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I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. Psalm 148. I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. 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I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. I don't want to, I don't want to. We have very clearly here the Apostle Paul talking about, he had every reason to live in the flesh, to have a good time in the flesh. You know what? He ended up counting it all loss that he could win Christ. And when you become saved, you start realizing, oh vanity of vanities, you know, you start realizing that all is vanity, that the rest, this world just has nothing to offer for you. Serving Christ is where you're going to only get the true joy and true fulfillment. So think about this. By being saved, you're the only one that has the opportunity to have true joy, true satisfaction, true happiness, true peace. All the people that are not saved, they don't have that. They don't have the peace that passeth all understanding. They don't have that constant joy. And you know it's a privilege to be able to do that. Now I'm not saying because you're saved you're going to automatically be like that. You have to actually read your Bible and be in the Spirit and allow the Spirit of God to minister unto you, to allow you to have that peace and that joy. But you know what? You have that privilege. You have the privilege and the special opportunity of counting all this world junk, all of it just a complete worthless waste of nothing and just experiencing the joy that comes from God only. Go if you would to 1 Peter chapter number 1, 1 Peter chapter number 1, go to the right in your Bible, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, look at chapter number 1 verse number 10. When we talk about salvation, look what the Bible says, verse 10, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified before in the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look into. You know what Peter's saying? He's saying the whole Old Testament was written for you. They were writing about Christ coming. They were writing about Christ giving the gospel. They were writing about the Gentiles receiving the gospel and he's saying, they've given it to you. You have it. He's saying all the Old Testament prophets, they wanted to know when Christ would come. I guarantee if we went back in time, we'd talk to them and they'd say, hey, are you glad that you live now or would you like to go forward in the future and see when Christ already came? And they'd be like, let's go in the future. And it's so silly that we actually have that, we're thinking like, let's go to the past. They're looking forward to the cross. They're looking forward to the gospel. They're looking forward to the glory that's coming. He says not just the prophets from the spirit of Christ being inside them, he says even the angels desired to see such things. Even the angels wish they could have had it. You know, what if we could go back in time and say, hey, what if I could give you the whole word of God? You don't think they would be interested? You don't think prophets and men of God would mention and be like, here it is. We could just go to the dollar store and get the entire word of God just for a buck, for one dollar. What a privilege. You know, they didn't even have, I mean, the copies they had were handwritten. Imagine if you guys wrote a Bible. Some of you's handwriting, I'd be confused. What is like the message or something, you know? Just because you're handwriting alone. I mean, we have a perfectly typed word of God without error in the language we were born. There's some. But most everybody in this room started off with English. And you have it right there in your fingertips. What a privilege. What a special opportunity that you could read all of the verses, have all the knowledge that the prophets wanted to have, have the knowledge that the angels wish they could have looked into. You have it in your fingertips. I think sometimes we forget about the privilege, about the special opportunities that we have right here in our fingertips. So if you would to keep your finger here because we're going to come right back, go to Exodus chapter 19 for a moment. Go to Exodus chapter number 19. You know, the Bible says that we're supposed to shine as lights in a dark world. What a privilege. What a privilege that you get to be a shining light. And think about it this way, there's not very many lights on right now. So you have a special privilege of while you shine, really lighting things up. Because without you being turned on, it's really dark. Whereas if everybody's serving God, if it's just, you know, 95% of people are on fire for the Lord, it doesn't feel that special. It doesn't feel that, you know, privileged necessarily. But you have to realize very few are going to serve God. Harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors be few is what the Bible teaches. And so you know what? You have a special opportunity. You have a privilege to be a great shining light and to shine in the darkness. Where people can't see anything, you're their only light. In fact, most doors that we go out and preach the gospel, you in this room right now, you're their only light. Because you know what I don't do? I don't knock every single door individually. We give out maps. And that map could be the only light that they're going to get is you and your partner. Going and knocking on their door, going and giving that, I mean, it's just complete darkness. The only thing coming around is a Jehovah's false witness or a Mormon damning their soul, some kind of a flyer to send in money to Joel Osteen or whatever, TD Jakes or to the gateway. No, I want to get inside. I don't want to be outside the gate, okay? And you might be the only light that they have. What a privilege. And you say that's unique. Yeah, the Bible describes as being unique. Look at Exodus chapter 19. Look at verse 5. Now, therefore, if you obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. You know what God says? He says the people that are saved, his people, are a peculiar treasure above every other person on the planet. Isn't that a privilege? I mean, talk about a privilege. I mean, the God of the universe, the one that spoke everything into an existence, the one that has seven billion people on this earth that he created, and he says you get to be a special treasure, a peculiar treasure, a unique treasure unto God. That's a privilege, my friend. Because think about it. In the past, there may have only been, you know, hundreds of thousands of people on the earth, a few million. There's seven billion people on the planet, and you are above so many billions of people, you're a special, peculiar treasure. And it's not because you and I are anything better than anybody else. It's Christ that's in us that makes us better than anybody else. But what a special privilege that God looks at us and thinks of us as being more special, a treasure. I mean, isn't that what you want your parents to say to you? Hey, of all your siblings, you're my peculiar treasure. You know, you're my special treasure. You're my favorite. You know, you're the one that I really enjoy and am pleased with. That's what God's saying to us. Go to Titus chapter 2. Go to Titus chapter 2. We're going to come back to 1 Peter. Go to Titus chapter number 2 for a moment. You know, I think sometimes we forget what we're like in the view of eternity. In the view of eternity, we're God's special treasure. We're God's peculiar treasure. You know, we think of peculiar as often being kind of a negative word, but the Bible uses a positive word. You know, as being special, rare, unique, separated. These are all biblical concepts that we have in the Scriptures. And notice another place where it uses this phrase, Titus chapter 2 verse 11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and her Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. So notice God doesn't just want us to go to heaven. He does, of course. That's the main goal. That's the main purpose. But beyond that, he also wants to purify us from iniquity. He wants to redeem us from our iniquity. He wants to clean us up so that we could be a peculiar people. And notice this phrase, zealous of good works. You have the privilege of being zealous of good works, whereas many people, they're zealous, but in the wrong thing. They're zealous for Donald Trump. They're zealous for the Republican Party. They're zealous for their online platform. They're zealous for all these different things. They're zealous for money, for the promotion, for their job, for all the things of this world. But you know what? God says, I'm going to give you a special privilege that you can be zealous of good works, works that actually have an eternal value. Imagine you go to your job Monday morning, tomorrow. Your boss comes in and says, we have a job for you. We need you to go outside and dig a hole and then fill it back with all the dirt that you dug up. And you say, why? It's completely pointless. You're like, cool. Who would want to do that? You'd be kind of frustrated in your job. And they say, in fact, everything you do for our company is completely worthless, just FYI. Wouldn't you be kind of like, maybe I need a new job? What if you walk into your job tomorrow and they say, we have the most important job you could possibly do for the company, and you're the only guy that can do it, how would you feel then? Wouldn't that be a little bit different? Well, look, everyone that's not saved is just digging holes and filling them. And the people that are saved, God's calling you. God's trying to open up your heart and say, look, I have the most important job that you could ever do, and I want you to be zealous for doing it, zealous of the good works, going out and reaching the loss for the gospel. What a privilege. I think we just don't even fathom the great privilege and the special opportunities that God is affording his people today, things that actually have eternal value, things that are going to matter for the company, not just going and digging holes and filling them. Well, I dug a really big hole and I really filled it. Good job. You're just as good as the guy that did nothing, as the guy that just, every construction worker that was just looking at his shovel hoping it would do work for him. I mean, there's no difference between those two guys. What's the difference is the guy that has the special opportunity. And let me tell you something, by being saved, you have a special opportunity. Let me go back to 1 Peter, chapter number 2 now, and look at verse number 9. The Bible reads, the year a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness and to his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which did not obtain mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from freshly lust, which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. So it says, you know what, even though you have a really special job, even though you're a peculiar treasure, a peculiar people, you know the world's never going to get it. The world's not going to understand and the world's not going to praise you for it. The world's not going to say like, oh guys, you guys are doing great. Way to go. You all have a really important job. No, they're just mad that you have an important job, so they're going to try and tear you down and they're going to call you an evildoer and they just want you to stop doing that really good job because they're just envious of the position that you have. They're envious of the relationship you have with God. They're envious of the fact that your works actually matter and so they're going to try and stop you from being the peculiar treasure that God wants you to be. You know what? We have to realize the privilege we have because some people, they stop being the peculiar treasure because they are their own enemy. They're just so dissatisfied with where they are. They wake up every day just mopey, oh no, they censored more content and more restrictions and more problems and oh, you don't know how bad it is and just wake up just discouraged, wake up frustrated. They wish that it was the 50s or the 60s or the 70s or the 80s or the 90s or 2000, I don't know what it was. For you, maybe it was 2019, you know, I don't know what it was, just some year that was better than this year supposedly rather than waking up and having the right attitude. Go to Psalms 118, go to Psalms 118. You know what? You know the truth and you have the capability of doing it. You have the Bible. You can read it and understand it and you know what, the Bible says that God has new mercies every morning. New mercies every morning. And you know, instead of waking up being so discouraged and so disappointed that you have another day on this earth, why don't you look at it as a privilege, as a special opportunity to serve God? You know, why don't you do what Psalms 118 says in verse 24? This is the day, this is the day that the Lord hath made, that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice, we will rejoice and be glad in it and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord hath made. Now it's going to be kind of hard for you to be so discouraged when you wake up singing that. Have you ever thought like God made this day? God made the day that I'm in right now. It's a day that God made for me to do what? To shine in the darkness. And you're like, oh, man, it's getting more dark. Well, that just means you're shining brighter. Why would that be so bad? I mean, you know, these lights look kind of cool, but you know what, they look really cool when it starts getting dark in here. I mean, who likes to look at Christmas lights during Christmas, right? How many of you all go during the day? What? Why don't you all go during the day? When do you like to look at Christmas lights? Don't you like to go when it's pitch black out? Don't they look great when it's pitch black out there? And then people get so mad that it's getting pitch black out there. Well, guess what? People are going to want to see your Christmas lights all of a sudden. Shining is a great shining light. And look, it's not our glory, it's Jesus Christ's glory. Think of all the privileges we have today. I mean, we get to be a bright and shining light. How about just technology? You know, people get all mad. Look, you don't want to go back in time when it comes to technology. I like a car. I like indoor plumbing. I like air conditioning. I like heating. I like the internet. Hey, what a privilege that if you like a sermon, you could go on YouTube and watch it again. Or you missed the sermon, you could go and watch it. I mean, think about the opportunity. They say, oh, they censor some of them. Yeah, but you still have lots that you can listen to. And if you go to the right websites, you can find all of it. Isn't that a privilege? What a privilege that you get to go back and listen to all kinds of great preaching before. In the past, if you missed Sunday service, people are like, oh, man, it was a great sermon, you should have been there. Wouldn't that be kind of, you're like, man, that sucks. I wish I had heard that sermon. Today, you can actually relive it. You could memorize it if you listen to it enough. Ask Ben. No, I'm just kidding. How about memes? Look, 20 years ago, we didn't have memes. Memes are great. I love them. Praise the Lord for memes. Like the greatest joys I have sometimes are memes. I'm just being honest. Someone posts that meme out there and it just hits you just right and you just laugh for like a minute straight. It's joy. And you say, why are they so funny? Because it's true. All you're doing is laughing because something's so true. It's so funny. You get to laugh at all the stupidity. Look, if the world wasn't so stupid, we wouldn't have all this opportunity to laugh. What a special opportunity and privilege to live in 2021 America where you can literally laugh nonstop at how stupid the world is. I mean, there is constant jokes. Why? Because the world's just so stupid. It's so foolish. You know, if everybody was so smart, they'd be laughing at you. Is that what you would like? Rather, we get to be God's chosen people. We get to be a peculiar treasure on him. We get to have the truth. We get to have this special knowledge. And look, it's not about how smart we are because frankly speaking, from a worldly perspective, it's not like we're smarter than other people. It's Christ that's enlightened us. It's Christ that's given us this wisdom. It's Christ that's given us this knowledge. And you know what? We shouldn't take that for granted. But we should rejoice that we have this wisdom. We should rejoice that we have this understanding. When we see the foolishness of the world, we should praise God for saying, for not allowing us to be that stupid. And in times past, a lot of us probably were. Maybe not to the extremity of the last few years, but we've all probably had stupid thoughts, stupid ideas. We were ignorant of certain facts, of certain things in the Bible, and we would have been foolish and ignorant. We would have been the mean. Some of you might still be, but today we get to rejoice about the truth and knowledge. Go to Luke chapter 12 for a moment. Go to Luke chapter number 12. I want you to realize that your life is actually really great. I just think that you just don't realize it because you're locked into this idea of it being better than reality or something, or you're locked into a Facebook virtual reality idea where everything's just wonderful and your kids are always smiling on pictures and whatever. And it's like, well, my kids aren't, but your kids are, and it's like, I photoshopped it. It's fake. It's not even that real. When we're taking pictures, it's hard. That's not reality. If we took reality pictures, everybody would be dressed weird and the kids would be screaming and throwing up and sick. That's reality. People just have this warped idea of what reality is rather than looking at reality and realizing how great they really have it. The food that we get to eat in America, find me a time in history where people were eating like we are right now, and you have every opportunity. There's nothing stopping you from going to one of the greatest steakhouses or one of the greatest Mexican restaurants or one of the greatest barbecue joints. If you didn't live in Texas, you might not be able to get great barbecue, but praise God. What a privilege. You live in Texas, and you can get Texas barbecue. You can get Texas chili. Right? Amen? I mean, you can get all kinds of great. You can come to church and have some of the greatest desserts ever, just a whole smorgasbord, a whole cornucopia of all kinds of great desserts and foods and delicacies. In fact, sometimes our church even just caters the barbecue for. You just showed up, and you just get to feast on some of the greatest food. I mean, I guarantee there's people that went their whole life in history that never had a meal like some of the meals we have on a regular basis. They're not having constant brisket and steak and lamb and bacon. I mean, look, if you lived in the Old Testament, you didn't get bacon. Talk about a disappointment. I mean, they were saying, is bacon over there on the other side? They're like, I think I understand the Old Testament. I think there's bacon on the other side. That was the glory that they were looking into of the gospel. I'm serious. I mean, you don't realize how great that you have it. Oh, I wish we could go back in the old time. Oh, you mean when you send it all, you had to bring an offering, an animal sacrifice offering? For some of you, you'd never stop bringing offerings. Think about that. I mean, they had to travel great distances without a car. Think about your wife complaining without a car. Depending on a camel, a smelly, dirty camel, she's like, I'm not going to use that bathroom. It's like, honey, it's the tree or nothing. You know, it's like it's the bush or nothing. You know, they think that McDonald's restrooms are gross. How about travel through the desert and tell me, you know, where's the toilet paper, hun? Where is it? I mean, we get Charmin. You know, we get whatever. I mean, we have so many dogs. We're so pampered. I mean, the people in heaven must think we're the most spoiled brat on the planet today. They're sitting here thinking like, oh, they're suffering. They had to wait in line to get Charmin. I had to make my own Charmin out of glass, you know, out of sandpaper. I never had Charmin growing up. They didn't have a toothbrush. They didn't have a cheap motel to stay in. I mean, Jesus was born in a manger. Do you remember the Bible? People are just so ignorant of what the world is actually like. They're so ignorant of all the blessings and the joy that they have. But let me tell you something. Because you're so blessed, because you have so many privileges, God actually expects you to do a great work for him. Look at Luke chapter 12 and look at verse 46. The Lord of that server will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he's not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did it according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Notice, if you've been given great privileges, if you've been given great opportunities, if you've been given a lot of knowledge and understanding and wisdom, if you know what to do and you're not doing it, God is going to require that at your hand. Him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And let me tell you something. You guys in this room have been given much. I've been given much. We've been given so much from God. And you know what? God is going to hold us to a high standard because we've been given so much. So you better be careful how you live your life. You better take heed how you hear is what Jesus was warning people. But when you've been given just the keys of the kingdom, I mean when you say, oh, I understand the whole Bible, whoa, are you doing the whole Bible? You don't realize how much you should know, how much you should be doing is supposed to go hand in glove. And frankly, here's one of the most important things we've already talked about a little bit. First privilege is being saved, but here's the second privilege, being a soul winner. Go to Daniel chapter 12 for a moment. Go to Daniel chapter 12 for a moment. Being a soul winner, I think some people take so lightly, look, this is an extremely valuable privilege, just being a soul winner. I think some people are discontented with the idea of only being a soul winner. It's like, whoa, that's a huge job. We're ambassadors for Christ. Christ wants to send you to get people saved, the most important job that could ever be done. I mean, you are the bread and butter of Christianity. You are the real deal. You're the most important work, the first work. It's the love of Jesus, it's the love of God. Nothing is more important than being a soul winner. I mean, everything pales in comparison to being a soul winner. Being a soul winner is the most important thing. You say, well, it would have been a great privilege and honor if I was a disciple. But look, you get to do the same thing they did. You get to go out and preach the same gospel. Well, to be an apostle, I mean, do you think that it would have been good for an apostle or disciple to just walk away from his job? I would have been pretty upset, huh? In fact, he drags them back out to the work. He persecutes them back out to the work if they won't do it. And I'm telling you what, if you know to be a soul winner, if you've been a soul winner and then you start backsliding, you start deciding not to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, beware of God punishing you, chastising you back into the work, back out in the field, because he wants you to do that kind of a work. And think about, we get to do soul winning just like the apostles and whatever, but think about their mission field, right? Let's compare a few things. If I were to say, I'm going to drop you off into 35 B.C., Jerusalem, you don't have a King James Bible, get people saved, how many people think that would be that fun? Or I say, hey, how about 2021 America in Texas with a full King James Bible, now get people saved? Which one's going to have more results, you think? The Jews are going to kill you. They're not interested in the gospel. They want to literally murder you. How about you have to travel to a foreign land without a car, without an airplane, without any of these accommodations, to a place that you don't even know the language, where they worship complete false gods. They're literally bowing down to rocks and worshiping rocks, you have to try and get them saved. Now let's go back. You get to go to a house where people say they already go to a Christian church. They already believe in the Trinity. They already believe that Jesus died on the cross and you have to get that person saved. Talk about being spoon fed. I mean how much easier, how much simpler, and we have the ability to go anywhere in the world virtually. Look what it says in Daniel chapter 12 verse 4, but thou, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. We get to go soul winning at a time where it's the easiest to travel. I mean it is so easy to just go over here. I mean to get all of Dallas-Fort Worth, we don't have to walk, we get to drive. And many of you take the free ride of the van. Now it might be a little dangerous, but you know what, I guarantee it's more dangerous for the disciples and apostles, you know, traveling up these roads and there's all kinds of criminals waiting on the side of the road to mug them, to beat them. You know Paul talked about being at perils of robbers. What do you think that happened when they're walking up and down the roads, the danger, you know, all the Gage Grosskreutz and Joseph Rosenbaums and whatever lying in wait on the highway to try and get you, and you have to Kyle Rittenhouse yourself all the way to the guy, you know, the guy's door. Get someone saved. Look you don't even realize how he's, I mean they didn't have apartment complexes where you can just go, I mean you can literally just knock like four doors in like one minute or less. You're just like knocking and knocking and knocking and talking to people and talking to people, getting people saved and saved and saved and saved. I mean they have to travel for months just to get someone new to hear the gospel. And then most of the people they're preaching to aren't even that receptive. Look what a privilege to live where we're basically just shooting fish in a barrel. I mean we're literally just letting down our net and just picking up so many fishes we can't even gather them all into the boat. What a privilege. What an honor. What a special opportunity to be a soul winner in 2021 America. I think that people just don't realize the opportunity that should have been handed to them. Go to Jeremiah chapter 7. Well, it was better in the former days. Well, let's go back to some former days. Let's see how it was. Jeremiah, you know, some people say, oh, it would have been a special opportunity to be Jeremiah. It would have been a great privilege to be Jeremiah. You know what I say? Amen. I mean, you get to be a prophet of the Bible. I mean, you get to have 52 chapters of the Bible that are in your name basically. I mean, but let's think about his ministry for a second. Let's think about what he had to do. Jeremiah chapter 7, look at verse 21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, put your burnt offerings under your sacrifice and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing commanded I them, saying, obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people, and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward, since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early, sending them. Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined the ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, this is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction, truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth, cut off thine harrow Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation in high places, for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. Here's a special privilege. You get to go and tell everybody that. I mean, we get to go and get people saved. Jeremiah had to go to people that would not listen, that would not hearken, that didn't want to hear what God had to say, that rejected all of his commandments, just daily just going out and just being rejected and rejected and rejected and laughed at and scorned and thrown in prison. Yet you would look at, well, if I was Jeremiah, then I would serve God. Really? When it's so easy and there's virtually no resistance, you won't go tell people the message of Jesus Christ, but you would tell the message of Jeremiah? Don't lie to me, and don't lie to yourself, and don't lie to God. Look, what a special privilege to be a soul. Look, which one would you pick? Hey, I'm going to have you go talk to a bunch of unreceptive Jews that want to kill you and murder you constantly, and you're going to be thrown into prison, you don't get to eat, you're going to be in literal dung. Everyone's going to turn against you, and you're going to watch everyone die. Or you can live at a time where you have everything you could ever want to eat just at your fingertips. You get to travel in nice little cars with air conditioning, you get to have the whole Bible, you get to go to a church where everybody likes you and is your friend, and you get to go preach to people that want to get saved all the time. And you're going to get the same rewards if you obey. Which one would you pick? I know which one I would pick. What a privilege to be alive in 2021. You know, talk about an amazing man of God, Jeremiah, that he was faithful when that was his mission. How about the mission that we have and we can't even be faithful with it? Jeremiah's got to be looking down from heaven just thinking, like, man, I wish I had your job. Man, why can't we trade places here, you know? I mean, think about how easy we have it. This makes me think of my siblings. Go if you would to Romans chapter 10 for a moment. Go to Romans chapter 10 for a moment. I say my siblings for this reason. My siblings were much older than me, so they like to say they grew up at a different time, a different era of my parents. My brother's eight years older than me. My sister's 12 years older than me. And they basically paint the past as this, like, horror movie or something, you know? It was not that reality. They just, you know, obviously are exaggerating. He's hyperbole. They're acting like mom and dad would beat them for every grievance. And, you know, they never had any money and they could never eat. But then when I came along, it's just, we have all this money and we get to eat out and we have all this great time or whatever. And I'm just thinking, like, not my fault. What a privilege to be the third child, you know? Like, great. I'm glad. You know, and they're obviously super exaggerative of this or whatever. But I'm just thinking, like, hey, if that's the truth, I should be excited and pleased that this is the day, you know? Is there anything, is it really my fault that days are better even if they are? No. It's not your fault that days are the way they are. What you have to do is just serve God to the best of your ability. And we get the privilege of going out and preaching the gospel and getting people saved. And, you know, what I like about this is we have so much knowledge at our fingertips. You know, when Paul went out and preached for a long period of time, he came back to Jerusalem. And at first, he was kind of nervous about it because he was worried he'd run in vain, meaning he was worried he didn't really know if the work that he'd done was actually legitimate or if the apostles would approve of his doctrine or known if what he was doing was kind of like valor. He was kind of nervous and shy about that. But you know what? In 2021 America, you don't have to wonder if what you're doing is right or not. You can know with certainty you have tons of people that will tell you exactly what the Bible is saying, that will spoon feed you how to go soul winning. You know, when I first went soul winning, I was basically just going out by myself, knocking on doors, preaching people the gospel, and they were getting saved. But I kind of was thinking, like, I think it's working, but I don't really know. You know, how do you really know? Exactly. But here's the thing. You read the Bible and you let God tell you how soul winning works, and then you believe what God says works. You don't just make up soul winning in your own mind. You don't just decide how people get saved on your own. And you know what? That's a privileged living in 2021 America that you can know exactly how to get someone saved. I mean, people have spent their whole life dedicated to understanding how to get people saved. They put all kinds of programs together on how to get people saved. There's great men of the past that have shown you how to go out soul winning and preaching the gospel. Even like Jack Hyles, great churches of the past that have worked on this, meticulously thought about this, have read the Bible and studied, and they know exactly how you get people saved. And they boiled it down to what's called the Romans Road. Who's heard of the Romans Road? Let me tell you something. I didn't invent the Romans Road. I didn't make it up. I didn't dream it up one day. You know what I did? I accepted it. It was just spoon fed to me. I mean, wouldn't it have been harder to go back in time and someone just said, here's the Bible, get people saved. Start reading Jeremiah and you're like, I don't think this is the book. You know, you start getting Isaiah and you're like, I don't know. But then you get into Romans. You're like, wow, this actually seems like a pretty legit way to get people saved. You know why? Because it explains people getting saved. And let me tell you something about the Bible. You know how you interpret the Bible with clear statements, not with the stories. Because when you read Jeremiah 7, you're not going to learn how to get people saved because no one's getting saved. We take the clear statements of how to get saved and then we apply them in reality and we see people getting saved. And so I want to take a quick tangent and help you again because you have a great privilege to preach the gospel. And I don't want anybody to go out being ineffective. I don't want any of you making any kind of mistake when preaching the gospel. And you know what? There's a bunch of bozos out there that want to attack soul winning. They hate soul winning because they don't like that you're doing good work. So you know what? They're dissatisfied digging their hole and filling it up constantly. So they have to attack people that are actually doing a great work for God. And look, attacks on soul winning are nothing new. You'll preach a message and you'll apply it to bozo A and then bozo B in the future, just plug and play. You know, it just, it fits for him too. And then the next guy in there, it doesn't matter who the bozo is. They're all bozos. Now Romans 10, let's read the first verse here. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. What do you think this chapter's about? You know what it's about? It's about getting people saved. Real simple. You say, well, what do you mean? Well, let's read a few more verses. Probably bear them record, they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Notice they don't have the same privilege. They're zealous, but not for the right thing, are they? Verse three, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves in the righteousness of God. So there's always been, and there always will be, people that establish their own way to heaven regardless of what the Bible says. They don't want to establish it according to God's righteousness, their own righteousness, work salvation. You know, most churches, they preach work salvation. Now they won't get up and say that necessarily. Some do. Most of them will say, oh, you don't have to have the works, but if you don't have the works, you're not saved. You're like, okay, so which works do I need to do? Well, all the ones I'm doing. You know, it's like, I mean, it's just this vague, just smorgasbord, you can lose your salvation, all kinds of, well, you have to get baptized, well, you have to do all these extra works, well, you have to, you know, prove it, you have to be faithful in the end. I mean, you just, there's so much, we can't cover it this morning. But just know that there's so many attacks on soul winning, and people will say, oh, you got to get them to come to church to be saved. I went soul winning with an independent, final Baptist church, and they said, if you go out and preach the gospel to someone, and they pray with you, but they don't come to church, they didn't get saved. And I'm just thinking like, wow, where does it say that in the Bible? Or they'll say that, you know, they have to be faithful in the end. Where does it say that? You know, they'll twist scripture, they'll twist all kinds of parts of the Bible, but the Bible's crystal clear. The only thing you have to do to be saved is believe. That's it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's the only thing you have to do. But here's the most logical question when someone asks you that. How do I believe them? Right? Like, if that's what I have to do, then how do I do it? Well, what if the Bible just plainly said how you do it? Verse number nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made in his salvation. Now, I've always taught this, and I'll continually teach this. What these two verses did is it told you how to believe in Jesus. Every time I preach the gospel to someone and I'm done, I say, now let me show you how to believe in Jesus. What was the one thing you have to do to be saved? There's not like eight things you have to do to be saved. Not a thousand. There's one. Just believe. Right? But we want to make it practical for people. We want to explain to them what that looks like. Otherwise, how do they even know that they're saved? Well, the Bible makes it clear, you know, because you ask for it, right? Let's keep reading in this chapter. Verse 10, for with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made in his salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him, not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The Bible's saying once you've understood the gospel, once you realize that Jesus can save you, once you realize eternal life is through Jesus alone, once you realize you can't lose it, once you've been enlightened with the gospel, you realize that it's true, you just need to do something, just call upon the name of the Lord. And that's the way you believe in Christ. That's the way you believe on Christ. That's what it means to trust Christ. In fact, you'll see this phrase often in the Bible that people believed on Jesus, meaning it was a past action, right? Something triggered their believing on Jesus because it said they believed on him, meaning it was a past thing that happened. Well, how would I signify to Jesus, myself, or any other person that I believed on Jesus? Well, with the heart and with my mouth. That's how simple it is. You just called upon him. Now, there's these bozos out there, and I've already preached against one of them, David J. Stewart, the basically owner or creator of the Jesus as Savior website, he wrote all these articles saying that calling upon the name of the Lord is heresy. And I'm thinking, like, heresy? It's a phrase in your Bible, you know? Like, it has to mean something. It has to be here for a reason, okay? And look, you know why I preached that sermon? Because I knew there was other people in the world that believed that, but I couldn't really pinpoint that it was, and I just didn't want you to think I was preaching against, like, a boogeyman or a straw man, like, that doesn't exist, so I was like, let's find someone that believes this. You know what? New boogeymen keep popping up, like a guy named Norm Diamante, and he has this YouTube channel called Good Hope, and you know what? I thought he believed correctly on this because of what he taught in the past, but all of a sudden, he's making stupid videos trying to pontificate that you don't actually have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. And look, what I said before I'd ever heard this video was that people that preach that, it's heresy, and they're not welcome in my church. And let me tell you how I believe now, that it's heresy, and they're not welcome in my church. People that believe this stupidity and this nonsense should leave our church immediately, or repent. That's your two options, repent or leave. But this is a foolish method for salvation, for going out and preaching the gospel. It denies clear scripture. And this is the question I would always ask these people, what does Romans 10, 13 mean then? Because it has to mean something. It says that if you call upon him, you're going to be saved. Here's my question. What are you being saved from? Well, how about the whole context of the passage, going to hell, my friend? Now let me just explain to you why these things are so intertwined. You can't separate them, okay? Living on Jesus Christ and calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation is the same thing, okay? And I'm going to build for you a sandwich, all right? And you're going to like this sandwich, all right? But I want to explain salvation for a moment, as far as getting someone saved. I don't know if this marker is working for me. I want to make sure you can see this. It's going to be a blue sandwich, all right? Blue bun. So our top bun is calling upon the name of the Lord, all right? And then we have this meat patty. It's called believe. And then we have the bottom bun. Let me explain to you what the bottom bun is. It's called repentance. To be saved, you have to eat this sandwich. This is how you get saved. And without the sandwich, you didn't get saved. You can't have one part of the sandwich. You have to have all of the sandwich, okay? Now let me explain a few things. The Bible, what does it hammer? It hammers believe, right? But doesn't it have other things that it talks about, like repenting, like calling upon the name of the Lord? Let me explain why. You know, Jesus went to the Jews and he said, repent and believe the gospel. Now what if someone came up to you after that and said, you know what, Jesus, I believe but I didn't repent. You know what Jesus would have said? You're not saved. Because you cannot believe in Jesus and not repent. It's the same action. Because if you believe in Jesus, that means you changed your mind about something, you repented from something, and you had a turning, okay? So if I just say believe, it's implied that I repented, okay? Now let me explain something. If you believed on Christ, let me tell you something. You called upon him because that's how you believe. If you didn't call upon him, then you didn't believe. Now let me explain these three scenarios, okay? When I go out soul winning, I talk to a person and I'm asking them the checklist of things they believe, right? Do you believe salvations by faith? Yeah. Do you believe you're a sinner? Yeah. Do you believe you go to hell? Yeah. And they admit to me all those things. And I say, okay, well, is that different than what you believed before? And they say no. They didn't get saved because they didn't repent. So that would be, and look, they could do both of these. They could say, I believed all that and we pray and I say, did you change your mind? And they say no. And I say, well, you didn't get saved then because you didn't eat the whole sandwich. Okay? What if they said, hey, I changed my mind and I agree with you. Those things are true. I believe those things are true. Do you want to ask God to get saved now? Do you want to confess that to him now? No. Not saved. What if they get this one out? What if they, hey, I changed what I believe. I'm not going to be a Muslim anymore. I'm going to be a Hindu and I'm going to call upon the name of the Lord. Not saved. You got to have all three. You know what? It's a package deal. If you have two of these elements, not saved. And it's a one time thing. The moment you do this, it's all of it. It's just you just take a bite. You take one bite and you're saved. That's what it means to believe on him, the call. And you say, well, I don't know if these things are equal. Okay. How about all the verses that say just repent and don't have these other two? Like Acts 2.38. Repent. What was that saying? It was saying these other two. Because the context is by believing in Jesus. And it would be calling. How about when it just has this one? Go to Acts chapter 22 for a moment. Go to Acts chapter 22. Let me ask you a question. Keep your finger on Romans 10 because I want to come back and I'm going to prove these things. Look, don't just take my word for it. Believe the word of God this morning. Acts 22. And let's look at a verse here. 16. Okay. Now, I'm going to again present to you the argument that people make. Calling upon the name of the Lord does not get you saved. It's not needed for salvation. Okay. Let's read verse 16. This is Ananias talking to Paul. And now why terriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord? Now, explain this to me. Did he tell him to believe? Did he tell him to repent? No. So, if he can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved and has nothing to do with salvation, explain that to me. You know how he washed away his sins? Because he called upon the name of the Lord with repentance and belief, which is implied in that verse. Otherwise, Ananias didn't even tell him how to get saved because he told him to get baptized. What if I said, hey, why don't you get saved? Get baptized. Would that get anybody saved? No. No one here believes that. Okay. So, then if you're telling me that calling upon the name of the Lord is also not a part of salvation, then by telling him to call upon the name of the Lord, you're not even telling him how to get saved then. But let me tell you what. Calling upon the name of the Lord is equivalent to believing on Jesus. I'll prove it. Romans chapter 10. Go back to Romans chapter 10. I'll just dispel that stupidity instantly with the Bible itself. Romans chapter number 10. We already had Romans 9 and 10 tell us the package deal of confess and believe, right? But look at verse number 11. For the scripture sayeth, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. What's the phrase in verse number 11? Believing on him, right? Here's the next verse. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Notice how Paul describes believing on him, calling upon him. And notice how he describes calling upon him, believing on him. Because it's the same thing, my friend. And then we go to verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And then he gives us a backwards way to get someone saved. Verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Notice we have the backwards way of getting someone saved. So what would be the forward? Sending someone. That person preaching. The person hearing it. The person understanding and believing it. And then what happens? They call upon the name of the Lord. And notice how the Bible describes it, so that they're saved. Believing on him. Believing in him. There's a difference between believing the gospel's true and believing on Christ. I have met people that say, hey, I believe everything you're saying is true, but I don't want to trust Christ. Or I understand everything you're saying. How would you know that you even got saved if it has nothing to do with calling upon the name of the Lord? How would you know you believed it enough or believed it right? You know what would get slipped in after that? Well, if you're doing the works, then you really believed it then. Well, if you're praying and consistent and you're faithful, then you just slip in work, just hardcore work salvation to it. Well, if you're believing, you'd persevere to the end or something. You know. And I'm not saying Norm Diamante said that, but what he did say is very clear that calling upon the name of the Lord is not going to save you. And here's another thing that he said. I've never asked Jesus to save me. Now, let me explain something to you. If someone came up to me and said, I've never asked Jesus to save me, but I believed in him, then I would say, you're not saved. Because you might have had these two, but you didn't have this one. It's a package deal, my friend. You're confused. Just like the same person that said, you know what, I believe everything you said, but I've never changed my opinion. I've never changed my mind. Then I would say, then you didn't get saved. What if I said, hey, I never received Christ, but I believed in him? Well, John 1.12 equates receiving with believing, doesn't it? I can't receive him and not believe in him, and I can't believe in him if I don't receive him. It's a package deal. Just like repentance and faith. You know, what if I said, well, I believe in Jesus, but I don't have faith in Jesus? You're like, what are you talking about? This is nonsense at that point. Look, you have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. And look, this own guy is such a hypocrite. He had a video a few years ago getting someone saved on camera. Let me give you some quotes from his video, okay? The guy that says he's never asked Jesus to save him, the guy that says you don't have to ask or call upon the name of the Lord to be saved, let me just give you a quote from him, talking to a young lady, and he says this, if you wanted my Bible, you would ask me for it. He says, yes. If God has a gift that you want, if God has salvation he wants to give you, the next step is to ask him for it. It's as simple as changing what you believe, telling God that, asking him to save you, and in that instant, in that moment of time, you're saved forever. The same guy, now saying you don't even have to ask for it, what a hypocrite, what a liar. Then the next breath, he says, why don't you ask him to save you? And then they pray, here's his prayer, please save me right now. Please give me everlasting life. What a lying, fraud, hypocrite liar. You know what the Bible says? A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition rejects, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Well, I want to go rescue him. Don't rescue the heretics. You can mock them and make fun of them and tell them how stupid they are so maybe they'll wake up. You know what? What a lying fraud, what a lying phony. Don't let these stupid people discourage you from going out and preaching the gospel. They get puffed up with their little online ministry, their self-ordained YouTube ministry or whatever, thinking that they're doing some great thing. And look, I'm all for sharing the gospel online. You know what? It sometimes puffs people up. And it's funny how your ministry is dedicated to one thing, getting people saved, and now you can't even get them saved because you don't even believe the gospel correctly. You don't even believe in telling people to call upon the name of the Lord, which you did I guess five minutes ago, I don't know. These shifting sands. It's nonsense. It's disgusting. I've heard some people say, oh, well, Romans 10 is physical salvation, Pastor Shelley. And I say, oh, okay. So you believe that if I need physical salvation, I have to ask God for it. But if I want spiritual salvation, I don't ask for that. Okay. That makes sense. I heard him say, no one in the Bible asks for salvation. What about the guy that said, God, you merciful me a sinner? What about the person that said, Lord, remembrance me when I come in that kingdom? Sir, give me that water. There's tons of people that ask. And they'll bring up, oh, well, in Acts chapter number 10, Peter was preaching and then they started believing, getting saved. You know, the reason why they even knew that is because they were shouting out loud, praise the Lord in a different language. Now if someone's shouting, do you think that they're talking? Yeah. So you think it's any possibility they actually called upon the name of the Lord and got saved then too? Yeah, I'm sure they did. You know, think about Jesus' ministry. When Jesus is walking up and down the streets, there's people literally just randomly screaming, Son of David, have mercy on me. You know what that is? Calling upon the name of the Lord, my friend. You don't think that when you have thousands of people they're preaching to, some of them don't just cry out for salvation in the middle of the preaching? Yeah, they did. You know what? Services all across this country, preachers are telling people to pray right in their seat to get saved. You're going to tell me that they never did that? And look, the New Testament doesn't record every single utterance of every single person, every single action. It's just giving you the highlights. And you know the guy that's giving you the highlights is the apostle Paul who wrote Romans chapter number 10. I think he knows how to get people saved by then at the end of his ministry. I think he figured it out finally, and he told us how to get people saved. Stupid. Go to Matthew chapter 21 to say you shouldn't have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. I don't want to ask Jesus to save me. Well, he sounds like you just want to go to hell. He said, oh, well, you wouldn't baptize people that you didn't pray with. Look, almost every person I've ever baptized, I didn't pray with them to get saved. Some of them I have. Some of them, I personally got them saved, and I got them baptized. But most of them, time, they got saved somewhere else. And they just come up to me and say, hey, I trust the Christ, and I'm like, let's duck you. Oh, well, in Acts chapter number 8, he baptized Philip without praying with him. We don't know if he prayed with him or not, because it doesn't say. But he did ask him if he believed, and guess what? He opened his mouth. And he told him that he believed. He at minimum confessed. Matthew 21, look at verse 22. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive, except for salvation. I mean, just the most important thing, that's the only one you don't ask, believing, and you receive it. But as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even them that believe on his name. And you know what even means specifically? So you know what equates believing to? Receiving. What does the Bible equate receiving to? Praying and asking with faith in your heart. That sounds like Romans 10, 9, and 10. It sounds like the Bible makes perfect sense. It sounds like the stupid doctrine of saying you don't have to call upon the name of the Lord is garbage, because it is. Go if you would to James chapter 1. I only have two places I want you to turn. Like what a privilege to be alive in 2021 where we are saved, where we can be a sole winner. And look, it's a privilege to have all these losers out there so I can constantly preach against them, and we get even tighter on doctrine. I wouldn't even think I'd have to explain this simplicity. I don't even think you would ever have to explain these kind of concepts. You would never think you'd preach a sermon about how the earth isn't flat. But you just, you know, it's like people just astound you. But then they end up being the sermons people love. Because it was like, wow, that was just so cool, just showing how stupid these people are. What a privilege to live in a time when there's so much heresy that we get to constantly debunk. You know, it makes church a little bit more fun, I think. Here's the last point. What a privilege to be steadfast. Be steadfast. Not only just a member of steadfast, but actually steadfast Christian, meaning that you didn't just get saved, meaning you didn't just start soul winning. You finished your life being a soul winner. You finished your life on fire for God. You finished serving God in one of the most difficult times, potentially. I mean, it keeps getting darker. There could be more ramped up persecution and more evil happening. You know what? There's more of a prize for those who stay steadfast in 2021 than in 2010 or in 2000. Oh, I wish it was easier back then. Why? Because you would want to be steadfast wasn't as glorious. You would want to be steadfast through the most difficult times. That would be the greatest crown, the greatest. What a privilege to have the opportunity to be an on fire, sold out, God believing Christian today when the whole world is just turning into psychos and nuts and freaks and weirdos that you just get to stay the same. It's the same old, it's the same clothes, the same Bible, the same doctrine, the same everything. It's just steadfast, same values. We get disdain from all the Satanism. It's a lot easier to serve God when everybody else is doing it, a lot harder when there's one church within hours of your house that you feel like you're going to be edified in. Some people don't even have a church they feel like they can go to. People have moved to go to a church. That's a great difficulty. What a great privilege and honor that you got to make a sacrifice for the Lord like that, of your time, of your effort, of your money. Some people have made the sacrifice of being here from day one and are still here. What a glory. What do you think is more honorable? The guy that showed up five minutes ago or the guy that's been here since day one or the guy that showed up the day that Romero was stepping down and is still here. That's pretty cool. I would want to be the guy that's been steadfast, the guy that just keeps plugging away, just keeps serving God, has been there the whole time, goes through the real battle. I want real battles. Any time you want to go see a movie, like an action movie or have you ever watched one, you don't want some weak little just over like that or it was super easy. You want to see some epic battle where they're raging for hours and they had to slay all these enemies. You want to see some cool action. Why do we talk about the mighty men? One guy slew like 800 at a time and slew a lion. They're just having these great victories and these great battles. David killed Goliath. David didn't smash an ant. It wasn't the battle of the ant. The ant crept in the house and everybody was so afraid. And David went, no, it was a giant man that wants to take his head off, that wants to kill him. And he slew it, a lion. It wasn't a Chihuahua, the battle of the Chihuahua. It's like, all you do is punt that little thing. That's not that glorious. And in 2021 America, what a privilege to say, you know what, I go to the only church that's being protested by freaks every single Sunday. That's a privilege. Do you not realize, I mean, well, I go to the church where, you know, they give me a free coffee when I walk in, you know, it's like, it's a movie theater and they're going to show me a movie. And I entered in a lottery to win a car. These are real things, okay? Yes, the church that I grew up in, they would literally put you in a lottery to win free cars by coming to church. That's not that hard to show up then. You're just excited to win a car. It's harder to walk through all the freaks and all the bozos and think like, man, how long is he going to preach? You know, it's a real battle. Look at James chapter 1 verse 12, blessed is the man that endureth temptation. When he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised them to love him. That's a privilege. What a privilege to have been tried. What a privilege to have been tempted. What a privilege to have to gone through something hard so that God at the end can say, you know what, I'm giving you this great crown for the trials and the temptations and the struggles that you went through rather than saying like, man, that was easy, wasn't it? Like, yeah, it was pretty easy. You'd rather have some difficulty, you'd rather have some struggle, you know, you should praise the Lord that we have battles. You know, we could look at the battles and be like, oh, another battle? Just look at it as another jewel on your crown. Just be like, sweet, this is great, blessed is the man that endureth temptation. I'm glad I have a real struggle here. I'm glad I have a real fight. I'm glad I get to play. You know, when we bring out the ping pong table, sometimes you play and it's kind of fun like a little kid wants to play, right? But it's not like, it's not like after you win, you're just like, yeah, trust you. It's like you want to play Jacob and Jared and kick their butt and be like, yeah, what up now? Which I do sometimes. You want to have a real battle. You want to have a real fight. You want to have endured something great. And you know, it's a privilege to get to play them. What if you walked up to Jacob, he said, hey, I want to play you're like, you're not good enough. Why don't you work your way up? Why don't you get a real paddle? You know, I mean, you would be kind of like, you'd be like, oh, okay, that's, that sucks. Just go play with the kiddos or whatever. You know, look, I want to go to a big boy church. We have real struggles, real trials, real temptations or doing real work for the Lord. You say, why? Because it's a privilege. It's a privilege to do the real job or you want to go to the church where you just dig holes and fill them. No, I want the real job with the real responsibility, with the real struggles, with the real fighting. And think about it this way. The Satanists of our area believe we're the biggest threat. That's a privilege, that's an honor, what a blessing that Satan thinks that we're doing the best for the Lord. You know, I don't want to go to the church where Satan's just in it. I want to be in the church where Satan's outside trying to shut it down. You know what I mean? Like, how could you feel you're in the wrong church when Satan's outside protesting it literally? Like what planet do you live on? People are like ashamed. I'm thinking that's great. I'm so glad that the Satanism is outside of the church, not in the church. They don't have a NIV, you know, the Lucifer version or something that we're reading from and we have a bunch of Satan in the congregation and we're like, we want all to come and all are welcome. No, keep the devil out. Keep the fornication and the wickedness and the covetousness and the drunkenness, keep it all out of here. Get it out of here. What a privilege to be able to come to church. Not everybody's welcome at church. It's a great honor. It's a great privilege. Look, I want you to wake up in the morning on Monday morning and start singing, This is the day. Not like, I'll have another day. Look, every day you get is a gift from God. Why don't you use it for His glory? Why don't you start realizing the privileges that you have, the privilege of raising that beautiful family you have, that beautiful spouse that you have, that family at a great church. How about all the brothers and sisters in Christ who you can serve on a regular basis, some of the greatest people I've ever met. What a privilege to be friends with people in this room like this. Some people would die to have a good friend or a normal friend. You can have plenty of normal friends, good friends, people that actually love you, people that actually care about you, people that are actually praying for you. Look, we put your name in the bulletin and you have some of the greatest people on the planet praying for you. What a privilege. I mean, it's mind-blowing to me how people are so depressed and so discouraged about everything. Look, why don't you read the Bible a little bit and let the Lord encourage you? You know, the people that are the most discouraged and the most worried and the most stressful, I guarantee you are the people that read the Bible the least. People that are reading it the most are going to be the happiest, most joyful, most excited about life. Look, I'm excited about the future. I'm not even worried about the future. Turn the lights out so we can just shine as bright as humanly possible. Hey, bring on the temptation. Bring on the persecution because blessed is the man that endures it. Let's see how steadfast we really are. And you know what? The more they afflict us, the more we keep growing. You know, I feel like I try zero to grow the church, right? I feel like I'm getting people out of here and more people just keep coming in, you know? Like we had like 50 or 60 people in 2021 alone. It's just the Lord blessing us. And you know what? I think the same thing's going to keep happening when you serve the Lord. But even if it doesn't, praise the Lord. He gives, he takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. You know, who cares? I could be Jeremiah if I have to be. I don't want to. I have a great privilege. You know, being a pastor is a great privilege. Being an evangelist is a great privilege. You young men that get to preach a sermon, it's a privilege to preach to God's people. Rather than looking at it as a drudgery or aww. Look, it's a privilege every time you get to do anything for God. Being an usher, being a song leader, being the person that plays an instrument, being the person that cleans the church, being the person that does volunteers. Anything you do is a great privilege and a special opportunity, read it that way, believe it is. Second Peter chapter three, look at verse 17, ye therefore beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also being led away with the air of the wicked, fall from your own steadfast. What a privilege to be steadfast. Don't be the person that just looks at being steadfast as just like, ah, I tried Christianity. No, be the person that goes all the way through. Look at the privilege and opportunity you have to be steadfast and do it. Close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this church, thank you for the great opportunity we have every single day to serve you. I pray that we wouldn't look at life as a drudgery or as an evil necessity, but rather as a great privilege every moment of our lives to serve you. To pray, to read our Bible, to go out and preach the gospel, realizing that the most important job we all have is to be a soul winner. Not only that, to be a father, to be a wife, to be a husband, to be a child, an obedient child, to be a song leader, to be a preacher, to be someone that plays an instrument, to be someone that cleans up, to be someone that gives of their money, their time, their effort, their energy. I pray that we'd see the importance of serving God in 2021 and the great privilege we have, and I pray that you would just bless our church and strengthen our church as we go through trials and temptations, and we realize the blessing that it is. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, for our last song, we'll go to song 409, The Fight Is On. Song 409, The Fight Is On. Song 409, The Fight Is On. The fight is on, the trumpet sound is ringing out, the cry to arms is heard up far and near. The Lord of hosts is marching on to victory, the triumph of the Christ will soon appear. The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face in stern array, with armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today. The fight is on, but be not weary, He's coming in His might, hold fast, if God be for us, His banner o'er us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. The fight is on, a rousing soldier, brave and true, to hold the leap, victory will assure, go above, the armored God has given you, and in His strength, forever will endure. The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face in stern array, with armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today. The fight is on, but be not weary, He's coming in His might, hold fast, if God be for us, His banner o'er us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. The fight is leading on to certain victory, the bow of promise spans the eastern sky, His glorious name, in every land shall honor be, the morn will break, the God of peace is nigh. The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face in stern array, with armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today. The fight is on, but be not weary, He's coming in His might, hold fast, if God be for us, His banner o'er us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. Good singing, alright, make sure if you're signed up for pictures after the service that you get with Miss Carey, and God bless George Smith. three songs and you're the end of it i can start to feel it so yeah so the conference i practiced and like so like practicing just like built up like because you back in high school i made the mistake of just trying to use my lips yeah but then i like after like for this you play