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

Be all the folly of sin I resign, my gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. I love thee because thou hast first loved me, and purchased my pardon on Calvary Street. I love thee for rearing the thorns on thy crown. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. I'll love thee in life, I will love thee in death, and praise thee as long as thou mayst be brave. And save with thy death, you lies cold on my crown. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. In mansions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright. I'll sing with a glittering crown on my crown. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. Here's the Christ we have striven, after our neighbors our own Lord. Rest, to our souls, the beginning of the eternal storm. Lo, all the souls of the souls, in which he reigns as well. Great God will give our faith in life, through Jesus' holy reign. Here's the light, now let us show him his glory, and stand firm, loving fully, willing for our love, their friendship, beside the crystal sea. Yes, the sweet rest is remaining, for the two children of God, where there will be no proclaiming, never a chasing cry. Lo, all the souls of the souls, in which he reigns as well. Great God will give our faith in life, through Jesus' holy reign. Here's the light, now let us show him his glory, and stand firm, loving fully, willing for our love, our friendship, beside the crystal sea. Sin and pride will grant our glory, we shall be on the blackboard, we know the Lord till the morning, just till the night has come. Lo, all the souls of the souls, in which he reigns as well. Great God will give our faith in life, through Jesus' holy reign. Here's the light, now let us show him his glory, and stand firm, loving fully, willing for our love, our friendship, beside the crystal sea. We praise thee, O God, for the Son of thy love, for Jesus, to thy end, is now gone among. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for the Spirit of life, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. O glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has bled every sin. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. Revive us again, fill his heart with thy love. May his soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. O Lord, a thousand tongues to sing, blessed be the name of the Lord. The glory sung by God and King, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Jesus, the Name that charms our fears, Blessed be the name of the Lord. Tears piercing in the sinner's ears. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He breaks up Oh I am reading and so happy I think of my lesson I know I shall see Welcome to steadfast baptist church if you could all find your seats. We'll go and get started Thank you all for coming out this Wednesday evening Once you found a seat go ahead and grab a hymnal we're gonna start in song number 409 the fight is on Song 409 Song 409 The fight is on I know you guys know this one. So I'm expecting to sing it really loud Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Heavenly Father we thank you for steadfast Baptist Church and everyone that's gathered here Lord God We ask that you fill fill Pastor Shelley with their Holy Spirit helping to preach an edifying sermon unto us We can walk out better Christians. We came in all for your honor and your glory Lord. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen All right. Next up we have song number 153 153 This one's a little bit slower, but we've sang it before so if you know it I want you to sing it real loud How firm a foundation Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Good evening. Thank you for coming to steadfast Baptist Church If you need a bulletin just lift your hand nice and high whenever ushers can come by with a bullets in on the front We have verse 10 for our Matthew memorization Also on the inside we have our service time soul winning times on the right is a list of expecting ladies Please be in prayer for them. Also. We have upcoming events our rain. Oh, so trips coming up pretty soon Please pray that our trip would go smoothly and then the cruise trip with some of our church members is gonna happen the middle of February also pray for that event also and then we have a couple we have a spring recital March 22nd and then we have a kids choir that's gonna be starting on March 2nd That's just gonna be here at the church on Sundays in between services And so if you are planning on participating, that's when that's going to be There's some church reminders down below We'll go ahead and go over our prayer list here on the back We've been continuing to pray for the names grandmother and miss Charlotte. We've been praying for the Carlson's mother. Mr Becca we've been praying for the Millers friends mom who has cancer I would continue to pray for the Scots pray for brother Scott who's struggling with cancer and also mrs. Grace for her nerve pain could be in prayer for the Garcia's daughter Krista who's pretty close pretty close I guess to Delivery time and so just continue to pray for her. I've also been praying for a brother Tony for his health and work continue to pray for the Foley's and their Their visa we've been praying for brother Alex and his work which I think is a praise report I think that that's been going good right nice. He's got a badge. Okay good And then also we've been praying for the Good Winds for miss Sarah We've been praying for brother Nick's mother for her salvation. Please be in prayer for the absols for surgery It's on Friday. So I guess that's gonna be just two days from now. Just pray for him Pray for brother Billy for his friend Blake and then pray for his co-worker Cory and so they've got a couple sicknesses there Also pray for I guess it's Blake's father And then also if you'd pray for brother furs brother Trevor and his niece Hadley and then we've been praying for brother Evan for one of his new converts and Then brother Ellie had asked for prayer for another Friend miss Catherine for healing from cancer. So we'll go ahead and say a quick word of prayer for our prayer list Thank You Heavenly Father so much for all these ladies who are expecting please be with them during their pregnancies I pray that you just please help them with their delivery Please help those who have recently delivered and be gracious unto their children's development I pray that you'd also just help our family and friends that are struggling with cancer and various sicknesses or illnesses I pray that you would just please help them have a recovery I pray that you'd also just help those that are struggling with a surgery or They're just recovering right now that you could just give them a speedy recovery as well And then I pray that you would just help our church family that needs Favor with either their travel or with their work or with their relationships I pray also those that we're hoping for salvation I pray that you give us the opportunity that you would soften their hearts that you would give us the boldness to preach under These family members and friend meant friends and that you could help us to get them saved And I pray that you just help our church with our upcoming missions trips That you would allow us to see many people saved and that we could reach new people for the Lord and it's in Jesus name We pray. Amen That's pretty much all I wanted to go over as far as announcements We'll go ahead and sing our psalm of the week. So I'm 148 it's in our special handouts. So in our binders and Brother fur helped us do these are really nice. So thanks Psalm 148 Psalm Psalm 148 Sing it out nice and loud Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Great singing everybody as the offering plates are going around. Would you please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter number nine Matthew? chapter number nine You You Matthew chapter number nine the Bible reads and he entered the ship and passed over and came into his own city and Behold they brought it to him a man sick of the palsy lying on a bed and Jesus Seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy son be of good cheer They say they sins be forgiven thee and behold certain of the scribes said within themselves This man blasphemeth and Jesus knowing their thoughts said wherefore think ye evil in your hearts For whether is easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and walk But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins Then sayeth he to the sick of the palsy arise take up thy bed and go unto thine house And he arose and departed to his house But when the multitude saw it they marveled and glorified God which had given such power into men And as Jesus passed forth from thence He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom and he saith unto him follow me And he arose and he followed him and it came to pass As Jesus sat at meat in the house behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples And when the Pharisees saw it they said unto the disciples why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that he said unto them they that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Then came to him the disciples of john saying why do we and the Pharisees fast oft? But thy disciples fast not and jesus said unto them Can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast No, man put the piece of new cloth unto an old garment for that which is put in to fill it up Taketh up from the garment and the rent is made worse Neither do men put new wine into old bottles else the bottles break and the wine runneth out and the bottles perish But they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved while he spake these things unto them behold There came a certain ruler and worshipped him saying my daughter is even now dead But come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live and jesus arose and followed him and so did his disciples And behold a woman which is deceased with an issue of blood 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment For she said within herself if I may but touch his garment I shall be whole I shall be whole But jesus turned him about and when he saw her He said daughter be of good comfort for thy faith had made thee whole and the woman was made whole from that hour And when jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels And the people making a noise he said unto them give place for the maid is not dead but sleepeth And they laughed him to scorn but when the people Were put forth he went in and took her by the hand and the maid arose And the fame hereof went abroad into all the land and when jesus departed thence two blind men followed him crying and saying Thou son of david have mercy on us And when he was come into the house the blind men came to him and jesus saith unto them believe ye that I am able To do this they said unto him. Yea, lord Then touched he their eyes saying according to your faith be it unto you And their eyes were open and jesus straightly charged them saying see that no man know it But they when they were departed spread abroad his fame in all that country As they went out behold They brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil and when the devil was cast out the dumb spake And the multitudes marveled saying it was never seen so it was never so seen in israel But the pharisees said he casted out devils through the prince of the devils And jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom And healing every sickness and every disease amongst the people But when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd Then sayeth he unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few Pray, therefore the lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Let us pray heavenly father lord Thank you for this chapter of the bible. Thank you for steadfast baptist church and the salvations that we've seen I just pray you bless pastor. Shelly be with them filled with your holy spirit to preach your word unto us And help us to receive it with a glad heart. Praise in jesus name. Amen. Amen Matthew chapter 9 the bible says in verse 1 he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city And behold they brought to him a man sick of the palsy Lying on a bed and jesus seeing their face said into the sick of the palsy son. We have good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee And behold certain of the scribes said within themselves this man blasphemeth Jesus knowing their thoughts said wherefore thinking evil in your hearts for whether is easier to say Thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and walk But they may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins then say thee to the sick of the palsy Arise take up thy bed and go unto thine house And he rose and departed to his house But when the multitude saw it they marveled and glorified god which had given such power unto men Now here in the beginning of matthew chapter number nine It makes a pretty strong contrast To some of the previous healings of the lord jesus christ and that not only does he heal the man He makes it clear that he's forgiving his sins And that's a pretty major shift in just Healing someone because no one prior to the lord jesus christ is forgiven sin Because it's not something that man is allowed to do and when the lord jesus christ Is healing this person he's healing him but also saying that his sins are forgiven When the pharisees are those that hear this kind of thing certain scribes hear this notice in verse three this man Blasphemeth why blasphemy because only god can forgive sins So you have one of two options either a Jesus christ is god or b he's blaspheming because there's no other option here. He is either god Or he's blaspheming but here's another quandary for the pharisees and the scribes and the haters Is that when the lord jesus christ said unto the man sick of the palsy? Son thy sons be forgiven thee he literally got up and he literally walked and we know that god here is not sinners So how in the world could this guy get up in this miracle? And be healed when this man is telling him that he's forgiving his sins and blaspheming at the same time It's not possible. So, you know, that means jesus is god. It's that simple It really just sits there and it's someone that doesn't want to believe that jesus is god or wants to deny The reality right there in front of them because he is saying specifically that he's forgiving his sins and healing him simultaneously Meaning there's only one option. He's god. That's it And so here's just another proof text of the divinity of the lord. Jesus christ I don't even understand how anybody argues with this. I mean There is a religion out there called unitarianism Unitarianism It's a sect of christianity I'm sure most of us probably have not really ran into that too much but unitarianism Denies the deity of jesus christ they believe And simply the father just god the father being the only god and that the lord jesus christ is a lesser created being And the holy spirit is just the spirit of god. And so they basically deny the trinity they deny jesus christ divinity And I would I would just love to see how they would wiggle out of this because typically what they do is they go to a verse like first timothy chapter number three verse 16 where it says god was manifest in the flesh and they'll say Oh, that's a textual variant It really is supposed to just say he there get the esv or get the nasb or something like that You won't make these mistakes, but this isn't something that's just like a quote one word textual variant This is the entire story this is just this is just an example of jesus christ telling him Hey, i'm forgiving your sins and then then saying he's blaspheming Because they recognize that for only for anybody to say that they'd be declaring themselves god And then he heals them my question be to the unitarian is how in the world you reconcile this story with your doctrine because the only way For jesus christ to perform this miracle is if he is god manifests in the flesh Now, of course it says he's given this power into men, but that's just the man christ Jesus god even in his form as a human form. He was still capable of forgiving sin, but it's only because he's god Man does not have this power. The pope does not have this power pastors not have this power. No one can forgive your sin There's only one man. There's only one mediator between god and men the man christ. Jesus Okay, and so he's the only one that can reconcile you and give you this forgiveness of sins And so this is a really powerful story in the bible to prove the divinity of jesus christ And you'll you'll often have people say like oh, where did jesus say I am god Well, I don't have that exact phrase Um, but I do have him right here saying that he's forgiving sin And of course why because jesus wanted to be a little bit You know, he wanted to Give people an excuse if they wanted to have an excuse He basically just allowed people to just have their excuses if they want to have them Or just try to create some kind of a straw man idea And so he didn't want to just always walk around just say like i'm god worship me He obviously was kind of coming on the dl. He's that ceo undercover. Okay, you ever heard this show? There's like the quote ceo undercover He comes and visits his employees and he tries to see what they think and how they act When they don't realize the boss is actually there and it's like jesus is kind of that ceo undercover He's like hey jews, what's going on? And they just don't want to believe That he is really their boss that he's really the master and so it's just kind of like an interesting way for him to To interact with humanity because obviously if he just comes in the clouds with all of his glory And anybody that says a crossword is immediately struck with lightning. Well, then you don't really get to see how people react Just like the ceo. Why does the ceo Show up at his business acting like a random employee because he wants to just kind of see what are things like When i'm coming unannounced, what are things like when people are? Having the watchful eye he wants to see what people are really like and commend them if they're doing a good job Say like hey, this guy's doing a good job not even realizing the boss is watching here's someone that's slacking Because he doesn't think that the boss is watching. He only does work for eye service essentially and so God in the same way is kind of trying to figure out who's giving him quote eye service and who actually sincerely Is going to believe in him who sincerely has faith who's who's this is sincere christians Another thing that's very interesting about this and i'm going to spend a little bit of time on the story Just because I think it's kind of a unique part of this chapter For us is the fact that this guy's sick of the palsy palsy We a lot of times in our modern context we think of bell's palsy, which would be a form of palsy but palsy is just kind of a Shorter word for paralysis. Okay, just being paralyzed So it's some form of paralysis Typically we think of this type of a paralysis as bell's palsy That's a medical term that many of us maybe have heard and that's just where part of your face Will kind of be paralyzed or lose its ability to move. So if you ever notice somebody unfortunately has this Typically, it's noticed by having half of their face is not able to essentially move and so they'll be making facial expressions But one side of their face is just kind of just stoic. It's just who's who's seen this Yeah, a lot of people have seen this before um my I had a family member that had a friend that had this and Often we would see it. Unfortunately, she'd have an episode or it would happen and and it was very It's very interesting. It's very it's it's crazy when when someone is is experiencing Bell's palsy episodes, but this man is having a palsy. That's not a bell's but it's not a face It's like a legs. It's his legs are paralyzed He's crippled he's not able to walk and so jesus christ is going to heal him of this palsy of this paralysis of his legs But when he heals him He is saying specifically in kind of a context that his sins Are somehow connected to this paralysis. I mean, it'd be hard to read this story and not see that he's making a connection To this man's sins because he's saying An equivalent statement to saying your sins are forgiven are saying just arise and walk take up thy bed and walk He's saying this is like an equivalent statement. So it's almost like he's a he's making a an equal statement about Healing and sins being forgiven specifically which is kind of an interesting connection that I find in the bible And I I notice this is in a lot of places in the bible in this chapter has another mention Look at it says in verse 32 And as they went out behold they brought to him a dumb man Possessed with a devil and when the devil is cast out the dumb spake and the multitudes marveled saying It was never so seen in israel. So you kind of notice this theme in the bible when someone's sick that In some cases they have a demonic spirit or they're possessed with the devil and that's causing them some kind of a physical ailment physical infirmity In this prior part of the chapter this man doesn't have a devil or demon But he simply is told by the lord Jesus christ that his sins are forgiven him and then now all of a sudden he's not paralyzed anymore and he's able to walk I want to go to some more verses go if you would to first corinthians chapter number 11 go to first corinthians chapter number 11 I think that we have to understand that the bible teaches That in some context in some in some situations Physical illness physical infirmities have some tie to sin Now, of course you you can't say definitively all sickness Is related to sin, but I also don't believe you could say that all sickness is unrelated to sin I think it would be an error to say all sickness is because of sin But I also think it'd be an error to say that no sickness Is a result of sin the bible seems to indicate both are true and of course then that allows us to Try to do soul some soul searching in certain situations When there is sickness, but look what it says in first corinthians 11 verse 30 for this cause Many are weak and sickly among you in many sleep According to the bible. There's a punishment of sickness mentioned in first corinthians chapter number 11 verse 30 because he says for this cause What is the cause verse 29 for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily? Eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body. So the bible is saying when someone is partaking of the lord's supper Unworthily, they could be punished with what sickness So this would be a direct cause of someone's sickness or illness being as a result of sin or doing something Unworthily go go to john chapter number five go back to john and I want to show you another verse to balance this Because I would think almost on the surface You could come away especially when you read the bible If you're really thinking about it, you would almost come away thinking that all sickness and all illness is a result of sin But that's not right And we have several very clear examples of this one is job and i'm not going to necessarily Belabor that point you've heard of job and obviously job had boils all over his body Which was a grievous sickness and illness and the bible tells us that jesus christ was moved against him without a cause and so There is no sin that caused job to experience one of the worst sicknesses and worse illnesses that we've ever seen Here's another clear example of how it's not related to sin. John chapter number five. Look at verse number Uh Well, okay, I i'm going i'm going to i'm i'm thinking about the wrong place we're going to go there next But here's another example of sin being related to sickness and illness. Look at john chapter 5 verse 14 afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him behold thou art made whole Sin, no more lest the worst thing come upon me So this is a guy that was healed by the lord Jesus christ of his sickness and illness on the sabbath day when he runs into him. He warns him and says hey I know you're whole but make sure you don't go sin again because then you're going to get even worse Than you were Go to john chapter number nine go to john chapter nine. This is where I was I was kind of leading into but You could like I said you could you could find a lot of bible That's almost indicating that sin is like related to sickness illness physical infirmities And a lot of places in the bible and he's he's warning in first corinthians 11. Hey, if you eat or drink unworthily Many are sick or could even sleep as a result of this in john chapter number five. He's warning Hey, I know you've been made whole but if you go out and you keep sinning whatever you're doing A worse thing could come upon you. Okay, john chapter number nine though. Look at verse one And as jesus passed by he saw a man Which was blind from his birth And his disciples asked him saying master who did sin this man or his parents that he was born Blind so again the question is for them. They're thinking like every sickness every illness every imperfection as a result of sin Why because the bible just has so many examples that are talking about it So you could kind of see where they're drawing that conclusion from but then jesus makes it clear in verse three Jesus answered neither at this man sin nor his parents but that the works of god should be made manifest in him now again It's not saying this guy or the parents have never sinned He's just saying that the result of his blindness is not because of a specific sin There's not a sin that we can tie his blindness to and say here's the sin that his parents did This is why he's blind. Here's the sin that he did there. Here's why he's born blind There's no sin that caused his blindness god just allowed this person to have a very extreme Illness sickness blindness, of course is a disease and infirmity a weakness in their body So that he could then come along and heal him later and he could get all the glory That's what he's saying, but that the works of god should be made Manifests in him so god allowed this man to be born blind so that when he comes across jesus later in his life He can be healed and we can see this is the son of god We can see that this is god manifest in the flesh go to deuteronomy chapter number seven go to deuteronomy chapter seven So what's the point that you're making pastor selly well, here's the point the point that I want to make is number one That when we do see sickness and infirmities and illnesses we should try to ask ourselves this question Is this a result of something i've done or am doing? Yeah I think that's a fair question that we should we should examine ourselves We also should say okay Because we don't always know we don't want to judge other people And look down upon other people for their sicknesses and illnesses and think man This guy must be very sinful or must be doing something wrong because we could be wrong about that They were wrong about job. They were wrong about this man that was born blind But what we should do is we should take the admonition of the text and just apply it to ourselves And just say hey when I have issues or problems or whatever Is this something that i'm doing and of course we have to understand that in this world? Young children and elderly people they're going to get sick because they have lower immune systems and that's just how life works People are going to get sick. It's not always just a result of sin But in many cases it I think it could be it could be minor things It could be things like you're just not being very hygienic. Maybe you're just not very physically healthy Maybe you're just not eating a balanced diet. Maybe you're not getting enough sleep. Maybe you're overworking yourself I think a lot of things that we could be doing could cause us and they could be like minor sins or minor Things that we're not doing correctly or doing what the bible would have us do as far as what's the best way to live Our lives and as a result, there could be some sickness and illnesses tied to that But there's also just the bible warning that when you break god's commandments He could punish you with sickness and illness and when you keep his commandments He kind of says the opposite look what it says in june 9 chapter 7 verse 15 And the lord will take away From the all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of egypt which thou knowest upon thee But will lay them upon all them that hate thee So god is saying hey if you guys are keeping my commandments if you're doing right Those really horrible diseases and and sicknesses and things that I gave egypt. I just won't even give that to y'all and you know today We we even can see something like this go if you go to june 28 go to join chapter 28 Where if you keep god's commandments and you do what's right? There are certain very evil sicknesses and illnesses that you will not get Here's one that you won't get it's called aids. All right And it's not like a uh, oops I tripped and got aids It's not like you go around and you just you know, I didn't put a hat on it's cold outside and I got aids It's not like you just didn't sleep and you've been kind of stressed at work lately. And so you came down with a case of the aids Okay, you get aids from being a faggot. That's how you get aids. Okay, and when you're not a disgusting faggot You are very unlikely to get aids, but just think there are people that are straight that have gotten aids You know why because they whore around Because they go out and they're a whoremonger of this world and they lay with people that they're not married to and while they may be in a Hetero relationship or a hetero situation that other person May not have been that other person may have done things that you would have never imagined doing Or been with someone else that's done that I mean the the numbers are astronomical today When it comes to these quote body counts and it's extremely disgusting It makes it to where the the likelihood of getting a disease or an illness or sickness is just astronomical Today, I mean women are bragging about being with 300 people 500 people there's a woman that bragged about being with a thousand people in one day Wow It's like all over the internet. She keeps bragging about it. It's disgusting It's filthy It's unimaginable And you know what as americans We could be bringing all kinds of evil diseases and sicknesses into our country because we allow people to do this kind of filth And this nonsense and this disgusting abomination and we can't sit here and just say like oh sickness is just a random thing that happens No, it's a filthy thing that happens in many cases There's many sicknesses and illnesses and diseases today that are a direct result of sin fornication and adultery And all kinds of things like that will cause grievous grievous sin And grievous illness and sickness deuteronomy 28 warns Against breaking god's commandments what he could do to you. Look what it says in verse 21 It's talking about when you break his commandments the lord shall make the pestilence cleave Under thee until they have consumed thee from off the land Whether thou goest to possess it the lord shall smite thee with consumption and with a fever and with an inflammation And with an extreme burning and with the sword and with blasting with mildew And they shall pursue thee until thou perish He's warning about sickness. He's warning about fever. He's warning about inflammation Later, look what it says in verse number 27. The lord will smite thee With the botch of egypt and with the emirates and with the scab and with the itch whereof thou canst not be healed There are certain illnesses and sicknesses that cannot be healed You're a lifelong carrier of some stds Things like aids and hiv and syphilis and gonorrhea and the clap It's not what you don't want to clap. Okay, folks You don't want you think that what i'm saying is is hard to hear, you know, it's hard to hear is the clap You know, it's hard to hear is when you hear the doctors say you're positive That's what's hard to hear and you know, we should warn our teenagers and warn our children Hey, you keep god's commandments so you can stay clean And you think that just a little sickness little illness isn't very much fun. Wow these lifelong diseases. That's what's really not fun That's that'll really destroy your life in a hurry That'll take one of the things that god has given you to be a pleasure and a joy in marriage And turn it into a curse in your life What a shame and an embarrassment that there's so many people today That are just filled with diseases which they cannot be healed from and look it's it's related to sin Go back to matthew chapter 9 matthew chapter 9 People people say and it's so Weird is they'll say oh I don't believe in god because of aids It's like no. No, you should believe in god because aids exist And they almost they blame god for aids even though they don't realize it's their problem It's their fault you live in other parts of the world. There's all kinds of diseases and illnesses We haven't heard of that. We don't get because they don't live in a sanitized area. They don't live in a hygienic way They bathe in cow dung they bathe in cow urine you think i'm exaggerating i'm not you go to india Men will literally bathe and put cow dung and urine on their face and on their head and all over their body They'll they'll put it on their doors You wonder why the smell the house smells weird. They're putting urine on the door Or Anything like you're exaggerating no, I have the video evidence You can close your eyes and just hear I don't even it's weird They're lighting dung on fire in their house Which is just going to release all kinds of toxins and all kinds of fumes. This is what happens when you worship cows This is what happens when you worship rocks When you don't worship the god of the bible the god of the bible is a clean god He wants us to be clean and hygienic And of course the more we get away from god the more disgusting and filthy our society is going to become it becomes like san francisco Where there's dung all over the streets where there's needles everywhere where people are filled with all kinds of diseases and illnesses and sicknesses Look, it's a result of sin It's a result of sin and we need to clean ourselves up So the lord will put none of these diseases and none of these sicknesses none of these illnesses on us Hey, if we got rid if we just implemented leviticus 2013 we could get rid of aids We could be aids free in america. We could get rid of some of these horrible diseases and filthy Disgusting scabs and itches and emeralds and whatever weird stuff. God said I don't even want to know okay You don't want to know Praise god that you go to homeschool Because when I went to public school, you know what they did They put us in a room and they have a big screen and they literally show you everything I just said And you're at first you're like, what is that? And you're like, oh What is that? They'll show you the scab and the itch and the burn and the whatever and you're just like Who had to see that? Okay. Yeah, look around homeschool kids You have been preserved you little eyes. You don't ever want to see that. I wish I had not I wish I'd never seen it Okay, it did not benefit me it did not help me It was it was rough. All right Go good back to matthew chapter 9. Look let's look at verse number nine now The bible says this and as jesus passed forth from thence. He saw a man named matthew sitting at the receipt of custom And he saith on him follow me and he arose and followed him now a lot of people we call matthew the tax collector It's coming from this passage here where it says that he was sitting at the receipt of custom which I think is a fit it does seem to imply that he was participating somehow in receiving of taxes custom Is just another fancy word for what we would think of as taxes And so here he's sitting at the receipt. So he's either a tax collector or And maybe he's not like got the high ranking position, but he's at least a clerk or somebody that's there Participating in the collection of taxes and so he's at least a low-level tax collector Jesus sees him there and just says follow him that tells me that jesus will sometimes find you even when you're not at your best And it's still the call is to still follow him, you know We go out into the highways and the hedges and we compel people to serve jesus Even when they weren't looking for him even when they weren't at their best even when they weren't even being spiritual necessarily Jesus just comes along and says hey follow me. Jesus came and found peter when he was fishing When he wasn't doing his best, you know, there's never a bad time to start serving jesus There's never a bad time to be called into the ministry Or to start serving god or to go out and be a soul winner or to start following the lord Jesus christ or reading your bible and even if you find yourself backslidden like peter did hey There's never a bad time to just get back on the right track and start following jesus again And start going out there and doing the work and what I like about matthew is as soon as jesus says follow him he follows him He rose and he followed him no questions asked. He just says come and follow me And you know, those are the kind of people that jesus is going to use Jesus likes people that don't ask questions and boy, I wish I could teach my children that You know, hey children when your parents give you an instruction. This is what you do You just do it You don't say like why? I mean, what are we reading jesus like matthew follow me why? But what am I gonna get out of it but i'm hungry but you know Just he just doesn't he doesn't even ask any questions. He's just like bam i'm doing it He said follow me i'm gonna fall. Hey at work if your boss says something you just do it You just hey, he says get up. Come here. All right, i'm gonna get up and i'm gonna come here wives Hey, you like this point, right your husband says do something you just do it Hey children, we do what our our mother and father say Wives do what their husband says husband you do what your boss says, you know, this one's a spicy one What if your pastor said to do something? Oh, it's quiet. Hey, that was really quiet you do it. Okay, right. I mean, it's just any leadership Here's one. How about when you read something in the bible that you're not doing? Jesus came to you You opened your bible And you weren't expecting it, but then jesus said hey do this What's your response? Are you going to be matthew? If he says hey do this, are you just going to do it right away or are you going to gain say him argue with him? Make an excuse say why maybe later maybe the next day or are you going to be like a disciple? You know what a disciple is he sees something a bible and he does it then He makes the change then He starts following jesus right then if you want to be a disciple of the lord jesus christ You are the type of person that when you see what jesus says you just do it right then You know why people are not disciples because they say i'll do it tomorrow You know why people are not disciples because I have to bury my dad You know why people are not disciples because they see it and they argue with it. They don't like it They don't want to do it. They put it off. They make an excuse Nope the disciples just hear what jesus have to say and they just follow him, you know, we read the bible We're all just thinking about matthew Because it's about matthew, right? It's a book written to matthew It's about matthew his name is brought up, but you know what you need to do is you need to often insert yourself into the bible And say well what what would you do? If you were at receipt of custom and jesus came by and said follow me What would you do and I think all of us would like to say well, I would get up and follow him Okay But if you would have followed jesus christ when he came by and asked you then you would follow him right now, too And if you won't follow him right now, let me explain something to you. You wouldn't have followed him back then either You have to be honest with yourself and I remember a long time ago I i've said this many times but i'll keep saying it Is I played this game with myself because a lot of people like to play this game. They say where in the bible would you go? What would you see would you go see the flood? Would you like to go back to creation? Would you like to? Be in egypt with the children of israel and see all the miracles wandering in the wilderness Would you like to go with joshua and conquer the promised land? Would you like to be with david and kill goliath? I mean like what would you like to go and see and there's so many cool things that you could do But I always just said well, I would just like to follow jesus I would like to walk three and a half years or whatever it was And walk around with jesus and see what he had to say and and see the miracles and hear his preaching Like that's what I would really want to do. And then I I said to myself I I said that and I thought about that and I was like, that's really cool And then all of a sudden I said, you know what? No, I wouldn't Because i'm not i'm not even following him right now I remember sitting there thinking, you know How in the world could I say that I would abandon what i'm doing in my life and follow jesus When right now i'm not even close to that When right now in my life, i'm not even really doing anything like that. And so then I said, you know what? I do need to make a change And I said, you know what? I need to get serious. I didn't start reading my bible I need to go find a church and get plugged in because I was kind of like not really in the church at that point in time I mean I was going to church, but I just didn't like the church. I was going to this bad church And so I was kind of discouraged about church at the time But I thought about I said well if I would follow jesus Then what I would do today because I wasn't born then I was born in 2000 not 2000. Sorry. I'm not a millennial like y'all I was born in 1987 I Was like well, I would find the guy that's the most like jesus Right now and i'd follow him And so that's what I tried to do. I was like, hey i'm gonna go and find a guy that loves the lord jesus christ That's making a big splash that's serving the lord and i'm gonna go and follow him And you know what? That's what we need to do in our lives. We need to actually apply the bible We need to say hey if you want to be matthew What did matthew do and what can you do because jesus didn't put me at the time of matthew? I'm, not sitting at receipt of custom two thousand years ago where I am i'm sitting somewhere in the west texas area Where it's windy? What am I gonna do well, you know what I still have opportunity to serve god We all have opportunity to serve god where we're at and you know what you just get plugged into church and start following the lord Jesus christ if you really want to be a disciple And you say this is hardcore. Yeah, the bible's just hardcore folks, you know, the bible's kind of like emphasizing and written to disciples It's really not for the backslidden It's for us that want to go hard And so the people that don't want to go hard they want to go to a church where they're not going to read much bible People be like, oh, why do you keep emphasizing all these things that are the same over and over because the bible does and jesus keeps Doing it. I'll tell you there's so many times when i'm doing a bible study and i'm just thinking like I said that last week And I said that the week before that and I said that sunday night. I said that wednesday night I'm, like but then I but then I keep saying but I got to say whatever the bible says And if the bible is just keep bringing up the exact same things just over and over and over and over and over again Who am I to sit here and say well, I need to teach you something new Let me teach you about the earth being flat or something, right I mean that's where you have to go when you're not going to teach what the bible says And who wants to follow a flat earth or off the edge? I don't that's why I don't even let them drive me If you get in if I get in a car with you for the first time and you haven't ever driven me before I will ask you what the shape of the earth is. Okay, don't be offended It's not because I think anything negatively about you. I just don't want you to drive me off the edge. Okay, so That's just a personal rule that I have but at the end of the day We need to make sure we're following jesus christ if we want to be a true disciple We need to be like matthew and when jesus says follow me you just get up and you follow him It's that simple verse 10 and it came to pass as jesus sat at meat in the house the old many publicans and sinners came And sat down with him and his disciples and when the pharisees saw it they said unto his disciples Why eat at your master with publicans and sinners? But when jesus heard that he said unto them they that behold Need not a physician, but they that are sick But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy And not sacrifice for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance So the lord jesus christ hung out with people That were arguably not the most Righteous outwardly, you know at least in the public appearance and I would even say just objectively Many people that were just objectively worse sinners hung out with jesus during his ministry And it was because they were looking for a savior Whereas many people that thought they were righteous they were willing to justify themselves Didn't really need jesus didn't want to hang out jesus. Why because they don't need him Think about it. Why are people hanging out with jesus because they need him Why are people not wanting to hang out with them because they don't think that they need him and it shows that their heart is Based on a works-based salvation versus these people that are looking for a savior and grace and mercy That's what he says in verse number 13, I will have mercy and not sacrifice He wants people to just come to him and just ask for free salvation Ask for the free gift. Whereas these pious Religious leaders want to go and do some great sacrifice. What good thing? May I do that? I may have everlasting life or eternal life. They want to do some kind of a sacrifice Why because they want the honor and glory for their salvation. They're looking to earn their salvation They're not looking for mercy and that's why they don't receive it Those who try to earn their salvation will never acquire it those who try to buy it or pay for it will never get it And of course you have to ask yourself this question Why would I seek a physician if i'm not sick and the answer is you shouldn't yeah Don't go to the doctor if you're not sick A lot of people go when they're not sick wellness check, okay I don't I mean i'm not saying that's completely wrong But at the end of the day he's kind of saying like they that be whole Need not a physician what's the cardinal truth? If you're whole you don't need a bunch of doctor medicine You know, here's an application. I always make out of this is why would I take a perfectly healthy baby and stab him with 32 vaccines? I mean, what did jesus say they that behold need not a physician. Oh except for all these magical vaccines that are going to help him Get what sid's? sudden infant death syndrome that's Unexplained It's like hey, I know we gave him a bunch of vaccines and the next day he woke up dead unrelated though That's what the doctor will tell you after he kills your baby It's called sids. We don't know what happened. We don't know why But sorry, we're moving on to the next patient You know come back when you have another kid that we can kill And it's not that every kid that gets vaccine dies from it Obviously, it would be pretty obvious if every single one of them were dying But I don't want to play russian roulette with my child Even if it's one out of a hundred, I just don't want to play that game And so i'm not really into that. That's not my thing. Is there plenty of people that have been vaccinated and survived? Yeah There's plenty of dumb. You could probably punch yourself in the face and survive Okay, there's a lot of people that broken their bones and survived just because you can survive something doesn't mean it's good Doesn't mean that it's healthy doesn't even make it the right decision and here's my question. Do you even believe this verse? You know people get mad at me about what I just said But what is the carnal truth that jesus gave us they that behold need not a physician? People that are healthy don't need a doctor now if you're sick You could need a doctor i'm not against doctors But when i'm healthy, i'm not really there. I'm not really their best friend. I'm not really even into them that much Okay, and even some doctors they're not very good anyways, but there could be a good doctor obviously doctors have a place in society you know if I get my Leg or finger or arm cut off or something. I'm gonna go to the emergency room You better believe it if I need surgery, I would probably take surgery if I need surgery, you know I'm not saying that there is There isn't a physician there isn't a doctor out there, you know, if you're having a heart attack if you're choking I mean there's going to be times for medical emergencies those type of people make sense Okay, there could be something on your body that's growing and it's weird and you need to have it checked out Okay, i'm i'm for that i'm for doctors when you're sick When you're not sick, you know, you should be careful and you should be careful. Sometimes the cure Is is is uh worse than the illness When you're getting all this radiation treatment and x-rays and they're scanning every part of your body You kind of have to sometimes wonder are they even causing the problem? That they're trying to look for That's a whole nother sermon. I I just this verse is really important to me, but what's the spiritual truth we draw from this? Well, if you don't think you need to be saved Why would you even hang out with jesus and see that's the problem for many people that don't think they need to be saved They're not looking for salvation There's a lot of people we knock on their door and you say hey Are you 100 sure if you die today you go to heaven they say yes And then you say how do you know that and this is the next response. I don't know I don't know What you know for sure you're saved but you don't even know how to get saved Like it's it's that just shows someone's heart is not searching though And their mind they're whole in their mind They don't need plus there's plenty of people that will say they know and then they have a bad answer, too They'll simply say because i'm a good person because I went to confession. I had a catholic priest as my neighbor In the past and I knocked on his door He's very upset he was did not like the fact that I was talking to him about the bible I guess catholics hate the bible and I asked him. Hey, if you're ready to die today, are you sure you go to heaven? He said absolutely I had a really good confession today I was thinking like what and then when I was talking with him I was trying to explain like hey, I go out we preach the gospel We're trying to get people saved and he says well, it's not my job to get people saved And he said he was a catholic archbishop Bishop Because he was like over the local parish and he'd just gotten promoted to be like this Archbishop where he's going to be over like multiple catholic churches in our whole region or something like that And he says it's not my job to care whether people are saved or not It's like what is wrong with you? I just couldn't even believe what I was hearing Of course has all these merry shrines and all this idolatry in his household Nice guy I guess you could say other than the fact that he doesn't care about you and doesn't want you to go to heaven But I mean other than that, I mean just a really upstanding citizen But he's one of these individuals that thinks he's whole He doesn't think he needs a physician Whereas the sinful that he looks down upon and thinks that they're headed for hell Are actually many cases the people that are going to seek for a savior and get saved Whereas he himself is going to find himself thrust out and jesus saying I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity Hey, I was still kind of the guy I still tried to offer him, you know my explanation of salvation But at the end of the day wasn't interested didn't like it was a heretic a raging heretic and a false prophet And you know, he's going to die and go to hell Even though he might be less sinful than the derelicts of society He might be less sinful than the people go and talk to in south dallas He might be less sinful than some of the people that even come to our church But at the end of the day, you know what? It's not about how many sins you have Because we're all sinners And we all need a physician and none of us are whole that's why you were supposed to believe in jesus christ in the first place and of course jesus using these things as You know for lack of a better word a puzzle Or a parable to help people realize the ultimate truth of what he's trying to explain here Why are you worried about them coming to me? You know, why are you mad that they're coming to me if they're sick? Don't they need a doctor? The reason why you don't like it is because you don't realize you need a doctor And because you just don't like the great physician, which is jesus christ, and he wants to have mercy not sacrifice Look, he's not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Here's the thing. Once you have been saved Once you've been made whole You don't need salvation anymore I mean if you're saved you don't need to be saved again. In fact, you cannot be saved again Otherwise you're going to crucify yourself. You're going to crucify christ to yourself again As hebrews chapter number six says I mean you can't Go back, even if you fall away You don't need to be renewed again under repentance seeing that you crucify the son of christ afresh and put him to an open shame Christ is a once for all sacrifice. He already paid all of your sins. Once you're whole you're whole you've been all things become new Your your new man can't even sin According to the bible all things are passed away and become new You can't even come into future condemnation in john chapter number five. I mean you have everlasting life You're sealed under the day of redemption. It's a done deal. You've been made whole but they that are whole Need not a physician You don't need that anymore. Once you're saved you're always saved look at verse 20 skip down We have kind of a similar story says and behold a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years came behind him And touched the hem of his garment For she said within herself if I may but touch his garment I shall be whole so again the whole there was a physical healing. Of course She wanted to be physically healed but then the spiritual significance Of being whole again is now that you're righteous He go to keep your finger go to second chronic. I'm sorry second corinthians chapter number five and the bible makes it clear That he took our sins From us so that we could have his righteousness so that we could be Made whole look what it says in second corinthians chapter five verse number 20 Now then we are ambassadors for christ as though god to beseech you by us We pray you in christ said be reconciled to god for you have made him to be sinned for us who knew no sin that we Might be made the righteousness of god and him so we are now righteous. I am righteous in my new man I don't need salvation anymore because i'm saved because I already have the righteousness of christ imputed unto me I have as imputed righteousness and i've been made whole now What gave me that in matthew chapter 9 where we were look at verse number 22? But jesus turned him about and when he saw her he said daughter Be of good comfort thy faith Hath made thee whole so what gave her physical healing was faith. You know, it gives us spiritual healing faith It's the same thing, you know, it makes you whole in the sight of christ your faith That's why it's faith alone because it wasn't faith plus something that made me whole It was my faith alone that made me whole in jesus christ That made me righteous in his sight and it's by faith alone that we're saved No works of no works of righteousness that I have I have none i'm filthy rags I am a sinner. We're all sinners and it's by his righteousness that he gives us that salvation Go back up to verse 14 the bible says then came to him the disciples of john saying Why do we and the Pharisees fast off but thy disciples fast not and jesus said unto them? Can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast No man put the piece of a new cloth onto an old garment for that which is put in to fill It up taketh from the garment and the rent is made worse Neither men put new wine into old bottles else the Bottles break and the wine runneth out and the bottles perish but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved So we have another kind of parable here This is mentioned in other um gospels as well and it's a little different they Jesus brings up a few other elements to this story, but if you think about what he's trying to communicate with in verse number 15 He's saying it doesn't really make sense to be in mourning and fasting when you're hanging out with jesus Because this is a time to enjoy. This is a time to be happy. This is a time to essentially Do the things that are good you're having a good time It wouldn't be fitting for them to just constantly be sad and be upset and abstain from eating food When they're hanging out with jesus in this part, so the the timing is not right It's not the right fit and then he brings up these two examples To teach that same lesson one is putting a new piece of cloth in an old garment But he's saying if you do this, it's actually going to make the old garment worse So you have a tear in the garment you put in a new piece. Well, that new piece is so strong It's going to pull at that Cut and it's actually going to tear it even a little bit further Or he brings up this parable or this idea this carnal truth that you wouldn't put new wine Into an old wine skin The old wine skin has essentially gone through the pressure and the elements of that fermentation process or just If it wasn't alcoholic wine, maybe it was just just through wear and tear and through wear and tear You wouldn't want to put something that's valuable or you want to preserve and something that's old and going to be worn out Because that old and worn out may not preserve it may break easier It may fall apart and then you're going to end up losing that Wine so it's saying you're going to put new wine into new wine skins and then both are preserved Meaning by putting the new wine into an old wine skin You could ruin the wine skin and ruin the wine essentially because the wine skin can't handle it. It's going to break It's going to have a problem. So it breaks and then the wine spills out and you lose both So it's saying you got to put new wine into new wine skins so that they can be preserved What is the what is the understanding here? Not everything's the right fit And not everything's the right timing Okay, so we want to make sure there's a time to mourn There's a time to dance There's a time to love there's a time to hate so we just don't want to put the wrong emotion with the wrong timing And you know, there's there's a million applications we could make out of this you may even be making them right now One example that's good is just emotionally if someone just lost someone close to them That's not a time to dance. That's not a time to be happy You know, we should essentially try to match we should mourn with them that mourn, right? We should try to match our emotions with people throughout whatever what experience they're having If someone just says hey, I got a new house or i'm getting married or I got a new job That's not the time to rain on their parade. That's not the time to be like man. We should fast And we should mourn let's cry together, you know, like that's just not really the right emotion So what what jesus is wanting people to do and learn part of the bible He's trying to explain is we need to match other people's emotions And we need to try and be empathetic and think about how other people are feeling Think about what kind of situations they're going through and and try to have the right kind of emotions You know some people They just kind of like allow their emotions to dictate the circumstance Instead of allowing the circumstance to dictate their emotions And what's a sign of maturity is when you can take control of your emotions where you say? Hey This is a time when i'm supposed to be happy So I need to learn how to make myself happy in this moment or this is a time to be sad so I need to take in the seriousness and the soberness of the situation and I need to you know, Be maybe grieving or maybe be upset about the circumstance And we live in a society and in a culture that doesn't understand this they're very immature They want to dictate the circumstances by their emotions. Well, i'm feeling bad. So therefore it's a bad time where i'm feeling good And therefore it's a good time. No, we need to make sure that we're understanding the circumstance and that i'm matching our emotions With the circumstance, you know when you come to church that's a time to be sober. That's a time to be serious That's a time to worship god. It's not a time to joke and to play around and to be silly It's a time to take the things of god seriously Hey when you're at a wedding if you ever go to a wedding be happy Don't walk around just like My life's bad. We don't care about you right now. Yeah, it's about the wedding party Be happy for them just and if you're not happy don't show up If you just got a promotion and married and a bonus and won the lottery Don't go to the funeral and just be like my life's on cloud nine Sorry, you lost your husband. Sorry. You lost your wife and your kids, but my life's great You know, that would be terrible You know, we want to make sure that we're matching our emotion. Yeah, if you're hanging out with jesus Walking around he's doing miracles. That's not a time to mourn and be sad and to be upset And and I think here will be an application When you're in a great church going soul winning and doing great things for the lord. That's not a time to be upset You know when some of our church members are being taken out and stoned and persecuted for the cause of christ That's a time to start getting upset But you know a lot of people are just really upset right now when honestly things are actually in a good time Let's not have the wrong emotion When jesus just keeps blessing us and keeps giving us more freedom and more free course and an opportunity to get a lot of people Say this is not a time to have a sad emotion This is a time to be happy and rejoicing and doing the work of god. Hey, there may be days of mourning But if it's not a legit time of mourning then, you know, maybe you should change your emotions So like why don't i'm kind of upset But is the circumstances dictating that because maybe you need to change your emotion. Maybe your circumstance isn't even that bad Read the bridge at andow and then tell me your situation's bad Read a book about communism Read a book about all kinds of things throughout history read about just a daily life 50 years ago or 100 years ago What what kind of challenges and oppositions they had to go through? I mean in many cases our lives are just so great Yet we just try to find something wrong with it People are trying to find people just want to be upset And it's just so annoying. It's so annoying when children and people and employees and co-workers And spouses and whoever are just upset and it's like you have no reason to be upset Your life is great You're healthy. Your children are healthy. You you got money in the bank. You can have any food that you want You can go to church and you can go soul-winning and like you still have youth and it's like why are you so upset? You know, it's just there's this depression out there this depression mindset that just wants to think about every negative thing they can dream up Even many things that aren't even real or even happening to them. I just think people don't like me Why I just think that Well, did someone say something? No, they invited me to a party. I think it's because they don't like me I mean people be like this and you're just like what's wrong with you? Like I just don't feel like I have many friends. Well, have you invited me to go to lunch? No, you invite anybody over No, do you go and talk to buddy? No Just I don't have a lot of friends. Well, yeah, if you just look at the floor and you're awkward and don't talk to anybody Maybe nobody wants to be a friend, but if you know you smile you're happy You talk to people and when you talk to people you ask them about them Here's how you have friends ask people about their lives Because everybody loves to talk about themselves So if you can learn how to not talk about yourself You can have lots of friends because everybody want to tell you all about themselves, okay Go around and just talk to people be friendly be kind Everybody wants you to buy them a meal everybody wants you to invite them over everybody I mean, it's just it's easy to have friends when you're willing to give It's not as easy to be friends when you're a taker And you know, i'll be honest. I've examined my friend life a lot throughout the years And I've realized like most of my friends were only takers But i'd rather have friends than just not have friends and it's like if I was waiting for friends to just come out of the woodwork and just Be a giver to me. I probably wouldn't have any friends either You know, so you just have to you just have to just suck it up and say hey I'm going to be the giver in this relationship, but I just want to be your friend anyways And you know, I have had friends and I have had plenty of friends over the years that have also been A better friend to me than i've been to them But at the end of the day most of my friends if I were just to be honest with you real blunt Most of my friends i've given way more into the rate relationship than they have it's really lopsided But I still like them Because that's what a friend is just like jesus is our friend It's really lopsided and how much he's given to us in comparison to what we've given to him And if you want to have a lot of friends just give here's one other application we can make out of this It seems like you can't really put the new ifb into the old ifb Because they can't handle it and then it breaks both doesn't it? It just kind of ruins both. Sometimes it makes the rent even worse in the old ifb, doesn't it? And so, you know, maybe you should just go to a new ifb church, you know, I mean, hey There's there's an application Says in verse 18 while he spake these things unto them behold there came a certain ruler And worshiped him saying my daughter is even now dead but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live And jesus arose and followed him and so did his disciples and behold a woman. We already read this This guy's asking for jesus to heal his daughter who's dead And then we get interrupted with the story about the one with the issue of blood for 12 years And another passage of the bible says that she had wasted all her money on the physicians And wasn't better, but she only grew worse saying that not all doctors are good necessarily That's like you went to the jehovah's witnesses for 12 years You went to the catholics for 12 years and you went to false religion for 12 years and you went to the non-denominational Church for 12 years and you got worse But what I like about this story in verse 18, here's a guy a certain ruler, you know what he believes in the resurrection from the dead There's a guy that believes in the resurrection because he's asking for his daughter to be resurrected No one would come and ask for a resurrection if they don't even believe in resurrection So we see people believing in the resurrection in the old testament, of course Jesus is going to come and heal this daughter It says in verse 23 when the jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and people making a noise He said unto them give place for the maid is not dead but sleepeth and they laughed him to scorn Here's an important lesson. If you serve jesus people make fun of you And a lot of times when you explain something in the bible to somebody people laugh at you I think that doesn't make sense or that's that's silly or that's dumb But what jesus said is true Now they just didn't understand it when he's saying sleep. She's he's obviously not saying that she isn't physically dead It's just when you're dead and saved you're sleeping Because you are going to be reunited with your body At the resurrection, of course, it'll be changed into a glorious body But that's one of the terms the bible talks about in verse thessalonians chapter 4 talks about those Who sleep and sleep in jesus and so that's often a reference of people that are saved That's why I also think in the old testament when you read about the kings And they'll say that they slept with their fathers. I think that's a euphemism for people that are saved Because they're sleeping and they're sleeping with their fathers and it's just kind of a metaphor to let you know Hey wink wink nod nod this guy's up in heaven with his fathers because because While the bible uses the word dead or die for people that are saved for sure uses it death is technically for only those in hell Now i'm not a joe's witness I don't believe in soul sleep because my soul isn't sleeping my body's sleeping Okay, soul sleep is a false doctrine But your body is going to be sleep. Okay in the sense that The spirit without the body is dead. So your body will be dead your physical body, but it's also considered sleep in a sense In the bible and of course at some point that old body will be reunited with your soul And it'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye and you'll have a glorious resurrected body Resurrect is to basically bring up again. And so Something's coming up. What is it? It's your body and it's just in a sense It's sleeping because it's not really doing anything just like faith that works is dead When you're not really serving god, you're not doing anything and when you're dead, you're not really doing anything for god while you're alive This is the time to do something for the lord. Jesus christ Don't let the people that make fun of you win Couldn't jesus be like, oh they're laughing they don't they're mocking at me so i'm gonna not do what i'm supposed to do here Ignore the haters ignore the trolls ignore the scorners ignore the mockers ignore all the meme makers Ignore and this is what's so funny the people that don't like jesus and the truth their memes are stupid anyways Their jokes aren't even funny anyways It's like when everything was going woke man comedy was just dying fast Because you know what makes something funny. It's true The more true it is the funnier it is the less true it is the less comical it usually is And so what makes things truly funny is actually the fact that they're true So, you know their jokes are really lame anyways, just don't even just don't even worry about it verse 25 But when the people were put forth he went in and took her by the hand and the maid arose And the fame here of went abroad into all that land And when jesus departed then two blind men followed him crying and saying thou son of david have mercy on us And when he was coming to the house the blind men came to him and jesus saith unto them believe you that i'm able to Do this they say unto him yay lord then touched either eyes saying according to your faith be it unto you So he heals this young lady His fame goes out everywhere. We see the lord jesus christ. He can do anything I mean, he's healing people in chapter number eight of big middle and small illnesses and sicknesses In chapter 90 ramps it up. It's palsy. He's forgiving sin Not only is that he's casting out devils. In fact, he's also just raising people from the dead Just everything and anything you could think of he's capable of doing And these men they're coming unto him. He asks them specifically. Do you think i'm able to do this? What is it that he wants them to have? Faith and what saves them according to your faith be it unto you If you believe that jesus christ is going to raise you from the dead He's going to raise you from the dead It's because you put your faith in him to raise you from the dead not your works Not your self-effort. It's be it on your faith on you. I think this is one context salvation I like how all the people that want salvation they ask him for don't they they come and grab them by the garment They say thou son of david have mercy on me They're going and seeking him and they're asking and as soon as they ask in faith They receive it every single time. I also think you could apply this though to Just our life circumstance If you want something to be accomplished in your life Here's the question. Do you have enough faith to accomplish it? And jesus will answer your prayers. I believe in many cases like this according to your faith Be it unto you how big a faith do you have You know, there's going to be difficult situations in our life. There's people that are maybe difficult to get saved. Well Be it on your faith According to thy faith be it unto you, you know may think that your life circumstances in a situation where it's not looking good Maybe you're struggling to find a spouse. Maybe you're struggling to get the right job. Maybe you're struggling with children Like to have children or the children that you want. Maybe you're struggling in raising your children Maybe you're worried about a wayward child. Maybe you're worried about a family member or a friend or Whatever circumstance you just think like i'm not sure if it can happen. Well, why don't you just increase your faith? Hey, I want to do something big for god, okay, what about your faith? Hey, there might be a big task ahead of you. Well according to your faith be it unto you God wants people to have great faith and say you know what? I know this is a goliath, but I can kill him with a slingshot Hey, I know that God is a great god and no one could ever build him a house of living But I want to build him the greatest house that could possibly be built on the earth and david lays up treasure On earth so that solomon can build a glorious temple under the lord and according to his faith You know, it's david's idea to build the house of the lord David wanted to do it and of course god wanted it to happen too But at the end of the day he did it according to what david's faith. He did it according to solomon's faith He did it according to All of the men of god's faith and so we need to increase our faith and and try to do great things for the lord Building our church going out soul winning Reaching the lost maybe making changes in our family and our circumstance, you know According to your faith be it unto you We need to increase our faith if he can heal people that are blind What can he not do he can raise people from the dead, you know your circumstance isn't that bad Verse 30 and their eyes were open and jesus straightly charged them saying see that no man know it But they when they departed were departed spread abroad his frame in all that country and they went out behold They brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil and when the devils cast out the dumb spake and the multitudes marveled Saying it was never so seen in israel, but the pharisees said he cast the devils of the prince of devils of the devils and jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people But when he saw the multitudes he was moved to compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd It makes sense that he's saying they're a sheep having no shepherd when their leaders are thinking he's literally casting out devils by The power of beelzebub by satan and sometimes we just have to ask ourselves this question when you see someone doing great works for god Who are you to come alongside and say that they're? of the devil Right, I mean there's so many people that would love to criticize the church that's seeing thousands saved People baptized lives changed doing great works of the lord and then they think like there's something wrong with it It's like no there's something wrong with you Like how do you how do you see all this work being done for the lord? How do you see the miracles of the lord and then say something evil? But or it'd be people that look at this book right here and say there's something wrong with it People that are anti king james. I think they have a bad spirit There's something wrong with them There's something wrong with their brain. There's something wrong with their spirit There's something wrong with their heart because you know what? This is a miracle of god this book right here Never man spake like this man spake and if you don't hear the voice of the shepherd, there's something wrong with you Okay, and you know, it's a dangerous place to be where you're constantly criticizing the obvious works of god I believe god is still on his throne I believe god's holy spirit still moves upon the waters of the face of the earth I believe that god is still actively doing things in this world. And if he's actively doing things in this world, we're gonna see it And when we see the effects of the spirit of god in this world Who are we to come alongside and criticize that and attack that and then try to attribute that to some demonic force or some evil spirit Or something that's wrong. No, we should see the obvious moves of god and we should come alongside those people and work with them Amen not come and criticize them No, jesus is going around preaching the gospel. He's healing every sickness in every disease and they're criticizing him Now, of course, we don't get to do that But what we can do is the spiritual version of this where we're going out and we're getting people saved And when you see someone just going out and getting scores and scores of people saved and doing the great work of god Why would you ever want to go and fight that and attack that and speak evil of that? You know, there's something wrong with people's heart when they have that attitude Says they're a sheep having no shepherd You know I don't want this to be the case I don't think jesus wants this to be the case, but there's times and places and areas Where it's like all the christians in an area just have no good shepherd in their area And you know a lot of people say like oh no. No, I think there's a great shepherd in every area But what about this area? What about this time? Jesus is saying like I just feel really bad. I'm moving compassion Because you see all these people that could be doing these things for the lord that could be used greatly by god But it's just like they don't have a good shepherd around they don't have someone leading them and guiding them You know, I've visited many churches filled with hundreds of people and i'm thinking man If this pastor would just start really emphasizing soul winning and starting a soul winning program I guarantee dozens if not hundreds of people in this church would probably start going soul winning Would probably start making some really good positive changes in their life, but it's like the shepherd just not shepherding And we need a shepherd to shepherd again We need shepherds to go out and do this the work of being a shepherd and actually guiding the flock and protecting the flock And we see a lot of shepherds today They're not protecting the flock and they're not guiding the flock and we just see sheep being constantly scattered What is what is it happens when you don't have a sheep or a shepherd? I'm, sorry The sheep are constantly scattered. It's constantly being divided and the work is not being unified And we see wolves constantly coming in and preying on and and and and and hurting sheep and causing them to go And then just be destroyed plus we don't see the fruit of the sheep Whereas with the shepherd we're going to keep them protected and locked together and unified and love and they're going to produce for the field They produce their fur coats And you know, what is it? What does a sheep coat do? Keeps you warm, right? I mean, it's not hard. Okay, you work who has cotton clothes on okay? Anybody does anybody wear cotton anymore? It's more of you that wear cotton. Okay Okay, what about wool anybody wear wool? Do you know what wool is? I mean of course sheep's clothing sheep gives you clothing And think about it you you take off his coat and then you put it on someone else That's the picture of jesus, right? He puts on his coat, but in a sense, you know, that's kind of what we do We go out and we're covering people With the coat of the lord jesus christ, that's what the sheep do the sheep are constantly being sheared And we're and then we're using that to cover people and the same way we go out and preach the gospel To help cover people of their sins And when the sheep are not together and they're gathered and they're not being sheared and they're not being used Well, then no really no one really benefits their coats Just kind of disintegrate off them and fall off and they just get wasted and nobody ends up using No, we need someone to go in there and shear And you know the shearing might hurt a little bit, but you know, hey Sometimes we need to go out and get sheared and of course We go out and preach the gospel may not be the most comfortable thing might be the most fun, but someone needs a coat There's a lot of people that are naked out there They're not saved and they need someone to go out and preach the gospel and he says in verse 37 Then say he unto the disciples the harvest truly is plenteous But the laborers are few Pray, therefore the lord of the harvest that he will send for the laborers Into his harvest. So we're supposed to be praying to god on a regular basis for soul winners We should be praying for the lord for soul winners Not church members soul winners Not people we can just bus in soul winners And look obviously we'd hope to have just more people that are not soul winners just showing up And we can convince them to become a soul winner But at the end of the day, you know We shouldn't try to see how big a church we should get just to have a big church We should try to see how many soul winners we can get We should try to see how many people and let me you know, what I like about soul winners Is they're not easily offended You know, I like about soul winners They like to work You know what? I like about soul winners. They like the truth. You know, I like about soul winners. They're usually not forgetful hearers They're usually people that read their bible. They're usually people that actually care about the things of god, you know I've noticed most of the time when people cause me severe issues in church. They're not soul winners or they're backslidden soul winners Maybe they were a good soul winner at one point, but now they're They're backslidden. They're doing less. They're not as interested. They're not going on the mission trips that they were going on anymore They're not doing the same works that they were doing anymore. You rarely see someone kick up their soul winning and then start Getting mad at church and quitting church and doing whatever you typically see the opposite see someone start Fading away and stop going less and then all of a sudden everything's a problem and everything's an issue Yeah I'd rather have a church filled with soul winners That's a safe church to be in that's a church that's doing the right thing and look that's the point of our church anywheres folks What's the point of us all just showing up and patting ourselves on the back? We're all going to heaven Yay We're all great We're all wonderful. I mean what if what if we come here every every single service? And we all have great families and we all have great kids and we all have great jobs and we have really nice houses And we never get anybody saved again What would be the point? Is that what does that really accomplish at the end of the day? You know, we should be opening our mouths boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel And we come to church to be motivated to do those things And of course We want to be good husbands and we want to be good mothers and we want to be good fathers And we want to be good children and we want to be good employees And and we want to be good church members and all these different things and we want to worship god together So that we can be a clean vessel But at the end of the day we do all those things so that god can continue to use us And he's going to use those That are doing those things the best anyways, you'll typically notice it's it's like the guy that has 10 talents Is usually getting 10 things done And it's like usually when you kind of get all of your ducks in a row It's like you're doing a lot. It's crazy to me That the people that do the most for our church are the busiest people that I know It's like the people that have the most going on It's usually guys that are married with lots of kids that have an important high like like a high stress job They have all kinds of things going on and then they just also seem to do the most for church and then there'll be people that have like nothing going on and Don't do anything and they have endless opportunity to contribute and they're just like doing nothing. They're just like what else can I have? You're just like you're not taking enough bro or what? It's like the people that already have so much going on somehow find a way to give more and the people that have You know nothing going on. They just like just take It's like don't don't think like oh, I can't busy myself with a wife. I can't busy myself with kids, you know It's funny to me how all these people want to act like these married guys are such bums or don't have time to serve god and i'm thinking like They're doing way more than you Like what are you doing? You know don't think like oh well if I get a wife I can't serve god anymore It's like all the people that I think are the best christians are married And i'm not saying all of them i'm saying there's obviously young single guys that are really zealous and god willing one day They will get married, but i'm just saying generally speaking most of the guys I really look up to in the faith Are married have lots of kids are doing all these different things. So i'm not saying don't have kids I'm not saying don't get married. I'm not saying don't have a good job. I'm not saying don't work hard I'm saying do all that but if you're not going so any what's the point? What's the point Well, we live in this tiny town and we're so great and we have the best marriage ever But we go zero missions trips. We don't get anybody saved We're not reaching anybody. What's the point? What is the point We're not supposed to just pray for members. We're supposed to pray for soul winners for laborers We want laborers We'll work till jesus comes You know, I want labors you say well, I don't want to work. Okay We don't need people that don't want to work We want people that want to work and we want to put them to work We have more soul winning trips and missions trips and all kinds of stuff this year than we're than we've ever done before And I want to I want to go on them. You know why we sent advantages or bandit to the philippines because he works Boy that man works And he worked hard at his job and he's a soul winner and he's going out there and doing the hard work And boy, isn't it nice the you know, the money that we give as a church to our missionary We get a report of thousands and thousands of people saved How many churches tonight had a newsletter? And it was like ricardo Was thinking about visiting church today Please pray that he might come And it's like duncan is just like 500 saved 400 saved three baptized four more soul winners added to his crew, you know, it's just like We need more people like him I mean there are churches today that have a hundred and fifty missionaries That they support and if we added up all their salvations they still can't compete with advantage surbanic And He's still winning And you know, that's who we need. I don't want a hundred and fifty missionaries that I have to support for $25 a month that do nothing. You know what? I'd rather have one missionary that we can pay his whole way and he does all the work And you know what? We need more people to come to church that want to do work and serve god and get plugged in And go all in and be a disciple and be like matthew, you know, jesus didn't need thousands of people to follow him He had 12 You know what those 12 had in common? Jesus said follow me and they got up and they followed him And you know what this church needs and these disciples it doesn't need members You know what every church needs and these disciples It doesn't need members. Let's go some prayer Thank you heavenly father so much for your word. Thank you so much for these instructions Thank you for such a great example that you've given us through your son Also these these disciples who showed themselves very faithful and willing to sacrifice all I pray that you would help us That have a desire to be a disciple that we'd be willing to make those kind of sacrifices That we would be willing to just see the words in red and we would just say we're going to follow them, too I pray that you'd be with us as we go out to do the soul winning This year. I pray that you would help bless our Our missions trip to mexico soon. I pray that you would help bless the cruise missions trips that we have lined up And all of our other future missions trips and all the soul winning And I pray that you would give our church more laborers The harvest truly is plenty is in this area We have so many great opportunities and so many expeditions and so many missions trips and we need more soul winners We need more people that are going to work hard. We need more people that are going to labor I pray that you would please just Bring us sheep that have a desire to do soul winning I pray that you'd bring us more laborers that want to do the work And that want to go out there and reach the loss and I pray that you would help us that are already here To have even more zeal for seeing people saved in his jesus name we pray. Amen Amen All right for our last song we're going to go to song number 125 the solid rock So One two five See it On jesus name Is Me Oh Me Oh On the last Oh Singing Excellent singing everyone, you are all dismissed.