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I actually know the math. I just looked up, and I figured that way. I don't know. I just know that. I don't know. I don't know. It's like a real collage of a whole bunch of people. I can't even get to my file. I can still write. I can't even finish it, but it's just a snapshot of what I've got. And I can get to my end. I can't even finish it. I can't even finish it. I can't even finish it. I don't know. I can't even get to my own file. But I'm going to work hard to do it on the computer. I've got files here. I can't even do it. You should try that because if you can't get that well, you're just messing it as well as it is. You actually stick it as well. It's great. Yeah, you do it. Thank you so much. You as well. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Hi. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So play the first note. I just want to make sure we're on the sixth note. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your song books. Let's turn our song books to 259 Jesus Saves. 259 Jesus Saves. Song 259 Jesus Saves. We have heard the joyful Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Send His lightings all around Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Bear the news to every land Find the steeps and cross the waves Alert is our Lord's command Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Waft it on the rolling tide Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Tell to sinners far and wide Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Sing ye islands of the sea And go back ye ocean gates Earth shall keep her jubilee Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Sing above the battle strife Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves By His death and endless life Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Sing it softly through the gloom In the heart for mercy praise Sing in triumph for the tomb Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Give the winds a mighty voice Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Shout salvation full in dreams Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Shout salvation full and free Highest hills and deepest caves This our song of victory Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves Alright, let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this evening and the opportunity to be gathered together in church tonight. I pray that you bless this service and help us all to pay attention to the message that's going to be preached and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. For our second song, just a page to the right 260, He is Able to Deliver Thee Song 260, He is Able to Deliver Thee Song 260 Tis the grandest theme through the ages run Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue Tis the grandest theme that the world our son, our God is able to deliver Thee. He is able to deliver Thee. He is able to deliver Thee. Though my sin oppressed go to Him for rest our God is able to deliver Thee. Tis the grandest theme in the earth for me Tis the grandest theme for a mortal strain. Tis the grandest theme tell the world again our God is able to deliver Thee. He is able to deliver Thee. He is able to deliver Thee. Though my sin oppressed go to Him for rest our God is able to deliver Thee. Tis the grandest theme let the tidings roll to the guilty heart, to the sinful soul. Look to God in faith He will make people. Our God is able to deliver Thee. He is able to deliver Thee. He is able to deliver Thee. Though my sin oppressed go to Him for rest our God is able to deliver Thee. Good evening, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you didn't already get a bullet in and you'd like one, just lift your hand nice and high and one of our ushers can come by and get you a bullet in. On the front we have our Bible memory passage verse number six, any child 18 or under that can quote this can receive either ice cream or some pieces of candy. Just quote this to an usher or myself or brother Dylan. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times and our regional soul winning times. I'm going to get a count from any soul winning to report for the last few days. Anything from Monday by chance? One for Monday, what about Tuesday? Anything from Tuesday? Three for Tuesday, what about tonight? Was there anything for tonight by chance? One, alright. Keep up the good work on our soul winning. On the right we have our list of several expecting ladies. Please keep all of them in your prayers. We also have several prayer requests. We have the Negara family, if you'd please be in prayer for their whole family for health. Miss Lucy, her mother's tumors, brother Cameron Hall, his leg healing from surgery. Verity Baptist Manila, continue to pray for their just health and they could end their lockdowns. Also in Australia with Pastor Kevin Sepulveda. Miss Eva Garcia has a final doctor's appointment October 19th. She would like us to be in prayer for Miss Ginger Kenyon and continue to remember her and her family. Brother Malcolm Holden's friend Jonathan with cancer. Miss Nexus Cooper with health. Lana's cousins Megan Childers, she's praying for her health and salvation. Also the Spurgeon family was praying for some home utility issue. And then Alicia Naim's dad Mark is in the hospital or was recently diagnosed with COVID so she's just praying for his health as well. So a lot of health concerns and some other issues there so if we continue to pray for all of them, I'll say a quick word of prayer for our church family now. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us this evening to come and sing praises, to hear the word of God being preached. I pray that you would bless all the expecting ladies, that you would bless their pregnancies and give them a timely birth. I pray that you would also bless all of our other church family that's either here or not here with various health concerns. That you could give them favor, you could give them wisdom, if possible you just help give them full recovery and I pray that you would also just bless the rest of our church members with their various concerns. Please just help to give us freedom in the world to preach the gospel in places like the Philippines and places like Australia and just throughout the whole world I pray that you just give us free course to preach the gospel so that we can do great things for you and we do all this in the honor of your son in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. On the back we have a couple events mentioned there. We have music ministry practice every Sunday at 4 and if you'd like to participate even just to sing that'd be great. We'll try to incorporate a few of those songs in our music the next few weeks that way we can all be belting it out, alright, whenever we have the conference. And then September 25th we have Peer Words, Soul Wounding Marathon, False Bible Burning, October 2nd we have the Fall Swap, October 6th through the 10th we have the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship that Sunday evening if you'd be able to bring a dessert we're going to have a dessert potluck provided by our church. We have a kid's spelling bee and we also have a singles event. I probably need to get a spelling bee sign up sheet but who again is planning on having their kids participate in the kid's spelling bee just so I have some kind of an idea. Alright, great. I think we're going to have a really good turnout and it's going to be tough competition, alright? That's what I'm expecting. And then also November 13th we have the Oklahoma City Soul Wounding Marathon. So a lot of Soul Wounding Marathons. I think I'm going to probably also try and do a trip in December, I'll get you the date, but to Madame Morris down there in Mexico and Brownsville. So it's kind of like we've been going to Renosa and what's the McCallen? I was trying to think of the American side. McCallen and Renosa have been going over there and it's really great there but Brownsville is just a little bit more south and I think we should hug that area one time and see what it's like. So if people want to participate you don't even have to have a passport because you could stay on stateside the whole time. And even if you don't speak Spanish they'll probably still be plenty of opportunity to give the gospel. But if you speak Spanish it's a great trip because even when you're that close to the border a lot of people only speak Spanish. Once you cross the border they only speak Spanish. But we'll try to get down there again. Obviously if something crazy happens I don't know if we'll reschedule it but I really want to try and make a trip down there and do some more Soul Wounding because it's some of the most receptive Soul Wounding you'll ever do in your entire life. And then maybe next year we can go back to Shreveport because it worked out really well and was really receptive. So lots of Soul Wounding events to be on the lookout for. That's pretty much all I have for announcements at the time. Let's go to our third song for this evening. 343 Revive Us Again. Give that song 343. Revive Us Again. 343. Revive Us Again. We praise Thee O God For Thy Spirit online Who hath shown us Our Savior and spatter our night Alleluia, bind the glory Alleluia, Amen Alleluia, bind the glory All glory and praise To the Lamb that was slain Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain Alleluia, bind the glory Alleluia, Amen Alleluia, bind the glory Revive us again Revive us again Alleluia, bind the glory Alleluia, Amen Alleluia, bind the glory Revive us again While the offering plates are being passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 28. It's Genesis chapter 28. Genesis 28 the Bible reads And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paedanarum, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people. And give thee the blessing of Abraham to thee, and to thy seed with thee, that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. And Isaac sent away Jacob, and he went to Paedanarum, unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Paedanarum, to take him a wife from thence, and that as he blessed him, he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paedanarum. And Esau, seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father, then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and laid down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for Genesis chapter 28. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit, and help him to expound this chapter to us. I also pray that you would help us to listen and learn so that we can understand this chapter better. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. We're in Genesis chapter 28, and in chapter 27, Jacob had taken the blessing and the birthright that was entitled to Esau, and we're going to now really focus in on Jacob as we go through Genesis to the next few chapters, and then his family, and go to Joseph. But the Bible says here in verse number 1, And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take thee a wife from thin to the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people, and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee, that thou mayest inherit the land, wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. Now, what I believe is significant about this opening of this chapter is we kind of see this proverbial torch being handed off from man to man to man. We kind of have the torch of the blessing of Abraham going from Abraham unto Isaac. And now we have Isaac handing off the proverbial torch unto Jacob, which is symbolic of the fact that Jacob has now taken the birth right. And that the seed is going to come through Jacob. And again, we're focusing on individuals here because Jesus Christ has a very specific lineage that's traced throughout the Bible, and it's going to come through Jacob. It's going to come through Isaac. It's going to come through Abraham. And it's going to be fulfilled in a very literal sense where Jesus Christ is a literal son of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, okay? And then we know he's going to come through Judah, specifically one of the twelve of Jacob. Now, again, that promise is really to the seed, though, and that seed we know as Christ. In Galatians chapter number three, the Bible makes it clear that it's not seeds plural, it's seed and it's specifically to Christ. Because at this point we already have a lot of seeds of Abraham, Isaac, that have no account of this blessing. Esau, he's just as much seed physically from Isaac as Jacob is, but notice that Esau isn't getting this blessing. Notice the birth right was taken from him and now it's given to Jacob because we're tracing a very specific lineage to a seed, which is Christ. It's not about this physical descendantry which we're going to have, you know, the so-called Jews today say, well, I'm a descendant of Abraham physically, or I'm a descendant of Jacob physically, you know, I'm a child of Israel. That doesn't matter. There's no significance to that. The significance of all this physical lineage was to get to Christ. And at that point, no longer does physical descendants even matter. The Bible says to avoid genealogies. So the only genealogy that really matters in the Bible is the one giving us Christ, going to Christ and going back all the way to Adam and nothing else matters. We don't see any of the lineages or genealogies really in the New Testament of anybody else. We don't know what the genealogy is of Matthew or James or John or Paul. Nobody cares because it does not matter. And even the apostle Paul himself, he was of that physical descendant in the fact that he was of Benjamin, you know, and of Benjamin is going to be of Jacob. But he doesn't care because it doesn't matter. The only descendant that mattered was Christ and this torch being handed off is really a reference to the blessing of Abraham that's going to be through Christ. Look at verse number 5. He blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan-iram to take him a wife from thence and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge saying thou should not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and was gone to Padan-iram and he saw seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father then when Esau unto Ishmael and took unto the wives which he had Maalath the daughter of Ishmael Abram's son the sister of Nebaijoth to be his wife and Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So we basically have Jacob is being commanded by his father to go and seek a wife. He wants him to get a very specific wife. He wants him to get a wife of Laban which would be in the family and again from a carnal perspective it's a little weird because they would be like cousins or something but the significance is really symbolic of a spiritual importance that you're supposed to be married to someone that's saved. You're supposed to seek someone of the same family in a sense because think about it we're not supposed to seek the same family carnally but we are supposed to seek the same family spiritually. You're supposed to marry a sister or brother in Christ meaning that you're kind of seeking that family and so just like him seeking someone in the family physically we're supposed to seek someone in the family spiritually. Now Esau notices this and he realizes that his parents are not pleased with his wives and that's going to be grieving unto a person. You want your parents to like your spouse. You want your parents to appreciate your spouse or to look positively towards your spouse and that's not always going to be the case but he notices that they don't like these girls and so he's like well I'll get other wives but notice that Esau still doesn't get it. He doesn't actually then end up going and getting the right kind of wife he goes to Ishmael and gets another wife that's not right again and it just goes to show how from a spiritual perspective what would this look like? It's like this. Christians believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament and they got saved and they're supposed to provoke the Jews unto jealousy to want to end up getting saved but instead of actually still getting saved they just continue to seek through their own works and their own methods God's favor and God's blessing but they're never going to get it because you either do it God's way and you have the blessing the favor or you do it your own way and you're never going to get the favor. You're never going to get the blessing. He could have married any wife that was not of the same lineage and it would have been displeasing unto Isaac. So Esau is basically trying to figure out things his own way and do it his own way but here's the thing. We need to be willing to submit ourselves to our parents as much as humanly possible you know and look obviously if your parents aren't even saved or they're not giving you advice that's from the Bible you know we ought to obey God rather than man but generally speaking I believe that you should follow your parents instruction to the best of your ability everything they tell you to do you should try to follow it exactly like they say only in cases where the Bible is clearly showing something different you know and a lot of times even if a parent's not saved they still have your best interest in mind and they're going to be able to identify certain characteristics especially when it comes to marriage who you might end up getting married to and so I think it's really important that you get parental approval as much as possible. Now obviously if you're going to marry the proverbial woman okay and your parents are just like no you marry the proverbial woman okay you know if you find the godly woman you marry her right I'm not saying that at the end of the day you don't marry a godly spouse but what I am saying is if your parents are thinking like this person is weird or something off about them you should take that to heart you know you should consider that I even still believe that you should ask parental permission for someone's hand in marriage you know when I got married to my wife I asked both of her parents I took them to lunch and I asked their permission if I could marry their daughter and you know what I like that custom I like that tradition I think it makes sense and if someone wants to marry my daughters you better believe in that doctrine you know it's like hey I asked your daughter to marry her and she said yes and I'm like did I say yes that's the more important question you know and again I'm not trying to say that kids shouldn't have their own choice or choosing in who they marry but I think it's important that parents play a big role in this and that they're willing to approve of a person's spouse and why would you want to get married notice he didn't seek approval the first time and it was a disaster so now he's going again but he doesn't follow his parents advice you know if you just asked mom and dad hey who should I marry they would have said go to Laban and maybe you would have married Leah you know I don't know or Rachel who knows I mean Esau had his whole life set up for him and he just ruined it all because you know why he never did what his parents actually wanted him to do he didn't follow their instruction he didn't hearken unto his parents he didn't care what the Bible had to say and here's the thing we could be the same way God gives us free will we can go do whatever we want we can marry whoever we want not marry do whatever whatever action you want to do you can do it but if you want to be blessed by God if you want his favor it's going to come through doing what he said it's going to come through following his commandments you want to have a blessed marriage marry someone to save that loves the Lord and you know there's a lot of people that can testify hey I didn't do that Pastor Shelley and I wish I had you know I wish I had have thought about these things I wish I had got parental approval I wish I had sought to their counsel and their advice and you say well Pastor Shelley's really picking on me instead of feeling like you're getting picked on just embrace that truth and then teach it to your children and teach you to the young people and encourage them to find the right kind of a spouse and to seek someone from the right crop as it were okay verse number 11 the Bible says and he lighted upon a certain place so Jacob's now going he's seeking the right wife according to his father's instruction and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and laid down in that place to sleep now this is really interesting to me because a rock sounds really uncomfortable like I've always read this and I was just like this is weird but I thought about it and I'm going to give you a carnal explanation and then I'm going to give you a spiritual explanation okay first of all just because he used the rock as his pillow does not mean that his head was touching the rock directly he could have just found a nice normal rock and still put his coat or put some kind of a garment over it and laid on it and just having that extra little bit of elevation would have made it more comfortable to lay on it that makes sense to me because you know I like to have a pillow or I like to have something you know so the elevation changes and if I were to lay on a rock I'd probably put you know my coat or put something down on it so that I'm not just like directly on the rock because that would be pretty uncomfortable so that kind of helps me understand the carnal aspect but what about the spiritual aspect here laying on a rock well go over to Matthew chapter 11 for a moment keep your finger here go to Matthew chapter number 11 but what does a pillow do you know what's the purpose of a pillow isn't it comfort isn't it to give you you know better rest as it were well look at Matthew chapter 11 and look at verse 28 come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light now why do I take you this verse well here's the thing the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the rock so if Jesus Christ is the rock what ends up giving you rest laying on him leaning on him so just like you lean on the rock for rest you lean on Jesus Christ for the same kind of rest that's what gives you comfort and ultimately what's the end goal it's sleep right and sleep is gonna make you feel more refreshed it's peaceful go to Proverbs chapter number 3 for a moment go to Proverbs chapter number 3 for a second I'll show you another verse here you know there's that guy out there saying my pillow you know my pillow needs to be the rock of Jesus Christ when it comes to spiritual things and you know when it comes to rest in the Bible this can picture a few different things first of all it can picture salvation okay and when you're leaning on Jesus when you're letting Jesus be the rock for salvation you can rest easy because you realize all of the work for salvation's already been done it's already been completed so you can just rest when it comes to salvation you know salvation is pictured as resting cause I just rest on him that's why it's also pictured with the Sabbath cause Sabbath is a day when you would do no works and it's just a full day of rest that's why Jesus is our Sabbath because we've entered into his rest when it comes to salvation we've seized from our own works we don't have to do anything to get saved except for resting on Christ and if you're not resting on Christ you're not saved you're not going to sleep now think about this word sleep in other places in the Bible how about people that go to hell what does the Bible say they have no rest day or night meaning that they have no rest so it's like you're either resting on Jesus the pillow and you have perfect sleep perfect rest and if you're not you have no rest and here's the thing someone that believes salvation is anything other than faith in Christ they have no rest on their daily life because they think salvation is a daily act and you talk to people I'm working on every day I'm trying brother you know it's hard and it would be hard what's easy is sleeping what's easy is taking a rest is just resting on the Lord Jesus Christ so from a salvation perspective this is great I mean this is really easy it burdens life isn't it? Proverbs chapter 3 look at verse number 19 the Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth by understanding hath he established the heavens by his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew my son let not them depart from thine eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion so shall thy they be life unto thy soul and grace thy neck then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble when thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid gay thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet you're not afraid of sudden fear neither the desolation of the wicked when it cometh for the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken so not only does the Bible teach that when it comes to Jesus Christ giving you rest in the context of salvation it's even just daily rest in the sense that when you're just serving the Lord and you're doing that which is right you don't have to worry about the desolation of the wicked you don't have to worry about all the evils that are going on you can just go to sleep like I like to say baby but that doesn't ever seem to make any sense when you actually have babies but you'll go to sleep like someone is dead okay you know they just really you know you go to sleep like a Biden voter okay man they are just out cold you know and at the end of the day you know if you have trouble going to sleep at night sometimes you have to ask yourself are you laying your head on the rock of Jesus Christ when you go to bed or are you sitting there worrying about the future worrying about money worrying about your kids worrying about your life and when it comes to your kids you know you never know how they're going to turn out until you get there and once you get there it's too late once they're past the age of child rearing I mean once you get to the latter end of the teenage years and the young adult years I mean they're pretty much settled as to who they are and a lot of the things that they've been taught are going to stick with them forever and so you say well I don't know if my kids are going to turn out good well here's the thing whenever you're teaching them the word of God when you're training them according to the scriptures you can actually rest assured that they're not going to depart from those things when they're older you know I'm not saying that God couldn't perform a miracle in a teenager's life because I've seen it but what I am saying is this that if you're serving the Lord and you're taking your kids to church and raising them to serve the Lord you can rest easy at night thinking they're going to be godly children train of a child the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it I can go to sleep resting at night not wondering if they're going to become some kind of a criminal or a pedophile or Ted Bundy or some kind of a wicked evil person but you know what if I was dropping little Johnny off at the public school every single week well I'm not going to sleep very easy you know in the state of Texas and I'm not joking I'm not going to exaggerate at all literally in the state of Texas there was a school board meeting recently where parents got up and they showed a book called like Lawn Boy or something like that who's heard about this anybody hear about this there's a book that they have in the public library of these schools it's called Lawn Boy it is literally teaching fourth graders how to commit sodomite acts in the book with graphic language telling them what to do and it's all in the guise of church literally it's like we went to church and then me and so and so did all these sodomite acts with each other in graphic horrific language that I would never repeat I mean in a public setting like this I mean just horrible filth I'm just like why would you want to send your kid there and just roll the dice on how they're going to turn out you know that's not going to make me go to sleep very well at night if I'm dropping my kid off at this school to learn about all this filth and this nonsense and they're trying to encourage kids to experiment in the worst things ever in the worst things imaginable just constantly the state of Texas my friend gross you know what I can go to sleep and sleep like Joe Biden voters every night knowing my wife is teaching them the Bible my wife's teaching them Leviticus 2013 my wife is teaching them all of the scriptures and she's teaching them how to read and how to write that math isn't racist and she's teaching them how communism is wicked as hell and she's teaching them all manner of good subjects and I can just rest and I can think man I'm just going to sleep just so easy you can say man I'm really nervous at night I'm really having all these problems are you leaning on Jesus though are you using Jesus as your pillow as your rock you know I don't have to worry and wonder if my kids are going to turn out right if we're serving the Lord I know they will I can know that I can have the confidence I can put my trust in the Lord that's going to happen go to Psalms 4 for a second I keep meaning to tell you to turn there so then when I'm ready you're ready but go to Psalms 4 for a moment I want to show you another verse here and look at verse number 8 the Bible says Psalm 4 verse 8 I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety notice who does not make you lie down in safety, Donald Trump notice who does not make you lay down in safety curse PD notice who doesn't make you lay down safe at night the United States military you know I get so sick and tired of everybody pandering to the military as if they're the only reason I'm safe oh you guys the only reason you can end up in church is the military the only reason you have a country is the military look the military is needed we need a military every country needs a military I'm all for having troops the Bible says the horse is prepared against the day of battle but the Bible says safety is of the Lord and I don't care how great a military you have when you don't have God on your side you're not safe you can have every troop lined up every black hawk helicopter you can have every warhead you can have everything you want on the planet and if I have God on my side you're going down if God be for us who can be against us and so at the end of the day there's so many people they're more worried about national security they're more worried about the US military they're more worried about local PD they're more worried about all of these things rather than if they're right with God they say well I can sleep safe tonight if I have the police fully funded and I have all these other institutions fully funded and I have everything that I need I have all the gates and the locks God could just come in your bedroom with a brain aneurysm and kill you come in there with a little virus sneak in there asymptomatic viruses God can do whatever he wants he can find you in Amos the Bible even says you go and hide in your house and you know what you lean on upon the wall and a serpent will come out and just bite your hand you know and you live in Texas things can come out of the walls okay I mean man don't go to Houston okay I'm just kidding go back to Genesis chapter 28 go back to Genesis chapter 28 scorpions and all kinds of stuff look in Phoenix I mean we lived in a really nice area me and my wife in a nice little neighborhood and it was real clean and she kept the house really clean scorpions get in there you know I found a couple just one little sting and you're just gone man you never know that's why I would rather be right with God than worried about everything that could possibly kill me because that's trillions of things that could possibly kill me look at verse 12 the Bible says and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it now I just want to make one more point before I move on think about this okay you're so worried about all the stuff that could kill you what about in the middle of just the wilderness Jacob's just laying down going to sleep on a rock a lot of things have killed him too but he's just sleeping like that Joe Biden voter okay because he's letting God take care of it okay now he sees this interesting vision he's dreaming and he sees a ladder it's set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and it says behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it now this is really interesting thing because the word ladder is only found in the Bible once it's right here so you can't really necessarily look at another place where the word ladder is used but this makes me think of a story keep your finger and go to John chapter 1 for more go to John chapter 4 what does a ladder do doesn't a ladder give you access to something okay now typically a ladder is not only giving you access but it's giving you access to something that's out of your reach isn't it I mean the whole purpose of having a ladder is there something you want but it's higher than where you are so you're trying to get access to something that you can't reach to you can't get to on your own you need the ladder in order to get access to whatever it is that you're trying to obtain John chapter 1 look at verse 51 this is Jesus speaking he said he sayeth unto him verily verily I say unto you hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man notice if you go to Genesis 28 there's a ladder angels are ascending and descending upon it going up from heaven and earth and then in John chapter 1 Jesus says hey you can have the exact same thing but it's me that they're ascending and descending upon that's because I believe that the ladder is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and how that's our access into heaven something that's out of our reach we couldn't get to on our own not by works of righteousness which we have done but by his mercy saved us we have access into heaven only by Jesus Christ that's why he said I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me so it's just like in this terrible or this dream as it were the only way to get into heaven is through this ladder that's how it is with Jesus Christ the only way to get into heaven is through Jesus that's it we have a lot of cool pictures here go back to Genesis chapter 28 and I think this chapter is just all about Jesus as pretty much every chapter is but I mean it's just constantly giving us all these different aspects of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and parts of salvation it says in verse number 13 I believe that God when he gives these promises to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and he's bringing up the word seed there are times and I'll grant it that it is talking in a carnal sense there are times when it's obviously spelling out that they're going to literally have a physical descendants that are going to dwell in this land and they're going to have this they're going to inhabit this area but then it also has a dual fulfillment in that it's a spiritual picture too that the fact that the most important application of this prophecy is that we are the seed because we believe in Jesus Christ we're the real seed and that we are going to literally dwell in this land with Christ in the millennial reign of Christ so just because these verses could be applied to an initial fulfillment with the children of Israel returning to the promised land entering the promised land and living in the promised land it's kind of hard to really like just get so excited about that because think about this they never really fully took the promised land they like always had remnants of the heathen among them or they had sections where they didn't really conquer it to the fullest they never really took it over in a pure triumph manner I mean through the book of Joshua it's a lot of success but even at the end he's like wow we still have a lot of ways to go we still have all these other areas to inhabit and you see certain tribes just like completely failing not really taking on that promised land so it would be weird to just point to this to that and say oh look that's the real fulfillment and I'm sure modern day Jews are like we got to really fulfill it they're actually trying to do that right now they want all that land and they don't want just that land they want the whole earth they're like pinky in the brain they're trying to take over the whole earth but the real fulfillment of this is going to be in the millennial reign of Christ when God's people the true seed end up taking on that promised land and I love it as does all the families of the earth be blessed because again he's not if you look at that verse how could you then say this is about the physical Jews why am I so blessed that physical Jews get to live in the promised land you know and this is what's bizarre but modern Christianity actually believes this they think man if we just bless that Jew and we bomb the Muslims and we just let the Jews have that promised land God will somehow just extend favor to us you know and it's like no no no you got it wrong all the favor was coming through the gospel of Jesus Christ and that's how all the families of the earth are blessed and why is it saying every family well when you look in Revelation the Bible says that of every tongue and every kindred there's going to be people in heaven praising God so truly every single family at least someone in that family got saved got the blessing of Abraham got the blessing of Christ is going to be in heaven so it's really fulfilled in that it's not fulfilled in us giving money to Israel it's not fulfilled in us being a military ally to the modern day Israel today that's not the fulfillment it's not that your 401ks lighten up because you gave money to the Temple Mount Foundation or something like that no the real fulfillment is when you go out and you preach the gospel someone get them saved that's the real fulfillment of this verse look at verse 15 and behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places where thou goest and will bring thee again in this land for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to the of and Jacob wakened out of his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven so when Jacob wakes up he ends up making a really interesting statement he says something about the place he's saying that it's dreadful and it's the house of God now in the New Testament what do we call the house of God we call it the church right the church is known as the house of God but in the Old Testament the house of God was more in reference to the temple it's really in reference to where the children of Israel were they're going to set up a temple where the Lord is going to actually dwell among them and the parts where they're wandering the wilderness is pictured through the tabernacle where they have this mobile house of God that they're kind of dragging with them through the wilderness they're going around and God's dwelling with them God's among them it's eventually set up with King Solomon he builds the temple that's where God's dwelling ends up getting destroyed and then they rebuild it again they have the temple and it's kind of picturing his house and we kind of I talked about that on Sunday morning a little bit how Solomon even dedicated the house and they make a big deal about praying to his house in the New Testament it says that the house of God the church is supposed to be a place of prayer for all nations so again church congregation the house of God a lot of these are kind of synonymous terms we have a more we have a little bit different idea of that in the New Testament but at this point in time he's saying right now that this is the house of God and think about in the future in the future Christ will literally rule and reign from you know Mount Zion where it's going to be the house of God on a permanent basis it's going to literally be his house now it's interesting because think about what he was laying on a rock so you can kind of see this picture of how his house that foundation is a rock isn't it right look at verse 18 and Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it so we have him saying it's the house of God then he takes the rock and he makes it a pillar for this house of God and then he pours oil on top of this rock now again a lot of New Testament verses just flood the mind when you start thinking about this symbolism we go to 1 Timothy chapter number 3 go to 1 Timothy chapter number 3 what is the pillar of the church what is the pillar of the house of God none other than the Lord Jesus Christ you know and the Bible even says in the Old Testament in reference to the Old Testament in 1 Corinthians it says in that rock that followed them was Christ so in 1 Corinthians chapter number 4 it tells us specifically that the rock is Jesus Christ and we see the picture of the rock all throughout the Bible you know the rock splits you know it's a picture of Christ ok how he was going to be smitten for us and comes out gushing what water right and it's a picture of the living water that comes through Jesus Christ's sacrifice and so we have a lot of pictures of the rock all throughout the Old Testament and this is none other than the exact same in fact that it's a picture of Jesus Christ and how he is that pillar of the church now look at 1 Timothy chapter number 3 look at verse number 14 these things write unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly but if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself notice this in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth so again the pillar of what the truth now Jesus Christ is what the truth and what does a pillar really do a pillar is a support structure and it is to elevate something it's to lift something up it's supposed to give you know support unto something so notice the rock is giving support to the truth and what is the church supposed to do the church is supposed to give what support to the truth it's the only real institution that's been authorized in the Bible to be the main arbiter of truth when it comes to the truth in general you know it's the church you know and a lot of people they want to set up their truth ministries you know they want to have our ministries dedicated to the truth or our organizations about truth or we're here to discover the truth or we're the true news or we're the true radio or we're the true whatever and here's the thing there's one institution that's supposed to be about truth there's one institution authorized by God as truth and it's the church church is that organization church is that group in which truth is supposed to be emanating and pouring out of it's the one place where if you want to find truth you're supposed to find it from church not a fake not a fraud not some cheap imitation but rather the real thing the genuine thing is the church of the living God okay now go to Matthew chapter number 16 I think it's really important that that's in that chapter because what was that chapter about a chapter is about the qualifications of a pastor and a deacon do you think it's interesting that the qualifications of a pastor and a deacon are in the same chapter when he said I want to give you some really important instructions about how the church is the pillar and ground of the truth why because when you don't have legitimate pastors and deacons and you're not you know living up to the qualifications and you're not emphasizing the importance of having the right kind of leadership you know what ends up happening the truth gets bent it gets perverted it gets corrupted it gets sold to the highest bidder you end up having hirelings it just gets tampered with that's why the qualifications are so important because it's really one of the most important aspects to maintaining truth and maintaining a pure truth and maintaining the integrity of the gospel the integrity of the word of God and you know someone's got to basically be the person where the buck stops with them when it comes to truth obviously we understand that the Bible is our final authority and I'm not going to ever take away from that but someone has to get up and tell everybody what that is someone has to make it plain someone has to actually teach what the Bible is saying someone has to be in charge of things that's why it's important that you have the right kind of leadership and you know what Jesus Christ understood this boy look at Matthew chapter 16 and let's look at verse 13 for a moment here the Bible says therefore speak I to them in parables because they sing see not and hear not neither they understand I'm sorry I'm reading chapter 13 look at the wrong page verse 13 alright that was a good test to see who was reading their Bible verse 13 when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi he asked the disciples saying whom do men say that I the son of man am and they said some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets he sayeth unto them but whom say ye that I am and Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven 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 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 and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven we have a really really famous portion of scripture here and I think the whole context is important what is the rock in our picture of Genesis chapter 28 the pillars the foundation who is that rock it's Jesus Christ now when it comes to having the right kind of church what's one of the most important central truths that the church needs to be established and founded on it's the fact that Jesus Christ is the son of God and look institutions that attack the fact that Jesus Christ is the son of God are a fake false institution it's a cult it's false religion it's an anti-Christ type of religion and ultimately that's what's coming in the future is an institution that's going to deny that Jesus is the son of God it's going to be an imposter saying that he's the son of God okay so when it comes to the ultimate truth I mean I can show you scores of verses that say that you have to believe that Jesus is the son of God to be saved that that's what even determines if someone is saved that they say that Jesus is the Christ that they believe he's the Christ we go through the book of Acts what are they confessing that Jesus is the son of God I mean when he's asking to get baptized what does he say in order to basically prove that he's saved you know I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God you know so it's really important that we realize that's like the most foundational truth when it comes to one of these aspects so Jesus Christ is really driving in this major point okay but then he makes an interesting statement because he's not only asking who he is he's asking who Peter is okay but notice in verse 17 he said blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah now that's just his name that's like what he was raised with Bar means son of so he's Simon the son of Jonah okay so that means his dad's son of Jonah that's how they would usually name people so like Barabbas is the son of Rabbis which Rabbis is kind of like Rabbi so I've heard somebody say oh did you realize that Barabbas is like really the son of God and I'm like what do you mean and it's because his name literally translated to be son of the father okay but you know what he's not the son of God and I don't know that he believed in Jesus Christ he probably wasn't even saved okay but that's just what his name is Simon Bar-Jonah, Simon Bar-Jonah if you were raised with Simon you knew him as Simon okay it's Jesus that's giving him other names and calling him different other names that's important to realize look what he says in the next verse and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter so he's saying hey Simon I'm calling you Peter okay and upon this rock will I will build my church and the gates of hell should not prevail against him now I believe that anybody that would read this verse is being honest with themselves would say that it sounds like he's talking to Peter right I mean he's saying thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my church and I believe that's because he's talking to Peter okay now I'm going to explain this to you in a moment I believe that this can be interpreted in two different ways that are both true but the primary application is that he's talking to Peter and he's calling him the rock now I'm going to prove this from a couple different places but keep your finger here and go to John chapter 1 for a moment go to John chapter 1 now why would I say that he's talking to Peter here and why would he be calling him a rock potentially well you have to understand there's another place where Jesus Christ is calling Peter or something else it's in John chapter number 1 look at verse 42 and he brought him to Jesus and when Jesus build him he said thou art Simon the son of Jonah so notice Bar Jonah son of Jonah right thou shall be called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone so we have another place where the Bible is just crystal clear he's calling him another name for a reason because he's trying to call him a stone isn't he I mean would you not believe that right here I mean the English Bible is really clear he's saying he's calling him a stone well in other languages sometimes the Bible is a little bit more obvious and I can prove what I'm going to teach you just from the King James Bible alone but I just want to make this point that if you were to read this in a Greek New Testament which I have in my office I can even show it to you if you want to see it but if you read that verse John 1 42 in the Greek New Testament he calls him Cephas and he says with being interpreted and then the name is Petros Petros now the verse that we read in Matthew chapter 16 when he's saying thou art Peter you know what Peter is in Greek there? Petros so it's the exact same word the exact same name and that's because I believe there's no difference between a stone and a rock in the context of the Bible and I'm going to show you other places where I can prove that if you go to like Wikipedia and you type in the name Peter this is what this says Peter is a common masculine given name it is derived from Greek Petros it's a masculine form of the Greek word Petra the word for rock or stone which itself was translation of Aramaic Kepha which is stone or rock the nickname Jesus gave to the apostle Simon Bar-Jonah an old English variant is here so I'm only saying this because sometimes in another languages it's really obvious a particular interpretation whereas in another language it may not be as as obvious that doesn't mean you can't get the same you do get the same interpretation it's just a little more obvious so if you were to come up with a goofy interpretation people that believe in another foreign language are like how in the world did you come up with that when it's literally the exact same word whereas in English we have a little variation here of stone and rock or whatever but here's the thing in Greek again whenever you read it thou art Peter and upon this rock it's Petros and Petra so it's the exact same word just masculine form eminent form okay and I say that to say this why would he call him a rock though well go if you would to Ephesians chapter number two and let me prove to you why from the King James Bible I believe he's saying this but here's the thing what were the what was the whole point of first Timothy chapter number three before the whole institution of the pillar and ground of truth the qualification of a bishop right and the importance of the right kind of leader Peter is going to be the leadership to get the church kicked off humanly speaking from a human perspective who is the person that gets the church kicked off it's Peter okay Jesus ascends back up into heaven read Acts chapter number two read Acts chapter number one I mean Jesus goes back to heaven it's like you guys wait around and then what happens then the Holy Ghost comes upon them then they start preaching the gospel then after they start preaching the gospel the Bible says that God's adding to the church daily then all of a sudden we have a transition in the New Testament where it's church, church, church, church, church and we have people like Paul coming alongside of the other apostles and establishing church is because you kind of start off with the church in Jerusalem that's the first church then you have other churches spawning you have then Antioch and then you have him going out from Antioch and you have other churches going out in all of Asia and all of Greece and all the other areas of the world where they're bringing forth after their own kind but if you're going to say where is the church going to be built is it not built in Jerusalem with Peter is that not where it starts off and then it multiplies from there obviously that's what happened Ephesians chapter two though let me prove to you again we already know and I can show in lots of places that Jesus is the rock is anybody going to deny that Jesus is the rock okay but some people say there's a huge differentiation between a rock and a stone and maybe in a carnal sense I don't know I don't really care but from a biblical perspective it uses these words interchangeably Ephesians chapter two look at verse number 19 now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone so if Jesus Christ is the rock he's also known as what the chief cornerstone now if he's the chief cornerstone what does that mean he's the first he's the most important and he's the he's the one that's going to be laid initially okay that's what it means by chief meaning the first or the most important and he's the corner which is where you start any building project but he's not the only foundation in this context the bible does say in other contexts that no foundation can any man lay but that which is lay which is Christ Jesus okay and I understand that but in this context it says that there's other people involved in the foundation notice in verse 20 and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets now let me help you out Peter is what you would call an apostle so guess what Peter is part of what the foundation of our faith and what do you build on you build on a foundation you build on a rock that's the pillar okay in a sense of what's going to give the support structure upon you build your house upon a rock and we build the house of God on a rock and of course that rocks Jesus Christ but notice another foundation is being mentioned here which is the apostles and the prophets and they're the ones that went out and helped build a church and establish a church and notice from Peter to now has the church ceased to exist no because you're sitting in one right now and the importance of having the right guys go out and build that foundation that's why he sat there and he taught them and he trained them and he discipled them and he proved them and he tested them and after they were found faithful then he gave them what the keys and in Matthew chapter number 16 isn't he bringing up a lot about the keys who has the key to heaven it's the church the key is the what is the key into heaven the gospel of Jesus Christ who has the gospel of Jesus Christ the church and look that's how people get saved is the church of the New Testament the church of Jesus Christ and obviously we understand from an individualistic perspective it's a soul winner that opens up their Bible and preaches the gospel but here's the thing without church there wouldn't be soul winners you know and some people say well I'm a lone wolf and look praise God for anybody that will open their gospel and preach to anybody for any reason whether they're going to church or not you know I was not going to a good church and I ended up going out and going soul winning on my own at one point in my life you know why I went because I was watching online videos from a church showing me how to go soul winning and you'd be hard pressed to find me even these lone ranger soul winners that said you know what I was just reading my Bible on my own one day and I decided to be a soul winner you know what I bet they'd say I watched a video online from a church of how to go soul winning or I went to a church and learned how to go soul winning or I had a church send me out to go soul winning why because it's the church that has the keys of the kingdom of heaven and it's us that are opening the doors and helping getting people saved and that's why it's the most important institution on the planet is the church we emphasize the church it's the most important institution we could ever have go to first Peter chapter number two I want to prove this a little bit further to you so why is he saying you're a rock or why is he saying you're a stone because here's the thing Peter is a stone now the Catholics will take this verse to a weird extreme they'll say oh that means that he's the first pope now he didn't say hey papa upon this daddy will I build my church he said Peter which is a rock he said Peter which is a stone okay and he said upon this rock will I build my church okay he didn't also say that Peter's the only one that he was going to build it upon did he he didn't say exclusively thou art Peter and only on you will I build my church he just said you're part of the foundation well didn't Ephesians chapter two already tell us that other people were part of that foundation too hey isn't Paul part of that foundation he's an apostle and guess who also is a part of that foundation obviously Jesus because he's the apostle he's an apostle according to the bible as well so is Jesus the rock yeah Jesus is the rock hey our whole foundation is built upon Jesus Christ you know who's also part of that foundation the apostles and the prophets and who was really instrumental in that Peter and isn't it Peter that's getting up amongst the multitude and he's leading the charge and he's preaching to the disciples and you know it's Peter and John that are standing before the early persecution the Pharisees and the council and they're saying you know we obey God rather than man you know and he's like we're not going to listen to you guys we're going to keep preaching and he really gets the church off the ground he's really instrumental in establishing that first church in Jerusalem and it'd be foolish to take that away from Peter or pretend like it doesn't exist because you know what that would do it would make church not that important it'd make leadership not that important it would take away a lot of things that you know Jesus has established to us and then you get these ideas of oh God wants me to set up my own truth ministry what no God wants you to get plugged into your local church that's the pillar and ground of the truth is the local church going to church you're not supposed to go out and start your own stupid ministry that you dreamed up that you decided that you're qualified for that you decided that you wanted to do and look I'm not saying don't go share the gospel I'm not saying don't make videos or publications or you know do whatever you want but what I am saying is that I'm not going to set up some organization or ministry to replace the church I believe that's wrong I believe it's sinful because you're basically taking away from what God has instituted you're saying church isn't that important no we should put all of our effort and energy into the local church and we also are these stones look at 1 Peter chapter 2 verse number 4 to whom coming has unto a lively stone disallowed indeed of men chosen of God and precious so who's he talking about Jesus and notice Jesus again is the stone because he's a stone and the rock verse 5 he also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ so notice according to the Bible we're also rocks we're also the stones it's not just Peter we are the ones that build the church of God we are the church of God Ephesians chapter 2 made it clear that we're the habitation of God through the spirit it's not the building God dwells in us when we come together God's dwelling in our hearts where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst Jesus Christ is with us tonight we have Jesus Christ in our hand when we have the King James Bible not the wicked versions ok that's a different Jesus we have the real Jesus the word of God the King James Bible you have to realize that you are that stone as well verse 6 wherefore also is contained in the scripture behold 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 notice this word rock of offense do you really think the Bible's telling you that stone and rock are different here are different words no obviously he's using these words as synonyms in a sense isn't he and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient where into also they were appointed you're a chosen generation a royal priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which did not obtain mercy but now have obtained mercy so again I could prove to you this a lot of different other places but isn't the Bible starting to make a lot of sense here and getting really clear that what Jesus is clearly the rock Jesus is also the stone but guess who also is a stone Peter guess who's also a rock Peter guess who's also a stone all the apostles and prophets and guess who's also stones you and I we're lively stones we're living stones and we are to set up the pillar of the church of God and we want to make sure that God's institution the house of God the church is running the best that it possibly can go to Hebrews chapter 1 for a moment go to Hebrews chapter 1 what is something that Jacob did he set up this pillar he called it the house of God and then he poured oil on it and this is another picture of what God is going to do with the New Testament church you know it's interesting because the Bible tells us that all these things are written for our admonition you know they're written for our example and you know these stories are to give us encouragement and to try and help us realize things that we need to be doing prophecies of the future and to me it just continually confirms everything we're doing how can you sit here and say that church isn't a great institution when you have it mentioned in Genesis chapter 28 already God was already planning on setting up the church the church of Jesus Christ was always the plan but the law hasn't even been given and God's already telling us everything about the church and Gentiles getting saved and it's all been about the gospel going out into the Gentiles and the light going out into the Gentiles I mean that's what the Bible's all about the law has its whole place and it has its moment in time you know what the church is you know been mentioned from the very beginning Hebrews chapter 1 I'm going to prove to you what the oil is verse 8 but unto the son he saith thy throne of God is forever and ever and a scepter of righteousness and a scepter of thy kingdom thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows so the Bible says that Jesus had the oil of gladness now in John chapter 3 when you compare the Bible says that God did not give the spirit by measure unto him showing a difference between Jesus and everybody else so if he's not giving the spirit by measure and he's giving the oil of gladness above his fellows that's because the oil pictures none other than the Holy Ghost and how the Holy Ghost is going to be poured out on the New Testament church go to Acts chapter number 2 go to Acts chapter number 2 for a moment that's why you should never get sucked into all of these stupid parachurch ministries and there I said it you say what parachurch ministries all of them and you say yeah but what about this guy he's a really good guy I don't care who it is I'm not interested I'm not going to get sucked in I'm not going to give all my money to it I'm not going to give all my time effort and energy I'm not going to promote it you know what I want to promote the church the church because that's the institution that God gave and not only God give it not only the pillar and ground he also gave a special blessing by pouring out his spirit onto the church he didn't pour it out onto the bank that's a different spirit he didn't pour it out onto the bar he didn't pour it out on the public school he didn't pour it out on the government that's for sure he didn't pour it out on all these other institutions and establishments no he poured it out on the church where well Acts chapter 2 look at verse 16 but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy now what's cool about this verse is he's saying it's everyone it's not limited to the pastor or to the leader or the deacon or the evangelist it's every single child of God in the house of God God saying I'm going to pour out my spirit on them and they're going to preach and they're going to preach the gospel and Acts chapter 2 is one of the greatest chapters in showing the whole emphasis of the church to preach the gospel and give people safety I mean they're meeting together they have their time the spirit comes on them and then they go out and they preach the gospel and not in just one language all the languages to show that the gospel is not for one group of people it's for all people and we're added unto them three thousand souls in one day also illustrating that people get saved on a day think about it oh salvation's a lifestyle then how do people get saved on the one day then how come everybody that got saved in the Bible was a moment in time it was never a lifestyle I don't remember the lifestyle salvation I read in the Bible I remember people getting saved in just a moment of time it's like join thyself into this chariot he ran and then he was gone he's like saved baptized gone saved right you walk into a town saved gone walk into another town saved gone you walk to a woman at the well she gets saved in a moment then she goes to the town she preaches she gets people saved in a moment then they come out now yeah look some people it takes a day or two right the thick headed one but at the end of the day it's capable people are capable of getting saved like that in the Bible and notice they're getting saved like that they're getting saved in one day's time in a moments time if your plan of salvation takes more than a day then it's the wrong type of salvation you're not doing what the Bible said you know people are going to get saved on a daily basis on a regular basis quickly and so that's why it's important to realize that the church is that institution where we go out and we preach the gospel and that's the main emphasis go back to Genesis chapter 28 you say well I want something more cool I want to I want to expose the conspiracy theory of who Herod married next you know how he's unlawfully married to his brother and all of his incestual relationships and I want to expose all the conspiracies with Alexander the Great from Greece and you know John Kennedy's assassination or whatever it's like that's not the pillar and ground of the truth did they go out and talk about all the conspiracy theories that exist in their day but you notice the Bible is chock full of conspiracy theories it's not like you really think there wasn't any conspiracy theories in the days of Rome in the days of Greece there wasn't other things they could talk about and share and videos and all this other stuff you don't think they had their issues of the day of course they did but what are they supposed to do go out and preach the gospel you know what some people just aren't interested in that and so then what I want to do they want to suck you into something else they want to suck you into the issues of the day you don't think they had issues of the day that's why you know I made it such a big deal on this other Sunday morning about you know everybody's freaking out about the forced vaccine and look it's not that I'm not upset about it it's not that I don't think it's wicked as hell it's not that it doesn't make me mad too okay it's not that I don't think you should resist what I'm saying is this the devil just wants you to get upset about these things that you have no control over that you can't really do anything about necessarily instead of getting mad about things that you do have control over instead of getting mad about the things that really matter because at the end of the day if I could press a button right now and every single person in my church was fully vaccinated and continued to go soul winning or my other option was no one in my church would go soul winning I would press that button you're giving us this disease or whatever it's like look there's more important things now you say that and they're like well enjoy infertility and it's like look I'm not getting it don't worry I'm not going to get it my kids aren't going to get it but I'm just saying why would I hyperventilate over here about all the issues of the day when I can't even do anything about it what do you want me to do about it if I got it and I said it's the mark of the beast never get it nothing in my life will change because I'm still not getting it okay so I'm still not getting it I'm still providing the vaccination exemption form for every single person I'm still preaching against it that it's stupid and wicked as hell you know it's a fake it's a fraud I get it you know I'm not into that thing you know what I'm not into lots of things you know what I want to be into the gospel of Jesus Christ but there's lots of people they don't want to go out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ you know what I noticed the people that freak out the most about the issues of the day aren't the people going out and preaching the gospel you show me the guy that's going soul winning three times a week that's so concerned with everything on the news you know what the guy that's so concerned with all the things on the news I'll show you a non-soul winner someone that's not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ why because he doesn't think that the church is the most important institution he's not concerned about the pillar and ground of the truth he doesn't care if God's giving him the Holy Ghost and look the Holy Ghost doesn't care because I'm pretty sure if you read the end of Mark if you just read it you know what God told his apostles hey if you drink any deadly thing it won't harm you so was God really concerned if they went out and drank something deadly he didn't care he was just like I don't care I'll just make sure it doesn't harm you and you know what I believe this if the government came to my house and they held me down they were giving me a noogie and they start injecting me with stuff God could just make sure nothing bad happens to me anyways oh no what if they inject me what if they force me what if they hold me down well then you know what so be it I'll just pray that God will just make sure that you know my eyes glow a little bit redder or something you know I walk around I can be like I mean who cares people get so concerned with the stupidest stuff and look I'm not saying that vaccination is something you shouldn't be concerned with what I am saying is people hyperventilate about the issues of the day rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ and look this isn't the only issue of the day tomorrow there's going to be a new issue of the day for them and then the next day and then the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day and they think that the vaccinated soul winners of this world are worse than them when they don't even go soul winning which I say every vaccinated soul winner is better than any non-soul winner all of them because the whole emphasis is the gospel my friend is preaching the truth and you say well that seems repetitive get used to it I love to tell the story the old old story you know of Jesus and his love you know that's what we're supposed to go out he's like man you're always talking about soul winning welcome to the Bible welcome to the New Testament you know why do we do a Bible study in Genesis chapter 28 because it reminds us that it's important to preach the gospel it reminds us the importance of church it tells us the most important institution look at verse 20 or let's back at verse 19 just to make sure we cover every verse and he called the name of that place Bethel but the name of that city was called Luzza the first Jacob vowed about saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee so again he has the stone he sets up as a pillar that's what you know the God's house the house of God and at the very end he says you know what you give me this you take care of me and I will give you a tenth now it sounds a little weird the way he words it just to me personally because it kind of sounds like if you do good to me then I'll do good back to you or whatever but at the end of the day if you understand tithing and I had a lot to say about that but I'm not even going to say it because I'm out of time the word tithe and tenth are basically synonyms tithe means tenth and I can prove this in all different places in the Bible but in order to tithe you have to have increase because tithing according to the Bible is giving money on your increase so you go out you make money and then you tithe ten percent on whatever that increase is that's the doctrine of tithing so to some degree you kind of need God to then give you something give you some kind of a favor bless you increase you multiply you or whatever in some form or fashion and then from that increase then you give your ten percent so I believe and you know I teach this is for another sermon that New Testament Christians should give a ten percent of all their increase and you say oh you're trying to bring us into the law this is Genesis 28 I don't know what Bible you're reading and in fact Genesis chapter 14 we already read it it was the priest of Melchizedek that Abraham gave tithes to and the Bible tells us that there was a change of the law and a change of the priesthood and now Jesus Christ is that different priest he's not of Aaron he's of Melchizedek so if they were supposed to give tithes to Melchizedek in Genesis why would then fast forward I have Melchizedek as my priest I would not give tithes to him that's weird I would think I would follow the exact same example that Abraham did and that Jacob did I believe that now look I don't go around and like pass the massacre and be like are you tithing have you tithed I don't care from a personal level like I don't care I don't know who does I think that our church honestly probably tithes better than almost every other church on the planet because most every church I always get up and say that only like 10 or 20% of their church tithes and I know for a fact that way higher percentage of our church tithes but I don't know I don't care it doesn't matter to me I would have to like I'm not going to go around and be like show me your W2 and your tax returns I want to make sure it was 10% buddy I don't care I don't know it doesn't matter to me and some people give even above their tithe any money that I believe you give above 10% is not a tithe it's a free will offering offering and some people say I give 5% well then you're just short 5% of your tithe you're not giving according to the Bible the tithe is just returning what's the Lord's anyways it's all the Lord's whatever he gives you you know when you entered into this world you were naked naked came into this world everything you have was a gift from God and according to the Bible we're supposed to give back 10% in honor to him and notice what's the whole purpose it's so that God's God's house would be blessed it's so that that institution that we just talked about that was so important would be thriving and look that's the whole point of tithing is so that the church thrives and some people they get really mad about this they're all like oh man the church is spending all kinds of money and they're doing all kinds of good stuff and it's like why would you not want the church to be thriving do you want us to like look really poor or something do you want us to be giving your money and it just be like oh man I should just barely get by and you know let's only turn on half the lights tonight okay we don't want to run up the electricity or anything like that we can't have any nice chairs you know we're going to do a soul wedding marathon everybody bring a PB&J sandwich you know I mean what do you want to me I would want the church to be thriving I would want it to be running over and have you know everything that it needs I don't want to limit the gospel of Jesus Christ in any way shape or form and look I don't believe that we even have a problem in this area at all I think we've been so beyond blessed financially but obviously we want to continue to preach this so that people realize it's important and you know when you give a tithe to a person in real life Jesus receives that up in Heaven it's not like you're giving your tithe to Dylan or something okay Dylan might take it to the bank but it doesn't change his paycheck you know he still gets the same paycheck regardless of how much money he deposits or whatever goes on you know and you're not tithing to me or to Dylan you're tithing to the church it's not my money it's not Dylan's money it's not your money it's God's money and you know what we should look at it that way and we should treat it with respect we should treat it with integrity but you know even if hypothetically man does something wrong in an area with God's money it's not like God's giving you less rewards for your tithing or something or less rewards for your sacrificial giving you know because you're out of control of that God just look when the widow the poor widow gives their two mites into the treasury who was in charge at that time and let me explain where some of that money went some of that money went into Judas's hand to kill Jesus they're like what if they use the money for something wicked how about like slaying Jesus can you get any more wicked than that but you know what she was still considered greatly blessed and Jesus is saying she gave more than they all and she's going to have a greater reward in heaven it's not like Jesus is imputing that trespass of what the church officials did with the money under them so some people might freak out and they're like I don't want to give money to the church because what if the pastor is bad or what if the pastor does something weird with it or what if the pastor buys something that I don't approve of you know I want green chairs you're missing the point the point was giving the money back to God so that God's house can flourish if God's house is not flourishing because of poor leadership that's the leadership's fault the leadership is going to have to answer that one and whenever he tried to give the money back Judas they're like I don't want that money so at the end of the day you know we need to realize the most important institution on the planet is the church and if that's the most important institution why would you not want to give you know willingly and freely and to be cheerful about it you know the Bible says God loveth the cheerful giver you know and we should want these things to thrive and succeed and praise God you know what church is really cheap because you can go out and preach the gospel for free and do all these things but you know what having the tithe come in is a big blessing because me and Dylan can work full time and you know people will scrutinize ministers daily actions but you know what me and Dylan have the right to have a family and to have kids and to go eat wherever we want whenever we want he can buy as much coffee and ranch and tea and beans with chili in it as he wants okay and I won't you know personally except from the pulpit you know criticize him for that okay I can't say that maybe I will alright but at the end of the day he can do it I'm not going to withhold his paycheck I'm going to be like you bought ranch with those dollars you know you bought tea you put beans with chili I'm taking out some of that paycheck or whatever that's stupid okay but you know what you see people coming up with these arguments they get mad at their pastor they get mad at their church they make all these videos and they try to criticize tithing you know what that tells me they hate the gospel and they hate Jesus the pillar and ground of the truth if someone hates tithing let me tell you who they really hate is Jesus and they hate the gospel they have a misplaced hatred for God's minister and look I would be mad at a minister misusing church funds don't get me wrong that should be dealt with but it's not going to make me say well I should stop tithing then I was just going to make sure and look the majority of my life I tied to a really bad church but God's always blessed me and I think because I was doing it in ignorance and because I was a child for the most of my life going to that church I think that God was still able to you know potentially impute the fact that I'm trying to do that which is right even though I didn't now again I'm not going to take that to extreme and say give money to the Catholic church and it's good but I am saying this don't always analyze everything from a carnal picture you have to look at it through spiritual eyes and realize that the church is a spiritual institution not just a carnal institution and the things that we do here have spiritual impact and eternal value and that's why we need to give preeminence to the church in all things that we do let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father for giving us the church which was purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ I pray that we never take the church lightly we wouldn't take the leadership of the church lightly we wouldn't take the instructions of the church lightly we wouldn't take the first works of the church lightly we wouldn't take the responsibilities of returning back the blessings that you've given us so that your church could thrive I pray that you know this church would thrive in all areas financially with health that you would bless it with children that you would bless it with spiritual children that you would bless us as we go out and preach the gospel that you would bless our upcoming soul winning events and that we could continue to be a bright and shining light and that those that try to detract from the church take away from the church that try to harass the church or its members that you would just shut their mouths that you would just destroy them or get rid of them or just cause them to just perish if need be in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Alright, for our final song tonight we'll turn to 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World 472, This Is My Father's World Oh let me never forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong God is the ruler yet This is my Father's will The battle is not done Jesus who died shall be satisfied Can earth and heaven be one God is the ruler yet The battle is not done Jesus who died shall be satisfied Can earth and heaven be one