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The part of the chapter that I want to focus on is verse 29, where the Bible reads, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. Look, if you would, at Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter number 7. And I'm going to turn to 1 Peter chapter 3, but go back to Ecclesiastes chapter number 7. And in Ecclesiastes 7.3, the Bible reads, Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. I'll read for you 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 17, it says, For it is better if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. 1 Peter 4.16, the next chapter says this, Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11 while you're turning there. I want to preach this morning on the subject of suffering, because a lot of people today, they think that the goal of life is never to suffer, never to go through any pain. And really this permeates every part of our society. Even the little child in school gets a little tiny headache, and the first thing he does is runs down to the office to get some kind of a pill that he can take to fix that headache, and that's where it starts, and it just creates a society of people who think that they must eradicate all pain, eradicate all suffering, never feel any pain, never go through any suffering, and when they get older, it'll just be something else. A society of people who don't want to be denied any physical pleasure. They just want to do what's best to gratify the flesh, and yet the Bible said in Philippians chapter 1 that unto us it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. The Bible said in 1 Peter 3 and 4 that it is God's will that you suffer. He said, wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, 1 Peter 4.19. 1 Peter 3.17 said, for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. You see, part of the Christian life is to go through suffering, and today people want a Christianity that has no suffering. Any time there's any kind of persecution or tribulation arising because of the word, as it says in Matthew 13, by and by, they're offended because they have no root in themselves. He likened it unto a seed being sown in stony places that had no root, and any time any adversity comes, any tribulation or persecution comes, they're offended because they don't want to suffer for the cause of Christ. They don't want to suffer physically. They don't want to suffer reproach or shame for the cause of Christ. They don't want the embarrassment of being associated with Christianity and God's word and fundamentalism. They'd rather go to a church where everybody likes you, where everybody's happy all the time, and the Bible says here that it's God's will that we do some suffering as Christians. You're not going to go through a Christian life living in God's will and have no suffering. Everything's great. Everything's a bed of roses. It's just not the truth. Are you in Hebrews 11? Look at verse 25. This is about Moses, one of the greatest men that ever walked the face of the earth. It says in Hebrews 11 25 about Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches. The word reproach is basically someone mocking you or speaking ill of you because of basically being associated with Jesus Christ. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. You see, the same choice is available to you today. Suffer affliction with the people of God or enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. That's why Hebrews 11 is written to us. It's not just telling us about someone who lived thousands of years ago. He's saying, no, today you have the same choice in front of you. You can be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. You can fit in with Pharaoh and Egypt and the world and people look at you and say, oh, there's the son of Pharaoh's daughter. There's the son of Egypt. There's the son of the world. There's the son of everything that is America and our mainstream culture and unrighteousness and ungodliness in this world. There is a worldly person. There's the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He said, no, I don't want people to look at me and say that. I want them to look at me and say, there's one of God's people right there suffering. See, suffering is part of the Christian life, but I'd rather suffer. And nobody likes to suffer. Nobody wants to suffer. No suffering is presently joyous. But yet I'd rather suffer and have somebody look at me and say, there's a child of God. There's a righteous Christian. I'd rather have God look down at me and say, there's somebody that's in the will of God. I'd rather endure the suffering and the pain and be classified as one of God's people than enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season and be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. That's the choice that Moses made. It's the choice that's in front of you. Look at Hebrews 13, just one page over. Verse 3. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. There are those today in this world who suffer for the cause of Christ. Is your heart with them? Is your spirit with them? Or is your spirit with the worldly, sinful people who have everything made? Who have life on a silver platter? Who are the ungodly stars and the rich and the famous? Or is your heart with somebody who's in jail somewhere for being a Christian? Or being beaten up somewhere? Or beaten up on some playground? Or whatever the suffering, whatever the persecution, whatever the adversity is, where is your heart today? Is it with God's people or is it with the world? God's people will suffer. Look at 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, the Bible says this, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entanglement himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Look at chapter 3, just one page over, 2 Timothy 3. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, Paul speaking to Timothy, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, but then in verse 11, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. All. So basically, you can go through life one of two ways. You can go through life not living godly in Christ Jesus, and then you may not suffer persecution. But if the Bible is true, if every word of God is pure, if John 3.16 is the truth, then all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Isn't that the same as when he said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Isn't that the same promise right here when he says, All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution? It's a fact. It's a promise of God. It's part of the Christian life, not just to believe on him, not to just get in your car and go to church on Sunday morning, not to just live the comfortable, plain life, but rather, if you're going to serve God, you will do some suffering in your life. But you can still rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. You don't have to be down or in heaviness. The Bible says you can still rejoice evermore and everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Let me ask you something. When suffering comes, do you just run away? You know, physically, when you're a little child, you're a little kid in school, and you just have this little tiny discomfort in your head or whatever, you know, or you barely hurt yourself or whatever. You know, you just run to take the Tylenol. You go down to the nurse, and she gives you Tylenol, and you take Tylenol to get rid of all pain. But how are you going to get rid of the problems of your life spiritually? Take a pill? You know, is that going to fix the problem? Is that going to take away the suffering that comes from the cause of Christ? No. Taking the pill is not going to take away persecution or affliction. It's not going to take away the reproach of family members. When Jesus Christ said, think not that I've come to send peace on earth. I came not to bring peace, but a sword. He said, I came to bring division. I've come to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. When you have reproach of your family attacking you and despising you because you stood up and did what was right, what pill are you going to take to fix that problem? What pill are you going to take to get rid of that pain and that shame and that reproach? No, you'll just run away from it. You'll just give in. You'll just compromise if you're the type of person that says, I refuse to suffer. I refuse to go through it. God doesn't expect me to go through any pain in my life. So I'd rather just give in. And you know what? Taking a stand for what's right is never easy. It's never easy. How many times has somebody sat you down? Watch this movie with me. You know, and you got a couple choices. You can compromise. You can watch what you know isn't right, which you would not have turned on by yourself. You would not have bought that DVD and plugged it in and watched it. You know it's wrong. You know it's ungodly. You don't want to watch it. But somebody says, sit down and watch this with me. You have a choice to compromise, to do what you know to be wrong, or to say, no, I'm not going to watch this DVD. And then that person's going to be angry at you and that person's going to badmouth you, no matter how polite you are, no matter how kind you are, and say, look, you know, no offense. I'm sorry. I just, you know, I don't want to see it. Oh, you, you think you're this and who? You know, it's like they said to Jesus, you know, who makest thou thyself? Who do you think you are? Because Cain has always hated Abel. Ishmael has always hated Isaac. The unrighteous have always persecuted the righteous. The Bible says that be not as Cain who is of that wicked one and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he in? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not my brethren if the world hates you. And so you have to decide whether you're willing to suffer for the cross of Christ. Now, when you just say this morning, I don't want to do any suffering. I don't want pain. If I feel the slightest twinge, I will take pills. If I feel extreme pain, I'll take more drugs. If somebody attacks me for the cause of Christ, I'm going to go running screaming in the other direction. If my family is going to despise me for the stand I take, then I will strip down and put on my bikini and go swimming with them to be accepted by the world. You're not going to be accepted by the world when you say I don't wear, you know, my underwear to a swimming pool with people that I'm not married to. That doesn't get you accepted by the world. When you're a teenager and the swim party is there, and everybody's going to go there and strip down into clothes that they would never wear to church, that they would not wear to a funeral, that they would not wear to a wedding, that they would not wear to work, that they would not wear into the library, that they would not wear into the White House, that they would not wear just about anywhere. They would not go to the grocery store, but all of a sudden, magically, this magical thing appears when you get in a pool, and when you get at the beach, and I don't know if it's the sand, I don't know if it's the chlorine, I don't know what it is, but all of a sudden, it just becomes okay to just strip off your clothes, just expose everything, be it practically in your underwear, and all of a sudden, that's fine. But hold on a second, the person who says, no, sorry, I'm not going to do it, is always going to offend. And look, I never want to offend anybody. My goal is to get along and be at peace with all men impossible. But when you tell people, no, I'm not going to do such a lesson, so it makes them mad. And you try to be gentle, and you ought to try to be kind about it. Look at Daniel in Daniel chapter 1. He didn't want to be rude about it when he didn't want to eat the king's meat or drink of the wine which he drank, but he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. And then he humbly and treated and tried to work it out in such a way where he would not offend, but that he could keep his integrity. But listen, you will be ostracized when you do what's right. You'll be without the camp, you'll be without the gate, you'll be outside the group. You will not be in the inner circle at your job if you are a Bible-believing, righteous-living Christian. You won't be. You will not be in the cool group at the water cooler. You will not be in the cool group at school. You will not be the prom king and the prom queen. Today it's two kings in many places. You will not be lifted up as most popular, the most loved in the yearbook. You will not be in the cover of the yearbook when you're bringing your Bible to school and winning people to Christ. You know, there's not a section of greatest soul winner in the yearbook, right between class clown and most likely to succeed. Greatest soul winner, most spiritual. You see, when you do what's right, you're not looked at by the world many times as spiritual. Because the Bible says there will be a day that men call good, evil, and evil good. You'll be looked at as evil in many cases. And then they'll look at the one that's evil and say he's good. The Bible said that the Gentiles, they look at those that... He said there are people who rule over them and oppress them and they call them benefactors. Remember when Jesus said that? He said the people who oppress and rule over them, they think that they're good people. You know, they're not. They're wicked. The Bible says what is glorified with man is an abomination to God in many cases. This world and God have two totally different value systems. And one of the things you're going to suffer is you're going to suffer reproach. Let's look at that. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Where are you? Where did I have you? Yeah, you're close. Okay, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. It says, For the which cause I also suffer these things. Notice how much the Bible is talking about suffering. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Look at chapter 4. Go back to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10. It says this, For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach. People don't like us. He's saying people are criticizing us. They're attacking us. Because we trust in the living God, who is the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. Second, go back to 2 Thessalonians 1.5. If you'd like to turn there. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 4. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass. And ye know. Look at Galatians chapter 5. While you're turning there, I'll read Philippians 4. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Did you get that? To suffer need. Paul said, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. And the way that I learned to be content was by abounding, yes. But by suffering need, yes. What does it mean to suffer need? It means to be without something that you need. You need food. You don't have it, right? You're hungry. You don't have anything to eat. You're tired and weary and you need a place to stay. You have no place to stay. You're thirsty. You have nothing to drink. That's what it means to suffer need. But we live in a day where everybody wants everything handed to them on a silver platter all the time. And children are growing up and they don't know how to suffer need. They don't know how to do without anything and therefore they will never grow up and be contented people. They're not content. We probably live in the most discontented society, unthankful society, because everybody just grows up and they expect everything handed to them. Look how they want the government to hand them everything. Free healthcare now. It's a right, you know, for me to have healthcare. Well, what do you need more, healthcare or food to survive? What do you think you could do the longest without food or healthcare? Think about food, right? Isn't food more? I mean, I could probably go years without going to the doctor. But how long can I go without food? Well, it sounds like foods are right. So the government needs to provide my food too. I want the government to provide my food and my healthcare and, you know, I got a drink. So the government's got to provide me with water and they've got to give me food. They got to get my water for me. They got to give me healthcare and I must have clothing. In Arizona, I'll die. The first day I'll look like Brother Dave. The second day I'll be dead. You know, look at that sunburn. You know, you can't get a sunburn like that twice in a row or you'll be gone. He's hanging by a thread here. Okay, but he's going to be putting lotion on. He's going to be staying in the shade. He's got the aloe vera. If you were to go a second day out in the sun with that kind of a sunburn, you know, think about the blistering. I mean, you must have clothing and therefore I want the government to provide my clothing because I live in Arizona. Clothing is a necessity. I must have the government give me clothing. And I need a place to stay. I mean, I can't live outside in Arizona either. The extreme temperatures will kill me. The government needs to provide my housing. In fact, I want it all to be given to me and I can't go to work because I have this pain in my side that just never goes away. And so it's debilitating me from working. So I want to stay home and just have the government give me everything. No, look. The world doesn't owe you a living. But people today think that the world just owes them everything. They think that if they have to skip a meal, it'll just be the end of the world. And yet people who really work for a living, they skip meals all the time. Right? I mean, people are out working hard. Sometimes you don't have time to eat. Sometimes you don't have time to eat. Sometimes you sleep in the car. You know, sometimes you work a 16-hour shift or a 24-hour shift, you know, or longer, a 30-hour shift. Sometimes you work day and night and you suffer and you go without things and it builds character. It strengthens you for who you are and it's God's will that you suffer. God's will isn't just, man, just believe on Jesus Christ and just rest in Christ. You know, now I'm resting on Him for my salvation. That's what the Bible is talking about. And sometimes when I get to heaven, there'll be no pain, no sorrow, no sickness, nothing. But you know what? This life is not a bed of roses. And if you want your life to be a bed of roses, don't have any kids, okay, step one. Have no kids, okay? Don't go to Faithful Word Baptist Church is step number two, okay? Don't go soul winning. Compromise your standards with whoever you're around so as not to offend them. When a dirty joke is told to you, just give a little courtesy laugh and just go with it. You know, if you get invited to the birthday party, you know, just go with it. If it's a swing party, you know what I mean? And if there's booze there, you know, just go with it. Just drink a beer not to offend, okay? With the company picnic, you know, you don't want to be the guy that's just, you know, I'll have a glass of water, you know. When everybody else is drinking, just get your alcohol. Look, if you want to live that kind of life, it's there. It's available for you. But I don't want, I want to live a righteous life. I want to win people to Christ. I want to be like the Apostle Paul. I want to be like Moses. Now let me ask you, who in here would say, man, I would like to be like an Apostle Paul? Like that's a good, that's a role model that I'd like to be. Okay, do you want to be beaten five times? You know what I mean? Do you want to be shipwrecked and spend a day and a night out treading water on a piece of wood somewhere out in the Mediterranean Sea? Do you want to go to jail all the time? Do you want to suffer hunger and suffer thirst? You say, oh, I changed my mind. I think I want to be more like, you know, Demas. The guy who went soloing for a little while and then he pursued Paul because he loved the present world. See, actually, actually, I think I'd rather be more like Joseph of Arimathea. You know, I'll be like the rich guy who's kind of secretly a disciple and he just kind of shows up in time to bury Jesus' dead body. You know, that's about the only time he shows up, right? To force an appointment on Jesus' dead body and put him in a tomb. That's it, because he was afraid to ever take a stand while Jesus was preaching. He was never there when he was preaching. He was never out soloing with the Apostles. He was just living his cush little life somewhere and he just shows up to get the glory, you know. Oh, I got all this money. I can provide this tomb and spices and everything. You know what? It's not about how much how much spice you can throw in the plate on Sunday morning. It's about whether you're willing to suffer for the cause of Christ or else you'll never do anything for God. You think you're going to start a church someday and it's going to be no suffering. There's going to be no pain. There's going to be no hardship. There's going to be no sacrifice. Have you ever noticed throughout the Bible in the Old Testament over and over again this word, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, they brought the sacrifice. Do you think they wanted to give, you know, goat number one out of ten goats? Do you think that they have just a bunch of extra food and extra animals to bring that birth sacrifice? No, it was a sacrifice. There was something they had to do without and they brought their best to God. And they went without something because they wanted to give it for an offering to God. We are expected to make sacrifices in our life. If Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, if Jesus Christ paid all of our sins and he says, okay, I have a plan for your life, believe on me and then suffer for my sake. Take a stand, preach righteousness, live a godly separated life, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Don't get entangled with the affairs of this life. Please him who had called you to be a soldier. Be there on the front lines, out winning souls, preaching the gospel, and going through the pain and hardship associated with fighting. With a fight. Say, I don't like fighting. Then go get in another church. This is fight Baptist Church. This is looking for a fight Baptist. No, I'm just kidding. That's not true. Don't laugh. I said it's not true. Okay, Galatians chapter 5 verse 11. Look what he says here. This is really a great concept if you get this from Galatians 5 11 and Galatians 6 12. This is a key concept here of the book of Galatians. Don't miss this. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. Look at Galatians 6 verse 12. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Now what I want to show you from these verses here is that it's not that hard to avoid the persecution. You only have to change your message just a little bit, right? I mean, think about all the things that Paul preached, right? He preached all kinds of things. All he had to do was just change one little thing about his message. He said, I wouldn't even be persecuted. If it weren't for the fact that I was preaching that you don't have to be circumcised. He said that I'm preaching faith alone in Jesus Christ for salvation and that you don't need to be circumcised. He said that is the reason why I'm being persecuted. He said, how can you be confused about what I believe? How can you Galatians think that I approve of the doctrine that you're going into? You know, these Jews that were coming in, trying to bring them into bondage, telling them, except you be circumcised, you cannot be saved. You must keep the law of Moses and all these different things. They were coming in and preaching this. We read about it also in Acts chapter 15. And the whole book of Galatians, he's talking about these false prophets have crept in. They've bewitched them, they've beguiled them, they've deceived them. And the whole book of Galatians is rebuking this. And he says, how can you think that I would approve of what you're preaching? Don't you see me being persecuted for standing against the very thing that you're getting sucked into? He said, if I preached circumcision, the offense of the cross of Christ is ceased. I would not suffer persecution. You know why? Because why would the devil persecute you when you're preaching the devil's doctrine? See, it doesn't matter what gospel you're preaching. As long as it's not the gospel of faith alone, the devil will leave you alone. You know, if you're preaching salvation by faith plus baptism, he'll leave you alone. The devil will leave you alone. If you're preaching faith plus repent of your sins and turn away from a sinful life, he'll leave you alone. That message is so confusing that he's not worried about that confusion. If you're preaching a gospel of faith plus endure to the end or you'll lose your salvation, he'll help you. He's not going to fight you. And by the way, you know where the devil hangs out? He doesn't hang out at the bar, at the strip club. He is around religion all the time. He is the transform of the angel of light and his ministers as the ministers of light. He is the king of false religion. That's what he is. He's all about false religion. You see, the flesh will take over in all the bars and the clubs and the lounges. The flesh takes over. They don't need any help from the devil. The devil made me do it. No. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and is enticed. And when lust is conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin when it is finished, it bringeth forth death. You don't need any help. The devil's all about corrupting God's word. Twisting it, yea have God said. The devil's all about creating counterfeit religion, counterfeit Christianity. Well, the devil's all about Judaism and their religion of circumcision. The devil's all about Catholicism. The devil's all about Mormonism. The devil's all about Islam. And it's amazing how much Islam and Mormonism have in common. Have you noticed that? How much Catholicism and Buddhism have in common. Even though you see these are dramatically different religions. But they're all from the same source, the devil, the father of all lies. That's why you got the Buddhist monk and the Catholic monk. You know what I mean? You got Islam and you got Mohammed and Joseph Smith. Both married to pre-adolescent girls. Both married to nine year olds or 11 year olds or 12 year olds. Both of them having multiple wives. Both of them got some vision from some angel that nobody else saw or heard of. Both of them wrote their own scripture and said, we also believe in Jesus as a good prophet, but here's more. They both add to God's word. They both have polygamy. They both have so many similarities. You look at Catholicism and Buddhism, the same people will beat themselves. You look in the Philippines where people will beat themselves and torture themselves to somehow please God, to somehow placate God. They'll hit themselves with a whip. The Buddhists will do the same thing. The Catholics will do the same thing. It's the devil's religion of earning your way to heaven. And it doesn't matter whether you just add the smallest thing. Look at Galatians 5, 4. This isn't in my notes. Let me turn there. You're in Galatians 5 and 6 anyway. Galatians 5, 4. See, Paul is not mincing any words about this. He's making it very clear what he believes. He says in verse number 1, let's start at verse 1. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. See, you just add that tiniest little works to salvation. Faith plus circumcision. You say, oh, come on. It's just a one-time, quick thing. It's nothing to do with living a good life. It's not doing a bunch of works. It's just being circumcised. It's just being baptized. It's just being sprinkled. It's just being baptized. It's just this little thing. But he says, you know what? That little thing will cause Christ to profit you nothing. Because your faith must be 100% in Jesus Christ for it to be saved. He said, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. He said, if you're going to add one work to salvation, he says, okay, well, now you're justified by the law. You're justified by works. You're going to be held to the whole law. So now you must defend in zero point. You must keep the whole law and not offend in a single point to be saved. And nobody can do that. He says, why pick one law? Why pick circumcision? Well, now you're a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever if you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love, he did run well. Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. And here's the key right here, verse nine. A little leaven, leaveneth the whole month. You don't have to change your message much to avoid persecution. You don't have to change your message much to be accepted by the world. I mean, he's not saying to keep the whole law, right? He's not saying you got to keep all these sacrifices in the Sabbath day and all the washing of cups and pots and things. Now, just be circumcised. That's it. That's it. Just be circumcised. Just do it. Just go. Who cares? What's the big deal, man? What? Look, is it really worth, Paul, you causing all this strife and friction with the whole nation of Israel? You know, why can't you just get along with them, Paul? And just, you know, tell your converts to get circumcised. Just get Titus circumcised. He said, no, Titus will not be circumcised because circumcision has nothing to do with New Testament Christianity and it has nothing to do with being saved and therefore Titus will not be circumcised. I mean, literally today, we have been a bit of a little Baptist to think that being circumcised is a command of God in the New Testament. It shows how much they've read the book of Galatians and know the Bible. It shows that they've been listening to the Judaizers who want to call Jesus Yeshua and get to speak in a foreign language and Yahweh and Yeshua and Yahashua and then they'll tell you, no, it's Yahushua. If you're not pronouncing it like that, you're not even talking about the right God. Well, that's a bunch of baloney. If you're speaking Spanish, it's Jesus. And if it's German, it's Jesus. And if it's English, it's Jesus. And nobody knows how it was pronounced back then because they didn't have a tape recorder, my friend. They didn't have a video camera to tell you exactly how they pronounce God's name. And in fact, Hebrew was a dead language for several hundred years that no one spoke as their mother tongue. And so nobody knows 100% sure how Hebrew is even pronounced but they want to Judaize you. They want to worship a race of people that God said, the King of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. He said, I'll say to them which were my people, you're not my people. And he said, I'll say to them that were not my people, you are the children of the living God. About the Gentiles, read the Bible, read Romans 8, read Romans 9, read Romans 10, Romans 11, read the book of Hosea, read Galatians, read all these chapters in the Bible, read John chapter 8, read Galatians 3 and 4, and yet you only have to change your message a tiny bit to avoid persecution. You say, I'll preach all the truth, pastor, but just lighten up just a little bit. Why? Did the Bible lighten up? Did God lighten up? I didn't decide to be, I didn't just wake up one day and just decide I want to be a mean-spirited preacher. I didn't just decide, you know, I'm going to start a church and just rattle. I mean, I just want to get up and just preach hard and be mad. No. You know, I sat quietly in an independent Baptist church for years with my mouth shut. Are you listening? With my mouth shut, I sat and was not the loudest person on the block, was not blowing off my mouth, was not behind the pulpit preaching, for many years was not teaching any kind of Sunday school class. No, I just sat there and shut up and read this book all day, every day. You say, is it your personality to be like this? No. I mean, when I was a teenager, people who knew me then say that I'm a completely different person now and they're right. They're right because I've been transformed by the renewing of my mind and just because I don't fit in with the Barney and Friends Sesame Street culture that you expect church to, you know, say, you know, Barney and Friends Baptists down the street. I'm sorry, this book is not Barney and Friends and anybody who's read this book is not shocked by what I preach. They were shocked the first time they read it probably because in the society that we grow up in, the society that says always be happy every day when the Bible says that Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The world says always be smiling, always happy when the Bible says by the sorrow of the heart the countenance is made better. People who've never gone through any suffering or pain or sorrow are not as good for it. They'd be better if they went through some trials and tribulations. Haven't you been through things in your life that were painful and you came out a better person? I mean, probably any person that's an adult or beyond would say, yes, I've been through things in my life that were painful, that were difficult, that were hard, I suffered and because of it, I'm a better person. Because people who've never been through any suffering, I mean, think about the suffering of being spanked as a child. I mean, when I got spanked, it hurt. Who got spanked and it hurt bad when you were a kid? Whoo! I mean, my mom and dad did not give me a little pat on the rear end and call it spanking at all. I mean, my parents spanked me hard. And it was painful. You know, you walked away, ahhh! You know, you're dancing around. I mean, you were in pain. It was bad. You know, it was very painful. I mean, my parents spanked the fire out of me. And you think I enjoyed it? Well, it's just, I don't think you spanked me hard enough. I mean, I really did a bad thing, mom. Could you just spank me again? No, you didn't want to be spanked. You hated it. The Bible says, no, no chasing me for the present seemed to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it worked the peaceable fruit of righteousness within their exercise thereby. And boy, it was like an exercise program. You know, one, two, three, four, five. Now, you know, you never spank your kids more than 39 times. That's what the Bible says, you know, right? Never give them more than 40 stripes, just kidding. But anyway, that's true. I mean, anybody who spanks their kids 40 times is crazy anyway. But, you know, you don't need to spank them 40 times. But let me tell you something. The pain inflicted through a spanking, and of course, spanking is not to inflict any injury. I'm not talking about injury. I'm talking about pain. I'm not talking about injuring your child or beating up or abusing your child. But the pain that comes from a spanking applied to the padded area that God provided on the human body to receive spankings, okay, that pain is going to make you a better person. I just don't think anybody's better than anybody. Yes, they are. God looked at Saul and said, I'm going to give the kingdom to somebody who's better than you. Let me tell you something. According to the Bible, David was better than Saul. We live in this idea where nobody's better than anybody. It's madness. Of course they are. And you know what makes you better? Suffering for Christ makes you better, makes you like Moses, who is better than anybody else in that nation, of stiff-necked, circumcised in the body, yes, but not circumcised in the heart, is what God said about them. They were stiff-necked. They were gainsayers. And let me tell you something. The pain of that spanking makes you a better person. It makes a child a better person. It builds you up. That suffering makes you better. You see, you go through pain in life for a reason. Now, it's funny, as I was studying the Bible, the word pain, one of the things that kept coming up was childbirth. Think about it, how many times you've read it in the Bible. Whenever you look up the word pain, and there's another word pang, p-a-n-g, which is like a temporary pain, I guess probably referring to the contractions that a woman goes through, they're very painful. I looked up the word pain and over and over again, it's talking about childbirth, being in labor. It said that they were in pain as a woman in travail. Let me read just a couple scriptures. I mean, we could read a ton of them, but I'll just read a few just for the sake of time. Jeremiah 22, 23. Oh, inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail. Turn to John 16. John chapter 16 talks about a woman in travail. Look at John chapter 16. While you're turning there, I'll read you Micah 4, 9, and 10. It says, why dost thou cry aloud? Is there no king in thee? Is thy counselor perish? For pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. And Galatians 4, 19. I'll turn there, it wasn't in my notes, but Galatians 4, 19 says, my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Paul recognized his sufferings and he likened his sufferings to those of a woman in labor. He said, I travail to bring you forth into this world. Basically, he's talking about the new birth, born again. He's using an illustration of getting people saved. How he suffered and went through pain to produce new life, to get them saved, just like a woman who goes through labor and goes through all that pain to give birth. Look at John 16, 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is Jesus speaking, that ye shall weep and lament. But the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Now this is a perfect illustration of what happens in childbirth. Extreme sorrow is turned into extreme joy. Look at verse 21. A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again. And your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man take it from you. How many times has my wife said, this is the last one. You know, when she's pregnant, and having morning sickness, and throwing up, you know, never again. This is our last child. We're never going to have another child. She's in labor. I'm never doing this again. I'm never doing this again. I'm never doing this. This is horrible. And then she gives birth, and just instantly she's happy. Instantly it's all over. Instantly it's total joy. And then, you know, a little while goes by, and pretty soon some other woman at church or some other friend has a newborn. And she walks up, and then she looks at her youngest child, and it's just not a newborn anymore. You know, and then she holds that child and says, oh, I wish I had a newborn. I want to have another one. I want to have a newborn. Because they forgot. And I told my wife when she's suffering through, you know, being pregnant and the labor, I always thought you're going to forget all about this and just want to have another one, you know. And of course we want to have another one anyway because we're not into birth control. We don't take all those pills and use all that weird stuff at the drug store. So we stay away from that aisle. Thank God. Yes, we do stay away from that aisle. You say, do you practice any kind of birth control? This is the birth control we practice. I just pray for more kids. That's the only way that I intercede, or I don't want to intervene in the whole process except just praying for more. That's my birth control program. That's my family planning. Give me more. Now that's it. And by the way, did you notice that our kids are spaced two years apart? This one's going to be a little more than two years apart. You say, well, how do you do it? What pills? What software are you using? What kind of a method do you use? It's called just being normal. It's really weird. But it's called just having children, and then my wife breast feeds them, and then she just doesn't get pregnant for two years. It's just amazing. No abstinence, no weirdo tools from the drug store. It's all just totally natural. Isn't it amazing how God worked that out? Isn't it amazing how for the last 6,000-some years people have just been marrying and having children before Walgreens ever even existed? Before CVS had ever even been thought of? Before there ever was a Rite Aid, mankind was just fine. In fact, they were better off. And I'm not preaching against Rite Aid this morning. But anyway, the point is that a woman goes through... And again, who do you think designed the childbirth process? Evolution, right? Man, it's amazing how it evolved. Isn't it amazing how the ones that went through the most pain to give birth are the ones who had the most children and therefore evolved? I mean, think about it. Even childbirth defies evolution. Wouldn't evolution have wanted to make it desirable to reproduce if you're thinking about it, you know, because then they give birth to the most? And the ones who were going through the most pain would be like, I'm never doing this again. You know, think about it. But who designed it? God designed it. And there's a reason why God designed it that way. We look at it as, oh, it's horrible. Oh, childbirth and the pain. It's easy for me to talk about this because I'm a man. But anyway, you know, people say, oh, you can't preach about this because you're a man. Okay, well, let's bring in a woman preacher next week. She'll preach about it. No, everything in the Bible I can preach, I'm a man. And I'm going to preach it all. And yes, I've never given birth to a child, but I have been through pain in my life. I've been through some pretty extreme pain. So I think I know what pain is. But the point is that God designed this for a reason. It's not an accident. Okay, the process by which women give birth and go through this extreme pain and then give birth and then instantly their sorrow is turned into joy, number one is illustrating a profound spiritual truth that Jesus taught us in John 16. That's one reason. It's a great truth. But not only that, it creates a special bond between mother and child. When a woman goes through this extreme pain to bring that child forth, there's a connection, there's a bond between mother and child. But today, people see that as bad. It's negative, and they just say, you know, and literally, what is it, is it 80%? That literally, literally are so numb that they feel nothing when they give birth. They feel nothing. You know, with the epidural, where it's just, they're numb from the way it's... I mean, my grandma, when my grandma gave birth, you know, this is back, this is back in the 50s, they were doing some really weird stuff. They put her completely under anesthesia while she was giving birth. You know, and it's just, they, oh, we must do away with all pain. We can't have any pain. And yet, there's something good about a woman going through pain and bringing a child into this world. It's not fun at the time. It's not enjoyable at the time. But it's God's working, and it creates a bond between mother and child. You know, and there are all kinds of other chemicals and endorphins that are released that we don't understand that put the right chemicals into the bloodstream and into that umbilical cord, and we don't understand everything about it. But there are all kinds of processes and hormones and chemicals, and things that part of the pain and the contractions and then the relief and the joy, all of that plays a part. All of it plays a part in the childbirth process. But man says, nope, no pain, no sorrow, no suffering. As soon as I have to suffer for the cause of Christ, that's when I'm out. Forget it. If it's going to cause me any pain to bring forth spiritual children through soul winning, through bringing forth fruit, winning souls to Christ, then I'm just not going to do it. Like if it's hot outside, I mean, who would say that there's no pain involved in soul winning in July in Phoenix, Arizona for hours on end? It can be painful. But going to work is painful. Today we've got a bunch of young little punks growing up who don't even want to go work a real job. They can't even handle work. They'll work for five minutes, and they're tired. They need a break, and they've got to have all their breaks and sit around and do nothing. It's true. Why do you think everybody's lining up to go to college? In many cases, part of the reason why is just because they, you don't want to have to go out and do any hard physical work. You've got to go to college, you know? So you can sit in a cubicle and commit adultery with your female co-worker across the aisle. You can work with a bunch of fags and pink shirts and everything. That's what you want to do. You don't want to be out there bending an electrical pipe and digging holes and operating a jackhammer or doing masonry work or building with stones. You've got to get the cush little job where you can just sit around and do that. And you know what? If that's your kind of job, that's fine. I'm not against you at all. I mean, part of my job is sitting in a desk and working on a computer. A lot of my job is sitting in a car with the air conditioning on, you know what I mean? So my job's not always the most physical job in the world either, but I'm not afraid of physical work. You know what I mean? Just because I work a non-physical job, and part of the time my job's very physical. I'm drilling holes, I'm swinging a hammer, I'm carrying a pipe and everything. But you know what? Whether you have a physical job, don't be a little pansy that's afraid of pain. And I'm talking to the men right now. Obviously women are the weaker vessel. They have their pain time. It's called giving birth. We have our pain that we go through. Our pain's just spread out on a daily basis. You know, out working hard. And you know what? Don't shy away from pain. And you know, you little boys, and I'm speaking to my boys too, I hope you're not a little wimp and a sissy son when you grow up. I hope you grow up and you'll be a man that can go out and work hard and swing the hammer and turn the screwdriver and swing the ax and work by the sweat of your face like God designed you to work. Be a man. Be tough. Handle the pain. Handle the suffering. Not just scared of it. Running away from it. Because the person who grows up in this little white padded room environment that children are being brought up in, in many cases, they sit in a classroom all day, then they come home and sit on a soft couch in front of the TV with a cold drink. Somebody needs to put people to work and put these kids to work and get them to understand that there's suffering that caused this building to be built. Somebody sweated. The building that you're sitting in, somebody sweated and somebody bled. I mean, talk about bleeding. I mean, I cut my hands every week. Blood comes out of my hands every week. I mean, here, this is where I was burned this week working. I mean, when you work and you build a building like this, you're going to go through pain. You're going to sweat. You're going to work hard. But somebody built this building that we're in. Somebody built these roads. Somebody built this city. Not everybody just sat in a little calm, perfect environment in an easy chair and a lazy boy, you know, and just let everything come up around them. And let me tell you something. You say, what are you talking about? Now let's apply that spiritually. How's this church going to be built? You know, we're talking about a physical building, right? Somebody's got to pick up big stones and stack them on one another to build a building. Somebody's got to bend that pipe and pull that wire and operate the blowtorch. Somebody has got to swing a hammer and put in the nails. And who's ever worked with concrete before? It's hard work. You think that's easy work? That's physical hard work. Every building that you sit in has a concrete foundation that somebody poured. And let me tell you something. If you're going to build something spiritually, if you're going to build a family, if the church is going to be built through the work of God's people, somebody's going to have to suffer for it. Somebody's going to have to go through some pain. Somebody's going to have to be out-souling in the heat. Somebody's going to have to be mocked and ridiculed and hated and despised and rejected like our Savior Jesus Christ was if we're going to follow in His footsteps. And so just decide right now. Say, you know what? I am willing to suffer for Christ. I'm willing to suffer. I'm willing to endure the pain. I'm willing to be persecuted. I am willing to go through whatever it takes for the job to get done. Pain. Suffering. And I'll say this. If you never suffer, you're not in God's will. He said you'll suffer according to His will. He said it's been given you to suffer. Listen to Acts chapter 9. This is right after Paul got saved. He's told Ananias. God told Ananias, but the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake. 1 Corinthians 9, 12. Pretty much every one of Paul's epistles brings this up. 1 Corinthians 9, 12. If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Now look, you will find a more comfortable church. It's there. It's out there. More comfortable in every way. You can also find a more comfortable mode of evangelism that's a little more comfortable for you than just going out and knocking on some stranger's door out in the hot sun in Arizona saying, You can find a more comfortable way to stand than on the King James Bible, salvation by faith. And you know, it's one thing to say it's by faith, it's another to say it's not circumcision. It's another to say it's not repent of your saints. It's another to say if you believe you're going to lose your salvation, you're preaching another gospel. That's where the rubber meets the road, my friend. And you will suffer some things if you do that. You're not going to be loved by everybody, but you'll be loved and respected by Jesus Christ. And that he suffered for us. I mean, have you suffered? Have you resisted on the blood striving against sin because Jesus Christ spilled his blood on the cross that we might be saved, dipped his soul into hell for three days and three nights that we might be saved. And he says, You know what? I've suffered for you and I've left you an example that you should walk in my steps. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we love you and thank you for the sacrifice that you made on the cross, your God, the ultimate sacrifice. Dying on the cross for our sins. We probably won't even comprehend it until we get to heaven. And even then, we might not even comprehend the sacrifice. We may not comprehend the suffering, the pain, the sorrow that you went through when you were in the Garden of Gethsemane just begging the Father to let that cup pass from you. But thank God you said, Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Not as I will, but as thou wilt. God, help us to have the same attitude and say, You know what? I'm willing to suffer. I'm willing to suffer. I'm willing to go through pain. I don't need a spiritual Tylenol from every little ache and pain and suffering reproach that comes through being a Christian. Help us to stand fast and stand up straight and stand in the evil day and stand against the devil. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.