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I'll bring the plate in there. One more? I've got that now. Do you want to do that one first? At the cross? Yes sir. You got a roll of that? Yeah. Okay. You got a number two, number three? Or you want me to just pick something real quick? Pick something real quick. Okay. Okay. What about 43 we're marching to Zion for number two? I mean I was practicing now, but I don't know if I should play it. Which one should we play? I think I'll just play at the cross. Just that. That's fine. Okay. Alright, we're going to go ahead and get started this evening. Turn, if you would, to our first hymn will be hymn number 29 at the cross. Welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church, by the way. And our first hymn will be number 2929 at the cross. Hymn number 29 at the cross. Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Was it for crimes that I have done? He groans upon the tree. Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond decree. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shine his glories in, when Christ the mighty Maker died for man the creature sinned. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away, tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Amen. Let's open with a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we just thank you for this day and for all your many blessings. Lord, I just pray that you would be with those that got saved this evening, that you would just put it in their heart to get into a good church, Lord, and to serve you. Just be with them, Lord, and guide them and strengthen them so they're not choked out by the thorns, Lord, so they can spring up fully and be good, full, well-rounded Christians. Lord, we just thank you for this evening to worship in your name. I pray that you would incline your ear to us as we sing out our praises unto you, Lord, this thing that we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, for our next hymn, to the right, just a couple pages, is going to be number 43, We're Marching to Zion. Hymn number 43, We're Marching to Zion, 43. 43, let's sing. Come, we that love the Lord, and let our joys be known, join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord, and thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Let those refused to sing who never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King, but children of the heavenly King. May speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets. Before we reach the heavenly fields, before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk the golden streets, or walk the golden streets. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Then let our songs abound, and every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground, we're marching through Emmanuel's ground. To fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Thank you so much for coming to Peewer's Baptist Church. There's actually some updated bulletins on the cabinet, and brother Brandon is able to hand one out if you need one. On the front, we kind of had gotten behind on some of our birth announcements, so we've got a whole plethora now. We've got a congratulations, Yareli, Aliyah Hernandez. She was born April 13, 2021, 8, 54 p.m., weighing 7 pounds, and height 19 and 9 inches. And then we have Bethel Grace Bielen. She was born May 8, 2021, 1232 a.m., weight 8.32 pounds, height 20.08 inches. Then we have Olivetti. Is that how you say that? Olivette. All right, Olivette, Elise, Laveck. I guess these French names, you don't know how to pronounce them. And then born May 14, 2021, 1158, just barely made it for the 14th there. And then weight, I'm sorry, I guess that would have been right before lunch, weighing 6 pounds, 2.8 ounces, height 19.75 inches. And then Melanie Aliyah Hernandez, born May 20, 2021, 3.09 a.m., weight 8 pounds, 1.4 ounces, height 18 and 9 inches. And so that's how you grow a church right there is, you know, you just start pumping out babies. And praise the Lord on that. That's really exciting. Make sure to congratulate all those families. And on the inside, we have our service times, our soul winning times, as well as salvation's. I think we had four for this evening. Was there anything outside of this evening to report for this week? Was there anything? Three, okay. All right, keep up the good work on soul winning. And then we have our Bible memory passage, Romans chapter number eight, we're on week 12. And there's a lot of verses here. So even if you haven't started, there's still time to catch up and keep working on that. And then we have the congratulations there with all of the parents' names as well. And then we have our expecting mothers, if you'd please keep them in your prayers, as well as upcoming events. We have the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship that's going to be in October. So if you're able to make it up there, we'd really love for you to come. Who came two years ago? Who was able to go two years ago? Okay, so yeah, it was a lot of fun. And if you're able to make it, I'd really encourage you to show up as much as you can. We're gonna have some special preachers and some special events and everything like that. And then also one thing that we've been working on, we're trying to get ordered is some more Spanish Bibles. I have one with me here. This is not the exact perfected copy, but it gives you a really close idea. We tweaked a few things on this and we're still working on it. But if you'd like to look at one, you can. And we have some new ones that we're going to get. And so I'm really excited to have some more Spanish New Testaments that we can give out. Man, when we go soloing over here, it's just like only Spanish speaking it seems like sometimes. And so it'd be nice to be able to give them something if they can't necessarily come to our services or anything like that. And so that's there. If you have any other prayer requests throughout the week, you can submit those in and we'll try to make sure that we add them to the bulletin. I think that's pretty much all I had for announcements. Let's go ahead and go to our third song for the camera if you want to leave for us. All right. Our third hymn this evening is going to be number one hundred and twenty nine. Rock of ages. Him number one hundred twenty nine. Rock of ages one to nine. Rock of ages one hundred twenty nine. Let's sing. Rock of ages clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin. And the double cure saved from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no languor know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. In my hand no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath. When my eyes shall close in death. When I rise to worlds unknown and behold. Beyond thy throne. Rock of ages clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Chapter. Acts chapter fourteen. Acts fourteen. I'm sorry. Twelve. All right. Acts chapter number twelve. While the offering plates being passed around turn to Acts chapter twelve. And we'll read that chapter as is our custom. All right. Acts chapter number twelve and the Bible reads. Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread and when he had apprehended him he put him in prison and delivered him into four quaternions of soldiers to keep him intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when he when Herod would have brought him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold the angel of the Lord came upon him a light shine in prison and he spoke Peter on the side and raised him up saying Arise up quickly and his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him gird thyself and bind on thy sandals and so he did and he said unto him cast thy garment about thee and follow me. And he went out and followed him and wished not that it was true which was done by the angel but though he saw a vision when they were past the first and the second word. They came on to the iron gate that leadeth unto the city which opened to them of his own accord and they went out and passed on throughout one street and for with an angel departed from him. When Peter was come to himself he said now I know of surety that the Lord has sent his angel and had delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing he came to the house of Mary the mother of John whose name whose surname was Mark where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate a damsel came to harken named Rhoda and when he knew Peter's voice she opened not the gate for gladness but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her thou art mad but she constantly affirmed that it was even so then said they it isn't his angel but Peter continued knocking when they had opened the door and saw him they were astonished. But he beckoned unto them with the hand to hold their peace declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said go show these things into James and to the brethren and he departed and went into another place. Now as soon as it was day there was no small stir among the soldiers but was become of Peter and when Herod had sought for him and found him not he examined the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Cysteria in their abode and Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon but they came with one accord to him. And having made blastest the king Chamberlain their friend desired peace because their country was nourished by the kings country and upon a set day Herod arrayed in royal peril sat upon his throne and made an ordination unto them. And people gave a shout saying it is the voice of God and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord spoke him because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. But the word of God grew and multiplied and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry took with them John whose name, whose surname was Mark. Definitely Father we thank you for this evening. Thank you for everyone here Lord. We just pray that you feel Pastor Shelley with your spirit and help him keep boldly and accurately in your word in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So we're now in Acts chapter number 12 and just to kind of remind us of where we were in Acts chapter number 11 things had started to get better again. Because we had the apostles in essentially in Jerusalem and things are kind of going well and they were doing miracles and the church is growing. But then Stephen was heavily persecuted with the church. He was killed in the church for saw great persecution and they were scattered. And then upon that scattering we had the Saul, Saul of Tarsus who we know as Paul was going out and wreaking havoc against the churches. But then he gets converted and becomes one of the greatest evangelists and becomes a great preacher of the word of God. And in chapter number 11 we kind of left off where you know things are going well. There's a lot of people getting saved among the heathen and even Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem and he went and sought Saul and he's bringing him in. And it kind of just seems like in the Christian life that there's this ebb and flow of something really difficult happens to the church or happens to Christians. And they're able to overcome that and things start going well again just waiting for that next bad thing to come right over again and just smack them right you know in the soccer. And this is really kind of in my mind what's happening here because things are kind of going back to normal. Things are going good again and then all of a sudden it just you get hit with chapter 12 and verse 1 it says, Now at about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And so you're kind of like reading the story and especially if you've never read it before it was the first time for you. You're kind of like okay well God obviously uses persecution to scatter us but now things are going to go well. Now things are good and we got rid of all those adversaries of the church but lo and behold bam Herod comes along and he starts vexing the church as well. And another death. Now you kind of think like well Stephen was the one martyr. No now James is being killed and when you kind of study the story there's another James mentioned here. So it's pretty much the James the lesser here that's probably being mentioned. That's the one there was two Jameses that were disciples and James the lesser is the one that ends up getting killed here the brother of John. And it says in verse number 3 and because he saw it pleased the Jews. So this is Herod killing James and he's not really doing it necessarily because he really wants it. He's doing it just to get favor with the Jews or just to please the Jews. And I think one thing we have to understand is that this is a very common attribute of leaders in the world today where they don't really care about the things they do. They just want to get the praise of their constituents or just to basically pacify the people. And really people don't understand how much power they really have when it comes to legislation or the decisions that leaders make. Oftentimes leaders will succumb to the will of their constituents or of the people. And this is what you know theoretically we live in America we live in a republic we live in a democracy you know quote unquote it's not a true democracy but it is a representative democracy through a republic. And so we elect certain people and they are supposed to represent us. But ultimately our government theoretically is supposed to just be a voice of the people and doing what we want and we're supposed to tell them what to do. But this is not a very biblical concept. You know at least it's not the way God would desire for leaders to lead. It really is not leading if you think about it. Like in what way is somebody just doing what you tell them to do a leader? That's like the exact opposite of a leader is someone that's just doing whatever they're told or succumbing to the pressure that's around them. A leader is going to make a decision irregardless of what people think. A leader is just going to make the right a good leader is just going to make the right decisions or do that which is honest or having integrity no matter what people think or no matter what people want. And really Herod he's killing James because it pleases the Jews because it basically is going to gain him favor and probably allow him to stay in his position longer or maybe so he doesn't rile up anybody that's going to attack him or anything like that. Because there's obviously a lot of political pressure here to not upset the Jews or upset the Romans or anything like that as well. But I want to just focus on this idea for a second of the importance of making decisions as a leader. Go if you would to Leviticus chapter 19 for a moment. Go to Leviticus chapter number 19. And even though you know it's the heat and doing these things we can still learn through their bad example. And we have to understand if you're in a position of leadership no matter what that is and no matter what position of authority that you have you need to make sure that you are making good judgments. And that you're doing things that are righteous regardless of the circumstance. Look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 15. So the Bible is making it very clear that you're not supposed to have a respect of persons when you're judging a situation or you're judging a circumstance. And notice you're not supposed to honor the person of the mighty. So even if the Jews are more mighty than the Christians or the church you're not supposed to just respect them because they're better or more in number or they're paying more taxes or whatever the circumstance is. And we see in the world today that that's a common theme where people will basically lobby their politicians and based on the fact that they have more influence more power more might or whatever they're going to end up succumbing to that person's personal wishes and wants regardless than just having a righteous judgment rather than just doing that which is right or fulfilling the law correctly. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 1. Now if we were going to look up every time the Bible mentions respect of persons that would be the whole sermon. I mean there's so many so many places where the Bible talks about respect of persons. But it makes it very clear that God's not a respecter of persons and we're not supposed to be respecters of persons. James 2 really hammers on this but especially in a position of judgment. You know when you're when you have to make judgments or you have to make some kind of a ruling between two parties you know it's a very bad leader or a bad judge that will end up respecting somebody based on external circumstances based on their clothing or based on their status or based on their mind or based on how much you like them personally. You know and it's very hard for people to make a judgment when they have a personal interest involved. You know this would be like in the category of nepotism or something where it's your family member it's your friend or it's somebody that you already know or you have a relationship with. It's often hard to be very unbiased and for justice to be blind. But that is a biblical concept that when you know evaluating who's right and who's wrong you know it needs to be just on the facts of the case. You know you can't use your favoritism or your buddy buddy. This would be a bad form of judgment. Deuteronomy chapter 1 look at verse 17 the Bible says he shall not respect persons in judgment but he shall hear the small as well as the great. He shall not be afraid of the face of man for the judgment is God's and the cause that is too hard for you. Bring it unto me and I will hear it. So he again is hammering the fact that you're not supposed to be a respected person. You're supposed to hear the small and the great. And what would we think about James being killed in the book of Acts? Did James do anything worthy of death? Did he even mention anything that he did that was wrong? Or is it just that the Jews want him killed? It's just the Jews don't like him the Jews want all the Christians to be killed because they can't handle competition can they? They can't handle the competition of the church because the church actually lines up with the Bible. And whenever you start proving things in the Bible people are going to start believing them. And then when they're doing all these miracles people are going to really start believing them. Why is it that they killed Jesus in the first place? Wasn't it because they were envious of him and they were afraid that they would take away their place? So it's not anything different to them it's the same problem over and over again. They don't want to lose their status. They don't want to lose their religion. They don't want to lose their position. So they have to just eliminate their opposition. They have to eliminate their enemy so-called which would be the church would be the Christians. And they're not going to fight fair. They're basically going to lobby to the Romans lobby to these interest parties to basically force them to do their will. And because they have power because they already have influence they're able to persuade these rulers into doing their bidding. Go to Jerusalem chapter 16. That's why the Bible makes it clear that Jesus was killed of the Jews. Now obviously the Jews didn't get their hands dirty in the sense that they didn't physically do the work. But they pressured the Romans into doing it. They pressured Pilate and they pressured all of them in order to fulfill their will. And when you understand the world that we live in today the evil people in our society work the same way. They never like to get their hands dirty. They like to get other people to do their dirty work for them. They like to pressure people into eliminating their opposition and to killing people. And so they can always keep an arm's length approach where they didn't really, well I didn't kill them or I didn't do that or I didn't touch that money or whatever. They always try to keep away from the situation. But here's the thing, God is not going to be fooled or tricked by that measure, by that device. If you're able to pressure people into doing your bidding, God still holds you accountable. Even David, when he sends Uriah with a letter and they put him in the hottest part of the battle, that David is attributed to being the murderer of Uriah. He says you killed him by the enemy, by the sword of the Philistines. And so it's not that David literally got a knife out and killed Uriah, but he literally gave him this death sentence and sent him off and he was going to die, just like Judas giving the betrayal kiss to Jesus Christ. He didn't literally kill Jesus, but by doing that he did, in a sense, in effect. He betrayed the innocent blood and he got money, basically blood money, for the fact that he turned over the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 19. Thou should not rest judgment, thou should not respect persons, neither take a gift for a gift that blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. And there's a lot of judgment today that's perverted because of gifts. And you look at our nation today and it is filled with unrighteous judgment because our judges are taking gifts, because our judges are respecters of persons. If a celebrity commits a crime, they always get off. And today is worldwide because there's respect of persons there. Oh, well, it's O.J. Simpson, it's the juice. If the glove doesn't fit, acquit. It's like they have to be respecter of persons. And the opposite is true. Oh, it's a white cop that killed a black guy, he's definitely guilty. We don't even care what the circumstances were, we don't need to hear about the case. And again, all the people are pressuring the judges and pressuring everybody else to just fulfill their will, regardless of judgment. But you know what? God makes it clear you should not be respecter of persons. Hey, if you're in a position of judgment, you should condemn the wicked and exonerate the righteous. It doesn't matter what pressure you're being put under, it doesn't matter who is the party that's going to be excited or pleased or unhappy or whatever, you're just supposed to judge righteous judgment. Go to Proverbs 24. And a person that's a bad leader is one who can't say no. A bad leader is one that can't say no. Why? Because that's a picture of someone that's not going to ever judge righteous judgment. He's just going to do whatever he's told. Well, I want you to kill James, or I want you to go here, or I want you to do this. No, a good leader at times will say no. What did James do? No. Or they'll examine the case, they'll examine the facts, they'll realize that this is not a good decision, and they'll say no. You know, someone that can't say no should not be put in a position of judgment or leadership, or be a ruler over something, because they're not going to be an effective ruler. If you're in a management position, you cannot just appease every single person. Sometimes you need to say no. Sometimes you have to put your foot down. And, you know, a good parent is one that can say no. Well, I always do what my kids want. Well, that's because you're a bad parent. Because your kids, the Bible says that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. No child is good on its own. It needs to be told no often. And you need to be someone that's not a respecter of persons, even with your own children. And look, that's hard, because it's your kid. It's like, it's me, oh, that's my child, it's my son. He's so handsome, she's so cute, or whatever. And it's hard for people to have an unbiased judgment with their own children, with their own family members. You have to be careful, you have to make sure that you're not being a respecter of a person in any scenario, in any situation. Proverbs 24, look at verse 23. These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. So again, the Bible's just hammering this point. Go to chapter 28, go to chapter 28 and look at verse number 21. Chapter 28, look at verse number 21. The Bible says to have respect of persons is not good. For for a piece of bread that man will transgress. Now this is what is a great verse to understand politics, okay? Because what you have to understand is the person that's a respecter of person, they will literally sell you out for a piece of bread. Like they will just promise you up and down, yeah, whenever you put me in office, I'm going to lower taxes, I'm going to lower taxes, I'm going to lower taxes. Then they get elected and it's just like, well, what if we give you a piece of bread and you raise taxes? And you raise taxes and they're like, sure. The words that come out of their mouth are meaningless and they will literally sell you out for anything. So when you notice someone not being equitable in their judgment, just realize this person's never going to be equitable. This person's never going to judge rightly. This person's never going to do the right thing. They will sell you out. And so when you notice somebody selling somebody else out, don't put any trust in that person. Don't think like, oh, okay, well, they wouldn't sell me out, I'm their buddy, I'm their friend. Notice what it's saying, the person that has respect to persons, he will transgress just for a piece of bread. Isn't that like basically the most menial, trivial thing, like a piece of bread? They give that away for free at the restaurants. I mean, you go to a restaurant that's not a Mexican restaurant, which, hey, I mean, the Mexican restaurant, flour tortilla, it's kind of like bread, right? I mean, they fry them, so it's chips, right? You go to a Mexican restaurant, chips are free. The bread is free. Go to Olive Garden, free bread. Outback, free bread. I mean, it's just like, it's what they just give away. There's a restaurant called La Madeleine. It's just like they just have all this bread out that you can just have whatever you want. Go to even Cheesecake Factory. They have really good bread, okay? I like both the white and the brown bread. I'm not racist when I go there, okay? Some of my family prefers the brown, some of my family prefers the white. You know, I like it both. You know, it's all good. As long as it's hot, it's got butter, I mean, you eat it. But what you have to understand is that when you're in a position of leadership, don't pull a hair head and just succumb to the pressure of the people, succumb to the pressure of the people that are under you. No, you need to tell them no. And we think about great leaders in the Bible. Who's a great leader in the Bible? How about Moses? Didn't Moses have to constantly tell the people no, and rebuke them, and he forced them to drink, you know, bitter water, and he forced them to drink their golden calf that they built. And I mean, this guy's constantly hammering them with no, and then the law, and saying this is wrong, and rebuking them. But then as soon as the next guy steps up, Aaron, what does he do? Immediately succumbs to the pressure, doesn't he? Just immediately does whatever the people want him to do. They want him to make false gods. And does Aaron ever say no? No. Aaron is just your yes man. I mean, if you want Aaron, Aaron is your first representative Democrat. You know, he's just like, whatever you want, whatever you wish, I will do it. And then he blames them, of course, when he gets caught. But Saul's the same way. Whenever Saul's in a position of leadership, he's a respecter of persons, he's one that transgresses. Whatever the people want, well, let's just go ahead and do it. And then he ends up blaming the people. He doesn't even take personal responsibility, because to both of these guys, it was not their decision. Think about it. Aaron didn't come up with the idea to build the golden calf, you know. Well, I mean, kind of, in a sense. When they say make gods, he does fashion it into a calf specifically. But it's not like he was just sitting here like, let's make false gods. They kind of come up with the idea. He's just the one that puts it together. Saul, you know, he's blaming the people saying, well, they want to make a sacrifice, they want to do these things. And so in their mind, they're probably thinking like, well, I didn't want to do it, they want to do it. I'm just, you know, appeasing them, and I'm just supposed to do whatever they want. But see, a good leader does not just do what other people want. The people that are under him, what they want, they do what's right. You know, a good leader would be a husband. A husband doesn't do just whatever his wife wants, he does what's right. A good mother doesn't do just what her kids want, she does what's right. Hey, if you're on the job, you don't do whatever your employees want you to do, you do what's right. Hey, you work for a company, you don't do what the customer wants, you do what's right. And look, I agree generally with the idea that the customer's always right, but that's not true. I mean, sometimes the customer wants to do stuff and he's just like, that's not right. And you should just be like, no. Sometimes you just have to tell people no. And you know, in a church, sometimes the church wants something, but the pastor has to say, no. I'm not interested. I'm not going to do that. Hey, can we bring in the NIV? No. It's like, hey Pastor Shelley, can you preach nicer? No. It's like, hey, can we, you know, I want to move over next to my house. Sorry. You know. Or I don't want to move. Sorry. I mean, it's just like, people just want to, they're so fickle, and they want all their things, and they want, you know, can we get pink chairs? No. You know, it's like, it's not what you want, it's whatever's right. Okay? And at the end of the day, a leader is going to be one that tells you no sometimes. And some people can't handle that. If they don't get their way, they will just move on to the next pastor that will tell them and give them everything they want. And look, this is not that church. If you were hoping that this church was going to be, hey Pastor Shelley, I don't like this rule, change it. Sorry. Hey Pastor Shelley, I want you to do this differently. Nope. And then people can't handle that. I've had people come up to me and tell me, change this rule or I'm leaving the church. Bye. I mean, that's not how it works. And look, that would be a bad leader if every time someone comes up and threatens or tries to make you do their will, you're just like, sure, whatever, you know. No. Go to Proverbs 29, you're pretty much right there, you might just flip the page. Look at verse 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso puteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Don't just be afraid of man. Don't be afraid, well, I want them to like me. You know, the only person you should care about being pleased with you or liking you is God. There could be times in your life where no one likes you and only God likes you. And I'd way rather have no one like me and God like me than have everyone love me and God hates me. What does that look like? Joel Osteen. What does virtually no one liking you look like? Pure words of the Baptist Church, okay. I mean, look at our Google reviews, right? I mean, it's not like people are just lining up. But here's the thing, I'm not going to tell them what they want. There's so many people in the city, they're looking for a pastor to tell them exactly what they want to hear. And you know what? It's called Lakewood. It's called Sagemont. It's called Second Baptist Church and First Baptist Church. And you can just go and you can go to the pastor and you can say, Pastor, I felt like that sermon was a little mean. Okay, I'm sorry, I'll preach nicer. Pastor, I don't like that you used this word. Okay, I'll never use that word again. You know, Pastor, I want this. It's just whatever you want, he's going to do. Just, hey, I don't like that version. It's too hard to read. Will you give me the Chuck E. Cheese version? And in fact, I don't like just showing up. Can you give me a Starbucks in the lobby? And in fact, it's kind of hard to drive the church. Can you just, let's just watch it online. Let's just watch it at home. I don't even want to show up. Look, just whatever the people want. This is really Rick Warren. This is his style of church. He had the Purpose, what is it called? Purpose Driven Church. Yeah, I was thinking Purpose Driven Life, but I don't know who it is. The Purpose Driven Church. He basically taught that you just go to an area and ask what everybody wants, and then you just do that. It's like, what kind of gospel do y'all want? Right, a lukewarm watered down one? Or what Bible do you want? Should we even use the Bible? Let's just use our phone. Let's just write our own version. It's just a free for all. Because what's the goal? Is the goal to preach the truth? Or was the goal to get as many people to come to the same building as possible to give them money? Oh, I know which one it was. It was to get as many people to come in and to get as much tithe money and to be as ecumenical as possible. And really, this is the idea that emanates our modern politics today. Our modern politics is just trying to promise the biggest constituency whatever they want. My constituency is Hispanic people. Open borders and we'll give you $100 when you cross. Or more welfare. They don't care. They're just going to basically make empty promises to whoever their constituency is, try to just appease them or say things that they want to hear, but they don't really care. Oh, you want me to kill James? No problem. You want me to imprison this person? Sure. Cops are bad? Yep, cops are bad. Cops are good? Okay, cops are good. Military is bad? Yep, military is good. They don't care. For a piece of bread they will transgress. And that's what Herod is like. Herod is somebody that just does no opinion, no feelings. He's just an empty vessel, just like our president today. Go back to Acts 12. Our president is an empty vessel. He doesn't even know what he's saying. He's literally reading a teleprompter. Literally. Sometimes he's just fumbling over the words because he doesn't even know what the words are. He doesn't even know the names. He's just saying things. That's why they always are contradicting themselves because they don't believe anything. When a pastor is constantly contradicting himself, it's because he doesn't have any true beliefs. Because when you have true beliefs, the true belief is going to constantly come out. When you don't believe anything, you're going to just say all kinds of stuff and they're going to constantly conflate and they're going to be confusing. That's like the modern versions. The modern versions are not trying to accurately translate the Word of God. That's why they constantly contradict one another and make up all kinds of weird lies and taking out really important verses because they don't have any real belief. They're just trying to make it different enough to sell it and get the copyright on it. You think I'm joking? I'm not joking. They have to be at least 10% different than all other versions in order to get a copyright. That's why they keep getting weirder and weirder and weirder and weirder. Look, it's getting even weirder. I heard Pastor Anderson gave me a book recently. They've decided that they're going to take some think tank. I think it was in Germany is what he told me. I need to do more research on this. Essentially, they're taking all the underlying Greek from all the different manuscripts and they're putting it in a computer program. It's just going to randomly generate what it thinks is the most accurate. Then they're just randomly translating that into English. It's literally making changes where the verse will just add the word not to it. It will say the exact opposite of what it said last year, just because the computer program decided. How many times are they going to just keep tinkering? It's going to get to the point where it's unrecognizable. Look, there are some verses. If you compare the NIV to the King James, especially in the Proverbs, it's unrecognizable. You know the Bible that says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly? The NIV says a man that hath many companions will come to ruin. You're like, what in the world? It's not even the same. It's just completely different. Look, when it comes to Herod, he is not someone that has strong beliefs or opinions. He's just going to basically fulfill the will of his constituents. Notice who is the real enemy of the church? The Jews. Obviously, Herod is the one fulfilling out their will. You have to understand, in our society today, you know who is our real enemy today? Fake religion and fake Christians. You know who I get in most trouble with? Fake Christians. Now, fake Christians do not come and hit me and punch me and do stuff. What they do is they call the cops on me, and they call my landlord on me, and they harass me, and they put bad reviews, and they report all of your sermons. Look, the fake Christians are going around thinking they're so much better than you, and they've got the real religion, so they're the ones constant stopping. Look, cops don't really care. They're not interested in stopping soul winning, but you know what? The fake Christians that are going out, they're the ones that are harassing the cops to come and arrest you and trying to get you for trespassing. Obviously, there are sodomites too, but I'm telling you, a lot of times it's fake Christians. It's this fake Christianity. It's these fake religions that are trying to persecute you. Look what it says in verse number 4. It says, So this is Herod taking in Peter also. ...saying, ...and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together, praying. Now, what's really cool about this story is, in my opinion, when you're reading this, is it just proves you that God can do whatever he wants. In this scenario, this is not like normal things that are happening. I mean, they're just literally doing whatever they want. They just walk up to a gate, and the gate just opens. And it's just like, how does that work? Here's the thing, God can literally do anything that he wants. And this is the New Testament. But obviously, Peter is right with the Lord. Obviously, the church is praying for Peter. This tells me that we should pray for miracles, though. Why not? I mean, you say, well, this can't happen. Okay, but could any of this happen? No. But why did it happen? Because people were praying, weren't they? It says in verse number 12, and there were many gathered together who were praying. And so we should pray for miracles. Now, I'm not saying that every miracle that we pray for will definitely happen, but what I am saying is that it's possible. What I am saying is that when you get a lot of people together believing and praying, that miraculous things can happen. Now, I also just find it funny. This is me personally, but I just find it funny. Angels are often helping and doing a lot of good things, but when he comes to Peter, he just punches him in the side. He's like, come on, Peter, get up. He just smokes him right on the side. He's like, get up. I just thought that was funny. I don't know, maybe this angel had an ax to grind with Peter or something. I don't know. He's just like, get up, man. Come on. Why did you get thrown in prison again or whatever? But this thing is so crazy. And think about this. It's so unique that Peter literally thinks he's dreaming. He can't even believe it. He's just like walking up. They're just going through the doors, and he's just thinking like, I can't wait until I wake up, you know? And then finally when he's out and he's just like left alone, he's just thinking like, that really happened. And then he goes, and he goes to the people that are praying. And what's cool about the people praying, look what it says, verse 13. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to Harken named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Now what's funny to me is this. They're obviously praying for Peter, right? And they're praying by some miracle that he would be released. They don't even believe it when it happens. Doesn't that kind of prove that it's a miracle even to them? I mean, this is a miracle to everybody, because it literally happens, and they can't even believe it. There's someone knocking at the door, and it's like, it's Peter. No, it's not. It's like, it's Peter. It's his angel. They're more likely to believe that his angel is knocking at the door than Peter himself. That's how incredulous they are to this miracle. But why do I bring that up? Because, you know, obviously when you're praying for something by faith, it could be something that you have a hard time in the carnal believing would be true. It's a miracle. It's not just praying for things. Well, I know that could actually happen, so I'll pray for that. They're literally praying for something that they don't even see how it's possible. They're literally thinking, this is not something that can happen in the natural. This is not a normal circumstance. And even when it is happening, they're like, I can't even believe it. Isn't that kind of incredible? I mean, think of it. You've got to put this in the real perspective. They're not praying for things that they just think are for sure going to happen. Like, you know, someone's like, hey, I went to this job interview, and it went really well, but I really want this job. I pray that I'll get it. That's something that we're like, we're not going to be like, that was a miracle he got that job. You know what I mean? That's something you're kind of expecting. That's kind of something you think is probably going to happen anyways. But there are circumstances, there are things where people say, you know, I need prayer in this area, and you're just thinking, like, that's impossible. You know, or that's something that's not very realistic, or I don't even understand how that could even happen. But by having lots of people pray for them, by lots of people praying for Peter, what happened? A miracle happened. Look, God is a God of the whole earth. God can do whatever he wants. God can perform miracles for people, and I believe that he does perform miracles for lots of people all the time. Now, you know, Peter gets a miracle performed here for him, but James died, okay? Stephen died. You have other places in Scripture where the Apostle Paul is asking for the messenger of Satan and putting him to the part, the thorn in the flesh, and God says, my grace is sufficient for thee. So that doesn't mean that everything we want or everything we desire is always going to happen. You know, can I please be 6'5"? Lord, I want to be 6'5". You know, he may not help me with that, right? And here's another thing that I personally understand and think of is this. Everyone's going to die eventually, okay? So sometimes people are praying for an older person to get healed or get better, but here's the thing. That can't always be answered because eventually they have to die. We all have to die somehow, okay? We all have to, you know, get old. We're all going to get older. We're all going to have infirmities. We're all going to die eventually. Bad things are going to happen to us. Persecutions are going to happen. So I'm not telling you, hey, if we just pray really hard, nothing bad will ever happen. There will never die. There will never be any problems. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is this. There could be times where something is needed or somebody wants something that cannot naturally occur. And through much prayer, through much agreeance and prayer, a miracle could be performed by the Lord. And even when it happens, nobody even believes it. Nobody even, you know, recognizes it. There's all kinds of miracles that happen in the Bible and no one believes it. Lazarus has risen from the dead. And people are just like trying to figure out another way to excuse it. Jesus was risen from the dead. They tried to excuse that. Oh, someone stole the body or something happened. And even today, think about it. Just think of the most amazing miracle happening in our church. Let's say someone dies right now and we raise them from the dead. No one would believe it. We could have it on video. And they'd be like, oh, it's a deep fake, or it gets censored, or whatever. It's not necessarily going to have that effect. So don't think, oh, I want to have this miracle because then everybody will believe or then everybody will get right with God. Even when miracles were being performed by Jesus, it didn't change their heart, did it? In fact, sometimes it made it harder. People still get saved by believing in Jesus Christ. People still get saved by the pure gospel. But obviously, isn't it going to be better if Peter gets rescued and is still doing the work of the Lord? Yeah, so it makes sense for God to perform this miracle and to help him. And so a lot of times you have to understand that miracles are going to be performed when it's in accordance to God's will. And that's probably the most important thing to understand. Go to 1 John 5 for a moment. Go to 1 John 5. I want to show you a verse here on prayer. But I'm a big believer in prayer, and I've prayed for lots of people for lots of things, and I've prayed for things in my life. And at times, I believe that God's performed miracles. Not necessarily to this extent, per se. I don't know. But I've seen all kinds of things happen where it did not seem like it would happen in the natural. It didn't seem like there was ever going to be any kind of change, and then there was. But notice what the Bible says in 1 John 5 verse 14. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him. So the Bible tells us if we pray according to God's will, he for sure hears us. He definitely hears us. There's not even a question of whether or not he hears us. And it says if we're praying according to his will, he's going to grant us the petitions that we request of him. So God's not up in heaven saying, like, I want to do something for you, and then you ask me for exactly what I want to give you. And he's like, I'm not going to do it. No. Whatever he's wanting to do, if you ask him, he's going to do it. Just like salvation. No one prays and asks for salvation wanting it, and God's not going to grant it. He's going to grant that salvation request every single time. And so what's really important, though, is understanding God's will for our lives, for this world, for our church, and trying to pray according to God's will, and God will grant us those prayers. You know, here's a prayer that I pray that God would give us more soul winners. He said, where did you come up with that? That's what he told us to pray for. He said to pray for more laborers. And so I know that God hears that prayer. And you know what? I believe God will answer that prayer. And in fact, you know, I've seen lots of soul winners added to our church. In my mind, like a miracle, you know, I didn't do anything. I was just praying for it. And then just a random person just shows up, a random family, a random person just gets plugged in our church, and they start, they're like, soul winning day one. I'm just thinking, like, awesome. I did nothing. This person just came out of nowhere as a soul winner. And I've seen this happen over and over and again. And so, you know, that makes me feel like I need to keep praying that prayer. I want to keep praying for soul winners and for people to be added to our church. They just come out of nowhere, and they start preaching the gospel. And maybe someone hears my voice, and they're thinking, like, I could be the answer to someone's prayer. You be that answer. You go to a church, and you get plugged in, and you be a soul winner, and you be a fulfillment of that prayer. Now, isn't that kind of, think about it this way, okay? Isn't that a miracle to some degree? Because I could be praying for a soul winner to be out of the church and do literally nothing in a carnal sense, and that happens. I mean, I've had people, a lot of people, pretty much almost everybody here has come here. Not because I did anything special. It's just like God sending this person through whatever means. And obviously, you might have used other people along the way to get them there, but it's just a miracle that that person shows up. Go to Luke chapter number 18. Go to Luke chapter number 18 for a moment. What I'm saying is this. Prayer works. But you know what does not work every single time? Not praying. Not praying. You know, the Bible says you have not because you ask not. And it also says you receive not because you ask amiss. And I've noticed this. You almost always lack or are missing out on the things you never ask for. You pretty much are never going to get anything that you want when you don't ask for it. This could be true in your marriage. This could be true in the workplace. This can be true in the church. This is just true in every area of your life. You think, like, I want people to be in prayer with me at church. Well, if you never ask Pastor Shirley to put it in the bulletin, we're probably not going to know to pray for you. Hey, if you never ask your spouse for something that you want, they're probably not going to just magically think of it. You know, as much as you want them to do that, they're probably not going to do it. You're like, hey, I want them to take me out to dinner here. Why don't you just ask for it? You know, hey, I want them to, you know, spend more time with me. Why don't you ask for it? You know, you have not because you ask not. You know, sometimes people are just thinking, like, I can't believe they're not doing this. And it's like, well, have you ever asked them for it? No. I know why they're not doing it. Hey, I hope I get promoted at work. Well, have you ever asked your boss if you can get a promotion? No. They're hiring. Did you apply for it? No. Okay, well, look, you get things that you ask for. And not always, because you could ask them this, right? If I walk into a company and I say, hey, I want to be the CEO. Like, what experience do you have? None. They're like, we're not going to give that to you, right? If I pray at night every night, God, give me a Ferrari. Red, you know? I'm probably not going to get that, because what's the point? I guess I could get here a little faster. So, hey. Maybe it's according to his will and I didn't realize it. No, I'm just kidding. You've got to think, like, is this according to God's will? Is the prayers that I'm making according to God's will? And people are often praying today for things that are not according to God's will. And they're not going to get those. Here could be a prayer. Someone is literally attacking you or persecuting you. And there's nothing bad happening to them. You could pray that God would avenge you. Look at Luke, chapter 18, verse 1. And he's making a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. And I love it when the Bible just says, like, hey, I just want you to know what this parable is all about. Prayer. Okay? So, just straight up. Verse 2, saying, there wasn't a city of judge which feared not God, neither guarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cried day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily, nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Now, this is a great parable. We have to understand there's a picture of, there's a judge, there's this woman, she's coming, and she's like, Avenge me of my adversary. And he's like, go away. Then she comes the next day. Avenge me of my adversary. He's like, go away. Then he's like, comes the next day. Avenge me of my adversary. And then he's sitting here like, she's going to come here every single day, isn't she? She's like, I don't care. I don't like this woman. I don't like the avenger. I only like myself. And because I only like myself, I just want to stop being harassed by this woman. So he's like, alright, avenged. And he's saying, if this guy will avenge this woman, who doesn't care about her, who's not a righteous person, who's an ungodly person, how much more the God in heaven that loves you and cares about you and knows the number of the hairs on your head, how much more is he willing to go ahead and answer your prayers? But here's the thing. Sometimes God wants you to ask more than once. Sometimes God wants you to pray. And you know, there's some people in the Bible that had to pray a while. Think about Hannah. And she was constantly provoked by her adversary, and she had to pray constantly for God to avenge her or to bless her. And so, you know, don't lose faith. What is faith? Faith is believing that God is going to honor his word or to take care of his promises. But you know what? If you know for sure it's going to happen, it doesn't take faith to pray that prayer. It takes faith to pray for something that you don't know is going to happen, or it may be difficult or could be even considered a miracle. And so that's why we should continue. But here's the thing. Jesus is basically saying, the Son of Man is saying, when I come, will I find that on the earth? Will I find people that are still willing to just continually pray, just trusting? I mean, here's the thing. If you were in jail, how long would you want people to keep praying for you? Wouldn't it be until you're out? Like, I mean, you're not like, well, they prayed once. All right, let's go on. Who cares about Peter now? It sucks to be him. Or do you want people to just keep praying for you and keep being with you and keep helping you? And look, we should want to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, trusting that the Lord's will will be accomplished. Go to Revelation chapter 8. Go to Revelation chapter 8. Now, I say that to give you hope for prayer. We should just continually pray. But that does not mean that everything will always happen the way we think it. You know, we don't always understand God's will perfectly. But let me give you just a little bit more hope for your prayers, okay? Because let's say you pray for your adversary to be revenged or to be destroyed or to be killed. And you're just praying and you're praying and you're praying and you're praying and you're praying and then you die. And you're like, well, that seemed like it was worthless. Like, what was the point of all that prayer? Or my thing didn't happen. Well, look at Revelation chapter 8. Your prayers still have a second chance, all right? Look at verse number 2. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth. Voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. So even if your prayer doesn't get fulfilled in your lifetime, eventually it'll turn into the wrath of God in heaven and pour it out on the earth. So there you go. You're like, well, hey, my prayer did something. It was still a memorial before God and He still heard it. It's just His will was to wait for that prayer to be answered here. So, hey, your prayers aren't in vain. If you're praying according to God's will, it's not in vain. Just keep trusting in the Lord. Just keep having faith. And you say, well, if it doesn't happen, it'll just be some fire on some sodomite's head or something. You know, go back to Acts 12. Some reprobate will get my prayer just right in the noggin. You know, just hit him right in the face. Wouldn't that be kind of cool, though, if you're in heaven and you see your prayer turn into fire and it hits your adversary just right square in the soccer. You're just like, BAM! Just gets him. Hey, that's not that bad. You're like, I'm glad I prayed that prayer. Think about it. Think about the other hypothetical. Well, if I hadn't prayed, that wouldn't have happened. So you're like, I'm really glad I prayed. And then you're like, I'm glad I prayed every day because now it's just a firestorm. It's just like... You know, it's like, man, Cameron was angry, you know, with those people. You know, it's another way to look at your prayers. Look at verse number 13. I think we already read a little bit. Let's go down to verse number 18. Now, here's another thing you have to understand. When you're on the wrong side, your life could be taken from you like that, even though you had no possibility of doing anything differently. Let's just ask this question. Was it really the soldiers' fault that Peter was released? Did they do anything wrong? No, they had no chance. I mean, God took him out of the jail, right? I mean, if you're going to be honest, like, what did the soldiers do that was wrong? You know what they did that was wrong? They were on the wrong team. That's it. And when you're on the wrong team, bad things can happen to you. You can be destroyed. You know, the Bible says if a ruler hearkened to lies, all his servants are wicked. That's why it's good not to go to the wrong church. That's why it's good not to have the wrong boss or the wrong leader or go along with lies or go along with deception because, you know what, you're wicked yourself when you're on the wrong team. And notice these people just get wiped out. They had no chance of being saved. They were just damned from the moment that Peter was put in prison. Be careful, you're put in prison. Look at verse 20. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. But the word of the Lord grew and multiplied, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. So you have to think about it this way. We know what's going on in the story. We have the foresight and the hindsight in a sense because we're looking back, but we have the foresight to know what's happening. For the Christians, they're thinking, oh, everything got good again, and then James is killed. And it's like, oh, man. And Peter's in prison. Look at this Herod guy. Nothing bad's happening to him. Nothing evil's happening to him. And there's going to be moments in your life where someone's persecuting, doing evil, and you're thinking, well, they're getting away with it. Why does this person get to do whatever they want and go around and parade themselves and gallivant and be in charge and they're just living high on life? But here's the thing. You reap what you sow. And is Herod really going to get away with it? No, not at all. Then he goes to some party and he gives this great speech. He's obviously not Biden. He's more like Trump or something. And they're like, this is the voice of a god. Can you imagine someone saying that? I don't know who gives really good speeches like that. I've never heard anything. Hollywood actors or something. Today, to me, I'm thinking like musicians. Usually musicians get this kind of praise. They're like, man, that voice is like an angel or that voice is just so amazing. They kind of just worship the musicians and whatever. But here's the thing. Do musicians really work really hard to have all the natural talent that God gave them? I mean, some musicians, they're so lazy. All they do is sit around and do drugs and just get high and just commit fornication. And they get on stage and they're not even sober and they're just singing. It's just like God just gave them all this natural ability and talent and they're just wasting it on themselves. And notice what happens to a lot of musicians. Don't they just kind of like die randomly? Hmm. Like what happens to Herod? Doesn't he just bam? Ate and up a worm. That sounds like it sucked. I don't even know what that means. Did he eat some food and bread worms in his body and it just ate his intestines? That doesn't sound like a good way to go. And look, being against the Lord is not a good team to be on. Notice just one snap of God's fingers and you'll just take your life. And now he's in hell for all of eternity. He's been in hell for a really long time. Screaming, weeping and gnashing of teeth, outer darkness just right now. Herod is screaming bloody murder right now. Oh, he's going to get away with it. He's not getting away with it. And look, when people do evil against the church, when people are attacking Christians, there's this tendency to think like, well, why are they getting away with it? They're not getting away with it. Oh. Au contraire. They're getting way worse and they're going to die young oftentimes. If you went to Job 31, I want to show you a few verses and then we'll be kind of finished here. Go to Job 31 for a moment. But you have to understand, look, these people are going to get what's coming to them. Don't think, oh, well, Biden's getting away with it. He's not getting away with it. He doesn't even know where he is, okay? He might as well be in hell already. I mean, him and the nursing home patients are about the same. It's like, well, he gets to be president. He doesn't even realize he's president. He said he was running for Senate. He says that he's the husband of Joe Biden. He doesn't even know what's going on. Well, Kamala gets to be vice president. Are they really getting to enjoy it, though? Or is everybody saying, like, you're a fraud, you're a fake, there's this constant pressure, they're just hiding from everybody, they can't even enjoy anything that's going on. They're not enjoying this. When you do things fraudulently, you don't get to really enjoy it. Whenever you steal money, you're worried about it, you steal something, you're worried you're going to get caught, every time the cops drive by you think they're coming for you and whatever. Whenever you work hard for something and buy it, you get to enjoy it. Whenever you steal something, you do something wrong or whatever, you're constantly having this fear and anxiety. Look, these Democrats, they don't get to enjoy any of these things that they have, because they all did it by deceit and fraud and whatever. They're constantly worried about who's going to catch on next and what post do we have to censor next and what video do we have to censor next. I mean, can you imagine how stressful it is with the way that our technology is to try and hide the truth right now? Can you imagine how stressful it is for all these companies that have done all this evil and this wicked and this deceit? They have to be worried about all the people ratting on them and basically, you know, did Jeffrey Epstein tell anybody and where's his list and did Hunter Biden leave another laptop somewhere and did he take pictures with another hooker? What is he doing next and what do I have to censor next? I mean, they're not enjoying their life. That's got to be the most stressful, you know, so much pressure. I mean, Harrod, he's got all this pressure. He didn't get to enjoy. He's going around trying to appease all of the constituents and making these speeches and trying to get people and then he just dies. They're not really enjoying life. The musicians aren't enjoying life. The Hollywood actors aren't enjoying life. The sports athletes, they're not even enjoying life. You know, they have a muzzle around their mouth. They're not allowed to express their personal opinion. They just have to do whatever their team says. Look, some of the greatest athletes on the planet hate their life. They hate their job. Aaron Rodgers, he hates his team. He was like trying everything to get out of Green Bay because they won't give him any wide receivers and he's like, our team sucks. I can't throw it to myself and win the game. He's like, I need somebody that can catch the ball and that can run faster than a white guy. He's like, can you get me a black guy that can catch somewhere? It's like he's got Geordie Nelson. Sorry, I know a little bit about football. I'm just saying like, hey, you're in the NBA. You can't criticize China. You know, these people are just paid actors. They're glorified whores. They're glorified whores. They got a paycheck. They can't say anything. They'll lose all their endorsements from Nike and they'll lose all their endorsements from Adidas and whatever. And all the people that surround them, they feel like they're fake because they're fake. They're like, man, my girlfriend doesn't seem like she likes me and my wife doesn't seem like she likes me and my agent doesn't seem like he likes me and all my teammates, they don't seem like they really like me. And all these people that just come and stay at my house and eat all of my food and drink all of my liquor and then leave me the next day, I don't feel like they really like me because they don't. And people today, they sit in church and they're like, I want to have that life, not realizing how horrible it is. And they think, well, why are they getting away with it? What are they getting away with? You know, the thieves and the crooks and the liars and the fags, they're not getting away with anything. You run into a fag, hey, are you going to hell? They're like, yep. That's why they have to get so drunk all the time and that's why they have to lie to themselves because they know reality. They know what's waiting for them and they hate their life so much that they just basically try to destroy it. They try to just do anything to give them any kind of temporary pleasure and it never satisfies because they're insatiable, they're implacable. Look, real joy and fulfillment comes with serving the Lord, even with persecution, even with affliction, even with the troubles and the toils of this life and those that are really wicked, look, they're going to get what's coming under them and in fact, they're going to get it way worse. Look at Job 31 and look at verse number 3. Now this is Job speaking. You have to be careful. If you're in Job, make sure it's Job or God speaking, right? Job 31, look at verse 3. Wouldn't you say it's kind of a strange punishment that one day you're given a great speech and then the next moment you're just eaten of worms and die? That's a pretty strange punishment. But notice, it's going to happen. How about those guards that were on duty, they weren't like the guards guarding Jeffrey Epstein that weren't watching on purpose and already admitted it. Did you know that the guards watching Jeffrey Epstein recently came forward and made a public statement saying, we weren't watching, we were sleeping and doing other things when he died? And they just basically said, okay, we'll do 100 hours of community service and no problem. Now those guys literally were not doing their job, were literally at fault and someone died under their watch and they get 100 hours of community service. These guards are 100% on duty, doing nothing wrong. God just miraculously gets Peter out and they lose their life. But I'll tell you what, they're not going to get away with it. You say, oh, they got away with it. They're not getting away with it. Jeffrey Epstein killing himself, whoever that was, is not going to get away with it. It's going to be a strange punishment. A strange punishment will come out of these people. Go over to 2 Timothy chapter 2. That's the last place I'm going to have to turn. What do we learn from this chapter? Just keep serving God. Because notice, what was he trying to do? He's trying to kill the Word of God. Obviously all these people are just pawns of the devil and what's the devil's agenda to get rid of the Word of God? But Acts keeps going. We get chapter 13 and 14 and 15. And you know who's not continuing in these chapters? Herod. Hey, bring in the adversary, he's gone the next chapter. Bring in the next adversary, they're gone the next chapter. Bring in the next adversary, they're gone the next chapter. But you know what just keeps going? The Bible and the Word of God. And then the next chapter and then the next chapter and then the next chapter and then Romans and then 1 Corinthians and then 2 Corinthians. Why? Because the Word of God is going to endure forever. But these enemies and these wicked people, they're going to be destroyed. Look, he's not the first person to want to destroy the Word of God. He's not the last. The Jews aren't the first nor the last. The devil is the first and he's going to be the last. But here's the thing, it's never going to work. And so we have to understand, no matter what happens to us, God's not going to allow it to just go on forever. The Word of God's not going to be bound up. It's not locked up. Nope, it's still going forward. And even if something horrible happens to me, you can still spread the Word of God. If something horrible happens to James, like we read in the chapter, we can still keep going out. The Word of God's not tied up in James. It's not tied up in Pastor Schell. It's not tied up in Pure Words Baptist Church. No, it's everywhere. And we need to have a lot of Christians that are ready to just keep fighting no matter what happens, no matter who falls, no matter who's persecuting them, no matter who's thrown in prison, just keep having that faith. 2 Timothy 2, look at verse 8. So the apostle Paul's saying, look, even though I'm in jail, the Bible's not in jail, the Word of God's not in jail, and it's not going to stop. And he's saying, you know why I'm going to jail? Because eventually I'm going to get out, and then I'm going to get another person saved. And you know what? I'm going to endure all things. Why? For the elect's sake. For the next person that's going to believe. You say, why are you going to go soul winning next time, Pastor Shelley, for the person that's going to get saved the next soul winning time? Why the soul winning time after that? For the person that's going to be saved the next soul winning time. And then the next one, and then the next one, and the next one. And no matter what evil I go through, no matter what persecution I go through, no matter what strife or problems or thorns in the flesh or persecution or evil or however many people die or however many people fall or how many people depart or whatever, hey, I can endure all things for the elect's sake. Why does it matter? All you can affect is you. All you can affect is you continuing the Word of God going forth. That's it. Hey, if the whole church dies, I can still go soul winning If the pastor dies, the church can still go soul winning. Look, it doesn't matter. If the greatest evangelist in the whole world is locked up in prison, you can still go out and preach the gospel. You can still pray. You can still do works. Hey, and as long as Paul's in prison, pray for him. If I go to jail, I hope that you pray for me. I don't want to be in there. That would be kind of weird if I get out by a miracle because I think they'll just try to throw me back in there. But hey, that would be great. Pray for those when evil happens unto them. And I've known Christians that went to jail. You know, there was a documentary by Paul Wittenberger where he was told he was going to be there for 10 days and he was there for like two days. I wonder if prayer made a difference there. I would sure be grateful that I wasn't there for 10 days, especially after being told that. You know, if they told you a year, you're thinking like, Pray. Pray that something happens unto me. And you know, there's going to be other things to pray for, not just people be throwing prison, but I just want to encourage you that no matter what happens, the evil, you know, are going to be destroyed. The wicked, they're going to be destroyed and there's going to be a strange punishment unto them. But for us, we need to realize the word of God is going to continue with us or without us. So I'd rather it be with us. Let's go to prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for this great chapter and the motivation we have to continually endure no matter what struggles are around the corner. And we know that as we're successful and as that we continue to grow and we do great exploits for the Lord, that persecution will come, that there will be evil around the corner. And I pray that we'll be strengthened from all the victories we've had in the past to know that it's just going to be another victory and another triumph. And even if someone is persecuted, their life is taken, that that's just another victory for Christ and that we can just continue to rally around the word of God. And I pray that we be motivated to pray always, all the way to the bitter end, and that we would even have the faith that miracles can be performed today and that people that need miracles or that people that are asking for prayer, that we would just stand alongside them and we continue to pray, knowing that our prayer is not in vain. And I pray that we just be motivated to pray according to your will and that you just bless this church and bring us more soul winners. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Brother Cameron is going to lead us our final song. Do you know what that is? Sorry. Which song? Let's do Psalm 150. We're going to do Psalm 150 in your wide handout. Psalm 150. Let's sing. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the sultry and hard. Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with street instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals. Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise he the Lord. Praise God the Father. Praise God the Son. Praise God the Holy Ghost. Praise God in three persons. Amen. And with that, you are dismissed. Drive safe, folks. Amen.