(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, let's actually back up a little bit. We're going to get into Exodus 5, but let's just back up to chapter 4, verse 29. The Bible reads, And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. So this is a great victory, because Moses and Aaron show up, they're well received, they deal with the leaders of the children of Israel, and then they do the signs and wonders and preach to the people, and the Bible says the people believed, right? So then in chapter 5, now it's time to actually confront Pharaoh with this. So it says in verse number 1, And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. So he is scoffing at the Lord, like, who is the Lord? I don't know the Lord. So this is kind of a mocking, disrespectful attitude toward the Lord. So in verse 3, they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works get you unto your burdens? So wherefore means why. Wherefore why do you let the people from their burdens? Let means to hinder or prevent them from doing their job. So what he's saying is, you know, by coming and asking for this trip into the wilderness to take them three days' journey into the wilderness, to have a feast unto the Lord, you're basically taking away my workers. You know, they're supposed to be working, and you're trying to drag them away from that. And so, you know, how dare you make them, at the end of verse 5 there, rest from their burdens? And Pharaoh said, verse 5, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers. And we'll get into that in a moment. But some of the symbolism here is that salvation is rest, okay? And so basically, when Moses is coming to bring deliverance or salvation, obviously this is a physical deliverance or salvation from Egypt, but it pictures a spiritual salvation, and he's coming to bring rest. Why are you giving them rest? Why are you making them rest? Why is salvation called rest? Simply because it is faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. So we're basically resting on His promise or resting on what He has done for us, leaning on Jesus to get us to heaven. We're not trying to work or earn our way into heaven. We're just resting in what He's already done, you know, the fact that He died and was buried and rose again. So that's why the Bible describes salvation as rest, okay? Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Jesus said. So He's bringing rest. Verse 6, and Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tail of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them. Ye shall not diminish ought thereof, for they be idle. Therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let their more work be laid upon them in, that they may labor therein, and let them not regard vain words. So what we see here is the fact that oftentimes before things get better, they get worse. Also, often when someone gets saved, there's opposition. There's an attack right away to try to keep them from getting baptized or to try to keep them from getting in church or to keep them from serving God. Once you get saved, there's nothing you can do to lose your salvation. But the devil would love for you to not serve the Lord, though. You know, okay, well, you believe you're saved, but at least if the devil can keep you out of church or keep you from getting baptized, keep you from serving the Lord, he'd love to do that. And so often when people first get saved, they'll face a lot of opposition from family, friends, just all kinds of obstacles to stop them from serving God. Also, there's a pattern in the Bible where often a great victory is followed by a great defeat. You know, you'll have the great victory at Jericho, and then you'll have defeat at Ai. Or Elijah has a great victory on the Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal. And then in the next chapter, Jezebel is trying to kill him. He's depressed and basically asking the Lord to kill him, okay? So frequently in the Bible, things will go really well, and then there will be a setback. So we need to understand that in our lives, there are going to be setbacks, there are going to be problems, and sometimes things get worse before they get better. So don't despair. And a lot of times people are very shortsighted, and when things are going really bad, that's all they can see is just right what's in front of them, oh man, this is so bad, I'm going to be like this for the rest of my life, and I just don't know how much longer I can handle this. But God does know how much longer you can handle it, and He's not going to cause you to be tempted above that you are able. And so we need to understand that when we're going through a bad time, it's temporary. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. Nothing is going to last forever when it comes to hardships or pain and suffering, persecution that we go through in this life. God is going to deliver us. The Bible says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all, the Lord delivers him. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Notice He didn't say few are the afflictions of the righteous. Yeah, you know, when you're righteous, things go great all the time. Very little opposition, very little fight, very little affliction. No, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all, the Lord delivers them. So there is going to be an end. There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is always hope. As long as you're alive and breathing, if you're saved, there's hope. So don't give up or just be down on God or feel like God's not blessing me. Look, these people are going through something that's very temporary because we know the end of the story. They're going to be released soon. The 10 plagues are going to happen. They're going to be out in the wilderness. This is all just going to be a memory someday. They're going to be out in the wilderness. They're going to be at Mount Sinai. They're going to watch as the Egyptians drown in the Red Sea. That's all coming, but just in the short term, they're going to have to go through some tribulation. They're going to have to go through some affliction. And by the way, tribulation and affliction are two words that are used interchangeably in the Bible. You'll notice in Mark 13, it says, then shall be great affliction, where Matthew 24 says, then there shall be great tribulation. So it uses those words interchangeably. They both mean the same thing. And here in Exodus, the word afflicted or affliction is used over and over again about what the Egyptians are doing to the Israelites. They're afflicting them. They're going through affliction. And so many are the afflictions of the righteous. But out of them all, the Lord delivers them. The Bible says that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. But the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. So we have to go through the trials and tribulations, just like they had to go through the trials and tribulations. So getting saved doesn't mean everything's going to be a bed of roses. Everything's going to be perfect. It's all going to be sunshine and sweetness and light. But being saved is salvation. And after that, you're going to go through hard things. You're going to go through trials. And then eventually, you're going to go to heaven. And in between, you're going to have good times, you're going to have bad times. But things often get worse before they get better. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And so we should not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try us, as though some strange thing happened unto us. And so we see them going through trials and tribulations here, which should be normal. I mean, that's just what we should expect, that there's going to be opposition. And remember, God explained all this to Moses going in. Pharaoh's not going to let you go. And he explained that to him repeatedly. I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. And look, we see that this is all happening just as he predicted it would happen in chapters three and four. So we have all the same predictions about our life. So we shouldn't be shocked when bad things happen, when trials come. So it says here in verse 10, and the taskmasters of the people went out and their officers and they spake to the people saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye, get you straw where you can find it. Yet not aught of your work shall be diminished. Diminished means it's reduced or there's less of it. He's saying you have to make the same amount of bricks without the straw being given to you. So instead of Pharaoh providing them with the materials, here's the straw, here you go, make the bricks, they have to actually go out now at night and they have to gather stubble instead of straw. And so basically they're working nights now. So they were already in cruel bondage. They were doing slave labor by day. Now they're having to work day and night. And they're basically being asked to do something that's virtually impossible. So it says in verse 12, So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had said over them, were beaten and demanded. Wherefore have you not fulfilled your task in making brick, both yesterday and today, as heretofore? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore doest thou thus with thy servants? Why are you doing this to us? There's no straw given unto thy servants. And they say to us, Make brick, and behold, thy servants are beaten, but the fault is in thine own people. Look, it's your fault. You're asking us to do something impossible. You're not giving us the parts that we need to get the job done. We're having to go get it ourselves. We just can't do it. It's just not possible. So basically, Pharaoh is doing this to them. He's putting them in this lose-lose situation, giving them an impossible job, just as a way to punish them, just as a way to persecute them and make their lives miserable. He said, The fault's in thine own people. But he said, Ye're idle, ye're idle. Therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now and work, for there shall be no straw, there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tally of the bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were an evil case after it was said, Ye shall not diminish or diminish aught from your bricks of your daily tasks. So, I mean, they realize, wow, we're in a bad position here because we can't get out of this. I mean, he's demanding this unreasonable amount of bricks. If we don't turn it in, we get a beating. But we can't get it done. What are we supposed to do? So they're, they are in a position where they feel like there's no way out. There's just no, we're doomed. There's no way out. We can't win. What do we do? And a lot of times we're going to feel that way in our lives where we feel like we're backed in a corner and we don't know what to do. You know, we can't win. And we're stuck. How do I pay this bill? Or, you know, what do I do? I've lost this job and I, you know, what? But look, God is always going to take care of you and find a way for you, okay? If you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, the Bible says all these things will be added unto you. So the Lord's always going to come through for you in the end. And obviously he comes through for them in this story. They're going to make it through this. But at the time it seems impossible, okay? Egypt's the most powerful nation in the world. How can they stand up to Pharaoh and his armies? But of course, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. So because they're in this hopeless situation, their backs against the wall, they can't see a way out. It's an impossible situation and they're getting beaten. They're being persecuted. They're being told, you're idle. That's why you want to worship the Lord, you know? We'll just make you work harder and then you won't even have time to think about religion or anything like that. And by the way, here's something that I find interesting. Isn't it interesting that when you go to the wealthy neighborhoods or the well-to-do neighborhoods, people aren't interested in the gospel when those are actually the people who have the most leisure, right? I mean, you'd think that they have the most leisure to sit down and ponder life and think about, where am I going to go when I die? Why am I here? What's this all about? Is this really enough? I mean, is this all there is, is just having this car and this house? I mean, there's got to be something more to this. But then you go to those exact neighborhoods and it's like, not interested, no interest in spiritual things. And in fact, the poor people who are working harder, they often have more of an interest. I find that kind of ironic. You'd think that if you had more time to sit around and think and leisure and time off, you'd actually have more of an interest in spiritual things. But anyway, that has nothing to do with the sermon. That was just a thought that I have outsoleting often when I'm in nicer neighborhoods. But anyway, so he's saying, you guys, you're sitting around and that's why you're talking about religion. You want to go worship the Lord. Well, I'll just give you more work to do. I'm just going to distract you. And then you won't even have time for that kind of thing. So look what the reaction is of the officers or the leaders of the children of Israel. So let's just stop and think about the characters in the story here. So we got Moses and Aaron. And then we have the officers of the children of Israel or the leaders of the children of Israel. Then we have the people of the children of Israel. Then we have Pharaoh. And then we have the Egyptians. This story is not as much about the Egyptians. So let's focus on these different characters. We've got Moses and Aaron. We've got the leadership of Israel. We've got the people of Israel. And then we've got Pharaoh. Well here's what's interesting. If you go back to chapter 4, it says in verse 29, Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. So they're going straight to the leadership. And they're preaching to the leadership and talking to them, giving them all the words that the Lord spoke of. And look, it says Aaron spake all the words in verse 30 of chapter 4. Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses. So wouldn't that include the part about how Pharaoh's not going to let you go, you know, I'm going to have to do these miracles and there are going to be plagues. You know, he explains all that in chapters 3 and 4 and the Bible is saying that all that stuff is explained to these people. So they should have understood, okay guys, this stinks, we're getting a beating, we have to work all night, but you know what, the plagues are coming, we're on our way out. Let's just hang in there, let's trust the Lord, let's have faith, let's be patient, right? So then it says that Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses. So it starts out Aaron's the spokesman. Later Moses, you know, does more of the talking, but at this point, Aaron's being the main spokesman. And the people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. So you know, the Bible's not really emphasizing anything about, hey, the leaders really believed God and the leaders were really full of faith here. The people, it says, believe God. The leadership at best are weaklings, okay, the leadership of the children of Israel. So we got Moses and Aaron, who do they represent? Moses and Aaron are basically men of God who are actually doing work for God. They're on the front lines, they're in God's will, they're preaching hard, they're confronting the enemy, right? The leaders of the children of Israel are basically the failed leaders. These are the guys who have not delivered the people, they're not delivering the people, they're not trusting the Lord's word, they're murmuring against Moses, they're murmuring against God, okay? And look what the Bible says in verse number 20. These are the officers of the children of Israel now in verse 19. It says in verse 20, they met Moses and Aaron who came forth from Pharaoh and they said unto them, the Lord look upon you and judge because you've made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil and treated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people, neither hast thou delivered thy people at all. Okay, so here's what's going on. Moses and Aaron are the ones who are preaching the word of God, they're effective, they're leading. The leaders of the children of Israel come whining and complaining to them, you've made our savor to stink. And then basically, then it discourages Moses, you know, so then Moses is discouraged and then Moses takes it to the Lord, you know, which obviously Moses is doing the right thing by taking it to the Lord. Obviously though, we see a little bit of a lack of faith here in Moses because he should have known what was said in chapters three and four, two, and he shouldn't be surprised that it's not happening. But at least he's going to the Lord. You know, if we're going to get disgruntled or discouraged, at least take it to the Lord in prayer, you know, instead of discouraging other people. Whereas the leaders of Israel, what do they do? They go and whine to Moses and complain and they drag him down to where he almost starts to sound a little bit like them because he's dragging them down. Okay. This statement that they make, you've made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand to slay us. This reminds me a lot of what we see today in America, okay? And the Bible is so timeless. The Bible is always so relevant that whenever you live your life and go through different experiences, you'll see aspects of Bible stories played out. And that's why God gave us all these stories in the Bible. They are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And the Bible says that they're examples for us. So we have all these in samples or examples. That's what 1 Corinthians 10 teaches, that these Old Testament stories are examples of things that we're going to see in our lives, okay? And this is the kind of thing that you hear today from weak, watered-down Christians when you have Christians that are actually preaching the Bible, actually confronting wickedness, actually preaching against sin, actually doing a lot of soul winning. What do you hear from the watered-down, lame Christians? They say, oh, you're giving Christians a bad name. Isn't that what they're saying here? Like, oh, you made our savor to stink before the Egyptians. Hey, let me explain something to you. Your savor already stinks to the Egyptians. The Egyptians already hate the children of Israel. The Egyptians already are afflicting them, treating them like garbage, don't love them, never are going to love them. So therefore, what are you talking about, okay? Moses and Aaron are doing exactly what God told them to do. Isn't this what God said to do? Go confront Pharaoh, demand to go three days in the wilderness and hold a sacrifice. They followed the instructions to a T. And then they're getting whined at by their fellow Christians, God's people over here, the failed leadership is whining at them like, oh, well, you know, you're making us look bad. Now go to 2 Corinthians 3 in the New Testament, keep your finger there in Exodus, 2 Corinthians chapter 2, I love this passage at the end of 2 Corinthians 2, look at verse 14. Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. And that's what we need to remember when we're going through these hard times, these hopeless situations, when we're backed into a corner, we're in a lose-lose like they seem to be in Egypt there, remember that God always causes us to triumph. We're always going to win. God will always in the end cause us to overcome and be blessed and to be conquerors. We're more than conquerors, right? So he says here, he always causes us to triumph and maketh manifest the saver of his knowledge by us in every place. Now remember what the leadership of Israel said to Moses, hey, you made our saver distinct. Well, let's look at the saver that we have as God's people. It says in verse 15, for we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. So them that are saved, right, the children of Israel, the believers, them that perish, Pharaoh, the Egyptians, the world, people like that, right? Them that are saved would obviously be born-again saved Christians. Them that perish would be unsaved people, unbelievers, and even those who hate the Lord. He says in verse 16 to the one, we are the saver of death unto death, right? So whether Moses preaches or not, whether Aaron preaches or not, Christians are the saver of death unto the unbelievers. That's what the Bible says. We are the saver of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ. Look, when you tell the truth, when you preach the word of God, when you preach the gospel, you are a saver of life unto the saved or those that get saved, and you're the saver of death unto those that reject Christ. What does death taste like? What does death smell like? Whatever it is, it's bad. It's a bad taste in the mouth of the world. It's a bad smell in the nostrils of the world. They don't like Christians, and they never will. They never want a Bible-believing Christian. They never want a spirit-filled preacher. They didn't want Jesus. They didn't want Stephen. They didn't want the apostle Paul. This is what the Bible says, that if they hated me, they'll hate you. He said, you'll be hated of all men for my name's sake. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. So another way of saying that would be, marvel not, children of Israel, if the Egyptians hate you. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. So is it Moses' fault that the saver of the Israelites stinks to the Egyptians? No, of course not. Moses is doing all the right things. Aaron's doing the right things. It's not his fault, but he's getting blamed for the persecution. And this is what we see today. We see a man of God get up and preach. Let's take, for example, Brother Roger Jimenez. He got up and preached a sermon about the Orlando thing back in 2016. And when he preached that sermon, what did people say? They said, oh, you know, it's guys like this that are going to cause us as Christians to be persecuted in America. He's giving Christians a bad name. We're going to get persecuted because of guys like this. Isn't that what they said? I can just hear the voices of old IFB preachers that I heard say those exact words. You know, this is why Christians are going to get persecuted, you know, because of people like this. Okay. Now here's the thing about that. It's kind of unfair that the old IFB gets to benefit from some of the persecution that we bring on. You know, here we are. We work hard to earn persecution. You know what I mean? When we get out there and we work hard and we burn the midnight oil, you know, you don't just get banned from 32 countries without trying. You got to work at that. You know what I mean? And you know, Brother Jimenez out there working at that, you know, but Patrick Boyle is working overtime at that. But anyway, you know, so here we are, you know, we preach and we bring on persecution because here's the thing. When you preach the word of God, when you win souls, when you rip on sin, when you confront evil, you bring on persecution. Here's the thing. When you get persecuted for the cause of Christ, happy are you? And then these guys aren't even, they should be thanking us. Thank you for bringing persecution because we get some rewards now because we were so lame and apathetic. We weren't getting persecuted at all. And so here we are lacking rewards. But then Brother Jimenez came along, ripped a bunch of face. I mean, there was some other church called Verity in Colorado, and they're getting attacked because they thought it was Pastor Jimenez. So they had to change the whole homepage of their website saying, we're not that pastor. We're not pastor. Literally for like several months after that sermon, the homepage of that Verity Baptist Church in Colorado said, we are not Roger Jimenez. We are not the Verity Baptist Church. And it said, oh, we're just all the innocent little queers in Pulse nightclub. We feel so bad for them. And they were just all whining and groveling to the LGBT perverts on their homepage of their website. And there was this guy, somebody showed me a thing a few months ago. There was a Pastor Steven Anderson, some other guy. And he said, he said, my life used to be so easy. He said, I was living such an easy, comfortable life. These are the exact words. He said, ma'am, my life used to be so easy. And then Pastor Steven Anderson came along. And now I'm just daily just attacked and hated and get voicemails. It's like, hey, you just got a little taste of what it's like to be a big boy preacher and not a sniveling, snotty little baby that has never faced any persecution because you're not even a man of God. You say, well, how do you know he's not a man of God? Because all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, period. No persecution, not living godly in Christ Jesus, period. That's a fact. You can't get up and preach the Word of God and storm the gates of hell and go soul winning and have a bunch of people out sowing, and there's not going to be any opposition. Yeah, right. Have you ever read the book of Acts? Have you read the four gospels? Remember the book of Mark? Boy, chapter one was all the victory, but it didn't take long till chapter two and three come and bring all the opposition to Christ. Okay. The apostles face opposition. The apostle Paul said, hey, there's a great door opened unto me and effectual, and there are many adversaries. There are always going to be enemies, persecution, battles. I remember when I first started the church here, I was a couple years in and I was talking to another pastor and he was telling me all the persecution stories that he'd been through. And it was some pretty rough things that had happened. I mean, just attacks and all kinds of horrible things. And I was like, man, I said that, you know, I said, I haven't experienced anything like that. I told him, I said, I haven't persecuted at all, none. And he said, well, that's just because you're just getting started. You know, he said, give it some time. You'll get persecuted. You'll get there. He said, he said, when I'd been doing it as long as you have, I wasn't persecuted either. You know, he said, you know, but once you start reaching a lot of people, once you start knocking a lot of doors, once you start preaching and have a bigger audience, he said, it'll happen. You know, it will come. And obviously he's right. You know, and so all, all preachers are going to face enemies and opposition if they're actually preaching the word of God. But it's just funny how this guy has the gall to say, oh, my life was so easy. Well, oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Little easy street pastor Baptist, sit on your duff and do nothing. It's like, is that what we're called to a life of ease as pastors, as men of God, just kind of just hang loose, baby, and take it easy and relax. And folks, that's not the ministry we're supposed to be working and battling and fight the good fight. I mean, look at the pastoral epistles. What are the pastoral epistles first and second Timothy Titus, right? And what are first, second Timothy and Titus about fight the good fight. There's all these unruly vain talkers rebuke them sharply. I mean, those are some of the most caustic, some of the most, uh, polemic scriptures in the new Testament where he's really talking about battling because it's one preacher talking to another preacher that all the fights they're going to be fighting. I mean, read those books first, second, Timothy and Titus, and you'll find the most references to fighting war. Hey, this charge I've committed under the sun, Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on the, that thou by them might as war a good warfare, right? He tells over and over again, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. This militaristic language is used in first, second Timothy and Titus because he's talking to pastors saying, look, it's going to be a fight. It's going to be a battle. There are enemies, false teachers, you know, it's, it's a fight war battle armor. I mean, he, he, it's really clear that these guys are not so old man. Yeah. My name's Titus and my life was so easy on Crete. You know, I was just sitting on a beach and Crete. I checked out all the beaches and it was relaxing and everything. And then Paul wrote me this letter and told me I'm supposed to be fighting. It's crazy, but this is the day we're living in where, where the children of Israel, they want to just relax. Moses and Aaron come and they stir things up a little bit. Why? Because they're doing God's will. Why? Because they're getting people saved. Why? Because they're preaching the word of God. Why? Because they're confronting the enemy. It's what God called us to do. And they say, Oh, you made our savor to sink. You're giving Christians a bad name, folks that doesn't give Christians a bad name. What does the Bible say? Gives Christians a bad name. I mean, look in the Bible. What does the Bible say? Gives Christians a bad name. You know, if you looked up scriptures in, uh, let's see first Timothy and Titus again, second Timothy, he says things like, Hey, if wives disobey their husbands, that'll give Christianity a bad name that'll cause the word of God and his doctor to be blasphemed. If workers go to their job and they mouth off to the boss and they steal from the job, that's going to give Christians a bad name. You know, consistently, the thing that gives Christians a bad name is when people claim the name of Christ and commit a bunch of sins, disobey God's word. What causes the way of truth to be evil spoken of according to second Peter chapter two, the pernicious ways of false teachers, their covetousness, their adultery, their sin. Look, it is never following God's commands and preaching the Bible too loud that gives Christians a bad name. All we're doing is giving a saver of death, which is what God told us to do by preaching the word of God. And to some people it's going to be life and to others, it's going to be death. That's what it said in second Corinthians chapter two very clearly. And so this whining is the same whining that we hear today from lame preachers of like, oh, no, we're all going to get persecuted. Folks, it's a joke. Why do they, why didn't the Bible say that we're supposed to rejoice when we get persecuted? Now let's stop and think, what kind of persecution could be coming for us today in America, okay? What about just think about it as a church, okay? You know, what kind of persecution have we faced as a church? You know, obviously we set up events and our venues get canceled, right? We have financial services and they get canceled. We got our bank accounts shut down by Bank of America. We had PayPal, easy tithe, Qgive, and six other ways for people to give online shut down as a result of preaching. We were shut down from iTunes. We were shut down from, you know, all different whatever platforms and Facebook jail, you know, it was, it was, you know, the, the persecution is real, all right, folks, this is light duty stuff, right? None of this is going to make it into Fox's book of martyrs volume two, okay? I mean, you know, they, they've, they've called and harassed our landlord and tried to get our landlord to throw us out and our landlord said, well, Hey, as soon as you're willing to come and rent their 10,000 square feet, then we'll talk doctrine. That's what he told them. But he said, you know, until you're willing to rent 10,000 square feet from me, I'm not interested in talking to you about Bible doctrine. But here's the thing, you know, what, what if we did get, what if we did get thrown out of our building, which isn't going to happen because it's illegal, but let's say eventually we, you know, are just out, you know what, then we'll meet outside. And then today YouTube made some big announcement, how they're going to crack down on the hate speech and they're going to crack down against discrimination against the LGBTQ pedophiles and whatever, you know, and we're going to crack down or whatever. Okay. So what's going to happen if we get thrown off YouTube? So what? It was a great run. Amen. You know, we did what we could with it. Guess what? There's other ways to spread the word of God because then we can actually just walk down the street and just keep knocking doors, keep preaching the gospel, and we can hand it out on a DVD. We can hand it out on CDs. We can have it out on a flash drive folks where there's a will. There's a way. Look, I don't care what happens with YouTube. I don't care what happens with the landlord. I don't care what happens with the bank. I don't care what up. You know why? Because all things work together for good to them that love God. And you know what? I don't care whether Trump gets reelected or whether some fag communist weirdo gets reelected who's got butt in his name, whatever. I don't even know how to pronounce that guy's name. What's that? How do you pronounce that guy's name? Booty judge. Booty judge? No, it isn't. You're trolling me right now. Come on. How do you, how do you pronounce that guy's name? It's booty judge. That's a T you're softening it to a D to make it sound more normal. That's a T it's B U T T. The guy's an open faggot and he's got booty in his name and he's running for president. He was on the cover of time magazine. Oh, but we're crazy, right? Bible believing Christians are crazy. The rest of America is trying to figure out whether they want to have president booty. Folks, this is real. Am I making this up? You're the ones who are giving me that stupid pronunciation, but it's probably real. I'm looking at this like butt jig, butt, butted, butted, butt jig. I'm like, what is this? Who is this freak? Or Bernie Sanders is a total communist freak, whatever. Who cares? I don't care if Bernie Sanders gets elected. I don't care if booty faggot gets elected. I don't care if Trump gets reelected. You know why? Because all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. You say, well, it's bad for America. So I don't care. I don't care if it's bad for America because you know what? America doesn't love God. All I care about is what about the people who love God? Are they going to be okay? Right? I'm going to be okay. My family is going to be okay. You're going to be okay. Everybody in America who loves God is going to be okay. You know why? Because all things work together for good to them that love God. That means even one of these evil freaks getting elected president, that's why I don't even vote anymore. I don't care. I have better things to do than to even go down there because you know what? All things work together for good to them that love God. You know, I think Obama getting elected worked together for good to them that love God. So how can that be? Because you know what? I remember when Obama got elected and you know what happened? It woke people up. It actually woke up a lot of people and it caused a lot of people to seek the truth, to seek the Lord. They got scared about the way our country was going and they sought the Lord. So here's the thing. I don't sit there and worry like, oh man, you know, if we get one of these socialists in office, they're going to destroy our country. Burn baby, burn because this world's not my home. I'm just passing through and all things work together for good to them that love God. So if booty judge gets elected, then that's going to work together for good to those that love God. I mean, that'll freak people out. Our church will probably double in size if that happens. I'm serious. People will be like, I got to go listen to Pastor Anderson, you know, this is getting too weird. Folks, our church will probably double in size because people will be like, Pastor Anderson's right. We're doomed. My pastor is asleep at the wheel. I'm not kidding. Hey, look, what if YouTube shut off our channel and what if our website shut us down? Our church would double in size because people wouldn't be able to listen to it online anymore. They'd be like, now we have to actually go there or else we can't hear the sermon. Folks, there are hundreds of people in Phoenix who listen to every sermon and they never come here. Well, if they shut it all down, then they'll have to show up. Who cares? Folks, look, I don't want to get shut down on YouTube. I don't want to have a president with backside in his name. But the point is, though, at the end of the day, whatever happens, you know what? It's going to work together for good to them that love God. Now, if you don't love God, all bets are off. If you don't love God, guess what? I can't make any promises that it's going to work out good for you. And you know what? America is not going to go down a good path no matter what happens. But you know what? It's going to work together for good to them that love God. Egypt's doomed. Egypt's going to get smoked. You know what they're going to say in a few chapters? All Egypt is destroyed. But you know what? You think the children of Israel cared once they had that in their rear view and they're in the wilderness? You think that they were sitting on the other side of the Red Sea thinking like, yeah, I just feel so bad for the Egyptians. You think that's what they were thinking? No, we know what they were thinking because, guess what, Exodus chapter 15 has that great song where, hey, the horse and his rider has been cast into the sea, right? And they're playing the tambourine and singing, woo. They're not like, man, that part, you know, the economy in Egypt, I don't know how the economy is going to recover over there. Who cares? Folks, we need to quit caring so much about the things of this world and just following every twist and turn of the news and every twist and turn that the media tells us what's going on, right? That's what a lot of people are doing. And they're just like, and then you're biting your nails and you're worried about the election and you're worried about this and that and the other. Look, I'm not worried about anything. I'm not worried about anything because, you know what, I'm invincible. You're invincible. We are more than conquerors. We cannot lose. The only way we can be defeated is to defeat ourselves. That's it. There's one person that can destroy Steven Anderson and that person is Steven Anderson. And there's one person that can destroy you and that person is you. So don't sit there and worry so much about it. Look, if God be for us, who can be against us? We are invincible. We cannot lose. God always causes us to triumph. So who cares? Say, well, yeah, but why don't you care about it? I care about those that love God. And you know what? I endure all things for the elect's sakes. Right? Okay. Look, it's all about the people that are going to get saved. I care about getting as many people saved as possible. I care about pulling as many people out of the fire as possible. And I care about God's people being safe, God's people being protected. But if people are going to hate God, reject God, you know what? What's going to happen to them is just, that's what the Bible says. So I can't sit there and worry about it. So don't sit there and stress out about this or that or the other. But see, that's what they're doing here. They're just, oh, you made our Savior to stake. Look, the Savior will always stank and it's all going to work together for good to them that love God. And then look at the next thing they say, the second half of what they say at the end of verse 21 is, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. What they're basically saying there is, you're giving them an excuse to go after us. You're giving them the tools to persecute us. You're giving them the sound bites that they can use to persecute us or to go after us. You're putting the sword in their hand to slay us. But they're not going to be slain, whining, sniveling, unbelieving fools. Because you know what, you are going to the Promised Land if you'll trust the Lord. You know, it's just like, oh, but you're putting a sword in their hand to slay, you give them all this ammo. Look, I didn't write Leviticus 20-13. I didn't write it, friend. Oh man, Patrick Boyle's really taking it to them. Praise God. Take it to them. And you know what? The last couple days, just seeing all the rainbows on everything, even Duolingo had a rainbow. I was like, et tu, Brute? You know, it's like, you know, what were some of the businesses that were, Pinterest, Papa John's Pizza, Google, Colgate. What else? It was a lot more than that. It was a lot of stuff. I don't remember what they all were. What's that? Arizona Diamond Bags, Uber, it had a little rainbow thing going on. What's that? Bank of America. I think I've had an issue with that. Gillette, yeah, Gillette was another one. And then Trump, Donald Trump, et tu, Brute? Okay, Donald Trump. I remember when Trump got elected, I was like, I want to see what he does in June. Right? You remember that? Because you know, the day he got inaugurated, the LGBT page was deleted from whitehouse.gov, the day he got inaugurated. So I was like, it's going to be interesting to see what he does in June. Well, June rolled around, and he didn't celebrate it. I was like, oh, okay, that's cool. 2018, I don't think he celebrated either. It's like, okay, you know, give him some credit where credit's due. Here we are in 2019, getting a little closer to the election. And he pronounced the Queer Pride Month. Donald Trump pronounced June, you know, by my power and authority as the President of the United States. Yeah, I forgot that part in the Constitution. They gave him the power to sodomize our country. But he, you know, he pronounced this LGBT Pride Month, and then he said, we're working to decriminalize homosexuality in all countries of the world. Folks, how is that our job? How is that our business? How is that his job? He's literally using his power as President of the United States to say, well, we're just going to make sure that people can just be a homo everywhere in the world. That's what the President of the United States' job is? That's what he said. Who saw that pronouncement that he said that? Yeah. There goes your hero. But you know, you think about the old IFB. Let's just take an example. And I'm almost done tonight. But let's just take an example from the old IFB. How about the sword of the Lord? Okay. And look, I like the sword of the Lord, okay? I like the hymnal. Okay. You know, the newspaper's boring. But you know, they stand for some good things. I'm not hating on the sword of the Lord, okay? But it's like the sword of the Lord. I remember they had an article during the election about how, you know, if Hillary gets elected, if Trump doesn't get elected, you know, they didn't say it exactly like that because they don't want to endorse a particular candidate. But they were saying, like, look, if the wrong person gets elected, you know, it's likely that we could have to go into hiding as Christians. You remember when I read that article about how, like, hey, you know, we could have to go into hiding. And I'm thinking to myself, you're already in hiding. So basically you're telling me nothing's going to change for you. But here's what's funny. They're like, we're going to have to go into hiding. You know what? I'm not going into hiding. What are you talking about going to hiding? What? But that shows what's in their heart. They've already decided when persecution comes, I'm going into hiding. They already said that. They put it in black and white in the newspaper. When persecution comes, let's go to Shelton Smith's house because he's got a bunker for us. He's going to hide. He's going to hide us in a cave by 50s with food and water like Obadiah put us in a cave. Folks, why would we go into hiding? I'm never going to go into hiding. I don't care what happens. I will never go into hiding. The most that I would ever do if persecution got extreme is go somewhere else. Go somewhere. If they persecute you in this city, flee to another, the Bible says. But nowhere does the Bible teach going into hiding. That's garbage. Look, I'm going to preach the word of God from the housetops until I die. I will never go into hiding. I will preach boldly and solely. I'm not going to go hide somewhere. Why? During the great tribulation, I'm not going to be hiding. What would be the point? Think about this. You're in the great tribulation, right? The great tribulation comes to an end at some point. So you're like, oh man, we're going to go out in the woods or we're going to have a bunker and everything. Why? Let's say, okay, let's say the rapture is coming in like three weeks and then you go hide in the woods for three weeks. What's going to happen at the end of those three weeks when the Lord comes? What's going to happen? You're caught up, right? From your campsite. You're caught up. Yes, I survived three weeks and now I'm here. So where do you end up? In the clouds and go to heaven, right? Okay. Let's say you spend that three weeks just driving it until the wheels fall off, preaching the word of God, soul winning, just, what's going to, what's the worst thing that can happen? Where are you three weeks later? Same place as the guy in the woods with way more rewards that you're going to enjoy for millions of years. So what would be the point, explain to me, what's the point in hiding during the tribulation when we're all going to the same place within weeks or months? So right. Do you see what I'm saying? And you say, well, I just don't want to get beheaded as long as the Muslims aren't doing it. It's going to go fast. You know what I mean? It's probably like the quickest way you could possibly die. If it's a guillotine. I mean, the lights are out and it's just, it's over. I mean, I've got news for you. Unless the Lord comes back in our lifetime, we're all going to die. Every last one of us is going to die and it's going to, it's going to hurt for probably 99% of us, at least for a minute, you know what I mean? So what, what, what are you just going to spend your whole life trying to figure out how you can just survive and not get persecuted and go into hiding and whatever folks, what's the point, folks, let's just, let's just preach the word of God. Let's just preach the gospel. And look, if it gets so bad that, that, that we have to flee somewhere else, then, okay. You know, but I hope, I hope to live and die right here. I don't plan on going anywhere, but worst case scenario, I would just keep going. And when there's nowhere else to go, then I just die on that Hill. Amen. Folks, I'm not going to sit there and hide. And these people, they're already premeditating hiding. Oh, you're giving them a sword to slay us with. Oh man. You know, we need more Moses and Aaron's and less officers of the children of Israel. And so folks just think about it this way. Okay. God has commanded us to preach the gospel. He's commanded us not to just preach the gospel, to preach the whole Bible. He's commanded us to stand in the gap, cry aloud, spare not, you know, preach on sin, preach everything, teach righteousness. The great commission is to teach them to observe all things that Christ commanded, not just the gospel. It's everything. We're supposed to preach the whole book. Okay. So why don't we just focus on doing that, doing the right thing, serving God, all things will work together for good. I mean, look, I've been doing this for 13 and a half years as a pastor and you know what? I'm doing great. God's blessing me. And you know, I've been soul winning for 20 years and I've been blessed. Now have I gone through a lot of pain during that time? Sure. Have I been persecuted? Sure. Have I suffered, been attacked, lied about? Sure. So what? Who cares? Because it's all working together for good. You just kind of have the faith and you know, that's what we see in this story is they're not seeing the big picture. All they can see is what's right in front of them. Oh no, my YouTube channel got deleted. Oh no, my bank account got frozen. Oh no, you know, a brick went through the window or of the church or whatever. Oh no, you know. So what? In the end, you're going to be blessed. In the end, God's going to take care of you. In the end, it's all going to work together for good to them that love God. So just let those words sink down into your ears and realize it's not going to work together for good for everybody, but it's going to work together for good to them that love God. So all you need to worry about is loving God. Love God and you're going to be fine no matter who's in the White House, no matter what the media does, no matter what the police do, no matter what governments do. That's why I don't follow every twist and turn of politics because here's what I hear. If I turn on the political radio, here's what I'm going to hear. Wah wah wah wah wah wah. Everything's going to work together for you because you love God. Wah wah wah wah. Here's a, but you know what? Steven Anderson, everything's going to work together for you because you love God. So I'm just like, okay, the forecast is looking good. Looks great. Oh, but so and so is going to get elected. What are we going to do? So what? Look, there are some really weird people running for president right now, but to me, but you know what? I'm just like eating my popcorn, just like I wonder who it's going to be because I don't care because it's all going to work together for good to them that love God. So it's like whatever happens, I'm just getting ready to just ride this rollercoaster. And if it goes upside down a few times, so much the better. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word Lord. And we see people going through trials, tribulations, persecutions, Lord. Help us not to be forgetful hearers of the word Lord. I have a feeling that Moses and Aaron and, and especially the leaders of the children of Israel, I feel like they were forgetful hearers about that part about how Pharaoh was going to not let them go. Lord, help us not to forget those things and then get disillusioned and discouraged. Help us to remember that there will be afflictions in the short term and all things are going to work together for good in the long term. Help us to keep that in our mind and just help us to have peace, Lord. Help us every day to have the peace that passes all understanding because of your promises, Lord. Help us not to get all caught up in every twist and turn of the doom and gloom that the world's going down the toilet, Lord. Don't flush the thing, Lord, because we know where we're going. So we don't even care, Lord. Just bless us and help us to win as many people, Lord, so we can pull them out of the fire and teach them to love you so that everything can work out good for them too. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.