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Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the world, the Savior reigns, Let men their songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy, No more let sins and sorrows grow, Northorns infest the ground, He comes to make his blessings flow, Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, Far as, far as the curse is found, He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove, The glories of his righteousness, And wonders of his love, And wonders, wonders of his love. Great singing, let's open up in Word of Prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for our church. Thank you for this great time of year where we think upon the birth of your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the soul-winning marathon we had yesterday, for all those saved. And just pray that you bless this service to your honor and glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, if you will open up your bulletins, there should be a white handout inside of those bulletins. We're going to sing angels we have heard on high. And if you need a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand. We should have some extra in the back there. We'll have a white handout in that. Now the Bible talks about singing with the understanding, so there's some foreign language in this song. So I have to tell you what that means, so you're not just singing with no understanding. The chorus is Gloria in Excelsis Deo. It's Latin. Someone want to guess what this means? If I raise a hand, does a man want to guess what this means? Gloria in Excelsis Deo, no one? Okay. Glory to God in the highest, glory to God on high, exactly, yep. So that's what that means. So we want to make sure we're singing with our understanding. So we'll go ahead and sing the song angels we have heard on high. Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains and the mountains in reply, Echo back their joyous strains, Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Gloria in Excelsis Deo, shepherds, why this jubilee? Say what may the tidings be which inspire your heavenly song, Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Gloria in Excelsis Deo, come to Bethlehem and see him whose birth the angels sing. Gloria in Excelsis Deo, come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Gloria in Excelsis Deo, on the last, see within a manger laid, Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth, Mary, Joseph, land your babe with Savior's birth, Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Great singing this morning. Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you don't already have a bulletin and you'd like a bulletin, one of our ushers can come by. Just lift your hand nice and high and our ushers are coming down the aisle. They can get you guys a bulletin. Just keep it up. On the front, we have the Bible memory passage, Psalm 146. We're working through the entire chapter, and we also put it to music. So if you want to help yourself memorize it, that's a great way is through song. On the inside, we have our service and soul-winning times. We do have church-wide soul-winning that meets here at the building at 2 p.m. And then we also have another couple church-wide soul-winning times. We have a ladies' time at 1030 on Tuesday. We have a Wednesday at 515 that also meets here at the building. The regional times meet in different parts of the city, and it's great to have these regional times since people live all over. It makes it more convenient for people to go soul-winning in their area. Just see one of the respective leaders. We have, for Mondays, we have Brother Jeff Goodwin, and he's going in the Weatherford area. Is that still accurate? Okay. And then Brother Malton on Tuesdays and Fridays. Where have you been going recently? Irving, Arlington. So if you're kind of in the middle, that's some good areas. Brother Jacob on Thursdays. Where have you been going? Carrollton. Carrollton. Okay. Are you getting people saved over there? No, I'm just kidding. Carrollton. All right. So for all you rich people over there. Brother Wes on Saturdays has been going in the Arlington area. That's been really fruitful. Also, Brother Illy, are you going in the Azle area still? Okay. So kind of in the Azle area. And then Brother Wes. I'm sorry. Brother Lugo and Wes kind of combine for one big push once a month. Usually, they've been doing Arlington. Recently, we did the DFW. That was yesterday. We have our church stats down below. Also on the right, we have our list of expecting ladies. Continue to pray for all of them. We have our prayer list. Continue to pray for all of our church family. As well as if you have any prayer requests and you would like them added to our bulletin, please just email us. That's the best way for us to update and put that in the bulletin. On the back, we have our church reminders. And then down below, we have the note about our Dallas Soloning Marathon. Yesterday, we had 44 salvation. So praise the Lord on that. If we didn't capture those numbers, try to get those numbers. If we didn't capture those numbers, try to get those to Brother Dylan. And I'll try to capture that tonight just to make sure. I think we got everybody, but just FYI. We had a great participation. Do we give a total? Yeah, it was somewhere between 50 and 70 soul winners that came out. It was a lot of people. And it was a great time. And the Lord blessed us with good weather in the morning at least. And so I know it kind of rained a little bit in the afternoon. But thanks so much to everyone who participated. And it's fun going over in areas that are a little more receptive and going soul winning over there. So I do have a couple private announcements I want to make real quick. You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Romans 9 the bible reads. I say the truth in christ I lie Not my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart For I could wish that myself were accursed from christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are israelites To whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of god and the promises Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh christ came who is overall god blessed forever Amen Not as though the word of god hath taken none effect for they are not all israel which are of israel Neither because they are the seed of abraham are they all children but in isaac shall thy seed be called That is they which are the children of the flesh These are not the children of god, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed For this is the word of promise at this time. Will I come and sarah shall have a son And not only this but when rebecca also had conceived by one even by our father isaac For the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil That the purpose of god according to the election might stand not of works But of him that calleth it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger As it is written jacob have I loved but isa have I hated What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with god god forbid for he saith to moses? I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of god that show with mercy For the scripture saith unto pharaoh even for the same purpose if I raise thee up That I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth Therefore hath the mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Thou will say then unto me why does the yet fine fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but oh man who art thou that repliest against god shall the thing formed say to him that formed Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if god willing to show his wrath and to make his power known? Endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory Even us whom he hath called not of the jews only but also of the gentiles as he saith also in osi I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them ye are not my people There shall they be called the children of the living god asias also crieth concerning israel Though the number of the children of israel be as the sand of the sea a remnant shall be saved For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness Because a short work will the lord make upon the earth and as asias said before Except the lord of sabaoth had left us a seed we had been as sadama and had been made like unto gomorrah What shall we say then that the gentiles which followed not after righteousness? Have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith But israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by faith But as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written behold I lay in zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer Brother god, I pray that you would fill pastor shelley with your spirit and give him clarity of mind As he preaches the message you've laid on his heart give us ears to hear And soften hearts in the room so we can apply the message to our lives and be more complete christians We love you and we thank you for the free gift of salvation in jesus name. I pray amen. Amen I think i'm a little loud if you can turn me down just here. All right, there we go. Uh, romans chapter number nine we uh The part of the chapter I want to focus on is verse 20 where the bible says nay But oh man, who art thou the repliest against god shall the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? And that's really where i'm getting the title of my sermon this morning is why hast thou made me thus? And it's a question that's being asked in the context of Why you are the way that you are and in order to get to this question and really Fully understand it in the context of the bible. I think it makes sense to kind of to take a minute And it's a hot minute But take a second here to kind of go through the chapter and just kind of get an idea of what the chapter is saying And of course context is always very important. Look back at verse number one. The bible says this I say the truth in christ. I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy ghost That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart For I could wish that myself were accursed from christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh Who were israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law? And the service of god and the promises whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh christ came Who is over all god blessed forever. Amen now To start out this chapter the apostle paul is expressing that he wishes Even to the extremity of being a curse from god that all the children of israel physically speaking would be saved Would believe on the lord jesus christ would get right with god that they would be restored into serving god That's what he really wishes and desires And it's not any different than the thought that comes from christ himself as christ came And christ died for the whole world And of course christ also died for the jews. He died for the children of israel He says father forgive them for they know not what they do and christ was literally accursed For every person on the planet christ took upon himself the curse and the sin of all mankind And he died in our place and of course even though not everyone will accept that free gift of salvation Not everyone will take the atonement offered them from christ christ truly did wish for everyone to be reconciled And literally took the curse of god upon himself So we see kind of the same essence here of the apostle paul saying that he wishes he too could possibly be accursed if The children of israel would accept the lord and it just shows that the apostle paul is uh, a patriot You know, he has that patriotism feeling. He really loves the nation of israel He loves the nation of israel. He really loves his people and you know, there's nothing wrong with loving your country Loving the people of your area, you know loving texas loving america or loving these these concepts And of course you you love the idea of them. You love The people you love what it could be doesn't necessarily mean you're uh pleased with everything They're doing saying and how they're acting of course the children of israel this time are very wicked. They're very sinful They've drawn themselves away from the lord false religion has crept in and so of course the apostle paul doesn't like those things He's not pleased with those but he loves the people he wishes they could get back to where they were um To where they're just a whole nation a whole country just serving god faithfully and you know It's never been perfect, but there's been greater times in the past where everyone was serving the lord And he wishes they would Accept the lord now look at verse number six. The bible says not as though the word of god have taken no effect For they are not all israel which are is of israel. So what the bible is saying here is he's saying It's not that the bible failed. It's not that god failed because of course you would think well If god's people won't even accept the lord If the people who all the promises and the oracles of god and the word of god are delivered unto if they don't even accept it Then did god just fail or or like the word of god didn't even take effect There's no point to it or anything like that and he's saying no no, no They're not really all israel Which are of israel now that's an important phrase in the bible to understand so much of scripture But there's a difference between physical israel and spiritual israel and the best way to understand these verses in the bible especially romans 9 10 and 11 Is you you have to figure out if we're saying physical or spiritual? And i'm not saying to add this to the text, but i'm just saying in your mind Even if you just wrote it in the margin of your bible It would help you if you start writing physical and spiritual israel every time it says israel in these chapters Then it'll start making perfect sense But the problem is people don't actually try to figure out if we're talking about physical or spiritual israel And they'll flip them in different places and make it say weird things that the scripture doesn't say Okay. So what is it meaning in the first israel for they are not all spiritual israel? Which are of physical israel? So that is how you interpret that passage? They are not all spiritual israel Which are of physical israel and of course if you are really spiritual israel, then you're true israel If you're not then you're a fake imposter. Okay, is that how the bible kind of lays this out consistently through scripture. Look at verse seven Neither because they are the seed of abraham. Are they all children? So he's saying you could be a seed of abraham and somehow not a child of abraham Why because they're a physical seed, but they're not a spiritual child Okay. So again, we kind of have that distinction but in isaac shall thy seed be called so they could be a seed But if you even understand the bible abraham had two sons Abraham didn't just have isaac. He also had ishmael and so ishmael is a picture of the physical child Isaac is a picture of the spiritual child. Ishmael is the first Isaac is the second. So of course physical israel was first, but physical israel is rejected and replaced by spiritual israel Which is isaac which is that which is of promise and of course i'm a child of abraham not physically necessarily But because of the promise that god gave me to become a child of god through faith And by me believing on the lord jesus christ, I became his seed and his child through promise Not through any physical Lineage necessarily, of course, we might all be related to abraham because if you understand how genetics work Uh, probably all have some little bit of trace of abraham in our in our dna. Okay, but That's irrelevant. It doesn't even matter because being physically of israel or physically of abraham Doesn't determine if you're a child of god Because if that were true, then all of islam would be children of god too because they are ismael ishmael, you know It's so funny that they always want to talk about their special because they're the descendants of abraham. It's like ishmael was who? It's not just being a physical descendant of abraham that does anything for you It was being a child of the promise being of isaac, okay Now it says in verse number nine for this is the word of promise So he's giving you an explanation what this means at this time. Will I come and sarah shall have a son? And not only this but when rebecca also conceived by one even by her father isaac For the children Being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of god according to election might stand not of works But of him that calleth it was said unto her that elders shall serve the younger. So the bible is saying there was promises made And god knew things that were going to happen before they ever happened He said hey, you're going to have a son One year from now. Now. What do we know about human biology is that? The human conception period of time and gestation is a nine-month period for humans So if it's a 12-month period he's talking about they haven't even conceived yet Meaning that there is no way humanly speaking for God or the lord to have known that and to say that about abraham and sarah The only way he could know that is because he's god and he can tell the future Meaning it was a promise and of course, it was a supernatural promise because abraham and sarah were very old even, you know They're basically on the brink of a hundred and ninety years old Basically right there and at that point even in history people aren't going to have children at those ages This is after the flood, you know before the flood we have some weird numbers Okay, but after the flood we don't see anybody having birth or giving birth at these ages Recognizing that it was a supernatural Promise being given something that could never happen physically, which is the same with our salvation. Our salvation is nothing physical. It's a supernatural Salvation of promise and we're a child of god by promise also Later on in the lineage. We have isaac having children through rebecca and we have jacob and isaw Jacob and isaw have not been born while in the womb God's making declarations about these children and saying hey There's two nations in thy womb. This is where you get in. Genesis chapter 25 for sake of time I'm, not turning all these places go to genesis 25 there's two nations in the womb one is the nation of isaw and one of the nation of Jacob And these two nations are going to be very different and he says the elder shall serve the younger And what he's talking about is the elder nation is going to serve the younger nation This is before the children that are going to give birth to all of these children even exist I mean think about before the nation even exists It would be like going back to the 1400s or the 1300s And saying everyone is going to serve america America doesn't even exist yet. No one's even heard of america. You wouldn't even understand how that makes sense It's like england's the empire everyone's ruled under england, you know, it's the european powers. It's spain It's the catholic church to say that there's going to be some foreign land over in america That's going to rule everybody would make no sense to them But it would be someone that had foreknowledge And of course god has a lot of foreknowledge. God knows everything that's going to happen before it happens and he's making it clear That the elder is going to serve the younger now when god has foreknowledge that does not Get rid of the concepts of human free will Because you and I don't know what's going to happen necessarily. We don't Understand how our lives are going to work. We don't understand every step that we take We don't understand how every word that we speak is going to impact our lives even like god does So we still have free will to make every decision that we want But god knowing all the decisions we're going to make can make certain proclamations about the future and it still happens You know, I could have told somebody when I was dating my wife I could have said to somebody hey I'm gonna ask my wife to marry me on friday. This is when we're dating, right? We're engaged. We're in dating. I want to get engaged. I can say you know what? I'm gonna ask my wife on friday to marry me and she's gonna say yes I could have said that to somebody and you know what when I asked her to marry me. She was still gonna say yes Why? It's not that she lost free will it's just I knew that would happen. Of course. I couldn't see the future I'm, just saying I had a lot of certainty. I knew that was gonna happen Okay And of course even if I told her that if I had said hey honey I'm gonna take you out on friday night and i'm gonna propose to you and you're gonna say yes I guarantee even when I still did that she still would have done it Okay Why because even when you tell people the future sometimes it's still gonna happen You know, and of course athletes love to do this They're like i'm about to dunk it on you right now and it's just like and you're not gonna be able to stop me And then they love to do it, right? So that doesn't change free will and this is kind of how god is God's like basically saying hey i'm gonna dunk it on the devil, you know I'm gonna crush the serpent's head and there's nothing he can do about it Why because he's god because god gets to do whatever he wants and god's will is ultimately going to be fulfilled And god can even tell you what he's going to do in the future and you can't even stop it from happening This doesn't change the fact that we have free will and of course when you understand chapters like romans 9 very well You'll see that there's groups like the calvinists out there That Hey, they they get some of these things, right? But then they come to bad conclusions where they say, oh we have no free will Or that god chooses people to go to heaven or hell based on nothing That's strange because we're not even talking about heaven or hell in romans chapter number nine You know and to discount every verse that talks about if Or whosoever shall or you know It's giving you these commands to believe and it's saying if you believe or whatever It's obvious that according to scripture we have the choice whether we believe in christ or not There's no way to get around that fact But that doesn't change the fact that god knows everything that we will do Our entire lives and god makes certain decisions about us based on that knowledge Okay Now let's keep digging in he's he's saying here in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with god god forbid so so to beg the question? Oh, well god just does whatever he wants Then how is that fair Is there unrighteousness with god and the answer is god forbid? Meaning it's not like god just decided. You know what esau i'm just going to hate you and reject you for no reason No, no, no, he's doing it because he knows esau is going to reject him He knows that esau is going to have nothing to do with him and we say esau we're talking about the nation I think that there is a parallel to the person Because in the scripture you have god basically taking Jacob and replacing esau with him and we see that basically esau is rejected Keep your finger go to hebrews 12. I'll show you this go to hebrews chapter number 12. Esau is rejected now, of course in luke 14 The bible says if any man hate not his father his mother You know and then it goes down the list. It says he cannot be to my disciple So the word hate in the bible Can be multi-layered in the sense that you could say I hate Ranch dressing. Okay, that would be a good statement. All right, you know, I hate putting beans in the chili Okay, you could say I hate sodomites. I hate pedophiles Those are different Okay, one is like disdain. I don't want to have anything to do with i've rejected it another is like I wish evil upon him i'm not I'm not wishing evil upon my father mother and brother and sister to be christ's disciple That's not what it's saying, but I might have to reject that relationship in place of christ I might have to choose that relationship over a relationship with christ at times so it could be a picture of replacing something You know even at times the wives are fighting over their husband and it's like oh he hates me It it's not that he hates her because he still has children with her and he's still wise with her and they have a relationship It's just he's saying he's choosing the other one Uh on a regular basis. He's spending more time with that one He's more he's kind of rejecting the one and so it's pictured as hatred. Okay hebrews chapter 12 Look at verse number 15 looking diligently Lest any man fail of the grace of god lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as esau therefore one morsel of meat sold his birthright for you know how that afterward When he would have inherited the blessing blessing he was rejected For he found no place of repentance though. He sought it carefully with tears. So esau According to scripture is rejected. That is what the bible I believe would could be in Symphony with or synchrony is the idea of him being hated Okay in the same way that esau is kind of hated of the lord and rejected And jacob is loved and accepted is also similar to the nations themselves how the nation itself is rejected And god is despises them and yet he loves the nation of israel and accepts that nation, but you say why? Well, the nation of esau is edom Okay, and edom Doesn't worship god in spirit and truth doesn't have the tabernacle Doesn't do the things of god is basically a heathen like nation And so of course god rejects them and wants nothing to do them whereas israel is the one that's actually trying to serve him They have all the prophets. They have the lineage of the lord. Jesus christ, and of course they foreshadow spiritual israel So of course god loves them and has mercy upon them, but it wasn't based on nothing It's based on one choosing the lord and one not choosing the lord It also isn't even based on works if you think about it because it's not like the children of israel aren't sinful And the nation of edom is they're both sinful It's one's choosing the lord and one's not And of course, it's similar to our spiritual salvation that it's not like we're just less sinful than the rest of the world We simply believed on the lord. Jesus christ and chose him and that's why we're saved and those who decided not to Are going to go to hell I guarantee there are people out here that are not saved There are people not in our immediate parking lot. There are people In the world, okay That are less sinful Than some of us in this room Like they have if we just looked at their debt account of sin debt They might have less sin debt, but you know what? They're still going to go to hell and you're still going to go to heaven based on what you believe Because it's not a competition of how much sin we have that's why repenting of your sins for salvation is foolishness Because you could be the most sinless person on the planet and split hell wide open That's right Because it doesn't god's not looking at how much debt you had he's looking at your payment source Okay, and the problem is is your only payment source is the blood of christ So when you start trying to offer your payment source, he rejects that, you know, it's not accepted It's like visa and master card aren't accepted there. Okay, they're accepted everywhere except for the lord And they should put that caveat in their commercials. Okay visa and master card accepted everywhere except for with god Okay, the only acceptance is christ blood or nothing and if you offer anything else you're not saved That's why we try to ask people. Why are you going to heaven and they're like i'm paying with visa You know i'm paying with master card i'm paying with american express not getting in You know you get in with the blood of christ or nothing. Okay? Now he says here as it is written jacob, I love but esau have I hated, you know, that's Reference to malachi the nations these groups of people but also I think there's A little bit similar to the persons themselves depending on how you interpret this He says hey Does that make god unrighteous? No Verse 15 for he saith to moses. I will have mercy on whom I will mercy and I will compassion whom I have compassion So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of god that showeth mercy So again, you don't even get to determine if god gives you mercy or not based on your own works or what you decide personally God ultimately gets to decide what he's going to do Now he's already told us in other places in scripture why he gives mercy to people Because number one they believe in christ. That's how they get the mercy of salvation But even beyond that when it comes to just granting mercy in general god ultimately gets to decide how he does things Because in some cases some people commit a sin worthy of death And god gives them mercy and in other places people commit a sin that's not even under death and god gives them no mercy We'll be an example of this king saul and king david king saul rebels against the lord and offers a sacrifice when he shouldn't And blames the people and then god's like rejects him as king And doesn't you know, basically doesn't bless him again. David literally commits adultery and murder and then god puts away his adultery and murder It's like well, how does that work? Well, it's based on the heart of both these men one was prideful and couldn't accept the sin And so god decided not to give saul mercy David said I sinned against the lord and got his heart right and so god gave him mercy But you know what god gets to decide how he's going to treat people And how he's going to dole out mercy and which people he's going to give more compassion more mercy based on how he determines it okay, and we're subject to God's mercy god's compassion god's love suffering. Here's another thing There are some people that are just begging for god to strike them dead right now There are some people they're just begging for god to just strike them with a lightning bolt and i'll say like I don't understand it And then there's some people in this world that aren't even attacking god and they just die in a horrible car accident today Right think about it. There are going to be young children That are going to die today Whereas there's reprobate screaming blasphemy against god today. They're not going to die and you'd be like what in the world Like how does that even make sense? God gets to decide how he's going to rule the world and why he's allowing certain things to happen Okay, and we have to accept that now as we keep reading he says For the scripture sayeth on a pharaoh even for the same purpose Have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth therefore Hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he harden it So he's saying you know what he let pharaoh get in the position that he did for a reason He said like why would god allow a really wicked person become The most powerful person on the planet. Well, he has a reason You know, it's like why why is biden our president? God has a reason God has a reason why we have biden as our president, you know There's a reason why the certain leaders are in the positions that they're in and I don't understand it. I don't know why God does and we have to accept that god has a purpose for this God has a reason and of course, why did he put pharaoh in that position so that he could plague? Pharaoh so greatly and show how powerful god is so, you know We could get a better president But then we may not see the wonderful works of god and see the power of god and in in our lives Whereas if we get the most wicked evil Leader we might actually see the power of god, you know That's going to be the culmination of the antichrist the worst leader to ever rule the world We're going to see the greatest power of god ever being shown on earth That's not a coincidence just like pharaoh being one of the most wicked people ever put in to power Then is going to pull out the great power of god, right when you have a a man Taking the children of god and throwing the boys in the river I mean throwing babies into a river Against the parents will is one of the worst atrocities that's ever happened You know, we think taxes are bad. How about the government? How about the swat coming to your door knocking your door down taking your infant out of your dead cold hands? And throwing it into the river to drown That literally happened folks That's horrible that's when god steps in and is like, you know what i'm gonna do something about this Okay, and you would say like why did god allow that to happen so that he could show his power in his mind, okay? Now As we keep reading it says this Verse 20 All right. I think I need to read a few verses before verse 18 therefore He has mercy on whom you have mercy and whom you will harden your heart That will say then unto me. Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? So here's that here's a stupid question by calvinist. Oh, well, you know if god does whatever he wants then where's free will huh? How can you resist his will it's a question verse 20 nay You know when when the bible just says no To your response realize that was a bad question It's like this is literally what calvinist based their doctrine on and then the bible just says no It's like wrong, okay Nay, but oh man who art thou that replies against god shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus so the question is like, oh well i'm, just gonna do whatever i'm gonna do and be whatever i'm gonna be then like How can how can god damn me for who I am? Verse 21 hath not the potter power over the clay Of the same lump to make one vessel into honor another under dishonor What if god willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long suffering The vessels of wrath fitted to destruction And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy Which he had before prepared in the glory. So what god is saying what the bible is saying is this god made you exactly how you are Based on Your response to him, okay, and i'm i'm i'm getting a little ahead of myself, sir. I'm gonna prove that in a minute But he's the potter over the clay he gets to form us and shape us exactly how he wants us But it's based on his foreknowledge of how we're going to behave and how we're going to act And they're basically saying well who hath resisted his will no no He's he still is allowing you to do whatever you want. It's just he is going to come alongside of who you really are And give you all the characteristics That you deserve And the way I look at this is kind of like a comic book If you are going to write a comic book And make your your comic book and you're just you're just drawing it on on paper for a moment And you don't have the characters built yet. You're just the concept And let's say your comic book is superman. Okay, and you're like, okay, we're gonna have a good guy Superman he is someone who can't tell a lie Is coming from heaven Can't die And is going to be the savior of all mankind. I wonder where they got the story from A Jew wrote it. Okay. Um So you're like that's that person and then it's like we're gonna have an evil person Okay, lex luther lex luther and he's gonna try and attack them now base. We know that lex luther is just bad We already know what he's gonna do. He's gonna make bad decisions. He's gonna try and kill superman He's gonna try and kill mankind. We already know that so then What the what the person's doing is like well, let's make lex luther Smart Let's make him rich Let's put him in this specific, you know position of power and authority Okay Why is that person rich powerful and have those positions? Because the person making it already knows they're wicked and they want them to be in this really powerful position So that when we have this battle royale we show how mighty superman is that he defeated a really mighty foe, right? What if lex luther it's like okay, he's poor stupid and idiot and has no resources and is addicted to cocaine It's like that wasn't a hard person to win the battle Right. So of course god gave i'm not sorry. Let me go back the author the creator The illustrator is giving this person all these great attributes So that superman can defeat him and it's a cool battle So let's go back to god God already knows who all the good guys and the bad guys are in their heart He already knows who's going to choose him and who's not going to choose him He already knows those who are going to serve him and those are not going to serve him So then based on those characteristics of god's four knowledge, he's going to then say, okay So i'm going to make you this tall i'm going to give you this wisdom I'm going to give you these parents i'm going to put you in this player of the world Why? So that we can have those battle royales You know, he knew david was internally Before David has ever created but you know what he's like i'm going to put david in this family in this body in this age So that when goliath comes around we have a young shepherd boy going out and he's going to sling The rock at his forehead and kill him So he can have the epic david versus goliath battle, you know, so so God formed the clay of david In his mother's womb. He formed him exactly how he wanted him He put him in the the part of history and time exactly when he wanted him based on that also goliath God knew that goliath was a wicked evil Satan filled demonic philistine and so he formed him and his mother. He's like make him big, you know He's like he's like stretching this guy out and he's like he's gonna be strong. He's gonna be fierce He's gonna he's gonna have gnarly teeth. I mean god is just perfecting his little creation In that mother's womb That was a terrible birth. I'm sure you know talk about a big head coming out, right? I mean That kid was just a curse from day one But you know what? It wasn't that goliath didn't have free will It wasn't that david didn't have free will It's that god knew the decisions these people are going to make and so he gave him the attributes. He wanted them to have For their lives to fulfill his ultimate purpose Okay So again, the calvinists have it right that god Knows everything and is planning everything and his ultimate will is going to be accomplished But where they're wrong is when they say that intervenes with who goes to heaven or hell When they start saying that we don't have free will when it starts saying that our choices don't matter. Of course our choices matter God just certainly he's giving us the upgrades the equipment packages, you know He's given us all the different talents and super abilities and stuff based on what we're going to do And god has formed us in that way Now it says here in verse number 24 Even us meaning specifically us whom he hath called not of the jews only but also the gentiles As he saith also in osea. I will call them my people which are not my people and are beloved Which is not my beloved and it shall come to pass them in a place where it was said on them You're not my people there shall they be called the children of the living god Isaiah is also crying concerning israel though The number of the children of israel be as the sand of the sea of remnants shall be saved For you will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because the short work will the lord make upon the earth And as isaias said before except the lord of sabaoth had left us a seed we had been in sedoma and been made like unto gomorrah What shall we say then that the gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which is a faith So according to the bible he's saying hey only a remnant of israel and the gentiles are the true israel And the ones that are going to get saved, okay And that the gentiles we didn't follow after righteousness But we attained unto righteousness how specifically or even the righteousness which is a faith. How do the gentiles get in the program by faith? verse 31, but israel which followed After the law of righteousness have not attained the law of righteousness. So again verse 31, but physical israel Physical israel which followed after the law of righteousness have not attained to the law of righteousness Meaning They committed sin folks. It's all that's saying physical israel sin So they're not righteous. Okay for all of sin and come short of the glory of god Was already established in this book in romans chapter number three verse 32 wherefore meaning why Now you got to think about this what's the big picture paul wants all of physical israel to be saved That was verses one through five Verse number six through seven says hey the word of god didn't fail these people The word of god didn't didn't fail physical israel Okay, god chooses To give mercy and grace based on What he determines is right So then we've been begging the question then it's like well, then what is it based on why? Verse 32 wherefore because they sought it not by faith But as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled that something so so he's saying why is it that some of physical israel Is not going to get saved. Why is it that some of physical israel? Is not going to take the word of god It's because they sought it by the works of the law and not by faith And it says They stumbled at the stumbling stone verse 33 as it is written behold I lay in zion a stumbling stone and rock a fence and whosoever believeth on him should not be ashamed So because they decided not to believe in christ because they didn't accept it by faith because they stumbled to that stumbling stone They are cursed from god. They are not the children of god. They're not the seed of god And god put them in that position on purpose. God took the unsaved Never going to believe in christ jew and put him at that time because they he knew they would crucify christ He knew they would stumble He knew that they wouldn't accept whereas if he took a bunch of gentiles and put them Into that space they would have believed on christ And that it wouldn't have happened so god Knew all the people that are going to believe and not going to believe and he put them all in the places that he wanted for His specific goal and his specific will you know, you didn't choose your parents. You didn't choose to be american or canadian or whatever country you're from African or asian or hawaiian you didn't choose any of those different things You didn't choose your mom and dad you didn't choose to be here You know necessarily because if you were born in india, you probably wouldn't be here today, you know, if you're born in north korea You might not be alive, you know, I mean there's all kinds of things that could have happened to you You know, I believe that you're here Because god knew you would believe in him God knew That you would want to serve him. And so he's allowing you to be here today Okay Now that doesn't mean that you don't have free will that doesn't mean you don't have choices It means that you have been given a lot And you need to use that now, let me prove this for a moment go to proverbs chapter 16 we're kind of done with this chapter, but You know, the reason why they're rejected is because they went to seek their own righteousness and if you think about it the jews Or the children of israel. They didn't like who they were They are supposed to be the children of god. They are supposed to believe on christ They are supposed to be the light to lighten the gentiles, but they didn't like that So they came up with their own plan their own path of life their own decisions They came up with their own righteousness and because of that they got destroyed and you know what there's a lot of people today Who don't like who they are? And they choose their own path their own way and they're destroying the opportunity that god has given them God has a plan for your life whether you're good evil bad It doesn't matter and he wants you to walk according to that plan, you know, the devil was created to be You know, one of the greatest Worship instruments for the lord. I mean he literally has instruments Imparted into his body. He's the anointed cherub that covereth. So god created the devil to serve him and to worship him But instead of walking that path and doing what god had for him He decided to walk his own path of self-worship Of lifting himself up pride and wishing for others to worship him And of course that's going to destroy him And we too need to realize that god has created us with with paths to walk down And we should accept who we are and not say why hast thou made me thus but rather embrace who we are And be the best version of ourselves Proverbs chapter 16 look at verse 4 the lord hath made all things notice this for himself Yay, even the wicked for the day of evil Now it's not that he made them evil, but he made them And it's going to be for his purpose He's going to destroy them go if you would to second peter's chapter number two I'm going to first show you the wicked and i'm going to prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt in the bible this morning God makes everyone You know exactly how they are for his purposes and if you're a wicked person in your heart God's giving you the life that you deserve it in a lot of a lot of ways Um, you know the bible talks about even the wicked reprobates cursed children and some people say like why is that horrible thing happening? To that to that person well often it's just because they're a wicked evil person in their heart and god's allowing horrible things to happen Now i'm not saying every horrible thing that happens to you is just because you like somehow deserve it necessarily But what I am saying is that when we talk about the truly wicked people God has orchestrated their lives in a certain manner Based on the choices that they're making and it even says in second peter chapter 2 verse 12 But these is natural brute beasts Made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish no corruption So it's not that god made them evil But what god did is he made them a brute beast What god did is he put them in a certain area or a certain part of the world? Or you know what maybe even gave them an eloquent voice, you know He said hey i'm gonna give this false prophet. John mark arthur one of the best sounding voices You know, he's gonna get up and it's just gonna have this booming Just sweet Syrupy, you know just voice they just everybody just loves to hear You know why because god wants to charm them He doesn't want to give You know, john mcarthur pb herman's voice Because then not very many people are going to want to hear, you know, that type of false doctrine So he's going to give john mcarthur this syrupy sweet just great sounding voice, you know He's gonna he's gonna make joel osteen have perfect teeth and perfect hair and nice skin And is it any coincidence that uh, he's born into a family where his dad's a pastor? You know joel osteen couldn't even exist if it wasn't for his dad His dad's the one that built the church his dad's the one that basically just handed it to joel osteen So why is it that joel osteen's there god already knew? Hey, there's a wicked person that's going to teach a lot of lies. I'm going to put him in the family of his dad That's going to do that. You know, he's going to give them these certain attributes And of course, it's the same as when you are going to go out to the target range and you take a clay pigeon What is the point of a clay pigeon It was made to be taken and destroyed So of course you give it qualities and attributes for that purpose, right? You know what? You're not going to do is you're not going to make a gold pigeon And take it to the shooting range why because you don't want to just sit there and destroy things that are of value You take clay because it's meaningless. It shatters easy makes a nice loud sound when you shoot it click You know you shoot it and it sounds really so all of the attributes selected were for its purpose Just like god took the wicked people and said, you know what i'm going to give you all of these attributes Because I know what you're going to be like and I know ultimately you're just going to be made to be taken in this way Okay, go if you go to psalms 58 go to psalms 58, you know, jobe struggled with this, um in the bible Because If you think about it, like joe's life turns into just a nightmare And you would think like why is why is god allowing all these things to happen or Or why did god allow joe to have so much money so much wealth so many children For them to all be taken away because he was trying to show how someone could still serve god even if they lost everything What if joe was a derelict in the gutter? With no children and no money. It would be harder harder for him to punish him You know, he had to give joe everything and then take it all away to illustrate Great spiritual truths and of course joe's a picture of christ Why because christ has everything? And then he has to lose all of it and become a curse for us So that we can get salvation and and here's the thing, you know when joe's sickness and evil and all this stuff turned for him When he prayed for his friends Okay, kind of like how christ once he went through the gospel and did it for all of us That's when it all turned for him and he got completely restored again Okay, so just like joe was a picture of christ getting that full restoration, you know Joe could have moments in his life where he's like why has thou made me thus, you know, joe cursed his day He's like, oh i've been better if i'd never been born and whatever There's going to be days where christians will have that thought Maybe you've had that thought and it's not the right thought. It's not the right thought to think. You know what? I wish I'd never been born I wish I didn't even exist. Why do I have to have the parents that I have? Why do I have to have the dad that I have? Why do I have to have the wife that I have? Why do I have to have the husband that I have? Why do I have to have the nephew or the cousin or the brother or the lack thereof? Why do I have to have the you know, step parents or why do I have to have you know? No parents or you know, why do I have to have all the situations and the scenarios that I have in my life? You know what god did that in your life for a reason To mold you and to shape you into the person that you are today Okay, and it's not for us to Accuse god why it's not made me thus. No, we should embrace and accept who we are psalm 58 verse 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies So god already knows who the wicked are and according to the bible strange means to divert from the true or to divert from that Which is right. It's saying wicked people are immediately Diverting From that which is right straight from the womb And god already knows that so then god is forming these people's lives Based on who they are, you know, how could you say curse the children notice it's saying they're estranged from the womb They were already evil day one and i'll be honest. I've worked in nurseries My like when I was younger A lot younger and there are some times you can notice a two three or four year old That are like a demon seed And look all children are rebellious all children misbehave but there are some kids even at that age that are just evil and you're just like What is wrong with this child? And what I mean by evil is like they will hurt children and other people maliciously And you're like, you know kids will hurt each other, you know, but not in a malicious way not in an evil Disgusting way they'll hurt animals, you know, that's what they figured out like a lot of these psychopaths and predators They like hurt little animals, you know when they're younger because they just have a sadistic mind, you know And you look at some of these psychopaths Jeffrey Dahmer's and some of these I mean they were evil as a child You know, you look at these school shooters you look at some of these things I mean you could you could just see the evil, you know almost from day one in a lot of these people's lives Okay, and and i'm just saying that you know god knowing all that Puts these people in positions and gives them the air the characteristics and the attitudes that they Are going to be manifested in go to isaiah 49 Now that was the the bad part. There's the good part too There are some people that are really good That are going to be greatly used by god and god has put them in positions and places for a specific reason And and you have to realize that god gave you attributes that you have for a reason isaiah 49 look at verse 5 And now say the lord that formed me from the womb to be a servant How could you be formed from the womb to be a servant if you haven't even made a decision yet? Because he already knows you're going to believe in him. He already knows you're going to choose to serve him So he's already formed you to be that person you know isaiah Jesus jeremiah all these people are ordained before they're even born in their womb to be the great prophets and men that they are Because god knows what they're going to do and god has a plan for their life go to jeremiah one Just flip to the right. You're almost there. Jeremiah chapter one. Look at verse four Jeremiah chapter one verse four then the lord the word of the lord came unto me saying before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee And before thou came his fourth out of the womb. I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations now Go if you went to exodus i'm flipping to a lot of places real quick go to exodus chapter four Go to exodus chapter number four. I want to prove this even further to you And sometimes our attributes aren't even good You know, I was born short I was short for a long time and i'm now i'm like not that short, okay But i'm not tall, you know, i'm just kind of average height maybe But I was the the shortest kid in school, you know, I was the shortest kid I'm, not saying boy I'm saying I was the shortest student My freshman year. I was the shortest student my sophomore year Junior year. I was starting getting taller than some of the girls. Okay it's like you know, I was just a pipsqueak and it's like I I don't know why but I just so much of my life. I just was like always like why did god make me so short? You know and I and I felt like I would never get married You know if you're a young person or you're single and you feel like you're never going to get married A lot of people have that thought, you know, I had that thought a lot And I was terrified that no girl would ever like me because no girls like me, you know, I was growing up um, I I didn't really date until I grew, uh, but Uh, I was the annoying little brother is what I was described as you know by girls But you know, I was always terrified of all that but you know going through those experiences I believe has given me life experiences I can use for the future, you know I was relentlessly mocked ridiculed made fun of And and people always treated me poorly But you know what that helped me because i've gone through that for decades that it's just like it's nothing anymore You know, is that any coincidence? That I had to go through a period of time where no one liked me. Everyone picked on me I was always made fun of names are called at me. I mean kids would pick me up and give me you know Do all kind i'm not going to say there's they do all kinds. I'm gonna play an idea You know, my brother was even terrorizing me. My brother put me in the dryer I Like how do you fit in the dryer? I was small. Okay I mean he put me in the dryer and then he like could corner my friends and like Torture them and kick soccer balls at them and he would shoot our dogs with guns I'm sure you know other things that he would do but it's like I was just terrorized my brother one time uh, I had a friend who was like saying something to my brother and was like Making fun of my brother or something And my brother's like if he makes fun of you and me again i'm gonna punish you i'm like Okay, how's that fair? Right? So he does it again. So then my brother chases me down holds me down and hawks a loogie in my mouth I mean, you know, my brother loved hockey and he didn't we didn't have a goalie So he would just make me stand in front of the goal with no pads And just play goalies. He'd hit slap shots at it and look he's like 14 and i'm like six Okay It hurt I'm just saying like I've been through the ringer a couple times actually and I would get my brother and sister back but not on purpose like my sister She had all this like makeup like fancy makeup that she hid in her room and all these like She would buy cereal like sugar cereal and we weren't allowed to have it And I would go and sneak and I would eat her sugar cereal. Well One day I ate the entire box just like I ate all of it and I like ruined all her makeup And then she said I took her brand new keyboard and I peed all over it So So then they babysat me. All right and then what they did is they Took me by my underwear and gave me a carpet burn all the way down the hallway and then hung me on the wall with my underwear Okay, while mom and dad were out So it's like, you know I i've been through it, you know I know what it's like to be picked on. I know what it's like to be, you know made fun of i've had all kinds of weird things happen and I've gotten trouble for my mouth, you know my whole life. Okay Yeah But you know, it's like why did all those things happen You know, I could look at it and I could be you know, there was even times in my life where I felt really lonely I was really sad because my brother and sister would terrorize me like that and then mom and dad wouldn't do anything And I I would I would remember i'd be in my room and i'd cry And i'd be like i'd be sad for myself, you know, i'd be like oh, you know Why all these bad things happen to me and nobody cares and then I finally realized like nobody cares I was like the only person that cares is me I was like i'm the only person sad like they terrorized me And they're happy and they're having fun and i'm isolated and alone and i'm not having fun So at that point it was like this light bulb came off in my head and I said, you know what? I don't have to be sad. I can just choose to just have fun right now So then I just from then on the rest of my life. I said, you know what? I'm, just gonna choose to enjoy every moment of my life no matter what happened and no matter what injustice happens to me Because I can't affect anything else and if they don't get justice As my children say god knows okay So sometimes the kids it's this funny thing our kids will tattle on each other or the but they can't prove it or something And mom and dad don't like punish the brother or sister so then they'll be like They're like, what did mommy say they're like they're not gonna do anything but god knows And it's like that's the right attitude Okay And you know I praise god for the life that I have because you know what it yielded me the wife that I have And you know what? Maybe if I had been this like six five stud And was the quarterback for the high school football team and god had played college football and got in the nfl I would have probably married a bunch of whores And really be a really prideful person and never serve god with my life So, you know what? Praise god. I didn't go down that path. Praise god. God said, you know what? Maybe here's someone that's willing to serve me. So i'm going to shape and form them A specific way because I know they'll be humble enough to serve me You know what? Look at Exodus chapter four verse 10 And moses said on the lord. Oh my lord. I'm not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou has spoken with thy servant But I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue and the lord said on him who hath made man's mouth Or who make it the dumb or death or the seeing or the blind have not I the lord? God's saying hey, why would I tell you to go do something and not equip you? He's saying I made you exactly how I want you moses And you know what? I made the dumb I made the deaf. I made the blind you could go to john And you could see there was a man that was born blind and they're like, oh who sinned him or his parents And he's like not that's not what happened. This is for the the glory of god And you know what that blind guy whose life had probably been the worst life to imagine I mean imagine being born blind. You've never seen anything your entire life That life has got to be terrible you know what he's in heaven and the pharisees are burning in hell right now folks You know some people would think like oh I don't want anything bad happened my children or Horrible things could happen where my child's born with a disability, you know It might be worse than being born with a disability being born with an arm like a like tom brady Being born handsome being born really smart like elon musk You know having superior intellect or physical skills. I mean goliath was born physically superior to everyone But you know what is a curse on him because he was prideful about it He was arrogant about it. Whereas the guy that was born crippled the guy that was born blind, you know He's much more humble to accept the lord and to go to heaven You know, how about the rich man that fared sumptuously every single day? Whereas the guy that's got sores and is a beggar his whole life. He's comforted in heaven. Whereas the rich man lift up his eyes in hell And what i'm telling you is you're here for a specific reason god's made you a certain way god's given you certain attributes You know what you shouldn't question why god made you the way that you are Look at psalms 139 go to psalms 139 And yeah, he made the wicked for his purposes too psalm 139 look at verse 13 Now we love psalm 139, but you know There's all kinds of good verses look at verse 13 for thou's possessed my reigns thou's covered me in my mother's womb I will praise thee for i'm fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my soul knows right well, my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and Curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance Yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned When as yet there was none of them now, this is the verse that I really want to Point to you to understand this thine eyes did see my substance being yet imperfect This is like the guy drawing on the board what the character is going to look like before he even exists So he's saying he could see what you look like. He could see your hair color. He could see your skin color He could see the the freckles on your face. He could see that mole on your back Like how do you know about that? I'm just okay. Just just calm down He could see everything about you before you even existed And he made you the way that he made you on purpose Based on the goal that he has for your life And we shouldn't sit here and say you know what why hast thou made me thus i'm fearfully wonderfully made You knew what I look like before I even knew anything before I even had a thought Why well god obviously made me for his purpose and god made me to serve him and to be a servant And to be a servant and you know what we need to embrace who we are go to matthew chapter 19 go to matthew chapter 19 There's a whole movement today. That's not embracing who they are and I would even say it's splintered into all kinds of movements What kind of movements exist that don't like who they are? How about the feminism movement? Where it's women who don't like to be women How about men going their own way? You know what that is not the the goal that god had for men men aren't supposed to go their own way Men are supposed to go and wrangle a wife and make children You're like ah, but women Yeah, embrace who you are as the man You're called a man. You're not another woman Okay, you are the man you're supposed to get things done, you know as a woman you're supposed to be a woman You know, of course it even goes beyond that because you have the transgender movement Who literally thinks? That they're not supposed to be a woman if they're a woman They think they should be a man Or they're a man and they think that they're a woman, you know They try to put forth this ideology in the oh, why has god made me a man when i'm really a woman It's because you're a man God didn't make mistakes God didn't think like oh, I know that you're really a woman inside. So i'm going to wrap you in a man's body No, no, no, he knew you were a man and he wrapped you in a man's body Now what he might have done is he said hey, I know you're a sick freak And so i'm going to wrap you in a man's body so that you'll dress like a woman to show how stupid you are To show how wicked you are and then biden will elect you to every single position in your cabinet You know the department of energy or the department of health or department? I mean what department doesn't have one of these tranny freaks running around in it right now Who are just mocking god and being like why is that made me thus? You know what because you're wicked and you are made to be taken and destroyed And you know what trannies were made to be taken and destroyed Now matthew chapter 19 look at verse 4 And he answered and said to them have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female And said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore god has joined together let not man put us under you know There's only man and there's only women There's all that's it now. He gives a third category here verse 12 For there's some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb And there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men and there'll be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven's sake he that is able to receive it let him receive it. That is not a gender though What? Honestly in ninety nine point nine percent if not a hundred percent eunuchs are one thing a man That cannot perform a man that cannot perform That's what a eunuch is. It's not that he's not a man. It's that he can't perform because women just can perform Okay, there's not like a question there if hypothetically they couldn't they could possibly consider eunuch But really just when you think of a eunuch, it's just always considered a man that can't perform Okay, and there's a lot of reasons they could be born with the defect Or born with an abnormality that causes them not to be able to perform now This is what the transgender community will say like, oh there's intersex and there's all these things whatever it's like they're lying There are some people that are born eunuchs Meaning that they're born with a deformity or some issue Which is such a rare percentage of the population where they couldn't perform and they're just eunuch. Okay, but they're still a man And Then there's women. Okay, that's it. That's all that there is And of course whoever you are if you were born a eunuch Embrace being a eunuch God made you a eunuch for a reason or you could have had some horrible thing happen to you in your life That caused you to be eunuch an accident or a problem and it forced you to be eunuch You know embrace being eunuch or you could just choose to be eunuch You know, I guess if you just hate women that much, you know, and you're not a homo then you could be a eunuch I guess but it's weird. All right, and I've never met somebody I genuinely thought was like that So they may exist though, of course obviously the Bible says that Paul's like that Paul decides not to have that marital relationship and Decides to just serve God with his life. And so he it's not that he couldn't perform necessarily It's that he has enough power over his will that he's and again, he says it's a gift Because a normal man can't do that Okay, it was a special gifting that God gave them to be able to do that If you don't have that gift then don't try to be Paul go to 1st Corinthians chapter number seven I don't have that gift at all. Okay Praise God for my wife That was the gift I got but you need a gift either way either need that gift or you need the gift of a wife You know as a man to survive and and serve God with your life Well, look at 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse 20 the Bible says let every man abide in the same calling wherein he's called Aren't thou called being a servant care not for it But if thou be if thou mayest be made free use it rather For he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's Freeman Likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's servant. You're bought with a price be not he the servants of men Brethren let every man wherein he's a called there and abide with God, you know what he's saying? However, God made you do it Whatever circumstances have led you to the place that you're in Embrace it. Hey, you found yourself a servant be a servant. Hey, you found yourself married be married You found yourself single be single. Hey, wherever you're at, whatever state you're in whatever body Shite shape size whatever intellect whatever language whatever country whatever state whatever you have Just embrace that and be a servant of God don't be a servant of men and Don't ask this question. Why is thou made me thus? That's a bad question the right question is or There's really not a right question. The right thought is you know what? I'm gonna be the best version of myself I'm gonna be the best Texan that I can be I'm gonna eat chili with no beans in it. I Am going to embrace, you know, hey, I'm gonna be the best American that I can be I'm gonna be the best Texan that I can be I'm gonna be the best man that I can be You know, if you're a woman be the best woman that you can be if you're white I'm gonna be the best white person I can be. You know what? I'm not ashamed to be a white person Because God decided to make me white, you know what God could have made me black green blue and everything in between But you know what God made me a white person and I'm not ashamed to be a white person and I'll still preach Everything that considered racist out there. Anyways, okay. I'm not afraid. I'm not ashamed of being white I'm not ashamed of being a man. I'm not ashamed of being straight. I'm not ashamed of being married to a beautiful woman I'm not ashamed of having five children. You know what? Praise God. I have those things. You know what? I'm not ashamed of being a member of Steadfast Baptist Church I'm not ashamed of being the pastor of Steadfast Baptist Church You know what? Even as a sordid past and a sordid history, you know what? Praise God I get to be the pastor of this church Praise God I get to be a soul winner for the Lord Jesus Christ You know what? Why don't you just embrace being a soul winner? You're like, well, I'm not the pastor Will it be a soul winner? Well, then I'm just a church member well then be the best church member you could possibly be Well, I'm a lady well then be the best lady that you can be Well, I'm just a mother well then be the best mother that you can be Well, I'm just a child be the best child that you can be Stop saying like why am I in this position and start embracing you're in that position? Start saying hey God gave me the money the resources the talents the vision everything that he gave me He gave me the voice. I have for a reason. He gave me the talents. I have for a reason He gave me the skills. I have for a reason. He gave me the beauty. I have for a reason Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman that fear at the Lord. She shall be praised You say like I'm ugly. Well, maybe it's so God could make you beautiful on the inside I'm Beautiful. Well, maybe it's so God could challenge you to stop being so carnal and caring about physical beauty and care about spiritual beauty Because you know what? God is not looking down from heaven at the women in here and saying you know what? She looks that hair looks good Did you see what she was wearing that dress? Oh man, you know what God is looking at your heart And God is like, you know what? She was rude this morning She was a jerk she was selfish she's prideful That's how God looks at you. And who do you care to impress this morning? Did you want to impress me? Did you want to impress all these people in here? Did you want to impress Jacob and Jared, you know, they're not impressed. Okay Who do you want to impress dressed to impress right? You know, why don't you impress God? You Know why don't you read Proverbs 31 and say that's what I want to do with my life You know be the best tall person be the best short person You know, I'm gonna be the best short person I can be. Okay Hey be the best at your job be the best parents be you know the best wife be the best Christian and You know, I just get so sick and tired of feminism because it just it just women just Whether they admit it or not they're so infected with feminism today and they just they don't want to be a good wife and a mother and The whole the whole country is just you know Infecting them with this. They think they have value in not being who they are It's like being a submissive godly woman is exactly what God wants you to be Oh You just say that cuz you know, I'm telling you that's what God wants and you have to believe my faith You know, we read about Sarah for a reason and we read about Jezebel for a reason Yeah, you know what Jezebel spent her time doing putting on makeup You know as Sarah spent her time doing serving Abraham and calling him Lord making meals You know what and she was a lonely Housewife for so long. I mean nine years Well, I can't I mean what is he God just expects me to just hear and serve Abraham for 90 years It's like yes It's like get over yourself Why has gotten why is Lord, you know, she's like one of those famous women of all of history you meet Sarah's everywhere You Know how many Jezebels you mean It's like why is the Lord maybe that's it's like you think you're gonna be someone special because you're like Kamala Harris You think you're gonna be someone special because you're gonna be Oprah. No, no, no, the Sarah's of this world are gonna change this world The Sarah's of this world and give birth to the this world. Okay, who's Kamala Harris giving birth to who's Oprah giving birth to? You know, who's AOC gonna give birth to she's gonna die and every her lineage is gonna die with her her her ugly Disgusting. I mean she looks like the ugliest person in the world to God. I Don't think she's attractive anyways, but I'm just saying like even if she was to God it's just like You know and then you got protesters that they're ugly in both ways I mean, they're just they kind of look like they are on the inside. They actually do it's like God It's like it's all the same, you know He made them ugly because you know what, you know, you make that clay pigeon really ugly right before you blow its head off, you know And I mean that's that's the goal is things are made to be taken and destroyed They have no real benefit except for to be destroyed And of course, you know, you don't want to take something precious and sweet and destroy it So you take these things they're vile and gross and awful and you let those get destroyed you're like sweet Yeah, Sodom and Gomorrah. It wasn't anything to look at. It was just like I'm so glad that thing got torched I'm so glad that thing got new so glad that thing got destroyed and so, you know just like the Lord made the evil and the wicked he made us folks and If you're ever sitting at being sad for yourself or looking down upon yourself or feeling like you have no value you're dead wrong God Has made you special God has made you unique you have so much opportunity to do great things for the Lord And you know what? It just takes one thing faith You just have to you just have to put your faith in the Bible and Realize God has a really important plan for you and God wants to use you in a great way Usually it's just us being too selfish with our own with our own lives Going our own path going our own direction Being discontent with who we are not fully Embracing who we are not being the best version of ourselves and and let's be honest Who in here is gonna be like I already feel like I'm the best version of myself It's like that's You know, that's a lie. We could all be way better We could all be a way better version of ourselves and and let us strive every day. Let us strive every morning Let us strive every year to become a better version of who we are to embrace who we are fully to never be ashamed of Who we are and what God has created us to do because you know what this world's getting darker and we're supposed to get brighter And God wants us to use us. But if we don't turn the lights on if we don't stay bright God will discard us We have to embrace who we are and embrace the time that we're in Embrace the opportunity that we have, you know, only one church can be steadfast Baptist Church and It's a time for us to show the world who steadfast Baptist Church is to say we're gonna embrace being steadfast Baptist Church We're gonna embrace being Christians in an ungodly world. We're gonna embrace being men We're gonna embrace being women. We're gonna embrace having godly families. We're gonna embrace being King James only We're gonna embrace salvation by faith alone We're gonna embrace the fact that you know, what all these other churches are filled with false prophets and liars and freaks Hey, we're gonna embrace the fact that we believe in all of God's laws. Not just the popular ones we're gonna embrace the fact that you know, what we are Texan and We're Christian and we're Baptist and we're steadfast Closing prayer Thank You Heavenly Father for giving us all these great opportunities before us We live in such an awesome opportunity We live in such a great area with so many people that could get saved so many people's lives that we could change So much work to do and we understand there's gonna be enemies. There's gonna be naysayers There's gonna be people that try to discourage us from serving God I pray that we put our faith deep into the heart of the Bible that we would decide that you've made us and put us here for a reason and that we have an important job and That we wouldn't shy away from the important role that we have in the future Rather we'd embrace that we would believe it and that you would help us as we Ultimately give you honor and glory and in Jesus name we pray. Amen For a final song this morning, we're gonna go to 421 the first Noel 421 the first Noel 421 the first Noel The first Noel The angel did say Was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay in fields Where they lay keeping their sheep on a cold winter's night So deep no Born is the king And by Same star From And to follow Born is the king Israel This star drew Northwest Hold stop and stay right over the place Jesus lay no Then Oh They're Thank you all for coming god bless you are dismissed