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

not if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous he's the propitiation for our sins not for us only but also for the sins of the whole world hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments he that saith i know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoso keepeth his word and invariably is the love of god perfected hereby we know that we are in him he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked brethren i write no new commandment unto you but an old commandment which he had from the beginning the old commandment which is the word which he have heard from the beginning again a new commandment i write unto you which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there's none occasion of stumbling in him but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes i write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake i write unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning i write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one i write unto you little children because you have known the father i have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning i have written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever little children it is the last time and as you have heard that antichrist shall come even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us but they were not of us for they have been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us but you have an unction from the holy one and you know all things i've not written unto you because you know not the truth but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth who is a liar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ he is antichrist that denyeth the father and the son whosoever denyeth the son the same hath not the father but he that acknowledgeth the son hath the father also let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the son and in the father and this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life these things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him and now little children abide in him that when ye shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before mad is coming if you know that he is righteous you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him let's pray dear Lord God thank you for every soul here right now Lord and your church Lord we thank you for this church we thank you for pastor pray that you bless him and fill him with the spirit right now as he preaches your word unto us and just give him this attentiveness of hearing Lord and we pray this all in Jesus name amen amen okay we're in first John chapter two this evening and the title of my sermon tonight is becoming a formidable opponent becoming a formidable opponent first John chapter two verse 13 says I write unto you fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning I write unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one I write unto you little children because ye have known the father I have written unto you fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one I want to talk a little bit about spiritual warfare tonight just as a reminder to our church of the battle that we are in as Christians and to make sure that as believers as a church we're being vigilant we're understanding this subject of warfare of this spiritual battle spiritual warfare that we're in on a constant basis and so many Christians today know little to nothing about spiritual warfare and even if they're aware of the concept of spiritual warfare they often take this superstitious view of that spiritual battle you know I think of like social media for example you know if there is some sort of video circulating of a person seeing a ghost or some sort of demon or something like that you know you have people in the comments section that will often say I claim no negative energy you know from this video how many of you have seen something like that you know I claim no negative energy in the name of Jesus and they literally think that first of all that video is real okay which you know come on a lot of it is just like CGI manipulated but people are willing to believe anything and secondly let's say it was real do you really think that it will actually do anything by not claiming any negative energy or by invoking the name of Jesus Christ to protect you from the screen or something like that you know it's obviously nonsense and it's superstitious but even on top of that you know people can also have this view where just by invoking the name of Jesus Christ you know the shadow people will go away and the demons will depart and you won't struggle with addictions or whatever it may be so even people who are clearly aware that there is a battle taking place in the spiritual realm they don't even know what they're doing and most of them don't even understand that they're actually a part of the problem when it comes to spiritual warfare they are actually perpetuating the lies that christian churches so called have promoted and how to fight satan and how to fight demons let me explain to you this evening what it means to become a formidable opponent and I honestly believe that satan laughs at people like that and it you know they're a joke to him because you know he doesn't really take them serious because they're not really doing anything to promote the kingdom of God and in fact I would assert that many of them are essentially giving Christianity a bad name and they're confusing more people with their doctrines and their practices because they don't know what they're talking about now we'll come back to first john chapter two in just a bit but turn with me if you would to second timothy chapter four second timothy chapter four i'm going to read to you from first timothy chapter six by way of introduction and verse number 11 says but thou o man of god flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness fight the good fight of faith it says lay hold on eternal life wherein to thou are also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses and i want you to notice that the bible consistently encourages believers to get involved in a fight not a physical fight not a fight with flesh and blood but this is obviously referring to a spiritual battle and the bible characterizes the christian life by warfare it's telling us to fight this fight of faith second timothy four verse six says for i am now ready to be offered and the time of my departures at hand i have fought a good fight i have finished my course i have kept the faith so we see here according to these two passages that the christian life shouldn't be a passive life you just kind of take it laying down and let you know whatever happens happens no apparently according to the bible we're supposed to be the aggressors in this world we're supposed to charge hell with a with a with a squirt gun so to speak and fight the demonic forces not literally but in a spiritual manner and the bible says that this is a good fight meaning that there's some fights out there the christians are fighting that are not good you know they're not affecting anything they're not tearing down the kingdom of satan they're not making a dent in this spiritual world they are inferior battles that christians get involved in and the bible is telling us that we should get involved in the good fight okay let me read to you from jude verse 3 says beloved when i gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints and what jude is saying here is that believers should get involved in the fight and earnestly contend means you should earnestly fight you should be active in your contention against false doctrine against the wiles of satan and in this particular context is actually referring to church okay and the reason that's important is because you know sometimes i'll get up here and i'll preach against a specific false doctrine or religion and then you'll have people not necessarily in church but outside of church say oh man you're just being contentious why don't you just preach the gospel why don't you just preach christ and him crucified you're always focusing on reprobates and the lgbt or whatever it may be but according to this passage the bible is telling us to earnestly contend for the faith and then he says this for there are certain men crept in unawares now crept in where into churches who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turned to the grace of god of our god into lasciviousness and denying the only lord god and our lord jesus christ so according to this passage what jude is warning uh the reader about is the potential infiltrators that can come into a church to try to mislead and deceive the flock of god and therefore it's important for us to be on our toes pay attention to doctrine and fight that good fight of faith earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints because if you're not doing that people could come in teach all kinds of weird stuff and you can be deceived you know and this phrase uh crept in unawares reminds me of a story okay and this is before we started the church and i don't know if this is the best example but i think it does kind of uh represent what i'm trying to talk about here i remember before we started the church brother brother marcos and i we were sowing in the city of monobello and we're going through these apartments i don't know if they're apart i can't remember if they're apartments or condos or something like that and uh we're knocking on doors and then there's this there's this door and he starts knocking he just kind of looks and he opens the door right and there's stairs so he's thinking in his mind oh this is the stairway to the other apartments so him and i are there and we just start walking upstairs and we're just kind of talking we're just like and then finally we start getting reaching the top and there's like people there and there's like a house there and there's like a family there and there's like stuff there and we're like oh man we just like walked into someone's house now first of all lock your doors you know what i mean like who just leaves their doors unlocked like that but you know marcos crept in unawares and i think we ended up just i think we we got so nervous that we just ended up just like leaving okay but you know obviously that you know he was doing the right thing as far as like someone is concerned however you know from a spiritual perspective there are people who try to creep into church to try to portray themselves to be a christian but the bible says that they're wolves in sheep's clothing and churches have done a disservice to their congregations when they're not training their people to watch out for these wolves in sheep's clothing these false prophets they don't they they're not aware of this impending danger of people who try to come in and people think well you know people are just misled or they're just a little confused no the bible says we need to be aware that there's certain individuals that creep into churches with the intention to mislead the flock and if you have your head in the sand and think that that's not true then you should step down from being a pastor and go do something else go be some like student counselor or something like that because the truth of the matter is the bible tells us that we need to earnestly contend for the faith and part of that is defending the faith making sure that we're fighting to keep the right doctrines and keeping our ear to the ground so that people are not leading others astray in their faith the bible says in proverbs 28 verse 4 they that forsake the law praise the wicked but such as keep the law contend with them so a marker of whether you are reading the bible you're walking in the spirit you are a man or a woman who's keeping the law is that you're contending for the faith you understand you're or you're contending for the faith and you're contending against those who are praising the wicked so you know what i see when i see pastors and churches who are praising unsafe people they are lifting up false prophets these are people who are forsaking the laws of god because reading the bible keeps these truths on the forefront of our minds and we're not going to just make excuses for john mccarthur or something like that and just say oh he's just a little misled or whatever it may be you know we're going to recognize this person is in direct violation of the bible i'm going to contend with this individual for this particular doctrine okay the bible tells us you don't have to turn there in second corinthians chapter seven verse five says for when we were in mastadonia our flesh had no rest but we were troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears and i don't think the apostle paul is talking about physical brawls because i don't think he was a brawler i think what he's referring to is the fact that there were spiritual bouts outside you know against false prophets warring against the pawns of satan who are trying to mislead people and the point that i'm making is the fact that the christian life is a fight okay and christians need to get involved in the fight not throwing the towel recognize that we are in a spiritual battle so how do you become a formidable opponent an opponent against satan and his wiles so that you're not living a defeated life well go back to first john chapter two look at first john chapter two the first thing i want to i want you to see here is the young man okay and in verse 13 it says that the young men have overcome the wicked one and when you look at that phrase that's a pretty awesome achievement because the wicked one is obviously referring to satan and it says it's the young men who have overcome the wicked one this is victory this is him herb just being able to overcome a young man a young woman being able to overcome the temptations of satan fighting against satan and according to the bible god is accrediting them and saying they've overcome that wicked one satan but verse 14 gives us some more clarity on how that was done it says in verse 14 towards the latter end i've written unto you young men because you're strong now let me just clarify here this doesn't mean physically strong okay and i'm not against young men being physically strong i think that's important too but far more important than being physically strong is being strong in the lord and in the power of his might right because there's a lot of people and young men out there who are physically strong but they're spiritually weak okay you know they might be able to lift very heavy and they're extremely uh well put together and they can deadlift 600 700 or squat a crazy amount but i guarantee you you know they've been deceived by satan they believe in some sort of false doctrine if they're involved in false religions or whatever maybe this is obviously referring to spiritual strength he says because you're strong and i want you to notice here and the word of god abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one so the first point that i want to make here is that in order to become a formidable opponent you have to possess the right weapon which is what the bible too many christians and obviously i'm speaking from the perspective of social media because i think social media is a reflection of a lot of what's going on in the world i'm not saying that there's not deception taking place there but you know there's a lot of christians on social media a lot of different types of christians on social media and a lot of it is super cringe okay it is like apostate christianity and the vast majority of them even though they claim the name of christ they don't even know what the bible says you know they're claiming that they're fighting satan and they're fighting satan's minions and all these things but folks they don't know the bible at all they can't quote you the bible they don't know what the word of god says they're just trying to get their views and inspire people to fight against satan not even knowing that they're really at the end of the day in the clutches of satan because of their ignorance of the scriptures and you know i can't emphasize this enough that how important it is for us as christians to know the word of god and i'm not saying you have to have a super in-depth understanding of the bible but you are a christian you know you do have the spirit of god dwelling within you you should have a basic understanding of the word of god and to be able to wield that sword when confronted with the wiles of satan okay and so possessing the right weapon and look let me just say that obviously you know we're talking about the word of god but let's get more specific the king james bible okay not not not the super soaker of the niv or the esv you know we're just joking outside we're talking about the chosen and uh someone was asking me about the chosen what i thought about the chosen and obviously you know you know what i think about the chosen but i made this comment and i and i believe it to be true 100 i literally believe that you will benefit more from reading the niv than watching the chosen i think you actually benefit more from reading the esv than watching the chosen and you know what but there's people out there and i'm not even for those bibles those bibles are toilet paper which makes you think what do i what would i compare the chosen to but at the end of the day you know there's christians out there to get their doctrine from the chosen and they think they're making like a huge impact in this world or something like that because they're supporting some mormon who's you know directing or uh some catholic who's directing this show under the canopy of mormonism and somehow they're making a huge difference because they're watching the entire series or something like that it's nonsense they're losing the battle you know satan has them deceived into thinking that they're really living the christian life by watching some commie jesus who does not represent the bible there's no doctrine in those shows it's complete blasphemous and nonsense and crap right oh but i guarantee you there's tons of christians and maybe even christians who are saved who love that show but you know what that tells me it tells me they don't have the right weapon in their arsenal i guarantee you they're not waking up in the morning reading a king james bible and asking the lord open down my eyes that i may behold wondrous things out of thy law you know they're going to wherever wherever they're showing the chosen and they want to see wondrous things out of that show because to them that's like a substitute and you know before we get on them even though obviously that's bad you know i guarantee there's christians who may reject the chosen but they're opening up a commentary they're opening up a jewish encyclopedia which by the way i think is still better than watching the chosen pretty much anything i think i think it's more profitable for you to read harry potter than to watch the chosen i think it's more profitable to watch harry potter than to watch the chosen you say why because at least you know harry potter is just fantasy and fairy tale you know whereas people literally think that what's taking place in the chosen is actually what's what took place in the bible they don't compare scripture with scripture and so possessing the right weapon is super necessary having a king james bible using the word of god becoming uh familiarizing yourself with the sword of the lord look at first timothy if you would first timothy chapter one and this is where it starts folks and you know what i know that knowing the bible amongst christians is not the most glamorous thing because people are more concerned with and they're more impressed by quotes from church fathers or what history says or whatever may be who gives a rip about that when it comes to spiritual matters you know there's entire accounts dedicated to showing how the catholics are wrong because the church fathers said this those church fathers are probably dead too and probably in hell we don't know because history changes you know the one thing that doesn't change is the bible and so that's why i only stick with the word of god and you know who makes history those who win but the word of god will never change we can place our faith in the word of god and know that it you know it can withstand the test of time it has withstood the test of time and it is profitable look at first timothy 1 verse 8 paul the apostles telling timothy here this charge i committed to these sons timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good warfare so he's saying the prophecies the preaching that you've heard that went before on thee and you're supposed to use the knowledge that you receive to war a good war fair get involved in the fight timothy he says holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck of whom is hymenaeus and alexander whom i've delivered unto satan that they may learn not to blaspheme you know what happens when christians uh stray away from reading the bible and learning the word of god they started doing some really weird blasphemous things you know i think of like recently i saw on social media of a pastor getting up and he was he wanted to read from a gen z bible how many of you seen what i'm know what i'm talking about it's like a gen z bible and it has all the gen z lingo or whatever cap and whatever and you know it what's i don't remember what story was does anyone remember what story he was reading from lou you would know huh christian would know oh it's about mary that's right it was about mary and it was some of the most blasphemous things you would ever hear but yet he's reading this in his church and his church is loving it and he thought it was really cool too because you know he's like you know he's relating to the young people folks that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard super blasphemous that pastor is wicked as hell and he is clearly displaying the fact that he doesn't know the bible and he has no reverence for the bible right right you know in order to be in a spiritual battle uh you have to know your sword use your sword and have the right sword which is the king james bible and this is why it's important on a practical level that you read the bible every single day hey we're in february have you been reading the bible every single day since january 1st are you keeping up with your bible reading or have other things taken the priority over you walking with god right it's important and you say well you know i kind of fell off i'm a little behind and pick it back up because you're in a spiritual battle we have we don't have the luxury of just taking a break from our bible reading and having this mentality well someone else will fight for me no you have to fight you're supposed to get involved in the good fight of faith and if you're not reading the bible you're being defeated okay you're not helping the cause of christ we have enough ignorant christians out there enough christians who don't know the bible enough christians who don't know doctrine enough christians who don't have the discipline to read the bible stop joining them stop being a part of the problem become a part of the solution by reading the word of god okay and you know what get ahead on your bible reading how about that you know instead of turning on your stupid xbox your stupid video games and everything else is wasting your time why don't you turn on the ipad with the king james version of the bible and then just read that instead if you have to be on electronic or something like that i find that today people make excuses for why they can't read the bible but these excuses are just a bunch of time wasters and they're not and you know why people do that it's because of the fact that they don't realize they're in a battle you know if you have five guys coming at you with weapons and there is one sword on the ground i mean and you had nowhere to run it's the only thing you can do is fight you pick up that sword and start flinging that thing around and let me just say this what if they all came came at you with plastic forks and you had a sword in your hand would you run or would you fight we like so you guys are done but you know what a lot of christians in the plastic force what does it represent it represents the wiles of satan that's making you think that he can he can defeat you but you know a lot of christians the sword is right there but their little forearm is too is too weak to pick up that sword because they haven't been practicing by reading it on a weekly and daily basis so even if they wanted to fight they couldn't pick up the sword because their forearms are too weak folks it's important that as christians we get involved in the spiritual battle and you know what you may not be in a severe spiritual battle today but you better pick up the sword so you get your spiritual muscles ready for it because a fight is coming to you one day and there's plenty of christians out there who they've neglected their bible reading they're neglecting scripture memory they're neglecting walking with god and then the fight comes to them they can't even pick up the sword because they're too weak they can't read a portion of scripture because it's just too much for them because they develop too too much laziness in their life to actually crack open the bible and pay attention to what they're reading folks it's the truth you know get serious about the christian life and start reading the word of god and you know what it's great to read a couple chapters but once you bump the bump that up a little bit you know lengthen your sword a little bit maybe hold your sword with one hand instead of two strengthen that forearm just a bit so that when you're in an actual battle you can actually stand toe to toe with your enemy instead of getting defeated by guys with forks i'm telling you we're in a spiritual battle and you know what you can be like these social media christian influencers out there that think they're just doing a great oh because their stupid little video went viral about you know how whatever there is i don't know what liberals talk about but you know some stupid video out there you know and oh they're making such an impact are you really though are you really making an impact no the impact that you can make stems from your use of the sword okay and if you're reading a false version of the bible you're you're definitely not making an impact you know if you're using an niv and esv you know an nasp oh but i got a new king james version you're not doing anything with those versions of the bible that's not going to make an indent those are the devil's bibles and so well you know it's just the king james is so hard to read oh yeah we wouldn't want you to pick up a really heavy sword to defend yourself with now would we you know if it's if it's a little heavier to read it's only going to exercise your spiritual muscles that much the more and you're going to be stronger i remember years ago when i was at my old church i was getting into this discussion with this calvinist who was in my church and you know he was really big on the nasp now he would bring the kjv to church because he didn't want to become he didn't want to be disrespectful he knew there were kjv only but i remember having this discussion with him and he admitted and this guy was you know by calvinistic standards was an intellectual but obviously if you're using nasp you know you're not that smart so this guy you know we're having this discussion and then he says look bruce let me just be honest with you the kjv is a higher caliber weapon it's a higher caliber than an nasp and i said yeah so i win right but that's all he said and i'm thinking to myself if it's a higher caliber weapon and you know that it's a higher caliber weapon then why are you using that stupid pistol why are you using you know the paintball gun instead of the ak-47 or whatever but he chose to continue to go with the nasp because this is easier to read yeah you're you're you'll get killed easier too folks i give me the ak-47 because with the ak-47 i don't know i don't know too much about like assault rifles or anything like that you know but from what i've heard they just spray is that true did they just spray am i correct or no or can you spray is that true okay well i'm talking about the soviet ak-47 is that the one i'm talking about am i right okay that's the one i'm talking about i'm not talking about american ak-47 i'm talking about the soviet ak-47 if you shoot ak-47 i mean you're pretty much if the enemy's like right there you're probably not gonna miss okay exactly so you know what with the kjv you can't go wrong because no matter what you quote from the kjv it'll hit its mark every single time point blank you understand what i'm saying so yeah put a kjv in the hand of a kid and you know what he will mince an adult who uses a false version of the bible any day because it's a kjv learn how to use the word of god and look i want to know more about the word of god than any assault rifle by the way okay plain and simple so you can mock me for not knowing guns but i know this gun though better than any weapon there is so the point that i'm making is that you need to be you need to familiarize yourself with the sword and use the sword spar with the sword hit marks with the sword because you are in a spiritual battle go to second corinthians chapter 10 if you would second corinthians chapter 10 let me just say this because since it's sunday night if you're going to say don't yawn when you're saying amen that sounds weird you know yawn first keep it to yourself say amen second amen all right here's another thing that we're going to talk about when it comes to spiritual warfare and that's this to be a formidable opponent you got to know who your enemy is and let me just say this i'm constantly working as a pastor on showing god's people who the real enemy is why because christians sometimes just don't know who the real enemy is so how do you know that because they're so busy fighting the political war than the spiritual warfare so when you have more christians fighting a political warfare than a spiritual warfare that shows you they don't know who the real enemy is now i asked hike this earlier because i'm not big on chess who likes to play chess now if you don't agree you guys can put your hands down now okay if you don't agree with this this hike's fall because he gave me this info i said what is what is the goal in chess and he said to checkmate the king is that true okay so let me ask you is is the point in chess to hit all the pawns wouldn't you be wasting your time just trying to hit all the pawns the point is to checkmate the king well you know what you have a bunch of christians that that's all they're doing is hitting the pawns you say who i don't know like the presidents the mayors the governors all the people that you know are under the king who's the king satan but yet you know you have christians today that literally kind of are are disillusioned into thinking they're delusional they're thinking that they're making a difference if they vote in the right person or something like that it's getting quiet in here now look there is an election time coming up at the end of the year and um i still stand on what i said a couple years ago you know i don't vote although you know i did say a post where it said that trump if he gets voted in you know he might uh that gas would be like under two dollars my voting might just come out of retirement after that i was just like i was like wow i might you know i might actually vote this time i don't know that sounds pretty dang good no i don't care about that honestly i mean i care about gas but not that much you know at the end of the day though you know i guarantee you there's going to be a bunch of christians losing their minds this year losing their minds over the pawns on on the chessboard losing their minds trying to defeat all the pawns on the chessboard not making a lick of difference in the spiritual battle because it has nothing to do with it that's there to distract you from the real battle oh but i want to make a difference in my community and then go soul winning i want to make a significant difference though yeah then go soul winning and lead people in ways of righteousness leave all that other stuff all the community service to those who are not saved who want to make a difference if you're a fundamental baptist that's what your primary your primary objective should be is to get involved in the spiritual battle by winning people to christ leading people in righteousness showing people how to live a christian life that's a spiritual battle and i know there might be people in here that don't agree with me i don't care this is fact it's true and i have to constantly show people even though they disagree with me and they think well i think if we just if we could just do this and help in this way and vote for this we can make this a christian nation this will never be a christian nation you can make a fake one you can you can make it look like it's christian but i'm not interested in getting involved in an inferior battle by targeting pawns and you know what a lot of christians the reason they get that way is because they're always listening to the wrong people that's what it is folks you know you understand how easily impressionable christians are we're easily impressionable so what do you mean you know we will become like the people we listen to fact we will become like the podcast that you're constantly listening to you know you will become like your favorite whatever podcaster or youtuber conspiracy theorist you know you will become that way and you will think like them because you're constantly listening to them god has given us the free will to choose who we listen to because of the fact and he's commanded us to not give our ears unto fables why because we are easily impressionable we're easily influenced it's easy for us to just listen to 10 podcasts and all of a sudden be one to that side you know and now they're convincing you that if you just get rid of all the pawns everything would just be okay it's not gonna be okay the pawns is not the point my friends checkmate the king you know i missed the part in first john chapter two that says you know you voted for the right guy and you've overcome the wicked one you voted the right people in have overcome the wicked one no it doesn't say that does it because you don't overcome the wiles of satan by getting involved in the physical battle and you know i know it's not as glamorous and i know it's not as fun and it's not as you know most christians view that battle as being more superior but who gives a rip what the majority of christians say why don't you stick with the bible and look here's proof that people have are listening to the wrong people fact and that's because of the fact that christians in california are always moving and the ones who are moving are the ones who aren't listening the ones who are moving are moving because they're listening to fear mongers we have a person in our church who uh was one of those people for for a time and he even said like i was super close to moving to florida you know he was just like and i'm like oh man he should i would have chose texas before florida but it's one of those things like you know it's like the niv esv type you know what i mean he's like he was close to moving to to florida but you know why it's because he said all i would listen to it is the fear mongering propaganda the conservative propaganda all that stuff that they're constantly pumping through he says i would always listen to it and it got to a point where he's just like i gotta get out of here i gotta go this is it's getting crazy out here i gotta go to florida but then he switched it off and started listening to like preaching the bible he started coming to church reading his bible you know what the little boogie monster went away and he now he realizes it's like well it's so crazy because none of that stuff really happens everything that they're claiming was going to happen to me never happened it's just a boogeyman but you know some of you guys like the boogeyman some of you guys like you you're like these um these people who like to get scared you know they go to the haunted houses during halloween or whatever you're like one of those spiritual people who just love to be afraid i remember years ago years ago i used to listen i think i turned on like alex jones i saw his stuff and i and i was just like he just gave me anxiety because i saw like one episode of alex jones and i was like crap the world's coming to an end like the muslims are at my door right now and it was just like i was like get to it he's like i'm gonna show you something and he's just like and i remember thinking to myself like it's just this constant barrage of anxiety and fear-mongering and here i am and stuff just never happened and here's the thing folks is that you know sometimes it's not even you're not even fighting pawns you're like you're allowing the pawns to just like serve you so even though you think you're taking a pawn here and a pawn there the reality is this is they're taking you off the board and he said you know once i actually just turned everything off and here's the attitude of a lot of people yeah but if we turn off well you know we're not going to know what's going on yeah that's that's good because most of what they say is going on is a complete lie i can't tell you how many times i saw on social media last week videos of people and i'm not saying there wasn't any floods okay i know there's floods in california but i literally saw a video of this massive flood and they're like look at california god's judging california it's like i saw this video like five years ago it was from like argentina this is not even in america this is like so and i just so happened to know that because i remember that footage it was like in some i don't know if it was argentina but somewhere in central or south america definitely not united states of america and you know what people are like yeah that's what california deserves just completely believing the propaganda and i'm sure that people who are watching that video who used to go to who used to live in california were like yeah see that's why i left oh yeah because the tornadoes and hurricanes are so much better yeah but you guys got earthquakes you guys have funnels coming down from the sky ripping roofs off your houses and taking your dog that's not fun but this is look folks it's it's amazing how much influence the media really does have and there's people who understand the dangers of media while they're still being sucked in by the media it's just that they're allowing themselves to be influenced by people in the media who claim to be on their side you know the only ones who we have on our our greatest ally is not israel is not the libertarians of this world here's our greatest ally here's our greatest allies right here and you don't realize how sensitive you actually are to the information they're pumping through social media outlets until someone on the outside tells you hey you're acting like you're scared you know you you're acting like a like a person who just doesn't read the bible you know the bible tells us that god did not give us a spirit of fear but a power love and a sound mind and let me just tell you i haven't met anybody who buys into all that nonsense and has a sound mind it doesn't exist and so it's important for us to know who the real enemy is my friends who's the real enemy well look at second corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 it says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds and so what the bible is telling us here is that our weapons are not fleshly weapons they're not fought in this physical world they're fought in the spiritual realm by us tearing down the strongholds of satan the lies that satan promotes and propagates how do we do that verse 5 casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ the best way for you to tear down some of those libertarian conservative republican strongholds that you have is cast that stuff down and exalt the word of god above everything else and look here's the danger sometimes when people get sucked into that crowd here's the danger is you show them scripture and like well yeah i know but still you know but still what that you're saying that that is exalted above the knowledge of god folks this is the real battle this is the real fight and we need to realize who the real enemy is and of course you know the real enemy believe it or not is not biden he's just a pawn the real enemy is satan and obviously there's people who work for satan but let me just tell you where satan is making the greatest uh how should i say he's achieving the most he's winning the most people over it's not necessarily through the political realm it's through religious realms plain and simple you know these false religions that are being put out there these false ideologies that are being promoted those are all from satan and you know i know that's not as glamorous as going to some trump rally somewhere and don't get me wrong you know that you know the the the trumpers they're cool sometimes you know it's fun sometimes you know because you got people there who are sincere and and you know they do stand for certain you know biblical values but let me just say this is the the christers are superior to the trumpsters and are making a far greater impact you really think jesus is any trump rally you think his presence is in any trump rally you think the presence of god is there i mean if you do you're an idiot because he's not there you know who's at trump rallies fags are at trump rallies faggots are at trump rallies because conservative there's there's conservative faggots there's conservative republicans i dare say this probably also conservative libertarian or a faggot libertarians it exists because that stuff is not based off of what the word of god says satan is our enemy and the bible says put on the whole armor of god in ephesians chapter go to ephesians chapter six so and i know when i preach something like this i lose i lose people because people they don't agree just people in our church who don't agree with what i'm saying right now plain and simple but you think i care though you think i preach because i because i'm worried that you you won't agree with me no i'm telling you the truth have i become your enemy because i tell you the truth and you can't refute with what i'm saying if i'm preaching it from the word of god i you know the only trump that i've seen in the bible is in the book of revelation has nothing to do with the president ephesians 6 10 says finally my brethren be strong in the lord and the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil the bible says so it's showing us you know this is a spiritual battle and satan has some trickery up his sleeve that he's going to try to use to deceive you now look none of you are going to be deceived by by liberals which is not going to happen but you know what you know what satan does have tiers of pawns that he uses for different people you know the the liberal crowd you know they're being deceived by just some of them you know the baser sort it doesn't really require much to deceive them you understand so he needs to pull out all the stops for those who are a little bit closer to the bible which is why you know he uses uh americanism conservatives libertarians why because it's just close enough to the truth that makes you think it's it's it's okay and this is how satan operates all the time you know you're not going to be deceived by hindus and by buddhists but you know christians can be deceived by non-denam churches and things that are close to why because it's close it's in close proximity to the truth and satan doesn't just have one stop one tactic one while no he uses a variety of ones in order to deceive people and christians and obviously he's not going to try to fight you to take away your salvation because that can't be taken but he can fight you to a point and deceive you to a point where you're just rendered useless because you're too busy fighting a battle on the other side that does not count it's not going to count for eternity there's nothing at the judgment seat of christ or jesus said you voted for the right guy well done thou good and faithful servant be thou over 10 cities you know you did a good job man you know i voted for him too you know it's just not going to happen it says in verse 12 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 referring to those entities those demonic entities that are influencing the rulers of this world understand and so the answer is not to get biden out of office although everyone would appreciate that but let me just give you a reality check that you just many people just don't like if they remove biden and get a conservative into the white house it's still bad yeah but it's a lesser evil that's funny i don't i've never seen the lesser evil in the vote for a lesser evil in the bible they're just going to get someone in the office you guys understand like you talk about they talk about left wing right wing but you ever thought about who's who's in the middle these are two wings on the same bird you know why because at the end of the day satan is the one in control and you're not going to make a difference riding on the left or the right wing the difference that you make is by shooting down the bird not riding it the bible says in second corinthians 2 10 it says to whom you forgive anything verse 10 i forgive also for if i forgave anything to whom i forgave it for your sakes forgave i a in the person of christ lest satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices now a lot of christians are ignorant of the devices of satan but what the bible is telling us here is that the information is available to you so that you're not ignorant of his devices so learn your enemy you know know who the real enemy is it's not your neighbor it's not even the liberal crowd who doesn't adhere to what the bible says that's not our enemy and look you know what the last four years have done it's caused christians to become callous towards people because it's gotten to a point where like if you see someone with the mask on which by the way we understand it's stupid to wear a mask but it's almost as if christians even like look down upon and despise people who wear masks i thought you were a christian i thought you're supposed to show compassion towards people doesn't the bible the bible said to condescend to men of low estate to be kind to those who are feeble-minded to those who are deceived but then like you have christians who just like despise people who wear a mask they mock them they hate them it's just like dude they're it's a soul though you know you're fighting the wrong battle that's not the enemy this that person is not even a piece on the chessboard and yet you've made that your enemy you know why because of the media and all that crap that you're listening to has caused you to think has caused you to move the goal post of who the real enemy is and now he's causing you to go after and despise those who need christ they need salvation yeah they got a lot of stupid beliefs and then wearing a cloth over their mouth but you know what you're not and it doesn't make you any better than them but why don't you go win them to christ instead of criticizing them and saying how stupid they are look how dumb they are again and obviously it is ridiculous when someone's riding a car by themselves with the mask on okay but do we really need to humiliate people if that's what they do you know are we christians don't we see beyond the physical realm into the spiritual realm and recognize that there's deception out there and recognize that there's a lost and dying world that needs christ and we shouldn't base our faith upon whether someone wears a mask or not don't let texas and all these conservative red states influence your way of thinking oh man they're wearing a mask so what give them the gospel anyways plain and simple yeah but they're not that easy to win who cares we're not we're supposed to be impartial preach the gospel to everyone yeah but what if they're a reprobate then you're just relocated into the lower hell there by giving them more truth but you know what this i'm telling you over these last four years in my observation i've seen more christians become cold towards people who have were just even oh you're like oh man there's people out there still believe in covet yeah so what there's people out there who believe in false religion you're late to the party there's people out there who believe in worse things than just covet they believe in a false religion how about that oh man they actually believe all that stuff to happen yeah weren't you at one point also tossed to and fro didn't you didn't you have to get saved too weren't you deceived by false religion weren't you a catholic before were you weren't you someone who actually believed that the pope had some sort of divine authority weren't you a pentecostal one time thinking you could lose your salvation or something yeah it's pretty stupid right but yeah you know what someone gave you the gospel got you saved had compassion upon you and you know what if this person who wears a mask and believes in covet it's real you know what they've been duped by that you know god forbid that that should ever happen to us but we should never look down upon someone someone's soul because of that and impede us from actually loving them and having compassion upon them why because it's the christian thing to do that's why you know stop being cold-hearted towards people stop being angry and mean with people who are just completely deceived by satan by the liberal media and telling them all these you know that's got to stop my friends we're christians before anything else we're fundamental baptists amen we have the truth and you know what we should have bowels of mercies for people who have been deceived by that christians shouldn't mock people like that but you know that's what social media is also filled with just mocking a bunch of unsafe people and you know what the person who wears a mask and believes in covet but is saved is what is way off better off than the person who doesn't wear a mask is in the mountain somewhere knows the covet was all fake but they're gonna split hell wide open when they die who's gonna have the last laugh then looks like you're the stupid one because you rejected christ as your savior amen go to second corinthians 11 second corinthians 11 this is a spiritual battle you know i'm giving you a reality a spiritual reality check tonight i'm stepping on your toes tonight because i'm trying to wake you up to the legitimacy of this battle that we're in and you know i might have to preach some more sermons like this throughout the year just to make sure everyone's you know they're tuned into the bible they're tuned into spiritual matters and you know if you don't agree with me that's completely fine but just say you don't agree with the bible plain and simple because i'm just showing you what the bible says you know what and here's the thing you know the same people who disagree with me are going to agree with me all day long if trump gets in office they're going to be chilling the entire four years you know they're going to be all it's it they only start panicking when when the liberals in the office but then everything is all good and easy peasy lemon squeezy once the conservatives in the office i can care less whether it's a liberal or conservative because god's still on the throne it doesn't change what i believe doesn't change what i do doesn't change my mentality it doesn't change who i fear it doesn't change how much bible i read it doesn't change if i go soul winning i'm the same person no matter who's in the office look at second corinthians 11 13 for such a false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of christ and no marvel for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works you know who our enemy is false religion and i'm not even necessarily talking about the people who are caught up in the false religion i'm talking about people leading the false religions those are my enemies you know i hate them with perfect hatred every faggoty pedophile priests every you know what do they call the muslim teachers imams you know every imam every catholic priest every orthodox priest every pharisee and jew and you know uh the teaches out of the talmud every single one of those spirits those are my enemies because they actually every mormon is my enemy who's out there knocking on doors damning people to hell those are my enemies so i have no bowels of compassion for false prophets who make it their living preaching a false gospel and damning people to hell who do i have compassion for the people they're deceiving that's what i have no problem with you know if you or me rebuke some sort of false prophet at our door they deserve in fact they deserve a little more than that they need they need to be levi williams okay that's an inside joke i'll tell you about it later can't say it online you know they deserve a lot more than that but you know what i have a lot of compassion for those who are deceived by them muslims are not my enemy muslims are people who just need to be saved i love muslims and believe it or not you know what i love jews too you know what i'm against i'm against those jews who go out of the way digging tunnels to do wicked stuff in those tunnels i'm against i'm i'm not against catholics i love catholics catholics are some of my favorite people to win to the lord because they're so receptive you know i hate the priests i hate the pope hate the bishop hate them why because that's what they spend their life doing is damning people to hell what am i showing you i'm showing you who the real enemy is the real enemy is not the catholic who's been deceived by them the real enemy is the one who's doing the deception is false religion now what do we do about that well we gotta go vote amen this year is the year for you to make a difference no you know what we do we go soul winning is what we do and you know if that's not enough for you you're definitely in the wrong battle that's not enough for you you will see what a difference it makes when everything's said and done i guarantee you there's gonna be a lot of safe conservative republican libertarian blah blah blah blah blah at the judgment seat of christ and it's just gonna be a bonfire of an encounter because all their time is invested in the wrong things preach the gospel you know what god says second timothy chapter 2 and verse 24 says the servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle i have to teach patience and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if god peradventure would give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will our job is literally to rescue people that's what it is you know i was talking to someone at starbucks today and they're talking about how their family member died and you know they're going through a tough time and and they're like yeah you know that the funeral is at a catholic church and the first thing that came to my mind was like that person for sure is in hell this person was a catholic they died at the age of 90 they're in hell today and as she's talking to me like her voice just faded and all i can think about the fact is this grandma is in hell you know that's the harsh reality right there that if that person was not saved tonight they are in hell burning for all of eternity will be there forever and that's a sad thing isn't it we need to think about those things you know meditate upon the realities of hell rather than the reality of who's going to take the office later on this year you know if you feel like you have a calloused heart take a couple minutes and think about hell take a couple minutes and just meditate upon the flames of hell and those who are there you know i think about the fact that the majority of my family and my ancestors are probably all in hell because i'm like the first one to get saved out of my family i don't know any of any christians in my family they're probably all in hell there's a lot of people there's people who died today who are in hell and that is the reality you want to get inspired about something think about the fact that hell exists my friends and you know what it depends on you it's on you it's on you to get them saved and and save them from the flames of hell stop wasting your time in the wrong battle get yourself in the actual battle to get to rescue people out of the flames of hell know that the spiritual battle is real and no it's not in some ballot it's not in some campaign to uplift that which is abominable in the eyes of god because everything that is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the eyes of god get in the battle by actually getting someone saved you want to make a difference that's how you'll do it do some soul winning you know the real enemy is the world system that many christians are actually feeding into the real enemy listen to this is our flesh how about that you know people readily recognize the enemy of satan and the enemy of the world system but then they capitulate to their flesh which is worse in conjunction sometimes even with satan to impede you from obeying god from serving god it just makes you completely immobile and sterile towards the things of god i hope one of your goals in 2024 is to subject your body to keep under your body and bring it into subjection unless by any means when you preach to others you yourself should be a castaway what do you what are you so what do you mean by that i don't mean subject your body by losing weight that's a good thing i don't mean subject your body by going and hitting the gym that's a really great thing i mean subjecting your body by making it do what god wants it to do reading the bible praying soul winning bringing it to church to listen to preaching keeping sin out of your life being a spirit-filled person because the spirit-filled person is not just for the pastors not for the evangelists it's for you it's for you it's for you it's for everyone to be spirit-filled and you know what yeah you may not be involved in alcohol you may not be involved in weed and fornication but you know what why don't we take care of that pride a little bit why don't we why don't we brush up on that apathy and that cold-heartedness and also walk in the spirit to not fulfill the lust of the flesh put you on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof you know the bible tells us let me read you from second timothy 2 3 thou therefore endure hardness is a good soldier of jesus christ no man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier kind of saying you know if you're if you're going to strive for masteries if you're going to be warring you can't be involved with the affairs of this life and look there's a lot of noble things that people can get involved in in this world that are not necessarily bad a lot of community things you can get involved in that are good things but you know what they're not expedient things though all things are lawful unto you but listen to this not all things are expedient and the bible says that we should not involve ourselves in the affairs of this life i remember back at my old iap church they used to talk about pastors who were hellfire damnation preaching pastors who were making a big difference and they got so involved in the political realm that they stepped down from being a pastor to become a political leader a mayor a governor and to them it was like them stepping up but really what it is is them stepping way down way down you know and they just bought into all the propaganda they thought that would make a better difference a greater difference like that but folks let me just give you a reality check it you're spinning you it's a fool's errand that pastor would have made a greater difference leading people uh restoring families and marriages teaching people how to raise their children winning people to christ but i know that's not as glamorous as that other stuff who cares if we're gonna war and and and obtain the masteries and obtain the crowns you know what we can't get involved in the things of this life you got to keep focus on what the priority is in our christian life and this is what the sermon is all about it's just to kind of help you focus in don't get mad at me don't get mad at me because i'm telling you this because i love you i'm telling you this because of the fact that this is a spiritual battle you know what you need to refocus a little bit again you need to kind of get that lens and just focus it in a little bit because you're you're getting off track here hey this is a reality check to tell you hey you stop reading your bible you need to pick it up again hey you're getting a little worldly you need to get a little more holy again hey you're neglecting your family and spiritual matters it's time for you to fix that hey you're listening to the wise men of this world more than the wise men of this book and those who are preaching it you need to think about that here's your monthly reality check we're christians and you're in a spiritual battle a spiritual warfare you're starting to get entangled again with the affairs of this life untangle yourself that's who the enemy is go to second corinthians actually no stay in effusions stay in effusions i gotta finish up because i'm already past time our flesh gotta fight our flesh and you know sometimes the danger of what i've observed as a pastor is that sometimes christians are content with going to church but you know they're just not necessarily improving in the practical matters of the christian life they're sowing which is great sometimes they don't want to improve in this in the practical aspects of the christian life both of them are important my friends preach the gospel but clean up your life too preach the gospel but lead your family too preach the gospel but you know what uh keep your husband in love with you and keep your wife in love with you raise your children for the lord amen you know this i say therefore in testifying the lord the walk not as other gentiles walk and the vanity of their minds being alienated from the life of god through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart but ye have not so learned christ it shall be that you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in jesus that you put off the old man the old conversation and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind which after god is created in righteousness and true holiness the bible says it's a constant command to remind us on a daily basis i need to put off the old man and put on the new man i need to walk in the spirit i gotta realize you know i'm in a spiritual battle i'm raising kids here i'm raising my sons i'm raising my daughters and you know what i need to keep in mind that i'm raising them in the nurture and the admonition of the lord not your favorite farm farmer out there and what they think you should be raising your kids as nurture and admonition of the lord not what your favorite podcaster thinks nurture and admonition of the lord not what your favorite whatever family oriented podcast who's a mormon thinks of the lord god put enough in here for you to have the wisdom to raise your family and i'm just telling you no satan is really good at just inserting subtle things so you can make incremental changes without even knowing it a little mormonism here a little mormon influence here you know and i keep saying social media because i'm on social media and i see some of the stuff that goes on i saw a video of this guy and i was like man this guy's cool he makes all these like um he just does these survival videos he's this white guy oh that's why it was recommended to me okay you know he does these like like ice houses like if he's in the mountains he knows how to cut out ice and so you won't freeze in there and all these things i'm like oh man that's good you know he knows how to make fires and you know live like a caveman you know all that stuff you know he just knows how to survive and then i'm just kind of like watching his videos like wow this guy's really cool and he seems like a really nice guy and i really like i think he's really nice he's really cool you know and then he's like let me tell you about my faith he's like i was on the mission field for this many years and i'm like mission field and then you see that stinking white shirt the shorts that dang short sleeve shirt with that freaking black name tag it's a mormon i have to go through all the videos and like unlike his stuff you know i'm like man he they infiltrated me they got me to like a mormon you know what i mean ah i just feel like dirty oh you're exaggerated no i'm just cloaked with the zeal of or i have the cloak of zeal upon me that's what it is you know when you're a little zealous that stuff bothers you a little bit you know if it doesn't bother you you know what you might want to clothe yourself with a little zeal yeah you might want to go get yourself a little cloak there looking a little naked there not not very zealous or enthusiastic about the things of god not really offended but the things that offend god they do it like that they'll insert it little by little and lastly you know being a formidable opponent means being properly equipped and armored so it's not really if it's not enough to just be filled with the spirit and put on the new man god also commands us to put on certain things even on top of that because the bible says in ephsians chapter 6 wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand and he talks about the breastplate of righteousness what is that righteous living it's practical righteous living verse 15 your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace that means you are prepared to to just drop the gospel and preach the gospel at any given moment it's in your heart verse 16 says above all taking the shield of faith wherewith he shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked what is that you know be fully persuaded in the promises of god you're not easily scared you know when satan tries to come at you with fiery darts and make you afraid of the economy and the gas and all these things are taking place you just got that shield and you're like god's got me he's going to take care of me you quench those fiery darts says in verse 17 take the helmet of salvation what is that just having a ready mind being vigilant having a ready mind for whatever happens verse eight but let us who are excuse me verse it goes on to say in the sword of the spirit which is the word of god we cover that which is the the word of god the sword of the spirit and verse 18 says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints sounds to me that like he's talking about armor and swords and shields sounds like a fight or something are we supposed to be fighting or something yeah but i'm sure you know the apostle paul was just trying to throw in filler stuff in chapter six or something you can go on about your day and just you'll be all right just keep listening to your favorite whatever be influenced by whatever don't read too much hey don't be so radical about the christian life don't get so overly radicalized by the bible just you know just be a good christian what's wrong with a little mormon entertainment a little chosen here and there phooey with that i want to be a formidable opponent i want to be the one in first john chapter two that says you've overcome the wicked one because you're strong and the word of god abided that you you've overcome the wicked one let me just say this here's the last thing and i'm done i guarantee you i guarantee you the majority of christians don't win now we win in the end but most christians never get to this point where it could be said of them you've overcome the wicked one you're a formidable opponent you've defeated why because it's hard to do these things it's hard it's hard to get up monday morning to do these things but you know what this is what's necessary if you're going to save yourself and them that hear thee from false doctrine from the laws of satan from the temptations of your flesh from all the rudiments and philosophies of this world that are trying to deceive you to make you an inferior christian in this world i hope you're working on it let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and uh lord thank you for this reminder i know there's a lot of hard truths here and i pray that you'd help us lord as your people to peel back the veil the spiritual veil lord to help us to realize what is actually going on and righteous living is a good thing and sometimes if we've cleaned up our lives we can think that we've arrived but the at the end of the day there's just new levels new devils and so we need to be aware of the constant deception that's going on out there that is trying to take our attention away from the real battle the real war at hand and i pray that you'd help us to do so as a church lord may your hand be upon first works baptist church and the members we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen amen we're gonna sing i'd rather have jesus if you need a song sheet please keep your hand raised and the address will come by and give you one i'd rather have jesus brother ron over here needs one brother ron brother cody so all right everybody's got one we're gonna see it on that first verse i'd rather have jesus than silver or gold i'd rather be his than have riches untold i'd rather have jesus than houses or land i'd rather be led by his nail pierced than to be the king of a vast omen or be held in since dreads way i'd rather have jesus than anything this world i'd rather have jesus than man's applause i'd rather be faithful to his dear cause i'd rather have jesus than worldwide fame i'd rather be true to his holy name be the king of a vast omen or be held in since dreads way i'd rather have jesus than anything this world affords today he's further than lilies a rarest bloom he's sweeter than honey from out the comb he's all that my hungering spirit needs i'd rather have jesus and let him breathe than to be the king of a vast omen held in since dreads way i'd rather have jesus than anything this world affords today amen wonderful singing you are dismissed