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

Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. To God be the glory. 162, to God be the glory. Song 162, to God be the glory. To God be the glory, great things he hath done, So loved he the world that he gave us his Son, Who yield in his life an atonement for sin, And hope in the life he that all men go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done, O perfect redemption, the purchase of love, To every believer, the promise of God, The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus the Lord oversees. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done, Great things he hath done, Great things he hath done, And great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son, The purer and lighter and greater will be, Our wonder, our transport when Jesus be seen. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done, Great singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening, and thank you for everyone gathered here together. We just pray that you would bless our evening service, that you bless our pastor as he preaches to us, help open up our hearts to the word of God this evening, and bring us home safely tonight. We love you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, for our second song, we'll go to song 23, There is Power in the Blood. Twenty-three, There is Power in the Blood. Song 23, There is Power in the Blood. Would you be free from your burden of sin, There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you hold equal victory in, There's wonderful power in the blood, There is power, power, wonder-working power, In the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power, In the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride, There's power in the blood, power in the blood, Come for a cleansing to Calvary's time, There's wonderful power in the blood, There's power, power, wonder-working power, In the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power, In the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be wider, much wider than stone, There's power in the blood, power in the blood, Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow, There's wonderful power in the blood, There is power, power, wonder-working power, In the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power, In the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you do service for Jesus your King, There's power in the blood, power in the blood, Would you live daily his praises to sing, There's wonderful power in the blood, There is power, power, wonder-working power, In the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power, In the precious blood of the Lamb. Amen. Thank you so much for coming this evening, Steadfast Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin or if you didn't get one, You can slip of your hand real quick. Our ushers will come down the aisles and they can get you. Just keep that hand up. We are working on our Bible memory passage, Psalm 58 verse 11, and we'll have a grace week. So who's already quoted this thing to somebody? All right, who's gonna finish this? All right, so we got some more people. All right, great. So lots of people have been working on it. And then on the inside we have our service time, soul winning, our church stats. Please make sure you're turning in your soul winning information to your soul winning captain so that way we can record it. And then also on the right, please be in prayer for expecting ladies. We do have one to add. It wasn't printed, but we can add Emily Hernandez to the list. So congratulations to them. That's exciting. Yeah, there you go. All right. And then also we have our prayer list. We have lots of people to be in prayer for. If you have any updates or you want to be added for something, please email that to us. That's the best way. Or you can fill out a communication card and just slip it into the plate and we'll add that as well. On the back, we have the note about the baby shower for Mr. Minow. It's on Saturday the 30th and it is nursing's only preferred. Please register with Ms. Milstead if you're planning on coming or bringing something. There's also a false swap that Mr. Minow is organizing. If you'd like to participate, you can just bring any kind of item that has some value. I guess there is a note, please know large furniture. If you do have large furniture, I think we have a couple like online social media groups. You could probably just like email us and maybe we could send out something for you if you want to donate that. But I guess for the specific event, please don't bring any large furniture. Also, on the upcoming events list, we have the October 1st cookout and we have these little flyers that we've been trying to hand out to people. And so I've just been trying to invite anybody and everybody as we go out soul winning. And a lot of people have been appreciative of the flyer. I don't know if they'll come, but we'll definitely try to still encourage a lot of people. We sent out an email about people that wanted to volunteer. And if you hadn't emailed us or responded, you still can. We were going to have a couple people bring a couple extra barbecue grills. If you want to help cook or clean or anything like that, we can definitely use it. So please just make sure to just email us. That way we can make kind of a schedule and organize that event so it runs smoothly. Also, our FBBF is October 12th to the 15th. We have several events scheduled for that whole Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And really looking forward to it. Pretty much the only thing we're asking our church family is if you can bring us a dessert on Friday night. So that Friday night, we're going to provide pizza for everybody. But if you can just bring the best chocolate dessert that you have, you know, there you go. All right. And then also Texas Chili Cookoff, October 31st. I don't even know. What day is that? Do we even know? I'd have to look at the calendar. Does someone have any idea? What is that day? It's a Tuesday. All right. So we'll be meeting here Tuesday. We'll probably also just, you know, if you want to bring a game or something like that, we'll just kind of fellowship and hang out. And we'll celebrate Texas chili rather than celebrating the devil. So, you know, a lot of people will be going out on that night and putting beans in their chili, and that's just very wicked. So we don't want to do that. Also, they'll be, you know, worshipping the devil with outfits and costumes. That's also kind of demonic, but not as demonic. And so we just want to make sure we're celebrating the right way. November 4th is the Abilene, Texas Tony Marathon. That's pretty much really all I have as far as announcements. We can go ahead and sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 147. If you can find a handout or share with a neighbor, that's the best. But if you need to, you can use the King James Bible. Psalm 147. All right. Psalm 147. All right. Psalm 147. And together, and together, the outcasts of Israel, He lit the broken heart and minded of their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars. He calleth them all, He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord and of great power. His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifted Bob from Egypt, casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the heart, but to our God, who covereth the heaven with plow, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass, grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. He divided not in the strength of love, for he taketh our pleasure in the legs of a man, but more taketh pleasure in them that fear him, those deaf for his mercy. Praise the Lord of Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Messiah. Praise the Lord over Jerusalem, for He hath strengthened the hearts of thy native West. Thy children within me He maketh peace in my words, and filleth me with the finest of the weak. He sendeth forth His commandment up on earth, His word runneth very swiftly. He giveth the stone by glory, and scattereth the poor cross like ashes. Scattereth the poor cross like ashes. He cast it forth, His eyes like more, souls who can stand before His cold. He sendeth out His word and not death, and He caused His wind to blow, and the waters blow. So it is for not to take up His statutes, and His judgments unto Him. He hath not dealt so with any nation, and hath for His judgments. They have not. Praise He the Lord. As the offering plates being passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter number 13. Romans chapter number 13. Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter 13, the Bible reads, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisted the power, resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same. For he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Let us pray. Father, thank you so much for this church, and we thank you for Pastor Shelley, a pastor after your own heart, and we thank you for his family. I pray that you would help him to organize the chapter, please lay in his heart the message that you have for him to deliver to us, and I pray that he would preach with boldness. I pray that we would renew our hearts today and walk out better Christians, and I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So Wednesday night, I was preaching on Romans chapter 13, and I got through an entire verse, and so I felt like it'd be beneficial to just go ahead and try to finish that chapter this evening, and as we look here at verse 1 to kind of remind ourselves, the Bible says, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God, whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. So God takes it very seriously who's in charge, and I believe the Bible's very clear that every single person in authority and in power today, God has them there for a purpose. And in some sense, I would say it's according to his will. It's very obvious that not every single leader or authority structure is according to his perfect will or his ideal will, but of course, he's allowing that person to be in charge for lots of different potential reasons. I even think that many times God will allow a bad leader to continue reigning or continue to be an authority just because it's better than no leader. And sometimes people don't realize this, but many times a bad leader is better than no leader, and God allows a bad leader to continue existing until he can bring in a new leader or a better leader. And you could even think about this with King Saul and King David. You know, God rejected King Saul, but it took a long time for David to actually replace King Saul. And you kind of see it was a really drawn-out period of time where King Saul was basically permitted to be the king. And you kind of see the development of David to where he doesn't just go straight from shepherding straight into the kingdom, but rather he has a large group of men coming and gathering themselves unto him. He becomes a leader. He has to go through a lot of adversity, a lot of difficulty. And I'm sure that those experiences that David went through prepared him for becoming the king of Israel and becoming a leader and understanding how to manage a group of people and to have them follow him and go through this adversity probably repaired him greatly. And it probably is just God's timing to put David in at the time that he wanted. Also, you have really wicked kings that God permits to basically be in charge for a long period of time and then kind of removes them and puts them back as he sees fit. Now, a really good example of this is Daniel. Go over to Daniel 4 for a second. And I have a lot of other verses that I kind of wanted to share or kind of think about with you on this particular point. But, you know, Nebuchadnezzar is very clearly articulated in God's word as a servant of God. He like literally calls him his servant in different places in the scripture. I think it's also clear, and I'm not proving this point tonight, but I think that Nebuchadnezzar was not saved and I don't think he ever got saved, as evidenced by Isaiah 14. And Isaiah 14 clearly says that the king of Babylon is going to go to hell. Now, I've heard some people try to wiggle out of this and say that it was like a completely different king of Babylon or something like that. But Nebuchadnezzar is the main king of Babylon and so it's just bizarre to me to think that it's somehow someone else. But the Bible is very clear that the king of Babylon goes to hell in Isaiah chapter number 14. And I think that that's very clearly Nebuchadnezzar. Now, even though Nebuchadnezzar in my mind is not saved and almost becomes a physical reprobate at one point in the scripture, that doesn't mean that God couldn't use that person for his purposes and it doesn't mean he couldn't be his servant. And God teaches Nebuchadnezzar a lesson and if we kind of pay attention to the lesson that he taught him, it doesn't really give you the sense that Nebuchadnezzar is a great person. Okay, look what it says in Daniel chapter four verse 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and seteth up over it the basest of men. So according to the Bible and according to this prophecy that Daniel's kind of saying about Nebuchadnezzar in the future is he's saying sometimes God puts the absolute worst person in charge of a kingdom and that's kind of what's alluded to here in the book of Daniel about Nebuchadnezzar and he might have been just arguably the worst person. Pharaoh was probably just one of the worst persons to ever live. Herod that was in charge of the region where Jesus was was probably one of the worst persons ever. I mean he killed tons and tons of babies. He killed tons and tons of toddlers. Pharaoh killed tons and tons of babies, tons and tons of toddlers. I mean what kind of a sick psychopath is willing to just murder innocent little babies and children just to stay in power or just to hold on to a little bit more authority and think about the whim that they're on. It wasn't even like a for sure thing. It wasn't like Herod knew in his mind like if I kill all these children I'll stay in power. It's just any threat to his power well just kill a bunch of children. Just kill a bunch of babies. That's how hardhearted that person is. That's how much of a psychopath that person is. And Nebuchadnezzar when you kind of read about the reign of terror he had just going through the entire earth just decimating every single region, bringing into captivity all kinds of people and you know it doesn't say this explicitly but you get the impression and it's very seemingly clear that Daniel and his companions were made eunuchs because he's under the servitude of the master of eunuchs. So think about what this guy did. He went and captured all the children of these regions and then literally castrated all of them. That's kind of a psychopathic thing to do is to just capture all of these male children and then just castrate all of them. I mean that's pretty evil to do unto a society because it's basically like saying look you're going to serve the rest of your life slaving for me but you don't have the opportunity to reproduce or to have any children or to have that part of your life that for most men is the most enjoyable part of your life. So it's like that's a really evil thing to do unto all these children. It makes me feel like Nebuchadnezzar is a psychopathic reprobate folks, okay. And you know in Daniel chapter number four he's literally told by Daniel don't be prideful because God will reprobate you if you do. And then guess what he does? He's prideful anyways. It sounds like a reprobate when you just tell them like hey this is what God said, this is what God wants you to do and then he just does it anyways like he just doesn't care whatsoever. And then what happens? Look at verse 31. We kind of skip ahead in the story. While the word was in the king's mouth and what was the word? Well I guess let's use the verse 30 for some context here. The king spake and said is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? I mean Trump could say something like that probably, right? Nebuchadnezzar is just like isn't this just such a great kingdom that I've built by my own power? Isn't that just amazing how God can literally tell Nebuchadnezzar like don't say this because when you do you know you're going to basically cut down and then he just does it anyways. He just doesn't even care. And it's like look at verse 31. While the word was in the king's mouth. So it's just like as soon as he said it or while he's saying it even there fell a voice from heaven saying O king Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken the kingdom is departed from thee and they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will. So in the same way and we read a little bit more about this last time last Wednesday about Pharaoh Pharaoh at first is saying who is the Lord? Right? He's kind of being in my opinion sarcastic a little bit of a jerk and just acting like the Lord doesn't have any authority over me but by the end of Pharaoh's conclusion it's not the final plagues but kind of towards the end he's saying hey the Lord is righteous I and my people are wicked like he finally recognizes like okay yeah obviously God's on the chart and so sometimes God just wants to prove to really wicked people that he really is God that doesn't mean they got saved though Pharaoh didn't get saved just because he recognized that the Lord was righteous okay and just because Nebuchadnezzar is going to learn a lesson here I don't believe it means he's righteous why would he need this lesson since he already learned it in the previous chapter? Like didn't he already have this experience where he's trying to throw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace and he gets totally just punked by them I mean like he's just like hey you're not going to disrespect me and then he throws them in the fiery furnace only his servants die you know the servants of God come out and he's just like wow you know I guess there's no God like this and then he has a right of decree and tell everybody but then he's already back to his old antics again and he doesn't really recognize the Lord he looks at Daniel as being you know having this multiplicity of gods or being a son of the gods or you know he never really understands anything if you look at verse 18 it said for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee it doesn't sound like he's monotheistic okay even in this chapter so if he didn't get saved from the experience of the fiery furnace why would this experience be any different it really wouldn't okay from a salvific perspective but what it can do is it can be an experience where he recognizes who God is okay and he's being debased verse 33 so it sounds like he just became a brute beast and you know the Bible describes certain people as becoming brute beasts spiritually being like a reprobate and it's almost like this guy's like a physical representation of what a reprobate's like where they just become an animal okay verse 34 really really important language is coming from Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar finally recognizes look whatever God wants to happen will happen not only in the armies of heaven because he's saying hey his will's happening in the army of heaven but it's also among the inhabitants of the earth so God is having his will accomplished in the earth you know the Bible says in the Proverbs that the king's heart is in the Lord's hand and he turneth it whithersoever he will meaning that God can cause people to do all manner of things even in the book of Daniel we have later in the chapter where Daniel's thrown into the lion's den and you know that whole story the king can't even sleep you know we have all kinds of examples where God's affecting the king he's affecting his mind he's like reading about stuff you think that's just coincidence no no no God literally can do all kinds of things to people put them in the situations he wants put them in an environment where they're gonna have the thoughts that he wants them to have I mean God is still interacting with his creation on a regular basis and he is the one in charge of these kings of these rulers of these powers so if God's literally working with Nebuchadnezzar to accomplish his will if he's literally working with Pharaoh to accomplish his will you know I believe that he's working with Biden to accomplish his will now obviously it's not like they're on the same page and the same team folks okay don't hear me wrong but whatever he's doing to him blinding him making him you know an idiot or whatever confounding Mitch McConnell every time he tries to get up to speak somehow God is doing these things to these people on purpose okay and he wants these people to be in positions of authority for a very specific reason I want to read just kind of the rest of this chapter because it's interesting verse 36 at the same time my reason returned unto me and for the glory of my kingdom mine honor and brightness returned unto me and my counselors and my Lord sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom and excellent majesty was added unto me now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol in honor of the kingdom of heaven all whose works are truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase so what's the lesson from Daniel chapter number four it doesn't matter if you're the king of the entire earth God can abase you God can knock you down God is still in charge of the supreme ruler of the earth now some people say well this sounds like he saved you know what I get that point like it's not like I didn't read these verses and think like wow he made a lot of positive statements about God but you know my interpretation of this in context of Isaiah chapter number 14 is that Nebuchadnezzar is kind of a mini example of what's going to happen for every unsaved person because every unsaved person that rejects the Lord is going to be punished but then there's going to come a day when they have to give honor and glory to Jesus and the Father the Bible says that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father so it's like he basically just hey Nebuchadnezzar I'm going to reprobate you but I'll bring you back to your understanding one last time just to give me honor and glory just like he's going to do to every single rep Joe Biden is going to get on a knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord I mean Richard Dawkins is going to have to get on one knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Hitler is going to get on one knee and declare that Jesus Christ is Lord every single one of our protesters is going to get on their knee and they're going to say that Jesus Christ is Lord and it's going to be awesome like of all the people that I'm excited to watch say that they're some of the top of my list I'm just saying it's going to be epic it's going to be glorious and you know what that's the ultimate win there used to be this thing when you would wrestle that whenever you got the person in a submission in order to get out they had to say uncle or something like that right they basically just had and that was their admission of like defeat and so like the glory is when you can basically get them to do what you want and it's like God's ultimate glory is that he's going to get all these people that hate him to still recognize him and honor and praise him and just like the ultimate win and again that's what I think is happening in Daniel chapter 4 it's not that Nebuchadnezzar is now just saved and he accepted the mercy of God he's just he got his arm twisted so hard that now he's just saying uncle now he's just like yep well God is you know the one in charge just like Pharaoh did just like many other people did and just like the devil okay the devil still has to recognize Jesus as Lord even the demons fear and tremble now go back if you would well let's go let's go to another place go to Psalm 58 for a moment and I think this is an important parallel to what we just read about how God's judging among the inhabitants of the earth because you know we've been working on Psalm 58 and it's a pretty gnarly psalm honestly it's pretty cool it's not necessarily the most loving thing that you've ever read in your entire life but you know what not everything about the Bible is loving okay some things are gnarly and look at verse 1 do you indeed speak righteousness O congregation do ye judge uprightly O ye sons and men so it's like do you really even understand judgment and here's the answer to these questions no no you don't understand these things very well but I like the last part look at verse 10 the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked now interesting verse right but think about it in the context of like what if you were in a literal battle scene and you've literally just slain like tons and tons of men in the battlefield their blood is going to have gushed so much there could be literally pools and just tons of blood out in the battlefield and what if you have mud and dirt and stuff on your shoes they just use the literal liquid that's there to kind of wash off their feet or kind of shake off the mud I mean that's kind of the imagery that God is giving is saying like you're going to just win the battle so much and then you're going to literally even just be washing your feet in the blood of the wicked look at verse 11 so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth now why I connect those two thoughts is because sometimes when I read verse 10 I'm thinking of it in like a metaphorical sense or like when we're in heaven or like we'll get the final victory or something but like the image that it's actually painting in Psalm 58 is a justice in this life in this earth think about that and that's pretty cool, that's pretty incredible and I don't think that necessarily this applies to only it's just like your only time is you're going to wash your feet in the blood of the wicked but you know the Bible says the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just and I think many times we are going to see the righteous literally pillaging the wicked and taking advantage of their death, enjoying the spoils of their death and there's going to be times where us as the righteous people get moments where we literally are rejoicing at the destruction of our enemies at the defeat of our enemies and it's going to be like this Psalm where we're like just washing our feet in the blood of them and it's just like you know we're benefiting from their destruction that's kind of what it's saying isn't it like I got some benefit out of their just complete and utter death and their destruction and it's positive unto me and I think that we're going to literally see that and then we're going to literally have moments in our life where we say wow me being righteous for that decade me being righteous for two years me being righteous for 20 years wow I got rewarded and this guy got punished but you know what that takes faith because sometimes it seems like man they just keep winning winning winning winning but then all of a sudden God's going to just drop the hammer on them and you're just going to say wow God is judging in the earth and when I look at our government when you look at the government of the United States of America let me tell you something the vast majority of the leaders in this country are wicked as hell they are corrupt they are liars they are scumbags they are satanic they are evil but let me tell you something there is a God that judges in the earth and they should be fearing God so much right now because God is not just going to let all of these scumbags get away because either A option A is we're the end times Babylon and we know how that ends or B we're not at all which is very likely but you know what's going to happen they are going to get destroyed they are going to have something horrible happen to them they are not just going to get away scot-free and I get it that some people die in old age that are very evil I mean George Soros is like a thousand years old or something like that I don't know but let me tell you something it's going to be horrible these people are going to have a destruction there is going to be a day when we can look and say we shouldn't have gone along with them and took bribes and been evil and wicked with them some horrible thing happened to them and they're on a crash course folks the way our government is structured right now is it kind of has two end games and I don't know we'll just put aside end times theology let's just assume that we're going to be on this earth for another 200 years well the way our government is structured right now either they will be decimated and destroyed by a foreign entity or by a civil war but they cannot perpetuate in this level of corruption and evil because they're going to allow for just complete rebellion against them because they're so evil and they're so wicked so either a they're going to crumble our country so much that a foreign country will come in and they won't care about them and destroy them or you'll have a little uprising within your own nation and they will destroy them but their path is destruction either way and this is an important lesson that we're learning in Romans chapter 13 that you're supposed to fear the powers that be you're supposed to be afraid of this authority structure because God is ultimately at the top of this authority structure and it's like well do we have enough people paid off well you can't pay off God Hillary Clinton can't kill everyone she can't take out all the witnesses and at the end of the day God knows where all the bodies are buried God knows everything that's going on and you know evil is going to befall these people think about what's just happening with Obama even recently there's a lot of stuff coming out about him now that's exposing this guy as the wicked fraud that he really is and these people always end in shame I mean even Biden literally no one likes Joe Biden like even the liberals hate him even the Democrats hate him no one likes him no one likes his son he's not going to have a positive legacy these people are going to end in shame end in ruin and frankly speaking he doesn't even know where he's at probably he's already being punished for what he's done but you know why I'm teaching this is because I don't want you to think you know what everybody's lying, cheating, and stealing so why don't I do it too our government just seems to keep getting away with all this stuff let me tell you something they're not getting away with it they are not getting away with it and you know what I could die a martyr's death that's totally on the table but you know what at least I would still have a lot of children that would look into that example and they could be great Christians and I could leave still a great legacy we have a great church here and I think it would encourage and embolden a lot of people to do things for God but you know what the way Joe Biden and Hunter Biden are going to die is just disgrace and dishonor and nothing good about it and you know I really don't fear death as much anymore because I've already been married and had kids and that was kind of all I was hoping for anyway so you know at this point you know what I care about doing what's right and speaking the truth and you say well can we buy you off no you can't can we pay you off can we threaten you no I don't care anymore like we just need to have people that are just like you know what preach the word of God preach the truth stand up for the truth and you know what it'd be better to die a martyr than to just die one of these baby boomers on the little vacation yacht that's going to be repoed because frankly speaking inflation is going to make where you can't make the boat payments anymore you know and I'll tell you what America needs to get a backbone Christians need to get a backbone today and say it's more important for me to stand for what's right than to just hand my children a huge problem why in the world would I just want to hand my children just death and destruction hand them off under Nebuchadnezzar to be castrated and have their lives ruined you know what it's time for some real men to stand up and say I'm not afraid of what the devil can do I want to see what God can do with me I want to see what God can do through me and I'm not afraid of them I'm afraid of the ultimate higher power you know our country would be different if we had men that were concerned today with the higher power but you know what people are concerned with today if their football team is going to win tonight go ahead to Revelation chapter 17 oh it's football season the Cowboys are playing woo I know our whole country is going to hell in a hand basket but you know what a bunch of overpaid grown babies and tights I mean literally no guy in here would feel comfortable wearing the clothing that the Cowboys are wearing you would look like a faggot okay and they do kind of and look obviously many of them are strong and like you know it's not that they themselves are effeminate but like wearing that clothing is kind of gross folks it's kind of queer and grown men are going and just getting drunk and just basically caring about nothing to go watch a bunch of people play a game that they'll probably lose I don't know maybe they already played I don't know forgive me if they've lost already you know if they won somehow by a miracle or whatever but no one really cares it doesn't matter they change players every single season I mean it's meaningless but that's all like as long as I can just watch the football game all the way up until the communists knock on my door and drag me out to the gulag then I'm fine you know like that's all I want I just want to watch a couple more football games before I get to the gulag and I'm gassed and I'm killed okay because that's what I feel about America it's like this is a bad a bad train that we're headed on I'm just telling you like Americans don't care anymore and I think they realized with COVID they were like we can't shut down sports because then people will start paying attention to what's going on and getting mad we got to give them the sports back because that really helps them just pretend like nothing matters anymore and look in Texas specifically football is increasingly becoming more popular every year you know it used to be if you wanted to watch a college football game you know you had to do you had to go to the college stadium and watch it but then all of a sudden it was just like they started picking up and putting the big games on the Saturday night or on Saturday TV and then it was like hey let's start putting like most of the games and now it's like literally almost every single college game is televised like they've televised every single college event in fact many college games have hundreds of thousands of people showing up at them people are going to all these sporting events now you can gamble on every single event that you could ever think of you can like basically gamble on every down it's like is this going to be a throw or a pass or you know are they going to score a touchdown on this play or this third quarter there's all this fantasy what is the goal there first of all they're ripping everybody off of money but mostly they're just everybody's so distracted it's like I got to make sure to bet on every single play and every single touch of the football and that's just my life is consumed with just this stupid game where these atheists these overpaid children who can't even speak or write or read English are going out and chasing a football and that's what I'm dedicating my life to I got the jersey it was a hundred dollars you know I've got all my beer I've got all my tickets and everything like that for the season I mean how much are season tickets for a Cowboys game these days I mean you six korillion all right that's probably true I mean you could probably buy a house but instead of buying a house or building a business or doing something you know worthwhile with your time you're just going to go and watch a bunch of babies go around and cry about football it's sickening I mean at what stage does our government and our country have to be headed to hell for you to stop caring about sports enough to actually show up at church or care or pay attention to anything it's like people just think well I can't really do anything so I'll just go watch football well you know you could go to church you could get someone saved you could speak up you could stand for the truth at your job now I'll just get along I'll just not care well you know what you're not obeying the higher powers now you're not paying attention to the Constitution you're not paying attention to frankly you're not paying attention to your state's Constitution I mean look I went to the University of Texas this week and I talked to some of the most brain dead people I've ever met in my life I mean they're telling me that our nation is a secular nation it was built upon secular principles and I'm just like I said to this guy I said have you ever read the Constitution of Texas he's like oh yeah for sure yeah I've read all of it I'm just like okay well you know what the first line says humbly invoking the blessing of almighty God secular man so secular bra it's like these people just pontificate about how smart they are this one chick's yelling at me and cursing me out and saying we should have separation of church and state do you even know what that is and I was like yeah I do it was written in a letter and she's like it's in our Constitution no it's not you idiot you fool like what is wrong with our country today but you know what I bet they're both watching the Longhorns lose yesterday or whatever it was I mean good night they were so mad at the idea of not having football they literally were saying well I don't care what you believe as long as we can have football and they're like the Bible's against football I was like what are you talking about they're like well you can't touch a dug a dead pig carcass that's not what it's saying and football's made out of leather okay like what what is our society degraded itself down to now and like how are you going to obey the higher powers when you don't even know what the higher powers are you don't even know what they say and you know what it's a shame that people live in this country and they don't even have any idea what the law is what our country's set up as what the higher powers are I mean why do you think it is that the Democrats have seized control of our entire country it's because they've paid attention to how the system works how many of God's people actually cared and paid attention to how government even works to try and get in positions of power and authority to actually influence them for good and what if Christians instead of buying season tickets to the Cowboys said you know what I'm going to dedicate my life to actually making my community better or trying to figure out how to get in a position where I can actually influence the culture for good or helping someone you know it's basically Christians have abandoned our country already they basically just said you know what have the government, have the institutions of power, have the media have the church, have everything because you know what I'm just going to go cheer on the Cowboys and look I went to a church where literally the pastor talked more about the Cowboys than the Bible seemed like I mean he's basically getting up there saying hey if the Cowboys make it to the Super Bowl I'll wear a Cowboys uniform to church my pastor literally said he would be in full uniform Cowboys uniform if they ever make it to the Super Bowl does that have to do with the Bible that almost it's like saying hey don't even come to church just watch the game because that's more important and he would he would literally even like threaten people he would say like don't tell me what the score is after the service because I'm taping it like this is how we start the service we start the service and he's already telling you don't tell me what the score is of the game because I want to go home and watch it his head is already on the Cowboys game before he's even started preaching like that is our country in a nutshell it's like I care way more about the Cowboys game than I do what I'm going to preach to God's people and the country and then what happens oh yeah Christians are just now consumed with entertainment, fun and just living their best life now as opposed to serving God it's a mockery folks it's a shame and why would I want to continually give the positions of power and influence in our world to these secular God hating atheists I mean Daniel he rose to the top Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego rose to the top Joseph rose to the top I mean were they afraid of political power were they afraid of the government were they afraid of actually doing something for their country for better I mean Joseph literally saved the entire nation folks Joseph literally helped all of those people and I guarantee that furthered the gospel it furthered people getting saved it gave glory unto the God of the Bible it literally rescued his own family what if Joseph had never gotten into political power well you know what everyone would have died and let me tell you something if God's people just totally say we're never getting in government again we're never going to ever influence our culture for good in any way then who is God going to use to even rescue us it's not Trump folks oh Trump's so godly he just he loves the Bible the guy that says that he's never asked for forgiveness in his entire life because he's so good he's so perfect look you are fooling yourself and I think that a lot of Christians are like I just really hope Trump wins for for what reason oh oh let's let's see what did Trump do oh yeah he mandated vaccines how many of y'all love that oh yeah he shut down the government he shut down the economy he shut down businesses oh he prayed at the wailing wall was that did you like that part of the Trump presidency did you like the part of the Trump presidency when he said that Caitlyn Jenner could use whatever bathroom it wanted I mean like at what stage do you think like hey maybe this guy's not that great it's like people are saying you know what I have two options I'm going to be chopped up in small pieces or I'm going to be gassed to death and I'm just really hoping for to be gassed to death that's what I'm it's like isn't there a third option isn't there like hey let's let's see if there's something else we can strive for and why would I not then strive to be pleasing unto God getting into church going soul winning I mean if Christians realize how serious the situation is I would be like more in church I mean doesn't Hebrews tell us that as you see the day approaching it's even more needful to be in church it's even more needful to be going and serving God and going soul winning and reading the Bible and gathering ourselves together yet it seems like people are just thinking like nuts to it all like I'm just going to live my best life now you're not even having fun anyways okay but just to prove again that God can do whatever he wants with the people in positions of power look at Revelation chapter 17 verse number 12 and the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet but receive power as kings one hour with the beast that's always an interesting verse I have no idea exactly what that means but in some ways I've wondered if it's like ten random shadowy figures that essentially empower this antichrist and then take over their countries like they're not literate they're not already in power it's like a coup and you know if you kind of study like how Zelensky came into power in Ukraine it's really weird okay first of all he was making training music videos that's how he starts and then he played he had like a TV show where he played the president like basically he was just an actor pretending to be the president and then he just happens to become the president randomly and it was just like that's weird and could it be that there's just a bunch of corporations or some of these shadowy figures that just say hey we're gonna all invest in this guy and this guy's gonna basically put us in the positions of power or leadership in all of our countries when he comes in he's just gonna install all of us and it's kind of a ten eleven man coup as it were I don't know that's just speculation but look at verse 13 these have one mind well I guess they're one person or maybe that's a dumb way to interpret the bible and shall give their power and strength unto the beast these shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is lord of lords and king of kings so even if every powerful leader in all of America unite together and give all their power and all their strength and the one well Jesus still beats him he just can't do anything and notice he's the king of kings he's the lord of lords he's over all of these individuals as we keep reading it says in verse 15 he saith unto me the waters that thou sawest were the horse that it are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues and the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire for God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will look at what it just said the ten kings I mean these are the most wicked people that have ever lived on the face of the planet and you know who's will they're accomplishing God's will meaning what God can literally change the will and the mind of the most wicked people Biden might be doing exactly God's will have you ever thought about that I mean that's kind of hard to think about because he's so evil but it's like maybe God is just wanting these people to do all this horrible stuff and he's literally wanting them to do this horrible stuff and says and to agree and to give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled and the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth so again we're talking about end times Babylon go to chapter 19 I want to show you one more verse there but chapter 19 look at verse number 16 and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written king of kings and lord of lords so again the Bible just rings us over and over and over go back if you would to Romans chapter 13 so let's I really have established this point but I feel like it's something that hasn't been preached a lot or talked about a lot and people haven't thought about a lot or they get confused on so I just want it just so solid in your mind that the powers that be are ordained of God okay so then what is our response our response is not to resist whatever powers are there as long as they're not in violation of the higher power okay so as long as it's not necessarily directly violating or going against the higher power we are supposed to submit ourselves and essentially to go along with their structure says verse two whosoever therefore resisted the power is this the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive themselves damnation so if you live in a monarch and the king is telling you you know hey wear a red shirt you don't you do you wear the red shirt and if you don't you're basically resisting God at that point and this authority structure applies to all right if your husband says make me a pineapple mayonnaise sandwich make him a pineapple mayonnaise sandwich now that's weird okay but my dad and brother eat these and it's so gross like how let's just be honest anybody in this room ever eaten this one time anybody okay thank you for proving my dad and brother weird okay I'm just like what are you doing okay I thought that me and my brother used to make fun of him but then my brother started eating them I was like what happened you know I'm like I'm not going down this road okay I refuse it but again if that's what he says then you do it because why if you're not you're resisting the ordinance of God I mean do you really ladies do you look at your husband's rules as coming from God's mouth probably not and of course you know we're fallible we're not God but this is what this is the attitude he wants us to have and you men in here if you want your wives to have that attitude you should treat the authorities in your life like that and model that for them so that they can feel like oh wow he actually he actually acts that way so I should act that way and you know what when the husband asks that way then God willing the wife will follow that example and then when the wife follows that example you know who's going to follow that example the children but you know when there's a there's kind of a break in any of those chain links you're going to see a downward spiral when the wife won't submit to her husband and is constantly rebelling against her husband don't ever expect your children to obey you don't expect your children to treat you nice hey when you are just talking crap on your boss at work and you never want to do what he says and you're lazy and you're late and you don't do your job don't expect your wife to then just be knocking out of the park expect her to be lazy and mouthing off and and not doing the things that you care about you know we need to take personal responsibility when it comes to authority stop worrying about everybody else and start worrying about yourself and saying how are you treating things you know let me ask this question do you think that the men who don't come to church on Sunday night that their wives obey them as much as the men that come to church on Sunday night and let me tell you something the answer is no why because they're not taking church seriously they're not obeying their authority structure they're not saying well even when I don't want to do something I'm going to do what God said and then guess what that's going to trickle down and I guarantee you know it doesn't hurt your family to hear me ranting and raving too much yeah it might hurt beans and chili but I don't care about their feelings okay yeah there might be some things that you disagree with me on or my personal preferences maybe you're going to go eat Indian food and McDonald's tonight and you just have to close your ears when I get through those parts but honestly I'm helping you and you don't even realize it okay and I guarantee that people that go to church whether it's this one or not people that are going to church regularly their lives have been improved so much and they don't recognize all the things that improve whether it be their diet their mentality their lifestyle the way that their family operates there's just so many all these improvements and I'm just telling you when you take authority serious in your life it's going to affect the other people in your lives and it's going to affect the downward people in your life you know when you're frustrated frustrated from an authority perspective of those under you start looking at like what you're doing wrong start saying like crap how am I treating God then or how am I treating my boss or how am I treating my pastor or how am I treating my church or how am I treating my dad or how am I treating my mom or how am I treating the authorities that God has given me and look everyone in this room has authorities every single person I have plenty of authorities in my life we all have things that we can look to and if you're frustrated with how the people under you are behaving my question is how are you behaving because almost always we can improve we need to make some changes in our lives and what's a really challenging way how about our government I mean look our government sucks and there's some legitimate complaints against it but you know in the areas that they're still within the realm of biblical authority we need to make sure that we're doing what's right and taking it seriously now look again I'm not saying that if they tell me to do something on biblical I'm going to comply I will not comply I I will obey God over over man but in the areas that they're saying comply you know what I'm going to comply and what's one of the most you know pleasant things that they have us do how about pay taxes okay I mean good night this is one of the most unpleasant things I have to do as a person it just keeps getting more expensive you know when it came to Obamacare I had to pay the penalty like every single year because I just didn't even have health insurance I couldn't even afford it and it was so frustrating Obama basically ruined my life in that regard because like everything went up prices went up and then I lost insurance and then I had to pay the fee for it on top of it I was just like thank you so much but at the end of the day you know what I paid that fee I paid for Obamacare and you didn't I don't know if you did or not but it's like that was terrible okay but you know what what does the Bible say well let's keep reading it says verse three for two for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil wilt thou not wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same for he is the minister of God to thee for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil where for ye must need to be subject not only for wrath's sake but also for conscience sake for for this cause pay ye tribute also for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing so you're saying the reason why you pay is because in some regard in some capacity these people are God's ministers you know whether or not you like police officers they are God's ministers now does that mean that they're good God ministers not necessarily does that mean that every single cop should be brought on our stage and we should give them a round of applause no but you know what should happen we should pay them and you know this defund the police movement is a satanic evil movement because it is not doing what the Bible says and frankly speaking someone has to drag the criminals off to be punished someone has to drag them to the judge I mean Jesus Christ is telling you in Matthew chapter number 5 that you're supposed to agree with an adversary quickly lest they what drag you off to the court well someone's going to do that that's the cops basically they're the officers of the court and they're the ones that are dragging people around and you know wouldn't God they'd actually drag people up against the wall and line them up and put a bullet in the back of their head all the people that deserve the death penalty you say who's that faggots and you know what I would gladly pay their salary let's give them a double raise I'm willing as a society you can mark it down Pastor Shelley I will pay I will have our taxes increase and we will pay every cop $500,000 a year if they will put faggots to death okay it should be a position a highly regarded position a position of stature that way they can have a really nice house with a really big fence because you know what it's an ugly job and you know what I'll volunteer to be on the police force hey why not why shouldn't they be paid good money you know and again I'll even adjust it for inflation right not just locked in you know let's pay them tons of money if they'll at least do what the Bible said I mean to go like there's no cost too high to follow God's commandments our society would improve so much and so greatly that I'm willing to pay the piper on that one and you know at the end of the day we need to respect these positions of authority not because of the person but because of the position not because of the person but because of the position so it's like hey Pastor Shelley do you think that women should be police officers no now I'll say there's probably some positions within law enforcement that women can do and it's not that it's not that bad like them being the phone operator they're probably really good at that because whenever you're like distressed and like panicking a calming voice of a woman often will sometimes like help you through that situation you know if it's like me it's like what do you want get over it you know dude just handle yourself you know it's like like I'm not going to be as comforting as the woman that's just like you're okay everything's going to be fine you know like she kind of like has this natural built in instinct of like being able to help calm down people so maybe you could make a case that in some positions women can do a decent job or you know perhaps in things that are really ugly and awful that happen to women or children and they have a lady cop that can kind of be the detective to kind of walk them through some of those situations you know I get it but you know they should not be policing our streets they should not be the people going around trying to fight the criminals on the streets trying to arrest people trying to go out and tase people I mean it's just an ugly job that they shouldn't be doing you know what I also think shouldn't be the police officers? really tiny unfit men like we should have a standard where only the best the biggest and the strongest of men can even make it in the police force I'm not saying like let every man do it I'm saying let no women do it and let none of the scrawny pedantic men do it it's like they should be the best of the best why wouldn't we want that in our police force they should be highly regarded and we should have the greatest men of our society being in these positions of authority and we should respect that position but if I run into a woman cop you know I'm not just like talk to the hand you know I'm not just like you shouldn't even be in your job did you realize that you know you're usurping the authority of the man right now I'm the man you know don't tell me what to do you know I respect the position regardless of the individual and I think that is the proper way to handle our society does it mean that I agree with what's going on? no I already preached what I said you know if I go to court and there's a lady judge it's wicked, it's wrong but you know what I'll still say your honor not because she deserves it but because that position deserves it and I think that sometimes even people they'll go to an old IV church and they'll disrespect the pastor because of the person rather than respecting the office of a bishop and you know what people should respect the office of a bishop regardless of the person I get it if it's a false prophet we're obviously putting that as the exception category but I'm just saying look if the pastor is kind of lame kind of dumb or doesn't know the Bible well or not doing a very good job but especially if he's saved you should be respectful of that individual every single time and you should respect the office of the bishop and of the pastor and of the church and if you don't like the church then don't go you know I also don't even like this and I see people do this they're like oh my pastor did this dumb thing so I'm gonna post it all over the internet and then everybody just talks trash on this pastor and look I get it I get why people do these things and why they think this way but you know what that's just not really being very respectful of that position and you're gonna reap what you sow when you just put everyone on blast for every bad thing that they do be prepared that you're gonna get put on blast when you do something wrong and you know what that's not really what I want to happen when it comes to our society go to Matthew 17 keep your finger go to Matthew 17 for a second you know there's a lot of fights to be had there's a lot of battles that we have out right now but you know the last battle that I want to have right now is with the IRS like there's a lot of things that I'm willing to die for right now but paying taxes is just not it and you know I think that there's definitely I've seen it online and I don't know how real it is or not but there's definitely growing sentiment for people to say well our government sucks so let's stop paying taxes and let me tell you something I do not agree with that and I will not join in that party I will not support your group I'm not gonna throw the tea in the harbor sorry not gonna do it I'm just gonna keep paying the taxes you say well you're literally funding evil okay well let's just see what the Bible says in this issue Matthew chapter 17 verse 24 and when they were come to Capernaum they that received tribute money came to Peter and said doth your master pay tribute so the question is does Jesus pay taxes alright verse 25 he saith yes and when he was come into the house Jesus prevented him saying what thinkest thou Simon of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers Peter saith them of strangers Jesus saith them then are the children free not withstanding lest we should offend them go thou to the sea and cast and hook and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou has opened his mouth thou shall find a piece of money that take and give unto them for me and thee so what does he basically do he says hey Peter pay taxes for me and you now he kind of explains something though who's technically in charge of everything God God's in charge of everything does God really need Jesus to pay taxes unto the father no that doesn't even make any sense so you know what Jesus by obligation is not obligated to pay taxes but you know what he did it anyways why what was the whole purpose not withstanding lest we should offend them let me tell you something you're going to offend the IRS when you don't pay them okay they're going to get really uptight about that real fast and look I can I can stand the government hating me or attacking me or putting me in jail for some things but I just don't want to go to jail for being a tax protester I'm not interested in being Ken Hovind and if you want to be Ken Hovind then you know what go find some woods and go marry every single girl you find okay but that is not the life that I want and look what is the fruit of Ken Hovind what is the fruit of Ken Hovind I mean what's the last time you ran into someone and they said I got saved by Ken Hovind I don't think it's ever happened to me maybe it has and I forgot about it but I've never met that person I've met some people that said like I stumbled because Ken Hovind and then later I found someone else and they got me saved and it was like a stepping stone I found people that were saved and then they heard Ken Hovind and it made them zealous to serve God so I'm not saying he has a zero benefit but I will say this the fruit of his ministry stinks the fruit of his ministry stinks and you know what I'm not interested in joining a cult out in the middle of nowhere and see how many wives I can collect like baseball cards and you know what it's not even real wives it's just a bunch of adultery that's going on out in the woods you know and it's wicked as hell what he's doing even if he is saved it's wicked as hell and you know I'm not going to do it go back to Romans chapter 13 you're a FEMA pastor I don't care what you call me but if you think that the government is on my team you're an idiot if you think that the government is trying to help me be successful you're an idiot like how successful was it when the government literally had me pay a $42,000 judgment that didn't help hey how successful was it when the government literally forced me out of my lease and kicked me out of the building that didn't help folks you are a literal brain dead idiot if you think that the federal government is supporting Steadfast Baptist Church and Pastor Shelley I mean that is the furthest thing from the truth but let me tell you something I'm not against paying taxes I'm not against obeying the government when it's in line with God's word we should do it every single time and I'm not against government in fact our government structure is great it's just the people that are not very good there's nothing really wrong with the way our government is set up it's just the fact that the people in our government won't follow the rules I mean the governor of New Mexico literally just suspended the second amendment and you know who's sitting next to her the sheriff who also won't do anything about it I mean she's literally just violating the constitution she's basically just saying I'm a domestic terrorist in the nation of the United States I am an enemy of the constitution and no one's doing anything about it right now I mean honestly the entire state of New Mexico should just show up at the federal building with a gun and say nuts to you because you know what that is so unconstitutional so evil but you know what they did they went and watched the football game that's what they did so you know or got drunk or whatever they did that's evil and let me tell you something when they take the guns away from a society it's bad every time it's bad every single time and let me tell you something you know who's in charge of America right now the constitution and the constitution says that our right to bear arms shall not be infringed they should not go against the citizens of America and try to push them to actually enforce the constitution but let me tell you something Americans should enforce the constitution on its country otherwise you're going to go straight into communism you're going to go straight into dictatorship and be destroyed so look I'll pay their taxes but you know what I'm not going to go along with unconstitutional orders and degrees and if you say well you're funding evil well you know what I guess Jesus was funding the Romans that killed him too huh I mean do you really think that the Roman guard was just a bunch of Bible believing fundamental Baptist do you think they were just God's you know greatest they were wicked and corrupt too they killed Jesus I mean in some ways Jesus basically paid for his own funeral because he's given money to the Romans and they killed him so yeah I'll fund the American government while they put me on the chopping block and chop my head off but you know what I'm not going to do is I'm not going to reject God's power structure and say well I won't pay taxes no I'll pay for my own funeral if I have to well are you going to go along with unconstitutional orders no I'm not I never said that I would do that so there's some hills to die on but you know what I'm not going to violate God's word to die on an American principle okay and if our principle is rebellion then you know they can have it I don't want it look what it says in verse 7 render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honor to honor oh no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law the entire law is loving Leviticus 2013 is the most loving thing that we have in the Bible it's just so great and people just don't get this but you know what that's their fault verse 9 for this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely thou shalt love thy neighbor thyself so Leviticus 2013 is comprehended in what commandment thou shalt love thy neighbor thyself isn't it so funny whenever you say that you believe in Leviticus 2013 they're like oh well what about love thy neighbor thyself yeah that's where I'm getting that law from that's literally why I believe that is because of that verse thou shalt love thy neighbor thyself I mean it's found in the Old Testament law God's law is comprehensive folks he already figured it out and you know what that person's not my neighbor because they should be put to death so verse 10 love worketh no ill to his neighbor well I thought you were putting them to death yeah that's not no ill that's what God said to do and that's the best thing you do therefore love is the fulfilling of the law and that knowing the time that now is it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed that's kind of a funny statement to me but it's true right like it's like every second that ticks we're just that much closer to Jesus right so he's just saying hey our salvation is even nearer it's even nearer it's even nearer so it's time for us to wake out of sleep stop watching the stupid game and get in the ball game that's real get in the real football game get in the real competition get in the real gridiron get in the real arena go out there and preach the gospel to people where souls are really on the line and where when you score it actually means something all the other touchdowns and field goals and everything else that you can think of from a sports analogy it's meaningless the only real win is when you get someone saved that's the real win verse 12 the night is far spent the days at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantness not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof you know the Bible is saying you have to actively make sure that you're not satisfying the flesh notice what it says make not provision for the flesh it's meaning don't put yourself in a position to where the flesh is going to be gratified you have to literally just say no and not even make provision for it it's like well how do you not get drunk you never be around alcohol you're making no provision for it you know how you don't get drunk you literally have no alcohol to drink you know water and welches will not get you drunk you just can't get drunk off of it it's like hey I'm at home and there's no alcohol well you have no opportunity to get drunk then it's like well I'm home alone with my wife there's no chance to commit adultery then is there I mean well you know what I'm really tempted to go out and get drunk and commit adultery well you know what show up at church because there's not really any provision here at church for that well you you know I do things that are bad on the internet ok well then unplug the computer well I waste time on my phone turn the phone off well I eat McDonald's I don't know what to do alright just get a brain ok cause it's on every street corner ok have your wife make good food at home ok there's your solution right then you won't want it you know why you want McDonald's because it's late and nothing else is open and there's no food on the table because I guarantee if there's a great meal on the table you're not gonna want McDonald's McDonald's is the consolation prize at best and it's when nothing else is open like there's a McDonald's by my house and it's like 30 cars after 10 pm cause there's nothing else open and it's just like it always baffles me how there's so many I see cars like coming out pouring out in the street and I'm just thinking why is anybody going there it's cause there's nothing else open but you know what when you make provision for the flesh you're gonna end up finding yourself making bad decisions going down dark roads you know when it comes to paying taxes you know I'm not like it's not like April 14th and I'm wondering if I'm gonna do it or not just pay it early you know tithe it's just the first part of my check you know what church we're heading there early you know it's like hey we're gonna show up early we've already decided we're going we've already made provision to go to church we're not making provision for the flesh we already made our plans around these things you know here's a good idea and again take this with a grain of salt ok but when I moved to Phoenix to go to be part of faithful work I moved four minutes away from the church so I had like zero excuse to not go to church now I don't I'm not blaming anyone for not being close to this church ok so that's why I say don't hear what I'm saying wrong but in the end I say I wasn't trying to structure my life to make church as hard as possible I was trying to structure my life to make church as easy as possible when you structure your life where you're making the things of God really hard you're gonna end up finding yourself not in church well I bought a house three hours away and I have a nice farm you know what's gonna happen in a couple years you're gonna be on the farm and not in church and then it's like other people they prioritize church the things of God and then after a few years you know where they find themselves? In church it's like you're gonna Lot started pitching his tent towards Sodom and just inching closer and closer and then where does he find himself? In Sodom you know don't don't pitch your tent towards Sodom don't make provision in your life for the things that are evil don't set yourself up you know you men if you know you have a job and you say hey they want to start making me work with this woman in my company and I'm attracted to her quit your job before you do that well they're wanting me to travel for work and they want me to travel with this attractive woman don't do it they're wanting me to go and hang out with this person or whatever don't do it just don't even make provision just be like Joseph and say I'm just not even gonna go in the house I'm not even gonna go anywhere near that hey when I hang out with my my brothers and my friends back home they always go to the gentleman's club don't hang out with them ever don't go with them well every time we go to the game everybody gets drunk don't go to the game just stop putting yourself in bad situations and thinking that you're strong and you can handle it don't do it you know what the strong person does? he just doesn't go anywhere near it he just stays away from it he doesn't make provision you know it's like just drive around the McDonald's don't even look at it okay when the billboard just close your eyes whatever it is in your life that you have the problem for we're too weak we can't handle sin just get over yourself you're too weak we're too weak we're putting up boundaries in our lives and just saying you know what I don't even want to give myself an option here I have no option you know men if you ever have to text another lady just include your wife in the text message group text message you know there was a pastor in this area that like got fired for like texting women that weren't his wife and supposedly it wasn't wrong or bad I was like I don't know about that but you know what you're not gonna really be in trouble when you're doing those things and the men that are gonna be successful in life didn't make provision for the flesh the men that are gonna basically be with Delilah and getting their eyes gouged out well you know what he made lots of provision for the flesh and so let us be careful with our lives let us make sure that we're obeying our powers let us make sure that we're doing what's right let us make sure that we're not putting ourselves in bad scenarios and bad situations where it's very likely we could sin again let's just stay as far away from as possible it's just not worth it it's never worth it it never will be worth it and you'll never come to me and say Pastor Shelley I'm so sad I didn't make provision for the flesh you know what happens people say hey Pastor Shelley I hung out with the wrong people hey I went back you wouldn't be the first you wouldn't be the second the third or the last tons and tons of people sucked away in this junk stop doing it thank you Heavenly Father so much for your word thank you for giving us these clear instructions I pray that we would take heed unto ourselves that we would respect the office of authority that you've put over us whatever that authority is I pray that we're willing to have the bravery and courage to obey the higher powers if there's ever a conflict of interest I pray that you would help us not to be jaded against paying tribute or custom when we have to and I pray that you would help us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to not make provision for the flesh and to not go back to the darkness to not waste our lives to realize that we have but a short time and it's such a crucial time that we need to be serious and sober about our lives and making the best decisions that we can and I pray that as the people in this room strive to serve you that you would give us grace that you would empower us that you would bless us that you would give us favor that you would allow us to do great and mighty works for your honor and your glory and in Jesus' name we pray Amen Alright for our last song we're going to sing song number 50 Peace Perfect Peace song number 50 Peace Perfect Peace song 50 Peace Perfect Peace Peace Perfect Peace In this dark world of sin The cloud of Jesus whispers peace with him Peace Perfect Peace When sorrow surging round On Jesus goes not what calm is found Peace Peace Perfect Peace Our future all unknown Jesus we know and he is on his throne Peace Perfect Peace is sharing us and Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers It is enough Earth struggles soon shall cease and Jesus call us to his perfect peace Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed