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

All right, amen. So we're in Colossians chapter number two. And if you remember last week, we started a series called Bodybuilding, right? Not about the physical body so much, but obviously the body of Christ. And we talked about 1st Corinthians chapter number 12, which spends a lot of time going over the different spiritual gifts that people have, that God gives you. We talked about the different diversities and different administrations. Not everybody has the same gift. And what was the main thing that Paul wanted us to understand last week? And that was that we shouldn't be respecters of certain gifts, because that causes a schism, right? 1st Corinthians 12, 25, he said that there should be no schism in the body, but that the member should have the same care, one for another. So just because you have a gift that may get a lot of attention, right, you shouldn't allow people to just puff you up and come at you, you know, like, oh man, you're the greatest, you're the best thing since sliced bread, and I mean that with passion, brother, you know, you're just, you know, that kind of stuff puts down, you know, what may be a seemingly lesser gift, right? But we all have gifts, and Paul tells us, hey, you know, you're allowed to covet the best gifts, right, which is prophecy, to preach the Word of God. All of us are. People like to accuse us, you're a chauvinist pig, you know, you're a misogynist, you're against women being pastors, and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, we are against women, you know, being pastors, but so is Jesus Christ, right? So is the Word of God, okay? But we're not against women preaching the gospel, and we tell people this all the time, are women preach more than all of you female pastors out there, because they go every week, sometimes multiple times a week, and actually get people saved, right? Because we want to be a church that doesn't be, or that's not a respecter of persons, right? You start respecting the gift, you start respecting people. This is the big problem with the Pentecostal denominations, right? I mean, obviously there's other issues, like their salvation plan, by and large, but you know, aside from that, what is one thing that will divide those individual congregations? And I've been there, I've been part of that, I've seen it, and it's the exaltation of this false gift of speaking in tongues. You've got it, right? Some of them teach, well, that's evidence that you're saved. Other of them, you know, some of them don't go that extreme, and they'll just say, well, you know, just really anoint and bless. And then other people that are more genuine, that are more honest, you know, that aren't sure about this, you know, they're like, well, what's wrong with me? Why can't I do that? If there's such an emphasis on that. And so those churches are all in disarray, they've got people coming and going all the time. You know, I mean, I'm being serious. Drug use and stuff like that is rampant in those types of churches. You know, you may not, you're just pecking on them. No, it's a fact. It's a fact. But what else, you know what's worse almost than that? Is the pride and arrogance of those churches. I mean, that is a fact. You know, they are not sober-minded, and it's because of 1 Corinthians chapter number 12. They run their church services, and they set up a culture inside of those churches that respects guests, which in turn respects persons, and we know that God is not a respecter of persons. So, that was last week. Today is part two, which is about feeding the body with the right food. Now, several years ago, this may be hard for you to believe, but I was really into working out and stuff, and I was doing this P90X program. I think I was telling brother Riley this a while back. You know, I was doing mixed martial arts, and so I was in pretty good shape. I did cardio and stuff like that, but, you know, I figured, well, you know, I'll try this out because Jessica had bought it for me. She's like, well, this might help you out. It might help you get an edge or whatever, and I was doing it. I was like, I don't know, maybe a month and a half in. It's like a three-month deal, and I wasn't getting the results that these guys on TV were. Well, I found out that most of them are on gear. You know, most of them are juiced out of their minds. You know, go figure, right, but I did run into somebody, and I can't remember all the specifics, but he was just saying, he was talking to me about the diet, about what you're eating, you know, and at the time, I wasn't eating a lot of carbs. You know, I was trying to, you know, because I'm a skinny fat person is what they say, and so, you know, I'm trying to do this like Atkins garbage or whatever, and this guy was like, you're working out way too much. Not only are you doing that program, but you're also going to this gym over here. You're expending way too much energy. He's like, you need to have a balanced diet, and he just taught me about how I need to, you know, include things like oatmeal and prepare properly, you know, soaked overnight and things like that, and as soon as I started doing that, man, like it changed. Like, I actually, this is hard to believe, but I actually got pretty close to the body that those guys got without juice. It lasted for like three weeks, but it worked, all right, and it never happened to me again, okay, because I'm just not that genetically buff. You know, God had set me up the way He did just so that I would be up here bothering you guys every Sunday morning. But nonetheless, I did get results when I changed my diet. Now, today is a little bit of a different story. Now, I do think that the majority of my food is healthy. I mean, Jessica's making all these whole foods and stuff, the kids, it's great, but that's physical, right? It's much, much, much more serious on a spiritual sense, how we feed ourselves. And people have this idea, right? Well, as long as the pastor, as long as the core group of people, as long as they're good to go regarding the Bible, as long as they're studied up, it doesn't really matter. People just tend to think, well, I don't really matter. I'll just kind of come in. I'll just kind of float along. And you know what? That mindset is not okay. That mindset is wrong. Every single person in here needs to make sure that they are feeding themselves on a regular basis with a diet of God's word. Why do you think that Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life, living water? You know, my meat that I give you, that's going to cause you to grow, right? He is a complete food group. But what you have today is you have people, and this is a big false doctrine that's in the world today, people like to separate Jesus Christ from the Word of God. You cannot do that. And the result of doing that is not only a schism, but it's pride, it's arrogance, it's malnourished, it lacks the, it just lacks growth. You know, it lacks the ability of the body of Christ to actually be mobile and do the things that God wants it to do, right? And we're concerned with the body of Christ as a whole, obviously, but we want to focus on this local body right here. Because look, the body isn't going to increase if we don't increase down to the newest person in the church, okay? So just real quickly, look at, you're there in Colossians chapter two, look at verse number 19. It says, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment, ministered and knit together, increase with the increase of God. So this is what we were talking about today. What does God say in this verse about growing his body, growing the church, if you will? It's dependent on nourishment. Where does that nourishment come from? It comes from the Word of God. It's not going to come from the scholar or from the theologian. Those people, you know, and I got flak for this recently, but I'll say it again, those people, my friends, are losers. They are bozos. They are weak. You can write that down and put it in a book. Maybe we'll put that in the yearbook, or we'll just make a video about that. I know there's some people that are upset out there because I said that stuff at the, you know, the fundamentalist conference, and they, you know, they're just crying their little eyes out and stuff. But you know, I don't really care. Because it's a fact. It's the truth. And if that hurts your poor little Methodist Lutheran heart, then you know what? Go to hell. That's my advice to you. Okay. But anyways, before I get off on that, bounce back up here to verse number 16. Verse number 16. So Paul tells the Colossians this, he says, Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon or the Sabbath days. Verse 17, he says, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. And we would do very well to all understand that the body of Christ obviously gets fed, gets nourished, and is part of, I mean, it is the Word of God. You can't take the Word of God out of the body. It's impossible to do that. And the result of that really goes back up to what he says in verse number eight, where he says, Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men. What is that talking about? What's the tradition of men? And you can see that today. It's the original manuscript only crowd, the Omo's, right? That is a tradition of men. You go to most churches today, their tradition is to trust and to rely on what was recently dug up, what was recently interpreted hermeneutically by your college professor, or whatever. That is what the world looks to. The tradition is to always take the focus off of God, what he's done, and to put it back on humanity, right? He says, after the, or through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. That's what you're going to find, unfortunately, in most churches today. You say, What are you trying to do? You're trying to build a cult saying your way is the only way? Yeah. I'll take it. I'll eat it. Now, am I trying to build a cult? No. Everybody who's been here for any length of time, you watch any of our services, you know that that bell is available for you to ring at any time. If you can't hack it here, you can bounce anytime, and I'm not going to bother you. Until you get online and start running your mouth against our church members and the things that we taught here. That's when it's going to get ugly. That's when it's going to get nasty. Right? But this, look, this isn't a cult. Most cults don't have a bell, right? They have somebody on the outside of the door with a shotgun keeping you in. Right? Cults don't let people leave. Right? What happens if you leave the bloods and the crypts? You have to get jumped in, right? But what happens? You have to get bled out, right? Don't you have to get killed out of that? I mean, that's how most mobs, most gangs are. That's not how this church is. We want people that want to be here, that want to love God and serve him. And look, we encourage Bible reading on your own time. How many cults do that? Did Jim Jones encourage that? Absolutely positively not. Does the Pope encourage that? No. No. Does Russell Nelson encourage that? No. They want your focus off the Word of God and on to humanity. Okay. And what is the, what are they doing? They're trying to beguile. That is the whole point here. And so Paul saying, Hey, don't let people judge you and say, Oh, you're not worshiping the Sabbath. You go to church on Sunday. That's the mark of the beast. Shut up. That is so extremely weak. I like, I just walked away. Okay. You're, you're obviously a goner at that point, but look at verse 18. He says, Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, introducing into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. And so obviously there was a situation at Colossi where people were going around and saying, Hey, you need to have this super human spiritual, you know, attitude, basically need to worship these angels. And these guys are just puffed up. They're making up their own religion. They're making up their own traditions. And why are they doing that? Well, he tells you in the verse. Why? One is because he's puffed up by his fleshly mind, not the mind of Christ, not the word of God, but by his own mind, by the traditions of the world, but also to beguile people out of your rewards. See, I've talked about this before you guys all realize this, you're going to get rewards in heaven. You see, can you imagine what the body of Christ would be like today if we all understood, like on a personal level, the seriousness and the importance of eternal rewards. You understand if we could just all understand that we will be in eternity, obviously, so much longer than we are alive here on this earth. You know, that would really change the way that we act and change the way that we do things on a daily basis. Right? And Paul saying, Hey, I'm trying to help you protect the rewards that you're going to get if you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's saying, but there is an opportunity, there is a chance that people could creep in and cause those rewards to be taken from you. That's what it means. Beguile. Right? A beguile. What is that? When somebody, what did Eve say to God about the serpent? He beguiled me, meaning he tricked me. He used flatteries. He used enchantments, if you will. He tricked me out of the truth. Right? These people that do this kind of stuff, they are very clever. They know how to come in. They know how to creep in and build small relationships and set small fires over here, small fires over there. And before you know it, if it goes unchecked, the whole body is in inflammation. It's a, it's a problem. And now we've got a mess on our hands. We've already dealt with that. I think we're in a good spot here, but Paul's just saying, Hey, don't let people beguile you, trick you out of your rewards. Yeah. I mean, think about that. You serving God for 15, 20 years, and all of a sudden you have just this, this lapse or just this issue. Somebody comes in, you, you start making a mistake, you start backsliding, and then they just trick you into sliding all the way out of your rewards, man. What a shame that would be, wouldn't it? What a, what a horrible way to go into eternity, man. And God's like, look, you were doing so good for like two decades, two decades. And then all of a sudden this happened to you all because we didn't pay attention to how we feed the body. And then let's go into verse 19 again. He says, and not holding the head. Well, what does that mean? Well, these people puffed up by their fleshly minds. They aren't holding the head, which is who? Jesus Christ. He is the head of the body, the church, right? And not holding, not possessing, not retaining that. Well, if you're holding the head, what does that mean? You're holding the Word of God. You hold this near and dear to your heart. This is your food. This is your water. This is your meat. This is how you live. This is how you make your decisions. And not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered. Look, the way that we get our tendons, so to speak, our joints, our mobility, the way we get that stuff moving and operating and being put to use in the community is through the Word of God. Show me an NIV church that's out there steamrolling communities. That's just getting people saved left and right. Can anybody show me that? Please? Look, I'm begging you to show me that. Open challenge, cricket boy. Some of you know what I'm talking about. What's up? Where's the crickets? You got nothing. Because if you're not fundamental, then you are nothing. Look, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Nothing. If you don't have a foundation, you don't have a channel for food, what you gonna do? Use the ESV and talk about how it's okay to sprinkle babies and be a Calvinist and just be a bleeding heart and a crybaby and a mama's boy and a soy milk sipper? Is that what you want? That doesn't get the job done, man. That doesn't get the job done at all. So he says, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together increase with the increase of God. This increase comes from God, the Word of God. You cannot separate Jesus Christ from the Bible. That is a mistake. That is false doctrine. That is unprofitable. And for the proof, all you need to do is to go out and look into the community. At any state, any country in the world, any place that does that, you'll see a group of people that's really not a church. They might call themselves a church, say brother, sister, Bible, amen, sing a song or two. But that's not a church. A church is a congregation of saved people. That's what a church is. Life Church is not a church. The Summit is not a church. The Journey is not a church. Stonehill is not a church. And I'm sure I'm missing like 1000 other ones around here. But they're not churches. Now, are we the only ones that have the right gospel in the Treasure Valley? No. No, we're not. There's other there's there's other churches, you know, and even some of these false churches, they have people in there that are saved, but they're part of a false body. Right? They're like trying to hang on to a like a mannequin and be like, go move, walk, do something. Let's get out there and let's do some debates. You know, let's get behind these apologists, right? Let's get behind these apologists because they're out there. Let's get behind the Christian rockers and the Christian rappers, right? Because they have a platform to administer the truth. But wait a minute, you can't even understand what they're saying. Most of the time you can't really understand what these apologists are saying. So you're up there talking with this guy for an hour and a half and I learned absolutely nothing. Nothing. No one got saved. At least when Paul was out there reasoning with people and disputing people got saved. And people got mad. Right? Why? Because the sword or the Word of God is a sword and it divides. And that is always the result of somebody who is doing the right thing. Right? Paul, when he preached the Word of God, Jesus when he preached the Word of God, there were people who believed and there were people who got upset. And that's like this church, right? But you don't see that out there in these other religions. You don't see that out there in these other, you know, denominations. They just do this all day long and you're like, what was that even about? And people are like, that was so great. What was it about? I don't know, but it's just so well spoken. It's just so great. Oh, my heart was touched. What does that even mean? Your heart was touched? What? You ask him, you know, if he died today, did you go to heaven? Yeah. Well, I'm pretty good. I had my life touched. I got baptized. Right? I have a Bible. My grandfather was a preacher. I drove by a Bible school today. I'm sure I'm saved. Maybe that's up to God. It's not for you to judge. No, I'm sorry. Not No, absolutely not. Go to Second Timothy, chapter one. Second Timothy, chapter number one. And not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered. There is no way God is going to give you an increase in your church and the body of Christ without his word. And that's why I say it's so important that all of us in here, we need to make sure that we're reading the Bible, right? We need to make sure on your own time, whatever your schedule or whatever your schedule is, you need to find a time to read this book every day. Okay? You have to. You absolutely have to. It's the only way that will grow. People how you know, how is how is the church gonna grow, man? You know, we're gonna set up the maybe send out these flyers to the community, right? And find out what people like. Or maybe we need to change this. Or maybe we need to be a little nicer. Maybe we need this. No, we need everybody to read the Bible. That's what we need. When all the joints and all the bands are getting that nourishment, you will see more and more and more people walk through this door. And you know what? It's not just gonna be me that helps them out. It's gonna be all of you back there talking after the service. Hey, what's going on with you? Oh, hey, let me show you that from the Bible. Let me you know that iron sharpeneth iron doctrine, right? That is what does it. And what is the sharpening tool? It's the word of God. You're there in second Timothy chapter one, look at this. Paul's telling Timothy, hey, there's something I want you to hold on. Obviously, it's the head but he says this, hold fast the form of sound words, hold fast the form of sound words, which thou has heard of me in faith, and love, which is in Christ Jesus, we are to hold the head we are to hold these words near and dear to our hearts every single day. Look, this is the most important. I'm not against reading other books. You know what I read other books. I've got like two or three of them cracked open right now that I'm reading through slowly, you know, slowly but every day. But I also read this book. Obviously, I have to. But I love it. I love reading the Bible. And when I'm done and I have to, you know, I have to go to work, and I've read, you know, some of the Bible in the morning, I'm like, man, I just want to read more, you know, but there's some days where I'm like, yeah, I didn't sleep well. You know, man, I'm just not having it. You're gonna have those days too, sometimes where you don't feel like reading this. Don't ever let anybody tell you, oh, if you don't have the desire every second of your life, all the time, every single day to read the Bible, you know, you're weak, you're not safe. No, that's just being human. We all struggle with that. Everybody does. Okay. But we're told to hold fast the form of sound words. And guess where you're gonna get sound words from? From the Bible. Right? That's where it comes from. That's part of holding the head. Now go to Deuteronomy chapter number 17. I'm gonna give you the bottom line of the sermon, which is this, the nourishment of the body of Christ is dependent on a strong grip of the Bible, not just a physical grip, right, but a spiritual grip, a mental grip, this grip that says, you know what, when I wake up in the morning, I do love God's Word. You know what? There are a lot of people out there that don't love God's Word. There are a lot of people out there that think it's not important. And that is a tragic mindset. That is a tragedy. So the nourishment of the body of Christ is dependent on a strong grip of the Bible. What will be the success of Shield of Faith Baptist Church in Treasure Valley and abroad? It'll be everybody's individual discipline and grip on the Bible, down to the youngest person in here that can read. I mean, that's who I'm after. I'm after everybody. If you could read or just even sit there and listen, even Solomon. Where's he at? You know, he needs to start reading, boy. He needs to start reading. But he's listening. He's being good. He's being better than some other people in the back here, right? You know, he's doing a good job. But obviously I'm kidding, right? But all of us, look, it is so important that everybody has this grip on the Bible. I know it's basic. I get that. I understand that. But we don't really always understand the full magnitude and the ramifications if we don't do that, right? I mean, why do you think that Paul was spending so much time saying, hey, don't respect people with this gift? Don't respect persons because it causes a divide. It causes a schism. We all need to take care of one another and make sure that, hey, the word of God has the preeminence, that it has the first priority in our lives. OK. And so you're there in Deuteronomy 17. I like to bring this up here because it does a just it's just an outstanding passage to show people the result of not reading the Bible. OK. And in this passage, God's telling the children of Israel, hey, look, I don't want you to have a king like these heathens, but there's going to come a time where you're not going to listen to me. You're going to desire this king. And when that time comes, here's some instructions for him. Look at verse number 18. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law and a book out of that which is before the priests and the Levites. What does that tell us? The word of God needs to obviously be preeminent, be a priority in this king's life so that he can administer that down to everybody in the nation. And guess what? You are. You're a king. Everybody in here is kings and priests. Everybody. Everybody. But it also says, hey, that he can actually write a copy of this book and it would be just as powerful as the last copy. Just as powerful as the copy before that. Just as powerful as the copy that Moses came down with from the mount. And yes, that was a copy. Because we have these people say, well, like James White, he'll say, well, we don't have the Bible today. We just have a copy of the Bible today. Yeah, I tell people this all the time. That just takes God and brings him down here. That's all that does. That's all that does. How is he any different than the pope? Just maybe his dress because he doesn't have the same hat. They've got the same salvation plan. Pretty much more or less very similar. They've got the same doctrine. Man first, God last. And they'll say, oh, that's not true. Really? Verse 19. And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, and to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them. So we can see right here, that is his food. That is how he grows. That is how he maintains his life. And that's how he exercises. That's his instruction. People like, I want a workout plan to follow. You need an instruction program. Well, for the Christian, it's the Bible. It's hearing, reading, but it's also doing those things. It's obedience. That's your exercise. That's how you're going to grow. Verse 20 says that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. So you say, what's the result if I do not make the word of God preeminent in my life? What's the result if I do not read the Bible, but I keep coming to church? I keep I keep listening to sermons. You know what the result is? Pride, arrogance. And who in here has not seen that? Right. We've all seen people and maybe we've even been these people. I've been there where I've gotten knowledge too fast without making application. And I've gotten puffed up. And I just love to argue with people. You know, I'm right. And, you know, you can listen to sermons and grow pretty quickly. You can gain a lot of knowledge very quickly. But if you're not applying, guess what? You're dying. You say, well, but how are these people dying? They keep coming to church. And some of them even go soloing while they're dying because they're being plagued by pride. You need to understand that if you don't read the Bible, you'll get proud. Because God wrote the Bible and God knows what's in man and it's exposed in the Bible. And so it makes sense now why these humanists, these human achievement people want to, you know, these repent of your sins guys, whatever you want to call them, work salvationists, human achievement. That's all that's what it all boils down to. All of those people serve man. Think about it. It's pride. It's flesh. They're puffed up by their fleshly mind. They don't understand these things. And God's telling the children of Israel what's going to happen if they don't make the word of God preeminent, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. You know, I met somebody not not too terribly long ago that was just like, I'd like to come visit, but I need it to be worth my while. I need an event to be going on something. It's like, I don't bow down to anybody. We're going to do what we do. And that's how it is. The word of God. You know, but you know, I was just thinking like that's an arrogant mindset right there. And I bet if I could be a fly on the wall in your home, probably not reading the Bible, just listening to sermons. And you got it, man. Boy, you know the doctrine. You got, you know, you got your your your two or three favorite sermons and subjects. And you're good at just hounding down on those and tricking everybody into thinking you're all that in two buckets of chicken. Right. But if we were to do a full audit of your life, you'd be found wanting. Because that is not the attitude of somebody who wants to serve God. You need to make it worth my while. OK. Look, I don't care because I realize what the Bible teaches. We strengthen the body of Christ, preach the word of God. And God, he gives the increase. And that's just how it is. Outsole wanting. What did Paul say? You know, he's like, I watered or I planted, you know, Paul watered and God gave the increase. It's the same thing with church building. Right. All we can do is strengthen ourselves. And you know, God will cause people to come in here. You will get people to come in here because you'll be able to have the answers to their questions. And you're like, wow, I didn't ever think of that before. I need to go here. It will happen. It has happened. Go to John, Chapter six. John, Chapter six. So the whole point of that is malnourishment. Obviously, if you're malnourished physically, you know, you're going to get diseases or you're going to get sick or you're, you know, you're gonna have all kinds of health problems. It's the same thing spiritually. But malnourishment, the biggest thing that that leads to, especially I'm talking for a believer here, is pride. And what happens to your mind when it's full of pride? You're no longer sober, no longer sober thinking. You just say this filth, this stuff that just doesn't make sense. And your arrogance just pours out of your speech because the Bible says from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And right when you don't have the word of God going in and out of you don't have the right nutrients. You don't have the right nourishment. The result is pride. Arrogancy. That is what the Bible teaches here in Deuteronomy 17. So John, Chapter six, let's move here to the first point. We got two points this morning. John, Chapter six. Go over to verse number 48. John, Chapter six. Look at verse 48. Jesus says this. I am that bread of life. And he's comparing the manna, obviously in the Old Testament, teaching them what that means, what that was a shadow of, what that allegorizes. Verse 49. He says, Your father did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. Boy, they didn't like that. They did not like that saying at all. In verse 50. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. And people say, Show me in the Bible where Jesus said he was God. Show me in the Bible where he made claims of deity. Right. Because what does the NIV say? That he thought it, he thought a robbery to be equal with God. Whereas the King James said he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Right. How can you read this and not come to that conclusion? Do you not realize that this saying right here is one of the reasons why they wanted to kill Jesus Christ and why they want to kill us today is because we point back to his word, which is the bread of life, the living water and the meat that we need to survive. You know, and a man gets upset. What about my digs, man? What about my archaeological digs? What about my strong concordance interpretations of the Bible? What about my Greek, man? What about the fact you're a geek? Verse 51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now, obviously, the Catholic sees that and like, well, hey, these wafers, these sand dollar cookies. Guess what, man? This becomes a literal blood and body of Jesus Christ. Right. This is where it's at. This is this cookie here. You're literally eating the body. And there's all kinds of wack, crazy doctrines. We'll talk about in the future regarding that whole subject. But they'll twist this thing left and right. And you know what happens? They beguile people out of their eternal life. That's what they do. See, we're kind of concerned this morning. Well, not kind of. We're concerned this morning with making sure that nobody beguiles us out of our rewards. But there are, you know what these organizations do? They beguile people out of eternal life. And here's point number one. Caden made me these signs. Look at this. No bread, no life. No bread, no life. This is a fact. That is what Jesus is saying here. No bread, no Bible, no word of God, no eternal life, no living forever. You cannot separate the two. This is imperative. This is important. No bread. You ain't getting saved. You're not growing. You're not doing anything for God. I mean, why do you think that like these mega churches around here always want to, you know, a lot of them will email me. Believe it or not, they do. And I feel like somebody signed me up for this crap. But they'll email me. Hey, we've got this prayer, you know, gathering, you know, over in Meridian. We got one downtown. You know, James Dobson is going to be there on computer. Who else? Who is this other guy? Greg Lowry. I'd like to find the person who signed me up for this harvest. Greg Lowry deal and just be like, look, we need to have a talk. Not fighting, but look, you are out of your mind. They email me every single week like, hey, Harvest Boise, we want you to be a part of it. You know, we're going to meet over here and we're going to pray. And Greg Lowry is going to bless everybody with with the word of God. You don't use the word of God. Does he use the King James Bible? No. Is he saved? No. Work salvation. This is what he is. No bread, no life. I want no part of your ecumenical gathering. And obviously the result is, oh, well, you're trying to set up a cult. No, I'm trying to point back to the word of God, which is not what cults do. Come down here and let's talk about this. If anybody is willing to reason, look, I'll change your mind because I'm going to point you back to the Bible. But you're always trying to point me to Greg Lowry. You're always trying to point me to secular opinions and scholarly articles and all of this garbage out there that you cannot prove. No bread. No life. Turn to Jude, please. Jude. Jude Chapter 37. If anybody if you know what I mean, anybody does that, you're ringing the bell. I'm ringing it. You're gone. I'm just I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. So the question is, what kind of life are you going to have without the bread? Obviously, no life, no eternal life, no eternal life of the bread. But what kind of church are you going to be without the word of God? You're not going to be a church. You're nothing more than a Boy Scout gathering or a Cub Scout gathering or a Ted Talk gathering. I don't know. Eagles, the Eagles Club, something along those lines. Look at Jude here in verse number 17. It says this. But, beloved, remember ye the words which are spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I just read this book recently about hermeneutics is why I've been bringing it up, you know, and they're like, hey, you know, you need to be very careful when you're reading the Old Testament and preaching narratives that you don't preach the wrong kinds of doctrines. You know, for example, right. When David was walking around on the roof at night, if you preach, well, you know, being lazy is a sin off of that passage. That's not hermeneutically correct. Blah, blah, blah. That's like, wait a minute. Remember ye the words which are spoken of before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ? Obviously the apostles, the disciples. But what about the prophets of the Old Testament? That's included in that. There's several other verses that we could go to to explain that. These things were written for what? For our admonition, for our growth. So, yes, I can go there. And even though it doesn't specifically say David should X, Y, Z, that's obviously the logical conclusion. The reason why they can't understand that is because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They cannot understand the Bible if you are not saved. So look at verse 18. He says, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lust. And that's exactly what we saw in Colossians chapter two. Right. These people puffed up by their fleshly mind, preaching vanity. Hey, don't forget about St. Michael and St. Gabriel. And, you know, you need to be willing to worship them in a voluntary way. Kneel on that bed of rice. You know, have those statues in your home. And Paul's like, hey, you're getting beguiled here out of your rewards. But, you know, Jude's telling us, hey, there's going to be people that will mock our faith. Right. They walk after their own ungodly lust. Look at verse 19. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. That now Paul said in Colossians chapter number two, but sensual, sensual. What does that mean? Pleasing to the senses, the physical senses. Stephen Furtick. Who knows who Stephen Furtick is? Right. We talked about him yesterday. He's this I guess he started off as a Southern Baptist guy. I forgot one of the southern states. He has a big church. You watch him online for any time. And the camera pans to the crowd. It's like a stadium. And he's got a lot of people. And people are envious of that. You know, Christendom all over, like, man, we need to copy his model or Andy Stanley or Joel Osteen or any of these people that have a lot of people that go to their little group meetings, which they call a church. Right. And they'll say, hey, look, they've got it figured out. They're doing something great here. They're doing God's blessing them immensely. Stephen Furtick lives in a multimillion dollar mansion. So obviously God's blessing him, right? No. You know how he gets those people? Through being sensual, through appealing to the world's lusts through their eyes and their ears. If you don't believe me, think back to some of the think back to our revolving door here. We have people coming in here all the time in one. I'll bet you if you were to be able to go there to their house afterwards to talk to them, one of the things they're going to tell you, well, you know, it just wasn't for me. But really what they mean, there's no band. There's no altar call. There's no real worship time. We're all just standing around. Oh, oh. We don't have the Pac-Man background. These guys literally, they copied Pac-Man. They grew up liberal, like in the 80s and, you know, the late 70s when Pac-Man came out. Seriously. Look at Stephen Furtick, Andy Stanley. Man, all these liberal preachers. You know, some of the names escape me, but just go on YouTube, look them up. Look at the background. What is it? It's dark and there's always like blue and purple, like crazy lines and lights. Tree City Church in Nazarene. Just go down there and look at that. Go on YouTube and look. And that's what it is. They played Pac-Man. They realized, well, that enchanted people. And I'm not against Pac-Man. You don't play Pac-Man. Whatever, man. As long as you're reading the King James, I'll play with you. All right. How's that? We'll play after the service. But but don't make that sensuality part of God's house. You know, don't make that because, yes, if we change to that model, we would have a lot of people in here, but we wouldn't be growing God's way. He wouldn't be giving us that increase. That's the devil giving you that increase because we're appealing to these people in verse 18 who walk after their own ungodly lusts. That is what we are trying to change because we want to grow God's way. We want to keep our rewards. That's the sugar, so to speak. Right. We're talking about bodybuilding. What happens if you overload on sugar? That's that surpasses your regular nourishment. It robs your body, right? There are studies out there that talk about this, how this the white sugar, got like a fly my eye or something. Somebody is attacking me. I think it's built above. But anyways, you know what happens as a bodybuilder, if your diet's garbage for most people, right? It ruins, it robs, it robs your bones of minerals, right? That's what white sugar does. A lot of, you know, sugar overload. I mean, some people take it to the extreme. They're like, even the natural sugar and even honey, you know, will rob you and give you cancer. I don't believe that. I believe it has its place. I really do. Because I've seen and read articles about people that live the most strict, super duper healthy life and still drop dead of cancer. I was a super vegan. I ate three perfect meals a day. I drank the cleanest water. Look, if God decides, you know what? I'm sick and tired of you. You're getting smoked with a disease. You ain't stopping it. You will die. So I'd rather just do things his way and try to keep balance in my life. But he says this, these be they who separate themselves sensual, having not the spirit. So when you see a church service that's geared towards your senses and placating your physical senses through the eyes, the ears, right? I mean, think about it. They take like the Pac-Man background, right? Because that is what's pleasing to your eye. You know, they sit down and have that little music stand as a pulpit, right? And they got the tablet. That's appealing to your eyeballs, to the world's eyeballs, right? Because it's more familiar to what they're used to. It's like a school setting. It's basically saying, hey, I'm here just not to judge. I'm here to just help you and to love all people, no matter what they say or do. We love everybody. That's it. There's no hate, no hate. Whereas we have like this, you know, and then this pulpit, people come in here and they're like, oh, I'm sorry. This pulpit, people come in here and they're like, what's up? You know, these people mean business. That guy is a little rough around the edges. But the word of God is rough. The word of God is hard. The word of God doesn't appeal to your senses. This is why we don't have the rock and roll band here, right? We talk about this all the time. Why don't you have it? You would get so many more people, you know? And I think about this. How is it that like Create Church is able to just come to town and have all these people? Sensuality, sugar. Well, how is it that the candy store is always packed? How is it that these ice cream shops are always packed? Your body craves that stuff. It takes a lot of discipline to withhold from that stuff. And these people that Jude is talking about, they understand that. And so it's profitable for them to promote sensuality. The problem is they don't have the spirit. They don't have the works. They don't have any kind of growth. Look at verse 20. But ye beloved building up yourselves, right? Cause that's what we're talking about. Building up ourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost is not talking about tongues. Verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. That is the goal. That is the operation here, salvation. And it only comes from the word of God. Verse 22, and some having compassion, making a difference and others say with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. So many people today out so many like, man, I just hate religion. I just, I don't go to church because wherever two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst, right? Somebody told Justin that yesterday. You know, I just, the reason why I don't go to church is because Jesus said that I'm always in church. That's why I preached that sermon a few weeks ago. Because so many people have that philosophy. You've been taught that. It's not hard to find that doctrine out there to placate your conscience, the law that's written on your heart that says you need to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And it's like, ah, you know, that's not church. When you're vacuuming your carpet at home, you're not in church. Turn to Leviticus chapter 26. Leviticus chapter number 26. So what did you tell us? We need to remember these words. Why are you going to remember them? You're going to hold the head. We're going to be a church that decides, you know what, we're going to hold on to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to hold fast, mean having a tight grip on sound words, which obviously come from Bible because Jesus said the words that I speak into you, they are spirit and they are life. Leviticus chapter number 26. What I want to do is I just want to show you God's attitude towards disobeying this, towards disobeying, or I'm sorry, disobeying his words, his instructions, his commandments. And he's telling the children of Israel in this passage here, what's going to happen if they do not listen to him. And obviously this is applied to the nation of Israel back then, but it does show you God's attitude towards disobedience. Look at verse 14, Leviticus 26, 14. He says this, but if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul, or bore my judgments so that you will not do all my commandments, but that you break my covenant, I will also do this unto you. Now, what I'm saying is, what I'm not saying is if you didn't wake up this morning, read your Bible, God's coming for you. If you didn't tithe, God's coming for you. If you didn't do this, God's coming. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that at all. I just want you to see God's attitude towards people that say, you know what? I don't like judgment. You're saying you don't like judgment? You don't like his food. You don't like his living bread of life. You don't like the living water. You don't want nourishment. That is what you're saying when I don't want his judgments. It's wrong to judge. I don't want to listen to him. Look at verse 16. He says, I will also do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror, consumption and the burning aug that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain for your enemies shall eat it. Now that's interesting. You know that there are people today who are saved that are in torments, that are in terrors. Did you know that? You know where that often comes from? Not always, but where it often comes from is a neglect of nourishment and neglect of Bible reading. Not every time. I mean, sometimes God puts us through things, right? I wouldn't go up to Job or, you know, to Noah or, you know to any of these guys in the Old Testament, Elijah would be like you know why you're going through trouble? You know why you're running from Jezebel Elijah? You ain't staying in the Bible. You gotta be careful with that kind of stuff, right? But a lot of times we're in absolute, I mean there are people that come in here, right? We love them, but they're always, man, my life sucks so bad. I need to talk to you for a minute. It's horrible. These people are attacking me in ways that are unfathomable. And it's like, how much Bible have you read? And I'm thinking like, where have you been the last year? Where have you been? How are you getting fed? Oh, that's right, you're not. Your actions are just like the actions of the children of Israel in the Old Testament. Verse 17, and I will set my face against you and you shall be slain before your enemies that they, or they that hate you shall reign over you and you shall flee when none pursue with you. We see that in the world today, right? We see that today. A lot of, you know what? A lot of these churches around there when we start coming at them with the truth you know what they say? No, no, no, I don't want to talk about this. Well, wait a minute, why'd you ask the question? Because you're used to people saying, I don't know. Or people tipped on, oh, I don't know. I don't want to be divisive. We're like, hey, look, that's what the Bible says. It should be put to death. Verse 18, and if you will not, and if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass. I will literally put you in your own prison. But what's interesting is they still go around full of pride, spreading seed, he says, but look at this in verse 19. And I will break the pride of your power. See pride, it provides you with like a, almost a seemingly like power, right? A lot of people will back down against prideful people because they fall for the bluff, you know? And so he's saying, hey, your pride and your arrogance it's going to work for a little while. It's going to give you seemingly success, right? I mean, there's a lot of fighters who have built their career and got to where they've been from pride and arrogance. Until somebody showed up, they didn't buy into it mentally and knocked them out or, you know, humbled them a little bit. It's the same thing. And it was the same thing with the nation of Israel. They decided to reject God's commandments and statutes slowly but surely, you know? And for a season, if you read Judges, for a season, you know, when you read Kings, they have victories even in their prideful states, right? But God's always like, okay, your time is up, right? And that's what this means here. He says, and I will break the pride of your power and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass. Look at verse 20. And your strength shall be spent in vain. So he's like, interesting here. You still have some strength. They're still out there working. They're still out there talking. They're still out there, you know, doing whatever, promoting their doctrines and stuff. It's still a seemingly strength to the rest of the world. But God's like, you know what? It's all in vain, right? And then people look at these mega churches today who are puffed up on sugar, right? They're a body full of fat, you know, Twinkies and Ding Dongs and Ho Hos and, you know, and all that stuff, right? And it's like, the world looks at that, but they have so many people. They have so much money. They're people seemingly happy. Yeah, because they're all in third and fourth marriages. Nobody wants to talk about that. They're chugging the booze like it's nothing. Nobody wants to talk about that. They're full of sensuality. Words that the preachers give, sugar to the ears and sugar to the eyeballs, right? But they have a seemingly strength. But what we see is it's all vanity, right? They're not out there saving people. They're not out there teaching doctrine. They don't know any doctrine. It's terrible. He says, for your land shall not yield or increase, neither shall the trees of land yield their fruits. You know, and that the point of this here, go to Colossians chapter one. And obviously the point of this is to understand that, God does not take kindly to disobedience. It's not something you want, but people have this idea today and it's so prevalent in our society that, you know what, as long as I've just got Jesus, that's all I need. Jesus and coffee. I see that sign every week, right? People have it in their kitchens. I just need Jesus and coffee. I was at somebody's house, very nice family. We do need coffee. We got two pots back there. Feel free to get up and get it, right? But I was at this lady's house. I've been there like several times for something. You know, and they go to a local Baptist church around here. I think it's an American Baptist church or something. You know, and she was asking questions. She had Bible verses over the house. They got like NIV and stuff like that. And you know, she's got Caleb playing really loud. They just love to do that. That's in their minds. They think they're witnessing to you, right? Well, I was there on, I think it was Wednesday. I was at this past house again. You know, she knows that I'm a pastor. We've talked very briefly. And I was working with another guy, you know, because he was helping me out on this appliance. And he didn't really say a whole lot about anything. But at the end, he was like, you know, your thing's working great now. But I heard Caleb in the background. Next time, turn that thing up. You know, he's like, we love that. You know, and she's like, well, I really like that. But I also like rock. You know, so we usually either have that or rock in the house. And I thought back to that church that they go to. And I looked it up on YouTube just for a quick refresher. Of course, you know, rock band, no preaching against the world sensuality or anything like that. You know, but they're puffed up in their vain imagination. You know, with their strength, what they think is strength is them playing Caleb in front of me and this other guy, you know, and then that's somehow like edifying or somehow like gonna build us up. You know, well, I left good seeds in their minds from playing this radio station. You know, and that guy, he was just eating it up. You know, we walked outside and he was like, yeah, I feel great. I love it when they play the Caleb and, you know, and he's trying to get a conversation started with me, but I just don't have time. You know, I was just thinking about these verses here. You know, that your strength shall be spent in vanity. And that's really what it is. It's really not strength at all. It's just seemingly strength, right? He's just like, it's so bold for them to be able to play that music because they don't know us. That's what he's saying. He's like, they don't know us. That was bold. That's not bold. Come down here and we'll show you what boldness is. And I'll get fired. It's fine with me, whatever. So mega churches offer pride and arrogance. That's what they have. They have sugar. They have a big cake, a big cake with arrogance on, for frosting. Colossians chapter one, look at verse 18. He says, and he is the head of the body, the church, who was the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. You say, well, why is that? Well, you got to understand that Christ upholdeth all things the Bible says, right? I mean, it says that all things were created by him, right? So therefore he deserves the preeminence. You know, we can find all the answers to life's problems and dilemmas in the Bible. Some of them need diligent study. Some of them need conversation, right? To draw those things out. But the answers are all here in this book. Why? Because this is a balanced diet. You know, there's some sugar in there like Leviticus, 2013, you know, Jude, all sorts of it, right? It depends, you know, what's sweet, right? Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. He took the idols of the land and got the sodomites out, right? Took them out of the land, it says, right? What's something that plagues our society today? Sodomites, idolatry, which always go hand in hand. To me, that's sweet, that's sugar to know that someday, you know what, when Jesus comes back to rule and to reign, there ain't going to be any more sodomites. There ain't going to be any more of that garbage idolatry. It's going to be out the door, right? Because we've learned to take the real sugar that's in the Bible and to find those nuggets and to hold on to that. I'm not looking for that white powder refined stuff, right? We don't want any of that garbage. Now, go to Matthew chapter four real quick. Matthew chapter number four. The point being here and say, what do we do now? Point being here and say, what do we do that? No bread, no life. Obviously, we need to hold fast to the word of God. Without it, there's no eternal life. Without it, we aren't going to grow. We aren't going to be effective. Point number two, along those very same lines, but just a little different word here. And it's this, no bread, no life. What does that mean? No bread, no life. Understand bread, understand life. Comprehend the bread, comprehend life, right? That's what the difference here is. If you don't believe me, look at Matthew chapter four. You know, Matthew chapter four, this is where the devil is tempting Jesus saying, hey, you know, just bow down. I'll give you this, take him up to the pinnacle. Hey, look at all these kingdoms. I will give all of these to you. How does Jesus rebuke the devil? How does he defend himself? The word, that's right. Is that what we see today? With religions of the world? Not at all. Is that what we see in a lot of these denominations? Not at all. Look at verse four. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Right? Obviously, you know, we love to see people saved. That's our desire. That is what we love to do. But Jesus says, hey, you know how you're going to really live? By every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. All the words. The full meal deal. The full diet. Genesis through revelation and every single thing in between. Eternity past to eternity future. Understanding that, comprehending that. That is how we need to live. That is how you will live abundantly. Not this Joel Osteen stuff. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter eight. I should have told you to keep your place there, but you should be able to find it quick. Deuteronomy chapter number eight. So we need to understand. We need to learn. It's imperative. It is important. This is how the church grows. This is how the body of Christ grows. When people inside of the walls of a building like this, that is full of saved Bible believing Christians decide, you know what? Monday, I'm going to read a Bible. Tuesday, I'm going to read the Bible. Wednesday, I'm going to read the Bible. So on and so forth. That my friend is how we defeat the devil. That is how we grow. So how are we going to get our numbers up? We're going to get ourselves up. And you've heard me say this a million times. We can do more with 30, the 30 and 40 people that we have every week that's on fire for God that are saved, that understand that we know bread and know life that we can with 100 people that are confused or 3000 people that are confused. They have different ideas and different ideologies. Go listen to some of these mega church people sometime. Just real quickly. You know what you'll find? They appeal to, they're like, well, if you're an atheist in here today and you're one of our regulars, you know, we talk to you guys all the time. We love you. You know, once you keep coming back, I'm going to put this point like this to you guys. You know, we were like, hey, look, if you're an atheist and you're in here and you've been coming for a while, you're going to hell. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. There's a reason why we don't have a church building full of atheists and agnostics. Who was with me when we knocked on that guy's door? Who was a teacher? His brother, Jeff, wasn't it? Remember that he was like, I teach Sunday school or I teach a Bible group, remember? And he was like, what are you guys with me? I think it was Jeff. And man, I can't remember what church. He went to one of these churches around here, right? He means like, but I don't believe in hell. I don't believe in this. I don't believe in that. I don't believe in this. It's like, right, of course. He doesn't believe in like 75% of the Bible, but he's a teacher in his church around here. Think about that for a second. That's not just one incident. That happens all the time. I talked to a person a long time ago who's like, I don't believe in that Jonah stuff. I know Jesus talked about it, but he didn't have everything right. Even my pastor agrees. Oh, good evidence there. Good proof there. Thank God we don't go to that church. Deuteronomy chapter eight. Remember what Job said? He said that he esteems God's word above his own necessary food. That, my friend, is the goal. How was he able to make it through that tragedy, those trials, because he esteemed God's word above his own necessary food? That is the attitude that we need to breed inside of this church. Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse three. This is what Jesus was quoting. It says this, and he humbled thee. So Moses is telling children of Israel, hey, remember this, he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger. So he's saying, hey, God, the God of Israel, he allowed you to be physically hungry. He said, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not. Neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Doth man live. Every word. And you know what that means? That means the Brussels sprouts. That means, I don't know, okra? String beans, what's cooked carrots, Kenley? Quinoa, what else? Yeah, asparagus, yeah. I'll put some sugar on that stuff. Hey, if it doesn't have butter, dude, I'm not eating it. Especially these vegetables. What am I talking about right now? Oh, yeah, yeah, every word, right? We need every word, even the stuff that's hard, right? There's a reason why we have success. And people say, well, you don't have a big church. I don't want to come there. People say that all the time. Yeah, but we have success. Get people saved. We only have five people saved this month, but praise God for that. Amen. Amen. We're still preaching the same gospel, right? We're preaching the same gospel and we're having success in other areas. There's always going to be ups and downs in different areas of ministry and church, right? Don't let that discourage you. It's all good. We have the same gospel. It has the same power. And you know what? People are still hearing it. It's because it's on them to get saved. It's all on them. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. So God, we see that God allows them to be physically hungry to teach them a lesson, right? He withheld physical food to say, hey, you know what? My word is more important than your unnecessary food. When you can get that, when you can understand that, then guess what? You're not going to be serving the Canaanite. You're not going to be serving the Moabite. You're not going to be serving the Hivites and all these other ites, right? It's real simple. Obedience. Exercise thyself unto good works. Titus chapter one, verse nine. You don't have to turn there, but it says, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught. You know, Paul's telling Titus, hey, it's a requirement for a pastor, right, for a deacon, for a pastor to hold fast, to have a tight grip on the word of God. And isn't that exactly what he told the Colossians? Hey, these people that are going to rob you of your rewards, they're puffed up by their fleshly mind full of vanity because they don't hold the head. They don't have a tight grip on sound words. They don't hold fast the faithful word as they have been taught, if they've even been taught. But he says this, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound, doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. And some, you know, in every week, somebody in here who goes soul winning is out there and you find yourself in a hot battle where somebody is not being malicious, but they have good, tough, hard questions because they have been taught contrary to what you're bringing them. And it's your, and they're gainsaying. And it's your job, man, to be able to break through that barrier. And the more nourishment, the more you fed yourself that proper diet, the better chance you're gonna have of convincing that person to, hey, that Coke you're drinking every night, that cake, that diet you're on is going to kill you. The reason why you can't see this is because you're being robbed by sensuality, by that sugar in your body. And you need to get rid of that. You need to cut that back so you can see. And then we get that victory, right? So a loose grip on the Bible equals a firm grip on the world. It is so true. Go to Stonehenge. Go talk to those people. They love that bumper sticker. I went into one's house the other day, and he's like, you like my shirt? I was like, yeah. And then I was like, I thought I had to do something with surfing because I was thinking about his refrigerator. And I was like, Stonehill, Stonehenge. Oh, that's a church. I was like, oh, I couldn't take it back now. I'm like, crap. No, I don't like it. It sucks. What the heck am I talking about here? Look at verse 19, Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 19. It says this, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. In other places, the Bible talks about the, you know, we need to be washed by the word, right? This is what washes you. This is what cleans you up every week. That's why we like that Wednesday service so much, right? Because it's that midweek break to just help us get clean from the vexation that surrounds us in the world, right? And it's kind of like what he's talking about here. And he says in verse 23, let us hold fast. There is again, hold fast, tight grip. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Well, what is the profession of your faith? It's Jesus Christ. It's the word of God. You can't separate the two. You got to maintain that tight grip on these words, on this book. For he is faithful that promised. Did he not promise to preserve these things? Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But most people today say, oh, no, no, no, no. We just got to do the best we can. We got to rightly divide the word of truth. Meaning we got to take the NIB, the SB, and the Greek and put them together and subtract here and there. And then bam, man, we got the truth. But no, that's sugar, that's garbage. That's not effective. That's crap. Verse 25, I'm sorry, verse 24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. You know, we're allowed to provoke each other in the right way, right? I've been provoking with a chili cook-off, right? I think it's fun, especially with some of you guys, man. I can sense the provokedness, but really should be provoking you into good work. And it's a good work to make chili. It is because you're feeding your brethren, okay? Verse 25, he says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. No, it's not church. Well, what is it then? What is it? If it's not church, what is it? They've got no answer. I'm always asking that. Well, what is it then? What is he talking about? Holding fast the profession of our faith, having our conscience sprinkled by what? By the Pope's holy water? Give me a break. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. So as we see times getting worse, we're gonna have more church. We're gonna have more fellowship, more things. Why? Because we need that advocation. We need that sharpening. We need that strength. We need to make sure that everybody in here holds fast the form of sound words, which are brought by the Bible, by the word of God. All right, real quickly, go to Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter number six. So I said, no bread, no life. Understand bread, understand life. I wanna show you something that we need to understand. And that is how to properly feed. Obviously building the body physically requires you to chew food, all of that stuff, drink food. Some of you protein shake munchers, but it's different obviously spiritually, right? It's what goes into your eyeballs and into your ears. We need to protect what goes into these things here. Look at Matthew chapter six, verse 22. The light of the body is the eye. The light of the body is the eye. Yes, that means your eyeballs. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. So when your eye is single, meaning it's singly focused to the preeminence of Christ, to the word of God, your body's gonna be full of that light. We are to be lights unto the world, right? We understand this. When we're fed with a proper diet, your proteins, your fats, your carbs, your minerals, all that stuff that Jesus is, that living water, that bread of life and that meat, then guess what? Then you will be full of light. And that's not to say you're gonna be without sin either. Okay, I'm just throwing that out there because some people just don't get it. Verse 23, but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? So when your eye is singly focused on the world and the things and the sensuality and the sugar and the garbage, you know what? That's what will come out. Go to Numbers chapter 33 and we'll be done. Numbers chapter 33 and we will be done. I like to bring this up, Numbers chapter 33. God's gonna tell the children of Israel something that you might find a little bit strange, but I think you'll find it very applicable. And it's gonna answer the question, well, what if I work with a bunch of heathens? What if I work with a bunch of people that are just foul and vexing me and just always trying to show me stuff and they just got garbage all around? You know, the first thing I'm gonna say is welcome to adulthood. That's the way it is. We live and operate in a crooked and perverse nation, right? But God gives the answer to that question because you know what? You will see things that are unsavory in life. You will work with people that will tell you unsavory things in this life. You will go soul winning and somebody will open up their door and unfortunately you will see things that are unsavory and crooked and perverse and you know what I'm talking about here. How do we deal with that? Does that mean that now our body is gonna be just full of evil? No, the recipe can actually be found here in Numbers 33. Look at verse 50. Numbers 33 verse 50 and we're done after six verses. And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho saying, speaking to the children of Israel and saying to them, when ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan, right, so he's like, hey, I'm sending you into this heathen, pagan, wicked nation. Understand that. I'm sending you there to conquer, to destroy it. Verse 52, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their pictures and destroy all their molten images and quite pluck down all their high places. You wanna talk about an unhealthy diet? Pictures, which has to do with what? The sensory of the eyeballs, right? The high places, which would also encompass, you know, their enchantments or their chanting, their musics, their worship, which is gonna be a combination of the eyeballs and the ears, right? And God's saying, hey, you're gonna pluck these things down, right, and then their molten images. The land of Canaan, obviously, is a representation of the world. The world wants to appeal to you and beguile you through the lusts of the flesh. But God's actually sending them there to see these things because they have to observe them in order to break them down. Does that mean they're all gonna be full of idolatry and all this wickedness? No, the answer lies in the verses that follow. Look at verse 53, and you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell therein. For I have given you the land to possess it. I want you to understand something here. We live in a crooked and perverse nation, but you know what? As kings, as priests, as ambassadors, as God's children, we can possess our local environments wherever you're at. And you're gonna do that by having your eyes singly fastened on the word of God. So when you go to work, when somebody shows you this garbage, you see it by driving down the freeway or Fairview and you see a crap billboard or something. How does that not affect you? Because you've already had your eyes single towards the word of God and you learned to hate and to bore those things and you've determined, I'm gonna do what I can to destroy that thing. It's all about your mindset. You're gonna see things that are unsavory. The difference between you versus somebody else who falls prey to go lusting after that stuff is your mindset before you even see that. You need to make up your mind right now, you know what? I hate those things. I abhor those things because God doesn't. He told me that I shouldn't put up with that stuff, that I shouldn't be a partaker of that garbage, right? God sent the children of Israel there to see those things. They had to see it, but he said, you're gonna destroy that stuff. You need to break it down. And because they didn't, what happened? Then they started going to their high places. They started mimicking their pictures. They started worshiping their gods. Look at verse 54. And you shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families. And the more you shall give, the more inheritance and to the fewer, you shall give the less inheritance. Every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot fall. According to the tribes of your fathers, you shall inherit. Look at verse 55. But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from them, I'm sorry, from before you, then it shall come to pass. Don't miss this. That those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides. So when we say, you know what? I really don't think that this sin, whatever it is, let's take Hollywood for example, you know, these watching this crap movies or this garbage music or this brainwashing media over here. And we say, I just don't think it's that bad. And you're wrestling with that tension inside of you. You're conscious and you know the Holy Ghost is saying, hey, that is wrong. You know this, you've read this and you say, but I just think it's okay. You have now failed to do what God has told you. You have failed in your mind to be willing to drive out the inhabitants of the land. And that stuff will become a prick in your eyeball and a thorn in your side. It will plague you. It will make your earth, your life like brass. It will literally put you into a prison planet. That is what it will do. And shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. You, my friends cannot play. We cannot play by the rules of the world because we have a different father than they do. Verse 56, moreover, it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them. And the bottom line is the nourishment of the body of Christ is dependent on a strong grip of the Bible, right? We need to know bread to know life, right? We need to know the word of God, meaning know the Lord in order to be saved. But to succeed the way that he wants us to succeed depends on that firm grip to know, understand bread and to understand life. And by so doing this body here, this local body will be nourished, the bands, the joints, everything. And it will grow. It will grow numerically, but more importantly, it will grow spiritually. And that is what we're after. That is what we're gonna seek till the very end. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, God. Again, for week after week, service after service, Lord, of revealing truth unto us. Let's pray, Lord, be with us. So winning today, be with a fellowship, be with a chili cook-off. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.