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

So we've been going through the book of Ezra, and in chapter number five, just to kind of bring you back up to speed, in chapter number five we had the house of the Lord being rebuilt again through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah. They were preaching and they were telling the children of Israel, hey, you need to start building the house of the Lord again. And we kind of looked at those chapters again. We kind of refreshed ourselves. This happened in the second year of King Darius reign. Well, at the same time there was some people that are coming around and they're trying to question if they should really be building the house of the Lord, and the children of Israel didn't stop. They just kept working, but this question ends up coming unto Darius, and it was basically a statement of, hey, go check out and see if this commandment really came from Cyrus, that they were supposed to build the house of the Lord. Well, we find out in chapter number six that Darius decides to look up that information. It says in verse number one, Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Akmitha in the palace that is in the province of the Medes a roll, and therein was a record thus written. In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem. Let the house be builded, a place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundation there be strongly laid, the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits, with three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber. And let the expenses be given out of the king's house, and also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, everyone to his place, and placed them in the house of God. Now in chapter number six, we see that Darius, he decides to look up the information, he realizes that what the Jews had said was accurate, that Cyrus had truly made this proclamation for the house of the Lord to be built, and Cyrus was doing this because he felt that God had given them this commandment. We even see in the Old Testament, in the prophesying of Isaiah, and other preaching, that Cyrus was already named way before he ever became the king, that God would require him to build him a house, and so Cyrus is following God's commandment, and Darius is deciding, hey I need to follow that same commandment, and he has fear of the Lord, he has fear of God, and so that's why he's wanting this to be done. Now through his statement though, we get some really profound verses here that we find in the Bible, and verse number three, when he's talking about the house being built, he says, let's read that in the middle, it says, let the house be builded the place where they offered sacrifices, and notice this, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid. And I want to focus on this phrase for a moment, because when we look at this chapter, this is really the kind of the essence of this chapter. As we go through the rest of the book of Ezra, chapter number six, we're going to see that these two bozos, is what I call them, right, Shethar, Bozni, and all them, and Tatni, they were supposed to end up following Darius' decree, go back, giving money unto the Jews, and helping them build the house of the Lord, and the children of Israel are successful in doing that, and we'll look at the latter part of the chapter, but I really want to kind of focus the first part of this sermon on this phrase here that we see, because even the secular world realizes that you must have a strong foundation for anything to be successful, for any kind of building, any kind of a house, I mean, if you just ask a normal construction worker, you ask someone that builds homes for a living, whether they're Jew, Gentile, Greek, saved, it doesn't matter, they're gonna tell you that the foundation is very important, and if your foundation, you know, starts cracking, or dissolving, or crumbling, your whole house, your whole structure, your whole building, is going to end up collapsing, so laying a strong foundation is very, very important, even if an airplane hits the top of your building, it's not going to come down if it has a strong enough foundation, unless you have, you know, thermite, explosives, okay, that's a different sermon, alright, but go to Psalms 11, Psalms 11, now foundation, let's just get some definition here, if you look it up in the dictionary, a foundation is the base that is built below the surface of the ground to support a building, so from a very carnal perspective, the foundation is just the underlying of a building, you know, you can't just lay a house on top of earth today, the earth is not a stable foundation, the earth is going to shift a lot, so anytime someone's building a building, or building a house, they dig out a large section of the earth, they put in rebar, they put in concrete, they they pour that foundation slab, and they want it to cure very well, so that it's going to be a very good solid base to build upon, if you don't have something very solid like that to build upon, your house will be destroyed, now a second definition for the word foundation, in the dictionary, is a basis, such as a tenant, principal, or axiom, upon which something stands or is supported, so not only is a foundation a very physical earthly concept, it's also an abstract concept of something that's a principle, a belief, he's just saying, hey there's certain foundations of a belief system, or of a religion, or anything, and when it comes to Christianity, it's no different, there is foundations to Christianity, and the great statement that we have from Darius here, is that he wants the foundations to be strongly laid, and that's what we need today, we need our church to strongly lay the foundations today, you say why, well it says in the Psalms 11 verse 1, in the Lord put I might trust, how say to my soul flee as a bird to your mountain, for lo the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privately shoot at the upright in heart, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do, that's hard to not sing alright, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do, it's a great question, because just like a house, if the foundations destroyed, the house is going to be destroyed, and the house of God is going to be destroyed, if you destroy the foundations, you say what is it that the devil is after today, the devil is after destroying the foundations of God's house, you say what's the foundations, well let's go to Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter number 16, are you telling me pastor Shelley, the devil wants to come into this building with a jackhammer, and start messing up the groundwork, he could care less about that, church is not a physical building in the New Testament, and in the Old Testament, while there was the temple, and that was very important, and that was commandments that God had, it was only a physical representation of the spiritual truths still, God was not after the physical temple as much as he's after the people's hearts, he wants people to you know trust in him, and the Christianity, the God of the Bible is not you know a God that just only concerned with physical things, he's only cared, he only cares about our hearts, things that have eternal value, and the foundation that he is laid is the Word of God, it's not a physical building, notice he's the one responsible for destroying the first temple, he's the one that allowed it to be destroyed through the proxy of Nebuchadnezzar, it's not that God won't destroy the physical foundation, but you know what, he's not gonna destroy his foundation which is the Word of God, okay, look at Matthew chapter 16 verse 18, now I want to get a little context here before we, or verse 6, I'm sorry, let's get a little context before we get to this verse, then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, now I want you to get context here because Jesus is telling his disciples, hey you got to watch out for this guy's leaven, and when he says this they're thinking bread, because they're always thinking in a carnal way, they're thinking about a carnal application, they're like what kind of yeast are these guys using, you know, but it says in verse 11, how is it then, how is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that you should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, then understood they how that he bathed them not beware the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, so notice Jesus is trying to warn his disciples constantly about what, about what the Pharisees teach, their doctrine, the words in which they speak, look at verse 13, it says when Jesus came in the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples saying whom do men say that I the Son of Man am, now this is a very important doctrine that he's asking them, who do you think Jesus is, who is, what would the Pharisees and Sadducees say, a blasphemer, they would say, you know, a wicked person, what does it say in verse 14, and they said some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, Jeremiah's, or one of the prophets, he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am, notice Jesus is like I don't care what they think, I care about what you think, what do you think, and Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ the Son of the living God, and Jesus answered and said on him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven, now some people have this weird idea that disciples are not saved, you're unsaved if you don't think that, every person that I've ever run to that believes this weird doctrine the disciples are not saved or something, they always have problems, okay, it's clear that Peter had this revealed to him from who? God, God gave it to him, what, through his spirit, and Jesus, you know, was revealed unto Peter as hey this is the Christ, this is the Son of God, it is the person that he believed in, now obviously all the disciples went through periods of doubt, of not understanding certain things, of being confused, and obviously their faith had to grow, but they were all saved except for Judas, alright, verse 18, and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, now this is a very famous verse, it's a verse that a lot of people know, but again I don't want to rip it out of context, I want to put it in context, okay, now he's talking to Peter, and then he says upon this rock, now the the question that most people have is what's the rock, okay, but what is the the primary context of what we've been talking about, then he just asked Peter who he was, he's saying hey you're the Christ, you're the Son of the Living God, so the question is who's the rock, now the Catholic Church wants to believe the rock is Peter, okay, and you know I could see how maybe the first time reading this or just isolating this verse you maybe could kind of think that, but it's super clear from the context and from the rest of the Bible the rock is Jesus Christ, okay, and I'm gonna prove that in a moment, but he's saying hey you're Peter, okay, and I want you to build upon this rock, okay, build what, the church, and he says the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, now notice they're laying a foundation upon what, upon a rock, okay, they're not laying it upon sand or just some, you know, flippy, you know, some like reeds or something, no this is upon something solid, and look at verse 19, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven, then charge to his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ, now what is this saying, Peter is obviously gonna be very influential in the church, okay, I'm not trying to take away from the fact that Peter isn't a very influential figure, but the reality is he's not that rock, our faith is not built upon Peter, our faith is not based in a man named Peter, our faith is upon someone else that's Jesus Christ, now Peter is supposed to build the church, now what is Peter supposed to build the church on, the rock, he's supposed to build it on Jesus Christ, and if he does so, let me wake you up, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and whatever he binds on earth will be bound in heaven, is what the Bible says, and whatever he loses on earth will be loosed in heaven, meaning that the church is gonna even have authority, okay, while it's on this earth, as long as it's built upon the rock, that rock is Jesus Christ, now go to Deuteronomy 32, Deuteronomy 32, what are we talking about, well Darius wanted the Jews to say build these foundations, you better lay them strongly, I want them strongly laid, Darius wanted the house of God to be built, and be built on a strong foundation today, and you know what, it's no different in the New Testament, the New Testament needs to be built on a strong foundation today, Peter needs to build on that strong foundation, the rock, and we today, we also need to make sure that we're building a foundation that is on the rock, on something that's very solid, we need to strongly lay the foundations, look at Deuteronomy 32 verse 16, they provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger, they sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not, verse 18, of the rock that begat thee, thou art mindful, and as for God, notice this, God that formed thee, so it says hey, you forgot the rock that begat you, who's that rock, it was God, wasn't it, look at verse 28, for they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them, oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end, how should one chase a thousand, and to put ten thousand to flight, except their rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up, so notice he's saying the rock, and then the next breath he's saying the Lord, because guess what, the rock is the Lord, verse 31, for their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges, now in the context here, it's a prophecy of the fact that the Jews would reject God, they would turn away from his commandments, and their rock, being the Lord, was going to turn away from them, he was going to allow them to be destroyed by one chasing a thousand even, by two chasing ten thousand, was the type of destruction they were going to receive, and it's prophesying of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, okay, and even talks in there about them eating their children, just all kinds of horrible stuff, but what I want to point out is the fact that the rock is the Lord, now go to 2nd Samuel chapter 22, 2nd Samuel 22, consistently throughout the Bible, the rock is God, the rock is the Lord, you say why is that important, well if we understand the Old Testament doctrine of who that rock is, then when Jesus makes the proclamation he does unto Peter, it makes perfect sense of what we're talking about, look at 2nd Samuel chapter 22 verse 1, and David spake unto the Lord the words of this song, and the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, and he said the Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, now that's that's a great phrase right there, he's just he's my rock, he's my fortress, he's my deliverer, now I love this verse, verse 3, the God of my rock, in him will I trust, he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my eye tower, and my refuge, my Savior, thou savest me from violence, now let's slow down to verse 3 for a second, okay, who is the rock, it's the Lord isn't it, now who's the Lord, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, okay, now look at verse 3, the God of my rock, you know that is, that's God the Father, so even in the Old Testament, you know, you have the Trinity, you have the God of my rock, you know that is, God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, put that in your oneness pipe and smoke it, all right, look at verse 4, I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies, hey, when you call on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're gonna be saved, aren't you, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, it's the same gospel, it's the same God, it's the same rock, it's the same Savior, it's the same Creator, the David of the Bible, you know he trusted in Jesus, you know who his Lord was, Jesus, and you know what, he trusted in both God and guess what, his rock, God the Father and the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, look at Psalms chapter 18, Psalms chapter 18, we're kind of slowing down, we're looking a few verses, and this is important because today obviously we want to build a solid foundation, but there is only one foundation option for Christianity, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, if we want our house, if we want the house of God, if we want our church to be successful, we have to build our foundation on that solid rock, now look at Psalms 18, and let's look at verse number 2, the Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, and whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower, so again the Bible's real consistent isn't it, look at verse 31, for who is God save the Lord, and who is a rock save our God, so who's the rock, it's God, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, go to 1st Peter chapter 2, 1st Peter chapter number 2 in your New Testament, so in the Old Testament it's super clear, the rock is the Lord, the rock is God, that's the one we're supposed to trust in, he's gonna be our deliverer, he's gonna be the one who saves us, what does it say in the New Testament, look at 1st Peter 2, look at verse 5, he also has lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, and holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, the old I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded, unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, wherein to also they were appointed, so he's building this spiritual foundation here, and he's saying the chief cornerstone is elect and precious, it's the Lord Jesus Christ and the Jews rejected him, the Jews didn't want anything to do with them, and you know what, that rock is gonna crush them to powder is what the Bible says, it was a rock of offense, they didn't like it, because you know what, they're wicked, they want to believe that they're righteous, they want to believe that they're good and holy, and Jesus is an offense to them, because they don't want to humble themselves and believe the gospel, go to Ephesians chapter number 2, go to Ephesians chapter number 2, so all through the Bible the rock is always the same person, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no delineation in who that is, Ephesians chapter number 2, look at verse number 18, it says for through him, talking of Jesus Christ, we both have access by one spirit unto the Father, now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, and in all the building fitly framed together growth unto a holy temple in the Lord, and whom ye also build together for an habitation of God through the Spirit, so notice we have a foundation that's being laid don't we, now what is this foundation, he said it's the apostles and the prophets and Jesus Christ himself, now when I read this okay especially initially I think of the persons, I think of Moses, I think of David, I think of you know Joshua, and I think of Peter, and I think of Paul, but I think what he's really referring to here is this, this is our foundation, now go to Luke chapter 6, let me prove that to you okay, go to Luke chapter number 6, so we're talking about the foundation, where did we get all the New Testament the apostles, okay where did we get all the Old Testament the prophets, where did we get all the rest of it Jesus, even himself gave us a lot of the Word of God didn't he, Hebrews chapter number 1 makes it very clear that in the last days he spoke to us by his son, okay so we're talking about the foundation of Christianity, what is the foundation of Christianity, it's the Bible, it's God's Word, that's the foundation, and we want that to be strongly laid in God's house, the only way for God's house to succeed is to have that foundation of the Word of God, look at Luke chapter 6 verse 46 and why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say whosoever cometh to me and heareth notices my sayings and doeth them I will show you to whom he is like, he is like a man which built an house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock, notice that, and when the flood arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock, but he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great, now he's contrasting two builders here, okay, one builder lays a certain foundation on a rock, the other lays a foundation on what, on just the earth, on shifting sands, now what was he's contrasting before that, he says he that heareth my words and doeth them, so what is he saying the rock is, it's his words, it's the Word of God that is the foundation, so whenever you make that your foundation and you lay your house upon God's words, his foundation, you're the wise builder, go to Matthew chapter 7, Matthew chapter 7, let me prove it to you one more time, this is very important that we get this concept and that we believe this truth because when you believe this truth it starts eliminating, you know, other houses of God for you very quickly, you know, when I go out shopping for a house, you know, one of the things that is an important thing to think about is the foundation, now obviously in America most houses are laid with a pretty strong foundation or a pretty similar foundation, some builders are a lot cheaper than others, I remember when I worked in the banking industry there was a builder, he would build a house, I do not joke you, it would be like two or three weeks and I mean those houses had so many foundation issues because you're supposed to let the foundation cure for so long and you're supposed to put enough rebarb in there, he was basically just taking it, you know, it's the most liberal specs that he possibly could just to get away with it, laying a cheap foundation, I would never recommend someone buying a house from this guy, buying a house from this development because after three or four years the earth's gonna settle, those foundations are gonna crack and they're gonna be up a creek without a paddle, okay, and they're gonna buy these houses and then they're gonna devalue after the first three or four years and the builder doesn't care because he's already made his bucks, so you have to be careful, you know, new developments are not always what they're cracked up to be, okay, you want to make sure you get a really good foundation, now look at what I had to turn to Matthew 7, look at verse 24, therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock and everyone that here at these sayings of mine and do with them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it and it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings the people were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as having a thought as one having authority and not as the scribes now why why are we focusing on this well just as important as buying a nice house okay more important is making sure that you're going to the right house of God going to a house that's built on that foundation and that foundation is Christ that foundation is the rock of God's word because I don't want to go to a house where the foundation is faulty because that house could just fall on me it could destroy me I want to make sure I'm going to the house where the foundation has been laid which is God's Word now when you actually get this concept deep into your heart when you actually believe it with all your mind you know what it's gonna eliminate most churches for you today you're gonna figure out real quick where you need to be going to church now go to 2nd Peter chapter 1 2nd Peter chapter 1 what are you talking about what's the foundation I hope I've made it really clear I'm not going to show more verses that foundation is the Word of God period it's without doubt it's the Word of God that's the rock that were built upon that rock is Jesus Christ and let me wake you up Jesus is the word and the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God we build ourselves on Jesus Christ by building ourselves on the Word of God if Peter makes sure to build his house upon that rock the gates of hell so not prevail against it now some people have this weird idea okay this is the Catholics the Catholics believe that Peter was the first Pope and that basically the Catholic Church is indestructible the only reason the Catholic Church is indestructible because it's of the world not because it's built upon that rock okay because churches let me tell you what can die grow any any a number of things can happen to them if they reject the Bible if they reject God's Word God will reject them they can be destroyed overnight okay so don't think that any one church well we're the church so we can't be destroyed that's not what the Bible is teaching okay the Bible is teaching if that church is built upon the rock okay then the gates of hell will not prevail against that church okay that's what the Bible is very clearly saying so what we need to do as a church is make sure that we're building ourselves upon that rock because if we're not built upon that rock when the storms of life come you know your pastor's bad there's a bad faction in the church there's people outside protesting you know whatever kind of storms or winds or things happen you know what that's not going to destroy the church because this church was built upon the rock and that rock is Jesus Christ 2nd Peter chapter number 1 look at verse number 16 we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased in this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount we have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophecy came not an old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost why is this important because you know what I'm not up here following some cunningly devised fable Jesus Christ is not a cunningly devised fable he's the God of universe he's the alpha and the Omega he's the he's the beginning and the ending he's everything he gets all the preeminence and the most important doctrine that I can think of is the fact that the Bible is God's Word and notice without error now if you don't have that doctrine you know what you don't have any foundation what is your foundation well we're just waiting for the NIV to release the most latest version so we can have a new foundation look you don't want to constantly replace foundations on your house that's not going to work out very well you don't want that mobile home just moving you know just move it around no I want a solid foundation that I can just build my house on that's not going to change that's not going to be modified and it's important to understand that we have a more sure word of prophecy today than anything that anybody's seen that anybody's experience that anybody has felt and it's of no private interpretation the King James Bible is just the most popular book in human history and it's important that we lay that foundation and say hey we believe that God's Word has been preserved there's no private interpretation I can just pick it up and I can read it for myself it's nigh me now here's the thing if you hold to that doctrine you eliminate most churches almost like that I mean how many churches they are King James only in the United States virtually none and it's quite it's frankly in my mind just it's bizarre how someone can commit themselves to supposedly the Bible their entire life and they have no opinion on Bible versions I remember I went to this non-denominational Church and I was going to this group called the men of the word group okay and it was supposedly the most hardcore Bible study group because that's what I wanted I just wanted to go I was like I want to learn the Bible I want to go the most hardcore group and it wasn't led by the main pastor it was led by kind of the administrative pastor so he wasn't the one that would preach every single Sunday he was more in charge of all the daily functions but he still taught Sunday school classes when preach occasionally and things like that and in this class I remember he got up and he admitted to the entire class he said he'd been teaching work salvation for the last 30 years which I almost fell out of my chair when I heard that nobody else batted an eye when he said that now I think he still was teaching work salvation but it was like a harder core version or something but I remember I went to lunch with him one time and I was King James only but I wasn't really I was just kind of being respectful and even though it was a bad church okay I just being respectful and I just said to him hey you know I've been doing a lot of research online and there's these people there's a group of people they believe the King James Bibles the Word of God without error and I look I was a hundred percent I was just kind of being real gentle with the guy okay and I said you know everything that I've heard them explain about their position I said I can't refute anything and then I think it makes a lot of sense it seems legitimate the King James Bibles the Word of God without error and I what do you think well I've never I've never heard that or you know never researched that before at all but that's the most ignorant position I've ever heard in my entire life the idea that we actually have God's Word without error is the most ignorant position that anybody could possibly hold what kind of nonsense is that what kind of foolishness is it to say hey I'm basing my faith on a fallible book because that's your other option your options are hey we have a perfect Bible or we don't look I believe we have a perfect Bible why would God preserve everything that we see today and yet not his word his word is the most important foundation and we need to strongly lay that today we're King James only today we need to teach that and preach that and know that and let our children realize that and not just get up and just say King James only remember no I actually preach sermons on it and show the differences and explain to them why it's such an important doctrine and how God the creator of the universe of course is gonna preserve his word for us what kind of weird God do you serve that can't even preserve his own word why would he write it down think about it well I gave a perfectly inspired book to Isaiah and he wrote it down nobody else got it we all have just a semblance of what he said we all kind of know what Jesus maybe kind of said we have to get the message to really get the feeling of it though I mean it's just ludicrous to believe such a doctor that's why you know on our doctrinal statement the most important doctrine hey is the Word of God and if you don't have the Word of God you can do nothing Jesus said without me you can do nothing you know I get saved by John 3 16 I if I don't have the Bible we're out we're out of luck without God in the world there's no hope okay we have God in the world we have the King James Bible okay so Islam if you just say hey the King James Bible is the Word of God because that's the only version that even claims to be God's preserved word okay it's not there's not a lot of options out there it then guess what you've eliminated like 90 some percent of churches now let's go to number two salvation isn't that I mean if I'm just going an order of importance we're talking about doctrines here building on the building on the right rock you're gonna eliminate virtually all the other churches because unfortunately the gospel is so muddy today it's so unclear there's so many people with a false gospel today then hey if you just want a King James Bible and you just want to go where the gospel is clearly thundered forth I mean it's slim pickins unfortunately isn't it now the third one I have is hell that throws all the Jehovah's Witnesses out which they were already thrown out okay but some people that wouldn't preach on hell they have weird doctrines about hell number four eternal security well that throws all the Catholics out that throws all the Methodists out that throws all the Pentecostals out let me read for you about the Methodist okay because there's this website I was just looking like can you lose your salvation it was like the one of the first sites I saw pop up it's called relearn Church I don't need to relearn I already had the foundation they're trying to lay a new foundation and it's not a new one the devil's always been trying to corrupt the foundation okay this guy named Dale Partridge he's widely known as an online thought leader on faith family and church Dale is also a Bible teacher in Wall Street Journal best-selling author read by millions he and his wife Veronica produced a top hundred Christian podcast titled real Christianity led a Bible or biblical marriage program at ultimatemarriage.com and operate a global church planning ministry at relearnchurch.org so this guy's reaching a lot of people you know release proclaims to reach a lot of people it says Dale studied Bible or biblical theology at Western Theological Seminary and now serves a network of house churches in the Pacific Northwest at the core Dale's mission is to bring the church back to the Bible lie together they live with their children on a small farm in Bend Oregon that lie part was my added okay so he talks about how much he loves John Wesley and if you don't know anything about the Methodist Church the Methodist Church is basically you know based on the foundation of John Wesley and his teachings that's pretty much at their core their Wesleyan views which comes from Jacob Arminius so there's pretty a big divide in Protestantism between John Calvin and Jacob Arminius so you have the Arminians and then you have the Calvinists and basically it's like your Republicans and your Democrats okay and some people say you know if you're not Calvinistic then you're Arminian if you're not Arminian you're Calvinist look you can be neither if possible okay you cannot be Republican or Democrat either okay and look there's sometimes you could pick out a point from the Republicans it's true and sometimes you can pick out a point from the Democrats that's true but it's needle in the haystack and with Calvinism I actually reject all five tenants okay with Arminian is they at least believe in free will which I say amen they just think their free will is so strong that they could plug themselves out of God's hand all right this is what he says in his article he has an article about can you lose your salvation he says ultimately salvation isn't simply dependent upon belief in Jesus and it's like the biggest font in the whole article because you know he highlights that that quote of himself he says Jesus own brother the Apostle James wrote even the demons believe in tremble that is salvation is dependent on belief combined with lordship the authentic acknowledgement of Jesus ownership of your entire life in combination with your absolute belief that Jesus came died and that God is raised from the dead now I'd love to meet the person who says Jesus has complete ownership of my life every thought is in obedience every action is in obedience you just I mean I I would love to meet this person you know the only person like that is Jesus himself okay that's the there's nothing to do with good no not one if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us what kind of salvation message is that to people he has to be a complete ownership of your life who could get up and say that a prideful person that's who a wicked person like the Pharisees oh yeah they were willing to justify themselves I remember a guy he came unto Jesus and he said all these have I kept for my youth up what lack I yet what do you think that guy thought oh I'm in complete God's got complete ownership on me I follow all those commandments so well you like devil you don't keep the commandments this guy doesn't keep anything however I actually don't care this is his next statement okay however I actually don't care about the theological debate and neither should you so the whole article is about can you lose your salvation or not and then he tells us how you can't you know it's not just salvation by faith that you can lose your salvation and he says well however actually I don't even care about the debate now I looked at another website discipleship ministries the United Methodist Church does baptism mean that I'm saved nope salvation is a lifelong process she must continue to respond to God's grace so it's like I have to also get baptized notice everything he says baptism offers the promise that the Holy Spirit will always be working in our lives but salvation requires our acceptance of that grace trust in Christ and ongoing growth and holiness as long as we live so somehow if I get baptized the Holy Spirit will continually work but I can send out lose my salvation what in the world that's what's out there today why because they didn't lay a strong foundation I mean we're not even that far down the list the Bible salvation hell eternal security I mean we're just knocking people off the horse quickly now how about number five the Trinity yeah well fortunately most Christians they got I mean you got your oneness Pentecostal crowd and then Tyler Baker that's like the only one number six the God the Father number seven this is just our doctrinal statement if you just go on our website number seven the Sun a lot of people deny Jesus is why was it so important that Jesus is asking Peter who am I because if he's saying you're the Son of the Living God you know what he's saying you're that rock you're that rock that we read about in 2nd Samuel when he said the God of my rock you're that rock that's why I said thou art Peter and upon this rock he's saying hey I'm the Son of God so guess you should build your house on me and my sayings if you actually believe that I'm the Son of God then do what I said and if you build your house on me guess what the gates of hell should not prevail against it number eight the Holy Ghost there you know the Pentecostals teach all kinds of weird stuff about the Holy Ghost blaspheming him constantly how about just baptism I mean that's gonna throw all the Catholics Lutherans methods up look you can just pick any of our core doctrines and it's gonna eliminate churches left and right that's why when I actually got really serious about the Bible and doctrine it didn't take me but a few minutes to realize Baptist only wasn't even trying here and look even within the Baptist circle it's a jungle out there but when you go outside Baptist oh man it's insane pick and choose only a couple core doctrines that they might have right maybe the Trinity maybe who Jesus is and that's about it I mean you know salvation is gonna be muddy the the Bible is gonna be muddy I mean it's just gonna be a jungle out there and we need to make sure that our house is built upon that solid rock you know how about just the doctrine of the church the local you know autonomy of a church that throws out of the Catholics with their Pope how about creation that's pretty much both churches do that the earth is actually you know only about 6,000 years old I mean if you actually take and look I don't want to fellowship with people that are gap theorists that's a different God a person that believes in evolution but someone getting up and teaching that we're like descended from monkeys that's a different that's a different kind of God you got there I'm not interested in that type of a God and look luckily you know the people that are King James only and right on salvation they pretty much got all the other ones the same way too they're all about the same on creation and who the Trinity is and baptism now go to Revelation chapter 2 Revelation chapter 2 that's why we need to make sure that we're constantly teaching the core doctrines of our church we're constantly teaching the Trinity we're constantly teaching the King James Bible we're constantly teaching salvation by grace through faith that we're constantly teaching baptism by immersion after salvation that we're constantly teaching you know the doctrines of creation who God is who the Father is who is the Son who is the Holy Ghost what is their function what is their purpose what are the scriptures teaching about these people we need to constantly be laying that foundation why so that the gates of hell will not prevail against our church the devil is constantly looking for a weakness in our foundation and it's not the building my friend it's the doctrine he's constantly looking saying hey where are you weak at are you weak in the Trinity let me come and weasel my way into there let me weasel your way my way into salvation let me weasel my way into the Bible you why do you think churches end up getting destroyed you know there's a lot of churches where we went back to yesteryear they were using the King James Bible they're going soul-winning they got the right gospel they're baptizing people then fast forward 20 30 40 years all of a sudden it's a fun Center and it's like what happened well they let the devil come in and teach him and the King James the NIV is pretty good I mean it's not that big a deal I mean what about you know you think God predestined me since he predestined us he probably knew who would choose him so ergo we don't have choice really so maybe Calvinism is really true so maybe we shouldn't go soul-winning it's cold out anyways I mean when I talk to pastors you know where they quit soul-winning because it gets cold and dark and then when in the winter every single time nothing spiritual nothing nothing like well soul-winning stopped working no you stopped working that's what happened okay well people don't want to go out soul-winning when it's dark and you know after work I go on Saturdays at 10 it's real light at 10 in the morning you know can people go out well we just don't want random people going out there so any look I take bozos all the time I take I take an unsaved person out so winning with me I take a flatter throughout soul-winning with me and you know what we might get a bunch of people saved in the process revelation chapter 2 look at verse 12 and the angel of the church and Pergamos write these things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan seed is and thou holdest fast my name and has not made my faith even in those days where an Antipas was my faithful martyr who is slain among you where Satan dwelleth but I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of Nicolaitans which thing I hate repent or else I will come into thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth seems like to me that the God of the Bible the Lord Jesus Christ he cares about something you know that is doctrine and these aren't even the core doctrines these are just doctrines of sin he's saying hey you got a guy going in there teaching fornication you need to deal with that guy hey you got a guy teaching the deeds of Nicolaitans look he's up against the doctrine today and people they want to get all uptight about doctrine hey that's how our church is going to succeed by building the right doctrines by having the right foundations and strongly laying them and notice Jesus will come and fight you with the sword of his mouth the Word of God when someone has a false doctrine you know we're gonna slay that false doctrine well this is what the Bible says it says in Ephesians 2 9 not of works guess what get out of here with your work salvation so stupid how can you believe in a work salvation when the Bible literally says not of works you know no man shall pluck them out of my hand but what about you could you pluck you out of no man none zero it doesn't matter I don't care what you think you can do you're not stronger than God can you rebirth yourself Nicodemus no go to Ezra chapter 6 go back that's why I have other doctrines like hey the second coming of Christ that's an important doctrine hey the rapture you know that's an important doctrine hey how about sin just in and of itself the doctrines of sin what is sin what is not sin making sure that we're keeping ourselves holy and pure and righteous because this church that we just read about Pergamos they're not keeping themselves clean they're going and committing grievous sin and Jesus is saying hey if you guys don't fix this I will and you don't want Jesus to fix the problem you want to be the one that fix the problem you know your boss says hey fix it or I'll fix it you're like I better fix that when your mom and dad say hey clean that up or I'm gonna take care of it you're like I'm gonna go clean it up you want to be the one cleaning up we don't want Jesus to come and take care of these type of things and so it's important as a church that we take the admonition that Darius said and said hey we need to lay those foundations strongly and that foundation is the Bible is the doctrine of the church it's hey I like sermons they're about different topics and cool trendy things but we really need is just lots and lots of preaching and lots and lots of sermons on the foundation on the core foundational beliefs of the church we need to just lay those foundations as strongly as we possibly can constantly preaching them constantly emphasizing them teaching them from every place in the entire scriptures okay look at Ezra chapter 6 verse 6 now therefore tat and I governor beyond the river sheath our bells and I and your companions the Africa sites which are beyond the river be far from thence let the work of the house of God alone let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of the house of God that the Kings goods even of the tribute beyond the river forthwith expenses be given unto these men that they be not hindered and that which they have need of both young bullocks and rams and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven wheat salt wine and oil according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem let it be given them day by day without fail that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savers and the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and of his sons so notice Darius I mean not only is he saying hey that's what the commandment is he's reinforcing the commandment and telling these guys that they need to give them money they need to give them goods whatever so that God will not curse him so that God will bless Darius he has fear of God here and I'll read reverse for you in Proverbs it says by mercy and truth iniquities purge and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil when a wit when a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with them the Bible says hey when you're doing that which is right many times God can even make your enemies help you out make your enemies be at peace with you look at verse number 11 also I've made a decree that whosoever shall alter this word let timber be pulled down from his house and being set up let him be hanged thereon and let his house be made a dung hill for this and the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people that shall put their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem I Darius have made a decree let it be done with speed now I like Darius attitude he's saying hey you mess with the house of God death and not only death we're gonna rip your house down not only are we gonna rip your house down we're gonna take your house and we're gonna make it the bathroom and we're gonna defecate on it and we're gonna use it as dung it's a dung hill that's how serious Darius was about the house of God yet how many people today they don't they don't really look at the church that way they don't really look at the respecting God's house that way I mean they'll blast in God's house they'll tear it down they'll attack it they'll just rail against it and speak all manner of evil falsely against it look this is God's house here and if Darius cares that much how much do you think Jesus cares about it since he purchased with his own blood you ought to make sure that you're taking care of the house of God and that you're not disrespecting it and that you wouldn't be someone that would go against the house of God or try to attack the house of God look even if you get backslidden even if you don't go to this church why would you attack the house of God and even if you go to this church why would you see another Church of God trying to do the best that they can and attacking it God's not going to take it nicely to those that are trying to destroy his house that are stopping the work of the Lord being done now obviously nobody's above you know being corrected here here and there but your spirit and your heart ought not be to attack the house of God look at verse 13 then tat and I governor on this side the river shethar Bosni and their companions according to that which Darius the king had sent so they did speedily and the elders of the Jews build and they prospered through the prophesying of haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo and they build it and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia and this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar which was the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king now for second time we're not gonna have you turn all those places but in haggai it said that they had beginning the house of the Lord again the second year six month 24th day of Darius the king's reign and then here we have the sixth year 12th month and the third day now said the month of Adar if you compare that with Esther it tells you that the month Adar is the 12th month okay so basically it took them four and a half years to build the house of God that's pretty quick and they notice they prosper through what the preaching of Zechariah and haggai and look how is any house of God gonna be prospering and be successful through the preaching of God's Word through great men standing up and preaching God's Word they're gonna prosper and notice it wasn't just one person it was two people and I'm sure there was other men that were preaching the Word of God wouldn't God all the Lord's people would be prophets you know this house is gonna succeed by every man woman boy child going out and preaching the gospel to the lost and fulfilling the Great Commission that's the type of preaching that we need today and we need to make sure that we're doing it on the foundation which is Jesus Christ he gets all the preeminence if we want our church to be successful it's gonna be shining the bright light of the gospel it's gonna be shining the light on Jesus Christ and lifting him up not a person it's not about a person the book of Ezra is not about a person you know it does have Ezra in the latter part but all the way up to this point we haven't even been introduced to him yet he comes in the next chapter okay so Ezra obviously he was a great preacher he was a great priest but at the end of the day it's not about one person it's about all of us unifying together and making sure we're all building the same foundation we're all working together and it even says in verse number 16 let's read this and the children of Israel the priest the Levi's and the rest of the children of captivity kept the dedication of the house of God with joy and offered at the dedication of this house of God and hundred bullets 200 Rams 400 lambs and for a sin offering for all Israel 12 he goats according the number of the tribes of Israel and they set the priests and their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God which is at Jerusalem as it is written in the book of Moses so notice well now they have the house now they can start doing the work of the Lord they've kind of been hindered from offering the sacrifices from fulfilling all the commandments that we have in the Old Testament so now they're gonna be able to put all the priests back in their divisions put them back in their service back in their places and notice again it's not a one-man job there's all these different people that have different functions and different places in the house of God and in the New Testament it's no different we need people to play the trumpet and we need people to play the piano and we need people to come up and sing and we need people to read the Bible and we need people to help usher and to help clean the building and to do all the type of work that we have in the house of God it's not a one-person show we need somebody to get up and preach the Bible to don't we we need somebody to do all of the jobs of God and we need people to say hey here my Lord send me just say hey I don't care what job it is just put me in service Lord just let hey I'll be the doorkeeper I'd rather be the doorkeeper at the house of God then the guy on stage with Kanye West Joel Osteen service who cares about all that junk I would rather be in God's house now look at verse 19 and the children of the captivity kept the Passover upon the 14th day of the first month where the priests and the Levites were purified together all of them were pure and killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity and for their brethren the priests and for themselves and the children of Israel which were come again out of the captivity and all as such had separated themselves under them from the filthiness of the heathen land to seek the Lord God of Israel did eat and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy for the Lord God made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands and the work of the house of God the God of Israel now I want to focus on another thing here because we have here that they're offering the the Passover and it's in the right timing and it gives us a couple different information points here it says in verse 19 that they were keeping the Passover on the 14th day of the first month now that's exactly what Exodus chapter 12 says go if you would in Exodus chapter number 12 and for sake of time I you know I don't want to preach everything I have here but I still want to make this point because I want to lay a foundation and start laying it and then we're gonna build upon it in future sermons but the Passover is very interesting concept and it I I think the timing of it can be understood if we slow down and and we look at all the passages that we have but on the 14th day they were supposed to kill the Passover lamb it says in Exodus chapter 12 look at verse 3 speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers a lamb per house now the tenth day they would pick a lamb and they have to keep it up until the 14th day look at verse 6 and you keep it up until the 14th day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening now we know since we have the New Testament that this was prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ why because the tenth day is the day in which they were prophetically in a sense picking the Lord Jesus Christ is their Passover lamb you'll notice in the Bible in the Gospels there's this very significant event Jesus is riding on the colt on the fold of an ass okay and he's entering into the city and they're laying down palm branches and they're shouting Hosanna now that happens to be the day the tenth day okay now they're picking up that lamb and they're gonna keep them until the 14th day now in the 14th day at even they're supposed to kill the Passover lamb now look at verse number 14 and this day shall be unto you for a memorial and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations he shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever seven days shall ye unleaven bread even the first day he shall put away leaven out of your houses for whosoever eateth leaven bread from the first day until the seventh day that soul shall be cut off from Israel and in the first day there should be a holy convocation and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you no manner of work shall be done in them save that which every man must eat the that only may be done of you and you shall observe the feast of an leaven bread for in the self same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt therefore shall you observe this day in your generation by an ordinance forever in the first month on the fourteenth day of the month at even you shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month at even seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses for whosoever eateth that which is leaven even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel whether he be stranger or born in the land now I want to kind of draw on the board for a second because I'm a visual learner and I think it kind of helps me but he says on the fourteenth day okay at even is gonna be whenever they would start eating unleavened bread okay so then he also says in the one and twentieth day so let's just get a couple days here so we have the 14th day all the way the 21st day and he says that they're supposed to eat unleavened bread for seven days so if it's from the even of the 14th under the 15th this would be day what day one perfect right okay then from the 15th to the 16th that would be what day two y'all are good at math all right 16 to 17 17 18 18 19 19 to 20 20 to the 21st okay so we got three four five six and seven now here's the thing I want to make it clear okay they have seven days of eating unleavened bread but this is eight days let's just count them all right I don't wait I want to use trust me okay one two three four five six seven eight days okay this is important and understanding a lot of different things in the New Testament and just certain timings I'm just kind of laying a foundation here so you can we can build on this in the future but basically this entire timeline would be known as the Passover it's also known as the Feast of unleavened bread okay it's both technically the days of unleavened bread are only what we have here now the 14th day it's known as in the New Testament the day of preparation why do you think they had to prepare well first of all they can't have any leaven in their houses right additionally they have to kill the Passover lamb at even on the day of preparation now when did the day of preparation start it started on the 13th day at even going over here okay so I'm just kind of laying a foundation so you can kind of get a few of these things but if we go back to Ezra chapter number six we're gonna see it emphasizes this exact same timing now the Passover while it refers to that entire feast it also can refer to another event what is that event it's the thing that happens at even that's also known as the Passover whenever they kill the Passover lamb so the Passover is a multifunctional word right now this is the way I liken it it's pretty simple if I came up to somebody and I said hey brother Nick what are you doing for Christmas he might say oh well Monday we're gonna fly up to Michigan and we're gonna see some family and Tuesday we're gonna go on the lakes and then Wednesday we're gonna probably open presents with this part of our family and then Thursday we're gonna present that part of our family and then on Friday we're gonna come back home it's not a lot of people would answer that question but is Christmas every single day of that week of course not Christmas is a very specific day isn't it the Passover is a very specific event that happens at even when they kill the Passover lamb okay and they eat that meal but often they'll just say hey this is the Passover right they're just celebrating the Passover it's the Feast of Unleavened Bread so we just want to understand some of those concepts as a chapter number six it said there in verse number 19 and the children of the captivity kept the Passover notice is upon the 14th day of the first month isn't that exactly what we see here okay and it says in verse number 22 and kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy for the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strength their hands to work so we noticed it was seven days of unleavened bread they had they kept the Passover on the 14th day and this is the timing that we get now later sermons I'll explain more of what all that means and what that looks like and I'll go into great detail about how you can line it up on the New Testament okay but this is the point I want to take you to go to Psalms 35 in your Bible Psalms 35 what is the point of the house of God it's to serve God it's the worship God you know I really emphasize Church I really emphasize Church attendance and and sometimes people will be like you know I just want this to go there and look the point of you coming to church is to serve God it's the worship God it's not about me it's not about you it's about you worshiping and serving God you're supposed to show up with a heart ready to sing praises unto God and to hear the Word of God being preached to lay those foundations in your heart and hey in the Old Testament they had the house of God what laid you know sacrifice the Passover lamb picturing new Jesus Christ and offering offerings and all these things are symbols of what Jesus was going to do and they're supposed to sing songs and sing praises unto him look at Psalms 35 look at verse number 18 Psalms 35 look at verse number 18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation I will praise thee among much people notice that the psalmist is saying hey I'm gonna sing praise unto God with other people how do you do that if you don't go to church I guess you hang out with Kanye but he's not the great congregation he's a different kind of congregation all right go back to Psalms 22 Psalms 22 this is this is you know a prophecy of Jesus Christ is you know him speaking but even in verse number 22 Psalms 22 verse 22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee I don't want you to forget that your job on this earth is to go into the congregation and to praise God it's not about me it's not about your neighbor you are supposed to be praising God with your mouth let everything that hath breath praise the Lord go to Psalms 149 the Psalms we sang today someone 49 look at verse number one praise ye the Lord singing to the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of Saints notice he's singing in church we're supposed to go to church to serve God that's why God has the church today is for us to go to a place and serve him and worship him you know it's gonna be like in heaven a great congregation singing and praising unto God let me just wake you up to heaven okay I just wake you up to your life that's what God wants us to do is to praise him and the devil wants you to praise anything and everything else notice that music is one of the most intertwined facets of this world today people oftentimes won't go a second without listening to music I mean they got music in their headphones and their iPhone in their car they go to the restaurant they go to the store it's just music music music then they go home and they have to get a whole house boast system and they just blast music in the house I mean it's just music after music and it's never Christian music it's never like God honoring music it's of the world it's carnal it's sensual it's devilish then they go and they want to go to a church that has a rock band that seems the same type look you need to come to a real church where the right foundation has been laid and lift up your voice like a trumpet and sing praises unto God it's not just for my benefit it's not for your neighbor's benefit your neighbor might not even like you're singing voice I like it okay it sounds good with everybody else but God wants you to hear God wants to hear it go to Hebrews chapter 2 last place I'll be turn Hebrews chapter 2 look obviously the building the house of God is great but you know what you need to do you need to show up and actually worship God in it too the point of having the house is not to just admire it and to look at it oh that looks really cool well I like all the beautiful singers up there you know you'll notice our church doesn't have a lot of special music does it why because I don't want you to just hear me sing I don't want to just bring somebody else up here and just have them sing for us they would probably be embarrassed if I ask anybody honest tonight but you know you go to a lot of other churches and it's a lot of specials and a lot of you know just listening to other people sing and look I'm not saying that's sinful I'm not saying that's wrong if I went to church who had it I would try to enjoy the music and I would try to be appreciative of it but you know at the end of the day a lot of it kind of sucked and it was boring and I just wanted to sing you know I would rather just everybody sing you know why do we have I want participation time you know the only time to be quiet is the preaching you know yell amen when the Spirit leads Hebrews chapter 2 look at verse 12 saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren and the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee is that you hey we need to build the house of God but you know what they then once they got the house built they didn't just look at it they went they offer the sacrifices didn't they they then went and offered the Passover lamb and they had the Feast of Unleavened Bread and we don't have those things today we have them spiritual pictures Christ is our Passover lamb you know the leaven is a pictured in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 of not letting you know fornication these wicked sins in the house of God we're supposed to purge out the old leaven but at the end of the day you know God wants us to come here and to worship him and to serve him and I don't know why it's such an inconvenience for people to serve God today but it is I mean what of all the things that God did for us how is it an inconvenience for us to serve him what could be more important than serving your Creator the one that gives you everything he gives you the power to make wealth well job well he's the one that gave you that job anyways why would God give you a job so that you could not come to the house of God and serve him that doesn't sound like a job from God to me hey why would God give you lungs for you to be able to sing and for you to sing anything but praise unto him why would God give you a bottom to sit down on to hear anything other than the Word of God being preached look there's nothing more important in the church and I'm gonna keep emphasizing the church why because that's where we give honor and glory to God that's where we worship and serve him it's close in prayer thank you father so much for your word thank you for giving us the opportunity to build the house of God and to lay such a strong foundation because it's laid upon you I thank you for all that you bless us with and all that you've given us I pray that we would just change our hearts to think of church as a place to come and worship you and to serve you it's not about us it's not about you know what we can get out of it but rather us just giving honor and glory unto you in Jesus name we pray