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It is a blessing to be here. I'm very thankful for the invitation. I love Pastor Thompson. He's a great friend of mine and I say this often in a lot of churches that I visit is that I don't have a lot of friends You know a lot of pastor friends because a lot of pastors and churches out there don't like to associate with the new IFB Because of the controversy that surrounds us sometimes So I'm very thankful When a pastor does want to be my friend and invites me to his church to preach and hang out with them And so I love Pastor Thompson his family and he's doing a great work not just here but of course all over the world and so you have our support and prayer and Happy anniversary to you all it's exciting to see what the Lord has done here and all the salvations you saw today and Yesterday and the work of God is being magnified here. And so I'm here to be an encouragement to you But I'm here to also preach a hard sermon We'll see how hard it gets tonight But the time of my sermon tonight is don't settle on your lease. Don't settle on your lease verse 11 of Jeremiah chapter 48 Says here Moab had been at ease from his youth and he had settled on his lease And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel neither has he gone into captivity Therefore his taste remained in him and his scent is not changed. What's taking place here? Well, these chapters essentially highlight the judgment that's going to come upon the surrounding nations of Israel one in particular course here in 48 is Moab and Moab of course is on the other side of Jordan It's east to Israel there and God's gonna judge them, you know, they're guilty of a lot of sins They're guilty of a lot of disobedience That we see here in this particular chapter We see according to verse number seven that they are trusting in themselves and in their treasures It says verse 7 for because I was trusted in thy works and in thy treasures thou shall also be taken So this is obviously a nation that is very self-reliant. They're not depending on the Lord They're not asking God for their provisions They're not necessarily looking to the God of heaven for their protection and provision the trusting in their treasures They're trusting in their resources and ultimately, of course, they're trusting in themselves. Not only that but look at verse 14 It says how say we are mighty and strong men for the war. So aside from the fact that they are self-reliant trusting in the treasures trusting in themselves They're very prideful and arrogant to think that they're mighty and who can take them down in war What nation is able to stand up against them? They have a very proud and arrogant attitude. And in fact, this is reiterated in verse 26 It says making him drunken for he magnified himself against the Lord What does it mean to magnify yourself against the Lord meaning? Why do we need God we can do it on our own We have all the resources we need we're big we're strong We have the treasures and in fact, he says this twice if you look down at verse 42 says Moab Shall be destroyed from being a people because he has magnified himself against the Lord So this is obviously a major sin in Moab that God is highlighting here is the fact that they're proud they're arrogant He says in verse 29 we have heard the pride of Moab he is exceeding proud his loftiness and his Arrogancy and his pride and the hot in his service. It sounds like he's just really prideful He's like he's arrogant. He's prideful. He's hottie. He thinks he's all that No one can take him down and you know what anytime a nation thinks like that God just has to take him down a notch anytime an individual thinks like that God has to just bring them down a notch because no one's gonna magnify themselves against the Lord Understand and so God's not pleased with this. He is very much upset over the fact that he is magnifying himself He has pride and we see also that you know All of these factors play into God saying you know what you seem to be at ease Okay, because when someone's trusting in themselves and in the riches they think they have strength and might and power They tend to be a little careless about themselves, right and it kind of reminds me In Judges 18 when you think of the city of Laish where the Bible says that the people of Laish dwell careless like though the inhabitants of These I don't Ian's how they quit they dwelt quiet and secure and one of the reasons why is because they didn't have a Magistrate to put them to shame over their abominations and so because of that of course we know in judges That the tribe of Dan ends up coming and taking them over why because they were overly confident in themselves So Moab is gonna be punished and who is he gonna be punished by well obviously God is the one doing it But he's using the human instrument of the Babylonians to do it Okay, Babylon is like a servant of the Lord used to just chastise and spank anybody who got chooses Of course, he did it to Israel But in this particular event, he's gonna do it to Moab by the hand of the Babylonians and this punishment is so thorough it's so thorough and Devastating that aside from the fact that the people are just gonna be punished greatly I mean not even the gods of the land are gonna survive Okay, you didn't think like oh man they're gonna be taken Well, even the false gods that they're worshipping aren't gonna make it out of this So, how do you know we'll look at verse six Please save your lives and be like the Heath in the wilderness For because thou has trusted in thy works and in thy treasures thou shall also be taken and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together He's like I'm so upset and mad about your idolatrous worship Not only you're gonna be taken but I'm gonna take your gods to I'm gonna kidnap and take captive your gods Him his priests all together and princes not even he's gonna survive. What is he saying? He's saying no one can essentially save themselves from the hand of God and when God punishes a nation or a person They can flee into the mountains. They can flee into the hills and into the valleys they can go to other nations You can't escape the chest-dising hand of God and he's saying look not even your gods are gonna save you from this They're going captive. So don't even think about praying for them so he gives this strong condemnation upon them and He gives this illustration in verse 11 that really kind of drives home what he's talking about here And here's where the application to discernment is verse 11 says Moab had been at ease From his youth. What does that mean? Just kind of taking it easy. He's at ease. He's careless He's prideful. He has resources. He has wealth Yes strength and it says here and he had settled on his Lees and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel. What is he referring to? Well, this settled on the lees is essentially referring to the aging of wine okay, and it's basically the process of aging wine where the dregs or the lees is Essentially that dead yeast particles that settles to the bottom of a vessel and The way it works is when you have that wine or that juice and it has the fruit skins and all those particles It comes down to the bottom if you just allow it to sit there It's actually gonna alter not only the taste of the juice in the wine But even the smell and they even say that if you leave it on the leaves It can actually produce like a sulfuric type of aroma where it smells like rotten eggs So you just leave it sitting there for a long time Not only is it gonna taste bad. It's even gonna smell bad. So what is he saying to Moab you stink You don't taste good. You smell you smell like sulfur, you know, like fire and brimstone because you're obviously living like hell and So he's like you smell you don't taste Well, you're the taste has been altered and this is why he's saying that he is gonna empty them from vessel to vessel He's like, oh you don't want to be moved around. You don't want to be used Okay, then the Babylonians are gonna take you and pour you into another vessel and that's gonna be your captivity I'm gonna force you to move and you know, what? Sometimes Christians have to be forced to move by God They're at ease, you know, they're involved. They're they're settled on their leaves and God has to shake them up a little bit He has to allow something in their lives Why in order to prevent them from souring in order to prevent them from smelling like sulfur in order to prevent them from altering their taste the title of the sermon is don't settle on your lease and You know Christians like Moab can be compared to that wine, right? You know when we get saved we can be liking into new wine However in the new test that we're more commonly compared to the vessels in which the wine goes into right Go with me if you would to John chapter 2 John chapter 2 So, why are we compared to the vessels that bear the new wine Well because of the fact that the fruit of the vine is the blood of Jesus Christ Right and when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation He imputes his blood upon us and we receive the forgiveness of sins and we are those vessels by which we are the Recipients of that atonement. We are the recipients of that salvation and I'm gonna give you a couple verses here Just to kind of talk about that particular doctrine and then we'll get into the crux of the message in just a bit But pastor Thompson said I could preach for a couple hours. So you guys got nowhere to be the pizza's coming later So I'm sure you don't mind and if you do this will be the last time I preach so I'm here tomorrow So you're stuck and don't think about walking out because I'll call you out if you do Okay, and then we'll all look at you as you're walking out So we're like the vessels that bear that new wine new wine meaning that juice right Well, look at John chapter 2 This is essentially referred to as the first miracle that Jesus Christ performs and let's read it here It says in verse 1 the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there and Both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage and when they wanted wine the mother of Jesus saith unto him They have no wine Jesus saith unto her woman What about to do with thee mine hour is not yet come now. It's interesting, you know, the Catholics always You know esteem Mary as being just like a wonderful divine queen of heaven Why couldn't she produce the turn the water into wine tell you why cuz she's just a regular human being You know, she didn't say hey, I got this Jesus. I'm the mother of God You know, I'm the queen of heaven. Don't worry. I got this. I'll do it for you No, actually she went to the Lord, you know, Jesus Christ because he's the only one who can do this and Obviously he gives her this sort of rough answer and he says woman what have I to do with the showing us that yes Even though that physically his mother at the end of the day. He's her Lord. Yeah, you understand. He's the Savior He is God and of course, he submits himself to the authority his earthly authority and he decides to perform this miracle He says in verse 5 his mother saith unto the servants whatsoever. He saith unto you do it And they were set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews Containing two or three firkins apiece Jesus saith unto him fill the water pots with water and they filled him up to the brim And he said unto them draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast and they bear it When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine He knew not whence it was in other words. He didn't know where it came from He's like, whoa, this stuff is good, but the servants which drew the water Knew the governor of the feast called a bridegroom and saith unto him every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine And when men have well drunk then that which is worse, but that was kept a good wine until now Now, let me just make myself very clear The water being turned into wine is not alcoholic wine Because a lot of people try to use this is it well Jesus turned the water into alcohol No, he says he turned it into wine because it comes from the fruit of the vine Vine wine writes the same as juice and in the Bible wine is used interchangeably to describe both juice Alcoholic beverage you say well, how do you know that? This isn't referring to alcohol because it's it's a sin to drink alcohol That's why so why would Jesus cause a bunch of people to stumble and fall by producing more alcohol and giving them even more drunk now if you talk to a Calvinist, which Don't talk to a coward, but if you do They'll tell you it's not a sin to drink. It's a sin to get drunk. Hey, you guys ever heard that It's not a sink of drink. It's a sin to get drunk then by that Rationale You're basically saying that Jesus is causing the people to sin Because the Bible says that he turned the water into wine after they had what well drunk So after they're just done drinking all the alcohol Jesus brings out more alcohol Well at that point you're causing them to sin But obviously that's not the case here because he's producing juice and I've had people tell me this like are you trying to tell Me that at a wedding They're drinking juice I've performed at least ten weddings as a pastor and we've never had alcohol Why is that so weird? I'm sure every wedding the you've ever had alcohol at a wedding to you I hope not because if you did that would be a major issue. You'd ruin my illustration here. Yeah kombucha. Whoa That's what we're covering alcohol examine I'm just kidding But You know, he turns the water into wine and obviously it's referring to Jews it's not talking about alcohol and people have to stop trying to use this as a text proof to say that it's alcohol because it's not and we can Point to many of the scriptures in the Bible says that The Bible tells us that wine is a mark a strong drink is raging and who sovers deceived There by does not wise so how can we have a contradiction of scriptures here? Where one is condemning the alcohol consumption and then one being Jesus is promoting it. There's no contradiction in the Bible folks Now I believe that this actually has a spiritual application to it Not just that he performed the first miracle, but it's actually a spiritual application regarding the New Testament Why is that? Well if you think about it, you know when he commands the man to put the water into the water pots They are water pots of stone and You know the Bible tells us in the New Testament that New Testament Gentile believers are like spiritual stones and in fact the Bible says the first Peter 2 5 ye also as Lively stones are built up a spiritual house in a holy priesthood to offer a spiritual sacrifice Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ and in fact if you remember when John the Baptist is preaching He's preaching to the Pharisees and the Pharisees. They're so proud and arrogant They're like Moab and they say we have Abraham to our father, you know, they think that because they are sons Physically of Abraham that somehow that gives them, you know honor and credibility with God And what is John about to say God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham and he's obviously referring to Gentile believers because ultimately in the New Testament Churches will be built by New Testament Gentile believers These are the stones that of the New Testament So we see here that he puts water into these water pots of stone and it's made into wine Which is essentially a picture of the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and here's further proof that this is actually picturing that New Testament is that verse 10 says Every man at the beginning does set forth good wine And you know what the Old Testament was pretty good Old Testament was great. It was good But hold on a second and when men have well drunk then that which is worse But that was kept a good wine until now What's it saying? It's saying that the wine that came at the end Let's say this is better than the wine that came at the beginning and you know what the New Testament is Better than the Old Testament and in fact the Bible says that it's a better covenant Established upon better promises because we have a listen to this better mediator and isn't it interesting That the governor when he drinks of this He doesn't go to the guys who poured the water into the vessels He doesn't say find me that guy who like poured that into the water pots of stone It says the latter end of verse 9 the governor of the feast called the bridegroom Okay, and obviously that's a picture of Jesus Christ who is that bridegroom of the New Testament as well And so we have here a picture of Jesus bringing in the New Testament through the water pots of stone Christians are those water pots of stone and the Bible tells us as I mentioned this morning that we have this treasure in Earthen vessels right that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us go to Luke chapter Number five if you would Luke chapter number five Luke chapter number five going on with the same theme of The wine being placed into these New Testament vessels known as the Gentiles it says in verse 36 Luke chapter 5 and he spake also a parable unto them No, man, put it the new a piece of new garment upon an old if otherwise then both the new maketh a rent And the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth now with the old and no man putteth new wine Into old bottles else the new wine will burst The bottles and be spilled and the bottle shall perish but new wine Must be put into new bottles and both are preserved What is this referring to it's referring to the fact that you know this New Testament Principles and promises have to be placed into new people and this is why in the New Testament The main focus is towards the Gentiles Gentile believers right because that new wine of that New Testament if it was placed in the old bottles of Jews of Israel They're gonna burst it. They're gonna mess it up. They didn't do right They didn't do it right the first time anyways, and here's another problem. He says a verse 39. No man Also having drunk old wine Straightway desireth new for you say if the old is better So he's saying look the reason we're not gonna keep trying to win the Jews over to the Lord It's because these Jews are saying what the old is better You know Jesus is not he's a false prophet Jesus They're trying to crucify Jesus Whereas the Bible saying telling us here that essentially that's translated as them saying The old is better trying to bring people back under the law and trying to bring people back under the law of Moses This is why God is focused on The New Testament believers and this is why the kingdom of God shall be taken from them referring to the Jews and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and so we can be likened unto those vessels, right? Who had that wine, but here's the thing folks, you know when you got saved New wine was put into your vessel And you know, there's a ton of Christians out there That you've won to the Lord that I've won to Christ and you know what they're just sitting there There's a ton of believers out there that we poured in that New Testament promise of the gospel into we they're they're filled to the brim They've been turned from water into wine, but you know what? They're just sitting on their lease You know, but I'm looking at a bunch of people right now that are not sitting on their lease They're not sitting on their blessed assurance. They're not sitting on their lease. They're being put from vessel to vessel They're actually doing something for God. They're active and here I am to tell you don't settle on your lease Don't allow yourself to become a stagnant Christian where you don't do anything Basically a reiteration of what we were saying this morning Don't allow yourself to settle on the dregs and on the leaves of salvation You know when we're saved we're given a new nature the Bible tells us therefore if any man be in Christ He's a new creature old things have passed the way behold all things have become new. Hey, you're a place than a new church Don't settle on your lease You're given this church here in Seattle or sea tack or whatever you guys call it here, you know in this place Don't settle on those dregs Okay, God begins to work on you He begins to clean you up You get to you get cleaned up through the preaching of God's Word go to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 if you would 2nd Timothy chapter number 2 Let me start off by saying don't settle on the lease of sin One of the greatest things about joining a church like this is The preacher and or pastor is gonna preach the hell out of you He's gonna preach and he's gonna preach on fornication. He's gonna preach on drunkenness and a laziness I mean, he's gonna preach about every single sin in the Bible and you know what's gonna do it's gonna clean you up It's gonna sanctify you it's gonna cause you to want to get right with God you know sometimes people go to churches and They're always settling on their lease there. Why because of the fact that the pastor is also settled on his lease You know, they're not separated from sin. No sin gets preached against Everything's hunky-dory. You need to be in the house of God where the man of God is ripping face He's telling you the truth and he's trying to separate the wine from the lease Separate the wine from the dregs look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his and Let everyone that name it the name of Christ listen to this depart from iniquity now Thankfully, you know if you choose not to depart from iniquity as a Christian you're still saved right The Bible tells us that salvation is only by faith in Jesus Christ alone to him that worketh not but believeth on him to Justify the ungodly his faith discounted for righteousness, but we know that but here's the thing after salvation he does want us to depart from iniquity and Part of that is being in a church where the pastor is telling you that you are fellowshiping with other believers that are Exhorting you to get away from sin and you're cleaning up your life He says in verse 20, but in a great house There are not only vessels of gold and of silver But also of wood of earth and some to honor some to dishonor if a man therefore Purge himself from these, you know those dregs those leads he shall be a vessel unto honor Sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work. The Bible says what is that? That's the separation of the wine from the least and you know what once the drugs begin to settle down on the vessel It's time for you to transfer the wine into a new vessel move yourself from not going sowing to going sowing Move yourself from just listening to the Bible on Sunday morning to actually reading the Bible Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday Go from the vessel of just coming to church Sunday morning or here. We should just say come to church Sunday night And start coming Sunday morning, right? Cuz you know, I know you guys got that nine o'clock sir. God bless you guys The 9 a.m. Service is it could be harsh, you know, I get I get it But you know what? That's the vessel that you need to move into You know move from the vessel of just being Sundays Sunday morning glories or Sunday evening glories to what the Wednesday service, which I believe you guys have Wednesday here, right? In other words keep moving keep moving keep growing Memorize scripture win people to Christ invest in people make movement be active Don't settle on your lease and one of the best ways to live a sanctified life My friends to stay away from sin is making sure that you're actively serving God It's one of the best ways People are like man struggle with sin But it's like but have you actively sought out to like serve the Lord in your church though If you're filling out your schedule with doing righteous things, you won't have time to sit Like yeah, I just I struggle with I got just Saturdays, you know, and for you know Fridays and Saturdays Just hanging all my buddies and drinking and all this. Why don't you go soul winning on Saturday? That way it'll give you a reason to sleep early on Friday Cuz you got you know, you gotta go preach the gospel on Saturday You know separate yourself from the leaves and the dregs of fornication of drunkenness of Apathy and and laziness and all these things that can hinder you as a Christian Separate yourself from those things, you know, the Bible says what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may about God forbid? How shall we that are dead to sin the Bible says live any longer therein now? Thank God that you know God forbids us to sin But he doesn't forbid the grace of God to abound when we do sin Cuz obviously he knows that we're sinners and we're gonna make mistakes, but the Bible tells us likewise Reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey in the luster of neither Yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness of the sin But yield yourselves unto God and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God the Bible says for sin shall not have dominion over you For you're not under the law but under grace What is he saying, you know, not only should you stop sitting but you should live righteously, too It's the principle of replacement, right? It's like oh man. I don't know how to stop drinking alcohol Start drinking water, you know You know, I don't know how to stop biting my nails or something like that then eat sunflower seeds You always got to like replace it with something Like oh, man, I don't know how to get away from my friends make some new friends One of the best ways to do it Now I will say this When it comes to that particular point, I'm gonna mention this a little later One of the best ways to get rid of your bad friends is just to be a good Christian Because no unsaved person likes to be around a good Christian very much Can't really stand it talking about the Lord all time. You're all geeky and nerdy You know, you're cleaned up you don't drink you don't smoke you don't run with those that do You don't do anything sinful. They're just like I'm done with you, bro You know, you bore me or something. So a lot of times if you just live a sanctified life You're gonna repel the bad people and you're gonna attract the right people Okay, but one of the so that's a good way But another way is just come to church and make friends come to church and make friends make Acquaintances here at church and the Bible tells us, you know, no you not in chapter 6 of Romans That to whom you yield yourself servants to obey His servant you are to whom you obey whether sin into death or of obedience into righteousness So basically what he's saying is like it's your choice Who you choose to yield to you know, if you want to yield to sin, you're gonna do sin Oh, I fell into sin. No you did see People don't fall into sin you left into sin You You know, you just jumped right in that was your choice You understand but if you want to yield yourself unto obedience and to righteousness You could also do you can leap yourself into church. You can leap yourself into righteous living It is your chosen choice Don't settle on your lease if you've gotten some good preaching here from the evangelist You got good preaching in from Pastor Thompson and other pastors that you've listened to and they've helped you to clean your life It's time to move the vessel It's time to be poured into another vessel to keep that winning streak of Separating from your lease. Okay, you said what happens if I don't you're gonna sneak You're gonna smell your savers gonna change Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 6 if you would 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 on that point actually go to 2nd Corinthians 6 I'm gonna read to you from 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 6. It says your glory is not good No, you're not that a little 11 living at the whole lump Purge out there for the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened for even Christ our Passover sacrificed For us therefore. Let us keep the feast now with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness both the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth that leaven is the picture of sin and We're not preaching sinless perfection here because we you know There's not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin is not the Bible says there's none righteous No, not one there's none that do with good, you know, we obviously know that our righteousness are as filthy rags but that doesn't mean that we can't live a sanctified life that pleases God this side of eternity and so Separate from your lease not only that but separate or don't settle on the lease of bad company and you know what one thing that I've noticed as a pastor is It's not necessarily a what happened to that person It's always a who Right who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth It's always someone that keeps you from serving God That's what it is. And even though that sometimes it is a what most of the time more often than not It's a who it's a girlfriend. It's a boyfriend. It's a best friend. It's a family member that Hinders you from actually serving God and you know what you'll get a sermon like this You're like, oh man, you know my cousin so-and-so is just really bad influence on me Well, you know, why don't you separate from that lead don't settle on the lead of the leaves of your bad family members or bad Company that you're keeping at your job at your school or around wherever you're at Separate from people like that because you know he that walketh with wise men shall be wise But a companion of fools shall be destroyed and one of the worst things that Christians can do and say well Not me, you know, it's not gonna happen to me You know, I think my girlfriend's cool and you know, she's not gonna leave me astray or something like that but remember this morning sermon he that is abhorred of the Lord shall father it and So we need we want to make sure that we are keeping the right type of company as Christians Look at 2nd Corinthians 6 14 It says be not unequally yoked together With unbelievers and obviously the main interpretation would be making sure you don't marry an unbeliever, right? But this is really good advice just for associations just in general Because you know, if you're just a Christian whose best friends are just not Christians. That's that's not a good thing What can you possibly have in common with? non-believers either you're just extremely lukewarm or extremely gullible and you just want the Acceptance of the world and the acceptance of people and the admiration of people but the Bible's telling us here don't be unequally yoked That means don't yoke up with people who are not Christian You know We are supposed to be the light of this world to win others to Christ and if you have a friend who's unsafe try to win them I've had people tell me oh man, I got such bad friends, but you know year three I'm gonna try to win them over though to Christ. It's like it's been three years though You know, I know some people who preached the gospel for like a really long time You know that some people take like an hour to preach the gospel sometimes you guys know what I'm talking about You're like starting Genesis in the end in Revelation or something, you know And I one time I preached the gospel for like 45 minutes and it's only because the guy just was really receptive But you know his faculties were just not Operational and so I had to kind of like go really slow with him But other people they just have this gospel presentation where it takes like an hour Hour and a half and then at the end is like they didn't get safe It was like what the world I could have gotten someone safe twice over or something, you know at that point Well, you know if you're trying to witness to your friends and it's been like three years and they don't want to hear it move on move on from them You're like, well, you know, I just I'm really good friends with them and we we're bbf's or whatever or bff Whatever she is you call it. We're bffs. I think that's Baptist Bias Fellowship or something We're bffs and we grew up together and we have the same interest you need to get them interested into the things of God And And here's what I did when I first got saved. I learned this principle and I thought to myself man I got some really bad friends You know, my homies are pretty bad But I care for their soul. So I want to get them saved So I told them it was kind of like a test I said if you guys want to keep hanging out with me because you know, I know you guys like me, right? It's like you guys like me, right? Okay, then you need to come to church with me on Sunday and they came and some of them got saved some of them did it and Then and then they're just like what now? I'm like we just keep going to church Surprise That's what we do now, you know well, you know a lot of them didn't pan out and a lot of them just stopped coming and You know our relationship wasn't that important I guess Because they just stopped coming to church They're just like well I got other things to do and why don't you come hang out with us and I would tell I can't because you guys Do stuff that Christians are not supposed to do and I'm a Christian and so if you want to have some wholesome fun like, you know eat a lot and Fellowship and sing songs then, you know come to church. Oh, but that's not fun Okay, then you're gonna have to find yourself a new friend then You know and I had a ton of friends like that There's a ton of people for my job And people that I grew up with and I told them if you really want cuz they're like you never hang out with this Anymore and it's just like well we can hang out for sure but it has to be on my terms and The thing is you never have to wonder where I'm at I'm at church 10 30 and 5 p.m. And you know Thursday night service, you know, well, can we hang out outside of church? Of course when we're out soloing on Saturday You know and obviously I'm not saying like that's the only time I hang out with my friends right like I have friends and you Know but that was like the test for them Because obviously what I want them to do is serve God and if they start serving God Then we have real common ground because I'll just be honest with you I'm closer to God's people than I am to my own physical family my blood blood family and I'm thankful like, you know My mom for example She got saved about a year ago and you know She ended up getting baptized and I remember just being just super pumped about that I'm like, wow, my mom got she's 78 years old and she got saved She got baptized and I just thought to myself, you know what? I'm just satisfied with that. She just comes to church ever once in a while. She saved she's baptized I'm glad about that. But now she's so winning And she's out there. She's like I want to you know in Spanish. She's like I want to go so winning and I'm like Excuse me, you know, I'm like, all right, you know, and then I put him in our teams and she started So now like after church, you know, I was a little offended I'll just be honest, you know I was a little offended kids after church I'm just used to seeing my mom and I'll go give her a hug and how she but now it's just like I was like Where's my mom actually? Oh, she's already with her friends sold Excuse me, what are you she's with her friends, you know I'm her friend And they're like, oh that's your women miss Kelly and they're out preaching the gospel and they went to go eat at In-N-Out And they're doing their own. What do you excuse me? That's my mom. You're talking about. Okay, you know, but you know what? I'm I now I have more in common with my mom Than I've ever had in my entire life You said why cuz now she's serving God on her own. She don't even actually doesn't tell me where she's going anymore And I don't know if I'm happy or mad about that But she go and she tells me she's just like one time I saw her I'm like, where's my mom and she's in the car. She's just like You know But you know what now my mom and I have more in common And we're closer than we've ever been Why because the most common thing that people can share this side of eternity with Christians is Christ it's the service of Christ and So, you know make sure that you're not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Why for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? That's a good question What communion hath light with darkness? What Concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? I mean you shouldn't be friends with like Mormons and stuff. Oh Yeah, I got this really good friends the Mormons Jehovah's Witness. That's a really bad friend That's like that's an agent of Satan and the Bible says there's no agreement. There's no Concord. There's no agreement There's no communion there should be no fellowship God wants us to be separated from the Lees and the dregs of this world and He wants us to company ourselves with other believers, right? You're like well, you know believers but you know We just don't have the same interest then read the Bible and get the same interest They get into church and get the same interest then start interesting yourselves and the things that interest God, right start developing Godly appetites godly desires and godly goals and guess what you'll make a bunch of friends in the Lord Go to 1st Peter chapter 4 if you would 1st Peter chapter 4. I Just feel like though if I like separate from like some of these bad Family members that I have some of these bad friends that I have They're just gonna like cut me off and you know, they're just never gonna talk to me again Look at 1st Peter 4 and verse number 1 it says for as much then as Christ had suffered for us in the flesh arm yourselves likewise with the same mind For he that had suffered in the flesh had ceased from sin That he no longer should live at the rest of his time in the flesh of the lust of men but to the will of God For the time past of our life might may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of wine revelings Banquetings and abominable idolatries wherein listen to this. They think it's strange that you run out with them To the same excess of riot speaking evil of you. In other words, you're gonna get that reaction We're like, you know, you're acting really weird you get a little fanatical about church like why because you're going twice on Sundays Oh, wow, so crazy Because I go to try I go to church twice. Yeah, but you stay there all day though Oh man, God forbid that I should stay at church all day serving God or something like that Yeah Why don't we just go to the bar and drink a bunch of alcohol and throw up our guts all night and wake Up with a huge hangover sounds better No, it's not better it's better to be here and wake up tomorrow with the sugar hangover because you ate too many doughnuts You know what I'm talking about It's like I had too many I what did I do yesterday what have I done, you know But it's better to and then you know, they think it's strange like man you you become a fanatic And by the way, if someone says that you you start you starting to act like a fanatic take it as a compliment That's a compliment. Oh, you're starting to act so fanatical. What else? Thanks, you know you mean it. Oh, you're just getting so crazy about the Lord That's a good thing that means you're serious about the things of God come and see my zeal for the Lord. Amen Separate don't settle on the lease of bad company, you know, and sometimes people don't pan out in church Because they don't make friends at church And you know, I'm glad you're here to hear the preaching of God's Word, but I hope you're here to also make some friends I'll be here to make some very long-term close relationships at church It's one of the best things you can do church is awesome for that for that purpose You know, I remember when we when we started the church in Los Angeles, it was at the time faith for Baptist Church, you know, we were like my wife and I were like new Essentially through the new IFB and there's there's people at the church We didn't know anybody and I know how daunting could be to like talk to people that you just don't know, right? Well, I was like the evangelist there So I had to like talk to a lot of people because you know the charge But you know what at the end of the day, it's just like you know What these people are gonna end up being like my family and I need to go out of my way To talk to them befriend them because we're gonna go through a lot together And you know what if you're part of this church one of the best reasons why you can Make friends at this church is the people here are gonna be the people that you need in the future and don't undermine that you're gonna go through some Extremely hard times in your life. I'm talking about Hard, I'm talking about where you just want to throw in the towel and you know what you're gonna need the people here To exhort you to stay in the faith keep serving God and be there for you you need people that you can cry on and Complain on and just kind of go through those times. That's what I got churches for But you're not gonna get that if you're still settled on the leaves of bad company make good friends here make Lasting relationship here relationships here go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 if you would 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 Let me also say this in this regard of Settling on your leaves, you know maintain as a church your Christian flavor Okay, maintain your Christian flavor, you know as I mentioned in the beginning if Wine settles on its leaves. It's gonna produce a really pungent smell It's gonna taste really nasty, you know what God wants us to stay fresh Understand he wants us to be a good saver not only to God but unto others as well Look what it says in 2nd Corinthians 2 verse 14 now. Thanks be unto God Which always causes us to triumph in Christ and make it manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place For we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them that Perish to the one we are the saver of death unto death and see up to the other the saver of life into life And who is sufficient for these things the Bible says, you know the world may not agree with us But I'm gonna tell you something. They like Christian principles. I'm sure your neighbor likes the fact that you're a Christian Cuz you know you are moral you're clean. You're honest Right, hopefully you are, you know, hopefully you're a good neighbor The righteous are more excellent than their neighbor Amen, and you know what they may not ascribe to the Bible, but you know what you can open their hearts based upon Your conversation based upon your aroma based upon your savor and the Bible's telling us here That we are a sweet saver of Christ unto God and you know There's a lot of churches out there that are just sitting on their leaves and they smell They stink they smell like rotten eggs It's not doing anything they're just kind of sitting there us for new no more they're not preaching hard sermons People aren't getting sanctified all the dregs are at the very bottom of the barrel Nothing's being done. And you know what they smell they stink the preaching sucks There's no evangelism Nothing's being done. You know what? It's old stagnant juice and it should not be drunk from those I don't want to drink from that but you know what? This should be a church that when people walk in is like This is good they come in here like it smells good not like who farted Right because it starts smells like so like sulfur when a stagnant People am speaking spiritually. Okay, you know people should come in here and be like, hey I like the aroma of Christianity in here and you know, you know how you can you know You can help with that be friendly, right? You know, don't put your eyes to the ground you just walk away, you know meet new people a man Be a breath of fresh air Be the taste of new wine be that aroma of Christianity when people come they're just like wow This tastes different than that old wine that I got at that other church And let me say this it's important for you to be that new wine because you know that the preaching might be a little bitter You know I'm saying You know, you might hear some some some hot sermons not you might you will hear some hot sermons from here And so it helps to kind of bounce it out with you know Just behavior and conduct and love and charity so that they're not like well You know, I'm never coming back here ever again the pastor preached on gay people You know, I have a gay cousin or something like that and I just you know don't agree But you know if you have a sweet aroma about you They might get offended but they might ask you like why didn't you say that and you can show them from the Bible like, okay It's good And you know what sometimes that juice is an acquired taste amen The reprobate doctrine is an acquired taste You know, some people are like, whoa, this is strong, you know, that's some good juice, but it's whoa it's a little too strong now some of you are just like That's good, you know Other people might be too strong for them, but that's okay. We're not gonna water it down Right drink it. It's good. It tastes delicious. You just got a choir taste for it You just got to get used to the taste because it comes from the unadulterated Word of God and we're not gonna water it down for you Maintain your Christian flavor, you know, the Bible tells us you are the salt of the earth But if the salt has lost its savor, we're gonna sell it be salted What good is salt if it just doesn't even taste it like anything? Pass the song just doesn't it doesn't add any flavor to your food. It's worthless throw it out doesn't work Well, you know what if juice then it tastes like juice. It's worthless or if it tastes it worse. It's worthless You just throw it out if it's fermented throw it out if there's lemon in the juice If it's become alcoholic throw it out You know We want to give the juice of God's Word So that people can get the potency of it and say wow, this is a hundred percent juice is delicious And if you're not used to it just sip it a little, you know Just take a little sip take a little sip and then after a while, you're gonna be like, you know Let me get a full cup of that. Let me get the full reprobate doctrine Let me get it. Let me be here in June. Amen Kind of drinks you guys offering in June You know what I'm saying? Like I think I'm ready for a full cup not a sippy cup And So this goes with my next point go to Isaiah chapter 1 Hey as this church, you know, your church is a year old Let me just encourage you here. Don't allow yourself to be watered down Never become watered down doesn't matter how Worldly the churches get around here doesn't matter what people do you keep the potency of that wine in that Vessel don't water it down don't water down the message don't water down the evangelism Don't water down the gospel don't water down the preaching don't water it down Keep it straight. Keep it full Look what the Bible says in Isaiah 1 verse 21 or verse 21. Excuse me Talk about Judah. He says how is the faithful say to become a harlot man? That's a good way to start a verse there How'd you become like a prostitute? It was full of judgment Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. He's given this contrast of how Judah used to be With what it is now and you know what God forbid that if that God should ever say something like that about this church Like how did this faithful Church become like a harlot? Or it was just it was used to be full of judgment hard preaching righteousness Evangelism so winning but now murderers because they killed all the ministries They killed the hard preaching look what it says in verse 22 thy silver has become drossed meaning meaning that they become reprobate silver And look what it says thy wine mixed with water What is he saying? You're watered down now. Yeah You know cuz he's saying like oh now you just kind of diluted the content there You know now you don't want to offend anybody So now you're just kind of being the nice preacher the nice church You just don't want to offend anybody don't water it down You got where you're at because of the hard preaching because of the hard evangelism Because of your belief systems and stands keep at it And you know what? I got to keep reminding myself of that same truth because as the years go by it's easy to not want to fight anymore But you know what as a pastor I gotta remind myself if they blow up my building again screw it So be it Because at the end of the day I want to please God I don't want to please man. I don't want to water down the wine that's been given to me through the New Testament Don't water down your beliefs. Don't water down the preaching don't get all nice on us now obviously look There's there's there's sermons of exhortation. This isn't one of them necessarily, you know, there's there's nicer means Do you do have to preach amen? Sometimes we need a good encouragement because people are Depressed or discouraged and they need a you can do it kind of a sermon man But then, you know, they also need you can do it and if you don't do it, you're just lazy kind of a sermon Amen Amen You don't do it. You're just being lazy and you're being disobedient and stop being a punk about it, you know Get off your rear end your hindr parts and go serve the Lord because sometimes we need that We need a swift kick in the pants To get us to do what we need to do and then after we kick them in the pants and say I know that Hurts you but it's because I love you So yeah, it's a little balance of both, you know, I mean that's how you got to do it But at the end of the day, you know The Bible tells us preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke And exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine so he says exhort with all long-suffering But he says first reprove and rebuke meaning negative negative negative You got a correct you got a rebuke. You got to call out the sin. You got to call up the abominations of our land Can't rear back in June You got to let loose you got to tell what the Bible has to say Why because there's a lot of people out there that are being deceived By those false ideologies. They don't know what the Bible says and they need a prophet of the Lord They need a church to stand for the truth. Oh, what are we among so many? Hey God can save by many or by few and don't ever think well this church is so small What can we do God can save by many or by few and it doesn't matter how many people you run at the end Of the day God expects you to stand for right He expects you to preach the gospel and expect you to preach the whole counsel of God and not diminish a word Don't water it down. Don't be a water deck. Well, you know think about not calling us necessarily ourselves Baptist You know, we're our Christian. So maybe we would just be like Christian Church, huh? You know, I'm a Christian but you know, I'm a Baptist though. Well, you know, maybe we won't call ourselves like fundamental Baptist What are you in cars of like a gay Baptist in or what a wuss Baptist Why don't you just switch over to just lame Baptist? I got a better one call yourselves watered-down Baptist And you'll attract all the watered-down Christians who don't want to be offended. Hey at our church. It's still Independent fundamental Baptist and I know you can't really put out signs here like that But it's okay. You are our pistols written our hearts known in red of all men, man And so at the end of the day, but when you do get a chance to put a sign I'm sure it's gonna say independent fundamental Baptist and if they want to get more specific say I'm a new I have beat And you're like, oh my goodness You know first thing that comes up You know, they're just like what kind of Baptist are you don't be like, well, you know just a Baptist Now at the door sometimes I'll be like I'm Baptist because I'm just not gonna go through all of the like labels and stuff until they Ask me I'm like, well, I'm an independent fundamental Baptist And if you want to find me just type in new IP, but I always said but uh, you know Just to warn you though Google is not my friend and it's not the best place to research who I am. But hey have at it though, you know this is like not the best things come up when you type in new IP or Sure Foundation Baptist Church or Pastor Thompson or first words, you know, it's just you know, it's a little bias on the internet Okay, and I always sound like hey, but you know, I'm cool with whatever they put. I'm just telling you prepare yourself You've been warned Well, you know, we're new IFP We're independent fundamental King James only, you know, there's Baptist churches that are just like wow You don't want to say King we are King James, but you really want to say King James We believe the Bible didn't say King James is the same thing Why not say King James is the same thing Well, you know we could just say Bible Yeah, but there's a bunch of false versions of the Bible out there. You don't want them to think you're like it is Are you a ESV? Are you an NIV Church? We're not a watered-down Church. It's a King James only Church What kind of outreach do you do, you know Excuse me. We do so any now if you want to call it outreach great, but you know what specifically we do So any we preach the gospel. That's how we evangelize. That's what the Bible says. So what we say, what are you saying? Don't be watered down. Just give them the straight juice If they say can you put a little bit of water in that I? Got this guy in my church. He's Brazilian and every couple of months. He brings me a jar of This grape juice and it's super potent. Like it's just pure grape juice. It's a hundred percent grape juice and When you drink it, it's just like it's like a it's I don't even know how to describe it It's just you get diabetes right away. It's like Whoa, you know And the temptation is like oh man pour some water into that thing But you know what? I stand by this principle and I'll water it down drink it as is get the diabetes Don't water down the message don't water down Christianity Don't water down being a Baptist Don't water down the roles that God has instituted for the family Amen for the man to work and the wife to be a keeper out of the home You're like, oh man, but that doesn't fly in our culture our culture stupid It's inferior to Christian principles. It's dumb. Why are you gonna even follow the cold? The culture is dumb So idiots we are here to help the culture We're here to turn the world upside down is what we're here We're here for we're here to bring sanity back to this world And you know what a lot of people out in this world agree with us. Anyways, they just don't have enough people saying it You know and when you say when you know The man should work and the woman should stay home and and bear children and guide the house There's gonna be a bunch of liberals out there in Seattle disagreeing with you But you know, most of them have our chicks who have mohawks and their dykes anyway, so who cares what they think? Do you really esteem the opinion of them like who are you your fate looks horrible But you know what there's a hundred other people that are just like, you know what I kind of agree with that I like that and You know what? They're saying in their minds. I wish more people would say that and in fact I remember when when we were being protested You know that we were bombed of course and all these things and the police was out there and I remember my assistant he was out there with the police and the bomb squad and he the one of the police officers went to him and said is This the church of pastor Bruce Meehan, and he's like, yeah, he goes. Oh, man. I like that guy I like what he said about women should stay home and work. That's really good that he goes I agree with them actually, he said oh cool So even the police officers, of course, they do a lot of people agree with us now. They'll come to you like Nicodemus By night and kind of whisper to you like Even like the detective of Omani was telling us like And you know crucify, this is what he's saying, you know who crucified Jesus? Jews. They're the ones who are responsible for this I'm just like right on So a lot of people out there agree with us They just need more people to say, you know what they need more churches who are not watered down Cuz you know what these watered down churches exist everywhere you can find them on every corner They're a dime a dozen dirt. They exist everywhere You know what people are sick and tired of going to a church where no one checks on their salvation The pastor is not clear about their gospel presentation. He doesn't preach against sin. He just sticks to the book of Proverbs It says a couple verses from John he doesn't teach through anything else in the Bible He doesn't preach anything controversial. You know what pastors and churches are meant to preach things that are controversial And you know why it's important for us to preach on controversial subjects because if not Everyone's gonna go to the Fox News Baptist to hear all the controversy You know what people like Tucker Carlson and all these guys on Whatever Fox or whatever because they say controversial things So a lot of these Christians are moving away from Baptist churches because their pastors aren't saying anything crazy So there's just like they have a hunger for the hundred percent potent juice, but their church has given them watered down messages So they're like, let me go listen to Tucker Carlson and hear about UFOs But we can tell them about the aliens amen Then we turn to fight the armies of the aliens and that it's not referring to ET is just referring to foreigners There's enough Exotic controversial topics in the Bible to satiate the hunger of the people and they want to hear it Why not give it to them? Why not? Just give them the Jews don't water it down for them Don't tell hey, it's a little strong for you. Just say drink up you love it Go To Hosea chapter 7 Hosea chapter 7 today Christians are taking the rich wine and diluting it with water You know, they have a form of godliness, but they're denying the power. They claim to be a hundred percent juice But then you find out there's all types of chemicals. There's all types of stuff in there. It's not a hundred percent legitimately Hosea chapter 7 You say well, how do people get that way how do churches become like watered down how do Christians become watered down? How does that process take place? Well, look what it says in verse 7 It says they're all hot as an oven and have devoured their judges all their kings are fallen There is none among them that call it unto me ephraim. He hath mixed himself among the people Ephraim is a cake not turned Strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not listen to this. Yay Gray hairs are here and there upon him yet. He knoweth not How do you become watered down just one gray hair at a time? Now I'm not gray headed yet But I have gray hairs on my beard Okay, and I'm not gonna look at anybody because I know those gray heads here Okay, you know, it's all I'm trying to find anybody but you know how it is, right? I remember like my beard at one point was just fully black and then I thought to myself Oh, man, I'm like a ginger cuz I got these like red hairs I'm like I told my wife I was like look I got red hairs I'm like and she's like those might become gray and I thought you shut your mouth Hold your tongue and she's like, yeah, those might I'm like really he's like it's possible you know, they're just kind of random that you have like a patch of like red hairs there and Then like all of a sudden like one morning I just wake up and it's just like I got grays in my in my beard and You know now like I want a mirror. I'm like, I'm like, what is that? Oh Shoot it's a gray hair And they're just popping up here and there and so and now before you know it I'm just gonna have a full set of gray hair I mean, I might lose my hair too, but hey, you know, that's another thing and so you like but it comes upon you Here and there Right sin creeps upon you. I'm not saying the gray hair since all the sin keeps upon you hear little their little and Sometimes you don't know it and you know what churches become watered down one gray hair at a time It just pops up here and there and if you don't pluck it, you don't die it, you know, I mean it just Not that I don't die my hair, you know, if you don't die if you don't do something about it Then then obviously at the end it'll just all be gray and this is the principle that's being Stated here in Ozziah is that these things happen over time. It's a gradual change And so take a sermon like this serious and realize oh, we're not watered down Yeah, don't be watered down today, but make sure next week. You also determine not to be watered down Make sure the week after you determine like I'm not gonna be watered down I'm you know when I go out so and I'm not gonna water down the gospel I'm not gonna quote some new King James version of the gospel or something I'm not gonna paraphrase the verses. I'm gonna give what the Word of God actually says You know, I'm gonna be a fundamental Baptist till the day that I die and I'm not gonna water down I'm gonna make sure that this church is not watered down I'm gonna do my best to maintain the ways of the Lord here. What's the sermon service simply this? Don't set on your lease You've done a great work and the work is continuing on but let me say this, you know the dregs This is the first year and the dregs are slowly coming down The the leaves are slowly slowly coming down the vessel at the bottom, you know It's real easy to just kind of rest on your laurels And you said we've done enough You start resting on your lease But then eventually you start stinking eventually you don't taste good anymore. I mean the taste is pretty good right now It's like some of the best wine that anybody and of course, I'm referring to juice Best juice that you can have here. It's just like this tastes great. It smells great. But may it be said that a year from now You still taste this good if not better and maybe you know, Lord willing you'll be moved into another building another vessel And you'll grow and Lord willing, you know, it's not just reading the Bible once now you're reading it twice a year Now you're memorizing scripture now you're teaching others about the Bible You're helping others grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ You're not resting on your leaves. You're leaving it behind You don't want to be a church that's stagnant stinks smells like sulfur Tastes nasty keep the taste fresh here at sure foundation about this church men and you are let's pray father Let me thank you so much for your word and thank you for the delicious wine that this church has to offer in a spiritual manner and the sweet aroma of preaching the sweet aroma of Christian living the sweet taste of The New Testament doctrine of the Word of God. I pray that we as Your people whether here as your foundation Baptist Church back at my church or any other church That we would not rest on our leaves and be at ease and then you have to shake us up you have to allow something Dramatic happen to us to kind of wake us up Lord help us Lord to be humble To keep preaching the gospel getting people saved changing lives loving people and honoring you in Jesus name. We pray. Amen