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Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, everybody, thank you for showing up to Pure Words Baptist Church. Glad you could all make it here tonight. Man, learning this Houston traffic, it's a miracle anybody can make it here, so glad you could make it here. We're going to start off in song number 20, When I See the Blood. Song number 20, sing it all together on the first. When I see the blood, When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. Chiefess of sinners, Jesus can save, As He has promised, so will He do. O sinner, hear Him, trust in His word, Then He will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, When I see the blood, When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. Judgment is coming, all will be there, Who have rejected, who have refused, O sinner, hasten, let Jesus in, Then God will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, When I see the blood, When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. On the last, O what compassion, O boundless love, Jesus hath power, Jesus is true, All who believe are saved from the storm, O He will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, When I see the blood, When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. Amen, good singing. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we just thank you that we could gather here tonight to hear the preaching of your word. Thank you for brother Dylan driving down here. I pray you bless him and his family for the sacrifice they make for this church. And just bless our ears as we hear your word that we'd be ready to accept it, Lord, and apply it to our lives. And please just bless these folks here who are taking the time out of the week to come to the service. We love you, Father, and pray all these things would be done in your honor and glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Next is going to be 138. The Haven of Rest. 138. Sing it all together on the first. 138. My soul and sad exiles out on life's sea, So burdened with sin and distress, Till I heard a sweet voice say, Make me your choice, And I entered the haven of rest. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep, For the wild stormy deep, In Jesus' eyes safe evermore. I yielded myself to his tender embrace, And faith taking hold of the word. My fetters fell off, And I anchored my soul. The haven of rest is my Lord, I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep, For the wild stormy deep, In Jesus' eyes safe evermore. The song of my soul, Since the Lord made me whole, Has been the old story so blessed, Of Jesus who'll save, Whosoever will have, A home in the haven of rest. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep, For the wild stormy deep, In Jesus' eyes safe evermore. O come to the Savior, He patiently waits, To save by His power divine. Come, anchor your soul in the haven of rest, And say, my beloved is mine. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep, For the wild stormy deep, In Jesus' eyes safe evermore. Amen, great singing. At this time we'll go through our announcements. Do we have a couple bulletins left over? All right, brother James, he has some bulletins for you. If you need one, raise up your hand nice and high. On the front page of the bulletin, you'll see beautiful mountains, hopefully. I want that mountain, right? We started a new Bible memory chapter, we're in Romans chapter four, verse number one. So we just started, so now it's time to get on board, right? Verse number one, pretty small verse as you can see. So everybody, I hope to be able to start this, but at least push your kids to do it and then bring them back next Thursday. We got some ice cream or popsicles or let me know what snack you want. If it's going to get them to come, if they need a Twinkie or whatever, if they're going to memorize it, we'll hook you up with something, all right? For you adults, anybody, if you quote the entire chapter, if you can quote all of Romans chapter four, you get a special prize. And this is 25 verses, so it's going to be a big prize. Might not be a car, but you know, get you a nice pencil or something. No, I'm just kidding. Be nicer than a pencil, I'm sure. Inside of the bulletin, you'll see our service time, Sunday morning, 10 30, Sunday evening, 5 30, Thursday evening at seven. We got brother Dylan with us tonight. And so I think pastor Shelley will be back here next Thursday, probably unless something comes up, pastor Shelley will probably be back next Thursday. So they're just kind of helping me ease in. So it's nice having them come down and preach the Thursday service. Plus, you know, they're better preachers. So you get a break from me as well. So you can enjoy that. Churchwide so many times, brother James, he does Sundays at 2 PM, Thursdays right before the service at 5 15. Those meet here at the building and brother Mo, his time is out on area. So if you want to go on Saturdays, he goes around two o'clock. You can just text him directly. That way y'all don't got to drive here to church and all that. So just talk, contact him. And I'm here and my schedule's pretty free, especially with my new job. And so I'd be glad to help you go soul winning. So if you can't go to any of these soul winning times, shoot me a text, shoot me a call. We can meet up together somewhere and we can go soul winning. So I'd like to do that if I can, if these things don't work out with you. And typically my wife and I, we're not going to make this an official soul winning time, but we're probably going to go out Saturday mornings just because it's not as hot. And we've got a one year old, so that's the best time for us. So that's when we plan out going. And so if you want to join up with us to shoot me a text message and we can let you know where we're planning on going. I think that's it for soul winning. The stats so far for the month, we got 29 salvations, 260 for the year. And we got two baptisms for July and we got seven for the year. So those are some great numbers right there. So keep up the good work on soul winning. I think I need to get soul winning from the last few days. Yeah. So I guess we go back to Monday. Anybody Monday, Tuesday. Can I get a Tuesday? Wednesday and Thursday. Three for today. Praise the Lord. That's awesome. So good job going out there. So you survived the rain. So we've got three salvations. So that's 263 for the year and that'll be 32 for July. So that's awesome. Please be in prayer for our expecting lady. We have Christian Rogers. She's expecting May 15th. Just keep her in your prayers that her and the baby would be in health. It's very difficult anytime somebody is pregnant. So we'd like to ask everybody to pray for them. August 18th through the 20th is the mighty men's conference. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be a bunch of mighty men. So if you're not mighty yet, you got a couple of weeks to get, you know, get mighty, hit the gym or whatever you got to do. You know, stop crying or, you know, you got time to prepare. Okay. Cause there's no, there's no crying on this trip. It's for mighty men. You can cry on the way home when nobody knows when you're tired and sore. There's lots of fun. I wasn't able to go last year, so I should be able to go this year. I know they did like different sports activities and I saw they are on the water. They're like knocking people off into the water doing, doing fights and stuff like that. So it'll be a lot of fun if you can make it. I put a signup sheet in the back. So even if you already told pastor or anybody, you already told people you're going, I'd still like you to sign up on that sheet just so we can be clear. And we got to, we, we know who's going so we can just prepare and it's completely free. So you don't got to pay anything. You just drag your carcass there. And there's also a thing that you can put if you want a carpool. So if you want to ride with somebody else, especially with gas prices nowadays, it's always nice if you can share a ride unless it's with brother James. Just kidding. Let me prayer requests. We have the Goodwin family. They're up at steadfast. So just pray for their healing and comfort brother Edward, just for his health. Mrs. Liberty's daughter-in-law mother, Catherine, with her breast cancer and brother Joel, he has an unspoken prayer request that you be in prayer for them. And then we're just asking for blessings upon Oklahoma city. It's a church plant by steadfast. So we just ask you pray for their blessing that the work thriving there. And if you have any prayer requests, just email them to the church and we can throw them in here. If you want them private, just let us know, or just tell us what things you don't want included. And we'll be sure to not include that. But at this time, we'll go ahead and pray for everybody mentioned here. Dear heavenly father, we thank you that we have pure words, Baptist church. Thank you for pastor Shelley and his leadership and guidance. Thank you for all the ladies we have that are just constantly getting pregnant throughout the year. I just pray you to help continue then Lord, to be able to continue and bear children. You help Mrs. Christian throughout her pregnancy, Lord, that it'd just be easy and as pain-free as possible, especially for her delivery. And that you just help that baby to be in health and that everything would go well for them. We'd also ask you just bless this church with soul owners. Where do we know the fields are white, they're ready to harvest, but the laborers are few. And I just pray you'd send out more soul winners that we could go out and reap these fields, especially in our area. And I pray you'd rise up more faithful men that could start churches in every city. And then we could, the pastor Shelley could send men out of this church to go start so many churches in other cities. I like Lord to pray for the people at this church with their various requests. I pray you be with the Goodwin family. You know, it's just been such a pain and a struggle for them. I just pray you comfort their heart so you'd be with Jeff and Wendy and help Anna and Daniel to heal. They could just make a full recovery. I'd also like to pray for brother Edward. Lord, it's such a blessing having him at this church. He's a good example and he's just very zealous. And I just pray you'd help his health. They could just continue to grow and thrive and be here with us. We also pray for Catherine. You just please heal her breast cancer. I know that's very difficult and especially for her family. And I just pray you give her more time here on earth that you would cleanse her. For brother Joel, he just has an unspoken request, Lord. And I just pray you'd help their family with whatever it is they're suffering with. I'd also like to pray for your blessing upon the church in Oklahoma City. It's a great church up there. And give pastor Shelley and brother Fer, the evangelist up there, just wisdom and just help that church to continue to grow and to thrive and get people saved. We love you, Father, and thank you for all you do and want to pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Church reminders. You got the nice prayer, so now it's time for a hard preaching. We just ask you keep the children off the stage. Expensive piano. So if you see a child up here, if it's your child, take them away. Especially we got the baptism. We don't want them jumping in here, ruining things. We got a nice pulpit. Okay, so if you see kids up here, just keep an eye on your children. Don't allow your children to run around. It's easy. Small church, bump into people, break things. So if you see them running, correct it. If your child is being a distraction, we got a mother-baby room where you could take them outside and just take care of business, whatever you got to do. And just don't leave your children alone in the mother-baby room. Even if it's like a sibling or something, we just want the mother to be there with them for the child's safety and just to keep an eye on them because it's not fun just taking care of other people's kids and you're stuck there and things are going crazy. And if your child is just being a distraction in there, just please take them out or take care of the distraction because other ladies are in there trying to listen to the sermon and everything else. So just keep that in mind. That way, we don't have any problems with the service. And we love having the children here, but also we want to keep things balanced so that everything will be done decently and in order. So with that, I think we're done with announcements. If you want to take out your hymnal again, we're going to sing 145. It is well with my soul. That's brother Dylan's favorite, right? Try to pick a good one for him. It is well. So with the chorus, especially tonight, we don't have a whole lot of ladies. So the ladies are here. I need y'all to really belt it out on this chorus, all right? So the ladies will start off and then the men will follow after the ladies on the course. 145. It is well with my soul. When peace like a river attended my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lawn thou hast taught me to say. It is well. It is well with my soul. Ladies. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come. Let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless disdain and has shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious law. My sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. And Lord hates the day when my faith shall be signed. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. Oh, the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. Amen. That was beautiful. Good job on the chorus. At this time, while the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Romans chapter number eight. Romans chapter number eight. Brother James is going to read for us. Romans chapter number eight. And the Bible reads, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be, can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what man, for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them also justified, and whom He justified, them also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is He that condemneth? Is it Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again? Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let's pray. Amen. All right, well it's great to see everyone. Thank you as always to Pastor Shelley for giving me the opportunity to preach. It's especially more sweet now that you guys have an evangelist and I don't anticipate to be preaching as often as I had, so I really do appreciate the opportunity that I have today. And also I just want to say, you know, make sure that you treat the Urbanic family well because we'll take them back. I miss my song leader. Whenever I was making the song leading schedule, if there's a song I'm like, yeah that's a little too high for me to sing, I'll give that to Brother Duncan, you know. I need that guy back, so if you guys mistreat him, you know, I'll take him back. So I think it's awesome that Brother Duncan came here and I'm really excited for the future of this church. This church already was doing great things for God and I just see that accelerating even more now. So I'm praying for you guys. I'm very happy with the direction this church is going. So we're here in Romans chapter 8. It's a pretty long chapter so we'll just go ahead and get right into it. Romans chapter number 8. I just want to do a Bible study through this chapter this evening. Let's start reading in verse number 1. The Bible says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. And right off the bat when we get into Romans chapter 8, it's another great verse to prove that you can never lose your salvation. Because if you have the King James Bible in front of you, my Bible says that there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Yet how many people want to tell you that, well, if you start living a life of sin, you'll be condemned to hell. Well, if someone commits suicide, they'll be condemned. Well, if someone stops going to church, if they stop reading the Bible, if they stop praying, they're going to be condemned. But no, the Bible says there's no condemnation. No condemnation whatsoever. I'll read for you John 3 18 says this, he that believeth on him, speaking of Jesus, is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The Bible makes it very clear the difference between those people that are condemned to hell and those people that are not condemned is based on one thing. It's on your faith in Jesus Christ. And all throughout the book of Romans, we've seen this hammered over and over and over again where the book of Romans destroys this doctrine of work salvation. It destroys this idea that you could somehow lose your salvation by not continuing to do good works. I mean, in Romans chapter 7, we're learning about the relationship that we had with the law and about our sinful flesh. We already realized that we can't keep the law. So, of course, you're not going to have any condemnation if we're in Christ Jesus. We already had condemnation in the law. If you're in Christ Jesus, you have no condemnation. You can never lose your salvation. Romans 8, look at verse number 2. It says this, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Notice the only way to be free from sin and death is through Christ Jesus. That's the only way. It doesn't say that, you know, good works made me free from the law of sin and death. No, you were already condemned. You already had a sin and death abiding on you because of the law. Now, because of Jesus Christ, that's what's able to free you from that. Your good works are not going to free you from that. It's not possible. Verse 3, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. Notice there's something that the law could not do. And that's free you from sin and death, right? Yet, you have the dispensationalists that tell you, well, like, oh, in the Old Testament, it was a mixture of law and faith. But the Bible says literally right here, what the law could not do and can never do is save you. The law cannot make you free from sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Go ahead and keep your place there and turn to 2 Corinthians 5. You know, you have to realize that the price that Jesus Christ paid for us, the debt that we owed was so huge and it was completely impossible for us to ever be saved without his sacrifice. You should never just take your salvation for granted or just make light of it. No, you have to realize that without Christ, you were damned on your way to hell. The Bible says, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. It says this, for he hath made him, speaking of Jesus, to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You know, every once in a while, it's good to just remember what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us and just to appreciate the great sacrifice that he did. That without Jesus Christ, the law couldn't save us. We were under the bondage of sin and death. We were condemned to hell, but Jesus Christ literally became sin for us. That is a huge sacrifice. That's a sacrifice that he himself didn't even want to pay. He was even praying to the Father saying, if there's any other way, take this cup from me. He was sweating just profusely at what he was going to have to go through on the cross and thereafter in hell. He was sweating, as it were, great drops of blood for the horrible suffering that he was about to go through, but he did it for us because he loved us and because it was the only way that we could be saved. The only possible way. We should never forget that it's the law of the Spirit of Christ that makes us free from sin and death. Not your own good works. Never think that you're something special. Never think that just because you're saved that all of a sudden you're like a great person now. No, you were just saved by grace from the law of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Nothing else. It was by grace alone. Romans 8, go back to Romans 8, says this in verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Notice the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us now once we're saved. How is that? Well, because now we have a perfectly righteous spirit because Jesus Christ gave us a completely new regenerate saved spirit and so now the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us by our good works. No, of course not. You need to go back to Romans chapter 7, right? Your flesh doesn't want to obey the word of God. You have this battle inside of you and you see a different law in your mind warring against the law of your flesh and so obviously it's not your flesh that fulfilled those things. It's the Spirit of Christ that fulfilled those things. I'll read for you. You can stay there. 1 John 3, 9 says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, this verse is completely true. This is a great verse, but this is a verse that false prophets often like to take out of context and tell you, oh see now I'm perfectly sinless because the Bible says whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, right? You got guys like Jesse Lee Peterson, this false prophet sodomite that interviewed Pastor Anderson several years ago and he's like just mocking the fact that, wow, Pastor Anderson is admitting that he still sins. Jesse Lee Peterson is saying, well, I don't sin at all. He's a liar and he just got busted for being a sodomite. It's literally like a 40-minute documentary about him on YouTube getting busted as a sodomite. So, of course, anyone that wants to take you to this verse and say that they no longer sin, you know that person's a false prophet. But what is this talking about? It's talking about our spirit because our spirit is perfectly righteous. Our spirit hasn't sinned. That new man is 100% perfect as we learn in Romans chapter number seven, but our flesh is still sinful, right? Our flesh will be sinful until the day we die, but our renewed, our new man is 100% perfect, sinless, is not a sinner whatsoever. Go to Romans chapter eight. Let's look at verse number five. It says this, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. Now, something you have to know, and if you're in this church, you probably realize this, that out there, there is a battle today for your mind, and it's not the battle that Alex Jones likes to talk about. He likes to hijack that phrase and say, you know, there's a battle for your mind. You know, you gotta fight against the gay frogs and against all the chemtrails and all that stuff, right? That's not the battle that I'm talking about right now, okay? When I'm talking about there's a battle for your mind, what I'm talking about is that there's a battle for your mind based off of fleshly things and spiritual things, and how you overcome the flesh, how you live the Christian life, how you can, you know, repent of a sin and stop committing a certain sin, how you do that is the fight in the mind. If you look at a person and they're living a really fleshly, worldly, carnal life, let me tell you why they're living that way is because they're losing the battle in their mind, and if you see another person where they're living a godly life, they're soul-winning, they're going to church, they're memorizing scripture, they're preaching the word of God, it's because that person is winning the battle in their mind. Where your mind goes, the body follows, because notice, let's read this again, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. The Bible talks about the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, and it lists a whole bunch of sins, right? Fornication, idolatry, covetousness, all of these sins. How does a person get to the point where they are an idolater, where they are committing fornication, where they are committing adultery? I'll tell you why, because that's where their mind was. You don't just wake up one day, slip and fall, and murder someone. You don't just wake up one day, slip and fall, and commit adultery. You know what happens is you start thinking about it. You start thinking about it long before you ever get to the destination of committing that sin, and when you're thinking about it, you're not foreseeing the road that you're going down, and you're not even necessarily seeing the end result of the sin that you're thinking about, but when you start thinking about sin is where you're starting to lose the battle. You think about King David, you know, he's sitting on his roof at the time when kings go forth to battle, and he sees a beautiful woman, and he starts thinking about her. He starts thinking about how it'd be nice to have her, and he calls and summons her, and he eventually ends up committing adultery, but do you think that David realized that the result of that sin would be Uriah the Hittite being killed, his baby being killed, and his son Absalom laying with all of his wives in the sight of all Israel? Do you really think that David foresaw all of those horrible consequences to his sin? No, but guess what? David lost the battle there in his mind, and other times when David was doing great exploits for the Lord, I mean, when he's facing Goliath as a young lad, you don't want to know why that led him to do that is because his mind was on spiritual things. He wasn't focused on the flesh and his disparity of force right now. He was thinking, hey, you know, I come to you in the name of the Lord God of Israel, right, that all the earth may know. He had a spiritual mindset at that time, and so if you find yourself really struggling with the sin, you need to find a way to break that in your thought processes in your mind because you can't just will yourself to stop sinning because you have the flesh. You have to cut it off at the mind, and they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. They think about the things of the flesh. Likewise, if you want to be a spiritual person, and I think that's everyone here, you come to Pure Words Baptist Church, you say, my goal is to be a spiritual person. Here's how you start taking the first steps, what you are thinking about, where your mind is. Do you wake up in the morning and force yourself to start thinking about something spiritual? That's why reading the Bible in the morning is such a great thing because, hey, if I want to be after the Spirit, my mind has to be after the things of the Spirit. How am I going to do that? Well, I'm going to let the Holy Spirit speak to me by reading the Word of God. You want to be playing hymns in your car rather than listening to the garbage music of today, because if you're just listening to fleshly things, your mind is going to be after fleshly things. That's going to lead you down a road that leads to serious sin. If you listen to godly things, it'll lead you down a road where you're coming to church, where you're preaching the gospel to people, where you're hearing good preaching. That's where you want to be. You have to realize that the battle, it is for your mind. It starts in the mind. You're not going to just will yourself to stop sinning. It has to be cut off in the mind. Go to Romans chapter number six. Romans chapter number six. Let's look at verse number 12. It says this, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. We see here that God wants you to use your body, your carnal body, your instruments, your members as unto service unto God. And like I said, how are you going to do that? You're not going to just will your flesh to serve God. It starts in the mind, and when you build that habit of starting in the mind thinking about spiritual things, that's what's going to lead you down a road to a life of serving God is starting in the mind, and that goes both ways. Let's go to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. Look at verse number six. It says this, For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And people don't really believe this or understand this oftentimes until it's too late. Oftentimes until they've gone down that road of sin and their life is completely destroyed, and sometimes there is no remedy for just the destruction that they've left in their way. You think about a horrible sin like adultery oftentimes there's no remedy for that. You know the Bible does say that you should forgive your spouse, but oftentimes they won't do that. Oftentimes there is no remedy for that, and you just have to understand that to be carnally minded is death. Being carnal will destroy your life. Being carnal will completely ruin your life, and so if you want a reason to serve God, how about this so that your life doesn't get destroyed? I mean sometimes people lack motivation of why do I come to church week after week after week. Well maybe you've just gotten a little jaded to the fact that if you lived a carnal life your life would be destroyed. You know why don't you go to downtown Houston and look at some of these drug addicts that don't even know what planet they're on. They don't even know if they're an animal, a mineral, or a vegetable when they wake up in the morning because they've shot up so many drugs into their bodies. Look those people have destroyed their life, and people want to make fun of Christians. Oh you show up to church three times a week. Oh you're like a cult going out door to door. Yeah but guess what? My family's happy. I'm a happy person. I live a happy life. The people in here look normal and happy, and they're not emaciated walking zombies like these drug addicts are. They're not committing suicide on gigantic rates like they are out in Hollywood. These really hyper successful people you think oh they're so happy, yet they have really high rates of suicide. Why is that? It says this, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's what everyone wants. Everyone wants their life to just be peaceful, for things to be prosperous, but how that is found is through obeying God's commandments, and everyone wants life and peace, right? Everyone wants to have a peaceful life and a successful life, but people don't want to have to do what needs to be done to get there which is through obeying God's commandments. You know people see having a fruitful family is such a burden, right, but yet when they get to their deathbed they want people to be there to care for them, right? They don't want to be left in the nursing home where no one cares about them whatsoever, but yet you made fun of the people that obeyed God's commandments that were fruitful and multiplied, and when they're in their old age they actually have people that take care of them and that love them and that respect them and that honor them. Meanwhile you wanted to sow your wild oats as a young person, and you're alone. You know we had a ministry when I went to Sure Foundation Baptist Church before COVID destroyed everything, and it was a nursing home ministry, and I loved that ministry, but what was really sad about that ministry is that a lot of the people that were in those nursing homes had no one in their life, no one that cared about them, no one that loved them. Their family just completely abandoned them, and I tell you what there was many many many of the old ladies that were there that were talking about how they wished that they had had more children, because here they are in their old age and they've got no one to take care of them, but why is that? Well often it's because they didn't obey God's commandments. Often it's because you're reaping what you've sown, and if you want life and peace it's not going to be through living a carnal life. It's not going to be through a life that it's just serving yourself, doing whatever you want. It's going to be by looking at this book and doing what it says, not just being a hearer of the word but being a doer of the word. Look at verse number seven, because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be. So notice first of all the unsaved they can't even begin to start living a godly life because the carnal mind cannot be subject to the law of God the Bible says right? And it says this because the carnal mind is enmity against God. Now I kind of want to change gears real quick and explain this thought in the Bible and that is that you can be saved according to the Bible and still be an enemy of God. Go to James chapter number four, James chapter number four. Like I said it's a Bible study we're just going through this chapter and wherever it leads us that's what we're going to talk about. James chapter number four, so we just read how the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is enmity against God. Look at James 4-4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. There we have that word again. Now the Bible is going to define what that means. Whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Now does this say whosoever is unsaved is the enemy of God? No, it's just saying if you love the world you're the enemy of God. So there actually is a danger for even people that go to a good church, even people that are saved, born-again believers, to actually live a life where you can become the enemy of God. This is not a place you ever want to get to in your life but I'm explaining to you that this is possible so that hopefully you could avoid it at all costs. Now I told you keep your place there in Romans. Let's keep reading really quickly. It says in verse number eight, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his. Now go to second Samuel chapter number 12. We're talking about how you can still be saved and be the enemy of God. Let's look at second Samuel chapter number 12. I thought this was something pretty cool that Pastor Shelley pointed out a few weeks ago in his Bible study but this is Nathan the prophet rebuking King David and look what it says starting in verse number nine. It says, wherefore thou hast despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and has taken his wife to be thy wife and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because, notice this, thou hast despised me and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Nathan is saying thus saith the Lord David thou hast despised me. Now of course David we know is a saved man. David obviously here had a certain level. Now I'm not saying this is the same level that we use it in our modern vernacular but David had some level of hatred towards God in his actions here did he not? Did the Bible not just say thus say the Lord thou hast despised that's a synonym for hatred me the Lord. That is sad that is a scary thought. I don't ever want it to be said of me that Dylan you know hated God with his actions or with his words or in any certain level because obviously the Romans 1 reprobate that hates God they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge. They have just a complete hatred for God they have a hatred for any level of truth whatsoever but even safe people can become an enemy of God and even safe people can have a certain level of hatred for God. How is that? By despising his word and by despising his commandment and so you can't that's why Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments because you cannot say you love Jesus if you don't keep his commandments. You cannot say that you love God if you're going to sit there and mock Leviticus. You can't say that you love the Lord Jesus Christ when something's preached from the word of God and you don't like it you disobey it you hate it but yet people can be saved and be that way so I don't want you to freak out when I say oh that someone that's saved can have a level of hatred for God because we use it in a certain way usually talking about reprobates but I'm telling you it is possible for a saved Christian to be an enemy of God and to have a level of hatred for the Lord. Now turn to 1 Kings chapter number 22. I'm going to read for you a very familiar portion of scripture 2 Chronicles 19 says this and Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to king Jehoshaphat shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Now who is this referring to the ungodly and them that hate the Lord it's referring to king Ahab that's who he's being rebuked about being friends with is being friends with king Ahab but I submit to you that king Ahab was saved. Now look at 1 Kings chapter number 22 verse 40 look at this so Ahab slept with his fathers and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. Nowhere in the bible do you see an unsaved person die and him being described as being in sleep falling on sleep sleeping with his fathers things like that sleep falling on sleep being gathered to your fathers being gathered to your people sleeping with your fathers this is always a reference to a saved person okay but in light of what we just read with David thus saith Lord thou has despised me in light of what we just saw in James chapter number four in light of what we just saw in Romans chapter eight is it not possible that king Ahab here is the one being described as hating the Lord shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord we use that often in in reference to an attack on reprobates and I think that's a totally valid and fine application of that scripture but that scripture primarily is actually referring to a saved person and so that's a scary thought because you don't want to be someone that can be described as being a hater of God but let me tell you there are saved people right now that hate God to a certain level in the sense that they hate God's commandments I mean you have Christians today that want to fall all over themselves apologizing for what the bible says about sodomy they will they don't want to talk about it they'll even say that the bible's wrong about it they'll even just just say oh you know we just uh talk about how that we can just make sense of this in the scriptures I mean I know it's what it says but that just can't be what it means it's like you have a level of hatred towards God by not just believing his words because if you loved the Lord you'd keep his commandments like Jesus said now look at Romans chapter number eight Romans chapter eight go back there so you know you want to make sure that you're taking your life seriously when you're hearing the word of God being preached you need to check your heart and make sure that you're not despising God by despising his word or by despising prophesying the bible says despise not prophesying because when you're just turning your ear away from the law when you're turning your ear away from what you're reading in the bible you have a certain level of hatred for God in your heart and that's a wicked sin that you need to take care of you need to humble yourself and hearken to the voice of the Lord Romans chapter number eight look what it says here in verse 10 and if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if you live after the flesh you shall die but if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live and so here it's talking about the resurrection of the saints and us getting a new body and it's a great blessing that someday God's going to give us a new body we're not going to stay in this temporal flesh for forever and so because of that the bible says therefore we're debtors not to live to the flesh to live after the flesh but we're supposed to live after the spirit the way i look at is kind of like this what if i told you that tomorrow your car was going to be a hundred percent total i mean this thing is going to be destroyed tomorrow it's going up in a ball of flames you're not going to be able to recover one single part off of this car it's going to be destroyed if i was somehow able to get a revelation from the Lord and tell you this is going to happen to you tomorrow okay let's just pretend it was true and then you're like okay i appreciate that and then you went to the auto shop and you got new shocks you put a lift kit on it you put new tires on it you went ahead and just gave it a really cool paint job you're doing the upholstery new leather you're putting a new stereo inside of it you're just spending all this time making improvements on this car that's going to be destroyed tomorrow well guess what that is the same level of silliness that a person has that saved that knows that this life is temporal you're getting a new body someday all the things of the flesh all the works of the flesh is all going to be burnt up in the fire but yet you're sitting here living your life after the flesh it makes about just as much sense as the person whose car is going to be destroyed tomorrow and then giving it all these upgrades and all this attention it doesn't matter it's going to be destroyed and so people often you know you got like bodybuilding movements which i love working out i love lifting weights well the difference between lifting weights and bodybuilding okay where you just have to see what the lowest possible body fat percentage you can have and just like see as much how close to an alien you can really look you know and just spray yourself with all this tanning oil and stuff like that look that is a complete waste of time that's like putting a new paint job on a car that's going to be destroyed tomorrow right or people will give their entire life men will dedicate their entire life to a career and never go soul winning and look it's great to have a career it's great to have a good job it's great to work hard it's great to provide for your family but the reason that you're here on this earth is not so that you can become a bodybuilder it's not that you can have a good job it's not so that you can make a lot of money it's so that you can win people to christ it's so that you can disciple them get them in church get them in baptist bapt the baptist will here get them under the preaching the word of god so they can learn all things whatsoever christ has commanded that's why you're here so don't ever get distracted by that stop putting paint jobs on your car that's going to be destroyed tomorrow because the bible says god's going to give us a new body that flesh is going to be destroyed it's going down six feet under and someday god's going to give us brand new flesh perfectly righteous flesh but all the things all the wood hay and stubble in this life means nothing and go to first crantheons chapter number three first crantheons chapter number three let's talk about that for a minute there in first crantheons chapter number three let's start reading in verse number 11 it says this brother foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is jesus christ now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire in the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is any man's work abide which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire what is this talking about this is talking about being judged by jesus christ this is talking about christians standing before the lord jesus christ and him judging your life judging the works that you did and are those works going to abide his judgment is it going to be gold silver and precious stones what could this look like this could look like reading your bible this could look like doing the memory verse every week this could look like raising godly children this could be like being a good testimony for the lord by obeying his commandments this could be winning souls to christ this should be building a church this could be pastoring a flock this could be all manner of good that the lord commands us to do and all good that we do that's of god is going to abide the fire on that day and we'll be rewarded in heaven for that but the wood hay and stubble your bodybuilding career your muscle car your really nice house that you spent every weekend of your life working on rather than winning souls to christ your career that you put every ounce of your strength into for your entire life for 40 50 60 70 years none of that is going to matter whatsoever it's all going to be burnt up it's all going to be forgotten about it's all vanity and nothing and completely meaningless and so sometimes it's hard for us because we live here in a physical reality and all we can see is the physical reality that we're entrenched in every single day but every single person in here we need to live our lives for the judgment seat of christ that is how we should be living our lives you should every decision you make think how is this going to pan out for me on judgment day how is this going to pan out for me when i stand before the lord jesus christ is this decision that i'm making right now something that's going to abide the fire or is it completely meaningless you know sometimes people will pray for a good job so that they can provide for their family or so that they can you know have enough money to have gas to go to church and then god will bless them with that job and then they'll stop going to church god they'll pray for a car god will bless them for that with that car and then they'll stop soul winning you know that is a complete waste of your life it means nothing whatsoever you're not going to have any profit whatsoever by just giving that car a paint job that's going to be destroyed tomorrow it's foolish it's ridiculous you always need to keep in mind of the judgment seat of christ go to romans chapter number eight look at verse number 14 romans 8 14 let's keep reading here it says this for as many as are led by by the spirit of god they are the sons of god what does that mean let's keep reading verse 15 for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry abba father the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of god so what does it mean in verse 14 where it says for as many as are led by the spirit of god these they are the sons of god well it says in verse 16 the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of god what that means being led by the spirit is the holy spirit of god is bearing witness to the truth to the fact that you are god's son or that you are god's daughter and so this is one important reason why i don't believe it's ever possible for a person to just stop believing if someone is saved i don't think it's possible for them to just forget that they're saved or just not believe anymore that they're saved because the bible says that the holy spirit bears witness with our spirit meaning it's it's saying the truth it's giving an account it's giving testimony to what the fact that we are his children that's the holy spirit's job and so you're not going to just forget about that when you're sealed with the holy spirit of god the holy spirit of god isn't going to fall asleep on the job okay he's not going to stop doing his job he's always going to be bearing witness to the fact that you are his child that you are his children go to john chapter number 16 john chapter number 16 in john chapter number 16 look at verse 13 it says this howbeit when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you notice one of the jobs of the holy spirit is to guide you into all truth this is a verse i've shown to people out soulening when they bring up the fact like oh what if you stop believing look the bible says that the holy spirit's going to guide you to all truth so is the holy spirit ever going to guide you into saying that muhammad is god if you're saved absolutely not is the holy spirit going to lead you and guide you into saying that joseph smith was the prophet of the lord no is the holy spirit of god ever going to lead you to say that oh i just forgot who jesus christ was it doesn't exist right no of course not and obviously there could be you know some sort of freak accident where someone is is like on life support in a coma or something like that i don't know how the brain works when they're in that type of state but i'm talking about 99.99 of people that are saved on this earth they're alive their conscience they have the holy spirit of god guiding them into all truth they're not going to ever lead them into just forgetting about god or no longer believing in him in the sense of believing that he's god believing that he's paid for your sins believing that salvation is by faith alone obviously we could have different levels of faith in the lord after we're saved some people have faith to start preaching the gospel because they believe that opening your mouth boldly is actually going to make a difference other christians that are saved don't have that faith but they still have the faith to be safe they still have the faith of believing in god look at romans chapter number eight verse 17 says this and if children then heirs heirs of god and joint heirs with christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together so this is cool because it tells us several aspects about being god's son some of the benefits we get about being god's child says that we are heirs we get to inherit something with the lord jesus christ so what do we get to inherit with lord jesus christ well number one we get to inherit eternal life that's pretty cool that's not something we could have ever gotten on our own right that's something that the lord jesus christ gave to us that we're getting to inherit with him by virtue simply of being his child that's pretty cool you know if you want to talk about white privilege it's christian privilege that's what it is because i get to inherit eternal life and all the filthy faggots in this world don't it's great it's christian privilege we get to inherit perfect sinless immortal bodies just like the lord jesus christ has not everyone has that blessing in that opportunity you know i'm i'm a young man i'm 25 years old but i did have a shoulder surgery and even at 25 years old i'm looking forward to a new body you know because i was working out with some dudes at steadfast the other day and i was showing them the sounds that my shoulder makes and it's like it's like bubble wrap when i when i move this thing so it's like i'm looking forward to having a shoulder that can move without cracking that's going to be fantastic right and i'm sure that the older i get the more i'm going to be looking forward to this great thing that i get to inherit as a son of god right it's going to be awesome here's another thing we get to inherit with the lord jesus christ about the kingdom of god the fact that when the lord jesus christ returns and sets up his millennial reign he's going to be establishing a real physical kingdom that we get to rule and reign with him in that's an amazing blessing and the more works for god we do now on this earth the better of a position i believe that we're going to get in that rain but we get to inherit living in the real promised land someday with the lord jesus christ we get to inherit living with perfect laws and a perfect government and a perfect leader we get to inherit all those things just by being his son but notice it says this it says if so be that we suffer with him if so be that we suffer with him but here's the thing if you're living godly you will suffer with jesus christ go to second timothy chapter number three second timothy chapter number three see this promise of us being heirs and inheriting all these things lord jesus christ it does have a condition it says if we suffer with him but look at second timothy 3 12 says this yay and all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution and i've been saved since 2014 and i've read this verse and i've always thought like okay okay but when when does this actually happen then it came and i was like oh okay that's what that looks like all right i see it's it's true it happens and it will happen to every single person that lives godly because that's what the bible says and it could be something as simple as your family just mocking you your family cutting ties with you for believing in the lord jesus christ you know it could be people making fun of you for going out soul winning could be someone you know slamming a door hitting you out soul winning i mean i know soul winners that have been struck on the face while soul winning here in the united states that's suffering persecution for being godly it could be all sorts of different things but the bible does promise that if you live godly you will suffer persecution and i love that because romans 8 17 says and if children then heirs heirs of god and joint heirs with christ if so be that we suffer with him if you're living godly you will suffer with him second timothy verse or chapter number two let's look at verse number 11 says this it is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him doesn't that sound a lot like romans 8 if we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us and think about how that could be applied well if we deny him if we decide not to live a godly life if we decide not to follow any of his commandments do you think you're going to be ruling and reigning very highly in the kingdom of god he'll probably deny us of that position right obviously he won't take away your salvation but he probably could deny you in that aspect look at where it says this if we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself well i thought you just said dylan that we can't stop believing yeah i'm talking about salvation but we could all have different levels of faith when it comes to actually believing that living the christian life is worth it aren't there plenty of people that are saved right now but they don't believe that it's worth it being in church right now i mean how many people have we gotten saved in houston this year 263 a lot of them don't have the faith to be here obviously right and i guarantee you that it's not a hundred percent of people in church that are out soul winning why because some people don't have the faith that soul when he actually works some people don't have the faith that soul winning is actually a good use of time but guess what the bible says he still if we believe not he abides faithful he won't deny himself you know he's not going to take away your salvation he can't deny his promise god is always faithful go to romans chapter number eight again romans chapter number eight romans chapter eight look at verse 18 says this for i reckon he's saying like i'm making an account of this i'm i'm coming to a conclusion here for i reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us you have to realize that the man that's writing this is the man that was stoned shipwrecked beaten with rods on the run being attacked i mean just all sorts of horrible persecution yet the apostle paul he had the correct perspective on his life he had the correct perspective on the fact that he's not trying to put a new paint job on a car that's going to be destroyed tomorrow he's saying all the sufferings that my little crappy car goes through right now is not even worthy to be compared with the nice one that i'm getting in heaven is basically what he's saying right hey all the sufferings that my body right now is is taking all the sufferings right now that my pride is taking and all just the sufferings in general that he's taking it's not even worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of god what is this talking about well here when it's talking about the creature it's talking about all of creation it's all of god's creation that all of god's creation is just waiting for something what is that it's the manifestation of the sons of god what i believe that's talking about is when we do get our new bodies it's going to be a hundred percent manifest who is the sons of god there's something that's going to change in this world that the creation of god is waiting for when that happens i'll get to that in a second but look at verse number 20 says for this for the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope so the creature was made subject to vanity there's something that changed about creation go to genesis chapter number three and keep your place there in romans genesis chapter number three genesis three look at verse number 17 it says and he i'm sorry and unto adam he said because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which i commanded thee saying thou shalt not eat of it so they had just sinned adam and eda had just sinned says this cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it was thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return there was a change in god's creation after mankind sinned and god cursed the earth because of that before you know there were no thorns there were no thistles but god cursed the earth and made adam toil in that all the days of his life there also was a change in the animal kingdom as well go to isaiah chapter 65 i'll read for you good isaiah chapter number 65 let me read for you romans 8 21 it says because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of god you know the animal kingdom right now as it's called it's a very violent thing right i mean you see these youtube videos and these animals are just killing each other and just ripping their young away from each other and dragging them off and eating them right i mean one time i was hunting in idaho and i was hunting this these elk there was like a herd of elk that was like 800 yards away from us and my dad and i we were trying to get close enough to make a shot and all of a sudden out of nowhere a pack of giant gray wolves chases all these elk out of the valley and just took them off somewhere and probably just killed them all and ate them all okay because the animal kingdom is just violent sudden but that's not always how this earth was that's not how god intended the animal kingdom to be good isaiah chapter number 65 let me get myself there but when we are in the millennial reign of christ or i'm sorry when we're in the new heaven and new earth things are going to change when it comes to god's creation isaiah chapter number 65 look at verse 17 it says for behold i create new heavens and a new earth for the form and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind but be glad and rejoice forever in that which i create for behold i create jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy and i will rejoice in jerusalem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying there shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days for the child shall die in hundred years old so at this time if someone dies at a hundred years old you think like oh they were a child it says this but the sinner being in a hundred years old shall be accursed they shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them they shall not build in another inhabit they shall not plant in another eat for as the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands they shall not labor in vain nor bring forth for trouble for they are the seed of the blessed of the lord and their offspring with them and it shall come to pass that before they call i will answer and while they are yet speaking i will hear and pay attention to verse 25 the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock and dust shall be the serpent's meat they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains saith the lord so this is incredible because in the new heaven and new earth the bible says that a wolf which is a predator animal is literally going to be able to just feed together with a lamb and in idaho wolves are a huge problem and sheep farmers in idaho can literally wake up and have a hundred dead sheep in one night from these wolves i mean these are predator animals i'm pretty sure that the wolves that i saw chased those elk out of a valley i'm pretty sure they weren't there to play patty cake or have a conversation with right but at this time a wolf and a lamb is literally gonna be able to feed together and a lion instead of eating meat like a lion does now the lion's going to become a vegetarian and eat straw like a bullock that's crazy i mean right now a lion probably couldn't even survive if you try to just feed it nothing but straw but see the bible saying that all of creation is groaning is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of god because they're going to be given liberty too at this time they're not going to live in the violent you know world that they live in right now too the bible is describing that for us go back to romans chapter number eight we'll keep reading says for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now and not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body you talk to any old person that's saved and you're going to hear some groaning and they're going to talk to you about how they're waiting for the redemption of their body right and all of creation is groaning for this the bible says go to second crithians chapter number five you know and just like the animals just like all of creation us too as god's children we are also waiting for that glorious day we're looking forward to we have expectation for it we're earnestly desiring to have that day look at second corinthians chapter number five verse one it says for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved i believe that's talking about your physical body we have a building of god and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for in this we groan does that remind you of romans 8 earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven you want to know what house that's talking about it's talking about your eternal glorified body that's what it's talking about to be clothed upon with your house from heaven now i hope that there's also physical mansions in heaven i think that sounds pretty cool but obviously god's ways are higher than our ways i don't know if there will be or not we'll find out someday i know pastor thompson he really wants like a goliath sized bed he said and he wants a water slide going from his room into a pool and i hope pastor thompson gets that okay but i don't know if he will is what i'm saying because think about it in heaven you know we're not going to be sleeping you're not going to get tired uh the sun's not going to light upon them nor any heat the bible says you're not going to need protection from the elements why would we even need a house in heaven i mean shouldn't we are we just going to be there worshiping god for all of eternity i mean i don't even see a need for a house in heaven if there are mansions i'll be happy okay but i think the mansions are your body that's what i'm saying i believe the mansions are your spiritual renewed body romans chapter number eight go back to romans chapter eight verse 24 for we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why does he yet hope for and we can't see into heaven we can't see what our glorified bodies are going to look like we can't see what we're going to be doing in heaven but we are hoping for it we are expecting it we are looking forward to it verse 25 but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it and that's what we need to do is we need to continually patiently work and serve the lord until that day until that blessed day we just need to be patient and just continue to serve god at that time i'll read for you hebrews 6 10 it says for god is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister and we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that you be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises god doesn't want us to be lazy while we're waiting for these great promises he doesn't want us to be slothful while we're waiting for someday for a glorified body because hey praise the lord every saved person even if they don't do anything for god they're getting a glorified body too someday they may not have as great of a position in the millennium and in the kingdom of god and all that but look god doesn't want us to be slothful yes we should be patient yes we should be hopeful but we should work while we're patient and hopeful and spend every day that god gives us which is a gift from god every single day that we have on this earth is a gift from god to do something for him we should take that seriously and continue to serve him with all of our might romans 8 look at verse 26 says this likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of god so notice as we're patiently waiting for this day as we're working for the lord waiting for the redemption of our bodies god hasn't just left us here without any help in this world no the spirit itself also helps our infirmities while we're on this road and the spirit itself can make intercession to god when we pray he can translate those prayers if you would to the father according to god's will you know brother james could say lord please give me a red car and then the holy spirit could just translate and say lord just give him a car right like give him what he needs you know you pray for something and you think it's what you really want and then the holy spirit says but this is what he really needs right and then he's helping us through life through our trials through our infirmities and our tribulations the holy spirit of god is helping us all the way you know the lord is truly leading us all the way until that day we have our glorified bodies romans 8 28 says this and we know that all things work together for good to them that love god to them who are the called according to his purpose this is one of the best verses in the entire bible right here this is a great verse and i know i'm not even going to be able to come close to doing this verse justice okay but this is an awesome verse right here but notice it does not say that everything is going to be good this verse does not say that everything's going to be good this verse does not say that everything will work together for good for everyone okay this is a conditional verse but when it says work together for good that means that at the end of something at the end of your life or at the end of a certain trial you're going through or at the end of a church's mission or goal that you'll be able to look back and see how god worked everything together for good to to meet a purpose at the end for god's will to be accomplished at the end of something you know there's so many stories like this in the bible the man that was born blind right and that man could think like how could anything good come of this but when you're literally used in the word of god as someone that interacted with the lord jesus christ and was healed of the lord jesus christ and it's eternally inscribed into the word of god he could look back and say okay i can see how god used that and it worked together for good he wouldn't go back and change the fact that he was born blind when he got to be healed by the lord jesus christ and that's an amazing blessing and often we don't always we can't see what's at the end of our road we can't see the end of a tribulation or a trial we're going through but you could see romans 8 28 and you can know that it will always work together for good for you if these two things are met number one says that you must love god you must love god so is this the person that has a carnal mind that's an enmity with god is this a person that's the friend of the world no not at all this is the person that loves god like jesus said in john 14 15 if you love me keep my commandments so this promise applies to the person that's walking in the spirit that's living a godly life that's trying to follow god's commandments that's who this promise is promised to and so if we were smart we'd worry way less about all of our circumstances we'd worry way less about all of our problems our battles our trials our tribulations all the obstacles that we face and we'd worry way more about asking yourself this question do i love god am i obeying his commandments because if you are then none of that stuff matters none of that stuff stops you and everything that happens in your life will work together for good every single thing that's an amazing promise that the world does not have access to and so i want as many christians as possible to have access to this promise by number one loving god and this is something that you can't just like teach someone just like love god i can't just stand up here just like love god all right this has to be in your own heart i can't make my wife do this i can't make my kids do this i dead sure can't make any of you do this you have to love the lord for your own self it's everybody's free will to love the lord number two it says this that you have to be the called according to his purpose now sometimes we just have to learn that our purpose and god's purpose are not always the same thing and sometimes not always but sometimes god wants us to lose so that he can win i'll give you an example of that go to john chapter number three in the story of john the baptist john chapter number three start reading verse number 25 says this then there arose a question between some of john's disciples and the jews about purifying and they came unto john and said unto him rabbi he that was with thee beyond jordan to whom thou barest witness behold the same baptizeth and all men come to him so you have these guys that are you know trying to play on john the baptist's pride and saying hey all these people that were with you now they're with jesus now they're wanting to go get baptized by jesus and notice what he says in verse number 27 john answered and said a man can receive nothing except it was given him from heaven 28 ye yourselves bear me witness that i said i am not the christ but that i am sent before him he's saying hey i never said i was supposed to be the main show here i never said this religion was about worshiping john i've always said it's been about the lord jesus christ okay verse 29 he that hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice this my joy therefore is fulfilled he must increase but i must decrease and john decreased so much to the point where he was literally beheaded by harrod for preaching the word of god now do you think that that was john the baptist's will probably not but it was god's will and john the baptist loved god and he was the called according to god's purpose the lord jesus christ's purpose because john the baptist is a great man jesus said that above among them that are born of women there's risen none greater than john the baptist i mean that's a that's a stellar review when jesus christ saying this is the best man that's ever been born right it's amazing yeah what was god's will for john the baptist to be killed to be killed and you say well how did that work together for good for john well what a motivational story this is for us today and for christians throughout thousands of years who have been persecuted who have had the government coming after them who have had the catholic church killing them for translating the word of god to stand faithful unto death by looking at the example of john the baptist you think that worked together for good for john you think he might be having some rewards in heaven for standing firm and for preaching the word of god and for being a martyr for jesus christ i guarantee you that right now in heaven john the baptist would not say hey sign me up for not going through that i'll do my life over and not go through that absolutely not he's not regretting anything that he did he's not regretting anything that he went through because all things have worked together for good for john the baptist this is amazing promise that every single person in here has access to if you'll just love the lord if you'll just obey his commandments and if you'll just realize that hey your will is not always god's will just get on his program just be okay with what god wants for your life and let him lead you romans 8 29 says this we're almost done here we'll go through this a little more quickly for whom he did for no he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brethren this is not teaching calvinism i'm not going to get too deep into calvinism tonight but this is just saying that god simply knows and knew beforehand who would believe and who would not believe and he chose that those people that would believe would someday be conformed to the image of christ in what the glorified body is what romans 8 has been talking a lot about right so god he knows who will believe and those that believe he chose of those people would have a glorified body verse 30 moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called whom he called them he also justified in whom he justified them he also glorified so this this does not mean that god only called the people that he justified because he called everyone it'd be like this what if i invited all of you over for dinner tonight and only half of you came you all were called right you still were all called and jesus said this in john 12 32 and i if i be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me okay all men were invited to the lord's feast all men were invited to the wedding banquet that the lord jesus christ has prepared for us but not everyone chooses to believe but those that do come of course they're justified those that do believe of course god predestinated those people to be conformed to the image of his son those that do believe of course god foreknew that those people would believe he's god that does not mean that god is picking and choosing who goes to heaven and who goes to hell that's wicked that's not the god of the bible you've never read the bible and truly known god if that's what you come away from in this chapter verse 31 what shall we then say to these things if god be for us who can be against us you know when you take this great promise that he just talked about saying that all things are going to work together for good for you if you love god for those that are the called according to his purpose and then he poses this question if this promise is true if this promise is actually true and if god is for us who can be against us who can stop the work of god who can stop god's will from being done it's not going to happen you know there's been people that stood against god's people in the past when shadrach nishak and abednego were thrown in the fiery furnace right but if god was for those people who could stand against them when daniel was thrown in the lion's den there was definitely some people that were against daniel but god was for him and who could stand against him right and we live in a time right now where we're starting to see god's people being persecuted being lied about being threatened but here's what you need to understand if god be for us who can be against us you know what no one's going to stop pastor johnathan shelley and steadfast baptist church because god is for us period end of story doesn't matter how many protesters you bring doesn't matter how many lawsuits you bring if god is for us you cannot be against us period because our pastor loves god our pastor is the called according to his purpose and so are the church members of steadfast baptist church and so are these people as well and you need to take ownership of that promise and realize what a blessing it is and not be afraid to serve god not be afraid of the persecution because god is going to be standing with you verse 32 he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things you know if god was able to sacrifice his own precious dear sinless son for our salvation do you not think that god would also give us whatever we need to get through other problems of life i mean if he fixed our damnation problem by giving us his only son do you not think he's going to give you the tools necessary to endure persecution to keep preaching the word of god to keep getting people saved the bible says no he's going to freely give us all things if we love him and if we're the called according to his purpose look at verse 33 who shall lay anything to the charge of god's elect it is god that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of god who also maketh intercession for us you know people are going to be able to to condemn us or lay an accusation against us because we're not doing this by our own power here we're not doing this out of our own mind i didn't just write this pastor shelley didn't write this we're doing this because of the lord jesus christ we're doing this because of god and you want to lay an accusation against us you want to lay a charge against us you're fighting against god not us and you're not going to be successful you know not even the devil can accuse us successfully to the lord because he's he's always accusing us to the to god the father and jesus christ is always interceding for us and pleading on our behalf so not even the accuser of this world not even the god of this world can condemn us when god is on our side look at verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword these are a lot of things that the apostle paul went through literally all these things saying can any of these things that i've been through or could possibly go through can any of this separate me from the love of god verse 36 as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter name all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us the bible says that not even death not even being slaughtered like a sheep is something that can separate us from the love of god you know i've i've thought about death a little bit lately because there's a couple people that want me dead okay it's been on my mind and on my phone and on my voicemail a lot lately and guess what not even death can separate me from the love of god and not even death can separate you from the love of god and not even death can stop the work of god from being done if god be for us who can be against us verse 38 for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord you know the people that teach you can lose your salvation can just go ahead and wrap these verses up and smoke on them for a while because nothing can separate you from god's love not your sin not persecution not nakedness peril famine sword height death life angels principalities powers none of it can separate you from the love of god and you know i hope every single person in here is saved and romans 8 1 can apply to them where there's no condemnation to them which are in christ jesus i think everybody is already there but the big takeaway from roman chapter 8 you should be asking yourself you know if you want these promises applied to you the question you should be asking yourself and the question that i should be asking myself is do i love god i didn't say do you go to church i didn't say do you show up to a soul winning time and go through the motions i said do you love god that is a big difference from being saved and we as a church we always hammer the doctrine of salvation how it's faith alone that is not the same thing as loving god i'd be way more concerned about answering that question for myself than worrying about my finances than worrying about my health than worrying about my persecution or worrying about all the different problems i have in life i need to answer that question first do i love god and all of us every single person in here can strive to love the lord more than we do right now and that's only going to be a blessing to you that's only going to bring good for you that's only going to secure the promises of god in your life that much stronger and it's going to increase your faith so that hey you can be called according to god's purpose and you can be okay with god's will in your life and you can be willing to lose so that god can win you can be willing to decrease so that jesus christ can increase because these promises are not here just so you can have a great life everything in here is to glorify god and your life is not here to please yourself you exist to please god i exist to please god we're created for his pleasure and so these this chapter is amazing these promises are amazing we want them to apply to our lives so let's as a church endeavor to love god more than we did yesterday let's have a word of prayer lord thank you so much for this day and thank you for romans chapter number eight truly lord one of the most powerful chapters in the entire bible lord i pray that every single person in here would meditate on the things that were preached and read from the word of god i pray that you'd help us all to truly love you with all of our heart and i pray that every single person in here would be willing to submit themselves to your will to decrease that you can increase we love you so much lord in jesus name we pray amen amen thank you for the message dylan let's go ahead and sing one more hymn you'll take out that red hymnal there we're gonna sing song 377 rescue the perishing great song about soul winning i was about to change it oh how i love jesus after that message we're gonna we're still gonna sing it 377 rescue the perishing sing it all together on the first all together rescue the perishing care for the dying snatch them in pity from sin and the grave weep for the herring once lift up the fallen tell them of jesus the mighty to save rescue the perishing care for the dying jesus is merciful jesus will save though they are sliding him still he is waiting waiting the penitent child to receive lead with them earnestly lead with them gently he will forgive if they only believe rescue the perishing care for the dying jesus is merciful jesus will save down in the human heart crushed by the tempter feelings lie buried that grace can restore touched by a loving heart awakened by kindness chords that are broken will vibrate once more rescue the perishing care for the dying jesus is merciful jesus will save rescue the perishing duty demands it strength for thy labor the lord will provide back to the narrow way patiently win them tell the poor wonder a savior has died rescue the perishing care for the dying jesus is merciful jesus will save amen thank you all for coming god bless drive safe you