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God help us to understand the importance of church and the importance of being here dear God and Father Please just help us all we come because we want you to speak to us through the Bible dear God And I just pray that we would not be disappointed But that our hearts will be moved through the preaching of your word dear God and in Jesus name. I pray amen Now Psalm 74 is a psalm written by a man named Asa beginning in Psalm 73 is a New phase in the book of Psalms. You'll notice that the book of Psalms is divided into books Divided into five different books some Bibles do not indicate that for example mine does not indicate that But it's divided into sections based on author and based on different things and Psalm 73 is the first of the Psalms of Asa psalm 74 is also written by Asa and in this psalm Asa describes the nation that he's living in he describes the condition of the country as he sees it Now my text verse tonight is verse number 20 Psalm 74 20 where the Bible reads have respect under the Covenant For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty well, I was thinking about you know, our missionary brother smooth that was here on Wednesday and I his testimony that he gave and I was very moved by his testimony that he gave and how he talked about these people living up in these in these remote places in these villages and They're living in this literal physical darkness for months and months at a time They're living in these sub-zero temperatures of negative 70 degrees. I mean something that we can't even comprehend I mean we live in Phoenix, Arizona we can't even comprehend these kind of dark cold dismal conditions that they're living in and Not only that but they're living in spiritual darkness because they don't believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and so they're Living a life of wantonness and sin and evil and darkness and if you were here and I think everybody was here for that You know, that's why it's so important to be here because you never know when you're gonna miss something That's good. And so always be here, but you probably remember him saying how he said, you know if you think about what what sins human beings are capable of and you think about this how wicked the heart of man is and Then you combine that with just being isolated from reality in these small villages and a totally dark place And a place where Jesus Christ is not even mentioned place where the Bible and the laws of God are not even thought about He said you can only imagine the wickedness and the evil that goes on in these places. It's unthinkable he said And that's exactly what I think of when I read this verse where it says the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty Now I remember the first time that I read through the book of Genesis You know when I was gonna read through the Bible cover to cover I was a little kid and I was about and I didn't finish it this time I was Want to say that I was about 9 or 10 years old something like that and I had this idea that I was gonna read through the whole Bible cover to Cover in one summer, you know I got out of school and I'm like, I'm gonna read the whole thing in one summer and I did all the math I added up all the books in the Bible. Yeah, I never chart or anything I added up all the chapters and I figured out I had to read 15 chapters a day and I had it laid out I mean it was like June 1st. I'm gonna read Genesis 1 through 15 June 2nd, I'm gonna read Genesis 16 through 30 and you know, I had it all laid out on a piece of paper I can remember like it was yesterday and I read it and I I stayed with it until I got to Leviticus, you know and I got to Leviticus and what happened is I got one day behind and I just thought to myself There's no way I'm gonna read 30 chapters You know, there's no way I'm gonna read 30 chapters of Leviticus and Numbers And so I kind of throw up my hands and quit and then later when I was 17 I read through the Bible cover to cover for the first time But I remember how I was just taken aback By just the ungodly things that you read about in the book of Genesis I mean just the very first book in the Bible and I was just thinking about it as I was writing the sermon You know same as introduced of course in chapter number three in chapter number four the murder taking place By chapter number six violence is totally out of control. The Bible says that violence filled the earth That the imaginations of man's heart were only evil continually by chapter six in chapter nine. Somebody's being molested There's homosexuality. I couldn't believe it the first time I read that That's not what I learned about Noah in Sunday school, and I could not believe what I was reading I got that I got the chapter 19 and of course incest is brought up drunkenness Violation I mean just Filth I get the chapter 29 Somebody's got two wives, you know, actually really there's somebody has two wives I forgot about this and I was making the notes, but there's somebody has two wives in that chapter number five actually Or four actually where a lame act is married to two different wives in chapter number four Genesis That's brought up right away, you know in chapter number 30 you guys got four wives and I'm just saying I myself What is wrong with this book? You know, I'm thinking to myself What is God why is God even exposing me this is how I say to myself it's just horrible Chapter number 34. There's a there's rape and murder that takes place chapter number 38 Prostitution is mentioned for the first time chapter 39 Kidnapping slavery imprisonment and on and on you could go through the list if you read the Bible if you read this but we did it says it surprised you too and I wondered why is it that it was so wicked and ungodly back then? But then I realized as I got older, you know wasn't wicked and ungodly back then it's wicked and ungodly right now But when you're reading the Bible when you're reading the book of Genesis you're seeing things from God's perspective and God knows everything that goes on and We just don't see what goes on behind the closed doors, but I'll tell you something according to the Bible It's worse now than it was back then According to the Bible he said in the in the days of the Son of Man He said this is what it's gonna be like when Jesus comes back He said in the last days, it's just gonna get worse and worse evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse Deceiving and being deceived and you know throughout the Bible It's very clear that this world is not getting better, but that it's on a downward spiral And so the wickedness that went on in the book of Genesis is still going on today It's just we don't know about it because we don't see all of it that goes on now When you think about the word cruelty, I mean cruelty is hurting somebody I mean cruelty is just a person who doesn't care about anybody else except themselves They don't care about damaging somebody or hurting somebody or inflicting pain on somebody it means nothing to them And you hear all about you know in the world cruelty to animals You know we say I don't think you should be cruel to animals You know I don't think you should hurt an animal and abuse animals But that's the last thing that I'm worried about because what's really going on in the world is cruelty to human beings Cruelty to people that's what matters You know human beings with a soul people made in the image of God not just an animal That's gonna live and die and be buried and they'll know all dogs. Don't go to heaven. Okay. You know it It's not something that really matters an animal because God even says that The laws that he gave in the Old Testament protecting animals even says in the New Testament He said you think he gave it you know for the benefit of the ox He said does God take care for oxen God doesn't care about an ox He said God gave it for our benefit, okay, and so you shouldn't be cruel to animals to God said not to be cruel to animals But when God talks about cruelty here He's talking about human beings being cruel and hurtful and violent and damaging to another human being That's what we're talking about and God says the dark places of this earth are Full of the habitations of cruelty. He says you don't know what's going on Because you don't see things the way that I see things But I'm going to tell you something all across this world there are very dark places and in those dark places cruelty abounds Yes, it's cool. Like it's cool in the book of Genesis. Yes It's cool like the wicked and depraved men that you read about throughout the entire Bible cover to cover Now I want to show you in this chapter Because if you notice the first part of that verse Psalm 74 20 it says have respect unto the Covenant For The dark places of the earth are full of the habitation of cruelty. What does he mean by that? Well, let's go through this whole chapter I'll show you what he means by that start in verse number one and We'll see the picture that ASAP is painting here and how it applies to the day that we're living in The Bible reads in verse number one Oh God, why has thou cast us off forever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture see in Psalm 74 1 ASAP is saying God? Why are you so angry at your own people? Do you see that? He says why does your anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Why are you so angry at your own people and then look at verse 2 remember thy congregation now? What's congregation mean Church the word congregation is always in the New Testament's never mentioned churches used instead He says remember thy congregation which thou has purchased of old Remember Jesus Christ bought the church with his own blood the Bible says The rod of thine inheritance which thou has redeemed the Mount Zion wherein thou has dwelt He says I'm living in a nation. I'm going to a church that you paid for I'm living in a nation where you used to dwell here. I mean you used to be right with us He says this Mount Zion where thou has dwelt Look at verse number three lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations Even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary You see the perpetual desolations is referring to what he said in verse number one where he said thou has cast us off forever He said it's perpetually desperate. I feel like there's no hope anymore. I feel like we've gone too far. He's saying He's saying they've done wickedly in the sanctuary He's saying I used to go to a good godly church That was purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ of old because Jesus was the Lamb of God Slain from the foundation of the world he died on the cross before the world ever began because he was slain from the foundation of the world and He's saying here But now they've done wickedly in the sanctuary segment in the house of God in church Look at the next verse verse number four thine enemies war in the midst of thy congregations We're looking at a day in ASAP state where the ungodly enemies of God had actually Infiltrated the churches and he said they were the ones in the churches in the congregations that were making all the noise I mean, that's what it's saying war. He's saying the enemies of God are Roaring in thy conversation. I mean they're opening their mouth and crying out and they're doing wickedly and they're opening their mouth and Spewing out all their garbage in the midst of what's supposed to be the house of God Look at the next verse verse number five a man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers He's saying it used to be a prosperous successful They were building something some of us have it But now he said it's a very destructive society that he's living in now They break down the carport there ever once with axes and hammers they have packed fire into thy sanctuary They have just filed by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground They said in their hearts, let us destroy them together They've burned up all the synagogues of God in the land T verse number seven It's talking about how they dragged God's name down to the ground They dragged it through the gutter They dragged it through the mud and he says that they had a desire of destroying Churches do you see that in verse number eight? He said they he said they said in their hearts let us destroy them together They burned up all the synagogues of God in the land See I was the goal of Satan the goal of God's enemies was to get into these churches and destroy them from the inside out Look at the next verse verse number nine. We see not our signs. There is no more any profit Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long he's saying we can't even find a man of God We can't find a prophet who's preaching right? That's what ASAP is saying. He said there's no profit among us There's nobody among us that knows how long he said nobody is preaching the Word of God in verse number 10 He says Oh God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? Why withdraw thou by hand even thy right hand pluck it out of thy bosom He's saying why are you allowing this to go on God? Don't you hear them blaspheming you don't you hear the enemy? We're poaching us. How long are you gonna allow this to happen? Why aren't you? Using your right hand to bring us salvation saying why are you withdrawing your hand to take it out of thy bosom? Look at verse number 12 for God is my king of old Working salvation in the midst of the earth thou didst devise thy sea by thy strength He's gonna go through some of the roll call of some of God's great God's great workings that he did in the past says that it's devised at the sea by that strength talking about the Red Sea Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces And gave us him to be neat to the people inhabiting the wilderness thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood Now driest up mighty rivers talking about the Jordan River crossing there The day is thine the night also is thine thou has prepared the light in the Sun Now I set all the borders of the earth thou has made summer and winter Jesus glorifying and praising God and God you have the power in your hand to do what needs to be done once you do it He says in verse number 18 remember this that the enemy hath reproached o Lord and that the foolish people have blasphemed Thy name Oh Deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked forget not the congregation of thy poor forever Have respect unto the Covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty See the Covenant that he's asking him to respect He's referring to the history here of the children of Israel being brought out of the land of Egypt He's referring to the Covenant that God made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob The Covenant they said this land is going to be your land He said I'm gonna give this to be where you can have your nation. I'm gonna make it be a great nation Abraham I'm gonna raise up of thy seed the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna come out of your loins, and he's saying Remember the Covenant God? Don't you remember God that were your people don't you remember the promise that you made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? That were your people God he's saying Have respect unto the Covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty And I'll just finish reading the chapter again Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed let the poor and needy praise thy name arise. Oh God, please thine own cause Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily Forget not the voice of thine enemies the tumult of those that rise up against thee increases Continually see every day. He said it's getting worse He says God you understand that every day. It's getting worse every day. They're increasing that are rising up against God They're shouting in the sanctuary. They're in our churches. They're rising up They're as loud as they can be proclaiming their blasphemies against God their wickedness or ungodliness You see He felt that his nation was slipping into the darkness is what he felt he looked around him He saw the compromise that was going on He saw that the wickedness the blasphemy and he said I feel like my nation is slipping into the darkness And he said the reason that that scares me so much is because I know What the dark places of this world are like and he said I feel like my nation Which was once the lighthouse of the gospel which was once the righteous godly nation where God's love He said I could feel like it's slipping into the darkness and I know where that road ends he said I know what it's like in the dark place of this world where there's cruelty and Wickedness and danger and and pain and suffering He's saying Oh God, please Would you not let my nation become like the nations that I see around me like the Philistines? You know like the Canaanites around me like these ungodly nations and hate God He says you you made a covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob Would you please respect that covenant and let us not go down this road all the way down to the darkness of evil and cruelty and ungodliness But you know, we have it so good in America if you think about it I mean, we are so blessed to be in America tonight. I was thinking about places across this world like China where Churches are illegal It's illegal to get together with more than you know, ten people and have any kind of a meeting Unauthorized by the government or I'm not sure if it's ten, but it's somewhere right around there You know Christians have to meet in these in these groups and houses Maybe they got 20 or 30 people together and just meeting the house in secret They all have to come at different times It's come like hours in advance So that people don't see a bunch of people walking into a building after stagger You know come in the 15 minutes later. Somebody else shows up they'll not church service that talk to somebody at a church service in a hotel room when they were there and They would that they'd show up, you know staggered come in all different entrances and come ten minutes apart They baptized people in the bathtub of a hotel room in China, you know They just filled up the bath with water and baptized people and baptized conference. That's what they're doing right now as we speak They have these churches and houses and in secret Because they're not allowed to be in church and if they get caught having church and preaching they go to jail for years and be Persecuted I was thinking about other places that are dark places in the world. And by the way China Did you know that in China it's illegal to have more than one child. Did you know that it is against the law? To have more than one child in China and they have a woman that will go around and if you've had your first child She will administer you a birth control pill every day and make sure you don't take it and they literally will go as far as to Force women to have abortions if they get pregnant with the second child They will force them against their will to have an abortion and they'll force birth control pills upon them and they'll force them To not have children why because they're ungodly because they hate God because they don't understand the Bible Hey, look, they're not poor because they have too many people. They're poor because they hate God. They're not poor because Women are having more kids No They're poor because they've gone to communism instead of capitalism because they don't follow God's plan And so that because they've summed the nose of God and said we hate you God church is illegal the Bible's illegal We hate Christianity. We don't want Jesus Christ. We want to live in the darkness and now they're living in a cool place where a woman yearns and longs to have another child and She has a chemical forced down her throat to kill her own children in her body Cuz that's exactly what birth control pills do if you know what they do they cause early abortions and Otherwise, they'll give her a surgical abortion. What a cruel place. What a mean place I was thinking about we one time we bought a double stroller, you know Cuz we had two young kids at one time made in China. I Thought about the fact that some woman whose kid is in some daycare for 12 hours a day while she's forced to work in a factory She has to work in some factory for 12 hours a day drops her kid off in the daycare that the factory provides And he makes a double stroller to send it to America. Well, what is what a depressing place? What a dark place with a cruel place. She can't even raise the one kid that she has Because she has to work 70 hours a week in some factory You say well, what is that? Yeah. Hey, look, that's the way it's going in America there was a day in America where women stayed home with the kids and Dad went off to work and was able to pay the bills But as we slip into the darkness a little bit you'll see now It's almost necessary for a woman to work in most cases now I don't I don't think it is, you know with it if there's a man there I think that the man should work two jobs is what I would say or whatever the case may be You know if I have to work two jobs, I'll work two jobs. Yeah, I'm not gonna I want my wife I want my kids to have a mom I didn't have kids so that Elmo and SpongeBob to raise my kids in some daycare somewhere No I raised my kids so that they could be raised by the parents that God gave them to Because God saw fit to give me my children and he saw fit to give my wife these children But I'm so glad I live in a place where they're they're being ripped out of my hands and you know You think that would never happen in America you crazy You don't think there could come a day when they forced me to put my kids in public school It's not that far-fetched or a day where they forced me to to put my kids in some preschool somewhere good happen Now it's gonna be a happen over my dead body. You know, I mean, I'm gonna fight everything I can I'll eat rice and beans and sleep in the car and work two jobs to pay the bills But I'm gonna tell you something. That's a cruel place over there in China. That's an ungodly place. That's a dark place It's a terrible place Think about other places like think about a place like Rwanda, you know a place like Rwanda where these these Factions there's about three different races living there You know tribes of different people and these African tribes that just slaughter each other literally by the thousands every day I mean literally like 3,000 people die in one day just common place, you know, I like in America I mean a few people die, you know, like the I remember the space shuttle went up and Like what nine people died, you know, it's a sad thing, but you know nine people died but think about 3,000 people think slobbered almost on a daily basis in Africa in these wars in these dark evil places a place like the Ivory Coast Africa where two-thirds of the population is infected with HIV you know because of just Fornication running rampant among young teenagers even because there's no Jesus Christ. There's no law of God There's no righteousness. There's no light. This is darkness and they they their life expectancy 40 years old and That's the average life expectancy and these kids are 12 and 13 year olds of getting infected with HIV Getting infected with age poisoning their bodies Because nobody's ever told them the truth. Nobody's ever given them the gospel and nobody's ever told them that there's a law of God that says Abstain free from fornication and Nobody's ever warned them about that. And so they've just defiled their bodies and these armies in Africa you know, you will watch the news or read about this and and You'll see that and not watch the news Watch TV, but I'm talking about like look at the news in the newspaper But or the internet and you'll see that these these these armies Will this fight in war and kill each other and just rape and pillage everywhere they go and just infect everybody with disease They said that like two-thirds and some of these places two-thirds of the people have HIV and 80% of the military is carrying HIV and they go and just rape and pillage and murder and it's a dark evil cruel place You know you go down the list I was thinking about places like we're talking about today like Holland places in Europe where Pedophilia is actually legal as long as the child's at least 12 years old 12 years old I mean that's a dark evil place a place where just pornography abounds a place where drugs are legal anything goes Prostitutions legal a filthy evil ungodly place. I'll guarantee you that there's some serious Cruelty going on in that place. You know, I hear people I've heard people joke around as a teenager Yeah, go to the Netherlands, you know, go to Holland Amsterdam on vacation. You can do drugs and it's gonna be fun And yeah, it's gonna be cool and they don't know what it's really like there I'll guarantee you that there's some cruelty and evil there because that's a dark place in Europe And on and on you could go now this this month October 2006 the United States will break 300 million in population Now this is the third most populous nation in the world because there there's China And India, I believe they have about 1.3 1.4 billion people in them And then there's the United States has 300 million just this month But did you know that even though we have 300 million people living in the United States that is less than 5% Of the population of the world. I mean less than 1 in 20 people live in the United States tonight 19 out of 20 people live somewhere else in the world and I'd say that the vast majority of those people live in a dark place a Very dark place think about I mean one in five people's the places talk about China That's where one in five people in the world is living right now is in China one in five You know where the second of the five is living in India and just poverty and not as bad as China Probably as far as the ungodliness and control. I think they have a little bit more freedom there in India But still a dark place a very dark place. They worship that you would not believe the gods that they worship in India I don't know if you know about this, but in the religion of Hinduism Buddhism is a spin-off of Hinduism Hinduism goes back way before Buddhism Hinduism is the same as Buddhism. It's reincarnation Except in Buddhism. There's a goal of reaching nirvana at some point Hinduism It is this endless cycle of being reincarnated reincarnation. They literally have over a thousand dogs that they worship in India literally over a thousand and these gods you might have seen this one. There's one of their gods. That's really famous It's a guy that has a big giant man that has four arms Coming out the size of his body and he's holding a severed head in his hand Okay, have you ever seen that picture before? I mean, it's real common picture. That's their God that they worship Who do you think they're worshiping? They're worshiping Devils. I mean, they're worshiping the demons at hell and so The world obviously is filled with hundreds of thousands if you think about a third of the angels became the fallen angels the demons of Hell and the Bible talks about the numbers of angels as being over a hundred million Multiple I think it's like at least 200 million because it says like hundreds of thousands and thousands of thousands You know God gives a neat number of how many angels are on the book of Revelation And so you have to think there's a third as many of these Devils and so the Devils are in India just keeping people in bondage Just controlling this country, you know, they they see these apparitions and they you know They smoke dope and see these apparitions of some guy with four arms with a severed head in his hand Dominating them scaring them controlling them and the abuse and the the wicked things that go on in these countries where people will literally in these big cities and these dark places You know, they're begging in the streets, you know for tourists or somebody might have money They will actually and I and I knew I saw this in Romania where people had actually Mutilated their children's bodies on purpose so they can get more money begging in the streets I mean they take a kid and like tie his arm behind his back while he's in his formative stages So that his arm would be deformed so the people would feel sorry for him and so they could get more money begging in The streets of the city. I mean how what how could human being? Sink to those levels and so we have to realize how good we have it in the United States of America We think we've got it rough But you know the poorest of us on our poorest day will be a filthy rich Compared to the 95% I mean in the world if you think about it and you say well is a billion people living in Europe Okay, you know a billion people living here But a lot of them are living in disgusted poverty and bad conditions But even if you excluded that you're still looking at two-thirds of the world. That's just living in darkness dark places of the world full of the habitations of cruelty And you see America thinks well I mean you talk to people if you ever talk to people it just feels like they're just living in this bubble like they only see What's right around them? You know I mean they don't even see some of the darkness that's in America You know they don't even see like the inner city What it's like in some of these ghettos and slums I mean I've seen the filthiest most disgusting conditions You wouldn't even believe right here in America, but there's so many people they go through life And maybe they're middle class or upper class and that's good I mean you hey you ought to be middle class or upper class if you can't make the money and and Hey, you know don't live in filth I mean, I'm not saying that at all But you know sometimes people that are that are middle class and upper middle class, and I'm middle class you know, but they They don't understand that there's other people in the world that don't live like they do they don't understand that There's a whole world of people that are living in darkness all they can see is just where they're at right now and just You know they they got a scratch on their car or something you know that's the big that's the big deal I mean you see how pales and embarrassing when you get your mind right you start reading set Psalm 7420 and you start to think about the world and read the book of Genesis if you get your mind right and if you get Your values just kind of you know push the reset button and get that thing calibrated You'll realize that some of the things that we get hung up on are just nothing. I mean they're just meaningless They're just stupid the things that we just get so You know worked up about it fire I know we're so upset about such as has to happen you know like I think about I you know I got nailed by one Of these cameras the red lights And I you know I'm against it. I'll tell you right now. I'm against it. You know these red light cameras Okay, and you know it was just a total accident You know you're driving along in a totally unfamiliar area the light turned red on me You know boom took a picture. You know 400 bucks Take it without to pay you know so I sent off the check yesterday begrudgingly and Put the check in there put in the mail. You know, but if you think about it who cares I mean, I'm still living in this. I'm still living in a nice house. I'm still got food to eat tonight I'm gonna go to bed and sleep in a comfortable bed I still live in a United you know you just can't let things like that get you down because it's nothing But anyway Bad illustration now, but I'm just saying that sometimes we get so myopic in our viewpoint It's like we can only see just what's right in front of us We can only see just our little world that we live in our little happy world, but I'm going to tell you something This little happy world that we live in called the United States is not always going to be a little happy world because you cannot Spit in the eye of God you cannot Let filth abound you cannot let the enemy come into churches and change them from the inside out you cannot Get rid of the righteous preacher in the land and then push them aside say we don't want to listen to you You can't do that and not have the darkness creep in and not have the habitations of cruelty about you Just can't do it I mean you don't think that there were other nations around before the United States that God was blessing I mean you think this is the only country that's ever been right before God and send out missionaries and reach the world with the gospel No, this isn't the only guy. I mean it used to be that there were a lot of great churches in England They used to be I mean the King James Bible came from English You know we're talking about a country in England that used to send out missionaries now 95% of the people in England do not attend any church and The 5% where do you think they're going to a church like this? No, I mean it's a place that's devoid of the gospel, and it's a dark place my wife lived there actually for a year It's a dark place a scary place It's a place where crime abounds it's a place where evil and filth and pornography abounds because that's what happens that it look people don't understand that history repeats itself and That the nation of Israel went down the downward spiral You know England and others have gone down the downward spiral If you know the Netherlands used to be a place where the gospel was preached mightily and that great churches were did you know that? In the Netherlands, that's where the pedophilia is legal. That's where soft drugs are legal That's where you go to a coffee shop in and smoke weed, and it's so illegal and that's the least of their problems and so that look America is headed down the same road and We need to understand That if we don't turn this nation back to God We're gonna be in the midst of a cruel Wicked place in our little dream world that we live in it's not gonna be the same as it is right now It's not gonna be as good for my kids when they grow up unless we can stem the tide I was just thinking about you know I talked about this a filthy billboard that I saw in Phoenix And I saw and I became angry and I was screaming yelling at God as I saw this billboard And I was just crying out the touch. Thank God This is where I planted myself This is where I'm gonna live until I die Phoenix, Arizona and God am I living in a place That's gonna become a place of darkness a place like Sodom and Gomorrah Am I living in a place where people are gonna surround somebody's house and be on the door and say? Bring these men out that we may know them as happened in Sodom anymore because you know what that's what God said It's gonna be like when Jesus comes back He said as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah So shall it be in the days of the Son of Man as it was in the days of Noah so shall be in the days of the Son of Man and I was I was crying out to God just begging God God Please don't let this city go to hell and become a filthy dark evil place God don't let this country which once stood for God where thou has dwelt Where the congregations that you purchased used to thrive dear God don't let it go down into the darkness dear God, please And I cried out to God like a staff cried out to God said have respect under the Covenant For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty And I don't want my nation to become one of those dark places. What do you say? But what's what's the plan you know my whole life Growing up and everything and and I always knew that I was gonna be a preacher even even when I was far away from God Even just somehow I just always knew that my whole life, and I always thought about it and and my whole life I was gonna be I was trying to be a missionary I was gonna go to some foreign country and start a church and be a missionary and I thought about all different places in Europe And all different places around the world South America. I thought about for a while all different places and I There was even a time when I should study foreign languages incessantly and I was thinking I'm preparing myself Preparing my mind to be able to go somewhere and learn the language and be able to preach the gospel with power in another language And there was a time when I literally was fluent in four languages And I was learning a fifth language and there was a time when that's what I was gonna do But you know God got a hold of me laid upon my heart the mission to the home base here in the United States Because I thought to myself, you know going to a foreign country is so vital and necessary to go to the darkness but I could see the darkness creeping in in America and I could see that that Somebody needed to stand in the gap in America and there's somebody needed to stand up and do something in America You say what are we gonna do pastor Anderson? I mean good night. Just a small time. I mean just starting from scratch I mean with just a small church. I mean you're just one person here and we're just a few people here What are we gonna do? What's the plan? Well Number one, this is the plan because you know what there's got we must have an organized plan of attack if we're gonna bring this nation back to God if we're gonna at least do something as the Bible says in Daniel chapter 4 to Give us a lengthening of our tranquility as Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar He told them judgment of God is coming But he said if you'll do right Nebuchadnezzar you can at least have a lengthening of your tranquility you can at least Hold it off a little longer or maybe for another generation to deal with He said at least If we could stem the tide and just keep things right to work at least have the freedom to have church and raise our families And do what's right? And so what do we do? Well, you know number one We've got to we've got to see that God build this church right here faithful word Baptist Church This church is important. This church is not just some other church I mean if it was this any old church man, if I thought this was this any church I just go join some church, you know, and I just and I just help build that church You know, that's what I would do literally but see I started the church to be different and this church is important you're important because you're here and what we need to do is see this church grow and thrive and Reach this area with the gospel Now it can be done and I'll tell you something I don't know if you have to do a pastor action. How big is this church going to become? I don't know, you know how numerically how many people are we gonna have in a service? You know 20 years from now or 10 years from now. I don't know but I will tell you this this church is gonna preach the gospel to this city of Tempe and And you know into Phoenix in this area This church is gonna preach the gospel to thousands and thousands thousands of people I mean, we've already preached the gospel. We've already seen you know 151 people saved this year and in 2005 when I was here when I first got here and I was just so winning just all day because I took the time off From work and I didn't have my job to mess with when I first got here to South Church I think I saw like 30 people saved or something. I've got I've got the number, you know in the computer, but So we see like over 180 people saved that 15 people baptized You know one thing I'll guarantee you is that as our church grows and as the number of people that are winning souls grows as It is growing, you know more and more of us are winning souls and and getting zealous about this thing I'll guarantee you one thing that this area the people who live in this area are gonna hear the gospel preached I'll tell you that right now I mean we're gonna get to the point in this church where we're canvassing every street again and again and again and again And that's gonna happen. I'll tell you that right now But more than that what I'd like to see happen nothing more than that is the most important thing but What also needs to happen is that not only does this church need to grow and and you know Like I said it I don't know what the number is gonna be that it grows to But maybe it's gonna be a few minutes gonna be big. Maybe it's gonna be really big Hey, but it's gonna it's gonna be a powerhouse of soul winning and it's gonna be a Kind of a headquarters of this we're going out in just winning souls all week, I'll guarantee that I'll tell you that right now But not only that but number two God's plan to see if we have a plan of attack for what we're gonna do to fight this battle It's got to come from the Bible. I mean it can't come from the purpose-driven church by Rick Warren You know It can't come from some liberal charismatic movement of how we're gonna fight this battle and turn America back to God The plan of God is found in Genesis chapter 1 you don't need to turn there but it right in Genesis chapter 1 God tells us what the plan is. They said everything brings forth after its own time And so the goal of the local church and you know that we don't believe in the universal church here We don't believe that every Christian is part of the church You know, we believe that a church is a congregation of people literally physically assembled together. Like we're here tonight assembled together At least two or three people is what the Bible says, of course, we have a lot more than that But just together here assembled. This is a local church right here. This is the church and God says I Want Christians and point number one was you know, we're gonna build this church and we're gonna make it a soul-winning powerhouse Of the gospel in Phoenix, but not only does God have a desire for Christians to bring forth after their own time See, that's on time by Genesis chapter 1 where God gives us that principle where I? Reproduce myself by winning somebody to Christ and teaching them to win souls like I do But not only does God have that plan for the individual but God also has that plan for a church Where he says I want a church to beget another church. You understand that he says look a church brings forth a church just like a Christian brings forth another Christian because everything brings forth after its own kind and So just like the proper way for me to start this church was that I was sent out of another church You know in Sacramento, California, they sent you know The pastor sent me here and said go start this church that church gave birth to this church pay for that Now do I take orders from them? No, do they tell me what to do? No, I'm totally independent Because they were pregnant with me. They gave birth to this church and here I am now I've cut the umbilical cord and this is you know This is a this is its own church and now this church needs to give birth to other churches You understand that that's the plan and so not only should this church grow and become a soul-winning powerhouse here in Phoenix But see there's got to be another generation of young men who rise up and say I'm gonna take the vision of faithful word Baptist Church I'm gonna take the gospel that we believe here straight from the Bible believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I'll stop be saved I'm gonna take the the hard preaching, you know I'm gonna take the zealous on fire for God kind of excitement I'm gonna take the righteousness and the holy living and the separation from the world and the righteousness I mean Let's face it some liberal church is not going to produce a man of God who is Walking with God and fervently designed to please God they're gonna produce after their own kind I mean some liberal church puts out some man that goes and starts a church It's gonna be another liberal church because everything brings forth after its own kind and so it's gonna take a church like this To produce another church like this and if we could have a church like this Everywhere in America, you see we could send the tide because there'd be at least a gospel witness if people go to hell At least they'd be getting a chance, you know At least they'd be hearing it clearly from some soul winner at their door because there could be a great church here in Phoenix Yes, but you know in Flagstaff, you know in Tucson in Yuma and then beyond the regions of Arizona You know in the whole nation into the othermost parts of the earth. That's God's plan Not some big denomination where we all network and yoke together. Let's put all our money together Hey, look God said no do it my way start a church and then have that church give birth to another church They say well, it's it's not that big. I've got an idea. Why don't we do this instead? Why don't we start a Christian school and a Bible college and it'll be like a machine where we have this factory where we just pump out thousands and thousands of Servants of God they're gonna start all these churches and turn the world upside down Hey, look that movement started about 40 years ago and it failed Okay, it failed I mean let's let's let's get back into reality the Christian school move the Christian Fool movement I'm sorry the Christian school movement and This Bible college movement has been a failure the kids that come out of these Christian schools are liberal The kids that come out of these Bible colleges are not zealous and on fire for God They want everybody to pay their way for them You know They want it on a silver platter for them and they want to go somewhere and they want to tickle people's ears so that they Can preach and have their little crowd and their little building and their fancy car They don't want to fight the battle in this country. They don't want to stem the tide in this country They're not on fire for God. They don't want to preach the old-time standards they want to sit around and and go to easy Street and If I'm lying about that then why don't you show me the great soul-winning churches that I mean look these Bible colleges and these Christmas schools put up thousands and thousands of graduates in the last 30 or 40 years Where are all the zealous on fire for God? Soul-winning churches in this country. I mean there there's some out there, but I say something I get emails and calls from people every week Saying can you find a good church in my area? My church is liberal It's the best one that I can find in my area, but it's just liberal and I don't like it They said I wish I could go to your church, you know, it's far away, but they say my church is liberal I can't even find a good church. Can you find one and I search I try to do the research and I can't find one Because I'm going to tell you something We're losing the battle in this country because the Christian school movement it did not produce an army of just zealous on fire for God's soul when it just didn't happen and neither did the Bible college move it why because there's no Christian school or Bible college mentioned in the Bible. I mean, let's face it What's mentioned and what's emphasized in the Bible is not a school but a church see Jesus never died for a school Did he did he ever say palm this rock? I'll build my school and the gates of hell to not prevail against it Look, no, he said I'll build a church He said I operate and with a machinery that I designed and I designed it right the first time It's called the local church and it gives birth to other local churches and those local churches Give birth to other local churches and the growth is exponential because it multiplies from one to the other to the other and You see it's gonna take a church like this. It's gonna take people like us To put out that kind of a church down the road It's gonna take a group like this that says we're gonna sell out for God We're gonna sanctify ourselves as we heard in the sermon this morning. That's what it's gonna take That's the only hope that there is and so that that's why I feel like this church is important now There are other great churches and they're important and they need to do the same thing They need to quit sending their kids to some big diet liberal church That has a Bible College where they can screw up their kids and turn them into a bunch of liberals and they need to have Enough fire and a power to preach and teach their own people and send them out Not a giant army of thousands perhaps but an army of a few I mean how many is it gonna take? Not that many because they send out a few and then they could start a church and then they could send out and they get There and the multiplication takes place of independent Baptist churches not all coming from one big source one big mama But a movement of independent Baptist churches that are totally independent from one another Totally self-contained. I mean we could send out a young man some some godly man that says I want to preach I want to Give my life to bring the gospel to some other city and to start a church like this one And I'm gonna do everything I can I'm gonna pay the price. I'm gonna meditate on the Word of God I'm gonna learn the Bible so I can get up and thunder out the Word of God you see It's gonna take that kind of a man It's gonna take this kind of a church to send that kind of man and then it's just to cut the umbilical cord and just say God be with you and say you're on your own, you know, you do what God leads I mean that that's that's God's plan. We haven't followed that plan because we've been so Influenced by these Interdenominational people we've been so influenced by people that are not Baptist We've been so influenced by the Billy Sundays and their big tent revival meetings and and the big giant City wide crusade where all the churches get together and hold a big crusade and have a big service and blah blah blah Hey, where's the result friend? Where's the result? I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing the nation that's going to hell Billy Sunday million people walk the aisle Where is the charge that Billy Sunday started it's nowhere it doesn't exist. He went around And it's gone today friend it's gone where's his legacy he didn't start any church He he had a bunch of people come down an aisle and send them back to the Catholic Church Send them back to the Presbyterian Church send them back to the Methodist Church. Just like Billy Graham same thing You know all the churches get together Let's all have a big Billy Graham crusade Oh a bunch of people come down the aisle cry and then they all go back to their Episcopalian Methodist Presbyterian Church They they don't believe the gospel. They didn't get saved If they got saved, why would they go to a church that preaches everything against salvation and everything against what the Bible says? Because they didn't get saved. They got some watered-down little altar call some meet your commitment to Christ some give your heart to Jesus Which is not the terminology used in the Bible at all, which is not believing on Jesus Christ and putting all your faith in him It's just some commitment that you make I mean you make a commitment to Jesus sounds like it's work salvation Like I commit this way. I'm gonna start living for God Yeah, it's not salvation And so we bought into that philosophy about we all have to get together and have these big Mac We got to put aside our differences. We all got to join up with all the liberal comment. No my friend Why don't we just follow God's plan? Why don't we just have one soul winner and He wins people to Christ and then they win people to Christ and any I illustrated it before work Start with one person, you know, and I'll just quickly go through because I've already done it But so with one person wins one person to the Lord at the end of the year You have two people then if those two people win somebody the Lord at the end of the next year You have four people and then the third year you have eight people I mean, this is winning one person war per year. Is that doable? You think you could do that? I mean if you you think you could learn to win one person work per year And then you just teach you just win one person Lord and teach them how to win souls One person here at the end of the third year You have eight people the end of the fourth year you have 16 people at the end of the fifth year You have 30 people at the end of the sixth year. You have 64 people not that big of a deal Right yet, but they you at the end of seventh year You got 128 people you get the end of the eighth year you have 256 people you at the end of night You have five hundred twelve people you get the end of the tenth year. You got a thousand and 24 people, but did you know that at the end of the 20th year, you're gonna have over a million people saved after 20 years And then at the end of the 30th year, you're going to have over a billion people saved, and at the end of 34 years, the whole world will be saved. I mean, that's God's plan, but nobody wants to follow it. Nobody wants to be a soul winner. They want to have all the big grandiose and all the exact—look, take it with a local church. You know, if a local church begets another local church, and then that church begets another local church, that's the kind of multiplication that God has taught us on how to start a church and how to build a church and how to have it reproduce and how to have that church reproduce, we could make a great impact just with God's method, without having to come up with some other institution that God did not ordain. We could just use the institution that God ordained, the family, the church, the nation. And see, that's God's plan. It's doable. It's a way to do it. And you know, I feel bad for these people that call me and say, like, my church is liberal. You know, I go to this and that church, and the preaching is liberal. The sermon is less than 20 minutes long, they say, you know. They'll say that the pastor is just not preparing the sermon. I mean, he just gives up and just says some little cute thing. I mean, it's not based on the Bible. There's nothing there. There's nothing to chew on. He won't preach on sin. He won't take a stand for the King James Bible. He's not a soul winner. I mean, I literally get these emails every week. Every week. I mean, not a week goes by. I got one yesterday. I got one last night at 6.45. You know, I mean, every week somebody emails me and says, hey, I listen to your sermons. I'm sorry I'm in such a liberal church. See, they're like Asaph. Because, see, Asaph was not a pastor. Asaph was not a preacher. Asaph was a musician. He studied the Bible. Asaph was actually a musician. You can read about him in the book of 2 Chronicles, I believe. It's either 1 or 2 Chronicles. And Asaph was just saying, I can't find a good preacher. I can't find a good prophet. He says, I can't find a good church to go to. And he's crying out to God, begging God to do something, to stretch out his hand and bring salvation. But, my friend, this church is important. Don't ever downplay the importance. Don't ever minimize it in your mind. This is God's church. This is the local church. And it's not the only church, but this is God's institution right here. This is one of them. And it's our job to see to it that this church is what it ought to be. Because if this church isn't what it ought to be, then let's say we do reproduce ourselves in another church, it's not going to be what it ought to be. You see? We have to be the quality that God wants and the quality that's going to really turn a city upside down for God, so that we can produce that kind of quality. And so you have to look at a big picture. You have to look at a great big world out there, besides just the little world that we live in here, and our life, and the problems that we have. And I'm not trying to downplay our problems. But when you compare it to the 95% that are living in darkness, when you compare it to the dark places in this earth, the first thing you ought to do is fall on your knees and say, Thank you, God. Glory to God that I live in America. Glory to God that I live in a place where I'm basking in the light of the previous generations who said we're going to honor Jesus Christ and God we trust. And God, please help me to do everything in my power to stop the influx of darkness coming into our country because I don't want to live in a cruel, evil, hurtful nation. I want to live in all honesty and godliness and peace and prosperity here in the United States. I don't want my nation, my country to slip into the darkness. Boy, get excited about this church. Decide, hey, if this country goes down, it's not going to be because of us because we're going to fight it. And we're going to start it right here in Phoenix, Arizona. And then we're going to see how far we can push it to the ends of the world. And, you know, yes, there are great men that are, you know, like our missionary that we took on for support. Hey, you know why we took him on for support? Because he's a good guy, because I know he's a good guy, because I've seen him out soul winning. Because he called me up and said, Let's go soul winning. I mean, missionaries usually don't go soul winning, let's face it. And my wife seen him at the bus stop before church, soul winning. Nobody even knew, you know, nobody was around, nobody was watching him. You know, she just happened to be driving by and just saw him out there ready to win somebody to Christ with his Bible at a bus stop. You know, he's a man who's separated from the world. He's separated from the ungodliness, and that's rare among preachers today. Most preachers, you walk in and you have to stumble over all their video cassettes of all their worldly movies. I mean, I've been to their houses many times, okay, and seen just a stack of movies and just been taken aback by it. I mean, independent fundamental Baptist preachers that get up and scream and yell and rip, and they're just, the world has just consumed them. And yes, there are great men like that. And I think he has the same vision that I have of seeing the multiplication process take place there in Alaska, where he said, my whole goal, because I got preached about that on Wednesday, and then he said, that's exactly what my goal is, like these young guys, these young teenage boys. Because if one of them would get fired up and he could start a church, you know, and this village over here, and we could break through this stronghold of Satan, and see these churches spring up in the darkness and bring some life into that area. Hey, look, that's what it's about. It can be done. God's power is available today if we'll sanctify ourselves, and if we'll realize that there's a lot more to this world than our little life. Let's see the big picture. Let's see the big picture of our state. Let's see the big picture of our nation. You know, let's see a big picture of the world that needs us, the world that's counting on us to be what we need to be right here in Phoenix, Arizona. The Savior, Jesus Christ, who's in heaven, saying, I'm just counting on you. Maybe there aren't that many left. I know that there are 7,000 men that haven't bowed the knee to Baal, as God told Elisha, and I believe that there are in this world, you know, a remnant of people that have not bowed the knee. But God says, look, I'm relying on you. Don't fail, because if you fail, then there might just not be anybody to do it in that area. It just might not happen, and it just might not happen in the United States of America. Boy, let's renew tonight our zeal. Let's get back our mind in the right position and say, this is what's important, is bringing light to the unsaved, helping out those that are unsaved so that when I get to heaven, I'm not going to be alone, because I've brought some people with me out of the darkness. Hey, let's get our priorities right again tonight. Let's just stop and say, God, I'm willing to endure the pain. I'm willing to suffer to see the gospel go forth, because you suffered for me. I'm going to suffer for you, and we'll all be rejoicing in heaven before you know it, because this life's like a vapor. It's going to be over before you know it. We'll be rejoicing in heaven. The victory will be won. Well, let's not let our city and our nation go to hell. Let's not let this become one of the dark places of the earth. Let's bow our heads. Father, thank you so much for loving us and giving us this country, America. Wow, God, I just think about how privileged I am that I was born here. Take it for granted, take for granted the things that I have. It's so easy to get down in the mouth and think that I have it so rough. But, God, my life is on a silver platter. Help me to realize that. And please, Father, help this church, help our reach to extend to this whole city so that everybody in this city would hear the gospel. At least one time a clear presentation of the gospel. But not only that, help our reach to extend into the whole world, because we've produced a preacher, because we've produced a man of God. Maybe my three sons in the front row here. Maybe they could grow up and be great men of God and take the gospel to some other city. Maybe other men and young men that'll come through this church, dear God, that we can train and we can put some of the fire of God down in them and send them out to turn this nation back to God, to turn this world to God. And, God, we know that not everybody's going to get saved. We know that this nation, as Asaph said, I mean, it's been cast off forever, let's face it. This nation is never going to be the righteous nation that it was. But, God, help us to stem the tide and help there to be within this ungodly nation, within this perverse and crooked nation, as the Bible says in Philippians chapter 2, help there to be churches in every city, a lighthouse in every city that's holding forth the word of life, that's shouting out the gospel on the mountaintops so that every single person in America could at least have the opportunity to be saved and so that we could have a lengthening of our tranquility in this country and so that we could send out missionaries even to the uttermost part of the earth, to these dark places where nobody cares about these people. Nobody cares about the filth and the cruelty that goes on, dear God. Oh, God, please help us, empower us, dear God, embolden us, fill us with your power, stir us up, dear God, get us excited once again. And, Father, we love you and pray...