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

All right, well, hey man, I'm excited to be here. You know, I've been following you guys for a very long time and it's nice to see some of you guys again and hopefully I get to meet everybody here. I know that's not always possible, but again, I do wanna thank Pastor Anderson and his family and church staff, all of you guys for the hospitality and for allowing me to even come down here. I greatly appreciate it. So we're in Ephesians chapter number three. If you would look down to verse number 10. So the Bible says, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. The title of the sermon this evening is When the Mega Powers Collide, When the Mega Powers Collide. So I'll break that down. It'll make sense here in a little while. We're gonna spend some time going through some things before we really break down verse number 10. But what this sermon is about, it's about the purpose of the pulpit and the pew. Okay, that's really what this is about. For example, I remember when I first started watching you guys and Pastor Anderson was talking about how when he first started the church, you know, the numbers were obviously small at that time. And he said, you know, it doesn't matter, I'm still gonna preach the word of God. You know, and the question that I have for this evening is would you come to church if the numbers shrank? Would you still preach the word of God if no one showed up? You know, and you say, what in the world is this guy talking about? It'll make sense here in a moment. Again, we're talking about the purpose of preaching and the purpose of being in church. Okay, I hope to edify you this evening. And, you know, I'll start off by saying that, you know, our church has been in the news, you know, locally where we're at. And these people act like, you know, like I'm the first person to ever say anything about the sodomites, you know, and it's like, you not know like who's gonna be in our church on Wednesday. You know, it just cracks me up. I'm like, do you not know who sent me out? You know, you never heard of the name Pastor Jimenez before? And so we're just kind of waiting to see how long it's gonna take these people to connect the dots. But, you know, they're like, we'll be back here on Wednesday. We'll see you on Wednesday, pal. And I'm like, no, you won't see me, but do you really know who you're gonna see? And what that means? Because I'm not alone in this, so. But anyways, the whole reason I bring that up is partly because it's funny, but also because, you know, when you think about these other Christians that are out there, these quote unquote Christians, right? You know how they're always going down to the abortion clinics and they're protesting, or they protest this, they stand out on the street with their signs, where they've got the bullhorn, they want to yell at all the vehicles going by. You know, that really doesn't do anything, does it? I mean, it might get a few people's attention or whatever. I preach one sermon calling sodomites reptilians, and I don't believe in lizard people, and all of a sudden, you know, my phone's going off every minute with phone calls. I'm gonna kill you, die. No one else believes this. You made, you know, just all that typical stuff, and I was thinking about that, and I'm like, all I did was preach one sermon, you know? And it's like, I've been preaching this stuff for three years. Three years! You guys hear one sermon and it's like the whole state's coming after us, you know? It's crazy, but you're gonna see that as we go through this information tonight. You know, I had a pastor that used to say this. He would say, a dim light in the pulpit is darkness in the pew. I've also heard it put that a fog in the pulpit is a mist in the pew, and that is so true. You know, if you think about it, you guys go out soul-winding all the time, you know, and you talk to these people, and you know, they go to whatever church, and they can never give you, like, a good, solid answer on what they believe. You know, it's always like, well, yeah, salvation's a free gift, you know, no works involved. Right, and then, like, a few seconds later, but, you know, if you don't change your life, you're not saved, you know, it's like, how does that happen? What happens, because their preacher, their pastors, are literally just not being clear. Now, there's plenty of times, like, I work, like, 70 hours a week. There's times where I'm like, all right, we're just gonna turn to this passage here, and hopefully it works out, hopefully it's clear, you know? But, you know, it's the word of God, ultimately, that is clear, and these people are ashamed of it. Most Christian people today, seriously, most people who call themselves Christians are literally ashamed at what the Bible says. We say that all the time, but I'll tell you, it's one thing when these people start calling, they start coming down to the building, and, you know, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus never said anything of that sort, what you're saying, you better prove to me where he said, it's like, I don't have to prove to you anything. All I have to do is preach the word of God, and I can turn this entire state upside down. I mean, is that not what this church has done? I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for this ministry. Now, I've been trying to become a pastor probably since I was like 22 years old, and I'd always get the same answer. Wait till you're 40, 50, or 60 to start. You know, that's what they would all say. I found out later it's because they just don't want the competition. That's really ultimately what it boils down to. They just don't want competition, and that's how they view this, right? I don't view this as competition. This conference isn't about competition. It's about contribution. It's about preaching the word of God. It's about us applying the word of God, and if you listen to me long enough, you'll see why I'm calling the sermon when the mega powers collide, okay? So again, we started off in verse 10. We're gonna come back at the end of the sermon and explain that. I'd just like to say, you know, I've been a pastor now for just over three years, and I've seen what happens when people lose sight of what the mission of the church is, which is ultimately to evangelize the lost and to edify one another. When people just start showing up to church and they develop this attitude like, well, you know, I'm just more of a spectator, you know, that's the wrong attitude. Once you adopt that mindset, I mean, it is, you know, it's only a matter of time before you're gonna find yourself literally out of church, and we don't wanna see that. This is not the time to be losing people. We need more people, and you guys know that's true. I mean, think about what this church has done, because you all listen to the preaching and apply it in your life. Think about the influence that this place has had in the entire world, you know, and people say, yeah, but you've got a tiny little Baptist church. That's what the news said. He's got a tiny little Baptist church, and it's like, you wanna talk about the manifold wisdom of God? You know, just that statement from the lost proves the manifold wisdom of God, because this tiny little church that we have up in Idaho literally got everyone's attention, and it's not because of me. It's because of the word of God. It's because the word of God has power, and God doesn't need large numbers to get things done. That's what the megachurch crowd like to say. You know, these people in Boise, they're in Treasure Valley. There's this organization that's called the, what is it called? It's called the Interfaith Equality Coalition, right, and they've been trying to get my attention and get me to sit down and have tea and crumpets with them or whatever. I'm like, look, this isn't gonna happen. There's no way I'm gonna sit down and talk with you about any of this stuff. You know, they're like, what you're saying is a problem. It's a problem for the entire state, and this is, you know, they released an article today and said we had to create a safe space, and this is the language that they're using. We've had to create a safe space to coddle people because you keep clobbering them with Bible verses. Don't you see how you're hurting people? And it's like, don't you see how you're hurting people by supporting Roe versus Wade, by supporting abortion, by allowing these freaks inside of your congregation, but I'm the one that's hurting people? But ultimately, it boils down to preaching the word of God. Okay, so with that being said, let's start this thing off here. We're gonna begin reading in verse number seven. So if you would, take a look at verse number seven. So Paul says this, talking about the gospel and the mystery of the gospel. He says, verse seven, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. So you can see right away that the language that Paul's using here and his attitude, that he's grateful that he has the opportunity to preach, that he has the opportunity to be in ministry, and he talks about how God has given him power, effectual working of his power from God. Look at verse eight, it says, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. So you have this spectrum, right? We don't wanna ever just get so shallow to where we only preach sermons about salvation, which a lot of people right now are telling me that I should do. Like, anytime you stray from the gospel, you're out of line. Like, this is a big book. There's a lot of information in this book. There's a lot of wisdom. We're commanded to proclaim the manifold wisdom, manifold meaning many, right? Unsearchable riches of Christ. We need to preach the whole counsel of God, whether it's in season or out of season. But again, today, most people don't like that. They don't want to hear that. And here we see Paul talking about the unsearchable riches of Christ. Obviously, that starts with your salvation. It starts with the gospel. We need those sermons. We need to preach about salvation, the defense of salvation. But we also need to work towards preaching these unsearchable riches of Christ. I mean, you could literally have a conference where you invite, I don't know, 100 preachers to preach out of Ephesians three. And everybody in here is gonna get something different every single time, because that's how his word is. It's infinite, it's unsearchable. So again, we don't ever want to develop this attitude where it's like, oh, another sermon about this, another sermon about that. And you'll see why here in just a moment. So verse nine, he says, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. So again, why preach? What is Paul saying here? Why preach anything at all? What is the point? Well, obviously the point is because it's powerful. It changes lives. But here's the thing, you have to know what you're preaching. You have to have the source of that power, which is the word of God, okay? The moment you get a preacher in front of a group of people and he says, well, in the original languages, it didn't really mean this, or we should probably wait until some more scrolls are dug up. As soon as a person's done that, he's literally made himself the Pope. There is no power in that at all. The result of that type of attitude is literally a fog in the pew, because what are you trusting? So the first point that I wanna make is this, there is power in the pulpit, okay? Now, what I mean by that is that there is power in preaching. That's what I'm talking about, okay? And you say, well, you know, great. What am I, just chopped liver? Well, no, think about it. You know, I was looking at the bulletin back there. You guys have tons of different soul-wanting times. You literally bring the pulpit to people's doors. You bring the pulpit to the community to reach the lost. There is power in preaching. That is the point that Paul's trying to make. He's saying, hey, it's been given unto me to make all men see the fellowship of the mystery, okay? The fellowship of the mystery, and we will talk about that here in just a second. Now, if you would go to Ephesians chapter number one, really quickly, Ephesians chapter number one, and you know, this power really, it really is only gonna be truly manifested when people understand this tiny little word with two letters. This tiny little word, most people today who are saved or aren't saved have no idea what this means, and that is the word us, okay? If the last 30 days at our church has taught us anything, most people have no idea what us means in the Bible. People keep calling and emailing, hey, you're supposed to love your neighbor, and you're not doing that, so it's obvious that you're wrong. It's like you have no idea what any of those verses mean. Do you even know what chapter of the Bible that comes from? Love thy neighbor, right? There's a certain group of people that are not supposed to exist, so how could they be my neighbor? But anyways, I don't wanna get off on that. I'm just a little upset, right? It's gonna take me a couple months to calm down, but real quickly here, look at verse number one, Ephesians chapter number one, verse number one. This is going to explain to us who this letter is written to. Look what Paul says. He says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints, okay? To the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So obviously it's written to the Ephesians. You know, that's some theological wonder there, but it's written to the faithful in Jesus Christ, meaning people that are saved, okay? There are things in this book that the lost would read and be like, I don't get what that means. Oh, it just must mean that God loves everyone. Might as well just be a red letter Christian. And boy, there's tons of those out there. You guys ever met red letter Christians, right? There's really no such thing, but these are the type of Christians that will just say, okay, it's really only three verses. What Jesus said, love thy neighbor and don't judge, okay? Those two red letters, that's it. That's what a red letter Christian is. Don't let them fool you into thinking or telling you that, no, no, they just only believe the red letters in your Bible because that's not true. They don't believe Matthew chapter 23. They don't believe that Jesus called the Pharisees vipers and things like that. They don't believe that at all. But going back on track here, Paul is being very clear here, right? He's letting you know who these things are addressed to. It's to the Ephesians, it's to the saints, it's to those of us that are saved. Look at verse number eight. So it says this, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Very, very important here for later on in the sermon. Keep that in the back of your mind. Look at verse nine, says this, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. So again, you know, you don't wanna let people, let's take Sam Gitford, for example. Now he lives not too far from where we're at. You know, preachers like that, these dispensational guys, they will try to make you think that you're like down here. Like in the millennium, you're just gonna be basically like a waiter to the Jew, okay? I mean, seriously, that's the attitude that they come across. You say, prove it. Well, come up and visit us. We'll go soloing near that church and we'll talk to some other people, right? And that's literally the first thing out of their mouths. You knock on the door. Hey, are you 100% sure you're gonna go to heaven if you die? Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, I go to Treasure Valley Baptist Church. You know who Sam Gipp is and they just wanna start pouring it out to you, you know? And it's like, you have no concept of the things that are written in this book. You have no idea what a small word with two letters is, us. And you're gonna see that here. He's alluding to that. But look at verse 10, says that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together, now don't miss this, in one, all things in Christ. Both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him. Now go back to chapter number three. So in chapter one, Paul alludes to this mystery, right? And it's not a mystery like unsolved mysteries or anything like that, you know? This mystery is known unto us now because we are in the New Testament and he's going to explain that but he alludes to it in verse 10 there, right? Which is what? Well, Jew, Gentile are all one in Christ, you know? Because again, people have this attitude that God's a respecter of persons and you're gonna serve the Jew only in the millennium. And in eternity, you know, they're gonna be doing their sacrifices and you're just gonna basically be helping them out. Maybe it's just me but I run into people like this all the time and it's disgusting, it's disheartening. I mean, how can you not even read one chapter of the Bible and not understand it unless you're not saved? So if you would, chapter number three, look at verse number three. So Paul says this, this all makes sense in a second. It says, how that by revelation, he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a four in few words. Look at verse four, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Verse five, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, okay? And then of course, we just read verse six and seven, which talks about, hey, that's his calling. That's what he's doing. He's preaching not only salvation but the unsearchable riches in Christ. He's saying, hey, I am called to preach this mystery, which is guess what? It's not about the Hebrew. It's not just about the Jew. It's not just about that nation. It's about a total package. It's about a mega power. It's about a powerhouse, okay? And it starts with preaching the word of God. You know, I tell people this all the time because we get hate mail and whatever you guys get more than we do, but you know the deal. Oh, you're preaching against women because you say that women can't be pastors and they just wanna start going off on that type of thing. And I'm like, our tiny little church has more women preachers than your church does. Your church of a thousand people. They're like, oh, I don't understand that. How does that make any sense? Well, first of all, because our church members are saved, and second of all, our women do preach. They go out soul winning all the time. And guess what? When they go out soul winning, it's just as powerful as when the guys go out soul winning. Amen? This is what I'm talking about. There is power in preaching, but there's no power in somebody who doesn't even know what the word us means. Because most people today will say, oh, us is everybody. You just have to accept and include everybody and you're not doing that. You need to get out of our state. Well, I'm not going anywhere. How about that? Because this book has power. And you know, now that I've figured this out, I mean, I always kind of knew it, but actually living through this and experiencing it, I'm really fired up. I'm like, man, I'm gonna keep preaching all kinds of things to get you guys riled up, to get you guys upset. This is great. Go to Acts chapter 20 real quick. Acts chapter number 20. So again, we're talking about the fact that there is power in preaching. That is the point that Paul is trying to make, but you gotta be preaching the truth. You gotta be preaching the right thing. Why has this ministry here been so successful? It's because your pastor realized that early on. And he said, I don't care what the old IFB says. I don't care what anybody says. I'm gonna preach the truth. And he preached the fellowship of the mystery that was in God. The fact that, hey, Jew and Gentile are one in Christ. You guys made a documentary about that. That turned the world upside down. Think about that. There is power in preaching. In fact, just to cement this here in Acts chapter 20, look at verse number 17. Look at what Paul says to the Ephesian elders before he departs from them. Verse 17 says this. Says, and from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. Verse 18. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, ye know from the first day that I came to Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in weight of the Jews. Okay, now look at verse 20. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable, unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. So what is he saying here? He's saying, hey, preaching, preaching the word of God, my example unto you is power, but it's also profitable for you, okay? So again, I'm gonna go over this here in a minute. Don't ever develop this attitude. I'm just a spectator. I don't matter because I'm not a preacher or because I'm not a pastor. I'm gonna show you why that is the wrong way to think. But look at verse 21. He says this, testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks. Repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. One gospel for the Jew, one gospel for the Gentile. People get saved the same way. But hey, a lot of people today, they do not understand that. And you know what? It's our job to be able to clearly communicate that to them. That's what Paul's saying here. Hey, it's been committed unto me to preach this mystery, okay? Because think about it, back in the Old Testament, it was all about the nation of Israel. And a lot of them had a hard time even grasping this type of a concept here, especially during the time of Christ. They're like, Jesus, but aren't you gonna come back and set the kingdom up now? Like, what about right now? And we can be like the sons of Zariariah, stuff like that. So you can leave your place there in Acts and go to 1 Corinthians chapter number one. 1 Corinthians chapter number one. I wanna show you what to do with this. So again, the last thing that he tells the Ephesian elders is hey, don't forget about that mystery. Don't forget about the fact that there is power in that. God is not a respecter of persons. Well, what happened shortly after that? We don't really know, but I mean, what happened 100 years, 200 years, 300 years, 2,000 years later? You have people start preaching stuff like dispensationalism. You know, and that stuff there, at least where we're at is definitely a thing. You know, it's a problem. It's something that needs to be stamped out. And you know what, if people would just understand what us means, we wouldn't have this problem, would we? But people don't understand that small two-letter word in the book of Ephesians, and it has set off millions of people into deception. First Corinthians chapter one, look at verse number 18. So this is what Paul tells the Corinthians about preaching. He says this, for verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Anybody read the book of Hezekiah? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you go to our YouTube channel. There's a little video up there for you, okay? And you'll see what that means. You'll see that in real time. Look after the semicolon there. It says, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God, okay? It is the power of God. Preaching the Bible, preaching the word of God is, I mean, it's the most powerful thing that we could do. It's far more powerful than getting wrapped up into politics and going out and making signs and protesting and doing all this crazy stuff, right? All you gotta do is just preach this book. Be clear and guess what? You're gonna set off a firestorm and you guys know that. I'm not telling you anything new here. Look at verse 19. It says, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Go to Titus chapter one, Titus chapter number one. And boy, isn't that true. You know, the world today, the wisdom of the world today is just, boy, it's a whole nother sermon. I don't even wanna get off on that right now. Titus chapter one, look at verse number two. So Paul says this about the power of preaching. He says, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. Verse three, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, right? It doesn't say he's manifested his word through archeology. He hasn't manifested his word through some liberal guy with a fish hat on and his collar on backwards and his interpretation. No, he's manifested his word through preaching, through proclaiming the word of God, through proclaiming truth. Look what the rest of the verse says. Which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our savior. Go to Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter number four. Now the question is like what the writer of Hebrews told the Hebrews. He said, you know, I wanted to give you guys some meat. I wanted to give you guys some good doctrine, but I couldn't because you become dull of hearing. And this is a problem, this is definitely a problem that we face today. All of us will go through at least a portion of this where we become dull in hearing. You start going through the motions, right? And things start to slip and things start, ah, the same old stuff again and the same old stuff. Oh, another Ephesian sermon. Oh, another Corinthians sermon. You know, that, look, I'm gonna show you here in a minute, that is wrong, that is the wrong attitude. Don't ever think, well I just come to church and sit down here and I don't really contribute much. You have no idea how powerful you being in church is and we'll show you that here in a second. Ephesians chapter four, look at verse 12. The Bible says this. So Paul's telling the Ephesians, hey, you know, God's given us the apostles, he's given us prophets, he's given us evangelists and pastors and teachers for this reason, verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, okay? This is why we have these things. You know, I had somebody leave our church not too terribly long ago and it took a bunch of people with him. You know, one of his gripes was that my sermons make people feel paranoid. Look, I read this book all the time, I have to, you know? We all have to. This book makes me paranoid. I got some problems. Look, I'm just being honest with you. I've got some issues. I'll tell you about this later on, but you know, in the old man, I was a journeyman troll. You know, and seeing those protesters at our church, I was just like, oh man, I'm gonna roast some of these people, which is how the book of Hezekiah came up, but we'll talk about that here in a minute. So again, point number one, there is power in the pulpit. This applies to everyone. You need to have the right frame of mind when it comes to preaching. Don't get this mindset like, why do we need a whole month, you know? And I'm not saying anybody's done this at my church, but you know, at our church, I deemed it anti-pride month, you know, and they don't like that. You know, the news hates that or whatever, I don't care. But I hope that nobody ever develops the attitude like, why do we need that? Why do we need a whole month of that? Well, why do they get a whole month of it? I know there's power in preaching. We've proven that. This church has definitely proven that, right? Our movement has proven that. Why not? Don't be like, oh man, Genesis 19 again. No, if it's obviously like every service, then okay, we're getting out of balance and that's a whole nother topic, that's a whole nother subject. I get that, I understand that. But understand, every year there are things that we really have to cover a lot. You know, depending on what's going on in the world today, I mean, we need to be able to sit through sometimes the same sermons, similar type subjects. It's powerful in ways that we don't even understand. I'll come back to that thought here in a moment. So point number one, there is power in the pulpit. Supplies to everyone. It applies to you when you go and knock on someone's door, when you try to teach them from the Bible, right? And everybody in here has the desire to get people saved, but not just get people saved, but also to disciple them, right? I mean, everybody wants to do that. You know, I hear stories all the time and I see this even in our church a lot where, you know, they knock on someone's door, they're interested and they're like, wait a minute, I got this question. No one's ever been able to answer it for me. And then when we have the answer, guess what? We earn that trust. We earn that respect, which in turn, a lot of times earns that soul, right? And it starts with preaching. It starts with not developing this attitude. Oh, here's another sermon about judges. You know, here's another sermon about the kings. All of it is powerful, very, very powerful, but not just the pulpit. Go back to Ephesians chapter number three and let's go towards the second point here. Ephesians chapter number three, look at verse number two. So Paul says this, he says in verse number two, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which has given me to you word, verse three, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a four and a few words. Verse four, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. So obviously what's the point of his preaching? It's for us to get edification, for us to receive education so that we can then pass that on so that we can further the kingdom of God. That is why we exist, okay? Verse five, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And so obviously we have the completed revelation of God's word and so now with that in mind, you can go back to the Old Testament. You can go back to the prophets and still see this stuff, right? Look at verse six, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. If you would go to First Corinthians chapter number two. First Corinthians chapter number two. You say, what's the point here? Well, the point here is that we need to understand Paul's mystery here. What he's explaining to us in this mystery which I've already said, which we've already read that hey, there's one gospel for the Jew, there's one gospel for the Gentile and it's that fellowship, right? It's that fellowship that we need to be able to proclaim. This is important. People, are you stuck on that marching to Zion stuff again? Are you just stuck on the Jews? That's all you care about. It's like, no, that's the mystery. That was Paul's calling and he wants his congregations, he wants believers to get this, to understand this and so my second point is this, there is power in the pew. Again, do not develop this attitude, I'm just a spectator here because you're not. It's much, much more than that. You are not just a spectator. Oh, I'm just somebody that comes and fills up a seat. No, it's far, far more than that. You'll see that here in a moment. First Corinthians chapter two, look at verse number one. So Paul tells the Corinthians this. Verse number one, it says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Look at verse three. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, verse four, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, okay? So he's reaffirming, hey, there is power in preaching. I came to you with this power but he wants them to understand something. He wants them to see the big picture here which is that power doesn't just stop in the pulpit, okay? Wrong attitude, look at verse five. Look what he says, that your faith, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. There is power in the pew. And by pew, I mean people. Go to Ephesians chapter number five. Ephesians chapter number five. So again, the title of the sermon is When the Mega Powers Collide. I'll explain to you the answer here in a little while but I wanted to cover these two mega powers, okay? Because preaching is a mega power. Think about it. Look, if, you know, let's just say next Wednesday, everybody's like, I'm not coming back to church. I'm offended or whatever. You know what? I would still go to church and preach a sermon. Even if YouTube's like, you know, the heck with it. We're shutting off your internet, you know, the cable company's like, you're done. I would still preach a sermon. And some of you are like, what? Why would you do that? You'll see here in a little while, okay? You will see here in a little while. But let's get back on track here. Ephesians chapter number five, look at verse number one. There is power in the pew, okay? Look what it says here in verse number one. Paul says, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, okay? It's interesting how the book of Ephesians is laid out because in chapter one, he starts off talking about the mystery. In the middle of the letter, he's talking about the mystery. And at the very end, he's talking about the mystery. And in between are applicable steps for believers to follow to help make that manifest, okay? So everything he's saying here in chapter five is to support this mystery, but it's also to teach us the fact that there is power in the pew, okay? Jump down to verse number 25. Ephesians chapter five, look at verse 25. So Paul says this, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. So look, you run into an organization today and their guy gets up there and is using an NIV, are they being washed by the water of the word? Absolutely not. I don't care what anybody says, that is not happening. In fact, it's oftentimes those people who are very quick to run up and tell us how wrong and how judgmental and how hateful we are, right? Because they don't understand the power of God. They don't understand any of this stuff. Verse, where am I at here? Verse 25, verse 26, look what he says. That he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, verse 27, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Look, you say, okay, great. Look, that starts with your choice. You know, we have a saying at our church, if you're not applying, you're dying. I wanna get a patch made. You know, I got this Bible cover here. You know, we don't wanna do patch the pirate club. We don't wanna rob the old IFB off. So I got my own patch club, and I wanna get one that says apply or die. I think that would be something great. But hey, the power starts when you decide to hear that powerful preaching and apply it to your life. Now, notice what I didn't say. I didn't say the power starts when you're perfect and you've turned from all your sins. Yeah, good luck with that. That's not gonna happen at all. We are all messed up, and we all know it in our hearts, don't we? Look at verse number 32. He says that, he says this in verse 32. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church, okay? It'll make sense here a little bit more in just a moment here. We're talking about this mystery here, which is obviously, there's one gospel, there's one spirit, there's one faith, one baptism, right? People today are trying to get away from that. They're trying to push that aside. Go to Hebrews chapter number two, Hebrews chapter number two. So again, there is power in the pulpit. There is power in the pew. When a church decides to start applying the word of God in their lives, right? I mean, that's what we can do. Yes, we all have the old man. We all have issues. I get that, but there is something that you can look and say, you know what, I'm not doing that. I'm gonna start doing that, right? And you're gonna see here in a moment, that is super powerful. That has ripple effects in the unseen world, okay? I know you're like, yeah, right. You'll see it here in a moment, okay? Let me just kinda contrast this today by kinda showing you the problem that we're seeing, the problem that we're actually facing here. So what happens when there's no power in the pulpit, no power in a pew? I'm pretty sure you already know, but look at verse number one. Look at what the writer here says. So after chapter one, talking about how angels are ministering spirits here in verse number one, he says this, he says, therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. Lest at any time we should let them slip, okay? This is what we don't want. We don't want the word of God and the things that we have heard to slip. We wanna keep ahold of them. Well, the best way to do that is to find something and apply it to your life. Whether it's a concept maybe you didn't understand, you say, I'm gonna write that down and I'm gonna get it right in my head so I can communicate that to someone else, or maybe it's something I know I should be doing but I'm not doing, whatever it is, make it a point to apply something, otherwise you will start to see those things slip, okay? And it won't be obvious to you. It'll be obvious to those of us that aren't in that stage but it won't be so obvious to you. Jump down for sake of time, look at verse number three. So he says this, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? Didn't Paul say, won't it mean if I preach not the gospel, if I don't preach the gospel, right? And he's giving a warning to believers here, hey, we shouldn't let these things slip. Go to Matthew chapter five. We need to keep a tight grasp on the Word of God, on the preaching, the manifold wisdom of God. Every time that you come to church, I guarantee you, I don't care if you've heard a thousand sermons on the subject, there is something in it for you. There is something that you can take and do which in turn is powerful, okay, is powerful. You are not a spectator. But what happens when these things do slip? What happens when we do neglect the great salvation? We start, you know, just, oh, you know, maybe we should try this, maybe we should try this program and that program. What happens? Well, Matthew chapter five, look at verse number 13. Jesus says this, ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is therefore good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Well, there's your answer. That's what happens when a church decides to just let these things slip. This is what happens when believers decide to let these things slip, okay? They are good for nothing. They have lost that power. They have lost that calling that God has placed on the church, his local New Testament church. Look at verse 15. I'm sorry, verse 14. Verse 14, he says this. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, okay? Say, yeah, but we're in a valley. Doesn't matter. If you have the word of God, I guarantee you, and your preacher preaches the word of God, and you're applying the word of God, people are gonna see it. You know what I mean? Think about it. There's all kinds of megachurch pastors out there. You know, people, have you heard of this guy? And I'm like, no. Then I'll go check their channel. They got like 83 billion subscribers, you know? Every, and it's like, how have I never heard of that person before? That's crazy. You know, there's people like that all over the place. I'm sure this town's got plenty of megachurch pastors, you know, and some of them, maybe you guys have never even heard of, but I guarantee you, they've all heard of you, okay? Verse 15. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. So Jesus is like, hey, no one does this, right? No one lights a candle and puts it under a bushel, right? That just not, it just doesn't make any sense. That's what we call energy saving Christians. You know, the energy star Christians, because there are people out there today that do that, don't they? You know, there's a, you know, I'm not the only Baptist church in town, you know? And some of the guys have been kinda checking them out and seeing if they're saying anything, you know? There's been a couple of preachers that have made some remarks that are definitely geared towards me. And I know there's been preachers that have made remarks geared towards you, geared towards your pastor for standing upon the truth. You know what we call those? We call those people energy star, energy saving Christians. You know, they think they're being all cool and all, you know, oh, we're just gonna kinda save this energy, kinda save, you know, humanity by just not talking about certain things, by just not going over it, and they're saved. You know, there are a couple of Baptist churches in the Treasure Valley, you know, they have the right gospel, they have the right Bible. They don't have any soul in anywhere. I think we're the only show in town now, which is sad. But here, I'll bet there's other old IFP churches that, you know, send people out and so on. But when you listen to them, you know, it's like something's missing, something's going on. You know, and what is it? Well, what you're witnessing is what Jesus said, hey, this is what you're not supposed to do. People are literally trying to cover up the light. Because see, what they're doing is they're looking at us and saying, I don't wanna go through that. I don't want my face blasted on the news. So I was telling some of you guys before the service, you know, I work for a company and they don't agree with me. They don't agree with me at all. But we talked about it, and you know what? They're cool. How can that happen? How can that be? It's because our God takes care of us. You know, I just decided, you know what, I'm just gonna preach the Bible. If I lose my job, I lose my job. If I lose my house, it doesn't matter. God's like, I've got your back. But you got all these preachers running around that are saved. They have the right Bible. They have some pretty good things to say. And literally what they're doing is they're putting their light under a bushel. They're starting to cover, well, we're just gonna kinda save this energy, you know. We'll save it for the end. You know, I heard one preacher in our town, he's like, you know, we're willing to fight that battle too, though. Don't worry, we're willing to fight it. When? Because it's like right now, you know. It's like, if you're not willing to fight now while you really have free speech, then you're not gonna do it when it's illegal. It's not gonna happen. Verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter number three. 2 Thessalonians chapter number three. So again, what do we read in Hebrews chapter two? We read a warning to believers who hear the word of God and start letting these things slip. We read this warning like, how are we gonna escape if we neglect so great a salvation, right? Jesus said, hey, the body of Christ, believers, you guys are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. You are what preserves the world, okay? What do we have going on today? We have an explosion of reprobates, don't we? It's starting to really just, they're coming out of the woodwork. Like I didn't even know Boise had 20. I thought it was like five, you know, but there's 20. Maybe 25, I don't know, but whatever. 2 Thessalonians chapter two, look at verse number three. Look what Paul tells this church. It says, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. It's really kind of what you're seeing today. So there's power in the pew, and it's really easy to see it when you look at it through what Jesus said, when you look at it through what the writer of Hebrew said. You know, what happens when a church lets these things slip, and people start covering up that light? Well, what you start seeing is the wicked getting worse and worse and worse and being more bold and more bold and more bold. You know, my wife and I, we were talking about this, and we were thinking like, what if, what if just maybe like 15 churches came out and said, we think the guy's crazy, but we're gonna kind of adopt that idea where they're not welcome. They would probably leave me alone. They would probably back down. I mean, think about that, and that's weak. You know, just that, I mean, that's weak. We want them to take the whole stand, the whole word of God, and digest it, but what if they just did that? Say, you know what, that's actually some good application. We'll go and adopt that. That would still be some resistance. That would still help out, but they're not gonna do that. You guys know that. They aren't gonna do that at all. Go back to Ephesians chapter three, and we'll move on. So again, what's the point of this? What's the whole point? There's power in a few, big deal. You'll see that here in a second, but the point is this. You are not just a spectator, okay? Don't look at this like, oh, it's time to go to the show. You know, we've had people, you know, a few people come to our church. I just came here to see the show. I want to see you get mad, you know, and it's like, look, I don't rehearse these things. You know what I mean? It's just, you just gotta come all the time, but it's like, when they say this, I'm like, I'm never gonna see you again. You know what I mean? You know, it's like I'm preaching on love or marriage, you know, and they're just like, this sucks. This is terrible. I wanted something. It's like, you're gone. Think about all those eternal rewards that those types of people miss out on because they just want to come to see a show. Look, you come long enough, some days are gonna be a show, some days are gonna be more. All right, let's move on. So we saw the two mega powers, right? The power in the pulpit, which means power in preaching, applies to all of us, okay? And then we saw the power in the pew. There is power when a congregation hears the word of God, applies it to his or her life and makes changes. You'll see that here in a second. But what happens when these two collide? Because look, I've been in old IFB churches where the light was dim in the pulpit, right? And some of us who were listening to this ministry, listening to Pastor Menes back in the day, you know, we would go to these old IFB churches and revive the soul winning and get people fired up, you know, and start to do some great things. But what happens when they both collide? What does that look like? What does that even do? Well, look at verse nine, Ephesians chapter three. Look at verse number nine. This is my third and last point. Look at verse number nine. It says this, it says that to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God. We're gonna come back to that phrase in a second. Who created all things by Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 10. To the intent, okay, to the intent. So now he's telling us why, why all of this matters. Why power in the pulpit, why power in preaching, why power in the people, why does that matter? He says, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. So you say, what does that mean? Well, here's what you get when you combine the two. You literally shake heaven and earth because he says that to the intent that now, meaning not prior to the New Testament, not before, but now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by, by meaning the source. So he's saying the church is the source. It's supposed to be the source of the manifold wisdom of God, okay? That's what he's saying here. So you get power against the principalities and powers in heavenly places, okay? I'm gonna show you this here. Go to 1 Peter chapter number one. 1 Peter chapter number one. So really, if you wanna assign someone the role of spectator, it's gonna be the principalities and powers in heavenly places. We are the church, we are supposed to display the manifold wisdom of God. We are called to be sanctified. We are called to be set apart from the world. Now, I'm not promoting lifestyle evangelism, but I'm just simply saying there's power in that. There's power when you actually do what you say you're gonna do. It has ripple effects in eternity, in the unseen world. 1 Peter chapter one, look at verse number 12. It says this, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them, that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. And if you've read Hebrews chapter number one, what are we told about the angels? That they're ministering spirits. They are ministering to those who are going to inherit everlasting life. So again, don't think, oh, I'm just a spectator. I'm not qualified to ever be a pastor. So what? You can still be a very powerful individual and have great influence when you decide, you know what, I'm just gonna apply the word of God. There is power in that because that wisdom that you learn, that wisdom that you show with your life, the Bible says that the angels look into those things. The Bible says that that shows unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places. We're not getting that wisdom from them. We're getting the wisdom from the word of God. Look at verse number nine, go back to Ephesians chapter three. Look at verse number nine. I had a, I don't know what persuasion this person was, but they brought these verses up to my attention and were like, you know, you're basically, what this is saying here is that you're supposed to listen to the angels and you're supposed to hear from the voice of God, which is different in all ages. Yeah. You're on crack, dude. I'm not even gonna talk to you. Like this convert, this, no. We're, no, that's, are you crazy? Look at verse nine. It's like, did you back up and just read verse nine? And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God. Look, this mystery, which we are now supposed to proclaim, right, this mystery was hid in God. Doesn't say was hid in heaven, doesn't say was hid in the angels, doesn't say any of that, hidden in the ground. No, it was hid in God, in the triune God. This was hid in him who created all things by Jesus Christ. Right, and skip down to verse number 11. He says, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So again, don't ever let anyone try to bully you into this attitude or this type of ideology. The church was just an afterthought. It was just because the Jew failed, but don't worry, he's coming back. No, this was always the plan. This was always the plan, okay? You starting to see the importance now of not only preaching the word of God, not only supporting the preacher and going out and preaching, but also applying the word of God, right? There's power in the pew. And that power, when these mega powers collide, it literally shakes the heavens. You sitting here right now in this church, you coming back Sunday, sitting here, hearing what the preacher has to say and deciding, you know what? I'm going to apply that in my life. That is more powerful than you can possibly imagine. That's what he's saying here. Go back to Hebrews, if you would. Hebrews chapter number two. I'm not doing a good job at telling you to keep your place there, but you guys know where these are all at. You got it. You're good. We're almost done. Mostly because I ain't used to this weather. Yeah, I'm about to keel over and die here. That's why I was sitting in the back because the water tank's back there. I thought the elevation in Idaho where I live was rough, but I walked out of that airport today, and I was like, I don't know. It reminded me when I got dropped off in Alaska, when I was in the military, and I walked outside, and it was 30 below, I was like, I just, I'm going to die. How am I going to make this? How is this going to work? Hebrews chapter two, look at verse number five. It says this, front of the angels, hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak? Verse six, but in one certain place testified saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? So again, put this thing to bed, right? When you get people saved and you bring them in here, you make sure that they understand, hey, don't ever just look at yourself, oh, I'm just sitting here, I'm just chilling, I don't really contribute much. You apply the word of God, you're contributing more than you could possibly even imagine. And look what it says here, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. So God looked at man and said, hey, you're washed in. There's no way you could ever earn anything, so I'm going to send my son to die for you. You're going to be in me. We are in Christ, we are placed into Christ, and he has placed our enemies under his feet, right? We need to not lose sight of it, and we need to understand that, because what does the world say? Well, let me just pray to some angels here. Hopefully the angels got my back today. Yeah, you better hope you're saved, first of all, right? But look, verse six, but in one certain place testified saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Do you understand the blessing? Do you understand the power that is available to you just by hearing the word of God and applying it in your life? I mean, this is insane. Hopefully this is something that will keep you motivated for a long time, and not to say that you aren't, this has just been on my heart for a while. Go to Ephesians chapter number six. It's kind of interesting that Paul makes a statement to the Corinthians that he says, know ye not that we shall judge angels? I'm not going to get into all that, because that would take a lot of time, but it kind of puts this whole thing into perspective when you realize that just coming to church when the doors are open, offering up that spiritual sacrifice, right? That people don't even know, they don't know what you're going through, they don't know what kind of day you had, but when you make that decision, you know what, I'm just going to go anyways, guess what? That's displaying the manifold wisdom of God, and the real spectators in the heavenly realms, they see that. And with that can come some other issues. Let's take a look, Ephesians chapter six, look at verse 11. So again, the end of the letter here, Paul says, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So look, we understand this. When you apply the word of God, and you are in harmony with the word of God, you agree with it, you stand with it, you're not ashamed of it. That is powerful. That is how we fight the forces of darkness. But also understand that with that, with us displaying the manifold wisdom of God, when we start accelerating in that, it starts to get certain principalities attention, okay? Like these types of folks here, and they start sending trouble, they start sending drama, they start sending their little troops, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, I promise we're getting close to being done. And so more fights come. But hey, it doesn't matter, because we know and we understand the power of church, right? It's not just the pulpit, it's a combination. It's when these powers collide, that is when we start winning, that is when we start fighting this battle for real, like what Paul tells the Corinthians here, 2 Corinthians 10, look at verse number four, it says, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. I mean, this book here is what's gonna pull down the strongholds in our minds and in our hearts, the things that just mess us up, the things that get us off track. It's this book here. It's not your $10,000 a month therapy session that's gonna really help you, and I'm not trying to be down on anybody who's done that, I'm just saying, it's really ultimately, the power's here, the power's in this book, the power's in you taking that first step and saying, I don't care how messed up I've been, guess what, I'm going to apply this lesson. I'm going to apply the word of God. And just know by doing that, you are shaking the heavens, you are contributing to this fight, look at verse five, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now, again, go to Colossians chapter number two. Colossians chapter number two. I find it funny that anytime you see a group of dogs, and I know I keep talking about this, and it's because our church has become the dog pound of Boise lately, and it's funny because the Satanists always show up. Anybody ever notice that? Somebody keeps signing our church up for the Satanic temple. I unsubscribe, and 30 seconds later, it's like I've been subscribed again. I don't know how they're doing it. I gotta get that figured out, but it's crazy. But how do things like that happen? Well, it's because when you're displaying the manifold wisdom of God, and those principalities see that, they don't like it. And so there's this whole battle that we can't see that is ensuing, and they're getting their little ministers, and they're whispering in their ears, like hey, go down there and say this, go say that, right? You ever notice that? The more you start fighting the good fight, the more you start going out there and contending for the faith, like all of a sudden, maybe some more challenging questions and some challenging arguments start to appear. And you're like, I know you're not going to church. You getting that on YouTube? Like where are you getting it from? Well, they're getting it from their father. They're getting that stuff from their influencer, which are the folks that we're upsetting by displaying the manifold wisdom of God. So Colossians chapter two, look at verse 15. It says this, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. That's why we need to constantly talk about the resurrection, at least make reference to it, and talk about what Jesus Christ actually did, how he, hey, he's the propitiation for not only our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. We need to make sure that we tell people that, that we defend that, because in doing so, hey, we're confirming verse 15 here, where Paul said to the Colossian church, hey, in having spoiled, our Savior spoiled them. He made a show of them, and they don't like being reminded of that. That's why they hate our soul-winning times. That's why it never fails, you know? You go soul-winning for a week, I bet you're gonna have some weirdo try to follow you. You know, you knock on the door of somebody, and they got a couple of statues of an owl outside the door. You know, and I learned that from somebody in this church. You know something bad's about to happen, right? How do you get that discernment? Well, by understanding what our Savior did for the world, what he did for us. Look at verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. Hey, because our Savior shook eternity, because he lived a perfect life, because he died and defeated death, he rose from the dead. He put these wicked principalities and powers of darkness to open shame. Right, you ever read Matthew chapter four, and like ask yourself, like why is the devil going up to Jesus and trying to get him to stumble? Like, don't you know who that is? These things were hidden in God. You know, they were like, I'm gonna at least try this guy out. Right, a lot of this stuff has been kept from them. They're learning it from our wisdom that we get from the word of God. That's how they're learning these things, and that's why we're having to always up our game. And I may have mentioned earlier, you know, well, before I get to that. So, what does Paul say here? Hey, because of what Jesus did, don't let people judge you in these things. Right, this is encouragement for those of us who have family members and neighbors and coworkers and ex-friends or whatever that start saying, oh, you really gotta go to church three times a week? Oh, do you really gotta go sewing? You used to be with us all the time. Hey, don't let them judge you in that, right? Now, I kinda took this to an extreme on Sunday. So, we had this guy, and he walks up to me, and this was a couple Sundays ago, and he says, you preach clan Jesus. I'm like, who's clan Jesus? And he's like, the KKK Jesus. Most of our church is brown people. Okay, I'm dead serious. And I'm like, look who's standing here. There's a black guy standing right next to me. I'm like, Kevin, what do you think about that? You know who it is? He's like, well, you're a KKK guy. You're not even really black. I'm like, I went inside, I'm like, we gotta get somebody to start recording this stuff. You wanna talk about putting people to an open shame. That is despicable. I knew these guys were dumb, but I didn't realize how dumb they were. Because when the big protests happened at Verity, I was just like, there were so many of them, I couldn't hear what they were saying. But now that there's just a few sporadic ones, I'm starting to hear this stuff, and I'm like, are you on, you gotta be on coke. Or something, there's something, man. Because look, even people that were possessed weren't even that stupid in the Bible, you idiot. So he says, he starts pulling this red letter stuff, hey, I challenge you to fast and read the sermon on the mount, and I'm gonna come back to you next week and you're gonna tell me why you're changing your mind. And he just walks away from me. Well, I told you I was a journeyman troll, so I'm like, okay. I decided to preach a whole series about the sermon on the mount. But anyways, before the guy left, I said, well, hey, what chapter is that in the Bible? What chapter does it start? He's like, dude, I don't know the numbers. What's the likelihood he's even read it, even in the NIV? Yeah, yeah, probably not very likely, right? So, as him being true to his word, last Sunday he comes by, you know, and he comes by with this girl who apparently made me famous on TikTok, I don't know, I don't know much about that. But anyways, you know, they come out to me, she's cussing me out, and he's like, hold on, hold on, right? He's a born again Christian. And he's like, did you do what I said? Did you do what I told you to do? I said, actually, yeah, you know I did, because I do intermittent fasting, and I read the whole sermon on the mount, and I just preached a sermon about it. And he's like, and you still wanna preach that, hey, huh? I said, hey, how about you shut your mouth? I said, I own you, you're my property. He's like, what? And again, I'm not recommending you do this, okay? I'm just saying, I'll confess my faults to you today. I said, you work for me. I said, when I'm here, you're here. And you better not be late tonight either. And he's just like, just completely blown away. And I just kept saying it, go give me something to eat. Go get my church some donuts. He's just like, I can't believe that. And then the girl was all recording me, and she put her phone away, and then said some choice words. I said, hey, don't you forget, I own you, I own all of you. And she's like, I'm living rent-free in your head. And she runs away. I'm like, no you're not. I'm living rent-free in your head, because think about this. Think about the time that I just stole from you. I took half your weekend. You spent two hours Sunday morning. You came back Sunday night. I stole your weekend. And I know most of these commies don't work, but it doesn't matter. I took your time. And as he's walking away, you need to get out of my living room. I need to get out of your living room? What? Did you hear what I got? You need to get out of my living room. I don't even know where you live. You know what he's saying? He's saying, I'm so obsessed with you, I can't stop watching your sermons. It's like a drug, like one of the other drugs I'm on. I mean, think about how stupid that is. That's what he says. You need to get out of my living room. I said, you know what? You just proved my point. I own you, OK? He never came back. I mean, he did come back that night, right on time. And I should have done this, OK? But I was like, $6.50, just like I told you. He went right to his little corner with a sign. He's a Nazi and a fascist and white supremacist and white supremacy. You know, I just said, well, let no man therefore judge you. I kind of took that to an extreme, OK? I'm not recommending you do that. Like I said, I got the old man too, right? And look, I've spent 18 years between the military and the federal government, man, I got some troll tactics, OK? And sometimes that flesh gets the better of you. So anyways, I got to figure out what I'm talking about here. Last passage, go to Philippians chapter 3. It doesn't have a whole lot to do with the sermon, but maybe it does. I don't know. Oh, yeah, that's right. Going back to this whole spectator thing, OK? When the mega powers collide, right? That has ripple effects in the unseen world. You don't have to turn there, but Ecclesiastes chapter 7 in verse 8 says, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof, OK? You know what I always tell people is, hey, don't get caught up in this new beginnings type stuff, you know? Sometimes people do this in relationships, you know? And then once that honeymoon phase is over, they start getting upset, they start getting all crazy. You know, the same thing can happen to you in church, but hopefully not when you understand the fact that there's power not only in preaching, but power in the pew. What you do with this information matters beyond what we can even fathom in our minds, OK? We're done right here, I promise. Philippians 3, look at verse 1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. You know what is safe for us to hear the same verses sometimes? You know, I'm not sure what Pastor Shelley's going to preach, but maybe he'll preach some of the same verses, right? Don't be like, ah. Or maybe I preach some of the verses that other people have. I haven't had a chance to listen, but I'm not sure. Doesn't matter. For us, it's safe, right? It's safe. There's always something in it. Look at verse 2. Kind of interesting he says this afterwards. Beware of dogs. He's not talking about Fido. You know, he's not talking about the German shepherds, though. You've got to watch some of those guys. I like them, but just got to be careful. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So we need this repetitive type stuff sometimes, like about abortion, about the sodomites, about the things that are going on in our world that are wicked. Why? Because for us, it is safe. It's kind of interesting how he says, beware of dogs and beware of the concision right after he mentions that. So understand, there's power in that. And that's what I'm trying to get my church to understand. I believe they understand that. The reason why I devoted four or five Wednesdays to preaching against the sodomites is because it was needful. For us, it's safe. Yeah, it brought us a little bit of tribulation, nothing like what you guys have been through. But hey, you know what? People know now. Now people know the truth. And so I'm done right here. So point number one was there's power in the pulpit. And what did I mean by that? I mean there's power in preaching. Whether you're up here or whether you're at someone's doorstep or you're at a coffee shop with someone, there's power in that. There's power in preaching the word of God. Then there's power in the pew. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean there's power in applying the word of God in your life. We are called to display the manifold wisdom of God. Because when the angels look into these things, they can better help us. They can assess our situation. They can minister to us better. And I'm not even trying to pretend to know what that looks like. But number three, you put these two together and you literally shake the heavens. So I'm done right there with that statement. Hopefully this was an encouragement to you. Hopefully you can share this with somebody else that might be struggling with the fact, oh, I just go to church, you know. Pay attention to that attitude. Pay attention to that. When you spot that, edify that brother. Edify that sister. Let them know. No, it's more than you just going to church. No, there is power in going to church. There is power in displaying the manifold wisdom of God. And I gotta be done. I've taken up enough of your time. I thank you all for listening to me and putting up with my dumb jokes. And with that being said, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord God, for this church. We just pray that you bless the fellowship afterwards, Lord, and you'll be with us all and bless the next preacher that comes in on Sunday, Lord, and help us to consistently display the manifold wisdom, Lord, and understand what that really means and the effects that that has on this world and the unseen world. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.