prayer list that we go over on Wednesday nights during our midweek service. I just wanted to highlight them now. We have Brother David Nogueira, continue to pray for him. He has an upcoming MRI dealing with his ongoing health situation, so keep him in your prayers. Lucy wants prayers for her mother's tumors. Brother Cameron from Steadfast Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, he wants us to pray for his leg as it continues to heal. Brother Matt Pendleton from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, his brain cancer. Please pray for that situation that God would intervene. Jeff Goodwin wants us to pray for his brother-in-law David's salvation and cancer treatment. Also, Oscar there, his job search. Ava Garcia, her health. She also wants us to pray for her son-in-law's family, prayer that the Air Force would stay should his family in San Antonio. And for her daughter, we see daughter Krista there, recovery from car crash. That is never a fun situation, and so just pray that the Lord would help her recover. And for all of these situations here, if you struggle to figure out or to think about what to pray for, this list can help you find things to pray for. There's always something to pray for, and so right now we'll go ahead and do that. And Lord Heavenly Father, we just ask, Father God, that you would intervene in all of these situations. Lord, we know that there is nothing too difficult for you, and we just pray for all of the people who are dealing with health issues and other difficulties in their life. Father, that you would just help them, that you would guide them, that you would give them the wisdom necessary to get through some of the obstacles that we all have to go through in our lives. And Lord, we pray that you would also strengthen those who are going through adversity right now, Lord, so that they may overcome what they are facing. And I pray this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. The Mexico mission trip happened last weekend. Thanks to everyone who participated in and prayed for the missions trip. 177 salvations. I think that qualifies as a receptive area, folks, and it looks like someone wants to do a round of applause. Let's do it. Round of applause. Upcoming events, November the 19th, a baby shower for Karen Cooley at 12 30. That'll last until 2 30. November the 23rd, a Thanksgiving dessert fellowship. If you don't like dessert, you probably don't even have a soul. So I'm assuming nobody in that room, nobody in this room rather, would not like that. So go ahead and mark that in your calendars. December the 2nd, a lady's Christmas party from 6 to 9 pm. And you've heard Pastor Shelley on multiple occasions challenge the men in the room to watch their children during that time. And that's what we're going to be doing. December the 6th, Christmas caroling. That's right, the hate group is going to go spread some Christmas joy because maybe we're not what they think we are. December the 6th, Christmas caroling. That's going to be lots of fun. I've done this multiple times and I always have a blast. It's always a great time. And congratulations to the Holden family on the birth of Hal. I'm sorry, how do you, I forgot how to pronounce this. Halley? Halley. There we go. Halley Elizabeth Holden. She was born November the 8th, 2022 at 2 24 pm, weighing five pounds, five ounces, measuring 18.7 inches long. And you can see her here on the cover of your bulletin. Some church reminders, no running in the church at any time. Don't play on the stage, kids. It's a good way to get hurt. Children must be under the supervision of their parents at all times. The mother baby room is for children, infants from infants to two years old and mothers, if you need to take an older child with you into the mother baby room, that child must sit next to you in the chairs provided not kind of roaming around going crazy in there while mothers are trying to pay attention to the preaching. And children have to be in there with their mother in the mother baby room. They cannot be in there by themselves. They're not allowed in the ice machine or refrigerator. And gliders are for nursing or pregnant mothers. Please leave the seats beside the gliders for the family member of the nursing or pregnant mother. So single dudes, you know, you might want to find someplace else to sit if you're sitting next to a glider. And children should not be roaming the church during the service. The church staff and ushers will aid in regulating some of these rules right here in case you might not be paying attention. But that's all I've got for the announcements. Again, I'm looking forward to hearing what brother Dylan has for us. And so with that, we will go to our next song, which appears to be Psalm 149. Again, that's Psalm 149. Psalm 149 in your right handouts. Psalm 149. Praise ye the Lord, singing to the Lord, a new song and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises on to him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints, joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains, and their no fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written, this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. All right, for our next song, we go to 116. He leadeth me. 116. Song 116. He leadeth me. He leadeth me, O blessed thought, O words, with heavenly comfort fraught. What e'er I do, where e'er I be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me. It's faithful for where I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me. Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, sometimes where Eden's powers bloom. What e'er I do, where e'er I be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me. It's faithful for where I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me. Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine, content whatever Lord I see, since tis my God that leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me. It's faithful for where I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me. And when my task on earth is done, when by thy grace the victory's won, Eden's death's cold blood will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me. It's faithful for where I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me. While the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Jeremiah 45. Jeremiah 45. Jeremiah 45. Jeremiah 45. The Bible reads, The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Barak the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Barak. Thou didst say, Woe is me now, for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus, Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not, for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord, but thy life will I give unto thee for a pray in all places whither thou goest. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father God, I pray, Lord, that you would fill Dylan Ozz with your spirit and just help him to preach his sermon with boldness and clarity of mind. And, Lord, also help us to receive the message. Help us to apply this message as well so that we can live a more complete Christian life. And I pray, Lord, for your hedge of protection over Pastor Shelley and his return back home. And we thank you so much for this church, for salvation, and for everything you've given us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. All right, well thank you everyone for being here, and thank you Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to fill in the pulpit. It's always a great honor and privilege to preach the Word of God. And we are in Jeremiah 45 this evening, very short chapter in the book of Jeremiah. And just to give you some context, because we're just jumping into the middle of a book here, if you've never read the book of Jeremiah, of course, is a book of judgment. It's a very negative book, God pronouncing judgment on the southern kingdom of Judah, letting him know that the Babylonians are going to come invade, take them over, make them captive, and basically just pillage and destroy their land. Jeremiah, when he preaches this, he's not received, just like it's a picture of Christ, that when he came to the Jews, his message wasn't received either, of course. They mocked him, they put him in jail, they did all sorts of things very similar to Christ, but here, this chapter is more about Barak. Now, who is Barak? Barak is Jeremiah's scribe, so he's the guy that's physically penning down the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah's speaking these words, but we have Barak here that is his servant. And when we get to chapter 45, it's taking a chronological break in the book of Jeremiah, because we've already had the Babylonian invasion at this point of the book, so if you look at verse 1, it's going back in time. It says in verse 1, the word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Barak the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying. So we're taking a chronological break here, we're going back in time, and oftentimes the Bible will do this, where it'll be a very good chronological flow. It'll stop to give us some sort of extra information. So here, this is interesting because we have God directly addressing the scribe of Jeremiah. It's not God just speaking to Jeremiah, so this is kind of an interesting chapter. It's not something that's the norm that you see in the Bible, but what is the message here going on? Let's read verse number 2. It says, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Barak. Thou didst say, Woe is me now, for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. What do we have here? We have Barak just throwing himself a pity party, just saying, Woe is me. God, you're adding grief to my sorrow. He's basically saying, I was already sorrowful, I was already down, I was already in the dumps, and you're adding grief to that. He's kind of just throwing accusations at the Lord right here, really. He has a really bad attitude right here. And look at God's reaction. Look at verse 4. Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus, behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord. But thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. So what is God's reaction here to Barak's pity party? Does he, you know, verify his feelings? Say, Barak, all your feelings are valid. Every feeling that you have is okay to have. No, God actually is rebuking him for having these feelings. This is not an appropriate feeling that he's having. It's not an appropriate emotion that he's having. And this is basically what he's saying. He's saying, look, I'm going to destroy this whole land. I'm going to have the Babylonians come in here and tear this place up. I'm going to destroy it. And you know what you get, Barak? I'm going to give you for a prey your life. He's saying, you know what you're going to get out of this deal, Barak? You're going to just be able to live. You're just going to be able to stay alive. And so, Barak, you should just be happy that you're not going to be like the rest of these guys that are going to be destroyed when the Babylonians invade. You should just be happy that you're not going into captivity, that you're not getting slain with a sword, that you're not getting, you're not going to die of the famine. He's saying, here's what you get. You get your life. So the attitude that Barak has here is not a good attitude. And right away from this chapter, something we can learn is that God does not want us to be an unhappy and complaining people. Okay? And the title of my sermon this evening is simply this, Be Thankful. Be Thankful. It's an appropriate topic this time of year, right? We've got Thanksgiving coming up next week. And this is something that we need to constantly remember. We need to be people that are thankful people. And thankfulness and happiness are really closely tied together. People that are really unhappy usually are not very thankful for the things that they have. Because if they were really thankful for all the blessings that they had in their life and just all that God's done for them, they would be more happy. Barak here, he has an issue. His issue is he's being sad. He's being mopey. And in my opinion, he's being unthankful. Now, of course, you know, the Bible says that Jesus is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, right? The Bible says that Jesus wept. He cares for all of our pain and our suffering. And when we suffer, he suffers with us. The Bible tells us to rejoice with those that rejoice, to weep with those that weep, right? So I'm not saying there's never a time to be down. There's never a time to be depressed. Obviously, those are normal human emotions that you're going to go through in life. And don't get me wrong, God does care about that. God does care about you when you're in that state. But overall, as a people, how we're categorized in general, God wants us to be happy. God wants us to be thankful. He doesn't want us to be characterized as a people that's always down, that's always moping, that's always complaining, that's always sad or unthankful. That's not what he desires for our life. And go to Romans chapter 1 and Numbers chapter 11. Romans chapter 1 and Numbers chapter 11. In Romans chapter 1, the Bible even tells us that being unthankful is an aspect of someone who is ungodly, who is wicked, who in fact is even a reprobate. In Romans chapter 1, verse 21, the Bible says, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, notice that word, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. You know, Romans chapter 1 is telling us that the wrath of God is revealed to us, that we're able to understand the power of God through creation, through the things that are made. We're able to understand God's power and just his eternal nature. And God has revealed truth to people, but when some people get truth revealed to them, they're not thankful for that truth. They hate that truth, they want to reject that truth, and eventually God rejects them and turns them over to a reprobate mind. But what's the root of this? The root is them not being thankful, right? A normal person, someone who's thankful, when they get truth delivered unto them, they're thankful for that. You know what I noticed about the people in Mexico? They were very thankful people. They enjoyed you talking to them. It didn't seem like you were a burden to them, right guys? It didn't seem like you were wasting their time. When we handed them a Bible after preaching them the gospel, they were very thankful for it. And it's a weird phenomenon that almost sometimes the more you have, the less you're thankful. And the less you have, sometimes the more thankful of a person you are. And it doesn't have to be that way, right? We could have a lot and still be very thankful, but I'm just telling you, human nature, you know, here in America, you hand someone a Bible, it's like nothing to them. It's like nothing. You hand them a sodomite deception, it's like nothing to them. You spend, you know, 15, 20 minutes out in the 100 degree weather of Texas to preach them the gospel and get them saved, and it's like nothing to them, right? I mean, you have a pastor that works super, super hard to provide all of these activities, and for some people it's like nothing to them. They're not thankful. This is not an attitude that God wants us to have. He wants us to be thankful people. I told you to go to Numbers, chapter 11. Notice Numbers, chapter 11, verse 1, it says, and when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, just like when Barak complained, right? Now, Barak is a good guy, I think. I think Barak's a great guy, and I think that God loves this guy, and that's why he chosen to be Jeremiah's scribe. You know, he's physically penning down the word of God, but here Barak has a serious problem where he's complaining, and that's going to displease the Lord, just like here in Numbers 11. It says, and the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. So here in Numbers, we actually have God killing people with fire for complaining. You think God wants to send a message to us that this is something he really doesn't like, and saved people can get caught up in this. Unsaved people definitely are caught up in this. You know, the ones that were the biggest complainers were the ones that ended up getting caught up with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, right? Just constantly complaining about Moses's leadership, complaining that they're not the ones in charge. This is something that you see wicked people do all the time, but this should not be something that we are categorized by, that we're complaining, that we're not thankful, that we're not happy people. Go to 2 Thessalonians, chapter number 5. 2 Thessalonians, chapter number 5, look at verse 16. Very short verse in your Bible, it says, Rejoice evermore. This is a commandment in our Bible, to rejoice evermore. It doesn't sound like God wants us to be these people that are just always sad, moping, complaining, saying, woe is me, like Barak literally said. You know, woe is me. God, you're adding grief to my sorrow. You know, the Bible says that we should rejoice evermore. Flip back a few pages to Philippians, chapter number 2. Philippians, chapter number 2. Look at what it says in verse number 14. It says, Do all things without murmurings and disputings. What's murmurings? It's just something that you would say quietly, either to yourself or to other people, just saying, like, I don't like this. I don't like how this is being run. I wish I was somewhere else. I wish I was doing something different. I wish this person was doing this better. Just complaining, right? Murmuring or disputing. God wants us to do all things without this type of attitude. And Barak, you know, he could have changed his mind frame here, and he could have thought of some things that he could be thankful for. He could say, wow, I'm the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah. That's pretty cool. I mean, God is literally, the Holy Spirit is literally inspiring Jeremiah, and I'm getting to write down the words of God from his mouth into the eternal word of God. That's a pretty cool job, right? So did Barak have something to be thankful for? Of course he did. I mean, he had an absolutely epic job serving the man of God, you know, but whatever was going on in his mind, the flesh was just taking over. And, you know, before we judge Barak too hard, you ought to hear the things you guys complain about sometimes. And same here. I've got the same flesh, okay? We've all got the same flesh, right? Barak here is a great man of God, but yet he himself is complaining here. He's getting down in the dumps, and God does not like it. Philippians chapter 4, flip over to Philippians 4. Let's read in verse 4. The Bible says here, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Notice what Paul is saying here. He says, rejoice in the Lord, because the source where you find your joy matters. This is what can help you become a more thankful person, to be a more happy person. Paul's saying here to rejoice in the Lord. Now, if you try to find joy in other avenues, you're going to be all over the place emotionally. You know, if you're going to find joy in having a lot of money, Joe Biden can become president and ruin that for you with inflation, right? You try to have joy in just getting yourself lots of goods. You know, that stuff can rust and corrupt, and thieves can break through and steal, right? These things can be messed up. These things can be ruined, but one thing that can never be messed up is the Lord, and the Bible says that God doesn't change. His work for us doesn't change, and if we try to find our joy in the Lord, then we could rejoice evermore. We could always rejoice. Look at verse number 5. It says, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Now, when this verse says, be careful for nothing, he's not saying, hey, don't ever be cautious. Don't ever have situational awareness. He's not saying, don't just be in downtown Detroit at night and just not have any situational awareness. This is not what he's saying. When he's saying, be careful for nothing, he's saying, don't be full of anxiety. Don't be full of just fret and worry and despair. He's saying, don't have this attitude, but rather what you should do is by prayer and supplication, what's that? Asking things from God, but notice this, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Paul's saying, hey, don't just ask all these things from God alone, but also be thankful. You know, how often do we, when we pray, thank the Lord for what we have first before asking him for something else, right? This is an important aspect because God wants to check our heart. He wants to make sure that we're not just like a spoiled brat kid that doesn't say thank you. Kids always say, I want more, give me more, give me more, but what a mature person does is they say thank you. And so this is Paul saying, he's saying, hey, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And then notice this, it says in verse seven, and the peace of God, that sounds to me like the opposite of anxiety, fret, worry, right? Having peace, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This is something that people seek today, is to have peace, just to have peace in their hearts and to not always be stressed out and to not always be anxious and so full of anxiety. But the Bible tells us how do we do that? Well, we rejoice in the Lord. We find we have the right joy, right? The joy that we find in God, not in material things. And we pray with thanksgiving to the Lord. Verse eight, finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, notice this, think on these things. So not only is the Bible just telling us to rejoice in the Lord, be thankful to the Lord, pray to the Lord, but the Bible's also instructing us to change our mindset, right? Because the Bible's saying think on things that are good, think on things that are just, that are holy, that are pure, think on these things. Now let's use our example of Baruch. I don't know exactly what he's dwelling on at this time, but whatever it is, it's causing him to say woe unto me, God, you're adding grief to my sorrow, but what if Baruch just changed his mindset like we talked about and thought about, wow, I have a pretty cool job, wow, I'm writing down the word of God, wow, I'm helping out the prophet Jeremiah, see if he would have thought on those things, maybe he would have been more thankful, maybe he would have been more happy, maybe he wouldn't have had all this anxiety, you know, and it's like Pastor Shelley always says, it's not hard to know what to do, it's just hard to do it, right? It's like the Bible's just saying think about these things, that's really easy to know, it's just harder to do it, right? And so like I said, we all got the same flesh, but this is the answer right here, look at verse 9, those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, so Paul's saying I do this, and the God of peace shall be with you, verse 10, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, so Paul's doing this, he's putting into practice, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye also were careful but ye lacked opportunity, not that I speak in respect of want, he's saying I'm not in need of anything, I'm not desiring anything, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Paul's saying no matter what state I've been in, I've learned to be content, what does it mean to be content? It means to be happy, to be satisfied, you could even say to be thankful, right? To just be thankful with your state in life, to just be happy about where you live, just be happy about the things you have, to be happy about the job that you have, to be happy about the health that you have, just to be happy about your state in life, Paul says no matter what state I've been in, no matter what my circumstances have been, no matter what's going on in my life, he's saying I've learned to be content, and when you think about Paul's life having been shipwrecked, having been stoned, having been just persecuted very very seriously, this is a pretty amazing statement when you think about it, that he's saying when I went through all of that, I was content, I was happy. So here we have Baruch, who I believe is a good guy, but he's a bad example of this in this case. Paul, he's a good example of this, of being content, being thankful. Look at verse 12, it says, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. You know, he's saying I know how to suffer persecution and be beaten with rods, and I know how to eat at la conciería, he's saying I know both, and I'm content with either one, you know, let the Lord's will be done, because his joy is in the Lord here. It says everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. And, you know, some people, they could really only be thankful when things are good, and as soon as something bad happens, then they no longer want to be thankful. Think about Job, right? He's saying like, hey, are we not going to receive good at the hand of the Lord and also and not also evil? Like, he was ready to receive the good and the bad. He was ready to be thankful, but a lot of people are not like this. And sadly, like I mentioned earlier, even some people that have all good still can't be thankful. I mean, our country, this is a problem with America, unfortunately, that our country is just never satisfied. I mean, it doesn't, some kids are going to get 50 presents on Christmas Day, and if they didn't get the exact video game that they want, they're not going to be happy. They're going to be throwing a fit about it, right? And there's some, you know, white collar wives out there that if they don't get the exact Ferrari that they're looking for and their husband bought them a Cadillac instead, they're going to throw a fit about it, right? Spoiled brats. There's lots of people like this in America, but God's desire for us is that regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our possessions, regardless of our health, regardless of any circumstance, for us to be thankful. For us to be happy. And so I have one point this evening. Be thankful. Be thankful. Go to 1 Thessalonians, chapter number five. 1 Thessalonians, chapter number five. 1 Thessalonians five, look at verse number 18. The Bible says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I mean, the Bible says that literally everything we should be giving thanks to God for. Does that mean the good things? Yes, it does. Does that mean the bad things? Yes, it does. You know, we're going to get to this later, but the Bible has a lot to say about going through quote bad things, and it doesn't always mean it's actually bad, right? So I've kind of laid out some Bible verses about how God feels about complaining, about how God wants us to be thankful, and just since it's Thanksgiving time for the remainder of the sermon, I just want to dwell on specific examples in our lives that we should all be thankful for, that we all should not take for granted. So if you would go back to Jeremiah 45, and the first thing I want to think about tonight that we should just be thankful for is the King James Bible. That is something that we should be very, very thankful for, and you know, making this documentary, doing research on what it took for us to have the King James Bible, man, it'll make you thankful to have the King James Bible. It's an amazing gift, an amazing treasure that we have in our hands, but believe it or not, this story in Jeremiah 45, it actually makes me think about the King James Bible, and I'll explain to you why. Jeremiah 45 verse 1, the Bible says, the word that, notice this, Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch. So who's talking? Jeremiah's talking. He's talking to Baruch, the son of Nereiah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah. So Jeremiah speaking, Baruch's writing it down. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch. So this is an interesting process here. Turn to 2 Peter chapter number 1, 2 Peter chapter number 1. So here we have Jeremiah speaking audibly to Baruch. Baruch's writing down the words physically, but where are these words actually coming from? From the Lord. So the Lord is inspiring Jeremiah to say these words. He's saying it out loud. Jeremiah's writing them down. Why do I bring this up? 2 Peter chapter number 1 verse 21, the Bible says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So the word of God originally was spoken by some man, right? Then it was written down either by that same man or by another person. It's very common in the Bible to see that the prophet himself is not the one necessarily physically writing down the words. In Romans chapter 16, I'll read for you in verse 22, the Bible says this, I Tertius, Tertius, sorry if I'm saying that wrong, who wrote this epistle salute you in the Lord. So of course we know the author of Romans is Paul, but the Bible's saying I Tertius who wrote this epistle salute you in the Lord. What's that talking about? It means that he's the one that physically wrote it down. So Paul's speaking the words, Tertius is writing it down, but where are the words really coming from? The Holy Ghost, okay? So, you know, this is very common in our world even now. If you get these spam emails from political candidates, you know, hey this is President Biden writing to you. President Biden's not writing that, okay? Some staff member is writing that. I'll give you a little secret. Sometimes when you get an email from Pastor Shelley, you want to know who's typing it? I'm typing it, okay? But does that mean it's my message? No, it's Pastor Shelley's message, because it's his words, right? It's his words to people. I'm just typing it down. So you can't just say like, oh well this is, you know, Barak's writing. You can't even say this is Jeremiah's writing. You want to know why? Because it's God's Word. The reason I bring this up is because people will scoff at believing the King James Bible and say, well how could you trust a book that's been passed down, that's been a copy of a copy of a copy, that was translated into a different language, and was maybe translated into a different language, and it's because of this process, because of the person who inspired the words. So if God inspired the words and he preserved those words, it's still his words, right? If I wrote something down on a piece of paper and I gave it to one of you guys, and you gave it to your neighbor and told them to write the same exact word, how many times could we repeat this process forever? And it would say the same thing, right? We could even translate that word into a different language, and if you're translating it correctly, it's going to say the same thing. So all the way from Jeremiah, who was inspired by God, written down by Barak, passed down through the generations, we still have the Word of God today. Let's say, how do you know? Well Psalms 12 6 says, the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. So it is a promise, it is an ironclad guarantee from God that he promised to preserve his word. Now what it comes down to is believing that, because you have the Omo's, the original manuscript Onius, and when it comes down to it, they don't believe this. They don't believe God preserved his word. They may have believed, oh somewhere long ago there was an original manuscript, and that was correct, but they'll say we lost it all in translation. Here's the difference, I believe that the words of God that were penned down by Barak were just as much the Word of God as Jeremiah was receiving from the Holy Spirit, and when that was copied on and copied on, it's still just as much the Word of God. And so this chapter, speaking of thankfulness, man I'm thankful that God preserved his word for us. I'm thankful that we have the treasure of the King James Bible. Hey, I'm thankful that there was guys like William Tyndale, who was literally on the run, running from the Catholic church, had one assistant translating the Bible into English, who was eventually burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. You know, I'm thankful for that guy. I'm thankful for King James. I'm thankful for the counsel of all the translators that worked so hard getting this book together, because this is a treasure. That was God fulfilling his promise to preserve his word. Do you ever think about that? You know, it's sad that we just live our lives and we just get busy just making money and living it up in America, when you got to think about like this is a miracle that we have right here. This is a miracle of God that we have, and do you treasure it? Do you even read it? You know, people literally died to bring us this book, and some people will not even read it. Many Christians will die, having never one time read the Bible cover to cover. That's sad. It's absolutely sad. I'll read for you Psalm 19 7. The Bible says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. You know, depending on where we're at tonight, that could be convicting words right there. Is the word of God more desirable to you than gold? You know, if you were given the opportunity to get gold or to read your Bible today, what would you choose? The psalmist here is saying, hey, more desirable than even gold, hey, even better than much fine gold, is the word of God. Sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. You know, that's a blessing that's unique to us when we actually have the word of God. Not everyone is cashing in on this blessing of having God's word, and hey, there's no reason why you shouldn't be cashing in on this blessing. You know, you go to Steadfast Baptist Church, you hear the word of God preached to you, you know you're supposed to be reading it, you know it's perfect, you know it's the perfect word of God. There's no excuse to not be reading your Bible. So that's one thing I'm thankful for tonight, is having the King James. I'm thankful I don't have the non-inspired version in the NIV. You know, I'm thankful I don't have the extra soy version in the ESV. I'm thankful that I don't have the no longer true version in the NLT. Hey, we've got the perfect word of God. That's a blessing. A lot of churches don't even have that. Here's another thing I'm thankful for. Go to Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53. Hey, I'm thankful for Jesus and his salvation. Praise God for our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that he gave us. And this is something, again, we could take for granted because we're saved. We do, we have our ticket punched, right? We could never work again and still make it to heaven. But hey, God still wants us to be thankful for what Jesus did for us and for the salvation that he gave us. Isaiah 53, speaking of Jesus, it says, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. You know, I'm thankful for that because without Jesus, and when you think about it, he was perfect, he never sinned, he never did anything wrong, he came down here and completely humbled himself, humbled himself, became obedient to the death of the cross, bore all of our sins, bore all of the sins of the entire world in his body, was buried and went to hell for three days and three nights, paying the punishment for our sin, you know, going through all of that agony and pain both on the cross and in hell, and why did he do it? He did it for us. He did it because he loves us. Hey, and I'm thankful that he bore those griefs and sorrows because we couldn't bear those ourselves. You know, I feel bad for the world out there that's constantly trying to bear their own grief, trying to bear their own sorrow, trying to bear their own works, trying to get themselves to heaven, and they can't bear it. They can't carry it. They can't do it without the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a hundred percent his work that gets us saved. You know, it was nice, it was refreshing going to Mexico where people were just receptive to this message, and you would think that it wouldn't be the case because they're all Catholic. They all believe you have to do works to get to heaven, but when you show them the truth of God's word, they repent, they change their mind. You know, they go from trusting in themselves to trusting in Christ, and that's a great thing to see. I'll read for you Matthew 11 28. The Bible says, Come unto me all ye that labor in our heavy laden. He's saying, Hey, work salvationists, come to me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest under your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You know, our burden's not light. It's not easy. You know, trying to follow the law to get to heaven, that's not an easy thing to do. It's an impossible thing to do, and without the sacrifice of Christ, without every single drop of blood that He spilled, without all the pain and agony that He went through, being separated from the Father, you know, becoming sin for us, becoming a curse for us, hey, without that we'd be all on our way to hell, and that's something we should never forget about, something we should never take for granted. Hey, the most thing that we should be thankful for this Thanksgiving is Jesus, and for His salvation that He gave us. Go to Psalm 65. I'll read for you John 3 36. He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Hey, we need to be thankful that God's wrath is not abiding on us. Hey, we've got that taken away. God separated our sins as far as the east is from the west. He's sewn it up in a bag. He's thrown it over his shoulder. I mean, it's gone. Our sins are gone. Praise God. We should always be thankful for that. Here's another thing I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for Steadfast Baptist Church. Psalm 65 4, the Bible says, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and cause us to approach unto thee. Notice that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Notice the word satisfied there. It's a synonym with thankfulness, right? He's saying, hey, I am satisfied. I am thankful for the goodness of thy house. You know, you don't want to be someone that's just complaining about church. God's not going to like that. And there's people that go to this church, I'm sure, and other great churches across America that complain about their church. And look, if you're looking for a perfect church, it's when you'll get to heaven, okay? There's never going to be a perfect church. So you ought to just be thankful, be satisfied with the church that you have. And if you've been coming here for a while, you know this is a special church. This is a church that God loves. This is a church that has gone through a lot. And hey, this is Steadfast Baptist Church. Second Timothy chapter number four. Let me flip there myself. Second Timothy chapter number four. You know, I'm thankful for our pastor. Second Timothy chapter four, look at verse one. This is instructions to a pastor. It says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. So the instruction to the pastor is, hey, you need to be preaching the word, preaching the Bible, not preaching your opinion, not preaching news articles, preaching God's word. And that's what we get at Steadfast Baptist Church. Hey, it's a blessing to have a pastor that obeys the instructions that God gave him. That is a blessing to have. Most churches do not have that. The church across the street dead sure doesn't have that. You know, Joel Osteen's church dead sure doesn't have that. You know, we got a pastor that obeys this and it says that he's supposed to be instant, meaning ready, out of things in season and out of season, whether something's popular or unpopular. We know we got that, right? You know Steadfast is unpopular? I don't know if you knew that. It's because we preach unpopular things here. But it's according to God's word. So it's a blessing to be at a church where the pastor's preaching things that are according to God's word. And notice what it says, reprove, rebuke, exhort. It's two-thirds negative. And you know, a lot of people would complain about receiving negative preaching. A lot of people would complain about a pastor preaching and stepping on your toes or preaching against your sin. But really, you should have the exact opposite attitude. You should actually be thankful because God instructed him to do it and he's doing it. That's something that's good. That's something that is not common to the world. That's something that's special to have a pastor that does that. And so us in our carnal minds, we sit there and have the exact opposite attitude sometimes that we should have. And let me just say this, you know, there's like a trend in our society, especially among the youth, where they say all feelings should be validated. All of your feelings should be validated no matter what your emotions are. You know, we should validate those emotions and say that it's okay to have those emotions. No! Not all of your emotions are valid. Not all of the feelings that you have are valid. Hey, if you're getting upset at the pastor preaching a hard sermon and it's according to God's word, that's a wrong emotion. That's not something that you should be feeling. And we should never foster this environment where we put up with people that would talk crap about the pastor or about the preacher that's preaching righteousness. We should never allow that type of culture. Look at verse number three. Why? For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Look, there's false churches popping up all over America. You know, there's way more false churches than there are churches like this. And so if we develop this culture where we're not thankful for hard preaching, hey, where are people going to go and get hard preaching if we all have that attitude? I mean, biblical preaching will start to die off. That's horrible. Think about that for your children. You know, if Steadfast Baptist Church wasn't here, hey, there are a few other churches in this area that preach the word of God and that go soul winning, but I said few. Few. And if the remaining churches that we have that still preach hard, if we back off on this, they'll be even less and even less. So we need to make sure we have the right attitude of being thankful. The Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. And hey, it's normal in your flesh. You're going to feel the sting. You're going to feel the pain if you get rebuked or if the preaching steps on your toes. But hey, you got to remind yourself to put yourself in the right emotional state. You know, you need to gird up the loins of your mind and say, OK, I feel this way, but I'm wrong to feel this way. And I'm going to change how I feel. See, some of you women have no idea what I'm talking about, but there's actually this thing where you realize that your emotion is wrong and you try to change it. It's a lot easier for men to do than women. OK, but you got to realize, hey, if this emotion I'm having is not according to God's word, it's a wrong emotion. And hey, that's OK. We're all sinners. Just try to get it right. Just try to get it right. You know, we got to think about, we should be thankful for hard preaching because there's so many consequences of sin that we miss out on because we have hard preaching. Right. So, you know, you got divorce rates in America that are over 50 percent. And in this church, that's not the case. Right. Everyone that I know that got married around the time that I did, hey, we're all still married. Right. It's a good thing. And there's lots of things like that, you know, alcohol. And obviously there's always going to be people that don't apply the preaching of God's word. But I'm saying the people that do apply the hard preaching, they get to miss out on the experience of being blacked out drunk. They get to miss out on the experience of losing their teeth in a bar fight. They get to miss out on the experience of knocking up some whore and committing adultery on your wife. They get to miss out on the experience of bringing home diseases to your family. Right. They get to miss out on going to jail for robbing a store. Right. These are the things that I want to miss out on. And you want to know why I miss out on some of these things. Not because I'm some great person. Not because I'm better than anyone out there. It's just because of God's word and the preaching of God's word. That's it. That's the only reason. Any of us could end up being just as wicked as some of the people out here if we didn't have God's word. We all have the same flesh, but we get to miss out on that junk and on that garbage by hearing God's word preached, by listening to hard preaching. That's something we should be thankful for. Yeah. Here's something else I'm thankful for. Go to Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 71. You know, by the way, speaking of church for a second, before I go to my next point, you know, you should be thankful that we have like-minded believers here. There was a time I went to an old IFB church for about three years, and I felt like there were certain things I just couldn't talk about. I couldn't talk about the post-trip. Here we could talk about the post-trip. I could have preached on the post-trip tonight if I wanted to, right? And I was going to this church, and I wasn't talking about some of my beliefs, didn't want to sow discord or whatever. And one night, one of my friends called me up, and she was like, hey, this guy is telling me that the rapture comes after the tribulation. Can you help give me some scripture to debunk him? And I'm like, well, he's right. Like, I'm not going around preaching my doctrine, but if you're just going to ask me, he's right. Then I get a call from the pastor. He wants to meet with me. I go to his office. He's like, oh, I hear you're listening to this guy in Arizona, Pastor Anderson. I'm like, I was like, yeah, I listened to him, Pastor Jimenez, Pastor Burns. I start naming all these people off. And he's like, so I hear, you know, you believe this doctrine that he called it mid-trip. I was like, no, it's not mid-trip. It's, you know, we believe after the tribulation. And he goes, oh, I appreciate your candor. And he's like, I'm not an expert on this subject, so I'd like you to meet with Sam Gipp. So it's like, praise God, we're at Steadfast Baptist Church where we could actually talk doctrine, where you're not going to get pulled into the office and be like, meet with Sam Gipp. No, no, no, thank you. And Sam Gipp was blowing up my phone for a couple weeks. Shortly after that is when Sam Gipp preached that Jesus's name wasn't supposed to be Jesus. And I just quit the church. I was like, I'm out of here. This is a joke. And so I ended up going to another Old IFB church for a short time before I eventually moved to Sure Foundation in Vancouver and then moved here in 2020. So that's my church background, but that makes me thankful for church though. Having gone through that, having been in a church where you can't just talk Bible with people, it makes me more thankful to be in this one, right? Here's another thing I'm thankful for. Psalm 119, I'm thankful for the hardships that we go through in life. You say, what? Thankful for hardships? I thought we were supposed to not desire to have anything stressful in our life. We, you know, we're waiting for our lives to be perfect. Well, look what the Bible says. Psalm 119 verse 71. The Bible says, it is good for me that I've been afflicted. Like what? It's good for me. Notice that I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Man, has our church learned a lot by the affliction that we've gone through? I mean, haven't we learned the Bible better? Doesn't everyone in here understand the reprobate doctrine, right? Everyone in here understands the reprobate doctrine. Everyone in here knows Leviticus 2013, right? Everyone in here knows the word of God. Why? Because of all the afflictions that we've gone through. And we could look at it and want to complain and be unthankful to God that we have to be the church that's in the news, that we have to be the church that's protested, that we have to be the church that's harassed everywhere you go. Hey, I'm thankful for it, because my children are going to grow up and realize that everything that dad preached is true, because they're the ones, you know, yelling and screaming profanities and sick things at the kids, and we're in here praising the Lord, being normal, and not looking like ogre goblins from hell. Praise God. I'm thankful for that. And you know, when you think about it, when you, because in the grand scheme of things, when you compare our church to other churches, throughout history, to other Christians even now, we really haven't gone through that much. We really haven't gone through that much persecution. None of us have been William Tyndale here. I know that some people in here fake a count. I won't say who, but no one in here has actually been burned at the stake, all right? But think about it. If you go through smaller levels of persecution, if you go through smaller battles, it's going to better prepare you for the big battles. It's going to better prepare you for the Goliaths in the future. And you think about David, go to 1 Samuel 17. David, before he fought Goliath, he fought some other battles first. 1 Samuel 17, I'll start reading in verse 32. The Bible says, And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with the Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. This is just epic to me, how, you know, David, he's going to fight a serious enemy. David's a young, he's a youth, the Bible says, and he's about to fight some giant who's been a soldier since his youth. I mean, this is outmatched from a physical perspective, but guess what, David, he's already fought a couple battles, he's already tasted blood, as it were, he knew how to take care of himself, he took care of the lion, he took care of the bear, he slew them, he delivered the lamb out of their mouth, and he was able to go and fight against the uncircumcised Philistine, and he wasn't trusting in himself, he wasn't trusting in his strength, he's going in the name of the Lord, he's trusting in the Lord, but hey, those previous battles is what strengthened him for the next battle. And you know, for us, we may go through small tribulations at this time, but there's coming a Goliath tribulation someday, there's coming an uncircumcised Philistine tribulation someday, called the Great Tribulation, and who do you think is going to fare better at that time? People who have never experienced any persecution, people that have never been lied about, people that have never been followed around by freaks, people that have never been protested, or someone that at least has gone through some light affliction, and even us, I don't think that we're just going to be super macho, spiritual, just because we go to Said Past Baptist Church, you know, we need to take heed lest we fall and have a humble view of ourselves, but I'm just saying, just realistically speaking, who do you think is going to last in the Christian life? Someone that's never gone through anything hard, or someone that's at least had some light affliction. So instead of looking at our experience at Said Past Baptist Church and being like, woe is me, Lord, you've added grief to my sorrow, like Baruch, and complaining and whining, hey, thank you, Lord, that you've sent some bears for us to destroy, thank you, Lord, that you've sent some lions for us to destroy, hey, so that we could be ready to fight Goliath someday. That's the way that we should look at it. Here's something else that I'm thankful for. I'm thankful to live in the United States of America, all right? Hey, some people get this idea that just because in the new IFB that we preach hard against the sins of our country, that we somehow hate America. It's the exact opposite of the truth, okay? Let me read for you a verse. The Bible says, thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. The one that you're actually rebuking is the one that you love, and we don't get up here and constantly harp on the sins of Libya. We don't get up here and constantly harp on the sins of Sudan and Chad and Afghanistan. No, we rip on America's sin. Why? Because we love America. We love the people here, and don't get this weird idea that, oh, you know, those new IFB people, they just hate America. No, I love America. I still believe that America is the greatest country in the world to live in. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else if I don't have to. I'm thankful that I live in the United States. Hey, I enjoyed preaching the Gospel in Mexico. It was refreshing to have people very receptive to the Gospel, but every time I go to Mexico, I come back saying, praise God, I live in America. We have it good here. And don't get overly cynical of America acting like it's the worst place on earth. Folks, it's still the best place on earth, despite of its sins. It's still where all the best churches in the world are, for the most part. It's still where the vast majority of the best churches in the world are, you know where they are? Right here in the United States. It's still where the most soul winners live. Hey, it's still where Steadfast Baptist Church is. It's still the best place to raise a family. Still has the best homeschool laws, to my knowledge. Praise God, it still has no hate speech laws. You know, someone mistakenly believed and came up to me saying, oh, America just passed some hate speech law where it's illegal to preach parts of the Bible. Nope, false. False. Hey, we definitely have a lot of people in America that would like to get rid of the First Amendment, but let's just be honest, we still have the First Amendment. Now, courts don't often, don't always enforce the law correctly, but the liberals that would love to just run, ramshot all over us and destroy Christianity, they can't right now. You want to know why? Because of God's protection primarily, but hey, it's through the vessel of the First Amendment. It is, I'm thankful for it. You know, America still has beauty and prosperity. Where would you like to live right now? Would you like to live in Haiti? Where I just came back from Mexico and there's just hundreds of people from Haiti on the border fleeing war from their country and I spoke to these people and I said, why are you leaving Haiti? They said, we have no food, no grocery stores, no schools, and I don't even have a gun to fight in the war. We have no gun, we'll just die. You want to live in Haiti? We have it good in America. You want to live in Ukraine? Going through probably the most bloody war since World War II? Trench warfare? You don't want to be there right now. Hey, I'm thankful that we live in America and I hope that through the preaching of Steadfast Baptist Church and other churches like us, that we can be the salt and the light and preserve this nation and keep it going and not just throw America in the trash and say that it's done. Let's try to at least preserve it for a little longer. Obviously, hey, in the end times, Babylon's getting destroyed, we realize that, but let's just try to make sure there's 10 righteous in the city. Let's just try to make sure that it doesn't become Sodom and Gomorrah, that our kids can still have freedom and still have a place to go to church. That's what we should desire. Here's another thing I'm thankful for. Good health. Now, maybe not everyone has this, but just praise God you'll go to heaven sooner, right? You could always be thankful for something, right? But I was sick over the weekend. I slept for literally like 12 hours on Sunday. Super sick, bad fever. It was awful. And every time I'm sick, I'm like, man, praise God for good health. We should use that for as long as we have it and serve God with our strength, with our bodies, go soul winning till the day we die. Let me list off a couple other things that I'm just personally thankful for. First of all, of course, I'm thankful for my wife and children. You know, a lot of people would be like, oh, why would you want to get married so young and have kids so young? Hey, thank God I'm 25 and have three kids. I'm thankful for that. Hey, I'm thankful that I'm going to have teenage kids helping me out when I'm still young. Praise God. Lord willing, I'll be a young grandpa someday. And my wife, an even younger grandparent because she's only 22 with three kids. So we got some time still. I'm thankful for that. Thankful for my job. It's a blessing to be in the ministry. Let me just say some other things I'm thankful for. Thankful for coffee. You say, are you joking? No, I'm thankful for coffee. Thankful for guns. Thankful to live in the United States and have a second amendment and be able to carry a gun to defend my family. That's something I couldn't do in Mexico. I felt like a part of me was missing. This doesn't feel right. Right. Thankful for technology. We could talk to our family members that live far away. We could travel to far places very quickly. Thankful for the musicians in our church. So I don't have to sing up here acapella all the time. Thank you to all our musicians. I'm thankful for Costco. I love Costco. Thankful for Texas chili. I was ignorant about this doctrine before I moved here. And it's the right doctrine. No beans and chili. I'm thankful for Texas chili. I'm thankful for Texas barbecue. And I'm thankful that in heaven we'll have better weather than here in Texas. But hey, I could be thankful that I have sunscreen now. Right. At least I could have that. So let's just conclude here. Go back to Jeremiah 45. Jeremiah 45. You know, I hope so far the sermons just made you realize that we have so much to be thankful for. And the Bible says to be thankful in all things. So I'm just listing things off here. But really, if we were to make a list, it's just everything. We should just be thankful for absolutely everything in our life. Everything that God's done for us. Let's tie this back to Baruch here. Let's read verse number four. It says, Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus, Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord. But thy life will I give unto thee for a pray in all places whither thou goest. Notice, what was Baruch's issue? He was focused on himself. And God, knowing his heart, kind of revealed this to us through the Scripture, saying, hey, you're seeking great, are you seeking great things for yourself? Saying, all these people are going to die. All these people are going to be destroyed. And are you seeking great things for yourself, Baruch? And, you know, we got to realize that we're not as special as we think we are. You know, this whole world's going to hell. And we're saved. And we live in America. And we have Texas chili. And we have our health. We have all these blessings that God has given us. What business do we have to be complaining or to be whining or to be unthankful to God? We have no business feeling that way whatsoever. But the reason why people feel that way oftentimes is because they're focused on themselves. Because instead of finding the joy in the Lord, like Paul told us about, they're finding the joy in, hey, how's my bank account doing? How's my garage doing? Is it filled up with toys and cars? Hey, how's my family doing? How's my health doing? How's my hobbies doing? And that type of life will lead to misery. You know, Solomon, he gave himself all the desires of his heart. He didn't hold back anything from him that was pleasant. And you know what he said? He said, I hated life. That's what Solomon said. He said, well, no, you don't understand. If I had all the money, if I had all the desires of my heart, I'd be happy. It's the opposite. That does not make you happy. I'll show you what makes you happy. Go to John chapter 13. Jesus will tell us what makes people happy. John chapter 13, we have the story where Jesus, he just got done washing his disciples' feet. The God himself in the flesh just became humble and served his disciples. And he's going to tell us what happiness looks like here in John 13. Let's start reading in verse number 12. The Bible says, so after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again, he said unto them, know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me master and lord, and ye say, well, for so I am. If I then your lord and master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. Now pay attention to this verse. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. Happy are ye if you do them. How do you get happiness? By hearing the things that Jesus said, looking to the example that Jesus did, and doing it. Happiness is found by following the word of God. He doesn't say happy are you if you read this story. Happy are you if you understand the story. Happy are ye if ye do them. If ye do them. I'll read for you a couple verses. You can go to Proverbs 14. Romans 12 10 says, be kindly affectioned one toward another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another. That sounds like what Jesus did, preferring his disciples, being humble, washing their feet, serving them even though he's their lord. He's their lord. He's the God of all heaven and earth. I'll read another one. Philippians 2 4 says, look not every man to his own things, but to every man also on the things of others. It's human nature to want to look on your own things, to care about yourself, to care about what's going on in your world. But Jesus, what he did is he looked on others. He looked on all of us and cared for all of us and preferred us and sacrificed himself for us. Proverbs 3 verse 13, the Bible says, happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding. Proverbs 14 11 says this, the house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness. And I want to end on this note. There's a common temptation for all of us, because we're all sinners, we all have the flesh, to look at the world's happiness, to look at people who seem like they're enjoying themselves, that seem like they're having a good time, and to desire that. But right here the Bible's reminding us that there's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And it says, even in laughter the heart is sorrowful. You say, yeah, the world, it looks like they're having a good time at the bar. Look, they're all laughing it up. Yeah, but inside they're sorrowful, inside they're miserable, inside the only reason they're drinking half of them is just to forget about the terrible life that they have, forget about all the pain and misery that they have from dealing with the consequences of their sin on this earth. And so don't look at the world and say, man, I really just desire to have their happiness. I desire to live that lifestyle that the world is living. Hey, the Bible says that the end of those things is death. It's death. And even when they're laughing, even when they're partying, even when they're having a good time, it's fake. It's fake. They're not actually happy. And so us as God's people, we don't want to be like Baruch that's just wallowing in our own self-pity, that's just sad all the time, that's unthankful. Look, I've talked about so many things in our lives that we should be thankful for. All of us should be thankful people to God. And so this Thanksgiving, hey, don't make it all about the Black Friday shopping, you know, and I'm not saying that stuff's a sin, but don't sit here and be like, well, if I don't get Black Friday shopping, I'm just going to be unthankful. I'm not going to be happy. And you know, you probably wouldn't say it like that, but you know your own thoughts, you know your own heart. Don't have a wicked attitude like that. We all need to be thankful for the things that we have. Be thankful for the church we have, be thankful for salvation, for all the great blessings that God has given us. Let's close in a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for our church. Thank you so much for your word that can just instruct us and give us wisdom. We wouldn't have any wisdom without you, Lord, and thank you that if we take heed to it, we're just able to avoid some of the pitfalls that other people unfortunately have to endure. I pray that everyone in here would just love God's Word, that they would take it seriously, and that they would apply it to their lives, and that we'd all be a thankful people. We love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. All right, for our last song this evening, we're going to go to 244 Amazing Grace. 244 Amazing Grace. 244 Amazing Grace. 165 Amazing Grace. 165 Amazing Grace. 164 Amazing Grace. 164 How sweet the sound 164 Amazing Grace. 164 That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. On the second. 164 It was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. 164 How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed.