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Baptist Church, if you could please find your seats and grab your song books. We're going to be turning to 419. Sound the battle cry. 419, sound the battle cry. Song 419, sound the battle cry. Sing it out nice and loud. Sound the battle cry, see the foe is nigh. Praise the standard high for the Lord. Gird your armor on, stand firm everyone. Pause upon his holy word, rouse then soldiers rally round the banner. Ready, steady pass the word along. Onward, forward shout aloud Hosanna, Christ is captain of the mighty throng. 419 on the second strong to meet the foe. Marching on we go while our cause we know must prevail. Shield and banner bright gleaming in the light battling for the right that ne'er can fail. Rouse then soldiers rally round the banner. Ready, steady pass the word along. Onward, forward shout aloud Hosanna, Christ is captain of the mighty throng. O thou God of all, hear us when we call. Help us one and all by thy grace. When the battle's done and the victory's won, may we wear the crown before thy face. Rouse then soldiers rally round the banner. Ready, steady pass the word along. Onward, forward shout aloud Hosanna, Christ is captain of the mighty throng. Great singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this great morning. Thank you for our church, for the opportunity to gather together and to freely sing praises to you and preach the word of God. I pray that you'd please bless this service, that you'd fill our pastor with the Holy Spirit, and I pray that you'd be with all of our members that are home sick and help them feel better. We love you in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, let's go to 261. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 261 turn your eyes upon Jesus. Song 261 turn your eyes upon Jesus. Oh soul are you weary and troubled no light in the darkness you see there's light for a look at the Savior and life more abundant and free turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace through death into life everlasting He passed and we follow Him there over us and no more hath dominion for more than conquerors we are turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace His word shall not fail you He promised believe Him and all will be well then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace Good morning thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church if you don't already have a bulletin just lift your hand nice and high one of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin we do have donuts this morning on that back table and if you want to while it's announcements you want to go grab one don't be shy alright I'm not going to call you out or anything get some donuts if you'd like on the front we have our Bible memory passage Psalm 146 we're on verse number 9 any child that's able to quote the verse of the week can get some treat on the Wednesday service we have our service times our soul winning times and then our church stats also we have the list of our expecting ladies continue to pray for all of our expecting ladies we have a prayer list if you would continue to pray for our church family also if you'd be in prayer my family's been sick too and it's been a while James has been sick for like 7-8 days and so we're just hoping that he'll recover soon and so if you'd just be in prayer for our family as well also in the back we have the list of upcoming events January 30th we are going to have our premiere of the preserved Bible and if you are planning on coming you need to email us an RSVP so that way we know how to anticipate for the theater showings and we're really excited to debut the film it's been a lot of work and Ben better get it done soon no I'm just kidding so actually we're going to wrap up pretty soon we've got it pretty much good to go and it's actually going to be airing in several different parts of the country there's going to be a showing in Vancouver Washington theaters there's going to be on the 28th so that's a Saturday they actually get to see the film before anybody else just because I like Pastor Thompson I guess I don't know he's like hey can I do it on Saturday and I was like if it wasn't you probably not but he's going to get to do it there on the 28th we're going to be having it the 30th here we're going to have it Phoenix it's also going to be in theaters in Oklahoma City on the 30th and then in Houston Texas is going to be there I believe Tucson Arizona is also having a showing of it and so we've got a lot of different places it's going to also we'll be releasing it online and we're really excited about it it's definitely kind of geared to be a little bit more of an educational film so it's going to have a lot of facts and a lot of just history and things like that but the goal of the film is just to be a really useful tool in explaining where we got the Bible and why would you use a King James Bible or what's the difference between a King James Bible and other Bibles aren't they all the same and a lot of people are kind of confused on those things also it just really explains the doctrine of preservation in practical terms meaning what does that really look like how would God have preserved the word of God and how did he use men to preserve the Bible and the scriptures that we have today and so I'm really excited for the project and I hope it's going to be a blessing to a lot of people also we'll make a lot of DVDs and we'll put it online and things like that we have a lot of other information we're going to try and share about it too we're going to release a lot of our full interviews and deleted scenes apparently our deleted scenes movie is longer than the original so Ben had full creative control it would be like an 8 hour film but we kept it to about 2 hours so we're going to be a lot of fun and I'm really excited about our project and being done with it so that we can share it with everybody if you'd please just promote the film and watch it it may even be something you watch a couple times because there's a lot of information and it's a lot of cool things to learn about and I really encourage people learning about it just so that way they can increase their faith also February 4th is going to be a small town soul winning marathon that we're going to have in Cleburne, Texas and so we've been going to all kinds of different areas sometimes we go north, south, east west, all over it doesn't really matter. Cleburne is actually south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area but it's not far it's maybe within about an hour no matter where you're coming from and so we're going to be having a soul winning marathon there March 15th we're going to be having a special event it's called Old West Wednesday and it's not about Jason so, no I'm just kidding, it's basically we're going to have a Wednesday night service and we'll all dress up like the Old West and we'll have a dinner and it'll just be kind of like a fun night of events, we'll have all kinds of activities and things like that and so we're already planning it and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun and so I hope you can participate, we'll have photo booth of course so if you dress up nice and western we can accommodate you with some cool pics and of course cowboy hats are more than welcome and so April 1st we're going to have a Dallas, Texas soul winning marathon and then April 24th to the 29th long time coming but we have rescheduled our Bahamas missions trip and I know there's actually a decent number of people that are going to be visiting and coming with us, not from our church, from other churches all over the area and we've already got several people that have already confirmed and sent us itineraries but if you do plan on participating we need you to send us your flight itinerary now of course you can always just travel there whenever you want on your own that's fine but if you want us to help you with lodging and any kind of accommodations you've got to send us your flight itinerary so in that way we understand like when you're coming and going and we can kind of organize everything appropriately and even if you tell me I will for sure forget so that's why you have to email it to me so that way I can reference it but I'm really looking forward to this trip the Bahamas is something you do need a passport for but you know they speak English very well there's no like I don't even know if they speak any other language really virtually probably none it's probably similar to the United States in that regard their accents are very minimal in comparison to other Caribbean islands it's not like Jamaica where you're kind of like what? they're more proper in their English and so it's actually pretty easy to understand them and honestly it's a really fruitful area I know that there was a small group from Faith a Word that went and they went soloing for a couple weeks and they got like maybe 400 salvation or something like that and I know that brother Conley and I when we went we only went soloing for a few hours every day but we had like 32 salvations I think in just a period of a few days just me and him by ourselves and I know that we've had other groups we had a group from our church like a couple soul winners go down there and they had several dozen salvations when they went so every time people have gone it's been very receptive we actually know some people on the island like locals and they're going to try and help us God willing set up maybe some school appointments where we could preach in some schools and things like that and those are some awesome opportunities because schools across the pond I mean that's England but schools you know in the Caribbean or in other parts of the world are way different than the public schools here so the schools here they're putting men in dresses and reading books to them there they have to read the Bible and do devotional every morning so like the schools are just way different and like talking about the Bible or Christianity is like mainly their focus it's not like taboo or an issue or anything like that so they love the Bible being preached in their schools it's emphasized of course they're King James only whether they like whether they understand it or not they are and so of course you have a lot of great opportunities and so not only is the Bahamas a destination spot and a cool travel area and one of the most beautiful places I've ever been it's honestly a great evangelistic opportunity and so it's kind of a double win you know when you go to Mexico you kind of like but the soul winning is great okay the Bahamas is like every check mark you could ever want so it's a really great trip I'm trying to promote it okay obviously alright but you know God willing he's going to let us get down there and I think that if we can get down there we're going to have a big success and we're going to be able to pass out lots of our church information and DVDs and preach the gospel to a lot of people and hopefully just evangelize that area that area needs the gospel just as much as any area and so that's pretty much all I have as far as events we do have the congratulations to the Cooley family on the birth of Victoria Estelle Cooley she was born on the 8th at 1059 p.m. weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 20 and a half inches long so congratulations to them there is a sign up sheet for meal train I believe if you want to talk with Miss Milstead she's usually your best point of contact on meal trains and everything like that so congratulations to them it's very exciting that's pretty much all that I had for announcements let's go ahead and go to our third song 409 the fight is on 409 the fight is on 409 the fight is on The fight is on The trumpet sound is ringing out The cry to arms Is heard afar and near The Lord of hosts Is marching on to victory The triumph of above The Christ will soon appear The fight is on O Christian soldier And face to face in stern array With armor gleaming and colors streaming The right and wrong engage today The fight is on but be not bearing His might hold fast If God before us is better or us we'll sing the victor song at last The fight is on A rousey soldier's brave and true Jehovah leads and victory will assure Come on, come on The armor gun has given you an in history Forever we'll endure The fight is on O Christian soldier And face to face in stern array With armor gleaming and colors streaming The right and wrong engage today The fight is on but be not bearing His might hold fast If God before us is better or us we'll sing the victor song at last The fight is leading on to certain victory The blow of promise bears the eastern sky His glorious name in every land shall honor be the morn will break The dawn of peace is nigh The fight is on O Christian soldier And face to face in stern array With armor gleaming and colors streaming The right and wrong engage today The fight is on but be not bearing Be strong and in His might hold fast If God before us is better or us We'll sing the victor song at last Great singing as the offering plates are being passed around please turn your Bibles to Matthew 14 Matthew chapter 14 The Bible reads At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his disciples, This is John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For as he saw the dead, he saw the dead, and he saw the dead. He saw the dead, and he saw the dead. He saw the dead, and he saw the dead. They will show forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the king was sorry, nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meet, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, This is a desert place and the time has now passed. Send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vittles. But Jesus said unto them, They need not to part, give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled, and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men beside women and children. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, Of a truth, thou art the Son of God. And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Jannasser. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about and brought unto him all that were diseased and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched were made perfectly whole. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we ask now, Lord, for your blessings upon the fullness of the Holy Ghost, upon Pastor Shelley. Lord, I pray that you give him clarity of mind as he preaches his sermon to us, enabling him to preach it with boldness. And Lord, help us as we listen to apply this sermon to our lives and be a doer of the word rather than a hearer only. We love you. We ask for your protection over this church. And I pray this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So I want to look back at verse 25 again. Let's just read this. The Bible says In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit, and they cried out for fear. But straight away Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. And the Bible tells us that the apostle Peter at this point in time, the disciple Peter, walked on water. And that's really where I'm drawing the title of my sermon this morning. He walked on water. He walked on water. This is an incredible miracle, an incredible feat upon which the disciple Peter performed. And of course this is an obvious miracle of the Bible. A lot of people that don't have faith in God, they don't believe in the Christian Bible, they'll mock at stories like this and say, Oh, Peter was actually standing on a high place. It looked like he was walking on water or it was a trick or people were confused. But the Bible is clear, this is a real miracle where the apostle Paul, he didn't walk on rock. He didn't walk on ground. He walked on the water just as the Lord Jesus Christ walked on water. And of course this is something that's impossible. Humanly speaking you can't walk on water. It doesn't matter how fast you are. It doesn't matter how light you are as a man. You can't walk on water. There are certain animals and amphibians that have an ability to kind of skip across water very quickly and it's kind of unique to their exoskeleton in the sense that they're so light and they can travel quickly enough. Then there's enough water tension for them to be able to kind of gracefully skip across. But for us as humans, we're too dense. We have too much weight. Gravity is pulling at us and the surface tension of water is not enough for us to stand unless it was ice. Therefore, it's very obvious that this is a miracle. And that's an important point because what you have to realize is that God enables man to do things that are not possible humanly speaking. God allows us to do things that are not possible but are really impossible humanly speaking. And of course what I like about this story is it shows that God wants man to do things that are impossible on their own but possible through God. They're possible through the Lord Jesus Christ. And while I never, you know, unless God really wants me to, I'm never going to walk on water. I don't believe that I probably ever will. There's no obvious reason why I ever would. I don't see anywhere in the Bible that's going to tempt me to even try it. So of course if God wants me to, I'll do it, but I don't believe that I'll ever walk on water and I don't believe that you will ever walk on water. I don't believe this is suggesting to try and walk on water. If you're in the sea, don't start just trying to walk on water. Peter did not just try to walk on water. Look what the Bible says again in verse 28, and Peter answered and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. He didn't say, hey, I'm just going to start walking on water. What did he say? He said, if you ask me to walk on the water, I'll do it. Now why would he even think that? Why would Peter even ask this? You know, did Jesus say, hey, Peter, do you want to walk on water today? Did Jesus say, hey, Peter, have you ever thought about walking on water? Let me ask you this question. Why would Peter even have such a thought since he's never seen anybody walk on water in his entire life? And Peter is a fisherman. So, of course, Peter has seen people on the water, been around people on the water. If anybody had ever walked on water, Peter would have heard of it. Peter would have seen it. Peter would have known about it. No one's ever walked on water. There's no story of people walking on water. This is an inconceivable idea. Why would Peter think, can I walk on water? Because Jesus was walking on water. That's why. And you know what I like about this is there's so many people, they will criticize you when you look at something in the New Testament and you start doing it and they say, oh, well, that's not for you to do. Only Jesus can do that. That's a small faith. That's someone that doesn't believe in the Bible. Because you know what? Christ is our example and we can look at things that Christ did that, albeit are impossible, but if he did it, why can't I do it if God bid me? Of course, there are certain things Christ did that I can't do. Christ forgave sin. I can't forgive your sin. Christ did certain things that I can't do. He died for the sins of the world on the cross. I can't die for anybody's sin. Right? But let me say this. God's never going to ask me to do those things. But it could be, I could look at an example that Jesus did, I could look at something in the Bible that one of the men of God did that might seem impossible, humanly speaking, but I see that God's telling me to try and do that and I can follow the word of God. I can follow God's commandments and I could do something that's impossible. I could do something that I can't accomplish on my own, physically speaking. I can only do it if God bid me. If God is with me. If God enables me to do the impossible. And so point one of this morning's sermon is this. Do something that is not possible. Do something that is not possible. The apostle Peter does something that's not possible, humanly speaking. And you have to wonder, like, how did he do this? Well, I'm going to give you a way to do this, but we're going to come back to this story, so keep your finger here because we're going to come back later, all right? But go to Mark chapter nine. Go to Mark chapter number nine. And Christ had told him, be of good cheer, be not afraid. You know, when Jesus walked on the water, it was kind of a scary sight, because no one's ever walked on water. They're thinking, like, what kind of ghost or what is this? A spirit or some, you know, demon or what is this? But then they're like, oh, this is Jesus. And they were, they were like, wow. And of course, Peter's reaction is to walk on the water with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you say, well, this sounds, this sounds too good to be true, Pastor Shelley. How do I do something that's not possible? How do I do something that humanly speaking I'm incapable of doing? But I'm going to say this. Every person that's saved can do something that's not possible, humanly speaking. Let me show you this. Mark chapter nine, verse seventeen. And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit, and whithersoever he taketh him, he tareth them, and he fometh, and nasheth with his teeth, and pined the way, and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. And he answered them, and sayeth, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him, and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him, and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming, and he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said of a child, and oftentimes he hath cast him into the fire, and of the waters to destroy him, but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. So there's a man who wants his child to be healed of a demonic spirit, and this demonic spirit is often trying to kill this child. Notice what the attributes are of someone that's demon possessed, they're trying to kill themselves. And notice that it's also happening to a child. You know, it's interesting, we have in America today an epidemic of suicide in young people and in children, and they always want to blame things like video games. They want to blame things like drugs, or they want to blame violence, or a bad home life, and of course all those things can contribute, but notice in the scripture it's actually people that are demon possessed. Notice that it's actually a spiritual issue in the scripture, and I believe today it's actually no different that the reason why many children are killing themselves, it's a spiritual issue and that they need someone to give them the gospel of Jesus Christ and to get them saved, and to get that demon out of their body, because you know, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, and you know what, whenever you're saved, there is no spirit that can take over your body, there is no demon that can destroy you from within, and therefore the actual solution to demon possession is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And to get children saved, to go out and to give the youth the gospel. And what does Jesus say? Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. They say, hey, the disciples can't get this guy saved. They can't rescue him from his infirmity. They can't rescue him from this demon possession, but you know what, Christ said, hey, if you believe you can. And I'll tell you this, there are certain people in your life that might be really hard to get saved, spiritually speaking, but you know what, it's possible. It's possible if you believe. It's possible if you are willing to be a vessel to pray and to seek the Lord and to minister to this person's life, you could change someone, you could change someone's destiny to go to Heaven. And we're talking about children here. Of course, every child, I believe, has a chance to go to Heaven. You know, every child is loved by God. Red, yellow, black, and white. They're all precious in his sight. And of course, we need to get them saved while they're young and there's still hope. Because it could come a point where someone's no longer a child, they're no longer a youth, they've gotten to a point where they're no longer going to have that chance to be saved. And so it's important for us to minister to the youth, to minister to the young, and to try to get them saved despite what evils they're going into. You know, with society going so downhill so quickly, and with a reprobate culture that we live in, I believe that there's a lot of children that are being drug into a reprobate lifestyle that are not reprobate. That don't want to be that way, that don't like what's going on, they're not, they're confused, they're being taken advantage of, they're being hurt. And so, you know, as a church that does believe in the reprobate doctrine, we should be careful not to just write off young people that may be in a really confused position, or confused state, and we don't know. You know, it's so funny to me, I get criticized a lot of basically turning people away from Christ. People will say, oh, your preaching turns people away from Christ, and, you know, your movie is like the Sodomite deception, it turns people away from Christ. And I'm thinking, well, there's one of me and there's like 10,000 of the other guy. So, I mean, numerically speaking, I don't know why it's that big a deal. Secondly, as I say, I guarantee that 99% of these pastors that disagree with me on the reprobate doctrine, I personally minister to more reprobates and try to get them saved than they do. And I kid you not, I've given the full gospel to tons of reprobates, because I didn't know any better, or I gave them benefit of the doubt, or whatever the issue is, and, you know, one thing that's common is reprobates don't get saved. But, I'll tell you what, is it any coincidence that the guy you're so mad at and you criticize so much as being so hateful seems to minister to more reprobates than you do? I don't even believe they can be saved and I'm trying to give them the gospel. You think they can be saved and you're not giving them the gospel. You're not even ministering to them. You're not going out there and trying to preach them the gospel. So which one's worse? Is it worse for me to think in my mind you probably couldn't get saved and give you the gospel and give you a chance anyways, or to think you could and then never help you or to help you try to get there. Never minister to you and give you an opportunity. I mean, I know it's one I'd rather be. The one that believes the Bible and gives everybody a chance. And of course the Bible says, a man that is an heretic after the first and second ammunition, reject. But you know, let's give him the first and second ammunition. Go to Matthew chapter 19, Matthew chapter 19. Now of course, you know, this is talking about a demon possession and I don't believe that as New Testament Christians since we're not apostles that we have some special gifting to just cast out demons or cast out devils. You know, I can't walk up to somebody and just, shakalalalala! And they're just going to like, the demon's going to be like, ah! You know, it's not Ghostbusters. You know, I'm not going to get there and have like some kind of exorcism and they're just like, ah! You know, I would be nervous if I was around somebody and they're exhibiting these attributes, okay? They're called the Pentecostal Church is what it really is. That's where most people are probably demon possessed. But, you know, they're barking like a dog in church folks. I've seen the videos, okay? They do some weird junk. And even if they did that, you know, I don't I don't think I have any special capability to do anything. I'm not going to do a seance. I'm not going to say a special, you know, wording, prayer or something like that. But you know what I do believe that you can do? I do believe you can still rescue someone from demon possession, but the way you do that is by preaching them the gospel. Because if you preach them the gospel and they get saved, the Holy Ghost can kick that sucker out. I can't do it, but the Holy Ghost can. And you know what? If I'm going to exorcise someone, I'm going to exorcise them with the truth. I'm going to exorcise them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm going to minister unto them the truth of God's word and that is going to help them get saved. You know, Jesus Christ did confront many people, if you think about it, that were demon possessed. What did Jesus really do to heal these people? He didn't do some kind of a special thing or like dance on the floor. He basically just preached to them and then the demon left. I mean, if you think about what he did. And so if you ever talk to somebody that seems troubled or seems to have issues, you know, I don't have like a special way to minister to that person. It's the same. Give them the gospel of Jesus Christ. And look what it says in Matthew chapter 19 verse 23. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter in the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible. Notice what the Bible said. I didn't say this. The Bible says that it is impossible for men to be saved by men. Men cannot get men saved. But what does it say? But with God all things are possible. Meaning this, if I go and I minister to somebody without the Spirit, without the power of the Holy Ghost, I could not get them saved. Judas did not get anybody saved, folks. I don't even care if he repeated the right gospel. It didn't get him saved because a man can't get a man saved. Now a saved man could get someone saved. Why? Because of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. And with God all things are possible. But is it any coincidence that men go out and try to save souls all the time but they never save themselves? You know the Mormons go out and they minister to people. The Jehovah's Witnesses go out and they minister to people. And you know I'll tell you another thing. They go out and they fail is what they do. They fail and fail and fail. I've done all kinds of business transactions and sales in my life and let me tell you something. Selling things to people is one of the hardest jobs you'll have. You know I never envy someone that's in sales because sales is a very stressful job. There's a lot of problems and a very stressful job. There's a lot of pressure. It takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of energy to sell something to people. And especially if you have a product that they don't already believe in. And think about this way. Everyone that's not saved doesn't believe the gospel yet. So you're having to try and get someone to change their mind and get a quote unquote product that they didn't already believe in. They didn't even know they wanted it in many cases. You have to try and convince them. And look getting someone a product or a service or something that they don't already feel like they need or want is a very difficult task. And I would say this. I do not believe I could get anybody saved or have any success without God's Spirit. Because if you told me, hey Pastor Shelley. You're going to have to go out and talk to these people that have been Catholic their whole life. They've been taught something completely different their whole life. And in 15 minutes you have to get them to reject their entire religion. Their entire church. Their entire church history. Basically what their whole family believes. Everything in 15 minutes. I would say that's impossible. Because it is. That is impossible folks. I mean what if you said, hey I'm going to go to someone's house and in 15 minutes I'm going to convince them their parents are not their parents. They didn't even grow up where they were. They're living in the matrix or something. I mean that's not going to happen quickly. You probably couldn't even do it. Frankly speaking. No one's going to convince. You know go around and convince people that Santa Claus is real. How much success do you think you would have? Going to grown adults knocking on their door and saying hey I want to convince you to believe in Santa today. But that's because that's a fairy tale. That's because that's fake. That's because there's nothing. What if you went around and said hey I'm going to convince you to believe in Thor today. How about non-Muslims? How about convincing anybody to believe in Allah without the threat of death. Without the threat of harassment and persecution. See how many people would believe in the Muslim religion if it wasn't forced down their throats. You know we don't go around forcing Christianity on anyone. In fact I'm so easy to get off your property. I mean if you just even start closing the door I'm like bye. I mean go around and try and convince people of all kinds of these stupid religions. I mean actually just tell people what the Mormons really believe in trying to get someone to be a Mormon. They can't even get people to believe in Mormonism when they lie to them. Let alone if they told them the truth about it. Let alone if they told. I mean how many people have watched the banned Mormon cartoon on YouTube and then became a Mormon? No one's like oh that's what they believe? Kolob here I come. You know no one's going to believe in that junk after they actually know what they believe. Actually read their books that says hey if you don't repent of your sins then you're going to basically be a black person. I mean that's what Mormonism teaches. Why do you think that they're all snow white and look like Dylan? There was a reason because they repented of their sins folks. You guys got some work. We all got to strive to be like Dylan. Yeah exactly they're racist. But just think about it logically folks. If Christianity was not real. If the Gospel wasn't true. If the Bible is a story of fairy tales written by a bunch of misogynists. From the patriarchy. Why is it that people will change their mind on a dime like this thing? It's because we're walking on water folks. It's because we're able to do something that's impossible because we have the Spirit of God in our hearts. Because we have the power of the Holy Ghost. Because the scripture is true. Because it's compelling. And you know what we should go out there and do the impossible and get people saved by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You know there's so many people today. There's so many children that say I'm not special. But let me tell you something you can walk on water. Hey why don't you go soloing with me and we'll preach the Gospel and we'll do the impossible. We'll do the impossible together we'll go out and preach together. Oh well I want to actually walk on water. Why that's vain. I mean think about it. Oh I'd rather walk on water than get someone saved. That's vain and you have a bad heart. Because who cares about walking on water. The point of the story is not to see who can walk on water. The point is to show you that if God bids you to do the impossible you can do it. And you know what Jesus told us we can get people saved and you know what you can. People do it every single day in this world there are Christians going out and ministering the Gospel and you know what even if it's the hard case you can do the impossible. You've got to open mouth boldly and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And you know what there's plenty of people in this room I know you're praying for a hard case. You're wanting a hard case. But you know what you need to have the faith that you can do the impossible. You need to have the faith that if you open your mouth boldly and you make known the mystery of the Gospel their heart can change. But let me tell you something if you never step out of the boat you will never walk on water. You know how many people are going to fall down and say hey I know you've never given the Gospel will you please give it to me right now and you weren't. You didn't even ask me if I care. I mean people are not going to just beg you to get saved. How many people have had someone beg you to get saved. Okay well I haven't either. No one. Isn't that strange. Let me ask you this. Did Jesus ask Peter to come on the water or did Peter first ask? Peter first asked. And let me say this you know people are probably not going to go around. Jesus isn't going to come down from heaven and say hey will you go soul winning. You know you've got to say you look at the Bible and you say hey Lord if thou bid me. And then you just look at John 17 and he's like hey he's sending you out in the world. And you're like okay let's go. Let's go out into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Let's do the impossible and you know when we read the Bible instead of thinking like well I wish I could you know do the miracles. You know John the Baptist was the greatest man to ever live and he did no miracle. But you know what he did do. He preached the Gospel. And you know he went out into the wilderness and he preached the Gospel and tons of people got saved and you know what makes him great he was a Baptist. And you know what us as Baptist we preach the Gospel I don't do any miracle. You know what I can do the impossible with Jesus Christ. And you know what it's still a miracle. It's just God is doing it. I can't do it. God does the miracle of the spiritual birth and getting people saved and transforming them from the inside out and making them a son of God. I mean a great birth and anybody that's watched physical birth knows it's a miracle. Have you ever seen a child being born. It is the most incredible thing. It's amazing the miracle of a physical birth. But let me tell you spiritual is better. Spiritual birth is better. It's more important. It's what we should be focused on. It's why we're here. You say why am I in America in 2023. Why is it that there's so much pressure and so much you know attack on a church like this. It's because we are here to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You think that a church like ours is going to go out and evangelize with dozens and dozens of soul winners and go to the most receptive places on the world preaching the Gospel and try to make documentaries changing people's mind and getting them on the Word of God and there'll be no attack. What planet are you living on? What kind of Bible are you reading? Because everywhere I read that Christians are doing a big work for God there's resistance. Every time someone tries to stand up and do a public work for Jesus Christ let me tell you what the devil sees it and the devil comes after them with all he's got. But you know what the gates of hell shall not prevail. We're going to go out and preach the Gospel of the day and we're going to get people saved and you can't stop me. You can't stop us. Oh you can't walk on water. Well I can't but you know what Jesus can help me. And you know what I can't get people saved on my own but you know what with the Gospel with the King James Bible I can't get people saved. Going to Exodus. Actually go back to Matthew for a second and let's go to a second point here. Point one, do something impossible. Do something impossible. And you know this applies to so many areas of our life. I think that Steadfast Baptist Church also has an impossible history. Because you know when you think about a few years ago the church going through some pretty ridiculous turmoil. Having a pastor commit the sins that he did for this church is very detrimental to a church. It's not like that's common you know that a church is going to go through that event and then continue. And it doesn't even matter the size of the church. You think well it was a smaller one so you know it's even harder for a smaller one. If it was a bigger one it would be easier. Well let me tell you about another church. It was a church called Harvest Baptist Church in Watauga, Texas. Harvest Baptist Church in Watauga, Texas had over 3,800 members. That's a few more than we have. By about 3,800. No I'm just kidding. I mean that's a lot of people. They have one of the biggest they have a 2,000, I'm sorry 200,000 square foot facility. That's a pretty big space. They have football fields and baseball fields and all kinds of stuff. Well it turns out the pastor was you know with the secretary and women and just all kinds of weird stuff going on right? It comes out multiple adulteraries you know public. Well their Sunday morning attendance would be 1,800 people. And the next Sunday after this scandal was like going public 600 people. So they literally cut their attendance down by you know 2 thirds in just one week. Just one week just like that. And I mean this was one of the biggest churches in the area. In fact it was the largest employer in the entire city of Watauga. So the number one employer of all of Watauga was Harvest Baptist Church. Just like that 2 thirds gone. And you say well where's Harvest Baptist Church today? Gone. 3,800 people, 200,000 square foot facility eviscerated like that. And you say like wow. If that could happen to them, couldn't happen to others. And look you look at other ministries happens all the time. Tons of false prophets, false teachers, weirdos, creeps. They get into pulpits or in fact probably some good men just commit really bad sin. I mean David committed adultery. So if David can commit adultery there's going to be other saved men that maybe they're just not being very spiritual. Maybe they're not walking with the Lord. They become really carnal. They've got a love of money in their heart. Just some kind of issue. Maybe they're a novice and they're lifted up with pride and they fall into the condemnation of the devil. You know you can't say that just every pastor that goes bad was a false prophet. Some of them are just bad people. Have you ever read the Bible? I mean a lot of good men go bad. And even if they go bad though a lot of times the ministry goes down with them just because of their mistake. You know one sinner destroyeth much good. Is unfortunately the truth and the reality. And I'll tell you what coming up here to take on a church that you know I was a young pastor I mean I've only been pastoring for a handful of months at that point and to try and take on a church that had a lot of turmoil and think about just think about some of the resistance that happened and the transition of taking on staff. Some of the people that were not on board making public videos trying to split churches all kinds of issues happening and yet all of the churches that were in existence are still in existence today. Not only are they all in existence in fact many of them are thriving beyond what they were. I mean it wasn't like we went from 3800 members down to like 600 we went from like 120 to like 220 and you say like how did that happen? I mean did y'all have a good reputation after that? No. Well what if you Google you? Don't. I mean if you Google us I think the top 30 results are all bad. It's just like there's not a good result. You know it's just like whatever. Now of course that's humanly speaking someone that actually loves the Bible every result's good. Because you're just like oh yeah I agree with that that's the Bible yep. Hey I like this Dylan Oz preacher he's a good guy you know. He should preach more right? So it depends on your perspective here but what I'm telling you is for a church think about this a false prophet let's just say Christianity is not real and you have a false prophet and he gets caught in a scandal. How does their church then thrive after that? How does the church grow after that? And with a young leader you know that probably could make mistakes and has made mistakes it's like that's impossible but no no no he walked on water why? Because God helped him because it was possible and you know we walked on water because God was with us and God is still with us and our church is still walking on water and we're still doing the impossible and no matter what foe comes our way you know what our church can thrive and serve the Lord Jesus Christ because it's not about us it's about him and Jesus Christ wants this church to thrive not for our glory but for his glory. And let me tell you something our church's continuing existence has not been for our glory. I mean if you think that we're getting glory out of this you're deceived read the actually Google us okay? We're not getting any glory out of this. It's an embarrassment it's an approach right to be a part of our church but you know what on God's behalf he's glorified you know what God's getting glory and you know what God's people look at our church and say wow there's a church that God must be blessing because how is it that more people just keep coming and more people just keep getting saved and it just keeps growing and you can't shut it down and God is with us it's because we're serving God we're serving God and you know point two of my sermon is this why did he walk on water? To serve God he did it to serve God. Look at what it says in verse number 29 again and he said come when Peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water why? To go to Jesus. Notice folks it doesn't say just for fun to seem cool to show off to the other disciples he didn't get on the water and was like doing a tap dance he wasn't doing it for any kind of thing he did it to go to Jesus he did it to serve God he did it because he wanted to be with Jesus Christ and of course that's why God wants us to do the impossible and so that we can be with him. Go to Exodus chapter 3 go to Exodus chapter 3 you say hey why is it so important to have church so that we can serve God. You know church it's not about a building it's not about you getting friendships it's not about you feeling fun inside it's not about me just being a hospital to minister to your needs you know what you're here to serve God and if you're not here to serve God go anywhere else because I don't care you say but wait a minute Pastor Sally what about the other stuff I don't care but wait a minute what about my feelings I don't care you know me serving God is more important than your feelings me and my family doing right and doing what God wants us to do is more important than all the other junk you know what if God blesses us with a great building and look we're in a great building today then praise God God will bless us with all kinds of different things God will put us where we need to be people love us everyone loves us they just hate reprobates okay and so of course you know reprobates are always going to be a detriment to everyone but you know what everybody likes us no one likes the reprobate why do you think there's a propaganda campaign constantly to tell everyone to hate us and love them it's because everybody loves us and they hate them that's why everybody loves the ministers of truth you know even Herod he liked John the Baptist he was a subscriber to his YouTube channel he watched all the sermons you know it's like why does everybody listen to our sermons it's because they like it it's because it's cool it's because it's interesting why did everybody go out into the wilderness to hear John the Baptist preach because he was preaching the Bible and it wasn't because John the Baptist was cool it's because the Bible's cool it's because the Holy Ghost is cool and you know one of the coolest things about church is I'll preach a sermon about topic A and the Holy Ghost will hit you all over the side of the head with topic B I didn't even bring it up the Holy Ghost will start just ministering to you and explaining all kinds of things to you you'll see things in the Bible and you know what when a congregation is gathered together you know you're going to be edified by God and we're here to serve God and we're here to give God a smile on his face this morning God gets a smile on his face by seeing you in church God gets a smile on his face by hearing you sing this morning God gets a smile on his face by your heart changing inside by hearing the word of God being preached you know that's why you go to church folks why would you why what ask all the other stuff about church is a dumb reason to go to church it's dumb to go for friends it's dumb to go for you know coffee coffee's not worth it anyways okay folks it's dumb to go for it's close to my house you know there's a lot of reasons people go to church it's dumb to do it just for a social network you know the right reason is for serving God and the children of Israel had a similar situation throughout the Bible here in Exodus they're you know in captivity to Egypt and of course they're going through a great suffering in Egypt and God wants to deliver them out of that suffering you know God in heaven will allow his people to suffer but don't take that as God doesn't care don't take that as God's don't take that as God's not noticing don't think well where is God or why is God allowing that to happen you know God will allow us to go through tribulation and affliction for his glory to test our character to test and see what our spirit is like and of course the children of Israel crying unto the Lord he hears those prayers and he wants to answer those prayers he wants to rescue them from their affliction now it says in Exodus chapter 3 verse 15 and God said moreover unto Moses thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel the Lord God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you this is my name forever and this is my memorial unto all generations go and gather the elders of Israel together and say unto them the Lord God of your fathers the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob appeared unto me saying I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Watogites I'm sorry Jebusites I wrote that word unto a land flowing with milk and honey and they shall hearken to thy voice and thou shalt come thou and the elders of Israel unto the king of Egypt and ye shall say unto him the Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us and now let us go we beseech thee three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God notice how they interpret church sacrifice to the Lord our God you know going to church well I want it to be convenient that's not a sacrifice I want it to be fun that's not a sacrifice I want it to be short that's not a sacrifice I want it to be pleasant to the ears that's not a sacrifice you know church to them was a sacrifice church to them was a journey Pastor Shelley it takes me 30 minutes well it takes them three days through the wilderness no air conditioning nothing in fact you don't think that their kids and wives complained at all you wives know that that's not true okay you might complain in the car ride let alone a three day journey through the wilderness carrying your child carrying the babies I mean walking through dust and dirt and just all kinds of weird things going on all the animals you don't think the animals smelt and you know maybe they were good at leading animals but what if the animals got a little ahead of you you know you're going to be stepping in I mean you think that this was a cool journey it was a brutal journey it was rough but you know what God wanted to do it so that they could serve him now it says in verse number 19 and I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go no not by a mighty hand you know when you want to serve God what is the world going to say oh no problem is the world going to say hey that's no issue with us go have fun go serve God we don't you can do your own thing no in fact I guaranteed Egypt you could probably worship any false God you wanted I mean you could be a Jehovah's Witness you could be a Mormon you could be a Methodist you could be a Presbyterian you could be a Catholic you could be whatever you want but you know if you're a Baptist that's a problem the shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians according to the scripture and they even said if you know the Bible well they said hey if we do our sacrifice in the sight of the Egyptians they'll stone us saying hey if we just have open church service they're going to just kill us because they just can't handle it they can't handle the preaching they can't handle the word of God they can't handle what the Bible says that's why they had to go out that's why they had to get away from them a little bit verse 20 and I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof and after that he will let you go you know God had to perform a miracle to get them out of there God had to perform a miracle to deliver them and what's interesting is before God performed the miracle what did he do he made it harder do you remember that even the king of Egypt Pharaoh is putting all kinds of requirements on them that is impossible to gather straw at night and to try and make more bricks and their burdens were increased they had to work a double shift to provide for their family sounds like American inflation you know you have to work a double shift just to provide sometimes it seems like and there's all these different pressures there's all these different things going on that make it very difficult a lot of political pressure people were being beaten for wanting to serve God you know it's interesting how a church could struggle when you're not even being beaten physically I mean these people are getting beaten physically I mean they're going under all kinds of stress their babies have been thrown in the river I mean all kinds of evil has happened under these people yet God is going to deliver them eventually and you have to keep the faith despite all adversity despite any circumstance and just say hey I'm going to walk on the water and of course what happens they are led to the Red Sea and they have to cross the Red Sea but that's impossible isn't it unless you can walk on water you know what God did is he parted the Red Sea and let them walk through didn't he and they did the impossible but why did they do the impossible how did God enable them to do the impossible because they were there to serve God the journey on the water was to walk to Jesus the journey to the Red Sea was to cross the Red Sea to serve God and let me tell you something God will enable you to do impossible things when your journey is towards him when your journey is to get to God he'll make a way he'll let you walk on the water he'll let you walk through the water but whatever the obstacle there is he can just make the impossible possible for you and you can get there if your journey is for him if your journey is to serve God and you know what that's what our lives should be you know why is our church thriving I believe it's only one reason because we continually try to serve God because we've been in a journey walking towards him are we perfect of course not is everything about our church great there's probably room for improvement I'm sure I'm sure of it yet I know this I know that we have a heart and a desire to walk towards Jesus and that's why God's been blessing us the moment we stop having a desire to walk to Jesus and to serve Jesus then we're going to have problems go to Hebrews chapter 11 go to Hebrews chapter 11 in fact what happened to Peter as soon as Peter heard the wind and the waves what happened what's the first thing that happens he was afraid the first thing that happened is he became afraid what's the second thing that happened then he sank so what's the problem the problem is you're not allowed to be afraid the Bible makes it clear we are not allowed to be afraid God doesn't want us to just walk towards him he doesn't want us to just serve him he wants us to walk and not even be afraid at the same time because when you start to become afraid you start to sink why is it that when you're afraid you sink because when you're afraid you start worrying about everything and you start worrying about things that aren't even real things that aren't going to happen well what happens if the Egyptians get down here well they didn't did they so why worry about that well what happens it doesn't matter because it didn't happen it's not happening don't worry about things that are not happening the worst thing you can do as a Christian is worry about things that are not happening sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof the Bible tells us not to worry for tomorrow you might not even live you might die tonight why are you worried about tomorrow you might die this afternoon and you're so worried about tomorrow why don't you start worrying about now why don't you start worrying about if you're right with God right now why don't you worry about where you're headed right now and let tomorrow worry about itself and let the problems worry about itself tomorrow because you know I'll tell you this if God was able to reveal to me all the problems I was going to have in the last three years three years ago I would have probably not walked the same direction I'd have been like wait a minute and that and that wait a minute and that it's like but you know when I take it one day at a time okay alright well that sucked but tomorrow I'll probably be better okay it sucked too but tomorrow I'll probably be better and I just have to keep hoping you know I can just keep hoping like okay it can't get worse oh wait alright okay and you just keep going on this step but you know after it's over you're like well that wasn't as bad as I thought though well God still made it work out well I learned a lot from that anyways so you know what someone got saved as a result of that you know there's always something you look back and you say you know what that was kind of cool anyways that was that was a great experience anyways I'm a better person anyways that made me a better person and you know if you just stack up all the negative and you worry about the future you're going to end up accomplishing nothing you know that's a big detriment to being an entrepreneur if you ever want to be an entrepreneur you cannot worry about everything that can go wrong because of course things will go wrong but you know what an entrepreneur does is he solves those problems he says yeah we'll have problems but you know what I'll fix them yeah there'll be issues but I'll take care of that you know having children having a marriage starting a business going to church getting a career you will have problems things will break sometimes you're going to have really bad days sometimes everything's going to break you know I had a week in my life where my fence blew down just like the wind just blew the whole fence down and then my AC unit just went out the same week and then the same week my garage door broke and the garage door opener broke and I was just like wow that was frustrating I had saved five thousand dollars and that was like the most money I'd ever had like in savings I was like saving money and I had saved all this money and then just like that it was gone it was just like bye and I was like I need to save another five thousand dollars quick you know because that stuff could happen overnight but at the same time you know I eventually ended up selling that house and I made a big profit on the house and I got all that money back and yeah day one sucked but then when I get down the road I'm like well you know what it worked out and I obviously had saved up that money God had allowed me to have saved up that money maybe God was holding all that stuff together just until I got the money he was like holding the fence up and he's like man hurry up and get this money and then as soon as I got the money I was like okay fine and just like you know just eviscerated and of course even I you know to build an entire fence I built an entire fence for like a half acre I mean maybe a little less than a half acre this is a big lot an entire fence a new garage door and a new garage door opener and fixed the AC unit for like four thousand dollars which is like unheard of why I had a good friend that was like hey I'll help you do it for free and I'll rent an excavator and like he helped me just like completely build an entire fence and I got a really good deal on the other two the other two you know appliances or whatever you want to call them the AC unit the garage door and so it all worked out it all went fine but you know what it happened and I'm not going to tell you that you won't have problems because you will you will have problems if you get married you will fight unless you don't like each other it's guaranteed if you like each other you will fight where there is passion and where there is fire there will be friction of course I always say the people that don't fight they're going to get divorced because they don't care enough about each other you know I don't care if someone at my job I don't like I'm not going to fight with them you fight with the people you like you say why do you always fight with your family and your friends and your wife and stuff it's because you like those people you know it's always funny in middle school and and younger when there's like a tiff or you say like hey this boy is being mean to me or this girl is being mean to me it's because they like each other we all know that because there's that conflict there's that there's that rough but you know what when you get married it's not like all tension goes away that passion is still there folks and you say well we're fighting a lot well it sounds like you both like each other still that's a good sign now obviously you don't want to fight all the time and you want to have good times too but I'm telling you when you stop fighting that's a danger zone that's a danger zone because it tells me that y'all don't care anymore and you need to start fighting again okay make couples fight no I'm just kidding obviously why should just be perfectly obedient folks we all get it yep and they're going to certainly do that I know all the women in here do and so there's no problems whatsoever that's a pipe dream folks just like you you're perfect with God men is like how your wife's going to be with you if you actually measured how many sins you have a day then you would go easier on your wives probably I had you turn to Hebrews 11 right are y'all there okay look at verse 23 by faith Moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment notice that whenever his parents were commanded or maybe against their will at least to deliver their children to the government the government to kill their children they didn't do it and they weren't afraid of the king's commandment that's that's a different extremity there's one extremity of saying I'm not going to deliver my child and then there's another level that says I'm not even afraid to not give you my child the Bible says that his parents weren't even afraid not to give their children now all the children that didn't die is pretty much Moses wasn't it I mean I don't remember any other children that survived in this horrible you know tragedy of the government slaughtering children and you know why I think that Moses was delivered because his parents weren't afraid all of the parents I'm sure a lot of parents maybe have tried or didn't want their kids to be discovered but you know the reason why he was spared because his parents weren't afraid and let me tell you something you need to get married and not be afraid of your wife like there's so many men that think like I'm afraid to marry a woman because she could rake me over the coals she's weaker than you what don't be afraid of marriage I'm afraid to have children don't be afraid of having children I'm afraid to go to steadfast Baptist church don't be afraid you weakling you that's weak I'm afraid that's weak you should be afraid of going to Joel Osteen's church that's what you should be afraid of you should be afraid of going to T.D.'s Jake church or something Kenneth Copeland that a demon possessed person might attack you while you're in there that some tranny might sit next to you and your family during the service and you have to look at it that's what you should be afraid of you know I'm afraid to serve God I'm afraid to be a Christian you know stop being afraid we have the God of the universe on our team why are you afraid just pass him the ball you know it's like I can't score but he can every time but we just get so terrified in our minds you know it really shows that you almost have no confidence in the Lord I mean think about it think if you're losing and it's the fourth quarter and you gotta score to win and you don't pass Jesus the ball that's because you have no confidence in him every sane person would just be like have it you know we know you got it right and it's like in our lives and you know how afraid I would be of losing that game zero I mean imagine you're like hey we're gonna play in the Super Bowl and it's me and like eight children but Jesus is our ninth player it's like we're gonna win we're gonna win it doesn't matter and of course you know we sit here and we get so nervous about everything but it's like Jesus is on my team I'm gonna win 1 Peter chapter 3 look what it says in verse 14 but if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be trouble you know the Bible is saying be not afraid stop being afraid of the enemy we shouldn't be afraid of anything you know God is for me who can be against me go to Hebrews chapter 13 go to Hebrews chapter 13 I can show you verse after verse let me just read a few in God have I put my trust I will not be afraid what man can do unto me Psalm 118 verse 6 the Lord is on my side I will not fear what can man do unto me what can man do unto me kill me oh I'll just go to heaven torture me more rewards in heaven afflict me well you know what we'll grow you want our church to shut down stop afflicting us because the more they afflicted them the more they grew what can you do to me well we'll say mean things online oh okay I care join the club good luck even getting out there with more attention than it's already been had I'm gonna make a video telling everybody about you good luck done it's already been done well I just want everybody to know it's like everybody knows and frankly speaking probably all the people that are already bad already know the only thing you're gonna do is get good people to hear about us by doing that there's a lot of good people that would love to hear about us that don't know about us the worst thing that they can do is share our information share our content talk more about our church and they think they think it's funny they're like oh man we're gonna go up to people and say they hate homos and inside they're gonna be thinking like I do too they think that that's like bad or something like they think everybody's gonna have their mindset or something like they love the Jesus of the Bible so do we you know it's called you know the Bible Belt it's like they believe in Jesus everyone does here have you ever gone door knocking everyone even the reprobates claim to believe in Jesus here it's not like California or something it's the Bible Belt everyone loves Jesus here right of course they don't truly but why are we so afraid there's nothing you live in one of the greatest places to live I mean can you imagine if we actually lived in like North Korea and you're afraid of being a Christian here you're afraid of being a Christian when there's people in China being a Christian there's people in Muslim countries being a Christian there are people everywhere in this world that could possibly die for being a Christian and you're afraid of being a Christian here well I don't want to go to that church when the people see me look if they see you in China you're dead and some countries they'll murder your whole family just for being a Christian just for having a Bible you know the Roman Catholic Church in history they would execute you if you just quoted Scripture quoting Scripture we're not talking you don't just get the Bible you can't just have a Bible you can't even just in your daily conversation you're at work and you just say well in all things you know I can do all things through Christ with strength with me dead I mean that is how extreme the persecution was and you think that it's hard to be a Christian today when you could go out in public with a sodomite deception t-shirt and people would be like cool shirt I get compliments on my Bible search all the time it's just like it's crazy but you know no matter what evil you're going through right now folks look at verse 5 let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me let me tell you something if you came to church this morning and you committed the worst sin you did yesterday Christ is still with you if you are backslidden this morning Christ is still with you if you are saved Christ will never leave thee he will never forsake thee if you know what everything's been crashing around you if you've lost your job if you've lost your housing if your marriage is on the rocks if your children don't like you right now if you have all kinds of all these evils you have all these pressures bad things are happening to you health problems let me tell you something Christ is still with you Christ is still on your side Christ has not departed from you no matter what evil happens no matter what befalls you if you get thrown in prison if you lose family members if you get beaten you know what Christ will not leave thee nor forsake thee the Lord is still your helper the Lord is still by your side the Lord is still near and willing for you to call upon and just like Peter what happened Peter was afraid and he began to sink but he said Lord save me and what happened he saved him instantly saved him instantly because the Lord is always there the Lord is always willing to save the Lord is always willing to help the Lord is always willing to comfort the Lord is always willing to do everything no matter what you go through say I'm going through a hard time well you know what the Lord is with you he will comfort you he will give you strength you know the Apostle Paul said notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me and that was after every single person in the world had forsaken him talk about a lonely time in Christianity having every person being in a foreign country thrown in jail no one wants to even claim your name or say they know you but the Lord is with them and let me tell you something about Step Fast Baptist Church no matter what happens to us the Lord is with us and the Lord is our helper and you know what he said I am with you always even unto the end of the world amen and I know that Jesus Christ is in this room this morning and I know that Jesus Christ is going to be with me and my soul winning partner this afternoon and I know that Jesus is coming back here to have church with us tonight and I know that Jesus is going to be with me every day of my life until I see him in heaven and you know what we need to get on that water and walk to Jesus Christ because we're here to serve God folks we are here to do the impossible and we're here to serve God that is the point of our lives and the last point I have is this that we're here to draw nigh to him why did he walk to Jesus not just to serve him but to draw nigh you know go to James chapter number 4 go to James chapter number 4 God wants us to draw close to him who needs water? James chapter 4 look at verse 8 draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you, cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double minded according to the scripture we're supposed to try to draw nigh to God but you know what sometimes Jesus is standing on the water away from the boat sometimes you have to do something to get to him you have to start walking towards him and you know what Jesus wants us to walk by faith let me ask you this question how many people in the boat could get closer to Jesus without faith? Zero you couldn't get closer the only way to get closer to Jesus was to step out of the boat and to walk to him by faith and let me tell you something the only way for you to get closer to Jesus is to take steps of faith in your life you have to take steps of faith the Bible says in Hebrews go into Hebrews anyways but the Bible tells us without faith it is impossible to please him without faith and the Bible says for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him hey I want to get close to Jesus Christ well you know what the only path is a path of faith you have to walk through the Red Sea believing that he's going to uphold the sides of the water that had to be a scary walk you know it sounds cool but I guarantee it's an intimidating walk because you don't know when that water is going to close in and it's instant death they're basically walking I mean you don't know as Peter walking on the water when you're going to sink in instant death you don't know when you're thrown in the lion's den that the lion decides he's hungry all of a sudden instant death you don't know when you're going to be thrown in the fiery furnace how that's going to work out it could be instant death folks you don't know when you're in the belly of a whale how that's going to work out it probably feels like death but you know what you can draw close to God if you take steps of faith and let me tell you something going to steadfast Baptist church might seem like a scary feat but you know what that's a way to walk close to God you got to walk it by faith you know going out soul winning might be in your mind a daunting task but you know what if you take a step of faith and you actually go out and preach the gospel you'll draw closer to God there's probably I guarantee there's people in this room that have heard preaching from this pulpit they don't agree with but they see it's in the Bible and they don't want to make that change but let me tell you something if you took a step of faith and made that change you would draw closer to God and how you dress and how you groom yourself and how you live your life and how you raise your family and what you do with your children there's a lot of things out there there's a lot of pressures out there and the walking the Christian life is not walking on a sound bridge it's walking on water folks it's walking through the red sea it's walking through the fire it's walking on a path that doesn't make sense in the natural it doesn't go with the world the world can't do it the world is impossible to the world but you know what it's possible for me because I have faith in Jesus Christ because I'm here to serve God and because I want to draw nigh to him and you know what the only path to Jesus is a spiritual walk the only way to get saved is through faith and the only way to serve God is through faith and the only way to draw nigh to God is through faith Hebrews chapter number 10 look at verse 22 let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised you know what the Bible wants us to do it wants us to hold our profession of faith without wavering we can't be afraid God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love but of power and of love and of a sound mind there is you know fear is going to cripple you fear is going to cause you to sink fear is going to destroy you in this life and God wants someone that wants to draw nigh to him despite the obstacles despite the wind blowing you know you start serving God and your family is going to start blowing wind like ah you're in a cult it's like that's so stupid you know cults cults try to keep you we've done everything possible to get you to leave like this is probably the hardest I mean you can't even figure out where we're going sometimes I mean now you can it's like you know if I haven't preached something that you didn't get offended by yet I don't know what to do I'm sure I offended somebody in here maybe ten times today I don't know by words that I use or by the sound of my voice or just anything I mean I'm sure I've done something you know you and I know that's ridiculous there's nothing cult like about our church we're the furthest thing from a cult of any church because it's actually difficult to stay it's not difficult to leave plenty of people leave they come and go I mean we've had hundreds of people come and go like that it's easy you know what's difficult is choosing to serve God and yet you're going to have people blow the wind oh y'all are weird oh you believe the Bible oh how dare you you hate child molesters it's like yes oh your Google reviews that doesn't blow me over at all there will be people that get blown over you know you'll have the waves crashing that could be just problems you know you're going to have problems in your life and we all have problems you're going to have marriage problems potentially you're going to have children problems you're going to get sick you're going to have work issues you're going to have property issues your location may change I mean there's going to be all these stresses of life there's going to be the stresses of life that are naturally happening and of course the devil tries to increase the stresses of your life just to cause you to stop serving God you say well that's never happened okay well how about Joe losing all his money you know losing his finances losing his houses losing his children losing you know all kinds of things he kept his wife and she's nagging him all the time hey a nagging wife you know if there's anything the devil can do to try and get you down that'll work think about it that was the last test basically I mean he lost everything and then it's like alright we're bringing the heavy guns ring of the misses curse God and die and he's like you foolish woman get out of here you know sometimes your wife could be foolish even your husband could make a mistake you could be a great woman of God and your husband's trying to drag you down you could be a child that loves the Lord and your parents are dragging you down your uncle's dragging you down maybe you're dragging yourself down and you know you're not crucifying the flesh very good say how do I crucify the flesh Leviticus open up the Bible in the morning to Leviticus that'll start crucifying your flesh quick you say well how does that mean your flesh will hate that what do you think crucifixion is? it hurts reading the Bible can hurt physically because you don't want to do it and of course when you become spiritual you're gonna have opposition you're gonna have difficulty but you know what our journey is to walk on water and let me tell you something there's only one group of people that can walk on water it's Christians the unsaved will sink straight down into the bottom of the depths and that's where they're gonna go hell the saved are the only people that can walk on water but let me tell you something it's not just the saved it's the saved with faith that can walk on water but let me take it a step further it's not just the saved with faith that are gonna walk on water it's the saved with faith that are afraid that are gonna walk on water so you have to be saved you have to have the faith to walk on the water you can't be afraid and you know what it's in a journey to serve God and if you in your heart say you know what I want to see Jesus I want to draw close to him I want to walk with him I want to do the impossible you know what you need to do is not be afraid to walk on water let us all walk on water for the rest of our lives by having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ without fear let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father so much for this church and giving us this great group of people this morning and giving us this space to meet in and I pray that we would just continue to take steps of faith that we wouldn't look down at the waters crashing below us we wouldn't listen to all the wind blowing and trying to knock us down we'd realize that our journey is drawing closer to Jesus Christ and I pray that you would continue to increase our faith that you would strengthen our hearts that we wouldn't become afraid that we wouldn't allow the temptations and the trials of this earth and this world to stop us from putting all of our faith and trust in you not just for our salvation but also for our daily lives and I pray that you would help our church that you would bless our church that you would deliver us out of the hands of the Egyptians you would put us into a land flowing with milk and honey and you'd allow our church to just keep preaching the gospel but no matter what it is Lord if you bid us let us walk on water to you in Jesus name we pray Amen Alright for our final song 56 when we all get to heaven song 56 when we all get to heaven song 5-6 when we all get to heaven Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing his mercy and his grace in the mansions bright and blessed he'll prepare for us a place when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory on the second while we walk the pilgrim pathway clouds will over spread the sky but when traveling days are over not a shadow not a sigh when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory let us then be true and faithful trusting serving every day just one glimpse of him in glory will the toils of life repay when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory on the last onward to the prize before us soon his beauty will behold soon the pearly gates will open we shall tread the streets of old when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory