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

Oh there's sunshine, blessed sunshine When the peaceful happy moments roll When Jesus shows his smiling face There is sunshine in the soul You basically have the ten plagues of Egypt and you have Moses coming down to lead the children of Israel out of the promised land and we're kind of jumping in the middle of the story when we get to Exodus chapter 8 we've already had the first four plagues. We had the first plague in chapter 7 that was the water being turned into blood. In chapters 8 we read there the frogs and the lice and the swarm of flies and what happens in verse number 25 is that Pharaoh actually begins to attempt to make the first of several deals with Moses. He actually approaches Moses and he tries to make a deal with him because he realizes things aren't going well and he wants to try to keep the children of Israel in Egypt. He wants to keep them in bondage and really what he's trying to do is he's trying to cause them to not be able to worship the Lord and to not be able to serve the Lord in the proper way or in the most effective way. What I want you to understand is in the Bible the nation of Egypt often is a picture of the world and Pharaoh is a picture or a representation of Satan himself. In fact the Bible tells that Pharaoh was a reprobate. His heart had been hardened and that God rose him up to use him as an example and he's the leader of Egypt in the same way that today Satan and the devil, the Bible tells us that the devil is the god of this world. The Bible tells us that he's the prince and the power of the air and tonight what I want to do is just kind of help you see as we go through this story a little bit and we see the deals that Pharaoh attempts to make with Moses. We get a picture here of the same type of deals that Satan and the devil wants to make with you and wants to make with me and wants to make with Steadfast Baptist Church and wants to make with Verity Baptist Church and here's why, if you're going to worship God, if you're going to serve the Lord, he wants to try to make you as ineffective as possible and we're going to look at that tonight and I want you to just kind of see that correlation so I'm preaching on the subject tonight of a deal with the devil. Now the first deal that we see Pharaoh try to make with Moses is found there in verse number 25. I'd like you to notice what the Bible says, Exodus chapter number 8 and verse number 25. The Bible says this, and Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, notice what he says, he says, go ye, sacrifice to your God. He says, look, if you're going to go and sacrifice, if you're going to go and serve, if you're going to go and be part of that and worship the Lord, he says, go ahead. He said, I give you permission and by the way, Satan doesn't have a problem with religious people. He doesn't have a problem with church-going people. He does have a problem with religious people that are effective, that are making a difference, that are taking a stand and if you notice, the first deal he makes, he says, go ye, sacrifice to your God, but then he says this, in the land. And here's what he says, he says, I don't have a problem with you worshiping God, I don't have a problem with you serving God, just, he says, can we make this deal? Why don't you do it from right here? Why don't you do it from the land of Egypt? He says, why don't you do it? Here's the first deal, he says, worship God, but don't separate yourself. He says, worship God, but don't leave Egypt. He says, worship God, but don't leave the world. He says, worship God, but do it from right here. And here's what you need to understand, the Christian movement in the United States of America has bought into this idea hook, line and sinker. I mean, when you think of the Bill Hybels, when you think of the Rick Warrens, when you think of the Joel Osteens, when you think of the Andy Stanleys, when you think of the real famous, well-known preachers today, this is their mentality. They say, hey, we can worship God, we can serve God, we can do things for God, but we don't have to leave Egypt to do it. We can do it from right here. We can do it from the world. And here's what you need to understand. Serving God from Egypt doesn't work. There's a couple of reasons why it doesn't work. The first one, Moses actually says to us, look at verse 26 there. He says, and Moses said, it is not meat. You see the word meat there. The word meat means suitable, fitting, or proper. He says, it is not meat so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? Keep your place there in Exodus, chapter number eight, that's going to be our text for tonight. Go with me to the book of 2 Corinthians. In the New Testament, you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians. When you get to 2 Corinthians, do me a favor and put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in 2 Corinthians because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. And we're going to come back to it at the end of the sermon, all right? So you'll know we're almost done when we get back to 2 Corinthians. But look at 2 Corinthians, chapter six, and look at verse number 14. You know the passage, well-known passage, but let's read it together. In 2 Corinthians, chapter six and verse 14, the Bible says this, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Notice what it says, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what conquered hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Now here's the problem. Here's the problem of trying to worship God from the world. Notice he says, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. Don't miss this. You ought to underline this in your Bible. If you don't mind writing in your Bible, underline these words. The Bible says, God says, and I will receive you. See God only accepts that which is holy and that which is separated, that which is come out. He says, wherefore come out from among them and be separate and he says, that's how I'll accept you. The Bible says in the book of Romans, Romans chapter 12 and verse 1, it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. See the only thing that's acceptable to God is holiness. The only thing that's acceptable to God is separation. He says, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be he transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. See, here's what Satan knows. Here's what Pharaoh knew. Here's what the devil knows, that God will not accept Christianity from the world. That God will not accept worldly, unholy, unseparated Christianity. So you know what he says? He says, go ahead and worship God, but do it from Egypt. Go ahead and worship God, but do it from the world. You know what we've got today? All over America, in Texas, in California, in Arizona, we've got a whole lot of churches that are singing so-called Christian songs, but you know what, it's just Egypt's music. You know, we've got so-called preachers, but they just sound like the motivational speakers from Egypt. They turned in the word of God, literally, for the Egyptian manuscripts. They turned in the word of God, literally, for the words and the versions of the Bible, you know. And we've got a whole lot of them that say, well, we're worshiping God, we're doing great things, we've got a big crowd, but God doesn't accept it because God only accepts holiness. And the devil says, hey, let me make a deal with you. Go ahead, be religious, go to church. I don't mind, I mean, do what you gotta do, but do it here in Egypt. Don't leave the world. He says, stay with us. See, serving God and trying to serve God from the world is unacceptable to God, but here's the other problem. Serving God from the world is not only unacceptable, it's ineffective. The Bible says, and if some have compassion, making a difference. And you know what, in order to make a difference, you have to be different. And you know, you ought to understand why, you can leave your place there in 2 Corinthians, go back towards Exodus, but find the book of Leviticus. You're there in Exodus, chapter 8, the next book over is Leviticus. And here's what you need to understand. There are churches, as my wife and I were driving out to church tonight, I mean, we must have driven by 100 churches, and they were all, you know, by the world standards, they were all big, and fancy, and nice. And you would think, good night with all these churches everywhere, America must be in revival. I mean, you would think, good night with all these churches everywhere, we must be just calling down the fire of God, I mean, the Holy Spirit must be doing a great work. But you know what? Most of Christianity today in the United States of America is ineffective, and it's not making a difference because it's not different, because it's exactly what the world offers. And if you win them with what the world has to offer, you're not going to make a difference. And today, you know, today we're watching our society get worse and worse. And today you got Christians looking, you know, they get frustrated about the transgender movement, the homosexual movement, the abortions, and this and that, and they say, I can't believe this is happening. I'm not talking about the, I'm talking about independent front row Baptists, too, I can't believe this is happening. But yet you go to the churches, and they got Egypt's music, you go to the churches, they've got Egypt's philosophies, you go to the churches, they gave up on saltwetting, they're using Egypt's methods, and they say, well, why aren't we making a difference, maybe because you're not different. Yeah, maybe because there's nothing different about you, and God will not accept it and it's ineffective. That's right. It doesn't work. See, what God wants is for a group of people to actually take a stand, to actually draw a line in the sand and say, here's where we stand, are you there in Leviticus? Look at Leviticus chapter 10 and verse number 10, Leviticus chapter 10 and verse number 10. Notice what the Bible says, Leviticus 10, 10. And that you may put difference, you see that word there? Between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. See, God wants a people, and here he's talking to the priests, the spiritual leaders of that day, and he's saying, I want you to make a difference between unholy and holy, between clean and unclean. He said, I want you to stand up and teach, he said that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes, and you know what, today we live in a very confused society. I mean, maybe this is California, I don't know, but today, I mean, people are so confused, they can't even tell the difference between a man and a woman. I mean, they don't even know which restroom they're supposed to be using. I mean, they can't figure out that a child in the womb is a living soul, is a person, and it's murder to kill them. You know, we live in a really confused, but here's what's interesting, we get up, you know, men like Pastor Romero, and men like Pastor Anderson, men like Pastor Manly Berry, men like Pastor Burson, Brother Garrett going to Botswana, they stand up, and we preach, and we try to be clear, and we try to communicate things properly, and we say, no, here's holy, here's unholy, here's clean, here's unclean, and people say, well, why do you gotta make such a fuss? Why do you gotta, you know, why do you gotta put the sermons on YouTube, and why do you gotta, you know, why can't you just get along and go along, right? Why can't you just try to reach people, and don't worry about all these things, but listen to me, God wants a people, and the Christian movement today, the independent fundamental Baptist today, that says, well, let's reach our community with the gospel of Christ, but let's not talk about, you know, what's holy, what's unholy, that's critical, that's judgmental. Listen to me, you bought into the deal that the devil wanted to make with you, because he knew if he could just keep you in Egypt, you'd be ineffective. And if you want the proof, just look around. Church on every corner, yeah, we live in a wicked society. Church on every corner, yeah, when you stand up and preach against Sodom, other Christians are like, I can't believe you'd say that. Good night, you ever read the Bible? I mean, you preach against fornication, you preach against drunkenness, you preach against, you know, covetousness, and you got Christians talking about, I've never heard this preach before, because Christianity that is centered in Egypt is ineffective. It's unacceptable. See, Satan tries to make a deal, and Pharaoh went to Moses and said, go ahead and worship, go ahead, we'll build you a big, nice auditorium, we'll get you a nice, big worship center, we'll put you on TV, it's fine. Hey, TD Jakes, we'll make you famous, just do it. Go from the world. He says, hey, go ye. He said, go, go ahead and worship the Lord in the land. And we see the first deal that Satan tries to make with Christians, he says, worship God, but don't separate. Worship God, but don't leave. Worship God. Let me show you the second deal he makes. We're there in Exodus 8, look at verse 27. Moses responds to Pharaoh is this, we will go three days journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only, here's the second deal, he says, only ye shall not go very far away. He says, and treat for me. See, the first deal he makes, he says, go ahead, but don't separate. And then we come along and say, no, that doesn't work. See, we had that. We had that lifestyle, we had that world, that worldview didn't work. I want to learn how to raise my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I want to learn what the Bible says about having a good marriage. I want to learn what the Bible says about living righteously and doing right, because in order to make a difference, we've got to be different. So then here's what he said, okay, go ahead and separate yourself, but don't go very far. I mean, notice what he said, look at verse 28. He said, only ye shall not go very far away. You know what, Satan, when you decided to go to a church, like Steadfast Baptist Church, and you said, I'm just going to go to the most radical church in town, in the state, up to California, and I'm just kidding. If you just decided, I'm going to go ahead and separate, I'm going to go to churches different, music different, Bible's different, preaching different, everything's different, then here's what he comes along, he says to you, okay, that's fine. Don't get too far into it. You know, Sunday morning only, that's good enough. You have to show up to Sunday night, I mean, good night, you're already going to the church with all the media and the protests. You know, Wednesday night, that's a little radical, 3 to 3, are you going to go to church 3 times, really? He said, go, but don't go very far. So you have to show up for that soul-willing thing. Do you really have to read your Bible every day? Do you really have to pray every day? Do you really have to, you know, and here's what he says, he says, serve, go ahead, and if you've got to separate, if I can't stop you, that's fine. But how about this, don't go very far. Don't go very far. You're there in Exodus, go to the book of Joshua, Joshua 24. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua 24. See, Satan loves the Christian that can't decide where they stand. But you know what? The Christian that can't make a decision where they stand, that Christian makes Jesus sick. Did you know that? Revelation 3.15, you have to turn there, go to Joshua 24. Jesus said this, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would not work cold nor hot, so then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Jesus said, I wish you'd make a choice. I wish you'd decide, are you hot, are you cold? He said, but the guy can't figure out where he wants to stand. He said, that guy makes me want to gag. That guy makes me want to spew out. That guy makes me want to just spit you out of my mouth. That's what Jesus said. You're there in Joshua 24, look at verse 15, notice what Joshua said. He said, and if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. And that's the question, that's the statement I want to make to you tonight. You know, tonight, tonight you ought to choose where you're going to stand and who you're going to serve. Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Notice he doesn't say, why don't you serve a little bit of the gods on the other side of the flood, and a little bit of the Lord? He doesn't say that. Why don't you meet us somewhere in the middle? Why don't you leave Egypt, but just don't go very far? No, no. Joshua said, hey, if you're going to serve the God on the other side of the flood, then just go serve that God. And if you're going to serve the Lord, then come on this way. He says the water's fine, come on on the deep end, choose you this day whom ye will serve. Go to 1 Kings chapter number 18. We have Elijah ask a very similar question. You're there in Joshua, you've got Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter number 18, look at verse 21. 1 Kings 18, 21. Notice what the Bible says, 1 Kings 18, 21. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? That's a question I want to ask almost every Baptist I know. I'm not talking about our movement, I'm talking about independent, fundamental, so-called, King James only, one saved always saved, salvation by grace through faith. We believe in soul weighing, we talk about it, but maybe we don't do a lot of it. But we believe in soul weighing, I'm talking about that crowd. I want to ask those people, how long halt ye between two opinions? I mean, how long is it going to take for you to decide which side you're going to stand? Notice what he says. He says, if the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. Notice there's no meeting in the middle. He doesn't say, he's talking a little bit of Lord, he's talking a little bit of Baal. Just don't go very far. He says, decide, he says, choose, if the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. You don't have to turn there, but Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8, the Bible says this, that Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not follow himself against me. And you know what, I want to challenge you tonight. The devil's trying to make a deal with some of you. And he's telling you, just a little is good enough. Being a Sunday morning, and listen to me, I'd much rather you be Sunday morning only than no service only. But look, if you're here and you say, I've been coming to steadfast for a while, I've been coming on Sunday mornings, why don't you try Sunday night? I've been coming Sunday mornings and Sunday night. Why don't you decide, I'm going to try Wednesday night. You say, I've been coming to all three services. Why don't you come out Sunday? Hey, this weekend would be a perfect time for you to go out soul winning for the first time. I don't know what to do. We've got a great opportunity for you. Brother Gary's going to be teaching class on soul winning. Hey, we'll partner you up with someone, and when I say we, I mean Pastor Romero, you know. We'll partner you up with someone that knows what they're doing. And you can be a silent partner. You say, well, I just don't know. Listen, you're falling for the deal of the devil when he says, go ahead, just don't go very far. Go ahead, just don't get too fanatical. Go ahead, just don't get too radical. Hey, why don't you get radical tonight? And here's the point. Here's the key. You have to purpose in your heart. You have to decide. You have to make a choice. Choose you this day. He says, how long haunt you between two opinions? Listen to me. The people that go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, never miss. You know, those people don't wake up every Sunday morning and ask themselves, should I go to church today? They don't do that. They don't, you know, it's not 5.15 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, and they're asking their wives, you know, what do you think? Should we go tonight? Here's the thing. If you ask yourself, should we go to Wednesday night Bible study tonight, every week? You'll miss more than half the time. Because there's always a reason to miss. Look, I am the pastor of a church. I'm a full-time employee of Verde Baptist Church. I deliver most of the sermons of Verde Baptist Church. And I have a valid reason almost every week to skip church. I mean, if I want an excuse to not go to church on Sunday, and it'd be a good one. But you know what? People who are faithful, they just decide. People that are faithful, they just chose a long time ago. They purposed in their heart. They said, you know what? I'm just going to be in church every Sunday morning. I'm going to be in church every Sunday night. I'm going to be in church every Wednesday night. I'm going to go soloing every week of my life. And if I don't, then it'll have to be the hand of God keeping me from it. I just decided, I just chose that I'm going to go full out. Amen. Look, if I'm going to do it, I want to go all in. I don't want to just, well, we're leaving Egypt, but don't go very far. Don't get too radical. If that's you, if there's any part of your life that you're holding back a little bit. And I pray the Holy Spirit is leading you right now and maybe highlighting in your own mind the areas that you know that you just kind of said, well, you know, I'll do this, but I don't know about that. Or I'll go this far, but I'm not ready for that. If that's you, I'm just here to tell you the devil's making a deal with you right now. And he's trying to keep you from being as effective as you could be. And he says, all right, if you're going to separate yourself, that's fine, but don't go very far. If you're going to have to leave Egypt, don't get too far into it. Don't get too radical. Listen to me. If your family tells you you're in a cult, that's normal. Don't get all like, oh my God, my parents said I'm in a cult. Join the club, all right? You've got jackets, OK? I mean, if your coworkers think you're weird, I mean, look, it's normal. Because today, and here's funny, you know, we're coming from Sacramento this morning, and I was sitting, we're in line to get our rental car, and you know, everything's bigger in Texas, but everything's also slower in Texas, I'll tell you that. We're standing in line for a long time. And I'm listening to these older people behind us, and they're talking about their yacht club, you know, and how they're so, you know, they love their yacht club, and they're talking about, and here's what they're talking about, all the fellowship they get in their yacht club, all the friends they make, how to give them something to do, to be able to forget their work. And I was thinking to myself, you know what you guys need? You don't need a yacht club, but you need, God already gave you the answer. It's called the local New Testament church. And today we've got people trying to replace the church with a bowling league, with a yacht club, with a little thing called Facebook. You know, I listen to every sermon online, I've got 10,000 other friends on Facebook. Hey, that's not a substitute for church. You say, well, I believe everything they believe. Yeah, but you're not all the way in. You've made a deal, listen to me, if you listen to preaching, I'm talking to the online crowd right now. If you listen to preaching online, and you never go to an actual physical church, you've made a deal with the devil. And he knows that as long as he can keep you in that chair in front of that computer, you'll be ineffective. And you'll be unaccepted. It's a deal with the devil. He wants to keep you in bondage. He wants to keep you from the full potential you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first deal we see there is that he made a deal that they would worship God, but don't separate. Don't go very far. Then he says, all right, go ahead and worship God. He said, first of all, go ahead and worship God, but don't separate. Then he said, worship God, separate, but just don't go too far. All right, don't go crazy with it. Don't go radical with it. What are your parents going to think? What are your in-laws going to think? I'd like to show you the third deal he tries to make with them. Go to Exodus chapter number 10. You're there in Exodus 8, just a couple of pages over. Now, between chapters 8 and chapters 10, just to help you keep the context, we've had another four plagues take place. In chapter 9, we had plague number 5, which was the disease, the moraine upon the beast. In chapter 9, we had plague number 6, which was the boils. We had plague number 7, which was a hail mingled with fire. And at the beginning of chapter 10, we had the locust. Now, in verse number 8, we see the Pharaoh try to make another deal with Moses and with the children of Israel. Notice what he says in verse number 8. And Moses and Aaron were brought again into Pharaoh. And he said unto them, go serve the Lord your God. He said, go ahead. Go to church. Go be with those people. Be religious. But then he asked this question. But who are they that shall go? He said, well, who exactly is it that's going to go with you to worship the Lord your God and to serve the Lord your God? Look at verse 9. And Moses said, we will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flock and with our herd. We will go, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, let the Lord be so with you. He says, let the Lord be so with you. He says, I will let you go and your little ones look to it, for evil is before you. And then notice what he says in verse 7. He says, not so. Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord, for that ye did desire, and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Here's what he said. He said, Moses, you know what? This was your idea. Aaron, this was your idea. This was not your children's idea. He says, ye that are men, notice what he says. Look at verse 10. I will let you go and your little ones look to it, for evil is before you. He says, not so. He says, not the little ones. You're trying to cause problems there. Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord. He said, if you're a man, if you're grown, you do it. But he says this, leave your little ones behind. You know the next deal that the devil tries to make with my believer Christians is this. Okay, Mom. Okay, Dad. You want me separated? Fine. You want to go all out, be all weird? Fine. But don't take your little ones down that road. Don't take your children. He says, you that are men, you serve the Lord, for that ye did desire. He said, it was your desire. He said, but don't take your little ones. And you know what? Satan has an agenda today to brainwash our children. Yes, that's right. And we've got to get to them before he does. Because his goal, here's his goal. His goal is, he says, if I can't get you, if I can't get the men, fine. I'll let the men go. But can I have your kids? Can I have your children? Can I have the next generation? He said, your kids, they're not interested in these Bible things. Your kids, they're not interested in the soul of anything. Your kids, they're not interested in the Word of God thing. And this is why God put such an emphasis upon children reaching, parents reaching their own children. Let's look at a couple of verses. Go to Deuteronomy chapter number six. You're there in Exodus. You're going to go past Leviticus' Numbers. Deuteronomy chapter number six. And look at verse number seven. You say, what are we talking about tonight? We're talking about this right here. These kids, right, you all know the most important people in this room are tonight. They're sitting right here. It's these children right here. This is the next generation. This is the future of not only our movement, but of America. Any hope that our nation has is sitting on that little rug right now. Deuteronomy chapter six and verse seven. Notice what the Bible says. It says, and thou. Notice the word thou. He's saying you personally, talking to parents. He's not saying, he doesn't say and the public school. He doesn't say and the Christian school. He doesn't say and the Sunday school. He says, and thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them. Notice this word. Notice this word. You see this word when? You know why he says the word when? Because it's going to take time. If you're going to raise your children for God, you may have to learn how to log out of Facebook at some point. You may have to learn how to hit that off button on that television or that radio or that computer or that tablet or whatever it is that's taken up all your time. He says, when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. He says, look, when you get up in the morning, talk about God and his word. He said, before you go to bed at night, talk about God's word. When you're just sitting around at home, talk about God's word. When you're driving down the road, going down the road, talk about God and his word. I don't know if you really get what he's trying to say, but he's saying, you know what? All day long, I want you talking about God with your children. The Bible says train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he shall not depart from it. What's the problem? You're there in Deuteronomy, go to the book of Judges. You're going to go pass Joshua into the book of Judges, Judges chapter 2. Here's a question I have for you. I'm talking to my moms and dads right now. When do you train your children? When do you train your children? I'm not talking about when do you bring them to church. You should bring them to church. And you ought to praise God. They have a church and a pastor and a pastor's wife that wants to partner with you and they're working with you, not against you, to try to help you raise your children. But it didn't say, you know, when the pastor, it says when thou. Look, the pastor don't tuck your kids in. Pastor don't feed your kids breakfast. Pastor don't take your kids down the road. It's you. When do you have time? Because here's what the Bible says, train up a child. You know how training takes time? You ever, you know, if you've done any sort of employment, maybe you're a manager or maybe you own your own business. You know, you hire employees. Ready Baptist Church, we have a part-time admin and we have a full-time employee. We're bringing on our second full-time employee here in the next month or so. You know what I found? It's a lot easier for me to just do it myself than to try to train someone to do it. It actually takes longer to train someone to do it. Now, once you train them, that's a huge benefit. Because then you can alleviate that off your shoulders. But sometimes when you're busy, you're just like, just sit there and I'll take care of it. And sometimes that's how you and I do parenting. We just kind of, well, it takes too much time to explain. It takes too much time to teach. It takes too much time. But listen, your job and my job is to train and prepare those children to serve the Lord and to be productive Christians, soul winners, preachers, teachers, people that are going to reach this country of the gospel. Here's a question I have for you. When do you train them? When. He said, when thou rises up. When thou liest out. When. He said, when is this question I have for you? You don't have to answer out loud. You don't have to answer me. But in your mind and your heart, as a husband or a wife, you got to sit down and answer this question. When do we train our children? When do we sit down and read the Bible to them? When do we sit down and explain doctrine to them? When do we sit down and teach our children the type of Christians they ought to be, the type of character they ought to have, the type of spouse they ought to be? When does that happen in your home? Because for most families, it never happens. And you know what? You bought into the deal that the devil tried to make with you. When he said, you be radical. You know why you dress the way you do. You know why you go to the church you do. You know why you have the music you do. You know why you take the stance you do. But just don't tell your children why. It's a deal he wants to make. You say, well, why? Well, here's the answer to that. Judges chapter 2, look at verse 7. Judges chapter 2 and verse 7. Judges chapter 2 and verse 7. Notice what the Bible says. And the people served the Lord. That's good. All the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died being 110 years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Tamath-Pherez, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaiash. Notice verse 10. And also all the generations were gathered unto their fathers and there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. See, they had a great history. They had a great leader. They had lots to teach and lots to talk about, but somewhere down the road a mom and a dad did not take the time. There was no when to when they trained. There's no when to when they teach. There's no when to when they prepare. Listen to me. My prayer is that my children, we've got four little ones, two boys and two girls, and we've got our fifth on the way. It's a girl, so the girls are winning now. We're going to catch up though. And look, my prayer is that my children will be well educated. I hope they are. My wife homeschools, she does a wonderful job. I know they will be well educated. I hope they're productive. I hope they're producers. I pray that my sons can provide for themselves and for their future families. But more than all that, I hope they love the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul, with all their might, with all their might. I pray my sons and my daughters would be soul-wetters. I pray that they would look. You think the media thinks, oh, Pastor Romero, Pastor Jimenez, you know. Look, they don't know what's coming when we unleash this argument. I mean, they're all upset and uptight now. Wait until these kids grow up, if, if, if we do the right thing and train. If we take the when to train. But while we don't, while we ignore them, while we yell at them and try to get – and put a TV in front of them or put a video game in front of them or put something else in front of them so that we can have time to ourselves, while we do that continually, we're making a deal, we're buying into a deal with the devil. Because here's what he knows, there's no success without succession. And we can make a big stand and we can make a big fuss and we can do a lot of great things right now. But if there's not the next generation to take the torch, then we are failures. And Pharaoh, Pharaoh says to Moses, let the men go. It was your idea anyway. It was your desire anyway. Your kids have nothing to do with this. Evil is before you. Nothing good can come from this. You go and leave the kids. That's a deal the devil makes. So we saw number one, he says worship but don't separate. We saw number two, he said worship but don't go far. We saw number three, he said worship God but don't, don't take your children. Let me show you the last deal that he tries to make with them. They're in Exodus chapter 10. Now between deal number three and deal number four, we have the ninth plague. Which is the darkness coming upon the land, of course except for Goshen, where the children of Israel were. And in verse number 24, notice what, notice what the Bible says. And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, go ye. He said this many times, serve the Lord. He says only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. He said let your little ones also go with you. He said fine, take the kids but leave your flocks and leave your herds. You know what he's saying? He's saying worship God but don't take your money. He said worship God but don't take your treasure. Worship God but don't take your possessions. He says fine, you go, your wives go, your children go, go as far as you want but make sure you leave your treasure here in Egypt. He's saying well why does he do that? What's he getting at? Go to Matthew chapter six. I know you know the verse but let's look at it together. Matthew chapter six. See Pharaoh knew something that Jesus would later on expound upon. And that's this. Matthew chapter six and verse twenty-one, the Bible says this. Matthew chapter six and verse twenty-one should be fairly easy to find. First book in the New Testament, Matthew six twenty-one says this. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Do you know what Pharaoh knew? He said if I can keep their treasure, I can keep their heart. If I can keep their stuff, I can keep their heart. If I can keep their money, that's why Jesus later on, he said you can't serve two masters. He said you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is stuff. It's possessions. Pharaoh understood that. You know the deal the devil tries to make with you and I? He says fine. Show up to that Friday night service. Show up to that Saturday soul winning. Take your kids and teach them and train them and homeschool them and whatever. But give me your money. Because he said if I can keep your money, I can keep your heart. And you know what? Let me just say something very clear. If you are, you say well pastor you know I'm right there with the sermon. I mean I agree with you. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, three to three. If you go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, you never miss. I mean you got to be in the hospital to miss. You say I'm faithful. I'm consistent. But I don't tithe. I don't support steadfast Baptist church financially. Let me tell you something. You're not right with God and there's something wrong with your heart. That's right. Amen. I can't believe you would say. Jesus said where your treasure is, then where your heart be also. If you get up and read the Bible every day and you don't financially support the ministry of God, your heart's not right and you're not right with God. If you go soul winning every week of your life, and you don't tithe, and you don't give, and you don't financially support, your heart's not right. It's not with God because where your treasure is, there will. Your heart will say well I do everything else. I'm involved in everything else. I pray every day. I don't care what you do. Your money tells us where your heart is. And today you have people saying well I can't tithe. I can't tithe because I'm too poor. But I'm poor. And I don't live in Texas. I live in California. In California it's not how much more expensive living is. It's not how much more, it's how many times more. Let me explain something to you about tithing. Here's the beautiful thing about tithing. It's a percentage. You know what that means? You don't make a lot, you have to give a lot. I only make a hundred dollars a week. Well guess what? You only got to give ten. And then you got people saying well I make a thousand dollars a week. I got to give a hundred. It's like well the guy that gives ten is going to blame that too. Why don't you just get your heart right and quit making a deal with the devil. Because here's what Pharaoh understood. Here's what Pharaoh got. He said if I can keep your money, if I can keep your treasure, if I can keep your possessions here in Egypt. I'll keep your heart. I don't care what you do with your kids. I don't care what you do with your time. I don't care what you do if I can keep your stuff here where your treasure is. He said that's where your heart will be also. See the devil wants to make a deal with you. The devil wants to try to make you ineffective and unaccepted before God. He comes to you and he says do it from the world. Do it from Egypt. And then he said no, no, no, no. I got to separate. I got to be different. He says okay, that's fine. Just don't go too far. Just don't go too far. Just don't get too fanatical. Just don't get too radical. You say no, I got to go in. I got to choose this day. I got to quit halting between two videos. Then he says okay. But don't teach your kids. Don't teach your kids. Don't brainwash those children. Just ignore them. Just put them in the public school. And listen to me. If you're sending your kids to be educated by Pharaoh, don't be surprised when they come home Egyptians. You send them to the Egyptian public school system and then you wonder why they come back doing the Egyptian walk. You know what I mean? Good night. You want them raised by God. Then God gave them to you to train, to teach. And then he says let me deal with you. And then the last deal he makes is okay, do all that. Do all that. Don't give those people your money. You know those pastors, all they want is your money. Look around, of course. Obviously, this is why we do what we do. For money. Look, if I was preaching for money, I am a huge failure. If Pastor Romero is preaching for money, you know what he'd stop doing? He's preaching. He'd stop preaching. He'd just get up here with a drum set. Back like his old days. If we're doing it for money, you know what we get? We get a rock concert. We get misters. We turn the lights off. We get a disco ball in here. That's what we do if we're doing it for money. We only get up here and start talking about Bruce Jenner, Obama, Hillary, Donald Trump. We ain't been talking about those people saying they're all wicked. We ain't been talking about the homos. We ain't been talking about abortion. We wouldn't be going through the Bible. We wouldn't be taking this tent. We wouldn't be going soul-winding in the beautiful weather of 100 degrees. You know, with all the humidity. I'll tell my wife today. Everyone wants to move to Texas, you know? Everyone wants to move to Texas because of freedom. I'll tell my wife. Here's the thing. They moved to Texas to have a nicer gun. But they still live in Texas. It's hot. No, I'm just kidding. It's humid. Alright? I love it. You want nice weather, I can tell you have a good church to go to. I'm trying to make a deal with you. Pray for us. No one's moving to California. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. You may have been making a deal with the devil and not even known him. In fact, that's how he likes it. He'd rather be unknown. He'd rather just make a deal with you. Make you ineffective. And let you go about your merry life. Thinking you're doing great. Thinking you're doing good things. The Bible says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. It says, It says, That's right. Look, you say, Pastor Jimenez, why would you preach this sermon at the two year anniversary of Steadfast Baptist Church? Here's why I would preach it. Because I don't think you understand the impact you're making. Not just on this community, but in the United States and across the world. This church and the two years that it's existed has made such an impact. There's been so many people say, so many lives changed. So many lives transformed. Satan would love nothing more than to come to each and every one and say, Can we strike up a deal to get you to stop? Can we make a deal? What is it? Which one is it? And here's the question I have for you. Which one is it that you've made with them? We're not ignorant of this device. Tonight, I would encourage you tonight. I would encourage you to back out of that deal. If it's with your children. If you've been holding back and you would say, I know how to try that. I know how to do that. I know that's something that I'd like to, I think God wants me to do and I've just been holding back. Look, whatever it is tonight, make the decision that you're not going to buy in to the deal with the devil. Because it'll make you ineffective. It'll make you unaccepted. It'll waste our lives. Thank God that Moses said to Pharaoh, No deal. We're selling out. No deal. We don't want to bargain. We're leaving. We're taking our children. We're taking our stuff. We're going to serve God. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for this church. Lord, I thank you for this pastor. And Father, I pray that these dear people would know the impact that they are making on this community and this state across the world. Lord, I know there's a big target on the back of Steadfast Baptist Church. There's a big target on the back of Pastor Donnie Romero and his dear wife and his children. There's a big target on the backs of every person who calls this place their church home, who wants to serve the Lord here and worship the Lord here. Satan has his sights on them. He wants to stop them. He wants to make a deal with them. Lord, I pray you'd help us not to be ignorant of his devices. Lord, help us to decide today we won't fall for these tricks. We won't fall for the wiles of the devil. Help us, Lord, to serve you and worship you as you've called us to do. In your precious name I pray. Amen.