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Amen. All right, we're there in 2 Chronicles chapter 18, and before we get into the sermon tonight, let me just start off by saying thank you. Thank you to Pastor Anderson. I know he's not here, but if he watches this or whatever, I always appreciate the invitation, and he's a great man of God, and he's doing a great work with you guys here. And of course, I also want to thank Brother Bruce Mejia, and I don't know if you know, you probably don't know this, but I'm very excited about this church, and you know, California is on my heart and on my mind, and I'm so thankful to hear that there's going to be another church in our state to share with us the burden of California, right? And praise the Lord for that. So thank you, Brother Bruce, for having us here, and also congratulations on your ordination last week, and we're excited about that. Brother Bruce did mention that there's some preaching CDs back there. I'm not sure why he said they were free, but they are back there. I'm just kidding. They're not. We got a good deal on them. No, they're free, and here's the thing. They're free. We want you to take them. Take as many as you want, and maybe for you, or maybe if you know somebody you think they might be a blessing to. Let me just tell you about some of the sermons that are back there that you might be interested. This isn't all of them, but there's several sermons back there, several copies of a sermon called How to Provide for Your Family on One Income. Some of you young guys may want to pick that one up, and it might be a blessing to you. There's a sermon called What the Bible Teaches About the Occult, if you're interested in that. There's a sermon for the ladies. This one's called Satan's Attack on Women, so that might be an interesting one that you'd like. A sermon called The Dangers of Facebook and Social Media. This is the one that got me in a lot of trouble, The Christian Response to the Orlando Murders. I don't know that you can find it on YouTube. I think you can, but if you can't, it's back there in CD. And if you're going to pick that one up, you might as well. There's a sermon here, Quit You Like Men. This is a sermon that was preached when there was like 700 sodomites outside our doors, so you might be interested in that one. Love Hates is from our Red Hot Preaching Conference a couple years ago. And this is a sermon, if you're interested, it's called How Pastor He Met His Wife, and it's a sermon I preached. It was our anniversary fell on a Sunday, and I preached about, I preached through the testimony of how I met my wife, and a lot of people have enjoyed that sermon, and you might like it. So anyway, those are back there, and if you haven't heard them, we want you to take them. If you want to take them for someone, or give them to someone, or randomly hand them out to homeless people, whatever you want, it's fine with us. Just take them, they're back there. And I don't know if you know this, but we're having Brother Bruce come up to preach at the Red Hot Preaching Conference this year, and we're really excited about that. And if you don't mind, just one more quick announcement. Our church is working on a documentary called Psychopath Reprobates, and we're going to be releasing it on Monday, March 12, 9 a.m. on our YouTube page. So if you want to just make a note of that, and be ready for that, we're going to be showing it up in Sacramento that Friday, if you find yourself up there for whatever reason, you know, stop by for that. But on Monday, March 12, we'll be posting it for the public on YouTube, so if that's something you're interested in, you know, just keep that in mind, and be watching for that. Alright, well we're there in 2 Chronicles 18, and I'd like you to look at verse number 1. This is a fairly well-known passage, you may be familiar with it, maybe not. But in verse 1, the Bible says this, now Jehoshaphat, and for those of you that are not familiar with this story, by the way, I love this pulpit, thank you very much. Everywhere I go, the pulpits are like this tall, you know, so thank you. This is a wonderful pulpit. Jehoshaphat, just so you understand, is the good guy, alright? He's a good guy, he does some bad things, and we're going to see it in this passage, but he's a good guy. The Bible says, now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance, and joined affinity, that word affinity means he established a relationship with, he established a friendship with Ahab. And here's where we find Jehoshaphat doing something not that great, because if you've read the Bible, you know that Ahab is not so good of a guy. In verse 2, the Bible says this, and after certain years, he, talking about Jehoshaphat, went down to Ahab, to Samaria, and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. Alright, so you notice there that the Bible says that Ahab persuaded him to go up with him. Notice verse 3 there, and Ahab, king of Israel, said unto Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, will thou go with me to Ramoth Gilead? And he answered and said unto him, now notice what he says, he says, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, and we will be with thee in the war. You know what, before I go any further, let me say this, for those of you that don't know, I have my beautiful wife with me tonight, and my children. I also have my sister, and my brother-in-law, and nieces and nephews here, they're all down here with us, so make sure you greet them and get to know them as well. Notice verse 4, and Jehoshaphat said unto the king, so here you have Ahab, who's the bad guy, right? And he is asking Jehoshaphat, you know, will you go up with me, will you join me, will you go with me to fight this battle? And here's where Jehoshaphat doesn't do that great of a job, he commits himself, he says, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, and we will be with thee in the war. And that's not good, because Ahab's a bad guy. And then in verse 4, he does do a good thing, he says, and Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, inquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord today. And you know, really, verses 3 and verses 4 in a perfect world should have been, you know, vice versa. But unfortunately, this is how a lot of people make decisions. You know, they commit to something, and then they want to ask God, is that the right thing? And here you've got Jehoshaphat, he already said yes, you know, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and we will be with thee in war. And then he says, well, maybe we should ask God about it, you know, and it's like, well, maybe we should have asked God about it before you committed. You know what I mean? And you know, and I'm not preaching on this tonight, but a lot of people, they go off and get married, right? They make a commitment, and then they're like, well, I don't know if this is really what God wanted for me. You know, you need to ask those questions before you commit to doing something. Look at verse 5. Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men. Do you see that? He gathered of prophets four hundred men. But I want you to notice what the Bible does not say. It does not say that they were prophets of the Lord. He gathered prophets, but purposely is left out the fact that they were of the Lord. He gathered four hundred men and said unto them, shall we go up to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? The word forbear means restrain or, you know, keep from going. And they said, go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hands. Notice verse 6. And Jehoshaphat said, so he brings us four hundred prophets, right? He brings the four hundred men, and he asks them this question, and he says, I got the prophet for you, here's the answer to your question. And then in verse 6 the Bible says, but Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet, and I want you to notice the emphasis, of the Lord? And the reason he says that is because these four hundred men, yes they were prophets, but they were not prophets of the Lord. And he says, is there not here a prophet of the Lord? And keep in mind, he's just got done listening to four hundred prophets give them his counsel. And he says, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides? And that word besides is an important word because he's saying, besides these four hundred. Besides these four hundred clowns, right? Besides these four hundred men, is there a prophet of the Lord besides that we may inquire of him? And I want to preach to you tonight on the subject of how to be a prophet of the Lord besides. A prophet of the Lord besides. And you say, well, why would you preach a sermon like that, you know, here? And you know, let me say this, one of the reasons I want to preach this, and I don't think you have a problem with this, of course. But you know, you've got here, in Brother Bruce Mejia, a prophet of the Lord besides. You know, and he just got ordained as an evangelist. And I know the plan is, in a year and a half or so, to ordain him as a pastor. And I want to encourage him in some of these things in regards to what it means to be a prophet of the Lord besides. And I know that he is already, but it's always good for us to hear that again, you know, and kind of just with the theme of his ordination, preach on the subject of what it means to be a prophet of the Lord. But also, not just for him, but for you. Because here's what you need to understand. A prophet of the Lord is always besides. A prophet of the Lord is always different than the rest. And some of you may have been familiar with prophets, but maybe you're not familiar with a prophet of the Lord besides. And if you're going to be part of this ministry, and if you're going to, you know, follow him as he follows Christ, then it might be good for you to know what you're getting yourself into. You know, not only that, but I see a lot of young men here, and I would imagine that some of you one day may want to be a prophet of the Lord besides. And I hope that you will. And I hope that you'll start churches in Los Angeles. And I hope you'll start churches in Bakersfield, and in Fresno, and up and down the West Coast. You know, and I, what I've realized is that if California is going to be reached, it's going to have to be reached by Californians. And that's not to say anything negative against anybody else, but it's just, there's not a lot of people going to move here from Arkansas, if you know what I mean. You know, and we're just going to have to get it done if it's going to get done. And you know, so maybe you're here tonight and you say, well I'd like to be a prophet of the Lord. I want to help you with that. And here's the thing, there's enough of the other guys in Southern California. You know, you've got a lot of famous false preachers in Southern California. I don't know how far they are from you, but you know, I know here in Southern California you've got Rick Warren, right, Saddleback Church. You've got David Jeremiah, Shadow Mountain Community Church. You've got Greg Laurie. I don't think he's too far from here. You know, there's enough of the other guys. We need a prophet of the Lord besides, and I just want to teach you tonight. I want to go through this passage and kind of show you some things in regards to what it means to be a prophet of the Lord besides. If you're able to take notes, I'd like you to write down a couple of statements. Maybe you can write these down on a piece of paper on the margin of your Bible. But point number one tonight, I'd like you to notice, what does it mean to be a prophet of the Lord besides? And if you're going to be a prophet of the Lord besides, or if you're going to follow a prophet of the Lord besides, you need to understand this. The prophet of the Lord besides must stand alone. The prophet of the Lord besides must stand alone. Look down at verse number five there. Second Chronicles 18 and verse five. The Bible says, Therefore the king, that's Ahab, of Israel gathered together of prophets, 400 men. Notice there's a lot of them. There's 400 of them. And said unto them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they, that's the 400, said, Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand. And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? Notice verse seven. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, because he has a very specific question. Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we may inquire of him? And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man. Isn't that interesting? There's 400 of the other guys, but he says, I don't want the other guys. You know, I can, I can, you know, turn on any Christian radio station and listen to the other guys. I can turn on any Christian, you know, TV station and listen to the other guys. I want a prophet of the Lord besides. And Ahab says, well there's one guy. You know, and here's what you need to understand. And people don't like this, and I'm not bashing on other, I know there's Baptist churches in Southern California, and they're doing good works, and they're getting people saved, and they're good men, and they're saved, and they're good. But here's the thing. There's not a lot of men that are a prophet of the Lord besides. Because a lot of even the saved independent fundamental Baptists, they just look and feel like all the other guys. They might believe something different, but what they say is the same as the other guys. And when you're looking for a man, and you say, no, I want one that's different. I want one that's going to tell me something different. I'm looking for a prophet of the Lord besides. It's there, you know, someone might ask, is there a prophet of the Lord besides in Los Angeles? And the answer might be, well, there's one man. You know, some of you might say in Phoenix, Arizona, I know there's lots of good churches in Phoenix, Arizona, but is there a prophet of the Lord besides that will give me counsel, that's not going to lie to me, that's going to tell me the truth? And the answer may be, well, there's just this one guy, just this one guy. Is there a prophet of the Lord besides in Fort Worth? Well, there's one. See, the prophet of the Lord besides must learn and must be okay with this idea that sometimes you have to stand alone. Sometimes you have to be the only one. Keep your place there in 2 Chronicles 18, that's our text for tonight. But go with me to the book of 1 Kings. You're there in 2 Chronicles. If you head backwards, you're going to go past 2 Kings into the book of 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 19. And let me say this, when you stand up for God, you often feel like you are alone. And please understand what I just said. I said you feel like you are alone. Because the truth of the matter is, we're never alone. The truth of the matter is, I mean, the Bible says, the Bible says God said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And we're never truly alone. And even when we've got friends and even when you've got, you know, Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe that's supporting you. And I hope you know, you've got a friend in Sacramento that is praying for you. And we want to help you and we want to support you in any way that we can, you know, and you've got friends everywhere. Sometimes when you're in the midst of the battle, you may feel alone. And you know, Satan does a good job at making us feel like we're all alone. 1 Kings 19. And it happens to the best of men. In 1 Kings 19, you've got the famous story of one of the greatest men in the Bible, the prophet Elijah. Now I want you to notice how Elijah fell into this trap. 1 Kings 19, 1, the Bible says this, And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent the messenger unto Elijah and said, So let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. Look at verse 3. And when he saw this, he, Elijah, keep in mind, this is a man that just called down fire from heaven. This is a man that just got done killing 400 prophets of Baal. This is a great man of God and the Bible says that he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba which belongeth to Judah and left his servant there. Look at verse 9. Skip down to verse 9 just for sake of time. And he came hither unto a cave and lodged there and behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said unto him, What doest thou hear, Elijah? Isn't it interesting that God sometimes asks for that question? You know, you know what happens when I've noticed, I've been pastoring now for over seven years, seven and a half years, something like that. And what I've noticed is that sometimes when people get backslidden, what they do is they detach. You know, they don't go to church at the time that it's most important for them to go to church. They don't show up for soul winning at the time when it's most important for them to show up to soul winning. They don't, you know, they're not where they should be and here Elijah is all alone by himself. He sends off his servant and God asks this question, What doest thou hear, Elijah? You know, just remember that if you ever get backslidden and Lord willing you never do and you decide, you know, I don't know that I'm going to go to church today. I know it's Sunday morning but I think I'm just going to stay home today. You know, just remember that God is asking this question, What doest thou hear? What are you doing? Look at verse 10. And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant and thrown down thine altars and slain thine prophets with the sword. And I, notice what he said, and I even I only am left and they seek to take, and they seek my life to take it away. You notice the response you get from God in verse 18. He says yet, 1 Kings 19, 18, 1 Kings 19, 18, yet, he says, I have left me seven thousand in Israel. All the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which has not kissed him. And here's what I want you to understand. Satan does a good job at making us feel alone but you're never alone because God is always with you. And here's what you need to understand. There's always seven thousand who have not bowed their knee to Baal. But here's what you need to understand. Even when you feel alone, Brother Bruce, even when you feel alone, and those of you in this church, there might come times when things get hard, when persecution comes, when people start turning on you, or people start, you know, departing from you in company, and you might start thinking like, well we're the only ones, I mean, I feel like we're the only ones that preach like this, or we're the only ones that believe certain things, or we're the only ones that are standing there. Listen to me. To be a prophet of the Lord besides, you have to be okay with standing alone. You have to be okay with saying, when they say to you, well you're the only one that believes that about the reprobates. And remember, that's not true. Well you're the only one that believes, you know, that doesn't believe the pre-trib rapture. That's not true. Well you're the only one that hates the homos. I know that leaves four, no, that's not true. Right? You know, we're not alone, but sometimes they make you feel like you're the only one. They say, here are the 400. Here are the 400. I remember when we had our protest up in, well we didn't have our protest, we didn't plan a protest, but when there was a protest that took place at our church, you know, I got a phone call from one of the pastors in our area, the pastor's a pretty big church in our area, and he said, hey, the pastors in Sacramento want to have a meeting about what's going on in the media and we'd like you to attend. And I thought, oh, okay, and he told me how many, he said, you know, there's going to be 400 prophets of Baal there, and I'm like, oh really, okay, you know, and you need a prophet of the Lord besides, right? And they said, yeah, you know, we're going to give some guys time to speak, you know, whatever, and I said, so when do I get to speak? Well, we were just going to have you, you know, attend but not speak. I'm like, so you want me to show up to your meeting and hear you? I'm like, I don't know about that. You know, I don't think I can fit that into my schedule. But here's the point they're making. You know what they wanted is they wanted me to show up and see 400 guys all tell me you're wrong. And you know what Satan wanted was for me to feel like I was all alone, and the truth is I wasn't. We had friends that were standing with us. We had friends all over the country and all over the world that were standing with us. But sometimes, sometimes you may feel alone. And if you're going to be a prophet of the Lord besides, you're going to have to learn to stand alone. And you're going to have to say, look, I'm not the only one. There's 7,000, but even if I was, what's right is right. And I'm going to stand on the Word of God. Go back to 2 Chronicles 18. Not only do we see this, what does it mean to be a prophet of the Lord besides? He must stand alone, number one. But number two, the prophet of the Lord besides must not only stand alone, the prophet of the Lord besides must speak the truth. There are preachers who speak the truth, and those preachers are rare. And you say, well, what does it mean? How do I know when there is a preacher who speaks the truth? Basically, here's what you need to understand. A preacher who speaks the truth cannot preach positive only. When you've got a guy like Joe Lowstein, who every sermon is just positive only, positive, good, nothing bad, everything's great. Just realize this, when you get guys that stand up and everything's good, everything's great, Billy Graham just died, and Billy Graham is burning in hell. I don't even know that. But Billy Graham just died, and Billy Graham is just loved by the world. But you know why? Because he's just positive. I mean, you're a Muslim, you can go to heaven. Muslims go to heaven, Hindus go to heaven. You don't even know the name of Jesus go to heaven. According to Billy Graham, which the Bible says there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. But why do people love Billy Graham? Because there's nothing negative, nothing negative ever came out of him. Why do they like Joe Lowstein? Because nothing negative comes out of him. Same reason they like Oprah Winfrey. Same reason they like anybody else. Barack Obama, why? Because everything they say affirms people, they love it, they enjoy it when they speak the truth. But look, because they don't speak the truth. But if you're going to be a prophet of the Lord, besides, you're going to have to speak the truth. And what that means is that you cannot preach positive only. 2 Chronicles 18, look at verse 7. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for He's saying, here's why, because, notice, he never prophesied good unto me. He says, he's never positive. He's never nice. He's always mean. Every time I show up to church, he says something I don't like. No, he says he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil. The same as Micaiah, the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. Look at verse 8. And the king of Israel called for one of his officers and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah, the son of Imlah, and the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat either of them on his throne, clothed in their robes, and they sat in a void place at the entering end of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets, these are the bad guys, prophesied before them. And Zedekiah, the son of Canaaniah, had made him horns of iron. Okay, get this picture. You got 400 prophets prophesying to these two kings. And this guy, Zedekiah, made him horns of iron. Okay, so he makes like a helmet with these horns on it, of iron, and said, Thus saith the Lord, with these thou shalt push Syria until they be consumed. So get this picture. This guy makes these horns, puts it on his head. He's up on the stage, right? He's preaching a sermon, and he's going around like this. And he's saying, King, this is what you're going to do. And he starts, you know, maybe he starts ramming some of the other prophets. You're going to push them aside. And notice, notice what the other guys say. Look at verse 11. And all the prophets prophesied so. They said, Yeah. Say, you say, What is this? This is a charismatic Pentecostal service. That's what it is. This is just a tongue speaking, you know, rolling around service, saying, Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hands of the king. Verse 12, And the messengers that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophet. Notice, the guy that goes to get Micaiah. He says, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent. He says, They're all in agreement. This is the ecumenical movement. They're all together. They're all agreeing. They're all saying the same thing. And they're all saying something good. He said, Let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good. You know what he's telling? He said, You need to preach a positive message. You need to say something nice. Look at verse 13. And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak. See, a prophet or Lord besides, you know what he says? He says, I'm going to preach what God says. Thus saith the Lord. And if it's good, great. And if it's not, it's the word of the Lord. It's the word of God. Keep your place there in 2 Chronicles 18. Go with me to the book of 2 Timothy. In the New Testament, you've got all those T books clustered together. 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Titus. Find 2 Timothy, chapter number 4. And do me a favor. When you get there, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something. Because we're going to leave it. And we're going to come back to 2 Timothy 4. So I'd like you to get there quickly if you can. 2 Timothy, chapter 4. Here's what he says. He says, Look, I'm going to preach whatever God tells me to preach. And if it's positive, then great. And if it's not, then I'm just going to preach what God told me to preach. 2 Timothy, chapter 4. Notice verse 2. 2 Timothy, chapter 4 and verse 2. Notice what Paul tells Timothy under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He says, Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. He says, whether it's popular or not. Notice what he says, reprove. Now what does reprove mean? Reprove means to give a formal expression of disapproval. It means to reprimand. It is a negative word. He says, Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. He says, reprove. He says, be negative. He says, tell people that you disapprove. Tell them that they're doing, reprimand them when they're doing something wrong. Then he says this, rebuke. What does rebuke mean? That's to express sharp disapproval or criticism of someone. That's when, you know, you try to reprimand them and when they keep doing, then you rebuke them. But notice, reprove is negative, rebuke is negative. Then he says this, exhort. Now what does exhort mean? Exhort means to encourage or to urge someone to do something. That's positive with all on suffering and doctrine. And notice what he says. He says, Preach the word. And then he's telling them, if you do preach the word, guess what you're going to preach? You're going to preach things that are negative. Because you cannot, look, you cannot be a positive only preacher and preach the truth. Because sometimes the truth is not positive. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, is what the Bible says. And you know, as a prophet of the Lord besides, and for those of you that come to a church of a prophet of the Lord besides, just don't get upset when Brother Bruce, you know, steps on your toes. Go back to 2 Chronicles 18. Go back to 2 Chronicles 18. And let me just get, let me just get on you guys for a little bit, just for a second, alright? Because you know, here's what I've learned about churches like our church up in Sacramento, Verity Baptist Church, and churches like this one I'm sure, although I don't know you, here's what I know, you know? We like it, we like it when Brother Bruce gets up here, when Pastor Anderson gets up here, when they rattle their cage, and they're just preaching about the sodomites, and they're preaching about abortion, and they're preaching about drunkenness and fornication, and we just love that, right? I mean, we just think that's awesome, and praise the Lord, and hallelujah. But you know, here's the thing, you know why we like it so much? Because that's not us. But every once in a while, you know what, every once in a while, Brother Mejia is going to get up here, and he's not going to preach against the sodomites, but he might preach against pride. Or he might preach against having a critical spirit. He might preach against gossip. And he might preach against, you know, something that it actually steps on your toes a little bit. And all of a sudden, I mean, I liked it when he was getting on the homos. I don't know what this whole criticism thing's about. But here's all I'm telling you is, look, just realize, when the sermon's not going your way, hey, at least praise the Lord that you've got a prophet or the Lord besides. Because the prophet or the Lord besides is not always going to preach something that you like. The prophet or the Lord besides is not always going to preach something that you enjoy, but he's always going to preach something that you need. 2 Chronicles 18, look at verse 7. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord. There's one more thing you need to understand about being a prophet or the Lord besides. If you're going to be a prophet or the Lord besides, you've got to preach the truth, which means you can't preach positive only. It means you have to preach negative sometimes. And if you do that, if you do that, just realize this, that people are going to hate you. I mean, look at verse 7. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord. Don't miss this, but I hate him. I hate him, for he never prophesied good unto me. Micaiah was no Billy Graham. Micaiah was no Rick Warren. Micaiah was no Joel Osteen. They said, I hate him. And look, just understand this. If you're going to be a prophet or the Lord besides, if you're going to follow a prophet or the Lord besides, you need to be okay with people hating you. You need to just be okay with it. You know, a couple of Saturdays ago, this just happened. Not this last Saturday, but the Saturday before that. You know, we went out soul winning. We have soul winning on Saturday morning and we went out soul winning and we were done with soul winning and we were heading back home and I, you know, I had my wife and my kids with me and I mentioned to my wife that they just opened this little Mexican restaurant on Northgate Boulevard, you know, on our way home. They just opened it and it's a new restaurant. I said, hey, why don't we try, you know, let's just try it and see if we like it or whatever. So we stopped in to this little restaurant. Just a little small building, you know, and it was pretty full, you know. There was a lot of people there. So I thought, okay, it's going to be good, you know, a lot of people here. You can hear people talking and having a good time or whatever. And we went up and we ordered our food. They said they'll bring it to our table. We sat down. When we sat down, the building was so small that we had a table and my whole family was sitting there and literally it was probably about a gap like this big between us and the next table. And next to us was another family, a man and a woman and children and they were there for a while. And then on the other side there was a gap about this and there was just this dike, you know, on this side. And my wife kind of says like, oh man, look at this, you know, this woman with the short hair and she just looked like a lesbo, right. And she's just right next to us, you know. Anyway, we're just talking, you know, whatever. I took the kids to the restroom. We were there for a while. And they started bringing our food out. And as the server starts bringing our food out, she's taking, getting the food for the children and she's bringing out the food for my wife and I. And this family, I see them kind of get up and go. And this guy on this side, you know, gets his entire family out. This is a small restaurant. I could see them as they go out, you know, through the windows. He gets his whole family in the car and he gets his wife in the car and he comes back into the restaurant. He opens the door and he has one foot inside the door and one foot outside the door. And he's maybe, I don't know, 10 feet from me. And he says, hey you. And I'm just, you know, talking to my family. I kind of look up at him. I was a little surprised. And he's like, you're lucky that you're with your family or else I would, you know, beat the, you know, whatever. And he starts saying all these things. And at first I was a little, I was taken back, you know. Because it's kind of like a second to have it all click, you know. And I looked at him and I just said, get out of here you fag hag. Now here's the thing. I'm not even sure what a fag hag is. I just, I just heard Pastor Anderson say it and I figured it'd be good, you know. So I'm like, get out of here you fag hag. And my wife's looking at this lesbian, you know, like over here. And I'm like, you faggot lover. I don't take back anything. And he's yelling at me for a while or whatever. And finally he leaves. And, you know, the lady gets done giving us our food and she puts the food in front of me. And the guy literally walks out the door. She puts the food in front of me and I just look at my family and say, let's pray. And, you know, and we prayed for our meal. And then we ate in silence and the entire restaurant was just silent. Like the whole time. Everybody was talking at one point and then everybody's just quiet. Nobody says anything. We're just eating our food. You know, the guy's yelling at me and he's like, now that I know you're out of town or you're back in town. And I'm like, I never left town, you know. But then later he's like, I know where you live. And I'm thinking to myself, I thought you thought I left town. I mean, you know where I live, you know, whatever. But here's the point that I'm making is if you want to be a powerful Lord besides, you got to be okay with people hating you. If you never want to get yelled at. If you never want to have somebody recognize you and yell at you and tell you stuff or whatever, you know. And look, you just got to start learning these words, fag hag. I'm not sure what that means. I don't even want to look it up, you know, because I'm just going to trust Pastor Anderson on that one. And, you know, and I don't know, maybe I should have said something there. But here's the point. People are going to hate you. If you preach the truth, people are going to hate you. Because people hate the truth. And if you're going to be a proper Lord besides, and here we have the king of Israel saying, but I hate him. I hate him. For he prophesied, he never prophesied good unto me. Look at verse 14. I want you to notice the audience for the preachers of lies. And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gili to battle or shall I forbear? And he said, now here's what's interesting. He says, go ye up and prosper and they shall be delivered into your hands. And the king said unto him, how many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth? Here's what's interesting. Micaiah said the exact same thing that the 400 said. Did he not? He asked him the same question. He got the same answer. And he says, why don't you tell me the truth? So here's what we know about Ahab. He knew the other guys were lying. He knew the other guys were lying. But he didn't care. He said, that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord. And keep your place there. Go back to 2 Timothy 4. Here's what I want you to notice. Here's what I want you to understand. There are people in our society, they want to be lied to. Ahab wanted to be lied to. Ahab asked to question the prophets. They say, go. He's like, great. I love these guys. Then Micaiah shows up. He asks him the same question. Micaiah says, go. And he says, why are you lying? Why don't you tell me the truth? Because he knew that the whole thing was a lie. He knew all. He said, I don't understand this. I don't get it. 2 Timothy 4. Look at verse 3. It'll explain to you the passage. 2 Timothy 4, 3. This is talking about the end times but it's true about Ahab. For the times will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the, notice the word, truth. And shall be turned unto fables. You say, why do people go, why do thousands of people go to Rick Warren's church? You know, because they want to be lied to, that's why. Those people, look, I think most people realize what God says about the homos. Most people realize what God thinks about the worldly culture and these people go to these churches because they want to be lied to. They want a preacher to lie to them. The Bible says that they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. You know what these guys, these people go to Rick Warren's church. They go to David Jeremiah's church. They go to Joel Osteen's church. They go to T.D. Jake's church. And they sit there and they get lied to and they like it. And they heap to themselves preachers having itching ears. You say, what is that like? That's like if you've ever had a dog. You ever had a dog? What do dogs like? They like it when you scratch their ears. I saw a lot of people go to church. They go over to Saddleback Church and Rick Warren starts itching their ears and like ha, ha, ha. Do it again. Say it again. Joel Osteen stands up and says, you're awesome, you're great. I know you're a drunkard and a drug addict and living in fornication. You're not even saved but God's going to prosper you and make you rich. And they're like, say it again. They want to be lied to. They don't want the truth. Ahab knew that the 400 prophets were lying. But you know there is a culture that has turned away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Keep your place there in 2 Timothy. Go back to 2 Chronicles 18. 2 Chronicles 18. Look at verse 18. And he said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. So he says, why are you lying to me? And then the story kind of takes this twist and it's real interesting but I want to explain it to you. And he said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. He said, you want to know why I lied to you right now and I told you to go do something that is not what you should have done? He said, I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who shall entice Ahab king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gili? And one spake saying, after this matter, and another saying, after that matter, then there came out a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith? And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord said, thou shalt entice him and thou shalt also prevail, go out and do even so. Look at verse 22. Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets. They're not the Lord's prophets, they're thy prophets, they're Ahab's prophets. And the Lord hath spoken evil against thee. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, you're there in 2 Timothy, just head backwards past 1 Timothy into 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. You say, what's going on here? You know, is God lying to them? Why is God sending a lying spirit? And here's what you need to understand, Ahab wanted to be lied to. Ahab wanted to have somebody tell him, he wasn't interested in the truth, he was interested in having somebody affirm what he wanted to do anyway. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, look at verse 9. 2 Thessalonians 2, notice what the Bible says, even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and, notice this word, lying wonders, and with all deceivableness, you see that word, deceivableness, of unrighteousness and them that perish because they received, notice, not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but at pleasure and unrighteousness. You know, here's the truth and here's what you need to understand and whether we understand this or comprehend this about God or not, we just need to understand this is the reality. When we don't love the truth and we don't desire the truth, if you want to get, be lied to, God will allow you to be lied to. You want to be lied to? You know, and be careful about coming to your prophet of the Lord besides. You know, often times people will come to me and they come to me and they're like, ah, you know, I'm going to do this. And they just tell me, you know, I'm going to marry this person or I'm going to, you know, take this job or I'm going to move over here or whatever. And something, and I think about it, are you asking me or are you telling me? Because sometimes people want you to affirm their decisions. It's like, look, I'm sorry, no, I don't care how good the job is, I'm never going to advise you to move somewhere where there is no church. I'm not talking about one of our churches, I'm just talking about a church in general. There's no independent Baptist church there. You know, but people come to you and they just want you and you say, what do you say? You know, I just don't answer their question. I'm like, okay, I'm going to, you know, I know, I know that you preach that I shouldn't marry an unbeliever, but I'm just telling you that I'm going to marry this unbeliever. What do you think about that? Oh, and she's divorced by the way. What do you think about that? Okay. Are you lying to them? I don't know, maybe a lying spirit from the Lord. I don't tell them yes or no, I just like, well, if that's what you're going to do, you know where I stand on that. Look, be careful about going to your prophet of the Lord besides and trying to get him to approve your sin. Trying to get him to affirm your sin, because here's what I know about God, if you want to be lied to, he'll let you get lied to. If you don't want the truth, make sure you always desire the truth. Make sure you always want the truth. Make sure you always want to hear the truth. See, the prophet of the Lord besides must, number one, stand alone. Number two, speak the truth. Number three, the prophet of the Lord besides must suffer persecution. Notice verse 23, 2 Chronicles 18, 23, then Tzedekiah the son of Keneah came near and smote Micaiah upon the cheek and said, which way went the spirit of the Lord for me to speak unto thee? And he's of course being sarcastic and Micaiah said, behold, thou shall see on the day when thou shall go in into an inner chamber to hide thyself. Then the king of Israel said, take ye Micaiah, notice, and carry him back to Ammon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son and say, thus saith the king, put this fellow in the prison and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I return in peace. I'm trying to tell you, when you preach the truth, when you preach the truth, don't expect them to, you know, buy you a jet. So I know this preacher, you know, Kenneth Copeland, his truth bought him a jet. Yeah, because he's a liar. That's why. Because he makes him feel good. That's why. Just realize that with the truth comes persecution. With the truth comes, are you there in 2 Timothy? Do you keep your place in 2 Timothy? Look in 2 Timothy chapter 3. I know you know this verse, but let's look at it together. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 12, 2 Timothy 3, 12 says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Look if you live godly in Christ Jesus, if you, and who's Christ Jesus? He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. When you follow the truth, when you love the truth, when you pursue the truth, just realize that with that comes persecution. You may end up in prison. You may end up in prison and being fed with bread of affliction. Is that not what happened to Paul? Is that not what happened to Silas? Is that not what happened to men of God that stood up for the truth? Go back to 2 Chronicles 18. 2 Chronicles 18. I said number one, the prophet of the Lord must stand alone. And number two, the prophet of the Lord must speak the truth. And number three, the prophet of the Lord must suffer persecution. And listen, look, there may come a day, there may come a day when this church suffers some persecution. Alright? When that happens, don't bail on your prophet of the Lord. Amen. Don't, that's not, that's not time to quit. You know, and I don't know, I don't know about that. I don't know if that's where, what we should be doing and I don't know if that's where we should be going. Look, when persecution comes, you just stick with it. You just stay with it. If they put you in prison, rejoice! You know, if they, if they put you in prison, if they afflict you, if you suffer, hey, great is your reward in heaven. And just rejoice in the fact that you were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. But number four, I'd like you to notice, the prophet of the Lord besides must be sure of God's Word. Because Micaiah just got thrown in prison. He just got told, he just got told, we're going to put you in prison. You're going to prison because you didn't preach, because I didn't like your sermon, Micaiah. We told you to prophesy positive things and nice things and you told me what I don't want to hear and we're going to throw you in prison. Now you know what most of us would be doing right now? What are you saying? Can I get a second chance? Let me try it again. Let me try it again. I got a different sermon this time. Notice what Micaiah says, verse 26. And say, thus ate the king, put this fellow in the prison and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I return, until I return in peace. This is the King A. I'm saying, until I return in peace. I love verse 27 because he said, put him in prison until I return. And Micaiah said, if thou certainly return. He said, hey, put him in prison until I return. And Micaiah says, if you return, if thou certainly return in peace. Notice what he said, if thou certainly return in peace, then hath not the Lord spoken by me. And he said, hearken all ye people. See the powerful Lord besides us to be sure of God's word. When persecution comes, when they throw you in prison, you don't need to be trying to figure out, maybe I'm wrong about that. You know, when that whole Orlando thing happened, I believe that the best thing that the Lord allowed me to do was not to preach the sermon. It was to stand up after I preached the sermon and say, you know what? We don't take anything back. We don't regret anything we say. I think that was probably the most, you know, helpful thing to believers like us. You know, when Pastor Anderson had persecution and he stands up and says, I don't take anything back, I believe what I said because it's the word of God. And if it's in season or out of season, it is God's word. It is what we say. And look, a prophet of the Lord besides needs to study and understand what the Bible says and know what they believe before they say it. And then when they say it, let the chips lie where they may. When they say it, just say, you know what? You got to throw me in prison, do what you got to do. You know, people quit the church, do what you got to do. They want to sue you, do what you got to do. We're going to put you in prison, Micaiah, until I return. He says, no, no, no, if thou return. If thou return. Because see, Micaiah was sure about the word of God. Micaiah was sure. See, the Bible says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And listen to me. You guys that want to go in ministry and you want to be a prophet of the Lord besides, you know, when you're about a month out of getting your ordination, when you're getting ready to start that church, that's not when you start wondering, you know, I wonder, I wonder what the Bible really does teach the Trinity. You need to settle that thing well before that. You understand what I just said? You know, when the persecution comes and when you start getting the angry emails and when somebody starts yelling at you, you know, in the restaurant, that's not when you, man, what do I think about those sodomites? I'm not sure. No, you know what? You need to make sure you know what the Bible says. You need to make sure you know where you stand. You need to make sure you know what the word of God says because the prophet of the Lord says, look, I didn't change my mind. You threatened me with prison. I still believe what I believe. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. And we need to be men and women of God that stand behind the prophet of the Lord besides. And some of you need to be men that are a prophet of the Lord besides. And I know that you've got a prophet of the Lord besides, but as you follow your prophet of the Lord besides, as you prepare to become a prophet of the Lord besides, as you faithfully serve alongside a prophet of the Lord besides, just realize, just realize when these things happen. Don't let them take you by surprise. You say, man, I'm starting to feel kind of alone in this thing. That's normal because the prophet of the Lord besides must stand alone sometimes. And even though he's never really alone, sometimes you feel like you're alone. And when you say, wait, my prophet of the Lord besides, man, I really like that day of the dead thing. You know, I never did that. I was never into that. But then he brings out the documentary that's about your holiday, you know, or whatever. He brings out the documentary that's about your sin, and you're like, well, I don't know about this. And you know what? He just realized that your prophet of the Lord besides, he needs to speak the truth. Whether it's positive or negative, wherever it lies, however it lands, his job is to preach the Word. Realize that you might suffer persecution because of following a prophet of the Lord besides. And just realize this, and we all need to understand this. We must study God's Word. Doesn't the Bible say study to show thyself approved unto God? A workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We need to study the Bible, search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so, figure out where we stand. What do I believe about the pre-tribulation rapture? What do I believe about dispensationalism? What do I believe about the King James Bible? What do I believe about soul winning? What do I believe about reprobates? What do I believe about the Jews? You know, whatever the issue is, what do I believe about it? And when you figure out where you stand, just stand there. Just stand there. Something I appreciate about Brother Bruce, I was there at the conference when he gave his testimony. You know, I appreciate, I don't know if people caught this, what I appreciate about his testimony is that he said, he got the DVD after tribulation, he got it in the mail, and he was like, wow, these are cool graphics, right? And put that thing in. But then he said, wow, that's really interesting, that's good. But he said, I'm not going to just believe it because this DVD told me. And he went and studied it. And he went and searched the scriptures. You know, and that's how we need to be. We need to say, you know, praise the Lord for DVDs and documentaries that teach us the truth, but then you know, you take that and then you search the scriptures daily whether those things are so. And when you've tried the spirits, when you find it to be true, then just stand there. And you say, well, yeah, but my family, just stand there. But my children are saying, no, you just stand there, just stand there. But my coworkers, you know, he saw them on the news. Just stand. Just stand with the man of God and with the word of God. Because that's what it means to have a prophet of the Lord besides. He's not like the rest. He's different. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for these stories where we can learn and see applications and ... Father, I thank you for this church. And I'm so excited for this church plant here, Lord, and I ... it's already, it's already so successful. But I'm excited about what the future holds. And Lord, I pray that you would bless Brother Bruce Mejia. I pray that you'd bless his wife and his children. It's difficult to be in ministry. Attacks come from within and without. Lord, I pray that you'd bless these dear people, that they would get committed to this place and they would get committed to their prophet of the Lord and they would understand when the persecution comes and understand when they feel alone and understand when he speaks the truth and understand when these things happen, Lord. Lord, I pray you'd bless this location. I pray that this would be a place that would continue to grow, not only numerically but spiritually, that people would get their hearts right, that they would get saved here, they get baptized, they get discipled. Lord, I pray that you'd bless everything that's going on in this ministry. And Lord, we'll give you the glory for it. And Lord, I pray that you would use this church to train and prepare other prophets of the Lord beside to do the same thing, to do what's being done here all over this state, all over this country, all over this world. We love you, Father. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.