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

that I'd like to focus on is there beginning in verse number 15, where the Bible reads in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before that you might have a second benefit and to pass by you into Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia unto you and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. When I therefore was thus minded that I use lightness or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should be yea, yea and nay, nay? But as God is true, our work toward you is not yea and nay, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea, for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen unto the glory of God by us. Now what I want to preach on this morning is this subject, Yea and Amen, that's the title of my sermon. And we see here from the context, let me just kind of break this down to you so you can understand what Paul is saying. He's talking about earlier in the chapter a lot of the tribulations and troubles that he's been through in his life and how he was actually almost at the point of death. And of course we read the book of Acts, we see that there were times when Paul was beaten, he was shipwrecked, he was stoned and they thought he was dead, but he actually got up and walked back into town and he was able to be nursed back to health. So he'd been through all this and he's talking about some of his future plans now and he's saying, you know, this is my confidence. He said, I decided that I was going to come to you and then I was going to go into Macedonia to preach the Gospel and then I was going to come back out of Macedonia and preach the Gospel in Corinth and then I was going to go to Judea and he said, when I therefore was thus minded, we're in verse number 17, did I use lightness or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should be yea, yea and nay, nay? Basically what he's saying is, I'm not just casually going through my life, just lightly saying, oh, I think I'll go over here and I might do this or I might try to do this or, you know, I'm going to give it a shot. He said, no, I am going to do it. I'm going to succeed. I'm not doing this in the flesh. God is with me and it's not going to be yes and no. He said, it's just all yes. That's what he's saying. He says, yea and nay. Those are just old words for yes and no. He said, it's yea. He said, if God is with me, if I'm in the will of God, if I'm not walking in the flesh, we're walking in the spirit. It's not yea and nay, it's just yea and amen. And that's what I want to preach about this morning. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2. You're in chapter 1. Go to chapter 2, it says in verse 14, now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Did you get that? He said, thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Not most of the time, not yes and no, but he said no. All the time we are going to triumph in Christ and he says, and make it manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. He's talking about preaching God's word, preaching the knowledge of God in every place. And he says, for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the savor of death unto death and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ. Paul says, look, everywhere I go preaching the gospel, he said, I'm always triumphing. He said, in some places I go and I preach and people want to hear the truth and they believe on Jesus Christ and they get saved. And he said, to them it's the savor of life unto life. He said, other people reject the gospel and it's just a warning to them of the fact that they're going to die and go to hell and it's a bad taste in their mouth. He said, either way I'm triumphing. Either way I'm on the winning side because I'm doing the work of God and preaching the word of God. You see, when you're doing God's work, when you're doing God's will, you're always successful. You're always winning. It's always yay. It's always amen. And you see, when I go out soul winning, I might go out soul winning and no one gets saved, but you know what? I'm still on the winning side. I'm still on the victory side. And you know, if people don't come to church and maybe they don't want to believe on Christ and get saved, or maybe they do get saved but they don't come to church, it's not really our loss. It's their loss. You know, we're in God's house. We're doing the work of God. We're triumphing in Jesus Christ. And even if we go out and we're rejected by the world when we preach his word, we're still triumphing. We're still winning. And that's what he's explaining here. But also I think what he's explaining here is the way that we live our lives. We need a purpose to do things and not have a yay-nay attitude, a mixed attitude where we're double-minded. The Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. The Bible says we should ask in faith, nothing wavering. And so when we decide to do something, we just need to decide to do it and get all the way in and succeed. Look at Philippians chapter 4. You're in 2 Corinthians. Just go a few pages to the right in your Bible. You see, God is not the God of yay and may. He's the God of yay-yay. He's the God of yay and amen. And so he says in Philippians chapter 4, a famous verse, Philippians 4, 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. And this is Paul's attitude in 2 Corinthians 1. He's saying, I'm not maybe going to go preach the Gospel in Macedonia. I'm going to Macedonia. I didn't purpose that lightly. I didn't just lightly have that goal. He said, I'm going to do it. God is with me. I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. Go to Philippians 1, 6. You're in chapter 4. Just go back a few pages to chapter 1. He says in Philippians 1, 6, same word again, being confident of this very thing, that he which had begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Go to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter number 8. You see, I think about this in my own life. A little over five years ago when I came to Phoenix, Arizona, I didn't say, hey, I'm going to go try and start a church. Well, I'm going to give it a shot. Well, I'm going to do my best. No, I said, I'm going there. I'm going to preach God's Word. I'm going to knock every door and God will build that church. I'm on the winning side. I'm going to triumph in Jesus Christ and I believe that God will build this church. That's why I came here, not with a yea and nay attitude, not with an attitude that said maybe, but an attitude that said, hey, I'm not doing this in the flesh. I'm in the will of God. I'm following God's Word. I will succeed. I can do all things through Christ who has strengthened me. And of course, God has built this church and continues to build this church. Our goal in this church, just so you know, is to knock every single door in this whole county, which represents four million people. And we have that map up there. And a while back, several years ago, that probably just seemed like a crazy idea or just a pipe dream. But if you look at that map, we've already done a huge portion of it. We've already done a fifth of it. We've already knocked the doors of about three quarter of a million people. Why? Because we can do all things through Christ who has strengthened us. And if God be for us, who can be against us? There are naysayers, but God is the ultimate yeasayer of our church and we will succeed and win the battle. You see, that map out there represents a dream, a vision, okay, that was in my mind years and years ago that at the time seemed impossible. And for one man, it is impossible. Even if I spent my entire life here, it would be impossible for me to preach the gospel to every preacher in this massive megacity that we live in in Phoenix, Arizona. But you know what? With this church right here, with this group right here, it is possible. And we're already doing it. We're already knocking the door. We've already accomplished so much. And we can succeed. We can win because God is with us. We're not doing it in the flesh. We're not just lightly saying we're going to try. We're not going to try. We're going to do it. We're going to get it done. And we're already proving that. Where did I turn? Look at Romans chapter 8. It says in Romans 8 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Did you hear that? All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called, then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he also glorified. This ties in with the verse that we just looked at when he said, hey, he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God's not going to start something and then not finish it. God is saying here that your life, if you love God, because he said to them that love God, all things work together for good. He said God is working in your life. If you love him and you're serving him, you're going to triumph. You're going to be conformed to the image of his son. He not only called you, but he justified you. He's going to glorify you. He will finish the work in your life. If you'll stay in the battle and you'll keep on serving God, you will triumph. You will win. And that's what he's saying. Not a yea and nay, but he just said amen. Now what does the word amen mean? Well the word amen is used a lot in the Bible. In fact, I don't know if you know this, but in the New Testament there are 27 books. 24 of those books end with the word amen. All throughout the Old Testament you'll see the word amen over and over again. And the word amen just basically means so be it. Let it be so. Another word that could be translated as amen is our word verily. Verily or truly. And so that's why when sometimes you'll hear someone preaching, others will say amen. They're basically saying yes. Yea. They're saying so be it. It's true what you're saying. Let it be even so. And the Bible uses the word amen a lot to mean let it come to pass. Let it be so. Let those words be established. Like when the Bible says even so come Lord Jesus. He said amen. Now did you know that God actually calls himself the amen? You don't have to turn there, but in Revelation chapter 3 18 when he's talking to the Church of the Lay of the Seans, he says unto the angel of the Church of the Lay of the Seans write thus saith the amen. And it's Jesus Christ talking. And he calls himself the amen. Because when God purposes something, it comes to pass. All the way back to Genesis 1. You'll see the phrase over and over again. And God said let there be light. And it was so. God said let there be a ferment. And it was so. God said let the dry land appear. And it was so. And you'll see over and over that pattern. And God said and it was so. Because what God says truly comes to pass. And that's what the word amen means. And God always keeps good on his promises. He always keeps good on his word. The Bible says as God is true, he says all the promises of God in him are yea and in him amen unto the glory of God. So God's never going to let us down. This is basically what the bottom line is. And if we're serving him, we're always on the winning side. He always causes us to triumph. And here he says that all things work together for good to them that love God. Because whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. It says in verse 31, what shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justified. Who is he that condemned it? It is Christ that died, yea rather than is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, nay, in all these things. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's going to be opposition in our life. There are going to be bad things that happen. Our church has faced opposition. I've faced opposition and setbacks in my personal life. Lately everybody's been really sick, and I was very sick. I was asking myself, God, I was saying to God, God why are you allowing me to be this sick? Because I couldn't understand it. Sometimes I've been sick, and I can see how it worked out for good. Because sometimes I was just going a little bit too fast in life and sometimes I would get sick and it would kind of force me to sit down and read my Bible and pray and just kind of take it easy and just relax a little bit. And I said, oh, I can see why I got sick. But this sickness that I had recently was so bad I couldn't even read my Bible. I couldn't even quote a verse. I was so sick. I was just miserable laying there. And I felt like I just lost a whole week of my life. And I was thinking, man, I wish I could be out soul winning or I wish I could at least be out making some money or providing for my family or doing something. And I was just completely sick. And you know, things like that happen in our life that are just bad things that just mess us up and they might mess up our finances and just mess up our plans. And that's how this sickness was. And I know a lot of you went through a lot of sickness. And of course that messes up your job. That messes up a lot of things. You know, we just have to believe that if we love God, you know, God's going to use these things in our life to work together for good. And we're going to go through bad times, but we're still on the winning side. We're still more than conquerors. He said, in all these things, verse 37, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. In what kind of things? Well, in verse 35 he says, in tribulation, in distress, in persecution, in famine, in nakedness, in peril, in sorrow. He said, we're more than conquerors. Even through these bad times, even through the setbacks, we are going to win. We are going to succeed. Just don't quit. Now turn, if you would, to 2 Kings chapter 6. 2 Kings chapter 6. It's easy to get discouraged and down when things aren't going your way. And maybe your finances are going bad or sickness or whatever the case. But you know, the Bible's clear that God is saying yay and amen. I mean, we are on the winning side and we will succeed as a church. We will succeed as individuals if we're serving God, if we love God. Now this is one of my favorite stories in 2 Kings chapter 6. Let me just tell you what's going on in this story and then I'll read it to you. But in 2 Kings chapter 6, basically Elisha is a prophet and Elisha has been given these revelations by God where he's basically warning the children of Israel about the Syrians who keep coming to attack them. So Elisha is able to give them a warning and the Syrians are not able to surprise them and attack them. So look what it says in verse number 11. This is the king of Syria. He thinks that there's some kind of a spy that's been giving away all his secrets. It says in 2 Kings 6, Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing, and he called for his servants and seven of them. Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? So he's saying look, one of us is a spy here. One of us is for the enemy. And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. So basically he's explaining to him, this prophet Elisha, God's revealing stuff to him that you've said in private. And basically he hears that and he wants to go apprehend Elisha. So it says in verse number 13, and he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send infection. And it was told him saying, Behold, he's in Dothan. So he says, Go figure out where he is, we need to arrest him. So they figure out where Elisha is. He sends his spies and they say okay, he's in Dothan. So he's going to send his whole army there to stop Elisha. Now look, think about the odds here. One guy, one old man, okay, and he's being faced with an entire army just sent to stop one man. Okay, one man Elisha. And so basically it says in verse number 14, Therefore send ye together horses and chariots and a great host. I guess one guy, this huge army, one bald old man, Elisha. The Bible tells us he was bald. And enough of that has anything to do with it. But anyway, I'm just saying, he's just this, he's an old timer, you know. But it says in verse number 14, Therefore send ye together horses and chariots and a great host. And they came by night, you know, because they got to sneak up on him and compass the city about. So they basically surrounded the whole city. Now put yourself in this position. Because it's easy just to read the story without thinking about it. Think about this, you're in bed at night. Let's say you're a bald guy. You're in bed at night, you're laying in your house, and all of a sudden there's just an entire army, okay. I mean with weapons, horses, chariots, just an entire army surrounding your whole neighborhood. Just completely surrounded. You're going to think that you're pretty much done, right? There's no way out. You've lost. Look what the Bible says here. It says, and when the servant of the man of God, this is Elisha's young servant, was risen early and gone forth, behold a host compassed the city. Compass means surrounded. Compassed the city both with horses and chariots, and his servant said to them, alas my master, how shall we do? He's saying, what are we going to do? You know, we're dead. And watch this, and he answered, fear not, for they would be with us, or more than they would be with them. Now that surprises him, because he's telling them, well we actually have more on our side than what they have. And Elisha prayed, it says in verse 17, and Elisha prayed, it said, Lord I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Isn't that amazing? So right there, they feel totally outnumbered. They can't see what's going on, and you know, we can't see all the spiritual things that are going on. Obviously the Bible teaches that there really are angels and people watching over us as believers, and the Bible says the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. Okay, that's the Bible doctrine. And so here, this young man is totally afraid because he's surrounded by this army, and yet Elisha just says, well there's more that are with us than with them. And I don't even know if Elisha even necessarily physically saw that army. But he didn't have to see it. He knew it was there, because he knew that if God be for us, who can be against us, as it says in Romans 8. He knew that God is on his side, and he said, you know, I'd rather just be here with me and my scared servant and God. That is more powerful than a huge army. And so that's the attitude that we should have, understanding that if God is for us, who can be against us? Not to be afraid or fearful of enemies or opponents and trials and tribulations that we go through. So it says that he showed the young man, God just kind of opened his eyes. This is an amazing miracle. God actually just allowed him to kind of see the spiritual realm for a few moments, and to actually see the hosts of angels that were surrounding Elisha with fire chariots and weapons and so forth. It says, and when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said, smite this people I pray thee with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, this is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me and I'll bring you to the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria. Now I don't I've read over this over and over again, and I don't think that he necessarily made them just completely blind to where they couldn't even see, like just completely blind. I think he blinded them as to where they were and to who he was. Basically, kind of like the Bible says that those that are not saved, the God of this world has blinded them. They're blinded as in they can't perceive the truth. So basically God performs this miracle where they get there and they don't recognize Elisha. So Elisha walks up to him and says, you guys are in completely the wrong city. And I'm not, you know, he said, let me take you to the man you're looking for. I know how to find Elisha, let me take you over there. So he guides them to Samaria, which is the capital city of Israel. So he brings the army within Samaria, so now they're surrounded by the armies of Israel in Samaria. He takes them there to Samaria, and then in verse 20 it says, it came to pass when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes and they saw them. Behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. So now they're scared. It says in verse 21, the king of Israel said unto Elisha when he saw him, my father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? So the king of Israel says, what do you want me to do? Just kill them? Thanks for bringing them here. And he answered, thou shall not smite them. Wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master. And he prepared great provision for them, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. Okay, so basically he just says, no, don't kill them. Just feed them and send them home. You know, just basically send them back to the king. And basically when he sent them back to the king, they told the king, hey, we're not going to go to Israel anymore. We're tired of fighting with Israel. We're just going to invade a completely different country because, you know, we don't know what's going on. It's really weird down there. And so the bottom line is here, it doesn't matter. Go to John 15. What you have to realize about your life is that it doesn't matter what kind of opposition you're faced with. Even if it's just a whole army against one man, you're still on the winning side. Whenever you're standing for what's right, whenever you're preaching what's right, or whenever you're doing what's right, you are going to win. It's not a maybe, it's not, well, I hope things will work out. Whether things go good or whether things go bad, it's in God's will for your life when you're doing the right thing. If you're doing what's right, you know, financial catastrophe may happen, physical illness may come to pass, persecution from other people may come, but if you're doing what's right, if you love God, if you're serving Him, you are winning. Even if it seems like you're failing in this life, you are a winner when you're standing for what's right. And it doesn't matter what the odds are, it doesn't matter what happens, God will allow bad things to happen to you if you're living in His will. But the only bad things that can happen to you when you're in God's will are the things that He allows to happen. Because He can do anything, even here, it wasn't God's will for Elisha to be taken down, He wanted Elisha to continue preaching and doing what he was doing, so a nation could send a whole army with horses and chariots and couldn't even defeat that one man. Because God was not allowing them to defeat Him. There were other prophets in the Bible who were slain, who were martyred, who were killed. You look at Stephen, he was stoned. God could have protected Stephen. God could have pulled Stephen out of there just like He protected Paul. I mean, Paul was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, Paul was delivered from all the tribulations, all the beatings, all the stonings, he survived it all. I believe that Paul died of natural causes. From reading 2 Timothy 4, he said, I was delivered from all of man's attacks. And he said, basically, I fought a good fight, I'm ready for my departure, I believe that he died of natural causes after sitting for two years in the prison in Rome and preaching the word of God until his last day, no man forbidding him. And you know what? God can protect, and God can keep us from getting sick. God can keep us from having financial problems, but you know what? That's not always God's will. Because for Stephen, God allowed him to be stoned to death and martyred at a very young age, a man who was doing everything right, a man who was filled with the Spirit, who was preaching right, who was doing great things for God, God allowed him to be killed by his enemies. Why? Why did he do it? He spared Paul, but he allowed Stephen to be killed. He spared the apostle John, and allowed him to live to a very old age. Even though many people tried to kill John, he spared him and allowed him to live to a very old age. Whereas other people like James, John's brother, were killed right away in the book of Acts, very early on, they were killed by the authorities. Why? God has a different plan for every person's life. If you're not serving God, you're not even in that plan. You're just going freestyle, you're on your own, buddy. But if you love God, and if you're serving God, and if you're living your life according to God's word, you are in the steps that God has for you, because the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He didn't say every man's steps are ordered by the Lord, but he said the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And when you're loving God, and serving God, and in His plan, He may allow bad things to happen to you, but you're still triumphant. Look at Stephen. Yes, he was stoned to death, but he was triumphant. He was a hero. He died for the cause of Jesus Christ. He's exalted for all eternity. He's remembered and preached today as a great hero of the faith, and while Stephen was being stoned to death, there was a young man in the audience named Saul who was holding the coats of those who killed Stephen, and that young man watched and saw Stephen as he was dying with his last breath, saying, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Into thy hands I commend my spirit, to die bravely and triumphantly for the cause of Christ. And that young man Saul, who was later known as Paul, spent decades preaching the word of God, spent decades serving God, and you wonder what kind of impact that had on Paul's life. Because the Bible is so clear to tell us that while Stephen was being killed, Saul was right there, the young man Saul, witnessing the whole thing. And that made an impact in his life. And so we look at it as, man, why does that have to happen to Stephen? But then we look at the life of the apostle Paul, who probably preached the gospel to more people than anyone in the history of mankind, you know, you see him going and doing the great works that he did for decades, and you can see that God had a plan. God had a purpose in all of it. And so, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1 and 2, he said, thanks be unto God which always causeeth us to triumph. He said, to some people, we're a saver of life unto life. Some people when we preach the word to them, they love it. It's refreshing. The Bible says, you know, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God. And when we go out and knock a door and preach the gospel, to some, we are bringing the greatest news that they've ever heard. The greatest news. The news that Jesus paid it all, that if they just believe on Jesus Christ, all their sins will be forgiven. They'll live forever in heaven in a perfect place. That is a good message. And to those who believe on Christ, to those who receive the gospel, we are the bearers of the best news in the world. But to others, we're a saver of death. Because we bring to them the message of condemnation, of an eternity in hell that they is an unbelievable thing. To some people, it's a warning. You know, we speak the truth in love, but still it's the truth. And to some people, it's a dire warning. To some people, it's a bad message. But unto those that are saved, it's the power of God. To those that are saved, it's the best news they've ever heard. I mean, the gospel is great news if you believe on Christ, but the gospel is bad news if you don't believe on Christ because it means that you're going to hell. And that's a pretty bad message right there. And so the bottom line is, some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it, but you know what? God always causes us to triumph. Don't leave your life with lightness. Let's go back, let's just close the sermon back where we started in 2 Corinthians 1. I'm not going to preach long this morning because my throat is still inflamed from all the sickness. But back in 2 Corinthians 1 where we started, and I'll be honest with you, I think 2 Corinthians is one of the toughest books in the Bible to understand. You probably picked that up just as I was reading that chapter at the beginning of the sermon. And I'm working on memorizing the book of 2 Corinthians right now. I've got three chapters done, but as I'm memorizing 2 Corinthians, it's a tough book. But that's why you come to church to hear preaching to expound it to you a little bit. Some parts of the Bible are easier than others. And as it says in the book of 2 Peter 3, Peter said that in Paul's epistles there are a lot of things that are difficult to be understood, and that's very true. And this is kind of a tough book, but if you slow down and really break it down, you can see what this is saying in 2 Corinthians 1 where we started. We're going to read it again so you can get the picture here. And remember earlier in the chapter he was talking a lot about trials and tribulations. He said in verse 8, we'll just look at verse 8 only, he said, For we would not rather have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. He says, look, I'm not going to lie to you. We had some serious trouble in Asia. And he says that we were pressed out of measure above strength. Above strength meaning it was more than we had the strength to handle. We were pressed out of measure above strength. He said we were persecuted to an extreme. We were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life. Basically he's saying we didn't even want to live anymore. It was that bad. He said, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves. That doesn't sound good. That we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. He's saying the reason that we went through that was that we might learn not to trust in ourselves. It was to humble us. It was to make us rely on God. The reason that we had the sentence of death in ourselves was that we might not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. Who delivered us from so great a death? And don't deliver. In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Ye also help me together by prayer for us. And he goes on just to talk about how people have been praying for him and he's been going through some really bad times. And he said in verse number 15, and in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before that you might have a second benefit and to pass by you into Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia unto you and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. So these are his plans for traveling, preaching the gospel everywhere he goes. He's a traveling, evangelist, preacher, missionary, whatever you want to call him. He says in verse 17, When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things that I purposed, do I purpose according to the flesh? That with me there should be yea, yea, and nay day? He said I'm not just floating through life lightly here. He said I am purposed to go and to preach God's word. I'm on a mission. And he said because of that, because I'm following God's word here, he said it's not yea, yea, and nay day. Verse 18, But as God is true, our work toward you is not yea and nay. For the Son of God Jesus Christ who is preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay. But in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea. And in him, Amen. The glory of God by us. And then in chapter 2, where we were earlier, I'll read that for you one more time. He said in verse 14, Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the saviour of his knowledge by us in every place. That's an encouraging passage because he's saying God's promises are always yea and amen. God's always going to come through. God's always going to cause us to triumph. God is always going to be on our side. Let the heathen rage. Let people say what they want. And people that hate us or hate you or hate the Bible or hate God's word, they can rage and do what they want. They can send a physical army. They can use the sword of their mouth to try to destroy you or destroy people that you love. Sickness can come. Tribulation can come. The sword can come. Financial distress can come. Famine can come. Starbase can come. But he says if God be for us, who can be against us? God always causes us to triumph. Now you say, Pastor Anderson, do you really think that you're going to knock every door in this city with the gospel? No, I don't. I know we're going to knock every door. Amen. It's not yea and nay. It's not, well, I hope I can give it a shot. I hope so. No. I didn't come here to try. I came to Phoenix, Arizona to do it. And that's the attitude that we need to have as believers because we don't have to wonder, well, I just don't know if I'm up to the challenge. Hey, I know I'm not up to the challenge. I'm not purposing this according to the flesh though. You see, if God is with me, that's where I know I'm going to succeed. That's where I know I'm going to win. That's where I know that God will see us through and answer our prayer and guide us and direct us and help us to win the victory because it's not in the flesh. If it was based upon me, I would say, well, I don't know. I don't think I can do it. But if God's for us who can be against us, He always causes us to triumph. And even if we're a failure in the eyes of the people around us, like Steven, they probably looked at him, well, what an idiot. I bet a lot of people looked at him and said, you know what, he just blew off his mouth a little too much. He should have just toned down his preaching a little bit and he wouldn't end up getting stoned. Because if you remember that sermon that Steven preached, it was really only the last three verses that got him trouble. All the way up through verse 50. So I think the first verse he's not talking. So I think it was like 49 verses of preaching that Steven did. Everybody liked his message for the first 49 verses. Three verses got him killed. The last three things that he said is what got him killed. And a lot of people could have sat back and said, oh man, what an idiot. He could have had a great long ministry if he would have just left off that last point of his sermon. Could have been a happy sermon. Everybody would have liked it. But you know what? I say Steven triumphed. I say that by not compromising, by not backing down from what he believed in, by not watering down the message, that's what made him triumph. And he's a triumphing and will be considered a hero and a victor throughout all of eternity. The failure is the one who may succeed in this life but without Christ. Succeeding in this life without following God's will. Succeeding as a pastor without being filled with the Spirit of God. That's the failure, my friend. Because God will cause us to triumph if we love Him and are filled with the Spirit and don't live according to the flesh but live a life relying on God. You can start a church and pastor a church relying on the flesh and succeed in man's world. Or you can rely upon God. You can live your Christian life following man's advice and man's wisdom. Or you can follow the Word of God. And if you follow the Word of God, it doesn't matter what comes your way, you win every time. It's always yay. It's always yes. It's always amen. It's always it will be so. It will come to pass. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. God, I thank you so much, just as Paul thanked you when he said, thank you for causing us always to triumph. Thank you that we are more than conquerors, dear God. Help us never to try to lean on our own wisdom and our own understanding and think that we know better than your Word. Help us to just follow your Word and live according to your ways and let the chips fall where they may because that's the only way that we know we're always going to be a winner is if we are following your Word. We thank you so much for loving us and dying for our sins, dear God, and giving us salvation. That is the best news that anyone ever heard. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.