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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Please take your seats and open your green hymnals to page 64. Page 64, Shall We Gather at the River. Page 64. Sing it out with me on the first. Shall we gather at the river Shall we gather at the river Shall we gather at the river Shall we gather at the river At the river Where bright angel feet are drawn With its crystal tide forever Flowing by the throne of God Yes, we'll gather at the river The beautiful, the beautiful river Gather with the saints at the river That flows by the throne of God On the bosom of the river Where the savior king we own We shall meet in sorrow never Meet the glory of the throne Yes, we'll gather at the river The beautiful, the beautiful river Gather with the saints at the river That flows by the throne of God Ere we reach the shining river Lay we every burden down Grace our spirits will deliver And provide a robe and crown Yes, we'll gather at the river The beautiful, the beautiful river Gather with the saints at the river That flows by the throne of God On the last Soon we'll reach the shining river Soon our pilgrimage will cease Soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody of peace Yes, we'll gather at the river The beautiful, the beautiful river Gather with the saints at the river That flows by the throne of God Sorry about that What page is whosoever meaneth me Josh? 213 211? Sorry about that Page 211 Whosoever meaneth me Sing it out on the first I am happy today and the sun shines bright, the clouds have been rolled away For the Savior said whosoever will may come with Him to stay Whosoever surely meaneth me surely meaneth me Oh, surely meaneth me Whosoever surely meaneth me Whosoever meaneth me All my hopes have been raised Oh, His name be praised His glory has filled my soul I've been lifted up and from sin set free His blood has made me whole Whosoever surely meaneth me surely meaneth me Oh, surely meaneth me Oh, surely meaneth me Whosoever surely meaneth me Whosoever meaneth me Sing it out on the last Oh, what wonderful love Oh, what grace divine that Jesus should die for me I was lost in sin for the world I pine but now I am set free Whosoever surely meaneth me surely meaneth me Oh, surely meaneth me Whosoever surely meaneth me Whosoever meaneth me It's time we'll have our announcements. Good evening. Welcome to Shure Foundation Baptist Church for our Thursday evening service. Let's take our bulletins if you have one. And we'll look at the verse of the week. It says, the Lord shall preserve like going out. And coming in from this time forth and even forever more. Psalm chapter 121 verse 8. And our service times at Shure Foundation Baptist Church. Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening service is 3 30 p.m. Thursday Bible study 6 30 p.m. And our so many times are listed below. I don't think there was anybody saved yesterday. Was there any saved Sunday? No salvation Sunday. We got let's see our praise report you can see on the left corner there. And our Spanish kids class is this Tuesday at 6 p.m. Is that still going on for sure? Does anybody know? It might not be. We're trying to take everything out of here on Monday. So we're going to go ahead and I'm just going to make a pastor executive decision and cancel that class. So we'll have it again in two weeks after this. So then July 15th we already had the Red Hot Preaching Conference. We had a great time. Broke all the attendance records. Broke all the soul winning records. And there was some great preaching. And so we had a great time. And I'm sure everybody's still just recovering from the trip. But it was great. It was fun. And July 30th through August 1st is going to be our third anniversary celebration. We're going to have Pastor Bruce Mejia preaching for us on Friday, June 30th at 7 p.m. at our new building. So this is the last Thursday service we're having at this building. And we're going to have a Friday service. So next week there will be no Thursday service. We're going to be trying to get this place all ship shape and then we'll have our grand opening on Friday. Pastor Mejia will be preaching for us. There will be a soul winning marathon on Saturday. It says 10 30 there. But we'll have some breakfast stuff for at 9 30. And then lunch will be provided from 1 to 2 and then 2 p.m. to 4 30 is going to be the second soul winning session. So we'll have lunch provided, breakfast provided that day. And we should have some visitors coming into town. And the guys have been working real hard over at the building. It's looking good. We got the carpet going in the 26th to the 28th which that's pretty close. So Monday I'm going to rent a U-Haul and we're going to just take everything out of here and move it over to the other place. So but we definitely will need still a cleaning crew or two to come in and just clean. We actually will need both buildings clean once all the carpet is put in which will be Wednesday evening. It'll be should be done. And then Thursday we'll just we're just going to be tightening and buttoning everything up. And so we might even actually just take our all of our sound equipment out of here except for just whatever we need. So anyway next week. So if you are available to help any time just come and be a laborer on Monday that'd be mucho appreciado. And I don't think I said that right. But anyway that's my bad Spanish. So let's see what else we got going on. Oh yeah that weekend. So Pastor Jones is also going to be preaching for us on Sunday night. I'll be preaching Sunday morning on August 1st. And we are also we're also planning on a soloing marathon trip to Longview Washington. Did you want to do it the next weekend? Is that the 19th? No we'll do it on the 21st. OK so the 21st will be in Longview Washington for at least a mini marathon. So might be like a four hour session. And so we'll have a great time with that. And then so everything is going to change here real soon. We're going to be in a new building. So hopefully everybody's really excited. Nobody looks excited right now. But hopefully you'll look excited then. Brother Robert will be excited because he's spending a lot of hours at the building. I know a lot of people have. I really appreciate the sacrifice of your time to help out over there. It's been a blessing. So and then I think that's it for announcements. I don't see birthdays on here. Oh Sierra Watson and Ariana. So I think we already did those anyway. Let's sing another song and then we'll receive the offering. Page three hundred fifty five. Your green handles. Page three fifty five. Acapulco. What a friend we have in Jesus. Page three fifty five. Let's all sing it out on the first. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and grace to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations. Is there trouble anywhere. We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful. Who will all our sorrow share. Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. On the last. Are we weak and heavy laden cumber with a load of care. Precious savior still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsake thee. Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take and shield thee. Thou will find us all this there. May it sing brother Sean can you bless your offering for us. Lord thank you so much for this day. Thank you Lord so much. Thank you for coming to church Lord. Thank you for this wonderful day Lord. Thank you for our new building. I pray that you would bless our church Lord. Bless this offering. Jesus thank you. Amen. Amen. All right as we always do on Thursday nights we're going to go to the Lord of prayer for the prayer request. So let's bow our heads together. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for the privilege of prayer and I just pray that you would watch over Karina and Kylie as they're sick and just pray that they would recover quickly and also for Sarah Holmes. She's asking for comfort for her mother. I pray Lord that you would just give her that comfort that peace and help Sarah and her family through this time as pray for her mom to have peace Lord. We also pray for brother Blake who has an unspoken for the next two months Lord. I pray that you would answer that unspoken according to your will Lord and for the Alferez family pray for travelers mercies for this weekend as they travel to Spokane and Lord for Miss Leilani prayer for her living situation she needs to find a safer place to live Lord. I pray that you would bless her and allow her to be able to do that and for brother Eli who's sick at home I pray that you'd watch over him bless him and keep him and help him to feel better as soon as possible and we pray for Miss Tess and for her health and for her upcoming appointments and also urgent unspoken for my wife Miss Sherry I pray that you'd help her to feel better also and anybody else that's sick Lord we also pray for our church plant in Hawaii and Lord we're trying to get that building that you know of and just pray that you'd help us to get that taken care of and pray for our move Lord there's just so much to do pray that you'd just help us give us grace and help us to get everything done everything to be accomplished that needs to be accomplished before we open. Pray for travelers mercies for Pastor Mejia and Pastor Jones and also Lord for all of our church plants I just pray that you'd comfort bless them keep them watch over our leaders Lord and their wives and their children and Lord our church members I pray that you'd just help them to continue to grow in grace and we thank you for everything give you praise and honor for it in Jesus name we pray Amen Alright turning your Bibles tonight to 1 Corinthians chapter 8 1 Corinthians chapter 8 And when you get there the Bible reads in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifyeth. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled but meat commandeth us not to God for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak for if any man see thee which has knowledge sit at me in the idol's temple shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died but when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience ye sin against Christ wherefore if meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standeth lest I make my brother to offend. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear heavenly Father we love you God. Please be with Pastor Thompson as he preaches God and fill him up with the Holy Spirit and just give us all hearts and ears to listen to your Holy Word tonight. We love you in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Alright 1 Corinthians chapter number 8 and let's look at verse number 1. The Bible says now as touching things offered unto idols we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for just a Thursday night service Lord where we can come and worship you and pray Lord I pray that you just bless the congregation tonight. A lot of people are tired a lot of people are worn out. Pray you just lift them up and pray that you fill me with your spirit and fill me with boldness and power as I preach in Jesus name I pray. Amen. So this chapter is mostly concerning things offered unto idols there's some other topics that I want to touch on though in this particular sermon because I'm going to go into it in greater detail in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 but I'm going to touch on idolatry a little bit tonight actually a lot but the Bible says here in verse number 1 it says now as touching things offered unto idols we know that we have we all have knowledge so the Bible you know is very clear about idolatry we're not supposed to take part in it we're not supposed to serve idols we're not supposed to make idols or graven images that's one of the 10 commandments and we'll cover that here in a little bit but I want to address this part where it says we all have knowledge and so we should all have knowledge of this I mean the 10 commandments is one of the basic things in the Bible that we should all know that we're not supposed to have anything to do with idolatry whatsoever and so I am going to cover some of the stuff like I said about idolatry tonight but I'm going to combine this with chapter number 10 when I get to that in a couple weeks so but knowledge is good it says but knowledge well knowledge is good but knowledge does puff up so here's the thing about new Christians and especially people maybe within our type of churches you know a lot of people just binge watch sermons and they get a lot of knowledge really quickly but one thing I've noticed is a lot of those those things that people learn really quickly they have the head knowledge of it but they wouldn't know where to go in the Bible to show somebody that like the pre-trib rapture being a false doctrine a lot of people can't prove the post-trib pre-wrath rapture it's not super I mean it's not super complicated but it is complicated at the same time you really do have to know your stuff when it comes to end times Bible prophecy but a lot of people like watch after the tribulation or something about you know you know the King James Bible or just anything like that and people just just go through all these sermons and they they learn a lot really fast that can be dangerous though because then that knowledge can puff someone up and so you know our type of churches get a bad rap when they go and visit a Baptist church because it's preached that hey if you don't have a good you know if you don't have a church like this in your area well go to the best church in your area so and a lot of people do that but then they they think they know more than the pastor of that church and maybe they do about end times Bible prophecy or soul winning or the Jews or whatever but that knowledge is just a little bit of knowledge it's not the whole Bible so someone can get saved watch a lot of sermons and then never read their Bible cover to cover and do you think that they have more knowledge than a pastor who's read his Bible 10 or 20 times absolutely not now maybe they're wrong about some things but it doesn't mean that they know more than that person and then that makes people get puffed up what is that term puff up well it's it's kind of like we would say in modern day vernacular is to get a big swollen head right people just think they're smarter than everybody and they know more and it's it's dangerous it's dangerous to get knowledge and wisdom without being able to realize that you're you're you're learning too much too fast and that you're too big for your britches basically is another term that you could use it says but charity edifies knowledge puffeth up but charity edifies so and so charity always edifies you know and charity would be defined by some as unconditional love right or a brotherly love or a godly love a lot of people define it that way but charity is another term for love and I I believe it's talking about unconditional love so when you do something with no strings attached then that's always going to edify somebody when you preach a sermon and you're trying to edify people with charity that is going to that's good for people it's always good if you have charity because you can do a lot of things and not have charity and it just basically counts as nothing so let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13 I didn't have this in my notes but the apostle Paul has a whole chapter that he preaches about charity let's see what verse do I want let's see verse 4 charity suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not charity vonteth not itself is not puffed up it's the opposite of that doth not behave itself unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things charity never faileth but whether there be prophecies they shall fail whether there be tongues they shall cease whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away so the apostle Paul just basically saying hey if you don't have charity you're really nothing all the soul winning you do if you don't do it with real true charity you're just trying to come back and say hey I got all these people saved I got five people saved and that's great if you did but if your only reason for going out soul winning is so you can report back how many souls you got saved supposedly then you know you have the wrong motivation you have that's what the Pharisees like to do they like to make a big show about how much they do and you know just like to oh I'm so spiritual and to me when I see things like that I think that's not very spiritual it's good to rejoice when you bring your sheaves in there's nothing wrong with that hey tell a story about how this person was some kind of warlock and you got him saved or whatever or some kind of you know Jehovah's Witness or really hard to get saved Mormon or something because not a lot of people get Mormon saved so it's very rare that they get saved so but charity is an important part of the Christian life and we ought to know the difference and when you get a bunch of knowledge that's dangerous because it does puff you up it does make you just look down on people you've only read your Bible five times you know someone's like I've read it ten you know that's being puffed up you know why don't you just encourage that person if someone believes a false doctrine say they believe the Nephilim doctrine but that person's saved there's a lot of people that are saved that probably believe the Nephilim doctrine don't you think but instead you call them a stupid idiot and you know all this other stuff that's not that's being puffed up that's that's being prideful and it's not charitable you know showing someone what the Bible says by taking the Bible and just showing them say hey well have you ever thought about this instead of just challenging them in a mean way because you can win that person over you don't have to be a jerk about it you know and obviously when we're preaching hard against wicked things and false doctrine people get this idea that we're like pastors or just these mean people or something like Pastor Shelley he's a nice guy you know and he preaches some sermons against the sodomites and everybody wants to kill him you know they want to burn his blow up his building they want to they want to try to mess with his life and threaten his kids and threaten his wife and all this stuff and that happens to all of us and you know it does get old but you know we we do need to have charity we do need to have grace towards people charity is never going to fail but knowledge gotten too quickly will puff people up and it's not a good look on Christians look at verse 2 it says and if any man think that he knoweth anything he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know well what is that what is that saying well sometimes people they they get to this point where they feel like they've arrived I know everything you know and that's what puffed up knowledge does it makes you think you're you know more than you really do but if you have all this knowledge and you don't have charity what does it mean it means nothing it says in verse 13 back where you just keep where you're at but in verse 13 it says 1st Corinthians 13 it says and now abideth faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is charity so you know we need to understand that charity with knowledge is a good place to be there's got to be a balance in the Christian life it can't just be super extreme over this way super extreme over this way we do have to have a balance the balance is usually somewhere in the middle so that's what I've found to be true you know and so once you feel like you've arrived you definitely have not it says he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know you don't you know stuff but you don't know it how you ought to know it you have no charity and so the Bible is teaching against that look at what it says in verse 3 but if any man love God the same is known of him so what does that mean well God knows the people that love him you know he knows them in a way that we would you know it kind of scares us to think of how well he actually does know us because he knows you better than you know yourself he knows you better than your spouse knows you he knows you better than your children know you he knows you better than your grandparents know you he knows you better than your best friend knows you God knows you in a way that would probably scare you if you realize how well he really does know you so let's look at some verses about this see because God knows us and we need to understand that and you know I think that's a good thing to focus on tonight is how well he knows us and then maybe that would make us think differently maybe that would make us act differently maybe that would make us you know be a better Christian look at Luke chapter 12 verse number 6 Luke chapter 12 verse number 6 the Bible says in Luke chapter 12 verse number 6 are not five sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God see God knows the sparrows but you know we've heard that song you know that he knows the sparrows but look his eye is on the sparrow that's what it's called yeah I'm sorry I was like he knows the sparrows that sounds like the CCM version of it or something but anyway it's already close to CCM as it is but anyway it's right on the border line but it says but even the very hairs of your head are numbered fear not therefore you're of more value than many sparrows so he says he knows the very hairs he knows you so well he knows how many hairs you have on your head right now and probably how many I had back here before you know the male pattern baldness struck me and so he knows us that well he knows how many hairs you have on your head does your spouse know that? do your kids know that? no God does though he knows us look at Job chapter 23 verse 10 Job chapter 23 verse number 10 see he knows what we do in our daily life he knows when we've said hey I think I'm gonna I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and I'm gonna pray and you don't he knows when he said you know tomorrow I'm gonna fix my Bible reading problem I'm gonna read the Bible right when I wake up I'm gonna acknowledge him right when I get up and then I'm gonna pray and then I'm gonna read the Bible and you don't you know he knows that? he knows when we're failing miserably as Christians and then we just skip whole days of just any fellowship with him he knows that and it should make us feel bad I'm trying to make you feel bad right now because I know we all fail everybody does but this might help you to realize if he knows you that well he knows how many hairs are on your head then and he knows everything that we do everything we promise in our heart everything we think about look what it says in Job 23 it says but he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold so he knows every way we take every pathway you know we have all these decisions that we have to make every single day and we have a decision every single day to wake up and take up our cross and follow after Christ we have that decision to make he knows the way we take though he knows which road we're gonna go down he knows if we're gonna take the wrong way and so he knows the way that we take well what way are you taking? everyday are you taking the right way? are you taking the wrong way most of the time and then every once in a while taking the right way? I should be pointing to this way because the right way is the right way left okay anyway Psalm chapter 1 verse 6 Psalm chapter 1 verse 6 Bible says for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous and who are the righteous? the saved people he knows the way of the righteous he knows every way about you and you know when the Bible talks about the way it's usually talking about the way we should be going it's talking about the way of God the way God wants us to do things but it says he knows the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish so we don't want to be ungodly people we want to follow the way the truth the life and God knows the way of the righteous he knows everything about saved people and he loves them he loves us so I shouldn't just be all scary it's not all scary he loves us and he tries to set us up for success that's what I believe just like our kids they take the wrong path sometimes and then you have to correct them so that's the way God is with us also he knows the way of the righteous Psalm chapter 44 verse 21 Psalm chapter 44 verse 21 the Bible says shall not God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart God knows every secret the secrets you won't tell your spouse the secrets you won't tell your children there's secrets in our minds that only we know but you know who knows them? God knows them he knows every secret in your heart and so if your secret in your heart is something wicked then that should be something you should work on getting out of your life and not let that be a bad secret let the secret be good that's what you have with God but it says shall not God search this out he's going to search out the secrets of our heart man looks on the outward appearance the Bible says man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart so he looks at our heart he knows how our heart is that's why he rejected all the sons before he got to David he said none of these are the right ones David's the one Samuel was looking at the elder sons he was like surely this is the Lord's anointed he's like no it's not him because we look at people and admire their stoutness or how they look their stature and things like that but God doesn't look at things the same way we do and he knows the secrets of our heart look at Psalm 103 verse 14 Psalm 103 verse 14 the Lord has pity on us also he knows what we can endure and what we can't endure he knows when things are just something would be too hard for that person I preached a sermon down in Tucson about is anything too hard for the Lord and in that sermon I made the point that we think like Michael Jordan's the greatest basketball player that ever lived but he missed 9,000 shots lost 300 games took the game winning shot 26 times and missed but God would make every single shot he'd make every single free throw he'd get every single rebound he would do everything perfect see God never fails in this whole book he's never failed at anything nothing I mean just show me where he fails because he doesn't but we fail all the time and then we would look at someone like Michael Jordan and go he's the greatest basketball player of all time compared to who? not compared to God obviously God doesn't care about basketball but if he played he'd be great if he played baseball he'd hit the home run every single time I mean the first pitch even if he had to chase it somewhere and fly up there he'd still knock it out of the park you can't throw at him either like some pitchers will throw and try to get someone to back off the plate it's called giving him chin music you ever heard of that? like when it goes right past your chin and people jump up God would just like step back and gone he doesn't fail at anything but he knows our frame he knows what we can handle when Moses was standing before the children of Israel and judging the children of Israel from the morning until the evening his father-in-law I had to come and tell him hey what you're doing is not good it's not a good thing that you're doing it's a bad thing that you're doing you're not helping yourself you're going to wear yourself away we need to know our own limitations and I always bring up MMA but MMA there's a thing where the people over train you know now it's such a big sport there's people that are constantly in the gym and when it first started people didn't train like they do now but like I remember when Randy Couture was fighting which you probably don't know who that is but maybe some people know but he was old he was old as me right now and still fighting but he knew when he had over trained for a fight and he would just back off at the end you know you got to know yourself and your limitations of what you can do but God knoweth our frame he remembereth that we are dust you know God knows the day that we're going to die God knows the second we're going to die God knows the day, the hour the year, the week all that stuff he knows everything about us he knows the beginning from the end and so if we think we're hiding anything from God you can't put a lead helmet on and not have him read your thoughts you can't like put yourself in some kind of tinfoil suit God can't read your thoughts in your mind he can still penetrate through anything so all these people that get the tinfoil hats you know if you've ever seen the tinfoil they think that like some kind of waves are coming through and scanning their brain or something God can get through that too he knows we're dust though and so he's not going to give us more than we can handle but sometimes we give up before we've handled all that we can take so look at Nahum chapter 1 verse 7 Nahum chapter 1 verse 7 Pastor Thompson what does this have to do with meat being sacrificed to idols well I'm glad you asked because like I said in chapter 10 I'm going to refer back to some of this stuff because I want to paint the whole picture for you when it comes up because I think people are confused about this subject and so I just definitely want to make sure that there's no confusion when it comes down to it so Nahum chapter 1 verse 7 it says the Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him see we go and get people saved and we come back with our reports and we're like that person got saved and that's what we believe because we listen to what they said they believe but he knows the fakers too you know there's fakers out there there's people that say they're saved and really aren't and he, but he knows those that trust in him wouldn't it be cool if when someone got saved like there was like a little like a dot that turned a different color and you're like they're saved I know for sure it'd be a lot easier huh but that's just not the way the world works so we can only trust what people say and believe them but you know God actually does know them that trust in him and so when you trust in him then you can actually get to know him because there's a lot of people that hate God and never even took the time to get to know him look at 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 19, 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 19 the Bible says, nevertheless the foundation of God standest sure having this seal the Lord what, what's it say? knoweth them that are his he knows the people that are saved, he knows each and every single person in this room whether they're saved or not and it says, and let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ depart from iniquity that seems like it doesn't fit in that sentence but it does if he knows you then you should depart from iniquity because you know we want to try to serve the Lord the best we can we're supposed to keep God's commandments that's the whole duty of man and so if he knows us and we know him then we should depart from iniquity look at 1 John chapter 3 verse 20 the Bible says in 1 John 3 20 it says for if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things see God is all knowing he knows us on a intimate level where he just knows everything about us every thought we have every hair on our head but he knows everything but he knows everything I mean think about that for a second God knows everything there's not anything that's hidden to his eyes at all he's all powerful but he's also all knowing and so with that knowledge he uses that to judge righteous judgment God never makes a mistake in judgment God never makes a mistake about anything that he knows or any counsel he gives think about this God is so powerful that he can answer everybody's prayers that are praying to him at the same time all around the planet around the world yes the world's round around the world he knows all that he also can deal with everything that's going on with heaven at the same time as he's answering everybody's prayers I mean he's way greater than people give him credit for he's way smarter than people give him credit for and there's not an ounce of wickedness in God at all but yet atheists will sit there and go God's homicidal, genocidal infant infant-cidal or whatever you call it he kills babies he's jealous that was that guy's name Richard Dawkins went on this tirade of how wicked God is God's going to shut his mouth someday break his teeth out of his mouth little pervert but anyway so God knows everything and these atheists want to just go on these rants and say how his judgment's wrong he's so misogynistic and all this other stuff no God's right and everything in his word is right he's all knowing and he's just given us a piece of his knowledge not everything worth knowing is in the Bible but everything that he wants us to know is in the Bible and it's enough for us everything in here is enough for us we don't need the book of Enoch we don't need the what are the other ones that are put in the middle the Apocrypha we don't need that garbage it's not the Bible all we need is what God gave us obviously God didn't think you needed to know that is there really such thing as Bigfoot? no there's really not such thing as Bigfoot but you know if you are just you just kind of feel like there is you'll just get a chance to ask God and he's going to say avoid foolish questions anyway you know there's this big thing going on with the military right now when they're talking about all these UFOs and how they're doing this that's just the game people it's not real it's probably them doing it they have have you seen the one where it goes down drops down into the water anybody watch any of those? they have technology that we don't know about but it's not aliens maybe that's part of the end times delusion but there's no such thing as life on other planets that's fantasy land that's Return of the Jedi stuff it's just not true you know so but God knows everything he knows when you're going to die he knows when you're sleeping he knows when you're awake he knows your heart he knows everything so we need to act accordingly look at verse number 4 in our text verse number 4 back in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 it says as concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one so what's Paul saying? the idol it says we know we know that the idol is nothing so any Christian should understand that an idol doesn't have any sacred power or anything like that it can't move it can't turn its head and look at you it's just a piece of wood that's carved out of someone's hands it's just a piece of stone that was carved by a person and then they take that thing they take the tree they cut it down they shape it how they want to make it look like Buddha skinny Buddha or fat Buddha either one most of the time they do that with a graven tool graven images skinny Buddha was there but then they had a little fat Buddha guy there too I don't know maybe there was a competition between the two of them but anyway those idols make me sick they make me sick I want to destroy them I thought it was really funny how at least the Muslims have the guts to go blow up some idols I think they blew up the biggest Buddha in the world or whatever it was like several years ago but I would good job but I wouldn't say as soul owners we should just go and kick people's idols or whatever do I think God would come down on you for it? Probably not but I mean in the millennial reign those won't exist if they do they're going to get thrust through the dark they're going to get stoned to death or whatever but an idol is nothing see people make idols something people believe that they really are connected to their gods connected to their lords and they believe in them they trust them they serve them which is so ridiculous that people would even believe that have you seen the one of Moloch where he's like holding his hands out like this and they always have these animals mixed together with humans or something it's just really weird but anyways holding his hands out those hands are trying to hold this baby or something he's into child sacrifice now behind the idol is some devil or demon that impressed upon them or whatever to make the idol but it's something that God that's something that God made God made the devils God made the angels God made human beings and all the kinds of animals that are around the world and I think that's why God hates idolatry so much because he's the only God isn't that what it says? There is none other God but one so God hates idolatry and he hates when people bow down and worship statues it's the beginning of the end for a lot of civilizations look at India I wouldn't even walk through the jungle of India if you paid me a million bucks because there's all kinds of things ready to kill you there and I believe that God sends animals to kill people that are idolaters I believe that there's another country that I can think of that's more idolatrous than India and like tigers will just come and grab people out of their houses they have all these Mandian tigers and then saltwater crocodiles ready to eat you I mean there's just everything there's like so many things that could kill you there all kinds of different poisonous snakes and I would hate to be an idolater in India so anyway let's look at Exodus chapter 20 let's look at what the Bible says about graven images and idolatry the Bible says in Exodus chapter 20 verse 3 it says thou shalt have no other gods see that small g before me because what other people would call gods are basically like demons or devils thou shalt have no other gods before me thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above so you know the people that have their little angels hanging from their rear view mirrors that's a graven image you shouldn't have anything that is made from heaven that is in heaven above or that's in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth wouldn't that be like just any animal that you could think of in the water of the earth you know the symbol for Christianity is supposedly a fish and they have that like little graven fish that people put on the back of their thing and it has like the fish eating Darwin or whatever or sometimes Darwin is eating the fish or whatever the bigger fish but you know we shouldn't have that stuff on our cars we shouldn't have graven you know it's a molten image that's what it is so why would Christianity have the symbol of a fish when the Bible says specifically not to make idols like that it says in verse 5 thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them people bow down to statues that they made themselves how weird is that now obviously in America we don't really deal with that kind of stuff as much I mean I don't think anybody in here used to bow down to idols did anybody in here used to bow down to idols it's okay you don't have to raise your hand if you don't want to now I know that people like kiss the relics and the things in the Orthodox Church and in the Catholic churches people you know do this and bow down to the statue of Jesus or Mary or whatever but that's kind of as far as it goes you know unless you're like a Buddhist or a Hindu or something like that but that's not really something that we struggle with as Americans I mean there's a lot of idolatry here though there's a lot of statues and that's why when people are going around ripping these statues down amen I mean they're doing God's work they just don't realize it just like Nebuchadnezzar was doing God's work when he went and destroyed the nation of Israel you know God works in mysterious ways and he uses these Antifa dope heads to go and rip statues down and then you got Christians like that's wrong for them to rip down these why? The Bible says that we shouldn't make any graven images Jack Hyles when he died they made a statue of him outside Hyles Anderson College and I don't know how he would have felt about that but I would tend to think that he wouldn't like it but yet people walk past that they go to that Bible college and that church the great church that it was and have to walk past the molten image of Jack Hyles literally worshiping man because it doesn't matter if you bow down to it or not they made it and they hold him in high regard and look he was a great man of God there's nothing wrong with holding him in a high regard as far as someone that you would look up to that's a godly man but to make an idol of him that's wicked it says thou should not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God yeah he's jealous so what he's God he has the right to be jealous he's jealous when some of his children or anybody in the world bows down or makes an idol or serves them not supposed to bow down or serve them so have you ever been to a Chinese restaurant and they have this little Buddha and stuff next to them that's serving them isn't it what do you call it when someone brings you a coke at a restaurant what do you call the person that does that a server right someone that serves your table well when someone is serving an idol they're doing the bidding of an idol and that idol is nothing it's just a little statue but in that person that did the serving that person that made that idol it is something but as Christians we need to understand it's nothing now behind it is a devil but we don't believe in worshipping devils right so look what it says I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me when someone hates God he visits their children to the third and fourth generation that's how much he hates it it says in showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments turn to Leviticus chapter 26 verse 1 Leviticus chapter 26 verse 1 God's very clear on this subject about idolatry and serving graven images Leviticus chapter 26 verse 1 it says you shall make you no idols nor graven nor graven image neither rear you up a standing image neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land any stone in your land any set up any image of stone excuse me in your land would that be a statue of George Washington would that be the elk statue in downtown Portland would that be Portlandia I don't know why that must be the demon god of Portland because they haven't torn that stupid idol down but I wish it would hey blow up the right stuff you know Motov cocktail Portlandia I encourage you I implore you but it says we're not supposed to rear up a standing image nor set up any image of stone in your land like Easter Island you seen those stone things on Easter Island what happened to the people that live there you know there's no trees on that island not one tree that'd be a great place to live anyway it says in your land to bow down unto it for I am the Lord your God so there's no excuse for a Christian to ever do this turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 15 Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse number 15 it says take ye therefore good heed unto yourself yourselves excuse me you saw no manner of similitude in the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire what's God saying hey when I appeared to you you didn't see anything you didn't see a body part Moses saw the hinder parts of God and his face glowed for like 40 days after that right Moses saw just the hinder parts he didn't see God's face because he would have died but his face shone for I think it was either 30 or 40 days I can't remember which one but anyway he's saying hey you didn't see anything and the reason why is look at verse 16 it says lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image the similitude of any figure the likeness of male or female the likeness of any beast that is on the earth the likeness of any winged fowl that fly through the air you know like the little Holy Spirit dove that people like to put on their cars that one too that's a graven image it's wicked you know people just they don't think about things they don't think this is the likeness of any beast on the earth the likeness of any winged fowl that fly through the air the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground like bugs and stuff like that and the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth any fish even the Christian fish that you have on your car and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars even all the host of heaven shouldst be driven to worship them and serve them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven so God doesn't he didn't want them to see anything of him because people would have just made images and so you're not supposed to even worship an image that would be of God so if God if people knew what God looked like they would make an idol and that would be idolatry even though it's a picture of God see like when people have pictures of Jesus on their wall you know the Mormon Jesus he's kind of bronze now he used to be white now he's kind of bronzed he's got the bronzer the long hair that's an image of God and it's wicked because he doesn't look like that he doesn't have long hair and as far as them being bronze I mean he was brown I'm sure you know he lived in the desert so anybody that lives in the desert even if they're white looks brown somewhat unless they just like have the lead umbrella or whatever you're going to get dark if you're in the desert regardless so but it's wicked to have pictures of Jesus it's wicked to have a crucifix with Jesus hanging on it around your neck it's wicked to walk into any church building and see any image of Jesus because we don't know what he looked like but I'll guarantee you that he did not have long hair he wasn't a Nazarite he was from Nazareth there is a difference the Bible doesn't say that he was a Nazarite ever he drank wine you know so he touched dead bodies so if you're a Nazarite you're not allowed to touch dead bodies you're not allowed to drink wine you're not allowed to do a lot of different things and so I don't know if that's why you know some queer you know painted himself and made himself look like Jesus and that's what everybody has hanging on their walls Caesar Borga or whatever some queer painter who's a fag lover of Michelangelo or something one of the Ninja Turtles but we're not to have images that's why I mean do you want to have an image that some queer drew as your Jesus I guarantee you he looked nothing like any of these pictures that they show him so God is you know he's very clear about it we're not supposed to make them we're not supposed to bow down to them okay so and what is an idol basically it's just a piece of stone or wood carved into an image meant to be worshipped it could be overlaid with gold or silver or precious jewels representing a God so you got just ones I could think of well I was writing this Buddha, Shiva Marduk, Baal, Tammuz Diana you know you have that famous story greatest Diana of the Ephesians and like the whole the whole town was given over to idolatry Apollos Zeus and all these different false gods there's images to them in Athens when they came Paul said the whole city was given over to idolatry and they even had one statue of a false God for the unknown God and he was like that's the one that's the one that's the true God but you know obviously not the statue part of it but there is a God that they didn't know about that was unknown to them that's what he was trying to preach to them so they're not real they have no power you know I know in movies and stuff like that they have like I remember the Brady Bunch when I was a kid I used to watch the Brady Bunch okay and they had like an episode where they go to Hawaii and then they like have this little tiki that they find who knows what the Brady Bunch even is anymore okay I just want to make sure because I say some old stuff so people don't remember so anyway this tiki this little statue was like you know causing all these things to happen because it was supposed to have this magic power in it or something but that's just superstition it's just a piece of wood that someone carved it means nothing they're not real except in the minds of the people that believe in them look at verse 5 back in our text says for the other be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be gods many and lords many but to us there is but one god the father of whom all are all things and we and him and one lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him so it's not saying that gods oneness okay there's just one god who manifests himself in three persons the father the son and the holy ghost and these three are one that's what the bible teaches the bible doesn't teach that they all came together to form the father or whatever it's a bunch of garbage so the son and the father and the holy spirit are all co-equal and you know they do have a hierarchy within the godhead the father son the holy ghost but that is something that they lay down that power to each other so anyway I'm not preaching about the trinity but I just wanted to mention that really quickly but it says one lord Jesus Christ of whom are all things and we by him he spoke the world into existence he's the word of god it says in verse 7 how be it there is not in every man that knowledge not everybody knows about the father of the son and the holy ghost not everybody knows that there's only one god there's a lot of people in this world that believe in different gods now in America that's not super prevalent but it's getting more prevalent I think people just say they're Buddhist so we'll leave them alone because they believe such weird stuff have you ever had it like oh I'm Buddhist and they just kind of that's like the I'm out of here type of thing like have you ever heard about Jesus yes I have I have a cousin who talked to me about it you know which of course they probably didn't even give him the real gospel but it says how be it there is not in every man that knowledge for some with conscience of an idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled there's some people that even though they know it was sacrificed unto an idol they'll still eat it and their conscience being weak is defiled so you know and it's not right to do that I don't believe that it's okay to eat meat sacrificed unto idols except if you don't know that's why you're not supposed to ask okay because it really means nothing there's not some magic juju that goes into the meat once it's sacrificed to the idol and you're like oh the spirits are getting me no that's that's garbage it's not real so we're not supposed to I believe we're not supposed to eat meat sacrificed unto idols if we know about it if we know then we're not supposed to eat it okay look what it says but meat committed us not to God for neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat not are we the worse see what I'm saying so like if you ate something sacrificed unto an idol and then later someone told you that it was it's not going to make your stomach bloat and a demon's going to crawl out of here or something it's it's it means nothing so it shouldn't mess with your you know now if you're eating stuff that you're not supposed to be like blood or something strangled you know obviously there's this roadkill program that people just people eat roadkill I mean it's disgusting I mean anything that dies of itself it just drops over dead you're like hey let's carve him up there's a reason why it died okay it's probably old or it's diseased so we're not supposed to eat stuff like that we're not supposed to eat things that are strangled why? because the blood is still in the animal okay and blood if it just sits in a body turns poisonous and it'll make you sick anybody hungry? okay so who's going to Wendy's after church? who's going to Taco Bell? can I get a Taco Bell around here? just kidding but look at verse 9 it says but take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to them that are weak so say you know somebody walks up and sees you well it explains it in verse 10 for if any man see thee which has knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols see emboldened that means you're just sitting at a table and some person walks up to you and they see that you're you know you're probably just trying to win some people to cry and obviously this does not happen in America today it's not we don't have like all these Greek gods that people are you know sacrificing all these things to idols or whatever this is something that's you know was way more prevalent back then but anyway but if they see you eat something sacrifice unto an idol that's going to embolden them that person which is weak to eat those things which are offered to idols and it's wrong it's wrong to do that it just says that they're sitting at sit at meat it didn't say that they're eating but maybe they did maybe they know and that person doesn't know and they're eating you know so I don't know there's different scenarios that could happen but it says and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died but when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience ye sin against Christ see it is a sin to encourage someone else to eat meat sacrifice unto idols to embolden them to do such a thing and in a couple weeks I'm going to prove this way more I'm going to go to some different scriptures but I'm not I just like I said we have a whole another chapter where that's going to be addressed so look what it says in verse number 12 but when he's so sinning oh never mind verse 13 wherefore if meat you know meat sacrifice to idols is what it's talking about that's the context make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standest lest I make my brother to offend so the context is talking about meat that sacrifice unto idols right make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standest so because you know if you're just eating like a hamburger and someone's a vegetarian and they're like offended by that I mean they're the one that's weak alright and I'm not saying that like it's wrong to be a vegetarian but it's the Bible does say it's weak you know so that you're not getting all the nutrients that you would get out of eating meat you're supposed to eat you know it's okay to eat meat Jesus ate steak you know Abraham served them up a cow right so beef that was what was for dinner there's nothing wrong with that now but if someone wants to be a vegetarian that's their prerogative but I don't you know I don't think that's the intent of what the apostle Paul is saying like if everybody in the church was a vegetarian and apostle Paul was like this is a tasty burger you know it wouldn't be wrong for him to do that I think that you know I think that we're allowed to eat whatever we want basically so Lewis says wherefore if meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standest lest I make my brother to offend so again this is not something that we deal with so much in our day but in the time it was written it was a big deal most of the stuff probably in Greece and the areas that they were in the areas that they were traveling in probably had their meat sacrificed in the idols what would you think of it would be like a modern day equivalent to that anybody got a good one halal yeah and that's the I think that I'm not like super keen on what they do with the halal thing I think I've watched a video about it before but it's been a long time anyway so what they what I've heard that they do is that they have some imam or something blessed that meat or something and so obviously Allah is a false god the god of the muslims is not the god of the bible he's not the same god that we serve so if it's blessed by some kind of imam or leader of Islam and you know about that you know that it was then you're sinning by eating that that's what I believe and people disagree with that but that's fine but you know if you don't know don't ask any questions you know if it just has some like some writing on there that you don't understand just shut up and eat it I mean you don't know don't don't go to some somebody that speaks Arabic what does this say it's been blessed it's halal meat you know it was so much cheaper but anyway what else what's another one that people would do that's modern day that we would have to be maybe concerned about the Jews kosher laws they do this they have rabbis blessed their whatever they can't even have cheese and meat on the same plate that's how weird they are it's like cheeseburger hello I mean that's pretty good so why would you not want to have a cheeseburger what's wrong with you the Jews and their lives so but but I think that if you know that it is then you shouldn't eat it if you know it's wrong don't do it you know because it can cause someone to stumble like hey they're eating kosher salt sacrificed unto idols you know and that wounds that saved person's weak conscience we shouldn't do that because it's causing our brother to offend that's what I think the spirit of what this is teaching and again I'll cover more of this in chapter number 10 I'll tie it all together but that's the end of the chapter so let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer heavenly father we thank you Lord so much for all the time we've had at this church building Lord happy Thursday nights and just pray that you would bless us as we go our separate ways tonight Lord help us with all the things that we're trying to do have your hand upon us Lord and just help us strengthen us and I pray that you just bless all the prayer requests that were brought forth tonight Lord and that you would answer them according to your will in Jesus' name we pray Amen last song page 472 the green hymnals 472 this is my father's world page 472 this is my father's world sing it out on the first me in the thought of rocks and trees of skies and seas his hand the wonders wrought this is my father's world the birds their carols raise the morning light the lily white declare their maker's praise this is my father's world he shines in all that's fair in the rustling grass I hear him pass he speaks to me everywhere this is my father's world oh let me never forget that though the rock seems off so strong God is the ruler yet this is my father's world the battle is not done Jesus who died shall be satisfied and earth and heaven be one Thanks for coming out this evening to our Thursday service like to see you back here on Sunday. Brother Alex, can you hand us the word of prayer? Thank you.