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

And so tonight is kind of an extra week, like I mentioned, because I don't want to start a new book until next Wednesday. It doesn't really make sense to, you know, just start the first chapter this week, because everybody's gonna have their New Year's resolution to come on Wednesdays, you know, starting next Wednesday. So I want to start a new book at that time. So tonight, I just want to do a Bible study on this issue of predestination that comes up in Ephesians one, Romans eight, a few other places. And I want to expound these scriptures to you because there are a lot of people that will twist these scriptures into teaching what's called Calvinism, or a belief that God chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, or that Jesus didn't die for everybody. And I touched on this a little bit on Sunday night, the ridiculousness of the doctrine that Jesus didn't die for everybody. And let me say this, when it comes to Calvinism or predestination, the Achilles' heel of that doctrine is limited atonement. You want to find the easiest plank of Calvinism to demolish from the Bible. It's this ridiculous doctrine that Jesus didn't die for everybody, because there are so many scriptures that tell us that Jesus died for everybody, and I'm not going to rattle all those off again tonight. But I want to explain to you where the misunderstanding is coming from in these passages and what's actually being said. Now let's start with Ephesians chapter one. It says in Ephesians chapter one verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. According to the good pleasure of his will. So people will take these verses and say, well, see, he chose us, meaning that he didn't choose someone else and he chose to save some and to damn others. But if you actually look up all these verses where he talks about choosing people or people being predestinated, what it is is that he chooses people for a certain task or he chooses people that they will have a certain destiny. But it's according to his foreknowledge. He chooses that people whom he foreknew would have a certain attribute or have a certain destiny or would do a certain work. Look what this verse actually says. It says in verse four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, what did he choose? He chose that we should be holy. Do you see that? It doesn't say he chose us and not others. No, it says he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. So basically, he chose that we would have this destiny of becoming children of God. That's the choice that was made. He chose that for us because he foreknew us. God already knew who would believe on Jesus Christ and who would not believe on Jesus Christ. So he chose a group of people saying, look, you that believe on me, this is going to be your destiny. You're going to be the children of God. You, I have chosen to be my people and I'll be your God. Based on what? The choice is based on his foreknowledge. And whether we're in or out is based on whether or not we believe in Christ or we have trusted in Christ. Let's keep going in the passage and I'll show you what I mean. It says in verse six to the praise of the glory of his grace, where any have made us accepted in the beloved and who we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, where any of the bounded toward us and all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. Watch this being predestined according to the purpose of him who work with all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. So that's the destiny that he chose for us, that we would be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. So how is it that we got access to this amazing destiny? How is it that we became one of the chosen people? Well, first we trusted in Christ, and because God knew that he has all kinds of wonderful plans for us. Adoption, glorification. He's going to have a great work for us to do. Now let's jump over to Romans Chapter 8, which is another big one. Romans Chapter 8. While you're turning to Romans 8, though, I'm going to read for you from 1 Peter Chapter 1, just to show you that the Bible is consistent on this issue. 1 Peter 1, verse 2, listen to this. Elect, and elect is another way of saying chosen, right? If we elect a president, we choose a president. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So we're elect according to what? The foreknowledge. The foreknowledge of God the Father. Through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. So let's go to Romans Chapter 8. This is the most famous mention in Romans Chapter 8, verse 28. 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. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. So it doesn't say He predestinated one for heaven and He predestinated the other for hell. Predestination is not the choice of which people will be saved. Predestination is the choice of destiny for those who will be saved. Those He did foreknow. So He looks into the future and He sees Steven Anderson, He sees Mike Madison, He sees Brother Jay Lee, He sees John Ball, He sees us and He says, You know what? I'm predestinating this guy to be conformed to the image of my Son. I'm predestinating this group of people, those that I foreknow, those that believe on me, those who first trusted in Christ. I'm going to predestinate them to be conformed to the image of my Son. I'm going to predestinate them to the adoption of sons. They're going to have a home in heaven. I mean, we have all kinds of things waiting for us. Not only that, we have works that have been laid out for us. The Bible says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So God has foreordained works for Steven Anderson that I'm supposed to walk in. God, before the foundation of the world, He knew me, He knew that I was going to believe on Him, and He made plans for me. He came up with work for me to do. And He gave me a destiny that one day I'm going to be conformed to the image of His Son. He gave me a destiny that has all these things mentioned. So the predestination is not which people get saved. The predestination is what's in store for those who are saved. And it's consistent. That's what Ephesians 1 says. It's always He chose us that we would be holy. He chose us that we would be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what it's saying. Look at John chapter 15. What does it mean to be chosen? Well, keep your finger on Romans 8, though, because we are going to come back there. What does it mean to be chosen? Why does God choose people anyway? Here's another good one in John chapter 15. Verse 16. Jesus says this to His disciples. John 15, 16. You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you. So why did He chose them? He said, I chose you that you would bring forth fruit. You haven't chosen Me. I've chosen you that you might bring forth fruit. He's choosing them to do work for Him. Now, when Jesus chose the 12 disciples, what's He choosing? Workers that He's going to send out to do work. And by the way, one of them wasn't even saved because He purposely chose one that was not saved. He purposely chose one who was a devil because the Scripture needed to be fulfilled, that one of His closest friends would betray Him. And so He chose Judas. And that's why in John chapter 6, He says, Have not I chosen you, 12, and one of you is a devil? But what the Calvinists will do, they'll take a verse like this and apply it to salvation. You've not chosen Me. I've chosen you. Wait a minute. Have not I chosen you, 12, and one of you is a devil? The choice is not which one will be saved and which one will be damned. The choice here is, hey, I'm choosing 12 people to do a certain job. I'm choosing a certain group of people to have a certain destiny. I'm choosing the ones who first trusted in Christ, those who have faith. You see, salvation is a result of believing in Christ. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, then, right, thou shalt be saved. That's a conditional if then. The then is obviously implied, but the if is right there. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. So there you go, folks. It's an if then. You believe He saves you, right? You put your faith in Him, He gives you the grace that saves you. We have access to the grace wherein we stand by faith. Faith is the key that unlocks the door of grace. It's through faith that we have access into this grace wherein we stand. That's what the Bible teaches. Go back to Romans chapter 8. And I'm going to show you why I think there's a big disconnect on this subject and why people are wrong about this. And it has to do with not understanding the subject of Israel and the Jews. If you get Israel and the Jews wrong, you're going to get other things wrong. You know, I've heard a lot of people say, from the pre-trib side of things, I've heard them say, man, if you get Israel wrong, you're going to be goofed up on a lot of things. And to that, I say a hearty amen. You know, I don't mean what they mean, but yeah, they are very goofed up because of being wrong about Israel. And I'm going to show you how that ties in with this subject. If you get Israel right in the scripture, and if you understand this thing of replacement theology. And let me just go on the record right now. I believe in replacement theology. Somebody said, I don't think you're that radical. Then you don't know me very well because I'm all the way replacement. I'm replacement as replacement gets when it comes to Israel. Did I mention they've been replaced? OK. So if you understand that Israel, the nation of Israel has been replaced, the physical nation of Israel has been replaced by a spiritual nation made up of all believers in Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile. Once you understand that, these passages will make sense more. Is it a coincidence that some of the most powerful scriptures on Israel being replaced are found in Romans 9 and Ephesians 2? And what are the two predestination passages? Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. Now, you think that's a coincidence? Two very powerful passages on Israel being replaced. Romans 9 is a good one. And Ephesians 2 is my favorite. You know, obviously, Galatians 3 and 4 are good too, but I digress. But Ephesians 2 and Romans 9 are pretty much the two best chapters on it. And then what have you got? The two chapters right before them both deal with this chosen predestination issue. And I'm going to show you why that's so important and why that ties in. So we're going to get the context. Instead of just ripping it out of context, let's get it in the context of the book. What's the point that he's making? Let's keep going in chapter 8 of Romans. It says, for whom he did foreknow, and that's the key, the foreknowledge of God. 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 he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we say, then, 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. So this is meant to be a very encouraging passage for the elect, for those who are saved. What are the elect? The chosen. And the chosen are being used as the saved, right? Because he says that the elect are the ones justified by God. Do you see that? He says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, verse 33? It is God that justified. So to be justified is to be the elect in Scripture, okay? And again, we could go through all the mentions of the word elect. It's pretty clear. The elect are the saved. Now here's where people are getting this wrong. They think that God chose to save one and chose to damn another. That's not true, because the Bible said that God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to perish. Well, you say, well, all doesn't really mean all. That's what the Calvinists would say. Okay, well, does any mean any? Because he's not willing that any should perish. Does any not mean any? Well, he tasted death for every man. Well, does every not mean every? I mean, you know, how many different ways can he say it when he sits there and says, he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. That means he's the savior of the ones who don't believe. Now, it doesn't do them any good, right? Because the Bible says, hey, howbeit the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it, you know? So if they don't have the faith, it's not going to do them any good, but he's still the savior of all men, especially of those who believe. There's only one savior for red, yellow, black, white, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, atheist. There's one savior. Now, look, he's not going to allow them into heaven or give them eternal life unless they have the faith, unless they believe. That's their choice to believe or not believe. Jesus said, you will not come to me that you might have life. It's their will. He said, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. But of course, whosoever doesn't mean whosoever and blah, blah, blah. So we see over and over again that the elect are the saved. So here's what people aren't understanding. The point that's being made by explaining in Ephesians 1 over and over again, you're chosen, you're chosen, you're chosen, you're elect, you're elect is because these people have been told by a bunch of lying Jews, oh, you guys aren't chosen, you're not elect, we are. That's why you find this chosen, chosen, chosen right next to a passage telling you that the Gentiles are the chosen if they're saved. OK, does everybody see what I'm saying? So the idea is Old Testament. It was the physical nation of Israel. That's the chosen people. New Testament, it's believers in Christ that are chosen. That doesn't mean he chose individuals and said, I'm going to save one and damn the other. It means he chose a class of people, believers in Christ, to be his elect, to be his, who are the chosen people right now in 2018? That's easy. People who believe in Christ saved Christians. And that's what's actually going on in this passage. If you would, go over to 1 Peter chapter 2. And again, isn't it interesting, Ephesians 1 on being chosen is followed by Ephesians 2, which is a really strong passage about Israel and how we're the new Israel and we have been made fellow citizens and so forth. Romans 9 follows Romans 8. Well, 1 Peter 1 talks about being elect according to the foreknowledge of God, right? Well, you're not going to believe this. 1 Peter 2 is a powerful verse on replacement theology. Imagine that. This is not a coincidence, my friend. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2. Again, powerful passage in verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people. This is something new. He's saying, look, you were in time past not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Look, this is the big new thing. You know how it's called the New Testament? You want to know what the big new thing is? You want to know what's really new about it? Is the fact that the Gentiles are fellow citizens. That the Gentiles have been graphed in. That the Gentiles are now the chosen people if they believe in Christ. You know what the big new thing is? That it's a spiritual nation instead of a physical nation. Because look, when did God enact the Old Testament or the Old Covenant? It was with Moses, right? Moses sprinkled both the book and all the people with the blood of bulls and goats. And he said, this is the testament. This is the blood of the testament, which God has enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. Here he is sprinkling with blood, bringing in the Old Covenant, Moses, the law, the children of Israel, right? Then we have the New Covenant. What's the New Covenant? Hey, the New Covenant is not one of a chosen physical nation of Israel. The New Covenant is one where if you're in Christ, you're the chosen people. And again, look, in the Old Testament, they weren't saved by being part of a physical nation. They were saved by grace through faith. We are saved by grace through faith. The difference is, though, in the Old Testament, if a Gentile was saved, but he didn't join the nation, you know, he's not one of the chosen people. You know, he's a saved heathen at that point. You know, guys like Nahum and the Syrian. I mean, Nahum and the Syrian, he definitely believed in the Lord. He worshiped the Lord. He called upon the name of the Lord. But did he join the nation of Israel and get circumcised and keep the pastor? No, he'll be in heaven. But he wasn't one of the chosen people because the chosen people was a physical nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Okay, what's the new thing? So because it's the big new thing, the New Testament talks a lot about it, explaining to us, hey, you're chosen. In the past, you weren't the chosen people, but now you are the people of God. That's what 1 Peter 2, 9, and 10 says. It says in time past, you're not the people, but now you're the people of God. Guess what? Romans 9 teaches the same thing. Flip over to Romans 9. And again, remember, these are the passages following the passages about being chosen and being predestined. You know what that's saying is that it's always been the destiny of the Gentiles to be God's people. You know these Sam Gips of this world and the dispensationalist which will say, oh, the Gentiles are kind of like God's plan B. You know, God was on the rebound from being rejected by the Jews, and he kind of just married the first girl that came along, the Gentiles. I mean, that's a blasphemous, stupid doctrine. That's what they believe. They literally teach that the Gentiles are an afterthought or a plan B. They even use that word, plan B. Okay. No, God always intended, always intended for the Gentiles to be fellow heirs. Now that was a mystery to a lot of people, but it wasn't a mystery to God. God always had that in mind. That was always his intention. And look at Romans chapter 9, where he says in verse number 25, as he saith also in Ozi, that's Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people. And her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. Do you see that? Back up in the same chapter to verse number 6, not as though the word of God had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. What's being taught here? Look, it's not the physical Jews. It's not the physical nation of Israel. It's the children of promise. It's those who believe in Christ. If you be Christ, your Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise. Look, how far do you have to get in the New Testament to start figuring this out? Oh, I don't know. You just open your New Testament and just get to the first sermon that's preached by John the Baptist, and what does he say? Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, and now also the axe is laid under the root of the tree. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. First preaching, first sermon is about how, oh yeah, you physical Jews, well guess what? You're going to get hewn down and cast into the fire, buddy, because don't think that the fact that you physically descend from Abraham means anything in the sight of God. You've got to believe on him that cometh after me that is on Christ Jesus. That's what John the Baptist preached. That's his message. First book of the New Testament right out of the gate. Chapter two even symbolizes that as we learned on Sunday morning, right? We saw that right away. It's everywhere in scripture, folks. So that's why there's this emphasis on elect, chosen, chosen, elect. It's because there's this thing of the Old Testament chosen people versus the New Testament. We're the chosen generation. We're the royal priesthood. He chose us, not the Jews. He chose Christians, but he didn't choose, okay, these people are going to be Christians and these are going to be atheists. No, he chose the Christians. He chose the true believers to be his people, to be his children, to be predestinated onto the being conformed to the image of his son. Now think about if you took the Calvinist interpretation of these passages, how it wouldn't make sense, okay? Like let's take Romans eight, for example, Romans chapter eight. Let's take the Calvinist interpretation here and see if it makes any sense. 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. Now, according to their interpretation of this, they think that those that love God and that are the called according to his purpose, that that's all saved people. Everybody who's saved according to them loves God and is called according to his purpose. Well, then let me ask you this. Does everything work together for good in everybody's life just because they're saved? No, because look, a lot of people who are saved, what do they do? They get backslidden and do stupid things. And if you go out and do a bunch of stupid things and ruin your life, could we really say of you, man, all things work together for good. Look, if you get backslidden and become a drunkard and then you go out and get drunk and then you get in the car and you go out and kill yourself and some innocent person in a drunk driving accident, oh man, all things work together for good in his life. What? No, it was a disaster. Okay. Now look, if you love God, then all things work together for good in your life. Look, if you love God and you are the called according to his purpose, it is the same group of people he's talking to, you know, them that love God and are the called according to his purpose, this group of people who love God and are the called according to his purpose, you know what, all things work together for good. So if you love God and you're seeking him and serving him, even when bad things happen in your life, God will work them out. And years later, you'll look back and say, Jesus led me all the way. Wow, this all worked together for good. Even the worst things in my life, God was able to use it for good. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. But look, if you go out and live a carnal Christian life, do you really think all things are going to work together for good? No, because if you say you love God and you don't keep his commandments, you're a liar. If you say you love God and you don't keep his commandments, you're a liar. But these people, because they believe in a workspace salvation, when you boil it all down and get rid of all the fluff, they're basically saying, hey, everybody who's saved keeps his commandments. Everybody who's saved loves God. Everybody who's saved obeys God. Everybody who's saved does works. If you don't have the works, you're not saved. No, wrong. Because even the statement faith without works is dead proves that it's possible to have faith without works. If it were impossible to have faith without works, how could you even make the statement faith without works is dead? There'd be nothing to talk about. It doesn't say faith without works doesn't exist. Is that what it says? Faith without works doesn't exist. No, it says faith without works is dead. And what the Bible says is him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So it's possible to work not, but yet believe. And you're saved. But are all things going to work together for good in your life? No. You have to love God and keep his commandments if you want things to work out in your life. The path to God's blessing is through the door of obedience. And you know, are all things going to work out for my kids if they disobey everything I tell them, Oh, everything's going to work out for good. Kids just disobey everything I say. No, everything's going to work out to them getting a spanking. Okay. And you know what? If they disregard what mom and dad teach them, if they disregard the preaching of God's word, if they disregard the word of the Lord, they're going to go out and screw up their lives. And it's not going to be a happy ending. It's going to be a bad ending, a bad ending. Many people end poorly. But to those of us that love God, it's going to work out great. Now the Calvinist would say, well, it's them that love God and them who are the called according to his purpose. And he claims that, you know, God only called those who are saved. Well, that's foolish because God called and you refused. It says in Proverbs one, I called and you refused. I stretched forth my hand and no man regarded. Look, didn't Jesus call when he stood in the temple and cried out, if any man thirst, let him come to me. As the scripture has said, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. I mean, when he cried out and screams and says, hey, if any man thirst, let him come to me. Is he not calling out to everybody who's there? And only the saved people, right, are going to get the benefit, but he's calling out to all of them. So to sit there and say, oh, well, the only ones that he called are the ones who responded. That's garbage. Okay. Because he calls out to the world. I mean, how many, look, how many examples do we need to go to of Jesus calling out for people to be saved who never ended up getting saved, but he still calls out and cries out and begs them to come to, there's still the plea to come to Christ. So if you, if you take this Calvinistic viewpoint and plug it into the scripture, you end up with things that don't match reality. Everybody who's saved has a happy ending. What a joke. That's not true. That's not, look folks, if everybody, you know, these people that say, well, if you're really saved, you're going to do all these works and you're going to bring forth all this good fruit and all these different things. Well then here's my question then, why isn't, why isn't the whole world evangelized then? If every saved person were doing the right things, this whole world would be evangelized in like 10 years. I mean, look, if every, if we could push a button, think about this now, don't miss this point. If we could push a button right now and every person in Phoenix who's saved would start obeying God's commandments, loving God, repenting of all their sins, right? And seeking God and putting him first and loving him and obeying him. You know what? It would be, it would be, it would be crazy. I mean, if we push that button, it would just be like, every door is getting knocked with the gospel within like what? A week, right? Because everybody would, there's like a, look, there's like a saved person on almost every street in this city. So every saved person would just go out and knock their own street that week and it'd be like, all right, we're done with Phoenix. What do we do next? And then we'd all be hopping on planes and saying, well, we've already evangelized things. We've tried to give the gospel to everybody. Let's all go hop on planes. We'd be going all over the world. We'd be going all, and then people all over the world. If I push that button and they all of a sudden became Calvinists too. And all of a sudden they're just these automatic, we love God. We're ready to, we've repetitive, you know, and you know, I just wish I could push a button and get these Calvinists to quit drinking and tattooing themselves and mutilating their bodies. What button do I have to push to get their women out of pants and dressing like women in skirts and dresses? Amazing how they're just predestined to look like tramps. It's amazing how they're predestined to look like white trash. It's amazing how they're predestined to be drunk. They're predestined to be pierced and tattooed to high heaven. That's interesting to me. It's so funny how they talk so much. Oh man, you've taken the power out of the gospel. Where's the repentance? Where's your repentance, you drunken, tattooed, cannibal looking freak? Where's your repentance where you quit living like the world, being a friend of the world, and promoting satanic wickedness and ungodliness. And then you're going to tell me to repent of my sins. Well, look, I do have sins to repent of. I'm not claiming to have repented of all my sins. I'm claiming to be saved by grace through faith. But if these guys are going to walk around telling us, well, the people who are truly saved, they're really going to love God. Well, then why don't you love God? Oh, I do love God. Well, you don't keep his commandments. Thou shall not print any marks on your body. How about that commandment? That's Old Testament. Well, you know, the Old Testament also tells you not to marry your sister. That's Old Testament. The Old Testament tells you not to look at your grandma naked. Oh, that's Old Testament. We're free in Christ. Stupidity, folks. And let me tell you something. There's not enough preaching going on against tattoos. And I'll tell you why. You want to know why there's not enough preaching against tattoos? Everybody's got one. And you know what? That doesn't make it right. And I don't care how many tattoos you have. If you're offended by me preaching against tattoos, you need to get right with God. Because you know what? If you're sitting here today and you have tattoos, you should love for me to preach against tattoos because you should want other people to not make the same mistake. Okay? And look, that's called repentance. It's called repentance. Look, tattoos are evil. They are wicked. They are sinful. It's the same verse that tells you don't cut yourself. Don't make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead. And don't print any marks upon your body. That is a pagan practice. And you know what? That practice did not even exist for centuries in Europe. Among civilized Christian culture in Europe, tattoos didn't exist. Amen. Then when you got into the seafaring era, where a lot of ships are going around and they're visiting all these cannibal islands, they go on these barbaric islands and that's where they learn about tattoos. And then they took that and they applied it. So it used to be that you know who the only people who got tattoos were are sailors. Okay? You know, that's why when I was a kid, when I would be drawing comics, you know how you draw pictures as a kid? If I drew a guy with a tattoo, the only tattoo I ever drew was an anchor. Who knows what I'm talking about? Because I'd seen Popeye. You know, and Popeye. The only people that I knew who had a tattoo were Popeye. And then my pastor had a tattoo when I was growing up. But you know what? I only saw it one time because he didn't show it off. He wasn't bragging about it or gloating about it or thinking it was cool. He typically wore a long sleeve shirt and didn't make some big day. You know, let me just wear a sleeveless shirt just to show you all my tattoos and make sure everybody sees them because I'm so hip and cool with my tattoos. But listen to me. He, guess what he had? He had like an anchor. The pastor too. Which reinforced my Popeye philosophy that the only, you know, that the only people who have tattoos are sailors. You know, he was in the Navy. He's got the tattoo. Popeye has a tattoo. You know why? Because the sailors are going to islands where there's cannibals. You know what cannibals are? Yeah. I don't, I don't want to give the children bad dreams. Yeah, that's who we, yeah, let's get our fashions from them. Let's get our styles from them. A bunch of demon worshipers. Are you listening? And look, I don't, you say, oh, you're being too harsh on. No, I'm telling the truth. It wasn't until the 1960s that tattoos became a thing that non-sailors and non-derelicts would get in the USA. You go back 100 years, you think everybody had a tattoo 100 years ago? You think women had tattoos 100 years ago? You think your average Joe Christian had a tattoo? You're wrong. Nobody had a tattoo in the United States of America or Europe, except for low-class, trashy type people or sailors or whatever, okay? And then it became the cool thing. And starting around the year 2000, the statistics show that over 15% of Americans have a tattoo now. And I would, if I had to guess, I would say that probably half the adults in this building have a tattoo. I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands. I don't want to embarrass anyone. But I bet just looking around and just knowing the people of our church, I think probably half the people. Look, if you have a tattoo right now, don't feel singled out. You're not alone. Half the people in here have a tattoo. But you know what? The difference is that when you walk up to people in this church and if you ask them, hey, should I get a tattoo? They're all going to tell you no. They're all going to tell you, oh, I got this because I didn't know that scripture. I got this tattoo because I'd never heard that preaching. I got this tattoo because I hadn't read the Bible. And if more pastors were warning people, you wouldn't have all these Christians going out and getting tattoos today. But they don't know any better. So look, I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad about your tattoos. Because guess what? They're permanent. So I don't look down on you for having a tattoo because I realize that it's from the past. You didn't know. But you know what? If you actually know the scripture, if you've actually heard this preaching and go out and get a tattoo, let me just tell you to your face you're an idiot. You're an idiot if you listen to the Bible, say, thou shalt not print any marks upon you. And you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And you know that it's from a demonic, wicked religion and culture. And that's what it is. It's cutting into your flesh. It's a mutilation of God's creation. You know what? If you go out and do it anyway, then you're an idiot. And if you don't like it, then get out and go to church somewhere else. Because I'm not going to get up here and sugarcoat and water down the message so that we can tattoo the next generation. And look, everybody who is here with a tattoo is welcome. And I love you. And some of the greatest Christians in our church have tattoos. But you know what? Let's raise a generation without tattoos. Let's raise a generation that will please the Lord in that area of their life. This apologia church in Tempe, they had a tattoo parlor set up in their church. Pastor Jeff Durbin had a fundraiser for a Hawaii church plant. Amazing how many people are called to Hawaii. But you know, God's calling. I can hear the Savior calling. I'm feeling called, amen. But anyway, you know, they're planting a church in Hawaii. And the fundraiser is you pay to get another church member to tattoo you. And so they go in and they get a tattoo for Jesus. And this one guy comes in. He says, I'm getting a dirty Trinity tattoo. And people are telling me it's blasphemous, he said. People have told me this is a blasphemous tattoo. But I talked to Pastor Jeff and he said it's okay. And you know what? Go ahead and call me a liar. Go ahead and call me a slanderer. Hey, idiot, get on my YouTube channel right now and listen to it out of his own mouth. I'm told this is a blasphemous tattoo, but Pastor Jeff said it's okay. You want to call me a liar? You want to call me a slanderer? Watch the video. S. Anderson 1611 is my YouTube channel. You go on there and watch these bunch of trendies down there tattooing themselves like a bunch of cannibals, supposedly for the work of God. And then you're going to call me a liar and a slanderer. It's ridiculous. They how can I be lying when you hear the guy say, well, I'm told it's blasphemous, but Pastor Jeff said it's okay. And they're getting tattooed. And then the guy in the video, by the way, who's getting tattooed and oh, I'm doing this for the work of the Lord, you know, and they're sitting there tattooing the guy. Oh, it hurts so much. And my daughter said to me, you know, because I was uploading this video and my daughter said to me, you know, why is he doing it if it hurts? And I said, honey, why did the prophets of bail cut themselves even though it hurt? Because the devil wants people to hurt themselves and mutilate themselves and abuse their bodies. And he said, the guy who was in there, the guy who was doing it. Okay. James White's son-in-law. Okay. And then I read up on it. The guy now, now the guy has gone back into a life of drugs, committed adultery. He's divorced. And now James White's daughter's married to somebody else. You say, well, that's just gossip. No, actually it's exposing this den of iniquity that calls itself a house of God. These people that call themselves men of God. Well, it's amazing how their children are of the devil. Their children just go out and fornicate and they go out and tattoo their bodies. You know what? If all my children show up with tattoos, then I'll be glad to step down from pastoring. If I raise a bunch of heathen cannibals. But this is what we have today in Christianity. And you know what? You can sit there and show people the proof, show people the evidence, show people the documentation, and they will still heap to themselves these false teachers having itching ears because they like the beer church because they like beer. They like the beer church because they like tattoos. They like the beer church because they like their rock and roll lifestyle and they don't want to be holy. You know, it's so funny how these Calvinists, they love all these verses about being chosen and yep, God chooses. It's all an act of God's sovereign grace. Wait, you guys forgot the part where he chose us to be holy. It's like they're missing the whole point. Yeah, we're chosen, we're chosen, we're chosen. You're chosen to be holy. He didn't choose you to get a tattoo. He didn't choose you to drink beer. He didn't choose you to do shots of tequila. He didn't choose you to be a drug addict. He didn't choose you to be a derelict. He didn't choose you to dress like a woman as a man or to dress like a man as a woman and he chose us to be holy and blameless. Forgot to read that part, huh? Because they're so hung up on, he chose me, I'm better. And then they have the gall to call this the gospel. You know what gospel means? Good news. Hey, great news. You're damned and there's nothing you can do about it. Sorry, sucka. Because you know what? That's what Calvinism means for the majority of people. The majority of people aren't saved. So how is that glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people? I thought when the angels announced the birth of Christ, what did they say? It's good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. Hey, great news, everybody. A tiny percentage of you are saved and everybody else is going to hell and there's nothing you can do about it, suckas. That's why no Calvinist can preach the gospel because the gospel is that Christ died for us according to the scriptures. How can I preach the gospel to you and say, Daniel, Christ died for us? Daniel, he died for us. You can't even say that if you're a Calvinist because most people you're talking to, according to them, he didn't even die for. Hey, guess what? Christ died for me. And you can tell because I'm living such a holy life and I've repetitive my sins and I've got my exegesis and I never touch eisegesis with a 10-foot pole. But, you know, and you know what? You might be too. So come drink a beer with me, get a tattoo of a dirty trinity and we'll see how it turns out. And if you endure unto the end, if you can endure this crap unto the end, hey, you might be saved. Hey, I couldn't endure one service at that apology. A tattoo parlor, beer house, brothel, whatever the hell they have going on down there. Say, oh, hey, you're so mean. You better know I am. Oh, you're mad. Yeah, I am. Yeah, when people run a tattoo parlor in the name of Jesus Christ, somebody needs to scream and holler and rant and yell about it. Look, Jesus flipped over the tables because they're selling stuff in church. But I'm sure if the Pharisees would have been doing a tattoo parlor, can you imagine the scribes and Pharisees with a tattoo parlor set up? They're tattooing a star of rim fan on everybody or something. And then I can just imagine Jesus coming in just being like, right on. Yeah, this is radical, man. Dude, let's talk theology, bro. Folks, it's crazy. But you know what? People eat this stuff up with fork and spoon in the day we're living in. It's garbage. It's a bunch of rotten, corrupt fruit. Hey, there's nothing wrong with us tattooing this guy for the glory of God. Fast forward two years later, the guy's out on drugs, adultery, divorced. Well, maybe you guys were a major stumbling block to that guy. You know, he's going to church because he wants to, you know, do something right with his life. You know, most people go to church with a good intention, even if they go to the wrong church, that they at least have their heart in the right place. Like, hey, I'm trying to show up at the house of God because I want to clean up my life or something. And then it's like, all right, bro, you ready to get tattooed for Jesus? All right, bro, you ready to drink beer for Jesus? And then the other, they were raising money for two different ways. Tattooing people and a beer flight where they fly somewhere and drink all these beers on the way. So much for moderation. They, you know, somebody calculated the quantity of alcohol you'd consume on this flight. You're way over the limit, buddy. Tattoos and a beer flight. Well, you know, is it any wonder that the guy's next thing you know, he's back in a life of sin and debauchery? Yeah. You don't know that situation. I don't have to know that situation because you know what? The Bible is the same for everybody. Situation and the details. Hey, there's nothing new under the sun, folks. Guess what? Let me just explain something to you, friend. Once an alcoholic is always an alcoholic. Even the world will tell you that. And you know what that means? That means if you've been a drunk in the past, if you've been an alcoholic in the past, you stay away from alcohol because you have that tendency forever. If you have been a drug addict before, you've got to stay away from drugs because you know what? Well, I'm saved now. Yeah, but you know what? Let him that thinketh he stayeth to take heed lest he fall. Because even if you're saved, you can fall back into sin. You are one day away from falling back into sin at any time. You can tomorrow, if you make stupid decisions, put yourself around the wrong people, put yourself in the wrong situation, you could go back into old sins tomorrow. You need to not make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Don't put yourself in situations where it's... So look, if you've been a drunk, don't go to the bar, okay? If you've been a drug addict, stay away from drugs. Stay away from prescription drugs even. You know, take the path that's the furthest away from those things. Look, if you've been one who committed adultery, then don't pal around with some woman at work and go out to lunch with her and make some close female friend. Look, it's foolish, folks. And these people, they're not trying to see how close they can get to sin. They've already gone off the cliff a long time ago when they bring a tattoo parlor into God's house. Anybody who thinks that tattooing in the name of Jesus is right, is a fool, and put that in your pipe and smoke it. And if everybody in the church who has tattoos got offended and walked out, I'd still preach it anyway. Even though I want them to say, you know, I can't tone down the message. I'm not going to trim the message, friend. Sorry that you got a tattoo. Sorry that you got drunk. Sorry that you fornicated. Sorry that you committed adultery. But I'm going to keep preaching against all these things because I care about the next generation. And I care about you. I want to keep you on the right path. I don't want you to go back into those things. And you know what? You say, I have 100 tattoos. Well, don't get 101. You say, I fornicated with 10 different people. Well, let's not make it 11. You've been a pastor. I've already... No, no, no. Look, start over, right? Forget those things which are behind. Reach forth unto those things which are before. Why is it that Calvinism and beer go hand in hand? Why? Because you have to be drunk to believe in this doctrine. Because the sober mind knows that free will is there. You know, it's not hard to figure this stuff out, folks. All right. Let me try to close the sermon. That was kind of a little bit of a rabbit trail. But it was, you know, I'd do it again if I had the chance. Because you know what? Somebody's got to do it. Somebody has to have the guts to call these people out. And you know, they're threatening me and saying, well, I'm going to sue you. I'm going to sue you. Bring it on, buddy. You know, let me just... Here's a message for you, Jeff Durbin. Please sue me and sue Faithful Word Baptist Church. Please. Please make good on your threats. I want you to sue me. I want you to sue Faithful Word Baptist Church. I dare you. But you know what? That's never going to happen in a million years. Yeah, let's get in a courtroom. All right. Let's call your drill instructor to the stand. Because everything I said is true. And I'd love to see him come sue me and come sue the church. That'll be interesting. That'll be quite a courtroom drama. That'll make the border patrol trial look like nothing. Come on and sue me. And you know, people have been threatening to sue me for 13 years and nobody has ever sued me. And I'm a little disappointed about it. But no, I'm just kidding. But anyway, the point is, look, I don't fear that. The truth fears no investigation. Bring it on. Come sue me. By the way, I don't own anything. But if I did own anything, I'd be willing to sacrifice it all. Because somebody has to put themselves out there and rebuke this stuff. Because most people are just sitting and letting it happen. We need a voice against tattoos. We need a voice against drunkenness. We need a voice against Calvinism. Okay. We need a voice against these things. Now, let me bring it back to Ephesians. Let's go back to Ephesians. We'll finish where we began. And then we're going to ordain brother Corbin Russell as the next deacon at Faithful Word Baptist Church. But back in Ephesians, which again is this great tandem passage where you've got chapter one encouraging the Ephesians how they're chosen and they have redemption through his blood. They've been seated with Christ in heavenly places. They're predestinated under the adoption of children. And they've received that Holy Spirit of promise. It's a chapter of reassurance and encouragement telling you, you belong to Christ. Don't let these Jews tell you that you're a second class citizen because you're from Ephesus and because you're not Jewish. You know, you're a Gentile, but you're the elect. You're the chosen. That's the message. If you look up these elect verses, that's the message that's coming across. It's a thing of don't let the Jews make you second fiddle, OK? Because you are chosen. You're the chosen people. But look at Ephesians 2 with that in mind and look at verse 11. Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father." Now what does he keep saying? Two and both, both of us, two, them and us. He's saying the Jews and the Gentiles. They've both been made one. Those that are far off, that's the Gentiles. Those that were nigh, that's the Jews. They've both been brought together if they believe Christ. Now therefore, verse 19, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. And by the way, that cornerstone, that's the same language from 1 Peter 2, 9, and 10 from that same passage. So notice, the apostle Paul is teaching the same thing Peter's teaching, and notice that the teaching always follows the same pattern. He talks about how you're chosen, you're elect, then he deals with Israel and explains how, guess what, it used to be the physical nation of Israel, but now you're part of it. Now you're the people of God. Now you're Grafton. That's why you're the elect. That's why you're a chosen people. That's why it's you, not them. So it's no coincidence that Ephesians 2 follows Ephesians 1. It's no coincidence that Romans 9 follows Romans 8. It's no coincidence that 1 Peter 2 follows 1 Peter 1. This is by design. So being chosen has to do with who are the people of God in the New Testament. It's us as believers, not Jews. So you see how if you don't understand that about the Jews or Israel, you're going to get goofed up. So that's how a lot of people end up getting goofed up on this issue. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer, then we'll have the ordination. All right, dear Lord, thank you so much for choosing us, Lord, and that we as Gentiles, our fellow heirs and fellow citizens, Lord, thank you for choosing us to be holy and choosing us to be your children and choosing us to be conformed to the image of your son and choosing that we would do work for you and bring forth fruit for you, Lord. God, thank you for having a plan for our lives, but I pray that you would help us to love you and obey you so that we can live out that plan and not get off track and off the rails and out of the will that you've planned for us, Lord. And Lord, we pray that people would get out of this deceptive false religion, the people of Tempe and elsewhere in Phoenix that are deceived by this tattoo beer church and this beer theology, this drunken masters of theology, Calvinist junk. I pray that they would just, that their eyes would be open, that the scales would fall off and that they would realize that these people are demoniacs, sodomite, false prophet weirdos. And Lord, I pray that you would bless our church and help it to be a place where we stand for truth, Lord. And I pray that anybody here who has a wicked past or maybe they have a visible scar from a life of sin, I pray that they would never get an attitude that wants to flaunt that or glorify that, but that rather they would understand, hey, that was a mistake, but I'm moving forward with my life and help young people not to make those same mistakes. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. All right. This time, brother Corbin Russell will come and we're going to pray for him and have the ordination for him. He's been coming to our church for a long time. You all know him well, or many of you know him very well. And he's been a blessing to our church. He's going to be coming on staff. We definitely need laborers. And so we've been going along with myself, brother Segura, brother Daniel, brother Bruce Mejia is also full-time with our church, but he's of course running the church out in Los Angeles, but we're ready to go into 2019 full speed ahead. And we want to be firing on all cylinders in 2019. So we want to have the manpower to do that. And so the purpose of a deacon, I'll just quickly explain the purpose of a deacon. The word deacon literally means servant or minister. And of course the pastor is also a minister and a servant, but the deacon is one who deals with a lot of the day-to-day work of the church. If you remember back in the book of Acts chapter six, there were things that were being neglected in the daily ministration. And so they chose some men that were spirit-filled men that they could set over this business, they said, and taking care of the daily ministration. But they said, we will give ourselves unto prayer and the ministry of the word. So they didn't want to just spend all their time, they said, waiting tables and doing menial tasks. So they needed help to take some of that burden off of the apostles. So they had the deacons to help them with that and to serve in that capacity. Now here's the important thing about a deacon that I believe we need to really focus on, is that a deacon is supposed to be a spiritual person. It's supposed to be a man of God, okay? It's not supposed to be just somebody that we hire just to do menial work, and they're not really that spiritual, and they don't know the Bible very well, and they can't preach their way out of a wet paper bag. That's not a deacon, okay? Because think about the deacons in the Bible. The two most famous deacons were Stephen and Philip, okay? Both of these men were powerful preachers. Both of these men were soul winners. I mean, they were evangelists. They won people to Christ, and they were spirit-filled. That's one of the qualifications if you read there in Acts chapter 6. Now the reason for picking someone like Brother Corbin Russell for this job is because he is one who knows how to preach. He is one who knows the Bible well. He is one that has a passion for soul winning. A lot of churches, unfortunately, they have a deacon board where it's like respected businessmen in the church. Who's been to a church where the deacon board was like that? The deacon will never preach, the deacon doesn't go soul winning, and he's just kind of a respected pillar in the community, and he doesn't even work for the church. He just attends church, but he just has this like honorary title, and he makes decisions or something, right? The deacon-run church, the deacon board. In fact, when I went to Bible college, the Bible college that I went to, Hiles Anderson College, in the brochure, when they were listing reasons why to go to Hiles Anderson College, they had little bullet points, and one of them was soul winning deacons. And that was like a selling point. Like, our deacons actually go soul winning. But this was like a novel idea because so many churches, some of the deacons are some of the less spiritual men in the church, and they're not really involved in the ministry of the church. So anyway, I just want to explain that so you understand. What is the deacon? He's someone who helps take the load off the pastor by doing a lot of the day-to-day work, because it's just frankly too much for one person if you're really going to do it effectively and do a lot. And we have a lot of big plans for 2019. Tons of events and tons of soul winning. So we're bringing on somebody who's actually a spirit-filled preacher. That's the rationale behind the choice. So at this time I'm going to lay hands on Brother Corbin Russell. I'm going to pray for him, and I want you to pray with me in your heart that God would fill him with power, fill him with the spirit, and that he would be used greatly to win people to Christ, to preach powerful sermons, and just to be an asset to our church working in the day-to-day menial tasks that he's also going to perform. So let's pray for Brother Corbin at this time. Lord God, I just pray that Brother Corbin Russell would be filled with your spirit. Lord, I just pray that you would just give him a special anointing for this job, for this task. Lord, going into 2019, I just pray that you would just give him an anointing, give him wisdom, give him power, give him zeal, and give him all the fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, temperance. Lord, help him to have these attributes in his life. Lord, and I just pray that you would just help him to do a great work this year, to be greatly used, whether he's preaching, soul-winning, or even just cleaning the building, or even just doing something menial. Lord, help him to do everything this year for your glory, and to take this job seriously, because everything about your work is serious. Lord, and I pray that the church would get behind him, and assist him, and help him in his tasks, Lord, as we all strive together for the faith of the gospel. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.